My assignment was to write about what happened after the end of The Scarlet Ibis. What do you think? Is it good? Bad? Too gruesome? I did copy and paste it from Microsoft Word, so the spacing is going to be all messed up. Just a warning.
I wasn’t sure what to do. Should I tell Mama and Daddy the truth? Should I leave
and have them investigate when Doodle didn’t return? Should I make up a
lie
? I knew I was no good at lying so I
decided to just tell them the truth. I carried Doodle’s body up to the front
door of the house. I took a deep breath and opened the door.
Mama
heard the door and came with a towel to dry us from the rain. When she saw
Doodle, she stopped dead.
“What
happened?” she asked, tears in her eyes. I hung my head in shame and explained
to her that it was all my fault.
“I’m
sorry Mama.” I said Just then, Daddy walked in.
??????????? “WHAT
DID YOU DO TO HIM?!!?” he shouted when he saw Doodle’s lifeless and
blood-stained body. I told him the story of the rain and the thunder, me
abandoning Doodle, and the blood seeping out of his mouth.
??????????? “YOU
ABBANDONED YOUR DISABLED BROTHER IN A THUNDERSTORM!?!!?” he roared. “GET OUT OF
THIS HOUSE! YOU DON’T DESERVE TO BE AN ARMSTRONG!”
??????????? So
I ran away.
?
??????????? I
sprinted through Old Woman Swamp, not bothering to look back even once. I
didn’t care about the rain or the thunder, I just wanted to get as far away
from that house as possible. Daddy was right. I didn’t deserve to be an
Armstrong.
??????????? So
I ran as far as my feet would take me. When I thought I was a decent distance
from the house, I sat down and cried. I don’ know how long I sat there, but
eventually I cried my self to sleep.
??????????? I
knew I couldn’t survive just by sitting, so I wandered off farther from the
house. Days went by. I survived by eating the succulent fruits growing on the tress
and the water from the river. Eventually I lost track of time. I wandered and wandered
until I eventually came across a small wooden house.
??????????? I
approached the house and knocked on the door. No answer. I decided to go in. There
was no one there. I looked around a bit. It seemed like it had been empty for a
while. There were mice on the floor, spider webs in the corners, and know food in
sight. I decided to make this small, abandoned shack my new home.
?
??????????? I
lived in the shack for a while, gathering fruit and berries from the swamp and
hunting the occasional animal that ran by. I did a decent job living here by
myself. I went to Old Woman Swamp to entertain myself. I thought I would be ok.
??????????? Then
I started to think. What are Mama and Daddy doing? Were they thinking about me?
Were they scared? And what about the people at school? What did my friends and
teachers think? So I decided to go back.
?
??????????? I
thought long and hard about what I was going to say. I was very nervous. Would
they be happy to see me? Would they be mad? Would they tell me that they hadn’t
wanted me to return? I pushed these thoughts away and knocked on the door.
??????????? No
one answered. I knocked again, but there was still no response. Finally I
decided to just go in. What I saw I will never be able to forget again. Mama
and Daddy were both laying, lifeless, with Doodle in their arms.
WHAT IS WITH THE QUESTION MARKS?