It was her least favorite time of the year: summer vacation. She hated the last day of school when her classmates passed out pool party invitations, and she hated it when her classmates announced all the amazing places they would be traveling to. Things weren’t always this way; she used to enjoy summer like everyone else until last year, where everything went wrong.
Last summer, she and her classmat es were invited to a pool party at a beach resort. She and her best friend were going down to the pool together when she realized that she had left her towel back in her room. “You don’t need to wait for me. You can go down by yourself,” she said to her friend. She did not realize what would happen next would ruin the lives of her friends and twelve other families: the deadliest incident in 38 years. Shortly after her friend went down, she looked out the window and realized that a tsunami was approaching. Back then, tsunamis were rare, and few people were educated about them. She called her friend several times, but each time she went to voicemail. There was really nothing she could do at that point.
Another time, that summer, her cousin went fishing with a couple of his classmates. At one point, the kids were tired, and pulled a prank on one of the other children. He was so startled, he fell in the water and drowned. Her cousin called the police, but there was nothing to do. The kid was already dead.
Next, her teacher’s flight to the Bahamas crashed. A couple days later a couple of swim team friends died from heatstroke. There were even more deaths from people she barely knew.
Countless times tragedies happened in the summer, but it never occurred to her that she would be so close to many of the victims.
Last summer, she and her classmat es were invited to a pool party at a beach resort. She and her best friend were going down to the pool together when she realized that she had left her towel back in her room. “You don’t need to wait for me. You can go down by yourself,” she said to her friend. She did not realize what would happen next would ruin the lives of her friends and twelve other families: the deadliest incident in 38 years. Shortly after her friend went down, she looked out the window and realized that a tsunami was approaching. Back then, tsunamis were rare, and few people were educated about them. She called her friend several times, but each time she went to voicemail. There was really nothing she could do at that point.
Another time, that summer, her cousin went fishing with a couple of his classmates. At one point, the kids were tired, and pulled a prank on one of the other children. He was so startled, he fell in the water and drowned. Her cousin called the police, but there was nothing to do. The kid was already dead.
Next, her teacher’s flight to the Bahamas crashed. A couple days later a couple of swim team friends died from heatstroke. There were even more deaths from people she barely knew.
Countless times tragedies happened in the summer, but it never occurred to her that she would be so close to many of the victims.
