# data[].attributes.body
I have taken a lot of time and effort to write all these compositions. I really do hope that you liked and enjoyed them.

Also do wish that you all could comment on my writings. Really appreciate as it could help me to improve.

Hope you all also had a fun time at the SST Open House 2017 today (for those who went)!

Anyways, wish everyone the best for all the upcoming examinations!

Cheers
Matthew Tan
(27/5/17)

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Risk
Word Count: 715
(Last Day of Daily Writing) special

The view was breathtaking. As the wind blew nicely against my face, I took a deep breath and looked down. Looking down to the valley, all I saw were rocks, rocks, and more rocks. I was at the edge of a cliff, about one kilometer away from the another mountain. I tell you what I was about to do.

I was going to do tightrope walking.

I was actually quite afraid to do the walk. I had practised for a very long time. No safety ropes or anything to do with that would be used. I either died a painful death or survived, with a reward. I had already mustered most of my courage to even come here at that moment. I looked around. At the other mountain, I could barely see my companions and friends, who seemed to be cheering me on. A friend was at my side, getting me prepared. I was also preparing myself; mentally. I thought about this being a ‘die or survive’ situation. I felt a chill go down my spine. However, my thoughts flew away when I heard my friend say, “You are on.”

I turned my head towards him. He nodded and smiled. “Come on, you can do this,” I told myself and gulped a big ball of air. I grabbed the balancing pole tightly. My hands had already started to sweat and was slippery. “Stop thinking about bad things! Concentrate,” I told myself again. I gritted my teeth. Taking slow steps, I walked towards the tightrope. All of a sudden, the rope looked impossibly thin. I started to turn dizzy and walked backwards. My friend caught me as I fell down. “Are you alright?” He worriedly asked me.

I did not know why, but at that moment I realised that I was taking an extremely big risk. However, my instinct told me to continue and not give up. I told my friend that I was alright and got up. Gripping the balancing pole once again, I confidently stepped forward. With light toes, I tiptoed onto the rope. I felt my body balancing on the thin rope. “Don’t look down. Don’t look down,” I thought to myself. I continued to walk slowly. I could hear my friend cheering me on behind. I smiled.

Step by step, I moved forward painstakingly slow. My hands were starting to perspire. I persisted and ignored it. The journey would take hours.

At around 800 meters of the journey, my legs were like jelly and was wobbly. Every step that I took shook my body and discouraged me from traveling any further. However, none of them discouraged me enough to stop as I knew that I was finishing the journey. I grinned as I saw my friends at the mountain waving to me. I was close. I could get there…

All of a sudden, I tripped. I barely saw my friends’ shocked expressions when my head turned to face the rocky ground all those meters below. I shivered. I had lost my balance. I was about to fall down. A million thoughts rushed through my mind. What will my friends think about me? What will my family do if I die now? What will happen next? The train of thoughts was broken when I regained my balance. I was still spinning around; feeling dizzy. I looked towards my feet, ignoring the background of rocks below. My feet quickly adjusted back to the correct position. I now looked back up. I faced my friends. I thought that I could feel there sigh of relieve as I continued to walk. This time, I was about a 100 meters from my friends and I could hear their loud and encouraging cheering. I smiled. My confidence level was taken to a whole new and higher level. I sped up.

Finally, I had reached the end. I was immediately engulfed in a ‘wave of hugs’ and sounds of cheers. Applause was to be heard too. I grinned from ear to ear, relieved to have survived. Through my perseverance, I had continued and completed the challenge. Behold the happiness.

That day, I had learned something. Something that I would never forget. Something that would stay with me forever.

“The trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk more.”

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Appreciation
Word Count: 630

I was born to a rich family. We lived together with my grandparents in a bungalow. Everyday, everyone was pampered with the comforts of the house and money. However, I did not appreciate any of the things that I had. I complained about what I had every single day, whether be it the food or hygiene. My parents worked hard to meet my standards to pamper me. I was like the boss of a company. I ordered people to do things for me. What a life!

