1. Short story
As James pulled out of his drive and began driving down the empty road, he received a text.
In that split second, he had to decide whether he was going to risk it and read the text whilst
driving, or to pull over at the side of the road and read it safely.
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James didn’t even consider it for a moment; he pulled over to the side of the road and read
the text he had received. As he did so, he was unaware of Ben standing at the side of the
road waiting for the car to pass, quickly he noticed the indicator on James’ car and so
crossed the road and set on his way home.
It wasn’t a long journey home from the park, but to Ben it seemed to take forever – he was
so excited to start decorating his new room. He had already chosen the colour he wanted
and picked out his new bed and wardrobe and today was the day that he and his Dad were
going to spend putting all his plans into action.
As he rushed home and banged on the door, his Mum, Carol, answered and gave him a huge
hug – Ben brushed her aside and ran to his Dad, dragging him up the stairs to his room.
Ben took a step back and looked at his new room, he was overjoyed, he couldn’t wait to go
to sleep that night, just so he could wake up and see it all over again the next morning.
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As Ben left the pavement and placed his foot down onto the side of the road, a look of
horror crossed his face. Seconds before, he saw a car speeding down the quiet road in the
distance but judged that he had time to cross. The rest of what happened that day was out
of his hands.
At the point of impact, James was thrown forwards against the windscreen, his face parallel
to Ben’s, only separated by the shattering windscreen. A neighbour, hearing the crash,
rushed out of her house to see what had happened, she put her hands up to her face and
screamed. More onlookers started to emerge, each shouting for one another to call an
ambulance. When the ambulance and the police arrived, some of the onlookers had gone
back to their business, whereas others had stayed and put blankets over Ben’s unconscious
body and pillows under his bleeding head. James remained shell-shocked, in tears, at the
side of the road – no text was worth this.
The police then had the dreaded job. They headed over to Ben’s house to inform his parents
that their 10 year old son had been involved in a road accident, and that he had been
pronounced dead at the scene. As Ben’s parents broke down in tears at the life changing
information, they clutched at a photo of him, the last image of their only child. Their
distraught feelings then turned into anger, they couldn’t understand why their innocent
child had been taken from them as a result of someone else’s stupid, careless actions.
After the police had left, Ben’s parents sat in silence as the rest of their family and friends
fussed around them, offering support and comfort – but nothing could comfort them at this
time, they were victims of someone else’s split second of disastrous stupidity, just like Ben
was, and their lives would never be the same.
Carol slept in Ben’s bed that night trying to stay close to him, but it wasn’t the same, not
even Ben had had the chance to sleep in his new bed.