What's New
Actor Greg Johnson will be reading at Papakura Library's Storytime
Papakura Library are pleased to have a special
Join the fun at Tokoroa Library
Tell your story — and be part of our local history
"Tell your story" workshops at Glenfield Library
Glenfield library is celebrating Library Week with
LIBRARY WEEK COMPETITION
This competition is now closed. There were some wonderful entries and we would like to thank everyone for their contributions.
You can read the full story below.
Bernard Beckett
from Lower Hutt
Wrote at: 17-08-2008 12:08:00
I suppose you could say Damien is my opposite. Whereas I am short for my age, and compensate by this lack of presence with a physical quickness, trying to be everywhere at once, Damien is large and slow moving. Whereas people say my face is easy to read, my face painted brightly in my many moods, Damien keeps his thoughts and feelings well hidden. People rarely have trouble remembering my name; Joshua they say, the second time they meet me, announcing the name confidently as if we are old friends. Damien by contrast is the sort you see in a room and think ‘I am sure we have met before, but where?’ I am one of five children, Damien has no brothers or sisters. I have recently become interested in girls. Damien thinks me mad for wasting my time on these creatures that he barely notices.
Yes, my friendship with Damien is as unlikely as it is unbreakable. People wonder what it is that keeps us together and I am afraid I can be of no help to them. There is an answer I could give them, but we decided long ago that we would never speak of it again. You see, we do have one thing in common, Damien and I. We both know where the body is buried.
Paea Tonga from Avalon Intermediate School
Wrote at: 18-08-2008 04:08:25
That was one of my memories I cannot forget. We couldn't believe what we had seen. Back then we didn't really know what we had seen, but we have come to have no regrets only gladness.
In Damien's early years he was a really tough boy. He liked to pick on people who he knew couldn't bully him back. The one thing I noticed was that Damien had never picked on me, but gave me the evils.
I watched him as he bullied other people, but didn't do anything about it. Everyday I had gotten more and more afraid of what he would do. It was getting close to camp time. The teacher had talked about camp fees and paying it off. That's when I saw a weakness, I think he had family problems.
Camp came around quickly and we had alot of camp activities and luckily, Damien had made it there. Our campsite was so amazing it was like we were in heaven. The thing that made it so exciting was the scavenger hunt.
When we were getting into pairs, I was hoping to be put with a girl. I was devestated when I got my partner. I tried talking to the teacher to swap partners with someone else, but unfortunately no one wanted HIM. So there I was standing with the one person I wouldn't want to be near. Damien!
Walking into the forest was alright but then we had to go deeper, and it got darker. Suddenly we were practicly touching shoulders, and the only thing missing was the scary music...
Brianna Roberts from The Cathedral Grammar School
Wrote at: 19-08-2008 10:08:59
I have never liked forests, ever since I saw E.T dying in the forest, I have been afraid. Breathing in and out I tried to calm myself down. I turned around to ask Damien for the map but found him walking off in a totally different direction to the starting arrows.
"Damien!" I called. He yelled a muffled reply and kept walking. I didn't know whether I should follow him or not. "We could get lost, killed, kidnapped!"
"You won't get kidnapped, there is no one else but our class in the woods" Damien replied. I hadn't realised I was talking out loud.
"Come back! I wanna get the prize!" I said to Damien trying not to sound afraid.
This time he didn't reply and he disappeared behind a bush. I ran after him, tripping over fallen branches and dead leaves. I couldn't see him anywhere.
"RARR!" I jumped. Damien jumped out of the bush in front of me and then fell down in hysterics pointing at me and holding his stomach.
"Come on" I said, "I want to get back, how are we supposed to win the hunt now?"
Damien shook his head. "I don't want to win no stupid scavenger hunt, I've found something, come on."
I looked back over my shoulder, I could see Amy and Louise giggling at their map, beside them was Luke and Dave fighting over which way the map turned up. I followed Damien until only a couple of minutes later we came through a clearing.
There was an old house, rickety and broken down, the windows were dusty and opaque. "Awesome" was Damien's reaction.
Typical. I wanted to leave, I grabbed Damien's arm and tried to pull him away. He brushed me off and told me not to grab his shirt, next time I did he would pummel me. I backed off. I decided to leave Damien. Mrs. Early would kill me for leaving my 'partner' but I was not staying near this creepy place.
Just as I was leaving the door opened. An old lady stepped out. Long grey hair trailed from her shoulders down to her knees, and a long black dress hung loosely off her frail body. "Hello" she said, "I believe you know where my Jonathan is."
