Tenth Grade 2018
First Place: Ani Harutyunyan, Yerevan
Every day you receive a newspaper that shows the news for the day. You do not know where this newspaper comes from, but it tells you all of the good and bad things that happen in the next 24 hours. What do you do with this information?
Every day I receive a newspaper that tell me all of the good and the bad things that happen for the next 24 hours. One day I received it and read the bottom of the page: “Our planet is in danger! You can help him”.
A friend of mine (I don’t want to say his name, because he is a famous person now and I don’t want others to know the difficult way he achieved his aims with), who was very close to me, was an imaginative person. He often imagined, that one day he and me would survive our Earth. I didn’t pay attention on it, because he has brain cancer, and doctors said, that he would live no more than three months. It was terrible news for me: I was very connected with him and I couldn’t imagine what would happen if he died…so, I tried to support him everywhere, in everything and everytime. I said that his dream would become true and one day we would help our planet.
And that day I was very surprised to see that topic in the strange newspaper. By reading it, I knew, that aliens were already near the earth. They wanted to take all the resources and creations from our Earth, because the planet they were living in wasn’t able to feed them, hadn’t fuels and oxygen. I tried to keep the newspaper and not allow my friend to read it, but he found it. I don’t know how he could do it: maybe he felt it…really. I didn’t want him to see it, I wanted to do something myself, because it could be dangerous for him.
“Don’t do anything, it can damage you!” I shouted to him.
“Tomorrow we are going to sign a contract with the aliens”, he was calm and smiled.
“Are you crazy? What did they propose?”
“They won’t take anymore, if one of the Earth’s population, who knows ways to get everything necessary, becomes an alien and goes with them”.
“You’re out of mind…If I am not mistaken, that man is going to be YOU?”
“Listen to me, my dear, what is more useful: to lose an ill man and save the population, or to loose everything?”
“But…but…I can’t live without you, you’re the one I can easily share my thoughts with, I can feel myself calm and witty…Oh, I’ve a great idea: nothing will happen and change, if I go instead of you…”
He put his finger on my mouth and didn’t allow me to continue.
“I have certain days to live in this life. Then I’ll go. What will you do without me. Our friendship will be in our hearts forever, because a friend is a person, who is with you everywhere and whatever happens…”
I didn’t say anything. I just lay behind him and felt tears on my face. What could I do with such a loyal person, who thought about everyone except himself…
The following day I got a newspaper where was written that “A poor and brave boy saved our planet”. I started to cry…I decided to go to the place, where he would become an alien and see it (the place and time published in the newspaper). I went there and saw him. He was so happy and cheerful, he smiled, like nothing would happen.
Suddenly an alien came from the UFO and put in the ground two cups with blue and green substances in them. There was a piece of paper, on which was written: “Such as we found every instuction we need, but we sined a contract with you, you must drink one of these drinks. One is useful for you, the other will turn you into an alien”.
“ My God…” he spoke to himself, “I’ll choose the green one. Green is the favourite colour of my best friend”. He drank it and fell on the ground. Of course, I was very afraid of it, I helped him, took him to a hospital…and here my story ends.
Can you imagine what happened then? The green was killing cancer cells…Now he feels himself very good. Both of us is healthy. I wanna say also, that we are married now, and we have a happy family. The moral of my story is: the friendship and love never end.
Second Place: Nvard Chalabyan, Yerevan
You are lost in the woods with a friend. You meet a person who offers to lead you out and you accept. However, before long you get the feeling you are being lead somewhere nobody would want to go.
“Are you lost?” A voice says softly from behind the dry pine tree. A person in big clothes stepped forward and smiled at me. Their features were notable, to say the least: they were a child, most likely going through puberty, bald with a face that wasn’t feminine enough but not masculine either. No body structure was distinguishable under the big long coat this person wore, and the soft voice was neither high and girly nor cracked or low with a man’s tembre.
“What are you?” I blurted out without thinking through my words. The child smiled and came closer to me.
“Why so rude? Or perhaps you don’t know English well. I am Al, a villager who lives near this forest.” Al called out once again, “Are you lost?”
“I am, I lost my friend too. Please help me.”
“Oh my little rabbit”, said Al, holding out a hand, “Your friend Maab has already reached safety. I helped her out. Why don’t I help you too?”
“Will you? Please do”.
