"Connected" by Sofia Contreras: December 2025 3rd Place

“Evan! Evan! Evan! Evan!”

I woke up on Christmas morning to my seven year old step sister, wearing her coat and calling my name.

“Olivia it is…” I glanced at the clock. “4:45 in the morning. Go away.”

“But I saw a squirrel!” she whined.

“In your room?” I squinted at her in the darkness.

“No, outside. It was wearing a hat!” She furrowed her eyebrows.

“Go back to bed, Olivia.”

She crossed her arms. “I was not dreaming! I’ll prove it.” She quickly grabbed the photo of dad on my nightstand and dashed downstairs.

My cheeks heated. She knew how much that photo meant to me.

I ran after her, groaning when I saw the open front door.

I quickly put on shoes and a coat before I ran into the snow.

My anger grew into fury as I saw her searching the trees that bordered the forest.

“He’s not here.” She was disappointed, but I was too mad to care.

“Give it back,” I snapped.

She held out her palm just as the wind picked up and it soared like a bird into the woods.

I saw red as I ran.

I weaved through the trees, only stopping when I saw the bridge.

I remembered Mom said it was unstable.

I was about to carefully test it when a flash of pink got ahead of me.

Crack!

“Olivia, get off!” I yelled.

She made a grab at the photo.

Time slowed as I ran onto the bridge, grabbed her arm and dragged her across.

As we reached land, the bridge collapsed.

Everything, photo included, plunged into the water, seven feet below.

Olivia shook with sobs.

“I’m so sorry Evan,” she whispered. “Please don’t hate me.”

My heart grew heavy.

I glanced across the river and stared in disbelief.

Birds flew overhead, squirrels scampered down from trees, animals of all kinds were playing and heading towards the forest.

They were all wearing festive clothing.

The last bit of anger faded.

“It’s okay,” I whispered to my sister, hugging her tight. “It was worth it.”