I hope everyone is enjoying the Easter break.
As you know, being crew is what we are all about at XP. Whilst this means having each other’s back, it also means celebrating each other’s successes.
Hallie was so impressed by her shoulder partner’s creative writing that she told me I need to put it on the website so that everyone can read it. Emily is a very talented writer but she was also able to improve her writing either further through the kind, specific and helpful critique that she received from her shoulder partner too. That is what we love to see from our students, and I have to agree with Hallie, it is excellent!
See if you can guess the persona of Emily’s writing (HINT: it fits with the Easter theme…)
I shivered in the cold, dead of the night.
They have stopped now. All of them. Fools. Why scream and shout if you aren’t going to achieve anything at all. Mother says they’re stupid but Father is always saying that he wishes he was a human so that he could fight in a blazing war like this.
I can hear them. Gunshots, screams and the dreadful pain in these men’s voices pains me. In the day, fighting their hearts and blood out just to make a man happy. I hate it. And the smell! That awful decaying smell of rotting bodies that keep multiplying day by day seeps through the walls of our burrow.
I’m trying to get to sleep but I can hear mother and father scattering for things in the other room. Silently I crawl out of bed and make my way to the tunnel. I’m on my way downstairs, when suddenly there’s a big bang and I fly up into the air. The ground beneath me slips as I scramble to find a footing. There’s shouting and I can hear mother and father gathering my siblings. They say name by name until they come to mine. But no name falls from their mouths. I’m falling deeper and deeper with my hope following me. I’m scared. Scared enough to run ten miles away. I give up.
Black. All I can see is black. I don’t know what to do and I keep wondering if my family is alright; the children, Mother, Father. What has happened to them? Blood gathers on my fur. I decide to try and see if I can get out of this black hole and so I bat my feet against something sharp. It seems to work as there’s a rumble and the warm sun wafts against my ears. This is comforting in some way but mostly irritating.
I can hear men shouting. I look around. There’s a man lying on the ground with blood spilling out of his leg. I cautiously walk over to him. His eyes are open and he seems alive.
“Hilfe, Hilfe..” he mutters softly.
Father says that if I were to ever see a man wounded I would tell him but father isn’t here so I try to help the man. He has a rock digging into his leg. It’s heavy and hard to move but I can just manage to push it out of the way. Suddenly he bolts upright and looks around frantically. He looks down at me. I can see that he is young and has bright blue eyes that shine with the sun. All of a sudden he picks me up. He tries to stand but stumbles and drops me.
I can tell he’s frantic so I sit with him. Father says we make humans feel nice. I’ve never known why but I don’t care. It makes me feel good to be able to help the man so I don’t leave his side.
Dusk attacks, and he’s still lying on the ground. Suddenly he picks himself up and is upright on his feet. He picks me up, making sure he is gentle, and walks away from the rubble. I suppose this is like saying goodbye.
Goodbye Mother, goodbye Father, goodbye home.
Hello, new beginning…