The Tide Between Us

The Tide Between Us

Joel Gjini

04/23/2026

It’s just a normal day in Miami, sun’s out, the breeze hitting everyone’s faces while they walk the strip Downtown. The day couldn’t be any hotter but that’s just the way it is in Miami. For the past couple of months, every news channel is talking about the huge meteor that’s been in Earth’s orbit. While people are living their normal day-to-day lives the meteor moves closer and closer, but the scientific experts are telling the public that there’s nothing to worry about. Suddenly people start to look up and see a big object in the sky, it’s the gigantic meteor. What’s something that people were told not to worry about, is now blazing at rapid speeds toward Earth. Panic worldwide. People have no clue what’s going on or what to do. Governments are throwing everything they can at it to slow down the meteor, but nothing works. Its course is headed towards the Antarctic. People struggle to get shelter and gather whatever they can. After 2 hours the meteor finally hits and instantly melts all the ice bergs. Miami is hit the hardest than any other place in the United States. Within the week the sea level has risen to 8 ft. Most of the city is underwater, and people are trying to survive in any way possible. Also, most electronics are either broken, don’t work, or are hard to find through the harsh conditions. Buildings are sticking out of the ocean like tiny little islands. Streets are turned into rivers, where cars are useless. The air feels hot and wet all the time, and big storms happen more often than before. If you thought the humidity in Miami was bad before, think again. With such a drastic change in people’s lives everyone must adapt to survive.

The first couple of days after the big flood were the worst. You could see people screaming, running and trying to save whatever they could before the water swept it away. Some tried to stay on the roofs of large buildings hoping someone would come to the rescue. Others got stuck in their houses unfortunately didn’t survive the harsh conditions. Boats are the only form of transportation, but there isn’t enough for everyone, and gas was hard to find. Food supplies could only last so long for the people that weren’t well equipped. Weeks passed after the flood and things didn’t seem to be going back to any sort of normal. Obviously, they couldn’t. With so much loss and destruction people’s morale was at an all-time low, but they had to do what they could to survive. Camps all over Florida started forming. Some big, some small, but each with their own resources and leaders they could rely on. Each camp would find the biggest and highest place to claim as their own, which also sometimes caused conflict. The camps all had their own set of rules that everyone must follow. There were mainly only a few people in power, and they rest just followed to stay alive. This became the new normal for people as they slowly realized that they couldn’t ever go back to the way things were. One of these people was Jeremiah.

He was only 18 years old when all this happened. Before everything he was just a normal kid, going to school, playing football, living his best life. Now he lives in a camp that’s built on top of what used to be a highway. The camp he belonged to was called Camp Delta. They were one of the more organized and civil camps in the area but also had the strictest rules to follow. You couldn’t leave without permission from the chief, you don’t steal, you don’t question orders from the superiors, and if you did, there would be severe consequences. In the beginning Jeremiah didn’t think too much about it. He was happy to still be alive and healthy, that’s what meant the most to him after all. That’s kind of how everyone at the camp felt really. But as time when on it started to feel as if they were caged instead of protected. Every day felt the same for Jeremiah, he would help with his assigned job, eat his portion of food, and wake up the next day to do the same thing over again.



At some point rules get boring. In the night, some of the camp teens would sneak out. It gave them a sense of freedom, even if it was just for a little while. Jeremiah stayed away from this at first, seeing that it could possibly get him into major trouble. But months of doing the same routine over and over again could make a person go mad. He knew that joining the other teens could have consequences but staying how he was would drain him mentally.

“What’s the worst that could possibly happen, right?”

That’s what Jeremiah told himself before the first night he finally decided to go out with the other teens. He had to wait until most people were asleep. The camp was, for the most part, quiet except for the occasional sound of the water splashing around. He moved as slowly as he could, trying not to make any loud noises. He could hear his own heart racing, but he kept going. There was a small boat that wasn’t much, but it was what he needed for the night. He untied it and pushed it off into the night waters. The city was different at night, it was calm, quieter, and almost peaceful in a weird way. The moonlight reflected off the dark water and led the way for Jeremiah through paths of what used to be building and the remainders of streets. Jeremiah didn’t have much of a plan, he just kept moving. After a little bit, he came upon a beat-up building that was half-flooded and decided to stop there. He climbed up slowly using whatever he could to help pull himself up.

