Dear all, I am sorry if I did not announce the winner through the challenge. I have some good news though. I declare the two winner essays:

- H.O.P.E by Tamanna

- The College Student’s Inner Monologue by Rowan Zinn

You should be receiving the prize by Wednesday. Thank you for participating in the competition.

Katrina was born into a rich family. She was a pretty, beautiful and sweet girl. Her body was quite delicate as she was born very early. She was cared for very well. When her mother’s disease took a big toll on her when Katrina was very young, she was at the verge of death and had to eat at least 10 types of medicine. Two months later, the medicine did not work and eventually she died.

Her father fell into deep depression and could not bear it anymore so he decided to put her up for adoption. He did not even pay the fees and could not afford the house. He got retrenched from his job which was well-paying. As a matter of fact, he could not even afford a meal at any hawker centre. He sold the house and the car, in order to afford his needs, at the time.

Luckily, an elegant looking lady had a liking toward Katrina as she was pretty. The lady’s family was also rich, like her biological family. She decided to take Katrina home when she was older, like when she was 6. The orphanage was still taking care of her while the family was considering. Katrina was not religious, and was born into a family with no religion, and she was not interested.

The lady decided to take her in, with the condition that she stayed isolated till she was 18. Only during meals and exhibitions will she leave the room while the rest of the family enjoyed life outdoors everyday, and she treated Katrina like she was a maiden in rich clothes. She got her first phone, which was a IPhone 11 Max Pro. It could take perfect pictures and edit them with the latest software in a computer, which Mrs. Inrea decided to buy for her too.

Mrs. Inrea was pretty evil too, at times. She once robbed all of Katrina’s belongings, excluding the phone and the computer. The books, the spare food, the teddy bear that reminded her of Mother, even the last things that remained precious to her, like the pendant. Not fun, she thought. When she was able to get one breath, she was relieved that she was not isolated forever. In the end , she returned it all when her husband told her to.

There was also once, she took a bag of peanuts and passed it to her as a snack. She told her that it was ‘freshly picked’ from the garden. She appreciated the deed. However, when Katrina ate one peanut, she passed out on the ground. “Are you okay?” She asked with a little “concern” and a little evil grin on her face. She woke up with nothing in her mind. The doctors told her she just had a severe allergy reaction. She also had an anaphylactic shock. Katrina overheard it and had gone a little crazy. She only remembered she had packed a bag and it was on her back the whole time. It was still on her back, thank goodness.

She took the phone out and took selfies and posted it on Instagram. Katrina met Prince Vincento and started following him, and he followed her. She always posted some pictures of going to a beach, a luxury hotel or places of beholding nature. The pictures were also very ladylike. They started chatting and eventually met up in a Zoom meeting. They chatted as if they were on a real date.

Katrina stayed optimistic every day as she waited for the day of release to come. The day arrived and she was allowed to leave for good. That day she took her belongings and left to find a job. By the time she was released, she started 2 businesses, which was what to fall back on when in times of need. She eventually found a job as a writer and started writing. Never did she regret any part of her life. Till this day, she still lives her life optimistically.

“Optimism is the key to life and do not regret life’s bad decisions by you; live life to the fullest.” She says, to motivate herself and the world.

Ever since, she has been living a good life, with a child and a dog.

A young, energetic and ambitious cat named Willow was at a park strolling by the pathway. It had just finished its hunt for stray mice and caught many. While the cat was strolling, it saw many walking by. Most gave no good attention to Willow as it was a black cat and it was told that black cats bring bad luck. One looked at it threateningly. The person was planning to catch it and bring it to the animal shelter so that people in the park will not face bad luck. It was successfully caught and was brought to the animal shelter. Soon after, good riddance came to its rescue.

A few days later, Willow met another cat. It was now not lonely. They play together and have their meals together. They also cuddled together at night to sleep in the field, with the stars.

As the animal shelter volunteers were watching television, the duo came to the television. They were watching the news. The headlines said, ’Illegal cat catcher on the loose, adorable black cat that was lucky was caught and isolated.

Suddenly, the door pushed open. A sweet girl came in to browse through the catalogue of breeds of cats. They told her that there was a new arrival of a black cat star. After looking thoroughly, she chose not one, but two cats. She picked Willow and Cutie. She saw them cuddling together and thought that they were very cute.

