Wave Goodbye

By Rex Cooper, Year 9O

I walked down the battered, splinter-ridden boardwalk, stepping off onto the sand. As I walked on the cold wet sand, I could see plastic bottles and wrappers cemented into the sand. I looked everywhere, but there was no-one to be seen. No clouds are scattered in the sky, except the dark grey clouds closing in like a burglar in the night. I looked out at the sea and could see waves crashing down on the sand below. Then zoomed back out again, as the sea leaves behind a trail of foam. What seemed like a brisk breeze, turned into a vigorous wind, sweeping salty sand into my face. As I wiped the sand off my face, I could see figures in the distance. They started to move faster and faster until they were close enough to see their faces.

“Hi!” I screamed! It was my friends! “What are you guys doing here?”

“Well, we couldn’t not celebrate your birthday with you!”

We headed up the boardwalk, walking up the decaying stone stairs, back toward the hotel. After a few hours, the sun came out and so did everyone else. We walked down to the beach again where there were now tons of people laying on white plastic sunbeds with colourful umbrellas protecting them from the strong sun. The waves were now minuscule, crawling gently towards the shore, dousing the sand with water.

I laid my towel out neatly on the sand; I could see drops of condensation slowly dripping down the cold water bottle I was soon to drink from. “So how’s your birthday so far?” Ryan asked me. “Much better since you guys arrived!” I replied.

“Well, thank you for that compliment! Now we know that you said no presents, but I guess we just couldn’t follow that rule.” he said chuckling.

“Thank you1 Even if you did break a rule. Is this from all of you?” I asked.

“Well, if you ask me it isn’t, but if you ask Emily and Jake, it definitely is.” he said laughing.

“Hey!” Emily said hitting Ryan. “We might have not bought you a gift, but I think the best gift is a kind and thoughtful friend.” she said, lookin grather pleased with herself.

“Ok then, for your birthday I will say the same thing,” I said in a sarcastic manner.

After 30 minutes of laying in the sun, we all dived into the water. The water was so clear, I could see the bottom. Being June, the water was now warm enough to swim in, but still cold enough to give you a brain freeze if oyu dived under. As I came up from under the water, I could see the sun shining off the gently rolling waves. I could see the enormous cargo ships slowly making their way across the bay.

“I could stay here forever,” I said to Lily, who was floating peacefully on top of the water.

“I know, right? This is the life! All I need now is a cocktail and we are good to go.” She said.

As the sun slowly started to hide behind the horizon, people began to make their way back to their hotels, and so did we. We unpacked our bags, leaving half the beach on our hotel room floor, and quickly headed down to the beach terrace. We sat down admiring the view, scanned through the menu and ordered. The sun was about to dip down below the horizon.

“A toast!” I said. “Thank you to all for a wonderful day! I’m sure tomorrow will be even better!”

Suddenly the floor started to shake, then the cutlery and plates started to rattle like a train had just gone past. The hanging lights started to violently swing up and down.

“Earthquake!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, realising what was happening.

Without a second to spare, we all ran out from the terrace onto the beach. I stopped in my tracks, feeling like I was glued to the ground. I could see the hotel swaying from side to side as the earthquake shook iit around violently with all its might. I started to run, and looked to my left to see Emily and Lily running for dear life also. We stopped abruptly at the top of the hill, the ground still shaking beneath us. I could see small and large cracks starting to appear, as the earthquake tore the road apart. We all looked back and saw something we would never forget. I could see the sea rapidly disappearing into the horizon. Emily’s eyes starting to tear up, before she wiped them dry with her now dirty sweater.

Before we had time to prepare ourselves for the next obstacle, an ear-piercing, blood-curdling siren sounded off. We all knew what was coming our way… a tsunami!

We all started to make our way up the high roads of San Francisco. I didn’t know where to go; I tried to keep a straight face, but they could see right through me. I could see the remarkable Golden Gate Bridge’s lights flashing away like mini stars against the dark skyline.

We walked onto the bridge and could see the enormous poles holding the bridge together. But then I noticed something: I could see a narrow iron ladder leading up to the top of the bridge, where the spire stands and where the strong thick steel cables join together.

“Ok, this might sound crazy, but we need to climb up that ladder, and fast!” My voice filled with the sound of fear.

“Yeah, you are crazy! Jake, we could die! Plummet to our death!” Emily said raising her voice.

“Wouldn’t you rather die trying, than not try at all?” I said. After that, everyone one was silent.

As I put my left hand on the cold iron ladder, I knew I couldn’t turn back.

Half way up, I stopped and looked down. I could see the raging sea and billowing waves far below me. I could see the fear in everyone’s eyes. I looked out to the distance at a sight not to be forgotten, as a faint white line on the horizon slowly, but surely, became bigger. I knew that I had to speed up.

“Climb! Quick! It is closing in!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

As I was climbing for dear life, my foot slipped, leaving me hanging on by a single hand. I could feel my hand slowly slipping away from the rusty handlebar. There was no strength left in my body. I thought that maybe it would be better to just let go and plummet down into the violent waves below. But somehow, I found the strength deep inside and managed to pull myself up onto the hand bar. We all clung on for dear life to the spire.

As the wall of water headed towards us at tremendous speed, filled with boats and rubbish, we all looked at each other knowingly, without saying a word.