Alba, age 12, wrote this imaginative and unnerving dystopian fiction story in our Middle KS3 Creative Writing tutorials.
In creative writing, one of the biggest challenges is often knowing how to help students get started. Students can be really enthusiastic to write, but the prospect of staring at a blank page can be really daunting for them.
To help overcome this, students were given a rough outline of an adventure story, (specially written by Tutor Dave), which included a typical narrative arc, suggestions for plot points and character development.
The story outline was broken into six sections and students developed and extended the outline of the story over the six tutorials in the topic, completing more in their own time if they wanted to.
“Wow, Alba! First of all, what an incredible story. It’s thought-provoking, exciting and enjoyable to read all at once. Secondly, it’s nearly 6000 words long, which shows the tremendous effort and dedication you have put into your writing. You’ve created quite a cast of characters, developed complicated plot lines and made sure to create interesting and varied settings to keep your readers engaged. I’m deeply impressed with your story and you should be very proud to show this off to as many people as you can. Well done :)”
Feedback from Tutor Dave
To unleash your child’s creativity and help them to write like this, join our Upper/Lower KS3 English Tutorials.
PROLOGUE
Deep in the basement of an abandoned building, the group met once again. They went through the same steps as always. Placing mattresses against the walls, soft blankets over the furniture, putting the special soundproofing that was so hard to find nowadays against the door.
Now they could be sure no one would hear, they began to assemble their instruments. They started to play their wonderful slow, soft, musical tunes.
It was wonderful, just so wonderful to hear music again. It was so soothing that some of the group started to slide comfortably into the soft fabric covered armchairs. They closed their eyes in harmony, and the music carried on wonderfully soothing the ears of all that listened to it.
Floorboards creaked above the band. Some band members started to shift in their seats and some of them even stood up and packed their instruments away, others telling the group that there was no reason to move and that nobody will ever find them in here, ‘Sit down Maria just relax, nobody will find us down here’ Said Richard whispering in his low, booming, voice. he had a handsome black face with wonderful bright green eyes and was very strong. His wife, Maria, was a bold woman, pale and scared looking. She was very pretty for a woman living in these horrible times. She looked at Richard and whispered, What about the children Rich? They’re alone at home, what if the Government find us?!’
‘Richard, Charlie, I don’t have a good feeling about this.’ Whispered Lily in a petrified voice.
‘Calm down lily, we’ll be perfectly fine.’ said Charlie. Charlie looked quite similar to Richard, as they were brothers that was obviously expected, but Charlie wasn’t as big as Richard and didn’t have the same large muscle packed body as his brother.
The floorboard creaked again and this time Liliah spoke up, ‘Mother, Father, I think we should leave.’
‘Alright, let’s go.’ said Richard. Everybody started to pack up their things as they heard a small creak on the floorboard and muffled shouting again. ‘Liliah, go! Go now! Quickly liliah!’ Liliah ran and hid in a cupboard.
BANG! The door crashed open and all of the group started to run for the door. Nobody could see anything in the dust that came off of the door. Everybody tried struggling past the large men to try and leave, but nobody ended up getting out of that horrible mouldy, damp, underground, abandoned place except Liliah.
With little Avery holding her hand trying to spot their mum and dad in the crowd. Surely not, dad would’ve been able to fight them off. What if dad couldn’t, what if they had guns… ‘Riri? Where’s mummy and daddy?’ said Avery, sounding a little worried, trying to keep up with me.
‘They’re ok Avery, don’t worry.’ Then they heard them, mother was screaming, she was bawling her eyes out, ‘MUM!’ She looked around stuck between two giant bulky men from the Government ‘SIERRA! NO, PLEASE LET ME SAY GOODBYE! NO, SIERRAAA!’She screamed.
