The Silence Before the Scream

The Past

I had amazing friends and the perfect boyfriend. I was popular. I had a pretty tight family. I had a job. I had good grades. Everything was perfect.

And then it wasn't.

It all changed 7 months ago. My little sister Rose and I were on the school bus, heading home after a long, stressful day of school. Everyone was happy to sit with their friends and finally get away from that hell-hole for the day. I remember sitting with my best friend Alice in the last seat at the back of the bus, because that's where the cool kids sat. Rose was sitting in front of me, excitedly talking to my boyfriend, Jason, about something that had happened in class that day. I remember laughing at a joke Alice was telling, but I didn't find it that funny because I was too distracted by the gut-wrenching pain in the pit of my stomach, slowing flooding through my body. I remember glancing nervously out the window and making eye contact with a semi-truck's headlights, opening my mouth and screaming for everyone to move away from the right side of the bus. I remember pulling my sister out of her seat and shoving her into somebody else's on the other side of the bus, just as the semi crashed into the right side of the bus. I remember the pain shooting through my body as shards of glass anchored themselves into my skin. I remember the split second I made eye contact with Rose, stuck in slow-motion as the impact from the semi made the bus tip over. I remember everybody screaming, but it all seemed quiet until her mouth opened and screamed my name right as the bus's side met the ground and her head hit the glass with a loud thud. And then she was quiet. Her silence over-powered the loud screams erupting from everyone else. At first I thought she was in shock, but she was too still. Too quiet. And then I felt it. The over-whelming sadness washed over me like a tidal wave as I realized that she was gone. Then the thoughts came, like how if I hadn't moved her into that seat, she'd be alive. She'd be screaming with the rest of them. She'd be in pain, but not dead. Then, everything went black.