that shone a glistening midnight sky on my shoulders. My body exuded health, gold dusting my skin and curves gracing my frame. Plump and not defined, strong and not skeletal. Alive. A child holding balloons appeared, bounded towards me with a smile that could the rival gods reigning from the heavens. Cake smeared across their face and bright eyes glistened like emeralds. “ Mamma, ” they chimed, and I couldn ’ t help but return their smile, “ Yes, Aaron? ” -------- Present The hush of silence shattered, replaced by a pounding in my head and the shrill screams of trams. I dragged my body off the cold, wet ground and peered at the corpses that trudged around me. Dressed in finery they marched briskly towards the precipice of wars end, just to embrace their own death as the bombs were set. A cruel, cruel world we lived in, where dignity was foreign, and we remained strangers in this realm. My stomach growled, howled, echoing the wind. I frantically searched for my meagre provisions, supposedly padded beneath a pile of leaves, dirt, and debris. The couple of protein bars wishing they could seek solace from the abrasive forms of nature encasing them. It yielded nothing. My fingers dug through the moist soil, eyes became crazed as my efforts were revealed as futile. The only rations I had were missing, stolen, proving my incompetence to survive. Next time I may shove it up places inaccessible.
DEATH KILLS THE LIVING By Taylor, Year 9
Present Silence. Silence all around me. Smoke curled in the air, casting a shroud of tranquillity that had long since eluded me. Monochromatic shades of grey painted a canvas of life's dullness before my eyes, every detail etched with cutting precision. The hands held in front of me were brittle, cracked, caked in dirt and the white powder I snorted earlier. My unkempt hair, a heavy weight on my shoulders that seemed to seep and bleed like a deep wound, while my body was skinny and adorned with bones that jutted at irregular angles. Sharp and too defined, sickly and too skeletal. Rotting. I could feel it still, the supple flesh that softened my arms, rounded my curves, and brought youth to my frame. The child ’ s laughter lifted and filled me with warmth and love. Again, tears began to fall. ------- Past Laughter. Laughter all around me. Smoke curled in the air, casting a shroud of tranquillity which I welcomed, breathed in. A brilliant palette of colours painted a canvas of life ’ s radiant moments and the hands held in front of me were full, smooth, caked in edible glitter and the frosting I piped earlier. My hair flowed like weightless silk,
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