Phil

(I wrote this in high school.)

Phil was dead. He knew this but he decided not to blame Agnes, because she had not done it on purpose. Agnes was old and wasn’t a very good driver. She had grown shorter over the years and could barely see over the steering wheel.

Maybe if Phil had been taller, like if he had had different parents that had given him tall genes, then Agnes would have seen him and hit the brakes. But could she even reach the brakes? She shouldn’t have been driving, but it still wasn’t her fault that Phil was dead.

Maybe if Phil had watched for coming cars on the road before he crossed it, but this would have been hard as he was carrying large heavy bags of groceries for his wife and he couldn’t see over them. His wife shouldn’t have asked for so many groceries, but it still wasn’t her fault that Phil was dead.

Maybe if he had had better hearing he would have heard the car approaching—it was an old car and it rumbled when it was driven—but his hearing wasn’t very good so he didn’t hear the car coming. If only his parents had given him good hearing genes.

Maybe it was all on purpose, a homicide. You never know with older people. Phil thought that he should have been nicer to Agnes. They were neighbors and maybe he should have visited her once in a while, brought her a pie. There had been a pie in the bags of groceries he was carrying for his wife, and she had been planning for the family to eat it after dinner. If he had just invited Agnes to dinner she would not have been driving her car down the road. Instead she would have been choosing large pearl earrings and necklaces and the best old woman outfit she could find in her closet so that she could look nice for her dinner with Phil and his family.

Phil thought that it was definitely his fault he was dead. He wondered whether he’d ever be able to forgive himself, because he had liked life very much. Now Phil was all alone, no one around to talk to, and no one around to blame but himself. It wasn’t his fault though, according to everyone on earth. They all thought it was their fault and they wondered whether they could ever forgive themselves.