I remember the day my life changed forever. The sun's rays so hot on my 8 year old shoulders, but after living a life in the sun, my skin glowed a lovely golden brown and didn't burn so easily. Thomas, my bestest-ever friend was counting down with his head pressed against his family's hut, we didn't trust him not to peak as we scurried around trying to find our hiding spots before he finished the countdown. I had a very ingenious plan, in my hand I had concealed a short, fat, hollow reed, freshly plucked before breakfast this morning. Putting the reed between my teeth, I Slipped so quietly into the cool waters of the pool by our townsite, trying very hard not to break its surface into ripples. Slowly and further I sank, and as Thommy's countdown was almost complete, I felt the water close over my head. I moved the reed to rest between my lips and pinched my nose, tipping my face up towards the sky. Ecstatically I realise that my plan is working, I can breathe perfectly as I carefully poise here fully submerged under the water, my breathing reed just one amongst the many reeds in the area that I stood concealed. All I can see is the semi transparent water between me and the sun, the bright hot glow filling my vision completely. Everything sounds strange down here, the noises from above muffled so as to be unrecognizable. I could stay here forever actually, the cool water gently swirling around my sun -warmed body and my dark hair floating above my shoulders, tangling in the surrounding reeds. I feel welcomed here, empowered.

My mother always tells me about the power of the water, the sureness of the tides and the creatures that live in its wet world. She tells me about how we the Atlanteans are the most blessed of all people because we walk in the sun but are of the water, our connection to its power and wonders the strongest connection of all of mankind. We are blessed by the water, we protect the water, and it provides us with life. Standing here so still, I watch as small fish begin to reemerge from their hasty hiding places, startled when I had entered the water. I want to tell them that I am their friend, that they didn't need to hide from me, not ever. But it looks like I don't need to tell them after all as they don't seem to care about me, standing here in their world. They are swimming between me and the fiery sun, through my hair in the reeds, nibbling at the bubbles that have collected between the reeds. I would love to touch them, but I really can't move. I don't want to be found here, I don't want to be found at all. This wonderous feeling that I have discovered, this amazing world in the reeds with the fish, this is something just for me. Although I might share it with Thommy one day, when he is being nice. I might even tell mother, because she would understand. She loves water as much as I do.

For some reason the noises outside are getting louder, harsher, and the sun feels as if it is getting hotter. Without the water between my face and the sky I am sure I would burn beneath its heat. I can't move, I haven't been found yet. I don't know how long I have been hiding here, watching the fish and enjoying this world, but I am pretty certain that I will be the last one found, and I will win the game. Actually though, I don't care so much about the game anymore. I don't want to be found because I don't want to have to share my new secret, this place. Mother told me that one day I would feel a connection to the water and understand what being an Atlantean was all about. Today, right now, I think I am beginning to understand. The cool welcomes me, the creatures here are sharing their world with me. The outside world above keeps getting louder. It doesn't sound welcoming. I can hear shouting and screaming. I can feel heat, unbearable heat. I am so glad that I am in the water, that it has welcomed me. I wonder if actually I should just bob up a little and allow my face to break the surface, to see what is going on in the world above. But I honestly don't want to, and I feel like the water itself that surrounds me is now holding me, gently whispering to me not to go, to stay here, it's safe here. I don't know what that could mean. All my life I have been safe. I have a mother and a father who love me. Soon, my mum says, I will have a baby sister or brother. Her tummy is growing big and mother and father have been building a new room onto the side of our hut for the baby so I won't have to share.

Thommy has a baby sister, he told me she a pain. But I think its because Thommy is sometimes not so nice and he hasn't tried to be friends with his baby sister yet. I think a big sister or brother should make friends with new babies. My mother says the baby and I will be special forever friends. I told Thommy that but I think it just made him jealous, because he and I are bestest-ever friends. I have been collecting shells from the big water, bright beautiful colours to make the baby happy. Thommy helped me but made me promise not to tell anyone. Suddenly I can see something new between the water and the air and the sun. It looks like a bright cloud of fire, but I am not sure. That would explain why it feels so hot above me, but why would there be fire? We only have one big fire, that is the fire in the middle of our town huts, everyone keeps that fire burning so that we can use it to cook our meals and to start small fires in our private family huts at night, to keep warm. I shouldn't be seeing any fire from here, in the water, because it's a long way away from me. I really want to look to see what is going on, but as soon as I think that the water is telling me again, no stay here. I listen to the water, we are new friends after all, we are just starting to learn each other. Instead of looking to the outside world above, I am watching a small fish nibble on a strand of my hair, he is taking it with him in his mouth and it almost looks like he is weaving it between the reeds. The air through the straw in my mouth is scorching hot, and I gently hold the straw still with me fingers and take my mouth away. I open my mouth in the water to cool it down, letting the water swell over my tongue and between my teeth. When I need to, I put my mouth back on the reed to take more air, it's still hot but if I keep breathing this way and taking breaks to cool my tongue, it is bearable.