Two years had passed and I was still doing what I was still doing what I always did: complain. I did not know that my grandfather was getting sick and tired from me complaining everyday. He wanted to do something about it. I did not know that he was planning something…

“Matthew! Come!” My grandfather called to me. I wanted to reply a word of defiance but hesitated. I muttered under my breath and walked towards my grandfather. “I’m bringing you out to somewhere,” he said. “Where?” I grumpily asked. “You will know,” he replied. For once, I decided to give in to him. He brought me to his Ferrari. Parked at the parking lot, it looked prestigious. With a click, my grandfather unlocked the car and both of us went into it. We drove off.

We drove past streets, attracting looks of admiration. I looked out of the window, feeling bored. My grandfather and I drove past similar rich people’s houses. However, in a few minutes, we were reaching a place that I had not been to before. It looked like a village. I saw people living on the streets and wearing clothes that did not look close to comfortable at all. Some were not even dressed fully. My grandfather had now slowed the pace of the Ferrari down so I could look around. I dug into my pocket to take my phone out for entertainment but my grandfather stopped me. “Look around you.”

I took some time to absorb the scenery around me. All the houses looked like rattan houses. They all looked poorly made. I was in disgust. Suddenly, a person at the side of the road tripped and fell down. Just then, my grandfather stopped the car. “Go,” he told me. I wanted to protest but I stopped. It was my instinct. Somehow.

I got out of the car and rushed to help the person to his feet. He smiled and thanked me. I got back into the car. My grandfather carried on driving without saying a word. We drove on for a while and I saw more poor people. This time, I saw quite a few beggars. They looked extremely skinny and pale. My grandfather looked at me. My instinct told me what to do. I got out of the car and gave coins and notes to the beggars. They smiled and thanked me too, just like what the man I had helped earlier said to me.

We continued again. This time, we passed by a group of little kids who had no phones and looked poor. They were playing a weird-looking kampong game. They were happy and smiling. They laughed. I was shocked. They are poor and they still enjoyed life! My grandfather wordlessly drove off.

It was then that I realised what the meaning of the drive was. My grandfather wanted me to realise how fortunate I was compared to other parts of the world. I sighed. I had realised how badly I had treated my parents.

On that day, I only learned one thing. To be grateful with what you have. Now that I am an adult, whenever I see the Ferrari that has now been passed on to me, I really appreciate what I have.

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Movie
Word Count: 300

The trailer came out and was seen everywhere. People all over the world were fascinated as they watched the video play out. They all had many questions. Who are the white men with masks? Who is that caped figure? What type of sword is that? Everyone was curious to find out.

As the days and months passed, the date of the release came closer and closer. Excitement and tension was present in the crowd. One of the reasons that people were excited was because they had not seen a trailer that was so action packed and was in space. They were all curious to find out.

In a blink of an eye, it was just one day before the release. The atmosphere was noisy as people walked and talked about it together. It seemed like the seconds were minutes and the minutes were hours. Nobody could wait any longer. They were too excited.

Finally! The movie has came out! People rushed to the cinema to buy tickets. The tickets for the first filming of the movie were sold out quickly. As the lucky people sat in their cinematic chairs, they waited for the movie to start. Then…

The familiar music to us 21st Century people played. “In a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…” It was Star Wars, the movie that amazed millions of people after its first film was released.

Star Wars would then later move on to become one and among the biggest and popular movie names in the world, becoming the top three. People really liked it so much that they immediately became fans.

This was the movie that seemed to have many fans all over the world. Star Wars would be the movie series that inspired and amazed individuals for years to come...

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Bridge
Word Count: 307

They knew it. The people knew it. It was going to be the best, strongest, most powerful bridge.

It was the Golden Gate Bridge.

