A few words from me..

I started writing this story and posted it several months ago, and I wrote this Part Two to go along with it, but have never found the time to post this. If you have forgotten or haven’t read part one, go read it, so you can know what’s going on. So at long last, I finish the cliffhanger and it doesn’t go as you would think….

The actual story now

Zein screamed. Well as close to a scream a spider can get. Rama rolled her eyes. Zein then took another look at the creature. It was much smaller than a human (maybe a little larger than himself) and enveloped in a brownish fur. It had a lengthy peach tail and four little pink feet. Zein struggled to think of something to describe this unusual creature. All of a sudden, Rama started chuckling.

“It’s only a rat,” she said between giggles.

“Why would a rat be here of all places?” Zein wondered.

“It was probably attracted here by all the food clutter you have in your section of the web!” Rama teased.

Zein could not help feeling that there was something missing. Or was it someone. Terror flashed across Rama’s eyes which indicated she was thinking the same thing Zein was.

It was about dinner time. And there would only be one spider who would arrive early to ensure he got to eat as much as possible. And as Zein scanned the room, he was nowhere to be found.

Where was Jude???

“The way I’m conceiving this, the rat ate Jude, and we’re next,” Zein whispered.

“Rats do not usually eat spiders,” Rama replied, noticeably deep in her thought.

“Then what could the rat be doing here?” Zein queried.

Rama’s eyes widened in fear. “It might have come to warn us.”

“Why would it come to-” Zein cut himself off when he observed the door. For a change it was open. Wide open. And in the crack of light stood a figure out of Zein’s worst nightmares. A range of emotions crashed through him. Terror. Confusion. Worry. But everything faded when Zein saw what was in the figure’s hand. It was a trembling, wide-eyed Jude.

A note from me

This is usually the scariest part in the story. But usually a reader does not grasp the entire plot at this point. In this case, it’s how Jude ended up in the figure’s hand. So I’m here to guide you, as we are now going back around an hour before Zein and Rama saw the figure carrying Jude, but this time, it will be from Jude’s perspective.

Back to the story

Jude had gotten quite a selection today. In his web next to the grimy window, dedicated to catching unsuspecting flies, he had caught fifteen flies. That was more than usual. His stomach growled. Surely Rama and Zein wouldn’t mind if he ate just one of them would they?

Clunk. Clunk.

Jude jumped. He nearly screamed, but he managed to keep it in. He looked around. This is when Jude came to the realisation, he had never really taken in his surroundings in all his years at the room, but now looking up, he saw a vent.

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.

The sound was definitely coming from the vent. Jude’s memories flooded back of Rama telling Zein to ensure that he never goes in that vent.

Curiosity got the better of Jude. He scuttled up the wall. Jude barely managed to squeeze himself in the largest crevice of space the vent had, but he was in. Jude searched all around, left and right, looking for the source of the clunking sound. Nothing. Then it came. Scurrying around was a rat. Jude gasped, softly, but the rat came on over to him quickly.

“What are you doing here?” asked Jude. Then he mentally cursed himself. Rats couldn’t talk. Only spiders and humans could. But the rat seemed to prove him wrong.

“There are humans nearby. I knew there were spiders here, so I wanted to alert them before the humans used their poisons to kill you,” the rat replied, in an effortless English. “But I suppose I have already warned you, so you can tell the others. I might steal their food, then I need to flee before they kill me too.”

“Hold on, you’re stealing food?” Jude asked, mouth wide open. He knew how mad Rama would be at him if she found him missing and he came back later with a full stomach. But it would be exhilarating. Jude had not left the room for years. He craved adventure. Once he attempted to persuade his cowardly, messy brother (Zein) to explore the house with him, but Zein had refused. Jude really shouldn’t have been that surprised. “Count me in,” he told the rat.

“Really?” the rat asked. “I would love the help! What is your name?”

“My name is Jude,” Jude responded. “You?”

“My name is Remy,” the rat Remy said. “Follow me, and we can get that food. You can return to your kind later.”

As Jude followed Remy across all the twists and turns of the ventilation system, he forgot all the things he should have worried about, like the imminent threat toward his siblings, or how they could have evacuated the building, but he shrugged it off. He was grateful for the change of pace and he embraced it.

