The River In The Road
I closed my bedroom door and turned on my TV. If anything could calm me down, it would have to be TV. I knew I was being harsh on my mom, but being a teenager I occasionally lost my temper on the dime. I realized this only moments after I exploded, when it was far too late to apologize. I sat there and thought about what I did as the TV was blaring noises at me. I muted it, I needed silence to think. As I continued to think I soon forgot about what I did and walked downstairs to ask my mom when dinner was ready.
�What the hell are you doing downstairs Maxwell!� my mom shouted as she saw me jump down the stairs in a gleeful manner. �You�re grounded! Don�t tell me you forgot again! Its only been 10 minutes! Go back up to your room and out of my sight and don�t come back out until morning.�
Without hesitation I walked upstairs wondering what I did. �At least I managed to keep my head this time� I said to myself as I got to the top step.�
Several hours went by and I just sat down and watched TV. As I was enchanted by the �picture box� the storm outside was getting steadily worse as the rain became heavier and thunder started to roar. It was dark outside now, and before I knew it my alarm was going off alerting me that something good was actually on. I swiftly get up and turned off the alarm because the noise was becoming harder and harder to bear. I changed the channel and began watching the show. Moments after the alarm was off I heard crying in the distance�my brother.
I quickly got up and ran into my brothers room and turned on the light to see him huddled in a ball in the corner off his bed. Tears were rolling down his chubby face and his forehead was doused in a thick sweat. �Sam, are you okay?� I asked him cautiously.
He blew his nose and continued to cry, fear in his eyes. �Max, I think my wrist is broken� he said as tears quickly rolled down his cheeks. He waved his arm up into the air and his hand was off in a weird direction.
�What happened?� I asked Sam as I approached him.
�I had a nightmare� he said slowly through his tears. �You wanna hear about it?� He asked me. I nodded my head and sat at his bedside. �Well, it all started when I fell asleep. I woke up in a strange land, it was like a desert. Dark and barren with the exception of the light of a near full moon and the stars above. I got up slowly and felt the sand on my feet, it was very cold to the touch, but fortunately I had my socks on, so I wasn�t hopping up and down like we do at the beach.� He let out a little laugh and the started crying for a moment, the pain of his wrist to great for him.
�You can finish telling me later Sam, I should tell mom what happened.� I said this quickly ad I got up and left the room. �Well, there is no blood so I don�t know if she�ll want me to do this� I said to myself trying to be funny. I laughed at my own joke as I entered my moms room. My mom had a strict blood policy, to wake her up there had to be blood, but even if it was a fairly bad injury like stepping on a nail she was still in a very bad mood. I turned on the light to see her leap up. �Mom, Sam�s hurt bad�We should take him to the ER�. I said this quickly with a loud voice so that I would be able to be heard over the steadily increasing rain.
�How bad is it� My mom asked me in a demanding voice. �This better be bad for you waking me up at one in the morning�. She got up from bed and I led her to my brother, who was in the same position I left him in. �Sam, are you okay?� She asked him.
I left and went back into my bedroom before my brother answered. I jumped backwards onto my bed and landed on the remote. Even though one of my favorite shows was on I turned it off via remote and rolled over into a somewhat comfortable position. I still hadn�t slept and I was ready to, my eyes were starting to burn. Once I got comfortable I started thing about videogames and TV�my sad and unfortunate life. �Max� my mom said before I could drift into sleep. �Get up, we are going to the ER!�
I slowly shuffled through the house. I went down the short hallway and down the stairs. From there I walked to the garage and got into the car. My brother was laying down in the back, moaning with large tears rolling down his cheek. As I sat in my seat the garage door opened. The rain was poring harder than ever outside, the storm was vicious. I stared into it as I realized that the road was severely flooded. My mom drove into the water, unaware of the depth. I blinked and suddenly I realized that the water was up to the car doors, maybe even the handles.
�Mom�what are we going to do?� I asked my mom nervously. She tried to drive up before the water began to get in the engine but it was to late, our car was stuck in the mud bottom that came from the flood. Because the road used to be storm river our whole neighborhood was prone top flashfloods. We were stuck in a pool on a somewhat rural road, there wasn�t an occupied house for � a mile and the town was 2 miles away.
�I don�t know what we can do, except hope we don�t drown.� My mom replied slowly. Sam was already sound asleep, nothing could wake him, and nothing would want to. If he were to wake up he wouldn�t shut up. My mom and I were quite now as the time went by. The water level was slowly rising and I was nervous that it would start flooding soon. Then I got an idea, I could use the inflatable raft from inside the garage to get us to the hospital.
�Mom� I said quietly. �I am going to get the raft from the garage. Its already inflated from yesterday when Sam and I were at the river. I am going to get out from the window and try to swim over to the house. I know the current is strong and I am a weak swimmer but the water is getting deep and soon it will be in the car�this is the only way.�
I rolled down the window and climbed out of the car. I jumped in the water and the current quickly pulled me downstream 20 feet. Before it dragged me further I grabbed a tree trunk and I noticed that the river in the road had dragged me further from my house. I quickly grabbed the lowest branch of the tree and got up on it. I sat there as I saw the car get even further submerged. I looked around for a way off the tree and inside but I noticed there was nothing, so I tried again to plow through. I jumped in and instantly got pinned back on tree trunk. The current was getting stronger, and the water level was getting higher. When I jumped in the water was at waist level, but now it was already up to my belly button. I tried to plow through the water again noticing other wards all hope would be lost. I took steps slowly and after about 10 minutes managed to make it back to the car, which was now taking on water. I got on top of the car and moved towards the back which was facing the house, and once again jumped off and I was instantly pinned to the car. I felt a cut on my leg this time, I figured it was nothing but I still let out a little yelp after I got hurt. I once again trudged through the water and to the house, this time succeeding. I quickly opened the garage and grabbed the life raft, I needed to save my family.