Classes I Do 2016-2017

Monday

My first class on Monday is Spanish. I practice speaking in Spanish with a teacher from 10:00am to 11:00am, who corrects my grammar and teaches me new words or sentence structures. This class is held at our house.

After lunch, we catch an Uber to 72nd street and Broadway, to get to another class. This class is called 'Understanding History Through Music'. From 1:00pm-3:00pm we look at  music in America, starting from the beginnings of the slave trade, and see how the music in America is a mix of styles brought over by people from different countries.

Our final class on Monday is Chess with Maxim. In this class we work with an international grandmaster, Maxim Dlugy, who teaches us all we need to know (and more) about chess. We do this class at East 81 street, at his house.
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Tuesday

On Tuesdays we have 3 classes- 'Espionage' being the first class, 'Books in the 60's the 2nd, and controversies the last.

In 'Espionage' we look at spies throughout history that have changed the world, from the ancient Egyptians to Francis Walsingham. This class is held at the Jefferson Market Library, between 12:45pm-2:15pm

We catch the train to 50th street to get to our next class- 'Books in the 60's'. In this class we read and discuss books written in the 60's. This class is held in Different Directions.

After 'Books in the 60's', we stay in Different Directions for the final class, 'Controversies'. This class is very noisy, because here we discuss all the controversies that the whole class thinks matter. I think this class is interesting, especially listening to other people's opinions.
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Wednesday

On Wednesday we do our first online course of the week, 'Romeo and Juliet'. In this class we read and annotate Romeo and Juliet, and go over the whole book with a new perspective. We mostly do this class at home, but it may vary.

My favorite class at last!!

Rugby, mostly an Australian/New Zealand sport, has a few teams of its own in New York! I am currently playing Rugby  with the under 12 team, for last year i obtained a pretty serious injury that took three or four months to heal. Before there were no other girls on the team (or on any team!) But this year there will be quite a few! I got to meet one who had played previously on the team. We were a great team!
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Thursday
On Thursday we do another online class, Economics, with Daniel Louzonis. This class is between 9:00am-10:00am, and is based on the stock market, how to make money, with a heap of interesting facts told along the way! 

After that we do a acting/comedy class called 'Comedy Tonight'. This class involves improvisation, pronunciation tactics, and acting skills. This class is held at Different Directions, from 1:00pm to 4:00pm.

STREB is a class filled with fun! You can learn trapeze, or do some pop action, or even learn parcore! There are many options, even for adults. This class is held in Brooklyn, North 1st street, between 4:45pm-5:45pm.
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Friday
On Friday, we travel to the MET for a class- 'Age of Revolutions'. In this class, we look at all the major revolutions in history, using the artifacts to help us understand what they went through. This class runs between 10:30am to 12pm.

We also have another Chess class with Maxim.
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Awesome Aussie inventions

Below are some life-changing (for the good or bad) Aussie inventions! You may think Australia an unimportant country (considering there are more sheeps than people), but actually we help make a lot of the things nowadays you may take for granted!

1. Black box flight recorder

The black box flight recorder was invented by an Aussie by the name Dave Warren. He invented the black box flight recorder in 1961, and has been immensely helpful to track and figure out what went wrong when a plane crashes. The black box records conversation in the cockpit and flight data. These extremely  durable boxes were designed to replay the final hours before a plane crash, helping figure out whether it was a faulty part on a plane, or just the pilots not paying attention.  Today, every single commercial flight is equipped with a Black box, placed in the back of a plane to protect it from being damaged.

2. Spray-on skin

Sounds a bit weird, doesn't it? Ask Professor Fiona Wood!

Professor Fiona wood patented her spray-on skin technique in 1999 . The process involves taking a small patch of the victim's healthy skin and then using it to grow new skin cells in a laboratory. The new skin cells are then sprayed on the victim's damaged skin!

 This discovery assists with the  significant reduction of time spent recovering and scarring. 

Fiona and her spray-on skin technique played a key role in treating burns victims from the 2002 Bali bombings, saving the lives of 28 people, and many more to come.

3. Electronic pacemaker

In 1926 Dr Mark Lidwill, a medical pioneer, made an impromptu pacemaker when a newborn childwas suffering from heart problems. Dr Mark used his knowledge and connected the baby's heart to electrodes, which stimulated the heartbeat with electric pulses, saving the child!

Now you can get an implant with batteries that last 7 years!

4. Google Maps

Want to see your old house in Australia? Or check out the views from the top if Mount Vesuvius? The Rasmussen brothers did that all! From 2003 to 2004 brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen developed the platform for Google Maps.

5. Medical application of penicillin

Though Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, Howard Florey, with a team of scientists, invented purified penicillin from a special strain of mold. In 1939 the team demonstrated penicillin's ability to fight bacterial infection in mice. The antibiotic was mass produced and used to aid the victims of World War I!