They started to run through the hundreds of people watching their mum, Avery still holding her hand, they were trying so hard to get to their mum, clothes soaked through, they were almost there, when Sierra felt a hand on her shoulder and stopped, It was their grandma, with her face blank and stony just as if she had just been hit round the head by a wooden plank. ‘Sierra, there’s nothing we can do about it sweetheart. Nothing.’ Sierra started sobbing again, and then she saw her dad, unconscious, being carried on a stretcher with a black eye and a bleeding lip. She gasped and Avery hugged her. She lifted her up and held her tightly, then saw aunty Lily and Uncle Charlie getting taken away and wondered where Liliah was.. Did she go to the music club that day or not…? Mum, Dad, Uncle Charlie and Aunty Lily all got thrown into this massive chained van with blood dripping down the side and the words; “GOVERNMENT VEHICLE” sprawled on the side of the large van. They slammed the doors and chained them shut, locked at least three padlocks and got into the back of the van. They drove off, never to be seen again…
CHAPTER 1
THE MURDEROUS MEMBERS
My name is Sierra, or Riri for short. I live in a place called Musical, although, it is the very opposite of musical. There is absolutely no sound at all allowed except the sound of the wind or the sound of the rain rebounding off of the small rectangular mirror in me and Avery’s bedroom. The only music that we hear are the musical cries of the bird family that live on our shelf which come in and out of the small crack in our window. They had chicks quite a while ago so they don’t really come back at all except for the days that Avery leaves out our scraps for them, I think they are the only species of bird left which sing still. Our world is so miserable nowadays that all I can do is go out to the field and scavenge for food to feed us. But I am so sure that when I was little we used to sing and play music and everything was amazing. Life was worth living for back then. I miss Mum and Dad so much, I haven’t seen then for 5 years. In fact, nobody has seen them for years, well, not since they got caught. I live with my younger sister, cousin, grandma and Terry, the cat. It’s not too bad living with grandma and Liliah, but I miss the rest of the family, like Uncle Charlie and Aunty Lily. But you have to live with it, we have no choice.
All I know about the Banning is that there used to be a group called the ‘Ministry of Music’, the Government didn’t know that it was made up of some of the Government workers. Their names were Bill, Freddy, Lachlan, Mia and Dolly; The ‘MM’ I do not know why they had a secret musical group because music was allowed back then. Rumours say the reason the ‘MM’ group got banned was because children kept going missing or some came home looking dazed and didn’t remember anything about where they had just gone. When the ‘MM’ group got found out the Government blamed all of the missing kids or the mind wiped children on them. They took all of the ‘MM’ group members and moved them away in the same van that they took mum and dad away in. And the Government forced them to change their group name to the Murderous Members instead. I am so angry with the Government, they’ve made everybody miserable and starving just because of banning stupid music. The only people in the Government who are upright idiots are the Governess Gigi Whiskers, her husband, Samuel Whiskers and their assistant Phillip Guss. They’re evil, I despise them more than I despise being on this planet.
Sitting up in bed, I can now feel its springs on me, I stand up and stretch my legs, how long had I been sitting down for? It felt like hours, maybe days, or even months, I looked at the clock: 3pm. I walked over to the door and opened it. Grandma was playing ‘guess who?’ with Avery.
‘Hello Sierra! Sit down, play with us darling.’
‘Sorry Gran, I would but I am going to go for a walk to stretch my legs but maybe later!’
‘Please Riri?!’ Said Avery, I raised my eyebrows and said;
‘Later, Avery.’ She groaned and rolled on her back.
‘Where’s Liliah?’ I said frowning
‘Went to the shops with James.’ Said Grandma
‘She won’t be back for a while then, I think she likes him a lot.’ Avery laughed;
‘Hah! Like you know about love life, all you do is scavenge and lie down all day.’ I snorted;
‘What else is there to do?’ Avery opened her mouth to retaliate when grandma spoke;
‘Now now, girls, relax, I’ll get started on dinner and you Sierra can go on that ‘walk’ you were going on.’ She smiled,
‘Ok Grandma.’
‘Be back by 5pm please Sierra.’
‘Okie dokie Gran.’
‘And don’t let the music bite!’ I grinned and shut the door behind me, I walked down my usual path not taking much notice on where I was going and I walked into a lamp post, rubbing my head I sat up and looked around, I was in what looked like and abandoned estate, it was very eerie and a little scary.
I was starting to debate whether to carry on or turn back. Eventually I decided to carry on as there was nothing to do and curfew wasn’t for an hour and a half so I decided to explore as well. I then saw an underground tunnel and walked down it to get away from the never-ending rain. I saw writing on the wall; “REBEL, MM, 5PM 23RD OF SEPT MM UNDERGROUND MM MEET, BE THERE OR BE SQUARE, WRITE DOWN YOUR AGE AND FULL NAME HERE; ”
“16yrs AND OVER ONLY.” I gasped, rebel, MM, 5pm, 23rd of sept, underground, MM meet… No, it couldn’t be, a rebel group? Mum and Dad’s group were the only rebel MM group. There was a pencil in my pocket, I was so tempted, but curfew is at 5pm Sierra! What about gran? I told myself….
