Hill McCluney, Grade 8
I open my eyes and all I can see is light … and then darkness. I’m not sure what is going on. It is all very confusing. I feel myself moving, but I don’t know where. All around I can feel other diaries with the same size and shape as me. I can feel the hard cover on the front and back, and the soft, smooth pages that lay in between, waiting to be written on. I can now feel myself being set down. Then I hear a low grumbling sound, and I was back on the move.
I have many mixed emotions ─ confusion, fear, and anxiety are just a few of them.
A little while later, the noise stops, and so does the moving. I’m picked up again, and I feel myself being carried somewhere. Suddenly, I am set down again, and I see two flaps open from above me, letting light down into the box. Then, one by one, all the other diaries are taken from the box. I have many mixed emotions ─ confusion, fear, and anxiety are just a few of them. I feel myself being grabbed and lifted from the box. I am placed on a shelf, along with all the other diaries. Luckily for me, I am one of the last ones out of the box, and no other diary is placed on top of me. All around me, all I can see are shelves and shelves of books, each stacked on top of one another. I am very tired now, so I decide to close my eyes and go to sleep.
I wake up and find myself being grabbed again, but this time, instead of being placed into a box, I am placed into a bag. Then I am taken out of the bag, and I am handed over to another human. (I figured out that this was the name for what had been carrying me around.) Then, I feel myself being scanned, and I am set down again.
“That’ll be 25 dollars,” a human said. Then, I see a different human put a card into a machine and hear a strange high-pitched noise.
“Would you like a receipt?” the first human asked.
“I think I’ll be okay, thank you though,” the second human responded. I am then put into a bag and feel myself being carried outside. It is very hot, and I already miss being back indoors. Suddenly, I feel myself being put inside, and then I hear the same low grumbling noise that I had heard before.
Later in the day, I am taken out of the bag, and I am wrapped in very colorful paper. I am very tightly wrapped, and it is very uncomfortable.
“Hopefully I won’t be in here long,” I think.
One day later, I am finally taken out of the paper. I see a new human. This one looks much younger, and I can tell that he is happy. As I look around, I see colors everywhere, and many humans. Most of the humans are younger and look to be the same age as the boy holding me. There are also a couple of older people. Everyone there looks happy, which brightened my mood some, as I was very frustrated with how long I had been in the paper.
Later in that same day, I’m lying on a table when the boy walked in and opens me. I am very excited because I’m finally going to get written on, and I want to see what the boy will say. The boy picks up a pen and starts writing.
“Today was a great day. It was my eleventh birthday, and it was a very good one. Not only did I get a diary, which I had been asking for since Christmas, but I also learned that we are going on a trip to Hawaii! I have wanted to go to Hawaii for a very long time, so I’m very excited. We leave two days from now, and we stay there for two weeks! Also, my birthday party was really fun. All my friends were there, and we had a pool party.”
This is the boy’s first entry, and I can already tell that the next two weeks are going to be very interesting. I’m not sure what Hawaii is, but whatever it is sounds very exciting. I cannot wait for the trip.
Two days later I’m lying on the desk untouched since the last entry, but I know that today is the day of the trip. I am very excited.
“Today is the day that I finally go to Hawaii. This is one of the most exciting moments of my life, and this will probably be the best trip I ever go on. We leave in two hours, and I am really bored from waiting for the trip, but I am so excited. The plane ride might be bad, but once we get there that will not matter. Tomorrow all we are doing is going to the beach, and the day after that we are going on a hike to a waterfall! I already asked my parents and they said that it would be okay for me to bring my diary to the waterfall to write down my experiences there.” Right after he finished writing, he closed me, and put me in a bag with some swimsuits and snorkels.
A very long time later, probably about twelve hours, I knew we were in Hawaii. The plane ride had been terrible. I was sitting in a cramped space for nearly ten hours, with nothing to do except listen to the constant humming of the plane. Luckily, I eventually fell asleep for about four hours. Now I feel very energetic, and I cannot wait to see what the boy has to say.
It is the next day, and I am finally being taken out of the bag. Earlier, I heard the boy and his family going to the beach, and they all sounded very excited. I wonder what he will write.
“Today was our first day in Hawaii. I was a little tired, mainly from the time change and jet lag, but it was still very fun. We went to the beach, and it was very relaxing. We also found out that our hotel offers snorkeling, and all the species of fish that we saw were beautiful. I am very excited to go to the waterfall tomorrow, and I now know that the day after we are going swimming with dolphins! I have never done it before, but my parents said that they have, and it was incredible.” Now there’s another event to be excited for! I’m curious to see what he writes about his experiences with the dolphins. I bet it will be spectacular!
The next day, I was put back in the bag, and I knew that we were going to the waterfall. I was very curious about what I would see on this trip, and curious about what will be written.
I looked down, and what I saw did frighten me slightly.
Two hours later, I was taken out of the bag. I looked around, and all I could see was the beauty of nature. I looked down, and what I saw did frighten me slightly. There was water, but it was indescribably far below. I felt myself being opened, and the boy started writing.
“We are at the waterfall, and it is very beautiful. The hike was fun, and I love being out in the nature. I think we are about to go swimming.” Just then, I felt the boy lose control of me.
“NOOOOOOO!!!” he shouted. But it was too late. I was already falling toward the water. I hit the water with a slap, and I felt myself slowly sink into the deep, dark water. All the noise was drowned out, and I knew that this was the end of my short life.