A Fable in the French Alps

A Fable in the French Alps - Varun Diwakar (Penn Alexander, Fourth Grade)

Hi, my name is Varun. I’m on Mont Blanc with only a water bottle, winter coat, gloves and a Mont Blanc souvenir coin. All around me I can see the exquisite mountains of France and their beautiful snowflakes, tossing and turning in the wind. I remembered how I fought with my parents to escape this. I was wrong to try to avoid this, this tour was better than playing on my Nintendo any day.

My real adventure started when my guide and I had to run past a mountain goat. The mountain goat charged toward us and we were caught on the edge of a cliff. We dove out of harm’s way just in time. Another incident happened when we started to run short of breath. We decided to rest, and if we couldn’t make it to the camp, turn back to the rest cabin for a short while. After our break, we kept going.

Yet another obstacle came in the form of a boulder. A monstrously big stone was rolling toward us at a very fast speed. I thought we were done for, until my instincts kicked in. I grabbed my guide and jumped out of certain death. This trip was getting life-threatening, I thought. I still kept going.

I was scared out of my wits when the ground started shaking. I asked my guide what was happening but he was frozen in fear. I caught just one word: Landslide. I remembered all those documentaries I had watched and all the books I had read. Landslides were devastating . My guide muttered “We’re dead.” I wasn’t about to take dying as an option so I decided that we'd run as far as we could in the direction that wasn’t shaking. I ran as fast as I could but my guide was faster than me and about 200 feet ahead of me. I sprinted with all my might and I felt as fast as Kylian Mbappe. I finally caught up but felt that I had lost all my strength. I took a break for a while, then moved on.

We trekked uphill and I couldn’t believe what I saw - a settlement of wooden huts! It was the camp! I ran with all my might trying to get there before I ran out of oxygen. I barely made it. Just as I collapsed they gave me oxygen. As I woke up and asked “Where am I?" I remembered my hard work getting through the mountain and felt proud of myself, my reflexes and my instincts.

Once I found a phone I called my parents and told them about what I had done that day. They were proud of me but most of all relieved that I was safe. I wanted to walk around the mountain, but they said I was fatigued and made me sit in bed and eat food. Never before had a muffin tasted so good. I learned that day to always trust MY instincts.