A Sea Turtle's Journey by Hailey

A Sea Turtle’s Journey

My beak breaks open the shell of my egg.

I tentatively stick out one of my legs.

Instincts tell me I must go

To the ocean, which was my ancestors’ home.

My mother left me months ago

And now I must live on my own.

My brothers and sisters also wake.

The shells of their eggs begin to break.

We’re trapped here in an underground cave

Somehow, all of us have to escape.

We small turtles can no longer be safe

There are mahy dangers for us to face.

We came out from the ground in the dead of night.

We squint in the moon’s cold beam of light.

When my eyes adjust, I see a wave.

Beckoning me to swim away.

My brothers start to crawl towards the sea.

I cannot let them forget me!

We start our perilous journey down

To the ocean. We mustn’t make a sound.

A seagull’s shriek pierces the night.

My fellow turtles go wild with fright.

The seagull swoops down and eats one of my brothers.

A second one comes to take another.

Slowly but surely we go down to the shore.

It make take us hours more.

We are going painfully slow.

We are always in danger; this I know.

A raccoon grabs a turtle just to my right.

Then it vanishes into the night.

Wej have to get there! We must flee!

We crawl towards the life giving sea.

More of my brothers and sisters are snatched.

They are helpless, because they’ve only just hatched.

I fell helpless, here on land.

My flippers fumble in the sand.

The sea is only yards away.

I have to get there before it is day.

I’m filled with relief as my flippers touch

The lovely salt water I craved so much.

I know there are more dangers to face.

But on the bright side, I survived today!