Narrative+older+students

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**Going Home by Adithi**

 * Dragon by Aarti **

** The Green Orb by Daniel Torrey **

 * Keyslade Kingdom **
 * New Scars by Lily Tualau **
 * Death House by Joseph **

**Tribes by Aarti**

 * Underhill**
 * By Felix**

Laughter.Loud,maniacal. It pierces the air and bounces off the tiled wall,again and again. The laughter is trapped in this place, just like the patients, just like Underhill. It wasn’t Underhill’s fault that his sister had skidded off the path on that dark September night. Nor was it his fault that his daughter had been killed. But they were gone now and so was his sanity. He stands in front of the hospital’s barred window, the spot that, over the past year has become his home. As he stands there, hands clamped around the two middle bars, a river of sweat running down his shaking forehead, he listens to the laughter. It panics him. He doesn’t know why but he can’t stand the sound of it. There is a reason, but one that he isn’t consciously aware of. He wants to shout at Barry. He wants to scream at him to stop with the goddam laughing. But he can’t. Underhill hasn’t spoken for 5 years and he sure as hell can’t speak now. So Barry continues. He lies on the floor in a puddle of drying blood and he laughs. His head bobs up and down each time slamming into the old flooring and he grows louder. The doctors don’t notice, or they don’t give two damns about Barry’s life (if you can call it that). Barry Delvin, no one really knew what had happened to him. Not his parents,not the hundreds of doctors who had tested on him, no one. “It’s a wonder he wasn’t brought in earlier,” The officer who cuffed him had said. “Shot some poor guy down the subway.”

Underhill and Barry are the most forgotten patients in this place. The others are treated like crap too but the odd ones out, as people like to call them, don’t get treated at all. Underhill begins to hum, trying to block out the sound of Delvin and although it doesn’t even begin to drown out the laughing, Underhill feels a sense of comfort. He hums slowly. He doesn’t hum any particular tune, it’s more like a mix of many songs and rhythms from his forgotten past. So he keeps humming, but with a different intention. He no longer hums to drown out the noises but more so to drown out reality, to drift away from where he stands now, no family, no home, no sanity. He drifts away into nothingness, and for Underhill this is bliss. For Underhill this is the closest he has ever got to what he’s wanted to be all these years. For Underhill this is the closest he has ever got to being dead.


 * 2**

Alan and ten other citizens cower below the oak table of 3 Thierschplatz Rd as another explosions shakes the night. Four hours of this attack and the bombs just seem to have become louder. The silence (perhaps worse than the deafening bangs and flashing sky) begins again but it doesn’t last as long this time. All the gaps so far had been about 20 minutes before another plane flew over the city of Paris but this time a voice interrupted before even 5 had past.”HEN DIE HÄUSER!” “Oh crap.” A woman’s shaky voice says from behind Alan. “What’d that guy say?” Alan whispers. “Something like search the houses,” the woman replies bordering on tears. “We’ll all be rotting carcases by tommorow morning.” Alan gets up, crosses the room and opens the walk-in closet but the others don’t follow. Jackie sits in the spongy arm chair cradling her bleeding child and the other seven just wait to die. “Get up.” Alan Whispers franticly. “Get in the goddam clo…” A loud kind of “Clink” echos from the bottom step of Alan’s apartment, stopping him mid speech. He closes the two doors simultaneously and he himself begins to wait.

The S.S. Officer’s boot hits the 15th step of the Staircase and still no one moves, no one breathes. A silent tear runs down the cheek of Jackie Stone while her daughter’s corpse slides out of her grasp, the bloody crevice that the shrapnel had recently lodged itself into, gaping bigger than ever. 17th step, 18th. Still no one moves. 21st, 22nd. Henry stands up, eyes fiery, a wooden plank clasped in his hand, and stands back against the wall next to the doorway. 25th, 26th. The Nazi reaches the last step and Henry swings. A spray of bullets emerges from the Nazi German’s automatic and Henry slumps to the ground, eyes no longer burning with rage.

“AUFSTEHEN,” The man screams at the civilians sheltering in Alan’s apartment. “AUFSTEPHEN!” Four of them stand but the others don’t budge. Alan watches all of this through a small crack in the side of his cupboard, as all but one of the unresponsive citizens are mowed down in a rain of metal. The only survivor begins to whimper,clutching the wound in his left leg. The officer begins to laugh. His laughter is loud, maniacal. It bounces off the walls, trapped, just like Alan.

The Nazi walks towards the man known as Ed and pulls out his jagged knife. He brings the blade up to Ed’s throat.”Sie, mit uns zu kommen oder nicht wollen.” Ed looks up, pure terror written all over his face and says in complete honesty “I-I don’t speak G-German” The officer starts to laugh again as he drags the knife across Ed’s neck. The other Nazis are smiling too. “Jetzt wollen Sie kommen?” he says letting out another guffaw of laughter. Out comes the officer’s gun. he holds it to the body belonging to Ed Gates and pulls the trigger.

