World of Mysteries Written by: Maryam Asad Standing on the edge of the rooftop, I could feel my face pierce through the cold, strong winds and see the sunshine fade as the heavy clouds hid the sun behind them. Far across the horizon, I could see the fence that guards our city from the outside world-which they say is abandoned and cannot bare life. All I could think about was the perfection of the system of our city and how well-thought out it was, where everyone could contribute to the city in every way possible. Vanguards- the faction for those who tend to be detail oriented and deep thinkers, Candor- for those who have the quality of being open and honest to everyone, Valiant- for all those who show fearlessness and determination, Comity- the most peaceful place to be where they are sympathetic and care about others, and last but not the least, Altruistic- for all those willing to self-sacrifice. Tomorrow I will find out which one I belong to, which could be vanguards, the faction of my birth. The sudden spark of pain from the needle woke me up completely and reminded me of the reality in front of me. The serum going inside me through my arm would decide my future-who I will be. Standing in front of me was a vanguard senior who was waiting for my results. I saw his face through the slight reflection of his face on the computer screen. His face expressions which were blank before, now were confused as if he had seen something unbelievable. Knots formed in my stomach as if I had done something wrong or upsetting. For a while I stared at nothing and then heard the scientist say my name, Natalie, and just after that he looked at me with great fascination in his eyes, and then whispered, “You don’t belong to a faction, you belong to many factions.” I repeated his words in my head again and again and tried to figure out what he meant but it was of no help, so I mumble “what do you mean?” And he goes to the door of the room, checks if anyone is around and says “you are special, you are different, and you can choose one of the three factions which are vanguard, valiant and candor.” With a confused look on my face, unable to jot down all that information, I walk out of the room, go home and fade away in my thoughts. It has been a few days since the test and my mother knows about my results. Since that day, nothing has been the same- my mother has been trying to hide my personality as much as she can as if it is dangerous, she told me to spend my time more like the vanguard and try not to follow
the other factions as much as possible. I had to “blend in� which made me feel like I was a threat to the society and had to hide the real me to become a disguise. None of it felt right. At all. After a lot of critical thinking and time to myself, I decided to use one of my personality traitshonesty- and chose to confess what I had been doing for the past few days to the leader of Vanguard. Going to Vanguard headquarters felt like betrayal to my family but I decided to continue anyway for the sake of knowing the truth. As soon as I told Christina, the leader of Vanguard, she ordered the guards to take me to a place I had never heard of before. I tried and tried to resist the pull of the guards but they were too strong for a weak girl like me, so I gave up and let them drag me into a comity farm truck with no idea about where it was going. I sit with my arms around my stomach and look outside from the tiniest window that led in a small beam of light from the moon. I could see a faint line, and as we got closer, I realized what it was- the fence. That is the last thing I remember seeing before I wake up into a very unfamiliar room, surrounded with people who I thought were dead. It took me a few minutes to process all the information that they were telling me and the fact that I had just met people whose funeral I went to. As far as I could understand, special people like me, who had gotten more than one faction as their result, were brought here to safety as they were essential for life on this planet and the only way this world can work peacefully. Peace would fade away from the world if the population of the special people decreased, so they had to be kept safe. A part of me disagreed with what I had been told, like it was wrong to artificialize the ways of the world our founders made it. I knew exactly what to do. Later that night, it came to head that my death would also have been faked like the others and suddenly the thought of what my family was suffering through came to my mind. I drowned in my own tears. After living here for almost 3 months now, I had spread the word around about how wrong it was what the government was doing with us and surprisingly, quite a lot of people agreed with me. We had gone over and perfected our plan many times now so there was no room for error. At exactly midnight, we escaped the camp carefully without anyone noticing and crossed the fence disguised as comity farmers. Our next stop was the government headquarters also known as the altruistic headquarters to leak the information they had been hiding from the world from centuries. As soon as the sun would rise, the truth would be revealed which could change the way of living forever.
Into The Closet Written by: MinaamAzeem The sky was like the deep ocean with a beam of light from the moon and the stars were like the lustrous snowflakes of silver as they spattered the sky. I was skimming through the best- selling book ‘Fault in our stars’ right before I saw a pillar of fiery smoke and dust boiling up from a mansion. I heard the fearful blow of explosion, the noise of shattering glass and the horse howl of people rushing towards me. I rushed towards my only friend’s abode breathing heavily and secretly hid in one of her cluttered rooms but this one was like a place out of time. It was a room like a canvas rather than a finished work of art. Suddenly, I saw a black shadow coming towards the room, so I tip-toed towards the towering brown closet and concealed in it. It was overflowing with jackets and dresses but at the end of that closet, I saw a brilliant noon sunlight advancing from outside on to the jackets. I leisurely removed the jackets and what?! My eyes popped out at the sight of a beach with no sign of any soul around. I came out and the sun was shining warmly upon the sea making an aesthetic view with shades of orange, yellow, red and blue. The sky was dotted with a few fluffy clouds like candy floss. The tides swished exquisitely along the sunlight. I galloped along the sand, towards the tides which were gently lapping against the shore leaving a trail of white foam. I splashed here and there and didn’t even care that I was in another world inside a closet!! I could only hear the scurrying of the squirrels and the birds chirping in a perfect harmony. Somewhere far behind I saw a group of people wandering around. “Hey? Hello?!” I screamed at them but my voice wasn’t loud enough for them or maybe they were deaf. I saw a long trail of stairs resembling the Haiku stairs which led me all the up the hill. The stairs were really weird, each one of them was a different height from the last, making it impossible to judge how high to lift a foot. I somehow reached to the top. There was a group of children playing and adults chattering. On a brown wooden board, it was inscribed ‘The Titan’. “Omg! I am with the titans?!”
