They all said in harmony: âcome float with us, come float with us.â Lisa muttered: âI ..... by a variety of clouds
Schrijfwedstrijd Engels Naar jaarlijkse gewoonte vindt in het derde jaar een schrijfwedstrijd Engels plaats. De leerlingen dienen een kortverhaal te schrijven. Na een preselectie brachten alle leerlingen van het derde jaar zelf hun stem uit en verkozen zij zo hun favoriete verhalen. Het was verrijkend om te zien dat zoveel leerlingen zich met zoveel overgave op deze opdracht gestort hebben om een creatief, origineel en inspirerend werk in te dienen. De volgende juweeltjes haalden uiteindelijk de top drie en werden terecht in de bloemetjes gezet: 1. 'Trapped' by Emma Roggemans (3DWE/TAL) 2. 'The Gap' by Ulrike Ballon (3BLA/WIS) 3. 'The lost Woods' by Lobke Deraedt (3CHU/ICT)
Eervolle vermeldingen zijn er voor: 4. 'The Hawk and The Swan' by Annie Pou (3ALA/WIS) 5. 'The River' by Amber Van Cappellen (3ALA/WIS) 6.. 'Sweet Dreams' by Noa Crabs (3AWE/STE)
De prijs van de leerkracht ging dit jaar naar: 7. 'Night Terrors' by Vivian Tsang (3BLA/WIS)
Ik vind deze wedstrijd zeer belangrijk voor de motivatie en het welbevinden van de leerlingen te bevorderen en des te meer in deze moderne tijden waarin lezen en schrijven meer en meer op de achtergrond verdwijnen, Ik ben alvast enorm trots op mijn leerlingen,
Veel leesplezier!
Renata Basile Leerkracht Engels
Sweet dreams …(Story 1) It was five minutes before midnight. The old clock in the hall tapped gently. I found it hard to fall asleep because I was thinking about today. It had been a strange day. When I left school to walk home I thought I saw a girl. She was standing on the other side of the street. The clothes she was wearing were strange and old looking. Her eyes were dark and cold. Her hair was white and her skin looked like it was made out of glass. She looked at me with a sad look on her pale face. I shivered and started to walk faster. When I turned around she was gone. Where did she go? And why did I get the feeling she was still there but I couldn’t see her? The wind blew in my face and I sighed as I unlocked the front door. Never was I so relieved to be home. I didn’t tell my parents because they always worried too much . The whole evening I felt uncomfortable , listening to every sound. Maybe it wasn’t real? Maybe I had too much imagination. While I was laying in my bed my thoughts , about her slowly disappeared. It was late and I became tired. Just when I wanted to close my eyes there she was again! The girl with the dark , sad eyes! I screamed and turned on the light. My parents ran into my room and asked me why I screamed. I looked around in my room and saw nothing unusual. Everything was the same. What was happening to me? Was I going crazy? I told my parents I had a bad dream and so they left my room , after comforting me. It was dark again and my body was shaking. I didn’t want to close my eyes . What was that? That noise? A voice called for me…Her voice…She sounded sweet and gentle. I was scared but curious about what she wanted to say to me. And there she was again. She told me her name was Annie. She was born in the year 1817 and she lived in our house until she was 14 years old. She was my age! I asked her if she was a ghost. She nodded her head and her eyes had that same sad look. Annie told me she was murdered by her stepmom. The woman married her father because he was rich. She never liked Annie and was jealous of her. She pushed Annie down the stairs and so she broke her neck and died. But Annie had a little mirror in her hand when she died and her soul went into the mirror. The stepmother took it to hide it. Annie’s soul was trapped in the mirror! Today it was exactly 200 years ago that Annie died. That’s why she came to see me. She wanted my help! She wanted me to find the mirror. I didn’t have much time. The mirror had to be found this night or Annie was trapped again for another 200 years. I searched the whole night , in every corner of our house. Then I went up to the attic. The attic was creepy and dusty. There were huge spiders and maybe some mice or rats. I didn’t feel comfortable at all! Where was that little mirror? At last….there it was! The mirror Annie told me about! I found it in a little silver jewelry box. It was beautiful . Gold with little red roses and with Annie’s name on it. I broke the mirror and Annie appeared! She looked so happy. There was a golden light around her and she smiled to me. Annie thanked me from the bottom of her heart. She promised that she would always watch over me. And the she was gone…I felt happy and sad at the same time. I never told this story to anyone. It’s our secret ..., Annie’s and mine.
