CluckCluck - Recently Updated Pages

Marmalade Boy Review

Niamhie — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:58:56 CDT

Marmalade Boy is a manga graphic novel and anime written and drawn by Wataru Yoshizumi. It was published in 1992 and the tv series was aired in 1994. Its about a girl called Miki and her stepbrother Yuu who in Miki's opinion is a jerk. Then one day when Yuu thinks Miki is asleep (she isn't actually) he kisses her.This totally confuses Miki. Then there is Miki's best friend Ginta who she used to have a crush but doesn't anymore because when she was younger she sent him a love letter and she saw Ginta showing his friends the letter and heard him say he didn't feel the same way. Anyway soon after Miki is kissed by Yuu Ginta kisses Miki. This makes Miki EVEN more confused.
Then there's Yuu's ex girlfriend who still loves Yuu and wants to get back together with Yuu, how does Yuu feel about that? And then there is the question of why does miki's best friend Meiko not want to go out with boys even though loads of boys like her? And most importantly who does miki like Ginta or Yuu?(I'm not going to answer these question cause I hate spoiling books). Oh and if you're wonder why it's called Marmalade Boy it's because one morning Yuu and miki were having breakfast and yuu passed Miki the marmalade instead of the jam and mikii said that the marmalade reminded her of Yuu because though there sour bits in the inside, everyone sees the nice outside.

Unfortunately it's out of print but you can read it on mangafox.com and watch the anime on youtube.
Heres a picture of Miki.
heres a picture Yuu, Miki and ginta
And most of the cast from the top row Ginta, Suzu, Arimi, middle row miki, Yuu and the bottom row Meiko, Kei and Satoshi.

Movie Reviews

calvinb — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:44:30 CDT

300 Grease

About a Boy

Mrs.Doubtfire

The Ladykillers

calvinb — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:47:56 CDT

This is a very funny movie.It is set in post-war London, and its main star is Alec Guinness, who is really funny in it. It also has Peter Sellers in one of his first film roles, and Herbert Lom is also in there.

The film is about one apparently harmless little old lady and a number of rather shifty gentleman (headed up by Alec Guinness) who move into her house as lodgers, under the guise of musicians. In fact, though, the gentlemen are criminals planning the pick up of stolen money. They intend to use the old lady as a prop in their crimes! Will they pick up the money and make a getaway? Or will the old lady realize what's happening and stop the thieves? This film is a real caper and well worth many watches!

News Room

HORSESLOL!! — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:19:01 CDT

The Whirlwind That Hit Kerry

ANYONE THAT IS GOING TO THOMASTOWN FOR THE MEET UP ON TUESDAY 6TH OF OCTOBER PLEASE BRING ANYTHING TO SELL THAT YOU CAN.
ALL MONEY RAISED WILL GO TO HEN CONFRENCE NO EXCEPTIONS.My Feis.:D

Iz cOol!!!

We're Developing!

Web Links You' d Like To Share With CluckCluck

calvinb — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:42:36 CDT

This is a page for sharing web addresses. So If you know of some cool websites that you'd like to tell others about, here's the place to do it!

About.com

This is a cool website. It's a reference that has info on everything from tennis to history. It is more reliable than wikipedia, as it is not a wiki.

Listen.grooveshark.com

This a great online music jukebox. You can listen to all the songs you want for free. No downloading required.

The Library

pinkimpgirl — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:33:10 CDT

Essays

I don't know what else to call these but they are really good.

SCaRy StORieS.

I would seriously advise you to NOT
read this.
By Clara, Ceoladh & Rebeccah..x:)

Stories

Click here to read some stories written by the HEN teens.

Book Reviews

Here are reviews of books written by the HEN teens.

The reviews, not the books.

Poems

Read some lovely poems by the HEN teens.

Comics

Have a look at some comics written by, yeah you can guess it.

Twilight

Twilight is soooooo cool here is some Twilight related stuff

Twilight

pinkimpgirl — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:30:56 CDT

Hi everybody! This a page dedicated to Twilight, so Twilight fans only!

Edward, Bella, and the Cullens

At the Prom

Which book is the best? My personal favorite is Breaking Dawn!

The rather unplessant first chapter to an even more unpleasant book. (By Luke)

Wraith281 — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:43:17 CDT

(My apologies for the typo in the title, by the way. This is the first chapter in a novel I'm writing, so let me know what you think. Just be warned: This ain't a pleasant story by any way, manner, or means.)

Chapter 1

Lieutenant Duncan Grimm sat in the landing craft, watching the noxious brown clouds swirling around outside. The planet Calthan’s atmosphere was caustic and suffocating, and was already eating away at the jet’s paint. Feeling extremely glad that a three-inch pane of glass separated him from the cloud, he lounged back in his seat as much as it would allow. The other five members of his squad sat in the row beside him, their expressions showing they were clearly uncomfortable in their battle-suits. He could hardly blame them; Mk. 9 assault armour was a life-saver in combat, but it was a nightmare to wear for extended periods of time.
“Our ETA to Calthan Alpha’s around two minutes,” said their pilot, speaking through the intercom, “Get yourselves organised.” Their squad leader, Captain Alan Tiernan, sat up.
“Well, you heard the man. Helmets on, stow your weapons, and check your chutes. And I emphasise the last one. I’d imagine you don’t want to splatter yourselves against the dome’s surface, and I sure as hell don’t want to clean up the mess. Or do the paperwork, for that matter.” He winked at them and slid on his helmet. It hissed as it clamped itself to the body of his suit. The squad did likewise, ensured their weapon bags were secure (to avoid exposing them to Calthan’s atmosphere on the way down), and made sure their grav-chutes were in full working order. The pilot announced that they were over the drop zone, and opened the troop bay’s hatch. A blast of acidic rain and foul-smelling air blew into the cabin. Tiernan signalled for them to jump. Grimm went first. He hurled himself out of the jet and into the maelstrom.

The sheer force of the wind took him by surprise, and nearly sent him spiralling off course. He used his chute’s jets to steer him back on course, and aimed himself at Calthan’s main habitation dome, Dome C-756, or “Calthan Alpha”. The miles-wide grey surface of the dome was just about visible through the cloud, a grey blur thousands of feet below. Grimm’s pulse was racing, and his breathing was quick and shallow. He’d made dozens of jumps like this before, but there was always going to be fear associated with it. The conditions of the jump weren’t helping either. He saw a black form streak by him, and noticed that it was moving too fast towards the dome. Grimm prayed it wasn’t one of his squadmates. He decided to ignore it for now and focus on landing where he was supposed to. The dome had four docking bays, each one corresponding to a compass point, and they were heading to the eastern one. The dome was clearer now; Grimm could make out its designation number on the side of the dome, in huge black lettering. 756. Captain Tiernan ordered them to deploy their chutes, just a few hundred feet from the docking bay. This was the tricky part. Any idiot can make the initial jump, but the landing part is another matter entirely. Especially when the landing zone is thirty metres wide, and you’re landing in storm-force winds. Grimm used his jets to steer himself onto the landing bay, and shut them off five metres above it. He hit the ground, rolling to absorb the impact, and turned to see if any of his squadmates had made the jump. Lieutenant Bale was standing just a few metres to his left, dusting himself off. He turned to Grimm.
“Nice work, Grimm.” he said, his voice so thick with sarcasm you could have spread it on toast, “Good job on nearly splattering yourself there.”
“Coming from you, that’s pretty rich. Considering how fast you were going there, I’m surprised you’re not a veneer on the duracrete.” Bale snorted.
“That’s a little thing called skill, Grimm,” He said, idly inspecting his gauntlet. He looked straight at Grimm. “Something you lack in a few areas. Or so I’ve heard.” He laughed.
“I’m laughing so hard my sides hurt.” Grimm said, “Give the posturing a rest, Bale. It’s embarrassing to listen to.” Before Bale could compose a reply, Tiernan landed between the two of them, followed by Scout-Sergeant Crowe and her spotter, Trooper Curtis.
“Well, now that we’re all present,” said Tiernan, “how about we head in?” He unbolted the access hatch in the docking bay floor and dropped in. He gave the all-clear, and the rest of the squad followed. Grimm landed on the metal grating below with barely a sound, thanks to the sound-reducing soles of his boots. They worked on a similar principle to an elephant’s foot pads, and their soft, springy surface made them nearly useless for kicking and stamping, but very useful for staying undetected. A keypad-locked door blocked entry to the main body of the docking bay. Tiernan typed in a long string of numbers, and the door hissed open. Coalition Special Operations had a back door into all Coalition security systems, including those of high-ranking government officials. When it came to the CSO’s judgement, nobody was above the law. Grimm walked into the bay after Tiernan. The only light came from flickering fluorescent strips set in the roof. Three empty merchant ships lay in the hangar, a fine layer of dust covering their hulls.
“Unpack your weapons.” Tiernan said. “The distress call didn’t give any details about the state of the city, so there’s no knowing what we’ll encounter.” Grimm unstrapped his pack and pulled out his rifle. It was a Linear Induction Rifle Mk.22, a weapon that used magnetic impulses to fire caseless rounds at super-high speeds. Since they were far too big for a normal human to carry, only the CSO used these for infantry combat. He then slipped his pistol into its holster and strapped his knife to his hip. Tiernan ordered them forward. Grimm crept through the hangar, keeping to the cover of the ships and their resupply lines. He reached the emergency exit, which lead to a flight of stairs. The lights were out here, so he switched his visor filter to low-light. He walked down the stairs first, keeping his rifle lowered. He reached the foot of the stairs, and walked into the entry hall of the docking station. It was completely deserted, and the grey light of the city-dome cast everything in a dim glow. The hall was oddly clean, with no clutter or detritus on the desks or chairs.
“Something’s not right here.” said Grimm. Tiernan nodded gravely.
“Let’s keep going. Watch yourselves, and keep in contact.”

