Short Story Sunday-#1

Life's Movie

   I don't know what happened. A man just came into my living room and I heard a bang and felt pain in my chest seconds later. My vision has gone blurry now and I can't see a thing. The man stomps out of the room and slams the door behind him. I'm crumpled on the ground now, just staring into space. I can't feel the pain anymore or even my damp clothes sticking to my body with blood. My vision slowly fades to black, but as soon as it's completely dark, it flashes a bright light and a scene forms.

    I'm standing in front of a tall brick building holding someone's hand. I look up the person's arm to my mother's loving face. "Mother, I don't want to go," I whisper. She looks down at me with those beautiful brown eyes.

   "Baby, you'll love it. I promise." She squeezes my hand as pair of glass doors open in front of me. She gives me an encouraging nudge. "Go on. It'll be fun." I take a deep breath, let go of my mother's hand and step inside my first school. The vision swirls and goes blurry.

   When it clears up, I'm standing on a stage. I look out to the crowd, searching for a face I might recognize. I see my best friend sitting next to my family. They wave to me with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. I stand up straight and smooth out my shirt before starting my speech.

   "Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for coming to see our fifth grade play as an ending to our year and our wonderful experience at this school. Next year we will go to the middle school. Now, without further ado, here is what you have been waiting for! The fifth grade presents...The Jungle Book!" I bow and slip off stage with a roar of applause following me. That was my first play and my first step out of being so shy. Again the scene blurs and spins around.
   Now, I'm sitting at a lunch table in the middle school with all my 7th grade friends surrounding me. They pass gifts wrapped in pretty paper my way. Most have a card that say, "Happy birthday!" but one doesn't. I open that one first. It's a gift card to Barnes and Noble on top of another gift card for Starbucks. I know exactly who this one is from.
   I jump up and run to the person, yelling, "Thanks Bobby! You know how much I love to drink coffee while reading books!" After I finish opening all the presents, we leave the lunch room. That was the only time I had gotten presents from my friends during school. As I walk out of the lunch room to my next class, feeling like royalty, I notice a beautiful face in the crowd, that soon becomes my first crush. The scene blurs again.

   I go through all the important events in my life. A car crash in my first car, that leaves me with 17 stitches and a broken wrist. My senior prom and getting an acceptance letter from a college. Then my graduation and finding true love in a coffee shop after a long hard day of college. I hold a baby in my arms, then I take her to her first day of school. Before I know it, she's graduating high school and leaving for college. I get a phone call that she's coming home for the holidays and I jump for joy. Then a man walks into my living room.
   After that last scene, I peel my eyes open, ever so slowly. I see a face looking down at me. A Christmas tree stands crooked in the comer of the room. My daughter leans over me with her golden hair falling to the ground around me. Tears roll down her face and she seems to be screaming something. But I can't hear her. I can't talk. I can't tell her how much I love them. I can't tell her how I died. I just look right back at her without an expression on my face. I lift my arm and touch her face with gentle fingers. I want to tell her I love her, but instead I just look into her eyes intently. Then my arm falls silently to the floor and I black out, never to awaken again...