3 Minties

• Erin Clack, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2021

3 Minties. 3 Minties are all I have left according to the serving size, just 3 Minties. The remainings of the gluten free cinnamon scroll I swallowed down earlier is left discarded in the middle of my orderly desk, as if it is a priceless ornament. I clutched my stomach, the desperation to release becoming severe but the thought of even turning the door handle was too much to bare. That thought was reinforced when the sound of my Dad slamming the door that connected my room to the adjacent hallway vibrated through to my bedroom window. I checked the time: 4:56pm, 14 minutes. 14 minutes of anguish, 14 minutes of stress, 14 minutes until freedom.

I looked around my room which looked and felt like nothing but empty space. It lacked originality, it lacked the owners touch but most importantly it lacked the true sense of who I am. The only way you could tell it was my room was through an old brown rock cast to the side of my desk, sitting peacefully watching passers by.

It brings back the memories of a five year old camping trip in the East of WA, past Lake Leschenaultia, heading towards Kalgoorlie. I remember my feet kicking the dusty dirt track and listening to my Dad behind me continuously telling me to pick up my feet.

Despite his efforts I ignored him and instead slowed down as my eyes caught hold of Bob (the rock). They continued on past forgetting about me and my lazy feet, my step mum representing nothing but a leach latching onto my Dad’s arm. There was nothing peculiar about the rock, that’s probably why I liked it so much at the time. It was just the pure simplicity of it that appeared to be a portrayal of me. A simple rock deserves a simple name, I thought as I attempted to brush the red dust off what looked as if it had spent the last thousand years saturated in a red bath. By the time I looked up the couple was blurry so I made a dash for it with Bob now clutched in my hand and to never be let go.

Instead of clinging onto the rock this time I was clinging onto 3 Minties as I looked out onto the traffic that was shadowed by the dark night sky. My eyes glanced towards my mum, her concerned eyes concentrating on the road in silence. I had finally found my freedom I thought as I clutched onto my now two Minties, the time 5:10pm flashing from the car’s tiny digital clock. I had finally found it and I was never going to let it go.