GUANYADORS WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 2018

GRUP A (de 9 a 12 anys)

Tots els premis han quedat deserts.

GRUP B (de 13 a 14 anys)

PRIMER PREMI

Jeaneth Costa Da Silva

THE EYES OF THE DEFEATED MEN

He looked at me with furtive tears, the tears slid over his face.

His gaze was different, I had never seen it like this. I knew something was not going well, but I did not have courage to approach me. It was the look of a man who had lost something he loved. He was a man who had given his best and it was not enough.

Some people approached to embrace him or to console him, but he got up and ran away. Nobody had any obligation to follow him to see what happened, but I did it.

I sat next to him, without saying anything. My presence was sufficient. We were silent, next to each other for 10 minutes. There it was when he got up and told me what happened. He told me to get up, shut up and follow him.

We disappeared into the shadows.

GRUP C (de 15 a 18 anys)

PRIMER PREMI

Cristina Casares Muñoz

STRANGER DANGER

Once I was scared and alone

Trapped in this body that I own;

But I grew wings and broke free

Out of this prison of me.

And still they won’t understand

That I’m not playing pretend,

I love how right it feels

To wear skirts and high heels.

Everybody’s telling me

who I’m supposed to be.

I won’t listen, no, I’m sorry.

Mom and Dad, please just don’t worry.

You say I’m “your little boy,

Who wouldn’t play cowboy

And preferred to be the princess;

Never though it’d bring this distress”.

“Now he is our wayward son.

Out of his mind he’s gone.

What can we do to fix him?

What did we go so wrong?”

Who I am is in my soul,

And you could never change that.

Say you don’t know me anymore

But I do love this stranger.

.

SEGON PREMI

Andrea Camp Campos

DOMINO EFFECT

Hi, it’s Jackson Taylor. So today… Today it’s been two years since everything happened. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that this is reality and not a nightmare. People said our band was cursed… If only they knew the true extent of it... Back then, the seven of us really thought we were on top of the world... John, Alex, Andy, Kurt, Corey, James and me, together forever… What a fucking joke. The most twisted thing is I thought that if any of us was going to succumb to the pressure it would be me. Definitely not him. Not John.

The thing about Johnnie… He didn’t do things half way, he always strove for perfection, always pushed himself to the edge. So when things didn’t go according to his plan, he just kept pushing himself further. Firstly we thought he was just disappointed about one of his performances because he was fast to point out his mistakes, but as time passed by, I started noticing a pattern. He was rehearsing way too much, he didn’t sleep well and skipped a lot of meals. Kurt and I tried looking out for him since all of us were concerned about his health, but no matter what we did, he didn’t seem to listen, he would always say “it’s okay boys”, it was his signature phrase. Eventually, exhaustion took its toll: during one of our performances he collapsed on stage and had to be hospitalized. “I think people don’t get what the disadvantages of fame really are. Everything about you, negative or positive, gets magnified a thousand fold. You stay focused on the negative for too long and eventually you can’t make your way out. You know…” That’s how his message started when I found him that morning. I couldn’t bring myself up to listen to it fully because I abruptly burst into tears. My eyes were glossy as I thought about him, about our memories. Johnnie...

After his suicide, everything turned upside down, I was devastated. We had no idea of what to do next, so we decided to take a break as a group. During that time Kurt and I became very close, maybe because we spent every night together drinking ourselves into stupor.

It was April 17^th, 2016 when we had our first rehearsal as a 6 member group. That day Corey and I were the first ones to get into the studio, but not even after ten minutes we had the biggest fight of our lives. He suggested to choose someone to replace Johnnie when performing our old stuff. I just remember throwing a chair and yelling horrible things at him that I actually didn’t mean… He got really upset and ran away. We couldn’t find him anywhere and when he didn’t show up for dinner later, Kurt filled himself with determination and took his car to look for our band mate. After a while, he bumped into the young boy just as he was nearing the restaurant we were in, but the timing wasn’t right and it ended the worst way possible. Kurt was driving under the influence that night and he wasn’t fully on control of his actions. Nobody else knew the truth but me and him, not even the other members. Corey ended up in a coma for three weeks and Kurt’s family donated a huge amount of money for Corey’s treatment. Despite all efforts, he passed away fifteen days after.

Kurt never forgave himself. No longer after, his family moved him into a private care facility where he got doped with pills most of the time. Apparently he couldn’t pick up any sharp object without trying to harm himself. By the time he recovered, a lot of white trails covered most of the skin on his arms, a few of them noticeable on his face and legs too. When he got the chance to be home alone, he grabbed a knife and dug it in really deep in his right cheek, stabbing himself on the face several times. He then proceeded to cut his arms open, making himself bleed to death. In his last note, he stated that everything he did was to prove to everybody how ugly and decomposed he felt after the accident. Sincerely, it should have been me instead of Corey. Maybe this way Andy wouldn’t have fallen into this terrible downward spiral.

A short time after Kurt’s lost, something finally snapped in Andy’s head, turning him into a really aggressive man. Most of the time he wandered around looking for trouble despite Alex’s begs to let go. I had never seen our leader so terrified in my life. When he realized that he couldn’t get Andy to stop, he told him that he would help him no matter what happened. But fate would have it, because when Andy finally called for help it was already too late. All we could do was watch as the police came and arrested him for stabbing a guy in the chest. Apparently, he made fun of suicidal people and our band mate lost his nerves. He was sent to provisional prison, with his trial scheduled for April 2017.

