2004 Tsunami

• Keely Coleman, Grade 7, Eden Marine High School
• Short Story
• 2013

Excellence Award in the 'Dream Big 2013' competition

In 2004 Annalisa boarded the plane to Phuket with the escort of her seven-year- old brother Aaron and mother Julie and father Chris. As they found their seats Annalisa looked around at the unfamiliar faces. Annalisa sat down and wondered how fun Thailand was going to be. Annalisa and her family had never been out of Australia and she was hoping nothing would go wrong. Annalisa and her family arrived in Phuket at 9pm. They looked terrible, their blonde hair was messy and they had bags under their eyes because they had hardly any sleep. After finding a taxi and getting to their room it was 11pm and Annalisa and her brother were about to fall over. The next morning Annalisa and Aaron headed to the beach across the road. Annalisa made friends with a little Thai boy named Aran. Day after day they spent every minute together, but today was different the flies were swarming and the birds were flying. Annalisa knew something was wrong she just couldn’t put her finger on it. Annalisa and her brother Aaron went to the beach to find Aran and sure enough he was playing by the water. Annalisa and her brother joined him. Fifteen minutes into playing with him Annalisa noticed something strange, the tide was heading back too far. Annalisa knew exactly what was happening. A tsunami was coming. She screamed and yanked Aaron and Aran along. They were running but no one else was as they were collecting the fish and crab. All of a sudden, crash, the wave had broken over hundreds of people. As the children kept running the wave was catching up. It swept them off their feet. “Aaron grab my hand and hop on my back, everything will be fine I promise.” “Sis I’m scared.” “It’s okay,” Annalisa reassured him. Annalisa found a tree by a building and told Aaron to use it to help him climb to the roof while she went to find Aran. Annalisa was getting very tired and worried. A human corpse floated by, Annalisa screamed and kept swimming. Annalisa caught sight of Aran. She was very tired because she was going against the current. Annalisa finally got to him. He was sagging over a branch knocked out. She put him over her shoulder and swam but she was too tired. She put him back over the branch and went scrambling to find a floatation device. She found an old Malibu and placed him face up on the board and started paddling back to her brother. They struggled to get him on the roof but they finally managed. Annalisa looked around at the huge wreck, in the distance she saw her parents on the roof of a building. She could get to them, she just had to jump a small distance between roofs. Her parents saw her and went running to her while leaping over the gaps. After a while a water ambulance found them and took them to hospital. Everyone was okay and Aran was reunited with his family.