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    Twelve Down
    Twelve Down
    Twelve Down
    Ebook106 pages1 hour

    Twelve Down

    By Tunbridge Wells Writers

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    About this ebook

    Twelve Down is a collection of short stories for younger readers by the Tunbridge Wells Writers. While loosely aimed at middle-graders (8-12 yrs) there are no hard-and-fast rules when it comes to reading, so we’ve titled the collection accordingly. We hope, of course, that the stories will be enjoyed by parents too – and older siblings and aunts and uncles et al for that matter – but felt the title “12 Down and Possibly Up” a little too convoluted. In a nutshell then, here are twelve short stories written primarily with younger readers in mind. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed writing them.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTunbridge Wells Writers
    Release dateJul 4, 2015
    ISBN9781370176076
    Twelve Down
    Author

    Tunbridge Wells Writers

    Tunbridge Wells Writers is a writers collective operating from the beautiful spa town of Tunbridge Wells in England. Formed in 2010 it is made up poets, fiction and non-fiction writers, bloggers and other waifs and strays.

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      Book preview

      Twelve Down - Tunbridge Wells Writers

      TWELVE DOWN

      A Collection of Short Stories for Young Readers

      By

      The Tunbridge Wells Writers

      COPYRIGHT NOTICE

      Published by Tunbridge Wells Writers Publications

      Copyright © (2015) for individual stories remains that of the named author.

      All rights reserved.

      While offered freely for personal use the stories in this collection should not be reproduced without the permission of the relevant author(s). All unauthorised commercial use is expressly prohibited. Links for the Tunbridge Wells Writers website, Facebook and Meet-Up pages can be found in the introduction to this book.

      CONTENTS

      Tunbridge Wells Writers: An Introduction

      A Brief Outline of the TWELVE DOWN Project

      THE STORIES

      It Began With an Ending – By Jeremy Kimmel.

      Jake and Jill – By Paul Bright.

      Turn Right – By Carolyn Gray.

      The Boy Who Cried Alien – By David Smith.

      The Girl Who Bought the Moon – By Philip Holden.

      The House on the Marsh – By Peppy Scott.

      A Day in the Life of Josh Slug – By Enrique Reilly.

      The Collector – By Joanna Pope.

      Still Here – By Katherine Loverage.

      The Secret Magicians – By Karen Tucker.

      Please Don’t Tell Anyone About This Story – By David Hensley.

      How to Make a Sand Witch – By David Smith.

      Further Reading from the Tunbridge Wells Writers.

      TUNBRIDGE WELLS WRITERS

      An Introduction

      Tunbridge Wells Writers is a small collective of aspiring writers living in and around the much-maligned town of Tunbridge Wells in Kent. We meet once a fortnight to discuss all aspects of writing, to offer mutual support and encouragement, to swap ideas and writing tips, and, on occasion, to work together on group projects like this one. Several of us, in the great writer tradition, also like to take the opportunity to down a few glasses of wine and/or beer, which is one of the reasons we meet in a local pub.

      Neither a fondness for alcohol nor residence in Tunbridge Wells are prerequisites for membership of the group, however, so if you, dear reader, have similar literary ambitions but prefer soft drinks or live elsewhere please feel free to join us either in the flesh or through our website or Facebook page which are found -

      Here: http://tunbridgewellswriters.org.uk/

      And on social media: http://www.facebook.com/groups/twellswriters/ and https://twitter.com/TWWriters

      We also promote the group through Meet-Up, where dates and times of upcoming meetings are always available,

      http://www.meetup.com/Tunbridge-Wells-Writers/

      A Brief Outline of the TWELVE DOWN Project

      Twelve Down is a collection of short stories for young readers written by members of The Tunbridge Wells Writers. All of the stories are written with middle graders in mind, with a reading age of between seven and twelve years.

      When it comes to reading, however, there are no hard and fast rules, and the difference between the reading habits of a seven year old and a twelve year old - or even two children of the same age - can be huge. In essence, then, we've aimed for a book that will appeal across a wide range of ages from TWELVE DOWN, some with the younger reader in mind and some more likely to appeal to those approaching the Young Adult end of the target audience. We hope Mums and Dads will enjoy the collection too, and Aunts and Uncles, Grannies and Granddads, older and younger siblings et al, come to that!

      It Began with an Ending

      By Jeremy Kimmel

      She ran as fast as she could. Which, to be fair, was pretty fast. Faster than most people ever had or ever would. Her Father had made sure of that. But even using everything He had taught her, Irina could not seem to make herself run fast enough. There were just so many of them. So Irina ran.

      It had been some time since there had been anyone shooting at her, but she could still hear the helicopters in the sky. They were looking for her. Deep down she knew this, because she knew she was the only one left. Something spoke to her inside her head, and it confirmed that she was alone. Truly alone, and in very deep trouble.

      The other thing she knew for certain was that she couldn’t keep running like this forever. Eventually she would get tired and have to stop, and if she waited until she was exhausted they would find her and that would be the end. Irina quickly ducked into a dark alley and hid behind a group of large bins. She took a moment and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself and catch her breath. Her Father’s voice echoed in her mind for a moment, reminding her to stay calm and let a path clear itself for her. The voice almost brought her to tears again. When she opened her eyes to wipe them dry she noticed the storm drain by her feet. Using her Father’s weapons and all her strength she lifted its cover and climbed inside. Irina pulled the cover back in place and crawled into the darkness a few feet, so she could not be seen. Once she was sure nobody would see her, she let herself relax a little. Now, the memories and the feelings came flooding back into her and she began to cry. Everything she had hoped for was gone.

      This was not the life Irina thought she was going to have.

      ***

      Irina was just ten years old when she was found. It was just a normal day at school, quite sunny actually. She had been looking forward to playing outside during the break and she knew they had a special visitor today, which usually meant a break from working. Her class was in the middle of a lesson about the Romans when there was a knock at the door and the head teacher came in with a very tall man. He had a friendly face, but he looked very serious. Irina was sure this was the special visitor they were going to have today. It was probably something to do with the Romans. She knew her brother had had a visitor from the museum bring Roman things to the classroom once and it sounded very cool. Only this man didn’t seem to have anything with him. All the grown-ups were whispering together and eventually Mrs Anderson said, ‘of course,’ and the man stood in front of the entire class by himself.

      ‘Hello everyone. My name is Jonathan.’

      In unison the class repeated the Hello Jonathan greeting they had been taught. The man smiled a little and bowed his head. When he moved, Irina caught a flash of something at his side, hidden by his long coat.

      ‘I have come to give you a test.’

      That didn’t make anybody in the class happy. Some even groaned. ‘I know,

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