The winners of this year's PGS Short Story Competition are Cecilia Cameron (8Z), the Middle School winner, and Rowan Reddy (9Y), the Upper School winner.
Middle School winner
Dear Diary, 15th July 1987
Oh wow! I didn't know such things could exist. All my life I have lived in these stingy old tunnels, completely oblivious to the fact that there are such beautiful things, as those I saw today. I didn't know there were other books! I probably could have guessed though. The Dragon Law book states very clearly that no reading other than the laws should be done; but I couldn't help myself. It felt so invigorating breaking the rules!
I've lived down here all my life and spent the past couple
of decades abiding by the laws, just like everyone else, and I had had enough.
My mother was in her council meeting and I was alone in my room when I
remembered the story that Grandpa Maverick told me last time he came. (You know
how Grandpa Maverick is, always sticking his snout in the wrong places!). He
told me that, when he was younger, he discovered an abandoned tunnel down
behind his house that was said to hold a great treasure at the end. He told me
that it was forbidden but he had never had a chance to explore it. I was
feeling particularly rebellious, so I decided that I would be the one to find
out what this treasure was. I went down the tunnel.
It was black. Pitch black. And I thought that where we lived was dark. The darkness and the constant eerie drips almost put me off, but I kept going and soon I was at the end of the tunnel. Then I saw it. I saw the bright white spotlight, showing the dead end of the tunnel. I stared at the light for several seconds, wondering where it was coming from. Then I realised that it was coming from above.
The light was daylight! No one had seen daylight for
generations and there were only myths about its beauty. It was said to come
from a large blazing ball of fire, millions of kilometres away. I didn't even
know how the light reached this new world but it did and it was glorious. I
pushed the metal wiring covering the entrance away and climbed the ladder.
Suddenly, I was in a large room, with golden light streaming through large
sheets of clear material, surrounded by books. Hundreds of books. Every wall
was covered from floor to ceiling in leather-coated books of all different
sizes. Different sections held different types of books (I didn't even know
there were different types of books!). From fantasy and adventure to spells and
potions and even science books. They were perfectly placed and in alphabetical
order. I was in heaven! When I was told there was treasure, I was thinking of
gold and riches, but this was better than anything I had (and probably ever will)
see! It took a lot of self-control to climb back down into my world but my need
to keep this place a secret got me back down the tunnel and home in time to
greet my mother when she came home. I told myself I would be back tomorrow, and
that I shall be.
Until tomorrow, adventure awaits,
Martin.
Dear Diary,
16th July 1987
Until the next adventure,
Martin.
Dear Diary,
5th September 1987
Today was the greatest adventure of them all. It was also the scariest day of my life. Not that I have had many scary days.
I went back to the library, as per usual, and I was just
pushing the flap up when I heard voices. Not voices coming from the tunnel,
voices from above. From through the vent. I just stood there, on the ladder.
Listening. The voices were like none I had heard before. They were all
high-pitched and squealing. I backed away. At first I was scared. Really
scared. Then I was angry. Whatever these things were, they had taken MY library
and I was going to get it back. I pushed the latch. Well, I tried to push it
up. I pushed as hard as I possibly could and it flew off and several meters
into the air, taking books and a ladder down with it. There were large clanging
noises as the latch hit the floor and I was so shocked that I ran straight back
down the ladder to hide in the shadows.
I waited. I waited for a sign that it was safe to go back up
and into the library. There were no voices anymore and, just as I was about to
go up the ladder, the voices were back but getting more distant. Like they were
leaving. I poked my head out and let out a deep breath. There was no one there.
So up the stairs I went and rounded the corner. I stopped. I couldn't move and,
when I did, I couldn't move very far. I was in shock.
There was something in my seat. It appeared to be alive and
it had a book in its hand. I was observing it from between the books on the
shelf in front when it got up. It was like something from a book. This was a
pale sort of creature with big green eyes. This was the first thing I noticed.
I had never seen anything like it. It was much smaller than I am, in height and
width and it didn’t have scales! At first I was scared. No, terrified. It was
the most odd and peculiar little thing and so out of place. Everything else in
this library was so grand and imposing and this living thing in front of me was
scrawny and untidy. It was curious because it also made me feel out of place.
My chunky clumsy scaly self in here also seemed unnatural. I didn't know what
to do. So I just watched and waited. I don't know how long I was there but it
must have been a while because I was starting to get dozy in my unmoving state.
I suppose I just didn't realise when it got up from its place and rounded my
corner.
There was nothing to do now. It would see me no matter what
and then I was doomed. It would kill me and no one would ever find my body. I
went into panic mode. I started to cry big fat mopey tears. I felt a warm hand
touch my shoulder.