When she brought them home, she fed them well and put them in bed. How comfortable! thought Cutie. “Hope you like your home,” muttered Felicity to the cats. “Mew!” They meowed to Felicity, showing how much they liked it. Within a few hours, the cats were able to call this place home. Felicity showered them with lots of love and they loved her, too.

When Felicity went to school, she brought along her kitties. When she met her friend, Harvard, she introduced the cats to him. “How I adore these cats! They are very pleasant, and soft. They fit your personality. Can I know their names?”

“Willow and Cutie,” she said.

“Adorable names,” Harvard told her.

“Hmm... The other day, I saw a headline. Is it this cat that was caught?”

“Yes, that’s the cat,” said Felicity.

“Okay, nice to meet these cats. I have to go, see you later.”

On the way home, she walked the cats at the park, past the flower garden, past the vegetable farm, and past the dog maze. “Harvard, is that your dog!?”

“Oh, nice to see those cats again.” Suddenly, the chat was interrupted by a buff and muscular man. He tried to grasp the cats’ tail and take it away. Harvard’s dog began to bark at the man and bit his hand hard. The usually gracious Felicity boxed him in the eye and popped his eye socket. He threatened to call her to the police if she beat her again. “Hey, you stole my cat, alright? You deserve it, bastard!” A passerby made the arrest and led them to the nearest station for further investigation.

“Did he do anything wrong?”

“He attempted to steal her cat,” Harvard told the policeman.

“Well, did anyone hurt him?”

“I did,” said Felicity.

The policeman brought them to court, in front of the superior judge.

He tried to understand the case but to no avail, nothing worked. The buff man was put to jail while Felicity was praised for being an animal lover and was sent home. The man was in jail for a pretty long time, but he never learnt his lesson…

When he was at trial, he pleaded not guilty but Felicity and Harvard told the judge he was guilty. Meanwhile, in the cage, the pets fell in love with one another. Luckily, one cat was a male while one was a female. That meant that they could have the activity together. They had the activity and Cutie fell pregnant with the new kitten. Harvard took his dog home and Felicity took her cats home, too.

“Feeding time!” called Felicity.

“Miao” Cutie happily called.

They ate up and slept together, with lots of contentment.

The next day, Felicity called Harvard on a vacation to the Hiolio hills. It was enchanting and beholding to view. The place is filled with trees like the exotic pine tree. They went to the place by boat and started their trip.

When they arrived on the beach, they felt refreshed, happy and relaxed. They lay in the sand and got to breathe deeply into the fresh air. Then, a few hours later, they started to climb the steep hills. When they got back to the near-sea hut, the couple settled there for the night and slept near the campfire.

The next day, breakfast was ready for the couple.

“Wake up, food is ready,” said the host.

“Okay, thank you.”

“Shall we become friends?”

“Yeah, we shall become friends!”

“You treat us as your children, how sweet. We’ve had no parents since we were 12,” said Harvard.

They ate breakfast and claimed it was the best in their time.

They played Round the Campfire , sang local folk songs, played traditional games like Chaptek and danced the hula. “Folklahoma was here about a hundred years ago. There were even dinosaurs here. “I was there during the jurassic times, it was very fun to ride dinosaurs at the time,” said the host.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“I’m Matilra,” said the host.

“You can come back any time you’d like! Anytime,” said Matilra.

“Bye!” As they said their last goodbyes to each other, they hugged each other very tightly.

“This is the epicentre of hospitality,” they told the tour guide when they were on the way home.

When they returned home, they thought something was amiss. The cat’s belly had a curve. They thought it had eaten too much during the trip. So, to confirm, Felicity went to the veterinarian with the cats. The vet told her that it did not eat too much. She just had a kitten gestating in her belly and was about to be born. She was very shocked: How did it get pregnant in the first place? This must have been a mistake.

She went home, with the cat. She did a thorough examination and confirmed that it was indeed having a kitten. She prepared for the arrival of the kitten, which was in the next 3 days. She laid out a cloth, and a ‘house’ for it. When Cutie saw it, she purred softly in delight.

Three days later, she saw the cat giving birth. Felicity called her vet to come down to her place and see it. The vet told her that it was not having a problem and it was okay. The vet left and she was left alone, in the attic with her cats and the kitten.

“Mew!” The kitten called to its mother weakly.

