Creative Writing Task
You know what's awesome? A creative writing task! English!
Setting: A country of your own choice in the British Empire
Task: Create a character that has an unusual phobia.
Vocabulary: as many words from the vocab lists as possible
Word limit: 500 words
The word limit irks me a bit ._. I've written about 560 words. ._. I called it "Fear of Voice" for now, but perhaps the title will change. Also, my teacher will correct it in three steps, giving suggestions and the like...
~Fear of Voice~
“You know,“ said the grandfather thoughtfully when he saved his granddaughter from a menacing spider, “you should be grateful you only suffer from arachnophobia.“
Warily eyeing her grandfather’s closed hand, the girl mumbled something unintelligible that sounded suspiciously like “darn, he’s gonna tell one of his when-I-was-in-India stories”.
The grandfather chuckled lightly. “When I was in India, in the village near our station lived a girl about your age that was supposedly possessed by an evil spirit.”
“There are no evil spirits, grandfather,” the girl frowned. “Throw out the spider. Please?”
Walking to the window, the grandfather seemed lost in thought. “We reacted just like you did when the chief asked us to come and help. But when we were standing in her deserted, dark hut - she must have left upon hearing our footsteps -, we were shocked at how little sound pervaded the walls. The door being closed, we couldn’t hear a sound from the outside, as if we had been transported to a different world.
We left the hut again and sounds crashed upon us like a surge. Can you imagine now that we somehow believed in an evil spirit afterwards?” The grandfather’s friendly eyes searched the girl’s face for a sign of comprehension, only to be met by a disbelieving stare.
“What was wrong with that girl?”
“Patience, little one. Well, we monitored the village - and especially that girl’s hut - more closely afterwards. About two weeks later, we realized that she left the hut early in the morning and returned only when the village was fast asleep again. Of course, we were curious, and thus decided to pay her a visit one night.
“It took us another half a month to figure out how to get near her since she evaded us all the time - either was she out during nighttime, or she fled back into the woods when she saw us standing next to her hut in the morning… But one day, she didn’t flee. She walked towards us and heaven, was she trembling. She tried to communicate with us through hand signs, but when I told her I could speak her language, she startled and sprinted off into the forest again. We didn’t see her again for weeks and the village people even thanked us for ridding them of the possessed girl.”
“But she wasn’t really possessed, was she? Did she come back?”
“No, she wasn’t possessed, and yes, she did come back. I went to her place on my own since it must have been something I said that had frightened her; and I desperately wanted to apologize for whatever it had been. However, the second I raised my voice, she disappeared again.
“I talked to the chief and he assured me she reacted like this to whoever wanted to speak to her, as if she was…”
“Are you trying to tell me she was afraid of voices,” interrupted his granddaughter, “and that arachnophobia is not as bad as that?” The girl’s face contorted with frustration. “You are impossible, grandfather. Voices can’t cause any damage at all! Spiders are dangerous. Their bites are poisonous and every single day people die of spider bites!”
The old face saddened as the girl stomped out of the room, shutting the door behind her with considerable noise.
Setting: A country of your own choice in the British Empire
Task: Create a character that has an unusual phobia.
Vocabulary: as many words from the vocab lists as possible
Word limit: 500 words
The word limit irks me a bit ._. I've written about 560 words. ._. I called it "Fear of Voice" for now, but perhaps the title will change. Also, my teacher will correct it in three steps, giving suggestions and the like...
~Fear of Voice~
“You know,“ said the grandfather thoughtfully when he saved his granddaughter from a menacing spider, “you should be grateful you only suffer from arachnophobia.“
Warily eyeing her grandfather’s closed hand, the girl mumbled something unintelligible that sounded suspiciously like “darn, he’s gonna tell one of his when-I-was-in-India stories”.
The grandfather chuckled lightly. “When I was in India, in the village near our station lived a girl about your age that was supposedly possessed by an evil spirit.”
“There are no evil spirits, grandfather,” the girl frowned. “Throw out the spider. Please?”
Walking to the window, the grandfather seemed lost in thought. “We reacted just like you did when the chief asked us to come and help. But when we were standing in her deserted, dark hut - she must have left upon hearing our footsteps -, we were shocked at how little sound pervaded the walls. The door being closed, we couldn’t hear a sound from the outside, as if we had been transported to a different world.
We left the hut again and sounds crashed upon us like a surge. Can you imagine now that we somehow believed in an evil spirit afterwards?” The grandfather’s friendly eyes searched the girl’s face for a sign of comprehension, only to be met by a disbelieving stare.
“What was wrong with that girl?”
“Patience, little one. Well, we monitored the village - and especially that girl’s hut - more closely afterwards. About two weeks later, we realized that she left the hut early in the morning and returned only when the village was fast asleep again. Of course, we were curious, and thus decided to pay her a visit one night.
“It took us another half a month to figure out how to get near her since she evaded us all the time - either was she out during nighttime, or she fled back into the woods when she saw us standing next to her hut in the morning… But one day, she didn’t flee. She walked towards us and heaven, was she trembling. She tried to communicate with us through hand signs, but when I told her I could speak her language, she startled and sprinted off into the forest again. We didn’t see her again for weeks and the village people even thanked us for ridding them of the possessed girl.”
“But she wasn’t really possessed, was she? Did she come back?”
“No, she wasn’t possessed, and yes, she did come back. I went to her place on my own since it must have been something I said that had frightened her; and I desperately wanted to apologize for whatever it had been. However, the second I raised my voice, she disappeared again.
“I talked to the chief and he assured me she reacted like this to whoever wanted to speak to her, as if she was…”
“Are you trying to tell me she was afraid of voices,” interrupted his granddaughter, “and that arachnophobia is not as bad as that?” The girl’s face contorted with frustration. “You are impossible, grandfather. Voices can’t cause any damage at all! Spiders are dangerous. Their bites are poisonous and every single day people die of spider bites!”
The old face saddened as the girl stomped out of the room, shutting the door behind her with considerable noise.