The Flashback

• Elke Chadwick, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2019

“RIIINNNNG” Chloe walked out of school with her head down, today had been the same as any other, she wished that just for once the teachers would understand that studying the crimes her family committed was not fun since it was the reason that every day she was mocked by every student in the school except her friends.
As she wandered down the snow coated path she realized no one had thrown any snowballs at her, her second realisation was how eerily quiet it was.
All of a sudden something whizzed past her head before smashing against a tree, and more were coming. Chloe hit the ground and instantly realised her mistake, she should have run when she had the chance, she knew she had to run soon anyway, so she zipped up her jacket, pulled down her beanie all while snowballs were flying at her and ran.
After running for a while the adrenaline finally wore off and she realised she was safe, Chloe finally got the chance to look around, thankfully she knew her way back home from here but she figured she might as well walk through the trees for a bit until all the snowball assassins went home. As she wandered through the pine trees she came into a clearing and was shocked by what she saw. It was more beautiful than anything she had ever seen.
A frozen waterfall had been caught tumbling into a crystal lake captured by a circuit of willows coated in frozen drops of water. As she took it all in Chloe couldn’t help but feel that she had been here before, she noticed a swing hanging from one of the larger trees, instantly she started to recall a memory that didn't belong to her, a little girl was giggling while she was pushed on the swing by her mother. ‘Funny that looks like me and my mum’ she thought. Out of nowhere she heard a scream in the back of her mind, and it wasn't hers. Chloe ran as if her life depended on it, hoping she would make it in time but when she got there the front door was swinging off one hinge. Her family was gone and she was too late.
Pieces of the smashed furniture were scattered everywhere and there were singe marks all over the floors, walls and roof, and the kitchen was no better all. The china her family had eaten on crunched underfoot, and for some reason every knife they owned was sticking out of the wall. Chloe walked into her room, she instantly froze, she felt like all the wind had been knocked out of her. Her legs gave way and she sat there, staring at the words that had been burned into her wall.
“Welcome Back Chloe.”