5 Years Before

The storm drove the waves, back and forth just like before. Elena sat on the deck of the ship watching, what used to be home, disappear into the distance. What could a penniless, homeless and jobless girl, her age do, now that she had been driven out of her home?

The ship rocked steadier now, the crashing waves had calmed and the rain drops had stopped thundering down on the wooden planks of the deck. She lay in the bunker below, star gazing through the slatted, wooden door that let up to the deck.

Elena thought about home, how her mother used to stuff as much straw as she could, underneath the put outside the house, so that she could cook dinner and how her father would come home after a hard day and tell her stories of the jobs he under taken. They had nothing, they were poor and practically starving however, they were happy and no amount of money could buy happiness.

She was unaware of where the ship was travelling, where she may end up or what she would do once she did get to its destination. The first thing she’d need to do was get herself some proper clothes and shoes, as she was freezing.

The ship jolted to a halt - it threw Elena across the bunker, her head knocking against the wood on the other side at such force, a bump formed then and there. She had wondered whether she’d have any sort of good luck, at all, ever. She made her way off the ship and into the village before her.

Present Day

Elena was elated to be going back home, she’d tried so hard, searched for so many years, still nothing from her parents. She’d left home with just the clothes she was wearing and was now travelling home a very different person.

Opening her leather, tapered bag, she thumbed they change in her hand, ready to pay the gentleman who was looking after the ship. He’d let her on last minute and let her have her own quarters, she gave him a little extra so that he was able to take food home to his family.

Elena took in the fresh air, the feeling of being back where she’d grown up, breathing in the air and taking in the surroundings. It was winter, the cobbled pavement glistened in the cool, crisp sunshine, revealing the deadly ice that blanketed the pavements. She walked slowly, fastening her fur lined boots, ensuring she had everything.

Watching her once friends, walking by her in flimsy sandals and loose clothing. They were freezing and did not have enough to keep themselves warm and fed over the winter season. Reluctantly, she followed where her feet took her, the same route back, the same houses along the way. Elena froze when she came face to face with her old home’s door. Cautiously placing her hand on it, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

I peak through the porthole I can see waves crashing violently into the side of the ship. I shiver as another wave of nausea flows through my body. My shaking hands grasp onto the frame of the ship looking for leverage to keep myself standing. I clutch dearly to the necklace around my neck. It had belonged to my mother. It was all that I had of her. I remember so many years ago making this journey as I cried and clenched it dearly until the points had drew blood. I missed my mother so much. I admired the sacrifice she made to save my life. Today, was the first day I would return to my home town. I was wracked with fear. Leaving the ship I felt as though I was going to be arrested, walking on forbidden ground. I take a deep breath this was it, I had to do it, for my mother, to show that we prevailed. I slip my necklace over my head and stuff it in my pocket, still clutching to it dearly. I whisper “I’m sorry I’m not brave enough yet mama”. I take the first step. I let my feet carry me, they seem to still know the way. I was struck with awe. I’m not sure what I expected, but everything looked so familiar. As I wandered I remembered going to the shops with my mom, running and playing in the streets. Then as I walked minding my own business a dreadful memory that has been etched into my brain came crashing back through all the walls I had built it was a speeding train stashing into me. Rendering me unable to breathe. My mother standing here as I watched from a window across the street. Here on this very cobblestone as she was drug away. A hand on my shoulder trying to get me to look away. Whispers saying “you are safe she knew she had to choose. You are safe. Come child”. Slowly I find my breathe. I feel a cool sensation trickling down my hand. I pull out my necklace, unclasp my hand. Wiping away the blood. I stand on that very cobblestone, slipping my necklace back over my head. “ for you mother” I whisper as I stand proud tears streaming down my face, the Star of David around my neck.

