Fiction Writing Summer Camp 2020

Fiction Writing Summer Camp
JULY 2020

Contents
THE CAT IN THE HAT
Alicia C.
DIETIES THE HIDDEN GODS
Andrew O.
TEDDY BEARS’ PICNIC
Anna C.
THE KIND VAMPIRE
Ciara H.
EOGHAN’S STORY
Eoghan D.
ISTA
Irene G.
THE BALL GIRL
Keela P.
LEVI’S STORY
Levi C.
FIRST FLIGHT
Liam C.
PATRICK’S WORK
Patrick

THE CAT IN THE HAT
Alicia C.

the kids:
It’s raining. We hate the rain because we can’t do anything. Sally and I wish we had something to do. Then
we heard something go bump. I looked and I saw him on the mat, it was a cat in a hat! He was telling us that
although its wet we can still have fun. He said he needs some good games that we can play. He said that he
had lots of tricks and he would show them to us. We didn’t know what to say but our fish kept on telling us
that we should not let him stay when our mother was out. The cat tried to comfort him and tell him that his
games are fun and listed the fish bowl up onto the tip of his umbrella. He kept on balancing more and more
objects until.... oh no, he fell! We watched as everything came crashing down. Instead of leaving, he decided
shows A new trick. He left quickly and came back with a box. He opened the box and out ran two things:
Thing One and Thing Two. We shook their hands then they flew some kites indoors, knocking down anything
in their path. That’s when we saw mum walking towards the house. We caught them in a net and they
left in their box but we still didn’t know what to do about the big mess. That’s when the cat in the hat came
back but this time on a funny-looking contraption with lots of arms each with a different purpose for cleaning.
The whole house was clean within minutes and then he was gone with a tip of his hat.
the cat in the hat:
I was just on my daily walk when I saw these two miserable looking kids through their window. I knew I
had to do something about it. So I knocked on their door. I told them that they can still have fun even if the
the fish:
I was just relaxing and minding my own business when this cat wearing a hat waltzed in here. I told him
to leave immediately because he was ruining my quiet time. He dismissed my complaint and balanced my
bowl on the tip of his umbrella. I’m afraid of heights so I shouted at him to put me down. Instead of putting
me down he decided to balance my bowl on top of even higher things for example a rake. That’s when he
fell. I went flying and landed in a teapot. I told him that I did not like this one bit. he sank our toy ship deep
in the cake, he shook up our house and bent our new rake. I told him he shouldn’t be here when the kids’
mother isn’t and to get out of the house. He told me he wouldn’t leave and wanted to start playing a new
game. He brought this huge box in. A lot of noise is coming from inside it then out popped two things: He
called them thing one and two. I told him that they have to leave, to put them out, to make them go. he told
me not to fear and these were good things, that they’re tame. They started to fly their big kites. I told them
“no, not inside the house!” they were knocking down everything that came their way. I looked out the window
to see the kids’ mother on her way home! Oh no, What would she think of these things!? I told them to
do something fast to get rid of thing one and thing two. They caught the things in a net and off the cat went
with his box. “That is good.” I said. “He has gone away.” “But she will find this big mess! It’s so big and so
deep and so tall! What on earth are we going to do?? and then back in the cat. But this time on a ridiculous
red vehicle. He said he would show us another good trick that he knows. This was the only trick that I liked.
He had the house all cleaned up and me back in my bowl within minutes.
weather was wet so I decided to show them some of my best tricks. They have a pet fish who didn’t like me
very much. I told him not to fear for my tricks were not bad. I started with my classic balancing act…. I balanced
a cup, a cake, two books, the fish, a little toy ship and some milk on a dish all while hopping up and
down on a ball... until I fell, which was sort of embarrassing on my first trick. Then the fish tried to get me to
leave but I told him I liked it here and that I had no intention of leaving so I decided to show them a different
game. I left and came back with my trusty big red box. Inside with two of the funnest things i could think
of. I introduced them to Thing One and Thing Two. I opened the box and out they ran. They like to fly kites
so off they went, running around the house knocking down everything in their way with their big kites. The
kids didn’t find this amusing so they caught thing one and two in a big net. The fish told them their mother
on her way home and they were all freaking out about the mess. I left with my big red box and came back
shortly with my red cleaning machine. I had the house all cleaned up within minutes and left with a tip of
my hat.

DIETIES THE HIDDEN GODS
Andrew O.

DIETIES THE HIDDEN GODS by Andrew
Chapter 1: The find
For thousands of years there has been the existence of gods, large, incredibly powerful beings who watch
over us. These gods control practically anything the water, the trees, the candy floss and at the top of all
these gods is Teku the being of peace. There is also spirits and beasts all hidden from society.
Our story starts on September 6, 2008 in New York city where three of these gods Pyro, the god of fire, Tundra
the goddess of wind and Quake the god of earth, go down to the city on a top-secret search mission.
“Do you guys have ANY idea where it landed” asked Pyro. The other two just shook their heads and kept
searching. They searched for hours before finally Tundra heard something, it seemed almost like a cry. They
ran towards Brooklyn now hearing a bang. When they got to the alleyway, they saw a baby crying and dozens
of onlookers. “Aw, look it this little guy”, said Quake now picking up the baby” isn’t he so cute”. The
people watching all walked [probably to tell the police] away thinking they were his guardians.
“Quake put the baby down” said Pyro “besides, we have to keep looking”. “But I feel some uh, weird vibes
from this baby” replied Quake. “Yeah” said Tundra “we should bring him back to the beach house for uh,
research purposes”.
“uh ok” said Pyro “but Teko [pronounced tee-ko] won’t be happy if we’re running away with a baby” “we’ll
be completely fine “said Tundra. “yeah” said quake” I am naming him Jake, like me.”
Chapter 2: Unleashed
TWELVE YEARS LATER
Jake woke up in his bed, today was going to be a good day, after all it was his twelfth birthday. He got
dressed and went downstairs. In the kitchen there was a chocolate cake just sitting on the counter. Jake
rushed over to it before taking a huge bite out of it. He immediately spat it out because it tasted like dirt.
“What the- “Jake muttered to himself before being interrupted by Quake jumping out from behind the counter.
“APRIL FOOLS” yelled Quake” ha I haven’t had this much fun since the great war”! “Quake its September
“. “Guess I am the fool then” said Quake. Jake felt a small tap on his shoulder, and he turned around
only to see pyro and tundra holding. Jake looked at them and said” let me guess this one is made of fire or
something “while pointing at the red and orange cake. “Nope” said tundra” just made of sugar and eggs
and all that stuff you humans like”. Jake thanked them, then took a slice of the cake and left the room to go
watch tv.
He was in the middle of his favourite show when he overheard the gods talking. “should we tell him about
what Oneka said”. Jake was confused and worried at the same time. Last week they had gone to oneka the
goddess of fortune telling but they had already told him that it was only good things like that he would be
eternally joyful. Was there something that they were keeping from him? Then the voice kicked in. The voice
was like another person living inside his head telling him to do bad things. For years he had defeated the
voice but it has slowly been becoming stronger than ever and now it was telling him to go out there and demand
for answers like who were his parents why am I the only one who isn’t a god. All these were rushing
through his head and he didn’t know what to do.
The voice knew exactly what to do and it took over like someone taking the wheel of his body. His eyes
grew black, he tripled in size and suddenly he could use magic but at one cost. He couldn’t use it, only the
voice could. Jake [or more accurately the voice in Jakes body] Jake rampaged busting down the door, he was
now about sixteen feet tall and the three gods noticed. “Jake”? said Tundra “is that you”? Pyro screamed at
the rest of them” SEE, I TOLD YOU THIS WOULD HAPPEN!”. They ducked and dodged barely missing
the pieces of wood flying everywhere. Quake noticed something strange, everywhere Jake breathed it
seemed like the plants there would decay like a death beam. So, he had an idea. He used his godly abilities
to pull a chunk the earth out of the ground and mould it into a jar shape. He then picked up the jar and
ran over to Jake. He opened the jar in jakes face and yelled “hey you, yeah you”. Jake turned around and
breathed into the jar. Quake then shut the jar and threw it at Jake where it broke open and knocked Jake out.
Jake landed on the floor and morphed back into his old self.
Jake woke up to all of the three gods all looking straight at him” What happened, and why am I on the floor”
asked Jake. Tundra pulled him of the floor and answered” its about time we tell you, when we went to oneka
she didn’t say you would be eternally happy she said that you have an evil spirit inside of you”.
“what kind of spirit “asked Jake. Pyro answered “we don’t know exactly but from the plant decaying and
how powerful it was we think it may be a hadenoid, a henchman of taku one of if not THE oldest god in
existence.
Chapter 3: the underground
Jake was sitting down on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate and a fuzzy blanket thinking about everything
he had just learned, this voice which he had been fending off for years was a minion of the death god.
Jake decided to ask the three gods about how to get rid of this horrible demon hiding inside his body.
“guys” said Jake “how will I be able to get this demon out of my body”. “if anyone knows how to do that”

