Spotlight On Creativity

Gasping! Screaming! Sobbing! I swam through the painfully pleasing river, aware that nobody could hear my cries for comfort. I was struggling. Struggling to breathe, I saw it. Suddenly, the net of misery came. The net of misery shot down, searching for its next victim, like a claw in a claw machine, choosing its prize – except it’s not fun for us. Quickly, I swam away, desperate to escape. Suddenly, I was becoming tired and couldn’t go any quicker, I was already thin and boney. Immediately, I knew I needed to eat. Then I spotted it: a glistening, mysterious item sparkled, grasping my attention. Carefully, I swam. It’s near, it’s in sight. Pushing myself, I swam through many things – plastic, bottles, metal, waste. The river was a large rubbish bin for humans. It’s close. It’s in sight. But it was just a squashed scrap of metal. Disappointed, I continued through the river of despair, hoping to find any food, before it becomes too late. I wondered, what is it like up there? Do humans feel the way us fish do? Do they care about us? Do they? Do you?

Year 8 Student

When the world is quiet,

The moon reflects on the water.

It looks down, about to smile,

It stops. its stares- shocked for a while.

He yearns to see the crystal water.

All he sees is the river in torture!

Choking, screaming, flapping, the innocent creatures are stuck.

Stuck in the dirty, murky, filthy water.

What have they done to deserve this?

Everywhere they swim, the rubbish can’t be missed.

That crisp wrapper you threw on the floor,

That black bag that was outside your door,

Don’t throw it anymore!

Let’s make the water how it was before,

Something that Mr Moon can adore.

Year 8 Student

Anya Miraaj Ali- 8SH

Winding down the bank,

Twisting like it’s running away,

Silently screaming,

It gets its name:

The River of Despair.

Year 7 Student

River fresh, crystal clear,

A mirror by the grass.

The water rippling by my ear,

Jewel blue stream glistens.

Running across the world,

Faster than the wind.

The fishes underneath swirled,

Water sparkles onward.

Along comes plastic,

There is no escape.

Their homes are no longer fantastic,

Suffocation, strangled by a strip of tape.

Death underwater,

Overwhelming no room to live.

The filth and dirt travels,

Takes away all life.

Year 7 Student

I have heard something called bad water/river pollution,

But now our world needs a solution.

Water pollution is everywhere

People ruin water,

They just don’t care

There is oil spillage

Floating parts of a fridge

Crisp packets

Open electrical sockets

Old rusty bikes amongst deadly spikes

Be careful with what you throw in sinks,

Don’t throw different type of colored inks.

It makes some people very sad

The problem with this is that it is very bad

What with chemicals,

Can give diseases, can you stop this, I mean it. PLEASE!

These chemicals can kill animals, destroying food chains.

Nobody wants this,

Nobody needs this

So, let’s stop it.

Now let’s keep our world clean and make it GREEN!!!

Year 7 Student

It was the summer of 2016 when Tristan Kingston went missing with no explanation. Or so the police thought. They had no clarification as to why he was nowhere to be seen or who could have caused it to happen until they interrogated the owner of the summer camp of which Tristan was staying at prior to his disappearance.

He was seventeen at the time of his vanishing with blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes that shone in the light like a stunning gem. People used to always say to him that he should be a model and he just laughed at them and told them he didn’t have the confidence or the looks to do that to which the people, including his father, just said that he did have the looks and that he could gain his confidence over time. Anyways back on topic. It was a regular Monday morning and he was sat eating breakfast while having a conversation with his best friends: his twin sister Thalia, Asher and his younger sister, Danielle who he called Dani for short. He had quite an exciting adventure that day. He had the time of his life doing archery, volleyball, canoeing and even more amazing activities in the lovely outdoors. However, that all changed in the time period of a few hours. In the middle of the night Tristan awoke from his peaceful slumber by a freezing cold hand tying his hands and feet so he couldn’t even try to escape from the tall, terrifying figure taking him hostage. Then out of the blue it all went…

BLACK!

He woke up hours later tied to a chair with a huge pain in his head. He was hit over the head with a baseball bat to make sure he was unconscious for sure. He then heard an eerie voice from the back of the room. It sounded as though it was coming from the right side of the room and it was. You could hear the heavy footsteps of army like boots coming in the terrified boy’s direction. He tried to scream for help, but his voice cracked and then the shadowy figure spoke. He whispered in the boy’s ear:

“Well hello there, Tristan Kingston or should I say nephew?”

The poor boy had no clue what to make of any of this or what was going or who the hell this man was so he just sat there and looked up at his supposed uncle with fear and sadness in his eyes. He managed to get the cloth that was restraining him from speaking off himself and replied to the terrifying shadow:

“Who the hell are you and how do you know who I am?!”

In response the man slapped the lad and screamed:

“HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT ME LIKE THAT YOU BAD EXCUSE FOR A KINGSTON!”

Poor Tristan broke down into tears as he has never been screamed at like that for years- seven years specifically, the year his mother passed away due to a car incident that his father blamed him for which he soon forgave his father and now they’re inseparable. He didn’t see his dad much as it was because of his job. He was the CEO of the biggest law company in the world, so he was constantly on business trips or on the phone and when he did have time for his son both savoured every second of the time they had which was very little. The darkness swallowed up the room everywhere except for a little cascade of light descending from a skylight in the centre of the room. It was a dim light, not bright enough for the boy to see his kidnapper clearly but bright enough for him to see where he was.

