Granite Gravestone

      I was there… at my mom’s granite gravestone, with the words Mary A. Wilson carved into the stone. I put down a bouquet of flowers.  I never thought my mom would die; it’s hard having to start college without her. Rain poured onto my skin, and fell into the soft, brown soil. I sniffled and tried to keep the tears back, but it hurt. My mascara slid down my face, my rose colored shirt sagged, my knees, sinking into the mucky dirt. I murmured, “ I love you Mom, I miss you a lot, I still cook your favorite food, it’s just really hard.” I gulped.  The knot in my throat was keeping me from talking. I breathed in and out. I closed my eyes and saw her with me, she smiled elegantly, “Mom?” I smiled, I pulled out a tissue and wiped under my amber eyes. “ I really miss you Mom.”
       “Don’t cry, I am always with you.” Her voice trailed off and her misty image disappeared under the pouring rain. I huddled up into a ball, and hid my face. I was glad it was raining, because my tears looked like the rain sliding down my face. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a locket. I opened it- it had my mom and me when I was little. My mom was tickling me in that picture, her smile almost reached to her bright blue eyes. I slowly shut the gold locket. I stood up onto my feet, and walked to my dorm.
      The sun shined through my window. I squinted and threw my blankets off my legs and looked at my alarm clock.  My eyes quickly widened. I was late for my first class again. I hopped out of bed and ran to my wood dresser; I grabbed a t-shirt that said Cambridge University England, and put it on. I grew up in Utah, so it is hard for me to live in England. I grabbed a pair of jeans, and quickly slipped them on. I slung my backpack over my shoulders, and shut the door behind me. The sky was a beautiful bright blue. I looked over to my right, and there was a bright clear rainbow. I managed a smile and walked across the street to campus. I rushed into the doors and ran upstairs. I quietly opened the door to my class hoping no one would notice me. “Stacy, you are very late!” Mrs. Racheck said sternly.
 
      “Sorry, it won’t happen again Mrs. Racheck,” I explained stumbling over my words. I smoothly slid into my seat at my desk. My ponytail laid on my shoulder. I started to daydream about my mother.  It was so hard for me not to think about her, she meant the world to me…
“Stacy, could you answer my question?”
“Sorry, I did not hear the question, could you repeat it?”
“Why are some isotopes radioactive and others not? Can you predict which ones are radioactive?” I put my hand onto my forehead. Physics wasn’t my thing, I sighed. 
“ I don’t know…” Mrs. Racheck looked at me with her emerald green beady eyes. She shook her head in disappointment.
“Anyone else?” she asked.
      The day went on, the time felt like it was moving like a snail. I entered science and walked over to my assigned seat next to a guy named Ethan. He always helped me with whatever I needed. He wore a buttoned up plaid shirt that had mixed colors of red, white and black which he wore with dark blue jeans, his black thick hair swept across his forehead, and over his sky blue eyes. “Hey,” I began “how has your day been today?”
       “Definitely not the best,” he answered with a disappointing look. “How about your-“
“Time to start class!” Mr. Howard announced. “ Today we are going to learn about if consumers prefer bleached paper products or natural- color paper products, what factors affect the preference, age, socio-economics status and gender. He continued, “ I will pair you guys all up in groups of two.” He slid over to his desk and rummaged through a drawer filled with papers, finally he picked up one with a list of names. The first names he read was, “ Stacy and Ethan.” A slow smile swept over my face as I glanced over at him. Mr. Howard announced the rest of the names, then passed around a sheet of paper with questions that our group of two had to answer.
“So… What do you think about the first question?” I asked. Ethan blew his hair out of his face and picked up a pencil and started writing stuff down.  He then explained everything to me. I nodded my head to everything he said and stared into his sky blue eyes. Suddenly the bell interrupted him.
“Oh, I have to go, see you Monday!” he said slinging his backpack over his shoulder.
“ Wait,” I slid in front of him. “ Do you maybe want to go out to dinner tomorrow night?” I asked as I twirled a string of my hair with my finger. He gave me a smile.
“Sure,” he said amused. “ Where to?” 
“Umm, anything is fine with me, whatever you would like.”
“Then how about that Japanese restaurant everyone is talking about?”
“That sounds great!” I said twirling my ponytail.
