Our Year 10 student works on describing a dramatic experience using a range of linguistic techniques to produce comprehensible text as part of their English language iGCSE class, here Ravivarmen writes a Trauma Description.
My spine tingled with agitation and shivers. I wasn't even halfway across yet, and there was still plenty of room for me to reach the finish line; I wasn't sure how I was going to walk across the thin, attenuated, strand-like cord, but there was no turning back now.
The air was thick with fear. I kept telling myself that there is no such thing as giving up, that I should keep going without thinking about the negatives. Heedlessly, I convinced myself not to think about what would happen if I failed, and I just kept going as I roamed across the perishing line in the no-land man's known as an assault course.
"Don't lower your gaze! "Don't lower your gaze!" I reminded myself every second not to do it, but I eventually did. I was about twenty metres above the ground. Everyone was staring at me, it was as if I were the centre of attention. Everyone except my mother just stared and thought it was amusing that I was afraid to finish the course. When I caught a glimpse of my mother, I could immediately sense her unease; I could tell she was hoping that nothing bad would happen to me and that I would walk across the rod without collapsing onto the ground, but to be honest, I was hoping for the same thing.
A gust of wind blew onto me, and I swung and swayed on top of the rope, shivering. I couldn't tell if I shivered because of the cold breeze from the wind's howl or because I was too scared to take the next step. I had far too much of a journey to complete before reaching safety. I told myself to "just do it," but I had no idea what I should do. I tried to put one foot forward on the line and collapsed in a heap.
My entire life flashed and passed before me in the blink of an eye; I saw a complete flashback of my life as if I were watching a movie. The last thing I heard was everyone's gasp, and then everything fell silent. I fell and fell and fell, and then I was jolted back to reality. Apparently, I was wearing a harness the entire time.