Young Writers Society

This is a story I did for my geography topic. I let Harley help me, though nearly all the writting and the plot was my idea. I really hope you enjoy it so PLEASE comment. Thank you.

She looked out of her tree house, the wind gently hitting the sides of the man made wooden structure. It was a dry summers’ day, perfect for a little play in the nearby hot springs. Her tree house was just two meters away from this magical Jacuzzi. Nearly every hot day her and her best friend Brian would jump in and relax. They knew that they lived next to a volcano, but they thought it would never blow up. I mean, come on! It hadn’t erupted in thousands of years. Many people thought it was extinct because it had never made a large explosion.

“Phyllis!” Called a familiar voice,

She turned round and saw her friend running up, with two towels in his arms. She smiled and climbed down the steps of the house. A small shiver came from the ground causing Phillis to fall over, when it stopped she got back off and brushed her self down, confused she stared at Brian. “What was that?” She said her voice shaking a little. He laughed, “It was just a little earth tremor!”

She nodded and grabbed a towel, she jerked her head in the direction of the springs and they both ran for it. As soon as they were at the edge of the spring, they jumped in laughing. “What about our clothes? They’re all wet!” Phillis laughed, while splashing the warm water about.

After half an hour they got out, their clothes drenched in water and their hair dripping like a broken tap. Remembering what Brian was talking about earlier she started to talk more about it, “How come you know so much?” She asked,

They started to walk down, where the tree house was. He dried his face and laughed, “There is a thing called a geography class. You really need to take those extra classes!” He said,

“No way, I’m already dying with hundreds of homework, I don’t want more!” She laughed,

They climbed up the tree and played a game of Top Trumps while their clothes dried out.

The next day a sudden burst of rain fell from the sky, meaning Phyllis couldn’t go out side. She sighed while staring out from the window in the lounge. Her mother came over and turned on the T.V, grabbed the cup of tea Phyllis had made earlier, and watched the latest episode of Neighbours.

“Granny is coming later for a week” said her mum, Phillis sighed and went up to her room. Her life now was very boring. She wasn’t really fond of her granny. She nagged way too much, even if she was in a wheelchair. When she was little she used to shout to her to stop pretending to be sick and get off her butt. Now she knew the truth, her granny was never to walk and this rain that fell would never stop. She turned to her side and saw her phone. She picked it up and phoned Brian, she didn’t care if it was raining, no way was she going to sit there and be bored!

“Hello?” He asked, once he picked up,

“Hi, it’s me, Phyllis. Meet me at the tree house!”

“Oh, alright”

“See you there.”

She hung up and got her raincoat on, then ran out the front door and down her garden path. She wasn’t going to let some granny stop her having the real fun. They met up five minutes later, their coats wet, just like their clothes the day before after jumping in with them on. They climbed up the tree and into their wooden tree house where they stayed for hours. A sudden scream came from the lake, the two kids jumped. They peered out of the window to see a dusty cloud covering the water.

“They must have entered the spring without us knowing!” said Brian,

Phyllis nodded, still staring at the clouds. She didn’t know what to expect, why were these clouds covering the spring? It didn’t normally happen. Looking closer, she noticed something.

“Aren’t those steaming clouds?” She gasped; she ran down to the stairs, climbed down and ran to the spring area. Brian soon followed seconds later. Once the steam cleared, she saw three dead birds, and a small body. They heard a woman near by crying, the only words she managed to come out was; “My baby! I lost my beautiful baby”

As Phyllis peered closer to the direction of the crying, she saw the woman, her body lying on the ground and her feet just missing the water. As she looked at the legs of the woman, she saw dark red marks graved into her skin. Burn marks.

Brian didn’t look at the woman; his eyes were still stuck on one object. They didn’t move from the spots they were in; no one had noticed they were there. As soon and the clouds completely cleared he saw that the floating burnt body was just a three year olds’, in the left over of a floating duck which was once placed around her waists to keep her floating. Phillis suddenly snapped out of her gaze and ran to the woman. “It’s okay lady, I’ll get help,” she assured.

She turned round and ran to her house, her heart pounding and her legs aching, though this pain inside her wasn’t as much as the pain in the woman’s heart as she watched her dead daughter’s body float.

“Mom!” She shouted through the window. Her mother slowly got up and went over to the window.

“What do you want?” she shouted back.

Phyllis told her mum about what happened. She gasped and grabbed her coat, ordering her to show where this happened. Once they reached there, her mum ran over to the injured woman and helped her best she could. Soon an ambulance came and the woman and child were taken care of. Phyllis sat by the pool of hot death and started to cry, at least it was more exciting than a game of Top Trumps, she thought.

Days passed and more things that were worrying corrupted the town’s life. However, a week after the body of the baby was found in the springs and the mother crying something worse happened. She poured her self a drink of water from her kitchen tap; the water was a mucky orange colour. Phyllis took a step back with the glass still in her hand, the water wasn’t normal. She knew something wasn’t right. Earlier she had found out her tree was dead; Brian had said it was something to do with the atmosphere and its acid. Animals like birds and fish were found dead. They knew something was wrong but couldn’t find out what exactly. She didn’t know if her life could get any worse. She shouted for her mom, telling her to come quick. She entered the kitchen and looked at the glass.