Al smiled widely and grabbed my hand. Al began running, forcing me to run through the tangled forest with them. I almost tripped many times as we ran, and gasped “Stop running! Stop running! I’m exhausted!”
A cold childish laughter came out of Al’s mouth, “Why? Isn’t running fun, my little rabbit? You’re friend ran like a magnificent jaguar!”
Al didn’t listen at first, but after running another 200 meters though the densing forest, stopped. Al looked at me with their same smile and told me, looking straight into my eyes, “I guess rabbits get tired quickly, not like jaguars”. Al continues staring at me, occasionally moving around my body to view all of it.
Jaguar? Rabbit? Why is my friend Jaguar? Is it perhaps of her African descent or her skin colour? Is it her body type, her muscular legs and arms?
“Al, but why am I a rabbit?”
Al stopped looking around and set their gaze upon mine, asking, “But aren’t you a rabbit? You’d be a great rabbit with your cute height and coward personality.” Something in me wanted to protest against my “savior” but I remembered that it’s better to just listen to the kid and get home rather than get angry and abandoned.
Seeing that I didn’t respond, Al looked down, sighed and continued, “Shall we go? Only a little bit is left.”
“Only a little bit? But the forest is so dense!”
“Trust me!” Al said, hugging me and looking down from above with their smile. “Don’t you trust me?”
Gasping from surprise, I looked up at Al and whispered, “I do”. However, I felt how I got used to the smile. The same trick doesn’t work twice, as they say.
But the shock of the hug got to me. As we walked on, I felt less and less sure. The forest wasn’t clearing up, and I looked around from side to side constantly.
“My little rabbit, are you ok?” Al asked, not looking back, “Are you nervous?”
“How did you know?”
“I can feel it.”
“And Al, aren’t you too small to call me ‘my little rabbit’?”
There, Al stopped and slowly looked back. “I’m a mother of many children, my little rabbit.”
A mother?
“Of course! I have my little hummingbird, who was my first child, who brought wonderful news at birth. I have my screeching owl, who almost died when born. My little fox always steals food, but I love him anyway.”
“Oh, so you have animals?”
Al thought for a second or two, the answered, “Technically you can say that. Oh look, here’s my home. We’ll stay here for now.”
A pretty looking house appeared suddenly from behind the tree. From far away I could see animals running around. As I was about to ask something, Al said:
“You know my little rabbit, I just got another child. And I’m about to have another”.
“Really? What?”
As we got closer I could see a still baby with stitched on hummingbird feathers and hummingbird legs. It looked weird and fascinating, even surreal. Until it moved.
“Ooh it’s that baby over there. It isn’t done yet. It’s my little jaguar”.
I sharply turned my head to see Maab, my friend, bald, with jaguar ears and tail stitched on crying “Roar, roar!”
I turned back at my ‘savior’, who continued:
“And now I’ll have a little rabbit”.
I felt a sharp stinging on my neck, and slowly I fell asleep.
Third Place: Ani Shahverdyan, Vanadzor
You are lost in the woods with a friend. You meet a person who offers to lead you out and you accept. However, before long you get the feeling you are being lead somewhere nobody would want to go.
When I was a little girl I used to love camping. It facinated me. And when I grew older and started to do it at least every month, it was like a dream come true. Me and my friends often went to forest, climbed the mountains, and went to expeditions. Every time was better than the last one. We were not planning to stop, we never wanted. It became a tradition. But…one picnic in the forest changed everything. Make yourself comfortable…you are going to listen to the story which changed my whole life and mindset.
It was a sunny day, nothing beed extraordinary. We used to go to forest with a big and noisy company, but all of my friend found excuses not to go, they were telling that these days it is not safe to stay in forest for night, but me and my best friend didn’t listen to them…oh, stupid kinds, we should have…but we were too stubborn. We went there, just two of us. Nothing seemed strange untill the sun went down. Near the fire we made, we started noticing shadows, and desided to return home, because a strange feeling suddenly appeared and to tell the truth we started to fell afraid. We packed our bags and desided to return to the car. Walking for an hour we still couldn’t find where we parked it, so we wanted to give up searching and retert to the fire and lit it again, but …we met a stranger. Something him made me shiver but my friend was so tired that she made me accept his offer to lead us. On our way he didn’t drop a word. I started to panic. A stranger, a completely unknown person is leading us deeper to the forest. That moment I thanked God that a always take a pocket knife with me. But I didn’t do anything I was just hoping that it was just my anxiety and everything was ok. I heard a noise but didn’t see anything in the darkness behind me. Than I felt a sharp pain in my head. The next thing I remember is being carried by someone , I wanted to screem for help….move, run away…But my body didn’t listen, I couldn’t move even a little bit. I felt and heard everything, but could do completely nothing. I could just pray that everything would end up well, but with every step they took, my belief was getting weaker. Then they stoped. A strong male voice was ecoedung the emptiness.
