Virtual Voices by Little Green Pig

‘A story of considerable wonder and imagination’ The Daily Planet

Virtual Voices

www.littlegreenpig.org.uk Published by Little Green Pig Fiction

978-1-123-45678-9 I S B N 978-1-444-73201-6

7 8 1 14 24 34 47 53 62 70 81 96 Little Green Pig Books

The epic tale of a slimy snail - the road… By Harrison Age: 10

Once there was a snail, And I know this is a rhyming tale, Of a little invertebrate who had an idea like no other. He needed to escape France, And do his slimy dance, And escape the clutches of the ‘escargot’ restaurant… An epic plan this snail had, Not to be eaten by a wicked dad, And the plan was quite the thought. He needed to slither under the gate, And end up where he may meet his fate, Along that dreaded road. Now I know what you’re thinking, Your heads may be lingering, Just to ask… Why shouldn’t a chicken cross a road? Step out from its humble abode? Only to be squashed by a speeding car! Well - that is the truth, The chicken will go OOF, And be turned into a Kentucky fried pancake. But the snail was heroic, Although he may be left azoic, He would do anything to escape the ‘escargot’ connoisseur… He packed his tiny bag, Said bye to his friends playing tag, And set off on his perilous journey to the unknown…

He took one last look at his precious phone, He brushed his hair for one last comb, And off he went away from home. He slid past things he never saw before, Signs, people, and cars galore. He was scared and afraid, But deep down he had to be brave. He had been sliding along - going for ages. And still glad he didn’t have to pay his wages. Then saw giant figures with arms and legs, In setting this task he began to regret:

Oh, and he could not forget that cheese, Stinky, but quite the delicacy. He wondered at the beautiful sight, But in his head, he felt strife. He slithered into the shadows as he saw the shop, The one that sold ‘escargots’. He saw the chef, and then saw his friends, But they were in a pot, next to that wicked dad… ps: no snails were harmed in the making of this story.

Why did I do it? Why just why? And as soon as he said that, Tears filled his eyes. The snail decided to follow their path, Though he considered that they needed a bath, He clutched his nose and slid past, He slid past many trees, His hair flew in a warm breeze, He admired the beauty of the snail farm, And here his emotions started to calm. Then, just in the distance, he saw a wonderful sight: A large metal tower, amidst a lot of life. He saw baguettes and onions of course, Garlic, pastries and much, much more. 3

The Westbury Horse By Jesse Age: 9

The blank white horse embedded in the rough grassy field, as if it was alive. Staring at the train which is huffing and puffing with smoke. The picture is so vivid that you need to have another pair of eyes. It uses dull colours but it still pops out. The barren deserted fields are a home. A home to the horse! The fields have been ploughed, the horse is still staring as the train passes. The smoke slowly drifts away.

Dark Dominion By Ceri Age: 10

It was late at night when disaster struck, my parents had just gone out on a trip somewhere for a few days and I decided to just sit back and relax for a while when something that felt like an earthquake started to shake my house. Within seconds, the roof had already started falling off! I was used to an occasional earthquake in the place where I live, though this one felt different, it was incredibly violent and shook my house as if it were a small cardboard box. That was when I started to panic, the walls were shaking and the roof was crumbling, I felt like my house was going to fall in on itself, I decided to think what to do. With the small amount of magic that I know, I could protect myself for maybe a few minutes. That was when I decided to make a decision that would change my life forever. I ran off, bolting out the door seconds before the house crumbled. I had not had time to get anything before the house collapsed. That was when I saw it, a massive horned dark substance had protruded from the ground creating a massive earthquake upon the whole land. It was nothingness - but still something. It was Darkness seemingly corrupting the land mainly aiming to destroy or corrupt and that is what it did. It corrupted the south region, brought havoc upon the east and west and nobody knows what happened to the north region. Not that I knew at the time, but that was the start of Exulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deadly quest. Five years since darkness took over the lands I was looking around at night hoping to find something to either eat, drink, or do. Ever since Darkness had taken over the lands of Monagiy I had been searching the west region for things to help me survive. I was one of the few people who lived through the great earthquake. Around seventy-eight percent of the people were either corrupted or destroyed by the Darkness arriving, then another two percent got corrupted by the already corrupted no-longer people. I was wandering around searching for maybe a village or a traveler to see what they have on them, it was around midnight when I stumbled across an abandoned village. It seemed that this was one of the 5

villages that suffered the most from the great earthquake. The villages closer to the central lands were burnt down like a tree on fire. However, the villages further out managed to live with only a few casualties. I lived quite close to the inland palace but managed to escape my home without getting hurt. I brought myself back to the task at hand, I looked around in each house but found nothing. Each time I found an abandoned village, I left the house of the chief for last. Unlike all the other abandoned villages I had found, this one seemed to already be discovered. As I entered the chief’s house though, I heard noises, I crept upstairs peering round the door to see what was going on in the upstairs room. A large shadow was attacking some things that looked like demons, or the south region people. The demons were charging at the shadow only to fall over to add to an already large pile of bodies. Before long all the demons were just a pile of bodies. I felt like I was being tugged towards the shadow by a magical force, which could only mean one thing, the person was a magician, a powerful one. He had the power to alter others minds and blend in with the shadows and many other things. Suddenly, I noticed the magician was looking at me. He looked like he could wrestle a dragon one-handed and win. I tried to run down the stairs to escape but the wizard was too strong. His magic prevented me from backing away. I knew some magic, maybe enough to distract the wizard for a few seconds so I could escape, he acted as if he was reading my mind. “Oh no! you’re not going to get away from me like that, who are you anyway?” “I could ask the same thing of you” I replied. “If you don’t tell me who you are, you won’t have another chance to waste my time,” growled the wizard. “Ok, I’m Exul, sixteen-year-old, born in the west region. Who are you?” I replied. “I am Falcon, nineteen-year-old protector of the west region, I fight off the creatures of Darkness whilst waiting for the chosen one to be old 6