Meanwhile, back at the camp, it was 7:30 am and they all were deafened by the wake-up bell that they woke up to each morning. At the breakfast table, Asher questioned his best friend’s whereabouts to which Thalia just shrugged her shoulders silently and continued to have her breakfast. Danielle piped up and said that he was probably in the bathroom and the other two went with that likely story and enjoyed their morning meal. An hour passed after Asher questioned where Tristan was and still no sign of him. The trio decided then and there that they would alert a camp counsellor so that they could notify the leader of the camp. The leader, Joe Mackenzie, then made an announcement to the children to keep an eye out for the missing boy and to find Joe if they discovered any leads about where the boy was. The level of concern that Lia (Tristan’s nickname for his sister) felt brought her and Asher to tears. Asher tried to comfort the weeping girl, but it was unsuccessful, and he broke down crying because it hurt him to see one of his best friends crying.

At the unknown location, a million questions flooded the poor boy’s brain, where was he? What did the man want from him? Was he going to die? How long was he going to be kept hostage for? All these terrifying thoughts made him feel drowsy so after a while of panicking there laid a sleeping boy with tears stains running down his cheeks. In his dreams, he saw all of his friends and even his sister standing around him in a circle all of them crying and unable to get him in their grasp to keep him safe. He slowly started to almost drown in his own tears from sobbing so much from pure fear, panic and being distraught. He startled himself to the point to where he was in a conscious state now drowning his face in his own tears, his arms in his own sweat and his neck in his own blood from his previous head injury.

At the camp, Thalia was excused to go to her cabin as she was too devastated to continue with her day. Asher and Dani were also excused so that they could keep Thalia in a reasonably good mental state to the best of their abilities by trying to keep her as calm as possible. They all ventured to the boys’ cabin to see if they could find any clues about Lia’s twin’s vanishing. When they examined his bed, they found a note scribbled in pencil that looked like a 7-year-old could’ve wrote it. The note read: HERE IS A RHYME YOU DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME AS I HAVE COMMITTED A CRIME ARRIVE BEFORE THREE DAYS FROM NOW AS BEFORE YOU KNOW YOU WILL FIND YOUR FRIEND SIX FEET BELOW. As they read the note their faces grew whiter and whiter until they looked like Casper the ghost. They immediately rushed to Joe’s cabin while holding the note with their gloves that they kept on due to the cold breeze. They gave Joe the note and he asked if there was anything else that they saw near the note. Danielle remembered seeing an envelope with writing on the inside. The girl ran and grabbed the envelope and started to separate the flaps so that it transformed into a regular looking sheet of A-5 paper. She read the writing: On your local computer you will find a file with a spreadsheet with multiple lines, they all lead to different places but only one path is the correct one. Danielle received a tight embrace from Thalia who was sobbing into the other girl’s shoulder. She whispered her gratitude into her ear. She whispered, “Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind-Lionel Hampton.” The trio shared an embrace for a few moments more before parting and trying to decipher what this “spreadsheet with multiple lines that all lead to different places but only one was the correct place” is. Randomly, Asher said, “wait what if it’s a map?” They examined the spreadsheet closer and found it was in fact a map! But the question was which path was the correct one? They saw another note attached to the map. Long story short it said this: There isn’t much TIME before he DIES try to find where my base lies. Suddenly, a timer popped up onto the screen with 72 hours slowly going down. This meant if they didn’t find their friend by the time that timer went off, the next time they saw him would be at his funeral. They couldn’t let that happen to him. They had to find him! Even if it killed them! They all ran to their cabins and packed enough essentials to last them all for a week (they packed enough for a week so that they would have spare stuff if anything happened). The group had met up back at the leader’s cabin and set out on the life-threatening travel to save their friend. They grabbed the map from Thalia’s backpack and decided that the route that was the longest was most likely to be the one to lead to Tristan. They all came to an agreement that 9 times out of 10 kidnappers who put a limit on how much time you have to save the victim choose the longest route thinking that the heroes won’t arrive in time but that is another stereotype that heroes always prove wrong yet here we are another cliché villain move. Good going villains, you proved just how stupid you are sometimes.

Scared, mortified, terrified Tristan sat practically lifeless on a chair tied down while battered because of his uncle punching him to shut him up. Tristan’s saviours were in the middle of their adventure when they encountered a thick jungle. There were trees galore and there were multiple poisonous plants and wildlife in their way as well. They fought their way through the best they could trying to sustain the least amount of injuries possible. There obviously were a couple of injuries but nothing too serious until… THUD! Asher fell to the ground temporarily paralyzed due to a spider biting him on the leg. Joe picked the boy up and told the other two to find a big enough body of water to use a boat in as going by boat was the quicker route compared to the one they came by. They found the body of water; Joe placed a small rowboat on it and then rowed away to treat Asher’s wound leaving Thalia and Danielle on their own.

