18/10/2011 William Hussey http://www.williamhussey.co.uk/

[WP Central]

Grandma wasn’t Grandma anymore. George noticed the change as soon as he walked into the parlour on that arctic winter afternoon. The lights were off, but he could just make her out, a huddled form sitting in her armchair, breath steaming like the exhalations of a sleeping dragon. His grandmother always felt the cold; chilblains were her curse, she’d say, and so even in summer all three bars of the electric fire would be lit. Now the room was almost as chilly as the winter world outside. Snow dripped from the cuffs of George’s coat and spotted the carpet. He glanced down.

That was when he noticed the torn collar at his feet.

“Grandma?”

Eyes like coals plucked from a fire flashed in the darkness. “Yesssss?”

“W-where’s Winston?”

“Winston was a bad, bad dog,” the thing crooned

“There’s a little left in the fridge, if you’re hungry...”

[Darren Hartwell -Charters School]

 

Charters School

Hannah Collison and Pippa Barratt

Suddenly, an unrecognisable chill tingled down George’s spine. Startled he sprinted up to his room in the attic, and collapsed onto his crooked, wooden bed. George felt like his soul had been snatched ever since his parents had mysteriously disappeared. All he could think about was his friend for life, the small Labrador, Winston… Little did George know what indescribable horror was waiting for him round the corner - the real death of his parents…

The next day peculiarly George had forgotten all about what happened the day before, it was as if he had been hypnotized during the night. So George got on normally through the day, but there was a tiny voice niggling at the back of his mind. Something he could never imagine…

At noon George as always went to get his lunch from grandma, his lunch was unlike anything he had ever tried before. Weirdly it had the slightest smell of Winston which made George remember Winston had disappeared…

[WP Central]

“Eat up my boy, you’re far too scrawny. Not enough meat on you for even one decent meal” the old crone cackled. George laughed along with her – she was his grandma after all so why did her words seem sinister? He shrugged on his coat and trudged back to school, his thoughts dark and tormented. Where was Winston? And what had happened to his parents? Missing them felt like a constant ache inside and he wasn’t sure he believed his grandma’s explanation that they had been called away on business – after all it had never happened before. Straightening his spine he decided to try and find out more from grandma that afternoon after school …

Bev Humphrey

Write Path Founder

[Adrian Thompson Laisterdyke UK]

That afternoon George walked up the pathway to his grandma’s house. The house was different; the front lawn that grandma used to so carefully tend to was a mess. The upstairs window was shattered and the entire house was thick with grime and dirt.

George gulped.

Slowly he pushed open the creaky gate; the noise sent shivers down his spine. He raised a hand to knock on the front door – it slowly inched open before he even touched it.

George felt a flicker of fear in his stomach.  His gut churned with nerves. He entered the house.

As he entered, the door swung shut behind him with a deafening bang. George was now beginning to panic – he had a bad feeling about all of this. 

He crept in to his grandma’s living room. She was crouched in the corner of the room shrouded in black. All the furniture in the room was smashed up.

‘Grandma …’ George whispered.

‘I’m not your grandma.’ Her voice was a deep rasp against her throat.

George’s heart was pumping so hard in his chest it hurt. Blind panic filled him up; he ran to the door screaming. He tugged at the door handle but it refused to open.

His grandma let out a shrieking laugh.

‘You’re never going to get out. You’re going to die here George. You’re going to die here like your dog did.’

George didn’t even notice the terrified tears that were streaming down his face.

‘Please let me out … please  ...’ he begged. His grandma’s body was suddenly convulsing violently; with a piercing scream she was thrown forward.

‘George …’ for a moment her voice was normal, back to how it was. ‘George help me. It’s taking over my body … RUN!’ her voice was quiet and high pitched and overcome with sobs. 

Once more her body was thrown against the wall and then she collapsed in to a bundle of black cloth.

‘What have you done to my grandma?!’ George shrieked.

Hawwa,  Henna, Khadija and Shabahat , Laisterdyke Business & Enterprise College

[janet dowey]

George tried to run out but it was no use the door was locked he tried hes hardest to get it open but it would not work"who are you and what have you done with my grandma shes...shes not the same anymore"he yelled.It all whent quiet all you could hear was the sound of the doors creaking and hes grandma's groans as if she was in pain.George ran over to her but it was like she was blind he reapetdly shook her but she didnt react hes Granma just sat there like she didnt know what was going.Suddenly she shot up grabbing him by the arms George didnt know what to do it was like shes just turned against him suddenly .... slowly she lowerd him to the floor maybe hes Grandma was trying to tell him something maybe there is something he could do,it could be in the house.Instanly George ran upstairs trying to find anything that might make sense of all this.Once he got into hes Granma's spare room he noticed that there was a mysteriously,small cuboard in the corner of the room George cautiously walked over to it.

