Last week my Literacy group had rewrote a scene in a story named Running Wild. We had to write the scene of a Tsunami unfolding and smashing into people and their houses. The elephant Will (the main character) was riding ran away from the Tsunami before it even started to commence. Here is my version of the scene.
Part 1…
The Tsunami
The wind pushed softly against me as I stared into the ocean. My legs tensed up without me knowing what was happening. A couple of seconds passed until I finally realised what was happening. The tide was going out really fast and the horizon became a different thick line kind of shape. My body crumpled together and I just had the urge to run. The terror finally reached my brain and I realised that a tidal wave was heading in my direction. I didn’t stop to help anybody, as my body wouldn’t let me control myself. My body started to develop a mind of its own and kicked my soul out of my body and into my head.
All I could do was watch my body run into the forest. I ran through swamps, plains, streams and valleys. Slowly, the sun dropped down into space, not far in front of the moon. The night went faster than lightning and I barely even noticed it was over. I started to have more control over my body although I just didn’t want to stop running. I managed to slow myself down a bit to tug on tree branches and bite into a couple coconuts or some other fruits for the next lot of hours of the day. Around dusk that same night, I felt a big tug on my neck and realised that a human had been on my back this whole time. I kept up the pace while using my trunk to try and find out some more about this young human boy.
No matter what I did or where I went, the human kept on tugging on my neck and yelling something. His voice was very different from other human voices. It was so high pitched and croaky, it kind of got annoying after a while. I could barely make out the words he was saying, but I think he was saying something like, “Water… need… please…”. I don’t know many human words, but I know what most are thinking. Despite anything going on, I kept on running through all the forests and valleys in front of me. Every stream that I crossed, the boy kneeled over to one side of my back and was peering down at the water, ready to jump in, although he never did.
A couple days had passed and I hadn’t stopped moving forward once. The boy had suddenly stopped talking to me or smacking my neck. After about ten long minutes had passed since sunrise, I reached a huge, wide, although calm river. My foot was sucked down half a metre when I pushed my foot into the water. I stepped in with my other foot and started to get to the other side of the river. I was about half way through until I realised that the boy had dived off of my back and into the river.
He dived back up out of the water, and I realised I needed to have a break from all of this running. The boy looked so nice and happy and he dived into all the waves he saw. I decided to tip myself over and create waves for him to swim through. I only just realised how fun this actually was. I sprayed water at him using my trunk and created huge waves for him to swim into. We played in the water until suddenly he swam to the side of the river and sat by the rocks. At that moment I realised that he was lost and couldn’t make it out of here by himself, so I was the one to save him. I thought I’d better start getting used to him and make him a part of my family, I guess.
He suddenly looked guilty and sad while sitting on the rocks, swimming through his own thoughts. After a while I decided to come out of the water and walk up to him. He started to stroke my trunk and in a calm voice, started to talk to me.
“Oona,” he said. “I know your name, but I do not believe you know mine, do you?” I shook my head at him.
“I don’t think you know really anything about me, so I’d better tell you! Ok, so my name is Will, I am nine years old, almost ten, I live in Salisbury near England and that is also where I go to school. My grandparents have a farm in Devon, I go there on the holidays. My Dad was blown to pieces by a bomb in Iraq because there is a war there and I’m sure that my Mum got crushed by the tidal wave that chased us here. I think I am also going to die Oona, I need food, I am hungry, please Oona, please,”.
I looked at Will blankly, I mean, I am an elephant, how am I supposed to know what he’s saying. He sounded upset, but at that exact moment, he gave me an amazing tasting branch. I gobbled it up but then he started yelling at me. I felt so bad that I couldn’t help. I tried so hard to think but I couldn’t. Will kept on shouting at me and tugging me back and forth. I could do nothing. No matter how hard I tried. Will wanted to go home. He didn’t want anything else but to go home, out of this jungle. I had a plan, an idea. I needed Will to face me so I used my trunk and wrapped it around him, very softly. I turned him around to look at me and I started to kneel down. I lay flat on the ground, moving my trunk towards him. I picked him up and lifted him onto me, being as careful as possible. I lifted my trunk towards him as he sat on my back, giving him something to hold onto. If Will wants to go home, he will go home.
Part 2…
Jungle Danger
I took as long as I physically could while walking so that Will didn’t fall off. Every step was nerve-racking. Regardless of anything, everytime I looked up into the sky or the trees, the beautiful birds were singing and the patterned butterflies were flying. Will started to get easier and easier to carry, as he was getting more used to the slow ride. There were many close moments when Will almost fell off of my back, and he managed to hold on with only one hand at a time. I would do whatever it took to keep Will safe. We grew our connection back and bonded even stronger than we had bonded before.
After a long while I came to a tree with all of the food we needed. There were figs. Hundreds of them. Will woke from his daydream and saw through the brightness of the sun, the figs. We both dug in and ate as fast as we possibly could. After a small proportion of time, the figs were all eaten. I tore down a tree and started to munch on the branches. I needed all the energy I could get for the long trip. We continued the long journey the moment I had finished my feast.
Will decided to walk right next to me, as all around us, gibbons and orangutans kept their distance while following us. Leeches crawled up and all around Will and he used a nice, sharp rock to scoop them off him. Whenever we reached a river, I waited for Will to get onto my back so the crocodiles wouldn't attack him, also because he could drown. I felt a couple drops of water land on my head, and then I realised that a storm was starting. Will grabbed a leaf and used it as an umbrella to keep the water from hitting into him. I also noticed that Will talked to me a whole lot more now, and I honestly enjoy hearing the calm sound of his voice.
Days passed, yet we were still walking. Will told me the sad and the happy moments of his life, wondering why I was even taking him home. He talked about his parents and how he doesn’t think they are still alive. His life moments are sad, yet happy. He talked about all the great memories he had, and the bad memories. He cried while telling me some of these stories, but he laughed at the other ones. He talked about how wherever we go, will always be our home. How we are in the jungle, and that is where we will be until we get out.
Sleeping wasn’t a big deal or a problem for me, but for Will it was a whole new story. The leeches and ants always found a way onto Will and a way to climb up onto his legs and bite into him, no matter what he did. I loved spending time with Will, although every time he cried, I felt really bad and started to cry on the inside. At this point we weren’t trying to find a way out. All we were trying to do was stay alive. We needed to find food, find water, find soft ground. We needed to live. A lot of the rivers we stopped at, Will started to fish. I needn't have tried to teach him, as his Dad had already taught him.
A couple mornings, I had to wake up Will so that we could keep on moving, either because I was thirsty or we needed to keep on the groove, except one morning. I saw eyes. I saw stripes. I saw a tiger. We trumpeted forwards until a tiger appeared in front of us and blocked our way. We looked each other in the eye and waited. It was a stand-off. The tiger began to circle us, I didn’t move a muscle. After a while the tiger came a little too close for comfort, I let him know by shaking around my trunk. The tiger licked its whiskers and walked away. Who knows if it would come back, and even if it does, it won't be around for long.
