《Whispers Between Worlds》 ~Evelyn~ "Mom! Where''s my scarf, I''ve been looking for it everywhere." I say as I''m raking a brush through my hair. I''m usually very good at remembering where I put things but with end of year finals coming up my brain has been a jumbled mess. "Try under your backpack on the dining table, you know the one we don''t use but your father insists on keeping." She says from the kitchen. As I round the corner and place my brush on the table and move my backpack she was right, it''s there. "Sweetheart, why don''t you let me and your mother drive you to school today instead of taking the bus, we could stop by that coffee place that you always love." He says. "Oooh, are you talking about the one that sells those super super yummy chocolate croissants." I cram out without taking a breath. "Is there another one that you obsess over or is that the one I''m thinking about?" "Daaaad, come on you know which one I love and you''re just taunting me." I reply sarcastically. "We will meet you in the car Evie. Make sure you''re down in ten." My dad hasn''t used my childhood nickname in what feels like forever, or maybe a day, or maybe I''m just being dramatic. I throw on my coat, winter boots and grab whatever I can stuff into my book bag and I race out the door. My parents are waiting in our Mercedes-Benz GLB, my dad in the drivers seat and my mom in the passenger seat. It''s cold in Early November and the snow has just begun to fall, and stick. As I take one foot off the steps I slip and catch myself on the railing before falling on my butt. As I right myself I look up and wave to my parents to let them know I''m okay. Our town is small, roughly 15,000 souls in it. Gravemire is probably one of the quietest places to live in the country if not the world. Pine trees and mountains with snow caps on them surround the horizon. From our house to the local high school there has to be twenty houses tops and the ride through downtown is short. Shop fronts line both sides of the streets with elegant black-metal street lamps on both sides. The buildings are like an iridescent blue, with faint dull lights in each one of the windows. Some of the shop keepers are flipping their open signs and sitting up for the day. We stop in front of my favorite coffee place that has the greatest ambience in it. The way it smells, like an open book and Colombian coffee beans, down to the pictures with their thick brown frames. It''s perfect, their coffee is to die for and it''s always perfect every time I come here. "Evelyn, make it quick and grab me and your mother a coffee, you know what we like." He reaches around the seat and hands me thirty bucks. As I step out of the car and grab the money I say " Two dark roasts, large. Mom likes cream you like it black, I got it." Before he responds I shut the door and hurry inside before the heat of the warm car starts to dissipate. Once inside the guy behind the corner greets me, "Evelyn great to see you this morning will it be the usual?" "Actually, my parents are with me today. I want the usual and then two dark roasts one with cream. Can you make them a large please and fast. I''m gonna be late for school." I say as I walk over to the glass counter and pull out parchment paper to grab two freshly made that morning chocolate croissants. I shove one in my mouth and wrap another in a napkin and pull the money from my pocket to pay. The cashier takes my money and gives me change. I head over to the bookshelf to see if they''ve got anything new that has been brought in. They have a sharing shelf, bring a book take a book. Some are children''s books, magazines, books with their covers ripped off and some I''ve never heard of. "Two large Colombians, black one with cream, and a large blonde roast with two pumps of vanilla." A girl with green hair says behind the counter that I''ve never seen here before. I stroll away from the bookcase and grab my coffees and head out the door as the cashier tells me to have a good day at school. Outside in the car my parents are listening to some classical jazz song that''s on the radio. Frank Sinatras Fly Me Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. To the Moon is serenading us through the speakers. My mom mouths thank you in the rear view mirror since the music is drowning out any other noise. I sip my hot coffee and my dad drives off. The snow it thicker and making it harder to see. As we finally get out of the awakening downtown, we cross the bridge around Gravemires cemetery and come into the last stretch of road before school. My dad turns down the music and says "Do they have a term for when it''s snowing so hard you can''t see? When it''s raining they say ''it''s raining cats and dogs outside'' I wonder what they say when it''s snowing." I roll my eyes and my mother remarks, "I''m not sure, but I''m sure that baby it''s cold outside is a perfect song for right now." Gross, that song is a perfect example of toxic masculinity. "Why do you guys have to be so stuck in the ages? There is never a time that you guys