Kids Bedtime Stories

Tearaway Messenger

Snuggle down, cosy up and prepare yourself for the most amazing delivery messenger story. This is the story about "the You", that's right, a version of yourself in this crazy, paper world of Tearaway.

You find yourself in a faraway land of paper and cardboard of all colours, shapes and sizes. It's a familiar world and you're excited to explore your surroundings. Walking over to the flowers, you notice they're made of scraps of paper, the grass is finely snipped paper and everything that you can see or touch has been made of paper. This is important because it means that you can pick anything up.

As you're exploring your world you notice a strange message in a letter box, almost being blown away by the breeze. You carefully head over, becoming aware that the little breeze blowing the letter is much more powerful than you imagined. Being made of paper yourself you realise that moving around this world might not be as easy as you'd first thought. Eventually you get to the letter and catch it before the breeze picks it up and blows it away forever. You open it, but you can't read the message. It's written in a strange language you can only translate by exploring the paper world you are in. So your adventure begins... but first you need to find a way out of the little garden you're in and hope that there are no surprises lurking in the shadows of this strange paper world.

As you look around, you realise that the sun shines brightly, but not too brightly for you not to be able to look at it. You notice the sun is in fact "the You" the real world you and you are looking down and guiding your paper self through this crazy paper world. You feel a sense of relief and are more confident now that you know you're being looked after by, well, you!

But the world of paper isn't just inhabited by your paper self, it's filled with nasty little Scraps, paper goblin like creatures who are determined to stop you translating your message and put a stop to you moving on. You will encounter many of these Scraps on your journey, but right now you have to figure out how to fight them. You have no weapons, nor will paper help fight paper! So you look up to "the You" and ask for help. Before you know it, "the You" has pushed their fingers through the paper world in a special portal that you created by asking for help. They were able to flick and squish the Scraps in a matter of seconds and before you know it there are no Scraps to be seen anywhere. You're safe again. In doing so, you notice that the Scraps have dropped bits of paper; so you collect them in the hope that you might be able to craft something useful later which may help you translate this message. You decide to head towards "the You", or the sun.

This paper world is full of interesting and exciting creatures and beings. It's also littered with presents that will help you on your quest to decipher the message. As you walk towards a paper mountain, you pass through a little village. The stage has been set and there was going to be a wonderful play, but the Scraps had managed to get into the village and scare everyone off. You decided to help the villagers by using your "the You" to clear the village. Luckily there aren't many Scraps around and you rid the place of them pretty quickly. The villagers are grateful and offer you five presents to show their appreciation. You open each one, and each one has a letter in. The letters are ANTH and K. It doesn't make sense, but after some rearranging you realise the letters spell "THANK". This is the first of the words in your letter, and there are 10 more words to find. You say your thanks and walk down the paper path to your next location, trying to get higher and to reach the sun.

You walk through a dense paper forest and come to a clearing. Here there is a a cut out of what can only be described as a king with no crown. He looks sad and explains that he's lost his crown to the Scraps, and has no paper to make a new one.
"Do you have any paper that I can use to help me build a new crown?" He asks.
You nod. You knew those bits of paper that you collected after defeating the Scraps would come in handy. Together you design a new and formidable crown and the king is so happy he offers you a selection of gifts, three new letters. YU and O. It doesn't take much to rearrange them to spell out the word YOU. With a skip in your step, you keep heading towards the sun, excited to see what new adventure awaits.

You reach a mountain and at the base you see a wonderful being whose face is covered in the most ornate of masks. You realise he's sad as he taps his drum. There is no sound coming from the drum. So you ask him if there's anything you can do.
"I need a paper skin for my drum to drum," he says with sadness in his voice. Luckily you still have some confetti paper which were collected from defeating the Scraps. Together you measure out the diameter of the drum and quilt together the last of the bits of paper you have. You've created a wonderful drum skin and the masked man's face lights up.
"Thank you" he says.
You nod, with smiling back.
"I think I have something for you," he says as he reaches behind a rock. "I was told you were coming, a messenger heading towards the sun. I've been keeping this for you for some time."
He has you a paper present which unfolds to reveal the word FOR.
"I hope this helps you on your quest." He says as he turns to beat his drum once again, its bellowing echoing through the base of the mountain valleys.

As you climb the mountain you encounter more Scraps. They appear out of the sky and surround you. This time though, the wind is much stronger as you climb and you find it hard to fight off the Scraps. The paper clouds have covered "the You" in the sun and you worry that you'll be dragged away by the Scraps. But before you even have a chance to think about it any further the sun rips through the paper clouds. Paper rocks are flying around your head as the Scraps all run around trying to escape the boulders. As you jump and dodge the boulders, you hear the satisfying "pfft" of the Scraps being defeated and turning into confetti and paper pieces. These Scraps are far more colourful than before and a little more tricksy to capture. You help "the You" by trying to lure the Scraps to you, and it works. As they're bunched up and heading towards you, the mighty fingers of the sun rip through the ground and flick the Scraps off the mountain top. They go flying leaving only confetti behind. But you have to be quick collecting the confetti as the wind is picking up. As you scramble to collect the bits of paper, you realise that it would be wise to make a coat to protect you from the wind, and to help you keep warm. The Scraps' paper on the mountain is thicker, so you fashion a beautiful, multi-coloured coat, quilted with the paper you'd just collected. Fashioned from six different pieces of paper you realise that the coat spells out the word "SAVING". You jot this down and notice this is another word from the puzzling message you're due to decipher.

You climb further up, it's getting dark now, and you need to find somewhere to rest. In the near distance you can see a glimmer of light. You approach carefully not sure what it is you're seeing. But as you approach you notice a group of children huddled around the fireplace, which is starting to fade away. One of them notices you and runs over.
"Hi there," she beams. "We're running out fire fuel and we need to keep the monsters away. Do you have anything we can put on the fire?"
You pull some of the thicker scraps of confetti you have left from your earlier battle and pass them over to the girl. She takes them, turns around, pauses, looks back and says "thank you". She asks if you'd like to rest by the fire. With the sun now gone, it feels like a wise decision, so you settle down in front of the fire for the night. The fire is soothing and calm and it doesn't take long for you to fall asleep.
When you awaken the children have gone, the fire is smouldering and the sun is back. As you turn to pull yourself up, you notice the children left a present marked for you. You open them and inside are six beautifully crafted letters from scorched paper. "FROM US" the words read. You're touched by their kindness and treasure these words, along with the rest.

You are not far from the sun now, close to the end of your adventure. You can see one more peak to reach before you can touch the sun. You look up to "the You" who seems more clear now than ever before.
It doesn't take much for you to overcome the last peak and you're there, in front of the sun. Although it seemed so bright below, the warm glow doesn't blind you and you're able to reach out and touch it. "The You" reaches out and touches your fingertips. You're filled with a warm feeling and the clouds form the words "THE SCRAPS".
"Your message is complete," the sun whispers. "Combine the words you've collected on your journey and the message will show, but be sure to swap the order of the children's message for you to know."

"THANK YOU FOR SAVING US FROM THE SCRAPS"

The world below you is flooded with light, you can see all the characters from all the places you've been to on your journey waving up their thanks.

You rest now and await your next adventure.