Happy+Birthday,+by+Sarah+P

“WAIT! I’m coming! I’m just a few blocks away from the hospital!” Rake shouted as he closed the phone, threw it to the ground, and continued to sprint down the street, knocking down the innocent people and trash cans in his way. As he turned the last corner past the ambulance parking lot, he only picked up more speed. All of a sudden it started to pour. Lightening came, only Rake did not slow down.

He pushed the hospital doors open and ran to the elevators. As he waited for the elevator to arrive, some lights in the hallway started flashing on and off. When the elevator arrived, the power was flickering on and off inside it as well. Rake was only twelve years old, but he he was as brave as a lion, and as courageous as a wildebeast. Any other boy his age would surely have never entered an elevator like this. He walked in, staring at the mirrors around him. As soon as the doors of the elevator had closed, the lights in the elevator immediately turned off. Rake was all alone in the dark.

The elevator began to move at a fast pace. It climbed higher and higher. With a big bang the elevator suddenly came to an immediate stop. The lights started flashing on and off again. Five seconds passed. Rake stood extremely still. Five more seconds had gone by and Rake began to freak out. After a short while, the lights turned off again.

Rake tried to avoid thinking about that call he had gotten from Doma, informing him that their mother was in the hospital after getting brutally hit by a speeding car. He decided to count the buttons on the side panel. //Wait//, Rake thought, //isn’t Doma supposed to be in Africa on a mission to save starving children//? //Well, she must be back//, he thought. Then something struck him, //what a coincidence! Today was his birthday//! “Oh well, ” Rake said aloud in the darkness.

Whilst still looking over the side panel buttons on the wall of the elevator, he saw a symbol of a phone on one of them. He pressed it, only to find that since there was no power, nothing in the premises of the small elevator worked. Rake breathed heavily, sweat ran down his face, and all of his clothes were sopping wet from running through the rain. He closed his eyes and sat down and tear droplets ran down his face. He couldn’t believe that his mother was possibly going to die and that he wouldn’t be there to support her, all because he was stuck in an elevator. All he had left was to pray for a miracle.

All of a sudden, the power came back on and the elevator started to move again. Rake could not believe it. He was so relieved. He would get to be with his mother after all.

The doors opened and he ran out of the elevator. Once he found the right room he panted, “I’m here!”

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAKE!” a bunch of people yelled. The people's soon familiar faces turned out to be his family. He quickly saw that his mother was not on the operating table and that she was happily standing side-by-side with Doma with a big grin on her face.