Creative Writing Contest

This year, The Exonian ran a creative writing competition with two categories: one flash fiction based on an image of Cathedral Green of between 100 and 150 words; one for fiction of 500-800 words on the theme of isolation. Here are our chosen pieces that we think really encapsulate the creativity of our school community. Enormous congratulations to our winners!

ALONE

by MATHEW SHEARS

He opened his eyes. The grey, turbulent sky loomed ominously above his head. He felt the roughness of the damp tarmac digging into his bare back. He rose to his feet groggily, his head spinning, not fully understanding where he was. He stood there, in disbelief of what he saw right all around him for what seemed like hours, but was probably more like minutes. He tried pinching himself, punching himself and even slapping himself in the face, but nothing worked. This wasn’t some sick, twisted nightmare but real life, and he was living it. He was standing in the middle of a junction on the high street of the city where he lived, but something was very wrong. The first thing he noticed was the derelict shops, which had once been colourful and thriving, with people constantly coming in and out, a flow of happiness. But now the once-bright storefronts and interiors were dark and faded, and the broken windows of the buildings seemed like some dark creature’s maw, waiting to swallow him up with its glass teeth. The next thing he noticed was how silent it was, unnaturally so. The city, which was usually so noisy and bustling with people rushing to and fro in their busy lives, tending to their businesses and having fun with their friends, was completely silent. It put his nerves on edge and he felt his hair stand up on end. Humans are hardwired to feel wary when things are completely silent, as it means that a predator is around, and to him it felt like the very city he called home was that predator. For the first time, he wondered what had happened. Where was everyone? Why was everyone gone but he was still here? Why had he woken up in the middle of the road? He decided not to dwell on his situation, and he made it his goal to look around the city and find someone or maybe get some clues about what had happened. He set off walking down the dilapidated streets of the place he once called home, hoping to find some idea of what had happened. He decided to go to his house first, to see if there were any remains of his former life. It took him about half an hour to reach his house, and by the time he got to the street his house was on, his bare feet were raw from the wet tarmac. His heart sank when he saw his home. The facade of the old red brick house was blackened and charred, and the interior of the house was all but destroyed. He stepped inside the house, a single tear rolling down his cheek. This was supposed to be his place of refuge, his place of safety and love, and the fact that it was gone broke him. The wet, ashy carpet squelched beneath his feet, as he tramped in disbelief around his home. Flashes of memory flew through his head; of eating dinner with his parents, playing with his baby sister and having a barbecue with friends, which, although he didn’t want to admit it, he knew deep down that he would never have again. He desperately searched through the melted and destroyed rooms of the place he called home for something to show him that his previous life existed, and at last he found something. A framed photo of him and his family. It was somehow almost completely intact after the huge blaze that had taken over the house, with only the right corner of the photo. He clasped it to his chest, happy to have this memento of his family. He wondered if they were out there somewhere, away from the desolate remains of the once joyful city. After all, if he had survived whatever had caused all this destruction, maybe they had got out of the situation too. He thought of his baby sister, wondering how old she would be now, as it seemed like he had been gone for a long time, as his memories were foggy but definitely there. Since he didn’t find solace in his house, he decided to leave to go out in search of life. He trudged out of the house, taking one last look at the place with all its memories along with it, glad to have the photo to remind him of his family. He passed by decrepit cars, their paintwork flaking and rusty, their tyres rotted and flattened. He thought about how those very cars would have once driven at high speed along the smooth roads of the city, ferrying their drivers to where they needed to go. He walked, and walked, and walked. Although he was tired, he concluded that the best thing he could do was keep walking, as there was always a hope of civilization… right?

ISOLATION – MISSION TO VENUS

by MEGAN ROBERTS

My eyes suddenly opened. I slowly raised my head and looked around. Rope. Around my wrists, and ankles. Wait, I was on a table. In a place that looked like... wait a second. Oh no. Empty bags of dry-food were on a metal floor. And the walls, they were metal too. Test tubes filled with strange cloudy liquids. Medicines... I hoped. By now, I’d realised I was on the ship. I strained myself desperately, trying to get out of the tight knots that held me down, but it was impossible. At this point I only could scream for help. I yelled at the top of my voice, hoping that someone could hear me... because they MUST have tied me down, but who?

