creative writing

When my dad Steve died my mum Emilia was left alone in England with a 10-year-old girl and a business that wasn't going so well and wasn't making enough money to support us. Mum and I decided that it was best for us and the business to move away from England and our home to start a new life somewhere else. Something you should know about my family is that we would always move around England because my dad was in the army, this would sometimes make my mum angry and whenever she got angry she would take it out on me, I didn't like it but I couldn't do much about it. The most memorable memory I remember about my dad was that when we would go to the park and walk around he would yell out to me saying “ Emma come back here” because I would always run off from them and be ahead. So when mum said we were moving I didn't want to move because it was brought back a lot of memories of dad, but I didn't say anything because it would have just made her angry and I didn't want to do that because we had just lost my dad. So when we started looking for a place to move to mum didn't want somewhere in England and that is when we ended up finding a small country called New Zealand around 18 thousand km away from England. When my mum and I found this country we knew it would be a good place for us to move to and a good place to start over again because it will be easier for us financially and there is more land there. Finding this country made me not as sad to move because it looks like a nice place. Before we left mum sold the business and all the jewellery that was in it to. The guy that brought it was some rich buyer so we had enough money to support us for a bit and enough money to get our tickets to New Zealand. When mum sold the business we went out and brought our tickets. Mum brought herself a cabin ticket and me a steerage ticket so we saved on money. The day of our departure we had to wait for about 30- 50 mins for our boat to get to the docks, then when it finally arrived at the docks we ended up having to wait another hour to actually be allowed onto the boat. While we were waiting for the boat and all that, we went for a walk to all dads favourite places he would go to when he wasn't working. We went to the park where dad and mum met each other, for the last time. We walked back to the dock and boarded our boat this is where mum and I went our separate ways because we were in different seats.

On our journey to New Zealand, mum was seated in the cabin part of the boat and I was seated in the steerage by myself with others that were in there too. Sitting in there made me really wish I was in the cabin part with mum because it stunk and it was way too cramped for the number of people that were in there. When I would get bored I would either play chess or cards sometimes I would wonder what mum was doing whilst I was stuck down here, but I knew that if she had enough money she would have got me a cabin seat to. A lot of the journey the weather would play up and keep changing making the boat feel really ruff and bring out the bad smell of the dead animals and livestock. When it was time to eat I was served dried potatoes, salted and preserved meat, floured biscuits and oatmeal, whilst mum was probably served freshly cooked meat by the crew.  Not to mention the only way I could wash was by using the salt water from the sea and that was on the good days sometimes I didn't even get to wash. This is what my life was like for the next 50-60 days. And during the ride, there were a lot of sick people that were in the steerage, and to go on top of having a lot of sick people around me I think I might have caught something from another kid. The rest of the way to New Zealand I felt a bit sick but I didn't know if it was from getting sick or from the sea and the weather being so ruff. When we were near to the dock I was taken up to my mum and we waited for the crew to tell us we had arrived at the dock and were ready to get off. Before we got off my mum asked me "do u feel okay" I think it was because I looked sick so I just replied with " yeah I feel fine" and after that, we were on our way off the boat.

When we first stepped off the boat I remember thinking wow this place look so nice, because when our boat arrived at the dock I couldn't see anything since I was down in the steerage which is why I had to wait to see what it was like. Before my mum and I were allowed to step foot onto New Zealand land we had to show someone our tickets so they knew we really did pay for our tickets and that we didn't sneak onto the boat. Once all that was done and sorted with we walked over to get all our stuff like our clothes and some personal belongings, I still felt a bit sick but I didn't say anything because I thought it was just seasickness and it will pass by soon. While we waited for a ride into the town I ran around and played so I could stretch my legs since I was stuck in that cramped place for 50- 60 days on the boat. Our ride arrived in about 5-10 mins, it arrived and we hopped in, While we were on our way to the town the driver was telling my mum and I a little bit about New Zealand, and how the Maoris were the first people to ever stet foot onto New Zealand. As we arrived in the town I looked around and I was so surprised at how different it was compared to England. We hopped off our seats and out of the vehicle to walk around the town and find where we were staying. As we walked around I felt a bit sick still and I ended up passing out. I woke up in what looked like a hospital and the last thing I could remember was hitting the ground. When I sat up I found that my head was hurting and I saw my mum sitting next to me on a chair waiting for me to wake up. One of the doctors came in not too long after that and told my mum that I was very sick and wasn't looking so good. When I found out the news I wasn't really sure how to react because we had not long just lost my dad and now my mum is going to lose me to all in the same year. Laying in the hospital bed made me feel more tired, but that also could have just been because I was dying and getting sicker the more I sat in that bed. A few days went by before I died and left my mum. In those few days, I couldn't really do anything because I was too tired to move. One day my mum decided she was going to go home and come back the next day so she could get a few of my things and some games to play, like cards and chess. When she arrived back at the hospital the next day she was too late and I had passed away overnight in my sleep. When I was dying I didn't know what was going to happen to my mum, like if she was going to be a slave, housemaid or something else, and that really worried me.