Tragedy ✔️

Prologue

The wind whistles in my ear as it enters through the open car window. It blows my blond hair into my eyes so that I can no longer see my texts. Suddenly, my phone jumps out of my hand.

"Annie stop it!" I holler at my sister who is driving.

Not taking her eyes of the road she says, "All you do is play on that phone all day. You're about to finish high school and you still don't have a life."

"So?" I roll my eyes.

"Boy! I work so hard to support myself... and you. While you play games and don't study, I work off my butt to pay for college loans. Now, I also have to start thinking of how to pay for you when you go to college."

"I'm not going," I say texting.

She slams the breaks as we arrive at my high school.

"Look at me," she says, "I'm not going to drive your butt to school forever. Just because you got suspended doesn't mean you get to laze around. You're gonna get a job. And to do so you need school."

She sniffs and I turn to her. Her hazel eyes are exactly like mine.

"I know Mom's passing isn't easy, but we have to move on."

And like Mom's eyes. I look back down at my phone feeling tears threatening to pour down. She touches my hand and I hug her.

"We'll do it together," she says hopefully. A tear manages to escape. I depart from her embrace and wipe away the salt water. I get my backpack and open the car door.

"See you later," I say as I close the door.

"Don't get your phone taken up cause' I'm not paying to get it back," I hear her say as I near the school.

The day goes on and eventually I do get my phone taken up, but luckily I have spares. Four exactly.

I don't have many friends. I hate school. Not because it's boring, but because it's easy. So easy in fact that I purposely fail. I don't imagine myself in college or being a famous person in life. I imagine myself as no one.

When my mother passed away, I was obsessed over being a fire man. I was six. Then reality struck. A demon called cancer claimed her and took her away forever. I didn't understand much then, but I knew she was gone.

Annie had just started as a freshmen at our community college with a one year scholarship, but even then with the free money and the cheapest education, she couldn't afford it. The next year she had no where to get money. She applied for as many scholarships and grants as she could but only ended up getting a small amount. She then had to get loans, that she would have to continue paying today. And because she had to take care of me, she didn't have anytime to get a job on what she studied for. She ended up getting a low wage job as a hotel receptionist close to home. And now that it's time for me to go to college, the amount needed to pay is too much.

Our dad. He's a coward. He left when Annie was eight and when I was just a toddler. He had another family. Another he loved more. Long story short, he died. His other wife killed him when she found out about us. I guess that women is rotting away in jail somewhere.

The last bell rings and I rush outside and wait for Annie. She arrives with someone else in the car with her. I get in the car and a middle aged women introduces her self.

"Hello Colin. I'm Doctor Morae. I'm from the Massachusetts House of Orphans. I'm here because we have been seeing your situation and since you still have one year to turn eighteen, you have to come with us."

"What?" I say hoarsely.

"I'm sorry, Colin," says Annie.

"Your sister doesn't earn enough as a hotel receptionist to sustain you. You will be better with us for a year and when you turn eighteen, you can return with your sister."

Annie starts the car and we drive.

"No you can't separate me from her. She's my family. I'm not going with you!" I holler. "Where are we going Annie?"

"To the orphanage," she says tears running down her eyes.

"You can't do this to me Annie. Just before school, you said we would go through the this together. You said so! You.."

"Yes, I did, but I knew it wasn't true! I wasn't planning to tell you, but I'm leaving."

"Leaving where?"

"Canada."

"What? Why would you go there?"

"Because I want a life, Colin. I want to find someone and a job. I can't let you slow me down. But I promise, when I get my life together I will come back for you."

I can't believe this person. She's not my sister. She's a demon. A demon like the one that took my mother. This whole world is a demon.

The train horn brings me back to reality. We are driving alongside train tracks.

When the blue train passes by on my right, I see my life as the train. Passing by in a flash. The train started quickly and now would quickly come to an end. What am I thinking? This is crazy. But what if it was my only option?

Without any self control, I jump out of my seat and grab the steering wheel.

"Colin!" Yells Annie, but it's too late.

I brutality turn the wheel right. I can't hear anything. I can only see Annie's and the lady's mouths open. I feel the car jolt as it drives into the grass. All I can see in front of me is a blur of blue, then I feel my self thrown forward. Then I see red. So much red. A loud bang. Then orange and yellow. It's scorching. I feel the sun.