Water And Earth

• Aaron Ding, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2021

Rain pounds the ground below me, huge blue streaks slamming onto hard red earth. My raincoat barely stands against the downpour as we trudge through the trees.
“We have to hurry!” Thomas yells over the thundering, relentless drums of thunder and lightning. “The water’s already rising. We don’t have enough time!” He pulls his hat, already soaked to the brim, tighter on his head. I look down at the valley below us, scorched red earth already being drenched by this storm people would have thought impossible a few decades ago.
The small town below stands solitary against the raging winds, the cluster of Tamberma houses suddenly seeming small against the chaos around them. The strong, resourceful people of this part of Africa would have never guessed the unprecedented storms that would come as the world began to warm at rapid rates. Humanity had stood aside as they watched the factories pump black poison into the air and plastic beginning to swarm through the oceans.
As we run down the slope into the valley, I think sadly of all these people caught in the crossfire, of these terrible crises they never played a part of creating.
Suddenly, Thomas yells. I pull him back just in time as a torrent of water shoots past us, growing every second. “Water level’s rising,” I shout. Strength and warmth saps out of me with every huge droplet that slams into my body. “This whole valley’s going to be flooded soon!”
Thomas catches his breath, slowly stepping back from the river that’s forming at our feet. “Help me lift this,” he shouts, pointing to a dark shape through the rain. My fingers tighten on the soggy bark of the fallen tree, breath coming out in rasps as we heave it across the rapids. I step forwards cautiously. A bolt of fear streaks through me and my heart skips a step as I look down at the river below. I tighten my hands into fists and look forwards, determined. With a few hurried leaps I cross the log. Just in time. With a sickening crack like a gunshot, the tree snaps and falls into the unrelenting jaws of the river.
“Tom!” I yell, terror surging through my body.
With a sigh of relief, I hear his answering call from the other side. “You’ve got to keep going!” he urges. “I can’t find a way across.”
I nod a goodbye, watching him run back through the path we came from, going to find help. Steeling my mind, I focus on the task ahead – getting to the village and locating a path for the rescue helicopter to safely fly through the storm and rescue the people there. The sky above me roars again. A bloodcurdling crack whips through the air as a stark white knife cuts through the clouds.
My muscles working overtime, I race through Mother Nature’s fury, seeing the dim silhouettes of houses ahead.
I’m going to save these innocent people, no matter what.