Rainbow’s End

Julia Lin

Words Checked: 3392

Words in Oxford 3000: 94%

About The Author

Julia Lin is a student of Wenzao

Ursuline College of Languages in

Kaohsiung, Taiwan. She is English

major, and minors in French. She loves

to read and write. It’s important for her

to get different ideas from different

books, people and events. Rainbow’s

End was an idea she has had for a long

time. However, she never had the

chance to write it down until the novel

assignment for English Writing.

She doesn’t like being trapped in

one place for too long, so her mother

often travels to other countries with her

and her brother.

She now lives in Kaohsiung, but

there are more things to discover in the

future.

Table of Contents

I. BEGIN IN RAINBOW’S END............................- 1 -

II. THE CHILD .........................................................- 9 -

III. LIFE IN HUMAN’S WORLD...........................- 22 -

IV. THE ILLNESS....................................................- 30 -

V. A VISIT ...............................................................- 38 -

VI. END IN RAINBOW’S END ..............................- 46 -

I. Begin in Rainbow’s End

“Everyone PLEASE stand in line,”

shouted the Key Keeper after his patient

announcement for about the twenty fifth

time, “not need to rush!”

My friends and I sat on the grass

and watched our newcomers with

binoculars, and also, with great interest.

I am Elizabeth, as you may wonder,

and this is Rainbow’s End. It is perfectly

understandable if you still don’t know

what Rainbow’s End is. Well, to say it

- 1 -

simply, all the children need to fill out a

form and have an interview with the

Counselor in order to go to human’s

world. Then, where do those children

have to stay before they go to the

human’s world? Therefore, Rainbow’s

End is a place where children stay

before they hand out the application to

human’s world. In other words, children

stay here before they are born. Ordinary

people can’t fully see Rainbow’s End.

Instead, they can only see a rainbow in

- 2 -

the clear sky. However, Rainbow’s End

always exists, just right below the

rainbow which you see.

There’s the Counselor who has

dark skin and grey hair manages

everything in Rainbow’s End. He is like

a teacher to all the children here. Every

child must talk to the Counselor after he

or she hands out the application. The

application must include the following

papers: one paper on which states your

life in Rainbow’s End, two

- 3 -

questionnaires about the human’s world,

and three pages of different questions to

answer. The questions might be “what’s

your favorite beverage in Rainbow’s

End” or “how do you think of wars

which happened in the human’s world”.

And there is also the Key Keeper,

who carefully guards the gate of

Rainbow’s End.

I have stayed in Rainbow’s End for

about eighteen years. Not that I don’t

want to deliver my application to the

- 4 -

Counselor, but the gate heading to the

human’s world has been closed for a

while. Many years ago, the Counselor

and other members from different

departments had a meeting. They didn’t

want children to go to human’s world

anymore because of the rising rates of

crime and disease. In addition, they

don’t give out anymore applications. I

knew all these things not only because I

am an assistant of the Counselor, but

also that all the residence of Rainbow’s

- 5 -

End received the notice from the

Counselor after their meeting.

The winds blow gently and the

sunshine is warm. Therefore, I decided

to forget about all the upset things and

enjoy the nice weather. I dropped my

binoculars and lying down on the green

grass which looked like a carpet, hands

folded behind my head.

“Liz, Kate, look! The gate is about

to close!” Mark said excitedly waving

his hands toward us. I don’t know where

- 6 -

he got all this energy from.

“Oh, I hope no one has been left

out this time,” said worriedly my friend,

Kate. She put her binoculars down and

joined me, but she didn’t lie down.

There were only three people who

would come to the gate-opening when it

was open season: Kate, Mark and I.

There was really nothing much to do

here, I guess. I was the same age as

Mark, and Kate was about five years

younger than us. When Mark and I first

- 7 -

- 8 -

came to Rainbow’s End, we were about

two. So that makes us twenty years old

and Kate fifteen. We did almost

everything together.

And then somehow, Kate found

something under her bed, something

like paper… an application form.

II. The Child

One day, I passed by Kate’s house

and called her name loudly, because we

were going to be late for afternoon tea

with the Counselor. No one responded,

so I went into Kate’s house. I walked

into her living room, and on my right

hand side, I saw her sitting on her

favorite couch working on something,

paper work, I think.

“What are you doing?” I went near

her. No response. Well, it was really

- 9 -

unusual for Kate not to respond, so I

guess she was concentrating and didn’t

hear me.

“Kate? Are you alright?” I gave it

another try.

