Extension Programs

Story Excerpts 

Students who participated in the 2020 Young Writers Program were presented with the opportunity to submit their piece to NaNoWriMo’s 2021 “Now What?" Young Writers Contest. This offered them the chance to dive back into their novel and revise an excerpt up to 400 words in length. This year’s WriMos submitted the following excerpts in this annual event. We wish them the best of luck!

Excerpt from story ‘Darkness’

By Devmi P (9B)

“No Nico,” she says firmly, her eyebrows creased, “I don’t want to get mad at you, but none of this was your fault. It’s not your fault I’m upset, it’s not your fault that you’re in a hospital, and it’s especially not your fault that Jay is dead.”

“Please don’t say his name.”

“Fine, but you need to stay alive, I need you to stay alive.”

Her words feel so meaningful that I’m taken aback, but I don’t understand, why? I don’t want her to want me to live. I don’t want to be alive. All this time I thought other people shouldn’t and didn’t want me to live, but it’s actually me who doesn’t want to be alive. These two measly words again, I want. It’s not about what I want, I’ve been so selfish. I want to be dead, but others don’t.  I should start doing what other people want, I need to start considering other people instead of just myself. I need to stay alive to change who I am, I need to change all the negativity I’ve brought into the world.

I make a promise to myself that I’ll change who I am for the better, that I’ll fix all the wrong I’ve done. I’m going to stay alive. I don’t know if I can stay living with all of this guilt though. I don’t know if I can live knowing I was part of the reason... Jay died. 

The same second, I think his name, my hand starts shaking uncontrollably. I don’t know what’s happening. All on its own, my hand shoots out to the left corner of the room. All of a sudden, I start to feel like I can’t breathe. I see Jane in distress shouting for the doctors, what’s going on? Am I actually going to die right when I told myself I wasn’t going to? The doctors start rushing in. My ears turn off and all I can hear is the rapid pace of my heart rate. Everything starts turning to a blur, I vaguely see what looks like some bright blue eyes, is that Jay? Did the doctors lie to me about Jay being dead? I feel my whole body start to shake. My chest shoots up and my back feels like it’s bent in half. I try to take in a breath but instead everything turns to darkness, again.

Excerpt from story ‘The End’

By Amy G (9P)

Thrashing around, I try desperately to regain control. The Beacon’s powerful tendrils seeping into my mind, clouding my reality. 

Physical strength will do nothing. To gain control of the Beacon, you must defeat it mentally. 

I can hear myself screaming. Fiery pains are tearing at my physical body. My mind seems to stretch, as though something is trying to rip it apart and fill in the gaps. Tendrils, creeping deeper, whispering to me. 

“They are going to die Kody… there’s nothing left for you now,” I cry out, but I can no longer hear myself. Nobody can hear me either. The whispers aren’t done yet. They become all too familiar screams. 

“YOU INSOLENT, LAZY CHILD, HOW CAN I CALL YOU MY SON, YOU DISGRACE,” Trembling, I shrink, begging it to stop, but it just claws deeper into my rawest memories.

“Just leave Kody!” Sho’s voice pierces my heart, remembering him turning away in pain and anger.

“Run Kody!” I see Uncle Kaz’s final face, a small expression of realisation and shock before he is blown to pieces.  

“Kody…be safe,” Jesi’s beautiful blue-green eyes gaze into mine, their face almost unhuman, and yet reflects such human emotion.                                                 

“KODY! SNAP OUT OF IT YOU PATHETIC WHIMP!” The screaming is too much, my father, the stupid emotional burden he has given me, sweeps me off the feeble platform I had been clinging to.

It’s too much, I never asked for this. I can’t hear the voices anymore. Everything is just…empty. Am I still in the projection? Am I dead? Is it too late? I reach out into the empty silence.

I see my hand blackened and bloody but feel no pain. I feel almost calm. I reach for the light; it feels like what I am supposed to do. The tendrils are still clawing, but they have to feed off something, and I have nothing left.

They slip away as quickly as they had come, and I reach out further. I know what this will do. I know I’ll be gone; the thought is almost comforting.  

I only had one purpose for this moment.