 

Opening the door,he noticed that there a was dark brown box sat there collecting dust George picked up it up slowly and carefully making sure he didnt damage it.He made he's way downstairs to were....George dropped the box and raced to were it seemed that hes Grandma was floating high above him he reached grabbing holding off her ankles whilst struggling fortunatley he managed to get her back down to floor she opened her arms and reached out to him nervously George when over to her and cuddled her."Help me george please the killing me"she reapted."what do I do"then he realised.

 

He raced over to were he dropped the box.Surounding the box was pieces of paper that had loads of differnt codes also there was a skull key.George rememberd the myth that his Grandma had told......

 

by Annalise Hooley, Unity City Academy

[WP Central]

The myth was not a myth, but how could such horrific things have been true?

I heard Grandma scream downstairs, and I was suddenly hunting through each and every drawer in search of the ancient, crumpled piece of paper. Codes. What was I meant to do with codes? I lifted the filthy, gashed blouse (which had once upon a time been my long lost mother’s), to reveal the coded paper; beside it there lay a rusty brass key in the shape of a skull.

 

It must have been the key to the box downstairs. But I still had no idea what the codes were for- I hoped Grandma was in a healthy enough state to give me some answers.

“Grandma, don’t worry! Don’t worry I’m coming!’’ I shouted as loud as I could. I felt the adrenaline racing through my veins; time was running out, a demon was in my own house and my Grandma was about to be killed by it.

I desperately searched through the memory of the myth. Please God, please…

 

“Of course things like that exist, my boy. I’ve seen it with my very own eyes.’’ Grandma had said.

“What? Like real ghosts? R-really?’’ I’d replied. I had been going through one of my superstitious phases, I hadn’t realised then that these ‘myths’ would be so useful- or true.

“Yes, yes. There was once a box which contained a demon. The only way to access it was with a skull key. The first person to come across this box opened it purely out of curiosity; they released the demon not knowing what was going to happen to them, and it possessed them…’’

 

By Nicole Morrison and Yazmin Boag – Benfield School

 

[Sue Parr]

George was horrified by what he saw. Could it really be true?  He had to try. He slowly picked up the key and leaned slowly towards the truth which lay within the box. The key became stuck for a moment and then moved in a circular motion. He heard a quiet click, success! The box opened, and now for the secrets…

A two headed mouse jumped out of the box. That meant that the box had to have been opened recently. But how was the mouse two headed? What could possibly have been in the box to make the mouse take this unnatural form? The mouse’s four great big black eyes fixed themselves to George’s terrified two, for a second nothing else in the world existed.

What could George do? He knew, from the myths, that to save his grandma he had to slay the mouse. But it stared at him with such a look that he wondered if his grandma was worth it. After all, she had killed his beloved dog Winston. Could he? Should he?

 

By Grace Nora  and Shreya  - Heathfield School

[Allison Painich]

George just stood there thinking if he should save his Grandma or let her die by this demon. George said to himself, "I can't hold a grudge against my own Grandma who has loved and taken good care of me." George quickly closed the door shut and spirited to the kitchen where he found a chef knife. George was running as fast as a cheetah to get to the room. On his way he kept hearing his Grandma scream, "Help George!" George yelled, " Hold on Grandma," as he opened the door and the two -headed rat was still sitting there where he had left him. The rat looked at him ferociously and leaped at his arm and bit George quicker than a human can blink. George,about to faint, cut off the mouse's two heads with the chef knife. The mouse screeched followed by a moment of silence and the mouse was done with. George placed the rat in the box and ran to check on his Grandma. When George reached his Grandma, she was in great pain. She was lying on the sofa with her eyes closed. George did not know if she was dead or alive. Then he heard her say, "Thank you George." George wondered if the demon rat was still in the box so he ran upstairs to check. When he arrived everything was as he had left it. He quickly locked the box. The next day George and his Grandma went to the nearest lake and threw the box in it. As the box was sailing through the air, Grandma shouted, "George, are you sure you want to do this?" "Yes!" George quickly replied. George and his Grandma returned home. Four months later a fisherman found the box, took it home and opened it. The demon leaped out and leaped into the fisherman's body and took possession.
Junior, Garrick, Julian
PS 319
New York