ELTHAM HIGH SCHOOL ANTHOLOGY   

The War still raged on. I was sitting beneath a tree, admiring the untouched forest that spread out in front of me. I could hear the faint gun shots and bombs being dropped, so I put in my earphones and listened to my favourite playlist, and watched the sun set. I stared at my Compass necklace, thinking about my ‘mother’, and wishing she would come back to me. She would comfort me, help me. She could even help in the war. But she was gone. I dropped the Compass and let it hang from my neck. I looked back at the sunset and forest that lay in front of me.
My black, short and fluffy hair had recently start to become so long on the front, that it had started to cover my eyes. I kind of liked it though, although it was a bit hard to see. But since I had cut it, it had become unruly and messy. I liked it that way. Short, black, fluffy and messy. I cut it short recently, and it was much fluffier and softer. My red hoodie reflected off my black hair, giving it a kind of red tint. I sat and waited, waited for my only friend to return. He had gone out to war, but hadn’t been back for a couple of months. I had waited and waited every single day under this exact same tree since he had gone away. I suddenly started to feel drowsy, and remembered about the restless and sleepless nights I had had recently, and finally I let my eyes flutter shut, and fell into a deep slumber.
When I gained consciousness, looking up at the black, purple and white dotted sky, I noticed a pair of legs lying next to me. The legs were connected to a body, and eventually I found myself staring at a boy. The boy looked up at me, and opened his arms as if gesturing to a hug. It was him. Kat had finally returned from War.
I jumped onto him, embracing his warm hug. I noticed a couple of burns and injuries on his body, but I ignored them for now, because I was just happy that he was back, and alive.

“You’re alive!” I squeaked, my eyes filling with tears.
“I am! And so are you, Yumeko!” Kat replied, beaming with joy.
“Of course I’m alive! Why? Did you think I had died or something?” I asked, puzzled.
“I… I heard that somewhere near here had been bombed. I started overthinking and…” Kat tried to hold back tears.
“It’s alright! We’re both alive and safe, that’s all that matters. Don’t overthink it. You know that I’m always here. Always waiting.” I hugged him more, trying to relax him.
“Right, right… anyways, what’s happened while I’ve been gone?”

We wandered around town, telling stories and just generally talking. Kat had so many stories to tell, while the only stories I had to tell were small things like couples getting together, deaths, birthdays and getting off of school. “Oh yeah! I forgot you were 15 now, huh? Happy very late birthday!” Kat smiled, and picked a flower, then handed it to me. Then he told me about how he had helped our side gain more ground. Our side was Japan, Korea, the US, the UK, the EU and Australia, while the other side consisted of Russia, China, India, Greenland, and basically all of Africa. Unfortunately recently our side, we called it the Japanese-English’s, had lost a lot of ground, from the Russian-Chinese-Indian’s trying to invade Japan and Korea, and Canada at the same time. Kat had gone to help Canada gain back their ground, and he had succeeded. They gained back all of the ground they had lost, and are now trying to advance on Greenland. And he had helped them. Him, and him alone had sniped twice the amount of men that 100 men could do, alone.

I had always looked up to Kat, because he was amazing with a Sniper Rifle, after all of the training he had. He trained with a private trainer, formally known as the best sniper in the world, and he mentored Kat until he thought Kat was ready. It took a long time, but he had been training for almost 5 years, when his mentor thought he was ready. And I had always wanted to be like him, I had looked up to Kat, wanting to be mentored like he was. Now I’m around his skill level, but instead of using a sniper rifle, I get up close. I can use any type of sword, whether it be two-handed, a Katana, anything you give me, I’ll be able to use. Even give me a dagger, I can use that too. I found my own mentor, who was also formerly the best swordsman in the world. He trained me for over 6 years (since swordsmanship is hard to master), and when he thought I was ready, he let me go, and gave me the title of ‘The best Swordsman in the world’. I’ve been begging Kat to let me help him, let me go out into war with him, but he never lets me, and makes me wait for him to get home. I’ve even tried to sneak in, but I’ve always been caught, and told that I’m “too weak” and that “I’m a girl, I shouldn’t be going to war”. I find it so dumb how they restrict me from going because I’m a girl. I hate it. I’ve tried and tried again and I’m always told “Girls shouldn’t be going to war! They’re too weak” or “They’ll break down if they hear one gunshot”. I find it so extremely dumb how even though I’m better than all of these guys, even with a gun, they still don’t let me go.

Kat saw my expression and he stopped walking. I stopped and turned around and said “what?” He replied with “Yumi… I know you want to help but…” he stopped himself. “Kat? But what?” I started walking towards him. “Because WHAT, KAT?!”
“Yumi, I… I’m sorry but you can’t… And I can’t tell you why…” Kat started walking again. I just stood there.
“KAT WHAT?! PLEASE JUST TELL ME WHY CAN’T I GO?! IT’S BECAUSE IM A GIRL, ISNT IT?!” I ran after him, and he didn’t reply. At this point my eyes were filling with tears, because I knew he was hiding something from me, when he’s never hid anything from me before. Ever.
“Yumi you just can’t go. End of story.” I stopped again. He looked back and saw my face. I was holding back tears, staring him straight in the eyes.
“It’s because I’m a girl… Isn’t it…?”

