Finally Found You

Life is a bucket of dreams, how much we pour water to fill it. What is exactly a dream?  A dream is the ultimate level of thoughts. The dreams are as much ours as the ice-cream which we have bought. So dream as much as you can no matter how crazy they are.

I am Jack, a super crazy dreamer as some of you might be. I am 40 years old. I always used to dream of traveling to different places all around the world. I like adventure, I like to explore and that’s what my father taught me when I was young. But the reality is very different I am working for a magazine company name ‘Life’ for the last 16 years. My work is of a photo collector in Travels. I collect photos send by different people especially photographers, edit them to get printed. My life is quite monotonous. I go to office, I come back home. I also daydream a lot. Sometimes I am a superhero saving children trapped inside a burning house and sometimes I travel to Antarctica just to take those purple flowers which grow there just because she liked. You might be thinking who ‘she’ is. ‘She’ is Mia, she joined the company just 2 months ago. I liked her. But I don’t have the courage to talk with her. Anyways I think I have not done any special thing in whole of my life so as to get noticed by anyone, no matter how much I want to.

That morning I met Mr. Andrew who worked with me. He looked somewhat frightened. He told me many of us are getting fired by the new chief as they are making the company online. No more magazines would be printed after this month. Mia was also socked with this news. With all these thoughts I went to my office. There was a courier from Sean. Sean was a photographer and an explorer. He was very close to me although we have never met. By looking at his pictures you can actually live that moment. I also wanted to do the same, a life full of adventure until my father died when I was 17 years old. I have to join early to support our basic needs. Now I am here somewhat happy with my job, still daydreaming of my old passion. Sean sent a bunch of photographs and a gift a wallet. There was a note inside saying the wallet was for me for my work. He told I presented the pictures just the way he wanted in the magazine. He also wished to make the 25^th picture as the cover of the last issue of the magazine. But there was no 25^th picture in the box.  

The new chief wanted to see the 25^th picture as soon as possible. I told it is being processed to get some time to find it. Then I saw Mia I went to her and asked does she know about Sean last billing address. She told she will ask her colleague and tell. After some time she came to me and said his last billing address was Greenland. I told her about the missing 25^th photo. She told me watch out for the previous photographs and avail some clues about his location and it worked in a photo there was a name of a ship that was in Greenland. She suggested me to go to Greenland.

I went to Greenland that very day. I saw a restaurant that was in one of his pictures. There I met a man who was a helicopter pilot and was going to the same ship to deliver the radio parts that day. I was in the helicopter, the weather was not good that day so we cannot land. The pilot told me to jump to the ship with the radio parts. I missed and went directly inside the ocean and encountered a shark. I was then saved by the crew members. It was a terrifying experience. One of the crew member told me that Sean left the ship 2 days ago and went to Iceland. We were also heading towards Iceland as I submerged the radio parts. Next day I was in Iceland and I got a bicycle to travel to the motel where he was staying which was 5 km away. I reached there and the receptionist told me that he headed to the south to picture a volcano. I headed to south and suddenly there was a volcanic eruption and I saw Sean in a plane taking pictures of it. Then I heard someone calling me it was the receptionist who came back for me. I thanked him for saving my life. Then I got a call from Mia and I told her about the stuffs I have done. She was happy after hearing this and me too I always wanted to do the same.

Lately that day I got a message that I got fired from the job. I came back and I was sad. I threw the wallet. I got to know that Mia was also fired. Then my mother told that Sean came to meet me and told her that he was heading to The Himalayas. My mother told that I must go there and ask for the 25^th picture. So I took my travel dairy which my father had gifted and went to there. I travelled hundreds of miles, climbed mountains and at last I found him. He was taking picture of the snow leopard which is rarely seen. I asked him about the 25^th image. He told me it was in the wallet which he gifted me. I was shocked as well as angry on him. He never told what was in that 25^th image.

I went back and saw the wallet was still there. My mother preserved it for me. I took the picture went directly to the chief and handed him. I have not seen what was in that pic. After 2 days I saw Mia went to her and told her everything what has happened and asked her would she like to go to a church with me. It was a beauty located in the countryside. She told yes. While we were walking down the street we saw this month issue of the Life magazine and guess the cover picture, it was my picture. Sean took my picture as the cover for the last edition and the caption was ‘Dedicated to the people who made it’. It felt really great.

So this was one of the chapters of my life. Probably the sweetest one. I learnt one should never stop following his/her dreams, dreams do come true. Be a tourist in your own community, live for today, test your limits and explore new territory. There are 2 stories to every life. Where do you want to go?

Submitted by

Ankit Mahato

A6429713003