Narrative

**By Katie**
§§Prologue§§ The wind flew through my mane, as I galloped through the herd to my mother. She was my one inspiration, my idol, my… my mother. And now she was dying. An extravagant neigh flew through my herd. I recognised the sound of pain,sadness. Despair filled the valley, as her head suddenly dropped to the ground, her body was lifeless.

I was an orphan, I was the leader of the herd. She expected so much from me but I can’t… I just can’t lead the herd on my own. I wasn't even half way through my training. I galloped through the dark forest, a violet blanket high above. I couldn’t stand myself so… I ran away, as fast as I could, only one thought in my head; run! One voice telling me to run and one telling me to stop, go back and face my fears of failure… §§Chapter One§§ My name is Trace, I’m dapple grey, and happy. Happy with my new life; my best friends, my home and even my enemies. “Trace!” my very best friend Scarlette whinnied, “Right here, Scarlette.” I galloped towards her and Monty,her great friend. I despise of Monty. “Hey Fox, hey Sox!” I Called towards the paint twins, coffee brown patches, carelessly spread across their bodies. Our new miniature heard loved to be together, and everyone got along, well, Monty and I weren't fond of each other but, we both loved Scarlette. “Hey girl!” Sox and Fox neighed in unison. They were identical twins, they did everything together, even if they got a best friend- not likely because they are so annoying- they would share them. Slightly disturbing??? I know. Dark clouds filled the night sky, I lay on the lush grass, as I looked at the stars and thought about my parents, and how they both died for the herd, and how I was selfish! I refused to fail, I was too caught up in winning, that I ran away from the herd. It was my responsibility. It made me think… ‘I need to go back… I need to face my fears… I’m going home!’ §§Chapter Three§§

I returned home only to see ashes, black snow-like particles floating in the air. “Oh god NO!” I shouted, head turned up. It was the humans. They did it! I know they did! THAT is how my fearless dad died.

FLASHBACK “Trace! Get away from here! It’s dangerous!” My Dad called to me, “Take your mum too!” “But…” “GO!!” He tried to block the oil trail off with his hoof. But… just then the humans dropped the match and lit up the forest. My dad was still there… The humans killed him.

I still can’t find his body.

Chapter Four

Galloped away from the site, trying to find any signs of life. Nothing. I tried to find hoof prints. Nothing. If you try find signs of life after a crazy accident... well good luck; It's not going to happen. Right when I thought I had no hope, I heard a rustle in the bushes. I walked up to it and saw two eyes peeping out at me. "Dad?"

§§Chapter Five§§

"Dad? Is that you?? But... you... wa?" I couldn't get any proper sentences out; I mean, would you be able to if you thought your dad 'died' because he caught on fire but then you find out he is really alive and spying on you and didn't bother to even to say 'HI TRACE! I'M ALIVE!' He jumped up and we neck hugged... "Well this is kinda awkward." I muttered. "What were you thinking Trace!? You are just gonna casually run away from your fears! You have to face them. And if you stayed, 'THIS'" He said gesturing to the fire site, "Wouldn't have happened!" I couldn't believe it! He was blaming ME for this that was the first thing he said to me. "So you're blaming me for this!? You didn’t face the herd again! This is your fear, you didn’t face it… AND YOU’RE BLAMING ME" I shouted galloping away. "WAIT! I'm sorry Trace." "You think that will help!?" I shouted, tears streaming down my face. "No. I don't”

§§Chapter Six§§

“Fox? Sox? Monty even? Anyone??” I called out where my herd last was. I heard a sound… an engine… a stressed neigh… It was my herd… this is my time to be the leader I’m meant to be… I galloped… as fast as a cheetah, I could beat a train or car easily, I caught up fast and saw them in a large trailer and tied to the back. I gnawed through the ropes tied round them… “Fox, Sox, You help me undo this door and let them out, I’ll get these humans. DAD! I need your help!” I shouted as I ran to the front of the truck and opened the door… They spoke in gibberish, I didn’t understand what they were saying… One grabbed… a GUN! All the horses were free…. “RUN!!” I neighed as loud as I could. They went back and I stayed… I was defending my herd… I grabbed the gun in my mouth and pulled a human out and onto the ground. I kicked the truck multiple times, and stopped, we arrived at a fence. I was led inside a paddock… I was trapped.

§§Chapter Seven§§

I was trapped… The fences were too high to jump, and too strong to wrestle, I couldn’t get out. So I stayed. I kept galloping, rearing, bucking, I didn’t want them near me. “Psst… Trace, behind you.” “Fox, Sox, I told you to go.” “And we chose not to… So? We’re here to save you.” They smiled, still talking in unison. “It’s impossible… I need to wait for the right moment.” I muttered, Just then, a girl, about 9, opened the gate, “Run horsey… I don’t like my room, you don’t like yours.” She smiled, I crept behind her, a confused look planted on my face. “DON’T!” Fox and Sox neighed. But it was too late… A rope around my neck made me nearly suffocate, I fell to the ground, pain escaped my mouth, as I lay nearly lifeless on the muddy ground. The girl stood above me as I passed out, “I’m sorry, horsey.” She whispered.

