Maria's Search for Inner Strength | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Maria's Search for Inner Strength | Previous Challenge Entry
By Bethany Harbaugh
04/20/06
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Maria stood at the edge of the deep crevice, feeling angry. “Why can’t I seem to get this together. The words…ring through my head over and over.” She remembered what that her father had written a year earlier.

“Your power is not yet complete. You need to connect with your ‘inner strength’ before you can be the hero you are meant to be.”

“How should I know what it means?” She stomped her foot onto the ground. “I’m only fifteen!” She sat down and dangled her legs over the edge. Her blonde red-streaked hair flowed through the wind like silk.
She looked up to the sky. “What is ‘inner strength’? And, what did he mean about ‘being the ‘hero’ I was meant to be’? I’m no hero: just a girl.”
She threw an energy ball towards the crevice wall opposite of her. Rocks flew downward. “What’s it all mean?”
She thought about what her father had said many years ago. “You have a meaning in this life. One day, it’ll meet you in the face. You can either follow it, or you can ignore it and just live life meaningless. It’s your choice.”
She looked beside her. There, in the distance, was a giant building. She stared at the building in hatred. “Losers…I hate them all. Those stupid government people. Why do they have to ruin my life?”
Memories of that terrible day raced through her head. She relived the moment again.

“Daddy!” she cried out in horror.
“Maria!” Her father struggled to get free of the soldiers’ grasps. “Run! Don’t worry about me! RUN!”

Maria cried at the memory. “Why did they have to take him away. Why!” Tears fell down her cheeks.
She stood up and looked at the building. “Now I know what I have to do! I have to save him!”

The alarms rang loudly, alerting the soldiers. Maria ran through the halls swiftly. She ran into each room, looking. Finally, she found the containment room. She forced the sliding doors open, revealing someone who made her blood heat up. “Dr. Exment!” she cried out angrily.
The middle-aged man sneered at her. “My, my! What a surprise! It’s so nice that you could fall into my trap!”
Suddenly, soldiers came out of nowhere, surrounding Maria. “Wha…?” She around, trying to find a way out.
“Not even you can get out of this mess!” Dr. Exment laughed, viciously.
Maria looked at him, angrily. “What makes you think I can’t?”
Dr. Exment took out a remote control from his pocket. He pressed a button, revealing a figure in the status pod. “DAD!”
Dr. Exment laughed. “If you try to resist, my men will shoot the status pod, ending his life.” He looked at her, as if he had beaten her. “Anything you do will turn out for your worse!” He laughed again.
Maria thought, “How can I save him? If I get captured, then he’ll remain in there for the rest of his life. If I try to save him, then they’ll shoot the pod! Dad, how I wish you could talk to me! What can I do?” Then, she remembered another thing that he had told her many years ago.

“Maria,” he told her, “when the time comes to choose your fate, you’ll have two very difficult choices. You have to choose from one of them.”
“But, how will I know which one is right?”
“You’ll just know, and you might even find your inner strength.”
“What is ‘inner strength’?”
“We’ll just have to find out when the time comes. Won’t we?”

Maria whispered, “Yes we will…” She looked at Dr. Exment as her eyes began to glow green. “You know, Exment, you always over-look what inner strength gives you. Some people find it without knowing it. Me: I‘ve found mine.” Balls of energy surrounded Maria’s hands. “I won’t let you take him!”
She placed an energy shield over the pod. Energy surrounded Maria. A shock wave from her knocked all the soldiers down. Dr. Exment, startled, ran from the room. Maria’s eyes stopped glowing and her hands went back to normal. She opened the pod and shook her father’s shoulder. “Dad. Wake up.”
He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her smiling face. “Maria. I knew you would find it.”
“Find what, Dad?”
His eyes looked at her, gently. “Your inner strength.”
“Inner strength?” She realised that she actually found it. She smiled at her dad and said, “Come on. Let’s go home.”

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