Damien turned to me, his face was white. "How does she know?" he whispered.
Lura from Ahipara Primary
Wrote at: 20-08-2008 11:08:49
My feet were planted into the ground like weeds. The scene in front of me started turning black, like a burning page. I grabbed onto Damien's shoulder for support but he didn't shake it off.
"Hello?" said the lady, "Would you kindly answer my question?" Her face went hard, her eyes narrowing. Thankfully, she turned around, muttering something about how ignorant kids were these days.
I started backing up slowly, always watching the house. Suddenly, she came back, squealing like a little girl. "Jonathon! Jonathon! I thought I'd never see you ever ever again! Ooooh... Your father is going to be so angry! You worried us sick! Where have you been??"
All I could do was choke while she sprinted over to me at a speed that shouldn't be legal for ladies at her age. She grabbed me up in her spindly arms and my adrenalin finally kicked in. I struggled and kicked and thrashed until she let me go.
"My, my Jonathon Albert Green, you have turned feral while you were gone." She grabbed my ear in a death lock and dragged me towards the house. I knew this would come back at me one day. All that karma stuff.
Meanwhile, Damien was standing where I'd left him. Still as a dead fish.
"Damien!" I screeched, "What is wrong with you?!" I struggled all I could but the elder was stronger than a professional wrestler on his best day.
All I could do was make sure the woman didn't rip my ear off and follow her into the house. What was the worst that could happen anyway? Was she going to kill me with evil biscuits?
Evelyn Paintin from Northland School
Wrote at: 21-08-2008 01:08:55
Darkness gobbled me up as I stumbled through the doorway. A musty smell wafted through the air and I could just make out the faint outline of a stuffed duck. The old lady's tight grip on my ear relaxed as she reached out to turn the light on.
The room was suddenly filled with light and as my eyes adjusted I realised I was in a small cottage. A plate of freshly baked chocolate muffins was resting on a small wooden table covered with a chequered tablecloth. I could see no sign of the duck or the lady for that matter. The curtains were drawn and sunshine was filtering through. This was not the hut that I was in a few seconds ago. Something awfully strange was going on.
Somewhere a long way off I could hear soft music playing I turned towards the source. The sweetness of the music was pulling me like a needle pulling a thread. I couldn't turn around I couldn't go back. I could see no one. I could hear nothing but the music. A door appeared in front of me. So I opened it. It lead me outside to a field. Swaying golden wheat was in the field. Everything seemed too nice. Also in the field was a girl with golden locks and the girl was playing a golden harp and the harp was playing the most beautiful music I had ever heard. Suddenly the music stopped.
The girl turned to me and with the sweetest, cutest smile her voice flowing smoothly she said,
"Once you are in my world Jonathan, you can never turn back"
Then she vanished. The ground came to met me and once again I felt the familiar wetness and leafy smell of the forest. But all I could see was blackness.
Aimee Stevens from Tomarata
Wrote at: 22-08-2008 02:08:52
The darkness was horrible. It was like a giant shadow trapping me inside my own mind. The beautiful little girl turned into a witch and swarmed around me making me feel like I was being attacked by bees. My head was buzzing loudly and that didn’t help. Then suddenly it all stopped. I fell to the ground at Damien’s feet. But we weren’t at the camp. We were in a place unknown, a scary place where the trees leaned over and made scary faces at us, the blackbirds screeched and the moon glistened on the black lake below. There was a small wooden dingy on the lake and two men inside. All of a sudden, the taller of the two grabbed a dagger and plunged it deeply through the other ones heart.
I know I wasn’t the one that was being stabbed, but a piercing pain was protruding through my body. I didn’t know where the pain was coming from but my instincts told me to go to the lake and talk to the man. The pain seared even more as I got closer to the crime scene. As I approached the boat, I saw the figure holding the knife was Damien. I called out to him but there was no reply. He paddled ashore. I then realized he couldn’t see or hear me. He was alike a blind and deaf man put together. I was very curious to find out who Damien had just murdered. As I approached the body my face turned as pale as a ghost. It was me. Except I was me. So it couldn’t have been me. But just as I was thinking it over I heard large thumps of footsteps behind me.
I turned around and leaped to the side justa as the knife in Damien’s hand went for my heart. I grabbed a large branch and hit him over the head. It knocked him out and I buried his body. But his imagination stays with me. He’s my imaginary friend. That’s how he knows. Because he’s part of my imagination. That’s another thing that separates Damien from me. I’m real. He’s not.
