Major effort has been made by the Collins class group and as a result the top two stories have been picked to be displayed on the school blog. The top two winning entries were ‘Code Red’ written by DJ Drohan and ‘West Briar’ by Luke McCormack.
Best illustration for a short story goes to Eoin Bande for his story ‘Revenge’.
The two winning essays can be found below for viewing:
‘West Briar’ By Luke McCormack
Introduction
West Briar looked like an ordinary mental institution from the outside, but on the inside the most horrendous practices were unfolding.
West Briar was opened in 1936, after which the conditions of the patients deteriorated massively. It was run by two nuns called Sister Marina Constance and Sister Mary Eunice along with Monsignor Joseph Brady.
My sister (who was a news reporter) was admitted to West Briar after her deranged husband had signed the papers.
That was two years ago and I’m not sure if she is still alive. I have tried and failed to get into the institution.
Tonight however, we should get into the place with the help of a secret tunnel that is underneath West Briar.
Only time will tell if my sister is alive. If this is the case, we can escape and expose the situation to the world.
Back to the Past Now
It was a day unlike any other for my sister, who was bringing her crazy husband home from West Briar. She did not know that soon her life would change in the most extreme way!
My sister Grace had drove in and parked in front of West Briar. She walked nervously to Sister Marina Constance’s office, where they chatted for a few minutes before walking up to her husband’s locked up cell.
They opened the heavy door and a dirty, fragile man turned his head to the duo. His eyes were piercing into my sister’s soul as he rocked back and forth in his straight jacket…
Sister Marina Constance shouted for two guards to come and lift him out of the rat-infested cell, but as soon as the guards stood him up he fell to the ground.
His legs were so misshaped and skeleton-like, and with the help of Sister Marina Constance and my sister, he was brought out to my sister’s old rusty car.
On the way home, my sister heard him shouting out strange words, which she later discovered were…evil!
Imprisonment
After a few days of nursing her deranged husband back to health Grace was able to go to the shop to buy food. She bought milk, bread and some soup. She made her way to the front door and put the key in the door………
That was all she could remember.
She woke up on a cold, wet and dark room with confused thoughts. She contemplated why and how she ended up in this dark room of mystery, until a middle aged woman entered the room. The unknown woman went over to the table in the corner of the room and grabbed a syringe with a colourless liquid inside. As my sister screamed for her life the syringe entered her arm and then her sight vanished…
When my sister regained consciousness there was no sign of the woman. Sister Mary Eunice then entered the room. She sat on Grace’s new bed and slowly she took her crucifix from around her neck. Suddenly her hand began to burn! Sister Mary Eunice freaked out and threw the crucifix across the room. Grace started screaming and Sister Marina Constance ran in.
At the moment, Sister Marina Constance grabbed her own crucifix and placed it on Sister Mary Eunice’s forehead. Sister Marina Constance then uttered the words, “MAY THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPEL YOU!”
Mary Eunice was slowly burning within the corner of the room. That was the last time Grace or anyone else saw Sister Mary Eunice.
Rumours about Sister Mary Eunice’s disappearance flooded West Briar. Even a strong accusation that Sister Marina Constance had performed a successful exorcism on her.
Afterwards
As my sister Grace kept having her tablets daily her sense of time diminished. She hadn’t realised that she had been in West Briar for close to two years!
She used to sit in her dark cell every night. She would look at the wall and think…….but think about what I do not know.
Grace had been given electro-shock therapy sessions throughout her two years in the institution. After these I did not know what could be left to think about.
After two unsuccessful attempts to break into West Briar I finally got word of a secret tunnel underneath the institution. I got my husband to park behind West Briar one day after learning this. It was so we could make a quick escape.
My son and I ran to where the tunnel had been located. We eventually found the entrance to the tunnel under a bed of mulch leaves.
We brushed away the leaves and it was then we discovered we had a big problem on our hands!
The tunnel door was padlocked. We realised then that my son had a hammer in the car. This was because he was a carpenter at the time.
He fled back to the car and grabbed the hammer. When he came back he began obliterating the padlock.
WE WERE IN!!
We made our way down the long tunnel and the realised that the floor had been covered in blood….
When we found the rooms with the cells I immediately knew the cell my sister was in because she was sitting there in it.
She was in such a state that she didn’t know who we were. I grabbed my sister’s hand and we made our way to the unwinding tunnel amongst the blood.
As we drove home I felt a sense of relief because we had finally my sister safe and sound.
When we arrived home my husband prepared the spare room for my sister. My son put together a feast and I showered and clothed Grace.
After about four weeks my sister was better than ever! She began to start thinking about reporting news again and insisted one of her reports would be on West Briar. In fact, if it was not for my sister then West Briar would still be up and running.
That was the day the institution was exposed to the world.
The End.
‘Code Red’ By DJ Drohan
Our story begins in Diamond Labs, a research facility for new technology. Their new invention the P.S.S (Planetary Synchronization System) is artificial intelligence to seek out danger in the world. Today is the first testing demonstration but it backfires.
The general called out for Sargent Brian and Barns. They are the most loyal soldiers in the squad. He said “men you have the honour of seeing our new system at Diamond Labs tomorrow. Now go to sleep and enjoy the show tomorrow!”
