Passing

• Mackenzie Cox, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2013

I could hear the ambulance sirens screaming. My eyes are glued closed. My heart beat quickened. Where was my little sister, Amber? Was she crushed under car rumble like me? All I can remember is driving and then out of nowhere a truck smashed into my car. Now I can feel a piece of glass wedged in my hand from the windscreen. My hand is in agony. No, I'm in agony. I can taste a metallic liquid in my mouth. A crimson red metallic taste, blood. I open my bruised eyes and I can see car parts lying randomly over my battered body. I try to move my arms sending an avalanche of car parts down the side of my body. I wince at the intense pain. I'm slowly feeling dizzy and before I knew it I blacked out.

I wake to the sweet smell of roses. I breathe in thirstily like I haven't breathed for days. I gag on the sudden strong smell of disinfectant which has overpowered the sweet flower fragrance. The clear beep of a machine fills the silent room. I know where I am judging by what it sounds and smells like. I'm in hospital.

I force open my heavy eyelids and stare at the blank ceiling above me. I look down to see my bruised and plastered body dressed in white pyjamas under freshly washed, crisp, white sheets. I turn my head slightly and see a bunch of red roses and 'Get Well' cards on the white bedside table. I move my uninjured hand, trying to reach one of the cards. I pick up the closest one to me and open it revealing it's content. It reads,' Dear Pli, we hope you get better. You took a nasty crash and it's a miracle you survived. We love you very much and are thankful that one of our angels survived. As you may know baby Amber died in the crash. Learn from the past, live for today, and look forward to tomorrow. Love Mum, Dad, Zoe and Harri.'

Amber died. My baby sister died and it was my fault. Harri and Zoe probably hate me for killing their little sister. I know how they feel.

Killing myself was an option or the surgeons killing me was an option too but if I died my family would suffer. They would have lost both Amber and me but I murdered my little sister and that's a fact I couldn't live with.

I wake to a blur of faces. Loud beeping was coming from the machine next to me. A man is yelling my name, asking if I can hear him. My head is pounding and I feel the urge to vomit. I groan as a nurse jabs a needle into my arm. Before I knew it they were wheeling me out of my dull, white room and into another. A lady told to count to five. "One, two, three... four......fiveee.." I said sleepily. I felt myself being pulled under by the drugs and everything went black.

A man told my mother I was dying. He told my dad, Harri and Zoe too. I was dying. I tried to open my eyes but they stayed shut. I felt asleep and awake at the same time. I breathe in the rose scented room but the occasional gag at the smell of the disinfectant that lingers in the air. I didn't know these were my last breathes, but they were. My chest rose but never fell again. the machine next to me stopped beeping. I went stiff and cold. I was dead.