I took out my pencil with a shaking hand and wrote down; Sierra Pilkins, age; 16.
MM UNDERGROUND MEET.. There was only one thing for it, to go to Mum and Dad’s underground secret hideout place, and there I went..
CHAPTER 2
THE REBELLION
I walked back the way I had come, and instead of going left to Gran’s house, I went straight on to the square. It was deserted, except a few rodents and pigeons eating the scraps of precious food that people had dropped, I walked on, I was a little nervous but fearless. The floor was wet, and my walking boots were getting soaked through, yet I carried on, and saw the abandoned estate house. I ought to be careful, I told myself, there will most likely be a few booby traps. I picked up a stick I found on the floor and threw it at an odd looking tile in the square and it opened, and large spikes flew out of the brick tile, and snapped the stick in two. I walked towards the trapdoor, which you would never be able to find if you didn’t know where it was hidden. Just as I was about to grab the handles to open the door, the large clock on the clock tower struck 5pm, I was supposed to be at Gran’s house eating the last meal of the month which we always celebrated, well, everybody else did, except me. For me it was just another boring, useless month of being alive. I held the cold metal trapdoor handle which blended in with the brick tiles, they were so smooth and cold.
I opened them, and climbed down the wooden ladder, which was now rotting. It had probably not been used since mum and dad gotten taken away. I touched the damp floor with my shoes and shut the trapdoor, I walked forward, and heard muffled voices. They probably hadn’t put the special soundproof material around the room. I had only gone with mum and dad to their music groups once, I was very good at playing the violin. I knocked on the hidden door whose handle had started to rot just like the ladder had. Someone opened the door, I looked at them and saw an old lady, with a broad smile and smooth white skin. I said hello and looked around, there were a few kids in the same year as me at school, Jaqueline, Jason, Daniel, Amy and Liliah.
I gasped, Liliah? My cousin?
‘Liliah? Is that you?’ She was holding the piece of paper that I had written my name on only an hour previously.
‘Sierra? What are you doing here? I just saw your name on the paper!’ smiling I said
‘I thought I’d join in, see what the rebel group was up to, why didn’t you tell me?’ She sighed;
‘I was really scared Sierra, what about Gran?’
‘I know, what should we do?’
‘Hold on? Are you sure you’re here for music?’ She frowned;
‘Obviously? Why would I be here?’ She still looked a little suspicious, I was starting to get nervous. Why was Liliah embarrassing me in front of everyone? I thought. The room was dim-lighted and all the furniture was covered up in the same material that mum and dad always used when they used to do the ‘MM’ group. It looked very intimidating and there was lots of dust on all the furniture, so it had definitely not been used for around 5 years.
‘Hi Sierra!’ Said Daniel
‘Oh, Daniel, hi!’ I said, a little bewildered from his sudden appearance.
‘When did you get here?’ I said turning away from Liliah.
‘Been here the whole time!’ He said, a little too enthusiastically.
‘Great!’ I said, trying to hide the sarcasm in my voice.
‘Why don’t I tell you about our plans?!’
‘Sure.’ I said, trying to smile. Daniel had always been nice to me, but I hadn’t really taken much notice of him.
‘Thanks.’ I said stiffly. He smiled and carried on;
‘We are starting a rebellion plan to fight back against the Government, we need everyone we can get, the plans are, we are going to make a distraction, most likely a protest.’ He said in a horse whisper. ‘With everyone, we have the postman convinced, so he’s going to post leaflets through everyone’s doors, saying to meet at the square for a protest against the Government.’ I raised my eyebrows and said;
‘And you think people will have the guts to stand up to the Government, even if they have no food or hope?’ He grinned and said;
‘We’ve already thought of that, we wrote at the bottom of the letter; FOR A MOVIE, From, The Government.’ I nodded and this time managed a grin. ‘So, you’re basically asking me to help you?’ He smiled and replied;
‘Yup, and you must not tell anyone it’s a lie.’ I thought about it for a few seconds and said;
‘Do I have any choice?’ He smiled and said nothing. ‘Whatever.’ He raised his eyebrows and said; ‘So, you’ll do it?’ I nodded. He thrust his fists into the air and said to Liliah; ‘Liliah, we have a new ‘MM’ member.’ She looked around and said to me;
‘Come on then, let’s go back to Gran’s house.’ I grinned and thought; I’m starting to like Daniel. And waved goodbye to everyone. And Liliah and I walked home together.