Suddenly a bright light flashed from my chest. I looked down, and grabbed my compass necklace. It was glowing. “Kat…?” a sudden bright flash emitted from the compass, and I saw Kat jump for me, and grab me, tackling me to the ground. I felt dizzy, like I had just been spun around 10,000 times. I was on the ground. I couldn’t move. My body felt numb and I tingled all over. I remembered Kat had grabbed me and tackled me to the ground. I could slightly move my head, and I could see him next to me, sitting up and looking around.
“Yumi…? Where are we…?”
“What do you mean…?” I tried to sit up, but as I attempted to push up off the ground, my body gave in and fell back down.
“Yumi are you alright?? Maybe we should rest here for a little bit… You don’t look well. Do you feel ok?” Kat was staring at my face, with a worried look.
“Yeah… Maybe we should rest here for a little while.” My vision started going fuzzy, and I passed out, with Kat looking over me.

When I woke up, I was in a completely different place. I had a roof over my head, and I was in a bed. I’ll admit it wasn’t the most comfortable bed, but it was better than lying on the dirt. I tried to sit up, it took a couple of tries but I eventually got it. I examined the room around me. It didn’t look like my town. It looked a look like olden day London, maybe around the 1910s? My body was still weak and my head was slightly spinning, but I felt better than I did before.
I decided to try and stand up, but that was a bad idea. I tried to move my legs towards the edge on the bed, but instead, I fell off the bed. I landed with a THUD on the ground. It felt like concrete. I realised it was concrete. Suddenly Kat burst into the room, and yelled “YUMI!” But instead of helping me up, he hugged me. “I’m so happy you’re alright!”
“Well does it look like I’m alright? You just jumped onto me and hugged me after I had fallen out of the bed. Kat can you please help me up?”
“Oh right! Sorry!” He grabbed my arm like he was trying to help me stand up. I think he forgot that half of my body felt like it was paralysed, because immediately after he tried to help me stand, he picked me up and put me straight back on the bed.
“Are you feeling better, Yumi? I can see you’re still not able to move too much yet, but at least you’re able to sit up!” Kat stared at me, and as I was staring back, I could see he was worried. He also looked a little bit sickly, because he was sweating and his skin was a bit clammy.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little unsteady and shaky. But Kat, are you ok? You don’t look 100% well yourself. And please be honest, you know I can tell when you’re lying.”
“Yeah, honestly I don’t feel 100%, my head is spinning a little bit, and so is my stomach. But I’m fine, trust me!” Immediately I could tell he was lying. He didn’t feel ok. He was sick, just like me. Except a bit better than me.
“Kat, maybe you should lay down as well… I can tell you’re lying. You’re not fine, you feel horrible.” I said, and I attempted to get up, and free the bed for him. I was starting to feel better, and was starting to gain feeling back in my body, when suddenly we heard a huge explosion that sounded like it was right outside of the house we were in. We heard screams and crying and all sorts of horrible noises. Kat ran out to see what had happened, while I still struggled to get out of bed. The best I could do was get to sitting on the edge of the bed. While I was sitting, I looked down at my compass necklace, and noticed that it was pointing towards the door. When I moved my body in any way, it would still stay pointed at the door. This was strange because it was compass… Compasses are supposed to point towards North at all times, and help you navigate, not point towards a door? Kat came rushing back in, and put his arm around my waist and helped me get to my feet.
“A bomb was dropped right outside of here, we need to go!” He started walking, and I trudged next to him, slowly. He pulled me along, although I could tell he was struggling himself. After about 5 minutes my body started to give out again, and I told Kat that I was tired and my body was starting to give out, so we pulled into an alleyway and sat down. Kat looked exhausted, but he tried not to show it. Me on the other hand, I could hardly even move my body.
“Kat, you should go. I’m no help here. I’ll just slow you down. My body aches and has given out, please just go.” I told Kat. Except I wasn’t asking. I was telling him to go. Leave me behind. I was dead weight and I knew it. He would be able to get out or at least away from the bombing without me.
“Yumi, you really think I would leave you?” He gave a weak smile “Have I ever left you behind before? If we go, we go together.

Then again, my compass began to glow. I hoped it wasn’t going to teleport us somewhere again, but instead I watched Kat quickly start to recover. And then I felt myself starting to recover as well. I could feel my body. My head wasn’t spinning. I was no longer weak. Neither of us were. And then it pointed towards the distance, like indicating that something was going to happen, or telling us we needed to focus on that area.

We looked at each other, suddenly realising that the compass had sent us here for a specific reason. To stop the bombing. To save this town. To maybe even end this war (if it was even a war).
“You got your rifle?” I asked Kat.
He replied with “Yep. I grabbed your swords when you passed out.”
“Thanks” He tossed me my swords and we charged out. He found a good place on top of the highest roof he could, and positioned himself, ready to shoot. I equipped my swords. See, I have a special type of sword. There are wrist clips that attach to my swords, and contain bits of metal string. Since there is that string attached to the sword, I can throw it over 3 kilometres. So next time I saw a plane, that thing was coming down. Until then I gathered the town’s people together and then got them out of the town safely. Some insisted they stay and help, but I said it was too dangerous, and they finally gave in and went with the rest of the town’s people.

