The Catacombs

I wrote this when I just turned 10 and we were in Paris.

Chapter 1

-The Beginning-

'Oh Mum!' said Elsie, barely able to control herself, 'we just HAVE to go to the CATACOMBS today!'

'Ok, fine darling. It is your birthday, after all!'

'YAY!' Elsie said cheerfully. 

Today she was very excited. Her family had come for a holiday from England especially to celebrate. 

A few minutes later, Elsie's Dad said:

'Ok. I've looked up how to get there and I found out we have to use the metro. Seven stops.'

Fifteen minutes later, Elsie's Mum said: 'Everyone ready? Let's go!'

It was a quick walk to the metro station. Somehow getting there seemed to go extremely quickly. 

After what seemed like only a minute, they were at the catacombs.

              

Chapter 2                                                                     

-The Creepiness of Dead Flesh-

'Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go in!' exclaimed Elsie. 

It took a while to get to the bones. 

First they had to go down a winding spiral staircase. Some of the steps creaked. Elsie was very thankful for her hiking boots!

Finally, the staircase ended. Elsie didn't like to think about the fact that she was twenty meters underground. But she couldn't wait to see the bones. 

The dark ossuary that people call the Catacombs really did feel like the dark underworld. It felt abandoned, lonely, desolate, grotty, and damp. You could almost taste the disease and old rotting flesh that dried up. You could tell that these six million peoples' remains were from way back in the late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth century.

But Elsie liked all this. She thought that it was like diving right into the middle of a spooky horror story. 

She was getting more impatient by the minute. 'Wait a sec,' said Elsie 'where are all the other tourists? This place was crowded when we got in!'

Finally, after about fifteen minutes, they saw a doorway. It was stone and looked very old.

They went through it. Bones, bones, bones, they saw.

Skulls, leg bones, arm bones, and...suddenly...

LIVE SKELETONS!

'What on Earth is this all about?! Get off me!'  Elsie's Dad shouted as the skeletons grabbed them and started dragging the three of them away. Elsie's Mum fainted. Elsie screamed. 

                 

Chapter 3

-Skeletons Have No Brains-

While the skeletons were dragging her, Elsie could smell a sort of musty smell. She wondered what it was, but then realised it was the odour of dry bones. Elsie was terrified. She didn't know what to do. She hoped that her Mum or Dad would think of a plan. Otherwise they would be finished. 

Finally, after what felt like an hour but was really about ten minutes, the skeletons stopped dragging them. This was a darker room. At first, it took a while for Elsie's eyes to get used to the lower level of light. 

When they did, she saw a rather thin man with a sober but strangely triumphant countenance. 

'Finally,' he said, 'I have captured someone who did not read the death sign.' His triumphant expression increased. 

'Now, what I order you to do,' said this strange man, 'is something that I hope you can achieve. It is something even I have failed at.

'But if you fail, I will feed you to these skeletons who are especially hungry for fresh flesh and blood.'

Elsie shivered.

'Skeletons, drag my prisoners to the death sign.'

Once again, for what felt like thirty minutes, these terrible creatures dragged Elsie and her mum and dad, the horrid man following behind. 

Eventually they arrived at the doorway that they had first gone through to get to the bones. 

'Now,' the man said, 'tell me what the sign above the doorway says, for I cannot read French.'

Only Elsie had paid any attention to learning French. There was a leak from the ceiling. Drip. Drip. Drip. 

'Er,' she said, as a trickle of sweat ran down her back. Drip. Drip. Drip.  ' it says.... Stop!... Um...' drip. 

'... It says stop this is the empire of..... The empire of death. '

'Well done!' said the man. 'I now offer you freedom.' Drip. 'But wait, before you go, let me tell you the rules of this place.' Drip. 'If you don't see this sign you will be cursed and trapped here until you come back and read it. Understand - you also have to apologise to the lost souls of the dead.' Drip. 'I myself was trapped in this dreary place because I did not read the death sign.' Drip. 'But never mind that. You are free to leave. Goodbye now. ' 

Then Elsie and her family, relieved, spiralled back up the musty staircase and safely got back to the bright sunlit streets of Paris.

They had a lovely stay.

