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• Alyssa Centofanti, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2022

More pages, more and more, all of them have changed!
“Come on Willow, the bell went 10 minutes ago, your mum is waiting for you outside! I don’t want you here anymore.”

Miss Beatrice is my teacher, she absolutely hates me. No one really likes me anyway, except for my younger sister Julia. I decided to live with my mum after my parents divorced about a year or two ago. My sister is always near me and it’s my job to look after her because my mum is always working so she barely even sees us. I hope she loves me, even though she is always at work. The only time I see her is when she picks me up from school and sometimes at dinner.

“WILLOW! Are you even listening to me? I don’t want you here anymore, I need to get some work done!” My teacher yelled at me. I think the teachers in the other room went quiet as well. “I WON’T! My mum can wait, she has all da-.” The next minute I woke up in my bedroom with my mum over me, checking my temperature and covering my face with ice packs. I must have fainted when I yelled at Miss Beatrice because I don’t really yell, and that was the loudest I’ve done so. I wanted to leave the classroom, I don’t know why I stayed. I’ve been feeling a little off lately. Just as I got up, Julia, my younger sister rushed into my room and jumped on my bed. “Are you alright sissy? I heard you screamed what’s wrong? Can you still play with me? What can I do?” Julia talks a lot if you can’t already tell, and it’s a bit hard to calm her down especially in a situation like this. “Yes yes, I’m alright. Just give me a bit to rest then we can play! Sounds good?” In a blink of an eye, my sister ran out of my bedroom to let me be. Pretty good huh. Mum follows after her, then I slowly start to lay down until I spot something on my bedside table.

It’s a book but without a cover, title or colour. It’s huge and covered in what looks like black ink. I open a few pages and black ink is splashed all over pictures. There is one page that is folded, but doesn’t have any ink on it and I can see the picture there very clearly. Two people were standing there, laughing and having the best time of their lives. Until I realised who it was. It was my mum and dad. Before they had divorced. More and more pictures of them having the best time. Then the last page, my dad laughing with another woman and my mum crying. I touched the picture and heard something from downstairs. Julia comes running into my room telling me mum’s crying! Tears form, my dad disappears. It’s the book, not dad. But how…