Drowning In Peace

• Paige Britten, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2013

Courage is the quality of mind and spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger and be able to with stand pain. It’s being able to do these acts without fear; that’s the definition of courage. Courage is pulling out your first tooth for the tooth fairy, courage is attending school for the first day, courage is graduating secondary school but for Anzacs, courage is getting onto the enemies land and fighting for our country and its freedom. This is the courage that Dan Miller had to undertake.
Dan Miller is an average 18 year old Australian boy, he has a casual job at the local McDonalds earning an average wage, has an average relationship with his girlfriend, he has an average family; he is just living a plain average life. But he was more than average, he was an extraordinary boy, he was going into a life many people don’t choose to. In less than 2 hours he is going to be on the enemies’ turf fighting for his country. But for now he is on a little tin boat sailing across the sea with his camouflage uniform on, with the gun strap around his right arm.
His heart is pounding and he can feel his tummy churning with every thought that the breath he is taking could be his last, but it’s fading away when he knows that the act he is doing is going to save his loved ones and is giving them the freedom that they deserve. With every thought of his loved ones he realises that they are less than 50 metres away from the enemy’s turf.
As the boat glides over to the abandoned and distraught island, sounds of guns loading is all he can hear. This is the moment Dan is going to remember. As they approach closer to the island each man are jumping out of the tin boat into the waist high water and start trudging their way over.
Then it all begins; the sounds of guns exploding and the yells of the men begin. The gasps of the lives getting taken away from his fellow mates, Dan runs forwards and mourns for the fallen. Everything around him is a blur, the smoke from the fire arms is all he can see but yet he can pinpoint the enemies. With every pull of the trigger he hits them in the chest and watches them plunge to the ground. With every knock down of the enemies he takes one step forward until he feels himself start to sink into the water. Blood is running out of his chest, with every last grasp his body convulses and slowly his whole body is submerged into the sea.
He is in no pain, he is not scared, the courage it took for him, the fallen and living soldiers is what has brought their country closer to freedom, but for now he is picturing his loved ones and he is in peace.