Sailing Forever

Part 4: Endless Journey - No seashore found

After getting debarred, Emre was completely devastated. He got scolded badly by his parents. He locked himself inside a room and never came outside other than to eat food. Cara took the situation positively and kept on thinking what they could do to get out of this mess. However, she was unable to think properly because Emre’s condition worried her.

She went to his house a lot of times but got turned down by his parents. They blamed her for this situation and told her to stay away from him. She never gave up on him. She knew how strong their friendship is. She started writing letters to him and asked him to at least talk with her. Every week she wrote a letter and put it inside his house’s post box. Unfortunately, those letters never reached him. His parents piled all those letters inside a store room.

It has already been a year since he talked with her. He never picked up her calls because he felt guilty that he pulled her down along with him just like they said. She decided to give it one last shot for the sake of their friendship. She took his childhood, which he had shared with her. She took a paper and started to draw his photo. Surprisingly, it came well. She never expected it. She wrote ‘Always your friend’ and signed it. But this time, she knew keeping it in their post box was a bad idea.

She took a ladder to the backside of his house. She climbed the ladder and stuck her piece of art to the glass window facing his room, so that he would see it, if he just turned around. After that, she just trusted her friendship and went back home, while hoping for the best.

After a few minutes, he saw that piece of art and knew the only one who could have done it. He took that art in his hand and without him realizing tears already started to drop on that paper. He knew what he had to do to make things right. He changed his dress and came out of the house for the first time in the past one year.

He went to Cara’s house and apologized to her. He cried kneeling down in front of her and asked for her forgiveness. She knew that he would come. He took her hand and he stood up and said “I’m back” while smiling at her. She said “Welcome Home!” while smiling with happy tears.

“Now that you’re back, we have to think about the things we should do going forward.” She told him

“Can we even do anything? There are 2 years left until our next exam.” He looked down.

“Idiot! You’re still thinking about writing that stupid exam? We got much better things to do.” She patted his head

“What else can we do? We won’t get admission for higher studies.”

“We must figure things out. We know about ourselves more than others know about us.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We must work something out. There is no time to waste. I have already wasted one year doing nothing.”

“From today we will be continuously thinking about what we should do. We invest our time on this! I am sure that we will find a way out of this.” Cara said confidently.

“Yes, I agree. By the way, Thank you so much for your art. It was beautiful. I think you will be a great artist in the future!” He laughed.

“Wait a minute! I finally understand what we must do! You have no idea what you just said! Our friendship made me show my real talent. I almost forgot that I can draw well. You know what you’re good at right?” Cara smirked.

“Oh! you mean? Wow! That will be a great idea! We will start it immediately.” He said with excitement.

“How much time do you need to frame a good plot? It’s the best plot of Emre, we are talking about!” Cara smiled.

“Generally, it would take a few weeks for short stories. But this is our jackpot. Either do or die. So, we would need a big plot as well as a very good one. I think I would need at least three months to have an overall idea regarding it.”

“I am happy that I get to talk to you after a year. However, our goal is much more important. I won’t disturb you for three months. You think hard and develop a good plot. Make sure that you maintain your thoughts in the papers. You might forget some of your ideas. Record everything.”

“Thank you so much for trusting me on this. I will not fail this time! This will be our masterpiece!” he punched the air with excitement.

“Good luck, Emre. See you soon!”

This time, Emre decided to stay inside his room for a good cause. He did what he does best. He started working hard from day one. He even reduced his sleeping hours to compensate for the lost time. Slowly he started framing a good idea. A lot of ideas came to his mind and he kept on thinking about how to make it much better. For three months without any break, he worked hard. Finally, his hard work bore its fruit. He had an amazing plot, which he had created.

He piled all his working papers in a bundle and wrapped it with a thread. He went to her house and told her that his work was finally complete. She experienced immense happiness after a long time. She congratulated him and they laughed together and had fun. The next day, they started to think about the next step.