The Lost Woods (Story 2) United States, North-Amerika June 1st 1970. Jack, Ashley, Lisa and Jimin are four best friends. Jack is the funniest and the bravest of the group and Jimin is the cutest and sweetest, Lisa the smartest and the most sociable one and Ashley the most silent, but clever and brave just like Jack. They’re going to the same school and are all very excited because school is almost over. But there’s one last difficult task they need to do: the exams. Since last week, Lisa explains everything to Jack because he’s struggling with the exams, especially with major subjects like mathematics, French etc… Jimin and Ashley are already studying hard because the first exam is mathematics. They all studied really hard and that had had its advantages: they all succeeded and they could go to the 4th year. Only Jack had a warning for math. And because of that, he was very sad. And of course, like real best friends do, they tried to lighten up his day. After a bit of talking in the street, close to where Jimin lived, Jack had an idea: he proposed to go camping in ‘the lost woods.’ “The lost woods”, said Jimin, “not a good idea!” The others were stupefied and asked: “ Why is that a bad idea?” “Didn’t you guys hear the story?”, asked Jimin. The others shook their heads. “Ugh, I’ll tell you: a long, long time ago, in the 18th century, the forest was called ‘Children’s Woods’ because many kids would play in there. But when time passed, less and less children were playing in the woods because they believed demons lived there.” Lisa started to giggle because she thought that demons didn’t exist while Ashley and Jack were listening carefully. “One day, a couple of young kids were playing next the woods with a football, but one kid hit the ball a bit too hard and it landed in the woods. Of course the kids didn’t know the story because they were only 9 years old. They decided to search for the ball, but they were never seen again.” Lisa started to laugh out loud and said: “do you really believe that? Phahaha!” Jimin answered with a questioning voice: “Eh.. no, not really… I think…” “Let’s find out! But no camping… just look if there really are demons in the woods.” said Jack out of nowhere. Everyone was okay with his idea. They decided not to tell anything to their parents. On July the 7th they were all standing in front of a wall of large trees, all ready and dressed up for the research. They stepped into the woods one by one. On the outside, the woods were bright and very green, but as they walked further into the woods, there was a drastic change: there was a lot of fog and it was less bright. There was also a lot of wind that made it cold. After walking a while they found the end of a sewer pipe. The sewer pipe was next to a small river, the water was clear and there were less trees and plants than in the rest of the woods, so the sun could light up the area. The four friends were standing in front of the sewer pipe… there was a silence… the four started to stare at each other and started to discuss whether they would go in or not. “We can better take a look inside to see what’s there.” “ I wouldn’t do it, it looks kinda odd and creepy.” “ Where would it end?” “We can get lost if we go in!” “This is just an old sewer pipe, what could possibly be in there? Poop? Bodies of children?” Just when Lisa said that, they saw an old shoe in the sewage. They all stared at the shoe for a couple of minutes when suddenly they heard a very loud scream coming from the sewers. They got frightened of the scream. Jack yelled: “Who’s there?” … No answer… Then they heard a crunching sound behind them. They turned around, but saw nothing. When they turned back, they saw a kid in the sewer.
The four friends were astonished, confused and a bit scared. They stared at the kid and after a while the kid seemed to get bigger and bigger, but they didn’t notice that the kid was getting closer and closer, they were to focused on his big blue eyes. When they noticed the kid was only standing a few feet away from them, the kid stood still. After a couple of seconds a lot of blood flew out of the kid’s mouth. It kept coming and coming and coming. They ran away as quickly as possible out of the woods. They still heard the scream. They ran as if they were going to die. Once out of the woods, they couldn’t believe what they just saw. Ashley looked behind her to see if the kid didn’t follow them. “Should we go back?” sighed Jack. The other three looked at each other, and then at Jack. They said yes. The next day the four friends were standing in front of the woods again, but this time better prepared: they had two bats, two flashlights, a rope and a first aid kit. Again they entered the woods and went to the sewer pipe. “How is that possible? There’s not even blood here.” Said Ashley. “That’s weird.” answered Jimin. Jack was shining in the sewers with his light, there was nothing to see. After a couple of minutes they decided to enter the sewer. And after 787inches the pipe already split in two. There was a lot of tension in the group because