Grade 9, PUSH
One day as Frank and Bob were walking from school, they saw a big blaze of fire coming from one of the shacks in Alexandra. They rushed over and saw many people standing around a burning tyre. Stones were flying and children were running and mothers were screaming.
Many people from Sandton tried to stop the people from burning each other. Frank ran towards a burning tyre and tried keeping the mini fire under control, and stop it from spreading. He ran past the first shack before the bridge and saw a girl stuck under wooden rods that were set alight. He ran towards the girl, and tried pulling her out from under the rods, but it was too heavy.
He saw a man from Sandton, and asked him for help. The man ran as fast as he could and pulled the girl out from under the rods. The girl was relieved and cried with joy. She said, ‘My name is Cassandra and I’m very grateful for your help. I’m from Sandton, and my father will be very grateful for your help.’
Frank looked at Cassandra with fright in his eyes and couldn’t’ believe what just happened. ‘Uh,’ he said, ‘ My name is Frank and I’m from Alexandra. I’m really grateful that you are okay, but I literally did nothing. If I didn’t’ see the man in black, you could have burnt to death.’
The man in black said, ‘Oh no, please! All I did was pull Casandra from under the rods. You are the one that did most of the work. Please do take some credit. Without you, I doubt we were even going to find our poor Cassandra.
Frank asked, ‘Excuse me, Sir, but do you mind telling me your name?’
The man said, ‘Oh my name is Jack and I’m from the East side of Sandton.’
Frank said, ‘Oh, it’s a pleasure meeting you, Sir, although the circumstances are bad.
Cassandra’s skin started itching and it came to a point where she could not take the itch any more. She started to scratch her skin and the longer she scratched, the itchier it got. ‘Cassandra, are you okay? asked Frank. ‘No,’ she replied, ‘I don’t feel okay at all. My skin is itching.’
‘Oh, my God, Cassandra! Look at your face, arms and legs! Cassandra, your skin is peeling, ‘screamed Frank with
his mature voice. ‘Jack, what are we going to do? Look at Casandra! Jack, do something!’
‘Oh my God, ‘said Jack! ‘Come on Cassandra! We have to get you to the nearest hospital as fast as we can!’
Cassandra, Jack and Frank ran towards Frank’s house and took Jack’s car to get to the hospital as fast as they could. As soon as they reached the hospital, they realised that Cassandra no longer had any skin. She started screaming and so did Frank. ‘Oh my God, ‘screamed Frank, ‘look at Cassandra’s face! Jack, we had better get her inside as fast as we can.’ They ran inside and Cassandra could no longer manage to go further. She fell unconscious and Frank carried her to the reception. When the receptionist saw Frank, he immediately called for help. There were two doctors and a nurse now rushed down with a stretcher and grabbed Cassandra from Frank, and they immediately put her on the stretcher. They took her to the theatre for they had to perform a special skin surgery and made sure the rest of her skin does not peel off. As Frank and Jack were running along, the doctors stopped them from entering the theatre and told them to get as much information as they could.
Frank looked for people who might know Cassandra and found her mother entering hospital. She rushed over to the receptionist and asked him which floor her daughter was on. The receptionist saw Frank and told her that she should speak to the gentleman who brought her daughter to the hospital. She rushed over and immediately started crying, ‘Hello, you must be the one who helped my daughter. My name is Alice, and I’m Cassandra’s mom. The receptionist called and told me what happened. I’m truly grateful for your help. Do you mind showing me where my daughter is?’
‘Oh no, not at all,’ said Frank. ‘Come on, let me show you.’ They ran towards the theatre, and Alice tried to go inside but the nurse stopped her. She told her to be patient as the doctor will update her on Cassandra’s issue. She began to cry and said, ‘ Oh my god, I can’t believe this happened to my poor daughter! Her father will be so happy to know that you guys helped her. Thank you very much!’
‘Oh, madam’, said Frank, also crying ‘you don’t have to thank us at all. ‘We would have done it for anyone and your daughter was lucky I saw her in time.’
‘Thank you, Frank’, said Alice. ‘I am ….’ Before she could finish her conversation with Frank, the doctor came out and told Alice that Cassandra had lost a lot of skin but they saved some where they could, and other than that she was absolutely fine and a strong fighter. ‘Oh doctor,’ said Alice, ‘I’m really grateful for your help. I don’t know what I would have done if Cassandra left me.’
‘Oh no,’ said the doctor. ‘Please give the credit to the gentlemen who brought her here. if it wasn’t for them, maybe she was going to be dead by now. She will have to stay here for 1 week so we can monitor her carefully. After that, she is free to go. You can also speak to our hospital therapist. Casandra really is going to need it as she experienced a lot in one day.’
‘Thank you doctor,’ said Alice. ‘I will do so.’
The doctor went back into theatre, and Alice cried joyful tears. She gave Frank and Jack a R5000 shopping voucher each, and thanked them once more. They left the hospital and told as many people as they could about the horrific day they had had. Frank was so excited to see Bob and explained where he had been and what had happened that day.