As the plane landed on the ground, I woke up. It necessitated several seconds of intensive brain usage to recollect where I was. As I remembered, I stretched in my seat, and felt the vivacity flow back into my limbs. The aircraft slowed down and a placid murmur rose through the plane. The reassuring voice of the pilot reverberated through the aircraft. Stewardesses walked ostentatiously up and down isles collecting the rubbish. Still in a half alert state, and exceedingly tired, I strolled down the steps, and off the massive metal plane. Subsequently, I headed towards the baggage collection unit, to collect my baggage. I had contemplated that we would be required to wait for a whole hour before we had collected our entire luggage, but, three hours later, we were still waiting for the rollers to run. I looked around at all of the morose faces, and despite the fact that I tried to hide it, I was sure my facial expressions showed the same expression. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief when the bags finally arrived and rushed to collect their items of luggage. Hours followed as we got out passports scrutinized and performed a considerable number of other tasks. I was so exhausted and argumentative by this time that I wanted to curl up on the floor and lapse into hibernation.
As I stumbled into the incandescent sunshine outside, the scorching hot sun started burning my soft exposed skin. The sky dazzled my agitated eyes and illogical languages flooded towards me. It required a whole hour of strenuousness to attain a taxi in the commotion. Eventually, we set off on a long journey to West Chester. My bad temper began to disintegrate in the taxi owing to the visual effect the phenomenal scenery had on me. The constantly humming stream of cars flowed steadily through the centre of Philadelphia, coughing out billowing clouds of black smoke, polluting and suffocating the nearby woodlands. This had led to only a few green trees remaining, which stood proud, but wounded by the daily barrage of car fumes and smoke attacks and winters harsh frost. The tress had been left enclosed in a tight ring of lifeless, leafless, skeletal trees.
Hours later we entered the road of my hotel. The stately palm trees standing tall on either side of the small dusty road seemed to give us a grand welcome. The hotel was surrounded by emerald green hills, covered by a variety of trees. As we drove towards the hotel, we noticed an island nestled on the middle of a placid, deep blue lake. The island was a safe distance away from intruders, but was close enough to spark our imaginations. We were all looking forward to settling into our rooms in the hotel, located on the bank of the lake. Instantaneous after the car stopped, we were outside stretching our exhausted legs and inhaling the fresh air.
That evening, as we roamed around the town, we saw a derelict church. The forlorn church stood gazing longingly through the rusty gates that had kept it sacred and undisturbed for decades. It had been kept divorced from the outside world. The gardens of forgotten graves were hardly visible under the blanket of emerald green weeds and uncut grass. The wind seemed inexistent, as if it were holding its breath. Ivy climbed the walls of the church, disguising its beauty behind the dirty green mask. The trees showed no enthusiasm through their color. Their naked branches seemed sinister and unwelcoming. Ivy climbed the walls of the church, disguising its beauty behind the dirty green mask. The flowerbeds lay neglected and untouched, with nothing eye catching but shimmering silver trails of mollusks. These were the only inhabitants of this serene and lifeless world.
Late at night, we returned to the hotel and went to sleep in the warm, snug bed of the hotel. The subsequent morning, we continued our travels to Delaware. I had always had an illusive of United States of America being an affluent and lavish country with endless dense forests filled with menacing grizzly bears. I contemplated that the citizens would be a paragon of health and robustness, like the mountains, which were associated with North America. On arriving at the bustling city of Delaware, I observed all walks of life scurrying around with their own autonomous uniquely imperative agenda. Although Delaware was not like how I had imagined it to be, the views were still breathtaking and I thoroughly enjoyed my night's stay there. The place where we stayed that night was a small cottage located on the outskirts of Delaware. The wind had washed the detritus of leaves into the morbid shadow filled back-alleys. The wandering river trundled on down the hilly path. Under the arched bridge there was a newly woven starling's nest, which lay precariously in the winter wind. Red-breasted robins and energetic blue tits lit up the city skyline with their wonderful livery and chirping songs.
