A rumour continued to grow, it leapt from each classroom to another, going into the children’s minds and not coming out. It was no ordinary rumour, it wasn’t about anyone and it really wasn’t about anything. However we knew the truth.

There were many graveyards scattered in our area, but there was one particular one that everyone seemed to be obsessed with so I went to take a look. It was deserted. How could this graveyard cause so much fascination?

I stopped. I stared. I had just spotted something move. Stone silence covered me and everything else around. I dropped right down to my knees; my head was spinning with my mind bobbing. What was this?

I had fallen into a deep, deep trance. When I awoke, the next thing I knew was that the sky was ocean blue mixing and twirling with the blood red clouds. They were guarding the sun as if it were pure gold. I smiled to myself and that’s when I noticed water was filling my ears and then my mouth. I screamed. There was no one else around. Suddenly my screams turned to muffled cries and bubbles. I was slowly sinking. My face and all four limbs stung like hell. I shut my eyes. I could feel my body filling up with water. I reopened my eyes; I could only see rocks and blue. Struggling, I started to try and break free. It was useless; the harder I tried to break free, the faster I went down. I could have sworn to God my heart stopped for more than ten minutes under there.

Cautiously, I looked down to discover that the slimy tail of an evil serpent was dragging me down by my legs. My eyes were filled with horror, my heart filled with fear. The more I struggled, the tighter it pulled; the hideous sea creature was pulling me under. My breath got thinner and thinner as I sunk closer to the deep, dark sea bed. As my lungs overflowed with water, I managed to grab a piece of flint. I hurled it with all my might at the horrific beast of terror. Blinded, the serpent released my legs and slunk back into the watery darkness.

Everything was still. I couldn’t stop thinking about my parents, wondering what had happened to me. Was this the rumour everyone was talking about? Pulling myself together, I started swimming for survival towards dry land.

I scampered onto an island and found myself surrounded by totem poles and spears. My emotions were tangled; the euphoria of survival was overwhelmed by the thought of spears being pierced into my poor, innocent heart. However all was silent, not a soul could I see. I scurried away from these tools of terror, further into this mysterious deserted place. The palm trees shaded me like umbrellas, weird and wonderful fruit hanging from the tropical trees.

I was starving, but the only food around was figs and coconuts. Suddenly, to my amazement, the eyes of my best friend Ben greeted me with his welcome presence…
“Boy am I happy to see you!” I exclaimed, embracing him like a long-lost friend. I felt so relieved that I had company. My mind was full of urgent questions that just had to be answered; but where to start. Eventually, after a lot of thought, I went for the most obvious starting point…

“Where are we?” I managed to stutter, throwing down a palm leaf I had picked up.
With his eyebrows raised and a wide grin across his face, he replied sarcastically, “On an island, silly!”

I was surprised that he could be so relaxed about the situation.

We sat down and he began telling me about how he too was curious about the graveyard and how he too was almost killed by the scaly serpent. Then, with a look of confusion on his face, he turned to me and said, “Then my phone started ringing… and the hideous beast left me alone.”

“But why are we here? Who has brought us to this place?” I blurted out impatiently, unable to contain myself.

Before Ben could answer, I let my eyes wander over to the nearest palm tree and spied some deep claw marks on its trunk. Seeing what I had focused on, he looked at me knowingly, and in a low voice whispered, “Hybrid creatures!” As he said those words, his whole body shivered, from his head to his toes.

The blank expression on my face told him that I had no clue what he was talking about.

“They’re hideous creatures,” he continued, “which are half-human and half-animal. I’ve seen wolf-people, tiger-people and shark-people, with razor-sharp claws and teeth. What’s more, they smell foul; worse than a rubbish dump. From what I understand, they are catching us in order to make us like them. We’re the only two who have managed to escape. The others have been captured and are being kept in a dark cave on the other side of the island,” he explained, breathlessly.

After he had finished, I looked at him in horror; my face had turned a shade of pale, like a ghost. Finally, I composed myself, “We need a plan to save the others and get us out of here!” At that moment, from behind us, we heard an ear-piercing scream…

“Creepy, eh?” Ben joked, trying to scare me. Silently, we turned to march up the steep dunes on the beach towards a palm tree. As we trampled through the hot sand, we saw two skulls in the shade of the tree.

“Ben,” I whispered, “we have to help these poor prisoners.”

