Winner of the 'Heroes and Villains' Competition: 'Sorrow'

This week, Mai Nguyen won the Year 7 'Heroes and Villains' writing competition with her story, 'Sorrow'.

 

As the steady ticking of the clock reverberated in his cloudy head, radiant sunlight flowed through the greasy window. James reluctantly looked out of the window, getting his mind off the arduous test. Piercing voices started scratching at the corners of his vague mind. Knowing he’d fail the test, he let his mind wander elsewhere. When his pencil clacked to the dusty ground, glaring light found its way into his dull eyes. While voices consumed his head, the bell silently rang in the background, indicating the end of school. He fumbled out of his moaning chair and onto the ground, causing jeers and laughs. Finally blinking away the agitating voices out of his mind, he clumsily walked to the park, while his sandy hair kept on following the breeze. Emotion drained from his sagging body, as gloominess engulfed him. When he sat on the creaking bench, he quickly forgot why he was even at the park. His phone buzzed, however his dark blue eyes just stared into the distance as orange light nonchalantly spilled onto the pale sky. On the other side of the park, a redundant, crumbling building slowly sat rotting in a lush area of land. A triumphant yell managed to escape the dilapidated building, spreading bewilderment throughout the neighbourhood. 

The Sentinel had finally finished her one year project in the rotting building; ecstasy flooding her body. She firmly held the device, making sure to not activate it. Corrupt shadows flowed from her tuxedo’s black sleeves, emanating a kind of eerie essence. Her porcelain mask had yellow glowing eyes today, showing glee. She had vital plans for this device, bringing it to the Swiss mountains for an intriguing show. Coincidentally, James’ school planned on going to the Swiss mountains for their ski trip, spreading euphoria to the whole school, however James hadn’t heard about it until Miles told him. Sometimes he felt like he was just a big body of numb meat, roaming the school, while stumbling into people, not caring that they narrow their eyes and sneer. When he was with his best friend he felt jubilant, however eventually they left him like most people do. As they started to fill up the numerous coaches, yet again he sat by himself. He longed conversation, longed for the feeling of being appreciated, although his parents robbed him of that feeling when he was a newborn. The only person that made him feel that way left him. While he was pondering about his cynical childhood, he heard blaring noises, which surrounded the coaches; everybody rushing out of their seats to see what was happening.

 A luxurious, blood red car kept on dangerously swerving into other lanes, not surprisingly crashing soon after. Smoke and debris gracefully drifted into the cloudless sky. Whilst everybody’s eyes were on the detrimental devastation, James’ eyes slowly drifted to the soot covered girl or boy, fleeing to a miniature, sin black car. He saw them wearing a suit of some sort and a hat. He promptly looked away, scared that she or he was going to notice him. He blankly stared at the chair in front of him, while his mind was blank with what to do. The raucous shouts and squeals didn’t help his mind focus at all, instead he just ignored what he’d seen. His body lolled forward, painfully hitting the seat in front; constant voices battling each other like day and night. After the situation had finally died down, everybody got back in their seats and they drove off to the hotel. When they’d made it to the hotel, the sunset was striking. Purple vainly struggled to overpower the ashen orange, while the blue had given up, laying on the bottom of the sky like a battlefield with littered corpses on the ground. Yellow just watched atop of orange and purple. There was a synchronised ‘ooh’ from the year group. They’d unloaded everything and got into their rooms, ready to get knocked out and let their dreams devour them.

