By Ruby Chan

Ages 10+

  Hi! I’m Kendari, I live right here. In Florida, it’s a wonderful place. I live with my sausage dog, named Apricot. I also live with my mum and my dad. My family is Rich, and my parents like it that way. But that means they don’t spend much time with me… They’re always working, so ever since I was small my granny looked after me. I never get to see my parents, they only come every 4 years to host a party. Then they leave… I go to a very nice school because my parents have the money. They make me smarter even without homework. My family lives in an expensive house. Right next to the ocean, with a beautiful ocean view. When I was little, I always had some spare time on my hands. So I would walk down to the beach with my granny. Now I walk there on my own, and more often. I like to spend time at the beach, one time I went to the beach and forgot to tell granny and was gone for hours! So they called the police to search for me. They did look at the beach, but I was at the waves a little bit further down the road. Soo they couldn’t find me. I miss my parents, and talking to them on the phone is nothing compared to the real thing. Sometimes I wonder if they even think about WHY they have a job, WHY they go to work. And I already know the answer to that. It was so I could live a happy and normal life! But I never see them which makes me sadder and sadder every day. I have a really easy going life already! So why make it better? They could come back to Florida and work maybe in a cafe. They already have enough money for one, and don’t they even miss me? Why won’t they come home? 

Today, when I was at the beach with Apricot. My granny came, I asked my granny why I never get to see my parents.

   She just patted me on the back and said 'That is a question you should ask yourself.' Why won’t they see me? What do you think? I have already got everything I wanted, except the one thing I yearn for the most. My family… A couple weeks later it was my birthday, I went on call with my parents.

  'Guess what we got you for your birthday!' Said my parents excitedly, I brung the phone with me, as granny closed my eyes and showed me outside. 'Our gift was too big to wrap! So we kept it outside for you!' They said as granny took her hands off my eyes. They had gotten me 2 enormous things… You wouldn’t even believe me, they had gotten me my own mini catamaran yacht and my own sailboat! I used to ride on my friend's sailboat and my grandpa’s yacht. So I knew how to drive them.

   'Wow! Thanks mum, thanks dad.' I said while trying to fix a smile. 'It’s been 4 years since you last came… So when are you coming back to Florida?' I said excitedly.

  'Soon! Probably this year!' I got so excited I was jumping around and splashing sand on the butlers. 

I counted all the days until my parents are coming. They said they would come in September, I counted all the way till August. I can’t wait!:) I waited for an entire month until the 1st of September. A few days passed and it was already the 9th of September. I called my parents to see when they were coming. And they said that they had an important work meeting and couldn’t miss it for the world. So they couldn’t come. Tears slowly rolled down my cheeks. I ran to the ocean with my sailboat and some food and ran away into the ocean. That night it rained heavily, but I wouldn’t go back. Never. I raised my head up high steering the boat on my own with Apricot sitting inside the food storage space of the sailboat. I twisted the sails side to side until the waves were calm and the ocean was clear. I saw beautiful coral reefs and clear ocean skies. It was wonderful. Apricot came above deck next to me and put his paws in the water. It was so much fun. For days I survived on my sailboat and wrote adventures of my journeys. Me and Apricot began to connect with the ocean and learned to love the ocean even more. One cloudy day, a huge storm washed me and Apricot off board. I clinged onto Apricot as we floated on a wooden log in the ocean. Thunderstruck our sailboat and the entire thing fell to pieces. All our food supplies washed into the waves. But I managed to save a container of rice. I clung onto it, surviving with it for 2 days. I slept through the night on my long holding Apricot tightly in my hands. One morning I woke up and found myself on an island. I walked around the sand beaches wondering where I was. I forgot everything. The only things I could remember were Apricot and my name. I didn’t remember what even happened to me. I walked and walked and found some huts. I found an abandoned one and made me and Apricot at home. I realized I was holding a container of rice so I used it to cook a nice dinner. I was walking around the beach, and as soon as I saw the ocean it brushed me away with its waves. I giggled, I brushed my hands against the soft and calm water. I closed my eyes and relaxed, I felt so real. It was like the ocean was holding my hand, I stood up and just stood there at the shore. I sighed and brushed the ocean. The sun began to set and I felt the water touch me. I remember now… I loved the ocean… I couldn’t remember anything else. I walked around and saw a man in a suit.

