The Lost Mom of the 3 Worlds

Chapter 1: BREATH

“Are you excited for our family reunion?” my dad had asked. Excited? How could I be excited? Mom left when I was three and I haven’t seen her since. Family reunion, more like no mom reunion.

With all these thoughts going through my head, I could barely take the one breath I desperately needed. The one breath that could have given me security about this family that I hadn’t seen in years. The last family reunion that we had was when I was three. To get you more caught up, I am now seventeen. That means I haven’t seen them in fourteen years. All except for my dad, at least. I wasn’t ready for this. I was scared of meeting my family again. The only thing I could do right now was go to sleep.

RING, RING, RING! Yawwnnn. The bright sun shone on my face like a warm tornado. I breathed in and then out. Finally a breath of relief. I did it again and I felt calmer. More relaxed.

When my eyes slowly opened, I could see my aesthetic, blue room. I could see blue clouds above my bed, all my blue stuffed animals, my blue blanket, and my blue open doors with light shining in from the deck. I could also see my dad hovering over me and my blue blanket with his scary statue-like glare and body position. Although, I knew he wasn’t mad. He had that same facial expression since Mom left. It was almost like a curse.

Chapter 2: CURSE

Oops. Did I say it? The C-word. Yep, that’s right. My family is cursed. Ever since my mom left, our family has been cursed. My dad has the curse of that glare, but I got the worst curse. I can’t talk. Not a single word. Sure, I’m smart, kind, and strong. Those were my blessings when I was born. My family used to be the blessing kind of family. We all had our own blessings, and those blessings made us special in our own kind of way. Except for my mom.

Well, now we’re talking about my mom. She was the curse to our family. She was the one who was cursed by an evil witch who took away her blessings and claimed them for herself. Now she is a wreck living somewhere unknown. Although I know, deep down inside, she is still the kind woman she used to be. When I close my eyes, I imagine her loving heart still inside my mind.

Chapter 3: BACK TO MY DAD

Like I said, my dad was standing over me in his statue-like position. 

“Get dressed,” he said, “I’m going to take you for breakfast.” So I got up, went to my closet, and took out a pair of denim shorts and a peach crop top. I went over to my dad, and we started walking in the direction of Jouns, a sweet, little cafe. It sucked that I couldn’t say anything to my dad. I couldn’t even tell him that I loved him. All I could do was nod my head.

When we got to Jouns, I pointed at a seat that I wanted to sit at, but he didn’t see my finger, and he took me to eat inside. I hated sitting inside. The loud noises haunted my ears. But what could I do? I couldn’t talk and I only knew the slightest bit of sign language. I couldn’t even tell my dad that I wanted to learn sign language.

We took a seat at a small table with two, little, white chairs. A nice waiter greeted us.

“Should we start with some drinks?” she asked. 

“That shall be lovely,” my Dad said. “What will you be wanting today?” the waiter asked.

“One small latte and one large orange juice,” my dad told the waitress. Orange juice was my least favorite juice, and now I had to drink a large. But how was I supposed to tell my dad that? I needed to go somewhere alone. And I didn’t just mean outside. I wanted to go on a trip. Not to Hawaii or California. I wanted to find my mom.

Chapter 4: STORY

I was in my blue bed with my donut pajamas and my dad beside me. I know, I know. I’m seventeen, and my dad shouldn’t be tucking me in, but it felt good. I had no one else to love. No friends, no brother, no sister, no mom. Who else was I supposed to trust?

I blinked really hard at my dad. This was my way of telling him I wanted to hear a story.

“Okay, okay,” my dad started, “I think you’re old enough to know this. Remember how the evil witch crashed our family reunion when you were three and took away your mom and her blessings? You know how the witch was unknown? Well, the witch is not unknown. She is your mom’s evil sister. She was jealous of your mom, so she cursed her and the rest of her family. Not just you and me. Pops is blind. Gram Gram is always grumpy. Grandma and Grandpa are poor and homeless. Julie can’t fall asleep, and Aunt Harmonica is so unsmart. Uncle Jerry has it the worst, though. He is so greedy and always wants more.”

“Anything more?” I say in sign language.

“Well, there is one more thing. It is the mother’s daughter’s job to travel to all of the three worlds in which your mom could have been banished, find her, and heal her of her curse. When you do, our family will be the blessing kind of family once again. You will take this bag. In this bag is the cure to give your mom and a tool for each world you go to. You will leave first thing in the morning. Don’t come to me to say goodbye, just knock on your closet door three times.” He kissed me on my forehead and then left. I guess you could say I was happy. I got to make my decisions. I hadn’t done that in fourteen years.

Chapter 5 – April 24, 1976: THE JOURNEY HAS BEGUN

RING, RING, RING! sounded my alarm clock. I had set it to 5:00. I got in my closet and changed into blue-ribbed leggings and a pink crop top. I tied a sweater around my waist.

Before knocking on my closet, I grabbed the bag my dad had said to take and, at the last second, I grabbed a fresh journal from my shelf and shoved it in the bag along with a pen. I went into my closet and closed the door. I knocked once, twice, three times.

Chapter 6: TIME

It didn’t happen suddenly. It took time. Maybe five or ten minutes. I took that time to write.

Dear Diary,

Finally, I get to defend myself in the world. I guess I’m happy. Finally, no Dad ordering me a large orange juice at a restaurant. I can order a large apple juice! Not that there will be juice or restaurants in the three worlds. No one to tell me, “Time for bed, Pearl,” or “You love orange juice, don’t you, Pearl?” I’m free for the first time in fourteen years. But part of me worries. What if I can’t help our cursed family before the reunion? Or what if I can’t help my family at all? Will I die? Will my family die? Will my mom die? Will my family stay the same? Will my mom stay the same? Thanks for understanding, Diary. Just arrived. Talk to you later.

Chapter 7: JOY

I stepped out of my closet and onto a rainbow floor. I saw a girl with her head in her hands, crying. I went over to her. I couldn’t even ask her what was wrong. Maybe she knew sign language.

“What’s wrong?” I said in sign language.

“This is the planet of joy,” she said. I let her continue. “You’re supposed to be joyful! But what if I’m not?” A shiver I had never seen before ran through her body. I laid my head on hers. I couldn’t even ask her what was wrong. I couldn’t even tell her about my life to make her feel better. But what if I could?

I put out a finger to represent one second and I went into my closet to grab the bag my dad had given me. Inside was a speaker. Not like a microphone, but a fancy speaker. This fancy speaker’s magnifier was not supposed to be around in 1976. I felt like I was in the future. This wasn’t a regular speaker. I could talk with this speaker! I put this fancy speaker on and I tried to mouth the word “Test.” I could hear my voice going through my body. I was speaking for the first time in fourteen years. A note on the microphone said you have ten sentences. This meant that I had used one and had nine left.

I went over to the girl a second time. Her makeup was messed up, and her tears were now dried up. “I have nine sentences on this speaker,” I told the girl. “What’s wrong?”

“My mom wants me to marry this man,” she said, “He will make me happy and joyful. But he doesn’t make me happy. He makes me upset. He swears and gets mad at me for the tiniest things. For heaven’s sake, this is the planet of joy!”

Now I knew, this was the planet of joy. I had eight sentences left. “Why can’t you tell your parents that you don’t want to marry him?”

“They will be disappointed in me. They just want to make me happy. Besides, who else will I marry? Do I even have to marry if I don’t want to?” I shook my head, meaning no.

“Take me to your parents,” I said.

“Okay,” she responded. I followed her through rainbow trees, crowds of joyful people with bright clothes, and finally a rainbow cobblestone step leading to a bright, orange, two-story house with a nice, red deck. I thought about ringing the doorbell, but then the girl stepped right through. Inside, I could see a rainbow couch, a bright blue TV blaring many colors, and two moms watching the TV in matching, green dresses. They weren’t staring at the TV, though. They were staring at each other. Here it comes, I thought. I was right. Smooch smooch smooch. I hadn’t seen that in fourteen years.

“Mom, moma! I told you not to do that infront of me.” One mom blushed.

“Sorry hon, didn’t know you were there.”

“Today’s their honeymoon,” the girl explained.

“Your daughter has something to tell you.” I got right to the point. I had five sentences left. I gestured towards the girl.

She took a deep breath and then blurted it all out. “I don’t want to marry Tom! He swears and gets mad at me!” She turns her voice into a whisper. “He-he doesn’t make me joyful.” 

“Oh honey,” The other mom said, “Marry who you want.” 

“Really?” said the girl.

“Of course,” both of the moms said. They go over to hug the girl. As soon as that happened, my speaker dropped to the floor, I went right back to my closet, and it took off.

Chapter 8: DEAR DIARY ENTRY #2

Dear Diary,

I just helped a girl (I don’t know her name) be joyful. I talked for the first time in fourteen years and I saw true love for the first time in what seems like forever. Longer than fourteen years, I’m sure, because my parents didn’t kiss or even show they loved each other during or even before the reunion. I do know one thing, though.  I have to save my mom before the family reunion. I have to make sure my parents fall in love once again. Or, I don’t know what will happen. Probably something unknown and so very frightful. I wonder if the witch is still alive? If she is, will I have to face her? If I do, will I win? I am starting to doubt myself. Thanks for listening, Diary. I have just landed and have to go, bye.

I know what you’re thinking. You treat your diary like a friend! You make the D in “diary” uppercase! Remember, I don’t have any friends. Besides my dad, I can only talk to this Diary.

Chapter 9: THE PLANET OF LOVE

I stepped out of my closet. I saw a pink heart. No, but seriously big. It covered a whole room. And yes, I had landed inside, inside a small room. I knew that because I saw a wall about ten feet away from the ground. I heard a conversation coming from another room only a few feet away from where I was standing. I walked closer and peeked my head through the door. I could see a boy trying to kiss a girl, but the girl refused.

“Get away from me Jeff!” the girl said. Then she spotted me. I tried to quickly but quietly move away and act like I was never there, but she beat me to it. “Who are you?” she said in a snobby voice.

No turning back now. I stepped in a little bit and said in sign language, “I can’t talk.” She didn’t understand. I could also see that Jeff was confused as well. He was staring at the woman (maybe twenty-five or thirty) with loving eyes. I was going to have to do this the hard way. I pointed at myself. I pointed at my mouth. Then I made an X with my fingers. The woman finally understood. 

“You can’t talk,” the girl said in a surprised voice, “My name is Hannah. This is Jeff,” she said in an exasperated voice. Well, the Jeff part.

I once again put a finger out to represent one second and ran to my closet. Inside the closet was my bag. Inside my bag was a note. This is what it said:

Dear my dear Pearl,

This couple is like a broken heart. You need to help this couple get back together before the sun sets on this day. Your estimated time is seven hours. If you do not help this couple in time, the world of love will turn to darkness, and you will get sent back home without saving your mom and your family.

– Good luck, DAD

If I didn’t help this poor couple, I would be dead. Dead meat. I couldn’t go home without saving my mom. What would my dad think of me? What would my family think of me? I couldn’t do this. I went to a dark corner in the room, rolled up into a ball, and started to cry. Tears ran down my face like big puddles. 

After a few minutes of sulking, I could hear something. Something in my head. It was saying: “We’ll always love you. No matter what. Amen.” I could remember this place. It was the day of the reunion. My family all next to me, smiling. In my little high chair I felt so proud. Next I saw pictures flying in my head. I could see the witch’s wart. Big, on the side of her nose, liquid oozing out of it. The green was a pop of color compared to her plain, peachy-white skin. Next, I saw her wand zapping and making a big firework-like show that caused a boom and made a hole in our wall that my dad had to fix later. Then I saw me and I heard the last word I ever said which was AHHH! I saw my mom get picked up by the evil witch’s wand and leave with the evil witch. 

I woke up in the same darkened corner of the room. My eyes darted around. I could see the shape of the heart, the door leading to the next room, my closet, and my pile of tears around me. I felt sweat, warm and sticky all over my body. I saw Hannah standing above me, Jeff beside her. I handed Hannah the note.

“This note was probably not made by your dad. First of all, Jeff and I were just in a fight, but we’re still together. She went over and kissed Jeff on the lips. I sighed a sigh of relief. “Second of all, this looks a lot like the evil witch’s handwriting. Every planet knows the evil witch. She’s infamous everywhere.” I gulped. “She lives on the planet of dismay along with a mom she kidnapped. I can take you there, but it’s a pretty long journey.”

I stopped her. I pointed at myself. Then in the air I spelled out: M-O-M. Before she could be surprised, I took her hand and pulled her into my closet. I knocked three times on the door.

Chapter 10: DEAR DIARY ENTRY #3

Dear Diary,

I met this woman named Hannah. She looks around twenty or thirty, and she told me the most surprising fact. Guess what! My Dad didn’t send me that note, the evil witch did. I don’t understand. He said he sent me something for each world. But he didn’t. Do you know what could have happened? The other thing is, I should have known my mom is in the world of dismay. Why would the evil witch send her to a world of joy or a world of love? Well, I guess I can’t continue unless I solve the problem that’s going on in the planet. But on the love planet Hannah and Jeff solved the problem. I guess I was my problem for that world. Maybe the planet of Love and the planet of Joy were obstacles to get to the planet of Dismay? We’ve just landed. Have to go, Bye Diary!

Chapter 11: THE PLANET OF DISMAY

I stepped out of my closet and I got goosebumps from a cold rush of wind. I took my sweater and put it on. Hannah put on a sweater as well. I grabbed my bag and put it on like it’s a purse. When I was done with all of this, I took a moment to look at my surroundings. First thing I saw was that Hannah was in shock, her mouth was wide open and she couldn’t even mumble out one word. Welcome to the club. I saw Darkness, lots of black and no happiness, and big black pieces of dust. I saw huge pictures of the witch and flashbacks from the reunion building of huge monsters towering over me.

But in the middle of it all, I saw my mom. She looked older. Brown curly hair like mine and brownish-tan skin like mine. But her face was more wrinkled. Not too wrinkled but the slightest bit wrinkled. I did some quick math and realized she was in her late fifties. 

I slowly walked over to her, and Hannah did too, trailing behind me. I walked over to my mom and laid my head on her shoulder, and she laid her head on my head and started sulking. Hannah sat beside me feeling sorry for me in the best possible way. I took out a bottle, and gave it to my Mom. I imitated drinking something, and Mom knew what to do. When she drank the bottle, her tears ran dry and the dust went away and turned into a beautiful sun. Then I saw the Witch cackling.

“Think you can get away!” The witch said, her wart still looking the same. I grabbed my mom’s hand and we ran. We ran past the evaporating dust, and the big rocks, and the long, tall grass. We ran even though the witch was above us, cackling like she was mad. We ran fast, until we realized that Hannah was gone. We turned back through the long grass and the big rocks, and the evaporating dust. We saw Hannah had tripped over a rock, and blood was all around her neck. We have to think fast, but I couldn’t stand looking at blood, and the witch was an inch away from us! With no hesitation, my mom grabbed Hannah and held her above her head like a fireman saving someone from a fire. Next, we ran past the evaporating dust, the big rocks and the tall grass. We quickly ran to the closet with the witch behind us, her cackling loud and clear. My mom didn’t hesitate and she ran fast, even though Hannah was on her back and there was a witch behind her. The witch got close, too close, and I could feel her breath. It smelled like human flesh. She reached out her wand, but just in time I slammed the closet door and knocked on it three times. 

Chapter 12: DEAR DIARY, LAST ENTRY

Dear Diary,

I finally found Mom. She is now forgetful of what just happened and is asleep. She won’t wake up until we get home. She won’t have a single memory of this whole adventure. I found that note in my bag. Another thing is that we dropped Hannah off at the world of love. I wanted to stay and make sure she was ok. I wasn’t able to say goodbye and I feel bad. When I had to leave Hannah I cried up some tears. But at least we left her in the right hands. This is my last diary entry of this journey, so goodbye forever dear Diary. Just landed.

Chapter 13: APRIL 27, 1976 – THE JOURNEY HAS ENDED

I stepped out of my closet into my aesthetic, blue room. Mom acted like this was a normal day and nothing happened. “Change out of that outfit, Pearl honey. It’s filled with dust.” I smirked. 

“Wonder where that dust came from,” I said. Huh, I said. I said!

“Me too,” said Mom.

I changed into a plain white shirt and skinny jeans with 3 buttons on the top. I walked downstairs and over to my dad. “Why didn’t you send me any material for the world of love?” I asked.

“I didn’t send anything for any world. You knew what you needed, you thought about it, and you got what you wanted. As for the world of love, well, you were your obstacle. If you didn’t break down, you would’ve gotten past that world in a matter of seconds.”

“You were watchin-” I started.

“No more talk about this nonsense dream you had,” he said and winked at me. I smiled.

The End

A Pawtograph Problem in Paris

One sunny spring morning I was rushing to work. I had lots of work to do. Oops, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Dancy the Dogetective. Now where was I? Ah, I remember, I work in the Department of Dogetectives. It was a typical work day. As I was working, my sister came in at lightning speed on her electric scooter!

“Pancy,” I said. “How many times have I told you to not ride your scooter in my office!” 

“Sorry!” she said sheepishly. Right then, my up to no good cousin barged in.

 “What up peeps?” she asked. Before I could scream anything, she stuffed my mouth with chicken.

Oh, chicken! My favorite, I thought, then I gulped it in one bite. Just then I realized that it had peanuts from the taste. Oh, no, peanuts! I always get a tummy ache when I eat peanuts. For some reason, my cousin doesn’t like me.” 

“I NEED THE BATHROOM!” I shrieked.

My whole team looked at me.

 “Oops, sorry Dancy-pants,” my cousin snickered. 

 “I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS!” I shrieked.

I ran to the bathroom. After the bathroom, I ran to strangle my cousin, but my sister stopped me!

“Stop acting like babies, split up!” she said. 

“Wow, nice going sis, thanks!” I said. 

“You’re welcome,” she said proudly.

”Hmf,” said my cousin. Then I heard a little knock on the door.

”Come in,” I said. Just then I realized my little niece was standing outside the door.

“Hi auntie!” She ran to hug me. 

“Oh, my little niece Fancy.” Not to brag but my niece is the sweetest, most honest little dog in the whole wide world.

”Oh, Dancy, I forgot to tell you that I have a holiday for one week!” my sister Pancy said. 

 “Oh, me too,” said my little niece. Suddenly my cousin’s grumpy face turns into a sly grin. 

”I think that our cousin is up to something,” Pancy said.

”Isn’t it obvious?” I asked.

“Well, I guess.” Pancy said. 

“Oh, sis, you never say yes or no,” I said as I burst out laughing.

“Well, yeah, I guess,” she said as she burst out laughing too.   

“Auntie, can we go to Paris?” Fancy said. 

“If I can book tickets, then yes,” I replied.                                

After our talk I realized that it was night, so I told my team to go home and my family went home too. The next morning I got a call from one of my best friends. I was shocked at what he had to say!

“We are going to Paris!” I shouted into my family’s room. We started to pack as soon as we finished breakfast. After 20 minutes, we were at the airport.

”Come on!” shouted my sister. After a maze of people we reached our airplane and boarded. On our flight, I was so excited I couldn’t stay still! 

Finally, after a long flight, my cousin said, ”I am famished! I’m so hungry!” 

“Oh, we can get a pawtogragh of a famous author.” I said. “Want to go?”

”Let’s go,” said my sis.     

“It’s on 76th street,” I said. We walked down the road to 76th street, and were finally there. But the author wasn’t there! There was a crowd like swarming bees around honey. 

“What a mystery,” I said. 

“Let’s look for clues,” my sis said. 

Me and my sister looked for clues while my niece and cousin asked people where they saw the author last. We were looking for footprints and other kinds of helping clues. 

“Oh, come here,” my sister said, “I think I found something!” 

“What did you find?” I asked. 

In reply, she said, “I found some coins. I think our famous author got dognapped!”

“I think so too,” I agreed.

“Wow, look, I found more coins! It’s a trail of coins! Maybe if we follow them, it’ll lead to footprints or other clues!”

 “Okay, ”I replied. And, as always, my sister was right. This time our clue was footprints! They led to a big hotel. Its name was the Ritz. The Ritz was one of the fanciest hotels.

”Hey, I know our famous author’s name. Let’s ask if someone saw him!” I said. 

“Okay,” Pancy said. So we went to ask the hotel manager. 

He said he hadn’t seen the author, but I saw a fearful look on his face and beads of sweat on his forehead.

”He is lying,” I told my family. They believed me, so we went to every floor and checked every door. Finally, on the fourth floor, in the 159th room, we finally found the dognapper. We knocked on the door, but the door had been left unlocked. Then, in front of our very eyes, was the one and only author.

 “We found her!” exclaimed Dancy. She was tied up and had a handkerchief in her mouth so she couldn’t scream.

 “Help!” she said, in a muffled scream. Quickly, Pancy ran to untie the handkerchief. I got a knife from the drawers and went to cut the ropes. 

“Thank you,” our author said. 

“You’re welcome,” we said, proudly.

THE END.

The Nuclear Death: Part 2

Chief Larry was finding a way to capture S.H. They changed the location of S.H., which used to be in Nevada, but Chief Larry had a plan. Of course, he was still sad about the director of D.N.S. dying, but right now he had to focus on how to find S.H. He was going to send some spies to get hired at S.H., but they still had to find the location. Chief Larry, or, should I say, Director Larry, used satellite connection to find the exact location of S.H. It was in a cave in Argentina, in Buenos Aires. So, Director Larry, along with five unidentified spies, went to Buenos Aires. They took a private jet. It had gourmet food, and the bathroom was so big, someone could sleep in it. Director Larry did sleep in the bathroom, because the bedroom was worse than the bathroom. Once they arrived in Buenos Aires, they settled at Argentina’s best hotel. They also had a D.N.S. in Buenos Aires. The hotel was in D.N.S. 

The Argentinian director of that D.N.S. was so happy to see Director Larry. Director Larry was the boss of all the D.N.S., because it was in the U.S.A, which is where it had started. The Argentinian director’s name was Pedro, Director Pedro. Luckily, all of the D.N.S. directors spoke English. They looked at the satellite connection again. S.H. was 5 miles away. Director Larry, along with his and Pedro’s spies, went to the cave. They traveled in  a car. Once they got there, Director Larry told the spies to disguise themselves in regular clothes so S.H. would hire them. Director Larry also said that they would stay in S.H. for one week, undercover. 

In S.H., a spy named Clinton was writing down information in his notebook. He found out that S.H. was going to set off a nuclear bomb in the D.N.S. facility in Argentina. Clinton had a walkie-talkie to talk with Director Pedro and Director Larry. Clinton told them everything. Clinton’s role was to spy on D.N.S. and find out what they were up to. But don’t forget: Clinton was an undercover agent for D.N.S. When Clinton’s time was up, he went back to D.N.S. Clinton told them everything, from the beginning to the end. Clinton found out that they were going to set off the bomb on Friday. That day was Tuesday. Director Pedro and Director Larry called all of the other directors from all over the world. Clinton told them it wasn’t just Argentina: they were going to do all of the facilities, starting with Argentina. They warned all the other facilities and asked them to go on lockdown. Now, S.H. couldn’t steal anything from them. If you’re wondering who’s controlling the facility in the U.S.A, it’s the vice-director. When S.H. arrived at D.N.S., they were super confused. Director Pedro told every facility to send out military forces. S.H. went back to their base. The leader of S.H. told his people to go to America.

Two days later, when they got to America, it was on lockdown again. The only choice they had was to break into the facility, so they did exactly that. They used some rope and attached some sticks to secure the hook. They were through the first level. There were many other levels until they got to the core. The core was where D.N.S. kept all the bombs and built them. The first level was very easy, but they saw many, many guards standing. 

Director Larry got back to the D.N.S. in the U.S.A. When he landed, he heard an alarm. He asked one of his guards what was going on. The guards said that S.H. was trying to break into the facility. The guard also said, 

“We have to keep you safe. They might be trying to assassinate you.” Director Larry went inside a large, most secure vault, located in the core. It seemed like S.H. wanted to blow up the core, but if they wanted to do that, wouldn’t that mean they would die, too? Maybe they would steal all the bombs and then use them to destroy the world. But once they destroyed the world, they would probably be dead, too.

 Director Larry sat in the vault and watched some TV. He watched the movie “Moonfall,” to prepare for the end of the world. But then, he heard one of the guards saying something. He said, “we’re going to lift up the vault and take you to a different area.” He heard a big thud. The vault was lifting up. The guard said, 

“Most likely, we’re going to take you to New York City to stay at the Plaza Hotel.” Director Larry refused. He wanted to stay in the building and fight with his people.

“You have to live,” screamed the guard. 

“If my people die, I will too,” Director Larry said. Just like that, Director Larry opened the vault and jumped out with a parachute. He saw the leader of S.H. standing with a knife. Director Larry kneeled and showed his chest with no fear. The knife touched his heart. 

“Thank you for setting me free,” whispered Larry. He fell down on his side. Every guard kneeled. The leader of S.H. stole the nuke button from Larry and pressed it. D.N.S. and S.H. were destroyed with grace. When the other D.N.S. facilities heard, they pressed the nuke button too. Angels surrounded the body of Larry with respect. Larry rose to heaven with his people. The war was over.

The Picture

Chapter 1

SHOOM! BLAM!

I looked on as my torpedo exploded a wooden boat, exactly on the middle point. I could see the broken parts of the ship floating away into the Pacific ocean. I glanced to see the surface of the water just in time to pull up my Mitsubishi Ki-30 up to a high altitude. I could feel the air push up against my face. I couldn’t help but wish that the exact same fate would be what would happen in the upcoming battles, to the American warships, instead of me. 

Turning on the afterburn of the thrusters, I zoomed past to the aircraft carrier ahead, the Chiyoda. I dove down and pushed down my landing gear as I put my thrusters to 30 percent, landing perfectly on the carrier. At that exact moment I wondered if I would live to see the carrier again. 

As the plane already landed, I opened the cockpit and stepped, looking out into the horizon. I never knew it could be as peaceful as this even in a time of war. But no, tomorrow the horizon would be filled with smoke and the smell of full chaos, and the screams of death.

“Hey Mitsuwa! How was the practice run?”

I turned around to see my best friend, Takehiko Ena.

“Not much, perfect as usual.”

Before Takehiko could respond, a voice called out from behind.

“Maybe if you weren’t gossiping all the time you would be able to do perfect test runs like Col. Nagoki, Lt. Ena!”

I turned to see General Yamamoto behind me. He was the commander of the aircraft fleet. It was an honor to see him as he was the leader of the military all together. In his lavish uniform and confident gaze he looked extremely intimidating.

“Yes sir, sorry sir!” replied Takehiko, very scared.

“Good now, get out of my sight. I have to talk to Mitsuwa, in private.”

“Yes, sir!” said Takehiko, walking out of sight.

“Hmmm. Good,” he said, his tone turning even more serious. “You have been invited to join the Divine Wind, the bravest of all in the world, ready to sacrifice their lives to destroy the evil Americans.”

I was suddenly taken back. The kamikazes? I would never think of getting the honor of joining the core. They were the bravest of the Japanese Air Force. But I couldn’t do it. I had sworn to destroy America for as long and as much as I could. Dying would mean my dream would never happen. I would never meet my dad in America. I would never be able to hug and laugh with my father as he had done before the war.

“I am truly sorry General Yamamoto, but I cannot. I have swore to find my father and finish the American navy, and all who support its victory. Therefore, I must refuse the offer with great respect, sir,” I replied.

“I am very sad to hear this, but I hope you all the best, and a valiant day ahead. I will tell you, you can always join, and my offer will always be on the table,” he answered. 

I watched as he left, turning to go to the main port office.

Chapter 2

2 years ago, when I was 18 years old, I received news of my fathers imprisonment in America. I was enraged. I couldn’t believe that the American government was arresting innocent Japanese citizens who had nothing to do with the war. The next day I swore to kill every American I saw, soldier or not. Soon, I found myself at a recruiting station ready to join the Air Force. 

But today was the day I would be finally ready to fulfill that wish. Today we were ready for battle.

I left my bunk, putting on my uniform and my pilot’s cap. I adjusted my goggles, opening my plane’s cockpit. At that moment, I knew what I had to do. Kamikaze or not, today was the day I was going to die. 

Chapter 3

As I began to get the thrusters to life, I heard an explosion. 

SHOOM! KABLAM!

I glanced in front of me, and I saw the hull of the ship cut off and severed. The Americans were here earlier than we thought. I put the thrusters to full, as my plane ran through the runway, as wind pushed against my face, I went up the sky with my body filled with rage. 

The American fleet was going to die today. 

Chapter 4

As I zoomed into the sky, and glanced forward I could see a fleet. I could see about five ships. Going forward, I saw even more. Instead of five, there were 45. This was going to be the biggest battle I had ever been in.

Gaining speed, I looked at my speed semi-parameter. 488 km. That was enough to make the dive. Pushing my control-nozzles down, I dived right towards the ship, firing my machine guns hoping to hit the steam compartments to ground it. 

As I aimed my shots, I could see that my machine guns were losing ammunition. Now it was time for the torpedo. I aimed right at the middle, just like in practice. 

SHOOM! BLAM!

I looked down to see the torpedo cut the ship in two hitting right in the middle. I could hear the screams of sailors as I fired my machine guns to kill any sailors that were jumping off. 

Ready to turn, I put my control-nozzles into a northeast direction turning right up to see more ships. Diving in at another destroyer, I fired my torpedoes and bombs, damaging it badly. 

PKOW! PKOW! PKOW! PKOW!

I maneuvered through, narrowly dodging the machine gun fire from a nearby F4U Corsair. I turned full up, trying to lose him in the sky. But the bullets kept coming, quickly getting closer.

BBKRAW! 

I looked at my wing to see it fully turned off. I tried to eject myself, but it was too late, as my plane headed straight down for the water, crashing below.

Chapter 5

SHOOM!

My plane dived into the water, as saltwater splashed into my eyes. Pain burned in my eyes. I couldn’t see. Worst of all, I was drowning. Trying to resurface, I moved my hands around the plane to see if I could feel the cockpit opener. 

I could feel it, a bumpy handle! I pushed up with all my strength. Soon, I could feel the water crashing down in the cockpit. Swimming to the surface, I cleared my eyes of saltwater, and glanced up. I could see the Japanese fleet being pummeled by the F4U Corsair’s circling above. 

We were losing. 

I glanced around to see anything that could help me escape being in the middle of a naval war ground. 

PKAW! PKAW! PKAW!

I could hear gunshots in the distance. I looked at the direction they were coming from, seeing a nearby island with soldiers boarding the islands from amphibious cars. Judging from their uniforms they were American. 

Consumed by rage, I swam to the island with a feeling for murder in my heart.

Chapter 6

On the shore, waiting for the American soldiers to get far away, I looked around for anything I could use to ambush the unsuspecting American soldiers. After looking around for a while, I suddenly heard a loud sound in the distance.

BLANG! BLAM!

Turning into the direction of the sound, I could see a Japanese Type 97 tank firing shells on the American soldiers from above a small hill. The American soldiers scattered behind nearby trees and bushes, trying to return fire and survive the massive barrage of shells. 

PKOW! PKOW! PKOW! PKOW! 

Their bullets ringed in the air, but the tank was too well protected, as the bullets barely hit the foot of the hill. The soldiers quickly began to drop like flies, as the tank retreated to other skirmishes in the distance. Only a few soldiers remained as they regrouped tending to the injured while some looked on, to see any other unforeseen dangers. 

Taking my chance, I ran to a dead body that was not too far from my spot on the shore. I looked at the body. It was a young American man with pale skin and blue eyes. From looking at the wounds, shards from a shell had impaled him in the stomach. 

“Poor kid,” I muttered. 

Looking for weapons I looked at the body quickly finding a picture of him and a man. The man was a sailor, and the caption looked as if it said he had died during Operation AI, or Pearl Harbor. He looked happy, and the death had obviously caused him to join their Army. 

Searching the body more,  I found a rifle, along with two grenades, and a pocket knife. Loading the rifle I aimed at the clutter of Americans and fired. Loading and firing, I could hear the screams of confusion and death as the soldiers scattered for cover. 

Quickly reacting, I threw both grenades in their area killing all of them. Sprinting, I ran through the path looting all of the bodies ready for battle.

Chapter 7

Going across the path, I looked at the map one of the soldiers had. It had English, and was hard to read with the messy handwriting, but I understood the landing point. As I looked at the drawn compass, I saw a Japanese airfield to the northwest of where I was.

Turning in that direction I began to sprint trying to get back to the battle, and my promise to kill. 

Chapter 8

Arriving at the airfield, I could see the ensuing battle. Japanese tanks and soldiers fired at the F4U Corsair circling above. American soldiers were also charged at the airfield trying to take it over and stop any aircrafts arriving to attack their fleet. Trying to help, I ran over the American line, with a newfound courage in my heart.

“BANZAI! Amerikahito o korose! Kazoku no tame ni tatakaimashou! Kōtei no tame ni tatakae! Kodomo-tachi no tame ni tatakaimashou! Sokoku no tame ni tatakae!” I yelled, charging at the Americans.

Firing at the line I threw all the 12 grenades I had on me. As I heard the explosion, a stray shard stabbed me in the shoulder. Pain filled my heart, as blood began to cover my shoulder.

Using my other shoulder to fire and load my gun, I glanced around. Other soldiers and tanks began to charge along with me as we destroyed the struggling and outmatched Americans.

I looked around looking for any aircrafts I could use to advance forward. I saw a Kawasaki Ki-10 in the distance as I opened the cockpit and climbed in, quickly turning on the thrusters as I zoomed into the sky.

To tend to my shoulder wound, I ripped off some of the leather covering the control nozzles, and wrapped it around my shoulder after ripping the shard out.

As my altitude climbed I glanced around to see if any ships were near. I saw a P-38 Lightning circling around a troop of Japanese soldiers, firing its machine guns. 

Trying to surprise the plane, I got behind its tail, and aimed right at the cockpit, firing away my machine guns. Glancing back I saw the dead body of the pilot as it crashed down into the water. 

Looking around for more targets I circled back seeing a destroyer in the distance. I knew what I had to do. Turning on my afterburn, I dived into the ship, ramming it as the plane broke down into pieces, making me black out. 

Chapter 9

“He geut uhp, yau Japp!” a voice yelled.

I suddenly woke up. My mouth was salty and my body was soaked. My eyes burned from the amount of salt that was around my body. My left arm looked really banged and teared up. 

I looked around to see a pistol aimed right at my head. A group of American soldiers were surrounding me, and they looked scared, as if this was the first time they had ever seen a Japanese soldier.

“Heu’s awakened,” one of them said. 

Even though I had learned some English from my father it clearly wasn’t enough to actually fully understand what they were saying.

From their expression they wanted me to surrender, and they looked as if they didn’t really want to hurt me, they looked as if they wanted to help me, and get me out of this mess.

“He looks really banged up,” another one of them said.

“We should bring him back to base,” a taller one said. 

Trying to signal my surrender I tore a piece of white cloth from my uniform waving it around, to try to give a bit of a thought of surrender. 

Seeing this one of the soldiers behind them stepped up to see me. He looked Japanese, and looked older than the rest, and had an old wooden pair of glasses. 

“Sorry if you can’t understand these soldiers, but they are trying to help. Please surrender,” he said.

He had the exact same voice. I knew who he was. He was my father. I suddenly realized this, getting up to give him a hug. Other Americans stepped out of the way, as I finally hugged my father.

Today was the day the sky was at peace. Today the lesson the picture had taught me from that soldier was now emitted in my heart. Sometimes revenge isn’t really the best thing.

More Information

The battle of Leyte Gulf was the biggest naval confrontation in history , with over 200,000 sailors dead, and more than 20 ships sunk during the battle. The battle was the first time that kamikaze pilots were ever deployed in battle. Many kamikaze pilots died.

Takehiko

Takehiko is a real person, who was a real person and kamikaze pilot during WW2. He fought as a kamikaze pilot, and later crashed during a battle into a naval ship but luckily survived. He wrote a book about his experiences of being a kamikaze.

His book showed that most kamikazes weren’t actually radical, and hated Americans to the core, but were forced to sacrifice their lives for the Japanese cause.

He was in the movie, Wings of Defeat. 

Kamikaze

Many people have seen kamikazes as radical and staunch supporters of Imperialist Japan. However, many of these kamikazes were forced by the government and army to sacrifice their lives for the desperate hope of winning.

Kamikazes were first used in 1944 as a demonstration of bravery, to try to gain morale for the war. 

However, kamikazes usually came dead, leaving most families in support for the American side. 

End of War

WW2 ended with the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many people believe that the bombing created a new era of arming of bombs and military weapons. But one thing’s for sure, the era of kamikazes is very done. 

A Teacher’s Worst Day EVER!

PROLOGUE

Have you ever woken up thinking It’s going to be a great day, but as soon as you get out of bed, bad things start happening? Well, I know exactly what it feels like. My bad luck began on what I thought was going to be a lovely Monday morning….

CHAPTER ONE 

Sorry. I was so focused on my bad day yesterday that I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Isabell Hogginshwarts, but my students call me Ms. Hogginshwarts. I know, it’s hard to pronounce. 

I am a 4th grade teacher, and I take running the classroom very seriously. Even Matthew listens to me, and he is a real troublemaker. Last week he put fake poop by my desk! I got so mad that I had him in detention for a whole hour. That’s not the first time he’s done something like that. So far Matthew has not caused any more trouble. So not to brag, but I am one of the best 4th grade teachers in the school. Well, normally one of the best teachers. Yesterday I had a very bad day. Let me tell you….

CHAPTER TWO

I woke up on Monday morning with the Sun streaming through the window. I thought to myself, It’s going to be a great day. Boy, was I wrong. As soon as I got out of bed my bad luck began. I took one step and then BANG my head hit the floor.

“Is everything okay?” my husband called from my son’s room.

“I’m FINE!” I called back. I twisted myself around and saw my son’s toy by my feet. “Aarrg!” I said while heaving myself up. “How many times do I have to tell him to clean up after himself?” I said through gritted teeth. Luckily nobody was around to hear.

 I was still dizzy from falling flat on my face so I accidentally put cocoa powder into the coffee maker instead of coffee grinds! Blech! 

Finally, finally, I got out the door but unfortunately, my bus left at 8:00 and it was already 8:15! And the next bus doesn’t arrive for another 20 minutes, so now I have to walk 18 blocks to get to work! 

“Uggg!” I said, exasperated. I was so frustrated. “Why can’t this happen to my husband? Oh, wait, he works at home!” By now it was 8:20 and I ideally want to get to the school by 8:25, which is 10 minutes before school starts so I can set up the classroom. Well, no way that’s going to happen, I thought grimly to myself. I’ll just have to hope for the best.

CHAPTER THREE

Meanwhile, in the classroom…

 Music is blaring, chaos is everywhere. 

“This is the best day EVER!”

“Yeah, but I wonder where Ms. Hogginshwarts is”

“I don’t care! This is awesome!”

“Mathew, get off the table!”

“Jeez, Jessica, calm down, I thought you were Ms. Hogginshwarts,” Mathew yelled over the music. 

“Maybe I am!” Jessica laughed but still looked worried.

“Oh, shut up,” 

“I agree with Jessica.”

“Oh, shut up, Elise,” Mathew said as Elise looked around the room. The chairs were all knocked over and desks askew. Music was blasting and there was no order. Jessica followed Elise’s gaze across the room at the people cracking jokes. To the girls’ relief, Mathew left to join them. 

“This doesn’t feel right,” Jessica said. “ Ms. Hogginshwarts is almost never late and NEVER this late.” Just as Elise opened her mouth to respond, The door burst open.

CHAPTER FOUR

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?” Everything stopped. The music stopped, the jokes stopped, the laughter, singing, and dancing stopped. Time itself seemed to stop. 

“Well?”

“Well, what?” A stupid kid named Jacob asked.

“WHO? Who ever told you that it is okay to do this?!” I practically screamed. I was so mad that I could feel my face turning as red as a tomato.

“Do what?” Jacob asked, almost innocently. A small nervous chuckle went around the room.

“This!” I swept my hand around the room. “Who told you it was okay to knock over chairs, blast music, tell jokes, and worst of all, laugh?” I strode into the room, but I was only five steps in when BANG I tripped over a chair and landed on my arm.

 “Aaaarrg!” I was momentarily blinded by the pain. I could faintly hear voices. I finally had the strength to heave myself up. My left arm was trembling with pain. I hobbled over to the other side of the room to call for a substitute. I am so dizzy and I collapse into the nearest chair. I faintly hear someone call an ambulance right before I pass out. 

Next thing I know, I am lying on a hospital bed, dressed in a white hospital gown. I consider pulling myself out of bed to find my husband, but I’m so tired and sore and soon, the softness of my pillow pulls me back into another dreamless sleep.

CHAPTER FIVE

“Hello? Ms Hogginshwarts?” A soft voice murmurs in my ear.

I open my eyes and heave myself into a sitting position. 

“Who-who are you?” I stammer. It takes a lot of effort to speak.

“Oh, good, you’re awake. I am your doctor, Emily. You had quite the fall.” Emily hands me a cup of water. I take a shaky sip. 

Then I ask, “What happened?”

“When you banged your head, you got a minor concussion,” Emily explains. 

“Oh.” Now I feel sick. I reach up to my head with my good arm and wince. There is a huge bump on the side of my head. “What about my arm?” I ask. I try to raise my left arm, but that is met by a sharp pain near my wrist. 

“We don’t know yet,” Emily says. “We needed you awake to take the X-rays.” 

Ten minutes later the X-rays are done and my arm is in a cast. The X-rays showed that I had a hairline fracture in the radius, which is one of the two bones connecting the wrist to the elbow. 

As Emily and I made our way back to my room, a thought struck me. 

“Where’s my son and husband?” I must have accidentally shouted because Emily looked startled and quite taken aback. I quickly covered my mouth, embarrassed. 

“They are in the waiting room. We don’t like to have visitors around the patient if they are asleep,” Emily said. “But you can go see them now,” She added quickly. 

“Thank you,” I said as kindly as possible, hoping to make up accidentally shouting at Emily. 

I walked out to the waiting room and was greeted by happy smiles and hugs. For the first time today, I was happy.

CHAPTER SIX

The next day. I wake up to a sharp pain in my left arm. I must have accidentally rolled onto my broken arm in the middle of the night. I carefully roll over to my other side and doing so, I see my son’s toy truck lying by the foot of my bed, almost in the exact same spot as it was yesterday. Oh, no you don’t, I thought to myself as I fell back into my pillows, letting sleep carry me away once more.

EPILOGUE

The sun felt warm on my face, the waves cold on my ankles. My arm had not pained me all day. And best of all, in my opinion, my students have all behaved well since The Accident. They didn’t play loud music, turn over desks, and there was no fake poop on my desk. All was well.

“Mommy, Mommy!” My son’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. 

“Yes, honey?”

“Daddy’s gonna swim with me!” I looked over at my husband and we exchanged a knowing smile. 

“Okay, have fun.” I turned away and walked back to our blanket and layed down on my back. The sun beat down on me with a blazing smile and the waves of the ocean washed away all worries. 

Eleanor Pitchal was born in Boston and now lives in Park Slope. She is in 6th grade. She loves to read and write realistic fiction, but also loves fantasy. Eleanor also loves to draw, and is a softball pitcher.

Wishtree

Chapter 1

I dragged my suitcase along the sidewalk. I already knew that magic wasn’t a thing here. Maybe that’s why Mom wanted us to move. Because I was always running off to the wishtree.

The wishtree was something only I knew about. It was the only magic tree – probably ever. Once I was so mad and ran off into the woods. I eventually sat down at a tree. I wished that I could just be happy. Then, I felt a shiver run down my spine. I felt really happy all of a sudden. I ran back home. 

Inside it was cold and dusty. My mom helped me get the blow-up mattress out of my bag. I shivered. I pulled a blanket out And tried to sleep in my dusty old room. Probably full of rats. But I lay down anyway. I stared blankly at the ceiling.

I woke up with a jolt. It was beautiful – the sight of the sunlight and the curtains blowing in the wind. It made the dust shine. I walked into the other room. My Mom handed me a piece of toast and an egg. I sat down at the table with one wobbly chair. “School today.” She said. I sighed. “Honey, I know it’s hard. Moving. But you’ll make friends.”

“Will I?” 

“You will. I promise.”

I arrived at school surrounded by kids screaming out to their friends and pushing through to be the first one there. I thought about going somewhere else, but decided I’d have to face it. I lived here now, and there’s no skipping school with a mom who would ask you about every second of your day. So I walked into the schoolyard and found one class who was obviously bored out of their minds waiting for “the new kid.”

“Okay class! Let’s go inside!” I walked to the back of the line, embarrassed that 24 kids were waiting for me out in the hot sun. The teacher led us into the classroom and everyone sat down. I sat at the empty desk in the back of the class. “Brooklyn, why don’t you come to the front, right here? Calvin, would you go sit in the back?” I grabbed my bag and stumbled to the front of the class. Calvin grumbled and slumped down at his new seat. I did the same. “So, today, we have a new student! Come on up Brooklyn. Brooklyn just moved here from New Jersey! She- er, why don’t you tell us about yourself?” 

The whole class stared at me as I fumbled with my hands. “I– um… I’m Brooklyn and- um… I’m 10.” I looked down at my feet. “I have a dog.” A hand immediately shot up. “Yeah?” I said, nervous about what they would say.

“Me too!” the hand said. Phew. A shy hand slowly went up. “You?”

I held my breath. “Um… what’s it’s-um- name?”  The girl said, obviously as nervous as I was.

“Oh. His name’s Snickers.” I replied with a sigh of relief.

I walked back to my seat. “Sam, would you show Brooklyn around the school? Why don’t you show her where the lunchroom is, and…”

“Sure.” Sam said. Although I didn’t see Sam, I knew she wasn’t too excited about anything. I stood up and so did she, and together we walked down the stairs. “That’s the- um, the cafeteria, and…” She gestured to a room with tables and benches, just like my old school. “That’s th-the music room, and the- the gym.”  I peered into the gym, with two basketball hoops, two soccer goals and an exhausted third-grade class doing jumping jacks. “The science– um, the science room is over here, and that– that’s the aud- auditorium.” Finally, we went back upstairs and the teacher looked at Sam in a, come on, it’s your job even though you don’t like it, way. She led me into the back of the classroom. 

A boy in a seat next to the book bins snickered. “Ooh, Stuttering Sam has a new friend-”

“Shut up, Ted.” Sam replied. “So, this- um, this is the class library, and, um… you can pick out– your book that you’re re– um, that you’ll read.”

At recess, Ted came up to me. “You know, you probably want to tell Ms. Kayla to pair you with somebody else. Nobody likes Sam.” I looked over at Sam who was sitting all alone, drawing in her sketchbook. 

“Go away.”

“Why?”

Sam looked at me. “Because.” Ted had walked away. I sat down next to Sam. 

“Because why?” 

“Because- Why do you- you keep-um- asking why? Nobody likes me. Nobody talks to you- I mean-um- me except you.” 

“Why?” I looked at Sam. “You know, Ted is pretty stupid.” She smiled. It was the first time I saw her smile. 

“Yeah.”

Chapter 2

I opened the door, expecting my mom to be there. But she wasn’t. “Brooklyn! I’m in here!” I took off my backpack and went to my bedroom. I had a real bed! “What do you want for dinner?” I stood there for a second, puzzled why she wasn’t asking me about school.

“Oh, um– whatever. I don’t care.” 

“You okay?” 

“Yeah.”

“Okay, how does macaroni and cheese sound? I wen-”

“Mom, that’s okay. I’m not that hungry anyway.” She walked over and hugged me. “Mom, I’m okay. I just- I’m just tired.”

She looked like she was going to burst.“School– did you meet anybo-”

“Mom! It was fine! I’m fine! Everything– School was fine. Fine!” I felt tears swelling up in my eyes. I knew I couldn’t stop them. So I stood there, in the doorway, crying.
“Honey, come here.”

I stood there. “No!”

I ran out. I needed to get out of this place. I had friends. I had a life and my  mom had to tear me away. If only Joey was here. Or Adrienne, or Amaya. So I ran deep into the woods. The trees made me hope. Hope one had– magic like my wishtree. So I sat down and cried. My mom would never understand.  Never! So I climbed to the top of the tree. I looked at my small city. I smiled. I have no idea why, and I never will. 

The next day at school I sat down at my desk. I looked at Sam. She was doodling on a piece of scrap paper. She handed it to me. It read:

Brooklyn, 

Do you want to be friends? Tell me at recess.

   From, Sam 

   I shoved the paper in my pocket just as the teacher glanced at me. At recess, I went up to her. “Yeah.” I said. “Sure…” I thought about it for a moment. My mom always says, “Friends tell each other.” Would I have to tell her my dad is still in New Jersey? Or about my wishtree? Or, about my friends and old school and everything? But I didn’t really care. “Of course.”

“Really?” 

“Really.”

Chapter 3

I scurried out the door and into the car. We were driving back to New Jersey! Just for a day though. But my Mom said I was having a playdate with Amaya! So first thing on Sunday, I was out the door and buckling my seatbelt, waiting for my mom.  She walked out the door and handed me a piece of toast. 

        “Why are you out here?”

        “I couldn’t wait.” My mom told me to come inside. She said she wanted to talk. When we got inside, she said she was so sorry. She said we couldn’t go. I don’t think she knew how mad I was.

I sat down at my desk (an old one) and started on my homework I didn’t do right. This school does it so differently than my old one. I just didn’t understand this problem. I didn’t understand a lot of things, like how me and Sam just became friends. Or like why we moved. So I did my homework the way I knew because I didn’t know any other way. 

Chapter 4

On Monday, Sam and I were assigned to be partners in reading. We needed to make a poster about our book. We were reading The Penderwicks because I told Miss Kayla about it. We needed to talk about the traits of our favorite character. Sam was writing about Batty and I was writing about Jane. I guess teachers put you with your friend if you don’t know anyone else. I also guess you could call Ted someone I know, but I didn’t want to. 

“Brooklyn, what- what is Batsy’s- Batty’s real name?” Sam whispered to me, her hands red from writing furiously.

“Elizabeth.” I replied, my hands not nearly as red as hers. 

That day was a good day. Tuesdays are the days I dread. P.E., afterschool, and of course loads of homework. Loads.

I ran to the forest and sat down at the wishtree. I wished for a friend and Sam appeared next to me. I wished for a friend again, but nobody else appeared. Sam smiled and I panicked. I woke up in panic, too. It turned out I was dreaming. I was so tired and exhausted that I slumped back down into my bed and fell asleep again to a dream.

I was home. Back home. My mom and dad and my dog Snickers were all there. I ran around until my mom called me in for dinner. I don’t completely remember, but at one point, I was at the wishtree. I was so happy to be there, yet not as happy as I was sitting with Sam on the playground, comforting her. Telling her that Ted was stupid and didn’t – shouldn’t – call her names. I wished to have a good, pure friend I could trust. Amaya came out of the woods. Now, I was happy, but that made me wonder – am I better friends with Sam than Amaya? Than Adrienne? Joey too?

I woke up, tears forming in my eyes. I wiped them aside and looked at the clock. 6:00. I got dressed and started to write in my journal.

Tonight I dreamt of Sam. She is my friend, yet I worry, too good of a friend?

I always write one line, then illustrate it. Today was not the day for drawing. I sat down on my bed. Then, with a sudden jolt of energy, ran to my bookshelf and pulled out, The Lake of Secrets, one of my favorites. It was poetry. I opened it up to her grandma’s favorite, The Only Tree Left.

                            The tree sat in the open field

         Buildings forming around it.

It frowned. 

Then I read more and more and more until my alarm rang at 7:00. My mom was waiting for me at the kitchen table. “Do you want to skip school and go to Amaya’s house?”

“Really?” I frowned. Something was wrong. “Mom, is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine, and do you want to or not?”

“Yeah.” I felt too tired to go back to bed, yet tired enough to sleep again.

“Get in the car. Now.” My mom was obviously not in a good mood. So I got in the car. “Honey, you sure? Ms. Kayla said you made a very good friend, and that she has no other friends…”

“Mom, Amaya is my friend. So is – Sam. But I haven’t seen Amaya in months!” She sighed. 

Later when I woke up in the car, I realized I had a dream. A strange being was telling me that I should not want to go back. That I could still visit my old friends but I should not abandon my new friend. I sat up straight. “Brooklyn, we’re here.”

At Amaya’s house we played secret spies and spied on her sister Annie. “ANNIE!!!” Amaya called out to her sister, then we ran out of the house and Annie had a furious look on her face.

Chapter 5

I was content.

I was happy.

I was amazed.

Sam raised her hand and spoke, something she never did. We shared our poster. We laughed. Ted humiliated himself. It was an amazing week, and I regretted nothing at all. My dad came, moved in and brought Snickers. I was amazed at how I followed the directions of the spirit and I was happy, and just how pure the world seemed. How I could hear the words so clearly. They sounded crisp, like the sharp scent of the rain on a spring morning.

The freshness of the world made me happy.

When my dad came made me content.

And how Sam was so proud and spoke up made me amazed.

On Wednesday, we presented our reading posters, and nobody did as awesome as me and Sam. Nobody could be as good friends, either.

When I visited my old house, the wishtree glowed with enthusiasm.

“Hey!” I said. “Nice to see you again.” I sat down at the wishtree and finally wished for all I would ever need: To always have friends.                

The Fly

CHAPTER 1

“Hurry up, you slowpoke!” Beni cried. He flung his arms in the air and sailed high above to the gust of the warm wind that gave him that hearty boost.

He stared at the sky. The world, these powers, this ability…it almost felt cosmic, how a single step he could take could physically take him down a rabbit hole.

As I squinted in the November moonlight, I recognized Beni’s familiar figure soaring in the sky like a bird. One leap, and I was soaring too.

How could this have happened?  Well, I used to feel like a goner, in those weary, grimey days that sucked the present out of me, and lost me in the past. Those flashes and pops of lightning and thunder tore me away from my family. All I have now is my annoying brother, Beni.

Sweat crawled up my spine as I wove beneath the tall trees.

It’s crazy to fly. It’s like saying it’s the end of the world if your pencil broke in half.

But crazy doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, it’s not.

If you go back a good ten years, my adventure could start. But my past is not my present. My life now, in the present, is awesome. I go out to soar in the fluffy clouds that drift gently by the bright sky. 

Fine, you want the story of my past? You got to be ready. You got to know it.

You’ve got to need the story of my past. Not just to want the past, but to need it. You have to need my past. 

Why would you need such a grim thing? 

I see. Because I am in the process of telling you this story, and by this story I mean the tall tale of my upsetting, dark past.

I trust you. I trust the press and the publishers and my fellow editor(s) to not make this more than it is, which stands in the category of being a piece of forlorn American literature.

Or not. 

Look, I can’t be just plain old fiction. I exist. You’re going to think that this is just some rip-off book of kids’ fairy tales until you meet me. And when you look into the past, and change it, it affects your present and your future. So if you really are the reason I look into my real past in order to change the amazing present, you better be ready to see me flying across the sky when you crawl under your mom’s bed because you think there’s a thunder storm and it’s actually me soaring like a jet plane at two in the morning.

Well, here’s my past and you won’t like it.

It all started when Mom called me to the breakfast table after a long sleep that night. “Coming, Mom!” I yelled. 

Mom raised her eyebrows and plunked a small pinch pot on the rusty table. My family used to be poor. In fact, they still are. My family is small, like really small. It only goes up about four generations, and there hasn’t been enough people in the family to make enough money to survive. 

I sat in the chair.

Sorry…I mean I stood while eating. As you might have guessed, we couldn’t even afford a single chair. The table, however, was donated to us from a rich family called the Meyers that somehow believed that they had too many things in their house. But the table was rusty, so you could think that they had it for a long time. Like, really long. Crazy long.

When the Meyers had first bought the table, it was actually purchased by the head of the family, Lucia Josephine Meyer. She was an elderly lady who had just retired from her job as a salesman. Every day, she would make about 2,000 dollars! The money would gradually pass down throughout the family and would make them richer and richer until they could probably purchase 20 cars. They were millionaires, maybe billionaires!  The family was cheerful and hopeful until Lucia Meyer died sadly of old age. Her husband, George Topaz Meyer lll, seemed to be affected the most out of all the family members from this big loss. Before George died, he insisted on being buried beside Lucia forever. Lucia and George’s son had become a wealthy salesman as well, and kept the big family going, generation after generation, salesman after salesman, rich houses were constantly being sold and purchased. 

Anyway, the pinch pot had been made from dirty clay from the lake where we got our water. It was our only cup. But we barely used it. Oh, did I mention that I have no father? 

My dad, John Schuyler Thompson, passed away when I was a toddler. Ever since, my mom has been going out with a man named Theodore Akler to fancy dinner parties and stuff. Theodore is not like my real dad at all. His grin is nothing compared to my dad’s friendly, toothy smile.

“So, why is everything so fancy? And how did you get those expensive lantern candles?”

“Well.” Mom smiled, “Mr. Theodore has asked me to marry him!”

I choked on my dirty water. I froze. 

“What?” I squeaked.

“I’m going to marry Theodore!” Mom yelled excitedly.

“Ew!” My many siblings chimed in with disgust.

  But I just gasped.

“Honey, are you all right?” Mom said, her mood switching to concern instantly. “How do you feel?”

The truth is, I didn’t know how I felt. “I’m…fine.” And without asking to be excused, I ran up to my bedroom and started to cry.

CHAPTER 2

“…Then we need to tell the caterer to buy good whipped cream, and I have to get my wedding dress, and we have to serve a million people, and on top of all that, we can barely afford a bouquet!” Mom yelled.

She was trying to plan a wedding with very little time (how is that even possible if you’re penniless?).

I rolled my eyes and sniggered mockingly. “Then just give him back the engagement ring and get un-married.” I joked casually.

“MORRIS MILTON SCHUYLER THOMPSON!” Mom shrieked furiously. “Go to your room now!”

I stormed up to my bedroom and slammed the door shut. I curled into a ball and wept until my pillow was soaked. Change was harsh. But I couldn’t control it. No one could.

“You can come out now.” My mom shouted up to me, like dad always would.

Mom patted a worn-out pillow, indicating that she clearly wanted me to sit there.

“Write down the names of people I tell you to invite.” Mom instructed. “Nana Bleeberg, Aunt Porsha, Rilenne Mackza-”

“Who’s Rilenne Mackza?” I asked.

“Just a kind French lady across the street. She met you when you were in kindergarten.” Mom said.

“Oh.” I replied. “Who else do we need to invite?”

“Let’s see…” Mom pondered. “George Fredrick Wisley, Roxanne Jenifers, Stanley Guatemungo, Madeline Raysyn, Choltiferr Jackobbs, Bostette Watsons, Margarette Lunston, and…”

You might think that that’s a small number of people to invite to a wedding. But the truth is, we couldn’t afford a crumb of Oreos if we tried. Our family was so poor, and we knew we were stuck that way. Living life to the fullest for us was only inviting about ten people to a wedding. 

“Nimbosteen Colsteeronni…and that’s about it.” Mom sighed. “Go set the table, Morris.”

I tossed the napkins onto the table.

All of a sudden, there was a horrid rumbling that could make me deaf. 

“EARTHQUAKE!”  Mom screamed. 

Mom and I huddled under the doorway. Beni and my grandfather did too. The last thing I heard before I blacked out was the frantic sobs of my mother and grandfather as they slowly died.

CHAPTER 3

Springfield, Illinois

Two years later, Beni and I moved into a house next to our friend Chloe’s. We built it out of mud and sticks and wood.

The roof was made of straw.

The forlorn massacre that had destroyed most of my beloved family had traveled to New Zealand – the atomic plates were still shaking. The world was still quaking.

One day, Chloe’s older sister, named Meradith, introduced me and Beni to her husband, Ralph. Ralph took me and Beni to the zoo.

Beni and I were fascinated by a mysterious silver hawk in a restricted room. Beni had trained in Karate for as long as I could remember, so I was not surprised when he blasted open the door to the locked restricted room titled “No Admittance”.

The bird had bit me and Beni. The glossy scar looked like a big deal. Ralph rushed us to the hospital immediately. We got several stitches. Let me tell you this, it wasn’t fun to get bit. But little did Beni and I know that it would end up being the reason we flew. One day when the stitches were removed, it was barely an injury anymore at all. I whooped with joy and sprung into the air. That was the day when I realized that I could fly.

Short Horror Stories About Random Stuff

AFTER

Leah Charlic was perfectly happy in her old life. She was best friends with Samantha Charles, she had a cat named Ripple, and she even had a butler! But then, Samantha went missing and Ripple disappeared along with her. They had put up missing posters for her cat, but Samantha was really all anybody in Mulberry Commons, California cared about. Leah had heard the adults talking, telling the police that Samantha was last seen in a red dress near the pond, that she was 11 years old with freckles. But that didn’t seem to be helping Samantha, or Ripple. She had heard that they were sending out a search party tonight, and she was determined to go. Leah looked out the window. Strangely enough, she saw her butler, Martin, walking toward the bus station, with a bunch of cats following behind him. She recognized a fluffy white cat as Mittens, who used to play with Ripple. She also saw a short haired, dark, tortoiseshell tom-cat… Ripple! She shook her head and blinked. When she opened her eyes again, all of them were gone. The sun must be playing tricks on my eyes, she thought.

Soon, it was 5:00 at night and after a lot of begging, her mom had allowed her to join the search party. The police weren’t that talkative, so it was a little awkward. They searched the street, but they found nothing. Suddenly, an officer cried out. They rushed to the sound of the voice, but all they found was a trail of blood. The chief of police said if they followed the trail, it might lead them to the officer, and Samantha. So Leah got in one of the police cars and they drove away. The blood led to a dark alleyway, deep in the city. She saw something up ahead. Leah had a sickening feeling that she knew what it was. Sure enough, it was the dead bodies of the officer and Samantha.  

“We’re not too late, we can still catch the culprit,” said the chief. 

“Are you?” said a chillingly familiar voice.

Martin stepped out from behind some boxes. There was a kitten on his shoulder. It said “mew” and started sharpening it’s extremely long claws. Cats flooded from the shadows. Leah realized that Mittens and Ripple were among the crowd.  

“Y-you won’t get away with this!” She shouted, even though it sounded super cliche.

 “Won’t I?” he asked. 

She turned around and saw that there were cats behind her, and they had killed the rest of the party.

 “Say nighty-night!” Martin held up a gun. 

Leah Charlic was never heard from again, but some say if you go into that alley and listen hard you can still hear the meow of cats and the echoes of her scream.

Before

Samantha Charles feels like the most normal kid. And that was scary enough by itself. But when she went to bed last night, something happened. Something terrible. She was just falling asleep around midnight, when she heard something coming from her closet. She would be very stupid to open it, so she squeezed her eyes shut. The sound came again, but this time louder and closer. She opened one of her eyes, just a bit. A figure was moving around in the darkness.

“Mom?” she whispered hopefully. 

“Guess again.” came the reply. 

Samantha recognized the voice as her best friend’s butler, Martin. 

“Wha-” she tried to say, before sharp claws scratched her arm and she fainted from the pain.

When she woke up, she was in the back of a van, her hands were tied and her legs felt like they were paralyzed. They probably were. The van jolted to a stop. The trunk doors opened. Martin picked her up and carried her down to an alleyway. 

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY LEGS?!?” Samantha screamed.

“I had them injected with a special concoction in the lab.” He responded. 

Despite the situation, she said, “Concoction? Don’t you think that’s a bit cliche?”

“Oh shut your soup hole!!!” he roared. 

Martin laid her down on the ground. Somehow, he had gotten a hold of a chainsaw.

  “Say nighty-night! Hey that’s pretty good, I should use that as an evil catchphrase!”

Then he brought the chainsaw down. She was then ended.

Dolls

One day, a group of innocent little kids were playing on a beautiful day. Near the spot that they were playing was the old Katter house. They used to collect antique and creepy dolls. But one night, on a red moon, a bright red light flashed through the house and knives flashed. They were never seen again. But that was 13 years ago. Anyway, a little girl named Lucy decided to go inside the Katter house to show that there was nothing to be afraid of. The kids watched as she opened the front door and walked in.

 A couple minutes later she came back out and said,“See nothing to be afraid of!” 

Suddenly, pale gray hands grabbed her and dragged her into the house. The kids convinced themselves she was just playing a prank on them, but they ran away, just in case. The next day, the kids went back to play. Then they saw a little girl. She had pale gray skin, and long, stringy hair, put into braids. Her eyes were all black and seemed to have sunk into her face. Instead of a nose she had 2 holes in the middle of her face. She wore a ripped, old fashioned black dress. She looked a lot like Lucy. Then she started to sing,

 “Do you want to play with me? We’re as happy as can be! You will never hear me lie, because I will make you die.” 

Then she said, “Do you wanna play dollies?” 

The kids ran away in terror. The next day, they came back to play again. The girl was still there. She sang the same song but this time said,

 “Do you wanna play dollies? We’ll play over your dead body.” 

Again, the kids ran away in terror. The day after, the kids came back to the spot. They felt something drawing them back, time and time again. Once again, the doll was there. She sang the same song and said, 

“Do you wanna play dollies? We’ll play over your dead body. Your dolly can have a special accessory.” 

The kids ran away again. The kids were pulled to the spot for the last time. 

The thing that used to be Lucy started her ritual, “Do you want to play with me? We’re as happy as can be! You will never hear me lie, because I will make you DIE! Do you wanna play dollies? We’ll play over your dead body. Your dolly can have a special accessory, it’s called a bloody dagger.” 

Then she attacked. Only two kids got out of there alive. They were named Julie and Marcus. They eventually got married, but they never forgot Lucy. Then one night, on a red moon, they heard a knock on the front door. When they opened it up, they saw…Lucy. “Do you wanna play dollies?” She said, and this time, the couple didn’t make it. 

06-79: A Story of An Experiment and Her Great Escape

PART ONE   

I looked around my cage. I could tell by the tag on the front, even though I couldn’t read, that it said ‘FAILED EXPERIMENT!’ How was I a fail? Well, for example, I had bunny ears that were only pink. They wouldn’t change color like the rest of my fluffy body. Plus, I was also a wolf, with bunny ears! Then the meerkat came back from being experimented on and yelled,

“It’s me! Mario!” 

He had a meerkat body, but now he had a Mario overalls pattern on his fur and a super Mario hat. 

“I bet they’ll get a new meerkat and make it Luigi,” a meerkat (Bartholomew) with a bunch of spikes out its back muttered, looking angry that the scientists made his best friend act like a sicko. 

“Stop whining,” I muttered. 

“Easy for you to say, 06-79! You don’t have any friends!”  Bartholomew squeaked. 

Ugh, I thought as my fur turned blood red with anger, I don’t have any friends because nobody  wants to be friends with a failed experiment. I felt extremely tired of everything. Then a scientist started talking. Another power of mine, to understand human language.

 “Are we going to get more paranormal animals to test on, in that forest that has a hole leading to a whole new forest, by the way?” the female one asked. 

“I’m pretty sure we will,” said the other.  

My ears perked up in hope. Maybe I could go there, I thought happily. All the creatures I could meet. All the fun I could have. I fell asleep that night dreaming of life there and having LOTS of friends. 

The next morning, a scientist pulled me out of my cage with a collar and held an electric whip in the other hand. Probably to make me feel intimidated by him. Then the tests began.
The scientist chained me to the floor.

“Bro! No need to get all aggressive!” I shouted in my best Kevin Hart voice. What? Scientists turned on the TV for us sometimes if we were being impatient. I’m the only one who knows what they’re saying, of course. They say a lot of curse words sometimes. Also, scientists can’t understand what I’m saying. 

The first test for me was beginning. They wanted to see my color reaction to things they do to me. 

First, they dropped my favorite treats in front of me. I turned a bright pink as I feasted. I can’t resist, okay?! Then, one of them zapped me with one of the things called “testing guns.” Humans are rude! They test it on experiments! My color first turned red (for anger) and then a bruise colored purple. Yes, it looked disgusting. 

Then they did nothing and stood there. My fur turned teal. It meant I was feeling normal. I was sorta happy but not. Then they showed a big image of a wolf being chased by a hunter. I turned orange. I was emotional now. Then it showed the wolf dead. I turned a somber blue.

“Ok, 06-79, your first test is over! Time for the second one,” one of the scientists shouted.

For my second one, they put me in a wind thing. They wanted to see how long I could stay up there. The wind would die down by the second.  The scientists were trying to see how much wind could support me if they gave me wings. Yeah, people can do that! 

“Y’all stupidos! I wanna get wings now! So I can soar above your heads and escape!” I shouted at them, as one person gave me a thing I had to wear for it. Wait… why wasn’t I wearing a head-protector? Then, I got pushed off the thing, and I never thought I’d say this, but the scientists have never made me feel so happy in my whole life. I turned a bright, bright pink. The brightest I ever had. My bunny ears didn’t match the rest of my body even though I was pink. I felt the wind getting lower, but I didn’t pay any attention. I had been flying! I had so much joy inside that I could explode! Like explode!!! Then the wind couldn’t support me anymore, so I fell. There were these words in my mind. 

                Falling…..

                          Falling……..

                                    Falling…….. 

PART TWO         

I woke up. In my cage. Bleh. My bowl had slimy stuff inside it. I ate it because I was hungry. Then I saw a scientist pointing at my cage.  

“Mr. Gorista said that 06-79 would be placed in the machine that kills failed experiments tomorrow.”

What?! They were gonna kill me? This was bad! Like really bad!

Then the other one said,  “Me and the team are going to get more paranormal animals from the forest tomorrow. Other people who don’t work in Future Labs will have to deal with a bunch of security.” 

“Where exactly is this forest?” the first guy said. I have been asking that same exact question!

“You dumbo! It’s literally on the other side of the river F. Labs are on!” 

That was all the info I needed. I started chewing on my cage super hard. I kept going. I felt the wire hitting against my teeth. It hurt, but my life depended on it. After a while, the wire broke and I could get out. Then a loud noise broke out. It was a siren. Then a bunch of scientists burst into the room. They were all shouting all at once, and I couldn’t understand. Then I charged through them and went down a bunch of things that I’m pretty sure are called stairs. 

Finally, I went out the door and I was outside. Oh, there were so many things to smell! But I had to concentrate. I ran fast. Quicker than I have ever run. Pretty soon, I got to the river. My only problem: I didn’t know how to swim!

 PART THREE

I tried to remember how to swim, but it was a very long time ago when I had to figure that out. I remembered two things. #1: if you’re going to put your head underwater, hold your breath! #2: Kick with your legs. 

Okay, that was actually helpful. Thank you, memories. Then I leaped into the water. My head plunged down for a second, then I raised it back up. I kicked and kicked hard, fighting the currents. I was almost to the other side! 

“Ya—” 

I began, but a large current swept me down the river. I saw a drop at the end of the river. Waterfall! I clung onto a rock and pulled myself up there. Then I made a far leap. I still landed in water, but I was close enough to get onto shore. Oh, that was close! I panted and rested for a moment, but on the other side of the river, I saw some scientists. 

No breaks yet! I told myself. First get to the forest, then nap! 

Turns out that guy near my cage wasn’t lying. There were a bunch of human guards stationed in the area. I turned black and snuck into where there were less guards. I blended into the shadows. 

        At last! I was in the forest. I just didn’t know I’d feel so lonely. Then a voice came out, “You’re not from around here, are you? I’m Uniko.” 

PART FOUR                                                                                                                                                                 “These are my other siblings: Rose, Thora, Koman, and Gonga.”  Uniko showed me a bunch of wolves who looked like they would give me a serious beating.

They looked exactly like their sister. Except Rose had a pink pearl on her head and Thora had a purple one. Uniko had a blue one. Koman and Gonga were identical, black with no pearls. All of them snarled.

“What is she!?” Rose growled. 

“A science experiment, that’s what!” Koman howled.

“Stop it, guys!” Uniko snarled. “She’s my friend.” 

  The siblings exchanged glances.

“Fine, she can live with us. As long as she causes no trouble.” Thora muttered. 

Uniko gave me a happy smile. When nobody was looking, I turned a happy bright pink and walked right behind them.  

The definition of soup

“Water with ice is obviously not a soup,” Lucas said, taking a bite of his sandwich. “Then it would be called ‘soup.’”

“Well, why not? The definition of soup is a liquid with chunks of something in it, and that’s what water with ice is,” Leo replied.

“Well, it says that it’s typically made of some sort of boiling meat or vegetables and there are no vegetables or meat in soup.”

“That doesn’t mean always,” Leo said. “‘Typically’ only means sometimes.”

“So, you’re saying that there is some soup out there that isn’t made with vegetables?”

` “Not exactly,” Leo said, taking a bite of his sandwich. “I’m just saying there could be. Which brings me back to my point that water with ice is soup.”

“I guess you have a point, but I still will never believe that water with ice is soup.”

“Well, maybe this will change your mind,” Leo said. 

He then took a cup of ice water and poured it in a bowl. Then Leo put a cucumber in it, because there is such a thing as cucumber water.

“Wait a minuuutttteeee, that is soup! That is crazy, thank you for showing me that,” Lucas said.

The Assassin Games

A-man, the Assassin, and Leany the berry met at the battlefield on the bridge at midnight. A-man the Assassin killed Leany the berry with a very sharp sword. Leany the berry was very surprised when she was about to die. A-man the Assassin left without a single notice by killing Leany the berry. The next day, the cops came to investigate the mystery. But they couldn’t find a single clue. So they called the detectives to find clues. But even they could not find a single clue.

“We still haven’t found any clues of who killed Leany the berry,” said the cop. So they went up the bridge to investigate again. They found a sharp sword on Leany the berry. They took it out and investigated. They went to scan the sword and found out that A-man the Assassin killed Leany!!

They searched everywhere for A-man the Assassin, put posters everywhere, and wrote “Wanted” on the middle of the poster. If anyone found A-man the Assassin and brought him back, they would get 5,000,000,000,000 dollars because this was not the first crime he committed. According to the FBI, he committed 50 crimes already! So that’s why the person who brings him back will have so much money! When the cops and the detectives were done putting the posters up, they went back to investigate the mystery.

Meanwhile, A-man the Assassin was getting out of town on an airplane. He met his boss. Her name was Malicia.

“Come and sit with me, Malevolent. Let’s chat about this,” said Malicia.

“Good to see you again, boss,” A-Man said.

“You forgot to take the sword out of Leany the berry. Are you going to talk about this situation?!” Malicia shouted.

“I know you are mad about this–”

“This seems like a little mistake, but it reveals all of your crimes. Did you remember what I taught you?!” screamed Malicia.

“Just calm down, this is not a big problem!” said A-Man.

“Not a big problem? You may be able to solve this problem, but this will affect your career at ESK academy!!!” screamed Malicia.

“But you always figure out the way, right?” said A-Man.

“That’s true, so I want to pair you up with a teammate, so she can help you with your job. Her name is Layla, her code name is Queen Killer. She is a great thief and killer. She stole many things that can help us. And many, many fancy jewels that no one had ever succeeded in stealing, ever. I bet she can help you out, Malevolent!” exclaimed Malicia, “Come on out Layla.” 

Then, Layla stepped into the room with a wise air about her.

“What’s up guys, what are you guys chatting about right now?” said Layla.

“Layla, meet your new teammate, Malevolent, and Malevolent, meet your new teammate, Layla,” said Malicia. Then Malicia went away to do her daily spa and left Layla and Malevolent to talk some more. Meanwhile, the cops and the detectives were still talking and trying to find where A-Man the Assassin was.

“This job is really hard. We’re never going to find A-man the Assassin,” said one cop.

“Shush! If we keep on talking about this, our boss may fire us,” said another cop.

In the chief’s room, a detective and the chief were not talking about the previous crime where A-Man the Assassin killed Leany. Instead, they were talking about the Queen Killer.

“Queen Killer has committed way more crimes, and also bigger crimes, than A-Man the Assassin. I suggest that we work on Queen Killer first,” the chief said.

Meanwhile, Queen Killer and A-man were getting to know each other quickly.

“So, how did you get your code name?” asked Queen Killer.

“How did you get your code name?” replied A-Man.

“Same as you did, get your crimes famous and people will name you! They named me Queen Killer because I am the best killer and thief in the whole wide world! How about you?” Layla asked calmly.

“I got my code name because there was a lot of news about me, and people thought I had a perfect rate of stealing. That’s why,” replied A-man.

“Okay, well, your code name sounds boring, unlike my code name. It’s much cooler than yours, A-Man,” said Queen Killer.

“Excuse me, if you don’t mind if I say, my code name is way cooler than yours, Queen Killer,” A-Man said.

“How so?” replied Queen Killer. A-man was hesitating to respond. Queen Killer was really good at intimidating people. “Well, never mind then,” said Queen Killer calmly.

After a little while, Malicia came back to ask how they were doing.

“We’re quite nice,” said Queen Killer. A-Man shot her a dirty look, but did not say anything.

“So, are you guys ready for your first mission together?” asked Malicia. 

“You bet!” said Queen Killer.

“Whatever,” said A-man.

“Okay then,” said Malicia. “Your first mission is to steal Fabergé eggs from a museum in Russia.”

“Okay, this is easy, I stole hundreds of those before,” said Queen Killer.

“Are you kidding me!? I’ve tried to steal one of those and I failed!” said A-Man.

“Well, that’s because only the best thieves in the world, like me, can steal it,” Queen Killer responded. 

“Alright, you two stop arguing!” said Malicia.

“But it is true, right?” responded Queen Killer.

“Yes,” Malicia said with a sigh and laughed at A-man, who grunted at Queen Killer.

“Alright, you two are acting like children right now and you guys are now twenty years old!” said Malicia, “We’re arriving in Russia and going straight to the Kremlin Armoury museum. Now, I suggest you guys get ready.” 

Meanwhile, at night, when the plane arrived in Russia and when the museum was closed, the three villains got suited up and went straight to the museum. When they arrived there, there were no more security guards. Queen Killer and A-man were about to climb to the balcony when Malicia shouted, “Where are you guys going! We don’t have a plan yet! How would you guys get to steal those eggs!”

“Shhh, boss, calm down, let us do the plan now!” said Queen Killer. 

“First, I am going to let you know that you guys are going to steal forty-four of those! Get them all for our king!” exclaimed Malicia. 

“What!!! Forty-four! That’s all of the Fabergé eggs in the museum! I can barely steal one!” A-man shouted, surprised.

“Relax!” said Queen Killer while rolling her eyes.

“Which one of you will be the leader?” said Malicia.

“Me, duh!” said Queen Killer confidently.

“We haven’t even discussed this!” said A-man.

“No arguments!” said Queen Killer. 

“What about the plan?!” A-Man asked. 

“We will discuss the plan later,” Queen Killer said. A-man ran after Queen Killer. Then Malicia left to get some fresh air. 

Meanwhile, in the dark night, Queen Killer and A-Man arrived at the Kremlin Armoury and climbed up to the balcony and snuck into the museum. When they got into the museum, they saw forty-four Fabergé eggs. In front of the eggs, there was a glass door and a keypad lock. Before they did anything, Queen Killer used a pad to hack into the security cameras. A-Man tried the simplest combinations, but failed.

“Step aside, dum-dum. Let me do it,” Queen Killer said. She studied the key pad and tried 4-4-8 on the keypad and then opened the glass door! 

She put all the eggs in a big bag, carried it away with A-Man, and ran up to the balcony with A-Man following. 

A few minutes later, they got on the private plane and showed Malicia the Fabergé eggs.

“Well done, you guys, our king will be so happy to hear about it. Good teamwork, guys,” said Malicia.

“Although it was teamwork, I didn’t see A-Man do anything. But I guess you can still call it teamwork.” 

“What?! I did everything!” shouted A-man.

“What did you do? Please tell me,” said Queen Killer. 

“I put the eggs in the bag,” said A-man.

“That is nothing. Do you know why the security guards did not come? And do you know why the security alarms did not go off? All because of me, not you!” said Queen Killer.

“Stop arguing, you two, let’s go to the king,” said Malicia. The next day, the cops and the detectives went to investigate the Kremlin Armoury museum. 

A detective said, “I suspect that Queen Killer stole these eggs.”

“I do too,” said a cop. After a few minutes, a detective and a cop called a museum staff member and got into the security room. 

Malicia came back from delivering the stolen packages with the eggs and said to A-Man and Queen Killer, “The boss says good job. Now you have to prepare for a second mission.”

Malicia dragged Queen Killer for a private talk. “Try to communicate nicely with A-Man–” she said, but before she could finish the sentence, Queen Killer said, “Right!” Malicia’s words might have given Queen Killer an idea. And they went back to where A-Man was waiting.

 A-Man said: “What were you guys talking about?”

 “Your second mission is to steal the Funerary Mask of King Tutankhamun.” They went on the plane and traveled a long journey to Egypt and arrived at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. And of course, like usual, they arrived at midnight. And surprisingly, this time, Queen Killer was more patient and allowed A-Man to lead. But she wasn’t patient enough to figure out a plan when they were on the plane, they did it on the way to the museum. She wanted to relax on the plane. A-Man assumed every mission would be like this. 

On top of the museum building, there was a dome; they went through it and found the Funerary Mask. There was glass in front of it, of course, and it did have a lock, but it was not as tricky as the other one. It was just a little lock that Queen Killer easily picked. And, of course, she hacked into the security system, so it was an easy one. They left the building, went back to the plane, and showed Malicia the Funerary Mask. Queen Killer said her compliments to herself and one compliment to A-Man.

When they were settling in on the plane, Malicia said, “Thanks for being nice to A-Man.”

“No problem,” Queen Killer replied. But Malicia looked at her suspiciously, not knowing what trick she had up her sleeve. 

She said quietly to herself, “There’s gotta be more to this.” 

A few months later, A-Man and Queen Killer made a good team. They stole many things: jewelry, artifacts, famous paintings, etc. One day, they had a mission for the Olmec Colossal Head in the Xalapa Museum of Anthropology in Mexico. They went through a window, and A-man jumped down and rolled the Head to where Queen Killer was standing on the other side of the window. Queen Killer used the machine to rocket-launch the Head. But then, the security alarm went off.

 “Wait, I thought you had looked at the signals!” A-Man said.

 “Well, I looked at the signals, but there was a second layer, and I was too lazy and I gave up,” said Queen Killer. 

“What?!” said A-Man. Four hundred security guards came. 

They said, “Look! That’s Queen Killer and A-Man the Assassin!” Half of them were instructed to follow Queen Killer. Queen Killer ran very far, but in the opposite direction from the airport, and stopped. And then fought them, and beat them in five minutes. She went back to the plane without her partner.

A-Man was still fighting them, but he was struggling. By then, Queen Killer and her boss had already left because A-Man was so slow, and Queen Killer didn’t care. By the time he got out of that mess, the plane had already taken off and was halfway back. So he took another plane the next day. He had a plan to disclose what Queen Killer had done to him but he didn’t know that Queen Killer had her own plan. 

He went back and went to his boss’s room and said, “Boss, Queen Killer left me behind and didn’t wait for me and left me hanging there.”

The chair turned around, but it was not who A-Man was expecting. It was Queen Killer! “Hi, A-Man, sorry to disappoint you, but Malicia is not here. This is what happened: while you were gone, I challenged the boss to a fight, she lost, and I took the boss’s spot. I thought I could surprise you like this.”

But before A-Man could understand what was happening, she ordered ESK agents to capture him. He barely escaped, but luckily, he did escape. So he wandered off, trying to avoid the ESK Academy, but he didn’t know where he was going.

He met a seventy-year old man who said, “Hello, you look lost.”

“Whatever, mind your own business,” said A-Man.

“Okay, but would you like to come into my house?” said the old man.

“Whatever,” said A-Man and went into the old man’s house. A-Man saw a picture the old man had on his desk, and it was a picture of the old man, a woman, and a baby child. He recognized the baby in the picture: it was him! He turned around and said, “Who are you?” 

“I am your father, silly kid,” the old man laughed.

A-Man said, “What? You’re my father? I just recognized myself!” Instead of hugging, A-Man started to shout at his father,“Why did you leave me?”

“Because I had no choice! I betrayed the ESK agents, and they were looking for me all over! They could have found me. If I took you with me, they could have gotten you, too. But luckily, they didn’t find me.

“What?!” A-Man said, while he tried to process all this information. “So you really are my father?” He told him about how he was one of the top-fighters in the ESK Academy, and all about his fights. Right after he finished his story, A-Man said, “Teach me how to be a better fighter,” with a firm voice.

 “Okay, sure,” his father said, and then walked over to his chandelier. 

“What are you doing? I thought you were going to teach me how to fight, and you walk to the chandelier?” A-Man said. His father pulled on the chandelier string, and one of the walls opened.

“Come on in, sonny,” said the father. 

“Don’t call me sonny,” said A-Man.

“Okay, sonny,” said his father. 

A-Man’s father taught him how to fight. At first, he wasn’t as good as his father. His father said, “You only focus on attacking, but not blocking. And you never study your opponents’ weaknesses and strategies. If you studied them, you could figure out a way to beat them.” 

A few hours later, he got it. And then, A-Man said, “Did I master it?”

 “Yeah, you did. Just remember, when you fight, don’t fight with anger. Fight peacefully, and fight for good.”

Before any of them knew it, A-Man raised a knife and pushed him to the wall. His father looked at him with no fear. Just when he was about to stab him, he stabbed the wall and ran away.

Meanwhile, Queen Killer was on a private jet, going to steal the Mona Lisa painting. She went to the same country where A-Man was. She went to the balcony, hacked into the security signals again, and then slid down easily, like she was daydreaming. She was just about to grab the painting, looked around suspiciously, then…Crash! A-Man came in through one of the windows, but since he was still swinging in the air, he knocked Queen Killer out of the other side of the window and flew into the air! 

A-Man shouted, “Aaah! This is not how I planned it!” Then, Queen Killer noticed the bridge. She turned to the bridge, grabbed it, and landed on her feet. But A-Man crashed into the bridge and fell into the river. He climbed back up on the bridge. 

“Ow, that hurts,” he said. “I know you must be surprised.”

 “I’m not surprised,” Queen Killer replied. “I was expecting this.” 

Then, she drew out a sword, and A-man took his sword and prepared to fight. He knew whatever happened, Queen Killer would have no mercy. They fought, fought, fought; screamed, screamed, screamed; Queen Killer was about to stab him in the heart. But A-Man remembered what his father taught him, and kicked her and was about to stab her, but then Queen Killer kicked him off and stabbed him in the leg, and she said,“Goodbye.” 

She pushed him in the river and left. But luckily, A-Man’s father ran to him, dragged him up, and put him in the hospital. 

THE END

Ish’s spy Adventure

Ish is a normal kid. He does normal things like what all normal kids do. He plays basketball, eats ice cream, and also drinks a lot of water! But worse of all is, he doesn’t have any friends! But, something that you don’t know about Ish is that he is a spy. He finds anything that is missing. But today in this story, he is going to find the hidden golden hook. This is the most dangerous mission he has ever had before. He needs to dive in the deepest forest and dive into the ocean’s deep floor, get in a volcano, and quickly dig up the sand. Lastly, he needs to find the hidden house in the volcano, get past the guards and the laser beams, and get the missing stolen golden hook to give it back to the museum. But, be aware, Ish, there will also be pirates searching for it too! Most of all, if the golden hook touches anything, it will turn to gold. This is a top secret mission, so no one can know this is happening. 

This is the day. Ish is ready, he is wearing a dark shirt so that he can quickly blend in with the dark forest without anyone noticing. Also, he packed up a bright blue swimsuit so that he can camouflage with the water so that the pirates won’t notice he is diving in the water and he could secretly get the golden hook. He is in the entrance towards the deep forest. But he needs to be ready, because when he gets in, he can’t come out. So he better be quick and smart because the dark forest was like a maze. On his first step in, he gets sucked into the forest. I wonder what kind of magic that was? 

When he turns his body, he wants to step out of the forest. The place he entered disappears, and all he can see is the deep, dark, creepy forest. 

He steps out the second step, he moves around slowly and follows the map to move around. Suddenly, in the forest, he sees a giant monster that has an enormous mouth filled with sharp teeth. I can’t get eaten when the mission just got started, he thinks. 

So he quietly moves along the way. He opens his bag and finds his electric net gun and walks past the monster. But then, at his most nervous point, he accidentally steps on a branch. The sound is loud enough to make the monster wake up. Craaack!!!

Then, with the sound of the monster yawn, “Roar!!!” (Because his mouth is huge, his roar made it louder, so the whole forest could hear it.) 

Ish feels that he is on the edge dying. The monster starts slowly getting closer to him, Ish slowly walks backwards. But then he finds out that he’s almost on the edge of the cliff! The monster slowly walks towards him. Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!!! He waves the fist to Ish as if to let Ish lose balance and fall. 

But at this moment, Ish presses the button on the electric gun. Fwoosh! Then the sound, Bzzt! The monster painfully falls down. Bump!

“Phew! And thanks to the gun, ha ha,” Ish thinks. 

But another problem appears to arise. A good one and another bad one. The good one: Down the cliff is the dark sea. The bad one: But how can he get down?

An idea appears. He changes into his swimsuit and puts on his parachute that can turn directions, and he jumps off the cliff, opens his parachute, and gets into the water. But then suddenly, Boom!

Oh! It’s just thunder! But after the fog clears out, a pirate ship appears. “Uh oh, that’s not thunder, that’s cannon fire from the nearby pirate ship,” Ish whispers frighteningly to himself.  

“I’m doomed!” he yells. 

Worse of all, if the pirates catch him, they would force him to give them the map to the golden hook (they know that the only map is in the hand of a spy, so they decide to find Ish on the way to their trail to find the hook), and after they would force him to walk off the deck and drown in the dark, deep, blue sea!!! He formulates a plan.

Meanwhile, at about midnight, everyone is asleep, except for Ish (you shouldn’t copy Ish, he’s a spy not like you. You need sleep to help for the next day) — even the pirates are sleeping, dreaming, and snoring! Ish quietly heads towards the pirate ship, tiptoes through all the pirate’s food and blankets, and gets to the controlling wheel. 

