Left Alone

• Jassamin Roberts, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2018

A cool breeze blows through a field, gently pushing the long grass and creating a perpetual wave of green. The dawning sun awakens in the east, brightening the sky, defining the fluffy edges of each cloud. Rabbits chase each other through the sea of grass, only the tips of their ears visible over the dewy blades.
A small boulder lies on one side of the field, shrouded in a thick layer of moss. A figure, leaning against the boulder, lies motionless as the world awakens around it. The figure with feminine features stands up and looks towards the sound of a wild dog howling in the distance. The girl is wearing worn jeans and a t-shirt with a hole on the bottom right side. She moves drearily out into the open space, her still tired eyes refusing to stay open from the struggles of the night before. She trips over a hidden log and falls into the sea of grass. The forest behind her makes whispering noises, almost as if it were calling to her. She sits up quickly, looks at the forest in fright, and is stationary for a few seconds before finally getting up and deciding to go find food.
Although having no survival skills at all, she finds an edible wild berry that clearly has no intention of harming her. The girl suddenly starts to see pictures in her mind. Pictures of her family and pictures from last night.
She thinks of how her father grabbed her hand, and how she looked over at her mother who was also being dragged along by her father, terror flashing in her eyes. A gun shot sound; and the grip of her father loosened as he fell to the ground. Her mother urged her to keep running, tears streaming down her cheeks. Everything was just a blur after that, as the girl couldn’t remember anything. Why couldn’t she remember? Where had her mother gone? She fought back the tears, but they just kept coming. She began to tremble in the shadows of the forest, her breath uneasy. The frightening image of how life might be now without any family to care for her. After all, she was only a child, and she was left alone.