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Friendship Creative Nonfiction High School

it was a bright saturday afternoon in the streets of India. Raju was a student of Erudite Academy and was going back home from school with his two friends Shyam and babu. They had one week left for their school summer holidays and were discussing how they'll spend their weekends this year. On their way back home, Raju saw a photograph which was lying on the road. He picked the photograph and saw that it was a photograph of a beautiful butterfly with " PALOS VERBES BLUE" written on the back. They found the photograph so attractive that all the three of them kept starring at the photograph for five minutes. Raju took the photograph with him and headed towards his home. He then started collecting informations about the beautiful butterfly species named Palos Verbes Blue. While researching about the butterfly he found it to be very exquisite and kept on gathering more information about the species. he came to know that the so called butterfly species was only found in southwest Los Angeles Country, California and the United States.

The next day, Raju told his two friends about his research and where they could see the butterfly for real. Raju tried convincing his friends for a trip to California in their summer holidays to see those butterflies. But both Shyam and Babu refused going to California. He tried his best to convince them but they did not agree to him. He then disappointedly went back home alone. after reaching home, he kept looking at those photographs and decided to go to California all by himself. He checked the overall budget required to travel from India to California but it was exceeding his budget. He had no options but to drop his idea. He then gave a despairing little shrug and went to sleep.

He attended school the next day but was totally downcast. He kept looking at the photograph even during the classes. Seeing Raju, both Shyam and Babu came to him and told him that they'll accompany him to California to see those butterfly species. Hearing this Raju burst out of joy and hugged both of them tightly. Raju was once again happy and was filled with excitement to go to California. But travel expenses was still a trouble for them.

All the three of them tried their best to fill their expenses but could not collect the required amount. It was the last day of school and the three of them were still in need of money. That day, on their way back home they saw a poster for competitions including essay writing, painting contest and debate and the cash reward for winning each competition was 20,000 INR. All the three of them took part in all competitions which was held the next day. they gave their best in all the competitions and patiently waited for the results to get announced. As expected by them, they won two competitions winning 40,000 INR. They were very much pleased by the amount of money they won and went to Raju's house immediately to have a discussion. They counted their money and found that they now had the budget to travel to California and stay for two days. Although they had less money, they decided to go to California. They all hugged each other tightly and planned to book the flight tickets by the next day. Both Shyam and Babu went back home and Raju started packing his bags. After he packed his bags, he sat on his chair and started looking at the photograph again. He was very much excited to visit California and see those butterflies. Later, all the three of them peacefully went to sleep not knowing what was coming for them the next day.

They planned to book the flight tickets from a nearby computer store. They contacted each other and decided to meet exactly 12:00 at the store. Raju reached the store 10 mins early and was waiting for them. Shyam reached the store by 12:06 and both of them started waiting for Babu. They waited for an hour but Babu did not show up. They tried calling him on his number but the call was not picked. They waited for another 30 minutes but at last booked the flight tickets without babu as the store was about to close. After booking the flight tickets, they went to Babu's house but to their surprise the door was locked. They tried calling him on his number again but could not reach. They kept trying several times and finally the call was being answered but it was not Babu on the call. It was from the reception of Apollo Hospital. They were told that by the receptionist that the owner of the phone had met with an accident today around 11:55 AM. Both Raju and Shyam were shocked hearing this. They immediately rushed to the hospital.

At the hospital, the receptionist had told them that the patient was severely hit by a fast moving vehicle and needs to go through surgery within 24 hours or he might lose his life. They were asked 50,000 INR for the surgery. Raju and Shyam counted the money which was left after booking the flight tickets and got 40,000 INR. They requested the receptionist to start the surgery with 40,000 INR and promised to pay back rest of the money within 20 hours but the receptionist refused. Both Raju's and Shyam's mind were blank, they did not knew what to do next. After thinking for about 10 mins, Raju told Shyam that he'll be going out to see if anybody wanted to buy those flight tickets as it was the only option left for them. Shyam agreed to it and told him that he too would try finding money for the surgery. Raju went door to door for about 4 hours asking if anybody wanted to buy those tickets from him but could not find a single person interested in buying those tickets. Meanwhile Shyam tried contacting his friends, cousins for help but unfortunately no one was able to give them financial support. Raju went door to door in search of buyer for another 2 hour but could not find anyone. Having no options left, he lowered the price of the tickets by 3000 INR and went searching for buyer once again. Luckily this time after searching for about 1 hour he was finally able to sell those tickets. After getting the money he directly rushed to the hospital and paid the amount for the surgery.

They waited outside while the surgery was being done. After about 1 and a half hour the surgery was completed and babu was being taken to a ward. He was not allowed any visitors for the first 2 days. Later visitors were allowed but only for 30 minutes. Both Raju and Shyam kept praying for his recovery and luckily Babu gained consciousness after 5 days. Raju and Shyam were sitting beside him when he gained consciousness. Teardrops started falling from both of their eyes as soon as they saw him gaining consciousness. now, Babu started recovering very fast and regained his health within 2 weeks.

He was finally released from hospital after two weeks. Raju and Shyam took him to his house and they had lunch together after 2 weeks. While having their food, Tears started falling from Banu's eyes, Raju asked him why he was crying. Babu answered saying that because of him everything got ruined. Hearing this Raju stood up and gave him a tight hug and said it's okay. we'll go during the winter holidays. Seeing them Shyam too stood up and gave both of them a hug. After that they had their lunch together and had a quality time together. All the three of them were very happy.

They spent the rest of summer holidays going out to have lunch and spend time with each other. soon their school too reopened and they all got back to their normal life. They went school together and came back together. Raju after reaching home still kept searching for videos and images of the butterfly on internet. They had planned to go to California during their winter breaks after 5 months. They started collecting money from the very beginning so that they could have plenty of money till their winter holidays . Raju and Babu started working part time at a store and Shyam started freelancing himself.

By the end of their session they were able to collect plenty of money for their trip with 10 days stay at California. They once again booked their flight tickets and started packing for the trip. Hopefully everything went well and they were able to go to California this time. They had the best times of their life. They went to see those butterfly species, they visited many tourist places, tasted new food and met new people. Raju took several photos of the butterfly and framed them later when he reached home.

After reaching home, Raju had a thought that everything happens for a reason in our life cause if they went to California during their summer holidays, they couldn't had enjoyed so much or stayed there for long as they had less money with them.

July 21, 2021 16:23

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1 comment

Annalisa D.
14:46 Jul 29, 2021

This is a great friendship story! It's nice how supportive, caring, and kind they were to each other. I'm glad they had a happy ending.

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