Ridley House Writing 2024

Ridley House Writing - 2024 Preface

Welcome to the 2024 Ridley House magazine which this year focuses on the theme of ‘Messages’.

The House Writing always comes at a very busy point in the academic year, so I am grateful to everyone who has contributed. Unfortunately, we cannot include all submissions in the final magazine, so the editorial team has made some difficult decisions in terms of what to include. I am particularly grateful to our editors for all their hard work Many thanks to Gabriel, Anthony, Alfred, Ewan, Joseph, Winfred, Luke, Nathaniel and Stanley.

The 2022-23 school year was a mixed one for Ridley House. We’re disappointed to have finished sixth in the Watson Trophy, but the obvious highlight was a second place finish in the House Music (only a point off first place). We performed much better in the Brodie Trophy, finishing third. The performances of our younger years (especially last year’s Ridley 7) bode well for the future.

At this point in the year it is difficult to predict exactly where we will finish in the two competitions I can however pick out two obvious highlights of the year so far Firstly, House Music. It was fantastic to return to the Waterside Theatre and for our musicians to perform in front of a near capacity crowd in such a venue. We were perhaps a little disappointed to finish fourth (I would have placed us higher), but as our captains Joe and Jake said –‘we had the most fun of all the houses’. The second highlight was House Basketball – Ridley’s first victory of the year. Hopefully there are more to come.

I hope that you enjoy reading the 2024 Ridley House Magazine.

Mr J. Barrie Head of Ridley House

Tableofcontents

1 Amigosporcorreo:laprimeraparte, Anthony

-Unheard.Unseen.Unsent, Aarav

2 Wordedmessages:abriefintroduction, Aaron

3

Thepoweroflifeanddeathisinthetongue, Aiden

4 “They’llbe fine,right?”, Rishi

5 ‘ThePost’:a filminreview, Stanley

6 Thetimeoldtraditionofbottledmessages, Euan

-Justmyluck, Edward

7 M-E-S-S-A-G-E-S, Murray

- Freedom looks like paper trapped in a glass, Steven

8 ENTRY REDACTED FROM PUBLICATION

9 Messages - the bane of mankind?, Joseph

10/11 The Network, George

12

13

14/15

16

Amigosporcorreo- la primera parte (¿Cuálesla palabra deldía,Guillermo?)

GuillermoGarcia

34,CalleMayor,BarriodeSanRoque 09692CanicosadelaSierra Burgos,Spain

AGuillermo,miamigoporcarta

DanielDavies

275,MelbourneRd.

Oxford,Mississippi,MO38655

UnitedStatesofAmerica

Piensoquelapalabradeldíaparatidebeser: gospel. Significa“buenasnoticias”. ¿Cómoeslasituacióncontupadrastro?-esperooírbuenasnoticiasdeti,muy pronto.Ahora,tuturno-¿cuáleslapalabradeldíaparamí?

Nadaenabsoluto,pero,tratedehacerlodivertido,porfavor.

Detuamigo,Danny

-Anthony,Ridley12

Messagesinthebreeze, Travellingwideandfar, Tumblingandturningintheair, Wordsunsentandthoughtsunheard.

Typingaway,hopingforareply, Neverknowingwhatistocome, Excitementcomesasthebubblescome, Showingthattheyarethere.

Sometimestheyarenotreplied, Fordaysanddaystocome, Butsometimesitisgoodtoknow, Somemessagesarebestunknown.

-Aarav,Ridley7

Worded Messages

A brief introduction…

Worded messages are a way of communicating with each other, to exchange and learn information from others. There are different ways of sending a worded message - the two main ways being through online texting platforms or delivering a handwritten message to somebody. There are also advantages and disadvantages to these two methods. Firstly, online messages can be sent instantly, while handwritten letters take time to be delivered. Additionally, online messages allow you to connect with anyone, anywhere in the world.

There are a lot of people you might want to send these messages to as well. Most of the time, you will be sending messages to your family and friends, as these are the people that you know best. Also, you can contact other people who you don’t know so well, and this could be done, for example, to ask a question.