“There it is,” Remy’s hushed voice broke Jude out of his giddy trance. Jude looked down and his mouth watered. It wasn’t necessarily food a spider would always eat. but its colours and irresistible smell seemed appetising enough. “Follow me,” Remy whispered, crawling down the wall and concealing himself behind some sort of jar.

Jude copied him, feeling his heart patter with excitement and nervousness as he peeked around to observe what was around him. a little, clean table with two cushioned seats was there. There was a big, dark box with a translucent front, and some sort of stove and a pan on a stove. There were many small countertops, with a wide variety of colourful, delicious foods.

Jude’s life had been a lie.

“Grab what you can,” Remy said, running across the counter and sinking his teeth into a yellow round thing. Jude scurried across, intending to catch up, then he froze.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Remy gasped and went to hide, but Jude was still frozen.

Thump. Thump.

“Tarek, are you sure you want to live here?” a woman’s voice asked.

“Yes I’m sure,” a man who Jude assumed was called Tarek, replied. “You never change Reem, endless complaining since when we were younger.”

“Well, our parents say if I’m not here to keep you in line, you would be dead.” the woman (probably Reem) retorted.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

“Jude, move!” Remy hissed. “You have time!”

But Jude was paralysed with fear. He was barely seeing what was in front of him. Jude could barely hear Remy as he started to whisper-shout for Jude to hide or run away.

Thump. Thump.

“I’ll get your siblings so they can help,” Remy said, then took off.

All of a sudden, Jude snapped back to reality just as two siblings (Jude assumed they were Tarek and Reem) marched in. Obviously the first thing they saw was a frozen Jude.

“AHHHHHHH,” screamed Reem, jumping on a chair. “SPIDER!”

But Tarek seemed fascinated. He picked Jude up, and held him up on one leg. Jude wiggled his legs, anything to be free of his death grip.

“Reem, I think I know where this spider, and possibly more would come from,” he said, still staring at Jude.

“Well get rid of them all!” Reem squealed.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

As Jude was being carried up, he hoped that Remy would have warned someone about what was going on. Maybe if he didn’t survive, at least Rama and Zein could have fled. They could start over elsewhere.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The room where Jude assumed he’d been living in for years was quickly approaching. He hoped at least Rama and Zein would be safe as Tarek ripped open the door.

Another note from me

Don’t worry- this is my last little message for you. But now that we know what happened between Jude and the rat, the story can resume where we’ve left off, from Zein’s perspective.

Back to the story

“Ah, so you took my idiot brother,” Rama said, addressing the man holding Jude. “Thank you Tarek.”

“Wait, what?” Zein knew Rama hated humans. Her number one rule was to never talk to them. So why was she talking to them.

“Your plan was foolproof, Rama,” a woman said approaching the room and standing by the doorway. “And they really didn’t suspect a thing?”

“Not a thing, Reem,” Rama smirked at Zein. “They’re stupid and they never listen to me. So they never notice when I sneak out to talk to you and Tarek.”

“Why would you do this?” Jude asked, but the man (Tarek?!) shook his hand and Jude immediately fell silent.

“Someday we’ll all learn my story,” Rama said. “Jenna still needs to post a little spinoff for me on her blog. But for now, we can know that you two are the bane of my existence. I wanted more from my life. I wanted spiders to remember me many years from now. I wanted to cross the line and be friends with humans. So I met these two siblings one day, Reem and Tarek. They wanted to move in here so I struck a bargain. We could get rid of you two so they could live in peace, and in exchange I get to live here and explore the city with them.”

“Now we never have to worry about spiders again!” Reem added. It’s a win-win!”

“Pick Zein up Tarek,” Rama ordered.

Tarek took Zein in his hand and lifted him up so high, so that now he was parallel with Jude. Fear raced through Zein’s body so he tuned out all of Jude’s complaints and fights. But he jolted back when Rama said the most terrifying thing ever.

“Crush them Tarek,” Rama was practically cackling at this point.

“No,” Zein whispered, but it was too late. Tarek had clenched his fists, and he felt his legs break, and his body get smashed.

As Zein and Jude’s body parts and blood oozed all over Tarek’s parts, all Rama could do was have a laugh.

“They’re finally gone,” she said.

