Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 -1 2019 | Page 15

An Adventure Never to Forget
Bradbury School, Sekhri, Anika - 8
Have you ever had a hard time in life?
Andrew’s life was full of hard times. He was an only child and he only had a mother as his father died three
years ago when Andrew was four years old. His mother was not very caring and that’s what made Andrew’s
life hard. He had always wanted to get away and have an adventure.
One misty, chilly evening Andrew and his mom were walking home from the market when Andrew
noticed a large, wooden ship that he had never seen before on the dock. He wanted to explore it and
pleaded with his mother to let him go closer but she refused. She clutched onto Andrew’s arm.
“Mother let me go!” He exclaimed.
“Walk, you foolish child!” His mother shrieked.
“No, let me go!” He grabbed her hand and yanked it off his arm, and then ran as fast as he could towards
the mysterious ship. He reached it and clambered on board just as the plank rose off the glittering sand.
He could hear his mother’s voice calling after him and pleading for him to come back. But it was too late;
the ship was gliding away from the dock.
“Everyone here?” Andrew heard a man holler at the other end of the deck. He could see five men standing
in front of a tall skinny guy with long brown hair and wearing a navy blue vest and white pants. This must
be the captain and his crew, thought Andrew.
“ I’d better not be found by them.” So he ducked down some stairs going to the hull of the ship. Down he
went. Luckily the men did not see him. He was a castaway on the ship!
” Hopefully no one will come down here!”, Andrew thought, his heart was pounding very fast. He felt
nervous yet excited about the adventure that awaited him.
“Where are we off to this time?” said one of the crew above on the deck.
“We’re off to India,” another voice shouted back.
Andrew could hear more voices.
“Time for a chore run through! William, you’re on cleaning detail with Alexandre. Harold, you’re on
cooking with George. Big Harry you’re with me on lookout!” That must be the captain.
Andrew could hear everything that was going on. He was very thrilled that he had gotten away with being
on the ship without anyone noticing him. But his luck didn’t last. Suddenly he felt something fall on his
head and down his shoulder. Without thinking, he screamed. What could it be?
“Ahh! A rat! Yuck, help me please!” Andrew pleaded. The sailors heard him yelling for help.
“Who’s that!?” called one of the crew.
“Yeah, who is that?” another one said.
“It came from the hull, let’s check there.” So they all went down to the hull and can you guess what they
saw? Poor Andrew!
“Who is he?” They all asked each other in confusion.
“Please don’t hurt me, I didn’t take anything! Please spare me, I beg of you, please!”
“Look kid, we ain’t gonna hurt you, ok? What are you doing here though?” The men asked suspiciously.
“Well….umm….I came here to…umm. Can you help me get rid of this rat first?” There was a brown,
ragged, furry rat nibbling at the edge of Andrew’s shoe. Boom! One of the sailors stomped his foot in front
of the rat and it scurried away.
“Now tell us why you’re here or we will do the same to you,” they warned.
“Well, you see my life isn’t very nice and I wanted to explore something new,” the boy said.