Ink Slingers Pt 3

 

The third story in our series from year 7 students at Chatham Grammar School for Girls.

 

An extract from Dark Slayer
By Shakira

It was a Saturday morning, the day you would normally sleep till noon or not wake up at all until you are dragged out of bed (if you are that lazy). Today Aurelia, a twelve year old girl, was going to spend a few weeks with her grandfather. She didn’t want to visit her grandfather Orwell because she thought there was nothing special about him but her dad was going away on a business trip and he didn’t want her left alone. Aurelia only lived with her father Rolland since her mother died in a car crash when she was about four, so she doesn’t know much about her unfortunately. The only thing Aurelia has to remember her is her mother’s locket. It is unique because if you open the charm there is a picture of her and her mum and in the background plays her mother’s favourite tune.
She stayed in bed and obviously didn’t listen to her father. “Come on Aurelia”, her father cried dragging her out of bed, “you are making this very difficult for the both of us”.
“No” moaned Aurelia. After several attempts from her dad, Aurelia gave in and went to the bathroom. After half an hour, the 12 year old was ready for breakfast.
Pancakes, Aurelia’s favourite – her dad thought he would give her a treat before they left. Aurelia ate them ravenously and licking her fingers grabbed her suitcase and got into the car and was driven off. The car stopped with a halt; her dad normally did that although he was cautious with cars since the incident his wife was part of. Just then George Orwell came out with a watering can to water the flowers. Aurelia’s grandfather had so many exotic flowers growing on top of each other as if fighting to earn the sprinkles of water. If you thought the front yard was bombarded, you should see the back garden. It is like a jungle of vibrant smells that you could get lost in before you knew it. Aurelia waved goodbye to her father as he drove off. He was going to the dock since he was taking those big boats that you just sat in the car for the whole journey. How boring. This was going to be a long few weeks.
She was led into the living room. There was an old antique fireplace and old-fashioned wallpaper. Aurelia never liked George Orwell’s taste in fashion, it was always out of date. There were old vases in corners and that famous Van Gogh painting of sunflowers.
“Would you like anything to eat?” asked her grandfather. “No thank you” Aurelia replied. She headed up to her room. It was grand and spotless, the same one she had every time she came. Her grandfather was a mysterious man, she hardly knew about him. .
A few days passed and she realised that her grandfather was spending a lot of his time in his library writing letters in the most peculiar language she had ever seen. And then it happened; she finally saw how he sent it. She was wondering about that for those a few days since he never went to the post office. He had pulled a book from the shelf and, like a trapped door, the shelf revealed a blue light like a portal and he threw the letter in and immediately a reply letter appeared on his desk. She had never seen anything like it. Aurelia was so amazed she was speechless. She confronted Orwell and questioned about what just happened.
“What was that?”
“What was what?”
“That blue swirly thing”.
“I do not know what you are on about” replied her grandfather.
Aurelia could not believe how he could deny it with such ease. What was it, she wanted to know but her grandfather wouldn’t tell her. She had to find out herself. The next time she saw it she videoed it for proof. Her grandfather finally told her after seeing the video.
12
“It is a portal to the secret world “
“What?”
“It leads to another realm”, explained her grandfather, “I shouldn’t be bringing you into this”
“Tell me more…” asked Aurelia
“Don’t tell this to anybody”
Her grandfather told her that the secret world was a magical place where everything was possible. She didn’t know what to think after those words. Was this true? Was she going to believe it? Will it change her life forever?
That was a story for another time.