they needed to decide whether they would split or stay together and choose one way. And the discussing started: “I’d rather don’t want to split.” “We only have 1 first aid kit, we need to stay in group.” “If we split, we’ll die.” The decision was taken fast: no splitting. But now they needed to decide which way they were going to take. Jack pointed the flashlight towards the left pipe, and then the right pipe. In the corner of their eyes they all saw, what appeared to be eyes, in the left pipe so Ashley shone quickly to the spot. Nobody. They decided to take the right pipe, and where they ended was unbelievable: there was a big space with in the middle a small old building. The walls were very old and flags were hanging everywhere. Graves with weird symbols on it were around the building. The symbols looked like this: , 여행 (vaarwel, goede reis). Underneath those weird symbols were names. “Billy Jacobs, Elliot Hourckx, Samantha Wolters…” said Ashley out loud. “What kind of place is this?” asked Lisa. Nobody knew it and they were the only ones here when suddenly a kid said “A cemetery for us.” They got frightened and looked at the kid. It was the same kid they saw in the sewer the day before.“It’s fun here, everyone is floating. Are you also going to float with us?” asked the kid with a creepy grin on his face. And then, out of the graves appeared other children. They all said in harmony: “come float with us, come float with us.” Lisa muttered: “I am scared, it is too creepy. The kids came closer and closer, they looked like zombies. The four ran away as fast as possible. When they were out of the sewer, they noticed it was already night. And to make it worse, one of their flashlights broke. Jack tried to repair the flashlight when the voices started again: “come float with us, come float with us.” Again they ran as if they were going to die. When they were out of the woods they decided to go to Lisa’s place to watch a comedy, to shake of some of the fear. They were watching TV when the door suddenly opened. They all held their breath, but it was just Lisa’s mum. She asked: “What’s wrong? It looks like you all saw or heard something creepy.” Lisa said: “There’s nothing going on mother.” “Okay! Have fun.” answered her mother. “We are never going back, I swear!” said Jimin. The rest agreed. Meanwhile, back in the big place in the sewer the children were discussing: “We need to find them back!” “They’re also supposed to float!” “We’re going to let them float, we’re going to let them float, we’re going to let them float!”
The gap (Story 3)
‘Is anyone else also thirsty?’ It was a friday night and Alice and her best friends Olivia and Jack were having one of their typical sleepovers at Alice’s place. Her parents had agreed to stay away until late, so the teenagers could be by themselves. It was half past one and Alice was the only one still up. She was very thirsty but no one seemed to hear her. She whispered one more time but her friends didn’t wake up. She had to go downstairs alone. While she was opening the fridge to grab a cold soda, she heard a weird sound coming from the cellar. Normally, Alice wasn’t scared easily but now her heart skipped a beat. Was there anyone down there? She went back upstairs. This time she spoke to her friends more loudly and they – fortunately- woke up. ‘What’s wrong?’ Olivia whispered sleepy. ‘I think I’ve heard something in the basement’, Alice said. ‘What?’ mumbled Jack. Alice repeated what she had said before. ‘Look, there’s no one else in the house but us. Can we go back to sleep?’ grumbled Olivia. ‘Please come with me. I just want to make sure everything is all right.’ ‘Fine.’ They went down together and with every step the noise became louder. It was like there was a whirlwind inside the basement that was destroying everything in there. No one dared to open the door. Jack and Alice were both looking at Olivia. She was the bravest of the group. ‘Here I go’, she said and while she was opening the door, they saw a big hole in the floor. The hole was big enough for people to go through. It was black and you couldn’t see where it was leading. The noise was louder than ever and came from inside the gap. ‘I’m going in there’, Olivia said, all excited and resolute. ‘You’re crazy! You have no idea where it leads to’, Alice shouted. She was scared but also a bit annoyed. If her best friend would go into the hole, Alice couldn’t let her go by herself. Then she would have to go with her and she wasn’t looking forward to that. ‘Alice, we have to know what’s inside the hole’, Jack said. Alice knew he was right. She couldn’t live here without knowing what that noise was in her basement. And she didn’t want to wait for her parents, that would be so childish. ‘Ok. I’ll do it but I have one condition: we all go together’, she said. They counted to three and while they were jumping into the gap, they felt a cold wind grating over their cheeks. They fell out of the tunnel and landed in the snow. Alice looked around and in a weird way she knew where they were. They were in Wonderland.
