Fire, Knowledge, Love and Acceptance
Short Story by: lukemeow
Reads: 431 | Likes: 0 | Shelves: 0 | Comments: 2
Status: Finished | Genre: Other | House: Booksie Classic
my second attemt at my english assignment
Robert a man in his early thirty's stood in shock as he watched the cinema burn with smoke rising endlessly into the dark night sky now lit up by the terrifying blaze. Panic flowed through Robert's entire body as he watch the devastating force of the fire engulfing the building. Thoughts of his wife and kids flowed through his mind endlessly and his worry worsened. Robert searched the groups of survivors who had escaped the blaze for his family to no avail, there was no doubt about it, his family was still inside. The fire brigade were trying to put out the fire, but every drop of water which went on the blaze seemed to make it grow. Police officers comforted those who had made it out of the building, and their family members, while holding back the rest of the crowd who were trying to get past to help. Robert was scared, he was used to everything running smooth and in routine, the same thing day in and day out; He would get up early for work in the mines then come home late after spending hours at the local pub; but today was different. Instead of the normal routine of work, Robert had been given a day off. So Robert stayed home, wished his kids off as they set off for school and gave his wife a gentle kiss on the cheek as she told him she was taking the kids to cinema when school ends. With his kids at school and wife in town, Robert had taken this rare moment to drink. He had lit the fireplace then dropped like a rag doll onto his favourite chair, where he sat quietly for a few seconds admiring what his exhausting job in the mined had paid for. Against the wall sat his brand new black and white television set, paintings of family members hang delicately on the walls, and on a table in the corner a worn out radio buzzed on as the hours passed ; then he heard it. Click; click, click. Looking over Robert discovered the source of this mysterious noise and pulled himself up off of his chair. "What's going on; how can it be doing that all by itself?" he said to himself as he stumbled over to the typewriter dropping his sixth bottle of beer onto the floor where it lay empty. On closer inspection Robert spotted a cockroach, which scurried along gaining speed, lunging at the letters on the typewriter.
"Well hi there lil feller; what's your name?" he laughed not expecting a reply. But something strange happened, the cockroach stopped, waited a few seconds, then started throwing itself at the letters on the typewriter again. When the cockroach finally stopped, Robert decided to see if anything the cockroach had written had made sense, and what he saw made him jump back in shock. "Hi my name is Archy," said Robert as he read the cockroach's sentence out loud.
"This can't be real; yeah that's it, you are just a figment of my imagination you are," said Robert in disbelief. To this the cockroach went back to typing, only stopping when it was time for Robert to read the next part.
"I am real just like you," said Robert reading out what the cockroach had written.
"Cockroaches can't type," yelled Robert as he turned and stormed away to grab another beer. With a new beer in his hands Robert returned this time noticing something he hadn't before; there was a piece of paper on the floor near the typewriter. Picking up the piece of paper Robert realized that it was a poem, and after carefully reading it he was again in shock. The poem was no ordinary poem, it was a poem portraying a meaningful discussion between a cockroach, and a moth, with the cockroach's name Archy printed as clear as day at the end. Robert looked back up at the typewriter, and as if waiting for Robert's feedback Archy was sitting silently in front of it. "Why did you write this?" Robert asked as he held up the poem. Robert waited while Archy typed. A few minuites later Archy stopped, and Robert started to read.
"It is about a friend of mine who sacrificed himself for the sake of happiness and beauty, I felt like you should know."
"But why tell me, I don't get it, why did you feel I should know?" But before Archy could type a reply there was a loud knocking at the door, and Robert hurried off to answer it. Upon opening the door Robert was confronted by a man with a face full of fear.
"Come quick, the cinema is on fire!" said the man franticly before turning away and running off to tell others. Remembering his wife and kids Robert had set off as fast as his feet could take him, rushing down the rocky road towards the cinema. So there he was, remembering all the events which had occurred today; then it hit him like a ton of bricks, he now understood what the poem had meant, and what he must do, he was sick of his routine, sick of the life he has lead, Robert now understood that all he needed was 2 be with his family. So seeing a gap in the police Robert charged off in a run towards the front door, his heart pounding; but just as he was about to enter, he got pulled back and yelled at by an officer. "What do you think you are doing, can't you see the cinema is on fire?"
"My wife and kids are in there!" yelled Robert franticly.
"If you go in there you will most likely die." said the officer pulling Robert further away from the burning building.
"I don't care anymore, would prefer to risk it and if the worst happens die with my family, rather then to live without them; alone," said Robert, yanking his arm away from the officer and making a run towards the front door of the cinema, but just before he got inside, he heard the officer yelling after him.
"Have you no sense?" And remembering Archy's poem he stopped, turned around and replied. "Plenty of it, but at times I get tired of using it." He then smiled at the officer, turned, then disappeared into the burning cinema.
Submitted: September 09, 2010
© Copyright 2021 lukemeow. All rights reserved.
Shellie Burg
Very good story. Easy read and entertaining but if you haven't turned it in yet you may want to give it a quick read to correct some spelling and grammatical errors.
Thu, September 9th, 2010 10:29am
Khano
Whoa. Brilliantly written. Robert is a very interesting character. Keep me updated with ur work if u can. :).
Fri, September 17th, 2010 7:04am
well ill be sure to keep you updated, though this was the second draft i ended up doing further editing by combining parts , so the final copy isn't on here yet, and as i handed it in for english i can't put it up on here yet lolz. but i am about to start my major project, so you might find that interesting, though i have to work it in with my final term of school, so it could get difficult for a bit
Sat, October 2nd, 2010 7:35pm
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