Oblivious

• Leilani Zapata , Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2015

It was the winter of 1958, we were all getting ready for my snobby sister Agatha’s 17th birthday party, she wanted to have a small gathering at the local diner, she wanted to wear a pretty white dress with red roses on it and have pink balloons floating around everywhere. Our Uncle Shane was the owner of the diner and he as well as my parents would do anything for my sister, Uncle Shane was even going to allow her to crank up the jukebox to full blast. The party is supposed to start at exactly 6:38pm because that was the exact time my sister was born and if it starts a minute before or a minute less she will probably end up having a hissy fit.

All was in order, or so they thought, earlier that morning I had taken my sisters dress along with her shoes and stuffed it into my backpack. 1 more hour until everyone would begin to start heading down to the diner, all the money, all the time and effort was leading up to this night which was supposed to be the best night of Agatha’s life. Although this was going to be a great day for Agatha it was going to be a great day for me as well, because today I’m the day I’m running away, I’m so sick of my family already and I’m only fifteen, which is saying a lot. I can’t wait to get of this small town and just go live in New York or some place like New York.

The only thing that kept me going were my four best friends Micky, Rose, Peter and especially Lysander, they were all odd and peculiar but they were the kind of people you could just sit down with and have a genuine conversation with. Lysander is my best friend though, it’s funny how someone so tough looking could have such a sweet side to him that only a few people can see, I’ve only been friends with him for a couple of years but we seem to know just about everything about each other. He’s the leader of our gang and I’m kind of just the shy one who happens to have a lot on her mind.

I gathered everything I needed and exited through my bedroom window, making sure that I didn’t forget the map. I step out of my window and start shutting it “ you coming Sammy?” there I see Lysander with a sleeping bag and all, gosh I can’t believe I am finally running away from this family. Then I wake up from the same nightmare I have each night because I know that everything that happened down by the river that night was my fault, everything that happened to Lysander that night was my fault, I knew almost everything about him, but I didn’t know he couldn’t swim and I didn’t know that Agatha and her boyfriend were following us the whole entire time.