From Paradise to Nightmare

On a hot tropical day,
The sun was shining bright.
It seemed like a perfect day,
And nothing could go wrong.
Women sun bathing,
Kids playing in the sand,
Teens swimming and surfing—
It was paradise.

But then the nightmare began.
Earth shaking, windows breaking, houses falling, people screaming,
    chaos spewing.
And then...everything stopped.
A sigh of relief,
The worst seemed to be over.

But Mother Nature was cruel that day.
The sky started to darken,
People looked up to see why, because there were no clouds
    in the sky.
They screamed for their lives as they watched a 90-foot wave
    crash toward them.

Hell broke loose.
The once Paradise is now a disaster zone,
A nightmare.

Waves rushed through city buildings and streets.
A woman holds onto her two children for dear life,
But she can only save one.
If she holds on to them both, they all will die.
Praying to God to forgive her, she lets go of her older son
    to save his baby brother....

Such tragedies should never happen.
As the world watches in horror,
Thousands are washed away, dying.
The world comes together and prays for those poor souls
But prays harder for those who survived.
This nightmare will be with them forever.

Steve Chandravongsri
Age 17
Westview High School
The Aftermath, Advanced Creative Writing