Alan’s steps out of the cupboard and into a pool of blood still spreading to a wider area of his blue carpet. A copy of Where the Wild Things are with “for Suzane have a wonderful birthday” scribbled across the front page, lies in the corner and a line of bullet holes line the front left leg of his table. “A-Alan?” An unsure voice utters from the corridor. “Oh Jesus, um.Yeah,Yeah it’s me but don’t come in here,” he replies. ”Just trust me ok. Here’s what you’re gonna do. I’m gonna come out and we are both gonna run like hell down the stairs and get into the car outside. I’ve got the keys. There’s an S.S Officer bout 100 yards north of here but he aint got no car. You got that?” “But-” “Just trust me ok. On the count of three. One two three.”

Alan and his sister reach the bottom floor of the apartment complex and swing open the doors. A sea of shattered glass coats the dark parking lot. Alan pulls the key ring from his pocket and jumps swiftly into the passenger seat. Maurienne is not far behind and Alan throws her the keys.”You drive” He says. Maurienne obeys and flicks the key sideways in the ignition lock. The engine lets out a series of grunts and the car leaps forward. “HEY. KOMM ZURÜCK!” The Nazi yells, running at the car as it drives off into the distance.

After about 5 minutes Maurienne is crying, trying to wake up from this nightmare. “That’s not gonna help,” Alan says but still his tone is sympathetic. “Why are they coming for us? WHY US.” “Maurienne keep your goddam voice down.” Alan says.”Now you listen to me. Them animals back there. Those things took the entire village away. They ain't comin for us. So don’t go getting yourself worked up bout it. One more thing. You’re not Maurienne any more, you understand me you’re Agnes Karla. I’m visiting you for a holiday. My names still Alan ok, Alan Underhill.”

“ICH SEHE SIE!” yells the Nazi who 10 minutes before had shouted at them to get back here. Speak of the devil, Alan thinks to himself and that’s when everything went wrong. That’s when Agnes Karla’s body never recovered after skidding off the path on that dark September night. That’s when Underhill’s head slammed into the car window as the car rolled down the steep cliff and that’s when Underhill went insane.

Underhill crawls out of the car, his left arm hangs lifelessly at his side and although Underhill doesn’t realize, a trail of blood runs down the back of his neck. His vision is blurred, left eye wandering and right eye suffering from a burst pupil. Birds chirp around him, he checks his watch: 5 o’clock. He climbs back up the hill with one hand and walks back to his apartment,the only thing he remembers: 6 o’clock. Underhill walks in circles, trying to find something, someone who can tell him what’s going on: 7 o’clock. Underhill collapses on the street after finding the dismembered body of his 5 year old daughter, blood dried on her face, a Nazi’s knife still sticking out of her chest: 8 o’clock...
 * 3 **

By 10:30 the next morning Underhill is cuffed in Berg Albert Hospital, screaming at them that he didn’t want a guitar for his birthday. And five years later Underhill remains in Berg Albert, the war is over but Underhill’s time isn’t. So Underhill stands at the barred window of the hospital, listening to Barry laugh. Barry Delvin previously known as Henry Delvin but changed his name after surviving a Nazi attack on 3 Thierschplatz road and faking his death. But Barry and Alan are very different people, because Barry can remember, remember the horrors of that dark September night when he he lay there pretending to be dead, the oak plank lying next to him as the Officer laughed and laughed. And Barry doesn’t know any better than to repeat what he remembers. So Barry lies there laughing while Alan Underhill suffers from it and at that moment, they both wish they were dead.

**Going Home**
By Adithi

__Chapter 1__

A silver sliver of moon peered through the clouds.The stars that shine through the night seemed to be in the same position as when she left Aponzo. A dog barks in the distance, but Alexys sat rigid. A hole in her heart,empty like a crevice in the darkness was blackened with hatred, anger and fear. The clusters of run down shops, the trees swaying in the light breeze, the silence of the night, filled her with memories.

Alexys’s mother, with her well worn apron, leaned back and straightening her aching back. Her father hunching over a mass of paper, worked away late into the night. Her sister, nose in a book, hardly heard the hustle of life. The memories which Alexys had always tried to close a lid on, would threaten to open at the most unlikely of times; threaten to show her who she really was; as if she didn't know. But of course this wasn't the unlikeliest of times. Not with a gun pointing at her back.

__Chapter 2__

The van which carried her into the night, ground to a halt. Alexys’ mind was fit to burst. Tonight was the night when her town was to be destroyed,and it had been up to her and Aponzo to save it, but she had wrecked the mission. Thanks to her, lives weren't going to be saved, they were going to be destroyed.

She should have known better. Her family was already dead, so why had she fallen for it. Fallen for the letter. A voice in the back of her mind whispered “because you know they're out there. Paying for what you've done, for your decisions,and you want to save them. Thats why you fell for it.” She knew that already, but a new worry had started budding, Aponzo.

Sure it was their first mission, and he was annoying, but he was like family now. They had trained together for years, and to her he almost seemed like an older brother. What if he would die or was already dead? Alexys shook her head in anger at herself. This was the last opportunity she had to save the mission and the more she thought like that, the more the outcome would be the same as taking her last chance in both hands and throwing it into a rubbish dump.

The door of the van slid open, and the muzzle of the gun prodded her in the back. It was one thing seeing this type of thing in the movies, and it was another thing altogether having it happen to you. “Dont try and escape, because this is right behind you.” Another sharp prod in the back from the gun. The man who had spoken had an accent that Alexys couldn't quite put herfinger on. Something between an American and Chinese accent. The thought sent a wave of alarm through her. The man was probably Chinese Canadian. The man was probably Leonard Jin-Ung. And if she was right, the man was definitely the world’s deadliest contract killer.

