Before the Eye
What happens when the sky over Bradford turns red and something starts forming above the city, an eye that kills anyone it looks at?
In this episode, our narrator notices something odd on what seems like any other day. The sky feels strange. During school, there's an eerie feeling of being watched. By the time they get home, the clouds have vanished, almost like they were running away from something. And as 9pm approaches, the sky turns blood red.
Then the screams begin. An enormous eye forms in the sky above Bradford, and anyone it looks at simply vanishes. A desperate man bangs on the door trying to warn them, but before they can let him in, the eye looks at him and he disappears. With the military not helping and panic spreading, our narrator devises a plan: get to the firework shop, blow that thing up. But when their brother jumps in front of them to shield them from the eye's gaze, everything changes.
Atmospheric, genuinely unsettling, and built on escalating dread, this is a story about sacrifice, survival, and the haunting line that closes the tale: 'I woke up and the sky was turning red...'
This story proves what one Year 6 student told us: "The only superpower you need is imagination."
About the Story
Story Type: Science fiction horror with time-loop implications
Themes: Sibling sacrifice, powerlessness vs action, surveillance and being watched, cycles repeating
Setting: Bradford, UK, from ordinary day to apocalyptic nightmare
Key Elements:
- The gradual build: sky feels strange, eerie feeling of being watched, clouds running away
- The sky turning red at 9pm
- The eye forming in the sky above Bradford
- Anyone the eye looks at vanishes instantly
- Desperate man banging on door, vanishing before they can help
- Discovery: the eye closes for one minute every ten minutes
- Brother boarding up all windows whilst narrator plans
- The firework shop plan: blow it up
- Brother's sacrifice: jumping on narrator to shield them, saying 'FIND SHELTER', starting to vanish
- Narrator crying in nearby shop, recalling all memories
- Shooting the firework, the eye disappearing
- Hundreds of people falling from the sky (including brother)
- The dream: muted eyes (multiple?)
- Five years later: 'I woke up and the sky was turning red...'
Why This Story Matters
This author has created something genuinely chilling with remarkable atmospheric control. Notice the pacing: it doesn't start with chaos, it starts with unease. 'The sky felt strange.' 'An eerie feeling that I was being watched.' The dread builds incrementally, exactly how real fear works.
And that moment when the desperate man is banging on the door, trying to warn them, and the narrator thinks 'he was probably drunk'? That's the denial we all use to protect ourselves from unthinkable horror. Then the eye looks at him and he vanishes, and suddenly everything shifts from 'this can't be real' to 'this is absolutely real and we're in terrible danger'.
The brother's sacrifice is devastating in its simplicity. No dramatic speech, just 'FIND SHELTER' and then he starts to vanish. The narrator hiding in a shop, crying, recalling all their memories, is raw grief in the middle of survival mode.
But the most sophisticated element is that ending. Five years later, the narrator wakes up and the sky is turning red again. This implies either a time loop or a cycle that repeats. And that dream about 'muted eyes' (plural) suggests this isn't an isolated incident but part of something larger and more terrifying.
When children are given complete creative autonomy, they write stories that don't resolve neatly. They write stories where the happy ending (brother survives, people fall from the sky, everyone goes home) is undercut by the creeping horror that it's all about to happen again. That's sophisticated storytelling that trusts the reader to sit with dread.
About StoryQuestâ˘
StoryQuest is a validated methodology that achieves 100% engagement across all learners, including reluctant writers, boys, and students with SEND. The approach is simple but profound: give children complete creative autonomy over something that truly matters to them.
Resources & Links
Bring StoryQuest to Your School:
Visit my-storyquest.com to download the curriculum guide and discover how your students can become published authors.
Start Friday Night Storytelling at Home:
Download Gabriel's StoryQuest Family Kit at theadventuresofgabriel.com
Read Gabriel's Adventures:
The international #1 bestselling series that started it all, co-authored by Kate Markland and her son Gabriel Khan. Available at theadventuresofgabriel.com
Connect with Kate:
Website: katemarkland.com
Share This Episode
Know a teacher struggling with reluctant writers? A parent whose child says 'writing is boring'? A school leader looking for proven literacy solutions? Share this episode with them.
Because every child has a story. And when we give them the freedom to tell it, extraordinary things happen.
Keywords
Child authors, creative writing for children, literacy education, reluctant writers, StoryQuest, student engagement, children's storytelling, authentic writing, educational innovation, child-led learning, science fiction horror, Bradford UK, apocalyptic stories, sibling sacrifice, atmospheric writing, time loop stories, UK education
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Production: StoryQuest
"When given complete creative control, children don't just create great stories, they discover their voice. And that voice deserves to be heard." - Kate Markland