It was Tuesday June 6th, and the morning sun was shining through my curtains in my bedroom. The birds were chirping outside, and the woodpeckers were at work on the trees searching for their breakfast. I pulled the blankets over my my shoulders to get more comfortable when there was a sudden knock at my door. Thinking it was just the wind, I flipped over on my side, sank back into my mattress and shut my eyes when another knock was heard.
“Jimmy, are you there?” I heard a man yell outside of my window. I sat up in bed and peered through my blinds to find my friend Johnny standing on my porch. Instantly I remembered that Johnny wanted to hangout today.
“Hey, Jimmy? Are you going to sleep all day, or are you coming with me?” Johnny hollered again. Getting out bed, I quickly changed and put on my shoes. As I was heading out the door, I touched the picture of my Dad on my nightstand.
“Love you, Dad.” I whispered to myself, and stepped outside. Johnny was standing in the driveway waiting for me.
“Man, I thought you would never come out!” Johnny said with a laugh.
“Sorry, I forgot that you wanted to hang out today. Could we just take a walk in the park? I don’t feel like going anywhere extravagant,” I asked Johnny, who looked a little disappointed. Johnny was a troublemaker, he liked to do crazy things without even thinking about it first. I found Johnny to be a little cocky. He was always trying to get into trouble, but he had fun with it. The two of us made our way to the park, through the city streets.
“How’s Cheryl?” I asked Johnny curious to know if he was still with her. Cheryl was Johnny’s long term girlfriend that he saw everyday. The two of them were almost inseparable, so I was surprised that I even got to see Johnny today.
“Oh, she’s long gone…We aren’t seeing each other anymore. I found out that she was fooling around with another man,”Johnny replied. The two of us made our way into the park, when I tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. Johnny gave me a little smirk. Laughing I said, “Well, you know what people always say, don’t step on a crack or you’ll break your mother’s back.” I said to Johnny trying to cover up the incident. I wasn’t embarrassed that I tripped. I was a very clumsy person, but I wasn’t bothered by it.
“When I step on a crack, I’ll be sure to break Cheryl’s back!” Johnny replied jokingly. As I walked I looked up at the sky, and watched the birds fly by. Summer was on its way, and soon school would be out for the season. When I tripped again, something felt odd. It felt like the ground was shaking.I looked down at my hands, and I saw the crack in sidewalk start to spread. The ground was starting to separate! I tried to climb out to escape when I was sucked into a sinkhole. The whole Earth was splitting, and I had nowhere to go. There was no way out. I thought to myself, This is it, this is how it’s going to end. It felt like I was falling forever. I was falling hundreds of feet, I felt the air rush past me, as my clothes floated up in front of my face. Then, I hit rock bottom. I landed into a pool of water. Gasping for air, I swam up to the surface and started to cough up the nasty salty water. Swimming with the current, I looked around where I was. Nobody was around except for the continuous waves of the pitch black water. I grabbed onto a piece of driftwood that was floating beside me, and I used it as a board. It was a while until I spotted land just a couple of yards away. I continued kicking my legs full speed to reach shore. I struggled to keep up when a huge wave crashed over me pulling me under. When I popped back up to grab some air, I was horrified what I saw. From my view, I saw soldiers with loaded gear running about on the beach. There had to be about one hundred thousand soldiers on that beach. People were hiding, building forts, loading their weapons, and fighting for their lives. I wanted to go and help them, I wanted them to be safe. Another wave crashed on top of me, and spit me out on shore. Coughing up the ocean water, I ran for my life. The rain was coming down in buckets. The weather was so bad. The smell of gunpowder, and smoke was burning my eyes. My eyes were tearing up my body was stinging from the salty water, and the explosives. I joined the rest of the soldiers, who were hiding behind the metal structures that tried to stop the enemies from coming in. Bullets were rushing past me and explosives were exploding just a couple of feet away. Clouds of black smoke were coming towards me, starting to suffocate me. I pulled my shirt over my nose and mouth to create a mask so I wouldn’t inhale the intoxicating fumes. I joined the battle, and I wasn’t going to quit until the task was done. Up the hill was a wall blocking the other side of the beach, and in an instant I knew what battle we were fighting. It was the Germans that were standing on top of the hill. I was part of the allied forces from Britain, America, Canada, and France. This was the Battle of D-Day and Normandy. I ran between the metal structures and covered my head. I slid behind some other soldiers for cover when one of them spoke to me,
“Jimmy, what are you doing? Pick up a weapon and join the fight!” It was my father. I looked at my Dad and did what I was told. I stole a weapon from a soldier that was lying next to me and loaded it up. Dad, why do we have to fight?” I asked my father. I was terrified at the sight of the battle. I looked at my father whose face was scratched and a bloody mess from the explosives and stood closer to him. I didn’t want to fight anymore. I was more terrified of the outcome of the battle than my own death.
“Jimmy, sometimes we have to protect others over ourselves. When you put someone else’s needs before your own, that’s what makes you a true hero,” my father continued as he pulled the trigger, and fired his gun. My dad continued to talk, but I really couldn’t make out what he was saying because of the yelling soldiers surrounding us. I kept asking my dad what he was saying but his voice was blocked by the incoming tide. The waves came crashing over and took my dad with him. I grabbed my dad’s hand and held it tightly in my own grip. I wasn’t going to let go. My dad shouted at me,
“Jimmy, let go it’s okay. Make mom proud. Whatever you do, she will always be happy with your choice. She may not agree, but she will always be proud of you.” I listened to my dad and I let go of his hand. I watched the current pull him out away from shore, until I couldn’t see him anymore. As tears rolled down my cheeks, I closed my eyes and I watched everything before my eyes, slowly fade away. When I opened up my eyes, I heard a familiar voice speak to me, “Oh thank God, Jimmy. I thought I lost you!” I heard Johnny say to me.
“I’m fine, what happened? My head kind of hurts.” I was rubbing the side of my head. It felt like my head was spinning and I was seeing two of everything
“Well, you tripped and you fell really hard. Are you sure you are alright?” Johnny asked me. I didn’t want to tell him about the memory I had with my dad. I thought he would call me crazy. Brushing it off, I said,
“Yeah, I’m fine. Can we just go home?” I asked him, and he agreed. As we were both heading back home, Johnny turned to me and said “Yes, let’s get you home. You should go to bed,” he said walking beside me. I got home, changed and I pulled the covers over my shoulders and I went to bed. From that day on, I always avoided the cracks in the sidewalk.