enough to fight back. A chosen one is born every one thousand years to fight off the superiors that attempt to take over. After all those years the only known superiors left are Darkness and Chaos. Those are the strongest superiors ever known.” Explained Falcon. I thought about the knowledge I now knew. “There is actually someone who can fight back against Darkness! The four lands are not doomed to eventually starve! I just wonder who the chosen one is and when will he come.” I thought as Falcon examined me closely, a few years before the disaster, I had learnt a bit about the chosen one and that he/she should be around sixteen by now. “Give me your weapon!” Falcon ordered and I handed him my sword, a few minutes later, he handed it back to me with a crystal in the handle and a sharpened edge. “Press that crystal for it to shrink into an emerald, then hold the emerald and say or think the word ‘sword’ for it to turn back into a sword.” “What are you going to do with me?” Exul asked. “You’ll see,” Falcon said with a sinister smile. Suddenly, the world started spinning as if I was in a tornado and everything faded from my vision as I slumped onto the floor. Everything was feeling strange, I felt… comfortable for once. Suddenly, I jumped up and realised that I was in a bed, and Falcon silently strode into the room. “You have rested? Soon you must train” and then he left as silently as he entered. I looked around and saw that I was in a bed, I guessed that this was Falcon’s home. A few minutes later, I had got up and changed into the fresh, clean new clothes Falcon had given me. Another couple of minutes later, I was outside in what looked like a football field. “Umm, where are we?” I asked Falcon who was standing next to the entrance of the field “This is the training ground, it is where you will be spending the next two days training” Falcon told me. Therefore, for the next two days I was training with both sword and fist.

Two long days later, Falcon said that it was time for a break. “You have trained well and hard, you seem worthy of a reward” Falcon had said earlier on that day. I was just looking around the area that Falcon lived in when he silently approached me from behind. He told me to come over to the house and to close my eyes. I did exactly that and when I opened them I was all the way inside the Supreme Mountains. The sunlight was painting the mountains red and orange as it set. “Go and find three eggs,” Falcon ordered, I went off and climbed around coming back ten minutes later with three small eggs. Falcon took them from me placing them on a pedestal made of carved rock. “MERGE!” Falcon shouted at the three eggs and they merged into a massive, multi-coloured egg. I was about to turn around and go when Falcon stopped me. “We need to wait until it’s ready” he said, “It could be the three-headed dragon that is destined to help you defeat Darkness that is helping you collect the six crystals.” During the time I’d spent waiting for the egg to be ready I looked around the place. The Supreme Mountains were beautiful with massive towers of rock and the biggest mountain in Monagiy, the mount Exultion. As you could probably guess I was named after this mountain. After around ten minutes of thinking and waiting Falcon told me to get up. “INCUBATE!” he shouted and the egg burst open splattering hundreds of tiny pieces of shell all over the place. “This is your new dragon, if you protect it for long enough it will eventually protect you” Falcon told me. On the long walk back to Falcon’s house (He could only teleport himself twice or himself and someone else once) I carried my new dragon looking at it closely. It had a flaming red left head, an inky blue right head, and a shining rainbow middle head. The left and right heads were male and the rainbow head was female, I decided to name it Apocalypse. The next day I woke up to a sound of clanging, I looked outside and saw Falcon battling demons and… north region people? - No, they looked like demons with wings. However, I could make out the shape and face of Norman, one of my childhood friends. Devils, it was the

only explanation. Devils were like demons but with wings, more power and they were once just normal humans. A demon hurling itself through the air at me brought me back to the present. I sidestepped the attack, grabbed the emerald and muttered “Sword” and the emerald grew into a sword. I stabbed the demon badly wounding it. I decided not to kill it because I hoped that when Darkness was defeated every corrupted being would return to normal. I saw Falcon in the middle of a group of demons with some devils circling above. “Well look who decided to wake up this morning” murmured Falcon who was mainly concentrating on fighting the demons. “Could do with some help” he shouted above the screeching of claws hitting strong steel-plated titanium. I gripped onto my sword tightly and I ran at the demons circling Falcon forcing some to retreat. Not long after they were either on the floor unconscious or retreating from the scene. Falcon lifted his hand then dropped it. The unconscious demon bodies were flying off into the distance following the fleeing demons. I recognised that group as a demon patrol often led by a devil shaman. The shamans are rarer forms of devils or the strong Northerns. Tanks are the strong forms of demons or strong Southerns. Shamans can perform dark magic taking downed troops back to camps to go to the healers. Tanks are incredibly large, strong orcs that can also lead patrols. “Who are you?” I heard Falcon growl, after that I heard a few whimpers but nothing I could make out from where I was standing. Then I saw what, no, who Falcon was shouting at. He looked like a younger, uglier, thinner version of Falcon. It was clear he had seen better days, he had a long, wiry frame but looked as if a toddler could snap him in half. Falcon was about to take him to the dungeons when he stopped dead “wait…Emerus?” stuttered Falcon “Where have you been, are you actually Emerus? I thought you were dead!” “What are you talking about?” I asked Falcon “Emerus is my brother, he got that scar along his arm when we were practis7

