Tag: 10-11. Fiction

Jonathan’s summer was only one day in when his parents sent him to sleepaway camp for the whole summer, right until the day before 6th grade started. He preferred staying home and playing video games rather than trying to catch fish in the middle of nowhere. He decided it couldn’t be so bad. Instead of trying to make excuses not to go, he went straight to the camping store called John’s Way To Nature. He brought the list, which his parents had given him before he left. 

• Tent
• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• Any hygiene products
• Sunglasses and a hat 
• Clothes for like two months 
• Things you want to buy for there 
• Sandals 
• Sticks
• Sleeping bag 
• Books or entertainment

After paying $300 for all of that, he started heading home, where there was a bus that had a big Camp Lyon logo that appeared right at his house. His parents rushed him to get inside the bus and gave him a bag with everything he had not gotten and a little card. Barely able to say goodbye, he entered the bus carefully, looking at all the new people he was gonna have to spend his summer with. Some of these people looked nice, and all the others seemed to be ready to kill you if they needed to. He examined the bus for a spot to sit. He found one next to Leo Maine, a boy at the camp. On the ride, there were movies, games, and even secrets being told, but on the 12th row to the right, the two boys made no conversation.

Finally, when they arrived, Jonathan had the courage to say, “See you around, Leo.”

“Mhm, see you around,” Leo responded. Then, the head of Camp Lyon made an announcement. 

“Attention, all 10 and 11-year-olds, due to budget cuts there will only be 4 cabins for all boys this age. Sorry, but if you hear your name being called, go to the person calling you. They’ll be your counselor this summer!” 

“This is gonna be a long summer,” Leo whispered to Jonathan. He nodded to show he agreed. 

Soon enough, all kids were with their counselors, 10 in total. Jonathan ended up being with Leo, Nathaniel, Kai, and Lukey. He got top bunk and Leo got bottom. Nathaniel got top and Lukey got bottom. Kai got his single and so did the counselor, Mike. Most of that day was getting organized and unpacking. By the time dinner came, maybe even the duck in the pond was starving! He took a seat with Leo, then two other kids joined: Mika and Maya, twins who had been there for more than 5 years. They seemed quite normal, especially since they welcomed him kindly. Jonathan had noticed that Kai and Lukey had been watching him since he had sat down. They had a sinister look on their faces, almost enough to make a child run. Jonathan was a strong boy, so instead of getting all nervous, he ignored them and continued eating the rice and salmon on his plate calmly. When it got time to go back to their bunks, all the kids from Cabin Two noticed Mike was gone. Jonathan suggested they go back to the cabin, and if he was not there they’d get someone. Unfortunately, they found him, except he was on the floor with a dagger right in his heart. It didn’t take anybody long to realize that he was dead. 

“Do we get someone?” asked Leo. 

“No, we keep this to ourselves and we just figure out who did it alone. We’ll just say he had to leave for college sooner than we thought and boom, we find the killer!” Jonathan responded.

“I see what you mean, but we’re not professionals! We’re just kids, you know?” Kai added. 

“They might accuse us! Is that what you want, Kai?” Jonathan said. 

“OK, fine, but trust me, I still think telling the police is a better idea,” Kai responded. Only problem they had to face was who was gonna lie to the head about him leaving? They decided to ask Mika the twin to come over that night to tell him about their situation. He came happily and suggested that he tell the head which everybody agreed on quickly. They took Mike’s body out and gave him a little funeral before they buried the body so nobody would find it. When they were done with that, Mika left the cabin to tell the head, they all wished him good luck. About 5 minutes, later Mika came back. 

“Well first of all, I’m getting transferred to this cabin and also she found a new counselor who won’t sleep with us but will help us with activities!” Mika said happily. Everybody sighed in relief and they agreed they’d start investigating in the morning but sleep that night. 

Jonathan had a hard time sleeping because of the picture of Mike with a dagger in his body. Same thing with Mika, who wanted to be reassured that Maya wasn’t getting stabbed by a killer. Nobody could be reassured after finding a dead body with a killer on the loose able to kill anybody they love! When morning came, Kai said he thought the killer was somebody on the inside. How would they know dinner was then? Mika agreed, but Mika didn’t know who was on the inside. There were just so many options. 

“Tomorrow, we’ll investigate. Today, we act like we… we know nothing. Just like normal campers, nothing out of the ordinary!” Jonathan told the group. 

“True, but like — ” Nathaniel interrupted Jonathan. Bang!