Everyone had heard the news of the construction and from the artist’s sketch, it looked magnificent. Everyone envisioned it to look like the drawing, complemented with the sunset in the background.

The construction of the bridge started. It was tiring as the workers laid the foundation to the bridge, the most important part. Workers were moving here and there, perspiring and barely taking breaks. They moved around, carrying huge and heavy loads of equipment and objects. They worked hard. All day and night, they worked hard.

Finally, the foundation was laid. The workers celebrated and took a break for one day. However, they knew they still had a long way to go. The next day, they went back to work, now starting to build the road. It would take an extremely long time since the London Gate Bridge was very long. Workers worked even harder to quicken their pace. As hours turned to days, days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months and months turned into years, they finally completed it.

All over the newspapers, people were rejoicing. The London Gate Bridge would be completed in a year or so.

Workers started to build upwards; the structures on the Golden Gate Bridge. Up towards the sky as the bridge was built slowly towards the sky. People nearby watched with amazement as each day, more of the bridge was developed. And soon, it was finished.

The bridge was completed and everyone celebrated, especially the workers who had put in much effort in helping to build the bridge.

This was not just any random bridge. This was the outcome of what many hardworking people had put together to form. This was the Golden Gate Bridge.

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Regret
Word Count: 530

My companions and I were in a secluded and dark corner next to the store. It was still bright in the store, with customers flowing in and out. The store only closed at 11 pm, according to my research. However, this store was very popular, attracting many customers, so even when it was nearing the closing hour, quite a few people still came.

David, one of my companions, spoke out, “Strike now.” It was exactly 10.50 pm. Three of us jumped out, holding our black bags for storing the loot. I held onto my pistol for protection. As we ran into the store, people were shocked as we had ran into the store had such speeds. Titus, my other companion, held out his pistol. Motioning them to keep quiet, we quickly grabbed our loot and was about to run off. “Wait I forgot to do something.” Titus said abruptly. He took out his pistol, aiming it at the customers in the store. I gasped.

By now, everyone knew that we were more than thieves. We were more worse than them. We were about to become murderers. “What are you doing?” I worriedly whispered to him. “Change of plan,” he replied. Grabbing his pistol tight, David joined him. “Fire.” A firm command and the trigger was pressed. I only had a split second’s look at the people's faces before they dropped dead. Bullets were flying everywhere. I sighed.

Suddenly, when I turned back to go out of the doorway, I fet an excruciating pain shooting up my veins in my left leg. I looked down. It was a bullet. I was shocked. It was then that it dawned on me. When the bullets were flying around, one of them had somehow hit me. “David, help me,” I muttered. David stared at Titus while he stared back. They nodded. I was starting to get really worried. “David, what are you waiting for?” I questioned him. I was on the floor now. I could not even muster the strength to stand up. David looked at me. He said, “Change of plans again. You are staying here.”

Once he had said that, I was in rage. “What did you say??” I shouted. “Yes, you heard it correctly. You are staying here.” With that, David and Titus waved goodbye and they were off. I looked around me. Everyone was dead. I might as well had been dead then. Just then, I heard the sirens. Instantly, I regretted coming here to rob. I would definitely be caught. As I lay down in the store, I seemed to hear the laughing and mocking of the spirits from the dead bodies at me. I was very angry.

Now, I sit in my prison cell, awaiting my execution. I had been proven guilty. I was going to die. I sat down, face looking down to the floor, deep in thought. Suddenly, a prison guard came, opening the door. He motioned for me to get out. I knew it would be my last moments as I walked down the aisle to the execution chamber.

I would forever regret robbing on that day. Even after I die. I regretted it.

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Control
Word Count: 252

The man had founded Namco when he was about 40 years old. Starting off as a company that created kiddie rides for department stores, and had just two mechanical horse rides on a department store rooftop. It was quite successful.