“Hahaha!” A creepy voice comes from the cabin. “I knew it, I knew it!!!” 

Ish finds where the voice was coming from. 

“Ah! It’s Captain One Eye!” 

It’s great that he is just giving a video call. Ish eavesdrops on the door. “HAHA! My plan succeeds, we made it, we made it! We almost actually, because our diver is already about to find the volcano, haha!” The captain cheers. 

Ish whispers to himself, “I better be fast!” He opens his bag and gets out an electric net. On three, two, one! He measures and presses the button. Bzzt! And the captain falls down.

 Quickly, Ish jumps into the water, but first, he builds up a motor on his backpack, and zooms — he’s ten times faster than he was before. 

On the map, it says that the third volcano from the left, or from the fourth volcano from the right. (It means that the total amount of the volcanoes is seven.) He finds the correct volcano, but soon, he sees the guy who works for the pirate ship also there searching for the correct volcano. You know, because when you search something you don’t know, you might need to dig all of it out and search for it. So does the pirate, but he’s now searching for the correct volcano. Ish needs to stop him before he finds the real volcano first! 

First, he wants to use his electric net he used before, but he finds out that he is underwater, so his net is not useful. Instead, he might even electric himself! He has an idea. Ish gets up to the seaside. He quickly changes to a pirate and wears his diving suit. 

Ish dives in the water, reaches the volcano, and finds the pirate. The pirate thinks that the captain let him come here to help him. So Ish helps him dig up the sand and find the hidden house. 

Ish gets in first, followed by the pirate. Then they feel there is no water because they are in a house! Because it is dry, Ish gets out his electric net and shoots at the pirate. 

“Oof!” The pirate touches the ground. 

Ish gets out of his diving suit and puts it in his bag, continuing to put the bag in his pocket. (He can even put a piano in his pocket because it’s high-tech.) 

Only two last shots left in his gun, he could definitely use it on the guards. Soon, the guards hear the sound of Ish fighting pirates, so they come to check. They see someone that had fainted on the ground. It was Ish; he puts the pirate’s body on the seaside and plays dead. The guards are about to pick Ish up, but Ish gets out his gun and electrocutes the guards. Two sounds of falling to the ground, and no more sounds are heard. But then: Bzzt! It’s the real laser beam security! It’s not an ordinary lazer; it’s a real laser that can cut things in half immediately. 

But Ish is a spy — he was trained to do it, right? So Ish confidently gets through it quickly, neat and clean; nothing happens to him. In front of his sight is the famous golden hook. Ish takes the golden hook away, gets out of the laser beams again, and uses the hook to touch the two guards, the two of them immediately turning into golden statues. 

Now, all he needs to do is to turn this whole thing into gold; so then, he uses the hook to touch the ground, and immediately the whole house turns to gold.

Ish goes up shore, goes to the museum, and gives it to the museum. What a day. But then, Bweep! 

Another mission, Ish thought. 

“Ish the spy, the famous Egyption case of the king Tutu got stolen!” 

“Ok, coming right to it. Guys, care to join?”

Magical Life, Chapter One: Seeking Back Story

I am all sitting at a tall countertop with very tall chairs as the wind blows past from the open windows. I reach back behind my chair and grab my jacket behind me. It smells like coffee with a lot of sugar and almond milk in the cafe. As I put on my jacket, the waitress walks past with my coffee, a double espresso and two sugars. As I am sipping my coffee, I hear someone mention him. Beck, he was the first one here, on this afterlife interpretation.

Sadly, not the last. As he and his adventures grew, more people came to this place. Which was quite a problem for Beck here, so he trained more and more people to assist him in his job. But we don’t know how or why, or anything about this journey that has changed everything, to have a safe journey, a sanctuary for everyone who has found the want to be a part of what he created. I am not here to learn about what he created because I live in this beautiful place that now so many people know and feel comfortable with everyone. What I am here for, though, is to find out how he created this place that I can’t stop thinking about. There is just no place that I would rather be than in this safe space for all who make it in, but now I need to finally tell you what I need to learn about. I need to learn about how he made this all happen and how he created this world that I have committed to being perfect for. I am doing this to inform the world, to be satisfied with myself, and satisfied with everything I know. 

So my quest is to learn and I am starting here in this cozy little cafe by asking around to see if people have a part of the story that I am trying to piece together.

“Does anyone here know anything about Beck?” I ask.

At first, not a person wants to help me. They are all eating their pastries and drinking their coffees. But eventually I hear an answer.

“Yes. I was one of the first here.” They start to walk over to my table and I shift slightly around to look a bit more at their seventh caramel pumpkin spice frappuccino and them behind me.

“Hi, I’m Ray, I asked if anyone knows about Beck,” I say.

“Yes, that would be me, so what do you know about Beck?” they say.

“Well, I have a book about it,” they say, while turning around to reach into their backpack and pulling out what looks like it could be up to five hundred pages, with a leather bound cover and lock. Then they put on their tiny, little reading glasses and open to the first page. I start to get ready for a super story…

________________________________________________________________

I was with Beck when there were only eleven thousand and five hundred people. Keep in mind that this was before he had trained thousands of people to assist in this process, so we had quite a lot of time to hear some stories.

The first story that he shared was what his life was like before he, you know, died. He said that he grew up in Park Slope, always going to this one special ice cream place that he loved to keep going to so that he could have the wonderful flavors that kept rotating. One day, it would be chocolate, and then the next, it would be pineapple. He loved being able to give other people who were sad a gift card and to go there with them if they were glum because he loved seeing their perfectly unsad smiles.

________________________________________________________________

Bump

Bump! My wheel got stuck on a rock. I click the brakes and move my bike around the rock. I wipe the sweat off my forehead and continue following my dad up the trail. The hot sun was beaming down on me, making sweat roll down my face and back. I am Stella Cubster, I am currently just out of San Diego, California. I live in Estonia in Europe, but I am visiting here for my mom’s work. She works as a doctor and has to travel a lot! I am riding my bike on a mountain with my dad. He loves mountain biking. I think it’s fun, but still, I’d prefer to be painting in my room with my friend, Beth. We spend almost every afternoon together. We usually paint, but sometimes we draw. Today reminds me of a hot day a few years ago. Me and my mom were walking on a path in the desert. The sun was blazing down on us. I watched dust kick up as my mom, in front of me, exclaimed to me, “Stella! I see the top!” I was so relieved. That was the hottest walk ever, and I knew there would be shade up there, unlike down where we were– you could only see rocks and sand for miles and miles. I looked around at the dry landscape. I was looking at a cute mouse when I missed a step and fell down on the rocky path. I remember getting lots of cuts and scrapes from that fall, but I also remember getting to the top and sitting in the shade. Oh, that felt so nice! I try not to think of getting all of the cuts and scrapes as I continue pedaling up the mountain.

“Stella, there is a roller up here.” My dad calls to me from up ahead. “Do you want to try it?” He asks, already riding down it.

“No,” I reply immediately, seeing that it was big. My dad asks me this almost every time there is a rock to roll up or down. Usually I say no, because I am too worried about falling off and breaking a bone. I roll down beside the side of the rock, careful to not scrape my pedal on it. 

“Stella, we are almost to the top of the mountain, when we reach the top let’s have a water break.” My dad calls from in front of me. 

“Definitely,” I reply, short of breath. I am happy to know I could drink clear, cool liquid soon. After this huge climb I didn’t even think I could make it two pedals further. 

After 10 more minutes of riding, I turn a corner and exclaim excitedly, 

“We’re at the top!!!” 

Right as I reach the top, feeling renewed from my excitement and going at an incredibly fast speed, my bike crashes hard against a nearby rock. The next thing I know I go head over heels and hear a huge crack. At first, I don’t know if the crack was from me or the bike.

“Stella!!” My dad cries and runs over to me. “Are you ok?!” It takes me a minute to register his question considering my shock. But when I do, I reply,

“Yes, I am totally fine, I am not quite sure about my bike though.” I am so thankful that it was my bike not me! My legs are still shaking from being scared as I get up to check my bike. I lay it on its side in the dirt. We start examining the parts. It looks like the bike hit near the frame of my bike. There is a little dent but nothing major. 

“It looks fine.” I observe, taking one last look over the bike. “What do you think, Dad?”

“Stella, get back,” Dad says suddenly. I look to where he is looking. A big snake was at least 30 feet away. But Dad has a big thing with snakes. He is terrified of them. 

“It looks okay…” he says, looking back at the bike and slowly rubbing his hand over the dent mark. “But take it slow going down the mountain, we don’t want you to get hurt today. And let’s definitely get going.” He eyed the snake that had never even looked at us.

“Dad! It’s fine!” I say reassuringly. Even I am not afraid of snakes.

After we eat a quick snack, I take a big gulp of water. Water had never tasted so good! We hop on our bikes and we start down the mountain. I feel the wind flow through my hair, pushing it back. That is my favorite feeling. It almost feels like silk running across my face. I feel so free! I tried to take it slow like my dad said to, but when I click my brakes to slow down, I don’t slow down. I try again, this time I hold my brakes harder. Sometimes my brakes are hard to push. But not this hard. I feel panic bubbling up in my core like soup bubbling in a pot waiting for the heat to be turned off. I attempt to scream but my mouth is clamped shut, no matter how much I try, I can’t get it to open. I steer my bike around a corner, going at an incredible speed. I try to scream to my dad, but like before, my screams and words got caught in my throat, unwilling to come out. As I continue down the trail I spy a big rock ahead. I try to put my foot down to stop the bike but an odd dizzy feeling in my brain takes over. I can’t move. I try and try to get off the bike, but I get dizzier by the second. My eyes show a blurry picture of the rock getting closer and closer. I close my eyes, preparing for the fall, but there is no way to prepare myself for what was about to happen. I get to the rock way too fast, my bike wobbles and…

***

“Ahhhhhhh!” I hear someone scream. They keep screaming. Then I realize it was me. I try to stop but the screams keep coming out. I can’t feel anything. I can’t see anything. Where am I?

“Stella?!” I hear my dad yell out to me. That stops my screaming. Dad? Then it all floods back to me. Speeding down the mountain toward a giant rock unable to stop. My bike wobbled then… I can’t remember. I see Dad peddling so hard, I thought for sure his pedals were going to snap off. 

“Stella!” He jumps off his bike, letting it crash to the ground. Dad never ever let his bike fall down. He always put it down slowly, carefully to make sure his bike would not scratch. 

“Dad, I’m fine,” I croak out. I sound like a frog with a sore throat. I push off the rock to try and get myself up. A shot of pain bolts through my leg. I let out an ear-piercing scream and tumble back to the ground. I close my eyes and clench my teeth. There is no way I can describe the pain that I am feeling now. I can’t see. I can’t think. I can’t… The last thing I hear is Dad scream, “Stella!”

***

“Dad? Dad? Dad, where are you?” I look around searching for Dad. He just called my name. Where did he go? “Dad?!”

“Stella? Stella, wake up!” Someone shakes me. “Stella!” I feel someone squeeze my arm. I open one eye then the other.

“Mom?” I ask. She smiles then hugs me. It felt good to be near her. I look down. The top of my hand has a hot pink band aid stuck on. I look at my leg. It was covered by a big pink cast. “What hap…” I start then I remember. Bike. Rock. Falling. Screaming. Pain. Oh the pain. 

“Where’s Dad?” I ask, scanning the room. Right as I say that Dad comes in. “Stella!”

***

6 months later

Dad and I are driving to a new mountain biking spot. Dad got me a new bike as a get well present. It was kind of funny, because I couldn’t exactly use it with a broken leg. But the color is a lavender purple with pink lettering that says “STRONG STELLA” on the frame. I love it! 

We figured that when I hit the rock when I was coming up the mountain, we didn’t check my bike carefully enough and missed that the brakes were broken. Dad had said sorry so many times. He said the snake made him not as focused on the bike and more focused on getting away.

I had forgiven Dad a long time ago, though I’m not sure he’ll ever forgive himself. 

“Oh look,” Dad said pointing to the mountain that the tragedy had happened on. 

“Dad, I’ve been thinking. I want to ride that mountain to the top and down,” I say determinedly. “Today.” I add.

“Stella. Did I hear you right? You want to ride that mountain even after what happened?”

“Yup,” I responded, “even after what happened.”

The Sunday Surprise

It was a cold Sunday morning the week before Thanksgiving.  

“Bye, dad!” We hollered as we hurried down the airport to the baggage check.  

My mom, Maylin, Kaia, and I waited in line. Time slowly passed by until finally we were at the boarding spot. We flew to Dallas, which was a two and a half hour flight. But when we got to the boarding area to go to Grand Rapids, that’s where everything went wrong. 

My mom got a call from my dad, who was at home, saying the flight got canceled because of snow! We would have to wait four hours! Yeah, that’s right! Four hours! So we could take a different flight to Detroit instead of Grand Rapids, then a two and a half hour flight to Detroit, then a three to four hour drive to my grandparents’ house! 

So we waited, and waited, and waited! When the four hours passed,we boarded and took off in the air. I watched Black Widow and right when it was about to end, the plane shook. 

BOOM BOOM BOOOOOOOM! 

Kaia started to cry. That cry turned into a sob, that sob turned into a scream, a high pitched scream! 

When we listened more carefully we heard… 

The common sound of the drum and horns.

BUM-BUM-BUM-BUM-BUM.      

The windows of the airplane shot up! 

“What in the-…” My mom didn’t finish her sentence. 

We couldn’t believe what we saw! FLYING PIGS PLAYING INSTRUMENTS! Drums, guitars, pianos, and a bunch more! 

“…world,” my mom finished. 

They had a Dallas Cowboys flag up and a flag that said, “the Dallas Pig Band!” They were the band of pigs that were going to the football game! 

The plane automatically turned around without the pilot’s control! 

“Hold on, everybody. I don’t know what happened.” The seatbelt sign turned on. “Please don’t panic,” The captain said in a panicked voice. 

Well, the plane followed right behind the pigs’ tails until we got to the Dallas game to cheer them on.

  As we hovered in the plane over the game we noticed more flying pigs coming! CHEERLEADER PIGS! 

“Let’s go Dallas, let’s go! Let’s go Dallas, let’s go!” The cheerleaders cheered on and on and on.

 But that’s not all. BOOOOOOOM! Thousands of pigs came roaring out of the sky and took the place of the people in the stands who didn’t even notice them because of the distraction of the game! The pigs threw the people into the sky. (Although, they were not evil, why would they be?) But let’s not talk about what happened to them because you do NOT want to know.

 Well, it wouldn’t be a complete story if you didn’t know; they fell into a river of course where the people would throw the goal post after a great victory! 

“OH MY GOSH,” the people on the plane hollered when we heard that disturbing news.

“Well at least we aren’t going to die!” Someone blurted out.

 Just then the clock ran out of time. 

“Hooray!” Everybody shouted. Dallas won!

Well, obviously we turned around and finished going to Michigan. 

“Thankfully we have continued on our journey, and are heading back safely,” the captain announced. “I apologize for that delay. Hopefully we will arrive soon. Thank you for your cooperation and we will be on our way.”

When we got back, the story we told in the car took one hour of the time to tell. And it took most of the ride to convince our grandparents that it actually happened, although they weren’t fully convinced. 

By the time we got back, it was 1:30 in the morning so we all got ready to go to bed, although sadly our bags didn’t make it back. All of a sudden everybody woke up to the same sound of…

BUM-BUM-BUM-BUM-BUM. 

“We heard that for sure on the plane,” I shouted. 

My grandma hurried over to the door to see what it was. She opened the door and shrieked! There, right before her eyes, she saw the band of pigs with their drums. Her eyes swirled as she fell backwards with a big CLUMP.

 We all ran over to see if she was okay just as the leader pig winked with a full smile so you could see his one golden tooth sparkle.

Giant Cats 2: HUMANS

After Ginger and Peter found out that they had the same secret, they decided to go on a trip together. They went from Giant Cat Town to Giant Cat California. They wanted me to share their journey with you. They packed up and said goodbye, but they almost forgot one crucial thing: to pick who will rule Cat Town while they are gone. So they asked their good friend Oliver. He was very nervous, because everyone would depend on him. They just wanted to have a good time and go on a vacation without having to worry about having a secret anymore. They told Oliver “You’ll be fine!” and set off. But…they accidentally took a spaceship instead of their plane to Giant Cat California and they ended up on the moon. Six fish and two snails were trying to trick Ginger and Peter, and since Oliver had no experience being the ruler, they tricked him and became the rulers themselves. But they didn’t know that Oliver was actually used to this, because they go on a lot of trips and they leave him in charge. So when the fish tried to become rulers, it really didn’t work. First of all, they were fighting for who would be the first determined ruler. Secondly, they forgot they were only one or two inches long, and Oliver is a cat.

So, they had a second try, and they barely came out alive because Oliver forgot to cut his nails. 

Now, let’s tell Oliver’s side of the story! 

“I saw a few fish on the floor out of water, so I tried to pick them up and put them in a glass of water. But I accidentally used my claws! Thankfully, I didn’t hurt them, but they were very frightened in my hands. So I quickly put them in a glass of water, and I went and ate lunch. When I came back, they were gone! And the glass was broken. I just hope they’re ok.”

Meanwhile, on the moon….

Ginger and Peter are enjoying the moon quite nicely by eating water cake. My mistake, actually milk cake. They also saw a squirrel pass by, waving to them.

“That’s quite interesting,” Peter said. Ginger agreed and nodded her head. It was very quiet on the moon….UNTIL!…actually, never mind, nothing happened. Yeah, the moon was very quiet and dusty.

Inside the rocket ship, there was a vacuum, so they decided to do the moon a favor, but they accidentally pressed the “blast off” button. Thankfully, they were holding hands, so they blasted off together and landed in Giant Cat California.

I guess the moral of the story is that love can push you through anything….even if you’re trapped on the moon!

Let’s go back to Cat Town.

The snails just told the fish that Peter and Ginger had escaped and were headed somewhere. They traveled halfway around the world by swimming, but they forgot that not everywhere is surrounded by water—and where Peter and Ginger were, in the middle of California, was nowhere near the beach! The fish could go nowhere near that far….their tails would get far too tired! So they found a slice of butter and a tiny stick and started rowing. Thankfully, one of the fish was a carver, so while they rowed, he carved a much safer bus in the butter. So they all went in the bus, 6 fish and 2 snails, and the wheels started sliding on the pavement. Since it was in California, though, the pavement was very hot and the butter started melting. They quickly found a cup and started rolling in it. Again, the carver fish carved a little train. And there were functioning seatbelts. And they were safe in the train. And they thought they had arrived at their destination, but they were wrong. The snails don’t have the best eyes, so they saw the wrong area. They tried again, except when they started rolling again, the train fell apart! Thankfully, they found some bottlecaps and slid down the hill in them, so they decided to have some fun and do what they were trying to do.

They finally got to the hotel, but Ginger and Peter weren’t there. They had left the hotel to go to lunch. One of the fish looked at the snail very oddly. They waited there, but they didn’t have to wait long. The only problem was they couldn’t get inside the hotel, so they thought of a plan as quickly as they could and tried it out. It did not work. They decided to try the next thing, but there was another problem: they had nowhere to stay. So they found a pond nearby, and stayed there for the night. The next day, the cats found flipper prints leading to the pond. They investigated, and found six fish and two snails. Then, they turned them back into good snails and good fish. At the very end of the story, they all went back to Giant Cat Town, and there, waiting for them, was Oliver. He was very tired for some reason, and then he told us why. Being the ruler of Giant Cat Town alone is really hard. Next time, he will ask his sister for help.

The End.

Dead Hollow Grave

It was October 31st. All of the trick-or-treaters bustled throughout Old Hollow Town, demanding sugary treats. That all ended when they saw the dim outline of a figure next to the woods. It slowly shambled towards the children, lurching and limping. All of the people began to shriek as they realized that the zombie was real.

Unfortunately, one straggler was caught. The zombie bit deep into her flesh, snapping tendons and muscles. She let out one strangled, gurgling gasp then slowly sank to the ground. A few seconds later she rose back up, complexion mottled and green, skin torn and ripped.

All of the stragglers were picked off in that way, and soon, about twelve zombies were lurching through the town. They groaned and clawed at locked doors, knocking a few down. By midnight, thirty zombies were limping out of the town and back into the forest. What had once been a happy procession was now the remains of a grim spectacle.

Red liquid splattered the ground, and the village began rebuilding.

Every year after that, all the zombies would return at that specific time, pick off a few people, and go back to the woods. Visitors stopped coming, and the population dwindled. Soon, everybody died and the town became a horror.

Zombies walked everywhere, hungry for new human flesh. They only had dim flashes of memory from their last life.

What once was Old Hollow Town became known as Dead Hollow Grave.

The Planet

There was an astronaut that had to go on a big adventure. Her name was Coco. She had to go to six different planets to find a missing alien. The first one was about music. She had to write a song to get past the first planet. The second planet was about dancing. She had to choreograph a dance. The third one was about adventure. She had to find an adventure on the planet. The fourth one was about drawing. She had to draw a self-portrait. The fifth one was about love. She had to find her true love. The last one was about fun. She had to make it fun to find the alien. 

For days, she was thinking about a song and she finally had it. Coco went into the planet, but the planet wouldn’t take it. Coco tried about five times, and then she picked it up, noticing something was wrong. It wasn’t the right paper. She went back into the spaceship and she looked all around. She found it underneath her pillow, and she put it on the planet. The planet finally accepted and let her move onto the next one.

A week later, she finally figured out her photograph for planet two. Coco danced all around, but the planet wouldn’t take it. Something was wrong. She had no more ideas, so she went back into the spaceship. Coco had the wrong boots. That’s what she was missing to be a good dancer. She looked all around and she found them in the bathtub. And then the planet took it. So, she went onto the next planet .

On planet three, Coco had to find an adventure. She thought that it would be impossible to find one. Eventually, she found one, and left. 

The fourth planet needed a drawing. It took Coco a very long time to draw herself but she finally did it. But she forgot one thing. She forgot to draw the nose. She put it on the planet, but the planet didn’t take it. She looked all around and she finally noticed it. She practiced the nose on a different piece of paper, and she messed up a tiny bit, but she still got it accepted.

The fifth planet. Coco thought it would be impossible to find true love on the planet. She looked for more than three months, but she still couldn’t find it. She finally found someone on the planet that was her true love. They danced; they made music together, which almost made her forget about the adventure. Her true love had to go straight to Earth. The planet accepted it, but she was sad that she had to leave her true love. 

The sixth planet. Coco tried for almost a year, but she couldn’t find something fun. After that year, she finally found a toy. She had no idea what it mean or what to do with it. But the toy had something written on the back. It said that if you shake it, something magical will appear. So she shook it about five times and finally found the missing alien. She went back to Earth, and everybody thought she would never return. But she did return, and she found her true love again. She experimented on the alien in her secret lab. She needed to find out why the alien went missing. She thinks it escaped and wants to go back to its own planet and that there’s probably more aliens. So, she went back up and found one more planet. The planet of sparkles. 

Coco was so amazed that she passed out and had to tell everyone. Now every time she goes to space she always visits her alien friends. Sometimes they put on musicals, and she sometimes does new adventures. Everybody in the neighborhood throws one big party for her. It was one party she would never forget. The end.

Spaghetti and… Clams?

I stared out the window. The snow made the playground all white. It was lunchtime. We had recess after lunch. We would definitely have indoor recess. I stared at my lunch bag. Spaghetti and meatballs again. That was the only thing my mom had ever packed since we got back from Mexico. Even though my stomach grumbled like a hungry lion, I didn’t want to eat spaghetti and meatballs. I kept a chart of how many times my mom packed spaghetti and meatballs and I was at 19 days! But the days just kept coming: 20, 21, 22, 23, 24! I counted on and on each day. I was getting so tired of it.

Finally, no meatballs! Still spaghetti though. What were those things? I noticed they were moving. Not moving like rolling, but opening and closing. I was confused and hungry, so I started to pick up my fork. Suddenly I started to notice something bad. Wait a minute. 

“Are those clams?” I thought to myself, “Ahhh!” 

I ran to get school lunch. Nope. It was spinach with carrots and sweet potato fries. Gross! I tried not to barf. I found some crackers lying in the corner of the cafeteria. I gobbled them up. Ewww. They tasted like people’s feet. I didn’t know what to do. I asked my friend Hanna if she would share her salami with me. She only gave me one piece. I ripped it up into small pieces to last me the whole lunch period. I was still hungry. I wished I had something like pizza. 

When I got home, I could barely breathe. I slumped on the couch. 

When my mom got home from work, the first thing she said was, “Why the gloomy face, kiddo?” 

“You,” I breathed, “packed…me…clams…” I started, “For lunch!!! Ahhh!!!” I yelled. 

I ran all the way up two flights of stairs to my room. 

Mom ran after me screaming,” Aliela, come back!!!” 

I didn’t want to upset Mom. I think I mostly upset myself. Mom didn’t seem upset, I think she only wanted to talk with me, but I just wanted to be alone. 

Then, I heard the front door moan. My older brother, Kalub, was home. Kalub was in high school, and he participated in a world-wide famous high school football game. 

“My team won.” Kalub bragged. 

“I don’t think that is true,” Mom said, face buried in her computer. 

She probably searched it up. Kalub’s team was called Dark Hawks. The other team was Alley Champs. 

We had started eating dinner so I was glad that the subject had changed! 

“Mom,” I said. “May I be excused to get dessert?” 

“Eat a little bit more,” she said. “And then you can eat dessert.”

“Mom!” 

I decided not to bring up the subject of lunch, but I’ll bring it up tomorrow morning. I needed more time to forgive Mom in my head before I chose to talk about it. I just hoped Mom remembers to not give me clams for lunch tomorrow!!!

The Nuclear Death, Part 1

There once were 2 teams. One of the teams was called the Department of Nuclear Studies, D.N.S. for short.  The other team was called Society of Hitmen, S.H. for short. The two facilities were enemies. S.H. wanted to destroy D.N.S. They wanted to destroy the facility because they didn’t want any mistakes to happen, or else the city would get destroyed. They were in Nevada, where there’s a lot of plains. S.H. was also in Nevada. They were actually right next to the D.N.S. facility. The leader of S.H. wanted to assassinate the director of D.N.S. Today was the day they would do it. 

The leader prepared all of his people. He gave them muskets and bazookas. There were many different groups in S.H. There were the spies, the raiders, and the commando. The commando, along with many other raiders, went in a buggie. The spies went in a black van. There were also the hitmen. The hitmen went with the spies, but there was one hitman who wasn’t sure about this plan. His name was the Blackout. He had a very important role with the hitmen. His role was to assassinate and to heal. He was the chief medic of S.H., and he was the only one who didn’t have a cold heart. So, he told his crew that he would be back. He put the vice chief medic in charge, because he would stay back and control the plan. But that wasn’t what he was going to do. He was going to secretly help D.N.S. 

The Blackout went through a secret passageway to D.N.S., where he would start a new life. He put on some casual clothes, and asked the director of the D.N.S. for an interview. Luckily, he said yes. In the interview, he was asked what his job was before. 

Blackout answered: “I was the chief medic of a society.” 

He didn’t mention that he was part of S.H. and the director didn’t find out. He said yes to the job, and even better, he said he could be the chief medic of D.N.S. Blackout was happy, but he wasn’t so happy about lying to his whole group at S.H. But he was okay with lying to the director of D.N.S. After all, it wasn’t really a lie. It was a white lie. Little did he know that white lie would become a big lie. 

He said to the director that there was a raid party that wanted to destroy D.N.S. The director believed him, so he put the facility at level 5, which was the most secure level. They were right on time. Then, they sent out some of their troops to secure the area. Back at S.H., the leader told them to retreat. When they got back, the Blackout wasn’t there. But luckily, the Blackout wasn’t that dumb. He disguised a person as him and killed that person so it would look like he was dead. Now, the big lie began. The news went out to all of S.H. But then, it was going further than S.H. – it was going to New York City, and other states. Luckily, D.N.S didn’t know about it yet. But they would soon. The leader of S.H. was very sad. Still, no one knew about S.H., though. Blackout was saving people all day. The news spread out. It even spread out to S.H. When the leader of D.N.S. found out, he was furious. Blackout also told D.N.S. about S.H. Like always, the director of D.N.S. believed him. Sadly, now S.H. wanted to assassinate the Blackout, but now his name was Chief Larry.

S.H. snuck into D.N.S. When they all heard that there were threats in D.N.S., Chief Larry sent out many troops with the permission of the director. The troops were able to kidnap the hitmen, the spies, the commando and the raiders. Unfortunately, the big lie became bigger and bigger. 

The leader of S.H. told the director of D.N.S. everything, from the beginning to the end. When the director asked Chief Larry if it was true, he said yes. Luckily, the director of D.N.S. was super nice, and it didn’t bother him at all. The director of D.N.S. said that all people change course in life. And the director always knew that he wasn’t spying for S.H. But nobody knew what to do with S.H. 

“Killing them would be a little harsh,” said Chief Larry. 

Everybody agreed. “Maybe we could keep them in our facility prison,” said the director of D.N.S. 

Chief Larry and the rest of D.N.S. agreed. But the next day, the co-director of D.N.S. had a surprise for Chief Larry. He was the new director of D.N.S., but the ex-director wasn’t there. The co-director said that he was shocked while they were transferring S.H. to their prison. They also said that they could not capture S.H., they were still on the loose. 

                                              To be continued 

Time for Turkey

A man by the name of Martin Stevens decided to cook a Thanksgiving turkey on a Tuesday evening for no special event, but he didn’t know how, and neither do I. So he got a turkey from the grocery store and put it in the oven. The turkey did not come out well. It was so burnt that it was blacker than the abyss.

The man, a stranger to cooking, decided it looked delicious. He took a bite and he loved it. He invited his neighbors to try the turkey. They loved it as much as he did. He decided to give them the recipe: Place the turkey in the oven and set the temperature to nine hundred and ninety-nine degrees. It was chaos. With this amazing new turkey recipe, everybody was rushing to the grocery store for a turkey. People told their friends about the turkey, so now hundreds of people were rushing to the grocery store before it closed. The store ran out of turkeys and the crazed turkey shoppers started a riot. The employees had to steal turkeys from the local zoo and start butchering them.

At last, after the employees illegally stole turkeys from the zoo and chopped them up, there were enough of the birds for everyone! Everybody got a nine hundred and ninety-nine degree burnt turkey! But the employees from the local zoo realized what had happened and started wrecking the grocery store for stealing their precious turkeys. They destroyed all the fresh produce and stomped on all the bread, once the zoo employees had finished their rampage they left, leaving the grocery store employees baffled. The end. 

The Anteater

One day in California, there lived a boy. The boy had all the toys in the town. The boy wanted to have something new. How hard is it to think of something new?!

“Wait a minute,” said the boy, “I think I got it! All I want is a particular pet! I want an anteater! I want it nice and gray.”

As soon as his dad heard the news, he went to all the zoos that he could find. He asked the zookeepers calmly if they had any anteaters.

“We have anteaters, but our anteaters are not for sale.”

One day later, his dad found a zoo that said “Anteaters for sale”. He found the nicest, grayest anteater and gave it to his son. 

The anteater asked the boy, “Please give me some meat and bread.”

The boy said, “No, you are an anteater and you should go outside and find some ants from my garden.”

The anteater searched night and day, but he couldn’t find a single ant.

Five days later, the boy’s aunt came over. The boy shouted over to the anteater, “Come see my Aunt Samantha! She is over 15 years old.”

The anteater turned around and said, “A giant ant?”

Sometimes people think it’s “a-nt”, but it’s actually, “au-nt”. 

As soon as the anteater heard the word “aunt” he said, “Hmmm, a giant ant.”

The boy said, “Yes, yes, a good big ah-nt”

The anteater came closer and closer and said, “Hmm, I don’t care if the aunt is over 15. I don’t care how old the aunt is. Tonight, when Aunt Samantha is sleeping, I will gulp her down head to toe.”

So, at night he did exactly what he said. He ate her head to toe, toenails too!

In the morning, the boy looked around for his Aunt Samantha. Then, he saw the anteater in Aunt Samantha’s bed. The anteater said, “Since I ate Aunt Samantha for dinner, I will eat you for dessert!”

The anteater didn’t only eat the boy, he ate his whole family and even his plants. 

After he ate everyone and all the plants, he had so much energy, so he dug into the boy’s garden. Then he saw a tiny speck of something black in the dirt moving. He said, “Ah! Another ant!”

       The end.

Ditched

Chapter 1- The Beginning of it All 

I felt a burst of cold air when someone took the warm, loving covers off me. “Stop!” I yelled, trying to pull the covers back from whomever took them from me. “Hannah banana, it’s hiking day!” I heard my dad say, as hiking was his favored passion. “Why today? I had the best dream, I was jumping on cotton candy clouds and there were waterfalls of gatorade.” Gatorade was my favorite drink on the entire earth. “We’ve had this planned for three  months! Why couldn’t you have saved that dream for another night?” he said as he was sitting down. “Daaaad, you can’t have or not have a dream, silly!” My dad replied, “ Yeah right. We have to get a move on if we want to get to our hiking site by 10:00! Start packing your hiking bag Hannah! Chop chop!” 

As I was packing, I was wondering what to bring, but I didn’t want Dad to get mad at me for not knowing what to bring, so I brought: a six pack of Gatorade, some Band-Aids, and a couple of granola bars. As I was about to exit the front door to wait for Dad at the car, I felt someone stop me. I turned around to look at who it was and it was my older brother, Lucas. He is a total caution freak, so he handed me a keychain with flint and steel and a Swiss Army knife starter set with scissors, a variety of mini knives, a mini saw, and tweezers. Then I hugged him and walked to the car, as I saw Dad was in the car, ready to leave. 

While I was in the car looking out the window, I saw car after car race by; it looked like they would never end. As I felt the car slow to a stop, I readied my things; for the adventure awaits, I thought. I opened the car door not wanting to feel the cold air, as it was the middle of fall. I got out of the car, and Dad was already next to the entrance path, to the hike. I didn’t know then, but this hike was going to change my life. 

We walked through the path slowly, taking in all that was around us, breathing in all the floral, outsidey scents. We looked at all the plants, gawking at animals. Hearing birds *Chirp Chirp* every step of the way. We were walking for quite a while, an hour or so. Then, we came across this little area with what looked like never-ending berries. There were so many berries, heaps and buckets worth. I took a couple of blackberry-looking berries and stuck them in my mouth. “Dad! These are delicious! You should really try some!” I said. Dad replied with a, “No thanks, I’m not very hungry,” answer. “Well, more for me!” I said enthusiastically while shoving some more in my mouth. 

 We walked a bit more until I felt my stomach was not feeling up to shape, so I told Dad, and I sat down on a log. I drank some water and exhaled.

Chapter 2- The Hike

I hear birds sing. I smell all the same outdoor smells. I open my eyes. I put my hands out in front of myself. I see them. I sit up. I am still on a log. Everything seems normal. Until I notice. Dad. Where is he? How long was I out for? I say my thoughts out loud. I get up. I am stressed. I get stressed easily. Calm down. I walk around the log for a couple minutes. Wait. I see something. What is it? I bend down. I grab it. It’s a note. It says Hi Hannah, I am very worried about you when you passed out. So I am going to find some help. I won’t take long. Probably only around 30 minutes. I will be back soon, don’t worry…  Then at the bottom of the letter was Dad’s signature. I read the note carefully, making sure not to skip any words, on accident even. Once I finished reading the note, I placed it in my pocket, making sure not to crumple it. 

I looked around again, focusing on my surroundings, seeing what I would have to deal with for only about half an hour. I saw the sun get dimmer, and I looked up and saw that the sky was gray, filled with clouds. I thought about how not prepared I was. I sat back down on the log, in silence for about four minutes until I realized; I was hungry. I grabbed my backpack, it was leaning against the side of the log. I unzipped it gingerly, how the one of worst things to happen was the zipper to get stuck. I pulled out a chocolate chip granola bar, and with the backpack on my lap, I ripped open the granola bar as I took in a big whiff of the chocolaty, not-very-healthy granola bar scent. I took a big bite of it. Mmmmmmmm. I closed my eyes for a second to take in the granola bar’s glorious taste. I did really miss my dad though, I’m almost never without him, except for school of course. I also started to worry a bit, it had been four hours since I passed out. I didn’t know how time had passed so fast, then I thought he might be in trouble! Oh no! Maybe I should go venture for him! I grabbed my coat,backpack, and Dad’s note and set off to find him! 

I went up a hill, a very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY tall hill that completely exhausted me, but I kept going forward. I also came across this raging river, there was no way around it, so I found this big, long tree that must have fallen over, so I walked right across it.  Then I got, now fully exhausted and I saw this big cave that was kind of hidden. It did look very welcoming though, and it was starting to drizzle, so I went inside. I didn’t want to get wet. 

I walked through the cave, although it wasn’t really that big, and found a little nook, so I put my backpack down and laid on it. It had been a very long day and I was completely exhausted. I didn’t have a mirror, but I knew I didn’t look my best. I could feel the bags under my eyes. I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep.

Chapter 3-  BATS

I saw my dad, in a meadow with daisies and dandelions with his arms open, waiting for me to run into them. I skipped across the meadow until I reached him, but when I did, he melted into nothing. I awoke with a start, I looked around, nothing had changed, no Dad and still in a cave. 

But then something caught my attention, something had moved quickly. It had darted across the cave. It was a small cave but whatever this thing was, it was fast. Around three minutes later, I had lost interest in whatever it was, so I put my head down on my bag again, but I didn’t close my eyes this time, I still was a teensy bit curious to see what it was that had disturbed me. Then I saw it again and again, like there were 50 of them! I got up and stood in the middle of the cave to see what would happen, and then I saw it. Out of all things of what it could have been, this was what I least expected. A bat. I was no expert on bats, but this one looked poisonous. It had white foam coming out of its mouth, and its eyes were bright red and yellow. I had to get out of there. Then it came at me, it was chasing me! I tried to swat it off with my backpack, but it wouldn’t go away!!! But then I got one really clean shot at it and after I hit the bat, it fell to the floor. But what I didn’t know was that there were a bunch more of them staring at me, they looked like they wanted revenge, wanted to avenge their bat friend (or family, I don’t really know.) Then, one darted at me and bit me! “Ouch!” It didn’t hurt too much but if all of them bit me once, I would be in excruciating pain. I scurried out of the cave, bats attacking me, adrenaline pumping. But thankfully, one by one they started to lay off on me though. I safely (sort of) got out of the cave and sat down on a nearby rock. I started to look at my wounds, they were nothing bad, just a couple of scratches and bruises. I went onward, to look for Dad.  

Chapter 4: The Ditch

I was doing great, just walking and drinking Gatorade, when suddenly, I felt really lightheaded, I also felt I could throw up at any moment. I was really dizzy, faint, and unsteady. I felt terrible. I didn’t know why this was happening right then or there, it was all so out of the blue. I mean, I did also end up alone, in a forest, seemingly all by myself. I sat down on the nearest log, but I was so out of balance that I fell off and blacked out. 

I awoke with a start, my head still spinning, but I wasn’t near the log anymore, I was somewhere else. Then I heard a voice. I thought I was going crazy. How could there be someone here? I’m alone. (Or so I thought.) Maybe it’s an angel telling me I can finally rest. But no. I heard it again, like it was getting closer and closer until…I saw him. It was Dad! I found him! “Oh my gosh, Hannah! Are you okay? I’m so glad you are okay!” I looked at Dad, we talked, he was definitely a bit beat up, but other than that, he’s a tough guy. After a while, I finally came to the end of answering all of his questions about EVERYTHING, but now I had a couple of questions that I wanted the answers for. 

“ OK Dad, a couple questions. Where are we, how did you get here, how did I get here, and how long have you been here.” He answered with, “We are in a big ditch in the ground. How I got here, I was looking for help for you and then I twisted my ankle on an oddly shaped rock and fell in. How you got here, I didn’t see much from inside this ditch but all I saw was you rolling and falling into here.” I cut him off, “Oh and by the way, I think why I rolled in here was because some really scary bats bit me when I was in a cave that I found and I think that they were poisonous and I fell off a log I was sitting on and then I fell off because I came unconscious.” “Awwww, my tough little girl!” He said while giving me a big bear hug. “OK, last answer, I have been here for maybe about like,” He stopped for a moment to think, like his memory of outside of this ditch was blurry. He squinted his eyes so hard I thought they could pop right out!!! “I really don’t know Hannah banana, I’m sorry.” He said it very sincerely. “It’s OK Dad, but now here comes the biggest question of them all…how do we get out of here?”

             Chapter 5: The Plan

Me and Dad talk and talk for hours, thinking of the plan, until we figure it out. I get my backpack and eat the last granola bar without thinking of Dad, although I do offer him water. Then we are ready for the plan. I get onto Dad’s shoulders, then awkwardly he lifts me up onto the edge of the ditch. Then, my hand scrapes on something. “OUCH!” I lose my balance while trying to go one-handed because my other hand was bleeding. I then fell back down, though luckily, landed in Dad’s arms. “Ow.” I say. “You okay? Want to wash it off with some water?” Dad says sympathetically. “Not a bad idea.” I say back to him. I then go to find my water bottle and then realize, I only packed Gatorade. Although I know it might hurt a bit, I take a bit of Gatorade and use it to wash some of the blood off. It stung…a lot, but it did wash all of the blood away. “Ready for take two?” Dad asks, in position for me to get onto his back. “Sure.” Then I get onto his back again, and heave myself up and over the edge of the ditch. “I did it Dad! I’m up!” I shouted happily. “Alright, now tie a vine or something to a rock, I think I saw a big sturdy rock right up front.” I walked around a bit looking for a vine and then I found one on a tree. I rip it off and hold it up to admire it. A perfect length vine. I tie it as tight as I can to a big rock that I found and threw it down to Dad. “Heads up!” I yelled. “Got it! Can you help pull me up? You won’t be doing all the work though, I will mostly pull myself up.” Dad says. “Yup.” I get my hands on the vine and feel Dad pulling me down. But then, I get a burst of energy and I pull as hard as I can, and next thing I know, he’s out of the ditch! “Wow Hannah, have you been working out?” He says, mocking me. “Whatever.” I say sarcastically. “So, what do we do now, Hannah?” “Let’s get out of this place!!!” 

                                                              Aftermath

Hannah and her dad make it out of the woods safe and reunite with their family. Hannah and Lucas become closer than ever. The bats that Hannah came into contact with were vampire bats. They aren’t real vampires but in real life they do bite. Hannah’s dad gets help for his ankle and it heals fast. Even though that whole catastrophe was over, Hannah was scarred forever. She does go to some therapy to help with all of her deep thoughts. 

Anabella

Does Anabella have to be perfect?

Once upon time in Japan there was a girl named Anabella. She loved going to Japan and she loved playing and helping. She also loved reading, taking walks, and even everyone in her family, and cleaning the house very clean. Every time her mom drops a glass of water Anabella helps her mom clean the wet floor, and Anabella is smart and helps her family whenever her family needs help.

She wants to be a teacher when she grows up so she is working hard so she can be a teacher when she grows up. She reads a lot of books so she could be a teacher when she is a grownup so she works harder than anybody else to do a lot of math like ‘is 100 greater than 1000 or is 1000 greater than 100?’ Anabella would think the greater one is 1000. Do you think Anabella will get it right or wrong? I think she will get it right because it says she is smart. What do you think? She knows everything! Do you think  Anabella will get it right?

She does a lot of work every single day because she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. She is trying to work as hard as the other students. Her teacher’s name is Miss Luna. Miss Luna helps Anabella to get it right. She practices her math, reading, and even hard math without anybody helping her. Her brain is trying to work hard to know the answers. Anabella’s mom said, “Your grandparents are coming here soon.” She tried to finish her math quickly, so her grandparents won’t see her doing her homework. After she was done, the grandparents came. Anabella came to the front door to hug her grandparents. And she said, “hi,” in Japanese. “Hello Anabella, I am so happy to see you,” said Anabellas grandpa. At bed time Anabella screamed in her pillow so loud! Her mom said “Stop screaming, do that at a sleepover!” After she yelled at Anabella she slept peacefully, she didn’t even say one word she just [zzzzzz.] 

The next day Anabella wore her favorite outfit that says ‘I love writing’ with shorts and long socks and sneakers with a headband that has a bow. The color of the headband was blue. She felt very disappointed because she had to do math all over again. She had to do it fast because it was almost her math test. During recess Anabella saw a girl at the next bench. She sat right next to the poor girl. She asked what was wrong. The girl said “I wanted to be a writer when I grow up but I keep on practicing swimming instead of writing.” “What is your name?” asked Anabella. “My name is Cinnamon but my real name is Flora. My family is a god or ghost. I could help you.” Now Anabela knows if she makes a mistake her brain will grow! The End!

Sally loves Cinnamon the Hamster, Book 1

Once there was a girl named Sally. Sally loved hamsters. 

One day her mother said, “Sally, I have a present for you!” 

 “What?’’ Sally said.

’’Look in this box,’’ Sally’s mother said. Sally’s mom was holding a big brown box. Sally opened the box and inside the box was a cute hamster. The hamster was a brown cinnamon color. 

Sally said, “Oh, I’ll name you Cinnamon the hamster.” Her mom gave her a hamster pack and a guide, but Sally already knew a ton about hamsters. But she still read the guide, just in case. She let the hamster run in a spinner. Sally fed Cinnamon lettuce and carrots. And she took Cinnamon out for walks. And she gave Cinnamon a school, called Cinnamon school. When Sally went to school, she left Cinnamon a cardboard cut out of her so he wouldn’t be lonely. 

One day, when Sally was taking Cinnamon for a walk he slipped out of her leash. Cinnamon didn’t realize he was out of the leash. Sally didn’t realize he was out of the leash either. When Sally looked at her leash, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Cinnamon wasn’t on the leash! 

When Cinnamon looked, he was in the bushes. But Sally didn’t see him in the bushes. They were very tall bushes. Sally looked everywhere. She looked in one of the bushes, but she didn’t look in the bush Cinnamon was in because she didn’t realize there was another bush. Her mother was at the supermarket and her father was working, so Sally realized she would have to act like Cinnamon so that he would come to her. But she would have to read a book all about hamsters first. The guide! She put food out at night, but Cinnamon didn’t come to her. The bushes were so high that Cinnamon couldn’t smell. 

Cinnamon fed on lettuce, because there was lettuce in the bushes, and he thought that those bushes were the woods. 

And then her mom called and said she wouldn’t be back for a week because she was going to San Francisco for her work. And her dad would be working all day. 

So Sally thought, if she was going to find Cinnamon she would need him to come to her. She walked all over the neighborhood singing her Cinnamon song. “Cinnamon, oh Cinnamon!” She sang up and down the street. But the bushes were too thick and high that Cinnamon couldn’t hear it. 

Then she saw the bushes that Cinnamon was in were rattling. She thought that it just must be ants. She went to check the bushes, but when she looked, Cinnamon thought it was a hungry lion. When she looked he ran outside the bushes, then he came back when she was done looking. 

Cinnamon was scared. Sally was scared too. She didn’t know what to do. 

She thought she should wear her night vision goggles. But since the bushes were very thick, she couldn’t find him. Then she called out, “Cinnamon! Cinnamon!” 

Cinnamon thought it was a snake because he only heard “Sssssssssisss”, so he thought it was a snake. And some of the leaves were cinnamon colored, so he camouflaged in them whenever Sally looked. 

Sally was very discouraged. Then she said, “Maybe mom was right. I should have read the guide all the way through.” She had thrown the guide out when she was just half way through. “Maybe I’ll live my life without Cinnamon. Mom is going to kill me when she finds out.” 

Cinnamon ran out of carrots and lettuce in the bush. So he went into the real woods to find some food. Mom got home and Sally said, “Can I go to the woods to see what kind of uh, leaves there are?’’ 

“Sure,’’Sally’s mom said. But Sally was actually going to look for Cinnamon.

It was summertime and Sally was moving in 62 days and she had to find Cinnamon before then. So when she went into the woods she realized she would have to be like Cinnamon again, which didn’t work last time but she was willing to try again. She saw Cinnamon’s footprints but ended up following a tiny cat that wasn’t Cinnamon and it scratched her. While Cinnamon was trying to find some hope and some food, the cat that scratched Sally came right in front of Cinnamon and it was really big. It was a ginger cat with orange stripes. The cat chased Cinnamon through the woods and out of the woods and back into the woods. He made himself a little hole to hide him and the cat couldn’t get him. Anyways, Cinnamon came out of his little hole and looked around. He wasn’t a very good climber so he couldn’t climb. He was a very good jumper though. Cinnamon wandered accidentally into bullet ant territory. And Cinnamon didn’t realize, but then a bullet ant started chasing him and Cinnamon knew about bullet ants because he went to bullet ant school. Cinnamon jumped over twigs and left and ran very fast but the bullet ant could probably outrun him. He jumped over a big pile of dirt and the bullet ants couldn’t get him.

When he saw the ants leaving, now Cinnamon was really scared. He trembled. When he got out from behind the dirt pile, he started to shake, partly because it was really warm. He didn’t like being warm. He needed to be room temperature. Finally Cinnamon found some lettuce on the ground and it felt very good to eat. Cinnamon started now to find his way home to Sally. He thought he heard her voice but he only heard hummingbirds. Meanwhile, Sally felt hopeless. Just then, Sally saw Cinnamon! Cinnamon ran to Sally. Sally kissed Cinnamon.

  The end.

Quinn & Kit

“Slow down!” shouted Kit Gold. 

“Okay!” shouted Quinn Wing. They were playing tag. 

“Got you.” said Kit. Then they saw something strange rustling in the leaves. A wind caught them like a tornado and they spun into a different world. They didn’t know where they were. The world had blue leaves on the trees and all the things looked different. Everything was dark and misty, not like in their forest which was bright and sun-shiny. 

“Where are we?” asked Quinn. 

“I don’t know,” said Kit, picking up one of the blue leaves and barking angrily. 

“We’re not supposed to be involved in some kind of magic wind. My mom told me about the magic wind in stories. But I didn’t think it was all supposed to be true.”  

“Yeah, yeah,” said Kit. “But we’ve gotta find a way to get out of here.”

 “First,” said Quinn, “we’ve got to find out how the magic wind got us and brought us over here.”

 “Well, I know the tornado kind of got a little dimmer every time I thought about going 

home. And then it just vanished and dropped us here. Maybe we could think about not going home, to go home.”

“That doesn’t make sense, but we could try,” said Quinn. 

“Okay! Three. Two. One. Go!” said Kit. 

And they both tried not to think about going home. And none of it worked. 

“We’ve gotta keep thinking but first … AH! WHAT IS THAT?” screamed Quinn. 

They saw something weird in front of them. 

All the leaves around them started closing in and fire shot out of the ground. Fire was the same color. Some of it was blue and some of it was orange-reddish. 

And then suddenly, Quinn blinked. They were swept upside down and crashed into a big pile of leaves that were greenish-orangish. They were in the same world, but on a different continent. 

“I get it,” said Kit. “We think about some things, like not going home and then we go somewhere completely different.”

“Like what?” 

Kit said, “Like flying up with your wings. You can fly up and tell me what you see.” 

So Quinn flew up and saw a big, black cloud. 

“Yeah!” screamed Quinn while he was spinning upside down back to the forest floor.

“Well, that didn’t work,” said Kit. “You shouldn’t be looking upwards all the time, not focusing on what’s on the ground. You might get blown up by something.

“What do you mean blown up?” said Quinn.

“You know what I mean. Not actually blown up.”

“Oh, right. Should we just find a way to get out of here?” asked Quinn

“Well, yeah that’s what we’re thinking about.”

“Did you hear that?” asked Quinn.

“What?” said Kit.

“That,” said Quinn, pointing out the boinging sound.

“Oh, right. What is that boinging sound? Should we go check it out?” asked Kit.

“Maybe,” answered Quinn.

“Okay, first let’s figure out what that thing is.”

“Okay!” said Quinn. “But what?” asked Quinn.

“That,” said Kit, pointing to some strange creature. “It was snapping its jaws wide open and closed. I think that’s just a plant, I guess?” said Kit.

“Kit?” said Quinn.

“What?” answered Kit.

“Did you notice how many of them there are?”

Kit blinked. He hadn’t noticed so many of them were there.  

Kit said, “Can you fly us out of here, Quinn?”

“Yes, probably,” said Quinn. “Get on my back,” said Quinn.

Quinn soared up into the sky, trying to find the magic wind again. Suddenly, they found the black cloud again. Quinn flew straight into it. And suddenly it was all quiet. Super quiet.

“So, I think we landed in the middle of nowhere,” said Kit.

“Uh, not exactly,” he said. “Look, we landed on a single leaf.”

“Oh, then I guess we shrunk because the leaf is falling and it seems super super big.”

“Yes,” said Quinn.

“When are we landing?” asked Kit.

“Pretty soon, I think,” answered Quinn.

“Well, I think we already did. Because, look at the trees, they’re gigantic. When we were up there, they were very much smaller. I would guess they were really below us.”

“Well, I think we should get off this leaf. Just, let’s fly,” said Quinn. 

“Yeah, we don’t want to get stomped on by some giant rabbit.”

“Did you forget?” answered Quinn. “They’re only gigantic to us now. But soon when we’re back normal size, they’re pretty much going to be normal size.”

“Okay,” answered Kit. “Just get me on the ground and we can get out of the way of everyone–”

“STAMPEDE!” interrupted Quinn.

Kit quickly got on his back and they soared over all the animals.

“Well, look at it this way, we should just–”

“Just what?” asked Kit.

“We should just try to find something that we could use from here to get back to our hometown Stuffyland.”

“Yeah, let’s look for that thing if there is.” Suddenly they heard rustling in the leaves. Kit looked down and said, “I think I’m floating.” No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t reach Quinn.

“I think we’re going DOOOOOWN!” shrieked Quinn. He twirled down and down and down. “We went up quite high,” he said, bonking his head down.

“Well, let’s get searching,” Kit said.

“Okay, but first we gotta find something.”

“Mmhmm,” Kit answered while looking up.

“What’re you looking at?” asked Quinn.

“I think I’m staring at that tree, not exactly up.”

Quinn looked too. What he saw was jewels instead of leaves. “I think one of those jewels is gonna help us get back closer to our home, but not exactly to there. Should we choose one?” asked Quinn.

“Yes, we should,” said Kit.

“Yes, we should,” mumbled Quinn to himself.

They looked at the tree carefully and saw one that was quite different from the others. Quinn flew up to that jewel and plucked it out from the tree.

“Think this’ll work?” asked Quinn.

“It should. C’mon. 3, 2, 1, let’s fly.”

Kit and Quinn soared up high and they saw the black cloud again. Before going in, Kit blew on the jewel four times and then they went in.

They were somewhere closer, Quinn knew it. They hadn’t been here before. “Why was everything so small?” Quinn asked himself. “Before things were huge,” he said, stomping his claws.

“Yeah we are,” said Kit, bounding forward on his four paws. Suddenly they felt like they were shrinking.

“Oh, why are you here?” Quinn asked something on the ground. Kit rolled around and looked at what Quinn was looking at. Quinn was looking at Softy from their world.

“Oh, what are you doing here?” Kit asked Softy the bunny.

 “I thought I might help you,” said Softy. “What are you looking for?” 

“I don’t know.” said Kit. “AHH!” Quinn shouted. Suddenly, everyone was pulled into the ground. They heard a scream. “HELP!” They ran into a big room and saw the screaming Princess Keeah.

“Just what is going on here?” Asked Softy.

“That?” said Quinn.

“Probably,” said Kit.

“What’s that?” asked Softy.

“Oh. That. You mean snakes that are behind her?”

“Uhhh, yes! Now stop fiddling, and let’s go.”

“Okay.”

“Softy!!” groaned Kit.

“Okay, okay.”

Suddenly, Softy started freaking out. He was scared of snakes.

“Guys!” said Keeah. “Should we just go up?”

“How?” asked Softy.

“Like this,” answered Keeah, jumping up on the little ditch that was on top of her.

Softy bounded back on the grass. “Come on, Quinn, Kit, come up!”

“Okay!” answered Kit, boinging out of the ground.

Quinn flew out. “Come on, let’s start running!”

“Sssss.”

“Uh oh,” said Keeah.

“Snakes!” gulped Softy.

“Woah!” said Kit. “Come on, Quinn, you’re the only one that can fly.”

“Okay, get on my back, Kit and Softy. Princess Keeah, you can fly too, can’t you?”

“Oh, yes I can!”

“So let’s go!”

They all flew up into the sky. Kit was looking down.

“You know, we’re all afraid of something,” he said. “And this is not the time for me to be afraid of heights, which I am.”

“Not exactly a problem,” said Quinn. “Because we’re going down now.”

“Oh, phew. That was close,” said Kit when he finally put his paws down on the grass again.

“ACHOO!” sneezed Softy. “Now, I think we accidentally flew through a portal without noticing. Because this place is very dusty.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” said Keeah.

“Okay. What do we do now?”

“ACHOO!” said Softy.

“Uhh, I think we have a problem here,” said Kit. “I think Softy’s allergic to dust.”

“I am–ACHOO!” said Softy.

“That is a problem,” said Keeah, tapping her head. “Now what do we do?”

“Umm, fly? Because if Softy’s allergic to dust and up there’s dusty, we just might be able to stop him from sneezing all day.”

“So?” Softy got on Quinn’s back and Quinn flew up, up, up.

Suddenly, Softy shouted, “Hey! You guys! Come up here too!”

“Huh,” said Keeah, but took Kit’s paws and went up.

“Well, now that we’re all together, I have something to show you,” said Quinn.

“Here we GOOOOO…” said Softy, bolting with Kit through a big dark cloud.

“Oh, we’re supposed to go through there?” 

Silence.

Then Keeah said, “Why don’t we go in too, Kit?”

“Okay!”

Keeah took a deep breath and also bolted into the black cloud.

The next thing Keeah saw was Quinn and Softy waiting for them on the ground.

“Well, I’m glad we escaped the snakes,” interrupted Softy.

“Well, yes. But I don’t think we exactly saved them from, uhhh, raining?”

Everyone looked up and saw hundreds and hundreds of snakes pouring out of the blackest cloud in the sky.

“Oh dear,” said Quinn.

“Time to get out of here!”

“Uh huh,” said Keeah.

“Maybe we should run!” said Kit, grabbing Softy’s arm.

The next thing Quinn thought was, Maybe I should run too.

“I’m staying,” said Kit when Quinn caught up. “You’re not that fast.”

“Uhh, I am fast when I’m flying!” said Quinn, hovering over the ground.

“Okay, whatever. Now that we got away from the snakes, we can at least have the nuts I still have in my sack,” said Keeah.

“Well, at least we have something to eat.”

“Phew! At least we don’t have any more snakes to deal with,” said Softy, finally getting warm.

“Well, if I thought, now that we finally escaped, we can finally go to sleep like usual.”

After they laid down, Keeah started to worry. What if we never come back to the right place? she thought.

But Softy seemed to read her thoughts. “Oh don’t worry, Keeah, we’ll get back.” And then they all fell asleep.

The next morning, they woke up. Keeah was the first one to wake up and she was really good at making stuff. So she found four curved sticks and stones. She laid them out and decided to crack her nuts. Then Softy woke up, saying he would go exploring.

“Hey, Keeah!” said Softy when he got back. “I found a nearby stream! Except the water’s completely blue there.”

“Oh, it doesn’t matter. Just wake up the others, and I’ll try to find that stream.” So Keeah went and found the stream. Keeah grabbed her water bottle and opened the lid. She took out the water and drank. “Mm. Fresh. Water. Looks like Softy could have mentioned that when he got back.”

“Keeah, come on!” said Softy from the distance. Keeah ran back to their tiny hut or cave.

She had her water bottle and she showed Softy how she curved the stones she had washed in the stream.

So while Softy curved rocks into the right shape, Kit tried to find the biggest rock he could find. When he got back, he had a very big rock. Then Keeah grabbed the rock and started pounding it with her fist which she had to use magic until it curved in. Then, she put it around the sticks that she had tried into a cauldron. It made a good one. So Keeah put the ginormous rock in the center.

She said, “Softy, do you know how to make a fire with your magic?”

“Sure do! Why do you need me?”

“Oh, just to make breakfast for all of us.”

So Softy used his powers to light the fire.

Since Keeah still had millions of leftover nuts, so she just poured them all into the water that she had put into the giant rock. Then she found a perfect stick that would make a good spoon and she found many others that looked different but were still good. So after she had washed them and came back, she started mixing the nuts into the bottle. Then she asked Softy to go find something else that would be very good to put in.

Softy came back with apples, and Keeah said they were very good. So she used her power to split them and also put them in and start mixing the nuts and the apples together. Soon all the cooking and working was finished and they could finally eat.

“Mm! This is very good. Where did you learn to make such good stew, Keeah?” Asked Softy.

“Oh, well, when we were back in our forest, we had three cookbooks, and one of them had this recipe in it!”

“Can I have one copy?”

“Ha! Sure,” giggled Keeah. “Okay, now we can go searching for some way to get out of here and get home.”

“Oh, good idea! Just, I’ll grab your water bottle and the sack before we go,” said Kit.

“Good old Kit!” said Softy when Kit came back with all the things in his four tiny paws.

They had very much fun getting across the river.

“Woo hoo!! This is an absolutely crazy walking day,” said Softy and Keeah together.

“Uh, yeah, it is,” said Kit. “Uh, something is making us feel like something’s watching us.”

“Uh, I think nothing is,” said Keeah.

“No, I think something is,” said Kit, pointing. “Something with stripes that was orange with a very long tail.”

“TIGER!” screamed Keeah. Keeah flew up with Softy in her arms and Kit and Quinn decided that they would both go together.

“Well, I’m not sure how many dangers there are on this island.”

“Oh, yes,” agreed Quinn.

“Well, should I have something to tell you? We found the black cloud again!”

“Cool! Let’s go in!” said Kit.

So, the four friends zoomed off into the cloud.

“Okay, now I notice something.”

“You noticed what?”

“Hey, where are you guys?” asked Kit.

“Over here!” said a familiar voice. Suddenly Kit saw something. It looked like a bunny covered in dust, but he wasn’t so sure.

“Oh, hello, Mr. Dust Bunny!”

“No! It’s me! Softy!” came an angry voice.

“Ohhh. Where are the others?”

“Over there! You’re also covered in dust, silly.”

“Ohhh,” said Kit when he saw himself. He shook himself out of the dust and took himself to the others who were also covered in dust.

“Well, now we’re just in a giant dust pile!”

“If I get covered in dust again, don’t call me Dust Bunny!”

“Okay,” said Kit. “If I recognize you.”

“Okay, okay you guys. It’ll be much harder to find a cloud in a place of dust. Look, the trees are dust, the river is dust–”

“ACHOO!” screamed Softy really loud.

“…and that too,” finished Keeah.

It was cloudy and was so dusty that Kit thought Softy might sneeze out the whole world!

“I want my mom!” said Softy. “Looks like I’m catching a cold.”

“You’re catching an allergy to dust,” reminded Keeah.

“Oh, right,” said Softy. 

“Guys! I found a way out,” Quinn interrupted Keeah’s humming.

“Oh! Right,” said Softy. “Now I can– ACHOO!” He flew out.

“Well, now that he learned to fly, let’s go!” said Quinn.

“You guys didn’t go to school yet,” said Keeah.

“Stuffies don’t go to school!” said Kit, turning around.

“Sooooooooo,” said Keeah when they got out. “This is dust world, I should say.”

Kit started humming himself a beat, Keeah started cartwheeling, and Softy decided it would be best if Quinn flew up with him so that he didn’t sneeze-a-rama all day.

“Who are you calling sneeze-o-rama?” said Softy, looking at Quinn’s ears.

But Quinn kept flying. He noted that if he found that black cloud again, he would scream so that the others would fly up and see the black cloud.

“Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock,” said Keeah. “When are they coming down here?”

“Eeeeee!” came the ear piercing scream from the sky.

“Sounds like we,” said Keeah. “Let’s go!” So they flew. And they flew. They flew up-up-up and saw the black cloud again. Quinn was still screaming and flying with his eyes closed and Softy to scream in his ears.

“Hello! Quinn! Stop shouting! They’re here!” 

Suddenly, there was a giant growl. Everything went black. Then, “WOWEEEEEE,” Keeah heard, opening her eyes finally. 

“Home! We’re home!” she heard another voice say.

“Well, we better get asking Keeah all the questions we had for her!”

Then Keeah heard a voice saying, “Keeah! We’re home.”

Keeah burst up and looked around. And then she started jumping up and down. Her jumping made the ground shake a little bit so much that the squirrels got kind of terrified.

The end!

Dimension 96: Chapter 1

I was sitting on my bed. I was in Gloop dimension 96. It was a very normal dimension compared to other dimensions. I went to school like any normal dimension, 5 days a week. I had just gotten off from school, where I was learning mathematics.

I had nothing to do, so I just stared at the wall. For a second, I felt like I was in a trance. But then, a voice snapped me out of it.

“HAVE YOU DONE YOUR HOMEWORK YET?” It was my mom. She was very strict about homework. But, the bad thing was, in Gloop dimension 96, kids had tons of homework. I took out his homework from my bag. I held it up and looked at the thickness of his homework. It looked like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I sighed, but slowly, but surely, I finished it.

When I was done, I looked at the time. In the Gloop dimension 96, there were 32 hours a day, so it was 13 o’ clock. He normally went to bed at 12 o’ clock but whatever. I walked over to my huge bed and belly flopped into it. I made myself comfortable and fell asleep easily. I woke up with a start at 4 o’ clock in the morning. I usually got up at 9 o’ clock so I  could get on my Pc and start playing Fortnite.

 I didn’t realize how much Fortnite he was playing until my little sister, Sophia, smacked him in the face.  Sophia was 4 years old, while I was 14. I took off his headphone angrily and said bitterly,” what do you want?”

“Where are my colored pencils?” She asked, pouting. SHE HAD INTERRUPTED MY PLAYTIME FOR SOME COLORED PENCILS? I was in disbelief.

“Why couldn’t you have asked me later?” I said, putting back on my headphones.

“Because I need them for my school-” I didn’t hear the rest though. I jumped off the battle bus and then I felt another slap on my face. I didn’t even hear her. I took off my headphones, picked my sister up, and threw her out of my room. Now, that may have been a little bit violent, but sometimes she just annoyed me so much I  just wanted to kill her. I walked back to my seat and put my headphones back on. I was in the Fortnite lobby because someone had killed me.  I sighed. I turned my PC off  and looked at the time. It was still only 8 o’ clock. I layed on the carpet of my bedroom, staring at the ceiling. Not before long I blacked out. I woke up to the sound of sizzling. I put on my shorts and t- shirt because it was summer. I forgot to mention that in Gloop dimension 96 we also have school in the Summer. This was one of the cruelest dimensions ever. I walked into the kitchen and looked at what his dad was cooking. It was a mango raspberry waffle. You’d think it sounds good, but it tastes horrible! I sat down at the brown table and grabbed my phone. I looked at the news that was on last night. Before I could get onto the News page, which was a news page called Brain Freeze, my dad took my phone. He patted me on my head, before setting down a plate of mango raspberry waffles. I reluctantly took a bite then my head exploded. Not literally, but, like it. It tasted delicious!  I gulped down the rest of my waffles, then went to my dad, who was working on his computer. In the Gloop dimension 96, you have to work for 28 hours a day when you work. He had 4 hours to sleep, have fun and cook. I walked up to him and asked, “what did you put in the waffles that made them so good?” No response. I grabbed his dad’s arm on the mouse and shook it. No response again. I shook harder. Nothing happened. Dad’s eyes were glued to the screen.

I gave up after a while of punching and kicking, and packed my bag and went to my friend’s house. His name was Cameron. Cam for short. I waited outside for 2 minutes when the front door burst open and out came Cam.

“Whasup bro,” he said, coming up to me. “ Not much,” I said. We did our handshake then went to school. On the way I said, “Did you know that my dad’s mango raspberry waffles tasted actually good today?” He looked at me like I was crazy. He had tried them when he had slept over and he threw up. 4 times. It was disgusting seeing all the thrown up pieces of waffles on the floor mixed in with the apple juice Cameron was drinking.  Dad hadn’t done anything about it because of work, and mom didn’t do it because she was doing laundry. Mom usually did most of the work around the house. She was very useful actually. She cleaned up all the messes that I made and made our beds, and everything. She was a very neat person, so everyday she’d clean every millimeter of the house. Even the ceiling. Sometimes she’d even interrupt my fortnite playtime for cleaning. I prioritize my fortnite playtime. 2 days ago, I thought about starting a youtube channel. I was definitely good enough to be one. Cameron snapped him out of it when he asked, “ did you study for the test?” I stopped walking. “What test?” I asked back.

“Don’t you remember, yesterday Mr. Gulch said he was gonna give us a ELA test today.” I was stunned for a few seconds then ran toward the grass on my left. “ What’re you doing?” asked Cameron as he frantically ran after me. I threw my backpack on the grass and opened my bag. I pulled out my ELA notebook and started reading it. I took out 3 pieces of paper, a folder, and a pen to study with. “What are you doing? There’s no way you can study for the test in”- Cam looked at his watch-“Ten minutes.”

“Thanks for the encouragement.” I grumbled. I studied my notes once more, then tossed my notebook aside. I put one of my sheets of paper on top of my folder then wrote down everything I remembered from my notes. This was my method. I basically just studied my notes then wrote down everything I remembered from my notes until I could remember everything from notes. “Sorry dude,” Cam said, walking away, “I don’t wanna be late. Good luck.” I watched him slowly disappear toward the direction of the school. I ignored him then studied for 5 more minutes. I packed up my bag then ran as fast I could toward the school. I walked into the school building. I went to my locker, then opened it and put my stuff into it. Just as I closed my locker, I heard a cheerful voice.

“ HI Benny.” It was Jack. Jack was a nerd who stood 4 feet tall in 9th grade, with braces and trousers on every day.

“What do you want?” I said, looking in both directions for potential bullies who could target me for talking to Jack. “ Nothing. Just saying hi,” he said as enthusiastically as he could.

“Scram,” I said, pushing him away. I walked into the opposite direction that he did, when someone yanked me back and grabbed me.

“Hi Benny. Why are you talking to Jack? Did you guys study last night?” It was of course one of the bullies I was talking about. His name was Mike, and he stood only 2 inches taller than me, yet had so much power.

“Why do you care?” I said, wrestling out of his grip. “Because you shouldn’t be talking to losers who have no life.” He responded. A crowd was forming quickly, so I ran toward my class, as light as I could on my feet, and slowed down at the end of the hall where my science class was. I walked into my class, where Cameron waved me over to his table. The others at the table were Zoe and Dan. Zoe was my friend from 2nd grade, and Dan was Cameron’s friend. Dan was pretty annoying though. I didn’t understand why Cam liked him.  

My teacher, Ms. Brewster, was a tan lady who was nice most of the time. In class today we would be making something out of legos which was a robot that would help us with something.

“I think we should make a robot that shoots sharp legos,” said Zoe, laughing maniacally. Zoe has something called war syndrome, which is a case of always wanting war.”I think we should make something that helps us move stuff,” said Dan.

“Can’t we do that with our backpacks?” I said, skeptically. 

“Well yeah, but maybe we could make something teleport,” Dan said.

“That’s not scientifically possible,” Cam said, shaking his head. 

“What if we made a time machine, so we could go back to the Civil War so I could beat the Confederacy up.” Zoe said, her voice deep and evil. Dan took a step back and made  a straight face.

“There’s no beating up anyone.” I said in a calm voice. Suddenly, Ms.Brewster came over to our table and asked, “Having a bit of trouble?”

“Yeah,” said Cam in a sad voice, looking down. “ Well, think about things you can make out of legos, that a robot can do, that is something you all want.” She said, walking away.

“I know what we all want,” Dan said.

  “What,” I said, annoyed. “WAR!!!!!!” Screamed Zoe, startling the whole class.

“Nope, no, not war. Not war,” I said, embarrassed

I was so happy when science was over. Not because of Zoe, but because we had gym next. In this lesson we were supposed to be playing basketball. I shoved the door to the gym, where people were gathered below the basketball net, talking. The gym teacher, Mr. Mack blew his whistle very loud, killing my ears. Some of the sensitive people dropped to the floor and started screaming. “You burst my eardrums.”

“Aw shut up,” he said. Did I mention that Mr.Mack is jacked? He has 6 packs that bulge out of shirt. Everyone’s scared of him.

“ I’ve called off the basketball, slackers,” he said. “ Now go do 100 laps out in the yard before I make it 200.” Everyone was shocked. Mario, who was really good at basketball, started crying. I felt kinda bad for him.

I was walking toward the yard, when I heard a group of people whispering. I could slightly make out what they were saying.

“I hate him.” I could hear one of them saying. “Yeah he’s so trash.” Another one said,” we should prank him.” Another said. “Yeah.” 

I continued walking, pretending like I didn’t hear anything. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning hit the sidewalk diagonal of me.

“ FLIP.” I screamed, jumping 10 feet back. There was a rumble in the sky and a crack followed by it. 

“GOT IT ON CAMERA!!!!!!!” screamed Ruby, who was a girl who gossiped everywhere.

“You did?” said a bunch of people (including me).

“Yeah, I was gonna take a  selfie of myself on Instagram, but I turned my camera around accidentally and took a photo of the lightning.” She squealed in delight. She went to the photo app on her phone and showed us  the picture. It was a bit blurry, but showed me shielding my face, with my body in a weird position.”Why do I look like that?” I asked.

“How should I know?” said Ruby, in a sassy voice. I shrugged. “ HUP HUP LET’S GO!!!!” screamed Mr. Mack, clapping his hands. I immediately ran toward the yard as fast as fast as my legs could take me.

The Person in the Well

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Valentina who went to her grandma’s house on summer vacation. One night, she was walking her grandma’s dog and stumbled upon a well. She looked down the well and she found nothing. Two seconds later, when she was walking back home, she heard a buzz. She looked at her phone, and it read: Come help me. She texted back: Who are you? The person didn’t answer, and the phone just read: Come help me.

She walked past her home and down to the well, down to her grandma’s house. She asked her grandma, “What’s inside that well?” 

And her grandma said, “Oh, nothing, just an old well. They’re going to clear it out tomorrow. They’re going to put cement over it.” 

The next day, Valentina ran over to the well and looked down inside of it. She texted again: Who are you? Please stop texting me. And this time, the person sent a picture. It was of her, looking down inside the well, like someone was actually inside of the well and took a picture of her. She ran home and she asked her grandma again. 

Her grandma said, “The people are about to come and clog up the well.” 

Valentina ran over to the well, and it was too late. They already clogged it up with concrete, but then she heard a ringing. But it wasn’t from the well. It was from under her, underneath the ground. 

She took her phone out and she heard that the ringing was probably because someone was calling her from underneath the ground. She picked up her phone and called them, and all she heard was, “Come help me. How could you? How could you do this?” And she ran home. 

No one knows if that person was real, or if they just needed some help. And that girl, she never went to her grandma’s house again. Never in her entire life.

The end… or is it? We will never know…

The Wrong Mom

Today at 12:17pm, I woke up from my nap. Daddy was making sandwiches for lunch. I could tell from the smell of the sizzling bacon that we were going to have BLT sandwiches. Daddy always made mine on white bread with bits of bacon, lettuce, and tomato slices without the peel so I could eat it. We were going outside afterward to see Mommy finally arriving from her job in the military. I missed her very much. 

Daddy picked me up and kissed me on the forehead. We saw our lunches on the table, mine on a baby shark plate served with orange juice with foam on the top and his that said ‘Dad’ with rainbow dots, and served with iced tea. We ate our sandwiches and got dressed. 

It was a sunny day, but halfway to the airport, it started to rain harder and harder. By the time we got there, there was a lot of traffic and we were almost late! Our mom was getting out of the plane and a streak of thunder flashed over someone’s head. A lady came running to us. 

A lady that was supposed to be our mom. 

But it wasn’t.

The Birthday Mystery

It was almost Isabella’s birthday. She was about to turn ten years old. She was so excited. Isabella wants her birthday to be very special, because her birthday is in spring which is her favorite season. And every year when it was her birthday, it’s always very special. Isabella got some markers, and then she drew a card, and then she found lots of envelopes, and then she made copies of the sheet she drew. She put them in each envelope with different stickers. One day on March 19, so she loves her birthday so much. She thought there would be some really special presents that she had always wanted since she was five years old. At bedtime, she kissed her teddy bear that she got when she was four years old. 

Then she went to sleep and she dreamed that she and her friends loved her birthday, and she dreamed that she got thousands of presents, including the present she wanted every since she was a little girl. Another teddy bear, teddy bear clothing, and a teddy bear bow tie. She already had one teddy bear, but she wanted two. Then she heard a strange noise that woke her up, but she saw nothing. “Whatever,” she thought. “It was probably a dream.” Then she went back to sleep the whole night. 

The next day was March 20th. Isabella wore her normal school uniform, but included her colorful backpack. When she came to school, she saw Charlie, the mean girl in the school. Isabella looked at her, not very happy. Then she went to her classroom. There was a math assessment, and the problem was 1000000 – 7000 = 3000. 

After the math assessment, it was lunch and recess. She saw her friends named Andrea, Emily, Camila, and Cinnamon. Isabella saw Charlie doing the monkey bars all over again. Isabella thought, it will become not funner if she keeps doing this. After recess they did writing workshop. Her story was nonfiction about flowers and soil. Then it was time for packup, and then they got home. Of course, Isabella got ready for the cake. She changed into her pajamas, ate her dinner, brushed her teeth, and went to the bathroom. She gets ready for sleep and her mom and dad kiss her goodnight.

The next day, it was her birthday. Before she goes to school, Isabella goes to the blue mailbox. Isabella didn’t realize she put the name Charlie on one of the envelopes. Then, she went to school and when it was math, the teacher didn’t really celebrate anybody’s birthday.

Since it was Isabella’s birthday, when Isabella went to the park she was going to say nice things to her friends, but before she could say the nice things she saw Charlie.

“Charlie, I did not invite you to my birthday party,” said Isabella.

“A letter came to my mailbox. You did’t realize you added my name?” said Charlie in a confused face. 

“I didn’t realize. Oh, and also, sorry that I made a mean face yesterday morning. Will you forgive me Charlie?” said Isabella.

“Yes, I always forgive people,” said Charlie in a nice voice… but this is not the end of the story. When it was time to eat the cake, the cake was missing!

“Oh no, the cake is missing!” said Isabela and Charlie.

“What if one of your friends is NOT your friend?” said Charlie.

“That is a good question Charlie. What if my one of my friends is not my friend? I got the cake for 9999 dollars.” 

“That is a lot of money to pay,” said Charlie. “No worries, my dog is smart. His name is Chase. Chase could do anything, so I think he could solve the case. Oh, and also, I am a detective, same as Chase,” whispered Charlie. Chase sniffed all the way to Charlie’s little sister Anna. 

“Anna, you made my new friend very mad,” said Charlie.

“I am sorry, I wanted mommy to love me more,” said Anna.

Isabella felt thrilled because the mystery was solved. She was as happy as a newborn flower. Isabella thought about if her birthday has to be perfect?

“It doesn’t have to be perfect!” Isabella. 

“I guess we solved the mystery,” said Charlie. 

Charlie might still be a little mean. I promise, Charlie will be nice!

The lesson is to not blame it on someone else.

The Book Story

Aria took a book off the shelf. “Here,” she said, handing it to Bunbun. “You can learn more about Fantasia in this book.”

Bunbun had to write a whole report on fantasy. “Well,” said Bunbun, except now his voice was muffled. 

“Okay, silly goose,” said Aria, taking the book off of the small bunny. “You can read it with me.”

“Okay, time to open the book!” said Bunbun.

Aria opened the shiny cover of the book and started reading. Later, she finally closed the book and said, “Okay, time to go to bed.”

Okay, now I can explain what they’re talking about. Except really quietly. They are talking about the world of no magic. The one you’re probably in right now, because this was the opposite. The world of fantasy thought of the world of humans as the world of fantasy. Oh, okay, now they’re waking up and I can stop talking.

Aria yawned. “I thought I heard voices.”

“This sure is a strange dream you had there, miss.”

“Okay, I know what you want,” said Aria, laughing. “To go outside and play ball. Be careful because the ball is twice your size, Bunbun.”

“Okay,” said Bunbun.

They went outside. Aria took the ball and threw it. But before the ball reached Bunbun it disappeared.

“Huh, that’s strange,” said Aria. “Our balls never disappear.”

“I know!” said Bunbun.

“Here, come on, Bunbun.” Bunbun ran to her but also faded. 

“Yeesh!” cried Aria, running back. Then she noticed her hand. It was slowly disappearing! “Oh no,” she groaned.

“Mommy!” Aria heard a voice say.

“Bunbun!” said Aria. A tiny little Bunny hopped in her hands. “Though it’s kind of blank here.

Aria slowly stood up with the small bunny in her hands. But she fell through the floor. 

“Huh. Is this a weird day?” grumbled Bunbun.

“I have to say, I agree,” said Aria, lifting her eyebrow at the weird things all around.

Bunbun sat down, thinking. “My book!” he cried. “I was writing about the world of fantasy, right?”

“Right…” said Aria.

“I was just thinking how–”

“BUNBUN! Watch out!” cried Aria. She snatched the tiny bunny from the ground and ran to the side.

“What?”

“Look! Your book!” she said, panting. They both looked as the book fell and its pages became stranger. They looked like they were flipping from both sides and the words started spilling out of the book. “Oh, I hope not,” moaned Aria.

The words started spinning and spinning and spinning around them.

“Yup! I knew it,” squealed Bunbun in a horrified voice.

“We’re going inside the book!”cried Aria. 

“Help,” grumbled Bunbun. “You’re kidding me. Is this really the place we’re supposed to be going to?” said Bunbun in an annoyed voice.

“Where?” asked Aria. “We’re not even there yet!”

“Well, now that you mention it, I don’t see the ground because of all these words.” It was kind of true. “Is this because I’m hearing that voice again?”

“No! What voice?” squeaked Bunbun.

“And in you go!” said Aria, looking at the hole that was opening up between the words.

“Don’t!” squealed Bunbun, but he was already flip-flopping through the air, and letting his stomach also do flip-flops. Now the bunny was looking up, hoping he wouldn’t get squished by a very big human called Aria. “Now I’m hearing what Aria was hearing.”

“Yeah, I told you that voice was somewhere out there!” said someone behind him.

“Yow!” cried Bunbun, looking for something to hide behind, or someone.

“It’s just me, silly bunny,” said Aria.

“Well, if you’re going to call me silly bunny, you better watch out. This isn’t the place we’re supposed to be.”

“It is if we’re already there,” warned Aria. All Bunbun did was hop on her shoulder.

“Well, if you want to,” said Aria.

“Don’t ask me,” said Bunbun, already hiding his face behind her head.

“Hmmm,” said Aria.

“Are you sure I should peek out?” said Bunbun.

“You should if you wanna squeal again!”

But Bunbun didn’t care. That was all he needed to hear to give a tiny peek.

“EEEE!” he said, almost flying up to the clouds. “I wish my friend Aria wasn’t so serious,” he said, hanging up in the air for at least three seconds before crashing back down to the grass. “Hey, this isn’t grass,” thought Bunbun. “This is slime!” He noticed that the ground was a giant puddle of very gooey slime that was actually mud. “Mama!” he cried. “This is so gooey!” he thought when he finally scrambled out.

“Whatever,” said Aria, running back to the book. She grabbed the book and started flipping through the pages. “I don’t get it. This book is empty!”

“Not so empty,” said Bunbun, flipping to the last page. “Look!” There was one word that had the spelling A-R-I-A  A-N-D  B-U-N-B-U-N. “Hey! That spells Bunbun and Aria!”

Aria looked at Bunbun. Bunbun looked at Aria. “Well, since we got in the book, we must have gotten the book to get the words to have us in the book!” said Aria and Bunbun.

“Well, I’m glad I didn’t leave it in my room. Otherwise I would have thought that there was a girl named Aria and a bunny named Bunbun in the fantasy world too.”

“Woah! What is that?” said Bunbun pointing to something with a long tail, long whiskers, and long ears. “Well, whatever it is, I learned to sound it out: ck-ah-t.”

“I think that spell cat?” said Aria. “But we don’t know what a cat is, or what a cat does!” 

“Well just in case,” said Bunbun, “let’s run.”

Bunbun hopped off of Aria’s shoulder and started running as fast as he could with his tiny legs.

“Ahh,” Bunbun thought. But soon he got a little more filled up with energy. Because he saw that the cat was running after him. “EEE! MAMA MIA!” he cried. He jumped as high as he could so the cat wouldn’t reach him, but he ended up in Aria’s face instead.

“What are you doing?” cried Aria. “You know you shouldn’t have jumped in my face.”

“Sorry! That cat’s about to pounce in my face!” said Bunbun.

“Well, in that case, let’s use the last of our words, even if there aren’t any words,” said Bunbun, staring into the book.

“Wait, what?” said Aria. She flipped to the first page. There was a whole page written. Bunbun flattened himself out like a balloon. “Bunbun, you aren’t supposed to be a bookmark!” said Aria.

But Bunbun still was flat as a deflated balloon.

“I know what you want!” said Aria. She blew on the words which blew Bunbun all over the place. “Now you can blow yourself up!” said Aria.

“Okay,” said Bunbun, and he blew himself up like a balloon.

“Okay, now that you’re not as flat as a deflated balloon, we can–”

“Fly?” interrupted Bunbun.

“No,” said Aria. But she still checked where her feet were dangling. In midair.

“I hate flying.”

“Why?”

“Gives me the creeps,” ended the conversation Bunbun. “All I know is that I’m glad we escaped for the ck-ah-t.”

“It’s a cat, Bunbun, it’s a cat!” said Aria.

Bunbun was doing something Aria didn’t expect, banging his head against a rock with his head bouncing off like a ball. “Hey, this rock is even bouncier than the rocks we have.”

“Okay, Bunbun, did we land in the land of balloons?”

“Pretty much,” he said.

“Whatever. I just want to know, what is that?” Aria said slowly. She pointed towards a blue streak in the sky.

“Hi!” came a voice.

“Who is that? Who is that?” cried Bunbun, jumping up and down.

Finally, Aria noticed that it was another girl. “I thought we were the only ones that came to the fantasy world,” she said, cocking her head.

“Yeah, I didn’t know Zelda also came here!”

“Well, I came here having the feeling you would also come here. Sooo, I picked a book off the shelf and started reading to my pet.”

“You mean your pet dragon Urly?”

“Yeah!” she said. “There’s my dragon!” she said, pointing to a very specific wind dragon.

“Well, now we have a dragon, we can move around more efficiently.”

“Not me! Not me!” said Bunbun, jumping into Aria’s shirt.

“Hey! Get out of there!” laughed Aria. “You tickle!”

Finally two small ears poked out of the bottom of Aria’s shirt, then some eyes, then a nose, then Bunbun poked out. Suddenly, wind came

“It’s just a dragon!” Aria hollered over the wind.

“Stop the wind, Urly,” Zelda said. Then the wind died down. 

“Come on Bunbun, get out of my shirt,” Aria said. Unfortunately, while the wind was   going on, Bunbun got really scared and went under Aria’s shirt. It really tickled, so Aria said, “Get out!” 

“Come on, everybody,” said Zelda. “Let’s get on to my dragon.” 

Zelda felt like she shouldn’t do this, but in her head, she heard her dragon’s voice saying don’t worry. It will be fine. 

Okay, Zelda replied in her mind. She slid onto her dragon and helped Bunbun and Aria on. 

Aria said, “You know, I was thinking that maybe we shouldn’t be going on Bunbun too hard. He is the smallest bunny I found in the petstore.” 

The dragon was flapping its wings, and it begun to roar. Zelda, Aria and Bunbun could see mountains and streams and hills. Bunbun said he felt like too much of a bird to be a bunny, and Aria giggled. 

“Don’t worry, Bunbun. We aren’t going to turn into cake,” Zelda said. Even though that’s what Bunbun thought Zelda said, when really she had said, “Bunbun are you sure we’re all going to turn into a piece of cake? Because when you think about it…that’s not really true.”

“Where should I ask my dragon to go?” Zelda asked.

“Well we don’t know, but our book might know,” said Aria.

“What do you mean, your book would know?” Zelda was really confused. 

“Oh, we’ll show you.” Bunbun tugged the book out of Aria’s knapsack. 

“It says the fffff….” Bunbun tried to read, but he was not a good reader. 

“Three paces left,” Aria said for him. 

“Change the direction to three paces left and let’s fly there,” Zelda instructed her dragon. 

The dragon nodded. He swooped left. 

“What next?” Zelda asked. 

“Go down,” Aria read. They zoomed down. They slid off. 

“Look,” Bunbun said. “I see a letter.” They looked up and saw a letter.

“How do we get to it?” Bunbun asked.

“I have an idea,” Zelda said. “Come on everyone, stand next to me.”

Everyone raced to her sides.

“Now!” she instructed her dragon. “Get us into the air, please.”

And then a huge gust of wind came under their feet and they started floating up towards the letter. “Can you reach it?” Aria asked.

“No,” Zelda said. “But I think Bunbun can. He’s jumping!”

With one last jump, Bunbun grabbed the letter and they slowly started going down. “Now, let’s place it in the first page of the book, right here,” said Bunbun.

“How?” said Aria.

“Just try,” said Bunbun

Zelda snatched up the first letter and placed it. They watched as the letter slowly slid into place and looked like a printed letter again.

“Okay, first letter. Now let’s keep going,” Zelda said. They slid back onto the wind dragon, and Zelda said, “Fly, dragon, fly! We’ve got letters to find!”

After a while of grunting and looking at the book for directions, Aria finally looked up into the sky.

“Hey guys look! I see a big cluster of letters!” Aria said. The dragon flew up close and Aria snatched it up from the air. “Hey, let’s put them in alphabetical order,” Aria said.

They placed each letter carefully and they all looked like printed letters. But they did not go in alphabetical order. They kept rearranging themselves.

