Short Story Competition Winner 2018
The KSOL annual short story competition has proven an instantaneous hit once again!
Children were given the opening three paragraphs of ‘Sophie’s Story’ below and were asked to complete in the most imaginative way possible! Each short story could be no longer than 500 words and was judged on the basis of content, language, style of writing and use of ambitious vocabulary throughout.
The KSOL team would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who entered. We received an overwhelming amount of entries that made excellent use of the above skills, each worthy of their own mini Booker Prize Award!
After much deliberation, we would like to congratulate KSOL member Hanza, for her gripping rendition of ‘Sophie’s Secret’ and this year’s Short Story Competition Winner!
Put your feet up and delve into the world of Sophie and her daunting first week at Maplefrost school…
Sophie’s Secret…
The leaves had started to turn shades of glorious amber and those that had fallen early, crunched beneath Sophie’s feet. Stretching promisingly overhead, the bright blue of the early autumn sky was reminiscent of the long summer days that she had spent alone, safe within her own world.
Sophie’s gaze locked onto the gates of her new school, her thoughts focused on the possibilities of being exposed. September had sneaked up on her, escaping detection like her own deepest secret.
Why would Maplefrost be any different to the many other towns she had lived in? It was just another unknown place, another short-lived fantasy of forever friendships. Inevitably suspicions would grow again and, once more, she would have to leave. Because, with a secret like hers, eventually people got too close. Eventually things went wrong. Eventually she became the enemy. She always did…
…Hanza’s rendition
However, just maybe…just maybe…this school would be different, she wished to herself desperately!
Reluctantly, as though walking through deep treacle-like mud, Sophie approached the rust-covered towering and monstrous iron gates that guarded Maplefrost Primary School. Out of nowhere, she was struck by a thousand flashback memories; she could so vividly visualise the first day of every sorry school she had ever attended! It was déjà vu. She stood transfixed, rigid like a corpse, her fear trapping her like a hare in luminous headlights! Her saliva dried, her heart started to pulsate like a vibrating phone and her breathing turned to panting. Her warm breath mystified into mushroom shaped mini clouds that lingered around her. The biting cold air nipped at her soft, velvet, rosy cheeks. Her palms began to rain swimming pools of sweat as she clenched her fists like terrified clams.
Oblivious to her surroundings, Sophie didn’t heart the clicking heels that had crept up behind her! A pungent flowery fragrance suddenly knocked her back into the real world! “Ahhh, you must be Sophie Howells, I’m Mrs Townsend” said an unfamiliar and low-pitched voice. Sophie flinched dramatically as though she had been slapped and shoved at the same time. Looking over her shielding shoulder, she saw a tall upright figurine of a woman wearing a taut black pinafore with matching tights and cherry-red heeled shoes. She wore shiny silver-rimmed half-mooned spectacles on a thin pointy nose. Under which was a small pinched carmine mouth. “Come along child we’re going to be late.”
Together, the giant and Sophie walked crunching on a crisp crimson autumn carpet through the big iron gates into the school. Inside, the school was warm, welcoming and full of a cacophony of sounds and a cocktail of smells. There was slamming of lockers and excited chatter of children and thuds of bags being thrown around and blaring bells ringing and a concoction of deodorants and hair sprays and perfumes which polluted the air. Sophie felt bewildered and frightened, her stomach was churning with butterflies. Why was she feeling this way when she had done this a trillion times before?
She was led to her classroom like a prisoner to their cell. As she entered, she could see chaotic scenes of children emptying bags onto their desks, scraping chairs across the wooden floors and animated discussions and debates. Suddenly, the giant roared and slapped her hand onto a desk and there was an immediate silence and compliance as children turned into robots and took their seats. The moment she had dreaded the most had finally arrived – her Day of Judgement! How long would it take for her new class to find out her gruesome secret? And how long would it take for the revolting name calling and bullying to begin? And how long would it be before she would have to move again? How long?