However, in the 1970s, it expanded from a company that created kiddie rides to one that created arcade games. The man saw potential in the company’s gaming sector so he hired a number of software engineers to allow the company to develop its own, as well as testing the games himself for their amusement value.

Soon, his company had made a few successful games. One of them practically ‘destroyed the economy’ as it was a big hit. The game became very successful as the number of players playing each day started to increase each day since the day of the release. Namco earned a tremendous amount of money from the game. Namco became rich.

The game became among the highest grossing games of all time. Because of its few competitors at the time of release, people easily became addicted to the game. People were playing it for hours and all day long.

Did you guess what game it was? If you guessed Pac-Man, then you are correct. The man was Masaya Nakamura. The founder of Namco, he had hired a man called Toru Iwatan, who then made and developed Pac-Man. Pac-Man was highly influential and went on to be an amazing and successful game.

The game had total control on the society.

# data[].attributes.body
Title: War
Word Count: 395

I could not take it. I really could not.

The cries of pain and last breaths of dying people kept filling and echoing through my body. I was also in pain. I, an old man, sat in my rustic house. For now, my house was surrounded by green and fresh grass. They all looked lively. However, it could all turn to a battlefield. Anytime, anywhere. This world was not safe to live in anymore.

All around the world, newspapers all had the same headline: WWII has begun! It was the period of World War Two, the one that I knew would come sooner or later after World War One. It was just the beginning, and the world was already flung into chaos. Bullets whizzing here and there and grenades flinging everywhere. Explosions seemed to shatter my thoughts. I lived everyday in pain.

I lived alone, watching the television for news everyday. It kept repeating. “Death toll is… Stay careful… Try not to go out…” Even though every single day went by like that, I still stayed hopeful that there would be a positive change. Hopefully.

I was deep in thought. Thinking about how the Germans had teamed up with the Japanese to fight the Allied forces, I could not help but cringe. How evil they were! Millions of lives were about to be lost because of them, for sure. Suddenly, I was flung back to reality. The television news had caught my attention.

Pearl Harbour. It was getting attacked. I watched in anger as a footage of the Japanese attacking the harbour turned out to be disastrous. From the camera’s point of view, planes could be seen flying above the location, shooting missiles to the ships. Of all of the ships, I saw the USS Arizona. It had a large hole at the side of it and it was sinking rapidly. I was shocked. It was sinking. It was going to die.

Angrily, I took the remote control and switched the television off. I could not bear to watch it. Carefully, I stood up, walking to the window. Looking around, I breathed the fresh air and took in the sights of Mother Nature. It might all be gone. I trembled in fear.

As I stood by the window, I was thinking when this would all end. Or maybe there would be no end to this.

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Humans
Word Count: 236

Running, I took a big leap, jumping off the tall structure. Falling, I let my hands control my body, and I was flying. Over the city, I could see many things. The people walking down below the city looked like dust and the cars looked like lego pieces.

I travelled slowly and steadily through the city, unknown and unnoticed by the people of the city. Humans rushed around office buildings and occasionally I saw accidents happening here and there. “Sigh,” I sighed. The human race was careless. That was when I passed by the factory. It let out so much air pollutants it nearly choked me to death. Humans said that they were doing much to reduce global warming. However, looking at this caused me to be extremely upset and doubtful.

I travelled further and further from my original starting point. Before I knew it, I was away from the city. I was at the beach. It was beautiful from my point of vision. It was sunset. Humans walked by, chatting. When I looked towards the beach however, I saw what disappointed me the most. It was the amount of litter covering the beach. Additionally, I saw a human carelessly throw a plastic bag into the ocean. I was angry but I could do nothing about it. I was a bird.

Humans had to change their actions. If not they would not survive for long. Humans.

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Arrest
Word Count: 400

Skimming the walls for security cameras and seeing none, I tip-toed silently to the vault. The bank vault. One look at it and I was amazed. It was silver in colour, and it proudly showed off its complicated parts while seemingly glimmering in the dark.

