Haunted

"Go tell your sister to come in!"

I didn't mind doing it on some days, but today was not one of those days. I was so tired and lazy that even walking outside felt impossible. I didn't dare say anything to mom though.

"Okay!" I called trying to sound cheerful, but not succeeding.

I slowly dragged my eyes from the screen, unglued my feet from the floor, and used my frail arms to swivel myself around. Such a workout!

After a minute I got to my feet and hesitantly took a couple of steps. Thump-thump! Sitting in front of a computer screen for hours does nothing but give me a huge headache!

I continued walking and my head continued to pound. Step, step, thump-thump!

Finally I made it to the garage. Almost there Ally. Just a little farther then you can hit the hay, I tell myself.

Knowing my sister wouldn't be playing in our yard, I tried the scooter...and it didn't work. Ugh! Why could I never remember to charge my electric scooter? I was too lazy to move all of the junk in front of my bike so I kept on stepping and thumping.

It wasn't until I hit the sidewalk that I looked around for her. With my luck Madison would be playing with Stephanie. Who lived 8-10 houses down at the end of the court.

My eyes extended past our yard in search of the six year old. There she is! Maybe I did have some luck.

She was four houses down just getting ready to cross the street on her skates. Her head was down and she concentrated on not dropping the half dozen dolls she had in her arms.

I walked slowly over, my head still pounding frustratingly, as a truck on the end started to pull out of a driveway. I watched, trying to figure out if I knew who this neighbor of mine was. It was a guy but other then that utterly unrecognizable.

He started down the street pretty fast, for a court, his dark blue Chevy getting ever more closer.

I was almost to Madison when she dropped one of her dolls. She bent down to pick it up and a shiver went down my spine. Something was wrong.

It took me a second to register what it was. Suddenly, I realized the Chevy was pretty close now and he was fixing his radio. He didn't see her, couldn't see her from that high up.

I screamed and started sprinting the rest of the way to my baby sister, all my laziness gone. She was deaf to my wails and I screamed louder but she was in her own little world.

The truck was roaring closer and I knew I had a second before impact.

A second was the difference between a girl and road kill.

A second seemed so small and worthless until that was all that was left.

A second was all I was holding on to and it was slipping from my fingers.