Terminal 4

• Tabitha Bird, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2018

A sharp pain ran up and down Tigers left side. There was a high-pitched ringing in his ears as he blinked away the dust to see nothing but rubble. Tiger tried to remember what was happening and where he was, but it was empty, his mind, it was blank. With great difficulty he rose to his feet leaning on a large piece of concrete.
The ringing was beginning to lessen now as he wiped the blood off his forehead and tried to take a step forward with his left foot. Tiger fell flat onto a metal sign, he tried to block out the pain as he read ‘TERMINAL 4’. He began to remember leaving a foreign place on a plane when sound began to penetrate his ears. There was screaming, shouting and sirens. Tiger pushed himself up again and forced himself forward leaning on the large rubble.
The pain was almost unbearable as he left a trail of blood dripping from his ripped jeans. Tiger grimaced as he rounded the corner of the concrete and was brought before people running towards the exit that was half blown apart and men and women in navy blue were everywhere. Through the hole, Tiger could see officers on this side of yellow police tape holding people back. His mind was having an overload as he tried to remember what happened, he began to sway and felt as if he would fall again.
‘Tiger! Tiger!’ was someone yelling his name, he couldn’t tell, things were going in and out of focus. As he was heading towards the ground, he saw a figure rushing towards him and then darkness.
Tiger was looking at the tall ceiling of the airport when things began to re-focus. He could see a navy-blue uniform attending to his leg and he could feel a tight bandage around his torso. Tiger groaned and turned his head to see a girl with brown hair and purple tips, Isabelle, seeing her was like the first day of spring after a cold winter. She had stitches on her cheek and a large bandage going the full length of her arm.
‘I thought you were dead’ she whispered, it was now he saw the tears in her eyes, ‘I thought you were crushed by that giant chunk of roof or something’ he realised her clothes were covered in blood. Isabelle could tell he was looking at her blood-stained outfit, ‘Most of it’s not mine, you’ she looked down ‘you were bleeding pretty bad when I spotted you’.
Tiger Breathed deeply, he was going to be OK.