ing for the sword fighting championships.” Falcon said “Now let us get you warm, shall we?” around twenty minutes after the fight Falcon had some blankets around Emerus and food on the table. Emerus explained how he had been wandering around the forest near their house and the earthquake happened. “I passed out while the earthquake was happening and the next thing I knew I was in a cage” Emerus told us. When his story ended and Falcon told him his own I told them mine. It was a nice evening and a night to forget about the dark storm brewing. It also turns out I slept in that morning, causing me to wake up late and when the fight just started. When midnight came around, I decided to leave Falcon and Emerus chatting in the dining room. I dreamt about my mum and dad and how I left our house and left no sign that I was alive or dead. I wonder if they escaped Monagiy so that they lived through the earthquake. Then I dreamt of a large dark space with me wandering around it and many people that looked like me but older. Then they sat on thrones in a circle discussing something. Then the leader (Do not ask how I knew it was the leader) looked at me and I started to shake and everyone faded and I woke. As I got up I saw Emerus in front of me and he said “this is an emergency I do not have time to explain we need to go now!” He led me through the secret back exit and then told me to run. We ran for around half an hour but I still did not get what was happening. As we stumbled into a clearing, Emerus told me about this village and that it was where he and Falcon had lived when they were younger.

in my head. Falcon, in the flames, nobody coming for him. Ever since the time he found me he had been the only person, yes the only person, who I actualwly knew. Now he was gone. After two months I still do not feel any better. I had been telling myself not to lose hope but how could anybody, even Falcon, survive that fire? Anyway, to take my mind off Falcon Emerus is taking me to a magic school to train. However, as we entered the school, I was challenged to fight off magic to `test my strength’. I was pulled into a room where a teacher stood “ah, the chosen one, I wondered when you would show up” he said. “How do you know that?” I asked, he did not answer he just threw lightning bolts at me. In response to that, I launched a wave at him to slow his next attack down. While he was preoccupied with the wave, I zapped him with a hot electricity bolt to shock him. Whilst he was paralyzed, I managed to graze him with a magma beam and at that moment I thought I had the upper hand. However, that was his plan, he froze me in an ice stasis knocking Emerus unconscious with an earth fist. “What a shame, the chosen one defeated and his guardian unconscious. It is clear Exul I work for Darkness and this school fosters demons and devils training them for battle. You only have a use to us as a slave. And that is what you’ll be soon!” he smiled an evil grin. “I’ll go for now and see you in slave clothes later, bye!” he teleported away leaving me frozen in stasis.

Twenty minutes later I had an idea, remembering the dragon telepathy I was taught. I ordered Apocalypse to melt the stasis ice around me, “Why did we run?” I asked and Emerus sighed “Darkness is a clever only the rainbow head obeyed and soon enough I was able to move superior, he sent the king of the demons to us who set the house on again. By then Emerus was awake and preparing to teleport us home. fire.” Only he had forgotten about the fact that Falcon’s house had burnt “What!” I shouted Emerus said, “Falcon told me to run and take down and that was where he currently thought home was. However, you, after that, I saw the demon king throw him into the flames.” I that was a mistake, a big mistake. fell to my knees, I heard his laughs from the previous night echoing Falcon’s house was worse than I thought, obliterated by the fire only 8

clumps of rocks remained. Demons had overrun the building, eating the food that remained. However, the only thing that stood out to me was the tower. A watchtower had been built beside the charred remains and now at the top stood the almighty demon king, the one who had killed Falcon, the one who I must kill to avenge him. The demon king stared down at me holding his newly sharpened axe. I tried blinding him with a light spell forgetting the fact that light has no effect on demons. At lightning speed he was on top of me pinning me down. “Stop!” roared a familiar voice, Falcon, except every inch of his body was stained black, he sent a force beam disintegrating the demon king. “We need to leave,” said Falcon, explaining that Darkness was close.

he zoomed off into a better world, leaving his friend and family on earth. I know that he will be a guardian again in the spirit world but what I do not know is if I will ever see him again in my lifetime. To be continued…

“You may find that quite impossible but as a Super Unearthly Powerful Electrified Roamer of Idle Obnoxious Realms (S.U.P.E.R.I.O.R) I am incredibly happy to see you waste your energy and try” leered a rough, but powerful voice and a shadow suddenly clouded over us. “It’s too late. We should have planned this, he is here, Darkness is here!” shouted Falcon. Emerus drew his sword, and so did Falcon and me. I stepped closer in harmony with the others, the days of training in combat and magic had obviously had an effect on me. We spread out surrounding the shadowy figure cloaked in darkness as Falcon gave the signal we charged, slashing our swords with all our might doing everything to distract and destroy it. It dodged our moves sending bolts of hellish black fire at us “gunpowder plus fire equals… Kapow!” giggled Darkness as the shadow above us got darker surrounding the remains of Falcons home. “Apocalypse, now!” I shouted and the three-headed-dragon shot down and clawed through the cloak around Darkness and it dissipated. In the moment when Darkness was shocked we all shot bolts of magic at him pinning him down onto the ground and just like that he dissipated like his cloak did. “Help!” shouted Emerus. I rushed over to see a gaping hole through Falcons body “He sent a final blast of hell’s black fire at me when he left, I guess this is a real goodbye Exul” Murmured Falcon. “So… see you on the other side Emerus” and like that