The End!!!

Well, for Zein and Jude anyway.

This book review was written by my friend Melissa from school, who has asked to have it posted here on my blog. I’ve added to it and improved it so that it was more my style before agreeing to post. Hopefully you enjoy it and find yourself inspired to read Little Women, as it is an amazing book.

If you’re looking for a heartwarming coming-of-age story filled with valuable life lessons and relatable characters, then Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women could be the book for you. This novel has everything you could want from a Bildungsroman novel, including overcoming faults, dealing with difficult situations such as relationships and outgrowing childish innocence and yet, despite all that occurs, the comfort of its warmth and simplicity and its sagacious advice pacifies you.

This book introduces its four main characters: Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Part one of Little Women focuses on them overcoming their faults and part two centres on the blossoming in character and becoming “little women”. In part one, Meg masters her vanity, Jo controls her temper, Beth overcomes her reticence and Amy masters her greed. In part two, Meg learns to be a good housewife to John, Jo learns the importance of accepting her gender and becomes more feminine while still keeping her own unique identity, Beth learns to embrace death and that the most important thing in life is to live it to the fullest and Amy learns that it is better for her to follow her heart and marry for love, not money.

In my opinion, I think the best character would be Jo as she seems the most relatable and real of the four. I always empathise with her feelings and it seems like when she is in pain, I am too. I’m not really fond of Beth as her piety irritates me because no one can really be as righteous as her. Beth’s character always makes me focus on my imperfections. Meg isn’t really a character I like on account of her being sensible and womanly. She is quite a weak character and puts too much trust in the idea of love. I don’t really like Amy as I see a lot of my bad qualities in her and it feels like she is being rewarded for her negative traits when, not only is she cosseted by her family, she also receives the Europe trip originally meant for Jo.

Personally, I find the book to be quite refreshing and virtuous as not only does it present many righteous teachings such as always trying to be kind and persevering through anything but it also has an underlying theme of feminism when it refers to Pilgrim’s Progress. Pilgrim’s Progress is a story of a man who journeys from the City of Destruction (Earth), to the Celestial City (Heaven). By comparing Christian’s journey to the girls’ life, it shows how the hardships of a conventional young woman are just as important as that of a man’s and women are not second-class citizens.

However, the book occasionally seems quite tedious and long-winded and although Alcott sometimes included humour in her writing, I couldn’t quite understand some of it as it was rather dated. If the book was rewritten to include modern comedy, I’m sureI would enjoy it more. Alcott also dealt with some very strong topics, like death, which made me feel quite uncanny inside. The book is targeted toward quite young girls, and I think the subject of demise might shock them. Also, compared with modern-day books, it lacks drama, and there aren’t many lively scenes. The book either seems too courteous or too domestic.

I would recommend this book to girls who are around 9-12. It can help them better their faults and it will also help them overcome adolescent-related problems. I would also recommend it to people who like books with valuable morals and crave guidance or like books that deeply move them. However, if you like lively books with a lot of action then this probably isn’t the best book for you.

If you liked the sound of this book, other titles I would recommend to you by Louisa May Alcott are An Old-Fashioned Girl, a book about an old-fashioned girl called Polly Milton who visits her friend’s wealthy family is overwhelmed by their fashionable life and shocked to see how little they care for each other, and Rose in Bloom, a book about a girl called Rose Campbell who, after her travels, is suddenly surrounded by admirers. However, she is determined to establish herself as an independent woman before marriage.

Despite this book being a classic, it has been adapted for television 6 times. The 2019 movie starred Emma Watson and a Korean drama was made based on it. This is proof that it is a timeless story that many people have loved reading and enjoy exploring the world of the March sisters and relating to them.

Treasure Island Book Review

Treasure Island is one of the best classic texts that I have ever read. I find its storyline to be riveting and this story brings back many cherished memories from stories my father tells me and my siblings, and its message is something that will affect me for many years to come. To quote, “The pursuit of valuable gems is futile, rather the greater sense of fulfilment is in self-knowledge, wisdom, and honesty.” Fundamentally, it means that greed and endless lust for treasure never gets you anywhere in life, but true bliss comes from knowledge and hard work. This is something that relates to all of us and it is fascinating to read it in a book written several centuries ago.

