Santa

Word from the author

People say I’m plagiarizing because there’s already a book about this, so I did some research. Apparently there is. But I continue writing this because it’s not plagiarizing if you do it without knowing you are, so for those of you who would like to sue and make me pay a lot of money, not happening, because now I’ve given credit so, yeah… HAHA!

-Kai Tschopp (aka the author)


Prologue

Far, far out in the South Pole howling winds could be heard. The snow blizzard blocked a beautiful structure composed of stone bricks, white glass pane, and quartz. Inside, even louder then the wind, howling laughter could be heard… echoing past every hallway in the entire building.

“MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! shouted a figure from his throne.

The figure looked surprisingly like Santa, but he wore all blue.

“I will bomb the North Pole! My twin brother will die, and all the children in the entire world will be sad. And while they’re so sad, I will take over the world!!!


Chapter One: Nuke!!

Luke Marrow’s head banged on the floor.

“Ow… that hurt,” Luke said absentmindedly.

He stood up from the floor and sat on his bed. Suddenly, a message blared from the intercom at Santa’s secret base at the North Pole:

Attention, all elves report to Santa’s throne room!

Luke paled.

“Oh, no I need to get to the throne room now!”

Luke raced down the hall, zigzagged across the stairs, and finally ended up in the spacious throne room alongside hundreds of other elves. Luke looked over at Santa. His gray eyes seemed so sad, and his long, long beard drooped. Sure, he was 2,000 years old, but he always seemed so… upbeat, but today not so much.

Santa raised his wrinkled hand for attention: “My fellow elves, I have an announcement to make! My evil twin (who is nothing like me!) is planning to nuke the North Pole!” Santa exclaimed.

Several elves gasped. Three or four elves even fainted.

“Yes, he is! And he is launching the nuke now!”

He snapped his fingers, and a projector projected an image of someone that looked exactly like Santa but was wearing all blue! Elves gasped. Wearing blue was just about as bad as swearing in front of a three-year-old to the elves. The man in the screen turned around and laughed maniacally as he pressed a red button on his control panel and smoke rose around the screen.

“Mwaahahahahahahahahahaha!” the blue man yelled.

“The Drakon nuke will destroy the North Pole, and I will get my brother back for accidentally misplacing my teddy bear and sending it to someone across the world!”

Santa turned red. The elves turned their eyes to Santa.

“Hehe… continue elves… I didn’t do that… Yes I did… ” Santa added quietly.

Luke turned back to the screen. So did the other elves. Smoke was still rising from the nuke. Suddenly a voice appeared from the nuke: “Countdown for Drakon nuke model #3459 in T-minus: Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One… Blastoff!

Blue quickly took cover and watched in awe as the nuke slowly raised in the air.

“In ten hours exactly the nuke will strike the North Pole and blow up everything!” Santa announced.

“And say thank you to Andrew the spy who hijacked the camera viewing this from the South Pole. Now… run as fast as your butts can carry you!” screamed Santa.

Several elves screamed. Some cried. Another even begged for mercy. Luke felt the blood drain out of his face. Blue could not do this to the North Pole. Luke would not allow it. But Luke felt helpless to do anything. It’s not like he could just storm the South Pole and demand that Blue surrendered. The South Pole was built like a fortress. He couldn’t do that… Could he?

While Luke was trapped in the tornado of his own thoughts, his home that he had been born in was being abandoned… No! Luke couldn’t let this happen! He had to stop Blue! Suddenly, someone tapped his shoulder.

“Hey, I know it’s hard, but you have to leave. Otherwise you’ll get destroyed alongside the North Pole. You can’t do this” pleaded Luke’s friend, Kat.

“Please… ” whispered Kat.

Luke shook himself and awakened himself out of his trance.

“You’re right. We can’t let Blue do this… ” said Luke to Kat.

“But… I don’t know how we are supposed to get to him,” continued Luke.

I know! We could borrow the planes that Santa uses!” exclaimed Kat.

“Great idea, Kat!” exclaimed Luke.

“To the artillery!” shouted Kat.

“And… let’s get out of here before we’re nuked!” replied Luke unenthusiastically.

“Yeah… ” whispered Kat.

Luke and Kat stormed out of the room, raced down the halls, and followed the signs pointing to the artillery. One of the signs read:

To the artillery guns, bombs, planes, retired reindeer, and rockets. Please be responsible with tools!

(Sidenote from author) Hold on a minute. You thought Santa still rode reindeers? This, my friend, is the 21st century and people do not ride reindeers. They ride jets, cars, planes, and Santa’s personal favorite, the Boeing 777. This is the latest fashion, and it will be for quite a while. Thank you, and now keep reading your book. Now. Please. Thank you.

“We will… ” Luke said to one of the signs sarcastically.

Finally, after what seemed like forever to Kat and Luke, they arrived at the artillery. They raced around old reindeer slowly walking for their lives, the newest model of a gun, and even an old cannons, but they ignored all that stuff. It seemed that a lot of elves had the same idea as Luke and Kat and had snatched up the jets, airplanes, and Boeing 777’s before they could. They tried to hitch a ride with other elves, but they didn’t exactly seem in the “Christmas spirit.” Finally, the only thing left was an old helicopter.

“Let’s go!” yelled Kat.

They jumped into the helicopter and Luke pressed the ON button. The blades started whirring. They spun into the air.

“Do you by any chance know how to fly a helicopter?” Luke asked.


Chapter Two: To Antartica!

Kat stared at Luke.

What? You don’t know how to fly a helicopter?” screamed Kat.

I thought you said jump in!” retorted Luke.

But you pressed the button!” screamed Kat.

So?” asked Luke.

There was no time for arguing, and they both knew it, so they just faced the controls. It seemed pretty simple. There were a few buttons with titles like: Eject, Guns, ON/OFF, and things like that. There was a lever that was labeled: Altitude. And lastly, there was a joystick labeled: Steering. The controls seemed simple enough, so Kat and Luke sat down in the two seats. Luke took the steering joystick, and Kat had the altitude lever. Kat looked out of the window and suddenly pulled the lever up as hard as she could. Luke felt as if his stomach had fallen out of his body one hundred feet below.

“What was that for?” asked Luke.

“There was a mountain that we were about to crash into!” explained Kat.

Sure enough, when Luke looked down, he saw a snow-capped mountain just twenty feet below them.

“If this is what our ride is gonna be like, I’d have stayed at Santa’s place!” said Luke, his face green.

“Errrrrr… in that case if I was you… ” said Kat.

And that was what the ride was like all the way down to the South Pole (not including stops at Greenland, Alaska, Canada, San Francisco, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Chile, and not to mention avoiding being spotted by humans). At last, one cold, snowy day, Luke spotted a cold, snowy mountain… They had arrived at the South Pole.

“We have to ditch the helicopter now, or Blue’s forces will spot us!” said Luke.

“I heard that Blue sends troops out to alert him if there is an invasion, so that forces people to travel in small groups to avoid being caught. And even then, they can easily be wiped out in his fortress if they manage to somehow avoid being caught.”

“Oh boy,” said Kat, unenthusiastically.

Kat slowly cranked the Altitude lever downwards, and the helicopter slowly descended. Luke steered in a circle, and so the landing wasn’t too bad, but Luke and Kat were still terrible pilots.

“Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow… ow,” wailed Luke.

“You are a terrible pilot, Luke,” replied Kat, holding her shoulder.

“Oh, let’s just get on with it!” retorted Luke.

So, Luke and Kat wandered and wandered around in hopes of finding the fortress, staring at the empty whiteness that looked like an empty canvas. They suddenly came across some elves dressed entirely in blue, marching south.

One elf said, “Wow, I can’t wait to pull off my mittens and sit by the fire and have a nice warm cup of hot chocolate.”

Kat and Luke looked at each other. They had just found their ticket to Blue’s fortress…


Chapter Three: Into the Fortress

Luke and Kat slowly followed the marching troop that they hoped was leading them in the direction of Blue’s fortress.

“We can’t keep following the troop. They’ll spot us. We need to steal their clothes and be disguised as them!” said Luke quietly.

Are you kidding me?” whisper-screamed Kat.

“Is it a good idea to take off your clothes in Antarctica?” she continued.

“Well, we’ll just put them over our clothes. Happy?” replied Luke, a little miffed.

So Kat and Luke ran up to a soldier elf quickly and quietly, so as to not be seen or heard, and tackled one soldier while holding his mouth shut. The soldier fell on the ground with a thump.

“Sorry, this might be embarrassing,” Kat told the soldier, and he let out a shriek when he realized what was happening.

Luckily, no one heard. Then, they started working. The soldier screamed to much, so they stuffed snow in his mouth. Since elves had been given the gift of heat from the snow lords (let’s not go into elf religion, here) they could not freeze to death. Elves only wore clothes so that they wouldn’t be naked.

“Bye, bye,” whispered Luke.

Then, they repeated the process. Soon, the rest of the troop was about 200 meters ahead.

“We’ve got to catch up to them,” Kat told Luke.

“Yeah,” agreed Luke.

They left the two naked (but warm) elves buried in the snow and hurried after the elven troop.

Luke started gracefully running to catch up with the troop while Kat started sprinting full out. The snow made a crunch-crunch sound when they stomped in it. They ran and ran and ran until they finally caught up.

“Are you excited to have hot chocolate, Robert?” asked one hulking elf while looking in Luke’s direction.

For a second, Luke thought, Who is Robert? Then, he looked at the way the bulky elf was looking at him and almost said, “Ummm, am I Robert?” But, Luke came to the conclusion that he was Robert and said, “Um, yeah totally.”

Kat shot Luke a dirty look that said, If we get caught, it will be all your fault.

Luke tried again. “Definitely, I’m really excited to have that hot chocolate,” Luke said excitedly and tried to hide the fact that he didn’t know what hot chocolate was.

“Good, so am I,” the elf said.

The other elves nodded in agreement.

As Luke and Kat walked toward the palace, they were both thinking different things. Kat was thinking, I hope Luke’s not gonna be an idiot and give us away. And Luke was thinking, Did I just give us away?

They were both startled when there was suddenly shouting

“Hooray for hot chocolate! We are here!” one elf shouted.

“Yay,” another elf shouted.

“Ummm… ” said Luke quietly.

“Well, let’s go get some hot chocolate!” shouted a small elf that had a very loud voice.

“Yay!” everyone said, except for Luke and Kat.

As they stormed into the palace, someone declared that they were as loud as rioting monkeys screaming for bananas. Kat thought about what they were doing. Suddenly, with a shock, Kat realized the ugly truth… They didn’t have an actual plan beyond getting in the palace. Kat walked up to Luke.

“We have a problem.”

“What? Nothing could be wrong while you’re drinking hot chocolate. This is as good as… as… ummm… a police officer!” Luke exclaimed.

Kat broke the bad news.

“We don’t have a plan,” she said.

As this registered in Luke’s pea-sized brain, Kat sat down and tried the hot chocolate.

“So… that’s bad?” asked Luke, puzzled.

Yes!” whispered-screamed Kat, exasperated.

“Oh,” said Luke sounding very depressed.

“So here is my plan,” said Kat, pulling out a piece of paper.

First, she drew a stick figure and labled it Blue. Then, she drew two people with a dotted line behind them. First, they walked into a room and grabbed what seemed to be a big bomb. Then, they snuck around guards and into Blue’s throne room. The stick figures threw the bomb at Blue. And there wasn’t a picture for that, but you can just imagine what happens next…

“Perfect,” said Luke. “Now, just try some of this hot chocolate!”

Kat sipped the hot chocolate.

“Wow, this is good,” Kat exclaimed.

The two adventurers were so busy sipping their hot chocolate that they didn’t notice…

(Ahem, hi, guys! Kai here.) This is the part in a story every good writer has to have. A twist. The part of the story where the reader thinks, Oh, they’re going to do it! And then the writer adds something just to annoy you. If you noticed the words “the two adventurers were so busy sipping their hot chocolate that they didn’t notice… ” then you could have maybe predicted this. Now I can annoy you. Yay.

… two elves reading their paper. Then, they looked up. Rage filled the elves’ faces, but they could not act erratically. The two elves had to play this smart. The two elves walked up to the elf guard on duty and whispered into his ear. They quickly spread the message in this manner. So then, just as Kat put her mug down, the guards threw a bag over Luke and Kat’s chocolate covered faces.


Chapter Four: Bombs

Luke woke up in a cold, damp room. What happened? Luke wondered. Then, as if his wish had been answered, a guard came up to him.

“Trying to bomb Master Blue, eh?” the elf asked in a mid-westernly sounding gruff voice. “That ain’t gonna get ya anywhere. Master Blue has got at least 15 soldiers surrounding him at all times. Dat guy has got some serious safety problems.”

“Yeah, I guess… ” said Luke quietly.

“Hey, tell you what, you seem like a good lad. If ya promise not to do anything bad, I will think ‘bout giving you the keys. Eh?”

“Um… yeah, okay” Luke said, even though he felt bad lying.

“Good,” the guard said and handed him the keys.

Luke opened his cell and in a flourish, stood up and looked around. The dungeons were miserable, and he looked at the cells next to him. They were all empty and wet except for one. And it housed Kat. Luke quickly opened the lock. It opened with a satisfying click.

“Kat, Kat, can you hear me? Kat wake up!” Luke said softly.

“Hi, Luke,” said Kat.

“Listen, I have the keys. We have to get out of here right now!” Luke said in a commanding but nice tone that made him sound really dumb.

“Really?” Kat said in a voice that made her sound slightly insane.

“Yes, really, now! We have to go!” Luke whispered-not-whispered.

“Okay, okay fine. Wait — you’re completely right. We have to go now!”

The two friends sprinted out of the prison by following signs that were placed conveniently all around, leading up some stairs to a circular room. There were five doorways leading to a cafeteria, a lobby, an armory, barracks, and a nuke bunker. Luke chose the door with a sign marked armory. He and Kat raced down the hallway and around a corner when Luke’s eyes met the most beautiful sight ever. The armory. It was filled to the brim with tanks, the latest technology guns, fighter jets, bombs, and best of all, nuclear bombs. If you wanted a weapon of mass destruction, this was the place in the palace to find it.

“Hey, Kat, can you come over here and help me pick a bomb?” Luke asked.

“Sure, Luke. We could use grenades because we can carry lots of them and throw them easily, but we could also try to sneak in a bomb for the full effect and a big boom. We could also try small bombs which we could arrange into a pyramid for the fun of it.”

“Good idea, Kat, let’s try the big bomb. Let’s try to find one with a big timer that says fancy things like: you will die in approximately T-minus 2:00.000 minutes. Beep, beep, beep. That would be cool,” exclaimed Luke.

“Sounds good to me!” agreed Kat.

And so our two unlikely heroes went on a mission to find a bomb. Luke was looking around for a bomb when he noticed the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. The biggest, scariest, and most awesome bomb he had ever seen.

Luke felt himself tearing up just by looking at the bomb and then regained his senses and yelled, “Kat, come over here and look at this bomb I just found!”

Kat immediately ran over to the bomb, and she too felt in awe at the greatness of the bomb.

“This is the one! We need to do this with this bomb. It’s sort of an inner feeling. Like we absolutely have to do this,” announced Kat earnestly.

“Yes, I agree. You should feel honored to be in this godly presence,” replied Luke.

“Now, to destroying Blue,” Kat said.

The two adventurers lifted the bomb and started staggering out of the room. Kat and Luke finally lifted it out of the room. They set it down, exhausted, and rested their hands on their knees and panted.

“That pant — was pant — good. Keep pant — Going pant,” panted Luke.

“Yes pant — ” agreed Kat.

The two adventurers then put their hands under the bomb and lifted and lifted, and slowly the bomb lifted. Then, the two adventurers staggered down the hallway and finally to the throne room door, which was filled to the brim with at least twenty tons of rubies, diamonds, emeralds, gold, silver, copper, piles of hundies and most importantly, Blue himself.

They shoved the bomb through the door, then, the two dove headfirst under a giant pile of dollar bills. If you were there, you might have heard a slight beep, beep as our heroes had preset the bomb. Then, you might have heard the bomb speak its message of doom, but it was muffled by the dollar bills. But Blue was too distracted playing with his riches and didn’t hear.

“All is good — wait, how are we going to get out of here in time?” exclaimed Kat.

At that very moment, there was a loud crash and a boom, and Luke and Kat heard, “Like this — Ho ho ho!” someone said in a familiar voice.

“Santa!” Luke said.

“Hop in!” Santa replied.

“You horrible traitor! You freak!” Blue shouted.

Luke and Kat hopped into the sleigh, and they sped off. Everything whizzed past and Luke realized suddenly, hey, this is how Santa delivers all those presents.

“Wait, are those your reindeer? I thought they didn’t fly!” Kat asked, startled.

“Oh, they do. They just like to rest and be lazy,” Santa said in a teasing voice.

So this is how our two heroes found themselves speeding along in Santa’s secret sleigh at top speed. In less than an hour, the party were gliding over the North Pole over a dark, jaggedy mountain.

“Wait, wasn’t this place wrecked?” Luke asked.

“It was, but it so happens that I too have a little bit of magic,” Santa replied.

The sleigh came down towards a jet black strip of concrete… the landing strip! The sleigh slowly lowered down, and Luke and Kat covered their heads and tucked into a ball around their knees. This was going to be a rough landing. Boom. The sleigh crashed to the ground with a sickening crash. The reindeer took off running, pulling the sleigh and going slower and slower until they finally arrived at the foot of a mountain. Most people thought that this mountain was just a mountain, but in reality, it was the secret entrance to Fort S or Fort Santa. The Fort could only be accessed by elves whom Santa trusted. Santa pulled a garage door opener out of his pocket and pressed it.

“Activating sequence open door. Do you want to do this?” a hidden speaker in the button asked.

“Yes,” Santa said, enunciating clearly.

The mountain then rumbled as a part of the cavern door pulled in and put to the side by powerful pistons. The party sleighed through. They passed hallways, displaying monitors, art, and technology that neither Luke nor Kat had ever even heard of. Then they entered a large room and finally slid to a stop.

Suddenly, there were elves jumping out from behind furniture and at the top of their lungs yelled, “Surprise!

There were various shouts of “We love you!”, “Yay!”, and “Thank you for stopping Blue!” It was a surprise party. Kat and Luke had never felt so overjoyed. They were surrounded by the elves they loved, who were all cheering their little elven hearts out for them. It was the best feeling in the world.

Now, my reader, my job as a writer is done. I have finished the book. You now know the story of Luke, Kat, Santa, and Blue. It was a joy writing for you all, and I want to thank you for reading this book. Thank you. Now I must go. I really never wanted to say these words, but:

The End


Journey to the Heavens

Storm Search

My eyes flew open as the door swung open. My mom was standing in the doorway, her eyes wild. Outside, rain poured out from the bleak night sky.

“What happened?” I asked.

“The rain was just super cold,” she muttered, but I knew she was lying. I made a silent decision to sneak outside afterwards. “Go to sleep, India Hollyblade,” she added.

I trudged to my bed, but as soon as my mother began to snore, I crept outside after putting on a long sleeved navy blue dress with thick tights. I wore a long crimson coat with white faux fur and tied my chocolate brown hair into a bun before I slung a bag of emergency tools that my mother gave me. Then I created a forcefield and ran outside, whistling for Windra, my giant white wolf. I hopped onto her back, and we raced around the garden, looking for anything that might have spooked my mom. Then I saw the light.


Volcano Light

It was silvery and soft, and at first I thought the light was just a trick of the moonlight, but then I realized the moon was hidden behind the clouds. I urged Windra to go forward, and as we climbed the hill, I noticed that the light was coming from the dormant volcano. Could the volcano possibly be erupting? I thought. Nah, volcanos don’t have silver lava, do they? As soon as Windra and I reached the volcano, I ran up to it and balanced on the rim of the volcano. I had done this many times, but it still made me nervous to know that a slight misstep could get me into an even more dangerous position. I realized that a swirling light had appeared inside the volcano. Before I could think about what I was seeing and actually get it into my head that this wasn’t a dream, the moon broke free of the clouds, and the silver light grew brighter, making the earlier light seem dim in comparison. I was so busy staring in awe at the breathtaking sight that I did not notice that the wind was picking up up until it was too late. A strong gust of wind hit me hard, and I started to topple over. Windra tried to grab me, but my weight made her lose balance, and we both fell into the silver light, the wolf, howling, and me, screaming as the silver light engulfed us.


The Test Of The Sleeping Moon

I was still screaming when I realized that first, I wasn’t burning up or dying or anything horrible like that, and second, I could breathe and everything felt peaceful and I felt so relaxed as the light turned dark and my eyelids started to close… Slurp!!! My eyes shot open as I felt the horrible sensation and wetness of wolf saliva. Blinding light hit me like someone had shone a flashlight in my eyes. Then I realized we were sitting on a cloud.

Then a voice said, “Congratulations! You have passed the test of the Sleeping Moon!”

An old wizardly man who looked blurry in the mist surrounding him pointed to snoring people that had appeared around us.


Information

“The Test of the Sleeping Moon is what people go through when they enter Faunaree, our world. Hostiles are sent to the land of nightmares forever, which is all the way north. Here is a map of where Twilight Hotel is, and see you later!” the old guy (whom I had named Mr. Tedious) said. “If you fail the Test of The Sleeping Moon, which you didn’t, you are considered a Hostile.”

Now that I could see him more clearly, I knew he had stunning blue eyes, a silvery robe, and white hair that covered his face almost entirely. Then I sank through the clouds.


Getting To The Hotel

As I landed softly on the ground with Windra, I contemplated the map. It showed a desert, and after a while I spotted the hills of sand for real. I walked through the desert for days, then weeks then months, until I couldn’t keep track of time. Just as I let go of my last hold on reality, there were two pathways, one going downhill and one going up. I decided to go up because I loved sliding down hills, so I hopped onto Windra and skidded down the hill. Suddenly we were in the middle of swirling light, and everything was soft and like a feather, like I was in a flock of doves until it dissipated so that I could see a marvelous castle that looked like an abandoned royal palace. Lightning struck the mountains in the distance, and the windows glowed an eerie purple-pink. Obviously I took a photo (by the way, it was in my emergency bag, in case you were wondering) as I ran down the walkway and knocked. No one answered, so I knocked again. Still, no one answered. Impatient, I opened the door that led to what changed not only my life and future, but almost everyone else’s.


Twilight Hotel (with little comments from the author)

Now, first, I must remind you that I was a young and rather impulsive child at this age. For the story’s sake, do not treat the me in this book as you would treat me if my older and wiser self were making these decisions. What’s that you say? Oh, right, the story. On we go! Wait, what?! There’s barely enough room for me to finish my little comments! The story starts… now! Oh, and if you want the story in wolf language, that can be arranged.*

*Bark howl woof arf howl! Bark arf bark woof arf howl!


Twilight Hotel

(Joyful to say, and also hopefully joyful for you readers, no more serious chapter titles after this.)

Like I said, I had opened the door and was stepping in when I remembered my manners.

“Sorry for trespassing! I hope you will forgive me, and I am returning this map to you, or at least I assume this is yours,” I said (very politely). Windra barked, ruining my charming manner. I dropped the map, and immediately I fell face first into a fluffy bed. “Huh,” I said, and then fell asleep.


In Which I Meet My Friend The Puppy

As soon as I woke up, I surveyed my surroundings. I was in a room full of snow. Strangely, it wasn’t cold at all! In fact, the snow was pretty warm. I stepped in hesitantly, and 45 minutes later, when a puppy stepped in, she found me building a giant snowman that was nine feet and nine inches tall. (We checked.)

“Hello?” she asked. “I am Mocha, your new transportation ride.”

I looked at her, threw a snowball at Windra, then studied her some more. “But you’re smaller than a chair!” I exclaimed, offended.

Who would dare send me a tiny little puppy and pretend that I was smaller than that.

“True,” Mocha said. “But I can grow.”

Then the world (or at least everything within my eyesight) grew big and furry and smelled like dog fur.


In Which I Eat Some Chicken

Aaaahhhh!!!” I yelled as Mocha flung Windra and I onto her back and leaped out the window.

We’re gonna dii-ie, we’re gonna dii-ie! a singsong voice chanted in my head. As we hit the ground, we dissolved into millions of tiny particles and reformed on top of Mr. Tedious’ head. As Mr. Tedious sank through the cloud, yelling at the top of his lungs, we bounced upwards, only because Mr. Tedious has a rather bouncy head. As I grabbed a piece of delicious chicken, I felt a little bad for Mr. Tedious.