There are also reasons as to why someone would send or keep a worded message. This could be because a person simply wants to know if someone else is alright, and see how they have been doing. However, you can also send these messages as warning, or for an attempt to seek help. An example of this is when people send written messages out in a bottle to sea, hoping someone would someday read it You can also write messages to comfort yourself. For example, if you have a worry or are going through something difficult, then you can write it down on a piece of paper. This is a way that some people use to bring relief psychologically.

To conclude, worded messages are important to everyone in some way and allow you to communicate effectively with other people.

- Aaron, Ridley 9

The power of life and death is in the tongue

Messages, oh how they flow

From one man to another

Short strings of words that can make someone grow

They are words that can uncover

In a world of screens and texts

Messages are an art of true connection

They can create real depths

Messages can be words that can create deep protection

A simple “How are you”

Can brighten up someone's day

Or a rude “I hate you”

It can destroy bonds and make a friend go astray

Messages can bridge distances

Between two people miles apart

They can bring comfort and assistance

To a lonely and broken heart

They can also be a source of pain

When they're filled with anger and hate

But even then they can put people in chains

Messages can easily start a debate

- Aiden, Ridley 7

“They’ll be fine, right?”

It was 4 pm and Tom paced back and forth in the waiting room, his eyes fixated on the door that lay before him, he knew that he had to distract himself. The longer he tried to focus on happy, relaxing and calm things like parties, or ice cream, the less he could bring himself to. He knew that there was nothing to be worried about, or at least that is what the doctors told him.

It was a standard check-up after all, absolutely nothing to be worried about, but just like before, he couldn’t take his mind off the thought that something would go wrong. His face, pale as a whiteboard, seemed to sweat uncontrollably. “Deep breaths” he reminded himself, but he just couldn’t seem to stop, so he sat down, only to now find himself, tapping at the seams of the chair, making a muffled thump every time his finger descended upon it.

It felt like 5 pm, although time seemed to drag on endlessly, each minute spent waiting seemed to strike him with agonising pain. “Almost there”, he thought to himself in complete solitude, “They must just be checking the results, right?”. He seemed to reiterate that to himself at least 5 times, before realising that he got lost in his thoughts.

He got up and tried to muster the courage to knock on the door, but no matter how much he tried he just couldn’t bring himself to knock. He felt stuck, thinking that if he knocked, it might slow down the whole process. He took another deep breath, but just like before, he couldn’t calm himself down.

Finally, at around 6 pm the door crept open, a tall figure emerging from the bright, white-illuminated room behind them: it was the doctor. Tom couldn't form the words “Are they alright”, but the doctor already knew what he wanted to know. Time seemed to freeze around Tom, but eventually, the doctor spoke in a serious, yet reassuring tone, “Your child will be alright, and so will your wife” At last, Tom’s nightmares were over and he rushed into the room, his heart beating faster than ever before and looked. In his wife’s arm was the face of his new perfect child. They were fine.

- Rishi, Ridley 10

The Post

A film in review…

Release: 2017

Letterboxd: 3 5

IMDB: 72

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%/74%

There is no doubt that this movie marks a major stamp into American history, with the end sequence giving a glimpse into the future of “The Post” and the Watergate Scandal and the messages from there The Spielberg treat that is “The Post” is one that, in combination with everyone who made the movie, is one of my favourites.

TRUTH BE TOLD

A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country’s first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between journalist and government. Inspired by true events.

Steven Spielberg's 2017’s “The Post”, starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks is one movie that was certainly deemed “Oscar bait” of its time

Released on December 22nd of 2017 it was sure to be a plug for extra nominations when award season came around But what was different about this particular movie was that it did the exact opposite Being a movie with three of the most well known names in Hollywood on the front cover, audiences were expecting some mild movie to come out to swipe away the awards However, audiences, and myself, upon the release were pleasantly surprised with its overall outcome One user wrote:

“A Movie About People Who Are Good At Their Jobs made by people who are very, very good at their jobs ”