Raven black seeped through the lively curtains and into their grand marble, wood rooms. He saw it sluggishly creep towards his roommates, leaving no trace of them behind, as well as lashing out at random times. Reaching James, it prepared to strike. His body rigorously shook, feeling a light breeze softly brush against his cheek, waking him up in the process. Gripping the sheets so tightly that he could see his veins bulge from his pallid hands, he held back the tears and took eight, deep, relaxing breaths and calmed. His nerves no longer spiked and he didn’t shake as vigorously as he did before. As he opened his eyes, the dark had ceased and all that was left was a shuddering boy with tears threatening to escape his eyes. While his whole year was delightfully sleeping, the Sentinel was up and about to attempt something that she quite frankly shouldn’t be doing. She’d seen the boy stare at her with attentiveness gleaming in his eyes. She glowered behind the window, however he didn’t see. This wasn’t practical, ideally for her. Even though she ignored her employer's instructions, she planned on using her project for her own benefit. The Swiss Alpine Hotel was where she planned on using her extraordinary creation. While the Sentinel had snuck into the hotel, James writhed around in his bed, trying to get into a pleasant position. Finally giving in, he gently tapped the sigil next to his ear, increasing his hearing. Getting changed briskly in shorts and a shirt, he went exploring.

As James discreetly crept to the registration floor, his head was swallowed by the constant, disputing voices in his mind. The voices spiralled out of control. His head went light and his vision stirred, causing him to stagger over ancient plant pots. He landed on the creaking floorboards, while his body drooped. His head was pounding and his eyes kept on fluttering. Clutching his throbbing head, he desperately tried to stand up, although ended up making a mess and even more noise than expected. Finally, his jittering legs supported him and he held onto the desk for support. Just as he regained balance and his head cleared a little, he heard movement. Was it a teacher, coming to tell him off or was it one of his friends? When he’d concluded that it was his imagination, a glowing, red dagger shot past his ear. As he turned around it sizzled through the wall, clattering to the floor. He ducked behind the registration desk; alarms ringing in his head. Footsteps. Calm footsteps. James hesitantly crawled around the corner, glancing at wisps of shadows drooling out of a ravishing tuxedo sleeve. As he slithered back, perspiration dripped from his brow and onto his sweating hands. The footsteps stopped. Heart pounding in his chest, he leaped over the desk and crashed into the person. His elbow banged into something hard, while his limbs were all tangled. James saw the person get up, as he did. He saw glowing red eyes and cursed, running for his life. Expecting a laser to shoot from their eyes and chase him, The Sentinel just ominously gazed at him.

He dodged and weaved around the columns, barely missing them. His head couldn’t keep up with his body, daunting questions still floating around his head. He wasn’t focusing. Out of nowhere the Sentinel grabbed James and threw him. His body slammed into a wooden table, splintering over the grand carpet. Shuddering along the floor, James’ breath rushed out of him. He looked up in time to see an exquisite tuxedo and porcelain mask with some sort of sheen spread across it. A hat laid on top of their head, while luminous, red daggers hung from the sleeves. He saw red and black gloves. Lying on top of severed wood, he wheezed in slithers of air. 

 “Who are you?” he said, trying to ooze confidence, while quivering.

 She paused, grinned and said, 

 “The last person you’ll ever meet.”

He braced, while she rushed him, rocking his head. Giving him no space to fight back, she hauled him up and held him against the wall. Paintings banging against the wall vigorously, she started choking him. Spittle flew from his mouth, as air started becoming scarce. He vainly struggled, kicking at the Sentinel. He got lucky and kicked her in between, loosening the hold and causing a mere grunt. As she came closer to James, he kicked her right in the chest. She crashed through furniture, while James gracelessly landed on his bruised knees. He breathed in lungfuls of air, as well as tapping all the sigils on his body, making his skin pulse a kind of blue aura. Strength flooded his body, reinforcing his limbs. He went for her, punching her head and throwing her carelessly into furniture numerous times. She was thrown about like a ragdoll, her grin vanishing before it fully flourished. She punched when she saw an opening, although it didn’t affect James.

