Short Story Competition - ‘What Stayed Unsaid’

By Helena Baczynska (School Years 6 to 7 - winner)

They were in the courtyard after lunch. Phones out everyone laughing, daring her to try the vape. I froze. My chest felt to light. My stomach knotted. I could feel the heat in my face, my fngers trembling even as they stayed by my sides.  

She looked at me for a second, just a glance and she felt familiar. I didn’t know why, something in her expression – small frightful almost imploring – pulled  at me, and suddenly time seemed to stop.  

The laughter faded into a dull hum. The breeze shifted across my face, and I felt every heartbeat as if it were mine alone.  

I waited to say something. I wanted to step forward. My voice stuck in my throat. My legs refused. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. I wanted to move, but the world seemed to be frozen around us. Every possibility pressed in at once – doing nothing, saying something, moving closer, moving away – and it made me dizzy panicked.  

And then it was over. I looked away. She copied me, clutching at her mouth, and the phones blinked with images that would surely be circulating the school for months. I walked home. Slowly. My backpack felt impossibly heavy, each step dragging.  

At home the kitchen was warm, mum asked how I was, I couldn’t speak, I nodded swallowed, made a small sound. Everything smelled like toast and coffee and comfort but it didn’t reach me. My chest ached. My hands shook. I felt too small, too silent. Alone.  

I shut the door to my room and let the tears come, quiet at first, then harder until I had no sound left to make. And in silence, I felt weight pressing down pressing in. The moment I could have acted, the moment I looked away.  

The one I carried alone. Inside me.  

Judge’s Comments: This writer has managed to convey exactly what it feels like to be a bystander, full of the best intentions and yet fail to speak up: the empathy with the person in trouble; the physical reaction of the body, the desire to intervene; and ultimately the ensuing guilt that sets in later. Today’s young people live with the very real fear of feeling pressure to engage in activities they know are harmful, compounded by the very real fear of their actions being recorded for eternity. A very impactful account of one such moment from a talented writer.