“Shall we start off? Are you ready with all the descriptions of each character?” She asked.

“Yes, I have described each character in detail to make it easier for you. Check out page no. 4 to page no. 27.” He passed his working papers to her.

“You have really done your ground work well. I think this is more than sufficient for me to imagine.” She flipped the pages and went through the details.

“That’s good then! We will begin our work without wasting any time.”

“How much time will it take for us to complete?” she asked.

“I think we could never complete it any time soon, since the story is big. I can complete it in 2 years, if I just write it. But our idea isn’t just writing, you know? So, what I would suggest is, we will take 9 months and complete as many chapters as we can. We will keep it as a base for us to market it to the people. What do you think?”

“That’s a good idea. I think I know the thing we should do to promote this to the people. Leave that to me!” She smiled.

“Ok then! Here you go, take this paper and start the work. Leave sufficient space for dialogues. I have described every scene chapter by chapter in my papers. I trust your artwork and you trust my story writing! This is going to be the best comic we ever created!” He said with confidence.

She drew the scenes patiently, since it was her first time. After 3 days, she finally completed drawing all the scenes of the first chapter. It was drawn exactly like how it was described in the papers. He saw her art and was really impressed.

“This is the best piece of art I have seen in a comic!” He said jumping, overjoyed.

“Thank you! It’s your turn now!”

He smiled and took 20 pages of beautiful art, which she drew. He got lost in time, while enjoying the art and writing dialogues for it. Finally, he was done with it after an hour and the chapter one of their comic was ready. There was a wide smile on their faces. For the first time in their entire life, they did something like this. They were determined to finish a lot of chapters within 9 months. Their confidence grew and grew and they kept on doing their best. By the end of 9 months, they had finished 40 chapters.

“Alright! We wrote 40 chapters! Not bad right?” Emre stretched his hands and stood up.

“It’s quite an achievement. I think this is enough for now! We must focus on promoting this to the people. “Cara took the first 2 chapters and stood up.

“So, what are we going to do now?”

“You will know soon.” She smiled.

“We haven’t named our comic yet. Any suggestions?”

“I have the perfect name in mind!” she said with a cheerful voice.

“Oh! What is it?”

“It’s ‘Friend’” she smiled.

“Wow! That title suits our story. Today, we named this comic as ‘Friend’” He smiled and shook her hand.

“I am sure that a lot of people will love it! Your plot is awesome. A lot of times I myself got emotional, while I drew those scenes.”

“I bet you did! Who’s the author of this story? It’s Emre!”

“I know that very well! Don’t forget that I am the artist who drew the characters of your story!” She giggled.

She left her house to do what she needed to do. Emre knew that she was good at business studies. He trusted her with this. He believed that she would find a way to get business out of their work. He sat at home patiently waiting for good news from her. In the meanwhile, he started writing in depth plots after chapter 40. He didn’t think about whether it would work out or not; he just did his job.

Cara went to various parks in the city. She visited most of them in evenings during weekdays because that’s the only time children come there to play. On Sundays, she used to spend hours together in some parks. She went from park to park just to entertain the kids there. She started narrating the story of ‘Friend’ to them by showing them chapter 1 and 2. A lot of kids were really interested in the story. They started to ask for more. After a few months without her realizing, she was already narrating it to at least 100 kids from all the parks combined. Also, she had narrated till chapter 10 already.

She banked on those kids. She wanted those kids to tell their parents about their comics. If that happens, it will become famous in the city and the comic will be in demand. Day by day, kids kept on increasing to a point where she couldn’t even count. Those kids brought their friends and cousins to listen to her story. She became a sensation in the city. It’s been a year already, since she started narrating. She was confident that she could do it.

