The Day After Tomorrow

    I was 13 years old when my parents died. I remember sitting at their funeral on that frigid, but sunny December morning and asking God, “Why me? Why now?” I never really stumbled upon the answer to that question. I just knew that God must have needed two more angels in heaven and it was time for him to take mine.
    After their deaths, my brother Jax and I moved in with my Aunt Josie. She took us in graciously and treated us like her own kids. The first few days all I could do was cry. My best friend, Dakota, would always come over and try to cheer me up. Most of the time it worked. We would go to the coffee shop and hang out or just talk. It was good to let her know how I was feeling about all of this. I loved having someone there that I could vent too. She also knew what I was going through. Her mom had died about a year and a half ago and she was still trying to get over that. It was one of the roughest times in both of our lives and now it means the world to me to have her with me.
    After I got used to the fact of living with my aunt, I needed to occupy myself so I could get my mind off my parents. That was when I decided to start rock climbing. I didn’t want to go with a group so I decided that I would go all by myself.
    I decided to go to Cabelas and buy all of my rock climbing gear.
    It was a bright sunny morning and I went out to an old abandoned building to start my climb. Each day I would go out to this building and climb a little higher every time I tried. I was building up the courage and strength to make it to the top.
    Finally after weeks of climbing I made it. I felt like I was on the top of the world and that I had accomplished something that was dangerous. I scaled down the building while thinking to myself that now, it was time for a bigger challenge.
    Jax was going to drive me out to Mt. St. Helen's so that I could find a group to climb with. We told aunt Josie that we would be staying in a hotel and would be back in a few days. As we were driving, Jax turned to me and asked, “Why are you doing this? It’s so dangerous. We just lost mom and dad and I can’t even bear the thought of losing you too.” I told him that I was doing this because I miss mom and dad so much and rock climbing makes me feel good and helps the pain go away. It distracts me from thinking about them all the time. We were silent for the rest of the drive. After a few hours, we finally came to the National Park. We found out that there was a group that was hiking up the mountain tomorrow at 5. A.M.
    Jax and I stayed in a hotel that night and came back bright and early so I could hike with the others.
    This wasn’t a rock climbing group but I brought my stuff along anyway. I knew that I could sneak off and climb alone. This was taking a risk but I knew that I could do it.
    It was about noon and I finally got my chance to sneak off. I began to climb and climb and climb. I got about 100 feet up the mountain and my gear got stuck and I could not get it out. All I could see was a perfect crevice running straight up the side of the mountain. I decided that I was going to free hand it. It was really scary at a few places but I managed to get pretty far considering that fact that I didn't have any of my stuff. I was about 150 feet up the mountain and all of the sudden my foot gave way and I lost my grip. I started plunging for the earth beneath me. I was fiercely trying to grab for things to keep myself from falling but nothing worked. There was no cliff or rock sticking out that I could grab onto. I kept on speeding faster right towards my death.
    There was this weird beeping noise and I didn't know where it was coming from. I wanted to scream, “Stop! I can’t take it anymore!” But I couldn’t. The silence was drowning out my voice. Then the beeping finally got quieter. I opened my eyes and realized that I was in the hospital. I could feel all the needles in my arms and I could hear my heart beating really fast. The nurse then saw that I was awake and came to ask me how I was feeling. I couldn't even respond to her. I wanted to talk so badly but nothing came out of my mouth. A few minutes after she left, I heard two people talking in the hallway next to my room. I heard my aunt’s voice and another strange voice. I thought it was probably the doctor. I couldn't hear all that he said. but the last thing I did hear was that I would never be able to walk again. My heart dropped and I fell back asleep.