Caddie Get Up. That was her name; her name that nobody cared about. Her name that was unknown, except her last one. Her name, that her parents must have thought was a terribly hilarious joke. Her name that was only known because of her Sister. Her Sister, Callie Doll Up, was known all around the county, if not all around the state. She was the celebrity of Sunnyville, and that was why her type of sister had to be spelled Capitalized. She was also oh-so-beautiful and kind.
Oh, but not her sister, Caddie Up. Caddie was so drastically different from her Sister. She was a simpleton, if not downright ugly, at least in her mind: Fluffy, wavy black hair that her father always said made her look like she was auditioning for the Lion King, a wide nose that she hated, pale skin that was mismatching from the rest of her, light brown eyes, bushy eyebrows that her father also always said made her look like she was permanently angry, and “prominent upper lip hair” as her mother liked to politely call it. She also had braces.
Her family was so kind, at least usually. Her mother, Calla Lily Up, was so beautiful and polite. Caddie had gotten her hair from her mother, but her mother’s hair was glossy and thick, and shone purple in the sunlight, like a ravens feathers. She had beautiful blue eyes, and a lovely smile. She was so polite to everybody, always. Caddie had never heard her mother yell.
Caddie’s father, though, was a different matter altogether. He had passed his bright yellow hair onto Callie, but not Caddie. He had the same pale blue eyes as Callie, too, the kind that unnerved people sometimes, since they were so pale. He had the same thick eyebrows as Caddie, but his, at least, were pale, so nobody would notice their horrible thickness. He always had a smile on his face, but bags under his eyes, poor eyesight, and a certain uncanny love of teasing his daughters. The thing he wished most for was a son.
Caddie’s sister, though, was the best of the family. She had corn-silk hair, pale blue eyes, and a perfect, princess-y face. She had won Miss Sunnyville, Miss Kentucky, and was soon to be, if anybody had anything to do with it, especially the Up mother, Miss America.
But now, Caddie thought as she trudged to school through the rain after a little boy, nobody cares about me. It’s better if nobody does. Life will go on as always, and I’ll die unknown.
She watched the little boy trudge through puddles on the sidewalk, and then pick up a stick he found and drag it through the mud on the side of the sidewalk. He quickly got bored with it, and dropped it in a puddle. Seemingly delighted at the splash, he started jumping in puddles, soaking the hem of his too-long rain jacket. It was bright, fire engine red, just like his boots, hat, and backpack. His lunchbox, the same color as everything else, was strapped to his backpack, making him absolutely adorable.
Soon, he got carried away though, and started jumping in puddles in the grass that sucked on your feet if you walked across it, making a wet shlop every time you dragged your feet out of it. The little boy also started jumping into puddles at the edge of the sidewalk, which worried Caddie.
But why should I care? She thought. I’ll still die an unknown.
Before long, they reached a road crossing. She pressed the button for the light before the little boy, and he shuffled his feet, disappointed. In next to no time, though, he was splashing in a rather large puddle on the edge of the sidewalk. In a little while, he noticed the sound of the water on the edge of the road running into the sewer, and excitedly jumped in it.
Caddie didn’t do anything to stop it, and that was her first mistake.
Also, a little bit after that, he saw a huge puddle that could barely be called a puddle in the middle of the road, and looked at it with shining, innocent brown eyes. He looked around, as if checking that nobody was watching. His eyes landed on Caddie, but, after looking her up and down once or twice, not registering her as a threat to his freedom, he ran in the middle of the road, and leaped in the puddle.
Caddie had only just thought That puddle can’t even be called a puddle, more like a small pond, when she saw him run into the middle of the road.
She reached towards him, as if to grab him by the backpack and stop him, and opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
Mistake #2.
Caddie saw the water spray all around him as he leaped into the water, and saw him throw his head back and laugh, his hat tipping off his head and falling on the ground; She saw him lean down and start to grab it, before she saw a blinding lemon light screech around the corner.
Her eyes widened as she realized what it was, a white eighteen-wheeler truck, and her ears registered the sound of a honking horn. She saw the little boy look up and freeze, and she screamed, “NO!”
Before she knew what she was doing, she leaped out into the road, and pushed the little boy out of harm’s way, before she collided with the truck’s hard metal grill, and everything went black.
***
Black, everything was black, until everything was dim yellow.
“Unngh…” Caddie groaned, but even that hurt her. “Wha…?” She whispered, and she stopped saying anything, since it hurt so much.
She tilted her head to look at her surroundings, and at herself. She couldn’t remember anything, except a splitting pain in her side, like everything in her torso was exploding, and her name, Caddie Up. Now, she was dressed in a cute little blue dress that looked like something a doll should wear. Doll… She thought groggily, and then everything came flooding back to her. Who she was, what had happened, what she was.
She heard somebody talking, and muffled moaning sounds, and a hiccup once in a while. She heard a sound that sounded like somebody blowing their nose, and it suddenly clicked.
Where was she? At her own funeral. Most people don’t usually get to do that. What were those noises? Mourning people. Who was speaking? Her father. Of course, her sister probably couldn’t be bothered to come, let alone speak about her, and the small amount of good memories they had together.
She took a deep breath; feeling like somebody was trying to split her head in half, and pushed herself up with her arms. One collapsed beneath her, and she fell back down, but the flash of dark and blue was enough to arouse the audience.
“Caddie?” Yelled a voice. “Caddie?!” Ah yes, a voice that sounded like the flute turned into speech. Caddie’s cracked, parched lips parted in a weak smile, and her sister, her dear, dear sister, rushed up to the coffin, almost throwing herself in it. Worried blue eyes shone, and then pearly teeth showed in that Miss-America-winning smile. Corn-silk hair caught the light, turning it white-blond, and Callie embraced her little sister, Caddie Up, and she buried her face in her sister’s hair.
“Caddie, Caddie, oh Caddie, I thought you were dead, we thought you were dead, Caddie, Caddie, Caddie…” She sobbed into her hair.
Yes, that’s my name she thought. Caddie, Caddie, Caddie Up, Caddie Up up up.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 27.06.2011

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