Now the letters spelled: find three things. And then it paused.

“Okay, now I know that,” Aria said, “but I don’t know what the three items are. Now we have to find letters and items!” They kept flying. Then, they landed.

“Guys,” Zelda said. “Let’s eat.” 

Aria took out chocolate. Bunbun took out carrots. And Zelda took out mango strips. They started to eat.

Bunbun chomped down on his perfect carrots he gathered. He said they were the most delicious he had ever tasted. And Aria just laughed. She said, “Of course you like carrots!”

Then Bunbun raced down the hill to the closest river, which was not very far. He was thinking about washing his legs, but he found something. “Hey, guys, I found this cool jewel shaped rock!” he called.

Zelda and Aria came running over with the dragon. “What did you find?” Zelda asked.

“I found this rock,” Bunbun answered.

“Oh!” Aria said. “Let’s see if Zelda’s dragon came to help us out.”

“Hey, Urly, can you help us out?” Zelda said in her mind.

“I am ready!” her dragon answered.

“All you have to do is ask the stone to help,” Zelda said, opening her eyes.

“Okay.”

Bunbun said, “Can you help us, stone?” The stone started to glow and it shot blue beams everywhere. “Yeee!” Bunbun cried.

“Bunbun!” Zelda cried, jumping to the little bunny. She screamed as the beam shot towards her and moved away.

“These beams are crazy,” Aria said.

“Watch out!” Bunbun squeaked.

“Huh?” Aria said.

“Uh oh,” Zelda said.

“Ouch!” Aria cried. “These beams hurt.”

“Hey, where’s Aria?” Bunbun said.

“I’m here, I’m here,” Aria said.

“Where?” Zelda asked.

“Zelda! If you want to find out, you should probably get in the way of those beams,” Bunbun said.

“Okay,” Zelda said, her voice shaking, but anyway, she jumped in the bath of one of the beams. “Ahh!” she cried as she turned invisible.

The bunny fell onto the ground and squealed, as he was also in the way of one of those beams.

Just then, Zelda felt the stone. She grabbed the stone and said, “Where are we going?” The stone shot out more beams, which just made the friends go down and down and down.

Finally, when Aria hit the floor, she heard another voice.

“Aria!! Bunbun! Where are you?” 

Zelda! Aria thought. She’s here! Finally, she heard a thump and a small thump and she saw her friends again.

Zelda was checking around for her dragon, and then she heard a giant cry.

“Ayeeeee!”

“What was that?”

“Ayeeeeeee!”

“What. Was. That?” Aria said.

“Ohhh, I think that’s my dragon,” Zelda said. “Are you hearing me?” she said in her mind.

“Yes,” Urly replied. “I am here. Right beside you. So don’t forget.”

“Okay,” Bunbun breathed. “That is scary.” Urly, wind tornado! Zelda yelled. 

“Something about that phrase reminds me of something scary,” Aria mumbled. Before she could say, “Zelda, this is not a good idea,” the wind started blowing in a circle around them.

Yikes! Bunbun thought as he went spinning in the air. Or, at least he thought he was spinning. His mind was spinning.

“Quiet down!” Zelda said. “There’s so much noise that I cannot concentrate on telling my dragon what to do!”

“Sorry,” Bunbun squealed.

“Down!” Zelda yelled and the tornado slowly went down.

As soon as Aria came to the ground, she put Bunbun down. But that was a tiny mistake because the wind hadn’t died down yet, so Bunbun flew onto Aria’s shoulder. But Zelda hadn’t landed quite yet. She was still going down.

“Ow!” Bunbun yelled, putting his hands on his ears. “I forgot to tell you, I keep hearing that weird voice in my head.

Zelda said, “Are we still invisible?”

“Excuse me,” Bunbun interrupted. “That is not an answer.”

“Yeah, that’s not an answer, but that’s another question.” Aria mixed her own voice into the conversation.

Then Zelda shook her head. “Let me see…”

“Let you see what?” Bunbun said.

“I see letters!” Zelda said. She snatched the letters from the air.

Aria quickly took out the book. She put the letters into alphabetical order, but she knew that they wouldn’t turn out that way. Instead, they saw a character’s name.

“I know that book!” Bunbun said. “Now, let me see, where did I last remember that?” Then his eyes got big.

“Greek mythology!” they all said together.

Aria looked at Zelda. Then she looked at Bunbun. Then she looked at Zelda again. “This is very interesting. We fill up half the book. And now we make different thoughts.”

Zelda grinned. “I have an idea,” she said. She walked up to it and started thinking, how do we get home? Answer. And then suddenly new words filled the book. Find all the letters. “Woah! How did you do that?” Bunbun squealed.

“I thought of a question, and it formed that word and wrote an answer.”

And then Bunbun came up and thought, How do we get those letters? And then new words filled the book. They will come to you once you ask.

It was true. Aria looked above her head and saw a big bundle of letters. She grabbed it. “So we have m, n, o, p, and y.”

“Yeah, we don’t really need the y right now,” Zelda said.

“Oh, right. We’re only up to p right now,” Bunbun said.

Then Zelda came up and thought, are we still invisible? Then new sets of letters filled the book. But then all the other letters, and the ones they had already found came into alphabetical order. The book closed.

Zelda heard her dragon’s reply in her head. The book told me you have to put it all together so you are visible again.

“Oh!” Zelda said. She grabbed the book, opened to the right page, and started putting the letters closer to each other so they wouldn’t be so far apart. Bunbun came up and clapped.

Then there was a silence and Aria disappeared. “Yikes!” Bunbun cried. He jumped into the air and then disappeared in midair.

“Bunbun!” Zelda cried. “Well, you might as well think about it.” Then she looked at her hand. It was slowly fading. “Ahhhhh!” she screamed. Then her whole leg disappeared, and she blinked and saw her friends again. “Oh, there you are, people!”

Aria said, “Well, you might as well still be questioning. You’re not invisible anymore.”

“Yes,” Bunbun breathed. “Were you scared when you saw me jump in the air?”

“What do you mean I saw you? I saw you disappear in midair!”

“Oh, sorry!” Bunbun said.

Aria said, “S, c, l, z, y. I’m waiting, people!”

Bunbun opened his mouth to say something, but then quickly shut it because he knew Aria was pretty annoyed. Bunbun shuddered. “It’s cold in here!”

“Oh, right, I forgot to give you your sweater,” Aria said. She handed him his sweater.

“Thanks, Mom!” Bunbun said.

Aria shot him a quick look. Then she looked at Zelda and said, “Can you tell this dragon to fly us up again?”

“Wind tornado, please!” said Zelda, facing Urly.

Suddenly, the wind started to blow, and it circled around them and lifted them up.

I’m crazy, Bunbun thought.

“Bunbun, Zelda, look,” she cried. They all looked. It looked like a smear in the sky. “There’s the rest of the letters! And there is the portal shaped stone!”

“Oh, I know what you’re thinking!” Zelda said. She grabbed the book, Bunbun grabbed the letters, and Aria grabbed the stone.

Bunbun quickly put the letters into place and Aria shouted, “Let’s go wherever this stone takes us to!”

The wind started blowing even harder. It spun and spun and spun until everything went black for Zelda, Bunbun, and Aria.

A few minutes later, Zelda made everything turn back to normal. “Aria, Aria, look! There’s Bunbun’s house! And there’s yours! And there’s mine.” 

“Aria! Wake up!” Zelda said.

“Huh?”Aria said. 

“Stop dreaming that we are at home,” Bunbun said.

“Okay, okay,” Aria stammered. “Where are we anyway?”

“We’re not anywhere yet,” Bunbun said. “We’re still in the magical wind that this stone is taking us into.”

“Oh, really? How confusing,” Aria said.

Zelda was still listening to what Zelda and Bunbun were saying, but her hearing kind of trailed off because she was looking at something else.

Aria whirled around to start talking to Zelda, but then her mouth just hung open. “Zelda! Why are you upside down?”

“I don’t know myself,” Zelda said, her hands hanging in the air.

Suddenly, Bunbun was also up in the air.

Yikes, Aria thought. I think I’ll go somewhere else so I don’t end up upside down like that. But before she could start running away, her foot was slowly going up into the air. Then her other foot, and then her hands were hanging upside down.

So, she thought to herself, if this stone is going to go crazy on us, I’m going to go crazy on it. But how?

Aria remembered that she had always wished to do magic. She said, “Zelda, you know a lot about this place don’t you?”

“Well, sort of,” Zelda said.

Then Aria said, “Can people do magic around here if they weren’t able to do it in the true world?”

“Yes, I think,” she said.

“Ohhh-kay,” Aria said. “Let me try.” She tried her best to point at the cloud they were hanging in. Finally, she was able to do it and she started chanting to herself, “Make this cloud go away if you can.” Then suddenly, Aria and the others were flipped right side up and upside down again, and they kept flipping like that until they finally hit the ground.

Ouch! Bunbun thought. “Mama!” he called.

Aria landed right next to Bunbun, where Zelda landed right next Aria.

“Why did you do that? And how?” Bunbun asked.

“First,” Zelda said, “I have to–”

“SCREEEEE OCK NEE OCK!”

“Oh, bother,” Zelda said. “Stop making those ridiculous sounds, Urly.”

Spreeeeee,” her dragon cried.

“Oh, really?” Zelda said. “Why don’t you just lay down and rest so you don’t have to make those sounds anymore. Ahhh, okay that solved it,” Zelda said.

“Wait!” Bunbun cried. “I wanna try too.” He pointed his tiny paws at one leaf. “Make this leaf flow up!” he said. It floated up and flew on his ear. Bunbun brushed the leaf off his ear.

“Me too!” Zelda said. She pointed her finger at Aria, which scowled.

“Don’t, Zelda!” she said.

Zelda lifted an eyebrow and started singing. “Make her float on a tree!”

Yikes, Bunbun thought to himself again.

But then Aria started lifting on the tree. “Ohh, Zelda, get me down!” She said between bumps. Then she floated back down on the ground.

“Ohhh,” Bunbun said. Then Bunbun smiled big and said, “Make that cloud turn into cotton candy. Yum!” Bunbun squealed at the cotton candy cloud, which slowly went to the ground.

Aria laughed. “Okay little bunny. You can have some cotton candy while we talk.”

Bunbun jumped onto the small little cotton candy cloud and ate it. Sadly, he said, “does this still make people turn black and white?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, yeah, I’m still black and white.”

Then, Bunbun had the greatest idea anyone has ever had. He shouted, “Make it rain rainbow drops!” The ground started to shake and then rainbow drops started splattered everywhere, and wherever they landed, color returned. “That’s way better!” Bunbun said, zooming down the hill.

“Oh, bother, little Bunbun,” Aria said.

“Oh, right,” Zelda said. “He might have just run down the hill.” She stepped on the hill and slid down.

Aria hesitated for a moment, but then slid down and saw Bunbun.

“Bunbun, what did I tell you about–”

“Is my mouth black and white?” Bunbun said. 

“Yes,” Aria said.

Bunbun opened his mouth and a few rainbow drops flew in.

“I wonder when we’re going to have time to stop talking about this nonsense.”

“I wonder that too,” Aria said.

“Well, I think it’s going to be now,” Zelda said. “I see the letter z.”

“Z?”

“And it’s golden.”

“Oh, really? Let’s pick it up then.”

Zelda snatched the letter z and placed it in the book and said, “I hope this forms something useful.”

And the book did form something useful. The words came: home.

“Yay!” Bunbun squeaked. “Home!” He took a step, dove straight into the words, and vanished.

“Bunbun!” Zelda cried. She jumped into the book and vanished too.

“I’m so glad we can go home,” Aria said, and she dove into the words too.

“Yay! Home! Home!” she heard a tiny voice squeal.

“Oh, my dragon flew into the book too!” she heard another voice say.

Ock nee spreee!”

Aria found herself lying in the autumn leaves as everything was turning more autumn, sort of.

Then a gentle pitter-patter hit her on the face.

“Are you going home?” Bunbun said.

“No,” Aria said. “I think I’ll stay with Zelda.

the end

One and One Blackbirds

The teacher, Mr. Sermon, was beginning his sermon, who Peter believed was named perfectly for what he always did. Peter Handle was a young boy, he had dark brown locks, green eyes and always wore a mischievous smile. He spent his time getting himself into mischief and scrapes. He was an average student. He didn’t pay attention, he stared at the floor, or he mostly started at Annabelle. 


Annabelle was a young girl with black hair and blue eyes. She was the living opposite of Peter. She was calm and he was loud. He was a prankster where she was a reader. But it made sense that Peter liked her. She was beautiful, kind and smart. She was everything to Peter, as well as other boys. 

Annabelle wasn’t sure about Peter. He was kind and gentle when they were together. It was like he melted at her face. Annabelle didn’t know what she felt towards him. It couldn’t be love? Could it?

At this particular moment Mr. Sermon was beginning to speak about the history of the Civil and Revolutionary Wars, and Peter, like most days, was looking past him. At Annabelle. Annabelle knew he was looking but for some reason she didn’t mind. For some reason she liked it. Like always she listened intently to the professor, taking notes theatrically. The boys behind her laughed at her. Mr. Sermon glared their way and that shut them up. Annabelle sat high in her seat, pretending those boys didn’t exist. 

“Peter, I believe that I am teaching the lesson. Not Annabelle’s back.” said Mr. Sermon, stopping his lesson. The boys sniggered. He rounded on them. “And what is so funny?” The boys shut up. 

Annabelle had remained silent through this ordeal and she continued for the lesson after Mr. Sermon began again. She still didn’t know she felt about him, even after being with him his whole life.

Annabelle sat by herself at lunch that day. She squinted at her food forcing herself not to look around at the empty seats surrounding her. On the other side of the room, as far as they could get from her were the boys. They lifted up Peter and smiled smugly at him. They threw him up in the air. They threw him on the table. No one stopped them. The last thing she saw before she ran was him, a black eye, a red face, looking at her, pleading. 

Annabelle ran. She just needed to not see Peter like that again. She ran, throwing her box and bag away from her as she ran towards a corner. She ran and ran and ran and she tried to slow down. She tried as hard as she could. The wall was closing in. Her feet wouldn’t obey her mind. She ran and ran and — her head snapped against the wall. Her eyes closed. And she sunk down and began to weep. She hated those boys even more now. She had run because of them, had — she turned and looked in the mirror. Her face was black and bloody and her eye was black and swollen like Peters. Her nose was red and her mouth was blue. 

And then she saw Peter running. And then he saw her. He stopped. He swallowed and he whispered to her “You’re still beautiful…. You’re still Annabelle… You still have me.”

Annabelle looked up at him. Maybe he wasn’t like the other boys. It wasn’t love, but at that moment she liked Peter Handle. She felt she owed him something. Peter slid down the wall to sit next to her, and took her hand. Annabelle looked at him, and smiled. She smiled for the first time in ages. She smiled because she had a friend. One friend was enough, if they were anything like Peter.


Peter knew that everyone knew that he liked Annabelle. He knew he let it show. He knew that, that was why he was laughed at: She hates you, scum, and, You’ll never beat me you little brat. He knew his life was in jeopardy because he liked her. But nothing could stop him from liking her. At that moment, the two of them hand in hand, bleeding and swollen he could have never felt better. 

As Annabelle smiled it was as if a bird cawed in his chest. As she squeezed his hand it was as if a fire had been lit in his heart. Hurt as he was, he wished this moment would last forever.

“Friends?” she asked, smiling.

“Forever,” he replied looking into her eyes solemnly, “Forever and ever.”

The two could be called inseparable. Maybe after certain things you can’t not be friends. Suddenly their lives were filled with warmth. Suddenly Peter had someone to talk to, someone to live for, someone to be with, someone to love. Maybe it wasn’t love. Not just yet, but that feeling of his stomach cawing and a fire burning… It was close to love, he knew that. 

They now both had something new. A friend. Neither had felt something quite like that. They had both been shunned their whole lives and they finally could show who they were. To each other. Peter hoped they would keep their promise. Friends Forever. 

That day, one hundred and sixty days since the beginning of school and twenty-six days since their friendship began, they began a ritual. Both Peter and Annabelle lived at the city orphanage. Peter’s mother had died and his father gave him up, not being able to feed two mouths. Annabelle had told him that her mother and father had thought she was a disgrace to humankind and had sent her away. The orphanage master said that they would never have to see her filthy face again. The master had stayed true to his word. Their ritual began at the orphanage. They would walk hand in hand toward the meadow. There they would each pick up the smallest pebble they could find. They would each touch their stones together and throw them up into the air. It became a game after a while. They tried to catch their stones or find them on the ground. And then they would walk to school again. It was just a little thing but they both took great joy in it and they began to do it each day for the rest of their lives.

MESSI AND THE THREE LITTLE

There once lived the only best soccer player that ever lived! His name was Lionel Messi. One hot and bright afternoon in summer, Messi came on the court to practice for his big game, sweating like nobody had ever sweat before. He looked like an ice cream cone melting in the sun.

The soccer balls saw him coming by that afternoon. All three balls were going crazy for him. The soccer balls’ names were Frank, Macy, and Nicky, and they were new balls, so they didn’t know much about Messi. They were just ordered a week ago from Amazon, and they were delivered in a box that was in a truck that went to the court, where they ordered tons of other balls.

But when Messi walked into the court the balls started to get scared; they’d never been kicked before. One of the balls tried to scream but it was so scared that no sound came out. Nobody could even hear a peep! The three little balls noticed that they were on the top rack, so Messi was probably going to pick one of them! This was so scary for the balls.

The first ball he chose, Frank, was the least smart in the soccer ball rack. Messi held the first ball, and as he took him away, Frank screamed loudly for help. “Help!” Frank screamed while Messi was lowering him down slowly. As he placed Frank on the ground, Frank was terrified. Frank rolled away as fast as he could. Right when Messi placed Frank to the floor, Frank went to the goal. Messi thought it was just a slope; the ball went in the soccer goal. “There, you happy now? I’m going to kick your butt one day!” Frank said. Frank was even crazier than Messi.

Messi reached for the other ball. He got the second ball, Nicky, in the rack of soccer balls. He was ordinary, like all the other balls in the rack. When Messi took Nicky, Nicky was terrified, then Messi put him on the ground hoping that Nicky wasn’t going to move. Messi went to the bathroom. It took Messi pretty long. Every ball thought that he was eating beans. When he came back, Messi was shocked to see that Nicky was gone, and he was getting frustrated. It turned out that Nicky was hiding behind the soccer rack. Messi’s face was turning red, in a way that the balls thought looked funny. “Hehehe,” said the balls.

The Drama

Messi sat down and was really annoyed. He took a water break and kept on thinking about why all the balls were going away. He couldn’t see any of them. He also kept on thinking about if he was going to win the big game, and how many hours he should be training. I wish I could have a break, Messi whispered in his head. But he knew he couldn’t, because then he would not be able to win the big game. 

Messi knew he had to change his schedule to win his soccer game. Another really good team was playing against them. Messi changed his schedule from two hours of practice, to four hours of practice. And when Messi did that, he felt proud. I don’t know why he was so proud, it was just a little fix. Anyway, he got up and kissed both his muscles.

Messi went to the soccer ball rack and somehow got the smartest ball, Macy. While Messi was placing Macy down, she had a big grin on her face, and she also had a big check on her back to know that she got everything right. When Messi put her on the ground, in just one blink Macy was gone. It turned out that she was also the fastest runner in the rack, and she was hiding in Messi’s soccer bag. Messi opened his eyes and saw that the ball wasn’t there again. He was furious. “Why, why me?” he said in a whisper. Then he said, “OH DARN IT!” Then he left the court.

-THE END-

Escape Mars

Stuck on Mars: Part 1

Alex is an astronaut in NASA. He loves going to space, and he’s always wanted to go to Mars. Alex got a mission to go to Mars, but since Alex was so excited to go to Mars, he didn’t check the fuel or the engine, and he didn’t pack any tools. 

Nothing went wrong for the 6 months, but when Alex was really close to Mars, everything started to go wrong. Alarms were going off, the engine broke, the ship was out of fuel. Since Alex packed no tools, he couldn’t fix the engine, and Alex packed no extra fuel tanks either.

Since the engine was broken and they only had a little bit of fuel, they had a crash landing on Mars. Alex got some scratches and bruises, but the injuries were not big. However, the rocket was torn into pieces. Alex had water and food, but not many packets because Alex was only planning on staying for two or three days. Alex had to eat only tiny bits of food a day, or else there was no way of getting out of Mars.

It’s been two months, and Alex is still stranded on Mars. Alex tried an emergency message, but it didn’t go through because the rocket was torn apart. Just when Alex was losing hope, he saw something in the distance: it was another astronaut.

 Escaping Mars: Part 2 

Alan is an astronaut in NASA. Alan had a mission to go to Mars. Before he went to Mars, he read a newspaper story saying there was a missing astronaut. It took Alan seven months to

get to Mars. Alan was trying to find out if people can live on Mars, if there were any living creatures there, and if there was food and water. 

When Alan was close to Mars, he saw that the rocket was running out of fuel, but he thought it would be fine. So when he got to Mars, he looked around, but he found no food and water, and no living creatures. At that point, he went back to the rocket. When he got to his seat, he saw that the rocket ran out of fuel, so he had to go back outside and see if there was a fuel source somewhere on Mars.

Alan went to the back of the rocket ship where the storage was kept. He found a shovel so he took it with him. Alan knew he had lots of food and water, he was just hoping it would last long enough till he found a fuel source. Alan went outside and started digging. It took him a month. Alan was so tired, but then he found a little bit more of the fuel source, so he knew he had to keep digging. He also knew he was running out of food and water so he had to dig much faster.

It’d been a week, and Alan had found a little fuel, but he only had a few packs of food and water left. So from three meals a day, it became two and then one meal a day. Back at NASA, they knew it would take at least a year, but it’d been almost two years, so they sent Alan a message that they were sending fuel. When Alan got the message, he was relieved that they were sending some fuel. After a week, he got the fuel, but when he put the fuel in the rocket it still wasn’t enough, so he had to keep digging.

After a few days, he only had one more pack of food left, so he sent a message to NASA and asked them for more food packs. NASA replied that they were out of food packs, so Alan could only have bit by bit of food every day. Finally the day had come when he had found enough fuel in the ground to fill up the rocket ship. When Alan finished filling up the rocket ship, he checked the food packs and knew that if he had a little bit of food everyday, he might make it seven months.

After seven months, he made it back to earth, but he was starving. He had a big feast with burgers and french fries. 

“I couldn’t find any water or food and I couldn’t find living creatures,” NASA told Alan after the feast. “But I did find some fuel source in the ground, so if we can go to Mars one more time, I think we can find something there.” 

“We will make another rocket for you but this time you have to find something,” NASA said.

“Ok,” Alan replied.

Alan got ready for his second mission, but this time he knew he couldn’t fail.

While Alan was packing up for his next trip to Mars, he got a call saying that something went wrong with the rocket and the engine had blown up, but they had fix it before Alan went to space. They had no time to postpone the launch, so they quickly fixed it up and hoped that the rocket would still work. Alan sat down on his seat and looked at how much fuel he had. It said it was full fuel, but what Alan didn’t know was that something was going wrong with the engine. The blast off was successful, but Alan felt something would go wrong.

It’d been six months, nothing was wrong with the engine, and they were almost to Mars. Since nothing went wrong for six months, Alan was just relaxing. But as soon as Alan was

going to sit down and relax, an alarm went off. Red lights were everywhere. Alan ran back to 

where the engine was. He got some tools, but nothing could fix it, so he used tape to tape

the wires together. The alarm went off and everything was fine again. But Alan knew that tape

wouldn’t hold for long, so he had to be faster.

One month later, Alan was so close to Mars. All he needed to do was to land, but the alarm went off and he couldn’t fix it, so Alan had a rough landing. Alan got some injuries and the rocket needed fixing, so Alan wrapped up his injuries and started to fix the rocket. But Alan didn’t have all the supplies to fix the engine, so he had to send an emergency message through the satellites to NASA. They got the message and sent some tools in another rocket ship. Alan fixed up the rocket, but something went wrong again: the fuel tank was empty. Alan thought that the fuel must have dripped out of the rocket ship, because when he saw the fuel for the first time, it said it was full.

Alan knew he couldn’t send another emergency message because he was limited to one, but he had an idea: he took the shovel and went outside. He started digging. He kept digging and digging, but this time he couldn’t find a fuel source, so he walked farther and farther. Finally when he found a fuel source, he got up and looked around, but he couldn’t see the rocket ship. Alan had an idea: to follow his footprints. But they weren’t there – the wind must have made the sand cover all the footprints. Alan had another plan. The plan was to go backwards. Alan kept going backwards for hours and hours, but he could see nothing.

A few hours later, he saw something far away. It was his rocket ship! Alan was so relieved that he started running to the rocket ship, but since he could only find one place with a fuel source, he had to drag the big rocket ship with him all the way to the fuel source. It took him 

three days without stopping to get to the fuel source with the big rocket. When he reached the fuel source, it was night, and Alan was really tired, so he went to sleep.

The next day, Alan started digging, but Alan’s left hand was injured so he could 

only dig with his right which made him slower. After four weeks he found some more fuel, but Alan knew he needed to find more fuel. In the morning the day he saw something in the distance he found another astronaut. Alan ran to the other astronaut. Alan thought that that astronaut must have also lost fuel and was stuck on Mars. Alan went to the other man and asked him what his name was. 

“My name is Alex,” said Alex. 

“How much fuel do you have?” Alan asked. 

“I have half fuel,” Alex said.

Alan also had half fuel. “So if we put our fuel together we’ll have full fuel,” Alan thought. 

“Let’s put our fuel together in one rocket ship then we can both get out of Mars,” Alan said.

“Ok,” said Alex.

So Alex and Alan put their fuel together and they had enough fuel to go back to Earth. They both went in Alan’s rocket ship, but when they tried to blast off, the rocket said too much weight, so one person had to come off. 

“I’ll come off,” Alan said. 

“When I get to Earth, I’ll bring a rocket ship to you with full fuel,” Alex said.

“Ok,” Alan said.

After a few weeks, Alan saw a rocket ship. It landed where he was. Alan was so happy to see the rocket because had no food the whole time and he was starving. Alan went in the rocket ship and started eating. After he was full, Alan started to blast off.

Seven months later, Alan got back to Earth. He couldn’t get any information on the Martian fuel source, but that was ok because he found the astronaut that went missing in space.

Three talons of the stars: The start of the adventure

CHAPTER 1

Flame was a 10 year old orange, yellow, and red fire dragon that wanted to go indoor skydiving. He planned to go to the “Joy of Flying” skydiving center. There were a couple problems though. First of all, Flame wouldn’t fit through the door of the skydiving center, and second, how would these two-legged creatures feel if there was a dragon indoor skydiving in a tube? You might be thinking, well, why would a dragon want to go skydiving when he could fly? Flame wanted to see what It was like to fly without wings.

One day, Flame was sitting under a tree thinking, my life isn’t very exciting. What’s something that I can do that’s not a part of my daily life? All of a sudden, Flame saw a bird flying up at a very high speed, and then plummeting towards the lake. It’s too bad that I can’t do that. 

“Wait!” Flame said, his eyes shining in excitement. “I can go skydiving!” 

Flame decided that he would go indoor skydiving, because the sound of hurtling down at the earth from 10,000 feet was horrifying to him. He realized that there were problems though. Flame got on the computer and searched ‘Skydiving centers for dragons.’ He found one that was called ‘Sky Dragons’. Flame was going to fly to the ‘Sky Dragons’ center. It was about a five day journey. He grabbed a bag, and shoved a few simple things in his bag. He put a flashlight, five boots, four bottles of water, some nuts, honey, and a book. 

“I’m ready to start my adventure!” He shouted. 

He really was about to start an adventure.  

CHAPTER 2

It was starting to get dark, and the night was cold and the clouds were thick. There was no sign of the moon that night. Flame decided to settle down for the night in a small patch of trees. He made himself a mossy nest, had a few nuts, and went to bed. 

It was early in the morning and all of a sudden, a gigantic wasp flew over to Flame and started buzzing in his ear. Flame was annoyed and then worried. What if the wasp sucked all of his blood out and he turned into a raisin? Quickly, he mixed some honey with water, and threw it on the wasp. The wasp flew away, and Flame was left unharmed. 

Flame was fully awake now, and decided to go to the lake to catch some breakfast. Flame sat at the edge of the lake patiently with one claw raised. He made sure that the fish couldn’t see his shadow. Slash! Flame swiped the fish right out of the water with his claw. He walked back to where he put his stuff and went to look for sticks. Flame found two sticks that he could use as stakes and one pointy stick to put the fish on. He also found some dead leaves and twigs. The dragon broke the sharp twig in two and put one end in the fish’s mouth, and one end in the tail. He breathed fire onto the pile of dead leaves and twigs. After 10 minutes the fish was cooked. The meal was eaten, and Flame was on his way. Flame flew a little way, then something caught his eye. It was Mistyclaw! The dragon that he had met from school. 

“Hey Mistyclaw! It’s me, Flame! Want to join me on my trip to go indoor skydiving?!” 

“I’m free, so I’ll come!” Mistyclaw replied.

Mistyclaw and Flame flew together and talked about the journey ahead, and the current news, until it was dark.”

All right. We should settle here for the night. I’ll grab dinner, while you get some moss for beds.” Flame said. They had their meal and settled down to rest.

CHAPTER 3

The next day, Flame and Mistyclaw found a black dragon named Nightstar that wanted to go indoor skydiving with them. All of a sudden, the three came to a huge creek, filled with lava and a volcano erupting behind it. 

“Oh everything will be fine. What could possibly go wrong?” Flame asked. 

“Uhhh, that?” Nightstar said, followed by a “Lookout!” The volcano decided to erupt and spewed lava everywhere. Flame and Nightstar flew out of the way, but Mistyclaw was too late and the lava dragged her into the boiling lava lake. 

“Mistyclaw!” Flame screeched, just as he heard an agonized scream. Flame and Nightstar flew over to the lava lake and saw Mistyclaw pull herself out of the lava lake. 

“I…I’m okay,” Mistyclaw mumbled, and all of a sudden she burst into laughter, showing  no signs of tiredness or pain. 

“You dum dums,” she choked out, “our scales are fireproof, remember?” 

“You scared the claws off us Mistyclaw! Never, I mean never do that again.”

They stopped for the night, ate some nuts and drank some water, and then went to bed.

“Tomorrow is going to be a very hard journey!” Flame warned. They had no idea.

CHAPTER 4: NIGHTSTAR

The sun was scorching hot and I was thirsty. I knew my friends needed that water though, so I kept my mouth shut. All of a sudden, everything started spinning and my legs gave way. My friends had reduced to smudgy blobs and my head was throbbing. My consciousness was swept away like a shell on the beach, and I blacked out. 

CHAPTER 5

“Nightstar! NIGHTSTAR!” Flame called. 

He was horrified. Flame quickly unscrewed the cap of the water bottle and walked over to Nightstar. He tipped the bottle so the water came out and he poured it into Nightstar’s jaws. 

“Huh? Is that you, Flame?” Nightstar said. 

“Nightstar’s too weak to journey on,” Mistyclaw said. “Let’s rest here for the night.” They found a coconut tree and settled down. That night, they ate coconut flesh and drank coconut water. Soon they were all fast asleep. 

CHAPTER 6: MISTYCLAW

I woke up at 3AM. My friends were fast asleep. I didn’t know that soon, everyone would be wide awake with fear, and that I’d be in so much pain. I heard snuffling noises and I reached for Flame’s flashlight. All of a sudden, a huge shadow appeared in front of me and when I shone the flashlight on it, I screamed. It was a gigantic cheetah.

The beast lunged for me. My friends were now wide awake. We knew that a cheetah’s claws and teeth could pierce our scales. I swerved to the right and sank my talons into the cheetah’s skin. The black-spotted beast howled and swung its head around so it faced me. My friends were too late to help me 

The cheetah sunk its teeth into my shoulder and pulled. It tore out the top layer of my skin. I fell into a heap and watched a sea of blood run from my shoulder as my friends fought the cheetah. I felt like my blood was on fire, and I was losing my grip on my consciousness. The last thing that I remember is my friends hovering over me as the cheetah lay limp in the distance.

CHAPTER 7:  

“Please wake up, please wake up!” Flame begged. He had used a coconut leaf and some cobwebs to stem Mistyclaw’s bleeding, but she still wouldn’t wake up. All of a sudden, Mistyclaw’s eyes opened a little bit and she took in one ragged breath. They helped her move into the shade of the coconut tree. Soon, they all fell asleep again. 

“So, we have one more day of hard traveling and then we get to go indoor skydiving!” Flame said. Mistyclaw was feeling well enough to travel, and had taken off the coconut leaf bandage.

They left the desert and came to a place that was frosty, cold, and full of ice. Wham! A ball of snow hit Flame in the face. He looked around to see if there was any danger, but all he saw was Nightstar trying to hold in his laughter. Flame smiled. If Nightstar wanted to have a snowball fight, he would have it. Flame carefully sculpted a snowball and rolled it in the snow until it was as big as half of his body. 

“NIGHTSTAR! MISTYCLAW! LOOK… OUT!” Flame flung the snowball at Nightstar and Mistyclaw who were conveniently standing together to save heat. The snowball broke apart and sent huge chunks of snow flying everywhere. Mistyclaw and Nightstar were completely buried! After the two climbed out of the snow, they were going to start walking  again. All of a sudden, a low growling noise came from inside one of the caves behind Flame.

 “Oh no…”   

CHAPTER 8: MISTYCLAW

I knew it. They were wolves. They could tear our scales, just like cheetahs. I don’t know what I was thinking. I slowly approached the wolves. All of a sudden, they leapt. I jumped over some of them. One of them was just begging to be bitten. I sunk my teeth into that piece of fox dung. He dropped to the ground. Dead. The other wolves of the pack reared on me. My friends lept on them, holding them back. I knew they wanted to protect me. Suddenly, a huge wolf stomped out of the cave. The other wolves ran back into the cave. It leapt on my friends. 

I couldn’t do anything. I had to watch my friends get tortured. I felt so heartbroken, seeing them get beaten, while I had to lay there, watching the whole story unfold. After what seemed like hours, the wolf left my friends alone. They were battered, bloody, and scarred for life. I took them to the nearest hospital, which was 45 minutes away. By then they were barely breathing. I didn’t know if they’d survive.

CHAPTER 9:

Mistyclaw was sitting by the lake. The water was cool and refreshing. She dipped her talons in and out of the water. Every now and then, she licked up a couple drops of lake water. Her shoulder hurt, and she was very tired. On her shoulder, there was a layer of pink, fresh skin, where new scales had not grown yet. 

 I wish that my friends were here. I feel so bad about what happened, and even worse, it’s all my fault! Mistyclaw thought. A few tears fell from her eyes. Mistyclaw closed her eyes, and soon she was asleep. The sun was setting, and the glow of the setting sun shone on the lake, making it sparkle.

CHAPTER 10:

Mistyclaw went to visit her friends at the dragon hospital. She went to Flame and Nightstar’s room.

“How are you feeling? Are you okay?” she asked them.

They both said that they were fine, and that they were getting better. Soon, my friends were out of the hospital and they were healthy dragons again

 “Hey, we still need to go skydiving! I’m well enough! How about you, Nightstar?” Flame said.

 “Yup! I’m alright!” Nightstar said. 

The skydiving center was only thirty minutes away now. They three friends managed to make it to the center without getting into more trouble. 

“We’re finally here!” Flame shouted. 

CHAPTER 11: 

The dragons put their gear on and listened to instructions. Then they stepped into the tube and went flying. 

“Woohoo!” Flame shouted. Nightstar and Mistyclaw just smiled. Sure, this was really fun, but the adventure that they had together was even better. 

LEARN ABOUT THE CHARACTERS:

The Heist

The dark clothed figure walked up to the steel gate. The two guards standing in front of the gate, bathed in moonlight, crossed their large rifles in front of the figure. 

“Hold it right there mister,” one of the guards said. They didn’t notice Chase hiding in the bush on the side of the pathway, stealthily pointing his stun gun at the left guard. 

“In position?” Rana said into the coms in Chase’s ear. 

“Yes. Are you ready?” Chase replied, glancing over to the small dark haired, Asian girl in the branches of a tree across the path, also pointing a stun gun. 

“Yes,” Rana replied. Kane, the boy at the gate, produced a small yellow card, handing it to the guards.

“They’re about to notice the fake,” Chase whispered. 

“Shh,” Kane whispered into the coms, “Three, two, one, fire.” The sound of both Rana and Chase’s stun guns going off sounded through the pathway up to the gate. Both of the guards went down. Rana and Chase rose from their hiding places and started towards the gate of the Vault. 

Kane grabbed the real card off of the guards kevlar vests and inserted it into the lock at the gate. The gate opened and all stood to the side of the gate raising their stun guns and waiting to see or hear if they had tripped the alarm. Helen, a taller, red haired girl slunk towards the wall at the side of the gate. Helen scaled the wall and towards the camera, she opened the information card in the camera and inserted a new one, loaded with viruses. 

One by one, they walked stealthily through the gate, into the Vault. 

“You’ve got an hour to pull off the heist or we’re taking the stealth chopper out of here,” Rider said through the coms. “I’m still trying to convince the pilot that this is a good idea.”

“You said it yourself,” Kane replied. “You were the one who tried to convince us that this was a good idea.”

“You still want revenge, don’t you Kane,” Rider said back. Kane didn’t have a reply for that.

“We all want something out of this,” Chase said, ending the conversation. They headed to the side entrance that they had found through their inside person. 

“Is the loop for the camera feed ready,” Helen asked quietly. 

“Yeah,” Rider replied from inside the helicopter. They headed inside and worked their way through the complex. The maze of hallways confused all of them, but Rider managed to keep their team steady as they worked their way through the complex. 

* * *

Dylan Hart was having a bad day. He was the head security manager of the Vault, a place where the authorities stored the worlds hardest to find blueprints, prisons, banks, you name it, the blueprint of it was here. It had some of the world’s best cameras, guards, and maybe not the best security manager. On the way to work, he tripped and hit his head on the concrete. Of course, his boss, X, leader of the Empire, had forced him to continue on with work. His headache was incessant from his fall, as well as watching nothing happen on the security cameras. Nothing ever happened. Ever. 

But, Dylan wasn’t complaining. He was paid very handsomely for doing nothing. But, he always had to keep looking at the security cameras. The last security manager was blown to bits by landmines in the doorway of his house for failing X. X was very harsh and if you messed up around him, you paid the price. 

His eyes fluttered closed as he reached extensive boredom, and sleep found its way into his tired and sore mind.

* * *

As the different team members of the heist went their separate ways, Chase made his way to the actual vault part of the Vault. Helen had gone into the security room and hooked up more bad footage. Rider had stolen electronic versions of as many files as possible. Rana was in the server room and working on the servers, and Kane had gone ahead to scout the way for Chase.

“Everybody in position?” Chase asked through the coms. “Is it clear for me to grab the blueprints?”

“Yes,” the team all chorused quietly in unison. Chase quickly made his way up the long hallway, avoiding the lasers and cameras and got to the titanium double doors leading into the Vault.

“Do you have the code, Rider?” Chase asked.

“Yes. It is 3417-A49D-CV21. Do you have that?” Rider replied.

“Yes, on it,” Chase said, putting the long string of digits and letters into the machine. It made a beeping noise and slid open. Chase slid inside and looked slowly around the room, awe spreading throughout him that the rumors of the Vault’s reputation were true.

“Whoa,” Chase said. 

“Stick to it, Chase,” Kane said, “We don’t have all day.”

Chase looked around before grabbing the blueprint they needed: the safest bank in the world. He also snagged as many other blueprints as could fit in his arms and satchel.

Chase almost dropped all of the blueprints as Helen, in the security room said something into the coms. 

“What did you say, Helen?” Chase asked.

“I said, ‘I think we might have a problem’,” Helen replied.

* * *

As Dylan Hart’s eyes fluttered open, he looked up to see a tall, red haired girl hacking his security monitor.

“What the hell,” Dylan said. Helen turned around, her face paled before she said, “I think we might have a problem.” 

Dylan reached into his back pocket and pulled out a Glock 17 handgun and pointed it at Helen. 

“What are you doing here and give me a reason why I shouldn’t gun you down.” Dylan said menacingly. Helen raised her arms, while saying, “I said, ‘I think we might have a problem’.”

“Who are you talking to, miss?” Dylan asked.

“I –” Helen started to say, before dropping to the ground in a defensive position. Dylan fired his gun at the place Helen had been, but Helen had already risen up and punched Dylan in the stomach. Dylan fired one more shot, blindly, before clutching his stomach in pain. The bullet seemed to travel in slow motion, to Helen, before burying itself in her shoulder.

Helen screamed in pain before launching forward and trying to grab the Glock 17 Dylan had dropped. Dylan also tried to grasp the handgun and they both got their hands around the gun.

“We have caught a heist team in the act,” Dylan said into his coms, alerting the rest of the security team that there was a heist going on. 

Alarms blared throughout the building and Helen kicked Dylan in the chest, before snatching the Glock 17 away from him. Dylan staggered back as Helen cocked the weapon and aimed it at Dylan’s head.

Dylan held his hands up in surrender, realizing that there was no way out of this. Well, maybe there was.

Two security guards rushed up the stairs to the security office, right before hearing a bang. They readied their rifles and got ready to blow open the office door.

Helen readied the Glock 17 and then the door blew open off its hinges.

The two security guards rushed inside to find a tall, red haired, American girl pointing a pistol at the head security manager’s head. The walls of the office were scorched from the blast and the two guards pointed their AK-47s at the girl.

“Stand down, both of you,” the first guard said.

“Drop your weapons and put your hands in the air,” the second guard said, quickly after the first. “You’re under arrest.”

The first guard moved toward Helen with handcuffs, while the second maintained his AK-47 on Helen.

The handcuffs bit into Helen’s skin as they clamped around her wrist. Things kept getting worse and worse.

* * *

Chase was getting worried. Helen had not responded to his couple of tries to see what was going on and he had heard the gunshots. Then, finally, Chase got a response from Helen.

“Code 9,” Helen said into the mike. “Co-.”

Helen was cut short when Chase heard the microphone being taken away and smashed. 

“Guy’s,” Kane said, “Helen’s been captured. We need to go. NOW.”

Chase grabbed the blueprints and started to run out of the complex.

“What about Helen,” Chase asked.

“She’s not coming back, Chase,” Rana said. “They’re going to interrogate her.”

As the remaining members of the heist team made their way out of the building and to the stealth helicopter, Helen was struggling as she was forced into the back of a military vehicle.

As Helen pressed her face against bars of the cage she was in, she saw, through the barred window at the back of the vehicle, the team rising into the sky in the stealth chopper.

“Don’t let them break you,” Chase said through the back of the helicopter. Helen wished she could respond, but the gag in her mouth prevented her.

Don’t let them break you.

A year earlier:

Chase walked down the hallway of the science building of his high school. The Empire had taken a lot from him when he was young. His father. His mother’s money. Their home. It had been rough, so when an adult asked him if he wanted to join a group of rebels against the Empire, he was ready to accept.

Chase went to the rebel’s hideout to find a bunch of other teenagers. They said that they had been trying to find someone who could steal and they also knew that Chase could steal. And he did it a lot. 

The reason that they needed someone who could steal was because they needed a lot of money to take down the Empire. They were going to steal the money from the most secure bank in the world to show them that the rebels had teeth.

Chase was the last person for the heist. Rana, Kane, Rider, and Helen were the others that Chase quickly got to know. Helen was the climber and the camera person. Rana had the guns. Kane was the scout and the decoy, and Rider was the control, pilot and computer person. The last piece of the puzzle was Chase, the thief. The one who actually stole the thing.

Chase was tasked with stealing the blueprints from the Vault, one of the most secure places in the world. It housed the blueprints to the most secure bank in the world so that Chase and the rest of the gang could steal it.

They practiced working together on fake banks and real ones.

Rana and Chase shot the dummies with their guns. They had been practicing for a week now, getting a feel for the gun. The bullets rammed into the dummy’s heart and head. They practiced on moving and stationary targets to get used to the guns they would be carrying for the heist. After two hours of work on the firing range they got ready to practice on a real bank. After taking out the guards and hacking bad feed into the cameras, they were easily able to unlock the locks and take the money. Hopefully their good luck would hold up against a thief’s nightmare: the Vault.

 As he worked more and more with the group, he found that they were becoming the family he had never really had. They became his closest friends, so when it came the time where they were going to steal the blueprints, he was ready.

Now:

Helen was being driven in the back of a military vehicle. The vehicle bumped and jostled around with Helen in a cage in the back. She was repeatedly thrown against the walls of the cage as she tried to keep track of where they had gone. After a while, she gave up trying to escape and tried to fall asleep, but Chase’s words continued to echo through her head denying her the opportunity.

Don’t let them break you.

* * *

Chase awoke with a start. He had fallen asleep in the helicopter and had been shocked awake by nightmares of what might have happened to Helen. She was probably enduring torture to keep the information of the rebels out of the Empire’s hands.

“We’re landing,” Rider informed them as the chopper touched down in the rebel’s base. The remaining members of the team got out of the helicopter and walked down the ramp, onto rebel soil.

“Where’s Helen,” Commander Sloane asked, his dark colored hair, and blue eyes piercing the area as he walked up to the heist crew.

“She didn’t make it out,” Rana replied grimly.

“She wasn’t killed though, only captured,” Kane said.

“We need to get her back. The Empire will torture her trying to find us,” Chase said.

“Chase, how would we find her?” Commander Sloane asked.

“We would search all the files to find the prison she is in. We have to,” Chase said desperately. 

“We all know you want Helen back, but it would be too risky,” Commander Sloane said. Chase threw his hands in the air and stormed off to his room, slamming the door behind him.

“Uhgg!,” Chase said. Chase ran his hands through his hair angrily. He sulked on his bed frustrated with how the heist went. After an hour sulking in his room, he heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Chase said. It was the rest of the crew.

“Hey,” Rider said. “We all know you like Helen, so we’re going to help you break her out.” 

“I like her, but I don’t like her like her,” Chase said, his face turning pink.

“Whatever you say,” Kane said.

“Well, anyway,” Rana said, glaring at Rider and Kane, “We’re going to help you break her out.”

“Really?” Chase asked.

“Yes,” Rider said.

“Let’s do this,” Chase said. “Do you have the location of the prison Helen is being held at?” 

“No, but we do have the files that might get us the coordinates.”

* * *

Several hours, and a lot of research later, Rider had found some coordinates that might lead to the prison. On the maps, it didn’t show anything, more proof that the Empire was hiding a prison there. They planned to covertly steal a stealth chopper, then fly out to investigate. Commander Sloane, a fatherly figure to the heist crew would say it was impulsive. Probably because it was.

They snuck out at 10pm together, and loaded up the helicopter. They all got in and started the engines. The helicopter took off into the sky, with furious guards yelling threats from below.

While they were in the air, they realized that they had left the blueprints from the Vault in the helicopter. As Chase was sifting through them, he found a prison blueprint. It might not be the one we need, Chase thought, but at least it was a prison layout.

“You’ll want to get some shut eye,” Kane said. “It’s almost 1am.”

“I’d say the same to you, Kane,” Chase replied, slowly closing his eyes.

* * *

A long time had passed since Helen had seen the sky. After being taken out of the vehicle, she had been forced into a small prison cell. They had left her there with nothing for almost a day now. 

Helen screamed at the walls. She heard a noise coming from the door. She whipped around, the dark shadows under her eyes becoming apparent to her captors.

“Come here,” someone said outside the door. Helen immediately walked away from the door. 

“I said ‘come here’,” the person said, more forcefully this time. The shadow of a gun crossed the floor. Helen, raising her hands, walked to the door, fear, smothering her features. A bag went over her head as soon as she came in reach of the person outside the door. 

Helen was dragged out of the cell and ushered down the hall struggling with her captors. She was pushed into another room and she heard the sound of a lock being put into place. She was forced into a chair and felt her arms being bound around the back of the chair. The bag was lifted off her head and her eyes protested as the massive lights in the room blinded her. She could make out through her squinting eyes, a person standing in front of her. As her eyes adjusted to the bright light, she could also see a bucket of water, and a cloth.

Dammit, Helen thought. A torture chamber. 

The man in front of her said, “Are you a rebel? Answer correctly and we won’t torture you. Answer wrong, and we will.”

“No,” Helen replied, doing her best to sound convincing.

“Wrong answer,” the man said. The man standing in front of her dipped the cloth into the bucket of water and pressed it against her nose and mouth. Helen fought for oxygen trying to get the cloth off her face. 

She coughed, but the cloth trapped the cough in her lungs, preventing her. Her lungs, face, and body burned, and just as the world started to black out, the cloth tore away from her face.

Helen hacked and coughed, before breathing in air. Sweet, sweet, air.

“Answer wrong again, it’ll happen again,” the man threatened. “Where are the rebels hiding?”

“Somewhere near the coast of the north eastern part of the continent that was originally called Africa,” Helen lied. The man punched her in the jaw, sending pain shooting through her head. 

“Don’t lie to me. It will get worse every time.” The cloth went over her face again, and Helen fought again to breathe. Water entered her lungs and Helen struggled, the world turning dim. Helen gasped as the cloth came away from her face.

“She’s not talking,” the man said to someone that Helen couldn’t see. The man nodded before punching her in the face again. Blood streamed down Helen’s face as she fought through the extreme pain. 

“Where are the rebels hiding!” the man screamed at Helen.

“I said ‘Somewhere near the coast of the north eastern part of the continent that was originally called Africa’,” Helen said. The man looked ready to kill her, but stopped, before saying, “Okay. I’ll do just that.”

“I’ll let you go back to your room. Forever,” the man said menacingly. She was forced down the hall and shoved into her room. She heard the lock clicking, then silence.

* * *

The helicopter touched down silently on the grassy plain. Up ahead, a massive structure loomed in the night. Chase, Rana, and Kane slowly moved toward the prison. Rider stayed back at the helicopter, ready to fly at a moment’s notice. The crew made their way to the prison gate. Kane scaled the brick wall and barbed wire, before signaling the all clear sign. Rana and Chase scaled the wall, holding the barbed wire back for each other. With scraped pants, and determined minds, they made their way into the prison.

The hallways were lit with large lights. Kane shot out the cameras with his gun. With no Helen, they had to shoot out the cameras. Chase heard a noise.

Footsteps. Coming from down the hall. Chase motioned for Kane to hide as he and Rana readied their guns. Two guards rounded the corner. Three gunshots went off. One met its mark with Kane being hit in the knee. As he fell Rana shot a bullet at the ceiling light wire, sending it crashing onto the guards.

Sparks flew, with Chase being thrown back by an explosion. Glass littered the floor of the battle. The two guards were motionless, with glass shards sticking out of them everywhere. Rana knelt beside Kane, before picking him up.

“Go,” Chase said. “I’ll get Helen out of here. Kane needs medical attention. He’s losing blood. Fast.”

Rana nodded grimly, before taking Kane and running towards the exit. Chase walked down the hallway, looking at everything down the barrel of his gun. He passed cell after cell. Most of them empty. The ones that weren’t held bodies. He saw people with ragged limbs and hollow expressions. They glanced pleadingly at him. He wished he could help them, but he needed to find Helen. 

He ran past security cameras and alarms blared. He ran and ran looking and needing to find Helen. He heard it before he saw it. The screaming. Helen’s screaming. He went to the door the screaming was coming from. It didn’t have bars, just a steel plated door. He grabbed a lock pick and began working away at it. 

The lock held up, much to his dismay as he continued to work at it. He heard a click and the door swung open. Helen sat on the floor of a bare room. Metal plates covered the cell from head to toe. Chase rushed inside as Helen got up off the floor. She wasn’t screaming anymore. She hugged Chase, crying. 

“We have to go, Helen,” Chase said.

“Yes. Let’s go,” Helen said, regaining her composure. Chase and Helen ran back through the hallways. A patrol of four guards stopped them before they could make it to the exit. The lead guard raised his gun. Before the guard could shoot, Chase shot him, a bullet embedding in his chest. The other guards raised their weapons. Four bullets fired. A guard went down to Chase’s bullet. Chase went down to the three other bullets. 

Pain rocketed through his body as the bullets tore through him. Helen swept Chase up in her arms and ran for the exit, bullets whipping around her. 

She dashed to the helicopter and rolled into the helicopter as it rose into the night sky.

* * *

X looked through the window of the top floor of the building. X heard a knock at the door. 

“Come in,” X said through the face mask covering his face, a synthesizer masking the real sound of his voice. His lieutenant, Hunter, walked into the room, bowing as he entered.

“Sir, a heist crew raided the Vault,” Hunter said quietly.

“What!” X said, outraged. “I thought the place had the best security.”

“We found a culprit. His name is Dylan Hart. He fell asleep watching the security monitors.”

X’s features twisted in anger.

“Send for him now.” X said. “I will have a talk with him.”

“Yes, my lord.”

As Dylan walked into X’s office, he felt a sense of dread wash over him. He had fallen asleep on the job. He knocked on the door.

“Come in,” X’s synthetic voice said. Dylan entered the room.

“You did an amazing job,” X said.

“Really?” Dylan asked, relieved.

“Yes. I will up your pay by 20%.”

“Thank you so much,” Dylan said.

“You’re welcome,” X said, smiling grimly behind his mask.

After Dylan left, X sent for Hunter. Hunter entered. 

“Hunter,” X said, “Can you have the Phantom go after the heist crew?”

“I don’t mean to say that you are incorrect, but Phantom is incredibly expensive as assassins go.” 

“Send for him anyway.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Dylan Hart was smiling. He had not immediately died after the conversation with X so he counted that as a win. He was still smiling when he got gas for the tank. He was still smiling when he got off the freeway. He was still smiling when his car blew up, killing him instantly.  

The Hawk and the Clover

Milton was a hawk who lived in a nest with his family. He had three brothers, three sisters, and his mom and dad. He was different from the others because he had a white underbelly, and he loved humans. The nest where he lived was on the edge of a swamp. Not a lot of humans came to the swamp where he lived, so Milton had to go into the city to see them. In the city, he would go to the windows and spy on the humans. He wished he could talk to the humans.

Deep in the swamp, there was a human. The human had green skin and a wart on her long nose. Milton was flying home one day when he saw this witch. She had a bow and arrow and a dead hawk slung on her back. Milton was horrified and flew away. He didn’t want to get caught by this ugly human. 

One day, while Milton was flying to the city, he saw the witch picking mushrooms. He followed her. He wanted to know why she was still hunting for hawks. He was curious about her because she was not like the other humans. He was scared that the witch would notice him, since she kept turning back to make sure no one was following her. Whenever the witch looked back, Milton would tilt upward so that his white underbelly blended into the sky. 

Milton followed her deep into the swamp, all the way to her hut. She quickly passed through the door. Milton went to the window. He watched the witch put the mushrooms among a collection of items—human ears, frog legs, snake scales, lizard tongues, hawk toes and feathers. Milton thought some of them looked delicious, but others were plain disgusting. While Milton watched, the witch took some mushrooms, hawk toes and lizard tongues, and threw them into the cauldron bubbling in the fireplace. 

The witch looked toward the window and Milton ducked, falling to the ground. He started shivering in fear. He realized that he was in a garden with glowing worms. They looked so delicious. Milton loved shiny things and worms. He immediately got up and started eating every one of them. The worms were so delicious that Milton didn’t realize that he was making so much noise. The witch heard him eating and came out the door and screamed. 

“May the gods curse you for 100,000 years!” the witch cried, pointing at MIlton with an evil glare.

Scared, and not sure of what was happening, Milton tries to fly back home. But he forgot everything that he knew before he was cursed. So he doesn’t know where home is so he couldn’t fly home. All he knew is that he liked humans. He didn’t know what to do after being cursed. So he went back to the city to spy on humans like he always does.

While he is flying to the city he caught a glimpse of his nest near the edge of the swamp, but he doesn’t care about his family anymore. He hates them now. He wants to be near his friends, the humans. 

So he sat on a window sill. Inside there was a girl crying. “Are you okay? Milton asked her. 

The girl turns her head to the window. “Am I hallucinating?”

Milton was shocked as well. How did I do that, he thought.

“Why was today the worst birthday ever?” The girl asked herself. “Now I’m hallucinating. I have no luck at all. I need a four-leafed clover. That would change everything.”

Milton felt very sad for this girl. “Sorry you had the worst birthday ever.”

The girl’s jaw drops. “Are you real?” she asked.

Milton said, “Yes, I am real.”

“Who are you? Why are you here? Why are you a hawk? And why can you talk!?”

Milton replied, “I am a hawk named Milton. I don’t know why I can talk!”

The girl came to the window and reached toward him. Shocked, Milton fell off the window sill right toward the street. Milton had never fallen before. With 0.05 seconds before he hit the ground, he spread his wings and started to glide up. He flies back up to the window sill. He wanted to talk to the girl more. But the girl’s father was there. He suddenly tried to catch Milton. He threw a bean-bag pillow at Milton. 

This time Milton dropped purposely, to miss the bean bag. 

“Who are you?” Milton asked. 

“I’m a scientist. I want to trap you for a DNA test.”

“Sounds not fun.” Milton flew away.

After this encounter Milton realized the two curses. Unluckiness and talking. 

To solve the unluckiness he will need a four-leaf clover. He learned that from listening to the girl. Nothing could solve the talking problem. So he started to head in the direction of a field he knew from his childhood that was very lucky. He had always found shiny things and worms there. He started searching for the clover. 

He searched the whole field. He was unsuccessful. But he needed somewhere to sleep for the night. He searches everywhere and cannot find anywhere to sleep. Luckily he remembers the old swamp. He slept there for the night. He began the search the next day. Then he searched deeper into the swamp. Milton finally found the witch’s hut. The witch was outside her hut. And right on the witch’s doorstep was the clover. 

Milton realized that he would have to fight the witch to get the clover. He took his chances and few at the witch. The witch saw him. She took out her wand and started using it as a weapon, shooting blasts of magic. Milton dodged. 

When Milton was a baby, his mother would tell him stories about their great grandfather who saw a village crowding around a witch who was about to be burned at the stake. Milton knew he needed fire to defeat the witch. He flew away to get a match. 

He found the match in the city and flew back. 

The witch was back in her hut when he returned with the match. This was going better than Milton had planned. He flew up to the roof of the house and lit it on fire. Then he quickly grabbed the clover, lit the rest of the house on fire, and escaped. 

Milton then flew home to reunite with his family. The clover worked. 

When he arrived, he saw the hawks crowding around two graves. He soon realized who the graves were for. His parents had died, looking for him. They got killed by the witch. Milton lived in sadness for the rest of his life. 

The End.

Ant and Flower

Ant Timmy wants a beautiful pink flower that’s by his house on Nelson Road. He found it two hours ago when he was running. He thought it was perfect for his brother’s birthday. His brother likes pink. Timmy likes the flower, too. Timmy wants to take the flower to his brother’s house. 

He is trying to pull it but it’s too strong. Timmy was sad. He thinks about Greg, his friend, because Greg is strong. Greg is an army ant. Greg lives on Nelson Road, too. He is Timmy’s neighbor. Timmy met Greg when he was running a month ago. 

When he got to Greg’s house,Timmy asked Greg to pull the flower for him.

Greg said, “Sure.” 

Greg tried but he can’t pull it either. He tried again. But he still can’t.

Timmy and Greg both try, but it is too strong. Timmy said, “l have an idea!”

“What idea?” Greg asked. 

“Could you ask your army ant friends over?” 

“Sure!” 

“Okay,” Timmy said. 

Greg called his army ants. Five minutes later, they didn’t appear. Greg called them again, and 100 army ants appeared on Timmy’s lawn. They tried to pull the flower but they end up failing. They said, “Sorry, I can’t pull it.” Timmy was sad because in 10 minutes his brother’s birthday party starts, and he likes flowers.  

This is the final idea. He remembered he had a tack. He said, “I can cut it with a tack!” He pokes the flower in the middle of the stem, but he accidentally cuts it in a straight line and the petals get ripped. 

He got another flower from Greg’s house because he is tired. It’s nice and perfect, and Greg cut it just the way Timmy wanted, and he went to his brother’s house and gave the flower to his brother.

A Crack in the Walls

Chapter 1

You know the feeling that something bad is going to happen? Like you’re dreading every moment of the day, waiting for something to go terribly wrong? Well, that’s what happened to me on August 27.

I didn’t realize something was wrong between me and my friends. We had hung out all summer, having slumber parties and skyping off our computers. We even got matching phone cases. And on the first day, we did our annual 6:00 AM Facetime. That was the moment when they seemed uncomfortable. I was pulling my hair back in an alligator clip, and I saw that both Ella and Emily had hung up on me. I convinced myself that their parents forced them to get off screen, and kept getting ready. 

.         .         . 

“Morning! Are you excited for your first day of school?” my mom asked, balancing a big platter of waffles and a pitcher of orange juice in each hand.

“I guess.” The video call had really thrown me off, and I could tell that today was going to be a horrible day.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” asked my dad, striding into the room with three plates and cups. 

“Nothing, I’m just hungry,” I replied. There are some things I’m too proud to admit, like being a third wheel. 

“Then, let’s eat! Long day ahead,” Mom said. 

I poured syrup over the buttermilk waffles and took a bite. No surprise, they were delicious. Mom and dad made small talk the entire time, but I was zoning out, thinking about what went wrong with my friendship with Emily and Ella. We’ve been friends since preschool, when a kid thought we were triplets, since our names all started with the letter e. We cried for an hour, then hugged, and then said we were triplets. In elementary school, we gained the title “The Three E’s”. Emily, Ella, and Eva. 

And last year, in 6th grade, they came up to me and said, “Eva, we just came to tell you that we’ll always be friends. Some people want to act funny and ditch people, but we know that you’ll always be our person.” And then they gave me a giant hug.

So I didn’t get why they were being weird now. It would’ve been better for them to not show up on my porch with a sign last year. Then I could’ve accepted it. But I just reminded myself that they probably needed to take a device break, as their parents always say. 

I snapped back to reality as mom checked her phone and said, “Shoot. I have to be at work early today. Honey, put on your shoes, I’ll drop you off.”

I went to the front door and put on my shoes, then grabbed my backpack and ran out the door, chasing after mom.

Chapter 2

Mom unlocked the door of her silver minivan, and I plopped down onto the front seat. 

“Hold on young lady, who said you could sit here?” Mom asked, a stern look on her face.

I groaned. “Come on, mom! I’m twelve!”

“Correct. You can’t sit up front until you’re thirteen,” she replied smugly.

I climbed into the backseat and looked at my phone. As soon as I saw my notifications, I frowned. Emily just posted a screenshot of her and Ella on facetime. I sent her a quick text, asking why she hung up on me, and she didn’t respond. Usually, as soon as I sent her a text, she would send me three to reply. 

Mom tilted her mirror to face me, and seeing the look on my face, she said: “You know you can tell me anything, right?” 

“Yes mom,” I replied. She said this every day. 

“Then why do I feel like you’re keeping something from me?” She asked as she raised her eyebrows.

“I’m not, mom. It’s just– Oh look, we’re here!” 

Before she said anything, I dashed out of the car, only to bump into… Emily. 

“I’m really sorry!” I said.

“Why were you running out of the car like a baby?” she asked as she wrinkled her nose.

“Um, no reason,” I replied, looking at my feet. 

Emily squinted her eyes. “It looked like you were avoiding a conversation.”

“If you must know, I had to use the bathroom. I still do, so catch you later,” I mumbled quickly.  

Great. Now my best friend thinks I’m a chicken. I headed to my first class, where, unfortunately, my seat was next to Ella. She was acting the same way as Emily, very judgemental. I thought that was it, that they had just dumped me for good. But then, Ella passed me a note. It said:

Eva–

Meet at the gate at 11 AM if you value our friendship.

This was typical Ella fashion, except I noticed she’d called the gate simply a gate, instead of the ‘Narnia Portal.’ When we were in first grade, we’d found an overgrown brown gate at the back of the school, and because Narnia was our class reading book, we immediately thought that was the way to get there. Even though we knew better, the name stuck, and we vowed to call it that for the rest of our lives.  History class had flown by, and before I knew it, I was standing at the gate with my two best friends.

“So, what’s up?” I asked.

“Look, Eva. We feel like we don’t have much in common with you anymore,” Emily said

“What are you saying?” I asked. 

“If you’ll stop being dumb, we’re saying that we don’t feel close anymore,” Ella rephrased. 

“So…”

“So, our long-lived friendship is over.”

Chapter 3

  As soon as I heard those words, I turned my back on the two girls. I didn’t care what they said next. I didn’t look back at them. If they didn’t want me to be part of their life, so be it. I groaned as I remembered that I shared my second class with both of them. The last thing I wanted to do was be in a class with them, having to watch them take selfies and talk about the things we used to talk about, all three of us. So, I took the long way, going through the stairwells and hallways no seventh grader went to. When I was almost at class, I saw that Emily and Ella had cornered a girl in a wheelchair, and were teasing her.

“What’s wrong? Can’t run away?” Emily sneered, giggling.

“Em, don’t be mean!” Ella said. Hope swelled in my chest. Would she– “She obviously wants to be with us! Here, come on a walk!”

I took my phone out and began recording the whole thing. 

I watched as Ella and Emily wheeled the girl to the stairwell. Then I watched them place her at the edge of a flight of stairs. But when they were about to push her, I screamed.

“STOP! YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN DO THAT TO A PERSON? SHE COULD HAVE DIED!” My voice cracked. “YOU SHOULD BE SO THANKFUL YOU DON’T HAVE TO RELY ON SOMEONE TO PUSH YOU ON THE STREET! OR CARRY YOU DOWN THE STAIRS! YOU’RE LUCKY! BUT SHE CAN’T SAY THE SAME!” I pointed to the girl. She looked at me, her eyes shining.

Emily and Ella looked at me, then ran off in another direction. The girl, Lisa, looked up at me. 

“Why did you do that? I thought you hated me.” Lisa asked.

“I wouldn’t let you get hurt.” I said

And I pushed her right where she belonged.

August 27th.

The day where things went wrong.

See, school actually started on September 3rd. August 27th was the day when I got separated from my sister. Our parents had died when we were two, and we were both in the orphanage for 3 years. On August 27th, a man and woman came in, looking for someone ‘exceptional’. Then, their eyes fell on Lisa. She was in a wheelchair, but she easily moved around, climbed ladders, and slid down slides. I’ll never forget when they told her she was coming home with them. My own sister giggled. She smiled at them. She didn’t turn back. She didn’t wave goodbye. And that’s how I lost my sister.

I would never forget, but I could forgive. 

Fin. 

Jeremiah’s Musical

Jeremiah had decided to not audition.

“Oh, c’mon, Jerry. Why not? I bet that you would be great at that owl part. I would be so proud of you, and your girlfriend and your mom would be too,” Gully protested as they satin Jeremiah’s owl hole drinking tea.

“Owls in musicals are silly. There’s no time for me to be in one,” Jeremiah grumbled.

“Who told you that?” Gully demanded.

There was a pause.

“The co-director,” Jeremiah muttered in a tiny voice.

“What?” Gully squawked. 

Jeremiah averted his yellow eyes pointedly. Gully marched angrily out of the hole.

“Wait!!! Where are you going?” Jeremiah yelled after Gully.

“The co-director’s house.”

Jeremiah shook his head so hard his feathers flew around the owl hole. “W-wait, don’t you want to finish your tea?”

Gully had already gone in a flash of gray and white feathers.

Jeremiah flew after him frantically, knocking over both cups of tea. He caught a glimpse of his bird friend flying over to the co-director’s nest.

“Uh, hi, director. To what do I owe to the pleasure?” The co-director, a light brown sparrow, asked. His name was Sparsmethius.

“You are dismissed,” Gully said firmly.

“Wh-what? I do not understand.”

“You told Jeremiah that-mmfff!”

Jeremiah flapped his wings over Gully’s bill.

“Um–” The co-director looked at Jeremiah for an explanation.

“Uh, sorry,” Jeremiah said awkwardly. 

“Hey, Jerry, let go! I need to tell him that you are a great owl!”

“No! Come! You need to drink your tea!” Jeremiah wrapped his wings around Gully’s, which was hard because Gully was a large seagull.

Gully and Jeremiah landed back in Jeremiah’s hole. 

“You would be great at that owl part. Really. The co-director is wrong. I mean it. I am the director and I am telling you that you are talented,” Gully said seriously, plucking feathers from his bill.

“No.” Jeremiah shook his head stubbornly. “Sparsmethius had a good point. What type of a bird musical needs a clumsy owl in it?”

“This one, Jeremiah. You are talented.”

Jeremiah shook his head again and pressed a new teacup into Gully’s wing. His yellow eyes filled with tears. “You can go. Don’t worry about me. It’s not like I’m actually good at singing,” he said dejectedly.

“But Jerry . . . “

Jeremiah sat on the couch with a humph.

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow at the set, right?”

No reply.

It was the next day. Sparsmethius had been dismissed. There would be no co-director, which made things extra hard for Gully.

“Hey – where’s Jeremiah?” A swan asked as she scanned the stage.

“The bathroom?” A parakeet suggested.

“No, don’t all birds just . . . go in the air?” A pigeon asked.

“Not in the set!” A hummingbird exclaimed. 

Within a second, Gully had flown away.

“Jerry?”

“Mmmm! I’m sleeping! Go away,” Jeremiah protested.

“You are not sleeping.”

“I am.”

“Then how come you’re talking?”

There was a pause.

“Hey, you’re supposed to knock before coming in.” Jeremiah reprimanded.

Gully ignored this. “You gotta come. You didn’t seriously believe Sparsemethius, did you?”

Cough-cough-cough.

“Huh? You okay?” Gully asked, concerned.

“Um. I think I’m sick,” Jeremiah mumbled.

“No. You’re not. You are totally not. Stop faking Jerry, we need you!” Gully said firmly.

“No, actually-sneeze!-I am!” Jeremiah cried.

Gully thrust the thermometer into Jeremiah’s beak. “Oh no – indeed, you are sick! No, no, no. You can’t be! Today’s rehearsal!” Gully yelled, pacing around the hole as if the faster he walked, the faster the fever would be reversed.

“Tell Sparsemethius that he can take the part,” Jeremiah sighed, even though he did not actually want the judgy sparrow to take the part.

“No,” Gully shook his head. “He already migrated to Zimbabwe. I wouldn’t even want him to take the part anyway.”

Gully pressed on the receiver that was lying on the tea-table. “Hello, this is Gully Sea, the director of High School Musical, Bird Edition. Our actor has a fever so… Wait, what? You can’t come? No, no… you are in Africa? What?… You have to!” Gully screamed into the receiver. 

There was a click on the other line.

“The understudy is also in Zimbabwe! He can’t come!” Gully shrieked. He was panicking. “Please, Jerry, please. Please! You have to come!” Gully pulled Jeremiah out of the bed of grass.

“Nooooo…  Jeremiah whined.

Somehow, Gully managed to deliver Jeremiah to the set. All the actors cheered when they saw the snowy owl, but only before they saw his unhappy face, with his wings hanging limply at his sides.

“Are you okay?” A pheasant felt Jeremiah’s forehead. It was hot.

“He has a fever, but he came anyway.” Gully puffed out his chest proudly, not adding in the detail that he had lugged the pessimistic owl to the set completely against Jeremiah’s will.

Another cheer went over the actors as they resumed rehearsal.

Jeremiah choked out the songs, coughs in every beat. Every time he sneezed, all of the singers glanced at him, so he just mouthed the words. Gully could not tell and clapped his wings.

“You are really improving, Jerry!” Gully exclaimed in happy shock.

Jerry did not tell his best friend that he was not actually singing. He did not want Gully to convince him into singing, messing up the whole play as result. He shaped his beak into the memorable songs, flapping his wings. Once in a while he would cough. Then there was a terrible thought. What would he do at his solo?

“Um, can I go to the bathroom?” Jeremiah asked, hoping that the rehearsal would skip over his solo. His plan backfired.

“Okay! We’ll pause for you,” Gully said, skimming through scripts. Jeremiah tried to think of another reason to skip his solo. When he got out of the bathroom, he pretended to faint. 

“Oh no!” Gully cried. “We will try to continue rehearsal tomorrow.”

Jeremiah stifled a groan.

The next day, Jeremiah’s fever was no better. He came to rehearsal anyway, though, and coughed through his solo.

“Oh dear, you were doing so good yesterday!” A red-winged blackbird cried.

“Again. Sing it again,” Gully commanded. A woodpecker slowly backed away, not wanting the sneeze to land on him. All of the other birds were too afraid to do this seemingly rude act, because Gully was in a particularly bad mood. 

“No. I can’t sing it again!” Jeremiah begged. 

Gully sighed and gave in, moving onto a bald eagle. 

“This whole thing is stupid.” Jeremiah exploded. “Birds don’t even go to high school! The human version looked much better.”

“Oh, Jerry. We are trying, and we really want you to get better.” Gully sighed.

Jeremiah launched himself out of his set, flew to his hole and curled there, on his bed, crying angrily. 

The next day there was no Gully to urge him out of bed, no encouragement or kind words. The owl overslept, grabbed a cup of weak tea, and looked out of his hole. For once he longed for his best friend to yank him out of the warm hole. 

Without thinking about the embarrassment and the “I told you so’s,” he snatched up the receiver. Again and again he dialed with no avail. Gully was angry at him, he must’ve been! Jeremiah burst out of his hole and careened to Gully’s nest, the one near the lake. There was a telescope and a fishing net, but no Gully on the balcony. Jeremiah waited with a cup of tea. No Gully.

How stupid I am, Jeremiah thought. Gully must be at the set, directing! 

Jeremiah took off and soared to the set. No Gully! Leaving the anxious bird actors, Jeremiah flew to his hole. Where was Gully! Had he migrated? Or was he wounded and at the hospital?

Oh. There was the seagull, holding a cup of tea.

“Where were you!?” The two birds squawked at the same time.

“You are going to the set.” Gully pulled at Jeremiah. For once he agreed.

“We are selling so many tickets!” A crow announced happily, throwing birdseed in the air. Birdseed was the bird currency.

Jeremiah shook his head. What if he was not recovered by the time of the performance?

“Your understudy has come back,” Gully reassured Jeremiah, “but I bet you’ll be well by then. The understudy will not have to move a feather.” Jeremiah felt like the last comment was a lie. He knew that Gully only wanted to make things better, but he was slightly annoyed that his friend had been faking.

And what about the audience of the musical? He would not get to perform in front of them. Jeremiah found undeserved hate for his understudy in himself. He felt as if he had lost a game of pool. The balls did not roll into the right place at the right time.

“Who is the understudy?” Jeremiah suddenly found suspicion. 

“A sparrow. He had migrated to Zimbabwe, but then came back,” Gully explained.

“Have you ever seen him?” Jeremiah pressed.

“No. I can ask him to come,” Gully said, suddenly feeling rather suspicious himself. Zimbabwe? Who else had been migrating to Zimbabwe?

“Sparsmethius!” Jeremiah yelled. 

“Oh no. No. It has to be a coincidence,” Gully muttered, pacing back and forth. Now that he thought of it, the voice on the other end of the receiver had been familiar! 

“No, I am sure. It’s Sparsmethius, getting revenge!” Jeremiah exclaimed, taking out his lunch box and swallowing a mouse. 

Gully shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. Why would he apply for understudy? That means he is helping you!”

Jeremiah nodded. “He wants to seem like that, so you can make him co-director again! Or he just wants to take my part. Oh, Gully, I know! He wants to pretend he is the understudy, but he will not actually go if I am still sick. He will let the play down!” Jeremiah yelled. All the pieces were fitting together. 

“It doesn’t matter.” Gully sighed, pulling out a file of scripts from under his director’s chair. “You just need to not be sick and do your part.”

Jeremiah felt angry. The insulting previous co-director was coming back! And Gully did not even care!

Gully was already too overwhelmed to care about a supervillain understudy. The costumes didn’t fit! The scripts didn’t match! He absentmindedly clapped the clapboard. He took a sip of coffee out of his thermos and ate a fish taco. The stage was a few inches too low, the curtain was a foot too high! A supervillain? Pooh. Who cares? 

So Jeremiah practiced his part and made it better, but his cough was still bad. 

“Hachoo! Hachoo!” Loud sneezes escaped Jeremiah’s beak. He was curled on his bed. Scripts were spewed on the floor. The thermometer had unusually high temperatures on the screen, tissues were balled up around the bed. Tea was over-brewing in the kettle, but Jeremiah was too frustrated and sick to go up and get it. He longed for someone to talk to and get his tea for him, so he called Gully. Gully came over and got his tea for him. 

“You’re running late for rehearsal. We need the owl. The talented owl. The owl who you play, Jeremiah,” Gully said solemnly.

“Golly, Gully. Maybe tomorrow,” Jeremiah whispered hoarsely. 

“Why not today?” Gully asked.

Jeremiah glanced over the wads of tissues on his bed. Gully swept them up into the wastebasket, sympathy for his friend.

“Thanks,” Jeremiah whispered. Gully handed him a cup of tea. Jeremiah took it and screwed his eyes shut. It was way over brewed and very bitter.

“Hey. I can bring the tea for you if you come,” Gully tried to help. He only succeeded in doing the opposite.

Jeremiah choked over the gross liquid. “No thanks,” He mumbled.

Gully put the thermometer on the tea-table next to the picture of Jeremiah’s elf owl girlfriend and piled up the scripts that had been under the teacup Jeremiah had thrown. Jeremiah nodded over the tea cup. “You can have the rest,” He coughed.

“It can’t be that bad.” Gully sipped the tea and promptly spit it across the room. Jeremiah pushed the mop towards Gully.

Gully looked out of the hole.

“Jerry! Look, snow! It never snowed in space!” Gully exclaimed.

“Hmm? What’s snow?” Jeremiah asked drowsily.

“Snow!” Gully squawked. “Jerry, you have to see this! I’ve only heard about it.”

Jeremiah glanced outside.

“Wow, Gulls. What is that?” Jeremiah asked.

“Snow!” Gully repeated.

Jeremiah’s energy was replenished with the pretty white powder.

“Could you please come to the set for this rehearsal? You are coughing much less.” Gully pleaded.

“Fine.” Jeremiah was secretly relieved as they flew over to the set.

The birds cheered and threw up their scripts. “Go Jeremiah! Yippee!” A group of cardinals and blue jays chirped.

“Thanks.” Jeremiah tipped the microphone towards him and went through his solo. He had indeed improved.

The bird clapped their wings, clearly impressed. Jeremiah smiled. Some other birds flocked onto the stage. 

“I think I will be better by the time of the musical!” Jeremiah told Gully.

“Uh, good.” Gully fiddled with his feathers. “Um, can I tell you something?”

“Sure,” Jeremiah said.

“Uh, the musical, Jerry, it got… well, moved,” Gully whispered.

“To when?” Jeremiah was suddenly alarmed.

“Well, to… tomorrow.” Gully looked away.

“WHAT!?” Jeremiah screeched. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No,” Gully whispered. “I’m sorry, Jeremiah.”

“How? Why?” Jeremiah shook Gully’s wings, his yellow eyes widened.

“Th-the day we requested was reserved for the human high school musical,” Gully said, fidgeting with his feathers.

“Why? They think humans are more important than birds? Huh?” Jeremiah demanded. 

“They kind of are. Humans invented the lightbulb. That’s what the theater manager said. Besides, humans don’t like birdseed,” Gully told Jeremiah.

“That’s not true. Dicey Hopskins invented the lightbulb. Did the theater manager even go to college?” Jeremiah inquired angrily.

“Uh, you know birds don’t go to college, either,” Gully whispered.

Jeremiah shook his head, feathers flying on Gully. “You’re lying. You’re joking. No, that’s not possible. I-I’m not ready!” Jeremiah screamed. Many birds looked at him.

“We are ready,” Gully assured him. “The costumes aren’t.”

“Why don’t we just buy costumes?” An exhausted red-breasted robin with pins in her beak asked.

“That’s human stuff. Humans buy everything. Besides, we won’t be allowed in department stores.” Gully responded, shaking his head.

The robin groaned. Jeremiah understood how she felt.

Gully took out a smoked-salmon sandwich and handed Jeremiah a packet of dried mice. “A thank-you present, for doing the musical even though you are sick. Those sunflower seed snack packets here are too small for your huge talent.” 

Gully took a bite of smoked-salmon. Jeremiah wolfed down a mouse. He coughed up a pellet and tossed it into the wastebasket. A blue jay nibbling on sunflower seeds looked insulted.

“It will all be for nothing. What if I forget my lines? What will I do?” Jeremiah moaned in distress, stuffing mice in his mouth.

“You can do it, Jerry!” Gully cried.

“I… am speaking to the manager,” Jeremiah announced.

“Okay,” Gully said distractedly, helping sort the costumes.

Jeremiah thought that Gully should have begged him to not go, to stay and to face his fears. A little part of Jeremiah thought that Gully was not spending enough attention on him. But he left reluctantly to speak with the manager because he said he would. He was afraid, though.

“Hey mister!” Jeremiah called up to the manager.

“Well, hello. What do we have here?” The manager chuckled.

“I have come to ask: why did you switch the performing time?” Jeremiah demanded. He tried to sound intimidating, but that is hard for any bird, even snowy owls. “Besides, humans didn’t invent the lightbulb. A MOUCE did!” Jeremiah yelled.

“Uh, sorry Owl, sir. High school musical is paying more than you bird guys. Besides, many people, even one bird, like the human version better,” The manager told Jeremiah. 

The owl felt embarrassed and stepped out of the manager’s office. 

“Well?” Gully greeted Jeremiah.

Jeremiah did not reply and therefore was even more embarrassed. He decided to talk to the cast of Human High School Musical.

“Hey,” Zac Efron greeted Jeremiah.

“Hey,” Jeremiah greeted back.

“So, um… why are you here?” Zac asked gently.

“I want to ask: why did you take our time spot in the theater?”

“Uh, we needed more time.” Zac looked away and waved his arms, squiggled his fingers at the rest of the cast. Jeremiah was filled with envy. Why couldn’t his feathers do that? Then he glanced at the rest of the cast. They looked ten times readier than the bird cast!

“It’s not fair.” Jeremiah told Zac Efron calmly.

“I-I’m sorry? Why is it not fair?” The confused actor asked.

“Because we are not ready but we have to perform tomorrow!” Jeremiah screamed, annoyed. Zac looked taken aback and perhaps a bit amused.

“I’m sorry, but we, er, have lots of tickets. We have so much pressure,” Zac told Jeremiah.

“How much pressure do you have, huh? How many tickets?” Jeremiah demanded, determined to prove the human wrong.

“Uh, so, we have, like, two thousand tickets,” Another actress said.

“TWO THOUSAND?!” Jeremiah squawked.

Zac smiled awkwardly and ushered Jeremiah out of the set room.

“They have two thousand tickets,” Jeremiah coolly informed Gully.

“What? Who has two thousand tickets?” Gully looked up from his clipboard.

“Human High School Musical.” Jeremiah stayed calm. Gully jumped out of his feathers and looked as if his fish had come down wrong.

“Two thousand!” Gully confirmed with Jeremiah loudly. “Two thousand tickets!”

“Yes,” Jeremiah said. He knew he could never sell that many tickets.

Gully shook his head in amazement and took out some mahi-mahi jerky. Jeremiah smiled, triumphant that he managed to surprise his friend, but perhaps a bit sullen that Gully had paid more attention to some tickets than him. He chewed on a dried mouse. Then he watched a duet sung by a pelican and an ostrich. A Kakapo banged his wings on a piano. A raven slammed her talons on a drum set. 

“The costumes are finished!” The red-breasted robin and a mourning dove cried happily. Many birds whooped as they changed into their costumes. Fluffy, red, off-the-wing gowns, baggy talon jeans, rhinestone belts, winglets and talon sneakers. Jeremiah looked around in a miniature baseball cap. 

Then they did the rehearsal and Jeremiah flew home, grabbing some mice on the way and brewing more tea. He was still coughing, but less. Slowly, he was recovering!

Jeremiah took a fly around the forest for exercise. He did this because he always felt refreshed when he got back; the cool, dewy leaves were calming. He spotted Sparsmethius, playing poker and drinking beer with his friends. Jeremiah peeked over with hate. He knew, he just knew, that Sparsmethius was the understudy! Jeremiah suddenly had the urge to go to the bathroom. But he wanted to continue to spy! So he decided to poop on Sparsemethius for revenge. Unfortunately, Sparsmaethius saw him. Jeremiah flew back to his hole. In the middle of the night, he snuck back to Sparsmethius’s nest. There was a deck of cards, a stove, some crumpled paper, and a long piece of paper. Jeremiah picked it up. It read:

Operation get rid of Jeremiah 

Turn the forest against him. Get the birds to hate him. Get the set to hate him. Get Gully to hate him.

Convince the manager to let the Human High School Musical take the spot the set wants. It worked!

Be Jeremiah’s understudy.

‘Besides, people, even one bird, like the human version more.’  

Jeremiah thought of what the manager said. Then he felt tired and flew back. He passed Gully’s house. There was a letter at the door. Jeremiah started to read it.

Dear Mr. Gully Sea,

I do not mean to concern you, but I have heard rumors of your friend Jeremiah wanting to sabotage the set. I understand that you have complete faith in your friend, but we all know how destructive snowy owls could be.

Sincerely, a friend. Leave a response by the hollowed tree trunk next to the lake.

Jeremiah glanced in the house. Gully was sleeping. Jeremiah ripped the letter in half and tossed the two pieces in the lake. He knew that Spersemethius had written it, because of the handwriting.

Dear A Friend,

I have complete trust in Jeremiah. Thank you for your concern.

Sincerely, Gully

Jeremiah left the note by the hollowed tree. He had a fleet of thoughts about what Gully would think, however Jeremiah felt it was correct.

There was another note in the tree, an hour later.

Dear Gully,

I am amazed and touched by your loyalty to Jeremiah. Could you please think it over, though? I think that the set is really important.

Sincerely, A Friend.

Dear A Friend, I am very happy that you care so much about the play. But Jeremiah is a truly special owl and this concern is not very realistic. I hope you renew your trust for him.

-Gully Sea

After he wrote the note, Jeremiah set down the letter by the hollowed tree. It let off a perplexing bad smell. The owl flew back to his hole.

The receiver rang.

“Jeremiah. Come to my house. Now.” It was Gully. His voice sounded tense with anger.

Jeremiah flew over, afraid of what might happen.

“What is this, Jeremiah!?” Gully roared, holding up the letters.

Jeremiah gulped. “Uh, I can explain . . .” he started.

“No! No, who is A Friend? Are you really going to destroy the set? What?” Gully yelped angrily.

“It’s Sparsmethius.” Jeremiah told his friend solemnly.

“That doesn’t matter. Why did you respond for me?” Gully yelled.

“I was trying to protect myself!” Now Jeremiah was also yelling.

“Why couldn’t you trust me to say that I trusted you?!” Gully demanded. “I was just trying to get my fermented fish that I keep in the hollowed tree trunk and I see… this!” 

“I-I was afraid.” Jeremiah whispered.

“Okay. Well, the performance is tomorrow. You better catch some more sleep,” Gully said. He still looked angry but he wanted to be more responsible as a director. Jeremiah opened his mouth to argue but a yawn came out instead. He sighed and flew back to his hole.

The next day, the set was a flurry of feathers and noise. The robin and penguin buttoned and hooked as all the other birds wriggled into their costumes. 

“Presenting High School Musical, Bird Edition!” Gully cried. The curtain went up and a few pigeons started belting out lyrics. The Kakapo joined in. An hour of singing and high school, and it was time for Jeremiah’s solo.

He looked at the audience but none of his voice came out. He had forgotten his lines in the stress. He was supposed to sing about how owls were good at singing, but he felt the opposite.

‘Owls are great at articulation and stuff like that,’ The penguin mouthed.

“Uh, towels have crates of pickled relations with tufts of rat,” Jeremiah sang meekly. A laugh came up from the hundreds of beaks in the audience. Jeremiah shifted uncomfortably. The penguin mouthed more lines, glancing at Jeremiah’s script.

‘The lyrics just go with their beaks,’ The penguin mouthed.

“The licks just know the beats.” Jeremiah choked out. More laughter.

“Adhesive world we know and eat, but I can tote bag the hue cycle. When my ear the rustic, I fold to trance. Towels we far, and towels we ring, Towels are the tars of the hue cycle! I chart the heat in the grill, I give a like phone, I ring, ring, ring! Towels in my gold just dove drew ring!” Jeremiah whispered, glancing at the penguin for lines. Tears filled his eyes. Gully glared at Jeremiah. The audience roared… with laughter.

Then the play ended. Many people wanted Jeremiah’s autograph, including a famous TikDucker. But Gully pulled him away.

“How could you mess up my play?” Gully asked.

“It isn’t just your play. It’s my play, too,” Jeremiah said, almost tearfully.

“No! How could you ruin your lines? It’s like you did it on purpose! That’s what your ‘paparazzi’ thought,” Gully poured out. He put bitter emphasis on the word paparazzi, almost as if he was jealous.

“It’s not my fault! If you are really my friend, you would forgive me,” Jeremiah defended himself.

“If you were really my friend, you wouldn’t have disgraced me!” Gully cried.

“You’re disgracing yourself right here,” Jeremiah pointed out rudely.

“I get most of the pressure because I’m the director! The paparazzi will come at you.The bad reviews will come at me!” Gully explained impatiently. Soon the birds were arguing.

“Gully, my paparazzi – and everybody else – liked my accidental twist!” Jeremiah was getting very angry. So was Gully.

“Not everybody!” Gully told Jeremiah.

“Well, most people. Because they thought I did it on purpose.”

“You sounded pretty bad,” Gully told Jeremiah angrily.

“Very touching comment from a friend. Or are you still?” Jeremiah asked.

Gully stormed away. Well, that sure answered the question.

Suddenly all Jeremiah wanted to do was curl in his hole, sipping tea and listening to classical music on the radio. Gully was putting away the microphones and costumes. Jeremiah signed the last autograph and flew home.