“Oops,” said Mocha.


In Which I Eat (And Describe) Chicken and Go to a Palace

As we flapped towards the portal, I munched on the chicken. It was salty and juicy, but a little chewy, too, like how a chicken born in fire would taste: A little crispy on the outside, but soft and buttery on the inside. I was just stuffing the last of the fire chicken in my mouth when we arrived in a palace.


In Which I Meet My Mom

I entered the palace hesitantly, one foot at a time, only me, just me. I had tried to get Windra to come, but the scary guards wouldn’t allow the wolf. My footsteps echoed along the hallway, and Mocha had disappeared to wherever giant dogs spent their free time. I walked at first, but then wonderful aromas wafted down from wherever the hallway led to, and I began to run. Even though I had just had the fire chicken, my stomach still growled. Suddenly, I ran into my mom.


In Which I Eat Some Lunch

“Mom?” I asked, unable to believe it.

“I know, sweetie,” my mom said. “But let’s have lunch first.” She took a sip of the tea.

Why didn’t you tell me about this place; it is so awesome — oh,” I shouted at first, but then I took a sip of the tea. It was like drinking liquid sugar, but with a hint of a creamy spice. It was sticky, yet it slid on my tongue, and soon, my mind began to clear. “Let’s eat first,” I agreed.

A chicken scrambled towards me, balancing a tray of what looked like leafy green vegetables on his head. I took one of the leaves, nibbled on the edge, and immediately my mind exploded. It tasted like someone sprinkled wasabi on it and then poured chocolate milk on the leaf. Brown speckles on the leaf added creamy, salty, bursts that exploded in my mouth.

“Now, by all means, let us talk!” my mom said.


A Face-To-Face Chat

“I knew of this world, but I didn’t tell you because this world would fry a lesser brain like the dragon eggs over there.” She nodded at some purplish-black eggs that I hadn’t seen before. “Obviously I underestimated you. We will be living here from now on.”

“Yeah, okay,” I said. “Can we eat now?”

“Of course!” my mom said, obviously relieved to be freed of the awkward conversation.


In Which I Get Three Awesome Tools and Eat Some More.

I wolfed down two more leaves and grabbed a sparkly brown square from a box labeled Unicorn Creamtoys. I bit into it and blinked. The creamtoy melted in my mouth, but then it reformed back into a square, like it was trying to last as long as it could. I felt a ball pop out of my mouth, and then it filled with a sweet taste that my mouth wanted to dispose of. I spat it out, and it self-cleaned itself. Out of it popped out three things: a belt, a glowing rod, and a bunch of glowing sticks. A voice in my head (because of the creamtoy) said, The belt is a magical thing that allows you to pluck anything you want from its pockets. The rod is stunner that is safer than an electric staff. You can use it to charge the glow-throwers. After that, as I fingered my stuff, I knew this story would have a happily-ever-after.


By The Way

Thank you! Thank you! I don’t have much time, but I just want to say how much I thank India’s mother, Hazel Hollyblade, for cooperating. (Of course, she insisted on her own story, but yeah.)


The Rise of the Evil Enchilada Empire

Once there was an enchilada named Chicken. By the way, his middle name was Pot, and his last name was Pie. He was the meanest enchilada in Enchilada Estate. One day he was walking in the woods and teasing a leaf (that’s what he does to be mean) when he got struck by lightning, and that made him meaner, so he was now Meanachilada. He demanded that he should be Emperilada.

So, Nationwide said, “Yes,” so it was a new rise Eviladas.

And they wanted revenge on leafmanity.

So that was how World War II started.


Pack

Chapter One

I am Storm, a lone she-wolf. I am traveling with my much younger brother, Cloud. Before we talk about anything, let me tell you my backstory.

“Go to sleep, darling,” Lola, my mother, whispered.

“I can’t,” I protested.

“Your brothers can. And you’re much older than them. If they can sleep, so can you,” Lola whispered again.

“Tell me about dad before I do,” I pleaded.

Lola sighed, giving in. “Doobie was a brave wolf. I met him when he was hunting for our pack… ”

“Run! Run! Cloud, run! Storm, where’s Sticks?” Lola yelled.

I woke up with a start. Why was she yelling? Then I saw the golden-red branches that radiated heat. Then I recalled something from Lola’s stories. Fire. The thing that had killed my father, Doobie.

“Run,” Lola repeated.

Then we heard a voice: “Mommy, Mommy, help!”

Then that gray stuff that floated around the sky — smoke, I recalled — cleared, and I saw my brown-gray younger brother who supposingly looked like Doobie.

“Help!” Sticks called, a panicked look on his face.

Lola glanced at me and whispered, “Find Cloud, then run. Please.”

I couldn’t do anything but nod. I ran to the other side of the large cave, which was filled with sickly, small-looking trees that were already catching flames. It was where our pack used to hunt. But now the fire will kill all the prey, probably the hunters, too.

Anyway, as soon as I found my white-furred brother, Cloud, I grabbed him by his neck fur and, against my mother’s will, turned to find her. At last, I saw her. Sticks was in her jaws, and she was trying to run past those evil flickering red branches.

“Leave!” she yelled.

I shook my head. No way was I going to leave her! I took a running leap towards her, trying to push her away from the flames, but it was too late. A large birch tree, perhaps larger than the rest, was staggering down as flames burned away at its roots. The fallen tree landed in front of my mother, startling the somewhat elderly Lola. The grayish-white she-wolf scrambled back, trying to get away from the flames, but she was surrounded.

“Mother! Sticks!” I yelled.

Cloud was trembling by now. I curled my tail around his eyes, which were navy-blue in color, like staring out at a lake at the darkest time of night, so he couldn’t see our mother, well, die. And here I was, unable to help my own family without killing myself.

“Go,” Lola whispered. And I did, though I made the mistake of looking back. The last time I saw my mother was her gazing at me lovingly, with Sticks perched on her head, tiny brown paws on Lola’s ears, grabbing on in any way he could.

That was the last time I saw any of my pack, unless you count Cloud as a pack, but I don’t, so… Oh, and FYI, I don’t react well to pity, so please don’t sympathize with me. That just makes it worse.


Chapter Two

So, now that you know my backstory, it’s best if you know my future — or at least, the future I want. And judging from my luck, this isn’t going to happen. Basically, Lola, Sticks, and the rest of my pack are supposed to be fire-resistant,  then me and Cloud find them, and we all live happily ever after. Like that’s going to happen.

“Hey, Stormy!” That’s Cloud, calling to me. No, my name is not Stormy. It’s Storm. He just adds a “y” to annoy me.

“Yes?” I said.

“I have a brilliant idea!” I was about to say that his version of “brilliant” was about as brilliant as a snail’s brain, but then he said, “Let’s join or create a pack!” and I just stared at him, jaw hanging open that it was even possible for such an annoying, not-so-brilliant wolf to say something so brilliant. Cloud took my mouth’s floor-magnetizing as a bad sign and mumbled, “I mean, we’re just so lonely right now, and I can’t even hunt yet. I mean, your okay, but — ”

He trailed off, and I surprised him and myself by saying, “Cloud, that’s brilliant. Three howls for my brilliant, brilliant brother!”

We did howl, but way more than three times. It’s a wolf habit, howling. I don’t know why, but it just feels… right.

Anyways, that night, as I curled up with Cloud in our den, I wondered, I know getting a pack is a good idea, but is that possible?

So, I said something about my den, so I’m getting the feeling I need to describe the appearance. It’s this small cave with a low, narrow entrance made of thick pure black stone. Tall spruce trees, which my brother calls “Spricey trees,” were littered above our cave, like several stars fell down and became trees. One of those spruce trees must have fallen over, because long branches of dark green hid our cave from sight, like a warning: Do not enter, or us leaves will slive you into shreds and leave your remains so a vulture can eat you.

Yeah, okay, maybe that warning was a bit intense, but whatever. That is what it looked like.

I remembered a brief dream about Cloud and Sticks and I running in the snow, as I taught them how to hunt snow hares before I woke up.

“Cloud,” I yawned once I nudged my brother away, “What you said yesterday, about getting a pack, I was considering it last night.”

“And?” the white wolf pup asked, shaking the sleep from his eyes in a cute-ish way.

I responded with an, “It’s okay,” but Cloud — annoyingly– stared at me with those big, water-during-the-middle-of-the-night eyes, as if he was was repeating the question “And?”

I sighed. Wolf pups tend to have more control over us older wolves, with pure adorability, and it’s so tempting to just say yes, accept anything those pups want to do.

“It’s an idea we can try out, okay? I mean, if we join a pack we don’t like, we can always leave, right? But let’s go get some wolfish friends tomorrow, and play in the mud today, ‘kay? Yes? Good,” I said, just to get his mind of the topic so I could think about it in solitude.

I was right. Cloud’s mind floated away from packs and stuff like a, well, like a cloud.

I splashed around in the mud with Cloud for a bit, changing my fur from silvery-gray, like the moon, to deep, rich brown. Meanwhile, I was thinking, on one paw, Cloud’s right, and we’d be safer in a pack. But on the other paw, wouldn’t taking a pack mean I would be saying that I was done with Lola and my former pack? Ugh, Storm, stop making this decision harder for yourself.

But in the end, I didn’t really make the decision. It turns out it was someone else made the decision for me. He had cornered us while we were walking back to our den.

“Why, hello,” he hissed. “I heard you were looking for a pack. So, would you like to join mine?”


Chapter Three

“Who are you?” I howled, curling my tail protectively around Cloud. The other wolf grinned in amusement at my anger.

I studied him. The wolf looked like an ordinary brown wolf. He was the color of mud, like what we had just rolled in (I double-checked to make sure it was his actual fur color, instead of being mud-covered). He had broad shoulders and his leg muscles — I wasn’t sure I wanted to face those. He had long, sharp, wickedly curved claws that glinted almost as dangerously as his eyes. His eyes, speaking of, were a beady, malicious black balls that glinted with greed. Deep red-pink scars were scattered among his brown pelt. Hmm. I wasn’t sure I should trust this wolf.

“Why, I’m Claw, leader of a pack of wolves. And don’t be scared of me. I only fight to protect my pack.” The strange wolf studied us. “And you don’t seem like much of a threat.”

“Well, he may not be, but I definitely am,” I informed him, pushing Cloud behind my back.

Claw smiled in such an odd way. It seemed more like a smirk.

“The bond that connects siblings. It’s always so … adorable,” he said. “Do you want to meet the rest of my pack?”

I was going to say no, thank you when Cloud did his annoying impulsive little brother thing and said, “Sure!”

I sighed. Broth-ers. But Claw led us — well, led Cloud and I followed — through the forest, until we reached a wide clearing. It was this light shade of grassy green with this really tall sort of tree I had never seen before. One of those trees had the largest branches, spread out. The trunk was so wide, it took up at least have of the clearing. And scattered among those branches, or on the trunk, was at least 20 wolves. I mean, a few were on the ground, but they were mostly on the tree.

“Emily! Keelin!” Claw called.

Two small, female wolf  cubs who looked around the same age ran up to us. They both had short snouts, long tails, and fluffy fur. The only difference between them was that one was the exact same color as Claw, while the other was a shadowy color of gray-black. The brown one was slightly more wiry and had a playful expression and rather tall ears. She looked like she didn’t have a care in the world, constantly chasing her tail and pouncing on some fallen leaf. The gray-black one was large, with a thick, furry scruff and a thoughtful expression.

“These are my twin daugh — Emily, get your tail back here! — daughters. Emily’s the jumpy one, and Keelin is the smart one. Emily, give me that leaf! Stand here like a proper wolf, for once! Ugh.”

Keelin looked at us with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. Emmie’s not normally this annoying.”

Emily appeared at her side. “That’s ‘cause I’m never annoying!” she said innocently — though I saw through the act, because she said it with a smile. “Dad, can we give them the tour?”

Claw sighed. “If they’re staying, go ahead. Are you staying?”

“Yep!” Cloud shouted.

“We are?’ I asked.

“Yes, we are!”

“Yay!” Emily cheered. She bounced off — literally bounced — with Cloud following, equally jumpy. Claw sighed, than slithered away.

Keelin regarded me, now that we were alone.

“We’re facing the same problem, I suppose.” She didn’t say it as a question — just a statement, clear and true as day.

“Yeah.”

Emily and Cloud swooped back to us.

“Guys! Are you coming?”

Keelin and I nodded, simultaneously. Emily and Cloud beamed, simultaneously. And at that moment, I realized that this pack was a great pack — friendship, happiness, and trust.


Chapter Four

“Storm! Storm! Help me!” Cloud called.

“Why? What is it?”

“The Pack of Dark Wolves is chasing me!”

I shuddered in my sleep. The Pack of Dark Wolves was a wolf pack so evil, their hearts were darker than the shadows, their claws as sharp as a splinter. If they caught you, even if you didn’t do anything, they’ll kill you in the slowest, most painful way possible. There was a very understandable reason I was having these dreams: it’s because The Pack of Dark Wolves are the most scary, deadly pack in the world. I mean, they’re mostly a legend, but they always manage to creep themselves into your nightmares, and it’s just so easy to believe in those myths.

A small paw woke me up from my dreams, then said the most coincidental coincidence ever said.

“Uh, Storm, we really have to leave,” Cloud mumbled.

“Why? This is a good pack. We’ve been here for over a month, and nothing bad has happened to us,” I grumbled.

Then Cloud told me the most horrifying thing in the history of this forest — and trees live a long, long time.  

“I woke up early, and so did Emmie, so we went outside, hoping the sunlight would warm us up. But then Claw wanted to talk to Emmie, alone, so when Emmie talked with him, I eavesdropped — ”

Brothers.

“ — and found out they were the Pack of Dark — ”

“Wolves. Yes. Good for you. Guards, take them out and kill them, where my offsprings can see them,” a voice interrupted. He said the word offsprings like they were distasteful. Claw stormed (not my storm, different storm) into the den, with at least ten bodyguards — not like he needs them — behind him.

The bodyguards grabbed us by our scruffs and hauled us out into the open — though my guard’s teeth were slightly too deep, and it really hurt.

“Keelin! Keelin, help!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Two small shapes, one brown and one black, came to help us, not like that would help us very much.

Fighting broke out, and I could feel a wolf’s claws on my spine. I kicked out with my hind paws and winded the opponent.

Then I saw Cloud… being cornered against the tree we’ve called home for a while now, blood leaking from a gash in his shoulder. Then I heard Keelin wail in pain, and I glanced in her direction. Claw was towering over her, claws poised at her chest — but he was glancing in my direction, like he was waiting for me to chose — my best friend… or my brother.

I can’t believe I did this, and I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. I chose Cloud. I lunged toward the wolf standing at Cloud’s throat, and I heard heart-shattering wails of pain at the same time. Knowing I couldn’t change my mind now, I slashed my claws across that wolf’s heart and… you know what? I’ll not go into the details. Let’s just say that I killed him.

Claw snarled at us, “You’ll live for now, you annoying wolf pups. I’ll swear I’ll kill your family one day!”

“Good luck, since my family’s dead,” I said.

“But feel free to kill yourself,” Emily said, tears staining her eyes, and I had a quick estimate why.

Claw snarled, then ran away.

Then I spotted the body.

The body of a fluffy, bloody wolf. Keelin.

“No!” I sobbed, lifting my snout to the sky with a wailing howl.

For around a minute I sat there, swallowed by my grief, barely noticing Emily until she spoke.

“Stormy, you should help with Cloud’s shoulder. I’ve tried to stop the bleeding, but… ”

I nodded.

“Be there in a moment. Oh, and Emily?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry for choosing Cloud.”

She brushed her fur against my shoulder.

“It was the right choice. I mean, I’ll miss her, but still, it was the right one. I bet Keelin is watching us from the Pack of Starry Wolves.”

The Pack of Starry Wolves was the pack dead wolves joined when they died, so that they could watch over their family and friends in peace.

I ran over to Cloud. His shoulder was bleeding like crazy, so it was rather obvious he’d lose so much blood he’d die unless we stopped the endless red river sprouting from Cloud’s shoulder.

“Emily, can you get me some moss?” I asked.

She nodded, then she was off.

While she was gone, I cleaned off his wound with gentle, careful strokes of my tongue. Cloud sat up blearily and gazed at me with his midnight-blue eyes.

“I’m sorry for being the other option,” he apologized. I tilted my head. That made no sense.

“If I wasn’t here, Keelin would still be alive,” he continued.

“And you wouldn’t be,” I said, continuing to gently lick the blood of the wound, “Listen to me, Cloud. We don’t need another pack. You’re the best pack anyone can wish for.”

“Uh… can I join the best pack anyone could wish for? Wow, that needs an abbreviation. BPACWF?” Emily interrupted.

I chuckled.

“Of course, Emmie,” I said with a smile.

Emily tossed me the ball of moss, and I caught it with my jaws. I set the ball on the jagged cut on Cloud’s shoulder and spread it around until it soaked up all the blood. Then I nudged the moss aside and helped Cloud up.

“Come on, pack,” I grinned, “let’s find a place to stay the night.”

And maybe all nights, living together… as a pack.


The Library

ACT ONE

SCENE 1

PLUTO is sitting in the library, reading books. This is the only place where he is not bullied. A lot of people in his class make fun of him for reading a lot.

PLUTO

Excuse me, Miss Agnes? I wanted to know if you had the book under the library code 6712.

MISS AGNES

Let me check the system. I suppose it’s here. Not many people read about law enforcement.

PLUTO

Thank you very much.

After PLUTO receives his book on law enforcement, he heads over to his classroom.

BULLY #1

Ha ha, you’re spending your whole recess in the library!

BULLY #1 says this while punching PLUTO in the stomach.

BULLY #2

Stupid boy here was in the library, it seems.

BULLY #3

Oh shut up, I have worse things to say about him. He’s a cake-sniffing brat. And he eats pizza.

BULLY #2

What type of insult is that?

BULLY #3

It’s a cake-sniffing brat pizza eater insult.

BULLY #1

Okay.

BULLY #3

Oh, and did I tell you he loves to eat pasta?

BULLY #2

He eats pasta? What the heck?

BULLY #3

Also, he watches television.

BULLY #1

He can’t. He spends all his time in the library, don’t you?

As PLUTO walks away, he sees MISS AGNES in trouble. MISS AGNES is trying to put back some books according to library code, but seems to be tripping. PLUTO runs as fast as he can and catches MISS AGNES before she falls off the ladder. As MISS AGNES thanks him, he hears the bell ring. He runs to the classroom to see his teacher waiting.

TEACHER

You’re late. I heard from a lot of kids that you were spending your time in the library. You’re supposed to be outside playing. And you skipped lunch. What an embarrassment! Now shut up and get to your seat. Oh, and did I forget to tell you that Owen, Justice, and Michael said you punched them in the stomach and said they were cake-sniffing, pizza-eating, television-watching, pasta-swallowing brats? What an embarrassment. You are the worst kid in the class, and you shall be banned from the library. You will sit out all of your recess in here, reading the Bible. And you shall skip lunch, and I will starve you until you die! And, as your punishment for today, I will dump you in a box full of box jellyfish, the most venomous jellyfish in the world. I hope you’re happy!


ACT TWO

SCENE 1

         PLUTO dumps himself in a glass showcase full of Australian box jellyfish. The stage goes black, and a huge nest appears out of the black. An egg hatches, and out comes a lightbulb, and a very deep voice comes out:

BRAIN

Bring food to school.

Another egg hatches.

BRAIN

Kill box jellyfish using a Band-Aid. Put the Band-Aid on top of the jellyfish, and the jellyfish will stop and drop to the bottom of the tank.

All eggs hatch.

BRAIN

Use modern witchcraft and wizardry!

Stage goes black


ACT THREE

SCENE 1

In “prison cell” a.k.a box jellyfish tank.

TEACHER

What does it say on page 397,000?

PLUTO

As God sent down the ten commandments… Oh, I’ll just stop talking. I already know the whole history of the golden lamb.

TEACHER

You have to keep on reading or else I’ll kill you. You have to keep on reading or else I’ll drive a knife through your stomach. I’ll also shred you like cheese. Or I’ll bring in my pet cobra!!!

PLUTO

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TEACHER
Stop that! And keep reading!

PLUTO dissolves.


ACT FOUR

SCENE 1

PLUTO enters the locked-up library.

MISS AGNES

Pluto, what are you doing here? And how did you — Oh. I know. I should have never let you look at that modern witchcraft and wizardry book.

PLUTO

I need books 667, 789, and 2394.

MISS AGNES

Okay. I’ll search the system. It seems they’re all here.

As PLUTO starts reading the books, MISS AGNES locks the library and leaves. She knows that PLUTO will be able to leave on his own.

PLUTO

1234567890-=[][ppoiuiyt54rfgbhytgytfhfjgjhgbvv cdftghbvdhdtfghb erhgfeyjk,.kiuhtfdsete6d5g3ef!!!!@#$%^&*()

PLUTO disappears into a book.

END OF BOOK ONE


The Sloth Who Gave Up Being Mean to the Pythons

Once upon a time there lived a sloth named Bob. Bob liked his name. He liked it because it was the only name he had. But… when Mom left with Ms. Python to get breakfast, the kid pythons stayed, and they had very sharp teeth. They ripped his toys. And when Mom got home, she would blame it on him.

He said, “I’m getting revenge.” And he did. Dun dun dun!

The next day, he set up a camera, and he turned on the camera when the pythons slithered in. Then he started the camera, and then they came in. The mother python left, and Mrs. Sloth left, and they started ripping and ripping and chewing the toys, and Bob got it all on footage. The next night he showed his mom, and his mom never invited those pesky snakes again.

At night, they slithered in the house and started chewing up his toys. He got it on footage and showed in to his mom. She locked the door extra tight and even used the slither block, which is a cage that drops on baby pythons, but not on Mrs. Snake. Then, the pythons hid in the bushes when she set up the trap. So, they knew to put a fake snake in the trap so it would drop and then move it to the side, so then they could get in the house again, but the door was locked. So they tried to slither under the door, but she even put out the little slither pincher, so it would pinch them if they went under!

The next morning, Mrs. Python came over and said, “Can we go out to breakfassssssst?”

“Sure!” said Mrs. Sloth.

“And can I leave the ssssssnakeesssss here?”

“Just this last time.”

Bob was really, really mad that the snakes stayed over again, but it was surprising. They didn’t chew up any more toys. They didn’t take any branches. They didn’t take anything!

After breakfast, Mrs. Python and Mrs. Sloth came home.

Mrs. Sloth said, “I know why they’re chewing up the toys. Because they don’t have a home, so they need fur blankets and shelter, and they make them out of the sticks and cotton.”

Bob said, “Oh. You can share a home with us! We have two extra rooms.”

They said, “Thank you! We’ll be back in a few minutes. We need to grab all our stuff.”

THE END


Monodogs

Hello, my name is Twix. I would like it if you would give me a belly rub because I have been a very good boy! Still no?! How rude! What if I give you a kiss and a hug and you give me a belly rub? Ugh! How about five kisses and three hugs, and in favor, I would like a belly rub, and that’s all. You are so rude! I am calling Mom over. See what she has to say about your behavior.

Hello, my name is Lavender. I like to stay in my garden of lavender because I hate mosquitos. They are the most annoying, pesky bugs in the universe! They buzz by your ear, and when you try to eat them, they fly away. Again, they are so annoying!! If I had one wish that could come true, I would like for all mosquitos to become extinct. Hmmmmmm, but I want a lifetime supply of treats. What to do??? Help!!

Hey, it’s your pal, Rusty. Back in my days I used to love romping around with my sister, Piper. But now these days I just want to stay at home and sleep all day. Did you get that, Mom? Hey, I do have a job. I guard the house, so nobody breaks in!!! Sorry, reader, may I have a moment with my mother?! You are so dead, Mom, and you yell at me when I bark at another dog. Well, you are getting a piece of your own mind. (Sorry, Piper, that you didn’t get any credit.)

Hello, my name is Twilight. I like being in the spotlight because my parents are William Shakespaw and Sophia Vergrra. They always tell me to be on my best behavior because when I am in the spotlight I go crazy. I really just want to be a singer and an actress. I was going for more of an opera singer and a comedy performer, but I don’t see those two jobs being a very good mix. So, I need a bit of help. Both, opera singing, or comedy performing? Or maybe I can do each of them for a third of the year?!