My eyes and mouth were frozen wide open in an expression of stunned surprise. They all suddenly looked at me and came running towards me shouting “A tourist! A tourist” The crowd ran like a multi-headed beast that shared only one brain and started speaking at the same time. “Ok so, they were deaf but now they are dumb too. How am I even going to understand if they all speak at the same time (rolling eyes),” I said in my brain. I didn’t want to say anything which would be difficult for them to understand, so I just told them to stop and asked if they can show me the place. I was way too excited, my eyes were alight, my every muscle needed to dance and jump. I read about the Titan in a book but never thought that I was actually going to see it one day. I was also thinking about how magically I came here but I just went with them to discover more. On the hill, it was just a different view. At one end, a sunny summer day beach view and at the other end, giant northern snowy mountain view just like the Himalayas. The mountains were covered with a rug of trees; green, yellow and orange, but their bare tops were scarfed with snow. Waterfalls tumbled down the mountains which looked like a wall of blue satin threaded with silver. The next spot was a carnival. I could hear the faint music from far. The entrance was quite dark; no lights but only the fluorescent small lights of the balloons and ride were lightened up, adding to the atmosphere of the carnival. I sat on one roller coaster which was as fast as the speed of light. My eyes were bulging like frogs and my mouth was as stretched as a patient’s mouth ready for tooth extraction. Then I saw a group of ladies dancing so I joined them cause why not. We advanced, retreated, our arms waving from side to above our heads swaying and our garments were fluttering. The slow sad music filled my heart and the air like waves filling the holes in beach sand. I also made a flaming fire tattoo on my wrist and bought a shining silver ring. Suddenly I again saw the tower f smoke rising up and one by one people were disappearing like the ending scene in Infinity War. Something stabbed me with a dagger and I fell off the cliff in a slow motion dramatically. As landed on the ground, my eyes opened rapidly and what?! I was sitting in my brown wooden rocking chair with my hot chocolate & my book. “Oooo My God! Was this all a dream?!” I was way too confused but as I looked down, I saw the flaming fire tattoo on my hand and the silver crown ring fitted perfectly in my finger. “Was it actually a dream?” My eyes and my brain were divergent, my head wad spinning right before I saw a white
folded chit under the chair which said in bold underlined words ‘GOODBYE’ and then suddenly I heard my friends shouting “Who opened that closet?! It’s vomiting my dresses out.” My eyes opened wide in amaze. “It wasn’t a dream!!!”
The Perception Minute By: Maheen Faisal The test began, minds were working and pens were expressing. On and On and On. The room filled with silence, odd and mystic. The test was to achieve my status as SnowGaler. SnowGalers are solvers or decipher of codes and crimes similar to cryptography. The storm outside was surely relaxing. It brought along itself roars and screams and thunder. It was a just reminder that city which was no ordinary place to dwell, different qualities given to the same species. Variety of styles, attitudes and selection but completely united and friendly however there was a catch, secretly, we all are vulnerable. Only some of us can solve how but they remain unknown. Today, I felt relieved that it was the last day of the week. The introduction of the weekend began with rain and a test, that’s wonderful. We packed our bags and knew what waited. Walking in the lashing rain, currently at its climax. I headed over to Dave’s house, knowing I am late is its own joy. Heap, Emily and Thomas arrived before me because they lived closer. We all have our own interest however we still make it as friends. Our opposing fascinations get along quite well. Once we meet up we decide that instead of remaining inside the house, we should head to the coffee shop. While walking, across to us was a young adult of our age wearing a black hoodie, jet black silky strand and blue pearl eyes. We silently tried to know what speciality he had. It was worthless. At the coffee shop, we five spoke for good thirty minutes, then remained silent. Beside our table were Clement and Valerie, we took an internship together. They were both having a serious discussion. Both of being Purple Maniacs their accent was crystal clear to understand. It was not our intention to eavesdrop but it was just a moment. “Just tonight, we’ll control each and every biome there is,” Valerie giggles in false innocence. We looked each other in the eye and immediately tried to cover the fact that we overheard Valerie’s statement. Sitting with an uncomfortable feeling. Luckily, Dave stood up and we followed. While walking we spoke. “I think we should tell someone” Thomas exclaimed “No, what if we misheard them,” I said. We decided to ask both of them before letting the whole City knew what was happening. We rushed back towards the Coffee shop. “What are you up to?” Heap asked successfully holding a confident face.