Any second now, I will be at peace.

Wait, there was something…someone. I start to remember as I touch the light. 

Sho…Jesi…

But I am gone.

Excerpt from story ‘Maid’s Horror’ 

By Kisali P (6A) 

The atmospheric tunnel felt like it went on for hours, as they plodded through in silence. 

Strokes of moonlight hovered above the air, through the cloudy seas, as wind bounced off the walls in different directions. Echoes of screams that came from the mouth of the dead, sailed like a ghostly galleon following their every move.

Run. Hide. Someone is following you. Her sisters last words echoed in her brain like a broken record player.

“Annalise, are you coming or not?” Robert groaned. Flustered and lightheaded, Annalise travelled back into reality, grabbing the pale hand that was dangling through the small gap in the roof.

 “The nursery.”  Annalise mumbled under her breath. 

Inside the small room there lay a wooden horse, toy cars, a crib, and a game of chess, with cobwebs sealing the creases between the pieces and the chipped board. 

Sunshine filled the room, as the scene altered into bright, voluminous colours. A baby giggled, as the nursemaid tickled his belly. Vroom! Two boys were babbling, their dimples smiling across their faces as they played with their toy cars, as the other two sat in silence staring into each other’s eyes, in a critical state of mind while leisurely moving their pieces. 

“We never got to finish that game.” Robert murmured, his eyes in a stance.

 “The one we started that night.” Robert’s eyes glistened against the marmalade sky as he stuttered these words. 

Flashbacks of that night came rushing in. The loud thuds, screams, footsteps, darkness…

“We need to head to the kitchen.” Annalise said.

She then forthwith left the room, swiftly descending the majestic, ruby red velvet steps of the main hall, gliding on the mosaic tiles of the dining room; Robert rushing close behind.

Creek… A pile of mossy pots panned into view as the metal door eased open. A gush of a pungent stench slapped them in the face as they entered the cloudy room. The fire in the masonry oven laid in ashes, wet and moist. Annalise could almost see herself all those years back, laughing, and scrubbing dishes until her body ached, and… 

Something was slightly off. 

Excerpt from story ‘Abducted’

By Rafael B (6K)

You finally get to sleep after trying for two hours. You feel like you are moving and that you are not in your bed anymore, you ignore this and continue dreaming. It is a pleasant dream, floating around in space, looking at the different stars, passing by all the pla– you are interrupted by booming thumping noises. You wake up abruptly, but you are still in your bed. Sleeping. Dreaming. You get back to sleep and you feel fine. You feel sudden moments and sparks of joy and happiness. You feel comforted and at home. You feel like you just don’t want to wake up. And you don’t.

Your dream starts to feel familiar; you keep passing by 464B a beautiful planet that was recently discovered, and the same stars. Is something keeping me asleep? You continue to ponder on that question, horrified by the outcomes. At this point you feel your sleep slow down, it isn’t morning, it isn’t night, it isn’t dusk, it isn’t dawn, you’re frozen now. You can’t move. Like something is holding you down. You want to wake up, but you can’t, a part of your body is telling you to relax and just wait. Another is screaming to get up, your trapped inside your dream, trapped inside yourself, you can’t get out; inescapable.

You eventually stop trying and just wait, see what happens. You are stuck next to a star in your dream. You can’t move nor control yourself. You feel like you start to move again but in the wrong direction. You start drifting towards the star, faster, faster, faster. If you weren’t in a dream you would have extreme whiplash. It is like you are being sucked into the star, you struggle and try to stop yourself, you can’t, you feel the temperature around you skyrocket. There’s no stopping. You feel like your eyes are burning, you can’t see. You fall into the burning star. You jolt up completely awake. Where am I? You look around, scared, Maximus Nocto, the boy of the village, gone, disappeared in thin air. Never to come back. Or will he...