Mossy Stone Steps By Ceri Age: 10

The sun bore down through gaps in the trees and warmed the damp area. He stumbled up the seemingly never-ending stairs. They were green and mossy and smelt slightly rotten. The early morning dew could be smelt as well as the wet earth and colourful fruits. The only strange things were the sounds. There were none. The only sounds he could hear were his huffs and puffs and the rustle of dead leaves under his feet.

Everyday Heroes By Brooke Age: 8

Doctors and nurses train at university to have the Knowledge so they can be able to save lives and make people better from serious illnesses. With such illnesses as coronavirus we have to protect ourselves and listen to the nurses and doctors and wash our hands and stay safe by staying home and that is why they are my heroes.

Donut Journey! By Suzie Age: 10

Blue, yellow, pink, white any colour will do. Juicy, hard, crunchy rumbling down my tummy. Pink cute donuts, fancy pretty donuts. Leave them by my side, I will never cry. Donuts can taste like anything. Try, you will see sour, sweet honey rumbling down your tummy. The only ring Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll ever need is yours. Your sprinkles are delicious- much like yourself I hear. Sweet taste, crunchy too. The last bites are lovely but thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the end of the journey.

Twinkle The Tooth Fairy: The Tooth Fairy Mix-Up. By Suzie Age: 10

Long, long ago there was a young fairy called Twinkle. Her mother and father were Tooth Faries, of course, every child’s dream is to be like their parents so Twinkle wanted to be a tooth fairy like her mum and dad. Years passed until Twinkle could go to the Tooth Fary university to study about teeth. Two years passed and she was about to finish her exam about teeth. Then suddenly the boss tooth fairy came into the classroom and said “we need extra tooth fairies, we need two of them. Two were in a tornado and we can’t find them, we need more, we need more ASAP!” So the teacher that Twinkle was being taught by had to choose two of the best and most well-behaved students. Well - one of the students was… Twinkle.

Twinkle The Tooth Fairy: Twinkle Went to Follow Her Dream. By Suzie Age: 10

Twinkle went to follow her dream to be A tooth Fairy. That’s only for one day, but that’s enough for Twinkle, so off she went. After Flying for a long, long time, she got to the little girl’s house she was collecting the tooth from but she was still learning to be a tooth fairy, so she got one or two things wrong. After she got the tooth she dug in her pocket trying to find the money. Oh no!!! She left it at the university, well she couldn’t go back now it was nearly morning. She knew she had to act fast. She flew to the grownups bedroom and dug in their drawers. Luckily, in his drawer dad had a £5 note. She forgot that it was a lot of money and she quickly took it and exchanged it for the tooth. When she went back, she realised it was a setup. The teacher has to choose two people who were worthy of being a tooth fairy. Then the boy sitting next to her before the mission took the money she had in her pocket, because the teacher had told him to. The teacher said: “We did this Twinkle, we did take the money out of your pocket but that was because we wanted to test you to see if you would give up, congratulations you passed. I hereby declare you Twinkle the Tooth Fairy” Twinkle was very happy but she remembers what she did, she took a £5 note out of the dad’s drawer. So the next night she flew back to the little girl’s house bringing a £5 note and she put it in the dad’s drawer, she flew back to Fairyland and had a ginormous party. Everyone Was happy. The End

Anything Can Be Green By Suzie Age: 10

Anything can be green. Green crisps crunchy and tasty. Green olives sour and bitter. Green cucumber juicy and yummy. Green icing sweet but not neet. Anything can be green. Park-green grass. Anything can be green.

Ola By Suzie Age: 10

1)She’s trying to work for the NHS = Medical Student 2)She’s helping people 3)She helped to look after little Babcia = Great Polish grandma 4)She’s very very kind

Movie Story By Suzie Age: 10

One day Greasy Tim was skating, while he was skating he bumped into Dr. Brave. Tim got distracted by Dr. Braveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lollipop and fell. Dr. Brave went to help him, while he was helping him there was a weird car was going towards his lollipop. Without Dr. Brave noticing a robot came out of the car and took the lollipop to the weird car. Dr. Brave grabbed onto the moving car and then fell. Tim helped him up and then Tim fell. There was a blue car which Tim grabbed onto and started fighting Ninja Light, Dr. B threw a sword and Tim caught it and drew the Ninja off, then both caught up with the weird car and had a big fight, but Tim crashed his car so he polished the car up and Dr. B and him drove off with the lollipop and ate it! The end.

My Green Story By Peter Age: 11

As I’m looking out of my window, there is a beautiful Green Sunset in the distance. The trees are rocking back and forth like they are lost at sea. My mum is calling me from downstairs “Peter time for supper, you are having a bowl of peas. As I gulp my anger, I smash my green highlighter on my desk, I say “MUM, WHY CAN IT BE BROCCOLI!”

