Winning Story for A New World!

Welcome back to The Writer’s Quill! Thank you to all submissions. This week’s winner is Lindsay Newman! Congratulations Lindsay! Please see the new prompt.

To Save a Kitten

By: Lindsay Newman

Grade 10

The days were feeling like years.

Slumber felt so short that the years became an eternity of staying awake.

It started with the hunger. It wasn’t so bad, since I still had water. I got used to the grumbling in my stomach and Mark stopped his complaining after a few days. We were okay without the food, certain we would find land soon. I kept telling Mark he would be okay. I told him stories of great explorers that had once had to endure eating rotten meat that made them sick. He began to see the silver lining, however small, of not having food.

One week. A whole week we went on without food, living off of the water supplies.

Then came the thirst. I gave as much as I dared to Mark that day, but even with him getting a tiny sip every so often and me getting an even smaller sip, we ran dry. Still no sign of land. Another week has gone by since then. Mark moans continuously. I stare into the grey-blue of the ocean, wishing the water was drinkable. Mark no longer talks, because his tongue is so dry and cracked that it pains him to speak. So I tell him stories at random times throughout the day. Sometimes he ceases to moan. At those times, I think he may have passed on from this life, but he only drifts off into much-needed sleep. I envy him. Sleep will not overcome me no matter how much I will it to.

We have been adrift long enough for me to have lost count of the days. It feels as though we set out on the journey years ago. But it can’t have been that long…..can it? No….we would surely be dead. I only remember some parts of the journey before we came to be in this state. We boarded, our hopes and dreams of making a new life in a new land were packed away in our bags along with our few belongings.

Then there was the storm. I can still hear the crying babies, the screeching mothers, the angry sailors who cursed the sea, and then Mark’s whimpers as he clung to me for dear life that night. The noises haunt me at night. Even when the smallest wave slightly jostles our raft, I am taken back to that night. For how long, I cannot tell. When I am sent back to that stormy night, I can’t tell how long I have been reliving it. All I know is that I am suddenly brought back each time by Mark’s moaning, which increases in volume if I do not calm him down.

We were thrown overboard along with a wooden platform, upon which we now sit. I look up into the sky, squinting as the sun and I gaze at each other. It taunts me. I no longer believe the stories mother once told of the life that the sun brings. All the sun represents now is pain, torture, ruin, and misfortune. Mark begins to whimper again, so I look back down at his poor, sun-burned face, watching as it contorts in pain.

I reposition myself so as to block the sun from his face, and then turn so I may grab his hand and reassure him that I am still here. As he lies before me, I look at his features as I have every day since mother and father died. He is my ticket back to them. His thick brown hair, which now sits plastered to his forehead with sweat, is of father. I remember how mother would tease him so often when he or she would try to calm his unruly hair. Right now they are hidden, but I imagine Mark’s stunning green eyes that used to look at everything as if it were a treasure. Those belonged to mother. She would use those green eyes to scold us, to show affection, to show happiness, and to show sadness. Her eyes were never angry, as odd as that may seem. She was always proud of us and smiling with her eyes.

I realize I have closed my own eyes, and slowly urge them open. What I find is a calm and collected young boy staring up at me. He smiles, so I smile back even though it pains me. “Hello, Mark,” I say to him, stroking his hand softly.

“P-peter?” he croaks.

“Yes?” I say, hiding the hurt I feel when I hear how horribly his voice has changed in the time we have been out here.

“Would you tell me a story?” he asks, attempting to shift his position. Somehow he manages, but he begins his moaning again.

“Hush,” I say, trying to calm him. “Of course I will tell you a story. Is there any you would prefer?”

“Perhaps the…..one about the sailor….with a boat of gold?” he says.

“Sure,” I reply in the kindest tone I can. “There once was a sailor whom no one really cared for. He was always lonely, except for his one friend: the stray kitten from the market. The kitten wasn’t much to look at. He had been abandoned, cast out by its own mother because of its ugliness, but the sailor found the feline to be a beautiful creation of our Heavenly Father.

“It was an ugly brown color with a few patches of fur missing. One eye was red while the other was blue. The sailor saw nothing, but beauty in this little kitten and for that it was eternally grateful. To the sailor’s surprise, one day the kitten spoke to him. It pounced upon the sailor’s lap, licked his nose and said, ‘You have been a wonderful friend, my dear sailor. For that I owe you a gift.’

