Deep - Adria

• Ella Sorensen, Grade 6, Mt Keira Demonstration School
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Write Along 2018' competition

Deep. I, Adria Miroslava was deep, figuratively and literally. Deep inside my mind and in the earth. In the middle of reality and fantasy. I liked it this way. Complete. Like my name, I liked to be complete, balanced and steady. In-between. Strong. I had come to this underwater cave time and time again, always unnoticed. Down here I was at peace with myself, the peace that others would interrupt. No, I was not a professional diver, but could have been if I wanted to. I knew these caves better than anyone else, but this was my favourite. I turned to see my orange hair catch up behind me, but my point of focus was my little alcove. Never would they consider a small 13 year old girl hidden beneath its rocky makeup, stepped on and neglected. Suddenly, I could hear crunching from the roof. I quickly swam up to my little alcove, which protected me from the rocky fate that (literally) befell the freshest layer of roof. I removed the mask on my diving suit, which I had spent years saving up for, to watch and listen to the rocks fall. The stones came crashing down, but this did not phase me, because as soon as the large rocks hit the water they slowed and did a sort of underwater dance. Just as the last rock was about to fall, I saw a small girl, who didn't look much younger than me, swim into the cave. I was stolen from my Zen, and thrown back into the real world, suddenly fearing for this girl’s life. Pulling on my mask, I dived into the water, disregarding the fact that I was endangering my own wellbeing, and rushed toward the girl. Grabbing the now shocked girl by the arm, I pulled her up to my alcove, adrenaline rushing through me, making it to the rocky shelf mere milliseconds before the last stone fell. The girl, now understanding how close to death she was, took off her mask, unable to find words to say how thankful she was. I understood and said, “My name is Adria.” Immediately the adrenaline slowed, and I was once again calm. “How can you stay calm in a situation like this?” The girl said admirably. “Oh and by the way my name's Levi” she said. Levi had brown hair that reached her shoulder blades with blonde streaks and finally she had a streak of bright red hair. She had strange brown eyes ringed with blue and had a button nose. She was as tall as me, if not taller and looked like she had been swimming her whole life. Slowly fading back into reality, I noticed Levi was looking at me strangely while waving her hand in front of my eyes. “Sorry!” I said while jumping. She smiled, “Thank you so much.” whispered Levi genuinely.