Volt: 1. Lockdown! By Vasilios Age: 10

2020 the world on lockdown, COVID-19 is spreading quickly! The world is crazy, “ could this be the end?” Said news reporter. “Honey, when you came in from playing outside, did you wash your hands?” asked mama. “ Yes, and I used the hand-sanitizer I said”. At the time I was lying on the sofa watching the news about the Coronavirus. Mama was talking on the phone, she said something about a person called Volt? He was coming to stay with us and he wasn’t human-looking. Whatever it was I couldn’t be bothered to interfere with it, so I just kept looking at the news. “Vas, I don’t know if you just heard me there on the phone, but an alien-looking small boy is coming to live with us until the Coronavirus mayhem ends, that’s nice we’ll have company,” mama said. “But we have Apostolos and Baba we don’t need any more company. We have enough people in the family” I moaned. “Vas, don’t be like that, the kid doesn’t have any family,” she said. “If he even is a kid” I said back. “Look it doesn’t matter how much you moan, he is coming whether you like it or not”. Said mama, sternly.

Volt: 2. The Day I Met Volt! By Vasilios Age: 10

I don’t know when volt is coming but it should be today. Soon later, the bell rang, and there he is. Volt, my new friend for 3 weeks or more. I showed him around the house but there is one weird thing about him, he always has a shadow. Even in the dark with no light! “It is time to go outside and skip,” he said, he knew how to skip with a long rope but ours are quite short, anyway, he tried but it got caught on his horn. Mama and Apeltios (my bro) were skipping in the far corner of our yard. Volt found a way to skip, he lowered his horn and did loads of fast skips. My mama is really good at shipping, best in the family but Volt has overtaken her, it was amazing! There was the other mysterious thing about Volt, it is that he always takes a briefcase wherever he goes. He hasn’t unpacked anything. Anyway, Volt is in my room so he sleeps in there. So far, day 1 is good with Volt. He is a good guy/thing.

Volt: 3. Briefcase! By Vasilios Age: 10

“I am going to be up all night I can’t stop thinking about the briefcase, I just need to know what’s in it! I’ll just grab it and open it”, I said thinking it was a great idea. “Nuts it has a lock! What language is that?”, I said whispering “That is no earth-land number”, I grumbled to myself. “It might be alien words”, I said trying to calm myself. “I’ll wait ‘til morning”. I got my blanket and I saw that one of Volt’s eyes was open so I just looked away. His eyes are glowing emerald green in the sun. In the dark, they were one of the blackest, darkest green eyes I have ever seen. I’m thinking about last night and I think inside the briefcase are mini Volts. So he has kids. But what type of parent would put their children in a briefcase? It could be anything really. He is an odd thing, I don’t know if he likes the place, he is always looking at random stuff and muttering to himself and writing stuff down and looking in his briefcase. If I came up to him while he was doing that stuff to say “are you ok?” he would slam the briefcase closed and just nod, like he was just being asked to leave the house and he would walk back to his/my room and sit on the bed! It was all very peculiar. “Mama why does Volt seem weird, like very weird, have you noticed it?” I Said quietly to Mama so Volt didn’t hear that morning. “He’s just getting used to being in the family, you know” she replied. “Okay I’ll just try and get used to it” I said. I’m sitting on my bed, then Volt sneezes! It scared the living daylights out or me. I noticed something else after his Sneeze, his hands were bright green, it was his snot, I gagged, but also fascinated at how it was glowing. Weird but cool. I looked at him, I started to laugh, then Volt joined in. He has a weird type of laugh but I think it’s cool, still grimaced about the fact that he sneezed.

Volt: 4. Volt’s First Dinner With The Family By Vasilios Age: 10

It is time for me and fell to eat dinner. We’re sitting at the dinner table and Volt’s arm, all of a sudden, turns into a fork looking thing and digs into the chicken! I can’t help but laugh it was so good. Mama gave me ‘the look’ (it means shut up) but I ignored it. Baba was the Same, he couldn’t help it, it was the best. Volt looked at me and looked at his hand and started blushing. “Sorry, didn’t know, had metal, this how I eat at home,” Volt said picking up a fork and eating like a human. It’s ok we understand,” said Mama slowly so he could know what she was saying. So after that episode, we started to eat, and then me and Volt are going to my bedroom and he starts laughing about how he was eating wrong, and so did I.

Volt: 5. Up Late! By Vasilios Age: 10

Me and Volt are staying up until 1 o’clock tomorrow. That is if we don’t fall asleep during that time. It is 10 o’clock and I say to call it off because my iPad isn’t charged and my phone isn’t in the room, so me and Volt call it a night. “Morning Volt” I said, “morn... ing” he replied. We got out of bed and went down to the living room. At 9 am I did Joe Wicks and so did Volt then we got some work done and then after a long tiring week of work with Volt it was the weekend. Me and Voll are watching TV when all of a sudden, Baba shouts “Boooooooooooyyyyyyys it’s time for breakfast.” Volt eats properly this time and we are having a nice chat. We are now in my bedroom and Volt is on his ePod and I’m on my iPod. We are getting bored with that, so we waste three hours watching tv in my room, it was now time to go to sleep.

