Escape of Chernobyl
by Reegan Forsyth
The day finished just like it had started. Another dark, gloomy, and depressing April
afternoon. I had just started to wash my clothes, which reeked of odor and cattle, when the loud
warning alarm sounded off in the distance. The sound filled my ears, and sent eerie chills
shooting down my spine. Being from Pripyat, home of one of the largest nuclear facilities in the
Ukraine, we were very used to nuclear meltdown drills. Our family, along with the rest of my
community, went back to minding our own business, as the drills never were taken seriously. So
when the sirens came speeding down the road towards us, what the officer hurriedly announced
to our community caught me, as well the rest of my town, completely off-guard.
"Everyone pack one suitcase each. We have no time to waste! Reactor four has
overpowered and caused a drastic explosion. We need to evacuate!"
Those fearful for their lives ran towards their homes, doing as the officer had said. But
those of curious brains, only stayed to question further. "How did the accident happen?"
questioned one of the townsmen. "All I know, is that the nuclear facilities were conducting a
safety test of the emergency core cooling feature. Something must have gone wrong." And with
that answer, panic set in, as at the same moment, off in the distance, a large explosion from the
reactor lit up the horizon.
People were frantically scrambling in every direction, bumping into each other, desperate
to escape the doom that seemed so inevitable. As I finish jamming the last of my clothes into my
suitcase, I sprinted to the door of my miniature apartment room. As I reach the doorway, I look
to my right, seeing the framed picture of me and my mother that I held so dearly staring back at
me, as if beckoning me to take it with me. My father had abandoned me at an early age, leaving
my mother to take care of me, her only son, all by herself.
She had joined one of the thousands of those deceased due to radiation cancer, from
working in the nuclear facilities. I had hated the nuclear plant that day, and I haven’t stopped
hating them since. They took my mother's life away from me, and now, it could be possible for
them to take my own. I scramble out the doorway, and join the mob of people mindlessly
walking down the road out of Pripyat.
Every way I look, I see babies crying, with frightened mothers barely holding their tears
back as well. Kids with a traumatic look on their face, calling out their parents' names, praying
that their parents are even alive.
My mother always told me, to be brave, and then you can fake being tough later if you
need to. I take one final look back at the reactor, silently cursing it as I have always done. Today
is the start of a new life for me and my community. A life without having to worry about the
nuclear threat, where I can get a job and live a new and happy life.
This accident is nothing but good for Pripyat. We'll come back within a couple months,
and there won't even be a notion about building another nuclear facility in Pripyat. Maybe this
accident will be a warning towards the world that any further exploration into the field of
radiation could result in a world-wide disaster.
May 24, 1988
When I first heard that my town would be uninhabitable for the rest of my life, I had
thrown up for the third time of the day. And this wasn’t due to the radiation this time. I didn't
need a doctor to diagnose me, I knew I had radiation cancer. I have the exact same symptoms my
mother had, which seemed like so long ago now. Almost like a lifetime.
The officials are telling the people that only near a hundred people have died due directly
to radiation exposure, but everyone knows they are lying. The rumor with the townspeople is that
the number is closer to a thousand now. And that was just from my small town of Pripyat,
population of about forty-five thousand. I lived the nearest out of any town to the facility, so it's
not expected for our death toll to be so high.
I'm very thankful for the family that took me in, they have been very helpful and caring
to me. But they couldn't help me now. After throwing up for the seventh time today, my body
falls limp and I cannot move my muscles any further than a few inches. I accept death, living in
rural Ukraine, you get used to being near it. But once it is coming into full effect, it almost seems
like a bad dream.
My last thoughts, are about the nuclear plant. How I curse it, for taking so many of my
friends lives, for taking my last remaining family member, my mother away from me, and for
now also taking my life as well. Radiation is just a way for arrogant country leaders to use as a
way to fake their strength towards the world, and killing so many of their innocent citizens in the
process. Nuclear facilities are a terrible decision, and I have my life to prove it.