Schools Short Story competition: The winning entries

Judges were impressed with the standard of the writing among this year's entries. Photo / 123rf

The annual schools short story competition was held again this year. Today we are running the six best stories. There were 13 entries from two high schools and 36 from Year Seven and Eight from the seven schools that entered.

The judges said of the high school entries: "The winning entries used simple, clear language to engage the reader, telling their tales with character development, strong descriptions of scenery and emotional appeal. Their enthusiasm for writing shone through."

Similarly the standard was high for the Year 7 and 8 entries and their comments reflected that. "We loved your stories and enjoyed the ways you had fun with your writing. We saw this in many aspects including the clever use of language features and vivid descriptions, targeted towards being effective storytellers.

"Some of your stories were quirky and funny, some were deeply moving, all of them were you on a page and presented a considerable challenge to us in the judging process."

Years Seven and Eight entries sponsored by JOP Design, Print & Distribution
1st - My Marae by Keira Piper, Aropohue School

In that one moment, everything changed forever. I changed forever.
I had to go to my marae for the first time. My koro had passed away, and he had always wanted a proper Māori burial. I have never really felt Māori, really Māori, just like most other New Zealanders.

Keira Piper won the Year Seven and Eight section. Photo / Supplied

Ōrākei Marae is the marae of my hapu. First, I went to my nan's house, where Koro was in his casket in the living room. The funeral home had done a really nice job. He was lying with his korowai wrapped around him and his taōnga on top. Visitors came. They laughed, they cried, they told stories, they sang waiata on Nan's guitar. They kissed my cheeks and embraced me.
"Nice to see you, bub" they said, or "Aroha mai" or "See you at the tangi, whaea".
On the day of Koro's burial, Nan murmured sadly: "Me haere tātou, my mokopuna."
Time to go to my marae, Ōrākei, the home of my ancestors. As the kaikaranga calls us onto the marae, I fall in love with the ornate carvings on the walls and roof of the wharenui. The words of the karanga draw me in and welcome me home. This is the place that connects us - past, present, and future. This is the wharenui my ancestors built with their own hands, the place that I have never come to before now. My people fought and died for this land. This is my culture, my dying culture. And I will fight to save it.
In that one moment, everything changed forever. I changed forever.
I found myself.

2nd - Hide & Seek by Vanessa Richards, Raurimu Avenue School

In a cold, dark, empty shed there hid a girl. This girl was all alone but this was normal for her. This sense of darkness, the sound of demons in her head, she was used to it. She had lost sense of the feeling of love. But this girl hadn't always been this way. She was once a happy, bubbly, joyful little girl, until one day it was lost.
Hide and seek. That was the game she would play day after day with her neighbourhood friends and family. It was her favourite game in the whole wide world. One day she was playing in the fields with her friends. The little girl was looking for a hiding place. While her friend was counting down from 30, she ran the opposite direction as fast as she could until everyone was out of sight. When she turned around she found a shed. She thought it was perfect. No one would find her there. When the 30-second countdown ended, she was ready.
A few minutes passed and the young girl was excited and anxious. So many thoughts were going through her head, and her heart was beating like crazy. Five minutes passed and she had calmed down. She peeked through the cracks of the shed door. She couldn't see or hear anybody around. She sat down in the corner of the shed and continued waiting. As time went by, she became afraid.
In a cold, dark, empty shed there hid a girl. This girl was all alone and she knew the fact. But as she cried tears of sadness, the door opened.
"There you are!" the young girl's father exclaimed.
As the two finally embraced, the little girl knew she wasn't alone and she never would be.