“Oh, nice you all were eavesdropping” Valerie spoke with the initiation of anger. “It was a coincidence, the second you began to speak our conversation ended and we overheard you,” Heap was calm but bold. “Now, that I guess you all are involved, we might even tell you” Valerie sighed, “With all this complication of Purifying Darks, Snow Gales, Copy Cats and all the other types. We wanted to manipulate each kind and be able to without informing the individual change their specialty example SnowGalers turning into Purifying Darks and what else” She smiled. “Did you accomplish it?” Heap lowered her voice and spoke wanting to hear a “no”. “Hahaha, yes. Well, nearly but I guess we did accomplish it” She moved near to Clement and both gave a grin each other. “Well, then we’ll ensure you don’t get to do it” Thomas pushed in his line. “Sure, Tommy. Report us or not. We’ll play our ace as good people and assure the loss too is ours.” Client cleverly exclaimed.” Both walked away manically. It was strange to all of them. Thinking and Thinking of a way to resolve this. Should they tell or should they hide? After a week, the City Assembly Paper consisted of several articles on the state of each biome and the latest trends however still nothing publicized on the topic of Clement and Valerie. It was not that I contained myself from telling. It was just that both of them should be ready. During our day at Dave’s house after the talk with Valerie and Clement. We saw the boy with the black hoodie once again, entering MrsCropes house this time. His presence at MrsCropes revealed a large amount of information. Similarly, during the week I saw Clement much time at the Nethwenstown Centre and I could not help form scenarios on what this could be for. Still, again I kept coming with theories even though I was certain of one conclusion. We all were united in City; there was something alike which kept us together without any hassle. It’s our differences that can be altered. Each person has a specific liking which affects the type of biome he is from. If even one is altered our type changes. We four got along well, even though we are different in all aspects. We like our speciality and what makes us ourselves. The only way this experiment can work is when an individual is in its own biome and that is when we are at our homes. We four planned out an idea. It was raining just like the night, it did when we were first aware of this secret plan. We all kept an eye on anything that was similar to what was happening. Luckily Dave called and told us all to come to his place, he saw the boy in the hoodie enter MrsCropes house again. We sat in his room. I told them I saw Clement several time at the Centre. None of us saw Valerie.
“What if they tried it on her?” Emily asked the question in all of our minds. Our looks at each other were obvious. After three hours, the boy leaves the house. We run. Thomas and Emily run to the boy. We knock on the door. It opens. “Hello,” The sweet smile of MrsCropes is beautiful. “Come in lovelies” We walked in and took a seat on the beige leather sofa. On the tray were coconut biscuits and green tea. “What would you girls like?” “To ask you about what you have gotten involved into” I spoke low and sweet just like they were capable of showing false and lovely innocence. “Oh dear. I wouldn’t say you two get into this chaos” “We already are and we want to know” I became persistent. “Well, what you know is sufficient” The entry door swings open violently and enter the hidden hoodie boy. It was a saddening sight. This Mrs. son, they changed his type trying to become a purple maniac. MrsCropes natural reaction stood and ran to her son. In a split second, Dave ran upstairs. “COME HERE HELP ME NOW” Thomas ran upstairs but Heap was held back by MrsCropes. I ran back to get Heap. Heap freed herself and I stayed downstairs. Someone needed to manage downstairs to ensure safety is found. After several fragile objects were thrown towards me, I kept dodging it being centimetres away from severe injury. “Sasha, the boiler turn it off. The machinery is connected to that” Thomas screamed, “DO IT NOW” I ran to the kitchen. MrsCropes was doing everything to prevent me from reaching the kitchen. I ran to turn it off. MrsCropes screamed at the top of her lungs. A thought came to me that maybe they could repair the damage done to the hoodie boy but before I could. The answer was “no” The idea of changing inbuilt capabilities could only bring damage, especially when two individuals just wanted to control the art of natural specialities for no good purpose. It was a major loss for both MrsCropes along with Valeri and Client. We decided to leave, by the time we reached outside none of us wanted to speak instead we walked ourselves home.
Got our tests back, good grades. Our parents got to know by MrsCropes. We were investigated severely and scolded too. In the end, at least it helped my Snowgaler Status.
Born Again By: Manal Fatimah I knew something was wrong. The smell of breakfast didn’t come to greet me. I didn’t hear the soft hum of music that was always present. My bed didn’t even feel the same. Replaced with the usual softness of my bed, was a rock hard mattress. I opened my eyes afraid of what I might, or not see. Looking around, I noticed I was in my room. My heart rate slowed down, maybe nothing was wrong. I slipped both feet out of the comforter and connected them with the plush feeling of carpet. Something felt terribly wrong and I still couldn’t put my finger on it. Maybe, it was a huge layer of dust that had accumulated on my desk, during the night? Why does it look like I’ve gone for years? I rushed over to my mirror and felt my stomach drop. This had to be a dream. A nightmare to be exact. I wasn’t an even nineteen-year-old girl anymore. Guessing my new age, I’d say I was in my late thirties. “Mom!” I called out for her. Tears fell down my face as I continued to look at myself in the mirror. What had happened overnight? I listened for my mother’s voice but was met with complete silence. “This is a dream, Beth any. Wake up, please. “I told myself, taking a piece of my arm between my fingers and pinching. Finally, I found myself able once contract on my surroundings and noticed that there were slight changes made about the house. The kitchen walls were painted soft green. The fridge was stainless steel and bigger than the last one they had. The whole house smelled stale like a window hadn’t been opened in years. Maybe, it had been years. I thought to myself, feeling an eerie shudder run through my body.
I wanted answers, and I was going to get them straight away. I marched out of the front door; I will only be blinded by the warm sun. Instantly, I noticed the house next door appeared to be occupied. Before, it was vacant. I looked down at my clothes, before running back inside. I quickly got dressed in something more presentable and brushed an small amount of makeup on my face. Catching my reflection in the mirror in the bathroom mirror, I almost let out another scream a thinking there was a stranger with me. This time I took the time to fully inspect my face. I didn’t look much different, just older. My hair was longer and darker, the layers framing my full face. Before turning around to leave, I noticed there was another major difference in my features but couldn’t quite pinpoint it. It didn’t matter now; all that mattered was that I get to Alex’s house.
I grabbed my bike is on the way out and noticed a rectangular thing, which I assumed was a phone. I picked it up and noticed it was as light as a feather. The frame of the phone was incredibly thin, I was almost afraid of breaking it. Now, how do I turn this thing on? After, messing around with it, I finally got the thing to light up. It was on in an instant. I was happy to
see no passcode on it and quickly typed in one of the only numbers I knew by heart. “Hello?” I heard a voice say from the other side. Except, it was a female. “Alex?” I questioned. “I’m sorry; I think you have the wrong number.”The women told me and I sighed. “Okay, thanks.”I said, before pressing the send button. At this moment, I had never felt so upset in my life. My parents were gone. Alex was gone. There was nobody left to call or talk to. All I needed was someone to explain what happened. Did I hit my head and forget my life?
