Personal Narrative

It is true in life that everything happens for a reason. It is also true to say that sometimes it is all about being in the right place, at the right time. There was never a more prominent example of this than a traumatic summers evening, only a few years ago.

There was also a small truck and a small bus that hit each other. They didn’t catch fire, but there was a body on the ground beside them. As soon as I saw it, there was a cold wave of recognition crashing through my body, making my vision sway as I realized, it was dead. No questions like why, how he died. Nothing. Just a frozen state of mind. My throat ached as I used every breath. There was less, and less oxygen remaining in the car. I dared to open the window. Warm fresh air mixed with a smell of burnt grass hit me in my face.

At two in the morning seven years ago, my nine year old self was jolted awake by my mother. Begrudgingly, I peeled my eyes opened and tried to blink the sleep away.

We stood there staring at each other, neither of us having a clue what the other was saying, for what felt like a really long time. Behind him I saw our tour guide, Pedro, and my friend Victoria walking around and I called out to them. I was so relieved, I felt like I could finally breathe again.

May 29 only comes once a year, and for me that day is one to look forward to all year. It marks not only my birthday, but also right around the end of school and the beginning of summer. This past year, for my 17th birthday, my friends and I thought it would be a great idea to go to the Rascal Flatts concert who were going to be in town on my birthday. They surprised me that morning and picked me up from my house to get breakfast. They had a whole day planned of fun things to do before we went to the concert. We ended up hanging out out all day, going to Kitaro for dinner, and then heading off for the concert.

I can still hear the quiet dripping of rain when I awoke on the morning before the accident. The sun was barely breaking through my window's blinds with a yellow and gold glow when I opened my eyes. Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was 8am, and my family was going to a church service as was their usual routine. After dragging myself out of bed and dressing the part, I headed to the kitchen to eat. Steaming stacks of chocolate chip pancakes drizzled with hot maple syrup awaited me.

It was a nice evening with my family, my father was at home too, which was a rareness because of his busy job. We were having dinner and watching a TV. The evening news started. I heard they were reporting about an awful accident on the

My heart suddenly dropped and I closed my eyes as soon as possible shouting out NO. I reached my hand out and reversed time back to when we were laying on the train tracks. I stood up as soon as I realized what had happened and my nose was bleeding, I felt faint.

The tires made an eerie screeching noise when we came to a halt. As I sat there in shock, I remember my brother screaming my name to see if I was okay and conscious. I answered in fear and pain knowing that I was seriously hurt. I originally thought that we were going to be in an astronomical amount of trouble by my parents, although they were just glad nothing was fatal. All I could think about was how this could end my softball years.

On Monday, Kate was waiting in front of the school for Marylin, campaign posters in hand. The second Kate sees Marylin she hands her the posters she’s made with the help of her father, who has done a lot of campaign work.. After looking over the posters, Marylin says she loves them. Kate had done a much better job than Mazie could have ever done. Marylin was actually so excited that she forgot about the pain of telling Mazie that Kate was going to be her campaign manager. Now she would have to. Slowly Marylin trekked toward Mazie’s locker. Turns out Mazie wasn't at all amused. She couldn't wrap her head around that fact that Marylin had chosen Kate for her campaign manager. As embarrassed as Mazie was she still played the situation off, telling

All the steam locomotives were being fired up for the day’s work. The Tom Thumb locomotive was pulling out of the shed to take a load of passengers up to Western Springs and back. Big old locomotive 128 was building steam and waiting for the turntable to be pointing its way. The big locomotive puffed out of the sheds and onto the turntable where it was turned and backed down onto its passenger train. The Tom Thumb was just pulling out of the station blowing its shrill whistle when all of a sudden it derailed beyond the switch track. Locomotive 128 just had started its journey and was gaining speed. Nobody was to now what happened next. People in the passenger cars jumped as the train applied its brakes. But it was too

“Life isn’t all cupcakes and sprinkles’….this sentence stuck with me until now, it made me remember why I don’t see the world as I used to. My mother had told me this simple sentence when I was a 10-year old, the day my delusional 10-year old eyes were pried open to the awful truth. This day showed me that I was a really good baker, but also, it taught me a lesson. Life wasn’t fair, no matter what you do. That day I was awoken with extremely strong emotions. Happiness ran through my veins.

“Why are we going to ride the train mom?” Carl inquired, “Because, this train will take you and me to where we belong” The train sluggishly pulled up to the station and they quickly boarded, and took their seats at the back of the train coach. Only when they had taken their seats did she come to the striking and sudden realization that she was now a homeless, and single mother, with a pitiful amount of money. How could I be foolish enough to believe I could do this? She thought about turning back, but she knew this was the best thing for her and Carl. The coach gradually filled, and the train doors closed. As the train slowly pulled away from the station and started to gather speed they sighed from exhaustion, and settled down for the long journey

The train came to a stop with brakes screeching loudly, I jumped up alert when I heard that. I remembered that the war was over and It was just the train so I settled back down.

When my parents got there, I ran out to the car and they told me we were going to my uncle’s house. The car ride there was silent, because nobody knew what to say. We got