“Oh, Liz!” Finally she lifted her

head and realized someone have just

came into her living room. “You will

never believe what I have found!” she

said with excitement. I’ve never seen

her look so happy.

“Maybe you can just kindly tell me,

- 10 -

so I don’t have to guess,” I said, still

unable to handle my curiosity on

looking at the paper she was working on.

Then I decided to help myself to a cup

of tea since Kate’s mug was empty.

“It’s an application form!” Kate

said, taking her glasses off.

“Well, an application for what?

Application for driving?” Kate has had

several car accidents since she came to

Rainbow’s End. She never gets injured,

but her cars were all damaged. No one

- 11 -

would get injured in Rainbow’s End, but

since Kate’s ninth accident and her car

went into the lake, she was forbidden by

the Counselor to drive cars.

“No, it’s not an application for

driving.” Kate frowned at me, not very

happy with the answer I gave her. “It’s

THE application, Lizzy.”

“But…but that couldn’t be,” I said

surprisingly, “The application for going

to the human’s world were already

locked up by the Counselor after the

- 12 -

meeting.”

“I don’t know why this one was

hidden under my bed,” Kate said

lowering her eyes, and putting her

application in order. “The Counselor

must talk to all applicants after they

hand in their applications, right?”

looking at me for support.

“Yes, you are right.” I said steadily.

“Are you going to talk to him now?”

“Yeah, why not? I have finished

my application.” Kate, suddenly

- 13 -

remembering something ,said “Are we

going to have afternoon tea with the

Counselor today?”

“Yep, and we are about to be late

when I came here.” I said carelessly,

sipping my tea.

“Then what are we still waiting

for!” She grabbed my arm, and was

heading toward my car.

“My answer is NO,” said the

Counselor. “I don’t know why there was

an application left in your room, but I

- 14 -

won’t change my mind about that. As

for the reason, I think you clearly know

why.”

It was a fine afternoon; the sun

wasn’t too aggressive, so we went to the

garden to have our afternoon tea. When

the Counselor rejected Kate’s

application, I was about to add one more

tablespoon of sugar into my coffee.

“But why not give it another try? I

mean, there hasn’t been anyone going to

the human’s world for many years.

- 15 -

What if they changed and we don’t

know?”

The Counselor stirred his tea gently,

thinking without looking at both of us.

Finally, after he finished his cup of tea,

he looked up at Kate. “I will have to ask

you a question that every candidate will

be asked after the document review.”

“Which is……?” Kate responded

confusingly.

“What is your purpose of going to

human’s world?” For many years, the

- 16 -

Counselor has received many answers

like “I want to change the world” or “I

want to do something good to the

people”. These answers were good, but

somehow they were too “stiff”.

“I…I just want to be a child and in

fact, I’ve never been to the human’s

world.” Kate said nervously.

It was true that Kate has never

been to the human’s world. I glanced at

Kate quickly, not very surprised that

Kate gave this answer. And I knew that

- 17 -

the Counselor wouldn’t be so picky on

these answers as he used to be. Kate and

I were waiting his answers and holding

our hands tightly.

“Fair enough,” he said with a smile.

“Now follow me, there are some more

important things to be done before

going to the human’s world.”

He took us to the Department of

Preparation. “Now, Kate, all you have to

do here is to draw lots,” the Counselor

said quickly. “You have to decide by

- 18 -

yourself what kind of illness you will

have, who you will meet and what kind

of challenge you will face.” The

Counselor continued when all the agents

were waiting for Kate to draw lots. I

began to feel nervous, but Kate seemed

pretty confident. “After you finish your

last lot, which will to decide when you

are going to die, you will find yourself

in the human’s world."

“Okay…I think I got it.” Kate was

heading toward the office of Department

- 19 -

of Preparation.

“The last thing I am going to tell

you is ten years” the Counselor looked

at Kate seriously.

“You know, this is the first time

since the last opening-up. I would like

to give people a second chance, but in

ten years I will see whether they deserve

this chance or not.”

Kate nodded her head.

“Kate?” I said finally. Kate turned

her head to see what I was going to say.

- 20 -

- 21 -

“Be good.” I gave her a smile. She

waved at me and turned into the office

in front of her.

III. Life in Human’s World

As everyone knew, when you

entered the human’s world, you would

forget everything in Rainbow’s End.

You would have to concentrate on what

you were doing as a mortal. The

Counselor and I were still a little bit

concerned because Kate was the first

one to go to the human’s world, so he

decided to ask me to see what was going

on there.

