Year 10 English Reflection

My short story begins with the main character moving in with her grandma once again due to her
parents that are repeatedly absent. The first sentence, “Grandma’s sickly-sweet perfume invades my
senses as she pulls me in for a tight hug and, despite the scratching of her wool cardigan, I lean into
her comforting touch,” uses imagery to establish the trust the character has for her grandma. I
created this story with the intention of ending it in a twist. I purposefully wrote the main character in
a way that would draw empathy from the readers and make them think she is in some sort of danger
living with her grandma. As the story progresses, the main character discovers while cleaning that
her grandma has blood on her hands. In addition, the murders are closely linked to the
granddaughter, as explained in her grandma’s journal. I used onomatopoeia and imagery within this
scene as she opens the door, “wincing at every clang and crash,” and when she finds the “small black
box covered in tape… swiftly tearing at the tape until the lid springs free.” Subsequently, the
repetitive mentioning of the rusted heart necklace taken from the mother is seen in the beginning
and end of the story. It is significant as it is the trophy that allows the readers to infer what happened
to the mother and is the first indicator that the granddaughter is not as innocent as she seems. My
story has a suspenseful, gloomy and tense atmosphere and is written in a way that allows the twist
to be unpredictable to readers.