Hello, my name is Forest. I am kind of stuck… as you can see. I would love it if you could help me with this… human! Well, they are on their way. I have been in this light tangle situation for about two hours. Well, one hour and 59 minutes. Still the same! Okay, let me tell you what happened. I was playing with my buddies, Hunter and Ace. And we were playing hide-and-go-seek, but it didn’t go as planned. I got stuck. I am not very surprised they didn’t help me. That time that they got chased by a bear and almost fell off of a cliff was pretty funny!! And the other time they got close to a horse, and it bucked.

Hello! My name is Ace. You may know me as Forest’s friend. Yes, he got stuck. Hunter and I didn’t help Forest because he had let us get bucked by a horse, and we nearly fell off a cliff! That was so scary, and when I got back, I got this piece of refreshing watermelon! It tastes so good!!! I am in heaven!!! I really want some more watermelon. If you were going to give me a surprise, I would love some watermelon.

What’s up! I am Hunter, and I really don’t know what to do. I am stuck modeling for a dog company that sells dog clothes, and since I am used to wearing clothes I feel very naked. I am only doing this and smiling because I want some treats here! Come on, you can’t blame a dog for wanting something to eat! I will succeed and model for a dog company, naked! Sorry I have to say this, dog company, but… I quit. I don’t want to model naked!! In fact, I don’t think anyone wants to model naked, so I quit!!!

Hey! It’s Hazel, Hunter’s sister, and Piper is my best friend, but I can’t find her right know… I am looking for her, and in Tahoe it is so cold, and I just want to go to sleep. No, I will keep on finding her, and we will dogopoly like she promised. We live in Australia, so it has definitely not been a long couple of days until getting up here! I really don’t know where she is! What if I try calling her on my woofy-phone?

“Hello, Piper, I have been looking for you! I looked all around the house looking for you, and you weren’t there, so now I am in Tahoe looking for you, and I am very frustrated with you. Why didn’t you tell me that you were under your parents bed! Ugh, Piper, you are in very big trouble, Piper! I am coming back right now!”

So, you probably already heard what is happening. And I have some bad news… I used up all of my money on food. Now that is a big problem!

Hi, my name is Poppy. Quick question, do you want to try and find my bone? I hid my bone for this game, so you better say yes!! Yes? Yay! Okay. Ready, set, go. Wow, Mom’s doing better than Dad and sissy! Go, Mom! Oh no, Dad’s ahead. Oh no, sissy gives up and doesn’t want to do it anymore. Only Mom and Dad are in. Oh, they don’t want to do it anymore, so there is another problem… I forgot where the bone is. No!!!

One eternity later…

As you can see, I just had a mental breakdown. I wish that I could have found that bone, but it now is long gone. I need a bit of personal space.

We are all from the SF Bay organization. We were all named after something that means a lot to us or something that we really like.

Twix likes to follow his parent around when he eats Twix.

Lavender loves the smell of lavender.

Rusty likes to help his dad with his metalshop business.

Twilight likes to be in the spotlight, and she is known for always having a twinkle in her eyes.

Forest likes to romp around in the forest with his friends.

Ace likes to watch his family play card games. His favorite card is the Ace of Spades.

Hunter likes to chase rabbits.

Hazel likes to snack on hazelnuts when she is bored.

Poppy likes to steal poppyseed goods.


What Blood Can Do

Preface

Sara was a vampire, and everyone who knew her noticed something unusual about her the moment they saw her.


Chapter One: People

(Sara)

I opened the front door and walked out into the fresh spring breeze of L.A. and started walking down my block, keeping my pace quick and swift. That was mostly why everyone stopped me on the street to ask me why I was walking so fast. As I walked, I spotted a nice patisserie shop, and I walked in to avoid the people that would mostly look at me and question why I was walking so fast. And you know, I really don’t know why I walk so fast, but actually I do. It’s because I’m a vampire. I knew that before my mom did. When I was born, the people at the hospital noticed something that shone in me and that was that I was a vampire. It’s not that bad being a vampire. I actually like it.

“Excuse me, miss, is there anything we can help you with?” the man at the counter in the shop asked.

“Oh, yes! Could I get a hot chocolate with whipped cream please?”

“Yes, coming up! And that would be $5.30,” the man said.

“Sure,” I said as I handed him the money.

As I left the store, I noticed how the man looked at me, like I was different or suspicious, but I totally ignored him and kept doing my things.


Chapter Two: Walk

(Sara)

My walk back was actually pretty good, not so many stares. (At first).

But then a girl that looked about my age stopped me and asked me, “Are you magical? ‘Cause you walk unusually fast!”

I didn’t know how to respond, so I said, “I guess some people just walk fast.”

“Okay, I guess so too,” the girl responded. Then she stuck out her hand, “Emma,” she said.

“Sara,” I said.

Emma decided to walk to my house with me, and I was okay with it, so it wasn’t weird. We talked about random things that usually come to girls’ minds when they hang out.

Then when we got to my house, I said, “Do you want to come in?”

“Is that okay?” Emma asked.

“Yeah, sure.”

“K.”

***

Soon enough, it was time for Emma to leave, and she did.

But before she left she asked me, “Can we meet again tomorrow?”

I thought for a moment and then said, “Yes.”


Chapter Three: Friends

(Sara)

The next day, Emma came over, and she already had plans for us. I was actually really happy that she already had plans because then we would have probably been doing nothing since I’m not very good at making plans. Anyway, since Emma had plans she decided that we would go to a science museum.

“Does this museum have any blood or anything that has to do with blood?” I asked.

“Why?” Emma asked. “Do you faint at the sight of blood?”

“N-no, just does it?”

“Yeah, it does have a human body exhibit, and that includes blood.”

“Okay, then we better not go to this museum,” I mumbled.

“We can skip that part,” Emma suggested.

“Yeah, true, but still let’s do it another day,” I complained.

“Okay, fine!” Emma said, clearly annoyed.“Then where do you want to go?”

“Let’s go to a park. How does that sound?”

“Okay, I guess.”

I probably shouldn’t have been so picky, but how could I have resisted killing things, even people, maybe. You may not know how much I have to try not to kill Emma when I’m with her, and it would have been even worse at a museum with a blood exhibit.


Chapter Four: Blood

(Emma)

It was pretty annoying because Sara was being really picky about where we were going to go for fun. I suspected something about her that might have been the reason for why she didn’t want to go to this museum. But honestly I have no clue! Why would someone not want to go to a museum? Like, it’s just a museum! I thought, but then again blood. Blood was what was stopping Sara from going to this museum. Then I wondered why blood was stopping Sara.

“So which park do you want to go to?” she suddenly asked.

Since I was annoyed with her I said, “My friend texted me earlier and said that she was going to go to Griffith Park, and I said that I might meet her there, so let’s go there.”

“Okay, that sounds reasonable,” Sara murmured, clearly not very excited at my park choice with another friend.

When we got to the park, I spotted my friend (Madison), and I ran over to give her a hug!

“This is my friend, Sara,” I said as I introduced Sara to Madison. I noticed that Sara didn’t seem to mind how I had said the word friend.

“Hi, I’m Madison,” Madison said cautiously.

“Hi,” Sara whispered.

“So, what should we do?” Madison asked.

“Let’s go to the lake!” I suggested. “It will be about a 5-10 minute walk from here, so we can chat along the way! How does that sound?”

Madison and Sara just nodded. While we walked, I noticed how Madison stared at Sara just the way I had yesterday when I met Sara.

“I heard that you guys just met yesterday,” Madison said still looking at Sara.

“Uh, yes,” Sara whispered again.

“You don’t have to whisper you know,” I said.

Sara just shrugged. It was too peaceful. I didn’t think that Madison would notice Sara the way that I did. It was just very quiet, and it felt silent. Suddenly we heard a scream. We all turned around. There was a boy crying on the ground, and there was blood. Lots of blood. I glanced over at Sara. Her teeth were clenched, and she was shaking.

“Sara?” I asked.

“Yes?” she whispered.

“Are you okay?”

“Sort of.”

Madison glared at Sara. “Why are you whispering?” she demanded.

“Leave her alone,” I mumbled.

Then Sara lunged forward on top of the boy and then almost, just almost (and that is if I hadn’t come in and grabbed Sara) bit the poor boy.

What were you thinking??” I yelled at her.

“Okay, okay I should have told you!” Sara moaned.

I looked over at Madison, and she was glaring at me and at Sara.

Then Madison started to scream, “Sara, why did you just do that?! That kid was already hurt, and you just went to hurt that kid even more?! I can’t believe you! You can be such a jerk!

When I looked at Sara, she had tears in her eyes. Then when I looked at Madison, she was glaring at both of us very hard. She looked furious.

“Okay, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m a vampire!!! I couldn’t help it” Sara burst out.

“I’m sorry. I may have heard you wrong,” Madison said. “But I don’t think vampires exist. Is this some kind of joke?”

“You don’t understand!” Sara protested.

“Okay, whatever you say.”

I was so confused. Sara was a vampire? That must have been why she didn’t want to go to the blood museum, and that was also probably why she lunged for that poor boy. I was upset with Sara for not telling me, and I was upset with Madison because she was being so mean to Sara.

“Okay, let’s go, Emma. I’m done!!” Madison said.

“Bye,” I whispered to Sara.


Chapter Five: Friendless

(Sara)

I walked home unusually slowly. I was miserable because I didn’t know if Emma would still be my friend. It was for sure confirmed that Madison hated me. Why did I have to be a vampire? Why couldn’t I be normal. Why did Madison have to be so annoying? I wish that I hadn’t done what I had done. Oh, that poor kid, and it was all my fault. If I wasn’t a vampire then I would have never done any of the things that I did. Now I was totally friendless. Yay, I guess? This is how it was before I’d even met Emma and Madison, though I didn’t consider Madison a friend.

When I got home I went to my room and dialed Emma’s number. She didn’t answer, so I decided to text her. Here is what I texted:

To: Emma

Hi, it’s me, Sara. I hope you forgive me for what I did.

From: Sara

Then I decided to email her instead:

To: Emma

Hi, it’s me Sara I just called you, but you didn’t answer which is okay.

I am emailing you to tell you that I would like to be friends again and to explain what/why I did what I did earlier today at the park. Here is my explanation:

Since I told you earlier that I am a vampire, and it’s true, that’s why I lunged for the kid. Vampires have to try not to kill people, or rather humans, when they are near each other. I’m not trying to scare you. I promise that I will never kill you. We are attracted to human blood, so that’s why I went for that kid (because of all the blood on the floor).

I really hope you forgive me.

From: Sara

All I had to do was hope that Emma would respond quickly.


Chapter Six: Email (Part One)

(Emma)

Madison and I walked with me to the ice cream truck where I got chocolate and she got vanilla. We ate in silence.

“I have to go,” I told Madison when we were halfway through our ice cream.

“Why?” she asked. “Need to apologize to the jerk?”

I rolled my eyes. “No.”

“Okay, fine. Bye! Can we meet up tomorrow?”

“No,” I whispered.

“What! Why?”

“Let me go please. I’ll text you later maybe.”

“Bye.” She waved at me.

I walked home quickly. I knew that I needed to talk to Sara. Not that I was sorry yet. I actually started to run. I ran home, fast. I opened the front door and quickly locked it behind me. I ran upstairs and opened up my MacBook to Gmail. I had gotten an email from Sara! Yay! After I was done reading it, I understood why she had acted so weird. I quickly responded:

To: Sara

Hi! I got your email, and now I am responding.

I understand why you did what you did. Madison will never forgive you just so you know, but I will.

I hope that we can be friends again even though we were never not friends.

From: Emma

All I had to do was hope that Sara would respond quickly.


Chapter Seven: Email (Part Two)

(Sara)

Yes! Emma responded. I really hoped that she wasn’t mad, and from reading her email I could tell that she was not mad!

I decided to write Emma another email:

To: Emma

I am so relieved that you will still be my friend even though I probably don’t deserve it. Thank you so much!

Also, can you come over tonight or tomorrow?

From: Sara

Chapter Eight: Email (Part Three)

(Emma)

I read Sara’s message and responded this:

To: Sara

Hi! I’m glad that you are willing to be friend, and yes you deserve it. What could you have done? You couldn’t help yourself. I obviously forgive you as I said before. Earlier Madison asked if I could meet her tomorrow, and I said no! But we can definitely meet tomorrow. Can we talk on the phone instead? I think it would be much easier. Also, sorry that I didn’t pick up the phone earlier. I was still at the park, and my phone was silenced.

Talk to you in a sec (on the phone).

From: Emma


Chapter Nine: Phone Call

(Sara)

I read Emma’s email and then called her on my phone.

“Hi, Emma?” I asked.

“Hi, Sara!” she said.

“So I’m really sorry for what I did earlier.”

“It’s fine, really.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, positive.”

“So you said that Madison asked to meet tomorrow and you said no?” I said.

“Yup.”

“Why? For me?”

“Sort of, mostly because I got pretty sick of her, and if you didn’t know she is someone who is very easy to get sick of, and because I wanted to make it up to you.”

“Oh, thank you, but shouldn’t I be the one apologizing?” I asked Emma.

“Only if you want.”

“Yes please!” I cried.

Emma just laughed. “So should I come over tomorrow, or do you want to come over. Actually I think you should come see my house for once.”

“Okay! Sounds good” I said excitedly.

“Bye, Emma!”

“Bye, Sara!” And we hung up.


Chapter Ten: Fake Friends

(Madison)

We are totally fake. Me and Emma, no way am I ever going to like her or her friend “the jerk.” How could she leave me to go home and probably go talk to “the jerk.” Oh well, I’m never going to forgive her anyway, so she better be sorry. We are fake friends. I wonder was she faking it the whole time because I sure wasn’t. When I first met Emma she seemed like such a nice girl, but now? Oh, god! I should probably call her to see if maybe, just maybe I can convince her to meet me again tomorrow.

I dialed Emma’s number, and she responded almost immediately

“What do you want?” she asked, annoyed.

“Could you please meet me tomorrow?”

“No, I already told you.”

“Ugh.”

“Plus I made plans with Sara for tomorrow. She’s coming over!

What?!” I yelled.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

You betrayed me to go with — ”

Emma stopped me and and said, “She is not a jerk.”

Fine!” I yelled. “If you don’t want to be my friend then I guess I’m better off without you!

“Same here.” Emma agreed.

“Why are you so mean?!” I asked.

“You are the one who is mean,” she remarked. “I’m just standing up for my friend and what’s right.”

I didn’t even bother to say goodbye to Emma. I just hung up.


Chapter Eleven: Hiking

(Emma and Sara) or (2nd person)

The next morning, Sara walked over to Emma’s house, and Emma explained that she thought that they should go hiking. Sara agreed and went back to her house to get a sandwich and hiking gear. When she was done, Emma and Sara met at Emma’s front door.

“Let’s do this!” Emma said.

“Cool!” Sara responded.

The two of them hiked in Griffith Park (the same park where Sara and Madison had met). They started to hike at the very beginning of the trail, and all they really talked about was what had happened earlier.

They hiked and hiked until Sara stopped in her tracks.

“What is it?” Emma asked.

“I smell something.” Sara said.

“What!”

Blood,” Sara whispered. “Also you probably don’t want to see this, so you should go.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m probably going to hunt.”

“Wouldn’t that be cool?” Emma asked.

“No,” Sara said. “Please go, I don’t think you want to see me hunt.”

“Can I just watch from a distance?”

“Okay fine, but a far distance.”

“K,” Emma said.

Emma walked away from Sara about 20 steps and stood to watch her.


Chapter Twelve: My View

(Emma)

As I moved back, I saw Sara take a deep breath. Then I saw a wolf come into view.

“Ahh,” I gasped.

“Shhh… ” Sara said looking back at me. “Move back five more steps.”

I moved back and watched as Sara lunged for the wolf…


Chapter Thirteen: What’s Going On

(Madison)

I was really upset, but maybe just maybe I could call Sara and see if she would pick up. So I dialed Sara’s number and waited. Ugh she didn’t pick up, I thought. I wonder where she and Emma went, but apparently they are not at Emma’s house or Sara’s house. Don’t tell me that she went to a park or rather Griffith Park. No, no, no! I thought. To me Griffith Park is a devil. I decided to leave my mom a note about where I was going, it said:

Hi mom.

I went to Griffith Park, and I’ll be back in about 1-2 hours. See you then!

-Madison

I headed out, and when I got to the park, I was very annoyed. If Emma and Sara were here, then I would have to check all over the park. Ugh! How was I ever going to find them? Oh no, I thought to myself. I had just gotten hungry, and I would have to go get food before I could go look for my “friends.” I decided to go to Taco Bell since I love tacos!


Chapter Fourteen: The Wolf

(The wolf)

I was just strolling nearby, and yes I did hear some voices, and maybe I should have gotten scared, but I didn’t. Then I saw two girls talking, and then one of them backed away from me or from the other girl. (I don’t know.) No one needs to be scared of me. I’m just a wolf. Wait — are people scared of wolves? Is that normal? I know that I’ve been pretty calm, but something else happened. Suddenly the girl closest to me lunged at me! I was not expecting this. Ah, now I understand this girl is a vampire, and she wants to eat me.


Chapter Fifteen: Kill

(Sara)

As I jumped at the wolf, I thought, Should I be doing this? Yes was the answer. The wolf dodged me. I bared my teeth at him and jumped on top of him and dug my teeth into his neck. (Yum!) The wolf tried to shake me off, but I held on and bit deeper. I took a quick glance at Emma. She was frozen to her spot. I bit again, and this time the wolf stopped moving. He just fell peacefully on the ground… dead.

I looked at Emma again. She looked really sad and amazed at the same time.

“You just killed a wolf,” she managed to say.

“Yeah, that’s kind of how we hunt,” I said.

“But that was a life that could have lasted a couple of years more,” she protested.

“I’m sorry that’s just how we hunt,” I said.

“Well, that was cruel!” Emma said.

“I’m sorry, but you were the one who wanted to see this,” I said.

“That’s true. Let’s go now,” Emma said.

“Umm… you can go, but I’m hungry.”

“Oh yeah, sorry. I guess I’ll wait for you.”

“You probably don’t want to see this. It’s a little bit disturbing.”

“Okay, right. But it’s okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

I devoured the wolf’s blood quickly and then just left it like that.

“You’re just going to leave the poor wolf alone like this?” Emma asked, worried.

“Unfortunately, yes,” I said.

Emma did not look too happy about this.


Chapter Sixteen: How It Feels to Be Dead

(The Wolf)

Now I’m dead, and I was just trying to live, and now I’m dead. Oh well, what can I do? Nothing I guess. That other girl did not look too happy to see her friend kill a wolf. Vampire. I officially do not like vampires. Not at all! They are dirty little creatures who go around sucking blood from other things. I wonder if they think that they can kill teddy bears? Or objects in general! Well, it doesn’t matter because I am dead, and being dead feels like being dead, or it might feel like lying on the ground and reflecting on your bad life where an annoying girl just randomly jumped on top of you and killed you. Not so fun if you ask me. Now what will happen to me? Will I become a wolfire (wolf-vampire)? Or will I just melt into the ground? If I become a wolfire, I will go kill the girl who thought she had an appetizing meal of a magical wolf who came back for her in the next life! Haha, revenge!


Chapter Seventeen: Found Them

(Emma, Sara, and Madison) or (2nd Person)

When Madison finished her lunch, she went to the part of the park where there was lots of grass, and she sat down to wait and see if Emma and Sara would show up. And yes, just as Madison sat down, she saw Emma and Sara come into view.

“Emma! Sara!” she yelled as she jumped up.

“Hi, Madison,” Emma said wearily.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, well, something.”

“Can you tell me?” Madison asked.

“Okay,” they both said.

So Emma and Sara told Madison what had happened, and Madison finally understood. She apologized to Sara, and they were all at peace.

“You know we should all go to my house!” Madison said.

“Cool, yeah!” Sara agreed.

“Okay, let’s go!” Emma said.

And the three girls walked off to Madison’s house in the quiet evening.

The End

A word from the wolf:

This is amazing. I came back to life as a wolf, so yeah I’m the same, but I’m fine with it. I don’t think I’m ever going to go near that girl again. But I do hope that wolves can be more friends with humans.


Beauty at Its Finest

Content Warning: Depression, Suicide, Eating disorders

Author’s Note: Not based on a true story.

I’m Isla. Since I was a child, I have always aspired to be a model. I saw them on TV, and they were my role models, like Beige Inc. and CL Beauty models. The models there, they were beautiful, happy, and rich! I longed to be those things. I remember wearing my mom’s clothes, putting on her makeup and high heels, and doing my greatest catwalk in front of her. I loved pretending to be a model. I loved doing it because I was happy. But I never thought the fashion world would be like this. Hello, I’m Isla Middleton, and this is my story.

I started working at 11 as a small-time actress. At the time, all I wanted to do was get famous through modeling or show biz, and at this age I was starting to put my dream into motion. I started acting in movies as small roles, but worked hard on those roles. When I was on set acting, an actress by the name of Olive Flores watched me and supported me. When I was done with my scene, she said good job to me and referred me to some people she knew. She also winked at me.

After Olive did that, I started getting more roles and started getting more and more popular. Even though I was burnt out from working a lot, I was happy and proud.

Then I got a lead role in a movie (when I was 14), and that changed everything for me. When I learned I got the part, I was smiling ear to ear. I was beaming with glee since I got a lead part! When I got home from work, I told my mom what happened. (She raised me by herself. She was a single mom.)

“Hey, Mom,” I said.

“Yeah?” My mom asked smugly, already knowing the situation (my grin gave it away).

“I just got a lead role in the movie, Guardian of the Lilac!”

”I’m so proud of you, honey! I knew I raised you well.”

When she said, that we both laughed, then hugged.

After that movie, I got more roles, and then I got asked to do an ad with CL Beauty when I was 17. When I learned I could actually become a model, I was so happy. After that ad, I exclusively did modeling. That was my dream anyways. I starred in more ads until… I got invited to walk on the catwalk! I was 19 and one of the youngest to ever walk across on the catwalk. It was what I had always wanted to do. I’d finally achieved my goal.

When I got there, we were on a strict routine. Wake up, eat food, get dressed, go to the gym, go back home, shower, get ready for practice and fitting, go to practice and fitting, then go home, put on face masks, sleep. Sometimes we got manicures and pedicures. At the practice we were all yelled at. This wasn’t fun. This wasn’t what I had thought it would be like. It wasn’t like the ads. They were fat shaming us, saying that we were not the best, saying that our stomachs weren’t flat enough, saying that the only way to fix your “pretty” face is to get plastic surgery, saying that you aren’t perfect, that you aren’t enough.

My heart shattered into pieces, I thought, Is this the actual modeling world? Is this what I want? I didn’t know what to do. I loved modeling, but did I want to endure this torture? No, I didn’t want to be called worthless and ugly, but this was my dream. So I stayed. Probably the worst decision I have ever made. At times the insults got so bad I wanted to give up on my dream. I wanted to die. But I still stayed, because it’s my dream and I didn’t want to give it up, even if my emotional health was low and damaged. I just can’t believe my young self made such a mistake.

One day when I was in my studio apartment, I was admiring it before I went to bed (yep, that’s me). My studio room is small and homey. I installed heaters and air conditioning, so I could be comfortable.

I have a small twin bed with white sheets and a pastel pink blanket. There’s a small desk near my bed that’s a pastel blue color with two drawers. Inside the drawers are books. I love reading in my spare time, but I rarely have free time. On top of the desk is a pastel yellow lamp dimly, softly illuminating the entire room, making the room feel… nice. I have an icy purple furry rug. It’s super soft.

The walls have a white background with limes on it. The floor was wood, but the bathroom was tiles, and the kitchen was marble.

My kitchen was normal. Oven, stove, sink, fridge, and a microwave on top of the stove. Inside my bathroom is a bath and shower, a sink, a toilet, and a vanity full of makeup. The mirror on the vanity has lights. Inside the vanity drawers was a lot of makeup. On the desk of the vanity were curling irons and straightening irons. I have a little table with shaving cream, a razor, hair oil, body lotion, hand lotion, face lotion, leave-in conditioner, spray shampoo, and sunscreen (I don’t use spray tan, I think I’m bronze enough).

