The Hole

• Jarvis Niewand, Grade 7, Casterton Secondary College
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Write Along 2018' competition

I see a glistening light. All I can think about is all the endless possibilities of how this could go wrong. I open my mouth in fascination. I realise my mistake. Swallowing a whole bunch of polluted water, I begin to think that I can't do this. My lungs tighten and my vision starts to fade. The last thing I see is the gold...
Gulp. I look down into the darkness. It seems to go on and on forever. No end. My heart begins to bang in my chest. All of a sudden air stops entering my lungs. I can hardly breathe. My head feels light. I stumble around longing for air. I take a deep breath. Air rushes through my lungs. I took a slew of large breaths.
I walk back over to the hole. My claustrophobia starts to take over. I can't think. I breathe in sharp, hollow breaths. I almost faint. I walk right to the edge. The moss feels fuzzy underneath my feet. One of the tiles, covering the hole, that have cracked, slice my right foot.
I fall down and wrap my hand around my bleeding paw and squeeze, in an attempt to stop the blood flow. I curse myself for taking off my shoes and using them to see how deep the hole was. Pain seers through my whole body. My teeth bite through the sleeve of my tee-shirt, ripping the threads apart. Wincing as I tie it around the cut in my foot.
My body wobbles as I stand. Trudging over to the edge, I peer down. I sit down and let my feet float atop the water. After a while, I muster up all the courage that was buried deep down inside me, take in the deepest breath ever, and drop into the murky water. Sinking down to the bottom. I see a glistening light. All I can think about is all the endless possibilities of how this could go wrong. I open my mouth in fascination. I realise my mistake. Swallowing a whole bunch of polluted water, I begin to think that I can't do this. My lungs tighten and my vision starts to fade. The last thing I see is the gold. I shake my body and thrash my way to the surface... I break through the surface and gasp for air.
I look back at the hole and muster up what's left of my courage and run away. I hobble as far away as I can. Only to trip on a root and fall into a hole. I scream out in agonizing pain and look down at my ankle. It is twisted in many unpleasant ways. I look up and everything around me starts to disintegrate like fire burning paper. "No!" I cry. "NO!"
I awake in bed. My sheets drenched with sweat. It was just a dream. I lean down and pull something out under the bed. It is a wooden chest full of gold...