Henry was working overtime at his grandfather’s restaurant in Bayport, Rhode Island. Most of the people who came to the restaurant were tired and wet from being out at sea. The town was known for the abundance of salmon in its bay. The scent of the city was always the same: fish and oysters. The seagulls would paint the restaurant every day with their bright, white feathers.
Henry was working to help pay the mortgage for his family. Even though he had been a straight-A student, work was hard to find in the city. His school had not been the most prestigious one, but he certainly was one of the brightest men in the town.
The family restaurant was run by Henry, his dad, and his grandfather in the afternoons and early nights. In the early morning, they would go to the old row boat that had been handed down from his great-grandfather and go fishing in a secret spot that only they knew. Mom would always be cleaning the house. Every day, she would go to Grace’s room and look at the pictures of their time together.
This night, after they had closed and cleaned; Henry, his dad, and his grandfather sat on crates to tell a story. “Henry, let me tell you the story of my father’s greatest voyage,” said Grandpa. “You are ready to hear this marvelous journey. Every year, the East Coast hosts, ‘The Great Voyage'.’”
“I’ve heard of it in every store today. What is it?” asked Henry.
“It is a race that has been held for decades,” answered Dad. “The last crew to win it was your great-grandfather and his crew.”
“Who was with him?” asked Henry.
“It was me and my brothers, Michael and Richard. We weren’t the best crew back in the day, but we did know how to win.”
After Grandpa told him the story, Henry went to bed. As he was falling asleep, he knew that he would dream of the Great Voyage. It didn’t take long before he found himself in his great-grandfather’s boat with his friends in the Great Voyage.
“We just lost the main sail!” shouted Michael. “We can’t last another hour out here. We have to turn back now!” They had just entered their second day at sea ,and they were in the middle of a dangerous storm.
“No!” exclaimed his great-grandfather. “We can’t back down now. We are the only ones left!” The other boats had turned back because of the storm. Henry yelled to his great-grandfather but he was like a ghost to them.
The next morning was just like any other Monday morning. Henry couldn’t think about anything else except his dream, but doing so got him detention at school.
“Henry, are you okay?” asked his friend Mark. “You didn’t eat at lunch. You didn’t even talk to Rachel after lunch.”
“Last night, my granddad told me about his dad’s most famous voyage.” “I’ve been thinking. Do you want to run in ‘The Great Voyage’ with me?” asked Henry
“What’s going on here?” asked Travis. He was also with Rachel and Steven.
“Henry just asked me to join him on a fishing trip.” Said Mark nervously. He didn’t want Steven to go and he especially didn’t want Rachel to get hurt at sea.
“Just tell them.” Said Henry.
“Tell us what?” questioned Rachel.
“That Henry and I are going to run in ‘The Great Voyage’ in two weeks.”
“We’re going with you too.” Said Rachel with confidence. She knew as much about sailing as anyone in town, and she also had her stories of life-threatening sailing adventures too.
It was Saturday mid-afternoon and Henry was out at sea with his friends, practicing for the race. The weather that day was calm with no clouds and very little wind.
“How are we suppose to prepare for a possible storm if there’s not going to be any rain for the rest of the week?” asked Steven with frustration. “We can’t win. We can’t even communicate with each other without yelling.”
“He’s right” said Mark. “We need a real storm to know what its like and to be prepared for one.” After the discussion, they docked and Henry went to his house to ask his father for something that would worry his family and his friends.
The next morning, he left with his family to church for the only morning service. While his family played in the worship band and his sister was in the kids’ service, he sat in the back row with Rachel next to him. They had been friends ever since she moved to their neighborhood over nine years ago. When they first met, they had a very bad relationship and were very mean to each other, but deep down they had feelings for each other. Their relationship started when she was about twelve years old, when she was on the pier on a foggy morning in winter. She was just sitting alone on the dock when she fell in the water and she could not swim. After only about a couple of minutes of paddling for her life; Henry came, dove in the water and rescued her and they became friends on that day.
Later that day, Henry got his friends together to tell them news that would either get them excited or discouraged.
“Hey guys are you ready to go out?” asked Henry
“We said that we would take a break today.” Exclaimed Steven
“There is a big storm about fifty miles southeast of here. We need to sail through this storm. This will be the only storm anywhere around here for days." Later that day, they prepared to go out to sea with his father’s boat. They loaded for a three day trip with food, sails and med-kits.
After sailing through the storm, they had returned to the city at 9:43 PM without a main sail. They all went back to their houses but when Henry arrived at his house with Rachel, he was surprised to see the townspeople at his house. In their hands were candles and pictures of his sister. He and Rachel walked through the enormous group of people to his front door where his mother and father were at the door with a picture of his sister and a dozen candles.
