Mid Air Emergency

• Thomas Bodsworth, Grade 4, Freshwater State School
• Short Story
• 2015

Excellence Award in the 'Read Write Repeat 2015' competition

Colourful fish swam in shoals all around me. The water was already up to my hips. The plane had crashed into the ocean and was sinking rapidly. Fifteen minutes ago, the engines had spluttered and stopped working. The pilot had advised us to prepare for an emergency landing. Along with the other passengers, I immediately felt scared and anxious. Ten seconds later, the crew demonstrated how to fit our safety mask.
My name is Joe and I don’t feel safe right now. Poking my head out of the window that had broken from impact with the water, I saw that there was a island west of the cockpit. “Look!” I yelled. “Everyone follow me. We need to get out of the plane and swim to the island. I just saw it.” This was good. All of the passengers agreed to follow me. (The plane would drown anyone who was still inside the plane). “I need a volunteer to make sure no one is left in the plane."
“I will help you,” the pilot volunteered, “It is my job to make sure everyone is safe."
I led the other passengers out of the plane and we all swam to the island. We didn’t see any sign of other people living on the island. Luckily there were a lot of fruit trees and animals roaming around the island. We began collecting the fruit and animals such as crabs, and soon had a good meal. As it was getting late, we decided to make a shelter and soon we were all asleep.
The next morning, we built a raft. Halfway through the construction, we noticed some dark grey clouds in the distance, which were rapidly getting closer by the minute. Winds were increasing and soon we were in the middle of a storm. We were soaking wet and cold from the heavy rain. Thunder and lightning seemed to be right above us. We huddled together as best we could. The rolling thunder seemed to be endlessly loud. However my Mum’s voice somehow seemed to be louder still. “Joe, wake up. It’s time to get ready for school. I’m not going to be there to make your breakfast”, said Mum. It was just another adventurous dream.