Kaitlyn: A Short Story

My name is Kaitlyn Hoopingarner, and I am a senior at West High School. Sioux City, Iowa has been my home for my whole life. At West High, I am involved in multiple activities: varsity wrestling cheer, robotics, and theatre. In addition to my school activities, I also paint, crochet, and play video games. I plan to attend Iowa State University to major in Computer Science. My birthday is July 25th, and Christmas is December 25th; so, my birthday is "Christmas in

They took a sharp turn over a some railroad tracks and the back door flew open. Jeannette rolled out of the car, she rolled many yards on the embankment. When she came to a stop, she was too shocked to cry and she all bloody and scraped up. She called herself a burden, and said they could do fine without her. When her family turned around and came screeching to a halt, her dad got out of the car, knelt down, and tried to give Jeannette

over night Adrian flew to Des Moines, got into the airport's terminal around half an hour before midnight and waited for his morning connecting flight. Him and Ronela were exchanging text messages throughout the night. During the wee hours of the morning, it seemed to him like everyone had left the place, the place was deserted, a ghost town where my son (16 years old) was left completely alone in the terminal..when the temperature dropped..., "I was very cold, I put on everything I had, my sweater and jacket, hat and still was very cold"said Adrian. At a time a lonely janitor passed by and " I tried to talk to him" He said to me through the phone "where is everybody?" Adrian asked him, "I don't know" was his only answer. It's hard to believe, as a father it brakes my heart, no one cared, no one looked around to see a 16 years old boy left there by himself, everybody went home or in their own cocoon... I would expect in a situation like that, someone should have looked around, ask about his whereabouts, put him in a lounge or a smaller room with some other people. How would you feel having someone close to you completely worried, isolated and scared... not to mention this boy is my son. I was heart broken and very sad...

Soon after that dark but vivid experience, I found out some heartbreaking news. Her name was Tayloor’ Shae’ Johnson. She and I were so close that you could barely tell us apart. She helped me with all of my problems and everything that I was dealing with. Since my first grade year and her third-grade year, we have always been together. Then she had to move to Montana with her dad, because of family issues with her mom and step-dad. After proceeding off the airplane and getting in the car she was on the way to her father’s house when instantly an eighteen-wheeler truck impacted the car. Tayloor’ was immediately rushed to the hospital. The doctors didn’t know what else to do. She later was

I’m sorry that I haven’t written sooner, but as you know, my wife, Patsy died on July 21. Her last two months were pure agony. As her primary care giver, I could hardly stand to watch her suffer.

I got a call one cold, dreary winter night as I was laying beneath the covers on my bed while watching Greys Anatomy. As the phone rang, I didn’t care to answer but the second I hit accept I heard my mother on the other line in a panic. I didn’t think much of it because my mother was the type of person to over exaggerate the little things such as not putting your drink on a coaster. As I waited in silence to hear what my mother said, I could hear my dad screaming in the background. That’s when my mother told me to come to the hospital that something atrocious had happened to my sister. I dropped the phone to the floor and scrambled to the door leaving it wide open. When I got there, I walked up to the front desk as I stumbled walking in. The lady at the counter led me to my sisters room which felt like a million miles away. As I approached my sisters room, I saw the consternation in my mother 's eyes, and the way my dad was refusing to leave the hospital room but being dragged out by some of the doctors. As I looked through the window to where Bria’s body was, I saw it

As he shoved his luggage into his overhead bin, he took a seat with exhaustion. Remembering all the memories they've had at their grandparents house, when they were little. Now today would be the day to relive all those fun and exciting memories, thought Jamerson. Jamerson knew he could be able to show his Grandma Judy and Grandpa Jona, all the things he's learned from his practices in football, soccer, and basketball. Kaitlyn had finally gotten a flight attendant to come over by her. Kaitlyn began to speak, “Mrs, by any chance do you have wifi on here I could connect to?” The flight attendant Carrie had said, “I'm sorry ma'am we don't, is there anything else I can get you?” Kaitlyn didn't say anything, she sat there in disappointment. Ugh,

There was once a girl who would always ditch school even though she was very good at every subject. But she would always go to a baseball field to practice for her softball game. She was very good at it, she knew she was good at it. But she never thought she was as good as she really is. Her name is Brianna Lopez, she is 15 years old, and very beautiful!