During the night I couldn’t sleep, I thought it was because I was looking at my phone, so I put it down. A few hours later, I still couldn’t sleep. I was really confused. I tried everything, but I couldn’t sleep. Then I started to think about my future. I thought if I was going to be treated like nothing for the rest of my modeling career, if I was going to be told to do stuff like a slave. I just didn’t know what to do. Then I was thinking some pretty dark thoughts. I was thinking of what I would do if my mom died. At that point I thought I would kill myself to be with her. I wasn’t in the right state of mind. At around two in the morning, I finally fell asleep.

A week after the sleeping incident, I was getting worse. I felt like pain was the only thing I had. I felt like I didn’t need a therapist. I thought they would try to make me not “myself.” I needed to be this terrible version of myself to feel free. I was happy I felt free. It was me and the blood, me and the deep cuts in my arms and wrists, me and the razor blade, me and the over the counter medicine that I popped in my mouth like candy. But in reality, I wasn’t actually free. I was trapped. Trapped in a jail cell, made of pain and self-doubt. My mom noticed I wasn’t talking to her. She started sending me message after message, call after call, trying to ask if I’m okay. I thought she wouldn’t help. She was like the therapist, trying to trap me. I can’t believe I thought that about my own mom. That time was the lowest I’ve felt mentally. I can still feel scars from those cuts. And they still let me model.

About a month later from the sleeping incident, I finally decided to reach out to my mom. She noticed my voice was raspy, that I was tired, that I was sad. She asked what’s wrong, and I broke out sobbing.

In between the sobs I muttered, “I’m not your perfect daughter” and “why do you stay with me?”

I thought my mom didn’t even deserve me. I thought no one deserves me, no one should love me. But I felt free, and that’s why I didn’t stop. My mom wanted to know why I thought this. She wanted to know the root, what caused me to be like this. I didn’t spill. I said it was due to stress, even though that was a complete lie. She believed it. She said I could talk to her any time. I complied.

After that call with my mom, I decided to meet a therapist. The call wasn’t the only reason I went. I went because the modeling agents said, “If you don’t put on your A-game, we will fire you! We will tell everyone you just break at the slightest touch, and you won’t get hired again. So get your head in the game, Miss Snowflake.”

The therapist said that I’ve gotten really bad through the course of a month. He gave me medication and told me to follow the dose. He consoled me, told me everything will be okay. He treated me like I wasn’t nothing, like I wasn’t a slave, but the modeling industry treated me like a slave. They used me for what they needed, they threw me around, then sold me. He helped me a lot.

There were two months before the catwalk, I stopped hurting myself. I wanted to do this catwalk. The two months flew by. I just hung out with the other models and had fun (the therapist told me that socializing was a key part to my recovery).

Then catwalk day came. We got hair stylists, makeup stylists, and outfit stylists pounded on us. We were in Paris. I got an old timey red dress with white polka dots (it looked like it was from the 50’s). I had red heels as well. My hair was in a classic night-out 50’s hair style, and my make-up was also the classic night-out 50’s style. I was beautiful. I was second to walk. I walked gracefully with the catwalk I made up in when I was a toddler, but I added a graceful twirl. Everyone clapped and cheered at all of us. I was beaming with fake glee, my grin was ear to ear, just like when I got the offer to walk on the catwalk. But this grin was a bit different. I wasn’t happy.

Want to know why I wasn’t happy? It was because of all the things I endured to show up on the catwalk for a few minutes. It was because I had to seek solace in cuts, blood, and drugs, but “nothing” serious, I just smoked. But after the catwalk I got poked fun at. People said that I was too fat for the catwalk, or they could see my glumness on my face. So it started again, my cycle of cuts, blood, and something new, starving myself. I decided not to do drugs. I still wanted to model. I hated being laughed at for trying my hardest.

I always felt hungry when I starved myself. But when I looked at the scale and the numbers were low, it somehow felt redeeming. But when the numbers are high I barely eat any food for days or weeks at a time.

I stopped talking to my therapist. I tried to distance myself from my mom, but when she did call I lied. I sounded as happy and jolly as I always was. The insults, the laughs, the taunts, it was torture. I decided to go do some more magazine cover photoshoots because you could hide your feelings in the photos. You could hide the cuts in the photos. You could hide it all.

I slowly started becoming a more famous model. I still had the scars, but they didn’t show as much. Then one day, three months after the catwalk, I became Australia’s next big hit. Everybody loved me. They asked about how thin I was, how pretty I was. All the girls wanted to be me. I was happy they loved me, and I decided to talk to my therapist again.

He noticed everything. He gave me some medicine, antidepressants, and told me to go to a clinic for people who are anorexic. I obliged. I wanted to keep my title. I went to a clinic. I took the medicine. I did everything to keep my title. Even though I still have depression to this day, I’m not anorexic anymore. That clinic probably saved my life. You had to finish all your food and drink or else you would get in trouble. It wasn’t fun, but if I didn’t do that I probably would’ve died.

I was happy. I was famous. I was an actress and model. All I wanted to be. I became friends with a lot of famous people, I was on the red carpet winning awards, everything I dreamed of doing. I even became best friends with Olive Flores, the girl who started my career. She’s also young, three years older than me. She’s like the older sister I’ve never had. On our days off, we hung out. We went to my house, I went to her house, we watched movie premieres, we got food at restaurants, we got ice cream and boba together, we did everything teenage girls did. I was 17 at the time, and she was 20. She said on her 21st birthday she would sneak me into a bar, so we could hang out. I loved her. I told her everything, and in return she told me about her own experiences and she gave me guidance. But she never told me she had the want to die.

On her 21st birthday she really did sneak me in a bar with her other friends. We were talking, and I was the only one who stayed sober. Everyone else was drinking. I thought it was funny when they stumbled or said dumb stuff.

Olive told me to have a drink, but then I chuckled and said, “Well then who’s going to drive y’all home?”

Then she understood and laughed. She then said “Fine. But next time you need to try alcohol.”

I said, “Okay, Olive I’ll try it on my 21st birthday, and I’ll invite you too! If you’re still friends with me.”

“Oh silly, I’m obviously always going to be by your side. I love you like a sister, Il. I would never leave you behind.”

“I love you like a sister too, Livy.”

“Oh, stop being so cute, and let’s dance!”

I laughed and said, “Okay, I’ll dance, only if you dance with me.”

She said, “I was obviously going to dance with you. Let’s go!”

I followed. That night was fun. I loved it. We hung out and danced, we laughed and told jokes, and at the end of the night I drove everyone home.

A month after her birthday I tried to call her to ask her if she wanted to hangout on the weekend. It transferred immediately to her classic voicemail, “Hey, it’s Olive! You missed me, probably because I’m busy with work or hanging out with some of my friends! Well, call me back, okay? See you later!” She never liked saying bye. She always said see you later. I was really confused, because Olive always takes my calls, even if she’s working. If she answers me when she’s working, she tells me to call back soon. Or she would text me after hanging up. I know her voicemail because she hasn’t changed it for years. I called her mom. She answered.

I asked, “Hey, Ms. Flores, do you know where Olive is?”

She said in a shocked tone, “I thought she was with you. She hasn’t been home. She hasn’t answered my calls either.”

“Oh no… I hope she’s not hurt. I’m going to file a missing persons report. We need to find her.”

“Thank you so much. You’re like the younger sister Olive never had. If you find her please take care of her and bring her to me, okay?”

“I would never hurt Olive. I promise you I will find her and bring her back home.”

“Okay, goodbye, sweetie.”

“Bye, Ms. Flores.”

I went to my local police station and filed a missing person report for Olive. The last time I saw her, and I think everyone else saw her, was on her 21st birthday. When I dropped her off at home she was wearing a black sparkly party dress that ended at her knees. She was wearing a white fur coat on top of that. She was wearing white stilettos, six inches high. She had black fishnet leggings for pants. She wore a black and white hat with a gray feather. Her hair was down and curled, tight party curls. Her makeup was the normal night out makeup. Without the heels she would be 5’4”. Her hair was black, thick, and long. She’s a brown Latina. Specifically, Central American.

The police found her in a forest one week after I filed the report. She hanged herself on a tree. Her suicide note said, I love you all, but I don’t think this is the right time for me to be on earth. The acting and modeling industry has given me many scars that I don’t want to live with. This industry has pushed me off the edge many times. In my head I have battles between living or dying, between staying or leaving. And I decided to leave. To my best friends, some of the best people in the world, I love you, and please don’t linger on me. Forget about me, please. I want you all to live a good life. Especially you, Isla, you have a bright future. Please don’t be influenced by me. Okay? I love you all, but I need to go now. I love you all. See you all later.

I collapsed when I read that at the police station. I remembered her being all jolly and happy. Now she’s… dead. This isn’t true. She wouldn’t leave me. I was in denial. I became a ball on the floor crying. I was heartbroken. She was the one who guided me through my career. Heck, she even started it. When I finished reading the note I felt like a knife had been stabbed in my heart. Olive’s mom and some of her friends were crying in their seats. They were trying to comfort me too. They knew I was really affected by her passing. I owe everything to her. My mind was in denial, but in my heart, I knew she was dead.

A week after I learned she died, her story was aired on the news. I was still heartbroken, and I couldn’t bare to watch her story on air. So I blocked out all news about her passing. I didn’t want to be reminded again and again of her death.

A month after her passing, I went to her funeral. She promised she would drink with me. I brought a bottle of wine and drank a cup of it. With her near me, but not with me. At her funeral I talked about her. I sang to her. “She was my beacon light in my dark times. She was the best.” I talked about her to cope with her death.

It took me months to recover. When I fully recovered, I realized that the modeling and show biz industry was not for me. I’ve already pretty much gone to hell and back. I didn’t want to die. I couldn’t die. I needed to live for her. So I quit my jobs, and I fell under obscurity again. I still miss her, even to this day, but I’ve cried so many tears for her that I have none left.

I woke up in my bed, covers over me, my head resting on a pillow. I sat up after laying there for a long time, thinking and breathing slowly, something I haven’t done in a long time.

I looked like a mess. My hair was everywhere, and I hadn’t showered or put makeup on yet. I haven’t shaved my legs and mustache in a long time.

I was thinking about Olive. I wasn’t crying. I was thinking happy thoughts about her. I felt at ease. I was thinking that I might be feeling peace, something I haven’t felt in so long, I was finally okay. I was at peace. I was happy.

I saw the sun was rising through the window, one of the most beautiful sunrises I have seen in a while. The mixture of pinks, oranges, yellows, and that little hint of red that mixed together and shining through my window.

I was happy.

I asked, “Was that good?”

Maria said, “Perfect.”


Softy the Unicorn

Softy gazed at the sky as beautiful fairies flew past with shimmering wings that made her dreamy. The sweet grass tasted bitter on her tongue. If only she could fly, the grass would have been sweeter than ever.

“Wings,” she whispered. She always wanted wings. “This is it, I’ll start researching now.” She went to a tree. There she lifted up a map with her magical horn spell and brought it down. She stared at the map for a while. “Aha! Magical lands of unicorns, here I come!”

Softy always imagined going to a ball with her pink hair and white wings.

That night, she could not sleep. A blue magical light was leading her to the magical lands of unicorns. Somehow she knew it.

She packed the map and pink, yellow, green, and blue potions. One book of magical spells fell down, and she kept it too.

She was walking through the pumpkin patch. It was about 12 o’clock. All the pumpkins would eat her if she didn’t make it through in time. Pumpkins can only wake up at 12:00. She figured out that she can command the light, then she commanded the shimmering light to turn black, surrounding her on all the sides. At 12:01, she started walking again.

That night, at 1:30 she fell down into the world’s deepest sleep as the light turned into a soft, cozy blanket.

“Oh no! I think the big bad wolf and gingerbread man are coming.” She took the map out as she ran quickly. She ran down a hill and turned left at a cave. “Let’s go inside the waterfall of the cave.” After a quick drink, she and the light continued on the path again.

A day turned into night, and she was working hard, walking with the quick light, making her trot. A gate appeared, her destiny. “Finally!” A huge gasp broke the silence, but she needed to unlock the gate.

Peeping from the gate, it looked like an abandoned garden not touched for ages. The grass was dried out, and moss was covering the trees. Taking the potions she brought, she took four drops of green, mixed it with a drop of pink and blue together and one drop of yellow.

She dropped it around the place, and life came back with green growing up the roots, and the gate opened. “Wow!” she exclaimed.

She entered the palace named The Castle Maze. It was a crystal castle. It had blue crystal carvings, and it was the most magical castle in the land. Spookiness was shattered in between unicorns’ deadly neighs and ticking clocks.

She found something that she didn’t know existed. A button. She pressed it. She stepped in an elevator — again, she didn’t know it existed, so she was scared to get on at first.

In the top of the palace, unicorns were captured in a cage. There was a bomb, but nobody knew. They were cursed by humans. Blood kept bleeding from the unicorns, and they had deadly magical horns.

She opened the last item, an ancient looking book. There was the hardest spell, the only one to free and bring everything to life. Her strongest magical powers came together in a burst of magic.

As she opened her eyes, she had wings, and the light turned into a star-shaped crown. The unicorns happily looked at Softy and bowed. They were finally free. The last unicorn leader bowed. She had orange hair and wings. Softy looked curious for just a second. Then, she had the biggest smile. She saw her mother and father bow in front of her.

They told Softy that this was a curse by the humans, and they had left this magical land where she was born. “It was raining,” they said, “and every magical element was closing one by one, except this castle. There was no hope now, and all of our kind was trapped, and we were the only ones where we were living, called the Magical Lands of Everything. We were scared that all of our kind would die after three minutes exactly because of the fiery ball in the corner.” Softy named it a bomb. “We never knew that you would run out of our sight and come here. But this is great, you freed us all.”

Softy blushed, and inside her a tear was saved. She almost cried, but she kept it inside.

She took her first flight, and success! She was whooshing through the land and found another waterfall, the source of water for the land of unicorns. She stood on a rock in the middle, and she looked up to the sky. She knew that she could protect this land as long as she could live. She looked at her wings and tried to look at her crown. It was raining, but this time not for sadness but for happiness as a rainbow appeared in the sky.

The End.


Star and the Dilemma

Chapter One: Hi

Hi, my name is Star. I like to sword fight with my brother, Ash. I am a really good archer. I get a bullseye every time I shoot the arrow.

“Bullseye!” my dad shouted every time I shot.

Then Ash said, “Can you teach me?

So I said, “Not now.” But today I said, “Okay, Ash, but tomorrow, okay?”

“Fine,” said Ash.

“Oh, and did I tell you I am not allowed to use my bow without grown-up supervision?”

The next day I woke up to the delicious smell of pancakes and my brother jumping on me yelling, “Wake up! Wake up! Dad made pancakes!”

I was annoyed. “Did you have to wake me up by jumping on me?” I said.

“Yes, yes I did,” Ash said as he walked out of my room.

I got out of bed and put on my slippers, then went downstairs.

When I got downstairs, I saw a delicious looking plate of pancakes.

As soon as I saw the pancakes, I ran to the table and started to shove pancakes in my mouth.

Then Ash, rubbing his hands together and grinning evilly, said, “Time to teach me.”

I stopped shoving pancakes in my mouth and said, “Mumumumu,” but I meant to say, I’m going camping with my friends.

Ash said, “What? I thought you were going to teach me how to shoot the bow and arrow correctly.”

I said, “Sorry, but I already arranged the sleepover in the woods with my friends.”

Ash ran upstairs and slammed his door. Then I went upstairs into my room and started to pack.

Chapter Two: The Camping Trip

After I finished packing, I went to my friend’s house and knocked on the door.

She opened the door and said, “Hi.”

I said, “Hi, Julia. Is Abby here yet?”

Julia said, “Not yet, but she’s coming soon.”

I said, “Great!”

“Did you bring your equipment for the trip?” Julia said.

We heard a knock on the door, so we opened it. It was Abby!

Chapter Three: It Begins

We went outside into her backyard. We saw the path to the forest. As we stepped in, I realized that I forgot something.

I said, “Be right back,” and I ran home.

I grabbed my bow and arrows and snuck out of the house. Then I ran back to my friend’s house. Her mom let me in, and I went back to the forest. They had already set up camp. So we started to make dinner. We made pasta, corn, and salmon. And for dessert we had packaged cake. After we finished eating, we went to bed. I woke up first, and then I fell back to sleep. I woke up for the second time to the sound of a scream.

I stuck my head outside and said, “What’s wrong?”

And that’s when I saw it… a giant black bear. I went back into the tent and grabbed my bow and arrows. Then I remembered I wasn’t allowed to shoot it without grown-up supervision. Then I thought, Would I rather have a giant black bear chasing me? Or would I rather be safe? I went outside the tent and told them to go to the side of the forest. I raised my bow, and I shot. I got the bear right in the arm, and it got pinned to a tree.

Chapter Four: The Plan

The bear was pinned to the tree. I felt bad for it and so did my friends. So we tied the rope to the arrow. Our plan was to pack up everything that we had, get far enough away, and then pull the rope, so the bear would be set free. We started to pack up things, and then we started off toward the house. And then we tugged the rope. The bear was set free. It was scared, so it didn’t run toward us. It just turned around and ran farther into the forest. When we got inside, we were panting. We ran because we thought the bear would chase us. But luckily it didn’t. Julia’s mom gave us a snack. The snacks were chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow icing. Then I went home.

My dad saw me with my bow and said, “Why do you have that? I thought you left it in your room.”

I told him that I used it to save my friends.

Chapter Five: The Conversation

My dad told me that I shouldn’t have brought my bow and that I was grounded for a month. Then I told my dad that there would be a bear scratching at my window if I didn’t bring my bow. He still thought it was wrong, but he took back the punishment after a while. I went up to my room, and I unpacked. I ran over to my friend’s house, and I invited her to my house to camp in my backyard.

She said, “Okay,” and she started to pack.

She went to my backyard, and she saw that there was a tent, a campfire, and there was some food. We went inside, and we got a few snacks, like cookies, strawberries, whipped cream, and hot cocoa mix. We started to make dinner, and then we went to bed. The next morning we woke up, and it was 8:00 in the morning. All the lights were off in the house, and that was unusual for my family. Everyone woke up early. Neither my parents nor my brother were there. They always woke up early. I was the only late sleeper in the house. We went inside, and we heard nothing. We were scared.

“What do we do?” said Julia.

“I don’t know,” I responded, staring at the dark kitchen.


Revenge of the Demon Chicken

Once there was a chicken named Donald Toot. He was very mean because he bullied pigs. One day he was walking when a pig came. His name was Potty Piggy.

Then he said, “Snort snort snort,” and he started throwing Boom Boom Hippos. When they hit him, they went boom boom.

Dun, dun, dun. He died. Then he became the Demon Chicken and took over the world.


Lost in Outer Space

Everyone around was panicking because they only had two more hours of oxygen. His head hung low. The whole reason they were about to die was his fault, and everyone was shouting at him. The whole reason it was his fault was because he was driving the cramped, smelly form of transportation, and he had crashed into something that they didn’t know about.  Actually, he was happy. His boss, who hated everything and was so mean, had lowered the pay, fired all of his best friends, and while he was driving, his boss had turned his phone on too loud.

When they had crashed, they couldn’t turn around, and they were going to get lost, but they only had a limited amount of oxygen.

The oxygen would only last for two hours. Then the rocket burst open, and they all died except him, who stole the yellow oxygen tank and ate his spaceship by cutting it up with a knife that he had in his pocket. Then he ate a planet. First, he felt a weird, tingly feeling in his head. Then, he got bigger and bigger and became a spaceship!

Then he crashed into Earth, and humans went everywhere. Some ended up on Mars, some on Jupiter, some on Saturn, but none on Pluto. Pluto, which was the first place that he looked at and loved, was nice and empty, so that’s where he chose to live. After years of living alone, he decided that he felt sorry for the humans who could no longer live on Earth. Then he decided to get a job selling groceries on Mars, and the pay was good.

He liked Mars because there, nobody cared if he was a rocket. He liked Jupiter because it was a nice, safe place. He hated Saturn because everybody there despised him because he was a rocket, and there were a lot of burglaries. One day, on Pluto, he found his boss. Pluto was too cold, so he had to live on a different planet. So then, he tried to get his boss a job on Mars, but Mars was packed. He couldn’t live on Jupiter because people didn’t like him because they knew he was mean. Finally, he got a home on hateful, miserable Saturn. After about a week, he was a nicer, changed man. The best thing about him was that he always turned his phone on mute, so he could live on Jupiter.

One day, a person who lived on Neptune was dead and was having a funeral. Then they went to Neptune, but once they had launched, they got lost. He did not want to get lost because he had already gotten lost, and he didn’t like it one bit! At last, he realized he forgot the oxygen tank! They wandered around space for awhile. Suddenly, they saw another rocket! The rocket had oxygen, so the people climbed onto it, and the rocket showed them the way to Neptune, where they attended the funeral. After the funeral, they got more oxygen and flew back to Mars. After a few weeks, his boss died of pneumonia, and he was very sad, but he had gained a lot. He had made friends with his boss, had gotten a job at the grocery store, and had lived a nice, happy life.

The End!

Thank you for reading!


The Happy Dragon

There was a big, green, happy dragon from California who wanted a spiky banana split. They tasted like love. There was another dragon, and he was right in front of the happy dragon, and he bought the last spiky banana split, but then it had mold on it! So, he threw it out, but it was not actually mold. It was purple sprinkles.

The mad dragon went to the back of the line, and his arms were crossed. The happy dragon started to laugh because he knew it was sprinkles the whole time. The happy dragon was now a sad dragon.

He started to turn around when he saw this new ice cream store, and he walked in, and he saw no line and one last spiky banana split, so he ran in line, but he didn’t make it. Someone got in front of him, and they were thinking of getting the spiky banana split.

The dragon started shivering, but that person didn’t get it because he actually wanted the rainbow smoothie, and then the dragon could get it, and he went home and ate it. He was really happy, and he ate it, and it was super good, and then he went back to the store to get the recipe.

They didn’t have a printer, so they had to go somewhere to get it printed, and they decided to go to the printer’s office next door.

The happy dragon said, “Hi, can I print the recipe for the spiky banana split?”

The printer said, “Yes.”

“Yay!” the happy dragon said, and he started flossing.

He ran back home to go bake it.

When he got home, his little sister ran to get the door. She was small and purple. All younger dragons were purple, and all older ones were green.

She said, “Hi!”

His mom said, “Why are you home so late?”

“I went to the printer’s office to print something.”

The happy dragon took a shower, ate dinner, made the banana split for dessert, and then went to bed.

In his dream, he saw the ice cream man and the long line, and one person was talking in front of him.

He kind of looked like a banana split, so the happy dragon went up, and he tapped him on the shoulder and said, “What are you doing?”

“I’m getting my babies back,” said the banana split.

The dragons helped cut in front, so they could get the babies. They were a bit hot because it was a hot summer day. Then an alien invaded the banana babies and took them and the parent to their home because they were from outer space.

The dragon woke up and got dressed and ate breakfast and went to the store and yelled, “Those are babies! Not spiky banana splits!”

But the people thought they were just spiky banana splits.

Then, he saw the new flavor, which was the kiwi spiky sundae, but he got it, and it was super good. It tasted like a rainbow.

That night, he dreamed about the kiwi saying, “Don’t eat me! We have lives too.”

It was trying to swim back into the ice cream, and he didn’t eat it.

He wanted to shut down the shops, so he went to the mayor. The mayor lived downtown, and the happy dragon lived uptown, so he had to take the train. He saw people eating fruit, so he was really scared because he thought they were babies, and then he finally got off at the stop, and he saw this big fruit garden. He went into the fruit garden. He picked the fruit and put them in a shed and talked to them. He talked to them in the shed so that no one knew he was talking to them, so no one thought he was really weird.

He said, “Why do you keep appearing in my dreams?”

The bananas answered first and said, “Because you eat us.”

Then the kiwis answered, and they said, “Because you eat us.”

Then the raspberries answered, and everybody answered,  “Because you eat us.” He ate them every day for breakfast on his pancakes.

“I’ll bring you to the mayor, and you can discuss with him,” he said.

At the mayor’s office, the fruit wrote on a piece of paper, Shut down all the shops. The banana wrote on a little stick, We don’t like you mister mayor, and then the tomatoes wrote, We don’t like your cooking, because the mayor never washed his hands.

The mayor had red clothes, green hair, and red cheeks, and he looked like a tomato.

