WriteOn! 2024
10th Grade Winning Essays 2015
NATIONAL
1st Place - Agi Kristo, Gjirokastër
Topic: You wake up to find a key under your pillow. What does it unlock?
The stars were shining bright in the sky. They were really beautiful and it looked like they smiled at me. But, I wasn’t really happy though. I was sad and my heard was broken. I was sick of this world filled with dirty cheats, liars, shallow people and the mean ones. I was sad, because I didn’t seem to find my place in this world. I was tired of all the people pretending to be nice to me. I’m a shy person, I don’t have many friends and sometimes I like being alone. But, this was too much. I was feeling really lonely and my only best friend in that moment was pain. Black was the brightest color for me. As I was watching the sky, I saw a shooting star. Actually, I don’t believe that a shooting star can make your wishes come true, but I was desperate in that moment, so I thought of giving it a try. I wished for a better world, for a better life. I wished to have the key to solution of all my problems. After I watched the stars a little bit more, I went to sleep. The next day, I woke up at around eight o’clock in the morning. And I was feeling empty. It was like someone had took everything inside of me and I was only left with my skin and bones. I got up from bed and after that I started to fix my bed. At that moment, when I raised my pillow I saw something that really surprised me. It looked like a key. It had a really strange form and it wasn’t like all the ordinary keys. This key had the form of a music note and then it continued with another form that looked like the number three. After the number three, there were three letters: F, H, L. I was really confused. First of all, I didn’t even knew how the key got under my pillow and second, I was trying to guess what those letters meant. Then, I thought of the night before, when I made the wish.
I remembered that my wish was to find the key to the solutions of my problems. Was this really happening? Can a shooting star make your wishes come true? This was the moment, that I started to believe that maybe magic really is true. Maybe, magic is everywhere, but we should know the right place, where to look for it. I started thinking of the three letters; F, H, and L. I didn’t have any idea what those letters meant. I didn’t know what to do with the key. Then, I remembered that I had seen those three letters somewhere else. Yes, they were at a box that belonged to my great-grandfather and it was in the basement. I went there right away and after I searched the place for a little while, I managed to find it. I put my to the letters in the box. They were a perfect match. The box opened. Nobody had managed to open that box until now. My great-grandfather was a really mysterious man and he didn’t share a lot of things with the family. Inside the box, there was a sentence written in a piece of paper that said: “Open the smoll door in the basement with form of the key shaped like a music note. I went to that door right away and managed to open it. When, I opened the door a bright light “hit” my face. When I opened my eyes, I saw a place that was really unusual. This place looked like a garden actually and it had big trees, green grass and beautiful, little flowers. As I was watching this, as little boy come to me. He even knew my name and told me that he had been waiting for me for a long time. He took my hand and started to show me different places. He showed me some of his friends. They were really nice and I started talking to them. We couldn’t stop. They were really smart and it looked like finally I had found my perfect match. The little boy’s friends were really intelligent and had the same interests and hobbies as me. They loved chemitry and biology and they were really crazy about music. I hadn’t felt this happy, since I don’t know when. I was having fun. Later, the little boy come to me and said: “This is the last time that you’ll ever come to this place.” I couldn’t believe it. I really needed to stay in that place. I was feeling like myself there. The little boy told me: “It’s all up to you. You have the power to make yourself feel sad or happy. The secret stands in those three letters. When, you understand what they stand for, then you’ll be free.” I started feeling sad again and after I said goodbye t the little boy and I closed the door forever, I thought about the letters F, H, and L…I was really stupid, how I couldn’t realize it before. Those letters stand for Faith, Hope, and Love. Now, I understood what the little boy said. It doesn’t matter how the place is around you, it only matters how you make yourself feel about it and how you see it.
2nd Place - Melisa Iliazi, Delvine
Coming Soon...
3rd Place - Anxhela Beharaj, Fier
Prompt: You invent a new kind of medicine. What does it cure? What are the side effects?
War was everywhere! So many deaths, so many blood. Families were separated, brother against brother, father against son. Humanity was coming to an end…but let’s go back to where it all started.
Now, you ask yourselves, what terrible thing happened that caused such a destruction, this chaos, this hell that people were living in?