=**Dragon**= =**By Aarti**=

~Prologue~

My heart was pounding as I veered into a dark alley and ran. I leapt past the rubbish bins and broken crates. I heard a roar and felt a shadow pass over me. It found me. It landed, blocking my escape. I was paralysed with fear. It was clearly a dragon. Pure white skin, glowing red eyes and a red tail. Teeth as long as my forearms, ready to rip me to pieces. It lunged forwards, its jaws snapping shut around my face. I screamed.

~Chapter 1~ Diana

'Diana!', yelled a voice. I woke up with a start. I could feel the beast's teeth centimeters from my face. My twin brother, Luke was holding a glass of water for me. I gulped it down. 'Same dream?', he asked. I nodded. For months I had had the same dream. 'What about Gloria?' I asked. 'She got the water.' Gloria, our pet sheep, and the smartest animal alive, was staring at me with concern. I got up. The cave was still dark. I guess I should explain the cave. Months ago, our house and parents were devoured by a mysterious fire. We survived and hid in this cave. It was our home now.

~Chapter 2~ Diana

Dawn arrived and Luke went out for food. There was a village close by that never woke up this early. We took food from them.They had plenty of food, and they didn't need it all. I stayed and got everything ready for food. I don’t know why I have these dreams. They used to terrify me at first but then I got used to it. Now, I wonder if its part of our powers. Luke and I have magical powers. I have the ability to control elements. I was earth and air and Luke was fire and water. They made him powerful and dangerous. We also had extreme battle abilities,super speed, strength and smartness.

~Chapter 3~ Luke

I admit it. I was worried about Diana. These dreams have plagued her and nothing happened. I had an inkling that looking into the future was part of her abilities but I didn't expect this. I had developing powers as well to worry about. I could transfer emotions, memories, pain and human qualities into living things. He tried this on Gloria,giving her a human brain.He wished he could suck the memories of the dreams away, but he couldn’t. Diana had to work this out herself.

~Chapter 4~ Luke

As I headed back to the cave, a flicker of movement caught my eye. For a moment, it looked like a white blur. Ordinarily, I would have thought nothing of this, but my super-speed powers allowed him to register what it was. It was a dragon. It was the same one from Diana’s dreams. It was heading up the mountain. Towards the cave. Towards Diana. Several things popped into my head, but the clearest one was the most important one. Diana’s in danger. I ran up the hill, calling on my speed. I reached the mouth of the cave and saw Diana throwing up defences to protect her and Gloria. An earth wall erupted from the ground, a tornado spun towards the dragon. Diana herself was a blur, one moment, she was in front of the beast, jabbing at its eyes, then behind it, hacking at its tail with her battle axe. The beasts tail didn’t stand a chance. The blade went through its tail, chopping of the red part. The dragon shrieked and flew away,blood dripping from its tail. Diana picked up the severed tail. It was twitching, but stilled as soon as her hand came in contact with it. She looked at me and held out the tail. Every time I see Diana in action, I feel relieved that I’m not her enemy. I took the tail and examined it. There seemed to be a thin thread-like strand in it. It was pulsing with a bright red light, but as I watched, the light faded,and the tail turned out to be a luscious green color. “ It’s the light that made the tail red” realized Luke. “ Isn’t that a life-force vein?” asked Diana. “Yup” “So that means that if we destroy the vein…” “Yup” “We can kill it?” said Diana incredulously. “Yes”. “Well, what are we waiting for”said Diana. She marched over to the cave entrance and promptly fainted.

=**Winged By Emma Baker**=

My eyes fluttered open as I attempted to stand on my long, gangly legs. They were a dark grey colour, I realized, as I looked down at them, hoping that perhaps it might magically make them strong. Instead I flopped over onto my mother’s stomach. My coat was shiny and grey, with little silver spots carelessly thrown over my body. As my mother licked the wet off me, she realized I wasn’t quite right. On each of my shoulders there was a small, tough lump. To her they felt like bones, but we couldn’t be sure. I wondered about the possibilities, and soon drifted peacefully off to sleep. The next morning my legs were strong enough to go play with the other colts, and they too saw the bumps. They didn’t mind as much, but still kept their distance.

A couple of weeks later, I had sprouted small leaf-shaped things from my shoulders, that I could move as if they were 2 new limbs. By then my friends had gotten used to the strange feature. My mother, not so much.

By the time I was 6 months old, my coat had gotten lighter, my mother had abandoned me for her little palomino filly, and I had grown giant grey wings. My wingspan was about 25 feet and I could fly as fast as 200 kilometers per hour, though I had never flown in front of the herd. I had two best friends, who were just normal wild horses, Shadow and Skylar. Shadow was a jet black stallion with a wild and free personality, whilst Skylar was a quiet blue roan mare.

My ex-mother was avoiding me for my so called ‘disability’ but my friends’ parents took me in as their third foal. As Shadow and Skylar were siblings, twins in fact, they liked teasing one another and I was often brought into their disputes. It tired me so, but I worked through it.

