Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Wave (Fall District Writing Assessment)


Kyle Roberts
7th Grade                                                     The Wave
September 12, 2012

The summer day was scorching, as the beaming sun reflected against the warm, serene sea. The light shimmered on the surface and danced in the harmonious waves. Joyous children and adults splashed through the water, unaware of the horrendous tragedy that would soon be upon them. The afternoon seemed strikingly beautiful; not a cloud in the sky that could darken the swimmers’ spirits. Tyler Hastings and his younger siblings, Cindy and Jake, glided through the crystal clear ocean, farther away from the yacht than anyone else. It had been an unpleasant year for them; both of their parents had deceased in a tragic car accident. The three of them had nothing left but each other. This was supposed to lift up their spirits, an escape that could keep their minds off of their loss. They had spent their past couple of months either sobbing until their eyes turned a vivid red or thinking of valued memories of their mother and father.
Tyler had looked out for his brother and sister and had done the best to keep his devastated emotions to himself; he had to be strong and promised himself he wouldn’t bawl in front of the children. With their caregivers gone, the siblings had moved in with their grandparents, whom they had barely spent any time with during their childhood. The trip to the Caribbean was a Christmas gift from them, hoping it would rid the three’s thoughts of their departed parents. It was supposed to be the happiest time of their lives, not the end of them.
Around noon, was when the first drop of rain, collapsed from a cloud above, and splashed into the blue sea. Tyler had witnessed the drop collide with the surface of the water and swiftly glanced up to the now utterly gray sky. The once beautiful day had turned into horrendous, nightmare, that none of the tourists could wake up from. A gargantuan wave crashed on top of the innocent swimmers, pulling them beneath the water, which poured into their lungs. They reached for the surface, hoping to behold a gasp of air, before losing their breath and floating to the bottom of the sea. When Tyler reached the surface, an atrocious pain pierced the pit of his stomach, when he was unable to locate his brother and sister.
“Cindy! Jake?,” he desperately cried out. “Where are you?” He dove back under the violent, deafening waves, to discover his younger brother, drifting lifelessly to the ocean floor. He grabbed Jake’s swimming shirt and with all of his strength, hauled him above the murky, dreary sea. Tyler placed his unresponsive sibling onto a tube, and pressed his lips against the boy’s, sending puffs of oxygen into his lungs. With no sign of his heartbeat, Tyler frantically pounded on Jake’s chest, until he awoke and coughed up pools of salt water; hints of deep red blood were visible dripping from the young boy’s mouth.
“What happened?”, Jake questioned his brother.
“Don’t worry, everything is going to be alright!” Tyler promised. “Cindy?” he shrieked at the top of his lungs.
Behind all of the screams of horror and agonizing pain, he barely made out a soft, helpless, “Tyler!”. He recognized the high, fearful voice that belonged to his younger sister, and paddled his way through the crowd of drowning people, pulling Jake along the entire time. He finally found a frightened and shaken Cindy, who sat on a circular inner tube, defenseless against a man that was beginning to hurl her off of the raft, in order to selfishly save himself. Tyler rapidly swam to his anxious sister and immediately punched the wrongful adult in the face, causing him to plummet backwards, and drift to under the sea.
“No one messes with my family!” he shouted in rage, as he struggled to tread water in the middle of nowhere. The vessel that had brought them out to sea had been caught in a enormous path, and sunken to the insidious ocean floor.
“Tyler! Jake!” Cindy screamed in despair.
“I thought I had lost you too!” Tyler responded.
“I want to go home,” Jake announced, as a minute tear released from his eye.
“Oh my gosh!” someone yelled out in the distance, as another mighty wave washed over the powerless beings. Dozens of bodies floated on the surface, heads down in the water, while families watched the light of their loved ones drift from their eyes as they are taken from their rafts by the typhoons that seemed to never surrender. The tranquil waters had turned into a death trap causing people to trash around in the sea and beg for mercy from the heavens.
“Guys, duck!” Tyler warned his siblings, just before the current rushed over his head, blinding him for less than an instant. He leaped to the surface, wheezing for air, before another rip-tied forced him under the ocean, into the depths below. Tyler had been asthmatic ever since he was a young child and began to struggle with out his inhaler nearby. More and more feeble lives were taken as adults sacrificed themselves for their children and were taken under by the hurricane. The storm seemed to go on ceaselessly; people splashed about, hoping to reach dry land sooner or later. There had been no warning; the tropical cyclone had seemed to come out of nowhere.
“Tyler?” Cindy had tried to yelp, but all of the screaming had begun to strain her voice. “Jake, do you see him?” she questioned him.
“No, I hope he’s okay,” he replied. Just then, a determined Tyler hurdled out of the water, and clutched a hold of the inner tube, containing his two apprehensive siblings, and began to swim east, away from the shrieks of terror and agony; away from the tourists caught in the seaweed, who violently struggled below until water hurried into their mouths, filling their lungs, until they motionlessly lied on the sea floor’s sand.
“What are you doing?” Jake asked him.
“Saving our lives,” Tyler emotionlessly answered. With all of the little potency he had left, he paddled through the ocean for miles, until the great waves and pouring rain finally began to cease. While wheezing and couching for air, Tyler was able to barely make out a patch of land in the distance. l
“Yes! Land hoe!” a thankful Jake belted out, as he thanked the lord and hugged his sister. “Keep going Tyler, we’re almost there!” he added.
“Thank you! Oh, thank you!” Cindy called out to the heavens.
“Stay strong guys, stay strong.” was all Tyler had said.
When Tyler reached waist-deep waters, no farther than seventy feet away from shore, he tumbled onto his knees, and dunked his face into the water, no strength left to keep going.
“Come on, Tyler! We are so close,” a confused Jake told his comatose older sibling.
“Tyler?” Cindy asked. There was no reply; bubbles arose to the glistening surface of the water, as the young man let out his last breath. Tyler had given up everything to save his family’s lives; he had pushed himself to reach safety, and had died in the process. Tyler hadn’t died because of the storm, or a blood-thirsty beast that lurked in the waters, he had deceased for love.
“No! Tyler!” Jake cried, smashing his fists against the sea in frustration. Tears streamed down his face as he shook Tyler’s stationary body around, hoping for him to open his eyes, and carry him home.
“Stop it Jake! He told us to stay strong. And we will!” she warned him. The brother and sister grabbed each other’s hands and stomped their way onto the beach, shaking the water from their hair and face, until finally collapsing onto the sand.
Life is a wonderful thing; it must be treasured and enjoyed, no matter what gets in the way; you must stay strong.

4 comments:

  1. I actually based this on when I was at the Dells in an indoor wave pool and I lost my little cousins in the deep end...lol

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  2. What a cool connection to make in this tragic story.

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  3. Wow that was really good yet disturbing. I thought for sure the blood from Jakes mouth was going to bring sharks.

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