Short Stories

A Campfire, A Scream, A Lie Gets Bigger and Bigger

 "Aah!" came a high-pitched scream from my little sister, Kristy, as I scampered my way towards the campsite. My parents had no idea what was happening until the stepped out of the tent. I was breathless and my chest felt so heavy, that I wanted to drop dead on the earthy soil. They asked frantically, "Ashti, what is going on? Where is Kristy?" I was unable to tell them that we were chased by hungry, blood-thirsty wolves, so instead I replied, "Nothing, mother, we were just playing freeze tag and I left her to catch me."

They did not trust my plotting lie, and my mother stepped forward and shouted, "I don't believe you. If she was running behind you, she would be here by now." I replied that she might had lost her way back to the campsite." They stared at me, long and hard, in suspicion. Mother said, "Ashti, I'm not joking around. Kristy is your baby sister. She is your responsibility. She is my child, and no one can change that. If she does not return by nine o' clock tonight, I will find her, and I will drag you along with me. Do I make myself clear?" I nodded my head very nervously, aware that Kristy would not return by that time.

The three of us gathered around the campfire, and the sun began to set in the west. The tree leaves blocked the sky from revealing its darkness. It was eight o' clock, and Kristy had not returned to the campsite. Fortunately for me, after my family ate dinner, my parents decided to enter a deep slumber from dusk to dawn. I had no choice but to rescue my poor, little, frightened sister from peril. I set off on my journey as soon as possible.

As I began my trek to search for my sister, I came across major and minor difficulties along the way. Some of them were so major, I took a mere five to ten minutes to resolve these horrendous problems. Along the way, I was concerned about the devious and malicious lie that I told my parents earlier that day. I thought about it so much, that a tree twig slapped my face, like my mother slapping me in the face when I stare at her nastily. The seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours. The forest got so gloomy, that I felt as if I was in the darkest cave in the world.

The journey took up three hours before I was able to find my sister. After the hardest part of the trek was complete, I arrived at my destination. To my utter surprise, I never expected the day to arrive when a great tragedy would occur. Kristy was covered with blood, skin torn off like a shaved potato and the back split open like a open-shelled pistachio. I realized that be then that there was no way a youngster like Kristy would have survived that murderous attack by those demonic, hungry wolves.
I approached the body with great sorrow. Tears trickled down my face as I could not bear the death of my young seven-year-old sister. I approached the body closer and closer, feeling terrible for my actions. I picked up the small body and mumbled, "This is all my fault. If it wasn't for my cowardice, you, my sister, would never have been laid to rest." I cried bitterly for fifteen minutes and begged God to forgive me for my actions that I had done. 

I carried the bloody body in my arms along the way.As I arrived at my location, it was six o' clock in the morning. The journey back to the campsite took seven hours since I carried my dead sister in my strong but exhausted arms. My parents awoke as soon as I laid the body on the earth. They walked towards the body and identified it as their young offspring.My mother fell to her knees, crying in sorrow that cannot even be described. My father became infuriated, like a tiger, ready to strike his prey. He grabbed my hair and dunked my head into the nearby river. My father yelled, "You are going to pay for your deadly sin, demon!" He held in it's place until I was not moving. Everything went black. I was unconscious.

I awakened very suddenly and my parents were by my bedside. I asked, "Mom, dad, where am I?" They were unresponsive, as if I don't exist any more. They walked gingerly to a white box. Then, it hit me, Kristy! I thought, "No, Kristy cannot be in that box! It can't be Kristy!" I just hoped that Kristy was not in that white box. I arose from my bed and I made my way gingerly towards the white box. When I peeked inside the large box, my sister's body was not in there. It was ME!