East or West, Home Is Best

“East or West, Home Is Best” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Kateryna Hordienko, Shostka secondary school, Ukraine.

East or West, Home Is Best

It was one of those dull autumn afternoons when you feel a little depressed even without any visible reason. Unfortunately, that afternoon I HAD the reason. I had quarreled with my mom and felt really sad. I lay on my sofa and slowly flew away on the wings of my dream. I was not Kate any more…

My name was Alice. In my dream I lived with my mother, father and two brothers in London. Our family was very friendly. My mother's name was Karen and she was 35 years old. She was very kind, beautiful and cheerful. My dad's name was Steven and he was 39 years old. He was strong and handsome. My brothers, Mark and Alex, were very cool but a little bit crazy. We were having our vacations and our parents had decided to surprise us. We were flying to Mexico for two weeks! We were leaving in 2 days and, of course, I had a plenty of things to do before our departure. So, we went to shopping to buy everything we needed for our trip. Then we went to the park, bought the most delicious ice cream and sat on the bench. We talked, laughed and discussed what we would do in Mexico.

Suddenly, I noticed a strange man dragging a puppy. The poor thing was whining pitifully but the man kept on pulling it. I looked at the boys and we understood each other at once. We decided to save the poor dog. So, I followed the dog and Alex and Mark distracted the man. I quickly untied the puppy and whistled to Alex and Mark. We could quickly reach our house and the man could not catch us up. We hid the puppy in the shed. The puppy was injured and had two scratches on the nose. Mark brought the first-aid kit and we did our best to help the poor thing. Then I brought a bowl of warm water and we washed it. There was a box in the shed. We put some hay and placed our rescued dog there.

Evening came. Our parents returned from work. I did not know if they would like the idea of having a dog but all the same I decided to tell them about the puppy. To my surprise, our parents reacted very calmly. They said that they had long wanted to take a dog from a shelter. We decided to call the puppy Bob. We went to the shed where Bob was sitting. Bob was so pleased to see us! We took Bob into the house and began to get ready for the trip. I packed Bob's bag, too.

In two days my parents, brothers and I were ready to go to the airport. We got into the car and our adventures began.

Our flight lasted seven hours. We took a taxi and went to our booked hotel. I unpacked my things and immediately ran to the ocean. Alex and Mark ran after me. We played and had fun. Our mother and father sat on the beach and rested. We were so happy!

But after a week we got a little bored. In the evening while I was admiring the sunset, Mark and Alex ran up to me. The boys suggested stealing a boat, taking huge backpacks and going out into the open sea. I really like extreme, so I agreed. We did not say anything to our parents. Not far away from our hotel beach we saw some fishermen and while they were having their lunch, we managed to steal their boat. Alex took Bob and seated him into the boat. Then Mark and I took our seats. Alex pushed the boat from the shore. Mark started rowing and Alex helped him. Soon we got tired and decided to eat sandwiches and have a nap. When we opened our eyes, it was already morning. The boat landed on the shore. We turned out to be on an uninhabited island.

We decided to explore the island and went around it. It was not easy: the island was very big and on our way we met many difficulties. We went through the "Valley of Death", the hottest place I’d ever seen before. We met some wild animals and saw a real eruption of a volcano! There was a risk of falling into the lava, but we helped each other and safely reached the other side of the island. There we suddenly saw a tribe of Indians. At first, we were afraid of them, but they appeared to be extremely friendly. They even lent us their boat and showed us the way back to our hotel! We sailed to the beach and then quickly ran into our room where we saw our parents in tears. We started hugging and kissing them...

I opened my eyes and saw my Mom sitting beside me. She hugged and kissed me saying, “You were crying in your sleep, my dear. Is everything all right?” “Yes, Mom. Now everything is all right. I love you so much!” I was HOME and my dearest Mom was hugging me!

Parents are the best that we have. We should appreciate them, because they are the only ones who will love and believe in us until the very end!