3rd = The Little Kiwi, Cosmo by Jade Marris, Parua Bay School
3rd = Regret, by Zaniah Reynolds, Parua Bay School

The Little Kiwi Cosmo
I woke up, peering outside my little home. The bush floor was mostly covered with shade, except for some sunlit patches. I felt very lost.
I climbed out to find hot light streaming down onto me. I looked around in hope of finding some sort of food source. I was starving, so I decided to follow the bright patches of sunlight. They might lead me to food.
I stepped on one leaf - crunch - then another. Crunch. I scurried along. I was lost but I continued to follow the light. It felt like I had been running for ages when I came to a halt. Cars zoomed in front of me. I looked further past the cars and saw a magical light blue and green lake. It was inviting me to swim in it.
Suddenly everything went quiet. No cars? Strange, but here's my chance. I sprinted as fast as my tiny talons could go. The tar burned hot under my feet but I persevered. I didn't stop when I crossed the road; something about the water hypnotised me. I was close when a figure towered over me.
The figure's huge hands went to lift me but I was too quick and dodged them. I was skittering around a tree when I banged into the human's hands. I couldn't escape. The human lifted me up and placed me in a box.
Will I be killed? I waited.
A lady opened the box, then closed it. I overheard voices.
"Can we name him? " asked one voice.
"Sure. What name?" the lady replied.
"Cosmo," the voice said.
The lady took another look at me and said, "Great, we will name him Cosmo. Don't worry, Cosmo, you're lucky we found you."
I like that. Cosmo.

Regret

I wander to my best friend Millie's house. When I get to their black wooden door, little raindrops are dancing on my head. "Hello," I shout, making my way up the short staircase with my feet warming up from the carpet. No answer.
I find myself in the living room and there's $600 sitting on the coffee table unattended - just sitting there. Without thinking I take the money and head into town with only one thing on my mind...
Finally I have found the thing I've been saving for. The one thing I have wanted most in life and it's in my hand! As I walk to the counter I look at the iPhone 13's black screen and become overridden with guilt, thinking that just maybe the money I had taken might have been important to someone. When I reach the register I push the feeling aside, buy the phone and go back to Millie's house.
When I'm about to walk into her room something grabs my attention from the living room.
Millie's dad is crying. "How are we going to pay for Millie's surgery?"
"I don't know," her mum mutters.
Millie's in hospital? What have I done!

High School entries sponsored by Calders Design & Print
1st - The Secrets of Persephone by Emily Taylor, Whangārei Girls' High

They said she was stolen. Kidnapped. Dragged unwillingly into the world below.
"Oh, sweet Kore," they cried in despair. "Gentle maiden. Beautiful goddess."
They didn't understand. How could they? "Why, little flower princess," they asked, "would you give up the world of life and sunlight for the harsh darkness of the Land of the Dead?"
They didn't know about the dark pit at the bottom of her soul. The part of her that liked to watch the flowers wilt and die. They didn't know that when she saw him she knew she had found something infinitely more desirable than a thousand years in a golden meadow. He was her other half. Death to her Life.
He saw past her mother's stifling expectations. A dress that pinched her skin and forced the breath from her lungs. He saw her for more than a glorified flower nymph. She waited for him to take her away, down to the depths of the earth – to the vast, dark halls of the House of the Dead. There they could dance together to the lonely trills of a nymph's lyre. When his moonstone eyes looked at her, she felt truly seen.

Emily Taylor won the high school section. Photo / Supplied

With her absence, the world above became icy and barren. The dead trickled into the Underworld, then began arriving in far greater numbers. She couldn't help but feel bitter. Demeter always did throw a tantrum when things didn't go her way.
He looked at her, pale eyes gleaming, and promised they would never be apart. He would bring all of the living into the House of the Dead if that's what it took.
She smiled.
The others found her eventually, of course. She could hear their cries, bewailing the loss of innocent Kore as they ventured down the dark paths to the Underworld, to the House of Hades. They didn't expect to be met with two rulers.
The little flower princess had become Queen of the Dead.
Demeter cursed Hades' name, crying for her daughter to come home. How dare he corrupt her, she screamed. How dare he force her to eat the pomegranate.
They didn't know she had eaten the fruit willingly. That she'd savoured each honey-sweet bite. And that the juice had stained her lips the colour of blood. They didn't know that when he kissed her she felt more alive than she had in all her time in the world of life. He tasted like mint and smoke.
They didn't know the way he whispered her name. Soft and reverent. A plea. A prayer.
Persephone.