That’s when he suddenly heard something. A faint noise behind him. He turned around quickly and realized that there was someone else, it was a beautiful girl. She looked around his age, probably 18 as well. Her hair and eyes were brown, and she was a tan. She had on clean clothes and a small bag that she clutched tightly. For a second neither of them had moved a muscle.

“You don’t look like you’re from around here” she said.

“No, not at all.” Jeremiah said as he shook his head.

“Then you should be here.”

“Doesn’t seem like you should either.”

She paused for a second and gave a look that was almost as if she smiled.

“Fair enough.”

There was so much tension you could cut it with a knife, but it wasn’t the same as before it was, different.

“I-I-I’m Jeremiah.” He barely blurted out because he was so nervous.

“I’m Luna, nice to meet you.” She said as she was letting out a slight chuckle.

That night they talked for a bit, but it got late so they each decided to head back to their camps. They knew neither of them was a threat to each other, despite being from different camps. Jeremiah climbed back into his boat and got back to Camp Delta before anyone had noticed. He couldn’t stop thinking about Luna. He thought about her all the way until the next night he decided to go back. And she was there.

“You came back.” Luna said.

“Yeah, and you did too.” Jeremiah replied.

This time they talked for a while longer than the last. About each of their camps, how things went to shit so fast, and how their lives were before everything. Jeremiah learned that Luna’s camp was much different than his. They were way less strict, but messier. People didn’t get along as well and there weren’t as many rules, but that also meant things could go wrong fast. Still, Luna loved the fact she had so much freedom.

“I couldn't imagine living somewhere where someone tells me what to do all the time.” She said.

Jeremiah looked away for a second.

“Yeah, it sucks.”

From then on, they kept meeting up in secret as often as they could. They would dip their feet in the water and just talk about whatever was on their mind. It felt comfortable knowing that they each had someone they could talk to that wasn’t in their camps. Back at Camp Delta, Jeremiah started to hear things about Luna’s camp.

“We might have to deal with one of the camps that have been getting closer.” said one of the leaders.

Jeremiah didn’t want to believe what he had been hearing. The next time he saw Luna, he told her.

“They’re saying things about your camp.”

“Same here.” She said.

You could feel that something bad was coming, Jeremiah and Luna both felt it. A couple days later the sky started to change. Dark clouds started to pour in, and the wind was stronger than usual. A big storm was coming, and fast. Both camps started to prepare everything for what was coming. While doing his tasks Jeremiah couldn’t keep Luna off his mind. He knew sooner or later he would have to make a choice. Later that night he decided to go out, he had to or it would drive him crazy. The waves were harsh and started getting bigger. Rain began to pour as he was almost at their usual meet-up spot. When he finally got to the building Luna wasn’t anywhere to be seen. But then he heard her.

“Jeremiah!” she yelled.

She had just arrived at the same time, drenched in water just like Jeremiah. He pulled his boat closer to hers and told her to get in. They gave each other a hug as if they hadn’t seen each other for months. For a second, they looked each other in the eyes, with no words.

“You’re crazy Jeremiah, what are you doing here?” she said.

“I had to see you, I would’ve hated myself if I didn’t.”

The storm started to worsen. The waves were slamming against the boat, the wind howled and the sky got darker. While all this was happening, Jeremiah suddenly realized that there was no way he was going back to how things were, especially not after meeting Luna. He finally found something that gave him purpose, joy, and above all, happiness.

The storm hadn’t stopped for hours, if anything it sounded like it was getting worse by the minute. Jeremiah held onto Luna as tight as he could, trying not to fall out of the boat.

“We can’t stay out here Jeremiah.”

“I know, we need to get to somewhere higher up.” He said.

In the distance they saw the roof of a building still above the water and pushed towards it as fast as possible. The waves were fighting back the whole time there, but eventually they both made it. Jeremiah climbed out first and then helped Luna up with him. They sat there for a second to catch their breaths.

“Did you really come all the way out here just for me?” Luna asked.

“Yeah” he said.

“You’re crazy” she said while smiling at him.

“Maybe a bit, but you’re worth it.” He said as he smiled back.

She knew she felt the same way but also kept the thoughts of their camps conflicts in the back of her mind.

“What are they going to do when they find out?”

“They can’t” Jeremiah said as he gulped.

