I wrote this story for school last year. There are a few mistakes, and some of the grammar isn't that good- sorry
Olly Masters
I stared up at the sky; the tiny stars, glowing in the distance. I laid down on the ground, not caring about the snow soaking my clothes. It was probably about midnight, and the massive yellow moon was nearly over my house. My parents were in bed. It was reasonably quiet out here, the only sounds being the occasional car crunching on the icy roads, the rustling of plants under the heavy snow, my own breathing. I could feel the stinging cold biting my fingers, and freezing water seeping into my socks. I knew my pyjamas were totally soaked. It was still snowing now, and I could feel the weightless flakes landing on my face. I had to go inside- get a warm drink, dry clothes and all that stuff. But for some reason, I couldn’t move. I wiped the snow off my face with my freezing, numb hand. I sat up. My wet T- shirt stuck to my back. There was a grey cat sitting on the shed roof, it’s green eyes watching me eerily. I stood up. I brushed the snow off, and headed for the patio doors. My trainers crunched on the snow, ice at the bottom. I stepped in through the doors, and took off my shoes. I held them outside and hit them gingerly on the side of the house, so the snow fell off. I pulled the door shut and tucked my soaking trainers behind an armchair. I walked across the living room, taking care to not to make too much noise. Quietly I crept upstairs and into my bedroom. I pulled off my disgusting socks. I got my clean clothes. I dried myself off as I got changed with an old jumper I found on the floor. Afterwards, I climbed into my bed, underneath the duvet. I could feel that one of my socks was inside out, although I couldn’t be bothered to change it.
I glanced at my watch- 9am. My parents would be at work now. I think it was December 27th- two days after Christmas. I picked up my TV remote off the floor. I fumbled for the ‘on’ button. The TV burst into life. I flicked through the channels, but there was nothing I liked. I switched the TV off, and placed the remote down on the floor. I got out of bed and plodded downstairs. I sat down on the leather sofa. I switched on the stereo, and turned up the volume. I had only been listening for a couple of minutes when the phone rang. I switched off the stereo and approached the phone. Wondering who it was, I held it up to my ear. “Olly Masters,” a voice said on the phone.
“Er...yeah- that’s me,” I said, sounding slightly unsure. Perhaps it was just one of my mates playing a trick.
“Where are you?” the voice asked. It was quite a deep, muffled voice, quite hard for a kid to fake.
“Who is this?” I asked nervously.
“Where are you?” it said again, sounding slightly irritated.
“At... at home. Why?” I stuttered. I was going to put the phone down in a minute.
“Don’t hang up,” it started, “I know what you’re what you’re thinking, kid.” The icy fear gripped me.
“Who is this?” I repeated.
“Firefly,” it said simply.
“What?”
“My name is Firefly. Yours is Olly Masters.”
“How do you know my name?”
“I’ve always been here. At you house. You’ve never noticed me,”
“What do you mean?” I said, in terrified whisper.
“I’m here right now. Watching you...”
“What!?” I almost shouted down the phone.
“You’ve seen me. Out the corner of your eye. Even when you put the phone down. I’ll still be here,” I slammed the phone down. I looked around the room; although I wasn’t expecting to see anything. I picked up the phone again, and pressed a button: “The last caller was:” started the electronic woman’s voice, “000000000,”
“That number can’t exist!” I squeaked aloud. Slowly, I put the phone back down. “What was that thing?” I thought, “It just didn’t sound... human.” I switched the stereo on again, and jumped back on the sofa.
“I’m still here, Olly,” it said. I froze. The volume went down- I could see the dial turning by itself, “And I always will be,” The creature laughed horribly, as it turned the volume back up. It got to the maximum and the ceiling was vibrating. It was still cackling. I dived down onto the floor and scrambled for the wires. I grabbed the right one and yanked it out. The music and the laughter stopped abruptly. A fraction of a second later, the phone started ringing again. I jumped back on the sofa, and pressed a cushion over my ears. I could still hear it ringing. I threw the cushion down on the floor. “I know you’re there Olly. You’re sitting on the sofa,” the phone stopped ringing and the voice of ‘Firefly’ returned.
“What do you want!?” I shouted. There was no answer, “Then buzz off, Firefly!” I called running across the living room and unplugging the phone.
“Nice try, Olly.” Unplugging hadn’t worked this time. I was stuck now. I ran out of the room and up the stairs. I pushed open my bedroom door and dived onto the bed. The TV was on. Well- there was no picture, of course- there was sound, “Hello again, Olly,”
“Leave me alone!” I couldn’t reach the TV plug, as it was behind my wardrobe.
