By: Benjamin Tom
View all Benjamin Tom's works
When Sarah woke up, she knew that this day would change her life. She just didn’t know how.
“Vicky, Vicky!” she shouted. Silence. Not a sound. Sarah crept into her sister’s room.
“Come on. We’re going to be late for school! Vicky?” No answer. The silence was beginning to bother her.
“Hello? Anybody?”
She walked down the stairs afraid of what wasn’t going to be there. There was a churning feeling in her stomach. Nobody was down there. Sarah’s dad wasn’t on the couch with the newspaper and eating cereal.
She opened the refrigerator and took an apple. It was a pink lady, her favorite apple. It was sweet and crunchy, and Sarah needed this to calm her down. She closed the door and saw a note on the outside. It had her dad’s messy handwriting. It said “Sarah, your sister had to go to the ER because of her disease. Please do not worry. Everything is under control. Go to your new school and continue your day. Live your life. Love, Daddy.”
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no! This is horrible. I never thought it would be this bad!” Tears streamed down her eyes. “Stay alive, please,” Sarah whispered. “I can’t imagine a world without you. I can’t do anything, so I might as well go to school.” Sarah picked up her bag and left, but not before leaving something behind.
“At Wilson High School, you all…” The principal’s microphone droned on and on while emitting a low buzzing sound. It put half of the students to sleep.
“I hate orientation,” Sarah muttered to her friend Liz. “It’s so boring.”
“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Liz replied in the same bored tone.
Ping ping. Sarah’s phone buzzed low enough so that only she heard and she glanced down at her phone. It held information from her dad.
“So where’s Vicky?” Liz asked.
“No, no, no!” Sarah screamed. The principal stopped mid-sentence. Everyone turned and looked at her.
“Excuse me, who are you and why are you interrupting me?” asked the principal dangerously. No reply. “Excuse me, answer me.” No answer. “What’s wrong?” Silence.
The rest of the day was silent for Sarah. She didn’t say a word. Not even to Liz. The professors’ words were inaudible. Sarah wanted to make sure her dad was okay.
When she walked through the door, she saw her dad crying on the couch. He had lost two people to the same disease. Sarah crawled onto the couch and gave him the biggest hug.
“Is this yours?” he asked, holding up a card written to Vicky.
“Yes,” Sarah replied.
“Wow,” he whispered.
Silence.