Taken By Childhood

• Emma Nicholas, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2008

TAKEN BY CHILDHOOD
BY Emma Nicholas
I know it is the end,
I can feel it.
Its like a rush of cold air that goes through me.
I don't mind
Life has been good...fantastic really.
When you know its the end you start to look at life a little differently.
Like your childhood and those great memories. Your first puppy and your first kiss.
And when you think I'm only eighteen.
I had a hole life ahead. I could have a husband, kids, a real job, a house of my own.
But then the power of those bad times, seem to take affect.
And it makes you realize again, why I'm here.
I try so hard to block it out, but I cant.

I jump.

I didn't even think, it just happened.
Why did I do it?
Why did it come to this?
Why cant I have help?
These are the questions you ask yourself, when its too late.
But it is too late.
I have taken my jump of destiny.
I cant take it back, for I'm only human. I have decided my fate and nothing can become of me.

Earler that day.............

“One reason one!” cried Kelly “ surely there is something that has made you want to break up with me?”
“ There isn't” said Max, with no feeling in his words and no heart in his expressions.
“ We must go our separate ways, why can't you try and except that?” said Max.
“ Well maybe if you gave me a reason why, I might be able to except it”
Max walked off, leaving Kelly in the dirt, left to defend for herself....well that is what she felt like.
Kelly walked until the streets lights came on. Wondering, thinking, hoping that maybe all of this would blow away, pretending that it never happened, but your gut feeling tells you that it's not to be. That it won't go back to the way it used to be.
Everything has to change.

Kelly arrives home.
Parents screaming, sister yelling and the dog barking.
Life is hard.
Kelly walks to her bedroom which is at the very end of the hallway. She walks in with a sigh of relief, for her room is the only place where she can be truly happy.
Kelly runs a hot bath. She watches the cloud of steam swirling around her. It is as if the fairies are swooping her up to take her away to a magical land somewhere.
When she gets in the bath it's nice and warm. When you feel warm you feel at ease, like no one in the world can interrupt you.
While lying there the drips from the tap make small ripples on the calm water.
It's relaxing, it's calm, it's peaceful.
She falls asleep.

Kelly wakes to the sound of the front door slamming and the sound of a car that drives away into the distance. She hops out of the bath dreading every moment of it. She walks back down the hallway, past all the happy family memories that are hanging up on the wall and into the kitchen to find her mum at the whisky. Drinking it down as if to say there was going to be another great depression of 1930.
“ Don't look at me like that” said her mum as the whiskey started to change her voice and her mood.
“ It was bound to happen. Your ignorant pig of a father has just left me to defend on my own, to raise you two bloody kids”. " And let me tell you, men are the worst thing God ever put breath into."
Kelly just looked at her mother for if she said anything she would surely get a whack, and a wake from a drunken mother is not recommended by anyone. She gave her mother a look of understanding and walked away back to her room.

People often have a way of hiding things. Most of the time you can't tell, but then something starts to show and you start to question why, when and how.
They were a happy family before then. They would go out to the park and the zoo on family days out and not come back until tea time. But Kelly's mum and dad started bickering and then arguing. Then worse becomes everything- abusive fighting. It all went down hill from there.
Kelly's dad would just walk off into the night and not come home until the next morning. God knows where he would have been and who he would of seen, but when he arrived home he looked more relaxed than what he did when he left.
Kelly's mother turned to alcohol when Kelly was 15. Bottles of it seemed to go to the recycling bin each week. Whisky seemed to go down realy well with her. She would sit at that table where it is kept and guzzles it down as if there were no tomorrow. She says it gives her release from the family, but once the booze sinks in, she is like the two faced green headed monster out of a story book that Kelly is reading to her 7 year old sister.
Kelly also tries to hide her anger. It's hard, very hard. Kelly normally wears shorts or jeans. Dresses seemed too happy. They would only be worn by people who loved being in there own skin and Kelly wasen't one of those people. No matter what the weather is, she is always seen wearing a long sleeved t-shirt. Kelly's way of taking anger out is on her self. She feels that by doing this she knows when to stop to control it. She has had help in the past but all they do is lock you in this big old dark room and ask you questions you can not answer. Most of the time they tell you: “Its ok you can say anything in this room and not a word will leave these walls.” You end up telling them everything, thinking it's all going to be alright, then you get a phone call a few days later saying that they want a further conversation with you in a different town with different people. Kelly has never been able to trust adults ever since

Kelly sits on her bed. She can hear her mum drunk as ever. Kelly's sister Tammy walks in. Book in hand, ready to read.
“ Please will you read some more book to me Kelly” her sister said in a very soft voice.
“I won't make a noise, Promise”
“ Ok as long as you give me the biggest hug ever.So big that even the Queen of England will feel warm and safe.” replied Kelly.
Tammy went over and gave Kelly the biggest hug she could manage. Kelly just held on to that hug. It had been a long time since she had a hug from someone she loved.
“ Ok time to read”
Kelly went on to read to her sister for a good half hour, before putting her to bed and kissing her goodnight.
Kelly decided at that moment that a good walk is what she needed. She didn't even bother telling her mum she was going out, for she would be too drunk to notice.

The night was calm. The breeze was magnificent. You could do anything that night. Kelly felt the wind pass through her and it felt like is was washing all the sorrow away. She felt fantastic.
Kelly was walking across a bridge that overlooked the ocean. It looked so big, beautiful and bright. Kelly felt like she could conquer the world. She danced as the wind blew through her hair. She jumped through the air without any care. Her heart was full of joy and happiness.
She jumped up onto the ledge of the bridge and then stopped. She looked out to sea with great thought in her mind. She closed her eyes and once more felt the wind as it calmly blew through her soft silky hair.