said Tundra” it’ll be Teko the king of the gods”. “okay” said Jake “how to we get to Teko”. “I don’t think
any of us know how to get to him”
“I do”, said Quake “but it isn’t gonna be easy”.
“Jake” said pyro “I think it’s time for bed” “Ok I’m tired, my body kinda feels like a ragdoll, g’night “.
The next morning Jake woke up and immediately geared up. He grabbed his bags full of food, spare clothes,
and more food. He ran downstairs and saw the three gods standing there ready to go. “where’s your bags”
asked Jake “don’t you guys need food”? Tundra looked at him “we don’t need to eat; Quake here just finds
it entertaining”. “what, it’s hilarious seeing him chomp on some burned cow”. “you mean steak” “yeah
sure”. Jake then popped the question “how do you suppose we’re gonna get there, we can’t afford a plane,
we don’t have a car and Tundra can’t fly the whole way to Greece”. “no worries” said Quake now pointing
straight at the ground “we’ll take the ‘underground’ “. Jake was now confused “Quake why are you smiling
like that, you only smile like that if you know something we don-aaaaa!”. Suddenly a massive hole opened
beneath them, leading to a massive tunnel. They were now sliding down at about 90 mph. they had been
sliding for about three hours now. “WOOH “screamed Quake “isn’t this fun, it’s like a slide but way more
deadly”! Pyro screamed at him “what did you just say”. He was nearly cut off by the tunnel ending. They
fell inside a small ball pit like those ones in children’s play areas. Everyone stood up and Quake walked
them down a large passage. Tundra grabbed Quakes shoulder “are we going to talk about what happened
back there or are you just gonna brush it off”! Quake looked at them while still walking backwards “that was
fine, none of you are dead right”. They kept walking until Quake turned around and walked into a massive
hall full of little half human half goat creatures “welcome” announced Quake “to the Gaia frourio, or in
English, the fortress of the earth!”. They walked through this hall filled with beautiful chandeliers and rooms
for the goat people which Quake called satyrs. They walked through more of these passages almost like a
rabbit’s burrow. Quake stopped at a storage closet and opened it up he then said, “hey Jake, you’re the only
was standing right there, a small purple hairy creature with long limbs and a tiny body and head, and it was
holding the discs in its grubby, well I would say little but his hands were actually quite large. Jake jumped
at it, but it dodged him. He jumped at it again, it dodged him again. Now he was angry, and that meant the
voice crept back into his head. The voice tried to take over, but Jake was trying to stop it. Then something
happened, he had reached a point where he still had the powers of the hadenoid [pronounced hay-de-noyd]
but he was in full control. He put out his hand and a wave of black energy burst out like an active volcano.
The wave hit the creature knocking him over and the discs fell to the ground. Jake, now back to his normal
self, walked over to the discs picked them up and then walked out of the closet and said hi to the gods. Jake
gave the discs to quake and he took them apart and said” these are portable optimised transmitting thingy
yolks or p.o.t.t.y for short”. Jake chuckled “ha, potty”. “it’s basically a teleporter” said Quake “but it can
only transmit one person at a time”. “so, Jake should go through, right” said Tundra. “yeah, just let me put
in the coordinates”. Just when he had put them in pyro sprinted past and stole it. “what do you think you’re
doing” said Tundra. “I’m saving you” announced pyro “this child has probably had the hadenoid in him this
whole time, he has been tricking us, the real Jake is in there somewhere but no human, let alone a child can
keep it down, that isn’t Jake it’s just a demon, and if you don’t want to help me, then you’re a traitor, or at
least that’s what’ll tell Teko, bye” and just like that Pyro was gone. Their only chance of getting to Teko was
gone and even if they did, pyros lies would surely get them banished. It was over.
Jake sat down and started to cry he would have this demon inside him forever. Quake sat down beside him
and said” hey, I told you it wouldn’t be easy this is just one obstacle, if we keep going we will surely find a
way to get that demon outside of you”. They got up and found a map of the world “ok, said Jake “if we came
from Dublin and slid east for about 3 hours so that means we would be in”. Quake looked up and made the
earth above them part sideways. Tundra then flew them up and they looked around. “-Liverpool”. Tundra
looked at them “I know someone around here who can maybe help us.”
one small enough to go in so if you find two magnetic discs bring them out to me”. “k” said Jake before
jumping right into the closet. Once Jake was gone Pyro said” couldn’t you have just changed your shape?”.
Quake answered with” yeah, but that takes so much effort”
“goddammit quake”.
Inside the closet Jake was searching for the discs but before he found them, he found this little dagger. I’ll
just keep these he said to himself before returning to the search. He kept looking for about 20 minutes before
eventually finding the discs. He stretched out his arm to grab them but before he could he was interrupted by
another arm grabbing them. It was hairy and purple. It then pulled him inside a small room full of treasure. It
CHAPTER 4 the water princess
The three of them looked around for the person tundra was telling them about. They kept walking on the
streets until tundra stopped them. “hello, Tim” she said pointing to a homeless man sitting down beside her
“I’m an old friend of Aquaria”. The man, now looking less confused, stood up and pulled back his sleeve
revealing an arm completely covered in watches, more accurately 8- 12,000$ watches. He pulled three of
them off his hand and gave them to tundra, she thanked him and handed two of them two the others. “wow”
said Quake “that was easier than I thought”. “well,” said tundra “me and the princess go way back, I first

met her in the great war”. Tundra told them to tap on the watches and when they did, they were teleported
to the inside of a beautiful castle. They were in a place where it almost seemed like a reception, a tall man
walked up to them and escorted them to a tall wooden door. The only thing that seemed wrong was that the
door had dozens of locks and the manager man guy was taking them all off. Jake was wondering what was
behind that door. If it took that many locks it must be bad. He opened the door and they walked only to see a
master bedroom filled with expensive items and lying on the four-poster bed was a little girl only around 10
years old reading a book. The little girl immediately sat up and screamed “oh my god, tundra! I haven’t seen
you in what, 3-4,000 years I’ve been SOOO lonely”. Tundra looked back at Jake and quake and said “Jake
and quake this is aquaria the goddess of water, aquaria this is quake the god of earth and Jake-“ she was cut
of by aquaria “ the god of death” Jake looked at her and said” actually I’m just possessed by a hadenoid”.
Tundra looked at her questionably. “wait what do mean by the god of death, oneka told us”-. She was cut
of once again by aquaria “please, that knockoff fortune teller, this boy doesn’t have a minion of the god of
death in him, he has the god himself”. Tundra looked mad “YOU WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO TELL HIM
THAT!”. In jakes mind the voice started creeping in again, he was in complete shock and with him gone the
voice took over. He quintupled in size now oozing with evil. He picked up quake and tundra and threw them
around like ragdolls. Inside jakes mind was a totally different battle, the voice which he now recognized as
the god of death himself, taku had taken the hold on his mind and he was powerless to stop it. Quake and
tundra were shouting at him “Jake! You can stop him! You’ve held him off for years! Keep going!”.
Back in jakes head he kept fighting, until something happened. He now appeared to be in a large, grey room
and on the other side of the room sat taku. Taku stood up and ran towards him, he tried to punch him, but
Jake dodged it and ran. Jake asked taku” why are you doing this”. Taku just said “I want to get out”. Jake
was confused “what” taku looked at him “I WANT TO GET OUT!”. Jake told him to sit down and then
Jake took the wheel back. In the real-world Jake was lying on the bed and aquaria was standing beside him
talking “whenever he experiences negative emotions taku takes over his body, the more negative the emotions
the more powerful taku becomes”. Jake stood up and said, “I want to know exactly what happened to
me”
Chapter 5 the truth
. Tundra answered “long ago the earth was home to the two gods of life and death, taku and Kera. They
fought for millennia until along came a third god, Teku the being of peace who trapped them both in boxes
called raiokksu then he created millions of other gods. 12 years ago, Teku thought it would be a good idea
to let out Kera the life god, as he thought Kera would bring prosperity to the planet but Kera was enraged,
after being trapped for thousands of years he wanted to continue his fight. Kera grabbed taku’s box but he
dropped it into the city below. Kera flew off to an unknown area and we were sent to find the box, all we
found was you, but after a while and a few more search missions we found the empty box and with all these
breakouts we knew it was taku”. “Ok” said Jake “how do we get him out, we need Teku to help”. Aquaria
looked at them and said “I think I know a way to get to my dad” they followed her to the top where there
were three more pairs of the magnetic discs. Jake, Quake, and tundra grabbed them leaving aquaria behind.
Aquaria put in all the coordinates and tundra and quake left. Aquaria ran over to Jake, kissed him on the
check and said” hope you don’t die” and Jake teleported away.
They ended up in a marvellous quart’s palace. They walked inside to see a throne room with a fifty-foot-tall
throne and a sixty-foot tall Teku. Teku looked down at them and said, “so you are the two and the child possessed
by taku please head to the extraction room”. Jake looked up and pleaded” sir, I have known myself
wait what extraction room” Teku looked at him “you know what I’ll just do it right here” he moved his hand
and Jake lifted into the sky, Teku pulled his other hand up and it was like he was being split into two different
people. Jake fell to the ground and across the room from him was taku in his natural form, a ravenous
beast. Taku grew to about twice the size of Teku and then ran out of the room to rampage on the city below.
Quake looked at Teku and shouted, “what was that!”. “quickly” said Teku “head down to the park”. Jake decided
not to question him and quickly ran down to the city. Once they were at the park the were quickly followed
by an army of gods including Teku and aquaria. Aquaria gave him a pill and said, “swallow this, it’ll
turn you into a god for a brief period of time”. Jake swallowed it and said, “what of?”. As she was running
away, he could hear her say “candy floss!”. He ran after the rest of the gods. Everyone was giving it there all
and finally after everything they had had to do. They had done it, taku was defeated.
As Jake sat down at the beach house months after what had happened, he whispered one thing to himself
“Kera is still out there.”
To be continued
Pronunciation guide:
Hadenoid= hay-de-noyd
Taku= ta-koo
Teku= tee=koo
Aquaria= a-qua-ree-a

