St. Nicholas' Creative Writing Competition 2018 by The Global Educator

WORLDS IN WORDS A YOUNG WRITERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ANTHOLOGY Year 2018/Volume IV

Table of Contents

Hush! .................................................................................. 4 The Enemy Within ............................................................6 The Creature …..................................................................9 The Queen of the Forest................................................... 11 Ocean Kid ..........................................................................15 The Lost Galaxy …………………………………………17

Cover Art by Santiago P. (S6)

The fourth edition of Worlds in Words presents the winning stories of the 2018 St. Nicholas’ School Creative Writing Competition, in which close to two hundred students from J6 to S6 accepted the challenge of sharing their talents as writers. We would like to congratulate them all on their inspiration and passion and we invite the reader to venture into some of the worlds in words they have created. We would also like to thank the illustrators, who contributed with their artwork, selected from among the designs exhibited for Arts’ Day this year. Witness the breathless hunt of a mysterious being; find out what happens with a desperate plan to escape a world controlled by AI; experience the dread of nightfall as darkness brings an entity that feeds on fear; meet Princess Darlene as she learns a lesson she’ll never forget; sail in the endless ocean that covers the world after the Flood; follow two girls into the Bermuda Triangle and discover some of its secrets! As we celebrate our School’s 50th Anniversary, we hope more than ever that this anthology will be enjoyed by all members of the school community and that it will inspire others to share their creations in the editions to come.

Hush!

er heart was beating a tattoo on her chest. Her eyes, the color of the sky on a clear day, were wild and feral. Her arms, wildly but silently flailing,

were outstretched in front of her, glistening with sweat. It was darker than a starless, moonless night. The darkness pressed against her from all angles, coiling itself tightly around her, pressing down on her chest with all its might, daring her to let out a whisper of a breath. Or one tiny step forward, hardly a step at all, the kind of hobbling step a baby takes when it’s learning to walk. Her heart stopped. Quick and loud, it almost lunged out of her chest. It stopped faster than the pull on brakes to avoid an accident. A floorboard had creaked which could only mean it now knew where she was. She heard it scurry against the chipped floorboards like a squirrel chasing an acorn it suspects might suddenly disappear. She let out a slow breath, took another slow breath in… and then threw all caution to the wind. Zapping forward, her feet slapping the floor, she was faster than the fastest cheetah. She was a blur – a blur of limbs and torn clothes. Her hair, the color of carmine, streaked her back, slicing the oppressing darkness. She felt fear mingled with anxious eagerness, an eagerness that left her shaking in the darkness and the biting anxiety of not knowing where it was as she considered all the possible outcomes of coming face to face with it. She came to a sudden halt, the momentum upsetting her balance and sending her crashing to the floor, leaving her a mess of exhausted, tangled limbs and feeling like a candle unexpectedly extinguished. And then there it was, its pale face blanched by the ice-cold air. It stared at her with eyes wider than saucers, overflowing with unidentifiable emotions. It was beautiful, huddled in a corner. It dared not breathe. She could sense its fear – different types of fear. On seeing this, her mouth twisted into a maniacal grin. 4

Her eyes were the color of the sky on a stromy night, wild and ferocious. She breathed in the darkness and let out a long, satisfied sigh. She stalked closer, her feet sure. A sharp tool glinted, teasingly held loosely in her hands. Another maniacal grin formed on her face. She had found it. Aisha O. (S6)

Maggie B. (S4)

The Enemy Within

inally, I had managed to escape from the robots! As soon as they were not paying attention, I dashed towards the basement door. I knew that in a

