Lina Maria Giraldo's Blog

Once upon at time in an island full of skyscrapers, lived a King and the Queen. They were very happy and they had many plans.  The King and the Queen had 2 children, one was a girl named Stephanie and the boy was called Carlos.

The king and the queen were planning to open their doors and invite many people from others kingdoms. It was going to be the first time in history that they would have a world without borders.

The festivities started, parties everywhere, fireworks on the sky. The kingdom’s workers were full of expectations. They hadn’t seen their families for many years.  For some, they have never seen their children grow up, like Jose. He left his country because he received a death threat. His son Juan was already 23. It had been almost 16 years for him, working 3 jobs for the king non stop 24 hours with no sleep and cold in the endless nights of winter.

The news spread very quickly outside the kingdom. The outsiders were packing, getting ready; happiness was all over the world.

The next day on a muggy and gray morning, Stephanie II and Carlos were complaining of their dresses, so the king decided to take them to the tailor at the other side of the island. Queen Stephanie decided to stay in the palace to make sure the last details of the food were ready.  

It was almost 9:00 in the morning, when a loud sound came from bellow. The Queen was at the last floor of the palace with her worker helping her. Nobody knew what was happening, the windows were trembling and fire came out from the floor. The only thing you could hear was screaming. She couldn’t see, there was smoke all over the place. The Queen tried to escape, but it was impossible. The fire was all over the place. She tried to contact the King but the Queen didn’t have any luck. As a last resource and full of fear and sadness she jumped from the window. She closed her eyes and cried as she was falling….

The kingdom had been attacked, the soldiers were getting ready. The borders were closed, the king and his son were furious and full of hatred. Stephanie was crying non-stop. They started searching every corner. The soldiers started detaining people with no questions; if you didn’t have identification you were caught and send to the tents on the desert or jails that were 100 floors underground.  They attacked their neighbors. The king and his son were blinded by fury and his daughter decided to run away.  She was even afraid of her own family.

Jose, one of the workers was desperately looking for his son. He didn’t know where he was. His son was on his way to meet his father, he had been traveling for many days and the last time they spoke was before the attack. Jose knew it was a long trip; Juan had to take the train, walk into the desert, fight the extremely hot temperatures during the day and very cold during the night; he even had to swim the river. He was worried that he didn’t have his papers ready.  Jose was expecting the worst.
In the other side of the kingdom Stephanie was walking very confused, without a path. She didn’t want to come back to her family, she didn’t recognize her father anymore. She had tried to talk to him and understand what was happening but he had become a monster. Days after, she decided to never come back to her father and was determined to hide.

One day she met Juan on the streets. He had been hiding in the streets trying to find his father, before the soldiers found him. He helped Stephanie, who hadn’t eaten for days and was weak and filthy. Juan had recognized her right way and he knew she was the Kings daughter. she tried to hide it, but he knew right away. He allowed her to keep the lie and behaved as if she was any other person.

She slept in the gutters with 6 other people who lived there; she came to know their lives and the stories of their families and pain.  She learned to understand the agony of her new friends, desperately looking for relatives. Most had been traveling in the moment of the attack. They all became friends and she decided to stay there, work with them and try to help. One day, Juan and Stephanie woke up to realize they were deeply in love.

In the kingdom the King and his son had become the bloodiest leaders in the history of the world. The beloved King was now a tyrant hated by the people. Even the soldiers hated him now. What was once a land of freedom had become land of torture, detentions and fear. The people could not tolerate this any more and it wasn’t long before the revolt started.

By the time Juan and Stephanie reached the palace, smoke was coming out of the skyscraper and chaos was widespread. They tried to reason with the mob, but they would not listen. Suddenly Juan recognized a face among the leaders of the revolution. It was Jose, his father. They hugged and cried and danced with joy. Juan told his father about the princess and how she was a good soul.

Jose took control of the crowd and stopped them before they killed the King and the prince. Stephanie was crowned Queen in an improvised ceremony and the king and prince were sent to jail for the rest of their lives.

When Juan and Stephanie married, the kingdom was back to the lovely and peaceful place it had once been. They had carried out many of plans that had been forgotten and the borders were opened once again. Juan had been named prime minister and he was once again working 24 hours a day, but this time making sure nobody in the kingdom was suffering, hungry or cold. Stephanie would visit her father and brother every week and would tell them of all the good things that were happening.

The kingdom came to be the center of commerce, culture and politics in all of the world and the new King and queen lived happily ever after.