Survive | Teen Ink

Survive

May 27, 2021
By Anonymous

Survive


John sipped a cup of steaming hot coffee. I always have to do Mother’s biding. He thought in complaint. He glanced down at his watch. “I’m late”, he muttered underneath his breath. He made a turn in his blue convertible into the train station parking lot and rushed inside. John immediately noticed his grandma waiting at the center of the busying crowd of passerbyers. He approached her. “Hello, Grandma”. He said, giving her a quick hug.
“Oh, Johnny Boy, I really must pay you for your time”. She smiled, holding her purse up and pulling out a small wad of money. John sighed, rolling his eyes.
“You don’t have to pay me, I appreciate helping out”. The sun shining through the buildings window is shadowed. John and his grandmother turned to look for the cause of the commotion.
“What is going on”? People were murmuring. In an instant, water slammed into the windows. John’s grandma gasped in shock. A small crack formed at the windows center before it shattered with a single person’s step. The water hit both of them the way a bullet would have. John found himself scavenging for a way out. His lungs filled with water as he struggled to hold his breath. They ached with every movement. The water stung his eyes but he refused to shut them searching for an escape. Shards of glass from the window cut his cheek. His blood was left floating through the water. His grandma was nowhere to be seen. Others were struggling against the water’s swaying motion. This will be my end, he thought. Swimming the best he could he tried to make it to the broken window seeing it as the only possible way to survive. The harder he tried, the farther away it seemed. The reality of his life came crashing down. In that one moment, his life flashed before his eyes.
John took one last try grabbing hold of what’s left of the severed window. His hands were torn open by it’s remnants. Closing his eyes, he swam out hoping for any greater fate. He gained an ounce worth of luck as the water outside of the building wasn’t contained to the building. Just enough for him to breath again. What’s left of the city was a watery torture. From as far as he could see he was the lone survivor. The water was still to his neck and he remembered his past. His grandmother, his mother, that he’d been so horribly rude too. Tears overtook his eyes. The blood from his hands burned in the water. The cold felt paralyzing to him. He realized the spoiled brat he was. He felt the strong urge to give up but the sun shined bright hitting him with it’s warmth. He looked up at the sun and made a promise, ‘I will change’.
Wind picked up splashing water into his eyes. His eyes focused on a plane flying above. “Help, please. Help”. He called and the determination he’s carried does not fail him….


The author's comments:

Sometimes you have to lose everything to realize that what you had was all you needed and the people that you just happened to be a 'jerk' to are the ones you might miss the most and wish that you'd been a better person.


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