I sucked in a deep breath and waited for any type of noise to fill my ears. All I could hear was complete silence. I huddled my knees up to my chest and let the tears fall. I don’t know how long I sat there until I heard a soft knock come from my door. I lifted my head up and stood up, walking to the door. Opening it, I came face to face with my parents. Their faces looked older, but so did mine. They looked happy. Another burst of tears fell from my eyes and my mother gave me a worried look. “Honey, what’s wrong?” She asked me. “Nothing. I just missed you guys that’s all.” I said, pulling her into a hug. Despite the differences in appearance, I still felt the same hugging my mother.“You saw us last week, Bethany. I think that you’re getting too lonely here by yourself.” She told me. I was thirty- six without a husband? I felt another round of tears fall from my eyes. Why was I such a cry-baby today?
“Let's get some coffee brewing. Then, we will sit and talk about what's wrong.” She told me, and I nodded. I quickly looked over at my dad and gave him a big hug. “Mom, what happened to dance? Why didn’t I pursue it?” I asked her, playing with a packet of sweet and low. She gave me a concerned look. “Well, you just stopped dancing. There was no story. You just walked away from it.” She told me and I felt as if she were lying. I mean how could that possibly be true? I would never give up dancing. I knew that for a fact. “What happened to Alex?” I asked her and she rubbed my hand. “Are you okay?” She asked. “Yeah why? Because it’s almost like you don’t remember these things.” She told me and I let out a laugh. I didn’t think it was funny though. “I just want you to refresh my memory, please?” I asked her and she sighed. “You and he went in different directions. You just drifted apart slowly.” She told me. We drifted apart?! There was no way. Not the man I practically wanted to spend my life with. Every single moment. I swallowed down the bubbling anxiety and nodded. We talked about many things and I learned quite a bit about my new self from them.
When my parents left, I walked into the bathroom to wash my sweaty hands. My gaze went back to the mirror and I studied my face, for the third time today. I suddenly knew what looked
different that I couldn’t pinpoint before. My eyes. They lost their entire colour. They looked back at me, dull and without life. Maybe, I was a walking zombie. I tugged at my unusually pale skin, my dry hair and my lifeless eyes. I was in fact lifeless. I wanted to go back in time. This new world introduced to me made no sense. How could I ever live a life without Alex? Everything seemed impossible.
I slowly walked up to my room. Walking to my bed, I pulled the sheets back and set myself down on the hard mattress. How could anyone ever sleep on this? Apparently, me. My eyes felt heavy with sleep and eventually, darkness came, swallowing me whole. I didn’t have any dreams or nightmares. My mind went blank. Quickly, I felt a cold breeze hit my face then it stopped. The hum of classical music sounded from down below and another sound filled my ears. My mattress was too comfortable to leave. I felt as if I was on a pillow. The smells of breakfast reached my nose and it almost was enough to get me to leave the warmth of my bed. “Bethany! Alex is here to see you? She yelled up to me and in a rush, I was already out of bed. My feet hopped down from my bed. There stood Alex in his favourite skinny jeans and a baseball t-shirt. His dark black hair covered his forehead, and his ocean blue eyes scanned the room. Then, his gaze met mine. I just remembered how precious this moment was. I was given back Alex. I doing know how? My world was incomplete without him. I have always heard if you could travel to the other world which is our future; you can fix your present. Maybe this is my chance to fix everything. The time to make the right decision and choice. At this moment nothing mattered except him. Only him. Only Alex.
Floating above the skies By: Doha Sarwer Alice, a young beautiful girl, lived with her passions and courage to change the world into her own imaginary land. A girl with attractive eyes which were as deep as the ocean, her lips were as red as blood.The young charming personality was the daughter of King Philips and Queen Leona. They lived happily in a huge castle which was built by jewels, rubies, diamond and was coloured golden with pale yellow shimmering on the top, with numbers of servants and loyal guards.Alice had everything which someone can only dream of. But still, she wanted to discover her own land, wanted to live in a place where there would be no one, only she with air filled with love, peace and magic. One day Alice was dressed in a long cloak with boats and was reading her favourite book “The Magical Kingdom above the Skies�, and was wandering in the garden and was much delightened to read the book as it was one of her interests. After she read the book, she glanced at the castle and twinkled, within the seconds the world developed into her imaginary world. It was spacious, where she could see no one, all alone but accompanied by her passion to learn more and fight each obstacle in her way. She was on cloud nine and her happiness was like sunshine. It was like a basket full of flowers which bloom and spread its scent everywhere. Alice was craving to see the world. A place she had never seen before. She was floating in the whole space, and she looked at the galaxy which was like a rainbow. Her feet were floating as her weight was as light as a feather. She could travel everywhere and whenever she wanted but there were some doubts which were revolving around her as if butterflies were flying around her body and she was standing with so many questions and things to discover. She wanted to explore all that she had been reading in books. The universe was enormous and she had a lot to do. Faraway she saw a huge shape bulging outwards and with some grey coloured holes. It was a strange shape with metal antennas. As she got near it she saw that it was a spacecraft. She looked here and there in search of an astronaut. She got scared, her hands and forehead were sweating and she was stammering. She thought what if an astronaut caught her and asked her about the way of her journey. She sat in the space shuttle and managed to fly it. By riding that spacecraft she discovered the moon. She stepped out of the shuttle and clicked the pictures of the moon. She was enjoying her life. Every single second spent there was incredible for her. The air was full with glimmering stars. She wanted to delve the solar system and the planet in which she was living. She erudite that life was so actionable here. On her way, she witnessed some galaxy and many other rock fragments and particles. Her journey proved to be very fruitful to her. She could touch and feel astronomical objects .She discovered the Milky Way galaxy, where our solar system is. Then after some miles of her journey she explored the sun. A perfect sphere of hot plasma formed 4.6 billion years ago. It was like a torrid and blazing pearl .The emission of hotness could be seen from very far. The innovation of planets and stars were on her mind. With the challenge, she moved further and saw planets like Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. She also glimpsed at the moons rotating around the planets. She affiliated her knowledge with her practical ongoing situation.
