Written by Lilly Kennedy
“Beep, beep, beep,” the alarm sounded off, as the first beams of sunlight peeked through the window. It’s 6:30 in the morning as Marcia hits her alarm and rolls out of bed, almost tripping over her laptop with her night classes still playing on the screen. Half asleep, she walks to her bathroom to get ready for what she knows will be another long day.
After getting changed, she walks to her sister’s room to wake her up. “Good morning,” Angela says in a half yawn.
“Morning, Sunshine! Finish getting ready, I’ll have breakfast done in a few,” Marcia replies.
Thirty minutes later, Marcia screams “It’s 7:00! Grab your breakfast and run out the door!” from the doorway as she fixes her clothes in the mirror. They both hop in the car and head to Angela’s school. “Did you finish all your homework and study for your math test?” Marcia asks while driving.
“Yeah, I studied. And I got to finish my homework at school while waiting hours for you to come get me,” Angela says from the back seat, in an exaggerated tone.
“Hey! I said I was sorry! But Ms. Madison needed help bringing things to her car.”
“Well, you could have said no,” Angela mumbles from the backseat.
Driving up to school, Angela hops out, but then she remembers to remind her sister about her soccer game. “Don’t worry. I’ll be there,” Marcia says. But Angela just looks down, unsure. “Hey, I promised I’ll always be there for you. And I would never miss you making the game-winning-shot, right before the time goes off!” Angela smiles at this. “Have a good day at school. And good luck on your math test!” Marcia adds.
Marcia watches her sister run off to her friends, then rushes to the preschool before she is late. When she arrives all of her students are waiting for her.
“Good morning, Mary. Hi, Jess!” Marcia greets them as they walk through the door. “Hi David. Oh no way! You lost your tooth! So cool!” she says to the little boy pulling on her pants and pointing at his teeth. “Are you ready to play today, Margot?” she asks a shy girl next to her. “Come, come in everyone,” she says while ushering everyone inside, “We are going to do arts and crafts today after lunch.”
As the sun races over the sky, time flies and it is soon time to leave.
“Roy, don’t forget your bag. Come on Mary. Bye everyone!” she says as they are leaving. “Hey Jess, what did we say we aren’t going to do tomorrow?” Marcia asks her as she is running away.
With a big grin Jess answers, “Eat glue.”
“Got to go,” Marcia mumbles as she looks at her watch. She runs to her car and drives to pick up Angela.
When she gets there, she sees Angela is the last one waiting to be picked up. Angela quickly gets in the car and they rush home so Angela can put on her uniform. Then they rush to the game.
They drive up to the field and Angela gets out. “Remember the game starts at 5:00. You have to be there. I need you to be here,” Angela says as she grabs her cleats.
“Don’t worry. I just have to make dinner and do something for school,” Marcia replies, “Good luck. You’ll do great. I won’t be late for this!”
Marcia watches her sister run to her team. She sits there for a second remembering when her dad used to bring her to her own soccer games. And how he would cheer so loud when she scored and she would get so embarrassed. She softly smiles to herself thinking of those simple times. Of when her dad cheering too loudly was the worst thing that could happen. Then she snaps back to reality and leaves to go get dinner started.
Once she reaches their house, she quickly puts some pasta on the stove and gets to work on the vegetables. She’s almost done when she gets a call from her university.
“Hello,” she says into the phone, “Yes. This is her.” Listening to what they have to say, she almost drops her phone in the spaghetti when she hears the news. “Okay! I will be there. Thank you,” she says as she finishes dinner and goes to her room to grab her work. She runs to her car, tripping over her two feet.
“Okay, the game starts in 10 minutes. So if I am really quick, I can make it there, drop off the stuff, and make it back by half time,” Marcia says to herself as she is headed to the post office. It’s open when she is pulling up to the door and hopping out of her car. But then the lights of the post office go off. She stops in her tracks right at the door, just staring, not being able to comprehend what just happened. She rattles the door handle, but just as she thought, it won’t open.
She felt as if her dreams were crushed right in front of her eyes. This was her chance to give Angela a better life. So they didn’t have to worry about money anymore. Marcia really thought this would be it, but nevertheless it wasn’t.
Marcia sat there for a few minutes on the sidewalk. It soon started to rain. Marcia thought this was cruel, as though the rain was mocking her. The rain always seemed to come at some of her worst moments like today, the day Angela broke her wrist, the day she wrecked her first car, and the day their parents died. That day, the world cried the most.
Suddenly Marcia jolted up. Remembering her sister and her promise. She ran to the car but she knew it was too late. She wouldn’t make it.
When she got to the field it was raining more heavily and there her sister was standing next to her coach. Angela got in the car without saying a word. She looked heartbroken and Marcia couldn’t find any words to say. Angela refused to look at her. She started the car. The first few minutes they drove in silence. They just listened to the rain hit the car’s windshield. “I’m sorry,” Marcia said, finally breaking the silence. Angela said nothing. “I was late because I had to do something for…”
“For what!?!” Angela interrupted, “What is it this time? Work? School? What? You promised that you would be here! That you would be here for me!!! You lied to me and you lied to Mom and Dad!” With this Angela ran out of the car, into the house, and locked herself in her room.
The slam of her door could be heard from the car. Marcia, not knowing what to do, just sat there in her car, listening to the rain. Like the rain, her tears fell to the ground. She sat there frozen in her place, regretting, thinking, wishing she could go back, and fix everything. Time passed until the rain finally stopped. So she got out of the car, determined to fix all of her family’s brokenness.
“Knock, knock,” Marcia said from Angela’s door, “Hey, your food’s gonna get cold if you don’t come eat it.” There was no response. “If you don’t eat, I’ll have to eat it all myself,” Marcia said with a sad smile on her face. Finally the door creaked open and Marcia slid the food in. “Hey, can we talk? I know I missed your game and broke my promise, but I just wanted to explain what happened,” she said softly and slowly. “Do you remember that book I was writing? Well, as I was finishing dinner and about to leave for your game, I got a call from my university. They wanted to put my story in a writing competition that had a big prize, but the due date to send it in was today. And the post office closed right as I got there to submit it!” Starting to cry now she kept talking. “It’s just I was right there. I was so close. And I just thought this could really help us. So we wouldn’t have to worry about money for a while. They’re starting to make cuts at work and I’ve only been working there for a short time, and…”
She was now crying even harder, shaking terribly. She felt awful. Her heart felt incredibly heavy, like it might burst in her chest and leap out. She just wanted to give her sister a better life. So they didn’t have to worry so much. But she could barely take care of her. Her sister was the only reason she was still here, still getting up every morning, still trying. If not for her she would have left a long time ago.
Slowly the door creaked open again. Angela, teary-eyed, sat in front of the door. “I’m sorry,” she said weakly, “I didn’t know. I didn’t know all of this!” Marcia grabbed her sister and held her in her arms. Together they cried on the floor of their small house. Marcia couldn’t help but be reminded of when this house was full of laughter and people, of birthdays and dance parties in the kitchen. She could still see her sister taking her first steps, holding her hands as they walked together toward their parents, smiling and cheering.
In a quiet voice Angela whispered to her sister, “You promised you’d always be here for me. Now it’s my turn. You don’t need to do this all by yourself. You’re not alone in this. You have me.”