“What’s going on?” asked Henry
“Come inside.” Requested his mom. When they entered, his father sat Henry and Rachel on the sofa and told them what had happened.
“You’re sister drowned yesterday, Henry”
“What?! How?!” shouted Henry with a devastated tone.
“She left the house on her bike in the morning like she always does. About thirty minutes after she left, a man came to the house telling us that they found her bike and helmet in the water by the pier.” Explained his dad. Henry ran out of the house heart-broken and headed for the pier.
Rachel searched for him for a while, and found him in the spot that they found his sister.
“Are you okay Henry” asked Rachel gently
“I can’t do it anymore!” shouted Henry
“Why not?”
“I can’t go on thinking that my sister is gone.” Henry wasn’t always nice to her but he always loved her. Hannah was the Santa Claus of the city; she brought joy in everyone’s heart. She helped people and never asked for anything back. After Henry finished explaining, Rachel moved closer to him and they kissed but Henry didn’t enjoy it because even though it was what he always wanted, he was not happy and he left right after.
It was Wednesday morning; the town seemed less bright and the clouds seemed darker. Henry missed a day of school and his friends had left early on Tuesday to comfort him. When school ended they all headed to Henry’s house but Mark was the first to arrive.
“Are you still going to the race this Friday?” asked Mark.
“No, I quit”
“No!” shouted Mark. “Don’t you ever say that again! I have tried many things where I have quit in a short time but that time of quitting is over. I will never let anyone quit in front of me again.” These words struck Henry deep because Mark had been known to quit on many things, so this was a shock to him.
Later that day, Henry and his family were getting ready for dinner. His sister usually set the table but now Henry had to do it. After setting the table, he and his mom looked at the table, seeing that it was set for four people.
"Sorry" apologized Henry. When he took a plate and cup off the table, a tear fell from his eye and then his mom could not hold her sorrow inside her and began to cry uncontrollably.
The next day, Henry and his friends were in the library, making plans for the competition when they heard a familiar voice at the table on the opposite side of the room.
"Nerve-wreaking, isn't it?" asked his old friend Josh with his girlfriend Mallory. "The pressure, the fear that you may not live to see next week" said Mallory, trying to scare them.
"What are you talking about?" asked Steven
"Don't play games with me! I know that you're competing in The Great Voyage"
"How did you find out" asked Henry. Henry and Josh had been mortal enemies ever since Henry busted Josh for selling illegal drugs in the school and got him arrested for two years. "Why are you here"
"Didn't you hear?" questioned Josh, "When I got out I signed up for the competition and I'm representing our town"
"What!? yelled Rachel "That's ridiculous!"
"Yeah, we've worked harder than anyone in this town!" shouted Mark
"Want to put your money where your mouth is? said Josh. "There is a storm far west tomorrow, early in the morning. Meet us at the pier with your crew and we'll see who the better sailors are. No backing out"
"You're on!" agreed Henry. Josh and his gang left but Henry’s friends were not happy.
The following morning, Henry arrived at the pier with his friends and the boat ready to go.
"Oh, we forgot to tell you. The winners get to run in the Voyage but the losers must work for the winners." explained Mallory
"Now we have to win" said Steven
"No we don't. We can just leave now and forget this." pleaded Rachel
"And one more thing. If you back out, you and your friends won't see the light of tomorrow." This put even more pressure on Henry. When he heard that threat, he knew that there was no choice and that they had to race.
They set off for the storm and it had been seven hours since they left. To make it fair; both ships had to sail right next to each other to make sure neither ship cheats. "The storm is almost here" stated Mark as he breathed deeply.
"Are you crazy!?" yelled Rachel "There's not a cloud for miles"
"We should prepare ourselves." Mark knew when a storm would come. His family was blessed with the skill to detect storms from far distances.
They prepared for the storm. They secured their lines, the sails, and of course their food. When Josh saw the fuss going on his old buddies’ ship, he too got ready and were both ready in no time. The wind became fierce and the waves began to wrestle with the boats knocking them back and forth and almost sinking Henry's boat.
"Let's go!" shouted Henry to his crew and to Josh. Not before long, they were both fighting the intense power of the sea.
"What's that noise" asked Rachel. They heard a small stretch and then all of a sudden "Snap!" their main sail flew off their boat and in the background of the storm was the sound of hushed laughing.
"Josh!" shouted Steven. "He sabotaged our sail so that we would die here and now." After hearing that, Rachel began to panic thinking she was about to die at sea.
"No, we can make it through this!" encouraged Henry "Find things to make another sail and we'll survive"
The next day, Henry and his friends arrived at the pier with what was once a beautiful boat and was now a piece of garbage. The main sail was made of blankets and their own t-shirts and jackets.
“We’re aliiiivvvvve!” shouted Steven with great relief and joy. Never in his life had Steven regretted something.