“Guys… anybody else hear that overdramatic bang?” Mika asked. 

“Yes, I did hear that overdramatic bang,” Jonathan responded. 

“I think I’m gonna go and see what that was,” Kai said while opening the cabin door. 

Then, as Kai entered the 4th cabin, he looked and he saw Mary dead. Mary was Mika’s twin sister’s counselor who Maya had told Mika all about. They saw a pan which they assumed had been used to kill Mary. It was bloody and so was her head where blood was dripping down her neck. It was a scary scene but mostly something nobody could forget. Kai was a strong boy but that didn’t stop him from shedding a small tear that dripped through his face. By the time he came back, he’d realized that this meant they had another body! Luckily, the ground had space for another funeral, to which Maya and the boys were invited. 

“Great, we have another murder to solve! Mika, would you do the honors of telling the head again? I say we find this out now before worse things happen,” Jonathan said. They agreed, but they knew it was gonna be hard considering the fact they still had to do activities all day. Investigating a murder while making a fire isn’t normally how you’d do them. 

“Ok, suggestion, we investigate at night?” Nathaniel said. 

“Actually, that’s a pretty good idea. Even though we’ll be tired, we won’t have to worry about counselors and activities!” Mika responded. 

“We are gonna be here for about 2 months. I think we can do this, right?” Jonathan asked.

“Yeah, I assume,” Nathaniel said. 

“It’s been 20 days and we still have nothing,” Jonathan said.

“Guys, where are Kai and Nathaniel?” Mika asked, looking nervous. “I’ll go check the boy’s shower if you guys want!” Mika said while already running to the room. After about 3 minutes of waiting, he came back. 

“Guys, I have bad news… ” Mika said with hesitation. 

“Don’t tell me they’re dead, I can’t deal with it!” Lukey said while covering his ears.

“Yes…” Mika said, unable to finish his phrase. Knock Knock.

“Enter, please,” Jonathan said, carefully trying not to let a killer in. 

“Hello, kids, I’m Mr. Brown and I’m here to help,” Mr. Brown said.

“Ok, but what type of help?” Jonathan replied.

“Backstory, a very long backstory. It all started with the Lyon, Grey, Stone, Maine, Ri, and Smith families. The Lyons had the idea of the camp so all families decided that Camp Lyon was an appropriate name for it. After years of success, I came along asking them about a murder, but they knew nothing about it. Only a few weeks later, the Lyons died by murder. After that, the Greys, Maines, and Stones decided to close it down, but the Ri and Smiths didn’t want to, so the Greys, Maines, and Stones left and never talked to the Ri and Smiths. So then, the Ri and Smiths took over Camp Lyon. Now, Kai Ri and Nathaniel Smith are dead, a little suspicious, you know?”  Mr. Brown asked after taking a long breath after talking without stopping. 

“Are you saying that our parents kill people?” Jonathan asked, scared for the answer. 

“Yes, unfortunately, I think all of your parents have killed innocent people,” Mr. Brown said while fixing his brown hat. 

“Are you gonna arrest them?” Leo asked. 

“Well, I have to, they could kill again, which wouldn’t be good,” Mr. Brown responded.

“This past month has been fun, but it’s time to go home, meaning we won’t see each other anymore, so please don’t forget me until next summer,” Maya cried. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t, but also don’t forget what happened this summer, like the events and people,” Jonathan said.  

Epilogue

Jonathan was on the bus, his friends laughing while he softly chuckled. These two months had been a lot. He even said it felt like a long day, but that wasn’t the point. His orange shirt with Camp Lyon on it was wrinkled and dirty. He saw the camp and Mr. Brown slowly walking away, his face red like normal. Maya’s face suddenly went sad.

“Jonathan, I… will I ever… ever see you again?” Maya asked.

“I don’t know, but just promise me one thing: come back next year,” Jonathan responded.

“We’ll try our best!” Mika giggled. “Leo, so?” Mika asked.

“I don’t know, but I think I’ll be back,” Leo said slowly while putting his water bottle in his bag.

The End

I am listening to the radio. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia because Austria-Hungary thinks the Serbian government has killed their heir with assassins waiting along the way. But since Serbia and Russia are friends, Russia declares war on Austria-Hungary. But Germany is friends with Austria-Hungary, so Germany declares war on Russia. Then I turn off the radio. I grab some toast and run to school. 

My name is George and I am twenty one years old. I’m in university and love history. I don’t stay there. I go and come home every day. I can’t imagine how hard it is to be a soldier. The hardships you have to grow through. 