And as time flew by, I reached 3 years old, and I was on my own, for the twins left to make their own herd along with their parents. I was supposed to become the lead stallion, as my ‘mother’ was the lead mare, but she had since had another colt who was ‘the one.’

One summer morning I went for a fly on my own, and I decided to fly as fast as I possibly could for a long stretch of time. It worked... Right up until I was lassoed around the neck by some silver wire stuff. I was pulled to the ground by strong force through the wire, and then I felt a piercing pain in my rump. As I started to feel drowsy I lost control of my flight and tucked in my wings. My eyes shut tight and I fell the last metre to the ground.

I woke up in a white room, that the humans described as a 'lab'. Not only could I not feel my legs, I was pretty sure I was tied to a cold, hard table. I looked around and saw more humans studying assorted parts of my body, a primary feather off my dapple grey wing, a strand of my long dark tail and one of my black whiskers.

My ears were not quite functioning right, so I just heard a low buzzing. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder as they stuck some sort of needle into the base of my wing. I felt some cold liquid seeping into my blood.

Again I fell into the cold grasp of sleep as the cold liquid started kicking in. This time I had dreams- strange dreams.They were all about my past, or, what my past could have been like if my mother had just accepted my wings like Shadow and Skylar's parents did.

This time I woke up in a cage. A dark small cage. Alone with nothing to do or eat or drink. Just a lonely cage with a big.... lump in the corner? A big palomino lump. With feathers. Another winged horse!

The palomino shifted, almost as if it had heard my thinking, me knowing it was there. It stood up on it's four long caramel legs and moved towards me slowly and hesitantly. It... well, she gave out a short whinny, saying 'Who are you and what are you doing in my cage?' I replied with only a bow of my head and a snort, telling her that I meant no harm and was put here by humans. She responded well and gave me a bow back.

I let sleep take over me as I lay down on the cold, paved floor. As I blinked the last time for the day, I saw her walking over to me. Probably to inspect me for traces of robotics.

As I thought, when I woke up, my mane, tail and feathers were tousled, signs of her nudging things around for metal or red lights. I stood up and shook my wings so that the feathers were made neat again. The palomino was looking at me strangely.

As I tried to neigh, I realised all that was coming out was a dull groan. I didn’t know what was happening, but I didn’t suspect it would end well. I tried again. This time, a human word popped right out of my mouth. Oh no. I could no longer speak to fellow horses, but only to human beings. I don’t know what I said, but it seemed that the palomino mare liked it. She stood up and started to sniff me.

She replied in a soft, sweet voice that I didn’t think could be the right voice for a dull, scruffy mare such as her. She just said this, ‘Who are you, and why can you talk?’ I could not answer this, as I realised I did not have a name, nor did I know why, or how I spoke.

‘I don’t know my name, and I don’t know how I can talk human.’ I said, starting to get the hang of the new language. I wondered what her name was briefly, but moved on from the question after remembering I was trapped in a cage with an unknown horse. I knew how dangerous it could be with other horses, especially females. I only hoped she didn’t have anything to be protective of.

As I studied my environment again, I saw a small black thing in the top corner of the cage. It had a red light on the front, right next to a transparent lens. I sort of knew that it was watching us, as it followed me around. Also I saw a bucket in the darkest corner of the cage, and trotted over to it. It was grain! Lovely, delicious grain. I hadn’t eaten in days, because I had been trapped in various places with no opportunity to stuff my face.

I looked at the mare, hoping she would give me the signal, but she didn’t even twitch. I tried with words. ‘May I eat?’ She nodded and backed away from the bucket, giving me space for my meal.

‘By the way, what is your name?’ I asked through a mouthful of sweet food. She was hesitant to answer, though I don’t blame her, so I continued. ‘If you don’t trust me, I understand, but I would like to know.’ I suddenly came up with a new idea. ‘I want to make up a name for myself. You can call me by that then.’

‘Alright. My name is Stardust, you can be Echo.’ She finally replied. Echo was a good name... ‘Fine. So, Stardust, were you abandoned by your mother, like me?’ I asked as casually as possible. ‘I was, yes. She believed I had a disability. I was born normal, but I started growing wings at about 7 months old. She talked of her other foal, born about 6 months before me, of his wings. She had said disability, but I knew he had the same as me.’

That got me thinking. ‘Did she mention his coat?’ ‘Yes. Dapple grey, just like....’ She trailed off. I knew she was thinking the same thing as me. ‘After she left you, did she have another foal, a colt? And was she lead mare?’ ‘Yes, and yes. Her name was Telula, she was a chestnut.’ ‘Exactly like my mother...’ I hadn’t seen Stardust’s wings, but I had seen a palomino filly with strange shoulders. I pieced two and two together immediately. ‘You’re my sister.’ ‘Holy mother of god!’ She exclaimed, the sugar seeping out of her voice.

I understood what the humans were trying to do. They wanted baby winged horses, but I knew it wouldn’t work if we were siblings. The foals would turn out mutated, in painful, horrible ways.

‘We have to get out of here.’ I said firmly. I started to tremble, knowing the scientists could hear our conversation. ‘Somehow.’ I added, with a slight quaver to my voice. I didn’t know what would become of us if we tried, but we had to give it a shot.

