Paradise. What a place. The sky is blue all day. Swimming in the ocean any time. Palm tree’s all around you. Paradise. Hawaii. What a beautiful place.
“Wow!” my friend Charlotte said. “ I can’t believe that were really here Rachel. It’s everyone’s dream come true.”
“I know,” I said. “It’s so amazing.”
“What do we do first?” she asked.
“Swim!”
Our trip to Hawaii for two whole weeks! Charlotte and I were lucky to go.
“Come on,” Charlotte yelled to me.
“Coming,” I said. Wow I was really going to swim in the ocean. We live, not even close to the coast. We do live by a lake though.  It was just so hard to believe that we’re really in Hawaii. When we got to the sand I took my shoes off. Charlotte did the same. The sand! It was so soft. I’ve never expected that the sand would be this soft. At home it  is much harder than this.
“The sand is so soft!” Charlotte said.
“I know,” I said. “Race you to the water!”
I won. We walked along the beach to find a nice place to swim.
“Hey look!” I said. “Those rocks will be perfect. We can jump off of them and hide behind them, climb up them, lay on them. Anything. They’re perfect.” There were about 5 rocks that we could see all in a row going out deeper in the water. They looked almost like a point except of rocks.
“They look so cool!” Charlotte said. “Come on, let’s go!”
We played on the rocks for a while. Then I decided to go out to the farthest rock. We had only got as far as the 3rd rock because in our game that was how far we only needed to go. Charlotte decided that she would lay on a rock for a while On my way out I had to go into the water to reach the next rock. It wasn’t very far. Between the 4th and 5th rock I felt a little tugging at my feet. I ignored it. At the 5th rock I dove in. I tried to go skim the top of the water so. It didn’t work very well. After I climbed back onto the rock and cannonballed  into the water. As soon as I went under the water, the tugging started again. It pulled at my feet and kept pulling me down. I couldn’t get back up! My air was running out. My lungs were screaming for air. I kicked my feet to try to get up. I was going up slowly. When I finally thought I couldn’t hold my breath for any longer, my head rose up out of the water. I made it. I thought.  I grabbed for the rock. It wasn’t there. Where’s the rock? It has to be here! I looked around and I saw it. I was out in the water very far away from the rock. Suddenly, I felt the tugging again! I started to go under again. What’s happening? I kicked my feet again and I rose to the surface. I tried to yell to Charlotte.
“Charlotte,” I gasped. My voice was barely over a whisper. Okay. That won’t work. I thought. I tried splashing with my hands and feet. That didn’t work either. I could only float my way out farther and fight the pull. I went down again. Then came up. Again I went down. Then up. I kept on going down then up. It wouldn’t stop. I was getting weaker and weaker. Oh god. I’m going to die! I thought. I haven’t lived my life! I’m too young to die! I started to float on my back. I was too tired to do anything but sleep.
“Too tired,” I said to myself. What am I doing out here?  I thought, Why aren’t I playing on the rocks? I was starting to get confused. “Too ti…” I tried to say but I was pulled down under the water once again. I kicked my legs. I didn’t go up very far. My legs were too tired. They’d done their work already today. I kept on going down. Farther and farther. I couldn’t get to the top! I’m running out of breath. I can’t get to the top. My lungs couldn’t take it any more. Then suddenly everything went black.

“Rachel. Rachel,” Charlotte said. “Come on Rachel. Wake up. Why wont she wake up?” I asked the life guard that had come to get Rachel out of the water.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “ But…but…well…your friend is dead. I’m sorry.”
“No!” Charlotte said. “She can’t be. She has to be alive.”
“I’m sorry,” he said again.
“Stop saying that!” Charlotte said. “What killed her?”
“The under pull. She didn’t know how to get out of it. You have to swim along it, not against it.”
 She’s dead. She can’t be dead. Charlotte thought. We planned this trip together. We have to finish it together. What will I tell her family? They’ll be so mad at me! I can’t go back. But I can’t stay here. Look what it already did to me. “Noooooooooo!” My life. It’s over. My best friend is dead.
Paradise. A dream. A nightmare. A happy place, or disastrous. It could mean your life, like Rachel’s. It can change your life forever.
 
 
 
 

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