*Warning, this story was originally for a Audition to a school that was denied I believe, so I only post this to show how hard I worked on this only to have it thrown in the dust*
As the last snap of Ava's camera went off, the model smiled as she waved, walking to her car from the grassy hill top. Ava's job was a private photographer and she had just finished a job with a splendid model, if you would ask Ava herself. "Ah, the day's perfect. That girl is lucky she booked me right." Ava's faded accent made her grin, as she started to pack up her equipment. The Grassy Hill was on a Cliffside, next to a small dirt road. As Ava was packing up, a small ring was heard at the bottom of the hill. "Oh! I'll be right there!" She shouted, as she placed the last equipment piece into its specific box. Ava peered from the Hilltop to see who called for her, only to see her cheeky Irish brother smiling at the bottom on his blue bicycle.
"Ava! Come down quick!" He shouted. Ava ran down the steep hill, to greet her brother.
"Evan! It's been so long! What do you need, Big Bro?" Evan grinned at Ava's warm welcome.
"I got a letter from Ma! She's coming home in two weeks!" Ava's face light up at the mention of her mother. Ever since Evan and Ava were little, their mom had business trips that lead her to staying out of the country for long periods of time. At the moment, Ava lived in Cheshire, England, which is just a small place full of beautiful grassy hills; perfect for Ava's Business.
Evan snapped Ava out of her daydream by taking the letter out of his bag he had on his shoulder. "Here, read it for yourself!" Evan smiled at his younger sister before holding the letter out to her. Ava grabbed the note and read it to herself:
Dear Evan,
Hopefully this arrives on time. I plan to be in England with your sister in June and I demand you go there as well. It's important family business so your job shouldn't mind. Please, do hurry. When I arrive, I will call your sisters cabin so do say there with her so you two can come together at the same time. I wish you the best of luck as you journey to reach Ava.
~Mom
Ava squealed, knowing family business could mean two things. One, they planned to hang out after being six years apart. Or... Two, something bad has happened and mother can't tell us over the phone. Ava was indeed excited, but also very fearful. Evan, being the clutz he is, was more excited than she was.
"Do you think dad will join us as well?" Evan asked. Ava's glowing face faded rather quickly at the mention of their father. Their father, the last time they saw him, was a tired drunk who would always collapse on the couch by eight, even though he had a whole bed to himself.
Ava cleared her throat, sighed, and stated to her brother, "If he does, he has best changed his ways. If he hasn't, then he isn't staying in my cabin."
Evan groaned "Oh c'mon sis, it's been years I'm sure dad has changed his ways by now." Ava looked up to her brothers eyes, since he was taller, only hoping that his statement was true this upcoming week.
"Smile!" Ava stated at her brother as he was hooking his bike onto Ava's car so he could ride back with her. The sun was setting and her older brother smiled at her camera as the familiar flash went off. On top of the hill with the sunset in the background, it really complemented Evan's pale, blue eyes with his blonde hair. Being based on their mother and fathers differences, he got his mother's looks and she got her dads. He got his mother's Blonde, Curly hair with his father's blue eyes. Ava, on the other hand got her father's bright Orange hair with her mother's Green eyes. Being four years apart, its like at birth they fought over who's going to get what!
Ava, was once again, knocked out of her daydream world from her brother yelling with his booming voice "Everything's all packed 'n' ready!" She apologized to her brother for dozing off so suddenly.
Evan did nothing but chuckle and smile "You have Maladaptive Daydreaming problems, its okay sis." Ava sighed happily, thankful that her brother remembered as they got into her car. The radio started up slowly with the car turning on. "Welcome, Ava." The radio greeted in a robotic voice. The tunes started to play softly in the background as Ava drove on the famous Cliffside to leave the hilly area.
