The Undestined Journey

• Yvette Nguyen, Grade 5, Pymble Ladies College
• Short Story
• 2010

Finalist in the 'Something With Bite 2010' competition

“The sea growled and leapt at us like snarling tigers. The many sounds of grief and wailing mingling with the howling wind were desperate and depressed. Many people had never given much thought on how they would die. However, I thought that this journey to a promising land could be our last…”

I was only a little girl, when my dad was taken away by the police. I vaguely remember him now, just some dim and distant memory. That terrible day, however, when I left Vietnam, was an ugly memory, stored in my mind, just waiting to haunt me in my dreams. I never want to venture near the sea again with its ugly, white teeth and salty waves. This is why I’m silent and quiet. This is why I never laugh. This is my story.

A few days after my dad was taken away, my mum and I escaped on a boat. The soldiers were approaching our village and we needed to vanish as quickly as possible. Taking very little food, we pushed off into the night, with another twenty people and an unpredicted journey ahead of us. We ate very little as food was scarce and slept in each other’s arms, dreaming of somewhere that we could start a fresh, new life.

The next day, we woke up to a sunny day, perfect weather for sailing our little boat. As we chewed the raw rice, I noticed something queer, advancing towards us. It was a large ship. This ship came closer to us and I saw the strangers who had swords in their hands. Promptly, I began to worry as these newcomers were not the normal, kind people you usually see. Suddenly, mum spoke to everyone quietly but frantically. “Thai pirates. Kings of the sea but brutal and cruel. Everyone hide under seats and any nooks and crannies you can find. Pray that these people do not find us and they’ll see an empty boat”. There was an immediate scramble as people hid. The monsters passed us with a loud swoosh and disappeared into the setting sun. Everybody breathed a sigh of relief and curled up on the hard, wooden floor and slept worriedly.

I awoke to the sound of someone moaning loudly. She started screeching shrilly before falling into an uncomfortable silence. I looked anxiously into her unblinking eyes and realised she was dead. She fought against the famine but lost to the harshness. Her family mourned sadly for her as we pushed her body into the water, praying that her soul would guide us on our journey.

I looked sadly out at the floating body with the sun beaming down. My mum reassured me that we would soon be reunited with Dad and we could be a proper family again. However, one depressing question lingered in my mind, “who would be the next ill-fated person?’ I looked at the endless horizon and wondered to where the voyage was leading us to.