Litmus Year: 2024
‘hostile environment’ by Lucy Millard, age 14, Year 9, Soham Village College
I wake at the sound of gunshots and screaming. I start to feel dizzy and the screaming seems to be getting closer so I grab my shoes and run outside to be met with 20 men holding guns walking in my direction shooting everyone in their way. My heart is racing and I run in …
‘Yugoslavia’ by Anonymous, Year 9, Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School
It was January 1942, Yugoslavia. 9 months after the attacks officially began. The wind was harsh and deadly. It bit into the cuts on my body as I stumbled away from the battle, clutching a throbbing bullet wound on my shoulder. The tips of my fingers were black from frostbite, and I presume my nose …
‘Our Lost Home’ by Kaidence Chimene, age 13, Year 9, Soham Village College
Screams. Flashing lights.Fear.I became conscious. The last thing I remembered was staring at the endless line to get into the safety bunker like a hungry animal. A blue pixelated dome met my eye as I looked up.I sat up abruptly. Where was I? The noise of robots murmuring and people screaming filled my ears like …
‘Only One?’ by Daisy Collins, age 14
It had been one month since it happened. One month since I lost everything and everyone around me. The explosion claimed the lives of every soul on the planet. Apart from mine. I had been rejected by death himself, but at what cost? The explosion left the temperature consistently above 30 degrees, food …
‘Home, Sweet Home’ by Yige Li
When you think of the phrase hostile environment what do you think of? War? Unsafe? Danger? But never home, right? But that wasn’t his reality. His name is Reuben, and this is his story. A place that you’d think was hostile was much closer to him, in fact it was his home. At first, you …
‘THE DREAM’ by Will MacIntosh, Year 9, Soham Village College
Dream: noun. Generally, it can indicate a lack of something in your life; that for me was rugby… It was my first day. I was nervous. I could feel my hands sweating by the second, my eyes wanting to close forever and my ears full of my thoughts. ‘What if I don’t score?’ ‘What if …
‘Derailment of Delta’ by Anonymous
Prologue This tale begins from the day I arrived at Production Sector: Delta. Only the day after I had arrived, the militant leader of the compound had been “Unalived” and a possible perpetrator had yet to be discovered. The station was on high alert. Even so, my treatment at the station wasn’t a warm welcome, …