Ebook IX,X,XI, XII classes_3

IX,X,XI, XII classes

Short storywriting My
Dream project

Hi I am Tealia, Tealia Morgan. My three best friends are Scarlett Noah, Lily Robertson and
Kate Anderson, we are besties for life. Lily is basically my cousin but she’s still one of my
best friends. It was my last day of first semester in school, and the class was a bustling
commotion. It was about nine o’clock and Mrs. Jones started her class. Mrs. Jones was our
history teacher for the past two years; we loved her, she was the best. Today she gave us a
research project about mythical creatures, it was a group project and we decided that Lily,
Kate, Scarlett and I would form a group. The rest of the day was relatively free, few chit
chats in between classes about our newly assigned project.

We were excited to do this project and Kate once had read about the town of Wilchester
where there is frequent reporting of mythical creatures and unexplained mysterious
happenings. In Wilchester, all the strange happenings happened in the town’s museum. We
were leaving for Wilchester bright and early on the following day in the morning, it was an
hour ride from my house hence, we were assembling at my house. We decided to stay in our
family friends house in Wilchester, my parents said they had some work so they would
drop us at their house. We will complete our research and return on Sunday afternoon.

It was early Saturday morning; the temperature was quite nice and warm. We left for
Wilchester first thing in the morning. We got on to the car and buckled ourselves in. We
were quickly leaving the town behind us and the forest was thick on both sides of the road in
no time. We knew we arrived at Wilchester when the forest started to thin and buildings
were flashing on both sides of the window. We reached our family friends house and got
ready to go investigate regarding the strange happenings and mythical creatures.

The Local Daily on the Dining table reported about some missing idols in the town’s museum.
To know more on what happened in the museum, we decided to intercede. We got a cab to the
museum. The old museum looked a lot like the ones in movies from the outside but it was in a
pretty bad shape inside with police crime tapes all over the place and within them a lot of its
historic pieces missing. The last case on Friday night was that there was a sudden
disappearance of the statue of the local ruler and in its place there was a scratched wall

scribbling which said “Find me if u CAn” .We were able to spot out footprints on the

dusted floor and we followed the prints and it led to the beach just behind the museum and
disappeared near the coast lines.

Suddenly we found a piece of paper buried lightly into the sand, we quickly took the paper
out and it had a map of an island so we decided we would take a boat from the nearby dock to
find the island. We found the island pretty quick; we got down from the boat and started on
foot. We found a castle. The castle was black and murky with one of its turrets broken and
its fragments blowing off in the wind sending your system into nerve racking fear. Scarlett
the most daring of us all opened the door we very quickly able to spot out the historic pieces
missing from the museum. In the center of the hall away from us sat a fairly short eerie
looking creature, I felt a shiver run down my spine. For a second, my leg disconnected from
my body I was not able to move. All I was able to do was scream which triggered the creature
and it started to chase us, we were running swiftly and we closed the doors behind us. It
was banging the door loudly and all of a sudden, I felt something shake my arm, my
heartbeat accelerated and I blinked, trying to make sense of my surroundings and realized
it was all just a dream. I was in my bedroom and my mom was waking me up since I was
running late to school. I thought to myself “Well that was an experience” and quickly
rushed to school for my last day of the semester.

-Tejasviya.R IX C

Clever Boys

It was a pleasant evening in Ahmedabad. Jack was playing cricket in the street with

his friends. It was a normal evening when something out of the ordinary happened. The
normal hustle of the bat hitting the ball and the kids yelling “catch!” was interrupted by a
high-pitched, ear tingling scream. Jack and all his friends froze up like time stopped. He
couldn't identify the voice but it was shrill and loud. Jack asked Billy, his close friend to
accompany him in order to investigate. They made for the street the scream came from.

They neared Grizzly Street. The air seemed to grow thick around them. The clouds
grew darker. It was his mind playing tricks. They turned a corner and saw a woman in her
late 60’s standing on the side of the road crying.

“What's wrong auntie?” asked Jack. “A man stole my groceries” cried the woman. “Describe
the man auntie” said Billy. “H-He wore a mask and woolen gloves. He threatened me with his
fists and told me to give him my grocery bag. I hesitated an-and he grabbed it from my
arm. He was about your height” stuttered the old lady.

“Ok auntie we’ll take you home” said Billy. After
walking the lady home,

Billy said ”Wow, that lady was lucky that the thief
didn’t take her purse.”
“Yeah, I guess” said Jack who was taking down the
old lady’s address and phone number in his handy
pocket book. ”Anyway” said Billy, “I’m gonna tell my
dad”.
“Don’t do that Billy. Your dad may call the police and
the thief will never dare to step here again.”
“So? What are we gonna do?” asked a quite puzzled
Billy.

“We are going to record the thief in action.” exclaimed Jack.
“W-we……….h-how? ”stammered Billy.
“First of all, this is a closed enclave. There's only one road in and out of here and the gates
are all--”
“Guarded by Security!!” Exclaimed Billy.

“Yes this means that we can easily hide a few cameras here and there in order to spy on
the criminal”

“Alright, “said Billy ”but where are we going to
get cameras to hide?”

“I’ve got a few Go-Pro’s. We could hide them in
the bushes” said Jack promptly.

The next morning, Jack, Billy and all their
friends started their work.

Jack explained what had happened to all their
friends and the procedure they were supposed
to follow.

The boys were willing to do what it takes in
order for the thief to be caught.

So, they hid three Go-Pro’s overlooking the
road and waited that evening for the results.

Today there were no screams or shouts for help. The boys went back to playing their
routine game of cricket in the evening.

Nothing.

Jack took the cameras from their hiding spots and carried them home that night.

He watched his daily episode of Tom-and-Jerry during dinner. It struck him just then.
“What if the cheese was what attracted the thief just like in Tom-and-Jerry?”

He was set to try out this new task tomorrow.

He called the auntie who got robbed that night and asked her to go and again buy groceries
tomorrow. “I’ve almost caught him auntie. This last trick will make him come back for more.”

After reassuring the Lady, Jack went to bed with excitement pumping in his chest.

The next morning, he told his friends to start playing cricket as they usually did and not

bother about the thief. They agreed. Jack set up the cameras again and

turned them on to record.

He was determined to catch the thief.

As the old lady was walking the same day, she was attacked and her
grocery bag was stolen again.

She yelled for help and the boys ran towards her. This time, Jack’s Father was standing on
the patio and rushed toward the lady and making sure she was alright.
When Jack arrived, he told his father that he had caught the thief.
His dad was puzzled. “How? Where is he?” asked Jack’s dad.
“I’ve Recorded it on camera, Dad. And placed cameras on the turns of the street as well.”
Once Jack’s dad saw the video, He called the police. They tracked the thief and found out
he was the gardener of the enclave.
The Police Officers congratulated the Boys for this smart act.
“Very wise children. We wouldn't have thought about that”
“Clever Boys indeed”

The End

By:Joshua Alwinking
Class:XII ’A’

HOW JARRING A DAY CAN BE

I walked down the school hallway as my usual self. Jeans, t-shirt, running shoes – all in
theme with my blue glasses. But today I’d felt…different. I wasn’t sure why. I looked
down at myself for the millionth time and still felt weird. Maybe it was the atmosphere.
It felt particularly dull today. I wondered, why?

How had I even got to school? I didn’t remember. I didn’t remember waking up or eating
breakfast or saying bye to mom and Hannah…

Ah...maybe it's today’s math test that’s been bugging me all week. Mr. Kelleher always
conducted super hard tests…which I, not-so-surprisingly, always failed at. I reached
Kari’s and my usual spot, near the fountain. We always met there before class.

I kept my math textbook and water bottle down and sat on the bench. Why was she late
today? I waited for a few more minutes. Ah there she was, she looked like she’d just
woken up, her eyes were puffy and tired and her clothes wrinkled. Not complaining…I
always look like that.

Standing up, I asked her “Kari! Why’re you late today? It’s weird. I’m usually the late one.
Except maybe-” I stopped talking. She was completely ignoring me, like I wasn't even
there. “Kari?” I ask. I also waved my hand in front of her face.

She still ignored me.

Well, that was rude! I thought.

I frowned and started shouting at her after calling her a few more times. “Kari! If you’re
going to ignore me like that…if you hate me or something, you better be straight up with
it.” She still ignored me.

Now she’d crossed her limit.

Still frowning, I followed a group of kids from my grade to our first period. Fine! Let her
ignore me! I thought, another one followed up - Why though?

I try to talk to some of my “friends”. Like Kari, they ignored me. What? Was this a prank
or something? Cause this really wasn’t funny.

I tried asking them.

No reply.

I didn’t care now. I just stormed into class and walked to my bench. But I halted, noticing
Drew was sitting there...in my seat!