Slowly he nodded as I looked around, scanning the beach for any movement. “Let’s get out of here,” I whispered. “This place is giving me the creeps; I feel like I’m being watched…”

We headed towards the jungle, noticing a trail of skulls disappearing into the thick undergrowth. Silently we agreed to follow it. Still I felt uneasy, like we were being watched.
“Scared aren’t you, John?” Ben nudged me with his elbow but tripped over a vine covered skull.

As I watched Ben on the ground, his legs tangled in the vine, a hand appeared. I screamed in terror.

“That sounds like the one we heard earlier,” a girl remarked, appearing from the forest undergrowth. “Are you OK?” she asked me.

I looked at the girl standing in front of me; she looked like she was in her early teens. She was the same height as us, with clear blue eyes and hair as red as fire. A boy appeared behind her, dressed in black.

“Who are you?” I gasped.

“I’m Annie and he’s Tom,” said the girl, pointing to the boy behind her.

“We were prisoners,” explained the boy, “but we managed to escape.”

“You have to help us,” begged the girl, “We were lucky and got away, but our friends are still trapped. Please, oh please say you’ll help us.”

I looked at Ben feeling uneasy about the situation. He however, seemed to be more trusting. I tapped his shoulder and nodded for a private moment.

Ignoring my request, Ben snorted, “Come on John. Stop being such a baby. We haven’t got time for this!” He turned to the boy and the girl.

“You guys know where the cave is? The one they’re keeping everyone prisoner in? Can you take us there?”

“Yeah, it’s easy,” grunted the boy. “All you have to do is follow the skulls.” My stomach sank. Without a word, he started walking away. Quickly we followed.

Eventually the skulls stopped and the cave seemed to appear out of nowhere, but there was no guard or sign of the hybrids, and I wondered if it was a trap. The others ran for the entrance.

“Get some wood for a torch,” Ben called out.

I ran towards the nearest tree I could find, desperate for some twigs when I heard another scream. I ran back as quick as a flash to see Ben, unconscious, being dragged across the floor by a hybrid creature. I looked around in panic for Annie and Tom but they were nowhere to be seen. I noticed a pile of torn clothes near the mouth of the cave; I couldn’t make sense of it all. All I could hear was the never-ending pumping of my heart.

“There you are,” said a familiar voice behind me. I sighed with relief at the sound of Tom’s voice. Slowly I turned around…

….but there was nobody there. The wind whispered again, “there you are, come, come, I need you to help me.”

An icy chill crept down my spine. Where was this mysterious voice coming from? All of a sudden a strong gale rushed passed me like a buffalo stampede. The wind was now growling those haunting words louder and louder. I panicked. I wanted to go home; I’d even go back to school and never complain about homework again. Quickly, I covered my ears with my hands and squeezed my eyes shut. “Make it go away!” I cried repeatedly. The earth moved from below me and everything started spinning again. I was falling harder and harder, faster and faster until I was back in the graveyard.

I started to get up when suddenly I saw a swarm of ferocious hybrids lurking in the undergrowth. I wanted to hide before they spotted me but it was too late. The church bells started to chime and all of a sudden hundreds of hybrids surrounded me. “I must get away,” I thought frantically. I bolted like lightning towards the rusty gate as the decaying gravestones passed by. I looked behind me and I could just make out the shape of thousands of sinister hybrids chasing me. I started panting heavily until I lost track of where I was running to. Suddenly I tripped on a vine and it coiled itself around my leg like a green snake. I plummeted to the bottom of an unfinished grave bumping my head on the way and immediately I was plunged into darkness…….

Slowly I opened my eyes and surveyed my surroundings thinking I was alone. However I was wrong. A crowd of weeping people in black were gathered together around a coffin. I realised a funeral was taking place. As I edged over I noticed that the crowd of people were familiar. A lady in black wept mournfully, “Oh poor John he was so young.” As soon as I heard my name I realised it was my own funeral. I ran over, touched my father on his shoulder and he gently turned around. Then he froze. “Who are you? Why are you at my son’s funeral? Where are you from” he exclaimed. By now all eyes were fixed on me. I tried to speak but all that came out was a groan. What had become of me?

by Year 5 pupils from East Sheen, Trafalgar Junior, Sheen Mount, St John the Baptist and St. Osmund’s primary schools