The noise at the station was deafening. The screams of children refusing to let go of their mums, the laughter of others and the rumbling and screeching of the train as it arrived at the station, stopping in front of the thousands of children waiting to board and about to embark on a life-changing journey.
Jack walked unsteadily to the back of the queue, constantly glancing in the direction of his tearful mum who stood behind the huge station gates alongside hundreds of other mums, all bravely trying to hide their tears.
As Jack boarded the train, he glanced back one last time and noticed Sam rushing towards him, pushing and shoving his way through the crowds. As the train doors were closing, Sam finally reached the front of the crowd, throwing a parcel through the closing doors as he did so. The parcel landed at Jack’s feet just as the train doors slammed shut.
Jack quickly retrieved the parcel from amongst the many pairs of feet and walked down the packed aisle, winding his way through brothers, sisters and friends chatting excitedly. Jack had no one.
He eventually found an empty seat and sat down with a sigh, feeling lonelier than he’d ever felt in his life. Throughout the journey he fingered the parcel, trying to guess what might be inside. It seemed very hard, extremely heavy for its size and a very odd shape. He couldn’t decide whether to open it immediately or hide it away until he arrived at his destination. After some debate, Jack became so intrigued that he decided to have a quick peak at what was inside his mysterious parcel.
He tore off a corner slowly and peered inside but all he could see was a white piece of paper, a note he guessed, and something shiny that he couldn’t quite make out. He decided to read the note so stuck his fingers into the parcel and carefully pulled out the white piece of paper.
Dear Jack,
I am so, so sorry that I will not be travelling with you to your destination, wherever that may be. Please take this gift to remind you of our friendship. I have a feeling that it may be useful in the future and could come in handy some day.
Sam.
“A key? How could that come in handy some day?” Jack thought to himself. Sam had always seemed different. He never went to school and Jack had never met or even heard him talk about his parents. He had always been there though, whenever Jack felt lonely or down. But why would he want to give Jack a key?
He had no time to ponder the mystery any further. The train came to a sudden stop. They had reached their destination. This was the part he had been most dreading. He quickly stuffed the key and the crumpled note into his pocket and prepared to meet his new “family”.
The Wrong Choice
Alice Morgan, Cwrt Sart
One day a Mermaid and a Merfather were taking a daily swim through the Great Barrier Reef. They enjoyed it. Annabella Lirmar was seventeen and personally loved to explore the wide and beautiful aspects of the corals and reefs but often her strong and not easy to please father Jackson would watch over her.
“It is Saturday so I think I’ll go and feed the clownfish with some left over bread crumbs from the Mermarket Downtown,” whispered Annabella to herself.
“Bye Father. May I go and feed the clownfish by Flynn reef?”
“Of course. Just be back in time to eat dinner, my special beef and tomato soup,” replied Jackson.
“Really! How did you get the ingredients?” asked Annabella curiously.
“There’s a myth of a boy who can both live above land most of the time and swim exceptionally well,” said Jackson cautiously.
“Well he sounds interesting and talented but I must now go as they must be getting peckish,” Annabella said as she bid farewell to her last remaining family, and went off, flipping her tail, out into the deep blue reefs of extreme beauty.
Maybe not many fish will be around as the crown of thorns starfish are usually dominating the reef, thought Anna to herself.
When she found the clownfish she smiled and started to sprinkle out the breadcrumbs from her small floral clutch bag. Then she noticed that they were all gradually moving away and swimming towards a delightful smell. This confused her. She fed them every week. So, true to her nickname Adventurous Annabella, he decided to take a closer look.
Swimming franticly upwards, Anna hit the top of the crystal clear water and found a poor teenage boy feeding her clownfish BISCUITS! Yes, you heard me right!
“Hello. Are you okay? What’s your name? I’m Annabella by the way” shouted Anna.
“Shaun. And I’m fine thanks,” replied the cold Shaun.
“Do you need anything, are you okay with water?”
“Swimming and adventure is my life!” replied Shaun positively.
“That’s amazing! So what is your favourite animal Shaun?”
“Probably a Duck. You?” answered Shaun.
“A what? Is it like a land animal because I’d love to see Australia or a bit of it anyway but my Dad would never let me!”
“So I’m guessing yours is a kind of fish?” grinned Shaun.
“Well this chat was nice and awkward but I must be getting back to my father.”
“We could see Australia together?” said Shaun out loud, out of the blue!
“Okay! Maybe I will talk to my dad. But where will you go and how will we ever meet again?”
“Well I’ve been kicked out so I live here, there and everywhere. I’ll be at this very spot at ten thirty sharp tomorrow and good luck persuading your tight dad Anna!” replied the cheeky Shaun.
“My Dad is great company as it’s only me and him now. Just trust me Shaun, I’ll be there. I wouldn’t miss this opportunity for the world.”
Waking up Anna rubbed her eyes and prepared for her dad to go crazy about her decision to travel with a perfectly appealing stranger.
“Father, I’m going away for about two weeks to finally travel Australia. Well, in the East anyway,” mumbled Anna firstly.
“What! I don’t want you to go Annabella because you know how awfully lonely I get.”
“I’m really sorry, but the opportunity came so you’ll just have to put up with it. I’m nearly eighteen.”
Kissing her father on the cheek she swam out the door and watched a tear run down his eye.