A Catastrophic Morning

• Iesha Le Clerc Klein, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2014

I woke on Saturday morning, drenched in my own sweat. I’d just had the strangest dream, a nightmare really. I reluctantly hauled myself out of bed then sleepily reached for my hairbrush which wasn’t there! I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and tried to remember the nightmare I had… but there was a possibility I was still having it! I looked around and found that I was at the foot of a volcano! That would be the logical reason of why I was sweating. The sky was a bright red mixed with vibrant pinks yellows and oranges, it was rather pretty! The rising sun shone into my eyes and I tried to make a shield with my hands covering my eyes. I whipped my head in all directions, something seemed very peculiar about the setting, aside from a volcano and the fact that her bed was sitting outside - in some other city! People were running around frantically. About a dozen people were gawping at me in disgust and confusion, but I must have looked the same towards them because I too was gazing at them curiously. The people wore funny clothes, the women and even girls wore what looked like a bonnet, long socks and long frilly gowns while the men and boys wore a garment so strange that it was describable! A little girl said something and then started laughing mockingly at me, but it was in a foreign language! I had a strong feeling that it was Italian. The volcano started making strange noises and then started spewing out its red hot flowing lava! I very quickly became one of the frantic people. I noticed shops which all said Pompeii on them. There was 'Pompeii seamstresses' and 'Pompeii food'.

I woke up abruptly, breathing heavily. I just remembered that a school assignment on Pompeii was due tomorrow, and I had no idea what to write about! But then I started tracing back last night's nightmarish dream. I knew what to do for my assignment!