Treasure Island starts off in Admiral Benbow (Jim’s father’s inn), with Jim living with his parents and an old sea captain named Bill Bones. Jim’s father has an illness that eventually leads to his end. Shortly afterward, Bill Bones dies a sudden death because of a black spot (a pirate ruling to delinquency), Jim is encouraged to action and he and his mother rapidly unlock Bill’s sea chest, where they realise that the belongings in the chest could be valuable, so Jim brings a document to Doctor Livesey and Squire Trelawney. To their excitement, it is a map to a huge treasure that Captain Flint has concealed on an island. Trelawney starts to craft a voyage to the island, but is then manipulated to hire Flint’s old seamates, Long John Silver and the majority of his pirate crew. Only Captain Smollett is proven trustworthy. They set sail to the island, but then Jim overhears Silver’s plan for mutiny. He tells the captain and they create a plan to get most of the pirates off the ship. However, Jim sneaks into the pirate’s boat…

Personally, I have always enjoyed books written in the first person as I really get to understand the character on a personal level, and not necessarily as a big hero as such. This is a trap that other kinds of books can effortlessly slip into. Treasure Island is (mostly) written from the perspective of Jim Hawkins. Chapter Fifteen, however, ends on a cliffhanger and the narration is from Doctor Livesey’s point of view from Chapter’s Sixteen through Eighteen. I find those three chapters to be the most exhilarating in the whole book. But other than that, Jim is an interesting character and I felt his determination to go on the expedition, and Stevenson creates that feeling that I am with Jim on this adventure.

Jim Hawkins, however, is one of my favourite protagonists, ever. He is uncommonly meek, which makes all the courageous things he pulls off just that little bit more breathtaking. Another thing I enjoyed is that Stevenson did not make him perfect. Other authors usually make their main characters like they don’t make mistakes. For Jim, this is quite different. He tends to be reckless, and dive into challenges headfirst, when it would have been more prudent to think it through, like when he sneaks into the pirates’ boat. Considering all the courage and bravery he shows, and that he is conveyed to be around in his early teenage years, this does not take away from all of his superior traits, but rather enhances them, especially as he is not aware of his negative traits until later in the book. Jim Hawkins is definitely my favourite character in the book.

It was quite difficult for me to think of my least favourite character. The antagonists and characters are so interesting and everyone gets at least a little bit of character development as the book progresses on. However if I had to pick the worst character, it would be Squire Trelawney. He’s not introduced until a little bit later on in the book, but immediately, I did not like him. Squire Trelawney is the one who arranges the voyage but is so easily fooled into recruiting Silver and the pirates that I pondered how he could even be a nobleman. 

On the other hand, I loved that the book was short and not too long, as this is more to my preference. Longer books tend to drag on with very little progression to the plot, leaving me apathetic and not wanting to know what happens next in the book. Shorter books fit practically the same amount of drama in less amount of pages. I’m more of an audacious reader, so long, slow plots bore me much more easily than other people. 

I quite appreciated the way the book commenced, with a description of the captain and his unusual personality, and how he paid Jim a fourpenny silver per month to look out for “a seafaring man”. It kept me on edge and it set up many captivating plot points and many unanswered questions in my mind. I really admired Stevenson’s way of capturing my attention and curiosity. The opening chapters set up many, many enthralling storyline, including but is not limited to the captain’s weakness toward rum (which leads to his passing), Jim’s father gets increasingly ill, Doctor Livesey is shown to be the first to be unscathed by the captain, the captain meets again with an enemy and a pirate called Black Dog. The ending was quite enjoyable, as I prefer open ended books: that tie up all the plots of the book but still leave a question in my mind, for example, Where is Silver and what is going to happen now that he has a portion of the treasure? They also leave the location of the island unknown, so it’s another mystery I tend to ponder about from time to time. Books that are open ended leave a mark on my mind, which grasps my attention for the ambiguity of the questions I still have. 