Unicorns & Shooting Stars

I wrote this story when I was 6 1/2 years old

Once upon a time there were four unicorns. One was just born and her name was Shine. Her sister’s name was Gleam, her mum’s name was Flare and her dad’s name was Flicker. Shine’s family lived on the edge of a forest in Turkey. This forest was known for its shooting stars.

Unicorns are really rare magical creatures that start to fly when they are just born. Unicorns are different to white horses because unicorns glow sparkly white and they have white feathery wings and a cone shaped horn on their foreheads.

Unicorns act like shooting stars to keep humans from knowing their secret.

Shine was a beautiful unicorn. She was small and white and very thin. Her sparkly horn was striped with pink and yellow. But it was not all good for Shine. She was shy and quiet. When her mum tried to teach her how to fly, Shine was just too scared to try. It just didn’t work.

One full moon night her big sister Gleam teased Shine by flying around the house three times and calling loudly “Try and fly but you are too scared to try! Na-na na-na-na!”

Shine was so angry. She galloped furiously into the misty forest...

Shine was in a little wiggly passage way that led her deeper into the forest. She looked back at her house, hoping that no-one was there to stop her. Shine wasn’t allowed to go into the forest – there were wild mysterious beasts there.

Shine stomped on further into the forest. Suddenly she heard hooves behind her. She jumped, and panted. Terrified, she ran for her life!

She galloped through the trees, wind on her sides, jumping over roots and fallen bark. She saw a tiny gap between the trees ahead of her. It was a hidden secret clearing surrounded by close trees.

Shine squeezed her thin white body between the trees. She was in a circular grassy area with thick trees around it. In the centre of the clearing was a small lake. Shine walked slowly over to the water. There was a crystal in the middle of the lake, on a tiny grassy island. Bright moonlight shone on the crystal.

Shine wanted to take a closer peek. She jumped over the lake to take a look...and when she got into the air, she stayed there! Her wings were flapping, she was flying for the first time – she was flying!

Hooray! Shine felt brilliant.

Now she could fly, Shine circled nine times around the forest and her family’s house before she went home to tell her Mum and Dad.

People who saw it never forgot the shooting star that circled nine times around the forest before falling to earth.

Horse, run wild.

Horse, run wild.

I wrote this when I was 5 years and 7 months old.

Once upon a time there were three horses - Mary, Star and Love. They lived in a racing horse show. They had a lovely family and they ate some food ever day. They ate hay and rice custard for dessert.

A long time ago horses ran wild. Mary wished she could run wild. She dreamed that she was running fast in the forest.

Star and Love did not want to run wild or fast. They just wanted to run in the races. They thought that it was scary and weird to run wild. They thought that Mary should join in with the races like they did.

The other horses tried to cheer Mary up by pretending that they were running wild in the races, but it did not help. Mary was sad. Now she was only walking in the races. People stopped clapping. They would only cheer at the other horses.

Then one morning Mary had an idea. She decided to run free outside the horse show. Mary decided to jump over the fence because she wanted to escape and run wild in the forest.

The gate was light brown with paintings of brown and white horses on it. People stood all around the gate watching as she galloped really fast towards the gate. She charged first and then jumped her highest jump. All the people clapped but the owners of the horse show were not clapping. They were trying to catch her, but they could not.

Mary felt fantastic. She was feeling the air gushing through her hair. She could smell lots of hay and green juicy grass in the wild forest. Mary found some other horses in the forest and she made friends with them.

Mary was not sad any more. She was happy.

Good morning, good evening and goodnight!

My name is Imogen Mansted. I am nearly 11, I am Australian, a Cub Scout and a Nipper (Junior Lifesaver that is).



At this moment I am sitting in our caravan in the Thuringian Forest in central Germany looking at a beautiful sunset. You may be wondering "what are you doing in the Thuringian Forest? Aren't you an Australian? Shouldn't you be in school?"

The answer is that I am travelling the world with my family AND I am homeschooled.

What is this blog about?
Its a place for me to publish my writing. I am very pleased to be able to say that three of my short stories have been published in books and a writing magazine already - thanks to generous editors! This seemed like a good place for me to put my stories for everyone to read.

Enjoy!