Feverish Loss

• Casey Pratt, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2018

The night was shining a sapphire blue, it might have seemed beautiful to some but I was too worried to care about the shining surroundings. It was the second night they had been missing, my little sister, my mum and my dad. They weren`t meant to be gone this long. They went to pick up my sister from boarding school for the holidays, it`s only a six hour trip.
They have been gone for thirty six hours now, I couldn`t stay in the house much longer, even though my grandma had come to look after me until they came back I felt like I was trapped by the possibilities of what happened to them and the dizziness that had blurred my vision so I went outside so I could clear my head. I closed my eyes and stopped walking taking in deep breaths, leaning on a tree for support and trying to reassure myself that they were safe and they were just… I didn`t know what they were doing. An unwelcome image flashed into my head, three bodies lying motionless somewhere.
I shook my head as I opened my eyes trying to get the image out of my head. The dry Autumn leaves crunched under my feet as I half stumbled along the road out of town, I don`t know why I was walking that way but I couldn`t help it. I thought of turning around and going home but I couldn`t face the thoughts that awaited my return so I kept walking, the full moon illuminating my path.
I saw a glint in the distance a sense of dread filled me and my legs started moving me towards it, I was internally screaming at myself to turn away but I knew I could never live with the guilt. As I got close I saw the number plate, it was our car no doubt about it. I stumbled as tears ran down my cheek as the bodies of my family became ever clearer through the tinted glass of our car, a startled cry escaped my throat as I ran up to the car pounding my fists against the glass in disbelief and pointlessly hoping that they would still be breathing.
I wished that it wasn’t true, that they were still breathing but they weren`t and I was so angry at the universe for taking them away from me. The glass in the driver’s side window smashed as my fists hit it, I sank to my knees and cried cradling my bleeding hand against my jumper which was soaked with a mixture of blood and tears. It felt like I was crying for hours and hours but somehow I was able to pull out my phone with a shaking hand and dial triple zero and to tell them all the essential information before I blacked out. In a way I was reunited with my family and in another way I was taken from them.