Klaipėdos Vytauto Didžiojo gimnazija, Lithuania
IES Escultor Juan de Villanueva, Spain
The quaint brick cottage on Magnolia street was a house, no more extraordinary than the rest of the silent gable-roofed cottages on that street, illuminated only by the faint moonlight, peeking out from the otherwise cloudy sky. They stood lined neatly in a row – all identical, all surrounded by prim white fences, a staple of any self-respecting suburbia. Those same fences promised an astonishingly dull, but nurtured existence, with an overweight husband and perhaps, if the finances would allow it, two ungrateful kids and a Golden retriever. The inhabitants of this particular brick cottage – a married couple, with a son and a mortgage - were not of the rebellious sort and dutifully abided by the unspoken rules of their quiet suburban existence, seemingly doing everything in their power to remain as mundane as possible. Yet, despite their efforts, adventure did finally find them on a chilly autumn night, as the family of three were soundly asleep in their warm beds. Adventure was dressed in a black coat, underneath it wore a crisp pinstriped suit, had a black hat and would have got suspicious glances from concerned housewives, had he been spotted, as it was, after all, the 21st century. It was the sound of him knocking on the door that woke this family of three. As they clambered down the stairs, they couldn’t stop their minds from wandering, who could possibly be knocking on their door at such an ungodly hour? Adventure or Mr. Adventure, as the peculiarly dressed stranger introduced himself to the family when they opened the cottage door, was, as it turned out, a distant long-lost relative, come from distant lands, with a promise of wealth, influence and experiences beyond their wildest dreams. And had he knocked on any other door, he may have found others likely to share his wealth with, but this family had no interest in enriching their lives, so this family sent him away, without sparing a second glance. They closed the door of their house, having learnt and experienced nothing and glad to go back to their safe, ordinary and monotonous life.
Team Lithuania
Road to Nowhere - Story 1
It was a lovely Sunday morning when Georgie and his friend Isaac agreed to go to the park. They had been neighbors since birth for almost 18 years and the park was just a few blocks away from their houses. As they were walking, they talked about the future. “Hey mate, are you thinking about the career that you would like to do after graduation? “ Isaac asked. “No, I do not really know what I will do in the future. I guess I will go with the flow… What about you?” Georgie responded. “Well, I actually agree with you because it is easier for me, if other people tell me what to do,” Isaac answered. But suddenly they both stopped talking and looked to the left. “Georgie? I am either losing my mind, or there is a different path that was not here before. I am pretty sure there was a forest in this very place.” “No, you are right, man,” Georgie said in confusion. “Would you like to try it out? It could be the quicker route to the park,” suggested Isaac. Georgie and Isaac both began walking slowly down the road, but the further they went, the more they realized that the road never came to an end, and they could not see anything else either. The boys continued walking, becoming more and more anxious, but still giving in to their curiosity. With each minute that seemed to fly by, Isaac and Georgie looked older, a single wrinkle on their faces turned into 10, their ginger hair turned gray and frizzy. Time kept flying, and nothing ever changed, Isaac and Georgie remained silent and kept walking, as though they were trying to get somewhere, as if they were sure of what they were going to do. Little did they know that the road was going nowhere.
Moral of the story - When you do not have goals, when you just try to somehow get by, you do not even notice that this road is going nowhere, you get older and older, with nothing in store for you.
Team Lithuania
Road to Nowhere - Story 2
This story happened in 1963, in USA, more specifically in the state of Arkansas. A young eighteen-year-old girl, whose name was Emily, just finished school and she did not know what to do next. Eventually, she decided to go and explore the world. She started her journey from her hometown Pocahontas and wandered to the West on foot. After some time, when it started getting dark, she found a campsite, built her tent and went to sleep. In the morning she continued her journey. When it was a midday, she felt exhausted because of the heat so she stopped to rest. After a while, she felt that somebody sat near her, it was a boy, around her age and he asked her what her name was. “Emily, yours?” she said. “I am Dean. From your appearance I would say that you are going somewhere,” he said calmly and then asked, ”Where?”. “Nowhere. I have no clue where I am heading,” she answered. Then, on Dean’s face appeared a genuine smile and then he said, “Lucky for you, I am going nowhere too.” After that, they continued their journeys together, they explored plenty of places and they became really close friends, they helped each other to find out who they were. Besides, every place that they visited had a special meaning and taught them new things about themselves. After a year they finished their education. Emily understood that she really loved nature, so, she decided to become an environmentalist. And Dean wanted to help others, so, he created his own volunteer organization. Besides, shortly after their trip, Dean and Emily started dating. To sum up, this Road to Nowhere brought them together and assisted to find what they want to do in the future.
Team Lithuania
Road to Nowhere - Story 3
Four days had passed since Noodle was lost in those deserted mountains. Suddenly he found an old sign which pointed in two opposite directions. Noodle read the signs. Both said “our future”. He looked to the right, everything looked grayish and silent. He wasn’t very tempted to follow that direction. Then, he looked to the left. This direction looked much more interesting! Everything was colorful and full of life! Obviously, he chose to go to the left. As he walked, he felt the wind blowing and the birds happily singing. He even stopped to smell the beautiful flowers and enjoy that unique moment. His favourite thing about that place was all of those amazingly tall trees full of the greenest leaves he had ever seen. But as Noodle walked through that dense forest he had a weird feeling. He felt like someone was watching him. He quickly turned back to see if anyone was following him and saw a strange shadow near the sign he had read not so long ago. The shadow was just standing still there, without making a single movement. After a few long and silent minutes, the shadow, just like that, turned back and started walking in the opposite direction, directly to the mysterious grayish side. Noodle shouted, “Hey you! Wait! Where are you going?!” The shadow didn’t seem to pay any attention to his words. He didn’t want the strange shadow to get away so he started to chase it. But something Noodle wasn’t aware of was happening; many identical shadows surrounded him in a matter of seconds. When Noodle finally noticed, it was already too late. The shadows caught him and took him to the grayish side. He screamed in terror, but it was useless, no one was there to help him. Finally, after a long time screaming for help, the shadows left Noodle alone. He looked around him, “What the hell is this place?” he thought. All he could see were very tall buildings that blew out the blackest smoke he had ever seen. Everything looked just so sad. On the other side of the street he saw a red-haired girl and a short young man. They looked both very sad. “Are you guys ok?” asked Noodle. “No”, answered the red-haired girl, “my boss just fired me because he said I wasn’t hot enough for working at his restaurant as a waitress”.
“And no one want to hire me because I’m Latino,” added the young man.
Road to Nowhere - Story 4
Noodle was very surprised by the things he had just heard. He could not believe the terrible injustices that occurred in that world. “Hey!” said Noodle, “Would you believe me if I told you about a wonderful place not so far away?” he added. He invited them to follow him and they agreed. As soon as they were there, Noodle showed them an amazing land. They were fascinated by the beauty of that place and proposed to show everyone on that boring and grey place all the incredible things they had learned. Their plan succeeded and in a few months the old grayish side was now as green as the other side. Everyone agreed to protect all of that amazingly beautiful nature.
Noelia ESP (story)
Mireia ESP (story and comic)