I looked up at the camera and winced. I knew what I had to do, but I had never tried it before. I turned around so my rump was facing the camera, and kicked up my hind legs and thrashing at the black object fiercely. The camera fell to the ground and sparks flew out of the hinged arm, that had previously held it in place.

Now we were ready to plan our escape. ‘What it the weakest point of the cage?’ I asked her. ‘Near the gate.’ Stardust replied, nodding at the bar closest to the padlocked latch. ‘Stupid, putting horses in a cage. We have hooves.’

She knew what we were going to do. ‘Ladies first.’ I gestured at the cage bars. Stardust backed up to the back of the cage, galloped and reared up on the bars, breaking a hole in the first one.

She was suddenly no longer a polite filly, but a wild bucking bronco ready to kill. She reared and bucked and kicked and thrashed until froth broke out on her flanks, shoulders and head. She then stopped, and waited for me to go. Stardust had broken 8 bars. Just enough for a large foal to exit from. We needed about 20 to be able to slip through.

I did the same as Stardust, walked to the back of the cage, galloped hard out, rear up and broke the next 2 bars. I decided to do the wild horse as well. God, it felt amazing. I hadn’t done that for months. I thrashed and kicked and reared, and smashed at least 9 bars. I tried squeezing through, but it was only just big enough to get my front half through. My flanks got stuck, so I wriggled back through.

Suddenly a cold shower was turned on as Stardust splashed cold drinking water all over my butt. ‘We have water?!’ I screeched, grumpy that Stardust hadn’t mentioned it to me. ‘Not now, Echo, or the water will dry! It’s slippery.’ Oh!!! I hadn’t thought of that.

I trotted towards the hole and started to squiggle through it. My rump did fit through, but only just. But that water must have been at freezing! Stardust pushed the bucket of water towards me.

I didn’t understand. ‘What?’ I asked stupidly. ‘Splash it on my flanks.’ She instructed me. I obeyed, unfurling my wing and scooping out a litre or so of water. Some of it soaked through my primary feathers, but most of it was thrown over my sister’s caramel hair. ‘Thank You.’ She mused irritably.

She too wriggled through the hole and together we unfurled our wings. We took one long stroke of our wings and soared through the narrow building. Numerous humans threw ropes at us but none succeeded in catching us. It felt amazing to be free again. My strokes were strong and steady, and carried me gracefully through the giant laboratory.

Finally, after what seems like hours of flying, natural sunlight shone through a giant window. I looked over at Stardust, and she nodded. We tucked in our wings and legs and smashed through the glass.

It was fantastic being out in the open, and there were more trees than I remember. Not that that mattered.

I spotted the herd. My mother. Shadow and Skylar...? I flew down to meet them. They both looked so sad, almost as if...

They galloped towards me, and I galloped to them. The twins looked at me gravely, and I knew what had happened. But I couldn’t speak to them, could I...? I had tried to speak to Stardust in horse, but I could only speak human. Maybe I could try again.

Stardust flew over to me and looked at me, confused. She didn’t understand that I had normal friends. I guess it’s fair enough, considering I am about 6 months older than her.

I opened my mouth and neighed. It had worked. I was now bilingual. I asked them what had happened, and it was as I had suspected. My foster parents had been killed by wolves, and the twins were close to death before they ran into the herd.

Now I was confused. Wolves? I had never come across wolves before in my life. This was crazy. First, scientists capture me and put me in a cage with cameras, and my friends were not able to create their own herd. I had to investigate.

I glanced at Stardust. ‘We have to get to the bottom of this.’ She immediately understood. We spread out our wings and lifted off the ground.

We flew for hours until we reached the end of our mysteries. A giant dome was surrounding our home. There were fully armoured guards patrolling outside. They saw us, wings and all. Straight away, they let off these wolvish, doggy things. We were doomed, for they too, had wings. Obviously, we were not suppose to know about their scheme.

Then I saw it. Our escape. A glass door was left wide open, from when they released the hounds.

I swooped down to exit, and as I looped, I saw the herd was following me, along with Stardust and my mother. I knew it was dangerous, but I just hoped.

I looked down at my dark grey legs as I did for luck when I was little. I had become a fighter over the years, and knew I had to back up my herd. I pushed myself towards them and bolted straight at one of the dogs, knocking them out completely. The others followed my lead, darting this way and that, and killing most of the wolves. Enough to flee.

We all galloped on through the door and out to freedom, Stardust and I in the lead, ascending as soon as we were outside the door. We were free

= **A Pony’s Life By Lily Bell** =

It was another steaming, dry, Australian, summer day. I was milking one out of our our millions of cows when I heard it. A shrill, ear splitting sound that I recognised as a horse in distress. Leaving Buttercup (the cow) I sprinted through the golden eaten away stuff that used to be grass, in the direction of the noise; the west side of the farm.The closer I got to the screeching, the louder it got. Eventually I found the source of the cry, a half dead, starving, chestnut stallion.

Rapidly I got out my walkie talkie and told my uncle to come as quickly as he could then I started tending to the horse. He had Mud fever on his chest along with bruises and deep whip marks on his rump; he was in desperate need for food and water.Quickly I whipped my drink bottle out of one of my many pockets and started slowly drizzling water into his mouth. He swallowed carefully.Then Uncle Richard arrived on his bright red quad bike, he had bought bandages and a trailer to load him onto after we had treated all his wounds.

