Safe At Last

• Heirene Kim, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2017

Alissa grabbed a hold of her sister’s hand and started to bolt. It would be in just a few moments that a huge radioactive flare would pass over the whole of Planet Earth, killing all its inhabitants. But, her wise old father had also known this would have happened. Only a few people believed in his theory, even she had scoffed at him, but it served her well today.
Her sister, Christina, stumbled over the brick path leading all the way to the back of her yard. Alissa tightened her grip on her sister’s hand for support. They hurried along the brick path, any second now and it would be the end. The ground beneath her shifted causing her and her sister to fall. Briskly, she yanked her sister up and started to run. She was running out of time. If her father’s theories had been right, she had approximately two minutes to be within the containment walls of safety. Her father had built it because he knew this would happen. A small underground compartment with walls made and entwined with a technology her dad would rant on and on about. The pressure of the flare pushing up against the atmosphere would be upon them soon.
They closed the gap, separating them from safety. The last few steps to the shed when the ground shifted once again. Oh, no! She slammed her body into the door shoving the door in. She grabbed a hold of her sister’s arm and threw her in. Alissa put all of her weight behind the push to close the heavy, metal door. She turned the wheel which turned the deadlock into place.
She leaned against the wall and sighed, That was close. Safe at last!
Alissa heard her sister sigh happily from the floor, still crumpled in the position Alissa had thrown her into.
Alissa took some time to steady her breath. She turned her head to see the back of the room but all she was met with was the rest of her yard! Her father had not completed the safe house! That’s when she felt an enormous heat. She flung herself on top of her sister in a flimsy last hope. She smelt her sister’s scent of the last time, then all went black.