TEDDY BEARS’ PICNIC
Anna C.

“Come on guys,” mum insists, “A walk in the woods will be lots of fun!”
“Do we have to?” Chris groans, “I just found an internet connection!”
Chris has been trying to find an internet connection so he can play Fortnite and Insta his friends, since we arrived in
our holiday home.
“Ali, you want to go on a walk, don’t you?” mum asks me
“Uh, yeah maybe,” I shrug, mum’s walks usually end up being hours long and everyone’s in a bad mood by the end.
“Beatrix even helped me to make a picnic!” mum says, smiling down at my brat angel of a little sister. Who looks at
me as if to say, ‘who’s the favourite daughter now?’
“Simon, you think it’s a great idea for us to go on a walk, right?” mum says to dad.
“Yep, honey, you guys go on a walk, I just need to finish some work” Dad replies absent-mindedly, typing away on his
laptop.
My dad is something of a workaholic, sometimes he’ll work 16 hours a day! That was one of the reasons we came on
holidays here to Canada, to get my dad to stop working for a few weeks, which obviously hasn’t worked.
“Aaarrrrgggghhhhhh!!” mum shouts angrily. “ we are going to go on a walk, all of us, there will be no devices, we will
just spend some nice quality family time together, okay?” Mum yells.
We all nod silently, when Mum gets annoyed, you don’t argue with her.
“Right then,” Mum says, clapping her hands together, ”let’s go!”
10 minutes later we all troop out of the house, devices left behind, only bringing the picnic (which must be all of the
food we had in the cupboards) with us.
We walk along a path, mum has mapped out some route that we can take through the woods, that’ll lead us in a loop
back to our cabin. I walk alongside Chris, my older brother (who is in his prime of being a moody teenager)
Bea skips along in front of us, holding Dad’s hand in her cute eight-year-old way. Mum leads us, following the map.
After a while we reach a river, and mum gives me the map to hold while she takes some pictures of the river.
“Do you want to know something?” Chris says, coming up to me.
“What?” I reply
“In these very woods there are bears, lots and lots of them, who love nothing better than sneaking up behind you at
night….and then…all of a sudden, they pounce!!” Chris jumps forward at me.
“Aggghhh!!!!!!” I scream, jumping into the air.
Chris doubles over with laughter. I’m too distracted to be annoyed at his joke because I realise in my fright, I had
dropped the map. And where had I dropped it but into the river. Great. I was so dead.
Mum gets super angry at me for losing the map, but dad manages to calm her down a bit by saying that we haven’t
gone far (even though we strayed off the path a while ago) and that it’ll be fun to find our own way back (even
though it’s beginning to get dark).
Bea starts to moan about how hungry she is, constantly! So we settle down for our picnic, setting out rugs, unpacking
everything.
“ This looks yummy, mum,” I smile.
“Yes…” Mum replies, “only problem is that we don’t have any water, we drank it all earlier..” Mum sighs.
“I know what we could do,” suggests Dad, “ we can go down to the river and get some water from there!”
“Ok…” Mum says, unsure.
“I’m sure the water’s clean enough,” Dad reassures.
“All right then,” says Mum, “I’ll go down with you then, Simon.”
“And me, and me and me!!!!” Bea says frantically.
“Ok, and you Bea,” Mum surrenders, And then, turning to me and Chris asks, “are you sure that the two of you will be
okay here on your own?”
“Yes, mum we’ll be fine, and it’s not like you’re going far anyway,” I reassure.
So mum, dad, and Bea head off for water. I sit beside the picnic surveying all the food we brought with us, there really
is enough to feed a bear.
As if reading my beary thoughts,
Chris says ”hey Ali, sorry about the bear joke earlier, and making you get in trouble for dropping the map because of
it.”
“It’s ok,” I smile at Chris, “I’m a naturally jumpy person”
“You so are,” Chris agrees nodding his head, and smiling.
We’re so busy talking, that we don’t notice the shadow.
It looms up behind us, great big body, a round head, great big paws. Me and Chris share a look. I can see terror in his
eyes that must be reflected in mine.
And then the shadow growls. My breath comes in quick pants, and slowly, ever so slowly I turn around to face the

shadow. I look up the brown furry body, up and up, until I look straight into the eyes of a bear. I keep eye contact with
the bear while muttering to Chris out of the corner of my mouth, “ Chrissss, we need to get out of here….”
Chris nods.
“On the count of three,” I mutter, “leg it.”
So that’s what we do, we run. Right back down to the river all the way, looking back to see if the bear is following us.
We run until we spot the others, and arrive in a panting heap, relieved beyond belief that the bear doesn’t appear to be
following us.
“There… was a… a …. B…bear” I puff pointing back towards where our picnic was, “I think we got away from it.”
“oh my god, a bear!!????” mum shouts, “are you ok?!”
Chris and I nod, breathless.
“Come here,” dad says, opening his arms for a hug, which we gratefully accept.
“I think that it might have smelt our food and come for it,” Chris says, still panting a little.
“This wood is scary!” Bea says.
“I know pet, I know,” mum soothes.
“We have to get out of here,” I say. There is no way I can spend anymore time in this wood.
“We will,” dad says determinedly, “we’ll keep on walking until we find our way out, we have to.”
We all nod, and I realise that all we have left now is one another.
“Oh, mum,” I rush over to her and wrap my arms around her. “ it’s not your fault, I was the one who dropped the map”
“Well I was the one who made you drop the map,” Chris admits, joining our hug.
“I was the one who said we should go down to the river to get water,” dad says, “and left you guys with the picnic, I
should have thought about the bears,” dad wraps his bears arms around all of us.
“Well it was my fault that we had the picnic, because I was moaning so much,” Bea says, so seriously that we all laugh
a little as she makes up our group hug.
We just stand there for a minute, as the sun comes up, over the horizon, quiet, and all I can hear is the faint sound of
cars….
“Cars!!!!!!!!!!” I exclaim, “I can hear cars!!!!!!!!!” I yell.
“I can hear them too!!!” Bea shouts.
We take off running, with energy I didn’t know we had in us, following the direction of the noise. We come to a clearing,
and break through onto the other side. And then, finally, we are out of the woods.
“Yesssssss!!!” we all shout, jumping up and down in the air.
“I have never been so glad to see a motorway in my life!” Dad yells.
We’re so ecstatic, our faces full of pure, unrefined joy. I think of what we’ve been though , the challenges we’ve faced,
how we’ve pulled through.
And I look at my family, mum, dad, Chris, Bea, and I realise, that although they annoy me and get on my nerves, there
is no one, no one, who I love more.
So we trek off into the woods, walking and walking and walking. We don’t really talk but I can feel that we are with
each other in a different way, united to get out of this mess.
As we walk, the sky turns dark, the stars beginning to come out, the only sounds are the owls hooting, and the steady
rhythm of our walking. Without any devices we can’t call for help and so we’re stuck wandering the forest, no clue
if we’re any closer to getting out then we were an hour ago, I wonder if we’ll ever get out of this forest, even though
The End
I’m trying to stay positive, which is so hard.
We’re all exhausted, starving, barely managing to stay on our feet after been walking straight for hours on end, dads
already had to pick up Bea a while ago.
The sun is beginning to rise when we have to stop for a break. I look at all our bloodshot eyes, ripped clothes, what I
sight we must be.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Mum cries suddenly, “this is all my fault, I should never have suggested we come on this walk!”