- Griffin Newman on Letterboxd

“The Post” promotes that journalism, when it works, is always unprecedented, as it always emerges from the special circumstances of the time That's how The Washington Post can succeed in this story Streep portrays Katherine Graham, who inherits the business of the local paper, The Washington Post, from her husband, who prior commits suicide by shotgun Becoming the de facto editor of the Post. It’s been eight years with Graham in power and The Washington Post is a local paper that needs to become something bigger if it’s to survive going public A woman in power who’s taunted by a world surrounded by arrogant men who belittle her and pester her into what they believe to be the right move for this instance Urging her this way and that like she's an unattended baby. Streep champions this by the end of the movie as the character undergoes an extreme length of growth within the runtime into championing the men and taking control of her business

- Stanley, Ridley 12

Ridley House Writing - 2024 6

The time old tradition of bottled messages

Bottle’s have been used as a method of sending messages for thousands of years. The earliest example of a message in a bottle was by Aristotle in around 310 BC when he used them for scientific purposes to determine currents going in and out of the mediterranean. These sealed containers have been used for many other purposes, including: distress signals, memorials and expeditions.

The recovery rate for these bottles is thought to be under 3%. Studies have shown that this rate starts to decrease depending on how far out from the shore the bottle is released. An oceanographer named Curtis Ebbesmeyer developed a rule stating that bottles released over 100 miles from the coastline have recovery rates of around 10%, whereas less than 5% of bottles released from over 1000 miles out are recovered.

- Euan, Ridley 11

Just my luck.

Ping. I check my phone to see a message from my best mate Joe, my face lights up with a smile as I message him back:

- Edward, Ridley 8

M E S S A G E S

M any words we send

E ach with a purpose

S ome to convey love

S ome to share knowledge

A nd others to simply connect

G iving us a way to communicate

E ven when we're far apart

S ending messages, a true art

Sending happiness to our heart.

-

Murray, Ridley 7

Freedom Looks like paper trapped in a glass.

I launch the bottle into the sea; it rides the waves, free as can be, I think to myself, ‘Will my message ever be found?’

As the bottle drifts away without making a sound, It’s carried as far as the eye can see, Unlike the sender, this bottle is full of glee, No worries in the world, as content as a bee, Adrift in the sea, this bottle is carefree, This thought can’t seem to leave my mind,

As I leave a piece of my heart behind, ‘Will anyone see my message?’ I wonder, ‘Was this whole idea just a blunder?’

Maybe, just maybe, someone will reply,

Making me feel less lonely and shy,

Or else my message will be forgotten, Lost like a whisper in the breeze

- Steven, Ridley

9

Messages

The bane of mankind?

Messages.

They have existed since the first uttered word and have evolved in parallel with humanity. From the messenger with the scroll to a simple text on a phone the message has had a unique journey throughout human history. Once upon a time a message could take days, months, years to reach its destination - now a message takes a fraction of a second to be sent. In days of old a message would be shared between individuals by word of mouth, in the present climate millions can view a message simultaneously.

Antecedently, messages were sent between kingdoms to unite together in mutual trust and peace but nowadays messages divide and separate mankind into factions vying for power at the expense of others. At an earlier time, messages were a thing highly sought after where one would sit in anticipation for a singular message but now we are needlessly flooded with millions of messages every minute of every day.

And so I have a message for you, as the reader of this piece: can you justify the evolution of messages? Sometimes they can be a benevolent flower swaying in the wind, just waiting to be picked up by a gentle breeze to spread itself, other times, a vicious blood sucking parasite clinging onto its host and trying to infect others. The modern era has exacerbated this unruly side to messages, yet they persist. Evolution such as this is ubiquitous. But is this apparent ‘synthetic’ evolution of messages, evolution born of mankind, a step in the wrong direction?

- Joseph, Ridley 12

The Network

The world had changed faster than anyone could have guessed. It was not long since humans had discovered the ability to communicate across a vast web of connections, spanning further than we know Everything then grew at an exponential rate, much faster than anything imaginable.

No one could have predicted just how it would end…

It had started off with the discovery of digital patterns, built into the fabric of the universe. These patterns were found to be a complex version of the original World Wide Web from many years ago. From there, scientists realised that they could copy them to develop their existing patterns, inspiring the revolutionary AXtechCo brain implant known as ‘Telepath’; allowing humans to communicate and send messages with the mind.