However, I did not particularly enjoy the part when Jim’s father died. I was engrossed in the state of the captain, as he was edging toward his demise due to the reality that he was drinking more rum than ever before, which was the opposite of what Doctor Livesey had prescribed for him. But, I did not think that they addressed the terrible situation of Jim losing his father for more than a couple of paragraphs. I think that they should have had at least a chapter devoted to this calamity before pulling the trigger and killing the captain, meeting the blind man and et cetera. I didn’t like the way Stevenson wrote out this problem, particularly because the way I saw it, Jim seemed to be more affected by the captain’s death, than his own father’s death, which is unrealistic and just doesn’t make much sense to me. 

In conclusion, I strongly recommend that people who enjoy adventurous books should definitely check this out. Even if you’re not into that kind of literature, I think that you would still enjoy reading Treasure Island. The plot twists, character development and the planned mutiny, are engaging features that cannot be missed. If you’ve already read Treasure Island, or after reading this review  you read it and decide that you want more compelling novels, I recommend that you read “Kidnapped” or “The Adventures of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde”, other books written by Robert Louis Stevenson. I would rate this book an eight out of ten.

WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS BLOOD. NOT SUITABLE FOR CHICKENS.

Shadows slivered into the dark, dreary corners, creeping their way into the cracks of the walls, seeking domination everywhere. Blood scarred the walls and bloodsucking spiders wove cobweb after cobweb, exploding the room with spiders.

Rumours were told, and spread all over the world like butter in bread, but people were intimidated by these tales, and kept themselves at a distance from this place. In fact, the residence had been deserted several years before, however it held something.

According to the rumours told, there was something; a key of sorts, in the room, waiting desperately for the moment someone braved these superstitions, and infiltrated the room.

Now, I know what your thinking: that this story is about that one brave person facing their fears and coping with some problem to enter the room, but you will find yourself to be quite wrong.

“Come on!” her voice cracked and crumbled with each word but still managed to hold up. “Your side must be spotless if you want to extend it!”

“Do I have to?” he implored. Then he looked around, and found her to be, unfortunately correct. Dead fly wings stuck to the sides and dust particles built up, making huge lumps of dirt. The floor was peeling apart like a banana, and what was once white and shiny was now grey and dirty. It needed a major cleaning- and fast!

“Right, you need to clean ALL your legs and-” she gasped as she came into his side. “This is calamitous! How do you expect yourself to reside like this?”

“I already am ‘residing like this’.” he grumbled bitterly.

Her expression became sour. He was quite proud of himself for noticing this as her body and head was very small, unlike her legs, it was like this for every spider here.

“You know humans haven’t been here for years!” she rolled her eyes- again he was proud of himself for taking note of this. “They are so destructive, Zein, and they dust away our homes that take hours to weave. Make the most of this by keeping your side of the web clean, and call Jude! He needs get dinner ready. Another unsuspecting fly will be here soon to look for their dead relatives. It will soon join them.”

Zein shook his head, which his sister seemed to notice. “Okay, I’ll do it Rama, but I deserve something in return.”

Rama rolled her eyes as she walked away.

Jude was Zein’s brother, and was the bloodthirstiest spider that Zein had ever known. After Zein, Rama and Jude had finished eating their portions of the fly, Jude would slurp the fly’s blood and lick the walls hoping to get a taste of blood.

Zein travelled across the enormous cobweb. Since the destructive humans had abandoned this residence, the spiders had had a time of peace and quiet, time to rebuild the population. Only Rama was alive when humans populated this residence, and she had described it to Zein and Jude as a time of chaos, with a constant fear of wondering whose home the humans would destroy next. This was nonstop and spider population actually started to decrease until a human was murdered in the room, and his blood splattered on the walls. His body had been left to decay on the floor, and the spiders left it alone, humans brought bad luck everywhere and feared to touch it. Even though humans had gone years ago, an eerie question lingered around the cobweb communities that had been built since humans left, when would they come back, and if so, would the same chaos re-start?

Zein had always feared the day this would happen one day, and took this threat very seriously. Jude, however, felt differently about this and was more easygoing and took risks that Zein wouldn’t dare to think about in his dizziest daydreams.

After a long afternoon of thought Rama called Zein for flies (as usual) and looked Zein up and down.

“Where is Jude?” Rama demanded. “Does he have the flies?”

“I don’t know I tried-” Zein tried to explain before a loud belch interrupted below him. He looked down and his eyes widened in absolute shock and terror- well as wide as a spider’s eyes can go- and Rama gasped. They could not believe their eyes.

