THE SECRET LIFE OF ALEXANDREA COCHRAN
Based on a true story
Alex smiled as she sat in the tree in the forest. She saw her best friend walk up to her and climb up beside her. Her friend, a boy named Harley, was smiling as he hung upside down from the tree and laughed. He said," Hey Alex! Watch this!" he shouted as he did a front flip off the tree. Alex laughed then hung upside down as well,
"I can do that too!" she said as she tried to do a frontflip off the tree, she failed the landing and landed on her back.
Alex jolted and fell out of her chair from her desk in her 4th period science class. The class laughed as she stood up and shook her head. Her friend Harley helped her up and sighed, "Alex. Have you taken your medicine today?" he asked as he straightened his glasses and looked at her accusingly. Alex sighed and shook her head no as she gathered her things and said nothing. Harley sighed, "What happened?" he whispered.
"I'll tell you on the bus," she said hoarsely as she got up and left the science class and went to the nurses office. She looked at a green banner that read 'Jefferson Middle/High School, Home of the Vikings!' she looked up and smiled as she closed her eyes.
Alex looked at the green hills below her as she looked at her friend Harley and smiled, "Are you sure you want to do this?" she said as she walked to the back of the plane she was in. He nodded and did the same, she looked at her skydiving gear and strapped on her backpack that held a parachute and looked at Harley who was standing next to a tall and very built man. Alex smiled, "Thanks for bringing us with you Dad!" she yelled over the roar of the wind as the back hatch opened. She walked to the edge and smiled as she jumped out of the plane. She looked up and saw her father and Harley as they jumped out and she tried to pull her parachute open but something was wrong. Alex screamed as she hit the ground.
Alex's scream pulled her out of her own mind and she looked around and saw she was in the nurses office already. Alex sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. "Why now? Why is this getting worse?" she thought to herself. The nurse walked in and handed Alex some pills wordlessly and some water. Alex took the pills and swallowed them with the water. She coughed violently and trembled badly. The nurse handed Alex some more water and an Ipod with some headphones. Alex drank the water and put the headphones in her ears and turned on the Ipod. She turned it to a song and turned the volume up all the way. She laid down on the bed and started to sing softly. "I remember tears streaming down your face when you said I'll never let you go, when all those shadows almost killed your light…"
Alex opened her eyes and looked around, her home was on fire. She stood up and ran to the door but couldn't open it. She heard laughing, it sounded like her mother. Alex ran from the door and to a window, she kicked the window and broke it then jumped out and ran. Everything around her was different than the trailer park she lived in. Instead everything was all white. She shuddered and walked to a dark area and the scene became a forest. There was a drumming like sound, almost like a loud heartbeat that was pulsing through the forest. Alex was terrified now, she recognized this scene from a video game she played, and if this was anything like the game she had played, she knew how this wound end. She took a deep breath and grabbed a flashlight that was sitting on the ground and began to walk. She felt like someone was following her but she remembered the number one rule of this game: Never look behind you. She kept walking forward until she saw a sheet of paper hanging from a tree. She picked it up and saw something in the corner of her eye. She took a deep breath and began running. She did this several times until she had found seven papers in various locations. She saw the last paper in front of her and slowly walked forward. She heard a loud static sound and sprinted to the old building which the paper was taped to. She felt something grab her arm and pull her back. She held her eyes shut and felt herself be thrown to the ground with such force that she was snapped in half.