Penicillin has been used around the world, saving many lives through the combating of infection by common bacteria.

Next time you have penecillin, thank Howard Florey!

6. Polymer bank notes

Plastic bank notes were developed in a combined effort by the Reserve Bank of Australia and CSIRO (commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research organisation). The polymer material of the bank notes makes them very durable and counterfeit resistant. The bank notes first circulated in Australia in 1988.

Last but not least...

                     VEGEMITE!!!

Cyril P. Callister invented the first Vegemite spread. He used brewer's yeast and blended the yeast extract with ingredients like celery, onion, salt, and a few secret ingredients to make this paste.

Basically he used extracts from things that would usually be thrown in the bin and turned it into an edible paste, enjoyed by almost all Aussies. You may think it is horrible, but in small amounts i think it is quite enjoyable!

See, us Aussies can be quite the resourceful kind, can't they?

Apocalypse

Here is the beginning of a story i have been writing:

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It was my last day of school, and I was somewhat pumped. I dressed quickly, slapping on shorts and a plain t-shirt, grabbed my previously-packed bag, stuffed some food in my bag and left the small apartment that my mom rented, in the center of Harlem. I had never liked our new apartment, but it was all that my mom could afford. Barely bringing in enough to support us both and rent an apartment, it was a constant struggle for her. I wonder why dad had to leave in the first place.

You see, I didn't really like school. Nobody in my class did. All us fifth graders want to be doing was lounging around and eating lollies. 

But today I didn't feel like the usual James. I felt excited, and ready to face the day. Enough even to wake up early! So when I arrived, and saw only a few kids sitting alone on the benches, I wasn't surprised. But when the bell rang, and there were no more than 15 kids, boys and girls, inside the gates, I started to feel a little uneasy...

As the first one approached the gate, the teachers ushered us inside, putting the school into lock down. They were taking us to the gym, but I knew a better place. So I separated from the group at the next corner.
After I was sure they were out of earshot, I started to move towards the 6th grade lockers, for there was the location of my shelter. Navigating the school was a simple task, not just because i had been there all my life, but because it was a simple design. It felt odd being in the hallways of an empty school.
A horrible, blood-curdling scream erupted from some way behind me. I ran into tiny staff kitchen and looked out the window to see hundreds of these creatures banging on the gates of the school. I stood petrified, taking in their bloody, scar-riddled bodies. I thought of my mother, and frantically looked among the crowd for her. But i couldn't see her. Or maybe i would't see her.

I grabbed some dried meat and canned food, a can opener, plenty of water, and a knife. " Just to be safe, i'll never need it,"I told myself. But i had a feeling i would.

I thanked the architects about the fact that the school was small, and began to run. I took a glimpse out a window and saw their mangled bodies pouring into the playground, tearing apart the metal beams, ripping the slide. I ran even faster.

I had finally seen the group of 6th grade lockers and immediately spotted the one i was looking for. It was one with a 'master' lock on it, one of those plain, bulky ones. I managed to get this locker on the first day of school, when the 6th graders got new lockers allocated to them. I use it for hiding away from bullies. But it wasn't just any locker...

I sighed as i reached into my trouser pocket for the key. I nearly fainted. I had left the key at home!

I started to think frantically. Noises blurred inside my head. "what should i do, what should i do, what should i do...".

Screaming brought me back to my senses. Coming from...

Oh no. They have reached the gym.

I saw a schoolbag of a 6th grader, and knew there would be a key in there. I heard another human scream. I went towards the schoolbag before remembering what they could do to metal, and knew only my locker could help now. The screaming was getting louder. I then saw an abandoned teacher's handbag. I grabbed it, searched through the cluttered mess, and found the key, resting in a front pocket. I ran back, bringing the handbag with me, tense, expecting another scream.

But there were none.

I jammed the special staff key in the staff work room door, heading straight for the key cabinets. I studied the names, found mine, pulled out the key, and was about to leave when a loud, wailing scream pierced the air. All was quiet for a moment.

I knew, i just knew, they had found me.

I looked around, grabbing some more non-perishables from the snacks in the staff room, stuffed everything but the knife in a plastic bag, and thought of a quick diversion.

They couldn't be that smart, judging by how long it took them to mess up the gym. I knocked over papers, scattered food crumbs, and kicked over chairs, to make it look as if they had ran out the back door, leading to the small storage room. Yes, that could keep them distracted for a while.

I heard the scream, much closer this time, and knew i needed to leave. I looked around, looked at the once bustling New York, thinking of friends family, all those camping trips with dad...