THE KIND VAMPIRE
Ciara H.

The sun would be coming up soon and Jade had nothing to shield her from it, so she decided to head home.
When she got home she was starving so she took a blood bag out of the fridge and sat down on the couch.
She was thinking about the next day when she would go to her new school. She hadn’t been to school since
she had decided that she didn’t want to do the work anymore, but now she thought it would do her some
good to get back there.
The next day she put on some jeans, a black top and put her hair in a ponytail and grabbed her bag, making
sure to put on her makeup to protect her from the sun and putting it into her bag. She walked to school and
arrived just as the bell rang so she made her way to history class. Her seat was in the back row which suited
her perfectly so she sat down and waited for class to start. When all the students had arrived the teacher
walked in and got ready to teach the class.
“Ok class today we have a new student, Jade would you like to come up and introduce yourself?”
“Sure” she said “my name is Jade and I am sixteen years old”.
“Wonderful” said the teacher “well Jade, my name is Mr. Breeze and we are thrilled to have you here.
“Thank you” she said.
“OK class today we are going to be doing some work on the 1916 Easter Rising so open your textbooks and
let’s get cracking.”
Jade sat down and started thinking about 1916 Easter Rising and about how horrible it was, she remembered
hiding inside the little house, she remembered the bomb hitting it and waking up as a vampire. Anyway she
was just glad to be here sitting in a classroom at a school, life really was going well.
After class some of the girls came over to talk to her.
“Hi” one of them said “my name’s Chloe and this is Hazel.
Chloe had light blond hair with a white top and light blue jeans and Hazel’s hair was dirty blond and she had
a black top and grey shorts on.
“Oh hi” said Jade.
“We were wondering if you want to be friends and hang out.”
“Sure I’d love that guys.”
“And we were also wondering if you want to come over to my house for a sleepover” said Hazel “because
my parents are away for the week and I thought it would be nice to have a sleepover with some friends.”
“Sure” Jade replied “I would love that.”
Later that night Jade started walking to Hazel’s house, she was so excited to go on this sleepover that she
used her vampire speed and arrived half an hour earlier. She didn’t want to be rude so she jumped onto the
roof of the house and decided to wait for a bit.
After a while she decided to head down, as she was about to jump a dark figure jumped onto the roof and
landed beside her.
“Well” he said “I haven’t seen you in a long time.”
“I’m not in the mood Elijah now please go home, I have a sleepover I have to get to.”
She jumped down and rang the doorbell. Hazel answered with Chloe right beside her.
“Hi” they both said “are you ready for the best night ever.”
“You better believe it” Jade replied.
As she walked inside Hazel’s house she couldn’t stop thinking about Elijah and his black hair and his gorgeous
eyes, but no this was ridiculous, she didn’t need him in her life anymore.
“So what do you want to do first?” Hazel asked her “I’m pretty sure that Chloe wants to do makeup first, but
since your our new friend I think you should get to decide.”
“I don’t really mind” said Jade “I haven’t been to a sleepover in quite a while.”
“Ok then” said Hazel “I’ll let Chloe decide, so what do you want to start with Chloe?”
“I think we should start with makeup” said Chloe.
Hazel got out her makeup and they all went upstairs into Hazels bedroom. Hazels bedroom had gorgeous
blue walls with a bed in the middle and a sofa in the corner and her wardrobe against the far wall. They sat
down on her bed and they started to do their makeup.
“Can I do your makeup Hazel?” Chloe asked.
“Sure” Hazel replied “What about you Jade, do you want Chloe to do your makeup? She’s amazing at it.”

“Well actually, I have my own makeup that I have to use. I should probably go and get it from my bag, I’ll
be right back.
As she started walking downstairs she began to feel a little bit hungry so she checked her bag for some blood
and she realised in her haste to get to the sleepover she must have forgotten to pack some. This was a problem,
she was hungry and she had no blood. She could make this work. As long as she didn’t smell or see
any blood she would be fine. She grabbed the makeup and hurried back upstairs. When Chloe started doing
Hazels makeup there was a knock on the door.
“I’ll get it” said Hazel.
“No, you can’t, your makeups not done” said Chloe “Jade do you mind answering it?”
“Sure” replied Jade.
Jade went downstairs and answered the door, she almost jumped when she Elijah standing there.
“What the hell are you doing here Elijah?”
“I came to see you, why else do you think I would be here.”
“Did I ask for you to come? No I didn’t so please go home and leave me alone.”
“That’s not going to happen Jade so you should probably get used to the fact that I am going to be staying
here for a bit.”
Jade was furious. Elijah wasn’t allowed to come here and boss her around, she had to get him to leave before
anything went wrong. Chloe and Hazel came downstairs and looked surprised when they saw her with Elijah
standing outside.
“I’m sorry but what are you doing here?” Hazel asked Elijah
“He just got the wrong house number” Jade said quickly “but he’ll be going now, right.”
“Yes I will” Elijah replied “I am terribly sorry for disturbing you”
He turned around and walked down the driveway. Jade closed the door and they all went upstairs to watch
a movie. Hazel got the movie ready while Chloe and Jade made the popcorn. While Chloe was pouring the
popcorn into the bowl she cut her finger and a drop of blood fell onto the counter.
“Oh” said Chloe “Jade do you mind getting me a plaster they’re in the cupboard just beside you.”
Jade started shaking she could smell the blood and she was starving. She wanted her blood, her fresh blood
dripping on the counter, no she had to get away.
“Jade are you ok?” Chloe asked “what’s wrong?
Jade ran out of the room but on the way she bumped into Hazel.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
Jade pushed past her and ran out the door, she used her vampire speed and got home. She opened the fridge
door but there was no blood in it.
“Looking for this?”
She turned around and saw Elijah holding a blood bag.
“Give it to me” she said.
“On one condition, I get to stay here with you for as long as I like.”
“No. God no, that is never going to happen.”
“Well then I guess you’re going to have to get your own blood.”
She ran outside and saw Chloe and Hazel running towards her house.
“Are you ok?” they both said.
“Stand back” she replied.
She could smell the blood on Chloe’s finger, she couldn’t stand it anymore. She lunged at Chloe fangs bared,
just as she was about to dig her fangs into Chloe someone pulled her back and gave her a blood bag. She
ripped it open and drank it.
“What the hell just happened?” said Hazel.
“That went well” Elijah said.
“I think we need to have a little talk” Jade replied.
They walked into her house and she could see the fear in Hazel and Chloe’s face. She told them to sit in the
living room while she went upstairs to her bedroom to put on some of her makeup. She turned around and
saw Elijah standing in the doorway.

“Are you ok?” he asked her.
“I don’t know” she replied “I can’t believe I almost killed her, anyway we should head downstairs.
“What are you going to do Jade?”
“I’m going to use compulsion to make them forget about everything that happened tonight.”
“Ok do you want to do it or will I?”
“I’ll do it” she said.
They went downstairs and saw the two girls sitting on the couch huddled together. Jade didn’t like to see the
fear in their eyes when they saw her walk in, that was one of her least favourite things about being a vampire.
The fear in people’s eye’s if they realise she’s a vampire. She used compulsion and told them that they
had the best sleepover and that they watched movies and did their makeup and when it was time to leave
they walked her home.
“Well since you got home ok we should probably head home” Hazel said.
“Yes” Chloe replied “see you tomorrow Jade.”
Jade showed them to the door then went back inside.

EOGHAN’S STORY
Eoghan D.