It was ME! It was all my fault.
My mother was on drugs and my father was alcoholic. The only person that was there my whole life was my grandmother, that’s why I was nothing like my parents. She grew me up to be a good child. I did well on school too, I loved science. But my grandmother wasn’t going to stay with me all my life, and one day, she went to heaven. My parents sometimes forgot I existed, I was all alone.
That was when I decided to work on this special medicine. I was so fed up with people’s behavior that I wanted so badly to invent something that would fix their character. That medicine took ten years of my life, my days and nights, but I finally succeeded. There it was, the medicine that would change my world, the whole world!
So, what I did next was presenting my medicine to a company so they would decide if it was worth selling it or not after they had tested it. They took some volunteers to test the medicine and after that they decided to support me. My medicine was called “The Change” and it became very famous. Everyone was buying it. Everyone was changing.
Of course, I hadn’t thought of the effects. What happened was that people were not becoming better, but worse than they were. Liars only told the truth, frightened people became so brave they weren’t afraid of anything, not of the government or law. Kind people became so selfish that they wanted to take control of everything, and so on. Then the war started. People had nothing good on them anymore. They were killing each other, their friends, their family, and oh, the little kids…
They seeked for power, it was terrible! My medicine did that… I did that! I wanted to fix it, I wanted to make things right. I asked the company to help me financially for my antidote’s research, but the answer wasn’t what I wanted. I tried to convince them, I did everything I could, fighting to make things right, but they… they weren’t people aymore, they were all animals, they had no reason…
I ended up in prison. I still am in prison, looking at the sky from my small window. But they sky it’s not blue anymore… it’s red, because of all the blood and fires that light him up. They forgot about me, I haven’t eaten for days… I’m dying… and so is the world out there. The window keeps becoming smaller…
Dear world, I’m sorry!
I’m sitting in a gold sofa, it is so comfortable and soft, and there is a big table in the middle full of chocolates, sweets, drinks, and big televisions all around me. Wow, somebody made my day! And he or she has thought of the perfect way to make me happy. Who is this person? Why did he do this to me? What is going to happen next? Where am I going? All these questions are driving me crazy! You need to relax Joana, everything is going to be alright. Somebody had a plan for you. Enjoy it.
Mr. Robot says: Where do you to go Ms. Maluta?
-I have no idea.
-You have two opportunities: the past, or the future.
-What if I choose both of them?
-You can’t. Only one of them.
I don’t know which one to choose. Mr. Robot keeps saying that I need to decide quickly. There are only 24 hours left. The past or the future? So this is my logic: I have heard, read, and watched on TV a lot about the past, the wars, famous people, inventions… And the future? Nothing about it. The only reason I want to be immortal is to live in the future, but this is impossible. Somebody knew about this and here I am, ready to live in the future. Only for one day. It is going to be the perfect day.
The machine set off and after about 5 seconds. I can’t see my house anymore. I can see lots of stars, planets, the sun is far away, I’m leaving our galaxy, but I don’t know where I am going. Then I see some small buildings, close to each other. Everything was green. But where were the people? There were no people, or at least I can’t see any of them. We landed and for the first time in my life, for the first time in history, somebody is living in the future. These is weird. There are no people, no animals only machines, robots. This is out of my imagination. This place is so empty. I can’t hear the voice of the children. I can’t feel their happiness and harmony. Only some computers, some robots that have the power and control the whole world. But a world without people is nothing! Robots are over humans! There are trying to live the life like us but there is no way to be like us humans. They have no feelings, no brain. How can they live though? If I were them, I would find a way to kill myself and not live in a world without happiness, without pain. I’m really disappointed. This is not the future I’ve been wishing for. I have been thinking of a world where people live in peace, in harmony with each other, love each other and people that are more sensible and more respectful to each other and nature. But not robots. I know these are going to be the longest and most terrible 24 hours in history! I am happy because my dream came true. But sometimes, we need to live for now and just forget what is impossible. You perhaps will get disappointed, just like me. And now I’m hoping this is just a dream, but it’s not. Whatever! Maybe I will make some new friends, robots of course.