They continued to follow the map until they reached a strange out of place warehouse in the center of the island. The island seemed secluded, but the warehouse proved otherwise. They approached the strange building only to discover that surrounding the parameter of the building was a high voltage electric fence. They proceeded to gather multiple different concepts as to how they could get over the fence when they got the perfect plan. They concluded that they would get a long, sturdy branch some large leaves and a thorn from a tree and use them to make a contraption that could easily deactivate the electrical system therefore deactivating the electric fence’s electrical charge. The girls got to work creating the mechanism and carefully and successfully managed to complete their goal. Thalia helped Dani to get up and over the fence. After climbing over the fence the ladies discovered yet another obstacle in their way: a locked door with a number code to open it. They weren’t sure what the code could be but they tried a couple of different ones only to find themselves unsuccessful. They thought that it could be something like Tristan’s birthday or something stupid like 1234 but nope it wasn’t. The tried the date which was 2203 (the 22nd of March) and it surprisingly worked! They quietly opened the door so they didn’t give away the fact that they basically broke in. Thalia searched upstairs while Danielle checked the middle floor. Both floors came up clear of anybody and the girls met up back at the middle floor where Danielle just finished inspecting. They thought it was best if they both went to the bottom floor together just in case. Thankfully Thalia packed a pocket knife for self defence because you never know when you may need one. Armed with the knife, the pair slowly and as silently as an owl stalking its prey made their way down to the bottom floor aka the basement floor. As they were going down there they heard a muffled, pained scream from the final room on the right hand side of the corridor. Thalia, leading the way slowly made her way to the door they heard the scream coming from and silently opened the door and signalled to Tristan to pretend he didn’t see anything. The teen then carefully and quietly snuck behind the criminal keeping her brother captive and stabbed him in the arm causing him to fall in a heap on the floor in pain, the man slowly closing his eyes and passing out. Danielle then ran in and started untying Tristan’s restraints. The traumatised boy fell into the younger girl’s arms sobbing from pure terror but also happiness that he was found. After contacting Joe, Tristan’s twin came over to her brother who was shaking uncontrollably. The three all sank to the floor in a warm, comforting embrace which reduced Tristan’s shaking and panic to some extent. The police informed the two siblings’ father of the situation who rushed straight to the camp and demanded that Joe took him to his children. Joe was just about to say he was unaware of their exact location on the island when he received a notification with… you guessed it the location. He then turned to the distraught and clearly terrified father and agreed to take him to his children as soon as the police were given the exact location of the teens. You may have been wondering how the trio contacted j and the answer is simple: they contacted Joe by a special system in a special phone that everyone was given when they arrived at the camp. Tristan didn’t have his with him because it was on his bedside table. Thalia pressed the “distress button” which, when pressed automatically sends the location to Joe so he can go get whoever sent the distress call which in this case was Thalia, Dani and Tristan. A few hours passed and Tristan lay fast asleep cuddling his sister who was also sleeping. Danielle was the only one awake and was the one who heard noises coming from upstairs and grabbed the pocket knife thinking that Nathan (the kidnapper and Tristan’s “uncle”) had woken up and escaped the room which Dani locked him in.

She carefully made her way upstairs and saw Joe, the police and the twins’ dad Alan looking for the panicked teens. Danielle ran to Joe and hugged him tightly while sobbing into his chest. She led the police to the room that Nathan was in who was still unconscious. The police cuffed the criminal’s hands and took him to a medic to get his wound looked after. Alan saw his children and ran to them, hugging them. The pair slowly awoke from their much needed slumber to find their father holding them in a tight embrace. They quickly hugged their father refusing to let go of him for at least 20 minutes. After their embrace ended they were all escorted back to the camp safely and a couple of officers came over to them asking to interrogate Lia and to take Tristan to treat his injuries. The boy refused to go unless his father went with him to which the middle aged man agreed. While his wounds were being treated, Tris tightened his grip on his father hand as a sign he needed comfort from the mental and physical pain he was experiencing at that moment. The man then sat on the step leading to the inside of the ambulance that was called next to his son allowing the boy to rest his head on the other man’s shoulder to comfort him by him know that there is someone next to him keeping him safe. His wounds now treated, both men walked over to the girls who were currently getting questioned. There were certain questions only the victim could answer which, even though he was exceedingly reluctant and scared to for fear of flashbacks, he agreed. He took his sister’s place on a large log near the campfire awaiting his questions. The police officer asked if there was anyone Tris would like to have near him to keep him calm and the only response the boy gave was a point in the direction of his dad. Officer Jordan beckoned Alan over who sat beside the teen holding his hand to keep him calm, as physical contact with someone he trusts and loves was the only thing to keep him from panicking. The boy answered the questions and was cleared to go home. Before he left, he asked where Asher was. Joe explained what happened and told the concerned teen that Ash was referred to the nearby hospital. Tristan then asked his father if he could pay his best friend a visit and he was granted permission. The boy was overjoyed knowing that he would be able to see his best friend. Lia asked Dani if she wanted to come with them and she agreed. On the way out of the camp Tristan turned to Dani and planted a gentle kiss on her cheek as a sign of gratitude. The girl was in a trance blushing as red as a bell pepper. The boy chuckled at the reaction he received and carried on walking to the car holding the blushing girl’s hand.

