Three- Marina

A Chapter by Sophie

chapter three of Airborne

Three

Marina

Maybe

this will all be a dream

Maybe

I'll wake up in the morning,

with no recollection of this.

Excerpt from “Maybe” by Sophie Lynch

“So... I'm not going to a new school tomorrow... because it burned down.” I say sitting in the back of the car, staring at the drops running down the window, joining with others and then getting too heavy and dropping off.

“Yup.” Dad replies from the driver's seat.

“Huh. That's sad.” I say. We're about two hours away from our new house, but that's nothing compared to the rest of the drive from landlocked Oklahoma to very rainy, very sea-side Maine. I wonder how weird we'll sound to them, will we have a western accent? Because I don't think so. Will they have an accent? Do people from Maine even have accents?

Mom makes a sound of quiet agreement.

I was excited to finally see the ocean, but it's very stormy, so I don't think I will. I haven't heard good things about the ocean during a storm. I turn to my left and pull my sketchbook and colored pencils. I pull out grey, and start to draw what I can see of the waters. I'd heard it was beautiful, but it kind of looked scary to me, I hope it gets better. I'd seen pictures in movies and online, but they were always beautiful and inspiring, but for some reason I couldn't draw it. Maybe I had to experience it first.

Again another failed attempt, the waves were too curved, and the sea foam wouldn't come out right, the color too bland, it looked like a four year old drew it. I give up and turn back to a picture of a beach, the water is out of the picture though. He stands in the middle. The boy clothed in black whose face I have never been able to draw, or picture. His back is to me and he looks at the setting sun. The sky is drenched in oranges and purples and pinks and his shadow is long behind him. This is my best drawing, it has an air of mystery, of love. Forbidden love.

I must've fallen asleep, because I wake up to a horrible screeching sound. My sketchbook is in my lap and so are my pencils, but they are sliding around. My seat belt digs into my neck and with one hand clutching the art stuff I claw at it, trying not to choke. I whack my head against the window. I look up, outside the windshield is a swirl of different colors and lights, it's dark now, and nothing makes sense. Suddenly the swirling stops with a sickening crunch. Glass shatters. Where the front of the car was, including my parents, is now the middle of an eighteen wheeler. The truck has cut my car in half. The tinkle of falling glass sounds in my ears, and that is the last thing that makes sense to me. I hear a strange, high pitched sound- Sadness? Fear? Anger?- and I realize it's me. I sit in the car, unmoving, waiting for my parents to emerge, or wake me up, or something, but they don't. I still can't move, I'm scared if I do, the truck will hit me too. A door slams and a figure stands looking a the car, a horrified guilty look on his face. There are new lights outside, new sounds. Sirens. My door is opened. I look at the officer, my eyes adjusting to his flashlight. He says something, but I can't hear it, I mean, I can, but I can't process it, I'm numb. I may be seventeen, but I needed a dad then, so when he leaned in to pick me up and out of the car, I hugged him as tightly as I could with the arm the wasn't holding my sketchbook and pencils. From under the truck blood ran in streams and down a drain into the sewers, He puts me down on the curb, and makes a gesture that I think means: Stay here. I watch the blood flow. Not comprehending what it means. I'm looking around, people stand watching the scene and looking at me with pitying eyes. Two stretchers emerge from behind the car. The blankets are pulled up and over whoever is under there. The blue blankets are stained red and the stains grow. The people watching now look at me with such sadness, that I understand.

I am clear again. My brain isn't clouded anymore. The sounds are clear, the voices, striking, sharp. I stand up and run. I don't know where I'm going, I just run, my art supplies in my hand and the sound of officers behind me. I can't run anymore, tears blur my eyes and I know I'll run into a tree, but maybe I'll go back with my parents if I do, but I stumble and fall. The police catch up with me and pick me up by the arms, but my sketchbook and pencils are not with me anymore. I'm screaming and sobbing and then I feel a needle and I drift off to sleep.

I wake up in a hospital, a nurse stands over me, her brown eyes smiling, but in a forced way.

“Hey sweet pea, you're awake.”

I look at her. And I remember. Tears well in my eyes, “Do I have to be?” I say, my voice choked and strained.

Without a word she rubs my arm and turns out the door. I let the tears stream down my cheeks and I bury my face into the papery, clean-smelling pillow. My body shakes with sobs and loud cries burst from somewhere deep within me. I don't care who hears me, I don't care who I wake, I just need to not be sad.

“You loose a friend in the fire or something?” The guy in the hospital bed next to me says.