“Where did you get that, dear?” she asked.

“From the tap!” Phyllis answered,

Her mother took one look at it and ran to the phone, she dialed some numbers and let it ring. Someone picked up, with a sudden feeling of rage Phyllis’ mom burst out with rage,

“Why is the water that colour?” She shouted at the phone.

“We aren’t really sure at the moment, please hold on.” The man answered on the phone, his voice calm,

“I need to know, isn’t there a meeting? This isn’t normal!” She answered back, her voice getting higher.

“Please hold on.” He replied,

With that, he hung up. Phyllis’ mother dropped the phone and held onto the cup, she turned to Phyllis and looked at the mountain behind her house, she sighed. Something wasn’t right, and she had a rough idea what was going to happen next, but she didn’t want it to.

“That mountain, you know it’s a volcano, right? Well I think it’s going to…to…”

“Going to what, mom?” Phyllis was already half aware of what her mother would say.

“I think it’s going to blow. Call Brian, honey. Quick!”

Phyllis went over to her mother, bent down and picked up the phone to dial her friends name, they talked for a while then she told him to come over. Five minutes later, a breathless, red-faced boy rang the doorbell, his parents with him. They were let in and they got to business.

Suddenly the earth started to move; they felt the floor cracking. Plates and pictures hanging from walls fell onto the ground and smashed. Bits of the ceiling fell hard onto the floor, just missing the five people. A large explosion was heard, the shaken family of people looked out of the window, smoke was coming from the once asleep volcano. The doorbell rang once again, Phyllis ran to the door dodging the broken plates and ceiling. She opened the door to find her granny, shaken but unhurt. A smile appeared on Phyllis’ face as she hugged her safe relative. Her mum ran over the door and hugged granny too, she looked outside and saw people running around like headless chickens, trying to get away from the disaster that had occurred.

“We need to get out of here, now!” she shouted.

She grabbed her coat from the nearby hanger and ran out the door, her car keys in her left hand, her cell phone in her right. She opened the car door. Phyllis and Brian got in while granny got help by Phyllis’ mum, as soon as they were set they drove off as fast as they could, as pellets of lava flew everywhere in all directions. The only thing stuck in Phyllis’ mind was the fact she wasn’t going to make it, this sicken feeling made her feel uncomfortable.

They managed to get to the exit, then the car started to make funny noises, her mum looked at the petrol sign, it had finished the petrol, meaning no more traveling. Her mom cursed violently and hit the wheel. She turned round and sighed deeply.

“We need to get out the car and run”, she whispers, her voice barely heard,

They quickly get out the car and help her granny, getting her out of the car and sitting her into her wheelchair. Another sudden bang came out of the volcano as lava slowly fell down the mountain. A large cloud appeared small bangs explosions came from inside the dark gray cloud. Brian gaped at the cloud, his mouth wide open.

“This cloud… it doesn’t normally come so quickly; we have to run. We could die in that cloud!” He screams,

“It’s a cloud, surely it can’t harm anything!” said Phyllis,

Her granny butted in, her voice shaken,

“Don’t judge it, we must run, quickly.”

They started to run; Phyllis’ mom holding onto the wheelchair and running at the same time, trying to get away from the cloud as it came hurtling towards them. Large bangs came behind them as everything disappeared behind the Black Death. Fear grew in their minds as it came closer and closer, death was near, and they could feel it. They could even smell it.

”Leave without me dears, you will go faster!” Shouted granny,

They started to cry, while still running for their lives, they argued with her, telling her to let them take her with them. Phyllis’ granny kept on disagreeing until she got her own way. They stopped and waved goodbye as the cloud came closer and closer.

“I love you children!” She shouted,

Brian looked around thinking she was talking to him as well; as he turned back, the others were running away, trying to get away. People behind them vanished into the cloud; a cry came from their gran as she too disappeared. Suddenly Phyllis’ mum tripped over her leg was somehow twisted, she couldn’t get up. The children dragged her and crossed the bridge, which was between their town and the next.

“I only hope that we don’t fall into the river” Gasped Brian,

They looked down and saw fish floating on the very top; everything in the river was dead,

“It’s full of acid!” he continued,

The acid cloud raced over, it was a matter of seconds before they would perish underneath it. They screamed unable to move it suddenly hit them, pain spread through their bodies only to last seconds as their bodies burned inside this black cloud. Death had occurred that day, where families weren’t so lucky.

All over the USA, people watched as the volcano cloud destroyed the town. Along those people who were staring at that cloud was Phyllis’ dad, yet did he know that three of his relatives died in that eruption. When he did find out, the only feeling inside him was loneliness. However, other people too did lose their loved ones. What a dreadful time that was.