Suddenly, I heard the click clack of a lock in the door opening. Then feet drumming on the ground, then, “Hello Kay.” My heart jumped with fear. I should have known. I should have kept myself on guard. He was bound to find a way to get me onto the ship.

“Liam!? Why, how, let me go!” I couldn’t quite find the right words to explain how I was feeling, extremely scared. Sad, most of all angry, at why he’d done this. I had told him that he was going down the wrong path. I’d told him this wasn’t the right way to go in life. He should’ve listened to me. He should have just let me enjoy my life, rather than try to drag me into his wild, wrong-doing.

“Liam, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!” I shrieked at him. “What does it look like, Kay?” “LIAM! LET ME GO! I TOLD YOU THAT I DIDN’T WANT ANY PART IN THIS! BUT YOU STILL WENT ALONG AND STOLE THE SHIP AND... DRAGGED ME ALONG TOO! HOW DID I EVEN GET HERE-” I started, but Liam interrupted. “Kay. I NEED YOU on this mission. And when you said no, well, the simplest way to get you to come with me was to knock you out and drag you on.”

“No. No. I will not help you with anything you do. You’re crazy, you know! Crazy, just crazy. Just-just-let me out of these- things!” I tugged on the ropes that held me down.

“KAY! STOP. THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO. NOTHING. I HAVE YOU NOW.” He hissed. I was panicked now.

“Liam. Please. Don’t do this. You... this mission... it won’t go well, Liam. Turn round. Save yourself, and me, and let’s just go back home, enjoy life on Earth... go back to mum, come to my wedding... please. Just don’t go to Venus. It’s not worth it. We’ll die on the way there. And those suits... they won’t last long and one of us will get hurt, just please, TURN THIS SHIP AROUND!” I hoped that I had got through to him, that the Little Liam inside him, that I loved when we were kids, was still in him, underneath that evil layer of ambition he had formed. It had mainly formed out of trauma, after the tragedy that had happened to Dad.

Liam was always a shy kid. Bullied at school, and never had too many friends. I was always his guardian, and best friend. But when Dad… when Dad disappeared... and was captured, tortured and killed by mysterious people who were thought to have evil powers unknown to man (they were the first astronauts to go to Venus... they managed to come back from their mission, but changed. They were affected by something on Venus.) Liam became strange. He didn’t think it was fair that some people could have these powers but others couldn’t.

He became obsessed with plotting to go to Venus himself, to get these powers. I thought it was just games he played, but as he got older and he started to focus all his energy on this... 'plot' thing he had slowly, but surely devised. I didn’t know what to do. I was terrified because my brother had turned into this power hungry monster. It was too late to try and change him and the things he had planned.

I begged Liam for ages to release me and help me get him back home, but he had his heart set on going to Venus. I begged him once more, but he became really angry. He pulled out a dagger and lunged at me, holding it to my chin.

“You will come to Venus with me, Kay. Or death. Painful death,” he said. I could hardly breathe, sweat drops running down the side of my face. There was no choice now. I didn’t know what to do. I was isolated on a spaceship with my monster of a brother.

I had to go to Venus with him.

ISOLATION ON THE SHIP

by BENJI COOLING

It was January when we were told; he had done it, they said. We all had imagined this but now it was reality. The clouds above us would soon be below us we thought as we looked up into the blue sky. NASA had called us the moment they announced the news that me Lauren and Michael had been elected for the launch. The destination Mars, the date May 1st 2082. We had 4 months to prepare but these would be the hardest, longest months of our lives, with countless training and testing of parachutes and launching. But then the day came, May 1st had come and we were ready. Well we thought we were. Mars is 301 million kilometres away from earth and it would take 30 years in any ship. But not our ship. The Gladius 1 was the most developed ship of its time being able to go around 1.66 million km in only 3 hours so it would take around 40 days to arrive at Mars.

It was launch day and we all were ready. We had eaten only astronaut food for 2 months so we were used to it and we had numerous training exercises to prepare for this day. We got in, all three of us clinging to the handles. Enclosed, isolated and scared. The world was watching us and we knew that now was the only chance we had to get to the red planet.