Mark was normally an optimist but even he was despairing when the dragon attacked. Mark lived in the city
of Lijay. It was a huge city, the capital of the country Lijay in fact. The river Gile ran through the city. There
were battlements and a moat surrounding the city. In the very heart of the city sat the castle where the king
and his family lived. Next to the castle there lay the court and next to that was the jail. Lijay was a very happy
place for the citizens except for the fear of the war horn.
One morning the city of Lijay was going about its daily business when suddenly the war horn sounded out
across the city. On that cue everybody was supposed to go into their houses. The only people that were allowed
to stay outside were the warriors. They would protect the city with their lives. One of those warriors was
named Mark. He loved the city and would do anything to keep it from harm. That was why he signed up to be a
warrior. He had completed all of the trials to be one of the warriors. Some of the trials included lifting weights,
swordplay, accuracy with the bows, crossbows, chains and ropes. Finally, to prove your allegiance to the city
you had to catch and eat a live rodent. “At least we don’t have to eat a poisonous animal!” Mark had said.
When the war horn sounded everybody raced towards their homes. The warriors though had to make their way
to the battlements that surrounded the city. They all had their jobs - some of them were archers, some of them
were swordsmen, some of them were manning the catapults and some of them would fire chains and ropes at
dragons when they attacked which was extremely rare. Mark was one of those people. Nobody in the city had
ever seen a dragon before. It was scarily huge when it appeared. It was around 40 metres long and 5 metres
wide. The dragon had scales made of metal and was able to breathe fire. But the most surprising thing of all
was that it could talk! He said that he only wanted to eat five people and if the city presented five people before
sundown he would leave them alone. The city council and the warrior council had a meeting to discuss plans.
In the end the city decided to ask if there was anybody willing to go out to the dragon with concealed chains
and then fire the chains at the dragon to try and take him down. Mark was one of the people who volunteered
to go out with the chains. When they went outside the dragon confronted them.
“So you are the five people that I will eat” the dragon asked. Mark and the others nodded.
“Right then we will be off” the dragon announced. The people whipped out their chains and fired. The dragon
let out a huge roar and for a moment the dragon looked like he was caught but within ten seconds he had broken
free. Though he had escaped the chains it didn’t come without a price. His left wing was damaged. The
dragon scooped up his prisoners in one of his huge claws. He let out a quick burst of fire and with that he was
gone. The dragon’s wing seemed to be causing him some pain. He kept on letting out booming roars and he
was flying very low.
Mark was petrified when the dragon had scooped him up into its claw. At first he tried to break free but pretty
soon he realised that it was useless. He tried to talk to his friends but over the roar of the wind they couldn’t
hear each other. They were nearing some mountains which they guessed was where the dragon lived. A few
minutes later the dragon flew into the side of a mountain. They entered the biggest cavern you could ever
imagine. It was so big that Mark couldn’t see the roof or the far wall! It was filled with all the treasure you
could imagine! Gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and platinum. Name all of the gems you know the
dragon had it! All of the jewels put together would probably be worth all the money in Lijay. There was also
bones everywhere.
The dragon flew over to the far wall and threw them into a prison cell. In the cell the only thing there was
a rusty, old bucket. The cell was so damp you could feel it in the air. As for the smell, it was horrific. There
was a strong smell of burning ashes and worse from the rotten corpses in the cave. If you listened closely you
could hear a little stream running through the mountain although none of the prisoners heard it as they were
too terrified with their own thoughts and worries.
“I suppose that is for going to the toilet in, is it” one of the people asked the dragon pointing at the bucket.
“Yes it is” the dragon replied.
“Thank you for leaving us that toilet” Mark said.
“Oh it’s only because I don’t want you going on the floor” the dragon explained.
“I will empty it every day because I don’t want the smell to get everywhere” the dragon continued. When the
dragon left to go and lick the wound on his wing on a ledge on one of the walls one of the men began talking.
“Great. Just great. So now we are stuck here in the middle of a mountain in the company of a dragon with no
food or drink and the dragon is going to eat us” the man whispered.
“At least we have somewhere to go to the toilet” Mark said.
“How can you always be so optimistic” one of the men whispered.
“Well maybe our circumstances aren’t great.”
“Aren’t great? Aren’t great, yeah well I think we aren’t in the best circumstances because we don’t have
anything to eat or to drink and the fact that we are in the company of a dragon don’t forget” one of the men
snapped.
“We will just have to make do with what we have” Mark said.

A few hours later the dragon plucked one of the men kicking and screaming like a child out of the cage. He
was roasted alive and the dragon ate him. Thankfully the dragon didn’t eat any of the other men. The next
morning the remaining men were already awake when the dragon woke up. This was because dragons snore
while they sleep and their snores are deafeningly loud. When the dragon woke up he plucked another one of
the men out of the cage and roasted and ate him. By this time Mark was desperate. He was scared out of his
quiet place. It was normally filled with all kinds of noises, like banging from the forge and the sloshing of the
river Gile that ran through the city. When they got there, their first sight of the city was not good. There was
smoke rising up through the air. The warriors ran into the city to find nobody there! The only people they saw
were blackened corpses. Everything was ashen and burnt. The river was all dried up and all of the buildings
were burnt to the ground. This was where the dragon was all that time.
skin at the thought of being roasted alive. He was also very sad for his friends. Later that day the dragon went
outside for whatever reason and the remaining men were left alone. Mark was terrified about when the dragon
would return while at the same time wondering where he was gone to.
“Where do you think he has gone to?” Mark asked the other two men.
“I don’t know. Maybe he has gone to get more jewels” one of the men answered.
The men heard marching coming their way. The sound gave them the little hope that they needed. After a
long few minutes most of the Lijay warriors came in through the entrance. It was a funny sight to behold to
see them wading through all of the jewels. Some of them were even pocketing as much jewels as would fit
into their pockets. When the men finally reached the prison cell they tried to cut through the bars but it was
no good. Everybody was asked if they had any ideas to get through the bars and one person did. His idea was
to use a small explosive on the bars. So the men in the cage were told to go as far back in to the cage as they
could and the explosive worked.
Now that the men in the cage were free everybody started walking back towards the mouth of the mountain.
As soon as all of the men were all out of the mountain they started out for Lijay at a good speed. But they
hadn’t gotten far when they heard a booming roar. It was the dragon! Mark was terrified. He just wanted to go
home but the dragon wouldn’t allow him.
“Arm yourselves” the captain yelled. After a lot of clinking and clanking everybody was armed with either
bows, crossbows, chains or ropes. All of the arrows just bounced off the dragon’s skin, so the people that had
bows or crossbows in the first place were given the spare chains and ropes. The dragon sprayed bursts of fire
at the men and many of them were killed. The men tried in vain to chain and rope the dragon but the dragon
was too fast. But when the dragon swooped in low for an attack Mark saw this as their golden opportunity
and shouted for everybody to try and chain the dragon on the wing that was injured the day before and miraculously
it worked. The dragon was pulled to the ground. The swordsmen sliced up the dragon in between
some of the tiny little gaps between his scales. The dragon was dead! It had not been without cost but he was
dead. Many of the men mourned for their dead friends as they continued their journey home. The first thing
that Mark noticed that was wrong when they were approaching the city was the lack of noise. Lijay was not a

ISTA
Irene G.