I snapped at him to get out of my place. I was really angry then because he too didn’t
respond. Scowling, I reluctantly took another seat.

Mrs. Scott, our first subject teacher, started taking our attendance. To make the day
worse, she skipped my name or maybe she just missed it.

Why was this happening to me?

I raised my hand and started talking without waiting for her to look up. “Um...Excuse me?
Mrs. Scott? You missed my name. Jules Ranver.”

She didn’t even look up, which just added to my rage. That was it. The day couldn’t get
any worse. Hoping someone would stop me and tell me this was all a bad dream, I picked
up my book and bottle and trudged out of the class. No one stopped me.

In a dilemma, I decided to go straight to Principal Gupta’s office. I couldn’t handle it
anymore.

Not bothering to knock, I barged into her office where I came face to face with a
massive life size painting of two words – Delilah Gupta.

Talk about show-off.

As soon as I entered, a door on the far wall opened and the Principal walked in. With her
green suit, matching lipstick and tomboy cut hair she resembled a Rockstar worthy of
Green Day.

“Ma’am?” I asked, shutting the door behind me. To my surprise she screamed when I shut
the door and clutching her chest, she stumbled backward. “Oh my gosh! Ahh!” she choked.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to barge in like that…I just wanted to-” I stopped, she too
ignored me. With her eyes fixed on the door, she walked around her desk slowly and sat
down in her chair. Letting out a shuddering breath, she gave a last glance to the door and
turned to the stack of papers on her desk.

“Ma’am?” I waved in front of her face. I was so close to her that I could smell her
signature perfume.

Wait…I couldn’t smell it now. I remember dreading the times when she used to walk into
our class for inspections. We could smell it a classroom away.

Had my nose stopped working? It was scary.

A few seconds later, her secretary – Miss Lane, walked through the same door she’d come
through. Miss Lane handed Mrs. Gupta a file and after giving her a small nod, returned to
her door.

“Wait. Miss Lane. Have you ever heard of any hauntings in this school?” Principal Gupta
asked. It was typical of her to have asked so. She was the most superstitious teacher in
our school.

“No Ma’am, I have not. But perhaps-” Miss Lane started.

“Do not speak of her, Miss Lane. It will only provoke my thoughts further on ghosts. And
speaking of which, have you arranged for the new counsellor this week? I don’t think the
students can handle the death.” Principal said.

I had no clue what they’re talking about.

But I knew I had had enough of people pretending like I didn’t exist. A tear made its way
down my cheek as I turned, opened the door and ran out. The last thing I heard before
running down the stairs was a terrified Principal Gupta screaming, “THE DOOR! I KNEW
IT WAS HAUNTED! AHH! CALL THE GHOSTBUSTERS, THE POLICE, ANYONE!!”

A little laugh came out of me as I heard her screaming ‘Call the ghostbusters!’ does she
not know they don’t exist?

Soon I was out of the building and crying. I stopped at the gate and even the guard didn’t
notice me.

I didn’t understand what was happening.

My eyes stopped at the little church opposite our school. I didn’t think, just ran across
the road and to the church. What I saw there surprised me, my mom and sister were
standing in the graveyard and…crying?

I rushed to them screaming, “MOM! HAN-” I halt when I see they don’t turn.

Everybody was ignoring me. Even my family?

I walked up to them, they were in front of a gravestone. I was beside them, and they
didn't even look at me.

I wasn’t sweating or out of breath…which was weird considering I’d just run. It hadn’t
felt like running though…more like gliding?

Realization struck me just as I saw what was written on the stone –

JULES RANVER

2005 – 2020

Our little angel who came into this world on the 3rd of January.

We will always love you, and miss you.

RIP.

- Rachel Antony [IX – A]

A Chapter from My Life

I shut the door behind me and sat on my table looking outside the window. I started
thinking how I started the journey of my life. I received results of my exam this morning
and as expected the reaction of my parents was the same. They were again not annoyed
but they were disappointed. My parents are that kind of people who can tell you what
they feel only through the expressions of their eyes. I could tell that, yet another time
I have not performed well my behaviour has still been constant. Fifteen years ago, on
the same date I stepped first into this house. I was very pleased and I felt blessed, for
the first time in my life to feel a sense of belonging to someone. This fact is an inspiration
for me. As a young child I was always up to something or the other. I was one of those
people who weren’t into that much study, also I always scored only average grades at
school. At that point of time I was very focused, stubborn and highly over active. I used
to spend hours and hours doing different things. My dad used to go out of town quite
often so I spent most of my time in childhood with my mother. She never let me sit doing
nothing, she would either give me some work to do or rather let me do something new on
my own. This might very well explain the fact that how the 5-year-old me was able to
speak five languages, know how to play piano and had already read the classic reads of
Amar Premchand and BiruBhai. When I was in seventh grade my dad got posted to
Kashmir border. My brother was appearing for his twelfth-class boards and my mother
was stuck alone in the new town of Roorkee in Haryana with her two children. As soon as
dad went to Kashmir troubles started rolling in our lives. There is always one stage in
every family when troubles come with great difficulties which affect the coordination.
Maybe this was the stage in our family at that time. My dad broke his arm as soon as he
left for Kashmir. Due to the terror attack in that area that day, medication was not
easily available. My mother here at Roorkee was unable to help in any way as my brother
had been infected with dengue fever that time and I was staying alone at our house. My
mother was also faced with severe unbearable back pain. During the same time, I was
selected to lead the Independence Day parade. This was the first time when a girl would
lead the parade in that area. I was too stressed at that point because I wanted to help
my family members but I couldn’t do anything. Soon things started getting back to
normal. My brother was cured, my mother was relieved from the back pain. I was a bit

discouraged that none of my family members witnessed this. But as they say there is
always light at the end of the tunnel, that year I won the title of “Best Female Athlete
of the Year”. Looking back to all those memories now, I feel teenage may have affected
me but my childhood has taught me a lot. Fighting today on this day, trying to get good
grades in my class eleventh exams, I feel that life still has much to offer me.
This is not the end of my life after all. Maybe, all this while somebody up there was trying
to teach me something. Maybe, I can still dream of joining civil services for bringing
wealth to my country. I can still dream of running an NGO for children and Women safety.
I can still dream of being the judge of the supreme court. My dreams are endless!
Whatever it may be, I feel I’m now ready to proceed to my studies for next test. Wish
me luck!

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

BY: Roopakshi Shukla

Class 11: Allen

CREATIVE STORY WRITING A VOYAGE

TO HEAVEN

It was 11:45 A.M in the morning, our teacher was teaching about planets and solar
system in the class. One girl was curious and asked the teacher if there is only one planet in
our solar system named Mars, in which we are living. The teacher corrected her by saying
that there are totally 8 planets. In this Mars only has life on it and no other planet has life.
All the students were interested in this topic and were keenly listening to their teacher.
Then a girl named Sara, went home and searched about the planets and was amazed to see
about the third planet ‘EARTH’. She asked her teacher if she could share more information
about it. Then the teacher started explaining about Earth, its prosperity, Beauty and the way
the people’s lifestyle was and also about how it was damaged. Finally, she said around
thousand centuries ago the people who were living on the earth misused and spoiled the earth
so badly and there was a need for them to shift to another planet. The planet they chose was
Mars, on which life is available now. She then concluded by saying that this is the story
behind life on Mars and said that Mars is not our home planet rather Earth is our home
planet. Sara was astonished on listening to this scientific history, so she thought of
researching about Earth.

One fine day Sara developed a ‘TIME TRAVELLING MACHINE ‘.
It could travel to the past as well as to the future. She time travelled for a thousand
centuries ago to Earth, where people were living happily. When she landed on Earth, she felt
very pleasant, happy and peaceful. It was a new experience for her to walk on ground casually
instead of living on Floating gas balloons which has risks and if one wanted to go outside they
should carry an oxygen cylinder and wear a space suit which weighs about 20 kg. She was
surprised to see that there were no storms, acid rains as in Mars where sandstorms are a
quite common thing which takes place regularly. She was also anxious to see what people eat.

It was curious for her to see fire being used to cook and bake food. She was wondering that
we were eating some sort of flat round, brown food, which is nothing but chapattis, instead
people on Mars just drank a drop of chemical for their breakfast, lunch as well as for dinner.
It started to drizzle which she feared if it is acid rain, but people were enjoying the drizzle,
she then started pulling the people near to a covered area, for which she got scolding. She
didn’t know what rain was and was wandering how come the skin didn’t burn when rains falls
on them, because there is nothing called as rain on Mars but often acid rain takes place. She
saw some trees nearby, then saw something hanging on it, which people ate, when she tasted
it, she loved it, as she hasn’t eaten any food except the tablets that replace the food. She
admired the rivers and the huge appearance of the mountains and the waves of the sea
water. She then visited Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world and she stood still.

