SKILLS — KS3 EXAMPLES
Year 7 short story (opening only)
This short story opening was written by an SHSG student. It has been included exactly as written to help you see what you need to aspire to at this stage of your study of English at SHSG.
Silence (a story opening)
Layla’s day began the way it always did – with the sound of her alarm clock. She sighed and reached over to turn it off. She sat up, rubbing her eyes sleepily. Light filtered through her blinds, casting a golden light across her face. It was quiet. Unusually so. Normally, she would hear birds chirping or bushes rustling outside. Maybe her neighbours if they were awake. But she couldn’t hear anything. It was as if the world had been put on pause.
She looked around, searching for anything abnormal. Nothing. Everything was where she had left it: her books were still neatly organised on a shelf in her room, the nightstand next to her bed still had that framed photo of her parents on it, and her work laptop was still charging beside her. Then she remembered she still ha dwork that day. With a groan, she got up and began to get ready.
Layla knew something was seriously wrong by the time she was driving to work. She hadn’t seen a single other car on the road. Normally, there’d be traffic from people trying to get to work or school. Layla was beginning to worry. Her heart thudded against her chest. What was going on?
She drove in silence, panic rising with every minute. By the time she’d reached her workplace and parked outside, she thought her heart would beat out of her chest. When she looked in the rearview mirror, she barely recognised herself. Her skin was pale. Too pale. She gripped the wheel and stared into the mirror, into her own green eyes.
“Layla, relax,” she said quietly to herself. “Maybe everyone’s just sick.”
She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of her car. She took a deep breath then walked towards the entrance. She paused, then slowly pushed the door open.
Layla stood frozen in the doorway. Her workplace was a crime scene. Chairs and tables were overturned. All windows and laptops and anything fragile were all smashed to pieces. She stepped forward, trainers crunching on glass. What had happened? And where had everyone gone? There were claw marks on the floor, rips in the carpet that were too long and deep to have been done by accident. And no human could do something this extreme.
Something had done this.
Something had erased everyone.
Something that was not human nor animal, but something nobody has seen.
Something supernatural.
by Rachael Omolade (Year 7)