Mistakes

Submitted into Contest #45 in response to: Write a story about change.... view prompt

68 comments

General



Wouldn’t it be amazing if we get to undo our life’s biggest mistake? This story is about a girl who got the opportunity to do so but the consequences weren’t that great.... 


It was a cold morning of the month of December. Everyone in the college seemed to be very anxious including me, after all, today we were going to find out that who will get the scholarship to the most prestigious law school? Even though I was quite sure that I will be one of them.


You must be wondering who am I? My name is Anna Millers. I always dreamt of becoming a lawyer, wearing a black coat, standing in front of the judge and protecting those people who were innocent. Coming from a middle class family,the first step to fulfill my dream was to get a final admit to the Harvard Law school with a full scholarship.


Every year the entrance exam for admission to Harvard Law college happens in 2nd week of November. Even though, I didn’t study all the topics as I was spending time with my new friend, Cara, still when I was in the examination hall, taking the exam, the questions seemed easy and I knew the answer to most of the them.


The D-day came and the result was displayed on the college notice board. I struggled to move forward, turning aside a bunch of students, to see my name and I couldn't believe. My name was not in the list. I was shell-shocked and realized that I failed the exam. Tears started to roll down my eyes. How was it possible? I am the best student in my school I thought. my body felt heavy and I dragged myself to somehow reach my home. As soon as I saw my mother, I hugged her and she said, “Let me guess, you failed the exam, right? “Yes, but how did you figured out?” I asked. She looked lovingly towards me and replied, “I saw you spending so much time with Cara and could see that you weren’t focusing on studies. You got complacent and thought that even without studying you can pass the exam but that will never happen.”


I burst into tears. I wanted to say something to her but couldn't. Seeing me like this she made me sit on the couch and said, “See Anna, in our life we make lot of blunders, some are big and some are small but we have to move on and try again. If you will keep on thinking that you failed, you will never be able to move on and there will be absolutely no chance that you will become a lawyer one day. There are so many other law schools which are also good and you can still apply." “Hmm you are right", I said. My mom passed me a smile. I continued, “But I want to ask you something. You said that we all have done mistakes right? so what is your life’s biggest mistake?”


She looked sideways and sadness floated on her face. I didn’t expect her to answer my question but she said, “Just like you want to become a lawyer, I always wanted to become a fashion designer. I could never muster courage to share my dream with my parents. After my 12th exams, one fine day after lot of hesitation, I told them that I want to become a fashion designer. My father got furious and forced me to get married. I wasn't brave enough to protest and I regret that till date".


Believe me your dad is not a bad person but my dreams were very precious to me. I always feel that if I had showed courage that day and protested then perhaps I could have applied for a fashion designing course. Who knows, I could have got selected and realized my dream of becoming a fashion designer. One should at least take a chance. But the damage is already done and all this is past now. I have moved on. Okay, let’s stop discussing about such depressing topics, go and get changed.


I felt very sad for my mom and she is right that I should move on. I decided that I will not give up. I will find a way to reverse what I did. I know it sounds insane but I searched on google that ‘How to reverse the biggest mistake of one's life?' but all I got on the internet was self awareness books and articles but eventually I saw a link with the heading ‘Click here if you want to reverse your life’s biggest mistake.’


I was skeptical that clicking on the link might crash my laptop but I still clicked. When the website opened, it was mentioned that ‘Write your life’s biggest mistake in the given box below’ and I did what it said. When I pressed enter, there came a reply that ‘Your mistake has been reversed’. But then I doubted that maybe this whole website is a scam as I didn’t notice any change in my life. Few days later,my phone rang up. When I picked up the phone, I could hear a female voice. She said, “I am talking from the Harvard Law School. We are sorry to reach you this late but there was a printing error, you have actually passed the exam and have got the full scholarship of Harvard Law School.” I was stunned. I didn't even say thank you to her and immediately disconnected the phone. I was sure that this happened because of the website and that’s when I thought about my mom. I thought that if my mom writes her mistake too then her mistake too will get reversed.


I immediately send that link to my mom and then after changing my clothes, I went downstairs. I saw my mom sitting in front of her desktop, she looked towards me and asked, “ have you sent this link to me? She continued,I have opened it and did what it said but what was it all about?”


“Mom, it’s a fantastic website. You know I wrote my biggest mistake in the box and guess what today I got a call saying that there was an error and I got the scholarship!”. She replied, “Really! That’s fab. I am so happy for you Anna.” I asked her, “What did you write?”. she replied, “I wrote that not becoming a fashion designer was my life’s biggest mistake.”

I told her that “I knew it that you will write that , now the website will reverse it and you will become a fashion argh....”


“What’s wrong Anna?” my mom asked looking a little concerned. I replied, “My whole body is feeling excruciating pain. Can you get me a glass of water?” I requested. “Sure”, after saying that my mom rushed to the kitchen and then suddenly my body started to pain even more intensely. That’s when the thought struck that if the website has reversed my mom's mistake and my mom has becomes a fashion designer. Then may be, my mom actually never married my dad and I was not born. That’s when I started to experience the changes. The interior of the house started changing. The house was tastefully done and filled with expensive furniture. But the most important change, my skin was getting lighter. I was disappearing.


In front of me emerged a dining table where my mom was sitting, wearing a beautiful dress, and in front of her was sitting a man, who was definitely not my dad. I could also see two kids sitting on side chairs. They were having dinner and were talking and laughing. I tried to call my mom but she couldn't hear my loud cries. I decided to go near her but my body became so feeble that every muscle in my body started to ache. I couldn't walk and fell on the floor. My skin was getting lighter and lighter and I disappeared....,,



June 11, 2020 00:36

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68 comments

Charles Ombuya
07:09 Jun 24, 2020

What a twist! Wonderful writing.

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Elsa Zhou
21:17 Jun 23, 2020

I liked the way this story ended, although tragic, because it shows that an often-glazed-over aspect of chasing our dreams: their consequences on the people around us. Although there were some grammatical errors throughout the piece, that is the easiest fix of all - you already have the biggest component already, which is a good story.

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Namya Seth
13:25 Jun 23, 2020

wonderful story .....................................ending is the best

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Batool Hussain
09:39 Jun 23, 2020

Beautiful! Mind checking my recent story? Thanks.

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Erin Rasnick
18:34 Jun 22, 2020

I absolutely loved this story. The ending had a great twist and you definitely get the details of Anna. Great work!

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17:30 Jun 19, 2020

Interesting concept, it's seem that every mistake has it's payment. Good one.

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Kathleen March
04:07 Jun 18, 2020

Quite a twist at the end. The story sounds ar first like an editorial or essay, but you turn it around with the web site. You might wish to revise grammar/spelling, but the gift of narrative is already clear.

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