couple of minutes they would realise I was absent from work and I didn’t have much time left to break the tracker inside my arm. I locked the metal door with the key and turned slowly, hoping there was not another robot cop, like last time. Luckily there wasn’t. I carefully tiptoed down twelve stairs as I felt the cold and the dust from the basement. I turned on my lantern, searching for the light switch – and found it! As the lights went on I admired an old computer, shelves with experiments and robot parts covered with a white blanket. My plan was going just as planned. I took a look at the computer and blew the dust out of it. It was from 2018, 146 years before. I crossed my fingers as I plugged it in and turned it on. Suddenly, the Windows logo appeared. It worked! Quickly, I started to programme the computer so it would cancel the tracking of my chip. It took me four or five minutes and, as I was pressing “enter”, someone touched my back from behind. I was paralysed. The hand, still on my shoulder, was cold, very cold. I did not turn back: I didn´t want to know who was behind me. But I had to. As I peeped over my shoulder, my heart stopped beating as I saw metal fingers grabbing my back. I immediately stood up, throwing my chair towards him. He did not defend himself. He was not a common robot: he was different. He had a sad look on his face, not a dominant one; he was missing an arm and his body was broken and rusty. I was about to throw a hammer that was on a shelf at him when he told me: “I am not going to hurt you. I am here to help.”

At first I did not believe him, but when he told me his story, I did. How awful, don’t you think? To believe a robot, which is programmed. But when I’d told him my plan, he offered me his help and I accepted it. Wouldn’t you have done the same? I finished blocking the tracking of my chip. The sign of “successful” on the computer screen cheered me up. Stage Two began. I started to build my weapons with my new robot friend, whose name was B3N. We created four light-weight weapons. I was ready for Stage Three. Everything was now ready: I had a helmet, bullet-proof clothes, four weapons and a digital map. B3N was also in position. As soon as he detected no robots in the hall he would raise his arm as a signal of: “Everything clear, friend”. Or at least that is what we had planned – because, as soon as he had raised his arm, he shouted: “We have a fugitive in Room 345, Hall 32B”. My face went white as the lights went red. I could not even hear the sirens above me: I was in shock! It all happened quickly: six robots came after me. I tried to resist, but they were stronger than me. I lost my strength, my hopes, my life. My legs refused to move and, as they dragged me out of the basement, I saw how B3N went back to its position, covering himself with a white blanket, exactly as I had first met him. Martina D. (S5)

Nicolรกs G. D. (S6)

The Creature

t was the best day of the year. For many others—for us it was not. No day was good. For my sister and I, our goal every single day was to survive.

Since we were five years old, both of us have been tormented by this sinister, paranormal entity that makes our lives a living hell. Of course our parents don’t know about this. Or actually, they do, and they just don’t believe us. But every single day it haunts us. It messes with our heads, playing games so twisted and sick just to hear us call for help. Throughout these five years of torture, it has varied the intensity of its mind games. But every single day, it gets stronger; it feeds from our fear. I am worried because I believe that now it is strong enough to stop playing with us and really show up, physically. And I am terrified about what it could do to my sister and to me if it really shows up. That day our parents had left for the night. Of course, we begged them to stay, but they just wouldn’t. In a way, we felt safer with them in the house – it was exactly the same because they didn’t believe us, but it did feel safer. Two minutes after my parents had left, when the clock struck eleven, the horror started. It began with its mindtricks: it called us, it moved objects around or threw them. Every single second that passed, it got stronger. We would hear it call from different places of the house. Eventually, it said: “Today it is. I’m coming for you…”. When I heard that, my knees went weak. I hugged my sister and said to myself: “This is the end.” We could hear it yelling louder every time. The noise got louder and louder every single second. And suddenly, silence. Just deep, mournful silence. The silence went on for about five minutes. Then, a soft whisper came from outside the door: “I am here. You are mine now!” 9

When I heard that, I couldn’t even scream. My sister was speechless: it was here for us and we were hopeless. Suddenly, the lights went off and the door opened. It was so dark we couldn’t see. I hugged my sister tight as a horrible figure emerged from the darkness. In that moment, fear attacked me and horror sieged my soul in an attempt to conquer it, and it did. Then the lights turned on and the door was shut. But I wasn’t the same kid. I couldn’t distinguish what was real and what was not. And the worst part is, I didn’t even know if I was real anymore. Valentín P. (S4)

Nicole G. (S6)