CHAPTER 3
BETRAYED?
The next day, we had a normal day of being bored. I was pacing up and down my room, with Liliah in my wake watching. She was biting her nails. I was resisting, she was more nervous. She had planned it all. She kept saying; ‘What if we get betrayed, are you sure you want to join in?’ I just kept nodding when she brought this up. It felt like hours had gone by, but we were still four hours away from the gathering, six o’clock, seven o’clock, eight o’clock; Avery went to bed at that point, and Grandma fell asleep too around nine o’clock. BEEP BEEP, BEEP BEEP. The alarm went off, it was time, time for the rebellion to strike back. We left the house with our bags, and met up under the big oak tree that had been there for centuries. It was still raining, dripping down my back. We were all drenched, it never stopped raining in this silly place. As we started to head to the Government building, I could hear my feet splashing in the big puddles the rain was making. Everyone was silent, it was very eerie. It felt like we were being watched, although you couldn’t see the eyes that were watching you. We all stopped in front of the barbed wire fence. The girls went first with the boys lending them a leg. The girls all had metal scissors, and they cut the barbed wire off the top of the fence and climbed over. We all eventually made it over.
We walked through the abandoned estate houses and Liliah led everyone through an alleyway, when we got back in the open. We heard muffled voices and splashing footsteps, a couple of screams and shouts from our fellow rebels. We all darted down into a manhole, I was the last one in and they grab my wrist. I tried to prise my hand out of their grip. But it was no use, they had a tight grip. As they were slowly lifting me out of the manhole a big muscly boy grabbed my hand and slit a small cut in the person’s hand which was prising mine out. I heard a familiar shout of pain and the boy closed the manhole after me. ‘Thanks,’ I say shyly and out of breath. He grinned and turned to Liliah. ‘Okay, everyone stay still. We’re going to do a head count,’ she whispered. I stood still, but was still shaking from the close encounter. Liliah frowned.. Has anyone seen Daniel?’ Nobody said anything. And then I remembered that familiar shout of pain, and the silhouetted figure I saw sprinting into the darkness. ‘I did.’ Everybody looked at me and that boy gave me an encouraging nod. I carried on;
‘I saw a figure sprint out from our group, into th-’
‘YOU WHAT?!’ She gasps
‘I knew that Daniel wasn’t to be trusted.’ I frowned at her;
‘How do you know it was Daniel?’ I said
‘Because, h-’
‘Look, if you let me talk, I will tell you something else’ I hissed.
She rolled her eyes and nodded.
‘When I got my hand caught as I was going down the manhole and that boy-’…
‘The name’s Peter.’ He said smiling. His voice sounded familiar, I wasn’t sure why… Deep and soothing to hear.
‘Oh, sorry.’I said blushing.
He grins and nods as if to say; ‘carry on’.
‘Peter, cut the person holding me’s hand, and I heard a shout of pain which sounded like Daniel’s.’
‘Great. We have been betrayed,’ Said Liliah, clapping her hands together.
‘Okay, there doesn’t seem to be much we can do except go back. Which I don’t think will be a good idea. Now that we have done part one of our plan.’
Everybody murmured their agreement.
‘Right, that means we are now on part two of our plans.’
She wiped the sweat off her brows and continued;
‘So, the next part of our plan is to get through the abandoned estate and into the ‘Government land’
And in that moment I spaced out, thinking; I can’t believe the Government are allowed to do this. It’s absolutely outrageous.
‘Sierra? SIERRA?!’
‘Oh! Yeah! Sorry!’
‘Remember the plan everyone!’
As soon as we had all climbed out of the manhole; I knew something was wrong. The street lamps were on, everybody had electricity. Some houses even had their small televisions on.. It was very eerie…
‘Okay, this is it.’ Whispered Liliah, pointing at a gate a few feet away.
‘Don’t you think it’s a bit odd?’ whispered Peter in my ear so nobody could hear except me. ‘That we haven’t been attacked yet? I mean, it’s almost daylight! The protest is going to start soon!’
‘Yeah, I know.. It is a bit odd.’ I whispered back.
