Little Inklings 2023

TURN TO BLACK By: Mateo Bernal ’27 This place doesn’t smell or look the same. I don’t even have the same bed! And it rocks all throughout the night. But I like the water. I amwalking down the shiny spruce wood hallway when I hear a loud alarm begin to ring. I see mom and dad running out the doors. I run behind them and try my best to reach the door as they close it, but they manage to close it before I get outside and run upstairs. I start to worry if they are scared or excited as they begin to lower the dinghy from the crane on the second level. I hear them rushing. Are they leaving me here? Are they coming back? Are they leaving for one of their long trips again? It can’t be, because they were the only ones here. They wouldn’t leave me here alone, would they? I start to pant, and my paws begin to sweat. Although not because of my mom and dad leaving without me, but because I start to feel a heat coming from behind me. I start to see smoke coming out from under me. I begin to panic. I climb up to the helm seat, where I can see my mom and dad speeding away in the dinghy. How am I going to get out of here? I begin to feel groggy, and I start to relax as my eyes begin to close. I wonder when they will come back for me. I wake up once again, more alarms blaring. And it is much hotter than before. At this point I am exasperated. Panting. I can’t stay here any longer. My eyes begin to become a pain to keep open. I jump onto the glass door mom and dad left through. I scratch and scratch and after what seems like a million tries, I manage to open the door. The fire has spread. There are flames catching onto the plants in the hallway. The glaze of the shiny wood floor inside begins to melt and turn black as the hallway light. It is dark outside, and I see no land near me. I run up the stairs to the roof where I see red lights traveling towards me. I begin to feel the heat under my feet. Now the entire boat is on fire. I have to jump. I need to go in the water. But I can’t. I can’t go swimming without mom and dad. The red lights nearing, I am deciding if I should take a leap of faith into the water and hope I can stay afloat. I decided. I am catching my breath when I take everything in for a moment. I can see the lights nearing, the fire burning. I can hear the wood cracking and the fire annihilating everything under me. I can smell the smoke from up here now. I can feel a rumble underneath me when everything turns black. 17