“Mama, Mama, Mama. Don’t go Mama, please. I need you. Don’t leave me here Mama. Mama.” I woke up, sweating and crying. The reoccurring nightmare haunted me not only in my dreams but in every second of my life. I missed them so much.
I finally decided to climb out of the bed and start to get dressed. I tip-toed about carefully, so not to awake my Grandparent; I really couldn't face them at this time in the morning.
When I had finally finished getting ready, I slipped out of the house, thankfully without disturbing them. Although I was tempted to slam the door, but I decided against it.
I walked, at a brisk pace, towards the school. I was going to spend an hour in the library before class started. I reached the school in record time. As I said my usual morning greeting to the caretaker I walked to the library; my new safe haven.
The time sped away and before I knew it the bell was ringing signalling for me to make my way to class.
I mentally checked my planner. German first, at least the day was going to start well.
I entered the class room, brining with me the eerie silence that usually would erupt as I entered. I sighed, fed up with continual routine.
I forced myself to look at the bored and scribble down the notes. I participated in the conversations, feeling as if I should try and advance my education. The lesson flew away with an alarming speed, but the thing that surprised me enough was that I had a nice lesson. I continued to my next lesson, looking forward to it. My heart swelled at the thought of being happy, it seemed strange, but I was enjoying myself. I entered the second classroom of the day, sat down, and thought of my Parents looking down, with pride; proud of my ability to carry on with life. I know that is what they would have wanted, and I am going to give it to them, I owe it to them.
At lunch I made my way over to my friends, I hoped they would take me back; surely it is understandable why I hadn’t been with them. As I approached I saw my best friend, Beth, she turned around, smiled at me, then ambushed me with the biggest hug possible.
“Oh Maria, I have missed you so much.” She sobbed into my ear. “I have been so worried about you, it will be okay. I am here for you, always.” Beth continued as she tightly held me in her arms.
We walked over, together, to the group the all smiled, pleased to see me. They started to gossip about the new trainee teacher we were going to have in Chemistry. He better be good, especially as that is one of the only two lessons I have Mrs. Perchard in. She wasn’t only there for me; she was also an amazing teacher, bringing in her vibrant attitude to learning. That’s not mentioning the hilarity of those lessons; I could always do with a laugh.
I suddenly snapped back into reality, hastily joining in with the convocation, not wanting to arouse suspicion.
We all walked to English together. It felt good being with them.
Our final lesson of the day was Chemistry. I sat to the side of the class in the long thin classroom that had a bright feel due to the large number of windows.
“Okay Class, this is Mr. Whitelise. He will be teaching you every Friday for a while.” I groaned as the truth was announced. I could already tell that Mr. Whitelise and I weren’t going to get along, I just had a feeling.
I enjoyed chemistry; equations that explained each reaction, the reasons behind it, nothing was left to chance it was all fact. Nothing could go wrong.
The lesson had finally finished but as I was leaving Mrs. Perchard called me over to talk to her.
“How are you feeling Maria? I understand it must still be devastating, but how are you coping?” I was asked caringly.
“Well I guess I am okay.” I replied, even though I knew this wasn’t the truth. Every time I thought about them, even for just a second, I felt like my life was over as well.
“Sweetheart I can see in your eyes you’re not okay. Do you fancy having a chat?”
Sarah Perchard cringed as she realised she sounded like a teenage girl, ‘those days are long gone’ she thought to herself. She was terribly worried about the child. She could see in just her eyes that she wasn’t okay. She wasn’t the happy teen she used to know, Maria looked dead inside. Sarah knew she had to do something, anything. ‘Maria had become distant from everyone around her. Sarah discussed in her head whether it was too personal to take Maria for a coffee, although it may get her to open up a little more’ she thought. She finally decided that’s what she would do.
“Actually, Maria would you like to grab a coffee; I can drive you home afterwards if you want?”
“Okay, yes, yes that would be nice thank-you.” It seemed odd going for a coffee for a teacher, but she was the only person I felt I could talk to about the accident, or anything.
Mrs. Perchard and I grabbed our bags and she led the way to her car. We quickly arrived at the nearest Costa; where we both ordered steaming hot lattes. We walked over to a small table. I took a deep breath in; recognising the pleasant smell of ground coffee beans.
“How is it living with your Grandparents, is that right?” Mrs. Perchard asked as we took our seats.
“Yes, your right. It’s very different.” I replied, not quite willing to expose the horrors I really experienced.
“I am sure it would be very different, especially having to suddenly live with a different generation.”
“They are so different. Sometimes it feels hard to carry on, they never leave me be, I come to school early just to get away from them. When I am there I am so busy with jobs I rarely have enough time to do my homework. They shout at me all the time and all I am trying to do is just get by.” I finally finished, slightly embarrassed by how much information I had just released. I could see Mrs. Perchard was digesting it all and working out what to say. She always knew just what to say.
“Darling I’m sorry, but I am sure it will get better, it might just be because everyone is settling in. But if it doesn’t just come and talk to me and I am sure we can sort it out.” I mulled over her response. Could it get better?
“Thank-you for the invitation, it was very beautiful worded. Would you mind if my Husband came as well?” Mrs. Perchard asked me before stirring her coffee then finally taking a sip.
“Of course that would be okay, I am glad you can come.” I replied, genuinely glad she could. “I am really not looking forward to the funeral. I’m not sure how I am going to cope.”
“What about in particular aren’t you sure about?” Mrs. Perchard asked, concerned.
“It’s going to be the end, they are no longer there. They will be totally gone.” I said, my voice breaking slightly and as a tear began to roll down my cheek.
“They will always be here, and don’t you believe anything otherwise.” She said with a stern kindness.
We spoke some more whilst we finished our coffees before Mrs. Perchard drove me home.
Sarah Perchard thought for a while about Maria. ‘She had really opened up today about living with her Grandparents. She blatantly wasn’t happy there. But what could I do?’ Sarah then moved onto thinking about the funeral. ‘Was it right for me to go with Michael; was it right for me to go at all? But it’s not a social event it’s a funeral.’ Sarah was lost in her thought for hours until she finally reached her small three bedroomed house that she shared with her Husband, whom she adored. She stepped through the door at met Michael.
“How come you are home so late? Lots of marking?” Michael Perchard asked his wife.
“Oh, no. Do you remember me telling you about the girl whose family died in a car accident?”
"Yes, Maria?” He tried.
“Yes, Maria. Well I took her for a coffee in the hope she would open up more, because she wasn’t herself at all, more so than you would think, and she is not coping at all.” Sarah spilled out all her worried to the only person she could trust to tell.
“It's okay Honey, you did good” He soothed her, bringing her in closer, embracing her and trying to lift away all her troubles.
You have some major skills with creativity. It was all very well written and it kept my attention the whole way through, and I wasn't sure if I would like it because of the title, but I guess you can't judge books by it's cover. This was super amazing.
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