I know that’s weird… but it’s true.

The end


Is a Kiss Just a Kiss?

Content Warning: The content of the following piece includes an active shooter situation in school

Chapter One

Awww!” I groan. I peek into my locker at school.

“What’s the issue?” Erika says. Erika says it with an attitude, so I wonder why Erika is acting so rude.

“Oh jeez, why do you have to say it like that? I just forgot my history book at home,” I say.

“Did I ask you for your personal information? I did not need to know that,” says Erika.

I slam my locker shut and start walking to my next class.

Bang!!! Chase and I bang heads, but we are okay. Chase is the cutest boy at Washington High.

Owww!” I say at the same time as Chase.

“Sorry,” Chase apologizes.

“It’s okay,” I say.

“Well, well… ” Chase says nervously.

Chapter Two

“Yeah?” I say. “You can tell me anything.”

“I was just wondering if you would like to see a movie with me?” Chase says nervously as he looks down at his blue jeans.

I don’t know what to say because I am shocked. I have liked Chase since sixth grade when we met at Washington Middle.

“Ummm… “Sure?” I say that like I am going to ask a question.

“What movie do you want to see?” Chase says that excitedly. “Oh, what about Bird Box?

“Sure,” I answer. I am confused why Chase asked me to go out with him. I secretly like him, but I didn’t know that Chase actually wanted to go out with me. “So what time and day,” I ask, “and I’ll need your phone number.”

“Tomorrow night, 6:00,” Chase says.

Chase takes out his phone and hands it to me. I put my phone number in his phone and hand his phone back.

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say.

Chapter Three

I set my alarm for 6:30 am. I am a bit nervous for my date. I am not sure if I should bail on him or go on the date.

I pick out a sweater with ripped shorts and a tank top with my favorite pair of Vans. I switch the sweater and don’t like it, so I pick out another sweater, and I hate it so much that I just go with the even worse sweater that I put on.

When I arrive at school, Chase runs to me and gives a hug.

“Hey bae — I mean Evelyn,” Chase says.

“Hi?” I say weirdly. It is weird how Chase called me “bae” because I thought Chase liked Erika, not me. Maybe he likes me, maybe he doesn’t. I don’t know.

“‘Kay. I’m leaving. Bye.” I walk away to English class, but before I leave…

Chapter Four

“Wait!” Chase says. He runs to me and kisses me. His soft lips pressing against mine feels like heaven.

“O-M-G!!! Was that a dream?” I say. I feel really good, but I am worried that someone saw the kiss.

“No. It wasn’t. It was real. I’m in love with you,” Chase says. I can’t believe that he’s in love with me!

“Ummm… I have to go to class right now. Love you — I mean see you later,” I say nervously.

“See you later, Ev,” Chase says.

During English class, there is an announcement.

“Hello, students, can Evelyn and Chase come to the principal’s office? Evelyn and Chase to the principal’s office.”

“You know what that means, go to the office,” the English teacher says.

I am confused. I don’t know why I have to go to the principal’s office, but I just go along with it. I am also confused why Chase has to go as well.

“Hello, Chase and Evelyn. You have come to the office because there has been a rat infestation in your locker Chase.”

“What?” Chase freaks out so badly that his face turns red, like the color of blood.

“And Evelyn, you have an empty locker next to yours, so we have decided that Chase is going to be next to you.”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… ”

Chapter Five

“Excuse me, Ms. Campbell. Please bring Chase to his new locker,” the principal says.

“Okay,” I say. I show him to the locker next to mine.

“See you later,” I say.

“See you,” Chase says. I walk to my class blushing. I was going to kiss him, but don’t want to make a scene and also I don’t want to be late for class. I’m kind of starting to have feelings for him, but I know that he doesn’t have feelings for me.

Wait!!!” Chase yells. “Here is a letter for you.”

I open up the envelope and start reading:

Dear Evelyn,

I have to confess this to you. I love you. I’ve loved you since middle school, and I’ve been nervous to tell you this, so I put it in a letter. You are the most prettiest person I’ve ever met, not Erika. I love you, and I hope you feel the same way.

– Love, Chase

O-M-G!! He loves me! Ya! But why say it now when we already went out on a date, or just a hang out.

A few minutes later, I’m in math class.

Ring! Ring! Ring! The principal makes an announcement that someone broke into the school.

“Everyone! There is a robber in the school! Everyone form a line, and evacuate the school ASAP!!!” the principal says.

We are now standing in a line, being very silent because I’m scared. Now I’m with Chase to evacuate the school. I can see a man with a gun!

He’s aiming his gun at Chase. I have to save him. I have to be brave. I jump in front of Chase to save him.

Oh no! Evelyn!!” Chase cries…


Under The Same Stars

Why are things stressful? I don’t know! Then why did I ask myself? That I don’t know either! My thoughts are so weird. I thought.

Why do people have to write book reports? I DON’T KNOW? I have to stop asking myself these questions!

Face in my hands, out of my mind, trying to write a book report that is due tomorrow, this is torture. I wish James was here to help me… NO, don’t think different thoughts. James will be back soon enough! Think Moby Dick thoughts!

After what seemed like HOURS (it was more like 30 minutes) I got my book report done. James would be SO proud… I miss him. Maybe when I go to Hollywood to visit him I can show him this, it being my one of my better book reports.

***

“Time for dinner!” my mom shouts from the kitchen, her voice echoing through the silent hallway where James used to rant the poems that had wrote moments before. All of them hitting you with the feeling and passion they were written with. But now it is just echo.

This feels so unnatural… Why would she shout??? She KNOWS it is going to echo! Okay, NO, it is not her fault, Sam! How dare you think that!

I run down stairs with my eyes shut and sniff the air.

I know exactly what this is!!!

“It is soup dumplings!” I shout, excited about my guess.

“Correct!” my mom exclaims with a smile. “Now as your prize for guessing correctly, you don’t have to do the dishes after dinner!”

Does she sense my loneliness? She would NEVER do this if she didn’t. I hate that she can read my mind! If James hadn’t left then I wouldn’t feel so lonely! SAM! How dare you put your own good in front of your brother’s dreams! James deserves to take this chance!

“Yes!!!” I exclaim, hoping that my mom doesn’t notice the awkward tone I say it in.

“Let’s go sit down,” she says in a more melancholy tone.

Holy crap! She figured it out. Shoot shoot shoot shoot No….

We go and sit down at the table, and by then I have a plan for not talking.

I am going to ALWAYS keep my mouth full to the brim with soup dumplings. That way I can’t talk and if I wolf it down like that, then I can be excused then BOOM! No sharing feelings!!! Why do i not want to keep my feelings to myself? Again, Sam, STOP IT WITH THE QUESTIONS!

I sit down to a full plate of 10 dumplings. The aroma is irresistibly incredible.

This is going to be a piece of cake…

I gather my composure with a smile and pile three dumplings into my mouth at once.

And then it hits me…

These are soup dumplings… They have hot broth in the center… I just bit into THREE OF THEM without poking the dumpling and letting the broth cool down…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” I holler, mouth sizzling and burning like an egg in a frying pan.

Ice, ice, I need ICE!!!

I jump from the table and sprint to the freezer.

***

That was embarrassing… Why didn’t I think that through!? Maybe because I was so focused on getting things in my my mouth swallowing and running back up the stairs that I didn’t consider the ABSURDLY HOT BROTH! Why am I so stupid!? Again. Sam… STOP IT WITH THE QUESTIONS!!

My mom looks at me with that pity look she uses only when someone has truly embarrassed themselves.

Great.

“Honey… ” she begins awkwardly. “You need to start to talk about your feelings! You’ve always been a quiet introverted person, but lately it has been abnormal and depressing.”

Hey, Mom, ever heard the phrase TOO MUCH INFORMATION??

“Meh,” I respond, quieter than I have ever been attempting to make a joke. “Not a big feelings person. More into baggy sweats and graphic novels.”

OH GOD I literally NEVER make jokes OUT LOUD. Was that funny? SAM, YOU WILL FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF IN JUST A MOMENT!! NO. QUESTIONS!!!

“I never hear you make jokes. You are incredibly funny! You should really use those skills more!” my mom suggested after a fit of laughter.

And right after I feel like I have actually socialized. (I know, shocker.) The doorbell rings.

***

There is a letter. From James. For me. MY BROTHER HAD FINALLY WRITTEN!!!

My mom grins at me, her pearly whites flashing with intensity, and if I am right, a little bit of hope.

“Go up to your room and read it, since it is for you specifically then come back down and I can reheat your dinner,” she says with a wink, and then swiftly glides back into the kitchen.

I am so excited!!! But also nervous… What if Hollywood changed him? He is my brother. I want the best for him, and when he wrote a play for his high school, never in a million years would I think that a famous producer and director would want to turn his play into a Hollywood production. To be honest, I would be TERRIFIED. But nevertheless, I must read this. To tell the truth, I would still read this if he had shoes growing out of his forehead.

Okay… moment of truth…. Let’s read this letter.


Sam,

You are probably wondering if Hollywood has changed me, and in fact it has for the better. I have learned life skills and improved my abilities in the driving. Now let me ask YOU a question. Have you done the same?

Oof. Way to give me a punch in the gut. He knows I have always compared myself to him. Anywho, I have to continue.

Look, I know you have been a reserved, introverted person, but you have ruined your social life! And to fix this, I have a challenge for you.

Man… the dude may be a soon to be superstar, but he sure remembers how to catch my attention. He knows I love challenges. And before I read the rest, challenge accepted.

I challenge you that in ten MONTHS you will have a big group of friends, soaring grades, an appearance that pleases you, and what you feel is a healthy, fit body. But I know you can’t accomplish this without having a little comforting poetry before it.

Think about this:

When you’re in bed

And looking up through your skylight

Watching the bright, gleaming stars

Think about this:

We all sleep under the same stars

We all have a connection

Through thick and thin

Through light and dark

Through the stars above your head

So tonight in bed remember that

And hopefully

It’s comforting

I hope that you know I love you with all my heart,

James


Wow, what an inspiring letter. I wish I could be that inspiring.


Epilogue

Hi… Remember me? The trainwreck of a girl where the person inside her head was bubbly and funny and outgoing but the girl on the outside couldn’t manage to bring her to life. But you would never imagine how now the sixth grade me is a whole new girl. And now walking down the brightly colored hallways with the neon yellow lockers and the locks that make the soft clicking noise when you spin them, I don’t feel like I am in a death trap at the bottom of the world and praying it didn’t come crashing down on my shoulders. Instead I feel like I am on top of the world and pulling my friends and family up with me. And now you’re thinking, friends?! Since when did Sam have friends? And my answer to that is: since ten months ago. I have built up my self esteem, built up my social life, improved my grades, and the amount of things I am actually sharing and explaining to my (rather large) group of friends. And even now I am entertaining many of my friends with a rather entertaining and enlightening story.

Also my appearance changed quite a bit too! I used to wear baggy sweats and loose T-shirts that usually hung to my knees and my hair in a big frizzy ponytail. But now? I wear a number of jeans and leggings (especially high waisted ones with belts. black preferably) I wear neat, flowy T-shirts in soft creamy colors. And wear my hair in neat double buns. It’s funny, I never ever thought a letter could change my life. I thought I would always be the annoying introverted girl with no friends yet, here we are. And remember, you can always make a change in your life, all you have to do is let someone motivate you and put your mind to it and you can always get it done.


Christmas Eve Tree

I wake up to Leo, my brother, screaming in my ear, “Wake up! It’s Christmas morning!

I jump out of my bed and whack him with a huge pillow. I look at my alarm clock, and it says 3:00, the witch hour. My brother runs downstairs to the Christmas tree and is amazed about how many presents are under the tree.

Then he screams my name, “Grace!

I see him reach for a present. “Don’t!” I shout. “Didn’t Mom tell you about what happened to Grandpa when he touched a present before he was supposed to?”

“What happened?”

“He almost died.” After I tell my brother that, he touches the present and disappears.

I go and get my parents from their bedroom and yell, “Leo is gone forever!”

“Why? What happened?” my mom asks.

My dad is still snoring.

But then I scream in his ear and wake him up. He screams and jumps out of bed. Then I tell them what happened.

Then we rush downstairs and see the present that Leo touched. Then my mom and dad grab it and disappear. And then I look around to see an old mirror that I’ve never seen before. Then I run to the present and touch it.

I land in a dark place. Surprisingly, I see my mom. Then shortly after that I find my dad. We all look for my brother, but he’s nowhere to be found. This place smells sweet, like candy. Then suddenly a light turns on. And then we see a rabbit, and we find a door and we walk through it.

Then the rabbit says, “I’m your brother.”

But I argue with him. I say, “If you’re really my brother, then what’s your name?”

“My name is Leo, Leo Maxwell.”

“What’s your full name?”
“Leo James Maxwell.”

“That’s not my real brother’s middle name,” I say.

“Imposter!” I shout. Then I suddenly see my mom and dad in a dark room with checkered floors. Then I see my brother in the same room. But then when I go and walk up to them, they don’t reply.

The next thing I see is a small glass bottle on a bookcase. It looks interesting, so I drink the green liquid without even thinking.

Then I’m back at home with my family.

I suddenly wake up in my room. I feel tired. I look around and see my bright blue walls, but my room is dark. I run to my parents’ room, and turns out it’s just a dream.

I go downstairs and see the Christmas tree, and I quickly touch the present.


The Dryplace

October 2, 1996

Dear Diary,

My name is Lee Jordan. I am an explorer for the Australian Nature Society. Yesterday we set off on my first expedition. We are in the outback. In my giant backpack I packed three big water bottles, six days of food, three changes of clothes, a raincoat, a compass, a pocket knife, a box of matches, this diary, a sleeping bag, and a tiny tent.

Your very own,

Lee

October 3, 1996

Dear Diary,

It’s currently 5:00 AM. Everyone is asleep. Today we check if this part of the forest’s koalas are healthy and strong. We set out at 8:00 AM. Oh, Alex just woke up. We are supposed to make breakfast for the other troupe members.

Your very own,

Lee

October 3, 1996

Dear Diary,

OH MY GOD! Somehow I ended up in the desert!!! Let me tell you about it. So we had set out on the trail, and I stopped to tie my shoe. I was tying my shoe for two minutes. When I looked up, the troupe was all the way across the field. So I ran to catch them, but they had turned a corner. When I caught up to where I last saw the troupe, it was dark and full of rocks. They had turned one of two corners. I turned the other one, and I ended up here!!! Now I don’t know what to do. Like I told you, I have six days worth of food, so if I don’t get out of here fast enough I am dead meat.

Your very own,

Lee

October 3, 1996

Dear Diary,

I finally found a place to stay tonight. It’s in a little valley surrounded by sand dunes. As soon as I set up the tent, I got a fire started and cooked a sausage. It was okay. Oh, and did I mention that it is fa-reezing, like so cold. I have my sleeping bag and tent, but that’s about it for warmth. I mean, I could heat up rocks over the fire and stick them under the sleeping bag. But that would give warmth for about an hour. I think I’m going to bed now.

Your very own,

Lee

October 4, 1996

Dear Diary,

I just woke up 15 minutes ago, restarted the fire, and started making some breakfast when I realized that I still had my emergency transponder in my backpack. When I went to look for it in my backpack, I found it in the lower right inside compartment. But to my “pleasant” surprise, the transponder was smashed from when I dropped my backpack two days ago. Now I have no idea what to do unless I can figure out how to get this thing fixed soon.

Your very own,

Lee

October 7, 1996

Dear Diary,

I know I haven’t written in a while, but I was busy working on the emergency transponder. But I think I finally cracked the code. I have some emergency parts in my backpack, and the part that was smashed was not the satellite, and I finally figured out how to take the satellite out of the transponder. So now I have to send the emergency signal with my location. It’s starting to warm

up in the desert, but at night it gets absolutely freezing.

Your very own,

Lee

October 8, 1996

Dear Diary,

I finally fixed the transponder!!! I reattached the wire that connected the microchip and the satellite, and I had sent the distress signal. They should be here in about three hours, and I am going to explore a little bit of the wildlife for now until the helicopter gets here. I will kind of miss the desert because it’s a world of wonder and exploration, and I will be sad to leave it. But hopefully I will get a chance to come back another day.

Your very own,

Lee

July 16, 1997

Dear Diary,

Hi… Remember me? Lee, the girl who got lost in the desert? Today, I’m in my lab. After the incident, I decided to keep up my research on the Australian outback. So the Australian Nature Society has agreed to help me with my research on the outback. The society and I have created a team made up of wildlife professionals and naturalists, including me. I try not to speak of the incident, but when I have to, people find it a very interesting topic. I would like to become a naturalist for all the world to see some day.

Your very own,

Lee


Taco

Once there was a small King Charles Spaniel named Taco. He lived at an animal shelter in California. He was very shy. His only friends were his brothers, who already were adopted, so actually Taco didn’t have any friends. All Taco really wanted was for a nice little girl to come and adopt him, so they could live on a farm together. Across from Taco there was a big Great Dane. Taco was very scared of the big Great Dane. In fact, he was terrified of the big Great Dane. The really bad thing was the big Great Dane thought Taco was cool which meant he was always trying to talk to Taco, which made him even more terrified. Next to Taco was a super cute Golden Retriever puppy that came to the shelter only two days ago. The Retriever puppy sometimes liked to play with Taco. Another thing about Taco was that he loved to chase things. Whenever Taco was bored he would chase his tail, and he was usually bored.

One Sunday morning at 8:00, Taco was about to start chasing his tail. He stood up, but then he stopped. He heard the door open. He saw a bunch of kids come in. They came and toured Taco’s aisle. Taco saw the kids turn the corner. Taco started wagging his tail. All the kids looked at the super cute Golden Retriever puppy. They all ran over to the small Golden Retriever. Taco stopped wagging his tail and sat down and tilted his head staring at the kids. A little girl came out of the crowd and came to Taco. She bent down in front of him. Taco stood up and started wagging his tail again but this time even harder. She was about to say something to Taco. He could tell. But then out of nowhere there was a big, loud, deep bark. The girl jumped. She looked behind her. It was the Great Dane. (By the way, the little girl’s name was Sophie.) Sophie forgot about Taco and went to look at a different dog. Taco stopped wagging his tail and frowned. He laid down and fell asleep.

When Taco woke up, he was not in his cage anymore. He was in a small moving box (also known as a car). Sophie was sitting next to Taco. Taco didn’t know what was happening, but he walked onto Sophie’s lap and licked her face.

Hi, what is your name? Do you want to be friends? You smell good. Can I chew on your hair?

Sophie giggled. Sophie’s mom said, “We’re here.”

Taco and Sophie hopped out of the car.

“Come on, Taco,” said Sophie.

As she ran Taco followed her. They were in a big yard in front of a barn. Taco ran as fast as he could, his ears flopping behind him. Taco was so happy. Sophie was too.


The Mirror

Hello! My name is Penelope. I am 12 years young. I am an orphan. I have the most boring life on the planet. People think it would be fun being an orphan. But it is not fun because there is no one to talk to. The moms and dads always choose the little “cute” kids while us 12-year-olds are starving to death, literally. Also, the room is so dusty it’s hard to even breathe!!!

There are no other 12-year-olds, but there’s a 24-year-old who is so strong it’s scary!

It’s now officially been 10 and a half years since I came here. Crazy, right?! I want to find a way to get a family, not a way to sneak out. I want to look mature and nice at the same time! I walk in front of the broken mirror. While I do a smile, the mirror does big eyes.

“Ahhhhhh!!!” I scream.

“What?” says the mirror.

“You can talk?” I say in a confused voice.

“Yes, yes I can,” the mirror says. “I’m the better you, if you didn’t know.”

“That’s rude!” I say.

“Well, you couldn’t get any worse,” the mirror says.

“I would shatter you if I could,” I say.

“Why can’t you? Are you too shy?” the mirror says.

“Try me,” I say. I put my hand on my hip.

“I would if I could,” the mirror says.

“Why can’t you? Are you too shy?” I say.

“Hey, I said that!” the mirror says.

“Hey, I said that!” I say.

“Hey! Stop copying me!” the mirror says.

“Fine,” I say.

The mirror starts making weird motions. I don’t know what they are. Maybe she’s trying to help me get my parents. Probably not. She starts posing in weird ways. The mirror starts grinning. It’s smiling as well. She puts her hair to the front of her head and looks slightly up.

I start to cringe. I go into the bathroom and look in the mirror that’s not broken. I put my hair to the front and look slightly up.

“I do look mature and nice,” I say. I go back to the mirror. I say thank you.

When I walk away from the mirror, somehow the person’s not there anymore. I shrug. I look out the window, since I’m on the first floor. I put my hair to the front and look slightly up. The person who owns the orphanage rings my door. I open the door, and there they are, my two new parents.

The End


Pencils and Alligators

“Oy yoy yoy! Another cat and doggy day. I can’t believe it. Our home is going to be destroyed in about a week when we have another cat and doggy day!” Jaz was ranting again. Her brother, Josh, always listened to her. That was the problem with Josh. He was too submissive. And Jaz was way too talkative and extroverted. The siblings were complete opposites, yet they were the only friends each of them had.

“Well, that would be longer than the last one,” Josh said.

“Josh, why do you always look on the bright side even when there is none? All the pencils we’ve been in have lasted longer than the last but still not long enough. I hope one day we will have enough money to finally move into a mechanical pencil. Those things last forever. Once you’re there, you pretty much have a spot there for the next one or two years. Sometimes they do get damaged, but they’re always okay in the end.” Jaz leaned forward in her seat, daydreaming about mechanical pencils. Doing so, she exposed herself to the falling cats and dogs outside and quickly leaned back in with the dreamy look still on her face.

It was Sage PM, which meant it was two hours until the glowing point went down in the sky. When the glowing point went down in the sky, everybody had to be inside their homes. That was when the greater forces controlling the pencil tried to wipe everybody away. They might succeed if you aren’t inside, but ever since Steven, people have been less against that rule.

Jaz and Josh’s favorite part of the city was their small deck. They put up a small tarp, so they could sit on it even when it was raining alligators or it was cat and doggy out. The weather in this pencil was especially bad. They have been in warm pencils, cold pencils, humid pencils, and dark pencils. But they had never been in a pencil with this much bad animal weather.

“I have to get to the kitchen. My shift starts in 20 minutes,” Jaz said.

Jaz worked at an alligator restaurant. Every time it rained alligators, they got a whole new batch of food to cook. Everyone loved it, and it was a good way to get rid of the extra alligators roaming the streets. Jaz was the best alligator chef the restaurant had.

“Okay, just come right home. You don’t want to be stuck outside when the glowing point goes down,” Josh said.

“I know, I know,” Jaz said. “Why is it that we’re the same age, but you are always telling me to be safe and come home on time. You’re not my parent. I know what to do.”

Jaz winked at Josh before grabbing her cat and doggy-proof umbrella and coat and walking out of the tarp. Josh sat there, waiting for his sister to come home. Little did he know he would never see her again.


Looking For Joy

Chapter One: A Book

One night, one cursed night, the boy Jack was reading in his room when the smell of his grandma’s brownies replaced the plain old airy smell. Just a month before, his pops died. Later on, feelings still carried through the tragedy. One day, the day this all triggered, his mom came up to him, tears came dripping down her face. “Son,” she took a heavy sigh, “Pops died.” That was it. Those were the only three words she said before walking out the door. In memory of him. He was buried in the graveyard across the street from Jack’s house. Every night, Jack would view the picture of Pops that he placed under his pillow. Tears would roll down his cheeks just like his mother when she told him about Pops’ death. But this night, this night felt different for him. Winds howled at the milky white moon and blew through the dark, lonely streets in a hurry. Clouds started to group together. The sky grew darker as he kept reading.

He thought and thought. There were some hmms and ahhs then an aha! He discovered the thing behind all this. Jack thought about this for a long time. The winds continued to howl, followed by the lightning striking out of anger. Jack yawned, and as he did that he put his book away and into bed he went. He tucked the covers on in one swift move and fell dead.

