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Personal Narrative Fiction

Decent Essays

There was an itch on my forearm. I reached over and dug my nails into a thick fabric. Confused, I opened my eyes and noticed that I was wearing an orange jumpsuit. The air was cold and smelled rotten. There were black metal bars covering three of the four walls that surrounded me. My head was pressed against a cream colored pillow that I assumed was once white. The hard cot left knots in my muscles.
I slowly sat up and felt something stab my upper thigh. I looked down and reached my hand inside my pocket. I grabbed ahold of the items and pulled them out. Scattering them across the cot, I examined what I had just found. There was a toothpick, a plane ticket and a pink hair bow. I picked up the toothpick and touched the point. The prick …show more content…

I was at the same place I was every night after work. I was seated in the same wooden stool with the same type of drink in front of me. There was a toothpick pierced through three green olives resting in my glass. The bartenders were familiar with me and never needed to ask me what I wanted to drink. A martini with a side of regret and anger every night.
I had an ex wife. We made a beautiful daughter and named her Elizabeth. She would wrap her tiny hand around my thumb and would try to gnaw on it. I would shake my thumb, causing laughter to bubble out of her. Her toothless smile was my happiness. Then one night, I made the worst mistake of my life, and it still haunts me.
It was my weekend with baby Elizabeth. I took her out for a night and then buckled her back up in her car seat. After our long drive home, I was so exhausted that I forgot baby Liz in the back seat of my car. She was there all night, with only a thin blanket over her. When I realized what I had done, I raced out to the car. I was greeted by two police officers. I looked over their shoulders at my car windows and noticed that they were frosted. I began to run forward but was pushed back by one of the officers. I shouted that I needed to get my daughter, but silenced myself when I noticed a man coming around the car holding Liz. He gave me a sympathetic nod and turned around and walked in the opposite direction. At that moment, I knew that I had lost my …show more content…

I moved on from the toothpick and fingered the edges of the ticket.
I pulled out two stubs from the pocket of my leather jacket and laid them on the counter beside my martini. I had this plan at the back of my mind, but that night, it was finally the right time. I would get my daughter and take her to this house I had in Colorado. I would finally get my sunshine back.
I walked up the stone steps that led to the white house. I tested the front door, finding it unlocked. I stumbled in the house, alcohol rushing through my bloodstream. I bumped into the wall and cursed about how loud I was being. And then a light flashed on.
My memory stopped again, so I moved over to my final clue of what happened the previous night. The pink bow.
It was lying on a wooden stand. I picked it up and smiled. It was my baby Liz’s. I slid in my pocket and continued down the hallway. I heard a creak behind me. There, standing with a baseball bat, was my ex

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