HELP!!

 

In a city on the West coast of America it is a lovely, hot, sunny day. In a small park the light breeze can be heard rustling through the trees. There are tall skyscrapers surrounding the park on all sides. It is unusually quiet for the area and the time of day, in fact there is only one person outside. He is a teenage boy of about fifteen or sixteen years of age. He is dressed in a brown and pink striped, short sleeved t-shirt and blue jeans. He has a navy backpack on his back. He is slightly tanned and is in America on his holidays. His name is John. He is amazed at the height of the skyscrapers, towering up into the sky. He has never been in a place like this before. He can see some smaller more traditional buildings in the distance. John is so in awe of what he sees that he doesn't notice the sky darkening or the wind picking up.

 

John breaks out of his trance. He notices the eerie silence and stillness of the usually bustling streets. He wonders what is happening. All the shops are closed, as well as the museums and cinemas. It is far from what he expected, the bright lights, the traffic and the vibrant cultures that he had seen online and on television shows are nowhere to be seen. It is like his countryside home in one of the most remote places in the world. The only difference that he can make out is that there are no animals or no birds around. Not even a fly or a pigeon could be seen. He wonders is it night or had he set his watch wrong on the plane. These were some of the many questions flashing through his mind. He looks around him again to make sure but no, there are still no people. He looks up at the tall, grey skyscrapers hoping to see a friendly face but there was no one and all the blinds and curtains were closed. He was beginning to feel a small bit frightened, what was going on? The place is like a ghost town or rather a ghost city. Then all of a sudden it hits him, both literally and figuratively. A series of heavy raindrops, getting closer together each second. In a matter of seconds he is soaked. It is a storm.

 

The wind picks up. The small trees are bending, so are the branches on the big trees. Suddenly a tree falls missing John by millimetres. He comes back to his senses and runs. He makes for his hotel. The rain had only started falling a couple of minutes ago but already there is a river of water flowing down the street. John keeps running but the wind is getting stronger. It is hard to run and even harder to breathe. He knows that he can’t keep going for much longer. He realises that he must get shelter and quickly. He spots what looks like an old, abandoned factory with tall chimneys rising high up into the sky. He makes for the factory and immediately he knows that he is correct in thinking that it is derelict and abandoned. He see's a broken window on the first floor. All the other windows as well as the doors are boarded up, it is the only way in. He is lucky though, the factory is built with red brick and has ivy growing up the walls. He climbs up the walls using the gaps in the brick work and the ivy as foot holds.

 

When he reaches the window he realises that it is too small and that he will not be able to get through it. The wind is blowing as hard as ever, almost knocking him off the wall, the driving rain is making the wall slippery and he knows he must do something, quickly. He looks around, but not down as he is afraid of heights. He sees a flat roof above the next floor. He climbs as fast as he can, which, due to the wind and rain, is not very fast at all. However he knows that he will be safer there. The roof is slated and has moss and weeds growing all over it. He swings his leg up onto the roof, crawls in from the edge and looks around. He notices a door battered and broken and thinks that he will be able to force his way through it. The door is plain brown with a small window at the top of it. It is half off its hinges and the door frame looks rotten. John gets up and runs towards the door. He looks up and notices that the door is near one of the chimneys. A great, big, black chimney with a red ring almost at the top. John runs on and all of a sudden the roof goes from under him.

 

He is falling, falling fast. Then when he least expects it, he hits the floor in a tangle of arms and legs. His leg is aching from the fall and for a few moments he is dazed. When he feels better he looks around him. He is in a large room. The walls were once painted white but now the paint is flaking. The floor is made of concrete. Everywhere is covered in dust and cobwebs. Well, almost everywhere in some places there were puddles of water. He was in one such place. There is more rainwater pouring down on top of him from above. In one corner of the room there is a very large machine. It is black and has a lot of wheels and gears. It is like nothing he has ever seen before. There is a conveyor belt coming from the machine and running down the full length of the room in the centre. It is a rusty red colour but in some places the original black paint is still visible. Some parts have collapsed. The whole room looks horrible and there are leaks in the roof but at least he is safe.

 

He settles down to sleep but just when he is drifting off, there is a huge crash and dust, cobwebs and bricks fly everywhere. It takes him a minute to figure out what has happened but then he realises that one of the tall chimneys has fallen. It missed him by only a few metres and he was lucky not to have been hit by the flying blocks. He wonders is he so safe here after all. He looks around him to see the damage and notices a hole in the wall which he makes for. When he reaches it he looks out. He is shocked by what he sees, the buildings are battered and some of the roofs have blown off. Windows have been broken and cars crushed. Some walls have been knocked and the wind and rain are as bad as ever. All of a sudden a strong gust of wind knocks him down on to the street below. “HELP!!!” He cries. He feels someone shaking him. He looks around. He is lying in his bed at home and his parents are around him. It had all been a bad nightmare.

 

By James Dillon