A Boating Nightmare
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Lachlan Groundwater, Grade 6
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Short Story
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2013
“Ahhh”, I sigh to myself as I lean back into my seat, excitedly waiting for the fish to bite.
“Great day for fishing”, my best friend Jack exclaims as he casts his line in.
I’m out in my boat in the middle of the ocean with him, trying to beat him in our fishing contest. Whoever catches the most fish, regardless of size, gets five dollars off my Dad. I got my boating license last week and I couldn’t wait to get out here with Jack. So far I’ve caught seven fish and Jack has caught 6,excluding the large, purple octopus he caught.
“We’re out of food!”, Jack cries, ”We better go back to shore and get some”.
“Okay, I’ll start the motor”, I tell him, eager to get some lunch.
I yank the ripcord to start the motor, but to my surprise, it doesn’t start. It can’t be broken I just got it last week. I yank the ripcord harder this time, but still it doesn’t work.
“Hey Jack”, I scream, “Have you done something to the motor?” I ask him.
“Nah I haven’t touched it all day”, he shouts back.
“I think we’re stranded here”, I whimper nervously.
“What?”, he screams at me as he comes to take a look at it. After about five minutes he told me that it wasn’t going to work, then, to make everything a whole lot better (sarcasm) dark blue shark fins start slowly circling the small boat.
“Ahhhhhh”, we both scream, feeling death creep slowly closer. I try to hit the agile sharks with the thin oars but the sharks just bite them and get angrier. I run to my bag under the driver's seat and pull out a flare, lighting it and throwing it as accurately as I can at the biggest sharks face.
That didn't go down well with the shark. It leaped up out of the water, dived over the boat, bit into Jack and dived back into the water on the other side of the boat, Jack still in its jaws.
"Noooo”, I howl as a gigantic pool of blood comes up to the surface of the dark, gleaming water. "Why Jack", I scream, "why not me. As I search the water for any signs of life, a whistle bounces to the surface. Jacks favourite whistle, always gave him good luck. I guess this time his luck ran out.
I sit there thinking,
"Why does everybody say God is so kind and loving, when he lets terrible things like this happen?"