He brewed tea and cried. Then he flew in the forest and sang out the correct lines. He had known them all along, but had felt stage fright. He sobbed. 

Gully heard him and felt bad. Jeremiah fell asleep in his bed. 

The next day he went in front of Gully’s house, thrust open the door, and sang his solo. Gully grabbed his wing and whispered an apology. Jeremiah looked into the seagull’s earnest brown eyes and fled. An apology! Gully said sorry!

Jeremiah flapped his wings and soared around. Sparsmethius stopped him. Jeremiah expected him to say something bad, but instead he simply said: “You did a good job.”

Jeremiah was shocked.

The sparrow solemnly searched in Jeremiah’s face. Then he flew away.

Jeremiah sipped tea. Then he hunted a bit and practiced his solo for no reason. He felt… good. He thought about everyone. Sparsmethius, Gully, the cast, his mom, his girlfriend. He was proud of himself. He had visited his mom who was at the play and loved it. He had called Juniper, his girlfriend, and she laughed so hard about the messed-up lines that Jeremiah could hear her feathers flying across the room.

I am Jeremiah. An owl. And I am talented, Jeremiah reminded himself, and launched himself into the sky.

The end.

Epilogue

“Three cheers for Jeremiah! Woohoo!” The birds chorused. Penelope the penguin winked at him. Gully smiled.

They were at the cast party.

“Hey Jeremiah. I really liked the play after all. I think you made it better,” A few birds congratulated Jeremiah as he ate fish in a blanket. 

“Wow. Did you know the fourth most viewed and liked TikDucker has your autograph, Jeremiah?” A swan asked. Jeremiah grinned.

“Let’s have a toast to Jeremiah!” Gully exclaimed. Various birds raised their glasses of berry and nut smoothies.

Jeremiah thought back to the play. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. He wished he could do it all over again. 

Perhaps he would get his wish.

Family, Books, Life

There’s only 3 things in life that actually matter: family, books, and life. In short, I have just managed to keep all of them. Oh. You don’t know. Okay, let’s start from the beginning.

It had been a long day. I, Luna, had gone to school, gotten made fun of with my best friend, Maya, had a swim meet, and belly flopped off the diving board. So naturally, I went home, took a looooong hot shower, read some books (I love reading), and drank some hot cocoa. As I snuggled up tightly in my pajamas, I saw something racing past outside the window. I figured it was probably nothing. I had no idea how wrong I was. That night, I had a really weird dream. Someone was mumbling-no, saying-something. 

I think they were saying, “Go to the pond of scum. Go to the pond of scum. Go to the pond of scum. Go to the pond of scum. Go to the pond of scum.” By that time, I was already awake. My body was aching for some reason, and even though I slept a long time, I was impossibly tired. Even though I was awake, I could still hear the repeating voice in my head. After school, I went to Maya and told her about the dream. With a hint of laughter, she said,

  “Maybe, they are referring to an actual pond? Or a lake!” With a jolt, I realized that the “pond of scum” is the Pond Scum Lake nearby! I quickly texted my mom and dad, then jumped on my bike and rode toward the lake, wondering what awaited me at the “pond of scum.” I should’ve known it was not good. When I got there, I immediately looked around, trying to find someone to tell me what to do. 

I suddenly heard, “she’s here,” in a raspy voice. I did not manage to find the attacker but then, I got kidnapped. When I woke up, I found myself in front of a large red throne with a masked, hooded figure. 

“Ah, good. You’re awake. I want to talk to you at dinner. 9:00 tonight,” they said, laughing, in the same raspy voice I heard at the lake. 

Before I could interrupt, they called, “Soldiers,” suddenly serious. Some guards appeared and took me by the arms. Soon, I found myself in a cell. It was completely closed off except for a food slot. I sat on the bed, quietly wondering what he wanted to talk to me about. 

At exactly 8:47 (I have a clock in my cell), the guards slowly opened the door just a crack, and said, “Dinner time!”

They then put a sack on my head, and dragged me out. When they finally stopped, I tried to take the sack off my head. Didn’t work. They plopped me on the gold seat, and took the sack off my head. I was amazed at the beautiful, lavish spread of food that I saw. As I looked around me, I saw a beautiful gold table with the man from before. This time, they were wearing a red cloak, a red and green mask, and pitch black shoes. I considered escaping, but there were guards on either side of me. I smelled food. I was starving! 

While I was shoveling food down my mouth, they said, “I need your help. The people are in danger!” They slowly took off his red and green mask. 

“Maya,” I exclaimed, with my mouth full, scared. “What on earth are you doing here?”

Kitty’s Big Adventure

Kitty was a happy cat that lived in her royal palace called the kitty palace. The night was coming soon and Kitty wanted to get in bed. She turned off the light and settled cozily in her bed. She heard wild winds outside of her window. Then she heard thunder and balled up under her blanket. 

Kitty was young and was afraid of thunder, so she yelled, “Mom, Dad can you come in here?!” Kitty’s parents came in and they sat in Kitty’s bed until she fell asleep. When Kitty woke up, she was no longer in the palace. She was in a jungle! There were lush green plants and the air was very humid.  “This is very different from the palace!” said Kitty. She saw her cousin, a leopard named Swiper. He got his name because he took a lot of the animal’s belongings. His best friend is a parrot named Feathers. Feathers has magic powers because he was born from a magic waterfall. 

Swiper said, “The palace was moved last night by all of the harsh winds and the thunder. The palace can now be found in the peaceful meadow which is across the river.” 

Kitty said, “Swiper, you should come because you know the way!” Swiper was happy to help out his cousin, so they started towards the peaceful meadow. 

Swiper led the way out of the jungle and the peaceful meadow was in sight! However, there were many miles to cover before they reached the kitty palace. Kitty thought that it would be an easy adventure, but she soon realized that she was wrong. They reached the desert that they would have to cross to get to the kitty palace. Kitty knew that if she wanted to cross the desert, it would take up to five days at least! 

They started the journey. Kitty and Swiper thought that it was getting dark after a little while, so they decided to camp in a clump of sand. When they woke up, they continued on their journey to cross the desert. After four days, they could see the canyon! They kept going and finally, they were out of the desert! Kitty and Swiper were hot and tired, so they took a little nap. When they woke up, they started to go through the canyon.   

“There are a lot of rock avalanches in the canyon, so we have to be very quiet,” said Swiper. Kitty wanted to see if the canyon had an echo, so she quietly said, “Hello!” 

Swiper told her, “Kitty, please be more quiet.” However, Kitty needed to sneeze. She tried to hold it in but she couldn’t! The canyon trembled. Swiper and Kitty started to realize that they were about to experience a rock avalanche! 

“Get on my back!” shouted Swiper. “The end of the canyon isn’t far, so I think that maybe I’ll be able to get through before the avalanche does.”

Kitty hopped on Swiper’s back and they charged through the canyon. They beat the avalanche by a fraction of a second and were both breathing hard. Kitty and Swiper now needed to cross the mountain. They had two options for crossing it: they could go through it in the cave that they could easily get lost in, or they could climb the mountain that they could easily fall off of. Kitty finally said, “We’re going to climb the mountain.” They walked up the icy path for many days. Now Kitty and Swiper were very high up on the mountain. On an icy ledge, Kitty slipped! However, Swiper caught her just in time and put her back on the mountain. One day later, they were off the mountain!  

Swiper said, “We are now crossing into the cave. There are many critters in the cave, but the journey is only about five hours.”  

Kitty and Swiper were hoping to be in and out. There was a map on the wall that listed all the creatures. The list said:  “Here are the creatures that you might encounter: bats, cave crickets, cave newts and spiders. Be safe crossing through these parts” 

“We should go in,” said Kitty. So, they entered the cave. “It is very dark in here,” said Kitty. Fortunately, they didn’t encounter any cave creatures, and they made it out alright. 

“Okay there’s only one thing left to do,” said Swiper. 

“What’s that?”asked Kitty. 

“Cross the rope bridge,” replied Swiper. Kitty was very nervous for this event, because the rope bridge was over water and if there’s one thing cats hate, it’s water. They arrived at the rope bridge and it looked very unstable. 

“Get on my back,” said Swiper. “I can carry you across the bridge!” Kitty got on and Swiper slowly put a paw on the bridge. The wooden board gave way and snapped off the bridge, falling hard into the rushing water. “I know you are afraid of water, but you are the only one who can cross that bridge!,” Swiper shouted over the loud noise of the water. 

“What will happen to you?” asked Kitty. 

“You can come back later and get me, then we can fix the bridge and make it stable. You can do it, Kitty, just don’t look down!” shouted Swiper. 

Kitty slowly started to walk onto the first board. She started walking board after board.  Kitty’s heart started thumping, her body started trembling. Soon, she was at the halfway point! 

“You’re doing great, just keep going and don’t look down,” said Swiper. But Kitty made a big mistake and looked down! She saw the water, the rocks and the waterfall at the end of the river. Kitty collapsed onto the board. “No! Kitty the board will snap! Get back up!!” Swiper yelled. But, Kitty was too late. The board snapped, leaving Kitty hanging by one paw on the rope of the bridge. “Kitty!” Swiper yelled nervously. Swiper called for his jungle friend, Feathers, to teleport over and save Kitty. Feathers had super strength and teleporting powers. Feathers grabbed Kitty just before the board snapped and put her on the side of the bridge leading to the peaceful meadow. Kitty ran to the kitty palace and hugged her parents. She felt so happy that she finally got to the kitty palace. 

“Mom, Dad, I have some things to do before we have dinner,” said Kitty. She grabbed materials and ran to the bridge. She spent many hours there and finally, the bridge was made. It was a beautiful red bridge that had golden railings on the side. There was a sign at the end of the bridge saying: “Welcome to the peaceful meadow! Home of the kitty palace.” Swiper and Feathers were finally allowed across and they decided to stay there for a few days. Kitty’s parents invited Swiper and Feathers over for dinner as a thank you gift. They ate salmon for dinner, and for dessert they had Kitty and Swiper’s personal favorite: chocolate cats! Swiper was about to leave the next day. 

“Come back soon! You know where we are,” said Kitty. 

“I will. There is a train station not far from my place that takes me right to the bridge, but you can come over to my house too,” said Swiper. 

“Okay,” said Kitty. “The only problem is that it’s such a long walk to the jungle.” 

“You can just call Feathers,” said Swiper. “He lives close by.” 

“Okay, I promise that I’ll visit sometime soon,” said Kitty. 

“Here is the code to my house if I ever don’t answer the door or I’m not there,” said Swiper. “It’s 7199.” 

“My code is 3097,” said Kitty. “I’ll see you in a few weeks!” 

“Your birthday is in a few days. I’ll visit then,” said Swiper. 

Feathers went back to his home and so did Kitty and Swiper. A few days later, Swiper and Feathers came over for Kitty’s birthday celebration. They had lots of fun and they played lots of games. Swiper and Feathers left the next day. 

“Bye!” said Kitty. Then, it was back to the palace for Kitty.

THE END!

A New Generation Of Skulls

Jack Birkenhead Jr. was on his dad’s pirate ship. He heard drunken yelling blasted into his ears. His dad came and shut them all up. His dad went down to him. 

“Are you okay?” Captain Jack Birkenhead asked.

“I don’t know if I can be a captain like you. I don’t know if I can command people like you can. I don’t know what I can do,” he said.

“You know that I will stop being their captain in a few days, son.”

“I know… I just don’t know what will happen. Maybe they will hate me.”

“Are you scared?”

“No, I’m not scared, just—” As he was talking, an enemy ship came up to them.

“Fire the cannons!” the captain said.

“Yes sir!” they replied.

Jack stood there, mesmerized at how his dad commanded respect.

“C’mon,” said a fellow pirate.

Jack ran up to the firing area. He grabbed a cannonball and slowly walked over to the cannons. The cannonball was so heavy he didn’t know if he could hold it. He felt it slowly loosening from his grip. He put the cannonball in the cannon and it blasted him back. He felt like every step was him being tied down on an anchor. He had a headache and stumbled back. He felt like thousands of thoughts were racing through his head all asking him for attention. He felt like his throat was closing up. He barely stumbled back to the safe area. 

“Where is my son?” the captain announced. 

“Back at the rooms below deck!” the pirates replied. Jack thought that if he was a captain, he could never have this power.

“NO!” he heard the pirates screaming. He ran above deck (he wanted to think it was dramatic running, but it was really just a slow limp). When he finally got above deck, he saw his dad, the thing he loved most in the world, captured by the enemies.

“Give us the ship and destroy it or we will keep your captain hostage.”

“No, don’t do it-” yelled the captain, but he was cut off when they knocked him unconscious.

“If he dies at their hands then we will fulfill his last wish. Never surrender!” the pirates screamed. The enemy ship sailed away. 

“You are the captain now,” the pirates said to Jack. “I will get him back no matter what.” Jack said. “Let’s do this!”

Jack felt guilty his dad was captured because of him and he was going to get revenge.

“Can we track my dad?” Jack asked his fellow pirates in their meeting room. 

“Yes and no,” answered their chief tracker. “We can track the ship but we can’t track your dad. We just have to hope that they keep him on the ship.”

“Where are they?” Jack asked.

“They are probably in the crystal cavern.”

“Where is that?”

“That’s where they sacrifice.”

“Bring us there NOW!”
They journeyed to the crystal cavern, but while they were adventuring they encountered the pirates again.

“Blood!” the enemy pirates screamed.

“Give me a sword,” Jack said to his fellow pirates. One of them handed him a sword. (Jack was excellent in the art of sword fighting.) Jack then jumped onto the ship.

“Where is my father?” Jack asked the pirates.

“Why would we tell you? You only have a sword. We have 24 people and we can just capture you?” the pirates responded.

“You have left me no choice,” Jack said. He jumped forward and started to attack the pirates one by one. Jack sliced and diced. He didn’t kill anyone, he just cut their weapons in half and knocked them unconscious. When he had defeated everyone except for the captain of this ship, he put his sword blade to the enemy captain’s throat and asked, “Where is my father?” 

“Below dec—” The pirate was cut off when he saw Jack’s pirates on deck.

“WHERE?” Jack yelled.

“Below deck.”

“Thank you,” Jack said as he threw him off board. Jack and his crew went below deck to find one room locked. He sliced the door in half with his sword. He smelled the fragrance of lavender showing that the most important people on the ship lived in this cabin. He saw a painting of a man and a woman together. On the side of the room, he saw two well made beds and two pillows with a lace trim on the side. The roof of the room was a brownish-green and some parts of the roof were broken. The floor was a sage color. At the front of the room was a mantle piece flooded with different trophies and spoils of war. At the very top of the mantle, he found a golden crown which had a different gem on each spike. 

Jack snapped back into reality. He looked in front of him and saw his dad tied up and heavily gagged. Two men with shotguns were standing near him. Jack instinctively threw his sword at the first man. The man reacted, but not fast enough. The sword pierced him and he fell to the ground. The second man, in an instant, aimed his gun at Jack. Jack started to run but before he could do anything, he got shot and fell to the ground. The second man tried to reload, but Jack’s crew brought him away and back to their ship.

Jack’s eyes fluttered open and saw that he was back in his bed in his room on the ship. He couldn’t believe that he was a captain now. 

“Tsk, tsk,” said the doctor. Jack looked up to see their doctor cutting open his leg. He tried to stay calm.

What would my dad do? Jack thought. He would keep calm because he was a captain and ask what was happening.

“What is going on here?” Jack asked.

“Do you not remember? You went on their ship and defeated all their pirates, but when you went to the room, your dad was in it and you froze and got shot.” 

“We need to go back and save him!” Jack screamed. “Because it is my fault that he got captured,” he said quietly.

“You cannot do anything now,” the doctor said. 

“I need to do something—”

“YOU GOT SHOT! You cannot do anything now unless you want to get killed. You need to heal,” the doctor commanded.

Jack waited there and fell asleep. He slept for 16 hours. When he woke up he still had a wound, but they had finished the surgery and he could move. Jack left the operating table and went to the battle meeting room. 

“Where are they now?” Jack asked as he limped into the room. 

“They are in the delta stream and moving to the cavern,” Brokeon, their tracker, said before he saw Jack coming into the room. “You can’t fight them,” Brokeon said to Jack. “You will just get killed. We have lost one captain today and we won’t lose another.”

“How are they already at the delta stream?” Jack asked.

“You have been out for 16 hours,” Brokeon replied.

I can’t be the captain, but I will have to keep this crew alive until I can get the real captain back. I am a temporary replacement for the real thing. I cannot lead them, Jack thought.

“We need to go to the cavern. Take the beta stream, then switch to the Iota, and after 31 km go to the alpha stream.”

“It seems we have a captain after all,” Brokeon said.

After 8 hours, both of the ships were at the mouth of the cave. They started to fire at each other. Jack and Brokeon jumped off and landed into a pool of water. They quickly ran from the water to the entrance of the cavern. Jack looked into the cavern to see his dad tied up at the back of it. He ran forward even though his leg was injured. The cavern looked unreal. On the floor there were brilliant shining blue crystals. There were potholes and in the middle there was a stream with steaming blue water.

“Leave him alone!” Jack screamed at the top of his lungs. Brokeon tried to calm him down, but he couldn’t do anything. He was carrying a long and bent wooden pole from the ship.

“Use it to hop over the boiling water with it and free your dad!” Brokeon said while giving Jack a sword. Jack used it and jumped over. As he flung himself over he heard a crack and snap. Brokeon then used it. 

“So they can’t get back,” he said. Brokeon knew it would crack. He started to jump over, but he thought he would jump over and be safe. As he was jumping over, it snapped. As he was falling instead of saving himself he took out the last piece of it and handed it to Jack. Brokeon fell into the steaming water. Jack fell to his knees, screaming. He then started to run over to the two men and his dad. To any normal person with an injured leg, after being splashed by boiling water and running on crystal they would fall over and die, but not Jack. Jack was fueled by anger and sadness. He was faster than he had ever been, even with a shot leg, and he crossed the 100 meter gap in a matter of a few seconds. Jack was only armed with a sword and piece of wood, but he was going to save his father. The two men next to his father were the same two men that had shotguns before. Behind the two men was a massive chasm and a drop so deep that no one could see the bottom.

“I see you are the person that stabbed me with a sword,” the first man said to Jack. He had a massive patch on his chest that was bandaged up and blood was seeping through. Both of the men were in fancy clothes. 

“I see you are the person who shot me,” Jack said to the second man. As the man was looking at Jack’s leg, Jack swung the piece of wood and got the gun stuck in it. Jack immediately pulled it back and grabbed the gun. He then smacked the first man in the wound with the piece of wood and backed away. The first man fell into the chasm and now Jack had a shotgun and sword. 

“Your shotgun isn’t even loaded,” the second man cackled. “I knew he was going to die.”

Jack looked at the gun and realized it wasn’t just a shotgun, it was a bayonet. With the bayonet, he cut his dad free while keeping his sword pointed at the second man.

“Why haven’t you just shot me?” Jack asked the second man. 

“Because you remind me of my son.” The second man snapped back into reality and aimed his gun at Jack. By this time the captain was free and had the bayonet in his hand. Jack lunged at the man and pushed his gun downwards with Jack’s sword. The captain stabbed the man’s arm with his bayonet. The man screamed and shot the captain, who fell to the ground. Jack rushed to his side. Jack felt that his dad was alive and before he could get up he felt a cold metal circle placed on the side of his head. The gun.

“It’s over, little boy,” the man said. He was about to shoot when Jack stabbed him in the chest. The man fell backwards but he was still alive. Now, Jack had lost his immediate adrenaline and his leg wound was starting to hurt again. With every step forward, he felt a jolting pain in his leg that stretched up to his chest. The man was also in pain, but was able to shoot Jack’s hand. Jack dropped the sword in the chasm and fell down to his dad.

“Now it’s over,” the man said. Before he could shoot Jack, Jack took the bayonet from his dad and stabbed the man who fell into the chasm. Jack carried his dad and they limped back to the river. Jack saw a bridge made by his fellow pirates over the boiling river. All of them were singing in celebration that their captain was saved and mourning that Brokeon had died.They walked across the bridge and the captain muttered something. Both of them dropped a gold coin in the water to commemorate Brokeon, and got back on the boat. As they were on the bow of the ship the captain said, “Remember you were going to take my place? Well now you did, captain.” Jack Senior and his son, the new captain, both smiled.

From Earth to Mars

On the planet Arth everyone speaks Onglish. This story has been translated to English from Onglish…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAA,” screamed Ethan. It was another one of those coffee floods that happened about once in about six months. I had only lived for six months, but I was getting tired of it. I asked a coffee company, Coffee Mate, if  their coffee contains any harmful ingredients. The bitterness that came from the coffee was really bad. 

I asked my friends, Ethan and Evan if they wanted to come along too and we all agreed. We had to prepare many things such as taking the lizard’s cage out of its place, building a spaceship, having 9,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of oil and having to find a person with an IQ of 194 or higher. We decided to work together on one thing at a time. But after trying to take the lizard’s cage off, we basically gave up on that step until we did all of it.

We found a really good fuel source with 1,000,000,000,000,000 gallons for just a dollar. So we carried out 9,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of fuel with the help of Eddie Hall and Brian Shaw who are the strongest men in the world to help us. So we only spent $9. We bought it in Delaware so there aren’t taxes. We went around the world to find someone with about 300,000 IQ. After about 10 years we found one person with that. Most people would say their IQ is very high but when they got tested the IQ was usually 2 and rarely 3. When we found the right person, we asked him if I knew the basics and principles of building a spaceship. He said that the only metal that could hold together in this cold space is titanium. But in the world, titanium was expensive. So we went to the nearest bank and pleaded for money. After 7 hours of that, we got our first $1000 dollars. We asked Ictor, a smart guy who lived nearby, what to do, and we came up with a very simple solution: steal money from a bank. We got paint guns and wore all black and covered everything but our eyes. This way we don’t need to go to court.

We had brown eyes and I was sure there were at least 7.9 billion other people with brown eyes. I got him some weapons such as axes and swords for protection and getting into the vault. “Where is the big vault with tI $1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (one billion trillion thousand.)?” “Oh, we just need to break everything in the bank down until we find it! Easy!” When we broke everything down we finally found the vault. We tried opening with their weapons but that didn’t work. “Our weapons are too not sharpened!” I told Ethan and Evan. “Good thing I brought my sharpener!” said Evan.

After we sharpened all of our weapons we tried again. The metal easily got ripped by the sword blade. And after almost no effort, the metal was completely open. And then, before his eyes, there was so much money. He loved it.  He got some bags and filled it with money. When they were done, they carried it to the car which was a huge pain. So they found a trolley borrowing center and they took that. They didn’t spend any money on it because the manager let them just take it because they had so much money. So when they brought it to the titanium store, they used all of it. They had the exact money. So they brought the titanium to the smart person and he started building right away. When he was at the last piece the whole thing broke down. 

“NOOOOOO,”  we were doomed.

Suddenly the water fountain beside them exploded and the whole town exploded with water again. Thankfully titanium is coffee resistant, but not thankfully, they had to build the whole ship again. The spaceship took so long to build but now, all of that work for nothing. Later, he realized that only one of the pieces of titanium was too sharp and that is how the thing collapsed. 

“Ten months of working and no progress made,” said Ethan. 

After they figured out the problem and finished the spaceship, they started to put the oil in the spaceship.

“Dum dee doo de da,” sang Ethan. When they finally put all of the oil in the spaceship, they started trying to pull the lizard’s cage off the ground. They called Eddie Hall and Brian Shaw to come over and help. They had to use all their strength to just lift the cage off the ground. After they did so, they went on the spaceship and took off.

9 MONTHS LATER: ON MARS

Evan and Ethan and Ethan were at the beach on Mars and were really relaxed. The calm sea and the red martian soil/sand was really soothing and he never wanted to leave the beach named Red Beach. They were looking at the sea and trying to burn their skin but it was very impossible on the beach because on Mars it was really cold. He was a lot taller than before. After all, he was 6 months old and now he is 25. Also, he got glasses. While he was building the spaceship, something went wrong and now without his glasses, he needs to go very close to see something clearly. They all thought ‘I wonder how it is on Earth. Should we have stayed on Earth, or should we have left?’ The sun was slowly going down and down, and they all slowly packed up and went home and never lived on Earth again.

THE END

The Weeping Willow

Trees are our lungs. That’s what Willow would tell me as we’d lie under the big oak tree out front. Hand in hand, we’d watch the clouds pass and the leaves blow. Occasionally one of us would point to a cloud, calling out what it looked like. The other would squint her eyes and try to see it. I could never see what Willow saw in the clouds. Hi, my name is Grace. Although I was never that graceful; that was Willow’s job. If we were animals she’d be a gazelle, prancing around majestically. Anyways, I’m 11 years old, and I think that if I were an animal I’d be a turtle. “You just need to come out of your shell!” She would say enthusiastically. 

“It’s not that easy. You don’t even have a shell to come out of!” I’d respond. 

Then she’d do a backflip or a front handspring or something, as if to say “Obviously”. She and I had this discussion many times.

This started on a spring day in late May. I woke up early, got dressed, and left for school. I didn’t bother having breakfast. I decided I’d buy a granola bar at the newsstand on the way to school. Of course, I forgot that they closed down the stand that weekend. After a breakfast of disgusting lime flavored yogurt from the cafeteria, I put my bag in my locker and made my way to homeroom. My teacher was droning on and on, and I was so tired I fell asleep right there on my desk. She had to wake me up, and by the time I realized what had happened the whole class was laughing at me. I hate being the center of attention. To make matters worse, Alyssa, my arch-enemy, started telling everyone. 

After English, Math, and Spanish, I made my way to gym class. I was crossing my fingers that we’d play dodgeball, because there’d be so much chaos I could waltz over to the girls bathroom when Ms. Jones wasn’t looking and spend the period reading instead. Instead, we played soccer, and she made me the goalie! Lunch, which followed P.E., wasn’t much of an improvement. I spilled a sloppy joe all over the front of my shirt, and by the time I had walked through the door of my bedroom I was exhausted, not to mention I had stains on my shirt and my hair was a mess. I changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt, then collapsed onto my bed.

I stayed in bed until my mom called me for dinner. I trudged over to the table and sat down. I started eating my pasta and my parents exchanged a glance. “Um–is there something wrong?” I asked, hesitantly. 

My mother sighed. “Sweetie, we know that you’ve been having a hard time at school this year.” 

Of course I have! I thought, but instead I just nodded. 

My dad cleared his throat and continued. “We think it would be a good idea to give you a fresh start.” I didn’t say anything, but I started fantasizing about what it would be like to go to school away from my tormentors, Alyssa and her group of followers.

I took a deep breath and said, “I’ll think about it, but I think it would be nice to go to a different school next year.” 

My parents exchanged another glance, and my dad spoke up. “Gracie, it wouldn’t be for the next school year, it would be for the summer. And, it’s not a choice. You’ll leave the Sunday after school ends.”

I looked up from my food. “Wait, what?? I’m spending the summer away?? Who am I even going with??” 

My mother said “that’s the other thing we want to talk to you about. You’ll spend the summer with my sister, Esme.” I scrunched up my face, trying to remember her from the family gatherings. My mom, reading my expression, said “Oh come on, you know Aunt Esme! She was at Thanksgiving last year!” Finally I nodded, vaguely remembering a  middle aged woman who sat across from me, who asked me to pass the cranberry sauce, and scolded Willow when she spit out her sparkling apple juice laughing. This was not who I wanted to spend the summer with. 

“Well-well- I won’t go! You can’t make me!” 

My dad stood up. “Oh yes you will.” He said, in his most stern voice. “You will have a great time, and you will learn new things.” Without a word, I stormed out of the room.

I ran into my room and flopped onto my bed with a satisfying flop. If Willow was here, she’d sit on the foot of my bed, give me a big hug, and tell me everything was okay. I got up and put my ear to the door. I could hear my parents muffled voices, but I could tell that no one was coming. Trying to be as silent as possible, I walked over to my bookshelf. I pulled over a chair and felt around on the top shelf until I found it. I got down, moved the chair back, and sat down on my bed. Then I started drawing. I had never been the creative one, that was Willow. She’d put on plays, write stories, and sew clothing, while I’d be the stage manager, check her grammar, or let her dress me up like a mannequin. I had always been the one who never spoke, who sat quietly in a corner reading. But when I drew, those pieces of imagination that I thought I had lacked came flowing out. Worlds of color and beauty right there on the page.

                 I could never tell anyone this, though. Like I said, this was Willow’s sort of thing. They’d probably all laugh at me, I thought. I kept sketching in that old composition book until I heard a knock on the door. Quickly, I stuffed the notebook in my pillowcase, right as my dad walked through the door to my bedroom. 

“Hey, kiddo.” He said, ruffling my hair. Immediately I got up and combed it back into place. My dad continued, “I just want to let you know that your mom and I are doing this for your own good.” I rolled my eyes at that. My dad took a deep breath. “Your mom and I have an idea. You can  spend 3 weeks there, and then we’ll come up and if you still want to leave you can, but if you want to stay, that’s also fine. No judgment.” 

“Ok, sure. Well goodnight.” I said, without making eye contact. 

He smiled. “Goodnight, Gracie.”  He said. After that I drifted off to sleep.

The next two weeks of school were a rush of standardized tests, assemblies, field days, and popsicles. Finally, the Sunday after the last day of school came. I sat on our porch, taking in the smell of the freshly mowed grass, the sound of honeybees pollinating, the feeling of the sun on my face. Summer I thought. At precisely 9:33 a.m, a black car pulled into the driveway. 

 A middle aged woman wearing jeans, a black blouse, and fancy ankle boots stepped out, with her hair neatly pulled into a bun perched on the top of her head. 

My own mom was wearing a striped shirt and shorts that went to her knees, complete with dirty sneakers from working in the garden. She wore a sun hat and her hair sat on her shoulders. At first I couldn’t see any resemblance. 

My mom had dark brown hair like me, while Aunt Esme had dirty blonde hair. My mom had tan skin, freckles, and callused hands, while Aunt Esme had pale, perfect skin and perfectly manicured nails. But after they had a tight hug, I could see their identical smiles. 

Finally, Aunt Esme walked over to me and smiled. “Hi, Aunt Esme.” I said hesitantly. 

She laughed, but it sounded forced. “Hi, Grace. Do you need any help with your luggage?” 

I looked at my duffel bag and backpack loaded with clothes and books. “No, that’s ok.” I said. 

After a moment of silence, my mom swooped in and said “Esme, why don’t you come in for a cup of coffee?” I followed my mom and Aunt Esme into the house and sat with them, sipping lemonade as they had their coffee. 

About 15 minutes later, Aunt Esme stood up, brushed herself off and turned to my mom. “It’s been lovely, Rachel, but we should go if we want to get back to my house before noon.” My mom stood up too and walked us outside. I hauled my duffel bag into the trunk of Aunt Esme’s car and tossed my backpack in the back seat. After a series of tight hugs from my mom and dad and reassurance from Aunt Esme, we got in the car and pulled out of the driveway.

The whole drive Aunt Esme and I didn’t talk much, except for “I’m stopping for gas, do you want anything from the convenience store?” 

To which I replied “No, thanks.” Finally, at 12:47 pm (we had in fact been caught in traffic), we turned right and drove up to a two story house that overlooked a lake. I thought about Aunt Esme, all shiny and fancy, living in an old house in the middle of nowhere. I would have thought that she lived in a luxury apartment! 

As if reading my mind, Aunt Esme just shrugged and said “It’s my summer home. Would you like to come see your room?” The guest bedroom, which was where I would be staying, had a big canopy bed with soft pillows and a pale blue bedspread. The walls had white wallpaper with little blue flowers, and there was a white vanity, a white dresser, a white desk, and hardwood floors covered by a pale blue carpet that matched the bedspread. What really got my attention though, was a window seat overlooking the lake. 

“It’s perfect.” I marveled. 

Aunt Esme looked at me and smiled, and was about to open her mouth to say something, but she snapped back into reality.  “Grace, would you like some lunch? I need to go shopping, we can do that this afternoon, but I have sandwich things.” I put a hand on my growling stomach and followed her downstairs. Over a lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches, Aunt Esme told her that they would go to town today to pick up some groceries, and for an “orientation” as she put it. After lunch I got a tour of the house, and then we went back in the car and went to town. 

Millstone (I learned that was the name of the town) was so bright and vibrant. It had cute little shops, and everyone knew each other.  I was once again surprised about where Aunt Esme lived.  After shopping we got dinner and ice cream. We arrived back at the house around 9:00 p.m. 

Aunt Esme worked on an article she was writing while I watched TV and ate candy I had bought from a store in the center of town. 

A little while later I climbed up the stairs. I had unpacked earlier, and I got my sketchbook out of the drawer in the wardrobe that I had hidden it in. I sat down on the window seat and started drawing. I drew the lake, I drew the birds, I drew the trees, and I drew the moon. As soon as I picked up a pencil a calm washed over me. 

The next morning I woke up in the window seat with my sketchbook in my lap and my pencil behind my ear. I was still in my clothes from the day before. walked over to the wardrobe, got dressed, and put my notebook back in its hiding place. I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, where I found Aunt Esme sitting at the kitchen table typing away on her computer. When she saw me she looked up, closed her computer, walked over to the stove, and put a plate of eggs, bacon, sausages, mini muffins, and even a doughnut in front of me. My eyes widened. I looked up at Aunt Esme who blushed and said “I wasn’t sure what you liked.”

After devouring breakfast, Aunt Esme told me that her friend who lived nearby was going to come over around 11:00 for brunch. “I want you to be on your best behavior.” she warned. Ah yes, the Thanksgiving “Get Some Towels To Clean Up The Mess You Made Young Lady” Aunt Esme was back. I went up to my room to make my bed. After that was done, I walked outside with my new book to look for good reading spaces. After making three loops around the house I decided on a little lawn chair next to the lake. Enough sun that I wouldn’t get cold on the chillier days, and enough shade so I wouldn’t come back to the house sunburned all over. 

I stared up at the trees. Willow would have loved this place, just sitting here writing or doing cartwheels or splashing me, even if I specifically said “Don’t splash me!” I must have gotten lost in my thoughts, or fallen asleep, but before I knew it it was 11:07 and Aunt Esme was calling out “Grace! Come meet Ms. Smith!” Ms. Smith was a tall woman who looked a lot like Aunt Esme. She was the editor for the Millstone Gazette. 

After introducing myself and bringing them some iced tea (“What a polite little girl!” Ms. Smith remarked), I headed back to the chair for my book. I was just about to sit down when I saw a flash of red. 

I whirled around, looking for animals, when I heard an unmistakable crunch of dead leaves. I grabbed my book and suspiciously followed the sound. I came to a patch in the woods, and realizing that there was nothing or no one there I sighed and turned around, when a girl with auburn hair popped her head out from behind a tree. “Hi!” she exclaimed.  I screamed. Obviously not noticing that, she said “I’m Maggie!” 

“H-hi.” I whispered. “Um- I’m Grace.”  

“Cool! Do you live here?” Maggie replied. 

“N-no. I’m spending the summer up here, with my Aunt Esme.” 

Maggie’s big smile decreased a little, but she nodded. “Ok. Do you want to come over and have popsicles?” 

I nodded and said “I’ll go ask my aunt.” 

On the walk over to Maggie’s house, I learned that Maggie was going into 6th grade just like me, Maggie had been the lead in the musical for the last two years, and that Maggie had  two older sisters and one older brother. As they got their popsicles out of the freezer, Maggie asked “Do you have any siblings?” 

I hesitated but said “No, I’m an only child.”

 Maggie nodded. “My oldest sister Sophie, she’s 17, and a perfect dancer, and right now she’s boarding at some fancy ballet school in New York City. She’ll be home in a week though! My brother Sam is 15, and QB on the highschool football team. He thinks he’s so awesome. Really, he just stinks up the house,” she said, elbowing a teenage boy walking past us. She licked her popsicle and said “Wanna go out back?”

I followed Maggie to the backyard. After Maggie took another lick of her popsicle and said “Then you have my 14 year old sister Olivia. She’s Miss. Popularity, cheer captain, she’s been the class president since 6th grade, and she’ll never let anyone forget it. She may seem sweet, but she’s the devil in disguise. Then you have me, Maggie. I have absolutely no athletic ability, but I sing and act and play piano. Last year I got a solo for the school-wide concert! I think that’s why my sister Sophie and I get along so well. We’re both performers. She got into Wellesley, and is going to continue dancing at the Boston School of Ballet.”

 Once I finished processing this information, I asked “Hey, what time is it?” 

Maggie checked her watch and said “11:53 am.” 

I jumped up. “Aunt Esme said I have to be home by noon!” 

Maggie just shrugged and said “Relax, we’ll get there on time! Come on!” Us two girlsjogged back to Aunt Esme’s house. We arrived at 11:58. I waved to Aunt Esme. 

“Bye, Grace!” Maggie called out. I gave a sort of wave and rushed inside. 

Once inside Aunt Esme started asking questions. “How was it? Did you have fun? What’s that girl’s name again…”  After Aunt Esme was satisfied with the answers I had provided, she handed me a bowl of mac n’ cheese. I picked up a spoonful of the cheesy, gloopy pasta, and tears came to my eyes. Aunt Esme turned around and said “What’s wrong? Is it burned? Or should I have not made it al dente?” 

I wiped the tears off her cheek and said “No, it’s fine, it looks delicious, it’s just…” I took a deep breath. “This was Willow’s favorite food. I haven’t eaten it since-” 

Without a word Aunt Esme whisked it away and put it in the fridge. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I had no idea. I’ll tell you what, what if I eat it for dinner?” 

I nodded and said in a quiet voice. “Ok.” 

Aunt Esme asked, “Would you like a quesadilla?” 

I shook my head and stood up “I’m actually not hungry anymore.”  

I trudged upstairs and sat at my window seat with my sketchbook. Even though it was only noon, I felt exhausted. Everytime my eyelids dropped I snapped myself out of it, but I finally fell into a deep sleep. 

I woke up around 2:00 am. I went downstairs to get a snack. Finally settling on some chocolate chip cookies, I sat down, nibbling around the edges. 

After I finished, I went back upstairs and tucked myself in. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t sleep. After 3 hours of light sleep on and off, I pulled on a hoodie andgrabbed my sketchbook. As quietly as possible, I opened the door and stepped outside into the crisp morning air. The sun was just rising, and I watched the light bounce off the lake and the leaves.

I walked over to my little spot near the woods, I opened my notebook, and grabbed my pencil. I tried to think of things to draw, but the vibrant colors didn’t spill out like they did the other day. I closed my eyes and turned my head up. When I opened my eyes, I saw the leaves. I managed to sketch every one with veins and details. When I finally finished, I slammed my notebook shut and looked around. And standing right next to me was Aunt Esme. 

As soon as I made eye contact with her I stuffed my notebook under my hoodie. “Oh, um, Aunt Esme!” I said as cheerfully as possible. I continued.“Um, what are you doing? Did you see-” 

Aunt Esme put her hand up. “Grace, I saw you drawing, and you’re really good!” 

I looked down and blushed. “I never meant for anyone to see that.” I said quietly. “Willow was always the creative one. People would laugh at me if I showed them.” 

Aunt Esme looked me straight in the eye. “Grace, am I laughing? No, I’m observing this beautiful piece of art that you made. I bet if we showed this to your parents when they come in two weeks they wouldn’t laugh. They would be taken back by your beautiful art skills. I bet if we showed this to Maggie she wouldn’t laugh. She’d probably call it a work of fine art and put on a play based on it.” I smiled at that last one. Yep, that sounded like Maggie.

“The world needs artists like you, Grace! They need artists like you to show them beauty and affection. They need artists like you to sew the world back together when it’s broken in pieces. So what if Willow was also creative. I think that your parents would be pretty proud to say that they had two smart, creative, adventurous daughters. Now get dressed! I’m taking you out for breakfast at the diner in town.” 

At the thought of breakfast I leapt to my feet, but before I ran back into the house I looked at Aunt Esme. “Thank you.” I whispered. 

Aunt Esme pulled me into a tight hug. “Anytime.” She said, smiling. After a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and sausages, Aunt Esme took me to a crafting store in town and gave me $25. “I’ll be in the visitor’s center across the street, since I want to pick up the newspaper. Wait outside when you’re done, ok?” I nodded and ran into the cool, air conditioned store.

I marveled at all of the supplies. It took 15 minutes, but I finally decided to buy a 100 page sketchbook, a pack of charcoal pencils, regular drawing pencils, and even fancy watercolors! I paid and was walking down the street with Aunt Esme when I ran into Maggie. “Hi!” She exclaimed and said “hey, do you want to come over later to swim? It’s supposed to be REALLY hot today!” I looked at Aunt Esme who nodded in approval. 

Around 3:00 I headed over to Maggie’s house and rang the doorbell. A teenage girl wearing a cheer uniform answered the door. “H-hi. I’m Grace, Maggie invited me?”

The girl (who I assumed was Olivia) rolled her eyes, said “she’s out back,” and left, staring at her phone. I walked through the house to the backyard, where I found Maggie running through the sprinklers with a girl who looked like a college student. 

When Maggie saw me she jumped up and said “Sophie came back a day early!” She gestured towards the girl. Sophie walked towards me and introduced herself. After I changed into my bathing suit, all three of us cannon-balled into their part of the lake and swam to the floating dock, taking turns pushing each other off and going down the water slide. It was the most fun I’d had in a while. After 2 hours of swimming,  we raced back to the shore and dried off. 

“So, Grace.” Sophie said “Do you have any siblings?” 

Before I could open my mouth Maggie said “She’s an only child.” 

“Lucky!” said Sophie, elbowing Maggie. I smiled at the two sisters. 

“I should probably go home now,” I said, “It’s getting late.”. 

Sophie smiled at me and gave me a hug. “Sure! Do you want us to walk you there?” 

“No, that’s ok.” I replied simply. “I’m ok.” 

I arrived at home and found Aunt Esme standing outside the door with her hands on her hips. “Where were you?” she asked. 

“At Maggie’s house!” I exclaimed. 

“It’s 6:02! I told you to be back by 5:45! I was scared to death! I thought you had been mauled by a bear!” 

“Well, I’m here now,” I said. “God, Grace,” I thought, “when did you get so bold!”

Aunt Esme rolled her eyes and said “Don’t scare me like that again. But come inside, you must be starving.”

While I ate my spaghetti and meatballs, I told Aunt Esme all about Sophie and Maggie. Aunt Esme smiled. “Seems like you’re having fun up here!” she commented. 

I slid off the chair. “Oh, no. I’m definitely not having fun.”

I wasn’t having fun, but everyday I went swimming with Maggie and Sophie and walked downtown to get ice cream. I wasn’t having fun, but every night I made drawings and showed them to Aunt Esme. I wasn’t having fun, but every night I stared up at the stars, counting every one I could see. 

About a week after Aunt Esme caught me drawing, she had a guest come over for tea. She said that her name was Ms. Martins, and that she was a bit uptight. Aunt Esme also asked that I was on my best behavior. But at least Maggie could come over! Ms. Martins looked a lot older than Aunt Esme, like she could be a grandmother. I served the ladies tea, and then went down to the lake with Maggie. It was too cold to swim, so we were just hanging out.  Suddenly, I started hearing snippets of their conversation. Yes, Grace. What was her twin’s name? I held up a finger, signally for Maggie to be quiet. 

“Ah yes, Willow,” I heard  Ms. Martins say. “Yes, I met that girl once, didn’t I? Never liked her.” I stood up and dusted myself off and slowly walked towards Ms. Martins and Aunt Esme, Maggie following me. I could hear Ms. Martins talking. “Honestly, Esme, she was too rowdy. Too loud. Back in my day girls were quiet and nice. Willow is… not that. And she had absolutely no manners. Honestly that girl looked like a pig, shoveling food down her mouth.”

That was the last straw. I stood up, grabbed Ms. Martin’s teacup, and threw it on the ground. I felt my ears get hot, and I felt a burst of energy that I never had before. And then I screamed.

 “HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT! YOU DIDN’T EVEN KNOW HER! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO CALL WILLOW A PIG, WHEN YOU LOOK LIKE ONE YOURSELF! YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY, IF YOU PUT LIPSTICK ON A PIG IT’S STILL A PIG! YOU’RE THE EXAMPLE OF THAT!” 

By the time I finished, my throat hurt and there were tears streaming down my face. Ms. Martins looked like she was about to faint. Maggie looked like she was holding back a laugh. After a few seconds we all came to our senses. Ms. Martins grabbed her purse, whacked me in the arm with it, yelled “Good day!” and walked to her car. Before Aunt Esme could say anything, I ran into the woods, Maggie running after me, and I curled into a ball on the forest ground. I cried and cried and cried. I curled myself into a ball so tight I felt like I couldn’t breathe. It felt like the walls were caving in on me. It felt like my lungs had exploded. 

Finally, Maggie caught up to me. “Are you okay?” She asked. “What’s wrong?” And right then, the words just came tumbling out. 

Willow and I were not twins. I was born at 11:55 pm on December 28th. She was born at  12:03 am on December 29th. We were both preemies. Three pound Grace and three and a half pound Willow. I needed a machine to breathe for me. Willow got to go home three weeks before me, and apparantly she was never happy until I came home.  We were inseparable. But then came 5th grade. 

Alyssa got worse and worse, and Willow wasn’t able to stand up for me. Around October Willow was diagnosed with leukemia. She fought so hard. After all the injections, she rubbed her arm and brushed it off. After losing her hair to chemo, she laughed. After all the pain, she managed to put a smile on her face. We thought she would make it, but mid-February she passed away. I had always been shy, but I would barely talk. It felt like there was a hole in my heart. Willow had taught me about everything from trees and nature to fashion design and gymnastics. 

After talking about all of this, I realized something. Until I had come up  to this tiny little town of Millstone, I had been sad and lonely all of the time. But up here I was happy. I made new friends. And although Willow would always be a part of my life, and I would always love her, the gap in my heart was starting to be filled. With Maggie. With Sophie. With Aunt Esme. 

A week later my parents came up to Millstone. After ice-cream, it was decision time. “So, Gracie, do you want to come home?” My dad said. 

I took a deep breath. “I want to stay here for the summer. I’m away from Alyssa. I’ve made friends. I have Aunt Esme. And I’m happy.”

After getting over their surprise, my parents gave me a tight hug and drove away. “I have something for you!” Aunt Esme said. She pulled out of her purse a copy of the Millstone Gazette, with a drawing on the front page. I looked closely and I noticed that it was my drawing of the tree! “The world needs to see your art, Grace!” Aunt Esme said. I hugged the newspaper close to my chest. I loved Millstone. Up here, I had the memory of Willow surrounding me. Up here I could finally breathe. 

Because trees are our lungs. Don’t chop us down.

Breakaway

1


My father’s long, pale, fingers slide across the keyboard, creating a familiar melody. Her song.  My hands slip on the long knife, fingers wet with tears. 

“Papa?” 

My father turns. His eyes are bloodshot.

“Papa?” I repeat. 

His voice is barely audible, raspy and weak.

“She’s gone.”

“To where?” I whisper. “Where has she gone?”

“I don’t know,” he says, “but she’s never coming back.”

****

The house feels quiet without her. Her long gowns, and those eyes that have countless untold secrets behind them. I open the door to her room, which is neatly organized into sections. 

My father’s side of the room houses framed sheet music and stacked clothes. Tissues covered in blood litter the floor, and the rancid smell of vomit wafted from the adjoining bathroom.

The other half of the large room is my mother’s. Each piece of antique furniture is spotless, each dress in her polished closet is unharmed, and frankly, looks like it was barely worn. Her bathroom radiates cleanliness and the distinct smell of lavender. 

In the center of the room is a large, king sized bed, with two little tables flanking each side. A small book lies on the pale sheets. I take it cautiously, eyes roving across the floral cover. There’s no protection on it – no lock, no password. It opens at my touch.

Hurriedly, I snap it shut and run across the hall to my room. I know it’s irrational, but somehow, it feels like she’s still here, watching me. Like her body – her spirit – has inhabited this house long enough to make a lasting impression. 

I rush across the hall to my bedroom and punch in the combination for the small safe next to my bed. I quickly shove the book in and slam the door. I can hear the sound of my father heaving on the bottom floor, and turn my head to check the time. 18:27. Dinner. 

The sound of my feet clomping down the stairs startles Freddie, my chubby orange cat who enjoys napping on the banister. I think that he senses that something is wrong in this house – though that may be because my mother usually feeds him. His eyes narrow, and he lets out a small hiss before falling back asleep. 

I can see my father lying on the floor, eyelids flickering. 

I run towards him, picking up his limp body and placing it on the couch. 

I check his pulse. Still breathing. 

“Matilda?” he whispers.

“Yes, Papa?”

“I’m tired.” 

I smile weakly. 

“Get some sleep,” I say. “I’ll make some food.”

As I begin to walk towards the kitchen, I realize something. 

“Jamie?” I yell. 

I forgot about my brother.

I sprint past my father, who is passed out on the couch, back up the stairs, and into my little brother’s room. 

“Hey, Jamie… are you ok? I’m making dinner, it’ll be ready soon…”

Silence.

“Jamie?”

I hear quiet sobs coming from the closet.

Jamie is curled in the fetal position, resting on a pile of clothes. 

“Hey, J…” 

I wrap my arms around his shivering body. 

“I’m making mac and cheese – your favorite!”

He sniffles and wipes his nose. 

“Tilda? Where – where is she?”

I close my eyes, trying to hold back tears.

“I don’t know.”

“But you always know! You always know!” he rasps.

“This time, I don’t. Now come with me. You can have dessert before and after dinner.”

My brother picks at his food. His tongue is bright blue from the lollipop he had while I was cooking. 

I smile and pat him gently on the head.

“Eat,” I scold.  “You don’t want a stomachache, do you?” 

He scowls, but starts to spoon his mouth full of pasta. 

“Petra?” My father opens his eyes and looks around. 

“No, Papa. It’s only me,” I say. “Would you like me to make you a plate?” 

He nods, and I bustle around the kitchen to get him his dinner. 

“Wait!” exclaims my brother as I start to head over to my dad. 

I turn. 

“It could be contagious. You haven’t been hugging him or anything, have you?”

Sometimes, even though I’d never tell him, I think my 9-year-old brother might be smarter than me. 

I pull the collar of my green sweater over my nose and mouth, and proceed to give my father the food. 

“Now, be careful there,” I say to Papa. “Eat as much as you like. If you feel nauseous, take a break. Ok?”

He gives me a small, forced, smile as he grabs his fork and digs in. 

***

I tuck Jamie into bed and extinguish the candle by his bedside table. My father’s digestive system and the macaroni clearly didn’t get along – the heaving in the downstairs bathroom is louder than ever. But I leave him alone. At this point, I can’t do much more than feed him and clean his vomit off the floor. I need to focus on getting out of this godforsaken place – and finding her. 

Later that night, I sit on my bed, running my fingers across the cover of the book. The door to my room is locked, and I finally feel like her ever-present eyes have closed for the night, and she can’t see what I’m about to do.

I open the book and begin to read.

            2 – The Diary


04.09.93 23:47 am

The stars are gorgeous tonight. It’s just the right temperature.

I could see Jeb through the glass. He’s bent over, working in the field. I haven’t spoken to him since graduation. 

I look up at the ceiling as if it holds all the answers.  

I can hear my parents arguing through the thin walls of our flat. 

There was a knock on my window. 

“Jeb?” I asked.

He taped a note to the window, winked, and climbed downwards, out of sight.

The note was a love song. I can feel the tears threatening to spill over as I tear it into small pieces. I can’t be distracted by a silly serenade.

Do I love him? I’m not sure. 

But even if I did, I couldn’t. 

Shouldn’t.

David Foster. 

That’s his name. 

From what I’ve heard, he seems like a stand-up guy. Plays piano. Likes animals. Rich. That’s good enough for my parents – and I guess it should be good enough for me.

Dearest Diary, you feel like the only thing that will listen to me these days. I haven’t even talked to Imani in weeks. 

As much as I miss Jeb, I miss her more. She’d be able to talk me out of being my usual stupid self. 

Yesterday, I tried to send her a letter. My parents found it. I don’t know what the sudden change in heart is all about. Up until recently, I was allowed to hang out with Imani whenever I wanted. 

Between her big brother being in the army, and the security systems on the house, safety was certainly never an issue. 

I feel like I’m going mad without them. 

You know what?

I don’t care what my parents say. They marry me off to some nerdy loner for the extra cash.

If I ever have kids, I’ll NEVER  treat them the way my parents treat me.

I’m better than that.

I’m better than them.

And, tomorrow, darling Diary,

I’m going to find my friends.

3


I look up, eyes wide. 

I feel like I violated her trust – and David Foster?
That’s my dad.

I never knew that they had an arranged marriage – but it explains a lot. The long silences, the cold stares.  

But something that I never thought would happen just did. 

I feel like I can relate to my mother.

That determination. Knowing something’s up, 

Even though I may not be as close to her as I am to my father, I’ve  idolized her.

Thought she was perfect.

It’s funny, really. How she complains about her parents. How she says she’ll never be like them. But she is them. Almost an exact carbon copy. 

The materialistic hunger. The tight leash she holds her children on. 

But somehow, I admire her even more than before.

At least I understand her motives, her spirit.

I feel a sudden rush of anger.

Even if she didn’t love my dad, that gives her no right to leave him – us – in the time that we need her most. 

Through my anger, a sudden idea flashes in my mind. It’s odd that I didn’t see this immediately. 

My mom didn’t grow up here. She was born in the town of Milesea. And it sounds like this man that my mom liked, Jeb, grew up there too. 

So I’m going to get there. 

***

I stand in front of the van shop. Billy stares back at me defiantly.

“How many times do I have to say this? I want to rent a van.

“Kid, how many times do I have to say this? You’re a minor. You can’t rent.”

I sigh. This is my last resort.

I slap a large wad of bills on the table. 

It’s now Billy’s turn to sigh.

“Do you want it furnished?” 

An hour later, I leave the store in a large camper van. The inside had been renovated a few months earlier and now holds a small kitchenette, a little couch, a bunk bed, and a small chamber pot hidden in the corner.  

Luckily, I got my driver’s license last month, a few weeks before my mom left. It was one of the few times in my entire life that I had actually left the palatial grounds of my house, 

The van’s big wheels scrape on the rough rocks of my thin driveway.  

Jamie stands on the porch, waving at me. I hop out of the van and ruffle his hair.

“Go pack,” I say. “We leave at 10:00.”

***

I brush my hair out of my eyes and pull it back into a slick ponytail. I put on a pair of fraying jeans and a black hoodie over a green polo shirt. It’s the clothes I usually wear to help Mrs. Lynn in the garden – but I guess it’s good for driving. I turn and start to zip up my bag – and stop. The little stuffed rhino that I’ve had since I was born stares at me pleadingly. I’m 16, but I still sleep with it. So I grab it and shove it in my bag before Jamie can see. He teases me about it – even though he has one himself. But he’s 9. 

I only packed one suitcase for myself. I don’t know how long we’ll be gone.  But I packed two for my dad. One filled with clothes, the other with medicine and towels that we can soak in water when his fever gets too high.

In the living room, Jamie sits atop a suitcase in a t-shirt and baggy jeans. His curly hair looks like someone tried tame it back and failed miserably, resulting in a worse frizz than ever.

My father sits on the couch, dark circles that are always under his eyes more apparent than ever.

Supporting him, we head over to the car, and I help Papa into the bottom bunk. 

We’re resigned to protecting ourselves from whatever disease he has – because if it’s contagious, we probably already have it.

Before starting the van, I help Jamie get situated in the top bunk, where he soon gets comfy with his book.

As I climb down the ladder, I see my father murmuring in his sleep, and I don’t really think anything of it – but I check his forehead. Hot. 

So I make use of those towels. After covering it in icy water, I place it on his head, hoping to give him some relief.

I don’t know how much it did, but I start up the car. If we want to get to Milesea in the next few days, then we better get going soon.

I’m driving well into the night. My eyelids flutter as I try to stay awake. 

Suddenly, I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn my head around. 

My father is standing behind me, a crazed look in his eyes. 

“Papa, go back to sleep. At Milesea, we’ll find a doctor for you, and you’ll feel all better.”

He gives me a big grin, but in one swift motion, shoves me off the seat and gets in himself.

“Papa!” I shout. “You’re sick! You shouldn’t be driving!”

His eyes are bright and shining with an almost demonic happiness, but tears run like waterfalls down his sunken cheeks.

“Petra. Petra. Petra. For Petra.”

I know what’s about to happen. 

I rush up the old wooden ladder and wrap my arms around my brother’s sleeping form.

“I love you,” I whisper into his ear. “Always.”

Then everything goes black.

Epilogue (Six Months Later)


I open my eyes. My bedroom is dimly lit and small, but it’s what we can afford.

We both work, and our jobs don’t pay very well – but we get by. Three months ago, we made enough to buy our own house.

Two bedrooms. Two bathrooms. Big backyard.

It’s beautiful, but not nearly what I’m used to. And I’ve tried to be fine with that, but I find myself missing the riches my old life came with.

“Petra?” Jeb’s head peeks through the door frame. “Hey, sweetie. How are you feeling?”
I muster a small smile. 

“Better than yesterday, but I don’t want to jinx it.”

I walk up to Jeb and give him a small kiss on the cheek. 

He pulls away, smiles, and bends down.

“Morning kiddo!”

And then he plants a kiss on my belly.

For the first time in forever, I finally feel at peace. 

I walk into the bathroom and stare at myself in front of the mirror. My floral dress sweeps on the wet bathroom tiles. 

My hair is braided loosely down my back, a sharp contrast to the harsh bun I wore when I lived at the mansion. I feel so free these days. Yesterday, I spent hours curled up on the couch under a blanket, drinking hot tea, face buried in a book. And the day before, I decorated the nursery in hues of pink and blue. The bedroom for my new baby girl. 

I hated my life before, but I didn’t hate my children. I couldn’t bear to tell them about how I grew up. How I met their father. How I never loved him. So I stayed silent. 

I’m sending them a letter today explaining everything. I’m hoping that they’ll come to meet their little half-sister when she’s born.

But for now, I’m going to focus on what I have, not what I left behind.

Three Fingers

In an old cottage on Bugsberry Lane lived the Janes. The youngest Jane was Issa. Issa’s seventh year of age was right around the corner. All little Issa Jane wanted was a doll. Any doll: wood or glass, thin or plump, hairy or bald, bonnet or a straw head-dress. But Issa knew that her parents wouldn’t be able to afford a lavish doll. Emporiums and antique shops were too high-priced. In Mum and Pop’s point of view, dolls were just costly rubbish that lasted less than a week. 

But Issa Jane single-mindedly wanted to be gifted any doll there was. So all she could do was to ask her mother one last time. 

“Mum, I would like to be gifted a doll from you and Pop for my natal day present.”

“Issa, I’m sorry but you know that Pop and I are not in a great stage in life, and we will not be able to afford this doll.” 

Issa would try again. “Pop, I would love a doll, any doll… from you and Mum.”

“Dear, Mum and I can not keep spending such money on this rubbish you say you are bound to have.” Little Issa Jane was disappointed once again, but was still determined to receive any lavish doll. Then Issa thought of a quick-witted idea. If Mum and Pop thought that the dolls from emporiums were overly expensively priced, then why couldn’t Pop just craft Issa a doll. All Pop would need would be wood for the doll’s head and body, and old clothing scraps for the bonet and the gown.

Aunt Ethel had gifted Issa a few steelies to fiddle with in her free-time. Steelies would make the perfect replacement for the doll’s eyes. Pop would have to carve the steelies into the wood, then somehow he would attach the body onto the head. Pop should have the things he’d need in the shed. All Issa needed was her steelies. Issa slid the dusty cup-boad open and yanked out her bag of shiny glass steelies. She pulled out two of the shiniest steelies, and rolled them around in her palm.

They were small, smooth, and cold. Perfect for a doll’s eyes. Issa ran to her Pop’s shed, excited to ask her father for her request.

“Pop, because you and Mum won’t be able to buy a doll, would you have time to craft me a doll? Out of wood?”

“Well, do we have everything I’ll need to craft you a doll?”

“Oh yes, Pop! You just need wood, old clothing scraps, and steelies which I have right here.” Issa opened her hand to show Pop her shiny steelies. He nodded and examined the steelies.

“First of all, where would we find wood, and clothing scraps?”

“Hmmm…I know!”  Issa ran to her Mum for clothing scraps. Mum was sewing together an embroidered nightgown for Issa. The velvet fabric had red roses printed on it, perfect for a doll’s bonet and clothes.

  “Mum, may I have the extra velvet fabric you’re holding?”  Mum handed Issa the fabric. It was soft and fluffy.

“Use it wisely, we don’t have much of it.” Issa nodded happily and thanked her mother. And then ran back to the shed to give the velvet fabric to her Father.

“Pop! Look at this. Now you just need wood!”

“Now where do we find wood?”

“Look outside Pop! You could also shave down a tree.” Issa and her Pop found some perfectly smooth wood outside. Now Pop just needed to carve it into a wooden doll. Pop pulled out his chisel and the materials beside him.

“Now Issa Jane, I only have one set of bi-telephones, so you’re just going to have to wait till your doll is finished to come into the shed.”

“Okay Pop, thank you.” In the meantime Issa helped her mother cook and clean. Issa Jane was very eager to meet her new doll. Issa already had started thinking of names for her doll. Barbara Ann, Mary Lee, and Hilda Lynn were her top choices. Pop spent eight days in the shed working. The longer it took the prettier it must be. Finally Pop called Issa out to the shed to meet her new doll.

“Issa Jane, before I show you I thought you should know beforehand that there was not enough wood for five fingers on each hand, so instead of five fingers there are three. So that’ll mean six fingers in total instead of ten.”

“Oh, that’s okay! I’m just so excited to see it!” Pop stood in front of Issa then slowly pulled out her doll. It was beautiful. The velvet fabric was now a bonnet and a gown. The steelies looked perfect as the eyes. Pop had even found water based paint, and painted the doll a soft peach color. The cheeks were rosy pink and the lips also looked perfect. Issa was shocked, for the doll was even prettier than she expected. The fingers were strangely a bit crooked but it’s not like Issa would be staring at the doll’s fingers the whole time.

Issa thanked her dad again, and then realized that none of her planned names suited her doll well. So she decided to call her new doll “Three Fingers” because of the doll’s fingers. Issa Jane took Three Fingers everywhere she went, to the market, to the lake, and even to her day school. This was the best natal day present Issa had ever received. Issa decided that Three Fingers was her new best friend.

“Three Fingers, I’m going to go visit the loo. You stay right here on the sewing table. I’ll only be gone for a couple of minutes.” Issa went to the restroom then skipped out to see Three Fingers. But there was nothing on the sewing table. Issa looked under the table in case Three fingers had fallen. But her doll was not there. Issa’s parents were on a trip to the market for a few ripe potatoes, so Issa knew that one of her parents would not have moved her. Issa started to panic.

“Three Fingers, where are you?! I know I placed you here.” Issa Jane headed to her room where she did her best brainstorming. When Issa walked into her room she saw Three Fingers placed on her bed. The steelies looked especially shiny.

“Th-thr-three F-fingers i did not place you here.” Issa heard the door open.

“Issa, we have arrived.” Issa ran to the door to tell Pop about Three Fingers. But all he said was,

“You must have just forgotten where you placed the doll. Issa Jane, Three Fingers can not move by herself. Why don’t you go to sleep, it is already ten past nine.”

“Okay fine, Pop.” Issa headed up to her room to sleep. Issa laid in her bed with Three Fingers below her bed. Mum and Pop said that Issa shouldn’t put Three Fingers in the bed because the wood could rust the mattress. Issa had decided that she probably went insane this afternoon, because Pop was right, a doll can’t walk, talk, fly or move.

Then Issa’s lamp turned on and the light shone in her eyes. But Issa didn’t turn her lamp on. She was the only person in the room other than Three Fingers. But Issa suspected that the electricity in her cottage was not working well. So she got up, turned off the light and went back to bed.

“Good night, Three Fingers. Sleep well.”  Then Issa’s lamp flickered again. Issa was starting to get annoyed.

“A real ding dong must have set up our electricity.” Then Issa heard a scream coming from the kitchen. Issa ran downstairs to see what the trouble was. Mum was at the counter staring at the cutting knife in front of her.

“Mum, what is the problem?”

“Oh… um… nothing Issa Jane, head back to bed.”  Issa knew that there must be something going wrong. So she hid behind a small bookshelf to spy.

“Arthur, I’m telling you! I placed the knife at the kitchen table then went to clean my hands. And when I returned the knife was back at the cutting board.”

“Margaret, that is impossible! You must be going crazy like Issa was. A knife can not walk, talk, fly or move.”

“I am going to go lie down.”  Issa was confused, since it was just like what had happened to her. She crept back to her bedroom before any of her parents could notice. When Issa walked in, Three Fingers was laying down on Issa’s shaker chair. She started to freak out.

“My eyes must be ill. Surely Three Fingers could not have teleported.” Issa put her doll back under the bed, and tried to get to sleep. Issa turned towards the wall and tried to fall asleep. Then Issa turned to face the door in a more comfortable position. When Issa turned around, Three Fingers was standing up on the edge of the bed. The steelies stared at her.

“A brainless nincompoop must be playing a joke on me.”  Issa shoved Three Fingers deep under her bed and tried to fall asleep. Issa looked at her rusty clock tilted on the wall. twenty five past eleven. 

“Gosh I better get some sleep, hopefully this fool does not wake me up again.” Issa heard arguing from the kitchen. 

“Arthur, why are the lights flickering? Didn’t the electricity man come yestermonth?”   

“The storm this past week must have messed up the electricity. That is the only explanation.”  

“Tomorrow morning I’ll head out to town to fetch the electricity man.” All the cottage lights were turning wonky. There must have been something wrong with the cottage. Issa was halfway asleep when she heard her name being whispered 

“Issa. Issa.” She froze. 

“H-hello?! Who are you?” Then everything went quiet again. It could not have been Mum or Pop, they would not have played such an evil joke on their own daughter. Issa layed back down, covered her ears, and stuck her face in her pillow so she would not hear or see anything. Issa finally fell asleep but only for a couple of hours. 

Issa woke up again and heard a frightening unfamiliar voice that repeated:“Three Fingers, Three Fingers, in this room I linger.” Issa screamed and jumped out of her bed. One solution fell into her head, to tell Pop. Issa ran to the kitchen as fast as she could run. 

   “Mum, Pop!” But no one was in the kitchen. The lights were all off. Issa suspected that her parents must be in their room. So she ran to their room and shoved the door open. But no one was in the room and the lights were all off. Where could they be? It was way too late for them to be in town, and they wouldn’t have left without telling Issa. 

“Mum! Pop! Where have you gone?” But the whole cottage was silent. All Issa could hear was her own voice echoing through the walls. Issa decided to check outside for them. When Issa opened the door Three Fingers was placed lying down on the cottage doorstep. The steelies had a stranger glow to them than usual. The steelies made the doll look alive. The doll’s head slowly tilted to the right then to the left. Three Fingers was haunted.

Then Issa found herself in a dark room. There stood a mirror in the middle of the room,  the only light. Issa looked in the mirror. She was wearing a velvet rose printed bonnet and gown. Her hair was gone and her eyes were all black. Issa looked at her hands, and she only had three fingers. Issa was Three Fingers.

BREAKING FREE

Chapter 1

“Come onnnn!” I yell. 

“I’m coming! Just wait one minute,” my mom calls back. Tonight is the Night of Freeness, and Queen Sleeping Beauty and King Charming are hosting a ball. The Night of Freeness is when famous creatures and, well, not-famous creatures, hang out together. It’s my favorite night because I don’t need to work. You see famous creatures like Humpty Dumpty, Cinderella and The Beast, who are supposed to have a great luxurious life because yeah, they are famous. Unfamous creatures need to work for famous creatures to make the famous creatures’ lives better. I am an unfamous creature. 

Back to the ball. Queen Snow White, of course, helps with that. Queen Snow White is the leader of all the balls and, in my opinion, the leader of  the world. Oh, the glorious Queen Snow White, this. Oh the glorious Queen Snow White, that. So annoying! I wish I could be a famous creature. And hey, I was there when Humpty Dumpty fell! But of course, the boring Ella never got mentioned. Of course not. She’s nothing important. Hmph! 

“Ok, I’m ready. Let’s go,” my mom says as she comes out of the dressing room. I twirl around the room. My long black hair swings around me. I have always thought my mom was way prettier than me, but I never tell her. She is wearing a long and poofy yellow dress with white swirls. 

“Are we going to take a carriage, or walk?” I asked. I knew the answer. 

“We wouldn’t want to ruin our pretty dresses,” She says. We walk down the stairs that lead to the outside. It’s spring. There is a light breeze, but it is also warm out. Butler Mother Toppkins opens the carriage door for us. 

“Thank you,” Mother says. “Oh, Mother Toppkins! Are you going to the ball too? It is the Night of Freeness, and you don’t need to work for us until tomorrow,” she adds. 

Mother Toppkins smiles.  “I will go, thank you,” she says. Then she shuts the door. 

“Now, you need to be very well mannered and kind. Queen Snow will be up in her room. She doesn’t like too much attention,” Mother says. 

I nod my head. The carriage starts moving. Queen Snow has a room at every castle, even ours. It’s required. Oh my gosh! I just got the greatest idea in the history of great ideas! I don’t want to ruin the fun of the Night of Freeness, but I don’t think any of this is fair. I want to be free.

 Usually on normal days mother and I go over to Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk’s house and Clean! ‘Cause he’s all famous and we need to respect him and all. I’m going to change this. I’m going to talk to Queen Snow.

Chapter 2

Mother gets out of the carriage and lifts up her dress. I get out of the carriage and trip. I fall on my knees. Ow. That’s ok. No harm done. I see Mother smothering a laugh.

 “Please don’t insult me,” I say as I get up. Mother nods. Here’s my plan. Queen Snow will be up in her room, and I will be down at the ball. I can tell the guards that I need to go to the bathroom, and the other bathroom has been locked forever! I’m a kid, so they cannot expect too much from me. Then, I go up and talk to Queen Snow. I will talk to her about how I think I and some of the other creatures should be free. She probably will not listen. But I can bribe her. Queen Snow basically gets everything she wants. She wants our Castle of Light badly, and she would do anything to get it. Three years ago she offered her son’s life for it. There is some history through the Kingdom of Light and Queen Snow’s son. Queen Snow has one son, Sammy, and one daughter, June. Sammy is 15, and June is 12. Sammy, when he was about my age, 10, wanted to have a fairy cake for his birthday. If you blow out the candle of a fairy cake and make a wish, that wish comes true no matter what. The Light Kingdom is the only kingdom that sells fairy cakes besides the Sea Kingdom, where the cake gets soggy. Sammy didn’t have any money, but he came over to the Light Kingdom. The fairy didn’t know it was Sammy at the time, and told him he needed to pay double for his rudeness. Sammy got upset and grabbed a knife from the butcher’s stand, threatening to kill the poor fairy. He didn’t, but the Light Kingdom has feared Sammy ever since. We have also heard that Sammy has gotten even more dangerous. At that thought, I shivered. 

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go inside,” Mother says

We start walking toward the castle. It is giant, with two long pillars on the side. It has a moat, but one so small you could just step over it. It’s gray, and has a drawbridge. At the very top of it, you can see Queen Snow’s room. Her room is always at the top left. In every castle. I have no idea why. Mother and I step onto the open drawbridge and go inside the castle. 

Woah. Double woah. There is a big chandelier hanging on the high ceiling. There are rows and rows of snacks and in the very back of the room there are three thrones, one big and two smaller. Queen Sleeping Beauty, King Charming and the bigger one for Queen Snow. And, greatest of all, there are twisting stairs that lead all the way up to Queen Snow. Two guards are patrolling the stairs. I guess Queen Snow put them there. 

“You can go find some other kids to play with, I want to greet Queen Sleeping Beauty and King Charming,” Mother says, and with that she pats my back and leaves. In other cases I would grumble and say something like Fine, leave me stranded, I’m sure I’ll find somebody else to raise me. Then, Mother would  chuckle and walk away. But now I am high-energy, ready for anything. 

I take a look around. Hmmm. I need to find a way to lock the bathroom door, but still be able to get out. I’ve got it! I run to the bathroom and say a lot of “ excuse mes” and “sorries”. I look at the bathroom. Ah, a window. I lock the door, then get a white stool with pink and green polka dots. It is not very pretty in my opinion. I prop the stool under the windowsill and open the window. Oh! This is a bad idea. I might ruin my dress! Then I think about all the times I’ve needed to clean those golden eggs and trim weeds. This will be worth it. I climb out the window. My silky blue dress snags on the window, and I stumble. I can’t rip it, or Mother will know something is up. I carefully lift my dress off the windowsill edge. Phew. I close the window and turn around the corner. Now I can see the entrance. I see a carriage with a lady getting out. She has beautiful blonde hair that is in a long braid. Rapunzel.  I step over the moat and get on the drawbridge. Yay! I’ve made it. I walk through the entrance into the reception room and try not to look like I just climbed out of a bathroom window. Then I put on a very sad face. I wobble over to the stairs. A guard looks at me. 

“Hello. Queen Snow’s personal service. How may I help you?” the guard says. I try not to laugh, keeping the sad look pasted on my face. 

“I need to use the potty!” I say.

“ Oh! Uh…There is a bathroom to the left of the royal thrones,” The guard says. He looks kind of surprised. Maybe he expected me to be more mature.

 “No! I need to go potty and the other bathroom is not opening! I want to go!” I say.

 The guard looks at me up and down. Then he closes his eyes and sighs

. “Right. Go on up. If I hear any disturbance at all from Queen Snow you are going to jail. Do you understand?” he asks.

 I try to look worried and nod. Then I rush upstairs. “Bathroom 23 is locked. Repeat, Bathroom 23 is locked,” I hear the guard say. Yay! I made it. Now for the hard part.

Chapter 3

I crawl up the stairs. Oh my gosh! How does Queen Snow get all the way up here? While I’m walking up the stairs I should probably plan what to say. Should it be babyish, like with the guard, or more mature? I think it should be more mature. Here goes nothing. I get up to the highest floor. There are 3 rooms. Queen Snow is known for being kind and generous, so this should be pretty easy. Hopefully. Which room should I check first? The first door is closed fully, and there’s a strangely awesome smell coming from that room. The second is closed, and it smells really bad. The third is closed too, and no sound or smell comes from it. I know the one on the left with the good smell is Queen Snow’s room, but she could be in any of the others. I want to get it over with, so I will check the smelly one first. 

“That’s enough!” I hear. I can’t tell what room it comes from. I open the door to the first and smelly one. Pee U! It’s a bathroom. Ewwwwwwww! Let me check the next one. Which one should I pick? How about her room?

“NO! I want it!” I hear. It’s coming from room one: her bedroom, the one with the nice smell. I quickly take a peek into the third room. The walls are red and the room is really messy. Dirty socks and wet paint brushes are on the bed. I quickly shut the door. I need to talk to Queen Snow. I open the door and hope for the very best. 

“It has BAD grammar, and my kids need to be good rulers!” Queen Snow shouts. The room is very small, smaller than the messy room. The walls are a hot pink. There is a made bed with a book on it. Queen Snow is sitting in a fluffy looking chair, and I desperately want to push her off it so I can take a seat. She is sitting in front of a dresser and mirror. A tall, skinny kid is pulling a book from Queen Snow’s hand. A second ago, she said “My kids need to be good rulers”. Who would dare pull anything out of Queen Snow’s hand? Suddenly everything fit together. I stumble back and grip onto the railing. I’m standing in front of the most dangerous person in the kingdom. And that person is, unfortunately, Sammy White. 

Queen Snow looks at me like she doesn’t know what to make of this. “What is THIS?” she exclaims. Sammy looks at me. I have two options. I can run down the stairs at full speed, or stay. I need to do this.

  “Um…My na-” I start to say.

 “Oh! I recognize her. She is some princess of light, or something,” Sammy interrupts. His eyes scream ‘Come at me, I dare you’. I take a deep breath. 

“Yes, thank you Sammy,” I say and try to look calm.

 “Ah. Ok. Um… Your name is?” Queen Snow says.

 “E-Ella, your majesty,” I say, curtsying.

 “That is more like it. Why did you come up here, Ella princess of light? Because I don’t have much time. You seem to stutter way too much for this to be proper, but please go on,” Queen Snow says. I’m taken aback by her rudeness.

 “I’m sorry…your majesty” I say. She sighs. “I wanted to come to talk to you about famous and unfamous creatures,” I say.

 “My mother doesn’t talk about that,” Sammy says. I try to ignore him. I need to face my fears.

 “No darling, let her talk,” Queen Snow says.
“Thanks. I want you to change this. I am treated unfairly, and I don’t like that. I am a maid for Jack’s house,” I say.

 “Honey, please. I don’t change stuff like that.” Queen Snow responds. She examines her nails while I talk.

 “Stop worrying about how pretty you are, and listen to me!” I demand. 

Queen Snow looks up, surprised.  “Do not talk back to me!” she yells, getting up from her chair.

 “We are all the same! We are all equal!” I yell.

 “Leave!” She yells.

 “I will talk to my mom and see if you can get our castle in exchange for you letting every single unfamous creature go,” I say. I try to stay calm. I’ve suddenly realized that I’m not only scared of Sammy, I’m afraid of Queen Snow.  Queen Snow sits back down.

“Sammy darling, please go into your room. I need to talk to Ella, alone,” Queen Snow says, in a dangerously calm voice. Sammy nods. He leaves the room and pushes me out of his way. He goes into the dirty third room.

“You are embarrassing!” Queen Snow immediately says. 

“Excuse me?” I ask.

“You are embarrassing!” She shouts, even though I didn’t mean excuse me like please repeat that, I meant it like how rude can you get! “You think I would give away my power and fame for some lame castle that I wanted three years ago? You think?” Queen Snow cries. I feel my face turning red. “Go back from where you came from and stop disturbing me!” Queen Snow yells. 

Am I actually going to let some snobby Queen treat me this way? No, I will not! 

“You- You are the worst queen ever! And for your information, I will go back to where I came from!” I shout. I storm down the stairs.

“You know there is an elevator!” Queen Snow yells, slamming her door.

UGH!

Chapter 4

“Can we go home now?” I ask my mother. The chandelier and thrones don’t look pretty anymore. 

“Are you feeling Ok?” Mother asks me. 

“Fine, I’m feeling fine,” I grumble.

“Okay, we can leave soon,” Mother says, then she turns her back on me. 

Why was Queen Snow so rude? What was her problem? “Mother, aren’t you tired of being treated badly by the famous cr-” I start to say.

 “Honey, we don’t talk about that here.” Mother interrupts.

 “Then let’s go home so we can talk about it,” I say. My mother looks at me for a long time.

 “Fine then” Mother says. She takes me by the arm and we start walking out of the castle.

“Have you ever met Queen Snow?” I ask her in the carriage. 

“Ah, yes. Once when I was very tiny. She came over and wanted to take a look at me. She wants to every time there is a new baby. I don’t remember much. I do remember my mother talking to her and bowing. But no more, Why?” Mother says. I decide not to answer the question. Mother is looking out of the window. 

“Mother, I want to start a protest against Queen Snow,” I say. 

Mother looks up from the window. “Really? And why is that?” she asks. 

I sigh. “Aren’t you ever going to realize that cleaning Jack’s house is not the most productive thing to do?” I ask her. She chuckles. When will she notice? Why hasn’t anybody done anything? 

“No, it is not such a productive thing, is it.”Mother says. I can’t believe she is agreeing. 

“I want to do a protest, a parade!” I yell as the carriage stops. Mother looks at me and I expect her to say something like No, darling, that is a bad idea. But she smiles.

 “Okay” She says. 

That was… easy. I get out of the carriage and finally lift my dress up correctly! 

“Mother, I saw Sammy today.” I say. I don’t know why I do it or if I shouldn’t have. Mother stops dead in her tracks.  

“A-And where was this?” she asks, cautiously and slowly.

“I went up to Snow White’s room today. I saw Sammy there. I went up to talk to her about the fairness of creatures.” I say, trying to seem pretty chill about it.

“Go up to your room NOW!” Mother yells.

“What about the parade?” I ask. I immediately knew I shouldn’t have.

“Later! I need to think now! I have done so much for you and you respond like THIS!” my mother yells. My eyes tear up. I dash into the castle and run up the stairs. I don’t bother taking my heels off. I have done a lot in return too. I am a good daughter! 

Chapter 5

Rap rap rap. 

“Oh come on. I am sorry. Please let me in ” I hear Mother’s voice say.
“Fine,” I grumble, and I open the door. I know that Mother is sorry, but the parade meant a lot to me. She just shut that idea out.

“I am really sorry. Let’s do the parade. We only have a day to convince people anyways, because today is the Day of Freeness. If we wait till tomorrow, Queen Snow will put us in jail. So get out here so we can spread the word about this parade,” Mother says. I nod. She is right. We only have today. 

“So, I was thinking, we work for them, right? What if part of the protest was not working for them. Because they need us,” Mother says. I nod again. “Come on, let’s go,” she says. 

“ Should we make posters?” I ask. 

This time, mother nods. “You go around telling people, and I will put up posters, Ok?” Mother asks. 

“Sure” I agree. 

The door knob is cold to my fingers. I walk down the two flights of stairs.  I think I forgive Mother. I ran across the wet grass. Our neighbor is also an unfamous creature. His name is Ferm chicken. He is a chicken.  He is one of the happiest, talkiest chickens I ever have known. I knock on his door, and I spot Mother coming out of our castle holding some flyers. His house is unstable and made of hay. I would not be surprised if  the whole house collapsed over my hand. The door opens. 

“What? Oh my! Princess of light!” says Ferm chicken, bowing three times.

“Yeah”  I say. “I wanted to tell you that the unfamous creatures are going to stop working for the famous creatures in protest.”

“Oh my gosh, that is great! Do you want to come inside? It is such an awesome day out, isn’t it?” Ferm chicken asks.

“Oh, no thank you! But how is Mrs. Frem chicken?” I ask.

“Ok, thank you for asking.” Ferm chicken replies. He stares at me for a couple of seconds.

“Do you know any good places to find unfamous creatures?” I ask. 

“Yeah, try house 54.” Ferm chicken says.

“Thanks.” I say. He shuts the door with a big slam. The hay house trembles. House 54. House 54. Ah. Here. On the door it has a sign that says:

BEWARE OF THE PIG. 

THAT’S MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I gulp. But if Ferm chicken trusts this dude, I bet I should, too. I slowly knock on the door. 

“Hullo. My name Loin the lion,” says the lion who answers the door.

“Hello, Loin the lion-” I say, before getting cut off.

“NOOOOOO! My name Loin! Not Loin the lion!” He interrupts. 

“Sorry, Loin.” I say.

“Sure.” Loin says.

“So, me and some other folks are going to stop working for famous creatures in protest. Will you?” I ask him.

“Sure,” he says. I can’t tell if that is a yes, but that’s ok.

“Loin, do you know any other places where there are other unfamous creatures’ houses?” I ask.

“23 house DOGGY.” Loin says. Then he breaks out in giggles, whispering “doggy hee hummy hee doggy dum dog dutch hee hum le lum doggy hee hummy hee doggy dum dog dutch he hum le lum doggy hee hummy!”

Suddenly, he shuts the door in my face. Ok…

“Bye!” I call.

“Bye bye doggy!” Loin cries. 

This goes on for three to four hours, and I get every single unfamous creature in the whole Kingdom of Light to join the parade. Mother does a good job with the posters. I see a few. They say:

Have you ever felt like you had more

potential than cleaning a house? 

Stop working and cleaning for 

Them then! They need us and will have

to learn how to do it on their own! 

Lots of people agree! Don’t be embarrassed!

And stuff like:

We are stopping working! We can do more

 than just cleaning! Lots of creatures are 

doing it! Don’t be embarrassed! We are all

equal, and some people can’t see that! They 

need us now! But they need to learn how to 

do this on their own! 

As I walk home I think about how Queen Snow would’ve reacted to this. She would probably have said something like “Darling! This is such a horrid idea! Don’t do this to your friends!” Ha ha. I hope I never have to see her or Sammy again! I probably will, though.  My feet hit the ground. It’s hot out. This morning it was pretty cool, but now the cobblestones are melting. Boy. In the distance, I see our castle. It’s funny; there are high people, low people and really low people. I still live in a castle, but I am a maid. Queen Snow is at the very top. The people in my kingdom are at the bottom. Everybody would be famous! Or rather, everybody would be unfamous. I look up and see the castle. I’ve been walking for a long time and my legs are sore. 

When I get home I see Mother on the couch, reading a book. I sit on the couch next to her and grab a random book. I could read anything now. The ways of her majesty Queen Snow White. Nevermind. Not anything. I put that book down and pick up another book. I start reading, and the words swirl in my brain. Hopefully this will end ok.

Chapter 6

I turn in my bed. I can’t be late or I will be scolded by Jack. 

“Ughhh” I say. Suddenly, I remember about the not working thing. I can go back to sleep! Yay! I cuddle my covers. Just as I’m falling back asleep I hear a knock on the door. “NOOOOO!” I half mumble, half shout. Mother comes in and sits on the end of my bed. I turn my back to her by flopping around. 

Mother chuckles. “Darling, you need to get up. Queen Snow is at the door,” she says, calmly. 

I bolt straight up.

 “Woah! Deep breaths. Deep breaths. She wants to talk to you about the absence of  some maids,” Mother says. 

“What should I say?” I ask. What if she puts Mother and me in jail? 

“Be honest. She may have witnesses, but she can not physically prove anything,” Mother says. 

I push my sheets back. I know I am in my PJ’s, and I know I didn’t brush my hair. But at this point I don’t care what she or Sammy thinks of me. 

I go downstairs and Mother follows me. My hand brushes against the railing, for maybe the last time. I open the door, the cool door knob against my hand. 

As Mother said, Queen Snow stands by the door. Two guards are standing next to her with absolutely no expression. 

“Hi Queen Snow,” I say, my hand on the side of the door. 

“What on earth are you wearing? This is infuriating! You have no respect for your elders!” Queen Snow shouts.

 I glance behind me and I see Mother smiling at me. “Sorry” I say. I’m pretty sure we both know that I’m not really sorry.

“Whatever, Ella. I came to complain about the absence of my maids and workers!” Queen Snow yells. 

“Don’t call them that!” I shout. Then I take a breath. “Do you have a guess why they didn’t show up?” I ask. 

Queen Snow rolls her eyes. “Oh, Sure!” she says. One of her guards holds up one of the posters that Mother printed. “Because they don’t deserve to be treated like this or whatever,” she grumbles. I smile as I see her blush a bit. 

“Yeah, exactly. So we will not even acknowledge your presence until you change the rules,” I say. I put on one of my ‘I told you I would win’ smiles that I have been practicing in my mirror.

I can’t tell what Queen Snow’s look is. Somewhat disgusted. 

“Well..” Queen Snow starts to say, but her voice trails off.

“So, Goodbye Queen Snow,” I say, and slowly shut the door.

“Wait! No! Guards, Do something! A– what? No! No!” I hear Queen Snow shout.

I look at Mother straight into her eyes. 

“Wanna make some celebration cupcakes?” Mother asks. I nod. I am proud, happy and scared. Queen Snow still has a lot of power. She can use her power. But for now it will be ok.

Chapter 7

THE FAIRYTALE NEWSPAPER.

Queen Snow has lost power to a 10 year old girl named Ella. Everybody is shocked and Queen Snow is infuriated! Ella was saying to Queen Snow that the not-famous creatures should not work until Queen Snow changes the rules. People have had parades and stopped working. This is crazy! Queen Snow hasn’t shown herself in public for 3 weeks, and nobody knows what decision she will make. On Saturday there was attempted murder. A whole gang of people tried to break into Queen Snow’s house and murder her! They are in jail now. Nobody knows where that came from, or if Ella started it. The construction workers are very busy: people have hired them to smash Queen Snow’s rooms in their castles. Some people have tried to smash them themselves, and their castles look absolutely ruined. They don’t care. People are worried, though. What if Queen Snow decides not to get rid of the rule? Would everyone who tried to stop her go to jail? If she does get rid of the castle, would people lose their homes to give the money to less rich people? What about all the money they earned? If Queen Snow is not in charge of making the rules, who will be? Is this a bad thing? Some people say that Ella should be the leader, but this is a big problem. Now we will leave you with that question. Thank you for reading  THE FAIRYTALE NEWSPAPER, and goodbye. 

Chapter 8

I am everywhere! In the newspaper, and radio! It’s crazy and in some way I love it! But I also really am annoyed, because sometimes the newspaper talks total trash about me! Mother is very proud, though. Some people also think I should take Queen Snow’s place. Honestly I would be ok with that. But I don’t want this whole thing to start over again. And that would be even worse, because I would be the new Queen Snow! Except Queen Ella. Right now I am sitting in the living room, reading the newspaper and eating cookies. I flip the page and Mother walks into the room. 

“Queen Snow has decided to have a ball at her palace, and at the end she will make her decision,” Mother says.

 I have been waiting for this news for 3 whole weeks! I am kind of done with this. “That’s awesome!” I say, though. It is pretty good. But why a ball? What is she planning? “When is it happening?” I ask. 

“Now. Well, Tonight,” Mother says. 

I almost choke on a cookie. “So soon?!” I yell. Mother nods. I have so many thoughts I don’t know what to think. “Do I need to go?” I ask, and I know it is a horrible question.

“Um.. Yes! Duh, Ella! She is announcing the most important thing in your life!” Mother cries. 

“Ok,” I say. Why am I not excited? 

Mother frowns and sits down next to me. “Are you ok, Ella?” she asks. I burst into tears. “Why are you crying?” Mother asks. I don’t know. Why am I crying? 

“I don’t want to become queen.” I say. 

She stares at me for a minute. “Ok. That’s Fine.” Mother says.

“Who will be in charge, then?” I shout.

“ I will.” Mother says. 