It was the middle of the night and I had slipped without notice from anyone into the bank. I had made my way to the bank vault, where they kept most of the money. I had came here to steal. This all started when my Dad lost his job because of a reason he would not tell me. I then had to start working part-time to help earn money to keep the family running. It was extremely tiring. I had already gave up on doing a part-time job. I had given up. I needed to get more money for my family. I had thought this through carefully. I needed to steal to get money. After all, if the theft was successful and that I was not caught, it would be a good robbery heist and people would be excitingly talking about it.

I took out a device that could cut the bank vault through. It was a powerful weapon as I cut into the vault, so that was a hole to let me in. I got in. Inside, there were shelves and shelves of money. I cried tears of joy as I took all the money I could take and put them in the dark black bag that I had brought. I quickly got out, sealed the vault and was about to make my way out. Suddenly, I heard sirens.

Panic struck me like lightning as I broke into a dash. I knew that I could not escape by the front door as it would definitely be surrounded by the police. I looked around the building, finding an exit. However, I could find none. “Unless…” I thought. I looked up and saw a window. It was open. I used all my strength to climb the five meters of the building, escaping through the window and landing on the sidewalk. I landed and was immediately overwhelmed by the sound of the sirens.

I was caught entering the building by someone. I shook my head in disbelief. Maybe I did it with someone noticing. The dumbest mistake I had ever made. I had gotten myself arrested. “Sigh.”

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Eruption
Word Count: 238

“Boom!” A loud deafening sound echoed through the city. The buildings seemed to shake. I looked around nervously, finding the source of the sound as I stood in the open area. I walked around, continuing to find the sources of the sound, but to no avail. I decided that I should still stay at the open area.

Five minutes later, I saw black substances floating and drifting in the air. I reached my hand out. “Is this a natural phenomenon?” I thought as I touched the stuff. “Wait… these are ashes!” I said aloud. Tilting my head towards the sky, I saw many more uncountable black ashes. “What is going on?” I thought to myself again.

I immediately went home, asking my parents about the ashes. When they heard me, they were worried sick. “It is the nearby volcano,” Dad muttered. “We must leave immediately,” Mum added firmly as we got ready to prepare to leave.

One hour later, as we were about to go, we heard people screaming. Just then, I saw debris falling down from the sky. The sky itself was already turning from blue to black. I rubbed my eyes, insisting that I was dreaming. I was not. “Come here, Matthew!” Mum shouted. I sprinted to the car and we drove off. There was another loud boom. More debris seemed to fall, wanting to hit us.

I did not believe it. The volcano had erupted.

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Race
Word Count: 535

“I have trained so hard for this day…” Tom spoke to himself as he prepared himself for the loud flare of the gun.

He was at the stadium, racing the one kilometer event. It was Sport’s Day and he had reached the finals. After all, he favoured long-distance running. He trained everyday for the run as he had always wanted to win something. Additionally, his parents would be elated. He would do all he could to win this.

“Bang!” The flare of the gun drowned all the screams and cheering as the competitors took off. At the start of the race, they were jogging quickly, occasionally taking over each other. One of the competitors was Harry. He was probably the best at long-distance as he had taken part in many long-distance running events before so he had experience. Quickly, he had overtook everybody. However, Tom came into the competition aware of Harry’s skill. That was also one of the reason for him training very hard.

Tom was already second place in the competition, following closely behind Harry. He knew he had to overtake him, so he used a sudden burst of energy to bring him to first place. Some of the crowd erupted into applause and cheers. He suddenly felt more motivated and he pushed forward.

At 700 meters, he was really motivated and he knew he would finish first if he increased his pace a bit more. That was what he did. However, a sudden jerk in movement caused him to trip and fall, causing him to tumble down. He groaned in pain as the skin on his knee scraped the rough ground. Excruciating pain shot up his veins. Even though he had trained a lot, he had not fell down at all. This was his first time.

