Rapunzel

• Vanessa Rogik, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2015

The early morning beads of dew cling to the grass and the beautiful flower heads. The flower’s odour fills Faith’s nose and she notices the glimmering sun in the clear sky. The girl hears a faint sound of the birds’ singing. The valleys of Australia make her smile. It’s her home. The land is peaceful until Faith hears a deafening sound. She could tell it was distant, yet the sound seemed so close. She ran in the direction of the crash and finally revealed a huge ship.
She was startled at the sight and dared not to go in. After a while her will, courage and interest in the vehicle overthrew her fear and she slipped through the miniature door. She thought it was a start of a new quest or adventure. Faith didn’t know that she was looking through rose coloured spectacles. She knew that something like this happened once in a blue moon, so she couldn’t let the opportunity slip. All her dream and hopes vanished as she stepped inside and observed the ruins of what used to be a spaceship. She rapidly ran back home to break the news to her father but decided differently. She couldn’t bother her family with any more troubles. Faith’s mother has cancer, so she is in bed and her father is probably busy looking after baby Honey.
Faith decided to go back in her room, think everything over and work a little on the cure for cancer. As soon as she picked up her pencil, she felt a rush of ideas seep into her mind. She has an unusual imagination but she was sure that aliens came to earth because they had revealed a cure for cancer and transferred it to the first person who came into the spaceship. The girl tied her hair into a plait and sat on the window ledge with her pencil and notepad in search of the cancer cure once more. Faith’s father often saw her sitting on the window ledge with her thick, long plait covering her face. He thought it was useless for Faith to try to find a cure for cancer. He said she was just like Rapunzel waiting for her prince that would never come. She never gave up, even though her father thought it was useless. It wasn’t for her; it was for her mother’s safety and life. Faith slipped through her door with a ready idea for the cure of Cancer and she was sparkling with excitement. She ran into her ‘lab’ and started experimenting, when her weary father came in. She had a ready tablet in her hand that was ready for testing. “I did it dad. I found the cure for Cancer!” Faith told her father. She waited for a scowl. Maybe a nasty comment, but it didn’t come. He hugged her tight and Faith could see his eyes glint with tears. After the cure was tested and approved, Faith didn’t sell it but donated it.