A Second Chance

• Mallory Lucas, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2020

It was cold. It was dark. It was silent. It all happened so fast. A blood curdling scream broke the dreadful stillness. I felt a rush of unbearable heat and I saw a bright red flash of light before my eyes. My mum had warned me about living in the bush. I hadn’t listened. As I ran away from the place I called home, I stopped. I looked back. I watched the past three years of my life go up in flames. I shouldn’t have. The fires caught me. The dark smoke blocked my view of the world that had always been so cruel to me. Then, everything went black. I felt terrible pain everywhere. Was this it? Was this the end of my life? No, I wouldn't, I couldn’t give in. I tried to stand. I tried so hard to run. My legs just weren't working. I knew what I wanted to become in my life. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to help the world. No. I wouldn’t give that up. Suddenly, I missed my parents so much, although I hadn’t missed them since I moved out of home three years earlier. I yelled for help but the crackling of the bush-fires was so loud. No one would be able to hear me over it. The smoke was so thick. I knew no one would find me. Just in case this was the end of my life, I closed my eyes and thought of the happiest, best and most heartwarming memories of my lifetime. Memories of my parents came to me. They were hugging and kissing me. We were at my childhood home. Then all of that stopped. My memories faded. The pain disappeared.

I woke up somewhere I didn’t expect to be. I was lying down. There were no angels or devils. Just a white, blurry room. People were screaming. Somehow I was moving which was weird because I wasn’t moving my legs. I sat up, determined to see where I was. Instantly the pain came back. The events of last night rushed back to me. That could only mean one thing… I was alive! Apparently, the doctors had to give me mechanical legs because my real legs hadn’t survived the fires. I woke up from surgery a little drowsy. Again, the room was blurry. After my eyes adjusted, I realised I was in a hospital bed wearing long pants. I wanted to look at my new legs but I knew if I moved the pain would increase. After a month in hospital I was finally allowed to go home. Well not the burnt one. I would move back into my parent’s house.

I now volunteer for a company called WIRES. I go out into the bush with other volunteers and we look for injured animals. We make animal homes and put them out in the bush. Look at that. There is a family of wombats living in the rubble of my old home.