Harry was a few meters behind him now, about to catch up. Tom groaned again when he saw Harry close. This time, he knew he would not win the race. Tears flooded his eyes as he thought back of his hard trainings. He had disappointed himself and his parents.

Just then, Harry stopped next to Tom. Tom was surprised. “Why did Harry stop so abruptly?” Tom thought to himself as possibilities flowed in and out of his mind. Harry held his hand out, offering a helping hand. Tom was now shocked and touched. “Harry is not going to win because of me! He wants to help me!” Tom realised. Tom smiled and held up his hand. Harry lifted him up and the duo walked to the finish line together. The other competitors raced past them. However, that did not matter. All that mattered now was that Harry helped him.

When the crowd saw this, they applauded enthusiastically and cheered Tom and Harry on. Harry supported Tom as they slowly limped to the finish line. Once they crossed it, spectators were crazily cheering and shouting. Harry and Tom smiled at each other. Tom thanked Harry profusely.

Not only was Harry a good sportsman, he was also a one filled with sportsmanship and was always ready to help others in need.

It was because of the race that a new friendship, a long and powerful one, was developed.

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Summit
Word Count: 566

From the ground, the sky seemed to radiate peace and the huge mountain towering above the rest of the buildings seemed to be calm and quiet. Amy plucked up her courage and started walking towards the mountain. Even though she was used to the freezing environment temperature, she was still quivering. Was it really just because of the temperature? Or was it because she was nervous? Amy chose the second answer as she felt afraid to climb the mountain by herself.

All alone, she might face difficulties that would have been easier if another person would come along with her. Once she reached the base of the mountain, she pulled out some of the equipment she needed from her bag and got them ready. She took one minute to rest before the climb. In a flash, one minute was over and she started her journey upward. Once she started, she had this mindset: Reach the summit. She just wanted to and had to. She had trained hard everyday and if she did not make it to the summit, it would be a shame.

At the start, it was very easy, and Amy ascended quickly with ease. However, somewhere further up, it started to get harder as the environment turned more colder, the winds stronger, and the mountain starting to become steeper. Although it was getting difficult, Amy still regarded the climb so far to be easy as she had trained hard for this.

Like a blink of an eye, night fell. Amy reached the camp. She was already very tired from the long climb with heavy equipment. She dropped her bag onto the wooden floor, ate her dinner, and had a good night’s rest.

Morning came back. Immediately, Amy started to climb the mountain again. This time climbing was much harder than at the bottom as it was much steeper and much colder too. Amy would not give up and continued to persevere, not caring how tired she was. Soon, night fell again, and she went to sleep.

Amy was very near the summit. It was all snow and ice there, but it was extremely cold, like no other place she had been to before. She had to wear a few layers of jackets to keep herself warm. Just then, some snow from small ice hills came crashing down like an avalanche, knocking Amy off her path. She was in that trouble for an exhausting one hour. Only after that could she continue her journey.

Finally, she reached the summit. She had reached it! She was elated beyond words, her grin showing that. Although it was literally freezing up at the summit, she still enjoyed the adrenaline in her veins and the beautiful scenery she could look down to from where she was standing. She grinned from ear to ear.

Our life of learning is like that too. The journey is like how Amy was climbing the mountain, with the challenges in our lives being like the extreme temperatures and harsh environments in the story. No matter what, we must try our best to reach our target. We must not give up easily and do not break down at the sight of a difficulty. We must have a positive attitude too.

As the saying goes, “No pain, no gain.” We must really put in our best, and then we can achieve what we want to achieve.

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Love
Word Count: 893

“Hmmm hmmm,” John hummed to himself as he sat alone on the one chair out of the many in the room. “Why isn’t anybody here?”he thought to himself. It was his birthday, and on the few days before his birthday, he had given out invitation cards to his classmates and friends. However, none of them seemed to have came or known about his birthday celebration. John was deep in thought when he was disturbed by the ringing of the doorbell. There, a girl stood. It dawned on John who it was.