§§Chapter Eight§§

I awoke standing, I tried to move but roped, tied around my neck, both left and right, and my stomach… There was something heavy on my back… A leather contraption, And a metal thing in my mouth. “Hah,” Some men laughed, “Hi Trace…” Fox and Sox muttered, the same contraptions on top. A man brought up a burning metal pole… with a thing on the end… a… a branding. Wild horses belong to NO ONE. I gnawed through the rope before he got there, I kicked him away from us, “Bite through it guys!” I shouted to the twins, I galloped, but was pulled onto the ground, another rope… but it was chain. ‘Help.’

§§Chapter Nine§§

I awoke, branding, short mane and tail, clipped… I looked… tidy! My worst nightmare! All my hopes and dreams of living wild, and dying wild… were gone. I didn’t have any urges to escape, I didn’t have urges to kick, or even attack, just stand there. I knew I couldn’t get out. That is how humans tame horses… to fear them, so if horses don’t do what they want, they’ll have who knows what done to them. We need to stop this… I need to stop this.

§§Chapter Ten§§

I walked around my cramped stall, I’m not going to let the humans take over me. “Why do you follow their commands?” I finally asked my neighbour Dusty, “I don’t want to, just, they’ve killed so many others I cared about, I don’t want to turn out… like they did.” Dusty replied, “So, you do it out of fear? I mean, we are bigger, stronger and more powerful than them, we should rule them, we should fight back,” I stood up tall, “But they have the guns, they can get us down on the ground from miles away,” “Well we make our own. Or we just take some, that would be easier, but much more risky,” “Okay.” “So we’re doing it?” “YEAH WE ARE!” just then a stall gate was knocked open, Sox managed to get out! “What? A horse managed to get out! GET THE GUNS!” A man spoke, “SOX! DON’T!” ‘Boom!’ Sox’s lifeless body fell to the ground. “YOU ASKED FOR IT!” I whinnied, kicking my stall door off the hitches, “Another one!” I attacked, knocking two humans to the ground, and galloped over to Fox’s stall, who was crying his eyes out, “I’m getting revenge, want to help, we will avenge Sox!” “LET’S GO!” Fox Shouted, we attacked the humans, and with few left, we trotted over to Sox… His eyes flickered open, “SOX!” Fox shouted in excitement “sox.” Sox muttered to get into unison, they both laughed. I galloped inside and got a human’s rag, and to prevent blood loss, I wrapped it around the wound in Sox’s leg. “We’ll need to wait here for it to heal enough for you to get back.” I whinnied. I heard hooves… DAD!

§§Chapter Eleven§§

“Dad! I need your help. We need your help… Sox needs your help. The humans shot him and we don’t know when we can go back and we think we need to get him outta here cause these humans are PSYCHOPATHIC MAN!!” I rushed, hardly finding a way to tell him what happened. “I have experience with burns. I don’t help horses that don’t appreciate me.” He sulked, “C’mon Dad! I need you. Please. Help him… For me. Please?” I begged, I saw him thinking long and hard but he finally gave in, “Fine. But this only. Nothing else, I’m doing this for Sox…” “You… don’t know… Me.” Sox pointed out glumly, “Shut u-! Ok.. I’ll do it. But I’ll need to get the bullet out, it’ll be very painful. Can you handle it?” My dad asked Sox, “I saw… some... antibiotics in... the house, I’ll go get them...,” I uttered in fear of Sox.

I came back soon after with the right stuff… I think. I insert a tiny needle and push the medicine in, pushing it in with my hoof.

§§Chapter Twelve§§

Sox awoke all fine. We walked back to the space, the place where our herd used to be. I heard a loud neigh; it was Star, from my first herd, my best friend. “STAR!?” I started, “IS THAT YOU?” “Yes… Trace?? We all… thought you… were dead…” She replied, “I… I’m in pain… I think, My hooves…” “I’ll find you. Keep talking.” I listened to her whinny and followed it. I found her with a large burn, covering the right side of her stomach. “DAD! Get water. We need to cool her down,” I shouted at dad, “So, how long have you been here? I mean, the fire was a while ago?” I asked Star, “A couple days, I think. I mean, a can’t really keep track of days easily when… well when you don’t know when it’s day and night, I’ve been through more than you probably,” “Doubt it. Were you horsenapped by the humans?? Was your best friend shot? Was your best friend’s life EVER in your hoov-” I was interrupted, “WATER COMING THROUGH!” Shouted my dad, with a folded leaf, full of water, he quickly poured it over the burn. Star gritted her teeth, making sure not to draw too much attention to herself. “Have your parents died in the last few days?? HAVE YOUR BEST FRIENDS DIED!?” She shouted, “YES AND YES! My mum died, my dad died… ish, and I had friends in that herd too!” I shouted, as I galloped off, crying, I hated talking about my mother. “Leave her be,” I heard my dad say to Star, “She needs time.”

