Postponed
Hello! My name is Clara. I'm nine years old, and I live in Dublin with my mommy and daddy and my two brothers Diarmuid and Bobby. Today was the day that we were supposed to go on the school tour! I was so excited that I couldn't sleep last night, but then Mommy gave me a glass of milk to help me sleep. We were going to the beach to play in the water and go on a boat ride. I love the beach! Diarmuid always takes me out swimming to see the fish, and Bobby always helps me make sandcastles. When we finish the sandcastles, we sneak up on Daddy and bury him in the sand when he's asleep. But he always wakes up, and then he picks me up and tickles me, and then he runs into the water and dunks me. When we finish playing in the sea, Mommy takes out Iceburgers from the cooler, and we all share them together.
Anyway, today we were going to the beach. It's a long ride on the bus, but that's ok because the trip is always fun with my friends. I always sit next to my best friend Bridget, and we always sit near the back. Not the very back, because that's where the boys sit. Everyone sings silly songs and plays games on the bus ride, and it's always a lot of fun. Even when we go through tunnels. Whenever we go through a tunnel everyone tries to hold their breath the whole way through. Sometimes they can't do it because the tunnel is too long, but sometimes they can. James is really good at it.
Don't tell anyone, but I'm secretly a little bit scared of the dark. That's why I don't like tunnels. But going through tunnels is always fine, so long as I'm with my friends.
Today it wasn't fine.
Miss Buckley says it's important to face your fears if you want to grow. Miss Buckley is my teacher, and she's really nice. She reads us stories so that we can learn how to write better, and she says that sometimes books can teach us good lessons. My favourite are Aesop's Fables. They teach good lessons, I think.
Miss Buckley told me to write this because she said it might help me calm down a bit, and she also said that I could show it to everyone once we got out so that they could see how brave I was. I think she was right. Even though writing this is really hard because my hands are gone. I have little hooves where my hands should be, and little hooves where my feet should be. To write this, I have to put the pencil between my two hooves and do it that way, but the pencil keeps slipping, so it's taking ages. Everyone else is having the same problem.
When we drove into the tunnel we started holding our breath like always. But then it got all dark because the lights went out. I heard the bus driver shout, and then the bus hit into something really hard. The bus driver hasn't said anything since. I haven't seen him move either.
I hope he's ok.
Miss Buckley and Mister O'Connor (he's the other class's teacher) turned on the bus's emergency light. It kind of hurt my eyes. I liked the bus better when I couldn't see anything. The windows in the bus were all broken and there was spiky bits of glass everywhere that the teachers told us not to walk on. There was a lot of pencils and paper on the floor from where someone's schoolbag fell over.
All of my friends and the teachers, and even the bus driver looked way different now. Everyone was like tiny little horses with different colours. Some of my friends have wings and some of them have pointy horns. Except for one of the boys. He's all stripy, but he doesn't have a horn or wings. And there's also a girl who looks like some sort of cat bird thing. Bridget has wings, and so do I. Except my wings are different, because I have bat wings and everyone else has bird wings. Bridget says my eyes are different as well. Jack says that I have fangs, so I must be a vampire, but I don't believe him. Vampires aren't real.
Miss Buckley isn't like any of the rest of us. She looks like a little horse, but she's covered in a shiny black shell, and there are holes in her legs. I hope those don't hurt. They look kind of like the cheese in Tom and Jerry. She has wings as well, but hers look like bug wings, and they have holes as well. So does her hair, which is red and nearly touches the floor. Her horn is really long and crooked.
She kind of scares me, but I know she's nice, so it's ok. I asked her if she wanted a plaster to cover her holes because they looked like they hurt. Mommy gave me those plasters in case me or one of my friends got hurt. She gave me a special spray as well. It stings really badly, but it makes the cut go away faster. Miss Buckley said she was fine and that I should give the plasters to my friends who got hit by the glass when the windows broke.
Mister O'Connor got the bus doors open and he went out into the tunnel. I thought that was really stupid of him. He might get hit by a car or something. He said he was going to see if he could find an emergency phone, or if he could find out what made us all look different. Miss Buckley went out to look at what the bus hit. When she came back in, Mary asked her what it was, and she said that it looked like part of the tunnel had fallen. But then she said that it didn't make sense, because it looked like it was there for a while, but it would've been on the news if it happened a while ago.
