An Adventure Of A Lifetime

July 1, 2080

Day one-

Dear diary,

It’s me, Jamie.

Today I woke up, looked out of the window and saw the same old pit like everyday.

Mum told me that the pit used to be filled with water.  She described it as a never ending pool full of fish and beautiful coral reefs. I’ve only ever seen photos that have been posted on I-web. It looked magnificent. I always imagined the way the waves would sound and the water would feel against my skin. Seeing the fish and the corals for myself seems like a magical and unreal experience that I can sadly never have.

As I got out of my bed looking over the pit I decided to not waste the first day of my summer vacation. I wanted to go on an adventure and I decided I wanted my best friends, Mia and Alex to accompany me. While the  thought crossed my mind, Alex called.  I answered the phone and told him to add Mia to the call.  Once Mia joined, I shared my idea to go on an adventure and they loved it!  A half an hour later we met in our usual place by the I-bikes to decide on the type of adventure.  While we were talking, Mia told us about the new mayor’s plan to build new houses in the pit. I looked at her, gaping, “whattt but we’ve always wanted to go there!” From time to time we always dreamed of going in and exploring to see if there is anything left of our old dream, and of course wished beyond belief that it would regrow into the gorgeous ocean that it once was 300 years ago. “Well then, you know what we gotta do,” said Alex quietly.  “You both know it’s banned to go there,” said Mia. Alex answered quickly “oh come on, it’s about time for you to start breaking the rules anyway.” “You would go in at the expense of your life here??” “No one will know.” I added quietly “it’s inevitable, you dimwits!” After a few more arguments, Mia finally agreed and said, “I suppose as long as we are careful and don’t let anyone see us. And you both better not act like idiots!” “You have my word.” Alex and I said together, while winking in the other direction.

An hour later we were ready and packed to begin.”I wasn’t sure what to pack but I brought my I-mobile and some snacks,” Mia said. “Same” Alex and I added. We took the usual I-bikes and rode through the sand path to the banned pit. Once we arrived we felt overwhelmed. “Wow,” I said. “Oh gosh. This is horrible,” Mia said. “What a mess!” The pit was full of endless trash. It was quite unpleasant. The fact that our dried up ocean has come to this was so sad and disappointing. Wiggling our way through, we saw a trashed couch, broken chairs, plastic bags flying around, old clothes and some really cool old school tech. 

We decided to park the I-bikes and start trekking from here, because it was quite hard to ride through the piles of junk in the pit. Alex said it was such a shame to ruin the pit by building housing instead of trying to replenish what it once was. I disagree and say that the housing gives our town an opportunity to grow and have more facilities. It is upsetting that the sea will never return for us to experience. However, we have to make good of what we have and this is the reality of our situation. It is also extremely unlikely that somehow we can bring back what once was.  Mia completely disagreed with me.  We all knew it has always been her dream to see the pit back to its glory and the ocean return to its former strength and beauty. 

We were walking and exploring the area, “How did all this rubbish get 

here?” I asked, annoyed at the world and the people in the city for allowing all of this junk to accumulate. I found a cool black piece of plastic in the shape of a phone with number buttons on the front. “Hey, look at this,” I said. “What is it??”  Alex and MIa replied. I hadn’t really had a clue. They both laughed at my scrunched up face. “I think years ago people called it a a calculator,” Mia said wondering too. I look at it again and realize she might be right. The buttons were dirty and gray, “I guess all the color washed off with time.” “Yeah,” Mia agreed. Alex was looking around.  I was still interested in the vintage “calculator” machine. I tried to see if it was still working. “Could it work? Mia said speaking what was on my mind.  “There should be a button on the top left,” Mia added.  I pressed the button, fully certain that it most likely would not work. To my surprise it lit up! “Wow!”  “no way!!” Mia and I said simultaneously. But just as quick as it lit up, it made a cracking sound and shut off. “Oh well.  It makes sense. It is probably tens of years old. I want to keep it anyway,” I say and put it in my small backpack. We continue going excitedly waiting to see what we might find next.

