"Mistakes" (Reverse Narrative Story)

In English Comp. 1 we were challenged to write a reverse narrative (a story told in backwards chronological order). Some people found it easier to first plan out their story from beginning to end, the opposite of how it was finally written, but my technique was to write a short paragraph (a single event) and then try to think of what could have possibly caused that event. Then I would write a paragraph for that previous event and continue with the same process. This was a type of writing I had never tried before, and I loved it! Enjoy :)

Mistakes (by Sarah McLaughlin)

A girl knocks on a door she hasn’t touched in two years. A man opens it, and he immediately embraces her. She cries, her tears staining his shoulder. She is home. She is happy.

A man had broken her heart. He told her it wasn’t her fault, that he still loved her, that it was just something he needed to do. She didn’t respond. He stared, watching her run—far, far away, until her body was just a faint speck of dust in the distance.

A woman had shouted at him. She yelled, cursing him and his life and his choices. Why had he dropped out of college? Why was he living with a girl he barely knew? What about his little brother? Her voice hit him like shards of ice, attacking every area she knew was weakest. She was only satisfied when he finally flinched and bowed his head. She couldn’t bare to make the same mistake twice.

A child had come home from school in tears. He rushed into his mother’s arms, screaming that he didn’t want to go anymore. His brother didn’t have to, so why should he?

A tall boy had pushed him. His best friend. The boy backed away, calling him a freak, telling him he wasn’t normal. He didn’t mean any of it.

A man had disciplined him. He taught him not to think, not to have opinions, not to fall in love, to just follow the rules and never question them. He taught him who he was supposed to be and who he could never, ever turn into. He couldn’t bare to make the same mistake twice.

A girl had abandoned him. At eighteen, she ran away from her father, and nothing could stop her. There was a man she loved, but her father disapproved of, and she chose one over another. He stared, watching her run—far, far away, until her body was just a faint speck of dust in the distance.

He only began crying after she was gone.