Grimm emerged into the city of Calthan Alpha, and was immediately struck by the silence that surrounded him. No cars drove down the streets, and no trains were running. These were deeply odd circumstances, no matter what dome you were talking about. There were no pedestrians in sight either. Grimm’s grip on his rifle tightened. He walked on, taking note of his surroundings. It had been seven weeks since the distress signal; what had happened in that time? Grimm ran to the end of the street, making very little noise for a man in powered armour. He took a left, and saw something that he genuinely hadn’t been expecting. An eerily silent traffic jam lay ahead of him; four rows of abandoned cars, their doors left wide open. This odd little sight disturbed Grimm far more than it should have. What the hell was going on here? He walked through the rows of traffic, focusing on the rows of empty high-rise building around him. It felt like being a deeply unfortunate rat in a scarily elaborate maze. He started seeing more and more abandoned cars as he got closer to the city centre, but not a single driver. They all seemed to be going in the same direction: to the docking bay.
“Sir, you might want to take a look at this...” He said, sending Tiernan a direct feed from his visor camera. He heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but I do know this: This dome had a population of six million people before the distress call, and in the space of almost two months it’s seemingly gone down to zero. This makes no goddamn sense… I mean, how do make six million people disappear?” Grimm was silent.
“Grimm, I want you and Bale to check the hospital and the corpse recyclers. Maybe you’ll find someone there.” Tiernan said.
“Oh, thank you ever so much,” Grimm said flatly. “You know how much I love visiting the corpse recycler.”
“You’re quite welcome,” Tiernan said in an overly deadpan voice, “You’ll be fine, Grimm. The dead can’t hurt you. Hence why I prefer them to a good few of the living.” Grimm turned on his heel and walked towards the hospital.
“You and me both, sir. You and me both…”

Dome C-756 Municipal Hospital was a massive, imposing piece of work: all white brick and glass. It stretched up for ten storeys, and went almost as far underground. The recyclers were on the bottom floor, just below the morgue. The cadavers from the morgue were used to help fertilise the algae vats that sustained the still-living. A grim process, but a necessary one. Bale was already waiting at the hospital, leaning nonchalantly against the wall beside the great glass doors. He saluted half-heartedly as Grimm walked towards him. Grimm acknowledged him with a nod. Wordlessly, they walked into the hospital. Grimm kept his rifle raised and his finger just off the trigger. Shooting a civilian accidentally would be a rather bad move. He listened out for footsteps, and constantly checked for movement around him. The hospital’s main atrium was, like the docking bay’s reception, oddly clean, bar the scuffed and scratched floor. By this point, Grimm was unsurprised to see that the reception desk had no-one sitting behind it. He read the map just behind it, and turned to Bale.
“I’ll head to Virology and check the place out. How about you head to A&E?” Bale shrugged.
“Doesn’t really matter. I’ll see you back here.” He turned and stalked down one of the corridors, heading in the direction of Accident & Emergency. Grimm walked towards Virology, creeping through the stark, empty corridors. At one point he could have sworn he heard someone else’s footsteps, but he figured he was just imagining it. Virology was a mess, with clipboards and folders scattered across the desks and floor. Other than that, the place was as clean and devoid of life as the rest of the hospital. He started walking back to the foyer, keeping an eye out as he walked.
“Virology’s empty,” he said, “Just like the rest of this goddamn dome. Any luck with A&E?” Bale took his time replying.
“I’m not there yet. Just give me a second…” The sound of coughing came from Bale’s link.
“Bale, what’s going on?” said Grimm, starting in the direction of A&E. The coughing continued for a moment, and Bale answered.
“Just… Just come take a look at this…” he sounded shaken. That was what concerned Grimm the most. If Bale was feeling uneasy, he rarely sounded it. Grimm burst into the A&E department, and was suddenly hit by the stink of decay. He started coughing and retching. He switched his suit’s air supply to its internal tanks to avoid breathing in whatever was causing the smell.
“What the hell is that?” he spluttered.
“Come over here.” Bale called. Grimm walked a little further, and arrived at a poorly-lit white corridor. It was hard to make out shapes in the half-light, but he could clearly see Bale, and the black body bags lined up against the walls of the corridor. The lines stretched along the entire length of the hall, which must have meant at least fifty bodies. Old blood splatters marked the floor and walls, meaning that some extremely violent deaths must have taken place here. Bale had unzipped one of the body bags, and was inspecting the corpse. He saw Grimm walking towards him.
“Hey, Grimm, is it common procedure to shoot patients in Coalition hospitals?” An extremely puzzled expression crossed Grimm’s face.
“What are you on about, Bale?” Bale gestured for him to come over. Grimm switched on his helmet light and walked over.
“Look at this guy here.” He said, pointing to the rotten cadaver. “For one thing, he’s decomposed abnormally quickly. But he’s also missing about half his head, something that’s not usually associated with tissue necrosis.” Grimm looked into the body bag, and saw that some sort of high-powered round had blown the unfortunate soul’s skull wide open. Bale continued,
“This isn’t an isolated thing either. All the bodies I’ve checked here have the same sort of gunshot wound, delivered point-blank from a Dome Defence Forces assault carbine.” Grimm looked at Bale, feeling oddly impressed.
“And you said you missed the lecture on forensic investigation.” Grimm said, chuckling, and felt a slight twinge of guilt for joking about this situation. “The rounds are stuck in the floor, I take it?” Bale nodded.
“Okay then. Why would the DDF be shooting patients, though? Last time I checked, they were supposed to protect the weak, ill and helpless, not blow their heads off.” Bale shrugged, like he couldn’t care less.
“I don’t know, but we’ve got to keep moving. We’ve still got the morgue and recyclers to check.” He said, barely keeping the disgust from his voice. Grimm groaned internally, but still followed Bale downstairs to the morgue. It was the same story here; all of the bodies seemed to be in the advanced stages of decomposition, and many of them had gunshot wounds to the head. Had the DDF been mercy-killing these people? Had there been an uprising? Grimm didn’t know what to think at this point. They left the morgue, and headed for the recycler.

