Today was fishing day. I couldn’t wait! One of my favorite things to do here in Oahu, Hawaii was to fish. My father is a huge fisherman and is always catching Ahi and Mahi Mahi. He takes my fishing twice a month, usually on Saturdays. When I was younger I despised having to go fishing with him because I didn’t actually get to fish. But now that I am older, around 14 years old, he lets me do a little fishing here and there. The thing that I like about fishing is that it could take hours to find a really big fish but when you do find one you forget about how long it took and end up having a magnificent sensation. My father and I always leave at 8:30 am and return home by 3:00. It is our father-son bonding time and is something I am always looking forward to.

“Joseph! Get down here and eat your breakfast,” my mom called from the kitchen.

“Coming!” I yelled back.

I quickly brushed my teeth, put on a flannel shirt and a pair of jeans, and ran downstairs.

“Yes,” I whispered to myself, “pancakes.” They are my favorite. Especially, chocolate chip ones.

I gobbled them down because I was already running late to get the boat ready. It was 8:25 am and I hadn’t even done the one job my father asks of me when we go fishing: to get the boat ready to set sail. I grabbed my bag which mainly consisted of a pair of sunglasses, my phone, and a GPS just in case. My fishing gear was already on the boat waiting for me. My dad was sitting on the couch reading the daily newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee when he looked at me and said, “Hurry up ya sloth!”

“I’m working on it,” I responded as I gave him a smile and started getting the boat ready.

By 8:45 we set sail. It was a windy but sunny day. My dad was looking at the horizon the way he always did and then looked at me and said, “So, what are we gonna catch today?”

“Well, I was hoping to catch some Mahi Mahi” I responded.

“Mahi Mahi, I see,” dad said, “ok then let's head towards Pearl Harbor, I heard there were a ton of them there yesterday.”

“Sweet, I’ll make fish tacos for dinner tonight if I catch enough,” I replayed.

We sailed towards pearl harbor. Dad had been there multiple times to catch Mahi Mahi and it was often a popular place. I was scrolling through the news on my phone. Many of my friends aren’t very interested in the news but I tend to be. My dad likes that about me. I don’t really know why though. I enjoy being up to date on current events and currently there has been a lot of controversy between the U.S. and Japan. It is disappointing. I think that it is wrong what Japan is doing but then again I can’t really do anything about it. I just hope that it doesn’t get worse than it already is. Sometimes these arguments remind me of the ones my sister and I have. She is about 17 years old and is always bossing me around. I guess that is how Japan feels because America is sort of telling them what not to do.

“Alright son its time to park Sally,” dad said.

“On it,” I quickly replied. I ran up to the front of the boat and dropped the anchor into the water as my father parked Sally. Sally the name of our boat by the way.

“Can I start?” I asked.

“Go ahead,” dad replayed.

I ran to get my fishing rod when I heard loud engines roaring in the sky. I looked up to see hundreds of planes soaring above my head. Red lights started flashing around us but the planes didn’t seem to be doing anything.

“Joseph! Pull up the anchor we need to leave now!” my father screamed.

I was terrified because I didn’t know what was happening. I felt the adrenaline rush through my body and pulled up the anchor as fast as possible. We were on our way out.

I heard sirens going off from every direction. Yet, I remained confused the plans were now out of sight and the sound of their engines faded away. My dad was trying to get us out of here as fast as possible clutching onto me. I could see the terror in his eyes. I then realized that the planes were coming back. I heard their engines again but this time they attacked. Bombs were dropping and torpedoes were being fired. My dad grabbed a life saver and jumped into the water pulling me with him.

Yelling, screaming, guns firing, bombs exploding were the sounds of destruction. I could hear them under the water equal as loud as above. Suddenly a piece of metal came flying at me and hit both my father and I unconscious.

“Joseph! Joseph! Joseph!” I faintly heard in my right ear. I woke up and went to look around when I felt an excruciating pain in my thigh. I looked down to see a piece of metal in my leg. “Oh my god! Oh my god!” was all I could think. I then realized that my dad was screaming at the top of his lungs my name. I muttered, “dad,” as loud as I could. I didn’t know where I was but all I cared about was currently finding my father. He heard my call and swam over as fast as he could. I knew he was in equally as much pain as I was in. We climbed on a piece of wood and sat there until we arrived at the shore. We stared at what happened. All I cared about was that my dad was okay. I was speechless.