There’s something about you Which makes me despise you But I will not tell you I don’t want to hurt you

There’s something about you Which makes me wanna hold you close You seem so fragile When you sit there trying to look composed

There’s something about you Which seems so weird But it made me realize You are a gem,so rare

There’s something about you Which I have to tell you I do not despise you In fact,I love you❤️

“The journey has not begun, till I’m on this ship!” Yelled captain Doherty. He’d been craving this adventure ever since he was a ye boy. His father sat him down, patted him on the head and say “boy, you are a traveler and you are meant for the big quest.” “What’s the big quest?” Doherty said to his father in curiosity. “The big quest!” His father yelled, “why the big quest is your destiny my son. That is a quest I cannot tell you, it is one that you find within yourself.” 30 years have past and Doherty grew with the the changes of the seasons. His father grew too and grew grey until he turned to the ashes in the wind. Doherty loved his father and losing him was the only ruffle that ever faded his sharp chin and hefty beard from causing the flowers to wilt at his sight. The day of his passing was a Thursday’s and the sun shone at half mass. Doherty stood with his chest out against the wind of blarney. A man approached him after his funeral with a small silver box in his hand, nodded and went on his way, leaving the mysterious box in Doherty’s hands. Doherty looked down in agony of the box, as if it contained a pain he did not want to unleash. He held it underneath his coat and waited until he was back in his cottage under the light to his candle to see what it contained. Doherty sat at his desk, his reflection adding another glance at the mysterious object. He placed his hands on either side of the box and peered inside. Inside the box left a single key and a note from his father. The note read “on the beaches of black sand lie the a secret command, for the days of 4 seas be left north of the western side” Doherty looked out at the sea on his ship remembering this moment, key in hand. “I know my quest now father”

we parted that night all tears and broken promises shattered hearts we thought would never mend you moved on and I moved away as far as I could get whilst still being within earshot of any news that might say 'come back to me'

it never came

and as everything changed, I thought about you daily, every move I made, every place every journey every news article signalling a changing, darker world made me ask what you were thinking.

so unknown

eventually some seeds I picked up on my journey started to grow around the hole in my heart knitting together the shards and making it whole again nothing truly lost.

I kept moving

until I forgot what I was travelling from until I had fabricated a story about our parting and my journey and somehow until I was ready

we returned together one night as the cold air swept the hair from my face and clung to our fingers and unannounced we were together again and made as whole as the moon we danced beneath as if nothing had happened

7-3-1998

I’m on a boat. Why, because my mom said she was tired of the United States. Apparently it’s because it’s to much money for us. Like ok!

7-5-1998

It feels like I’ve been on this boat for ages. But it’s only the third day. My mom says we’re going where ever the wind takes us. I honestly think that’s not going to end up well but whatever.

The only problem about this is that there’s nothing to do. I’m going to log out for today. Bye....

7-6-1998

I just woke up and looked around me. All there is the ocean so water, water, and some more water. I guess if I’m really thirsty then I can drink as much water as I want.

It’s the end of the day. Today was like any other day eat, watch, write and then sleep. Goodnight talk to you tomorrow.

7-13-1998

I haven’t written in this in a week. Let me catch you up on everything.

Two days ago a big storm hit us. It started with a giant wave. The wave washed up onto our boat. Everything was soaked. I held on to this journal for dear life. One thing I don’t want to loose is this journal.

Well after the storm our boat was all broken. It was barely floating. But then a miracle happened. When I woke up yesterday we were stopped somewhere. I didn’t know where, but we were somewhere.

Yesterday afternoon we got off the boat and asked people where we were. One nice guy said we were in Paris, France. So then we walked around trying to get a little bit of money to fix our boat.

Then one amazing guy just gifted us 2 million dollars. He told us to use 1 million of it to fix our boat and the rest to bring back to the United States and use it on us.

So we fixed our boat.

7-15-1998

We are on our boat back to the United States. We are coming back with more money then we came with.

7-16-1998

Well now we’re in the middle of the ocean and lost. We figured out the hard way that our compass got washed away in the storm. So now we are lost in sea.

7-18-1998

Today we found our compass. It was really weird. We saw something floating on top of the waves so we decided to investigate. When we got over there we found out it was a compass. As we flipped it over and saw our last name we were relived.