KEEP ON WAITING FOR PART 2!

I do not wish to write to any of your servants but to the boss. Read this letter and you will see how low your popularity is.

Corona, many people have risen complaints against you ever since you have made a bad impact on a lot of us. You, however, thinking it is alright to make people ill and then beg for mercy when everyone knows the cause.

Many people I know have been stressed and frustrated about this because now we can’t socialise or do our normal activities like we used to (going to libraries, cinemas, swimming or even having a meal with friends at a restaurant). And you thought you would control us while we were ill and then groom us to be your victims after recovery issues.

Just yesterday I had a conversation with my cousins Zein and Jude and they were complaining how you were restricting our lives. It is the same with my friends Amina, Salma, and Adele. They all agreed that they felt loneliness, boredom and hopelessness. I think everyone despises you however, you can change this around. You could stop putting us into torture by stopping the spread and transmission.

On the other side, while we were in lockdown there has been a positive impact on our environment. If it weren’t for you, polluted cities and countries could have only dreamed of seeing blue skies. Cars, buses and trains barely moved on streets and railways and aeroplanes have grounded lots of flights.

Fish have had time to repopulate themselves since fishermen aren’t overfishing like they used to. Animals have really enjoyed lockdown because us humans haven’t been expanding in their jungles. We’ve been at home.

To conclude my letter to you, thanks for the lesson you gave to us so far But I beg you, please cease this illness. We have learnt our lesson and we promise to look after our environment.

Your illness has saved our crumbling environment and has given us an opportunity to reflect on how we are consuming our planet resources greedily. Although, you could have tried to approach us in a different way as people have lost their lives or their beloved because of coronavirus. Or, you are letting us feel the suffering animals and plants are feeling. We were killing animals insanely and then you came along and killed us insanely.

To conclude, thank you for the lesson you have taught us so far. We learnt how fragile our environment is after all the damage we have made over the few decades. I promise you, I will do my part and extend the environmental friendly knowledge to everyone I know. And your part is to cease this distressing illness.

An English child,

Jenna Dehne

P.S. Reflect on what you have done to us and I would love to see actions from you.

Prologue

The original movie was created by myself. After I made it and liked the story so much I decided to write the story down in a longer version. So let’s get started. Do enjoy, and write in the comments about your opinions. I hope my ideas interest you as I have made it my passion to change people.

The actual story

My name is Jenna. Me and my cousin Zacharia are advertisers for our house ever since we do not require of it’s use anymore. It has not been very fortunate until today.

We hung up a sign stating: “SALE ON THIS HOUSE. BUY IT NOW FOR 20% OFF.” Three people seemed both shocked and fascinated by this, so they decided to take a peek.

“What a great price for a house,”Farah nodded at our house.

“It would be perfect for us,”exclaimed Noor excitedly.

“Come on, Noor and Farah,” Karam pleaded the other two. “Everyone will want to purchase it, we will have to be first.”

“OK,” the other two nodded and they all began to chatter excitedly. However, me and Zacharia were even more pleased as we realised that someone will appreciate our house.

A few weeks later

“Home sweet home,” said Karam.

“We will put our spare clothes in the basement,” declared Farah to me. “We always put them there because we always go to the bottom of a building in a emergency.”

“OK,”I nodded. Me and Zacharia then led the way to the basement and everyone followed.

“Aaaahhh, Aaaahh,” came a voice when Farah opened the door.

“What is that?” she asked, staring at the strange human-like creature.

“I think it is a zombie,” said Noor. “I read it in a book once.”

“They’re only in movies,” Karam rolled his eyes.

The zombie touched Karam. He started acting like the zombie.

“KARAM IS A ZOMBIE,” everyone except me and Zacharia shrieked.

Me and Zacharia just stood there with stunned looks on our faces.

“And when the zombies touch you, you will become one,” added Noor with a half scared, half smirk on his face. “RUN FOR YOUR LIVES.”

“AAHHHH,” everyone ran. Noor dashed in the nearest toilet and Farah dashed in a room.

Noor was going to join Farah when a terrible sight met his eyes. Karam had jammed Farah in the chest and Farah became a zombie.

