Denise: Oh, my God! What is that? The whole school is destroyed…How can this desk remain untouchable?

The kids were curious and terrified. They were staring at the desk. It was an old wooden one with three drawers. Denise decided to open the first one. There was nothing there but some envelopes. Andrew saw that the second drawer was locked. While the two kids were snooping on the desk, Martha noticed something weird on the half-destroyed library. Something was shinning among the books. She came closer and saw an old golden key. She grabbed it and moved forward to the other kids.

Martha: Look what I’ve found!

Andrew: Give it to me!

Andrew took it and tried to open the drawer. After two or three tries, the drawer opened squeaking. Inside there was an old cassette. Martha took it out and pressed the button of the tape recorder. They heard a frightened and older voice saying: “My name is John Smith. I am the Headmaster of this school and I have gathered some information for the cause of this vain war. If the information hasn’t been known, it means that I am dead. I have hidden all the information you need in the basement. You must be careful. You are in danger!” The three kids were staring each other petrofied. Adrenaline was rising, but they knew they had to take a difficult decision.

Martha: Soooo, what are we going to do?

Denise: I am scared…and…it’s getting dark.

Andrew: Don’t be scared! What can possibly happen? It’s been so long. Let’s go and see what we can find out!

Martha and Denise: OK! Fine…

They walked through the desserted hallway towards a dark and dusty staircase. Andrew took out his phone and turned on the flashlight. As they were going down the stairs, they could see spider webs, burned clothes, flat balls and books thrown all around. When they were finally down in the basement, they froze. What they saw was so scary, so weird! It could have been a dream, but it wasn’t!

Andrew: ”What’s that?!”

Denise: ”Maybe… ermm … Tesla’s machine?”

Martha: ”I think it’s a perpetual motion. Or perpetuum mobile, in Latin.”

They were shocked. Martha was right. The sparks were flying everywhere. But Andrew didn’t understand a thing. He came up to the machine and he touched it. Suddenly something shiny appeared behind him and he started disappearing.

Martha: ”Hey, take this, Andrew! It’s a walkie-talkie!”

As he took it, the portal pulled Andrew away. He disappeared.

Martha: ”I’ll go after him. You stay here in case we’ll need help. Here is one walkie-talkie for you.”

Denise took it and Martha started walking towards the machine. In a second, she disappeared, too.

Andrew and Martha were on a ship. They heard a siren, the ship was moving. When they looked around they realised that the landscape seemed familiar: they were in a port near the mountains and the village where the old school was. Then they saw a man dressed in a dark blue outfit. They approached him and asked him what date it was. He said it was 28 August 1939. Martha remembered her History lesson and that the World War started on 1 September 1939. She was in a shock: the machine from the basement brought them back into the past!!! She grabbed Andrew by his sleeve and they jumped into the cold sea. They swam back to the shore. They were shivering with cold and fear but they made it. Andrew and Martha started running towards the school.

It was getting darker and darker back in school, but Denise was looking around bravely. She found an old diary. The diary was locked. She remembered that she took the golden key from the drawer, so she tried it out. She opened the diary and it said: ‘’It’s 28 August 1939. I’m on a ship and my secret is safe. They will never know the truth! Oh, yes, this afternoon I met two strange kids on the ship. They were dressed weird and they were confused. They didn’t know what date it was. When I told them, they jumped into the sea…’’ Denise was terrified! The World War II was about to begin in the past and her friends were trapped there! She turned over another page in the diary and read it. When she did that, her face turned pale…She took out walkie-talkie that Martha gave her and she started screaming into it as loud as she could…

Denise : « Martha, Martha ! Do you hear me ?. Let’s hope she is able to answer… » Suddenly, she heard statics and after, Martha’s voice. Her voice seemed to be faraway.

Martha : « Yes, I can hear you but you have to articulate because I don’t understand everything you are trying to say ! »

Denise : « Ok, listen to me ! Did you see a tall man, dressed in a dark blue outfit ? »

Martha : « Sorry but I don’t understand what you said ! Can you repeat please ? »

Denise : « Have…you…asked…the..date…to…a…man…on…a…ship ? »

Martha : « Yes why ? »

Denise : « Oh my god ! You are in 1939… The day before World War II. »

Denise was afraid, she needed to tell the secret to her friends. She had to find them, so she decided to jump into the Magic Portal. She fell in the water too, she was terrified and very cold so she began to swim as fast as she could. But she wasn’t really sporty and she didn’t go to the swimming class so she swallowed water a lot of times !