The Hawk and The Swan (Story 4)
Two years ago I, Jade Wilson, started working as a journalist for the local newspaper in a small village in the UK called Alvanley. The longer I wrote for the newspaper, the worse you got because nothing happened there. So that’s why I moved to Liverpool. I hoped for a better story to write about. I applied for multiple papers but they all refused me so I created an online newspaper. It wasn’t really a success so I kept looking for a great story to write about. Until the morning of October the 17th. Damien Morris, a 46 years old man and my neighbour, was found dead in his house. He and his wife Amanda were the only friends I had there. With this heart breaking news, I knew I could write that great story I was looking for. I didn’t want to wait till the police found out what happened, I wanted to do this on my own. So later that day I decided to go to Amanda to ask questions. When I arrived I saw Amanda talking to officer Roderick Pearson, the officer who investigated the murder. When he left, I went to Amanda, first to comfort her and then to ask her what she thought could’ve happened. She told me she had no idea. While saying this, she almost cried. We talked for a bit about her husband and how a great man he was, but I didn’t get the answers about his death, the reason I actually came. In the evening I was watching the news, when suddenly Damien’s death came on. The news anchor interviewed officer Pearson and with his deep, low voice he said that Damien died because he had a heart attack. But he was healthy and well and then at once he had an attack… That was very strange. The next morning, I decided to have a talk with officer Pearson. Before I left my house, I put a tiny camera on my jacket, that no one could see, to film everything so I could watch it again after the conversation. I waited a few minutes outside the office till Pearson called me in. ‘Officer Pearson, I know the case of Damien’s death is done for you, but not for me. I don’t think this is just a heart attack. My hunch says this isn’t the reason why he died.’ He looked scornfully at me. ‘What do you think the reason is? Do you think the doctors lied to me and he didn’t die because he had a heart attack? Do you really think that?’ ‘But he was healthy and had no problem with his heart before’, I said. ‘Young Lady…’ he began. ‘I see you don’t know much about life. Everyone could suddenly die, by an accident or a disease. Maybe when you leave this room you could die as well. And maybe you think Damien didn’t deserve this but that’s just how life is. Life is unfair.’ After he said that, I left and went back home. In the afternoon I visited Amanda again. We were having a cup of tea and were talking about what she was going to do now because she was alone now. Amanda seemed calmer and quieter than the last time I visited her. I didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere but I needed to ask about her thoughts of Damien’s death. ‘What do you mean about my thoughts?’ she asked. ‘Do you think the doctors lied? Why would they?’ ‘So you think there’s nothing wrong with all of this? Don’t you think it’s strange because Damien had no problems at all?’, I said. Then there was a silence. When I looked up and saw her almost crying, I decided to leave. When I was standing in front of my door I was thinking. Maybe Amanda also thought that Damien didn’t die because he had a heart attack. And she clearly didn’t want to admit that. I thought she didn’t want to understand that because she would be more upset than before.
The next day I woke up pretty early. I went to the hospital to talk to one of Damien’s doctors. But unfortunately the doctor didn’t give me a proper answer. When I went outside I saw officer Pearson’s car. What was he doing here? I entered Pearson’s office and sat down. ‘You again? Don’t you have something else to do’, Pearson said. ‘Amanda also thinks this isn’t the truth,’ I said. ‘Did she tell you that?’ ‘No, but I saw it in her face. I think she didn’t want to admit it.’ ‘Why do you think that?’ He asked me. ‘I don’t know… Maybe she would feel sadder than before.’ He looked confused but I didn’t know why. ‘And also, what were you doing so early in the morning at the hospital? I thought I would be one of the only ones there?’ ‘Enough!’ he shouted. ‘You have no proof and you come here to tell me what’s the truth. Do you think the doctors would lie? You are wasting your time on something that’s already over. Get out of my office!’ I was shocked. I left the office without looking at him. Why was he so angry? I was crossing the street and suddenly I felt pain and everything turned black. When I woke up I saw I was lying on a bed in a white room. It was a hospital room. There were many devices around me. ‘What happened?’ I asked a doctor. ‘You were hit by a car, Miss Wilson. It was a hit-and-run.’ The doctor left the room. I took my laptop. I remembered I filmed everything so I watched the footage. And then I saw his face. I could’ve known it all along. I took my phone and called the commissioner. While I was waiting, the door opened and I saw the same face as I saw on the footage. ‘I know everything. How did you do all of this? Why did you do this?’ ‘Do you know how the other officers call me? They call me “The Hawk” because I see everything, I know everything and I can do anything I want,’ Pearson said with a scary voice. ‘I’ll tell you how I did this… How Amanda and I did this.’ ‘Amanda!’ I knew she had something to do with it. I just didn’t want to see it. Every time she was crying, she was acting. I knew those tears weren’t real. But why?’ ‘Amanda and I met a year ago and we fell in love. She had no feelings for Damien anymore. On October the 17th I went to their house because Amanda wanted to tell him they were going to divorce. She wanted me there because Damien could be dangerous. I was waiting upstairs until he heard me and attacked me. I grabbed my gun but I didn’t shoot, I knocked him down with it and he died. I paid Damien’s doctor to switch the files. Strangely no one noticed it. But it was perfect for me. But tell me, Miss Wilson… What are you going to do now? I’m the police officer here and you’re just a meddling journalist without any success. They all would think you just wanted something to write about. It’s your word against mine.’ ‘No It’s not. I’ve got everything on camera and you are exposed officer.’ He took a pillow from a seat and he suffocated me with it. I was screaming but the pillow stopped the sound. I was trying to defend myself but it didn’t work at all. I couldn’t breathe anymore. And suddenly it stopped. I was exhausted and when I opened my eyes I saw commissioner Kane in front of me and Pearson lying on the ground. ‘You’re under arrest Roderick Pearson.’ Two police officers came in and brought him away. ‘Thank you for helping us,’ the commissioner said. Because I had no energy anymore, I fell asleep. The next day the doctors told me I could go home. I left but I wanted to go to Amanda’s house. I wanted to know what they did to her. When I arrived I saw a lot of police cars. Her house was completely demarcated. I came a little bit closer and I saw her. Amanda Swan hanged herself.
