Adapt.
PART B: CREATIVE WRITING
You are to create an imaginative piece on the concept of belonging. You must include a wide variety of language forms and features and structures to order to create meaning. There is no stimulus for this question. Word limit: 1 000.
NEW BEGINNING
The darkness surrounds me, monsters cloud the thoughts in my head, and I need to escape before it consumes me, before it’s too late. “Jen, honey, it’s almost time to leave. Are you ready for school?” Damn, I completely forgot. “Yeah mum I’m just packing my bag; I’ll be down stairs in about 5 minutes!” Sigh, another day surrounded by the people I hate, doing work I could not care less about, listening to the pointless conversations that go on around me talking about what they did on the weekend, who they met up with, parties people went to, blah. I’ve sort of always been considered the “weird” girl at my school, people tend to keep away from me, or not notice that I’m there. I like it though, it’s peaceful, no friends no problems! Mum worries about me though, thinks if I had more friends I would enjoy my life more, I would be happier instead of mopping around all day complaining about everything. I guess my actions and behaviour was influenced by the death of my father. He died just before I started high school; I’ve never really been the same since the accident. Sort of in a world of my own, something I created in my own mind…
“Sweetie come on we have to go!”
I snap out of it, rush downstairs and hope into the car. In for another miserable day at school.
“I’ll be waiting for you as soon as you finish today, okay?”
“Sure, I’ll get leave as quickly as I can, love you”
“I love you as well Jen.”
I quickly kiss mum on the cheek and hop out of the car. I can feel everyone just glaring at me as I walk through the gates; it is unnerving really, makes you asking yourself what they could be thinking.
***
Last period of the day, maths. Yuck. It drags on and on and on.*ring ring ring* finally I think to myself it’s time to leave. I grab my bag; walk out the class room, out of the gates of school and straight to mums car. Something seems unusual though, I look through the window into the back of the car and notice mum has packed both her and me a few suitcases. I open the car door, with a confused look on my face, get inside and buckle up. Before I have a chance to settle in and ask how mums day was she immediately grabs my hand “Hon, I know I haven’t been the best mum, I know you have needed me and I have turned my back on you. The death of your father has shaken us both. I know you’re not happy anymore, how much you hate this place. I’ve decided that we are going away, far away. No one will know where we are. I’ve been saving up ever since your father passed. I think it’s time we just leave, start over and relive our lives like we are supposed to. What do you say kiddo?”
I don’t know what to say, I’m absolutely shocked. I’ve been waiting for this moment ever since dad died. I’ll finally get to escape Sydney, move on, maybe MEET people and make friends, create new relationships with people, experience new things, and not have to worry about anything… A new beginning.
“Mum, you read my mind. We will finally be able to get away from this place. Start a journey; let it lead us to a place we have never been. No plans on where we are going, who we are meeting. Let the wind guide us. I try to hide my excitement as much as I can, I look over to mum and she smiles. Not the kind of smile that she would do after hearing that I did well in an exam or if I came first in something, the kind of smile that you rarely ever see, when you know she is actually really happy. I don’t think I’ve seen mum this happy ever since dad died. I feel like the old mum is back, like everything is back to normal.
“Higher daddy higher!!” giggling as he threw me up into the air, mum sitting on a park benching with a smile on her face as she watches us. “Not too high Jenny! We wouldn’t want any birds to come flying through the air and snatching you!” This made me laugh more, the thought of birds snatching me up, impossible!
*BANG* I screamed, dad picking me up and running to mum, kissing me on the forehead and telling us that he loves us. He sat me on my mother’s lap, turning around and walking towards the source of the noise. “Give us your valuables and no one gets hurt.” I wasn’t sure what was going on. Mum covered my eyes; all I could hear were foreign voices, speaking to my father. “GIVE US ALL YOUR VALUABLES, AND NO ONE GETS HURT.” *BANG BANG BANG* I heard mum scream, clutching to me for dear life as she ran towards my father. Covered in blood, lying on the floor, motionless, pale, dead. Gone forever.
I look up and see the two men running away, leaving with nothing, just as they came. I hope they live with the guilt of killing an innocent man for the rest of their life, taking him away from his daughter and wife forever.