They arrived at the hospital half an hour later and signed in. The got to Asher’s room 10 minutes later and talked for about an hour exchanging hugs in that time period as well. It was about 6:45pm when they were about to leave. Danielle asked if she could stay with them for the rest of the week since her parents were on a business trip for the week and her brother is obviously in hospital and she is scared to be home alone. Alan accepted because he said he would be delighted to help a dear friend of his son’s. 4 years passed and nothing bad happened in that time. The group all turned 21 except for Dani who turned 20. Everything was perfect but all that was ruined one day. The day… HE escaped… Will everything stay peaceful forever? Who knows?

Time was a curious character. She never took and she never gave more than what was needed and she didn’t seem to like humans very well since the second that time didn’t go their way, they would protest it was stolen from them. It was often the consequence of her friends Sickness and Death. No, humans just exist on borrowed time. Every second given, must be taken too.

Don’t get her wrong, she thought humans were intelligent but they were human. Human needs and human selfishness. She loved the romans, they loved her too. The bloodshed was always a bit much for her but she admired their stories and their designs. The Roman numerals were fun to design with them as they can be understood anywhere in the world and she loved it.

Her complexion was always quite tan, even though she never really got any sunlight. Her nails were always cut short, since it was difficult to pick up the delicate cogs with fake three inch claws on the tips of her fingers but she would occasionally paint them a pretty black, maybe even a metallic colour if she was feeling particularly fancy. Time had always been quite tall but that was good as she could reach the higher clocks if needed and didn’t have the need to drag annoying stools everywhere with her and only really needed it for the very high up clocks.

Time had beautiful brown mid-length hair with natural blond highlights that would switch from hairstyle to hairstyle quite randomly but always end up in a ponytail at the end of the day. Her sparkling green eyes would sometimes change to a bluer colour or a hazel. She loved to wear extravagant Victorian dresses but, with all the work she does on a day to day basis, she finds them impractical to work in.

She was quite a simple girl and her whole being was based on keeping the balance. She liked drawing in her spare time and loved designing new clocks to make. Her greatest design was the grandfather clock and she had about five scattered about her tower. Pocket watches always seemed to appear on her person as she had made millions of the things and never went without one. Discovering a new little watch that she had forgotten about was commonly the high light of her day as she would be able to restore the beautiful object to almost brand new and have the joy of discovering it all over again in a few months.
Working women in those huge designer dresses. She was fixing the worlds clocks every day, she didn’t have time to be parading around in a big pink frilly dress! Work always seemed to pop up from nowhere.

She loved to play pranks on others, that why she makes the fuss of winding the clocks back and forth twice a year. She loved to play when she got the time and especially with her puppy that was always running around after her. But most of all, she loved finding her next adventure. She couldn’t wait to see what she could find next…

Prologue:

History has always been Jessie’s favourite subject and she has always been the best in her class. Her family has always loved hearing her presentations on different time periods, but they had always seemed reluctant to take her to any museums or landmarks. Last year, on her 12th birthday, her grandma gave her a black hairband that shimmered slightly when lights hit it. Now, Jessie never takes it off. Strange things have been happening to her ever since…

Not long after receiving the headband, Jessie’s class had a project on the 20s. When she was researching, she heard a voice say, “don’t forget our flapper dresses”, even though no one was in the room; during a film she saw at the cinema, the film glitched for a second and then showed the words this is inaccurate, it was so quick only she saw it; when she was choosing something from her wardrobe for a party, a very old fashioned Victorian dress had found its way into her wardrobe, but the next day it was gone. She thought nothing of them, just pranks by her younger brother, but on her 13th birthday, she would find out exactly why these things happen to her…

Chapter 1:
“Come on Jessie.” her mother shouted up to her, “We’re going to be late.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Jessie shouted back, putting her grandma’s black hairband in her hair, grabbing her phone, purse and hoodie. She sprinted down the stairs and said goodbye to her dad. “Good…” Her mum mumbled, just audible. “Pardon, mum” Jessie turned back around to her mother.
“Err…nothing dear. Ready then.”
“Mum, are you ok, you seem stressed and…”
“Oh no dear, I’m OK, let’s go then”

Jessie didn’t stop talking the whole way there, she was so excited that her mouth couldn’t close. She was going to the only open-air museum for miles around! But something was wrong, her mum seemed to be twitchy and nervous and kept mumbling to herself. Not like her usual self at all. And when Jessie asked what was wrong, she just simply replied with, “tired.”
When they arrived, her friends (Rose and Mia) where already waiting at the entrance with their parents. It wasn’t very busy which was unusual since it was a Saturday. Jessie took no notice as she, Rose and Mia were already in a group hug, excited for what’s to come. “You can go now,” Jessie’s mum explained to Rose and Mia’s parents, “we should be done for 4 o’clock.” Rose and Mia said their goodbyes and they all stepped into the entrance building and joined the small queue for tickets.
“I’m looking forward to the Tudor area, those are my favourite kings and queens.” Exclaimed Rose while taking selfies.
“WW2 is my favourite period.” Mia explained whilst flicking through a leaflet.