‘Okay everyone, step three,’ Said Liliah in a half-whisper, ‘The Government shouldn’t be expecting us, so this should go smoothly.’ She kept glancing at the grand double doors of the Government building. Its features were very fancy and rich looking. And quite intimidating. It was towering over all of us; like Its marble walls were about to collapse on us. I had never seen the Government building before, except when Liliah, Avery and I had to be punished for our Parents mistakes. I remembered it like it was yesterday. Me holding Avery tight in my arms, she was only seven, seven! And they whipped her. No matter how many times I volunteered to do it instead of her. She still had the scar of where that belt hit her cheekbone. This is for Avery, for Mum, for Dad, for Gran and for Aunty Lily and Uncle Charlie. This was payback.
‘Here, take this. Remember; do not get caught.’ Said Liliah; passing me a walkie talkie. And then she sorted us into pairs. She went alone; because we were missing one of our members. Then two boys from my year went together, Jaqueline and Amy paired up; and then Peter and I.
We entered a secret passageway through a manhole which led to the back garden area of the Government building, and there we split up. Peter and mine’s job was to distract the workers left here into the back garden where we had entered and capture them all, leaving the coast clear for the others.
Once we had gotten into the building, I looked around; the big marble statues on the pillars around all of the desks and computers and piles of paperwork. The desks were made of marble too, except for the drawer handles, they were covered in gold. Probably real gold.
We tiptoed to the lift, and called it. Ready to strangle the people which came out. But there was nobody in them.. Peter and I frowned at each other. This was very odd.. We got into the lift and I pressed the number “1”. Peter and I exchanged worried looks and then the lift doors opened; Nobody, once again it was empty. We looked around, a little puzzled. I was expecting them to be playing a trick on us or, maybe an alarm to go off. But nothing.. I pressed the button on the walkie talkie and said;
‘All clear, everything’s empty on the ground floor and floor 1.’
‘Copy that.’
Said Liliah’s familiar voice.
And with that, Peter and I arranged ourselves in the hiding places we were supposed to be keeping the non-existing office workers hostage. We closed the cupboard door and waited for the sign that meant that mission had been completed. I peered through the small lines of the cupboard and waited…
All of the lights went out, we had completed the mission!
‘EXCELLENT!’ Said Peter.
‘Shush!!’ I hissed
‘Sorry!’ He whispered.
We climbed out of the cupboard, down the lift and out into the garden where everybody was waiting for us.
‘Where is it!?’ I asked
‘Here, said Liliah,’ brandishing a small cube with symbols sprawled around its edges.
‘Just excellent!’ Said Peter; punching the air.
‘Okay, now that I’ve sent the message, we should be off.’
Everyone nodded and we set off.
And just as I was about to follow Peter out of the door, something caught my eye. It was.. Or at least it looked like.. No, it couldn’t be? Daniel? I watched him; he was talking to someone, I moved closer to the window, wiping my glasses to see if I was seeing correctly.. Daniel was talking to a man that I vaguely remembered.. And then, Daniel shook hands with the man, and I realised who he was! He was the Prime Minister of our sector! Sector 22! I had seen him on the television at Gran’s house! But Daniel? He was supposed to be against the Government! Not on their side! ‘Great, we have been betrayed,’ Had we been betrayed? Was Liliah right? It looked like she was… We were in big trouble.. And it was daylight now.. I needed to tell the others..
CHAPTER 4
SAMUEL WHISKERS
I change my mind, I want to be absolutely certain that Daniel was not on our side before I told Liliah and the others. So I went closer, used to camouflaging in the bushes and trees due to scavenging for food on the meadows. I was getting closer now, then, I saw Daniel and the Minister of Sector 22 talking. I crawled inside a big holly bush, using my hood to deflect the hollies from my face. I was very aware that the brushing of the hood was bringing a lot of attention to this bush. But the Minister brushed it off, and carried on talking.
‘Of course, of course. We won’t hurt your little friends!’ Said the Minister in his squeaky little voice. He looked like a rat, his teeth were yellow and some were missing. He was a very short man, called Samuel Whiskers. He was unintimidating, but he had the whole power of the Government behind him. He was wearing a navy blue striped suit, with a white bow tie and brown, pointed shoes and a white bowler hat with brown lace around it. His spindly hair looked like he had been ripping it out. He was carrying a small briefcase with the letters “S22” sprawled on its side.
