The Cruel Caribbean
by Cyrus Hernandez
The Mythical Boat, a picture by Alexie Leger (grade 12)
“You’re gonna need a bigger boat!” shouted Matt to Paul as he reared into the docks. “There are way more of them than we expected.”
“There is no bigger boat, this will have to do,” replied Paul.
“But, there’s no way a fishing vessel will be able to fit all these people,” Matt said quietly to Paul as he looked over to the large crowd.
“I know, but this is all I could get. Most every ship on the island has already been sunk, we were lucky to get this one,” said Paul, a look of sadness growing on his face. “At least we can save some of them.”
“There has to be a better way, we can’t just leave some of them.”
“Look, Matt, we don’t have much time, we need to start loading people on now. If we’re lucky, maybe we can come back for the rest, before they, they…”
“You don’t have to lie to me Paul, we both know it’s going to be impossible to come back here after this.” A tear slid down Matt’s face.
Paul quickly opened the door to the boat and began allowing people in. Soon, it was obvious that if they allowed anyone else on, then it would sink. They were forced to close the door.
“Hey, what’s the deal? What about us?” shouted someone from the crowd.
“I’m sorry, we’re at maximum capacity. We won’t be able to let you on,” stated Paul, a shake in his voice as his eyes began to glisten with tears.
“You can’t just leave us here!” shouted a different person from the crowd. More and more joined in as they realized what was going on.
Paul turned away from them and began to power the boat. The noise from the engine and rustling palm trees overpowering the crowd’s screams. A man tried to jump on as it was leaving but his grip wasn’t strong enough and he plummeted into the water.
Not even five minutes from the shore, even over the wind, Matt swore he could hear gunshots coming from the dock.
Biography
My name is Cyrus Hernandez. I am a sophomore at American Heritage and you can typically find me playing video games or writing my book after school.
What is your main source of inspiration?
I usually find myself most inspired after finishing a really good book or story.
What artists and/or writers inspired or influenced your work?
Even though the plots aren’t that similar at all, the short story “The Lottery” influenced the style of this piece. I had just finished reading it and I wanted to try and mimic the style.
What is your ideal writing environment?
I used to write in my creative writing class, but now that I have finished that, I write at home or when I have free time at school. I can write in basically any condition.
Expressions 