Disaster story

CHANGE YOURSELF NOT NATURE Collaborative Disaster Story

5th Lyceum of Veria Greece Part 1

It was a regular Saturday morning for everyone, including Apollon and his family. The sun had just risen and the port of Piraeus lit up by its light. The tanker, that Apollon was responsible for, had to sail in an hour. However, saying goodbye to his family wasn't something unfamiliar to Apollon, since he was thirty eight years old and already a merchant ship captain for about eleven years. On the other side, seeing their father off, was a pretty difficult and sad procedure for his two children, his eight year old daughter Angela and his twelve year old son Alexander. Mary his wife, was a bit stressed because she would have to take care of the kids on her own for the next three months, although she tried to seem calm in front of her husband. After having a group hug and saying goodbye, Apollon headed to the tanker΄s entrance. Before he could enter it, Angela started running towards him with her eyes filled with tears.” Daddy!”, she yelled.” Please don't go!”. Apollon looked back to his daughter and hugged her for one last time saying “Don’t be sad, sweetheart. Keep in mind what I told you. Daddy will return before your hair have reached your elbows.”. Angela then nodded at him with a sorrowful expression on her face. After reassuring her that they will meet soon, Apollon started walking towards the ship again. He got in and reached for his colleagues. After a few minutes, he found them all together drinking a bottle of wine and laughing out loud. He filled his cap with wine too and started discussing about the long trip that was about to start.

Then, he entered his cabin and left his luggage there. Minutes before the ship would sail he walked up to the bow of the ship to take a look at the calming sea. He immediately remembered why he completely adored his profession. Even though there were a lot of hardships, as transferring oil by tanker is a dangerous job, he was grateful for being able to both work and admire the sea simultaneously. Having this thought on his mind he headed to the deck. A long trip was about to start and he was ready to lead it, as an experienced tanker driver. Two weeks had passed after the beginning of the trip and Apollon felt a strange feeling of stress, although he had done this route with his tanker many times before. He had already missed his family and the calmness of his house. The next days were going to be crucial as the mechanics were supposed to start the main check process to the engines and the oil tanks. Everything seemed fine at the first look and no dangerous signs had appeared yet. However, they could not rely just on that first look as the ship’s cargo was extremely big and everyone had to be careful, especially Apollon as he would be the responsible one if something went wrong.







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Meanwhile, Apollon's family was sending news to him. This made Apollo very happy. His family had no problems, they were fine. Apollon's work was getting busier because many ships like Apollon's ship were on their way, and because of this situation, sea traffic was intensifying. Because of this maritime traffic, Apollo was changing and re-forming its course every day. There were so many ships that when Apollo woke up each morning, he could see the grey mist that formed and with it, the oil spills leaking from the tankers of ships like his ship. Apollo knew that these leaks were causing big problems. Because of this, he makes sure that the tanker checks on his ship are carefully conducted. Whatever the case, he did not skip a single step of the controls. Apollon and his colleagues wanted to give all the workers a nice dinner to honor their hard work. This meal would at least be a morale and motivation dinner for the employees who miss their families. That day had come, long tables were set throughout the dining hall, red tablecloths were laid, and plates, forks, and goblets were prepared for each worker. Especially for the workers who were tired of eating rice and mashed potatoes every day, they carefully prepared and cooked the fresh fish caught from the sea by the most skillful cooks on the ship. Fish was served and wine was poured into glasses. Apollon raised his glass and prepared to make a speech, after clearing his throat these words came out of his mouth “Every person on this ship is very important to us, first of all, I want to say this. I would like to raise a toast to our workers who ensure the safe transportation of this important oil on ships, who leave their lives and families behind, and who fulfill their duties with pride and a sense of duty. Cheers!\". Afterward, dinner was eaten, games were played, and everyone retired to their rooms to rest. In the following days, the crew began to get sick. At first, they didn't care much because a few people got sick. But as the hours passed, more and more people got sick, and when more than half of the crew got sick, they realized something was wrong…



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It was a Tuesday morning and Apollon was walking on the deck of the ship holding a cup of tea, reminiscing about his beloved family when suddenly he stumbled. Almost falling flat on his face, he knelt down to examine what almost gave him a nasty injury. It seemed to be an ordinary brown coconut at first, but as Apollon looked closer, the “coconut” seemed to be breathing. He gasped in shock as the object uncurled itself. It was a large crab, and it was angry at Apollon for disturbing its sleep. As it snapped its razor-sharp claws at him, Apollon found a long metal pole lying on the side of the deck. As he raced towards it, he glanced behind him to check if the irritable creature was following him. It was, but its stubby little legs were no match for Apollon. He grabbed the metal pole firmly and swung it at the crab. The crab grabbed the pole with its claws and started crawling up it with incredible speed. Apollon yelled in shock and dropped the pole onto the deck. The crab snapped its claws and started pursuing Apollon again. As Apollon ran screaming across the deck, the captain of the ship heard the commotion and came outside to resolve what he thought was a drunken argument between two intoxicated sailors. He glanced left and saw Apollon running from the crab. He started laughing and walked towards Apollon wiping the tears from his eyes. It took him only a few seconds to grab the crab from two of its legs and drop it swiftly into the ocean. Apollon, embarrassed from the peculiar encounter, apologised for acting like a young child and gave the chuckling captain a promise that such foolish behavior wouldn’t happen again.