The recycler was, if such a thing was even possible, worse.

Grimm staggered from the recycler room, gagging. The recycler had stopped halfway through processing someone, a sight that really doesn’t bear describing.
“I’m starting to develop a real dislike for hospitals.” Bale said in his usual deadpan tones. Grimm laughed, partially out of nerves. He’d seen a lot of disturbing things in his time, but this topped most of them.
“Would you mind contacting Tiernan?” asked Grimm. Bale nodded. They let Tiernan know about the state of the hospital. The captain reacted pretty well, given the circumstances. He told them to go to the admin building in the city centre, and that he’d meet them there as soon as he’d finished inspecting the power station. Tiernan’s transmission started breaking up towards the end, making the link crackle with static. After saying something Grimm couldn’t quite make out, probably just a farewell, Tiernan ended the transmission. Grimm turned to Bale.
“Let’s get the hell out of here.” Bale nodded.
“For once, I completely agree with you.” He said dryly. Grimm led the way, climbing up the stairs to the ground floor. One floor away from the foyer, he heard a noise in the corridor beyond the stairwell. It was a sort of shuffling, combined with deep, rasping breaths. He held up a hand to stop Bale.
“What?” said Bale. Grimm shushed him.
“Do you hear that?” Bale listened for a moment.
“Yes, I hear it. A civilian, maybe?”
“Maybe. Let’s check it out. It might be an idea to leave the cloaks off. The poor bastard’s probably scared enough; he doesn’t need us materialising out of thin air adding to that.” Bale nodded quickly. Grimm pushed the door open, and walked into the corridor. He dimmed his flashlight, and cautiously crept through the hall. The glass screens that divided the rooms had been smashed, and in some places the floor was slick with fluid. Grimm raised his rifle.
“Hello?” he called. “Is anybody there? We’re from the CSO, and we’re here to help.” He heard several sharp intakes of breath.
“Don’t worry, you’re safe now,” said Grimm. “Nobody’s going to hurt you.” He wished he could say that with complete sincerity. Shuffling footsteps came closer to his position, and he could hear the ragged breathing of the survivors approaching him. He looked at the source of the noise, and saw something that, to understate massively, surprised him. The being standing in front of him no longer looked human: its skin was rotting away in places, especially around the torso and face. It was wiry and almost skeletally thin, with a hunched posture. It looked straight into the glare of his flashlight, and it snarled. Drawing on his fine command of language, Grimm summarised the situation in a single word:
“Shit.”

The thing pounced at him, its bony frame belying its speed and strength. Grimm knocked it aside with the butt of his rifle, and fired a quick burst at it as it staggered. Hyper-velocity rounds tore its ragged frame apart, and it collapsed. The noise attracted more of these things, and they ran at the two CSO troopers. Bale turned to run, pulling Grimm with him. Grimm slammed the door shut behind them, hoping to create a barrier between them and the creatures. It turned out that they knew how door handles work. The things were fast as hell, and they clambered up the stairs at a worrying pace. Grimm burst out of the hospital, relying on his battlesuit’s assistance to keep ahead of the former humans. He ran down the street, heading for the city centre. He looked over his shoulder at his pursuers. Dozens of them scurried down the road, all intent on tearing him apart. A few of them attacked each other in their frenzy, biting and clawing at throats and eyes. Grimm stopped to fire three quick bursts at the horde, killing roughly four of the things. He could see Bale just ahead of him, doing his best to keep ahead of the ugly, rotting beings. More of them were appearing out of residential blocks, drawn by the noise.
“Sir, we’ve got hostiles!” he shouted to Tiernan. “Are you at the RV point?”
“I’m heading to the admin building as we speak. What sort of hostiles?” Grimm turned away from the horde and ran on.
“They aren’t like anything I’ve seen before, sir. They’re like humans, only rotten, wasting away. They’re still damn fast, and it takes pulse fire to kill them.” Tiernan cursed.
“Just focus on getting to the rendezvous, lieutenant. The area’s fortified, so we can hold them off from there.” Grimm rounded the corner, and the saw the admin building just ahead of him. It was a massive spike of metal and glass which dominated the skyline of Calthan. Duracrete barricades had been put up around it, with machine-gun emplacements set up at regular intervals. The armed forces of Calthan had obviously been prepared for this. Tiernan was manning one of the guns, and aimed down the iron sights at the approaching horde. He fired two four-round bursts, but they seemed to have little effect on the creatures’ advance.
“Grimm, get over here!” he shouted. Grimm vaulted over the ten-foot barrier. His battlesuit assisted his movement using electro-sensitive wires that expanded and contracted like muscles. This sort of jump was fine, but he couldn’t push the suit too hard or he’d wind up damaging it. He ducked behind the cover of the barrier instinctively, and grasped the handles of one of the other machine-guns. These were powder weapons: firearms that still used chemical propellant to fire their projectiles. The DDF still used them, but the CSO had long ago moved to using pulse weaponry. Grimm fired at the horde in quick, controlled bursts, trying to avoid hitting Bale as he neared. The creatures wouldn’t stop, and he heard Tiernan gasp.
“We can’t stay here,” he said. “We’ll be overrun. I’m going to call the Spectre and request evac, and we’ll just have to hold out till it arrives.” Grimm nodded gravely, and let go of the machine-gun. He popped a fresh magazine into his rifle, and waited for the things to get closer. He slid the other magazine into his belt, saving it for later. He did this instinctively; in urban battles, running out of ammo in the middle of a close-range firefight would get you killed, so Grimm always slid a fresh clip in when he could. He saved the half-empty ones for the times when he was stuck behind cover, and didn’t need to fire an entire clip at someone. Bale leapt over the barricade, and the three of them ran to the admin building. Tiernan called for Crowe and Curtis to head to the docking bay. They were going to need support if they intended on getting out of here alive.

After realising that the admin building was a terrible spot to try to hold, the three of them leapt over the barricades and ran through the streets to the docking bay. Grimm heard Tiernan cursing to himself.
“What is it, sir?”
“The dome wall and the storm are messing with long-range communications. I can’t reach the Spectre.”
“Are there any other methods of long-range communication in this city?” said Grimm, desperately searching for a solution.
“There’s the comms-mast, and the signal control centre in the admin building.” Tiernan looked back at the horde, which was currently swarming around the city centre. “The admin building’s an obvious no-go, but we might just make it to the comms-mast. Follow me.” Grimm followed Tiernan as he took a left at the end of the street, and made for the west side of the hab-dome. Grimm could see the comms-mast in the distance, glittering in the half-light.
“It’s going to take a while to send the distress call, so we’re going to need to hold these… things off in the comms-centre until the landing craft arrives.” Before Grimm could reply, a dozen of the creatures charged round the corner, their eyes and mouths wide open in a silent scream.

Grimm emptied a clip into the group, killing four of them with concentrated fire. Bale and Tiernan killed another six between them. The remaining two pounced on Grimm, clawing at his armour. Their teeth couldn’t pierce his armour, but those hands could probably tear off armour plates. He grabbed one’s neck and twisted it at an unnatural angle. It slumped and slid off him. The other one tried to pin his arms, and he struggled in its grip. He saw Tiernan’s hands drag it off him and slit its throat from ear to ear. It kept clawing at him, but after a few seconds it gurgled and lay still. Tiernan wiped his knife on the thing’s ragged remnants of clothing.
“Ugh, you are one ugly son of a bitch.” He muttered.
“And the dead thing’s no looker either.” Bale chipped in. Grimm flipped his middle finger at Bale.
“Come on, I’ll help you up.” Said Tiernan, pulling Grimm to his feet. “Are you okay?”
Grimm nodded, unable to speak for the moment. A shriek went up from the horde in the city centre. Grimm blanched.
“Let’s keep moving.” said Tiernan. He called Crowe and Curtis to let them know about the plan to use the comms-mast, and ordered them to stay put. Then the three of them turned and ran for the communications centre.