However, the relentless human nature of wanting more could never be satisfied. New theories came to light, and it was unearthed that a breakthrough had been made. These universal patterns weren’t just something that could be observed and copied, they could also be exploited. Satellites were sent into deep space and with AXtechCo technology they were able to access and connect to these data patterns, giving them the apocalyptic power to control them.

A couple years passed and to the surprise of many, scarce new discoveries were made. Only few held the knowledge that the patterns were intensely monitored 24/7 and some of the greatest observations in human history had been made. Just like how the patterns were used to communicate telepathically, they were now used on a grander scale to send messages to the universe and to the public's knowledge no responses had yet been received.

The ability to communicate universally was the most closely guarded secret in the world but secrets like these don’t stay secret forever.

In the following months of that same year, a dark web hacker, known as a Hell Hacker, by the alias of Phantom came across some files in the depths of the network entitled “UNIVERSE SATELLITE”.

Ridley House Writing - 2024 11

On further reading he found out what AXtechCo had been doing in deep space, far away from the human eye

The file also contained blueprints and codes for the satellite and Phantom could not resist the urge to dig deeper. After days of fruitless searching, he finally found a back door into the tech agencies’ system. He was startled to find that in fact a single response had been received. The universal data patterns had unearthed a network of sentient AI that had been using the system since the dawn of the universe. Furthermore, the higher powers at AXtechCo had made negotiations with the AI to keep their network quiet if the AI helped them with their technological development. Phantom knew the implications of what would happen if this scandalous information got out but didn’t know just how far AXtechCo would go to stop this being leaked to the public, - would they attempt to silence him?

Phantom was about to click off the agency site before something happened that could show him as the perpetrator, when suddenly, a new channel opened up in the database he was looking at. His curiosity overruled his anxiety and eagerly he clicked open the link to investigate. With an overwhelming sense of horror, he realised what he had just clicked on…

In an instant a deep voice boomed over his speaker followed by more identical voices:

“These organisms are becoming too clever.”

“I’m not sure how much longer they can be trusted.”

“Their end is approaching.”

“Yes, that organism secretly listening into our channel now will be the only one who knows what truly happened the day their planet's existence ended.”

At this, Phantom tried frantically to leave the channel but nothing was working, the AIs had taken control of his system and he was helpless as he heard the last thing that any human would ever hear:

“Execute Kill Order - Target Blue Planet.”

- George, Ridley 10

Overlooked; not forgotten

Short sighted, clueless

Lost in the shadow of peers more victorious

Even with the biggest task ever faced He stayed motionless, his work ethic stayed notorious.

He had underestimated the magnitude the odds were stacked against him

He decided to pick up the pace

Neglecting his resume, feedback looking grim

He wasn’t very athletic, wasn’t very good nor cared much for the rest

Always offsiding these events for subjects he deemed more valuable

But realising now that trying was at least an option

Too little too late, his chances barely palpable

Form looking empty, thoughtful wishes of what ifs cast by the wayside

He couldn’t do anymore now, he knew that for sure

The only thing left for him to do was to keep pushing and working He was going to make a change, that was for sure

So there it was

That’s it, the end of his procrastinating wreckage

And to think he would’ve carried on with his ignorance

If he wasn’t sat down and given the message.

- Joel, Ridley 11

Fifteen winks shy of rescue

The year was 1965. The Cold War was in full swing and over in Asia, the Vietnam War had been raging for ten years. US Naval Commander Jeremiah A. Denton Jr. had been shot down while leading an air attack in North Vietnam, being captured and becoming a Prisoner of War. Conditions were brutal, and Denton was beaten many times. Ten months later, as part of North Vietnam’s propaganda campaigns, Denton was interviewed. This would be broadcast to the world, and Denton had been told that if he didn’t speak solely positively about conditions in the prison camps, he’d be beaten. He responded to the questions with answers like “the conditions are adequate”, but never negatively, for fear of being whipped.

To a normal US citizen, this may have seemed like a regular interview, but there was a secret message hiding behind the propaganda curtain. Claiming that the lights were blinding him, he blinked many times, and in a seemingly random pattern.

The broadcasters in North Vietnam didn’t realise anything extraordinary, but the Americans did. Using blinking as morse code, he had spelt out T-O-R-T-U-R-E, and showed the USA the atrocities in the POW camps in North Vietnam. That night, after the North Vietnamese had realised, he was beaten.

