“Hi guys, GemmaMon here with another vlog update!” I cried out in a cheery way towards my camera. GemmaMon was my Youtube name. I’ve had it since I got my very own Youtube channel when I was 12. I’ve been making animated videos since I started secondary school. I do stop-motion videos of monster characters based on my favourite TV show Scream Street. When it got ruined by a batch of new episodes back during the pandemic, I was offended because it didn’t add to the charm of the original first series that aired before it. Then CBBC took it off the air, and after a week of five episodes from the original series, CBBC banned it entirely to make room for educational shows. The only thing I liked about the new episodes was the new characters Dr F and Six, who inspired me to do my Frankenstein’s monster character Binx and my mad scientist character Dr Hazel.
There are other characters I made out of clay, too. Those include Mega Wolf the werewolf, Glenda the vampire, Crane the Egyptian mummy, who has the spirit of the crane locked away inside her magical locket, Norman the totally disgusting zombie and Blair, a trainee witch with blue hair. Those animations also include a clay version of myself. We would go on all those amazing adventures together - we were pirates sailing on the seven seas. We were explorers or wild people in the jungle. We were ballerinas shooting towards stardom. We played with squirty octopus toys in the bath. Of course, I had to do all the voices for the characters. Sometimes, my friends Michael, John and Helen play voices for Mega Wolf and the others too.
“This is a very exciting time for your old friend Gemma - she’s going trick or treating on the Halloweekend.” I announced to my loyal viewers, “You might be wondering, how is she this excited to go trick or treating? Well, I’m going as a lion in my lion onesie. It may sound funny, but people go in onesies on Halloween, and-” “Gemma!” called a squeaky voice from outside my bedroom. I heard, and addressed the viewers watching. “Oops, sorry, my little sister Freya’s calling for me. Must go. This is GemmaMon, signing off!” I switched off the camera and dashed out the door to see Freya smiling sweetly at me. She wore a little red Minnie Mouse dress and ruby red hair clips, and wore little posh red shoes on her feet. A little Sylvanian Families rabbit coloured white and brown was tucked safely in her pocket.
“Would you like to see this exciting climbing tree I’ve found?” Freya asked. I sucked my teeth. I never heard of Freya climbing trees before. I’ve taken her rock climbing or to the climbing wall in the past, but now Freya’s developed the skills to climb. That was absolutely amazing, especially now that I’ve been to summer camp last Summer and braved the climbing wall. It was really tough, but Michael and Helen were at the bottom, cheering me on. With their encouragement, I made it to the top in double quick time. I got a Lion milk bottle top from one of the camp counsellors and an extra hamburger when it was teatime. I have never been so lucky in my entire life. I even vlogged at camp too, even though my mum Alena says I shouldn’t bring movie cameras to the campsite.
“Look, if it’s dangerous, I’m not playing your stupid games. If it’s the tree out in the backyard, it’s a big no to you!” I growled. “Oh, come on.” Freya said sarcastically, “It’s only in the neighbour’s yard. It won’t do any harm.” I thought about it for a minute. “Pleeeeasse?” begged Freya. “It’ll only take a few minutes, I swear!” “Alright, fine, let’s go to the neighbour’s yard.” I sighed, and lead her outside into the neighbour’s backyard. Mr and Mrs Vallena were usually away at work all year every year, because they left for work at 8:00AM, so now that we’re home from school, it gives us a good opportunity to climb the huge tree in their garden. It grew from a little acorn Mrs Vallena planted in the yard when she was a little girl, and it’s been growing ever since.
When we got to the tree, it was so grand that my jaw almost fell out of my mouth. It had so many branches it was perfect for climbing. I couldn’t resist, I tried to stop the urge but it was too late. “Race you up!” I cried. Later, I might realise it’ll all be a terrible mistake. Freya and I raced each other up the tree, climbing each branch higher and higher until we reached the top. Up on the middle branch, we stopped and took a break to look at the views from our new vantage point. “Wow! You can see everything from up here!” Freya gasped. “You can see my house, and there’s the school from up there.” I pointed to an old fashioned brown building with a bell hanging from the top of it. It was our school. Everyone in my school always acts crazy, even the teachers. And it ANNOYS ME TO DEATH!! My head teacher, Mr Sheeran, always performs pop songs to the class during assembly. Often the whole school begs him to play a song to them, just by chanting “Play us a song! Play us a song!” Oh my god, I hate Mr Sheeran. He thinks he’s Ed Sheeran’s long lost twin brother. Well, I guess you could say he has ginger hair like the man.
As I was thinking about how embarrassing Mr Sheeran was, I didn’t notice the branch crack from the weight of the two of us on the branch. “Er…Gemma?” asked Freya, pinching my arm. “Ow!” I cried, “Watch who you’re pinching!” Then, I realised. A loud splitting noise pierced through my ears. Then, there was a loud CRACK! I held onto the tree for dear life, and Freya started toppling down, down, down, until she reached the lower branch, which was still further away from the ground than she expected. “Hold on, Freya!” I called. “I can’t!” shouted Freya. She was slipping, and her little hands were sweating so that they were almost off the branch in a tick. Mr and Mrs Vallena rushed outside, and my mum and dad, Alena and Brian, raced out to see us stuck up there, crying for help. “What on earth is going on?” asked Mrs Vallena. “Gemma, get down from there!” called my mum. “I’ll try, but it’s Freya who needs rescuing. She lead me to this tree in the first place!”
“Freya! You bad, bad girl!” cried mum. “No more toy shopping for you!” The branch suddenly cracked, and Freya fell. Down she went, until….SNAP!!!
Mum cried. My dad, Brian, doesn’t cry quietly, he cries really loudly, as if he was either Timon or Pumbaa witnessing an emotional event happen in the Lion King films. It took about six firemen to get me down from the tree, and an ambulance came and put Freya in a stretcher. She was crying loudly. “Please don’t let them take me to hospital, Mum!” she bawled. “It’s a good job you called us,” said one of the doctors, “She has a fractured leg, so there’s nothing too serious about her injuries. It is vital you come with her to the hospital right away before she has her plaster cast put on.” “But…but will she be okay?” sobbed Mum. “She will be.” said the doctor. “Now get in the car and we’ll drive Freya to hospital.”
So that was it. Freya was driven off to hospital, and Mum had to come and comfort her. I watched, in tears and quite guilty over what I’ve done. “Well, I guess it’s just you and me,” said Dad to me. I at once began crying and raced back into my house, stomping up the stairs straight into my bedroom and slammed the door shut. “It’s all my fault!” I cried, stamping my feet on the room so that everything shook. “It’s all my fault! It’s all my fault!” Then I slammed myself down onto the bed and cried. Now that Freya was off to hospital, it might be my fault I raced her up the tree in the first place.