Putting it behind me, i ran. They could hear me now. Triumphant shrieks came from all sides, making me move faster than ever before. As i put the key in the lock, heard them turn the corner. I frantically tried to jam the key in the lock, my fright making me clumsy. I thought, "Am i seriously going to die here?". That made me feel a little better.

I finally put the key in the lock, turned it flung open the door, dove in, chucked in my supplies and the handbag, and slammed the locker door behind me, locking it from the inside. And none too soon.

I opened the trap door on the bottom of the locker and dropped down into the maze of tunnels that lay beneath the school. I closed the trap door behind me, and had just started to crawl through one of the tunnels when i heard a sound of indented metal.

What I Did on The Holidays!

These summer holidays, representing the first year I have lived in New York, was quite a cool one. We went to the Dominican Republic, an island in the Caribbean and my home country, Australia! Below I will tell you the highlights of my holiday, where to go, and what to do.



first stop, Saint Martin!!!
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For those who do not know, Saint Martin is an island in the Caribbean, surrounded by other smaller ones (above right).

This was my first time in the Caribbean that I can remember, and it was amazing!

The first thing we did after we landed was take the little over 5 minute drive to out resort, before checking in, eating some dinner, and having a little look at the space around us. 

The next day we walked to the beach connected to our resort (pictured above left) and swum at midday. We went to the beach several times during the week that we stayed on the island, mostly different beaches, my favourite being one filled with fish- small fish big fish, things that looked like swordfish.


Another highlight was eating at a place called 'Skipjack's' where we ate the best meal consisting of calamari, rice, some red meat, and much more. Also feeding bread to hundreds of waiting fish was great too.

Finally the time came to go back to New York, and we were all sad to leave. Ovarall, it was a unique experience. Check it out!

Next we spent a joyful 2 1/2 weeks in Australia! There we saw our friends, ate teriyaki chicken sushi, and, of all things, skiing in Thredbo with my parent's work team. Luckily, it snowed rather heavily for that time of year, making it much more enjoyable for everybody off and on the slopes.

Because I lived in Sydney for most of my life, making recommendations is rather difficult. Her are just a few ways to spend your time in NSW.

• Taronga Zoo
• Sydney opera house                                     
• North Curl Curl (for some waves!)
• Questacon In Canberra
• yum cha
• sushi train
• dubbo zoo

My final chunk of time off before school was spent in Punta cana, an island in the Dominican Republic. After flying back to repack and rest, we were comepletely exited for the last week of holidays.

If any of you have been to or have seen the videos of club med, you will know what I mean.

I was most exited for a new facility called Creactive, where you can be active (trapeze, bungee trampoline, the wall) or be creative (mask making, face painting) or both!

Our week in Punta Cana was amasing! Mastering the single reverse on the trapeze, swimming in the ocean, sailing, the lot. I recomnmend it for everyone!


I hope you enjoyed your holiday!

My Musical instruments

I am just started to learn percussion. Here are some examples of some percussion instruments...








I am mainly focusing on the snare drum and the marimba. The marimba is similar to a xylophone, but it has sharps and flats and uses tubes to produce the sound. I am learning how to do scales using sharps and flats and hopefully chords. On the snare i am learning how to sustain a beat and hold the drum-sticks correctly (which is harder than it sounds!). I have had experience with the majority of the instruments above at my old school SCEGGS Darlinghurst, where they had a vast supply of of a whole heap of instruments, not just percussion.

What Am Doing In Uppity Witches

Below i have pasted in the work that i did in Uppity witches (f you do not know what this class is, look at 'My Classes-what i like/dislike about them' blog). New stuff will be added every now and then, so there might be a few changes.
This is the backstory of the Grand High Witch from the witches. It is based around how people still burn women and children because they are 'witches'. It is also a bit . If you want me to continue writing these or like what i have done, please comment!
 PS: it is a bit long, but that is mainly because of the dialog and chapters.
PPS: Every bold, underlined word is another 1000 words

Uppity witches homework

The story of the Grand High Witch

Chapter 1: the setting

Dear diary,

I had a very miserable day today. I was bullied and teased by the school bullies in front of everybody, and they told them that my goal was to rid the world of the witches’ suspicion and create equality between both genders. They know that I can read and write as well as any boy and that I love to read, so they decided to let everybody know in the group meeting. The teachers don’t seem to care; they are as mean as everybody else.  Ever since the new rule about girls not being able to read or write or know anything, I had to keep my goals to myself.  I reckon that they are worried about us gaining enough power to overthrow men and take control of the country. Come on, I am only 9, how could I change anything?

I wish my mum was here to help me. With her, the town stayed calm and life was almost equal. Then one day she was convicted of killing a little child with her medicine that she used to heal other people. If only she had known the ways that the people treated illness. If she had only known, I would be back in my lovely house by the water. I do miss the water, and my friends. They can’t visit me because they live too far away and it is too dangerous. I can’t talk to them at all either, because there are no electronic things for miles and the nearest place to send a letter is days away.