The storm had finally passed, and everything looked even worse than it did before. More buildings were messed up, there was debris everywhere, and the water was even higher. They said goodbye and went back to their camps. Back at home, Jeremiah could feel the tension had grown even stronger between Camp Delta and Luna’s camp. He could overhear people talking about it.

“If they keep getting closer, we fight.”

That night he went to go see Luna again. He told her about what he’s been hearing around camp.

“They’re going to end up fighting” she said.

“Then we have to stop it, or at least do something.” He said.

“You know it’s not going to be that easy.”

“If only we could just leave together” she said quietly.

Jeremiah heard this and instantly thought about it, just the two of them, no camps, no rules. It would be easier said than done. Survival with just two people would be difficult, but they both knew it was what they wanted. Before any decision were made, the day came when everything changed.

The next day Jeremiah woke up to people shouting and grabbing weapons to defend the camp. He looked over to see the rival camp’s boats moving closer. He knew exactly what was going on now. At the blind of an eye everything went to shit. Boats started crashing, people were yelling, and water was going everywhere.

Then out of nowhere Jeremiah spotted her, it was Luna. They locked eyes from across the chaos and it felt like the whole world had frozen for a couple seconds.

“Luna!” he yelled.

“Jeremiah!” she yelled back.

They both moved through the crowds of people just to reach each other, and they finally did.

“What are you doing, you know we can’t be seen together!” she said.

“I know but nothing matters more in the world right now than you.” He said.

“What are we going to do?” she asked out of panic.

In the background things started to get even more hectic. People were falling into the water and boats were tipping over.

“Come with me.” Jeremiah said as he looked her in the eyes.

This was the moment. Luna looked back at her camp, then at the people falling into the water, then back at Jeremiah. What she did right there at that moment would change her life, forever. She reached her hand out to Jeremiah’s boat and he helped her up. In that moment they only saw each other, and had no worry in the world, not what each of their camps would say, nothing. They hugged each other tightly, took a deep breath and kissed. It was the most magical moment for them despite everything that was happening. Once finally in the boat together, they went as far away as they could possibly row to start their new lives together.

Sometimes love isn’t always about choosing someone when times are easy, it’s about choosing someone even when you’re scared it’ll all come crashing down. But that’s love for you. It’s a risk you’re willing to take because the person is worth it.

It’s just a normal day in Miami, sun’s out, the breeze hitting everyone’s faces while they walk the strip Downtown. The day couldn’t be any hotter but that’s just the way it is in Miami. For the past couple of months, every news channel is talking about the huge meteor that’s been in Earth’s orbit. While people are living their normal day-to-day lives the meteor moves closer and closer, but the scientific experts are telling the public that there’s nothing to worry about. Suddenly people start to look up and see a big object in the sky, it’s the gigantic meteor. What’s something that people were told not to worry about, is now blazing at rapid speeds toward Earth. Panic worldwide. People have no clue what’s going on or what to do. Governments are throwing everything they can at it to slow down the meteor, but nothing works. Its course is headed towards the Antarctic. People struggle to get shelter and gather whatever they can. After 2 hours the meteor finally hits and instantly melts all the ice bergs. Miami is hit the hardest than any other place in the United States. Within the week the sea level has risen to 8 ft. Most of the city is underwater, and people are trying to survive in any way possible. Also, most electronics are either broken, don’t work, or are hard to find through the harsh conditions. Buildings are sticking out of the ocean like tiny little islands. Streets are turned into rivers, where cars are useless. The air feels hot and wet all the time, and big storms happen more often than before. If you thought the humidity in Miami was bad before, think again. With such a drastic change in people’s lives everyone must adapt to survive.

The first couple of days after the big flood were the worst. You could see people screaming, running and trying to save whatever they could before the water swept it away. Some tried to stay on the roofs of large buildings hoping someone would come to the rescue. Others got stuck in their houses unfortunately didn’t survive the harsh conditions. Boats are the only form of transportation, but there isn’t enough for everyone, and gas was hard to find. Food supplies could only last so long for the people that weren’t well equipped. Weeks passed after the flood and things didn’t seem to be going back to any sort of normal. Obviously, they couldn’t. With so much loss and destruction people’s morale was at an all-time low, but they had to do what they could to survive. Camps all over Florida started forming. Some big, some small, but each with their own resources and leaders they could rely on. Each camp would find the biggest and highest place to claim as their own, which also sometimes caused conflict. The camps all had their own set of rules that everyone must follow. There were mainly only a few people in power, and they rest just followed to stay alive. This became the new normal for people as they slowly realized that they couldn’t ever go back to the way things were. One of these people was Jeremiah.

