The Captive Land

Chapter Twenty

Lydia^

3 weeks later

We have discovered that we are very far away from any land. Like, very very VERY far.

So we've been travelling on these thousands of boats for 3 weeks and still no sight of land. I'm so hot, tired, thirsty, and hungry. But the little ones have to be fed first.

One upside is that I am now extremely tanned. My legs are brown as anything, my arms almost as much, and my face is almost as much as that, but more burnt. I'm actually very surprised at my tan- I'm English for a start, I tan mostly in summer but mostly burn. I suppose I have been I the sun 12/7. I could get used to this though.

Everyone around me must feel the same. Hot, tired, hungry. We'll just have to wait.

~

1 week later

"LAND HO!!!"

I sit up straighter and squint at the horizon. And indeed, there is land.

The coast of England. FINALLY!

We've been waiting a month. Rations have been running short.

Lucas slides towards me with a clipboard. Where'd he get that from?

"So. We have to go basically all over Europe. England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Switzerland, France, Holland, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Norway and Finland. Are you going to stay behind to drop everyone off? Because we'll go to England first."

"I'll stay. I'm their 'leader' after all." I raise my fingers and make quotation marks in the air on the word leader.

~

1 month later

"England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Switzerland, France and Holland done, only Sweden, Italy, Austria, Norway and Finland to go. Oh and England again." I say.

Lucas sighs. "I'm almost home." He says.

"Where are we dropping you again? Oh yeah, Norway. You don't even have a Norwegian accent."

"Yeah coz I'm not Norwegian. I just live there. In fact I'm English. But, you know, I love Norvway!" He says Norway with a 'v' sound before the 'w'. I laugh.

"You know, Lucas? It's been really good knowing you. You're a good person."

He blushes. "Thanks."

I smile. I've never seen him blush before.

~

2 weeks later

I am in sights of the English coast again. We only have one boat left, for me and two others who decided to stay on to say goodbye to their friends.

I have had an adventure, but I miss home. I'll be glad to be home again.

~

My home is up ahead. Finally I am home. I reach the front gate. Before I can even open it, the front door bursts open and my family rushes out. They surround me, hug me close. We cry and laugh with relief. It's good to be home.

As I come out of the circle, I am enveloped once again. My friends are here. Anna, Heather, Janet and Jane cry into my shoulder.

I turn around yet again. Thomas and Dylan hug me gladly.

"Hang on. Where's Jake?"

I look over my friends shoulders. And sure enough, there he is. I smile, he smiles back. I run up to him, and he grins.

Then we become one. He kisses me as if his life depended it. It is passionate, yet not overdone. I am a little surprised at first.

And yet...

I kiss him back.

And so comes the end of  'The Captive Land'. This is the first book I've finished, apart from 'Stars And Darkness', except that's more of a short story.

There will be a epilogue! Please look out for it. Let me know what you think this book, I'd love to know.

Thanks for reading!

xx Chloe