That morning was a dull one. The sky was covered in clouds and the sun was nowhere in sight. It had been
pouring rain all through the night so the ground outside was wet and slippery. Orlaith lay in her bed thinking.
It was exactly the 12th anniversary of the day she had been dropped off at the orphanage. She didn’t
feel like doing anything. She just wanted to lay in bed doing nothing. But this wasn’t how things worked at
the orphanage. They had to get up at 6 every day, eat breakfast, do some chores, school, lunch, more school,
homework, dinner and bed at eight. Orlaith knew she should be downstairs eating breakfast and that if she
wasn’t she would get extra chores and probably a good telling off by miss Jenn. She didn’t care.
“ORLAITH” called a very angry miss Jenn barging into the room. Orlaith wasn’t scared of miss Jenn. She
was probably the only one. She didn’t understand why everyone was scared of her. Miss Jenn was just an old
lady, she was harmless. “Toilet duty today” ordered miss Jenn “Oh, and before you go we have a man coming
today who is looking to adopt. So be on your best behaviour”. Orlaith didn’t say anything. She didn’t
want to make things worse.
After she finished her breakfast she started her morning chores. She washed the dishes, mopped the kitchen
floor, cleaned all the windows, and cleaned the toilets. She just had one last chore to do before school. Take
out the bins. Her least favourite chore. She collected the trash and was about to take it out to the back when
she saw something. It was a man sneaking in through the back door.
The first thought that came to her head was that he might be the man that was looking for a kid to adopt. But
then why would he be entering through the back door. The man hadn’t seen her. Orlaith wasn’t surprised.
She was tiny. The man turned right towards the forbidden corridor. Orlaith followed. The man somehow
managed to open the door to miss Jenn’s office. It was nothing like Orlaith had imagined it. In fact, it was
the exact opposite. The walls were bright yellow and she had lots of quotes painted on the walls. The desk
was cluttered with plants of different sorts and books about gardening and the shelves were full of colourful
books. The man also looked a bit stunned when he saw the room. After he had recovered Orlaith watched
him walk over to a file cabinet. He opened it and took out a file which he then stuffed under his coat. Suddenly
he turned around. Orlaith quickly hid behind a plant in the hall. The man quietly and swiftly put
everything away and closed the door.
He walked over to the plant Orlaith was hiding behind and said: “I know you’re there”. Orlaith stood up. “
You weren’t supposed to see that,” He said before trying to punch her. Orlaith swerved out of the way. She
had really good reflexes. The man tried punching her again and this time after Orlaith dogged it she punched
him back. The man fell on the floor. Orlaith hadn’t meant to hit him that hard. She hadn’t even meant to hit
him. She reached over into the man’s coat and pulled out the file the man had stolen. Suddenly someone
started clapping behind her. It was another man standing beside miss Jenn. “This one,” said the man. “ This
one?!” replied miss Jenn “Are you sure?!”
Half an hour later Orlaith was packed and ready to go. Orlaith didn’t want to. She didn’t trust the man. What
if the two men had been working together. The man had seen her take the file. Maybe he wanted it and that
was the reason he adopted her. They got into the car but instead of driving away the man just sat there. Orlaith
watched the man being taken away by people in black suits.”What will happen to him” Orlaith asked.
“Oh you don’t need to worry about that” he answered. Orlaith hated it when people didn’t tell her things.
She looked over at the man. He looked like he was in deep thought. Finally, he spoke: “Where did you learn
to do that?”. “Do what?” Orlaith asked. “The dodging and the punch” He answered. Orlaith was confused. “
I didn’t learn it anywhere, I just have really good reflexes”. “ Ahh,” He said and started the car.
They didn’t say anything else for the rest of the ride. Orlaith was fascinated by what she was seeing through
the window. She had never been out of the orphanage grounds. Orlaith didn’t know how much time had
passed when they finally reached their final destination but the sun was starting to set. She suddenly felt
really hungry. Orlaith got out of the car. She was extremely confused. They were standing in the middle of
a huge field. She couldn’t see any buildings, anyone. Was the man leaving her here to starve and then taking
the file. Orlaith looked at the man suspiciously as he took out a remote from his pocket. He pressed a button.
Nothing happened. “Wait for it” He said. Then out of nowhere, the ground began to shake. Had the man
caused an earthquake just by pressing that little button?. Suddenly, a huge building rose up from the ground.
The building was mostly made up of windows through which Orlaith could see a bunch of cool machines,
people learning martial arts and fighting and even people doing science-y stuff she couldn’t understand. On
the front of the building, there was a sign saying ISTA The Irish Spy Training Academy. “Cool” Orlaith said
“Welcome to ISTA” said the man beside her which honestly she had forgotten he was there.
They walked in and it was even more spectacular from inside. The entrance was huge. The walls were silver
and there were pictures of people all over the walls. “Probably old students,” Orlaith thought. There was a
metal detector that they passed with no problem. In the hallways, Orlaith noticed that everyone seemed to
have a robot following them around like a pet. They were all different shapes, sizes and colours and every
robot was unique. “Don’t worry” said the man beside Orlaith which she now realised she didn’t know the
name of” you’ll get one too”. Next, they went to see Orlaith’s dormitory which she shared with three other
girls who weren’t there at the moment. They were probably in class. “Your classes don’t start until next
week so you don’t have to worry. You can have a look around the school if you want, maybe make some
friends and if you need me just ask for Mr Johnson” Said Mr Johnson. “Thanks for everything Mr Johnson”.

“You can call me Mark when we’re not around other students”. And he left Orlaith alone to unpack.
To be continued...

THE BALL GIRL
Keela P.

Present Day Lily
Hey. I’m Lily. I’m 13, and I’m about to start Secondary School in St. Joseph’s. It’s a mixed school in the
village. I’m going with my best friend Mary-Anne. I wanted to go to the all-girls school in the bigger town
near where Mark goes to the boys’ school (he’s my older brother), but Mary-Anne had her heart set on going
to school here because she’s about as boy crazy as they come. And I didn’t want to go to secondary school
without Mary-Anne. What can I say, she’s like a twin sister to me. Anyway, enough about school. I love
soccer. I wanted to play with a team, but there isn’t one for girls in my village. I played with the club for a
while, because up until under eight’s the boys and girls team played together. But there weren’t enough girls
to start a team in under ten’s. There still wasn’t enough in under twelve’s. And, you guessed it, there still
isn’t enough in under fourteen’s. My dream is to play for Ireland. Running with the ball at my feet in the
world cup and pounding it into the net and hearing the crowd go wild. But that will never happen if I can’t
train with a team. I’ve tried to drag Mary-Anne into playing with me in the park countless times but she’s
just not into it. I’m hoping I can play for the school’s soccer team. It will be my first chance to play for a
proper team and play in matches and competitions. In my primary school, there was no soccer team because
they could only afford to send teams to one type of sports matches, and they chose Gaelic football. So that’s
all you need to know about me for now. Are you ready to start the story then? Great. Thought you would be.
Take it away guys!
***
My worst memory - and how I remember it
June 25th, 2010
Lily woke up to a shouting match going on downstairs. Her Mommy and Daddy were arguing again. She
couldn’t take it anymore. It scared her. She went out to her brother’s room. “Mark?” she whispered and
knocked frantically on his door. “You awake?”. “Yeah, yeah, come in Lil,” he said quietly. “Are you alright?”
“No!!!” she wailed. “Mommy and Daddy are always fighting, and what if they don’t love each other
anymore?” she cried.“Lil, calm down it’s alright. It will be okay. They’ll get over it.” he reassured her. Lily
sat down beside him in the bed and he hugged her. “Mark was big and clever,” she thought. “He knows that
it will be okay.” But the peaceful worry-free moment came to an end when they heard the front door slam
and a car door opening and closing and the sound of an engine starting up and a car driving off that something
was wrong. They heard someone coming up the stairs. Their Dad walked into the room. “Oh good, you
two are together” he sighed. “I need to tell you something. Your mum is gone away.” he paused and turned
away from the kids. “Is she gone to do the shopping Daddy?” Lily squeaked. “Well, no Lily, she isn’t” he
croaked. He was holding back tears. “She… She went to live in a different house.” “But we want her to live
here, with us daddy,” Lily said. “Well honey, Mommy wanted to live somewhere else without us for a while,
just to have some time on her own, okay? Now, why don’t you two get ready for school.” And without another
word he walked swiftly out of the room, and they heard him climb the second flight of stairs up to the
attic bedroom, his bedroom and they heard the door close.
***
Present day Lily
That’s my worst and first memory. When my Mum left. After that Dad promised we’d be able to visit her in
her new house and talk to her on the phone and stuff, but she never called or invited us over to see her. We
still don’t know where she is now or what she’s doing. Probably something to do with sports, or soccer. She
loved soccer too. That’s where she met my Dad. They both supported Manchester United and they were both
at one of their matches. They were sitting beside each other and hit it off right away. I don’t remember it, but
Mark said we all used to play soccer together outside in the garden. I wasn’t much good, I was like, three,
but Mark said it was a lot of fun. I still played soccer with Mark and Dad, but Mark said it wasn’t the same
without Mum. Dad taught me all I know growing up. I remember him bringing me to my first practice at the
club when I was six. But when it came to under 10’s, like I said already, there weren’t enough girls to have
a team of their own. The coach said I could train with the boys if I wanted to. None of the other girls wanted
to so they just gave it up, but I wanted to keep playing so I trained with them. The coach said I couldn’t play
matches with them because it would be unfair to me. That was a load of crap. Of course I could play with
the boys! I had played with them until then! I was better than some of them! It wasn’t his choice anyway.
Under the FAI rules, a team couldn’t have a girl if it was a boys team and vice-versa. Now, Let’s skip forward
to where I meet Mary-Anne.
***
1st September, 2012
It was Lily’s first day of school. She was a bit nervous but she wasn’t a very shy kid, so when they were
in the classroom and it was time for the parents to leave, Lily waved goodbye to her dad without a second
thought. The teacher put them into groups of four. Two boys and two girls. Lily was paired with Jack, Conor,
and a girl called Mary-Anne. She had long blonde hair and it was done into cute little plaits. Lily’s hair was
just in a ponytail. Her dad was never taught how to do plaits. “Hi! What’s your name?” Lily said to Mary-
Anne cheerfully. “Em, I’m Mary-Anne. What’s your name?” said Mary-Anne timidly. “I’m Lily. What’s