All of a sudden, the ground starts to rumble. The school emergency bells ring through the halls. We are all ordered to evacuate the building. Then, in the daylight, I see planes dropping round, cylindrical things from a door under the plane. I see a sign on it. The Swastika. I see a plane drop a big object, but when it hits the ground, it makes an explosion. They are bombs. That means this is a bombing raid! 

I am led to a bombing raid shelter where we are ordered to stay until the raid ends. I know this is Germany because Germany invaded Belgium and the British were friends with Belgium. So Britain sent troops to Belgium to help them. I want to fight for my country, so I enlist in the army. I am fit for the army, perfect size, strength, and with no training, I go to the battle field. I am assigned with a task of clearing a path for other infantry units. We march for hours until we see a German pill box with a machine gun loaded with a sixty caliber bullet belt. We saw movement in the pill box and knew we needed to destroy it before they noticed us. We are armed with Lee Enfield rifles and have twenty clips of ammo per soldier. Then I see a German officer reach for his binoculars and gaze out of the window. His binoculars hit on our sight. He screams, “Open fire!”

Then there are bullets zipping by in all directions. We quickly get down to the ground and fire back. I see two German soldiers get out of the pill box, both with Mausers. They start to fire in the field we are in. We outnumber them two to one and we pick them off one by one. Since we have C-4 explosives, we just need to plant one next to the door and then blow it off. Then we will capture a few officers, ask for information on their moving troops, and then make them POWs. Because that pill box will be dangerous to other reinforcements coming in by ground. 

One of our officers tells me and another soldier we should make a run for it and plant the bomb. So I grab a C-4 from the bundle I am carrying and we run for our lives. We make it unscathed and plant it. Then we see ten figures screaming and tell them to get out of there with weapons down and hands up. We take them prisoners, then go back into the pill box. We see four limp bodies. Dead. Two died of concussion, the others of the explosion. Then we see another pill box. And since it isn’t on duty, we think it will be easy to capture it. But when we plant the C-4, it doesn’t do a thing! We realize the door is made of steel, and the rest of the pill box is concrete reinforced with steel. We will need something stronger than C-4’s, so we run back to our command post, a few yards away, and tell the general that he didn’t give us what we needed and that he is the one who is going to deal with it. 

We think they are going to kick us out of the army but they say that it is alright and that we will get some tanks tomorrow morning. 

The next morning, we go back to the pill box and figure it is now active. Almost as if on cue, German machine guns open up. I see a soldier get up and throw a grenade. He takes out five Germans! Then I feel a pain in the leg. I have been shot. Everything is becoming blurry. I collapse. Everything goes black. 

I wake up in a tent with a familiar face hovering over me. I can’t believe it. I have survived! I ask his name and he says, “Oliver.” And soon after that we become close friends. 

I ask if we destroyed the pill box and Oliver says yes. He says that the tank was a Mark One and it had gotten stuck while descending. But it had still fired into the window where the machine gun was, killing its occupants instantly. But he says we had also lost eight men in the battle. 

In a few days, I have recovered completely. They have used pincers to take out the bullet and put sulfur powder on the wound. I go back to my group and they tell me we are going to dig trenches because of a suspected counterattack. We spend all day and night digging with shovels and bayonets. Luckily, I haven’t lost my shovel, so it is a bit easier. But for some of the men, they have lost both shovels and bayonets! They have really bad bruises and blisters on their hands. But they keep on going. We make about thirty feet in length, not bad for a day’s work.

 In two days, we are finished with the trench. The next day, our scout reports seeing  three tanks and about five hundred Germans heading to our trench. But it isn’t a problem for us. We have already planted mines on the road they were on. Suddenly, we hear a loud explosion. We all grin. They have fallen into our trap. We also have portable bazookas, and if the tanks miraculously survive, we will finish it off. But the Germans on foot will survive because the mines only activate when under heavy pressure. And for that, we have light and heavy machine guns to easily take out the Germans. Only one tank survives the minefield, and it has a large chunk of armor dragging behind it, and the top of the tank is on fire. But it keeps moving forward. 

We all grab a bazooka and some yell, “Fire!”

We all watch as the tank is demolished. We all cheer, but too early. We see a soldier fall, then another. We all crouch down and see the Germans advancing. We see a shell soaring through the air and land with a boom. A green smoke erupts from it. Poisonous gas. I yell, “Put on your gas masks!” 