The Queen of the Forest

arlene sat placidly on a boulder beside the River Run, or just “the Run”. Eyes closed, she enjoyed the rushing water against the smooth rocks, the

chirps of the birds and the rustling of leaves high in the trees of the Forest as the wind caressed them with its gentle hand. Opening her eyes, she climbed down the rock and started wandering through the meadows. She had to go back home, sadly for her. Back to the Ancient, an enormous tree with a trunk thicker than a hundred men – and taller than a thousand. Perhaps an hour later, she arrived at the gates of the Shrub, the village directly under the shade of the Ancient. The guards made no move to stop her: there were few who wouldn’t recognise her beautiful face and her deep green eyes that marked her as high-born. Sometimes she wished it were not so. Halfway into the city gates, she was stopped by a man dressed in the robes of a messenger. He stared at her with bluish-green eyes, partially covered by his blonde hair. Her cheeks turned a shade redder: he was good-looking! She scolded herself mentally – those were not thoughts for someone like her – and glared at the boy as if he were at fault for looking too good. He gave a start at her expression, then cleared his throat and delivered his message. “Elanna, Queen of the Forest, requires your presence, Princess Darlene.” Then he bowed deeply. She frowned further. That was exactly what she didn’t want to hear. “I’ll get back to her,” she said a tad too loudly. “She can wait, tell her that.” The messenger looked uncomfortable. “She was… uh… insistent, Milady,” he said meekly.

She bit her underlip. That wasn’t very good. The Queen’s patience was a wellknown fact; her being “insistent” was unheard of. She blessed him good-bye and strode down the road towards the Ancient. Darlene stood in the anteroom before the Throne Room. The room had two doors, made of beautifully carved wood and painted different colours. It had the look of having grown straight out of the ground, with its wooden walls, which it kind of had. The doors opened and Darlene smoothed her face to calmness. “Imagine you’re a pond of crystal clear water that hasn’t been disturbed in millennia,” her mother had taught her. And then the Queen of the Forest and Keeper of the Ancient came in and sat on her throne of branches. Here the top of the tree gave way to a breathtaking sight of the entire Forest and its flowing hills with an ever-present mantle of green, standing defiantly below the clear blue sky. It was barely possible to suppress a gasp at such beauty. “Daughter.” The word shook her back to reality. “Both of us know why you are here. We’ve been over this too many times.” Those eyes could have frozen the Run twice over. “It’s the third time you’ve run off this month. The third.” The last word was emphasised. “A Princess needs time to relax, Mother,” she replied in a steady voice. “Besides, I haven’t missed anything. I went to class.” Elanna frowned slightly. “Oh, no. You’ve missed propriety classes.” Darlene’s anger flared suddenly as she blurted out, “Those are hardly important.” It was far from the right thing to say, but she wanted to scream at her mother. Elanna fixed her with a stare that could make a person weep for mercy. Darlene knew she was about to get lectured heavily.

The sun had gone down by the time Darlene got back to her room, cheeks red from shame and crying. She had not deserved such a scolding. Before the Queen she had felt like an ant under a giant’s foot. Suddenly she had an idea. It was ridiculous, but she was stubborn enough to do it. She would go out, right now at night, and live among the men in the East. She wouldn’t be scolded any more! She got her things ready. The moon outshone the stars in light, but they were all visible, like a thousand eyes. Judging her silently, she thought. She had acquired a mare and was off to the East; an hour in, now. She soon had to stop as she could barely see, and she had never thought that not sleeping could leave her so tired! She hopped off and tied the horse to a branch. She felt cold. As if the thought had summoned it, a strong wind blew hard against the trees and her own body. She was so cold! She needed fire or she would freeze to death, she thought somberly. She had brought timber and flint and steel, but it had never occurred to her how hard it would be to light a fire. Add that to her lack of experience and it took her an hour to light a small candle’s flame. She jumped victorious when it lit, but then a gust of wind blew it out. This was the dumbest idea she had ever had! The stars were suddenly her mother’s eyes, a million of them, scolding her. Still, she had to get away; she could not face her again. Now she went to sleep, cold and all. The first thing Darlene woke up to was a headache like she had never felt and, surprisingly, the clap of…hooves? She was on a horse and the Ancient was overhead. What?! She looked up and saw the guards rushing to help her. Darlene had never felt so weak in her life. When she was taken off the horse, the pain grew so sharp that she fainted. An hour later, or a day, for what she knew, Darlene woke up feebly to a worried mother’s face. The Queen, her mother, had been weeping for her. Darlene broke into tears, mumbling “I’m sorry” as she hugged her. “I’ll never run away again. Ever.” 13

