In the End

It all started that fateful summer night. My older brother Brandon had just graduated from Fairfield High School. Him and his friend Tyler decided to go out and party and drink to celebrate there so called “freedom” from what they thought was a stuffy jail cell that looked as if it was built a thousand years ago. It was about three in the morning when the phone rang once then twice than a third time until my father answered the phone. Brandon and Tyler were involved in an accident was all we were told. When my parents and I arrived at the hospital we learned the cold truth.

Brandon and Tyler had been underage drinking heavily. When they both decided it was time to go home, Tyler thought that he was way too intoxicated to drive so they decided that it was best for Brandon to drive even though he was just as intoxicated as Ty. Traveling at a high-speed, they came around the dark bend at the top of the hill not knowing that there was a car coming the other way. In that other car was Chase Alander. Within a split second it happened. Nothing has ever been the same since that night.

Still weeks after the accident, the newspaper headlines still read “Local Football Star, Brandon Meyers Involved in Deadly Drunk driving Accident”. Tyler moved away that summer with his family and Brandon felt like the world was over. Not only was his lifepractically over but it ruined mine alone with my parents

My perfect life went from being that popular cheerleader with blonde hair, blue eyes and practically everything perfect to being a complete outcast that no one noticed. Life was horrible. No one ever talked to me. My so called “friends” wouldn’t even give me the time of day. I felt like a nobody.

It was the start of senior year. So far it wasn’t going at all how I thought I would. I went to school every day dressed in the same skinny jeans, hoodie and flip-flops. I was still cheering but it was so pointless that I’ve thought about quitting because no one says anything to me. It’s kind of like I’m just there and no one really cares. Day by day I go from class to class and talked to literally no one. As I walked through the halls I got quite use to the snarky comments and the dirty looks I got from everyone. It was like I was an alien that no one wanted around. It was one thing getting the looks and stuff but when people started putting note in my locker all I wanted to do was crawl up in a ball and cry.

After history class I walked to locker to go put away some of my books. When I opened my locker and neatly folded note with loser written on the front fell out. I picked it out and started to read:

Dear Ally,

I hope you’re happy with everything you and your family has done. You are nothing to this world and you should just disappear. No one wants you’re around. You are a waste of spaces and air. I hope that one day you can feel the pain of how me and my family now feel because of your family. Consider this a warning and drop of the face of the earth.

Yours truly,

K.A



Kristi Alander was Chase Alanders little sister. Me and Kristi were best friends from the kindergarten all the way up until the accident. We were cheerleaders and played softball together. She was always over at my house. We were practically sisters until the day of the accident when she completely cut me out of her life. I crumpled the letter as soon as I finished reading and threw it in my bag. I fell to the ground, tears pouring out of my eyes. For those minutes that I sat there it felt as if everyone in the world wanted me gone.

When I got home later that night I decided not to tell my mom about the letter only because I know her and I know how she just loves to worry about literally anything and everything. As I walked through the living room into the kitchen I saw my mom standing there cooking dinner like she has every day since the accident. She thinks that every since that night that we should all spend time together as a family.

“Hey honey! How was school?” said mom.

“School was school.” I replied.

“Really, anything interesting happen?” said mom as she stood there holding a piece of chicken covered in this very strange green substance.

“Nope, nothing. It went like it always does but I have a lot of homework so I’ll be upstairs if you need me.” I replied again.

“Oh, ok I will call when dinner is ready” mom said in an excited tone.

Why she was always excited about “family” dinner was beside me. I mean it wasn’t even really family diner. It was always so awkward. Mom would sit there and try to get everyone to talk about their day. My dad would sit there quietly trying his best to hide the fact that he was working on his phone the whole time. That’s all my dad ever did. He was either out of town on business or at the office working. I usually just sat there and pushed around the nasty broccoli and whatever else was on my plate just so I didn’t have to talk or look at anyone. Sometimes my brother Brandon would try to talk to me but I usually just looked up and shook my head.

After dinner that night while I was upstairs in my room I heard a knock on the door. It was Brandon. As he walked in he had a piece of crumpled up paper in his hand. This was a rare thing for us. After the accident he and I rarely even looked at each other so talking was extremely rare.