act you''re ages, I mean you''re in your early forties for Christ sake." I mean come on their parents were born in the days of the song they''re talking about. I wish they would get with the ages. "Evelyn, calm down, me and your mother were-" he gets cut off as bright headlights and a horn sounds. He swerves away and the car starts sliding, it goes to slide right into the guard rail but he spins the wheel and narrowly misses a tree. "Oh my god, is everyone okay?" My mother says out of breath. Her and my father turn around to face me and I see it. It¡¯s too late to scream, a semi truck slams into the front of our car and everything in that minute goes mute. ~Evelyn~ Flashes of bright white, blue and red. Muffled voices and static from the radio. I just want to sleep, i feel cold and my eyes are super heavy. "Ma''am, can you hear me? You''ve been involved in an accident. We need to get you out of the car." Heavy machinery whirring sounds around me. Sirens sound off in the distance or is that near me i cant tell. Something warm is all over my shirt, did i spill my coffee on me in the accident? The warmer i feel the harder it is for me to not fight the blackness creeping in behind my vision. Some things are just too unbear¡ª Beep, beep, beep. I feel something over my face, it wraps around my ears and runs down my chest. I smell flowers and a hint of bleach. Once i open my eyes everything is fluorescent and blurry so i quickly shut them again. "Doctor, shes awake. Oh my god my niece is awake." Is that Aunt Starla? It cant be, am i dead? I try to open my eyes again and i manage to keep them open for a few seconds until they start to burn and tears well up. "Wha- what happened?" My throat is so dry, ive never felt like this before "Sweetie you were in an accident, youve lost a lot of blood but youre gonna be okay." She has tears in her eyes. "Wheres mom and dad? Are they okay, are they in the gift shop or getting coffee or something, whats going on?" I''m so frantic i start to get up but there''s a sharp pain in my side and my head hurts. "I''m sorry Evie, they didnt make it." Its been three months, the stares at school havent stopped the same people who were my friends have ultimately stopped giving me the same attention as they used to. They say all i do is mope, that i need to start healing. But I can''t, i mean it has only been three months, and i spent a month and a half of that in the hospital. I only was let out on a temporary time for my parents funeral. They were buried together, closed caskets of course. Half the town showed up and all of it went by in a blur for me. I felt so drunk on sorrow i didnt know what to do. Every person that i hugged that day all said the same thing, im sorry for your loss, theyre in a better place, theyre not suffering anymore. Not like they were suffering to begin with but some people have no idea what to say when it comes to funerals and grieving. I went through all of the stages of denial in the past three months. Waking up at my aunts house confused on how i got there and thinking my parents were still gonna come get me, like they were on some sort of vaction that i couldnt reach them. Now im in the sixth stage, we call this moving on. I still visit them every day after i get off of school, the walking distance is decent. Between the school, the cemetery and my aunts house who are all in a cute triangle, i get atleast three miles of walking in every day. My aunt drops me off in the morning and i lie and say i catch the city bus home every night. Shes a nurse and she works the graveyard shift so im usually getting home when shes waking up for the day. Over the past few months my style has changed, im no longer that girl that wears the brand new clothes and the really nice shoes. Ive taken more of an alternative approach. All black, shoes, shirts, pants, socks, bags, underwear too. I dyed my hair black and i took a razor blade to it and its feathered out and uneven. But, thats not the only thing ive taken the razor to, but long sleves covers those. Ive also secretly started smoking, hoping my aunt wont smell it on my clothes, she has but every time i tell her a friend of mine smokes and she doesnt say any more but i bet she doesnt believe me. She has no idea how to raise teenagers, i mean im pretty much grown already since i turn 18 in a few months. 8 but who is counting, not me of course. She asks me on the weekends why i never go out and hang out with friends but i tell her the same thing every time, my stomach hurts. I cant keep using my injury as a crutch anymore, i do it in gym class enough but the gym teacher has a soft spot for me since i have a six inch scar on my size from where some metal went in the side of me. The doctors call it some sort of miracle, i just say it was good luck i only coded one time. They say "the angels were really watching out for you that morning" i say that i didnt get quite as lucky as my parents. God wouldnt keep them apart but sky daddy will keep me from them. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.