I don't know how long I have been here now, but the sun has finally lost some of its sting and the air in my straw is less hot. I am sure that Thommy is not looking for me anymore, I am sure that he and all our friends must have given up by now. They didn't find me, and so I have won. I must have been under here for hours, watching the fish collect their air bubbles, watching my hair weave between the reeds, breathing from my straw and swishing the cool water between my teeth. It feels like it might be dinner time soon, and I went into the water after breakfast. I am worried now that my parents might be worried about me. I especially don't want to worry mother, with her big baby belly. If my mother is worried, does that mean the baby is worried too? I don't know, but that seems like a lot of worry and I might be in trouble. I want to bob up now and just take a peak, see what's happening in the world above and if anyone is running around looking worried. The water around me swirls gently, it almost feels like it is releasing me and forming unseen hands to help me rise onto my toes and bob to the surface. I can feel the thin film between the two worlds break into a part at the tip of my nose and slide like down my face, and I bring my chin slowly back towards my chest and take my eyes from the sun.

I can see across the water, to my family's hut, but it is not there. There are no huts where there should be many. All I can see is thick, disgusting smoke. The smell of it fills my nostrils and chokes my throat. I have never smelt smoke like this, I don't know what it is and I don't know what is happening or has happened. Some kind of accident? I can feel myself reaching towards the bank where I first slipped into the water, I reluctantly turn away and reach both hands to the earth so that I can pull myself out of the water. Again, I can feel the water help me with its unseen hands, making it far easier than I thought it would be to actually lift myself out. I am not cold standing here completely wet on the bank of the gentle water pool, the air is still so hot, I will be dry very quickly. That horrid smell, it feels like it is everywhere. Suddenly I want to be there very quickly at my family's hut, and I am running. I can feel the hot earth beneath my bare feet, the air burns my lungs. I am coughing, that smell is inside me. There it is, in the middle of the smoke, finally I can see the first mud and stone walls of one of the town's huts. But something is wrong, it has been smashed. I haven't stopped running and now I am in the middle, where the big fire should be. My legs stop all by themselves and I can't believe what I can see between the heavy curtains of that horrid smoke. All the huts have been smashed and the mud and stone no longer bind to form complete walls and the rooves that i am used to seeing. All of them are broken, even the one that belongs to my family, and I am standing on something. I look down to see what I am standing on, but I can't make any sense of what I am seeing.

People, lots of people, black, burnt people with slashes of startling red. The burnt bodies are all dry, laying in wet pools of red and on black, burnt earth. I need to see my family now, but everywhere there is silence, and everything is devoid of life. I am screaming for my parents, for my mother and my father, I am screaming, and I am crying. I have never been so scared, and so alone as no one answers me. My mother and my father do not come to me. I can't stop coughing, and the tears are running unchecked down my face, but I hardly notice as they dry in the heat. I cannot recognise any of these people laying here on this hot, burnt earth, but I know that they are my people. I don't want to believe that two of these people must be my parents, and that is why they aren't calling for me. I stop looking for them, as I no longer want to find them here, in the mass of black burnt bodies, painted with red. What has happened here? Who has done this? I am walking slowly, I don't know where I am walking to, but I feel like I have to see everything. Behind one of the smashed walls of a hut I see someone I know. Its Thommy, and he is laying on his back, staring at the sky that he can no longer see. There is a dark, angry red gash across his throat, and a pool of red staining the earth around him. My knees give way and now I am sitting next to my bestest-ever friend, with his hand in mine and my salty tears on his chest, drying in the heat. He didn't find me, no one did. I will never be found again.