Hawaii-i-i

Fear, everyone experiences it even to the furthest degree. You can’t always expect what's going to happen next when you’re chasing your fears at full speed. When the adrenaline fills your entire body and all you feel is a burning heat taking over you. Sometimes you can’t even do anything but ride out the shaky nerves you get.

In  search for that place of delight I found something else. On a island 2,460 miles away from the place that I call home I found trouble. North pacific ocean, O’ahu Hawaii to be exact. That September in the year 2015 my family and I flew away. We flew away from all of realities and responsibilities. Traveling there was the easiest part. When we were there all 17 of us rented 3 cars and had two condos. Just indulging in the sights that were fairly new and unfamiliar to us was memorizing. I knew that nature contained so much beauty but back home I grew so accustomed to it that I didn’t take a second to appreciate my surroundings. Looking around me at that moment I knew, I just knew that I was starting to grasp the idea of just taking in nature and becoming closer to it. Realizing that it isn’t something that should be forgotten or neglected. On the slow and calm ride to the place we would stay at that week, all I could see was a sunny shore line with light blue water that almost looked transparent as it impacted with the steep hill of large rocks. I spotted some smaller rocks, the size of a bowling ball stacked so effortlessly on top of one another. It looked so unrealistic that I thought my eyes had deceived me. It was like I had arrived in a new world that only knew of perfection. Later on that afternoon we decided to head to the beach. Walking along the dirt filled road and cutting through houses belonging to the locals we had made it to the beach a couple blocks away that we spotted. It was just us and being in those waters felt too natural. Like it was a way of life that we had been missing out on for far too long. After lounging around on a docked boat on the sand and swimming around in the warm waters we walked back. All I remember is being satisfied with the day and not remembering about life back home.

The relationships that surrounded me were strong. It was something I saw, the way we would help one another out with basic things like cooking or packing our rooms with unnecessary tourist stuff we spent most our money on. I began to understand that being around the ones I loved the most made me happy and contributed to my enjoyment of life. On that island together we bonded.

Most of all you could see our bond through everything we did. Especially when we decided to go for a swim later on at night, at a beach that was unfamiliar to us. It was cold, but not so cold to the point that we couldn't feel the humidity. The humidity was heavy like a blanket wrapped around you. The weather had been like that since the first day we got there. Locals told us the uncomfortable temperatures were due to the storm that happened right before we got there. That explained a lot but it was still unbearable at night time when all we had was fans to keep us somewhat cool. But this night was somewhat cooler but we still decided that it was a good idea to go swimming. We drove into the night heading to the beach that wasn’t actually a beach technically. It was just dirt that made a ramp straight into the water. We were on the edge of the island. Parking the car most of us got out bare footed. I remember tip toeing around the random twigs and unidentifiable things as I made my way to the very edge of the water. We eased our way in as we let the cold water penetrate us. My younger brother who was ten years old had broughten along a boogie board. One that he didn’t know how to ride of course. He was so excited to finally take it out and attempt to ride it. We encouraged him, it was just my cousins and siblings with my uncle to supervise us. At first when my brother hopped into the water he was fairly close to us. We had to inform him that to really boogie board he would have to go out even further into the water. My brother did as he was told and paddled his way deeper into the ocean. We cheered him on as we watched him climb onto the board. It took a little effort at first but eventually he got it. We watched as rode over a few waves until we noticed him getting farther away. I remember us all frantically telling him to come back because he was getting too far away. He started panicking a little as repeatedly told us he couldn’t. That’s when we realized what kind of situation we had gotten ourselves into. He began paddling back towards us, not being very successful at it. We kept encouraging him and told him he was doing a good job when we were all panicking on the inside. Finally we realized we were looking fear into it’s eyes and for a moment I was worried that I might actually lose my brother to the ocean. That’s when my uncle knew that he wouldn’t be able to get back at all. Fortunately he was a marine in the past so he knew what he was doing. He dove into the water without hesitation and swam all the way out to rescue my little brother. We watched nervously at the dark riptides pulling them both it. Riptides were unforgiving and had no guilt in sucking you in. My uncle had finally reached my brother and pulled him on top of the boogie board. He used all his strength to fight against the roaring waters as he carried my brother with him. He made his way back to shore getting up. I remembered that he had shoes on before going in but lost it in all the commotion. My brother had this smile on his face hiding the fact that he was pretty much scared shitless for his little life threatening moment. We reflected on what just happened as we climbed back into the car. My cousin had a gopro trapped to his chest the entire time so we knew he had to watch what was on it just to recap the events. Once we got back to the condo we told everyone what happened to him. My parents were shaken up a little but at the same time glad he was safe now and that my uncle went after him. That is one of the things I’ll never forget. The time where everything was at risk and I didn’t know what to expect next. That was the time where a few of us looked into the eyes of fear.

Reviews

[Oh Oh Oh no]

I like how detailed you were when you were decribingnthe island. i think you shouldve wrote more about almost looking your brother to the sea though, cause your story is about fear and all. Either way Good job!