Now we’re going west to the United States.

7-25-1998

It’s been a week again. Nothing interesting has happened except that we have ran out of food but it’s fine we only have a couple more days.

And that’s all we have of his journal. We don’t know if they got home safely.

Streeeeeetch The cat gets up, licks his paws, twitches his whiskers. Jumping off the couch, he sets off on an adventure. But first, he must swat at the other feline interlopers. How dare they be in his presence!! The short haired one chases our hero-this is not the adventure he had intended.

Grumpily, our cat climbs up the vast stairs, to his bed. The human isn’t home, so it’s unoccupied. Our feline friend jumps on the bed, and sulks. He yawns, and quietly falls back asleep, chasing mice in his dreams.

We didn’t end up starting our hike until after 3 o’clock. Normally that’s not that big a deal but on this day Tom and I decided we’d go off on a couple of the trails that we hadn’t tried before. It was Sugarloaf mountain Which was a great mountain to get a relatively quick but energetic hike in. It was a mild fish winter day and relatively no big deal except there was a threat of rain. Tom and I had not seen each other for a while so we had some catching up to do.

A girl from the woods goes to a city. She finds money is different in the two places. Not in its value but in it’s use. At home everything is small or broken down things are cheaper and have a dull appearance to them. In the city, things are shiny and sparkly; they glisten in the sunlight. As the girl explored both worlds she found saving money in the city to be difficult. She worked day after day to make money only to spend it all my the end of the week. She grew tired of the routine. So instead she stopped spending money at all. But little did she know the craving to spend was subject to change. When she went back to the woods she spent all her money. After she got ho e and looked at her haul she took a breath. “It’s not the places or the money I need to worry about, it’s the impulse and lack of self control.” After that day she decided it was time to get a budgeting app and spend wisely wherever she went.

Germaine Kepler had too many flaws. But the one that irked her the most was her need for conformity. Moreover, her family depended on this very trait of hers for their business to run seamlessly.

Having taken over the family business from her retired father nine years ago, she now spear-headed the operations department of their company. Her younger sister Alex, the one accustomed to going against the grain, and also the bossier between the two of them, was naturally suited for the position of CEO.

Growing up in an industrialized part of the country where only a few families dwelled meant that everyone knew everyone else’s business. This would not have bothered Germaine were it not for the type of business her father ran. Alex and her were perpetually teased especially by the boys in high school who lacked maturity. She tried hard to ignore their taunts and upped her dress sense to fit in with the cool crowd as much as she possibly could in the hope that they would stop. Alex on the other hand grew up unperturbed by the teasing. This was easy for her though since she was the prettier sister and attracted the right kind of attention no matter what she wore.

Twenty eight years later, Germaine now a forty two year old woman who had long become desensitized to taunts and teasing and who no longer needed to keep up with the latest fashions, was starting to realize that the family business was no longer congruent to her newly acquired values. Having become more aware of the long-lasting global impacts of climate change, she tried to do her part by adopting the use of bamboo straws and going cold turkey on drinking water from plastic bottles. The sanitary napkins that their business produced was by no means environmentally friendly with the amount of plastic that was required.

It was an uncharacteristically warm winter’s day that got the ball rolling. As Germaine was watching the last of her homemade almond milk trickle from the funnel into a bottle, an idea started formulating in her mind. What if....what if we replaced our production of sanitary napkins with flexible funnels that could be reused? Would it be too avant-garde for society? In fact, would she herself even use one? She pitched her idea to Alex that evening over mulled wine and her normally unconventional sister just stared at her asking if she had gone off her rockers. The next day however, Alex being Alex, who always needed to be the maverick of the family, agreed to building up a prototype of Germaine’s idea.

By the following summer, with the help of their product development and marketing teams, the newly revamped family business, now manufacturing menstrual cups, soared with profits almost doubling. Germaine had managed to integrate her environmental values with her business and couldn’t be any happier. And that, was how the Kepler sisters went from rags to riches.