§§Chapter Thirteen§§

I lay next to a tree, silence surrounded me. I could hear the quiet growl of a hungry lion, he was mounted in the tree above me… I got up and galloped away from the others; I didn’t want to lead it to Star or Sox. That lion wouldn’t give up, would it? The only way to get it to go, was to let it get me, or keep going, until I find a river, and possibly not be able to get back to the others… Lost or die… LOST! I kept galloping and finally got to a river. I was deserted. With no idea where I was, I went back the way I thought I came from.

§§Meanwhile§§

"Trace is taking a while..." Star finally spoke. "She need's her time." Trace's dad replied, getting worried himself. He wants to go and find her, but then he knew Star would want to come, and she couldn't go, she'll get hurt. "I'm going to go find her." demanded Star, with a glint in her eye. "No. You can't. I'll admit, I'm getting worried too, but she's a mare now; she is on her own. She doesn't want help, or even any type of Volunteers, who offer help. She is independent now." Trace's dad exclaimed. Star lay down again- "Fine." She finally gave in.

§§Chapter Fourteen§§ ∞Back to Trace's Point Of View∞

I wasn't afraid to admit it anymore... I was lost. I'd been wandering for days. I hadn't had food or water for ages.

"She is independent now..." I heard my father's voice, "DAD!? IS THAT YOU!?" I shouted. "Trace?? You're back?" Star was there too. I'd finally found my way back. "Trace... whatever you do, don't come through here..." My father murmured. "Why?" "Shh, humans, they've got us, save yourself." "NOO! I'm coming, if you like it or not." "Pewm! Splat! Boom!" A bomb had gone off. "DAD!!" I shrieked, galloping onto the sight, "Trace... I'm sorry for before, I never wanted this to... happen... I should've gone with you. Good... bye Trace..." "NO! No no no no... this can't happen... DAD!! Look at me... Dad? You gotta get up... Please." His head fell, lifeless, I had nothing. No parents, no herd, no friends. I was alone.

This made me realise, life is all horrible. It can't be perfect, I can't be perfect. I was an orphan, until I turned 20- human aged- and I found a herd.

~Katie B.

**By Puja**
The heavenly palace shone like a star in the horizon as I glimpsed with enchantment. I walked down the majestic lane with my family and the other tourists, my lips became dry like a drought, as I opened my mouth with amazement. Colourful lights shone on the utopian palace as I ambled towards it. I knew it was Sleeping Beauty’s palace, as I gazed at it for what seemed like an eternity. . I felt like I was the only person there. I couldn’t hear anyone’s voice as I wanted this moment to never end.

After a moment or so, I heard screaming, as my dream was shattered. A voice said to me to run!. I glanced at my watch and found out we were late for our flight.I looked back and saw my parents and my little sister run. I felt frozen. I didn’t know what to do. The only thing I knew I could do was RUN!. I scampered along to catch up to my family as I was watching the rides that went past me.

We reached the airport just on time and huffed as we were boarding the flight. At the last touch on Hong Kong, I recollected my journey from my first ride in Disney Land to the last glimpse.

**Why I was late to school** By Lilybeth

‘Brrring’ my alarm went off. It was my biggest nightmare. I stared at my alarm clock. I suddenly realized ‘oh no,’I was late for school! I rummaged through my pile of dirty clothes in search for my school uniform that was somewhere in my bedroom.

Moments later, I scurried to the kitchen, grabbing anything I could possibly reach to satisfy my grumbling tummy. I was moving like a speed machine while mum was nagging,‘come on you're late.’

I scooted into mum's car holding my pair of shoes in one hand and my breakfast in another. In the back of my mind, I was wondering if I left one of my of socks behind .That was the least of my problems.

Finally, I reached school. My heart was pumping as I was running off to my class, hiding my half eaten toast. I crashed into my class door wondering if it was a better decision not to go in. I didn’t have a choice.

I twisted the door knob, already regretting it. I awkwardly shuffled towards my desk.There was so much noise but the minute I walked in, their was dead silence. My teacher’s face was full of fury. I wouldn’t blame her - I think this is my sixth time being late if I’m keeping count.

I walked towards Mrs Lee slowly, with my head down. For some reason I felt disappointed in myself. She led me out the door to have a brief talk. !“You better have a good reason why you were late young man,”she bellowed.

