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Smile always | 12:07 AM

Please discuss the StoryTelling in the Chat box. Please do not use short forms.

Smile always | 10:01 PM

This is the compo from Wan Lin.

The boat was buffeted by the waves which were getting stronger and stronger by the minute. For a typical innocent child, I was starting to feel nauseous and seasick.

I was on my way to Malaysia to visit my grandmother for the first time, and we decided to go by boat. Time crawled past at a sloth’s speed. After what seemed like an eternity, the boat gave a small bump, signaling that we had already reached our destination. I practically leaped out of the boat despite feeling weary. I was ecstatic to be on land after the hellish boat ride. I held my parents’ hands as we plodded up the sundrenched sand. It was then my grandmother phoned mom and told her that she would be two hours late as she was at her cousin’s grandson’s wedding, so my parents decided that we should have a quick rest on the beach either cycling or renting the inline skates at the booth. I wasn’t in the mood to do either of the activities despite the sun’s inviting golden light. So when my parents weren’t looking, I sneaked off into the woods. Ah! Finally a cooling place to be during such a blistering hot weather. As I squinted my eyes at the hot glaring rays of the sun, it slowly disappeared. Instead, the cooling wind caressed my cheeks as I took a stroll down the narrow stone pathway. Fallen leaves and twigs aligned the stone pathway. A butterfly flittered past. Suddenly, I realized that I was lost. Sheer panic bubbled in me. Where was I? Where were my parents? Frowning nervously at the new environment that I was in, I took a step backwards and almost knocked into a stone. I gave a double take and almost screamed out of shock. It was a tombstone! I felt the stiff hair on my back standing up and found myself traumatized and gulping huge mouthfuls of air. What a shock!

If only I had stayed back at the beach.

Then, I realized that there were a few other tombstones. Gingerly, I walked past then in dead silence, not even attempting to breathe. When I saw a small hut at the end of the pathway, I ran towards it, huffing and puffing. To my amazement, I found out that it was supported by four strong beams. It was actually a kampong house, called a kelong in Malay. I entered the house after waling to it on a bridge. I knocked nervously, “Anyone home?” .

There was a deep uncomfortable silence that had hung densely in the air.

Since there was no answer, I opened the door.

“Oh my goodness!” , I gasped, as I took a look at my hand.

My hands were covered with inches of dust. I compressed a scream at the back of my throat as I opened the door and it squeaked. I peered around, heart thudding ever so fast. A grey beanbag laid on the floor, it was the first thing I spotted, followed by a big old couch and a few rooms. I inched towards the beanbag , unable to resist the temptation to take a short nap. Once I laid down, which was surprisingly not dusty, my eyelids began to flutter and droop, as heavy as lead. But before I drift off, I saw shadows slithering out of doors, behind the couch, behind the walls, all coming out of nowhere. Hush whispers, pointing of fingers, giggles. They were circling me. I couldn’t be bothered by the tiny voice at the back of my head, and drifted off to sleep.

“Trudy! Has she woken up yet?”

“Maybe she is taking a nap. Don’t worry.”

“Trudy?”

I began to stir from my sleep.

“She has woken up.”

“TRUDY!”

Mom came to view, followed by dad.

I finally woke up and told my parents from A to Z, and that I was safe in the hut, as there were shadows, ‘people’ protecting me. My parents told me that they were dead worried about me when they realized that I was gone.

Then, I saw my grandmother. After we exchanged hugs and greetings, she told me she had been very worried. After our dinner, she told me that those were not “people”. They were actually spirits. Once, a fire had broken out in the hut, and killed all the people in it, and from that day onwards, sometimes, the badly burnt hut will appear as a new and ordinary hut at the same location. Grandmother had also experienced this before.

As for me, I was shocked, and my stomach was queasy with shock. I would never walk that pathway anymore. This incident will be etched in my mind forever.

Smile always | 3:59 AM

This is the Compo from Nadiah.

