Post by Joey on Oct 27, 2007 1:16:41 GMT 2
This is the story I sent in for our State Beta Club Short Story Competition. I received 2nd place in the state, but I want everyone else's opinions!
My world has turned upside down. Everything is different now. My name is Hope Campbell and this is my story. The story of how one person’s mistake turned my life upside down and inside out. Four years ago, my life was normal. That is where my story begins…
It was the night of April thirteenth. The air was just starting to get warmer. The plants started to show sings of life again and the birds started returning. I was walking home with a look of pure bliss plastered onto my face. I was going on a date with Danny Jones, my best friend of ten years. We had met when his family moved in down the street. We became friends when we found out that the other person loved the band ‘The Who.’ I had been walking to the park when I heard my favorite song being blasted from the upstairs window. I couldn’t help myself; I had to find out who was listening to it. I sneaked up the side of the house and peeked in. Needless to say, I got caught. We have been friends ever since. I had started to like him as more then a friend on my sixteenth birthday. I’ve been crushing on him for two years now. It took him two years to figure it out! Men…..
I was so caught up; I didn’t see the oncoming car. I heard the horn and the screams to late. My world went black as the screaming intensified. The last thing I saw was Danny’s face, crying.
I opened my eyes to be blinded by the color white. There were white sheets, white chairs, white walls, and white floors. I had no idea where I was or how I had gotten there. There were doors to the left of me, in the corner of the room. They slowly opened and a woman in white clothes walked slowly in. She was a nurse. How did I end up in a hospital?
When she noticed I was awake, shock and excitement coated her face. She ran out, and, five minutes later, walked back in with a doctor trailing her. I bombarded then with questions. As more and more questions left my mouth, the smile on the doctor’s face dropped farther and farther down into a frown.
He answered me, and I didn’t want to believe him. I had been hit by a drunk driver. The doctors tried everything they could think of, but I fell into a coma three days after the accident. That was four years ago. How I survived that long on life support, no one knew.
I was silent. Four years? The doctor left silently when I didn’t speak. I was in shock, and I was scared. How much had changed in four years? As I lay there in shock, I heard the door squeak opened. My mother walked in. She was in tears as she hugged me. I didn’t move. I couldn’t move. She sat down in the chair next to my bed and took my hand. She tried to comfort me, but nothing helped.
A thought hit me, what happened to Danny? I remembered seeing him before everything went black. I asked my mother, and her smile faltered. She tried to avoid the question by telling me about my family. My older brother had been accepted to Harvard, and my younger was now the football, basketball, and baseball captain at my old high school. My sister was valedictorian, and would be graduating in two weeks. I didn’t care. I wanted to know about Danny. Finally, she told me, and I wished I never asked.
For the first few months, he never left my side. He was the one who convinced my parents to keep me on life support. He would come in, sit down, and talk to me for hours. As the months turned into years, he started coming less and less. Finally, he just quit coming at all. When my mother confronted him, he said he couldn’t take it. He couldn’t take the pain. He loved me, but he was going to move on. He said it was what I would have wanted. Last year, he met this girl at school. They started dating, and he soon proposed. They were getting married in two weeks. My family had been invited since they were close friends on his family.
My world crashed all at once. Danny was getting married. He didn’t love me anymore. He had moved on, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I had to see him. My mother protested, saying she didn’t think it was wise, and she didn’t want to see me hurt. The doctor came back in and I asked him if I could go to a wedding in two weeks. He looked skeptical, but agreed if a nurse would be able to go with me. I agreed.
Two weeks passed by slowly. I spent most of my time in therapy, but I still couldn’t walk. I could stand, but that was it. As the time of the wedding approached, I became more and more nervous. I had told my mother not to tell Danny I was awake, and coming. I wanted to surprise him.
He was at the door to the church, greeting people as they came in. I saw him before he saw me. He looked so happy! It was then that I realized that I didn’t want to disturb that happiness. When he saw me, his face dropped. He came up to me slowly. I smiled at him, and offered my congratulations. I told him I was happy he had found someone. I slowly stood up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I handed him a piece of paper, sat down, and rolled away. I turned back to see him open the paper and read the words to himself, ‘I love you, and I always will.’ He was gone from my life forever.
