Refugee, New Chapter-Isabel

ISABEL

The engine was dead. “What has happened!” Lito cried, the first one to recover from the shock. 

“This is all your fault! We’re going to die! They’re going to get me! The boat is faulty!” Isabel’s father screeched. He lunged at Señor Castillo but Lito grabbed him just in time. “What is wrong with you?” Lito gave Papi a look of such disgust Isabel was surprised he didn’t drop down dead. Before he could say any more Isabel’s mother gave a cry of pain. “The baby.” she said quietly before fainting.”Mami?” Isabel asked, scared she was dead. “She is fine, Chabela. We must let her rest.” Lito whispered. Amara was looking around nervously “Luis, can you hear that?” “What?” he asked desperately, hoping it wasn’t more bad news. Iván looked up, “They’re looking for us.” he gasped, above them was a giant helicopter with huge guns on the front. “Deserters will be shot.” Isabel looked around “We’ve got to blend in.” She dug through the supplies and pulled out a blue sheet that her mother had painted to look like the sea, for Isabel’s bed when she was little. “Are you going to help me or not!” she yelled at everyone. Quickly they sprung up, their hearts filled with hope. They spread the sheet over the bits of wood that were sticking up. They crouched under the thin sheet and began to drift off. 

Isabel woke up to the sound of rain pouring on the sheet, the salty air of the ocean and ...crying? During the night her mother had given birth. “What will you call her?” Lito asked, oblivious to Isabel waking up. “Hope.” she smiled. “Isabel, we didn’t want to wake you up, so we let you sleep, sweetie.”. Isabel looked around. “Where’s Papi?” “I don’t know, we haven’t seen him.” said  Señor Castillo, in the uncomfortable crouching position as there was no room for him to lie down. “What if..” Lito began but then he stopped. “Iván, are you all right?” he asked gently. “I don’t know.” he looked up. His face was covered in blood, it was swollen and bruised. “Iván, what happened?” His mother gasped, speaking for the first time. “He swam away, he was scared of the helicopter from yesterday. He thought they were looking for him. He said he would meet us in America, I tried to stop him, I said he was being stupid, that he would surely die, I wouldn’t let go of him so he.. ” his voice trailed off. Tears rolled down Iván’s cheeks. “I’m sorry.” Then a wave crashed into the side of the boat, rocking it backwards and forwards. That was when Isabel fell off.

“ISABEL!!” Mami screamed desperately, hoping her eldest was still alive. “I’m here.” Isabel called faintly. She tried to climb back on, but the waves made it to hard. The deep blue water daring her to scream. “Tie the rope around her. When the storm is over we can pull her back on.” Lito said taking charge. They meekly obeyed him, shocked over all the terrible things that had happened to them. “Why?” Mami whispered, clinging to Hope “All of theses horrible things.”  “We will make it through. It will be alright. This is just a bad moment in millions of moments.” Lito said stubbornly. He tore the sheet of the sticks and threw it to Isabel. “Wrap this around you, it should keep you warmer.”  Without the sheet the rain could come in. Within seconds they were drenched, victims of the cruel storm raging above them. “Señor Castillo, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Amara commented, trying to lighten the miserable situation. But Señor Castillo could only say one thing “They’re back...”,“Who?” Amara laughed. A high false laugh that clearly stated that she knew who. Señor Castillo pointed a shaky finger towards the sky. “Them.”

This term my reading group has been reading the book Refugee. One of the activities we had to do was to write a new chapter for the book! My chapter is about Isabel. I wrote it so it might not happen in the book.

Isabel is a Cuban girl escaping Cuba on a raft with her parents, unborn sibling, Lito/Grandad & her neighbours. It is very exciting and we have just reached the bit where the engine died!