2nd - Calm Before the Storm by Olivia Cook, Huanui College

The sun rose, spreading a pink glow over Haragamaobama Beach, as the returning night fishermen were making their weary way home along the quayside. Gentle waves crept across the sand's warming surface, whilst seabirds squabbled over the discarded fish bones and crabs scuttled to their daily hideaways. The aroma of salt drifted into the air, mixing with the smell of ginger and herbs from the beach cafes. The repetitive tone of a car starting signalled that the local residents were heading to work.
Flipping the handwritten sign on the door to show that he was open for business, Chan Jing began his daily routine, getting ready for the seven o'clock rush. It had been five years since he had purchased the store from his uncle; back then it had been a dusty old noodle bar with rusty tables infested with spiderwebs. Now, as he looked proudly around at his refurbishments - polished tables, fluorescent lights and cherry blossom paintings - he felt a sense of achievement. Excited for his uncle's arrival, later that day, he wanted everything to be perfect. Rolling up his sleeves, he headed to the kitchen to prepare the first batch of steam buns.
Four doors down, an elderly lady, wearing a frayed apron over her plaid dress, struggled to open the laundromat door. Entering, she pulled her heavy shopping trolley behind her. The smell of washing powder and damp clothes was familiar and somehow comforting. Feeling her Nokia phone vibrating in her pocket, she took it out and was not surprised to see her daughter's number. Mae Lin pestered her every day about retiring and moving to Osaka with her, to help with the grandchildren. She wasn't even tempted, as she valued her independence and these peaceful early mornings. Flicking the switch of her kettle, she slumped onto her favourite chair for a quick nap before the first customers arrived.
When the water in the bay started to recede at a dramatically high rate, nobody really knew what it meant. The early-rising tourists with their sun shades and folding chairs, who were the first to see the giant wall of water, couldn't have imagined the devastation it would cause.
Three hours later, a group of volunteers were sorting through the wreckage of drifting wood. Earlier they had successfully rescued an elderly lady who had managed to make her way to the roof of her building. Disorientated, she was repeating a phone number that was obviously of great importance to her.
Searching the waterways for any signs of life, a young volunteer noticed a handwritten 'closed' sign drifting along what had been the main street.

3rd - Ruined by Esme McInnes, Huanui College

His screams take over my body, shaking and breaking the place he used to own in my heart. The words circle around my head, some reaching my ears, others completely missing. His words hurt but not as much as his hits. I remember when we used to be happy, in love - when we were inseparable. Now we are broken, attacked, ruined.
Steam fills the room as the hot water pours from the shower head. I strip my clothes and examine my body in the mirror hanging above the sink: imperfect in every way (as always). My body is weak and pale. Like a canvas, deep blues, browns and purples are splattered all over me. What used to be hickeys, marks of his love, are now fingerprints, placed by his rage. I step into the shower, feeling my tears mix with the hot water that stings my skin, hopeful that this time it will burn off my insecurities.
Just after I'm out of the shower he knocks on the door, with the same hands he used to strike me. I quickly cover up before he enters, and when he does I know exactly what he's going to say, and I know what I'm going to say back, no matter what he does.
He walks over to me slowly, his face covered by one of the many masks of emotions he constantly changes, this one sympathy. "I'm so sorry, Sophie, I wasn't thinking properly. I was just so angry and all of a sudden I lost control. Please forgive me, I never meant to hurt you."
I look into his eyes; they're filled with comfort and solace. His eyebrows rise a little as if re-asking the question. I step forwards and move my hands up his back and around his neck, pulling myself into him. I only feel comforted by him, I only want to be embraced by him, I only want him.
He sighs, knowing I have answered his question and hugs me back.
Maybe this time he means it.
Maybe this time we'll be okay.
Maybe this time my wounds will have enough time to heal.