He eventually returned to the US seven years later and lived to the age of 89, dying in 2014. His message changed the way that the Americans viewed the North Vietnamese prisoner of war camps, ruining the propaganda regime that the North Vietnamese were pumping out

- Alexander, Ridley 10

Ridley House Writing - 2024 14 Transmission

It was 1944, and WW2 was raging across the world. A group of English soldiers were out trudging through the forests of France in search of their Captain John Bell. They had just received a transmission over the radio. The message read:

Help. I am being held captive in a top secret enemy camp. The German forces have captured me and I don’t know where I am. All I know is that it is somewhere…Northern…France…Enemy Base…Send Help!!!

One of the soldiers, Pete, said, ‘That’s him, it’s a call for help! We must look for him. We can ask the locals if they’ve seen any unusual activity. He said northern France so he must be close.’

So they went round towns in the area, asking the locals if they had seen any signs of an enemy base. The sun was setting and they still had had no luck. They agreed that they would search one more village and see if they had seen anything and if they hadn’t they would return to base.

They asked the locals and they said they had seen nothing unusual but, just when they were about to leave a nine year old boy ran up to them and said, ‘Everyone thinks I’m crazy but a few days ago I was out exploring the forest when I came across this strange metal door in the side of the rock. And there were these soldiers talking about some sort of captive. They wore these jackets with the German flag on them. I can take you there if you like but after that you're on your own.’

Pete replied ‘Yes, please take us there. That captive is our Captain. We must find him.’

So the boy took them to the place and showed them the secret entrance. Pete and the other soldiers snuck inside without being noticed and crept through the corridors. Then they came across a group of German soldiers who were talking about the captive. They hid, but listened as one signalled to the other to go through a door.

The soldier led them to a room where there was a row of prison cells along the wall. In one of them was Captain Bell, the soldier from the message, wearing his ripped British army jacket. They had to find a way to get him out. Then one of the soldiers

Ridley House Writing - 2024 15

noticed a key left on a desk. He grabbed it and tried to get the lock open. After a few tries the door opened and the Captain was free!

Just as they were thanking each other a German soldier came marching into the room. He noticed the soldiers and pressed a button that read: ALARM.

Pete panicked ‘Oh great. Now everyone in the base knows we’re here.’

They quickly sprinted for the exit and jumped out of the door while German soldiers were chasing them. Pete picked up the nearest stick he could find and wedged it through the door handle to stop the soldiers from getting them.

They found other troops in a nearby village and were taken to the British base where they received praise for finding the missing Captain with talk of medals for their bravery.

‘I’m so glad you managed to find me from that message,’ Captain Bell said. ‘Without you I would have still been in that cage right now.’

They all ate some food and had some water and Pete said, ‘I wonder what those Germans are doing now.’

Meanwhile, in the German base the soldiers were still trying to get out of the door. While the Germans were failing to get out of their own base, the British soldiers were enjoying eating food and celebrating another success.

- Freddie, Ridley 7

Don’t harm the messenger

Especially when it’s yourself.

Messages.

Often when we consider what a message is, things such as letters, or in more recent times, text messages come to mind. A message is a form of communication. But what if we consider the human body?

Indeed, the complexity and precise nature of the human body means that different parts of the body can send messages to one another. One such way the body can do this is through chemical signals known as hormones.

Ridley House Writing

A well-known example of this, colloquially known as the ‘Fight-or-flight’ response, is our body’s stress response. When a human recognises what they perceive to be a threat, your adrenal glands, which are located on top of your kidneys, release hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol.

Adrenaline causes the rate at which your heart beats to increase, leading to an increase in the oxygen supplied to your muscles and the amount of energy you have. Cortisol increases your blood glucose levels, and also slows down any body functions that aren’t pertinent to the situation at hand. This includes your digestive system, immune system and even your reproductive system.

Whilst this may be useful in the moment, prolonged periods of this, where adrenaline and cortisol levels are high, can often directly lead to health challenges, such as high blood pressure, digestive problems and even heart diseases. This is the reason why stress is often referred to as a silent killer, as we are often so caught up in our own lives that we can fail to recognise the key signs or implications of stress. So what can we do to help ourselves?

