A Life Different From Yours

• Amelia Ross, Grade 5, Reddam House -
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Write Along 2018' competition

The darkness curled its long, sharp, dangerous fingers around my shivering body. I am alone and it is cold. The wind held a firm grip on my wounded leg and I growled in pain. The freezing air wound its way through my damaged shirt and down my bare back. My breath was short and quick, I panted heavily, and my heart was beating as fast as a rocket.
All of a sudden, I started to feel very dizzy, I lay down cautiously, resting the back of my head against the back of an old building. The building was hard as rock and my thin body was limp against its hard surface, but it was more comfortable than the hard concrete that lay beneath me. I coughed a sad mournful cough and sighed deeply. I was beginning to feel ill. I carelessly shrugged it off and quickly fell asleep.
The blinding light woke me from my slumber in the early morning. It is cold and windy and my leg still ached badly. Very few people left their house that miserable day. I wrapped myself in the rags I was wearing, but somehow the frost managed to slip through tiny cracks and freeze my body. The rest of the day was a complete nightmare. I coughed madly and sneezed often. There was a fire blazing inside my chest. Finally, the day ended and the sun went down, but after all these horrible years living without a place to call home, I went down with it.