“What’s up with this?” he said in a calm tone.

“What do you mean?” I said nervously.

“You know what I mean. I mean this letter.” He said

“Oh, what about it? It’s really nothing. Some kind of joke I bet” I said about to burst into tears.

“Ally I know me and you haven’t really had the best relationship every since the accident but you’re still my little sister and I still will protect you at any cost. This letter isn’t a joke and you really need to figure out who this letter is from,” he said in a demanding tone.

“I know who it’s from already but don’t act like you’re my big brother who’s going to protect me from everything because we both know that won’t happen” I said quietly.

“Then who did this? And what do you mean?” he said.

“Kristi Alander. And if you were going to protect me you should never have gotten in that car with stupid Tyler! Get out of my room and leave me alone forever!” I screamed.

Crying into my knees on my bed, Brandon came over and wrapped his arms around me and said “Look, the past is the past. I know what I did destroyed the Alander family and our family. I know it ruined your life with school and everything. If there is nothing that cantake back what happened. Trust me if there was something out there to fix it I would have found it already but I can’t. But even after everything you are still my little sister and I will always do whatever I have to in order to protect you from anything and everything. I think if you and Kristi maybe talked about everything that happened that maybe that will help things,”

He let go and started walking towards the door. “It’s just a thought, think about it for me,” he said as he walked out into the dark hallway.

I layed there and at first thought that he was crazy to think that she would ever want to talk to me about anything. But the more and more I thought about it I started thinking maybe he was right. Maybe this was a good idea.

It was about midnight when I finally decided what I needed to do. I pulled out my laptop and went on my Facebook for the first time since the accident. I just ignored all the hundreds of comments that were written all over my wall. I went on Kristi’s wall and typed:

“I kno u probably want nothing 2 do with me or my family but I think it’s a good idea that me and u have a face to face conversation about everything tht has happened. If u r up to this meet me at my locker before 1st period”

As I hit enter I started wondering if what I just did was a good idea or not. O well I thought to myself. What else could go wrong? I didn’t sleep that night at all because of how worried I was about if she actually would show up or not.

The next day as I pulled into the senior parking lot, my hands were a purplish color and would not stop shaking. As I walked through the hall I could see everyone looking at me as usual but it was different today. Everyone just looked like big blobs of colors. All I could see today was me and Kristi standing my locker. I was shocked she actually showed up.

As I walked over to the locker she looked up from her cell phone and looked at me and said “What do you want?”

I answered “All I want is something to go back to normal. Now listen and hear me out before you say anything please,”

“Go ahead” she said

“Ok I know that my brother made the biggest mistake of his life when he got in that car drunk. There was no reason he had to do that but he did it. He was being stupid and made a mistake. We are all human and we all make mistakes. This was a huge one and I know it, he knows it, everyone knows it. I am not asking for you to forgive what my brother did because honestly I never will be able to forgive him myself. What I’m asking is for you to understand just how truly sorry I am and my family is for what has happen. Is there any way that we could maybe move on, not forget but move on ahead with our lives?” I said to her in a begging tone.

She said “Honestly, this all I wanted. I wanted you to come and address what happened. The only reason I was upset was because you always acted as if it never happened and it seemed to me that you didn’t even want to admit that something really messed up happened,”

“The only reason I never said anything was because I was afraid to see you and your families reactions. I am really sorry. If I would have known this I would have said something a long time ago,” I said.

“It’s fine; I understand why you would be scared. How about this lets just put this behind us and move on with our lives. Neither of us wants to spend our senior years like this,” said Kristi.

“That sounds amazing to me” I said so happy that I wanted to start jumping around full of excitement.

“Good, I’m glad were cool again. I missed having my best friend in my life” Kristi said.

“Me too darling me too” I said.

Me and Kristi hugged and walked to class together just like we would have if that night never would have happened.

Kristi and I have the best relationship now. Eventually both of our families talked and everything was worked out. My senior year from that time on went perfect. I made homecoming court and Kristi won prom queen. It’s weird to think that something so small as just talking about something could change something so drastically. All I know is that it is easier to talk out my problems then try to hide from them.