Miracles of Courage

Image of Set Stories Free - 2018
Image of Short Story
After Hurricane Christine struck northern Florida Noland Murphy and his family were left devastated with no place to call home, no food to feel their believes and no one tot turn to for any help. Noland soon realized not only his family was going through such devastation but hundreds of others families within his community and surrounding areas were experiencing the same hardship. That made Noland realize that his family wasn’t alone the destruction left behind by Hurricane Christine. Noland was already distraught mentally seeing his mother breakdown in tears after losing everything that she invested her hardworking money into over the course of two days as Hurricane Christine devastated their entire community. He home was deemed unlivable so now her family is forced to live in a one bed motel room that she can barely afford to pay for. Noland has watched him mother continuously breakdown in tears due to the overwhelming emotions she has been undergoing ever since. Noland was brought to the realization that not only did his family lose everything but dozens of other families in his same community lost everything because of that vicious destructive hurricane. Lives were lost, homes were destroyed and families were ripped apart all because of the devastation of Hurricane Christine. For nearly a week there small community Floridaville just north of Gainesville, Florida has yet to receive any help or assistance from the government as floods still run wild all throughout the small community known for it’s wholesomeness and family first mentality. Noland suffering from a rare form of cancer that won’t allow him to live for another five years has suffered more than enough throughout his entire life. He refuses to allow the next five years of his life which will be the final five years of his life to be filled with pain and agony which led him to begin his journey of the miracles of courage. One blistering fall evening just weeks before school started and just days after Hurricane Christine struck and devastated his hometown Floridaville he decided to take action upon himself. He asked his mother what he could do to help not only her but other people in her community however his mother Paulette had no clue what they could do besides gather the attention of their local and state politicians. Noland was completely unsure about how to go about getting in contact with any local or state political figure therefore he did what he knew best. He created a local fundraiser campaign to help fed local families who have been unable to afford grocery over the past few days ever since the hurricane devastated their community. He started a fundraiser in Floridaville just blocks away from the motel where his family had been forced to live ever since the hurricane ripped their home apart. He created flyers along with posters that he printed out from a local flyers store nearby that he didn’t have to pay for. He informed the store manager about his attempt to raise money for members of his community in order to help feed their families. The store manager printed out one hundred flyers and three large posters that he used for his fundraising campaign. He started his fundraising just blocks away from the motel his family was forced to live at then he decided to bring his fundraiser to his school in order to receive more attention. His community was already ravaged by the hurricane therefore as he immediately discovered many of the people in his community weren’t able to contribute money to his fundraising campaign to feed the families of Floridaville. After spending nearly a week attempting to receive funding for his cause Noland realized his best bet was to go to his elementary school to continue his fundraising campaign. It was there he met hundreds of people who were also devastated from Hurricane Christine. Some families were still forced to live at the elementary school because their homes were destroyed. Some families who were fortunate were able to return to their homes because Hurricane Christine didn’t affect their home. Plenty of those people would occasionally bring canned goods, toiletries and other items to help those families that were affected by the hurricane. Noland soon realized that Floridaville was filled with a bunch of good hearted people it was just that some people didn’t have the money needed in order to help others. However those who didn’t have money to help others would help others in other ways by allowing people to live with them in their homes or bring them breakfast, lunch and or dinners. It was there as Noland setup his stand right before the main entrance of his elementary school he met Leslie. Leslie was someone who attended the same school as Noland however they had yet to cross paths with one another until that very day. Leslie whose face was dripping with tears made her way to the front entrance of the elementary school shivering the entire time. She was distraught and it was evident the moment Noland laid eyes on her. His eyes widened the moment he spotted her shivering while making her way to the main entrance of the school with a boatload of tears spilling from her eyes. That prompted Noland to make his way over to her at that moment. “Are you okay?” he immediately asked catching her attention. She attempted to avoid him by going around him however Noland just stepped before her blocking her path. She shook her head while struggling to look him in the eyes. “What's wrong tell me I’ll help however I can” says Noland. He has a good spirit and always has. He's the kind of person who would give a homeless person the last dollar in his pocket in order to feed them over his self because he knows that he has food at home. He has always had the humanitarian mentality and that has never changed about him so witnessing Leslie shed a river of tears before him forced him to dash over to her to find out exactly what was troubling her. It was at that moment Noland examined Leslie’s clothing which was drenched in water. He noticed several bruises on the side of her neck which caused his heart to race. “What's wrong please tell me?” he asked. After several moments traveled by she gained the courage to look him in the eyes. “I don’t know where parents are” she replied causing fear to be injected right into Noland’s system. His heart shattered for her at that time as she wrapped her arms around him with even more tears pouring from out of her eyes. “I need my mom, I need my dad and I have no idea where they are.” “I’ve been trapped in my basement for the past week now and I just escaped a short while ago.” “My parents were home with me when the hurricane struck our home.” “My mother told me to go in the basement and stay there and I fell asleep shortly.” “When I woke up the hurricane had already struck and when I attempted to exit the basement the door was jammed.” “I’ve been trapped in my home for a week without any food any water and I have no idea where my parents are worst of all.” “I don’t know what to do I don’t know what to do.” Noland kept his composure while hearing her tragic story. He knew that he needed to maintain his composure to give her the strength that she needed. “Don’t worry we’re going to find your parents” he replied. He can only think about his own family and how hard it would be for him to resume his life without them by his side. He's driven to help Leslie in anyway possible and he will. No time was wasted at that moment as he immediately went to his father who is a police officer to inform him about Leslie and from there a search team was establish. The community where Leslie’s home resides was a community no one thought was affected by the devastation of Hurricane Christine but it was quickly realized that her community was impacted even more than any other community in the entire town of Floridaville.
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