The First Achievement

• Tom Nguyen, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2016

I deliberately opened my eyes, forcing it to open till it touched my lid. Just for an instant my eyes healed up or the fuzzy was entirely vanished, perhaps my eyes were no longer blurry. I pushed myself up as the darkness invaded my healed eyes, it carried along a horrid stun and chucked me beyond my endurance. I hit my head into the cliff, making the stun twice as bad and it surged me in the border of sleep.
I woke up and yawned, i guessed i was unconscious in a long time. I tried to push me up once more as i closed my eyes; i didn’t fancy to receive another horrible stun. Taking a deep breath to get back my bravery, then i used all of it to perform a courageous leap, getting balance to my foot; i couldn’t get balance to my feet because of my injury apparently. Suddenly, something reminded me, a thing that was very important, i felt i need to do something for my pride, for my country and for my family.
I tried to rack my brain as hard as i could but my injured head wouldn’t allow me to. All the fact i knew was my country is in trouble. I rattled off anything i recalled, hoping that i would get some information but it was meant to be useless. Somehow i felt my back is heavy as if i was carrying something, i took a look round my shoulder. Surprisingly, i was right, i was carrying a rucksack.
The first thing i’d taken out was a picture, it was nothing too special but it forced me to shout out loud after seeing it. Quickly, i packed up, a letter in hand and i ran through the field.
It became clear, i broke the wall of confusion in my brain. My country was fighting with terrorists, i had got my mission since yesterday from the Head wanting more men. When i was a kid, i wanted to fight for my country like a hero but there was one thing blocked my way to my desire, i wasn’t old enough.
After running for a while, i stopped and fell down, starvation was killing me and my body which was already rotten. I crawled, step by step for my country, for my family and for everything. I kept crawling up the mountain. 20 m, 10m, then 5 m and i did it, i fainted with a smile attaching to my face.
I woke up once again with the relief in my breaths. I had a look around the room and i spotted the picture that had saved my country that day, it showed the Head giving me the mail . Unknowingly, i heard a voice, i’d heard it before. The tears started to well up as i realized it belonged to my dad and most surprisingly, i got a certificate for being brave, everyone was proud of me.
I was grateful, very grateful.