Then she spent some days on Earth and the while she thought of going back
to Mars, the time machine got damaged……….

Suddenly she heard of someone shouting her name, who was none other
than her mom, waking her up from sleep. Sara got up and realised that she is still living on
Earth only and it was her dream living on Mars then time travelling to earth. Sara then
understood the importance of our Earth and from then on Sara became very conscious about
nature and protecting our only home ‘EARTH’.

BY: M.HEMASHREE
IX-C

THOSE GOLDEN DAYS

The child in her was unique. Ambitious, shy, naughty and always
ready for fun adventures. Maybe Janhvi’s character was highly impacted by the kind of
environment where she lived. A small town in the Kollam district of Kerala, ‘God’s Own
Country’. Surrounded by a home touched by nature’s warmth, different kinds of trees

with fruits across seasons, mornings filled with the chirping of birds, and lots of multi-
coloured flowers manifesting their true beauty. Frankly speaking, it were those days
that she referred to as the ‘Golden days of her life’.

Everyday she would wake up to the call of her mother, whom she adored the most. The
mother would make delicious pancakes for her topped with honey and fresh bananas
picked from their garden. Followed by it would be the hustle for getting her ready for
school. Her mother would pack her bag stuffing it with books, lunch and a water bottle,
while her storyteller grandma would braid her golden hair with ribbons while telling the
child stories from her college days. Then the grandfather would pick the child, and run
in order to catch the school bus which used to arrive at the junction.

In the evenings, she would run into the verandah, excited, to the noise of her dad’s
Royal Enfield, as he returned from his work. Her dad would buy her favourite chocolate
and the child would hug him as a sign of showing her gaiety. Then would the family sit
together for dinner which would be no less than a grand fiesta. Then, at night, she
would sleep in her grandma’s arms listening to her sweet voice humming old tunes from
the black and white days. It was from those days that she remembers every tiny detail
which still rules her memory.

Years passed by. The little girl now grew up to be a teenager. A pretty girl, with
sparkling brown eyes, long stranded hair and a sweet voice. She was no longer fed
breakfast by her mother, no longer taken in her grandpa’s arms to the bus stop, but
she still listened to the songs and stories of her grandmother who was now wrapped in
the hands of old age with silver hair, a weak voice and a slightly bent body. It was with
her grandma with whom she shared the strongest bond.

One fine evening, her dad returned from his office as usual, but this time he had a box
of chocolates and a warm smile on his face. He called all the family members to the
common room stating that he had a big announcement. The family gathered and the
father continued, “I have to share a very happy news with all of you’ll. The company has
granted me a high promotion along with a good salary appraisal”. The family was
overcome with happiness and they all clapped their hands. He continued, “The company
was overwhelmed by my contribution in the new project and as a result they gave me a
placement in their new company in Dubai, UAE. So, me, Janhvi and her mom will have to
shift there within a month’s time.”

Hearing this, the smiles in grandma and grandpa’s faces slowly started fading away.
They came forward, hugged their son and congratulated him. Soon after, they left
towards their room, without saying a word further. Little Janhvi sat still there,
confused as she could not decide whether she should be happy or sad. Dubai was always
her dream destination but the thought of leaving her beloved grandma and grandpa was
at once miserable. She knew that it was not her time to decide and that she would have
to accompany her father and mother to Dubai.

A month passed by. Finally, the dreaded day came when grandma and grandpa had to
bid farewell to their children. The two of them accompanied their children towards
the airport. The announcement was made and soon they realized it was only moments
before their children would leave. Grandma took Janhvi in her arms and kissed her on
her forehead and gave her an old tape recorder and whispered, “Whenever you miss
granny, place this in your arms and listen to it. And magic! Your granny would be
sitting right next to you.” Janhvi kissed her granny and grandpa. Moments later, they
left for the flight and Janhvi realized that it was the memories of those good olden
days that she was carrying with her to Dubai.

- POOJA PRAVEEN
CLASS 11, COMMERCE (C)

A Tale of Liberality

It was a cold dark and rainy night when suddenly, around four kids secretly sneaked out
of a room, looking right and left as if they were up to some big task. The warden, Mr.
Hamilton, was a very strict man who always wanted the hostel students to maintain
discipline, his punishments were so terrifying, he would often make students run three
laps around the hostel campus. The children used to hang out with each other on the
hostel campus after school. Ellen was the smartest in the group and led it, she was 12
years old. Arthur was the most violent in the group, he would get into a lot of fights
and would get into a lot of trouble with Mr. Hamilton, he was 12 years old as well.
Thomas, thirteen, was the oldest and the calmest in the group, he would only talk when
spoken to and Noah, twelve, the youngest in the group was also most clever in the
group, he would fool Mr. Hamilton whenever he was about to get into trouble. One day,
they were being taught about poverty, all the students in the class became quiet and
listened carefully, thinking about how lucky they were to be able to study, eat properly
and live a comfortable life meanwhile there were kids like them who couldn't afford to
have proper meals, had to work hard to earn very little money and often slept without a
roof over their head. The teacher announced the upcoming Children's Day celebrations
which will be held in the hostel campus. Everyone seemed to be happy about the

Children's Day event except for the four of them. The group, after school, went to
their rooms, thinking about it all day. None of them could sleep properly last night,
they were all thinking about the poor children, who probably don't even know what
"Children's Day" means. The next morning, Ellen came up with an idea, what if the group
could talk to the hostel staff to invite the poor children to the event? The group
seemed to like the idea and went to the head of the event. The head of the event
seemed very busy and wasn't paying attention to what the group was saying. Ellen and
the group angrily left the place. Noah, the cleverest guy in the group came up with a
plan, very exciting but dangerous. The day they were waiting for, finally came, there
were various stalls set up on the hostel campus, there was a lot of noise. The group ate
and enjoyed and finally bought some more snacks and books. Ellen told the plan to
everyone, how they would sneak out and where they would go, it was a street, where a
lot of poor children slept. The group looked out of their window, making sure no one was
there to see them sneak out. They slowly opened the door and Ellen lead the group.
They were headed towards the stairs when suddenly a door opened and Mr. Hamilton
walked out. Mr. Hamilton went to check where the noise came from, the group quickly
hid behind the door of a classroom. Mr. Hamilton saw a box with some snacks inside
them and thought it was some kid being mischievous. He walked inside the classroom
and started checking whether someone was in, the group walked out of the door slowly,
as Mr. Hamilton was looking the other way. The group went down the stairs and climbed
up the wall. They had finally escaped the hostel and followed behind Ellen. They
reached the street and quietly took out the boxes with snacks and placed them there,
Noah, sadly couldn't place any box as he had dropped it back in the hostel. The group
felt satisfied and could now sleep peacefully. Mr. Hamilton was standing there and
smiling, the group was scared, they thought they would face serious punishment now,
but Mr. Hamilton seemed rather happy. He told them to follow him back to the hostel,
when they finally reached the hostel, he praised the group for their act of generosity
and promised them that he would talk to the hostel Dean to allow poor children at the
school events and made them promise that they would never pull up such a stunt ever
again. The group went back to their room and had a good night's sleep, after so many
days. The next day, they went to school and were feeling very proud of themselves,
nobody knew about their act of generosity except one person, they saw a change now,
Mr. Hamilton was very friendly to kids now and stopped giving punishments, all the
credit can be given to the group.

Shivansh Thapliyal

X-B

THE BLACK BOX.

"But why? Can’t I stay at home?” I plead with my mother.
"Absolutely not Leah. Today is the first day and you are going to school." my mom replies
with a sigh. She looks angry. This fight happens almost every first day. I say no. She
says yes.
"Ok fine.” I throw my hands up in frustration and go back to my room to get my bag.
But when I return her expression is different than before. She looks apologetic and
smiles at me.
"Since this is the first day of high school, I have something for
you," she says smiling.
"For me?"
"Yes, for you”. She takes out something from her pocket and hands
it over to me. As she takes it, I realize that it is asmall box. A
black box to be precise.
"A box? Why?” I ask, raising my eyebrows. The frustration is clear
in my voice.
She seems a little hurt by my tone. So, I walk up to her and hug
her. But as I hug her, I ask the question again. She laughs a little and says.
"I saw this at a garage sale somewhere. My mom used to say small things bring good
luck. I don't know why but she says that. So, when I saw this I thought of you."
"Is this box is for good luck?” I ask her.
"Yes, it is. So good luck" she says, pulling me in for another hug.
I throw it inside my bag and leave after waving to her. I usually walk to school alone
because it is close by. I decide to put my mints in the small box. I rummage inside my

bag while walking and take it out. The box is too tight for me to open. With much
effort, I finally open, it. But something like a gas comes out of it. It settles in front of
me and forms a person. A boy.