-Where should I put them.
- You can put them on the ground, while I tie them with the rope, -another voice answered.
I felt my feet being tied
-Boss will be delighted…fresh blood, I hope he’ll share with us.
-Mmmm, nothing is better than the taste of fresh blood. I can feel it’s taste in my mouth.
I felt myself being lifted up, by feet and now I was hanged upside down (my head near the ground, feet in the air). Suddenly I felt like a could move, my hand were free, probably they didn’t expect that I’ll wake up. I looked around, my friend was hanging near me, we were not high, but I was enough not to be able to feel the ground with hands. I remembered about my pocket knife and saw that we were alone. Probably they went to bring their “Boss”. I didn’t waste the time. I quickly took it out and cut the ropes, my feet were tieded up with. I fell on the ground. Niether the pain in my head, nor the pain in my whole body stoped me. I freed my friend, shoke him to wake up. We didn’t have much time. We started running in the direction our eyes saw. After running for 15 minutes we were near a road, my ear was nowhere to be seen, but a few cars passed by, one of them stoped and we asked the driver to take us to the town. He said that we are too far away from the town and he meant that we are in the opposite end of the forest. Fortunately the driver, Sam, went to the town too. Just before entering the town. I saw my car parked, we thanked Sam and went home in our car. My friend was still in shok and couldn’t understand anything. We reached home safely.
This story, is the one. I still have goose bumps remembering. It was one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me. I didn’t find out what was going in the forest, but one day I heard on the news that a cope was found dead hanging deep in the forest. Police never found who to blame. I never returned to that forest. The moral is, good kids never go to dark and dangerous forest all by themselves. Even if we are not “good” kind never do it. Never!
This is my advice it is your desision to follow it or not.
P.S. Always carry a spare pocket knife with you in case you deside to ignore my advice.
Good luck.
Every day you receive a newspaper that shows the news for the day. You do not know where this newspaper comes from, but it tells you all of the good and bad things that happen in the next 24 hours. What do you do with this information?
Every day I receive a newspaper that tell me all of the good and the bad things that happen for the next 24 hours. One day I received it and read the bottom of the page: “Our planet is in danger! You can help him”.
A friend of mine (I don’t want to say his name, because he is a famous person now and I don’t want others to know the difficult way he achieved his aims with), who was very close to me, was an imaginative person. He often imagined, that one day he and me would survive our Earth. I didn’t pay attention on it, because he has brain cancer, and doctors said, that he would live no more than three months. It was terrible news for me: I was very connected with him and I couldn’t imagine what would happen if he died…so, I tried to support him everywhere, in everything and everytime. I said that his dream would become true and one day we would help our planet.
And that day I was very surprised to see that topic in the strange newspaper. By reading it, I knew, that aliens were already near the earth. They wanted to take all the resources and creations from our Earth, because the planet they were living in wasn’t able to feed them, hadn’t fuels and oxygen. I tried to keep the newspaper and not allow my friend to read it, but he found it. I don’t know how he could do it: maybe he felt it…really. I didn’t want him to see it, I wanted to do something myself, because it could be dangerous for him.
“Don’t do anything, it can damage you!” I shouted to him.
“Tomorrow we are going to sign a contract with the aliens”, he was calm and smiled.
“Are you crazy? What did they propose?”
“They won’t take anymore, if one of the Earth’s population, who knows ways to get everything necessary, becomes an alien and goes with them”.
“You’re out of mind…If I am not mistaken, that man is going to be YOU?”
“Listen to me, my dear, what is more useful: to lose an ill man and save the population, or to loose everything?”
“But…but…I can’t live without you, you’re the one I can easily share my thoughts with, I can feel myself calm and witty…Oh, I’ve a great idea: nothing will happen and change, if I go instead of you…”
He put his finger on my mouth and didn’t allow me to continue.
