Short Stories From English Class

The Park

TRIGGER WARNING: Major character death, blood, sort of violence?, VERY SAD

Katie was sitting in the house with her big brother Jason. It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining down onto the earth creating a pleasant buzz of warm air. A few clouds speckled the sky, the white contrasting the cool blue. It would be a shame to waste such a gorgeous day inside, Katie thought.

"Jason," she whined, "can we go to the park?"

"No, Katie."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so. There are plenty of things you can do inside."

"But I want to play in the park!"

"I said no. And you can't pout and get what you want. Your cuteness won't work forever."

"But Stacy's brother takes her to the park! And going to the park means that I can make friends." Jason hesitated. She knew she had won.

"Fine." Stacy cheered. "But only for an hour and you have to wear sunscreen."

They arrived at the park eight and a half minutes later, both wearing sunscreen and Jason holding a book. Before Katie could run off, Jason bent down to talk to her.

"Make sure you don't leave the park. And stay in sight."

"Okay!" she chirped, running to the slide where other kids were playing. Jason walked to the benches where parents overlooked the playground like eagles watching their children's first flight. He sat next to a blonde-haired woman who was talking animatedly with a couple other women and opened his book. He did his best to tune out the laughter of the children and lose himself in the fictional world. The shouts and laughter grew faint as he read on.

Screams. Panicked shouts echoed off nearby buildings. Jason looked up. People were crowding the street across the park. Jason marked his page with the glittery bookmark Katie made him in school. She had decided it was "too boring" and needed an upgrade. Curiosity enveloped him him like a fog; Jason made his his way to the hubbub.

"What's going on?" he asked a man on the periphery.

"A little girl got hit."

"What?" Jason remembered the little girl who was the reason he left the house. Where was she anyway? Jason glanced around, and, not seeing her, he decided she would probably be at the front of the group. It was more than an hour after they arrived so Jason decided it was time for them to head home. Pushing through the crowd, he looked for his baby sister. He perussed the crowd without finding her, eventually reaching the front of the throng. Found her.

Blood. So much blood. Too much blood from too small a body.

"Katie?"

~~~~~~A/N~~~~~~

Hi everybody! So this one is from a dialogue activity. We had to write a flash fiction where either Person A wanted something that Person B had or Person A wanted to do something that Person B did not want to do. I wrote this shortly after I saw Les Miserables for the first time (and it was live-like the actual musical itself), and I was still pretty upset about Gavroche. I hope you liked it!

Write to you later my kittens!

~KittyDitzyDance