We wait until the gas clears, but now the Germans are really close to taking over the trench. I run to a machine gun and yell to Oliver to come help me feed the machine gun. Once I squeeze the trigger and slice it across the field, Germans start going down. We have five machine guns and we begin mowing through them. I see a German officer raise a white flag. They’ve surrendered. 

We motion the medics to let them get their wounded. Then I see the medic talking through a telephone a mile a minute! I know he is describing our position. Then he pulls out a pistol. I grab the machine gun and put ten bullets in him. Even though it is a crime to kill a medic, he is giving away our position and he was going to kill us. 

We send a scout to see if German reinforcements are coming. He comes running back and says that the Germans are positioning artillery guns and they are now loading them with poisonous gas. We get into the tiny rooms that were dug into the side of the trench. Those spaces are meant for sleeping and protection from bombardment. We put on our gas masks. As soon as we get into those tiny spaces, we hear the screams of artillery shells flying through the air. They burst in green smoke. The gas masks are uncomfortable, but useful in these situations. Then we hear rumbling behind us. We peek just for a few seconds. Tanks have come to our aid! But the Germans know that already. Then we see anti-tank shells. They land all around our tanks. The Germans soon bring their own tanks. They outnumber our tanks, four against seven. But our tanks are not alone. We still have our bazookas. 

I aim it directly at the bottom of the enemy tank and fire. The tank is then being gobbled up in flames. Soon after, the rest of the group gets out and grabs their bazookas. But then we see Germans come out of dense foilage, with bayonets fixed. I drop my bazooka and grab a machine gun. The Germans are desperately fighting. I call for someone to help me, and Oliver comes, even though we need to help our tanks. We are running low on ammo, but we keep firing at the Germans. 

We take them all out in about five minutes! 

The field is littered with bodies. But the tanks keep fighting. Four of us aim our bazookas at one tank because it will take more than one person to take out one tank! We fire at almost the same time and the tank explodes. Its gun shatters and the left armor is hanging by a thread. We hear ear-piercing screams coming from inside the tank. The Germans in there are being cooked alive. I shudder at the thought of me being the German in that tank. I shake that thought away and fire at another tank. 

One of our tanks is hit and its wheels are on fire. I rescue the soldiers in the tank. The other three tanks fire shell after shell at their enemy. All together, we take out five enemy tanks, but the other four retreat. We all get out of the trench and then Germans run at us from all directions. We take out all of the tanks, so our tanks leave. We are surrounded. Some men stay in the trench to tend to the wounded. But the Germans didn’t know that. They ordered us to drop our weapons and put our hands up. They tell us to line up. I know they are going to execute us. But suddenly a German soldier falls, then another, then another. The Germans don’t know where they are being attacked from. They take out the Germans quickly. I go back to the trench and go to sleep. The next day, I learn that I have been in the war for about two years. I can’t believe it! It feels like only weeks have passed.

Prologue

In the moist, slippery cave at the darkest night, one blue and yellow egg sits at a crater in the cave. Two serpents slip into the cave and wrap around the egg.

“Dinner!” the first one yells. 

“No, he could have a much better use for us.”

Chapter One: Dragonite

I slink through the cave, my blue, silky scales make no sound. When I’m about to get out, my father yells, “Don’t even think about itssss,” his voice trailing off like a hiss. I haven’t been able to leave the cave since I hatched. My father found my egg in a crater over six years ago, and even now, he keeps saying that I’m far too weak to go out into the world by myself, and he’s probably right…

Chapter Two: 10 Years Later

I soar through the air. My scales have lost their blue, silky color and are now a vibrant yellow, a small spike on my head and thin, yellow wisp zoom backward on my head.

10 years ago, my father may have poisoned me if I went out of the cave but now, I’m bigger, stronger, and have gotten into fights. My father has told me more about the war that’s been going on, and how I will have to fight with my brothers and sisters to stop the fighting, that’s right! I haven’t talked about my siblings.

Chapter Three: A Chance to Talk about my Siblings

I have four siblings, each from a different one of the five clans. All have had their eggs “borrowed” by my Dad. There’s the Water tribe, the Earth tribe, the Fire tribe, the Light tribe, and me, from the Sky tribe. My oldest sibling, Mudstacle, is part of the Earth tribe. The youngest sibling, Riptide, is part of the Water tribe, Eruptor is from the fire tribe, and Sunlight, part of the Light tribe. I’m supposed to be called Dragonite, but just call me Chris, and we are supposed to stop the war.

