An Australian story by Catherine Berigel
Catherine Berigel 4B
An Australian story
Three years ago, the following events happened to me when I was in Australia, in Darwin . I was on holiday with my best friend and we were staying at a beautiful hotel near the beach.I love swimming so it was great for me but, on the very first day, an employee at the hotel told us that we were not allowed to swim. I was wondering why when a little boy came and said he desperately needed to swim in the sea even though it was forbidden. At first, I answered that it might be dangerous but then I told him that I was going to think about it and maybe join in. So I went to look for my friend but I couldn’t find her anywhere .When I finally saw her , I asked her where she had been but I didn’t understand why she said that she didn’t know! I was puzzled...We walked to our room and she went straight to bed. She was crying. I asked one thousand times what had happened but she never answered. Two or three hours later, she woke up and walked to the bathroom. And ten minutes later, she started to tell me the story. She said that at first she had seen her mother's photograph in the lobby and she didn't understand what it was doing there so she had told an employee that they couldn’t use that photograph without permission. She continued to explain but she was crying. A man told her that it was a wall with the photographs of the people who had died in that hotel. And suddenly I remembered the little boy and the employee. I told her and said that maybe it was the reason for her mother’s death. She answered with the last part of her story. This strange man had also said that the ocean was weird in Darwin . A lot of tourists who had swum or tried to swim there had died. I didn’t believe it and I ran away to find the little boy. We talked for a long time.There were just me , my friend and the little boy. Many hours later, we decided to go and swim, even if it meant risking our lives.The little boy said at first that we should drop an object into the sea. So we chose a pencil and we put a camera on it. Unfortunately, when we threw it into the water, nothing happened. The boy told us that he had nothing to lose and suddenly, he jumped into the sea. He was not seen for months.
And yesterday, while I was watching the news, I learned the body of the little boy had been found.
So I began to write.