He was only 18 years old when all this happened. Before everything he was just a normal kid, going to school, playing football, living his best life. Now he lives in a camp that’s built on top of what used to be a highway. The camp he belonged to was called Camp Delta. They were one of the more organized and civil camps in the area but also had the strictest rules to follow. You couldn’t leave without permission from the chief, you don’t steal, you don’t question orders from the superiors, and if you did, there would be severe consequences. In the beginning Jeremiah didn’t think too much about it. He was happy to still be alive and healthy, that’s what meant the most to him after all. That’s kind of how everyone at the camp felt really. But as time when on it started to feel as if they were caged instead of protected. Every day felt the same for Jeremiah, he would help with his assigned job, eat his portion of food, and wake up the next day to do the same thing over again.

At some point rules get boring. In the night, some of the camp teens would sneak out. It gave them a sense of freedom, even if it was just for a little while. Jeremiah stayed away from this at first, seeing that it could possibly get him into major trouble. But months of doing the same routine over and over again could make a person go mad. He knew that joining the other teens could have consequences but staying how he was would drain him mentally.

“What’s the worst that could possibly happen, right?”

That’s what Jeremiah told himself before the first night he finally decided to go out with the other teens. He had to wait until most people were asleep. The camp was, for the most part, quiet except for the occasional sound of the water splashing around. He moved as slowly as he could, trying not to make any loud noises. He could hear his own heart racing, but he kept going. There was a small boat that wasn’t much, but it was what he needed for the night. He untied it and pushed it off into the night waters. The city was different at night, it was calm, quieter, and almost peaceful in a weird way. The moonlight reflected off the dark water and led the way for Jeremiah through paths of what used to be building and the remainders of streets. Jeremiah didn’t have much of a plan, he just kept moving. After a little bit, he came upon a beat-up building that was half-flooded and decided to stop there. He climbed up slowly using whatever he could to help pull himself up.

That’s when he suddenly heard something. A faint noise behind him. He turned around quickly and realized that there was someone else, it was a beautiful girl. She looked around his age, probably 18 as well. Her hair and eyes were brown, and she was a tan. She had on clean clothes and a small bag that she clutched tightly. For a second neither of them had moved a muscle.

“You don’t look like you’re from around here” she said.

“No, not at all.” Jeremiah said as he shook his head.

“Then you should be here.”

“Doesn’t seem like you should either.”

She paused for a second and gave a look that was almost as if she smiled.

“Fair enough.”

There was so much tension you could cut it with a knife, but it wasn’t the same as before it was, different.

“I-I-I’m Jeremiah.” He barely blurted out because he was so nervous.

“I’m Luna, nice to meet you.” She said as she was letting out a slight chuckle.

hat night they talked for a bit, but it got late so they each decided to head back to their camps. They knew neither of them was a threat to each other, despite being from different camps. Jeremiah climbed back into his boat and got back to Camp Delta before anyone had noticed. He couldn’t stop thinking about Luna. He thought about her all the way until the next night he decided to go back. And she was there.

“You came back.” Luna said.

“Yeah, and you did too.” Jeremiah replied.

This time they talked for a while longer than the last. About each of their camps, how things went to shit so fast, and how their lives were before everything. Jeremiah learned that Luna’s camp was much different than his. They were way less strict, but messier. People didn’t get along as well and there weren’t as many rules, but that also meant things could go wrong fast. Still, Luna loved the fact she had so much freedom.

“I couldn't imagine living somewhere where someone tells me what to do all the time.” She said.

Jeremiah looked away for a second.

“Yeah, it sucks.”

From then on, they kept meeting up in secret as often as they could. They would dip their feet in the water and just talk about whatever was on their mind. It felt comfortable knowing that they each had someone they could talk to that wasn’t in their camps. Back at Camp Delta, Jeremiah started to hear things about Luna’s camp.

“We might have to deal with one of the camps that have been getting closer.” said one of the leaders.

Jeremiah didn’t want to believe what he had been hearing. The next time he saw Luna, he told her.

“They’re saying things about your camp.”

“Same here.” She said.

