Short Story: Message in a Bottle

NB: Just a really short story i wrote as a writing exercise.

Josh loves to walk down to the beach after class. At 17 he had just started his first year at Adelaide University. He wanted to spend a year exploring and travelling but his parents wanted him to continue studying. "Do something now so that when your exploring doesn't result in anything you can fall back on what you studied," they said. "You can explore the world when you retire". Since they were supporting him financially, he felt he really didn't have a choice, for now. Back to the classroom he went. The same boring classes. He aced his university classes just like he aced every class in high school. The only thing that gave him some joy was the ocean. 

But one day he was walking down the same stretch of beach he walked down everyday and he came across a bottle. An old bottle with brown stains all over it, covered in seaweed. As he picked it out of the sand he could see it had a note inside. Excited at the thought of treaure maps and secret messages, he hurridly opened the bottle and let the message slide out of the bottle. Gingerly he opened the note. It read,

"Please send rescue vessel. I was rescued by natives. God knows where I am. Living well so you can take your time coming to get me.
Harold Holt"

The Story So Far

Hey everyone
Just though I'd provide an update on what has been happening this year.

I did make a resolution at the beginning of the year to begin writing a novel by the end of the year. After many years of NOT fulfilling my well intentioned resolutions, I decided that this year I would make a concerted, strategic effort to fulfill this one. First thing I did was sign on as a student at a local Adelaide College called Tabor to study creative writing. Then I bought myself several books and notepads etc so that whenever I feel inspired I could write things down. So far the only time I felt inspired were at the beach or in an airport lounge. I also started this blog. A blog where I can submit my thoughts in a creative way for public scrutiny and consumption. Also a place where I could write to my hearts content any creative observations or stories I wish to share with the world.

Then I got my first inspiration for a novel. All I saw was a child standing in front of a house. The child is bleeding from a gash on his pale forehead as the rain and thunder create a brooding picture behind him. But he is not crying. Just staring straight ahead in a daze. The couple that opened the door have a concerned look on their face. It's the only thing I got as inspiration. This was 7 months ago. I tried to use my imagination to allow the story to continue in my head but it almost seemed like the movie had stopped and couldn't go on.

So I decided to put the idea on the backburner while focusing on other things. Spent some time developing my life by getting appropriate counselling. For anyone in Adelaide looking for good Christian Counselling, Life Design on Goodwood Road is excellent. You can get 35 dollar sessions from students from Tabor who are studying to further their knowledge in counseling through a graduate diploma.Aside from this, there are also more qualified counselors who charge anywhere between 50 and 100 dollars for singles or couples, if you're looking for more strategic help and direction. And for Tabor students we get to see the Graduate counselors for 10 bucks :P

Other than this I have been trying to figure out what my life and purpose is all about. Trying to invest myself in things that I feel matter in the grand scheme of things. I tried to also move on from past relationship breakdowns and failures to build a future that is more powerful than my past could ever have been. I've been slowly growing and developing in my faith, friendships as well as in my clarity of thought about the great things I want to do in society. Every person should have a dream to do something great and awesome and for some it may mean giving your life for that thing, literally. Dr Martin Luther King Jr had a dream where life would be fair for all Americans, not just the whites. His dream resulted in his death before the actual fulfillment of his dream. Nelson Mandela had a dream to have a united South Africa and the abolition of Apartheid. He is still alive but his every breath and energy is towards making that dream come to pass. I also have dreams like that but it is hard trying to fulfill them when there's no one to stand beside you. I almost feel like I am in exile like Mandela was and I won't get to fulfill some of those dreams till I am released from this prison. But I also know that there are others out there who continue to do what I hope to do someday in other areas and nations and someday I will be allowed to join them in freeing the captives and bringing hope to a new generation.   

During this whole time, I haven't really written that much in terms of the novel but I can't believe that from an image of a couple opening their front door at night in the middle of the storm and seeing a child outside their door with a blank stare on his face and a bleeding cut on his forehead, I've gotten an idea from an entire novel now. All I did was go to the beach at 3am in the morning on one of those sleepless mornings, and just sat  in the freezing cold tidal wind. Sat for about 20 mins writing out what I had gotten so far in terms of understanding the start of the story. While I was there, two young teens came up and started talking to me. I asked them what they were up to. They replied that they were exploring and finding people to talk to because they couldn't be bothered going home. We continued to talk and, when they saw my journal with "Jesus" emblazoned on the cover they started asking me about Jesus and miracles and how the story I am writing seems to resemble his life. The boys went on their merry way, but I got my final inspiration. I found the ending.

Basic Synopsis of the novel I intend to write.
"When we look at the miraculous as a threat to our way of life, we become defensive and we try to destroy it so we can keep the status quo and keep doing things in the same, old, normal mundane way. But when we acknowledge that miracles can happen and allow to affect our lives by acknowledging and accepting the God who performs miracles, we find a life that is awesome beyond measure. Things begin to happen that are beyond our control and imagination, all because we allowed the miracle worker to enter our lives."

cheers
V-man