“I don’t know which one I’m looking forward to.” Jessie shrugged and turned to look at the 50s posters lining the walls, but she knew exactly what she was looking forward to; the Victorians. She’s always found them so fascinating and interesting. “One Adult and three children please.” Jessie’s mum exchange money with the man at the desk and gave each of the girls a wristband. “This is to show that you have paid,” the man explained to them “enjoy your time here.” They put their wristbands on and walked through the door leading outside to the museum.

Jessie was shocked. She couldn’t stop herself staring. This looked like they had just travelled through time: All the roads were made of grey cobblestone; trams and omnibuses were travelling up and down the road; old-styled signs and lampposts lined the streets, showing people where to go. The whole museum was in the shape of a clock with the exhibits in chronological order and a small wood covered the centre. It was a cloudy day and there was a cold breeze, so Jessie suggested that they use the wood as a short cut to places to shelter from the wind.

That’s a great idea,” her mum said, “where do you want to go first?”

“The map says the Victorian area is just up here.” Mia pointed towards a small path into the wood, “we could go there first.” The girls raced ahead leaving Jessie’s mum behind, walking slowly behind them. She just got to the edge of the trees when she saw Rose and Mia sprinting back through the trees towards her with panic-stricken faces.

“She’s gone!” They cried through gasps for air, “We can’t find Jessie anywhere!”
“Girls, go back to the entrance building,” Jessie’s mum called after them, “Don’t move until I get there.” Rose and Mia ran back to the building “It’s happened.” Jessie’s mum whispered to herself, stepping into the wood….

Chapter 2:
Jessie turned around again, there was nothing, just trees. One minute she was running through the trees with Rose and Mia, the next, she was standing alone it the wood with no sign of life anywhere. She kept walking, the wood can’t be this big, can it? There were a lot more trees than she first thought, making the wood darker and sinister. However, Jessie didn’t feel threatened, she had a feeling that this was meant to happen, that this is all part of a plan. She kept walking. It felt like half an hour before she saw a path. Something was different, she could see the Victorian area, but it was busy, packed in fact and all the people were wearing classic Victorian clothes. Jessie’s head was flooding with thoughts. This is not normal… What is going on, no sign of anyone I know, this wood has grown three times its original size…

“Hello, can I help you?” Jessie spun around and a girl, about her age, wearing old clothes with mousey brown hair tied it a bun was standing where the wood had just been. “What… Where… Who are…” but she was cut off, the girl’s eyes were wide and were staring at her hairband. Suddenly, the girl grasped Jessie’s hand and was sprinting through the Victorian area. However, this area was realistic, and alive, “What year is it?” Jessie asked.

“1889, Queen Victoria is on the throne.” The girl replied quickly, still dragging Jessie through the town, “I’m Mary by the way.”
“I’m Jessie.”

Mary seemed to have a strong grip and wouldn’t let go of Jessie’s hand. Jessie tried to twist her hand free but as soon as she achieved this, Mary grasped her hand again. She had no choice but to let Mary lead the way.

As the girls raced through the town, Jessie started to realise that the year really was 1889, all the streetlamps were gas; only horse-drawn carriages were travelling up and down the roads and there were no telephone boxes anywhere. “Here we are.” Mary said stopping in front of a small terraced house. It was well-kept and had a small, tidy garden at the front. It looked like it was the only house with an owner since the rest had broken windows and paint was peeling off the doors “Hurry, get inside,” Mary exclaimed, “we can’t let anyone see you.”

Mary opened the front door into a small hallway. It had light green, floral wallpaper and a dark wooden floor. Although it was bright outside, the house was dark and dingy there were no signs of electricity anywhere. “Wait in here, I’ll go and get my father.” Mary said, leading into a small living area then disappearing into the kitchen. The living room had large bookcases that lined the walls, two comfy seats were placed facing an unlit fireplace and a cabinet full of artefacts and old photos in the corner. Jessie walked over and sat on one of the seats. Then a thought came to her; Mary didn’t question my outfit. Jessie was still in jeans and a jacket; these things weren’t invented until the 19th century… what’s going on. “Father, come on.” Jessie could hear Mary calling just outside the door, “She’s in here.” When the door opened a short man with oval-shaped glassed was standing there. He looked tired and stressed and when he caught sight of Jessie his eyes widened revealing dark blue eyes. “Jessie, this is my father, Arthur.” Mary said pointing to the man.
“Last name?” He asked pointing at Jessie.
“Um… Ericson.” Jessie replied startled.
“Middle Name?”
“Ann. Apparently all the girls in my family have that middle name.”
“Decade you’re from?”
“2020’s”
“Mother’s full name?”
“Kathryn Ann Ericson.”
There was a long silence. Jessie couldn’t understand why he asked her so many weird questions. She tried to think of a way to escape but she couldn’t think straight.
“Follow me.” Arthur said at last going out of the room and through to the kitchen. “there’s something you should know.”

