View From The Top

• Amelia Kelly, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2017

I cheered with a large grin on my face, in my small yet peaceful and loving home in Atchison, Kansas, or maybe I have that confused with my fantasy. More often than not mother would be packing her suitcase with tears rolling down her cheeks whilst father sat slouched in his armchair surrounded by empty bottles of whisky. As I try to fall asleep all I could hear is the torturous racket of my parents screaming at each other with anger.
“Samuel, we can’t keep uprooting the children every time you lose your job, they deserve better and quite frankly so do I.” It saddened me to hear mother so upset. |
“We can’t keep living like this,” she sobbed as she pointed to the bottles surrounding father. “Right now I'm not sure that it is best for you to be around the children.” I could tell by the tremor in her voice that Mother was hurting. “I think you should go! Just leave and for all our sakes get yourself some help.” Within a matter of minutes my suitcase was packed, I was ready to set off to my grandmothers.
Frankly I enjoyed travelling to my grandmother’s house. My sister, Muriel and I would always go on such amazing adventures, as soon as we walked through the door, Grandma was right there ready to greet us with her warm comforting hug. She always had fun activities planned for us, well, her idea of fun was not exactly ours, but she meant well.
Muriel and I ran through the yard giggling with excitement as we knew how much fun we were about to have. Muriel and I enjoyed exploring the outdoors, we loved an adventure. We weren’t afraid of anything. No rat was ever too big and there was no such thing as a tree too tall.
The sun was slowly starting to disappear. It was time to head back to the house, but not before one last adventure, my favourite adventure. There it was, up ahead I could see it, and it stood tall, strong and towered over everything. My biggest challenge yet was about to begin. It was taller than anything I had ever seen before, perhaps the tallest tree in the world, well at least it looked that way. Being as high as I possibly could gave me a sense of safety and comfort. My family problems didn’t seem to matter anymore. Everything below seemed so small and insignificant. I felt free, as free as the birds and planes that flew by. One thing always fascinated and intrigued me, how could such a vehicle fly like a bird?
I think Grandmother enjoyed having us stay with her, she always said how I reminded her of her younger self. “Women like men should try to do the impossible” she always says. She loves to tell us stories of her adventures and how her curious mind and determination lead her to fulfil her dreams. “Adventure is worthwhile in itself.”