I start laughing. And laughing. And laughing. My stomach hurts. “You can’t be Queen!” I say. 

“Why can’t I be Queen?” Mother asks.

 I think for a moment. “You’re too old?” I say. But it comes out more like a question.

“Queen Snow is older than me!” Mother says. 

I think about that. I believe her, but Queen Snow looks great for her age.

“Let’s go to the store to buy some dresses.” Mother says. 

Chapter 9

My mother and I are walking to the ball.  We don’t care if we get our dresses dirty, and nobody would stop a carriage for us. 

I break the silence. “What do you think she will pick?” I ask. 

“Well, it’s no use being famous if nobody likes you and you have no maids,”  Mother says. 

I nodded, but she hasn’t answered my question. I am worried now. Really, really worried. We see a crowd of people coming to the castle. Monsters, Orges, humans. I think I see a sheep! I get inside and inhale. I try not to seem amazed, but this is even better than Queen Sleeping Beauty’s place. A bunch of candles are hanging from a rich purple ceiling. There are a bunch of soft and cushiony chairs on the ground. The ball room is tremendous! Gigantic! 

Queen Snow stands on the stage. Seeing her gives me the chills. Everybody sits down. Queen Snow puts on a totally fake smile.

 “Hi everybody!” Queen Snow shouts. 

Nobody says anything, but I hear some disappointed muttering. 

 “Great. Yup. I get it. I have made a decision. This is one of my biggest decisions. And honestly, I am not so satisfied with my choice. But… Please bow down to Queen Ella.” 

My heart beats fast. Mother nudges me.

“Go up there. Show them you are brave.” Mother whispers in my ear. 

I get up and walk down the aisle. Creatures howl and cheer. Queen Snow smiles. I step up the stairs. Queen Snow goes down the stairs, and when she passes me she whispers:“See what it is like, Ella.” 

I ignore her. I squeeze my long pink dress. 

“Thank you, everybody.” I say. I don’t know what to say. Do I want to give this big opportunity to my mom? There is a big pause. “Ahem. Sorry. I actually have some disappointing news.” I said. People whispered some more. “I don’t actually want to be queen very much. So I want to give this place to my mom.” I say. I see tears glistening in her eyes and she gets up. She walks down the aisle and gets on the stage. I hug her, and then awkwardly get off the stage. 

“Thank you, Ella. I look forward to seeing the awesome progress we will have together. You do not need to give away anything, and I will not make you or force you to do anything.” 

I look over at Que- I mean just Snow. She is scowling. This is okay. Everything went okay. 

Tom the Ghost

Tom is a ghost and has a secret place, a bookshelf. If you move the bookshelf to the right or left, you will see a hole in the wall. In the hole in the wall, you will see Tom. Books cover the shelf. The bookshelf is made out of wood. It smells like smoke and dust. It is very old and there are cobwebs. Tom likes to be in the library. 

Tom goes to ghost school because he is eight years old. He wants to have a friend. He has fifteen classmates and four cousins. He has no friends because he can’t talk. Tom writes with others since he can’t talk. He reads books and so do his classmates. He likes when the teacher has a read-aloud.  

Tom has lived in the hole behind the bookshelf for a long time. He likes to have privacy.  Tom was the one who made his home. He carved the hole. It took a long time. Inside his hole, Tom brought a TV and a couch.

There is a water bottle on the library shelf next to his hole. The water bottle is dirty because it is touching the dust and cobwebs. It had been there for five weeks. A little boy threw it on the shelf.  There are lots of people in the library. It is noisy for Tom. It bothers him because he can’t hear the TV.  So he sleeps. Tom is a very good sleeper. 

When he woke up, he realized that he didn’t turn off the TV.  He watched it. There were scary movies. Tom likes scary movies. Three hours later, he turned it off. He worked on math problems to get ready for fourth grade. He did six pages of homework and read four chapter books. Tom likes homework. He ate dinner. He watched the sunset through the library window. Then he saw a caterpillar. He is scared of caterpillars, so he ran to his hole. 

Tom wants a friend. The problem is, Tom is scared of bullies. And he can’t talk. It was a serious problem.

When Tom was bored he went outside. Tom likes to play ball by himself. Tom always plays by himself. Tom is lonely. One day, while Tom was playing ball, he saw a park by his library. At the park, Tom saw other ghosts. They were playing. They were all friends. Then Tom noticed another ghost. Tom saw that ghost push the other ghosts. Those ghosts ran away. Tom felt bad. 

The ghost bully saw Tom and chased after him. Tom tried to run away, but the bully caught his leg. Tom was sad and cried. The ghost bully pushed Tom. 

Tom stood up and ran to the library, to his hole.

The next day at ghost school the same thing happened. The bully was new in school. As soon as he saw Tom, he pushed Tom. Everybody saw it, and one classmate told the teacher.  

The ghost bully got in trouble. The teacher made him say sorry about what he did.

Tom made a heart with his hand and the bully knew what Tom meant. 

The bully said, “Does it mean we’re friends?”

Tom nodded, and the bully and Tom became best friends. His new friend’s name is Ben.  They played at the playground. 

The next day, Tom and Ben played at the park. Other ghost kids were there. Tom brought his ball. At first, the other ghosts didn’t want to play with Ben, only Tom. Tom did his trick. He made a heart with his hands and the other ghosts knew what it meant.  

They played ball, and they are all best friends!

Katie and Her Pillow Adventure

Deep deep down in the Pacific Ocean, on the sandy ground of the bottom of the ocean floor, Katie the Octopus has a house made out of coral and rocks. The house is behind an enormous rock in a coral reef. There is a lot of kelp and seaweed which Katie uses to cook. The water is pretty cold, but Katie doesn’t mind. Because she’s down pretty deep, it’s really dark, and not much sunlight reaches so far down. 

Katie is a bright orange octopus. She is very nice, especially to her squid friends. She has eight arms, as a normal octopus does. One thing that stands out on her is her calm, periwinkle eyes. Katie’s base color is orange, but she has burnt round orange spots. She lives alone, but her squid friends live right next door to her, and they hang out all the time. Katie also goes to school. Her school is called Academy for Young Marine Animals, and Katie loves school.

 A few years before, Katie’s parents gave her a super super soft pillow made out of sand and coral. It was pretty small, green and with pictures of waves on it. 

But then one day, her mom and dad were in a shark attack. The shark ripped her parents apart and she lost them. She cherishes the pillow so much because it’s the only part she has left of them. It lies on her bed day and night. Another reason she loves the pillow so much is because it smells like her parents. It smelled like fried kelp and seaweed which her mom used to make for her when she was little, like the bedtime stories her dad would tell her, and it smelled like the love her parents had for her. Katie adores this pillow and if something happened to it, she would be devastated.

Then one morning, she woke up and the pillow wasn’t resting under her head like always. It was gone! She suspected that someone had stolen it. One of her top suspects was this squid in her class named Anne. Katie used to be friends with Anne, but since the shark attack she’s been Katies enemy. Anne was probably still upset because her mom also was killed in a shark attack. Then a week later she started being mean to Katie. For instance, the other day in history class, Anne got a question wrong and everyone laughed at her. “Katie was the one who laughed first,” Anne said. 

“I wasn’t the one who started laughing,” Katie said.

Anne could have easily wanted to get revenge from the day in history class. She could have gotten into Katie’s house because when they were friends she would come over to her house all the time. Katie even gave her a key. 

I bet she still has it! Katie thought to herself.

So Katie goes to Anne’s house to make her give the pillow back. On the way, she saw a big school of fish swimming really fast. Something is probably chasing them, Katie thought. A great white shark was chasing the school of fish. It saw Katie and started chasing her! 

Katie swam into a cave only to find a bunch of sea snakes hissing at her. So she swam and swam and swam. Finally, she saw a bunch of orange coral. She used her amazing octopus camouflaging skills to hide from the shark, and the shark swam away.

A few minutes later Katie was at Anne’s house. She heard something that sounded like crying. Oh no! She thought. Katie knocked on the door. 

“Go away!” Anne cried. 

“Please just let me in,” Katie said. 

Anne didn’t reply. 

Katie remembered she had a key, so she started digging through her coat pockets. Katie loved her coat. One time, she was in the mall. She went into the octopus clothing store and saw the most beautiful coat. It was bright orange, just like her. It had eight arm and leg holes. The body of the coat was quite small, but the arm and leg holes were long and glittery. 

She unlocked the door and went to Anne’s room. It looked like Anne was hugging the pillow so tight the stuffing might come out. 

“Why would you take my pillow?!” Katie asked.

 “I’m sorry. It smelled so yummy, like the fried kelp my mom made me before the shark attack,” Anne sobbed back. 

“But why would you break into my house to get it?” Katie asked, confused

Anne replied “ Because I knew you wouldn’t give it to me. It’s the only thing that’s brought me closer to my mom. She didn’t leave anything for me.” 

Katie was cross with Anne, but she couldn’t stand to see Anne like this. Katie didn’t say anything so Anne kept on talking. 

“I’m also really lonely. I dont have friends or a father. You never noticed that I had no people to play with during recess at school.” 

Katie realized that Anne wasn’t mean, just misunderstood. 

“Are you sure you NEED the pillow?” Katie asked. Katie really wanted to get her special pillow back, but Anne is making it difficult.   

Anne said, “If I knew how to cook or sew, maybe I could have things for myself.”

            Katie wanted to find a solution for Anne, and wanted to get her pillow back. Katie’s mom taught her how to cook when she was little. Maybe she could teach Anne! 

“What if I teach you how to cook?”

“I don’t know if that will be enough.” Anne said.

Then Katie got another idea. “My friend Scarlet knows how to sew, she can teach you how to make a special blanket.”

“Ok, that could work maybe,” Anne muttered.

  “Alright, first I need you to give me my pillow back,” says Katie.

“Fine,” Anne says, aggressively.

“Ok, I need to go to the store and get ingredients.” And so Katie left with her pillow and was off to the store.

A few minutes later, she saw the shark coming again. She tried to hide behind a rock but it was too late! So she swam as fast as she could. Just before the shark caught her, one of her friends, Carlos sprayed the shark with his squid ink.

“Thanks Carlos,” Katie said.

“No problem!” he said.

Katie got to the store and went to the kelp aisle. She would just pick some kelp out of her garden, but unfortunately her plants were not looking so well. A fish had been chewing on her plants. She picked up a pound of kelp and headed to the oil aisle. The oil under water is different from the kind on land. This special oil is made out of a crushed up clam and its juice. That’s all she needs for the fried kelp. She has salt at home. She paid for the food and it was only two sand dollars.

Back at home, she put the food down and went to her bedroom. She placed the pillow on her bed, and felt proud of herself for convincing Anne to give her pillow back. Then Katie remembered that she needed salt. 

She went to the kitchen and did this special trick that her dad taught her. Since she’s in the salty ocean all she has to do is grab some water with two tentacles and use them to suck the water into her body keeping the salt on top of her tentacles. She brushed the salt off of her tentacles. Vóila, salt. 

Next, she needed to call Anne so that she could come over to start the cooking lesson. Katie picked up her seashell phone and called Anne. “Alright Anne, you can come over. I got the cooking ingredients,” Katie said.

“I was watching a movie and you interrupted it, but fine, whatever, I’ll come over,” Anne said.

About ten minutes later Anne arrived at Katies coral house.

“This place looks worse than the last time I was here,” Anne said, walking through the hard rock door.

“You’re not here to criticize my house, you’re here for a cooking lesson,” Katie replied. Katie was getting frustrated by Annes mean comments, but managed to calm herself.

Katie started boiling the oil. “First you have to put the kelp in the oil and…” Katie paused. “Are you even listening to me?” 

Anne was not, she was too busy watching some fish video on her phone.

“You know I don’t have to teach you,” Katie said, frustrated. “I thought you wanted to learn how to cook!”

“I said I wanted to learn how to cook, not have you be my teacher. But fine, I’ll pay attention.”

“So next you have to add the kelp, but don’t throw it in or else the hot oil will burn you,” Katie instructed. 

But Anne threw it in anyway. The oil splashed. “OW! This is all your fault,”Anne screamed. “Just give me the kelp.” 

Katie used rock tongs to scoop some kelp up and gave it to Anne.

The next day Katie went to school. After math class, the teacher, Mrs. Squid said, “Katie, Anne, I need to talk to you.”

Katie wondered if she was in trouble.

“Katie, Anne has told me that you hurt her.”

“Yes, she did” Anne replied, pointing out her oil burnt tentacle

Mrs. Squid said, “Katie, detention.”

“But – ”

“No buts, Katie, detention for one week.”

Anne swam out, giving a mean wave goodbye.

The next day at school, Katie went to detention. In her school, you spend the whole week in detention and whoever’s the detention teacher that week gives work for you to do. She walked in the detention room and saw an octopus and a squid, both the color black, they looked creepy. 

The octopus said in a creepy voice, “Hi, Im Banshee, ”and that squid over there is named Bloody. What did you get detention for? We stole kids’ lunch money to buy black coats.” 

Katie didn’t reply to that, she was very angry at Anne for getting her in detention for something she didn’t do.

Two days later, Katie went into the detention classroom and saw her friend Scarlet.

Katie was surprised. “Scarlet, what are you doing here?” 

“Well, let me tell you the story. I saw Anne and she looked upset, so I asked her what was wrong and she told me about the cooking class you did with her, and I offered to teach her how to sew, and she said that’s what you said, so I tried to get her to agree to do a sewing class with me, but she told the math teacher that I was forcing Anne to learn how to sew, but I wasn’t, and of course the teacher wouldn’t believe me, so here I am.”

“ Wow, that’s a lot. We need to do something so that Anne won’t keep bullying us,” Katie said.

Scarlet had an idea, “All she wanted was some delicious fried kelp and a special blanket right?”

“Yeah, what are you thinking?” Katie asked

“What if you make some fried Kelp and I sew her a blanket so she will leave us alone.”

“That could work. I have some extra fried kelp from the other day,” Katie said.

“I’ll start working on the blanket tonight.”

At home, Katie went to the fridge to find the kelp. She saw some salt, sea worms and at the back of the fridge she found the bowl of kelp. She went to her room to find some fabric to tie a bow on the bowl of kelp to give to Anne. Her room is quite small. All that’s in it is her bed with her pillow lying on it, her desk where she does her homework and her closet where she keeps her cool octopus coats. Katie opened her closet and found a bit of fabric that would work perfectly. 

The next day, Anne, Scarlet and Katie were in science class. Katie brought her kelp bowl and Scarlet brought her blanket. It was purple and had indigo polka-dots. It looked just like Anne. They planned to give the items to Anne after class.

“Ok, class dismissed,” the science teacher said.

“Hey Anne, me and Scarlet made something for you,” Katie told Anne.

“What did you get me?”

“Well, Katie made some fried kelp with the instructions stuck on top, and I sewed a blanket for you. It’s purple with indigo polka dots. It looks just like you,” Scarlet replied. 

Anne gave Scarlet a slight smile. “Thanks, but don’t think just because you did this now we are suddenly friends.” Anne was still slightly smiling as she swam away.

“Some things never change,” Katie said.

But their gifts worked, and Anne never bothers Scarlet or Katie ever again.

The End.

Annie the Seeing Eye Dog

The mall looked like a huge village full of stores. The floor tasted dusty like a shoe covered in mud. The people were really loud, there was music playing and people shouting. The mall smelled like pretzels covered in salt right from the oven, or smoothies made out of fresh fruit. Near Dunkin’ Donuts, in the food court, someone had placed a water bottle next to a table. The water bottle had art all over it. A person wearing a blue jumpsuit came and put the water bottle in a trash can. 

Annie was a seeing eye dog. She was a pomeranian, which was very unusual for a seeing eye dog. Annie was puffy, with light brown fur and short legs. Every Saturday Annie came to the mall to go shopping with her owner. She liked coming to the mall. Most dogs couldn’t come to the mall, but Annie could because she was a seeing eye dog. She didn’t care if the mall was loud because she had to be with her owner 24/7.

She also liked pretty colors. When she saw the water bottle near Dunkin’ Donuts, she thought wow, it’s really colorful. But the man in the blue jumpsuit threw it in the trash. That made Annie sad and furious.  

She barked at the man. You’re so mean, she wanted to say. 

Her owner said to “be quiet.”

Annie listened. If she didn’t do her job then she won’t be able to go to the mall and she wouldn’t be able to help her owner. And she loved to help her owner. It made her feel helpful. But the water bottle was in trouble, too!

The question was, how could she save the water bottle? 

She decided to be good, stay with her owner, and later she would get the water bottle. That seemed like a good idea. So she waited until the right moment. 

When the owner told Annie to take her to the store to buy some furniture, she decided it would be good to get the water bottle now. She dragged her owner to the garbage can. But her owner refused to get it for her! Her owner didn’t understand. Her owner thought it was just trash.

Annie was so mad!!! She whined and whined to her owner that she needed the water bottle. 

“Did you lose something special?” her owner asked.

Annie barked excitedly.

The owner reached into the trash. She brought out a banana peel. Then she brought out an old pair of boots. She also found a half-eaten apple. Finally, she found the water bottle.

Annie barked happily.

The owner said, “this water bottle has stickers peeling off it, and I think it’s dirty. I don’t think it’s good for you to have this.”

Annie whined.

The owner ignored her and made her keep going. They went to the drug store. 

All of a sudden, Annie spotted an aisle full of water bottles, and they looked more beautiful than the other water bottle that she had spotted!!!  They were shiny new! The problem was that all of them were so pretty!! She wanted all of them! 

Annie was so excited that she leapt up, knocking water bottles off the shelf.  The store manager rushed over. He told the owner that Annie was crashing the water bottles, so then the owner apologized. 

She asked, “are the water bottles from the trash?”

And the store manager said, “no, they’re brand new.”

The owner told Annie, “you can have one water bottle.’

  Annie spotted the same water bottle from the trash, except it was new. Annie thought it looked better than the old one and she liked the newer one better. She whined to her owner, and knocked it off the shelf. 

The manager said, “I’ve had enough of this!” 

The owner said, “we’ll buy that water bottle.” 

The manager sold them the water bottle, but said, “after today, you and your dog are banned from this store.”

So Annie and her owner bought the water bottle and left. 

Annie felt sad that she had knocked all the water bottles on the floor and gotten her owner banned. 

But her owner wasn’t mad. The owner heard from a friend that there was a better store where there were more seeing eye dogs, and even random dogs were allowed. That store was called PETS FROM EVERYWHERE. 

And Annie and her owner went there every Saturday instead of the mall.

 The End

The Tomato Trouble

Hi, I’m Tommy the racoon!

I hope that you will put some food out for me or even just do simple things like leaving your trash can open to give me food. If you do so, I will also bring food for my mom and dad and my 5 pesky sisters. 

But last night at 8, I went out looking for food, and when I was trying to recover some almost ripe and delicious tomatoes I saw a shadow behind me. It was big and shaped like my worst fear. They’re very ugly (compared to this handsome dude) and they’re very complicated. They leave food out for me in these things that are apparently called bird feeders instead of what they should be called—raccoon feeders, but then they’re mad because I eat the stuff inside them. Humans are one head-scratching creature.  

Enough about humans. I scrambled to the bush. 

“Dan, did you eat the heirloom tomatoes from the garden? It’s not funny. I need them for the caprese salad.”

The woman had hair that looked like noodles and eyes that were the color of the sky. The man shook his head. “I don’t want your tommy toes until you add dressing. Why don’t you ask the  neighbors to see if anyone else is experiencing tomato theft.”

“Fine,’’ replied the wife.

To my relief, the woman went inside, but the man just sat there and smoked. Unfortunately the silence didn’t last. Three minutes later the woman came back outside. “Apparently the neighbors have the same problem with their tomatoes.” The woman was talking like she just made a special scientific discovery. Humans are also definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I mean, duh, Sherlock if one’s gone they’ll miss other tomatoes too. I kept listening to their conversation but after a while they went inside. When they were out of sight, I ran to the tomato patch and picked the last tomato which they didn’t see. Another thing about humans, they have bad eyesight. ALL OF THEM. The tomato was one measly yard away and they couldn’t see it. It was now reddish green and hard to miss. I plucked the tomato and ran back home. 

“Where in the world have you been Tommy?” Asked my mother.

 “Out getting breakfast,” said my older sister Olympia. I didn’t answer, I just slowly trudged up the tree past the waking owl and thought about what was happening. I was now afraid that I would get caught. I was not going near those people again and I would warn my family later too.

After some thinking, I decided to take another walk around the neighborhood.  As I was walking around the neighborhood, I stopped at the spot where I always get my food. I heard the woman say “those dumb squirrels”

I looked at my delicious enemy who was trying to get to a bird feeder, even though  to a nearsighted human it looked like it was going at the tomatoes . I thought this whole thing was hilarious and Nutty the squirrel was barely getting away! “What are you laughing at?” Nutty snarled. “ Watch your elders,’’ I said. Nutty dodged the lady and ran.

On Saturday night, I was out hunting for food with my family when a huge truck showed up in front of us. It had the word “exterminator” on it in bright neon orange. I turned and ran, leaving the rest of my family running in different directions. I now live without them in a place that is called NYC which provides a lot of food.

That is the story of how I moved to NYC with no notice whatsoever. 

Grimm Getaway

Chapter 1

“OWW! Why did you slap me! I despise you Lihn!” 

“You slapped yourself and you know it Amy!” Well, meet my psychotic sister! When my little sister was born, I wasn’t jealous. I didn’t try to demand attention. I just helped my parents set up her nursery. I fed her and changed her diaper and took care of her while my parents were at work. She was the most talkative toddler I had ever met and used large words for her age . . . especially when we were alone. I was fourteen by the time she was two and my parents were starting to worry about her. I overheard them talking about her and from what I heard they were concerned why she didn’t talk yet.

 “Mom! Umm sorry for interrupting. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but when you guys are at work she talks a lot . . . she started talking last year and she uses surprisingly big words for her age!” I said in the most gentle way possible. 

My parents exchanged a look and ran to my sister with huge smiles on their faces. “Amy! Lihn says you can talk, can you say ‘mama’?” my mother asked. 

“Moomoo?” My sister asked. 

“Lihn why did you lie to us! I can’t believe you!” My father said with a look of disappointment spreading across his face.

 “I- I’m sorry I thought . . . nevermind ” I said. I didn’t sleep that night, Am I going insane? Is Amy going insane? Are my parents going insane? Is this all a dream? Do I need a therapist? Is my sister a psychotic maniac? DO I EVEN WANT TO KNOW!??!

Nope! I don’t need to know. That lasted about a month…

One night I woke up to get a glass of water and I heard noises that sounded like metal on rock. I decided to ignore it and ask Dad if he was up late sharpening knives for the butcher shop again, but when I asked he just looked me dead in the eye and said “No! And I thought I told you not to talk about knives in front of your sister.” 

I dropped it and decided I was just hearing things, but when I went up to take a shower before dinner, and my sister was sitting on my bed with my dad’s lucky butcher knife (the extra sharp one) in her hand, it was freshly sharpened. 

“Hello. Pitiful sister, I would like to welcome you graciously into my Grimm Getaway or as you like to call it the void! So just let me slit your throat ,and we will be on our way. Those imbeciles you call Mom and Dad will join you soon, and you can sit down for tea. My demons will serve you,” Amy said in the most annoyingly cheerful voice I have ever heard. 

When I didn’t respond she simply said, “I’ll let you gather your things.” She cut a deep cut in her thumb, smeared it on the door and disappeared.

 I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and ran to clean my door. That night I didn’t sleep. I just squeezed my stuffed giraffe wearing the Hawaiian shirt that I couldn’t sleep without and told myself it was all just a dream, it was all just a dream. I was starting to convince myself when I heard more sharpening noises, and it took all of my willpower not to hide on the inside of my window seat. Eventually I gave in. I brought a blanket, a pillow and my giraffe, Wynn, into the window seat and slept in there. It was cramped but I decided I would take a cramped space over my sister with a knife anyday. 

Chapter 2

When I woke up the next morning, I went downstairs and couldn’t believe my eyes. There were red drops and splatters leading up to the kitchen. I was terrified of what my sister had done, but I decided I needed to see for myself. MY SISTER WAS EATING SPAGHETTI-OS IN THE KITCHEN!!! My sister was making a huge mess with the spaghetti-os, and my mom was sitting there watching! 

“What is going on? Why is Amy eating spaghetti-os at 8:03 AM?” I asked. 

“She crawled into my room with a can of spaghetti-os, and I said, ‘why not?” my mother replied. 

“Umm because it is way too early in the morning to be eating spaghetti-os,” I said. My mom just stared at me and shrugged. I went back upstairs, after 367 seconds of silence in the kitchen I couldn’t take it anymore (yes I counted). When I went upstairs I took a shower and got ready for the day. 

One month later, I went up to my room to grab something, and my sister was sitting on my bed with the sharpest butcher knife in the house. Freshly. Sharpened.  

“Hello, sister! I gave you 37 days to pack. I hope you’re ready,” my sister said.

She just stared at me waiting.

 I ran downstairs. I heard my sister say something but it was drowned out by my pumping heart. I couldn’t breathe by the time I got to the backyard and locked the door. I collapsed on the floor, and everything went black.  

I woke up in the living room with the fan blowing on me and my mother sitting there staring at me. 

“You’re awake! What happened!?” my mother asked. 

“Where is Amy? What happened?” I asked. 

“Oh honey. It’s good to see you’re worried about your sister, but she was crying in your room when we went looking for you. You fainted and were out for 42 minutes and 53 seconds. I was counting.” I looked at my mother for so long I didn’t know what to say at that point. My mom just sat there for another minute and then walked away. I heard noises in the kitchen and just assumed she was cooking something. 

About an hour later, she came into the living room with a tray. On the tray was chilly with melted cheese and sour cream, a ceasar salad and some assorted cookies. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until my mom plopped it on my lap and said, “Eat up. You didn’t even have breakfast today!” 

That night, I stayed up way too late and decided to take my sister and myself to see if we were hallucinating. I felt strange in that sitting room with a 2 year old. Not to mention I’m only 14.

 I decided to only take my sister for an appointment, since she was talking about demons serving tea. They wouldn’t let me go in with her so I just waited hoping this would all be a misunderstanding. 

“Your sister does see many hallucinations but she is an interesting case. She uses large words for her age and is very smart. But anyway, she is very interesting because some of her hallucinations are based on real events. You will have to investigate that but…good luck,” the doctor informed me. 

Chapter 3

I spent all night trying to figure out what the doctor meant. When I went through my memories my brain stuck on one thing. She called it her Grimm Getaway or the Void. I remembered that one night her babysitter took her for a walk in the woods. The next morning, she told me she saw an abandoned house with a sign that said, “My name is Rachel Grimm and this is my getaway. If you have any demons, I will get rid of them if you sit down for tea in my void room!” I remember telling her how stupid that sounded, but maybe this is what the doctor meant by the hallucinations being based on real events. By then I was definitely spooked. So I decided I will forever sleep in the window seat…well at least until I figured this out. 

When I woke up the next morning I decided to take my sister to the abandoned house and see what’s going on.

 On the walk through the woods to find the house I asked who Rachel Grimm was. “She is my master. She created my Grimm Getaway. She commands the Demons…” My 2 year old sister is starting to seriously scare me. Her master? Seriously? 2 months to go and she will still only be 3!

 I asked her what her Grimm Getaway was and all she said was, “Your microscopic brain can’t even begin to imagine the wonderful things it contains, so let me make this easy for you. It is a big black luxurious abode in the deep dark void. All I need to get in is some of my blood, but for someone as pathetically normal as you, we will need blood from the neck!” AND I THOUGHT I WAS CONCERNED BEFORE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY SISTER!? The house was farther than I thought, and my phone battery was decreasing rapidly, not that I had service out there anyway.

And for some reason it smelled like rotting tangerines. 

After about twenty more minutes, we found the house.

It was old and definitely abandoned. It was kind of grayish purple, and there were so many splotches of peeled paint on the house it almost looked like polka dots. 

I tried to find the sign but instead I found an address,  

143 Raven Road

U.S  Massachusetts 

6663

“Do you think this is the new address of the person who lived here?” I asked my sister. 

“Yes.” 

Now I just have to find this address…Good thing I live in Massachusetts!

When I got home, I immediately asked my mom where Raven road is, “Oh! I can take you there, but first I need to know why.”  

“Umm…on our walk I saw a package that was addressed to ‘143 Raven Road’. And Amy wants to come too. She said her friend lives on Raven Road, and she wants to visit,” I lied. My mom agreed and said she would take us, but she had a dentist appointment, so I would have to take us home. 

My sister and I got out of the car the next day to knock on the door of the person who may or may not have corrupted my sister. This new house didn’t look much better than the old one, but instead of purplish gray paint it was bright green paint with what looked like pitch black paint underneath where the green was peeling. It smelled like artificial bananas and was sickeningly sweet.  

I went up to the house and rapped on the door 3 times. 

Chapter 4

The wood was old and frayed. I made a mental note to check for splinters later. I heard a grunt coming from inside the house, and the part of my brain that associates old, decrepit houses with ugly, old, witch- looking ladies was very surprised when I saw an eye so beautifully hazel it almost looked golden peeking through the peephole. 

“Oh, she is one of my little victims down there. She is the youngest victim, and the only one still alive…Well come in, come in.” The woman said walking towards a table showing off her gorgeous auburn ringlets. She looked kind of old school with her red corseted gown. It did look like she hadn’t changed or showered or anything hygienic in the past 50 years (and smelled like it too), but somehow she was still breathtakingly beautiful. Her house was as cluttered as the littered streets on the way here.

 I decided I should just jump right in. 

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER?” I screamed. 

“Awwww. Is that the only reason you visited? Why don’t you sit down for tea?” the woman said. 

Her face started twisting and stretching in ways that couldn’t be normal. Her beautiful eyes slowly melted into her face and left behind empty sockets. Her skin slowly started turning purple and melting into a contorted body. The only thing that stayed the same was her hair. Even her dress was melting. The only thing left of her after another minute of horrifying melting was her corset, her mouth, and her hair. Her mouth was dripping with blood and when she opened it her tongue was wrapped around an ax that was slowly coming out of her mouth. Her tongue was very long. The ax was a very large ax and her tongue was wrapped all the way around it. Her corset wasn’t naturally red. It was bloodstained and slowly melting away with her hand. Her hair was the only thing left normal. The tips were drenched in blood and with auburn the hair, it looked a lot like fire.  Her mouth still had an ax in it, but somehow still had great control. 

She went over to my sister and her hair went on top of my sisters like a perfectly fitted wig. My sister started mouthing words I couldn’t understand, so fast I couldn’t even try to lipread them. My sister went into the other room. When I followed her in, I saw at least 53 mannequins. My sister went over and cut the head off one of the mannequins. Then the woman (or what was left of her at least) went over to the freshly decapitated mannequin and placed herself over the nonexistent head and immediately the mannequin started to transform into the same woman that answered the door. Only, her dress was white. There was blood coming from her mouth, even with the ax gone, and it was staining the dress and making it the same blood red color as her dress was before. Soon the whole dress was transformed to blood red. 

Chapter 5

“Everytime I do this to one of my victims, it knocks them out for a few hours. Now she won’t hear what she is a victim of!” the creepy lady said. I guess I should be calling her Rachel. I mean it is her name.

 “So…your name is Rachel?” 

“Yes,” Rachel said. 

“Rachel, what is going on with my sister?” I asked.

“Ugh I guess this is the part where you pretend to be a hero and I have to give up my master plan because I think I can kill you so you won’t ruin it, then you ruin my plan and get everyone away safely. So the authorities can deal with me?” Rachel asked, sounding almost as bored as she looked. 

I nodded hoping I would get the easy win. I always hated the stupid heroes in the story who risk their lives for other people. Yeah, I’m not cut out for that kind of thing. “Yes, very well then. It was a dark and stormy night-.” 

“I don’t need your backstory, just tell me what you did to my sister!” 

“Fine jeez I thought that was how this works. I tell you the whole long story, you get caught in one sentence, and then you figure out how to thwart me!” I rolled my eyes.

“Basically I’m possessing a bunch of kids to kill as many people as possible. Your sister here is the youngest, and she is failing her job. She only killed one person, and he wasn’t even on the list. Oh, and if you’re wondering why she’s so bright for her age, I only choose kids like that because they can be more scary whilst holding a knife. So there you have it! I’m gonna let your sister go anyway because I was already planning to, but just so you know I don’t have a reason for killing everyone. Yes I knew you were going to ask that. I just want to-.” 

OK, THIS LADY IS MESSED UP! I should just grab my sister and run shouldn’t I? Or do I kill this lady? Or do I get the authorities the address so they can kill this lady? Yeah. Yeah, I’ll do that. I’ll get the authorities.

So…yeah I grabbed my sister, and I ran for my life!

But then I was lost, so I called my mom. She was at a restaurant, and I was a bit concerned she might be cheating on my dad. But I was gonna figure that out later. (A story for another time.) My mom said she would ask my dad to come get us. (When I asked who she was with, she just said it wasn’t my business.) When she hung up, my brain seemed to catch up with the situation and decided that that creepy lady could be following me. So I ran, and ran, and ran. 

And then I realized that my dad didn’t know where I was. So I called him, with the little battery I had left and told him where we were. I sat down to see if I could wake up my sister. I remembered I had a backpack with me, I brought two water bottles and a flashlight just in case, (But not a map? How dumb am I?) I poured some water on a random pack of tissues on the road. Yes I know it’s unsanitary, but that was a dire situation. I slapped my sister to see if that would wake her up, it didn’t but to be perfectly honest . . . she deserved a slap in the face. Although . . . she didn’t do it on purpose. I rubbed the wet tissue over her face to try and wake her up. It worked! 

“Hey, Lihn . . . Wh-wh-what happened. Are you okay?” She sounded so innocent I just had to know, “Do you remember a creepy lady named Rachel Grimm?” I asked. 

“No. Why?” Amy asked.

 “No reason!” I replied, trying to make the most genuine smile possible. I decided I wasn’t going to question why or how she forgot everything. I was just happy to have my sister back!

Epilogue

My dad picked us up and drove us home after that. When we got home Amy started talking around my parents. She has never done anything creepy since that day. I have never had to sleep in the window seat ever again (except when the neighbors are shooting fireworks). 

So, remember when I said my mom might be cheating on my dad? Well, she was. My parents got divorced. My dad is dating a woman named Emily, and my mom got married to the same guy she was in the restaurant with that day. His name is David. 

My sister is in 2nd grade, and I am in high school. Yes, I do still sleep with my stuffed giraffe, Wynn, and now he has a bucket hat AND a Hawaiian shirt, thanks to my sister.

I also now have a half-brother on my mom’s side named Dexter, and I still haven’t met him because my mom moved to California! I saw him when I was Facetime with my mom but never in person. I am going to meet him next month. I can’t wait! I am going to visit my aunt as well (she also lives in california). I can’t wait to see everyone! I never told Amy about her being possessed because I don’t want to bring it back. 

I watch Amy’s brown hair glint in the golden sun as she goes to greet her friends. 

“Dad! You Invited Charlotte AND Elizabeth!! They are so loud!!!” 

“Lihn, that’s no way to talk about your sister’s friends!” 

“Whatever.” 

So, as you can see, things are pretty normal. At least for our family. 

Sometimes even after all these years I still wonder how the world can be so peaceful, and yet, life is so scary…

Chapter 5, The Vanishing City

The reporters tried to swim but it was like their feet were bolted to the floor. Minutes later the city came back up with nothing on it. Not even the dead bodies. All the buildings and statues appeared exactly the same. I stepped on it and the dead bodies appeared for only me to see. 

“Do you see that?” I asked Carrot. 

“See what?” He said. 

“The dead bodies. They’re there again,” I said. 

“No, they’re not,” Carrot said, frustrated. 

I took one more step. “Now they’re back,” he said. 

I started to walk in the city, hoping I would not end up like the reporters. I didn’t. Soon the statue came to life. It told us that we were the chosen ones that were meant to save Atlantis from the spirits of the people who had died there. So Carrot and Topher geared up so they could touch the ghosts and defeat them. The first ghost they found was Topher’s mom. Topher started to cry. Then Topher hugged his mom and she became a dog again. 

Then the statue came over and said: “I forgot to tell you that if you hug your loved ones, they come to life again.” 

“Little late,” I said.

Crafty’s Adventure, Part 1

Crafty lives in a village next to the snow mountains. He wants a Snow Fang. A Snow Fang is a female lion covered in snow.

Crafty is in a war! He is battling a boat of small people. He sees a tiny hole on the boat, and inside the hole, he sees a machine gun. He shoots at the machine gun, and he blows it up. The small people put on a pumpkin head so that it protects them from the blow. Crafty shoots his gun, and the small people fall back. 

Crafty takes the ship. Crafty has a big ship that he’s going to use to find Snow Fang, but there is a crack on the bottom of the ship. Crafty takes a board out of his pocket and uses that to cover the crack and fix the ship. 

Next, he’s in a battle, and there is a pirate ship. 

“Ahhhh,” they scream! 

The pirates are rushing to the pistols, and they are rushing to the cannons. Crafty is putting fireballs into the canons, and there are other people helping Crafty. Crafty gets the first shot and hits the front of the boat. The boat goes BOOM! It sinks, and the pirates sink with the boat. 

“Phew!” says Crafty. Good thing I wasn’t those pirates, he thinks. 

Crafty is heading towards the mountains to try to find a Snow Fang. Crafty gets to the mountains and he comes upon three people that are battling them, who are Crafty and his army. Crafty won that battle. They walked and walked and walked until they came to another battle. They had chests and guns and there were more people. He thought, Wow, these guys are idiots. They started battling. 

Crafty beat the bad guys and won the battles, but he was still looking for a Snow Fang.

The Adventures of the Super Team #1

Chapter 1

Once upon a time, there were four super boys, two super girls, and a wicked witch. A volcano had just erupted in the city, and the people had to be safe and had to stay in their homes. The super boys and super girls had to save the day…

All the characters have different powers. 

They all have super cool powers and they are going to battle the wicked witch. 

Well, first, the Super Team had to make a plan to capture the wicked witch. The Super Team already knew where the wicked witch was because, at the scene of the volcano, Super Team put a tracking device on the wicked witch. Right now the wicked witch was in the forest. 

So the Super Team put their powers in place and they all successfully got to the forest. Then they met up and went around the rainforest. They decided to split up and then meet when one of them found her. But each of them saw the wicked witch in different places, but at different times, so they ended up seeing each other and cornering the wicked witch. But the wicked witch did not know they were there, so they spied on her from three sides then they all leaped and captured her. 

First, they tied her up. Then they put her in a locked cage. Finally, they took her to jail and locked her up in a jail cell. That was one job done for the Super Team for the day. 

Then the Super Team went home and enjoyed the afternoon with some hot cocoa and pizza. The Super Team played a board game together, and then, since they were all tired, they went to bed early. They had very sweet dreams also. Also, they were ready for tomorrow’s patrol around the city… 

The Super Team is a team where they work together and save the day even when the bad guy is tough. Here are the names of the Super Team from oldest to youngest: the first one said that their name was Invisible Kid, The second one said their name was Teleport Kid, the third name was Freeze Kid. the fourth kid’s name was Flying Kid, the fifth kid’s name was Animal Kid, and the sixth kid’s name was Unicorn Kid. 

Chapter 2 

There was a house and living in that house was a queen of witches and two thousand ghosts. In the house next to it, there was a Super Team. Every day, one house battled the other house. But in the end, no one won. The house with two thousand ghosts and the queen of witches was a very old house. The house that the Super Team lived in was a very nice house to live in.

One day, they battled for eight days, and after that eight days they were so tired, so they went back to their house. The next day, the queen of witches said, “How about we be friends and never fight ever again?” The queen said that because she did not really like fighting. 

Then another person moved into the house next to the Super Team house and two houses away from two thousand ghosts and the queen of witches. And twenty days later, they found out that the person that moved in was a bad guy. They found out by seeing all of his trinkets that were bad things. Only bad guys use that stuff.

The next day, they knocked on the door of the person that moved in and they were ready to battle with all their magic. He opened the door and was not ready and got poisoned and had to stay in bed for one year. He said, “I’ll get you next time!”

Well, the Super Team and Whist (which was the ghosts and the witches’ team name) decided that they needed to become friends and have another friend. So in two months, they made a magical potion to heal the bad guy who lived right next to them. Then when the potion was ready, they knocked on the bad guy’s house. When he opened the door he was surprised by what he saw. 

Super Team said, “We want to be friends with you so we brought you a potion. It can undo your wound. We also need help sometimes and sometimes we could help you.”

The bad guy had a huge smile and was grinning from ear to ear. He said, “I would love to be a helper for all of you, and thank you. Also, my name is Thomas and I am a wizard.” Thomas drank the potion and was great again.

From that day on, when the Super Team called for help, Thomas the wizard came to help them. The super team almost every day had a bad guy come, but not once did the super team fail. They always captured the bad guy.

Sometimes, if the bad guy is really bad, the Super Team has to take them to jail.

But the Super Team usually doesn’t do that because they teach the bad guy how to be good and nice. They also don’t like being mean and putting people in jail.

Chapter 3

There was a house and 2,007 people living in the house. All of them were good guys. Six of the 2,007 people were on a team. As you know, their team was called Super Team. They were brave and always saved the day (as you guys know). There were also 2,000 ghosts, and the one other person was the queen of witches. She was a bad guy before, but now she was a good guy. 

“We will betray the Super Team,” said the queen of witches. “We will battle them!” 

“Okay!” said the ghosts.

The plan Whist (Queen of witches and ghosts) made was this: in the morning, when the Super Team woke up for breakfast, they would secretly cover all four sides of the room. Then they would pop out and fight and the Super Team wouldn’t even have their powers. Whist predicted after that, they would win and take Super Team to prison…

A day later, when the Super Team woke up, they did their normal routine. They woke up, brushed their teeth, and changed. Then they went to have breakfast. They walked in normally with no sound in the kitchen. When each of them was getting their breakfast, one of the ghosts made an ooh sound. That’s when all six of them stopped and started looking. The queen of witches told that ghost “shh,” but she said it very quietly. 

After breakfast when all six Super Team kids were going to get changed in their clothes, none of them could get out because the ghosts were blocking them. But the Super Team couldn’t see the ghosts. 

Then out of nowhere, the queen of witches came out and scared all six of them. She said, “Booooo Super Team!!!” 

All the ghosts came out of nowhere and attacked the Super Team, and forced them into a corner. 

The Super Team had to think fast. So they ducked the ghosts, went to their room, got their powers, and fought Whist. The Super Team went to all on different sides of the room. They ducked and slid and could not lose this big battle. To make sure none of the stuff in the house got damaged, the Super Team took Whist outside to fight. The Super Team always had emergency powers if needed, and they needed to use them now.

The emergency powers are the same as the normal powers the Super Team has but they have more power, so when they used the emergency powers it powered Whist very very very far away. They blew away. It powered them so hard that they were in New Jersey and went all the way to Canada. After that, the Super Team was so tired that they went back home and took a long nap.

Chapter 4

Once there was a house where there was a mom, dad, and boy. The boy’s name was Thomas. It was three o’clock in the afternoon and the boy wanted to get a toy but his mom and dad said, “No!” 

So the boy said to his mom and dad, “Can I play a game with you?” 

His parents said, “We’re busy,” so the boy broke their trash can and the chairs. He was mad and grounded for one week. He did not go to school that week. In the room that the boy was in, there was a shelf of food, so his mom and dad did not have to make the food every day.

He finally got out of being grounded. The boy was so sad and even more angry. But he was happy that he got to play with his friends again. His friends were finally happy to play with Thomas.

“Ring, ring, ring,” went the alarm clock the Super Team had. It woke the Super Team. The Super Team woke up with excitement because they were ready to start the day. The evil wizard was only one hour away from the Super Team’s house. The evil wizard was going to attack the Super Team. At one o’clock in the morning, he put a trap in the Super Team’s house. A booby trap that only one spell could work to undo. You could only find the spell in the Amazon Forest.

The Super Team woke up and saw that they were locked in their house. They knew that there was only one spell that would undo the trap. But the evil wizard didn’t realize the Super Team’s powers. The spells are magical spells so you need magic. Then, the Teleport Kid tried to teleport out of the house. It didn’t work and he just hit the wall with a boom! And he hurt his arm. He said, “Ouch!” 

***

They had to find the medical kit to fix his arm with a BandAid and then he’ll get much better. Animal Kid said, ”I am going to make sure Teleport Kid is okay.”

Freeze Kid said, “Oh my god! I want to see who’s out there!”

Flying Kid said, “I want to fly out the roof!” 

Unicorn Kid said, “I’m gonna push this thing!” 

Teleport Kid said, “I’m a little bit okay, but not all better.” 

There he was, the bad wizard, out the door. The wizard was laughing, “Hahahaaa.” 

Unicorn Kid hit the house with all her might and the house broke and then hit the wizard. The wizard tried to fight the Super Team. Freeze Kid froze the wizard. Flying Kid flew around the wizard. Then Invisible Kid pushed the wizard and the wizard fell.

***

But then the wizard said, “I’m still good.” Then Thomas came out of nowhere and did his karate to the wizard. Then the Super Team thanked Thomas and gave him a medal for helping them. 

Chapter 5

The Super Team cast a spell on the evil wizard so he would be dizzy. So when the evil wizard went to the streets, he would bump into people, so when the evil wizard went to the streets he bumped into people and he got bumped back because they didn’t like getting bumped. 

One person that was walking by got bumped by the evil wizard. The evil wizard was covered in lemonade because he kept bumping into people. The person said, “You need to have better manners!” 

“It’s not my fault! It’s your fault!”

“What did I do?” the other person said. 

“You pushed me,” said the evil wizard.

“No, you pushed me first,” said the other person. Then all the people there made faces at the evil wizard.

The evil wizard stayed there for 20 days. He was still alive because he was a wizard, but Invisible Kid was spying on the evil wizard so he did no funny business. 

After that, he saw a sign. It said: “find a treasure chest and you will get your own secret lair.” Invisible Kid wanted to get that lair for his team so he started looking for it.

Invisible Kid was going back to his home. He was looking and looking and looking for the chest. He couldn’t find it. He was so busy looking that he got lost. He knew the chest was in the sand. He knew that because the sign told him. 

***

A little while later…

The man in front saw the pretend money and ran after the evil wizard as fast as he could run, but the evil wizard ran faster.

Invisible Kid was still looking and looking, but in the forest, he wasn’t giving up even if he was lost. He kept looking and finally bumped into a tree. But he got up and then he saw sand, so he decided to dig. He couldn’t find anything. He dug for at least three days and he was determined he was going to use all his might. He was very, very, very hungry though. He finally found it on the fifth day he was digging. He found it. He knew he would find it. He opened it and it pushed him back three miles! 

“Aaaaahhhhh! Where am I?” said Invisible Kid slowly. He saw close by there were a lot of maps across the street. Invisible Kid ran and got a map and saw he was by a beach. He luckily had his bathing suit. Invisible Kid swam all the way to the end of the ocean because that is where the treasure chest could be. It took him two minutes to swim to the other side of the ocean. He knew it was on this beach but still could not find the treasure chest. 

Invisible Kid saw a potion in the water. It was really big and the can was purple. The potion said, “There is a chest inside this potion.” But another person swam and took the potion. So Invisible Kid went invisible and swam as fast as he could to get the potion. But the other guy was too fast! 

So Invisible Kid went to a store and got his favorite food. His favorite food was pizza and so he ate a whole pie of pizza in one bite and he was ready to run as fast as he could. ‘Cause with pizza, he can run super fast. 

So he ran and took the potion ‘cause he was super fast. He saw that that person was the evil wizard. But the evil wizard was too slow to catch Invisible Kid. Then Invisible Kid looked in the potion and saw the chest. It was mesmerizing. He took the chest and evil wizard and went home. The Super Team put a spell on the evil wizard so he would always be good.

***

One month later…

The evil witch was spying on the Super Team. she had the power to freeze. The evil witch has a magic stick and when she points it at somebody for five seconds the other person will freeze. The evil witch grew up to be evil. All her family were evil. The evil witch lived in the town. She grew up in the town. She was mean so nobody wanted to be her friend. So she wanted to be a bad guy…

“And yes, I will be a bad guy,” the evil witch said when she was five. The evil witch was a real bad guy… after that moment, the evil witch was EVIL! That was the time she became evil! 

Then, to be evil, she started pushing and shoving the children, but the teachers were too scared to talk to the evil witch. The teachers told the police and they came right away. When the five year old evil witch saw the police she was really ready to run. She was a really fast runner. So she ran as fast as she could when the police tried to catch her they wouldn’t. She was just running farther from the police. She was on her own, and then found a stick. She kept it if a police would come then. The stick had magic powers and the powers went into her body. Then she put her hand on a tree and the tree was frozen. Then she knew her power was that she could freeze. She knew her power was amazing.

***

After the Super Team made the evil wizard good they returned the chest, but they didn’t take the lair. They didn’t take it because there was someone else who really really badly wanted it, so they wanted to be nice. 

A day later, the Super Team was reading the news and they heard an evil witch robbed a bank. The Super Team wanted to research to find out more about the evil witch. They found out the evil witch liked collecting chests, so they wanted to take all of them so she didn’t rule the world. They split up to get all the chests. They would communicate by talking through their walkie-talkies.

Then when all of them were finding the chests, they saw there was one more chest, so they decided to let Invisible Kid do it. Invisible Kid had been searching and searching and finally found the chest. Unfortunately, the evil witch found the chest at the same time as Invisible Kid did, so then they had to fight for it. 

First Invisible Kid turned invisible and stepped closer and closer to the chest. Since the evil witch didn’t know where Invisible Kid was, she just protected herself and the chest. But out of nowhere, Invisible Kid snatched the chest and ran as fast as he could. When the evil witch tried to chase him, out of nowhere, Teleport Kid came, got Invisible Kid, and brought them both home. After they were both home, Super Team went back and fought the evil witch. Since the evil witch was outnumbered, she lost.

***

After that, the super team turned the evil witch good. They also decided to return the chests since the evil witch and wizard were good now.

THE END.

The Elf Story

Once upon a time, there lived an elf. His name was Elfy. He was a good elf and was helpful. One day, Elfy remembered when he was sick and thought about when he was in the elf  hospital. So, today, Elfy wanted to see the hospital because it helped him heal. 

Elfy had wings so he flew there; it was only a five-minute flight. When he got there, he was confused because it looked like a big, abandoned building. Elfy thought it was the wrong place, but on the side of the building, there was a ripped and torn sign that said, Elf Hospital. Elfy was really sad the hospital was abandoned. But, to cheer himself up, he decided to look through the things there and see if there were any cool memories.

When Elfy started looking, there was a little crackling sound: crackle crackle. But Elfy was brave and kept looking for memories. Then, all of a sudden, the electricity went out, and it was pitch black. 

Elfy took the memories he could and went back home. When Elfy was home, he looked through the memories and thought about the hospital. 

THE END.

Mr. Poodle and the Stray Cat, Starburst

One day, there lived a poodle named Mr. Poodle. Mr. Poodle had no friends, making the only stray or soon-to-be pet, a lost but kind cat, his only option. Mr. Poodle was a 13-year-old, living pup with his own family, made up of Mrs. Poodle and his three children, Marcy, Darcy, and Barcy.

Mr. Poodle was a lone pup while growing up, meaning his only friend was his teacher, Mrs. Brat. Mrs. Brat was not always a brat, you know. And so every single night he would wish upon a star and say, “I always wanted a friend. Give me a friend.”

’Til day one of 2013 he had been begging for that.

Meanwhile, the other pet, or should we say stray cat, named Starburst, was also in need of a friend. Her story was that she had lost her papa, and her mom was shot and taken to the hound. Stary got her name from a piece of wrapper she found in a trashcan named Starburst.

So, on day 145, Stary was eating up used garbage in the trashcan ’cause that’s what you find in a trashcan. In another 15 minutes, Stary was vomiting in the trash!!

Mr. Poodle was walking down the street when he saw Stary on his property.

He barked, “Get off! My owner may send you to the hound!!”

She did what she was told.

The next day, she came to the trash can (where she had vomited), finding Mr. Poodle with the rest of his family. She thanked him and said, “Thank you for saving me. You know, I’ve been wanting to ask you something. Of course, that something is: Mr. Poodle, would you like to be my friend?”

Mr. Poodle blushed and said, “Of course,” and so they hugged each other from day 146 to the last day of life for both of them.

Crafty’s Adventure, Part 2

Editor’s Note: This action-packed thriller contains violence and murder.  It may be scary for some younger readers.

Chapter 1

One day, Crafty was in his tank and driving it towards war. He was going to battle the Apple Army. The Apple Army loved eating apples. He wanted to make a house on their land. The Apple Army was really mad at Crafty. They didn’t want him to make a house on their land or take over their land. 

Crafty arrived on land and drove his tank around the area. He found people sitting in a camp. There were tents everywhere and sleeping bags inside them. Crafty ordered his army to kill the people. He was able to get their supplies and packed it up in his tank.

***

They went onto the ship to get rest. They boarded the ship with their tanks and left. But in the night, they got attacked by the people that were camping. Something that surprised them was that the people were bored. He got knocked off the ship. Then they killed all the people who tried to sneak attack them. Some of the people were even alive. Near their ship was an airplane. So he got into his tank and shot the airplane down. 

Then Crafty had to repair the ship. Then the ship was driven somewhere else behind more land. They drove the tanks off the ship. Then they found the perfect stop to make a camp. They made their camp and went to sleep. 

***

The next day, they started chopping down trees. They gathered all the materials needed to build a cabin next to the ocean. Then they built their dock so they could dock their boat. They made their cabin out of stone, too. They found a lot of stones and went to sleep. 

***

The next day, people came onto their land and found their castle. They tried to take over the castle, but they were swept into the water. Then they went into the castle. Then they went outside and went on one of their ships. Then they found a pirate ship and attacked. Then they raided the ship. Then they blew the ship up because they couldn’t use a straggly, old ship. After they blew it up, they went back home to go to sleep. 

***

The next morning, the pirates were outside. Then Crafty got his gun. Then he woke up the other soldiers who were sound asleep. Then they took out all the pirates. Then Crafty got in his tent. Then they heard a gunshot. Then they saw a British tank at the British camp. Then they attacked. Then, after they won, they looted it. Then they set it on fire after they raided it. Then they went back home. Then they chopped down more trees. Then they went mining. Then they made their castle even better. Then they sailed the seven seas. Then the pirate ship was seen. The pirate ship blasted the ship apart. Then they were never to be seen again. Just kidding. Then they had to swim to land. So then they swam back to land.

Chapter 2

The next day, Crafty woke up because a pirate was next to his bed! The pirates took over their beds. Then they locked him in the pirate ship, but his cell had a pistol in it. Since there were only ten people on board, they went out and shot all of them. They looted the ship because they had a lot of good weapons. They went back to their castle. There were only ten people on board because they dropped fifteen off at the castle. They fought them and jumped off their ship. Then Crafty spotted a German sitting there. Since there were tanks, he shot the tanks. Then he went to bed. 

***

The next morning, soldiers were at his house. Then he found a rifle and shot a German down. There were very hard tanks outside. Then Crafty had a hard tank, so he sneaked outside from the back door because there were no Germans in the back door. Then he took his tank and drove it around the corner. The other tanks didn’t even notice. Then he shot both of the tanks. BAM! They exploded. The good news was that there were no survivors. The bad news was that it destroyed half of his house. He had to rebuild it. After that, he saw another tank. They were on a boat. Then he sneaked onto the boat in his tank and shot the boat. Crafty shot a missile at the German ship. The German boat was not sinking that much. He shot it, like, ten times. Then it started to sink faster. The Germans noticed, but when he shot it once, they didn’t even notice, but when he shot it ten times, they felt it. The water came onto the boats. 

The Germans were like, “Ahhh!” 

Then one came on the boat and spotted Crafty. He was like, “Hey, Crafty’s over there!” 

The Germans were like, “Whaaat?” 

Crafty started to drive away, but then, as soon as he started driving, bullets were raining down on him because the Germans were shooting. Then he shot the missile again. Then it started sinking faster. Then people fell overboard. Then he drove away. Then he went to the military, and he trained to be a soldier in the military. He had to march, march, march, and kill people, which sounded very boring to him. But he said yes. He marched until he saw Germans. They scattered and tried to shoot the Germans. Then tanks came. He was relieved when tanks came. There were only 30 troops left. More troops came because the general heard about it. Then even more troops came. Then it was a very unfair battle because the Germans had, like, ten soldiers left. They called for backup, and there were a hundred and fifty Americans. Then Crafty said to one of the tank drivers, “Have them shoot the part where their heads are peeking up.” 

The person said yes and shot them in the head. Then Crafty used his grenade. The last five soldiers were dead. Then the Americans took over their base, but more Germans attacked. 

End of book two.

Escaping from Alcatraz

A kid should not read this book. Bad dreams. Of being stuck in Alcatraz.

In San Francisco, there was a prison called Alcatraz. It was a place for people who did something really bad. In 1948, Alcatraz was still open for prisoners. But nobody knew that there was one convict who was trying to escape from that island. He was looking for a way out of that filthy place. His plan was like this: he would trick the guard into his cell, and then he would pull the bomb out of his hand and throw it into the hallway. And that would make his cell blow up. Using the dust in the air, nobody would be able to see him. Then he would pull out the bomb from some guards. And a rifle.

“It’s lunch time, Number 3984!!” one of the guards said. 

Ah, I thought, it’s time to get out of this filthy prison. So I pretended to be dead. Anxious, the guard came to my bed. When he got closer, I got up as fast as I could and punched the guard as hard as I could. The guard fainted the instant I hit him, with no sounds. I looked at the guard to see if he had a key. During the time I tried to find the key, I really thought I was silly because Alcatraz has a door that’s electronic. So no one could escape in a stupid way. Like unlocking the door with a key. 

Desperate to get out from that prison, I threw the bomb into the hallway. The guards yelled, “What the – ” but it was too late for them to stop the bomb. After ten seconds, the cell blew up, and the hallway was filled with dust. Nobody saw me approaching the guard. And nobody saw me taking off a few more bombs and a rifle. I ran to the door of the prison and finally escaped from the prison. But it was my mistake that it might be the end of my prison escape.

Two more guards were waiting outside as a surprise. They were armed with lots of new weapons. Like machine guns and some more things. I simply said, “I will surrender.” 

They actually did believe a liar. When they tried to put on a handcuff, I punched them with my elbow in their stomachs. They threw up and just fell into the ground. Pretty easy to fight a guard. 

But the real problem to escape from there was crossing the ocean to go back to San Francisco. No one could swim through that gap in this cold weather. So the only way to escape from there was to take the boat that was heavily guarded by guards who were armed with the U.S. Army’s newest weapon.

To fight them, I picked up every single weapon from the two guards. Bombs, M16s, and M16s with mini rockets. It was really heavy with the guns all over my body, but I still had the power to carry it. After a minute, there were ordinary guards only armed with a rifle. But there were still 18 guards, so I threw the bomb with gas on it to the guards, and when all of them were coughing, I escaped.

I went up to the tower and saw 489 guards guarding the boat. So I thought, The only way to the boat is to make the other prisoners jail break and make them fight with the guards. So I went back to the filthy prison where people were locked up in the filthy prison and the guards fainted. So I pushed the button and made the door open. 

Many people went out. They went through the door by kicking the guards as payback. I followed them out, passing them weapons and things. There were 153 prisoners. Enough to fight the guards who had never had a fight. Two guards approached, and the gangster beat that guy up. They went to the shore and fought with the guards who were armed with only guns. I gave them M16s and some bombs, so the guards were no match for them. Also, some of them were people who were trained at the finest academy in the U.S and the U.K. So that made the guards fall off from the land to the shore. I already cut off almost every single thing that could connect to the outside world. So nobody could connect with the government and bring some more work like the FBI or the CIA. 

And, finally, when the deck was clear, I used the boat to escape to San Francisco. I found a lot of money in the boat. I went to the airport and bought a first class ticket that goes to Hawaii. No one will find me again.

To be continued… 

Will You Be My Owner?

Chapter 1

I woke up from a dream of kibble. Then I looked around and did not see any kibble whatsoever. That’s how I came to my conclusion that it was all just a dream. There were just bars of metal and the sound of lonely dogs howling. I was a quiet dog for my age, keen and cautious, always looking for whatever danger could be lurking around. I sighed. We never got piles of yummy kibble topped with strawberries like in my dream. I thought the animal shelter was nice. It gave us food, water, and shelter. Warmth, too. But it didn’t give us something we needed most. Love. Well, it did give us love, but not permanent love. Everlasting love. From an owner, I mean. I’m a corgi, and I stick with my pride. I’m hard to impress. Well, not anymore. I used to be, when I was living a happy life. I used to have a human. A wonderful human. But one day, there were tears. One day, there was a box. One day, there was an empty street. That one day I will never forget. I just don’t understand. Why would my human do that? She loved me. But she left me. Well, one day, I was walking around my cage when a sweet smell came in. A girl. She was carrying muffins. Yummy-looking muffins. The kind of muffins my friend, Checkers, would like to howl for until someone gave it to him. That was always his strategy. Lots of talking. That’s the thing. Humans talk too much. That is, from a dog’s point of view. We dogs don’t talk too much. Only the necessary things. I would like to have a conversation without the necessary words. With dogs, sentences get too short. Let’s move on. 

The manager came to us and said, “We have a new volunteer. She’s going to be walking you.” He patted my head. “She’ll be starting today!” 

Then he walked back when the phone rang. 

“Hi, cutie!” the volunteer told me. She was a girl, and she scratched my back. I wagged my tail. I was trying to ask her for some muffins. The next day, she came back with a younger girl. She whispered, “This is my daughter, Lily.”

 I sniffed Lily’s hand. It smelled like crackers and lotion. I licked it. She laughed. “You’re so friendly, Charlie!” 

Charlie? I didn’t have a name, but I liked Charlie. I’m pretty picky, and no one had ever found a name I liked, but I was satisfied with Charlie. They came every day now, taking us for a walk. For some reason, my girl always got a tiny bit of kibble in her pocket, and she gave it to us if we were good on the walk. She would always say, “Sit,” or “Stay,” or “Come,” or “Heel,” and I didn’t have a clue what they meant. But I figured if it involved food, I would do it. We would never do anything, though, but she would just laugh and give us a treat even if we cocked our heads. My girl never took the little girl with her on walks. The little girl would just stay in the shelter and wait. One time, though, the little girl did come. She fed us lots of treats, so I decided I liked her. 

But one day, no one came. I was worried. Very worried. I was pacing around my kennel when Checkers came and asked me what I was doing, but I just ignored him and kept pacing. He kept asking, but after about 30 minutes, he gave up and went to his bed. The next week, no one came, and I started to get really, really worried. After two weeks, the girl came back without the Lily, but she did come with a dog. I know. A dog. I couldn’t believe a dog held her up for two whole weeks.

“How’s Lily doing?” asked the manager. 

The girl smiled and said, “Fine, thank you.” 

I sniffed the dog. She growled at me. Rude! I tried licking her. I tried nudging her. I even let her chew on my ball! But, no matter what, she ignored me. She just pretended like I wasn’t there. I gave up and retreated. I didn’t enjoy these minutes of my life. Everyone was ignoring me. I had just wasted ten minutes. I sighed. I might as well get something done. I went to take a short nap. I had a nightmare. I was walking when I saw my girl. I ran to her, but she just was out of reach. She reached out her hand. Slowly, it turned to dust. Oh, no! It was horrible. I woke up scared. When I finally came to my senses, I looked around and saw the dog in a cage. Phew! My girl still loved only me. I don’t know why I call her my girl. I just hope she will take me home and give me that everlasting love I need. Over the next few weeks, my girl didn’t come again! But when she came back, she looked very tired. 

“Lily just came home from her heart surgery,” she said to the manager. “I’m so glad my daughter is okay!” 

The manager smiled.  I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but I could sense the sadness in her voice. I whined. When she came over, I nudged and licked her hand. She smiled a weary and sad smile. I whimpered and whined all day long. If my girl was like this, something horrible must have happened to make her this sad. If she was sad, I was sad, and everyone (every dog, I mean) hates it when I’m sad because I whimper and howl all day long. And that’s exactly what I did. I howled until my throat was sore and my mouth was dry. I lapped some water from my water bowl. I was really bored and sleepy. I took a short nap and woke up. My girl’s smell came drifting in. Click. She opened up my cage door. 

“You first.” She took me to our usual spot. But then she opened up the big gate. I didn’t know you could open that big thing! So many new smells. Almost too many to count. Almost. (I counted 231.) I rolled on the grass. I dived into some leaves. My girl laughed. I found something. Something moist, tall, and green. I ate it. It wasn’t half-bad. 

“Don’t eat the grass, silly!” She laughed. What? Never mind. I ignored her and ran all around! my girl came and unclipped my leash. Yay! Afterwards, she took me back to my cage. I wanted to stay out there forever.  Next, she took Checkers. I caught a glimpse of them. Checkers didn’t get to run around, though. He got put in the car. And I never saw him again.

Chapter 2

That happened quite a lot now. One day, my girl came to me and muttered that she would find me someone and that, one day, I would finally belong to someone. I don’t know what that meant, but I knew it wasn’t good because she was pushing back tears. I could tell. I licked her hand comfortably and supportingly. I sat down. I was bored again. That happened to me a whole lot. I missed Checkers. Who would I tell stories to? Who would I talk to in my free time? Who would be my best friend? I was pushing back tears. Even though dogs can’t cry, I was on the verge of crying. I tried to imagine Checkers running around happily, but it was hard, too. I just couldn’t help but wonder why. I came to the conclusion that he was going to be with his human. If that was true, I hoped he had a good human to play with him every day. But what if his humans were the worst?  And why did he have to leave me? I just wanted to curl up in my bed and be sad. So that’s what I did. I was really bored. Like I said before, I got bored easily. The following day, my girl came back. 

“I really want to keep you, Charlie!” she said, dully and sadly. Huh? “Someone is adopting you tomorrow. I’ll miss you! They will be picking you up here. I should be happy. I’m sorry. Plus, on the bright side, you’ll be happy!” She was blinking back tears. She hugged me and kissed me on the top of my head. “You’re the cutest dog in the world!” she exclaimed. 

Ack! Well, that was sudden. If you didn’t know, dogs don’t like surprises. Especially corgis named Charlie. Like me. The next day, a big van pulled into the parking lot. My ears perked up. A couple of people came in. Three, to be exact. Two big people and one small person. I sniffed. The small person was a girl. One big person was a woman, and the other was a boy. I slowly stepped back. The woman had long, golden hair with dark brown eyes. The little girl was a miniature copy. The man had dark brown hair and blue eyes. They reminded me of a blueberry. I know. Weird. I snuggled inside my bed. The little girl pointed to my cage and said, “Look! His name is Charlie!” 

“It’s her…” my girl said impatiently. I wonder why. I was going to stay with her forever, and I could cheer her up every day, so why was she crying? I wobbled over like a newborn puppy. I barked calmly and softly to the little girl. I nudged her hand and licked it. It did not smell like crackers and lotion. I was disappointed. I left and took a short nap on my bed. Soon I got lifted up and put into a box. I yipped and whined. 

“Woah! Easy, girl!” the manager shouted. He scratched me behind the ears. I calmed down. I still whined softly, though. I got put into the big van. It was pitch black in the box. It rocked and slid all over the place! I did not like this one bit! I decided to just settle down and deal with it. I was wondering about my girl. What if she left me like Checkers? I hoped she didn’t. I was sure she was there with me. She was always there with me until she left because her shift ended. I was sure she was trying to comfort me but I just couldn’t hear it. I thought. I hoped so. I wanted to know. I didn’t know, though. And that’s what was making me worried. But, that’s the thing. I hoped. I didn’t know.

Chapter 3

After I stopped bumping around in the darkness for a while, I opened my eyes. The thing had jerked to a stop. I heard footsteps. Something opened, and hands grabbed me out of the box. Soft and calm muttering and whispering. The man opened the door. Shouts. Surprises. I don’t like those types of surprises. Whooping. Hollering. Ears hurt. My ears hurt. I yipped for some peace and quiet. There was a long silence. Then louder hollering. This time, I howled. Very loud. 

“STOP!!! You’re scaring her!” the little girl shouted. She picked me up and ran up the stairs into a big room. She shut the door. There were soft pillows and rugs. There was a closet with some mirrors. There was a big drawer. She took a pillow and put it into a drawer. She put me on it. It was comfortable, and I fit perfectly. “This will be your bed for a while. Until we get you a proper bed, I guess.” Where was my girl? Suddenly there was a loud sneeze. It was followed by a series of coughs and sneezes. “MOM!” She ran down the stairs. She took me with her. “Mom! I don’t feel so good.”

Afterward, the woman came and took me. She put me back inside the box. It slid around again. The woman took me out and gently carried me to the shelter. At the shelter, she told the manager that her daughter was allergic to dogs and that she was very sorry. She left. Later, my girl came. 

“Oh! Charlie! You’re back!” Then there was lots of talking. “Oh. I understand what happened,” she whispered to me. I licked her. She shook her head and laughed. I didn’t understand, but that didn’t matter. I was back with my girl! 

Chapter 4  

I snuggled up in my bed like I always do. I looked around. Wait! I thought I saw a new dog in Checkers’ cage. I walked up to her and politely sniffed her. She sniffed back. She licked me. I licked her. Lots of back-and-forth things. Here’s what I knew about her: she was a puppy, she was a girl, her name was Daisy, and she was curious with a bubbly personality, just like Checkers. It made me miss him a whole lot. My heart ached. I wanted to tell someone about Checkers and how he was such a great friend. So I told Daisy. And I added all the non-essential information into my sentences, too. 

After I finished telling everything about Checkers to Daisy, I decided to rest my mind because it was zooming with thoughts. Actually, it was mostly zooming with questions and not thoughts. My biggest question was: did Checkers miss me the same way I missed him? I hoped so. I also hoped that my girl would one day take me home. I could imagine it. The warmth. The kibble. The love. And with that, I slowly but surely fell asleep. Sound asleep. The shelter door opened. That’s what woke me up. My girl was here! I licked her and rubbed my nose on her hand. She giggled. I got a scratch behind the ears. She took me on a walk. The whole time, she was talking to me. I wasn’t listening, though. I was thinking about Checkers. Oh, how I missed him! I could howl all day for him and not get tired. Super tired, I mean. I would definitely get tired. I realized that it was about time that I would be taken away by someone who was not my girl. 

I had more nightmares then. One was where I was in the big, dark house, alone, and then the door creaked open. I barked and yipped, thinking it was my girl and she had come to get me. But it was not. Someone came and flashed eerie and angry eyes at me. I whimpered. The person took me and dumped me in a box, and it slid all over again. Then there were car honks and bright lights. It was raining hard. I got thrown on the street, and I was hurt physically and mentally. My body was hurt, but so was my heart. That was the worst nightmare I had had yet. I trembled. 

The next day, I waited for my girl. But instead of her, someone new came. A girl, younger than mine. The new girl was filled with interesting smells. I wanted to distinguish all of them, but I just couldn’t. I got confused and ended up stumbling backward. I yipped after I stepped on my tail. Ow! I licked my tail and eagerly came and sniffed the new person. I named her “my girl Jr.” No, that sounded weird. How about “the girl?” That sounded casual enough. And, plus, she would never ever be my girl. I only had one girl. I sighed. I trotted around my cage, acting all excited. But, to be honest, I wasn’t all that excited. I wanted my girl, not the girl. Sorry if it gets kind of confusing. My cage opened. The girl got a leash and clipped it to my collar. She patted me. 

“Come on girl!” she said, but I didn’t budge. Who was ‘girl’? I knew the command “come on,” but I didn’t think she was addressing it to me, so I just lay down. I yawned. The girl talked to the manager for a little while and then came to me and said, “Come on, Charlie!” 

I jerked up and followed her. I exchanged a little conversation with some of my friends while the girl was looking at a square-shaped device. She laughed randomly and typed something on the device. Huh. A sound came out of the device and she put it to her ear. Weird. 

“Hi, Mom. Okay. All right. Yeah. Okay, thanks. Uh-huh. Bye.” She shook her head and laughed. She kept on looking at the device. I wandered on the street. So many different smells all just came shooting at me. I was really curious. I stepped forward. I tripped on the curb. Pain rushed quickly.

 Just then, an engine roar came. A big black vehicle came, like the one I went on before with the other family. It was zooming at me. I whimpered and whined, trying to get the girl’s attention. I was hurt, and I couldn’t get up. I barked this time. No one came. I was scared. Very scared. Suddenly, a dark shadow came over me. I thought the car was running me over! I thought this was the end. But, right then, light shone. I opened my eyes. Trees. Grass. Sun. I was alive! I’m pretty small, so the car must have gone over me! 

“Oh! Are you okay?” The girl scooped me up. She walked back to the shelter with a solemn and melancholy look in her eyes. I never saw her again after that. I was waiting for my girl the next day when I decided to talk to Daisy.

“Hello, Daisy. How are you?” 

“Fine, thank you. You?”

“Oui, je vais bien!” 

“Huh?” 

“That’s French! Weird, huh?” 

“Yeah!” Daisy smiled. “What’s French?” she asked. 

“Umm… a language, I guess?” 

“You sound like you’re not sure…” she said with a mischievous look on her face. I grumbled. 

“Well, I am!” I said. I raised my head high. She giggled. “I don’t think you’re taking me seriously, are you?” I said grumpily. Now, her giggles broke into a series of laughs. I frowned. “All right. Humph!” She was laughing so hard that she could be crying by now. I sighed and just smiled at her. “All right,” I repeated. This time, it wasn’t filled with annoyance, but it was filled with care. I curled up for a daily nap. 

Chapter 5

The bell on the shelter door dinged. That meant my girl! I jumped up and barked. 

“Hi, Charlie!” I licked her hand. I nudged her pockets, looking for treats. I found a tiny kibble bone and munched on it. “Charlie!” My girl laughed. She sounded serious but happy at the same time. I cocked my head. “Oh, I just wish I could adopt you. I’m too busy, though. With all my work. I know you understand.” She gently lifted up my head. She smiled through the tears that were starting to roll down her face. I licked them. Salty. She laughed. She kissed me and opened up my cage. She clipped on my leash. She wiped her tears and took me outside. “Oh, Charlie. I will miss you when you get adopted.” I yipped in agreement, even though I didn’t understand. She stopped. She sat down. She hugged me. “Oh, Charlie.” She started to cry again. “I heard what happened to you. With the other girl. I just can’t believe it! So caught up in her phone that she let you hurt yourself!” 

I could feel her boiling up with anger and irritation. I licked her face. She didn’t laugh, though. I was disappointed. That always worked. I yipped and barked and started wagging my tail. I just had to get my girl happy. I understood now. I was supposed to love and cheer up my girl. That was my purpose. That was life itself, its purpose. I needed to spread my love. I needed to guard her. To make her think life had a purpose. Yes, that was my mission and my purpose. I nudged her gently. She smiled and scratched me. When I got back, I talked to Daisy. I was just wound up with emotion. Dogs don’t feel very strong emotions like humans do. But sometimes I do. I just wanted to bundle up my emotions and throw them away or something to get rid of them. I felt so much love toward my girl. I felt like… she was special. One of a kind. The best owner a corgi could ask for. I smiled and felt happiness and sorrow swell up in my heart. I swallowed tears. I just can’t explain my feelings at that time. They all just mushed up and bundled together. I was feeling too many things all at once. I started crying. Not really tears and all. But super sad. Like I was crying. Oh, I sometimes wished that dogs couldn’t have sadness. But I was also glad. That I had experienced life. That I had experienced love and emotions. I trotted happily, suddenly feeling good for myself. I smiled. 

The next day, my girl came. She petted me but walked right past me! She walked to the manager and said, “Want me to handle Charlie’s new owners?” 

The manager nodded. A man, not much older than my girl, came. 

“Hello. I’m here to adopt uh… umm… Charlie?” he stammered and sputtered. 

The manager smiled. “Yes.” 

The man nodded nervously. 

“I’m a very busy man,” he said. 

The manager’s smile turned to a frown. “That’s not too good.” 

The man stammered, “It isn’t?” 

“No.” The manager looked slightly disappointed. The man looked nervous. 

“Well, I can still take her, right?” the man said right away. 

“Let’s see how it works out,” the manager said. He sounded concerned. The man smiled a crooked smile. One that kind of creeped me out. I had a bad feeling about this man. He nodded nervously. 

“Well, I’ll be off, then!” he said. He carried me in an awkward kind of way. 

“Woah!” said my girl. “That’s not how you hold a dog!” 

My girl did something with her arms, as though she was holding something, and the man copied her. Much more comfortable. He took me outside. He took me to a small, yellow thing, like the big, black one but, well… small and yellow. I got put into a box AGAIN! It rolled around AGAIN! I should stop capitalizing the word “AGAIN.” I really didn’t like this. I wobbled and tripped. Twists and turns were not pleasant for me since every time we had to turn, there would be a stop sign. The car would jerk to a stop and keep going really fast. Too fast. My stomach lurched. Something told me I shouldn’t have eaten the burger crumbs that were dropped on the floor. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the car stopped for good. I sighed with relief. I paced back and forth around the car. Suddenly, the trunk jerked open. I jumped out, expecting gentle hands. Instead, I hit the ground. I looked around. The man was nowhere to be seen. I looked everywhere. I’m not being dramatic. I was really worried. Suddenly, rough hands took me, and I got placed in the car. Soon, we were at the animal shelter. Lots of talking. I heard the man say, “I’m sorry, but I just can’t handle a dog.” 

I finally got put into my cage. What happened? It was all so sudden. At least my girl would come, and I would be happy. At last, I could be happy. I have this weird feeling. When other people I love take care of me, like the manager, I don’t feel incredibly, off-the-world happy, and it doesn’t make me calm. But when I’m with my girl, I do. Kind of weird, I don’t know, sensation or something. I can’t explain it. But I might as well be happy rather than complaining.

Chapter 6

From the very beginning, I have told you about me and my girl. I have told you how we were supposed to be together one day. But I have finally realized why there were tears. It’s because we are meant to be together, but we can’t. I can’t be with my girl. I’ve dreamed, and I’ve hoped. But that’s just not reality. And it’s never going to be. But, sometimes, the world will give you hope again. Hope for you to rise up. Sometimes the world will give you what you want. You just have to hope and love forever. Now, let’s get back to the story. The doorbell rang. It was a cloudy, gloomy day, but my girl could cheer me up. She walked in with a smile. 

“Hey there, Charlie.” I yipped. She scratched me. “I got a surprise for you after, okay, Charlie?” I wagged my tail. She took a treat from her pocket and threw it at me. This was a trick she taught me. I opened my mouth and caught it. I nibbled on it. It tasted like beef jerky. It was too big for my small mouth. I struggled to get it into my mouth completely. I eventually just gave up. After my girl took me on my daily walk, she said, “All right, Charlie, ready for the surprise?” 

I cocked my head to the side. She laughed. She cli pped on a bright blue collar and leash I had never seen before. She talked to the manager and walked out the door happily. She carried me to a blue car – it looked shiny – and put me into a box. What’s the deal with humans and boxes? But she opened it, and I popped my head out. I was next to my girl! After, like, five minutes, we got out, and I saw a nice home next to a lot of similar homes. There was a fence next to the door. It was big and brown and made of wood. She took me to the doorstep, and she took a small curvy thing, put it into another small curvy thing (it was smaller), and opened the door. Warmth. I jumped out of her arms. Then I realized something. I thought that me and my girl would never be together. That’s why there were tears sometimes. But, to my surprise, I was wrong. I am happy now. I am so happy now.

Coco and Rosie

Part 1 

Once upon a time, there were two sisters, Coco and Rosie. They lived with their mom, dad and grandma. Their dad was in charge of the house but he usually would say yes. His name was David. Grandma Mimi was eighty-seven years old. She came to New York from Africa when she was seventeen. Mimi was their mom’s mom. Mimi liked flowers and ran a flower shop called Mimi’s Flowers. Their father was a police officer. Coco loved to learn, and she loved school. She always said so, and always studied. She loved to study biology, geometry, and history. Rosie just sat in Pre-K. She cried, pooped, and ate. One day Coco was talking to Mimi. 

“Why did you bring me over here?” asked Coco.

“I need to talk to you about studying. You work too much and I think we should have a vacation. We are going on a cruise for a year. I know you’re going to miss school, but it’s going to be more fun! Your teachers sent me some homework you can do, and turn it in next year,” said Mimi.

“I’m not sure about this. Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“I am organizing it right now. I just wanted to tell you so that you don’t get overstressed,” said Mimi.

Coco felt nervous. She felt like no one would like her anymore because she was going to be gone for a year. But she felt okay about not studying because she did feel overworked.

Coco packed her bag and Rosie’s, but because Rosie’s was very small, she didn’t have to pack that much. On the cruise, there was a whole bunch of food, a whole bunch of games, and fun things to do. She played in the pool a little bit, and even though she really missed studying and school, she was having too much fun to think about it. She met two girls and three boys. The boys were really nice, but she was a year older than them. One of the girls had the same birthday as she did, and the other one had a similar birthday (but it wasn’t the same day). They played games together like Bingo, Marco Polo, and Limbo. After that, they all went to bed and woke up in the same room. But, for some reason, Coco wasn’t there. 

They looked all over for her, and even tried to call her. But she didn’t answer. She was flying away to go back to school. Her family had taken a small boat to the shore and gotten on a plane back home. Coco was miserable because she really liked the cruise. But they had to leave because Mimi thought that everyone would get boatsick. She had totally forgotten about it because she was too busy organizing and planning everything. When they got back from the cruise, Coco ran into her bedroom and started crying. 

But a year later, all of her friends from the cruise came to visit her. She was so happy that she was speechless. She got a letter that said that if she wanted to, she could go and join College University. Everyone was so proud of her. 

Eight years later, she was twenty-four working as a nurse, and made enough money to help charity. Coco moved to Africa and Mimi came too. Because Coco had to go to work three times a week Mimi had a caregiver. 

Three days later, Mimi fainted. Coco had to take Mimi to the hospital. They found out she had lung cancer, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. But, her whole family flew in from New York so they could check on her. 

For two months, Mimi couldn’t go anywhere except her house and all she could eat was soup and water. So the family stayed so they all could have a family trip. But they didn’t get enough tickets so they couldn’t. One person would have to fly by themselves. 

Coco took the one ticket and flew by herself. She was worried, but also happy because she was nervous about something happening to her like the plane crashing or almost hitting the water, but she was happy that she got to drink soda. 

She looked out the window and it looked beautiful. She saw the ocean, she saw birds flying. She also saw a rocket going into space. She was so amazed that she forgot all about her family. She took a whole bunch of pictures until 6 AM. She fell asleep. At last, she got to her house. She was so happy to see her family. Mimi was alright, and everyone was so happy. 

Coco went back to Florida. Instead of being a doctor, she wanted to be a nurse. So she went back to school, where she finally became a nurse, and she stayed in New York City. She got her own house, but she visited her family every single day. She still sometimes helped with the flower shop. Coco had a party to become a nurse and doctor. Her parents, friends, cousins, grandparents, sister, uncles, and aunts were there. It was a blast. 

Grand Canyon Race

Once there lived a cheetah called Dash. Dash lived in Slot Canyon, in the upper Antelope Canyon, and loved racing with the other cheetahs. One thing she loved about racing was that she could leap from side to side on the curves. It was a really short race and Dash wanted a longer race. She wanted to go to the race in the Grand Canyon but she needed meat to pay for the race and hunting was the perfect job, so she joined her mom in hunting. Her first two hunts were not that good but she got good at it after a while. After a month, she had enough meat to afford the race so she packed all her stuff and said goodbye. She traveled for about two and a half days, including water breaks. When she got there she saw the longest race she had ever seen. She saw a big hotel for the racers and in the middle of the hotel, there was a big, filtered drinking pond. When she entered her room there were leaves for a bed, and her room was a little cave. Dash slept because she was tired from the long long walk and run and because it was night. She woke up early at 5:30 AM and practiced running until six in the evening. This race was really important for her and she took it seriously. After she ran, she ate breakfast. She was surprised that she didn’t need to hunt, and she ate her rabbit and antelope. After eating, she was coached and the class really helped her run even faster. Her day was packed, and she forgot to eat lunch. For dinner, she ate half of a kudu. The next day, she would have to run the race and she needed to rest. Dash woke up at 6:30 AM and the race would be at 8:30 AM. She ate a small antelope and a little bit of her leftover kudu for breakfast. She then took a bath and used leaves to dry herself. She styled her hair with some grass hair ties. After that, she practiced for the race. The prize was a bunch of meat and a trophy. Dash was nervous, but it was time for the race so she took her spot and started racing. It was super fun but she was also nervous because someone else was first. Negative thoughts filled her head like “I can’t do this,” and “I’m definitely going to lose.” Then she realized the whole reason she wanted to be in this race was to have fun. So she set all her negative thoughts aside and had fun. And she was winning! Just half a mile and she would win the race. Dash did her absolute best and she reached the end in 40 seconds. Dash won the race and she received her meat and medal. As soon as she won she started packing up to meet her family. When she got there and told everyone in town, she was famous! 

Willa Jean Queen of Summer

On the hottest day in the middle of July, young Willa Jean sat pouting on the bench next to the playground, in the fresh shade near the mulberry bush. As the other children played nicely on the play structure, Willa Jean sent them dirty looks. Now, it wasn’t exactly that Willa did not like these kids personally, but that Willa Jean hated not receiving attention, like now. How dare Mrs. Rosét send her to the red time-out bench? How dare her mom send her to summer camp?

Willa tried to look unbothered and occupied, but it felt very uncomfortable smiling while Willa’s mouth was so tired, so Willa Jean relaxed her mouth. Willa could not stand looking sad and lonely while she was in time-out. She decided to entertain herself by pulling on a leaf from a bush behind her.  

“Willa Jean,” called Sadie Lu, the CIT stepping from the red-doored summer camp building. “You can not go play until you say sorry to Juliana.”

“No,” said Willa Jean proudly. “She doesn’t deserve my honest apology.”

“You hurt her feelings,” said Sadie Lu, calmly. “And I am sorry, but you may not go play until you say sorry.” Fortunately, Sadie Lu knew Willa Jean very well by now. She knew you had to argue with Willa Jean to get her to do something before she did it. 

“Explain to me exactly how I hurt her in any way?” protested Willa Jean, “I, in fact, didn’t even touch her. I was just independently playing on the mat.” 

“Willa, you know what you did, and if you can not confess you will have to stay here until you do.” Sadie Lu had paid no attention to the things Willa Jean had said. 

“Fine,” muttered Willa Jean. She might not be able to use a proud voice anymore, but she was definitely not going to use her desperate voice. 

“So I can go get her?” asked Sadie Lu.

“Yes,” confessed Willa Jean. She stood very still as Sadie went to get Juliana.

When Sadie arrived with Juliana, Juliana stuck her tongue out at Willa Jean, who did not hesitate to do the same. Sadie looked down at Juliana, who immediately put on a puppy-dog face and said in a hysterically fake voice to Willa Jean, “Sadie, is Willa Jean going to say she is sorry?”

“Yes,” answered Sadie Lu, which Willa Jean found very offensive because Sadie Lu never listened to her when she said stuff like that. “Aren’t you Willa Jean?” 

“I’m sorry, and I take back… nothing!” Willa Jean declared, head looking down upon Juliana like she was older.

“That’s not fair!” shouted Juliana, hand sticking out to Willa Jean, eyes looking at Sadie who was definitely too young for a situation like this. 

Sadie sighed. “Willa Jean, please say you are sorry.”

“I just did!” protested Willa Jean, who thought she had definitely won this battle.

“You did not! Nuu-uhh.” snapped Juliana.

“Yu-huh,” hissed Willa Jean. So Sadie, the guardian of this problem, was satisfied with her defeat and said they could both go play as long as they kept their distance. 

That baby, thought Willa Jean. I bet that baby Juliana doesn’t even know how to tie her own thick pink and perfect laces. I bet her mom does it for her. Willa Jean felt pleased with her own maturity and rushed to the slide to slip down. 

A day could never be better than this.

The Suburbs

Our family had just moved to the suburbs of New Jersey. I had lived in a city my entire life. In a way, it felt wrong to live in a wooden house with anything I wanted. As our family came towards the house, I realized what had been terrifying me. The house was said to have been occupied by a family that had strangely died one night. Their bodies were said to be there, waiting to find someone and…

 “Leo!” my mom called. She was trying to unpack the luggage, yet was struggling to make progress. “Come help me unload the trunk, and carry the bags down to the basement,” she said. Suddenly, my heart froze. Basements in the city were okay to go in, but those in the suburbs seemed different. If the family that lived in this house had really died, going into the basement would be their entire plan. Instead, I got the luggage and went up to my room. The moment I put my foot on a stair, it started creaking. I slowly went up the staircase, and found my room rather quickly. It was near the attic, and was easily accessible as it was just on the right of the top of the stairs. I unpacked and went to explore the new house. I wasn’t really that much of an outside-type-of-guy. Living in the city had its pros and cons, too. Going outside was definitely a con. Yet in the suburbs, you could have the freedom to do anything you want. Even though I wanted to go on the TV and get my controller to start playing games, another part of me wanted to get as far away from this house as possible. So instead of making my parents mad, I went outside to find some new friends that could distract me from my dead bodies theory. 

This was the first time I was able to let the stress go, and I realized that it was early morning. I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood and get a view of things. New Jersey definitely won the award for the place with the best scenery in which I have ever lived. There were woods all around me, which I guess is a plus for all the things I experienced that day. After coming back from my short walk, I came in to eat lunch. There weren’t any restaurants, so we had to do the best we could with the food we had. Soup wasn’t my favorite option, but to keep my mind off the dark theory, I decided to just eat it. The day passed quickly, and in what felt like three seconds, it was already time to go to bed. 

