SHORT STORIES (1GYM. KERATSINIOY)

I could never have imagined that my summer holidays in Egypt could have such an impact on my life. It seemed to be another typical journey. After I had fulfilled all my obligations and made all the arrangements needed for my accommodation, I decided to go sight-seeing. I went to a local restaurant in order to socialise with the residents and learn about some lesser-known aspects of the city.

I approached an old man, who was wearing a sailor suit. “Hello, youn' boy”, he replied when I greeted him. I consulted with him and learnt about many interesting sights such as the construction of a pyramid. But the one which fascinated me more was a cultural venue, where a singer would give a performance the following day. I anticipated the concert in excitement. The next day, I went there, but to my surprise I found only the old sailor-man looking at me threateningly. Although I tried to run away, he managed to hit me until I was senseless and kidnapped me.

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On the island we could see some damage but it could be easily fixed. I was heading back home with my friends and family and I was thinking non-stop about everything that happened in the boat between five to ten seconds. Surviving gave me a deep understanding of how short life can be. We were back home, I couldn’t stop hugging my puppy being happy to see him again.I told my grandparents everything that happened and soon I fell asleep.

His speech was really persuasive to me, although the others didn’t pay the right attention. &nbsp;&nbsp;When he finished his speech I managed to reach him so as to ask him to explain me more facts about that new religion.

This experience affected me greatly: although I initially intended to move to Egypt permanently, it deterred me, so after a few days, I embarked on a new journey in search of an ideal place to live.

Was I dreaming? I opened my arms, the sun hitting my eyes and warming me up as I screamed at the top of my lungs. Not a pained scream though- I was finally free. I was flying through the blue sky. Then, the raindrops around me started forming an unknown shape, that seemed like that dragon my grandma has drawn and hang on the wall in her living room. “ the myth is real Aiko. The sunshine girl exists, and it’s you. You connect the earth with the sky darling” she had smiled at me, caressing my cheek.&nbsp;

I slowly opened my eyes, feeling peaceful and calm for some reason. Strong wind was going through my whole body, and as the seconds passed, I began to feel more of the environment around me. Ι slowly opened my eyes and I came to a terrifying realization. I was falling from the sky.&nbsp;

When I regained my senses, I was in a boat surrounded by pirates laughing evilly. I had not felt again so fearful in my whole life. After much time had passed, they suddenly started explaining to me their plan; it revolved around obliging my uncle, the Pharaoh, to communicate with them in person in order to pay for my freedom, so that they could kill him and occupy the country. They started spreading the news about my abduction: “Did you hear that the Pharaoh's nephew has been captured?”, everyone told each other in the streets. Despite the fact their plan would be successful, they accidentally revealed their den with their whoops, thereby being arrested by the police. “I wholeheartedly thank you”, I cried to the police-men.

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Last years summer was crazy and I'll never forget that day when I was thirteen, living in a small and very old house for the summer, in Iran, Tehran. It was early in the morning and I was at the sea with my friends and family. We were with other people on the boat since the sea was clean and the weather was just perfect to go far away and relax

&nbsp;&nbsp;In the days that followed I learnt more about it and finally I was baptized Christian orthodox. My life was no more the same.&nbsp;

My mom mocked her “ no way you still believe these stupid stories. What’s next? Believe that Santa Claus exists?” she chucked and my grandma had replied “ it surely doesn’t exist to those who don’t believe it” and here I was, falling from the sky to an unknown magic land. I tried to reach the dragon next to me, and it came to me, putting me to its back and flying to the ground. I never believed more Japan’s most famous myth until now.&nbsp;

About an hour after we were having fun in the boat and a few miles out in the open sea, one of the fishermen that I knew, pointed to a small white spot far in the distance. When we looked at it, it looked like a ball. It was getting bigger and bigger very fast. Other people told us it’s nothing to worry about and ignored it. Little did they know...it was a tsunami wave speeding through the ocean like a tornado. With a big wave, you would usually try to get as far out as possible into the open sea. The deeper the water, the weaker the wave. But we weren't far enough out to be safe, either close enough to the shore to make it back before the wave would hit the land.

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. Fear and shock pierced through my body as I watched myself falling through the white clouds, with raindrops surrounding me. I thought that was weird, considering the blue sky and the sun shining brightly. I looked down to the ground and now with more excitement than fear, I saw a valley with green soft grass and blue rivers that matched the wonderful color of the sky above me. However, that valley seemed like a floating land, floating through the endless sky. Other than me, I couldn’t spot another living creature.

I was walking near Acropolis when I suddenly saw many people gathering. A man stood on a rock and was talking about religious matters. That man was Apostol Paul. He was saying about a new monotheist religion and proved that our former dodekatheon religion was in fact fake. He said he admired one inscription he saw in ancient Athens: “to the unknown god”. He also explained that he had arrived to teach us about this unknown God.&nbsp;

To this day I still think about it and if you ask me, it was kinda cool and scary at the same time. I cant express how scared and shocked I was that day. I hope nothing like that ever happen to anyone, not everyone survive natural disasters. But I'll never forget about how everything happened together and about how I felt that day. It had me feeling like I was in a movie...or maybe I was.

When I realized that people were afraid, I started to feel scared since it was my first time facing a natural disaster. I was overthinking everything but at some point the captain started talking and interrupted the train of my thoughts. No one panicked, but they moved quickly. The captain told us where to sit, based on our weight and height, so we would balance out the boat. We were holding on tight. I was sitting on one of the benches in the middle, with my back facing the five to seven metre high wave. I took one last look over my shoulder at this monster that was about to hit and kill us. I took a firm grip of my seat, closed my eyes, clenched my teeth and in my mind I said goodbye to the world, to my family and friends and of course my special puppy that was at home. A few moments later there was a huge noise and I felt my sould leaving my body, I opened my eyes slowly not sure if I was alive or dead. The wave had hit the boat but in the split second of impact, the skilled captain got it right. He managed to swerve us up and on to the wave. We were surfing it for a few seconds, our mouths and eyes were wide open and everyone let out heavy sighs. The boat glided from the tip of the wave down behind it, into safe waters. However, no water splashed into the boat and no one went overboard. He had saved us all, but nobody really wanted to stay there anymore so after ten minutes we made our way back to the shore.

I will never forget that day a few years ago when I heard an enlighting speech in Pnyx&nbsp;

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