It was Evan who broke the silence. "Why did you ever choose to live all the way out here? I mean, you barely have any neighbors! You come from Ireland for gosh sake, you should be ready to be loud and social!" Evan slapped his knee, since he was too tall for the car anyways. Ava smiled "Because I rather be away from all the new technology of this year. They say 2045 would be the year of tech, and I guess they weren't lying!" Evan chuckled, since on Australia where he lived as a blacksmith, He also lived in the middle of nowhere, but he kept up with all the new technologies unlike Ava. "I honestly can never understand it, so I try to keep my limits back from the grand year of 2014!" Ava drove a steep curve as she mentioned a year before her time. Evan was holding onto his seat in fear "That was before our time! You're only 21 but- Hey! Pay attention to the road!" Ava grinned "I drive this road every day, don't worry." Evan groaned in fear, as it turned for the worse…
"It all happened with a bang..." Ava pulled her cover over her shoulder, hiding her scars and wounds from her recent surgeries. "I can start from the beginning for you if you'd like." Ava looked up from her cup of coffee to the detective. The detective spoke clearly "Ma'am, I want you to take your time. I know everything happened so fast and it must have sacred you." Ava put her cup down and fiddled with her ring, as she spoke clear. "My brother and I, were driving to my cabin in the middle of the woods about 10 miles from where we were. I go to that-"Ava paused, her face snarling with anger before continuing. "That… Grassy Hill location will forever haunt me..." "And why is that, Ava?" The detective asked, going to reach for Ava's shoulder, as she pulls away from his hand in fear. "Well, After a bit of driving..." Ava continued the story for the cops on the scene.
Evan relaxed in his seat after a bit of calming from his sister. "See, what did I tell you?" Ava grinned. Outside of her car, it was beginning to rain harshly. "Please drive slower, I don't need you to get in a crash." He looked worried. "Oh calm down you baby, I can drive this with my eyes closed if I wanted to, which I don't." She tried to calm him more, since he doesn't like to be in a car while it rains. Suddenly, some lighting in the distance went off, spooking Evan into frenzy. "Evan stop flailing I can't see the-"The sound of Ava speaking trying to calm her brother was outmatched for the sounds of the tires scraping off the thin road on the side of the cliff, as the car sinks into abyss
After what seems like an eternity, Ava's car finally lands at the bottom of the cliff almost destroyed to just a metal cube. Ava's shoulders were impacted with glass, as her legs were crushed pasted fixing. She regained conciseness slowly, and the first thing she saw was the dripping of blood onto her face. "E-Evan?!" She looked around crazed, only to see her brothers body; limp. "Evan wake up! Moms gunna be here soon!" Her Irish accent from her childhood arose, trying to help Evan up. "Big brother..! Please!" Ava was able to slightly move her arm, so she used all her energy to shake him. When her small hand landed on his buff arm, all she felt was cold. She feared for the worse and then grabbed her phone, calling for help. She closes her eyes after calling for help, resting till help arrives and they can help her break the bad news to her mother.
Time.. Was at a standstill. Ava groaned as the cars weight started to collapse in, in fear of her not going to make it either. She tried to move her left leg, but she lost all feeling down below her waist. Ava though this was it, her life-that she clearly enjoyed- was about to be over. Until.. The loud chopping of a helicopter came along. Ava's eyes glowed brighter as she grabbed her phone. She called 911 again, to help them locate her. "The car is a faded blue so you-" her signal was cut off. Ava sighed and threw her phone, her eyes glancing over to her brother. "Its okay.. Big bro.. I'll get us home.." Her hand stroked his cheek before she saw the man slide down on a rope next to her window. Ava, who didn't know who he was, started to freak out in her seat.
"Ma'am, please, stay calm. We're here to help." The man in uniform stated, as he saw her brother. "Who is this? Is he alive?" The man, waited for her answer. "That's my brother, Evan, and no, He's no longer alive." The man paid his respects quickly then asked how is she. Ava answered, "I can't feel my lower body and my shoulders are pinned to the seat by the windshields glass." The man looked at Ava's state then looked up at the helicopter, speaking into his mic. The only part Ava could understand was "Lower.. Hurt..Bad". The ground around Ava started to shake. "W-woah! What's goin' on?" Ava looked over to the man. All the man did was smile "The helicopter is landing so we can get this off of your legs." The cliff's bottom became suddenly quite as the helicopter turned off.
