After much discussion and debate over our favourite entries into the Get Cubed creative writing competition, we’ve narrowed it down to one winner.
The winning story stood out for being a very well thought out piece, with attention-grabbing paragraph starters, and wonderful use of colourful adverbs and dialogue. We also loved how well the story cube images were incorporated as plot devices: the Map, the Shark, and the Crown.
Without further ado, the winning tale.
THE LEGACY by Sophie Millward-Sadler
The pong of pig swill assaulted Kathy before she even opened her eyes. It was that bad.
Reluctantly, she opened her eyes to the sight of the rundown yard where she worked. A rotten fence ran round the animal enclosure. Over the gravel driveway was a rusty shed that was an aeroplane hangar, until the airfield was destroyed by a bomb.
There was a grunting sound from her left; it was her only pig, Betty. Groaning, Kathy got up and poured out some potato peelings.
“We need more,” she said. Betty grunted. “I’ll have to go to town and buy some.”
Kathy slipped over the fence and walked down to the town. It was cold.
She got to the potato stall fine. It was just as she was getting her money to pay when hands grabbed her. She was dragged down the street and onto a ship. Once onboard, she was shoved down below decks. It was dark and dank.
There was a clanking sound; the anchor being raised. A person appeared at the top of the ladder. He was bald with yellow teeth.
“Now luvvy. We aren’t gonna hurt as long as you do what we want. Agreed?”
Kathy nodded her head.
“All we want you to do is follow a map and dig something up for us. Agreed?”
She nodded again.
“Oh, and you’ve got to swim to shore.” With that, he left. Kathy slept.
When she woke up, the bald man was standing over her. Next thing, Kathy was teetering on the end of the plank. A shove from behind and she went tumbling into the turquoise water.
Gasping, she emerged and began swimming for the shore of an island that was a few hundred metres away. A leather bag hit her head. Kathy picked it up and carried on swimming. A few seconds later, she caught a glimpse of a silver fin cutting through the water towards her. It couldn’t be a shark-
It rose out of the water and its massive mouth gaped open, rows of menacing teeth gleaming in the sun.
Kathy swore that she had never swum as quickly.
When she reached shore, she was wheezing with the effort. As she recovered, Kathy opened the top of the leather bag and pulled out a map. A clichéd red X was marked just underneath a palm tree that was actually very close to her. A shovel was placed at the base of the trunk.
Sighing, Kathy began digging.
An hour and a small tonne of sand later, Kathy had a big chest next to her. It was open. Inside was an old document.
This document states that the first child of Edward Cross is the rightful heir of this island and all of its lands.
What? Edward Cross was Kathy’s father. That couldn’t be true.
Underneath this document is the crown of these islands. Wear it with pride.
Stunned, Kathy picked up the crown and placed it on her head.
She was a queen.
For her hard work, Sophie has won an exclusive piece of BrainPOP artwork (shown above).
If you’d like to try your hand at some creative writing, the story cubes are still available to download here: BrainPOP UK Story Cubes