Trapped (Story 5)
Once upon a time there was… well… me. I am a 17-year-old girl from Florida. Today, the 6th of February, I am telling you my story about a special guy Nate. It all started on the first day in senior year. My friends and I planned to meet at school at ten past eight in the morning. While we were talking about our summer vacation and of all the fun moments we had together, I saw the prettiest guy I had ever seen. I had never seen him before so he had to be a new guy at Oxford Academy. He was wearing black jeans, a Carhartt sweater and the newest Nike shoes. And damn did he have brown shiny hair and the deepest blue eyes. He was just looking amazing so yep just like you could’ve guessed it, he was my new crush. I think I had stared at him for five minutes or something when my best friend Rose started screaming: “Oh my god Charlotte! Did you see that boy?!” I acted like I didn’t know who she was talking about so I simply answered: “Where? Who? Me?” But of course, as close friends so, she just felt I knew exactly who she was talking about so she said: “I’m not stupid Charlotte, I know you for 7 years or something already. You can’t lie to me so go over and talk to him! Now!” I told her he probably hadn’t even noticed me and well you know, it was really hard to talk to someone I didn’t even know by name as I had just seen this good-looking champ for the first time ever! The day passed, I was walking home when I saw him again, in my street! I couldn’t believe my eyes and I didn’t know what to do because, to reach my house I had to cross the street meaning I kind of had to cross him too. My heart started racing like it never did before and in the meantime, he came closer on top of it and I really needed to cross the street. I tried not to make eye contact but what I did then was the dumbest thing I ever did in my entire life… I stumbled… Charlotte freaking Jonson just most stupidly stumbled in front of the most beautiful guy she had ever seen. It was that exact moment I just hated my life and wanted to die or something, I also hoped he hadn’t seen me but of course, yes he saw me. I’m not invisible I guess … He stopped and helped me get back up and also asked if everything was okay. I was so embarrassed but besides that I thanked him and told him I was fine. Just when I wanted to start walking again he said: “Hey, aren’t you in the same school I am?” So, I responded: “Yes I think so, Oxford Academy, right?” “Yeah that’s right but what is your name?” he replied. In my heart, I was screaming because I was so happy but I didn’t want to show it of course so I replied in a kind of ‘cool and chill’ way: “Charlotte, and you are?” With a soft voice, he said: “Nate, nice to meet you Charlotte, but I need to go now so see you at school tomorrow, OK?” Happy me answered: “Yeah, sure, bye!” Once I arrived at my home I immediately went to my room and started singing and screaming of happiness. I had to let all of my friends know I spoke to Nate. Because I couldn’t sleep at night, I started trying on outfits for the next day. I had to look gorgeous for Nate. Finally, at two o’ clock, I fell asleep.
