Black Rainbows

• Ghadir Al Ali, Grade 9, Wiley Park Girls High School
• Short Story
• 2014

Excellence Award in the 'The Text Generation 2014' competition

I still remember the day it happened.
Remember it like it was yesterday.
The day everything changed. The day she died.

Mum and Dad were fighting and throwing things at each other, at that time I thought that was normal, that every family was like that. I know better now.

I was in my bedroom huddled under the blankets trying to drown out the noises of the outside world. I thought this was normal, that didn't mean I liked it. After a few minutes my big sister came in, just like always, I shuffled over to make room for her and she climbed in next to me.
"Melanie, can you tell me that story again?" I asked her. Ignoring the shouting downstairs.
"Which one do you want, kiddo?" She replied, smiling. She was always smiling.
"The one about the weird girl, the girl who can't see colours.”
"Ah, you mean Black Rainbows." She answered.
"Yea, that one."
"Okay, Once upon a time there lived a girl who was different....."
I listened and felt myself drift off into a deep, dreamless sleep, lulled to sleep by my sister's soft voice and her calm, gentle stroking of my hair as I snuggled closer to her.
That night I fell asleep thinking that I will always have someone there to comfort and protect me. I fell asleep thinking my big sister will always be there for me.


I woke up a few hours later to the sound of a loud crash, Melanie was awake too. We heard the crash again, we jumped out of bed and ran into the living room, where we found Mum on the floor crying next to a, now broken TV and there was dad putting on his coat. He grabbed his car keys and headed towards the door, he turned around and said. "Aren't you coming?" He was looking at me. I stepped back, too scared to go anywhere near him. I felt a warm hand on my shoulder; I looked up and saw Melanie's smiling face.
"It's okay, I'll go."
Dad nodded jerkily, then walked out of the door. Melanie smiled softly at me while she passed. "I'll be back."
That was the last time I saw my sister alive.

I succumbed to the numbness. I can't feel anything. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to feel. I can't feel.
Melanie is gone. That's all I know.
And she's not coming back.


I'm at her grave now. I miss her, but I don't know how to tell her that. Something catches my eye, a piece of paper, near the grave. I bend down and pick it up. I open it and I see that it's a picture. A picture of a girl that looks alot like me, looking at a rainbow. A black rainbow.
I smile. And I know that everything will be alright, because my sister will always be with me.
She never left. Because those you love never do. Not really.