Highly Commended Story - When the Volcano Erupted

“When the Volcano Erupted” by Greta Trunkey, Suquamish Elementary School, USA, is the Highly Commended story in the sub-junior category of the first biannual Short Story Contest 2019.

When the Volcano Erupted

When the volcano erupted everything changed. Homes were destroyed. People were dying and me and my family were forced to move. We packed our things. Mamma said we would come back to Hawaii when the island calmed down. “Lusette come on!” Mamma urged me, but I wouldn’t move. I could see lava crawling slowly up the lawn. The ground shook. My brother Charlie got out of the car and lifted me up into my car seat. The lava was on our porch now. All of a sudden, a hot flying rock came pelting out of the volcano and landed on the roof of our house. “Drive!” my mom yelled, and we pulled out of our parking lot. I watched as the house withered away behind us. We drove and drove until we boarded a ship that took us to California. The ride wasn’t fun. It was sickening and boring. When we finally got to California it didn’t look anymore fun than the ship. We drove off the ship and drove a long time. At 11:30 at night we arrived at the hotel. We paid the man and went up to our room. It had a balcony with two twin beds covered with musty sheets.

In the morning I was drowsy because I hadn’t slept a wink the night before. We ate cereal with toast for breakfast. It was alright but was nothing compared to a yummy pineapple and berry fruit salad like we would have in Hawaii. When everybody was in the car and buckled up we drove off to our new house because, according to dad, we were only one hour away from it. The one-hour drive felt like five hours to me. We finally turned a corner and our house came into view. I thought I would cry. I was depressed. There was a little run down shack that looked as though it might fall down any minute. We unbuckled our seat belts and my mom took out a rather rusty looking key out of her purse and placed it into the key hole. The door swung open. A single tear actually slipped down my cheek. It looked as though it only had two bedrooms, one kitchen, and one living room. It was now 12:45 in the afternoon. I was hungry. The Corn Flakes we had for breakfast seemed like hours behind us. We had a salad and some toast on dusty, dry plates. The house was surrounded by woods so you couldn’t see the ocean but I knew we were close because we kept hearing water and waves washing up against the shore.

The days flicked by and soon it was no long Friday. It was Sunday night and my first day at Mikehill Elementary was the next day. I was really nervous and didn’t want to walk in the class and have all eyes on me and people saying my name incorrectly. When I walked in however they didn’t. They sat at their desks and didn’t say anything which I had to appreciate. Suddenly, the teacher looked up and noticed me and leapt up. “Well class. This is our new student Lusette!” he grinned brightly. Three slow months passed and soon it was time to go back to Hawaii. We packed our things all over again and drove to the ship that would take us back to Hawaii. I noticed that the people on the ship looked a lot happier than they did on the first ride here. Two weeks later the ship docked at Palm Tree Harbor. We drove off the ship. Everything was black and burnt. When we got to our house the grass was burnt and the house was a wreck to tell you the truth. There was nothing there, only a few boards and shards of glass which were scattered around the yard. I was happy to be back, though we would have to move to an untouched house. In the end, I’m sad about the volcano eruption but I am happy about the journey it brought me.