8

He looked behind him, at the dark ocean in the middle of the night, and saw that everyone was doing the same. All gasping for air as they struggled to reach the shore. He was one of 8 children on the boat, there must have been about 50 people on board. He struggled to walk on the soft sand. With his weak legs, he almost crawled as he struggled against those sandy hands that kept pulling him to his knees. He staggered and tried to keep his eyes open so as not to lose his group, but he failed and fell. He opened his eyes and turned to the side, it is crowded here, so many people around him talking, shouting, children playing, babies crying, so many babies crying here. No walls, just endless beds, a horde of people, and a strange smell. He tries to go back to sleep, tomorrow is his first day at the new school.

Everyone looked different in this school and many stared at him, but no one spoke to him. He spent many days walking around the schoolyard, seeing no faces, only moving lips. "Maybe they will like me if I can understand what they are saying," he thought. 12 months have passed since he reached that dark beach and 8 months since he attended this school, and now he can see the eyes of the moving lips. Today the teacher asked the students to describe themselves with one word on the board. He was the last to stand up and as he turned to go back to his desk, his new friends cheered, "Yes, that's you!” The teacher looked at the board and read

'Survivor'