Paige (she's the cat bird girl) asked if we could go into the tunnel to stretch our legs, and Miss Buckley said we could so long as we didn't step on the glass, but then Cian said that it didn't matter if we stepped on the glass because our hooves were hard. Miss Buckley told us to be careful anyway, so we all went out into the tunnel together. I accidentally stepped on a piece of glass, but it was ok because Cian was right and it didn't hurt.
I passed the bus driver on the way out. He looked like he fell asleep on the steering wheel, and there was a big cut on his face. It looked really sore. I asked Miss Buckley if he needed my special spray and a plaster, but she made a funny kind of face and said that they wouldn't do him any good. I wonder what she meant?
The tunnel was dark and cold, and some of my friends started saying that they couldn't see anything. I didn't know what they were talking about. I could see just fine. Paige said she could see fine as well, and so did Miss Buckley. The tunnel was kind of wet, and there was green slimy stuff all over the walls. I could see the wall that fell in front of the bus. It was a big pile of road pieces with bits of metal and wires sticking out of it. The road pieces were covered in the same green slimy stuff as the wall. The metal was all red and rusty, like my bike when I accidentally leave it out in the rain. I don't think I can ride my bike anymore. Not with four legs, anyway.
Seán started sniffling in the corner, so Miss Buckley went over to hug him and make him feel better, but he said that she was scaring him. That was really rude of him, I think. Miss Buckley was only trying to be nice. It was ok though, because Mister O'Connor came back from the other end of the tunnel, and Seán wasn't scared of him.
Mister O'Connor said that he found a phone, but it wasn't working, so he kept walking. He said that the tunnel had fallen further along the tunnel and he couldn't see a way out.
That made Seán and some of my other friends start crying. I didn't cry, not even a little bit. Bridget is lying if she tells you I did. Mister O'Connor and Miss Buckley went around talking to everyone who was upset. They said that they'd find a way out soon. I asked Miss Buckley if I could help find a way out of the tunnel, and she told me that it would be more important for me to make sure all of my friends were feeling ok. I asked her if my plasters would help and she said that they would, because some of my friends had cuts.
I went back into the bus to get my plasters. The bus driver still hadn't moved. I really hope he's ok. I was a little bit thirsty, so I took a few sips from my water bottle. Opening it was hard, and I spilled some of it on Bridget's schoolbag. I hope she doesn't mind. I picked up my plasters and spray and brought them back out into the tunnel. Some of my friends had lots of cuts, and I had to use lots of spray and plasters. Jack said that he didn't want me getting too close to him because I might turn him into a vampire, so I didn't give him any plasters. Even though he had a cut on one of his legs.
Miss Buckley and Mister O'Conner were looking at the fallen tunnel pieces and they said that they could feel a breeze coming through it. James asked what that meant and Mister O'Connor said it meant the wall wasn't very thick. Miss Buckley said that they might be able to move it, but that we should stay back because it might be dangerous. Mister O'Connor said we should play games to pass the time while he and Miss Buckley tried to move the wall.
We played tag and stuck in the mud first, but then Paige scratched Katie with her claws so we had to play something else. Ryan brought a football, so we used some schoolbags as goalposts and we played soccer. We wanted to play football, but it's really hard to do hops and solos with four hooves and no hands. Seán and James had an argument over whether or not kicking the ball with our front hooves counted as a handball, but we were able to play after that.
After a while, soccer got boring because most of my friends couldn't see anything in the dark, so they kept missing their shots. I don't know how they couldn't see. The tunnel wasn't that dark. Jack said that I could see because I was a vampire. Then Bridget whacked him in the side with the football and told him to shut up. It was really funny, but Mister O'Connor told us to stop 'horsing around'. Ryan said that we couldn't stop horsing around anymore because we were all horses. That was really funny too, but Mister O'Connor told Ryan not to be so cheeky. I don't think Mister O'Connor likes the same kind of jokes we do.