Volt: 6. Volt’s Missing! By Vasilios Age: 10

I wake up in the morning looking forward to another nice day with Volt and I say “morning Volt…” no answer. I look up to see that he has gone. My first thought is that he didn’t enjoy being here and left or he got kidnapped. But who would kidnap an ugly thing like Volt? But then I realised that there was a note, a very crumpled up note that was hard to open, but I did, the note said: Daer Vase I think I’ve got the Coronavirus formula and I can save people’s lives, I will save the world. I really enjoyed living with you thanx for your care, I really like you, you’re my best friend P.S. The formula was in the briefcase - see you later. “Wow he’s going to have the world” “Haha - nice spelling,” I said and wished him good luck.

Space Worm By Vasilios Age: 10

Bleary-eyed, I went downstairs for breakfast; the house was empty and even the furniture had gone. It all started a week ago. I was in the kitchen and it was seven o’clock in the morning and I heard a big poof type of noise that really scared me. I went into the living room and saw that everything was gone. I just thought that it was the light bulb. But there was this one thing that was still here, it was the annoying boiler that had a relentless burr. It kept me awake at night. My parents keep saying to ignore it but really if they were on my floor, they wouldn’t like it and they wouldn’t be able to get to sleep! The bad thing was that my parents and brother were gone, they were elusive too. This was all very peculiar so I tested it out, I went outside and kicked a football against the wall and I didn’t hear the exasperating crazy lady shouting at me for doing so. So, I went back in and the next thing I did was to call my parents and see where they were. But as always, they did not answer. I thought to myself “I am the only person in the world so I can do anything”! At the time I thought that was awesome but I soon realised that no one to talk to in ages is really boring. I checked my neighbour’s house and my best friend’s house and there was no one there. I figured that I could do anything so I went to the Brighton Marina, and jumped on the trampoline for a bit, then got down and focused on how to get out of here. I was thinking of how I ended up here and I thought that I might have been swallowed by a big vacuum that sucked me up and I got put into a different dimension. Soon later I received a text message of a person with this number on top: 6464864834294830466436529 I didn’t know who it was but they said “you have been swallowed by a black space worm”. The only way back is to go to Churchill Square and press the button outside and it will send you back to planet earth but you have to believe that it will work or else you will be lost forever”. I was frightened AS HECK and hoped it would work. So, I did as I was told and believed as hard as I could and pressed the button. My 25

life flashed in front of my eyes as I saw the black worm spit me back out and then it looked me in my eyes so I stopped glaring and looked ahead to earth. I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t breathe because I was in space. All of a sudden, I saw my bro and my Mama and Baba in front of me and they just hugged me and I hugged them back even though I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what just happened!

A Day in the Life of a Spoon By Vasilios Age: 10

Today I awoke to the deafening shrill of the giggling knives in bed next to me. The most annoying thing about them is their voice and that they bullied me so they are my enemies. There was a time when we were best friends and we used to play in this cardboard box with loads of foam that we used to play with. Then one day we were taken out of the box and then put into a drawer on top of some type of metal and it was my home and their home for 1 month until one day my best friend got taken out and was USED, USED! I mean I didn’t know what it was like to be used and he just left me and I was all on my own. I was devastated, then came the sad bit, he made new friends. Then the knives ganged up on me because I hadn’t been used and that’s when the bullying came in. “what do you want,” I said angrily, “nothing big fat loser,” One of them said to me, “I see you’re talking from experience,” I quickly said back to him. Today I know it is going to be another horrible day. Why do I have to be the spoon, I was his friend and now he is with those brats the knives. Oh, look they are going to get taken for breakfast. Wait, why is this person picking me up. Yes, my time has finally come they are going to take me. “HEY…HEYYY LOOK WHOS GETTING PICKED SUCKERS! I am finally going to get picked. I am heading towards the cereal bowl, ah yes time to get dipped. Oh crap! you can’t breathe there ok take a deep bre… oh how fast does this person eat oh thank the lord that that is over oof! that was hard, I hope I don’t get picked at lunch. “How was it, fat face!” Said my used-to-be best friend. “It was the best,” I lied. 27

“Oh really,” Said the sharpest knife. “Yes,” I lied again. “Just shut up and go away!” I snapped. “Just shut up and go away,” One of them squeaked back. It’s now lunch and, oh no! they are going for me AGAIN! Uuuuggghhh why. Oh crap! and it is hot soup and I won’t be able to breathe because I am with the fast eater, can this day go any worse? “Owwwwww that burns why is the soup so hot?” I said, feeling hotter than anything in the world. The only thing that was cool was the metal after I got washed in the boiling hot water that nearly burnt me to a crisp. I know that my ex-friend is going to give me a hard time so I have to be very strong and hold it in. Here we go its time to get bullied AGAIN. “Hi,” My ex-friend said to me in a very sad voice. “Hey what’s up” I replied. “My friends ditched me for a FORK A STUPID FORK!” He screamed. “Oh, that’s sad, hey I know this is out of the blue, but do you want to go back to being best friends? But on one condition, if you leave me again and get ditched you are not being my friend ever again!” “Okay, thanks bud or should I say best-bud! Tomorrow is going to be a great day”.

