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.
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
ReplyDeleteHaha
DeleteWhat a cool connection to make in this tragic story.
ReplyDeleteWow that was really good yet disturbing. I thought for sure the blood from Jakes mouth was going to bring sharks.
ReplyDelete