Santiago V. (M3)

Marina S. (S6)

Ocean Kid

trange, the world hadn’t always been this way. One day the tides came in more than ever. I was in a flat when it happened. My dad had told me we

would go fishing that evening, so we had our boat ready. We were really lucky. My mom was at work when the water flooded the whole city; that’s why we don’t know what happened to her. Our boat is powered by a magic tree called Kyle; he’s my best friend. I know, you may be wondering: “How can a tree be your best friend?”, and the answer is simple: the loneliness of the sea can drive you to madness. Once my father didn’t make it before the tides and I don’t know if he got to sail the skies. Or if he became one of them: one of those awful creatures who live at the bottom of the sea. Rumour has it that if you fall from your boat they’ll catch you and you’ll become one of them. One day I fell into the ocean, but I was very lucky that time: I barely made it back to the boat! I like to think that my father saved me from “them”. I’d love to read, but since I could only save one book I like to imagine how the story could continue. There was one time that I thought that at the end of the story, which is about explorers, they got to climb the tallest mountain on Earth. They were at the top and they could see all the beautiful green fields, the dry houses and the birds on the trees. .. That was all I could remember about what life was like before the Flood. Those are now distant, fading memories, but I am surprisingly okay with that. I can barely remember the taste of bread. Now all I ever eat is fish. Occasionally, I get to a tiny island and buy bread for the week, but, strangely, I like eating the same thing every single meal. It’s probably because my father taught me how to fish. I miss him…

For my birthday my…, um, someone gets me an empty book, so I can write my own stories, my adventures and, well, my dreams too. In fact, that’s what I’m doing right now. I can say I live in strange world which wasn’t always this way…, but it feels like it was. Martina C. (M2)

Clara N. (M2) 16

The Lost Galaxy

nce I went on a horrible trip with my best friend. I can remember it all happened in 2010. It was winter and I was riding my bike to my friend

Luna’s house. It was cold and I was freezing, so when I rang the bell and Luna’s mother appeared and told me to come in, I was glad she did. I ran up to Luna’s room. She was reading a book about the universe and its mysteries. When she saw me, she closed it and hugged me. That day I slept in her house and we spent all night talking about space. The next morning we woke up and ate some waffles with maple syrup and hot chocolate while we kept talking about space and the planets. Then I had the best idea: to go on a trip to the Bermuda Triangle! Luna thought it was a great idea too, so we decided to go: just the two of us, no other friends, no parents. That was the biggest mistake. Two months later we went to the Bermuda Triangle, all alone. The night we arrived was the worst night of my whole life. We were sleeping when suddenly a blinding light illuminated our tent. I woke up, woke Luna up, and, scared, we got out of the tent. When we saw what it was we couldn’t believe it: it was a UFO, just above our heads. One second later, we were flying towards the UFO. In that moment, I fainted. When I woke up, I was tied up. I was scared, very scared, and when I turned my head to the left I saw my best friend, Luna, dead. I could not believe it; it was not true for me; I just could not accept the truth…, but I had to. Then a strange man came towards me, but it was not a man and it was not an animal: it was an alien. I started to freak out. I didn’t want to die! The alien was now in front of me, with a kind of gun in his hand. A shining liquid 17

covered my body and I fainted again. At that moment I thought it was the end, but it was not. Now, in 2018, I have woken up. I am still in the same UFO I was in in 2010. I cannot tell what season it is. I am trapped inside this prison, right beside my best friend Luna. Oh! I have to go! An alien is coming. Good-bye. I hope one day I can get outâ&#x20AC;Ś SofĂa H. (M1)

Lara U. (S6)

Martina C. (M2)

2018