“Oh great, I missed my bus,” he said staring out the glass window overlooking where the buses come to pick everyone up.
“Oh, I am so sorry, would you like to come over to my dorm?  It is right across the street, then I could drive you home.”
“That would be great,” he agreed. We went down the stairs and out through the double doors. “ Maybe your mom could drive me home, so that it wouldn’t be hard for you…” he stated. I reached into my pocket and found my keys, which must’ve had as many as 20 keys on it. I unlocked the door and twisted the silver handle and stood inside the doorway.
“My mother is dead,” I mentioned with a shaky voice. I motioned him to come in while I threw the keys on the couch. I sat down on the end of my bed and handed him the golden locket from my pocket. He took it hesitantly and pried it open with his fingernails. He examined the picture without saying a word. Finally a small smile spread across his face. 
“Your mother is beautiful.”
“Isn’t she?”
“I don’t want to talk about it too much, but how did she die? And where is your dad?” I inhaled through my nose and exhaled through my mouth.
“Well, my dad left my mom and me when I was three… He went to be with another woman. I never really got to know my dad, but I know he had the sweetest brown eyes that were the color of chocolate.
      Later, when I was seven, my mom got a call saying he had a severe heart attack and died, at the age of 37… “ I fiddled with a strand of string hanging off my jeans. “And my mom… well she was diagnosed with cancer when I was about to turn 9. The doctors thought she never would make it, but she stayed strong and survived for three years after she was diagnosed with it.” I took a deep shaky breath. She always told me at night that everything would be okay, that it was no big deal. One day, I was planning to make my mom breakfast, I ran to her room to ask what she wanted, and I crawled onto the end of her bed, and said, “ Good morning Mommy, what do you want for breakfast?” She didn’t answer… “ Mommy are you still sleeping?” I giggled and shook her a little bit thinking she was just playing with me. “ Mommy seriously I want to make you breakfast.” I pulled the covers off of my mom’s face and finally it dawned on me… That she wasn’t just sleeping, she was asleep forever... I whispered to her in a quiet shaky voice… “Mommy, are you with daddy now?” My eyes turned foggy and I huddled up to my mom. I put her arm over me and fell asleep. 
When I woke up I was at a tall brick building with lots of little kids tackling each other and playing on the computer. This kind lady wearing a light blue turtle neck shirt and a black long skirt going down to her ankles came up to me and explained to me where I was. I was at an orphanage. I just stared at her for awhile, then ran and hid in a small corner in the back of the room. I didn't want to believe that my mom had died, or the feeling that I was going to be adopted by another person! I cried and cried until a different lady came over to me.  She had short dark brown hair that reached her chin, and a short sleeved maroon shirt that had ruffles around the neck. Her eyes were like my mother's, soft and full of hope. She gave me a small smile, telling me she was going to take me home. I refused, but people grabbed onto my arms and carried me to the car... It wasn't same living with that lady.... When I was 16 I ran away, and got enough money to go to college... So here I am now.
       “Wow... I am so sorry.” He put his pale hand onto my knee. “Everything will be okay, I promise.” I sniffled and gave him a small smile.  He was right everything would be okay... 
“Would you like me to drive you home now?”
“That would be great, thanks.” I grabbed my coat off the couch and zippered it up. We got in the car, and on our way we went. There was dead silence, it was around 6:00 and I was getting really tired, I started shutting my eyes and I started going off into a different lane. Ethan suddenly bumped my arm alarming me, my eyes opened up in an instant I swerved back onto the road. My heart was racing as fast as a rabbits. 
“ I am so sorry, I am just so tired.” 
“It's okay, I am sorry that my house is so far away!”
“It's not your fault.” He nodded his head agreeing with me. I heaved a sigh of relief that I didn't almost kill us. I relaxed my muscles and leaned back in the seat. Suddenly I saw something on the edge of the road, but it was too dark for me to see. When we approached it, it was a deer. I was about to point it out to Ethan when it decided to run out into the road right in front of us!
“Stacy!” yelled Ethan grabbing the wheel and swerving into the wrong lane, the deer got to the other side safely, but we were in the wrong lane. Headlights started approaching and Ethan wouldn't let go of the wheel.
“Jump out!” I yelled unlocking the doors.
