A Collection of Creative Writing by Students of Ladysmith High School in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa

Saturday 11 March 2017

Blackbird ~ Michaela Steele

Jessica Monroe ran for her life.

  Her legs felt as if every muscle was fighting against the instinctive urge to stop. Her lungs burned as if she had swallowed a lit match and the flames were slowly spreading through her airway.
  She would however not cease her mad dash through the woods as the shouts and footfalls seemed to send new circulation of energy through her veins and adrenaline to her muscles.
  'Come on Jess, you need to lose them. They can't get the Blackbird file.' With that fervent mantra repeating in her head she pushed forward and continued to run.
  Jessica stopped after three miles as she came to a rushing river. Not far from her she spotted the deadly rapids and razor sharp rocks. She had made up her mind even before the Russian agents came within one mile of her immediate area. Jessica Monroe would rather die than let the Russians gain access to her father's life work. Blackbird was the only thing she had now.
  The young brunette woman took a deep breath and made certain her necklace was secured and then plunged into the icy waters, she swam in earnest, knowing full well that the rushing waters were just as uncontrollable and dangerous as herself.
  She saw figures running with an effort across from her on the riverbank. They were clad in black and soon enough the barrage of bullets that hit the waters near her confirmed that the men were the Russian agents she was so desperately trying to escape from.
  With a grunt of determination, she dived underwater. The area she was hiding out by was close and she had to get the flash drive containing Blackbird if she wanted to find out exactly what her father had been hiding from her.
  Jessica finally made it out of the numbing waters. She was bruised all over her body and bleeding from her head because of being forcibly pushed by the rapids into numerous rocks.
  Her troubles were only beginning. the once FBI hacker, now a rogue agent and wanted by the agency she once served, she would have to make a daring trek through the woods to get to the cabin she was currently living in.
  The only question that continued running as the shivering twenty-five ear old hesitantly began her trek was what exactly had her father been investigating that would lead to his untimely and gruesome death?
The other question she tried to desperately to answer was whether she was ready to continue her father's mission. She had already lost her career and risked her life for the piece of metal currently hanging by her necklace that contained the 'Blackbird ' file.
  That was not where the danger. She now had Russians after her and they wanted to see her blood spilt.
Was she truly ready to face the enormous amount of danger coming her way, all for a file with information unknown to her?
  For the work of her father, the answer would always remain a solid an unwavering 'yes'.


© Michaela Steele

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Grade 12
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