"A Storm At Sea"
Steven and Angelica tossed about helpless as violent waves
slammed against the sides of the ship. All around the boat, people shouted,
clinging to the rails as the vessel sped across the turbulent sea. The wind grew
fiercer. Passengers exchanged anxious glances. They were still a long way from
shore. The storm had come upon the boat suddenly and before the passengers knew
what was happening, a once peaceful family fishing trip had turned into a
battle for survival.
Another hard wave hit the boat and the door to Steven and
Angelica’s compartment closed again, leaving them stranded within the darkness. Though
the two little ones were hardly capable of understanding the seriousness of the
situation, Steven and Angelica could still hear the shouts and feel the growing
agitation afflicting their fellow passengers. As they sat inside their small
plastic compartment, they wondered if they would ever again see their home.
More waves racked the ship. The shouts of fear rising from
the passengers grew louder. Steven and Angelica thought about their friends at
school. Would they every see any of them again?
A sense of isolation crept in around them. They were trapped,
stranded upon this tiny vessel, prisoners far from the safety of the home they
knew so well. There was no one to save them. No one would come to their rescue.
At any second, the cold hand of death could reach in and snag them forever
from the world of the living.
More screams sounded. The door flung open again. They could
see the driver, standing behind the wheel, his eyes squinting ahead at the
approaching land. They could see the other passengers, wrapped inside their
life vests, shielding their eyes from the spray of water cascading over the
sides.
They were so close to land but the waves were growing bigger
as they moved closer to shore. The boat was filling fast as salty water rushed
over its edges with each fresh surge. The fight against the sea was not going
in the small boat’s favor.
Steven and Angelica’s anxiety grew as the land in the
distance grew bigger. They were so close now. A foreboding sense of dread
gripped them. Then, a scream filled the air as a passenger pointed toward a
particularly large wave rising above the boat. The driver let out a cry and
tried to change the vessel’s course. They were too late. With a force greater
than anything Angelica or Steven had ever imagined, the boat bowled over,
toppling upside down into the sea.
Shouts of fear transformed into splashes. Steven and Angelica
were hurled from their compartment into the salty waters. Plunged beneath the
surface, they began swimming excitedly, looking around for the other people on
the boat. The passengers and driver had risen safely to the surface. Waves
pummeled the crew's fragile bodies. At any moment, they could sink.
The driver was shouting, pointing at
a nearby boat which, having spotted their predicament, had changed directions.
The passengers began swimming toward the ship, helping each other. No one
looked back for Angelica and Steven. Forgotten amid the chaos, they watched as
the boat’s crew swam away without them.
The family’s ambivalence did not
bother them, though. They didn’t care about the other passengers. They didn’t
care about the water-filled ice chest sinking beneath the sea, which had served
as their prison during the ride. They were content to just be back in the
pleasant salty water.
Turning their tails toward the rest
of the company, the two fish swam away from the boat, away from the fisherman,
and away from the nightmare of the last twenty minutes. Together, they swam
home.
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