The only person I can trust is a boy Called Senya. We have known each other since birth, and he has always been a good friend of mine. He never laughed at my foreign name (Elizabeth) and he has the same opinion about witch-hunts. Ever since we were placed in different schools, it was a lot harder to see each other, but in the end we made a deal. I wanted books from the library and he wanted to learn how to read. He told me that the only way he survived at school is because the teacher read out the question, but he wanted to be a speaker school in religious commutes and combined gender school teacher, which involves the ability to read and write. If we get caught, we are sure to be punished and I am sure to be called a witch.

Overall, my new life is a sad life, but I will try my best to voice my opinion about equal rights and witch-hunts being wrong.

Chapter 2: forking her revenge

‘Ha-ha, Mrs Ugly has decided to return.’

Oh, look, she has a wart on her nose.’

‘That means she must be...a witch!

‘I wouldn’t be surprised; she already looks a lot like one.’

‘Oww, poor little witchipoos is upset.’

‘Oh No! It looks like she has no friends.’

‘What a shame.’

‘Hahahaha!!!’

Diary entry 2, a week later

The bullies have been associating me with a witch after I got my wart. I can never escape the taunting group of girls as I walk home from school. They accused me of being a witch and made up a few examples, too! I hate those girls! I hate them, I hate them! And you know what! All the boys know! And all the teachers! It is infuriating! I will get my revenge though. Not just on the community, but the mice.

One thing all the community has in common is the hating of mice. They eat our crops and spread diseases throughout our land, killing many people. My mother then flew from Sydney and took me with her to this place and started healing people with her medicine. One little child, though, had caught an incurable disease, so she couldn’t save him. She tried and tried, but in the end she could do nothing but watch him die. And it was all because of the mice! One thing that she did do was give them mouse traps, which they then put everywhere. Now they are uncommon to spot in your house, but they are becoming more cunning and finding ways to evade them and get to the good food. They also eat crops, which then poisons the food, kills people and the few animals we have and creates a famine which lasts for weeks until new crops grow. So we learnt to become mouse killers, because we learnt that 2 mice can equal 10 if you are not careful. That was when I had the idea of putting mice everywhere around their houses and let them inside. It would take a while, but it will be well worth it.

Chapter 3: The prank

I now have plenty of mice, so I think I am ready to do it. You might think it is a bad idea, but seriously, what could go wrong?

My plan:

1. Leave school ½ an hour early (as usual)

2. Put mice in corn bags

3. Deliver them to the houses

4. Go back to my house

5. Wait

Step 1

(Being bullied)

I’m leaving. (Walk out the door and run off)

‘Look how she runs off.’

‘She looks so frantic.’

‘She is such a scaredy cat!’

Good! It worked! It seemed like I was scared when I am just about to do the biggest prank ever! Just wait and see the reaction they will have when they get home!

(Home) Ok, the mice are in the bags of grain and everything is ready. I’m going in...

Chapter 4: the aftermath

The next morning...

Oh boy! That was hilarious! I wonder if they will even come to school today! I just crept in and crept out and...Voila! I get revenge on the mice and the people, all at once!

(At school)

It turned out that none of the group of bullies came to school. This is really odd. What they are doing I don’t know. But I still can’t get the prank out of my head. Do you reckon that they will guess it is me? If they do, I don’t really care. I wonder how Senya is going... oh yeah! Tonight is when he trades my book in for a new one! I must leave now if I am going to make it on time!

(At home)

Hello? Hello? Senya? He can’t have possibly forgotten. Or maybe, just maybe, he has given up on me so he can escape punishment when I get blamed for putting the mice in the grain bags.  At least he won’t get harmed.

Chapter 6: The discovery

(At Senya’s house)

‘Hello? Senya? It’s me!’ I wonder where his parents are. Oh wait, someone’s crying. ‘Hello?’

‘Go away (sniffle)’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘He, he is....’

‘Where’s Senya?’

‘He is...gone?’

‘Where?’

‘The chief...h...h...he took him.’

‘No! Why would they take him? He has done nothing wrong! Wait... oh no! I must help him out of this mess!’ She thanks the woman and runs outside.

(Out of the house)

‘Nooooo! Senya, you can’t! Oh no. I should have never done that. Never, never, never will I forgive myself. I must try to see him and convince the chief that he is not guilty. I will tell him that I put the mice in Mrs. Gonyakisei’s garden so I take the blame. After all, the chief is a good man, and would definitely let someone escape punishment for something that they didn’t do. Anyway, he is the one who pays for most of the things we have in our village, so he must be a nice man.’ She will soon realize what she just said was a MASSIVE overstatement. Understatement.