  'Excuse me, could you help me?' I said the man nodded. 'I don’t know who I am. And where I am, I am lost and don’t remember ANYTHING!'

  'Well, I can't help you without your personal info. Sorry kid.'  I floated around in the ocean, I was lost in my mind. I looked around the island and all the people couldn’t help me without my information. So I stayed at the beach. Tears rolled from my cheeks down to the ocean. I just want to go home…  I sat on the shore of the water and brushed my hands in the water as I did before. I closed my eyes… Then everything came back to me… I remembered everything I had forgotten years ago… I remembered my parents and the ocean… MY LIFE, I saw all of it in my mind. Then it flashed out. I pulled some leaves out of coconut trees and used branches and coconut shells to craft a boat. I made a sail with my clothes and used leaves as clothing. Apricot and I sat in the boat for days… We were going home. Days passed and we finally arrived back at the shores of Florida. I ran up the hill to my house and came inside. No one was there. It almost looked ABANDONED! Like no one had been there for years! This was definitely my house! What happened? 

I had no idea what happened, I searched around the village and most 0f the houses were newer! And different too. Where did I go?... Did I make a wrong turn? Is this even Florida? I looked and looked and found my best friend from primary school. We were only in grade 5. But she looked like she was in High School! So I was definitely at the right place… Right? I sat in my abandoned house alone… Wondering where the ocean had taken me. I went to the library and finally after 3 days of searching I found this book… Called, Where the ocean takes you.

  'The ocean isn’t something to be tamed, it’s a free spirit. It can take you ANYWHERE it pleases. Like me, you might’ve experienced the ocean taking you to your home. But EVERYTHING is different, your home might even be abandoned. Your friends will be older and your house too. I spent 50 years in this ‘timeline’ and figured out that I was in the future. This happens to very few people and only 5 people in the WORLD will be taken to this place. I am already 75 years old… And death is approaching me… I have figured out a way to get out of this timeline. Thus I never got to get out because-' There is nothing left. The next page was ripped out… I looked at the publishing date and it was in 2018. There is a slight chance he might still be in this timeline! He could help me get home! 

I paused… IF I were to find this guy I needed his name. I looked at the Author, his name was Delaney Martiniaan. I walked along the beach, asking people if they knew who Deanley Martiniaan was. Some people called him the MAD MAN who said he was in the future. And some said nothing at all, some didn’t know who he was… I felt like I was going to be left in this timeline like Deanley. I finally came across an old frail woman who told me that a legend was once told. That Deanley wrote another book before his death, people say that the book is hidden somewhere beyond the ocean… Where was Beyond The Ocean? I flipped through the book that Deanley wrote and found out that I am beyond the ocean… Because, when the ocean takes you to the future. It’s BEYOND THE OCEAN… Luckily my family lives in Lake Buena Vista in Florida, which is a very small place. So it won’t be too hard to find… I figured since Delaney came here. He must like the ocean! So he must’ve hidden it in the ocean, the water might make it soggy. But I’m sure Delaney thought about that. So I probably did something to protect the book from water. I searched the beaches for hours with no sign of a book. I searched other beaches far and wide, but still nothing. I figured it might be in the water part of the beach, so I took my mini catamaran yacht to sail deep into the ocean. I was already extremely deep, maybe in the middle of the ocean. It was getting extremely dark so I had to find my way back as fast as I could, unfortunately my plan backfired. I sailed too fast and didn’t look at the waves behind me. The waves washed me and Apricot off the boat, I held on tight to Apricot. As we sank deeper and deeper into the ocean, my head floated towards the ocean floor… When I felt something at my feet, I slowly moved towards it with Apricot clinging on to me, slowly running out of breath. I felt it, it was a book! So I grabbed it, and brought me and Apricot above the waters. I swam towards the shore holding onto Apricot and the book, but it wasn’t easy, the wind was rough, and Apricot was shivering. The book was weighing me down, but I needed to get back home! But then, I looked at Apricot. He was cold and sick, and needed help. But I couldn’t help him in the middle of the ocean, so I dropped the book for someone else to find another day… I swam to shore, as the waves helped me there. And lay Apricot on the sand… Apricot fell asleep and so did I. When I woke up, I saw granny, she was sitting next to me smiling. I jumped up to her and gave her a hug, 'I missed you granny.'

I was finally Home…

'Life is like the ocean. It can be calm or still and rough or rigid, but in the end, it’s always beautiful.'