Congratulations to our talented Year 5/6 student, Penny Morrow, who has been chosen by a Victorian Education Higher Abilities team to have a piece of her writing published! This piece was chosen to celebrate their learning. Here is her piece- enjoy!

The world. Soon to be destroyed forever. Humanity, unknowingly walking around on the edge of Armageddon, but no one cared

It was just like your typical storybook. A young girl in an old-fashioned village, washing other people’s clothes to make a cheap buck. My name is Meridian II, a Scottish teenage girl still forced to work instead of getting a simple education.

Everything began on a Sunday morning, as I was just finishing up delivering all the clothes packages, which took an eternity to dry, and I pulled out my coins purse. 10 pounds eighty-two pence. Great. Still not enough after nine packages of clothes, and money was deducted because of the duration it took to dry, as most were given to me on Wednesday.

Anyway, it was finally break time. After eating my usual lunch of a salmon and salad sandwich, I ventured towards the forest. On the way, I spotted the local kindergarten group in a circle on the grass. “Scottish folklore says that the heart of the earth is kept in the minjunakachai vault in southern Beijing, hidden in the komedasekelm basement, under lock and key. Without it, or if it broke, the whole world would perish.” The teacher said, as the children listened in awe. “the only way that you could fix it is if you clutch it with both hands and yell ‘freedom for all’ the heart will fix and it would bring eternal peace to everyone on earth.”

As I roamed through the forest, I got deeply concerned, as the plants were more cowered as I got further into the forest. It wasn’t just plants wilting, it was horrible weather and everything seemed sad, and very depressing. The wind roared. A storm was brewing, and if I didn’t get out of there fast, the water was going to flood the forest, just like it does every time .

I dashed through the forest. Rain started to trickle down my face, but nothing was slowing me down. I was getting back to my house, no matter what. When I finally got back to my house, I was soaked to my skin. My mum scolded me as I ran through the door, without taking my shoes off. That wasn’t important right now.

I raced to the kitchen table, and began writing multiple letters at once. One to my friend in France, one to my Australian pen pal and one to my aunt in America. The letter wrote: dear ____, how are you? Listen, we are having frequent storms and floods in Scotland, and I was wondering if you were having the same problems too? Please write back asap, meridian II.

I waited in anticipation all night, waiting for the mail man in the morning. Listening to the storm in the dark was frightening, but I was relieved to find that the storm had blown over once dawn broke. I ran to the mailman and pushed the letters into his bag, and crept back into my house. It was only a waiting game now.

THREE WEEKS LATER

Flood after storm after rain ensued. No one seemed to care that every living animal and plant had long since died off. All the letters I received were the same: flood, fire, animals and plants dying, it was getting to much! But in that situation, I had only one thought.: what kindergarten teacher said three weeks ago. Could the heart of the world be breaking? If so, no one cares except me. Its my job.

I set off to the komedasekelm basement in Beijing, china, on the fifth of June. I had packed a steady backpack, and the content was as follows: 100 chinese coins, fourteen meal sets, a notepad and pen bolt cutters and a small explosive device. I was ready. I made my final goodbyes that day, as chance of returning was slim. I would do anything to save the world.

The wind was getting stronger as I took one last look back at my hometown. My sobbing mother embraced me. “why?!” she whispered over my shoulder. “just why?!” Her tears were like acid on my face, and soon enough, I was sobbing profusely too. As I stepped onto the boat, unsure of what was to come, it was only then I realised that the most challenging part of this would be step 1: the ocean.

The ocean roared. Mother natures way of saying that there was no hope left, as the white wash slashed like knives on the side of the boat. I screamed as the boat rocked furiously from side to side, as I clung onto the side. Seconds seemed like hours, and hours seemed like and eternity. More than 5 days passed, and storms clouded nearly four days, but just like always, there is calm after the storm. It was at the end of the 5th that I spotted china on the horizon. Finally, at last!

I pulled the sail down and rowed as far as could until my boat gently hit the sand, and a wave push the boat out of the water and onto shore. I set up a small tent and pulled my map out. The komedasekelm should be only two blocks away, so I set out after eating another salmon and salad sandwich. I packed up the tent and set out in seek of step 2: the basement

Entering the komedasekelm building seemed eerie, almost remote. Everyone was giving me weird looks, I wasn’t from here. Just remember that this is china

I snuck down the stairs undetected and was faced with a vault door. This is where my bolt cutters came in handy. The next thing I heard was a man yelling something in mandarin. It was clear the alarm was raised. I snapped the lock with my bolt cutters, and the door swung open. There, hovering over a pedestal, was a green gem that was cracked in half.

I grabbed the heart and ran back up the stairs, with a riot of people trailing behind me. Once I was back out onto the street, I held the gem above my head, pushed it together and screamed, “freedom for all!!!!!”

A beam of light shot out of the gem, and all the clouds disappeared. The men who were chasing me fell to the ground. It was over. The world was saved.

EPILOUGUE

The journey home was rough, but knowing I had saved the world meant that I wasn’t fazed by anything. My village greeted me with open arms, and I was no longer a minority.

I saved the world.

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