Now, I am not the type of person who wants to go to sleep with a teddy bear, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I turned the lights out and tried to go to sleep. I kept tossing and turning, not able to rest. The trees were rustling, the cold wind making me hide under my blanket. Around 1:00 AM, the door creaked open. My brain finally got put to use. My head snapped up, and my body somehow felt warmer. The entire dead body basement idea didn’t feel like a joke to me anymore. I saw a shadow of a tall woman with long hair walking toward the living room. I crept out of bed, and silently prayed she didn’t see or hear me. When I was halfway across the room, she turned around. A dark hood hid her face, yet I could see her looking straight at me.

 “AHHH!” I screamed. I ran to my parent’s room, and jumped on the bed. I got under the covers. I heard footsteps coming towards the room. Closer, closer, closer, and stop. Then, the woman pulled the hood up revealing a white bony face with gleaming white teeth. Her smile was so bright, I couldn’t see what happened. Then, darkness took over.

The Secret Power

Lowe was running for her life. She clutched the magic orb and then soared into the sky. The clones were chasing her, beating their wings as fast as they could. The rainforest must be close now. If not, I think Launta would accept me just as well as Mari…There! The humid temperature and the mist of the rainforest came into sight as well as a patrol of six dragons. But they didn’t see her. Lowe tried to shout, but heavy talons grasped her snout and her voice became a muffed shriek in surprise. You’re not getting this! She thought as the clones tried to snatch the glowing orb in Lowe’s claws. Finally, she twisted her way out – but one tough clone pounced on her and sent the orb sailing into a giant boulder. 

“No!” Lowe screamed. “Help, somebody come!” Crack!  The orb shattered on the boulder. Only cracked pieces and shards remained. 

“Who’s there?” a voice yelled. It must be one of the serpents on the patrol!  Immediately, the clones fell back and disappeared into the haze. But not all. The same tough clone took one look at the shattered pieces of the orb and quickly snatched a medium-sized piece before joining the other clones. 

“No!” Lowe shouted, but he had already gone. She carefully cleaned up the broken pieces and stuffed them into her sack. 

“Who are you, and why were those clones after you and that?” The same voice from before had come. He pointed to Lowe’s sack with one sharp wing tip.

“My name is Lowe. I come from the Sky Mountains, and I’m a secret agent working for Xunsu Feng. I’ll tell you everything that happened just now. But with Mari and everybody,” Lowe said quickly. 

“Very well, but there’s one thing I would like to know. Why would they send a serpentet?” the serpent asked confusingly.

Lowe paused.  “Because Xunsu Feng knows what he’s doing. He knows I’m skilled. He knows that I’m better at stealing things than most other professionals.”

The serpent stopped. Then nodded. “I understand. My name’s Vine. Come on, I’m taking you to Mari now.” 

***

They walked and flew together in silence. Finally, Lowe could see a giant wooden platform with a wide palace on it. It was concealed from above because there were trees and vegetation growing above the platform. Smart, Lowe thought.

 “Here,” Vine said. He guided Lowe into the wide palace made of wood. Inside were two dragons, one light blue with silver spots. The other, who was larger than most dragons, was dark blue with faint yellow stripes. Lowe realized that the bigger one had a sky blue crown, and had matching anklets that had light blue sapphires embedded in them. That’s Mari.

“Well, who’s our new visitor?” Mari said. 

“This is Lowe, your majesty. She comes from the Sky Mountains. Lowe is going to tell you her story about stumbling into the rainforest with a bunch of clones chasing her and about that magic orb.”

Mari snorted, then walked over to a box on the ground and opened it with a key. She pulled out a crumpled piece of paper rolled up like a scroll.

“Hrm. This is what Feng meant?” Mari rolled open the paper. “All right. Silverspot, tell everyone that there’s a meeting at the Platform.” The light blue dragon nodded, then flew out the entrance. “Follow me,” Mari said.

***

They all flew to a wide area of wooden planks called “the platform.” The wood encircled a tree. Its height, from the looks of it, was about 300 feet tall. Eek! This tree is so tall that it makes me dizzy! Lowe thought. She saw dragons and serpents of all ages and sizes land either on nearby trees, the tree that the platform was encircling, or on the platform. Vine started to drift off towards a nearby tree when –

 “Vine, where are you going?” Lowe asked.

“Well…You see, every dragon or serpent you see in this forest is ranked. The higher ranked ones, such as Mari’s commanders, are on or closer to the platform. The lower ranked ones are farther away from the platform. Why do we do this? It’s because we can’t fit every single being on the platform. Every reptile deserves to hear what Mari has to say. Even if they don’t have to do anything with what she says.”

Lowe tilted her head.

Sigh. I know it’s a lot to process. But look for necklaces or wristbands with this pattern.” Vine showed a blue limestone wristband on him with five tiny wood carved sticks. “This shows my rank, Level five.”

“I see.”

“Anyways, I have to go now. You’re obviously important, go on the platform, look out for the wristbands and necklaces!” Vine shouted, and with that, he darted away.

Well, I guess I’ll just go on my way. Lowe flew and landed on the platform. Lots of confused looks were directed towards her. 

Mari stepped besides Lowe. “Finally, our storyteller is here, ”she said.

“What?”

“She looks like someone swallowed her only gecko!”

“She’s suspicious.”

“Yeah, she could be an imposter!”

“Mari, with all respect, I’d like to ask: where does this serpent come from and why are they speaking?” a solid red dragon asked harshly.

Lowe spotted Vine. He pointed to the red dragon, as if it was a message saying, Look there! Ah-hah! His wrist! It showed one wood stick. But there was something different about the color of the bracelet. When Lowe saw Vine’s wrist, the band was blue. But the red dragon’s band was faint yellow. I shouldn’t focus on that right now, c’mon Lowe! Pay attention to the speech!

“This is Lowe, she will do all the explaining,” Mari went on. “The floor is yours.” A sharp hiss from Mari came.

***

Nervousness crawled onto Lowe, each scale on her prickled with fear.

 “Well, it all started when uh, Ruler Feng told me to steal the glowing resistor, a special sphere that is purely magic energy, called light force. Light force is used to repel dark forces. That’s why we can use it to defeat Ophanar. But, uh, while I was getting chased uh, the orb broke. Here’s the thing, I got all the pieces but a clone stole one, we need to get it back.”

Where’s that red dragon again? Ah-hah! All the other dragons and serpents have blue bands. “Mari! I’ve found an imposter – he has a faint yellow band and all the others are blue!” Lowe whispered. 

“Conceal? You’re right. Tell everyone, I’ll signal my guards to catch him, once you shout. And if Conceal escapes? He won’t. I’ve set traps all around here.” 

All right, Lowe, time for a time to open my mouth. “Dragons and serpents! All around hear me!” Lowe cried. “There is an imposter among us!”

The Miner

A not-so-long time ago, in a mining district, lived a miner named Bob who was poor as dirt. He supported his family by buying a meager supply of cabbage and coal he snuck out of his mine for their stove. His job was hard and time-consuming, and he was forced to travel thousands of feet down each day to mine coal. He developed a hacking cough and was extremely sick, but in order to survive, he continued his job.

One day, Bob traveled down in the rusty elevator like he usually did. It looked like it was going to be a normal day. But, as he turned the corner, he saw a large, shiny thing sticking out of the cave wall. He went closer to get a good look, but the supervisor caught him. 

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” he yelled through his megaphone. 

Bob, frightened, went right back to work. But he hadn’t forgotten the object. That night, he thought up a plan to sneak into the mine and investigate. He snuck onto the elevator and as the doors closed with a grinding screech, he steeled himself to enter the damp mine. As he reached the shiny object, he slid a dusty finger across it, revealing a blotch of gold. Bob’s heart rate increased as he revealed more gold. He made a mental note of the vein, and then ran home.

The next night, he brought his rusty pickaxe into the mine. He wandered around until he found the vein, swung at it, and made a small crack. He repeated this a couple of times until the chunk fell out, leaving him with a chunk of gold the size of a football. He then ran all the way back home.

The next day, he was going down in the elevator, planning on traveling to the market after the day at work. The gold was in his mining suit, tucked away into a pocket. All of a sudden, the elevator screeched to a stop. The gold chunk loosened itself just a little bit so that it poked out of Bob’s jumpsuit. Bob didn’t notice, as the elevator quickly started moving again. As Bob stepped out of the elevator, the supervisor walked up to him. 

The supervisor patted him on the back. “What’s up? How’ve you been doing?” 

Confused, Bob thought, What has gotten into him? The supervisor then hurriedly rushed away. Bob shrugged and went back to work. Meanwhile, the supervisor was huddled in a corner, smiling and holding a pile of gold.

Bob, on his way home, realized that the gold was gone. He then realized that it was the supervisor who, in bumping into him, had pickpocketed him!

Bob rode the elevator back down, and at the bottom, met the supervisor who was waiting for the elevator. Bob grabbed his collar and slapped the gold out of his hands and back into his, then dashed into the elevator. He tried pressing the “close door” button, but the supervisor was too quick. He got in just as the elevator doors shut with a groan. The elevator began going up as Bob and the supervisor grappled for the gold. Bob managed to wrench the gold out of the supervisor’s hands and shoved him up against the wall just as the elevator arrived on the surface. Bob ran home, panting. 

Upon arriving home, he, while gasping for air, told his family that he would be leaving for the market. 

As he made it to the market, the merchant at the pawnshop stall offered to pay $1,000 for the gold, more than Bob was expecting. He paid for some food for his family and medicine for himself, and they lived happily… for the next month.

Becky

“Today is the worst day of my life.”

It wasn’t, of course. The worst day of Martha’s life had been the day her whole family died in a fire fifteen years ago. But her otherwise painfully dull life living in a small cabin created a need for some drama. And it was hailing. Looking out the window, watching the hail assault the earth, she couldn’t help but feel that the six-day hailstorm was some sort of punishment. For what, she couldn’t be sure. As the puddles grew larger, the hunger (her last grocery store run was seven days ago) began to set in. And as she grew weaker, dark thoughts seeped into her mind. Maybe it was her fault her family died. Maybe she could have saved them by getting home a few minutes earlier or destroying the stove the previous day in a fit of inexplicable foresight. Or maybe it was because she had gotten cake mix instead of eggs from the supermarket last week. The more she thought about it, the more things she discovered which could be the cause of the hail. The more ways she could have stopped them. If only, if only.

“When will it end?” She moaned to her favorite pan, Becky, which was sitting on a pillow on the kitchen counter next to her. Becky was silent. “Maybe it was the time when I was six,” she muttered. “I was at the ice cream store, and – ” 

Something hit the window and clattered to the ground loudly. She gave a small start, then looked outside. It was not hail. It was a rock. She sighed shakily and looked out into the woods. A teenage boy quickly ducked behind a tree, his cackling muted by the distance and the glass. It wasn’t the first time her home had been attacked. The people of this small town were known for disliking the strange and different, and living in a cabin in the town park was decidedly strange and different. The boys of the town often liked to express their opinions on Martha’s lifestyle through violence. The walls of her cabin had had to be repaired five times already. But there was nothing she could do. No one would listen to her, and she didn’t know how else she could live. She couldn’t bear the crowds of people and their uncaring, obligatory condolences after the fire, like a blanket meant to be comforting that was actually suffocating when wrapped around a child that was too small. She needed solitude, but she also had to be somewhat close to other people, because she couldn’t exactly farm her own food. When she first thought of it, the idea of the cabin in the park had seemed perfect, and it hadn’t taken too much work to acquire a permit to make it a reality. But if she could take it all back, she might just go and live in the woods, even if it meant giving up cake. 

As if to say “All right, then, go,” another rock came hurtling toward the window. It met the glass with a noise that sounded deafening, then actually made a crack – small, but nonetheless a crack. Martha gasped and scrambled for Becky. But she was too late.

Another rock came flying at her, evidently thrown by Roger Morrison, the town’s star Little League pitcher, as it broke the window and landed right on top of Becky.

Martha screamed. “No, no, no, no,” she said, diving for where Becky had landed on the floor as the rock skittered away. “It – it can’t be,” she whispered. Slowly, hand shaking, she picked Becky up. Becky had landed with the side used for cooking down. “A-are you okay – ” She asked as she turned her over, then screamed again. “NO!”

There was a large dent slightly to the left of Becky’s center.

Martha clutched Becky to her chest. “Shhh,” she soothed. “It’s okay. You’ll be okay. You’ll be okay.” She sat on the kitchen floor all afternoon and all night, as the hailstorm stopped, holding Becky and whispering to her with more love than she would give a baby until she finally fell asleep and slumped over.

Martha woke the next morning to the kitchen, and therefore, as far as she cared, the whole world, cast in the gold-orange light of dawn. She stood up, Becky sliding to the ground, and smiled. Rejuvenated, she spent the morning running errands. She brought her clothes to the laundromat, bought groceries, and had a handyman come to the house to repair the window. When they had left, she stepped into the kitchen and sank into an armchair. 

“Well,” she said, addressing the house, “I suppose I’ll…” She let the thought drift into action, and took a different pan from a cabinet, and brought it to her stove. She began to make an omelet. Only when she was seated at her table, eating it, did she finally remember that Becky was still on the floor. “Oh,” she said. “I’m, um, sorry that I used, er, Agatha to make my eggs. But, you know…” She took a deep breath, held it, and let it out. “You’re dented now. And I know, I know it wasn’t your fault. I was there, right? I saw them throw that rock. So it wasn’t your fault. But… I… I don’t think I can cook with you anymore. It just… wouldn’t be right, you know?” She searched Becky’s surface for understanding, forgiveness, anything. But all there was was metal. Dented metal. “Oh,” she said softly, picking Becky up and placing it on the table. She rubbed her thumb over the dent over and over. “I’m sorry. I wish it didn’t have to be like this,” She whispered. “You’re my oldest friend, you know. You know that. I will keep you, I promise. I just… won’t cook with you.” She looked into the pan again. Then she winced and turned to the window. The curtains outside swayed sharply in the wind in what could only be criticism. She stared at them, neck twisted uncomfortably, until a tear leaked out of her eyes. She cried and cried, but didn’t turn back to face Becky, even after she fell asleep. 

When she woke, the kitchen was bathed not in beautiful golden sunlight, but in darkness. Martha blinked sleepily, then glanced at the clock. It was seventeen minutes past midnight. “Ohhh,” she moaned, out of both drowsy surprise at the time and significant neck pain. She got up, massaging her neck, and stepped into the doorway to the hall. She paused and turned back to the table where Becky rested like a pouting child, if that child were also made of metal and sitting on a table. “I’m sorry,” she said, somewhat annoyed. Then she stumbled into her bedroom, pulled the covers of her bed over herself, and waited to fall asleep. But she didn’t. She tossed, then turned, then got up, did push-ups until she was exhausted, and crawled into bed again, but it didn’t work. Finally, she scowled, got up, and went back into the kitchen and sat down to face Becky. “All right,” she began. “First of all, for the millionth time, I am sorry about the dent. It was… It was my fault. I should have been protecting you better. I suppose I… haven’t been very good to you. I – I cook in you, and I never thank you. I bought you, for God’s sake. I… So, thank you. For everything. And I hope you can understand that I won’t- can’t cook with you again, but that I’ll still love you. Always.” She reached out, hesitated, then rubbed the dent. “B-Becky?” she asked, eyes and heart heavy with tears and overwhelming love. “Oh, Becky,” she cried, throwing herself onto the pan. Her weeping stretched toward dawn.

The next month, the rock hit Sybill, and the cycle began again. 

The Wiggly Monkey

Once upon a time, there was a monkey named Shalin. He lived in the jungle. He was eating bananas on top of a tree. But suddenly, he ate a banana that wasn’t ripe. He then felt wiggly, wiggly as a worm. He started to wiggle. He kept on wiggling and wiggling and wiggling. Then, he jumped down and off of the tree. He thought to himself, How do I stop acting like this?

A lion came up to the tree. He asked Shalin, “What are you doing?” 

Shalin said, “I am trying to stop wiggling!” 

“Don’t worry! I have some time to wiggle too. Let’s wiggle together!” said the Lion. Both Shalin and the Lion started to wiggle. 

Then, Shalin said, “Actually, it’s fun to wiggle! I want to stay like this forever!”

Minli’s Special Ingredient

Grand-mama stirred the big black pot, Mama cut the pork, and Papa made the dough. The smell, the taste! 

“It looks good, Grand-mama!” Minli said, standing on her tippy-toes to peek higher over the island in the middle of the kitchen.

Grand-mama smiled and scooped her up. “Yes, Baby, it will be ready when I add the special ingredient.”

Minli’s black pigtails waved up and down as Grand-mama cradled her. Minli pushed her bangs out of her face so she could peer with her wide eyes up at Grand-mama.

“Special ingredients?” Minli asked, curious.

“Mm-hmm,” Grand-mama said, setting Minli down back on the step stool.

Minli climbed up to watch Papa fold the dumplings. “But Grand-mama, what’s your special ingredient?”

Grand-mama smiled. “It’s a special spice.”

Minli wrinkled her nose, then asked, “Do I have a special ingredient?”

Grand-mama smiled and said, “What do you think?” 

“I have to be a big girl to have it, right?” she said, crossing her arms and pouting. She was only three.

Grand-mama looked at her with a mischievous smile, “But Minli, you don’t have to be big, you just have to have the right tongue.”

Minli was confused, “What do you mean ‘right tongue’?”

Grand-mama was now more focused on the pot, stirring and stirring until finally, she spoke. “I mean you have to be brave and try things that may not look tasty.” She held the wooden spoon to Minli’s lips and Minli licked the homemade sauce. “But you can always try,” Grand-mama finished triumphantly as Minli licked the sauce off her lips.

“What’s it called, Grand-mama?”

“Soy sauce,” Grand-mama said simply, continuing to stir.

Mama came over to Minli and scooped her up, tickling her belly. Minli giggled and asked, “Mama, do YOU have a special ingredient?”

“Why yes I do, baby girl!” Mama said. “Grand-mama taught me, just as she taught you.” Minli smiled at this thought. When the table was set Minli dipped her dumpling in the soy sauce.

Mama smiled when she saw Minli. She slid over a white bowl with a sauce in it. Minli tried the sauce and loved it.

A few years later…

Minli stood in front of Grand-mama’s grave and put a letter to her at the edge of the cold stone.

Dear Grand-mama,

I’m not sure if this is allowed. The Lin family has done this tradition for generations, and I am not sure what my ingredient is.

The problem is, I can’t find just one. I love you and I love this family, but what happens if you love everything too much?

I think my special ingredient is Love. 

Sharky’s Adventure in the Deep Blue Sea

Chapter 1

This is Sharky. He lives in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean. He loves to play and hug his mom. Also, he is eight years old.

But the one thing that he can not do is go to the east part of the ocean because there are orcas. Sharky loves the holiday Christmas because he gets so many presents! His favorite is this wind-up toy saw shark. He also has a fear of humans because they love to kill sharks and make shark fin soup. They capture a shark and cut off his fin, and then they put it in a bowl of water with vegetables! His favorite meal is called fish stew. It’s dead fish with seal skin, and he loves it. His favorite dessert is seal ice cream.

Chapter 2

Well, Sharky was just swimming around, and then he heard a rumbling sound. It was a swarm of fish! Well, he is a shark, so he did what all sharks did: he ate them but not them all! He saved some for fish stew. Oh – forgot to say they were yellow tang fish, his favorite. Then, his friend Barky came over to play. He also told him that he had saved him fish stew. Barky’s favorite food was fish stew, too!  They played Pin the Dorsal Fin on the Fish. They also played Fish Attack, which is when they go to the sea and just attack fish together. They play a lot of games together, including tag (not the one people do). They also played Conversation Wheel. How you play is you spin the wheel and whatever you get, you have to have a conversation about. Today, they got: Do you like pumpkin pie? And one that said, Prize. “Prize” means that whatever you rolled the day before, you get. So, if tomorrow they got Prize, then they would get to eat pumpkin pie. But the bad part about it is that, no matter what, you have to eat it. So if you don’t like it, it’s going to be a nightmare. They love to play Among Us, Shark Mod.  

Sharky and Barky played Among Us, Shark Mod for 35 minutes and played Conversation Wheel for another 26 minutes. They also played Pin the Dorsal Fin on the Fish and ate their fish stew. Then Barky left.

“Goodbye,” Barky said.

Chapter 3

Now, Sharky was going to bed. For some reason, he could not sleep. He was thinking about a current that pushes him to the other side of the ocean. He was trembling with fear in his bed. He tried to go to sleep, but then, there was a small current. It felt like a pretty hard breeze. He almost fell off his bed, but then he used his fin to stop himself. Now, his bed is very short, so it was pretty easy. Then there was a medium-size current. This one felt like really hard rain that was not drops, just water – kind of like in a jug. This time, he fell off his bed. Don’t worry – he was okay. 

Chapter 4

Then there was a super-big current that knocked Sharky right off his bed, and he floated out of his house, and he kept floating and floating and floating until he was somewhere in the middle of the ocean. He said, “Oh no! I must get out of here!” 

But then, the water current came back and he kept floating and floating and floating. 

Then he came to the other side of the ocean. He said, “How did I get to here? I must swim back.” 

But he was very tired. He only usually swims in the middle of the day or right when he gets up. He doesn’t usually swim at night because if you swim at night, you don’t know what could happen. Things that could happen are: jellyfish could sting you, turtles could hit you with their shells, nets could be lowered down, and you could get captured, orcas could swim to the other side, and people could scuba dive down and make you into shark fin soup. Sharks have really good smelling senses, so he smells this drop of blood. So he swims slowly to it. Then he investigates it, and he finds out it’s people’s blood. And he goes away because it smells really, really bad, and he tries to swim slowly back to his home, but then something swims out of the seaweed! It is an orca. The orca grabs his tail and brings him to his home. Sharky doesn’t know what to say. 

The orca is like, “Are you my new dinner next week?!” 

He said, “I don’t know, but maybe?” 

“Well, I think you are.” 

Sharky said, “I am?” 

“Yes, you are,” said the orca. He said, “Well, while you’re in my home, you can sleep in a guest bedroom.” 

Sharky said, “Thanks, because I’m really sleepy.” 

And then the orca said, “You’re welcome. I’ll see you in the morning.” 

Chapter 5

Sharky woke up the next morning thinking, How can I escape this orca’s house? But then he had an idea. He loved that there was this rope on the playground that you could slide down into the water. He would always make a big splash. So he looked around for something like the rope, and then he found so many stacks of paper. They were clean and white. And then he looked around for something to stick it with. Then he found fish glue. The fish glue was really strong, so he made three tunnels. And then he said, “Now how can I make this stronger?” He found some metal bar things, and then he was like, “Well, how can I cut this off?” So he slapped his tail against it so many times, but it still wouldn’t come off. Then he found this billboard that said, ORCAS FOR LIFE. And he said, “Well, I could just hit that billboard with it and it would probably fall off.” So he held it with his tail and revved back and threw it right at the metal bar. The metal bar flew right off and right onto the ground. Bing! it said. But then he got scared, and then the orca came in. 

He said, “I heard a sound in here! This is where Sharky sleeps. What’s going on here?” He called out, “Sharky! Sharky, where are you?” 

Sharky was hiding behind a pole. Not that pole. There was another pole. He managed to get his body in there. Once the orca left, he came out. 

“Phew!” he said. “I thought I would get caught!” And he ran out and pushed the metal bar into his tunnels. Once the metal bar was gone there, he used fish glue to stick it together. And then he said, “If only somehow I could disguise myself and get out there!” He found this policeman costume in the closet. So he was like, “But why would a policeman be in his house? Maybe I can just run past, and then I’ll get there.”

So he swam as fast as he ever could past the orca and threw his “slide” that he made down the steps and slid right down. Now he was energized, so he swam as fast as he could through the ocean and to the other side. The next day, Barky came. They had so much fun, and he told him about the story about getting pushed by the currents and seeing the orcas, and that was his dream the night before. They had fish stew, and while they were having fish stew, the orca was back at home, trying to find something to eat. Sharky lived happily ever after. 

The End.

McLaren Team

Chapter 1: The Beginning of Their Adventure

One day, the boys were walking home from school. They saw a guy in a McLaren. They heard there was a McLaren race going on. They went to watch the race in the capital of California. It was on the race track, and someone used a farting boost that he installed himself to speed up. The guy they saw with a McLaren won. He got $100 trillion because there were a thousand people. Then the boys worked so hard to get money for their McLaren. Jimjim was betting money on football games. He was always lucky and got $10,000. His other friends were playing a mystery claw machine game where, if you get something in the claw, you can find the special item in it. Sometimes it’s a phone or AirPods or money. 

Jake, William, Dillion, Chris, JJ, and DJD  are all 18. They’ve been friends since forever. They were born in the same hospital, at the same time, on the same day. 

Jake is athletic and plays soccer and basketball. 

William is stubborn and always wants to win. 

Dillion is calm and shy. 

Chris gets all the girls. 

JJ is boring with personality. 

And DJD is determined and jealous of Chris. 

Jimjim is their president and leader. He has a girlfriend named Jemina, and they’re getting married in one year if he wins the race, but if he loses, they break up. All the members are from California. One day, Jimjim and his crew were walking to the McLaren dealership. They had to cross the dog park. One of the dogs was chasing the whole team until they got to the other side where the dog could not reach them. The reason the dog was chasing them was because the team had Goldfish in their hands. When they were finished with their Goldfish, Chris and William raced to the trash can, and when William stepped on something, he saw that the trash can could open, so he didn’t have to put his foot on the trash can handle. 

When they got their McLarens, Jimjim had the most expensive one, and William, Dillion, Chris, and Jake had all the second-best McLarens, and DJD and JJ had the third-best. At the dealership, they saw five people with metal bars come in. The chief said, “Give me five of your McLarens’ keys now!” 

The car dealership man said, “Okay, okay, okay, I’m sorry!” 

One of the guys on the chief’s team said, “Hurry up, I don’t have all day!” 

Jimjim’s group got into their Teslas (which weren’t very good because they were really old). They started their cars, and they actually smashed through the glass of the dealership and smashed the McLarens. Before they started racing, they were actually junior cops, and they arrested all five of the crooks, and then they radioed for police. Then the dealership owner said, “Oh my God, thank you! Here, take five free cars. Jimjim, you get the most expensive one. William, Dillion, Chris, and Jake get the second-best ones, and DJD and JJ get the third-best.”

The dealership man also gave the boys the whole dealership. This was the happiest day of their lives. They got all the money in the dealership’s vault. To access it, you had to start a McLaren and drive without going anywhere. Then a secret passageway would appear. The boys had so much money, and they bought a whole race track so they could test their cars. They also bought a trailer. On the day of the race, they all were so confident they would win. If only one teammate crosses the line first – wins for the whole team. When the race started, they were off. All the boys were lined up. Part of the race had jumpscares in it, so the racers can get distracted and crash, but before they could get that far, Jimjim talked through the mic. 

“Guys, be careful. You don’t have to get scared. You can just look forward and win by focusing.”

Everyone said, “You got it!”

“And if anyone tries to get in our way – delete them!”

“Yes, siree!” said the boys. 

When they reached the scary part, Chris got a little distracted because he saw a girl right next to him, and instead of Chris pushing her and knocking her out, she knocked him off balance! Chris was okay, though. 

Dillion was right in front of Chris, so he said into the mic, “We got a man down!”

Jimjim was like, “Ah, shucks! Why did Chris have to be in the back where the girls are? He’s, of course, going to lose his control!” 

When the race was almost finished, only William and Jimjim remained. Some other person in the race passed Jimjim. William said, “I will take him out!”

“Okay, do it now! I believe in you, bro,” said Jimjim. 

After William smashed the person that was in front of Jimjim, Jimjim crossed the finish line and won the race. The person who got smashed by William asked if she could join their team. Then, out of nowhere, everyone heard an explosion. DJD’s car got blown up, and there was no trace of DJD. 

Jimjim said, “Yeah, you can join our team.”

The girl said, “I also can tell the future if you want me to help you find your friend.”

Jimjim said, “What do you mean? He exploded.” 

The girl said, “No, that’s not true. If you look closely at the ground, you can see his footsteps.” 

Dillion said, “If you want to be a part of our squad, what’s your name?”

“That’s need-to-know information. We can do that later,” said the girl. “Now let’s just focus on finding your friend.”

As they were walking for a couple of minutes, they saw DJD with a broken arm! 

“Are you okay?” said everyone.

“No, I was badly injured in the race! Ahhh!” he shrieked in pain, and then his arm fell off!

“Ewww!” everyone said. “Will you be okay, DJD?”

“Yeah, I will be – ” He fell to the ground.

The girl said, “He has died.” 

Everyone started crying. The girl tried reviving him, but there was no cure. He was dead. 

The girl finally told the boys the need-to-know information, and said her name was JDD. 

After they took their sad moment away, they went to the dealership (that they own!) and got JDD a new car. It had the best engine ever, and if someone smashed into it, it could keep going. 

“This car was going to be DJD’s birthday present because his birthday would’ve been in two days. This is your present from us for joining our team, and it’s a reminder of DJD.”  

Then when Jimjim got home, he realized his girlfriend had left him a note saying, I’m sorry, but I’ve moved on with a richer, cooler, more expensive guy. When he went to his room, he realized that his girlfriend still had on her bracelet that he had given her so that, if she ever left him, he would know where to look for her. 

Chapter 2: Newest Member Joins The Pack

In the morning, Jimjim met up with the boys and their new member, JDD, at the dealership. Jimjim told them what happened with his girlfriend. JDD suggested that they should search the area for her. Everyone liked that, but Jimjim said, “That would be nice, but I installed a tracker on her bracelet that I gave her. Let me see here. Oh, man, she must have found it. I guess I should listen to you, JDD.” 

After all the boys and JDD had left the dealership, they scattered around the city. Jimjim’s girlfriend snuck into the dealership. She tried to steal a McLaren, but not everyone left. William stayed. Then he contacted everyone. When everyone came back, they saw William on the floor, and they were shocked. 

Dillion said, “How couldn’t you tie her up?” 

William said, “I did, but someone came with her secretly. It went so fast.” 

Dillion said, “You mean, secretly. Hahaha!” 

Everyone said, “That’s why you’re not funny.” 

Jimjim said, “That’s enough! You really think this is the time to make a joke, huh?” 

Chris said, “Chill out, bro.” 

JDD said, “Just stop! I will get crazy.” 

“Uhhh, fine, geez. You’re so high maintenance,” Jimjim said with an attitude. 

Jake said, “Wait, William, you said that someone was with her?” 

“Yeah,” said William. 

Dillion said, “Oh, that is true. So we have to find out who it was.” 

Jimjim suggested, “Racing at the field, but JDD, JJ, William, and Chris all stay here.” 

“That’s a good idea,” said JDD. 

“Then when they come in, we can be in the secret cloak that I invented,” Jake informed them. 

As everyone left, JDD, JJ, William, and Chris all stayed behind. As they suspected, Jimjim’s girlfriend appeared with none other than – “DJD!” 

Everyone was shocked, except Jimjim and Jake because they were at the racetrack. Dillion was so annoyed that DJD had to lie about his death. Then William and Chris decided enough was enough, so they stood up from their hiding spot, got their handcuffs, and very secretly, when both their hands were on their backs, arrested them! 

Chapter 3: The Plan Has Collapsed

After Jimjim and Jake came back, Jimjim was the calmest, but Jake, on the other hand, fainted when he saw DJD. 

Jimjim said, “I thought you died!” 

“Not exactly. I was practicing how to hold my breath at home, and I might say that it worked.” 

Jimjim now looked at his ex-girlfriend. 

“Why are you trying to steal our McLaren, huh? I am waiting for an exclamation now!” shouted Jimjim. 

Jemina replied, “I heard from a little birdie that you have a dealership.” 

“Who might be that birdie? I am listening!” 

“That would be me,” exclaimed DJD. 

“Please don’t send me to jail! I am too pretty to be in there,” said Jemina in a sus voice. 

“Oh, don’t worry, you’re not going to jail,” said Jimjim. 

“Oh, that’s so good. I – ” 

“You’re going to solitary,” exclaimed Jimjim. 

“What? No way! I will not set foot in solitary,” huffed Jemina. 

“We are leaving now,” yelled William. 

When they got to the station, they threw them in there. Jemina was starting to beg the guard to let her go. The guard started to fall in love with her. Then, out of nowhere, the guard let her out.

Chapter 4: The Intense Snow

The group came back from the Museum of Cars, and when they got to solitary, they saw that the guard was knocked out and he was unconscious. They ran out and went in their McLarens and raced all the way back to the dealership, seeing that two of the cars were missing. The Slashers went out, but before they could, Dillion said, “Why don’t we just wait until the next race?” (Which was only in five months.)

Five months later… 

In January, the race was held, but there was a slight, little problem. Those weren’t regular cars! They were sled-McLarens. They were so ready to beat everyone and claim the title. When the person told the racers to go, they were off, and Jimjim told everyone the same routine that he told everyone in the last race. DJD wasn’t in the group, so he knew what they were doing, so he decided to go really fast with Jemina, who was, surprisingly, in the race! When William, Dillion, Chris, and Jimjim were all in first, DJD crashed into Chris and William. Jemina flew past Jimjim. Then, out of nowhere, he saw a vision. He remembered how JDD did that in the last race, but instead of Jimjim crashing into Jemina, she smashed him. Then DJD dashed straight to the finish line, but JDD came out of nowhere and smashed right into DJD and crossed that finish line, and they were champions once again! But then, when DJD and Jemina crossed the line, they got handcuffed and got sent to a solitary underground prison. 

Chapter 5: Two New Stars Are Born Anew

Two years passed, and Jemina and DJD were out of the prison, and they lived a happy life, and they actually got married. They had two children, Jinx and Sphinx, who were twins. It was the same day that the whole group had been born, and the same time! A year later, they found the group, and they asked if they could join, but then Jimjim was a little sus, but he let them in anyway. 

The next race was here, but William told the group, “I don’t think I can race this time because I hurt my leg.” 

Jimjim then told Sphinx he could substitute for William. Sphinx replied, “I’m really nervous!” 

“Don’t be,” said Dillion. 

Sphinx’s twin brother said, “Good luck. You got this!” 

Chapter 6: The Odds Get Harder

In this race, there was a slight twist. Only one of your group members could race, so Jimjim was counting on Sphinx to beat it. Even though this was Sphinx’s first race, he was really nervous, but he took three deep breaths and went to the starting line. When the race was about to start, he heard his parents cheering, and when Jimjim heard that, he was really in shock. When he was about to run towards Sphinx, he got exploded by an apple. Then he saw the same robbers who tried to steal cars from the dealership. He was about to call his police buddies, but before he could, the robbers came and threw his phone so far that he couldn’t call them. After that, he was really upset and got his whole team together, but before he could, the race had already started. Sphinx was off! The problem was, it was just a trick. All of the racers that were on the line were robots, and they were meant to be bad drivers so Sphinx could win because, at the end of the race, they were going to spray Sphinx with some hypnosis gas so he would crash. JDD used her psychic powers to throw the robbers off balance, but what she didn’t know was that they had marbles that could deflect magic and psychic powers. When Jimjim saw Sphinx nearing the end, a strange man walked on the racetrack. Sphinx saw him and stopped, and then the man was actually Dillion in disguise, and then he was saved. But then William walked on the finish line and took the gas himself to show Sphinx that it was a trap. But what they didn’t know was that he wouldn’t wake up for 10 hours.

Chapter 7: The Depression of the Century

When William finally woke up, he told the whole group that DJD and Jemina were planning this and trying to sabotage their own son! 

Jimjim had an idea. “I think we can set up a race and we can force those robbers out and see what they would do not to Sphinx, but to Jinx.” 

“I don’t think that will work,” said Jinx. 

“Why not?” William asked.  

“I will be down in the vault because I’m a little scared and I don’t want to get knocked out for 10 hours like William.” 

But then they heard a little, “Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun!” 

William was in the corner playing Clash Royale. 

Everyone was like, “Really? Now is not the time. This is serious business right now. If we do this, we will be legends and everyone will know our names.” 

“Doesn’t everyone already know our names?” asked William. 

“That is true, but we have to get even more trophies, not just one trophy.” 

JJ said, “I’m not sure we – ” 

“You’re not going to be able to do this!” an anonymous voice said. 

“Who was that? Imma give you some martial arts moves if you don’t behave,” said Dillion. But then Dillion switched his words right away and said, “I mean, I’ll give you some mac ’n’ cheese arts! Hahaha.” 

“You’re done. You’re really done,” said the anonymous voice again, but a little louder. 

Chapter 8: The Hunt Begins

Jimjim replied, “I know where the secret, legendary car is.” 

“Oh, we know,” answered the anonymous voice in a laughing voice.  

“Jimjim, why would you tell them where the secret car is?” answered Jake. 

“If you don’t stop talking right now, I’m going to call you Jake from State Farm!” said the anonymous voice. 

“Why do you keep saying that? I’m not Jake from State Farm. You’re Jake from State Farm, and also, you’re Barney from the song,” said Jake. 

When the voice stopped talking, the team was in shock, and they quickly got into their McLarens and rode all the way to the exhibition. But then they realized that the anonymous voices were not there! But then they heard a SCRRRT. Then the car was so fast that they just saw a flick of wind. There was sleeping gas inside the building, and when they passed by, all the teammates fainted except one, and that was… 

Chapter 9: The Stress Has Begun

As the anonymous voices thought they were safe from the team, Jake came out of nowhere and crashed right into them. Then Jake jumped out of the car and got into the legendary car. When the rest of the group got to his location, they went back to the dealership and put it into the vault. Jimjim was thinking to himself, Isn’t this too easy? Then he saw that Jake was acting a little weird. Jake was turning into a ghost! The anonymous voices threw something at him so he could pixelate into a ghost. 

Jimjim yelled, “What is the cure for this craziness?” 

“We have the cure!!” someone replied. “But if you don’t give us the legendary car, he will be turned into a ghost forever! You have exactly seventy-two hours until he pixelates into a full ghost.”

William said, “We can’t do it because then we’re gonna lose the car and never find it again.” 

Jimjim said, “We have to do it.” 

Everyone was like, “What are you doing? We cannot give them the car because we’ll never find it again and it will disappear.” 

“It doesn’t matter,” said Jimjim. “But I have a slight plan to get them confused, and we can still have it.”

Chapter 10: An Extraordinary End of the First Adventure 

Jimjim told everyone the plan, and they all liked it. They spray-painted the same exact design of the car so they could give them that car and they could still have the legendary car. When they got to the same place where they got the car, they saw three people coming out from the anonymous place. It looked like DJD and Jemina were coming with the antidote in their hands. First, they told them to bring the antidote to them, and then after that, they tossed over the antidote. They brought Jake with them, and Jake drank the potion, and he started turning back into a regular human. And then they had to use a special cannon that was invented by Quint Dinkleberry that can evaporate those people from the planet. So, quickly, before they saw that the legendary car was fake, they went to Quint Dinkleberry and got the special weapon, and after that, they won, and they got sent to Planet Dinkleberry. They actually sent a spy in case they got transported to Planet Dinkleberry. After that, the spy was following them, and then William heard a crack behind them, and then he used the same weapon that they used to transport DJD and Jemina to Planet Dinkleberry. A black car drove up to them and asked if they were willing to join their team of secret spy agents. The man was named Sherlock, and he said, “I have a spot for all of you to steal as spies to get the legendary cars.” 

Everyone asked Jimjim if they were going to go and work with him. Jimjim said, “Yes. We are honored to work with you.” 

Sherlock answered, “Your next adventure will be in the deep jungle.” 

To be continued…

The Nightmare King, Ice Triagile, and the Rage of the King

“The king will not beat me again!” 

The Ice Triagile (part dragon, part tiger, and part crocodile) looks into his globe. He is in his dark, gloomy temple. 

“That king can take control of me. Why do I keep sending more minions? But the king is not the problem. Thunder Bear is!” he says in his dark and scary castle as he picks up a dagger and throws it at the painting of Thunder Bear. Right in the mouth.

“Your majesty, the serum is ready. Oh, and the Penerse (penguin/horse) was a traitor,” says Ty’le, the Ice Triagile’s son. 

“Bring him in.” 

“Yes, father.” 

“Well? Any last words?” 

“I – I was framed,” says the Penerse. 

“I can see you are a traitor. Kill her,” the Ice Triagile tells his son. 

A few minutes later… 

“Aaahhh!!!” screams the Penerse in pain.

***

“Solf (wolf/seal). Report,” says Thunder Bear. 

Solf says, “All good in the water, but I saw Uniale (whale/unicorn). Oh, and the Penerse is gone.”

Thunder Bear replies, “Oh, can you get it on our side?” 

Solf shakes his head. “It’s on their side! Oh, and I need to see the king.”

Thunder Bear says, “Okay,” then yells, “Open the gates!” 

The Crocoions (crocodile/lions) open the gates. When Solf is inside, he gives the king some water.

But it is poisonous. Just then, Solf changes into the Ice Triagile. Then the Ice Triagile walks away, and Crocoion guards run right at him. He takes out his blades and kills them. Just then, the Catbear comes out, but the Ice Triagile kills the Catbear. Then Thunder Bear charges at the Ice Triagile and fights him.

Then he takes the Ice Triagile, throws him in the water, and does a lightning strike, but the Ice Triagile flies up and hits Thunder Bear with an ice blast. The king fights the poison, gets back to normal, and hits the Ice Triagile back to his island, and so then they win.

***

A voice says, “You failed me.”

The Ice Triagile pleads, “Give me more time.” 

“Nooo! Your son will take charge,” says the voice. Then he kills the Ice Triagile.

The End.

Driving Blind

Nothing. Just gray. Panic took control of me. Why did we have to drive at night? What if we were driving off a cliff? I was close to tears on the high mountain. My mom tried to put on a reassuring smile, but it was clearly fake. I squeezed her hand so tightly, it hurt for me as well. My sister was the navigator, and my dad was the driver. Endless gray consumed us. The lights of the cars behind us shone, but there were none ahead to guide us. We had to brake several times before the cars behind us got impatient. They weaved left and right, then passed us. They cruised ahead, then halted as they became blind. I felt like I was in a horror show and there was no exit, no escape to leave. As the other cars regained their speed by turning on “fog lights” that we didn’t have, we almost lost the cars. That was when the arguing began.

My sister thought it was best to increase speed so that we didn’t lose our guiding light. I agreed with my mom, though, who thought it was risky to increase speed driving when we couldn’t see anything. My dad agreed with my sister, so he started speeding to catch up. I squeezed my mom’s hand and started to hyperventilate. I couldn’t calm down. With my free hand, I put my hand on my heart and uneasily listened to the rapid beating. 

As if the situation couldn’t get any worse, my sister announced, “There’s a sharp turn coming up.”

The large yellow signs with the midnight-colored left arrows were the only help for us. Again, questions invaded my mind. How will we escape this? Will we lose the cars ahead? Just then, the car in front of us disappeared. A new question formed inside my stressed head. Was it condensed in the fog or lost to something else ahead?

Sadly, my dad didn’t share my same worries, so we continued. But we soon found the car again in front of us. As we silently drove, I continued to hyperventilate until at one point, it let us go. Clear from up ahead. This didn’t comfort me though. There could be more of those areas. I was tired and wanted to close my eyes, but the fear overtook me. Squeezing my mom’s hand while listening to my heartbeat, I continued to look up ahead. But I didn’t see anything but roads, jungle, and no fog!

Demon Killer

Editor’s Note: Content Warning — This psychological thriller contains Violence and Murder. It may be scary for some younger readers.

“George,” Mom said. Mom had black hair. She was always smiling. She only wore purple and yellow dresses. Today, she was wearing a purple and yellow dress because that was the only thing she wore. 

 “Why do we have to go to the stupid hotel?” George asked. 

“You know, your father wants to go to this hotel really badly,” Mom said. 

George was the type of kid who really was into Minecraft and Pokemon Go.  He only wore orange shorts and purple t-shirts. His dad worked in the industry and got these tickets for this very fancy hotel. When they got there, there were four other people at the Hotel of Fanciness. When they got to their room, there were cookies for everyone. Then, in a flash, the dining room was ready to have dinner. There was one gigantic straight table. There was a selection of McDonald’s and every single color of Jell-O that existed in the name of Jell-O history. EVERYONE enjoyed their food… 

15 MINUTES LATER

KRCCC!

Suddenly, the lights went out and everyone saw blood on the ground. The light came back on, and they could see Dr. Frankenstein was dead. 

DUN DUN DUNNN! 

George started crying. Then, George noticed that there was a bloody knife in his mom’s pocket. Coincidentally, his mom was sitting right next to Dr. Frankenstein. 

“It isn’t what it looks like… promise.” 

No one talked to George’s mom for the rest of the two days. When everyone was having breakfast, they all went up to put their plates in the sink. Suddenly, there was another strike. The lights went out and….

 KRCCC!

 Mrs. Frankenstein was dead!   

This time, there was a hook in Mrs. Frankenstein’s throat with a purple piece of leather stuck to the end of the hook. The waiter thought this had gone on way too long.

“This has gone on long enough!!! Tonight, George will sleep alone and all the other people will sleep together,” said the waiter. No one was killed that night. That morning, George’s mom knew something was up. 

“George, is there anything you want to tell me?” 

“Nope. I have to tell Dad how appreciative I am that he let us all come here to this lovely hotel!” George’s mom now knew that something was up. 

That night, at dinner, Mom yelled, “I know who the demon killer is!!! I was very surprised when I figured it out… THE DEMON KILLER IS GEORGE!!!”

George replied, “Honestly, it’s Dad. He gave me a needle every night and forced me to put it in my skin. He forced me using a gun! He is in a bet with someone. He has to kill everyone living in this hotel, and if he does, he gets a large amount of money!! He was controlling me.” Tears appeared out of George’s eyes. George’s dad walked in.

“This guuuy’s name is actually Dr. Lawrence Payne!”

KRCCC!

The lights went out, and a few moments later, the lights went on and George’s dad was DEAD!!!

Tommy’s Adventures

Tommy’s lungs gratefully greeted the fresh air as he and Bobby (his best friend) piled out of the airport. Tommy and Bobby the Acorns had arrived in San Francisco!!!

Tommy’s mind drifted back to a few days ago, when the leaves had delivered the mail. Sitting patiently on top of the pile was a colorful flier. It was the flier for the all-new nuts and seeds skatepark. 

“Earth to Tommy!” Bobby’s voice rang in his ears.

Tommy’s mind suddenly snapped back to reality. Somehow, while Tommy was having his little “flashback,” he was able to get a taxi for him and Bobby.  Before they knew it, they arrived at the skatepark! It also had a hotel you could stay in. And it was pretty cheap too! He and Bobby had pooled their allowance and managed to fill the price of 50 wood chips. 

When the taxi driver opened the door, the hot air hit his shell.   

“Gulp,” Tommy gulped. Climbing up the steps was a slow and tedious process. When they got to the top, they saw a sign that said, “Congratulations! You’ve reached the top and proved you’re worthy of staying at Nuts Sk8er Park!”

“Wow,” said Bobby, as they walked into the hotel. “Nooo! My life is ruined!! More stairs!!!”

“They’ve got a busted elevator? Come on!” said Tommy.

***

20 minutes later… 

*pant pant* “Bobby?” *pant pant* “I forgot my skateboard.”

*pant pant* “That’s okay.” *pant pant* “I don’t have one either.”

5 minutes later, they got their skateboards. 

“Now, Bobby,” said Tommy playfully, “I know you’re not as advanced as me, so we can start with a simple trick.” 

“Ha ha ha. Very funny.” 

They waited in a line as long as a ball of yarn. Finally, it was their turn! As they were speeding down the hill, Tommy imagined what it would feel like if he had any hair to rush in the wind. Suddenly, the skateboard slowed, lowered and started to make a scraping noise. The wheels had popped off! Bobby seemed to be in the same sticky situation. 

“Ummm, Bobby?”

“ — let’s go back to the hotel.” Bobby finished his sentence. 

***

When they got back to the hotel, Tommy heard the manager arguing with one of the staff members in the skateboard return center. 

“Do you want everyone else to find out this place is a scam!?” 

When they heard that sentence, they marched right in and demanded their woodchips back. Luckily, they got an early flight back to the city and told their families all about their adventures.

Tommy’s Winter Adventures

Tommy and his friend Bobby’s acorn relationship was as strong as metal. Tommy and Bobby were in Antarctica, and when you’re in Antarctica, you’ve got to have some fun. So Tommy and Bobby agreed on going sledding on a nice, tall, snowy mountain. 

They packed up their stuff and made sure they were properly dressed — they didn’t want to get cold.

So they set off on to the snowy fields of the Antarctic. It was a good, long walk, but when they got there, they were stunned. It was huge. Tommy was a bit nervous, but he didn’t share this with Bobby because he didn’t want to ruin the fun. 

They got on Tommy’s new and improved blue sled, which Tommy was very proud of. 

“Comfy,” said Bobby as he, too, got on the sled. The sled started to move and soon they were speeding down the mountain. 

“This is fun!” shouted Tommy over the wind, but his words trailed off as Tommy lost his grip and fell off the sled. 

“TOMMY!” shouted Bobby. Unfortunately, Tommy slammed into a tree. 

“Are you ok?” asked Bobby, helping Tommy to his feet. 

“Yes,” said Tommy. “But I think I sprained my point.” (AKA his ankle.) 

“I have a plastic bag I can fill with snow just like an ice pack,” said Bobby. 

“Okay, try,” said Tommy urgently. Bobby quickly filled his plastic bag with snow and when he was done he gave it to Tommy. 

“Okay, now that that is solved, we still need to get you to a hospital,” said Bobby. 

“But I can’t walk,” said Tommy.

“I think I have an idea,” said an excited Bobby. “Try to get on your sled,” said Bobby. As Tommy hopped on his point to his sled he asked Bobby an important question. 

“What exactly is your idea?” said Tommy.

“I’m going to pull you by my stem up to the hospital nearby,” said Bobby. And he began to pull Tommy up the mountain. When they got to the hospital, the nurses wrapped Tommy’s ankle and said it would take two weeks to heal.

“Umm, Bobby, we have a problem. I can’t walk,” said Tommy in a worried tone.

“That’s okay. I will just pull you home on your sled,” said Bobby. And that’s what they did.

When they got home, they made a fire and had a nice time drinking hot chocolate, laughing, and telling stories from when they were little. 

Mr. Puppy Face Goes to School

Book #2 of the Mr. Puppy Face Series

One day, Mr. Puppy Face gets a letter in the mail saying that he is invited to teach puppies in Grade 1 about being a Professional Puppy Scout. (Read Book One, A Job for Mr. Puppy Face.) He decides to go because he wants an opportunity to teach little puppies. 

Soon, he is on a school bus with other puppies, driving to a building with a giant sign that reads, “Puppy Academy: Where Slobbery Dreams Come True.” He walks into the building, checking with kids so he knows where to go. He walks into the classroom, and he looks around. The walls are covered with scribbles on construction paper that were supposedly called drawings, and the floors had colorful fuzzy rugs with the ABC’s on them. He thought it was all wonderful. It reminded him of when he was a kid. He sat down on a chair marked, “Teacher Puppy Face.” It was obviously referring to him. 

 He sat down in front of a white board, and the principal entered. She looked very professional. She introduced Mr. Puppy Face to the class that had entered so quietly, they seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. 

After, he wrote important stuff on the whiteboard, and he stuffed blank paper into a thick blue file folder so that he would seem professional.

While he was doing this, the kids just thought his presentation already started, so they were clueless. Then, Mr. Puppy Face remembered that he did not plan out his presentation or what he was going to say. Then he looked around. He saw many other parents! It was Job Day!!! He would have time to plan out what he was going to say while the other parents went. 

He thought something up while a fire dog, a police officer, and a librarian went. He gave an important speech. At least, he thought it was important… 

The End

The Lake

It had been a long time since I had visited my mom. My mother had always been insecure, but ever since my father’s death, she became disconnected from all of my family members and moved away to a tiny lake house nestled between the trees of a huge forest. She never really talked to me — not for a long time. However, about a year ago, we started sending each other letters and emails, and one day, she invited me to her house. It had been a long time since I had seen my mother, and I was naturally worried about her, so I was eager to see her. 

As I drove more into the wilderness, I found her house. My mom was waiting for me on the front porch. There were a few wrinkles on her face, but she was as gorgeous as ever. Her long brown hair was pulled up into a bun and ringlets framed her face. 

“Lily!” she exclaimed and ran over to hug me. “I’ve missed you so much,” she said, tears filling her eyes. My mother stepped back and smiled at me. “I would like you to meet someone very special.

“Johnny! You can come out,” she said. A handsome man walked out of the lake. When I said handsome, I meant knockout handsome. The rosy light from the sunset outside gave him an angelic glow. 

“Lily, I would like you to meet John,” she said, beaming at me.

“How do you do?” the man said, shaking my hand. His grip was so strong that when he let go I breathed a sigh of relief. I stared at him suspiciously — a handsome man walking out from the water? There was something very wrong going on here. 

We stared at each other for a few seconds until my mom clapped her hands together.

“Do you want dinner? It’s pork roast!” she said.

We walked inside. It was clean and cozy, and the pork smelled so good. I soon forgot about being suspicious about John from enjoying the meal.

“Can you pass the salt?” asked my mom. As I handed her the salt, a little bit fell off the shaker and landed on John’s hand. John cried out and cradled his hand before he ran off into his room. My mom and I stared at each other, then stood up and went to our rooms. 

I couldn’t sleep that night because strange lights were emitting from the lake. At midnight, I crept out of my bed to see what was in the lake. Outside, it was cold, and the sand was wet. I squinted my eyes and saw John walking into the lake!

“JOHN!” I cried, running forward. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned around. John was facing me. 

“What do you need?” he asked. 

Life in the Eyes of a Royal Drolfette

Ever since Jewelea had been attacked by evil invaders as a drolfette, she has lived on her own. But when humans kidnap her and try to keep her, she must escape to find Drolftopia and to recover her long-lost royal heritage. And she now meets some new challenges, being a hero and a magical queen. 

Prologue

One joyful day, there was news that not just one but four eggs had just been laid by Lady Rain and her husband, Lord Pluto. All rejoiced as soon there would be new royals! The eggs were beautiful, and each was, according to tradition, topped with a special crown for the baby inside. The crown would fall off when the egg hatched and would belong to the drolf or drolfette that had been in the egg forever. The crown also had the name of the prince or princess that was inside the egg. The egg that was laid first would, of course, belong to the future ruler. However, we have not gotten there just yet. Depending on if the egg had a star or heart on the front, it would be a boy or a girl. And so, one by one, the eggs hatched. 

First to hatch was a very special young princess from a bejeweled egg, who would become the queen. Her name was Jewelea. Then hatched twin princes, emerging from a shimmering black egg. Next hatched twin princesses, who were born from a soft, cream colored egg. Finally, there was one more pair of twins — this time a prince and princess from a mahogany egg.

Soon, Jewelea looked around, wondering what to do. She could hear a whooshing noise outside. She and her three sisters and three brothers panicked, scrambling everywhere. THEY WERE UNDER ATTACK! Running out the door, carrying their seven children, Lord Pluto and Lady Rain screamed. As the authorities started to arrive, they split and ran for cover. As Jewelea ran, she wondered whether she would ever see her family again. 

15 Years Later… 

Chapter 1: The Best Birthday

“Hm-hm, hm-hm-hm,” Jewelea sang to herself as she paced her hideout. It looked decent, seeing as she had lived there for fifteen years; there was a living room filled with old books, cushions, and mugs. There was a kitchen that held all of her food and where she had dug a hole in the wall for a sink and filled it with smooth stone she had found nearby. She had taken the hose from the house above her and stuck it through a pipe she had found at the dump, and now she just had to pull on the string next to the sink to turn the water on and off. She also had a bathroom, which had a bath exactly the same as the sink, just three times as big and using another hose. It also had a toilet that had a pipe leading to the sewer that she had connected herself, so now she had a toilet. And, of course, the bathroom had its own sink, using yet another hose and pipe. 

Finally, we reach the bedroom. It had five beds stuck into each of the walls, except that the back wall had a wardrobe instead of beds, and the front had the archway for a door. The whole house was deep underground, but it was totally awesome. Jewelea liked her house, and tomorrow was her sixteenth birthday! 

After a dinner of carrots, sunflower seeds, and lettuce salad, she went into the bedroom, climbed into her bed, grabbed her stuffed elephant, and fell asleep. The next morning, she woke up, brushed her teeth, combed her silky white fur, and ran into the kitchen to get the basket in which she would collect the food that she would eat for the day. Though she had a ladder leading towards the ground that most of her fellow drolves tread on, she rarely ever went up. She only went up if she needed to repair her water system or if she needed some fresh air. 

Today, she went over to her garden, which also had a chicken coop and a stall with a cow in it. The stall was big with hay bales and a water trough in it. The chicken coop had four chickens: a black one, a brown one, a white one, and a gray one. The chicken coop also had two floors — the bottom was where they ate, drank, and ran around, and the top was where they slept and laid their eggs. The nests where they laid their eggs were designed so that when an egg was laid, it went straight into a tub on either side that was filled with soapy water to clean the eggs as they sat there. 

Jewelea milked the cow, gathered the eggs, and harvested the lettuce, carrots, beans, sunflowers, strawberries, and herbs in her garden for the day. She took some wood from the woodpile near the stone chimney that reached all the way to the ground and took some matches from the mantelpiece, as well as a frying pan, some salt, a cloth, and an oven mitt. She lit the wood and started a fire, and while the fire was heating up, she scrambled eggs, strained milk, washed berries, and chopped herbs. When the fire was hot enough, she put the eggs in the frying pan, put on the oven mitt, and held the eggs out over the fire. As soon as they were cooked, she decided that she should eat them and then go exploring for a little while. So she ate her breakfast and ran up the ladder outside, but as she went into the street, somebody made everything go black.

Chapter 2: Discovered

Jewelea was TERRIFIED! As she was dragged along, she could hear a voice saying, “C’mon Joe, we gotta take this one to the hospital, it’s a beauty.” Jewelea did not know what a hospital was — the only buildings in Drolftopia were stands and houses, and the only ways of transport were by foot or wing, and all the animals that lived there were drolves! What was a hospital, and what was it for?

Jewelea howled. She howled and howled and howled with confusion and misery. “Owowaaa! Wooo! Arooo!” 

Eventually, whoever was carrying her said to the other, “Doesn’t this one ever stop?”

The other, whose name was apparently Joe, replied, “Don’t think so,” and chuckled. 

Jewelea felt the bag or box or whatever she was in get lifted into somewhere that she could not see, but before she could wonder what to do and where she was, the box or bag she was in started to shake violently. It was a curious sensation — it felt new and bumpy and strange, but it also felt warm and safe. Jewelea didn’t know what to make of it. But soon the rhythm of the thing she was in carried her off to sleep. 

When she awoke, she was startled to see someone staring at her through thick, square glasses. What was more, this creature had two legs, not four! The thing opened its mouth and said gently, “It’s all right, everything is gonna be fine. Though you will have to get surgery on your kidney, everything else seems to be in order.”

Jewelea sat there, trembling with fright and cold. It was not very warm in the place where she was sitting, and speaking of where she was sitting, it appeared to be some sort of table or counter with a leather cushion on top in a small room. The walls were lined with pictures of strange animals and plants. Cabinets, a sink much like the one back home, and some chairs covered one wall while all the others were bursting with those pictures. Jewelea heard the thing talking to another one just like it, but the other one had black hair and no glasses. Then, they grabbed something from under the counter she was sitting on and placed it next to her. It seemed like a box, except that it had a screen of wire mesh across the front. Inside Jewelea could see blankets, her stuffed elephant, and a small velvet cushion. The cozy looking bed tempted her, so when the things, which she thought she knew the name of but couldn’t quite remember, opened the box, she happily stepped in. 

They closed the mesh door as she stepped inside, and yet they opened a door in the top and gently pet her, then closed it once more. Jewelea found herself being moved towards another room. When the creatures carrying her opened the cage, she immediately jumped out, soaring onto a small chair in the corner, glad to be out of that thing! Jewelea liked the chair, and sat down on it, wondering, What are they doing now? They’ve already kidnapped me, brought me here, stuffed me in a cage, and I don’t even know who or what they are! So Jewelea growled as they approached her carrying a small, pointy thing, but they were not scared. This must have happened with a lot of the drolves they kidnapped. (Not saying she blamed her fellow drolves or anything.) But as they closed in, she howled and barked and growled some more. The creatures were confused. But they finally reached her and jabbed her with the pointy thing, and within minutes she collapsed, and fell into a deep, strange, dreamless sleep.

Chapter 3: The Hospital 

The next thing Jewelea knew, she was staring at some fuzzy blobs up ahead. She shook herself and tried to stand, but a sudden sharp pain in her side prevented her from doing so. As her vision cleared, she noticed she was in another room, this one with lavender walls, another sink and leather cushion bench, and a bunch of thingies with glowing screens and long metal claws hanging over her head. What should I do? Jewelea asked herself. I’m trapped in this place that seems to be an endless hallway of weird rooms, and I can’t even stand up! AND it’s my birthday! 

Jewelea sat there, thinking about it for hours, and by that time, she had recovered from what that creature had called surgery, so she could make a plan to escape. First thing on the morning of her recovery, the plan began. Jewelea pretended to sleep as one of the creatures came in. Suddenly she shot a jet of blue flame on the mesh, and it melted away. She soared out, gliding quickly on her jewel-encrusted wings, and flew straight out the door and into the hallway. Jewelea zoomed down the hallway, and at the end, she found a glass door. 

Not bothering to open it and wait for them to catch her, she put on an extra boost of speed and zoomed right through the door. Glass flew everywhere. There was a chinking noise, and then a sickening thud told Jewelea that the creatures had slipped on the glass and fallen to the tiled floor. In front of her were bushes and trees, and in the distance, she could see mountains. The fresh air felt good on her sweaty face. Panting, she looked around and realized she was lost! 

The trees and grasses were different then the rainbow colored ones in Drolftopia because these ones were only green and brown. Jewelea decided to fly up and see where she was. Soaring up into the clouds, she saw miles of the same sort of buildings and plants, with the occasional strange animal. Using her dragon vision, she focused on a small golden trapdoor thing in a large hill. The Great Separator! A sudden memory crossed her brain. A tan-colored drolfette was staring at her with kind, caring, sparkly blue eyes. Her eyes! A golden tiara bejeweled with amber and rubies sat on her head. Another drolf came into the picture. This one had stormy gray fur and bright, all-knowing brown eyes. A silver crown encrusted with sapphires and emeralds was on his head. Words made of diamonds were on the front of his crown. They read: Lord Pluto, King of all Drolves. Her parents! Lord Pluto, her father, said in a deep, calm voice, “Hello there! Welcome to Drolftopia, little one!”

Jewelea shook herself and started soaring towards the golden trapdoor. A strong instinct told her that she would be safe on the other side. She reached the trapdoor and put her pawprint in the scanner and zoomed through to find none other than Drolftopia!

Chapter 4: Voxes

Jewelea slowly stepped through the gateway. Drolftopia looked different than it had on her birthday. The usually bright, cheerful cottages were now a mass of gray and white wreckage. All of the drolves were gone. There was no color anywhere. Suddenly, Jewelea saw a blur of silver light. The light flashed by her fast as lightning, making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Jewelea sniffed. An odor of decaying flesh streamed through her nostrils. Jewelea, disgusted, flew high into the foggy sky above. 

From high up she could see all of Drolftopia. Silver flashes of light were appearing and vanishing, draining even the white trim on the wreckage of its color. I hope everyone is all right, she thought. But in the meantime I should investigate. So that is what she did. 

Swooping down silently, she hid carefully behind a large gray door and peeked around the edge. One of the silver lights had slowed nearby, inspecting a white board. Now that the light had slowed, Jewelea could see the details. Glowing red eyes peered from a slim, drolf-like head. 

Suddenly, the light opened its mouth to reveal a strong, muscular jaw with fangs so sharp it seemed the light cut itself every time it closed its mouth. The light breathed in the thin, dusty air as if drinking in the world around it. The white board became darker and darker as the light became brighter and brighter.

Jewelea then remembered the book she had borrowed from the town library about the beings of the spirit world. A picture on one of the last pages was of a white fox with glowing red eyes and razor-sharp fangs. Jewelea strained her memory and remembered that the paragraph next to the picture was titled: VOXES. Voxes, it read, were the evil souls of bloodthirsty foxes that had roamed the earth for centuries, killing all animals in their wake. Voxes sucked all life and color from the world around them to make themselves more powerful. 

These must be voxes, Jewelea thought. I have to do something! But what first? Jewelea suddenly soared up to the foggy clouds above. The vox didn’t notice. Jewelea closed her eyes and carefully listened to the evil silence around her. A noise startled Jewelea. A soft, miserable noise was coming from nearby. Howling! Jewelea rushed towards the noise. The noise was coming from a gigantic black metal cage. Inside, hundreds of drolves were howling miserably. Voxes were guarding the sides and top of the cage. I have to get them out! Jewelea thought. Gliding quickly upward, Jewelea peeked through the mass of vox guards. Underneath, though barely visible, was a shimmering silver key. 

Chapter 5: The Battlefield

Jewelea silently parachuted down to the ground. Creeping toward the metal cage, she thought about how best to get them to safety. Suddenly, one of the vox guards spotted her. He leaped, gliding creepily across the ground. Signaling to the others, he jumped down and ran. Jewelea rushed as fast as she could towards the cage. Zigzagging quickly, her heart pounding with exhaust and fright, she soared into the mist once more. Her fuzzy white silhouette blocked out the few rays of icy moonlight. She zoomed lightning fast towards the cage, but they had beaten her. Turning sharply, she sprinted away towards the marketplace. She had hardly ever been there, so she didn’t know what to expect.

And when she got there, she saw that the stands looked abandoned, and there was no merchandise on their shelves. The thick crowd was gone too. Jewelea hid behind a stand and waited for the world to end, for her vision to cloud and vanish, for her color to fade. But it never did. She realized then that the only way to save Drolftopia was to let the drolves go. But how? Jewelea thought.

Suddenly, she had an idea. Flapping her bejeweled wings hard, she lifted off the ground. Jewelea zipped to the cage just as the voxes got to the marketplace where she had been. She managed to get to the cage before they had figured out where she was and how to get there. Jewelea swooped down, grabbed the silver key in her mouth, and stuck it into the lock. There was a sharp click as the lock fell to the ground. Jewelea bit down hard on the handle of the cage door and pulled. The door swung open. The drolves soared out of the cage like a flock of birds, glad to be out at last. A tan drolf with blue wings and green eyes came up to Jewelea and said, “Thanks for freeing us! I don’t know what we would have done without you! But the royal family is still stuck. They’re at the palace, locked up someplace. You gotta save them!”  

“Bye! Thanks!” Jewelea shouted in reply as she zoomed as fast as she could towards the palace. The palace was a huge marble building surrounded by a large fruit orchard. A golden tower was in the middle of the courtyard in the center of the marble walls. The palace looked ghostly. Fog had settled around the great palace and made it impossible to see twenty feet in front of you in any direction. Jewelea flew towards where she thought the tower should be. Looming ahead of her was the tower, bright and golden as ever, and faint howls could be heard from inside. 

Chapter 6: A Palace of Gems

Jewelea parachuted into the tower. Rubble and torn furniture were everywhere. She followed the noises, and they got louder and louder with every step she took. As Jewelea rounded a corner, she saw a small wooden crate and inside, a brownish snout was poking out through the barred window. 

“Mom!” Jewelea cried.

“Jewels?” her mom replied. 

“I missed you, Mom!” Jewelea exclaimed. 

“I feel the same way!” she replied. “But could you get me and the rest of the family out of here, by any chance?”

“Sure,” Jewelea said. She picked the lock with her tooth, and the lock fell off. The door burst open and eight drolves flew out, circling her. 

“Hiya!” a storm gray drolf said. 

“How are you?” a cream-colored drolfette exclaimed.

“Hello, everybody!” Jewelea called. “I need to check who is who before I can greet you by name, because, like…” 

“We know. You ran away and you’ve been gone for sixteen years, blah, blah, blah,” a jet black drolf said. 

“Attention, hut!” a gray drolf said. He wore a silver crown. At the sound of his voice, all of the drolves lined up perfectly straight. 

At one end of the line, a beige drolfette with gold wings and green eyes said in a sweet, cheerful voice, “Hi! I’m Fern. Nice to meet you!”

Second, the pure black drolf with black wings and dark eyes said in a clever, mischievous voice, “Hiya, I’m Onyx.” 

Next, a storm gray drolf with silver wings and gray eyes said, “Hello, I’m Thunder, and this is my twin brother, Zigzag.” He gestured towards a drolf exactly like him, except with a white lightning bolt on his back. 

Finally, a cream-colored drolfette with bronzy wings and sparkly blue eyes said, “Hi there, I’m Cloud, and this is my twin sister Snowflake.” And she pointed a paw at a drolfette precisely the same but with a white spot on her forehead. 

“Nice to meet you all,” Jewelea replied. “Tell me if I got it right. Fern, Onyx, Thunder, Zigzag, Cloud, and Snowflake.” 

“Correctamundo,” Onyx said. 

“Ok. Great. Let’s go home to our bedrooms and sleep. I am exhausted.” 

 “Sure,” Snowflake replied.

All Because of Three Little Screws

“WHY DOES TIM NOT HAVE A CHAIR, AND WHY IS THERE A BROKEN CHAIR THERE?!” Ms. M screeched. Don’t understand? It makes sense. Here is the full explanation: 

It was the second month of third grade. During math class, Kevin was studying hard. The problem he needed to solve was 58 + 65. He did the math. It was 13. He carried the one to the tens place, and the 5 + 6 was 11. He wrote down his final answer, and then realized he made a mistake. The eraser rubbed hard against the flimsy sheet of paper in his notebook.

Kevin, you’re so stupid. Yeah, I know. No, I mean you need an award. Shut up! No, you should shut up, you’re the dumb one! SHUT UP!!! This was one of the many conversations he had in his head during the day. He had forgotten to carry the one! Kevin quickly added that one and his final answer was 123. He was about to raise his hand to share his answer with the class, when he heard a slight thump under his chair. He poked his head under his chair to investigate the odd sound. To his surprise, there were three screws under the seat. He raised his hand.

“Yes, Kevin.” Ms. M had called on him.

“Um…” Kevin started. “There are some screws under my chair.”

Ms. M stopped her rant about how this class was the worst class she has ever had to teach (this time it was because someone had forgotten to carry the one) to come over to Kevin’s seat at table three and calmly picked up the screws out of Kevin’s cupped hands.

“Thank you,” she said, not too enthusiastically. Ms. M went back to her post by the SMART Board™ and put the screws on a low bookshelf that was part of their class library. She made nothing of it and continued her rant.

Flash forward to a little bit past the halfway point of the school year. They had a one time substitute since Ms. M was out on family business. They were working on a math worksheet again, and everyone was relaxed that day because of the substitute. The entire day was chill, so Kevin swiveled his chair for the umpteenth-million time to talk to Jeremy. There was a slight ping-pang on the floor, and before he realized it, the seat of his chair became another backrest. As it rose up his back, the last screw had fallen out. He remembered the beginning of the year and thought to himself, So that’s what the screws were from. It made more sense to him now, but he still was not happy about his current predicament. He got up, put the seat back into the correct position and hauled the chair into the back of the room, then hauled it over people to eavesdrop on their conversations. Someone was in the middle of a heated argument with one of the other students about which word the person should use in a sentence: their, there, or they’re. He put the chair down and on the way back to his seat — or lack of seat — he made a quick detour to the empty seat that no one sat in. He brought it over to his seat (the others were still going with their debate, by the way) and put the chair at his desk. 

Moving on to a different side of the story, you get Isabell and Ted. Isabell was a bright student, just like Ted. They both finished their math work and wanted to check their answers with one another. Isabell went over to the seat no one sat in after talking to the substitute about it. Since there was no seat, the substitute brought Tim’s chair over because Tim was absent. However, Isabell and Ted forgot to put Tim’s chair back; this resulted in — best way to put it — disaster the following day.  

The next day, all the kids lined up outside. The buzz and chatter of a new day was in the air. The class watched Ms. M walk slowly down the stairs like a sloth crossbred with a snail who made out with a tortoise. All of the teacher’s pets yelled at everybody to get into two distinguished lines. Ms. M stood in front of her class waiting for two of the most perfect lines that she had ever seen in her life, and about 45 seconds later, she led the class up the back staircase.  

The hike up the staircase with their backpacks was a hard one, but they got used to it after a while. They didn’t like the thought of having their strict normal teacher anymore, but they knew that there was no getting out of it now. They passed the door from one kid to the next. 

Not even half of the class got through the door when Ms. M screeched, “WHY DOES TIM NOT HAVE A CHAIR, AND WHY IS THERE A BROKEN CHAIR THERE?!” 

Kevin leaned his head back and casually said, “I don’t know.” He was only halfway lying. He did not know, at that point, why Tim did not have a chair. 

Thief

It was Halloween, and Amelia was running from house to house, trick-or-treating. She was a normal kid living a normal life. She had annoying siblings, she did after-school activities, and she texted her friends. She listened to music and chewed gum as she did her homework. And, of course, she ate candy, too. Lollipops were her favorite, and usually, she got a sack of lollipops out of the three sacks of candy she got. Her parents didn’t allow her to have candy because they were healthy moms and dads, but she snuck the candy into her closet. 

Amelia’s mother, Sandy, and her father, Jake, didn’t permit Amelia to stay up later than 10:30 PM, but Amelia had her ways. She would read by her night light and suck on her leftover candy. On that particular day, she took out a big grape lollipop, her favorite flavor, and opened her book. Her book was very interesting, but it was very late, and so she drifted off to sleep.

When she woke up, she sighed and took a piece of candy out of the first sack and went downstairs. Never had she thought that her parents were going to be so cheerful that morning. She expected to see angry faces staring at her, but they were bustling around. Amelia sighed again, very confused. Hoping her parents didn’t see her worried face, she quickly gulped down her food, brushed her teeth, and ran out the door. 

On most days, Amelia was a very good student and often teased for being the teacher’s pet. Amelia never minded the bullies, but this worrying made her more sensitive, and she almost yelled at the boys teasing her. If she had actually yelled at them, she would have gone straight to the principal’s office. That made the boys tease her even more, but at that exact moment, the lunch bell rang and Amelia rushed into the cafeteria. 

In one corner of the cafeteria, she stayed low for a while, and when everyone was busy eating, she felt brave enough to go buy her lunch. Then, when she searched through her backpack, her money was gone. So was her candy. And so she was lunchless. Her stomach rumbled, but what was there to do? When Amelia was young, she always wanted to solve a mystery. Now, there was one right in front of her eyes. 

The next day, Amelia still wasn’t sure if she had just dropped her things or if they went missing, so she went to school with her lunch money and more candy. Once again, the same thing happened. Her parents were becoming suspicious because, when she came home, her stomach was always rumbling like a car motor. 

Finally, she decided to go to the principal. But first, she had to talk to her mother. 

“Mom? Can I bike to school?” Amelia asked, though she knew the answer would be no.

After a moment of pause, Amelia’s mother said, “Well, you are in middle school, so I suppose so.” 

Trying hard not to run up to her mother and hug her, Amelia simply walked into her room. Her mother and father went on a stroll, and Amelia took the chance to make some pizza to cook in the morning. When her parents came back, she lied, “We have pizza-making competition in cooking class, so I made some.” 

It was a really bad lie, but they still went along with her. Since her parents didn’t want her to know that she was going to be in big trouble for lying, they hid their suspicion. 

“That looks like a great pizza. Freeze it, and I will heat it up in the morning,” her mother said. Amelia was secretly taking it, just in case the thief was back again, so she would have something to eat. Her plan that she hoped was going to fix this mystery was to go to the principal’s office and see if he would allow her to check the security cameras.

Amelia hardly slept that night, worrying about the next day. In the morning, she didn’t even bother to hide her unusualness. Quickly, she dressed, showered, ate, and brushed her teeth. One second she was in the garage grabbing her bike, the next she was outside heading towards school. Her aim was to get there early, so she could go in first. 

Soon, the bell rang, and Amelia rushed into the building and headed to the principal’s office. Her principal was a reasonably kind one and understood her well. Though it was strange, her principal mostly hid his suspicion when Amelia bustled into the office. Mostly, he was cool with her situation, but Amelia could tell he was quite suspicious of her. Although she had never gone to see the security cameras before, it felt weird that a security man was there supervising her. 

Mr. Crasper, the security man, showed her the video and she spotted her locker. The thief approached her locker and dug through her backpack, taking out a small object, then another, and then some paper (the money). 

“Yes, that is the thief that kept stealing my things!” Amelia exclaimed.

The principal came in and said, “Found the thief? Lemme see who it is!” 

Amelia did so and the principal sighed.

“Ahh, that’s the bully of the school. We have had many kids come to complain about him. I think he is such a menace, we might have to report him. Don’t worry, we will catch him,” the principal said.

“Oh, thank you so much!” Amelia exclaimed.

“You’re welcome,” the principal said, and they shook hands. “Now, don’t be late, the second bell will ring soon.” And Amelia skipped off to class. 

Ghostly Figures

The road near my house was the pinnacle of fright. 

Not the road itself. The road was fine. It was what was on the road that was creepy. 

Normal stuff was there. Cars, bikes, motorcycles, passersby. Nothing you wouldn’t really expect. Except, I saw something different there. 

People. Countless people, milling through their daily lives. And not just people from now, either. The people were dressed in pelts, or large petticoats, or tight-fitting leggings and Rollerblades. People with loincloths, people with fancy tuxedos, children, adults, the elderly. They were all doing their own thing, stuck in their own little world. And they all shared the same feature, a pale green glow, making them see-through and ghostly. 

Maybe they were ghostly. Maybe they were ghosts. Maybe they were lost souls, and this was just a rest stop to get where they were going.

It wasn’t on any other blocks, either. Just this specific road, 18th Street and Butler. And it didn’t seem like anyone else was bothered by all the ghosts — ahem, ghostly figures — or they didn’t see them at all. 

Every time I walked past the road on my way to school, I slowed my pace. Waved to some of them. Sometimes they even waved back. I stopped overthinking it years ago. 

I didn’t know what caused it. I didn’t really care, either. I didn’t care until they all disappeared. 

Three Is Turned to One by a Human Beast

Kkkra shooo!

“Jet, come eat breakfast,” Mom said.

What? What’s happening? Startled and half-asleep, I jumped up out of bed and banged my head on a chair. 

“Oh, just five more minutes,” I said, falling onto my bed.

“Come now,” Mom said in a strict Mom voice.

“OK,” I said with a sigh.

Creak, creak, creak. I came down the splintery wooden stairs.

Oh, hi there. My name is Jet. I’m twelve years old. I live in a war zone in my homeland city in the forest. My city and two other cities fight day and night. My city’s name is Wild Fasts. I don’t know why. The other city is named Steel City because it is foolproof, but it’s not really a steel city — it is a desert full of dark-skinned people. The last city is named Sharp because they have sharp, deadly knives and are full of bandits on a dock. My mom says my dad died in the war when I was three. We are lucky we are even alive right now.

I sat down in front of Mom.

“Here, today’s meal is toast,” Mom said.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said. “Oh, and Mom?” 

“Yes?” 

“When do you think it is going to stop?” I asked.

“What?” 

Kkkrrrunch!

“You know, the war,” I mumbled with my mouth stuffed with toast. 

“Oh, I’m not sure. It could go on forever,” replied Mom while pouring milk into the glass cups.

“I wish I could free these people from this ongoing war,” I said.

“Maybe if you really work on it, it will happen,” encouraged Mom.

I knew she was just encouraging me, but I smiled. I finished breakfast. 

“See you later, Mom. I’m going to meet my friends,” I said.

I went to the park. I turned all 360 degrees. Where are they?

“Boo!”

They came out from behind an ice cream truck.

“Aaak!!!”

Chapter One: DNA

“Hey! Why do you scare me like that every time?” I shouted.

“It’s fun!” my friends said simultaneously, giggling.

“But it scared me half to death!” I muttered under my breath. 

Anyway, these are my friends. They’re brother and sister. The sister named Ruby is twelve and the brother named Vac is eleven.

“So, anyway, what do ya want to do? Because I’m as bored as hell,” I ask.

“Wanna race?” Vac asked.

“Sure, because I’m going to win,” I said.

“To my house,” Ruby said.

“Bu — but that’s…”

“Then do ya Q-U-I-T?” Ruby cut in.

“No way,” I said.

“Then let’s go,” Vac said.

Three… two… one… go!

We dashed. I dashed so fast it knocked the wind out of me

“Done, haha! I’m done already!” I shouted in awe of myself. I looked around. There was no one there. This is gonna take a long time…

Finally, Ruby and Vac arrived five minutes later.

“We are done,” they gasped simultaneously. They were on their knees gasping for breath.

“What took you so long?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked.

“And what happened to your legs?!” Vac panicked, not taking his eyes off my legs like if he did, something would stab him in the back.

“Wha — OMG! There’s cheetah fur on my leg!!” I panicked too. We went to my house to talk to my mom. “What’s happening to me?” I shouted while pointing at my leg.

“I knew this day would come…” she whispered to herself while putting a hand on her forehead.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Your Dad’s DNA — it’s forming,” Mom told me.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Your dad was half-cheetah.”

I was half-beast.

Chapter Two: New City

Now I know why our city is named Wild Fasts. 

“But… I don’t understand what you mean! And — and you said my — my dad’s dead!!!” I shouted, tears dripping down my cheeks .

“No, he’s not dead. He’s in the wild somewhere. I just know it,” Mom told me.

“How did he get there?” I asked, still petrified.

“Like you wanted, he tried to make peace, but they thought it was a trap, so they attacked instead. The others made it back but — but he couldn’t.” She finished talking and sobbed.

I was mad — no, furious! But sad at the same time. I wanted to run out of here and find my dad. But I didn’t know if I would make it or not. Plus, I didn’t know where he was.

 “I know you want to find your dad, and I will let you. But you need to know how to control the cheetah in you, so I’ll lead you until we get there, and then I’ll go,” Mom told me.

“OK,” I told Mom.

“Don’t forget us,” Ruby and Vac said simultaneously. 

“It’s too dangerous,” said Mom.

“Just go with it. If they say something, they never take it back,” I told Mom like it was just common sense.

“OK, just one tiny, little problem… It’s that — this person in the other city,” Mom told us, saying the last part more quickly.

“First, that’s a big problemo! Second, how can we trust that ‘person’?” said Ruby.

“That ‘person’ trained Jet’s dad,” said Mom.

Why is everyone saying “person” like it’s important? I thought.

“OK then, let’s go in twenty minutes,” Vac said.

***

We got out of our city no problemo, but that was the easy part.

We spent several days in the forest sleeping, walking, and eating until we made it. There was a wall of stone and guards in every corner. The only way was up. The good thing was there was a hill near us.

“Ruby, did you bring the paper like always?” asked Vac.

“Of course,” Ruby said.

“Can you give it to me so I can make a glider for each of us? Then, we can glide in there from the hilltop,” said Vac.

“Fine with me,” Ruby replied. “Here,” she said while handing the paper over.

We went up the hill.

“That was a good hike,” I gasped while I basically fell. 

I would have tumbled down if my mom didn’t stop me.

Chapter Three: Arguing

“You guys should rest. We will go at midnight,” Vac said. “I’ll be making the glider.”

“Now, who made you boss?” Ruby asked.

“I’m not the boss. I’m just saying I’ll make the glider and you guys should rest,” Vac told her.

“Yeah, well, I want to help!” shouted Ruby.

“Well, I think I’ll be better off if I do this alone,” said Vac while he was making the glider.

“Well, I’m the one who gave you the paper,” Ruby said.

Blah blah blah…

Mom looked in her bag.

“What are you looking for?” I asked.

“Clothing to disguise us,” my mom answered.

“Good idea.” 

“There, a cloak.”

“OK, now let’s rest.”

***

At midnight, Vac and Ruby were still arguing, but they had made the gliders.

“Ok, now zip it,” I told them.

They finally stopped.

“Let’s go,” I whispered.

We glided. It was actually really fun, like flying. Mom and I were way in front of Vac and Ruby.

I saw Vac mouth, “This conversation is not finished.”

“Everyone got a cloak, right?” Mom whispered.

“Yes,” we whispered back.

We landed safely because it was night and no one was awake.

“OK, let’s wait ‘til sunlight. When it’s time, Mom will tell us who the ‘person’ is,” I said.

We lay down on the hard, cold rock waiting to sleep. Very slowly, I closed my eyes into the darkness.

***

We opened our eyes in the bright sunlight.

“I officially hate living in the street,” I said.

“Same,” Vac agreed.

“Let’s go,” my mom said.

My mom and I started walking, but Vac and Ruby were arguing about who was going to find the “person” first.

Chapter Four: The Person

My mom and I were so focused on finding the “person” that we didn’t realize Vac and Ruby were running a different way and arguing about who was going to find the “person” first.

They kept arguing until they found themselves lost and sat down on a bench, not knowing which way to go.

“OK, because we’re lost — and you know it, too — why don’t we just give up on this pointless argument?” Ruby growled.

“Deal?” Vac asked.

“Deal,” Ruby replied.

“Are we good?” asked Vac.

“We’re good,” Ruby answered.

“Good,” Vac said.

“Now, where did we come from?” Ruby said.

“There — no, there — no, I don’t know,” Vac said.

“There,” said an old lady nearby, pointing to the way they had come from.

“WHERE DID THIS OLD HAG COME FROM?” Vac shouted.

The old lady whacked Vac with her walking stick.

“I probably deserved that,” Vac mumbled.

The old lady was wearing brown ripped clothes, sharp teeth, and had sharp nails like talons and a white outline at the eye tail.

Ruby shot a glance at the old lady. 

“I think we are supposed to know her,” Ruby whispered.

***

Meanwhile…

“Mom, what does the ‘person’ look like?” I asked.

“Just an old lady,” my mom said.

Chapter Five: City Trouble

Bonk. Ooof!

I fell to the ground.

“Hey, what are you doing?” said the big guy I had bonked into.

He was bald and basically three feet wide and six feet tall. I made him so mad that he looked as hot as a flaming piece of charcoal. He was about to hit me, but he missed. It seemed like I was too fast for him, but then my cloak drifted off.

Security guards surrounded us.

“Oh crap,” I said.

There were two reasons why I said, “Oh crap.” First, the security guards surrounded us. Second, the cheetah DNA was once again forming.

We stood back to back. There was one space that was not closed.

“Let’s run through there on the count of three,” I mouthed through the side of my mouth, ticking my head.

“OK,” my mom mouthed back.

“One… two… three!” I said.

We ran for it.

My mom ran as fast as she could. I went the same speed, not turning back and not knowing where to go until we saw Vac and Ruby with the “old lady.”

“What are you doing with the ‘person’?!” I shouted.

“Oh!!! So this old hag is the ‘person’?!” Vac said. OK, I shouldn’t have said that, he thought.

Whack!

Chapter Six: Grandma

“I knew there was something suspicious about this person,” Ruby said, balling her hands into fists.

“Why are you running?” Vac asked.

“No time to explain,” Mom and I gasped simultaneously. The security guards were catching up.

“Run!” I told everyone.

We ran. Vac was the one who dragged the old lady. We turned a corner and, fortunately, the door was there, but unfortunately, there were even more guards at the door’s entrance.

We turned another corner before the security guards could and went into an abandoned building to hide.

“Mom,” Mom whispered to the old lady happily.

Ruby and Vac stared in awe at my mom, jaws dropped.

“What?” Mom said, looking uncomfortable.

“Let’s talk about this afterwards,” the old lady scolded Vac and Ruby, whacking them with her walking stick.

“So, what should we do?” Vac whispered.

“What about we make them follow us into a trap?” Ruby asked.

“That is not a bad idea,” Mom said.

“OK then, let’s do that plan,” I said.

“You’re saying it like we have another choice,” Vac said to me.

“Whatever. Just go with the plan,” I quickly said.

“OK then, who’s the bait?” Vac asked.

Nobody raised their hand. They were all staring at me.

“OK, fine. I’ll go,” I sighed.

Chapter Seven: Escape

Thirty minutes later, we had already set up the trap. It was a simple one, you know: dig up a hole and put sticks over it, then cover it with leaves. Anyway, I went to the front entrance and got their attention. Then, I ran.

I jumped over the booby trap, and when the guards chased me, they fell into the hole.

“Let’s go before backup comes,” I said.

We ran for the door. It was already open. We ran until we couldn’t see the city.

“I think we lost ‘em,” Ruby said.

We settled down in the middle of Wild Fasts and Steel City next to a tree. We set up camp and went inside tents.

“I guess the Steel City isn’t foolproof?!” I said.

“It could be in the history books: the group who — ” Vac started saying.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Ruby cut in.

“So, ummm, old ha — I know what you’re thinking; you don’t need to hit me — I mean, Grandma,” I said.

“Yes?” she replied in a croaky voice.

“Did you really teach my dad, Flin?” I asked.

“Yes,” she croaked.

“Can you teach me?” I asked.

“I suppose,” said the old lady with a small smile.

“We will start the next morning,” the old lady croaked.

***

“Wait, so why didn’t you tell us she was your mother?” I asked my mom.

“Because you would ask too many questions.”

“That’s true,” I replied, trying to block a tirade. 

“I guess I’ll go, then,” my mom said.

“Wait until sunrise,” I said with gleaming eyes.

“OK then,” Mom said with a sigh.

“Then let’s rest up,” Ruby said. Nobody could argue with that. 

I went into the tent with Grandma and Mom while Vac and Ruby went into the other one. I lay down. Now it’s not long until I see my dad.

Chapter Eight: Lessons

It was beaming sunlight when I woke up. My mom was about to leave. She and Grandma were hugging. We said a quick goodbye and hugged, too. When I hugged my mom, she said, “Do what Grandma says,” and slipped a pen in my pocket without me noticing. When my mom left,

silence fell…

“So, Grandma, what are we going to do?” I asked, cutting the silence. “Hunting, fighting, racin — ” 

“Meditation,” Grandma cut in.