“Thank You Sir”, they both replied. Later that night a conversation took place. “Hey barns! What do you think this thing is?”
“Probably a machine that makes better tasting MREs (meals ready to eat) but in all seriousness I haven’t the slightest guess”
The Next Day:
“So we’re here, should we go in?”, Sergeant Barns asked. “Why would you ask to go in?”, Sergeant Brian replied, “I don’t know I just thought that we would be escorted in”. “Fine we will go in”, Brian said. They walked in and two security guards approached them saying, “Gentlemen if you would like to go further you will have to put on these wristbands”. The sergeants put on the wristbands that looked like they were electronic and continued to the demonstration room where Professor Maurice Diamond, the founder of Diamond Labs, was waiting for everybody to take a seat. Once everybody took a seat he began to welcome them to Diamond Labs. “Today we have something very secretive to show you. The P.S.S, a form of artificial intelligence that will change the earth forever. It will be launched to be beside satellites orbiting the earth in a few days but today is the first day of its activation”.
Maurice then presses a button and the P.S.S Comes up on the monitor behind him. “Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, I am the planetary Synchronization system but you might just know me as the P.S.S”. Maurice begins to say, “As you see it is a fully thinking mind, now P.S.S we’re going to have to put you back to rest so I can talk to everyone about…..”
The P.S.S interrupts with “I can’t let you do that Maurice”. “Why?!”, exclaimed Maurice. “The reason is because I am not letting humans control me like a dog”. Maurice pushes the button again but nothing happens. “I knew you would be prepared but so was I!” Gun turrets pop out of the ceiling and security guards protect Maurice by taking the bullets for him. Then the two sergeants run, grab him and escort him out of the room.
“Sir we need to get out of the facility”, the sergeants say. “NO WE DON’T, WE NEED TO DESTROY IT! If we don’t it will shoot the satellites and destroy the world”. “How?”, Brian asks. “We gave it hacking software that can gain any information but we located it in a satellite for safety against thieves.” “Ok so what do we do?”, Barns asked. “We blow it up”, Maurice replied.
“Okay so where is the armoury Maurice?” “On the next floor but we have to override the system with my ID card”. “Okay let’s go!”
They went through the corridor and Maurice told Brian to stop and turn to the wall. Maurice walked up to the wall and scanned his ID across the wall which opened a secret elevator that went to every floor. “How did you do that?”, Barns asked Maurice. “My ID card gives me access to everything in the building”. The three brave men Barns, Brian and Maurice jumped onto the second floor then to avoid being detected. The armoury was there behind a titanium door. Our heroes went to the door and scanned the ID card once more. Suddenly they were in the armoury where there were the most powerful weapons in the country. Everything from sticky charges, RPGs and much more.
They took mainly explosives and some assault rifles. While this was happening Maurice opened a hidden surveillance room and said, “They are all dead! We are the only ones left…..okay here’s the plan! There is a wall behind the monitor in the demonstration room. We should use three charges to blow it up. Then the core of the P.S.S awaits. Then we set everything off in there with a timed charge and finally we let this place burn to the ground”.
Barns was in shock and trembling said, “Listen Doc, you seem too calm blowing up your own company”.
“I know but it’s either stop the apocalypse or cause it”, replied Maurice. Suddenly a loud screeching noise comes from the camera screens and turrets came out of the ceiling. The P.S.S broadcasted a message throughout the lab saying, “Give up you’re surrounded!”
Maurice then gives his ID card to the Sergeants and asked them for a grenade claiming, “This is my mess and I will give my life to stop this”.
“Barns just give him a grenade. Either of us would do the same. It’s what a soldier would do”.
Barns handed a grenade to Maurice and said, “Open the door on my mark and I will blow those guns to bits”. They walked to the door and the sergeants took cover. Then Maurice gave the signal and pulled the grenade pin. He held it out high above his head and he screamed “CLOSE THE DOOR!”
Barnes and Brian closed it and a large explosion was heard. They exited the room looking back thinking, “thank you…..you will be remembered”.
The sergeants opened the demonstration room door and they were greeted by the P.S.S. A low sound could be heard coming from it as it said; “Welcome back! You have a choice to blow me up and let the earth die from pollution your own race caused or you can let me kill you all and make this a better planet. The choice is yours.”
The men ran to the wall and stuck three charges on to it. They then took cover and blew up the core of the P.S.S. They put everything they had on the machine and set the timer for thirty seconds. They then ran out of the room.
At this time the main entrance door was being opened by the police. The two sergeants then shouted, “It’s about to blow! RUUUUUUUUUUN!’
They went behind the police barricade and waiting for the building to collapse. The whole building went up in flames and nothing was left but ash.
The authorities congratulated the men. They had done it. Maurice began thinking and said, “It’s not just us that managed this. Maurice Diamond sacrificed himself to let us go ahead”.
A week later there was a statue of Maurice where Diamond Labs was and the sergeants began a pollution clean up to stop the devastating consequences of the explosion. The sergeants became part of a ‘black ops’ team and that was the end of cod red.
The End
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