We took a break from games after that. Some people went back into the bus because it was warmer and brighter. Miss Buckley and Mister O'Connor were still trying to move the wall, but I only saw a few little pieces of wall next to them. I hope they move it soon, because I'm getting kind of hungry, and I only have a ham sandwich, half of a nature valley bar, and an apple in my lunchbox.
Oh! Katie wants to play blind man's buff now, so I'm going to stop writing this and go play. I'll write more later. See you!
Hello again! It's been a while since I wrote in this. Miss Buckley said that it was a few hours. After we played blind man's buff, we played Chinese whispers, and then we took another break. I ate my nature valley bar. It tasted a little bit better than usual but I think that's because I was hungry. After that, I fell asleep on a bus seat. I woke up because Mary was yelling about how her chicken sandwich tasted horrible and made her feel sick. Mary's really loud sometimes, especially when she's angry.
Some of the others said that they were having the same problem. I think they must have just had bad sandwiches, because my ham sandwich tasted fine when I took a bite. Paige said she was fine as well, but then someone threw up near the wall of the tunnel so we decided to stop eating and start playing again.
Mister O'Connor and Miss Buckley's pile of road pieces was a bit bigger now, but they weren't going very fast. Cian asked them why they were going so slow, and Miss Buckley told him that they had to be careful and make sure that the pieces they moved didn't make the rest of the pieces fall on top of them. Seán wanted to know what we would do if the wall fell on them, and Miss Buckley told him that she would do her best to make sure that didn't happen. I don't think Seán liked that answer very much because he started crying again.
Bridget brought a pack of Uno cards so we decided to play that. They were a bit wet from where I spilled my water on them, but Bridget said it was ok. Jack said Uno was boring and that he didn't want to play, so he ran off down the tunnel with James. I think that Mister O'Connor would have given out to them if he saw them, but he was too busy looking at the wall.
Uno was a lot of fun, but Leah kept saying that everyone was cheating. I think she's just a sore loser. She didn't win any games, not even one. I won twice, but Cian won three times. Uno got boring after a while, and it was hard anyway because my friends couldn't read the cards, and no one except Paige could hold them properly. We didn't really know what to do after that. Some people went back into the bus to try and sleep, and some people sat down and started talking. A few of the boys kicked the football around a bit.
Jack and James came running back up from the other end of the tunnel. It was too dark for them to see me, so I stood away from them. When Jack stopped, I snuck up on him from behind and said 'boo'! He jumped really high and screamed like a girl! It was really funny, but it was really weird as well because when he jumped, his horn sparked green. He started sniffling, and then he told on me to Mister O'Connor!
Mister O'Connor told us that we should all go back into the bus, because he and Miss Buckley needed to rest from trying to move the wall and he wasn't in the mood to deal with us. He and Miss Buckley have fallen asleep at the front of the bus. The bus driver is still asleep as well. I really hope he wakes up soon. For now, I'm going to have my apple and then try and sleep again.
It's been another while since I wrote. This while was longer though. Miss Buckley thinks it was around seven or eight hours. I fell asleep really easily, but most of my friends stayed awake. Some of them are asleep now. Paige is still awake, so we played tag together with Bridget and Katie. Cian and Seán wanted to play as well. We were worried about Paige scratching us, so we decided that if she accidentally scratches us, then I get to bite her because my teeth are sharp like her claws. That scared her enough that she was really careful with her claws. That was good, because I didn't really want to have to bite her.
We stopped for a break, so I decided to write in this. We're about to start again now, so I'm going to stop writing. Mister O'Connor and Miss Buckley are back to working on the wall. It still doesn't look like they're getting anywhere, but I'm sure we'll be out soon.
I'm sorry that I didn't write in you all day, book. But I've been playing with my friends and sleeping, so I didn't really have time. Miss Buckley says that this is the start of the third day stuck inside this tunnel. I hope we get out soon, because all I have left to eat is half of my ham sandwich, and I drank all my water so I have to take sips from the puddles on the ground. Lots of my friends are complaining that they're hungry because they can't eat the meat in their sandwiches, so all they have is the bread.