“Back you evil things,” screeched Noor getting a towel and hitting them in their legs. He ran in the bathroom, slammed the door and locked it. It was just the fact that me and Zacharia were hiding in there as he tried to devise a plan to save his friends. His final plan was to trap them.

Noor started to act like a zombie, walking around. They followed him, and he locked them in a cabinet.

“I’m fatigued. I think I should take a nap,” Noor yawned. He marched off to his bed.

Noor was snoring. He was muttering in his sleep as he tossed and turned, alerting Farah and she went in his room, and made Noor part of the zombie team.

Now that everyone is a zombie and are enjoying being zombies, we are pleased. As I am Queen of Zombies and I let Zacharia be King, it is therefore our duty to inform you that being a zombie is amazing.

For starters, you look so cool! You get to chose how you look, and you eyes have a 360 degree view (that you can use whenever you want) so when danger approaches you will know immediately. Not only that, you will never die so you can see YOUR future family as generations pass.

So I am here today to tell you that you should change into one of us. All those benefits I have stated above and much more great things will be included.

ZOMBIES ARE THE BEST THINGS THAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE WORLD!

The End!

It is everyone’s birthday!
The children are screaming, “Hooray!”
The grown ups all celebrate
There is something that we all await…
The cake!

It is no surprise for me
That everyone is in glee
No one is sad
That just makes us all glad…
There are no tears!

We all want beautiful, one-of-a-kind decorations
While we wait, we’ll eat so there is no starvation!
When we look, we say “Wow!”
One is out of place, anyhow
But THEY ARE AMAZING

Now let’s all have a dance
Today is our only chance
Disco’s are a lot of fun
Even more when you eat a bun!
Yum Yum!

Now it is time for presents
My parents gave me my seventh
Then let’s watch a movie!
And who will choose, Lucy!
Watch Watch!

Now it is the end
Yes it is so sad my friend
But we have next year
The day will soon appear!

THE END!!!

All of us probably fear that one day the world could end. The best way to overcome our fears is by Knowledge. What we don’t know is what will cause the end of the world.

I am writing this because these days everyone is learning to expect to unexpected with all the Corona Virus news. So I did my research and I am very glad to present it. Enjoy!

Reason 1

Viruses can infect every living thing so we and they die and then the viruses can infect our planet and then it turns into a horrible colour. That sounds crazy but it could happen at any minute. So we have to stay healthy so we can fight the viruses.

There is coronavirus now, so this is why I think this could happen. The viruses can find out a way to be stronger like it did for the coronavirus.

Reason 2

The world’s volcanoes can all erupt at the same time, causing ash to pollute the air and the next thing you know; there will be no oxygen for animals and humans so we die.

This could happen because last time it happened was when the asteroid hit Earth 65 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs. The volcanoes wiped out the dinosaurs, not the asteroid.

Reason 3

This thing could be our fault: burning fossil fuels for electricity and car and air pollution can cause the weather can turn really hot and humans, animals and plants can’t live in it.

This is why we need to reduce burning fossil fuels, and begin using renewable energy and start walking or cycling to places.

Reason 4

Time to be imaginative! Space monsters can take over the planet and making everything living on Earth live in outer space where there is no air.

This idea mainly came from young children when they have a big imagination. Space monsters might not seem in existence, but that is because we don’t know much about them yet.

Reason 5

The world explodes. Naturally. It must release a lot of magma, lava, fire, ash, all those dangerous things which can burn us up.

I’m not saying this has happened before, but the explosion will probably make a terrible effect on the natural planets of the solar system.

Reason 6

Fracking for things like diamonds and oil can split the world in half. Maybe even quarters if too much of it happens. This time it is us human beings fault.

Diamonds are precious, but the way we search for them doesn’t make the best effect on Earth. We need to stop fracking sooner or later.

Reason 7

The Earth starts going close to the sun and temperatures go high, but that won’t kill us. It is when Earth reaches the surface of the sun: temperatures will go so high that eventually we die and Earth melts.

I am guessing we can only live for two months when the sun starts pulling Earth towards it, creating hot temperatures especially for deserts.

Reason 8

Another asteroid hits the earth and this time everything on the earth will die because of the ash in the air.

All of the volcanoes will erupt again and the asteroid will damage a lot of countries.

