Lethal Silence – Finn Hempstead
10 Jun 2012
by Finn Hempstead
Finn came with his class to a writing workshop in July 2011. The class wrote the beginning of Lethal Silence together (in italics below), then finished it on their own.
As the spaceship hurtled towards earth, Gordon let out a terrifying scream. He was about to land in Santa’s workshop. He thought of life back on his home planet, Mars, where he had an endless supply of space candy and life was good.
Gordon was a slug-like Martian with seven eyes and sunglasses. His irises and body could change colour whenever he liked. He was sent from Mars to brainwash the innocent things who live on earth. Gordon got out of the spaceship and saw lots of elves. He thought they were leprechauns and had already been brainwashed.
Making a joke, he said, ‘I come in pieces.’
The elves stared at him blankly.
He said, ‘Resistance is futile.’
The elves looked at him even more blankly.
He held a piece of space candy and said,‘If you can understand me, you can have this.’ All the elves went to grab the candy. After they started eating it they felt a bit sick.
Santa came in and asked, ‘Who is doing this to my elves?’
Suddenly a big ball of fire hurtled through the atmosphere and out of it jumped Bob. Bob had wings and was an alien in disguise. He had come to save the earth and stop Gordon.
Bob said ‘Don’t listen to him’, while jumping in front of Gordon. Suddenly Gordon turned the colour of the snow and crept up behind Santa.
ZAP!!!!!!!
Gordon brainwashed Santa and his elves.
‘MWHA HA HA HA,’ laughed Gordon insanely, with his voice full of menace. He dashed towards his spaceship and leaped in it. He flew towards Sydney. He landed on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. People ran and screamed in terror.
‘You can run,’ bellowed Gordon, ‘but you can’t glide.’
Suddenly great flaps of skin unfolded from his body and he took to the skies. He was zapping people from the sky and glided onto the top of Centre Point Tower. He grabbed his brainwash transmitter and set it up. He turned it on and the city fell into a lethal silence as they had their brains washed. Bob flew in with his giant wings and yelled, ‘Stop hurting these innocent humans!’
‘Never,’ Gordon yelled back.
Suddenly Bob threw a rock at the transmitter. It blew up and Bob and Gordon were stuck in the blast. Because of the explosion, their brains had switched. Gordon opened his seven eyes and flew back to his spaceship. He flew home listening to Supernova FM and his favourite singer Miley Starus. But back on earth, Bob was charging his brainwashing gun…
About the Author – Finn Hempstead
Alexandria Park Community School
In his own words: “Finn is a super awesome, super smart, good-looking kid. He is meer-katic and a great chef. He is 12 years old and a real ladies man.”
Finn’s story was published in I Met a Martian and Other Stories, the Sydney Story Factory’s first official anthology.