The bell struck, twelve o’clock. In one shake, Jack woke up. In a panic, he got out of his bed and took a look around. Winds still blew and howled but not as much as before. The book, that was what was on Jack’s mind right now. Slowly and carefully, he took the handles on the window and nudged it, aware to not make a single sound. A small mouse squeaked as he pulled the window. He kept doing this motion despite it made a little noise. Now the window was big enough to fit an entire human, enough to fit Jack. Thinking, Jack leaned towards the window and took a look down. Not too deep. His body trembled and shook, thinking and wondering. He started back to his bed, then turned around making his final decision. He ran the edge of the room, were there were closets, posters, and down to the left corner, a door. He took two big steps toward the window in a fast pace and one giant leap flying out the window. Kicking his legs, Jack managed to have a decent landing right in front of the rose bush at the time that a car hustled by. Jack ducked in the sharp rose bush, making sure not to be seen.

The lights lit up the sidewalk, shining almost as much as the full white moon that stood out in the pitch black sky. Jack, who was very scared, made a sprint staying very low across the street and climbed over the low graveyard fence. He checked his watch, twelve ten. He still had time but not a lot. He crawled across the graveyard. Jack had memorized where his grandpa was buried to rest. One left, two rights, another left, then the final right turn. He kept repeating this to himself over and over again until he felt confident. He kept going through the graveyard, passing stones carved with letters. The bitter cold air pinched on Jack’s tongue. Though Jack was used to the graveyard, as if it were a normal thing, and it never really scared him, now was when he was really tested. Shaking and shivering, from not just the cold but the intensity and how freaked out he was, Jack continued step by step on the clumpy dirt through the graveyard. He took his final turn as a light shone on him. Jack froze. I’m dead. The light though continued to shine throughout the graveyard and left him frozen in his tracks. Jack, now with more caution, took his last steps to get to Pops grave. He took his frozen bare hands and started to dig on the hard dirt ground. Jack’s hands started to bleed with pain, but the boy Jack didn’t stop shoveling the dirt. With exhaust, he took a breath. The boy Jack studied the headstone, reading everything, then fixes his head down staring at the dirt. Though, not just dirt was in his sight, but a golden thick book stuffed with pages you could see sticking out.

Now, the boy Jack was not just any boy. He was a smart boy. And with that, what he was searching for, was positively lying right in front of him. Any other kid wouldn’t know that his or her desire lied right in front of them.

Jack immediately identified this book, unlike others could have done. He snatched the book and made a run for it. Jack traced his steps back, following them back home. He looked up at the sky and couldn’t help it but stop and stare. The stars were twinkling in the pitch black sky and the moon shown the path for the lost aliens who were probably trying to find their way home.

Jack suddenly realized what he was doing and went back to running, clutching the book so tight that his palms were starting to turn a bright pink just like his face from the cold, intense weather. Jack climbed over the fence and froze in his tracks. How do I get back up there? Jack clutched the book even tighter and then jumped on the tree, hugging it. He climbed the tree, grasping every part he can. Jack then switched over to climbing the nearest branch to the window. Though there was quite a big gap between. Jack was up for anything, my reader. You should know that. Jack gripped the book one more time and then risked himself, then made the jump.

At first, Jack just closed his eyes as he was flying through the air, then opened them, then hit the floor followed by a thud that could have woken everyone up. Jack threw his clothes off, closed the window, ran to bed, and then placed the book under the pillow where Pops’ picture was.

“I cracked the code, Pops. I did it.”

The next day was Saturday. It was seven o’clock when Jack’s alarm clock went off. No one was up yet, but Jack felt something peculiar. He dug under his pillow and found the dusty golden book. He opened the book and blew off the dust. It flew in his face. Jack started to read. It was hard, but he put his all into it. In big, bold, handwritten letters the book said:

One left two rights, another left, then a final right turn. This is how you found this book.

Jack found this odd, because it was right. He peeled through the pages.

There are three steps to joy. One: find it. Two: use it. Three: share it.

Step number three was scribbled out.

Jack also found this odd. What could this mean? Jack closed the book and thought. Now was when his brain was really working.


Knights At Sunset

Chapter One

There was a person named Jack. He lived in a big house, and there was a lot to do where he lived, like biking, a lot of sports, mountain climbing, video games, and more. His mom always told him to put sunscreen when he went outside. As usual, he never did it. He lived in a place called Piermont. It was in New York state. It was fun. His dad was always working and did nothing else and worked from six to eight. Mackie, his cousin, came once a week. They got along very well. They did a lot of naughty plans, like going outside of the house at 12 o’clock. He was 10 years old.

Jack exclaimed to his mom, “I want to go to Mackie’s house one time.’’

Jack and Mackie were very adventurous. They did many adventures, but there was one thing they were crazy about, going in a castle! They thought about going in a castle in their house for about five minutes every day.

The problem was that they didn’t like to go to school because they wanted to go on adventures a lot, but they still wanted to get educated. They went to the same school. On weekends, they woke up at about 9:30. They wanted to play outdoors a lot. It rained often in Piermont.

He liked the winter because he could play in the snow; they liked to have snowball fights in winter. Jack liked pizza. Jack and Mackie started to go out of the house and did not tell their parents. They went on the street and walked to 72nd Street. They started to wander off, and they got lost.

Mackie said, “Where are we?”

Jack responded, “I don’t know.”

They kept walking around.

They asked somebody, “Where is 89th and Columbus?”

But he thought they knew where Jack and Mackie were going. The man said, “Look for yourself.”

They were still walking and bought some cupcakes.

Jack said, “I found something! It looks like it’s far. It looks like a really big building. I think it’s two miles away.”

And Mackie said, “Wow, let’s go to it!”

They walked to the place. Mackie and Jack said, “I’m tired, and we have to walk about three more miles.”

Mackie said, “Let’s just take a break as we go.”

Jack said, “Good idea!”

They got eight more bars from Bob’s Cafe. They were very excited about the really big building. They thought, Why is there a forest around it?

Jack said, “Going by myself somewhere is not that bad.”

“I know,” responded Mackie.

Jack was feeling determined to go to the castle. Suddenly, they didn’t know where they were.

Jack said, “Where are we?”

Mackie said, “We’re in a forest!”

Jack exclaimed, “That’s fun. Let’s explore.”

“Look at this tree,” exclaimed Mackie.

The trees tilted.

Jack told Mackie, “Let’s get back to going to the castle.”

Mackie said, “Let’s explore for like five more minutes.”

Jack said, “Okay, but we’re going to leave right after that.”

Mackie said, “Okay.”

Jack said, “Woah, look at the plant.”

Mackie came over and said, “I think it’s a tobacco plant. There’s a bunny next to the tree.”

“Let’s feed them some carrots,” said Jack.

“Okay,” said Mackie.

They fed the bunny carrots.

Jack said, “We have got to go to the castle now.”

They kept walking to the castle.

Jack said, “Actually, it looks very distinguished from a castle.”

“Oh yeah,” said Mackie. “It looks like a very, very tall building with stone and bats all around it.”

Jack said, “We’re still pretty far away from the building.”

Mackie said, “We have to keep going.’’


Forever

Chapter One

Hi, I’m Anastasia Forever. My mom is a queen, and my dad is a king. I also have servants. They are really fun. I finally realized that I was getting more attention than my older sister (Sofia Forever). Everyone in the kingdom always wondered why my family’s last name is Forever. No one really knows actually. But I think it’s a cool last name. Sometimes when I go to school, I pretty much know all the answers. Most of the time I usually wander off in the woods by myself.

One day, while wandering off in the woods, I thought I found this animal I’d never seen before. I bent down, so it would not see me. I examined the unknown animal. It looked like a wolf. But instead the wolf had the same exact mark that was by my eye. Was this my own type of animal?!


Chapter Two

The animal got closer to me, and the animal said my name.

“Anastasia.”

“H — how do you know my name?” I said with fear in my voice.

“Do not be afraid. I’ve been by your side since the day you were born.”

I felt kind of nervous at first, but I started to believe the unknown animal. I actually had fun with the unknown animal.

Before I left, I stopped.

“Wait, I never asked you your name.”

“Well, my name is Emily Forever.”

That really made me wonder. Why does she have the same name?


Chapter Three

The next day, I went over to the woods to see the unknown animal. The animal came out. Before I could say anything, the unknown animal gave me a necklace.

“Use this if you want to get in contact with me anytime of the day.”

Before I could say anything, she said, “If you see any other animals like me, our animal names are jewel ivy.”

I finally said something, “Thank you!”

As soon as I came home, Sofia was in my room.

I said, “Hey! What are you doing in my room?!”

“Tell me where you’ve been for the past days, and I’ll get out.”

I felt annoyed by her disgusting behavior. “I won’t tell you where I’ve been because it is none of your business!”

“Well, if you don’t tell me, I will tell your teacher you cheated on your test!”

“You would not dare!”

Before she could take another step, I trapped her in the dungeon for two hours straight. We were allowed to do that to each other. I was glad she did not notice my necklace…


Chapter Four

After a couple of hours, I let her free of course. She told on me. I called Emily with my necklace before I could get in trouble. I put some sporty clothes on. I hopped on Emily and escaped from the castle. I was so tired I fell asleep on Emily.

Hours later, I woke up. I was hungry, so I decided to eat.

I asked Emily if she could take me back, but she said, “I must show you something.”

I agreed to let her take me there.

“River.”

When she said that word, I felt like there was color to it.

She said this, “River is magical.”

I felt a little a bit of a shiver go down my spine. It was really cold. I fell fast asleep…

When I woke up, she took me straight home without saying anything. Before I went back on my porch, she told me to clap three times to a beat. I did what she told me to. When I did what she told me too, I went invisible.

“Cool!” I said.

I snuck into Sofia’s room, and I saw her crying. I asked her why she was crying. She got a low score on her test. She printed out a copy for me to do. I did it, and she came back home with a 100. My parents were full of joy!


Chapter Five

Sofia was in her room crying. Mom, Dad, and I went to check up on her. My mom and dad sent her to the dungeon while we were feasting on delicious food, while Sofia was sobbing sadly.

I kind of felt bad in a way. I always wondered why my older sister got treated differently.

The next day at school, our teacher Mrs. Villa asked the class what their favorite type of animal was. I politely raised my hand.

I said, “Jewel ivy.”

The teacher looked at me like I was crazy or something. I said it was real. I called Emily with the necklace she gave me.

Emily crashed through the wall and was in the class. My teacher fainted. The whole class was surprised. When class was dismissed, a whole crowd came running up to me and asked what my necklace could do and where I got it from. For the first time, I felt like I meant something to my school.


Chapter Six

As soon as I got back home, I rushed to my room and jumped on my bed. Relief!!! I changed into my sporty clothes and called Emily with my star necklace. She came. I hopped on her back, and we headed to that magical river.

We got there. I hopped in the water and started to splash Emily. She disappeared.

“Where did she go?”

Before I could finish what I was saying, she jumped up behind me and threw a big wave at me. I laughed. I was soaked. I went home and put my cozy p.j.’s on and fell into a deep sleep.


Chapter Seven

The next day it was Saturday. I decided to play on my laptop when I noticed that someone had done something to my laptop. I clicked on a video. It was my sister who sent me a video. I listened. She said she would get revenge. I was scared, so I told my parents, and they told me it would be okay. I was scared of my older sister who I was never scared of. I was so surprised…


Chapter Eight

The next day I went to school. My teacher asked me to speak with her, so I did. She asked me to take off my necklace and put it in my bag. We had a test today. She gave me the test, and I started to take the test. The next day we got the scores, and of course I got a 100. When I got home, my sister said that she found out where I been every day. I was super frightened. So, she told me I had to bring her. I said I was sorry so many times, but she decided to just laugh.

Right at that moment, my mom came in the room saying, “Hide hide hide!”

I did not know what was going on, so we just hid under my bed. I asked what was going on, and she said that our kingdom was having a war with my dad’s brother’s kingdom (Uncle Charles). I was disappointed. I always relied on him.

My mother said that we might have to use the secret door under my bed to have safety for now. We landed in the secret room and waited for two days. Our messenger had bad news for us. My dad would not be coming back until the next two years. My mom did a really long sigh. Sofia cried, and I just did the silent treatment…

Chapter Nine

The next day, I didn’t go to school. I was very sad. I would not be able to see my dad in the next two years. I did not do anything. I just sat there thinking. One day I told myself, Wait, what about Emily?! I jumped out of bed and ran to the cave. She was sitting there with my sister?!

For the rest of the day I just stared at the ceiling. But something unordinary happened. My father was back?! Wait, wait, what was going on! They pranked me. I was so angry I stormed off to my room, and I just decided to talk to Emily. I went to the cave, and she wasn’t there. I felt confused because she was usually there. I decided to go back to the castle. But when I got to the castle, no one was there either. So I decided to go lay in my bed and go to bed.


Chapter Ten

It was a couple of weeks, and I still hadn’t seen anyone. I just wanted to see my family and Emily again, so I decide to go on a short adventure. The first stop was the magical river! I checked there. I didn’t really see anything. But I did see the paw prints of Emily. I decided to follow them. There was a puzzle. I looked around, and when I did, I saw something that would help me solve the puzzle. I solved it. Then a door opened. I crossed the swap. And I saw them. Wait, a surprise party.

They all said, “SURPRISE!!!”

I was so happy. My parents told me that Emily was my great-grandma. Everything went great ever since.

THE END


The Bored Hero

Once upon a time, there was a knight. This knight’s name was Sir Edmond. Sir Edmond had completed many great deeds of heroism (99 to be exact). His most famous deeds were: The Flaying Of The Most Ferociously Ferocious Ferret and The Defeat Of The Antarctic Abusive Armadillo. Sir Edmond was trying to do one more deed, so he could get to one hundred deeds, so he could get the one hundred deeds medal and become the knight of one hundred deeds. The knight of one hundred deeds was the most important knight in the land.

Sir Edmond went looking for a monster to defeat, but he had defeated all the monsters in existence (except one, which we’ll get back to later)! So he went looking for other deeds to do, but he had done all the deeds there were to do (except one, which we’ll also get back to later). The rule was you can only use one deed once.

When he went to a town and said, “What can I do?” the answer was always, “Nothing.” Sir Edmond was now desperate, so he went to The Place Where Nothing Happens, a town on the border of the Really Bad Forest, where, as you might have guessed, nothing happens.

As he was walking, he saw a magic umbrella for sale, “Magic umbrella! Even protects you from rain when it’s not raining!” The sign advertised, only $99,999,999,999.99! And one cent for shipping, handling, selling, and ripping people off!

That’s a horrible thing that person’s doing, thought Sir Edmond. I’ll stop him and get my hundredth deed!

But when he looked back, the advertisement said, Colorful Umbrellas $1.99, a perfectly reasonable price.

What happened?! thought Sir Edmond. I could swear that was there a second ago!

Suddenly, Sir Edmond heard the sound of someone cackling coming from a nearby alleyway. Sir Edmond turned, and gathering all the courage he could muster, stepped into the dimly lit alleyway. Sir Edmond was surprised at what he saw in the alleyway, for it was nothing he had expected. No evil witch stood there mixing her equally evil potions, nor did a demonic demon with nails as sharp as knives laugh over his evil plan to enslave the universe. Instead it was just a plain old umbrella leaning against a neighboring house. Wait, that was the umbrella from the shop that had disappeared!

“Finally!” Sir Edmond cried. “I can take this umbrella, arrest its owner, and get my hundredth deed! But nobody will believe me. They will think me mad! I need some evidence.”

While Sir Edmond thought about how to get some solid evidence, he heard a shuffle in the bushes.

“You get back here!” shouted Sir Edmond as he saw the umbrella go running off into the Really Bad Forest. Should I not follow the umbrella into the Really Bad Forest and try to get a deed somewhere else? thought Sir Edmond. Or should I follow it into the deep scary Really Bad Forest and possibly, no, probably get myself killed in a horribly painful way?

After a while of deciding and weighing the pros and cons (Sir Edmond was very good at weighing the pros and cons) Sir Edmond decided to chase the umbrella into the Really Bad Forest. As he was doing so, he stumbled upon an old man sitting in the forest with an umbrella.

“Aha!” exclaimed Sir Edmond. “You were the one!”

“Yes, I was!” said the old man in an inhuman voice. Then, the old man turned into an evil demon!!!

***

We interrupt this book to inform you that this demon was indeed the dreaded Pkeuxblo Demon, the stealer of leftover food on the kitchen counter, and Sir Edmond’s arch-nemesis!!

***

Just then, with a sudden burst of speed, Sir Edmond stabbed the demon in the upper left eyebrow, which, as Sir Edmond had known from his history of dealing with demons, is their only weak spot! Sir Edmond had killed the Pkeuxblo Demon! Sir Edmond was awarded the one hundred deeds medal and was awarded the title of the knight of one hundred deeds. Now, because of Sir Edmond’s brave deeds (and a little bit of luck), you can sleep in your beds assured that the Pkeuxblo Demon won’t come to your house and steal your precious leftovers.

The End


Pig Island

Last day of school. Woohoo! Okay, let’s move on. My dad told me this morning that when I got home, I should do some research on where we were going to go this summer. So, I looked up best places to go in the summer on my computer, when all of a sudden as I was scrolling down, there were some words that said, best place to go, Pig Island!!! I clicked new tab, searched Pig Island, and there it was: best place to go, Pig Island, and underneath it said 4.5 stars for Pig Island!!! I knew I had to get to Pig Island.

That night, when my parents came home and my sister, Katie, came home from high school, and we were all sitting down, I told them, “I looked up places to go for the summer, and it came up with Pig Island, and we’re going to go there!!!” I let it out all in one breath and breathed heavily afterwards.

“Oh, hun, I love that you are so excited about it, but you know I’m allergic to pigs,” my dad said. “How long will we be there, because you know you have to do Spanish camp for most of the summer too.”

“I’m sorry PaPu, but we can’t,” my mother added. Don’t laugh. That’s my nickname. My real name is Pua.

We have to go. I love pigs, and you did name me Pua because that’s Moana’s pig’s name, right?”

“Yes hunny, but that’s not an excuse.”

Fine,” I said as I stomped upstairs.

“If she leaves, then can I go too?” I heard Katie say after I left.

They gave her a stern look.

The next morning, I sat up in my bed all happy that it was the first day of summer, but worried that I might not be able to go to Pig Island. I hopped out of bed and started pacing around my room, thinking about if I had any good ideas of how I could get there. After five back and forth paces, I finally had a good idea. I thought to myself, Maybe there is a medicine that my dad could take that would make him not allergic to pigs for the day. Then I realized the other problem we had of going there. I had to go to Spanish camp. So now I had to figure out two problems and fast.

I looked over at the clock. It was 6:00. Time for my morning run. I could think about the problems while I was running. I changed my clothes, grabbed my jacket, slipped on my running shoes, grabbed my phone and my earbuds, and raced out the door. I slipped in my earbuds and went into my own secret world like a parallel universe. I ran for half an hour around the neighborhood and looped back to my house where I took a shower and ate breakfast.

My sister came down with her head in her phone and still in her llama pajamas and asked, “How long have you been down here?”

I took another bite of my cinnamon bread and looked up at the clock. It said 7:00. I calculated it in my head. “An hour.”

She put down her phone and answered, “Cool. Have you figured out the two problems?”

Shoot,” I accidently said out loud. I never figured out the problem. Well, that was a waste of time. I looked up at my sister and said, “No, I haven’t figured out the problem. Wait, I have an idea.”

I plopped down my cinnamon bread and ran to my computer. I looked up if there was a cure, and I scrolled down and found a bunch of medicines. One of them was a medicine from a doctor named Dr. Anderson. Boom, out of nowhere it was like a lightbulb went off in my head.

“Sis, get out your computer and see if there are any Spanish camps.”

Okay,” she said as she slowly strolled over to her computer.

She opened it up and did what I told. I looked back at my research and realized that there could actually be a way for me to go to Pig Island. I smiled inside my head.

After 20 minutes, I asked, “Have you found a camp?”

“Yeah, it says it’s a two week camp and will teach you beginner or advanced Spanish.”

“Great, can you see how old you have to be.”

“K.”

Thirty minutes later…

“Have you figured it out?”

“Yeah, it says that you have to be 8 to 15 years old. That seems great right, because I was going to go take a shower.”

“I need one more thing for you to do.”

Driving to the doctor…

“Thanks again for driving me to the doctor. I looked up a cure for pigs, and it said that there was this doctor who figured out how to cure being allergic to pigs. His name is Dr. Anderson.”

“No problem. Don’t tell Mom and Dad, but I actually want to go to Pig Island.”

“Pull over, we’re here.”

Seeing the doctor…

We step in and see a woman on an office chair looking at her computer.

“Hello?” I ask.

She turns and answers, “What can I do for you?”

“We’re here to get a medicine for allergies to pigs.”

“Great, are you Emily Paterson?”

“Yes.”

Thirty minutes later…

“So you need to have one pill every morning and make sure his vitals and blood pressure are normal every night,” she said.

“Great, is that all,” I say.

“Yep.”

Getting home…

“Okay, Katie, get back on your computer and sign us up for that Spanish camp,” I said.

“I will work on getting tickets to the Bahamas.”

Ten minutes later…

“So we have a hotel, plane tickets, in a camp, and we’re going to Pig Island.” I started dancing around and doing my happy dance.

A week later…

“Let’s go everybody. Let’s go!

We drove to the airport and hopped on the plane. I was smiling on the whole plane trip there. My mouth still hurts. I even made a song on the way there to sing to the piggies. We landed smoothly, got off the plane, and rode to our hotel. We stayed the night there and got ready to take our boat to Pig Island.

The next morning, I woke up and woke everybody up, and I mean everybody in the hotel accidently, to go to Pig Island. We gave my dad his pills and started to get ready. An hour later, after we got all ready for Pig Island, we jumped onto the boat and sailed to Pig Island.

At Pig Island…

The sailors anchored us in, and we had to take a rowboat to shore. That was the best moment in my life, because there were pigs swimming close to us, but they didn’t let us touch them because they were afraid of the oars. The sailors helped us onto shore and then said that they were going back to the boat and we would be leaving in an hour.

I thought to myself, An hour? That’s not enough time. I want to spend my whole life with these piggies.

They started rowing away, and I was the first person to dive into the water head first. I played with them for so long I felt like I was becoming a pig. They were just so cute, and pink, and swam with me, and even sunbathed on the sand. I even named the pigs Pinky, Cracker, Bunny, Wilbert, Buttercup, Flower, Fluffy, Asparagus, Fuzzball, and Strawberry. The sailors said that we had one more minute, and we had to wrap it up. Oh no. At the last minute, Wilbert jumped on top of me, and he hugged me to death. I loved Pig Island and all the pigs here!!!

THE END!!!


The Legendary Monument

When I saw a Legendary village I froze, and watched.

It really was the land of mysterious dragons I wondered…

Then does that mean that Scarlett Bones has been here?

That must have been quite a unique adventure for her.

She must have seen the beautiful horizon of the mountains.

When it started to rain I saw a bright flame.

Then I realized that it was a giant comet soaring.

But I felt a light sprinkle on my head Rain…

The rain eroded the whole cliff and I started falling.

Thank Goodness I was rescued by a beautiful mythical beast.

That Legendary village froze me.

It was the dragons land.

Scarlett’s favorite color is Scarlet.

I saw many mythical creatures.

A comet flew past me.

I looked at the horizon.

I thought, What an adventure.

I went hiking, then fell.

Then it started to rain.

In the distance a flame!

The legendary village.

The dragon’s land.

Scarlett Mary Bones.

Observing mythical creatures.

Comets flying past.

The melting horizon.

“What an adventure.”

Then I fell.

It started raining.

Then seeing flames.


Tasty

I went grocery shopping, sure that that was a wise decision. You see, the previous evening I had prepared and consumed a massive amount of my homemade chili. Some pretty tasty stuff, but it’s very spicy to the point of it being painful. It comes with a guarantee (from me) that if you eat it, your body will fall apart the next day.

Here’s the thing. I awakened that morning, and even after having two bowls of my homemade chili, nothing happened. Despite the habanero peppers swimming throughout my body, I appeared to be fine. Knowing that a time would come, yet not sure of just when, I bravely set off for the market, a local Costco that I often hunt in to find hot dogs and tater tots. I heard from one of my friends that Costco was having a ketchup sale, so I decided to go.

Upon entering the store at first, everything seemed fine. I pulled out a shopping cart and pushed it into the food aisle while dropping every single item on the shelves in not caring what they were. It wasn’t until I was at the total opposite side of the restrooms that the pain hit me like a train. Stop looking at me like you don’t know what I’m referring to. It’s the “oops, I gotta go” pain. But this was different.

