Secondary

National Digital Learning Week 2018
National Collaborative Story
Secondary

Schools who took part in the P4-P7
National Collaborative Story

Chapter 1 – St Joseph's RC Primary, Aberdeen City

Loch Ness had become too dangerous.
As well as tourists and photographers, there was now a hunter who wanted to capture the whole Nessie family and lock them in a dungeon. So the youngest monster was on the run, with the codename Braw, hoping the young people of Scotland would help the family find somewhere new and safe to live.
One day, Braw was being chased along a foggy lane, when suddenly something grabbed Braw’s tail. He swiftly turned around, his heart beating loudly in his chest to find a small girl. The poor little Loch Ness monster did not know what to do. The young girl told him, “Don’t worry, I want to help you.” Braw looked over at her, still panicking. She seemed serious, he thought….but could he trust her? He heard running footsteps.
“Quickly, my father will find you! Run!” whispered the mysterious young girl.
“Thank you!” replied Braw and he waddled on into the distance and out of sight.
“Good luck,” she said.

As she saw the beast go off into the distance she turned to see her father looming behind her. “Mairi! What are you doing out here alone?” her father yelled at her.
“Oh um…” she stuttered, “just talking to myself.”
Her father scoffed, “Well, if you see that wretched sea monster, tell me because we need it for the money, otherwise we will starve!”
He walked away with a harpoon on his back. As Mairi was left alone, she wondered to herself if she had done the right thing, setting it free.
Braw waddled as fast as his tiny flippers would let him. He was tired and freezing and could barely feel his flippers. As he looked onwards, he saw a small,
cosy-looking cave with a fire lit in the corner.
Whose cave could this be? He wondered.
Too tired and cold to think about it he
slept there for the night.

He was safe, for now…

Chapter 2 - Beaconhurst, Independent

I swam up to the surface of the loch. As I broke the surface I stared up to see a dark black hole perched on wooden stilts. The reek of death fell upon my face and mingled with the mist. I heard the creaking footsteps of the enemy above. The memories of my mother's haunting stories rose to mind, memories of cousins, gone by the hand of man, all the other lochs now desolate and devoid of life.

A chill went up my spine as I saw the pole split in front of my face and I heard my mother's deafening roar. I threw myself out of the way as my mother's graceful tail came crashing down against the timber frame. Splinters of wood hurtled towards my face, stinging as they pierced my skin. I swam backwards and watched in shock as half the crannog tumbled into the waves.

Lightning split the sky as the harpoon hit my mother in the side. She fell with a shriek and dragged the hunter down with her. As he stained the loch blood red, it was at that point that the vicious vendetta began between hunter and hunted.

Braw woke up with his heart racing and the dying words of the hunter ringing in his head.
" Your next harpoon will be your last."

Chapter 3 - St John's R.C High School, Dundee

Braw suddenly came to terms with the fact that he was not dreaming anymore. Aware of the cold hard stone against his back and the unsympathetic wind slapping against his face, he rose. Dazed and unsure of his whereabouts, he scanned the area, an ever-present dark gloom surrounding him. It was suffocating. Looking over his shoulder, he watched the tiny embers flickering and dying. Hours ago, they had been a roaring fire. What was happening? He could hear the sound of water dripping, echoing, from miles around, while his eyes were drawn to the unusual markings daubed over the expanse of the cave. All at once, the desolate and lifeless cave came to life as Braw realised these were the markings of hunters - predators who had viciously slaughtered his ancestors with their razor-sharp, glistening harpoons.

A musty smell crept up his nostrils, seeping into his lungs. He knew now that this place was not inviting. Afraid, Braw readied himself, desperate to leave. His flippers shook with a fear that threatened to engulf him. In the corner of his eye, a shadow lurked; a shadow that towered over him. His heart hung heavy like the morose mocking face of the moon that frowned down upon him.

Already backed into a corner, Braw found himself unable to escape from the ever-growing shadow that resembled the shape of the young monster’s worst nightmare. A hunter. A dark, unidentifiable, figure stepped out from his hiding place; its silhouette a threatening presence which left Braw defenceless and frozen with abject terror. He remained motionless, yearning for the comforting words of his dead mother, completely oblivious to the fact that he was in the very place that she had given birth to him. The dim light emanating from the dying embers of the fire revealed a glimpse of the hunter’s face and his menacing green eyes flickered almost hypnotically. Braw recoiled in horror, all too aware of the ominous connection between this sinister looking creature and the monster that had so ruthlessly slain his mother. Overwhelmed with fear, Braw found solace in the familiar voice that echoed so soothingly, so sweetly through the vast cave. Her voice was like a wall that stood between the forces of good and evil.
“It’s you!” Braw was greeted by Mairi as she stood between him and the figure. “What is that? Braw asked gesturing towards the intimidating mass of darkness that hovered behind her.
Mairi explained that the ungodly brute was in fact her grandfather – hunter turned protector of the last of the species, having seen the errors of his ways. They were underneath Urquhart Castle in an ancient cave that folklore said was once the dwelling of Braw’s ancestors.
“You’ll never be safe here,” Mairi implored. “You have to make your way through the Cairngorm Mountains and Angus Glens to the cathedral in the ancient city of Brechin. There you will find your sanctuary.”

Chapter 4 - Prestwick Academy, South Ayrshire

“How do I get there?” Braw requested hopelessly.

Reaching a sacred place was now a critical matter. Braw was still uncertain whether he could trust the young girl. She was just an outsider after all. But he was desperate to escape.
Mairi’s grandfather emerged slowly out of the shadows. Braw noticed the glint in his emerald eyes was not aggressive but kind. Just like Braw, he too had evolved.
“Brechin: the city of hope,” he spoke. His voice was deep and crackling with age. His experience had aged him quicker. “It will take a long journey to reach it, but it is do-able.” Braw blinked slowly, nodding in understanding. “The Cairngorm mountains,” the grandfather said, pausing afterwards for dramatic effect. “They used to say that whoever crossed them did so at their own risk. It’s a daunting place. There are demons lurking in the shadows. I’ve heard them wailing, I swear it.”
A shiver crept over Braw’s back, and the colour drained from his face: he was gripped by fear and anticipation.
“Don’t be afraid, lad. You are strong; I can see the courage in you.
But surely, you’ll need it. Unbearably eerie.” He shuddered.
Mairi nodded in agreement.
“And then?” Braw questioned.
“What after the mountains?”