Awakening to the song of birds and the exhilarating freshness of a perfect morning, my spirits rose and eclipsed the gloom of the night before. Day by day, owing to the tons of homework given to me everyday, I had to sleep late at night. I had always wanted to go to the beach at least to relax for a day with all my beloved ones. I like to feel the soft wet sand and the cool clear waters of the beach.

“If that is what you want, then we will go to the beach this coming Sunday. Coincidentally, all of us will be free on that day,” replied my father when I told him about my wish to go to the beach.

It was the dawn of a beautiful Sunday. I had been waiting for that day to come. My two brothers helped my mother fry the hotdogs and fish balls. When all was done and packed, we got ourselves ready to go to East Coast Park.

When we arrived, the wind blew gently as the leaves rustled in the trees. The waves lapped onto the shore with clock-like regularity, gently peeling away the top layer of the fine sands. When I was eating my mother’s delicious spicy chicken, I saw a boy around my age entering the sea deeper and deeper. I thought nothing was weird at that time so I continued eating. Suddenly, I heard the screaming and yelling of lots of people so I spun around. It was then that I realised he was drowning and his head was bobbing up and down.

It was a pity that I could not swim or else I would rescue the boy myself. Instead, I informed my father as he was a qualified lifesaver. Like a hero, he immediately took off his clothes and ran as fast as he could towards the drowning boy.

When he managed to save the boy, his mother went straight up to him. At that moment of time, she could not stifle her sobs nor held back her tears. Her beloved son was still unconscious so my father applied mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on him. When he was conscious, his father thanked my father for his splendid work. I was so proud of my father. Several hours later, we went home happily.

Smile always | 6:28 AM

This is the Compo from Chantel Tan.

That was it. The day in which I got to go trekking with my big brother. I sprang out of bed, waking up every tense muscle there was in my body. I did my usual routine of washing up, and bounded down the stairs gleefully. My big brother was already downstairs, all up and ready to go. I grabbed my rucksack, which contained my trekking tools and of course, packed lunch, and yelled a quick goodbye to Mother before leaving the house, that was, not before stuffing a toast into my mouth.

The site of trekking, or so my big brother and I called it, was not too far away from home, but then again, it was not too near either. Whichever it was, all I know was that Mother never allowed me to go there myself. The site of trekking was a mountain, not a barren one with only rocks and cliffs, but one that had lush vegetation growing on it, so it king of resembled a mini forest sloping upwards. The moist air blew against my face the moment I approached it. All kinds of smells and noises tingled my nose and rang through my ears, and my adventurous self could not help but be awoken at that moment. I charged into the site of trekking, all excited and energetic, not knowing that I had just trampled onto the tail of a snake. The snake was basking in a pool of sunlight, and felt very disturbed when I throdded onto its tail, thus it turned and lunged at me. I wanted to scream, but no voice came out, for I was too afraid. My big brother reacted though. He reached out to grab the snake, but missed. Anyway, the snake landed onto a patch of moss and slithered away, and if snakes could speak, I swore it would have cursed me by then. That snake incident was pretty scary, but I would not give up and head home just like that. We continued trekking, although my big brother was nagging at me for that next five minutes.

My big brother and I headed north, with me following clumsily behind him, tripping over fallen branches and disturbing insect nests. I was starting to pant from exhaustion when my big brother spotted a wide stream nearby with some spots under some trees. I was feeling quite tired then, and the spot looked inviting, but just in case there was another snake, or worse, a big cat lying there, hidden, waiting for any unfortunate prey to pass by, I decided to just follow behind my big brother. We sat down on the soft grass patch and began taking out the packed lunch. Cheese with ham sandwiches, my favourite. I was just about to sink my teeth into one when I noticed a piece of driftwood drifting closer to us, and I knew what it was immediately. I alerted my big brother and we left. I left a piece of ham on the spot in which we just sat on, to double check what I assumed it was, and walked a little faster to catch up with my big brother. A loud splashing and deep moaning sound followed, and when I turned back to look, the piece of ham was gone. It was a crocodile, no doubt.