“Why should I?”
“Er...” I thought for a second, “What are you? A ghost?”
“No. I am not a ghost or anything like that. You could say that I don’t even exist,”
“How come you’ve never talked before?”
“Oh, but I have. It’s just that you’ve never noticed,” I pulled on my jeans and grabbed a jumper out of the wardrobe. I shoved on my snow boots and left the room. I picked up my woolly hat and pulled it on over my brown hair. I put on my gloves and ran into the kitchen. I grabbed the keys and left the house. After stepping outside, I clicked the front door shut and locked it behind me. I zipped the keys in my pocket and ran down the driveway. It was good to finally get away from the terrible Firefly. I leapt over the wall. Misjudging the landing, I hit the icy ground hard. An old man walking a dog across the road stopped and stared at me, “You alright, son?!” he called.
“Er... yeah. I guess!” I shouted, trying to sound jokey, although I was still absolutely terrified. The man walked away down the path, the small dog sniffing the ground. I stood up, and brushed off the grit, snow and dirt that stuck to my clothes like Velcro. I didn’t know where I was going to go. My friend Will was still on holiday in Finland. I had no idea where any of my other friends lived. It was a weird situation. I couldn’t go inside my own house. It would be about five hours before my mum and dad got back. I couldn’t stay out here for that long. I walked off down the road, heading for the block of garages at the end of the street. Looking back at my house, the evil laughter of Firefly filled my head. I broke into a run, taking care not to slip. Panting, I slowed as I reached the first garage. The bottom corner was bent up and I crawled inside. Will and I used to go in there all the time- in fact it was his older brother who had pulled up the corner of the abandoned garage. The garage was pretty empty, except for a stack of comics in the corner, a couple of cardboard boxes we used as chairs, a few battery lanterns and torches, a pile of board games and a bowl of sweets and chocolate bars. I walked over and switched on a lantern and a torch. I put them both on Will’s box. Using the dim orange light, I picked up one of the chocolate bars. I sat down and unwrapped the bar. I ate the chocolate slowly, listening to the world muffled by the snow.
Suddenly, I heard the snow crunching outside, and the creaking of the metal door. I immediately thought it was Firefly. I spun round, “Sorry to scare you. I just saw the light and heard you movin’ about,” said a young boy, crawling in. I felt slightly irritated by the intruder, “I’m Penguin,” he added.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“My real name’s Freddie, but everyone calls me Penguin,”
“What?” I repeated.
“You’re weird. But really funny. What’s your name?” he questioned, looking around my garage.
“What?” I said again, for the third time, “Oh, er, Olly. My name’s Olly,” I stuttered, realizing how much of an idiot I must have sounded.
“Hello, Olly,” Penguin stood up and brushed the snow of his knees, “Nice place you’ve got here.”
“Yeah, me and Will have been here for about two years,”
“Where is this Will then?” he asked, plucking a Mars Bar from the sweet bowl.
“In Finland,” I answered simply.
“Oh,”
“Yeah- ‘oh’ exactly,” I sighed. I missed him loads. We were best mates, and I couldn’t text or call him because he was so far away.
“Sorry,” mumbled Penguin, his mouth full of chocolate, “The rest of us are at the other block of garages further down the road.”
I looked up, “What do you mean; ‘the rest of us’?” I asked curiously.
“The team. There’s six of us,” he replied, screwing the wrapper into a ball and flicking it across the garage. I watched it fly through the air, “Do you want to meet them?” he asked.
I glanced around the garage, the darkness, the loneliness. It seemed so... sad. “Ok,” I replied, standing up. I switched off the lights, and slipped small torch in my trouser pocket. Penguin crawled outside, me following.
The bright light blinded me after being in the gloomy garage. I looked at Penguin properly in the light, he had pale brown hair, a similar colour to mine. He was smaller than me, and was wearing a pair of brown trousers, black woollen gloves, a dark blue waterproof, wellies and a green and orange scarf. “How old are you?” I asked.
“Nine. How old are you?”
“Twelve,”
“Cool, Deckchair’s twelve.”
“Who?”
“Deckchair. Declan- his real name is.”
“Why are you called Penguin?” I questioned, starting to walk down the road.
“I like chocolate- you know- the Penguin bars. Not the bird,” he explained.
“Right,” I answered as casually as I could, trying not to laugh.
“I could make up a name for you. What’s your surname and your favourite food?”