With the keen to learn more she prepared and executed a spacewalk. It was an experience as she was skydiving and flying like a bird which was free to choose its own way. Then she felt tired and felt lethargic, so she took a sleeping bag from spacecraft and attached it to the floor to prevent her from flying. It was the most interesting part as she never did this before. It was quite strange and uncomfortable for her as before she used to sleep on a royal bed woven with silk and jewels but as she loved space she was ready to do anything. Then after some time she woke up and searched for some food. She found vegetables like spinach, it was not tasty but she had to eat it. The world, for her, was full of adventure and discoveries but there were many hardships that she had to face. But as it is said that no one can come in between your dreams when you are determined, not even you. Alice was living her life which she wished for. She was not one of the girls who wanted luxuries. The only thing which was making her worry was her parents. She wanted to be with her parents. She did not know the way out. Worries and fear were revolving within her. She had tears in her eyes and her face started to become red. She was lost in space, surrounded by particles, gases and stars. She cried for help but no one heard her .She closed her eyes and waited. After ten minutes when she opened her eyes she saw that she was in the garden and she could see her palace, her book was lying on the grass. She continued to the next page and it was written: “Reader, be aware after reading this you will be above the skies”. She did not get it and rushed to the palace .Her father and mother was sitting on the dining table and as usual they interrogated her “Where were you sweetheart?”Alice was not able to say anything as she did not know anything that whether it was real or her dream. She answered “I was reading my new book in the garden” from then Alice’s craze for discovering the world was over. She had an amazing experience in space but now her mission was to explore Disney characters and animated world. She wanted to talk to cartoons, so with the passion she visited the bookshop and decided to buy the book “Talk to creatures with your imaginations”.
The Parallel Demon Dimension Written by: Hadi Faisal School can be a bit saddening at times. To be honest I’m not the most popular. I’m looked down upon a lot since popularity is basically everything in school. I might have white hair even if I’m only seventeen. I’m taller than most people in school but I’m really skinny and not “outstanding” to anyone at all. Because of my physical features I’m bullied at school a lot. My parents passed away from a disease a long time ago so I lived as an orphan and had nobody to talk to and discuss my problems with. I lived with my aunt who’s also a bit lonely at home but doesn’t like to talk to me at all. Although I should be thankful to her as she took me in instead of some orphanage. I have no family, no friends and my aunt doesn’t talk. I just wish I could travel to “another world” to escape this sorrowful life. I joined the soccer team today just to try it out since I found it interesting to see if I’m good at it and probably make friends with my team. I played a lot today to just find out from my teammates that I’m “ok” at the game but not the best since I’ve just started. I had to sneak out to train for my soccer practice (since my aunt is strict with timings and curfew) and reached the soccer pitch. Once I reached I couldn’t see anyone to practice with so I decided to just play by myself, which is nothing new to me at all. While I was playing and trying to practice dribbling the ball I heard a few noises, almost like the sound of someone crying and screaming due to pain. The noises started getting louder and an unusual crack of some sort appeared right in front of me. It was like a picture with a crack in its frame. I tried to get close to it to find out what it actually was and the sounds of agonizing screams and cries got louder almost deafening. My ears started to bleed due to the sound but I still went closer to the crack because of my curiosity. It felt like the sound was somehow now a solid that was now pushing me back but that didn’t stop me from getting closer to an intimidating crack that looked like shards of shattered glass just floating in thin air. After hours of trying I finally touched it… it didn’t feel like a shard of glass. It felt like a flame burning my hand wearing it away. The shards of glass started to scatter even more and the sound of agony started saying my name. My surroundings started to shatter and it started losing its color turning it pitch black. My whole surrounding was filled with darkness and the voices were fading slowly. The Darkness started to gain color again and my surrounding were reappearing but I was not in the same place as before… the soccer pitch was gone and it seemed like this new place was filled with just the color red and maroon and a little black too. But there was this unsettling feeling of something like a dense drop of something hot constantly dripping on your back. The liquid felt almost like I was describing molten lava. I saw people who had a physical appearance nothing to that of humans. They had huge horns and a completely maroon and huge scaly body. They had dark red pupils that glared at me in a very terrifying way. I was frozen with fear due to the petrifying way that they stared at me almost like a snake waiting to bite its prey. I
finally gained bravery to ask them where I could leave from but they never answered. I ran around like a lunatic thinking of the same thing I wished for, living in an “other world” in isolation. I looked around a bit more to find a way out without any help but gave up. I thought there was no hope left for me and I’d be stuck in this hell with these demonic looking creatures for the rest of my life that still glared at me in the same way everyone does in school but in a more intimidating way also saying that my life isn’t worth anything to anyone and I’ve got nothing left behind. I felt it was almost a few days in this horrible area and I could tell I was losing my sanity thinking I might be dead in a few days with no one to remember me and mourn my death. I became extremely hungry and thirsty due to the extreme heat. I was feeling like I was being burnt alive. Thinking I had gone insane I angrily tried to touch the demon looking creature to see if I was actually dreaming or not and my hand passed right through… while the demon barely even flinched or did anything back leaving my with a burning sensation in my palm like a feeling as if you grasped a flame with just your bare hands. I couldn’t tell if this was a dream a nightmare or reality it was a big question that I couldn’t even focus on because they kept on glaring. Suddenly they looked away from me now looking and floating ominously towards something in the distance and so then and there decided to go in the direction of their sight. I ran towards it with great speed even if I was not athletic and finally ended up