Suri’s Iron Giant (aged 8)

The Iron Giant walked at the point of the cliff. Does he want anything? I’m not positive. Is anyone else here? I’m not positive. Does he have family? I’m not positive.

Thicker than a pillow, the Iron Giant stepped at the point of the cliff, on the very slope, in the blackness. The wind pushed through his iron fingers.

The Iron Giant as large as a fence but as tall as a mattress. His eyes as bright as a shiny, white spotlight but his ears as hard as a rock, solid wall. His hands as big as a hairy, loud horse but his legs as wide as a sturdy, wobbly tree trunk.

He was hearing the ocean. His eyes like lanterns , glowed pink, then blue, then gold, searching the ocean. Never before had the Iron Giant seen the ocean. He swayed in the strong wind that pushed against his back. He swayed forward, on the slope of the high cliff. And his right foot, his humongous iron right foot, lifted-up, out into space, and the Iron Giant stepped forward, off the cliff, into nothingness.

Crashhhhhhh crash crash crash. He tumbled edge to edge, slope to slope, point to point, cave to cave. Trashed, Splattered, Clanging, Crashing and Banging down the cliff edge to the beach below! A few rocks fell with him.

His iron legs fell off. His iron arms separated, and the hands separated off the arms. His big iron ears fell off and his eyes fell out. His great iron head fell off. All the separate pieces crashed, scattered, banging, bumping, falling, down on to the Sandy beach far below. Then silence.

The wind went on trampling over the grass while the stars went on relaxing in the night sky. The sea went on cuddling the rocks. The beach was finally resting from the people who had been on holiday.

Nobody knew the Iron Giant had fallen.

Night fall!!!!!

Connie's Alzatraz (aged 11)

1936. As I stepped onto the run-down boat, I just stared out into the crystal, mighty, icy water. All of a sudden, I looked. There it was…… Alcatraz. I was still wondering why I was forced to come here to the most secure prison in the world. I remembered. I got framed for something that someone else did. San Francisco was fading away right in front of my eyes. Whilst I was sat there with other dangerous men I arrived. A chill cascaded down my spine when the boat door was opened by the correctional officer. I took in every single detail. Would I ever survive?

As I stepped off the boat, I stopped dead. The iron gates stood menacingly before me… Trembling with fear, the rusty, iron bar gates opened. It was worse than I thought…

Scared for my life, I carefully walked through the dimly-lit corridor hearing criminal masterminds roaring, “WE WANT FOOD. WE WANT FOOD!” I was wearing a customized orange jump-suit although it didn’t seem like it was customized because of how dirty and itchy these things were, it probably hadn’t been washed for over 10 years! As I trudged along the narrow corridor there was lots of grubby, foul-smelling dungeons. I couldn’t believe I was going to be spending the rest of my life in one. I was trapped…

As I stepped into the dark, dungeon of hell, I looked at the wall that had my name on. Robert Stroud. I suddenly saw something running across the floor, I didn’t know whether it was a mouse or a rat. But I just examined the place even though there wasn’t that much to examine. The miniscule, cramped chamber was unsanitary and sickening. I looked at the sink and it was dank and revolting. Finally, I gave the bed a good examination because it was so uncomfortable I was wondering what was making it uncomfortable. All of a sudden, I found a weapon underneath the bed. It was a screwdriver. It had a note written with it, it said ‘This is for the prisoner who finds this note, this screwdriver is to break free, by Frank Morris’ I remembered he was the prisoner who went missing! I could finally plan my escape…

3 weeks past and I was still wondering what I could do with this screwdriver. I was getting tired of staying trapped in the hell hole and I demanded an escape. I was examining the note still and I looked on the back of it and it said, “I’ve dug a hole inside the vent, go down it and you’ll be free.” It suddenly came to me! I knew what I was going to do.

When it’s dinner time, I would knock out the correctional officer and wear his clothes. Then with the screwdriver I would unscrew the vent and go down the hole. Even though I was risking my life, I would rather die than stay in this chamber for the rest of my life. Eventually, when I would get to the other side of the hole, I would unscrew the vent and wait until the ferry arrives. I WOULD BE FREEEE!!

7:00pm struck and my plan came into action. When the correctional officer walked past my cell, he threw my porridge into my chamber and he said, “There you go you filthy animal.” I said to him, “No, you’re a filthy animal,” and with all my force I punched him right in the face, I think I killed him. Without thinking, I slid my hand threw the iron bars and grabbed the keys off the officer. Then I unlocked the dungeon and I switched clothes with him and dragged the officer into the cell. With the screwdriver I quickly unscrewed the vent and went through it. I was crawling and crawling I didn’t realise the tunnel was this long. Suddenly, the tunnel came crashing down and I was trapped, I was so tired and hungry but my leg was stuck! I heard the other officers in the background, I think they realised I was gone! I didn’t know what to do. So I just kept digging because I knew my life was on the line.

5 hours past, it was midnight now and I was still in the tunnel. My arms were getting so sore from digging but eventually I could hear the sea! There was no turning back now. My leg was still sore but I just kept going because I knew I could be free. Quickly, I crawled as fast as I could and I got out of that cramped tunnel. But all of a sudden, I saw something that didn’t look good. I knew that my life would be gone forever…