If they won't eat it, I will. I'm pretty hungry, but Mister O'Connor told us to save our food because it might take him and Miss Buckley another while to make a hole in the wall that's big enough for us to go through. But they are getting somewhere, because earlier they made a tiny hole that let in a bit of sunlight. Everyone was pushing each other trying to look out through the tiny hole, but it was too small and they couldn't really see anything.
The sunlight kind of hurt my eyes after being in the dark for so long, but it was nice and warm to sit in. The tunnel was very cold and wet, so the patch of light was the only bit of warmth in the whole tunnel. Miss Buckley said we should take turns sitting in it while she and Mister O'Connor tried to make it bigger. I'm going to do that, but I'm kind of tired, so I might go to sleep after that. Even though it's daytime. Jack says that vampires sleep during the day and that's why I'm tired. I really don't like Jack.
Miss Buckley and Mister O'Connor made the hole a little bit bigger, but it's still too small to climb out of. They had to stop because they said that the wall might fall again if they move it. Instead, they're going to try shouting through the hole. Mister O'Connor said that the M50 (the road the tunnel we're in is on) is usually busy and that someone will hear us sooner or later. I really hope it's sooner instead of later, because I ate my sandwich, and now all I have left are the bits of meat that my friends gave me.
Seán was really upset earlier because he doesn't have any food left, so Miss Buckley gave him some of hers. I haven't seen her eat anything at all while we were here, but she says she feels fine for some reason. She thought it might be because she's not the same kind of horse as we are. When she said that, Leah said that we weren't horses, we were ponies, because a pony is like a small horse and we're all really small, even grown ups like Mister O'Connor and the bus driver (who still hasn't woken up). I like 'pony' more than 'horse', so I think I'll call us ponies now.
I'm going to play with my friends now. James is singing Rattlin' Bog and he's near the end. I want to see if he can sing the last verse without stopping for breath. Mister O'Connor and Miss Buckley are shouting through the hole. They told us to keep singing because if people don't hear them then they might hear us.
I can't really talk right now, so I thought I'd write. Singing was a lot of fun, but now my throat is all scratchy and sore. The puddles aren't deep enough for me to drink much water out of them. We sang Rattlin' Bog, and Ireland's Call, and Oró Sé Do Bheatha Abhaile. Mister O'Connor and Miss Buckley took a break from shouting and told us to keep singing to make sure no one missed us. They're shouting again now, because we had to stop singing.
Some of my friends have gone to sleep, and some are talking in whispers. I don't have any food left, so we really need someone to hear us soon. I'm getting kind of cold too. Miss Buckley says that it's because I'm hungry. She said that my body needs food to keep me warm. She gave me a small piece of old chicken from the bus driver's lunch to eat, and she shared the rest of his lunch between my friends. I think the chicken was too old though, because I felt sick and then I threw up. It was horrible. I want to sleep now. It's nighttime outside, because there's no light coming in from the hole, but I think it's almost morning.
Mister O'Connor said that he was going to go check on the other end of the tunnel. He must be really hungry, because he gave his food to some of my friends. I hope that there's someone at the other end of the tunnel, because it's been getting even colder. It's raining right now, so even when the sun does come up, we won't have the little warm patch to sit in.
Everyone is complaining about the cold and being hungry. Some more water dripped in from the roof of the tunnel after the rain. I drank as much of it as I could, because I'm still feeling sick from the chicken. Miss Buckley says I might have food poisoning. I don't know what that is, but she said that I should drink as much water and get as much sleep as I can. I'm going to do just that and sleep now. The emergency light in the bus went out earlier, so now the tunnel is totally dark. I can still see though. I think my eyes are just different from everyone else's.
I feel horrible, and I'm cold and hungry, so I'm going to go to sleep for a while. I'll write again soon, I guess.
Jack and Seán fell asleep by the wall a while ago and they haven't woken up. They said that they were really cold earlier. Mister O'Connor went to check the other end of the tunnel again. He didn't find anything last time. I don't think he'll find anything this time either.
I still feel sick from the chicken, but not as bad as I did earlier, so that's something I guess. But it's been getting even colder. And it's been raining, so there's not even any light, and the cold water keeps dripping on us from the ceiling. There's a lot of crying going on. We've all cuddled up with Miss Buckley because she's warmer than the rest of us. She keeps looking down the tunnel like she's hoping to see something. But nothing ever comes up from the other end.