Its name was Louella McAnnery and she said she was a girl. A
girl! I met an actual girl! I never knew there were living things out there
other than dragons. I thought the books in the library were just stories. I
could never have dreamed that something as magical as a human girl actually
existed! I was fascinated. After my fit of panic of course. I was crying on the
floor ready to die when a soft hand touched my shoulder. When I look back on it
now, I see it was completely irrational and I had nothing to fear. But I didn't
know that then. A warm silky voice started comforting me and telling me to stop
crying. It seemed to be coming from her. She told me not to worry and that she
wouldn't hurt me so I stood up. She was at least a foot smaller than me and I'm
not even fully grown yet! I wiped my tear-stained face and took a closer look
at hers. She had a very small snout (they call it a nose) and her hair was
almost as pale as her skin. However, her eyes were still the most fascinating
part. They were a chrysoprase, a kind of green, and they shimmered in the
light. They were wide with curiosity and far too big for her face. She was the
most fascinating, delicate looking thing I have ever seen and I stood there and
wondered why I was so scared. When she started talking, I barely registered
what she was saying because I was so caught up in my own thoughts.
She started asking me questions about where I come from and
what type of dragon I am. She was like me in the way, she had read about my
kind but never seen one. She seemed very interested and I found out many things
about her as well. This was the library of a magical boarding school and the
reason I hadn't seen anyone before was because they go away for the summer,
back to their families every year. She told me that her mum had studied dragons
when she was young and that she would like me. That made me very happy so I
ended up telling her about my family down the vent. I told her about my mum and
dad and my grandparents and my friends. She was very interested in Grandpa
Maverick and that I hadn't told anyone else about the library apart from him. I
told her that I hadn't because it is against the rules to read unless it is the
Dragon Law book. She said that that made her angry and sad and that she felt
sorry for all the dragons who haven't read the beautiful stories in the
library. We had so much in common. Even our favourite books were the same. We
played and each took turns acting out different Sherlock Holmes mysteries. She
showed me some new books that I could read at home in secret.
She told me I was very brave for defying the rules and
coming to the library. I don't think I am brave but it made me feel, in that
moment, that I could be like one of the heroes in a story book. Her just
telling me that I was being courageous made me believe that I could do anything
(almost). From now on, I would not cower away at the spiders in the shower, but
deal with it. I will not cry when facing a challenge, but look it dead in the
eye and run head on. From now on I will try to be a braver version of myself. I
will pull myself out of my comfort zone and face my fears. From now on.
I was so thrilled by my new special friend that I danced and
sang all the way back home. I climbed in through my bedroom window so I could
hide my new books under my bed, to make sure no one could see them. I climbed
back out and went through the front door so as not to raise any suspicions and
was greeted by my mother, and freshly baked casserole.
It's been the best day and I'm looking forward to sharing my
enchanted library with my new friend.
Until then,
Martin.
Upper School winner
With a deafening roar, the rocket landed on the arid surface
of dwarf planet Chryseis-B. The dirty landing platform creaked as it took the
spacecraft’s weight, sending a cloud of dust up into the reddish sky. As the
rocket doors slid open, Phoenix dragged the oxygen cylinders on board and
rolled them into the hold, cursing as one squashed the toe of his boot. Grayson
followed closely behind him with two more cylinders. They had done this so many
times it was like a well-rehearsed dance.
As the last container hit the floor of the hold, the engines
started up again with a rumble. Ellen ran up with Jack close behind, both out
of breath, and got on the rocket just as the doors closed.
Phoenix didn’t like new crew members. They were always late,
or they quit on the second trip round the solar system. He tried not to think
about it, distracting himself with counting the seconds until takeoff. This was
always the best part.
Three.
Two.
One. The secondary engines engaged, propelling the ship into
the atmosphere. The noise was almost unbearable. The empty boosters ripped away
like a firework, spiralling back to the ground in the rocket’s slipstream. All
of the crew members went to lie in their bunks - soon, pressure would spike.
It was a struggle to breathe. Phoenix stared at the ceiling
and waited for the feeling to pass: just a minute more. Suddenly, the crushing
weight on his chest disappeared, and he watched a small spider float up past
his nose. The rocket was in space at last.
Out of the tiny porthole, Chryseis-B could just be seen;
already only the size of a marble. Phoenix didn’t stop to look at it.
Grayson, however, was watching the void carefully, and not without a little apprehension. There was nothing out there now except stars, and the tiny shadows of other spaceships, but he knew how quickly it could appear. He’d met it before.
The Dragon.
It roamed the infinite darkness, shapeshifting, growing six
wings and then two wings and then none. Its eyes were always the same, though.
Flat and black like that of a shark. Planet-eater, some called it, but Grayson
didn’t believe in giving names to monsters. The Dragon was not simply a
grotesque legend. It was very real. It had taken his father.
