Life As It Seems

• Teahrella Khan, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2019

I hear the hypnotising sound of the water dripping from behind me as another day starts. I feel a chill down my spine while I sit up in bed: drenched in sweat. Maybe it was just a nightmare that had scared me to death. I open the door and the cool morning breeze intensifies as the dark, gloomy clouds enfold the charcoal sky. I stroll down the deserted street, scraping my faded umbrella on the damp concrete.

Through the corner of my eye appears a wooden shed, standing alone on the shoreline. An eerie voice comes from inside, murmuring my name. The reek of seaweed, so awful and dull can’t make me sicker than the way life treats me. This place is a dump! A mess! My head throbs as the odour strengthens. Rain pouring from the murky sky, heavier than ever. Ugh! What’s new? This atmosphere symbolizes my life at a glimpse in every way.

I reluctantly enter the shabby, rusty shed with a preconceived idea that nothing extraordinary will be there waiting for me. Ironically enough an old, dilapidated fishing boat with a giant hole beneath it lays laughing at me. A glint comes from inside the darkness. I look up to reassure the only source of light entering this somber chamber are the cracks between wooden panels. Subconsciously get down on my knees to plunge under the unstable, neglected boat, taking a leap of faith. The piercing touch shivers me to ambivalence but to my disbelief, it was just a mere chain enveloping a shell. A sudden adrenaline rush captivated me to wear the necklace, wondering if it carries a curse which couldn’t possibly make my life any worse than it already is.

I step outside of the tattered boathouse, submerged in my cynical thoughts as usual. Obliviously, I walk down the street, inhaling the fresh, crisp air, enjoying the break from the monotonous sound of rain. Wait, what’s that harmonious melody? Who knew a soft whistling from a bird could be this mesmerising? I look up to the sky to find only it has many more colours than shades of grey. Slowly starting to distinguish my new surroundings, the flower shop on the corner of the road bamboozled me. This wasn’t here before! I have walked down this old, deserted road for as long as I can remember, but never has it intrigued me.
“Hi,” a girl walks up to me, “your eyes are as blue as the sky today! ” It’s almost as if I'm Alice in Wonderland, nothing seems the way it used to be. Turning around, running breathlessly back home, screaming my lungs out.
“MUM! WONDERFUL THINGS ARE HAPPENING! THE SUN IS SHINING, THE BIRDS ARE SINGING, PEOPLE NOTICING ME, ALL BECAUSE OF THIS NEW NECKLACE I FOUN—”
“What are you talking about, it has always been like this,” she replies.
“Wha—THE NECKLACE! It’s-It’s GONE!” I exclaim. It wasn’t there to start with! Our lives are just an inevitable reflection of our own perspective.