Alex jolted up and fell onto a carpeted floor. She looked and saw the simple white carpet she knew was in her and her sister's room. She shakily stood up and looked out the window, the window had bars on it, and for good reason… Alex sighed and walked out of the room. She noticed she was now wearing her blue, satin pajamas. "Brie must have changed me…" she mumbled to herself as she walked to the kitchen and opened up a medicine cabinet and pulled out an orange bottle. The label had black sharpie covering everything except for a name; Alexandrea L. Cochran. Alex smiled seeing her own name and took three of the pinkish colored pills. She felt happy very soon after. She knew the pills made her happy but also made her very vulnerable, she didn't like it but she took the pills cause her dad wanted her to. She went to her room and pulled out a blue laptop out from under her bed and turned it on. She logged onto site called and and logged on. A little yellow bubble popped up saying that "Alexandrea98 has logged on." Alex smiled and opened up a message tab and started talking to her online friends and fellow writers. A few more yellow bubbles popped up saying, "Kasey M. has logged on" and "LizzyWolf has logged on." Alex smiled and chatted with them while she began writing a story. She felt herself get light headed after a few minutes. She looked out the window and smiled at the night sky, the stars seemed to shine like christmas lights on a pine tree. She felt herself drift off as she closed her eyes.
Alex looked around at the snow covered ground. She was wearing a bright blue dress and gloves. Her long brown hair was hidden beneath a wig of white hair. Alex looked in the mirror. She was the ghost of christmas past for her school's version of A Christmas Carol. She smiled as she walked onto the stage and saw her friend Harley dressed as Scrooge. Alex smiled as she said her lines and took hold of Harley's hand. After her scene, a trap door opened beneath her, but instead of falling three feet like she was supposed to, she fell for what seemed like miles. She screamed as she hit the ground with a sickening thud.
She sat up quickly, knocking her laptop out of her lap. Alex looked out the window and saw that it was now sunrise. She sighed and stood up. She looked at the things she had packed in a backpack. She stood up and put on the backpack and walked to her friends houses to say goodbye. This was her last day in Merritt Island, Florida. She was getting on a bus that afternoon with her dad and three younger sisters to head to Mississippi. They were leaving because Alex's mom left on May 12th, 2013, Mothers Day. Her dad couldn't take care of all four of his daughters alone so they had to leave and go to their godparents. Alex cried for days when she found out. She climbed up the steps of the greyhound bus and sat near the front, away from her family. She was sad but felt that things may be better now that her mother was gone. Alex closed her eyes.
Alex opened her eyes and saw a tall. blonde woman standing before her. Alex said nothing to the woman at first then broke down crying. "Why did you leave? You ruined everything!" Alex shouted to the woman, her name was Susan Cochran, Alex's mother. The woman said nothing and looked down at Alex and said, "I hate you and i hate your sisters and your father. I had to leave. Have fun in your new life," she laughed loudly before vanishing. Alex sat in a corner of a room she was in. There was no light whatsoever and all the walls were painted black. Alex cried for what seemed like days, and all around her, everything she feared most, stood there…. staring and laughing at her. Alex growled and stood up. She looked beside her and saw a beautiful sword with a golden blade and sapphire hilt. Alex picked up the sword and it felt natural holding it. As if it had been made for her… Alex swung the sword at the monsters and creatures and people around her. The sword seemed to glow with every swing, chasing away the darkness and making everything clearer to her. Soon all the things she feared most were gone and that was left, was an empty abyss of white. Alex looked at the sword, which was as clean as when she saw it, she carried the sword to a white display case and the words, "The Destroyer of Fear" appeared on a plaque. Alex smiled once more before she crossed her arms over her chest and fell backwards.
When Alex opened her eyes she saw the city of Gulfport, Mississippi laid out in front of her. She smiled and walked to her father and asked for some money. Her father, a man named Shane, handed her a twenty and she got off the bus. She walked to a store and bought a journal and a pen. She began writing about the past few days and how her life had been in those few short days. She wrote everything she saw and heard and when she finished she left the journal on the bus with the words "Read Me" printed on the front. When the bus stopped once again Alex climbed out and smiled and turned on her Ipod and turned on a song. "Here I am. This is me. I come into this world so wild and free."
Alex smiled as she looked at the beautiful land around her, trees with the most beautiful roses you could imagine. She saw characters from books and movies she loved and they all seemed happy to see her. They greeted her like a friend who had been away for a long time and had finally come home. Alex smiled and looked around and smiled as she ran to the water and laid on her back in the water.
Alex smiled as she looked at the span of the beach around her. She smiled and sang, "It's a new day, in a new land, And it's waiting for me. Here I am."