The habaneros in the chili from the night before were planning revenge. In a mad rush for freedom, they bullied their way through my intestines. Before I could take one step in the direction of the restrooms, they fired a shot. I stood alone in the aisle, eyes wide. I was afraid to move, frightened that the odor might escape to another aisle. I slowly moved up the next aisle just as an elderly woman turned her disgusted face to me. I watched as she walked into an invisible wall of odor losing all her senses. This made me laugh. When you laugh, it’s hard to keep things down. Another explosion came. It was so loud, it echoed down all the aisles. I gasped, fearing that someone would think it was someone firing a gun. I ran down all of the aisles to the nearest restroom.

As I walked out, an employee ran towards me.

“Ah sir, there has been a report of you setting an, um, stink bomb here,” the man said.

People were staring at me, which set me off again. I sprinted towards the exit sign and drove back home.

Home again, I grinned as I took a peek into the refrigerator and realized that there was nothing to eat but a leftover bowl of chili, so I consumed it. The day after that, I made a brave journey to Walmart. I can’t say anymore information about what had happened in Walmart because I am currently in court.


Moon

Moon

                                   ivory rolling in the sky

                                                       A balloon of drunken silver

                                                         Dancing, bouncing through the

Delicious chocolate sky as a dollop of

                                                                          Milky whipped cream

                                                        Shining steel across the sea in the deep swirling night across the slowly churning sky sober on the final

steps to the gates of dawn

                                          for a needed rest upon the

                                                                                                           pillow of soft green hills


The Amazing Fluffy’s Adventures

Once there was an orange kitten named Fluffy. And she wanted a lifetime supply of cat treats. Salmon flavored was her favorite. But there was an evil kitten blocking her way. She had a superpower, so she shot lasers out of her paws. And it got in the evil kitten’s eyes and blinded him. Fluffy, by the way, found an envelope on the ground. And what was in there were two 1,000 dollar bills.

She thought, Wow, that’s enough for two lifetime supplies of cat treats. But the problem is, I don’t have two lifetimes. She had magic, so she made herself another lifetime. By the way, how she got magic was she was born with magic because her father was a cat and her mother was a unicorn. She thought, I’m so happy! And then her owner went to the pet store, and she bought the two lifetime supplies of cat treats.

The End! (Oh no!)


copy and paste adventure: part one

Once upon a time there was a robot chicken, and he looked like a normal chicken.

He lived in a robot village. It was Earth, but robots. Robots took over Europe, and they turned French words and food and other French stuff that’s in France into English.

“Cockadoodledoo! Cockadoodledoo! Cockadoodledoo! Cockadoodledoo! Cockadoodledoo! Cockadoodledoo!” the chicken said.

And by the way, his name was Copy And Paste. His nickname was Copy. He had a friend named Rainstorm. He had powers that were the same as his name was. And one day, they went on an adventure with weapons. He met the elemental powers, and they chose him. He was lucky because the powers stated that they would go into the wrong hands. But they always saw Copy And Paste do good things.

Then they met a random goblin. And Copy And Paste tried to use his new powers. Fire came out of his hands. And then when he killed the goblin, he got a random whiteboard. Then he tried his teleportation and jumped off a cliff and teleported back up.

When they walked around, they found an evil Santa. They killed the evil Santa because he was about to kill them with their lightning powers. They then earned a marker for the random whiteboard.

After the long journey beating up monsters, they found a powerful demon, and they had to fight it because they had seen him try to kill people for many, many years. Then they used their magical swords to fight the demon, but the demon blocked them. They teleported to the back of the demon and used their firepower on the demon’s back. It hurt him a little bit, but then the demon punched them. They fell down and almost couldn’t get up. They got up and made their hands giant and punched the demon super hard.

“This is how you’re going to live now!” they yelled.

The demon exploded, and they found a spaceship! They flew to the moon with their space helmets.

PART ONE OVER…


Jonas and Matthew

This book is dedicated to Jonas, my good friend and also a creator of Jonas and Matthew.

Hi! My name is Matthew, and I live with my friend Jonas in a mansion. We’ve got an arcade, a zoo, a water park, and an amusement park. One morning at our mansion we were in our arcade playing the Transformers game.

“Yeah! This is awesome!” said Jonas as we were finishing the hardest level.

“How about let’s play the Angry Birds game,” I suggested.

Soon we were at the Angry Birds game. In the middle of when I was playing, suddenly a crazy pig took up the whole screen! Jonas and I burst out laughing. Jonas laughed so hard that he fell to the ground, rolling with laughter.

That night it was Halloween, so we dressed up in our trick-or-treating costumes, so we could scare other people trick-or-treating. I was dressed up as a vampire, and Jonas was dressed up as a werewolf. We both hid next to our door and waited for some trick-or-treaters to come. First, a kid with a bunny costume rang our doorbell. Ding dong! The doorbell rang. Jonas jumped out of the bushes.

The trick-or-treater screamed, “Get me out of here!!!” and dropped his candy and ran away.

Then, a kid wearing a sheet with holes cut into it for eyes (which I realized later was a ghost costume) came up to our door and rang the doorbell. Ding dong! I jumped out of the bushes.

The ghost kid then dropped his candy and screamed, “Mommy!” and ran away.

After a whole night of scaring, we picked up all the candy and went inside our mansion to our room to check out the candy. We started eating the candy, but the pile in front of us just would not grow smaller. Then we started stuffing candy in our mouths frantically. Soon, all we could hear were the sounds of ourselves munching on candy. Suddenly Jonas had accidently ate some slingshot gum. Slingshot candy is a candy that makes you go crazy trying to get it out of your mouth. He chewed some and made a bubble. The bubble expanded until it was almost touching me from across the room and then shot back. Splat! All of the gum landed back onto Jonas’s face. After an hour of pulling gum out from Jonas’s face and hair, we got the mess cleaned up. Then I saw something in my bag. It was a soda bottle. Before I could take it, Jonas took it and drunk it all up.

“Hey! I was going to drink that… ”

Jonas spat out the soda. It was slingshot soda! Before I knew it, Jonas was chasing me down the stairs.

“Aghhh!” I screamed as Jonas spit all the slingshot soda on me.

“Sowwy bubby,” said Jonas. I got angry really fast. I started chasing Jonas around the room as fast as I could.

“Get back here!” I said.

Finally, after I stopped chasing Jonas, it was already midnight. I decided to have one last candy before I went to bed. I grabbed a random candy and opened the cap and drank it. Uh oh, I thought. I had drank slingshot soda. Jonas had realized that too, because he was already getting out of his blanket tent, ready to dash out of the room. Ptoooooooo! I spit out the slingshot soda all over Jonas.

“Why you little… ” said Jonas as he chased me all over the house.

An hour later, we finally came back to our bedroom and collapsed on our beds from exhaustion. It seemed like we had only slept for one second when our alarm clock started beeping. Beep! Beep! Beep!

“Hey!” I said as the alarm clock fell off of the nightstand and onto the floor with a crash.

“We need a new alarm clock,” groaned Jonas as he woke up.

We decided to turn into our animal forms. We had gotten the powers when we were born because our whole family had the same powers. My mom and dad and his mom and dad were very rich and could turn into animals, so they got enough money for us to have our own mansion and explore our powers.

First, we both turned into dogs. We snuck around town, looking at things from a dog’s eye view. Suddenly, a hand scooped us up and put us in a car.

“Hey, let us go!” I said, but I am pretty sure it came out as, “Ror, ror, ror!”

Jonas and I clawed at the door, trying to get out as the car drove away. (We could not turn back into our human forms because we could only turn back into humans in our mansion.)

Being in an adoption center is a lot worse than you think it is. As soon as we pulled up in front of the adoption center, I knew it was bad news. Outside the center, there was a rusty sign that said Doggy Doo-Doo Adoption Center. The inside was not any better. All of the dogs, cats, turtles, birds, lizards, fish, frogs, and other animals were buried under piles of dog poop and looked like they had not eaten in two days. When Jonas and I got in, I immediately started trying to think of a plan to get out. Then I had a idea! I told Jonas to get us out of the adoption center.

“First, let’s bark very loudly to attract the staff’s attention. Then, while they are distracted, we run away.”

After we made it a far distance away, we turned into snakes and slipped down into the sewers. We slithered in silence for one sewer snake day until we passed another manhole that was lined with muck and dirt. We slithered up into the sunlight.

The first thing I saw was that we were in a grassy field that looked like a savannah.

“What! Are we in Africa?!” we both said at the same time. We slithered back into the sewers.

Another sewer snake day later, we passed by another manhole. This time, it was spray painted with a lot of graffiti and smog was drifting into the sewer tunnel.

“Should we check out what is out there?” I asked Jonas.

“Yeah, I think we should see what is up there,” said Jonas. I knew what he was also thinking. It could be right under our mansion. We slithered up above the ground again… only to find ourselves wrong.

We saw that we were in a bustling city. Everywhere, smoke billowed. A truck zoomed down the road, almost smooshing us. A big wall loomed far in the distance. There was only one place this can be…

“What? We are in China!?” said Jonas.

“This is worse than before!” I said. We were about still halfway across the world from our mansion.

We retreated back into the shadows of the sewers and started slithering the way we thought our mansion.

Finally, we came upon a manhole that said Jonas and Matthew were here!We gazed up at the manhole.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked Jonas.

“Let’s go!” we both said at the same time.

We emerged onto the street near our mansion, startling a demented chicken. “Bok-bok-bokao?!” it said angrily.

“I think we should be… running!!!” shouted Jonas as he turned back into a dog. I turned into a gecko and held onto Jonas’s tail for my life.

The demented chicken flapped its black wings and hobbled after us.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!” I screamed from Jonas’s tail.

We jumped through the doors of our mansion at the last second as the demented chicken flapped and hobbled and rolled towards me.

After we got through the doors of our mansion, I sighed in relief. We were back in our mansion. Jonas jumped into the elevator and pressed the button which said Jonas and Matthew’s room in big letters. Ding! The elevator doors opened, and Jonas jumped out. With me still on his tail, he collapsed right in front of his bed, tired. We both slept, knowing that tomorrow would be a good day.


Stranded in Paradise

I, Vera Richardson, woke up sweating. I quickly looked around to make sure it was just a dream. Then I slowly sat up in bed. I swung my legs over my flower patterned blanket and slipped my feet into my soft, fuzzy slippers and got out of bed. While I walked over to the closet, I felt a shiver go down my spine. Was the window open? No, something was not right. I quickly got dressed and hurried downstairs.

The stairs creaked under my weight. I tried my best to noiselessly slip down the stairs and quietly open the door to my parents’ room. The door opened silently, and I walked in. I walked over to my parents’ bed and shook my mom.

“Mama! Mama, wake up!” She didn’t answer. She stayed still. It looked as if she couldn’t see me.

I tried my dad, but I only got the same response. Now I was starting to get pretty freaked out. I tried sticking my hand through her face. It didn’t go through, which wasn’t exactly comforting, but confirmed that I was not a ghost. Now the only question was: where was I?

Roaming The Underworld

I couldn’t explain where I was or what I was doing here, but I did know that I was trapped in some sort of dream. A dream where, I couldn’t wake up. A dream where when I woke up, if I woke up, I couldn’t say it was just a dream. I was pretty much about to pee my pants. I decided to go outside and see what was happening.

I shuffled into my shoes and opened the door. I was bewildered by what I saw. In the little town of Greensboro I had never seen any monsters. And even if I did, it would never be as many as these. They all had at least one extra leg or a wart on their face. I wanted to run back inside and never come out again. I wanted to cry for help. I wanted to barf. But I couldn’t move. My bones just wouldn’t do it. My brain screamed to run. My bones did. My hands did! But I couldn’t, I wouldn’t, and I didn’t. Until I came to my senses. I had to find the person who ran this place, or something. I gathered my courage and asked a monster.

“Excuse me? Mr. Hairy guy with warts?” He looked over at me. “Ummm, pardon me sir, but is there a high king or president here? I need to speak to him.”

“Eerfnooblegarfpuiyrtfegds,” he said and pointed to a tall building.

“So, the tall tower?” I confirmed.

“Erftooknjihgty,” he mumbled, which I took as a yes. And so off I went to the high king. (I hope.)

I learned a lot of things while I was looking for the head person.

  1. That monsters can smell really bad when it is 93 degrees out (or they just smell in general)
  2. That you get very thirsty very fast when you’re hiking up the avenue
  3. Lastly, I’m craving a cheeseburger
  4. Now I want a hot dog
  5. With lemonade
  6. That sounds really good
  7. But I’m getting off track
  8. I should stop writing like this
  9. Yeah, I should
  10. Okay this is my last comment

The High Queen

When I finally reached the top of the hill I was… wait for it… wait for it: Parched, thirsty, hungry, tired, I probably had athlete’s foot, I was having heat stroke, and I really needed to pee. So, in other words, I was pooped. I couldn’t move one more inch. Unless, unless I had some sort of inspiration, something that would give me power and would motivate me to do it. I collapsed on the ground, and rolled over. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was big. And purple. And it looked very fancy and queenie. Somehow, the only thing I could think about at this second was that this was a huge coincidence and that it just so happened that less than ten seconds ago I was thinking that I would never ever ever get home and I would be stuck in this nightmare land forever and I would never see my parents again. But somehow I rolled over, and there was the High Queen’s castle, just waiting for me. Again, this was all a coincidence.


Trying To Convince The High Queen To Release Me (But Not Actually Convincing Her)

I was so relieved to finally get to the High Queen’s palace. I knew she would immediately let me go, because I was not a monster and she was obviously not evil. Or at least I really hope she wasn’t. Now that I thought about it she probably was evil and would probably not let me go because she was probably the Queen of Nightmare Land. This made me a whole lot more nervous. I used to be a lot more excited, but now I just felt like giving up and being trapped in Nightmare Land instead of being trapped in a prison cell with no food, water, or sunlight. I decided that I should go back and live as a ghost for the rest of my life. But then my survival instincts kicked in, and I knew that if I wanted to escape this land, I needed to go to the High Queen and convince her to let me go. And if that turned out well, I would ask her about why she trapped me in this land and that she should never do that again. And so I proceeded to walk to the door.

I walked up the stairs and rang the doorbell. Ding-dong. I waited. There wasn’t an answer. And so I tried again. Ding-dong. I twiddled my fingers behind my back.

Oh well, she’s not here. I better go, I thought to myself when suddenly the door opened.

“Hello?” the man said.

I turned around slowly, and stared. My mama told me it’s rude to stare, but I couldn’t help it. He was just so short. His head barely was up to my hip, and he just looked so ridiculous in his mini suit from the kids department store.

It was stunning. The walls were a bright red with gold drapery on the magnificent windows. There was fancy furniture everywhere you went. When I looked up, the ceiling was covered in glass paintings. I was dumbfounded. But I didn’t have time to look around, because he had already grabbed my hand and took me inside without even asking my name or why I was here. While we walked, I studied him a little closer. He was a short, stubby man. His chin was rounded, but his mouth was covered by a huge, bushy, curly mustache. Like the ones you see in the movies. It was accompanied by a tuxedo and black dress shoes. His eyes kept shifting around, like he was late for something, or he was going to get in trouble.

“Umm, excuse me? I need to see the queen. I don’t know where I am or why I’m here or why you are taking me wherever you are taking me, but I need to see the queen.”

I was surprised by myself. I was usually not this forceful, but I was mad. I was mad at the queen and Mustache Man here for taking me to a place I didn’t know how to get out of. I breathed heavily. My chest heaved up and down. The man stared at me.

“Okay,” he said.

“Um, yeah! And take me to the queen!” I responded, a little confused.

I had expected him to start a fight. He turned around and started off in the other direction. I didn’t move.

“Well? Aren’t you coming?” I shrugged and followed behind him. On the walk, he asked me my name.

“Vera Richardson,” I had responded. “What’s yours?”

I just wanted to stop thinking of him as the Mustache Man.

“Picher Lennox. Mr. Lennox to you,” he snapped.

The rest of the walk we walked in silence. It was probably just one minute, but it felt like a century. We finally arrived at the High Queen’s office.

“Here we are,” he said.

He opened the door and let me in. I was floored. It was by far the most amazing place my eyes had ever laid sight on. It was better to look at than a lottery ticket or an all-you-can-eat ice cream buffet coupon (not that I have seen one of those before). My jaw hit the floor, not literally, but it might as well have!!! Well, now I’m keeping you in suspense, so you really want to know what it looks like don’t you? Okay, okay I will tell you.

The walls were painted a wonderstruck shade of gold, and the floors were covered in a velvet carpet with yellow on the edges. There was a desk in the middle of the room, with two large windows on each side, pouring light into the dark room. Then there were the shelves. There were shelves. Lots and lots and lots of shelves. They carried books and games and toys, they held marvelous things that lured you in, wanting to touch them so badly. I looked at the desk, and peering down at me was the queerest woman I’ve ever seen. She was tall, with red hair on one side and blue on the other. She kept them each parted down her slim shoulders, like she didn’t want them to mix. She wore the glasses that you see librarians wearing, hanging from a chain on her ears. She wore dreamcatcher earrings, and her face was wrinkled up like she just sucked on a rotten lemon. I thought, Hey, she looks just like a bulldog, but of course I didn’t say that to her face, because she looked pretty scary, and I was afraid to make her angry so she didn’t blast me to ashes.

“Who are you?” she asked.

I didn’t hesitate to say my name.

“Vera Rihcardson, with an H before the C.”

“And do you know, Vera, why you are in the land Paradise?”

“Ummm, no,” I responded.

“You are here because you have been having dreams, Ms. Rihcardson. Very lively dreams. And, as you might know, I feed on human dreams. If I notice that you have started to have very juicy, very, very scary dreams, I send for you here. As your time here grows, you will turn into a monster, like these.” She pointed to the monsters outside. I shuddered. “To have the dreams you dream, my dear, is very unnatural. And so I bring you here, to the land of nightmares. To the land we call Paradise. And so all of your soon to be equals outside are all, I guess Stranded in Paradise.”

I gaped. I didn’t actually think that I was here for a reason. I thought that there was a mistake. I was dumbfounded for the billionth time today. I looked at the wall behind the desk. To my suprise, there was a giant dreamcatcher hanging on the wall. As I looked closer, I noticed that it was the exact same dream catcher as the earrings the High Queen wore.

Huh, I thought. I wonder what happens when I touch it. I ignored all of the High Queen’s yammering, and I started to walk over to the dreamcatcher, my hand stretched out in front of me. Something was pulling me towards it.

Don’t touch that!!!” she screeched. I jumped back in surprise. She smoothed her skirt and adjusted her glasses. “Sorry about that. Just do not touch that dreamcatcher!!!

I cowered in fear. But of course, as soon as she told me not to touch it, all I wanted to do was touch it. We just stared at each other for ten minutes. The door opened, and Mr. Lennox stepped inside.

“Um, sorry to interrupt, your majesty, but there has been a plumbing problem, and you are the only person who knows the plumber’s phone number — ”

“And the kingdom needs me, I know,” she cut Mr. Lennox off. She started to turn around and then faced me again. “And you, Vera Rihcardson, do not move a muscle, or there will be consequences.”

I nodded my head and stayed where I was. The High Queen turned around and headed out the door. The door slammed behind me, and I turned around. I walked inch by inch slowly getting closer and closer to that marvelous dreamcatcher. It had a dark wood outline with holes everywhere and rainbow string coming from all the holes, tied in the middle with a bow. Red ribbon hung from all the sides and tied together in a knot. It was hung on the wall by a simple red hook. I couldn’t help myself. I touched it.

The Ending of the Story You Are Reading Right Now

The world started spinning. I saw blurs of the castle falling apart and coming back together again. Spinning. Spinning. Spinning. I was getting dizzier and dizzier and dizzier and dizzier. And then it all stopped, and I was right where I was in my bed, laying there, panting. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. My dream was so… vivid. So real. I got out of bed, but I heard the High Queen yelling in anger when I brushed my teeth.

The End


I Am Not Friends With My Nose Anymore

I am not friends with my nose anymore

We used to be the best of friends

We’d play for hours in the park

Then I would go to school

But I would take my nose with me

And then he would show me

Smelling things

Just the two of us

But then

Winter came

No more park

I was sad

At least I had school

He didn’t like the cold either

Then he turned all red

I would rub him

But it would only hurt more

Then no more school

A little bit later I stopped being friends with him

Then my nose stopped letting me smell

No more anything

In about two weeks my nose gave me a lesson

It started to bleed

We couldn’t fix it

My nose wouldn’t stop

He was being a meanie

Then we went to the hospital

They gave me something round and green to swallow

It didn’t really help

More and more blood

Then my parents were whispering to the people in the white suits

Then I suddenly felt really sleepy

When I woke

And now we’re not friends anymore


Allergens

I had to get out of the space. There was a faint smell of Goldfish and Fig Newtons, and it was warm. The hives were starting, and I couldn’t resist itching them. Although the hives seemed to always be there, I hadn’t gotten used to them. Besides, I usually had the goggles. They didn’t eliminate the allergens completely from my body, but they certainly helped. I lay down on the rug in a hopeless attempt to get away from the allergens, but they were everywhere. The rug smelled like mango bubble tea, probably from a spill the day earlier. I needed out, but was trapped. I asked myself for the billionth time: what the heck am I doing here? I thought I could stay here to hide from the allergens, but it did not work. In fact, it epically failed. But I had to do this for Batina. Batina, my beautiful best friend.

Batina was like me. She was the only one that got it. The allergens everywhere. The weird looks we got when walking down the street. We met here, and I had to be here. I knew she wouldn’t come back, but I needed to try. Her death had scared me. Her death was because of the allergens. No one on earth has the same condition, but I’m scared I won’t be able to keep my secret any longer. If I get discovered, I’ll become something like a display case and scientific wonder. By the way, that’s not a good thing. But if I just look like a moron who wears funky goggles in the summer, no scientist is going to put me on a lab table.

Anyways. I survive. But I admit it’s extremely annoying. Humans are obsessed with the allergens. They wear them all over their body, but only Batina and I seemed to care. Only Batina. We used to buy each other packs of goggles every year for New Years.

We were the best of any friends, more similar and different than any other friends. The allergens ruin my life, but I admit, they led me to what keeps me alive. Kept me alive. Emphasis on kept. When Batina died, I’m ashamed to say that I did not attend her funeral. She wouldn’t have wanted me to anyway.

The allergens were getting stronger. I could feel them crawling on my skin like grubs. I shuddered, thinking of The Bug Incident. Let’s just say it involved bugs crawling on me. I’ll leave it at that.

People sometimes ask my favorite hobby. Actually, that’s not true. I’m extremely antisocial, so no one asks me anything. But… my favorite hobby is reading. There are no allergens. Wait. No. There are mentions of the allergens, which causes my throat to itch, but there aren’t actual allergens.

But sometimes I think I see Batina in the distance, but of course, it’s not her. I really hope that, wherever she is, in whatever dimension, she can be around the allergens. The colors.


My Sacred Friend

Chapter One: The Real Stuff

One morning, I, George Lonerfin, my older brother, Hugo Lonerfin, and my friend, Gande Hulkin, were playing at our HQ, which is in an abandoned house near the theater on 1387th st. in Alabama in an imaginary dimension. It’s outside the solar system, which is in my fiction story from my elementary school called, “Space Bananas.”

“Hey, who wants to know the secret of this abandoned house?” Hugo said, holding a flashlight under his chin. He knows that that scares me and Gande. Even though we were scared, we nodded.

“Listen up, boys, because I’m only going to tell you this once,” Hugo said.

He knows that we hate being called boys, because that’s the worst name to be called by, but he got away when we tried to hit him last time, so we got closer like he wanted to. I think.

“In this abandoned house, there lived a scientist. He made technology and tried to invent things that helped the world, and they all failed, and when I mean all of his inventions failed, I mean all of them. Rumor has it that one night, on 2/2/2222 at 2:22, one of his inventions was a success.”

At first I thought this was a normal, non-scary story, but then I thought about two things that made no sense at all. First of all, it was 2019, and the house says it was from 1375, and second, that’s a little weird. They all have 2s! I tried to talk over him, but it was no use.

“He made an ogre. An ogre that can eat your soul!!!” Hugo said. He raised his eyebrows under the flashlight that made him look scary under the flashlight. Well, I thought it was scary, but Gande looked satisfied.

“Well, it’s a rumor. It’s not like anyone would believe in those stupid rumors,” Hugo said so casually, but all of a sudden, there was a swift wind in the room.

