My Brother

• Grace Hawke, Grade 6, St Patrick's School
• Short Story
• 2014

Excellence Award in the 'Write As Rain 2014' competition

April 7th 2013. Coffs Harbour, N.S.W, Australia.
A tragic story.
It was the 6th of April and I was bike riding with my cousins Bailey and Eden, when Bailey fell off his bike. I told him about how my Step-Brother Jake was always hurting himself, how he had popped his shoulder out of place, just stuff like that.
Jake has been my Step-Brother since I was one, and he was an awesome rugby player, and surfer. In 2009 I moved to Wangaratta with my Mum and brother Josh, it was a sad move, but it is good now. Josh and Jake were extremely close.
The day after my bike ride with my cousins Mum got a call from Dad saying that Jake was in hospital and on life support, which means that machines were keeping him alive. Jake had been in the middle of a rugby game, he had the ball and he got tackled and knocked out. He would never wake up again. The coach ran onto the ground to give him C.P.R, and soon the ambulance came. They loaded Jake into the ambulance and then it got bogged on the ground, so all the players pushed it out onto the road. Jake was too unstable to fly to Sydney, he was put onto life support. He had died. He was fifteen.
My Dad and Step-Mum had decided to turn the life support off. Jake’s Pop, Tommy Raudonikis is well known because he used to play rugby back in the day. Poppy Tom and Uncle Lincoln spoke on the radio and T.V about Jake.
A week later Mum, Josh and I flew to Coffs for the funeral. I didn’t want to go because the funeral was going to be massive, with over One Thousand people there. Jake’s best friend Dion and girlfriend Monique were devastated.
My little brother Cooper, who was only five, said he thought Jake was in heaven playing footy and surfing on the clouds. I stayed with cooper at his old Kinder while the funeral was on. The next day was Jake’s paddle out. We all went out on our surfboards, held hands in a circle and said goodbye.
Goodbye Jake Kedzlie. I think about you all the time. Rest in Peace.