Italy

This is dedicated to Chris Hodge who wanted a story about my best holiday ever and to Chris Brown who wanted the best thing that had happened this week. Well, it was the best thing that happened that week.

Saturday 26th October 2013

Today I woke up to the beautiful weather of Italy shining in through the bedroom window of our temporary hotel. With my family and all our suitcases, we headed down the thirty-four steps to the breakfast room. We ate delicious croissants and drank Belgian hot chocolate. After breakfast we left for the airport to collect our hired car, which we used to drive to Tropea.

Our hotel in Tropea was amazing! It had a gym, a swimming pool and the most stunning of views. Plus it was almost entirely made out of shiny white marble. When we had finished looking at the hotel Mum and Dad realised that they had forgotten to return our room key (from the other hotel) to the owner. Though all was soon well for they phoned him up and he said that we could return it when we go back to the airport. We asked some nearby staff where the hotel’s private beach (‘beach number one’) was then headed off. Chiedza and I had a swim but mum and dad just lazed about on the deck chairs.

When we were feeling hungry we went into town and ate at a restaurant with mouth-watering food. When we returned, my sister and I had another swim, but in the swimming pool this time, for it was still relatively light. After that, we went to bed. An exciting activity awaited us tomorrow!

Sunday 27th October 2013

Today we got properly settled in, then went to ‘beach number two’ which was beautiful because of the clear water and how I could see many multi-coloured fish with my new snorkel. We played some beach games then moved on to ‘beach number three’. We were not pleased with this one; there was a lot of litter. Because of that disappointing flaw Chiedza and I voted to go back to the second one. Obviously mum and dad preferred the first one with deck chairs so, because we couldn’t decide, we just had lunch instead…

Monday 28th October 2013

When I woke up I was surprisingly starving but found out it was because I had ‘slept in’. Nobody else was in our room so I walked downstairs in my pyjamas to the table where my family were having breakfast. I stuffed myself with croissants, bacon, egg and pain au chocolat – not caring about the strange mix. Having taken ages to finish the luxurious breakfast we finally all headed down to beach ‘number four’. On the way we got a bit lost. Though we followed the correct co-ordinates we ended up up high in a sight seeing mountain. Making the most of our high up viewing point we looked at the beautiful view of the ocean before following it along to find our beach.

Inevitably Mum and Dad searched for two deck chairs and Chiedza and I went into the warm clear sea. It was especially good for me for I had a snorkel and so could see the wildlife. That wasn’t such a good thing for I spotted a slimy octopus and shouted out – a bit too loud for I only meant it for my sister – that everyone should get out! So I ruined everyone’s fun in the ocean, as they ran away screaming… Once we had finished in the water we went back up to the mountain where there was a snack bar. We all had a double ice-cream each and my flavour was Nocciola.

At about six o’clock we drove back into town and explored, searching for places to eat. Eventually, using my acute looking skills I spotted a nice looking restaurant down a small alley way.

Tuesday 29th October 2013

That morning we went to ‘beach number four’ again but were a bit disappointed for there were a lot of jellyfish. Local children started to notice as well and start catching them which was a bit mean but made me less scared to go in the water. They called the jellyfish ‘Medusa’ and so whenever they saw one they’d shout that word. After about an hour in the water my sister got bored so I went in with my mum. Unfortunately we were both soon out for I got stung by a jellyfish and mum’s finger got skewered by an urchin. For approximately an hour we hung around that beach just relaxing. Chiedza and I walked over to where the locals were catching jellyfish and counted that they had caught around a hundred!

Later on a man who owned a pedalo asked us whether we wanted to use it and so (since we had nothing better to do) we agreed. Some of the ride was fun because we could stick our hands in the water and all sorts of strange and pretty sea-creatures would come up to the surface. Because the water was so clear you could also see things like underwater mini-mountains and weird animals.

Because it was so delicious, we went to the same restaurant as the night before and I ate something called a chicken-on-a-brick. It was literally a block of really well cooked and flavoured chicken. Mum had some sort of fish risotto and Dad had a mixed fish dish with pasta that was mouth-wateringly, finger-lickingly, lip-smackingly and tantalisingly heavenly. Therefore, I asked him for half of his for an exchange of half of my chicken on-a brick. Fortunately he agreed and it was a great swap for he thought mine was mouth-wateringly, finger-lickingly, lip-smackingly and tantalisingly heavenly too. Chiedza just had a pizza with no tomato sauce, just cheese. It wasn’t that good…

Wednesday 30th October 2013

Today we were going to go to the amphitheatre in Sicily by ferry for a day. It was a very long journey to the port were we would board our ferry and on the way we went through twenty-six tunnels. In Sicily we drove to the car park near the theatre then walked the rest of the way through the tourist buzzing streets. There were so many beautiful souvenirs but  my choice of souvenir was ice-cream! The amphitheatre’s walls looked very broken because of its age. Inside we sat down and listened to someone tell us the history of Sicily, which would have been more interesting if it wasn’t in Italian!

Thursday 31st October 2013

On the way to our favourite beach our tyre got punctured from a hole in the road. Luckily, Mum and Dad managed to fix it. If they hadn’t (for it was a rented car) we would have had to pay for a pick up truck and to have it repaired. Chiedza and I had another enjoyable swim in the ocean where there were now no jellyfish. When we had finished we all went out for ice-cream in town where there were around fifty different flavours. Dad became obsessed with the word ‘Tartufo’ (which was a type of ice-cream) and wouldn’t stop saying it for the rest of the day…

I skipped out Friday again because we were on a plane. 🙂

I skipped out the plane because it was to good to write… I loved it because of how I spent the whole time watching films and when I wasn’t doing that I slept. 🙂

Words: 1196, words to date: 20,289

 

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Chloe the clay dance teacher (kids’ version)

This story is dedicated to 2-year-old Willow, who loves dancing and playdough.  Her mum Vicky asked for a bedtime story for her. This version is less grown-up than the last one, but probably still a bit too grown-up for Willow.  Maybe she can enjoy it in a few years’ time?

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Willow who loved to dance. She went to a dance club called Madam Tutu’s Dance Academy For Girls. In a week’s time, there would be a competition (where lots of people dance and if you dance well enough you would get a prize). She really liked it at her club but she wasn’t as good at dancing as the other girls, and she didn’t have anyone to help her practise at home!

On Tuesday, after her breakfast, Willow ran upstairs to her room and started playing with her favourite toy – play dough. She had made lots of things before: flowers, ice-cream, lollipops and even little girls like herself. And that, she decided, was what she was going to do today. She started with the hair, then the dress, and then the dancing shoes. When she was finished and was happy with it she gave her play dough girl a name – Chloe. She played with Chloe so it looked like she was dancing. Willow was having a great time, but she had to stop playing to go to her dance lessons…

After her lesson, Madam Tutu told the girls who had been chosen to go to the dancing competition to win the prize. Willow and Jess (her best friend) were hoping to go, and wished that the prize would be strawberry ice-cream (their favourite). Lots of people were chosen, including Jess, but Willow was sadly left out. She wouldn’t be going to get strawberry ice-cream after all.

When Willow got home, she ran upstairs and decided to give up. She heard a little voice saying, “Never give up!” It was Chloe!  Her play dough model had come to life! With Chloe’s help, Willow became a great dancer. The next time Willow went to her dance club everyone was really surprised and said that she was very good. Madam Tutu said she could come and watch the other girls dance at the competition!

A couple of days later, Willow and the other girls went to London for the dance competition. While Jess was practising, she hurt herself so badly that she couldn’t dance in the competition. Willow was sad about her friend, but she had to dance in her place. Just before she went on stage, Willow took Chloe out of her bag and told her that she was feeling scared. Chloe told her not to worry; “Don’t give up! You’re one of the best dancers here and you’re sure to win. I believe in you.” Willow felt better.  She went out and danced really well – so well that she won the competition! She got a medal, but there wasn’t any strawberry ice-cream.

 

Words: 451, words to date: 18,029

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Chloe the clay dance teacher

This story is dedicated to 2-year-old Willow, who loves dancing and playdough.  Her mum Vicky asked for a bedtime story for her. This version is probably a bit too grown-up for Willow, so there will be a 2-year-old-friendly version coming soon…

There was once a little girl called Willow, whose dream was to be a professional dancer when she was older, and a very famous one at that. Her dance academy, Madam Tutu’s Dance School For Girls, was extremely well known and had a lot of famous history. The young dancer was lucky to be in this historical place, even if she was only a substitute. Each main dancer that was part of the team had a substitute. If a member of the team drops out in the last minute or gets injured, they would step in. Willow was the back up for a girl her age (9) who was absolutely incredible! She was called Jess.

Just like all the other main dancers’ families, Jess’ family were all professionals and great teachers. Jess was taught how to dance before she could speak. Willow had never had a teacher until she got lucky and managed to get in to Madam Tutu’s dance classes, which you would think should be enough. Though, if she wanted to get into the team and do what she loves in front of thousands of people, then she’d need a home trainer. This might seem easy to you: you just call them up and ask if they can come round and teach for an hour every day… But nobody seemed to want to teach her. What would you do if nobody could help you achieve your dreams? Would you give up or would you keep on trying…?

Once upon a Tuesday, Willow was in her room playing with her clay before dance lessons. In a week’s time there would be a National Dance Competition in London where dance academies would come and compete from all around England. Willow was determined to get into the team but still didn’t have a home teacher. Out of clay she had built one, and was shaping it so it did dance movements. She named it Chloe, the clay dance teacher. Having made it completely smooth, she was now satisfied and so picked up her dance bag. It was just as well, because she heard her mum calling from downstairs that they had to go now.  “Coming!” she called back, and sprinted to the front door, skipping two steps at a time.

It was a half an hour’s drive to the Dance Academy and about half way there, Willow’s mum said, “I’m sorry that we haven’t found a dance teacher for you yet.  Nobody seems to be free…” Willow just sighed and thought about her slim chances of getting into the team.  She would never become as good as the other dancers unless she had a home teacher.  Though she was training hard at home on her own, she didn’t have someone to show her new moves or tell her to carry on when she was tired.

An hour later, at the end of the dance lesson, all of the girls were sitting down in front of Madam Tutu.  Willow was sitting next to her best and only friend, Jess. She was anxiously waiting to find out who was in the team.  Could it be her?  Madam Tutu called out the members of the Nationals team, starting with the soloist; “Jess Carson!” Jess had a massive grin on her face and so did Willow, for she was very happy for her best friend.  Willow waited anxiously, hoping with all her heart that her name would be called out.  “Talulah Pepperwater, Penelope Pearce…” When it came to the end of the list, Willow was devastated, though she wasn’t that surprised.  After all, she was just a substitute.  On the way back home, she thought it a bit unfair, for all the other dancers had had home teachers pretty much all their life, but Willow had just had to practise alone.

After arriving back home, she ran up to her room and buried her face in her pillow.  When she finally got up she saw Chloe where she had left her, standing on her bedside table.  “You’re not going to help!” cried Willow.  I give up.  She stuck her face back in her pillow, but was quickly up again, for she heard a small squeaky voice.  She listened again, to see if her mind wasn’t playing tricks.  “Don’t give up!” she heard again.  She looked around her bedroom, searching for where the mysterious voice was coming from.  Looking at Chloe, though she thought it was crazy, she asked her, “are you speaking to me?”  Chloe nodded, and jumped down onto her bed.  Willow was so surprised that she quickly dived under her duvet. Chloe told her not to be afraid and to come out and start dancing. It looked like Willow had a teacher after all.

Gradually getting used to her moving and talking clay model, Willow started following Chloe’s instructions.  The first one was to do the standard stretches, which Willow followed.  The second was to repeat whatever she had been learning with Madam Tutu. Surprisingly, Willow completed this with ease.  She was already improving, after only an hour of dancing with her newfound teacher.  Usually she would forget the routine and have to ask the person next to her what to do, but in this lesson it was as if it was planted in her mind. Chloe next asked for Willow to do as many pirrouettes as she could, but on the last one she clumsily knocked over her bedside lamp. It made a loud crash, and her mum came running up to ask if she was OK.  Suddenly, Chloe froze again and was back to a normal clay model.

Willow trained with her new teacher every day until the competition. Over the days she got amazingly good. If she had been this good when the team was chosen she would have been the first one on the list. Chloe was very pleased at Willow’s progress and, surprisingly, so were all the girls at the Academy. Because she was now so good, Madam Tutu invited her to come with the team to London for the competition, as Jess’ understudy. Gladly, Willow accepted.

The next day, in London, the team were rehearsing on the competition stage when Jess’ pirouette went wrong. Her legs got tangled and she fell, thwacking her knee to the ground with a spine-shivering bump. Willow rushed to help her friend but the First Aiders asked her to stay back.  Still she tried to follow, but eventually realised it was for the best – they needed space to help Jess.  Jess was rushed to hospital in an ambulance before Willow could apologise for having jinxed her by wishing her luck in the traditional way; “Break a leg!”.  As Madam Tutu calmly walked over, Willow bit her lip anxiously. Inevitably, being Jess’ substitute, Willow was told that she would have to take her place.  “Really?  Me?  But I’m not good enough!”

“I’ve seen you in training over the past few days, and you’re as good as any girl in the team. Good luck!” encouraged Madam Tutu.

A few hours later, Willow’s team were in the final.  Backstage, they all cheered but were soon hushed, for all the audience could hear them. Their rivals, the Manchester Academy, went first.  Their soloist’s routine was flawless. Watching closely through the curtains, Willow worried about how she was possibly going to beat her.  Reaching into her dance bag, she brought out Chloe.  Checking there was no-one behind her, she said, “I don’t think I can do this.  I’m just going to let everyone down.”  In response, Chloe said, “Don’t give up! You’re one of the best dancers here and you’re sure to win. The worst you can do is come second, and that’s still amazing.  I believe in you.” Hearing her name announced, Willow quickly stuffed Chloe back in her bag, whispering “Thanks Chloe!” and bravely stepped on stage.

She took her position and went over everything she had learnt to put into the best and most important performance of her life. Her body seemed to know exactly what it was doing, as she glided elegantly to the music.  The next thing she knew, she was being applauded by everyone in the audience.  Even her teammates, who a couple of days ago thought she was awful, were cheering and whooping! Now joined by the other soloist, the judges announced the winner.  “The winner of the National Dance Competition 2016 is…” There was a drum roll, and Willow was hoping with all her fast beating heart that she would hear her name.  “From Madam Tutu’s Dance School For Girls: Willow Pascale!”

As the whole team was celebrating, Chloe smiled to herself from the depths of Willow’s dance bag, so proud of what she had achieved.

Words: 1,455, words to date: 17,578

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Hansel and Gretel

This story is a sequel to: Golden girl VS Brown bears (it’s best to read that one first)

It had been seventy years since Goldilocks cursed the bears. Mother Bear and Father bear lived half human lives and died peacefully. Baby Bear (who became not such a baby) went on to have children, then grandchildren, but sadly died before he could see is great grandchildren. He passed down to all his descendants the story of his parents and how they must get revenge on the evil witch: Goldilocks. Goldilocks, having put a ‘spell of youth’ on herself stayed alive for a very long time. Over the years, she hunted down anyone who was related to the three bears, and destroyed them all. This is the story of one generation (Baby Bear’s great grandchildren: Hansel and Gretel) and how they believed in the great story of their ancestor’s feud with Goldilocks that their father had told them. They get kicked out of their home and into the woods where they find something very mysterious…

Once upon a time a very poor woodcutter lived in a tiny cottage in the forest with his two children, Hansel and Gretel. They were descendants of the great and rich Mother Bear and Father Bear, but were not very great and rich themselves. His second wife (Hansel and Gretels’s despised stepmother) often treated them very badly. For example: shouting, forcing to work and ill-feeding. She was also forever nagging the woodcutter.

“There is not enough food in the house for us all. There are too many mouths to feed! We must get rid of the two brats,” she declared. She kept on trying to persuade her husband to abandon his children in the forest, but he would not let that happen for he loved them. One night while Hansel and Gretel ‘were in bed’, their evil stepmother and thoughtful father had a conversation about them, “You should take them miles from home, so far that they can never find their way back! Maybe someone will find them and help them. Maybe…” Declared the stepmother with an evil glint her eye. The poor woodcutter didn’t know what to do. Hansel who, that evening, had overheard his parents conversation, comforted Gretel who was crying for their stepmother was so evil that she could probably persuade their father to do it.

“Don’t worry! If they do leave us in the forest, we’ll find the way home,” he said. Slipping out of the house he filled his pockets with little white pebbles, then went back to bed hoping with all his heart that his father was strong enough to stand up to his disgusting wife.

All night long, the unfortunate woodcutter and his wife argued on and on until, in the morning, he led Hansel and Gretel away deep into the thick forest. But as they went into the depths of the trees, Hansel dropped a little white pebble here and there on the mossy green ground. At a certain point, the two children reached a small glade. Soon they found they really were alone for the woodcutter had plucked up enough courage to desert them, mumble an excuse and went back to his horrible life.

The night fell, the moon like a single-layer wedding cake in the sky but the woodcutter did not return. Gretel began to cry, tears streaming down her cheeks. Hansel felt scared too but he tried to hide his feelings and comfort his sister. Hansel told Gretel not to worry, even though he was very anxious that his stones wouldn’t show up. Luckily for them the moon was full that night and Hansel waited until its cold light seeped through the trees. Soon, his white stones – that he had collected beforehand – gleamed in the darkness: very bright but dull next to the moon. Hansel encouraged Gretel to get up and start walking. The children found their way home then crept through a half open window, without awakening their parents. Cold and exhausted but thankful to be home again, they quietly slipped into bed.

The next day, when their stepmother discovered that Hansel and Gretel had returned, she went into a rage. Inside, their father was bursting with happiness but had to hold in his joy. Holding in her feelings, but for another reason than her husband, she locked her bedroom door, then shouted at the poor man for failing to carry out her orders. The weak woodcutter protested, but was full of fear when it came to disobeying his cruel wife. The wicked stepmother kept Hansel and Gretel under lock and key all day with nothing for supper but a sip of water and some hard, stale bread. All night, husband and wife quarreled, and when it was morning, the woodcutter led the children out into the forest having lost the argument.

However Hansel had not eaten his bread, and as he walked through the trees, he left a trail of crumbs behind him to mark the way – just as he did before. But the small boy had forgotten about the hungry birds that lived in the forest. When they saw him, they flew along behind him and in no time, had eaten all the crumbs. Again, with a lame excuse, the woodcutter left his two children by themselves this time with no hope of finding their way back…

“I’m frightened!” wept Gretel bitterly. “I’m freezing and hungry and I want to go home!” Hansel tried to encourage his sister, but he too shivered when he glimpsed frightening shadows and menacing eyes around them in the darkness. Though they were just figments of his imagination, they felt very, very real. All night the two children huddled together for warmth at the foot of a large tree. Hansel told Gretel the story of their ancestors and the curse that an evil witch put on them to make them human. “It was foretold,” he said, “that two young children, descendants of the great Three Bears -”
“Just like us?” Interrupted Gretel.
“Just like us… Would defeat the witch and turn all their relatives back into bears. Though I doubt it would be us.” The curse only lasted for another week but they would hate for the next generation of their family to be cursed as well. They sat in awe that the two children foretold could be them; dreaming the rest of the night.

When it was light enough they started to wander about the forest seeking a path – but all hope soon faded. They were well and truly lost. They had been to these woods many a time but had never been further than twenty to thirty metres away from the house. On they walked and walked, until suddenly they came upon a strange cottage in the centre of a glade. They were a bit confused for the cottage looked very weird so ran up a bit closer to get a better look. “This is caramel!” gasped Hansel as he broke a large chunk of plaster from the wall. “And this is sweet white icing!” exclaimed Gretel, putting another piece of delicious wall in her mouth. Starving but delighted, the children began to eat pieces of candy broken off the cottage. They explored the whole of the outside finding treats: from cake to chocolate, liquorice to ice cream: heaven for small kids who had not eaten all day.

The two children had never tasted so much of something so delicious – let alone a house full! They were both incredibly happy that they had found something to eat and wanted to stay there forever.They were just about to try a piece of the biscuit door when it suddenly swung open. It only just narrowly missed Hansel’s face for it took him by surprise. A crafty looking old woman walked out of her sweet cottage. Her long, golden hair was a contrast to her ancient looking face. At first, Hansel and Gretel were terrified, and frankly a bit embarrassed, but when they saw a stick protruding out of her pocket: they thought she was just a friendly knitting granny. They thought wrong, very wrong…

The old, mysterious lady lead them into her house and shut the door firmly behind them. “Are you related to the three bears by any chance?” The two children nodded, not paying much attention to the strange and accurate question for they were still stuffing themselves with sweets. The old lady smiled and suddenly shoved Hansel into a peculiarly large sized cage. Grabbing Gretel firmly by the arm she spat,”You’re nothing but skin and bones! I shall fatten you up and eat you! As for you little girl you can do the housework, then I’ll eat you both after renewing the curse that I placed on your ancestors!” she looked at the kid’s facial expressions of realisation of who she was, “And yes! I am Goldilocks!”

Hansel (for Gretel was being forced to clean because she was under a spell) asked her why she was doing this. She answered, “One, because I must curse someone else related to the three bears so that the curse doesn’t break. Two, because I’m hungry!” After about an hour of really hard work Gretel felt that she could now move to her own will. She took a bit of melting ice-cream from the window ledge and smeared it over Goldilocks’s spectacles that lay next to her sleeping body. Gretel did this because she knew Goldilocks’s eyesight was bad, so if she could make it even a little bit worse she could move around undetected. Hansel just stayed extremely quiet so as not to wake her up for when he moved his cage it would rattle.

It was now dark outside and Goldilocks had finally woken up. She put on her spectacles, not suspectacling a thing, and called, “What did you nasty little children do to my glasses?” Hansel answered, “Nothing?” She let this pass and now spoke to Gretel, “Are you still working!?” Gretel answered with a ‘yes’ though she obviously wasn’t.  “Let me feel your finger!” said the witch to Hansel every day to check if he was getting any fatter. Now, Gretel had brought her brother a chicken bone, and when the witch went to touch his finger, Hansel held out the bone instead.

The two kids had now been at the house for seven days during which the daily routine would be: Goldilocks wakes up, Gretel pretends to still be working under her spell, and Hansel sits, cramped in his cage. ‘Now why can’t Gretel just open the door and let Hansel out while Goldilocks is asleep?’ I hear you ask. Well, that is because only the witch has the key and it’s invisible to non-magic users. One day Hansel got checked to see whether he was fat enough. “You’re still much too thin!” she complained. When will you become plump?” One day Goldilocks grew tired of waiting.
“Light the oven!” she told Gretel. “We’re going to have a tasty roasted boy today! Then we’ll re-enact the curse! ” A little later, hungry and impatient, she went on, “Run and see if the oven is hot enough.” Gretel returned, whimpering, “I can’t tell if it is hot enough or not.” But really it was as hot as the sun sunbathing in Death Valley. Angrily, the witch screamed at the little girl, “Useless child! I’ll see for myself.” But when Goldilocks bent down to peer inside the oven to check the heat, Gretel gave her a tremendous push and slammed the oven door shut. The witch had been killed. “Ding dong the witch is dead!” sang Hansel and Gretel. If only their name’s were Dorothy and Toto…

Gretel ran to set her brother free (now able to because the witch was dead and so the previously invisible key appeared on the chocolate counter nearby). They made quite sure that the oven door was tightly shut behind the witch. Also, just to be on the safe side, they fastened it firmly with a large padlock then hid the key where they Goldilocks would never find it. They were feeling extremely hungry so they stuffed themselves with all sorts of delicious things like: door, window, carpet, bed and even sink. Soon after, they discovered, amongst the witch’s belongings, a huge chocolate egg. Inside lay a mountain of shiny, valuable gold coins. “This would be great for dad! We could also kick our evil stepmother out!” exclaimed Hansel. They headed back home, knowing the way because of the sound of trees being cut. But what they completely missed was: their impeccable hearing and furry ears.

From about fifty metres away from their house, they saw the outline of a much larger shape than their dad cutting wood. As they came closer they realised that it was actually a bear! Their dad was a bear and so were they! The curse had been broken. They all immediately kicked their wicked stepmother out (never to return) roaring scarily in her face. The three bears lived happily ever after in luxury.

Words: 2203, words to date: 16123

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Brown Bears VS Golden Girl

This story is a sequel to:  Goldilocks and the three bears (it’s best to read that one first)

The day before, a little girl called Goldilocks broke into the three bears’ house and broke a lot of baby bear’s things. Determined to get her back, the three bears are going to attack her, but little do they know,  that she’d be ready for them…

It was the day after the break in and Goldilocks was preparing for the inevitable attack. She thought back to when she got chased out of the three bears’ house, “I mean,” she said to herself, “it just doesn’t make sense! They didn’t have to chase me out like angry bears! A girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do to get cool on a hot summer day. But the last escape was unbelievable…!” She was lost in wonder of how she had done it. She had never ever pulled off a stunt like that – not even the greatest magicians had. It was considered the hardest spell in all of Magic – and she had done it. She went off the subject of her teleportation and started thinking about what she would do to protect herself from the bears… “Well, I couldn’t beat them with my brain and tools so…magic.” She had her plan. She would beat them with magic. She lived alone, for her parents had died, and was very poor with only a small cottage left to her in her dad’s will. Though she wasn’t going to let that stop her from protecting herself and her remaining possessions.  The bears also wouldn’t be ready for full scale war in just a couple of days so she had lots of time to start practising…

Meanwhile, the bears were thinking up all of humans’ weaknesses. They managed to come up with: funny bone, ear lobes and hair. Pretty useless. Though they had been living with humans for thirty years now, they still didn’t really get them, though with some help they could do. They went to their best friend Johnny who sold salmon and honey around the corner (no wonder he’s their best friend). He was a very wise human so told them the answer in a riddle: ‘their weakness is their strength’. Mother bear asked for more information but none came, for wise people are always mysterious. They knew they couldn’t come up with any other ideas so decided to just think about it and try their best to find the meaning. They weren’t going very well, but Goldilocks was being very successful.

She had bought every magic book from the area and added it to the ones she already had in her house. ‘How did she afford to buy all of those books?’ I hear you ask. Remember, a magician never reveals their secrets. She started training extremely hard with only a few breaks a day. Her goal was to perfect every spell in the books so she could return anything fired at her. She was doing unbelievably well, and was now so powerful that she could win the Internationals at ease. She had even mastered teleportation. Now she had learned so many different spells and had a lot to choose from, she had to decide which she would use to beat the bears.  A brilliant idea popped into her mind.  She would use a shape-shifting spell.  They would be pretty useless if they weren’t big strong bears.

The three bears were all sitting down on their sofa, still trying to figure out the answer m the wise man’s riddle.  “Hmmm…’their weakness is their strength'” thought Mother Bear.  “I have it!” exclaimed Baby Bear, “their strength is their weakness.  Her strength is her magic, so if we take away her wand then we could beat her!”  They started working on a plan of how they would take her wand away from her.  “It will be very hard even to get close. She must be more powerful than she was last time,” Father Bear pointed out.  After a few hours they had the solution.  Mother Bear and Father Bear would sneak up to her cottage and pounce on her, using their weight and strength to overpower her before she could even pull out her wand.  Baby Bear thought for a second, “But what about me?  You didn’t include me in that plan.”

“It would be too dangerous for you dear, you would never come out alright.  Plus, we wouldn’t want any more of your things to get broken, would we?” replied Mother Bear.  “I suppose so,” sighed Baby Bear.  He really thought he could help, and was also very worried that something would happen to his parents.  But they had a point.  “OK, I’ll just go into the woods and chase my favourite raccoon.”  Mother Bear and Father Bear took a last look at their house and set out for revenge.

On the other side of town, Goldilocks was in her cottage in the woods making final preparations. She placed bear traps surrounding her small glade. She memorised her shape-shifting spell from her books and walked outside.  There, on each side of the door were the two bears, unseen by the young witch, looking menacing as ever.  She stood outside her door and looked out into the distance and searched for the bears in the woods. Suddenly, they quickly jumped at her from either side, but she was quicker.  She dived out of the way, away from the house.  She was surprised that they had evaded her traps so easily, but quickly pulled it together and drew out her wand.  The bears tried again to pounce at her, but before they could make contact, Goldilocks pointed her wand and chanted, “Abracadabra, animals from the zoo lands, turn these bears into humans!” She had cursed them! Now all their descendants will be human (including Baby Bear)

There was a loud crack like lightning, that could be heard from miles away. It was even heard by Baby Bear, who chasing his favourite raccoon in the nearby woods.  Curious, Baby Bear ran over to where the sound was coming from.  He didn’t realise that he was near Goldilocks’ cottage until he saw a blinding light coming from it.  Goldilocks walked back into her small cottage, satisfied with a job well done.  They wouldn’t be bothering her now, because they would now stand even less of a chance than they would have when they were bears.  Baby Bear sprinted over to where two humans lay and helped them up.  After a few seconds, he realised they were his parents, for he recognised the red tie that his dad wore and the cooking apron that his mum was so passionate about. A few moments later there was another blinding light and Baby Bear was human as well.  All three of them were bursting to get revenge, but knew they would be completely useless now they were weak humans.  Sadly, they walked back to their skyscraper home and had a swim in the pool to vent their anger.

A few days later, Baby Bear, excited, asked whether his parents would go back and try to beat Goldilocks again.  They said to him that they had given up now, and wouldn’t stand any chance.  He asked them several times more, but they had made their minds up.  But Baby Bear still wasn’t satisfied.  He was determined to get revenge.

Words: 1200, words to date: 13,829

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Goldilocks and the three bears

It was a sunny, hot day in New York and in a tall skyscraper lived three very rich bears: a father bear, a mother bear and a baby bear. It was so hot and sunny that the bears thought a morning like that deserved a nice, cool calming swim in their indoor swimming pool. They all went down to the bottom floor of their massive house (where the swimming pool was) and soon after, with the help of Mother Bear and Baby Bear, a large swimming pool was filled. It had three different depths and could light up at night. They all dived in eagerly but soon regretted that for they got frozen to the bone and had to get out. Shivering they decided to go for a stroll through the city (totally normal) so as to let their pool warm up and to dry their clothes. Before they left they remembered to turn off all the lights and turn on the pool heating but what they didn’t remember was to close the front door…

Meanwhile, Goldilocks, a pretty little girl with golden blonde hair, was walking through the vast forest of buildings on the way back from a magic competition. Fiddling with her precious wand she thought back to it… She was very good at using this peculiar tool – no make it amazing! She had entered the International competition and had come second by one point! She was absolutely devastated at this and thought she should have won for she was like a magic ninja. On the way she was planning to find something cold to cool her down (both anger wise and literally) when she came across a large glass skyscraper with an open front door, revealing a large swimming pool: heaven for someone out in America’s heat. As she was burning up, and was extremely dirty, she went to investigate whether anyone was there and if they could possibly let her swim in it. Putting her wand back in her pocket, she looked through the open door and called into the luxuriously modern ground floor, “Is anybody there?” But there was no answer. Because she was a very pretty girl you would expect to be as sweet as sugar, but you’ll soon find that she could be quite mischievous…

Cautiously she crept into the house, making a few creaks here and there but otherwise completely silent. Clumsily she knocked over a vase on the marble floor which made a deafening CRASH! She scolded herself for being so stupid, but was soon forgiven as nobody came running to see what had made the loud sound. She stopped tensing in relief. She found the swimming pool which looked just like a salmon river with real little fish swimming around. Strange. There were three levels to the pool one very deep (about four meters) one normal depth (about two meters) and one quite shallow at only one meter. Eagerly Goldilocks ran to the pool and took a massive cannonball into the first area (the big one). She shrieked for it had burnt her skin, “Way too hot!” She moved onto the next  (the medium one), “This water is too cold,” she said, so shivering she dived into the the last part of the pool (the small one). It was just right! So she stayed in there for quite a while, satisfied and pleased all the bad temperatures led up to one just right. Looking back at the pool, she saw that no one else would want to use it now because she had made it very dirty. Now feeling a bit light-headed ;(because of floating for so long) Goldilocks went to explore for something to sit down and rest her feet on.

After exploring the whole of downstairs for a comfy chair, she finally came to the next floor which she found was only kept for storage reasons. She moved on to the next one. When she reached the top, she came upon a large mat which lay underneath three glass deck chairs with pillows on. They were laid out next to each other one very large; one medium size, and one quite small. First she tried the large one but it was so hard and had hardly any pillows that her back had bruises after sitting on it. She then moved onto the second chair (the medium one) which was way to soft as she almost drowned in the lush pillows. Thirdly she moved onto the last one (the small one) and it was just right, not too hard; not too soft but just right. She sat there for about twenty seconds before it snapped under her weight.  

Goldilocks left the broken chair and moved on. Her light-headed feeling was gone but was replaced with being tired. It made sense for she had had such a hard day of lazing in a ‘just right’ swimming pool; resting in a ‘just right’ chair and coming second in Internationals. She went onto what looked like the bedroom and saw three beds laid out next to each other: one very large; one medium size and one quite small, all facing the massive window with a stunning view of the city. First she went to the biggest one and rest her head on it. It was way too hard! Next she lay on the medium sized bed but it was way too soft. Finally she tried the smallest bed and quickly fell asleep for it was ‘just right’.

As Goldilocks was sleeping, the bears returned to find that they had left the front door open. They didn’t think much of this though when they saw their filthy swimming pool (especially Baby Bear’s section) that they were so looking forward to they new that someone had broken in. Thought they were the only civilised bears in the world and had been living with humans for over thirty years now, they still had their natural bear strengths. With no fear they angrily stormed upstairs to the next floor to find Baby Bear’s chair broken. “Me again!?” Cried  bear.

Even more determined to get Goldilocks now they went up to the next level. Luckily for her they looked in every other room first so she got a minutes extra sleep, completely oblivious to the three angry bears storming around that floor. Though when they did find her she was in for a big surprise… As soon as the door was vigorously opened she was up and alert. Father bear quickly tried to grab her – but she faster. She skilfully evaded and ran for the open window. She was half way out when she realised she had a brain and used it to stop herself from jumping out of a four storie high window. The bears closed in on her, growling menacingly. Was this the end of Goldilocks? Not at all! She remembered her wand in her pocket and, being a master with it, did a little flick and teleported away, narrowly avoiding the dangerously claws of the three bears.

In anger father bear flung his enormous arm down and broke baby bears bed. “Why do my things always get broken!?” Whined baby bear, his mother comforting him. But father bear said to him not to worry as they’d get Goldilocks back.

Join us next time for the sequel: Brown Bears VS Golden Girl.

 

Words: 1215, words to date: 12,638

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Read the previous poem here:  Mother’s Day

My superpower

This is dedicated to Nicola, who wanted to know, “if you could have a superpower for one day, what would it be and how would you use it?”

Hi, my name’s Dave, a regular 11 year old boy. This is the story of when my life became a bit less regular because I got a super power…

It all started yesterday, when I had been ‘naughty’ in school. All I had done was put a French horn on Retaeb Reppu’s head in music – it’s not that bad. Retaeb is the class bully. I had only just realised that his name spelled ‘Beater Upper’ backwards, so when he had eventually got the brass instrument off his head and inevitably called me my famous nickname ‘Baby Dave’ I immediately had a come back of ‘Beater Upper’. My teacher immediately took me to the head’s office where they both agreed that I was such a nuisance they had to call my parents and send me home. Result! This was great! First I’d play video games then eat pizza next play video games and to finish off, play video games. This was the best day ever! Until my mum told me that I would have to clean my room…

For those of you who don’t know me, my room would be hell for you. Here’s why… The ground is so covered that now all you could see would be: mouldy banana peels (along with many other mouldy things), chocolate bar wrappers, smelly clothes and finally, for the title of my most prized possession is…my odious underwear. I have been keeping those safe since I was five and so thanks to my thoughtful protection they haven’t been washed for six years. But for me? More like heaven. For me, to have to clean it would be like killing your pet hamster. But the sooner I got it done the sooner I could play video games. Plus, mum gave me a deadline to get it done.

Hours went past and I still did nothing except from just sitting on my bed and contemplating whether I should destroy a historical artefact (pants) and play my favourite video game: ‘Flash’ or let it survive and maybe be put in a museum someday. I decided to go with my second option and so just looked out the window and waited and wished for something interesting to happen.

My wish was answered for above my window was a spider. Now, I hated spiders so it would make me really annoyed if it came through my window. I searched for a something long, for my arms couldn’t reach, and eventually found my metal drumstick. I stretched my arm as far as it could go, but the tip of the stick still wasn’t close enough to whack the spider hanging from the guttering. Since I had nothing better to do, I tried this for several minutes. Within those minutes it had suddenly started to rain – hard. Soon the sky was grey and it started to hail and I could even hear thunder and see lighting in the distance. A storm was coming…

Determined to get the spider I carried on trying. As you know, I was quite a naughty guy at school and didn’t really pay attention to any of my lessons. Now, if I had listened in science, for example, I would be clever enough to know not to stick something long and metal outside in the middle of a storm. That’s when I got struck by lightning.

It burnt at first, but only for a little bit. After about five seconds it just felt like a little tingle. I looked all over my body, checking for any signs of injury but I looked alright. I didn’t feel alright though. I felt different, but not in a good or a bad way. I let this pass and decided I was back to normal. Looking at the time I saw that mum’s deadline was in five minutes!

I started to clear away faster than anyone in the world could, because if my mum found out she would ground me for life. After stuffing the second pair of dirty socks into my drawer I brought a whole new meaning to fast.

I felt as if I was moving at a normal speed but I could see with my eyes that I was definitely moving abnormally. I looked at the time which read that I had around thirty seconds left before my mum came storming upstairs. As if it were possible I started moving faster than I already was, my own arms a blurr in front of my eyes. I started to hear my mum climbing up the stairs expecting for me to have not cleared my room. For once she was wrong. As she opened the door, preparing her vocal chords for shouting I was ready, lying on my bed and reading my book. She was so surprised that I had actually done what she had told me for once. I was also very surprised by what had just happened but decided not to tell her -yet – what had happened. I could have some fun with this new ability I had just got… Still stunned she let me go downstairs to play ‘Flash’ and even said I could invite a friend round now school had now finished.

I took her advice and invited my friend Tom to come and play my game. He said that he would because he had never been to my house before. In fact, none of my friends had ever been to my house as a result of me being badly behaved all the time. Soon after the call, he arrived, excited to play the game. Before we started, I decided to play a little prank on him using my new abilities. I told him that I didn’t really play the game very much and was terrible at it when in truth I played it as much as I possibly could and so was probably the best in the world. Though now, with my abilities: probably in the universe! The way you play the game is basically smash as many buttons as you can, as fast as you can. We started and I smashed the buttons as fast as I could which accessed my super speed. He was so surprised that he had to rage quit (where you quit when you’re losing badly). After a few more games of me utterly annihilating him he left for home. Now, I thought, what to do next…?

For dinner, we were having the most disgusting food of all – mushrooms. Unfortunately it wasn’t just a mushroom on the side, it was a mushroom buffet! The meal was made up of: mushroom soup, mushroom risotto, mushroom pie, mushroom pizza, mushroom stuffed mushrooms – I could go on. Knowing that I couldn’t get away with avoiding them, a plan popped into my head… As everybody knows, the best way to eat something you hate is to eat it as fast as possible. So, using my speed I could eat it so fast I couldn’t even taste it. In addition to that, every time my mum makes the one meal I despise, she gives the best reward: chocolate pudding. I chewed my mushrooms as fast as a hamster would chew its cage, only to find out I could s,till taste it! I spat the remaining mushroom out of my mouth in disgust. I decided to stop for the taste was so bad… But something was calling for me to eat it – the pudding! If anything could drive me to eat my least favourite food it was my favourite food. I gulped down the mushrooms, determined to get my pudding. I was so concentrated on ignoring the taste of the mushrooms that I didn’t even look at my plate. Though the next time I did they were all gone.

I went upstairs to bed, struggling because of all the mushrooms and delicious pudding I had eaten. The dangerous storm was still going on above my head, thunder and lightning ruling the skies. Though it was ten o’clock I still wasn’t tired. I had never seen my room clean before and in honesty it looked quite nice – but I still liked it better dirty. I looked out the window to see if the spider was still there – it was. I hated spiders almost as much as I hated mushrooms, so if one was hiding in my room I would actually call the exterminator. I looked around for my metal drumstick but couldn’t seem to find it anywhere. Close to giving up I looked out the window to see lots of sticks on the ground. In the distance lightning struck and I saw its reflection on my stick. I must have dropped it when I got struck by lightning. I sprinted downstairs and into the garden faster than a peregrine falcon catches its prey. It was close to pitch black and the only stationary light was from the moon. I could see lots of sticks but none was either my drumstick or long enough to substitute for it. How was I meant to find it in all this?

The rain was a torrent as I picked up the sticks, one by one. After about the thirtieth stick I picked one up that felt different from all the others. It was probably my drumstick but I had to be sure. I held it up as high as I could so as to catch the blue light of the moon. As soon as I caught it I was struck by lightning – again.

And from then on I no longer had my powers…all because I didn’t listen in a science lesson.

 

Words: 1601, words to date: 11,203

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Read the previous story here: The Princess and the Mouse

The Princess and the mouse

Once upon a time, there was a prince called Prince Whiskers who had just recently become of age to get married. He was a very good looking young man, who any single young girl would want to marry. Most would even pretend that they were a princess just to have a chance! He searched all around the world to find a real princess who also shared his interest in animals. The way the prince found out who was a real princess was that his mouse, Whiskers, would be interested in them. Ever since Prince Whiskers was five he had loved animals. This was because he had met a little mouse (which he named Whiskers) who came to his enormous dining table and started eating peas. Now, he loved peas and so if any other person or mouse shared his passion: then they were immediately his best friend. The Queen, however, absolutely despised peas and mice so tried several times to get rid of them. She also believed that eating peas couldn’t help you at all or save a life – what, and roast dinner could? This is the story of how a perfect situation came up where she could get three wins in one.

When Prince Whiskers and Whiskers had finally searched every single country, they returned home feeling disappointed and unlucky. It was in the middle of a storm when the prince’s luck changed. There was thunder and lightning and the rain was a torrent. The royal family were eating their roast dinner but the prince shared a big bowl of peas with his mouse. Whilst they were eating, they heard a faint, dainty knock at the door. The king himself went to answer the door to find a girl soaked to the foot, water dripping down her hair and spilling over and out of her shoes. The girl claimed that she was a real princess. The prince came to their great big door and immediately Whiskers ran out and jumped into Princess Annabelle’s arms.

Whilst the ‘princess’ (that the prince liked because Whisker liked her) and the prince were talking, the king and queen discussed whether she was a real princess. The king quite liked her and, in honesty, so did the queen. But, she had an evil plan to get her son a wife in the end (good) but test whether the girl was a princess by putting thirty nine cotton mattresses on top of one mattress (filled with all the peas in the kingdom). This, the prince and Whiskers would not be happy about. Underneath all the mattresses, would be Whiskers the mouse (bad). If even the tiniest amount of weight was added: the mouse would be squashed.

It was time for bed and the queen had placed her plan into action with everything in place; having taken Whiskers from the prince’s pocket when she hugged him goodnight. Being a very intelligent mouse he cottoned on (underneath cotton mattresses) what was going on. Having a massive love for peas, Whiskers chewed out of under the mattresses by eating through them, leaving only one and just narrowly avoiding being squashed. The mouse crawled away back into the prince’s pocket.

When the girl woke up she felt a sore pain in her back as small as a pea. The princess complained to the king and the queen who then realised that she really was a princess…
And so it turned out that eating peas could save a life – even if it was only a mouse’s.

Words: 589, words to date: 9602

This story is dedicated to Jamie, who wanted a different version of a fairy tale.

Finding my spirit

Once upon a time, long ago, there was a distant place where people had animal spirits. Every time someone reached the age of 13, they had to go out into the wilderness (with a partner) and let an animal choose them, then become their spirit, friend and companion for life. When the bond was made, the teenager would make the animal’s call. Most of the respected and strong teenagers would earn their spirit by fighting it and winning to prove that they are worthy to be their companion. But, as The Wise Man always said, the ‘spirit chooses the bearer’. Some were much harder than others to tame and in some scenarios, fighting would not be a good idea… For example: an elephant or a gorilla or even a lion were near impossible to tame. This was partly because of their position in the animal world and their strength and majesty. Though a mouse or small cat would be the easiest options. This is the story of a courageous thirteen-year-old boy who, not being very favoured or popular in his life showed everyone who didn’t treat him well enough who was boss. This boy was determined to do well by taming the most rare and strongest of all animals.

 

Hi, my name is Seb or Respect. I always thought that my name meant that people would respect me – as if. As you’ll find out, I was not the most popular boy you could find. I’m the sort of person who has no friends and just goes straight home after being taught by The Wise Man. The ones who were popular would hang out with their millions of ‘friends’ [more like minions if you ask me] and have names like ‘Bravery’, ‘Strength’ and ‘Courageous’. I was just stuck with Respect – which nobody gave to me.

 

It was an hour before my ceremony and I was running through the village seeing as many animal faces as human. The Wise Man was leading it, and my only wish was for him not to put me with Tom (Strength). Tom and I had never had a very good history. I would always be better at using my brain and respecting people than him. He would always be better at using his muscles and beating people up. I will admit that together we would be a great team – if we didn’t despise each other like a cat and a mouse.

 

The ceremony went on as it did every year: people in a hearty spirit, and cheering when the pairs were chosen. Even the pairs themselves were happy – all except for me and Tom. The ones who were pleased, popular and had been looking up to this all their life could ignore the fact that they were going into a forest with dangerous wild animals. The Wise Man had chosen Tom as my partner, because he thought that we would work well together. Maybe he’s not so wise after all. All the pairs had been lined up at the edge of the forest, where The Wise Man would give them his last words of wisdom. When he finally got to where we were, he said to me, “You may be thinking about your name the wrong way, Seb. Respect is the most useful virtue. Respect can even be stronger than strength in some ways. And remember, the spirit chooses the bearer.” After his final words, we headed off into the deep, dark, dangerous woods with nothing but a mere knife against the wilderness.

 

“You’re not going to last one day, Seb,” said Tom, after we’d walked for five minutes. To be honest, I was surprised that he had stayed with me for so long. It was still light in the sky but I thought we should probably find shelter soon. I knew that I couldn’t get through this without him. I would just get torn apart by wild animals. Although, because he hadn’t gone away yet, he must not be so stupid as to ignore the fact that he also couldn’t survive without me, for he couldn’t tell a poisonous mushroom from a sweet, succulent berry.

 

It was starting to get dark in the skies and, after a lot of persuading; I managed to get Big Arms off his big, lazy backside to help me make a shelter and protection for the night. Using pure strength, Tom snapped a massive branch and I chopped it into thin stakes then sharpened the tops. When I had finished, I stuck them next to each other all around us to make a circular protection barrier. Using the same type of wood, we made a fire in the centre of our circle. We sat down at the fire in silence. There was no sound except for a distant owl hooting and the crackling fire. Hopefully the barrier would protect us for the night.

 

Tom was tending to the fire and I was fashioning a lattice for the roof of our shelter, using twigs and leaves. I was starving and, apparently, so was Tom. He got up without a word and ran deep into the forest. For a second I thought he would leave me. Though, soon after, he returned with a dead goose in his hands. We roasted the big bird on the fire until it was golden brown. Tom greedily dug in, leaving only two small legs for me. I was nibbling on my ration, but he was gobbling his feast. Even without his spirit, he was eating like animal. I put the finishing touches to our shelter, which were supported by two small trees in our circle. Our camp was pretty good for three hours’ work so, satisfied I would get through the night, I went to sleep. When I woke up, I realized that I had overestimated Tom’s brain, and that I was stupid to believe he would stay.

 

I got up with no-one in sight. The fire was out, and there were footprints heading out of the circle. I was a bit disappointed, for I thought we were starting to be friends. But I guess I was wrong. I would have to go on alone. I started to head out, my stomach rumbling. I was glad I had saved one goose leg for later though I thought I should save it for emergencies. Where to start…? I didn’t have any animal in mind, but I doubted I would get one of the big ones. Since we were meant to be a pair anyway, I started to follow Tom’s footprints, scanning the undergrowth for small rodents and the treetops for birds since they were in my league.

 

He must have gone far. I had been following Tom’s footprints all morning, finding nothing but large beetles and spiders on the way. A small rodent or a bird is sad enough, but insects? I would never shake off the embarrassment. Suddenly, I heard a loud hiss and a snarl coming from the direction that Tom’s footprints pointed to. It sounded like a big cat, a dangerously big cat. I was terrified, for it sounded quite close. Then I heard a boy screech in pain, almost as loud as the cat. As much as I wanted to run, someone sounded like they needed help.

 

I sprinted towards the cries of pain, my heart racing like a herd of wildebeest. From about 100 metres back, I spotted a sabre-toothed tiger slowly closing in on a very large figure. No-one else is as large as that. It must be Tom! Having crept closer, I hid behind a large tree. Tom fearlessly charged at the beast, knocking it to the ground. Obviously, Tom was trying to tame the tiger by fighting it and proving that he was a companion worthy of the strongest animal spirit. This clearly didn’t do much, for the sabre-tooth got up easily and roared defiantly. Helplessly, I watched as the huge creature, larger than a lion, swiped Tom across the face with a giant paw. The blow knocked him out with the force of a bull’s charge. Clearly, the sabre-tooth wouldn’t be defeated by strength, for he was the king of the forest. And how do you treat a king? With respect…

 

Before I put my crazy plan into action, I had to check whether Tom was OK. I ran into the glade, the sabre-tooth ignoring me because he was prowling around victoriously. I moved Tom into a safe place, acknowledging that his wounds didn’t need tending to instantly. Now for the plan. Staying low, I walked slowly towards the awesome cat. Surprisingly, when he saw me, he didn’t attack me straight away. I had to act quickly, for this wouldn’t last for long.

 

I bowed low, letting him see that I knew he was better than me. I moved slowly, head still bowed, looking at the ground between us. I could now feel the tiger’s warm breath and grasp the size of his lethal teeth, as long as my arm. I was absolutely terrified, but at the same time, I was in awe of this majestic and powerful spirit. He had let me this close, so I was confident that my plan would work. Though, now I wasn’t doing it just for my safety, I believed that this amazing animal could actually become my spirit. Gradually, I moved my hand up to touch his furry neck. He took a step back, but only one. I tried again, and this time he allowed me to touch him. I pulled out of my leaf pouch the goose leg I had saved, and offered it to the tiger. He took it from my hand, without even scratching me. I moved around to his side and leapt onto his back, roaring for the first time in my life – the sabre-tooth’. My spirit had chosen me.

Words: 1655, words to date: 8247

This story is dedicated to Martin, who had the idea of ‘The Wilderness’.

 

Just My Luck

Dear diary,

Something weird happened when I went to the museum today… My worst nightmare has always been getting lost in a huge, strange place on my own (for example, a museum) – and of course it’s just my luck that that’s exactly what happened.

Me and my dad were in Paris, visiting the largest museum in the world: Musee du Louvre. My mum died giving birth to me, I’ve always been a single child and so it’s always just me and dad. We are the best of teams, I wouldn’t go anywhere without him. It was the summer holidays and so we were visiting France like we did every summer. I had been looking out of the window for what seemed like five hours straight and got bird poo splatooned hundreds of times when dad said (from in front of me), “We’re almost there! Look you can see it from here…” The museum was a colossal u-shaped mansion look-a-like with pretty lights and great big doors. The atmosphere was buzzing with excitement as we stepped out of our parked Ford. After walking along a grand path we eventually reached it. If it were possible to be even bigger, then it was, up close.

Inside was even more magnificent: chandeliers; grand staircases; posh elevators and beautifully painted walls. Though the history was the best part… It stretched from the Egyptians to World War 2; even the dinosaurs from billions of years ago to the Vikings and the Incas with much, much more after that too. Joined with the vastness of the building, and how some of the artefacts and skeletons were quite frightening I would hate to get lost in this place. “You go on and explore. I’ll meet you back at the entrance. It’s time you learned how to enjoy things by yourself,” said Dad. I said goodbye as if I was fine with being on my own, but truthfully, I wasn’t. Though I was eleven (almost twelve) I had never been alone by myself, unless it was at home. This was going to be a difficult challenge, though I decided to go on with looking at the exhibits instead of just standing at the entrance for hours.

I decided to go upstairs via the grand elevator, for the stairs were full with visitors. Inside, instead of floor numbers, it had floor themes like Egyptians, World War 1 and many more. I pressed the button called ‘historical paintings’ and off I went. When I opened the door and looked at the paintings, I was in awe. They were so realistic and detailed that they made me feel like running around. So I did exactly that. If all the exhibits were as good as this one I’d like to see them all. I ran for what looked like a door at full speed and smashed my head against a painting! I was knocked out. That’s just my luck. I guess super realistic paintings aren’t so good after all…

I woke up with a searing pain in my forehead. I must have been out for an hour at least so I headed for the elevator, which had disappeared. Strange. There was only one door and so I was careful to make sure it was real. I went through to a room with nothing except from white sheets that must’ve been covering things. I pulled one off, to then jump back in fright. They were life-like dinosaurs! If I didn’t know any better I would run off because of the weird disappearing elevator. But instead, because of my stupidly curious mind, I touched it. That was a big mistake.

It came to life and roared louder than a lion. Really? Of all the things: a T-Rex! That’s my luck. I ran away around the room, the real life dinosaur close on my tail, not knowing what I would do. Luckily, and just in time, another door appeared which I ran through and only just managed to close behind me. I took my time to catch my breath, but when I looked up I lost it again.

Savage Vikings! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this could be worse than dinosaurs. How was I meant to survive Vikings?! They might only be statues but this time I had learnt my lesson the hard way so I was sure that I would not mess this one up. Past all the angry-faced war lords there was a door. All I had to do was tiptoe through the weapons and Vikings without stepping on or touching anything. I started my journey, fate purposely making my shoes bigger and more squeaky. I reached the door in one piece, then opened the door swiftly so as not to make the hinge creak. I must have rushed the door opening for I didn’t notice the piece of pottery next to it. It smashed on the ground and I cringed, not looking around to see what horrors I had unleashed. All I heard was: “That was my grandmother’s!”, in an angry voice and lots of swords being unsheathed. That’s just my luck.

I turned around seeing around a dozen fully armoured Viking warriors rearing to get  revenge on whoever broke one of their grandma’s pottery. I suppose I would’ve done the same. I ducked down as an arrow flew past me and into the door – which had just recently vanished. I had to think, think! What was the one thing Vikings were afraid of? Not having a worthy death.

“You cannot kill me!” I said, putting on my best ‘I’m not-afraid face’, “You cannot kill me because if you try, I will kill you before you can get close and call it a fight. Therefore, since you did not die in battle, Odin would not let you in Valhalla.” Clearly, they did not understand most of the words I cleverly thought up and said. But, they heard the words: ‘Odin’, ‘would not’, ‘let you’, ‘in’, ‘Valhalla’. So stupidly they dropped their swords and without another word let me go free. I’m not even sure I would be convinced if I was in their shoes, for I was so terrified. By now, an elevator had appeared and so I went inside and pressed the floor ‘entrance’.

I woke up with a searing pain on my forehead, disappointed that it was all a dream. Or was it… When the elevator door opened I saw that the whole museum had come to life and were very angry with me for disturbing them.

Oh! You never caught my name. It’s Just, Just My Luck.