We're using our towels as blankets, but they aren't very good for it. I'm still cold, and so is everyone else. Mary was really angry about something earlier but now she's fallen asleep, so it's really quiet. Paige and Katie were talking for a while, but they got too tired and cold to keep talking.
Bridget just told me that she wants to go to sleep, and I think I'll join her.
I don't know how long it's been. My belly is sore and I'm freezing cold. The only thing keeping me warm is Miss Buckley. She hasn't eaten anything in ages either, but she says she feels fine. I think she's scared. She doesn't look like she knows what to do. She just holds all of us close to her, and I can hear her saying little prayers to herself. I don't think those will help. Every now and then she calls for help, but no one ever answers.
The little beam of light from the hole in the wall is the only warm place in the whole tunnel. Miss Buckley has been making us all take turns sitting in it. But whenever it's nighttime it's even colder. Bridget is the one sitting there right now. I'm scared for her, because she's been sleeping for a while now and she's breathing really slow.
Mister O'Connor still hasn't come back from the other end of the tunnel. He wasn't looking very good when he went there. Jack still hasn't moved from where he fell asleep near the wall. Neither has Seán. Paige, Katie and Cian are the only others awake right now. Paige is lying down next to me watching me write this. Her feathers are kind of warm, but sometimes she shivers. She just told me that she doesn't think Mister O'Connor is coming back, or that Jack and Seán are going to wake up.
I miss Mommy and Daddy and Diarmuid and Bobby. I want to go to the beach with them so that we can see the fish and build sandcastles, and bury Daddy in the sand and eat Iceburgers with Mommy.
More than anything, I want to get out of this tunnel.
I still don't know how long it's been, but I do know that I'll never be so happy to see the sun again, even if it does sort of hurt my eyes. The dragon who saved us told me to write in this book again if it would make me feel better, so I did. Her name is Deirdre, and she's very nice. She gave us lots of food, and the ponies with her gave us blankets. They didn't have a lot, so I'm sharing with Paige.
The bug pony with them seems worried about something. She's been going around the tunnel looking at all of my friends who fell asleep and didn't wake up. She told Deirdre that it doesn't look good for some of them but that if she was fast she might be able to save them. I hope she can. Bridget still hasn't woken up, but at least she's still breathing. I hope she's alright. She's my best friend.
I guess I should write about what happened. A little while after I last wrote in this book, Miss Buckley stopped calling for help and started crying. I didn't know grown-ups could cry, but Miss Buckley did. I think I might have fallen asleep for a while, because suddenly Miss Buckley wasn't crying anymore. She was just kind of staring at nothing. It was really quiet, and that's when I heard it.
I heard a clip-clop sound behind the wall. I managed to stand up on my hooves (even if I was kind of shaky) and go over to the hole. My hooves made the same sound, and that's how I knew someone was outside. I don't think Miss Buckley heard it, because she just sort of watched me sadly when I went over to the hole. I put my eye up to it, and I saw a brown pony walking past, pulling a cart behind him that was filled with all kinds of stuff.
I tried to shout at him to come over, but my voice was all scratchy and quiet. I think he must have heard me though, or at least he thought he did, because he stopped and his ears went straight up. Miss Buckley saw me trying to shout and came over. My voice was gone, so I just pointed at the hole. Miss Buckley's eyes went all wide and she started shouting. She still had her voice, so the pony heard her straight away.
He ran over to the hole and started asking if there was anyone inside the tunnel. Miss Buckley told him that there was a whole school bus full of 'starving and freezing children, some of whom look like they're seriously ill'. The brown pony told her that his name was Rian, and that we should hold tight because help was on the way. Miss Buckley was so happy that she started crying again. She gave me a big hug and told me that I had saved us all.
Miss Buckley woke up some of my friends, but not all of them woke up when she shook them. She told them that we were going to get out of the tunnel. Everyone tried to start cheering, but their voices were all kind of gone or going, so they couldn't really do it. It wasn't too much longer before Rian came back with Deirdre, the big yellow dragon. Deirdre told us to keep back from the wall, and said that she'd have us out faster than we could say 'rescue dragon'.
