Young Writers Echapters
Dancing in the Rain: Living With NCDs
Ashes to ashes
Sarah Callinan
“Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. As much as they had all tried, there was no delaying the inevitable. The old world was gone. Humanity reduced to soulless rubble. The cataclysm was no more than a faint memory to him now, a ghostly entity …”
Beyond the rainbow
Chris Saji
“When Samira was asked what a rainbow looked like, the inquisitive six-year-old pointed to the vast array of garments fluttering on the communal clothesline …”
Capital letters
Rosie McCrossin
“When I first started to learn English, I didn’t understand capital letters. Someone said they were for words which were important, and so I made a list for all the people I knew in a notebook of what was important to each of them …”
Heirloom
Anna Jacobson
“‘We’re going out tonight – get changed,’ said Cathy.
‘I didn’t bring anything to wear.’
All she had were her pyjamas and some daggy clothes she’d
brought for wearing around the house the next day …”
In the mourning
Sam Wheeler
“Long before the sirens wailed, the hum of Messerchmitts broke
the silence of the night.
The city of London slept restlessly; it tossed and turned,
unable to take respite from its fear …”
Leftovers
Phoebe Cannard-Higgins
“Lucille waited next to an old man wearing a toupée. It blew faintly in the thick summer wind, and she watched as a tear of sweat descended from underneath it and trickled down his forehead …”
Lottery
Rubik Roy
“Mr Fraser was not known for his kindness. His Sunday mornings were usually occupied by reading the paper, falling asleep by the second page, being awakened by the neighbourhood kids, going outside to yell …”
My Eddie
Adrian Brooks
“Tape?
Check.
We can’t run out of tape now, can we? That would not be
splendid. Not at all. Thank God he always kept some around …”
The Revolting Staircase
Aidan Anderson
“Go to university, they said, you’ll need it to get a job.
Get a job, they said, you’ll need it to buy a house.
Buy a house, they said, you’ll need it to get a mortgage …”
Two lies
Gwen Watts
“Here are two lies: No wolves ever lived among the sheep, and the Greek gods are dead. You believe this because you are walking down a street, cracked pavement, blue sky stretching like a bruise, the sun is shining …”
Unravelled
Joshua Edey
“A gust of hot air shot up out from the subways stairwell like the breath of some monstrous beast, blowing Richard’s tie over one shoulder as he descended the steps two at a time …”
You be the King
Phoebe Blakey
“It was only on windy days that Jimmy would pull out the chessboard and ask me about the meaning of life. He’d push the jam off to one side of the plate and eat them in succession: scone, jam, cream, scone, jam, cream …”
