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Examples of narrative essays
The Rescue
Everything had been totally different that Sunday morning, when the two boys had set out on their walk
up the cool, pine-scented mountainside near the village where they lived. Near the top, Peter and Michael had
climbed onto a rock to admire the view of the valley far below them.
That was when disaster had struck. On clambering down, Peter had tumbled awkwardly to the ground, his
leg bent at a painful angle beneath him. Unable to move, he was forced to wait where he was, wrapped in
Michael’s jacket, while Michael had begun the long trek down the mountainside to fetch help.
Michael looked down on the mountainside from the window of the helicopter. He felt increasingly
helpless, as it looked totally different from the air and the network of tiny paths was mostly obscured from view
by the thick covering of pine trees. To make matters worse, the light was fading fast and a thick blanket of mist
was starting to form. Eventually the pilot and the three mountain rescue workers in the helicopter agreed that they
would have to go back and continue the search for Michael'’ friend, Peter, on foot.
By seven o’clock that evening, they had left the helicopter in the village and gathered a mountain rescue
team of fifteen men. Michael felt disheartened and scared for his friend’s safety. Slowly they ascended the
mountain, scouring the numerous paths for Peter. The only sounds were crunching footsteps and the crackle of
static on the walkie-talkies that the rescue workers carried to talk to each other. The mountainside was an eerie
place after nightfall and gradually Michael started to wonder whether they would ever find Peter at all.
Suddenly Michael heard a voice come over one of the walkie-talkies, “We’ve got him. We’re taking him down.”
“I’m sorry,” said Michael to his friend later in the warm safety of the hospital room, “I didn’t realise it would
take so long.”
The doctors decided to keep Peter at the hospital for the night in case of complications with his leg.
Before leaving, Michael looked down at his friend and patted his shoulder as, silently, they both vowed never to
go walking in the mountains again.
What’s too much is too much!
I just knew I shouldn’t have gone out that Friday afternoon. I’d had a strange feeling all morning, a
feeling that something was going to happen, but I told myself, “Don’t be afraid, Ida, you and your funny feelings!
– pull yourself together and go and get the groceries.” So I did, and you’ll never guess what happened!
OR :
You know how someone feels when he is about to pay for his grocery shopping and finds his wallet is
almost empty. Mumbling a poor excuse I headed for the bank, not prepared at all for what I was about to
experience there.
I was waiting patiently in the queue when suddenly two men pulling black masks over their heads, rushed
through the front door and began shouting and waving guns in the air. “This is a robbery,” yelled one of the
masked men. “Do as we say and no one will get hurt!” The other bank robber herded us into a corner of the room
and ordered us to lie face-down on the floor.
I was terrified. My whole body froze in fear. Someone helped me down to the ground where all the other
customers were huddled together, hardly even daring to breathe in case the men decided to carry out their threat
and start shooting.
The cashiers were remarkably calm but I suppose their training had prepared them for such a situation.
They busily emptied the contents of their tills into a bag the robbers had pushed over the counter to them. I kept
expecting to hear the wailing of sirens as the police hurried to rescue us, but there was only an unbearable silence.
Almost as suddenly as they had entered, the masked raiders grabbed their bag and left the building,
jumping into a beige getaway car. Minutes later, the police arrived. Several officers took off in their cars to see if
they could catch the criminals, while others tried to calm us down enough so that they could take coherent
statements.