Dear readers, tonight with us is a high-school student, juggling school, life, and magical training. He’s here to tell us about supernatural occurrences, a shipwrecked redhead, and a mysterious song.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

Well, it all depends on how far back you want to go. If its my early childhood then I grew up in an orphanage in a not so glamorous part of town. The place itself wasn’t too bad, the staff taking care of us were pretty decent. It’s just there wasn’t always enough to go around so kids were basically fighting for scraps, couldn’t really afford to be weak there. Fun times.

In my later childhood until now I was adopted by a pretty sweet lady who took me to her home on a small island. It was nice, she’s not wealthy by any means but she lives a comfortable life and it was just nice to have my own bedroom. Though I scared her when I was hording food in my room when I first moved there. It took a bit of time but I became secure enough to not do that anymore.

Did you have any favourite toys as a child? Any cherished memories?

There was one time at the orphanage when me and Eric decided to steal the cookies in the kitchen. It was a rare treat for us and we wanted them. OK, I say we decided it was more I woke Eric up in the middle of the night and wouldn’t let him go back to sleep so he went along with me to get it over with. His words, not mine. We had a blast though and got to enjoy the chocolaty goodness of the cookies.

Another fond memory was when I found my magic spark. I tried to pickpocket a woman and she saw me do it. I remember backing away and holding my hands out in front of me and poof I fired a pink cloud in her face and ran. She eventually caught me but didn’t turn me in. Instead, she adopted me because in her words I reminded her of a younger version of her and she saw my potential with magic.

I had stuffed dragon which I keep in my closet and cuddle it every now and again. Hey! Dragons are cool OK!

What do you do now?

Right now, I’m just a high school student who’s juggling school, my magic training, finding interesting things to write about in the school paper. Also going on some strange adventures which sometimes involve getting into trouble but I think it breaks up the monotony a little bit. Wouldn’t you agree? Sure, I fall asleep in Mr. Hughes’ class a lot but the adventures are worth it.

What can you tell us about your latest adventure?

Well, it all began with my friend Eric being kidnapped, can’t leave that guy for five minutes without something happening to him. I thought he’d abandoned me again and I was angry as we had only just managed to patch things up after all the craziness from before. It was only when I found evidence that he didn’t leave of his own free will that I started to look for him. I reluctantly teamed up with Mel who had hurt and betrayed me before and we ended up going to the mainland to search for him and bring him home.

What did you first think when you first ran into Eric?

Honestly, at first I was angry. I mean the guy ditched me all those years ago and never once got in touch with me. I was certain he was happy with his new family and had forgotten about me. So, when he showed up at my school acting like butter wouldn’t melt I wanted to punch him in the face so hard. The worst part was, when I was tearing into him he was so nice to me which made me even angrier. I was horrible to him and he wouldn’t say an unkind word to me. I mean come on he could’ve at least said something equally unpleasant back to me and I wouldn’t have felt so mad.

What was the scariest thing in your adventures?

Honestly, not being in control of my body or my mind. It sounds stupid to say but when both of your adventures involved people who could take your agency away just through their voice it’s a scary thing. You’re not always aware of your actions but sometimes when you come around at the worst possible time and you’re scrambling to get yourself out of danger. I almost died a couple of times because of it and even now the thought of swimming in the sea fills me with dread. Also being friends with someone who has that kind of power is scary too, you have to trust that they won’t use it against you.

What is the worst thing about living on an island?

The isolation, you feel pretty cut off from the rest of the world. Sure, there are boats that go to the mainland but that’s a good 24 hours at least depending on where you’re going. The cops are fine but when it comes to anything that’s outside of “granny forgetting to pay for her apples” they’re useless. Also, the storms we get have a tendency to mess things up. When a storm’s going to hit we have to literally batten down the hatches to stop everything from getting destroyed. Lastly there are the tourists, not saying all tourists are bad but some of them have no respect for the locals or the wildlife and just do whatever they want and we have to clean up their mess. Can’t you guys just pick up after yourselves? I mean do you treat your own home like that? No? Then why go somewhere else to trash it? Human decency costs nothing. The island basically shuts down in Winter, the weather gets really cold and other than essential businesses there’s not really anything open, it gets pretty boring in the Winter.

What is the best thing about it?

There’s a strong sense of community here, everyone knows each other and everyone is always willing to help when someone’s having a tough time. The weather during the Summer months when there aren’t storms is great. You can go out and walk around the town or go to the beach. You can have many hours of fun and because of the really low crime rate here you don’t have to worry about anything bad happening (most of the time). There are also some lesser-known parts of the island which not many tourists visit so when the beach and the town center get overcrowded there are older parts of the town or some ruins further in that are nice to visit.

Tell us a little about your friends.

First of all, there’s Eric who is one of my oldest friends. We grew up together in the orphanage and spent a lot of time together before he got adopted. I’ll admit I was less than kind to him when we met up again. But he stuck by me when things were really tough and wanted to help me out even though it put himself at risk. He’s kind, loyal and puts up with a lot of my crap so yeah, he’s my best friend.

Mel was the first kid my age I met after moving to the island. She became a pretty good friend to me. She always looked out for me and often warned me about not doing anything stupid and I never listened to her. She never uttered the four dreaded words though which I was eternally grateful for. We did hit a rough patch in our friendship when she betrayed me. But she more than made up for that when she helped me to find Eric so she’s one of my closest friends too.

Any romantic involvement?

What?! No! No, no, no, no… I’m a high schooler juggling my school life, home life, magic life and the occasional danger thrown my way. I don’t have time for romance. But I’m not completely against the idea. If the right person came at the right time I would consider it, but that hasn’t happened yet so, no romance for me.

Whom (or what) do you really hate?

I really, really hate Eric’s mum. She was abusive to Eric when he was growing up, not physically but mentally. She manipulated him into doing things he didn’t want to do. She almost had me killed several times and she was just an all-around pain to deal with. It didn’t help that she was very influential. She was a scary lady and still haunts my dreams.

What’s your favourite drink, colour, and relaxing pastime?

My favourite drink is fresh orange juice. There’s nothing like it especially when you wake up in the morning. My favourite colour is red I think it suits me. I like to experiment with my magic (under supervision, thanks mum, you don’t have to treat me like a child) and hang out with my friends.

What does the future hold for you?

Honestly, I’m not entirely sure. There’ll be plenty of adventures out there for me and when they come around I’ll be sure to jump on that boat as soon as possible. It could be something completely new that no one’s heard of. Or it could be something really cliché like dealing with vampires or something. Time to get up out of your coffin Dracula, this could be your time to shine once more. I’m joking of course but could you imagine? Vampires, on our sunny island, I’d love to see that.

Can you share a secret with us, which you’ve never told anyone else?

I could, but then I would have to use a memory wipe spell and we wouldn’t want that would we? Oh, you’re happy to take that risk? Alright, don’t say I didn’t warn you. I have a secret place in my room where I hide all the little trinkets I stole as a kid. My mum didn’t know I had them and still doesn’t know. No, I won’t tell you where my secret place is. But know that it’s there and know that when no one is around I take out my little trinket collection and smile at the thought that I stole those from people.

Sarah Ashworth was born and raised in Manchester. She studied Psychology and Health Sciences at the University of Salford. Sarah had always enjoyed writing in her spare time. She had written quite a few short stories for personal projects and collaborated with others online. Sirensong is the first story that she has officially published. She still lives in Manchester with her fiancé.

You can find Jasper on the pages of Little Hamlin Chronicles, starting with Sirensong.

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