In the beginning…

“In the beginning…” boomed a deep voice, “There was darkness. No sign of any life. Until one day.. BANG!”

The girls behind me screamed hysterically.

“God created the universe!” The deep voice proclaimed proudly, murmurs of appreciation throughout the room.

I rolled my eyes. How could a God exist in such a rubbish world like this? War over oil, the USA and North Korea blowing each other to smithereens, treaties and agreements between countries long forgotten..

Sometimes I wonder what it must have been like in the olden days, before all this poverty and war.

Some people say it all went downhill after 2020..

Flame,swimming,celebrated,white, tomorrow

“It wasn’t my fault!” I snapped, causing my mum to drop her ring and curse.

“Nor is that.” I muttered as the white blob disappeared from out sight, into the ocean beneath.

It wasn’t though. Wasn’t my fault I suggested we celebrated dad’s birthday on a boat, or that I dropped a match onto a curtain..which turned into a flame.. which turned into a fire.

It also certainly wasn’t my fault we ended up in the ice-cold sea, swimming from the burning boat. Wondering if we’d live to see tomorrow.

Although I’ll gladly take responsibility for having 999 on speed dial.

 

Professor-Crocodile-Purple-Twisted-Difficult

Walking thought the shallow water, I could feel fish brushing against my toes. Then I saw it.

Two yellow-eyes glinting at me through the long grass. Hungry and ready to pounce.

The crocodile began to crawl towards me. I turned and ran.

My shirt snagged on an overhanging branch. I fell, my ankle screaming with pain.

Where was Professor Finns and the rest of my group?

I was sure my ankle was twisted… but as I looked down, I saw my ankle had swelled and was a ferocious purple.

It was becoming difficult to stay conscious, so I gave up.

 

Over

Over by Christmas.

That what’s they said.

Over by Christmas

So why haven’t they sent us

home?

 

More troops are coming.

That’s what they said.

But we didn’t want kids

Who should be back

home.

 

He’ll be okay

That’s what they said

When my mate got shot

and ended up dead.

He’ll be okay

So why was a telegram sent

home?

 

We’re proud of you

That’s what my parents said

So proud of you

Hope you don’t come home dead..

Cushion-Scarlet-Annoying-Watered-Violin

“Scarlet will you shut it? Christ even Jerry hates that torture” My sister spat under her breath.

I put my violin back into it’s faded case. Leaning back in my chair, I watched the faces sitting in my front room. None of them seemed annoyed.

The cushion from my chair had been removed long ago. The stuffing for Lily’s ripped teddy bear and the material for a patchwork quilt to keep us warm.

I spilt my watered down tea -or rather, water with added tea- onto a poster by my feet.

“Carrots help you see in the dark”… I doubt it.

…I just couldn’t eat something so…

“It looks nice.” I said cheerily

It didn’t. All that fat? Sugar? Salt? Carbs? No thank you. If I just….

“Idiot. Idiot. Fat idiot” I thought over the sound of my wrenching. Why did I eat it? I’m already fat and eating something like that wasn’t helping. I felt a bit sorry for Dad, he cooked it after all. But why didn’t they understand? I just couldn’t eat something so.. bad.

Once I’d finished, I did the usual routine. Flush the toilet, disguise the smell, clean my face, have a mint and.. nobody would know.

They’re so annoying sometimes. I’m not anorexic. I’m fat.

Lime-Overboard-Excitedly-Clock-Rat

“Or what?”

“I’ll .. throw you overboard!”

I grabbed his arm and squeezed it. He looked down at me and I glared back. Rolling his eyes, he turned around again…

It feels like I’ve been on this boat for years. Mother says it’s probably months. The clock was lost ages ago. You had to shake it or it wouldn’t work but Pedro did it too excitedly and dropped it into the sea.

I don’t care. I just want to go home. To be in my own house. With the lime-green plastic roof and the rats that run across it.

I’m sick of this. Nobody is going to come. We’re alone.

Hard,Beautiful,Brown,Worried,Camera

It was beautiful. The ground glowed red, orange and yellow. Leaves fell slowly onto the colourful blanket.

Sighing, I walked away from the window. My room was a dull grey with brown furniture. There was no colour. Well… except from the camera on the wall, with a red light flashing. Flashing all night, all day. To tell me it’s there, that I’m being watched.

I yelled out in anger and threw my fist at the wall. It was hard and stung my hand. I bit my lip, were They watching? Would They take me away again? Back to the white room? And tie me up? It worried me.

Discovered

Finally, the war was over. Hitler was dead, we’d WON! It was remarkable , I never thought we’d do it ( don’t tell anyone that). But we had. Phew!

However, rumours were going round that the Nazis had been taking Jews and putting them in torture camps. Disgusting. Still, we had to sort out these rumours.

We began searching for clues. Pretty soon, we discovered a pile of rubble. Skeletons littered the surrounding area. I saw a flash of faded yellow. Gingerly, I wiped away the dust. A badge, the word Jude on it. What on earth was this?

Suddenly all the lights went out

Everything was normal. Dad was cooking dinner, I was doing my homework.. then suddenly, the lights went out, I heard a scream.

“God sake”. Whispered Dad, “Just a blackout. The Officials will turn the pow…”

Suddenly, we heard gunshot. I froze. We hadn’t heard guns on the street since 2021. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Then our door burst open. Shards of wood spat everywhere. They grabbed Dad and muffled be before I could scream.

I didn’t understand. Raids were done when there were too many people in an area. So they’d take some of them away. But we’d helped the community, haven’t we?