Then, all of a sudden, I saw a glimpse of a green, war-prepared monster! Then we saw it. The green, war-prepared monster was an ogre! He must have been from the story! He must have heard Hugo saying that ogres weren’t real!

“How dare you say ogre not real?! You die for saying nonsense!! I’m not just an ogre! I’m an ogre spirit!!!” the ogre said.

When I heard about spirits, my head got dizzy. My eyes got blurry, and then I passed out. Then all I could see was darkness. When I opened my eyes 30 seconds later, I was in the hospital.


Chapter Two: One More

When I was at the hospital, I was on a squishy bed and those cool pillows which are so huge. I really wanted to see who was around me, but I just sank into the huge pillow and all I could see was a mix of black and white. But it’s okay, because I heard them.

“What happened at your so-called-hideout?!” I heard Mom say. I think that she was screaming at Hugo.

“Why are you saying that I did it?! Look, it’s not my fault that an ogre came into our hideout! Well, like you say that so-called-hideout, which we do have. It’s in the abandoned house that’s near the theater! Remember? We took you there for our show and tell, right?” Hugo whined.

I remembered that show and tell, and I don’t want to take fatty Joe, big fat Bill, and big Stanley to the house anymore. How much do they weigh?! Joe, Bill, and Stanley are the top three fattest people in the school! And the weird thing that’s impossible is we’re the youngest grade. They’re eight grades older than Joe, Bill, and Stanley, but Joe, Bill, and Stanley are heavier than each and every kid! And I have never seen them eat junk food. That was until they went to our hideout and went to the junk food section. Next day, they came to school saying to people that they finally had diabetes. I was surprised about two things. One: they didn’t have diabetes until that day. Two: they were happy that they had diabetes. Back to the story.

“You mean that wretched place where those three fat boys were also there? The day after that, I got a scolding from all of the boys’ parents. Back to this scolding.”

Wow. Just, wow. I can’t believe that Mom just said that to her own son! She would never scold me like that! Now we know who’s Mom’s favorite, I thought in my head with no guilt at all. I was smiling like crazy, and no one even noticed. Fake sleeping has a lot of upsides.

“I don’t care what kind of excuses you have, but we will not tolerate with your excuses with an ogre!” I heard Mom screaming.

So the ogre was real. I wasn’t dreaming at that part.

“You are grounded for making your brother pass out no matter what excuse you have, young man!” Mom screamed.

I decided to “wake up.” I twisted my head, and fortunately it looked like I was waking up. I owe one to the acting class that Mom forced me to take. I felt bad for calling it a piece of cake though. Then I saw Hugo getting angrier and angrier and getting hairier and hairier turning into a car-sized ogre. I don’t know how it happened, but it turned out horrible. He wrecked the machine that turns your bed up and down. Then the ogre saw me with his bloody, green eyes. I freaked out, sweat dripping down my face. The ogre who’s supposed to be my brother, stomped his feet so hard that everywhere he stomped, the floor cracked. He looked at me freakishly and grabbed me by the shirt.

I am going to die!!! I thought with horror.

Then all of a sudden, the crack in my head was now fine! He let go of me and then became human. He wasn’t awake though. He was actually thinking of his girlfriend, Liz.

“Liz… will… you… ” Hugo moaned. I didn’t want to hear the rest. Then all of a sudden,  Mom, Dad, and all the nurses and doctors dashed in through the door.

Oh my God. I’m glad you’re safe!!!” all the strangers and non-strangers screamed joyfully.

“Liz… let’s… marry… at… my… house… ” Hugo moaned.

His cheeks looked pinker than usual. Then he got my pillow, and you don’t want to know what happened next. All the people in the room either barfed, looked to the other side and went to the corner, or left the room and ran to see if other people got hurt. I still think that that’s just an excuse to leave this one room after what Hugo just said right now.

But why did he turn into an ogre?It makes no sense!! I thought. Then all of a sudden, he opened his eyes. I’ll tell him about the Liz thing later. But before I could even talk to him, Mom and Dad shoved me to the side and screamed at Hugo.

“What happened to you?!” Mom and Dad said.

“I don’t know, but I met Gande in my head. He said that I’ll give you the power to heal your brother. Of course, ‘cause he’s my friend. By the way, ogres are real, and they’ll come for people’s souls. We need to refresh anyways. Then he left out of my memory, and then I slept!” Hugo said.

I believe that’s true, and I need more details, but Mom and Dad interrupted when I was trying to talk to him.

Why were you tired?!” they said in unison.

Well, I guess, why was he tired is about to be answered.

“I don’t know, right after Gande left, I felt a poke in my head, and then I went sleepy. Anyways, what happened here?!” Hugo questioned after he answered our question.

The room was still full with blood and quarks and stuff. By the way, when I mean “quarks and stuff,” I mean bent doctor utensils, broken beds, and ripped up lab coat-like stuff. When all the doctors came in and saw the room, the doctors all fainted on the clear floor. They fainted for three days. Back to the story.

We went back to our house, and Mom, Dad, and Hugo had a huge conversation. I was stuck in my room doing homework.

“56 times 7, 42, carry the 4, 35, 35 plus 4, 39, 392. Next!!!” I speak when I do my work.

“45 minus 72, 72 minus 47, 25, minus 25, 34 times 675, 3 times 600, add the zero, 3 times 70, add the zero… add them all up… next.”

I think I slept. Then, I looked up. I was in a new dimension. I thought this is a dream. But it didn’t feel like a good dream…


Chapter Three: A Dream

I was walking in a pitch darkness. When I ended up in a wall, it had a sign. It was a wanted sign for a scientist. I took it just in case. It was for a guy named June. June was a boy who made all kinds of stuff. Then all of a sudden, I ended up somewhere else. It looked like a village. It seemed like a peaceful one.

“I’m telling you the truth!!!” I heard a boy say from a big crowd. When I turned around, I saw a boy who I thought that I would’ve seen here. It was Gande. Here he was, standing like a president. Like he was standing saying a speech.

“June, it’s 3,548,672,197. After that big explosion that blew up earth, we barely have any technology. All we have is this planet that the ogres gave us politely,” a villager said.

After I heard that news, I fell down. Strange thing is, I fell on a villager’s feet, but I went through his feet.

“AAAHHH!!!” I screamed. I screamed as loud as I could, but no one heard me.

Am I a ghost? Am I going to die? Am I dead? What do you mean by OGRES? What do you mean by earth exploding? What number is that? Is that a year?! I don’t know what’s going on?! I thought in my head while I also listened to mini future Gande.

“Please believe me. I know who the ogres really are. Great-great-great-great-great-great-grandpa Gande’s journal told me.”

Mini-Gande had to grab onto his dad and left. I really wanted to know more, but I had to go in a library and search for more information. I watched in a movie that I forgot what it was called, always something something. I forgot. I knew that I had to search for more information about this place, so best place to look, the library. Normally, I hate going to the library and studying, but I had to. I walked around, but no library was found. I was actually kind of bummed that there was no library. I was stuck to a villager’s rusty ol’ shoe. Then all of a sudden, everyone around me and every place that was in my sight also vaporized, and then I ended up in that black pitch again. Now I know why Hugo called me a crybaby, and now I know that I still am. I was a crybaby then and a crybaby now and a crybaby then. Then out of nowhere, I appeared at my house again.


Chapter Four: Mysteries

What are you talking about?!” Hugo said to me while we were in our treehouse. Ever since that day, we weren’t allowed in that abandoned house anymore. Instead, we had to deal with the treehouse that had many dead rats. We got it last year, and Dad said that he wouldn’t touch it, Mom wouldn’t touch it, and none of us would touch it. We avoided it for a while, and it was there ever since. Back to the story.

“You had a dream about the future? Why isn’t your dream seeing your nephew?” Hugo replied. I think he’s still thinking that Liz agreed to marry him. I had to say that he was wrong, but that’s not the important part. I told Hugo everything. And when I mean everything, I said everything. I told him about the wanted June poster, the town, and all about Gande.

“Well, I still think that you should start having dreams about you being an uncle, but I still don’t really believe you. Sorry.”

I couldn’t believe that out of all these people, my own brother, who became a ogre, wouldn’t believe me! I thought that he was the only person who would believe me.

“Then why did you turn into an ogre, huh?” I complained back. I knew it was bad to complain to people who are older than you, but I got permission from destiny this time.

“I don’t know! Okay? I don’t know everything!”

“Oh no you don’t,” said a voice from afar. (When I say afar, I mean eight feet away.) Then, when we looked at who it was, it was Gande, wearing his midnight robe. His midnight robe had full moons all over them. He knotted it in a double knot, like he always did. He must have been in his meditation class. I really know everything about Gande. Well, I thought I knew everything. Turns out not…

“What do you want?“ I asked. Then I was scared at what Gande was going to say, and I knew it was going to be scary, and it was.

“I want my best, successful invention back,” he said.

What are you talking about?!” I screamed. The wind was coming all at once. Then I couldn’t hear him, but I knew what he said. Those words pierced my heart so badly.

He said, “I want your brother, the ogre, back.”

Then all of a sudden, Gande was gone.

“Why was he here?” Hugo asked me.

“I don’t know. But I think we’re going to go through a lot this year.”


Chapter Five: Lost

I was now pretty much scared of Gande now. The next day at school, I tried to avoid Gande as much as I could. I couldn’t imagine that nice Gande being so mean! I know that he was on the wanted poster, but I didn’t know what he did! Did he do something wrong? Did he do something so horrible? I didn’t know! Today was going to be hard avoiding Gande, because we were reading buddies, writing buddies, math buddies, science buddies, and social studies buddies!

“Gande? Do you remember, uh, I don’t know, that time you came into my house last night and told me that you really wanted my brother because he’s the ogre and a swift wind came and then all of a sudden you were gone?” I asked, with my lungs out of breath.

“What are you talking about?” Gande said like he had no clue at all.

What is going on?! How can he not remember what he did to us last night?! As a matter of fact, how is it possible?!

“You don’t remember last night?” I said, trying to be calm. Unfortunately, my face blew my cover. I should have got into that lying class that Hugo recommended for me. It was a lesson that Hugo and his friend Mason made up. I was such a good kid. Back to the story.

“What happened last night, George? Did you have a bad dream?” Gande asked me. A bad dream?! No way that was a dream.

“I have to tell you something,” I said. It seemed like Gande was listening to me. When I tried to open my mouth to say a word, someone pushed me into the school president, Emily. She was the strictest president in the world. The person who pushed me was Andrew, a person who had a crush on the school president. If you want me to say this lovey dovey-like, I’ll do it.

Lovey dovey mode: on.

We fell to the floor with quite a fall. Our eyes met, and our lips touched. We were all shocked, especially Andrew, but we didn’t care. We lost track of time, and the teacher came in.

Lovey dovey mode: off.

Basically meaning, we kissed. Andrew was jealous, and the teacher came in. Emily pushed me away, ran away, and it looked like she was blushing. I got in trouble by Andrew and Emily, but mostly, Andrew was screaming at my face, and Emily was punching me lightly, but the more she punched me, the more Andrew got jealous and yelled at me. That took a whole day. I got detention, and Emily always looked away whenever I tried to talk to her. Andrew always tried to pick a fight with me, but because of that, he got 45 detention slips.

When this was all finally over, I told Gande to come to my house. Gande said that he would, but he had to bring Mila and Samantha. Mila was their dog, and Samantha his sister. And that was not all his family members. There were still his three older sisters, Ava, Amila, and Sivan, his two other younger sisters, Milan and Tammy, his two older brothers, Nicholas and Nathaniel, and his four younger brothers, Christ, Alex, Bob, and John, and he had five dogs, including Mila, two cats, three hamsters, four birds, and two gorillas. His parents were veterinarians, and sometimes they had to take the animals home. Their house was big, and they did need a big house. He had 30 family members, including the animals and him. The older brothers and sisters were all married, had babies, were pregnant, or in college. Must have been hard for Mr. and Ms. Hulkin to have 14 kids and 16 animals to deal with. They always had to pay for all the food, and they always made the food on their own. They made their own dog food, cat food, all kinds of food! Gande had a lot of babysitters. It was crazy. I wondered what harm he did to his family if he had this power… especially Nicholas. He bullied Gande for his whole life. And everybody had teased him once in a while, but the thing about Gande was that he didn’t know what the difference between a joke and the truth was. Oh boy… Back to the story.


Chapter Six: Track Team

Gande did bring Mila and Samantha, and Liz was here. Before Gande, Mila, and Samantha came, I told Hugo about the confession thing. He was crying in his room for 30 minutes when he heard that he couldn’t have his nephew. He said that it was a waste of time and life. He said that he was wondering why he was first in our beach house, and then we were in a hospital, but just not quite the right hospital. Then he came out when I said that I would try to invite Liz over.

I did invite Liz over when I said. She popped up, closed her computer, ignored all her phone calls, and then told me to get my butt up and start walking. (My butt was already up though).

We walked to my house. It was actually pretty quiet and pretty normal. The only thing that wasn’t normal was that her ex-boyfriend came and said that he wanted to make up. He was a pretty cool guy. That’s what I thought until he pushed me away and walked away with Liz. Geez. But then she pushed him away, pulled me back up, then grabbed my hand and ran away. I felt like a teddy bear blowing away by the wind. It was weird.

Thirty seconds after, we were at my house. I was actually surprised because our house was one mile away from where she was. My arm felt like it was dislocated after Liz ran. I wanted to have credit for some running, but it was impossible to stop Liz running away from her ex. I told Liz that she could be on the track team, and surprisingly, she took the advice.

When Hugo came to the door, he saw Liz, and he invited her to his room. They were all lovey dovey like they always were. I felt bad for the ex.

Gande was already at the treehouse. Mila and Samantha were playing in my room. Hugo said that he let them touch my skyscraper model that I worked one year on. I told Hugo why in the world he would do such a thing to me. But that wasn’t important to me. All I was worried about was Gande.


Chapter Seven: Panic, Run, Dream?

When I came to the treehouse, Gande was still fine. When I got up to the treehouse, he was looking around like he was trying to find something. When he was done looking around, he grabbed on to my shoulders and said,

“ListenverycloselysomethingiscomingforyouandthebookthatyouhaveIneedyoutorunfarawaywithallyour — ”

I told him to calm down. He took a deep breath and just grabbed a piece of paper from my homework and grabbed my lucky pencil from my lucky notebook. He knew that he wasn’t supposed to get something from my lucky notebook or lucky pencil. They’re the reason why I got a 100% on my test. Gande wrote a lot down. He was a fast writer, but he was writing faster than ever.

Then he handed the piece of paper over to me, and when I thought I wanted to run away, I was running as fast as Liz could run. Then out from the bushes behind me, the ogre was chasing me. I tripped over a rock and I fell. My knee was bleeding. It felt like this life was going to be over as soon as I was about to be eaten, then I tried to think of all the positive thoughts. Then when I wished that I wanted to die, I closed my eyes, trembled, and suddenly, the next thing I knew I was in my bed. It felt like nothing happened. Same bed, same Rolling Stones poster, same old bedroom that I always had since the Gande incident. Then I finally noticed that it was just a freaky nightmare. I noticed the time. 10:54 AM!!! School started 2 hours and 34 minutes ago!!! I ran over to the door with my pajamas, and I just went to school. Then I found out. It was a Sunday!!

I ran back to the house. At the dining room, Hugo called me a stupid little dummy. I stuffed my sandwich into my mouth.

My mom asked me in shock, “What kind of dream makes you wake up at 10:54 in the morning???

“A weird dream,” I replied, and the strangest thing is, I never had that dream again.


Winter and Scott

Chapter One: The Beginning

“I still can’t believe you two got the best-looking girls in the year,” muttered Seamus as the boys left the dorms.

“Don’t be jealous, Seamus,” Charlie said, catching James’s eye. James couldn’t blame Seamus, because he was going with Lila Brown, who was not very, ummm, attractive?

Sylvia Winter, James’s date, was very pretty and very popular. Charlie was going with Sophia Smith, who was also very pretty, and smart. Sophia, Sylvia, Lila, and Katie Chiu, who was Harry’s date, were waiting at the foot of the staircase leading up to the boy’s dorms.

“Hey, Harry. Hi, Charlie. Hi, Seamus. Hi, James,” Katie said when she spotted them.

“Hi, Katie,” said Harry. “Hi, Sophia. Hi, Lila. Hi, Sylvia,” Harry said, returning a smile to Katie.

“Shall we go then?” asked Sylvia awkwardly.

“Yes, alright,” replied James, taking Sylvia swiftly by the arm and leading her towards the Entrance Hall.


Chapter Two: The Fall Dance

The Entrance Hall, when they arrived, was filled with couples, all waiting for the music to begin. The Entrance Hall looked great for the fact that it was almost always covered with a coat of baby blue paint. There were rather large oak leaves hanging on the ceiling in brilliant shades of yellow, orange, brown, and red. There were pumpkins and apples piled in the corners and against the walls, and to top it all off, there was a large banner designed with pumpkins, acorns, and apples and the words Fall Dance on it.

When the doors opened, Professor Blume was standing in the doorway,

“The Fall Dance is now open. You may enter,” said Professor Blume wearily. “Mister Scott, a moment if you will, please.”

“Go on, Sylvia, I’ll be there in a moment,” James told Sylvia.

Turning back to Professor Blume, James’s mind started racing. What did Professor Blume want with him? Sure, he hadn’t handed in his Care for Magical Creatures homework two weeks in a row, and it was the subject Professor Blume taught. Or was it about the argument he had with Peter Paterson the day before, where he had accidentally hexed Peter.

“Mister Scott,” said Professor Blume. “The headmistress has ordered me to give you this.” She handed him a neatly rolled piece of parchment.

James unrolled the parchment and read it:

Mister Scott,

It has come to my attention that the sister of Miss Sylvia Winter has recently been taken ill by the deadly disease of Dragon Poxs. Mr. and Mrs. Winter would like to come and pick Sylvia up to visit Ms. Sadie Winter at the Mooniago Medical Center for Magical injuries, and have asked me to ask you, Mr. Scott, if you would like to join them. Please send me your cat with your answer.

Sincerely, Professor Pythonia

James’s stomach tied itself into a hard knot at the pit of his stomach.

Why hadn’t Sylvia told him? She had been his girlfriend for two years and seven months, and she trusted him… or at least he thought so.


Chapter Three: James’s Question

Professor Pythonia,

The answer to your question: please tell Mr. and Mrs. Winter that I would like to go with them to visit Sadie at Mooniago’s. But before that, could I ask something? Why is it that Sylvia never told me about Sadie’s Dragon Pox? Surely she trusts me, right?

Sincerely, James Scott

James reread the letter, then rolled up the parchment and sealed it. He tied it to Whisker’s black, slim torso.

“Go, Whisker,” he muttered to his cat. “I’ll be here.”

James collapsed into an armchair, thinking about Sylvia.

Normally, he would never, ever ask a professor about Sylvia or his personal feelings or problems. But Professor Pythonia was different. She was James’s mum’s best friend when they were in school. So, Padme Pythonia was basically his aunt.

Whiskers returned a half hour later, a new piece of parchment tied neatly to her back.

My Dearest James,

Sylvia knows you well enough to trust you. But do you know her enough to trust her? Ponder the question, my dear. Send Whiskers along if you’ve got any questions, James.

Sincerely, Aunt Padme

Chapter Four: Dragons

When Eva and Eric Winter arrived a week later, James had his black duffle bag packed and Whisker was napping in her woven traveling basket. He put on his navy blue traveling cloak and walked out into the cool courtyard to find Sylvia, in her sky blue traveling cloak, sitting on the Winter’s Diamond-light dragon, Loche. She had her cat, Scotty, napping on her lap.

“Hello, James!” said Mrs.Winter. “You can sit next to Sylvia, dear.”

James walked over to the far end of the courtyard where Loche was sitting.

He climbed onto Loche, sat next to Sylvia, and scratched Scotty behind his ear. Sylvia looked out onto the lake and slipped a small piece of parchment into James’s duffle bag, before he could notice.

Chapter Five: Sylvia’s Note

When they arrived at the west wing of Mooniago’s Medical Center, where the families of patients stayed, the witch at the front desk greeted them and showed them to their rooms.

James would be sharing a room with Sylvia, and Eva Winter would be sharing with Eric Winter.

When James started to unpack, a small piece of parchment fell out of his duffle and onto the carpet. James read it:

My Dearest James,

I’m sorry I’ve been a bit… off lately. You see, Lila’s older sister, Lulu Brown, she works with Dragons. And the Dragons, well, they went a bit mad and they… killed her. They slashed her across her chest. I promised Lila you would be at Lulu’s funeral. I hope you’re not angry.

Love you always, Sylvia Winter

James glanced over at Sylvia. She was sitting on her bed, tears streaming silently down her face.

“It’s okay, Sylvi, it’s okay,” James cooed. Sylvia looked up at James.

“You’re coming?” Sylvia asked. James sat down next to her,

“Of course, Sylvi,” James whispered. “Always.”


Chapter Six: Mooniago’s

The following morning, James awoke early, dressed, and tapped Sylvia softly.

“Wake up, Sylvi,” James whispered. “It’s time.”

Sylvia stirred, opened her brilliantly blue eyes sleepily, and snuggled closer to James, resting her head on his lap

They headed down to breakfast ten minutes later, meeting Mr. and Mrs. Winter as they went.

After breakfast, they fastened their cloaks and headed towards the east wing, where Sadie lay, half dead, and infested with Dragon Pox.

“Hi, Mum. Hi, Sylvi,” said Sadie weakly. “Hi, Dad.”

“Oh, Sadie,” Mrs.Winter, tears pouring down her flushed face.


Chapter Seven: Sadie’s Fate

They left for lunch when Sadie had dozed off three hours later.

“Mum?” asked Sylvia, as they headed back to the west wing, where they would have lunch and then head back to the east wing.

“Yes, dear,” Mrs. Winter responded, dabbing her sooty-gray eyes with a tissue.

“Sadie will be alright, won’t she?” Sylvia asked, every ounce of her hoping her older sister would be cured.

“Of course she will,” replied Mr. Winter, his face white with blotchy red spots. “We’re in a hospital, remember?”

***

When they returned to the east wing, Nurse Suki greeted them sadly.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Winter,” said Nurse Suki. “We couldn’t save her.”

No!” shouted Sylvia, tears pouring down her red cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Sylvi,” James whispered, as he pulled her into his arms, trying to comfort in any way he could.

Chapter Eight: The Return

Sylvia, James, and Mr. and Mrs. Winter headed back to school the next day, after a great deal of tears, tissues, white and blotchy faces, and more sobbing.

When Loche landed softly on the green grass just beyond the courtyard, Professor Pythonia, Charlie, Seamus, Harry, Lila, Sophia, and Katie were all rushing across the courtyard towards them.

“Well?” asked Charlie, when James slid off Loche and onto the ground.

“Guess,” James replied, cocking his head at Sylvia, who was in tears again and being comforted by her friends and Mrs. Winter. James had a strong urge to run over and hug her, but he resisted.

“Dead?” Charlie guessed. James winced and nodded slightly, eying Sylvia, who was hugging Lila.


Chapter Nine: Two Funerals

A few months later, once the grief had blown over the Winters and the Browns, two funerals were scheduled. One for Sadie Winter, the other for Lulu Brown.

“You okay?” James asked Sylvia quietly, as they took their seats.

“Y-yeah,” Sylvia said, her face white and blotchy again.

“You sure?” Sylvia sighed loudly.

“Yes.”

The funeral ceremony lasted forever, and it looked as if it was torture for Sylvia and Lila. The graves were dug on the edge of the woods surrounding the courtyard, where two headstones were placed.

Sadie Winter

1972-1991

Beloved daughter, sister, and student

Lulu Brown

1973-1991

Beloved sister, student, dragon trainer, and daughter

“C’mon Sylvia, I want to show you something,” James said, taking Sylvia by the hand and strolling down to the lake’s edge.

“Sit,” he said, patting the ground beside him. Ten minutes passed in silence.

“This,” said James, “is what I do when I leave dinner early.” He gestured towards the lake in front of him and the beautiful sunset reflecting on the water.

“Wow,” murmured Sylvia softly.

“Sunsets,” whispered James, “always make me feel good.”

“I agree,” Sylvia whispered, leaning her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes, imagining what it would be like to have Sadie standing on her other side.