I scream. I scream so much that the others stare at me on the road. Heather, the girl
I hate most in my school seems to have noticed my little freak out. She laughs and
points at me and walks away. But I don’t have time for her now. Because something like a
ghost stands in front of me. He seems to be stretching like he has been in a small place
for a long time.

“What are you?” I ask confidently because I don’t want to be scared. Being scared
doesn’t help people in ghost movies.

“I am a genie” the boy-ghost replies smiling.
“Genie? Like in Aladdin?”
“Well, that was my great grandfather. But yes, That’s the idea.”

“But I thought Genies are blue and don’t have feet. I thought they lived in a kettle or
something” I ask
“Well, humans evolved. So did we. I am Jon” He extends his hand for a handshake. I
shake expecting my hand to go through his but it stays firm. Solid.
“Leah.” I reply. “So, you give me three wishes?”

“Yes. Have some time to think about it. You won’t have a chance to change."

I nod. Somehow I don’t feel scared. We walk to school together. He looks everywhere
and touches everything like he is seeing everything for the first time. “So others can't
see you?” I ask

“Nope. Only the person I grant wishes to,” he replies.
When I enter school, I bump into Heather. She rolls her eyes at me.
“Check your phone,” she says smirking.
I take it out of my phone but there is no charge. She laughs and shows me a video on her
phone titled ‘Freak’s Freak out” It’s a video of me jumping at the sight of Jon.

“Shut up” I reply angrily and shove the phone into her hand and walk away. Jon runs and
catches up to me. I turn to him.

“I want a new phone. My first wish. A new phone.”
“Are you sure?’’

“Yes. Hurry up.”

He closes his hand and when he opens it a new iPhone sits there.
“Cool,” I say smiling. “Thank you”

“No problem.” he replies smiling. “You have two more left.”

The rest of the day he follows me around school. He throws things here and there. But my
classmates don't understand why things fall all of a sudden. But they just assume it’s
the wind.

“We could have been friends if you weren’t a genie and a human.” I say to him while
eating lunch. “We are alike.”

“That’s nice,” He replies smiling.
Just then something falls on my head. Water???I turn to see Heather standing behind
me. She laughs and throws her hair behind.

“Sorry” She laughs and walks away.
“Second wish. Make her trip and fall on her face.” I tell him

“Seriously. Of all the things you could wish for- world peace, gender equality. Do you
want to make a high school student trip? You want to cause pain to someone?’’ He asks,
raising his eyebrows shocked.

“Yes”

He snaps his fingers and I hear a thud. I turn to see Heather lying on the ground.
Laughter echoes through the hall. It includes mine. But Jon walks away. I throw my
things in my bag and run after him.
“Stop. What’s wrong?” I ask him.
“Nothing”

“You are judging me, right?

“No”. He doesn’t talk to me the entire day. When we return home, he shuts himself
inside the box. Before I go to sleep, I knock on his box. He comes out and sits in
front of me.

“What’s wrong? Please talk to me. Are you mad at me?” I ask
him. His expression changes and he looks at me apologetically.
“No. Of course not. I was just shocked you wanted to do that.”

“You don’t understand how difficult it is to be a teenager. The pressure to be
popular, to be perfect. We have to decide what we want to do for the rest of our
lives during this time. I want to do something different during this time. But I
am not allowed. Sometimes it’s too much to bear.” I say shaking my head.
“I understand.” He says.” Even I was a teenager. I am still. I went through this
whole rebel phase where I painted myself blue in respect to my ancestors.” he
says laughing a little.

“I got fed up with living in a box. But when I saw the world, how people lived, and
how some people don’t have the basic things, I became grateful for the things I
had. Lots of people are willing to give up everything for what you have. I would
also give up my genie life for what you have. I am not only talking about three
wishes. Your school, your parents. Everything.”

I nod. He continues smiling.
“Teenage is hard. I know. But try to make the best of it. Try to make the people
around you happy.”

“Sure.” I reply smiling. “Thanks.”
He smiles and goes back into his box. And I go to sleep.

The next morning when I leave for school, he walks with me, smiling and chatting
like he did yesterday.

“So, did you think about your third wish?” He asks.
“Yes. Yes, I did” I reply. I thought about it last night and finally decided on
something that I would really like.

“I would like you to stay. For you to become a human teenager. So, we can be best
friends. You said you wanted to become human.” I say smiling

He seems shocked.” Really? You would do that? For me?’’

“Not for you. For me” I reply laughing.” Because I would miss you when you go”.
“Are you sure? Don’t you want to become Queen Bee of your school or pull pranks
on that girl?”

“Nope. Maybe we can pull pranks together.”
He smiles.” Ok then”. He snaps his fingers and something like a vapour surrounds
him. Seconds later he appears looking the same. Probably more human.
“I’m human!” He shouts. He hugs me and says “Thank you. This means a lot to me”

I hug him back. “Sure” I reply smiling. Nashita D 9B
And we walk to school plotting pranks to pull on Heather.

Mother my Consort

The very first thing that hit my mind after hearing to the locution “Lockdown” is
to linger at my home. IMPOSSIBLE! I traipse around like a stray whelp. My
name is Lily Kim. A professional wildlife photographer. So, from my career you
will indeed realize that I cannot sit in one place and toil. But, with my mother
around me, me sitting in one place, and that too at my home POSSIBLE! My
cousins came around to hang out with us. Just the next day after they arrived an
enormous, clamorous flash news. MODI HAS ANNOUNCED LOCKDOWN FOR
21 DAYS. Great! Thought of leaving the next second and peregrinate to my
office guest house and work there with my employees but I thought why not
squander with my family and take a break from my work! The next day my
youngest cutest cousin Aki was playing around in the kitchen. He looked at me
and yelled with excitement “I want to grow up and become an astronaut”. I
sighed, I used to apprise to my mom. “I want to grow up and become a wildlife
photographer” but now, just realized that childhood is the most invaluable,
marvelous and finest time of a persons life. Days passed, and it was the end of
LOCKDOWN. My cousins departed and flew back. I as usual started to work
upon one of my most prime piece of work, MOTHER’S LOVE. Roamed around like
a pooch searching for the moments of mothers love shown to a kid. Saw so many
children not heeding to their mothers words. I wondered if they actually loved
their mother. You know they say” When we see the smile that appears on our
parents especially on our mother when we make them proud, that smile,
happiness can never be replaced by anything, even if we give them the most
valuable gem”. It is so TRUE. They do correct and discipline us. When we

succeed, the credit always goes to our mother and our father. “My mom is a
lifelong smile in my heart, her voice a comfort to my soul and her hugs my
ladder to the stars”. So, let’s hop back to my tale. As I told I am still roaming
but, it turned out to be abortive. Went home downhearted and sat down, my
mother came near me and exhorted me “Child never give up”. Then I perceived,
they only mentioned “MOTHER’S LOVE”. I went to my room, sat down and
started working on it. I at last concluded on whom and how to posturize
“MOTHER’S LOVE”. I told my mother to get ready as soon as possible. I myself
went and jazzed up a little. My mother looked really charming, sat down on the
sofa arranged my camera, set the timer and CHEESE! The photo came out really
well. I caved in this photo to my boss. He was so jovial that he vended this to a
billionaire. The billionaire was happy to retain this portrayal in his ART
MUSEUM. I was so pleased in seeing all the money I had earned. Presented this
money to my mother. She was so joyous. That photo would have been incomplete
without my mother. MY MOTHER MY CONSORT.

“A MOTHER’S HEART IS ALWAYS WITH HER CHILDREN”

Aathiraa .U.R
10 A

My Magical Wand

How will you be when somebody gives you a magical wand?
I know you will be surprised. Read the story and know what happened.

Once there was a girl named Ritha.She was excited because her 10th birthday
was tomorrow. When it was morning she woke up happily, she brushed her teeth,
took bath, studied little bit and she was ready.Her mother and father took her
to the museum .After enjoying a bit in the museum, they went home. Her
Grandfather and Grandmother gave her a birthday present. “Here you go ’’they

said and gave her a Magic wand.They told her not to wave it till they command
but she didn’t listen. She was excited to do the magic. The next day, she
unwrapped it. She took it and waved it suddenly she was in a farm land. It was full
of greeneries.She was surprised. She waved it again but did not work.She became
worried. In her house, her mother called her name out “Ritha drink your juice’’her
mother called again, Ritha heard it but she cannot come out from the farm land.
Her mother told that she yelled Ritha’s name but did not come. Her grandfather
and grandmother knew what had been happening; they told them what they told to
her.Ritha was trying again and again but did not work. She started to cry “Can
anyone hear me?’’. She was walking through the path.
She saw some batteries and thought “How will a battery be in a farm land? I think
it will be the magic wand’s battery” Then she fixed the battery in the magic wand.
Then she waved it.
Do you know what happened?
She suddenly got back. Everyone hugged her. Especially her mother who was in
shock kissed her and said “we really missed you”.