“Now, Elizabeth, you know that I

- 22 -

trust you very much. And I hope that

you can help Kate. You don’t need to

protect her, but I would like you to be

her teacher. Mark will go with you,

too.”

“Do I need to do anything else?” I

asked worriedly.

“No, you don’t need to and you

can’t” the Counselor answered.

And that was the reason why I was

here, sitting by Kate and teaching her

- 23 -

how to do her algebra homework. There

are fewer and fewer teachers nowadays

because there are no students to teach. I

happened to be the neighbor of the

Heart family, so I didn’t have to worry

about losing my job. I think part of the

reason is that the Counselor arranged all

these things. If he didn’t, he would ask

someone to do it for him. Everyone in

Rainbow’s End took Kate’s leaving as a

serious event. Whether there would be

another opening-up depended on Kate’s

- 24 -

visit to the human’s world.

Kate grew up like every other child

did in the past. She and the Heart family

lived in a small house in the forest. It

wasn’t common to live in the forest now

since most areas were divided into

modern cities.

There was Mr. Heart, who worked

as a carpenter. He didn’t talk much. The

last time he talked to me was to ask me

if I could be Kate’s teacher. Despite his

silence, I knew that he was a good

- 25 -

person. He cared about his family very

much.

There was also Mrs. Heart. She

was very gentle, smart and often shared

her feelings with Kate. Mrs. Heart

became blind after World War IV, which

lasted for two years. That war was part

of the reason why the Counselor close

the gate of Rainbow’s End.

“Hey, Kate. Did you finish your

algebra homework” Mark suddenly

entered our room. Kate was still

- 26 -

working on the last question, which

seemed to be the hardest one.

“I’m almost done,” Kate said

without slow down her writing speed.

“Yeah, I’m finished with my algebra

now.”

“I’ve brought you some books to

read, maybe we can discuss them later.”

Mark smiled handing Kate some of the

books in his arms.

In Kate’s free time, she often took

- 27 -

a walk in the forest with her mother.

They would hold hands, and Mrs. Heart

would ask what Kate had learned that

day. For many years after the war, Kate

was still the only child being born.

However, they lived in the remote forest,

so this birth didn’t catch people’s

attention. Otherwise Kate could be the

next one in the TV news, or maybe

someone would invite her to some talk

shows. Everything remained peaceful

here.

- 28 -

- 29 -

There were no one who could play

with young Kate, so she grew up with

the forest, the books and the adults

around her. She was a quiet kid, not like

the Kate I knew in Rainbow’s End. Well,

what can I say? They WERE different

indeed.

IV. The Illness

The Hearts used to have two kids

before Kate. However, they both died

because of “Black Death”. It was not the

one which happened during the Middle

Ages. Whoever was infected with the

virus of Black Death, he or she would

turn black and each day become smaller

and smaller. It was painful not only for

the patients, but also for the ones who

cared for their patients.

Kate happened to be diagnosed

- 30 -

with this kind of disease. The symptoms

weren’t clear in the beginning. But one

day, Kate fell from her chair when I was

teaching her 19th century literature. I

was petrified. Usually when people fall

down, they will use their arms and

hands to protect themselves. However,

Kate…fainted.

I called her name over and over,

but there was no response.

“Good afternoon, young ladies!”

Kate’s mom suddenly opened the door

- 31 -

with a smile on her face as usual. ”I

have brought you some snacks.”

“What happened? Kate?

Elizabeth?” she began to feel something

was wrong.

At that moment, I really believed

that she could actually see with her eyes.

“Kate suddenly fell from her chair a few

minutes ago. I called her name again

and again, but she didn’t respond,” I

said quickly. I thought I was going to

cry.

- 32 -

“It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s not your

fault.” Mrs. Heart went near her

daughter and touched her hair gently.

“It’s not your fault.”

That evening, Mr. and Mrs. Heart

discussed all night about Kate’s illness.

Mark examined Kate carefully the next

day, and he was sad because he had to

tell us that Kate had been infected with

Black Death. What Kate mostly does

now is to rest. All day. Mr. and Mrs.

- 33 -

Heart didn’t want to lose their lovely

little girl, but they didn’t know what

they could do.

However, they actually did

something for Kate.

Mr. Heart used a small piece of

wood which was left after his work to

make wooden craft to cheer Kate up.

This was not what he used to do.

However, as the quiet man began to see

the happiness brighten up his daughter’s

face, he works harder and harder. He

- 34 -

now spent more time with his little

daughter after his work.