It has been two hours walking around this endless pit of thoughtless discarded rubbish in what had been our beautiful ocean. We look back at the town and it now looks so small. We can see the full picture of where we live. It’s a sweet little town with round bubble houses all painted in pastel colors.  We’re not a famous town.  Contrary to past generations where people would flock to live near the ocean/pit, no one these days is drawn to live near or have a view of the pit.  To me, I was born here and always loved it. Alex tried to spot his house, but after a few minutes he gave up with a sigh. Mia was looking around with a worried look “I hope we don’t get lost in all this rubbish” she said. Alex was searching a pile when we heard him say, “hey guys look at this”. Mia and I walked over interested. We saw Alex struggling to lift a square box. We came over to help and realized it was extremely heavy. We started examining the box, checking to see if there were any buttons or switches, but the box had nothing on the surface. We tried opening it but nothing happened. Turning the box upside down wondering if there’s an opening on the other side,  Alex said, “ok, this is just a plain box. I’m getting sick of looking at it. Can we take a break?” I agreed. It  has been a long walk and this is just a weird looking black box. We decided to sit down near the box and have some lunch. Mia pulled out sandwiches that her mother had made for everyone. “I wonder how the pit deteriorated to this point and where all the water has gone.  It is all so devastating” Mia said.  Alex answered with a smile. “ I heard from Robby in the year above us that a Whale drank all the water and ate all the fish in the ocean. A few days later he died from obesity.” We all started cracking up and laughing.”I Always dreamed of seeing the ocean, the beautiful fish and all the gorgeous coral reefs.”  Suddenly there was a loud rattle. We all checked our phones but hadn’t gotten any notifications. “That was strange”, I said. We heard the rattle again but this time there was a strong vibration. We got up quickly and realized it was the box.  Out of nowhere a beam of light appeared and then a window opened up that seemed to have a blue texture on the other side. My jaw dropped. I wasn’t sure what was happening. Alex was confused and intrigued by the window and started going forward with his arm.  When he put his hand through the window, we saw his hand on the other side. “I feel water!”, Alex yelled. I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I was so curious where the window led. Alex’s hand looked ok, so it couldn’t have been dangerous.  I decided to look through the window and see where the other side led to. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and pushed my head in, I suddenly felt the rest of my body being sucked in.  Once I was all the way through, I realized I couldn’t breathe, instinctively pushing myself to the top to get air, wondering what the rest of the crew was doing. When I got to the top, I opened my eyes and to my disbelief I was in the ocean! I didn’t know how to react. I had so many questions. I started looking around as I felt a tug. I wasn’t sure what happened until it happened again but it was so strong that I was pulled out, I then realized it was Alex and Mia pulling me out. Once my head was out of the beam it was soaked and water dripped down my head. We were all shocked. I was not sure how to feel as I thought about what just happened. I got extremely happy and in disbelief I told the others we have to go in. After a lot of convincing Alex and I managed to get Mia to agree. Alex goes first then Mia and I go last so I can grab the time box so we can get back. As I go in to the window, the box disappears and I panic a little, but I suddenly felt a weird object in my pocket and there it was! the time box was there and was compact and light. I zip up my pocket so it doesn’t fall out. Once the time box is secure I can relax and enjoy the moment.

 When I reach the top of the water and have a proper look around. Wow, that is just gorgeous, there’s an endless amount of blue shining water, with little ripples of waves all over. I hear Alex and Mia cheering and laughing in disbelief. When we are all done celebrating the fact that our dream has come true we find ourselves in a big problem. Were stuck in the middle of the ocean with no way to get to shore. We look around for others who might be in the sea as well but we see nothing but water and the very far shore, Mia starts to get worried and scared. I reassure her and say we can always go back through the beam, obviously she doesnt want that after all this is all we have ever dreamed of. Alex was in survival mode, he was just swimming to shore and not listening. Mia and I called for him but he kept swimming. I started to swim up to him quickly. I caught him and held him. I told him to stop and relax as we will find a way home. Alex laughed and said he wanted to feel the water glide against him as he swam and feel the cold of the water all over his body. We started to swim with Alex when we heard a loud noise in the water. It sounded like a propeller. We stopped swimming and saw a boat. We yelled for help but, not see anyone on the boat or anyone who seemed to be able to come to us. Just as we started to give up, the boat turned towards us! We started cheering with joy. When the boat got near us we saw a man come out to the railing. He was wearing a captain hat and uniform, getting closer he asked if we wanted to get on board and back to shore. The three of us looked at each other and said yes with excitement. We climbed on the boat and sat on the back of it looking out at sea. To say it was a dream come true is the least of it. The boat started to slow down and we asked the captain what was going on. He said he wanted to know how we ended up in the middle of the ocean with our clothes on and our bags on our back and even shoes. We didn’t exactly know what to answer, if we say the truth which we don’t exactly know what it is he would either laugh and think were crazy or want the time machine for himself. He asked again “how did you get here?” we hesitated but Alex thought of an answer “well we have never seen or been in the sea so we came on a boat and when no one was looking we left our cabin and jumped off. We didn’t really think of what would happen then… sadly we also forgot our goggles so we cant even look at the fish!” The captain looked at us like we were mad. He wasn’t sure what to say, first he stuttered as he was trying to find the right words, he then finally managed to spit out the question “you have never been or seen the ocean before?! What world are you living in?!“ Not answering and just staring at him, the captain continued and said “Well then we need to get you all goggles and you must  go snorkeling!. I know the perfect spot. I’ll be happy to take you before we head back to shore.” “Yes!, let’s do it!!” We all answered. 

Once we arrived we put on the snorkels and jumped in. when we were in I saw the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I wished I could live the moment everyday of my life. We saw coral reefs that couldn’t compare to any of the photos, skoolz of fish in the most amazing colors, purple, orange, yellow and so many more! Continuing to swim we see crabs running across the rocks and stingrays swimming all around us. I couldn’t  acknowledge what we were seeing, it was all too incredible. We were in the water for two hours before the captain told us to come back to the boat as it was getting late and dark. We wished we could stay for longer but we got onto the boat with a feeling that made us complete. The captain told us it was going to be about two hours to get back and showed us a room on the boat we could rest in for the meantime, all the way to the room we couldn’t stop thanking him. Once he left the room we saw the time it was already late. We had been out for hours, the three of us decided it was time to end our fabulous adventure, I got the time machine out of my pocket and wished to be home, the beam lit up with the window next. “Ok guys it’s been amazing, Mia would you do the honors?”  I said softly. She went through, then Alex and I was last again. “Bye beautiful world.” I said.

I opened my eyes, we were back in the pit, how devastating.

Now we must share to our world what they are missing out on because they couldn’t pick up their plastic bags, and stop polluting our ocean. 

The time machine is in my pocket waiting for our next adventure. 

Until next time dear diary.