Unsurprisingly, the one who had kept a relatively stable life until Andy’s arrest was James. I believe he thought that even after what had happened, he could fix things to get us through it. So while I failed at cutting down on vodka, Alex and him kept rehearsing and training. On October 17^th, 2016, we came back to the stages with a really significant concept to all of us, it was beautiful. The music video shooting and all the photo shoots made us closer than ever before despite being only three band mates left. Meanwhile, Andy started to realize that his actions had such far-reaching consequences. Knowing James was the most stable out of us, he was the one Andy asked for a favor. You see… Andy’s sister was addicted to heroin. As expected, James promised to look after her. It took him a few days to find her, but eventually they bumped into each other. Now that she couldn’t get money from Andy, Grace started pick pocketing and shoplifting to afford her addiction. Long story short, she became friends with James, who kept her away from the streets offering her dance lessons. He slowly started to develop feelings for her and decided to make a move. On March 2^nd, he proposed to her. She said yes. The most heart-wrenching part of it was when she overdosed a mere week later, leaving him like his mother did years ago. James went on to marry her on the afterlife.

On April 8^th, 2018 Grace Hetfield passed away as a result of oxygen deprivation due to drug overdose. The amount of brain damage caused by the chemicals was enough to take her life away painfully. Hours later, her fiancé, James Wang, was found dead on their apartment, overdosed on pills. Earlier that day, Grace’s brother, the worldwide known musician Andy Hetfield, was sentenced to 20 years in prison without parole.

“Andy Hetfield is truly sorry for his past actions. He didn’t really know how far he went until it was too late. Please don’t harass our company about this...” Regarding to Alex, well, he was behaving like the true leader he was. He did a bunch of interviews, public appearances and announcements. His strong facade never failed. He intensively studied law in preparation for it and even built a case based on post-traumatic stress and long term physical and psychological abuse, which he used to suffer as a child, along with his sister. Andy’s sentence was commuted but, unfortunately, not by much. Alex said that day was the day when he failed every single one of us.

After that, I moved to his apartment because we couldn’t stand being alone after all that had happened. It didn’t turn out as I expected. Most days I would alternate between drinking, throwing up and sleeping. One day, when I drunkenly fell down the stairs, he yelled at me. “What are you thinking, drinking yourself into an early grave like this?” he asked me. “I’ll drink as much as I fucking want to, it’s not like the cancer in my liver is going to get alcohol poisoning!” I snapped. Firstly, I started drinking out of sorrow, but then I did it to cover up the symptoms. Alex flickered terrified and suddenly, something sparked inside his head, leading him to ask me one of the biggest questions I have ever faced. “Were you and Johnnie more than friends?” My heart skipped a beat, tears on the verge of my eyes. I swallowed hard the lump in my throat and told him everything. You see, the beginning of the story was just the part known publically. The truth is, Johnnie was the most selfless person ever, the most beautiful one too. As a kid, he saw what cancer does first hand when he spent almost a year by his mother’s bed until her last breath. Despite the impact this had on him, he never talked about it. I just know he visited her grave as often as he could. All he ever wanted was to make other people happy, but he forgot about himself. The perfect rock star, the perfect son, the perfect partner. But none of them was possible.

Well. So today… Today is the anniversary. It’s exactly two years since I was diagnosed with terminal cancer. “You know I can’t watch you die too. I love you too much.” his message ended.

I’m Jackson Taylor. This was my confession.

Andy Hetfield got his sentence shortened five years and is doing okay in prison. Alex visits him twice a week and they tend to talk about the past. About the golden times when seven invincible boys faced the twists and turns of life without fear.

As for Alex Turner, he got married and became the father of two beautiful kids: Johnnie and Jackson. He keeps visiting all of his friends’ graves, often bringing his children with him. He there explains them the adventures of seven boys who, despite not sharing the same mother, were like brothers and overcame together every problem they had. Sometimes a tear manages to escape his hazel brown eyes when recalling the good times he had with his band mates. When the kids notice the running tears down his cheeks and ask why dad is crying, he simply answers “it’s okay boys”.

ACCÈSSIT

Belén Carmona Padial

A LOVE LETTER

They teach us how to count the seconds, minutes, hours, days, years... but nobody tell us about the value of one instant.

Feels like we're on a dream when we kiss. I love your laugh when our lips are almost touching each other. I feel like home when you caress my arm and finally our hands meet. But the best feeling is when I look at you and you're already staring.

Sometimes your silence is better than anyone else's words. My favorite plan in the world is staying at home, watching old films and eating pop corn by your side. No words are necessary at that moments with you.

It is said that you know you love someone when you can't put into words how they make you feel. And that's what is happening to me right now. I'm trying to show the world how do you make me feel but I can't. I want to share all my happiness in this piece of paper and I have to say that I'm a little bit frustrated .

Anyway, I want to say that I feel very lucky to share with you this relationship, full of love songs, letters and above everything, respect. Because as we know, respect is one of the best expressions of love.

I love you.

And remember, as Nicholas Sparks says in The Notebook, "You are, and always have been, my dream."

GRUP D (majors de 18 anys)

Tots els premis han quedat deserts.