Write a story about a new beginning.
(24 marks for content and organisation 16 marks for technical
accuracy) [40 marks]
The rain had finally stopped.
For the first time in weeks, sunlight filtered through the thin curtain in my bedroom, casting
golden patterns across the wooden floor. I sat on the edge of my bed, clutching a worn envelope -
the last thing Mum ever wrote to me before she passed. My fingers trembled slightly as I opened
it again, even though I had already memorised every word.
“Start over, love. Don’t be afraid to begin again. Life has a funny way of healing when you let
it.”
Those words, simple as they were, had anchored me through the storm of grief, confusion, and
silence that followed her death. But today - today was different. Today, I was leaving everything
behind.
The taxi was waiting outside. One suitcase. One faded backpack. That was all I had managed to
bring. I glanced once more around my room - the chipped posters on the wall, the familiar creak
in the floorboard, the scent of Mum’s old perfume still faint in the air. With a shaky breath, I
stepped outside and closed the door behind me.
The train station buzzed with life - people rushing, laughing, calling out names. It felt strange to
be in the middle of such noise after months of quiet. My ticket read: Greenbridge - a town I had
never been to, where a job and a tiny rented room waited.
As the train pulled away, I watched the city shrink into the distance. I didn’t cry. I thought I
would, but there was something peaceful about watching it all fade. Like turning a page in a
book - not forgetting the last chapter, just ready for the next.
Greenbridge greeted me with the scent of wet earth and fresh bread. It was small, with narrow
cobbled streets and old-fashioned street lamps. I found the bookshop tucked between a bakery
and a flower shop, just like the ad had said.
“Ellie?” a soft voice called from behind the counter as I stepped in.
I nodded.
Mrs. Cartwright smiled - not the kind of forced smile people give you when they don’t know
what to say - but a genuine, warm one that made the shop feel more like a home than a business.
“We’ve been expecting you.”
As I unpacked boxes and shelved paperbacks that afternoon, a strange calm settled in my chest.
There were no echoes of the past here, no ghosts - only the rustle of pages and the gentle creak of
wooden shelves.
For the first time in a long time, I felt like I could breathe.
That night, as I lay on the small bed in my new room, I looked out at the stars above a town I
didn’t yet know. And in that quiet moment, I understood what Mum meant.
This wasn’t the end.
It was my new beginning.
