Take me home

The Wisconsin and Jackson real, but the events were made up. I hope you enjoy it anyway. :) 

I looked around a deserted village, my eyes falling on our family’s farm. I used to love farm animals, horses especially. I looked at the broken trampoline. “About time it broke,” I thought. It had held many memories, but now, it seemed like it was all……..gone. Everything was gone. 

There was no sign of life in this deserted place. Without a sign of anything, there was no sign of hope. I looked around again, thinking of all the fun times we’ve had here. Water balloon fights, rope pulling, The Annual Parents vs. Kids Olympics, and just jumping around on the trampoline. When I was still a kid, I had named our jumpy surface Tramp the wish trampoline. It was later just Tramp, the name shortened by my little brother. 

I was born in Jackson, Wisconsin to a wonderful family. One that mattered to me more than anything else. I’ve always thought of this place as a fairy tale land, riding my pony White Snow around and saving princesses. Everyone thought I had too much of an imagination, pretending to be a prince even when I was a girl. I never thought of myself that way, in my world, I was the brave one, helping the ones in need. Every afternoon, I would go onto our trampoline, throwing a wish in there, then covering it with water, thinking that if I dissolved the whole paper, my dream would come true. 

18 years ago

Panting from running, I told my mom the news. “Guess what?” I asked. “What?” said my mother, kissing me on the cheek. “We have a field trip to Jhonny’s Apple Orchard next Monday!” “The one beside our farm?” “Yep! Can you sign my permission form?” “Sure honey!” And there I went. The apple orchard was really cool, displaying apples of many kinds, almost like an apple museum. I’d promised myself to one day come back again, back to Jhonny’s. 

Back to now

At first I didn’t know about Hurricane Jessica, the way it wiped out everything in the way like tushie wipes, including my closest friends, family, and animals. As soon as I saw the news the day after, I ran outside and called a cab as soon as I could, hoping to find my family alive and well. Once I got in, the driver asked where to go, and all I could think of was, “Take me home.” The driver seemed to understand my need for peace and quiet, so he didn’t talk to me unless he was asking if he should turn left or right. The driver was pretty nice, considering the thought that he drove overnight without complaining to himself, and shutting up the whole way there. 

Once I finally arrived, everything was gone, the house was torn, the grass was left in little patches, our farm was shredded into chunks and pieces, and the family car was on its trunk, rocking back and forth. I tried to go inside our house, but the front door was stuck. Just then, I felt like Jhonny’s Apple Orchard was the only place left to go. 

As I walked under the sign that was now only inches away from my head, I noticed something very, very wrong. The trees were bare, there were no leaves on there, no apples either. I looked around the ground, hoping to find some apples. I didn’t find any, but what I did find was pretty shocking. Something poked out from the ground. It looked like a bottle, but at the same time, it was a box. I dug it out and opened the weird-looking container. Inside, a piece of paper was yellowing. The pirate map paper wrote a message that I didn’t think was meant to be understood. I sat down on the muddy surface to try to read the letter. A few minutes later, I finally cracked the code. “Come back here when I am older.” I knew exactly who wrote it. I did. I had promised myself to come back here, and I did, but I didn’t expect to be alone except for a nice taxi driver who was patiently waiting in the cab. Just then, I heard my name. I turned around, expecting to see the driver calling my name, but he was staring at his phone, and looked like he’s been doing that for the past few hours. 

I walked cautiously towards the apple museum, taking every step lightly. In the little space, there was not one, but two members of the Chase family! Which was, my family. The two survivors were Skye, my little sister, and Reig, my little brother. “Callie!” they both screamed at the same time. “Where’s Mom and Dad?” I asked, looking around. Skye started to cry. In between sobs, she told me that our parents had promised to meet them here, and that they were getting food and clothes for them, but they never arrived. I understood why my parents had sent my siblings here. Mr.Jhonny had always taken extra good care of his museum, so he got the finest metal for the roof and walls. I picked Skye up one arm. Hurricane Jessica was fierce, but I wasn’t going to let her ruin the rest of my family. With my free arm, I held Reige’s little hand in mine, and walked out of the apple orchard. In the cab, I told my sister how only three years ago, I was in the hospital, watching Mom give birth. After I finished, the little angel was sound asleep, snoring lightly. I hugged my brother.  “What is your most prized possession?” I asked. “I like my Lightining Mcqueen car. It goes zoom, zoom!” he replied, showing how fast it was. “We have a Target beside my apartment, do you want another one?” He nodded. I loved my 6-year-old brother. 

Back at the apartment, I carried Skye into my room, it was pretty big, so we could probably fit three people in. In the living room, I had invited the taxi driver to some coffee. Reig was playing happily with his new toy. The driver had driven me from the night before to now. I gave him cash for the payment, including a tip of 500 dollars just for his good sport. That night, I decided to break the news one at a time to my siblings, and to take care of them until I don’t have to. I’m only 20-years-old, you know. 

I feel good about my decisions, Skye and Reig are going to school now so I can spend more time with my boyfriend, and I fulfilled my dream of going back to the apple orchard, so I feel like my life is just about perfect. Hurricane Kailey is coming soon, and this time, my family’s staying with me.