your favourite colour?” said Lily, eager to get to know her new friend. “Em, I like pink. My room is pink. I
also have a very pretty pink princess dress at home.” explained Mary-Anne. “Okay, boys and girls, my name
is Ms. Lynch. I’m going to be your teacher in Junior Infants this year. Has everyone got to know the person
sitting beside them?” said Ms. Lynch. There was a mixed reply of “Yes” and “No” being shouted back at
Ms. Lynch. “Okay then, If you don’t know your partner’s name, ask them now,” said Ms. Lynch. “Okay,
now that you know your partner’s name, you’re going to draw a picture of you and your partner. After
you’re finished, We’re going to learn how to write out names beside yourself in the picture!” So they got to
work. Lily kept chatting away to Mary-Anne, and soon enough Mary-Anne became a little less shy. They
were talking about which princess is their favourite, and which prince, and if they would rather be turned
into a frog or a mouse by an evil witch.
***
Present Day Lily
From this point onwards, Mary-Anne and I were inseparable. After school that day Mary-Anne’s mom
thought that she would be so happy to see her that she would be begging to go home, but instead, she was
begging to come to my house to see my yellow room. Mary-Anne’s mom talked to my dad. Her mom
brought Mary-Anne over and we had a play-date the first-ever day of school. Now, Mary-Anne and I are
about to start secondary school. We just bought our uniforms last week. Crazy stuff, right? Now, Let’s start
the actual story. That was just the background info. Now, Let’s begin…
***
It was Sunday evening. The day before Lily started Secondary School. She was at Mary-Anne’s house helping
her to decide what to do with her hair. “So, up? - Mary-Anne put her hair into a high ponytail - or down?
- she let it back down -” asked Mary-Anne, looking at her hair in the mirror. “Mary-Anne, you know you
look amazing either way, right? Okay, okay, put it up, it looks more professional that way, we have to make
a good impression to the teachers on the first day. Start the race on the right foot.” answered Lily. “But what
do you think the boys would prefer?” nagged Mary-Anne. “Ew Mar, I couldn’t care less what boys think
about my hair,” insisted Lily. “Ugh, fine Lil, I’ll go with up then,” said Mary-Anne. Lily’s phone started
ringing. “Okay, I gotta go now, Dad’s calling. See you in the morning!” Lily. “Okay, meet you at the corner
at 8:20?” clarified Mary-Anne. “Yep, see you there!”
Lily was so excited. She couldn’t sleep. It was finally happening! She was going to secondary school! And
with her best friend in the world. Nothing could be better. She was going to play soccer for the school. On
their website, it says there is a soccer team that has won up to all Ireland competitions. This was going to be
her big chance. And with that in her mind, she fell asleep, dreaming about holding the world cup trophy over
her head, that she had just won for Ireland.
She woke up at 6:30, even though she didn’t need to be awake for another hour. She texted Mary-Anne. “U
awake yet? ;) ” “ U bet! ;p ” she replied. Lily got up and got dressed in her new uniform. She’d had it for a
couple of months now and had tried it on multiple times since she bought it. Today was finally the day she
could wear it. She packed her school bag with all her new books. She had collected them from the school the
week before. She did her hair up into a neat, high ponytail. Her dad made her porridge for breakfast. He said
she would need lots of fuel for her big day. She walked out the door at five past eight. “Knock ‘em dead,
sweetie,” said her dad quietly to himself, as he watched his daughter walk down the path.
Mary-Anne was already waiting at the corner for Lily when she arrived. “So, whaddya think?” asked Mary-
Anne, as she flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. She had done a little plait and tied it into that ponytail.
“Mary-Anne, that looks amazing! I’m sure the boys won’t be able to take their eyes off you all day.” laughed
Lily. “You really think so?” gushed Mary-Anne. Lily laughed very hard. “C’mon let’s go!”
They were sitting beside each other in the canteen. This was the moment of truth. Would they be in the
same class? “Okay everyone, settle down, settle down. We’re going to divide you in to your class groups
now. Your base class will be the people you stick within most of your classes, except for your option subjects.
Now, I’m going to call the name of the class then I’ll call the names of everyone in it. You will come
and line up in from of Mr. Gerhety now if your name is called. This is the class of Oak. Sarah Nally, Roisin
Quinn…” Mary-Anne and Lily were tightly gripping hands. What would they do if they weren’t together? “
...and Mary-Anne Doyle.” “Wait, what?” choked Mary-Anne. “We’re not in the same class?” “Mary-Anne,
it’s fine don’t worry, just relax, and chat to the people in the class you’ll be fine,” reassured Lily. “Well this
is great,” thought Lily. And just like that, Mary-Anne was headed off with Mr. Gerhety.
***
Present Day Lily
Well, It turns out that I’m in Elm. The classes are named after trees. There are four classes, Beech, Elm, Ash,
and Mary-Anne’s class, Oak. Now, let’s go see how I get on in Elm. Guys? Guys! Yeah, get on with it.
***
Lily followed Ms. McHale to room 37. This was the classroom Elm was going to be stationed in for the day.

“Okay, so I’m just going to put ye sitting randomly, boy-girl, boy-girl. Okay… Ellie beside Jake…” “Oh
great! I’m going to be sitting beside a boy,” Lily thought. “Okay, Lily you sit there, beside her we’ll have,
Tadgh.” “Hey,” said Tadgh as he sat down beside Lily. “Hi,” she replied. “How’s it going?” he asked, brushing
his hair out of his eyes. “Not too bad, and you? Do you know anyone in the class?” she asked. “Er no
actually, I don’t. I came from a small enough primary school, only three of us came to this school. We’re all
in different classes. Do you know anyone?” “I know Jenny from school and Liam as well but that’s it,” she
said. “Okay everyone, listen up. I want you all to take out your homework journal and we’re going to fill in
out timetables,” the teacher said.
They spent the next half an hour filling in their timetables in the front of their journals. They checked which
teacher they had for each class and which room each was in. “Okay everyone, now that that’s all done, we’re
going to sort out your lockers. Ye can’t carry all those books around all the time!”
They then went to the locker area and the teacher assigned everyone a locker and a combination lock. They
had to come up with a 6 digit code to use for the combination. Mary-Anne and Lily had agreed they would
use each other’s birthday, because then if one of them needed something they left it at home and the other
one was in a different class or something, they would be able to borrow it without having to go find them.
Lily was just filling in her code when Ryan walked up behind her. “Hey, I think I’m the locker under you,
sorry for getting in your way,” he said. “Oh sorry, no problem let me just… Woah!” Lily was stepping over
a schoolbag to get out of the way and she got her foot caught in the strap and tripped and fell. But Ryan
caught her hand before she hit the ground and pulled her back up. “Woah, are you okay?” he laughed, but
looked concerned. “Oh no, I’m fine, I’m fine thanks,” she said, so embarrassed. “Hey, don’t be embarrassed,
it wasn’t your fault,” he said. “What, do I look embarrassed? I’m not embarrassed,” she joked. And then the
voice from the intercom spoke loudly. “Any boys wishing to play soccer for the school team please make
your way to the canteen now,” said the voice. “I’ll catch you later,” called Ryan as he walked off towards
the gym. “Er, Ms.McHale, is there a girl’s soccer team meeting as well?” questioned Lily, curious why they
were only calling boys. “Em, I’m not sure Miss. Evans, why don’t you go to the gym and ask Mr. Rowe.”
the teacher replied. “Okay, thank you Miss!” and she walked off to the canteen.

LEVI’S STORY
Levi C.

