Storm At Sea

• Bethany-Lee Wright, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2013

Every row is a throb in my throat, the salty sea air whips my face as I carry on fighting the wild wind but every second it becomes colder and colder. The waves are getting higher and higher and it is becoming more difficult to row now as the wind gets stronger I look up at the cloudy black sky and it has started to rain. Every drop of water feels like golf balls bouncing off the top of my head I start rowing again and as I do a loud roar comes from nowhere and a great bright light fills the sky faster than a bullet. Head hammering I row faster and faster the storm too seems to be getting stronger and louder. A bolt of lightning flashes before my eyes and it strikes my small boat. A black mark branded where the lightning had struck. Another flash of light comes from the clouds as a large wave towers over me I hold my breath waiting but I do not have to wait long, the wave crashes on top of me and the boat fills with even more water. Shaking my head to get the water off my face I continue rowing. It is hard because there is so much going on around me. I can’t row properly and another wave crashes on the top of me. The storm is picking a good fight but I’m not going to give up, not now that I am so close to winning. A flash of light brighter than the last hits my eyes and as it does a great wave towers over head. It gets higher and higher, I hold my breath ready and then it goes straight over me. The boat which was full of water rolls I hold on for dear life but it is too late. I sink down, down in the cold black sea. I swim upwards to the top begging for air. I am allowed to breathe but not until a wave pushes me back down to the bottom. I have no more strength to swim back up again. I have little breath to spare but I watch as bubbles made by the rain form on the top of the ocean. The storm has won and as I sink lower and lower, my eyes become heavy I close them. There is no sound of the waves and storm, there is no cold either, there is nothing it is just black. I can’t feel anything, nothing. I don’t even know who I was it is just black and empty and nothing more.