Chapter 7: The journey to the chief

She arrives at the chief’s house with the aid of being able to read. She walks through the door, only to be grabbed by a bunch of hands and dragged along the floor and placed in a foul-smelling room.

‘Hey, what are you doing to me? I just wanted to ask the chief a question.’

‘Ask the chief a question? ASK THE CHIEF A QUESTION?’

‘Yes, that is exactly what I wanted to do. Now if you please, remove me from this horrid-smelling room and take me to your chief.’

(pause)

They all of a sudden started to speak in a different language.

‘Hah!’

‘Did you hear that? She just ORDERED us to bring her to the chief!’

Do you think we should take her there?

She might be possessed by the devil, though.

‘But it would at least banish another horrid, stinking witch, wouldn’t it?’

‘Without the chief knowing? I don’t think so. Anyway, he could make another dozen links to other witches through this girl, whether she likes it or not.’

‘True. But first we need to find out who she is.’

‘That’s easy: we just ask her. She will be willing to tell us, I’m sure.’

‘And if she isn’t...’

‘She will pay.’

They suddenly start talking a language that she could understand. Soon, she realised that they were talking to her.

‘Where are your mother and father?’

My mother went somewhere and my father is on the outskirts of the village.’

‘Where did your mother go?’

I don’t know. But she disappeared right after a child died. I haven’t seen her since. It is quite sad, and I do miss her a lot.’

‘Oh. How sad.’ (Snigger) ‘I guess we should take you to the chief so you can tell him your question.’

‘Why thank you, kind guards. Now may we please hurry, for what I need to tell him is important.’

‘Then we better hurry.’ The guards knew what had happened to her mother, and knew that the same thing will probably happen to her and many relatives in the next few weeks because of her ‘important question’. She had unwillingly given the link to her cousins, family and any of her relatives. She let them lead her through many corridors, while she unknowingly followed the people who were guiding her right into the hands of a murderer.

Chapter 8: off to a bad start

The guards knocked on a rather fancy looking door. A man then responded a few seconds later, saying ‘What it now?’ One of the men responded in the language that they spoke before, making it impossible for her to understand. After a few minutes of this talking, she got impatient. She stood up and rose as high as she could from the ground and said something that ended their conversation and proved the guard’s points. That is when reality started to kick in and when the final pieces of the puzzle clicked into place-for the worse. She said this:

‘I WANT TO TALK TO HIM NOW!!!”

I think you can tell how everything went wrong after that.

The chief understood what the guards were talking about now. She was a perfect way to find links to witches and an easy target, too. She also did not know the ways of the town and how punishable it was to request the chief, so there will be no quarrels. He immediately knew what to do. He would use her as a weapon to his advantage, and for the worse. This girl, though she didn’t know it, would soon become one of his most deadly weapons. She was a witch-hunter.

‘Guards, why should we delay this girl’s question any longer?’

‘No we shouldn’t delay her question: she said it was very important.’

‘Let her in, then!’

‘Yes chief.’

The chief opens the door and beckons her inside. He makes 1 of the guards wait outside to make sure that this ‘important conversation’ stays private. He offers her a chair to sit on, which is a lot more comfortable than she is used to. She then felt like she could trust the chief and tell him her question when she saw a guard in the corner of the room, holding a thing that had wires on the end of it. The thing wasn’t familiar, and she didn’t like the fact that two people were going to know her question. She told the chief this, and to the guard’s disgust, got ushered out of the room and told to join the other guard. He said a few more things, but she could make out the words, though she was not deterred. Once he came back, he told her to tell him what she wanted to tell him. So she did just that, though in a rather upright and harsh manner, so she immediately got on the chief’s bad side from the start.

‘Holy Chief Sir, I have come here for a boy.’

‘Who is this boy you speak of?’

‘A boy called Senya.’

‘Why is this boy so important to you?’ The chief was simply trying to find a way to blame her so she looked enough like a witch to be burnt publicly.

‘We were born at the same place and around about the same time.’

‘Is that an excuse to be friends of a boy?’

She thought about this for a moment. Then she decided to tell him her opinion, whether he liked it or not. This is where things start to get messy.

Chapter 9: Her opinion publicized   

 ‘Why does it matter? Boys and girls should be equal. Why is it so important that girls and boys are separated from each other? Why can’t people who aren’t close relations be friends? Is it because you think that we will take over the planet? We certainly won’t. I mean seriously, you’re the chief of this town, and yet you don’t do anything to fix the serious difference between women and men’s equality?

