That Fateful Day

• Ben Carroll, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2021

As tears roll down my face I remember the good times I had with my mother. I especially remember that fateful day when my mum threw me out of the way of a speeding car about to plough into me, and pushed me out of the way and let herself get hit, not me.

Now here at her reception all I can think about is why I thought it would be a good idea to walk out on the road without looking, because if I looked I would have seen this crazy enraged car driver speeding right towards us and not cost my mother’s life. The photos on the wall show how great my mother's life truly was. She was in the Navy. I wish these photos didn’t have to tell me that, she should have.

I feel like a complete outcast even though I’m her only child and should be cared for the most by all these people. All they think is “why did I even show up because, after all, this was all my fault”. My father has always told me since this happened that it wasn’t my fault, it was the driver’s, but deep down I know that this all could have been prevented if I simply looked up and didn’t walk out onto that road.

I look up from this forever lasting sob and see a boy, my cousin that I never knew. He tried to cheer me up by telling some really bad jokes and it did cheer me up a smidge but deep down I still felt that even my own cousin called Zac must have felt that the death of my mother, his aunty was my fault.

Unexpectedly for some reason he tells me to come over and hang out with his family. His mother turns out to be my favourite aunty, Aunty Megan. She had come to all my birthdays, I don't know how I’d never met my cousin. Then out of nowhere I see someone, it couldn't be, how is he here? The enraged speeding driver who killed my mother was here. They said they couldn’t catch him doing what was called a “hit and run” but why would he be hanging out with Aunty Lex?

Aunty Lex and the enraged driver called Fred walked over to me. I think that I should tell Aunty Lex about Fred. But then I realized that Fred might run if he heard this news and then the police will never catch him. So I go to the bathroom and call the police to tell them about Fred. Then I see the car is the same car that hit my mother. The police show up and everyone is shocked to see the police of all people at a funeral reception.

The police took Fred away and he was sent to jail. He is serving a 50 year sentence. Suddenly people start talking to me and now I don't feel like a total outcast.