Phoenix fiddled with a loose ladder rung, halfheartedly attempting to fix it back to the wall. He knew that the new crewmates needed instructing, but if Phoenix had anything to do with it, Grayson would be the one looking after them. Grayson was a pushover. Young, scared of his own shadow. Phoenix was the only competent one aboard this rocket.
He drifted around the ship completing odd jobs until
‘evening’. Coordinated Universal Time told him that it was six o’clock, but the
darkness of space remained unchanging. It was like the Arctic in winter. Just
as Phoenix began making his way towards the middeck, he heard an unfamiliar
voice calling to him from the control room.
“Hey, uh… Phoenix! Phoenix, come take a look at this!”
He bristled, but went to investigate. A brown-haired girl -
one of the new crew members - was pointing at something on the radar. It was
roughly rectangular, about the same size as the rocket.
“It’s another spacecraft, a wrecked one,”she explained.
Phoenix gave her a barely veiled glare.
“And why do you want me to look at it?”
She blushed, turning towards a panel of switches on the
wall. With a little adjustment, static crackled out of the speaker. For a
moment, she left it, and then pressed a button. The white noise smoothed out
and formed words.
“Mayday! Mayday! Is anybody there?”
Phoenix blanched.
“Help! It’ll come back soon! Mayday?”
The girl looked him in the eye.
“There’s someone in there. We need to help them.”
Fifteen minutes later, Grayson and Phoenix were speeding
towards the ruined hulk in an escape pod. Grayson carefully manoeuvred it
through the shredded remains of a hatch, coming to a stop in the spacecraft’s
belly. Inside, it was dark. Only a
blinking light dangling from the ceiling provided strobing illumination for the
scene.
The walls were spattered with blood. Phoenix caught his
breath, hurrying down one of the gloomy corridors with Grayson close behind.
“It must’ve been the Dragon. Only it could do something like
this.”
Phoenix switched on a small torch, flicking its beam across
the doors.
Something moved.
He pushed open a door, apprehensively shouting, “Hello?”
into the darkness.
A shaky voice drifted from the room’s far corner. Phoenix strained his eyes: he could just make
out the silhouette of a girl, curled up on the tiles.
“H- hello? Who are you?” she called. Grayson stepped towards
her, holding out a reassuring hand.
“It’s okay. We heard your distress signal, we’re here to
help.” he murmured. She stood up, wobbling into the path of the torchlight. Her
eyes caught the light, pupils reflecting like clouded mirrors.
“Come on, let’s get out of here. I’m Grayson, who are you?”
“Kaida. I’m Kaida.”
Kaida sat on the middeck, a blanket draped over her shoulders. She gratefully accepted the cup of rehydrated soup Phoenix offered her and sipped it quietly.
“So what happened?” Phoenix asked. Kaida shivered.
“We were just passing through the asteroid belt around K47-A
when our scanners picked up on a weird shape going, like, really fast? We went
to investigate, and…” she trailed off, shaking her head.
“I’m so sorry, Kaida.”
She smiled weakly, standing up.
“Do you have anywhere I could sleep?”
Phoenix nodded and took her to the sleeping quarters. It was
still early, but he wasn’t about to point that out. He went back to middeck,
and the crew ate in silence.
As the days passed, Kaida became accepted into the crew. She
helped Ellen and Jack to take care of the engine, and when Grayson took his
weekly spacewalk, she came along too. One ‘morning’, Phoenix called everyone
into the control room.
“We need to discuss what’s happening to Kaida. She comes
from Chryseis-A49, which isn’t on our usual route, but we can’t keep her on the
ship forever. Kaida, do you want to be dropped at Chryseis-A49, or shall we
send you down there in an escape pod?”
She looked away, her hair falling across her face.
“...Would you mind taking me there?”
“Sure,” replied Phoenix. “No problem.” Ellen looked faintly affronted,
but said nothing. She wouldn’t challenge her captain.
Jack and Kaida began discussing the climate of various
nearby exoplanets, and the others drifted off into small talk.
After the meeting, Grayson pulled Phoenix aside, speaking
low and quietly.
“I don’t trust Ellen. We don’t know where she came from, or
what she wants. Last night, I checked the security cameras, and she was
watching Kaida sleep.”
“What?” asked Phoenix, shocked.
“I know. You wouldn’t suspect her, would you? I think she’s
got some kind of motivation that we don’t know about.”
Phoenix nodded, frowning. He was right, then, for suspecting
the new crewmates. They had seemed odd ever since the start.
“What should we do, then?”
“Watch and wait.” Grayson turned away and strode off down
the corridor.
Later, Phoenix and Kaida went for a spacewalk, to see if
they could spot the faraway star Sigurd-59. Outside the ship it was cold, and
smelled faintly of walnuts. Kaida looked up - or was it down? - with a strange
expression on her face. Phoenix could just see her through the gold-tinted
glass. She looked homesick; conflicted, worried and something else Phoenix
couldn’t identify. Sigurd-59 was nowhere to be seen, but Kaida kept her head
tilted towards the stars. She noticed Phoenix watching her, and jumped. He
turned on the CCA on his helmet and spoke quietly into the mic.
