kelsey

The Party

I wake up the next morning with no recollection of Danel visiting me. I go downstairs for breakfast and I am greeted by all my friends looking excited and yelling, surprise! There were banners and a cake on the table. Jacob, Sidney, Benjamin, Carla, and Daisie were there.

“Happy birthday, Kells.” Jacob was talking to me. In fact, last time I checked, he was avoiding me, just like the others.

“What in the world? What are you guys doing here?”

“We are celebrating your birthday of course.” Sidney answered truthfully.

We celebrate and I think nothing much of why they are really here. I try not to touch them too much because I can feel their heat absorbing into me and I can feel my skin burning like a fire. I know that if they don’t leave soon, I will burn them or worse. I ignore the fact that I don’t have my scarf to hide my ugly face and I ignore the looks they throw me when they think I’m not looking.

After the party, Mike and Sarah take me to get my driver’s permit. I get extremely nervous when I get in the car. Memories of the car incident flash in my mind and I have trouble starting the car. A nervous sweat starts to pour down my face and the driving instructor tries to calm me down. I finally calm down and manage to push the car incident to the back of my mind and I pass the test easily. It started to rain during the test and the instructor hands me some tissues and I realize I have been crying.

“You ok?” I nod my head glumly.

“I’m fine. It’s just that I haven’t been in the front seat of a car since before my parents died in a car wreck about three years ago.” They were showing me how to drive a couple of days before the incident. I was driving the lawnmower and I was doing a pretty good job until I had to back up.

“Oh, I can understand. My parents died in a car accident when I was pretty young. I had distracted my dad while he was driving and he didn’t see the other car in time. They passed on impact.”

“Sorry. I should get going now. Thank you so much.”

I left the instructor to his thoughts and went home.  Junior year had been over for a month now and I was excited to be able to finally stay home for weeks and not worry about homework or college.