Wow. It’s so beautiful to see a kitten. She thought. She started caring for the kitten and lavishing the three cats. They had a nice house, a comfortable bed, food to eat and toys to play with. Sometimes, their old buddies came to play with the kitten and the cats. When they came over, they always had a good bath before they played. Baths were these cats’ favourite time of the day. The cats always bathed with Felicity and looking at them will just make you feel touched.

One sunny afternoon, when Felicity got back from college for the weekend, she saw her cats playing with the litter box. They were rolling in the sand and had mud stains around the house, on the bed, the sofa, the mats, the bathtub, literally everywhere!

She cleaned the mess, cleaned the cats and immediately left to buy groceries. On her way, she wondered if the cats were messing because of misbehaviour. Unfortunately, her landlord, Mr Fatt came to the house, called her and told her that the cats were misbehaving and if she did not come back in 15 minutes, he would beat and abuse them. The supermarket was a 20 minute walk away from her house, but she decided to go home anyway.

When she was about to be home, Mr Fatt had started beating them already. Willow bit him in the hand and Cutie meowed loudly to alert the neighbours. They did not allow him to beat the kitten. The kitten was escorted to the bathroom and was hidden in the bathtub. The man ran after the duo but Willow bit his leg. When he finally gave up on them and left, Felicity met him. “Why are your hands and legs bleeding?” She asked with pity.

“Your cat bit me! He is to blame for this, now get home and train them!” He continued cursing the cat.

He was escorted to the nearby pharmacy and was bandaged up from hand to leg. “Now this is what you get for abusing them! Do not ever touch my cats again and be a good man, learn your lesson, Mr. Fatt!”

A young, energetic and ambitious cat named Willow was at a park strolling by the pathway. It had just finished its hunt for stray mice and caught many. While the cat was strolling, it saw many walking by. Most gave no good attention to Willow as it was a black cat and it was told that black cats bring bad luck. One looked at it threateningly. The person was planning to catch it and bring it to the animal shelter so that people in the park will not face bad luck. It was successfully caught and was brought to the animal shelter. Soon after, good riddance came to its rescue.

A few days later, Willow met another cat. It was now not lonely. They play together and have their meals together. They also cuddled together at night to sleep in the field, with the stars.

As the animal shelter volunteers were watching television, the duo came to the television. They were watching the news. The headlines said, ’Illegal cat catcher on the loose, adorable black cat that was lucky was caught and isolated.

Suddenly, the door pushed open. A sweet girl came in to browse through the catalogue of breeds of cats. They told her that there was a new arrival of a black cat star. After looking thoroughly, she chose not one, but two cats. She picked Willow and Cutie. She saw them cuddling together and thought that they were very cute.

When she brought them home, she fed them well and put them in bed. How comfortable! thought Cutie. “Hope you like your home,” muttered Felicity to the cats. “Mew!” They meowed to Felicity, showing how much they liked it. Within a few hours, the cats were able to call this place home. Felicity showered them with lots of love and they loved her, too.

When Felicity went to school, she brought along her kitties. When she met her friend, Harvard, she introduced the cats to him. “How I adore these cats! They are very pleasant, and soft. They fit your personality. Can I know their names?”

“Willow and Cutie,” she said.

“Adorable names,” Harvard told her.

“Hmm... The other day, I saw a headline. Is it this cat that was caught?”

“Yes, that’s the cat,” said Felicity.

“Okay, nice to meet these cats. I have to go, see you later.”

On the way home, she walked the cats at the park, past the flower garden, past the vegetable farm, and past the dog maze. “Harvard, is that your dog!?”

“Oh, nice to see those cats again.” Suddenly, the chat was interrupted by a buff and muscular man. He tried to grasp the cats’ tail and take it away. Harvard’s dog began to bark at the man and bit his hand hard. The usually gracious Felicity boxed him in the eye and popped his eye socket. He threatened to call her to the police if she beat her again. “Hey, you stole my cat, alright? You deserve it, bastard!” A passerby made the arrest and led them to the nearest station for further investigation.

“Did he do anything wrong?”

“He attempted to steal her cat,” Harvard told the policeman.

“Well, did anyone hurt him?”

“I did,” said Felicity.

The policeman brought them to court, in front of the superior judge.

