The Abandoned Harbor

 

By Odin Callahan Swidzinski



Edited By: Cody Kieze, Joelyne Swidzinski, Trevor Green and Shaylon Mooswa

Many years ago, a harbor had been filled with people. Boats came to the thriving fish market. As I fished, I knew the history that were on the bottom of these rocks. As the rocks skipped through the never-ending ocean, they disappeared near the horizon.  Around the old run-down houses the only sounds were the waves and as the chirping seagulls.

I remember when my friends and I vacationed here. We could smell smoke, and taste the sea air as it turns. Once, I heard chatting, shouting, yelling and coughing.  I also heard sneezing and snoring. Now, all I hear is the pounding waves, and the gulls chirping as they dived into the sea, coming out with their prey. The harbor remains silent, no boats coming in or out. The wood of the scrawny houses were shabby and falling apart.

With the puny village barely having any lights, I could see stars, which are as motionless as the abandoned houses. The lack of traffic on the roads surprises me, making the once attractive town feel ugly and unusual. I touch the broken windows, once shiny and clean and peered into what seems to be a disaster with furniture scattered all over the place. I heard a clash of a plate falling onto the floor, looking tattered after years of abandonment. I looked down, my mouth getting as dry as a sack of sand.

I stared at the colossal cliffs, knowing this town came to be thanks to the cliffs. The huge boulders stared at me as if I was their only company. I waved to the cliffs, and then went to a canoe, now overturned and wrecked. I found a rotten fish on top, smelling like as if it had been left there for quite some time. Being hungry, hoping not to collapse into the raging waters, I finally had the fish. I tasted the fish, took it, and tossed it into the water and disposed of the remaining carcass into the sea.

Seeing foliage growing on the pavement, I knew that town was inactive for a really long time. I trudged to my house, the only remaining house that was still livable, and opened the creaky door. I sat down on the couch and smiled. I took a breath and stared outside. “I grew up there and I will die there,” I thought to myself. I knew it was over, slouched on my couch, and laid myself to rest. I closed my eyes, with the knowledge that I was the last one in a once-active harbor that has vanished from the map, but I had to stay. I had to tell that this town lives on forever.

After waking up, I went out and lay down on the broken, abandoned pavement, staring at the night sky, and seeing a lot of stars. I wandered through the village. When I peeked inside a collapsed house, and I saw a shattered TV, a couch with a piece of wood on top of it and a broken fridge, with rotten and expired food. I gagged at the sight of the fridge and dashed to the docks.

Next to the docks, there was a large public square that once a fish market. Soon I saw a box and opened it. I saw a stash of fishing rods and worms, and after releasing one I noticed it was alive. I took a fishing rod and a worm, went to the edge of the docks, and released the rod, fishing for something, any fish. My rod suddenly got heavy and bent, intent on collapse. I tried to reel in the catch, and after 25 minutes, I got it, an old rotten canoe. As I tried to weigh it, the canoe fell apart into a million pieces as if it were made of dust. I was disappointed and tossed the pieces of canoe, one by one, into the raging waters.

Then, as I touched the rocks, bumpy and rough, I decided to climb the cliffs. I began the deathly ascent to the highest point. As I climbed, I realized it was impossible and I felt like it was an hour before I could go even a metre higher. I trudged my way up. After several hours, I was about 75 metres above the harbour. Then I decided to return back, and descended, which was faster than ascending, taking me only 15 minutes, and then I chose to fish at a different spot.

As soon as I released the rod, it began to reel, and it took me an hour before I pulled in the fish. It was a dead Great White Shark, so I decided to walk on the harbor. Regardless of the risk of getting trapped by whatever lays beneath, I realized when I walked that many have dumped things there over the years.  It caused many to leave the town since they cannot sustain their industry. Many boats have sunk due to the traps and I quickly ran, but I got stuck and struggled to get out.

By the following night, I freed myself, walked slowly to shore and arrived at my house, when I smelled some smoke. “Fire,” I thought and I went out, but it was just an abandoned cooking fire. After fetching some polluted water from the sea, I poured it onto the smoke, and then tossed the pollutants into the sea. I then nibbled on the carcass of what was once a leg of a turkey, now a bone. After that, I left the bone and laid down, staring at the night sky, knowing that the sea air will live on forever in this town, but if I die, I will lay in a form of stinky carcass, waiting for anyone to bury me properly, provided my body is still there. And that is the end of this piece of the literature by Odin Swidzinski.

So, thank you peer editers, for helping me and thank you, my parents! Comment on it, and to everyone who reads it, good luck! =)