Year 7 students have been entering a competition to write the opening of an adventure story in their English lessons.
We have had lots of amazing entries and the standard was high. The winning entry was written by Jasmine Madakbas in 7EMS. Read below the winner's captivating entry.
AN ADVENTURE STORY OPENING BY JASMINE MADAKBAS (7EMS)
The storm raged furiously overhead as though it would never end. It was as if the sky had declared war on the sea; there was no boundary between them and the horizon was swamped in a whirl of blue and black and grey. Huge waves over 6 feet tall towered into the sky as if hoping to bring down the clouds as they raced up toward the cliffs. At the height of each wave - its very crest - rode a raging white horse which plunged down and broke on the jagged rocks before being reborn far out to sea.
Torrents of rain gushed forth from the heavens with a sound like a hundred piece orchestra of fury. From above the darkness of the storm clouds, thunder echoed around the misty bay, in a rush of noise.
The cacophony of the tempest drowned out all voices except its own . . . and something else. A shrill high pitched wailing came from far out in the stormy waters, a sound too strange to be human. It wailed with an odd pitch, sometimes sharp, sometimes soft, but it was wailing all the same.
Matilda shrank down under the covers of her unfamiliar bed in a holiday home by the sea. She had always liked thunderstorms and she lays waiting for the lightning to brighten her room. But then she heard the wailing. It sounded so alien to her that she couldn’t bear it and she had hidden under her blanket, however she had emerged again and it was still there. She didn’t think to her soft heart, it sounded like a creature hurt and she leapt out of bed in an instant.
She didn’t notice anything wrong until she reached the beach. There, she realised that the storm had stopped as abruptly as it had begun and that the wailing was no longer wailing. It had changed to a soft eerie song that entranced her, wrapping her in velvet folds, whispering her name. “Come, come” it sang. She took a few steps towards the sea, then a few more. Before she knew it, she was standing in the surf, the waves lapping at her feet.
The full moon came out and its’ reflection sparkled on the sea like a diamond. “That’s funny!” she thought, “ it seems to be getting larger”. She another step to see, moving slowly as if hypnotised…. But then a wave knocked her off her feet and the sea enveloped her. For a moment she was part of it and her eyes glowed with an eerie green light as the water surrounded her. Then the sea took her for its own……