I thought for a second. Yay for the first time I have a great idea! I speak in a calm voice. “I was late because my dog ate my lunch and I had to make it again.” As I said it aloud, I knew I was BUSTED!

Today in detention I learned that under no circumstances should I ever use ‘my dog ate my lunch’ as an excuse for being late.

**Tribes** By Aarti Rao

Once upon a time, there was a tribe of people that owned one half of land. There was another tribe that owned the other half of the land and the two tribes were sworn enemies. One tribe was called tribe one and the other was called tribe two.The chief of tribe one was a big, beefy man called Chief one and the Chief of tribe two was called Chief two. The two tribes were always trying to steal each other’s land and there were always little fights and arguments breaking out since the tribes were on the same piece of land and had half of the land each.Everyone in tribe two was very muscly and they always tried to make a fight out of everything.Chief one of tribe one had a daughter. Her name was Vivica and since she was the chief’s daughter, she got to do everything early and people treated her with respect even though she was only seventeen.

One day, Vivica was patrolling the tribe one borders’ with a couple of the other tribe members, when she came across a group of tribe two members hunting deer on tribe one land. Vivica beckoned to the others and when they saw what was happening, they began to quiver with rage. They charged at tribe two yelling a battle cry. Vivica hid behind a bush and shot any tribe two members she could see. She wouldn’t kill them. She would only shoot their legs or arms that so that they couldn’t fight anymore. She was so absorbed in this task that she didn’t notice that three tribe two members had snuck up behind her. She turned around just in time to see a large wooden club hitting her on the head. There was a flash of searing white-hot pain and everything went black.

When Vivika regained conscious, she noticed that she was in a cage and the cage had a large pile of black fur at one end. Shivering, Vivica crawled up the the pile of fur, hoping for some warmth but as soon as she got close, she realized that it was actually a wolf that was watching her with a pair of fierce amber eyes.

Vivica just sat there and stared at the wolf,rooted to the spot unable to move.

The wolf got up onto its paws and padded towards Vivica. Vivica gulped and stumbled backwards. The wolf got closer and closer until Vivica back was pressed against the wall of the cage.She could see the drool on the wolfs yellowing teeth. The wolf snarled at her and padded back the other end and went back to lying down, its amber eyes never left her.Vivica took a few shaky steps forward and promptly fainted.

When Vivica regained conscious for the second time, she started to feel hungry. Her eyes fell on a tray of food. She tore hungrily at the thin slice of bread and started on the soup. When she finished, she raised a pitcher of water to her mouth and brought her mouth closer to the brim but as soon she took the first sip, she spat it out. It was seawater! Her coughing and spluttering seemed to annoy the wolf so it growled and scratched the floor. She glanced at the wolf.It was as big as a baby elephant with paws the size of a saucer.It had pointed ears and one of them was torn badly.From what Vivica could see, she thought that the wolf had been captured and put in the cage in hopes of inflicting pain on tribe 1 prisoner.Vivica tore her gaze away from the wolf and stared at the cage bars instead. If she had been a slightly thinner, she could have slipped through. The bars were designed for holding fully grown tribe members and not for a 17-year-old girl.The only problem was that it would take several days and maybe even a week to be thin enough to go through the bars. Then she had another idea. She started to yell as loudly as she could. After a few minutes, when she had shouted herself hoarse, a single guard came down. So far, step one of her plan had worked.

About half an hour later, she stood outside the dungeon admiring her handiwork.She had throw the pitcher of saltwater at the guard, momentarily distracting him while she stole the keys and let herself out. The guard floundered about before the wolf leaped on him, apparently awakened by all the shouting. Vivica then grabbed her bow and quiver and escaped the place. Now she still had to get back to her own tribe. Then, the chief of the tribe stepped out of his hut reading a letter. With every word, his face seemed to grow more and more purple until her threw the letter onto the ground and stormed back into his hut. Vivica snuck up and took the mud-stained letter back to the bush she had been hiding behind and read it.

it said: I declare war. Return our heir or prepare to get pummeled.

It was a very short letter but it added another thing onto Vivica’s to-do list. 1) get free 2) get back home 3) stop a war between two hostile tribes. All in 1 hour.

Vivica soon realized that that the dungeons were closer to the border than she thought. She ran across but this took about half an hour She needed to get home faster that that. Her eyes seeked out a horse soon enough and 15 minutes later, she was bouncing along on the horses back as it galloped forward.She arrived at the village and ran to her father’s hut. She slammed into him at the entrance. ‘’Don’tstartthewaryetplease.Iambackandthereisnoneedtofightanymore,’’ she said in one breath. She explained everything as fast as she could and the battle was called off.

Meanwhile, the other tribe arrived at the border with catapults, swords, clubs and every other weapon you could think of to fight an enemy that wasn’t even coming!