It was the girl who had helped John to his feet when he injured himself at the park the other day. It was Rose. She greeted him. John smiled as he opened the doorway wider to let her in. Rose then gave John a birthday card she had made for him. He read it and was touched to the heart. He smiled again, thanked her and immediately started to have a conversation together. Next, they ate cake and then played video games. Night fell and Rose left John’s house.

Without knowing it, ten years past, and they still went to each other’s houses to visit each other. Time is like a river. It flows and probably never stops flowing. Time flew by, and John and Rose got closer to each other. Soon, they were married. On that day of the marriage, all was well and everybody was elated.

They went through pain and triumph together. One day, when both of them were at home, Rose let out a blood-curdling scream. John ran into the room, shocked to see Rose lying in agony. Instantly, he knew that Rose was about to give birth.

He stabled her as they walked agonisingly slow to the car. Once she was in the car, John pressed hard on the accelerator, and the car zoomed forward. They rushed off to the hospital. John’s shirt was soaked with perspiration as the paramedics quickly loaded Rose onto the stretcher. They pushed her to the operation theatre and John followed closely.

“The operation was successful.” As soon as the doctor said that, John praised the lord as he entered the theatre. His first sight of the baby boy with Rose caused warm tears to roll down his cheeks…

Years past as John and Rose took good care of their son, named Jonas. The three of them had hard and nice times together as a happy family. They would go shopping together, and Jonas would enter kindergarten. He would then have new friends he could play with.

However, Rose suddenly got cancer. Her hair dropped off and she dared not went out or leave her house. She was always sick and pale. John took care of Rose all night and day, struggling to cope with work, taking care of Jonas, and taking care of Rose. Jonas also helped with the housework, lightening John’s burden. John whispered to Rose’s ear, “This will all be over.”

However, he was wrong. It was very sudden as the letter from the Army enlisted John. He had to fight a war. A real war. John showed Rose the letter. They shed tears. On the next day, John had to leave. Rose cried, the tower wrapped around her scalp as her hair grown back. Jonas barely understood but he somehow cried. Rose knew this was the last time she was seeing him. The three of them hugged and kissed goodbye. And John was off.

The person in the car was a soldier and they had a brief conversation. Soon, they became friends. John and a few others had been enlisted to fight the war. They had to do intensive training for a few days before they were sent out.

War was raging. Bullets flew everywhere in the battlefield. Sand covered it as far as the eye could see and red stains dotted the floor. John and the other soldier he had met that day, Kooper, were battling the enemy side by side, shooting bullets. All of a sudden, Kooper got shot in the chest. He immediately dropped. “Continue...fighting,” he muttered his last words to John as he past away. John was in anger. He had not felt someone really die in front of him, saying their last words.

He knew he had to continue fighting. He knew he would die.  He pulled out a pink card from his pocket. The birthday card that Rose gave John all those years ago. He opened it. In it said, “You are my hero!” A tear drop rolled down John’s cheek. He knew he had to fight. For Rose. For Jonas. For his country. He imagined the precious times he spent with Rose and Jonas. He wiped his tears away as he looked at the enemy’s direction. They were advancing slowly towards them. He gritted his teeth and shouted, “Charge!” He ran out from his cover, took his gun, aimed and fired. His finger trembled every time he pulled the trigger.

Suddenly, a bullet whizzed through the air. John never knew it was coming. He did not have time to react. The bullet hit him square in the head. He dropped dead.

It was the love for his family and country that spurred John to move on and fight. Love is a powerful weapon, but not to be used badly.

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Epidemic
Word Count: 372

The dark shadowy figure stood at the doorway. He looked at the heavily secured safe. Walking silently towards it, he took out some of his equipment, delicately hacking the safe. There, the treasure stood. He pulled out some gloves and grabbed the object. A green light seemed to glow. He opened to secured jar as the contents, not being able to see with the naked eye, floated to the air. He put the jar back into the safe, closed it, and left. Chaos was coming.

