Another possible extract from another possible book…
She was home, and for the first time in a long time she felt safe. Putting her key in the front door, the lock turned but it wouldn’t open. She laughed because she could never get the hang of that door because her Dad refused to pay to get a locksmith to fix it. In fact he refused to pay out for anything if he thought he could do it himself. She forced the key back out, picked up her bag and walked around the back of the house calling out to her family, but there was no reply. She opened the gate and saw the sun lounger in the garden with a magazine and iPod underneath it and a can of lager and glass of coke on the patio table. She smiled because she knew there would be Vodka hidden in that coke!
The back door was open so she walked in calling out again, but still no reply. She thought it was a bit odd that nobody was around, but that quickly passed when she saw her sister, Emma, sitting in the lounge staring blankly at the television.
“Bloody hell, inside watching TV while the sun’s out? What’s wrong with you?” But Emma didn’t even flinch. “For God’s Sake sis, are you still pissed off with me?” Again, no reply. “Look, I’m sorry alright?”
Nothing.
She walked out of the lounge, her heart breaking a little. She obviously hurt her more than she realised. Her mind was already planning things to do to show her how sorry she was. It was only a stupid row over some hair straighteners…
“DAD!” she shouted, walking upstairs. “Where are you?”
She called back to her sister to ask where he was, but was ignored again. “I can’t bloody do anything, can I?” she mumbled.
Once in her bedroom she flung her bag onto the floor before collapsing on her bed. She reached over to put the TV on but something made her stop. She could hear a faint noise, like the sound of someone crying coming from her parent’s room. She crept in, and sitting on the floor with his back against the bed was her dad.
“There you are!” she said with relief in her voice. “I called you but you didn’t reply. I thought you were….” She stopped in her tracks as she walked over to see her Dad with photos sprawled out in front of him, clutching one in his hand.
“I miss you so much” he said.
“Ah Dad, I’m home now, it’s ok” putting her arm around him. “I know it’s been rough lately, but it will get better, I promise”.
“It’s all my fault.”
“No it’s not dad, stop saying that. Life can deal you a bad hand at times, but it’s how you cope with it that makes you. Come on, you told me that!”
“Dad” said a concerned voice from behind them. They both turned around and saw Emma standing there. “You have to stop this. It isn’t your fault”.
“That’s what I’m trying to tell him but he’s not listening to me”.
“Dad, it was an accident…..”
Sophie looked at her Dad and then again at her sister. She was confused. “What do you mean it was an accident?”
There was an uncomfortable silence in the room. “Will somebody tell me what the hell is going on?”
Emma walked over to them and carefully placed the photos back in their box. “They’ve gone Dad. Nothing we can do will bring them back”.
“Ok, you two are freaking me out now. Who’s gone? Who’s not coming ba…?”At that moment, the realisation of what was happening sunk in.
*****
Sophie woke up late forgetting it was Emma’s turn to have the car. They argued over it because she could still make it on time if she had the motor, but her sister refused, throwing a tantrum in for good measure. It spiralled into another boisterous shouting match which resulted in her throwing Emma’s hair straighteners at her, missing her face by a fraction. That was enough for their mum. She walked upstairs screaming at them to stop fighting. She couldn’t take another argument and after a lot of back biting, she eventually agreed to take Sophie to work in the car their Dad had been fixing.
She sat in silence on that journey as her mum moaned, telling her to grow up and start taking responsibility for herself instead of staying out late every night drinking with her mates. She tried to argue back but she could see how upset her mum was.
Looking at her daughter, she sighed, “All I ask is for you to show a little bit more consideration towards us, Sophie…”
“MUM, WATCH OUT!”
In the second it took for her mums eyes to appear back on the road, there were children screaming as their parents pulled them back onto the kerb from the crossing. The black car that came hurtling towards them spun, screeching ferociously as it tried to swerve out of the way, causing them to jolt off the road spinning 360 degrees mid air. The doors flung open on impact before crashing back down on the pavement landing upside down. The window screen shattered displaying tiny speckles of glass everywhere. Steam was escaping out of the crushed bonnet and the smell of burnt rubber embedded into the road and invading the throats of everyone around them. Their bodies lay motionless as people watched in horror. Blood everywhere. Sophie tried to say something but no words came out. She could hear sirens in the distance getting louder and louder. She attempted to move her head but there was too much pain so she glanced over to her mother who was still strapped in by her seat belt, slumped helplessly like a puppet waiting to come to life. She was covered in blood. People fussed around them both. “Can you hear me?” “What’s your name?” “Don’t worry; the ambulance is on its way”. Sophie froze in fear. Her mother was dead. She screamed, and tears rolled down her cheeks. “It’s ok; you’re going to be ok”.
Those were the last words she remembered. When she woke up, she couldn’t recall what happened. She felt scared and alone and all she wanted was to be at home, and it was a big relief when she walked inside that back door because nothing was making sense, but it didn’t matter because she was home and she would be ok.
***
She looked again at her sister and then at her Dad, panic spreading like a rash all over her face. She picked up the photo her Dad had been clutching onto. It was of Sophie and her mum cuddling each other. So happy, so beautiful.
“No……No” She said, her voice trembling. “Dad? Em? Talk to me. Please?” She was crying hysterically, shaking her Dad, begging him to look at her, but it was as though she wasn’t even there. “NO!” she screamed again. Tears were streaming down her face. “Please, NO! Daddy, Em. It’s me, Sophie. I’m right here. I’m right in front of you!”
But they just sat next to each other huddled together, crying. Holding onto each other so tightly, never wanting to let go.
Sophie backed away, looking at her Father and sister in disbelief. She looked around for her mother, but she couldn’t see her. Where was she? Why wasn’t she there too? A cold chill ran through her body because she realised what had happened. Her mother had died and was taken, but she was left. All the arguments she had with her family. All the partying, the drugs, quitting school. Even wishing she was dead when things weren’t going her way had all come back in a cruel twist of fate. Only this time, there was nobody around to help and make her see just how good her life really was. If only she realised when she was alive, maybe she wouldn’t be stuck in this parallel universe now.
She looked back down at them once more and couldn’t move. She really was alone now.
“Help me” she whispered.