We were all very excited the next morning, as it was the day that we would be completing the final sector of the journey. Soon, we would be fulfilling the dream that we had been dreaming about since two years. After three hours of traveling, I had started feeling carsick as I stared at the mountains whizzing past. The atmosphere had started to change. I could no longer hear or see any birds in the sky, probably due to the obvious wintriness.
We reached our final destination, Hotel De Platz, at exactly midday. After ensuring that we were dressed in thick, warm clothes and that our hands, neck and head were covered, we walked to the nearby restaurant and had a deliciously warm meal. The hot steaming chips tasted like paradise in the cold desolate mountains. Later in the afternoon, I went for a trek up the mountain to help me get accustomed to the mountainous area. The soft snow hardened beneath my feet as I sauntered up the mountain. It was like heaven on a winter's day. All around me, the snow was falling on the lucid landscape. Time had stood still, and the only sign of movement was the gentle meandering snowflakes. It was as if nothing or nobody could spoil that idyllic setting. As I admired the radiant scenery, an unexpected movement caught my eye. A colorful clash of red and blue against the blinding white snow expertly interlaced through an imaginary string of posts. I watched, transfixed, until my awe suddenly turned into horror as I realized that the skier was off piste and gathering momentum as his body fought to gain control of his situation. Suddenly, she lost complete control of herself and started skidding down the steep slope. To my horror, I realized that if she continued sliding down in the direction that he was going in, he would plummet off the cliff. Without thinking about the dangers that I would be put in by taking this courageous risk, I ran to the edge of the mountain. A couple of seconds later, when the skier reached this point and was about to fall off the precipice, I flung myself onto the skier, to try and stop her skidding further down and falling off the mountain. This could have resulted in her being severely injured if not dying. Although I could not stop her skidding, I managed to slow down the speed at which she was skidding so that she managed to stop before he fell of the cliff. As she lay unconscious on the icy snow, I took out the safety blanket from my rucksack, and wrapped her tightly in it to try and ensure he remained as warm as possible. I hastened to my hotel and arranged for a member of staff to go and bring her to the hotel.
The skier was carried to the hotel in a stretcher, where medical care was given to her. After regained consciousness, she expressed gratitude to me for saving his life stimulating a sense of inexplicable contentment within me. It was then I saw her in proper clothing, the skier I saved almost killed by her luscious looks. She came up to me to talk to me but I stood stupefied, looking in wonder as I had never seen something so beautiful in my life, I think the only think I remember her saying was her name, Linda. She appeared in a pink top and a kind of tight Levi jeans pant. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and a figure that from what I have seen my whole life was amazing and unbeatable. Seeing a person look so amazing made my mouth run. From what I lived in my life I never believed in love, but now it felt like love at first sight. I figured out that this is what dreams are made out off. Then I was devastated as a bulky built man about six feet tall came and took her away. I changed my intellect about dreams. I was awarded a trophy for my bravery and quick thinking. In the eye of others, the golden trophy is a symbol of my bravery, but to me, the trophy represents my realization but I would have given that trophy back if only I could have Linda but maybe it was my immaturity. Although the trophy stands prominently in the glass cupboard, the message it carries has been deeply carved into my heart where it will stay forever, and so will Linda.
I had always thought of myself as a "boring person" who did the most tedious things and who would never fall in love but I was wrong. I used to think that my life was like a bittersweet symphony, similar to the words of a sad song, where the words have no meaning. My life had always been like a pointless existence in my view. This dramatic experience taught me that merely to exist is not enough. Life must have a purpose; a meaning; a reason. Life must encompass dreams of aspiration. From that day, I decided what my goal of life would be. The realization of the value of life stimulated me to become a doctor and help save other people's valuable lives. I guess I gained something from this journey……but not what I really wanted.
Sathyen Prabhu
Senior 5B