Months passed. It was the 12th of December and me, Charlotte Jonson, had a relationship with the guy who I never expected to be my boyfriend. That’s right, that guy was Nate Forbes! It was the first day of October when he kissed me and it was the best kiss of my life. We were together for two months and a few days and we always had a lot of fun when being together. Everything went perfectly; he was just the best boyfriend ever. One day I noticed he started acting a little different than before, a bit weird even. Nate started being mysterious when I asked him things about his parents and his past. He always changed the subject or started kissing me. In the beginning, I didn’t mind that much as you can imagine, but after some time I decided to take some distance. He didn’t mind that because he was a busy person, always on the go and doing things, but there were times where I didn’t even know where he was for several days… It was the 4th of January when I was standing at the checkout at the Target store when I heard two women talking about a killer who was walking around in Florida. It was a guy who killed both his parents but never got caught. The police were still searching for him. When I heard all those things I went home so fast as I was scared but then again I also wasn’t because I thought it was just a typical gossip like always. I decided not to think about it too much and not to believe it even so I tried to forget this silly gossip story I heard in the store. After a week or something I met with Nate again, I missed him and we needed to talk. He suggested to go to an old spot in the woods where he used to go as a kid with his parents. I thought it was kind of romantic so we went there the next day. Once we got there I saw it was an old bunker. At first I didn’t want to go inside because it was scary and dark but Nate said he was going to protect me if something happened so eventually he said it was OK and convinced me to follow him and go inside. When we were inside the bunker there was a little bed, just big enough for two people and an old table with a black chair. There was a lamp that barely worked but we had to make due with no more than that. We were talking about school for like five minutes or something when suddenly the lights went out. I couldn’t see anything; it was completely dark inside… I called Nate’s name a few times but I didn’t get an answer, I was scared as hell. A few seconds later the lights went back on but Nate was gone, I looked around but I didn’t see anyone nor could I hear any sound. Suddenly I felt a knife in my back, I looked behind me and saw it was Nate. I fell down and just before I hit the ground he grabbed me and put me on the bed. While I was bleeding to death he bound me on the bed, I couldn’t move and I could barely breath. With the pain, you could hear in my voice, I asked him: “Why are you doing this?” He answered: “Well, I know you know I killed both my parents and all those other people. I can’t let you tell anyone, right? You are just like all those other girls I killed Charlotte …goodbye my girl, rest now...” It all went black for my eyes and after a few minutes I couldn’t feel the pain anymore. Five minutes later, I opened my eyes, Nate and I were laying in my bed at home. It was the 6th of February at midnight…
The river (Story 6) It was a sunny day today so we had decided to go for a swim. Not far from our house was a small river called “jade rill” leading to who knows where. We got into our swim clothes and we dived into the river. The water was cold and murky. You weren’t able to take a look at your toes. A cold wind came on and my hair got stuck in my mouth. While trying to get it out I slipped and fell over. I was covered in mud and small water plants. I tried to get up but kept falling over. I felt my body being dragged by the river and I saw my friend Zoey struggling to stay up. “Zoey grab my hand” I said. But it was too late. We were both being dragged by the river. I saw my house becoming smaller and smaller until it suddenly disappeared. It was so unreal how a small river like this could have the strength to drag us away from where we were. We tried screaming but no one seemed to hear us. While trying to get out I hit myself on a rock. Everything became blurry… I started to see again. Just small bits. Like Zoey who was still unconscious. She probably hit a rock to or branches hanging down in the river. I tried to wake her up by squeezing her left arm. No reaction. I felt really cold, the water was freezing. The river started to slow down and I could see the end of it. We ended up in a small lake (which was really weird because a river is supposed to end up in a sea). We stranded next to the lake. We were very tired from the journey we already went through. I looked at Zoey and she wasn’t breathing. I panicked and ran to her. I slapped her in the face but she didn’t answer. I remembered my lesson at school about how I should give someone a heart massage, so I gave it a go and it seemed to work. She started breathing again. Ooh what a relieve. “Lilly, what happened ?” she asked. I told her what happened and we decided to spend the night next to the lake. It was a very cold and dark night, so we tried to make a campfire. After a few attempts we managed to warm ourselves. We went to sleep next to the campfire. I couldn’t fall asleep. I was thinking about where we were and what we should do to get out. Help… I jumped up to look where the voice came from. Zoey, Zoey wake up I heard a voice. “What” she asked with a sleepy voice. I HEARD A VOICE. “Pff just go to sleep we will leave in the morning” Zoey said. I was wondering “How can she just go to sleep ?” I decided to go and take a look, alone because Zoey wasn’t going to wake up. The voice was coming from a small cabin not so far from the lake, so that’s where I went. It was a small cabin. The door was locked but it was rotten so I was able to kick it in and the door opened. It slowly opened and I could see the dusty cabin. I saw a shadow passing through the kitchen. I got really scared when suddenly the voice appeared again “Lilly come in”. I ran out of the door and I screamed “Zoey let’s get out of here” but she wasn’t there anymore. I panicked and I ran and ran and kept running through the woods but the voice kept chasing me “Lilly why won’t you come in?” I looked behind me but that wasn’t that smart because I fell over a big branch. I hurt myself very badly and wasn’t able to get up again. The voice came closer and closer. I couldn’t do anything anymore so I closed my eyes and hoped I would wake up in bed and everything would be all right. The voice suddenly stopped and I could feel my heart pounding in my throat. “Where did the voice go?” I thought. “I got you” the voice screamed in my ear. I turned around and a I saw a man standing in front of me. He didn’t have a drop of sweat rolling down his head. He looked so inhumane. He hit my head and he dragged my body to the cabin. At that moment I realised I was going to be here for a very long time.
