Washed Away

• Emily Atkinson, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2018

“But Mum, I want an ice-cream as well,” I complain.
“Okay, fine Libby. But your paying for it with your own money,” my mum whines back. “I’ll go and get it for you, just stay here and watch your little sister.”
“Whatever,” I say moving my head around until I’m facing little innocent Harriet who looks even cuter when she is sleeping like she is now.
Mum quietly shuts the car door behind her as she leaves for the surf shop only fifty metres away.

Suddenly, without any warning, I see people running away from the beach that we just left. Everything is fine, I tell myself. It’s probably just a game. I see Mum coming back to the car with two ice-creams and I relax a bit. As we eat our ice-cream in the car more people are leaving the beach with concerned looks on their faces. Now I’m starting to get worried.
A few minutes later a siren goes off at the beach. “Mum, I think we should leave now. Something’s not right and a siren just went off at the beach.”
“Sweetie, relax a little. It’s probably just a shark alarm,” Mum replies.
Harriet stirs, I caress her and as I’m doing so I think about what I had just heard and saw a few minutes ago.

My trance is broken by a soft rumbling sound and people screaming. The rumbling noise starts getting louder and louder. Harriet wakes up and Mum is now turning on the engine, preparing to drive away.
“Mum, what’s happening,” I say whilst buckling up Harriet.
“You were right Libby. Something’s not right. We have to leave, buckle up. We’re heading h…”

I couldn’t hear Mum’s last words over the growing rumbling. Before I could ask her what she said, something hit the back of the car. I thrashed forward at the sudden impact. Water started leaking into the car as Harriet screamed.
“We have to get out of the car Libby. Unbuckle Harriet and pass her to me, then get out and hold onto something that floats. Hurry!” Mum yelled over the huge waves that were gushing onto our car.
I passed a hysterical Harriet to Mum and we both jumped out of our sinking car through a window that I smashed with one of Dad’s tools that he leaves lying in the car after he finishes a job.
I franticly look for something to hold onto as the gigantic waves keep on hitting. I look around, trying to keep my head above the water. I see Mum and Harriet holding on to a log, but I know that I’ll never be able to swim against the waves. The only other floating thing I see that I could reach is the dead body of a boy I was friends with at school. I choked on my tears as I hold on to him. Know all I can do is hope that he can save me from this tsunami.