Mrs. Heart prayed for Kate

everyday. She was not religious, but she

still prayed for Kate. She also prayed for

other people who were suffering from

disease. Kate’s illness made her realize

that there were many people suffering.

She was not the only one who had

physical defects.

It was Kate’s tenth birthday when it

- 35 -

got really bad for her. She couldn’t even

talk or open her eyes. She was having a

fever, and sweating a lot. We didn’t

know what to do with the cake which

Mark and I baked in the afternoon.

Therefore, we four adults decided to eat

it. There was no ambience for having a

party. I felt like crying because those

happy memories in Rainbow’s End

suddenly came to my mind: the three of

us having parties all night, Kate’s car

going into the lake, and the sight of her

- 36 -

- 37 -

back before she went into the office of

Department of Preparation.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the

door.

V. A Visit

Thump, thump.

“Yes, coming.” Mr. Heart rose

from his chair to open the door. Outside

the door, there was a man. A man with

dark skin and grey hair, wearing a suit.

“Counselor…” Mark said, “Why

are you here?”

I suddenly remembered that ten

years has passed. And now the

Counselor is here to evaluate whether

the earth is still a fine place to live.

- 38 -

“My dear Mark,” the Counselor

looked at Mark with a gentle smile,

“why don’t you ask Liz? I think she

knows the answer.”

“It’s been a long time since I last

saw you two, Mary and David.” Mary

and David were the names of Mr. and

Mrs. Heart. “I could still remember the

time when you two were in Rainbow’s

End.”

“What? Who are you? And what’s

Rainbow’s End?” Mr. Heart asked,

- 39 -

holding his wooden stick tightly. He

seemed ready to fight with the unknown

guest.

“It would be hard to explain. It’s

easier to say that I am Elizabeth’s

friend,” he turned to me for support,

“right, Liz?”

“Yeah, don’t worry, Mr. and Mrs.

Heart, he won’t hurt Kate,” I said.

“May I see Kate? I’ve heard that

she have been sick,” the Counselor said.

“She is in her room., at the end of

- 40 -

the hall way to your left.” Mrs. Heart

pointed the direction for the Counselor.

I thought she really believed what the

Counselor had just said.

Sat by Kate’s bed, the Counselor

said, “Kate, Kate, wake up. How are

you feeling right now?”

“Light headed, I guess,” Kate

responded. That was the first time she

responded in days!

“Do you remember who I am?” the

- 41 -

Counselor asked Kate.

Kate, giving the Counselor a faint

smile, said, “Yeah, you are the

Counselor.”

“Dear Mary and David,” the

Counselor turned to the two worried

parents who stood near Kate’s door and

said, “I’m not here to take Kate away. It

depends on her whether she wants to

stay or not.”

“Well, I’ve brought the report of

Kate’s lots,” The Counselor continued

- 42 -

and put the lots in chronological order. I

didn’t think Mr. and Mrs. Heart knew

what we were doing here because

human beings were not supposed to see

anything related to Rainbow’s End. I

saw the Counselor lift up a note saying:

Illness: Black Death

“And then, we have this special

one here.” A note with these letters:

Return to Rainbow’s End. The

Counselor put his finger on the last

- 43 -

words so I couldn’t see them. “Now

Kate, do you want to go back to

Rainbow’s End? Or do you want to stay

here?” the Counselor asked Kate

directly.

After a few minutes’ thought, Kate

spoke. “I want to stay here and be with

my family and friends. I can feel love

around me. Despite my illness, I really

had a good time here.”

“Correct answer, young lady.” The

Counselor approved with a smile and

- 44 -

removed his finger for the note.

Return to Rainbow’s End:

No

- 45 -

VI. End in Rainbow’s End

After the Counselor’s visit, Kate

got better and better each day. And one

day, Kate fully recovered.

When we took a walk in the forest

after our lessons, Kate said, “It is really

strange that I recovered. I thought there

was not anyone who could survive from

Black Death.” Kate forgot everything

about the Counselor’s visit, which was

quite normal.

“Well, let’s say, you are blessed.” I

- 46 -

smiled at her.

“No, you don’t mean that!” ,Kate

laughed, “You are just making fun of

me!”

“Oh, and Liz?” Kate said.

“Yes, Kate?”

“Congratulations of your baby

boy!”

“Did Mark tell you that? I was

going to tell you myself!”

“Well, It doesn’t matter,” Kate

said.

- 47 -

- 48 -

As we held hands more tightly,

there was still a journey to go before

going back to Rainbow’s End.

I though I could handle it with

Kate and Mark by my side. This is my

own Rainbow’s End.

- The End -