Chapter Four: Battle training, Sky High

My dad says that I have to learn how to hunt and how to fight, so he slithers out of the cave and brings Landlings, with the fur on their head and the five little claws. I eat it promptly, of course, and then move to the history cave, where dad told me about the war. The five tribes are choosing sides to fight for the largest piece of land on the entire island. Water joined forces with Earth, Fire joined Light, and Sky fends for themselves. Of course, this doesn’t make my brothers and sisters pick sides. Next is battle training, this may be the end…

Chapter Five: Don’t Fight my Father!

This is probably a good time to say that my father is not just a normal snake, he’s a big, GIANT snake, with venomous, poison fangs that will make your heart stop in seconds. So while he is melting rocks with his acid, I’m hiding behind a rock trying to avoid the crossfire, shooting flames here and there blindly, when eventually, I do what the sky tribe always does: summon electricity to their fist and punch people in the gut, except I punch my father.

Chapter Six: Punishment or Praise

My siblings stick their heads out in surprise, Riptide spits water out of his mouth and laughs like a hyena. Dad stands up on his tail and glares at me. Then, he opens his mouth, I brace myself, and he says… 

“Well done, Dragonite. You get to eat five pieces of food from the prey pile.”

“WHAT?” we all say in unison.

Chapter Seven: Grand Theft Egg

My siblings hate my father, they want to go back to their families, especially Eruptor. Her egg was stolen from the royal hatchery, meaning that she’s the next Fire tribe queen, meaning that she was taken from him to start a war. If she wasn’t nice, she would have seared her claws through his skin. But me, I just want to end the war and go back home, to the sky.

Chapter Eight: Cave Run

For laughing, my dad puts a chain around Riptide’s mouth and ties him to the Cave rock. So that’s when Eruptor has enough and she says she is going to get out of here and we could come if we want. Riptide muffles something so Eruptor sears the chains of Riptide since she has fireproof scales. Once Dad, or “Venomdrench,” hears the metal clanking, he slithers to the cave, where Riptide is freezing the rock blocking the exit. I punch, and we fly away. We don’t know where we are going, we just leave.

Chapter Nine: Royalty

We soar through the air, we are finally free, we can do what we want. But then we see shiny glistening scales drag Eruptor down, but Riptide freezes the attacker’s wings and he plummets to the ground. I float down carefully and I see a brown dragon with pearls and jewel bracelets on her arms and legs. Mudstacle quivers and says,

“Guys, that’s the Earth queen. Earthquake.” 

Chapter Ten: Royalty Harmed

We have a queen with frozen wings in front of us, I think. We let her go, the entire Earth kingdom will be after us, we kill her and we might cause an entire new war.

But without hesitation, Eruptor pours molten lava all around where the queen is standing, and the plot of land dropped, all the way to the Earth’s core.

“Well, now we have killed royalty, have an entire Tribe after us, and we have nowhere to go”

“Wait!” I yell to my Mudstacle, Sunlight, Eruptor, and Riptide. “The sky tribe is fond of all clans, we can stay there!’

Chapter 11: Sky’s in Disguise  

The Earth tribe can turn themselves into any color, such as a Sky dragon. Water dragons can change color as long as they’re in water. Fire dragons can stay to the yellow color of skywings as long as they’re calm, and Sunlight is half Skytribe, so no trouble at all. So we walk into the mountain, called the Kingdom of Sky, and a guard twice our size opens the door, ready to pounce, then he looks down at us, and Riptide says,

“Hello!”

Chapter 12: 15 years later

We’re all visiting Eruptor, queen of the Fire tribe. I bring my kids along in a small little bag, one blue and yellow egg, and one red and blue egg. Mudstacle became the new Earth queen, and Riptide is the best hunter in the water tribe, and Sunlight, the Light princess. Mudstacle now has five big pearls on her body, Eruptor has jewels embroidered all around her, Riptide has gills and a fin on his head and back, and I have fully grown wings. Sunlight, queen of the strongest tribe, has a Sunstone on her chest and a sun emblem on her cheek. We are the protectors of the dragonfire.

Alex had a normal life until he was eight. His parents went out to get food while he stayed at home. That was when he put on the TV. There was a sudden news flash. It said there was a robbery happening near a store. The robber wore a black mask, a jacket, and blue jeans. Police were on the scene saying,

“POLICE! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR.”

That was when it happened. It was crazy, people started screaming and running and police were firing at the robber, the robber firing back. Alex sat there paralyzed in fright. But as he watched, he saw the police catching the robber. It later said that at least five people died, three police and two citizens. Alex then realized that the store that got robbed was the store that his parents went to get food at! Alex’s mind went through a million thoughts.