Look at us, all feeble and meek in society compared to men because we haven’t been given the chance to prove ourselves. We have been reduced to jobs that all women should do according to society and restricted from knowledge and skill. I strive to fix this problem, and I read all the books I can get and write down everything I know daily. I am as intelligent as any man, yet you do not respect me? I found my way here by reading. I get top grades by knowledge. I am respected because of my writing. But yet we are still unequal. You will fix that, won’t you, chief?

The chief stands there, shocked and infuriated. He knows that this girl can be his weapon, but only for a short period of time. He would find all the possible links, and then burn her. He had ample evidence against her and her family anyway. Though he needed to find out who her father was first.

Chapter 10: 

‘That was a...good speech. Now, what did your mother do?’

‘She healed people and created mousetraps.’

‘Oh! Her?’

‘Do you know where she is?’

‘No.’ He lied. He actually knew exactly where she was.  He didn’t tell her, for she didn’t know about the whole ‘burning thing’. For now, he would ask her about her family and friends, and burn them too. For why should he keep her alive when she challenged to speak directly to me him?  

After a few minutes, he had extracted about 20 people that he could burn easily, and without controversy. He had also made her completely forget about her ‘friend’ Senya. At least he thought he did.

‘Now, what about my most important question. Where’s Senya?’

‘Oh.’ He said something in the foreign language to his guards, calling them alert, and telling them that it was about to happen.

‘Is it bad news? Or do you not know? If you don’t, I’d better go.’ She was beginning to feel uncomfortable. She heard shuffling at the door and she was sure that whatever it was-though it probably was the guards-were blocking her only exit. And escape.

‘I don’t think so, my dear. And I do know where he is. Exactly where he is.’

Chapter 11:

She completely forgot about her uneasiness and became quite excited. After all, that is why she came to the chief in the first place.

‘Where, chief? This was the important thing I wanted to tell you. One important thing at least.’

‘Oh.’ The chief didn’t know that there is another thing that she wanted to say. This girl was full of surprises! ‘What is this other question?’

‘More a statement.’ She replied. She was proud to show her knowledge by saying this. ‘Can I trust you?’

‘Yes, I am your chief! Of course you can trust me!’ The guards (yes, they were still there) sniggered at this comment, for they knew well that that wasn’t true. He silenced them quickly and then motioned her to continue.

‘Ummm... it is very embarrassing. Will I get in trouble?’

‘You don’t have to be scared. Just tell me.’

‘OK... I did it. I put the mice in Mrs. Gonyakisei’s garden. It wasn’t Senya, it was me. People were teasing me...so I got angry and...’ She had said enough.

‘You put mice in someone’s garden?’

‘Isn’t that what you were accusing him of?’

‘No.'

‘Oh.’ Her stomach dropped. She had now blamed herself to defend someone else when that wasn’t what they were accused of doing. She had waded in deep water without a floaty ring to keep her out of the deep. In other words, she had just walked into a sticky situation that she was trying to solve without appropriate information, like scoring an own-goal. She had locked herself inside a box with no way out. This is where the punishments really started.

‘You know the punishments of doing this, correct?’

‘There are punishments?’

‘Yes, and many of your family suffered these punishments. Including your mother.’

‘My mother? Is she ok...wait. You said that you didn’t know anything about my mother. But you wouldn’t lie, you’re a chief.’ Even those words didn’t comfort her. She was beginning to get seriously worried, and her trust in the chief was slipping away every second. Though she is completely fine compared to the fear she would experience and the knowledge that she would learn.

‘Even we lie sometimes.’

‘But you wouldn’t...’

‘Oh, we do all the time. And we are also very good at creating fake bonds.’

‘But you wouldn’t be mean to such a young girl like me, would you?’

‘Why would you say that? Come to think of it’ the chief paused before continuing ‘you should begin to feel tired any second now...’

She did feel a little woozy, to be honest, but after mentioning that, a sudden wave of nausea and tiredness rushed over her, stunning her for a second. She was about to nod off when she remembered that she was not at home, and if she didn’t stay awake, who knows what the chief would do with her. She laboured and managed to get into a sitting position when an unwelcome thought popped into her mind.

How did he make me feel tired? You can’t just say ‘You will be tired’ and suddenly become tired. It just doesn’t work that way. But then... oh! They must have put something in the food! What a fool I am!

‘Would you like to know what happened to your mother?’

‘Yes...but I can’t trust you anymore. Particularly after you put the thing that made me tired in my food...but OK.’ She then remembered Senya. ‘And I suppose you know about Senya, so tell me about this as well.’She was anxious to know where Senya was...or what happened to him

Chapter 12: the punishment

‘Your mother was a devil. She magically appeared in our village and started healing our people with this substance. She then created the mouse traps as a distraction and a way to make the mice smarter. This is banned from our village, for our fate is decided by the gods. So we of course knew that she was possessed by the Mara and killed her. Burnt her at the stake, rather.’