Name: Aditi.P.M
Class: 4D

UNLEASH THE CHILD WITHIN

Sera was a vegetarian. The thought of eating something that used to live made
her nauseous. But staring at a talking bear made out of waffles and ice-cream
wearing a pink bubble gum tutu, she was rethinking her choice. A lot of her life
choices, to tell the truth.

It all began with her little sister Saffie. Saffie was
the typical eight-year-old, content to play with dolls
and her imaginary friends while Sera was the teenager
who was desperately trying to put her childhood behind
and grow up. So, one evening, when Saffie came to her
room and said, “Hashi wants to talk to you,” Sera
sighed.

“Sweetie, I can’t play with you right now.”

“Hashi says to hold on.”

Sera rolled her eyes. “Saffie-,”

She broke off when the room began shaking. Blindly, she caught her sister’s hand
and sent a prayer to God. Earthquakes in the city was rare, and with panic
clouding her brain, she had no idea what to do.

Suddenly, the quake stopped. Sera opened her eyes and gaped.

A bear made of ice cream and waffles stood before her. It was raining candies
and a lion, elephant and squirrel were singing “Let it Go”. Sera pinched her arm.
She must have fallen unconscious and must be dreaming. Not that she had ever
had such vivid and imaginative dream before.

“Sera the Warrior,” a fairy that looked like Tinkerbell landed on Saffie’s
shoulder, “Welcome to our land. I’m Hashi, Saffie’s childhood spirit.”

“What?” Sera stared at them blankly. The bear snorted chocolate sprinkles.
Another food item that was now ruined for her, “Just follow our lead. You need
to defeat that monster, Sera the Warrior.”

The childhood nickname brought a frown to her face as she followed the bear’s
paws to a plot of grey area that stood out starkly against the vibrant fields. She
asked, “What do you want me to do? Grow flowers and sing songs?”

“If we wanted a singer, we would have called one instead of a tone-deaf girl,” the
bear rolled its eyes. Apparently, childhood spirits did not have a personality of
sunshine and roses. “No, you need to unleash the child within you and defeat the
monster.”

“Your childhood spirit is the strongest and purest,” Tinkerbell lookalike nodded
at the bear. The bear scowled at her, “Even though you never use it.”

“Okay, I cannot understand-,”

A flash of white light blinded her. When she opened her eyes, she was standing
on the grey land. A feeling of heaviness settled in. Monotony, darkness and
bleakness settled over her. She was drowning in this feeling.

A pair of paws caught her, “You can defeat it, Sera the Warrior.”

When the bear spoke, a sense of peace
filled her. Warmth, joy, innocence and
magic flowed from her as her
childhood spirit brought out the
memory of her childhood.

“Everyone has their childhood spirit
inside them,” the bear said, “And it is a
spirit of purity and joy that gets them through the darkest hour for it is the
child in you that finds joy and something new in the world around you”.

“The grey you see is the perils that come after childhood. Do not become one
with it. Instead change it according to your wishes.”

Sera imagined a hill made of chocolate with green apple gummy worms as grass.
She imagined fairies flying in the sky and talking trees. When she opened her
eyes, she saw the grey spot transformed into her wishes.

“How?” Sera asked in amazement.

The bear smiled, “People grow, Sera, but they never lose the child in them. When
you let it out to play, the world turns glamorous. Try to use me in your world
regularly. I am in your dreams and creativity, but only if you let me in.”

Hashi and Saffie floated to them, “Sera the Warrior saved the day!”

“It’s time to go home,” the bear, Sera’s childhood spirit, said. “We owe you a
great debt. Bye, Sera. Remember to call on me.”

The scene slowly dissolved. Sera was back in her room, seated on her chair. She
shook her head slowly, “What a dream.”

Her little sister was on the floor. She looked up and beamed, “Sera the Warrior
saved the day!”

THE END

BY:

YAZHINI N

XI B

BRAVE IN THE HEART

Wisconsin, 2010
It all began in a small room below the attic, with young Isabella Stewart lying
awake in the bed with her little brother Gabe Stewart. Isabella was lost in her
thoughts with her blue eyes facing the ceiling. She always wanted to go to the
attic but her mother, Mrs. Stewart, never let her go. Suddenly she was struck by
a thought “why don’t I go see the attic now?”. Too impressed by the thought, she
jumped out of bed and climbed to the attic. The attic was full of old trunks and
photos. The first one she opened was her grandfather’s Mr. James Stewart.

There were a lot of photos and old letters and a shiny crystal staff. The staff
looked like a scepter that royals used to have. The moment she touched it, she
felt a boost in her energy and a new lightened spirit in her that she had never
felt before. She thought that she and the scepter had a special connection. She
took it with her wherever she went. She never knew that this could be the start
of something huge and dangerous

She studied in East high school, Wisconsin. It was a bright afternoon.
Everything was going pretty well until dark clouds spread all over the sky and

covered it completely. These clouds didn’t look like rain clouds. They were as
black as coal.

This was sudden and unexpected. The students began to panic. Things got worse
when the principal switched on the TV for news. The news showed a display of
black dark–looking unknown creatures attacking people and turning them to stone.
Government ordered everyone to stay wherever they are and never come out for
a while. The school gates were closed.

Frightened, Isabella ran to see if her brother was safe and to bring him back with
her. When she came back, she saw her best friend Sarah anxiously looking for
something in a book. When Isabella leaned over to see what it was, she saw a
picture of her grandfather’s scepter that she has now.
She immediately asked Sarah about it. “Oh, this one! It was a story of a legendary
man who used this magic scepter to defeat hundreds of dark threats” said Sarah.
When Isabella showed her the scepter, Sarah was speechless.

“No way!! You are James Stewart’s granddaughter?” Sarah asked Isabella.
Isabella didn’t expect this. “You know my grandfather?” she replied.
“Of course! Your grand dad was a legend. We used to hear stories of him when
we were young. Can you use that scepter?” she asked in excitement.
“I don’t know. I haven’t tried. How do I use it?” said Isabella. They started
checking the book that Sarah was holding.
Here it is! “THE THUNDERLIGHT SCEPTER”.

“Ok. I’m going to try it” said Isabella. She took a deep breath.
“LIGHT UP”
The scepter glowed. It was like a sun inside the room.
Then she tried “IGNITE”
Fire shot out of the scepter and burnt Isa’s book.
Isa was scared and excited. Sarah realized that she had the gift of magic.
‘’Can this scepter be used to stop these dark creatures that’s turning people to
stone?’’ said Isabella.
I think it can. It seems to be our only chance.” said Sarah.
Isabella was always adventurous and brave. She decided to take the risk. She
asked Gabe to stay with Sarah until she gets back. But little Gabe started
following her. Isa checked the news to see where the dark creatures were. A

scream from the basketball court made her realize that the creatures had
already got to her school. The principal asked everyone to get back to their
classrooms and lock the door. While everyone ran to their classrooms, Isa ran the
other way and Gabe was following her.

Isabella met the dark creatures face to face in the school grounds. There were
2 of them. Isa didn’t have a chance to step back. She took a hold of her scepter
but before she could say anything, she was pushed to the floor by one of those
creatures. She was hit hard on the head. The only thing she heard was a wicked
laugh from those creatures.

Right when they were about to turn her to stone, Gabe stepped in and got turned
to stone.

‘’No” yelled Isa. She ran towards him. Tears fell from her eyes, looking at her
brother as still as death. For a moment she thought life was over. She was about
to succumb to death.

Just then, Sarah ran towards her, ‘’the only way to stop them is by destroying
the dark clouds above. It’s their pathway of getting to our world. If we destroy
it, they will die.’’ Said Sarah and in a moment, Sarah was a stone too.

Isa didn’t have time to think, she pointed her scepter to the clouds, and yelled
“BLAST IT”.

A continuous beam of light shot out of the scepter and started destroying the
dark clouds. The creatures started disappearing. Everything was finally over. Isa
felt so good to see the light in the sky. In a moment Gabe and Sarah turned back
to normal along with other who were turned to stone by the creatures.

Isa hugged Gabe “I’m so glad you’re safe. I thought I lost you”.

Sarah ran to Isa ‘’ Isa you saved us! I knew you could do it”

“Thank you, Sarah. Well, I wouldn’t have done it without you” said Isabella.

Isa and Gabe walked home safe and happy.

‘’And there ends the story’’ said mum to little Noah Evans.

