As we work closely with the National Literacy Trust in Doncaster who generously provide books and magazines for our young people and foster carers to promote a love for reading, we were inspired here at Young People at Heart to give story writing a go. During National Storytelling Week some of our staff members got together to form a story chain, each writing a few sentences and sending it on to the next person to create a story using this year’s theme Dream up a World. So here’s our story – Nimbus the Worry Monster.
Daisy carefully, put her hand, on the tiny, gold ornate handle. She paused and took a deep breath. Her heart was pounding, as she waited a moment. What was going to be on the other side? Where would it take her? Excited, she gently turned the handle. The small, blue, wooden door creaked slightly, as it started to open. Daisy closed her eyes, and she calmly took a step forward. Easing the door open, Daisy turned on her torch cutting through the darkness. A flash of colour startled Daisy. A vibrant blue, a fluorescent green and a bright pink darted around in the shadows as Daisy tried to follow it.
Suddenly, something was tangled between Daisy’s feet – she fell to the floor with an almighty CRASH! Daisy swallowed back a silent scream. When she sat up, she saw two eyes, two arms, two legs and some fluffy hair looking at her innocently. The face was friendly looking, eyes blinking from the light of the torch. The animal stood, turned and looked back at Daisy. It seemed to be beckoning her to follow. Daisy stood, dusted herself off and made the quick decision to follow it into the dark.
In the realm beyond the small blue door, Daisy found herself surrounded by floating clouds, each one lit up by hundreds of tiny fireflies. Nimbus, the friendly worry monster, took a step onto the lowest cloud and held out his hand for Daisy to follow. As she did, she could see that the clouds formed steps high into the sky. Nimbus explained that each cloud held unique stories and lessons crafted from transformed worries, turning them into sources of strength, helping you grow stronger with every step you take. The higher Daisy climbed, the lighter the sky became.
Just as Daisy was thinking how breathless she was becoming from climbing the worry clouds, Nimbus scooped her up and gently placed her on his shoulder. Daisy was giddy with laughter but also wanted to rest. She had so many questions to ask Nimbus about where they were going, where the worries actually came from and how they were transformed. ‘Oh Nimbus’ squealed Daisy, ‘not too fast’ as they both popped their heads through a cloud and before them were many more worry monsters, looking ever so ‘worried’. Daisy whispered into Nimbus’s fluffy ear, ‘you all look so worried, you need my help don’t you Nimbus, that’s why I’m here’.
Nimbus turned to Daisy, his wide eyes blinking away the tears. ‘Daisy’ he said, ‘We do need you and I am so glad you came! A little boy came to us for help, but we cannot make his worry go away. We have used all our powers, but nothing will work. We have always been able to transform the worries in the past and we just don’t know what to do’!
Daisy’s eyes also filled with tears as she knew what it was like to feel sad and worried all the time. ‘Nimbus’ she said,’ Take me to this little boy. I know what it is like when your worries will not go away’. I might be able to help. Nimbus’ tears dried up and he took Daisy’s hand, leading her back down the cloud steps. ‘Hold Tight!’ he said.
Daisy held tight, and followed Nimbus. As they were moving, she looked around her and noticed in the distance a glow surrounding one cloud. Turquoise, silver and dark blue were shimmering within this glow, and she wondered whether this might be where they were heading towards. It was, for she quickly found herself facing a shape of a little boy, sitting on the cloud, knees pulled in tight, hugging them inwards. He looked up and said to Daisy ‘Oh it’s you. They have told me all about you – thank you for coming’. Daisy knelt down, and gently asked him his name. ‘My name is Thomas’ he replied. ‘Oh Thomas, I can see that you are feeling sad and I wonder what might be worrying you. I wonder if you can tell me what it feels like for you right now and I can see if I can find the words for you. Together we can work this out’ reassured Daisy. Thomas thought hard and talked about what felt like butterflies fluttering about in his tummy but where there was no where to get out, but where he also had a really heavy feeling in what felt like the bottom of his tummy.
‘Wow’ said Daisy, ‘I get the exact same thing too’. Thomas looked up at her confused, ‘you know the feeling?’, ‘yes, whenever I am feeling worried, anxious or upset, I get those feelings in my tummy… sometimes I get a fuzzy head too’. Thomas felt a little bit of relief when he realised he was not the only one, and that people can understand him. In fact, he felt just enough relief that he was able to pluck up the courage to talk about it to Daisy. It turned out that Thomas was worried about lots of things, and while each worry might have only been small, they all piled up on top of each other to make one giant worry that Thomas just could not shake. Daisy explained that talking about each one can help to shrink them, so even if they can’t completely disappear, the pile can get smaller and easier.
Thomas noticed the butterflies in his tummy fading away with every worry he shared. Smiling at everyone around him, Thomas thanked them all for being there to listen to him. “That’s what we’re here for” said Nimbus “and would you look at that! Some of your worries have already started to transform into clouds. Shall we walk up them together?” As they held hands and started to climb the clouds, Daisy said “sometimes all you need is a friend”.
Daisy, Thomas and Nimbus reached the top of the clouds. Thomas had spent the climb talking about worries and felt lighter and the butterflies in his tummy had gone. Thomas turned to Nimbus and asked to give him a big cuddle, “of course” said Nimbus, Thomas hugged him and a rainbow light came out of Nimbus’ back. “What was that” asked Thomas, “I don’t know” responded Nimbus, “but I have space to help more people with worries”, Daisy asked “did that hug just help you”, Nimbus responded “yes, and I think the rainbow was the worries leaving my body”.
Daisy and Thomas looked at each other and had a great idea, they asked one another “are you thinking what I am thinking?” with a big smile, both Thomas and Daisy looked at Nimbus and smiled. They both ran around the cloud, meeting different worry monsters and asking if they’d like a hug. The land filled with lots of rainbows, both big and small. What a beautiful site it was, a land of rainbow and clouds, with lots of happy worry monsters, ready to help lots of people with their worries!
Nimbus looked at them and smiled, “thank you” said Nimbus, to Daisy and Thomas, “time to get you both home”. Daisy and Thomas looked at each other, Daisy said “don’t forget it is okay to have worries”, and Thomas said “but remember to talk about them!”.
The clouds around them swirled and they floated down the staircase of clouds, looking up they could see Nimbus and his worry monster friends waving from above.