Under The Covers

• Jezanna Winchester, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2021

Normal lives
I’m under the covers as a newborn. Cute & cuddly, sweet lullabies to rock me to sleep.

Dirty dreadful lives
I’m under the cardboard as freezing as can be, alone in the dark with crickets & drops of water under the slippery cold bridge.

Normal lives
As a toddler, I’m a pretty princess but a rock chick anyway. I’m Alice Ray Tomson, a beautiful, rocking, honest girl.

Dirty dreadful lives
Crawling on the muddy sloppy graves of my mother & father, cuddling “floppy” (her bunny). I don’t have a name.

Normal lives
Now I’m a teen, rocking at concerts, being me, going to places I’ve never been before & helping others in need.

Dirty dreadful lives
I'm cold & alone, no one to look after me, no one to talk to, alone in the dark.

Normal & dirty dreadful lives
(Alice) As I walk along with the dirty mud, I hear noises ahead as I walk faster to the moaning creature. It was a girl about the same age as me. I kneel down and she shuffles back. “I won't hurt you, I promise”.

(girl) I back away as she comes closer “go away” I scream. I quickly scurry up the ladder. I run in the middle of the road as a car speeds past… Aarrgghh!

I ran towards her as she lay there asleep, alone in the dark forever. I call my mum & run with her on my back yelling out: “help!”

I scream in pain as my legs ache. A person shoves a liquid in my mouth & I fall asleep. As I wake up I'm covered in blankets & pillows. I go to stand up but fall back. I scream in pain as I fall on my knees.

I ran to my room to see the girl on the floor. “Umm are you ok?”

I yell out “Why do you care? You took me away from my parents, you should have left me to die alone in the dark & go to heaven.” Her mum runs up to the room and helps me up & says politely: “Would you like to have a bath & get all that mud off you.”

That's when I realized that I’d love her as a mother. I said: “Can you be my mother from here onwards.” She looked at the other girl & said: “Yes & this is my daughter Alice & she’d love to be your sister.” I cried so much & I was so happy to have a family again. My new mum did love me because of how I am, not how I was.

I found a family that loves me. I found that no matter what happens in the darkest of times there’s always light.