THE BLUE BOTTLE by 4 A

One night, Millie was up late reading in bed. She finished the book she was reading (The Story of Ferdinand) and looked over to her shelves to see what else she might read before she went to bed. Right there on her shelf was something she had never seen before. It was a blue bottle. The blue bottle was about as tall as a small book, had a round bottom, and a thin neck. And while the bottle looked as if it were made out of glass, Millie could not see through it. Millie got out of bed and went over to the bottle. She picked it up, carefully, afraid that it might break. She was surprised at just how heavy it was. Certainly heavier than any other bottle this size she had ever before lifted.

She looked down into the bottle, but it was too dark inside to see anything. So she shook it. She heard a rattling sound. There was something inside! She turned the bottle upside down and shook it again, to see if anything would fall out. Something almost fell out and then it didn't. Whatever was inside was now stuck in the bottle's neck. Millie shook harder and
harder. Finally, something small fell onto the floor. It was a letter from a stranger.

The letter on the floor seemed like it was very old. It was too damaged as well. She tried to open it but it was very difficult to do it without breaking it. Inside the old paper was something written that said:
“Today, it´s 24th November, 1999… I guess. I've almost been here 5 years and 345 days. This week something strange happened on the island. I was fishing a little for lunch after I had breakfast with my little friend I mentioned in my last letter, I think. He still hasn't got a definite name, but I think that’s because I I hadn't had a monkey as a pet before this one. I was walking with him along the north beach when I found a boat. It was big and made of wood, but it was broken. I took it and tried to repair it but I couldn’t.

Tomorrow, with the first sunray, I’m going to wake up to try again to fix it. I wished someone were here with me and my little monkey to help us; but I didn’t find anyone around here. I walked inside the forest hoping that the person who had come to the island went there to explore a bit. But maybe the boat came propelled by the wind of the storm of the other day and no one came inside it. I’m getting old, and no one has come to rescue me yet. I started to think that my family, my son Johnny and my daughter Lucy and my wife Emily could have forgotten me, maybe they have started a new life with another father and husband; and that my friends had forgotten me too.

I’m going to go on writing these letters until I don’t remember how to write, how to talk, how to think… Every time I write a letter, lots of thoughts come to my mind; is this going to be the last letter that I’m going to write? Is this going to be the last time that I’m going to think of the people that I love? Is this going to be the last time that I’m going to see my little friend?
I remember the first time that I saw him... I was looking for some fruits for breakfast when suddenly, a couple of bananas fell down next to me. I took them. I looked up to the tree to see if there was someone who had dropped them but I didn’t see anything. I turned around to go to my camp to eat what I had taken and there, next to me was a very little monkey. He was alone, without his parents or siblings. I waited to see if there were more monkeys to come with him like his family or his friends, but no, no one came.

He was as alone as me, so I brought him to the camp too. He really liked it. From that day he had a home with me, his friend, and a place where to sleep and where to live. I cry every time I think about it because he’s too old too and I know that every day there’s less food and water for us and one of us is going to die. I’ve got the feeling that he’s going to be the first one to leave the island to go to a better place and to have a better life. I don’t want that, I want to leave this island with him in my arms.

This is kinda difficult every day that passes. I’m very tired. Some time ago I started to get used to living here. This became my home, I made my house and a new friend. It’s nice to go on vacation for a week or a couple of weeks, but I’m going to celebrate my 6th year here in less than a month. It’s very different. You just can’t imagine what this is like. Probably I have written the next sentences a hundred or a thousand times. I can’t even remember how many letters I have written and sent in a blue bottle since I've been here, asking for help. No boats, no planes, no tourists… Just me and my friend.
So please, if you are reading this, please try to come here and help me and my friend. I’m somewhere around the world. When the storm broke my boat I was in the middle of the sea. Actually, I don’t know in what direction I went, I just relaxed and fell asleep. When I opened my eyes, what I saw was my tired body on the sand of a beach that looked empty, with a forest in the middle of the place and thousands of kilometres of sea. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I hope that helps you to find us. We’ll wait for you.”

we have now. He has missed his children's lives, growth, future grandsons or granddaughters, his life with his wife… everything. “At least he had his friend, the monkey…” she thought. Unfortunately, something that the girl didn’t know is that his friend, the monkey, died the week after the letter was sent. The man finally got ill due to the death of his only friend. And he finally met his friend again... in the other life in the following month. Being ill and alone was more difficult to bear. He was ill, but in part, he died of sadness.
The girl thought that the man lived for a lot of years more with his friend next to him. No one wants or needs to tell her that what she thought wasn’t what had really happened. But what she still doesn't know is: why was the bottle in her house? Did someone find it and brought it to her house? Maybe…

Andrea S