Flash Narrative Final Draft

Sadie Stock
5th period
Haslam
The Perfect Place

Usually, I wouldn’t get up at 2:30 in the morning for anything. Being up anytime before 7

is just never worth the effort anyway because it’s always so dark. The pollution throughout the

city has settled into a permanent cloud that has consumed the sky for as long as I remember. On

most days, making the sun completely invisible. My Grammy used to tell me about when she

was a little girl, going to bed early just so she could get up in time to see the sun creep over the

mountains. It sounded just like all the other fairy tales that were spoon-fed to us our entire

childhood. The sun I know is just a fuzzy dull orb that you can stare at until you die of boredom.

There is no way it “fried people’s skin” or “powered people’s houses” the way Grammy said it

did way back when she was my age. Just like how her once long wavy brown hair became short

and gray, her once sharp mind became more full of silly stories.

The sun still rises, I’m sure it does. It probably still sets too. I just don’t think it “paints

colorful masterpieces across the sky” anymore as Grammy used to describe. It must have

become tired of doing that, it got tired just like everything else on earth. “It’s devastating that the

birds are tired of singing and the stars got tired of shining.” she used to say.

“ One day when this filthy pollution is gone, nobody will know the beauty of mother nature

restored to her glory.”

“Why not?” I would ask her, watching with admiration her wrinkle filled face and deep blue

eyes.

“ You’ll all be dead my darling” she’d return, “You wouldn’t deserve to see it anyway, after

what you’ve let happen to our precious planet.”

 Those are the words echoing in my ears as I groggily pull myself out of bed. I can’t

believe I’m doing this. Today, Dad is taking me to grandma’s favorite place in the world,

Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park. After Grammy passed he just hasn’t been the same,

neither of us has. Grammy’s sudden death ripped a hole through my heart and, just thinking

about her now makes me sick with sadness. A couple of days ago I suggested we do something

to remember Grammy in a good way, but I never thought Dad would pick her favorite 12-mile

hike to the top of a mountain. She used to tell me that I lived in a poisoned bubble and that I

needed to go out and experience life the way nature intended. I always ignored her though, she

sounded like a Hippie the people on the nightly broadcast always made fun of. Everything I need

is here in the city anyway so I just pushed aside her comments and continued to be content with

my ashy gray skies and triple filtered water.

Yesterday I spent an hour purifying enough water for our trip, we never need to clean

this much but Dad insisted that we be properly prepared. He told me that he remembered

Grammy telling him all about Grinnell when he was a kid too and how she always wanted to go

back. But now she’s gone, and soon the national park protection order expires and the place she

loved so much is going to be sold to another oil refinery.

We’re out of the house and on the road by 3:00 AM. I could tell by the color of the smog

that the sun hasn’t come up and won’t be up for a while. We’re driving for what seems like

years. When Dad says

“ It takes a while to get out of the city,”

“ We’re leaving the city?!” I gasped.

“You really think Grammy’s favorite place would be here?”

Of course, it wouldn’t, I knew that.

“ Your grandma was adventurous, carefree, and loved being outside, that’s where she felt most

alive.”

I lean back in my chair and think about her, and how I wish she was with us right now. The next

thing I know I’m drifting asleep watching the murky brown river barely flowing next to us.

I’m jostled awake hours later.

“Sorry sweetheart, the road hasn’t been sealed out here.”

“Weird,” I say

Usually, all the roads are sealed, it keeps the tires on our transports nicer.

It’s now 6:45 am and we were getting closer. I bring my seat back upwards and notice that a

blueish white river replaced the one from earlier.

“Dad, why does it look like that? Do they pre-purify out here?”

Dad chuckles and responds,

“ No, that’s how water is supposed to look, I’ve forgotten how clean it is naturally.”

I keep watching the weird water until we pull off the road a few minutes later.

“Here we are kiddo, hop out.”

I crack open my side of the transport and cool air slips over me. Immediately goosebumps race

over my body. I step out and look up, squinting. No more smog, instead, a warm and muted blue

spread out forever, It’s dawn. I’m left speechless, instantly I understand why Grammy liked this

so much, it’s beautiful.

We start our journey, and as we’re hiking I’m coming across too many amazing things to

fully process. Things I’ve only ever read about in textbooks. Lakes with fish jumping into the air,

endless rows of needle covered trees, wildflowers that came in every letter of ROY G BIV. My

eyes are brimming with tears, the vibrance of everything makes my city seem like a dull grisaille
painting. Even the dirt’s brown dusty hue is stronger and brighter than any sad color I’m used to

back home.

My legs are tired but I don’t want to stop. I can’t stop, there aren’t any gears grinding or

electricity static zipping through anything. Clean air fills my lungs for the first time ever and the

difference is staggering. Not only can I feel the difference, but I can also taste it. We’ve been

hiking for hours now, the sun is no longer a puny weak circle. It is strong and powerful and has

been chasing us since we started. The heat on my pale skin is making me sweat heavily.

“Almost there let’s keep going,” Dad says to encourage me as I stop to rest.

We’ve been hiking for hours and I’m not sure if I can make it. Just as that doubt fills my mind

the thought of Grammy telling me that she’s proud of me shoves it away and I rise to make it

over the last hill.

Dad can’t catch me soon enough. I’m on my knees, no longer holding back the tears. I

can’t help it. The bluest lake lays before me, so still, I can’t decide if it’s water or glass. I fear

that if I fall in, I’d be falling forever. Endlessly into the perfectly reflected sky. I touch the water

and it’s so cold my whole body is now freezing. I splash it over my face and curse myself for

ever thinking my sweet Grammy was crazy. Everything is so perfect and peaceful it physically

takes my breath away. Wiping away my tears I turn to Dad and say,

“I don’t want to go back.”