Chapter 3:

Jessie left the living room cautiously and followed Arthur and Mary into the dark hallway and through to the small kitchen. There was something about their eyes: she had seen them before. Then, Arthur opened a cabinet and tipped a bag of flour forward. CRANK! Suddenly, Mary disappeared behind the oven. “Go down there and wait with Mary,” Arthur explained pointing behind the wall, “I’ll meet you down there in a minute.” Jessie looked behind the oven, a small passageway had appeared leading down to the basement. However, what caught her eyes were the small circular pool lights that lined the walls. Electric lights? “Why are…” Jessie started to ask.
“No questions. All will be answered shortly.” Arthur interrupted, then he disappeared into the hallway and up the stairs.
Jessie walked slowly through the tunnel, fear and excitement rippling through her body. She felt like she was in the middle of a movie. Jessie started to suspect that she had time travelled, don’t be stupid you can’t time travel. That’s not real. As she went further down the tunnel, photos of children, about her age from different eras were hung up on the walls. They all looked, in some way, related and all the photos were in colour, no matter how far back they were taken.
As Jessie came to the end of the tunnel, Mary was sitting in front of a desk in the middle of a cluttered room. The room had stone brick walls roof and floor and papers were scattered around the room as if a bomb went off. “Come and sit here,” Mary said drawing a chair from the edge of the room, “where’s father?”

“He didn’t say anything, he just disappeared up the stairs.” Jessie replied. She sat down next to Mary. She was ready to ask all her questions as soon as Arthur came down. Why was she here? What is this place? How come you have inventions that aren’t meant to be here?

The two girls sat in silence for a while. When Arthur came down, he was holding what looked like a pile of photo albums, both old and new. He walked silently to the desk, placed the photo album on it and simply said “Ask away.”

“Who, what, where, why and how?” Jessie asked. Arthur and Mary looked at each other and smiled, it seemed that they had this conversation lots of times before. “Our family,” Arthur said finally, “are time travellers, and have been for hundreds of years. That hair band your wearing, was given to you lasts year, is that right?”
“Err… yes.” Jessie felt sick, she could hardly speak.
“The last family member to have the hairband will pass it on to the next generation and so on. They trial it for a year to see if that person is capable of time travel and exactly one year after receiving the hairband, they do their first bit of time travel in their favourite era of history, but we can’t travel forward in time.”
“Can I take other people with me?”
“Only if they can time travel. Oh, and time in your original year slows. A day here is an hour there.”
“How do I get back to my own time period?” Jessie asked, she was getting worried.
“The same way you came. That will be how you will time travel every time.”
“But how can I do that if the wood where I time travelled is gone?”
Jessie looked between Arthur and Mary. They had fearful faces; Jessie could tell that this wasn’t a good thing.
“What’s meant to happen,” Mary said very slowly, “the wood, in your case, is meant to stay where you found it until you go back. We’ve never had this before.”

Arthur went over to a very messy bookshelf and started to read the spines of the books. He looked very concerned.
After about five minutes of silence, Arthur came back with his nose buried in a large book. Jessie saw a glimpse of the title: The first time-traveller’s diary. He flicked through the pages for a moment, leaving Mary and Jessie in an awkward silence with the odd sound of the rustling of pages. “Here it is,” He said at last “if the time traveller can’t get back straight away, you have until the third sunset to get back to you time period again.”
Jessie’s stomach did a tumble. She knew what she wanted to ask; she was too scared to ask it. “What will happen if I don’t get back?”
“You are forgotten by everyone you know.”
Mary looked as jessie felt, Arthur realized this and sent them to bed, telling jessie to use Mary’s clothes to make herself blend in, “Just don’t take the hairband off.”
When Jessie went to bed, she couldn’t sleep. She lay awake for hours, thinking about what she just heard. All those strange things that happened in the last year, it was because of this.

Chapter 4:
“Jessie, get up, we need to go.” Mary said shaking Jessie, “We don’t have long.”
Jessie opened her eyes slowly. “Still back in time then.” Mary nodded. She was hoping it was all just a dream. Obviously, that wasn’t the case. “Quickly, put this on,” Mary said throwing an old dress at Jessie, “we’ll explain the plan at breakfast.”
“What time is it?” Jessie asked rubbing her eyes awake.
“4:00 o’clock in the morning.” Mary replied casually before walking out of the room. Jessie got up and put the dress on. It didn’t fit as Mary was smaller than her and it was extremely tight at the waist, like she was wearing a corset.
Jessie went down the stairs and into the kitchen where Arthur and Mary were already sitting at a small table, eating porridge. Jessie sat in the remaining seat and started to eat. “This morning we are going to look at the place where you came through, see if there are any clues.” Arthur said.
“Why are we up this early?” Jessie asked, indicating outside. It was still dark outside, the stars still twinkling in the inky sky.
“If you want to get back, we need as much time as we can.” Arthur replied. Jessie could tell from the sags under his eyes that he was up all night.
After breakfast, Arthur and Mary went straight for the front door, “Aren’t we going to brush are teeth?” Jessie asked. She knew that there was toothpaste in the 1800s, even if it wasn’t the best.
“We can’t afford it,” Arthur said with a sigh, “we can’t afford much these days, I can’t get a job. Everything has been different since your grandma time travelled…”

Jessie opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it. She could see it wasn’t a subject that He wanted to talk about. They went out the front door to the small front garden. The gas lamps that lined the streets were burning low and there were no lights coming from any of the houses. The group set off down the street to the town centre.