‘’So, what did you learn from this story Noah’’ asked mum.

Little Noah was lost in thinking.
“Be brave Noah! Be brave to face anything that comes your way. Now go to sleep!’’
“Good night mum.”
Mum left the room, happy that she taught her little child a great lesson. She
sowed a seed in little Noah’s heart, which she knew will grow and lighten his path
of life.

Name: Angelina Divya. A
Class: XII – B

A Child and the Bee

It was a vast land and we cannot see the places located on the other side from
its opposite side. So vast that, there will be millions of flowers which contained
the best quality of nectar. A cute child was running on that field, hoping he
could go to the other side. But unfortunately he could not go to the other side.
He was panting heavily as he was tired. Also, he could not go to his house as it
was too far. Then, he walked slowly and sat on a rock below a dense tree. While
he was resting there, a drop of honey fell on his cheeks. He heard the buzzing
sound of a bee above his head. He saw a tiny honeycomb, which had very few
honey. He wanted to taste the honey at any cost, and for that he took a stick
and tried to hit the honeycomb. But, sadly he could not taste it, as a bee flied at
a high speed and came near the child and frightened him.

“How dare you try to destroy my most valuable honeycomb that I built
overcoming many hardships”, the bee said with anger. The child was so surprised
that the bee was talking like humans. Then the child asked the bee “How can you
speak like a human? Did you get any talking power from a fairy by impressing
her through giving your valuable golden honey to her? I know fairies are always
sweet and sweet things always made them sweeter and they will give us some
powers”. The bee refused this and said to the child “No, I didn’t get any power,
but something which forces us to become depressed”. The child was thinking
about this statement of the bee and he questioned him what made it depressed.
The bee replied “That is a CURSE”. The child asked the bee “You are a very
good bee. Who cursed you and I want to know why you are cursed”.

The bee narrated the story behind its curse. “Some Thousand years ago, I was
not a bee, but I was a farmer, who got the highest amount of yield in the world
from this same land. But my small mistake, made me to suffer for these many
years. One day, I was working in my field and there was a very big honeycomb
which could cover an entire tree near my field. My tongue was so watery to
taste the honey. Also, I was so greedy that there was a large amount of honey
in that comb and I could make money with that. Then I threw a stone on the
honeycomb. The stone that I threw, hit the golden honeycomb. Then all the
honeybees rushed to attack me. I thought that, until my death maybe, my
original face cannot be seen forever. But the queen of those honeybees stopped
them and said “Friends, if we attack this man who hit our honeycomb and wasted
the hard work of our hundreds of generations, the man’s face will be damaged
but eventually he will recover. So, instead of attacking this idiotic guy, we can
give him a punishment to make him realize his mistake”. I was so scared after
hearing their talk, and apologized to them. “Please, forgive me for my mistake. I
will never harm any honeycomb hereafter. Don’t punish me.” But the honeybee-
queen told me “I will not forgive you. As I said you have destroyed our hard
work. I am cursing you that, from this instant you will be a honey bee and you
should build the same sized-honeycomb as we built before, but you can collect
very less honey per day compared to us. After you have built the exact
honeycomb of the same size only then will you again turn into a human”. From
then onwards I am living as a bee and building this honeycomb”.

After hearing this story, tears rolled down the child’s eyes. Then the child
apologized to the bee. “You have made me realise my for mistake. Hereafter, I
will not be greedy and I will not harm any honeycomb”. Then the bee said happily
to the child “I am so happy that my curse, made my life miserable, but it taught
you some values and improved your life’s quality, also made you realize your
mistake”.

MORAL OF THE STORY |
If you are greedy it will make your life miserable.

- M Kaushik Kavindra

About the Author |

Name | M Kaushik Kavindra

Class & Sec | IX ‘B’

Academic Year | 2020-21

School | St. John’s Public School

A PETRIFYING NIGHTMARE… OR WAS IT?
A short Horror/Thriller story

It was a very cold Saturday night, or rather, a very cold Sunday morning. I would
say morning instead of night, for the alarm clock which sat on the night lamp stand
to the right of my bed read 3:01 A. M. as the silhouette held me down in my bed
by my shoulders, rendering all my attempts to escape futile. I struggled and
struggled, staring at its imperceptible face in horror, as it effortlessly put its
left hand in the middle of my chest while its right hand reached out and began
strangling me. I gasped for air fruitlessly as I began hitting its arm weakly, in a
vain attempt to stop the choking.

Being murdered in my bed. One of my greatest fears ever since I moved to this
house.

There would be a report of some random robbery or murder in my neighborhood.
If the victim didn’t wake up during the ongoing heist, then the burglars would just
leave them be. However, if the victim is alarmed by some random noise made by
the burglar in the house, then the criminals would quickly kill the person on the
spot and flee, taking the money with them. This kind of news made me paranoid,
leading me to taking some drastic measures to avoid such a fear and possibility
from coming true. I attached grills to all the windows so that nobody could force
an entry through the windows. Should I be in a situation where I need to defend
myself, I kept a number of knives stashed all over the house, and I even bought
three guns: two pistols in my room and the kitchen, and a lever-action rifle under
the couch in the living room. Now, here I was, not able to even get up from my
bed to get my gun. I didn’t even know how this intruder got inside.

The face was black at first, but then, it slowly formed the shape of a young man
I knew all too well. A face which filled me with dread and reminiscence.

Why, he was my brother, Paul, the very person I killed a few months ago by
accidentally poisoning his food!

Paul was on vacation when he gave me a surprise visit. While he was visiting me,
he accidentally ate some cake which I poisoned to kill the rats in my house (don’t
ask me what I was thinking; I ask myself that question to this day), and the next
thing I knew, he was lying dead on the table, his mouth frothing.

But, how can it be my brother? He is supposed to be at least 6 feet under the
ground in his grave! I was at his funeral myself, cursing myself for my
carelessness!

His face sneered at me. "You enjoyed seeing my looks of agony, right?"

Tears were flowing down my eyes. Whether it was from fear, or guilt, or from
being choked, I had no idea. But I was crying, for sure. "No, Paul, no!" I choked.

Paul - the ghost - ignored me. He seemed intent on making my murder look so
intriguing. He slowly tilted his head and said, "You enjoyed seeing me die, right?
You enjoyed that look of betrayal I had sported on my face, right? Well, this face
will now haunt you for your life! Correction, your death!"
Paul then lifted a large knife, which was sheathed in his back, and brought the tip
striking home.

GASP!
I suddenly found myself sitting up in my bed, clutching my blanket, panting heavily,
eyes wide open. I was skeptical. Was it really a dream? Only one way to find out.

I slowly looked around my room. No Paul. I looked under my bed. No Paul. I looked
at the door of my room. It stayed still.

Once I got the better of myself, and after I convinced myself that it was just a
stupid nightmare, I threw the blanket away, got out of bed, found my pistol, and
went back to bed, clutching it to my chest in my shivering hands.

"Calm down," I told myself. "It was just a dream."
Right then, I noticed that my clock read 3:00 when the door to my room slowly
creaked open, revealing a silhouette with a pitch-black face.
Armed with a knife in his hand, which he slowly sheathed into his back.

-Porchelvan. G
10- “A”

St. John’s Public School

Tim had a pet starfish. He took it with him everywhere.
When he was a teenager it was not a huge problem, although
it would lead to awkward or embarrassing situations. Like
the time his high school class went swimming in the local
pool. However, it was when he began his NASA astronaut
training that things began to get more tricky. Tim had
always known that he wanted to become an astronaut but
when he got the starfish (his name was Paul) he had never
really considered that the two important things in his life
might be excluding each other. It eventually dawned on him
one spring morning in 1996 and it broke his heart when he
imagined having to leave Paul at home to begin his journey
towards outer space. That day Tim made a choice. If he was
going into the orbit, so would Paul. After all, when was the
last time you met a starfish that had let itself be limited by
mundane challenges like gravity?

The folks at NASA skeptical at first when Tim showed up
with Paul in his little mobile water tank. Remember, that Tim
had been hauling him around for more than a decade and he
had developed several tools and habits to make it as easy as
possible to bring Paul with him, including a special plastic
tank

with a breathable but spill safe membrane instead of a lid,
and with a special carry handle.

And since Tim was by far the most suitable candidate out of
the more than six hundred applicants for the three new
astronaut positions, the hiring board had no real choice but
to hire him. Pet starfish or not.

Tim loved the training. All the extreme activities. Jumping
parachutes. Simulated weightless drills. Underwater
exercises in heavy space suits. But he also loved all the
administrative and scientific task, calculations, etc. Both
advanced computer models of the upper stratosphere, but
also the quick computations he had to do in his head as part
of training exercises simulating loss of calculation
equipment.