Are they dead? Are they hurt? Are they coming home? Should I go out to see if they are okay? After many arguments with himself, he decided to stay. That was when he heard on the news the child’s parents that got killed will get collected by the orphanage.

Hours passed and no one came, not even his parents had come home. That was when he heard a knock on the door. He was filled with excitement. Could it really be his parents? Then he remembered what the news said.

Well, he thought, it is time to find out. He opened the door and saw…

Two tall men. Wearing black clothes like if someone just died. The first man said, “Hello, child, may I come in?”

Alex knew not to let strangers in, but he had a gut feeling that they were important. So he let them both in. It was like they were inspecting the house. After some minutes looking around, they sat down. One of them said, “So did you hear the news?”

“Yes, I heard that they said a robbery happened and five people, including two citizens, died.”

 The other men said, “You’re right. And did you hear what they said later?”

“Yes,” Alex replied. “They said the child’s parents who died would go to an orphanage.”

“Well are your parents Steve and Chirstine?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I am afraid I have some bad news… your parents got killed by the robber.”

Alex sat there in shock. All of a sudden, he started to cry. One of them said,

“What is your name, child?”

“A- A- Alex,” he said, sobbing.

“Well, I am Michael, this David. So I am afraid we will have to take you to the orphanage. Come on, Alex.”

Alex, sobbing, went with them and never looked back.

***

That was three years ago, and ever since then, Alex had been in the orphanage. He remembered that day like it was yesterday. Every day he thought about it and wished it never happened. In the two years people tried to adopt him, it never ended well. The first family seemed nice at first but it turned out they weren’t. They worked him like a slave every day. One day it went too far, and Alex escaped. He had nowhere to go so it was back to the orphanage for him. After that, three more families adopted him but he ran away from all of them. They all were nice, but he never liked them. All he ever wished for was a family like the one he had. He remembered the times they spent together. How his parents loved him. But his parents had died and there was nothing that could change that.

A few days after he had run away from his fourth home, a new kid came in. He was as tall as Alex, 4ft 6 in. A lady introduced him to Alex.

“Alex, this is Mike.”

“Hi,” said Mike.

“Hello,” Alex replied. 

“So how did you end up here?” Mike said. 

“My parents got killed by a robber two years ago,” Alex said sadly.

Mike replied, “Mine too.”         

“Wait… WHAT?” Alex said.

Mike looked confused.

“Why are you so surprised?” Alex said.

“That’s not possible, my parents were the only citizens that day it happened… unless. Wait, were your parents cops?”

“Yeah, how did you know?” Mike asked, surprised. 

“I thought I was the only kid that lost his parents from the robbery that day,’ Alex said.

“… ok. Anyway, how did it go for you getting a family?” Mike asked. 

“Well, good, I guess the first family wasn’t so nice, but the others

were, but I didn’t like them,” Alex said.

“What, why?” Mike asked, a little jealous.

“None of them are like my family,” Alex said.

“So, I got terrible people who wanted to adopt me and you are

running away from people who want to love you,”  Mike said angrily. 

“Well, umm you see that uhhh… ”  Alex said, stammering.

“My dream is to live a happy life with someone who loves me and all

you care about is people who are already dead,” he said angrily as he stormed off.

Alex sat there in confusion. What, has he never wanted his family back?

Alex didn’t see him later that day and slept while thinking about it. The next day, he had gone to breakfast and saw that Mike was going to a new home again, but this was the same home that Alex got for the first time. He ran towards Mike and said,

“What are you doing?”

Mike said a little annoyed, “What it looks like. I am getting a new

home.”

“Don’t go with them. They treat you like a slave.”

“How do you know?” Mike replied.

Alex said, “Because I went with them once.”

Mike stopped in surprise and said to the lady, “I don’t want to go with you.”

She looked angry. “Why?”

Mike said, “Because I am not a servant.”

She left storming off and Alex said, “You know, you’re right.”

“About what?” Mike replied.

 “They are dead and nothing can change that. I need to accept it,” Alex said.

“Yup, now let’s go and get a new family,” Mike answered.

Ms. Frizz was an old woman who wore many sweaters, she had white, frizzy hair, and was a great math teacher, with greater students. They were all strangely smart. They would come in with a 100 IQ and go up to 160 within the first month. Since Ms. Frizz was seemingly a great teacher, not one parent complained about their kid being put in her classroom. In fact, parents were lining up at the administration office to transition their kid to that class. But Ms. Frizz kept a dark secret hidden behind the classroom’s dry, cracked walls. And no one knew all this until the day Timmy went into her class.