“Why?” I said, a little disappointed but trying not to show it. 

Grandma glared at me.

Under a tree, Grandma and I sat down and closed our eyes. I twitched. I snuck a peek to see if she was still meditating. She was still meditating. I was aching, but I was trying my best to stay still. I wanted to know how much more I’d need to keep it up, but no matter what, I’d do it to find my dad.

So, I survived, and at the end, I was more comfortable. When what felt like two hours had passed, I stood up and felt a jolt of aching pain. It was only a cramp, but it hurt pretty bad.

The next day, I asked if we were going to do something else, but she gave me the stink eye, so I listened and sat down and closed my eyes. Every passing day was less painful but still very painful.

Two weeks had passed and we were still doing the same thing: same old mediation.“I can’t believe we’re wasting our time meditating while we could be looking for my dad!” I told Grandma, who twitched, but she didn’t respond. She was too busy meditating.

Chapter Nine: Frustration

Yyyhhhaaa!

Silence fell.

“Let’s meditate,” snapped Grandma, cutting the silence.

“OH, now I’ve had enough! I mean, every day I meditate, and what do I learn?! Nothing! SO. I. QUIT!” I shouted, storming out of the tent and sitting down under the same old tree.

“Dogmatic,” sighed Grandma.

I skipped lunch and went near the tree to eat dinner ALONE. I slept outside, but I couldn’t sleep in the frosty, cold wind until Ruby came. 

“What happened this morning?” she asked.

“Stuff,” I mumbled.

“Come on, dude. Break the silence act,” Vac said. I jumped. 

“Seriously, come on! Do you need to keep sneaking up on me?” I growled. 

“Stop stalling and spit it out!” Ruby snarled.

“Fine, I quit the whole thing!” I blurted.

“I’m sure she knows something. After all, she trained your dad,” Vac suggested.

“Sure, just trust an old lady that I learn nothing from,” I mumbled under my breath.

“What?” Ruby said.

“Nothing,” I said.

They walked away.

“Well, just give her one more try,” Ruby said.

The words echoed in my head. I sat there, waiting a little longer. Then, I tiptoed into the tent while Grandma was snoring. I slipped into the sleeping bag. 

I’ll give her one last try.

***

Sunlight came into the tent, burning my eyes. My eyes blinked rapidly. I saw my grandma outside. I trembled, every step I took getting me closer and closer to her, but at the same time she was going farther and farther away. My legs were wobbling like my bones had been removed. 

No! Get a hold of yourself, I told myself.

“Bbbttthhh,” I shuddered.

When I was in front of Grandma, I stopped. The words I wanted to say were stuck on the tip of my tongue. The only two words that came out were… “I’m sorry.”

Chapter Ten: Test

I was sweating, waiting for the answer…

“You’ve passed your test,” she answered.

She’s kidding, right? I thought. 

“What do you mean?” I stammered, not knowing what else to say.

“This has been a test all along and you’ve passed it,” Grandma cackled.

“What was?” I asked, happy but confused.

“You see, I was testing you to see if you would come back or not,” Grandma answered.

“But how did you know I was going to quit?” I questioned.

“I’ve had experience with many apprentices to know you were going to quit,” she explained.

“But…” I started.

“Tsk tsk tsk. Let’s just do the next level, shall we?” Grandma cut in.

I grinned.

“But just remember to do meditation daily,” she said.

Immediately my grin turned upside down.

“But you can rest for today,” she told me.Yes! I raced into the tent and lay down. I had the word “daily” stuck in my head, repeating over and over until the darkness swallowed me whole into the world of sleep.

Chapter Eleven: Message

It was finally sunrise. 

“Rise and shine,” Grandma said.

“Five more — ” I started to yawn.

She frowned. I didn’t argue. Grandma walked outside to the campfire.

I wore the clothes I wore the day my mom left. I felt something in my pocket, but I was too sleepy to notice. I half-sleepwalked outside to the campfire.

“What are we doing?” I asked half-heartedly.

I clutched my stomach when I saw what she was eating. Ruby and Vac were looking at Grandma, awestruck, but she hardly noticed.

“Hunting,” Grandma said, her words muffled by the deer fur in her mouth.

In that exciting moment, the only word I could say without barfing was, “OK.”

Grandma finished eating the deer and wiped the blood on her sleeve. 

“Wanna come?” I asked Ruby and Vac while they were frozen like statues.

“Yeah, sure,” they mouthed back, or maybe they twitched, but after that they both nodded, so I guessed it was a yes.

I dragged Vac and Ruby until they finally recovered from the shock of seeing Grandma eat the deer raw. I almost barfed just thinking about it. Anyway, we followed Grandma until we came to a stop behind a huge rock. I was about to ask why we stopped, but I spotted the rabbit, and the first thing I thought she was going to do was show me how to catch it, but I was wrong.

“You can catch it right?” Grandma asked.

“What in God’s name are yo — ” I started.

Shove.

I fell on my knees. Brownish-gold dirt smudged on them. The rabbit heard the noise of the thud, so it quickly ran away. I had two choices: shout at my grandma and ask her why she pushed me or run after the rabbit. I had to choose quickly because the rabbit was running away, so I chose to chase the rabbit because I could deal with her later. So, I dashed after the rabbit with all my might. The rabbit was too fast even though it was as small as a little baby. 

Faster, faster, faster, I thought to myself.

I burst forward at the speed of light. I caught the rabbit in a matter of seconds.

“I caught it! Ugh, now I’m lost.”

***

Many hours later…

“This. Is. So. Tiring.” I walked to the camp. Tired.

Ahhh!

I tripped on a rock and fell head first into the ground as a pen slipped out of my pocket. I grabbed it, stood up, and held it up to the moonlight. I saw a message that said… 

Text me.

Chapter Twelve: Messages

Every night, I went out into the moonlight to see if there was another message. But on the fourth day, I saw a name written on it:

Clover Rose

TO BE CONTINUED…

The Beginning

It was a nice summer day. Then, all of a sudden, a black angel grabbed a spear and threw it at the sun, and the air turned to smoke. The dark angel went to a radio station and told everyone she was destroying the earth. Then, Jane leaned against her book shelf. Suddenly, a secret door opened! Jane stepped inside curiously. It led to an elevator which took her down to the basement. When she finally got down to the basement, she realized it was actually a secret hideout. Then, a dark figure in the room said, “Jane, you need to restore peace by battling the dark angel…” 

With no idea what was happening, Jane did what the dark figure said anyway. After the dark figure gave her a cool new costume to wear, she was ready to battle. Then, she ran back up and went into the elevator and rushed out the door and went to go find the dark angel. 

***

When Jane found the dark angel, they battled. The dark angel said she wasn’t really good at violence so… they had a dance competition! Jane wasn’t really sure how to dance because she actually never learned how to dance. Her friend at school told her that the only thing that mattered was having fun. So, Jane took that advice and had fun. And she actually won the dance battle because the dark angel didn’t really know what to do. But then, something happened. The dark angel’s dress turned pink… she was actually an angel under a curse by the Queen Devil, who was trying to take over heaven. 

***

Jane was confused but a little excited for the adventure the angel had told her was ahead. Then, suddenly, something came into view. It was a shooting star or something. It was coming straight towards her. She ran out of the way, then looked to see what it was.

The thing stopped. It was another angel. It was the other angel’s friend. She told Jane that the Devil was still working hard, but that he went back to Hell for his plans, so this would be the right time to help her get to Heaven. Jane, a.k.a. Phoenix, was a little confused about how to get to Heaven since she didn’t have wings.  

The angel said, “You just have to have kindness in your heart to get to Heaven.” 

She tried her best to fly, and she got to Heaven. She found out something strange.  Instead of being happy in the clouds, it was filled with gloom and red. All over the place there was evil, fire, dust, and ash. Jane was super confused now. 

The angel told her, “This was the work of the Devil.” 

But they quickly went down to an underground base. Now Jane understood that they needed a place to live so the Devil wouldn’t destroy it. They formed a plan to destroy the Devil and thought confidently of what to do. 

Then, they suggested, “Maybe let’s plan a sneak attack to find out their plans.” 

Jane thought this was smart but dangerous. She was up for the job.

The next time, Jane crept into Hell and quickly grabbed the plans. Then, she replaced them with a fake replica she had made on the internet. When she went back to Heaven, the angel said they’d do something with it. 

Then, they told her they’d rewrite the evil plans so they’d be in the wrong place at the wrong time and ready for the attack. Then, they heard a big thing like a bomb. They went up, and the war was beginning. Jane was upset because she found the plan ten minutes earlier, and they must’ve known it was a replica.

The angels grabbed anything near them and Jane, a.k.a. Phoenix, grabbed her bow and arrow. The Devil said he wasn’t good at fighting, so they had a dance battle instead. Jane wasn’t confident because she wasn’t good at dancing, but she tried her best, and she won. 

What happened next was unbelievable.

To be continued…

The Very Mysterious Story

CAUTION: THIS STORY IS A REAL STORY, SO BEWARE IF YOU DON’T LIKE STORIES.

A package appeared in front of Lillie’s door in the middle of the night. She was very confused. Why would someone send me a package at 12:00? She opened the package and there was a stuffed puppy. Lillie took the puppy and went back up to bed, although she could not fall asleep. Who sent it? Why in the middle of the night? Why a puppy? 

In the morning, her mom asked if she had come downstairs. Lillie said, “Yep. I came down to have a glass of water, but I came right back up and fell asleep right away.”  

Lillie said that because she didn’t want her to worry. Her mom had a lot of things to deal with now that her mom and dad were divorced. Lillie lived with her mom. 

When Lillie got to school, her mom had to be VERY annoying. She yelled in front of the whole school, “WHERE’S MY SMOOCHY, SWEETIE?” 

Lillie did not smooch her and ran to her best friend, Caroline. Lillie was her friend starting in pre-K. They had always been inseparable. They were always in the same classes. It was kind of magical.

 At lunch, Lillie told her everything. She came over to Lillie’s house and Lillie showed her the puppy. It was gone. 

“Seriously? I have dance class and you wanted to show me a puppy that doesn’t exist!”

 That night, when Lillie came back for dinner, in the corner of the room, she found the puppy. Dinner was terrible. When she went back to bed, she put the puppy behind a locked door and left it for the night. 

In the morning, he was still there. She took him out and put him on the bed. The puppy was white with some black spots. She named him Spots. 

On the way home from school, Lille found a dog with the exact same design as Spots walking across the road with no collar – just like Spots. She picked him up and took him home. He had no identification. 

When Lillie got home, she looked for the puppy, but he wasn’t there. She got takeout that night, so it was very good. Lillie locked the dog in her room and fell asleep. 

In the morning, he was not there. There was a stuffed animal. Lillie put the stuffed animal in her backpack and went to school. 

She showed Caroline the stuffed dog. Then, she told her what happened last night. She was very freaked out!!!

That night, Lillie and the dog went to her house to have a sleepover. As you might have known, today was Friday!!!

They stayed up all night and watched the puppy transform into the real dog.

The next day, Lillie started trying to train him, but that didn’t take very long because he already knew how to sit, roll over, play dead, speak, and paw. He also knew the basics, like flying and going on fire. You might be wondering if that was just me joking, but he really could fly and set himself on fire. 

Lillie started going shopping to get him some dog food and a bed. She kept on wondering who sent her this dog. Then, Lillie realized that on the doll, there was a tag and that tag probably had some identification. When the real dog turned into the doll, it said, “SOMEBODY.” She was very confused and decided to give up for the day.

Then, a couple of days later, Caroline said that she was walking down the road and she overheard some people saying, “What a stupid gal she is. I don’t even know her name.”  

“She is a nice lady. Did you know I randomly live on Seventh Ave and Eighth Street? I also went to college with SOMEBODY.”

Then, right away, Lillie knew that she, the doll, and Caroline had to sneak out of their houses and go to SOMEBODY’s house. 

That evening, they snuck out. When they got to the house, it was very dark. It was like a little bit of space just filled with clouds and rain. It was 3:39, so it was bright outside, but in that little area, it was very dark, like it was midnight. They knocked on the door and the door creaked open. A slim man walked out. They asked to come in and it looked like he didn’t have a lot of visitors, so he looked nice. They came inside but there was only one couch and a lamp. Lillie asked him if he knew about SOMEBODY. He said that he went to college with him and that they were best friends, but they grew apart. He also told them that he lived right next door. Like, literally right next door. They rang the doorbell and there was a woman at the door. She slammed the door and opened the little peephole and screamed, “NAMES???” 

“My name is Lillie Frankenstein.”

The lady gasped. It was kind of like she was choking, but she wasn’t. Lillie repeated her name to her. She immediately let Lillie in with the others. When she let Lillie and Caroline in, she told them that the dog could also talk, and he ordered her to send him to them. She thought it was just random. He would kill her if she told him no, so she chickened out and listened to him. 

“SORRY.” She began to cry. “I am so sorry.”

Later that day, they all chucked the dog out of the bag they were keeping him in. He started licking them and they pushed him away. The dog started talking. “I don’t want any trouble, but you should have never trusted her. She hates dogs. She really, really, really HATES DOGS.” 

(Roll the backstory!) 

“SOMEBODY was born on October 20th and she loved dogs when she was two years old, although the dogs always barked at her and bit her and made her get rabies. When she went to the dog store, she went with her mom and got a dog. The dog loved SOMEBODY. But the only dog in the whole entire universe who loved SOMEBODY just had to despise her mom. It was a dark and stormy night when SOMEBODY’s mom was doing the laundry. The dog walked up to her and scratched her body in half. Blood was gushing out. So the house was filling up with blood. And poor SOMEBODY had to live on the streets, alone. When she turned twenty one, she bought her own house and she made enough money to go to college. SOMEBODY met Mark, the neighbor right next door.”

(Back to the present.)

“WOW!!!” Lillie kept repeating. “I had absolutely no idea that was why!”

“Remember this: she can be really persuasive for you to change your mind. And, most of all, I love the name Spots.” And, just like that, the puppy turned back into a doll. 

The next day, it was a holiday, so they did not have school. Caroline and Lillie were wondering how they were going to save the world. Then Lillie started thinking… Maybe if she said “dog” fourteen times, she would get an idea. 

“Dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog.” Then, BOOM!!! It worked. She was going to have to go to SOMEBODY’s house and… 

(I DON’T MEAN TO INTERRUPT THE STORY, BUT THIS IS WHEN THE STORY STARTS TO GET DARK, SO IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF FIVE, THEN YOU SHOULD COVER YOUR EARS!! BACK TO THE STORY WHEN LILLIE WAS TALKING ABOUT HER MASTER PLAN.)

Lillie was going to have to go to SOMEBODY’s house and kill her. When she told Caroline, she totally lost all control, but it had to be done. The next morning, they went up to SOMEBODY’s house and tried to kill her, but she was waiting for Lillie with a sword. 

“What did that evil dog say to you?”

“NO!!! I know you are lying!!!” 

“Fine. I am not lying, but please don’t kill me. I will do no harm.” 

“You fool… I know your plan and I will never allow it!!” Lillie started throwing knives at her and she started to get scared. She dropped her weapon and surrendered and, just like that, the knife was through SOMEBODY’s heart and there was no one in the room. Lillie ran home and started crying.  

Spots crawled on the bed and under the sheets and said in a small voice, “Thank you. Every dog in the world will know your name.”

No one ever stepped into that room again. Even the police officers… and that is LITERALLY their job.

You Don’t Belong Here

You don’t belong here. The kids are mean. You are a wimp.

Those were the first thoughts that stuck in the back of my head as I stepped through the doors of Blowwhite Middle School for my first day of seventh grade. I felt excluded as almost 90% of the kids ran to one another, saying, “I missed you so much, Evelyn!” or “Samantha!!! What homeroom teacher did you get? I got Lilyberg!” Or, my least favorite, “I can’t believe there are new kids in school!” 

I felt as if everybody in the school had been there already and had a million friends already, while I was left to rot. I looked at my schedule as I revealed it from my pocket. 

“Mrs. Jimveds in Room 509,” I noted, pushing that to the back of my head. I pulled my backpack straps onto my shoulder and walked down the hall. I noticed that all of the rooms had a three in the hundreds’ place. I knew I was two floors up. I saw kids flooding into a door, and I kneeled over to investigate. I saw that it was a staircase, so I pushed my way politely into the crowd and thundered up a flight of stairs, then opened the door. I looked at the number in the hundreds’ place.

“Whoops,” I murmured as I looked at the nearest door: 414. I turned to go back to the staircase. Clunk, gukk, clink went everyone’s feet. I ran up the twisting tower of stairs, and I reached the fifth floor. I opened the door and ran into the hallway. 

Hmm, I thought, this is 503, now 505, 507… Okay, there’s 509.

It turns out it was 508, but the lettering must have worn off a bit because the teacher said, “I already have all my students… except Hannah Morrens. What’s your name, honey?” 

“Mia,” I told her. “Mia Lee.” 

She said, “You’re next door with Mrs. Jimveds.” 

She sent one of her students to help me next door. I said, “Thank you,” and then the student returned to his classroom.

As I opened the door to my new classroom, all of my classmates were already there. Mrs. Jimveds said to me, “You must be Mia!” 

I looked at my feet and said, “Hi.”

She said, “Go sit next to Maddie there. See?”

The girl who I think was Maddie waved. So, I sat at the only empty desk next to her.

“Hi! I’m Mia! What’s your name?” I asked her, faking some enthusiasm in my voice as I shakily sat down and unpacked my bag. 

“I’m Maddie Widdows,” the girl said. “I’m new.”

“Same!” I said a bit too loudly. People stared at us with confusion as I blushed and turned the color of the red on the YouTube logo. But I returned halfway back to my normal color when Mrs. Jimveds took attendance.

“Adam Jacobson.”

“Here!”

“Amanda Kaymond?”

“Present!”

“Beatrice Adams and Chris Liberty?”

Some boy in the back of the room made a kissy sound. I bet he was thinking, Beatrice and Chris, sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! But when Layla Menmor sent him a dirty look, he shut up. 

Mark Ravenson said, “What’s first, Madam?” Most of the boys cracked up. 

I was like, “You guys need to grow up!!!” Thankfully, Mrs. Jimveds started class then. 

“As most of you know, I’m Mrs. Jimveds, but you can call me Lola. That’s my first name. Now, Beatrice and Chris will be passing out math books.” 

Another boy — Kale Veggy — made the kissy sound again. And he actually said, “Beatrice and Chris, sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

Chris and Beatrice shot him a dirty look as they passed out math books. 

“And please complete pages one and two,” Lola added. So, when I got mine I filled them out. “Nice job,” Lola exclaimed when she passed my desk. Just then, the bell for second period rang. I got my stuff and checked my schedule. Mr. Peters in Room 414. 

That was the room I had seen on the 4th floor when I’d walked by in the morning. So, I gathered my stuff, thanked Lola, and hurried to Mr. Peters’ class. He checked me in when I approached the room. Apparently, only four other students were in class with me: Maddie Widdows, Areque Manelipo, Rosie Daniels, and Damien Ronaldson. I snatched a seat next to Rosie and Maddie, and Mr. Peters began the lesson. 

“I’m Donald Peters,” he said, “and welcome to music.”

Mr. Peters taught us to play a simple song on the piano before a brrring made us all jump. I thanked Mr. Peters and raced out of the room. I dug around in my pocket for my schedule. It… was empty. Where was my schedule? I retraced my steps to the classroom, where my schedule rested on the floor. I picked it up and studied it. Mrs. Jimveds, Mr. Peters… Elizabeth Ronald Rowling. In room…? It had been colored over with black marker. 

Oh no…! I thought, racing out into the hallways. The late bell had already rung, but kids were still streaming past. I peeked at one boy’s schedule. His homeroom was Elizabeth R. in Room 687. Okay. I raced up two flights of stairs and found the number 682, 683, 684, 685, 686… 687 — okay. I went into the room. Elizabeth greeted me. 

“Hi, you’re… Crystal?” 

I shook my head, “No.

“Tristan? Lee?” 

I shook my head again.

“…Mia?”

“Yes,” I told her. “Mia Lee.”

***

After Elizabeth’s class, I had four other classes, then, my lunch period, art, and science — my last period. It had been a tiring and stressful day, but only one day out of two-hundred days of school. So I knew there was much more to come —

But I was finally able to tell myself that I belonged.

The Opposite of The Little Mermaid

Editor’s note: This story is inspired by and responding to “The Little Mermaid.”

About 5 million years ago, a mermaid lived in a cool town filled with short buildings with fancy carvings and beautiful mosaics. She swam through the fake blue water until she got to her father, the King.
He told her, “I strongly believe that you should go to The Surface of the Water.”
She said to the short, bearded, well-dressed man, “I HATE The Surface and I like The Water.”
Her father looked at her in a discouraging way, “Go now. Also, be back by 5:31 on the dot for dinner.”
She started to swim away.
“Oh, and don’t forget to do your homework!”
The mermaid, Ariel, did the breaststroke to her house, picked up her chorus homework, and went up to The Surface. Ariel practiced singing her scales. Then she felt the faintest drop of rain. 0.01 seconds later, a thunderstorm emerged from the not-so-puffy clouds. A man fell off the cracking ship. He plunged into the water. Eventually, his head emerged from the crashing water. He grabbed onto the rock right next to Ariel. She paid no attention to the struggling man and kept on with her chorus homework. The stranger’s eyes flickered open but Ariel had already left.
Later that week, Ariel went to school like any other day, but in science class, Miss Ursula had a new lesson in mind.
“Children! Last night I had a dream where mermaids could walk on Land. So, I want one of you ladies and gents to volunteer to be teleported to Land!”
No one wanted to explore Land. Miss Ursula walked around the room questioning every student to see if they truly did not want to go to Land.
She stopped by Ariel, stared at her, and finally said, “You shall go up! You’re the King’s daughter, so surely you should go…”
She slowly bent down and came close to Ariel’s face and then booped her on the nose and smiled a deranged smile.
The next day, Ariel was teleported to the Land. She went exploring and found the man she had seen drowning. He was in a very fancy house on the shore of the water. She wanted to go investigate, so she peered around the tall, three-story house. It was decorated with vines and wisteria, near the front door there were all types of different flowers, including chrysanthemums, red and white roses, and jasmine flowers framing the doorway.
She crept to the back and peered into the second-floor window, which was open, where the man now was being tailored into a very fancy suit. A posh man, with a long mustache, was serving him grapes and cheese on tiny toothpicks. The man being tailored saw her and yelled out the open window, “You look familiar! Come up here right now!”
Ariel did what the man ordered and went in the front door that led to a winding staircase, up to the room where the mysterious man was. She peeked her head in and the man ushered her in.
The man, who claimed his name was Prince Eric, asked her, “I saw you somewhere, but where?”
Prince Eric pondered for a bit then came back to reality. “Oh! I saw you when I fell off that ship 2 days ago. You were singing so beautifully, what were you singing?”
“I was practicing my chorus homework. I was just singing ‘He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’.”
Then some time passed and Ariel and Prince Eric married and lived not very happily-ever-after.

Roster the Puppy

Editor’s Note: Content warning — Murder/Violence

Chapter One: The Dog Catcher

Roster lived in New York City, and he loved it there. He had black fur and blue eyes. His best friends were a hamster named Peanut, a cat named Charlie, and the leader of the pack, who was called Rex. Peanut was all light brown with light brown eyes, and Charlie was black and white with blue eyes. Rex was black, white, and brown, and he had dark black eyes. He brought everybody food. They did not have someone who took care of them and fed them. Then, one day, while they were eating a pizza with STUFFED CRUST, a dog catcher came and scooped up Roster, Peanut, Charlie, and Rex with his net, hurting a couple of them. When they woke up in their cells, they saw how high-tech the security was, and they knew that they were not getting out of there anytime soon.   

Chapter Two: The Escaping Plan

After a while, the dog catchers brought cat food for everyone to eat. Everyone thought it was horrible. That night, they planned their attack. The plan was when the dog catchers brought their food, they would all jump out. The next day, early before breakfast, a little boy and his mother chose to adopt Rex and took him home. Then, a crowd of people came rushing in, and the doors almost fell off their hinges. When all of the people left, Rex saw that Peanut and Charlie were gone, along with other pets he did not know.

Roster, Peanut, and Charlie opened their eyes. They were in a big dark place with other pets they didn’t really know. Then, a person in a yellow suit with a yellow mask put every pet back to sleep, and he did it by spraying sleeping gas on them. He was wearing a mask, so he was not affected by the sleeping gas. While Roster was getting his food, he jumped out and made a run for it. Now the person in the yellow suit was on the hunt for Roster, Peanut, and Charlie. When Roster, Peanut, and Charlie woke up, they were behind bars. When the person in the yellow suit and yellow mask came, they pretended they were asleep, so the person did not put them to sleep again. Peanut, Roster, and Charlie wondered if it would ever be the same, while Rex got a ninja suit and rope to save them.

Chapter Three: Owen 

The next day, a person with a name tag that had “Steve” written on it came in holding first class food, not some stinky cat food. Even Charlie hated that food, and he was a CAT! Then, Steve dropped the food and ran away because something crashed through the window. It was Rex in a ninja suit holding a kitchen knife with blood on it. Rex told them that it was chicken blood. Rex used the knife as a key to save them, but when he tried to, a man picked him up and took the knife and ninja costume away from Rex. He put Rex in a cage and picked up Roster, Peanut, and Charlie, shoving them into the same cage as Rex. They had trouble breathing, and when they thought they were going to suffocate, a little boy named Owen opened the cage and gave them all treats.

Later, Roster, Peanut, Charlie, and Rex had dinner. Roster and Rex had dog food with gravy. Charlie had cat food with milk, and Peanut had sunflower seeds and water with a hint of carrot juice. Owen and his mother, Liz, had Chinese food. Roster, Peanut, and Charlie did not care because they loved their food anyway, but Rex really wanted some Chinese food. He whimpered and jumped up on their laps, begging for food. It worked! Rex got eight pieces of chicken, and he got some of the sauce with it. When it was time for bed, Owen brushed his teeth, and he also brushed Roster’s, Peanut’s, Charlie’s, and Rex’s teeth for them. Then the boy went to his bed, and Charlie slept on one of the pillows. Rex and Roster were curled up on the side of the bed near Owen’s head, and Peanut was between his hands.                           

Chapter Four: Rex’s Gone

In the middle of the night, Rex got up and crept out of bed and crept out of the room and then ran out the door, and as soon as he left, yellow eyes appeared out of the darkness holding a dagger and then followed Rex outside. When Roster, Peanut, and Charlie woke up, Rex was gone — he was nowhere to be found, and Owen’s mother was gone, too! And when they looked at Owen, there was a dagger stabbed in his chest. Owen was dead.

Roster, Peanut, and Charlie left the house and looked for Rex and Owen’s mother, Liz. After a while, they hit a dead end. They turned around to find Rex and Liz, but in the darkness in front of them there was a person with yellow eyes who then fell on the sidewalk. Rex was holding a dagger that was in that person’s chest. After that, they walked on the sidewalk and they saw the pizza with stuffed crust that started it all.

Rex picked it up with his mouth and said, “Let’s go somewhere the dog catcher will not find us.”

They found a nice spot, and when they were about to take a bite, dogs appeared out of nowhere and dragged Rex, Peanut, Charlie, and Roster into a cold dungeon, slamming the door behind them. Now Roster, Peanut, Charlie, and Rex were trapped in a dungeon with no food or water. They all realized they were not alone in the dungeon. Something was in there with them.

Chapter Five: Kicking Away

Rex, Peanut, Charlie, and Roster all huddled together, and in a blink of an eye, Peanut was gone. Then, Charlie and Roster were gone too. Rex ran and kicked and kicked at the door, but it would not open. Then, Rex saw something in the distance. It was a black dog. Rex kicked the dog so hard that he split it in half. After he kicked the black dogs in half, he saw the leader, and he knew it was the leader because it was wearing a gold crowd. Rex punched the lights out of the leader, and then kicked the door open with a mega-kick.

Meanwhile, Peanut, Roster, and Charlie were dumped on the sidewalk and trapped in a metal cage. Rex ran to a costume store and got ninja costumes for all of them. Then, Rex found Charlie, Peanut, and Roster. THEN, REX SUPER-MEGA-ULTRA-KICKED THE METAL CAGE OPEN LIKE IT WAS NOTHING!!!

Rex, Peanut, Charlie, and Roster ran and ran and ran until they stopped in front of a garbage can. Rex jumped up to see what was in the garbage can and saw a chicken, so he took that. Peanut picked up a carrot, Charlie picked up a fish, and Roster picked up a full can of baloney. They followed Rex to a rope, and Rex climbed it, Peanut, Charlie, and Roster following behind him. It led to a treehouse, where Rex took a bite of his chicken, Peanut nibbled his carrot, Roster opened his can and took a small bite of baloney, and Charlie took a big bite of fish. Then, they all realized something was climbing up the rope to them.

Chapter Six: Charlie’s Past

It was a skeleton wearing black robes and holding an ax. Peanut, Charlie, Rex, and Roster jumped out of the treehouse and onto the sidewalk. They were cornered against a door. Suddenly, a hand grabbed Rex and Peanut. Charlie and Roster made a run for it, and Rex threw a bone at the skeleton that made it fall apart. The bone turned around and picked up the ax. It flew back to Rex.

“Boomerang bone,” Charlie whispered to Roster.

They walked and walked until a net picked them up. They were back in a cage.

Roster turned around to look at Charlie. “Charlie, what are you doing?”

“Getting out of here,” whispered Charlie.

“Using your claws?”

“Yes, what else am I supposed to use?!”

That was when Roster noticed a scar on Charlie’s arm. 

“What is that scar on your arm?” Roster asked.

“Like you care.”

“I do care.” 

“You do?”

“Of course I do,” said Roster.

“Well, when I was young, my father wanted to kill me because he hated me, but when he tried to hit me with his sword, my mother jumped in the way and hit my arm. The sword flew and killed my mother and father, so I was on my own from then on.”    

Chapter Seven: Cats Everywhere 

Before Roster could say anything, Charlie’s cage opened and Charlie fell on the floor with a bang.

“Are you okay?” Roster asked, but Charlie did not answer. Roster tried to get out, but he could not. Roster did not know what to do. He sat in the corner of his cage, curled up.

Then, a wet, cold hand reached into the cage. It was a person in a yellow suit. The person told Roster that the place was closing, and if they did not get out in time, they would be trapped in there, and metal would surround the place they were in. Roster walked up to Charlie and tapped him. Roster saw the metal appearing from the roof, put Charlie on his back, and ran out of the store just in time.

Roster ran back to the treehouse. He was surprised to see Rex and Peanut there. All three  of them poked Charlie at the same time. Roster put his paw on Charlie’s stomach.

“Charlie’s still breathing,” said Roster.

“So, Charlie’s not dead?” asked Peanut.

“Nope, not dead,” said Roster. Then, he whispered under his breath, “Not yet, at least.” 

“What did you just say?” asked Peanut.

“Nothing!”

Then they heard rustling in the bushes. Rex, Peanut, and Roster turned around at the same time and saw a cat.

“Is that cat coming closer?” asked Peanut.

“One hundred percent, yes,” whispered Roster. 

Then they saw another one and another one.

“What do they want?” asked Peanut.

“It’s a trap. They’re surrounding us, and there is nowhere to go,” whispered Roster.

Chapter Eight: Leaving Earth

Then, the cats started to climb up the treehouse. Suddenly, Charlie got up, and a cat jumped on Charlie. Then, a cat jumped on Peanut.

“THE CAT IS TEN TIMES BIGGER THAN ME! IT’S GOING TO SQUASH ME!” screamed Peanut. 

Then a cat jumped on Roster, and a cat with a crown made of the most expensive fish jumped on Rex. When the cat got off Rex, another cat jumped on Rex. 

“I am the leader of the club of cats, and they treat me like I am their queen,” said the cat with the crown.

“You look like the opposite of a queen!” shouted Charlie.

The cat with the crown told the club, “Get them out of my sight, now.”

The cats put Peanut, Roster, Rex, and Charlie into a small rocket ship and blasted them off into space. When they blasted off, the Earth exploded behind them. Roster, Peanut, Charlie, and Rex started to float in the rocket ship until they crashed into another planet. Roster, Peanut, Charlie, and Rex opened their eyes and saw that they were in a hospital.

“They are finally awake. I have been waiting,” said a voice in the room.

Rex, Roster, Charlie, and Peanut stared at each other, and nobody moved a muscle.

Chapter Nine: News People

A few seconds later, Roster looked where Charlie had been, but Charlie was not there. Then, Roster turned to look at the window, and Charlie was there, whacking the window. Someone suddenly grabbed Charlie — it was the news people.

The news people said that they had been following them because of what they were doing. One of the news people grabbed Roster, Peanut, and Rex. The news people took them to another rocket ship. When they were all inside, the news people said, “The Earth did not blow up. It just looked like it blew up, and the cats that put you into the rocket ship died.”

Roster, Peanut, Charlie, and Rex just looked at each other and they knew what to do. They shoved the news people out of the window. Peanut saw parachutes in the back of the rocket ship and jumped out and parachuted to the ground. Then, they ran to a dumpster.

“Why are we at the dumpster again?” asked Charlie.

“Yeah, why are we here?” asked Peanut.

“Maybe we are gonna build something?” said Roster.

“We are going to build something: a robot dog. And we are going to turn this dumpster into a house for us,” said Rex.

Rex, Peanut, Charlie, and Roster got to work. They built a robot and an amazing house. When they took a step inside, it was amazing.

“It’s going to be a lot easier living in New York City with a house,” said Peanut.

“This house is amazing,” said Charlie.

“It is huge,” said Roster.

“That means more room to roam around,” said Peanut.

“Let’s check out the robot dog!” said Roster.

“CHICKEN, COME HERE!” shouted Rex.

The robot dog came, and a red light appeared in the dog’s eyes. KA-BLAM!

“The robot dog blew up… You know what? Let’s go inside the house.”

“Sounds good,” said Charlie. So, they went inside.

Chapter Ten: The Amazing House 

When they walked in, they saw more toys than they could count. In the corner, food bowls were filling up with the best food they could dream of.

“This house is the best,” said Charlie.

“Agreed,” said Roster with a mouth full of food.

“What should we do?” said Peanut.

“Play with all of these toys,” said Charlie.

They all played with the toys for about two hours. Then, they ate the food that they loved so much.

“I am tired,” said Peanut.

“Me, too,” said Roster.

“Me, three,” said Rex.

“Me, four,” said Charlie.

They opened the door to the bedroom, and it was amazing. There was a big bed, and Roster, Charlie, Peanut, and Rex slept on the bed like kings and queens. Peanut was snoring like this: “ZZZZZ!”

Roster, Charlie, and Rex were able to sleep at least. Finally, they could rest and enjoy themselves for once in New York City.

Kiss, Marry, Kill

Editor’s Note: Content warning — partying/mature content, violence/murder. We recommend an older audience for this psychological thriller.

The fresh air of October sprang through my lungs, the aroma of a fall night chilling my spine. My red flannel wasn’t doing much for the cold. The only thing I wore other than that was a short red dress with spaghetti straps that hugged my curves. My friends convinced me to go to the Halloween party that happened annually. I wasn’t very social. I didn’t have any social media accounts that were for anything more than me using the app and liking friends’ posts. It wasn’t like I was surprised that not that many people were interested in me. After all, there wasn’t much to be interested in.

The broken, old concrete on the stairs of the barn creaked as I walked in, music from inside blasting in my ears. Every year, the seniors got to pick where the parties were held. This year, instead of some rich kid’s mansion, they decided it’d be a good idea to break into an abandoned barn on a farm in the middle of nowhere, away from our high school in the suburbs of New York City. I couldn’t tell whether the barn doors were knocked down before or after the party started, but I could tell that there was no way they were going back up. 

My friend, Andrew Heightman, was the one who hosted and invited me to the party. I wouldn’t even really call him a friend, we just had an ongoing Snapchat streak that broke most records of people who were actually friends or dating.

I stepped into the crowd of sweaty bodies. My nose cringed at the overwhelming amount of Axe body spray and cheap perfume. I was almost certain everyone there was either drunk, high, or just out of their mind. The very loud beat of the music and screaming made my head hurt, making me lose some of my concentration. I fought my way through the crowd of teens, looking for someone I knew who was even a little bit conscious. 

I got about halfway through the tight crowd when, suddenly, the music stopped. The lights flickered out and the room filled with quiet whispers of overexaggerated fear and gasps. If they knew what was about to happen, maybe their fear wouldn’t have been exaggerated.

I wasn’t fazed — after all, it was a Halloween party in an abandoned barn. Someone was bound to pull a not-so-scary prank. The lights turned back on with a loud, familiar click — except this time, it wasn’t the light switch for the entire barn but a spotlight. 

I stood on the tips of my Converse, trying to see what the spotlight was reflecting on. There, under the spotlight, was a fully empty circle, except for the host, Andrew Heightman, standing smack dab in the middle in a cheesy Dracula costume. I exhaled, annoyed at the drama of it all.

“Hello, and welcome to the Annual Halloween Party!” he exclaimed, grinning a cheeky smile, and the crowd erupted with cheers. My feet began to grow tired from looking at him for that long on my tippy toes, so I fought my way to the front of the circle to get a clearer look. 

“Tonight, I thought we would play a game,” he proclaimed, his deep voice echoing off the walls. “Not a middle school game of Spin the Bottle, or a game of tag, but a friendly game of Kiss, Marry, Kill.”

To be honest, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t weirded out by this. Beer Pong was an example of something teenagers would play at a party. Kiss, Marry, Kill, was more of a sleepover-with-your-best-friends-to-find-out-your-opinions-on-people kind of game.  

I wasn’t exactly sure how this would turn out any other way than outing people on who they wanted to make out with.

“Now, I can see you’re all surprised. I’m not dumb. I understand why. ‘How would you play that at a huge party?’ you might say. And to that, I would tell you to just listen to the name of the game, and you know most of the rules,” he explained with almost too much confidence. He smirked and brushed his gelled hair back a bit while the crowd remained silent, not completely sure what that meant.

“Some of you probably picked up on the fact that I said ‘most’ of the rules. There are some more, completely unique to my amazing, awe-inspiring game.”

I scoffed quietly. Sometimes he could be so self-absorbed.

“Rule one: just like every single other thing that happens at this party, the details of this game will not be spread to anyone outside the guest list, or we will make sure you and the person which you shared it with aren’t able to tell anyone else.”

Most people were concerned about the rule, while I only noticed it when he said “we.” He was alone, wasn’t he?

“Like Fight Club?” a guy in the back of the crowd joked loudly, followed by a chorus of confused laughs.

However, Andrew didn’t seem too amused by the joke. “Yes, Jake, exactly like Fight Club.” A crooked smirk appeared on his face. “Except this won’t exactly be a fist fight, will it?” Now he began to pace in his empty circle, his arms behind his back in a fake attempt at looking fancy in a Dracula costume, the way you see people do in movies when the movies are set in the 1800s or something.

“Now, before I continue to explain, we need a few volunteers.” He stopped pacing when he said the end. “A girl and three boys is what we need. If you’re completely sure that you don’t care what the rest of this game entails, no matter what happens and that you will not stop playing, please step forward into the circle.” His words echoed in my brain as I thought about it. He knew that no one would step forward quite immediately if he made the game seem mysterious. And I had to give it to him, he was right. 

Before I could think any more about it, I felt a strong hand push against my back, pushing me into the circle. I stumbled a bit, but regained my balance as I looked for who did it. 

It was a guy I recognized only from him being a part of the high school football team and a part of the popular guys. Also known as the designated a-holes of the school. 

“Jerk,” I muttered, turning to go back to my spot. But before I could, I felt a cold, sturdy hand on my arm, keeping me in place. I looked back and saw Andrew.

“Nuh-uh-uh-uh. No matter how you get in the circle, voluntarily or not, you cannot leave the circle. You, Miss Stone, are staying.” Couldn’t even call me by my first name. 

Sighing, I looked at the people that were now in the circle. Thomas Sanches, the football captain, was standing there with his old bomber jacket and fake zombie prosthetics. Angel Lee, the guy who everyone loved till he came out as gay and suddenly everyone who was homophobic just “never really liked the guy.” And last, and definitely least, John Young. He was the kind of guy that didnt smoke, didn’t fail any classes, and most definitely didn’t really go to parties. But he also wasn’t the valedictorian or anything. He didn’t really do anything. The kind of guy who you could be in school with for years and completely forget he existed. 

“Now that we have all of our lovely players, we might as well start instead of wasting time explaining the rest, am I right?” The crowd murmured in agreement, and you could tell they were starting to get suspicious of the ominous game Andrew was proposing. 

The lights went out with another loud click, and I heard the scraping of wood and concrete and the footsteps of about four people walking to where I could tell was the middle of the circle. They were only standing on the sides.

Another click, and the lights were back on. Andrew was now not in the middle of the circle but off to the side. Replacing him in the middle was now a single wooden chair facing three more chairs in a triangle shape. I noticed John take an audible breath in through his nose and then sneeze into his elbow quickly.

“Now, Miss Stone, please step forward into one of the chairs,” Andrew instructed, pointing to the chair that was facing the rest. Annoyed at the fact that I probably should’ve been drunk right now but instead was playing a stupid game, I shoved my hands in the pockets of my flannel and walked to the chair. I plunked myself down on the chair, self-conscious about myself when I saw the glares people were giving me.

  “Now, boys, be gentlemen and sit across from her, will you?” he said, as if he were more of a gentleman than them. As they stepped forward into their chairs, I felt myself forgetting why I was ever friends with Andrew. On the topic of friends, where were the friends that invited me? 

I zoned back into the real world when Andrew spoke. “The game begins.” 

A smirk traveled up his face as he snapped, and the all-too-familiar click of the lights filled my ears. I felt my arms being guided up to the sides of the chair by unfamiliar hands of people I could not see. I sighed, trying to play it cool. It was all a prank orchestrated by Andrew to scare everyone. 

As I started to question myself, I felt rope being tied around my hands, securing me to the chair. The mysterious hands pulled the rope tightly and the lights came back on. 

“What the hell is this?” I glared at Andrew. I tried to turn my neck to see the faces of the people that tied me up, but no one was there. Just a confused crowd and a few familiar faces. I noticed John once again sniffing through his nose and gulping. Was he nervous?

“Relax, Stone. It’s just a friendly game,” he said. The sudden change in nickname made me feel more intimidated for some reason I couldn’t name. It’s just a prank, part of me said. But it was kind of hard to listen to it when the other part was screaming, You’re definitely not okay!

 “Now, as I said before, Miss Stone will have to pick out of these three gentlemen who she would like to kiss, marry, or kill,” he said, his smirk still remaining. “Kiss?” he said, giving me a questioning glare.

I hesitated, then I just chose to say the first person I looked at. 

“John, I guess?” I said. He looked at me weirdly, his brown hair that usually covered half his face now showing his shockingly gray eyes. The look he gave me wasn’t of disgust but of surprise. As soon as I matched his look, I could tell he wanted to rip through the rope around his wrists and run far, far away. 

Click. Darkness surrounded me once again, and I felt my chair being pushed and moved. I felt what felt like another set of human legs covered in jeans push against mine and then another click

My eyes adjusted to the light again, and I saw what had changed. I was now pressed against John’s chair, our knees touching. Everyone gave us an odd look.

“So kiss,” Andrew said.

“Huh?” John stuttered.

I didn’t understand it, but I didn’t feel like making this take any more time than it already was probably going to take, so I leaned forward and pecked him on the lips, his expression surprised as I pulled back. The crowd erupted, and suddenly, I realized that if Andrew wanted us to kiss for the kiss part of the game, what would he want us to do for the marry and kill part?

“Shocking. Didn’t think that would ever happen,” Thomas spoke up. Only the football team and the girls who liked him laughed. It was like a cult. He was basically their god. 

Whatever he or his girlfriend, Leana Brown, did, the rest of the school just followed. Don’t ask me why.

“Thank you, Mr. Sanches, for your unneeded opinion,” Andrew spat back, and although he hid it well, I could see that pause of frustration in his cocky smirk. “Thank you, Miss Stone and Mr. Young, for participating in the first part of our game,” Andrew said, and I gave him a fake half-smile. 

Click. Darkness consumed the room yet another time, and I could feel my chair being moved by the invisible humans hidden in the darkness. 

Click. Light filled the room from string lights on the walls as I was once again facing the three boys. 

This time though, there was tape over Thomas’s mouth. I watched in horror as he squirmed in his chair, muffled cries coming from behind the tape. Loud protests came from the crowd. 

“Oh, shut up, or I’ll put tape on all of your mouths,” Andrew said in an annoyed tone. The crowd stopped arguing other than a few over-exasperated gasps.

I looked down and noticed my hands were shaking slightly. I tried to stop them and keep them still, but they just kept shaking more than before. 

“Turning back to Miss Stone.” He turned on his heels, his wicked smirk not just annoying me, but scaring me now. What was he hiding behind it? 

“Now, what were we saying before we were rudely interrupted by some people here?” Andrew questioned, the question having absolutely no reason other than trying to intimidate the crowd. I snorted at his stupidity. 

“Right at the point where you forced two strangers to kiss, actually,” I retorted, gathering all the confidence I could into my voice. His eyes rolled. 

“Those cocky remarks aren’t fooling anyone, Stone. We can all see your hands shake,” he argued, his brigade of the cocky game-master starting to crumble like a stone wall being hit by a missile. Quickly.

“Just get the game over with,” I remarked, eager to leave. His smirk returned to his face, and he stepped over to stand behind the three boys I was looking at. 

He rested his hands on Angel’s shoulders, standing straight in the middle, making an uncomfortable amount of eye contact with me.

“Get your dirty hands off me,” Angel said, his sass finally seeming to annoy Andrew.  Angel shivered his shoulders for a couple of seconds before Andrew straightened his shoulders and held Angel’s shoulders down. His biceps shone through his shirt sleeves as Angel fought for freedom from Andrew. Andrew started to lean down, and soon his mouth was at Angel’s ear. 

He whispered something quietly into Angel’s ear, making him gulp and making Angel’s face turn an uncomfortable shade of gray. 

“So, Stone, please select which to marry,” Andrew said, turning back towards me. He gestured his hand above Angel’s and Thomas’s heads like he was a shop worker trying to sell a new flavor of ice cream. 

“Uhh…” I said. Angel looked at me, and he slowly mouthed, Me. I didn’t mouth anything back, as Andrew was still watching me like a hawk. 

I looked at Thomas, but his facial expression was blank. 

“Angel,” I muttered quietly. Even if he asked me to do it, I still felt kind of odd for saying I would marry a gay guy to his face. 

Angel let go of a breath he seemed to have been holding for a while. 

“Fair enough,” Andrew said. 

Click. The invisible hands were back on mine in seconds. I felt something being slipped onto my ring finger, and I took a shaky breath as I guessed what it was.

Click. I looked at the new things added to the room: rings on Angel’s and my ring fingers and what looked like legal documents on a desk in between us. 

Angel and I met eyes, and both our eyes were filled with the horror that this was real. I let out a strained, choked, laugh. 

“Very funny, Andrew,” I said, the words coming out as if they had to fight a thousand wars to slip off my tongue. Sweat began to form on my hairline, making my black hair come out of its original curled style. 

“If it were a joke, you would be laughing. This is real,” Andrew insisted. I gulped, my breaths not coming so naturally anymore. 

“I’m done, Andrew. Get me the hell out of this chair,” Angel said, finally cracking from stress. But he mouthed “me” earlier as if he wanted to continue, didn’t he? Or was that for a different reason?

“Nuh-uh-uh. The four of you came into this circle, and only three of you will come out safely.” His words made my breath hitch, and my heart started beating millions of miles an hour from what I can guess. Andrew paused and walked over to Thomas, and to Thomas’s demise, put his fingers under Thomas’s chin, forcing him to look up at Andrew. Andrew’s chiseled features glinted in the dim lighting, making him even more terrifying. But I could see the way his black hair was shiny with sweat. It was not hot in here. It was mid-fall. So why was he out of all people sweating? 

“Speaking of, there’s only one step left for my little game. And there’s only one person left for the job. Isn’t that right, Thomas?” Andrew says, a laugh escaping his lips. I looked at the crowd and noticed one of my old friends, Gray, was in the first row of people in the antsy crowd that was held back from entering the circle by fear. His hand was holding something mostly hidden by his black jeans. I then realized it was a phone camera. With a light on. Gray was recording this.

What would he do with the recording? Did he not notice Andrew’s threat? Would he post it anonymously online? 

Before I could think of any more scenarios of what he could do with the recording, my ears filled with a click.

He’s gonna kill Thomas was all that went through my head.

Before I could think, I summoned all the strength in my body and broke through the ropes, my wrists burning from pulling on the rope so hard. I picked up the chair, turned it over, ripped off the bottom of the chair with a disgruntled yelp, and walked blindy towards the figure that I could make out as Andrew from my limited sight. 

Without another word, I plunged the sharp wooden leg of the chair straight in his chest, and, choking and bleeding out in the dark, he fell to the ground. My hand slipped to my face, cupping my mouth. 

Tears filled my eyes as I heard the gunshot. The gunshot I knew had killed Thomas. I slipped to my knees, realizing what I had done. A hand covered my mouth with a cloth, making me grow drowsy as I slipped from consciousness.

001

Driver

The girl is silent. This is unusual. The driver should know. He picks hitchhikers up wherever he can, and there’s always a, “Thanks,” or a, “Where to?” or at least a, “Hey, can I ride shotgun?”
Not so with this one.
And that’s not the only reason she’s strange either. She has the height and slightly rebellious posture of an eleven-year-old but wearing a trench coat made for a 50-year-old brooding detective with a high collar she’s keeping tightly wrapped around her neck, so it’s totally concealed. Though her position exposes her wrists–which are completely covered with bruises and tiny cuts. She’s also barefoot.
The driver knows the look of an escaped prisoner. He’s picked them up a few times, as this area is notorious for its prisons and other secure facilities.. He knows the bruises on the wrists that indicate having worn handcuffs for a long time, the frantic look of their eyes, the tense, twitching way they hold themselves — as if they might have to bolt any second. Of course, the first three times he picked up escapees, he brought them to the nearest police station immediately. But there’s something about this girl…
Normally he would respect a hitchhiker’s privacy, but now he decides he needs to probe.
“So… ah, what’s your name, young lady?” He glances at her in the rearview mirror. A patch of something red is starting to spread over the collar of her coat. Her eyes flit nervously to him.
“Ahh… Ah… ” she stutters. Her voice is hoarse as if she hasn’t used it in a while. This worries him.
“Amelia? He prompts after hesitating. “Anna?”
“Ah…. ” her mouth presses into a firm line. “Aaaaa….. mnesia.”
“You… have amnesia?” Now he is truly worried.
“Amnesia.”
He thinks for a moment. “So… you can’t remember?”
“Can’t remember,” she repeats triumphantly.
“Ah… do you have any idea… why you can’t remember?”
Her mouth goes into that line again. He realizes that’s all he’s going to get out of her on the matter. “Well, should I call your parents? Your guardians?”
No answer.
“Do you…have any family?”
Nothing.
“Well… I have to call someone.” Keeping one hand on the wheel, the driver reaches for his phone, lying next to him, with his other hand. He is about to dial 911 when he catches the strange girl’s eye in the mirror. He suddenly finds he can’t look away. Then, it happens. Her pupils constrict– just a little. Then the feeling– as if something in his mind, just a bit off for years, has finally clunked into place.
His hand slowly moves away from his phone and comes to rest at two o’clock on the wheel.
“No family… that’s all right. I don’t have any either. They’re all gone, you see.” At that word, something seems to click in her mind as well.
“Gone… ” she says. “Gone… my family is gone.”

Officer

The girl scares him. She shouldn’t.
Granted, she is scary. But so was the 17-year-old with the blood-red mohawk who was dealing drugs. So was the bald 14-year-old girl with obscenities tattooed up and down both arms, twirling a pistol in her hand. And so was the teen before that, and the one before that, and the hundreds he’s seen over the years. Being stationed at one of New City’s busiest subway stations, you get freaks like that. All. The. Time.
But this freak is different. Usually they strut around looking for trouble or flaunting their disturbing tattoos. She keeps to herself, huddling in a corner formed by a dumpster and the wall. And the officer isn’t exactly up-to-date with the fashion scene at the moment, but he is pretty sure that a sweaty old ripped undershirt, long pink gloves, tight white shorts that barely cover her bottom, and a vibrant orange scarf are unusual even for a subway freak. Her undyed, shoulder-length, dirty-blonde hair sticks out everywhere in a very undignified way.
Then it strikes him that she’s not wearing any shoes. Something is very wrong here. He decides to move in. In this line of work, you learn to follow every lead.
She smiles pleasantly at him when he approaches. “Hello,” she says. Her voice is smooth — too smooth. Her tone is flawless.
“Hello,” he says, slowly and cautiously. Then he tells himself to man up. This scrawny 11-year-old shouldn’t scare him. He’s 42, in prime shape for his age, and has a gun. He needs to assert himself. “Ma’am,” he begins sternly, “I’m afraid shoes are mandatory in this station.”
“Is that so?” she asks sweetly.
“Yes, it is. Rule 307 of the Customer Service Policy states clearly on the New City Public Transportation website.”
“Oh.” She makes a little squeal. “Well, I didn’t know that – ” And then, it happens. The slight constricting of the pupils — and the strangest feeling, as though something in his mind, sunken to the bottom after years of forgetfulness, is sifted to the top.
“Officer Davis Davidson,” she finishes.
“I — I’m sorry.” Davis Davidson is stunned. Because that’s not his name.
She smiles again. Her full lips look red in the dim light. He doesn’t fully register it, because she takes one step sideways away from him.
Through his shock, he can hear dimly the roar that signals the arrival of a train. The girl cocks her head to one side playfully. “Well, I need to get going,” she grins, flashing yellow teeth. Then she is gone.
The officer stands there, frozen, for 15 more minutes before one of his co-workers finds him.
When he climbs into bed that night, he can’t stop thinking about what the girl called him.
The badge reads Officer McShirley — that’s the surname he took when he was married. And well before that, when he was 20, he had changed his last name to Johnson. All the records show either McShirley or Johnson. There’s no way she could have known.
But he was born Davis Davidson.

Cashier

The girl is ugly. Normally, the cashier isn’t a judgmental person, but this is simply a fact. Her hopelessly tangled and muddy hair reaches down to the floor, her face is covered in nettles and scratches, and he’s pretty sure those are real cockroaches on her arms. To say nothing of her fashion sense. She looks like she just escaped from a jail — a low-budget jail. She’s wearing a ripped white undershirt and tight, white shorts that barely cover three inches, and no shoes. There are scars and bruises covering her wrists and neck. The cashier isn’t the brightest (it’s not part of the job description) so he doesn’t stop to think how she might have gotten them. He simply checks her items.
Bread, carrots, apples, frozen peas, frozen French Fries, a pint of mint ice cream, and two six-packs of water bottles. Not exactly typical shopping for a 12-year-old girl — they usually come in giggling with Haribos and sodas and lip gloss. This girl looks wise beyond her years, like a crazed sage living on a mountain eating worms. There’s a breathless expression on her face like she’s been through something horrible, and is simply glad to be alive. It troubles the cashier.
“Your total is $29.99,” he tells her. “Paper or plastic?”
“Nothing reusable?” Her voice is hoarse, but kind.
“No,” he tells her, looking at her defiantly.
She makes a tsking noise and makes eye contact with him. She looks almost regretful. Then it happens.
Her pupils constrict, and the cashier gets the strangest feeling — as though out of his clogged and overstuffed brain, off his burdened shoulders, something has been taken.
And then it’s as if he’s closed his eyes — just darkness and darkness and darkness. He tries to open his eyes, but they are open. He can hear the clamor of the supermarket, smell the cleaning products, taste the stale gum in the back of his mouth, feel the coarse fabric of his uniform against his hands — but he cannot see. He hears the girl giggle, hears the rustling and clunking of objects being dropped into a bag, and the pad of her feet running away.
The cashier slumps to his knees. His head droops and a few salty tears seep out of his blind eyes.

Reporter

The girl shouldn’t be here. But the reporter seems to be the only one who’s noticed, as usual. She’s come to realize that, even though she’s only an intern at LINN (Leg International News Network), she’s really the only competent member of her team. Which is unfortunate, because they’ve been assigned the war-spurred chaos in B’leg.
The girl really shouldn’t be here, for her own safety. There are crazed gangs and resistance fighters with machine guns and hand grenades everywhere. Even wearing a bulletproof vest, the reporter doesn’t feel safe. And this girl looks only ten, wearing a shirt that says My Grandma went to Seaside States and all I got was this stupid T-Shirt, a ridiculous flamingo scarf, and jean shorts that clash horribly.
She is about to stride over to the girl to tell her to clear out when their team leader grabs her by the arm.
“Avery!” he says sharply. “We need you on set! We’re live in 30 seconds! Where have you been?” Five feet away, she thinks as he drags her away.
The camera is pointed at a dramatic landscape of burning buildings and half-naked, starving people running around and shrieking. It seems like something straight out of the pages of a dystopian novel.
The team leader shoves a microphone into Avery’s hands and gestures impatiently at the cameraman. He nods, and Avery puts on her professional face.
“Hello, Leg,” the leader announces pompously. “This is Alex Alexander, everyone’s favorite re – ”
“We are live from war-torn B’leg!” Avery shouts into her mic. It lets out a squeal of feedback in protest. Alex Alexander gives her a look, but she’s already decided to take matters into her own hands. “The half-starved screams of innocent citizens caught in the crossfire fill the air, and the sharp tang of gunpowder is inescapable. Mud, fire, and death pollute these streets. And after the merciless attack of the resistance fighters, it is sadly proven once again that innocence never lasts forever… ” She pulls a six-year-old boy clutching a teddy bear that’s half ashes into the camera frame. “Young man! What was your life like before the attack?”
“Uh… my name is Humphrey and I guess I liked watching cartoons. You know that one with the rabbit and the roach? That was my favorite. But then… I mean… ”
Avery makes a roll the clip motion with her hand. Across Leg, their viewers will see a recording of yesterday’s attack. Avery waits thirty seconds, then continues talking. “After this ruthless rampage of ruination – ” (audiences adore alliteration) “ – everyone in B’leg is changed. Now, Humphrey is lucky when the news turns on! I – ”
“True,” comes a loud voice.
Avery whirls around. A girl — the girl is standing there. In their frame. “Excuse me?”
The girl’s face, framed by hair that’s black at the top and white at the bottom, with only the barest shade of gray in between, twists into an expression of horror. “I — I’m so sorry – ”
“Hey!” shouts Alex Alexander stupidly. “That’s the girl I saw you with!”
Then the strangest thing happens — a flash of events in the space of a few seconds. The girl’s eyes constrict and something flashes in them — a truth, ancient and mystical and powerful. Then they glaze over, and she speaks.
“True,” she says.
“Wait, what?” Alexander asks slowly, befuddled.
Avery sighs. “She – ” then she stops, because she realizes she doesn’t actually know what the girl did. Or what she said.
“Ha!” Humphrey cries. “Polly, ya did it again!”
The girl –- Polly? — looks uncomfortable. “Humph.”
But the boy is suddenly talking animatedly to Avery. “I found ‘er a few weeks ago. Hid her in my basement. At first, I was just doing a good deed, but then I found out she has powers.”
Another member of the team, Julia, who used to work in the tabloids, jumps in. “Is this boy crazed? In shock? Who is the Girl from B’leg?! Some may call these questions mere conspiracy theories, but the truth-seekers among you should check your newsstands.” She stops, realizing she’s live on national television. “Sorry, old habits.”
Then it happens again. The constricting of the girl’s eyes, and she speaks, “True.”
“Told ya!” Humphrey practically shrieks. “Powers! See, she can tell the truth from a lie!”
“True.”
“Watch: My name is Humphrey.”
“True.”
“My name is Alex Alexander.”
“False. Humphrey, I really don’t want to do this, not on television.”
“Actually, we’re not rolling,” interrupts the cameraman. “Not since she – you appeared.”
“True. Oh. But still – ”
“The camera’s not rolling!”
“True – Humphrey, please – ”
“You sleep in my basement.”
“True.” Her face has the pained look of someone about to do something they know they’ll regret. “Humphrey, I’m sorry… ”
And before Avery can say “wait,” she has vanished into the burning city.

Hiker

The girl is not there.
The girl must be a figment of the hiker’s imagination.
The girl cannot be real.
The girl is not there.
Besides, no girl is that strange. She’s a child — she looked 12 or 13. She was also completely bald, and had no eyebrows, eyelashes, or hair of any kind. She was dressed in a ripped white undershirt stained with red and green juices, tight white pants that stand out against her dark brown skin, and no shoes.
Besides, if she was real, how could she have gotten there? Sure, there was a hiking trail nearby, but nobody with half a brain went hiking barefoot. And there are no roads or highways within ten miles. If her car had broken down and she’d wandered into the woods, she wouldn’t have wandered this far.
Which only leaves the possibility that she’s completely insane. The hiker refuses that one. She doesn’t want to admit it, but insane people scare her.
So, the girl is not there.
But then she is.
She is there.
Behind a tree! A pine tree. The hiker knows, somehow, that this moment will be fixed in her memory till the end of her days — the moment when all her dreams and imaginings became real.
This time, the hiker doesn’t hesitate. She plunges through a bush and starts toward the bald girl.
The girl’s eyes widen, her mouth parts in shock, and she darts away.
The hiker chases after, determined now. She tumbles through dense patches, rushes through the brief clearing where the sun streaks through the ceiling of twisting branches. She never knew the woods could be like this — crowded, thorny, dark, mysterious. Like a fairy tale. Years of hiking have only taught her cleared, dusty paths. It’s a wonder to see the forest like this. But she doesn’t let it distract her. She stays focused on the prize — the girl.
She races through the forest, following the flashes of the girl she glimpses through the maze of trees for a good fifteen minutes, until they reach a clearing carpeted with pine needles painted gold by the setting sun. There, in that little alcove of the wild, she is surprised to find a small log cabin. There are no windows, but there is a smoking little chimney. The hiker grabs the knob of the door, but it’s locked.
“Hey… ” she calls apprehensively. Silence. “I – I know you’re in there. Please, just come out. I’m not going to hurt you. Unless you’re insane. Sorry. I didn’t mean that. But — unlock the door, please.”
Nothing.
“Look…. I don’t want to break this door down… ” Nothing. “I could if I wanted to… ” That is true. The door is made of rotting wood planks that look like they might decompose on the spot with one good kick. And the hiker’s legs are pretty strong from years of climbing mountains.
She waits another few seconds, debating. There is something wrong with this girl — that much was clear from the start. But what if she’s in danger? What if she thought the hiker was someone else? What if there was someone so horrible she felt the need to run barefoot through a forest and hide in a crumbling log cabin to get away from?
The door comes down on the third kick.
The cabin is damp and moldy inside. There is a smoking fireplace, a decaying table, and a single chair. The floor is leaves and dirt — one area is scuffed up where the girl might have been sleeping.
And huddling, knees to chest, her face to the wall, shaking, sobbing in a corner is the girl.
“Hey… ” the hiker says softly. “I’m not going to hurt you. Please… ”
Slowly, the girl gets to her feet, still facing the corner. The sobbing slows until it is mere sniffling.
Then she speaks in a low, shaking, tear-stained voice.
“I need you to leave,” she says slowly. Then she sniffles loudly. “I need you to leave… right now. Leave, and you can’t tell anyone what you saw… ” She puts her head in her hands and starts wailing again.
“I — I don’t understand – ”
“LEAVE!” she roars. “I don’t — I can’t – ” Then more sobbing.
“Look,” the hiker says hesitantly. “I’m sure that whatever it is – ”
“You need to go,” she repeats, controlling the shaking in her voice. There’s an unexpected fierceness. “Please. Now. I can’t – ”
“Look – ”
“You should have left.”
The girl keeps her head down, but drops her hands to her sides. Then she turns around.
There is a tense pause.
Then she picks up her head and their eyes meet —
And it happens — the constricting of those midnight-black pupils — the feeling — the emptiness — yawning before her —
The hiker collapses with a thump.
And when she is dead, when the girl is alone in the woods, no one can hear her scream.

Emma and Mount Everest

CHAPTER ONE: Introduction

“EMMA!” said a voice so strong in my head that I woke up in fear.

“MOM!” I said, frantically getting up from my bed. My mom went storming in my room, opening the door. She opened it so loud that I felt my blood go up and down, up and down. 

“What, Emma?” said my mom. Her voice sounded like she did not know what to do right now. Her clothes were stained with… hmm, cold water? I think she spilled water while she was getting up here.

“Uhh, nothing, bad dream… I think.”  I said. I looked down and bit my lip. My mom was always in a grumpy mood.

“Emma, every single morning you say, ‘MOM.’ Is anything bothering you?” said my mom as she came towards my bed. She sat down on my bed, got my pillow, and put something in it. “Don’t open it until you are ready,” said my mom. She got off my bed, making a big creaking sound. She flipped her hair and got out of my room.

I just felt like I wanted a playdate with Yui. She was such a great listener and loved green tea. We had been friends since preschool. She had different fonts on her phone. So, yeah. I stretched out my legs and arms, then I scanned my room for my phone. I got out of bed and put on my fluffy slippers. I opened my kawaii drawer. It cost $2,000. Very expensive. I searched through all my stuff in my drawer. The shuffling made a nice noise. I felt that my phone case was cold. ICE cold. I hoped she could help me. AND SHE’S KOREAN! 

Me: Huy Yui! 🙂

Yui: Hello Ai- Ma chan!^.^!

Me: Do you want a playdate?

Yui: OFC! 

Yui: What is it about?

Me: Umm, something. It’s a surprise?

Yui: Yay!!

Me: YAY! See you soon.

Well, I guessed I had to go to her house now. I put my phone down in my kawaii drawer and rushed to do my daily morning routine. I speed past the door, not wasting time. Only, THIS HOUSE WAS SO BIG I GOT LOST IN IT. Which way do I go, which way?? I said in my mind. I made a guess. Hey, what else could I do?  I run left, sonic speed. And I, oops — I bumped into my own mother. I crouched down so low, it was like I was playing limbo.

“OW!!” she said. She was hesitating, looking above her, left, right of her, but she did not look BEHIND her. “WHO’S THERE?” she said. She looked like she had seen a ghost. Golly gee, Mom, you never looked behind you, I said in my mind. I decided to run. I got up and ran until… BEEP! My phone rang. REALLY YUI? REALLY? It was a text message from Yui. Golly Gee. I AM IN TROUBLE.

Mom turned behind her, closing her eyes. I tried to make a run for it, but she already had the confidence to open her eyes. Darn. “Hello, hon, did you see anyone bump into me? Is it your dad? I know it isn’t you because you are a good girl,” said my mom, crossing her arms.

Gulp, now I felt super guilty. I really want to tell my mom the truth, but I ended up lying. “Um mom y-you s-s-see I did — er, I mean — didn’t bump into y-y-you. I mean I di-did, I mean, I di-didn’t b-bump into y-you!” I said. I sounded like I was squeaking instead of speaking. I got back up, then did a broken face.

“Umm, A-W-K-W-A-R-D,” said my mom, loosening up her crossed arms. “Oh, and you have school tomorrow.” She winked with her hands folded.

“Can I go to Yui’s house, please!!” I went down to my knees, acting like I was praying to God.

“Yes. But be back at 12:00, or you’re dead.” Her face was dark. My face was so scared. I got ready to pounce, that meant run. She had said “or you’re dead” in a low voice. She pointed at the clock with her index finger. It said 7:00. That gave me lots of darn time!

“Ok, Mom, thanks!” I ran off right again. Maybe even running + running = I AM RUNNING SUPER FAST! Then I stopped. I remember something that I needed to tell my mom. 

“Mom, where’s the bathroom?” I said, while turning back. I was still scared.

“Go right, then go left. That’s where the bathroom is,” said my mom while going left. 

“Okay, thanks, Mom!” I said. I turned back and ran. AND I followed her directions. I rushed so fast that I lost my slipper. I didn’t even want to pick it up. I was too excited to go to Yui’s!

TO BE CONTINUED….

The Secret of the Fairies

Chapter 1: The Adventure

One day, there was a fairy named Lilac. She lived in a cottage in the woods. Most of the stuff she owned, she had made herself. One day, she received a letter from the fairies. They wanted to send her to help the Kingdom of Fairies. The fairies knew that Lilac solved a lot of puzzles, so they knew she was smart. She rushed to her room to pack. She packed a flashlight, clothes, shoes, a notepad, and a pencil. When she started to get the map, she saw one of her cupboards began to glitter rainbow. She went out to see what was happening to the cupboard. There was a letter that was floating in the air that said: trust your heart. She wondered, should she trust this letter? She would give it a try. She closed her eyes and started to walk. Finally, she bumped into something. She opened her eyes. Right in front of her was a portal. Above it, it said: Land of Fairies. Yes! she thought. She went right into the portal. When she opened her eyes, she saw thousands of flowers. Some of the flowers were still fresh, and some of the flowers were wilting. She wondered what to do. The girl in front of her was a fairy. 

“Who are you?” shouted the fairy. 

Lilac replied, “One of the fairies sent me to meet you.” 

And kindly the fairy said, “You must be Lilac. My name is Samantha.” Then she added, “Let me take you to the Queen.” 

On the way there, they saw a fairy in the water. Sam said, “What are you doing here, Aurora?”

“I cannot reach out to Rain,” Aurora said.

“This is Lilac.” Lilac waved while Sam introduced her. Then Sam added, “She’s helping us save our kingdom.” Sam waved her wand, and Aurora was outside.

“I will help Lilac,” Aurora said.

Sam said, “We’re going to the Queen.” 

“I will go with you,” said Aurora.

Chapter 2: The Queen

They continued walking, and a few minutes later, they arrived at a beautiful castle. They went in and saw beautiful rooms. Lilac was curious about the rooms, but Samantha and Aurora just passed by them. Finally, they reached a room with a beautiful shell door.

“Wait right here,” Sam said to Aurora and Lilac. She went in the room, and she came out again. “The Queen is ready to see you,” she told Lilac.

Lilac went into the room. Then, she saw the Queen. Lilac curtsied and sat down in front of the Queen.

The Queen said, “You can call me Queen Lily.”

Lilac said, “What can I do to help your kingdom?” 

“I will show you.”

She led them up to a room with a glass case. She opened the lid. There, they saw flowers wilting. The Queen looked sad. “Here, I will tell you the story of these flowers,” Queen Lily said. “One day, there was a wise fairy. Her name was May. She took care of these beautiful flowers. One day, she met a mermaid. The mermaid said, ‘Give me the flowers!’ May gave the flowers to the mermaid. May trusted the mermaid. The mermaid sprinkled dust onto the flowers. A kingdom was going to appear, and the flowers would take care of the land. May saw a beautiful land. She saw a feather. She chased after it, but she got lost and couldn’t find the flowers again.” Lily then smiled and said, “With a little bit of magic, I got the flowers back.”

Chapter 3: The Gems

Queen Lily said, “Yesterday, the flowers started wilting, and the fairies were getting more tired every day. I realized this when I visited the flowers yesterday, and I saw that they were wilting. Then, I went to the fairies. Usually, the fairies meet me outside, but yesterday, they were sleeping.” She started crying when she said this. “If the flowers die, the fairies can’t take good care of the kingdom, and the kingdom will disappear.” 

“It’s okay,” Lilac said to comfort her. “We will help your kingdom.” Lilac knew what to do, but she didn’t know how to do it. 

Queen Lily hugged Lilac. “You have two weeks to rescue the flowers,” Queen Lily said. 

Lilac’s heart pounded thinking about whether that time would be enough to rescue the flowers. 

Queen Lily reassured her when she saw that Lilac was worried. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you can do it.” Then Queen Lily said, “You need to find the seven gems and give them to the Gem Fairies. I will tell you how you can give it to them later. But first, I will give you something. Come, follow me.” 

They walked down the steps to a door. Queen Lily took a key hanging from around her neck and used it to unlock the door. They entered a room with dozens of glass cases filled with various pages and books. She opened one of the glass cases, and she took out a book. She then opened the book and said, “This book is all about the kingdom and the fairies that live in it. If you forget the story where May gets the flowers, you can find it in this book. Also, there is a map tucked into the book.” 

Chapter 4: Leaving

“Who else is going with you?” asked Queen Lily .

“Aurora is going to come with me,” Lilac said.

“Okay, you might need this then,” Queen Lily said as she took two rings from off of her finger and slid them onto Lilac’s. 

         There’s so much to worry about, Lilac thought. 

“You can leave tomorrow,” said Queen Lily. 

The next day, they set out on a journey. They went on and on and on. “When do you think it’s gonna end?” Lilac asked Aurora. 

“Remember,” said Aurora, “the path can last for a long time. Here,” said Aurora. “We can stop by a stream to get some water.”

They got to a stream, and they each took a long sip of water. Aurora got some sticks and leaves to make a cup with a lid. She dumped it in some water and closed the lid. She made another one and filled it with some nuts. 

“Let’s go,” said Lilac. 

They reached the forest. 

“The map says we have to go this way,” Lilac said. She pointed towards the forest. It was dark. They were nervous. But they headed into the forest anyway. Before long, they started to smell smoke. 

Aurora said, “What’s that smell?”

“I don’t know,” Lilac said.

They kept walking. And then they stopped in their tracks. They saw a big dragon with red scales who was breathing fire. The dragon heard all the noise and turned around, facing them.  

Oh no, both of them thought. 

The dragon said, “Who are you?”

“We are Lilac and Aurora,” said Lilac bravely.

“Why are you here?”

Aurora quivered as she said, “We are here to find a gem.”

“You aren’t the first ones to try to get the gem,” he boomed as he pulled open a cage.

Lilac saw who was inside and cried, “Rose!”

“Lilac!” Rose cried back from the cage. 

Aurora stayed quiet. Then, Aurora muttered, “Please make this move,” running out of breath, waving her wand at a pile of twigs. The twigs started moving at her. She made them lay down on the grass and took one stick and said quietly, “Say something! Write this on the stick and distract the dragon.”

She moved the stick with her mind over to Lilac. And she said under her breath, “Make a waterfall,” and a waterfall started to appear right by her side. Aurora took a bucket and dunked it in the water and walked quietly over to the dragon’s back. The dragon felt the water and turned around, but Aurora was too quick. She ran to the other side and whispered something to Lilac, “Let’s go.” Once they were safely away from the dragon, Aurora said, “Why don’t we make something that will make the dragon want to trade with us?”

“Alright,” said Lilac, “what should we make?”

“I think dragons like fire. We need something with fire.”

“Well,” said Lilac, “we can’t make fire. I wonder what we should do.”

Aurora thought of it.

Chapter 5: Smokey

“There is a dragon living down by the stream named Smokey. We can go to her and ask for help.”

When they reached the stream, they took a long sip of water again. Aurora cried, “There’s the cave where Smokey lives. After we take one more sip, we’ll go there.”

They took one more sip and started off. Once they reached the cave, they knocked on the door. Smokey said, “Who’s there?”

“It’s me!” cried Aurora.

“Hi, Aurora! Who’s this friend with you?”

“Her name is Lilac!”

“Well, come in, come in. You can explain everything to me when we’re all inside.”

They went inside and drank milk and ate cookies. 

Aurora explained, “We are trying to find the seven gems. The dragon will give us the gems. So, we were thinking you could help us make something for us to trade with the dragon.”

“I’ve got an idea. I just need two sticks and a couple blades of grass. Collect them for me, and I will make you something for the dragon.”

So, they went and got two sticks and a couple blades of grass. They went back to the cave where Smokey lived. Smokey said, “Thank you.”

She set out to work. It took all day and night, so Smokey let Aurora and Lilac sleep and eat there. Around nighttime, Lilac and Aurora did not have pajamas, so they decided to sleep in their clothes. Smokey said, “I have a few extra blankets. You can sleep in that.” She gave them two blankets and two pillows. Lilac and Aurora took them and lay down on the ground. They lay down feeling colder. They couldn’t do anything about it. They couldn’t sleep the whole night. The next day, Lilac and Aurora woke up and Smokey was making breakfast — eggs and waffles with strawberries.

“Are you done?” Lilac said easily.  

“Yes,” Smokey said. “Come, have some breakfast.”

So, they walked over to the table, which was a long tree top with small pillows to sit on. They sat down, and they ate their food. They were all very hungry. 

“Let’s go!” Lilac said to Aurora .

“Wait! I have to give you the thing to give to the dragon!” 

“Right,” said Aurora. 

“Let me quickly get it. Here,” Smokey said. 

Smokey ran off quickly and got a bracelet for the dragon. There were red beads and green beads, and in the middle of the bracelet, there was a picture of a fire made from beads in the middle. 

Chapter 6: The Fight

Smokey pointed out the way to the dragon’s cave. “You go straight, then you turn right, and you should be able to turn left, and then there they are.” 

“Let’s go,” Aurora said to Lilac. They followed Smokey’s directions until they came upon a pond. 

“Let’s take a drink of water,” said Lilac. 

“No!” said Aurora. “We took too many sips of water.”

“But — but — but — ” stammered Lilac. Lilac sensed that they were going to have a fight. 

“No buts,” said Aurora. “Let’s keep going.” Aurora started to walk. When she went a few feet away from her, she looked behind to see Lilac taking a sip of water. “Lilac!” shouted Aurora. 

“Well!” Lilac shouted back. “You are not my mother!”

“Well, I do not care about this thing anymore!” And Aurora threw the bracelet. It shattered in gold sparkles.

Lilac wondered what to do. Aurora stomped off, so Lilac followed Aurora. “Do not follow me,” said Aurora when she looked back. She waved her wand, and Lilac fell on the floor. Aurora walked off. 

A few hours later, Smokey came out. “Oh no!” cried Smokey. He carried Lilac inside of his cave. Smokey used his magic to see the past, and saw that Aurora put a spell on Lilac. Smokey used his own powers to undo Aurora’s spell. 

When Lilac woke up, Lilac asked in wonder, “Where am I?” She said this as she blinked her eyes to clear out all the blurs. 

“You are in my cave. Aurora put a spell on you,” replied Smokey.

“Why?” demanded Lilac. 

“I do not know,” said Smokey. “Here.” He put a spell on Lilac so Lilac could remember what happened. 

“Oh, I remember what happened.” 

“Please, Lilac, tell me what happened.” 

“Well,” started Lilac. “It’s a long story.”

“It’s alright, but all I know is that Aurora put a spell on you and broke the bracelet. You can stay here for the night. Have a glass of tea.” He handed Lilac a mug filled with tea. “It will give you energy,” said Smokey. 

She slowly sipped the tea. It almost burned her tongue. She never realized until now that her dress was covered with mud and her hair was messy. “Oh,” she sighed.

“Do not worry,” Smokey said. “I will make you some clothing.” He took a bunch of twigs, grass, and leaves in a huge pile. He began to make a shirt, pants, and pajamas for Lilac. 

“Thank you!” Lilac said gratefully. He finished faster than one hour. 

“Put these on,” he ordered Lilac. “It’s nearly lunchtime. For lunch I will make some chicken from the chickens in the wild.” 

Lilac sat down. “What should I do?” she said.

“Let’s play checkers,” Smokey said. He took out the checkerboard. “We will drink milk and eat cookies while we play.” They played for almost an hour. Lilac won. Smokey said, “Why don’t you take a rest? It’s been a long day. I’ll make lunch while you do.” Lilac took a nap for thirty minutes. When she woke up, the food was ready for her. It was perfect; it was not too hot, and it was not too cold. They both gobbled up the food. They realized they were starving. They finished the food in less than ten minutes. 

“Why don’t we do this puzzle I got?” asked Smokey. Lilac took the puzzle from Smokey’s hands. “It’s a picture of a kitten,” said Smokey. 

“I love kittens!” Lilac said. Lilac did that while Smokey took Lilac’s dress to the pond to be washed. When Smokey came back, Lilac only did half of the puzzle, but she had drawn the half she did. Smokey took a nap for one hour. He was tired after doing all the chores. 

Chapter 7: Gems

After Smokey’s nap, Lilac was done with the puzzle. Lilac said to Smokey, “I really, really want to get the gems. When can I?” 

Smokey said to Lilac, “You can get them soon, but I will have to help you.”

“Okay,” Lilac sighed. She wanted to do this adventure by herself. 

“We’ll just have a snack, and then we can find the gems.” They had a snack of crackers with cheese. Lilac dressed in the top and pants that Smokey made for her. 

They set out. “Let’s go there,” Lilac said, pointing to the top of the mountain.

“How will we get up?” Smokey asked.

“Climb it, of course!” Lilac answered.

“Let’s start climbing, otherwise we won’t get to the top of the mountain in time,” said Smokey. 

“Let’s do this!” shouted Lilac. They started climbing. Once they were just a teeny little bit off the ground, they huffed and puffed, and they found a place to rest and eat some berries and drink a cup of water.

After they were well-rested, they started to climb again. They did this for a while. Climb a little bit, then eat and rest. Climb, eat, and rest. They finally reached the mountain when it was eleven o’clock. “Let’s sleep,” Smokey said. They slept. 

They woke up in the morning and saw a ladder. Lilac said, “Follow me!” Lilac climbed up the ladder. When they reached the top, they found the first gem. It was bright pink, but there was something in front of it. A fairy.

Smokey asked what the fairy’s name was. She said that her name was Spring. “What do you want?” she demanded. “You want the gem? You can have it, but you have to trade for it with something.”

“What do you have, Lilac?” Smokey whispered.
“I have this,” she whispered back, holding a picture of a kitten out.

“What is that?” Spring said. 

“It’s a picture.”

“Will you trade it for the gem?” Smokey asked. 

“Alright,” agreed Spring. “This is called the Spring Gem,” she said as she handed over the gem. “Take good care of it.” 

Yes, Lilac and Smokey thought. We got the first gem! The Spring Gem. They went down to go to Smokey’s cottage to have a break. They didn’t have any more food and water. They finally reached Smokey’s cave. They ate and drank and took a nap. They felt refreshed. 

“Let’s go,” said Smokey.

They set off again. Smokey made another bracelet. Finally, they reached the dragon’s cave. The dragon said, “What do you want?!”

Lilac said, “We want the gem.”

“What will you give me?” 

“We’ll give you this.” Lilac pulled out the bracelet. 

He snatched the bracelet out of Lilac’s hand. He threw the gem to Lilac. 

“Look!”

“I knew it,” said Smokey.

“You knew what?” asked Lilac.

“That he would want the bracelet so much, I put magic in it!”

“Oh,” said Lilac. “I’m hungry,” Lilac said. “What’s for dinner?”

“I don’t know,” said Smokey. “Do you want to help me make dinner?”

“Yes,” exclaimed Lilac.

They went back to Smokey’s cave. Lilac and Smokey made pasta for dinner. They were so hungry they finished the food in, like, ten seconds. 

“Let’s sleep,” said Lilac. 

They slept. 

They both woke up at the same time. Smokey made pancakes for breakfast. “Let’s get the other gem,” Lilac said. 

Right when she said it, there was a knock on the door.

Chapter 8: Somebody At the Door

“Who is it?” called Smokey.

“Let me in, and you will see,” called somebody from behind the door.

“Okay,” said Lilac. “You stay here,” she said behind her back to Smokey.

“Since when were you my mother?” Smokey laughed.

But Lilac did not hear him. She was opening the door. To her surprise, Aurora was standing behind the door.

“I am sorry I used my magic on you,” Aurora said, looking down at her feet.

“It’s alright, Aurora, come in,” Lilac said loudly so Smokey could hear.

Smokey rushed to see Aurora and to show her the gems they got.

“Wow,” Aurora said.

“I like that one,” Aurora pointed at the Spring Gem.  

“That’s called the Spring Gem,” said Lilac.

“Did you get any gems?” Lilac hopefully said.

“No,” Aurora said. “But I got a map of the gems.”

To Be Continued…

The Cursed Coin

PROLOGUE

Josie Anderson was running away from something unimaginable. She was running away in the Smith Forest, North of Elf Creek. She was running and running and then… splash! She fell into the river. She swam and swam for days. She didn’t know where she was going. She was hungry and cold… but she did not care at all. All she felt was the rumbling of it coming. She felt it stop, so she came out of the lake — a creek now, a creek that was labeled on all the maps.

“Elf Creek,” she whispered, and sure enough, as she turned around, she saw little people with sharp, small teeth in sky blue and plum purple dresses and shirts. “Something is wrong here,” she told herself. The faces, well… They, well, when I say this none of you will believe me, but they did not look real… 

As she looked around, the elves evaporated into little pieces of dust. The thing that she was running from — it was back. She had no feeling in her legs, but she ran into the dark woods anyway. The thing she was running from — it gave her a toothy grin with its fangs exposed.

The witch walked into the sunlight and pushed Josie to the ground. As she bent down to take Josie’s soul, Josie slipped out of her daze and kicked the witch in the face. Scarlet red blood slithered down her face.

“Not just yet will I leave this world,” Josie whispered to herself. The witch glared at her with so much loathing that it could boil a soup. Josie took one step closer to the witch. “Why are you doing this, Mother?”

The witch looked at her. “So you recognize me, Josie. I knew my girl was smart but not this smart.”

Josie wanted to see her mother the way she had been when she was normal, before she ran away, before the incident. And then the memories flooded back. Her parents were fighting. Her mother was very violent. Well, for a long time it was just that, and then something changed. It happened when Mother was studying her little animals and one bit her. She stayed cooped up in her room. When she came out, it was only to eat and drink water. When she came out, she barely spoke to them.

Then Father stood up at dinner. “What is happening, Izzy? You have been like this for one month, and you haven’t told us anything about what is happening.” Worry struck Father’s face. Father was always mad, and his face never changed, but this look that Father gave Mother was something different, different from anything else. He was worried and something else… Something I can’t put into words, but the look was still something.

“Nothing,” Mother mumbled. Her voice was different — it was gruff and raspy, and Josie did not like it. Then, flash! She saw Mother and Father fighting, and Mother had a trunk and a bag. She was about to leave when father found out, and then it struck Josie.

“What if… I go into Mother’s room? Then I would find out what happened, right?” she asked herself. Josie gasped! She had a good idea… I know this does not seem like a lot, but for Josie, it was something new. What was happening to Mother had taken a toll on the entire family, so just thinking straight was a challenge. Josie darted into Mother’s room. It was… well… dark. The stained glass windows were completely covered by vines, the walls were covered with vines, and there were maps with animals, but something stood out: a shining silver coin. Josie turned the lights on and off, and the coin was still shining.

“What in the — “

Mother’s glare was unmistakable, Josie felt it from a mile away.

“I see that you are poking around in my room, Josie.’’

Josie, for the first time, was scared of her family — no, her mother — but instead of walking to her, she walked right to the coin, which turned red. Instead of running away, she inched closer, but when she looked at mother, her skin turned white, and then Josie ran.  

CHAPTER ONE

Ann was having a nice dream, but when Aunt Josie was making breakfast, nothing was quiet. So, Ann woke up early just so she did not have to wake up to the sound of banging pots and pans. Ann opened her eyes to the hot, sticky summer air. Aunt Josie was making her bed. Ann heard that only because of one thing: Aunt Josie was singing. Ann decided to make some oatmeal.

“Aunt Josie?” Ann asked. “Do we have anything other than oatmeal?”

“Well,” Aunt Josie said, “We have eggs from your grandmother’s recipe. I always liked it when I was a — ” Aunt Josie was interrupted by a loud mouse. Aunt Josie hated animals. Something had happened to her when she was a kid, but Ann was not sure what it was…

Aunt Josie took a broom and smashed the mouse. Ann flinched in her chair. She was an animal lover. Aunt Josie was panting — she never successfully killed anything. Ann was still standing there in shock, and then an idea hit her. What if she went looking for Grandmother? Surely, she knew why Aunt Josie hated animals so much?

Aunt Josie was still thinking back on that one day — the image of a cursed wolf’s insides was stuck in her mind. The only thing that kept her distracted from it was thinking about Ann, but Josie remembered that night like it was yesterday.

She had been carrying a basket of apples down the road to the expecting mother of a girl. The mother had just learned that her husband had died in the war of the goblins. Josie entered the house. It was odd. She closed the door… It was also odd. The room was a circle with paintings of fish and water. There were photos of the mother and her husband. Josie went into the only room with a rectangular door frame, and there the mother was, lying in her bed.

“Trudy?” Josie called down to the low bed.

The woman woke up with a start. “Is he home?” She jumped out of bed. When she remembered that her late husband wasn’t coming home, her eyes swarmed with tears. She sat back down and cried, “How will I take care of my baby?” she sobbed. 

Josie had an idea, “I can take care of her, Trudy!”

Trudy gasped. “Really? THANK YOU SO MUCH!” 

The next week, out came Ann. Josie moved away from Trudy’s house and Trudy, just for Ann, so she could have a better life. That was all that Trudy wanted, so Josie did it.

CHAPTER TWO

Ann always wanted a friend, but the town was all the way on the other side of Wispy Hollows. Lova was what the town was called. The Mayor was called Mina. They called her that because her eyes sparkled like gems, but she was the most bossiest person in the WORLD! But her adviser, Jacob, was always wearing black. He had a hunchback; his hair was long, greasy, and black; and his skin was white like a ghost. The only thing that stood out were his bloodshot, red eyes. He was very sinister, but the only thing that paid off for that was that he opened an orphanage!… Next to a power plant… How about helping the poor people by giving all of them money?… But the money was stolen from people’s bank accounts… Welp, now you can understand that this guy was a BAD one. Everything that he tried to do was ruined. But the only way to get to the shops was by going into the town, so…

“PLEASE, can I go to the farmers’ market? I just want to see what is going on… and make some friends?” Ann’s voice broke. The tears dribbled down her face. Her brown eyes were attacked with emotion.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table: “I said no! There are adults there that take kids, and, and, and, well… ” Josie was about to confess her deepest secret. Her voice broke. “Well, you are all I have left.” Josie ran over to Ann and held her tight. “I am keeping you safe.”

