Moving Fear

• Alysha Cauchi, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2017

Holly was with her two best friends Tayah and Jacaranda. They were at school in their extremely old, rotten classroom. Holly used to think that cavemen slept in the classroom, because there would be a horrible stench. The classroom smelled like a garbage dump.
Holly had blue eyes, brown hair and loved animals. Tayah had green eyes, long blonde hair and loved pranking and saying really funny jokes to her best friends about the stench. Jacaranda on the other hand wanted to travel, she loved the countries of the world and had long strawberry blonde hair with brown eyes.
Last year on Holly’s 10th birthday, her friends gave her a beautiful silver locket with a photo enclosed of all three of them together. She had kept it ever since that day. Holly has always had her friends there for her if she had a problem. She would be there for her friends too; like when Tayah lost her whoopee cushion while pranking Jacaranda, or when Jacaranda lost her book of the world. It turned out that Tayah hid it for a joke, but her friends never got angry or had a fight.
When Holly was feeding her dog Violet her breakfast, she realised that she had forgotten to put on her beautiful locket from her friends. Holly ran back into her bedroom but she couldn’t find it in time, because she could hear her friend’s voices outside. So she ran out with her school bag to meet her friends and tell them the news as they slowly walked to school.
Miss Warwick was going through the role when the horrible stench wafted through the room. Everyone except Miss Warwick covered their noses. “Holly!” Miss Warwick yelled in a screechy voice. “See me after the bell and don’t forget to come.” “Yes Miss,” replied Holly a bit shocked. Holly did not know what Miss Warwick was talking about. Just then the lunchtime bell rang and everyone except Holly fled out of the classroom, happy to get away from the stench. Holly sat down in front of Miss Warwick’s desk. “Your parents are coming to pick you up!” screeched Miss Warwick. Holly was not sure what she had done wrong, but obeyed the teacher’s instructions. Her parents came and helped her pack her bag to go home. Holly wondered why, but followed her parents out the door. She was happy to get away from the stench and her teacher’s horrible voice, like everyone else.
When she got home, her parents were both already on the sofa waiting for her to sit down. “That was odd,” Holly thought, because her dad usually got home at 7:00pm. Holly knew something wasn’t right. Her parents were beckoning her over to the couch. Then they told her the worst news ever, “she was mowing!” Holly was ok with mowing the lawn, but all of the extra trouble wasted to tell her only that! Her parents corrected themselves, “Sorry Holly, but you are actually Moving to Townsville with us.” Holly burst into tears, as she did not want to leave her best friends that had lived nearby her whole entire life. She ran into her bedroom, slammed the door and lay on her bed, while she cried for what seemed like forever. She decided while she was crying, that if she was moving, she would always text on her mum’s phone, call her friends and write as many letters as she could. Her parents said that it would be fun to go see the new school. Holly was not that excited about the idea.
A few days later, while walking around a new huge and terrifying school, lots of people were watching her every move, as if they were zombies. Holly felt very nervous. The new teacher was lovely and comforting. Her name was Miss B. Holly then went back to her old school to tell her friends the news. They were shocked, but promised that they would answer every text, call and answer letters from her in Townsville. At the end of term, when Holly was about to leave for Townsville, her friends rushed up to her with a present each. Jacaranda’s gift was a new silver locket with a different picture of them. Tayah’s present was a beautiful silver charm bracelet with different coloured charms. Some of the charms were little hearts with messages on them. One of the charms on the bracelet was also a group of three silver girls on a bench. Holly’s favourite was a four leaf clover with the words ‘Friends Forever’ engraved on it. She loved the gifts that her friends gave her and hugged them for what seemed like ages, but said she would make sure that they would keep in touch.
At Holly’s new school, she made two new friends. Their names were Zoe, nicknamed Zoe the Zebra, because she loved the colours black and white and she was really sporty and would win any cross-country she entered. Talah nicknamed Talah the Tiger, because she loved the colours black and orange and was very protective of her friends from being bullied. Holly’s new friends and Holly, all had one thing in common. They had all moved to Townsville away from their old friends at previous schools. Suddenly Holly did not feel alone anymore. She knew that at some stage in everyone’s life, they would have to move away from their friends, but would make new ones.
One holiday, Holly, Tayah, Jacaranda, Zoe and Talah had the opportunity to meet each other. They then got together at Holly’s new tree house that her dad built her in Townsville to discuss school problems and help solve them. They called themselves the ‘Forever Friends Club’. After that meeting, on holidays from then onwards, they would take turns going to each other’s houses for sleepovers, parties and any other opportunities possible to visit each other. The girls made a promise that they would always be friends, no matter what would happen in the future.