Timmy had a twin named Tommy, and Tommy was in Ms. Frizz’s class. The reason why they were split up was because Tommy had more potential, as his parents said, so he went to the ‘smarter classroom’ which Timmy thought was unfair, but he knew it would happen because Tommy was the favorite. But the twins decided to pull a prank one day and swap classes. As soon as Timmy walked into the classroom, he knew something was wrong. He watched as all the students stared blankly at Ms. Frizz.

“Hello class! We will start class by watching this math video!” 

“Yes, Ms. Frizz,” said all the students in unison. 

Timmy looked on as she projected a spinning black and white spiral that seemed never ending. He didn’t want to know what would happen if he looked at the spiral so he quickly looked for a way out. While Ms. Frizz was busy rolling back the projector into the ceiling, Timmy ran out of the classroom. What else could he do? He couldn’t just go back to class! When his mom came to pick them up, Timmy told her everything! But she didn’t believe him! Timmy didn’t know what to say or what to do. Then a light bulb went off, quite literally because Timmy’s mom was changing the dining room light bulbs after Timmy’s dad fell off of a chair while bringing his plate to eat. Dad blamed it on the bad lighting, but Timmy blamed it on how big he was. But he figured out how to give proof! He would bring a tape recorder! As Timmy came into school the next day, he was stopped in the hallway,

“Tim, what do you think you’re doing walking into my classroom?” 

“Tommy, remember we were supposed to switch classrooms?” 

“Yeah, but that was yesterday. And I can’t possibly stay in that mind numbing classroom of yours for another day!” 

“You can hold in there especially if I tell Eliza you were a bedwetter until you were 8!” 

“Ugh, fine!!!”

It was safe to say that Timmy felt quite accomplished with himself! He slowly crept into the classroom, uncomfortably holding the tape recorder under his sweater. 

“Tommy! You were acting quite strange by running out of the room yesterday. Can you go get me something from the ‘closet’… ” 

“Uhm, sure,” said Timmy without knowing what danger awaited him. All the students watched as he walked in slowly. 

“Uhm, Ms. Frizz, there is nothing in the — ”

The students watched in excitement as Timmy fell down a trapdoor and into a strange room. 

“Oops,” said Ms. Frizz while holding her hand over her mouth.

“Help me!!” Timmy pulled his phone out of his pocket and immediately took pictures of the room and the trap door. He called his mom to come pick him up, and as the good mother she was, she picked him up. Or so she thought. 

“Mom hurry!! Come pick me up!” typed Timmy as fast as he could. 

“Honey, I don’t know what you mean, you are already in the car,” said Timmy’s mom over text. 

Timmy felt his heart rise up and into his throat. She didn’t take Timmy, she took another boy home. He started panicking as it felt like the walls around him kept getting smaller. Just when he was about to pass out, a new, pristine, white projector unfolded out of the ceiling. It was a completely different color from the room, which needed a new paint job and a heavy duty scrubbing of the walls to get all the muck and grime off. Then the projector started playing a tape. 

“Hello, Tommy, I hate to put you down here since you were always my favorite student, but lately I feel like you need some one-on-one time. And that’s okay because you will be here in confinement while you get help on your ‘studies.’ And the kid I sent your mom home with was just a robot. And I know she is a doctor so she will be busy and won’t care to drive all the way back to school to pick ‘you’ up. She still thinks she has the right kid,” said the recorded tape of Ms. Frizz’s voice.

Timmy wasn’t going to accept this. He was going to escape right out of here. Well, as soon as he found a way he would. He looked up at the projector screen and wondered, 

“If I can climb this, then I should be able to get underneath the trap door and get out.” He quickly rushed over and climbed on top of the projector. He tried his best to balance his feet on the skinny projector screen, he stood up and couldn’t reach the trapdoor. 

“Darn these short legs!” 

He looked around to see if there was something he could use to reach and punch the trapdoor so he could escape. There! He saw that there was a pointer finger that teachers use to point at things but it would come in handy in this situation. He thrusted the finger up and swiftly broke the door! He used all the courage and upper body strength he had to climb up through the door. He made it out! He ran out of the classroom and out the school door. He then realized he would have to walk four miles to walk home since he didn’t have enough money for the bus fare. Once he made it home, he dragged his legs to the front door and used his keys to walk in, he then saw Tommy and the robot sitting at the table eating. He couldn’t tell who was the robot! They both looked the same! Timmy then announced his presence and said,

“Guys, I have something to show you!” He walked up to his mom and said, “I’m the real Timmy! Ms. Frizz just trapped me in a room so that she could hypnotize me, too!!”