I focused on protecting the town’s people, and I took them away from where the compass was pointing. Once everyone was safe, I headed to where the compass was pointing. Suddenly I saw a plane start flying into view, and I started running back to town. I climbed up the side of a building using my swords and then as soon as I had my shot, I took it. I threw my sword, just far enough that it plunged into the plane. But the plane didn’t come down. It continued flying, and I was pulled into the air. I grabbed hold of the string and started to pull myself towards the plane. Kat saw me struggling, and he got ready to shoot the plane.

I yelled “DON’T! I CAN DO THIS” and I continued climbing. He lowered his gun, with a scared look on his face. It took a while to make it up to the plane, but it seemed it was waiting for backup. It was just circling above the town, waiting. Once I finally got up there, I used my swords to open a hole in the back of the plane, and hopped in. I took the driver by surprise, and I put one of my swords against his throat. If he tried calling for help, he was done.

“Hey there. I got 2 questions for you. 1. What are you doing here and 2. Who do you work for?”
He answered both of my questions, and once I had got all the information I needed, there was a radio through to his plane. It sounded like it was in German, and I could tell that this man could understand it. I told him to translate.
“That was my boss. He said ‘Is everything ready? Can we start coming in?’” He translated.
“Say ‘No, don’t come in. It’s not safe. There are soldiers protecting the town and many planes around. They would see us.’ Say that and I’ll spare your life.” He said it into the radio, in German, and there was an immediate response. I could understand this bit, because he started speaking in English.
“No come in? Alright, we will back off for now. But we shall come back.” The radio said.

I told the pilot “If you value your life, you won’t let them ever come in. If they do, you’re all dead.”

The pilot gave a small laugh. “You? Kill over 1000 men alone?”
“Not alone,” I gestured towards Kat, and he pointed his gun towards the plane. I held my hand up, telling him not to shoot.
“You know, he’s the best Sniper that this world has ever seen. He killed twice the amount of men that a whole army could do, in one day. I wouldn’t test him. I wouldn’t even test me. I’m the best swordsmen that this world has ever seen. There is no one better than me.” I threatened him.
His face went white. He agreed to make sure this town was never bombed or threatened again. Then he landed his plane, and he let me get out. He then flew back up and circled around, like the protector of the town.

“Easy fix. This town now has a protector” I told Kat and gestured towards the pilot.
“Really? Wow very persuasive I see” He replied.
“Yep. I am very persuasive…” I looked up at the plane. “Anyway, let’s go tell the town’s people that they’re safe.”

We walked back to where the town’s people were hiding, and we told them that they were safe. They thanked us, and went back to their normal lives.

“You think we should try and get back to our time?” I suggested.
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea” Kat replied.

Although we didn’t really know how to get back, I just thought of our time, and suddenly a bright flash was emitted from the Compass again, and we were back. Back under the tree. Things were fuzzy and my head was spinning again, but it seemed like my body was starting to get used to the time travel thing. But it was quiet. It hadn’t been quiet in years. We looked around, and nothing was destroyed. Everything was the same as it was before the war of our time had even started. Everything was back to normal. This was really confusing, because it hadn’t been quiet in years. I had forgotten what it had sounded like. Kat and I walked into town, and everything seemed normal. We pulled over one of the town’s people and asked “What happened here? Why is it quiet? What happened in the war?” They simply replied “What war? It’s always been quiet. And nothing has happened? What are you two on about?”

Kat and I looked at each other, and we came to the same conclusion. What we had done in the past had affected the future. Either we had somehow ended a war, or postponed it for many, many years, but what we did know was that we had affected the future with our choices. Kat stared into my eyes and I stared back at him. I wondered how this 16 year old guy could be the best sniper in the world. It looked as if he was wondering the same about me. How I, a 15 year old, could be the best swordsman in the world.
“Kat… I think this Compass was given to me for a reason. I think it was given to me because I had gone through so much, because I have this thing about saving people. We can make the world a better place, Kat. We could end wars, end conflict and even save so many lives. Why don’t we do this again? Go back and forward in time, saving people? What do you say?” I continued to stare into Kat’s eyes, hopeful he would say yes.
“Yumi… Of course. But we can’t do this all the time, you know. Our bodies are going to eventually waste away if we keep doing this every day” Kat replied
I ran at Kat and jumped into him, embracing him in a hug. He hugged back.
“We won’t do it every day. Just whenever we see something bad has happened in our time, we’ll go back and save the day, alright?” I replied, digging my head into his shoulder.

The next couple of years were fine. A couple of small things that we resolved, but nothing big.
Until one day. But no. I shall save that story for another time. For now, you enjoy the happy ending of this story. But stories don’t always have happy endings. Some are heartbreaking. And unfortunately, this is one of those times…