Matthew | Teen Ink

Matthew

October 19, 2016
By jxania GOLD, Cooper City, Florida
jxania GOLD, Cooper City, Florida
18 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
Cheating death for as long as I've lived


The girl sat, arms wrapped tightly around her brother and sister, as 130 mph winds circled relentlessly around her. The sliding glass door of her house had shattered, sending glass and high-speed mini tornados into her once serene living room. She had sprung into action, protecting her siblings while her mother tried holding plywood over the gaping hole in their wall. It was to no avail, seeing as momentarily after the board was secured it flew back out into the storm, doing pinwheels in the air before disappearing over a moldy wooden fence. The mother ushered the girl and her siblings into the bathroom at the end of the hallway. With no windows, it was the safest room in the house- at least, until the roof flew off.
After a few minutes of huddling in the bathroom, the walls began to shake. They vibrated violently, back and forth, making a hum like a most terrifying orchestra. The porcelain sink above the girl’s head began to crack with each wobble of the walls until it came crashing down around her, narrowly missing her sister’s head. The ceiling began to crumble, dust falling like snow until all at once it was ripped off like a giant band-aid. Wind filled the tiny bathroom, and the girl opened the door only to find that the rest of the house was in the same condition. Papers and blankets, pillows, everything was being thrown around her. She used her body as a shield for her siblings while she navigated through what used to be her home. A few feet away was the bathtub in her sister’s bathroom, still intact, still bolted to the floor, and looking very safe. The girl got an idea. She placed her brother and sister in the tub, secured them to each other with a belt she found on the ground, and began to surround them with pillows and blankets she found laying around. The work was hard, what with wind whipping her face and projectiles flying everywhere, but she got it done. Once her brother and sister were secured, she placed a blown-away mattress atop the tub and secured it using two extension cord she found flapping in the wind. Her siblings were safe.
She, however, was still subject to the elements, and she didn’t know where her mother was. She began to wander the halls, laying on the floor and traveling army-crawl style, shouting her mother's name over the screeching wind. She got no response, but instead heard a loud cracking noise. She looked up, just in time to see the walls crashing down around her.

Three Days Later
“This just in- heroic girl’s body found under the rubble of her own home after being trapped under her living room wall for three days. Her brother and sister, who she saved by trapping them in a bathtub, are uninjured. Her mother wishes not to speak on the topic but does note that “my daughter will be missed in the hearts of many, but none more so than mine. Rest in Peace, mijita.”


The author's comments:

This piece was inspired by Hurrican Matthew and the destruction it caused to so so many. 


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