Outstanding Stories » My Only Friend Was The Man In The Moon

“My Only Friend Was The Man In The Moon” is one of the outstanding stories (sub-junior) of the second biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Mariah Carabott, San Gorg Preca, Paola Primary B, Malta.

My Only Friend Was The Man In The Moon

Once upon a time, I was in a land called Pirate Land. Nowadays people call me Anne, but my name is really Anna. When I was only five, I never had any friends. I didn’t have a family. I felt like Pirate Land never knew me. Every day, I had nothing to do. Every night, I dreamt about having many friends support me through things, but that didn’t happen in those days.

When I turned six, I discovered that I did have a friend!! It was a man who lived on the moon. He never told me his name. When grownups asked me where I come from, I always responded that I wasn’t lonely but I didn’t have anyone to live with me. When I said that the only friend I had was the man on the moon they would walk away. Some would say that there’s nobody on the moon. I never believed it. Even though I spent my days searching for food, the man always helped me find a way to feel good about myself. As time passed by, I started to realize that the people started to ignore me for my beliefs. On the last Sunday of the month, the land’s people threw firework festivals. I attended every festival just to see if anyone had a good heart to feed homeless children like me. Unfortunately, it never worked for any poor, homeless child. In every festival I attended, I used to remember deeply what my grandmother said before she died. She said, “When one is destined to achieve her hopes even the highest mountain would tremble to get what was wanted and needed”.

I was 8 and I still was homeless. One rainy day, I got up feeling sadder than ever. I tried to figure out what was wrong, but I couldn’t. I tried everything I enjoyed but it was all useless. Soon enough I figured that the man left me on this island alone. The times I tried to communicate with others is countless. A week later I felt like I wanted to do something that will make a good impact on my life and others who lived like me. I started to talk to children by being myself and so we started meeting every day. I’m sure we all had fun in the years we had together. The ruler of the land thought that we have no right to be given food. A girl said, “We can just steal some fruits every now and then”. I thought it was a good idea so every week we split up into different markets and did our thing. That lasted until I was a teen. At that time, I was offered a small job. I worked as a cleaner, but I wasn’t very happy.

Even though it wasn’t the best job, I was thankful to have my friends help occasionally. As time passed by it got difficult. I realized that when I was a child, I had distractions to make me feel better but now I grew up. I earned some money from the job I had. In a month I had enough money to go to a certain person. Her name was Stacy. I went to her early in the morning and told her about the man. She said that the man was the guardian of this land. She also added that it’s extremely rare that one sees the man. As I walked back to my little shed that I called a house, I started to hear what she said in my mind.

As I found more jobs I got more friends. I was very happy that my life was starting to finally work out. Eventually, I travelled to another big and beautiful island. It was a Fairy Island. I brought my friends with me of course. I met Flora, Rose, and Ivy who were fairy’s just the size as me. They got me a mansion with a massive garden that I loved. I felt like a princess in both a castle and heaven. All my Best Friends and I were super happy. We had all the time in the world to bond.

We Lived Happily Ever After