“Do you know the exact place you came out of the wood?” Arthur asked checking the windows of shops and houses, probably checking they weren’t being watched.
“Sorry, I didn’t have time to,” Jessie replied, “Mary found me, she might know.”
“I think it was near Sainsburys,” Mary said, “I was going to get some groceries when I found her.”

Arthur started to quicken his pace, so Jessie had to run to keep up. They went around the town past stalls and shops, past the school and the church, they didn’t stop until they got to the town square. Suddenly, Arthur stopped. He raised his finger. Jessie and Mary looked into the direction that he was pointing to. There, in the middle of the square, on a bench, was a tablet! Jessie ran over to it and turned it on. Mary came running to her side, with Arthur close behind. “What is that?” Mary asked, staring in awe at the tablet.
“A tablet.” Jessie replied, “They’re very popular in my time.”

She turned the tablet on and tried to unlock it, however, it had a password. She looked at Mary and Arthur. They looked very confused. Jessie sighed, then went into a very detailed explanation on the internet, Wi-Fi and electricity, stopping every now and then to answer a question. “…And that was invented in the 70s.” When Jessie finished, Mary looked even more in awe and Arthur had his mouth wide open. It was very hard for Jessie not to roll her eyes or laugh. She had gotten so used to the internet, she found it hard to believe people would be surprised by it. She turned on the tablet again looking for a clue. “What’s that?” Mary asked swiping to the camera.

“I’ll explain later.” Jessie said quickly before anyone could say anything else, she really didn’t want to explain how modern cameras work. She was just about to turn of the tablet again when her eyes caught the gallery. There was a photo there, which meant someone had already been on it. She clicked on the photo to make it bigger. She gasped and beckoned Arthur and Mary over. “Look!” Jessie exclaimed “This riddle is how I get home.”
“We have to get back.” Arthur said, looking at his watch, “People will be awake soon.”

They walked back to the small terraced house quickly, worried of being spotted. Jessie felt a spot of hope in her mind, she might actually have a chance, but they had to solve the riddle first.

Fix the mistake from last time…

To be continued…

All the talk about pollution bores me! It’s the only thing anyone ever goes on about. How am I supposed to write five whole pages on it? I don’t have a clue! Everyone at school says I have an advantage: I live in Whitby –near the sea- but right now I need all the help I can get. What am I supposed to write about, the sea or something? I’ll just have to ramble on about plastic. It’s not even going to happen in my lifetime anyway, so why should I care? My brain is frazzled. I’ll just do it in the morning, I can’t possibly carry on anymore! I close my eyes in frustration and rest my head in my hands.

Salty sea air invades my nostrils, I’m standing on the beach front of my hometown! The usual fried fish batter smell is gone. Normally, the fish and chip shops are magnets attracting visitors. The hype of the Whitby streets is also lost – no hustle and bustle of active tourists. A deafening silence floods the atmosphere, no seagull shrieks, no sounds coming from the chaotic harbor. Opening my eyes, I am half scared, half curious of what I am going to lay my eyes upon.

Only a few people are roaming the streets? That’s very peculiar, normally in broad daylight hundreds of lively tourists are rushing past to get to their destination. It is as if seagulls have become extinct. Not one flies above waiting like vicious predators for someone to drop some delicious food. All fish and chip shops have been replaced with clothes shops! Worst of all, the sea! Not a sea you would imagine, every inch of it is covered in worn down plastic. No fishing boats resting sleepily ready for their daily trip to sea. Laying drowsily on the sand, is a suffering turtle trapped in hi-cones (the plastic around beer cans). I run over, desperate for it to be alive. It’s lifeless. Sea foam comes up to my ankles, but it isn’t the ordinary yellow foam you see at your local seaside, instead it is green. Green from the overriding plastic taking up the whole ocean. I have to find out what’s going on here.

“Excuse me miss?” I ask the nearest person. “Why is the sea full of plastic? Why are all the Fish and Chip shops closed?”
“Is this a joke? It’s been this way for years.” the woman replies, clearly confused.
“But why?” I persist
“Have you not learned about pollution at school?” she asks.
Before I have time to answer, she is gone. Wandering down the street, trying to find someone else to ask what time it is, I find an aged man.
“Excuse me sir? What’s the time and day?” I question.
“What do you mean?” he hesitates. “It’s 1:30, Tuesday 15th August 2083.” His low silky voice reminding me of my grandad.
“Oh, ok thanks bye.” I replied, trying to hide the fear in my voice.

Walking down the cobbled street, my brain fills with hundreds of worrying thoughts whizzing round like hyper children. How am I supposed to get home and see my family again? How is it 2083? It was 2020 when I left, that means I must have travelled to the future! How has this happened? Wait a minute, I’ve just realized that if I hadn’t stayed the same age – I’d be 78! So, pollution would become a problem in my lifetime? Anyway, I need to stop standing speechless and find a way out of here. I fish through my options –of which there aren’t many at all- and it looked like my first was… Wait, what’s that noise? It’s like a low groan echoing in my ears. For some strange reason, it reminded me of home. Yes, that’s it, a hoover! But how can my home hoover be in the streets of Whitby? Closing my eyes, I wish to be back home! I open my eyes; thank goodness it wasn’t real! Exhilaration flows through my whole body!