Night Terrors ~ This diary belongs to Victor Alver 5 May They started a few months ago, the nightmares. The ones that appeared at first weren't really bad, just the occasional vague nightmares that everyone experiences. I didn't worry about it too much as I was in a stressful period back then, getting fired from your job and having your mother pass away in the same week wasn't all too pleasant. But then the nightmares started to become more frequent, what previously was once in a week became nearly every night; they started to become more realistic, nightmares (or dreams in general) weren't supposed to be so detailed or even make sense at all, it felt like entering a horrible alternate universe and being trapped in it without any way of escaping; they started to affect my life, being haunted by the images of them every time I closed my eyes. These nightmares weren't just scary; they were terrifying, they were depressing, they were sickening, they were all your biggest fears put together and even worse.
But the worst was that creature that would always appear at the end in every nightmare I had. It had a human posture but was most definitely not human. It had legs but it didn't walk, instead it just floated around. It had a mouth but it didn't move when it talked and when it talked it only whispered small words. Its body was so dark that you'd question if it even was there, it could easily slip into the dark if it wasn't for its eyes. Those eyes, they were the most frightening of all. Where there were supposed to be eyes were instead two gaping white holes of absolutely nothing. And albeit not having irises, they were always staring at you. You just knew they were. You could stand with your back turned to the creature and you'd still feel its eyes bore into you, into your thoughts, into your soul. They could uncover your deepest, darkest secrets. They could detect your biggest fears. They could obtain your saddest memories. They could know all your weaknesses you didn't even know you had just by a single glance. I'd always wake up from them screaming. Clarissa, my lovely girlfriend, would always be by my side if I did, attempting to calm me down. She was really concerned about me when I told her about the nightmares and suggested that I should go to see a doctor. I would, if I could afford it. Working at the local grocery store didn't earn much, just enough to survive. And I was too scared to ask if I could lend some money of hers, I didn't even tell her I got fired from my job, I couldn't face to see her disappointed in me. So I just politely declined and said it was nothing to worry about. They were probably just there because of all the stress I was going through and would disappear after I found a new job and got my life back on track again.
6 May Tonight's dream was about falling. I found myself somewhere up in the sky, surrounded by a variety of clouds with the sun shining right into my eyes. I shielded my eyes with my hand and looked down, I was somehow balancing on a beam just wide enough for my feet to stand on, beneath and around the beam were even more clouds hovering but there was no patch of land to be seen which meant I was standing quite high. A voice coming from ahead of me made me look up but there was a puff of mist lingering around the beam so I had to draw nearer to identify who the voice belonged to. I cautiously lifted the foot in the back to the front, my arms stretched out to remain balanced. Fear was filling me every step I took. I repeated this a few times when I felt a cool breeze hitting me in the midst of lifting my foot up, making me lose balance and fall down. Then everything seemed to be happening at once. I was falling down with my back towards the ground at a rapid speed, my ears were popping and my stomach was tingling. The beam which I fell off was becoming smaller and smaller. Just when I thought I reached the bottom, I got sucked back up the sky on the beam again. I was breathing heavily, my legs were shaking and I was trying to process what just happened. But behind me I heard another breathing that wasn't mine. I slowly turned my head to come face to face with a monster with two large white eyes. I screamed and tripped over my own feet, falling once over again off the beam. I woke up falling from my bed, landing right on my nose. I grunted and slowly sat up. I was shuddering and I could still feel those eyes and the distressing feeling it gave me. My nose was hurting from the fall and drips of blood came out of it. My girlfriend stormed in running with a glass of water. She asked me if I was okay and told me once again that I should go see a doctor. I first drank the water and wiped the blood off my nose before reassuring her that she didn't have to worry about it. 7 May This time I was in a forest. I was lying on the grass, my arms and legs resting next to me. I tried to stand up but I couldn’t get my legs to move. Actually, I couldn't move any body part except for my face. I wasn't numb, because I could still feel the grass tickling my exposed limbs, just unable to move. Why couldn't I move? I screamed for help but was only replied by some screeching birds flying by. The forest was suspiciously silent apart from the birds and the sound of wind whispering through the trees. I screamed again but was met with the same answer as before. What should I do? Wait until someone finds me? What if nobody does? What if some sort of wild animal finds me first? Thoughts were racing through my head as I started to panic. Then I felt my hands starting to itch, but I couldn't scratch it. The itching rose to up my arm, on my shoulder and eventually to my neck. But when I finally looked down my arm, I discovered the cause of it, and I wished I hadn't found out because on my arm