Nothing Left To Live For

By Rosita Wijnberg 

Marina stared at the family photo. It was taped to her locker, and she was staring at the photo as if she could escape school, go home, and bring back her family if she stared hard enough. They all looked so happy in that photo. SHE looked so happy - the opposite of what she was now. 4 months ago, her parents and her older brother, died in a car crash. Even worse, Marina had gotten in a fight with her brother before he got in the car. She never got to tell him or their parents how much she loved them. Now she was living with her aunt Colleen. Aunt Colleen was nice, but she was never really family. She treated Marina like a stranger as if all she knew about Marina was her dead parents and brother. The only emotion aunt Colleen ever showed around Marina was sympathy. She hated that. She wanted to use her parents death as an excuse for "not feeling well," so she could escape school, but she didn't want everyone to give her sympathetic looks everywhere she went. But still, people looked at her with pity. She had no idea how they'd found out. "Hey, Marina," a voice behind her said. It was Sarah, who'd been her best friend since kindergarten. But even Sarah treated her like a poor little girl whom she felt sorry for. "Hi Sarah." Marina says flatly. Sarah gave her a fake smile. "Are you going to the cinema with me and Emily today?" Marina shrugged. "I'll take that as a yes," Sarah said forcefully. Marina nodded. After school, Emily drove her car over to pick Sarah and Marina up. "How're you doing, Marina?" Looking at her like she was a lost puppy. "I'm fine." Marina snapped. Emily glanced at Sarah, raising her eyebrows. "Someone's in a bad mood," Marina said nothing. Emily started the car. The three girls sat in silence for several minutes as Emily drove until Sarah broke the silence. "You know, Marina. . . You shouldn't have agreed to come with us if you didn't want to," Marina snapped. "I never agreed to come- you almost literally dragged me off to this stupid car-" "My car isn't stupid!" "-and I don't care about this stupid movie we're seeing-" "Can you just be quiet-" "I just want to go home!" By now Marina was tugging at the steering wheel. "No- Marina- stop you'll kill us all!" screamed Emily, trying to get the car off the sidewalk. Marina continued grabbing the wheel. "Take. Me. Home!" "Alright!" yelled Sarah. "We'll take you home- what a waste of time, we're going to miss the movie!" Emily still didn't turn back. "Emily, take her home," Said Sarah. "No, you shouldn't have dragged her with us in the first place and now she wants to go home and I'm not taking her home, we're already halfway there." Emily retorted. Running out of patience, Marina yanked the wheel to the right- and the car spun out of control, into the traffic. Everything was a blur.