After a few minutes of sprinting through the no-longer-quiet streets, Grimm, Bale and Tiernan arrived at the mast. Grimm typed in the CSO entry code, and the trio of soldiers stepped in, barring the door behind them. The comms-centre was seemingly deserted, and the dimly lit entry hall was littered with papers, presumably scattered during some sort of struggle.
“Bale, I need you to guard the door,” said Tiernan. “Grimm, I need you to come with me.” Bale grunted and reloaded his rifle. Grimm followed Tiernan through the building, looking out for a computer console they could use to send a distress call. They found one on the second floor, covered in dust. Tiernan walked over and hit the power button. The console stayed off. Tiernan laughed bitterly.
“I guess I was being a bit too optimistic when I assumed the power was still on here.” He said. “Damn.”
“There’s an auxiliary generator in this building, right?” said Grimm.
“Hmm, on an isolated world like this there should be… Shall I check?” said Tiernan.
“Nah, we need you to signal them. I’m not used to this type of computer anyway. They’re a bit too primitive for me.” He said jokingly.
“Very well,” said Tiernan, turning back to the console. “See if you can get the generator started, and then we’ll be in business.” Grimm saluted and left the room.

He passed Bale on his way to the generator room.
“Any signs of those… animals?” asked Grimm. Bale shook his head.
“None so far. It’s odd that they’re just leaving us alone for now.”
“Maybe they’re distracted.”
“By something other than our sniper team? Not likely. But you might be right. The bastards are probably too busy eating each other to be of any harm to us.” Bale laughed harshly. Grimm laughed uneasily, and went on his way. The comms-centre was very well-lit compared to the hospital, something Grimm was quite grateful for. The huge windows presented some problems for the defence of this place, though: those things would probably smash right through if they tried. The generator room was two floors down, which meant he had to use the stairwell. He clambered downstairs and pushed open the door to the generator. Surrounded by coils of wire and assorted detritus, the generator stood there, a dull block of steel and stone. Grimm walked right up to it, and pulled the control panel open. The generator still had some residual power left, enough to power the mast for a few minutes at least. He started it up, redirecting the power so that only the consoles and comms arrays were receiving any energy.
“Is it working now, sir?” he said to Tiernan.
“It certainly is, lieutenant. Good work.” The captain replied. “Could you assist Bale while I send the distress signal?” Grimm walked back to the stairwell and started to make his way up to the entry hall.
“Will do, sir.” He heard a loud crash, coming from somewhere on the ground floor. With his rifle raised, Grimm raced up the stairwell. He burst out into the entry hall, and saw Bale spraying fire at a bunch of the creatures. Aiming down his rifle’s sights, he dropped one with a well-placed burst. He joined the melee at the broken glass door. The group assaulting them now was far bigger than the previous one, a seething mass of decaying flesh. They tried to swarm the two CSO troopers, but the narrow entrance made that almost impossible. They were forced to come in two at a time, which made their numbers slightly less intimidating. One of the creatures lunged at Bale and bowled him over, snarling and spitting in his face. Grimm turned to help him, and in that moment of distraction two of the other half-dead things pounced on him. Grimm had the oddest feeling of déjà vu. He headbutted one of them in the mouth, his reinforced visor beating its teeth. It fell on its back, screeching. Grimm pulled out his knife, flicked the blade out of its handle, and stabbed the second one in the windpipe. It died silently and hit the floor. With his rifle lying on the floor somewhere, Grimm switched to using his pistol. He administered the coup de grace to the fallen one, cutting it off mid-scream. Switching to fully automatic fire, he fired eleven rounds into the shrieking mob outside the door. He was about to pop in a fresh magazine when another few former humans burst in through the door. Their numbers seemed endless from where Grimm stood. Realising he didn’t have time to reload, Grimm threw himself at the creatures, stabbing and punching anything that moved. Their sheer weight of numbers started to drag him down, and his visor was so smeared with blood that he could barely see. He heard bones crunching, and felt a powerful pair of hands dragging him out of the fight. He heard Bale screaming curses at the horde, then the sound of an assault carbine firing on full-auto. Grimm pushed himself back onto his feet, and hit the “Clean Visor” button on the side of his helmet. His vision cleared, and he saw Bale cutting a swathe through the horde. Grimm scrabbled around onthe blood-slick floor, looking for his rifle. He found it thrown against a wall. He checked the clip, reloaded his pistol, and started firing into the mass of creatures. Grimm felt something grab his ankle. He looked down and saw one of the creatures he’d shot earlier trying to drag him down. Crying out in disgust, he pulled his foot away and stamped down on its arm. It stopped moving after that. Bale was starting to get overwhelmed, and was resorting to grappling with the things to stay in the fight.
“Bale, get back here!” shouted Grimm. Where the hell were Crowe and Curtis? Before Bale could reply, he was dragged down by the mob, and disappeared. Reciting the battle chants he’d learned during his training, Grimm systematically shot the creatures to bits, rarely missing a shot. He slid the empty magazine out of his rifle, and patted his belt for a full one. The creatures turned to look at him. He went pale. Five of them ran at him, screeching. Grimm charged right at them, catching the first one in the throat with his rifle butt. It fell, clutching its crumpled throat. The remaining four latched onto him, pulling at his armour. Grimm tried to knock them off, but they held on tenaciously. He grabbed one by the arm and slammed it to the ground, eliciting a satisfying crunch. He flailed his arms, trying to reach the things clinging onto his back.
“Hold still!” he heard Bale shout. He stood as still as a man in powered armour with three mutilated people hanging out of him could stand. Three loud cracks could be heard as Bale’s carbine blew the creatures off him. Reaching for his fallen weapon, Grimm muttered a quick thanks.
“Anytime, Grimm.” said Bale. The creatures seemed to have backed off a bit, and were now trying to size up the troopers. Bale fired a shot into the air to gauge their reaction. They just kept staring, with a strange, almost hungry look. Grimm started backing away, towards the comms-centre. Bad move. The creatures ran at him, their moment of calm long since passed. Grimm turned and ran back to the centre, hoping to catch them in the bottleneck of the doorway.
“Tiernan, how long until that transmission gets sent? We’re getting swamped out here!” he shouted over his helmet link.
“Just a minute,” the captain said. “This computer’s barely usable. The loss of power messed with its workings, so it’s phenomenally slow. The message should send right about… now.” There was a brief pause, then Grimm heard a triumphant laugh.
“Okay, the Spectre should get that message in a minute or so. Let’s get to the docking bay.” Grimm sighed in relief, but stopped feeling so relieved when he realised that to get to the docking bay, they were going to have to fight their way across the entirety of Dome C-756.