“I don’t want to scare you, but Ellen - the new crew member,
with curly brown hair - she might try to hurt you. We think she’s escaped from
a mining asteroid, and Grayson said she was watching you sleep.”
Kaida paled under her helmet. Phoenix attempted to reassure
her, placing his arm around her shoulders, but she floated out of reach.
“Is there anything we can do about it?” she asked
tremulously.
“We’ll keep an eye on her. That’s all we can do.”
A week went by without incident. Ellen didn’t seem to notice
that Grayson was watching her like a hawk, or that Phoenix bristled every time
she looked at Kaida. In fact, Ellen almost never mentioned her: she seemed
jittery, and never looked Kaida in the eyes. As they were wiping down the
windows one day, Kaida noticed Chryseis-A49 from out of the porthole. It looked
like a satsuma stuck to the glass. She pointed it out to Grayson and Ellen with
a smile.
“Look, it’s my home planet! I can’t wait to see my family
again. Where do your family live, Ellen?” she asked, in the tone of voice
teachers use with children who often misbehave.
Ellen glanced at Kaida. Her hazel eyes were cold.
“I know. I know what you are.”
Kaida looked as confused as Grayson, who was still absently
scrubbing at the glass with a cloth.
“What do you mean?” questioned Grayson, exchanging a worried
look with Kaida.
“Oh, you’ll find out soon. But I sure won’t be around to see
it.”
She strode away, making for the rocket’s launching bay. Her
hands were shaking violently on the keypad as she tapped in the code.
“Ellen, what the hell are you doing?” shouted Phoenix,
emerging from his cabin. She didn’t say anything, but ran across the green
launching bay floor and frantically banged open the escape pod’s tiny door. It
started up with a roar, blue flame licking across the floor and melting it into
a congealed mess. The hatch opened, and Grayson just managed to get back inside
the main body of the ship before he was dragged out into space. The escape pod
slid out into the void with an ear-splitting screech.
All fell silent. Kaida looked at Grayson. “She’s really
gone?” she whispered. He nodded and gently reopened the door. Nothing but a
charred black mark on the floor was left.
The crew was shaken by Ellen’s departure, but they made good
progress towards Chryseis-A49. Jack took Ellen’s loss hard, but he and Grayson
distracted themselves by looking for the Dragon from the spaceship’s little
cupola. Jack was becoming fast friends with nearly all the remaining members of
the crew, and surprisingly Phoenix had taken a shine to him - they did almost
everything together.
Soon it was time to make the voyage down to Chryseis-A49.
Phoenix decided he would go, being the leader of the crew: Jack asked to come
too, but there was only one pod left. Kaida seemed sad to leave the crew, but
she ran towards the escape pod excitedly when it was time to go. Holding a tiny
rucksack of her belongings, she sat down in the pod and grinned at Phoenix.
“I’m looking forward to seeing my family again! Maybe you can meet my little
brother?”Phoenix pretended to be embarrassed and fired up the engine.
He was going to miss Kaida.
They sped towards the little orange planet. Grayson watched
them go with a half-smile. It was painful to watch a friend leave forever. He
decided to call up the Spacecraft Monitoring Centre on Chryseis-A49 to tell
them that Kaida would soon be returning home.
“Hello, this is Grayson Brantley from the Quetzalcoatl
speaking. We recently picked up a young woman named Kaida Shi off the Laqueus
spacecraft, and we’re dropping her off in about five minutes.”
The other end of the line remained silent for a moment, and
Grayson noticed goosebumps forming on his arms. It was colder in the control
room than he’d realised.
Finally, a response came through, laced with static.
“There was nobody on the Laqueus. It was a remotely operated
research craft, bound for the asteroid belt.”
Grayson felt his heart drop.
It all made sense now. He ran out of the control room and
into comms, grabbing the nearest mic.
“Phoenix, come back! Phoenix! Kaida isn’t… Kaida’s…”
Inside the escape pod, Phoenix picked up the transmission.
He glanced at Kaida, who was already looking at him. She had never really met
his eyes before. They were a flat black, like a shark’s.
“Goodbye, Phoenix.”
Grayson, gaze fixed to the pod as if he was made of stone,
could only watch as it exploded into a million shards of metal and glass. An
impossibly huge, white shape erupted from the tiny craft, massive wings
unfurling like sails. Blood was
splattered across its pallid scales and caked on its jaw. Scimitar claws
clutched a dismembered torso and grasped at the remains of the little pod.
Six insectile eyes zeroed in on Grayson.
He knew that there was no escape.
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