And always with Paul in his tank. You may find it unusual for
someone to carry around a pet starfish all the time. And
indeed most people Tim met found it weird and even
disturbing sometimes. Mostly when he would sit and actually
pet it on the… you know… Star tips… Or when you would hear

him having extended political discussions with Paul, but only
hear Tim’s half of the argument like overhearing a phone
call.

But Tim was a good person and a great astronaut and his
colleagues would eventually forgive him and accept his
reality. They would even have short conversations with Tim
and Paul together, Tim translating for Paul. It felt natural
after a while. They even celebrated Paul’s birthday.

Then came the time for Tim and thus also Paul’s first
mission into space. It had been planned for months: space
shuttle discovery would be launched from Houston, to go
into the orbit and connect with the International Space
Station and deliver the cargo and return to the Earth nine
days later. Tim and Paul on a real space adventure. However,
only one of them would ever return to earth.

Tim had been acting strange lately. But he had always been a
bit strange and most people shook it off, and the launch
went ahead as planned. Paul in his newly developed space
tank and Tim strapped into his seat.

Tim was finally ready. To go on his very first spacewalk. But
more than that, he was ready to again be a free man. During
the blastoff from the rockets when the space shuttle was
lifted out of gravity, he had once again made up his mind: he
would send Paul on a new journey alone. So on the spacewalk
he took Paul’s container and detached the string that

secured it to his spacesuit. And right there and then he
gave the tank one gentle little push. And without gravity or
resistance from atmospheric air, the tank drifted off into
the orbit. Tim followed it with his eyes for as long as he
could.

After returning to the Earth Tim would never be the same
person. But that was okay. He would sometimes wake up in
the middle of the night and go outside and look up into the
cloudless night sky and think about his first life companion.

RISHIT SINHA

IX-C

MYSTERIOUS FRIEND…….

Lakshmi was waiting for her daughter Kavya to return home. Recently Kavya
started playing with some unknown kid at the river side. That river is just
few metres from their home. She told her mother that the stranger is her
new mysterious friend. Their home is located in the outer of state and at
the edge of a small forest. Kavya’s father Hari is very fond of that home

as he had spent most of his childhood days in it. Though it is far from the
town, he decided to live in it. There is a two-meter wall around the
property and one can see a beautiful juicy green grass surrounding their
home.
When they moved into that home, Kavya was a year-old kid. After Kavya,
doctors told, it is difficult for Lakshmi to have another child. So, they
started taking care of her with utmost care. When Kavya turned five, she
had realized that she wanted more friends to play with, but beside her
house, there were no other homes so no kids to play with her. She felt
very bored. Once in a while they used to go to their friend’s house in the
town to spend some time with their kids. But for Kavya that was not
enough.

Many times, Lakshmi asked Hari to move to some other home near the town
just for Kavya, so she could find many friends in town, but Hari kept
postponing it. Meanwhile, Kavya got used to playing alone and spent a lot of
time at the river side.
When the days were going like this, one day Kavya had come home happily
and told that she got a friend at the river side. Lakshmi was surprised as
she knew, there was no one living near their home, so there is no chance of
anyone to come there to play. But when Kavya described her in details like
how she talks, how she looks, then she started believing that this girl could
be coming from a nearby village. As per her description, she was of the
same age of Kavya and every day she comes by just wearing a kid’s panty.
But Lakshmi was curious to know how come such a small girl comes alone
from a village.

She asked Kavya to bring her home. But she refused to bring her as her
friend didn’t want to come to their home. And her friend told Kavya that
no one should see her; otherwise she wouldn’t meet her again. After
hearing that, Lakshmi started suspecting her friend. She told Hari about
Kavya’s mysterious friend. But he didn’t care much about it.
That day Lakshmi decided at any cost she should find who she was? So,
she prepared Kavya’s favorite sweet to soothe her and find more details
about her friend. She was waiting for her to come back home. After some
time, she came.

“Hi Sweety, you know what I prepared for you. Can you guess?”, she said
carrying her on her lap.
“Hey… mummy… I know you prepared Gulab Jamun … I like it”, She was very
happy. Lakshmi nodded and took her to the kitchen and gave a Gulab

Jamun. While she was eating, she asked, “Sweety, does your friend also
like Gulab Jamun?”
“Yes, mummy”, she said gulping the Jamun.
Why don’t you take this to your friend? She might feel very happy, ok”,
she said by giving a box to her.
“Yes, you are right mummy. She feels very happy… you are very nice”, she
said by taking that box.
“Will you go now? Is your friend still be at the river side “, she asked by
looking at her carefully.

“Yes mummy she always stays there. Even she doesn’t have any friends…, so
I can go and give it right now”, she said and ready to leave home.
“Ok, come quickly … and be careful alright”
“Yes… mummy! and my friend will feel very happy after seeing this sweet…
bye”, she said and went outside.
After few seconds, Lakshmi followed her, and she was extremely careful so
that Kavya wouldn’t notice her. When she reached the bay, she was
stunned after seeing what Kavya was doing at that place. Actually, there
was no one other than Kavya at that place. She was talking alone and
feeding Gulab Jamun in air. She was talking in such a way that someone was
sitting beside her. Lakshmi went quickly and stood in front of Kavya and
shouted, “Sweety… What are doing alone here?”,
Kavya looked startled after seeing her.
“Mummy… Why you came? I told you shouldn’t come here… see…my friend
left”, she muffled.
“Shut-up… you don’t have any friends here… you were talking alone here… “,
she said in hysteric manner.

Kavya has never seen her mother before like that. She started crying, “I
was talking with my friend only… I was not taking alone… she has left
because you came…”
“Enough… come home”, she grabbed her hand and took her to home.
When they reached home, Kavya was still crying and went inside of her
bedroom and closed the door. Lakshmi was terribly upset to see her kid
talking alone. She waited for Hari to come home, so that she could share
what happened today with him.
“Oh… that is very common baby… kids sometimes behave like that… they
become friendship with imaginary people… and they talk with them… so don’t
make it a big issue… take it easy”, Hari said to her when she told about
what happened that day.

She didn’t expect that answer from him as she thought he would take
Kavya to some doctor for check-up.
“But… honey… it is not good behaviour for anyone to talk on their own… so
can we take her to the hospital?“, She is worried.
“I told you … take it easy… it’s not that big a problem… alright … I’ve to
take a bath”, he said and went to the bathroom.
But Lakshmi was not convinced at all; however, she wanted to keep a close
watch on her daughter actions. Her worry was doubled when Kavya one day
told her that her friend came to her bedroom to talk to her as since after
that incident Lakshmi was not allowing Kavya to go to the river side.

“What did she tell to you?” she was curious to know.

“She is very angry with you mummy as you are not allowing me to talk to
her. She told that she would kill you… but I pleaded her not to do that…
she is not like before… she is changed so much… I’m afraid mummy”, she is
frightened.
Lakshmi face turned pale and terrified after hearing the word “Killing” from
five years old kid mouth. She hugged her immediately, “nothing is going to
happen Sweety… don’t worry … ok”, she tried to convince her. Inside she
thought, why the hell she was talking like that; she strongly determined to
take her to the doctor before situation goes out of her hands.
“I don’t understand what’s the matter with you… you are not listening to my
words… we must take her to the doctor… she is behaving like a crazy girl…
today she said her imaginary friend is going to kill me… would you wait until
she turns to a MAD girl”, Lakshmi was shouting at Hari.
“Calm down Lakshmi… nothing is going to happen … just wait for few days
everything is going to be alright”, Hari was trying to calm down her.
“When… when it will happen… you don’t like to change the house…You don’t
like to take her to doctor… you don’t like anything to happen… why? I have
to know today … that’s it”, she was shouting in a hysteric manner.
“No … we can’t take her to any doctor… because… “, Hari stopped and he
didn’t know what else to tell.
“Because… why??? Why we can’t take her to any doctor??? Now I’m
realizing why… because you don’t like her… you don’t have any affection on
her… “,
Hari got angry and crunched her fist, “Shut-up… I didn’t want to take her…
because there is NO “HER”… our Sweety is DIED … yes… OUR KID IS
DEAD … when we moved here… you took her in a boat on the river… but…
that time the boat crashed into tree and flipped. And you both had fallen

in the river… you were able to survive, but our Sweety had drowned to
death… “, he burst into tears.
She was shocked and looked at him unbelievably.
He continued, “after that incident… you didn’t believe that our kid is no
more… you started behaving as if she is still alive and playing with us… you
constructed a dream world, where our Sweety lived with us and has grown
up… it was you… you didn’t like to change home, because if we move to a
different home.. you might recall that Sweety is no more…, but you didn’t
want that… you wanted to live in your dream world … and feel our Sweety
presence… but you don’t understand… how much torture I had gone through
seeing you like that … “, he stopped.
“No… you are telling lies… our Sweety is alive… I can show you… she is
sleeping… she is alive“, Lakshmi shouted and fell on the floor unconscious.

