My Hero's Journey: A Short Story

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Once we were comfortably seated in my bright purple kayak, we pushed off the rickety dock with paddles in hand. “Ready?” I asked my little brother Liam “ Yeah!” he exclaimed. “Are we gonna go far away to the other side of the river? I love going across the river! I am an explorer and we’re gonna explore so many new places and fight the water monsters….” He went on a lecture to me, or maybe himself about the things he has learned about rivers and his journeys as an explorer. I had decided to just ignore him and continue across the Maumee River. I swiftly turned the kayak by sticking my paddle in the water and pulling the water towards the boat. The shore disappeared behind me and we made our way across the water in complete silence, besides …show more content…

Liam! LIAM!! CALM DOWN! GET ---” I was not able to finish because he pushed me under again and brown water filled my throat. My eyes are still open and I see light shining through the tan, dirty water. It smells like gasoline, and even in my panic, I think it must be all the boats that come through here. I had no idea what to do and I was scared. I just wanted my dad. Why did my parents even let me take Liam on a ride alone? I am so stupid not to wear a life vest! As I came back up once more, Liam was sitting on my upper back. I tread water as best as I could, but with Liam hysterically kicking and screaming, I continued to sink. As my arms and legs worked double-time to keep us both afloat I tried to think about advice my dad had given me for situations like this. Don’t panic was one. Not doing so great at that. I felt like crying and I was very aware of my heart thrumming loudly in my chest. I thought of lifeguards I watched as a child while living in Hawaii, them pulling surfers out of the sea from crashing waves. To start, the surfers were able to communicate with the guards. An idea clicked into my head and I knew what to do. I ripped Liam off my body and thrust him into the water. In the split second he was under I looked for a rope that was tied to the boat, that we usually used for tying the kayak to the dock. I pulled the rope over to myself and held in my hands trying to get a short break from swimming. Liam came thrashing out of the water, but was not screaming. As I hoped, him being thrown into the water had cleared his head and he looked at me, eyes filled with

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