Short story: A world where art is forbidden
Alle leerlingen uit leerjaar 3 van havo en atheneum hebben dit jaar voor het Engels project Creative Writing een eigen short story geschreven. Als introductie van het project hebben ze een paar short story’s gelezen en geanalyseerd. Vervolgens kregen ze een theorieles over hoe je een goed opgebouwde short story schrijft. Daarna mochten ze met een zelfgekozen genre en thema aan de slag gaan. Een week voor de deadline hebben de leerlingen feedback ontvangen van een klasgenoot en deze verwerkt in de laatste versie van hun short story. Hieronder kun je de short story van Lotte Nieuwenhuis uit H3A lezen.
A world where art is forbidden
“Emma are you coming? You’re late for school.”
“Yes mom, I’m coming!”
I put on my shoes. I couldn’t find my phone, but I had no time to find it. I ran downstairs and I saw Kate was at the door with her car, she got it for her 16th birthday, it was exactly the same car as everyone else. “Are you excited for next week?” said Kate. I was at first a little bit confused, but then I remembered it was New Year’s Eve next week. “Whoa that’s next week, yes of course I am! 2075 is gonna be a good year!” I said while we got in the car. We drove through the boring and sad streets of our village and it made me realize what happened with the world. “What would happen if art returns?” I said suddenly. Kate looked at me with big eyes and with her mouth open, “You have to pay attention to the road” I said. “Emma! You know you said the A-word right?” She was very confused, but I didn’t respond and stared out the window. We arrived at school and walked to our classes without saying anything.
After school, Kate told me she was going to hang out with some friends. I said it was okay and I was going to walk home. I went to my locker to get some books when a boy came up to me. “Hey, you’re Emma, right? he said, “Ehm yes that’s me, do I know you? I asked. “No probably not, I’m Jaden.” I looked at him and he said “I came for you because I heard you said the A-word”. “Wait, how do you know?” I said confused, he looked at me and then I knew it. “Kate!” I almost screamed “Why would she say that to other people? It’s unbelievable!” I was very upset. “I don’t know, but you are interested in ‘it’ too?”, he said in a whisper. We made eye contact and he knew what my answer was. I couldn’t answer whether he pulled me out by my arm. “Where are we going?” I asked, but he didn’t answer. We walked for a while and then he said: “Here is it!”.
We went into an abandoned shed with a small garden, “So, I’m right now in an abandoned shed with a guy I know for 20 minutes, Okay Emma very normal.” I said laughing. “This place is the only place that survived the removal of art.” He started digging with the shovel that was there. I walked over to him and helped him,. After digging for a couple minutes we found a box. “A box!” I said, “Yes, this is the box with memories, my grandmother buried it here when art was to be destroyed.” He picked up the box and said “You’re ready?” “More than ready!” I answered. We opened the box and I couldn’t believe my eyes. We saw pictures, paintings, books, clothes, music plates and so much more. So many different colors on one place I had never seen before. Before we could see everything we heard voices, we looked at each other and panicked. He said “Follow me!” We picked up the box and went in the shed. There was a ladder in the corner of the shed, he picked it up and put it against the ceiling where there was an opening. It was the attic of the shed, we put the box in the corner and went down stairs. “I have to go home now, see you tomorrow I think. Bye” I said to Jaden and went.
When I was home my mom was waiting for me at the front door, “Where were you? I called and texted you!” she said a little bit upset. “Sorry, my phone was at home. I was with a friend doing homework.” She looked at me, but then we went inside, I went to my room and I couldn’t stop thinking about the box. It was so magical to see all the art on one place.
After dinner I went to my room, but when I was in my room I couldn’t stop myself and went straight to the shed. I had to see all the art just one more time today. When I went upstairs to the attic I freaked out; it was a chaos, it looks like the whole box exploded or something. I couldn’t believe my eyes “what happened!” I said under my breath. When I picked up some things, I heard something in the corner of the attic, “Hello?” I said. But the light beam from the window shined in the corner and then I saw the jacket of my mom. “Mom?” I said “what the-, what are you doing here?” She looked shocked. “No, the question is what are you doing here?”, she said. I couldn’t see by the look on her face if she was mad or worried. “So who gave you this box?”, she said with no emotion on her face. “How did you know I was here?” I said confused. “Answer my question”, she yelled. I was shocked, I haven’t seen her so angry in a long time. “We found it today after school”, I replied. “You mean you and Jaden?” she said, “Wait, how do you know Jaden? I have known him for a couple hours”, I answered.
She sighed and looked at me and said “Jaden and you were best friends when you were younger, you were making plans to get art back in the world. I had to stop it, but the only way to do that was to keep you apart.” “Wait! So Jaden and I were best friends? Does he knows that?”, I asked, “No, I don’t think so”, said she. “So how did you know I was going to this place?” I asked my mom because I was curious, “You thought you can lie to me?” she said while laughing. “I’m sorry, but what are you going to do now?” I said. “So when I found out you saw the box it reminded me of myself when I was younger. I wanted art to come back too. I made a whole plan with my best friend. For example, we found out that it is possible!” she said excitedly. “It is!?” I said almost screaming with joy, “Yes it is and it isn’t that difficult, we have to find 100 people who want to sign the petition and then we can use art again in this village”. “We start tomorrow!”, I said with a big smile on my face.
*the following day*
I couldn’t sleep this night cause I was too excited, I decided to only tell Jaden the plan.
*the following week*
Today was the day we are gonna ask people so sign. Yes!
*the following month*
We got 100 signs on the petition!
*two months later*
Today is the that we hear whether we have succeeded or not. My mom came into my room with no emotions on her face. “Whats wrong”, I asked. Then a big smile appeared on her face “We did it!”, she screamed. I didn’t say anything and hugged her. We decided to give a party with everyone. *Months later* Art is everywhere and it is amazing. “You know what’s crazy? I said to Kate. “No, what’s it?” she responds. “About a half year ago, there was no art!” I said, “Yes, that is crazy! And all because of you!” she said with a smile. And that was true! Me, my mom and Jaden have ensured that art is back in our village!!
Lotte Nieuwenhuis – H3A