‘I wouldn’t expect you to, Minister!’
‘I am glad to hear you trust us!’ Squeaked the Minister ‘And you are sure their hideout is where the Murderous Members used to have theirs?’
‘Of course Minister Whiskers!’ said Daniel cheerily.
‘Perfect!’ Said the Minister checking his watch ‘I must be off soon, and you’re sure that your friends don’t know about our little ‘Deal?’ son?’ Squeaked the Minister
‘Yes, I am certain they do not know that I am betraying them Minister’ Said Daniel with a sly grin on his face.
‘Perfect! Perfect! Right, I must be off then, you know, to the wife!’
Then, he winked at Daniel and hurried off. I had never seen the Minister’s wife in person, only on the broken television at Gran’s house. She was much taller than the minister, and always wore thick layers of makeup. She always wore the same smile. She was a very large woman, much more intimidating than Samuel Whiskers.
I left the bush quietly and ran off into the woods and back past the big Government building with its marble walls and golden statues, up the hill into the abandoned estate, still not believing anything I had just heard. I ran past Sector’ 22’s square where there were surprisingly no people.. I was expecting crowds! For the protest of course. I was starting to doubt that the others would believe me, if even I couldn’t believe what I had heard myself!
Everywhere I looked, there were posters of me and the new ‘MM’ group. All of the square tv’s were on and there were videos of me and the ‘MM’ group in the Government building.. What was going on? It looked like we were breaking in to hurt them, but they knew… I had a bad feeling, a feeling that they knew where I was right now, the sun was going down.. I could feel eyes watching my every move, yet I couldn’t see them. And then I was seeing people come out of their houses, their mouths gaping whilst pointing at me, whispering behind my back. I just ran and ran.
Finally, I made it back to the base, where there were no eyes watching me anymore, and no houses except abandoned town houses.
I dodged the bad brick tile, and slipped on the floor, grazing my arm. I got up, rubbing it, and opened the trap door, with it’s cold metal handle. I opened the door, but this time no voices, no warm welcome, just a thick layer of dust to greet me. Nobody was in there. It was as if it had never been touched. As I went to leave, the door slammed. And the little light left from the torches in the tunnel went out, I was trapped.
CHAPTER 5
THE BETRAYAL
Inside the dark gloomy walls of the abandoned basement, Sierra was crying,
‘It’s all my fault!’ She was sobbing into the darkness.
‘Where is everyone? It was all my fault! Please let them go! Hello?! Anyone?!’
‘Well, well, well.’ said Daniel emerging from the dark. I stopped crying immediately and wiped my face. ‘Do you really think that I would let your “friend” go?’ He screeched, laughing. ‘What have you done with them Daniel?’ What have you done to yourself?’ I said as he lit a torch. He had scratches and red marks all over his face, and blood dripping out of his mouth. He screeched with laughter again;
‘Oh, you do make me giggle, Sierra!’ I clenched my fists. You could kill him Sierra, do it! DO IT! Said a voice in the back of my head. But I decided to wait and listen.
‘All along, I tricked everyone into thinking that I was on your side! You really thought that I was the Daniel that followed you around school? The Daniel who always asked to sit next to you?’ He screeched.
‘What did you do to Daniel?’ I said, my words shaking with anger.
‘That Daniel boy was already in trouble!’
‘WHAT DID YOU DO TO DANIEL?!’ And this time I was the one that was screeching. I slapped him. He grunted with pain and fell on his knees.
‘Just wait Sierra, wait!’
‘WHO ARE YOU?!’
‘Let me explain!’ He cried and I stepped back and watched him, cursing him under my breath. ‘I am not Daniel, I am Daniel’s brother. My name is Gareth, and I killed Daniel, I drowned him and blamed it on my parents. They got taken away too. I wanted revenge on the people who were nice to me. Nice to my family.’ He smirked. ‘You and your family were one of them.’ I acted too quickly, I grabbed his throat and thrust him against the wall.
‘No, wait, I have the whole of the government on my si- side.’ He spluttered.
‘YOU TOOK MY PARENTS AWAY FROM ME, FROM MY SISTER, FROM MY FAMILY!’
This time, I was the one that didn’t act quickly and Daniel lifted the torch and burnt my hand just as he was turning purple. I screamed in agony and fell onto the floor.
