Short Story

Mrs. Belden

Honors English 1

6 October 2014

A Memory Never to be Forgotten

As I walked around my nearly empty apartment my eyes stopped on a picture of Mackenzie and me in the cornfields of our parents farm.  Instantly memories of our days together there rushed back to me but one memory in particular, my favorite memory of all, one that I could never forget came to me like a lightning bolt shot down from the sky.

It was autumn down at our parent’s farm and the leaves were starting change color.  The warm sunlight shining down in between the tree’s dwindling leaves causing patches of light to appear on the ground in the day and the chill wind gliding across the grass and cornfields at night.  My twin sister Mackenzie and I were 5 and full of energy and life.  My mom used to always say that we could play all day outside with just each other and our imagination and she was right.  I still remember that on this particular day Mackenzie and I had spent hours outside imagining that we were ghosts and goblins chasing each other around the yard until we caught one another and started to play a new game.  It was getting late and the darkness of night was starting to descend upon us.  The only light in the sea of gray was the orange glow from the Jack-O-Lantern sitting on our front pouch.  Mackenzie and I knew we should probably go in but we were having too much fun to quit so we decided to play a little longer before we went inside.  I was chasing Mackenzie around the yard when she stopped under the big oak tree.  Wondering why she had stopped playing I quickly ran over to her and tried to see what she was looking at.  It was a rope tied around the middle of the tree several times and then ended in a tight knot.  The other end of the rope continued up the tree farther than we could see.  Mackenzie started to untie the rope.  When I asked her why she answered by using her imagination and saying it was a magical rope that had the power to make you invisible.  Then she asked for my help and since I also thought it would be a good prop to play with I started to untie the knot.

Right when the rope got loose and detached from the tree it shoot up the branch.  Mackenzie and I look up in amazement and thats when we saw the white blanket of death fall upon us. We instantly screamed with terror and ran towards the cornfields too shocked and scared to look back.  Running for it seemed like forever never stopping and the scenery never changing for it all looked the same in the endless cornfield.  Finally, Mackenzie and I started to slow down and thats when I decided to spot.

“May where are we?” Mackenzie asked, and thats when the terror hit me.  We were lost.

“I don’t know.” I answered honestly.  

“How could this happen” I thought.  It was getting dark and the wind had just started to pick up.  The only light in the dark blanket covering the sky was the full moon with the creepy orange glow.

“I’m scared” said Mackenzie.

“Me too”

We quickly got close to one another, dropped to the ground and stayed there.

“I wish mom was here,” I said and for awhile we just sat there.  Huddling with one another on the ground trying to get warm and wishing we were somewhere else.  All we could hear was the howling of the wind and the occasional call of a crow.  Then out of no where we heard a voice that sounded familiar.  First it was quiet then it started to get louder as if it were coming nearer.  I quickly shout to my feet.

“What is it May?” Mackenzie asked, “What’s wrong?”

“A voice, I heard a voice”

“Quickly Mackenzie get up!”

Mackenzie shot up and we both started to follow the voice.  All the way to an opening in the cornfield where our dad had cut down the corn the day before.  Once we got to the edge of the opening we saw what had made all the noise.  On the other side of the circle was a big creepy looking scarecrow and it was talking.

“Do you see what I see?” I asked.

“Yyeeess” said Mackenzie in a terrified voice.

Right then the scarecrow look towards us, it’s eyes burning into our souls with it’s death stare.

“Are you lost?!?” it asked in a raspy voice like nails on a chalkboard.

That’s when we started to go ballistic.  I tried to move but my feet were glued to the ground.

“Help!” I screamed.

“Hhheellpp”, Mackenzie yelled, “Help us!  There’s a creepy scarecrow and he’s trying to kill us!!”

Instantly after the words escaped Mackenzie's mouth the scarecrow started to burst with laughter and the familiar voice escaped from behind it saying “You guy’s are so easily scared.  Did you see your guy’s faces?  They were priceless.”

That’s when our brother came out from behind the scarecrow.

“It’s not nice to scare people John.  Mom always tells us that” Mackenzie said in a whiny voice.

“What are you doing here anyway?” I snarled.

“I came here to find you guys.  Mom and Dad have been looking for you everywhere so they forced me to go look for you guys against my will.  They said we would find you faster with more people looking.  When I found you guys I thought I would make it worth my while and scare you a little.”

“You’re such a jerk” I spat.

“And a meany,” Mackenzie add “We’re only 5 and that was not nice of you.”

“Whatever, you guys need to grow up.  Let’s go home before Mom and Dad get too worried.”

On or way home I couldn’t stop thinking about how relieved I was that someone had found us.” Even if it was just our mean jerk of a big brother.  I still loved him even though he can get on my nerves a lot.  When we finally got home me and Mackenzie raced into our mother’s warm arms happy to be home again in the warmth of our house.  That night we sat by the fire, drank hot cocoa, ate our favorite fall snacks, and had a great time enjoying being in out house on that chilly October night with our family safe and close.

I quickly snapped out of the trans.  Still smiling from the thought of the memory.This was one of my favorite memories of all time.  I loved Halloween and even though my brother scared me good that night I forgave him and had fun sitting by the firer with everyone close that chill night in October.  Now all of my family has passed, even my twin Mackenzie.  The only things that I have left of them is these memories of the time we spend together but even some of those will disappear with my age.  I know that this one memory won’t.  It’s too important to me.  How could I ever forget for some memories can last as long as you live.