THIRD GRADE CLASSROOM ANNOUNCEMENT :

"Story 12"

12957_bell.jpg

One cold winter morning Emma woke very tired. She took the tube as usual to go to school. That morning the tube was very so crowded, that he couldn't find a seat. Somebody hurt her and made her books fall on the ground. "Sorry!" the person said, but she couldn't see his face. When she arrived at school, she rushed into her class. She knew she was late. Emma greeted the teacher and was a about to take off her jacket , when she found a strange thing in her pocket. (Giulia A.)
It was a little bell, it looked like a souvenir. She took it with her and sat down next to her schoolmate, Ethan. Emma put the little bell on the desk near her pencil case and Ethan asked her what it was. She had not replied yet, when he suddenly rang the little bell: she could hardly believe her eyes. All around her was still, everything except her and Ethan. “What’s happened?” she screamed. “It’s fantastic!” Ethan replied, “we can do whatever we want!”. Emma was both afraid and puzzled at the same time because she couldn’t understand how all that was possible and how to go back to normality. So, she took the small bell but Ethan screamed “No! Don’t do it now!”. She didn’t listen to him and rang the little bell…( Francesco S.)
At that moment everything returned as before. Nobody seemed to have noticed anything. Only Ethan and Emma knew about the magic power of the bell, and now they would have to keep it secret . Various questions afflicted Emma's mind

...: “Why her? What was the purpose of that bell? Who was that person? “

She had to find out! They decided to have the little bell ring again and see if there were any changes to time or people, and especially if someone was "awake" like them! So Ethan took it and rang it again! Everything stopped just like the first time. Everything was still, even the clocks ... except ...(Giulia D.)

except for one man, who was outside the window. His clothes were black and they couldn’t see his face, because a hat hid it. He was walking towards them, and when he arrived in front of the windows, they could see his disturbing smile. “Who is he?” Said Ethan, he was so scared. “I don’t know, but I think he has something to do with this...”. Emma was scared too but was also very curious. “Let's go and and ask him what’s going on!” She said. “You must be joking, it’s dangerous!” They didn’t know who that man ​was , but while they were talking they realized that the man was walking towards them...(Andrea B.)

"What are we going to do now?" Ethan was more scared than before. Then a voice, his icy cold voice: "Emma, I know that you are here","Come on Emma, come here... you and your friend". They were shocked and did not stir. Then Emma asked with a faint voice: "What do you want from us?" Ethan took her arm: "What are you doing? Are you nuts?" He didn't want her to talk to that scary stranger, so he was about to take the bell , when the man talked again: "Come on Ethan, do it, I know you want to do it" He was paralized. "Tell me, Ethan, how one feels to have the power of ruling time in your hands, doing everything you want..." Ethan was like under a spell, so Emma took the bell and rang it...(Alessio T.)
Emma took the bell and rang it, and once again everything and everyone around them unfroze. Ethan fell to his knees and on the floor, dazed and dizzy, and Emma crouched down worriedly next to him. She had seen a strange look in his eyes, a look of hunger and sheer evil, as if he were drunken on power. That wasn't Ethan. Ethan was... well, how to describe him?! Her best friend in the whole world, shy and smart and kind. Ever since preschool they would sit together at break, and every time Emma's father would forget to pack her lunch Ethan would give her a hug and a cookie. When they were a bit older, around their 7th birthday, they invented a whole knew language, one only they knew. And when Emma's mom died and her father started drinking, Ethan was there, every step of the way. Anyhow, whatever Emma had seen, it was gone now. She held her hand out to Ethan, who grabbed it gratefully and stood up, brushing the dirt off his knees. Emma looked around them, and only then she realized that the man was gone. They glanced around the park for a while, but he was nowhere to be found.
The two friends walked slowly back home, mulling over the day's strange happenings. They arrived at Emma's gate and parted ways, promising to research and read anything that could help them understand the phenomenon. Once inside, Emma flopped on her bed sighing, and took the bell from her pocket. She hadn't had a chance to look at it properly yet. It was small, silver, and so light it was almost weightless. From the outside it was pretty, but very plain. Squinting inside, Emma noticed in small, curved lettering an inscription, too small for her to read. Was that an A? It must be. And a H. No, wait an N. Or a K... Emma let out a long frustrated breath, and flung the little bell on her nightstand. She kicked off her shoes, buried herself under the covers and turned off the light. In the dark, she yawned, and closed her eyes.....(Bianca Z.)
when Emma woke up, the first thing she had done was to search the magnifying glass in order to read the small inscription inside the bell. It seemed a name but she wasn’t so sure she couldn’t deduce anything except the letter A. she decided to call Ethan, it was a saturday morning she knew Ethan wakes up always late.. she didn’t expect an answer, but at the last rang he answered at the telephone. Ethan told her that he didn’t manage to sleep his head was full of thoughts that he couldn’t handle them, so he grabbed his bag put on some clothes and rushed to Emma’s house. he brought with him the magnifying glass that emma told him, and started to read what was inside. ABBY. they blinked, turned the head to watch themselves and at the same time they said: “Who is Abby?”. Too many things where just unsolved, too many questions that had no answers. they started searching from the web sources, nothing was useful. Desperately Emma started to search any Abby on Facebook, there were so many of them that she didn’t know where to start. she decided to scrool the different pictures, when BINGO, one had a necklace with that small bell as a pendant. They started to search how to contact her, there was no telephone number neither an e-mail. it was now that emma’s stalking skills became useful, a life work that finally was rewarded. it took her just a few minutes to find her address, they were both scared but they know that if they wanted to know more, it was the only thing they could have done. fortunately it wasn’t so far, they managed to reach the house with their bikes. when they arrived, from the windows they couldn’t see anything, it seemed as no one was inside, no cars in the garage but there was one in the alleyway. They knocked at the door in fear the sound was difficult to hear, but suddenly they heard some steps in the inside. the sound was getting louder and louder, when the door opened. Emma was just petrified, fear was flowing in her veins. when she realized that she could rang the little bell freezing everyone, the door opened and what they saw was the man they saw the previous day, and even this time he didn’t froze. he took of the hood and calmed Emma and Ethan, he didn’t want them, he needed the little bell. He presented himself, his name was John and he was Abby’s husband. he told them that he made that bell for his wife for their 10th anniversary. she died of cancer, and one of her last wishes she said to his husband was “how could it be to freeze everything”. after his wife’s funeral, when he arrived home he was searching for the keys in his pocket when he shook the bell and the car that was passing behind him immediately blocked. he couldn’t understand what was happening, he entered in his house and saw that the clock hanging on the wall wasn’t working anymore. he took off his jacket where the bell was and it fell on the floor. he heard it rang and the clock started to work again, he couldn’t believe in his eyes. he rang it again and the clock stopped, so he understood that the bell could stop the time.



VALERIO Z.