Not So Perfect

Living in such a picture perfect world means that there is going to be flaws at some time or another. It will not stay that same forever, it may a small mishap or a large accident, but something is going give that perfect a turn around if a person chooses it or not. It may not even come from depending if a person is good or bad; they could have a great family with parents who love them and friends who are so kind, but something is going to throw a spin on the once thought of as a “perfect” life.

Kylee Jones, had the most wonderful family and life around her, that she could have ever asked for. She was 17 years old and had lived in Malibu, California where the days were always sunny, the waves were always crashing, the the sun was always nices and warming. Kylee’s dad worked as a lawyer and her mother as a chef in a nice resturant in the city; even though the jobs may have sounded very busy, they always made time to see their little princess. Even though her and her family had much money, there were always looking for ways to use it in a good cause. Giving to charity, going to fundraisers, anything they could do to help; although Kylee still used the money to buy what every other girl would want—shoes and clothes!

At school, go figure she was the popular one; not for being some skanky little slut like other steriotypical shows and movies, but because of how gorgeous and down to earth she was. Everybody loved her, teachers, friends, boys; she was reserved though, with the best boyfriend she could have ever asked for—Brandon Schmit; football star, had a college scholarship all lined up; she could have asked for nothing more, her life was simply the best.

All that changed the night she went to the biggest party of the year. She was never a bad kid who constantly partied and got drunk, but at this party the peer pressure had gotten to her and one drink was consumed. She was perfectly fine after; able to think clearly, see perfectly, and was still the wholesome girl she was. When her curfew was getting closer she asked her best friend Amber to take her home, seeing she had come with her and had no other way home. Her friend was the opposite of her, she had a bit too many drinks but refused to give her the keys. As much as she wanted to rip them out of her hands, she new nothing good would come out of it. She got in the car nervously, but trusted that they would be ok.

As they were driving home, something terrible happened. Her friend had gone through the end of a yellow light right as it turned to red. Zooming through the light, the oppiste traffic started to go, but the very first car had to swerm immediately because of Kylee’s car being in the way. The one car that happened to swerve away mistakely turned and hit the rails, stopping all traffic. When Kylee pulled up at her house, she took concern of what had just happened a few minutes ago and decided to take the keys from Amber—making the decision that she was going to stay the night, it was no longer safe for her to drive. Because it was so late, she gently tiptoed up to her room with Amber in her arms- with the thought that her parents were soundly sleeping. When the two girls arrived in her properly clean room, Kylee placed Amber on her floor very carefully, covering her with a blanket or two. So disrupted by what happened at the stop light, Kylee thought that she must go back and see what the total damge was, thinking “was this my fault? Did I cause the accident”. She would have never left a friend alone in her room, but she was clearly passed out and would not wake up unti later that morning.

Within moments she was back in her car and on her way back to the disaster scene. As she appear could not even take in what she was seeing in front of her eyes. Glass shattered all over the road, she carefully parked her car and stepped out. She walked slowly and carefully, faintly aware of her where-abouts. getting as close to the police line that she could. Ambulances, firetrucks, police cars—lights flashing as bright as day. With a quick glance she saw the car smashed, and was currently being sawed open, there must have been people in the car. The stretcher arrive and even though she tried incredibly hard to see who the person was or if she even knew who they were, she couldn’t. Then a second stretcher and a second person came to, and left the car. Wheeled over to the ambulance and then sent on their way. She reflected a while, wiping her  eyes and cheeks, then scooted to the front, walking tentatively and checking the road for glass pieces.  Denial had already come to her. Was she the one who had really done this? Granted, she was only sitting in the passenger seat, but her mind had told her it was ok for Amber to drive home. At last,When she could witness nothing else, she gathered herself leaving fast.   At last, Devastated, she dreadfully went back to her car and drove off, to return home, snuggle up in bed and wait for morning to arrive.

As she rolled over, awakened by the sun shining through her window, she noticed her friend was already awake, sitting on her laptop reading tumblr. She looked at Amber, and told her everything she had seen the past night. Amber stopped and listened unbelieving what she had told her, thinking the exact thing Kylee, it could not have been them, they just drove home and may have passed through a red light but they were just fine. Werent they? A nock was heard at the front door, “mom!!! Dad!!!”, Kylee called for her parents but no one went to the door, she figured they must have gone on a morning run or went to the coffe shop down the road. Quickly getting from her room to the foyer, she opened the front door to see a police officer.

“Yes sir? May I help you?”- Kylee asked very confused.

“Kylee Jones?”

“Yes?”

“I am sorry I have to tell you very unforturnate news about your parents, last night a driver ran a red light, and when your parents accelerated on the gas, they had to quickly swere out of the way from the driver, and crashed into the edge rail and…”

“AND WHAT??? Tell me now!”

“I am sorry to say but when they crasehd the impact of the car smashing so fast that both of your parents were killed on the spot”.

Tears instantly ran from her eyes, hitting the ground like balls after shooting a basket. She couldn’t believe it, no she yelled at the officer, he must have had the wrong people. Her parents were just on their morning run.

“I’m sorry, but they never came home last night, we don’t know who ran the red light, and there was no eye-witnesses to catch a licence plate, again I am very sorry that I had to tell you this.”
            “Well thank you officer for coming by, I appreciate it, have a good day now.”

“You too”, as the officer walked away.

“Amber, Amber… it was us, we were the ones who killed my parents, the red light. Oh my goodness, I killed my own parents. What am I ever going to do? Who will I live with? How am I ever going to get through the rest of my life living with this guilt?”  Amber took her in her arms and they sat for over an hour, not saying anything but constantly shedding tears.

When Amber finally had to go home, Kylee sat thinking again. This was not really her fault. The driver should be the one paying attention to the road, not the passenger. Yeah, she let her drive, but Amber seemed to have fine orientation of where she was going. Denial ran through her body as fast as a cougar runs through the jungal. But, in the end she had nothing anymore. Who was the first person to contact? Her aunt maybe, living in Montana. Even though she dreaded moving anywhere from the place she loved, nothing was left for her to do. After talking to her aunt and explaining the whole thing to her boyfriend, everyone agreed that she could stay with Brandon to finish her senior year out, and then she would stay with Aunt for the rest of her college years.

As her life went on, she cried everyday at school, when she got home, she even dropped out of the thing she had the most passion for—cheerleading. The thought always occurred in the back of her mind that it was her, the killing of her parents was all on her and because of it she would never see them again, until it was her turn to walk through the golden gates of heaven and meet them there. 

Mimic Lines from: To Build A Fire-real lines

1.    He worked slowly and carefully, keenly aware of his danger.

2.    He relfected awhile, rubbing his nose and cheeks, then skirted to the left, stepping gingerly and testing the footing for each step.

3.    At last, when he could endure no more, he jerked his hands apart.