The man stood there in awe at the sheer power of the water. It was frightening. Below him, he saw his microwave and fridge being washed away down the street, along with other peoples personal belongings. The fridges and microwaves swam in a well choreographed dance - weaving in and out of each other with grace. The water had swept away the little town and was now moving on to its next victim, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. Sam, like so many other people had climbed to the top of their house with as many belongings as possible. He hadn’t managed to save much. All he had on him was what he had been wearing; a box of badges he had collected throughout his life; his i-pod; a painting; some glass sculptured animals that had once belonged to his grandad and his favourite book - the last Harry Potter.

In the water wrecked house items still remained, abandoned by their owner. Sam’s TV, Xbox, laptop, DVDs, cd's, clothes, books, work, concert tickets... all of which would no doubt be ruined. He looked around at other people on the roofs of their houses. People like him had saved stuff that was most precious to them. While other families just hugged each other. Glad that they had each other, not caring about possessions. Sam laid down on the roof of his house and looked up at the sky. The glare of the sun forced him to look away. It was peaceful up here. Even through all the destruction there was still a certain beauty about it. It sounded weird in his head as he said it to himself. How could it be beautiful? But he wanted a way to preserve this scene. To prove that it had been beautiful, before he forgot and it became a mere memory. He looked around for a camera, more hopefully rather then expectantly. He knew that it would be one of the last things that he would normally look for. Carefully he shimmed down the drain pipe and climbed into the open window.

Sam rummaged around the room trying to find his camera. After five minutes of searching, he was still no closer to finding it. It would be was downstairs, and if it was, then it would certainly be ruined. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit him. If he couldn’t take a picture of it; he would draw it. He dashed around, scared that the scene would just vanish before he could immortalise it.

Eventually he found his prize and made his way back up the drainpipe and onto the roof.

The sun shone more brightly then it had before, creating long dark shadows in the glistening rippling water. Sam sat down on the edge of his roof, rested the piece of paper on his thigh, and began to draw. He wasn’t much of an artist; in fact as he sat there - drawing the shadows in the water - he was pretty sure that he had never drawn anything in his life. He had always thought of it as a bit "gay" for a man to draw. That was the way he looked on life.

Up to now, Sam had always been part of the crowd so to speak. He nether did anything out off the ordinary nether did anything that he would want to do. And always followed what everyone else was doing. When he would get home from his monotonous day job, he would come home and watch TV, play games on his Xbox and use his laptop. He had always thought that if a situation like this did arrive, they would be the first three things he would try to save. How wrong he had been.


As soon as the floods had started, without even thinking he had gone straight upstairs and saved his grandads glass sculptures. He now realised that there was more to life then TV and computers.

Who you are as a person, where you've come from, your family. They are the most important things in life. Not money or how flash your car is. Anyone can have that; all you need to do is work hard. Who you are and your family is unique to you. No-one can have your life, and you should make the most off it. For there are some people who would give up all there money to have had a family – to have a past - a future.

Sam looked down at his drawing and stared in amazement. It was fantastic. The sun shone off the water with a heavenly glaze. While the water itself danced and twirled in and around the dilapidated buildings, the countless objects in the water swam with such a majestic ease. A stair way to heaven shone down in-between careless clouds, floating in the sky. Then, on top of a house sat a man. He had an expression of amazement and self-finding. While behind him, a dove flew directly at the glaring sun...

"Excuse me sir?" Sam turned around. In front of him stood a rescue officer, "Would you please get on board and we can take you to safety"
"Thank you, but could you give me five minutes, go on and save everyone else first. I want to savour this wonderful sight for as long as possible" The rescue officer looked at him strangely. But as he looked up, a look of understanding broke across his face. He smiled and turned away.