“Where’s Josh?” asked Mark. Since they had to sail next to each other, They figured that they had gotten lost.
“When he gets here. I’m going to murder him!” said Henry with his infuriating tone. Josh was known to cheat when he thought that he would lose.
After they had waited for about an hour, they had to assume that Josh had died at sea. Many people who lived in Bayport had died at sea but even some of the bravest men had could not best the sea.
“I guess we have to tell the mayor that we have to run in the race.” Said Rachel but she worried that the mayor might think that they killed Josh.
“But if we do that, we could go to jail for a long time” said Steven as he was now scared to run. “So, if we tell the mayor, we can get in big trouble. But if we go to the race and win, we could also get in trouble.”
It was the only a couple of hours before the race, and the most tragic thing happened. Rachel had been mugged and was bruised up more than a pro boxer.
“What happened?” asked Henry with a heavy desire to look under every rock for the muggers.
“All I remember is that I was walking from school and all of a sudden everything went black.”
“Can you remember anything else?” asked Henry
“Um…I think it was a man and a woman that mugged me” Her memory of that event was very blurry and happened to fast. It didn’t matter anyway. All Henry could think about was that Rachel was all right.
“We need to get you to a hospital” said Mark
“No!” yelled Rachel, “I have to go with you guys”
“What do you think guys” asked Henry. He didn’t want to make Rachel go to the hospital but he also didn’t want to risk her life in her condition.
It was time for the race. They tried to help Rachel as best as they could, but she was in bad shape.
“Are you ready for this?” asked Rachel. He didn’t answer because something sinister caught his eye.
“No!” said Mark, “It’s not possible”
“Hey, guys. I didn’t think you would still show up.” It was Josh and his friends. “How’s that arm” asked Mallory with a satisfied tone
“It could have been worse.” she said
“Yes, it could have been” Said Josh. He only said that so they would know who it was.
“I thought we agreed that the winner would race for Bayport?” asked Rachel. They had some time before the race started so they went to the race official. “Excuse me!” exclaimed Steven “What are they doing here! We’re racing for Bayport”
“Yes. And he is racing for Newport News, Virginia” said the official
“I guess we have a real race here” After the confirmation, they went to check their boats to fix what Josh had sabotaged. But nothing wrong was found.
“It looks okay from here, Henry” said Mark
“Bring everything we need in case something happens” Commanded Henry. “I’m watching you” he whispered to himself.
The race had started and they were about two hours into it. They started with fifteen boats and there had been reports that seven boats were down by what is thought to be sabotage. It was night time and everyone was asleep except for Henry. While sailing. they encountered Josh and while he was thinking of what happened to Rachel, Henry had a terrible plan of revenge. He quietly sailed next to them and damaged the ship without waking them. After he finished, he got as far away from Josh as possible.
The next morning a call came in that Josh’s boat had been sabotaged too.
"What! How is that possible?" asked Mark. His first assumption was Josh but now it was all unclear.
"Who would do that?" asked Rachel "The only person who would do that is..."
"Me" stated Henry. "I boarded his boat and wrecked it. He had to pay for what he did to you!" Rachel blushed but she also was ashamed of Henry.
"You know that if Josh fixes his boat, they will kill us." said Steven. Henry didn't think about that and his gut almost swallowed itself.
It was their last day til they reached England, and their strength and skills were now being tested. They were in the biggest storm known in that part of the ocean. They struggled. They were tossed and they almost sank. The ocean seemed to see the weakness in the crew and punished Rachel for it. Without warning, a brutal wave knocked her to the side of the boat, pinning her arm and making it almost impossible to move.
"Ahhhhh!" shouted Rachel in excruciating pain. "My arm! I can't move it"
"We have to get her somewhere safe" said Mark. They moved her below deck and set her on the bed. Henry went back upstairs and got right back to work. Half an hour into the storm, while they were still battling this monster, Henry heard a sudden "swoosh" and he saw a hole in their sail.
"What the heck was that?" asked Steven. He saw a boat behind them and they assumed the worst and figured it was Josh.
"We have to get out of here. Now!" yelled Mark. Then Josh unloaded all his bullets to Henry with a desire to kill. They dogded most shots but some hit the boat, making leaks and filling the boat with water. Then over the horizon, a thirty-foot wall of water roared towards them. They barely survived the deadly blow but as the sailed away from the wave, they saw no sign of Josh.
"He couldn't have survived that" said Henry. He was so realived but something terrible waited for him. Mark had been shot by Josh in his stomach and was already dead.
"Mark!" yelled Henry. His best friend was now gone and Rachel was hurt. "Goodbye my old friend"
They arrived in England, their boat barely holding and a member had been lost. They recieved the award but Henry wanted Mark to be at his side. His dream had been made to life but his worst nightmare had now come true.