“Jenny? Jen? Are you okay? What are you thinking about?” I snapped back into reality, shook my head and wiped away the tears that fell from my eyes. I look back up to mum, a startled look sweeps across her face. “What were you thinking about?” I shake my head, I refuse to ruin this for her, she needs to be happy, she DESERVES to be happy.
“It’s nothing, I promise.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely”
****
“Wake up love, we’re in Moree. I think we should find a place to stop at for the night.” I look at the clock, 11:47pm.
“Mum you should have woken me up so you didn’t have to drive for so long, how long was I out for?”
“Only for a few hours, it’s okay I think there’s a hotel up the road from here we can stay at.”
We arrive at a little cosy inn, mum goes inside to organise accommodation for the night, while I stay in the car staring off into the distance. “It’s all set love, room 28 is ready for us.” We grab our essentials and head off into our assigned room. It was small, perfect. My mum and I were never really liked big places. We settled in for the night, cuddled up in bed like we used to when I was younger and fell asleep.
I roll over to find that mum isn’t in bed, I sit up. There’s no sign of her. That’s strange, I don’t remember her saying she was leaving in the morning to do something. I’ll wait around for a bit, if she’s not back in an hour, I’ll go to the front desk to ask if they know anything.
I step out of the shower and I can smell something, food? I get changed and walk outside, mum’s back. She went to the store to buy something for breakfast, of course! She always makes something to eat in the morning. “What are we up today mum?”
“I was thinking maybe we can drive around, have a look, and then maybe continue on with our adventure to find a ‘new beginning’?” We laugh for a few minutes, finish eating and pack our things into the car and leave. The scenery was absolutely amazing, breathtakingly beautiful. I have never seen anything like it in my entire life. We stopped on the way, bought a few things, clothes, snacks for the trip, little nick-knacks to put around our new house. Mum pulls up infront of a gorgeous little cottage. She opens her door and steps out of the car. I glance at her warily, not sure if I should follow her or not. She walks to the door and opens it. I gasp; I guess I thought it was rude to walk into a stranger’s house. It clicked; this was our new home, our new beginning, our new life, our chance to start over.
You are to create an imaginative piece on the concept of belonging. You must include a wide variety of language forms and features and structures to order to create meaning. There is no stimulus for this question. Word limit: 1 000.
NEW BEGINNING
The darkness surrounds me, monsters cloud the thoughts in my head, and I need to escape before it consumes me, before it’s too late. “Jen, honey, it’s almost time to leave. Are you ready for school?” Damn, I completely forgot. “Yeah mum I’m just packing my bag; I’ll be down stairs in about 5 minutes!” Sigh, another day surrounded by the people I hate, doing work I could not care less about, listening to the pointless conversations that go on around me talking about what they did on the weekend, who they met up with, parties people went to, blah. I’ve sort of always been considered the “weird” girl at my school, people tend to keep away from me, or not notice that I’m there. I like it though, it’s peaceful, no friends no problems! Mum worries about me though, thinks if I had more friends I would enjoy my life more, I would be happier instead of mopping around all day complaining about everything. I guess my actions and behaviour was influenced by the death of my father. He died just before I started high school; I’ve never really been the same since the accident. Sort of in a world of my own, something I created in my own mind…
“Sweetie come on we have to go!”
I snap out of it, rush downstairs and hope into the car. In for another miserable day at school.
“I’ll be waiting for you as soon as you finish today, okay?”
“Sure, I’ll get leave as quickly as I can, love you”
“I love you as well Jen.”
I quickly kiss mum on the cheek and hop out of the car. I can feel everyone just glaring at me as I walk through the gates; it is unnerving really, makes you asking yourself what they could be thinking.
***
Last period of the day, maths. Yuck. It drags on and on and on.*ring ring ring* finally I think to myself it’s time to leave. I grab my bag; walk out the class room, out of the gates of school and straight to mums car. Something seems unusual though, I look through the window into the back of the car and notice mum has packed both her and me a few suitcases. I open the car door, with a confused look on my face, get inside and buckle up. Before I have a chance to settle in and ask how mums day was she immediately grabs my hand “Hon, I know I haven’t been the best mum, I know you have needed me and I have turned my back on you. The death of your father has shaken us both. I know you’re not happy anymore, how much you hate this place. I’ve decided that we are going away, far away. No one will know where we are. I’ve been saving up ever since your father passed. I think it’s time we just leave, start over and relive our lives like we are supposed to. What do you say kiddo?”