was a colony of ants crawling their way up to my face. I felt, or rather heard some of them crawl in my ear and settle in there. Ants were also crawling on my other arm now and I had never felt more uncomfortable. They went into my nostrils, my eyes and even my mouth straight to my throat which was making me gag and choke at the same time. I was struggling to keep my eyes open as there were ants resting on my eyelids. I noticed something I didn't before and that was that the ants all had big white glowing eyes. The eyes made me feel uneasy and maybe even afraid, I don't know why, it was just something about those eyes. I suddenly felt shivers going down my spine and I could move again. I jumped straight up and ran away. When I finally came to a halt, I looked around. I had run to a darker part of the forest. The high trees only let a small ray of sunshine shine through their branches. I heard a crack behind me and I didn't even hesitate before running off again, deeper in the woods. I saw the broken tree branch too late whilst running and tripped over it, falling right on my face. When I lifted my head up, I saw someone in the distance walking towards me. I stayed still and waited for the person to come but when he came closer I saw he had the same white eyes as the ants had and
that it wasn’t a person that was coming to me but some sort of creature. It also wasn’t walking towards me, it was floating. It started to come closer but I couldn’t think clearly, I tried to stand up but forgot how to do so. The only thing I could do was stare at its eyes. I had the feeling it was feeding on my thoughts and fear. It felt like my heart was slowly getting crushed and I was unable to breathe. My head became heavy and my vision became blurry. It was hurting me mentally and physically and I just wanted it to end. I woke up gasping for air and started to cry immediately after. My whole body was trembling and I felt the tears flowing down my cheeks on my bed sheets. I stayed like this until Clarissa opened the door and saw me. She stared at me for a while before saying: “That’s it, I’m taking you to a doctor” I didn’t have the energy to argue so I just nodded and went with her. 8 May I went to a doctor, got diagnosed with ‘nightmare disorder’ and she gave me a prescription for a medicine that cuts off your REM sleep thus stops your dreams. I hope it works. 9 May It didn’t work. 10 May The nightmares are getting worse and worse. I stopped writing them in here, I have no need to relive them again. 11 May The doctor suggested me to try something called ‘lucid dreaming’, which makes you aware you’re dreaming and he says it may be less scary if you know it isn’t real. I doubt it. 12 May A nightmare becomes ten times worse when you know it isn’t real, they seem to be longer and knowing you’re stuck somewhere and not being able to escape is basically torture. 20 May The nightmares are now also affecting my life. I don’t go outside anymore in fear that the things that happened in my nightmares will come true , I quit my job at the grocery store, I lost my appetite and I hadn’t showered in a while because I didn’t have the energy to. I also looked like a zombie all the time, dark bags were located under my eyes, my hair was sticking out on all ends and I was sickly pale. I was a mess. 5 June I had a fight with Clarissa today, I regret what I said to her. 6 June Clarissa left a letter for me, I’m too scared to read it. 8 June I gathered all my courage to read the letter, she wrote it with ink and her writing was a bit messy but readable. When I came to the end I felt like I was going to cry again. She broke up with me through a letter, and wrote all the reasons why she did. I was mistyeyed and I felt a sob coming up my throat. But I held it in. I threw the letter away and went back to bed. No nightmare could be worse than now. 9 June
Turned out I was wrong, the nightmare is always worse. The nightmare was simple, I was in a dark endless tunnel and I was alone. There was nothing there. The only sound present was that of the echo from my footsteps. Even White Eyes didn’t appear at the end. I was utterly alone and it seemed to go on for eons. 27 June What’s the point of existing? 19 August I went outside today, went back inside in less than a minute. 2 September It’s my brother’s birthday today, he invited me 2 weeks ago to come over and celebrate it with him. I didn’t go because I didn’t want my family to see what a failure I am. So I just sent a ‘Happy birthday’ to him instead. 10 November I’m done with this diary. 14 March It’s been a while since I wrote in here and things have gotten much better. My brother came one day to check up on me and found me as a mess. He helped me to get my life back on track again. It took a while but I had my family’s support and slowly but surely everything started to go back to normal again. I found a job that pays well, picked up new hobbies and went regularly out with friends. The nightmares also reduced to maybe once in a month and they weren’t as bad as they once were. Everything seems to be happening according plan and I’m happier than I was before. Everything is going to be alright. And I guess it’s safe to say that this is the end of another chapter of my life and I’m ready to leave it behind to start the next one (as long as there aren’t any nightmares involved). But this surely is the end for now. The end. ~
I wrote those two words down in my diary and closed it, then pulled my drawer open and put the diary inside. I sighed contently, I was glad that it was over and I hoped to never have to open that stupid diary again. I stood up from my chair, turned around to go to work when I bumped into something. I slowly looked up and…The last thing I saw were two white eyes staring back at me.
