21/10/2011 Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore

[WP Central]

I don't care what they say, it's not my fault.

I know I was there and I know how it looks to the outside world, but I'll say it again, it's not my fault.

So, it isn't fair that I'm sitting here in this dark room, with these people (at least I think they are people) staring at me. They all think I'm to blame - and I know they ARE thinking that - but I'll say it one more time, IT'S NOT MY FAULT...

So if it isn't my fault that this all happened, then whose is it? And that's the question they should ask me, because I know EXACTLY, what happened, how it happened, why it happened and whose fault it was...

 

[WP Central]

But they won't ask me will they, after all I'm not important, only a tiny cog in a massive wheel and no one is interested in what I could have to say. It's cold in here, my breath is steaming in puffs before me - trying to slow my breathing so they can't see how nervous I am. I can feel their eyes boring into me .......do they want to see into my very soul? I should get up and walk out, it's not as if I'm physically restrained or anything but it seems as if their stares are my bonds and they are preventing movement of any kind. No matter how hard I peer into the gloom I can't seem to see their bodies, the eyes seem to be roughly at human height but the occasional snort I hear and the click of....hooves? I hear seem to bely this supposition. Oh for goodness sake....someone say something!

 

Bev Humphrey

Write Path Founder

[Anne-Lise Robin]

All of a sudden... it all starts. I am deafened by millions of voice at once. "Why?" they all seem to ask. They are all shouting in my head, pleading for an answer I cannot give."I don't know why, IT IS NOT MY FAULT", I scream and plea until I feel sick.

I have to find a way out. Come on let's be logical. It's all in my head... That's right, it has to be in my head. How can it be that I am trapped, here, surrounded by mad-looking, mouth-foaming, alienesque elks? I must have eaten something wrong before going to bed!!

Now let's try to go back in time. Today started as a normal day, had breakfast, set off, took a shortcut through the forest to go to school.

[Sorrel Anderson]

The forest was normal. Everything was normal. The…wait....

My stomach lurches. Everything was not normal. Trace it back: the forest, cut left by the holly bush, over the fence, down the bank into Seddlescombe Lane, turn right past the backs of the lock-ups and then, and then…

My mind gropes around and finds nothing. Try again: forest, fence, bank, lane, lock-ups. Forest, fence, bank, lane, lock… and that's when I remembered. And that's when I passed out.

[Adrian Thompson Laisterdyke UK]

The darkness began to clear. I opened my eyes, and everything started to come into focus. My back was killing me - I seemed to be sitting up against something hard and sharp. My hands were bound, and I couldn't feel my legs. Looking around revealed nothing, except... what was that tiny movement in the corner? I looked closer. Something the size of a mouse was pushing small boxes around. Near it was a model spaceship. It was the sort of model I'd always wanted - loads of detail, and big enough to really play with. To say I was suprised when it rose into the air, and vanished through a hole in the roof at astonishing speed would be an understatement!

The mouse-thing saw me. "Oh, so you're awake are you?", it said. I looked closer. One thing I'd learned in biology was that mice rarely spoke...

It wasn't a mouse. It was a tiny, furry...thing. Not a mini-man, but something quite similar. "Who are you?" I asked - not a great question, but then I was a bit shocked! "My nane is Grfl," the thing said "but you can call me Gruff - because trying to pronouse my name will drive you mad". "What are you?" was the next question which found its way to my lips. "I'm a Marovan", he said, "from the beautiful planet of Marov, which spends a lot of its time hiding behind Jupiter, because we're a bit nervous of visitors". "Are you...invaders?".

He looked at me, and I looked at him. "What do you think?", he said, with a laugh. "No, we're here because something we were transporting has escaped, and we think it's landed here...

[Evelyn Westwood]

My mind floundered a little, then I thought of alien species on earth, I mean, cane toads in Australia, for example, or starlings in America.  Even relatively ordinary creatures could create havoc.  Whatever it was that they had accidentally released on our planet, it had to be captured before it could do any harm.