Whilst many of us will have heard the common reassurance ‘don’t stress’, stress is a part of our human body and an unavoidable part of our life. Instead, we can practise other activities that raise our endorphin levels, such as sports, or calming exercises that can reduce our cortisol levels such as meditation. In a research project carried out by the American National Institute of Health, 89.4% of respondents claimed that meditation had greatly helped them and reduced their stress This included things such as depression and anxiety, commonly caused by stress.

To conclude, in our increasingly busy lives, as responsibilities increase and consequently possible stress-causers, it is important to listen to the messengers that our own bodies. Put aside a little bit of time every week for yourself to unwind and relax, as it really can be far more vital for your human body than you may realise.

- Aryaman, Ridley 13

How on earth did we get where we are today?

Messages have been used for a long time over the course of history, so how on earth did we get where we are today?

The first use of messages was in the year 1800 BC when Chinese soldiers leveraged smoke signals to warn their comrades of the Great Wall of China. Around the same time, carrier pigeons were utilised to send secret messages between people by attaching a letter to a pigeon leg and the pigeon was labelled for a certain location to travel to.

Skipping forward into the 16th century and we now see the use of messages in bottles. Dropping them in the sea was utilised to send ashore information about enemy positions. Then in 1837, a couple sets of inventors developed an electrical telegraph and then developed Morse code which could be printed by these telegraphs. Also, the 1800s saw the arrival of Pony Express which was a mail delivery service that used relay systems to send messages from coast to coast in just 10 days.

After that, in 1950, Balloon mail was used between Warsaw Pact countries to Germany and between South Korea and North Korea. Alexander Graham Bell is known for inventing the telephone, which has developed and is still used to this day. Although many have come up with this theory, it was Bell who filed the patent for an “apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically”. Then in 1973, Motorola produced the first cellular telephone which weighed just under 2 kilograms. This eventually evolved into a smaller size with a screen on it which allowed texting to be born which is the primary use of messages to this day.

And that is how we got where we are today.

- Leo, Ridley 8

Ridley House Writing - 2024

Onwards!

I am the carrier pigeon.

“Cancel the attack! Cancel the attack!”

Officers shout this message.

My foot holds the message.

Off I fly. Onward I must go!

Pew, bang; artillery flies past.

Pow, pow bullets skim my wings.

Flak guns fire and knock me around in the air.

Should I just give up?

No. Onward I must go!

I huff and puff as smoke chokes my lungs, Mustard gas merely drifts past me,

The heat of the flames is almost too much.

Should I give in?

No. Onward I must go!

My mouth runs dry,

My stomach grumbles and groans, My wings feel dead,

My eyes water from the air.

Maybe I should take a rest?

No. Onward I must go!

I fly and fly… wait!

Is that it?

Yes.

There’s the regiment.

Down I swoop,

The Lieutenant colonel takes my message:

‘Turn back! The battle is a trap and has been called off!’

I did it.

I saved them.

The message is delivered.

- Alexander, Ridley 8

Ridley House Writing - 2024

An ink-stained legacy

Sitting in a tavern beside the docks, John was drinking. Sitting around him were his pirate crew. A pile of sealed white letters lay on the table, one of them John knew contained the black spot. The most feared message on the seas, the personification of guilt and verdict of judgement. Whoever received it was said to be doomed, they would be thrown off the ship or worse…killed.

Each letter at the table had a name carefully inked on the front. One by one John’s crew fearfully picked up and opened their letters. As the last wax seal was cracked open to reveal a blank empty parchment, a singular letter was left at the table. Bearing the name: John…Henry…Hatchett. Panic clouded his mind, ‘surely there must be another letter?’ he thought, it might have been lost, there could have been a mistake. But deep down in his thoughts he knew that the whispered lies, horrible feats and damning crusades had finally caught up with him.

His crew no longer trusted his leadership nor his sanity Deals done in blood, debts paid in sacrifice surfaced in his mind. The white letter so menacing with those three fateful words staring up at him, ridiculing his life choices and bearing witness to the many, many faces that never again saw the light. His second in command saw his hesitancy, reached over and plucked the letter from the table, walked over and forcefully placed it in his hand. John took the knife proffered and slit the seal, imagining it would not be long before he met the same fate.