“Masters,” I replied, “I like toast with jam. And chocolate- not together though
“Olly Masters... Toast,” he repeated to himself. I could see the other block of garages come into view. A car stopped outside one of the houses, music blaring from the stereo. It was playing the same song. The same song that was playing when... I shivered. “You Ok?” asked Penguin, watching me suspiciously.
“Yeah, probly just be the cold...” I knew it wasn’t. Just the thought of Firefly at my house scared me.
“Here we are,” said Penguin, stopping outside the third garage. He pulled up the scratched blue door. Four kids were staring at us- two boys and two girls. They were sitting on stained plastic garden chairs. “Who’s ‘e?!” shouted one of the girls grumpily.
I glanced to Penguin, “Don’t worry about her, that’s just Wasp. She’s always like that. This is Olly. Found him in garage block Porcupine.”
“Where?”
“All these questions!” laughed Penguin, “We’ve given all the blocks names. ‘Unusual animals’ is the theme. We’re in Platypus right now.”
“OK,” I answered slowly.
“Anyway, you know I’m Penguin. Grumpy over there is Wasp; Heather. That’s Deckchair, I mentioned him earlier,” he pointed to another boy, a bit bigger than me, with scruffy blond hair, wearing a baseball cap. “Hi,” Deckchair said, looking up from a car magazine.
“He’s JJJ, short for ‘Just Justin Johnson’,” this boy was younger than me, probably about seven or eight. He was drawing a picture of a train on a piece of cardboard.
“Finally, that’s Laptop. She’s always on that little, well, laptop. And she loves cats,” I glanced to Penguin again, “You know, a cat sits on top of your lap. Get it? Laptop- Top of your lap...? Well, it was funny at the time.”
JJJ switched on a massive lantern, and Penguin pulled down the garage door. I glanced at my watch- 1pm. “We’re Derek-Licked,” said Deckchair, pulling something out of his pocket.
“Our team name,” added Laptop, peering over the top of the screen.
“Weird name,” I thought. Deckchair held open his hand, revealing a bone-shaped biscuit. A small sandy- coloured dog ran up to him from behind a stack of magazines and games. “This is Derek,” said Deckchair, as the small Labrador scoffed the biscuit.
“He licks everything. Our original name was Rat Town, because of all the rats that live round here. Then JJJ found Derek round by the Tarantula block. He was only tiny when we found him. He’s lived here ever since. That’s where we get our name. Derek-Licked. It also sounds a bit like ‘derelict’. Like the garages,” explained Laptop, smiling. At first the random names seemed a bit ridiculous, but the odd thing was that they all seemed to have a clever explanation. Derek wagged his tail and sat down at JJJ’s feet. “Anyone want any marshmallows?” asked Deckchair, holding up a bag. There was no answer, JJJ continued to draw, Laptop continued to type and Wasp continued to scowl, “Don’t like them,” she grumbled.
“That’s why I brought them. Otherwise you’d scoff ‘em all like you did Penguin’s cookies,” he laughed. Penguin pulled up plastic garden chair and sat down. I looked around but couldn’t see another. I sat down on a rug. “You want one, Olly?” asked Deckchair.
“Yeah, OK,” I answered. Deckchair got one out of the bag and threw it to me. I caught it, and felt the soft floury texture between my fingers, reminding me of the fluffy snow. I popped it into my mouth, and chewed. Wasp picked up a glass of orange juice from the floor. “Yuck! There’s a fly in it!” she shouted. Deckchair and Penguin laughed loudly, and I could see JJJ and Laptop smiling as they carried on with their activities. Wasp got out the fly and flicked it at Deckchair. Still laughing, he picked it up off the floor and catapulted it back, using an elastic band. She squeaked as the dead fly flew at her, and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. Derek plodded up to me and laid down on the rug beside me. I stroked his soft fur. My own dog, Pancake, had died two years ago. I remember sitting in the garage with him and Will long ago, eating ice creams and trying to play chess, Pancake knocking over the pieces. I shivered, my mind returning back to the present. Derek licked the melting snow of the bottoms off my boots. “You can sit over there, if you want,” Penguin said, pointing to a metal framed camping bed. It had a pillow and a red, blue and yellow striped duvet. “I sleep here sometimes,” started Penguin, “I live with my big cousin; she doesn’t really care where I am.”
“Where’re your parents?” I asked.
“I think they live in New Zealand now, with my sister. They didn’t want me anymore,” he answered.
“Oh,” I said, sitting down carefully on the bed, “Did you get anything for Christmas?”
“These guys bought me some stuff, and my cousin bought me this waterproof and the gloves,” I felt sorry for the kid, having to put up with everything.