Abi the Hero By Alice

There was a young woman named Abi who had had a young child named Kai almost a year ago, it was going to be his first birthday in only a few days and they were in lockdown from a new virus called Covid19! I know - a terrible time to have a birthday! Abi was doing all she could to help people who might have the virus because she worked for the NHS. But it was all very difficult because she also had an older child about 3 years old called Mia and at first Mia had the symptoms so they had to be in lockdown, and then just as she had got back to work, Kai started to have a cough (one of the symptoms) so she was in lockdown again. Abi had been waiting for 2 weeks now so she could finally go back to work and help out with the injured or virus-infected patients. She wasn’t someone who worked in the building but she works in the community (which means she treats people at their own houses). After her tiring Monday of work she was putting Kai and Mia to bed when she got a phone call and at first her husband Dany picked it up and told her it was the NHS who needed to speak to her immediately. She took the phone and they were saying that there was a really injured person who was over 70, he had Covid19 and was about to die so they needed everyone on the team. Abi told Dany and rushed in the car to the NHS and saw that the man wasn’t any ordinary man, he was the King of England. So she started doing her job, and when she looked up she saw that her teammates weren’t doing it properly so she told them to stop and let her take over. She started fiddling while everyone else stared, she was nearly done, the king would be healed soon. She fiddled some more and finally she was done. They went through a symptoms check and he was now completely cured and they went through another check and it was to see if it could happen again, and according to what it said he was now completely virus-free! They all got in the cars and drove off to the scientists and told them that they know how to cure people with the virus so they wouldn’t get it again! The scientists were very pleased and told them they needed 29

Abi to make the cure, because if she could heal them, to not get the virus again, then she can help make the cure. Abi was very pleased but just as she was thanking the NHS workers for helping her get to this moment an NHS worker told her “I’m feeling very unwell,” the others started to nod in agreement, then they all fainted, Abi was alone she was unsure of what to do so she rang Dany and he helped her sit everyone down in the car, and the kids with a babysitter, they drove them to the hospital, Abi reckoned they had Covid19 so she did her thing. Once they were back they all started wondering what had happened and Abi walked over to the window because she heard a big ‘CLASH’ and saw a big army of Covid19 particles! They must have taken over her friends when she was talking to the scientists, and when Esme had told her she was feeling unwell they got the scientists! She thought they were very sneaky and hurried the scientists down to make the cure and maybe it could stop the particles! They set to work and she told them “I used bacterial wipes and all those things for clearing any particles that someone has touched to clean it, and I’ll show you the rest”. They got on with it and FINALLY the scientists lifted a red bottle. They used a big machine to make a huge amount of it and squirted it at all the particles and they exploded. Abi was a hero, she had saved everyone from lockdown and being taken over by particles and all before her son’s birthday! It was a win-win for everyone! Abi invited all her family round and they celebrated Kai’s birthday. Kai could say many words now, but Abi’s top three were “Abi saved us”!

Everyday Heroes By Alphonsa Age: 8

I consider my friend Olivia D as a hero because she stands up for me when I’m left out, she sorts out problems when me and my other friends fight with me and argue. She always phones me to see if I’m doing well. She keeps promises that I’m her friend forever and she always shows her politeness and helps people.

The Mystery By Daisy Age: 8

These creatures have been spotted about a week ago and a scientist says â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you can get a scale from their tail you will have a 50/50 chance that you could breathe underwater and possibly live under itâ&#x20AC;? says Albert Einstein Ein stare ben also said that his Grandfather discovered them. Very young Donald Trump

Everyday Heroes By Daisy Age: 8

Albert Einstein “If you get a scale…” Very young Donald Trump “Very interesting Albert but I don’t need it”. Child talk and imagination - Very nice rhyming. Whisper “a slice of cake for victory”. “This is childish talk Albert, will you ever grow up?” Bye! Until next time, where we carry on and thank you for reading this silently if you did.

Welcome Back Reader. Whoever you are - Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be watching Led somewhere unknown, somewhere never discovered by humans, Donald shot to Albert, and in there he could just make out a tank with you! a mermaid in it. She looked familiar, red hair, greeny tail with a yelBy Daisy Age: 8

low and blue fish. Of course it was all Ariel, the little mermaid with flounder! Even the Chipmunks and Chipettes were there with Pikachu. Bye.

And So We Carry On The Mystery! By Daisy Age: 8

“Will you ever grow up? Donald, I’m a scientist so I went to college and university also I’ve been around longer than you and I’m dead! Where do you think I came from? You think I just magically poofed and appeared in front of you looking like an adult, but actually just turning one?” “On and by the way, start thinking with your brain and try to solve were the creatures come from and how they got to America!” “Have I mentioned your nose is so big it’s the size of my head” Laughed Albert Einstein Donald started to think, he thought and thought and thought... Bye, see you very soon and thanks for reading silently, if you did.