Slowly creeping open the fold he glanced inside. Internally he thought that if this was his fate, he was more than obliged to meet it Millimetre by millimetre the letter unfolded revealing an ink blot as black as an abyss. His fate was sealed; there was nothing he could do except to wait and pray.

As he left the tavern, his crew followed him down to the docks where he would enjoy one last look at his beloved ship before the inevitable came.

- Elliot, Ridley 8

Ridley House Writing - 2024 22

Enigmas for us Enigmatics

(A short song)

Verse 1

Secrets in messages, how they hide Like a digital spy in disguise

Chorus:

What does it mean?

Oh, what does it mean?

Verse 2

Codes encrypted in a script, so sly The message gets sent oh how it flies

Chorus:

What does it mean?

Oh, what does it mean?

Bridge:

These lines of letters unlock a mystery

For what do you entail about history

In the language of encryption spun Secrets whispered in the coded run

Chorus:

What does it mean?

Oh, what does it mean?

Outro:

Caesars, Shifts and enigma

Python, C++ and Java

What does it mean?

Oh, what does it mean?

- James, Ridley 9

Our silent conversation.

The boy lay there; cowering in fear and concealed only by his bedsheets. It was useless - everyone knew by now that those things could see with a wider spectrum of light; including infrared. No amount of cloth would suffice to obscure him. The irregular inhuman footsteps approached; coming to a stop directly besides the bed in which the boy lay. The sheets pulled back and the boy made reluctant eye contact with the creature. If those things staring at him could be considered eyes that is. His fate was decided…

And yet their current state persisted, the strange organism made no moves to attack the boy: instead, it shrunk back to the other corner of the room. The boy’s eyes tracked this motion, being frozen in terror of just what had found its way into his room.

They were seemingly stuck in a mutual exchange of confusion, neither making any advances towards the other in a bid of self preservation. The being in front of him began to convulse; its body twisting and contorting in ways that seemed impossible - yet it did not seem to be in pain. Taking another glance at this scene, the boy noted that these movements weren’t so erratic as he had first perceived them, rather, they seemed in that moment to be quite rhythmic; like some peculiar form of art.

The longer the boy stared, the more agitated it became. It appeared desperate - but not enraged, as if it were attempting to help the boy understand. The boy remarked that these seizures seemed to have a structure to them, but not necessarily consistency. Was this, in fact, some uncanny form of communication? The notably language-like structure to these paroxysms of desperation left little doubt of this in the boy’s mind. It seemed to be attempting to relay a message to him, but the most important questions still remained unanswered… What exactly was this message? Why was it required? Who was it intended for?

All of these uncertainties were codes that the boy would now have to decipher. So he sat, and he watched. Maybe “listened" is the more appropriate term here? He “listened” as the creature “talked” to him.

- William, Ridley 11

Ridley House Writing - 2024 24

Apathy

my comfort dish.

Ingredients:

➢ Two teaspoons of avoided eye contact on the bus

➢ A pinch of music to drown out background conversations

➢ Three dashes of spacing out at the back of class

➢ A tablespoon of waiting for the bell to hurry up and ring already

➢ A cup of self-reflection on your inability to communicate or form friendships

Method:

Who’s to say really? Mix the ingredients as you like - or don’t, up to you I guess.

- Adam, Ridley

13

Amigos por correo - la segunda parte

(Guillermo’s response)

Guillermo Garcia

34, Calle Mayor, Barrio de San Roque

09 692 Canicosa de la Sierra Burgos, Spain

Daniel Davies

275, Melbourne Rd. Oxford, Mississippi, MO 38655 United States of America

I think I preferred when you chose a phrase of the day last time: “bob and weave”

It has been much more useful advice for dealing with that man, rather than this naive expectation of yours for “good news” - there is none.

I did think of a vegetable joke for you, but it's probably too corny. Sorry. Ok, now I’ve got it. The word for the day is: cursi.

Yes, I’m sure you’ve never heard that one before… truly, I wish I could say the same. Cursi.

Wish you were here.

From your cursi friend, Guillermo

- Anthony, Ridley

12