Rachel Irvine

written aged 13
Balwearie High School, Kirkcaldy, Fife

It's not the end

I think of my favourite poster, my poster of a lion. I want to be as brave as a lion, then I could stand up to 'them'.

I feel those last few thumps to my head before I completely black out. This is just another one of those days when I am beaten up until I am unconscious. I hate them. I hate life.

This time, however, when I woke up I was not where I usually was. Most of the time I wake up in the same place I was knocked out and abandoned. This time I was floating. I was another person, looking down at myself lying hopelessly on the street. The bullies had already run off, they always did. I suppose I would rather wake up alone than to them.

I didn't know what was happening but soon I saw a group of people forming around me and ambulances' sirens going off as they rushed over. Who had found me? I see my best friend, my only friend, running to my body, sobbing over me. The police are pulling her back. I wish I could just tell her I was OK but I couldn't get back to myself. I was just drifting higher, higher until soon I couldn't see anything but fluffy white, clean-cut clouds.

All this travelling upwards made me dizzy and tired and quite frankly, I began to feel sick. I always hated travelling because I didn't travel very much as I was an orphan. Life at the orphanage was life as a slave. Basically anything we did deserved punishment so the head of the house, Miss Brandfare, didn't have to get off her backside and do a thing. She enjoyed watching kids do all her housework while she just sat about feeding her cat that acted as though it hated her as well. I suppose this was the good side of leaving the ground. I certainly wouldn't miss the orphanage.

Thinking about my friend, the orphanage and maybe meeting my dead parents was stressful for my brain to handle and I eventually drifted off to a deep sleep. When I woke up I thought it had all been a dream so I tried to rub my eyes but instead I felt sharp nails digging into a fur coat. My mind was completely baffled. Why was I all furry and had deathly sharp nails?

I stretch out and get on all fours. I glance down at my feet; they are paws, big furry paws with sharp nails. I was a little worried at first as I still felt like a human, trapped in a lion's body. Realising there was nothing I could do to get back I went for a wander as my stomach started rumbling.

I see some innocent rabbits jumping around undisturbed. they look exceedingly tasty. I begin to cautiously make my way over, trying to blend in with the long, thing grass. I lick my lips as I edge my way closer, closer. At once, I jump from my back legs, ripping the rabbits to shreds, devouring their insides.

I'm shocked at myself, yet it feels good to be the one in charge, no one to make my life miserable any more. I am what I always wanted to be. I am a lion.

After several hours of getting used to being what I am, I'm attacked. Attacked by another lion, he wants my territory, apparently I took his. I fight back nervously as my mind floods back to memories from when the bullies used to hit me.

'You are strong now,' I tell myself. I put on the bravest fight as my nails sink into the opponent's fur. Some blood is spilled. The challenging opponent backs off to find somewhere else. I won my first fight! Though I am filled with joy, my mind is spinning with what could happen if someone tougher came to fight.

After being reassured nothing will come, I'm quite tired and softly, after a while, I begin to purr loudly as I fall into a deep sleep.

I waken to gasps of humans, scribbling down notes of every move I make. My mind is filled with questions I can't ask. Why can't I go back to being a human? I put on my fiercest roar at them to let me out but all they do is write. Soon I give up. I can't fight them any more. I know they have once ruined my life and would succeed again.

A few hours went past but nothing - no one came. I'm alone. Minutes later I'm disturbed by the sound of my cage being unlocked. I look up to find it's only one of the workers coming with some clean water. I growl but the worker just smiles back sympathetically as if he understands me.

I sip the water thirstily. I haven't drunk in days. It tastes different. I pause as my heart starts throbbing. The worker has poisoned my water. He knows I want to die and never return, he understands completely.

Next thing I know I am floating up into that familiar cloudy place I had once been. But this time when I wake, I am with all the others like me. I've found where I belong at last.