One day I was at the beach having an outstanding time with my brother and parents. We played in the very cold water and the hot sand. After that my family and I had a picnic with fried chicken, fruit salad, as well as, a cake. We had cake because my birthday was the next day on the 30th of October. Then we went back to playing games in the water, swimming, and so forth.
It was a really sunny day, but suddenly clouds began coming in. We thought it was just a little rain cloud and that we would just get a little wet. We kept playing. Then we started noticing that the clouds were getting bigger, and the wind was getting worse. Next, the waves got bigger and bigger. We started packing up so we could leave. The people next to us had a radio that they were listening to. The announcer on the radio yelled out that those clouds, wind, and waves were from a hurricane that was coming directly towards us.
My family and I dropped everything and ran. We were so scared that we separated and went different ways. While I was running I saw the bell tower that shows the time on it. All I saw was that the time was 8 o’clock. I could not see the rest because I fell into an open sewer. Even though I was in the sewer and it reeked, falling in had saved my life. Right when I fell, a wave of water flooded the city and could have killed me. My life was saved again when I jumped out of the way of the sewer hole. You know how when you put water in a sink the water goes down the hole. That was exactly what happened to the water that came from the street. Water rushed into the sewer. The problem was I fell at the beginning of a sewer line so water was rushing my way. I ran and ran for what felt like 5 miles until I thought the wave had subsided in the tunnel. With all this happening it felt surreal. I was so tired that I fell asleep. That was a very horrible decision, because when I woke up I was floating on water. I was so scared that I tried to stand up. The problem was I could not touch the bottom. I was absolutely submerged in water. I swam to find the nearest drain. The drain was pouring water into the sewer. I thought I was going to drown until something hit me. I mean literally hit me. While I was looking at the hole, a piece of wood hit me in the head, landed in my hands, and then fell out of my hands. The wood made a big bruise on my head and a big cut on my arm. I rinsed off my arm and tied a piece of my shirt around it. With my hurt arm, I grabbed the wood and some rope that I had found a mile back and made a raft out of it. I found a big rock poking out of the water, so I tied my raft to the rock. Luckily the rock was right next to the drain. I finally had a happy thought that it was probably my birthday today. I found a piece of wood and carved a cake for myself. I mainly carved a cake out of wood because I was bored and tired from all this. I felt like I had been down in the hole for days. I could not tell if it was day or night, because it was dark all the time. I thought I was going to drown, die of starvation, or die of dehydration because there was no way I was going to drink that disgusting water.
Suddenly, pizza and soda cans started coming from the drain. I grabbed as pizza much as I could then laid it on my raft. (Apparently a Pizza Hut was destroyed by the hurricane.) I made a rope out of cheese which did not last long at all because of my hunger.
After a while my raft started falling apart so I gathered the empty pizza boxes and soda cans and made another raft. It actually worked! Safe on my raft, I fell asleep again. When I awoke the water was had risen so I had only four feet from the water to the ceiling. I had to make a plan before I drowned! I maneuvered myself into position so I could jump and hang on to a ledge. Once I was on the ledge I might be able to get out. The one problem was that the water would be pushing me down. The water was going about 80 miles per hour down the pipe. I went for it! I tried three times to get out but I never made it. I did, however, get my hand out of the water but that was all. Suddenly a rope came down out of nowhere. I tied myself to it. Then I yanked on it and someone pulled me up. That someone pulled me up too fast and knocked me out.
Days Later…
I woke up in a hospital bed. I was in so much agony from my head and arm injury that I could not stand up. I asked if I was in heaven because everything was white. A kind nurse said it was not heaven just the hospital in New York. She also said that the hurricane that had destroyed our town and the East Coast was called Hurricane Sandy. It had destroyed 346,000 houses and killed 37 people which my family was 3 of them. My family died because they ran home. Then, the hurricane hit the house and it was destroyed. Reports said the water was actually going 80 miles per an hour. They said I had innumerable broken bones, bruises, and cuts. I was in the hospital for three months until I could leave. When I got back I went directly to my house. The house was not there at all, so I slowly walked to the beach. The beach which had been 125 feet above sea level was now 25 feet tall. I walked on the beach and saw the damage that happened outside the sewer. I am amazed that I survived!