So I originally was going to write that chapter story for my teacher, but after I saw how amazing this story was, I've decided to post this instead. I just wrote this story called "Lost at Sea", like two seconds ago and I love it. It is a similar concept to hat I was going to write, but this one is just extremely intense, I guess. Anyhow, before I start rambling, here is Lost at Sea...
As I opened my eyes, everything was a blur; the only thing that I could clearly sense was the siren that was blaring. I rubbed my eyes and found myself in a small room on a bunk of some sort. There were other girls frantically running, one of which pulled on my hand, urging me to follow everyone.
I was in such a deep state of confusion, but I allowed myself to imagine that all of this that was occurring was real, so I leapt down from the bunk and walked into the hallway. There were so many people in such tight quarters that I started to get claustrophobic. “Where am I?” I asked myself. Pushing through the crowd and confusion, I stopped at a diagram on one of the walls. It said:
This was definitely not making sense. What was the “Oxmond Secondary School”, and why was I here on a ship. My thoughts were disturbed by a loud voice. When I listened closer, I noticed that there was someone talking on an intercom. “Hello students; we are experiencing some technical difficulties here at the MYS command centre. All of our forms of navigation have been compromised, and therefore, we seem to be lost at sea.
Lost at sea. That seemed to be the worst thing that I could ever hear at a time like this, and I wasn’t the only one. Everyone responded in their own way; some started pacing, while others started to cry. Some of them even got angry, starting random fights throughout the crowd. I just knew that I had to get to the bottom of this, and quickly.
Looking around the hallway, I noticed that there was no way that I was going to be able to get any farther than back to the room that I had come from. I hustled through the people, and when I got back to the room, there was this girl sitting on the floor, writing something. I slowly approached her. Bending down, I asked, “What are you doing?” She looked up at me; “You heard what they said. We’re lost at sea, and they don’t have any way of getting back on track. So, I’m writing a letter to my parents, just in case this all goes downhill. At least they’ll have a few of my last thoughts.” I looked into her eyes. “But don’t you have any hope at all that we’re going to get out of this thing?”
“This isn’t a dream. You can’t just pinch yourself and this just go ‘poof’ and it all disappear.”
“Maybe not,” I replied, “but what I do know is that we can at least see if we can help. I’m Katrina. You are…”
“Lydia.”
I smiled at her, hoping that she’d agree to come help me out. Now, at this point I didn’t have any plan whatsoever, but I was willing to do anything to find out what was going on. She then took me to a map.
“This is a diagram of the boat. Its command centre is just on the deck below us. If we squeeze our way through, we can get there.” I rolled up the map and we headed out. Things had gotten a little louder since the last time I had made it out there. Everyone seemed anxious to know what progress was made. We even saw some other groups of girls headed in the same direction, probably wanting some answers, too. After about five minutes of pushing and shoving, we got to a stairway. At the very bottom was an iron door, which Lydia had told me was the door to the control centre. There was a green button to the left of the door; when I pressed it, a buzzer sounded and someone came to it. They slid open a little hatch and all that I could see was their eyes. By the look of them, they were as worried as we were.
“Um, hello. I’m Katrina, and this is Lydia. We were wondering if we could help out.” The latch clicked closed and we thought that they had rejected us. Just then, the big wheel on the door started to turn.
“We can use all the help that we could get.” A tall, light skinned man ushered us in and closed back the door. There was a long, oval shaped table in the centre of the room where about 15 people were seated at. It was littered with books, laptops, papers, pens; you name it. It was obvious to me that this problem was bigger than they described it on the intercom.
“So what exactly is happening?” Lydia asked, leaning on the edge of the table.
“Well, we are a little more than lost. We are all in a lot of danger and if we don’t get off this ship now, we way all die.”
“What happened?” My heart started to flutter in my chest to where I felt like it was going to fly away.
“Our engine fuel has leaked and we are afraid that it’s going to burst into flames.”
“So what can you do?”
“Nothing.”
I glanced around the room, not believing what I was hearing. This ship was just minutes away from exploding into flames and they didn’t have any way of saving us? I felt like I was going crazy. Why was I here, and of at times, right before something as fatal as this? My heart dropped, but then I saw the countdown. On a big screen on the far end of the room was a clock that was running backward. When I noticed it, it was at one minute. I looked over at Lydia, who had also seen it.
“So we’ve got one minute left?” Lydia held her head in disbelief. Everyone else in the room started to hold hands.
“No, no, no! This isn’t happening right now.” I couldn’t believe that they were just willing to give up like that.
“There is nothing we can do, Katrina. There’s nothing… nothing at all,” and with that Lydia got on her knees and started to bawl. I glanced over at the clock again. This time, it read 20 seconds; I got down to Lydia’s level. She then shoved a piece of paper in my hands.
“What’s this?” I inquired.
“Go, Katrina. Before it’s too late!”
“Wait, where am I going?” Before I could hear her response, we saw a fiery, orange cloud and in that split second, Lydia pinched me. When I opened my eyes, I was in my bed at home. I had beads of sweat dripping off my brow, and I was clutching the bed sheets. Once I gathered myself, I took a deep breath.
“It was all a dream.” I laughed to myself, at how naïve I was to think that any such events could ever occur. As I got up from my bed, a crumpled piece of paper dropped at my feet. My heart stopped. I stood there, starring at the note. When I finally bent down to get it, I saw a red heart drawn in the corner. Once I fully unraveled it, sure enough underneath the heart was the name Lydia.
Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell
As I opened my eyes, everything was a blur; the only thing that I could clearly sense was the siren that was blaring. I rubbed my eyes and found myself in a small room on a bunk of some sort. There were other girls frantically running, one of which pulled on my hand, urging me to follow everyone.
I was in such a deep state of confusion, but I allowed myself to imagine that all of this that was occurring was real, so I leapt down from the bunk and walked into the hallway. There were so many people in such tight quarters that I started to get claustrophobic. “Where am I?” I asked myself. Pushing through the crowd and confusion, I stopped at a diagram on one of the walls. It said:
The Marine Youth Ship
The Marine Youth Ship (MYS) is our brand new ship for the Oxmond Secondary School’s science program. This voyage will last two months out at sea, where students get hands on experience out here on the deep blue.
This was definitely not making sense. What was the “Oxmond Secondary School”, and why was I here on a ship. My thoughts were disturbed by a loud voice. When I listened closer, I noticed that there was someone talking on an intercom. “Hello students; we are experiencing some technical difficulties here at the MYS command centre. All of our forms of navigation have been compromised, and therefore, we seem to be lost at sea.
Lost at sea. That seemed to be the worst thing that I could ever hear at a time like this, and I wasn’t the only one. Everyone responded in their own way; some started pacing, while others started to cry. Some of them even got angry, starting random fights throughout the crowd. I just knew that I had to get to the bottom of this, and quickly.
Looking around the hallway, I noticed that there was no way that I was going to be able to get any farther than back to the room that I had come from. I hustled through the people, and when I got back to the room, there was this girl sitting on the floor, writing something. I slowly approached her. Bending down, I asked, “What are you doing?” She looked up at me; “You heard what they said. We’re lost at sea, and they don’t have any way of getting back on track. So, I’m writing a letter to my parents, just in case this all goes downhill. At least they’ll have a few of my last thoughts.” I looked into her eyes. “But don’t you have any hope at all that we’re going to get out of this thing?”
“This isn’t a dream. You can’t just pinch yourself and this just go ‘poof’ and it all disappear.”
“Maybe not,” I replied, “but what I do know is that we can at least see if we can help. I’m Katrina. You are…”
“Lydia.”
I smiled at her, hoping that she’d agree to come help me out. Now, at this point I didn’t have any plan whatsoever, but I was willing to do anything to find out what was going on. She then took me to a map.
“This is a diagram of the boat. Its command centre is just on the deck below us. If we squeeze our way through, we can get there.” I rolled up the map and we headed out. Things had gotten a little louder since the last time I had made it out there. Everyone seemed anxious to know what progress was made. We even saw some other groups of girls headed in the same direction, probably wanting some answers, too. After about five minutes of pushing and shoving, we got to a stairway. At the very bottom was an iron door, which Lydia had told me was the door to the control centre. There was a green button to the left of the door; when I pressed it, a buzzer sounded and someone came to it. They slid open a little hatch and all that I could see was their eyes. By the look of them, they were as worried as we were.
“Um, hello. I’m Katrina, and this is Lydia. We were wondering if we could help out.” The latch clicked closed and we thought that they had rejected us. Just then, the big wheel on the door started to turn.
“We can use all the help that we could get.” A tall, light skinned man ushered us in and closed back the door. There was a long, oval shaped table in the centre of the room where about 15 people were seated at. It was littered with books, laptops, papers, pens; you name it. It was obvious to me that this problem was bigger than they described it on the intercom.
“So what exactly is happening?” Lydia asked, leaning on the edge of the table.
“Well, we are a little more than lost. We are all in a lot of danger and if we don’t get off this ship now, we way all die.”
“What happened?” My heart started to flutter in my chest to where I felt like it was going to fly away.
“Our engine fuel has leaked and we are afraid that it’s going to burst into flames.”
“So what can you do?”
“Nothing.”
I glanced around the room, not believing what I was hearing. This ship was just minutes away from exploding into flames and they didn’t have any way of saving us? I felt like I was going crazy. Why was I here, and of at times, right before something as fatal as this? My heart dropped, but then I saw the countdown. On a big screen on the far end of the room was a clock that was running backward. When I noticed it, it was at one minute. I looked over at Lydia, who had also seen it.
“So we’ve got one minute left?” Lydia held her head in disbelief. Everyone else in the room started to hold hands.
“No, no, no! This isn’t happening right now.” I couldn’t believe that they were just willing to give up like that.
“There is nothing we can do, Katrina. There’s nothing… nothing at all,” and with that Lydia got on her knees and started to bawl. I glanced over at the clock again. This time, it read 20 seconds; I got down to Lydia’s level. She then shoved a piece of paper in my hands.
“What’s this?” I inquired.
“Go, Katrina. Before it’s too late!”
“Wait, where am I going?” Before I could hear her response, we saw a fiery, orange cloud and in that split second, Lydia pinched me. When I opened my eyes, I was in my bed at home. I had beads of sweat dripping off my brow, and I was clutching the bed sheets. Once I gathered myself, I took a deep breath.
“It was all a dream.” I laughed to myself, at how naïve I was to think that any such events could ever occur. As I got up from my bed, a crumpled piece of paper dropped at my feet. My heart stopped. I stood there, starring at the note. When I finally bent down to get it, I saw a red heart drawn in the corner. Once I fully unraveled it, sure enough underneath the heart was the name Lydia.
Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell
