Author Daniela Sacerdoti discusses creative writing techniques with S2 pupil, Andrew Glover.
During a recent visit to the school, author, Daniela Sacerdoti, conducted a creative writing workshop. Miss Douglas’ 2HS1 class were the lucky pupils who were involved in this activity. The essays posted below are some of the exciting, creative and funny work which was produced following Daniela’s workshop.
I can’t even remember the last time I saw a glimpse of sunlight and only partial memories of my father remain and even then, they were slowly fading. I had been under here for weeks, under the stairs I mean, and there’s no going back out there, not when that’s out there, and by that I mean a large zombie like creature.
Since I ran here I have been waiting on a pinch, for someone to wake me up? I felt not only terrified but extremely anxious, although I cant remember much, I can remember much, I can remember its horrible facial features, those large bloodshot, red and distorted eyes. It’s mouth, not like a human mouth, more of a lemon shape and the creature had no nose, only 2 small nostrils. This was nothing like I’ve ever witnessed, not even in the slightest. Something I’ll never forget, the sort of memory that will never fade.
When it came in I was in bed and awakened by the sound of smashing, like a brick had been thrown through the window. That’s what I believed it was…for a moment at-least. I heard it a second time before I ran down the stairs and it wasn’t until I reached the second last stair that I realized what I was coming in contact with, what I thought was a zombie…
Day after day my feelings of dread got worse with the thought of starving to death or being eaten alive. The hallucinations began due to starvation and thirst. I also became more and more paranoid as the days went by, leaving me mentally and physically unable to function. This was just another existence, not a life.
As I look around me the stench of dampness and coldness, and even worse the smell of urine makes me physically sick, Out of all the rooms and cupboards in the house I now second-guess WHY I picked this one but I have to get used to it as it’s my home for the rest of my life or at-least that’s what I’ve started to accept.
I knew my days were numbered, and it was only a matter of time before my body became just another corpse in the cupboard. My memory now deceives me, as I can’t separate reality from kidology, was this all just a dream? No, it was no dream, I was living the nightmare…
It was getting harder and harder to sallow, I could feel every small piece of life I had left leaving me, as my eyes closed for the last time, I knew my nightmare was over and my drained shut down body was now at-last at peace and my last crucial memory of my father was now reality.
By Chloe Nelson.
Creative Story
A friendly handshake was all that ended the family gathering at the only café open at eleven on New Years Eve. Even if it was run down, it wasn’t that bad. It was approaching half past eleven, so I decided to try and hurry up my grandmother with all the handshakes. That probably wasn’t a good idea as I felt the burning of another bruise appearing on my skin. That’s all my grandmother has ever done since she decided to become a Buddhist. I used to look alright, happy, I suppose until she converted. I remember getting told my family was nice, I’d like to hear that now.
Enough about my grandmother, let’s get on to me. I’m a small, slim 15 years old with short black hair and green eyes. Now that is out of the way and my grandmother is giving her last handshake, I guess that it’s time to go home to “bring in the bells”. As we both left the café, into the still, damp air, I noticed a large yellow poster notifying us that ‘Demic’ was out for the last time of 2013.
I remember hearing tails of her when I was younger, but back then she was just a myth, nothing serious. I suppose we all got a shock when she appeared for the first time at the reopening of Blackpool Pleasure Beach earlier this year. Since then, she’s been patrolling the full of the UK. It must be terrible being as large as The London Eye and as quiet as a mouse walking. Well, now that I think of it, it’s only bad for us. Enough of her, it’s not likely she’ll turn up; I mean, come on, who would pick here?
I tried to start a conversation with my grandmother about Demic, however, all I got was “NO SPEAKING IN THIS DOJO!” spat in my face. After that, I gave up. I just slowed down and let her storm up the road of Strathclyde Park. Something was wrong with her, I knew it, but I didn’t really care. Well, I didn’t care until I heard weird groaning sounds. After that I caught up with my grandmother and got a good smacking for leaving her. It wasn’t until the groans got so loud that I decided to mention them to my grandmother.
It was at that moment that my heart stopped. As my grandmother turned round to say “Oh don’t be stupid.”, she began to expand like a crunched up sponge. As she reached a size larger than a regular Ferris Wheel, I realized it was Demic, taking the appearance of my grandmother. However, before I could say anything, my life was over with a size 1000 shoe on top of me.
—
Grant McCulloch.
The Cave by Louise Arthur
I shouldn’t have been in there. I know I shouldn’t have been in there but I just couldn’t help myself. There’s been so much speculation as to what was in there, and I wanted to find out.
The cave was dark. I couldn’t see my hand in front of me. I stumbled around, trying to find my way around the cave, tripping over things, bumping into walls. The cave was right next to the sea. I’d had to swim some of the way here and the breeze was drying the damp ends of my long brown hair that reached my waist. I didn’t have a clue what I was looking for. All I knew was, it would be something evil.
Suddenly, I came to two tunnels in the cave. One went right and one went left. They were as dark as each other but one had a strange smell coming from it. I was scared. Actually, I was petrified.
I took the tunnel with the smell. It was my best bet. I couldn’t see or smell anything in the left on, so I stuck my hand out and walked towards the one on the right. I shivered. It was cold. Really cold. The walls were damp so that didn’t help either. It was silent too. I could barely hear the sea anymore. The only other thing I could hear was breathing. Wait… I held my breath. I could still hear breathing. If it wasn’t me then who was it? Or what was it? What if there really was some hideous monster hiding in this cave?
I crouched down and leant against the wall. As I put my hand out to steady myself, I felt a crack in the wall. Was it a way out? My heart started to thump. Oh no! what if the monster was behind there? I crouched down even further and realized that this wasn’t just a crack. It was a hole! In the wall!
I didn’t know what to do. Maybe the hole was a way out? I doubted it but maybe if I went in id find the monster? But what if it was too dangerous for me, if I couldn’t handle it? I should at least give it a try though. I mean, I should try my best to do whatever I could. So I’d do it. I was going through the hole.
I stayed silent and still for a few more minutes, mentally preparing myself for what could be in the other side of the wall. Finally, I drew in a quick breath, stood up in front of the hole and squeezed my tall, slender body through it. Puffing and panting, I eventually got through the hole, it was smaller than id thought. I’d definitely have some bruises tomorrow though. I looked around where I was standing. It wasn’t as dark in here as it was on the other side so I could kind of see where I was. It was a small room with a tiny hole on the wall, which must have been where the light was coming from. One thing that really stuck out about the room though, was the smell. It was foul. It smelt like rotting flesh.
Suddenly, I stopped. I heard something. I was sure I did. It was like footsteps. My heart started to pound. I didn’t dare move. There it was again! It sounded like paws. I moved my hand to my back pocket and slowly slid the dagger I had brought, out of my pocket. I held it so tight my knuckles started to go white.
The footsteps started to get more frequent. This also meant they were getting closer. Suddenly, I saw something in the light. It looked like a huge dog. It stopped. This thing just stopped right in front of me. It stared at me. I finally saw it clearly and I gasped at the sight of it. It looked like it had the body of a werewolf but the head of a vampire. My green eyes locked with its blood red ones for a few seconds. I didn’t know what to do. I was astonished that this thing couldn’t hear my hear beating. It was going like a battery.
I decided to back up a little as this werewolf vampire thing was coming a little too close. As I went to take a step back, it ran at me. I froze. It was coming towards me and I didn’t know what to do. I suddenly remembered the dagger I was holding. I raised it up, ready to stab the monster but it wad too late. It jumped at me and in a flash, everything went black.
Anna woke from her long, deep sleep to find a tall dark figure shadowed against her bedroom wall. She sat up as fast as a bullet from a gun but she shadow was gone. She wasn’t too bothered with the shadow’s appearance and then disappearance, infact the only reason she sat up so fast was that she wanted to see whose shadow it was, but so far she’d had no luck. She figured that she’d just try again tomorrow morning as the shadow was there almost every morning.
Everytime Anna saw the shadow she’s wonder why her parents never told her who they’d asked to look after her if something happened to them. Well something did happen to them, 4 months ago when they had decided to go to Italy to do some research. They were only supposed to be gone for two weeks but they never came back. Although Anna didn’t want to believe the fact that her parents were probably dead she had to.
As she swung her warm feet out of her bed she got a feeling as if she had plunged feet first into a pool of ice. Anna looked around the room for the source of this coldness and soon realized that her bedroom window had been left open from the night before, when she had been sitting with her feet hanging out of the window. Her long brown hair fell to her shoulders as she released it from the tight ponytail she had tied the night before. He went over to close her window in a bid to keep a small amount of heat in the house.
Anna went downstairs to see what her mysterious guardian had left for her to eat. Judging by the smell of the kitchen it was waffles- her favourite. Beside the cooker there was a small, pink envelope with “Anna” written on it in large curly writing.
Anna quickly forgot about the waffles which were sitting on a large plate on the worksurface. Perhaps she as about to find out who had been looking after her for the past few months.
As she picked up the envelope she found that t as heavier than she had anticipated but that wasn’t the most worrying part- there was something moving inside. Anna Pulled the envelope open slowly and cautiously, she then realized why it had felt like there was something moving in it- there were now spiders pouring out the envelope onto the floor and running up Anna’s arms. In her struggle to fight the spiders off of her Anna stumbled and fell into the kitchen table hitting her head with such an almighty force that she could hardly move.
As Anna lay on the floor motionless with nothing but her thoughts to occupy her she worried that she would die there all on her own. When night fell Anna remembered that her ‘guardian’ would probably be back that night. Just as that thought crossed her mind she heard footsteps but before another thought could enter her mind everything had gone black. She could feel her feet meeting the ground but could still not move. A little bit beyond where she was standing Anna could see two figures- her parents. It was only now that Anna realized she must be dead. Tears were now falling from her big blue eyes that so resembled her mothers- she was finally with her parents after waiting for so long.
The Corruption Creatures
I walked through the purple forest filled with horrible insect like creatures, zombies and floating eyeballs. I stroked my long, brown beard upon coming to 3 standing stones. “The warrior, mage and ranger stones” I said, interested. “Lets activate the warrior stone. It will make me stronger.
Upon activating the stone, I was attacked by a zombie. I impaled it with my long and shiny blade and beheaded it to kill it permanently. The wind blew my long hair behind me and had I not been wearing armor. It could have lifted me off my feet. “The winds are strong, Jeb. Very strong indeed. The deadliest creature in the corruption draws near.” Jeb growled. He sounded brave but his golden brown fur stood on end.
Suddenly, I was attacked by a being much bigger than a zombie. I raised my shield to defend against the beasts claws. It was incredibly powerful and smashed my shield like an egg. I got one close look at it’s jaws but managed to evade before it bit down. “It’s a werewolf” I thought. I had one hope against a creature that had killed thousands. The silver blade I had been gifted by Hircine, Father of manbeasts. He said:
“Take this blade and ring, to kill werecreatures and to control your transformations if you choose to share in the blood of the wolf.”
“I could have the beasts power” I thought.
The beast lunged, I pulled the silver blade from my belt and shoved it down it’s throat. I looked at it’s shaggy brown fur. It lay lifeless. It had blood on it’s tooth, and I had a long cut on my arm. I was a werewolf.
I continued to walk through the forest, fending of the undead horrors and creatures that lived in the corruption. Then I saw something very strange. A pink elephant. I decided to ignore it but as I got closer it opened it’s mouth. It was full of teeth sharp enough to rip me to pieces in a matter of seconds.
The elephant turned purple, then black and it’s eyes turned blood red. Then Jeb attacked it in the back of the leg. The creature writhed in agony. I used a flail to swing round in a semi-circle, pulled on it and hit it’s weak spot. The elephant charged at me. I dodged, pulled out my bow, fired an arrow and killed the creature. It left behind a dark sludge that, judging by the smell, was incredibly toxic. I dipped my arrows in it and sought out the Nemean lion, a creature with skin said to be impenetrable and claws that could rip a man in half. I came across it’s resting place. I thought of options here. Attack the inside, or die. I walked up to it thinking it wouldn’t detect me. I thought wrong. It’s senses were sharper than it’s yellow teeth. Jeb was whacked by it’s paw and suffered fatal injuries. Then, the lion turned and glared at me. I drew my bow. The toxic arrows could kill anything. The lion lunged. I let go of the string. The arrow cruised through the lion’s insides and I knew it was dead.
I skinned the lion and made a shield from it’s fur and bones, and used the rest as armor. I put it’s blood into phials, as it had cure all properties. I gave some to Jeb. His wounds healed over almost instantly. It saved his life.
Well that’s my story. I travel the world, slaying creatures that are corrupt and I love it.
By Marc Douglas
Kidnapped by Fiona Lannigan
“Hi Mum. I know this might sound stupid but I feel as if someone is following me. I’ve felt like this for a few days. I’m really scared; I didn’t know who else to call. Oh and Mum before I forget I’m so-aaaaah!”
That was the last phone call I made to my Mum and Dad before I got kidnapped. My name is Julia Miller and I disappeared when I was 17 years old.
It was just a normal day until I got a terrible feeling; a terrible feeling that I had felt for the past few days; the feeling that someone was watching me. I managed to get through the day until I got to my work. I work in the local pub every Friday night but this night was different. An old man with a black cloak kept looking over at me. I had never seen him before.
After a little while of thinking I came to the conclusion that he must want something else to drink. I brushed my rosy red hair off my pale white face and took a deep breath, “Would you like something else?” I whispered to the man nervously. ”No I’m fine with what I’ve got,” he grunted. His voice was deep, croaky and made me feel as if he had just ripped my soul from my body. I tried to keep the terror from showing in my face but I didn’t think it worked.
That same man didn’t leave the pub until just a few minutes before I finished my shift.
I was now walking home, alone and still feeling as scared as ever. My Mum told me to watch out when I was walking home, that I don’t know what might be lurking in the shadows. She was right, for lurking in the shadows was the same man from the pub, even though I did not know it at the time.
I decided to phone Mum and Dad, I had to share my terror with someone and it should be them. As I took out my phone I walked through the small, cold, foggy alley, as I did every Friday night, even during these circumstances. I spoke to Mum and just when I was about to say sorry for shouting at her, a hand clasped over my mouth. This didn’t feel like an ordinary hand though it felt as if this hand was on fire, it scolded my mouth as it touched me. I felt myself being dragged off into a corner and with a puff of smoke I was unconscious.
I woke up; sweat dripping from me, in a small room with no windows and no door. Where was I? Who was that man? And why had he kidnapped me? All of these questions were whizzing through my mind, but I forgot them immediately and the one thing that stuck was that I had to escape.
I quickly stumbled up, my head banging like a drum, and looked for someway to get out. There was no way. I screamed for help, even though I knew there would be no answer. I screamed again and again until I could scream no more. It was hopeless. I sat down and started to cry into my hands, was there anything I could do.
What seemed like hours passed and the only thing that seemed to have changed was the temperature of the room. It felt like an oven trying to bake me alive. I still had no idea where I was but at least the headache had worn off.
Suddenly a bang came from outside of the room and a terrifying scream ringed in my ears. It sounded like a young woman. I covered my ears, closed my eyes and wished that this was all just a horrible, realistic dream. That wish didn’t come true as when I opened my eyes a tall, masculine figure was looking down at me. “ The mater wants to see you Julia, he says that if you don’t come you will die,” he sniggered. His voice was deep and his teeth were all crooked and black as he grinned and held out his hand. Reluctantly I took hold of the man’s had and in the blink of an eye we were in some kind of study.
The study looked very old-fashioned and dusty. It had pictures of what looked like burning bodies all up and down the walls but there was no mirrors or family photos like in my house. A raging fire sat on one side of the room and sitting in a large armchair next to it was the old man. “ Come in Julia, sit down, have a drink.” His voice seemed different, it wasn’t croaky any more. It was like he had a thirst and it had been quenched.
I sat down in the armchair opposite him and stared at him closely. His eyes were red as blood and his hair as black as coal.
“Here, have some.”
“What do you want with me?” I interrupted him. He smiled and cocked his head a little.
“You will see soon enough my dear” he said calmly.
I slouched in the armchair and stared deep into the glowing fire in front of me. I must have looked at it too long as in the fire, small people started to appear. I shook my head and when I peered back at the fire, they were gone.
I looked back at the man I had only ever seen once before and asked simply and quietly: “Who are you?”
The man laughed, leaned forward and whispered delicately into my ear, “I am the devil.”
He leaned back and smirked evilly. I stared at him in astonishment. That was it; it all made sense now. That was why it was so warm, and that’s why I could see people in the fire. He was the devil!
My face went pale white. He was the devil. I had just been kidnapped by the devil.
Crystal
By Leah Grant
Crystal gasped for breath and looked around the room. “Where am I?” she said to herself. It was a cold, dark, empty room. Nothing was in this room except from mirrors, mirrors everywhere, they covered the walls. She stood up and walked towards a wall, ignoring the sharp pain coming from her knee. She rubbed her glistening blue eyes when she saw the huge scar that ran right across her pale freckled face. She pulled her fingers through her long blonde hair and then noticed her knee. It looked like a bite. Blood was dripping onto the floor. Crystal felt slightly queasy, her head was spinning as she slowly collapsed to the floor.
Crystal felt something breathing and dripping on her face. She opened her eyes and saw a massive creature. It had a werewolf body with brown fur and a rotting face. She jumped back and struggled to her feet. The rotting faced creature was following her and growled louder every time she moved away. She had no chance of getting away from this horrible creature. She sat down and cuddles her knees. She scrunched her eyes up and kept repeating to herself “Please don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me!”. It was right then when the growling stopped. She opened one eye and the creature wasn’t there. Crystal opened the other eye and tried to stand up. She heard footsteps running towards the room that she was in. She panicked.
It was a boy, round about the same age as Crystal. He stood there with a gun. “Who are you, what are you doing here?” he asked very seriously. “I am Crystal and I don’t know I woke up and I was just here!”.
“Well I am Rio and have you seen a creature, it has a sort of werewolf body and a disgusting face?”.
“Erm yeah and it just suddenly disappeared, I know you won’t believe me but it did!”.
“Ok,” Rio said sarcastically. Crystal wasn’t in the mood to try and get him to believe her. “Oh that looks like a sore one. Here I have some bandages,”. Rio took bandages from his pocked and wrapped up Crystals bitten knee. “How did that happen, was it the creature?”.
“I really don’t know probably,” stated Crystal. They heard growling again and their heads spun to the door. The creature just stood there with saliva dripping from its mouth. “Stay back!” shouted Rio. But it ran past Rio and towards Crystal. It just stared at her. She was terrified!
It growled then ran to Crystal, trying to bite her. She closed her eyes. There was a gunshot. She opened her eyes to find the creature lying on the floor with a puddle of blood next to its head getting bigger and bigger. She looked up at Rio who looked back at her. “Is he dead?” whispered Crystal.
“Yes,” said Rio. “Thank you,” said Crystal as she hugged him.
“So where even are we?” asked Crystal.
“Come on and I will show you,” said Rio. They walked out of the room and walked down what seemed a never-ending corridor. They walked out a couple of doors and then they were at the front of the building. “How did I get into Green Hedge High School?” asked Crystal. “I don’t know but this school has been abandoned for thirty years now. Nobody has stepped inside this school since because people said it was haunted and claimed to see things in it,” stated Rio. “So is it haunted?”.
“Yeah, it used to be but since I have been here I haven’t seen any ghosts or anything,” said Rio. “How do you know so much about this?” questioned Crystal.
“My parents hunted creatures. They died trying to kill this one. So I felt as if I had to carry on this hunting. They taught me everything I needed to know about hunting creatures before they died but somehow they never took me with them. They always said it was too dangerous and then one day they just never came back,” said Rio. “I am so sorry,” said Crystal apologetically.
“Come on we need to go and dispose of the body,” Rio said, wiping a tear from his eye.
They walked back; talking about how many creatures Rio has hunted. They walked through the door and they both gasped. The creature wasn’t there! They looked behind the door and everywhere in the room but it was nowhere to be found. “W-where is it?” said Crystal feeling scared.
“You can only kill it with a shot to the head but I don’t understand, THAT’S WHAT I DID!” said Rio trying not to sound panicked. They heard scratching coming from the room above. They turned to face each other and ran out of the room, ran up a flight of stairs and peeked their heads through each door until they saw a boy just standing there staring at them. “Devon?” whispered Rio.
“Whose Devon?” questioned Crystal sounding confused .
“He’s my brother, he’s been missing for five years,”.
When Dreams Come True
By Amy Thomson
It reached out its hand for me, its long pointed fingernails outstretched, trying its hardest to grab me. I was running, down what seemed like a never-ending road. People were passing me but nobody noticed me. It was as if I was invisible. I tried to open my mouth to scream but all that came out was the heavy panting of my breath.
I stumbled on a slightly risen bit of ground. This only set me back a few seconds but that was all it took. This thing, this creature was standing over me. It had a pale, slim face and wide eyes. Its nose was pressed so flatly against its face, it may as well have not been there. It looked down on me and did a sort of smile revealing a set of sharp pointed teeth.
I woke up, my brown eyes wide and my heart racing. I was drenched in cold sweat, my long black hair, sticking to my neck and back. I glanced around my room, needing reassurance that the dream had actually been that. It had all seemed so real. I had felt the cold air whipping past me as I ran, I had seen the razor sharp teeth, I had heard my breath getting faster and faster. And still, my eyes were looking around my bedroom, nothing more, nothing less.
As the day went on, the dream slipped to the back of my mind. Walking home, a man told me the road I was on was closed due to a bad accident. I thanked him and took another route.
Although I had never gone this way before, the road looked strangely familiar. It was unbelievably long and wide with quite a lot of people rushing down it. They kept bumping into me and walking on, not even giving a second glance back. It was as if I was invisible.
I noticed a man staring right at me. He was the only person who seemed to see me. He had a pale, slim face and he was running, quite fast, heading in my direction. The man had a look of evil in his eyes, he was getting close and closer and with each step, he stretched his arms out slightly further. As unusual as it was I thought nothing of it. As the man got closer, I saw that he had long and very pointed fingernails and an unusually flat nose.
This was when it suddenly clicked. This was the creature from my dream. And with that thought, I ran!
The school bell sounded for home-time and as usual Bella was skipping down the halls making people feel bad by saying nasty stuff as if she was Miss Perfect… But there was something strange about the atmosphere today! Bella’s normal victim wasn’t at the locker she is always at, at home-time and just as Bella looked for a new victim an announcement was made for Bella to go the P.E hall and it wasn’t Mr Weir as it normally is, so that’s when I ran to the P.E hall and hid in the supply closet…
I could see through the whole in the door Bells shouting “ hello” “ is anyone here”. She said it three times and still not an answer, then the P.E doors both closed with a loud “BANG” , four lights went off and the dull light on the far end of the hall was still left on.
I felt scared at this point, I didn’t know what was going on, I had a huge knot in my stomach I actually felt quite sick!
One of the P.E doors opened a tiny bit, and a silver machine came through, it was like a robot, but with sharp teeth and claws and it didn’t look very happy! It came towards Bella really quickly and was going round in circles at her feet. He machines claws were pulling off her fake nails, she’s shouting at it saying its hurting her and to stop it! It was clear to me who had made this. It was Jenny her normal victim who was missing at home-time , I was just quietly laughing about it because Bella looked so scared it was unreal!
I suddenly felt a breeze from behind me and then the lights in the supply closet went off and something grabbed me from behind! The thoughts going through my head were weird “ why is this happening to me” “ what have I done for this to happen” I wanted to shout HELP but didn’t want Bella to know that I had been watching and not done a thing so I held my breath.
Its hands were hairy, Teeth were huge, ears sticking out. It has a funny smell about it and looked so evil! Why was this happening to me? It grabbed me by the neck and it all went dark from there….
By Chloe Staniard
Thea reached her boney hand out towards the golden door knob. She was eager to know what lay behind it. But before she could find out, she found herself snatching her hand back, just like she had so many times before.
The teenaged girl was home alone, and stood in her bedroom in front of a large wood door. The door was huge, impossible to miss, as it was the first thing you would see if ever you walk into the small box room, so Thea couldn’t understand why she was the only on who could see it.
It had sat there for a couple of days, looking beautiful, with carvings up the side and golden details spread all over. It was just there, screaming for Thea to open it, and with a sudden surge of bravery, she finally did.
Her gorgeous green eyes were sewn shut and her skinny body was tense as her feet carried her through the entryway. She stood for a while, curious to see what lay in front of her, but so terrified, hat she kept her eyes firmly closed. It wasn’t until she felt something brush against her soft skin that she let herself open her eyes.
But it was as if she had never opened them at all. The first thing Thea was met with was darkness. In fact, the only thing Thea was met with was darkness. Questioning whether or not this portal had turned her blind. She turned around, anxious to find the door, which would lead her back to her bedroom. She couldn’t find anything in the darkness though, even after sticking her hands out and having a good feel around. Letting out a frustrated scream, she let herself fall to the ground. Thea had managed to loose her only way home.
Thea thrashed around on the ground, resembling a two year old having a tantrum, she stopped when she felt grass. She smiled and held on to the tiny piece of hope. The door could have taken her to the back garden for all she knew.
Hoping to investigate the mysterious place further, she jumped to her feet, only to be pushed back down again. Sudden strong winds created a tornado around her, causing her long ginger hair to be whipped in all different directions.
The winds were quickly replaces with a ring of fire. Ten-foot flames circled around her, trapping her inside. Due to the warm glow she could now make out tall, but burning, trees and patched of now brown grass.
She spun around in circles, watching the flames as the got closed and closer by the second. A scream of terror blocked the crackling of the burning flames as she clocked burning faces being burned alive. She let out another as she clocked shadows dancing, and running through the flames.
She wrapped her arms around her body, tightly hugging herself as she sat on the grass. Her body temperature was rapidly increasing, as the flames got closer. The tee-shirt she was wearing was damp with sweat, but Thea was shivering hard as fear took over every other emotion.
She watched the shadows as they played in the flames, running back and forth, and jumping around as if they were in a playground. Unlike them, Thea found no fun in the current situation.
With each passing second the flames got closer, moving at a hasty speed. She closed her eyes and soon felt a burning sensation nibbling at the tip of her big toes. She screamed as the pain moved through her feet and then up her legs. She was on fire. Through her screams she could hear the laughter from the shadows, who we holding their sides as they towered over her, standing in the flames. They were clearly amused with Thea’s current state.
After one last ear piercing scream, the flames gobbled her up.
Holly MacDonald