Write Away: Fresh Start

It being New Year's and all, I thought it would be appropriate to write about fresh starts.

Here are the prompts:
009: Write about starting over. What are you looking forward to in the New Year? What things will be on your List of Resolutions? Pick one and write about it.

010: Write about a time in your life when you had a fresh start – perhaps the beginning of college, a new job, moving to a new home. What were you feeling? Excited? Scared? Anxious? Sad? What caused the change?

011: Write about entering a new phase of life – motherhood, adulthood, marriage, divorce, etc. You could write about yourself, someone you know, or a fictional character. Start writing and see where it takes you.

Here is my attempt:

write away 010: Bus Ride

“Now don’t forget, stay with your sister. Remember how nervous you were on your first day? Stay with her and make sure she gets to her class safely.”

Yea right, like he’ll do that, is what I thought, and I’m sure exactly what my brother was thinking as well. I knew as soon as we were on that bus my brother would want nothing to do with me.

I still can’t believe my mother put me on that school bus that day. I wasn’t even five years old and I could barely lift my foot high enough to reach the first step on the bus. My brother was a third grader so he was bigger and had more experience with these kinds of things. I’m sure she thought him being with me made it OK for someone as little as me to venture off on a monstrous vehicle to a place that seemed to me to be worlds away from home. I’m sure that made sense to her, but to me it seemed crazy.

My hands were going numb standing there waiting. I was clenching my fists so tightly I was losing circulation. I didn’t want to open my hands because I was sure my fingernails were breaking the skin. If my palms weren’t so shaky and sweaty my fingers probably would have stayed clenched that way forever. They kept slipping though, and my muscles were getting tired.

I kept my eyes glued to the top of the hill where I knew the bus would come. My ears were perked to every squeak or crack I heard, listening for the motor and breaks. The bus would be there any second and then there was no turning back.

My brother hopped right up onto the top step as soon as the door swung open. He ran down the aisle and disappeared next to someone I didn't know. By the time I reached the top I couldn’t see even the top of his head. I only saw a blury forest green sea of faux leather benches and I felt like I was drowning. I took one timid step to the first empty seat and slid as close to the window as I could. I pressed my nose against the cold glass, sucked my bottom lip in, and bit down hard. I took in one big sniffle and let out one big tear.

Here we go, I thought, as the rumbling bus pulled away from my street.


Go ahead -
Write Away!