Kaitlyn’s’ education has never been defined by grade level, and she was allowed to progress as needed. However, every state that we have resided in has required annual standardized testing of home school students. Therefore, her achievement levels were measured by a professional tester approved by the state, and a nationally normed standardized test was administered in the Fall and Spring of each school year.

15-year-old Davey feels so alone after her father is shot to death at his convenience store in Atlantic City, N.J. Part of that reason is because of their relationship. They had a healthy, trustworthy father-daughter relationship. After he was murdered, everything started to go downhill. She was fearful of the people who shot her father, and if they would come back and shoot her and the rest of her family. Davey began showing symptoms

This is the time my best friend died. It’s sad for me, so please (and I don’t use this word often) don’t talk about it. It’s a little hazy, so this is all I remember.

It was the day of Allie’s funeral and I wasn’t going. I mean I would’ve, it’s not like I wasn’t invited and all, but I was just in the hospital. I had broken my hand when I smashed all those stupid windows in the garage. But none of that matters anyway, Allie was dead and he was never coming back. Mom had come in to my room this morning all dressed in black and she just held on to me and started crying. She said, “It’ll get better before you know it Holden”. I just smiled and let her hold me, but I knew she was lying. I hated her a little for saying that. She and I both knew it would take a long time before anything got better. After letting go of me and wiping her face with a tissue

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was driving to Mount Shasta with my friend, Marley, and her parents for the weekend. It was about a four-and-a-half-hour car ride full of two eight year olds giggling in the back of the car and two parents blasting Disney radio in the front seats. Marley’s mom’s phone rings and she picks it up as we continue to sing our young hearts out to the Jonas Brothers. All of a sudden my friend and I hear her mother shriek with a pain we have never heard before. Her mother cries out, with tears bursting uncontrollably from her eyes. Marley and I go silent and wide-eyed with shivers down our spines. We had never seen a grown up act this way. She hits her husband’s bicep repeatedly rocking back and forth in her passenger seat screaming, “WHY!” Her husband is in the driver’s seat and he is pale. He is repeatedly yelling at his wife “What happened?” getting louder and louder. We are swerving off the highway to pull over and she yells “Dean died!” My friend and I look at each other. We didn’t know a Dean. The father forces his weight on the brake as we enter the shoulder of the highway, we jolt forward as our seatbelts lock. Marley’s mother immediately gets out and crawls into a fetal position on the curb. Her husband gets out of the driver’s seat and walks onto the highway, unfazed by the cars passing him on the freeway. Her parents talk for what felt like hours to us children sitting silently in the back

I believe parents want kids to do better, but still understand their struggle or appreciate how hard it was for them to raise them. The problem arises when may the younger generation is perceived entitled or selfish. Also we should keep in mind that often older generations usually physically worked harder to bring home the bacon. I don't think that the baby boomers could have predicted the day when adolescence would make hundreds or thousands of dollars from Youtube as a Youtuber. Could it be the baby boomers unconsciously are upset that the new generation has it easier- in the sense of alternate ways of making a living? Or maybe, the baby boomers want more structure in their children's lives to prepare them for the worse.

“God, I miss you so much Kris,” Analeigh Remington whispered softly, standing in front of her twin sister’s headstone. Tears were quickly falling and mascara was running down her pale face as a sob escaped her lips. She didn’t attempt to hide the tears and she definitely didn’t care how she looked. Nothing really mattered. Her sister was dead! She looked up at the sky and shook her head before sitting down on the bright green grass. “I... I just want you back,” Ana cried. The fifteen year old brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs and rocking back and forth as gut wrenching sobs escaped. Today was the one day every year that she would break down without fail. Usually. Usually she was able to make it home before