Farewell My Old Friend

• Charlotte Palmer, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2018

Icy wind slashed at my face. The spits of rain danced their evil dance upon my head as I tried to get my bearings on the overcrowded path. My hair stood on end, a shiver raced down my spine and a lump formed in my throat. It was her. She screamed to a halt, turning to look at me like she was a lioness and I was her next kill. In that moment everything stopped. People were stood like statues all around me – the people in line, the birds in mid-flight, even myself were all lifeless, like we had been frozen in time.
It was a loud thump that awoke me from my chilling trance. I thought I might make a run for it, but I knew I would never escape. I could feel my mind getting fuzzier and my legs getting weaker. Papers were flying out of my bag and into the rain like they never wanted to come back. I knew they were probably important, but the thought was soon shoved to the back of my mind as the thumps and clunks intensified.
My heart dropped as I knew the end was near. I wouldn’t even have enough time to say a proper goodbye. Closer and closer the footsteps came until I was stood right in front of her. Cold and wet. Tired and exhausted; wanting this moment to be over. She wasted no time at all and held out her hand. I sighed in despair knowing that it was time to give up. I knew it was going to be unbearable, but before I could think further on the subject, she mumbled something. I didn’t quite understand it as I was busy dealing with the millions of thoughts racing around my mind. However, they all went quiet as her grey and foreboding shadow hung over me. I felt a tear fall as I reached out my hand and uttered my last words, “Farewell my old friend.” My nice cosy jumper was now in the dean’s hands. She looked at me with such amusement, like I was some joke to be laughed at. I knew my jumper wasn’t a part of the school uniform, nevertheless I didn’t know it would be “repossessed”.
She turned on her heel and started to walk away, but before she made it around the corner, she turned around to belittle me just a little bit more. She looked at me disappointingly and sighed, “I thought you knew better, Courtney.” I didn’t know what to do. Not only did she take my jumper, she made me feel like a delinquent. But I wasn’t, was I? I don’t know how long I was standing there thinking, but it was long enough to realise that everyone else had unfroze and made it to class on time. My science teacher was going to kill me, but hey, that’s the price you pay for trying warm.