A MONK'S TALE

 

 

This tale is part of a project we did at school after studying the importance of monasteries in the middle ages, the rule of St Benedict and monastic life, including the history of the Benedectine monasteries we have in our hometown, Subiaco. Divided in groups, one of our tasks was to write a story in English about monastic life,  set in the past, present or future,  with fantasy elements of our choice. 

The following story was written by Eleonora Campi with the support and help of Alexandru Balan, Christian Micozzi, Federico Mosetti, Riccardo Rossi. They also designed a pop-up book to illustrate the  story as well as a video in which they read it. We really hope you'll enjoy reading it!

THE BATTLE AGAINST DEMON CTHULHU

 

This story is part of a project we did at school after studying the importance of monasteries in the middle ages, the rule of St Benedict and monastic life, including the history of the Benedectine monasteries we have in our hometown, Subiaco. Divided in groups, one of our tasks was to write a story in English about monastic life,  set in the past, present or future,  with fantasy elements of our choice. 

The following story was written by Luca Di Giannantonio e Carlo Muzi with the support of Federico Mosetti. We really hope you'll enjoy reading it!

Once upon a time at Saint Benedict’s monastery during a holy mass a dark monk servant of the demon Cthulhu went to the cave in the monastery.  As a result of a ritual, he opened a portal to another dimension and fled from the monastery.

VEROLD ENDIR'S BESTIARY - 1 - WENDIGOS

(an original series by Simone Ciucci) 

Hello to everyone who is reading this.  My name will remain anonymous to defend my identity in case this journal falls into wrong hands.

If you are reading it, know that what you will discover may seem strange or even impossible, but many things in this world have been hidden from your eyes.

I was hired to investigate and write about strange events taking place in the dark of our forest,   in our town: Verold Endir.

They wanted me to understand if something mysterious and inexplicable was happening and that was one of my first encounters with the supernatural.

READING THE NEWSPAPERS

Teenagers usually don’t like reading the newspaper - or reading in general -  but if you want to enrich your vocabulary reading is very useful. We tried this activity in pairs during one of our recent lessons: our teacher brought real English newspapers and we leafed through the pages in search of interesting news or curiosities. Our task was writing down a summary of the article giving the reasons why we had chosen it . It was quite useful and here are the results of our work in pairs.

HAS TECHNOLOGY RUINED OUR LIVES?

Has technology ruined our lives? Should we consider it progression or regression ? We watched two videos in our English lessons, we discussed them together and we also wrote our reflections on the issues they deal with.  

In the first video Simon Sinek tells us about Millenials, people born approximately 1984 and after.  He tells how the Millenials are rarely truly happy or satisfied and that they are accused of being entitled, unfocused, lazy and narcissistic. But he also explains that it is not their fault, there are  several different reasons and one of them is their excessive use of technological devices and social media.

TIME FOR A STORY - A GREY PAINTING

Hello there! This is the second instalment of my story. The first one was "The Dark Figure". So, click HERE and read part I before going on reading this post. Of course,  if you haven't done it yet or if you don't remember all the details. Enjoy!

She was on the train and looked out to the window. She tried to think about nothing but even when you think about anything you're literally thinking. Even though she  was  away, she believed she saw his shadow everywhere . She could not understand how he could have discovered her secret. She remembered the words that a person had  told her once: "what you hide the most is what shows more about yourself."

HOW A DOG CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE

I can’t even remember how joyful I was when my parents decided to bring a dog home. To be honest, for me it was just a kid dream, because I’d never experienced what it could mean to take care of someone. But I wasn’t worried about that and I was determined to try and take care of a puppy.

At first, we checked local kennels looking for a special dog. When we found it, it was a sunny day of August. My dad got in touch with a Jack Russell breeder in the area of Frosinone. All of us, my parents, my brother and me went to have a look and to decide what to do once there. The place was kind of a farm, full of horses, cows and ducks. The backyard of the farm was, instead, overcrowded with Jack Russell Terrier of all ages and sizes. The smallest one had a tiny scratch on the top of the forehead, with the head completely ginger- brown and a dark brown funny stain on the back. She was the youngest of the brood and her eyes attracted me since the first moment. To convince my parents was easier than I thought, maybe because they found her as funny as I did. From gazing curiously through the bushes to lay down as sphinx, she drew our attention.

TIME FOR A STORY - THE DARK FIGURE

She couldn’t sleep,  something kept her awake:  a noise , a feeling, a fear. She couldn’t understand what it was. She was lying down on her bed, in her room, motionless in the dark. Her open eyes tried to penetrate the darkness because it was where her demons hid. All her senses were alert, looking for a sound, a movement, anything that proved the presence of another person. The last weeks had been difficult, especially after that strange feeling had become a concern and finally certainty.  Someone followed her. Her house was watched. Someone spied on her movements: where she went, what she did, who she met. Everywhere she went he was with her: always.

Sometimes she had seen him from a shop window after she had  entered. A tall and young man with black hair and blue eyes,  so intense and penetrating to  seem unreal. He was always with her, and he knew she knew it , he knew she felt his presence. Then there was that night in the park. She had left her home to go jogging. Leaving the house she looked around furtively to try to see the black figure, as she had begun to do since she had discovered the stalker. She hadn’t seen him anywhere. She felt relieved, calmer so she started running. The sun was setting and the light of the street lamps illuminated the path,  she ran between the trees. The wind was the only sound other than that of her footsteps. A black figure. Suddenly something (or someone?) tried to make her fall. She remained motionless for a few seconds which seemed hours, then she reacted and started running fast, faster and faster.

THE A-TEAM VIDEO INSPIRED OUR STORIES

Our English teacher sometimes gives us music videos to watch and work on as an assignment. We loved this song,  so when we were asked to write the story of the  girl in the video, we were touched and inspired. These are some of our stories based on The A-team by Ed Sheeran.

Chiara's story

Chiara

Hi I’m Effy and I died last  night.

My wrong decisions have led me to this, it’s all my fault. I didn’t want to die so young. I don’t wish anyone to live my life. This is my story.

My life has never been easy. I was born in a poor family.  My father died when I was a child. My stepfather worked in a factory and my mother … a shop assistant. My stepfather had drinking issues. When he came back home drunk he abused my mother. Every night I was afraid for my mother’s life. He never touched me, with me he was kind. In the meantime, I was trying to be a good daughter. I was good at school, I also won a scholarship. My dream was to become an architect and go to live with my mom in a house by the sea. But one night my worst nightmare became true. My father Killed my mother.