“Emergency! Emergency!” A doctor out of the many in the humongous hospital shouted desperately. Two nurses with him pushed the stretcher with the patient, racing down the hallways to a ward. With swift movements, they unloaded him, gently putting him on the bed. The patient was another doctor, however, he worked at the World Health Organisation(WHO). His condition was serious. Face pale, hands weak, and occasionally vomiting. He had a high temperature fever. They quickly examined him. The doctor was baffled as he studied the patient. He had never seen such a deadly virus before. The patient was getting sudden fevers, his arms nearly paralysed, and his heart pumping slower and slower.

Over the time frame of the next week, many more patients also seemed to suffer the same conditions, being rushed to the hospital. Doctors around the world were shocked. Head doctors in WHO wrecked their brains to figure it out. The story of this virus was on every newspaper headline, with all the endings being the same: Investigations are still ongoing.

As the number of dead bodies kept piling up, the doctors got closer to figuring what was the cause of all this. With more evidence, they only knew one thing that could have caused all this. It was the unnamed virus, stored in the WHO, which was discovered ten years ago. It was still being experimented on and even now, nobody actually knew what it done. But now everyone knows that it was this virus.

Head doctors and scientists worked hard all day and all night, trying to find an antidote, but to no avail. Humans all over the world were frantic.

This was the nightmare of the world. This was an epidemic.

# data[].attributes.body
Title: Danger
Word Count: 522

Our family car zoomed towards the park. We were going for a picnic at the park as we had not relaxed and enjoyed ourselves as a family for a very long time.

In a while, we reached the park. We combed through the park, looking for a perfect-like place for us to sit. Once we found the place we laid our picnic mat down onto the lively green grass. In no time, we had everything ready and were having a good time, slurping up chilly drinks and eating delicious and mouth-watering food.

However, all of a sudden, we heard a tremendously loud roar. We were frightened to wits as all four heads turned to look for the source of the sound. I looked up and saw the dark sky. It was as if Mother Earth had been suddenly angered, turning from a bright happy blue to a threatening dark colour. Suddenly, another roar came, this time louder and seemingly nearer. That was when we felt intense winds, blowing us. We started to see leaves getting lifted up and blown up towards the sky.

Four of us family members looked at each other. We all knew what it was. For a split second, our faces were all the same but the next, it was all different. Dad was calm, his movement quick, as he scrambled to keep everything. My sister screamed her head off while Mom told her to calm down. Fear gripped me as I hurriedly helped Dad to pack the stuff. We jumped up in fear as another roar came, the loudest of the three we had heard. We ran straight to our car, jumped in, and zoomed off in the direction the twirling vortex was heading. It was a tornado.

Our car was reaching its limits as we raced past buildings. We knew it was a tornado because Dad was a meteorologists and he had told the entire family some of the basics things we needed to know like what were the signs of a hurricane coming. We knew it was a tornado; however, we were never prepared to experience it, let alone seeing it.

The frightening tornado kept following us. The atmosphere in the car was chaotic as we screamed and shouted inaudible words while the tornado raged behind us. All of a sudden, we drifted to the right, avoiding the tornado’s path of mass destruction it continued forward. We were home.

My family and I stepped into the house, taking deep breaths. “Quickly, grab some helmets to protect us from debris. Keep your shoes on too. The tornado might change course and come at us again,” he said firmly. Mom, my sister and I did as we were told. Dad had already dialled and was talking on the phone to the police. “Yes...yes…” The person at the other line mumbled something. “Quick, hide under tables, seek shelter,” Dad spoke again. Wordless, we followed his instructions. With swift footsteps, I went into my room, closing the door and hiding under my study table.

I muttered a silent prayer as I waited for the day to turn out fine...