When we got back to the house we called the WSPCA to come and look at him.

Before they left they gave us firm instructions on how to look after him properly. I listened but I don’t think Richard did,he looked kind of annoyed that they were telling him what to do when he had been working with horses his entire life.

I went to the Coral to give Fernando (thats what I named him) his feed. He was standing up on his legs and looked much stronger than he had before. It was then that I noticed that he was gorgeous. He was the most rich, deep, red chestnut I had ever seen. He was well proportioned and I thought he would make a great jumper. He looked a bit like a Tennessee Walker with standard bred legs and hoofs. I was so wrapped up in his beauty that I forgot to close the gate. Slowly I approached him, suddenly he looked terrified at the prospect of having me any closer to him. But I still crept closer. I had very specific rules to give him his bran no matter what. When I got close enough to him I gave him his food, then I went. After I backed away he Quickly jumped up and started galloping through the gate and out onto the fields.

It took me a few seconds to gather my wits and compute what had just happened but then I was off, sprinting to the stables while frantically fumbling for my walkie-talkie to tell Richard what had happened. When I got to the barn I quickly vaulted onto Trojan (my horse) bareback and galloped after him.

I knew Trojan was an old horse so he wouldn’t be very speedy but then I thought ‘Fernando won’t be very fast either.’ So I quickly egged Trojan on. After a few more minutes of galloping I saw a chestnut shape in the distance. It looked very tired, but when I looked down I realised that all this running was having the same effect on Trojan. His flanks were heaving and there was froth coming out of the side of his mouth. I knew he couldn’t carry on like this for much longer...

I let Trojan slow to a canter because Fernando had completely stopped to munch on some delicious, dry, dead grass. We walked up to him and I grabbed the long rope that I always had with me out of my pocket,tied a loop in it and put it over his head and tied the other end to Trojan so he couldn’t escape. Then i called my uncle Richard to let him know that Fernando had been caught.

After we had got him back we realised he could have died, all that galloping had infuriated his cuts and bruises and had scored him a couple more. Fernando was lying down on the grass and was asleep. I think he had accepted he was here to stay.

Over the next few days Fernando really improved, he would let us touch his legs and head and would eat from our hands.

After two weeks he would let me sit on his back and after a month he would let us put a saddle, bridle and martingale on him.

A year later...

Fernando stood quietly while I groomed him and checked his hooves. He could feel the excitement rippling through the air. When I finished grooming I started plaiting green ribbons into his mane and tail. I giggled to myself, he looked like a furry christmas tree.

I did one last check on his red, chestnut legs for cuts or bruises but for the fourth time found nothing. Just then I heard our names called over the speaker. Quickly I vaulted onto his fancy, new, black, leather saddle and trotted out into the arena.

I waved and pumped my fist at the crowd. There were so many more people than I imagined there would be. I stole a glance at the course and gulped when I saw it - it was going to be a toughie I thought to myself. They sounded the horn. I gathered my reins in the proper riding position and started a slow, loping canter to the first jump, a hogs back.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 1.5;">We cantered up to it and up we went, and a perfect landing, we had aced it!

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">The next one was a particularly tall log jump. We galloped and lept. I’ll never get used to the feeling of jumping, the flying sensation that blows your hair back and whips at your face.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">We made it, but only just.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 1.5;">Up and over all the jumps we flew and landed perfectly every time, without any mistakes.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">We made it to the end. We were eight seconds over the time limit but it still felt glorious. I jumped off Fernando, grinning from ear to ear, and I led him over to the shower room and groomed him again, gave him his barley and some water.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 1.5;">After Fernando had calmed down I led him back out to find out who had won.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">The man said into the microphone “3rd place with a score of 16 was Angela Chang, riding Maximum. There was a lot of cheering and a 10 year old chinese girl stood up and led her shiney dapple grey mare up to receive her green rosette.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 1.5;">“2nd place winner, he paused dramatically, with a score of eight is - is Lily Bell on Fernando.”

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 1.5;">The noise was stupendous - much louder than I had imagined it would sound. It felt amazing, I was overwhelmed with how well we had done. I had thought we would do well, but not this well.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">I jumped up to receive my red rosette. When I put it on Fernando I knew that we had bonded and that there was going to be many more wins to come.


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">__The Green Orb__ **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Leon Russell sat on the docks of his town in the dim moonlight, starring at the empty sea. He thought about the future and what it might be like. Leon doesn’t have an ordinary fourteen year-old life. His father restricted him from everything but school and an old bakery that his father owned. This was the first time in 2 years Leon had been able to be outside in the moonlight. He sat, hands in his pockets and thought. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Leon looked up into the sky and noticed a star getting brighter and brighter... It was coming straight for him! He got up and ran back toward the town. He took a chance and looked behind him. He widened his eyes as a huge green orb came crashing onto the docks where he was sitting. The planks of the dock were fading away as Leon ran faster, panting as he ran. He braced himself to jump the last part, but as he went across it the docks suddenly came crashing down and Leon fell into the cold, blue water... **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Leon woke up to the sound of buzzing and something shaking. He recognized his father talking with some sort of white being. It’s eyes were coal black and most of the beings had no hair. Was his father hiding something from him? He looked around and recognized his surroundings. He heard something walking toward him. Leon screamed as something sharp pushed into his skin. His vision became blurry and his face was swelling up, the next thing Leon knew was darkness. **

By Daniel Torrey


 * Keyslade Kingdom **
 * By Pranav **


 * Chapter 1 Roxis **

Roxis woke up after another nightmare filled night. He stepped out of bed. Roxis rubbed his twinkling eyes with his long thin fingers - he was ready to fight. He looked around for any sign of a speck of danger but he couldn’t see anything but an old dusty chair. He waved off the idea.

