A Death Sentence - 24hr short story challenge

gaby-crb (59)in #twentyfourhourshortstory • 6 years ago

A Death Sentence

Tessa watched as the plume of fire and smoke pushed down towards the earth's surface, the force propelling the shuttle up into the outer atmospheres and then into space. Tears fell from her eyes and a sob escaped her lips. She would never see her brother again.

The dirt crunched under her boots as she rolled her bike away from the chain fence. She knew she would be needed at home, being the eldest of eight, now seven.

Her heart beat fast and her breathing was laboured as she increased the speed of her pedalling. The tears continued to blur her vision but she persisted with haste.

The road was rarely used and surface had begun to crack in places. She used her memory more than anything to navigate her way home. Jack had loved to watch the shuttles set off, the bright light had fascinated him when he was younger. Now he was on his way to the dark side of the moon. Tessa shuddered just thinking about it.

The dark side of the moon was a desolate place that they only sent the worst of the criminals to. It was a one way trip for those sentenced, they would never see their families again.

When she finally got home, Tessa was met at the front gate by one of her younger brothers. He stuck out his bottom lip as she wheeled her bike into the garden.

“Mums gone.” He informed her.

She checked her watch. 18:00.

“Already? She was supposed to wait till I got back.”

She carefully leaned her bike against the wall. Her frustration at her mum for leaving early evaporated the minute she turned to her brother.

“Annie’s made a mess and we’re all hungry.”

Tessa sighed to herself, following her brother into the house reluctantly.

The cacophony of noise that hit her was disorientating. Two of her sisters were arguing over the TV remote and another was throwing something at them. In the kitchen her other brother sat on the counter eating cereal while watching Annie drawing with coloured pens on the wall.

The house was a mess and her siblings were running riot. Tessa took a deep breath as she examined the damage.

“Annie I swear to god if you don’t stop drawing on the wall I will put you to bed with no supper.”

Her youngest sibling turned to look at her with her perfected ‘puppy dog’ eyes.

Tessa turned to her brother still sat on the counter eating from the box.

“Would it kill you to feed everyone?”

“Yes.”

“When I’m not here you’re in charge”

“But what about Jack.”

Tessa’s buried anger surfaced instantly.

“Jack’s gone.”

The atmosphere in the room changed, her brother straightened up. Her youngest brother had stood watching the exchange now dropped his eyes from her penetrating gaze.

A scream from the room next door made Tessa clear her mind, she knew she needed to focus on the now and on the siblings she had left. She went into the other room to see her sisters piled on top of each other in a play fight. She reminisced about herself and Jack doing something similar in their younger years.

Being only two years apart, she had been the closest with Jack, and now he was gone. Nobody else in her family seemed to care, no one had shown up for his court case except for her, she had watched her best friend be sentenced to a life without earth, a life without sunshine, a life barely worth living.

She snapped back to the present and separated her sisters with force. Internally she wanted to scream, but she maintained a calm exterior.

“Can you please stop fighting? Don’t you think I have enough to deal with?”

She inwardly grimaced as she said the words, she sounded like their mother. She wondered about the first time she realised she was raising her siblings.

After some thorough persuasion and bribery she had them cleaning sections of the house while she taught her brother how to cook. She stuck to something simple and taught him the way she had taught jack, the way her mum had taught her.

Tessa kept replaying the shuttle taking off in her mind, she had seen videos of what it was like inside during travel but her stomach knotted at the thought of her brother going through that experience alone. They had often talked about exploring the other planets when they were older, but travelling to the moon was a one way trip and not something either of them considered would happen.

She set the table and counted the plates, then chided herself for putting an unnecessary one down. Picking up the plate again felt like a betrayal, but she did it nonetheless.

She watched as her siblings filled in and took their seats at the table.

Tessa decided that whatever her brother was facing, she would continue to look after those that needed her.