near the same shards of glass that was not pushing me away now. I came near and the demons started to stare at me again. Almost a thousand demons surrounded and stared at me in a more menacing way. They slowly started to open their mouths and when it fully opened the same deafening scream came out now screaming “hell be to you” and each one of them trying to pounce at me grabbing my limbs. I pulled through and tried to touch the glass with my greatest strength smelling the horrible stench of my burning skin and flesh. I still tried and touched the shattered image after a long time. The image disappeared and I was suddenly transported back at the soccer field surrounded with police tape and the whole stadium was wilting and burning. I had finally returned to my world miraculously I thought. I saw the police team and ambulances running towards me. I slowly started to faint and lost vision. I woke up lying on the hospital bed with my aunt that had just walked into the room in tears. I was happy now that I know someone did care about me. I was also astonished by the fact that I made a discovery that no one else knew about, An “Other World…”
The Cube to Other Worlds By: HashimShahzad It was a normal day, nothing special was happening that day but it got interesting. I was in my room playing games as usual, so I got hungry so I wanted to go downstairs but then I heard a creak in the stairs so I went down slowly but then I fell thru my stairs and found a room under them. When I opened the door all saw was Rubik’s cube which I thought was dumb because I bought this house a few weeks ago from an old man that really did not like this house and almost sounded like he was scared from the house like there was something in the house that he hated. I picked up the Rubik’s cube and it had a note attached to it, which said, “This cube holds the secrets from other 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 worlds.” I thought they were all the combinations the cube had. I turned one piece then went black then I woke up in my house, it must have been a dream I said to myself but then I look out and its nothing but OUTER SPACE I started to panic around the house like a madman then realizing that the cube had something to do with it so I went back to my room picked the cube and did a random combination on it and I teleported back to earth I thought but there were these weird monsters around the place so then I went around the place for a while until I found a village and asked some of the folk there what these monsters were and they were called Pokémon things you would capture to use in battle. A few hours later I was in another world which in space and you might be thinking a planet but nope it was a whole city on an asteroid which had weird looking people that also looked like monsters but not Pokémon then out of nowhere there was something behind me. Monster: “Don’t you know to greet a new pal, turn around and shake my hand.” Sam: “Turns around and shakes hand”. “Whoopee cushion sound” Sans: “Heh the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick it’s always funny, the names’ sans the skeleton and your name?” Sam: “It is Sam nice to meet you, Sans.” Sans: “So how did you get up here never seen you here before.” Sam: “Follow me you will see and stay close to me.” We did walk around for a bit until I saw another skeleton running towards us. Sans: “Oh hey bro.” Papyrus: “BROTHER, WHERE WERE YOU THIS WHOLE TIME? I WAS SEARCHING FOR YOU FOR HOURS.” Sans: “Hey, I have done a lot of ton of work done today a skeleton.” Papyrus: “Sans!!!!”
My cube started to function and then the cube caused an explosion and it went to dark when I woke in my house exempt next to me unconscious then a note come through my window and said that I have to collect other people from other worlds and then bringing them to the last combination of the Rubik’s cube. It’s not going to be easy but I hope it would be fun.
The oasis By: Salman Raja Sam is a teenager who has short black hair and wears glasses and he is addicted to video games. He lives with his family in a small house with wall paper scraping off his wall. Sam used to spend most of his hours in playing video games. And one night when Sam was sleeping a magic headset miraculously appeared on his desk. And when he woke up he immediately spotted the headset and rushed towards it and he put it on so his spiritual body went to another dimension called the oasis. The oasis was a gaming place where you could look like anything you want and Sam choose to be tall with long blonde hair and no glasses and you could also do anything you want like climb Mount Everest with batman and you could play anything you want with a portal appearing to jump into which takes you to the game you want to play where you are the player playing the actual game. And you could also collect coins by killing people to buy items like suit upgrades and grenades that stop time for 2 minutes and the most expensive item is a grenade that kills everyone in the oasis including yourself it so expensive that no one can afford it and if you get killed your items you had with you drop and anyone can pick up but you also respawn and everyone stays in the oasis because of how fun it is. Ever since, Sam spent even more time playing the game than usual.2 weeks have gone by and Sam made 3 friends in the oasis their names are Alex who is the mechanic and gets highly paid and one of the richest persons in the oasis, Vick is a professional fighter who mastered kung Fu, karate and boxing, and Landon is very skilled when it comes to shooting.. Later on Sam and his friend were playing the most dangerous game in the oasis “planet doom” you could get killed and lose all your stuff or get a lot of coins and treasure, Sam found a special coin with “extra life” written on it and put it in his pocket ever since for protection. Then suddenly every game in the oasis froze and every one could hear loud drums then everyone got teleported out of their games into the game lobby. Then there was an announcement by the creator and leader of the oasis he announced “there are 4 keys hidden in the oasis, you can get the keys by doing challenges to earn each key so you had to complete 4 challenges to get the first key you must win a very hard race, for the second key you must win a fighting contest, the third key you will get by winning in a gun game and the last key in a free for all where you have to fight using anything you want. And once you hold all 4 keys you will find a gate where you have to put the keys in and if you hold any one of the keys you can be seen on the map and people will try to kill you, and the prize is being the ruler of the oasis, good luck to all.” Then 4 portals appeared each portal for each challenge for getting the keys. So Sam and his friends split up, Sam participating in the race, Alex in the free for all, Vick in fist fighting and Landon in gun game. Alex built a giant robot with guns, grenades, missiles and sharp swords and he built Sam a car for his race, Landon bought new armour and guns and Vick practiced his fighting skills.
