The Last One

by Kate Lim

Once upon a time, there was nothing.

No houses, no malls, no humans…well except one.

Alice ventured far away from the burning flames of what was left of the village. Her arm hurt. It had been damaged when the first meteor dropped out of the sky onto the village. She had been in her house waiting for her mother to come back from getting the groceries. Her father was on holiday in London on a job. While she was waiting, she decided to go out to the lawn to water the plants. That's when she saw something drop out of the sky, and then – BOOM! – the area around her exploded and she was pushed off her feet. She put her arm out to catch herself and the impact broke her wrist.

After half an hour or more of walking, she made a stop at a strong oak tree that could give her some shade from the burning sun. That's when she realised that she forgot her most prized possession. It was a radio that her father had given to her. He had gone on a business trip to Camelot and received a radio as a gift. She quickly started to run back to the village even though the sun's glare was blinding her. By the time she reached the village the fire and smoke had cleared. Carefully, as to not step on the burned bodies, she walked to her house only to find it destroyed and burned to the ground. Alice tried to get to the bottom of the blackened scorched burned wood.

After 30 minutes of searching to no avail, she was about to give up when she spotted something glistening in the sun right below her feet. She hastily dropped to her knees and started to move the charred burnt wood away and found her radio next to a hand that was as black as coal… and it was still moving! Horrified, she jumped to her feet and dropped a wooden plank on the hand which went limp.

Frightened, Alice grabbed the radio and fled to the other side of the village, cold sweat dripped down her face. All of a sudden while running < Crrrrchh > a sound came from the radio.

< Crrrch … He-llo > Alice dropped the radio in fright.

< He-llo th-is is Jo-lly Ro-ger >

“Who?” Alice thought.

< It-s me, Ar-thur >

“Arthur!” thought Alice. “I know that name!”

“That's Uncle Arthur, King of Camelot!”

“Uncle Arthur?” asked Alice, putting the radio to her face.

< Crrrrch … hello who's there? > said the radio.

< Where's John? > “That's dad's name!!” thought Alice.

“It's me Alice, your niece,” said Alice into the radio.

< Crrrch… >

The silence lasted a few minutes before the radio spoke again. < Crrrch Is that you Alice? Where’s your mother? >

Alice started to cry tears of sorrow. “She's dead,” she cried into the radio.

< Crrrch… What happened? > he asked.

“A meteor crashed…” Alice muttered; her voice almost a whisper.

“I was the only one that survived but at least I still have my father.”

This time there was an eerily long silence, a silence so long that she thought the radio had died and then…

< Crrrch… Alice, your father’s dead. He died in a terrorist attack in London. >

The radio went quiet again and Alice felt as though her heart had stopped beating.

< Alice, come to Camelot. >

“But Camelot’s on the other side of the country!” exclaimed Alice.

< Crrrch… I'll send a carriage to come pick you up. It'll take a couple of hours to get to you, as this is the fastest carriage we have. So pack what's left of your things and wait for the carriage at the big oak tree near town. >

“Alright,” replied Alice in tears as the pain seared through her broken arm.

A few hours later, a beautiful dove looking golden white carriage arrived and escorted Alice to Camelot. When the carriage stopped and the doors opened, Alice revelled in the beautiful pink and orange sunset that had turned into a silvery, glittering moon.

“Hello Alice. Let's get your arm healed with Merlin,” greeted King Arthur in an authoritative voice.

“Hello Uncle Arthur,” said Alice with a curtsey.

“Where will I go now since my parents are dead?”

“You could stay here in Camelot or you can go to your Aunt's cottage in the enchanted forest,” answered King Arthur courteously.

“Can I stay in Camelot?” Alice asked meekfully.

“Very well,” agreed King Arthur.

“I'll get a room ready for you in the castle. From today onwards, you shall be known as Princess Alice.”

The next day Alice was crowned Princess of Camelot. Her name and the adventures she had in Wonderland was hereby written and etched in history.

— Highly commended, Tamariki category, Anna-Marie Chin Architects Writing Competition 2023

Kate Lim attends Te Kura Whakatipu o Kawarau where she is in Year 6. She wrote in response to the following prompt: "You are the last surviving person in your town after a natural disaster. Or so you think, until you receive a radio message from the other end of the country."