Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS WRITER
I was unsure of how to spell unsure. The stress from that realisation made me miss the next word… and the next word.
It was another Friday spelling test and words were flying over my head. I didn’t know how to spell any of them. This would be another zero out of twenty words. Miss Jenkins, my teacher, would look down on me again. My parents would try to make me feel better by saying “We are not spellers. We do Math.” Not that I was doing much better in Maths.
I couldn’t even remember the words to try one answer. Just one! I looked to my desk buddy’s test, Belinda best student in the class. They all looked correct, I guess. Next minute, the test had ended, and I had failed. I banged my head on my desk and sighed.
I could smell the sea. What? There was no sea nearby. I had recently watched a show on how brain tumours could make you smell things that aren’t there. Did I have a brain tumour? My eleven old brain couldn’t spell unsure but knew about brain tumours!
Then a crab ran over my foot. I had never seen one before. Although I had seen them in a picture book. Where did it come from? We don’t have a class pet. I looked around. Nothing on the bookshelves and the view from the windows above was a sunny playground. There was a sink behind me. The white plug sat next to the tap which wasn’t running. Water started to rush over the sink. What?
“Miss Jenkins” I exclaimed, “The sink is overflowing.” Belinda screamed as water started to rush over our feet. Miss Jenkins raced over. “It’s coming from the drain! I need to get a plumber.” Rushing over to the door she signalled to the class to follow her. The class ran for the exit. I was about to follow then I noticed the floor was covered in sand. Seaweed had started to grow from the floor too. The water was now up to my waist and I could see fishes swimming around. Brightly coloured tropical fish.
I started to wade my way to the classroom door when a giant geyser of ocean water shot out from the sink. There was no time to make my way to the door. The water was rising quickly. I began to swim to the top of the classroom. Once at the top, I took my last breath before sinking back into the watery depths of the classroom. The view was amazing, an ocean wonderland. Crabs walking along the desk. Fish swimming about just like it was a normal day. That’s when the white plug floated past. Of course! Plug the waterflow!
I started to swim to the plug when I saw a shadow quickly swim pass me. Was that a shark? Courage I thought, grab the plug stop the water! I dashed for the plug. It floated into a school of fish and bounced of their body. Coming back to my hand. Yes! Now to the sink. That’s when I saw the shadow again. Crap! Swim faster! FASTER! I made to the sink and plunged my hand into the water geyser.
Stretching my hand down into the sink though the rushing water, I plugged the drain. I danced under the water, taking a moment to celebrate. Suddenly the water started decrease, as I slowly returned to the floor. Sand, seaweed and even the fishes disappeared as the water faded away. Everything seemed surprisingly dry, even myself. Except for one thing, everyone’s spelling tests were still wet. The ink blurred and illegible. The ocean in the class room may not have made sense but the spelling test was ruined! I was glad for that.