Dark clouds grew ominously, and it started to rain like there was no tomorrow, soon after. My big brother and I happened to be in luck as we found a cave that looked sturdy enough to be treated as a shelter. I was staring at the mesmerizing raindrops when I heard a low rumbling sound. My big brother must have heard it too, for he looked around, searching for the source of the sound, until his eyes rested upon something and widened. This, among all the incidents, must be the most dangerous one that day. We had actually came upon the home of a grizzly bear. The bear was sleeping, so it must not have heard us entering, but its snores were loud and scary enough to send a shiver down my spine.

The rain let up some time after, and the grizzly bear started to stir in its sleep, so my big brother and I left at that very moment. The raindrops still hung onto the tips of leaves, and a damp mist engulfed the whole area, making the place looked almost like a fantasy storybook come alive. I noticed that the trees and plants were thinning as we went higher up the mountain. Somewhere through, my big brother smiled and sped up ahead, so I guessed we must have reached the summit, and I could not help but ran behind him as well. Sure enough, it was the summit.

The view from the top was so brilliant, that I laughed, out of joy, not of something funny. My big brother took a few pictures of the captivating scenery, while I tried to see if I could spot our house from up here. At last, I saw the distinguishable blue-roofed house of ours, and gave a squeal of delight. We spent some time up there, until it was going to be late afternoon soon, and we were feeling hungry. We turned back, and stared at the road ahead of us, and I heard a sigh leaving my mouth. It was a long journey ahead.

Smile always | 11:41 PM

This is the Composition from Ryan.

The Dogfight

I quickly rushed out of my bunker and climbed into my F-22 Raptor Attack aircraft. I drove it to the runway and quickly took off. The Alect Squadron from the Soviet Union was attacking the base. Since I was the only double ace, the General commanded me to destroy the enemy so as to not risk the lives of the other pilots.

Suddenly, my radar detected a missile heading towards my aircraft. I responded my using my flares and took evasive action. That was when my dogfight with the Alect Squadron began. I tried to seek for the aircraft but to no avail. A few moments later, I received news from (AWACS) Airborne Warning and Control System that five aircrafts were heading towards me at the speed of sound five miles away.

I immediately switched my weapons to (BVRM) Beyond Visual Range Missile. I increased my speed and squeezed the trigger, firing two missiles simultaneously. I increased my altitude and suddenly, I saw two explosions half a mile away. The remaining three aircrafts noticed me increasing my altitude and gave chase.

Out of the blue, my radio started crackling sound.

“Blaze, lead them to the ocean! It’s about two miles away from here. You’re just putting everyone’s life in danger by dog fighting above the base!” commanded my General with a harsh tone.

I immediately made a hundred and eighty degrees turn and headed to the ocean to the ocean at supersonic speed. The remaining Alect Squadron followed me while trying to get a lock-on to my aircraft. Suddenly, one of the three aircrafts fired a heat seeking missile which could travel three times the speed of sound! I quickly deployed my flares again and decreased my altitude.

The moment I got below the clouds, I could see an endless expanse of seawater all around me. I changed my aircraft to stealth mode and deployed my flaps to decrease speed to get behind my enemies. They flew past me without noticing that I was above them. I increased my speed to get a lock-on the middle target, changed my weapon to gun mode and fired a few rounds to my target until his the aircraft exploded into a ball of fire and sunk into his watery grave.
Without any hesitation, I changed my target and did a deflection shot. A few seconds later, the pilot ejected from his aircraft, it’s engine blew up and splashed into the blue ocean. I cheered with happiness as I had taken down two aircrafts in a row. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the last aircraft got a lock-on to my aircraft and fired. The bullets penetrated my left engine and it started pouring out smoke. Luckily, the right engine was still functioning, thus I could get a chance to take out my target.

A few moments later, my radar detected my enemy heading south. I immediately gave chase. I changed my weapons to (BVRM), got a lock-on to his aircraft and squeezed the trigger. The missile flew towards the enemy. Soon, there was an explosion. I passed by the explosion site and saw the debris of the aircraft falling into the ocean like a rain of fire. I flew back to base and was welcomed by my buddies congratulating me for saving their lives and I became a triple ace with fifteen kills.

Smile always | 12:37 AM