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                                                              The Unknown Forest

The girl could feel a bad vibe in the dark, old, smelly forest but unfortunately for her it was the only way to survive and get away from the evil man! Camille, a young girl, found herself lost in an unknown forest. The reason it's called this is because it's a strange forest and it is not a popular place where people find themselves coming to. The forest reminded Camile so much about her past - it was dark, haunting, scary, and something a young girl like Camile should have never experienced. Camile lost her parents at the age of 1, she barely even spent time with them or maybe even remember their names. She was then sent to live with an old, tall, strange looking man that the government and officers and everyone who was close with Camille’s parents who was said to be her grandfather, but Camille suspected otherwise. Joseph, Camille's supposed  ‘grandfather’ was a smart, wise man who liked to live in his two story, old, wooden house. Joseph loved living in the dark, as in daylight he would lock himself inside his room and poor Camille had no choice but to do the same.

 At the age of 1 to 13, Camille was lonely, afraid, confused, and we could say that her whole childhood was just filled with sad memories. Camille wishes she had siblings, at least someone who would comfort her when she misses her parents, or someone who would take the time to ask her if she was okay, but I guess Camille had to stay strong and hope for the best. Joseph is one of a kind, and I say this because of his behaviour and attitude towards Camille, it's not a warm, loving,  grandfather but instead he was a mad man, he was always in an angry mood towards Camille, he had so much hatred towards her. 

One cloudy, cold afternoon, Camille was in her room when suddenly her bedroom door flew open, and there standing with an evil look and a knife in his hand was her grandpa. Camille quickly stood up and nervously walked back, she was so terrified. “ Grandpa are you okay” she asked while her heart was beating so fast like a drum. “ You, come here you little skunk” said Joseph with a rage tone in his voice. She was afraid that the only thing she could do was stand there and witness her grandpa being a physco. He started circling her, as soon as he was behind her, Camille had no choice but to run outside and get help. So she sprinted as fast as she could down the stairs with her psycho, evil grandfather chasing her. “ Come back here now!!” . Finally when her grandfather lost her, Camille was relieved but found herself stuck in the middle of the forest somehow, she felt lonely.

 “ Help” “ Help!!” She yelled as loud as she could. But unfortunately no one heard her. She was left on her own to survive, it wasn’t somewhere a 13 year old, kind hearted, sad little girl like Camille would have imagined to be. She sat under a huge, brown tree, she had to catch her breath after being chased by her grandfather. Nothing made sense to her anymore, at that moment she lost hope, she questioned herself, she even regretted being alive at the point. Camille tried looking for a way to get out, but that would have to be tomorrow because it was so dark. The next day Camille woke up sleeping in a forest, with trees nearly touching the sky, with dirty lakes, birds chirping, and insects crawling everywhere.  Camille walked for ages trying to find a way out, her legs were killing her. After hours of walking, she was exhausted. She gave up. Then suddenly she saw smoke rising from the air, she started walking towards that direction, as she got closer she could see streets, cars, buildings. She knew she was safe. 

 Describe at least one memorable idea in the text. Explain why this idea was memorable to you. 

Andy wanted people to see him as Andy himself not a royal

Everyone who came across him didn’t help him because they saw him as a royal not andy himself 

Sadness because he was just a teenager 

Memorable because it reminds me of how people get labelled in certain situations, they don’t see the person but the label - stereotype 

TAKO - Title, author, key points, outline ideas 

“ Help Help me please” cried a voice from the alley.   It was a cold night, Andy lay on the sidewalk of an alley bleeding. He screams in pain, but no one was there. He was only a teenager who wanted a pack of cigarettes, but little did he know he would get ambushed just because he was in a gang. On the sidewalk bleeding  is a short story by Evan Hunter, this story can relate to things I have seen in real life. 

Memorable idea in the text was how self-righteous people are. We can see this when an old drunk man was walking through the alley. When he  came into the alley drunk he saw Andy and one thought came into his mind was “well that's a drunk young man laying there”. He was drunk himself while Andy, who he thought was drunk, is in pain. He was talking to him (aka Andy)  in a drunk way. Andy couldn't say anything because he was just in pain and he can’t say anything while holding the pain. “You're gonna catch a cold there” and then he said ``You must be as drunk as I am”. And later on he said he was going to call the police but then he (the old man) misunderstood again and said “ohh you don't want the cop to find you all drunk” and “okay buddy this time you go off easy”. The author wants us to know that judging a person directly is what we should have done to ourselves before doing it to others. And to the readers it's not really making them take interest in the story, it's making them feel sad and it's really happening in reality.

Another memorable idea from the text was not to judge people based on their appearance. This was evident when a couple ran into the alley and later discovered Andy bleeding profusely on the pavement. My understanding was that you, me, us, and we all need to support those in need, not just think it's a horrible idea. The girl (a.k.a. Angela) was not a good role model for us, but it might happen in real life. During the book, there is a section where the girl (Angela) does something silly and says something stupid "Freddie, I'm ready to return home. My people will start to be concerned ""Freddie, let's get out of here!" she cried. Please!”. She clearly misunderstood that just because Andy was in "royal" didn't mean he was different. The author wants us to think about this.

The final reason this sticks with me is that it reminds me of how judgemental people can be when it comes to gender and identity. When the cop was judging Andy1, he discovered the word "royal" printed on his jacket when he came to investigate the event. Andy's friend was not pleased with the way the cop was speaking about him. "His name is Andy," she murmured quietly since she didn't want the cop to hear her, because the cop never uttered his name, instead saying "a royal huh." Notice how he made it plain that he doesn't think of him as Andy, but rather as a "royal." The author wants us to notice that even cops criticise you and can be judgemental, despite the fact that they are tasked with protecting people from harm.

The ability to rely on oneself is probably the most important aspect of who we are. If others judge us, despise us, and refuse to help us, we must love ourselves more than anything else. Helping ourselves to what we require and soothing ourselves when we feel we require it. What is the significance of this? Because no one is ever there to aid you through those difficult times that we all go through. From the time you were a child until now, there was someone who was always there for you, and that person was you. You show courage  alongside yourself. Don't entirely rely on others; try to do great things for yourself, not others, because they may not always be able to assist you with how you live your life. It is entirely up to you whether or not you are capable of doing so; no one else can do it for you.