Alex went to the free for all, he killed many people and fought against two more robots but not as advanced as Alex’s robot so he was able to kill them as well, so after winning he got the key and realized people could track him and kill him so on his way back he bought a safe to store the keys. Vick went to the fighting contest, he took down every one and won the key but he had major injuries he could hardly walk, Alex came to help Vick get back and stored the key in the safe. Landon entered the gun game and shot everyone and won but was also injured one of the bullet hit his leg, Alex then came and helped him get back and store the key. And Sam won easily without even trying thanks to Alex for building his car he got the key and stored it in the safe. Three days later. everyone healed up and went to find the gate to put the keys into and get the reward, so everyone geared up and put the keys in their pockets. After hours of looking they finally found the gate, but there can only be one winner so they all turned on each other to get to the gate. Sam found his way to the gate, however someone activated a grenade that wipes out everyone. Sam however gained the upper hand as he possessed the extra life coin that saved him from the grenade. He finally inserted the key to unlock the gate that earned him the position of ruling the oasis as well as getting one million credits. Sam used his credits to buy a bigger house for himself and his family.
View from My Window By: Addan Imran I have four things to do either eat, sleep, watch TV or enjoy the view from out of my window. I love the view of the outside world especially from this height. It's really calm when people are walking down on a beautiful windy day. I can see a beach full of boats and ships. It makes me imagine, if I was in that boat or beach and how I would feel the cars slowly going, the sun hiding behind the clouds, the incorrigible ocean, and the building next to the beach that lights up at night. What I really love is that there is kindness everywhere; friends help old people cross the street, a person gives homeless man money every single day and a kind person who always cleans the area. I can spend hours watching this beauty. If I get a chance I would really express my gratitude towards them. Sometimes the sky is orange and sometimes it's like a gradient orange dissolving with blue. The best time is waking up, taking a bath and directly going to the window, opening it and seeing the world having fun, the sky illuminating with light, the world of peace and the lovely nature. I watch as the baby birds tweet and the mother gets the food for them. And at night when the sky is different, I can see the stars within the layers of the atmosphere; people capture the photo in their phones while I capture them in my head. The stars are never in the same direction, they are never the same amount, I just relax myself, count those stars or make a pattern or an object out of them. I made a pencil, skeleton, house and a stick figure. The view is as good as hell. On the sunny days, the light rays just reflect at random places like the rays reflecting from buildings to phones to car’s mirrors. I really don't feel like studying. I just want to look outside as the time goes by.
The Beach By: Maryam Asad The closer you got to the clear blue water which hugged the sky till the furthest point you could see, with the sun sitting right on the horizon line, the more you could feel the warmth in the air hugging you tight and taking away all your worries, making you feel like the world is all in your hands. The golden sand which before tickled you like a feather between your toes, was now quenched with fresh tides that gently wrapped themselves around it, leaving the sand soft and calming for you to stand in. The sun shined its fluorescent light on the sparkling clean water, creating a beautiful aesthetic. For a moment, you feel like you are all alone, watching the world go by, but just minutes later, the screams, the cries and laughter of children would pierce it all away from you. As far as, were holiday makers having the time of their lives. From who, some ran after each other with water pistols filled with cold water, so occasionally, you could hear the girls squeal with delight as they would get hit. A group of boys hurried towards a ball into the sea behaving like a pack of hyenas whilst a few others, mostly younger children, enjoyed building sand castles. A trail of sun bathers was quite visible with some having deep brown tans and the others ether looking like red lobsters or as fair as possible. If you looked towards the horizon, you could see lone swimmers far off in the sea, swimming in a random manner. Among all the distinctive group of vacationers, I felt like those who stared at nothing and everything at the same time, with the sand running through their fingers when they tried to catch it.
The Neens By: Amaan Aziz My first memory is of red. Arterial red; the deep, rich color of blood, of tissue, the exact color of the artificial womb they made for me. I spent my first two years in a pouch, like a marsupial; I still don’t know whether the Neen thought that was the way human infants were raised or just a good idea on their part. They are creative, the Neen, and their curiosity is vast. I am here in this recreated environment, on this sheltered moon, as a representative of a species that once covered my origin planet. I have never been there; the origin world is far, and it has changed. The Neen have shown me pictures of the planet, its ecosystems, the specialized environment my species built for them. The pictures confuse me, and when I ask what the constructed things are, or their purpose, the Neen do not answer. I think they might have been expecting me to have some deeply programmed understanding of this world, of these things my ancestors made; if so, I have disappointed. But they find my longing to stand on the world of my origin intriguing. They had not expected genetically programmed sentimentality. One of them told me that the cetaceans also long for Earth. It is a strange-sounding word. I thought the Neen was pronouncing it incorrectly, because of their mandibles, but they tell me it is correct. They have recordings of the sound. The cetaceans are of far more interest to the Neen than humans. The Neen are terrestrial and their knowledge is overwhelming of species that are land-based; perhaps that is why they are fascinated with the whales. The Neen was disappointed at my inability to communicate with them. They assumed it would be a given, two creatures from the same planet with such large brains. The Neen want to know why, despite many years, the whales will not breed. The Neen birthed the whales first, and other aquatic mammals second, and the terrestrial ex-aquatics next, the elephant and rhinoceros. We, humans, were fifth. I learned this from a young Neen who told me with the tone of speaking to one who is arrogant. I spoke back with speaking to one who is judging, asking what I had done to be called so. You, nothing, the Neen said. But this one knows your type. Neen has studied many worlds, a multitude of species and ecosystems. In species with your particular presentation, the characteristic of arrogance is highly conserved. We have studied such groupings as your predecessors many times. That is why you are fifth. He flicked his antennae at me in dismissal. By fifth, he meant me to understand, not important. There is nothing I can do that will surprise them except for talking to whales that would surprise them.