Roxis walked down the black creaky stairs armed with the deadly keyslade sword in hand. “Roxis, there’s no point.” The words echoed down in the deepest pit in the back of his head. His family took a look at the weapon and backed away. The smell of fried bacon and eggs filled the room. Roxis took a whiff and sat down at the perfectly round table as hungry as ever. He ate unforgivingly.

The Marlos exchanged looks, and triple checked the tightly bolted locked doors and windows, as if trying to make it as secure as possible. Roxis was excited. Today he was 16. “$10, that meal is worth...” exclaimed Mr David Marlo. Sora ate, ignoring his dad. The last time he had had a meal like this was his last birthday, the 12th of November 1916. Today he was free ,16.

Roxis paced around his dimly lit room. His dark willow bed seemed to be mocking him. “When are they coming?” he thought to himself. As if right on queue, all the lights drained out. Nothing but darkness. The only light came from the deep shine in his eyes.

Roxis could hear screams coming from downstairs, as long as it was coming from the Marlos, he really didn’t care. The door creaked open and they stepped through.Terra and Aqua.

“Its been so long!” Terra said. They embraced the moment. Roxis couldn't believe this, he finally had the chance to find his sorcerer. “There is no time to waste, the portal is closing” Terra warned, taking charge.

Terra, Aqua and Roxis ran down stairs. “How about them?” Roxis asked. “They won’t be going anywhere,” Terra replied, as he tied them up.

With a swing of the keyslade Terra and Aqua charged through the tightly bolted doors into fresh morning air. Roxis breathed in the fresh air. He had not experienced this ever in his life. But now 16 years old he can.

He couldn’t stop himself, Roxis climbed on his weapon and flew away into the deep blue morning sky. He didn’t care that he was being hunted by the heartless. He dindn’t care that he was to save the world. Roxis took a look at his keyslade as if to say “dont fail me now!”. He swooped down to meet his friends. “are we ready?” Tera asked “yup!” Aqua and Roxis.

New Scars By Lily Tualau

A gentle shake on the shoulder seemed to wake me up. I struggled to open my eyes and soon enough I could see the dark figure of my mum. I looked at the time. It was two o’clock in the morning. I made an attempt to roll over and climb out of the comfortable, cream padded sofa. No such luck. I groaned as a sharp pain in my chest grew more violent with every movement. I had been sleeping on the sofa in my mother’s room for weeks. My room upstairs was too far and too high to climb. I would start wheezing halfway up the staircase. “Come on,” my mother said gently. “ Is it time?” I asked. “ The hospital called two minutes ago.They had one available from the same type of blood and we have to come quickly.”

Ten minutes later I was on the hospital bed being rushed into the operating theatre. The doctor explained everything that they were going to do. I wasn’t listening. I was tired. I was exhausted. I was terrified. My thoughts were interrupted with a sharp pain. I drifted into a cold black sleep.

Eight hours later, I emerged from a deep sleep. I was aching all over. I lifted my head as a slight moan escaped from my mouth. I looked down at my chest. There in the middle was a huge scar where my heart lay. My new heart.

Two weeks later, I was free to go home. While I was in the hospital, I met a girl called Ella. She was about the same age as me, and had gone through a heart transplant like me. She was kind and caring. She went to Trinity College until she had a fatal stroke and was homeschooled from then on. “ Do you care about the scar on your chest?” I couldn’t help saying. “ Not that much. I just tell people that I fought a bear,” she replied.

I had to go back to school the next day. My best friend April was worried about how I was doing. I was taking tablets and my body was still in pain but overall I was fine. I told her what I was going through and made her swear not to tell anyone.

The next day was a nightmare. My classmates started picking on me. Everybody had now heard about my heart transplant, and were treating me differently. All at once one name popped into my mind. April was the last person I wanted to see right now.

Once again I was back in the hospital waiting room for my weekly check-up. I looked around for Ella. She was nowhere in sight. I went up and asked her nurse. She hesitated and replied, “ I’m afraid her body rejected her heart and she passed away”. Tears welled up in my eyes. I had just lost my only friend.

I was alone the next day at school. I was in a grouchy mood and was ignoring everybody who talked to me. I ate lunch alone that day. During English, Shannon Smith (popular mean girl) started teasing me. Then all hell let loose. A spark of anger ignited in me. I walked up to her desk, flaming with rage and with all my might, flipped her chair over. She lay on the floor, stunned and seconds later started bawling. She made no attempt to get up. Ten minutes later, I was sitting in the principal’s office.