“My dad works most of the time- he knows where I am, so he doesn’t mind. He comes here sometimes, and buys food for Derek,” said Deckchair, still eating his marshmallows. The other kids explained their stories. “I thought you said there were six kids in Derek-Licked,” I said to Penguin.
“Nah, used to be,” he sighed, “There was Thunder; Zak Granger. Nice kid. One day he just disappeared, didn’t show up. It was still Rat Town when he went,” Penguin smiled, “I started the team about three or four years ago now. It was me and Thunder. ‘Thunder Penguin’ we were called. Then Laptop and Deckchair. When they turned up, the name changed to Rat Town. Thunder went. About a month later Wasp arrived. JJJ’s only been here about eight months,” JJJ poured me a glass of orange juice, “Ok?” he asked, sitting back down.
“Yeah, fine,” I answered, sipping the cold juice, “So- what do you do at Derek-Licked?”
“We help kids,” answered Penguin, “For example, kids that have problems at home, bullying and all that stuff. We just sort of roam the streets looking for kids that need help,”
“Cool,” I said.
“And we fight aliens,” added Deckchair. I looked up from my juice, Laptop stopped typing and JJJ stopped drawing.
“Yeah” Penguin smiled, “we do,” he said awkwardly.
“Aliens?” I put my juice down, “What sort of aliens? I’ve never seen any.”
“Not very often- but some kids have strange stories. Odd creatures or people. Ghosts.”
“What do you do with the aliens? How do you stop them?” I asked, still thinking of Firefly.
“We come to the kid’s house, like, when their parents are out or something, and we try to well, help,”
“Do you help them?” I asked, as I was genuinely intrigued.
“...Yeah,” answered Penguin.
“Most of the time,” added Laptop.
“More like ‘occasionally’,” commented Deckchair. Derek plodded back over to me, and stuck his long pink tongue in my juice. I watched him lap it up, but I didn’t stop him.
“Remember the time we helped that girl with that alien plant. She thought it was a spider- plant. Then it grew legs. And eyes. And er... teeth,” Penguin said, unwrapping a lollipop he had taken from his pocket.
“Yeah, I do remember that. Didn’t it eat the kid’s fish as well?” questioned Wasp.
“It did, and the hamster,” replied Deckchair.
“Not particularly friendly aliens, then?” I asked.
“Some are nice. But it’s more fun when they’re evil. Sometimes we literally have to fight them. I’ve got a swing-ball pole,” Penguin grinned, “Laptop’s got a hockey stick, Deckchair’s got a cricket bat, JJJ’s got a baseball bat that I borrowed from school and Wasp’s got a shovel. We keep the things behind the stack of stuff. Over there,” Penguin pointed to the pile of magazines and games. I stood up looked behind. There was a blue and green dog bed, food and water bowls and a sack. I picked it up and looked inside. There was all the items, and another, a blue and gold patterned cricket bat. Penguin walked up beside me. He saw me looking at the bat, “That was Thunder’s. Do you want it?” “Oh, er... Are you sure? I mean, is it OK?” I asked, taking out the bat.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” Penguin sighed, staring at it. I put it back in the bag, and sat down on the bed again.
“I found some Skittles in my pocket, anyone want any?” asked Penguin.
“Don’t like them either,” grumbled Wasp. Penguin laughed.
“You don’t really like anything!” he joked.
“I’ll have some,” said Deckchair, holding his open hand towards Penguin. Penguin tipped eight or nine out of the bag. “You want some, JJJ?”
“Yeah,” he answered. JJJ had finished his drawing, he was colouring it now. Penguin gave a handful to JJJ. He sat there, eating them slowly, one at a time. Deckchair had eaten all of his already. “Laptop?” Penguin asked.
“I’m fine,” she said, not taking her eyes from the screen.
“And,” started Penguin, scoffing his sweets, “do you remember the time that kid had a problem with a giant ladybird,”
“A giant ladybird!?” I laughed.
“It kept coming into the house and scaring his cat, and his little sister. I think we’ve still got it. Have we, Deckchair?”
“Er... yeah, I think so,” He rummaged about in a rucksack propped against his chair leg. Deckchair took out a small cardboard box, “Have a look,” he said, passing it to me. I pulled open the lid. I gasped; sitting on a bed of ripped up tissue was in fact a big ladybird. And I mean a big ladybird- about the size of one of those golden hamsters. I shut the box, “Alien,” said Penguin simply, as I gave the box back to Deckchair.