“Timmy!? If you’re Timmy, then who are the people here at the dining table!?” Timmy’s mom, Alicia, shrieked and dropped a teacup. Alicia then ran up the stairs muttering to herself.  

“Maid! Come clean this up! And you! Have you lost your mind?! Ms. Frizz would never do that.” 

“Why can’t you be like your brother and be calm and collected!” said his dad. 

“I have the pictures! Why can’t you just believe me! My whole life, you have loved Tommy more than me, and you didn’t even care enough to put us in the same class!” 

“Son, I’m sorry you feel that, I know I may have shown more love to your brother but now we have to stop the robot,” said Timmy’s dad, Eric, gripping his shoulders. 

“B-But how can we?” said Timmy.

“It’s simple, we just touch their arms and we see if we can feel a heartbeat!” As soon as his father said that, they immediately ran over to the table and touched their wrists to feel a heartbeat. In a heartbeat, Tim’s dad had pinned the robot onto the floor!

“Call the police, Tim!!” bellowed his father. Tim dialed the police and when the police showed up, they handcuffed the robot (even though they could have just turned it off). Timmy then showed the police the pictures and the recording of everything Ms. Frizz had done. The police later found out where she lived, and that same night, they broke into her home with a warrant for her arrest, but there was no trace of Ms. Frizz. 

“Thomas, Timothy, me and your father have decided that we should move to Florida because I don’t want to bring another robot child home and I’m also now afraid of the school,” said their mother fanning herself.

Timmy and Tommy looked at each other and in unison they said, “Thank goodness!”

Two weeks later, Timmy and Tommy went to their first day of a new school. As they both took their seats (they were in the same class now), both of their hearts dropped, as they saw an old woman wearing many sweaters with white, frizzy hair. 

“Hello, class! My name is Ms. Frizz and I will be your math teacher this year!” 

“Bedtime, girls!” Dad called after my twin sister and I washed up and ate dinner and changed into pajamas. 

So we hurried into our shared room so that we could read before Dad came in and pushed our bedtime to a little later. About five minutes later, Mom and Dad came in and said it was time to put our books away. 

“Aww,” I said, “just a few minutes more pleeeease?” and I made my pleading face.

“No,” Dad said sternly, “you say this every time.”

Charlie and I didn’t want to argue, so we gave him our books and laid down. I was really looking forward to knowing if the characters in my book made it back from the time machine. 

Mom and Dad tucked us in and said good night. 

After they left, Charlie said, “Hey, Ali, want to read some more? I have my reading light that I got for our ninth birthday.”

I surprised myself with my own answer. I said that I wanted to get some rest before our first day of fourth grade. She seemed a little disappointed but hardly showed it. Then, I started to fall asleep.

Suddenly, I was flying. I couldn’t tell where, but I could see a whole town below me. It looked like London. Charlie and I went there with our parents last summer. But it didn’t look like how it did when we went there. It just looked different.

Then I started going in circles and I hoped it would stop soon, because I was getting dizzy. It stopped, but I was somewhere else.

“Hello?” I tried to say to an elderly woman. “Hello? Could you please tell me where I am? I’m lost.”

But she couldn’t seem to hear me.

It was hot. “Am I in some sort of tropical place?” I thought. Maybe I was in Hawaii. I have never been there, but I studied it in first grade and my cousin went there a year ago. But then I realized that everyone looked different. Not like how they looked in Alex’s pictures. “How is this happening?” I thought.

But just then I started twirling again. I landed with a thud in some place that looked like Pensylvania, where I’m from, except maybe older. Maybe in the colonial times that we were learning about in school. And then I realized it. I realized what I hadn’t noticed before. I was time travelling. 

And then I started spinning one last time. I ended up in a place. I couldn’t tell where because it was all covered in trees and bushes. There were Native Americans and deer and other animals getting shot by the Natives for food and clothes. It was their way of life I suppose. We learned about them in third grade also. I tried to talk to them, maybe ask some questions, but they couldn’t seem to hear me either. Maybe it was that they were visible to me, but I wasn’t visible to them. 

Then, I heard a “bring, bring, bring!” and “Wake up, Ali!” And that was the moment I realized that it was just my imagination.