Runaways

• Carla Rizzi Kelly, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2018

Fear is rising inside of me like an ocean, the waves about to crash down. The nauseating scent of alcohol filling the air made me feel confined. I can feel myself slowly going insane. The only reason I have to live is because of Aiden. For as long as I can remember, it’s been Aiden and I together, despite all the terrible things that we have endured; the long, sleepless nights. We had to stay strong for each other.

We’ve spent four agonising months, conspiring our way to the blissful whisper of freedom. Tonight is when everything transpires. Tonight we will escape. Little did I know of what would happen, the traumatising memory, that would remain…

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Looking out the window, Aiden and I lock eyes with each other from afar. We have been neighbours for a long time. This is it, we nod to each other, certain we are making the right decision. There is no turning back now.

I’m going to be free. I’m risking everything I have on this, no mistakes can be made. Adrenaline surges through my veins, my blood rushing through my ears. I can hear a high pitched frequency, hindering my sense of sound. It will all begin now. I silently slip out of my room rushing down the stairs, but tonight something was different. Nothing could prepare me for it. The blood rushed from my face, leaving a pale yellow pallor as the realisation of what was happening, caught up to me.

My mother holding a handgun, waving it around the air maniacally. Her once vibrant brunette hair now streaked with grey. I look around to see my dad frantically searching for anything, to defend himself. He finds a broken shard of glass and points it towards her, his hands shaking violently. I try to scream, shout or make any noise at all, but nothing came out. All I can do is watch… watch everything unravel in front of me. The silence was deafening.

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I still look back at what happened. If I did something, maybe this would be different. But it isn’t. Mother shot him six times. I watched his limp body drop to the ground. Her face said everything. Guilt, regret and the realisation that she just killed her husband overtook her reason to live. She aimed the gun at herself, lost in an abyss of sadness and pulled the trigger.

“Jack. Oi Jackson.” A hand hitting the back of my head snapped me out of my reminiscence. “You’re not thinking about that again?” I shake my head in protest as Aiden pulls me by my arm. “The kids in the orphanage are gathering up. A couple has shown up, wanting to adopt us.”
“Oh.” That’s right. Aiden and I ran away, getting taken into the Sunny day’s orphanage and we are now being adopted into a loving family as brothers. At least that’s what I hope for. Slowly getting up, I walk with Aiden to the uncertain future ahead.