She went to meet Emre after a long time to share what she has achieved. On hearing this, Emre was lost for words. Then she told him about the next step. All that was left to do is to find a publisher to publish it. There was only one comic publisher in the state, who was known as King’s comics. Cara and Emre went to their head office with their comic papers. Unfortunately, the manager of that company asked about the university in which they studied and their previous achievements instead of going through what they showed him. They were school dropouts, who didn’t even pass 10th class. That was their first try and so they didn’t have any past achievements. They were rejected without even being given an opportunity.

Emre did his best to cheer her up. Cara was completely devastated this time. She was confident that it would work. She told him that she wanted to be alone for some time. She went to a park and sat silently looking down. A kid came and told her that he heard what happened. He also said that he talked with his dad regarding this. His dad walked towards her and offered his business card.

“My son told a lot about your story. My wife and I are employed. So, he often misses us a lot and is sad most of the time. For the first time in my life, I have seen him so happy. It’s because of you. I am one of the most successful businessmen in this country. I see a bright future in you. I would like to invest in your comic. A ‘Friend’ needs a ‘ship’ to sail, Am I right?” he smiled.

Three years after getting debarred:

Emre and Cara cashed in their jackpot and earned themselves an investment for their hard work. Had Ms. Monca and Ms. Freda not debarred them, they wouldn’t be in this good position after three years.

One year ago, Alvah and Blamore scored high in their class 12 finals and topped the rankers list. Alvah achieved what she wanted. She had finally overtaken Blamore to achieve rank 1. Blamore lost rank 1 with a difference of just 2 scores between Alvah and him. He was anyway happy with rank 2. They joined the university, which they dreamt of.

Blamore joined a Comic editing course and she joined a comic writing course. Their life was very smooth and peaceful. There were no struggles for them. Whatever they touched, it turned to gold. They got rank 1 in all the exams conducted by their university in their respective courses. They excelled in everything. Everyone knew that those two were going to rule the comics industry.

One year later, they had finally completed their first year of their course. There were still two years left. At this point of time, Cara and Emre had already cashed in their jackpot. Without even running the race, they won. Obviously, Alvah and Blamore totally forgot about them. They never knew what those two were doing all this time. It’s been three years since that day after all.

They performed the rest of the two years with the same momentum and excelled in every exam, which they wrote. They finally graduated from their university and felt proud about their past achievements. They were completely overjoyed that they were going to work in their dream job. This was the reason they worked so hard. They were on cloud nine that day. Before even graduating they decided the place where they should work. They were confident that anyone would hire them without even interviewing. They believed that their skills were on a whole different level.

“Blamore, I saw an advertisement by king’s comics yesterday. I am going to apply for the post of comic writer. It was written that they are hiring a lot of comic writers for the upcoming autumn season series.” Alvah told him with excitement.

“Oh wow! That’s great! Congrats!” Blamore patted her head, smiling.

“They also need a lot of editors! You can also apply for it!”

“Wow! So, we get to work side by side in the same office!” Blamore smiled.

They got their jobs in King’s comics. That’s where they belonged is what they believed. The manager immediately selected them based on their merit scores and their achievements in academics. Everything was going smoothly for a year. They already started imagining their pleasant future without any hardships in their life.

One day, terrible news reached their ears. King’s comics were laying off a lot of employees because of the losses in recent times. The number of comic magazines sold wasn’t up to their expectations. It has declined substantially over the years. Using that fund, they couldn’t pay all those newly hired employees. The only option left was laying off them and calling off the autumn season series. All the employees, who were hired for the purpose of this series were laid off permanently. So, Alvah and Blamore lost their jobs.

They couldn’t believe what just happened. They never thought rank holders of a top university would lose their jobs. Their hard work became dust. Alvah was completely dejected and felt like a failure for the first time. Blamore couldn’t even speak a word after hearing that news. They were on top for so many years. Suddenly, when they sank to the bottom, they couldn’t even imagine it. Whereas, Cara and Emre were at the bottom for so many years but when they reached high suddenly, they felt like it was worth it. A failure knew to handle failure much better than the toppers.