I don’t know what to say, I’m absolutely shocked. I’ve been waiting for this moment ever since dad died. I’ll finally get to escape Sydney, move on, maybe MEET people and make friends, create new relationships with people, experience new things, and not have to worry about anything… A new beginning.
“Mum, you read my mind. We will finally be able to get away from this place. Start a journey; let it lead us to a place we have never been. No plans on where we are going, who we are meeting. Let the wind guide us. I try to hide my excitement as much as I can, I look over to mum and she smiles. Not the kind of smile that she would do after hearing that I did well in an exam or if I came first in something, the kind of smile that you rarely ever see, when you know she is actually really happy. I don’t think I’ve seen mum this happy ever since dad died. I feel like the old mum is back, like everything is back to normal.
“Higher daddy higher!!” giggling as he threw me up into the air, mum sitting on a park benching with a smile on her face as she watches us. “Not too high Jenny! We wouldn’t want any birds to come flying through the air and snatching you!” This made me laugh more, the thought of birds snatching me up, impossible!
*BANG* I screamed, dad picking me up and running to mum, kissing me on the forehead and telling us that he loves us. He sat me on my mother’s lap, turning around and walking towards the source of the noise. “Give us your valuables and no one gets hurt.” I wasn’t sure what was going on. Mum covered my eyes; all I could hear were foreign voices, speaking to my father. “GIVE US ALL YOUR VALUABLES, AND NO ONE GETS HURT.” *BANG BANG BANG* I heard mum scream, clutching to me for dear life as she ran towards my father. Covered in blood, lying on the floor, motionless, pale, dead. Gone forever.
I look up and see the two men running away, leaving with nothing, just as they came. I hope they live with the guilt of killing an innocent man for the rest of their life, taking him away from his daughter and wife forever.
“Jenny? Jen? Are you okay? What are you thinking about?” I snapped back into reality, shook my head and wiped away the tears that fell from my eyes. I look back up to mum, a startled look sweeps across her face. “What were you thinking about?” I shake my head, I refuse to ruin this for her, she needs to be happy, she DESERVES to be happy.
“It’s nothing, I promise.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely”
****
“Wake up love, we’re in Moree. I think we should find a place to stop at for the night.” I look at the clock, 11:47pm.
“Mum you should have woken me up so you didn’t have to drive for so long, how long was I out for?”
“Only for a few hours, it’s okay I think there’s a hotel up the road from here we can stay at.”
We arrive at a little cosy inn, mum goes inside to organise accommodation for the night, while I stay in the car staring off into the distance. “It’s all set love, room 28 is ready for us.” We grab our essentials and head off into our assigned room. It was small, perfect. My mum and I were never really liked big places. We settled in for the night, cuddled up in bed like we used to when I was younger and fell asleep.
I roll over to find that mum isn’t in bed, I sit up. There’s no sign of her. That’s strange, I don’t remember her saying she was leaving in the morning to do something. I’ll wait around for a bit, if she’s not back in an hour, I’ll go to the front desk to ask if they know anything.
I step out of the shower and I can smell something, food? I get changed and walk outside, mum’s back. She went to the store to buy something for breakfast, of course! She always makes something to eat in the morning. “What are we up today mum?”
“I was thinking maybe we can drive around, have a look, and then maybe continue on with our adventure to find a ‘new beginning’?” We laugh for a few minutes, finish eating and pack our things into the car and leave. The scenery was absolutely amazing, breathtakingly beautiful. I have never seen anything like it in my entire life. We stopped on the way, bought a few things, clothes, snacks for the trip, little nick-knacks to put around our new house. Mum pulls up infront of a gorgeous little cottage. She opens her door and steps out of the car. I glance at her warily, not sure if I should follow her or not. She walks to the door and opens it. I gasp; I guess I thought it was rude to walk into a stranger’s house. It clicked; this was our new home, our new beginning, our new life, our chance to start over.