“No. I'm supposed to have moved here, but my parents just... d- d- d- turned un-alive in a car crash.” I manage to choke out.

“Oh. Well you seem fine, why are you here?”

“They had to knock me out, or I was probably going to run into a tree and kill myself, on accident or on purpose, I really don't know, you?” I'm starting to stop sobbing, I sniffle and bring myself up on my elbows.

“I got out of the school okay, but I inhaled too much smoke and passed out once I got outside. I guess we're both lucky, mind if I turn on the TV?”

“Sure.” I reply quietly. Lucky... I don't know about that. First I move hundreds of miles away from my friends, and now my parents are... un-alive.

“I'm Wren, by the way.”

“Marina.”

He turns on the TV mounted on the yellow walls of the room. It opens to the news,

“Breaking News! On Route 95 north there was a terrible car crash. A white Honda sedan spun out on the wet and slippery road into an intersection, a truck rushing down the road barreled into the car and wiped out the front of the car. There were three passengers, only one survived, 17 year old Marina Hendricks, was in the back of the car, and was only minorly injured. Her parents, however, did not get the same fate-”

“Change the channel! Please! Turn it off!” I scream, he fumbles and quickly changes the channel.

“Sorry.” He mutters.

“'S'not your fault.” I say.

We pretty much ignore each other from then on. A police officer comes in later.

“Hi, I'm Officer Johnson.”

“Hi, Marina.” I reply.

“Marina, I know you are still upset, but you need somewhere to go, do you have any family we can contact? Any friends in town?”

“No family, and my friends are back in Oklahoma.”

“What was your last address?”

“Honestly, I don't know, I just moved here, except I haven't set foot in the house. The one before that was in Oklahoma.”

“No distant relatives, a second cousin even?”

“Nothing.”

“I'm sorry, Marina, but we're going to have to put you in foster care.”

“What? No! I'm seventeen, isn't that old enough? Can't you let me live on my own a few months earlier than I should?” I cry. The officer and I argue, and as we do, Wren's parents open the door to visit him.

“Please! Don't make me live with two people I don't know for seven months, just so I can move out! My parents died last night, I don't want replacements! Please, I'm not going to turn into a delinquent without a guardian, don't make me, please!” I sob, tears run down my face, but, hey, at least I managed to say “died”.

I can see Wren's mom looking at me worriedly, with kind brown eyes.

“Don't take me away, let me see the ocean. My name's sake. Marina means “of the sea”, at least let me experience the ocean. Let me live the ocean.” I whisper. Wren's mom looks at me with pity and something else, astonishment, knowing?

“We'll adopt her! We'll take her. We don't even have to adopt you, just let you live with us as long as you need.”

I open my mouth to say something, but it just kind of flops in astonishment.

“Mom! We don't have an extra room!”

“Well, you have a pull-out couch in your room.” His dad replies.

The officer looks apprehensive.

“Well, seeing as you have no other option, are you willing to go there?”

“Um, I guess, if they'll have me, this is kind of weird, I don't want to impose...” I reply awkwardly.

“Of course! We'll take you home as soon as you can go!”

“Okay, then it's settled! The doctor told me you're set to go. Also, most of your belongings that were in the car with you were salvaged, and you can go through your parents' things to take some tokens if you'd like. They didn't have a will, so you are first, and actually, only in line to get everything, so you can choose.”

“O-okay.” I say, starting to tear up a little bit.

The officer leaves after shaking hands with Wren's parents. I get up from the bed in the hideous hospital gown and hug them.

“I know I don't know you, but thank you, so much.” I say. Wren's mom wraps me in another hug.

“You're welcome in our family as long as you need.” she whispers.

The doctor has given Wren the okay and we get to the car, my luggage has already been delivered to their house. They get in the car, but my hand still lingers on the handle. I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and slide in. I sit down, my eyes still closed, and buckle up. The car starts moving and I grip the seat and open my eyes. It'll be okay, I'll be okay, I'm going to get there fine- a flash of the truck slamming into the car blocks my vision, -It'll be okay, I'll be okay, I'm going to get there fine... I repeat, over and over until we pull into the driveway of the house. It's very beautiful, and there's no trace of the storm from the day before. The house is a light yellow with beautiful flowers in the window sill, the door is painted robin's egg blue, its so beautiful. Then I see what's just behind it.

The ocean.

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© 2012 Sophie

Author's Note

Reviews please! I'm really proud of this book so far :D

My Review

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Reviews

Coyote Poetry

A very good chapter. I like how she is brought into the story. The strong ending made this chapter complete. No weakness in the outstanding chapter.
Coyote