“I have certain days to live in this life. Then I’ll go. What will you do without me. Our friendship will be in our hearts forever, because a friend is a person, who is with you everywhere and whatever happens…”
I didn’t say anything. I just lay behind him and felt tears on my face. What could I do with such a loyal person, who thought about everyone except himself…
The following day I got a newspaper where was written that “A poor and brave boy saved our planet”. I started to cry…I decided to go to the place, where he would become an alien and see it (the place and time published in the newspaper). I went there and saw him. He was so happy and cheerful, he smiled, like nothing would happen.
Suddenly an alien came from the UFO and put in the ground two cups with blue and green substances in them. There was a piece of paper, on which was written: “Such as we found every instuction we need, but we sined a contract with you, you must drink one of these drinks. One is useful for you, the other will turn you into an alien”.
“ My God…” he spoke to himself, “I’ll choose the green one. Green is the favourite colour of my best friend”. He drank it and fell on the ground. Of course, I was very afraid of it, I helped him, took him to a hospital…and here my story ends.
Can you imagine what happened then? The green was killing cancer cells…Now he feels himself very good. Both of us is healthy. I wanna say also, that we are married now, and we have a happy family. The moral of my story is: the friendship and love never end.
Second Place: Nvard Chalabyan, Yerevan
You are lost in the woods with a friend. You meet a person who offers to lead you out and you accept. However, before long you get the feeling you are being lead somewhere nobody would want to go.
“Are you lost?” A voice says softly from behind the dry pine tree. A person in big clothes stepped forward and smiled at me. Their features were notable, to say the least: they were a child, most likely going through puberty, bald with a face that wasn’t feminine enough but not masculine either. No body structure was distinguishable under the big long coat this person wore, and the soft voice was neither high and girly nor cracked or low with a man’s tembre.
“What are you?” I blurted out without thinking through my words. The child smiled and came closer to me.
“Why so rude? Or perhaps you don’t know English well. I am Al, a villager who lives near this forest.” Al called out once again, “Are you lost?”
“I am, I lost my friend too. Please help me.”
“Oh my little rabbit”, said Al, holding out a hand, “Your friend Maab has already reached safety. I helped her out. Why don’t I help you too?”
“Will you? Please do”.
Al smiled widely and grabbed my hand. Al began running, forcing me to run through the tangled forest with them. I almost tripped many times as we ran, and gasped “Stop running! Stop running! I’m exhausted!”
A cold childish laughter came out of Al’s mouth, “Why? Isn’t running fun, my little rabbit? You’re friend ran like a magnificent jaguar!”
Al didn’t listen at first, but after running another 200 meters though the densing forest, stopped. Al looked at me with their same smile and told me, looking straight into my eyes, “I guess rabbits get tired quickly, not like jaguars”. Al continues staring at me, occasionally moving around my body to view all of it.
Jaguar? Rabbit? Why is my friend Jaguar? Is it perhaps of her African descent or her skin colour? Is it her body type, her muscular legs and arms?
“Al, but why am I a rabbit?”
Al stopped looking around and set their gaze upon mine, asking, “But aren’t you a rabbit? You’d be a great rabbit with your cute height and coward personality.” Something in me wanted to protest against my “savior” but I remembered that it’s better to just listen to the kid and get home rather than get angry and abandoned.
Seeing that I didn’t respond, Al looked down, sighed and continued, “Shall we go? Only a little bit is left.”
“Only a little bit? But the forest is so dense!”
“Trust me!” Al said, hugging me and looking down from above with their smile. “Don’t you trust me?”
Gasping from surprise, I looked up at Al and whispered, “I do”. However, I felt how I got used to the smile. The same trick doesn’t work twice, as they say.
But the shock of the hug got to me. As we walked on, I felt less and less sure. The forest wasn’t clearing up, and I looked around from side to side constantly.
“My little rabbit, are you ok?” Al asked, not looking back, “Are you nervous?”
“How did you know?”
“I can feel it.”
“And Al, aren’t you too small to call me ‘my little rabbit’?”
There, Al stopped and slowly looked back. “I’m a mother of many children, my little rabbit.”
A mother?
“Of course! I have my little hummingbird, who was my first child, who brought wonderful news at birth. I have my screeching owl, who almost died when born. My little fox always steals food, but I love him anyway.”
“Oh, so you have animals?”
Al thought for a second or two, the answered, “Technically you can say that. Oh look, here’s my home. We’ll stay here for now.”
A pretty looking house appeared suddenly from behind the tree. From far away I could see animals running around. As I was about to ask something, Al said:
“You know my little rabbit, I just got another child. And I’m about to have another”.
