Alexis Jackson

Northern New Yorker

The Unknown World Alexis Jackson

On the news lately I’ve heard many people talk about the water levels rising, and how if they continue to rise, we all may have to leave our homes and the city in general.

My name is Emily and I live in a small 2-bedroom apartment in New York City with my parents and twin sister, Gabby. I’ve lived in the same place as long as I can remember. I can’t see us moving anywhere else since both of my parents have great jobs. My Dad works for a construction company, and my mother works for the Daily Times newspaper. Gabby and I share a room. We don’t always get along, but I wouldn’t trade her for the world, and I would be so lost without her.

This morning Gabby went to bring our dog outside. I was inside getting the cereal and milk out of the fridge so we could have breakfast before school, but then heard a very loud scream. I went running towards the door to see what the problem was. I saw Gabby holding the dog and when I looked down, I saw the water was filled up the outside staircase about three quarters of the way. The roads weren’t even able to be seen. There were a father and son with kayaks paddling down the road. The father had a yellow kayak, and the son had a bit smaller red kayak. I wondered how all of this water had got here. What had happened overnight last night? A flood? Could this be a part of the ice caps melting? I don’t know. My Mom came out and said we won’t have school today because of the flooding, and we would be moving away from our home to a new city in a giant bubble-like contraption. She said that the water is going to continue to rise around here, and it would be much safer for all our family. She also said that she didn’t know if our new home would be temporary or not, but we needed to leave now. We don’t know how much more the water will rise between now and tomorrow.

Gabby and I went into our room and started to pack up some of our things. We couldn’t bring everything, sadly, because we wouldn’t be able to take our car. The water was already too high, so if we opened the door the water would fill the car. The engine would also drown just by going down our driveway. In my suitcase I put a couple outfits and one of my favorite blankets. My favorite blanket is a lilac color and has flowers on it. This blanket was given to me by my aunt when I was really young, and I absolutely fell in love with it. This blanket gives me comfort when I most need it. It’s a little part of home and has a deep sentimental value. I couldn’t leave it behind. Gabby packed her favorite yellow stuffed bunny along with clothes and her favorite ring Grandma left for her when she passed.

My family and I took a ferry to our new bubble of a home. On our voyage, it seemed like the water was even higher than before. There were some families on their roofs. I imagined some weren’t as lucky as we were to be able to afford a ferry to leave to this new place even before all this even happened.

About four hours later we had finally made it to our new home. It was absolutely huge. It was like a whole city in a snow globe. I had never seen anything like it. The water wasn’t all the way up the sides, but I imagine they were expecting it to be because of how the city is enclosed. The ferry first went into a small chamber that flushed out all of the extra water to make it level with the drop-off spot inside of the globe-like structure. Gabby and I were absolutely astonished by this new place. This was like something you would see in a movie. We were like the new Atlantis, but not a lost city. Life was changing as we knew it.