This is the final task! dun dun dun... But I can do this :)

alwaysbemad and midnightreading were judging the final.
This was the final task set:
"You have just discovered your parents are getting divorced and your mum is pregnant... And because of this, you have to move, to a flat, in another country, not to mention the flat number... Number 13..."

So here is my entry! Enjoy!

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Thursday, 12th March:

20:00

Dear diary,

Gosh, that sounds silly, like I'm writting a letter to someone who's dear to me, called 'Diary'. I know, that's not the best way to start a diary entry but to be honest, I'm only writing in this diary because it makes me feel slightly better about what's happening. My mum gave me this diary today to record my feelings.

"Sometimes writing about your problems can help you feel better." she said.

Well, I got plenty of problems right now, don't know if it'll help if I write about them but it's more interesting than putting endless amounts of stuff into boxes. Here's how my life went downhill:

For several years, my family was happy. I lived with my Mum and my Dad, who was quite wealthy. My family lived in Italy and we were all very happy. We were just a typical happy family really, we went on holidays, we had fun and we were mostly very close. I could tell my parents anything and they'd listen. Mum and Dad both wanted me to be happy and I was.

But it couldn't last.

My dad was made redundant at his work and we no longer had a lot of money. Thats when the rows between my mum and dad started. It was horrible. Whenever they had a row, I couldn't sleep. Hearing their voices escalating from angry whispers to yells made me wish that I wasn't there. Right then and there, I wished I lived only with mum - I didn't care about anything else, about whether I had any friends, I just wanted a different life.

Now I'll have a different life.

Mum just told me that she's divorcing Dad. I think my heart skipped a beat when she said that. I mean, I suppose I could see my Mum and Dads marriage coming to this but still, it shocked me. I honestly don't know what Dad did wrong - it wasn't his fault he got redundant. And if he did do something wrong, why didn't she tell me? Whats more, Mum has custody of me and we are... moving ... to a council flat in ... Scotland. I have no idea what it will be like, although I have heard it is the land of lochs, tartan, Haggis and bagpipes. I almost don't know how to respond to that.

I don't want to move to Scotland, I don't want to leave my friends and I especially don't want my Mum and Dad to divorce each other. I cannot see why Mum wasn't happy with Dad. I don't understand, I don't know the full story ...

I can see a pile of cardboard boxes on the floor now, empty ones. I know I will have to pack my bags and stuff things into boxes. Best go do it now, then it's out of the way.

Lily

Friday 13th March,

07:00

Dear diary,

Brilliant, an unlucky day  with an even unlucky person to match - the unlucky girl being me.

I have made up my mind. I am NOT going to Scotland. Why not? You may ask. I can tell you why, just why I really can't go there. Mum told me this morning that we are going to stay in a council flat in Scotland and its adress was

Flat 13,

Conifer close,

The Greentree estate.

and then the city name and postcode underneath like all UK adresses. I was curious about the Greentree estate so I typed its adress into Google. You know what I saw? Newspaper headlines. Lots and lots of newspaper headlines, stating that all sorts of nasty stuff had happened there, from fires to crime, police arrests and other various horrible things. The estate we'd be moving to sounded like a highly dangerous place, full of menacing, dark people. It sounded like a shadowy, dark place, where hope has been extinguished. I didn't need to read anything else, I decided I was not going to live there. And thats not to mention the flat number. Number 13! The unlucky number! If I moved into that flat, there'd probably be robbers in our house stealing our stuff all the time!

I am not moving there. Once we get to the airport, I am going to tell mum why I can't go and will then leave the airport. It does sound mean but mum was nastier to Dad, divorcing him and making me move to a strange new country. Why can't she understand how I feel?

08:00

Yes! Finally, I don't have to listen to my mum any more! I can go back to my dad and won't have to leave my current, happy Italien life behind. But somehow, I don't feel so great, like my plan didn't really work. But it did and now I am free, aren't I? This is what happened earlier:

My mum was checking in at the airport and we'd just checked in and I wouldn't move. Mum told me,

"Come on, Lily, we need to go to the aeroplane now."

So I didn't budge and said,

"No, you want to go to the plane."

So mum looked confused and told me to hurry along now but I didn't, telling her,

"Why should I go with you? You were unfair to my dad, divorced him and now you want me to leave my happy life behind. Are you mad? I'm not going with you, I'm going back to my dad."

I didn't say the last thing, I yelled it. Then, with mum looking shocked, I ran away, far, far away, running round the airport. I didn't want mum to find me.

So now I have succeded in my mission and have lost mum so she can't ever find me and take me away to a life of unhappiness. But now I am crying and I don't know why. I should be happy that I am free but I'm not. I don't know why I am feeling so sad.

09:00

It's funny, only an hour ago, I was sad and lonely and experiencing mixed feelings but now I actually want to say sorry. It's all because of this girl I met, called Emma. Here's what happened:

I had been wandering around for a long time, wondering what to do but I eventually just gave up and burst into tears in a corner because I was feeling all sad and lost and lonely. I felt bad, horrible and nasty and was really unhappy. Then, I saw this girl walk past. She had green eyes and long, brown hair in a ponytail and was wearing a grey hoodie. She saw my crying and walked past but then she walked back to where she was standing. To my amazement, she came over to me and asked me,

"I can see you're upset. Is there anything I can do to help?"

I nodded but told her she couldn't really do much.

"Well, I want to help anyway. Have you lost your mum?"

I felt angry then and snapped at her,

"How could you possibly know?"

I expected her to back off and leave me there, because I was sad and snappy but she didn't! Instead, she said,

"I don't know the full story but I saw your mum go to the information desk and details about you were said over the tannoy system. Your mum sounds truly upset that you're gone, Lily."

That did it. I burst into tears and told the girl, whose name was Emma, everything. I told her about my turbulent month about my parents divorcing and how I was so selfish to my mum. Emma comforted me as I told her this, telling me about her experiences with her parents divorcing and remarrying. Emmas words of wisdom actually really helped me, helpi1ng me feel better. By the time she had to go, I felt a whole lot better about going back to mum. I stood up and ran as fast as I could go, all the way to the information desk. Once I got there, I hesitated about going to mum. She was standing up, telling the airport staff about me with tears streaming down her face. I felt she might be angry at me for causing her so much stress, but when she saw me, she stopped crying. She smiled and ran to me and we hugged each other, saying how sorry we were.

Right now, on the aeroplane to Scotland, seeing the clouds whizz by has made me think. In that short space of time, Mum and I repaired our relationship. It doesn't matter if I am going to live in Flat 13 on a dodgy estate in Scotland as long as mum's there to support me, I'll do fine. I've been given the confidence to get on with life and not shy away from my problems, thanks to a kind stranger called Emma.

Lily
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This entry must've been good because I have won the writing contest! :D :) :D
This contest has been amazing from start to finish and I am very glad I decided to take part in it :)

According to midnightreading, there is going to be a round two of the writing contest, so those who didn't win this time or who didn't get a place in the first round can enter that. My prize for winning round one includes me being a mentor for round two as well :)
Well done to all of the contestants in round one and good luck to all the contestants in round two :)

Bye for now,

Laura Animalgirl