The three soldiers ran through the streets, keeping just a few steps ahead of the pursuing horde. Every creature in the city seemed to be after them now, forming a swarm of thousands, with every one intent on catching them. With the possible exception of the cannibalistic ones. The three men had tried climbing buildings to stay out of their reach, but the creatures were phenomenally fast climbers, which made the effort rather redundant. The rows of empty cars in the city centre slowed the horde temporarily, but they caught up quite swiftly afterwards. The docking bay was in sight now, its bulbous grey form standing out in the half-light. Tiernan yelled for them to keep going, and ordered the sniper team to provide suppressing fire (if such a thing existed against these things). The loud, distinctive bang of an LIR-S marksman rifle rang out, and several creatures died as the anti-materiel round blew through their ranks. They arrived at the docking bay and saw the two members of the sniper team, Lena Crowe and Andrew Curtis, lying prone on the ground, taking careful aim at the horde. Judging by the empty clips on the ground beside them, they’d been hard at work killing the creatures. They got up from the ground when the other three approached.
“Into the docking bay, all of you!” shouted Tiernan. Grimm needed no further encouragement. He shoved the front door open and ran to the hangar entrance, the others following close behind him. He unbolted the huge steel door, and held it open as the rest of the squad ran in. He went in last, slamming it shut behind him. Slumping against the doorframe, he let out a long, relieved sigh.
“The ship should be here any minute.” Tiernan announced.
“Glad that’s over,” said Bale. “What the hell were those things?” Before anyone could answer him, something heavy bashed against the door to the hangar.
“That door will hold,” Bale said confidently. A large dent formed in the door at the second blow.
“Or maybe not.” said Crowe. She turned to Tiernan.
“When did you say our drop-ship would get here, again?”
“It should be here by now…” Tiernan said uneasily. Another resounding clang came from the door as another huge dent formed. Grimm heard the roar of jets over the howl of the storm.
“How much would you be willing to bet that that’s our drop-ship?” he asked the squad. Bale elbowed his way past him.
“If I lose, what I owe you will be the least of my worries.” He grunted as he shoved the maintenance hatch open. Another clang sounded, and Grimm could have sworn he heard the sound of metal giving way. The other members of his squad clambered up through the hatch, leaving him to deal with whatever came through that door. The door was torn from its hinges by the creatures’ final charge, hitting the floor with a clang that hurt Grimm’s ears. Grimm pulled a grenade from his belt pouch and hurled it through the doorway. Figuring it was best not to hang around to think of a quip, he pulled himself up through the hatch and into the storm. He heard a low rumble, and smiled wryly. The landing craft that had dropped them in was hovering unsteadily at the edge of the docking bay ledge, its troop bay wide open. Tiernan waved him forward, and he took a running jump into the craft. His feet slammed into the metal floor of the troop bay, and he staggered. Steadying himself, Grimm pulled himself over to his seat. He slumped into it, listening to the screams of the creatures of Calthan.

Book Reviews

animalcrackers — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:54:21 CDT

Lest We Forget
Forgotten Voices from
1914-1945
MAX ARTHUR
In association with the IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM
AIRMAN
THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER!!
READ IT NOW!!!!
BY LILY HAYES.

Warcraft Archive
A review of some of my favourite stories.

By Jason Conroy.

Hitler's Canary

There are many books about World War II, and some of them are not quite up to scratch. This is not one of those books.

Review by Ben Conroy.

Journey to the River Sea

A brilliant book about a girl's life in the Amazon with a few twists thrown in...book review by Katie McCann.

Shield of Fire

A book review by Zoe. It's on a book by Alice Leader. It's set in ancient Greece but to find out more you will have to read it ( the book review I mean ).

The Rainbow Fairies Series

A book review by Amy. This time it's on a book by Daisy Meadows. If you like fairies you should read this.

Divided City

A book review by Ben (ConflictCloud) on a book about the interfaith tensions in Glasgow. If you like... Divided Cities, you

should probably consult a psychiatrist, but otherwise

you might want to read this.

Frank and the Black Hamster of Narkiz

Another book review by Ben, this time on a surprisingly good

book about hamsters, of all things. Prepare to be surprised...

The Star Of Kazan.
I Really Liked This Book, By Clara Webster :)

Strong bow and Aoife.
I really liked this book, its irish thats why I'm typing it in green
By Clara Webster :)

Anne of green gables
this book is interestingly set on Prince Edwards Island, of the coast of Canada

3400 Words Of Tosh

Sparkly — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:39:49 CDT

By Esme Baldwin

I’m Natalie, fifteen, already completely disillusioned and I’m slowly watching my life’s work go up the chimney. I feel sad, not because of losing my work but because I never did anything better. All I ever did was dream, and write, and live. And now I can’t do any of them any more, I’m at the end.
~
I’m tired, tired and scared, and I don’t feel like I can keep going anymore, no one really cares, not about me… They don’t need me, they hardly even see me… No one ever noticed my fear of the dark, let alone my fear of life and being alone. The dark brings out the worst in me, worst thoughts, worst dreams, my worst fears. Like the thought… The simple little thought of “Why bother with tomorrow?” That’s the worst one, particularly because I long to embrace it, and not have to worry or fear things any more, but I can’t, because there’s nothing there but endless dark, unknown, and the ultimate fear of no return. I’d beg for my parents to leave the door open, I’d stay awake in bed for hours, afraid to close my eyes. I was too scared to live, too scared to let go. But it was different once, I wasn’t always this.

~

I’m sitting in a warm living room, sitting next to a warm fire, sitting between my parents, I’m reading about cards, and a small girl who tripped her way after a kitten down a rabbit hole and into Wonderland.
Mum turns to me and says “We have some cream, would you like a cocoa?”
“Oh, please!”
“I’ll go and make them then”
She starts to get up, and strains a little, and Dad looks up from his book quickly, saying “Don’t worry darling, I’ll make them, you stay here”.
I’m curious, why would Dad offer to do it when Mum’s perfectly capable, even if she has been a little off recently, I heard her throwing up earlier, so she might have a bit of a cold. I hope I don’t catch it. Dad comes back in short while with the hot chocolates. They both look at each other over my head and mum nods slightly.
“Darling… We have some really big news for you.” Dad says.
“I’m pregnant sweetheart” says mum.
“Oh…” I say.
“Aren’t you happy?” Say Dad.
“Oh, happy… Yeah, yeah I’m really excited.”
“But you don’t sound like it”
“No, I’m happy… I’m just tired, it’s a bit late…I’ve had a long day”
“Oh okay darling…”
“When are you due, Mum?” She looks so happy at my interest, but in truth my insides are curling up.
“The baby’s due in about six months or so, and then you’ll have a little brother or sister.”
“Oh lovely… I need to go to bed, I love you both. Night”
“Well okay. Good night sweetie”
“Sleep well”.

I hug them quickly, grab my book and go upstairs and into my room, I lie on my bed and start to cry quietly into my pillow. I hear them downstairs talking, planning how to arrange things for this new child. “What about me?” I want to scream, “I’m still here”, “I still need you” But it’s fairly obvious that they don’t need me, they’ve forgotten all about me…
I grab an empty notebook, and start to write, pouring my every thought onto the pages, everything I want to yell out loud I write there. I start crying again, my tears staining the pages…
~

That was when thing really started going wrong… My parents left me to myself (You’re old enough to take care of yourself now) then went to Planet New Baby… I look at the desk again and see the little black book there. My first precious journal, sometimes I think it’s the only thing that helped me through until now, sound of mind and body (Well sound-ish). I’ve gotten through several since then, and well, I’ve finished my last one.

~

The day came as I knew it must, Mum went into labour and we rushed her off to hospital in the car. We sat around in the long hours until she’d given birth and we could see her. She was cuddling a small bundle and smiling beatifically, “It’s a girl” she told us. Dad looked chuffed as she reluctantly passed the baby over to him. I stood in the corner and a nurse came in and put on the radio. It was The Beatles, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Mum tore her gaze away from the baby to look at the radio and said “Her name is Lucy”. Dad smiles,

~

With Lucy in the house, there was no peace and no room for me. For quiet and freedom I started going to the park down the road every Sunday to write in relative peace.
I found a lovely spot, a small hill with a tree which is nice to lie under. It’s my new haven. Sometimes I’ll just doze, and watch everyone going by, wondering how they are managing with their lives

~

I’m in my room, I’m writing (As usual), I had a good day, a very good day. I was in the park and I met him, his name is Lucas and he loves sketching and reading. He’s just moved house to just down the road, and he’s been coming to the park for the last few weeks as well! He’s almost the same age as me (January to my November), and he’s so sweet, we spoke for an hour or two, I barely wrote anything at all. I’ll see him next Sunday, he’s busy during the week with school, but he said he’ll come to the park at weekends.

~

Lucas… He was something that tethered me to life when all I wanted to do was let go, when it was all I could do to hang on. He was the only person I felt I could open up to and talk to. But he left in the end like everyone else did… I miss him, being close to him. Even if it wasn’t in the way I wanted, it was better than this nothing-ness.