The helicopter blades started to slow as the helicopter landed.
Jake Beckett swung open the door of the helicopter and leapt out, to be greeted by the hot humid air of Brazil. All
around him he could hear the shouts and tools of his men at work, soon all their handwork would be paid off. He
walked off the helicopter platform and walked through a low archway into the massive cavern, where he and his accomplices
had been working for two months.
As he walked through the tunnels of the cave and past the various workbenches the men at them saluted him and nodded
towards him.
Jake took a left into a passageway that was held up by wood frames so the tunnel didn’t collapse. The passageway led
away from the commotion of the workers and into a narrower tunnel, which led to another archway where two guards
stood. When the saw Jake the stepped to the side and let him walk into the biggest cavern yet. On the left side of the
cavern sat a long row of communication stations where they could call their fellow terrorists all over the world.
To the right of the cavern stood another archway, which led into the armory.
In the very center of the cavern was a massive screen, which was currently off.
As he walked into the room a man wearing a pair of headphones with a microphone attached to it, he hard dark skin
and green eyes.
“Have you put the team together with the money I transferred, Daniel?” asked Jake.
“Yes sir.” Daniel nodded. “They are waiting in for you in the plane hanger, they’re the best mercenaries and assassins
for hire.”
“Their talents are going to be needed,” replied Jake, walking out of the cavern and towards the plane hanger.
The turbulence shook the plane every once and while making Jake and his crew of recruits shift in their seats.
Altogether there were thirteen of them including Jake, the each wore a parachute and had an oxygen tank attached to a
mask that they all held in their hands.
“So how come you’re a terrorist” spoke a short black-haired boy to Jake, he looked no older than twenty, it was the
first time anyone had spoke since they had left the base.
“What do you mean?” asked Jake not looking at the boy.
“I checked you out.” spoke the boy “Your records clean until you were seventeen and while visiting America you
burnt down a fire department for no apparent reason, which does have a touch of irony though I must admit. You had
grown up in Ireland and had been a nice kid, but then your dad had been called over to America on business of work,
for he was an architect and he had been asked to design a building there, and while you were over there you went
psycho.”
“That’s not true.” spoke Jake. “Yes my father was called over for work to design a building. But once night I went out
to the shop and when I got back the hotel that we were staying in was on fire.
I looked at all of the faces of the survivors and couldn’t see my parent’s.
I had yelled at the firemen to go in and save them but all they said was that they wouldn’t waste their lives trying to
save them, as they were almost definitely dead. I had beat one of the firemen and the police had to take me away.
They locked me up for a week, and when they let me out I burnt down the fire department where the firemen were.
America named me wanted and so I ran, and I’ve hated government ever since.” There was silence as the passengers
took in his story.
“Anyway.” said Jake hoping to change the topic. “I’m guessing you’ve all been briefed on the mission?” asked Jake.
Some nodded but others shook their head.
“Okay then.” Spoke Jake, ”Our goal is to break into three different pharmaceutical facilities and steal a priceless serum.
We have three squadrons, us included, each attacking one of theses facilities. One is in Germany in The Alps, one
in Spain in The Pyrenees, and the one we are attacking is here in the Amazon. We will all be skydiving out of a plane
like this one and landing half a mile away from where our targeted facility is. We have drones overhead the facility at
this moment making fog so that they won’t see us.
All of the attacks will be made in unison and we all have one hour to get in take the serum and then get out before a
pre programmed drone air strike launches and blows the place sky high. On this mission I want maximum casualties;
we can’t have any leaks to the public. -”
“But won’t the authorities tell the press?” Interrupted a tall dark skinned man.
“The UN has kept the information inside these facilities airtight to the public and for all the public know the facilities
are researching a cure for Ebola, cancer and other such dieses like many other facilities across the globe are. If the UN
were to reveal that we bombed it, the press would be all over it and the truth would come out about the facilities. The
UN most likely will blame it on natural disasters and nobody will care.” replied Jake, “Does everybody get that?”
A murmur of yes went around the plane,
“Great cause we’re about to jump.” said Jake standing up and putting on his mask.
All the others in the plane stood up and put on their masks, before joining Jake by the door at the back of the plane.
“It’s time!” yelled the pilot to Jake, He nodded and then pulled open the door and felt a strong gust of wind. Below
Jake he could see a thick blanket of fog, which the drones had been creating for the last few hours.
“Here we go.” murmured Jake under his breath, readjusting his mask on his face.
He leapt forward out of the plane and into the sky. As he fell he could feel the g-force against his face. He shot through

the fog made by the drones and could see the ground; it looked so far away and tiny, but was rapidly was getting bigger.
He pulled his parachute and felt a hard jerk as it slowed down his descend.
Jake landed moments later and quickly stepped out of the parachute and hid it under a massive rock, where he found a
stash of weapons and ammunition.
He took a pistol and hid it in his back pocket; he also took an assault rifle and attached a silencer to it.
He turned around to see that everyone else had landed.
“Everyone take up arms, there are weapons under the rock. Make sure to add a silencer; this mission is all about
stealth, we can’t have the UN knowing about this attack till it is accomplished.” Said Jake to the recruits.
Jake walked through them and stopped in front of the short black haired boy who had asked him about his origins on
the plane.
“You our sniper?” asked Jake to him.
“You got me.” he replied smirking, “The name’s Fredrick.” he held out his hand, which Jake shook.
“We need you over there, on the cliff.” said Jake pointing. “You’ll have a good view of the facility and it’s overlooking
the only way to the facility by road as all the other roads are blocked off by rivers, and it’s an easy route for helicopters
to fly through because of the parting in the two mountains; we need you to look out for any reinforcements.”
Frederick nodded, went over to the rock and took a sniper and box of ammo and started walking towards the cliff.
“Everyone else follow me!” shouted Jake as he started to trot through the forest, eleven men following him.
“Squadron 1 here, squadron 2 and 3 can you hear me?” spoke Jake into an earpiece.
They had stopped hidden in a clump of trees in front of an open grass area right in front of the facility.
“Squadron two hearing you load and clear” spoke a voice on Jake’s earpiece.
“Squadron three here too, ready to launch attack when you are.”
“Squadron two ready as well.”
“Great.” spoke Jake, “Daniel? Daniel do you copy?”
hands.
They would never be able to run across the whole green area and make it to them before they raised the alarm.
“Frederick?” spoke Jake into his earpiece once again, “Yes, sir?” replied Frederick.
“You see the two guards at the front door?” asked Jake.
“I see them.”
“Think you can take them out for us?”
“It would be my pleasure,” said Frederick, adjusting his rifle and looked through the scope.
Jake saw one of the guards fall to the ground, the other looked quizzically at him but before he could rise the alarm
Frederick’s second bullet struck him.
Jake ran out into the clearing signaling for the others to follow.
When they reached the facility Jake crouched down and whispered.
“You two, take them and hide them in the forest.” the two he had indicated two nodded and dragged them away.
Jake and the others opened the door to the facility slowly and peered inside.
There were six guards on either wall marching back and forth. Jake nodded to the recruits and they burst into the room
spraying suppressed bullets at the guards easily killing them.
In another five minutes they had secured the entire facility, and Jake had the serum in his pocket
“Frederick we have the serum, call in the pickup ship.” Jake spoke into his earpiece.
“Well that wasn’t so hard now was it?” said Frederick.
“Just call in the ship.”
“Of course, sir.” replied Frederick.
Jake was about to walk out of the facility when there was a massive shudder in the ground and the roof above the door
collapsed onto the two recruits right in front of him. Jake fell backwards and landed hard on his head.
Jake felt it and blood covered his hand.
“Daniel here sir.” spoke Daniel from back at the headquarters.
“Start the drone countdown Daniel,” said Jake.
“Countdown starting in three, two, one, good luck.” said Daniel before muting his microphone.
Jake then turned his attention on the facility. There were two guards pacing back and forth at front door, guns in their

FIRST FLIGHT
Liam C.

I’m bored. I’m very bored. It’s been YEARS since Mum left the nest. I mean, how long does it take to get
some worms?! I can’t take one more second with my sisters Sheila and Debbie chirping away. I would leave
but I can’t fly. That must sound stupid for a bird but it’s true. I live at the top of this big concrete thing with
pieces of see-through rock. Every day I see lumps of moving metal far below. I hear them too. They’re quite
noisy. Though they’re usually drowned out by my sister’s moaning.
YES! My Mum’s back! Damn, it’s worms again. I’m sick of worms. Once Mum brought back a mouse and
they are way better than worms. Speaking of bugs, I definitely have butterflies in my stomach. Today is the
day where I go on my first flight. I guess now is as good a time as any though as I can’t procrastinate any
longer. So here goes nothing. My feet grip the side of the nest. I’m surprised the twigs don’t snap. Now I’m
falling through the air. I can feel the wind on my feathers. It tickles a little but I’m certainly not going to
laugh falling straight down one hundred metres in the air. Flapping my wings as hard as I can, I’m slowing
down a little but the ground is rushing to meet me. I must be going at least 100 km/hour! I’m gaining some
control but I’m still going way too fast….OK, now slowing down a little…..almost going level….oh flip!
CRASH!!
I’m no more a fan of flying now than I was this morning but I’m OK, just a few scratches, which Mum says
is a miracle. But I think I’ll just stick to walking.

PATRICK’S WORK
Patrick