Paradise

• Mia Wels, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2013

When I woke up I had absolutely no idea where I was. But that didn’t matter at all, because the moment I opened my eyes I was totally immersed in a land of natural, flawless beauty. The tropical rainforest behind me. The run-down wooden pier. The salty air. And the sky. A warm, calm sunset painted the sky in all shades of pastel pinks, oranges and purples. Paradise. Then I remembered. It was that place I adored. The place that was a dream. The place I visited every night as soon as I fell into a deep slumber.

I stared straight ahead at the shimmering turquoise water, and found myself going for a walk down the paradise beach, the lemon yellow sand feeling soft between my toes. I grabbed a surfboard from a pile on the sand and paddled out into the depths of the beautiful ocean. My friends were waiting for me out in the blue. Together we surfed the translucent waves. Oh, the feeling! I felt so...free!

I was just about to go for another wave, when I spotted a grey fin a little bit out to sea. I frantically alerted my friends, held my breath and dived under the water to double check the intruder was a shark. But my pounding heart soon calmed, as it was just a fairly large dolphin, calling out to the rest of its pod. “Guys, it’s just a dolphin!” I called out to my friends, who were already half way back to the shore. “Let’s go back anyway!” one of them called out. “Okay!” I replied, starting to swim back.

We arrived at the shore, laughing and spluttering. I pulled myself up and went over to climb a tall, evergreen palm tree. The view from up there was AMAZING! I looked down on the brightly coloured beach towels and sighed. How could anything so normal look so beautiful? I picked seven large, bristly coconuts and threw them onto the sand with a THUD. I slid down the trunk, pierced holes in the coconuts and gave them to my friends. As we sipped the sweet, creamy liquid I looked around at the stunning world around me and noticed something glittering in the fading sunlight. I jogged down to the water’s edge. It was an extraordinary seashell, a spiral, in a strong shade of fuchsia. I held it up to my ear and clearly heard the sea, summoning me to sleep. I plonked myself down on my towel, the shell still in my hand. I didn’t want to leave, but I was just so tired.

“Rise and shine!” my mum called out cheerfully as she did every morning. I groaned, not wanting to get up. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and squeezed the fuchsia shell, still firmly nestled in my hand. Even though the day had barely started, I couldn’t wait to get back to my special dream place. And there was no doubt that feeling was true.