“Are you out of your mind?! We'll kill ourselves!” cried Ethan.
“It's either that or getting run over by another car!” Ethan gulped and grabbed my hand. A tear ran down my cheek and the last thing I saw was bright headlights of another car and everything was black. 
“How are you doing Stacy?” My eyes opened slowly everything was blurry, after five seconds my eyes focused on a tall blonde woman with her hair tied back in a ponytail, she had a long white dress and a stethoscope around her long neck.
“Where am I?” I turned my head to see my leg was being held up in a sling with a cast around it. My arm also had a cast around it. I looked back at the lady, my face confused. She nodded her head as if knowing that I already knew where I was. I kept staring at my leg trying to remember what had happened, but nothing came to mind. “What happened?” I wondered while the nurse was typing away on the computer next to the bed I was laying in. She stopped typing and gently kneeled down by the bed.
“You got in a car crash,” she claimed. Suddenly everything was coming back, I faintly remembered the bright head lights, the deer and... Ethan. I tried to sit up, but I squinted and let out a little cry, the pain in my leg is nothing I have ever felt. The nurse pushed my shoulder back instantly and told me to relax. 
“What about Ethan?!” I said, demanding an answer. “Where is he?! Is he okay?!”
“He is in the room next to you... He isn't doing so well.” My head fell back to the pillow. I clenched my teeth together in agony. Thoughts hammered me like a nail. This was all my fault, for all I know he could be dying! My eyes started to fog up and a tear trickled down my cheek. My hand trembled. I knew my mom was looking down on me... She probably is disappointed and confused at the same time. 
“I need to see him. It's my fault he's here...”
“You can't, you have to wait until you can be strong enough to go out on crutches.”
“Look, I really just want to see him now.” The nurse shifted uncomfortably.
“I can't let you, but you can call the other room and talk to him if he is up to talking to you.”
“Okay...” I replied. The nurse picked up the phone and dialed a long number. She held it up to her ear waiting for someone to answer.  She clicked her long light pink fingernails on the desk. 
“Hello?” responded someone on the other line.
“Hi, this is Dr. Clinshaw, is Ethan able to speak to Stacy? She desperately wants to speak to him.”
“Yeah, I think that would be okay, he wanted to talk to Stacy too.”
“Okay, I am putting her on the phone now.” 
“Hello?” I said in a quiet shaky voice, I waited for a reply.
“Hi.” I felt like bursting out in tears, his voice was so weak and trembling that I almost could not stand it.
“Ethan, it's Stacy, I am so sorry this is all my fault. I never wanted it to end up like this. Ethan, I would do anything to go back.” 
“Stacy, it’ not your fault, I just want you to remember something…” When I just was about to speak I heard the phone drop and the nurses yelling for help.
“Hello? Hello?!” I held my hand over the floor and dropped the phone on the floor in shock. The nurse rushed to my side, I slowly turned my head toward her.
“Are you okay?” she said in a worried voice. My breaths were deep and shaky. 
“Ethan,” I responded. She turned her head towards the other room and ran. I heard the faint sound of the defibrillator trying to get his heart to keep beating. My eyes slowly closed and the sounds in the other room were too harsh for me to hear. 
      I heard nurses yelling, “Come on! Keep your heart beating, come on!” Tears rushed down my face from all the commotion and sadness building up inside me
I heard someone walk into Ethan’s room saying,“ My baby! No! That’s my child!” Her voice slowly trailed away from the nurses taking her to a different room. I drowned out the sound and imagined Ethan walking into the room and coming over to my bedside, I saw him lean over and kiss my forehead. He gently stroked my hair away from my eyes. His gentle eyes stared deeply into mine. I leaned up to kiss him, but I screamed as my arm got twisted in the wrong direction. His apparition slowly faded away, I waited to hear the yelling voices from the other room, but everything was dead silent. He's dead is all that came to mind. I heard the heart rate monitor have a steady ring, I let my head relax into the pillows, it’s over-- everything is over. The pillow under my head was wet and uncomfortable. I stared at the door waiting for someone to come in and tell me he was gone. Out of nowhere beeping started coming from the other room. I picked up my head and held my breath, my heart pounded as loud as a hammer on a brick and closing my eyes, from the other room, I heard a gasp of air.

Granite Gravestone, 6-8. P. 1