Excerpt from story ‘The Disappearance’ 

By Ronan K (6A)

You eventually get home and then you just throw yourself onto your scruffy bed without many springs. As you sleep, an immense portal opens, you can feel the blistering heat from it. You wake up instantly. As you peer over behind you, a portal which has the motion of a blackhole and is extremely light is edging ever so closer to you. Closer, Closer, Closer. It sucks you in…

Your first instinct is that it takes you to the future. The land is fully burnt like nothing you have seen before. Only a few green skinned people with brown splotches lurk here. There’s lava flowing where river used to be and fire all over the place. Is this earth in 300 years? You must somehow stop this. It’s all burnt, and it looks like a disease has taken over. Suddenly a green person (who you think is a zombie) sees you and starts chasing after you. Inches behind you, he and you sprint for the hills. You see a neglected house and go straight inside. Inside are two normal humans. “Who are you?” They ask and you reply saying “I went through a portal in the 1910s and came here. What is this place?” They explain a massive disease took over the world and then it didn’t get any better from there. You have to stop this somehow by going back to 2020 and warning everyone. But it’s so run down. There are rivers of lava, ashes. What more is hiding behind all this bad. Even more? You can’t get out of the house as if you get bitten by a zombie, you’ll become one. This is the end for everything. You knew this was going to happen as climate change was a massive problem in 2020. You don’t have resources to live so you must do something about it. The only water left is in some stores and in the ocean. You must go get those resources now and look for a portal on the way.

You get in a futuristic car and head to the shopping centre. You go in with the fellow survivors, grab a lot of water and food. As you head out a horde of zombies are blocking you path. All you can do is run but something grabs you, something big, something rough with an extremely tight grip. Is this the truly the end?

Excerpt from story ‘Evelyn and the Mystery of the Missing Mother’ 

By Francesca A (4A)

After a while Evelyn decided that she should just catch a bus home instead of waiting for her Mother. Evelyn waited and caught the bus. 

She got home quickly and then called for her Mother around the house "Mother!" she called as she looked all over the house. After searching and calling for quite some time Evelyn decided to call her parents on the telephone. When she called her Mother there was no answer and when she called her Father, he said he didn't know where she was. It was the same with the butcher, the baker, her aunt, her uncle, her cousin and both her friend`s mums. Evelyn began to worry very much, so she called Alicia and Zoe, who actually picked up. “Hello, girls?” Evelyn said anxiously. “Hi Evelyn!” Alicia and Zoe said in unison. “Ok, I don`t really have time for chit chat, but I can’t find my mother and she isn`t answering my telephone calls, please come over and help me out if you can!” “Of course!” exclaimed Zoe. “I’ll be there right away!” Alicia stated.

Hearing the news that Evelyn was sad and couldn’t find her mother, the girls got to Evelyn's house in no time and discussed what might have happened. "Maybe your parents were abducted by aliens and are on a planet with no telephones?" suggested Zoe "Don't be ridiculous" snapped Alicia, "Aliens don't even exist!" "They could", mumbled Zoe angrily. "Now something actually reasonable would be that your mother simply went on a walk and lost her telephone signal." Alicia said loudly. 

"Have you girls heard the story about Mr Allens?" Zoe said in her mystical voice. "Oh, another one of you fairy-tales I suppose?" Alicia said rolling her eyes. "Yes, but this time it's real! Now let me begin, it was a breezy morning when Alex Allens woke up, but not to his mother shouting "Get up lazy bones!", to a gentle gush of wind on his face. He jumped out of bed alarmed, he got on his moccasins and robe and started looking for his parents, but they were nowhere to be seen.  Alex waited year after year, and when they returned, 20 years later, they weren't the same parents that Alex was used to.  All they did was walk around without saying anything. Alex tried to communicate with them, but it was no use they weren`t going to respond. A few months after their return Alex went missing.   Of course, his parents weren`t shocked at all. When the police got involved there was nobody to question but Alex’s parents, but of course, they didn`t say a word. When the police got further involved in the investigation, they ventured into the basement to search the house, but they never came back. The rest of the police force arrested Mr and Mrs Allens immediately for murder, capture or torture.  No one knew which it was but knew they were guilty.” Zoe finished.

What if this happened to me? How am I going to cope? Will I ever see my beloved Mother again? Thoughts rushed through Evelyn’s head like shooting stars, only much less pleasant.

Mrs Mary Ann Di Martino

Head of Faculty Extension Programs