By: Khadija Hameed Prince Jake of Poland had many controversial with Princess Molly [his wife] they couldn’t agree on one thing since they got married. Molly wanted to travel to London to see her family but Prince Jake didn’t allow her. Every time he tells her that she cannot leave her country at this time because now she is a citizen of Poland, though she has the right to travel and see her family. Day by day the arguments and problems between them are escalating One day Princess Molly got sick, Doctor Joe was petrified that Princess Molly couldn’t walk. After a week Molly’s family came to visit her, the doctor was insinuating her case. When Princess Molly woke up she did not believe Doctor Joe and asked for another one, prince Jake got another one called Doctor Kate she was meticulous, but she said the same thing. Princess Molly had paralysis because she was hardly injured when she plummet on the floor. Prince Jake needed a way of pacifying his wife, because she feels piqued these days. Jake tried hardly to get Molly cured as soon as possible. So, Prince Jake traveled to Germany, as both doctors recommended them to travel there as Germany was known for its advanced way of curing people especially from paralysis. After several months princess Molly is cured and Prince Jake showed gratitude toward Germany’s doctors. After Molly got cured, Prince Jake and Princess Molly’s relationship got reconciled after Molly’s family came to visit her.
By: Esha Muzaffar You are not your age, Not the size of clothes you wear. You are not a weight, Or the colour of your hair. You are not your name, Or the dimples on your cheeks. You are all the books you read, And all you words you speak. You are your croaky morning voice, And a smile you tried to hide. You’re the sweetness in your Laughter, And every tears you’ve cried. You’re the songs you sing loudly, When you know you’re all alone. You’re are the places you have been to, And the one you call home. You are the things that you believe in, And the people you love. You are the photos in your bedroom, And the future you dream of. You’re made up of so much beauty, But it seems that you forgot. When you decided you were defined, By all the things you’re not.
Winteritako By: Khadija Hameed
I will gaze at the stars, And maybe even Mars, They are all so bright, On a wonderful clear winter night, Feeling the breeze, Watching the trees, They're swaying with grace, In this peaceful little place, Time moves on, more and more, It's getting colder than it was before, People are sick and sneezing, Because this weather is so freezing, One of the prettiest times of year, Winter season is finally here, 32 is the magic number, For a white blanket as you slumber, Yummy things like hot chocolate and s'mores, Cookies, treats, and sweets galore, A fascinating season winter is, With its beauty, peace, and bliss.
Book Review for the Alchemist By: Ammar Aqib
This book is really interesting. It is about following your dreams and working on them to achieve them. The overall moral is really nice. In summary, it is the story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams. Why I think that everyone in our generation will enjoy this book is because it’s not as long and boring as other books are while at the same time it doesn’t manage to feel rushed. To conclude, this book is a great read and definitely one to pick from the shelves.
Book Review for the Perfectionists series By: Ammar Aqib If you like teenage murder mysteries then this is the book for you. From the author of the amazing, Pretty Little Liars series, author Sara Shepherd yet again amazes audiences. This book is a two book series and is about Ava, Caitlin, Mackenzie, Julie, and Parker and is all driven to be perfect—no matter the cost. At first, the girls think they have nothing in common until they discover that they all hate the same person: handsome Nolan Hotchkiss, who's done things to hurt each of them. They come up with the perfect plan to murder Nolan—jokingly, of course. They'd never actually go through with it. But when Nolan turns up dead in the exact way they'd discussed, the girls suddenly become prime suspects in his murder. Only, they didn't do it. So who did? Unless they find the real killer, and soon, any one of them may be the next to die…. This book kept me at the edge of my seat and the big reveal was not expected. Usually, thriller novels are cliché but this one managed to keep it original but not to say it isn’t without its cons. The first book started off really slow. It was trying to introduce the characters in the first book and help set up the murder mystery while in the second book it was more for solving the mystery. I think this is a pretty great book and is really going to shock you because what makes a good thriller is one that would make you gasp.
Riddles 1. I start with S and end with IT, and have you in the middle. What am I? 2. I have cities but no houses, mountains but no trees, and water but no fish. What am I? 3. Where can you find success before work? 4. I’m often running yet I have no legs. You need me but I don’t need you. What am I? 5 I am a seed with three letters in my name. Take away the last two and I still sound the same. What am I?
6 You are my brother but I am not your brother. Who am I? 7 Why can’t your nose be 12 inches long? 8 What flies without eyes and cries without eyes? 9. Why did the tomato turn red? 10. What makes you, young?
Answers: 1. Suit 2. Map 3. Dictionary 4. Water 5. Pea 6. Your sister 7. Because then it would be a foot 8. A cloud 9. Because he saw the salad dressing! 10. By adding the letters ‘ug’