He tried to understand the case but to no avail, nothing worked. The buff man was put to jail while Felicity was praised for being an animal lover and was sent home. The man was in jail for a pretty long time, but he never learnt his lesson…

When he was at trial, he pleaded not guilty but Felicity and Harvard told the judge he was guilty. Meanwhile, in the cage, the pets fell in love with one another. Luckily, one cat was a male while one was a female. That meant that they could have the activity together. They had the activity and Cutie fell pregnant with the new kitten. Harvard took his dog home and Felicity took her cats home, too.

“Feeding time!” called Felicity.

“Miao” Cutie happily called.

They ate up and slept together, with lots of contentment.

The next day, Felicity called Harvard on a vacation to the Hiolio hills. It was enchanting and beholding to view. The place is filled with trees like the exotic pine tree. They went to the place by boat and started their trip.

When they arrived on the beach, they felt refreshed, happy and relaxed. They lay in the sand and got to breathe deeply into the fresh air. Then, a few hours later, they started to climb the steep hills. When they got back to the near-sea hut, the couple settled there for the night and slept near the campfire.

The next day, breakfast was ready for the couple.

“Wake up, food is ready,” said the host.

“Okay, thank you.”

“Shall we become friends?”

“Yeah, we shall become friends!”

“You treat us as your children, how sweet. We’ve had no parents since we were 12,” said Harvard.

They ate breakfast and claimed it was the best in their time.

They played Round the Campfire , sang local folk songs, played traditional games like Chaptek and danced the hula. “Folklahoma was here about a hundred years ago. There were even dinosaurs here. “I was there during the jurassic times, it was very fun to ride dinosaurs at the time,” said the host.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“I’m Matilra,” said the host.

“You can come back any time you’d like! Anytime,” said Matilra.

“Bye!” As they said their last goodbyes to each other, they hugged each other very tightly.

“This is the epicentre of hospitality,” they told the tour guide when they were on the way home.

When they returned home, they thought something was amiss. The cat’s belly had a curve. They thought it had eaten too much during the trip. So, to confirm, Felicity went to the veterinarian with the cats. The vet told her that it did not eat too much. She just had a kitten gestating in her belly and was about to be born. She was very shocked: How did it get pregnant in the first place? This must have been a mistake.

She went home, with the cat. She did a thorough examination and confirmed that it was indeed having a kitten. She prepared for the arrival of the kitten, which was in the next 3 days. She laid out a cloth, and a ‘house’ for it. When Cutie saw it, she purred softly in delight.

Three days later, she saw the cat giving birth. Felicity called her vet to come down to her place and see it. The vet told her that it was not having a problem and it was okay. The vet left and she was left alone, in the attic with her cats and the kitten.

“Mew!” The kitten called to its mother weakly.

Wow. It's so beautiful to see a kitten. She thought. She started caring for the kitten and lavishing the three cats. They had a nice house, a comfortable bed, food to eat and toys to play with. Sometimes, their old buddies came to play with the kitten and the cats. When they came over, they always had a good bath before they played. Baths were these cats’ favourite time of the day. The cats always bathed with Felicity and looking at them will just make you feel touched.

One sunny afternoon, when Felicity got back from college for the weekend, she saw her cats playing with the litter box. They were rolling in the sand and had mud stains around the house, on the bed, the sofa, the mats, the bathtub, literally everywhere!

She cleaned the mess, cleaned the cats and immediately left to buy groceries. On her way, she wondered if the cats were messing because of misbehaviour. Unfortunately, her landlord, Mr Fatt came to the house, called her and told her that the cats were misbehaving and if she did not come back in 15 minutes, he would beat and abuse them. The supermarket was a 20 minute walk away from her house, but she decided to go home anyway.

When she was about to be home, Mr Fatt had started beating them already. Willow bit him in the hand and Cutie meowed loudly to alert the neighbours. They did not allow him to beat the kitten. The kitten was escorted to the bathroom and was hidden in the bathtub. The man ran after the duo but Willow bit his leg. When he finally gave up on them and left, Felicity met him. “Why are your hands and legs bleeding?” She asked with pity.

“Your cat bit me! He is to blame for this, now get home and train them!” He continued cursing the cat.

He was escorted to the nearby pharmacy and was bandaged up from hand to leg. “Now this is what you get for abusing them! Do not ever touch my cats again and be a good man, learn your lesson, Mr. Fatt!”