It is the shortage of oxygen and loads of lava that kills us.

Everybody knows that now, March 2020, there is the Coronavirus pandemic, otherwise known as COVID19, affecting almost every single country worldwide. That is why it is called PANDEMIC by World Health Organization (WHO). There have been many other pandemics in history, and I will now talk to you about them. lessons from history might need to be learnt.

The first pandemic I’m going to talk about today is The Plague, back in 1665, when Charles II was King of Britain.

The plague began in 1665 and travelled quickly during the summer months. Fleas from plague-infected rats were part of the main reasons the plague spread. By the time the plague had been cured, around 100,000 people, including a fifth of the population of London, were dead because of it.

What would happen if YOU got that plague?

The poor sufferers got headaches, started to vomit and had a fever. The people had a 30% chance of dying after having 14 days of this plague.

The second pandemic I will talk about is…Spanish flu.

In 1918, a type of flu called Spanish flu made a worldwide pandemic, spreading fast and killing randomly. The young, old, sick and healthy people became infected, and at the very least, a fifth of the patients would die. It is thought to have spread to a third of the world’s population and killed around 50 million people, making it the most harmful pandemic in modern history. Even though at the time it got the nickname “Spanish flu,” it’s probable that the virus didn’t originate in Spain.

But how did the Spanish Flu happen?

The outbreak began in 1918, and people now believe that the World War I might have been responsible for travelling the virus. Their illnesses, which were infectious, and spread fast among the ranks. With about a few days of being ill, many soldiers who fought in World War I would start to feel slightly better, but not all would make it.

Next, I will talk about the Yellow Fever.

The Yellow Fever is a disease of a usual short time. In most of the cases, the symptoms included fevers,loss of appetite, nausea and headaches. Symptoms would usually improve with around five days. In about 15% of people, with only a day of improvement the fever comes back, tummy ache happens, and liver damage begins causing yellow skin, ( no wonder why it is called the ‘Yellow Fever’). If this does happen, the danger of bleeding and kidney problem is lifted.

When did Yellow Fever happen?

The virus was carried and spread by mosquitoes. The first yellow fever outbreaks in the United States happened in the late 1690s. Almost a century later, in August 1793, the virus was just…. finished! They found no cure for this disease.

After every pandemic, a lesson is learnt by doing something like, coronavirus will probably teach us to wash our hands more often, and accelerate the move to a virtual online world.

It was the swimming competition in the Rio Olympics and Dania felt her calf muscle. It was not cramped, but about to! Was that going to stop her? Think again. This cookie is tough to chew, she’d been through a lot.

In a split second, her mind went back one whole year. To a night when she escaped on a boat crossing the Mediterranean Sea.

The night was just fading away, letting in the first rays of sun. As she dragged her arm through the salty waters she felt the urge to get her face out of water, just to find that warm, shy sunlight.

She felt her calf muscles cramping. Her hand reached down to massage the tight muscles. She was not going to stop. She certainly will not let go.

There were 50 people on the boat that night. They left Istanbul just after midnight. The smugglers charged per head and they wanted as many as they could fit. She had to jump out and continue swimming when the smuggler decided to turn back. For her, there was no ‘going back’.

The little country she came from on the Eastern side of the Mediterranean have gone through a mutilating civil war. People killed others. People hated each other. And people stopped living the way they should. This was no place for an athlete.

The split second finished. She is back in the pool, competing with other swimmers. When you swim, you’re competing with the best. But when you swim in the Mediterranean, you’re competing with the sea monster. The calf muscle was still sore. But here, she’s not going to let it cramp. She was going to continue and compete. In the end, to continue meant a lot to Dania.

In another split second, her mind dashed back to the cramped muscle. To continue then, meant she would survive. Dania still has to count herself lucky, for many did not even start the journey. Many others started, and couldn’t make it. You learn in a brutal war that success is to survive and to persevere.

Her hands reached to massage the contracted muscle. The sea waves were freezing. Her throat was dry, and seawater was making it worse. The hunger and fear had seized her stomach. But she’s heading forwards. And this is where this story starts and where it ends. For this is a tale about the human spirit. Despite the darknesses of the world, Dania’s soul shone to light the whole sea in her journey to get through to the end-start of a new chapter in her valuable life.