~

I’m in the park, I’m waiting for Lucas to arrive, when or if he comes, I’ll try and make up with him and then things can go back to normal. It was a stupid little fight… But we both ran off, angry with each other like we’d never been before… We’ve spent a week passing each other in the street, each to stubborn and self righteous to make up. But he doesn’t arrive, he never comes, I leave around six…

~

I saw him around town… But we never talked to each other again, I was hurt, very hurt, and his rejection had stung. Sometimes he’d glance at me as if he’d come over, but either I walked away or he seemed to think better of it. He must have been really angry… But why? I wasn’t that bad, I hadn’t done anything that wrong, just dared to hope, and to try and say the right thing at the wrong time.

~

“You seem distracted Lucas…”
“Oh I’m just thinking about school.”
“Is anything wrong? Are you okay?”
“No no, everything’s fine… No really it is! People are just teasing me, someone started congratulating me on my “girlfriend”
“Oh really… I didn’t know you have a girlfriend, who is she?”
I tried to act like it meant nothing to me, but it really hurt me, what had I been to him then?
“I don’t have one, they think we’re going out.”
“Well aren’t we?”
“No we aren’t!”
“Okay… I was just joking”
He seemed so angry, was I that unlikeable?
“Look I’ve had that all day! I don’t need you starting on me too.”
“I said I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it…”
I was close to tears now, I didn’t mean to make him angry…
“Well… You know what? You’re no better or nicer than the rest of them! I thought that you were but obviously I was wrong.”
“I… I’m sorry… I was just joking, I didn’t mean it!”
I’m actually crying now, I haven’t cried since I heard about Lucy. I can’t be crying. Not here, not now, in public, in front of him…
I yell again “I’m sorry Lucas!”
But he’s not listening to me, he’s grabbed his sketchpad and is walking away, away from me, away from our tree, away from the park. And there’s nothing I can do to stop him.

~

It hurt, it still hurts, and it’ll go on hurting. Over those blissful months I’d fallen for Lucas, really fallen for him. Some people say fallen hard, but it wasn’t… It was as though I’d drifted slowly down, down towards Lucas. I thought, and when I say thought I really mean I hoped beyond all hopes that he’d felt the same way, but I’ve had settled for things just staying the same, but he dashed both those hopes. But then why would he ever have liked me, I’m nothing, no one, not very clever, not pretty, not creative like him, I’m really nothing special. But I really thought I could be something with him.
There’s not really anyone who’d miss me if I died. Not really, no friends, the ones from school stopped talking to me ages ago, back when I left, Mum and Dad have Lucy, and Lucas… He proved he doesn’t need me. But I… I need to be free of the hurt. And I think I can do it… I’ve stolen Mum’s sleeping pills, and I think if I take enough I’ll just fall asleep and not wake up. Should I write a note? I’d as soon not bother… I mean what’s there to say? “I’m unhappy”? “I’m depressed”? “I’m suicidal”? “I’m dead”? Some how I think they’ll get that. But now it comes down to it, what do I do? I’ve got the pills, but do I take them one at a time or just try and down the whole bottle? I feel kinda of stupid now, but how many people actually know this stuff? It’s not really something you can get too experienced at, is it? If you’re lucky you can do it once. I’m just going to down them, it’d take to long the other way.

~

I get the tablets and sit down again in front of the fire…
I tilt my head back
I close my eyes
And
Try to swallow.

~

I open my eyes suddenly, I start to choke, fall off the chair and start coughing in front of the fire, I vomit the pills into the fire, there’s a crackling like a small explosion, I feel drowsy, I must have swallowed a couple, but not enough to end it. I’m crying… I can’t do anything right, not even this, the end to that… Failure. But at the same time… I’m happy that I survived, not even happy, elated. I have nothing left, but at the same time I’ve just been handed everything.
I,
Fall,
Asleep…

~

I wake up, I’m still in the study, Mum is hammering on the door, calling
“Nat? Are you in there? Why is the door locked?” She sounds like she’s crying…
“Come on Natalie, open the door, I need you to mind Lucy” I get up and open the door.
“What’s wrong? Sorry I… fell asleep”
“Mind Lucy. I’m taking your dad to the hospital, he’s had a fall”
“Is he okay!?”
“I don’t know… I don’t know” I hug her, and realise… She would have been lost without me, Lucy’s not old enough to take care of her, what if I had managed to… Well… Tonight of all nights. What if something’s really wrong with Dad and I just… What if?

~

I’m holding Lucy as we wave to the car, I’ve never really held her before, not actually looked at her unless it was unavoidable… I don’t blame her anymore… It wasn’t her fault that I’m a selfish bitch unable to share my parents… She’s a sweet kid when it comes down to it. She’s Pretty, loving, clever.
I’m scared, what if Dad isn’t okay… Anything could have happened… I don’t know what happened… Will he be okay, let him be okay.
“Is Daddy okay?” Lucy asks in a small voice… I don’t blame her, I’ve never been nice to her.
“I’m sure that he’s fine, Lucy… He just had a little fall. Mummy’s just making sure”.
“Okay…” She’s exhausted, poor chicken… I sit in a chair in the living room and she falls asleep in my arms… I sit awake, worrying about Dad.

~

I wake up when the car’s headlights flash in the front window, I must have fallen asleep.
I start to get up and then realise Lucy’s still in my arms, I stand up slowly and put her down in the chair. Mum and Dad walk in, Dad looks in a bad way, Mum’s holding him up, he’s limping slightly and his left arm is in a sling.
I run up to them.
“What happened? Are you okay Dad? Mum?”
“It’s alright sweetie…” Mum says soothingly.
“I tripped on the stairs, and fell on a chair. I broke my arm, and I’m quite sore.”
“Oh thank God…”
“Yes, it could have been so much worse. Now sweetie, I think we could all do with a cup of tea. How’s Lucy?” Once this question would have made my heart sting, but after today I feel fine, almost maternal towards her.
“She fell asleep almost at once, and me not to soon after. I’ll make the tea.”
I go into the kitchen and put the kettle on, then I nip upstairs and get a blanket from Lucy’s room and put it over her in the chair. I turn to go and make the tea and notice Mum and Dad looking at me incredulously.
“What’s going on Nat? You never do anything nice for Lucy”
“It’s always seemed to me as though you hate her.”
I look at them both and start to cry.
“Natalie… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it” Mum gets up and hugs me.
I’m sobbing now.
“Yes you did, yes I did. I did hate her, of course I did, you always loved her more and never thought about me!” It feels, much better to have that said and in the air, and neither of them are angry or backing away shocked that I’d have such feelings for my own sister.
“Oh darling, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to, I noticed, but you pushed us away.”
“It’s okay mum, I know, I was just stupid. I’m not angry anymore, and I don’t hate Lucy.” I pull away, and dry my tears. They seem to have forgiven me, I’m part of the family again, and things will be all right.

~

Dad made tea, and we all sat around the table drinking it and talking. Half-way through Lucy woke up and came over and sat on my lap, I hugged her tight and said “I’m sorry for being such a bad big sister to you.” She looked at me confused, the last four years forgotten in one night, one hug. I could make it through any more depression, because my sister had forgiven me. I finished my tea and kissed my parents on the cheek. And carried Lucy up to bed. I tucked her in, and kissed her cheek. Then I went into the study, I cleaned it up, made sure that there were no sleeping tablets left, and disposed of the few there were. When I was sure it was safe, I picked up my journals, and remaining books and went into my bedroom. I thought I’d read for a little bit, but even Lewis Carroll couldn’t keep me from thinking. Yes, I was happier now, but those feelings I’d had, they weren’t going to go away completely immediately and now more then ever I needed Lucas, but since our fight he’d just make things worse. I’d just have to get on with life, and start living again, maybe even start writing again

