Shorts: a composition of short stories.

The Costa Concordia

A/N: the costa concordia crashed on 13 January 2012 and many people died, this is a homework piece I had to write, based on actual events. I hope you enjoy it.

I love it here!

The Costa Concordia is beautiful, and so is all the scenery I can see from the edge of the boat. We are passing Italy, the picturesque coat rising dramatically out of the water. Occasionally we will pass juts of rock nesting in the water or a wind-buffeted costal town perched at the top of a cliff.

 My family are here with me, my mum, dad and little sister, leah. I have been looking forward to this cruise for ages. I bored all my friends silly back home with my endless information about where we were going, what we were doing and how many days it was until I left. I might send them a postcard when we next land.

 Every day we wake up- only to be confronted with new stunning scenes of coat and sea- before breakfast in the hall, wait a few hours lunch then a few more hours and dinner. These gaps between meals were completely free for us to do what we liked. Sometimes we would land and everyone would swarm off the boat, laughing at each other’s sea legs.

 I followed my mum downstairs, to dinner. I had had a busy day, needless to say, I was exhausted. I was looking forward to our little cabin, the sea that would rock me to sleep, mmmmmm… I was jolted from my tired reverie by a sharp creak, and ever so slowly, the cutlery slipped from the tables. We were turning sideways! As if on cue, the lights went out, adding to the panic of the passengers and staff.

 People were screaming, and in the confusion I had lost my family. “Mum!” I screamed “Dad!” but my voice was lost amid the web of voices buffeting me from every side. I thought I heard my name and called in return, hoping my voice would be heard. Suddenly my Dad was standing there, right next to me, I grabbed his hand and clutched it tight, like a small child. The staff were trying to evacuate us, telling us there was a fault with the electricity, as if we hadn’t figured that out.

 The life boats were ‘being launched’, but they weren’t. The boat was at too much of an angle, to launch them. Walking was difficult now, it was more like climbing. I was still keeping a sharp eye out for Mum or Lucy, thankfully, they had found each other and were waiting for us by the evacuation exit we said we would meet at if one of us got lost. We always have a place we meet at when we are somewhere huge like this in case one of us, usually me, gets lost. Thank goodness we did. We managed to pile into a lifeboat with another family, who have a screaming baby. As we are lowered into the water, the baby screams again, it hurts my head, but I really don’t care. I’m just glad to be off that awful ship. I feel a little guilty using the lifeboat, knowing that while it saves my life it may condemn others. But I think I heard talk on the ship that some locals had picked up the SOS call our ship sent and were coming to try and save some of us. We floated for what felt like eternity, but was probably a few hours, before we were picked up by the local coastguards. So now I sit, shaking and covered in a foil blanket in the coast guard’s office, leaned against my Mum. Every time I think about how close I came to losing her, to losing everyone I care about, I start to cry, so I just bury my face in her jumper and try to forget everything.