"What is it... some sort of rodent?" I guessed.

The creature gave me an unpleasant look and I swallowed.  Perhaps that hadn't been the best suggestion to make.

"If only..." Gruff said.  "In fact, it's a ...........

[Tamsyn Murray]

"...snorfflurgl." As he said the strange sounding name, he glanced fearfully around, as though the mere mention could somehow summon it here.

For a moment, his fear was contagious. Then I shook off the ridiculous worry and shrugged. "Doesn't sound so bad to me. What does it do?"

Gruff leapt to his feet and paced in agitation. "Do? DO? I'll tell you what it does." His voice lowered from a loud squeak to a barely audible whisper. "It changes. It becomes anything it wants. And it's hungry. In fact, it never stops feeding."

The seriousness of his expression made me swallow. "What does it - er - like to eat?"

"Everything," Gruff whispered.

[Lynne Coppendale]

I couldn’t help it.  I laughed.  This was absolutely ridiculous.  Strange creatures whose names I wasn’t even allowed to attempt to pronounce and now a wee little hairy sack of fur was actually looking at me indignantly at my inability to take things seriously.

“I… I’m sorry” I tried to say as tears of hysteria rolled down my cheeks and I wished fervently I had gone to the toilet before I left “what does this snorffy-worffull-guppleguss eat then?”

“Snorfflurgl” The mouse thing replied snottily.  I tried so hard to pull myself together. “It eats pretty much anything it can fit in its mouth.  Animal, mineral or vegetable”

Another round of hysteria ensued as I imagined the after-effects, the effluence, eating a rock may have on such a creature.  My laughter ceased dramatically as I heard a huge THUD, loud even though it seemed so far away.  Even the sight of Gruff raising only one eyebrow and looking at me as sarcastically as ever a mouse-thing could, quelled any more laughter.

“Not so funny now is it, you little twerp, now you’ve heard the sound of an apporaching snorfflurgl”.

And no, it wasn’t so funny now…

Lynne Coppendale.

Danum Academy Librarian

[Carol Williams]

“Look,” I said, “you need to untie me. I can’t help at all if I’m tied up, and besides which, I really don’t want to be a sitting target for whatever’s out there.” I surprised myself with my calm, which seemed to have come out of sheer blind panic.

The little creature thought for a moment, and then came over to undo the rope around my wrists. He seemed remarkably unconcerned about the snorfflurgls, but then maybe he thought they’d be more interested in eating me.

“We have a few minutes before it gets in, we’re pretty deep below ground level here”, the Morovan explained. “Now, before we managed to get you here, you were trying to remember something really important that happened this morning. What was it?”

“Hang on, who were those creatures surrounding me then?” A horrible thought crept up on me! “They weren’t snorfflurgls, were they?” If so, I’d had an incredibly lucky escape.

“I think they were, and it’s lucky you can tell me what happened, rather than them. The safety of your world might depend on it!”

I delved into my brain. What was it I’d remembered about this morning that was different, not quite right? I had to remember and I only had minutes. A terrible battering sound assaulted my ears, and as I turned to see what it meant, I realised those minutes were gone! We were under attack!

Carol Williams

Nottingham

 

[Allison Painich]

These strange creatures were everywhere.  Hurling, crawling, morphing into all different shapes, sizes, and colors.  I admit, I've never been more terrified.  If only I could remember...These creatures were closing in...closesr, closer.  I thought the heavens opend up as a blinding light encircled the cave.  The wind began to whip and thrash us all about.  These awful creatures stopped and began chanting in unsion.  The chant grew louder and louder, faster and faster.  The light became brighter and brighter.  The wind blew harder and harder.  And before I could blink an eye, it was all over.  The light from the spaceship, the one that looked like a model, drew every last creature in, even the tiny furry one, and zoomed away.  As I breathed a sigh of relief, I remembered.  It was that awful concoction my grandmother made for me at breakfast.  She mentioned it had strange side effects.

 

Allison Painich

Monroe, Louisiana, USA

Carmel Hill Write Path Coordinator