Last Day

By Ted Howard

Last Day is three short stories in which people receive a message that this will be their last day on earth. Do they believe it? How do they say their good-byes? They must reflect on their lives and come to their own conclusions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503593121

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Copyright © 2015 by Ted Howard.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2015912697

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-5035-9314-5

   Softcover   978-1-5035-9313-8

   eBook   978-1-5035-9312-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 08/05/2015

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CONTENTS

MARIE

ROD HANSEN

TOM SIMPSON

MARIE

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A lthough Marie was the eldest her sister, Ellen, got all the attention.

She was adored not just by her parents, Nick and Eva, but the whole world. Total strangers showered her with attention, she was adored by all who met her. Everyone was enchanted by her cute features and even cuter personality.

Ellen grew into this role nicely. She had a certain magnetism and was able to effortlessly draw attention toward herself. People just responded to her. She excelled in activities that adults would watch and judge. She seemed like the ideal daughter. Ellen excelled at story-telling, acting, and gymnastics. She loved the spotlight, and she learned how to play the adults extremely well.

Ellen would never be adept at getting along with her peers, however; in fact, it was a struggle. So she did what she did best, manipulated them as well. But it was much more rewarding to manipulate the adults than the kids. She was the apple of everyone’s eye and knew just how to use the power that came with her status.

Marie was dull compared to Ellen. She was also jealous of her little sister, but came to realize that she would receive positive attention just by hanging around at her little sister’s activities. People would presume that Marie was providing guidance and support to Ellen. She would receive accolades that were welcome but definitely not deserved.

Ellen did not hate Marie, but she had absolutely no use for her. She preferred to handle things her way and as they grew, they would go in separate directions.

Mom and Dad always brought their girls to church on Wednesday night and Sunday morning. Marie read from the Bible regularly and it was here she found her niche. She loved the stories and life lessons that were taught by it. Marie became so well versed in the Bible that adults would ask her questions and she would be able to respond politely and quickly. Sometimes people would ask her for guidance and she always had an appropriate passage or Psalm to help drive her reasoned point home more clearly. She enjoyed sharing these lessons from God that have helped generations since the beginning of time.

The positive adulation from adults made Marie feel special and needed, and she thrived on this attention, just like Ellen. To make sure that she would continue to receive this special attention, Marie volunteered at the church and in the community. She helped the poor, less fortunate, sick, and the elderly. Marie would stay away from heathens and troublemakers, like people who did drugs or committed immoral acts.

In Marie’s estimation, these types of people were against the church and worse—against God. The more Marie embraced her faith, the more she worried about her sister.

Marie would try to help Ellen through the years, but Ellen would only do what Ellen wanted to do. Ellen knew how to get everything she wanted, whenever she wanted it. She saw no reason to change anything. As Ellen entered high school, Marie was a senior. Marie had already been accepted to a Christian university near home and was looking forward to continuing her studies and volunteer work. The first day of school, Ellen dressed in tight jeans and a very light, pink blouse; she made quite a first impression on her classmates and teachers. Her new haircut was short, just to her shoulders, and more appropriate for a cosmopolitan college girl. Ellen also had a new plan—she knew high school would be different. Teachers would not be convinced to cater to her so easily, especially since Marie had come before her and made lasting impressions on them already.

Marie had that advantage in high school. She had come through there first and was a favorite of the teachers already. She had perfect attendance and straight A’s. Ellen had the intelligence to get good grades, but her efforts and focus were on getting attention and getting her way—all the time. She would become annoyed when any of her teachers would mention all the great qualities that Marie possessed. Why did she have to be compared to Marie? She could not fathom that at all. In Ellen’s mind, Marie was ugly, stupid, and had very little to offer to the world. Her opinion had been reinforced by their parents all of their lives. Ellen after all, was friendly, sweet, and outgoing. She was also always plotting something. Marie started going to church for the validation, but came to enjoy the community and helping others. Ellen went for the attention.

Although her power over the teachers waned at high school, Ellen was queen bee of the dumb jocks and the bad boys. And she loved them back; they were so easy to manipulate. Ellen ruled her kingdom with cunning and an iron fist.

The power of being a cute girl who could get away with anything and never be caught made her ruler of the rest of the freshman class. Tiffany and Jennifer were her closest friends and subjects. They were able to date any boys already used and discarded by Ellen.

Schoolwork was not as important as her social kingdom. She received B’s and C’s in class and had to endure her teachers always speaking pointedly about her wonderful and studious sister Marie. Ellen’s eyes would roll whenever she heard that name. But she was too busy to let it distract her for long.

Her kingdom had been established rather easily as the kids would seek her approval and try to please her. They were hypnotized by Ellen’s beauty and confidence. The girls were told what to wear and they were made to understand that no one could look better than the queen. Her tyranny grew as influence spread. She would order lockers be broken into and gifts or money was given to the queen for any and all violations of her commands.

This more than fueled the growing kingdom. Ellen even pulled pranks on people, especially Marie. Marie would have something spilled on her each day of the week by someone different. Stan was successful in spilling ink on Marie on Monday.

Tuesday Jennifer spilled milk on Marie’s black blouse. Wednesday, Mark ran into her and dumped soda over her shirt. Mark was different though; he would marry Marie in a few years.

Mark only agreed to the stunt to see if Ellen’s older sister could smile or laugh. Marie appeared stern to most people and Mark thought she was stiff and lacking a personality. He would have been happy to see Marie get mad, just please show some emotion. But Marie was now accustomed to having things spilled on her and did not react. Mark thought she was a beautiful girl but she would be more appealing with a little emotion. He decided to taunt her.

Mark: You klutz, what the he—

Marie: Don’t you say that word. Don’t you dare curse.