Earth In A New Perspective.

• Claire Spiers, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2015

“Run!”
“Move over!”
“HELP!”
Chaos. That’s all I see. Everyone is running. I am terrified. My heart is pumping and I think I might be sick. I can’t see Maggie at all. I just hope she is all right. Yeah, yeah so what if an asteroid is going to hit earth? We are all going to die, one way or another. I just want her to live. Maggie is a survivor, but how good is she, really? I don’t care about living, I have no reason to live apart from her.

People are starting to sit down next to me on the cold hard earth. Mostly kids who have lost their parents in the rush. I want to say something to comfort them, something to make them think that everything will be ok, but I can’t lie to them.

By now there are more and more kids coming in by the minute, around twenty in fact. I am paralysed with panic, fear and sadness. Tears start to form in my eyes. I can’t cry though, not here, not now. With all the courage I say. “Come in children. Huddle up.” I swallow, thinking about what I should say now. “Give the person next to you a nice big hug. Introduce yourself and ask them about their next Christmas present, because darling children, you are the next generation and you need to live through this.” As tears start to pour down my face, I take a deep breath. “You will live through this.” The kids are calmer now, but I know, they know that they won’t survive. The government has tried everything possible but there is no way. I am freaking out, though I am still trying to hold on.

The asteroid going to hit the city that I live in, of all places, my street. Many people have joined now and adults are starting to come as well. I don’t know what to say, and then it hits me. I rise and look over the people. I start to talk. Loud and confident. “It’s funny how life turns out. Only when you think the world is over, do you start to see the world in a new perspective. Every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being re-directed to something better. When something horrible is happening you realise, that life isn’t what it seemed at all. I don’t regret the things I have done. I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.” They listen to every word. I am trying to figure out how to survive but, there is no point.

All of a sudden a wailing, screeching, horrid noise is heard. Then a voice runs out through the loud speaker on the street. In a strange, muffled, robotic way it croaks. “Asteroid shall hit earth in 5… 4… 3… 2……………WAIT!!”