English essay - Rewrite a story
This will probably not make any sense if you haven't read "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold.
Our assignment was to rewrite the story of the book in Buckley's point of view (Buckley is the younger brother of Susie, the main character in "The Lovely Bones") in 800-1000 words and this is what I ended up with.
I thought I'd share it since I'm quite satisfied with the results and... yeah.
I hope you like it, if you read it ^^;;
(I would also like to mention that neither the characters nor the main plot are mine, even if that should be quite clear considering what I just wrote, but you never know :3)
Here we go~
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I can’t breathe. Nate and I were playing around, and now I can’t breathe. Everything hurts and in the back of my mind I hear screaming and running footsteps. Susie lifts me up and the next thing I know I’m in a big white bed. Worried faces surround me, but when I open my mouth to talk to them, ask them what’s wrong, smiles and laughter fills the room and I’m wrapped in my mother’s arms.
“We thought you left us, honey.”
Left? Why would I want to leave?
My father cries. Does he miss Susie too? I wonder where she went…
“Where is Susie?”
As I ask, I see Lindsay and the strange man look at each other and my mother turns stiff. Don’t they know where she is? I want to see her.
My father’s voice distracts me with the promise of Monopoly and I turn to run towards him.
I sit in his lap and listen to him talking about shoes and cars, but my eyes as glued to a small silver piece.
“Is that a dog?”
“Yes, that’s a Scottie.”
“Mine!”
I grab it and look at it with a smile. I am a dog, my father is a car, mother is a cannon, Lindsay is an iron and Susie is a shoe. I’m told to place all the pieces on the board and I do. We are there and so are all our friends. Then, my father says something I don’t understand. He says that one of us can’t play anymore. Why is that? I thought this was a fun game?
“Susie is dead, do you know what that means?”
I don’t, but I guess that it has something to do with the game and that she can’t play it so I hide the shoe with my hand and look up at my father to see if I guessed it right.
“You won’t see Susie anymore, honey. None of us will.”
He cries again and I don’t understand.
Where is Susie?
Susie is back! I can see her and she talks to me. Nate doesn’t see her, but I do and that is what counts. She kisses me to sleep and listens to me when I tell her about my days, just like she used to.
Grandma comes to visit and our house is happy again. Mother and father laugh and everyone seems to have fun. Then nighttime comes. Susie tucks me in and I sleep, just to be woken up early in the morning. I’m forced to wear Nate’s clothes and I don’t understand why. They aren’t very comfortable.
The laughter is gone…
We sit in church and people talk about Susie. She really is a good person, having people talk about here like this! I don’t know most of them so I just sit by my parents and follow their lead. Their faces aren’t happy anymore. The faces they make are ones I’ve seen before, surrounding me for a short moment in a clean, white room.
My father is hurt. They won’t tell me why, but I know that something has happened. Mother and Lindsey fight… I don’t like it. My mother isn’t like my mother anymore.
I’m in kindergarten now! My teacher is really pretty and she gives me cookies and helps me a lot. I like her. She reminds me of what my mother used to be like before…
At least father is home again. He doesn’t leave for work anymore, but that just means I get to spend a lot of time with him. I like that.
Mother isn’t here. She left and Grandma came to live with us instead. Sometimes I want my mother to be here again, to hold me like she used to, but then I think that big boys don’t need their mothers to hold them, they are just fine without it.
I’ve been working on a fort for a few weeks now. Lindsey, her boyfriend Samuel and his brother Hal has helped me a lot, but I did most of it. The fort is something Susie and I talked about and as I built it I talked to her about it, asked if she liked it and if I should change something, but she didn’t answer so I just went with what I thought looked good.
Now I sit in here to read. Read stories about heroes and crime-fighters. People I want to be. Strong, independent supermen who didn’t need a mother to be great.
Years pass and so does life. I’m twelve years old now and I live, not as a superhero, but as a boy who can take care of himself and his family.
I have turned the fort into a shed and planted vegetables and flowers in the garden, just like our mother used to do before she went away. I’m working on stakes for my tomato plants, using clothes I found in the basement, when my father comes out speaking harshly about how these are Susie’s clothes and I can’t use them. I don’t see why. I think Susie would have liked me to have them, to use them for something that mattered. I start to scream at him, saying words that have forced down, trying to protect myself and him.
“She’s dead, but you don’t act like it.” More words of anger rush out and I only stop when my father looks like he’s on the edge of collapsing.
Father is brought to the hospital and I pray to God and Susie that he will stay with us. I need him.
My mother returns home after being told what happened to stay with Father in the hospital. I hate her for leaving us in the first place and I have a hard time forgiving her. As time passes though, we grow into a family again. It’s not what we thought it would be, but it’s a family all the same.