Tam By Fatima Age: 10

Tam is a 10 year old, she loves to explore things. She lives with her mum because her parents divorced. Her mum then married a man called Bill. Bill has seven kids already, here are their names; Lilly and Lee are 14, then it’s Tom he is 12, then Rose she is 8 (she is her dad’s favourite child), Pebble and Lucas are 6 year old twins lastly, it’s the youngest her name is Alisha, she is 1. One rainy day, Tam was in her room looking out from her window. “ Tam, can you go and daydream somewhere else, your ugly green trousers are disturbing me from playing!” Rose said as she flipped her glossy black hair. “ Rose just because I am wearing something you wanted to wear today does not mean you can be rude, so cry me a river, build a bridge and GET OVER IT!” Tam replied. Rose gave her an evil stare with her beady blue eyes. Then Tam’s mum walked in- Rose quickly changed her evil look to a friendly face. She scrunched her tiny pink nose. “Hi girls, what are you doing?” Tam’s mum asked. “ We are playing dolls!” Rose said. “ Ok, well girls, me and Bill are going shopping so be good!” she said as she put her shoes on. Later on, Tam decided to go and play in the rain. She put her vermillion boots on and played outside. Then Tom came “H-hello Tam, can I tell you something only you can know?” he hesitated. “ Sure “ she said as she stomped on dried leaves, they made a crackling noise. “ So, I once found this glass heart- I found it very amazing- it also came with this paper attached to it, the paper said “Wave this glass heart three times to discover a…” well I don’t know what it says because that bit got wet and ruined, so I never wave it three times because I don’t know where I would arrive.” Tam looked perplexed “ So you’re asking me to come, and go to the undiscovered place with you?” she said as his eyes lit up “Yes…” he said. “ Of course!” she snatched the glass heart and waved it in the air three times “ No be careful we do not kn-” but before he could finish speaking, they flew in the air and got sucked in a hole!

Suddenly, they fell on top of a dragon’s back! “Wow we are on a

dragon’s back!” says Tom “ Yeah wow…” said Tam breathlessly, as she gazed at the dragon. But then the dragon flapped his wings as he trumped blue smoke from his ears. He flew to a book tree with flying books. Tom and Tam read every book. The books were about other glass shapes and where they would take you. They took a map of where the star shape leads you. They then went home. Where do you think they will go next? The end.

A Dream of Life By Joel Age: 9

So hopefully everybody knows about the coronavirus but can they tell how it happened? Some people say that it started in China, others say that some scientists were making the virus and tried to find a cure for it but it had failed and the virus had broken loose. But it’s time the truth is revealed… One day I woke up, had my breakfast, got changed and went to school. But when I was in class doing maths I felt that my head was aching. I was trying to ignore it but I couldn’t. “Joel what is (8+10)2-3, “ the teacher asked, I remained silent, I don’t know. The teacher said, “Now we have to do it again because of you”. After school finished, I saw litter on the floor so I picked it up and threw it in the bin. I finally reached home and ate but I haven’t washed my hands yet. So the next day was my friend’s birthday and I couldn’t go so I sadly stayed home. After 2 days of rest, I recovered so I could go to school. When I was at home I watched the news and someone in China died from a disease that is called Covid-19 and he got the virus by eating bats, after that day 2 people died, by the next day more people died and worse day by day. So the government told everyone to stay at home and only go out for very important stuff. It was my mum’s friend’s wedding and she invited us so we went. You may think we are dumb because we went outside, but we thought that a wedding was very important but it isn’t. When we were on our way to the wedding I realised that we could get Covid-19. So I told my parents and then they realised that they could get the disease. So we wanted to go back but the next roundabout was in 13 miles. Once we got back home we all took a break from the journey. After our break we ate dinner then we all fell asleep. It was the next day, I just found out that more than 1000 people had died. I was in absolute shock. How had so many people died?

It has been 12 years since the virus broke loose and the death was

staggering, you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe it, 12 million people died in England. There was only a quarter of the world left so we stayed at home and never went outside. You may be thinking how we got food, we just ordered it and the person that got it had to wash their hands for 10minutes. One day a man called Bob grabbed me and took me inside his van, and there was a green staff. He said if you take this staff, you can heal the whole world so I took the staff and healed the whole world, and all the people who died came back to life, But it turns out that it was a dream of life.

Dear NHS By Nica Age: 10

Dear NHS I am 10 years old and you are my local heroes. The three things I would like to thank the NHS for are: you help people, they save lives and risk their lives for others. I would like the world to have a cure for the Coronavirus so front line workers don’t have to risk their lives for others. I am very grateful to have the NHS. NHS Workers are lifesavers, I Want the world to change by having all the cures in the World so NHS workers don’t risk there lives, and when I say all the cures in the world, I mean ones that haven’t been made yet or discovered yet, and I also want to bring back all the people who died in this pandemic. Once again Thank You NHS! Sincerely yours, Nica

Every Day Heroes By Eyaan Age: 8

Dear Little Green Pig, You are my heroes. I like to eat kebabs, my favourite drink is apple juice, I love to play football/cricket and I love mangos. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re my heroes because you inspire me to write, and you make learning fun. I live in Brighton. I like this place because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always calm. Yours sincerely Eyaan.

Inaugural journey of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Everyone one packed in tight, all the lords having a smoke, all ladies sharing the goss. The toot of the horn and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re off, the younger A.B. Clayton (1830) and shy ones clinging to there mothers. Faster than anyone has ever By Arthur Age: 9

gone before. The Landscape going by at tremendous speed, animals gracefully dashing. People choking on the smoke, people with asthma spluttering, the walls of cobble shaking. The blades of grass ripping out of the nearby fields, all the wheels turning. Then we arrived, at Manchester station.