The next day at school, I glanced over at Shannon’s desk. She was absent today. Just then, my cell phone vibrated. I looked up and made sure the teacher wasn’t looking. I quickly flipped open my phone and read the message. It was from Connie (friend of Shannon). Thanks 2 u, Shannon is in hospital ya scar chest Connie Hot tears pricked in my eyes. I hated being called scar chest and they knew it. But I did break Shannon’s wrist and they thought I deserved it. I tried to think about what Ella said, but it didn’t work. I stormed out of the room, ignoring the teacher’s shouts and into the girls bathroom.

The lunch bell rang. I didn’t want to eat my lunch but the doctor said that I had to eat, in order for my heart to function properly. I was still stuck in the bathroom. I gobbled my food up. I refused to come out until it was time to go home. I was drowning in a pool of misery.

Losing Ella meant I didn’t have any friends. Talking to April was at the bottom of my to-do list after the way she told everybody about my operation. I had evaded her ever since. I hated talking to my parents about my issues. For now I was alone.

Remembering that April’s birthday was right round the corner, gave me nightmares. What would I do? Do I have to talk to her? Questions swirled around in my mind. I was so overwhelmed that I slammed closed my locker. My eyes blurred and a drip of water rolled down my cheek. I was suffering under pressure.

It was lunchtime. I checked my lunchbox. Urrgh! Tuna sandwich again. I looked up as April walked passed me. She gave me the faintest of smiles and passed me an envelope. As soon as she was out of sight, I ripped opened the paper. It was an invitation. On the cover was a yellow sticky note with words that spelled out: I’m so sorry for what I did. I didn’t know it would cause this much trouble. April :( I didn’t know what to do after reading that note. But I knew I was alone and needed a friend.

It was Saturday. The day I was dreading. April was having her birthday and I was going to have to tell her. I dragged all of my clothes out onto the floor, and tried every single bit of clothing on. I came across my favourite silky cream sleeve shirt with laced sleeves and collar. I threw it on but the healing scar was clearly visible above the collar. My thoughts drifted back to Ella. What would she do? Stuff that thought. I remembered what she said about her scar.

The hall was packed with students from school. In the blur of the crowd, I spotted April at the end of the hall, standing next to the punch bowl. I took a deep breath and walked towards her. Immediately her face lit up and we started talking like we were old friends. She apologised for everything she had done and promised to never let something like this get between us. I looked admiringly at my battle scar. During the past few days, I had fought a bear.

__Death house__ // __Joseph Lai__ //

It all started, when a long told tale was read to the school. It was about a village that no one went to for centuries. If you dared to go you will not return.

When four boys heard this story they decided to investigate this village. They wanted to prove that if you go there and rest there for one whole night you will return safe and sound.

So the boys set off to this village. ..

When they arrived it was the evening. For some reason, it didn’t seem like what they had heard, neither did it look like no one had lived there. The lights were shining bright, everything was clean, no dust at all. Slowly, their teeth started chattering and goosebumps started forming on their arms. They decided to keep walking and find a place to sleep before nightfall. At last they found a place to stay.

As they entered the hotel, the door was like a lion roaring out to them. Suddenly, the door slammed behind the boys. Right in front of them was the counter,”Hello?” they called as they started striding towards the counter. No reply. “Hello?,” they shouted again.”Anybody home?,”

Soon, they heard a groan behind them. “ARGH!!!!’ they screamed. Slowly, they looked back and it was their friend Yaseen. At once, they made a decision to split into two separate rooms so they would be safe from whatever was lurking around. It was 3:00 in the morning when Yaseen woke up because he thought that the boys in the other room had woken up. Silently, he tiptoed out of the room.

Yaseen searched the kitchen thinking that they would be hungry for food. Yaseen hid behind the fridge to scare his starving friend. Then he heard footsteps. A huge grin formed on his face ready to do the biggest scare ever.

Quietly, he kneeled on the ground. The footsteps grew louder and louder then it stopped. Yaseen looked around, wondering what happened to the footsteps. He looked up and there was someone, someone with a knife.”Hi Mustafa stop holding that knife. I know it’s you,” The person didn’t move.”Mustafa, is that you?”

“Prepare to die!” The person screamed. “AAARRRGGGHHH!!!”

“What was that?”Mustafa asked Caleb as he rubbed his sleepy eyes.

“I don’t know,” Caleb replied.

“Let’s go check it out.” Mustafa stated. Caleb shivered with fright as he had a scary image of them not returning. Silently, they tip-toed downstairs to see what happened. There was Yaseen lying on the ground with a knife in his chest and a trail of blood.

“I think we should leave now,” Caleb whispered as his heart pounded faster and faster.

“Me too,” Mustafa stammered.

So they left the haunted house leaving their friend Yaseen in there lying dead. “I can’t believe we went there in the first place.” Mustafa called.

“How are we going to tell the school and Yaseen’s family?” Caleb questioned.

“I don’t know” replied Mustafa. As they drove back to school to tell them about the story they kept thinking of all the good times they had with their friend Yaseen and how Yaseen’s parents would feel.

As they took their first step into school, the storyteller was waiting there.”How was the trip?” Questioned the storyteller

“Not so good” Replied Mustafa.

“How did you know about the house?” Asked Caleb.

“It all happened when my friends and I went to the haunted house like you guys. My friend Sean disappeared one night, we looked everywhere for him. Then one night we found a costume of pure black and a large butcher’s knife.” Tribes

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!