My world has turned upside down. Everything is different now. My name is Hope Campbell and this is my story. The story of how one person’s mistake turned my life upside down and inside out. Four years ago, my life was normal. That is where my story begins…
It was the night of April thirteenth. The air was just starting to get warmer. The plants started to show sings of life again and the birds started returning. I was walking home with a look of pure bliss plastered onto my face. I was going on a date with Danny Jones, my best friend of ten years. We had met when his family moved in down the street. We became friends when we found out that the other person loved the band ‘The Who.’ I had been walking to the park when I heard my favorite song being blasted from the upstairs window. I couldn’t help myself; I had to find out who was listening to it. I sneaked up the side of the house and peeked in. Needless to say, I got caught. We have been friends ever since. I had started to like him as more then a friend on my sixteenth birthday. I’ve been crushing on him for two years now. It took him two years to figure it out! Men…..
I was so caught up; I didn’t see the oncoming car. I heard the horn and the screams to late. My world went black as the screaming intensified. The last thing I saw was Danny’s face, crying.
I opened my eyes to be blinded by the color white. There were white sheets, white chairs, white walls, and white floors. I had no idea where I was or how I had gotten there. There were doors to the left of me, in the corner of the room. They slowly opened and a woman in white clothes walked slowly in. She was a nurse. How did I end up in a hospital?
When she noticed I was awake, shock and excitement coated her face. She ran out, and, five minutes later, walked back in with a doctor trailing her. I bombarded then with questions. As more and more questions left my mouth, the smile on the doctor’s face dropped farther and farther down into a frown.
He answered me, and I didn’t want to believe him. I had been hit by a drunk driver. The doctors tried everything they could think of, but I fell into a coma three days after the accident. That was four years ago. How I survived that long on life support, no one knew.
I was silent. Four years? The doctor left silently when I didn’t speak. I was in shock, and I was scared. How much had changed in four years? As I lay there in shock, I heard the door squeak opened. My mother walked in. She was in tears as she hugged me. I didn’t move. I couldn’t move. She sat down in the chair next to my bed and took my hand. She tried to comfort me, but nothing helped.
A thought hit me, what happened to Danny? I remembered seeing him before everything went black. I asked my mother, and her smile faltered. She tried to avoid the question by telling me about my family. My older brother had been accepted to Harvard, and my younger was now the football, basketball, and baseball captain at my old high school. My sister was valedictorian, and would be graduating in two weeks. I didn’t care. I wanted to know about Danny. Finally, she told me, and I wished I never asked.
For the first few months, he never left my side. He was the one who convinced my parents to keep me on life support. He would come in, sit down, and talk to me for hours. As the months turned into years, he started coming less and less. Finally, he just quit coming at all. When my mother confronted him, he said he couldn’t take it. He couldn’t take the pain. He loved me, but he was going to move on. He said it was what I would have wanted. Last year, he met this girl at school. They started dating, and he soon proposed. They were getting married in two weeks. My family had been invited since they were close friends on his family.
My world crashed all at once. Danny was getting married. He didn’t love me anymore. He had moved on, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I had to see him. My mother protested, saying she didn’t think it was wise, and she didn’t want to see me hurt. The doctor came back in and I asked him if I could go to a wedding in two weeks. He looked skeptical, but agreed if a nurse would be able to go with me. I agreed.
Two weeks passed by slowly. I spent most of my time in therapy, but I still couldn’t walk. I could stand, but that was it. As the time of the wedding approached, I became more and more nervous. I had told my mother not to tell Danny I was awake, and coming. I wanted to surprise him.
He was at the door to the church, greeting people as they came in. I saw him before he saw me. He looked so happy! It was then that I realized that I didn’t want to disturb that happiness. When he saw me, his face dropped. He came up to me slowly. I smiled at him, and offered my congratulations. I told him I was happy he had found someone. I slowly stood up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I handed him a piece of paper, sat down, and rolled away. I turned back to see him open the paper and read the words to himself, ‘I love you, and I always will.’ He was gone from my life forever.