“Blamore! What shall we do now? My mind has gone blank!”

“My mind has gone blank as well! I don’t know what to do.”

It’s been 6 years since the minds of Cara and Emre had gone blank during the class 10 finals. They were able to make a comeback from that moment. However, the minds of Alvah and Blamore had gone blank in their life. They didn’t know what to do next. They have never been in such a situation. Everything felt so different to them. They thought everything was over. All their previous achievements meant nothing.

“Alvah, how did the comic magazine sales of such a strong comic book seller like King’s Comics decline?” Blamore asked her, confused.

“This makes me remember a day from 7 years ago, when we were in class 9. You remember the day, when Ms. Monca distributed answer sheets of second mid-tests?”

“Yeah, I remember. What about it? I think Cara and Emre got scolded by her for writing stories in the paper instead of what was given in the book.” Blamore said.

“Exactly. We both just did rote learning and wrote whatever was in the book and got high scores without even understanding the answers we wrote. We just memorized every single word in the book and we poured it in the answer sheet. But I was curious about Cara’s answers. I wanted to know what stories she wrote. After the school ended, I asked to show me her answer sheets. She showed me her business studies paper. There was one answer, which impressed me. I didn’t have a big heart at that time to appreciate her.” Alvah said, looking down.

“It was about the product life cycle. You remember the stages of the product life cycle?” She added.

“Uh? No. We studied it long ago. I don’t remember it.” Blamore said.

“That’s because we didn’t study for the sake of knowledge. We were just focussing on getting high scores and didn’t even bother what we were studying.”

“Yeah, that’s true. What are the stages and what was written in her answer anyways?” he asked curiously.

“Introduction stage, Growth stage, Maturity stage and Decline stage. She even gave an example of a product and stated the reasons why any product would reach a decline stage. Those reasons exactly match our current situation. I think she was an unsung hero of our class. She was a genius. She wrote that a product would reach the decline stage, when a better product comes to the market and replaces it. That is what exactly happened. A rival comic magazine company overtook King’s comics, which resulted in decline of sales.”

“Oh my! I knew she was talented but this is just pure knowledge. Without even having a practical experience, how could she state such a practical example at that age? I cannot believe this!” Blamore looked stunned.

“Also, if we had learnt product life cycle properly, we wouldn’t have taken this decision of joining king’s comics in the first place! The rival company was established three years ago. From the moment it got established, the sales of their comic magazine sales grew rapidly thanks to one bestseller comic in that magazine. In just two years since establishment, that rival company was already competing on equal footing against them. That’s the point where we made the decision to join King’s comics. If we had researched this before and applied the product life cycle, we would have known that king’s comics would most likely go through a decline stage because of the emergence of a big competitor.” Alvah said with a sad look on her face.

“I was not able to understand the reason for the drop in sales of a reputable company. So, I dug deep and did my research. That’s when I found out about these things.” Alvah added.

“If I meet Cara and Emre again, we should ask for their forgiveness. We have treated them badly.”

“Yeah, I agree. It’s been 6 years since I saw those two. I wonder what they are doing now.”

“Oh my god! Blamore! See this! The rival company is expanding their business! They are hiring comic editors and writers. We can apply there!” Alvah said, flipping through a newspaper.

“Damn! We are lucky! I had no idea what we would have done!”

They forwarded their resume and appeared for an interview the next day. They walked inside a big building while looking around. It had 15 floors constructed with glass exterior and glass doors. They felt like they were in some other world. They informed the receptionist about their interview. She said that the CEO and CFO had already reviewed their resume and asked a manager to confirm the appointment with them.

“The candidates have arrived Ms. CEO and Mr. CFO” The Manager said.

“Go and tell them that there is no need for an interview. We are aware of their knowledge and expertise. We welcome them to ‘Ship comics’” Cara said and Emre smiled.
                           
                            The End