Deirdre was so big and strong that she was able to pick up the bits of road in her mouth or claws and eat them. She didn't eat the metal pieces. When I asked her why, she said that rust isn't good for her. I said that I thought road pieces wouldn't be good for her either, but she just laughed and said that things were different for a dragon. It didn't take her very long to eat the whole wall, and then we could finally get out of the tunnel.
Deirdre wasn't the only one Rian brought. There was another two ponies with them, one who was yellow and had wings (who said his name was Al), and another who was pink and had no wings or horn (who said her name was Tina). There was also a bug pony like Miss Buckley, except that this bug pony was a bit taller and had blue hair. She said her name was Danielle, and that the proper name for bug ponies was changelings.
Danielle said that it was thanks to us that Miss Buckley wasn't sick or hungry, because changelings eat love. So, because we loved Miss Buckley, she was able to keep us warm and keep shouting for help. After that, Danielle took Miss Buckley to one side to talk. I didn't listen in because Mommy always says that it's rude to listen to other people talking if they don't want you to hear.
All of that was a while ago. Now I'm in an old hospital with Deirdre and her friends and all of my friends. Danielle is running around giving medicine to my sleeping friends, and sometimes her horn lights up. Deirdre told me that there are no more humans anymore, because more than a hundred years ago every single person disappeared, except for a few who were turned into ponies. Everyone else is slowly coming back, but sometimes the magic that did this to us leaves people in a place that isn't safe, and that's what happened to us.
I asked Deirdre when I could go see Mommy and Daddy and Diarmuid and Bobby, but then Deirdre kind of talked weird until she said that...that I couldn't see them anymore because they disappeared. She said that if I was lucky they had come back already and were staying at Lacknatyne in County Kerry, but that she didn't think it was very likely. I cried for a really long time after that. Deirdre left after a while so I sat with Miss Buckley instead. Miss Buckley told me that she would stay with me and all of my friends no matter what. That made me feel a little better, I guess, but I still miss my family.
Danielle said that Mister O'Connor and some of my friends had died while we were in the tunnel. I didn't know what that meant, but then Danielle said that it was when you went to sleep but never woke up again. I was never going to see them again. Jack wouldn't ever call me a vampire again and Mister O'Connor wouldn't tell us to stop horsing around again. I asked Danielle if Bridget had died and she said she nearly did, but she would be ok if we gave her food and water and let her rest. That was good. Bridget is my best friend and everyone else had left me, so I really need her.
Right now Deirdre, Rian, Tina and Al are trying to get as much rope, wood and nails as they can. Deirdre is pretty big, and really strong, so if she pulls a trailer behind her she can carry all of us. But she's too big to wear a horse harness, so they need to make one for her. Al said it would take a few days for us to get all the way down to Kerry, so he would fly ahead and let everyone at Lacknatyne know that we were coming so that they can be ready for us when we get there.
For now, I'm feeling super tired, so I'm going to stop writing in this book now. Miss Buckley was right. Writing in this book did make me feel better every time I wrote in it. But now it looks like things are going to be ok (well, mostly ok), so I don't really need to keep writing in it. So I guess, goodbye for the last time, book, and whoever might be reading it. Maybe someday my family will come back as ponies so that I can show this to them, and they can see how brave I was.
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Sweet, dude! Very original
Original, but steadily got darker as you realized how hopeless the situation was, and how ignorant Clara and her friends were to it. Even the ending is a mixed bag of emotions. Still, it was fun, I suppose is the word, watching it from the kids perspective as the teachers tried to get a handle on things. They should be glad it was just a hundred years for their group. Having a diamond dog teacher (or diamond pup student) would have been a big help for them.
What? Why wouldn't they come out the other—oh, you are evil.
than we could say 'rescue dragon'.
Reminds me of chip and dale rescue rangers.
be ready for us when we get there.
The revelation of which world they're on really drives it home, and sells the setup very well. It's well written, and keeps the mournful pace right to the bittersweet ending. Masterfully written!
7130226
Pls explain
9703687
I'm assuming they mean it metaphorically, "other side" as in dying. The protag and a few others are the ones that didn't go to the "other side"