I have never been so relieved to be in my own comfortable bedroom. I rush up and embrace my mam. It had all seemed so real and terrifying, that I am still trying to take it all in. I am now aware of how important doing something about pollution is and I finally know what to write my essay about! If I’ve learned anything from this experience it’s that, time won’t wait for us to catch up so it’s our job to take action and save the world from pollution!

In the city of London, on a Sunday morning, Paige woke up to her parents shouting Happy Birthday. Paige was finally sixteen, “yes, the day has finally arrived” she cheered and jumped. “Come on Paige, time for presents” she forgot her parents were still in the room but she didn’t care because she was sixteen. The family made their way downstairs, and Paige began to open her presents. Shortly after, the presents were all open. “Paige, you’re finally sixteen so I think it’s time I show you something” and with that, her mother lead her up to the loft, lead her in the corner, where Paige saw a box, it was green with an army pattern and on top it read ‘john smith’ the name of her grandfather. “What is this mum?” “This is a war box with your great grandfather’s old belongings, the things he had at war time are in this box.” Paige took one step closer and began to open the box, but all that was there was a bunch of old junk. “why did you wait till I was sixteen to show me this junk” “it’s not junk, it’s the things your great grandfather had when he died” “so did he die in this outfit” “yes he did” she took another look closer to see a watch. “I’ll let you look for yourself” Her mother walked downstairs and she reached into the box, and began to grab the watch, when the watch gave off a light, all around the box was glowing. The light reached her eyes and blinded her for a moment, soon enough, the entire room was filled with this extremely bright light, Paige fell to the floor as she fainted.

The next thing she knew, she woke up, in a bed, it wasn’t very comfortable, there was a horrible smell surrounding her, it was cloudy, whereas at home it was sunny. “Where am I?” “You are in the trenches” a strange voice replied, he turned around the corner. “so what’s a kid like you doing in the middle of no man’s land? it’s dangerous out here, we thought you were gone” “I’m not sure, one minute I was at home, and I touched a watch, and suddenly everything went black” she was just as confused as the man was. “you mean the watch on your wrist?” she took one glance at her wrist “how did that get there? And it was broken” “okay kid, we don’t have all day, tell me what actually happened” he didn’t believe her, she started tearing up. “I’m telling the truth, I don’t know how I got here, I touched the watch and fainted, then I woke up here, I’m telling the truth” Paige looked around, to see who was near her, it’s like she was in the middle of the war, but that would be impossible. She walked out into the trench, there were men in costumes like the one from the box, constantly walking by her, she didn’t know what to do, she didn’t know how to get home, it was something to do with the watch but how was she supposed to use it to get back? Without hesitation, Paige ran up the ladders onto the surface. “What are you doing?” the man ran after her “first of all I have a name, its Paige, and second of all, I need to get out of here, I can’t really be here, we learn about the world war in history, I’m clearly just dreaming, but I might as well use this as a chance to meet my great grandfather.” “Listen Kid, I wish this was just a dream, but it would be classed as a nightmare, trust me, whatever you believe this is real life, and you will die out there” he seemed really scared. “I live in the year 2019, this can’t be real, this is 1942, I want my mobile, I want my normal clothes, I want my laptop, I need to find a way back home, but for now I want to meet my great grandfather” he seemed confused once again. “what is a mobile and what is a laptop?” “see this is why I need to be back home, so first I need to meet my great grandfather”. She walked along the mud and grass, being careful of the bullets, she hid behind small places, and made her way through the fields, eventually she got to no man’s land, where everyone was fighting, she looked around, but her great grandfather was nowhere to be found. That was until she looked beneath the hill she was stood on, she saw her great grandfather under the hill, and a man was pointing his gun at him, her great grandfather didn’t realise, this is the moment her great grandfather dies, she was about to witness a death her family had grieved. She couldn’t let it happen again, she couldn’t let him die twice, she jumped down the hill and held her arm out in front of her, she stood in front of him and he turned around to see the bullet heading towards the girl’s wrist. Her great grandfather shot his gun at the man, and the bullet that was heading for Paige, soon reached her, but it didn’t hit her, the watch saved her, but it had broken again. “Thanks kid, you saved my life”

Just then, the watch began to light up again, the light reached her eyes once again blinding her, she fell to the floor and saw only the colour white. “PAIGE! PAIGE! PAIGE!” she woke up to see her mum shouting in her face, her mum hugged her. “I was so worried Paige.” “What happened, your great grandfather came over and I came to get you but you were on the floor, you must’ve fainted.” “but great grandad John died, in the second world war” “what are you talking about, you know your great grandad always visits you on your birthday and almost every other holiday, and I’ve told you before, he almost died but a little girl saved him, another soldier said her name was Paige, that’s why we called you Paige and your great grandfather always used to say you look oddly similar to the girl who saved him.” She took her mums hand and they walked downstairs, they enjoyed their meal, Paige enjoyed her party, and best of all, she could live knowing that she saved her great grandfathers life, even if nobody else knew.