Heather Boncey won this month’s short story contest, organised by the Wokingham Writers’ Group. We are pleased to present it here for your enjoyment
I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. We were going to the seaside today. I looked across at my sister. Her thick auburn hair splayed out on the pillow. In comparison, my boring, mousy hair hung in thin, straight, rats’ tails around my face and refused to grow past my shoulders.
As an aunt had once commented, “Linda should have had the green eyes as she will envy Laura, always stuck in her shadow”. I added this to the long list of things I hated about my little sister.
It was a long car journey and Mum wasn’t feeling well. She handed us some sweets. I grabbed most of them.
As usual, Laura never told on me.
When we finally arrived, Mum lay on a towel under a parasol and Dad took us to explore the rock pools. He carried the inflatable lilo.
After a while, Dad said he was going to check up on Mum but we could stay and play for a while. Then we would go and get ice cream.
He blew up the lilo and left.
We both felt tired after our early start and laid down in the glorious sunshine and instantly fell asleep.
When I woke up Laura was still sleeping soundly. I don’t know why I did it, but I pushed the lilo into the inlet.
The current was strong, quickly taking the lilo out to sea.
Bye, bye Laura, I thought, sitting on the rocks gazing out at the sea.
When the lilo eventually disappeared from view, I got up and went to find Mum and Dad.
“Where is Laura?” they asked in unison.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “We both fell asleep and when I woke up, she had gone.” I crossed my fingers behind my back.
“You stay here and don’t worry,” said Dad. “You need to rest and look after the baby.”
“Baby?” I screamed.
“Yes, you’re going to have another sister.”