She couldn’t find her walkie-talkie anymore, she thought it was deep in the water. She couldn’t call Andrew and Martha. She had to see them because she had to relate what she had discovered in the diary.

Andrew and Martha had arrived in front of the school. It was really huge and different from the ruins it was today. They mingled with pupils who were all wearing the same uniform. Some were playing marbles and others were playing hopscotch. Then, they entered the building. They ran as fast as they could and arrived in front of the door that led to the basement. Suddenly, a hoarse voice screamed at them:

“What are you doing here ?! Why are you not in class ?”

“We w…”Andrew whispered.

“I don’t care, you’re coming with me!”

The supervisor took them in front of the headmaster’s office. It was a small room, they were flowers, plants and a big ugly carpet with four chairs next to the door. He ordered Andrew and Martha to sit down in front of two other pupils, a girl and a boy. The boy asked :

“Who are you ? We never saw you before !”

“We can’t tell you…” Martha said.

“Oh come on !” The girl next to him shouted.

“Alright, we will tell you if you tell us who you are.” Andrew offered.

Andrew, Martha and the two other students were called inside. They entered the big room and they instantly recognised the desk they had seen in the present. When they saw the man, they knew it was the headmaster because they had already seen his skeleton. He was wearing a black suit with a big hat, a small moustache, and round glasses. Martha remarked a sign on the desk where “John Smith” was written.

That was the man that recorded the tape, Andrew thought.

John Smith : “Ginette, Thomas, what are you doing here ?

Andrew turned to Martha and told her “See, they’ve got the same name as our grand-parents !”

John Smith : “That’s alright, they actually are your grand-parents ! Andrew, Martha let me introduce you to Ginette and Thomas. But now, we have the world to save.”

Denise was swimming in the sea and trying to reach the shore to meet her friends and tell them the truth about the diary.

«  I have to tell them that in three days World War 2 is going to start and tomorrow our school is going to burn ! », thought Denise.

The school attack was the turning point of the war. Denise knew it because she had spent hours in the library reading history books. She remembered the horror of the school burning with everyone inside.

After reaching the shore, she had to walk for a while before she finally found the school ; as she was a bookish ; she knew that the school had been built in the fourteenth century because of its gothic towers and gargoyles

But whatever, she was most of all scared and wet, she couldn’t wait to warn her friends. Denise was surprised to hear children laughing, it may have been recess. She entered the school . Luckily, nobody had seen her. She could sneak in the dark corridors and try to find her friends. The lights flickered, Denise saw an opened door, she heard Andrew and Martha’s voices, so she ran up to the door and she entered. Denise hugged her friends as strong as she could, they were surprised but happy to see her.

Andrew: ‘’ It’s nice to see you, but how did you get here?’

Martha: ‘’Dennis, what’s happened? Why are you wet?’’

Dannis: ‘’There’s no time to explain, please listen to me.’’

Mr. Smith: ‘’Excuse me, who are you?’’

Martha:’’ Mr. John, she is our friend.’’

Dennis: ‘’ I know who you are, but it’s not important now. It’s time to tell you what I read.’’ Martha tried to explain everything she read in the diary.’’After your disappearance, I found a diary and in it was written a very important thing. You know that we found a golden key which is for the diary. That diary belonged to the ship captain. There are notes from 1938 to 1939. The last note is in 28^th August 1939. The note was talking about a school fire. From the diary I found out that  he was with Germans. His aim was to destroy the separated Jewish school.  On the ship are some German soldiers, members of the S.S. They are disguised as Polish soldiers.’’

After Dennis’ speech everything became clear to everyone. They started to create an action plan and to think of how to change the future. They have little time for this.

Mr.Smith :’’ Do you know that our school was built in the 14^th century and we can use the tunnel to escape, and to take the pupils to a peaceful place. The tunnel is connected to a cave.’’The director told the pupils to get together in the main hall and after to go follow Martha. Little time was left before the fire and children were shouting.

The whole school was at the fair. At the school was left the director, teachers, and some students. The director asked Dennis to give the diary and to use the time machine to go back to the future. The director realized that he did not have time to escape, and decided to stay there, as the ship captain doesn’t leave his ship. He chose to be dead instead of to be a slave. The skeleton in the school belonged to the director.

Written by the students from  6 schools:

• IC ZOGNO- Italy

• Γυμνάσιο Σπάτων-Greece

• OŠ Ludina-Croatia

• Lycée Voltaire-France

• Liceo Artistico L. Fontana-Italy

• LEPL Tsalenjikha N 2 Public School-Georgia