~

It’s been a month, since that day when I tried to kill myself, it’s been three months since me and Lucas fought, two years since we first met, four years since Lucy was born, fifteen years and eight months since I was, and I’ve finally gotten up the courage to go to back to the park. I’ve bought Lucy along for the walk and a notebook that I got from Mum. I don’t know what’ll I’ll write but I will write, I’ve got to. I hold Lucy by the hand and take her up the small hill to me and Lucas’s tree. She puts down the blanket and I put down the small picnic basket. I’ve just started unpacking when I see Lucas walking up the hill towards us, either he hasn’t seen us, or he’s coming up anyway… I’d almost forgotten what he looked like… He’s in front of me now and looks quite awkward.
“Is there still room for me?”
“Of course, I don’t own the park, and I can’t stop you from sitting where you like” He looks dismayed.
“I meant… Oh God you must hate me Nat…”
“Well… Hate is a very strong word, I don’t hate anyone, and while I was angry with you and hurt I’m over all that.”
“I’m sorry… It was really stupid, I wanted to say something, come over to talk to you so many times, but I couldn’t, wouldn’t bring myself to do it.”
“Yeah… me too. Friends?” I still really love him, but I can’t just say that.
“I’d really like that.”
Lucy sits there, looking from me to Lucas and back again.
“Nat… Is he your boyfriend? Do you love him?” I glance at Lucas but he’s smiling, it’s okay.
“Em… No, not exactly Lucy”
Lucas grins at me, laughter in his eyes, “What do you mean ‘Not exactly’ Nat? It’s a yes or no question”.
I’m blushing now… “Well… I mean…” God, I’m such an idiot, we’ve only just started talking again and I’m going to ruin it all.
“Well, then I’ll explain because you’re obviously tongue-tied, the thing is Lucy, I’m not her boyfriend, but I’d like to be”
“Oh okay. That makes sense” Lucy nods, deadly serious. What just happened here?
“Excuse me? Don’t tease my sister”
“Look Nat, I love you, but sometimes you are completely blind and oblivious.”
“…Did you mean that?”
“Yes, you are blind”
“No, no, do you really love me?”
“Eurgh, this is what I mean! You really don’t know”
“Oh.”
“Of course I loved you, love you even. How could you not see that? Even Oblivious as you are, didn’t you know? Did you know what I spent my days drawing?” He chucks his notepad at me, I flick through it and all I see is myself, sitting, writing, smiling. And they’re all beautiful, the drawings are magnificent. I look up at Lucas, but the cocky self-assured smile is gone, he looks as worried as if he’d handed me part of his soul.
“Lucas… These are amazing” he looks down at his shoes.
“You can have them if you like…”
“No, they’re yours, I couldn’t take them. Really”
“Okay then…”
“I’m so proud of my little artist, all grown up.” And he is, he’s gotten a fair bit taller in the last three months, everyone’s growing except me.
“Speaking of little, how’s my little author? You certainly haven’t grown!”
I hit him lightly on the head, “Cheek! Let’s have none of that from you”
He’s grinning again, a mischievous unselfconscious grin, one of the things I love so much about him. I make as if to thwack him again but he runs, and I just have to chase him, we run for a short while around the bottom of our hill before returning to the picnic blanket where Lucy is sitting laughing at us. We sit and grin at each other. And ever so quickly, he leans towards and kisses me, and I know that I’m going to be okay. I sit back and smile at him, already composing a poem in my head.

Anne of Green Gables

pinkimpgirl — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:56:34 CDT

Anne of Green Gables is a really good book and its about an eleven year old girl Anne who is an orphan. Marrilla sends a message to the orphanage requesting a boy to help at the farm, but instead, they send Anne by mistake. They go to bring Anne back, but then change their mind and keep her. Anne is a great character who is always talking and has an amazing imagination that quite often gets her in to trouble. It is a fantastic book if you like stuff like that (I do!)

Jokes

half-elven — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:41:17 CDT

Some funny stuff.

"Waiter: "Tea or coffee, gentlemen?"
1st customer: "I'll have tea."
2nd customer: "Me, too - and be sure the glass is
clean!"
(Waiter exits, returns)
Waiter: "Two teas. Which one asked for the clean
glass?"

"Two attorneys went into a diner and ordered two
drinks. Then they produced sandwiches from their
briefcases and started to eat. The waiter became quite
concerned and marched over and told them, "You can't
eat your own sandwiches in here!" The attorneys looked
at each other, shrugged their shoulders and then
exchanged sandwiches."

"A traveler became lost in the Sahara desert.
Realizing his only chance for survival was to find
civilization, he began walking. Time passed, and he
became thirsty. More time passed, and he began feeling
faint. He was on the verge of passing out when he
spied a tent about 500 meters in front of him. Barely
conscious, he reached the tent and called out,
"Water...".

A bedouin appeared in the tent door and replied
sympathetically, "I am sorry, sir, but I have no
water. However, would you like to buy a tie?" With
this, he brandished a collection of exquisite silken
neckwear.

"You fool," gasped the man. "I'm dying! I need water!"
"Well, sir," replied the bedouin, "If you really need
water, there is a tent about two kilometers south of
here where you can get some."

Without knowing how, the man summoned sufficient
strength to drag his parched body the distance to the
second tent. With his last ounce of strength he tugged
at the door of the tent and collapsed.

Another bedouin, dressed in a costly tuxedo, appeared
at the door and enquired, "May I help you sir?"
"Water..." was the feeble reply.
"Oh, sir," replied the bedouin, "I'm sorry, but you
can't come in here without a tie!"

"Did you hear about the new restaurant on the moon?
Great food but no atmosphere."

"Waiter, there's a fly in my soup!
Couldn't be, sir. The cook used them all in the raisin
bread.

Waiter, there's a fly swimming in my soup!
Then we've served you too much soup, the fly should be
wading.

Waiter, there's a dead fly in my soup!
Yes sir, it's the hot water that kills them.

Waiter, there's a dead fly in my soup!
What do you expect for $1 - a live one?

Waiter, waiter, there's a bee in my soup.
Yes Sir, it's the fly's day off."

"A kangaroo kept getting out of his enclosure at the
zoo. Knowing that he could hop high, the zoo officials
put up a ten-foot fence. He was out the next morning,
just roaming around the zoo. A twenty-foot fence was
put up. Again he go out. When the fence was forty feet
high, a camel in the next enclosure asked the
kangaroo, "How high do you think they'll go?"

The kangaroo said, "About a thousand feet, unless
somebody locks the gate at night!"

"An unemployed guy got a new job at the zoo. They
offered him to dress up in a gorilla's skin and
pretend to be a gorilla so people will keep coming to
the zoo.

On his first day on the job, the guy puts on the skin
and goes into the cage. The people all cheer to see
him. He starts really putting on a show, jumping
around, beating his chest and roaring.

During one acrobatic attempt, though, he loses his
balance and crashes through some safety netting,
landing square in the middle of the lion cage! As he
lies there stunned, the lion roars. He's terrified and
starts screaming, "Help, Help!"

The lion races over to him, places his paws on his
chest and hisses, "Shut up or we'll both lose our
jobs!"

"One day the zookeeper noticed that the orang-utang
was reading two books -- the Bible and Darwin's Origin
of Species. In surprise he asked the ape, "Why are you
reading both those books"?

"Well," said the orang-utang, "I just wanted to know
if I was my brother's keeper or my keeper's brother."

"A panda walks into a restaurant, sits down and orders
a sandwich. He eats the sandwich, pulls out a gun and
shoots the waiter dead. As the panda stands up to go,
the manager shouts, "Hey! Where are you going? You
just shot my waiter and you didn't pay for your
sandwich!"

The panda yells back at the manager, "Hey man, I'm a
PANDA! Look it up!"

The manager opens his dictionary and sees the
following definition for panda: "A tree dwelling
marsupial of Asian origin, characterized by distinct
black and white coloring. Eats shoots and leaves."

Danny and his friends were playing in the park, when a big lad
came up to them and asked "Which one of you is Paddy O'Shea?!"
"I am" said Danny, so the big lad knocked him down.
Danny got up smiling, so the big lad knocked him down again.
Danny got up again and burst out laughing
"What do you think is so funny!" roared the big lad.
"The joke's on you" laughed Danny "I'm not Paddy O'Shea at all!