“The sailor was a good man and didn’t want any gift, but the kitten insisted. So the man thought and thought and finally, thinking that if he came up with something outrageous, the kitten wouldn’t give him anything. So he told the kitten he wanted a boat made of gold.

“Instead of the kitten denying the sailor his wish, the kitten surprised the man yet again. With a wink of its eye, the boat which the man was sitting on at that moment turned to gold. It was a fantastic sight to behold! Everyone watching suddenly wanted to be the sailor’s friend. The crowd grew to be so great that the kitten was knocked off of the boat. It paddled to shore, but became extremely sad, for his only friend had left him.

“Little did the kitten know that the sailor was knocked off as well! He swam after the kitten and searched high and low for his little friend. He didn’t even think once about his golden boat sitting in the harbor. When he finally found the unhappy feline, the kitten would not speak to him. Finally, the sailor told him all of the things in the world that he had ever owned.

“The kitten sat there, listening to the sailor go on and on about all of his possessions he had ever had. Some were very nice, while others were not as nice, but the kitten knew that each thing was far greater than himself. But when the sailor had finished, the kitten asked him, ‘Why do you tell me of these? They are all far better than me.’

“The sailor shook his head and answered, ‘There is nothing in this world that I cherish more than my friend. No golden boat will ever be big enough to replace, you.’ This made the kitten so happy that it leaped happily back into his friend’s arms. They returned to the harbor where they found the sailor’s golden boat deserted. The sailor, never having named his boat before, in that moment, named the boat after his friend, calling it the Golden Beauty. That day they set sail and after that they shared many adventures, living happily ever after. The end.”

As the story ends, I look down at Mark and find he has fallen asleep. After a quick look around, I decide it is time to try and sleep, even though any attempt to do so has been stopped. The sky slowly darkens into a deep, dark blue and stars begin to light up the sky alongside the moon. As I lie beneath the twinkling stars above, Mark makes a small sound and then says, “Peter?”

“Yes, Mark?” I reply.

“We are going to sail and live happily ever after, right?”

“Of course.”

“Just like the kitten and sailor?”

“Just like the kitten and sailor.”

With that, my eyelids, to my surprise, become heavy and we both sink into a deep sleep.

***

When I wake the next morning, the sun is shining brightly, making it hard for me to see. Slowly, I force myself to sit up and I rub my eyes. After a minute or two, I can finally see clearly. And what I find is unbelievable.

I am suddenly filled with energy and I rush to Mark’s side. “Mark! Mark, wake up! Look where we are!” I say, shaking him awake.

“Peter? Peter, what is it? What—“ he begins to say, slowly sitting up. His eyes widen and he slowly gets to his feet.

“Land,” I whisper. “My little kitten, we have found land!” I shout excitedly. I pick him up and begin to spin him around while lifting him high above my head. He laughs and shouts in triumph. We splash through the small waves on the sandy shore we have happened upon and get each other wet. Suddenly, the hunger and thirst come back to me. “Come now, Kitten. We must find water and food.”

I grab his hand and together we set off across the soft sand. We come to a line of trees and gaze up into the leaves, listening for anything that might give me a sign as to where I should go. The sound of rushing water comes to my ears and, since we left the ocean behind, have reason to believe it must be a stream.

“Come,” I say to Mark, still holding his hand. We set off in the direction of which I had heard the sound and after just a few minutes, we come to a large pool with a waterfall pouring into it. The sight is gorgeous. Beautiful red flowers are in bloom all around while trees with fruits of all kinds stand, waiting for us to pick from their branches. Cool, lush, sweet-smelling grass surrounds us and I sink to my knees.

Tears in our eyes, we rush forward and help Mark to drink the water slowly so as to make sure we don’t get sick. After we have drunk the cool, clear water, we move on to the fruit trees. I sink my teeth into one that I have never seen before. It is purple, with a sweet, yet mildly tart flavor. Eating it is as if music is playing inside my mouth. Sweet, wonderful music.

We finally collapse next to each other under a tree, listening to birds as they chirp. When the birds have become accustomed to us, they start to come out and we watch as the most colorful and elegant birds we have ever laid our eyes on come out. They seem to dance as they fly around, and when they strut, their feathers shine in the sunlight. I watch Mark as that light he used to have in his eyes returns. I put my arm around him and hold him close.

We will be safe here. Here, we can live happily ever after in our new world.