‘WEAK! WEAK CHILD!’ He screeched. I panted and tried to get up but the pain was too much.
‘You won’t see any of your friends again, ever! They’re getting taken away, just like you. And the last thing you’ll see is me.
He grabbed my hair and tugged me to the door and just as he was about to shut the door behind him. Everything happened so quickly, flashing lights, a scream, and hands. And then I saw Peter, Liliah, everyone from the ‘MM’ group.
‘Peter? Liliah? Guys? Wha-?’ But I couldn’t say anything else. Because me and Peter were embraced in a hug, oh, It was wonderful. And then, it was all gone. And another warm body embraced me, Avery!
‘Avery!!’ I shouted!
And she smiled at me. Then another person embraced me, Liliah!
‘Oh Lils! Oh I am so sor-’
‘Be quiet! You’re on camera!’ As she let go, I could see where I was and what was happening! I could see flashing lights by the trap door, and “Daniel” lying on the floor, with Gran shouting at him and tying his hands behind his back with the ‘MM’ groups help.
‘Oh, Gran, I am so so sorry!’
‘Not to worry my love! You girls did the right thing!’ she said, grinning as broadly as ever.
‘We filmed the whole thing!’ Said Peter kissing me on the cheek.
‘You did?! Oh my gosh, how did you know?!’ I shrieked, laughing.
‘Never that mind.. Let’s get Daniel locked up.’ She grimaced.
‘Daniel is not Daniel! He is Gareth! Daniel’s brother!’ I shouted, as my memory flooded back. Slowly, Liliah turned to face me.
‘He what?!’ She spat at me.
‘He is Gareth, Daniel’s older brother. He betrayed our parents’ I said in a small voice, very unlike my own. Peter squeezed my hand.
‘YOU! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO RUINED MY LIFE, AND NOW YOU’VE RUINED THE ONLY THING THAT COMFORTED ME.’ She growled at him. I stood up, anger flooding into every part of my body, if I wasn’t on broadcast to every Sector in the nation.… I would kill Gareth. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and felt the reassuring warmth of Gran engulf me and Liliah.
‘Now now girls, he is only young. But I can’t blame you for almost trying to kill him in the basement Sierra!’ Said Gran, her voice cracking. She winked at me. Me and Liliah grinned at her. And then I felt Avery’s warm hug around my waist and smiled down at her, she was crying, but nonetheless, grinning like usual.
‘Come on then girls, let’s get this Gareth locked up.’ said Gran, letting go of me and Liliah.
‘Fine.’ I said, forcing a slight smile just for Gran.
Flashing lights, tears, cheering, shouts and cries. And everyone we knew was out on the streets, fighting, resisting the Government. We had all worked together to bring them down.
***
‘I still can’t believe you, Liliah and Peter brought down the Government!’said Avery grinning widely. Peter And I were snuggled up next to each other, Gran was making dinner in the new kitchen, Liliah was playing a boardgame with me, Avery and Peter. All was great.
And then, the welcoming sound of the doorbell went off;
‘I’ll go and get it.’ said Peter in his calm, comforting voice. His footsteps trailed away, we heard the door opening and closing and then multiple voices.
‘Liliah, Avery, Sierra! There’s someone at the door for you!’ We all rolled our eyes, used to fans knocking on the door and asking for autographs. Yet it was odd, because they wanted Avery as well…. We all exchanged confused expressions and walked down the corridor. My heart skipped a few beats. I felt dizzy and a little sick. No, it couldn’t be, it isn’t, is it?
Avery and Liliah screamed;
‘MUM? DAD?’ We all said, and ran, and hugged the lost members of our family.
‘Oh! Liliah, Sierra, Avery, Mum!’ Gran had made her way down the corridor, looking puzzled.
‘Uncle Charlie? Aunty Lily!’ squealed Avery, hugging everyone she could. I would’ve loved it to last forever. In fact, it could’ve, but dad, in his booming, gentle voice that felt like it hadn’t been heard in years, maybe even decades spoke;
‘Oh, my girls, my sunshines!’ He said. He always used to call us that, his sunshines. I smiled, and Avery started to sob, but was still smiling, happy crying. ‘Now let’s go sit down and have a chat! You girls have grown so much! Look at you!’ he said pointing at us. That evening, everybody was sobbing, except Peter, but he was there for me, always holding my hand. I had a feeling, a good feeling, that things were going to be much better from now on.
THE END