“Can I have some of them, Penguin?” I asked, looking at the Skittles.
“What?- Oh, yeah,” He took his hand out of the bag and through the sweets to me. I caught it before any of them fell out. It was 2.30pm now. Derek was asleep at my feet. “Look at this,” said Laptop, staring suspiciously at the screen. “Some message has come up and I don’t know what it means,” she said, turning the laptop around. Everyone peered at it, “What does it say?” asked Penguin, “You know I can’t read,”
Deckchair read, “It says: ‘I am Firefly, and I am here’. I don’t get that either.” More terrified now, I looked closer at the screen. Under Laptop’s writing, in large, red capital letters, was the message.
“Firefly,” I whispered.
“Do you think it’s an alien?” asked Penguin, taking of his wellies, waterproof and gloves. I’d taken off my own gloves as I came in.
“Dunno,” said JJJ.
“Could be,” added Laptop turning it to face her. She started typing, but then stopped suddenly, “It’s doing it again- I can see the keys going down!” she said, turning it again. We watched the new message appear. “’Olly Masters. Freddie Lake. Kelly Webb. Declan Richards. Justin Johnson, Heather Ford; I’m watching you’. That’s what it says,” Laptop read from the screen.
“How does it know our names?” asked Wasp, scowling at the message.
“It was in my house,” I said. The kids would believe- they saw that sort of thing most days. I needed to tell someone.
“Really? No wonder you were acting weird. What did it do?” questioned Penguin, swinging back and forth on his chair.
“I came downstairs and the phone rang. It said loads of creepy things, like ‘I’m watching you’ and ‘I’m still here’ and stuff. Then it started playing about with my stereo. Then it came back on the phone. The phone said the number was something like ‘000000000’. I ran upstairs, but it was talking through my TV. I couldn’t take it any more so I ran outside. That’s why I was in the garage, ‘cause I couldn’t go back inside.”
“Creepy,” said Penguin, staring at me with wide eyes, “We haven’t had a case like this before. Wha’s it called again, Olly?”
“Firefly,” replied Laptop. Everyone thought for a minute.
“I’ve thought of a nickname for you,” started Penguin suddenly, “It’s Snow- Worm. Worm is Snow backwards,” changing the subject completely.
“No it isn’t,” laughed Deckchair, “I’ve thought of a better one; Toaster. You like toast, and you discovered the Firefly.”
“Great,” I said, it wasn’t as cool as ‘Laptop’ or ‘Thunder’, but it was good enough.
“Do you want to add yourself to the Derek-Licked Team Board?” asked Penguin, standing up.
“Basically scratch your name on the door,” said Deckchair, putting the half-empty bag of marshmallows in his rucksack. Penguin heaved up the metal door and walked outside, I and the rest of the team followed. Penguin pulled the door down. Scratched on the door, at the very top was the words ‘Thunder Penguin’. Underneath was ‘Thunder’ and then ‘Penguin’. “I had to stand on one of the chairs to write my name!” Penguin laughed, looking up at the door. ‘Thunder Penguin’ had a single straight line through it, and beside it was ‘Rat Town’. Underneath Penguin was Deckchair and Laptop. Then, Wasp and JJJ. ‘Rat Town’ was crossed out, and beside that was ‘Derek-Licked’.
Penguin passed me a piece of metal, broken off the side of one of the garage doors. Carefully and slowly, I scratched ‘Toaster’ into the paint. When I finished, I gave the metal back to Penguin, who put it in the bottom corner of garage.
“There you go. Welcome to Derek-Licked.” Penguin said, as he pulled up the door. Everyone sat back down.
“What do you think Firefly is?” asked Laptop.
“I asked it. It’s reply was ‘I’m not a ghost of something like that. You could say I don’t even exist’. That’s what it said to me,” I could still hear Firefly’s voice in my head.
“That’s proper creepy,” exclaimed Laptop.
“Yeah,” said JJJ.
“What do you think, Penguin?” I asked. Penguin didn’t answer. He sat in the chair, bent over, his head in his hands, in deep thought. He kept murmuring ‘Firefly’ to himself. He snapped his fingers and sat up suddenly “Thunder! The last few weeks he was here. He’d moved house, and kept talking about voices in his head and things playing with his electronic stuff. I thought he was joking. Perhaps it was Firefly...”
“Where did he move to?” I asked.
“Er... twenty... five, David’s Way.”
“That’s two houses down from me!” I exclaimed.
“It must be something about the street,” decided Deckchair. Everyone sat in silence, deep in thought, considering the possibilities.
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