You could feel that something bad was coming, Jeremiah and Luna both felt it. A couple days later the sky started to change. Dark clouds started to pour in, and the wind was stronger than usual. A big storm was coming, and fast. Both camps started to prepare everything for what was coming. While doing his tasks Jeremiah couldn’t keep Luna off his mind. He knew sooner or later he would have to make a choice. Later that night he decided to go out, he had to or it would drive him crazy. The waves were harsh and started getting bigger. Rain began to pour as he was almost at their usual meet-up spot. When he finally got to the building Luna wasn’t anywhere to be seen. But then he heard her.

“Jeremiah!” she yelled.

She had just arrived at the same time, drenched in water just like Jeremiah. He pulled his boat closer to hers and told her to get in. They gave each other a hug as if they hadn’t seen each other for months. For a second, they looked each other in the eyes, with no words.

“You’re crazy Jeremiah, what are you doing here?” she said.

“I had to see you, I would’ve hated myself if I didn’t.”

The storm started to worsen. The waves were slamming against the boat, the wind howled and the sky got darker. While all this was happening, Jeremiah suddenly realized that there was no way he was going back to how things were, especially not after meeting Luna. He finally found something that gave him purpose, joy, and above all, happiness.

The storm hadn’t stopped for hours, if anything it sounded like it was getting worse by the minute. Jeremiah held onto Luna as tight as he could, trying not to fall out of the boat.

“We can’t stay out here Jeremiah.”

“I know, we need to get to somewhere higher up.” He said.

In the distance they saw the roof of a building still above the water and pushed towards it as fast as possible. The waves were fighting back the whole time there, but eventually they both made it. Jeremiah climbed out first and then helped Luna up with him. They sat there for a second to catch their breaths.

“Did you really come all the way out here just for me?” Luna asked.

“Yeah” he said.

“You’re crazy” she said while smiling at him.

“Maybe a bit, but you’re worth it.” He said as he smiled back.

She knew she felt the same way but also kept the thoughts of their camps conflicts in the back of her mind.

“What are they going to do when they find out?”

“They can’t” Jeremiah said as he gulped.

The storm had finally passed, and everything looked even worse than it did before. More buildings were messed up, there was debris everywhere, and the water was even higher. They said goodbye and went back to their camps. Back at home, Jeremiah could feel the tension had grown even stronger between Camp Delta and Luna’s camp. He could overhear people talking about it.

“If they keep getting closer, we fight.”

That night he went to go see Luna again. He told her about what he’s been hearing around camp.

“They’re going to end up fighting” she said.

“Then we have to stop it, or at least do something.” He said.

“You know it’s not going to be that easy.”

“If only we could just leave together” she said quietly.

Jeremiah heard this and instantly thought about it, just the two of them, no camps, no rules. It would be easier said than done. Survival with just two people would be difficult, but they both knew it was what they wanted. Before any decision were made, the day came when everything changed.

The next day Jeremiah woke up to people shouting and grabbing weapons to defend the camp. He looked over to see the rival camp’s boats moving closer. He knew exactly what was going on now. At the blind of an eye everything went to shit. Boats started crashing, people were yelling, and water was going everywhere.

Then out of nowhere Jeremiah spotted her, it was Luna. They locked eyes from across the chaos and it felt like the whole world had frozen for a couple seconds.

“Luna!” he yelled.

“Jeremiah!” she yelled back.

They both moved through the crowds of people just to reach each other, and they finally did.

“What are you doing, you know we can’t be seen together!” she said.

“I know but nothing matters more in the world right now than you.” He said.

“What are we going to do?” she asked out of panic.

In the background things started to get even more hectic. People were falling into the water and boats were tipping over.

“Come with me.” Jeremiah said as he looked her in the eyes.

This was the moment. Luna looked back at her camp, then at the people falling into the water, then back at Jeremiah. What she did right there at that moment would change her life, forever. She reached her hand out to Jeremiah’s boat and he helped her up. In that moment they only saw each other, and had no worry in the world, not what each of their camps would say, nothing. They hugged each other tightly, took a deep breath and kissed. It was the most magical moment for them despite everything that was happening. Once finally in the boat together, they went as far away as they could possibly row to start their new lives together.

Sometimes love isn’t always about choosing someone when times are easy, it’s about choosing someone even when you’re scared it’ll all come crashing down. But that’s love for you. It’s a risk you’re willing to take because the person is worth it.