Three... Two... One... Lift off.

The sound of the launch pierced our ears as the rocket rose into the clouds. We were soon in space and we would be here for 40 days until stepping on ground. The launch took 3 hours as we had to confirm to earth that we had all indeed survived. Then, after this, we were free to wander the ship. The facilities were good considering we were hurtling through space. After the first look around the ship, Michael and I decided to sleep, and Lauren offered to stay at the controls to keep the ship in control. We slept but woke to a scream. It was Lauren. We ran over to her: she was screaming and shouting, “the controls are lost, we have no contact with earth” she exclaimed with bloodshot eyes. We told her we’d be fine and that we’d be back online with them soon knowing that this was not true. As days passed we realised contact was well and truly lost. The days went on and sooner than hoped, landing day came. We had tried to turn the ship, but it was controlled by earth, and we had no idea what was happening there. It was landing day and we prepped. We got in our suits and put on our boots. As we got in, Michael called us from the control desk. “We can’t land” he said: the ship had lost course and we were going past Mars. “NO!” we all shouted. “NO, no, no!” This can’t be true. We had lost comms, and now we had lost our course. Lauren tried to fix the controls, but nothing worked. We were trapped, isolated in a metal container flying through space. We had little food and we had no idea what to do. After 2 days we had almost eaten all the food, and now we had spent 43 days in space, slowly but surely leaving our solar system.

It was 3 days later when Michael came up to me, he was tired and his face was paler than a bleak, cloudy sky. He came to me and told me that he had a family, and that he knew he would never see them again. I felt bad for him for a moment, but then realised that his situation was mine too, and we cried together. Two men sitting in a room, in a ship, in space. We were trapped. I left him and went to visit Lauren, but as I left, an alarm sounded. I could instantly recognise this alarm as I heard it almost every day for 2 months in training.

This alarm meant that the airlock had failed.

I ran to the control room that was located at the top of the ship. As I got there, the strong metal door had already closed to keep the air gap secure. Then I understood. I could see a huge crack in the metal shell that was clearly man made. Lauren had jumped.

After this, Michael and I grew depressed, isolated, and even though we were together, we felt alone. That was the last day I remember. No men will ever get to Mars.

THE MARTYDOM OF AGNES PREST

by AMBER MOELLER

It’s a bitter morning and frost tints the grass of the Cathedral Green. The Sheriff leads me outside the city walls; as we draw nearer to Southernhay, a stake rises out of the early morning mist like a crucifix.

Yesterday, I was on parole by the authority of the Bishop, despite my immutable faith. Queen Mary and every Catholic – my husband included – commit idolatry at Mass; I refuse to recant my Protestantism in the face of this heresy.

It was a Dutch stonemason working on the West Front of Exeter Cathedral who was to condemn me to the stake however, as he repaired the noses on the statues of saints, I remarked “What a madde man art thou to make them new noses, which within a few dayes shall all lose theyr heades”. The Bishop’s Chancellor overheard, and I was tried before the Mayor.

‘Faithful unto death.’ POETRY

Homeward Journey

After my usual train journey home from school one day I had to catch a bus through a familiar route that evoked memories of a time past and compelled me to write about this journey.

by NATHAN RODNEY-JONES

Up in the dark Get ready Pass through An hour on the train The day The train Passing through Home in the dark The path worn a thousand times by my feet stretches out on the other side of the glass, now cordoned with 2 metre signs. Gone ten times quicker than the time before, the life before.

Up Ready Pass through Train Day Train Pass through Home

Dark to dark, Hours of day lit from train to train.

Up Ready Pass through Train Day Train pulling into town, Today I’ll take the bus.

Sit down on my old seat worn six months and a life time ago.

Pulls away through my once daily commute,

the stop I waited two hours at, my school - my last school, the greasy spoon we all went that time, the lane where I first told a girl that I loved her. And in that shadowy flash of half familiar faces, you cross over. You’ve put on weight and embrace a teenage man. I smile to myself.

Now just up, down and home, as we pull away one last time.

I stand as we come homeward into the valley.

I thank the driver I once cursed myself for calling mate. He recognises me in my mask and strange school garb. “Right mate, have a good evening”.

I step off, and away back into the night.