As he crouched down to see if she had gone unconscious, she discreetly threw a dagger into his arm, causing a howl of agony. She constantly threw the sizzling daggers, pouring her power into the daggers, which made the cuts more deep. Excruciating pain blossomed within. The blood rhymically dripped onto the floor, blending with the red carpet. The dagger's heat burned his skin, puffing around the edges. Spitting blood, his glazed, bloodshot eyes looked at his limbs like they were blood rivers. As the sheen started rupturing,  her mask had a small fragment near the cheek, exposing skin. She sat up and softly touched her cheek with her gloves, her eyes turning blue. She frowned underneath her mask and sent thoughts crashing into his mind, while she departed. Suddenly the voices tripled in his head. He shrieked in pain, as tears streamed down his face. Anxiety overwhelmed the pain and he curled into a ball. Two words; they rebounded off of his brain; The Sentinel. The world tilted and he saw footsteps sprinting towards him. At the back of his head he heard a faint beeping, getting louder and clearer. It finally clicked and the Sentinel had planted a bomb. James gently got onto his knees and stood up, realising there was a shallow pool of blood at his feet. Using up all his strength, he distressingly located the bomb, while attempting to pull the daggers out, however pain caused his hands to frantically jerk. Puzzled people followed warily behind him. He finally saw the small explosive planted on the side of the wall, however his legs buckled and darkness welcomed him in.

The Sentinel screeched as she saw her skin start to swell. The howling, ferocious wind rapidly snatched her hat away from her, causing her tousled, chestnut hair to flow with the wind. The explosive was supposed to destroy everything within its ten metre radius, as well as kill everybody, however they’d discovered it. She tried to put her hair into a simple ponytail so it wouldn’t get into her snake green eyes, however the wind gleefully played with her hair, blinding her. The fragment in her mask was causing violent winds to seep into her visage and consume her face. She felt numb, as well as coldness trickling in through her well-tailored tux. She couldn’t even say goodbye to her kitten, misery welling up inside of her. How could she have been so dumb? Murmuring her regrets, the wind whistled away her words. She attentively prised the mask off; she hadn’t felt a strong breeze on her smooth face for years. She let the gloves fall into the albino snow, tears starting to cloud her vision. The boots sucked at her dashing shoes, as she stopped trying to hike up to her cabin. She picked up refreshing snow and hurled it down the mountain. For the first time, she giggled. Ecstasy wasn’t a feeling she was used to, however she wanted to be happy with her family. Air filled in the gaps in her tuxedo, her body starting to swell and ooze pus, although she just shrugged. She looked at the last razor dagger she had and how much effort was put into them. She looked at the weapon as tears cascaded down her face. She cried for her adorable kitten, her family and all the distress that she had caused. She was finally going to join her relatives. Wiping away the tears, she put a forced smile onto her face and plunged the dagger into her broken heart.

He awoke to a vivid light gazing him in the eyes. When he blinked away the blurriness, he tried speaking, although his words slurred. Where was he? He tried turning his head, although he had a neck brace on. His arms were pinned to his sides. He was getting wheeled to somewhere. People gazed at him in astonishment to see him slowly blinking, although the light started to fade and slowly slipped back into unconsciousness. He woke up to see family members crowded around him. They did a lot of talking and finally he was allowed to leave the hospital. Driving home, his parents had told him that he had been in a coma for a few weeks. That’s all they said; they didn’t even say ‘How are you?’ or ‘Are you OK?’. Not even thanking him for saving a hotel, as well as his teachers, which constantly battered him with harsh, irrelevant words. They just drove the rest of the way in silence, while lividness hung in the air. When he got home, he left for the beach. After letting his anger fade like his blissfulness had, he wanted to give up. Not only had his parents probably not visited him when he was in dire conditions, they didn’t even care that he’d nearly died. Nobody cared. They were so caught up in their self worth that they only cared about themselves and his brother. He sat on the rough, golden sand, letting his agitation fade like the sunlight. The clouds passed over the horizon, as the placid sea twinkled. The chilling sea lapped over his bruised feet, as despair slowly settled like sediment. He missed when he was happy and missed his best friend.