No. This can’t be! My mother can’t have been killed by these men. She must be alive. My only hope in this village was her mum...and Senya.

She felt like a massive part of her heart froze, and that she was sucked into an infinite whirlpool of sadness. She now knew that they were not just creepy, but dangerous. They were guilty of murdering her mother and many other women, and now she knew what that smell was...burning.

I am now even their prime target!  I hate them so much! I will get my revenge on the chief, no matter the consequence. I will avenge my mother and all those who were falsely accused of being a witch because of their gender and differences! I will avenge all those who were killed because of gender discrimination!

Meanwhile, the chief was still talking about her horrible her mother was when he realised that she wasn’t listening. Then he decided to break the big news. She was hopefully still weak and tired from the small drop of sedate I put into her food, and she will hopefully be in so much shock that she will be easy to capture. If only he knew what she was thinking.

‘And about Senya...’ He paused, waiting for a response.

‘About who?’ She was dragging it out as long as she could. It was also hard for her to hear because of the medicine.

‘Senya.’

‘What happened to him?’ She knew that he couldn’t have suffered the same fate. Could he?

‘He was burnt yesterday. Caught with a girl trading books and talking.’

Her face fell. She was shocked for a brief moment before a wave of anger overtook her and she was in a rage. Instead of expressing her anger, her instinct told her that it was best to stay quiet. So she did just that.

The guards grabbed her and tied her arms and legs together so she couldn’t move. They taunted her and said dirty things to her, but she did not retaliate. They poked her and hurt her, but they didn’t get the reaction they wanted. She remained completely unmoved, and showed no signs of fear. The guards continued to search for her weakness, but didn’t find one. They dragged her to a pole and set it aflame, and even though it clawed at her and consumed her, she showed no sign of trouble. She would continue to persevere no matter the circumstances.

The flames licked her body and danced a sort of jig as they ascended higher and higher. She felt like her skin was melting, her face dripping. She looked at herself. She had no toes; her body was all melted, just like wax on a candle. She didn’t need to know anything else to know what her face looked like. She could picture it in her mind, all twisted and contorted and foul-looking. Though she daren’t be afraid. She wouldn’t let these nasty men get the better of her! It was a shame, though, for she was rather pretty beforehand, but oh well. It is worth the revenge she will experience when I get out of this mess. If she does get out of this mess.

What if I just stand here for as long as it takes for me to die? What if I just while away my life waiting for me to turn into a puddle? What if I...’ She was beginning to worry that she wouldn’t get a chance to get revenge. That this would be the last place she would ever step foot on in her short life. She had learnt enough to understand what usually happened to women like me; tied up on a pole, their souls slowly melting away from them. What a sad life it must be for these people. Even if she kept on burning, she vowed that she would at least do something to help these women live a free, witch-free life. And it was the kids fault! Senya died because of me, and soon all my relations would too.

That was when she noticed that the chief was approaching her, followed by his guards. She was surprised that she could even see. She also saw them come over and untie her ropes. She had lived! She had survived the wrath of the men! She was free!

She silently rejoiced as they led her into the chief’s room again. She was still happy after she was told that she could no longer stay in the village anymore. She had never felt so...accomplished before that she didn’t notice. She acted like it was OK, though it actually it was better than OK. She knew that there was a cave right next to the well that she used to draw water from, and that the crops grew not far off from there.

She was escorted out the back –way so no villagers saw her. The chief must have not wanted to let a girl so young live through this ordeal, but he had no choice. She was braver than all the other people that he had met-and she was a girl! She was fearless; didn’t seem annoyed when we taunted her, didn’t retaliate, didn’t show any sign of fear when flames were covering her body. She seemed so calm and...Innocent in the chief’s eyes. He couldn’t tell anyone this, for fear of being down-graded. He almost felt guilty that he was burning all those people, like he was beginning to understand how foolish he was.

‘Great!’ after she had navigated back to the cave, she had been in a very good mood. She had managed to find straw, which she would turn into a bed of some sorts, and plenty of firewood. She had some grains with her as well. She wouldn’t be needing those though, for now. She had begun to carve a pail to hold her water, and was just about to test it when she remembered what just happened. The weight dropped on her yet again, but this time a lot worse. How could she just walk away and be happy after everything she had just discovered? She then remembered the rage.

‘I will still do something, no matter the risks! I will go find somewhere else to live and fix their village and then they will pass it on and...’ she did not seem to notice the many flaws in her plan, but it was still a good idea.

‘I will also get revenge on the stupid guards and chief for doing this to my mother and Senya and many others.’ She said this with pride, but with a new emotion: frustration. More than anything she wanted to prove that women were equal to men and that they can do most of the things that man can do, if not more. So far, women were restricted to ‘womanly jobs’ like doctors and teachers. It needed to be changed, and she was just the woman for the job.