"Waiter, waiter, there's a fly in my soup."
"Yes sir, it threw itself in after all these awful jokes."

hehe i have another one :mosco bosco and cozmo lol if you dont get it your THICK

ConflictCloud:Here's one I got from a book called God's Politics. It requires some basic knowledge of American politics.

Two US Senators, a Democrat and a Republican, were having lunch in a bar.
Eventually the conversation came around to religion.

Republican: "You Democrats know nothing about religion."

Democrat: "We do to!"

Republican: "That's rubbish. I'll bet you 5 bucks you can't even recite the Lord's Prayer!"

Democrat: "Fine. 'Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep...'"

Republican: "Dang! I didn't think you could do it!"

half-elven:One night Sherlock Holmes and Watson decide to go camping. When they arive they setup camp and watch the stars for awile and soon go into their tent for a nights sleep. In the middle of the night sherlock wakes up watson and asks " watson what do you deduce of these stars". and watson replies "well sir i deduce that there are millions of galaxys with millons of stars. Around those stars there might be planets and there is the possibility of life on each planet." And then serlock says " No watson you dope, someone has stolen our tent".

Drawings

-Legolas- — Sat, 16 May 2009 09:00:05 CDT

A Cat Lady

A picture of a cat person, by Esme Baldwin.

Father and Daughter

A picture by Esme Baldwin, of a father and daughter walking into a sunset.

Her Majesty
By -Legolas-

Her Majesty

-Legolas- — Sat, 16 May 2009 08:57:01 CDT

My first portrait, I think It's a success. What do you think? (I'm not sure why it's sideways)

Album Reviews.

calvinb — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:41:10 CDT

Lest We Forget - The Best of Marilyn Manson

A review of Marilyn Manson's compilation album, by Luke. WORK IN PROGRESS

All Hope Is Gone - Slipknot

A review of Slipknot's fourth album, by Luke. As above, WORK IN PROGRESS

Waiting For The Sun - The Doors

a review of the Doors album waiting for the sun by Nadia

Slipknot - Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses

The review of Slipknot's third album by Luke Daly Ronayne.

Linkin Park - Meteora

A review of Linkin Park's second album by Luke Daly-Ronayne.

Keane: Hopes and Fears

By Robyn Conroy. Hope you like this review but I fear you won't.(hint,hint,nudge,nudge) It's really quite good!

Icky Thump-The White Stripes

Here's an Album Review by another of the talented Conroy Clan (wonder who wrote this summary), this time it's Adam Conroy.

NOW 71

THIS IS A REALLY GOOD ALBUM

U2 No Line On The Horizon

A review of U2's No Line On The Horizon by Calvin Duffy (calvinb.

U2 No Line On The Horizon

calvinb — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:32:36 CDT

This is U2's first album in 5 years, and is their eleventh studio album. It is a classic u2 album, with u2 really back on form.

It's an eleven-track album, and each of those tracks are very different. The title track is real rock'n'rolly, with great guitar riffs. It's not all

riffs though; some of the songs are pretty spiritual, like the seven-minute Moment of Surrender, and a really original song called Cedars of Lebanon. Then there is more experimental songs like 'Fez:Being Born', which sound like something off The Unforgettable Fire. Finally, songs like 'Stand Up Comedy' (which is my favourite song on the album), tops this album off really well. In short, if you like rock'n'roll you'll like this album

dogs

pinkimpgirl — Tue, 12 May 2009 03:16:21 CDT

this page is dedicated to my puppy terry. You might have seen a picture of him on my profile

Now 71

pinkimpgirl — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:52:06 CDT

Now 71 is a really good album, with pop and rock music on it.
I really enjoyed it, and I think anyone that likes dancing and singing along with their hairbrush for a mic (like me blush blush )will like it too.
here are some of my favorite songs on now 71:

disc one:
> the promise- Girls Aloud
>i kissed a girl- Katy Perry
>so what- P!nk
>disturbia- Rhianna
>hot n cold- Katy Perry
>when i grow up- The Pussycat Dolls
>miss independent- Ne-Yo
I also have a picture of Now 71 album cover, do you want to see it? are you sure? oh, alright then!

as you can see, it is a nice album cover
i really reccomend it

Mrs.Doubtfire

pinkimpgirl — Sun, 10 May 2009 06:45:36 CDT

Mrs. Doubtfire is about this family and the dad (Robin Williams) gets kicked out of the house. His ex-wife (Sally Field) needs a housekeeper, so he applied for the job. With the perfect wig, some make-up, and a dress for all occasions, he becomes Mrs.Doubtfire, the all-cleaning, all-cooking British housekeeper.
this is a really good movie rated PG but there is a bit of swearing in it. I reccomend it to all!!!!!!

CluckCluck - Recently Updated Pages

Marmalade Boy Review

Movie Reviews

The Ladykillers

News Room

The Whirlwind That Hit KerryANYONE THAT IS GOING TO THOMASTOWN FOR THE MEET UP ON TUESDAY 6TH OF OCTOBER PLEASE BRING ANYTHING TO SELL THAT YOU CAN.ALL MONEY RAISED WILL GO TO HEN CONFRENCE NO EXCEPTIONS.My Feis.:D

Iz cOol!!!

Web Links You' d Like To Share With CluckCluck

The Library

I don't know what else to call these but they are really good.

Click here to read some stories written by the HEN teens.

Here are reviews of books written by the HEN teens.

The reviews, not the books.

Read some lovely poems by the HEN teens.

Have a look at some comics written by, yeah you can guess it.TwilightTwilight is soooooo cool here is some Twilight related stuff

Twilight

The rather unplessant first chapter to an even more unpleasant book. (By Luke)

Book Reviews

There are many books about World War II, and some of them are not quite up to scratch. This is not one of those books.

Review by Ben Conroy.

A brilliant book about a girl's life in the Amazon with a few twists thrown in...book review by Katie McCann.

A book review by Zoe. It's on a book by Alice Leader. It's set in ancient Greece but to find out more you will have to read it ( the book review I mean ).

A book review by Amy. This time it's on a book by Daisy Meadows. If you like fairies you should read this.

A book review by Ben (ConflictCloud) on a book about the interfaith tensions in Glasgow. If you like... Divided Cities, you

should probably consult a psychiatrist, but otherwise

you might want to read this.

Another book review by Ben, this time on a surprisingly good

book about hamsters, of all things. Prepare to be surprised...

3400 Words Of Tosh

Anne of Green Gables

Jokes

Some funny stuff.

Drawings

A picture of a cat person, by Esme Baldwin.

Her Majesty

Album Reviews.

A review of Marilyn Manson's compilation album, by Luke. WORK IN PROGRESS

A review of Slipknot's fourth album, by Luke. As above, WORK IN PROGRESS

a review of the Doors album waiting for the sun by Nadia

The review of Slipknot's third album by Luke Daly Ronayne.

A review of Linkin Park's second album by Luke Daly-Ronayne.

By Robyn Conroy. Hope you like this review but I fear you won't.(hint,hint,nudge,nudge) It's really quite good!

Here's an Album Review by another of the talented Conroy Clan (wonder who wrote this summary), this time it's Adam Conroy.NOW 71THIS IS A REALLY GOOD ALBUM

U2 No Line On The Horizon

dogs

Now 71

Mrs.Doubtfire

Funny Photos

Wow clever cat

Something I would love to do

LOL have a look

The Whirlwind That Hit Kerry

ANYONE THAT IS GOING TO THOMASTOWN FOR THE MEET UP ON TUESDAY 6TH OF OCTOBER PLEASE BRING ANYTHING TO SELL THAT YOU CAN.
ALL MONEY RAISED WILL GO TO HEN CONFRENCE NO EXCEPTIONS.My Feis.:D

Have a look at some comics written by, yeah you can guess it.

Twilight

Twilight is soooooo cool here is some Twilight related stuff

Here's an Album Review by another of the talented Conroy Clan (wonder who wrote this summary), this time it's Adam Conroy.

NOW 71

THIS IS A REALLY GOOD ALBUM