"The Waking"

Golden Sponge Stick 2010

Short Story Competition Results

Lataetia from Oxford High School won third prize in the over 14 category for this
evocative story about tragedy in Roman Britain

An excerpt from "The Waking"

My feet began to slap the ground, as I shook the thoughts from my head. Searching. Searching for my wife, my son. My child, my love. My heart, and my soul, through the fire.

Huts were ablaze around me. Men, women, children, slumped on the ground, sometimes their faces cupped in the light of the fire, as it splashed the world orange, yellow, red.

There were shouts for help, everywhere.

I passed screams, I passed sobs.

I passed a woman clinging to a dead child, wailing, "Quintus est mortuus! Quintus, Quintus, Quintus." His name she crooned, as she held his body. 

My thoughts pulsed through my blood:

Julius, Julius, Julius...

I passed a bloody girl, sobbing in fright.

And I passed a child, clinging to a dead man, pretending to sleep too.

I was lost. Alone.

Julius, Julius, Julius...

Drowning in the hungry flames. I fell to the floor, remembering the gardens. Now all I could picture was a fountain, blood bubbling from its lips.

Julius, Julius, Julius...

I fell to the floor.

by Lataetia Mcevilly-Duncan