Short Stories & Poetry

A Lightning's Lullaby

This is a short story I wrote a few years ago to enter into a competition being held at my local library. I'm very proud of this story because I won an award and author of the Just! series, Andy Griffiths (who did the judging) said he liked it. I hope you do too.

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My runners left footprints and kicked up the soft, smooth, pure white sand as I ran across the beach. Mine was the only set of footprints that marred the beach’s perfection. I rarely came down to this beach but today when I set out for a jog, my feet carried me to the beach that I haven’t been to for many years. I haven’t been here since mum and dad died. I realised with a start. I shouldn’t be thinking about that. The only thing it achieves is making me cry. And if I come home with red eyes auntie Mary will want to know why I’ve been crying. I looked upwards at the sky which was quickly turning a murky grey as the clouds blanketed the world, preparing for the coming rain. I sat down as tiny raindrops fell onto the sand, leaving small dark spots all around me. I lay back and fully took in my surroundings as the droplets landed on my skin. The sea was a deep, dark blue, almost navy blue. The sand, white and soft, was being invaded by the little blemishes. Along the edge of the sand were large cliff faces. I jumped to my feet and ran to a small cave that I recognised from years long since past. It was mostly hidden from view and when I was a child I used to use it as my own personal beach supply hideout. As I entered the narrow doorway I felt along the wall for a ledge that I always kept the matches on. I found them and struck a match, casting a soft orange glow over the cave. I lit a tall candlestick I had sitting on the ledge. A surf board and a boogie board stood in one corner, towels, clothes and bathers hanging from a bar lodged in another corner and a photo of my parents and me on a ledge in another corner. It was just as I left it.  The rain was really bucketing down now. It was raining like this the night mum and dad died. The images flowed into my mind before I could stop them, making me grimace. The storm raging with its lightning bolts streaking the sky, like electric hands reaching towards earth. Mum and dad singing along to song ancient song blaring from the car radio. Me sitting in the back seat with my headphones in listening to a funky modern techno song, trying to block out my embarrassing parents. The lightning striking down and cracking a tree, making it tumble to the ground. Before I knew it the hood of our car was crumpled like a piece of paper under the mighty oak’s trunk. The front windscreen was splattered with blood which dripped down the glass. Even so many years after that horrible night I can still remember their faces, covered in blood, eyes open and staring at nothing, mouths gaping in a silent scream of terror. I had let out a high pitched shriek then blacked out. The next thing I remember was sitting in a hospital bed with a broken arm, three cracked ribs and no parents to help me through it. I became an orphan that day. I went to live with my aunt Mary. She loves me dearly and I love her. I always thought that if not for her I would have joined my parents’ long ago. I would do anything to be with them again… I was snapped from my memories when an ear splitting Crack! pierced the air. I saw a flash of lightning before the entrance crumbled, sealing me inside…

I screamed for what seemed like hours, but no one came to help me. The towels and clothes helped to keep me warm but with no food or water I knew I wouldn’t last long. There were no gaps or openings in the solid rock either so oxygen would soon become an issue too. I shouldn’t be scared. I’m getting my wish. I can see mum and dad again. I can be with them again… I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.

GIRL DIES AFTER CAVE COLLAPSES

Lilly Waters, aged 18, died on Saturday after lightning struck the Cliffside where she was taking shelter from the rain, trapping the young girl inside. Sources say she had provisions to keep her warm but no food, water or fresh supply of oxygen were available to her. She was found several days after the accident by a jogger who saw the collapsed cliff and reported it to the police. The teen’s parents died in a car accident involving a tree struck by lightning in 2008. Her aunt and legal guardian, Mary Waters, was devastated at the loss of her niece. The service is to be held this Saturday. She will be sorely missed.

So there you have it. My name was Lilly Waters and nature took first my parents, then me from the world much too early. But if there’s one thing I am glad of about my death, it is that I died with a photograph of my family in my arms.