S.O.S

• Tasha Ratnarajah, Grade 3
• Short Story
• 2014

“I can't wait!” exclaimed Charlotte. “Neither can I!” Sarah said her voice filled with excitement. “This is exciting!” I said, amazed at the sight in front of me. I was looking at a beautiful, calm blue ocean.
The sun was shining brightly and there was a cool breeze in the air. It was such a beautiful day and a great day to be going on an excursion. All the year twelve students were going on an excursion out into the sea as a celebration for the end of high school.
“Quiet everyone! We need you to make groups of 3 and no more,” the teacher announced. “2 teachers or parents will be on a boat with you. A pair of adults will now come and tell you which boat you are going to go in”.
Once we got into our boats we set out to sea! We spotted really cool creatures such as starfish, jellyfish, clownfish and lots more. My boat was at the back of the pack.
Suddenly, our boat rocked from side to side. Then I saw it! There was a big whirlpool about 13 metres away from our boat. The suction was strong and was pulling us towards it. We were all panicking crazily as our boat went around in circles.
But just in time, the adults managed to pull us out. Sadly, the other boats were nowhere in sight. We just kept travelling in a random direction, until we found a deserted island. We stopped and rested there because there were some coconut trees, so we had food for now.
We dragged our boat onto shore and picked some coconuts to eat. There was nothing but sand other than the coconut trees. The adults were given some wine in a glass bottle to drink and the kids all had their water bottles. We also brought notebooks and pens to write down what we saw.
Then I realised that we were stuck on a deserted island, we had no idea which way home was and we had limited food supplies. The adults were shouting at the top of their lungs, “HELP! HELP.”
I didn't know what to do. Then 20 minutes later an idea struck me! Why don’t we use the glass bottle and notebook paper to write a note? So I got the materials and with everyone watching I wrote this on the piece of paper: “S.O.S”. I threw that into the ocean and did the only thing I could do - wait.
I was too worried to sleep so I waited and after a whole night of staying awake I saw a rescue boat! I waved at it and eventually it reached the island. I was glad.
Once I reached home I was welcomed by my family and the school. Then I went home, started writing this story and got up to this sentence.
That’s all I have to say so bye.