A few months after she was burnt, she was working full-tilt. She had disguised as an old woman and got into the medicine-trade. This included herbs and spices and whatnot, all the sort of things that a witch would do. She had managed to convince herself that she was a horrible, ugly witch because she was called that at school, do she started acting like one. She grew long fingernails and spoke with a crackly voice but NEVER SHOWED HER FACE. When she had first seen her face, she had cried out in terror. She wasn’t surprised, just shocked. She immediately made a mask out of wood and other things so people never had to see her true looks. When she went into the village, she got some black chalk and painted some grass black. She then used all her skills to make it look like hair. She soon learnt to make other facial features out of many materials, and soon she had made a mask.

You couldn’t tell that it was a mask, for it acted almost like a second skin. She was able to go into the city and buy all the things she needed because of what she looked like. She soon became respected throughout the whole village, and was even asked to see the chief! She couldn’t, of course, but she continued to go into the village bringing some of her ‘goods’ to keep up her reputation. She turned this into a job and earned enough money to buy the food she needed every day. Her new life was a good, free life, but she never forgotten what the chief did to her those few months back. She never forgot her plan for revenge. She would find a way to make a potion that would force the people to kill each other. I would turn him into something so horrible so evil, that the villagers would kill him without a second thought. Without knowing that the thing was actually their ruler, their chief. She knew just the thing that could enforce these rules and make it easy, now she knew she was a witch. She would turn him into a mouse.

She began to get to work. She gathered all the materials that she needed, from the village or from the wild expanse around it. She was at the point where it was ready to use when she was invited to visit the school. She remembered about books and knowledge, and craved to get her hands on some of the books there, so she accepted the invitation. There were also the nasty kids that used to tease me there and decided that I would use them as my test models. If it worked, they deserved it anyway. If it didn’t, at least I would find out what was missing from her brew. She had previously accepted a trip to see the chief.  If it wasn’t be ready by then, so be it.

She walked through her old school gates again, not as a foreign girl, but a respected elder. I got toured by 2 students, one of them her best friend. She got toured through the school and was told its history. She thanked the girl and left the girls section and entered the boy’s. She saw the massive difference in quality and got quite frustrated, though she hid her anger and continued her trip. As I suspected, I was being toured by the goody-two-shoes bullies. What the bonus was for her was that 2 of them were there. As they toured me through the library, I asked if I could take these books to ‘prove that man are the superior being’. Anyway, being the dim-witted boy he was, he said yes. I gave him a treat (which was filled with my latest potion) and told him to eat it at night when no one was looking. I told him that he would become powerful, and that wasn’t a lie. When you are a mouse, you can do whatever you please and eat as much as you want, so I guess that’s power.

It worked! I watched him eat it just after sundown and BOOM! Straight into a rat. It worked too fast, but I can change that easily. After all, all women are witches in their own way, and I just happen to be able to make potions. Now, I am going to go to a meeting with a whole group of women in a few days. They think that I am a woman, when I am only in my teens! Wow. They say that they work to help children. We’ll see about that.

It has been a long time since I have been in a vehicle of any sort. I am now in a massive truck, chatting to these ladies and trying to figure out their true role. I had to answer several questions with lies, for I couldn’t tell them that I was a teen who had been burnt and lived, who then became a witch and created a potion to turn people into mice and wear a mask straight-out. I might even get burnt again if they follow the stupid rule that the chief imposed. What if they knew about what I did to the kid? But they can’t...can they?

I am now sitting in a massive hall inside of a hotel. A group of women are crowding around me, and I have a feeling that I am about to be asked a lot of questions.  She braced, but the questions that came out were the opposite to what she expected.

‘How did you do it, your grandness?’

‘Do what?’ she had absolutely had no idea what they meant.

‘Turn that vicked child into a mouse!’ The woman squealed excitedly.

‘Oh, that! Um, I just made a potion that...’ She was beginning to feel a bit nervous. Were they spying on her?

‘It vas amazing! Ve vant to learn too, your grandness!’

‘Your grandness?’ She was confused. Why are they calling me ‘your grandness?’

‘Us vitches have been unorganized for many years and need a vitch to rule over us all. Us vitches vant to get rid of all the little children everyvhere, but to do so, we needed a sufficient leader. We looked and looked, and then we find you! So vill you be our leader, oh grandness?

She didn’t know what to say. She had always wanted to be the leader of such an organisation. She also hated children, because the only ones she grew up with were mean, except for Senya. He was her little beacon of hope, but now he was destroyed, there was no clear path for her. If she did though, she could spead her ideas all over the world and achieve her goal. These women seemed to have the same opinion anyway. Why not?