Days passed and the ship continued its journey safely, the humorous crab situation already forgotten. But during the third week, as they were passing through a storm, something went wrong. The ship started to tilt to the right, and the alarms started ringing loudly. Apollon and the crew immediately took control of the situation. They soon realized that the oil tanks were not balanced properly. It was a critical situation as the ship could have capsized. Apollon worked fast and managed to balance the oil tanks, but it was not easy. It was a nerve-wracking experience, and Apollon couldn't help but worry about his family. After a few more days of rough waters, the ship finally arrived at its destination. Apollon was relieved that the crew and the cargo were safe. As soon as he had the chance, he contacted his family. Mary answered the call and told him that everything was okay and that she and the kids were eagerly waiting for his return. Finally, the day for his return arrived. Apollon was welcomed back by his children with open arms, and Mary's smile brought back the happiness he had missed so much. He hugged them tightly and felt grateful for being able to return home to his family. From that day forward, every time Apollon went on a trip, his family would always be there to welcome him back, safe and sound. The experience had taught him the true value of his family, and he knew that, no matter what, he would always have their love and support.

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But would he really be able to join his family? Now we ask you, the readers, to choose among three possible ending…. 1st ending: The wellness that came with the balance that they achieved brought them to organizing a feast: the same evening the crew laid the table putting on the vastness of seafood that they had fished a few days ago. In the middle of the table, a gigantic lobster was put, honoring the men's accomplishment: they would have dominated the world that night; red wine coming from France was ready to be chugged by the jubilant people. The banquet started at 5.30 pm just to end at dawn: only God knows how much alcohol had lubricated the sailors' throats in that lapse of time: bottles were stacked up high in a corner of the deck, being evidence of drunkenness. The moon was reflecting its light in those green cylinders, shattering into thousands of different colors. Apollon himself was pretty inebriated, so without realizing where his legs were taking him, he ended up in the room in which oil barrels were stored. The darkness surrounding him made him remember the nights spent with his wife dancing, following the steps of an unedited waltz, whose steps were invented by them. Apollon's phone started playing the harmonious sound of a violin, his posture straightened and his feet started swinging uncontrollably. He got a bit too close to one of the barrels and in his crazed dance, he accidentally made it fall, spilling all of its contents on the ship’s floor. He was drunk enough not to comprehend what was happening to his surroundings, so he carelessly fetched a match from his jacket and lit up the candle nearby, and put it on a chair as if it was a romantic dinner between two lovebirds. Between the twisting of heels and the stepping of toes, he accidentally hit the chair, causing the candle to fall on the ground: the fire gradually spread all across the room engulfing him in a strong sensation of warmth, which reminded him of his dear family hugging him just moments before his departure.

The 2nd ending: Everything seemed to be all right: they were en route and in just a few days they would have returned to their beloved families, embraced by a feeling of freedom and glee. However, not everything goes as planned, and your greatest nemesis could make their appearance when you least expect it: the resentful crab had come back after having been dumped in the sea by the captain, and now it was much more enraged than before, and on a revenge streak. Despite his shell only allowing it to have a minuscule brain, it was very erudite, and perhaps even more than the average human: he formulated a complex and detailed plan on how to exterminate those who had wronged it and had the guts to disturb its peaceful slumber. It had to calculate how to make it seem like an accident: it called forth all of the crab families to aid him in its plan. Their razor-sharp claws would have been able to cut through the ship's bottom as if it were butter, hence that's what the teammates did: the ship looked like a colander which permitted the passage of water inside. It heavied the lower deck so much that the ship was almost unable to move, although not enough to make the crewmates suspicious. After a couple of minutes, the situation got out of hand, and before the sailors could even grasp the poor state the ship was in, it was already too late and they couldn't do anything about it: water started pounding on the insides of the structure, resulting in a nefarious echo which made sailors shiver to the bone, up until they began hiding in tight corners which lead to their ultimate demise: being drowned with the vessel in the sea.

The 3rd ending: As the final days of their journey in the sea approached them, he recalled the promise he had made to his sweet baby girl Angela: he would have got home before her hair reached her elbows. While he was stuck reminiscing about the past, it had already got dark, dark enough to make the starry sky the only light he could see, except the lighthouse…which was that night strangely elusive, inducing a strong sensation of unsettlement. Apollon felt as if things would go downhill at any moment, in particular, he judged a raven's craw as a harbinger of an eerie disaster. And little did he know that he was on to something: that same night was his last one. The absence of the lighthouse's signal led to the disorientation of the captain, unable to locate the port correctly but also too proud to admit his lack of orientation skills. Therefore, as a cliché, the vessel bumped into a hurdle, which sliced it up in two, as if it were a loaf of bread; in the spawn of a couple of seconds, the sailors' fate was tied by a red thread to death, and they understood that trying to cut it would have been futile. Apollon's last breath was filled with regret and melancholy: fragments of his promise flashed in front of his eyes; his beloved daughter will always be waiting for him although with her hair way below her elbows and with all hope lost in meeting his dad in this life again.