Author's Note: This is the final chapter! Thank you for reading this story, and please, review!
For seven days we just sat. Nothing happened. It was a time of squabbling mainly, "Hey, watch where you are going!" My poor big toe was stepped on so many times. Japheth and I got into many arguments. I didn't like animals and he wanted me to feed them and clean their pens. "Your father said that you had to clean out the pens!" I said to him "Yes, he did, but you need to help me," he replied. "I don't want to," I argued. "Mara, we all have to help with all the work. You can't just sit around and do nothing." "Who says I can't?" I challenged. So that is how my first days were spent. Every day for seven days, that's what I did - argued with Japheth. But, on the eighth day, something new happened. Noah and Lauren had just finished lighting some candles so that we could see when we heard a sound that we have never heard before. It was the rain. It came so fast. At first, it just soundly dully on the roof of the ark, but then it came up from underneath us. We all ran to the top deck where Noah propped open the window so we could see. It was horrifying. People screamed and tried to save themselves, lighting crashed and thunder roared. It was terrifying.
SWOOSH! Water had reached the ark and the sound was the ark being ripped up from the ground. The force of it knocked me off balance. I was about to fall when Japheth popped up and caught me. I smiled at him. However, it was not over. The boat lurched and swayed making us sick. Pouring down constantly, the rain never ceased. Finally, the rain stopped after 40 days. I kept busy though. The whole earth was still covered in water and we had to stay in the ark. All of the animals needed tending to. Japheth had won the arguments. I didn't do it happily until one day; a cute little zebra nudged my leg for some food. It was so cute! Every day I fed her and her mate, along with countless others.
I also noticed some other changes. The ark forced our whole family to be together. My relationship with Japheth grew stronger. We slowly quit arguing. One day he saw me in with the zebras, petting them and taking a spare rag and wiping them until they gleamed. He walked in and sat beside me and started petting the zebras too. I think he started understanding that boats, hammers, and fishing aren't exactly things that I enjoyed talking about. He started asking me what I liked, and, for some reason, I found talking about things that interested him more interesting for me. It was odd. I also realized that God popped up more in our conversations. We both trusted God more than when Noah first told us about the whole endeavor.
One day, I discovered that one of the doves went missing. I was about to go tell Japheth when I ran into Noah. "Noah, one of the doves is missing," I said. He put his big-callused wrinkled hand on my shoulder. "It's ok. I know where it is." "Where?" I asked. He ignored my question. "Why don't you go help Lauren get some food ready for us?" I shuffled off a little suspicious.
A week later, the dove was gone again! Again, I told Noah and he replied the same as the past times. Again, it came back. Then, the following week, the dove was gone again. I decided to tell Japheth. "I don't know. What did my dad tell you?" I told him what Noah had said. "Hmmm, I don't know." This time the dove didn't come back. I was worried about the dove. I was about to ask Noah about the bird when he called us all together to tell us something. But he didn't tell us anything he went over to where the sealed door was and pushed on it. Shem, Ham, and Japheth walked over to help him. They pushed the door open and the missing dove flew and perched on Noah's arm. Japheth looked at me and I looked back at him. We both started running. We collapsed on the soft green grass. Shem, Sapphira, ham and Amaris all followed suit. Then we all stood up and gave thanks to God.
Noah brought out some lambs and goats, and made an altar to the lord. We all were giving thanks, I looked around at my family and the setting reminded me of something familiar but I couldn't remember what. Japheth and I were starting to walk over to where Noah was when I stubbed my toe on a rock. Then I remembered what this scene reminded me of, except this time, I was holding Japheth's hand.
Noah suddenly pointed up towards the sky. We all looked up and up there was a beautiful rainbow. I looked up then around, and I felt this overabundance of love and joy that only God can give.
