Earth, Water And Fire

• Isabelle Gilbert, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2017

Swish went the waves as the raft climbed onto the sand. Flora jumped off the wooden raft and gazed up at the emerald island shining its beauty out at her. Flora grinned. Her father had let her and Pearl explore an island, now that Flora was 18. Granted, he did say not to go anywhere dangerous and to be back before sunset but still, Flora felt good inside. Then, she looked back and saw her sister shaking, not from the cold water, but with fear. Flora frowned and gave a thoughtful look. Then, she reached out her vine covered hand to Pearl. Pearl raised her hand close to her mouth and then took her sister's hand and ran into the emerald jungle with her. An hour later, while the girls were collecting shells, the island trembled beneath them. Flora put her hand on her little sister's shoulder and whispered "Hey Pearl, did you feel that?". Pearl clutched her right fist, trapping the pale pink shell she was holding inside. The two sisters looked up and saw the volcano bubbling like a pot of stew. "We had to go to an island with a volcano." Pearl whimpered. Then, she screamed "WE HAD TO GO TO AN ISLAND WITH A VOLCANO!" As rocks of fire started raining down, Flora grabbed her sister's scaled arm and pulled her into the rainforest. More rocks of fire were flying everywhere. Eventually, they found the entrance to a cave beside a waterfall. Flora threw her right hand over to the left side of her body and immediately, the trees blocking the entrance moved. The two sisters ran inside and laid their backs on the cave's stone walls. Both of them were panting from exhaustion. Then, Pearl started shaking. She spun her head round at her sister and trembled "H-H-How d-d-do w-w-we g-g-get o-o-out o-o-of h-h-here F-F-Flora?" "Well, we could take the raft." But as soon as she spoke, a wrecking ball-sized ball of fire destroyed the raft in a heat of fury. This made Pearl shake even more. "Ok. So, we'll have to make another raft." "How are we going to make another one?" As soon as she spoke, the palm trees that were blocking the entrance fell down from the impact on the ball of fire's blast. Flora thought for a moment and started pulling them apart without even touching them. Then, using her sister's headband, she tied the logs together. The two sisters ran, being careful not to get hit, through the jungle and onto the beach. They then threw their raft onto the ocean and climbed on. Panting from exhaustion, Pearl fell down onto her sister's lap. Flora stroked Pearl's aquamarine hair and frowned. Maybe, she should have taken the two of them to another island, one without a volcano. She then looked back at the island of fire as their raft sailed towards home.