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Jessica Le Bas

First Person

Isabel writes about her boyfriend cheating on her. He goes off with Miriam, but then Isabel takes him back because he has such big brown eyes, and what can a girl do? There is mention of a moon and a lake, and it is often midnight.

Andrew writes about a sniper who has killed before and, in the last paragraph, does it again. Andrew has lots of vomit and blood and pain in his story. You can tell which movies he watches and they are all rated X.

Gabriel has a hitman in his story who is pursuing a target across the Eastern Bloc of Europe. There are nuclear weapons. There is no mass destruction. There is a scene with powerful binoculars, and high-tech cellphones. Then the baddie dies. The goodie doesn't.

Michael writes about his parents not believing in the beauty of rock and roll music. In the end he understands that they are right, 'cause his mate the drummer does drugs and alcohol, and then dies behind the wheel of his very fast car.

Steve writes about love for a king's daughter, and Veronica writes about a rich girl's love for a butler's son. Both go off into a medieval sunset. There are no dragons, but there could be.

Geraldine writes about dying, and the need to find a place, somewhere she is cared for. Geraldine says the pills don't help enough, and it's just too hard fighting all the time with grown-ups who act like children. Geraldine's story makes you cry.

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Freddy writes about being electrocuted as punishment for leaving his small child at home alone. You think perhaps she has died, and that he is doing drugs and hallucinating, but you could be wrong. Freddy confuses the line between literal and figurative. Freddy's ending is truly shocking.

Mereana writes about breaking up with her best friend Heather, because they argued over her hair straightener, and Heather's hair isn't even curly. Mereana wants to be a chef when she leaves home. She is going to make crème brûlée every day, and pizza without anchovies.

Angelina writes about the other people in the room who are all writing about the secret shadows of themselves. Angelina's story has good control and narrative drive, but she spoils the ending by telling her reader she is not going to tell them anything about herself. Angelina has the best untold story.