The other man jumped out and introduced himself first. "My name is Jake and my bud next to you is Matt. We're going to help you and Evan." Jake hooked the front of the car to a pull-chain that was on the helicopter. "We must pull the car to the top of the cliff so we can get you to the ambulance at the top. Matt, I want you to go to the helicopter and get some rope; If the car drops at lease we could save her." At that statement, it sent Ava into fear. Matt looked over and brushed her cheek with his palm. "It won't break. It's just for safety." He whispered, before going over to get it.
He soon returned, wrapping it around Avas waist and giving Jake the thumbs up to start up the engines. Matt waved Ava good-bye as he ran and jumped into the helicopter. She held onto the rope as they started to ascend. Evans body slid down towards the ground, but his seatbelt kept him in place in the seat so his upper body just slanted. Ava closed her eyes to not view her poor brothers state. As they went up, the car's left upper wheel hit a rock that stuck out of the cliff, making the car sway like crazy. Ava held onto the rope, which she felt someone tug back. "That.. Better be Matt or Jake..!" She held on tighter as the car got back into staying in a comfortable swaying pace.
THUD
Ava opened her eyes, to see Matt and Jake taking their helmets off. They're twins. Ava smiled as they rushed over to help her. Once they got her out safely, she was put on a carrier to be taken to the ambulance. She sat up with her last burst of energy to see a few things. She looked over to what was her car, to see her brother being taken away in a white body bag, and she saw The Grassy Hill she did her photoshoot on. The paramedics told her to lay back down, so she did and as those doors closed, so did her eyes.
The ride to the hospital was quick. Sadly, Ava did have to lose her legs and had to get many surgeries to her shoulders and back to make her stable. In this year and age, the technology could fix her back to her normal state on everything but her legs. After many surgeries and months later, Ava laid in her hospital room till she built up her physical strength to go back into the world. Her mother stayed in the room with her as well, crying every night after Ava was asleep from the news about Evan.
One night a month before Ava's release date, her mother came to her side and held Ava's hand tightly. "The news.. I mentioned before all of this is that.. Me and your father have decided to retry our marriage to make a better connection and family with you and Evan.. But it seems we were too late.." Ava glanced over to her father who was asleep in a chair next to the room's window as her mother spoke. "I feel, that Evan would enjoy being the big bro he never got to be from all of the divorce nonsense when we were little.." Ava smiled, trying to calm her mother from crying about the thought of him.
Ava sat up, as she finished her story to the detectives. "Me and my mother would like to do something. Is that all you need?" After getting the 'okay' from the detectives to leave that hospital room, Her mother took Ava to her car after signing out from said hospital. "Is everything ready?" Ava asked, looking over to her mother as the car started up. "Mhm. Everything is blue and ready. Its all in the backseat." The radio played a familiar tune, as they drove off.
Ava put on her prosthetic legs so she may walk. Her mother grabbed the blue flowers, candles, and a picture frame. They headed up the same grassy hill, seeing the spot where Ava's car fell off gave her the chills. Her mom, put her hand on her shoulder softly to calm Ava. The sun was setting, as they lit the candles and made a shrine for Evan. Ava spoke softly. "I guess you could say.. This Grassy Hill Will haunt me for life.." The photo of Evan she took before they drove off was in the middle of the flowers and candles, framed. Ava's mother spoke clearly. "If the sun and moon had a soul, they wouldn't bless us as a world at whole." She kissed the Picture, after Ava did as well before leaving that Grassy Hill for good.
*Now, this was my 5-paged application so I hope you enjoyed. Maybe I'll try again next year. Not sure yet.*