“Really? What?”
As we got closer I could see a still baby with stitched on hummingbird feathers and hummingbird legs. It looked weird and fascinating, even surreal. Until it moved.
“Ooh it’s that baby over there. It isn’t done yet. It’s my little jaguar”.
I sharply turned my head to see Maab, my friend, bald, with jaguar ears and tail stitched on crying “Roar, roar!”
I turned back at my ‘savior’, who continued:
“And now I’ll have a little rabbit”.
I felt a sharp stinging on my neck, and slowly I fell asleep.
Third Place: Ani Shahverdyan, Vanadzor
You are lost in the woods with a friend. You meet a person who offers to lead you out and you accept. However, before long you get the feeling you are being lead somewhere nobody would want to go.
When I was a little girl I used to love camping. It facinated me. And when I grew older and started to do it at least every month, it was like a dream come true. Me and my friends often went to forest, climbed the mountains, and went to expeditions. Every time was better than the last one. We were not planning to stop, we never wanted. It became a tradition. But…one picnic in the forest changed everything. Make yourself comfortable…you are going to listen to the story which changed my whole life and mindset.
It was a sunny day, nothing beed extraordinary. We used to go to forest with a big and noisy company, but all of my friend found excuses not to go, they were telling that these days it is not safe to stay in forest for night, but me and my best friend didn’t listen to them…oh, stupid kinds, we should have…but we were too stubborn. We went there, just two of us. Nothing seemed strange untill the sun went down. Near the fire we made, we started noticing shadows, and desided to return home, because a strange feeling suddenly appeared and to tell the truth we started to fell afraid. We packed our bags and desided to return to the car. Walking for an hour we still couldn’t find where we parked it, so we wanted to give up searching and retert to the fire and lit it again, but …we met a stranger. Something him made me shiver but my friend was so tired that she made me accept his offer to lead us. On our way he didn’t drop a word. I started to panic. A stranger, a completely unknown person is leading us deeper to the forest. That moment I thanked God that a always take a pocket knife with me. But I didn’t do anything I was just hoping that it was just my anxiety and everything was ok. I heard a noise but didn’t see anything in the darkness behind me. Than I felt a sharp pain in my head. The next thing I remember is being carried by someone , I wanted to screem for help….move, run away…But my body didn’t listen, I couldn’t move even a little bit. I felt and heard everything, but could do completely nothing. I could just pray that everything would end up well, but with every step they took, my belief was getting weaker. Then they stoped. A strong male voice was ecoedung the emptiness.
-Where should I put them.
- You can put them on the ground, while I tie them with the rope, -another voice answered.
I felt my feet being tied
-Boss will be delighted…fresh blood, I hope he’ll share with us.
-Mmmm, nothing is better than the taste of fresh blood. I can feel it’s taste in my mouth.
I felt myself being lifted up, by feet and now I was hanged upside down (my head near the ground, feet in the air). Suddenly I felt like a could move, my hand were free, probably they didn’t expect that I’ll wake up. I looked around, my friend was hanging near me, we were not high, but I was enough not to be able to feel the ground with hands. I remembered about my pocket knife and saw that we were alone. Probably they went to bring their “Boss”. I didn’t waste the time. I quickly took it out and cut the ropes, my feet were tieded up with. I fell on the ground. Niether the pain in my head, nor the pain in my whole body stoped me. I freed my friend, shoke him to wake up. We didn’t have much time. We started running in the direction our eyes saw. After running for 15 minutes we were near a road, my ear was nowhere to be seen, but a few cars passed by, one of them stoped and we asked the driver to take us to the town. He said that we are too far away from the town and he meant that we are in the opposite end of the forest. Fortunately the driver, Sam, went to the town too. Just before entering the town. I saw my car parked, we thanked Sam and went home in our car. My friend was still in shok and couldn’t understand anything. We reached home safely.
This story, is the one. I still have goose bumps remembering. It was one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me. I didn’t find out what was going in the forest, but one day I heard on the news that a cope was found dead hanging deep in the forest. Police never found who to blame. I never returned to that forest. The moral is, good kids never go to dark and dangerous forest all by themselves. Even if we are not “good” kind never do it. Never!
This is my advice it is your desision to follow it or not.
P.S. Always carry a spare pocket knife with you in case you deside to ignore my advice.
Good luck.