AustLit

'Nan is driving me to school because Mum lost her licence for drink driving. It's my first year of high school. She's tired from taking care of me and my cousin. Starting to forget things. Around the corner from school she rear-ends the car in front of us. The bonnet of the car crumples. Her teeth fall out into the footwell. I get out of the car. Blue fluid is leaking onto the ground underneath it. She refuses to get out until she finds her teeth. I insist I am fine to go to school. I get to my locker and start to cry a bit. A pretty girl from my class hugs me in the way you hug people you don't know very well and I choke out 'car crash' when she asks what happened. I start taking the train to school.' (Publication abstract)