Runaway

“No”, Amber shrieked as her sister skipped across the road singing nursery rhymes at the top of her voice. A car was going flat out as her sister was in the middle of the road; her sister was still walking innocently.
“Watch out”, Amber cried uselessly.
“Huh”, Zoe shrugged her tiny shoulders as she turned to face her.
Amber looked away with tears rolling down her cheeks as she heard her sister’s moans from beneath the car. The car drove off at a hurried pace and turned the corner before she could even attempt to read number plate through her tear filled eyes. As Amber and her brother, Parker, rushed to their sister’s side, a bystander called an ambulance. Parker screamed something abusive at the car but she didn’t know what. Zoe was gasping for every breath using all of her strength in her crumpled body to do so. Both girls stared into each other’s eyes. Zoe’s eyes closed. Sirens blared as an ambulance swung round the corner. Some men in olive shirts and trousers scurried out of the bright green van with a stretcher and it seemed instantaneous that we were all in the van in the short journey to the hospital...

Amber’s mother and father looked at her with disappointment in their eyes as they sat the opposite side of the living room. Zoe had died just under two hours ago and the family were advised to go home together and take in the news. She had never seen her parents this upset before and she knew they had lost trust in her completely.

They had sat there for almost three quarters of an hour with barely a word spoken. Amber looked directly into Zoe’s eyes from the picture of the united family her sister had bought her mother only a few days before. A draft entered through the raised window of our attached house. Amber knew her ‘nosey neighbours’, as her mum would say, would probably give their condolences in the next few hour as well as some family friends. Amber looked at Parker and noticed his muscles tense and his face redden. Confusion entered Ambers mind as she saw Parker stand up and walk across the room, with every step closer he got, she trembled. Parker suddenly broke the silence by shouting at Amber, “Why did you let go of her hand? Why? Go on tell me or you’re going to regret this.” Amber sat on the old rocking chair almost in tears as she sensed her brother’s agitation and remained silent; frightened of saying something that would upset him even more. She had to say something didn't she but her mind was blank and the whimpering girl stayed still. “Nothing, huh”, Parker said before he grabbed her by the throat, “You can go with her”, Parker whispered into her ear. Amber’s mother had her eyes down at the floor but her dad had noticed and slowly got up from his armchair. Her father trudged across the red, blood-like carpet towards her. He then grabbed the fifteen year old boy by the scruff of the collar and dragged him away from her and walked him up the stairs to his room. Amber wondered why he brother had just ceased his anger when her father grabbed him. Maybe, he had pulled Parker back into reality. Then Amber heard the twist key in the lock.

Amber was trying to take in all the air she could. She had stopped crying due to a sudden attack from reality; she had caused Zoe’s death and her brother hated her because of it and that’s when she realised she had lost two family members that day.