__THE END__
THE STORY BY,
M.JENEWAR SARAH SINGH,X-B.

LOST IN THE PAST

On 1st September 2145, I saw my wild imagination come into reality. I bought the tickets and sat
on the time-travel pod with eagerness. All it had were a few buttons and a hologram displaying
‘1818’. The pod started to move after a while. As I passed the portal, an emergency alarm blared
behind and suddenly… to my dismay the portal was closed! I was now on a free fall.

My specs flew up and in blinded agony, I frantically pressed random buttons. I was about
to have a crash landing when I heard the parachutes release. I finally found my specs when the
pod landed on some waters. I sat on the broken door and floated ashore.

I reached the seashore and strolled around. I saw weirdly dressed people bustling around
in what looked like a small souk. I hid myself in a dark corner. I was startled when a man
approached and spoke in my language! His name was Fen and he took me home. He gave me food
and to my surprise gave me a book; “Black hole and Time Warps”. How could he have a book by
Hawking who was born only after 1940s? It was unsettling.

The next day, I asked him about time travel and he spoke about a myth called ‘the cave of
times’ which has a magical portal to teleport you through time. I was wondering how could a person
from a past know all this? But I was determined to leave right away.

Clueless I started walking along the path. I lost sense of time and was happy to see an old
man walking by. He saw me in a curious way and asked “What a youn’ lad has to do in the ol’ place?”.
I said him I wanted to go to cave of times. He suddenly started singing…

Long long ago in the great eastern desert;

Lies the magical cave of times,

Once a despotic pharaoh;

Took it as ‘tis mine’.

He went inside the portal;

But he never did return.

The god who was immortal;

Punished him for his greed.

Till this very day;

The portal has been submerged,

Into the underlay,

Of the great eastern desert.

I dazed and couldn’t find him.

I could remember only ‘great eastern desert’. Now I know where to go. I started walking
and the sun went down. Suddenly I heard a loud hoofing sound behind me. It grew louder every
second. I turned back and couldn’t see anything. Something pushed me so hard that I flew up in
the air. I got to my senses and tried to grab anything my hands could lay on. Something caught my
hand and I grasped it with all my will. In the moonlight, I could see that I was moving with a large
herd of cattle. I fell unconscious.

The next day, I could feel the harsh sun burning into my skin. I pushed my frail self to see a
desert far way and started walking. It was difficult to walk on the deep sand. It was burning as
hell and I fainted.

I found myself in a tent when I woke up. I thanked the people who saved me, but they
didn’t understand a word I said. I tried to ask them about the cave of times in a desperate voice.
They became puzzled and started to turn hostile. I became scared and crawled backwards. They
picked me like dirt and saddled me in a camel. The camel started walking in a desert. After a long
time, it stopped somewhere. I jumped from the camel on to the desert sand and saw something
glittering in the hot sun. I tried to pick it up, it was stuck to the ground. I tried harder with all
my might; clink… the earth shook! The land elevated. I fell down and my eyes stumbled upon the
entrance of a cave. My heart said that it was the way to go. I stepped inside and saw that the
walls were of Shining Quartz!

I reached a hall which was dark and gloomy. I leaned against a wall, which then was
magically lit with light. It was so bright that it lit the whole room. It formed a shape of a circle
and many hieroglyphs emerged. It showed the flashback of God breaking a piece of the portal and
thus disabling it saying “Only the wisest, can find it”. I stood in the center of the hall amazed.

I felt broken and thought about my parents. Suddenly I remembered something and
turned on my phone where my parents were fondly looking at me. For my surprise, the phone
showed strong signal and there was intense attraction from the disabled portal. As I was racking
my mind, all of a sudden, Fen, walked up from behind the walls. He gave a wicked smile and
demanded for my mobile.

How does he know? Why does he want it? Sensing my mind, he said “I am from 2020, my
scientist friend made a time-machine and sent me through it. He died in a pandemic and thus
couldn’t open up the time-portal again – Enough, give me that damn thing!” He demanded furiously.
He looked in the verge of knocking me dead if I didn’t give him my mobile. So, I slowly handed him.
He grabbed it and was close to enabling the portal, which has the capacity to carry only a person
per piece. Suddenly, a magical light emerged. Four bulky men came inside and carried me to the
other side of the portal.

My mother and father looked relieved to see me alive. I was saved for life!
- Kavipriyan K of IX D

THE HOUSE OF DEATH

“Come on don’t be late!”, George said to his
friends who didn’t bother to hurry up .They were all getting ready for a
adventurous picnic-or so they thought .

They were all 13, and had been friends for 10 years ,from their
childhood to the present .Emma was busy posting pictures, Caroline was getting

ready and James was sitting simply doing nothing. Finally, after almost an hour
they all were ready for the picnic. They all had decided to go the nearby forest,
which was not really the best place to go for a picnic. They were all adventurous
kids and wanted some fun in their picnic but little did they know that the fun
they anticipated would turn out to be horror.

While they were entering the forest they saw an old woman who was sitting
in a rock and was chanting something the children couldn’t decipher. Thinking
she was in a deep meditation, the children went close to her when she suddenly
opened her eyes. The children were terrified as they had never seen a person’s
eyes so mysterious until now in their life. The old woman observed each one of
them carefully and said “don’t go ahead, this forest is the HOUSE OF THE
DEAD ‘’

The children were totally confused .They didn’t understand what she was
trying to convey. And, automatically, they thought she was mad. The children
went ahead anyway and for the first few minutes everything seemed alright
when suddenly they spotted a BEAUTIFUL village .They were astonished and
decided to enter the village. Once they entered the village, they saw a large
door which looked like some sort of a door to heaven. Excited, the children
entered into what seemed like the door to HELL. Suddenly the door closed and
there was a light so bright that it blinded them .After recovering from the
brightness, they saw an old woman sitting on a chair. It was the same woman
they had seen OUTSIDE!!! The children were stuck. They couldn’t run or stay
.The woman slowly turned her head towards the children and gave the creepiest
smile ever. Then the woman stopped smiling and said:

“Long long ago I was a very active girl. I used
to come and play in the forest everyday. Then one day, I saw a werewolf which
wasn’t actually a werewolf. It was a human, a possessed woman. It was very
angry and I was standing there all alone …….it pounced on me and bit me. I
thought I had died, but I opened my eyes and saw that I was alright, perfectly
alright. I went home and my mom was waiting for me. She had placed the dinner
on the table. It was my favourite food but, I suddenly wasn’t interested.
Instead, now I wanted something else –HUMANS.

Saying this the woman turned towards the children who were now frozen and
were standing without moving a bit. The woman continued,” I was absolutely
confused , I tried to control myself but I couldn’t. So, every night I went and
started hunting each child in the village until one day the parents of the

children realized that I was the culprit because, I was the only child left. My
mother couldn’t bear seeing her daughter kill other people, so she killed herself.
I had turned into a werewolf. There was a woman who was possessed by a
demon. The demon was a woman who did not have children and that’s why she
wanted to kill children so that others did not have children too. So, she found a
woman who did not have children and controlled her so that she could kill
children. Whenever a child managed to escape from the bite of the possessed
person……they turned into a werewolf. And that is what happened to me. I was
kicked out of the village and years later I am still waiting to possess a child . I
tried to stop you but you didn’t listen. So, welcome to the house of death.

Saying this the woman came closer to the children when James
found a book which had something written in what looked like a prayer. Slowly
the woman grew closer and when she came near, James placed the book in front
of the woman’s face. The woman who had grown into a werewolf gave a growl and
screamed NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and disappeared. The children
then realized that it was the book had the prayer that removes the curse. The
curse was removed and the woman had disappeared. But she had left her tooth.
a wolf’s tooth.

The children immediately ran out of the room and slowly everything
behind them, the room, the village, the trees started vanishing and then they
were out of the dreadful forest .The children were terrified .They all decided
to go back to their houses. When they went home and rang the bell ,their
parents opened the door .They hugged their parents and started telling them
what happened when each one of them were stopped and asked “who are you
and what forest are you talking about, there is no forest here. The children
then realized that they had become unknown. NO ONE knew them now.

Srishti Gunashekar

IX B

MORE THAN JUST A CHILD...

One can always hear sounds of a person coughing and sneezing if he or she lives
near Mr. Andrew’s house. That was because, his 9-year-old son, Peter, suffers
from a common yet deadly disease-pneumonia. Though Mr. Andrew was from a
well-off family and was able to lead a settled married life, things started to
turn worse when his wife, Lucy, passed away 5 years ago. Peter never recovered