Suddenly, Ann understood why Aunt Josie was so strict all the time — she was making sure that Ann lived a happy and safe life. But Josie was flexible, so the next day, Aunt Josie took Ann to the market. But when they looked around, it was crowded with people.

“What is happening?” Josie asked a shopper right next to her.

“Well, today is the freedom parade,” he answered like it was obvious.

“Are the shops still open today?” Josie asked.

“Of course! They are in Westwind! Just take the train to Redmaw, then walk to the Map seller, and he will take it from there.”

Aunt Josie was so perplexed that she almost fainted. “Um, WHAT?”

Ann was also bewildered. What were all these towns?

“Here, let me take you to the train station, okay? Then you will get what I am talking about.”

Ann glared at him. How was she supposed to trust him if he didn’t tell them his name? 

Aunt Josie was reading her mind. “What is your name?”

“Max. My name is Max.”

Ann gave him a dirty look. “Why didn’t you tell us?” she scowled at his weak figure.

“I do not trust all people…”

Of course, because Aunt Josie was Aunt Josie, she stared daggers at him and asked him for proof. While he was rustling around in his battered pocket, she slapped him across the face, and a trickle of blood went down his cheek. She pulled out a flask that she carried around. The things I live with, being the niece of a scientist, Ann thought. Josie put his blood in the flask, and it turned black. Ann rolled her eyes, and sighed. Not this again.

“Who are you?” Max asked.

But Josie muttered under her breath. “I’ve never seen this before…” She quickly smirked. “Okay, fine, you can take us to… what, Westmaw?”

Yes, thought Josie, the capital, where the Red Tavern is, where that mayor lives, where I can take the beacon to get home

Little did Josie and Ann know, the market was not in Westmaw. It was in the stronghold.

So, they got on the train. The train conductor was going to stop at Redmaw last. Finally, after a long time, he announced, “Next stop, Redmaw.”

Even though Ann was expecting the voice to come, it never failed to make her jump. When she looked around, she saw Aunt Josie sleeping. When she shook Aunt Josie, she woke up with a start.

“Huh? Where am I?”

Meanwhile, in the backseat of the train, Max was very quiet reading a book. Aunt Josie nudged him to follow them, so by the time they were at the map seller, it was dusk, and the stars were as bright as the sun against the navy blue sky. Ann was immersed in her thoughts — the ones that bothered her the most, about her parents. Aunt Josie never told me about them, who are they? I call her my aunt, but I don’t even know if we are related. I mean, she is old enough to be my aunt… I have to find out. Oh! I remember Aunt Josie never talks about Grandma Izzy… Maybe I can talk to her?

Aunt Josie was fighting with Max for, like, the fifth time this hour.

“I told you, the map seller was closed! What do you have? Oh I know, a bad memory.” Max smirked. He enjoyed making people feel bad. That Josie woman only has a suspicion of who I am and what I am capable of…

Aunt Josie was still mad at him, and when she was mad, nothing good came after. “Listen here you toad sack. You just let me get some food, and then leave me and my family alone… okay?”

Toad sack! Max thought. She drew the line right there.

This was where Ann decided to speak up. “Stop, Aunt Josie! He is trying to help us and get us food.”

Ann did not even understand why they were even going with Max. Or why this was important to Ann or Aunt Josie, or why they were taking this so far. She just was getting sucked into the abyss of obedience.  

***

Josie was determined to find out who Max was and what he wanted. While Max and Ann were sleeping, Josie went into the woods near the campsite. They were sleeping next to the road. They were at an old camping site and were renting a rickety cabin that swayed with the slightest movement and creaked with the smallest breeze. They were not allowed to use anything that had anything to do with fire because the cabin was made out of old oak wood and bark. It had been left behind a long time ago. Now, time to get to the exciting part…

CHAPTER THREE

When Josie was walking in the forest, she heard whispers. She turned her head. No one there. Pull yourself together, Josie. Who would be awake this late? She hesitated. Someone that’s not me. She went deeper into the woods. The second she went to the woods and saw the trees turn a darker shade of green, she saw a clearing. In the middle of it was a little gold coin. She picked it up, and it had the same markings of the coin from her mother’s room. When she saw it, some memories flashed in her mind, and then she heard howling in the wind. She rushed back to the rickety cabin where she found everyone lying and sleeping silently on the dusty ground. 

When Ann woke up, the sun peeked into the window. Ann walked to the plain of daisies and saw Aunt Josie fighting with Max on the riverside, so she stepped closer to hear what they were saying. They were just talking about what to have for breakfast. When she inched closer, she saw a little glint in Aunt Josie’s pocket — a coin. When Ann went to touch it, Aunt Josie tried to slap her hand against Ann’s… But it was too late.

TO BE CONTINUED…

I Die Again

Chapter 1

The wind whistled by my face as the waves trashed the ship around. From the bars of my cell and the small window I could see through, we seemed to be in the open sea — no one around to hear my cries for help. The ship jerked to the left, knocking me off the tiny chair that sat in the cell.

A male pirate rushed past. “Lower the sails!” he screeched as his fat, drunk body thumped up the stairs onto deck.

A blast rocked the ship around as the fire spread to my cell. The heat was overwhelming. My eyes stung, and my blood boiled as it rushed to my head. The room turned upside down and began to spin. My head felt hot, and a moan escaped my lips as another shot rang through the air, punching a hole in the cell two away from my own. Three pirates ran down and began to open my cell. I reached out a desperate hand as my legs began to shake, and my head collapsed on the ground. As the hole in the wall grew, my back fell through the opening. I had my last glare at the dark black sky before my body hit the water with a splash, and I saw the blurry images of the three men yelling from the hole, watching me, yelling commands. My mind pushed against the forever sleep, my body fought as I sank, the feeling of death crept over me, the warmth spread through my veins, my life was over, I was going back to him.

“Come,” his voice whispered in my head. 

Chapter 2

The sand felt like thousands of needles poking through my skin. I pressed my eyes against the pain, counting the seconds until he came to torture me again. Seventy-two seconds passed till I realized that nobody was there, I was alone. Everything was pitch-black, apart from the blood red sand. My mind zoomed back to the blood dripping down the dark cave walls as my brother and sisters sat cramped up, trying to stay in the shadows, desperate to survive. My mind hurt from thinking of the past of a different girl. I was past that, and nothing was going to bring me back to it.

I knelt on my knee and stood, trying to get a better glimpse of my surroundings. I had nothing to do but walk forward and try to figure anything out. I picked up a rock to chuck it into the darkness, see if it would fall anywhere, but when I bent to pick up the rock, my hands slipped right through it. I tried again and again, desperate for anything. It made no sense as to why I couldn’t pick up a simple rock! The only reason I could think of was if I was a ghost, but that was not possible — I mean, how would that happen?

The memory of the sun’s rays shining through the water came back to me.

Chapter 3

But if I was dead, then how was I alive? It was not possible for me to be here. I would be in the underworld if I were dead. This wasn’t possible, unless some sort of magic had brought me here. Or maybe… this was the path to him. No, that was not possible! That could not be possible! I was NEVER going to go back to him, ever. I would rather die a billion painful deaths than go back to him. He had destroyed everything I loved, and if getting back at him was the last thing I did, then so be it!

I kicked the sand with frustration, thinking that the sand deserved it just for being there. The bits of sand flew in my eyes and mouth, and I spit it out bitterly. I was not going to stay here forever, and if I was going to stay here, I was going to do something! I started pacing around the whatever-it-was until I realized I had circled back to my footprints. I had been walking in circles for hours, with no end! 

Chapter 4

Walking in circles with no end was going to do me no good. I was going to have to branch out if I was ever going to get out of this dungeon-dark place. I started walking forward cautiously, feeling where I was going before stepping, but after a little while, everything was the same. There was no point in being cautious.

I took a big step forward, then a couple others. It felt good to not be so cautious for a little while. I took another… I was sinking through open air! My arms flailed as I tried to scream, but no sound came out, and besides, if I wasn’t already dead, then surely I would be now. My hip hit the the ground and I rolled over in surprise and pain, grabbing my hip as I rolled down the hill. And splashed straight into a pond. I glared around as a body walked through me like I wasn’t there. The body — a girl — turned around. It was a younger me, the me from the day that my life changed, and the war struck. 

     Part 1 is over.

Part 2 is coming soon.

Kiki the Witch

CHAPTER ONE

It was a normal Saturday, and I was taking a walk around town running some errands. 

“Hi Kiki,” said the baker. “By the way, a girl stopped in here and wanted to know where you live. She said her name was Maya.”

How funny, I thought. I don’t know anyone named Maya.

“She told me to tell you to meet her in front of the clocktower at 4:30,” the baker told me. 

Now I was getting scared. But I was interested. So, I quickly ran to the clocktower. A girl with short curly brown hair and glasses waved at me.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” I replied.

The girl was wearing an all green uniform. Her hair was brushed. She looked very different from me. I was wearing jeans, a white t-shirt, and red Converse, and my black hair was pulled in a ponytail.

“Who are you?” I said.

“Why, I’m here to take you to the Witch’s Institute.” 

“Wait, I’m a witch?! I cannot believe this!!”

“Yes, you’re a witch! Now let’s go!”

CHAPTER TWO

Maya got out her bike and told me to get on. She started to pedal, then she started to pedal super fast. Suddenly, we were flying — well, for three seconds until the bike started to drop. We landed in a pile of leaves.

“What just happened?’” I asked.

“My wand fell out of the bike basket. That’s what keeps us levitated. Help me look,” said Maya.

We rummaged around in the leaves for a few minutes.

“I found it!” Maya yelled. The wand was in a sharp thorny bush a few paces off the path. She ran to go get it and then stopped. “That’s poison ivy and I’m wearing a skirt! You need to go get it.”

“No, I can’t.”

“But you’re wearing pants,” Maya said.

“Fine, I’ll go get it!”

I ran as fast as I could, hoping I wouldn’t touch the poison ivy. I grabbed the wand and ran back. Maya patted me on the back, put the wand in the basket, told me to hop on!

CHAPTER THREE

We flew for about thirty minutes, and I tried not to look down. Finally, we arrived. The Witch Academy was big and made out of bricks. Maya led me in. She handed me my uniform, a map of the school, a wand, and a canvas bag to put everything in. Then she told me that I would pick out a cat tomorrow. A cat! I was so excited. I loved cats. Then, Maya showed me my room. Nice, I guess. There was a twin-sized bed, a closet, a small window, a navy blue quilt, a wobbly stool, and an old fashioned rug. Next, Maya gave me a tour of the school. I saw lots of other witches come from classes. Then, Maya and I sat down to eat dinner. Maya introduced me to her friend, Lily, and we became friends. After dinner, I went back to my room and got ready for bed. As I lay down to go to sleep, I realized that I was about to become a real witch.    

CHAPTER FOUR 

Next morning, I was woken by Maya, who told me it was time to go get a cat. So, I brushed my teeth and hair and put on my uniform. Maya led me downstairs to a room full of cats. There were black cats and small cats. Suddenly, a tabby cat kitten rubbed against my leg.

“I’ll take that one,” I said.

I picked the cat up and carried him upstairs. Next, I went to potions class, then witch history class, then basic spell class. Overall, I liked being a witch. I still missed my parents from time to time, but I had my cat and my friends, and the best part was that it had been almost a year at Witch Academy, and I will be going home for summer in a week. 

To be continued….

Champion Island

“Then, the roof of the house flew off because of the tornado, and that’s how I got here. What is this place called?” I asked. 

He replied, “Oh, this place is Champion Island, where there are masters of different games, and there are teams that are trying to beat them.” 

I asked again, “Champion Island? Games? Masters? Teams? You are going way too quickly. I don’t even know your name.”

 He yelled, “My name is Kappa Kappa! Kappa Kappa Kappa!!!”

I replied, “Thank you. Now, please chill.”

Kappa told me that if I went straight, I would find the team selection area. There were four teams that were all colored coded. There was blue, red, green, and, lastly, yellow. So, I went and joined the red team because they were in the lead, and I wanted to win. They said that the skate championship would be first. They said that I would have to compete to see if I was worth it. The only clue we had was a riddle: I can be active but also asleep. When I am asleep, I don’t bother anyone, but when I am active, I cause destruction. What am I?

I yelled, “I know, it’s a volcano! I think we should go to the volcano.”

Two hours later, we saw a huge volcano with lava pooling down, oozing all over the floor. Just around it was a huge field with rocky spikes on it. Giants were warming up with a rugby ball.

“Wow, wait, this isn’t skating. This is RUGBY!” I said. 

“You’re here for the rugby championship,” said Kappa and the cats. “Ok, you go here.”

“Wait, what? Ugh, fine, ok, whaaat?!” I said. We were against the Giants. I didn’t sign up for this.

The game began. Wait, so I can’t pass to a teammate that’s in front of me. When the Giants came, they crashed into the floor, and it rumbled. I was feeling uneasy. I quickly realized there were two kinds of Giants: the kind that ran really slowly and the kind that ran really quickly. Ok, this one is slow, so let me juke this boy. Wait, he started gaining speed. Oh no, he’s fast! Just then, I stepped on something sharp, and I started sprinting. I looked down and saw a lightning bolt sticking out of my foot. Ow ow ow. Wait, I’m so fast! Wooooosh! Yay!

We won! Wait a minute, OMG! Yay, we got a scroll, let’s give it to Kappa boy. “Kappa boy, here’s a scroll,” I said. 

He replied with: “Kappa kappa kappa kappa kappa.”

Then I ran away, and I went to the second game. It was the skateboarding championship.  3… 2… 1… GO!

Hmm… A tea kettle. Five thousand points. FIVE THOUSAND! Okay, I’ll keep on finding the tea kettles. Ten, thirty, one-hundred, a thousand. It broke the record, and now, I was the champion of skateboarding! Even though I won this one, there were many others to come. I thought this one was the easiest, but I didn’t think the others would be that easy. I was so excited. I was ready to get off this island. 

END OF PART I

A New Age

One day on earth in the Cretaceous Period, Commander Rocky was deep in his work. “Hmmm, what should I do with the incoming dinosaurs?” he said.

“I don’t know, sir. Maybe we should try to tam — ”

“NO! NOT THAT STUPID IDEA OF GETTING ALONG WITH THE DINOSAURS!” commander Rocky yelled. “Get out of my office NOW!”

Mr. Rocky ran away in fear. Mr. Rocky was commander Rocky’s son. Mr. Rocky was named Mr. Rocky for some reason even though he was 9. So let’s just call him Rocky for now.

Rocky ran into the woods to get away from his dad. He went so deep into it that he got into a clearing. In the clearing was the very first dinosaur ever to be discovered. Its name was The Dinosaurus Alpha. It was carnivorous and very dangerous but its appearance was simple! It had Large jaws, a head like a Tyrannosaurus, and a simple body. It was like a bigger and deadlier Tyrannosaurus. Rocky was amazed. He reached to pet it but thought again, What if it bites me? But at the same time, he was thinking about the coming of a new age! A new age where dinosaurs and cavemen would bond with each other. He thought about it for a while and thought, I need to tame the alpha if I want peace!

But it would be very hard to tame the dinosaur since it was one of the deadliest dinosaurs ever to live. But he had to try! Rocky went back home and set to work. He started making a saddle for riding the alpha and made some straps so the saddle didn’t fly off. He finally got the confidence to go back to the Dinosaurus Alpha. He ran through the woods and came to the clearing where the alpha was still sleeping. Rocky got some fish from out of a pond near him and dumped all of it next to the dinosaur. He waited and the dinosaur woke up! It yawned so loudly that Rocky thought it was about to kill him! 

The dinosaur stood up slowly. “AHHH!” Rocky yelled. The humongous dinosaur swallowed in one gulp. They stared at each other for a little while and the dinosaur gave Rocky a nice smile. I didn’t know dinosaurs could smile? Rocky thought.

Rocky kindly got him more fish and finally decided to name it! He named it “Jaws.” They were both very proud of the name. Somehow, Rocky heard a tiny voice in his head that said, “Thank you.”

Rocky yelped so hard that he may have broken his own eardrums. Then he realized that the dinosaur was trying to speak with him! He spoke back and somehow he understood! The alpha allowed Rocky to strap on the saddle and straps. Rocky got on and that’s where he started having the time of his life! Rocky started to ride the dinosaur and it felt so good! “YAHOOOOO!!!” screamed Rocky.

Rocky zoomed across the forest and explored places that he had never seen before! He saw great canyons, HUGE mountains, and beautiful oceans! Finally, he knew that he had work to do, so he said goodbye to Jaws and went back home. “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??” yelled the commander.

“Uhhh, chopping wood… ?” murmured Rocky.

“I KNOW WHEN YOU ARE HIDING SOMETHING FROM ME!” yelled Commander Rocky. “Please son, I am just trying to keep you safe,” he said softly.

“Ok dad, I was riding a Dinosaur.”

“WHATTTT?”      

THE END

OR IS IT???

The Normal Elf

I haven’t been what I pictured for as long as I lived. I always pictured myself talking to people and being perfect. “Miss Lily, are you able to tell us what the square root of 19 is?” Mr. Mad says. I tremble for a second, then my mind starts its work. I see stars and numbers, glances of memories. I go up to the board and write 4.35889894354. Mr. Mad sighs and says, “Very good, but would you please explain.” He knows I hate writing because I can’t speak, and when I try, my head hurts. I write sentences and sentences until I finish. He reads them aloud and says, “Very well, you may go back to your seat.” 

After the heavy ring of the bell, everyone stands up and says, “Thank you, Mr. Mad.” 

Then the other kids rush out at the speed of light. The day ends, and I walk home slowly. Suddenly, I see a girl. I glance again and she disappears. “You know that we, elves, don’t stare.” I turn around and see that girl again. I think in my mind,

What elves, crazy girl? 

“Hey, that is so rude,” she says.

Wait, you can read my mind!?!? I think in my MIND!!

“Yes, all elves speak through their minds,” she sighs.

“Wait, wait, wait, what elf stuff?” I ask.

“I am here to take you to the world of time and life,” she explains.  

“How do you read my mind? I want to think for myself,” I inquire.

“Just look in your brain and say, ‘Time is life.’ Also, my name is Theiry,” she says.

“Neat name! So where are we going in this so-called elf world?”  I ask.

“Follow me, and just do what I say,” Theiry commands.

She takes out a shining necklace and says, “Life has turned, change is made.” A blasting blue light shines in front of us. Theiry takes my hand and squeezes it. I close my eyes and pray. 

I suddenly see trees, fairies, flowers that change colors every minute, and elves. I thought they would have pointy ears, but most of them don’t. I see a bunch of elves. Then I see one that has leaves and vines for hair and tree bark for skin. There is one elf with pointy ears and strands of white hair.  I look all around my hair. I don’t have the strands of white hair. 

A bold voice says in my mind, “Who is this uhh, human?” 

I flash behind me, but I don’t see anyone. I look around and see a gust of wind swarming around Theiry. Somehow, Theiry is talking to the wind. How crazy can this get? Then I hear something that I remember from when I was little. This song called Little Elf. It sings like an angel.

“Little elf, ride and lie

Take the time to stay in your prime

Little elf, hide and guide

Make a choice of left or right

Little elf, kind and fine

Take a chance to stay all the time

Little elf, ride and lie

Take the time to stay in your prime.”

The song strikes me hard in the gut. I follow the music and start singing it in my mind. Then, I feel a person place a hand over my shoulder.  I turn and see Theiry. Amazed, she asks, “How do you know this song?” 

“I heard it sung by someone,” I reply.

“Who are your parents?” Theiry questions me.

“My parents abandoned me as a child,” I snap back.

“Okay, c’mon, we need to get to my house,” Theiry says. 

Theiry and I walk on a path and see a HUGE mansion. I see three people waiting for us. Theiry walks up to a man and whispers to him. The two other people are stunned. I slowly walk toward everyone. I hear, “We will try.” Then a blast of fire shoots at me. I somehow feel all of the power in my body turn into light, go to the fire, and turn it into ash. Everyone stares at me with amazement. 

Then I hear, “All hail princess Lily.” Everyone drops to their knees. I think, 

What the heck is going on??!!!!????

“What happened is that you are the princess who was stolen by humans. They stole you as a child because they wanted us to be even. We kinda killed their president. By accident!” Theiry explains. 

“How do you know I am this ‘missing princess?’” I question her.

“Only the bloodline of rulers can be connected to the sunlight,” Theiry says. 

“Your parents are the rulers of the eleven races,” a deep voice says.

“Lily, this is my dad, Trix,” Theiry says. 

Trix is a tall, brown-haired elf.

“This is Jakknas, and this is Amar.” Theiry introduces me to the other two elves. 

“Hello, this is the arrow and bow from the elven race.” Amar, a blond girl with long hair, slowly pulls out a silver arrow and a bow with trees and flowers.

“Thank you,” I answer. 

“I am sad to say, but the king and queen were assassinated last night,” Trix says in despair. 

“You will have to become the ruler of the elven kingdom.” Amar declares.

I take the bow and arrow and say confidently, “I am ready.”

“When the king and queen died, a poison gas went into the eleven worlds. Only someone from the royal bloodline can go to Nexis and go into the light. Because the poison gas started from the royals, it has to end by a royal death,” Theiry says.

“The assassin knew that; it was their plan all along,” Trix says and puts his fist in the air. 

“I am going to go there,” I say with determination.

“You will have to go to the other side of the world,” Trix says, after calming down.

“I am going to Nexis, whatever happens,” I say bravely.

I walk for weeks and months until I get to Nexis. I find out Theiry, Amar, and Jakkanas followed me; that is just too annoying. Elves do not need to eat food and drink water for years, but I still do.   

Months Later:

I am at the grounds of Nexis. The place where anyone who goes into the light fades into ash. I am looking to Theiry, to Amar, and to Jakkanas. I stare into the light. I am thinking, Should I die and save millions or live and kill millions? I look at my arrow and bow. I give them to Theiry and say, “Take this to my parents’ grave.” I think I am who I pictured. I am who I want to be. I step into the light, I feel a teardrop go down my cheek. I say, “Goodbye.” Then I slowly feel my body turn into ash. I am gone.

Epilogue:

What, where am I? I stand up and see broken cities and dust. I see gray clouds with a beast’s face.

Almost the End

Chapter 1     

“Zeke, Emma, Timea! Wake up! It’s time for breakfast,” Mom said.

“Ok, coming!” said the kids.

The kids ran downstairs. 

“Honey, can you serve them breakfast? I have to go get dressed. Don’t stay in your PJs on the couch all day,” Mom said.

“Fine, but I’m only going to serve them this one time. I have to finish my football game,” Amon said.

He was slumped on the couch, surrounded by empty chip bags and beer bottles. His shirt was stained with boxed mac and cheese.

“Dad, why can’t we go in that room near your bathroom?” said Timea.

“Because I said so. I don’t look in your diary because you have privacy, so don’t look in my stuff either,” said Amon.

“Sorry, Dad,” said Timea.

“Whatever, it’s fine. Mom cooked you guys bacon and eggs. I’m going to sleep, so eat quickly,” Amon said.

“Ok,” said Timea. To her brother and sister, she added, “Guys, we should sneak in. I think Dad is hiding something from us.”

“But if we sneak in, Dad will catch us, and we will get in trouble, AND WE WILL PROBABLY GET GROUNDED, so yeah,” Zeke said. 

“But what if Dad is going to do something bad in the room, and we have to stop it?” said Emma. “Dad goes in that room at night. I saw him once. Let’s get in right now since he’s sleeping.”

“Fine, but if we get caught, it’s not my fault,” said Zeke.

“Ok, but we have to figure out the code for the door to open it,” said Emma.

Chapter 2

“What if the passcode is about us? Like, two of us are ten, and one of us is twelve, so what if it is ten-twelve or twelve-ten?” said Zeke.

“Ok ten-twelve. Let’s try it,’’ said Emma.

“It unlocked. Holy moly! What is this place?” said Timea.

It was a small room with a big desk, a huge world map on the back wall, a big bin with bombs, crystals on the ceiling, and a big window with a hole. 

“No way, bombs! What if they’re going to make the Earth split in half?” said Emma.                                                         

“Or EXPLODE!” said Zeke.

“We have to get out of here now,” said Timea.

“Oh no, the door is locked! What are we going to do?” said Emma. 

“I also hear footsteps. HIDE!” said Zeke.

They ran and hid behind the cabinet. Footsteps echoed in the hall.    

“It’s good to be back in the lab,” said Amon to himself. “It looks like someone has been here… Whatever. It doesn’t matter.”

“I have a plan to get out. When Dad’s head is turned, we can get out. He has the key on the door just in case he forgets the code, so we’re not locked in forever. LET’S DO THIS!” said Zeke.

They ran out.

“We made it,” said Emma.

“Guys, let’s meet here at 6:30 in the morning. Dad will be sleeping and Mom will be at work,” said Timea.

Chapter 3    

Ring, ring, ring went the alarm at 6:30 in the kids’ bedroom.

“Guys, wake up. It’s 6:30. We need to go into Dad’s lab,” said Emma.

“Ugh, fine, but it’s way too early for this,” said Timea.

“Last one there is a rotten egg, but walk so Dad does not wake up,” said Zeke.

Zeke ran.

“I beat you all,’’ said Zeke.

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just get this over with,” said Timea. 

“Timea, don’t say that, it’s rude,” said Emma.

“Yeah,” said Zeke.  

“Sorry, I guess,” said Timea. 

“Emma, put in the code for the door so we can get inside,” said Zeke.

Emma typed ten-twelve on the keypad. The door opened.

“Guys, I know this might sound crazy, but Zeke, you love tech and you’re good at it. Can you make Dad’s machine better at picking up the dirt and put it on whatever is under there, just in case it’s something bad? Then we can cover it up and get what’s under there. Emma, I can attach you to a string, and you can climb down to grab what is under there. If it’s something bad, Zeke will instruct you, and I will pull you up. Then, I will open the door a little bit, so I can see when Dad is coming or walking by if he wakes up,” said Timea. 

“Got it,” said Zeke.

“I’m in,” Emma said.   

“Ok, let’s do this,” said Timea.  

Chapter 4

“All I have to do is reroute the system, update it, and code it,” Zeke said. 

“Emma, are you ready to climb down? I’m also going to tie the rope to the pole over there just in case,” said Timea. 

“Guys, the machine is ready. All we need is to grab the dirt and put it on top of what is under there, just in case,” said Zeke.

Emma climbed down. 

“GUYS! I see a bomb with a timer that says we have 5 minutes,” said Emma.

 “Is there a button to stop the timer?” said Zeke. 

“No, there is not,” said Emma         

“Guys, I brought my water bottle. Emma, I’m going to pull you up, and then I’m going to give you the bottle. Pour the water on the bomb. Zeke, put the extra dirt on top,” said Timea. 

Chapter 5 

“Guys, I just remembered something: those types of bombs can still explode when water is poured on them, but we still have to cover it up with dirt so Dad does not dig again and try to explode the Earth,” said Zeke. 

“We have 2 minutes! I’m going to put the water on it now,” said Emma. She poured the water.

“I’m pulling you up right now,” said Timea. 

“Ok,” said Emma. 

Timea pulled Emma up.

“I’m going to put the dirt on it with the machine,” said Zeke. He put the dirt on it.

“According to my calculations, we have 30 seconds left,” said Zeke.

“We have to hide under that desk over there, just in case,” said Timea. 

BOOM! The ground shook.  

“WE DID IT!” said Emma. 

Sirens blared, and the police came.
“What happened here?” said Officer Oui Bucky. 

The kids explained what happened. 

“Where are your Dad and Mom?” said Officer Oui Bucky.

“Our mom is at work, and our dad is sleeping,” said Zeke.

Mom walked in through the door.

“What happened here?!” said Mom.

The police explained it to her.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry, kids, that you had to go through this. We’re going to move to Paris,” said Mom. 

The police walked over to arrest Amon.

“What-wha… happened? Why are you arresting me?” said Amon.
“Your kids stopped your bomb, and you know why we’re arresting you,” said Officer Oui Bucky.

“Nooo, I didn’t do that!” said Amon.

“I’m sorry, Amon. You’re going to be sentenced to jail for life,” said Officer Oui Bucky.

 The End 

The Fashion Store’s Victory, Book 1: The Queen’s Revenge

1. Olivia and Cathie were hanging clothes up for customers when Maline came bursting out of breath saying, “Victory!”

Olivia asked, “What victory? Did you win the lottery?”

“Nope,”  said Maline. “I won new customers!” Maline was a pretty nice person with black hair and always wore ripped clothes. She was beautiful. Olivia was the nicest person you could meet, with blonde hair and hazel eyes. Cathie (short for Caroline) was a neat girl with a southern accent. Thalia was a girl who was usually nice, but if you crossed her, you would live to regret it, with raven eyes that seemed to be able to pierce through you. And she always wore punk, showing clothes made of black leather.

It started to get really cold. It started to snow. Eventually, it snowed so much that Olivia, Maline, and Cathie were stuck! 

2. It was Nate and Caden’s shift at the store. They were very surprised when the road was blocked, but that wasn’t enough to keep them from shoveling through it.

3. It seemed to be hard for Nate and Caden, but they were determined to shovel through. Then finally, they found the door! They opened the door and the bell jingled. “Oh, thank god!” said Maline, and hugged Nate and Caden. Olivia and Cathie were so relieved, they couldn’t speak. Everyone was freezing.

4. “Let’s talk about those customers,” said Olivia.

“Okay,” said Maline.

“Who are they and how much will they pay?” asked Cathie.

“They will pay a lot,” Maline said. “And they might be the royal family of England.” 

5. Everyone in the room was speechless. “WHAT?!” asked and screamed everyone.

“Yes, yes. I know. Cool, right? But they aren’t. They are a billionaire family.”

6. “Yes! We will be the richest store ever!”

7. “Yes, we will. Now, we have to get ready for the family.”

“That’s today?!” asked Olivia.

8. “But the store’s being renovated!” Cathie said.

“Ahh! Seriously!”

“Ah, Mrs. Cullen, Mr. Cullen,” curtsied Maline.

9. ”Uhh, you’re here early — ”

“AHHH!”

Before she knew it, the billionaire wife was drenched with black paint — on her white dress, no less. Mrs. Cullen screamed with rage, loud enough so that the whole country could hear. She stomped out of the room like a child in a tantrum. Her baby boy started to cry. He was scared of the noise.

 10.  They had to go to court, guilty of ruining the billionaire’s favorite dress. They testified.

 11. It was off with their heads, but they found a portal to Mt. Olympus. They fell through a really big hole.

12. They had only ever read about it in books. They never thought it was a real place, but it was. They thought they were dreaming, but they weren’t, not at all. 

As she was falling down the big hole, Maline thought of her brother and her sister who she left behind.

“Oof,” said Ryan, Maline’s older brother. 

 “Ryan, you don’t have to fall over when I throw the football!” said Max, Maline’s sister, who was 9, but Ryan couldn’t catch it because it kept hitting him in the stomach, causing him to fall over. This was the last memory of her family Maline had before she moved to Queensland to start the store with her friends.

As Cathie was falling down the big hole, all she was thinking about was Sarah Ruth, her little sister. She had recently received a letter from her mother (who she was not particularly close with) saying that she disappeared last week. As you can probably imagine, Cathie was devastated to hear the news. 

As Bella fell, she thought of the only family she had left, her idiot father. In some ways, she was glad to be away from him, but then she thought of the fact that he wouldn’t notice if a giant teacup started singing and dancing on the dining room table, so surely he wouldn’t notice if she were gone. 

As Thalia was falling down the rabbit hole, she was thinking about her dog, Tulip. Tulip was 98 in dog years, pretty old. Thalia missed her dog. She had a strong instinct to scale the rabbit hole and run to her home and get Tulip. Sadly, this could not be done. She was also thinking about her sister, Rue. She also missed her brother, Thresh. They had lived in a small shack made out of wood. Thalia was an introvert who mostly kept to herself. Thalia wondered when the falling would end, and just like that, “BANG!” They hit the floor.

The Dark Spirit of the Enchanted Trampoline Park, Book 1: Captured!

Chapter 1

As I walked along the trail, I could hear the crunch of leaves and the singing of birds. I had always loved hiking and went hiking whenever I could. Snap! I tripped on a twig and fell face-forward into the leaf litter. Phew, at least the leaves saved me, I thought, and then I was jerked upward. I tried to scream for help, but no sound came out.

Suddenly, the pulling stopped and I was dangling in the air, about 400 feet above the ground. Then I was pulled sideways. I screamed, but again, no sound came out. After what seemed like 30 minutes of watching the ground speed below me, I felt myself plummet down toward the ground. This time I felt no urge to scream, only a strange urge to sing that got stronger as the ground grew nearer. 100 feet from the ground now, I saw a clearing dotted with trampolines. 75 feet and I could see the shapes of people jumping up and down on the trampolines. 50 feet, and I could hear singing. Finally, there were only 5 feet between me and the floor, and I stopped falling. I felt something around my waist loosen, and I landed on the ground with a thud.

I stood up, but then collapsed to the ground again as something gained control of me. In a panic, I fought at it, trying to shove it out of my mind, but nothing worked. I tried to move, but I couldn’t. A rasping voice in my head said, Ahhh welcome, Lily. Another puppet for my collection. I could imagine the voice smirking as the presence controlling me picked my body up and walked me to the nearest trampoline. The urge to sing was as strong as ever, along with a new urge to bounce on the trampoline. I was pushed by an invisible force onto the trampoline, and started to sing in time with all the other people, in the same weird, slurred voice. 

Chapter 2

I could still think. All I could do was think. My mouth moved on its own. Words of all languages spilled out of my mouth and added to the swirling torrent of sound. I was tired, hungry, and thirsty, but no matter how hard I tried to gain control of myself, I couldn’t do anything. I went on like this in an endless loop, tracking the days and nights and growing hungrier and thirstier as the days wore on. Every 2 days, water was delivered by the same invisible force that had brought me here. After 5 days, everyone stopped again. 

Suddenly, all noise stopped as the rasping voice entered my mind again. Well I can’t let you die can I? I know most of you have done this before, but my new recruits need to know the rules. 

What rules? I thought, and as if reading my mind, the rasping voice continued.

The rules are to stay in place until your food is delivered, AND EAT ALL OF IT AND NO MORE!!! If you don’t follow these rules then I will give you something disgusting, and you will have to eat it all.

A large picnic blanket flew down from the sky, laden with large bowls of slightly cold and overcooked vegetable stew. It looked delicious after 5 days with no food, and staggering with fatigue, I grabbed the bowl nearest to me. There was a spoon lying next to it, and I picked it up as well. I thought back to the safety lessons I had learned as a child and remembered that after not having food for a long time, you could only eat small bites of food at a time. As much as I wanted to gulp down the food, I forced myself to eat slowly. I saw some people shoveling food into their mouths as fast as they could — the newer people, I realized, the ones that came here after me. They obviously didn’t know that they needed to slow down. I wished I could tell them, but I couldn’t talk. After the meal was finished, everyone’s minds were taken over again, forcing everyone’s bodies back onto the trampolines, to begin the endless loop again.

Chapter 3

The days wore on. I could see the fatigue that I felt reflected on people’s faces as we jumped and sang without stopping. Yet they couldn’t do anything about it, and neither could I. 

Days passed, and the world started going hazy. I lost track of the days. The only thing that kept me from collapsing was the need to obey the rasping voice. New people came, and the park expanded to accommodate them, but nobody left. I had seen people try to escape, but the bond was always too strong. I could see the hiking trails that wound around the trampoline park, and I could see the people walking along them that never even showed the slightest sign of noticing the trampoline park.

More days passed as I watched the trickle of people, and then one day, a tall lady with a long dress and some shiny things poking out of her back — were those wings?! — walked up. Nobody on the trail noticed… Wait a second, I thought, and I realized that she more like flew up to the fence of the trampoline park. A fairy! I realized. A real fairy! I thought they were only mythical creatures!

We are mythical creatures, said a calm, gentle voice in my head. I knew immediately that this voice belonged to the fairy, because it was so unlike the rasping voice that I heard so often. 

Wait a second, I thought. Can you mindread? Can you see my thoughts?

Yes, I can, replied the fairy.

Can you help me get out of here? I thought at her, and I saw her lips curve into a small smile.

Remember, you still have your imagination. You always will. It is the key, she said. 

What is your name? I thought.

I am Annika, she said, right before disintegrating into a puff of rainbow sparkles.

Chapter 4

I was always thinking of Annika’s words now. They were stuck in my head, and I could hear them clearly through the eerie singing. They repeated in my head over and over again. 

Remember, you still have your imagination. You always will. It is the key.

Key to what? My escape? How could imagination be the key? The thoughts that followed were always pessimistic. I didn’t know what to do, and so I thought about it. It seemed familiar…. Oh! It’s that riddle that goes: imagine you are in a box, there is nothing around you, and the box is steel. How do you get out? And the answer is stop imagining! I guess I can try to imagine myself out of here.

I imagined as hard as I could, thinking of the hiking trail I had been on, thinking of home. Nothing. I nearly gave up on myself when another idea struck me. Songs have meaning right? So maybe I can imagine I understand the language, and I will find a way out. I tried that. I listened closely to the music, thinking, I know this language, over and over again in my mind. Slowly the words started to gain some meaning, and finally I could understand the words clearly. The song went like this: Remember to hold on to hope, It will help you cope with dangers, use hope to save yourself… 

Well, I haven’t been doing much but giving up on hope, I thought, but if it will save me, I will not give up hope.

Chapter 5

I wasn’t thinking of anything but how I would get home. I was very hopeful and optimistic about the future. I knew I would get home if I was hopeful. Suddenly, just like the day when I got dropped into this miserable place, I got jerked upward, but there was no invisible force doing this. There was a golden harness latched around my waist, and it seemed to be pulling the dark creature that had controlled me for so long outside of my mind. I realized I could speak again, and I shouted down to the people below, “Don’t give up! Be hopeful!” They seemed to hear me because they tilted their heads up into the sky to look at me. I repeated my message until the people became no more than specks in the distance. I grinned to myself. I was on my way home.

Into the Fairy Realm

Moonlight streamed through the open curtains and spilled into the room, penetrating its darkness and washing it with silver. The night had grown warmer in the past couple of hours, and the window was thrown wide open in an attempt to draw any kind of breeze in, but there was none. The scent of the roses from the courtyard below was heavy and sweet, drifting up from the gardens to sit sluggishly in the room.

Emily was sitting on her bed with her pajamas backward, and the cotton was sticking onto her because of the heat. She was wide awake, though this had less to do with the heat and more to do with her anxiety. In just a couple more hours, her grandmother was going to wake her up. The problem wasn’t that she needed more sleep, but that her hair had been magically grown by fairies and she couldn’t cut it off.

You see, fairies aren’t like you would think. Yes, some fairies are cool, but most fairies are evil to the bone. You see, unlike other people, Emily has the ability to see magical creatures. Regular, normal people see beetles for the bad fairies and butterflies for the good fairies. 

For months, the fairies have been bothering Emily to no end. At one point, they had found her secret diary which included her notes about fairies, most of which were mean, so it was no surprise when fairies had her hair grow this long. She looked like Rapunzel, there was no way her grandmother wouldn’t notice. Just last night her hair was only up to her shoulders, now it was dragging along the floor! If her grandmother saw her hair, she would cut it off and then discover that the hair couldn’t be cut off, which would later make her grandmother suspicious. No, she couldn’t go to eat breakfast this morning, NO WAY. 

“I’ll just have to read my diary,” she thought, “Then I’ll be distracted.” So she did and found an interesting piece of information that she hadn’t written:

“Your hair has grown as a punishment for the insults you wrote in this diary, but we can give you a clue as to what you need to cut off your hair. First, you must find something that is sharp, a type of metal that rhymes with peel.” 

This was easy, it was obviously steel. There probably wasn’t another metal that rhymes with peel. But did her grandmother even own a knife? Maybe for cooking, but surely none of them were steel. There might be a steel knife in the kitchens where they served the cafe, but going to the cafe would mean getting out of her room. This was hopeless. 

Under the bed she saw something shiny! She looked and found a steel knife. Emily immediately started chopping off her hair. It was uneven, but she could always fix it later.  She tied it into a ponytail so it wouldn’t seem so uneven. 

She got out of her room and, “Whoosh!” She wasn’t in her room anymore. There were butterflies and fairies and glitter everywhere! Emily was in the realm of fairies.

The Magical Orb of Shaddowtown

 Chapter 1: BEWARE!!!!

It was just another snowy morning in Minnesota. Anna woke up. She immediately turned on the radio. “The schools that have snow days today are West Bridge school, Martin Luther King School of fine art, Lakeside Middle school, Riverview Middle school, and Oakland Elementary school! “ 

“Yes!” Anna screamed.

 “Darling, can you go to the library to fetch the three books that I ordered the other day?” her mom asked.

 “Can I do it later in the afternoon?” Anna asked.

“Oh fine, but I need them for tomorrow,” her mom said.

Anna immediately pulled out her iPad and started to watch a movie. It was about a monkey trying to escape the jungle.

Later, it was lunchtime and her dad made a yummy PB & J sandwich. “Are you going to get the books?” her mom asked. 

“Yeah, I will now.” She put on her puffiest sweater, thickest pants, longest shirt, warmest scarf, coziest sweater, and best snow boots. She opened up the door just a bit and she felt like her entire body was an ice cube. “It is freezing and I barely even put my foot outside. I think that I will go later before it closes and when it is less cold,” she said. She took off all of her thick and puffy layers and went back to her bedroom.

 “Mom, what are the names of the books you ordered?” Anna asked.

Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk, A Trip to the Moon, and uh…. I think it was called Beware. “ Right after she said the word beware, the door creaked open on its own.

“Mom! I have heard of this. It used to be the diary of a powerful king that ruled the world. When he passed away, his soul was kept inside the book. People say that the book is cursed.”

Anna heard it from lots of people and they also said that when the king comes from the dead, he will seek revenge on whomever kept his ancient diary. “You really believe that, honey? People lie… a lot. Let me show you. BEWARE. Did anything happen?” Nothing happened. A moment later, the window shattered into pieces, though nothing broke it, it just happened on its own.

“Now do you believe me?” Anna asked her mom.

“Yeah, fine,” she said with a worried look on her face.

Chapter 2: Finding of the magical orb of Shaddowtown

After about an hour and a half, it stopped snowing and Anna went to the library to get the three books. Right when she was about to pick up the book, she thought out loud, “Maybe before the king died, he cursed the book so whoever touched it would be cursed.” She quickly ran to the CVS store and bought protective gloves. Then, she ran back to the library and picked up the books with the gloves. She decided to read the book to see if there was any way she could return it to where the king was buried. Maybe there was some kind of portal to take her there. She opened the book to a random page and kept on flipping through it until she reached a page that said The magical Orb of Shaddowtown. It said that you need to say a special secret code to get to the magical world of Shadowtown, a place so frightening, people die from being there. It gave Anna the shivers. Only the most powerful leaders are buried there. “Maybe he isn’t who people think he is. Maybe he is still alive. All I have to do is find the orb, find the code, talk to the king, make him decurse this book, and it won’t be cursed again!” She said it so casually, like she has dealt with this before. She tried looking for clues in the book as to where the orb must be. It did say one clue. “Your passcode is in plain sight, mix up the letters to make them right.” The day was almost over and all Anna could think about was the clue. She was upset that she used her time and couldn’t find anything. She went to bed on a bad note.

She woke up the next morning and had school again. Right when she was brushing her teeth, she understood the riddle. In every diary, you write your name. Maybe it is spelled backwards! She opened the book and on it was a little tag that said XAM GNIK. She spelled it backwards and it spelled King Max. That was the password! Now, all she needed to do was to find the orb. It could be anywhere! Maybe there was a hint inside the book for the orb just like the hint for the passcode. 

Chapter 3: A trip to Shaddowtown

Anna was looking for more clues in the book, but she didn’t find anything that was much help. Finally, after a lot of searching, Anna found a clue. It said, “The place that has helped you all this time, is the place that will solve what you call a crime. “ Anna was confused. “The place that has helped you all this time. “ Anna paused for a while until she thought…

The library! Of course! The library was what helped Anna find the book, so that was also the place that was hiding the orb. “That explains why the library is called King Maxwell library.” Anna rushed to the library. Anna got reminded of the movies she had watched before, like the ones that had books that acted as levers that opened some kind of passageway. Maybe that “lever” was a book about King Max’s history. Anna looked in the history section, and without realizing, she bumped into the wall and the wall flipped completely. I think that she found the secret room! In the middle of the big room was a crystal orb. Anna was about to take a step when, “Wait! Maybe this room is filled with booby traps?” She picked up a stone that she found on the floor and threw it on the floor. It immediately burned into ashes. There was a sturdy old vine that Anna could use as a rope to get across the floor. She got the orb and left home.

She was confused on how to get back, if there even was a way back, so she had to keep the orb until she could find out how to use it and get to Shaddowtown. Then she would return it because she didn’t want to look suspicious. She reviewed the page in the book and held the orb in her hand. On the side was a button. She pressed it and the orb started speaking. “Hello. What is the passcode?” the device asked.

“King Max,“ Anna said. Suddenly, the orb, a sphere kind of shape, flattened out and created a portal. “Orb, how will I come back home?” Anna asked. 

“All you have to say is: Portal, take me home. Then you will jump inside it and fall in your bedroom. ” Anna nodded her head. Anna remembered to take the book with her. She was not sure she would find him. Would he actually be dead? Would he be hiding in his casket? Would he be living on the streets? Were there even streets in Shaddowtown? “I promise, you will be alright,“ the orb said.

Anna hopped inside the portal and came to the scariest place she had ever been in her entire life. The sky was black and everything she could see was grey. There was not a single human being on the street except her. There was a dust ball rolling beside her left leg. It was not like she imagined. There were streets like she thought there would be. She was looking for the Shaddowtown cemetery to find King Max.

Finally, she gave up and sat down under a tree. Droplets of water came down her cheeks. “First time at Shaddowtown” a voice said in the shadows. 

“Who said that?“ Anna asked, frightened. 

“Look behind you.“ the voice said. Anna turned around and saw that she was talking to a tree. She opened the book to a page titled The creatures of Shaddowtown. It said that there were secretive squirrels that live in the mysterious shadow-filled forest. There were also terrifying talking shadow trees, the one that Anna was talking to. There were also the mysterious shadow monkeys living in the jumpy joyless jungle. “Most of my kind are terrifying. It’s in the name, but you, little girl, sat on the right tree.” the tree said in a nice voice. “What brings you here?” the tree asked. 

“Well I am trying to find King Max to decurse this book. I want to safely restore this in the library,” Anna said.

“You are in grave danger, little girl,” the tree said. “He is still alive, but 10 times more powerful. He can curse you with any possible spell. Good thing you are wearing gloves,“ the tree said. “The cemetery is on Shadow stone drive, which is passed that dumpster and to the next left. You’ll see the cemetery on the right,” the tree said. “Good luck. Know that whenever you need help, find the tree that has a big brown splotch of bark on the bottom roots. We trees can look invisible, like shadows. So if someone is after you, just hug me and we’ll both turn invisible,” he said. 

Chapter 4: The Cemetery on Shadow Stone Drive

Anna walked past the dumpster, turned left, and then made a right and saw a sign that said Shadow stone cemetery. She walked straight on the path down the middle and found the stone that said King Maxwell the 1st. She found a shovel on the ground. She picked it up and dug for a while until she made a hole. She peeked her head and saw King Max, all alone, sitting by himself on a stool he put for decoration because he was going to spend his entire life there, so he needed to be comfortable. “Um, excuse me? King Max?” Anna said. 

“Who has entered my home? I mean uh… I’m dead,“ King Max said. 

“I know that you’re not dead. I am Anna and got here through the magical orb of Shaddowtown. I found the passageway in the library, and I have our diary called Beware. Can you please decurse it or something? We humans don’t deserve to be cursed just because you are a bad person,” Anna said.

“That’s not what happened. I used to be a ruler, a powerful ruler, and everyone loved me. Everybody promised that they would care for me forever and ever. Until one day a new ruler came and everyone betrayed me. They broke my promise. Anyway, so the other ruler cursed my diary. He meant it to curse me, but when I lost it, it got free to the world so others could be cursed and everyone blamed me. The ruler was called Richard Dixeon.”

“He is that suspicious guy that owns the library near my house! I knew something was fishy about him.,“ Anna said. 

“I have been trying all my life to get out of Shaddowtown, but I am not as powerful as people say I am,” King Max said.

“I have a portal that can take us both out of here. Only one one condition. Can you decurse this book?” Anna said. 

“I wish I could, but I don’t know the spell. Though I do know someone who does. His name is Sorcerer Goblin. He owns what people think is a flower shop, but is secretly his potion lab. It is on Maple drive,“ he said. 

“Hey, I know that flower shop! It is two minutes away from my house. If you want, I can take you with me home and get the right potions do decurse this book, and while we’re at it, we can turn Richard Dixeon into a frog. That guy deserves to be taught a lesson,” Anna said. “Why did he want to curse you anyways?” Anna was interested in the topic. 

“He didn’t want me to be a better ruler,” King Max said. 

“If we want to go home, we need to dress you up in some better looking clothes, hundreds of humans will be seeing you. You can’t go looking like a dumpster threw up on you, no offense. Also, this is winter time, in Minnesota. You better be wearing your fluffiest outfit. Are there any clothing shops? Do you get everything here free because there are no humans around?” Anna asked.

“Pretty much,“ King Max said. He climbed out of his “home“ and they were off to Shadow Up my Outfit. When they got there, there were lots of options. Anna pulled out a fluffy blue shirt, Khaki long pants, a snow coat, boots, and earmuffs. “I didn’t know that Shaddowtown had a good sense of style,” Anna said.

“Now where is the portal?” Max asked. 

“Um, all I have to say is, uh…. portal…. uh… “ Anna totally forgot what to say!

It had now been two whole hours and Anna was worried. “I bet that Mom and Dad are worried sick!” She was crying because she didn’t know what to do. She and King Max walked a while. Anna spotted a tree that had a brown splotch of bark on its roots. Anna hugged the tree. “Is someone chasing you?” the tree asked.

“Nope, I just forgot how to get home through the portal. I forgot what to say to make it appear,” Anna said softly.

“Portal, take me home,” the tree said.

“That’s right! How do you know?” Anna asked. 

“I once met a human girl about 11 years old, like your age, and we were the best of friends, until she left Shaddowtown forever without telling me. Right before I never saw her again, I heard her saying, “Portal, take me home,’ and since I still think about her, I remembered what she said,” the tree said. 

“Portal, take me home,” Anna said. The portal appeared. King Max and Anna hopped inside.

Chapter 5: A trip to the Human World

Anna and King Max landed in Anna’s bedroom with a loud thump. “Anna, is everything alright in there?” Ana heard her mom’s voice.

“Yep, my big stack of books just fell.” Anna felt her stomach flip when she lied to her mom. “I will open the window, you will go to the front door, and knock, of course. Tell my parents that you are my theater teacher and talk to my parents about how good a student I am. Then you are going to wait outside, I will tell my parents that I am going for a long walk and then we will go to meet the Sorcerer Goblin.” Anna chuckled a bit because of his name. After the plan worked, Anna and King Max walked to the flower shop.

“Sorcerer Goblin,” King Max said.

“Who comes to seek my secret?” a voice said.

“Your old pal, King Max, and a friend,” King Max said.

“What would you like today? Roses, daisies, lilacs, lavender, buttercups?” Goblin said.

“Um well, we were looking for potions,” Anna said.

“What kind of potion? I have a different section for that,” Goblin said.

“A decursing spell. A cursed diary. Can you decurse it?” King Max asked.

“Yes, of course, follow me,” Goblin said. He flipped the wall, sort of like the secret passage that helped Anna find the orb. There were thousands upon thousands upon thousands of potions, with crazy names like bulbrin, clantese, sordum, cansue, fulprit, and more funny names like that. After a while, Goblin found two potions and mixed them together (cansue, and prentalid). He put a droplet of the potion on the diary and it wasn’t cursed!

“Thank you so much, Sorcerer Goblin!” Anna said.

“Can we ask you for one more thing? Can you turn someone into a frog? ” they asked Sorcerer Goblin.

“Sure! Can you please get me flour, eggs, baking cocoa, milk, sugar, salt, a spoon, a bowl, cansue, artene, and sordum.” One minute later, they had everything they needed.

“Why all of this baking stuff?” Anna asked in a surprised voice. 

“Well, do you think that this person will just agree to be turned into a frog? I will put the spell inside the brownie so he will want to eat it. He might think it would be suspicious, so we need to show them that we can eat them too. One will have a potion inside and one will not.”

Finally, the brownies were done. They all walked to the library. Goblin and King Max were hiding outside because they looked suspicious. (Don’t worry, Goblin isn’t an actual Goblin.) Anna walked in and said to Richard

“Hey, I really enjoy reading the books from this library, and I wanted to thank you for all of your hard work so I baked brownies for you. Mmm,” she said while taking a bite of the brownie labeled not potioned, safe to eat. Richard suddenly turned into a frog.

“And that is revenge for cursing my friend’s diary, King Max.” Anna was holding Richard. She threw him onto a tree five minutes away from the library. Anna headed back to the library to return the orb and Beware. She also stuck a sign on Richard’s desk that said: On vacation forever. Never coming back! 🙂 

“Now that this adventure has come to an end, I think that we should celebrate. Milkshakes on me,” Anna said. The milkshakes tasted like victory.

But what they didn’t realize was that they were on an enemy list of a very grumpy frog that was waiting for his revenge

DUN DUN DUN!!!

The End

Make sure to read book 2!

Elena & Hercules

If there was such a thing as the most lonely yet serene moment, this would be it. The glowing signs of stores and restaurants, the wind flowing through her curly, blonde hair, the memories of what was once a bustling city. How could so much destruction occur in so little time? The only answer lies in a newspaper that someone had left on the ground — an unidentified terrestrial being with the power to wipe out approximately 90,000 people. A being of so much size and strength, even the government’s most powerful resources couldn’t defeat it. This being was officially classified as “???” — creative. Although, that didn’t end up mattering as the whole city was wiped out. Only one human was left in this desolate place. A human who, at the time, was unconscious in a coma, and had been for years.

Her name was Elena. But her name didn’t really matter, as there was no longer anybody to refer to her by it. Starvation wasn’t an issue, as there were grocery stores and markets of enough food to last over a lifetime. If you were in this girl’s position, there would be multiple options for what she would do first. Some would say to hunt, to look for water, to look for shelter. Elena, however, did none of this. Food and water was accessible to her, and she could easily go into any of the skyscrapers or apartment buildings that were once full of residents. As she walked around, she held onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, there was at least one other human left. As Elena ran frantically around the city, she came to the harsh realization that what used to be her city, her home, was crumbling down to nothing at all. And in the future, if that even existed, some wealthy human would rebuild the city, and not a single soul would recall what used to be. Or possibly it would never be rebuilt, left to hide away in the dust. Only time would tell.

Over months of living in the city’s poor conditions, Elena grew used to the environment. However, the isolation was making a gradual impact on her sanity. She heard whispers behind her as she left each room and saw shadows behind her whenever she looked in the mirror. In terms of shelter, she had chosen to live in what used to be someone’s small house, a fair distance from the other buildings in the city. The house was old, and not in great condition. But it held the one thing Elena had left: her hope. So far, the first room- the kitchen- was definitely old. Dust bunnies hid under the furniture, moss grew in the corners, and yet, she felt drawn to this house. Possibly, it was because, although she was all by herself, her surroundings kept Elena company. The night sky, each star holding hope and determination, the plants, keeping their heads up despite the times, the dusty stacks of books on the floor, every one containing a story of its own, waiting to be unraveled. 

As she walked around the house, Elena found another room. When she pushed the wooden door open, it produced a loud creak. Elena turned the light on, and she saw that inside was a washing machine. However, the machine held unwashed clothes, so she scooped up the damp clothes and hung them on the drying rack. She let out a weary breath as she left the room, slamming the door behind her. As a furious cloud of dust rose from the ground, Elena hurried away, searching for a washroom of some kind. Elena heard the sound of a door opening, followed by a voice: I’m home! But after rushing to the main door, she found that nobody was there. Had the voice really been in her head? It sounded too realistic to be merely a product of imagination. Elena shrugged it off as she came across another door. She then spotted one ant, then another, before realizing each ant was following the other. After staring down the trail of ants with hopes to intimidate them, Elena slowly twisted the doorknob. Unexpectedly, the door swung open before she could push it. She felt a cool breeze hit her, and she realized how much she had been sweating. The air pressure must have opened the door on its own. Regardless, the air conditioning felt good after being in the heat. She walked around the bathroom. It was pretty much just a standard bathroom, a toilet, a sink faucet, a shower, a mirror. Seeing herself in the mirror, Elena realized how much of a mess her hair had become. Hastily, she grabbed a hairbrush and began brushing out the thick knots. 

After Elena finished brushing her hair, she saw another door right across from the bathroom. This wooden door was the gateway to a bedroom. To her surprise, the bedroom was clean. It had no moss growing in the corners, no bugs either… just a bit dusty. This was suspicious, so Elena looked around the room. She found bug traps on the floor, and some sort of spray on the desk, probably to prevent moss. Whoever lived in this house before must have paid heavy attention to their sleeping conditions. Suddenly, Elena heard a scratching noise. She whipped her head around. The scratching continued. It was coming from her left. She left the bedroom and started to the left, and the sound got louder. She followed it into another room that seemed to be the last room inside. The house sure was bigger than it looked. Inside the room, there was a pet bed, a cat tower, a litter box and a cat that had been scratching at the wall. Elena saw the cat, and started to tear up. She had thought she was completely alone, but she wasn’t. The cat walked over to her and rested in her lap, while her tears dotted its orange fur. 

Elena checked inside the closet, and discovered three huge bags of cat food. She poured it into the cat’s bowl and left the room. She felt the empty dryness under her eyes where her tears had fallen. Do you feel alright, Elena? Are you lonely? Elena stopped dead in her tracks. Was she talking to herself, was someone else talking to her? Or was she just hearing things? She was deep in thought when she felt something licking her leg. She looked down, and saw the same orange cat. “I should give it a name,” Elena mumbled to herself. The cat felt like a hero to her. From that, the cat’s name was decided: Hercules. And so, from then on, it was Elena and Hercules against whatever was out there, and whatever, or whoever, had destroyed their city.

Night had fallen, so Elena started over to her bed. And as she had always done, she buried herself in the blanket and closed her eyes. But, this time, it felt different. She noticed that she was shaking slightly, and the whispers she heard grew louder, to the point where she had to pull the blanket over her head to feel safe. Although, she was exhausted, so she soon fell unconscious. Elena slept well that night. 

When Elena woke up in the morning, her vision was blurred. But even what she could make out, her body, didn’t feel like her own. Her green eyes, her pale arms, her blonde curls, felt as if they belonged to someone else. But technically, one’s body is just a way to express their mind. So does one’s physical appearance belong to nobody? She pondered as she wandered around her room, deep in thought. She realized that she could no longer wait around. It would be a miracle for anyone to come and save her, and she had to figure out how to make that miracle happen. Elena threw the door open and ran through the hallway, out the house, to the grocery store or what was once a grocery store. She gathered food and bottled water in her drawstring bag along with an emergency poncho. Elena then had an idea, and she hurried to the convenience store. She was thrilled to find a satellite phone, a map of the closest cities on land, and an old-fashioned watch. The city was on an island, so it would be practically impossible to look for nearby cities. However, if she could call for help via satellite phone, she would have a chance at leaving the city. There was one last matter to worry about: Hercules the cat. 

Back in the house, she poured some catnip into a small plastic bag, scooped up the cat. With that, Elena walked outside. She was aware that she had no chance of swimming across half of an ocean, but maybe she could find a boat. The biggest concern was whether or not she could drive, as the tide was usually low and storms occurred rarely. Down at the beach, there was a boat in decent condition. She climbed on and sprinted to the captain’s area. Elena gripped the wheel with determination. Her father had taught her how to use a boat when she was young, but whether she had held onto that knowledge was unknown. She started up the boat, but it wouldn’t budge. Possibly a piece of seaweed had clogged the motor? Or was the boat falling apart? She stared at the water. By now, the sun had set and stars had started to paint the sky. But one star shone so brightly, and it was moving horizontally… it wasn’t a star. It was a shooting star, a comet. Elena’s parents told her to always wish on a shooting star, so she closed her eyes as she wished for help in leaving the city, and for help in finding answers. She suddenly felt her boat ascending, lifting off the ground. Out of instinct, she tried to grab the water, as if it would hold her down. But she had stopped rising upward. The water was carrying her boat across the water using a wave. The wind sang a lullaby, and somehow, Elena fell asleep on that very boat.

When Elena opened her eyes, she blinked multiple times to confirm what she was seeing. The figure of a person, shaped of… water? Surely she was just lucid dreaming. Or, at least, that was what she told herself. The person, who seemed to be some sort of water spirit, also had something cradled in their arms. It was a cat, an orange cat. Elena stared at it with disbelief. Her cat. Or so she thought. The spirit spoke. 

“Thank you for returning my cat to me, Elena.”

Elena nodded, but was still full of unanswered questions. Who was this person? What was this person? How was Hercules related to them in any way? How did they control water? Who destroyed her city? What destroyed her city?

“May I ask a question?” Elena began.

“Go ahead.”

“What destroyed my city?”

The water spirit was silent for a moment, and the silence grew loud. Elena waited anxiously for a response.

“It was a creature from the largest galaxy in existence, the Crowned Galaxy.”

“How big is our galaxy in comparison?”

“The Milky Way is the smallest galaxy in the universe.”

Thinking of her galaxy as “small” made Elena’s head hurt. The human mind could never comprehend such colossal sizes. It can barely comprehend dinosaurs, much less a galaxy multiple times bigger than ours.

The spirit continued. “The species was classified as “Accidentals.” It was created by alien scientists who were experimenting with genetics. They had unpurposefully created a heavily destructive and massive species. An Accidental could destroy your whole city with one footstep. And so it did.”

“What happened after that?”

“It left. The species was so large, it could hop galaxies. As a result, it had hopped into the Milky Way, presumably found that it was boring, and hurried back to its home galaxy. Or perhaps it ran to a larger one to cause destruction in a more ‘interesting’ galaxy.”

Incomprehensive tornadoes swirled around Elena’s mind. Who knew the truth could be so heavy? But after this, she had one more simple question.

“What’s your name?”

“Call me Hydro.”

Hydro then descended gracefully back into the ocean, as their figure slowly melted into the water. Elena’s skin started to glow, and she felt energy rush through her body. A voice in her head, Hydro’s voice, told her that she had received the power of water preservation. Elena then knew what Hydro wanted her to do. If too many humans learned about the other galaxies, the future of humanity would never be the same. However, if humans never found out, there would be no future. Elena found that her boat’s motor had seemed to be working. Perhaps Hydro had fixed it. Regardless, she started up the motor, turned the boat around, and drove it right back to the city’s beach.

Back in her house once again, Elena took out a book and began to write. She wrote about the other galaxies, about the Accidentals, about Hydro, about everything she had learned. She knew that she would spend the rest of her years writing this book. Suddenly, she saw Hercules sitting next to her. Isn’t he with Hydro? She thought. 

Hydro isn’t with me right now, she heard Hercules’ voice say. The old Elena would question this, but she already found a water spirit, so this was expected. I can’t believe you wouldn’t even care to put me in the book, said Hercules’ voice. 

Are you even magical? Elena wondered. 

Of course I am! Elena laughed and started writing about Hercules and Hydro’s connection.

Did you know I’m actually a fire spirit? Elena stared at him as if he were joking. 

I’m serious!He transformed into a similar shape as Hydro, but in red. 

You were serious, Elena realized. It felt odd to see her cat in such a form, although it was his original form.

Elena continued to write in that book for her last years. But eventually, those last years turned into last months, and those last months turned into last days, until the day she dragged her pen through the last letter of her book. She scattered water across the cover, and the droplets began to glow bright blue. The glowing water encased the book, and Elena left it out on her desk. She laid down in her bed. For the last time, she buried herself in the covers. And for the last time, the stars watched her tired eyes shut closed. Elena, the forgotten girl in a forgotten city, never opened her eyes ever again. Someday, her knowledge would be discovered, rekindled. And her body, her rested mind, would always be watched over by the friends she had made. 

That is the tale of Elena and Hercules.

Sunshine and Shadows

I was lost. I mean, you can’t blame me. The streets of D.C. are more like a maze than a couple of roads. If you hadn’t guessed, I’m an alley cat. I don’t have a name, but I’ve been called a scoundrel and the like. I have no idea why. I wouldn’t be upset if a needy kitten was digging through my garbage! Ok, are you creeped out yet? No? I thought you would have realized it by now, but I guess I have to spell it out for you: CATS DON’T WRITE JOURNALS! Yeah, you really should have at least put some thought to that fact. Well, the truth is, this story is being written down after the story you are about to read has happened. Also, I’m not the one writing this. I’m just telling my friend Olivia what to put in here. Surprised? No? Maybe, just in case, I should spell it out again: CATS DON’T TALK! You know what? Maybe it would be easier if I just told the story.

Ok, back to the beginning: I was lost. Suddenly, I remembered where I was. Or at least, where I should be. Wendy’s is near here! I thought. I tumbled over to where I knew some half-eaten, half-rotten cheeseburgers would await me: the Wendy’s trash cans, any alley cat’s dream! There were four trash cans out there, and three smelled like fast food. The other one, though… I couldn’t put a finger on it! Or a paw, for that matter. It didn’t smell like magically good food, it smelled like actual, pure magic! I jumped inside to find out if there was anything to eat. There wasn’t, but I felt weird all of a sudden. I saw sparkles, and spun around and around. Maybe the trash can was empty, and I had hurt my head on the metal bottom. Then, the whirling stopped. I still saw sparkles, though. And pink trees. And flying cows. I had a feeling that I was not in D.C. anymore.

I didn’t know it yet, but I had fallen through a portal in the bottom of the trash can into a town called Misty Hill. It was set apart from the outside world, and for good reason: the people of Misty Hill knew magic, and used it on a daily basis! However, they needed some way to get to the “normals”, so they put up a portal. It was a bit unfortunate that they put it on the bottom of a trash can, since those half-eaten, half-rotten cheeseburgers I was drooling about earlier kept falling through, but even their wisest elders couldn’t figure out the principles of closing a portal. 

Anyways, the cheeseburgers turned out to be a good thing because they cushioned the fall. At the time, the townspeople were inside. Except for one little girl jumping rope, that is. She was also eating a cookie, which sounds unsafe while turning a jump rope, but the rope was turning on its own! I walked up to her, and rubbed against her legs. My golden fur gleamed in the sun, and I made my big eyes even bigger. 

“Meeeeooooow.” 

“Hi little kitty! Like my trick?” She asked. I thought, yes! As hard as I could. I guess it worked because she said, “It’s only practice. My parents are teaching me how to do magic! It really helps when I’m hungry, as you can see!” Then she looked at me. “My parents are teaching me all about magic gems. My favorite is opal. It’s soooooo pretty! I have an idea…” She went inside a house, and stayed in there for a bit. Then, she came out holding something. I couldn’t tell what it was, just that it was glowing. It was also covered in bright, shiny, multicolored stones. She skipped up to me. “An opal collar,” she said. “For you! It has so many magical properties! It could make you able to fly, immortal, or even…” She paused for dramatic effect. “IT COULD MAKE YOU ABLE TO TALK!” she blurted out. My tiny jaw dropped. Put it on, put it on, PUT IT ON! I thought.  “Here, let me get it on you,” she said. I resisted from scratching her. Suddenly, I felt like the shine from the opal was inside of me!

“Thanks! It’s pretty!” I said. Wait a moment… I SAID STUFF?! I guess the collar worked. Hmm… it was supposed to have other powers… maybe I could fly, too! I focused on being light, and floating on a cloud. Suddenly, everything around me started to shrink. Wait, no… I was just going higher and higher! I tried to go left — success! To go right — nailed it! To go down — I was home again! I didn’t want to try out immortality, though, because if I wasn’t immortal, I would die! Besides, I think immortality is one of those things you just have to depend on. 

“I don’t have a name, because I was an alley cat before I came, but I want to know yours,” I said. 

“Oh! Sorry, I still haven’t gotten used to, well, a talking cat. My name is Olivia. And do you know what? I’d like you to be my pet! Hmm… I think I’ll call you Pixie!” She said. I was overjoyed! Suddenly, a storm cloud appeared. It settled down on the hill that gave the town its name. Then, it turned into a person! A witch, in fact. She wore all black, and looked… well, evil! 

“Who is she?” I whispered to Olivia, terrified.

“She calls herself the Shadow Witch. She thinks she rules the town, and I guess she kinda does, with all her evil magic.”

“Greetings, lowly peasants! I would just like to inform you that anyone who disobeys the following rules will be personally punished by yours truly:

  1. Do not attempt to stop my reign.
  2. Do not assist those who I hold captive.
  3. Report anybody who disobeys the first two rules directly to me.

Remember, I am your ruler forever, and I CAN FIND YOU!” The shadow witch glared at the town one last time, then turned back into the black cloud and floated away.

“She was scary! But what did she mean by ‘I am your ruler forever’?” I asked Olivia.

“She’s immortal. That’s why nobody dares challenge her. She’s impossible to defeat! But you know what? I bet we could do it! We could save Misty Hill!” she replied. It was a good idea, but there was one flaw. 

“If we manage to kill her, which is already a huge difficulty, how would that make us any less evil than her?” I said with a worried look on my face. Then, it hit me.

“I have an idea! What if we just try to turn her good? Also, um, do you know the particularly handsome black cat that was next to her?”

“Some kitty has a cruuuuuuuuush!” Olivia teased. “But good plan!” She quickly added. I blushed, if cats can blush.

“I do not have a crush! Anyway, what’s his name?” I asked.

“His name is Vampire. And I’m sure you do like him on some level. Maybe if the Shadow Witch turns good, he will too. Anyway, we really should start our quest. But, before we go, I need to tell you something. You are a helpless little kitten without that collar, okay? You need to keep it safe in order to keep yourself safe.”

“I am not helpless without it! I can do all the stuff cats can usually do!” I retorted.

“Listen, I really don’t want to start an argument with you. Just keep the collar safe, ok?”

“Ok,” I agreed. I’ll prove you wrong. You’ll see, I thought. Then, I realized there was something very important we needed to know.

“Where does the Shadow Witch live?” I asked.

“I have no idea, actually. You know what, though? My parents will!” she exclaimed. So, we set off to her house.

Two minutes later, we arrived at the house she had gone into to make my collar. Thinking about that made me think about our argument. I felt bad for disagreeing with her. After all, she was my only friend, even if she was wrong about me. I remembered a phrase I had heard long ago that seemed quite literal now. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, I thought to myself. We walked inside, only to have a terrible smell blasted into our nostrils.

“Ugh! Is mom trying her hand at cooking again? Daddy, I thought you promised not to let her do that anymore!” Olivia said. Her voice sounded funny, probably because she was pinching her nose.

“I’m truly sorry, honey. She read about a recipe that she thought would be simple, and I couldn’t stop her!” her dad replied.

“By the way, do you by any chance know where the Shadow Witch lives? Pixie and I want to make her good!” Olivia said casually.

“Well, um, are you sure you want to face her? I mean, I know you’re a brave girl, and your cat has that magic collar,” her father replied, flabbergasted. There it was again! Did underestimating me without my collar run in their family? I decided not to mention it. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, dumdum! I reminded myself over and over again.

“Daddy, I’m serious. Pixie and I really want to do this! It could save us all!” Olivia whined.

“Um, if it’s any help, I also really want to do this. She’s telling the truth!” I mumbled.

“Alright then, girls, she lives on Craggy Cliff,” her dad told us. Olivia’s eyes widened with recognition. 

“You mean the Craggy Cliff, the main eyesore of Misty Hill? No way! Nobody could live there and not be evil!”

“True,” her dad said.

“I think you girls should go ahead. Be careful, though. Ok?” her dad said.

“Promise, Daddy.” With that, we started concocting a genius plan.

We agreed that first, I would fly out there to see if she was home. Craggy Cliff was at the edge of the town, but thankfully, the town was not very large, so the edge of it was only a ten minute flight. If the Shadow Witch was home, I would carry Olivia back to the lair with me. Then, we would talk to her (I would actually be talking more to Vampire, because he doesn’t speak human but I do speak cat, also because he is gorgeous). After the Shadow Witch turned good, we would become a foursome, working together to keep Misty Hill safe. Now, we just had to hope that everything would go according to plan.

Like we had agreed, I flew across the town to Craggy Cliff, where I saw a pitch-black castle shrouded in fog. I went over to one of the windows, and peered in, hoping I would not get caught. The Shadow Witch was even scarier up close. Not wanting to spend any more time on that horrible cliff, I flew back to where Olivia was waiting.

“She’s home, and she’s terrifying!” I whimpered to Olivia. Now, it was time for step two: I would fly back to the castle carrying Olivia. That seemed risky, seeing as she was a lot bigger than I was, but we tried anyway. We never got off the ground. 

“It’s hopeless! We’ll never be able to save anyone!” Olivia wailed. Then, I had an idea.

“Olivia! I can’t carry you, but you can carry me!”

“Yeah, but I don’t see how that would help. You’re the one who can fly,” she said sadly.

“I can only fly because of the collar! But if you let me take it off, just this once, then you could wear it as a bracelet! And if you did that, then you could fly there carrying me, instead of the other way around!” I said excitedly.

“Pixie, you’re a genius! Just promise me that you’ll put it back on once we get there.”

“I promise! Come on, let’s try it!” I exclaimed. She took off my collar. Without it, I felt like I was an alley cat again. She slipped it onto her wrist. It fit her perfectly! She scooped me up under her arm, and flew away. She was unsteady at first, but then she got the hang of it. In what felt like the blink of an eye, we were there! As bravely as we could muster, we walked up to the front door… and knocked.

The door opened. The Shadow Witch stood in front of us, and I could practically see the evil oozing out from her ears. She shooed us inside, and gestured for us to sit on rickety stools. Then, she spoke.

“I have a feeling you aren’t here to help me. However, if you are, I will accept the gift that you should have brought. Oooooooooh, is this it?” She was looking at my MY OPAL COLLAR!

“Opal always was a favorite of mine. Thank you!” Just like that, the plan was shattered. She had taken away my opal collar, and with it, my ability to talk. I had expected that, though, so I had another plan. One that, along with saving Misty Hill, would also make people stop underestimating me. I walked up to the Shadow Witch and rubbed against her legs, just like I had this morning with Olivia. Now, that was a distant memory. I don’t mean in the ‘it feels like so much time has passed’ way, just that I have a bad memory and, as you are noticing right now, a very short attention span. Anyway, back to the story.

I rubbed against the Shadow Witch’s legs and purred like a motorboat.

“Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.” I made my eyes extra large, especially for her. 

“Meeeooooooooooow!” I could pinpoint the moment that her hard heart melted, and the moment Olivia realized she had misjudged me. My collar was not who I was. I was who I was. And I was adorable.

“Oh, I’ve been so mean to the people of Misty Hill! I wanted respect, but I got it the wrong way. I owe everyone a huge apology!” the Shadow Witch confessed.

“Yeah, ya really do. But don’t worry, it’ll be ok. Pixie, I owe you an apology. I underestimated you and overestimated your collar. Friends, everyone?” Olivia asked.

“FRIENDS!” everyone shouted together. Except for Vampire. He meowed.

The next day, the Shadow Witch came once again to Misty Hill. she declared peace, and apologized, as promised.

“I know that I did a terrible thing, forcing you to do as I said through dark magic. I apologize for that, and hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. Also, I have appointed a new ruler, since I was so bad at it. Everyone, please give a round of applause for the Sunshine Witch and her cat, Pixie!”

Olivia and I stood up from our picnic blanket in the audience, and got up onto the stage. She was smiling from ear to ear, and so was I. Then, she spoke.

“Hi everyone. Um, my name is Olivia, but you can call me the Sunshine Witch. I am happy to stand in front of you today, and start to spread joy around Misty Hill. However, I couldn’t have done it without my cat, Pixie. Pixie, would you like to say a few words?”

“Hi. I am also happy that Olivia is your new leader. She is a great leader, if a bit stubborn. So, yeah. That’s all.” Everyone applauded. I walked over to Vampire.

“Hi! You were great up there,” he said. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: he has an opal collar now! Olivia made a matching one for him!

“Thanks,” I said, blushing. Olivia walked over to us.

“Pixie, come with me. I have to take you somewhere!” I followed her to the portal.

“Do I have to go back to the outside world? Is this goodbye?” I said, a bit overdramatically.

“No! I would never part with you! You’re my pet, remember? Just jump in! Trust me!” I jumped through the portal. 

I tumbled out inside a Wendy’s trash can. I hopped out so that Olivia wouldn’t fall on top of me. A few seconds later, I heard a clunk, and Olivia clambered out of the trash can. We walked up to the front of the Wendy’s.

“Wait here,” Olivia said. I sat down next to the door, and Olivia went inside. She came out with a bag. It smelled like Wendy’s, but not rotten!

“I thought you deserved to try some Wendy’s that wasn’t from a trash can,” she said. She reached into the bag and produced a cheeseburger.

“Is it all for me?” I asked, mouth watering.

“Yup!” was Olivia’s excited reply. I stuck my nose into the soft bun. It smelled like butter. I savored the smell until I couldn’t wait any longer, then bit in. it was the best thing I had ever tasted! In about a millisecond, I had sucked down the whole thing. When Olivia had finished hers, we went back through the portal. The Shadow Witch and Vampire were waiting for us. It was good to be home.

As predicted by yours truly, Olivia was a great ruler. The Shadow Witch, Vampire, Olivia, and I became a foursome. We practiced magic, had sleepovers, and did karaoke. The opal collars also made it so that Vampire and I didn’t grow up, and stayed cute little kittens forever. The Shadow Witch enchanted Olivia with the same spell that made her immortal, so we literally had forever to keep being awesome. So, yeah. We went all over Misty Hill, solving problems and making people happy. (With, of course, very frequent trips through the portal to get Wendy’s!)

So, basically, that’s my life story. Except, y’know, it doesn’t end there. It keeps going, because I am still alive! I will be forever! Olivia went home for the day. Her fingers got tired, so she taught me how to type. So, yes, you now have a talking, flying, immortal, and typing cat. I think next, I might learn how to jump rope or play hopscotch, so that I can play more with Olivia. The Shadow Witch and Vampire are out getting me some cheeseburgers. Wait! Did I just hear my magic kitty-phone ring? I did! It’s Vampire… oh no! Maybe the cheeseburgers sold out! No, not that. Vampire says – he says the Shadow Witch sensed dark magic! She said it wasn’t coming from Misty Hill, though! She said… the dark magic is coming from the outside world!

Amelia and the Fire

Three minutes before the house broke down, Amelia had to get out of the broken house. It looked like a scary mansion. Nobody was there. It was just cracked mirrors and wood. The ground was shaking and the house was about to break, but a fire was outside. She had to get out or she was going to get burnt. The house was about to collapse in 3, 2, 1. 

Amelia got out just in time, but the fire was still there. She packed up all her stuff and ran away. Her whole village got burnt except Amelia. She had to go to a new town and build a house. She felt sad and scared. Her family did not make it. It was just Amelia, left alone. 

She had to get her own wood, so she went back in the forest. However, when she came back to the forest, she was glowing. It was a gem, a magical gem, but what did it do? She forgot the wood and brought the gem to the town. When she brought it, people and buildings started coming back. It was her family and her village. Amelia was so happy to see her family again. That was the story of Amelia trying to get her family back. 

The Alien WAR

Alien Joe lives in Zagburn. Alien Joe has big eyes and can swim in boiling water. Zagburn is a hot planet. It’s 400 degrees, which is why the aliens are all made of water. They’re exactly 65% water. It rains fire on planet Zagburn. The aliens survive in a bunch of water houses that are stabled by gravity so they don’t collapse. Zagburnians have hands that look like mustaches, but they’re not brown. It’s like a blue mustache. They’re actually pretty tall, they’re about 67 and ¾ inches. 

Alien Joe fits in with the other Zagburnians, but he’s an orphan. The Zagburnians decided to have a war with the Yagburnians and his parents died in that war. They were at war for the planet. They were fighting as soldiers. The Yagburnians are made out of obsidian and they’re really evil. The Yaburnians got forced out of the planet because Zagburn won, so now they have to live on an empty planet that has nothing alien involved, Luno. The planet is made of ice, so a quarter million aliens die every year. 

Alien Joe wants a family. Alien Joe is going to try to make friends and then try to convince them to be his family. He thinks he can make friends with Alien John, who is the nicest alien in the alien universe. There’s a bunch of rumors about Alien John (a Yagburnian) — if you meet him and you’re friends, then every wish you have will come true. Alien Joe could wish for a family from him! Alien John is not very good at being a detective so he’s not good at figuring out who really wants to be his friend. All you have to do in front of Alien John to be his friend is act rude. So basically, shake your butt in front of Alien John. Alien Joe goes up to Alien John and shakes his butt. It works! Alien John and Alien Joe are now friends. 

The hints and rumors actually backfire because they’re all fake! It was just to torture  people. That’s probably why the Yagburnians were the ones who told them all those rumors. Alien Joe wishes for a family and the opposite happens. He ends up in a torture chamber! The Yagburnians forced Alien John to stay with the Zagburnians because they wanted revenge on the Zagburnians. The Yagburnians forgot that the Zagburnians have water powers so he can easily slide out of the torture chamber. Before the Yagburnians left, they told the Zagburnians about Alien John and his powers so the Zagburnians would come to him and make wishes. They said he was Willzen which meant he could give you powers to have any wish you want. He’s not like a genie. He was supposed to be 100% better than a genie. But he was 100% worse! 

Alien Joe is going to sneak up and go to Alien John. Since the Yagburnians have fire powers and the Zagburnians have water powers, he can easily get rid of him. Alien Joe sneaks into a puddle because he’s the only one who knows about all this and he jumps out and destroys Alien John! Alien John flattens up and sizzles for five minutes. Then he transforms into a volcano and explodes. He’s a fire alien. Now Alien Joe warns everyone and he tells everyone to form into a big bridge to Luno and then they all jump across and now they turn into a giant water monster. They all jump onto the floor and that turns them into the giant water monster. The Yagburnians do the same. The Zagburnians hit them and the Yagburnians try to hit, but then they miss. Then they charge through the middle and there are more of them so that easily destroys them. But then there are two immortal people who are immortal because they were seriously from Willzen and they can grant wishes. Willzen people also have immortal people. The Willzens do not like the Yagburnians. Two Willzens are disguised as Yagburnians, and they have been watching in their mind and they give Alien Joe the power to grant any wish. Now, Alien Joe is the emperor! He gets a family. They look just like him. Now he can grant any wish since the Willzens give him the power to. Alien Joe feels happy. 

Ali and The Missing Book

One day, when the sun was up and hot, Ali the snake was slithering in the desert as usual. Right then, he heard that the latest book was coming out and it had only one copy! He slithered straight to the library only to see that everybody was leaving. Ali asked somebody what had happened. He said, “The latest book that just came out was bought but the person who got the book said he dropped it but doesn’t remember where. Nobody found it after that.”

Then, Ali thought that if he found the book, he could buy it for free. He first started with finding the name of the person who sold the book to know who had bought the book. So Ali found the person who sold the book and his name was Fred. He had black hair, was about 5 feet tall, and had a red jacket. Ali asked Fred who he sold the book to. Fred replied, “The man didn’t say his name but he was in his teens ,had red hair, and had a grey jacket. Pretty easy guy to recognize but rumor is that he is hiding.”

Ali said thanks to Fred and he said, “No problem.” After that, Ali set off to find him. He just saw him but he ran away and Ali just couldn’t catch up to him. Just then, out of the corner, somebody crashed into the man who was running away. Ali caught up to the man and said, “What is your name and where did you know you dropped your book?” The man answered,

“I’m Jack, but I guess that I just dropped the book.”

Just then, a small bucket fell on Ali and Jack started running away. Meanwhile, Ali didn’t like tight spaces so he tried to wiggle out but the bucket was too heavy. Then, somebody lifted the bucket. It was Fred. He said, “I saw the whole thing but I was too far away to do anything. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the book. It had a big gem in the middle surrounded by tiny gems.”

Just then, a gem fell out of somebody’s bag. Ali couldn’t see the man who dropped the gem because he was running. Then, he spotted a trail of tiny gems and followed them to the missing book! Then, Jack and the man who dropped the gem came out of a corner and Ali hid. Jack said to the man who dropped the gem, “Did you get the book, Bill?”

Ali suspected Bill was the man who dropped the gem. Bill had brown hair, brown sweatshirt, and peach skin. Ali got an idea. He made a shadow of a King Cobra and Jack ran away but Bill picked up the book and tried scaring Ali away. Just then, somebody jumped out of a bush and grabbed Bill. It was Fred, but Bill didn’t even think about looking. He dropped the book and ran away as fast as he could. Ali grabbed the book from the ground. Then, he asked Fred, “How did you know I was here?” Fred replied, “I saw the crystals and they led to Jack and Bill. Then, I realized that they were working together and saw that you tried to scare them and I tried it too. First, I sneaked up on them. Next, I waited for you to scare them once, then I scared them the second time. So that’s how I found you.”

Finally, they both returned the book and Fred gladly sold it to Ali. The tiny crystals on the book were put in a red and blue pattern. There was also a very big gem in the middle. It was half red and half blue and felt very smooth and soft. Ali started reading the book. The title was “The Missing Book.”

Penguin

My mom was making me walk through the streets of South Africa. My dad had gotten a new job so we moved from New York to South Africa and now I didn’t have any friends. Suddenly, as I was about to turn back and head home, I saw something that made me jump. It was a baby penguin being attacked by a seagull. Before I knew it, I was running at the seagull and screaming, and then the seagull flew away. I saw that this baby’s parents were dead, so I decided to keep the chick and raise her until she was old enough to leave my house.  

Two weeks later, the penguin chick, who I named Joanne (after Johannesburg street, where she was found), was almost ready to leave the nest (or house). I was feeding her raw fish that I had blended into a chunky smoothie. I made a nest for her in my room under a heat lamp out of leaves, sticks, and petals. Also, I let her swim in my kiddie pool. Finally, she was almost ready and I gave her the first whole fish to celebrate. 

After all these months, it was time for Joanne to leave and go into the sea. I was going to be all alone again, and I might never see her again, but I knew it was the right thing to do. I led the first (and only) feathered friend I had to the beach. There, I watched as she jumped into the waves of the South African ocean. 

One Year Later… 

My family and I had moved into a house and I had made friends. When it was penguin breeding time, and a penguin made a nest, I recognized the penguin. It was Joanne! I knew she would always be with me no matter what. 

Growing Up

Chapter 1

I sat, watching the sunset with Beetle. 

Two hours earlier I’d read her a story that I’d written, where a girl’s mom dies and she’s found by the queen and becomes a princess, but then the queen almost gets assasinated, but they flee and live happily ever after. When I’d said, “The End,” and asked if she liked it, she’d squirmed.

“What?” I asked her.

“Well, don’t you think… that we’re — well, too old for stories about princesses, talking animals, and happy endings? Maybe we should read about more grown-up things, like kidnappings, or murder mysteries,” Beetle said. 

I didn’t think so. I liked to write about princesses and talking animals. I liked knowing there would be a happily ever after. But I didn’t want to lose Beetle as a friend. I noticed that she’d been growing up faster. She told me to drop that nickname and just call her Beatrice, like her real name was. But she was lodged in my mind as Beetle. 

“I guess,” I responded. “I’ll revise it so the queen dies because the mom turns into a zombie.”

Beetle smiled. “Now that’s a good ending.”

I studied her face to see if she was joking. She was wearing the usual: blush, lip gloss, pink eyeliner. She’d brought her quilt, but I knew underneath she was wearing something maturer than me. I just had on a wool sweater over a t-shirt and some jeans, along with no makeup. My unbrushed hair whipped into my face.

“It’s getting late. And windy. And I need to revise this story,” I said, getting up. 

Beetle waved goodbye as we got to the fork in the road that separated our houses. As I walked in my house, which was a quiet lavender with a yellow door and trim, I alerted my mom that I was there, and then ate my very cold meatloaf. After I finished, I went to my room, got out a piece of paper, and wrote the incredibly morbid, apparently ‘mature’ story I promised Beetle. After an hour or two of writing, my eyelids started to droop. I slowly changed into some pajamas, brushed my teeth, and pulled the black ringlets of my hair into a bun. 

“Eira! Bedtime!” My mom called out. But I didn’t answer. I was already in a deep sleep.

The Color of the Sky

Many moons ago, there were two colors named Blue and Turquoise. They both claimed to be the color of the sky. 

One day, they both saw a flyer on the wall that said, “Prove that you are the color of the sky and you can win a hundred dollars! Come on December 8th, 1876.” Blue and Turquoise were very intrigued by this flyer so they both ran home to ask their parents if they could do it.

 Blue got home first and asked, “Can I go to this event?” Blue showed her parents the flier. Her parents said, 

“Sure, why not.”

Blue jumped with joy and ran all around the whole neighborhood.

Meanwhile, Turquoise was trying to convince his parents that he should go to the event too, but Turquoise’s parents were a lot stricter than Blue’s parents. 

“Please let me go, please,” Turquoise begged. 

“What is the meaning of this event?” asked Turquiose’s dad.

“The meaning of this event is to finally answer the question that we have had for centuries, what is the color of the sky. Plus you win a hundred dollars if you can prove that you are actually the color of the sky.” Turquiose’s parents were in a group huddle, probably talking about if he could go to the event.

“Your father and I have decided to let you go, plus we also talked about dinner. We are ordering McDonalds.”

“YAY YAY YAY!” exclaimed Turquoise. He was super happy.

Chapter 2: Practicing

Blue and Turquoise both realized that they needed to practice for the big event. They had two days until the big event. Turquoise saw Blue practicing. She was really good but Turquoise was not scared so he walked up to her and said,

“Do you want to practice with me?” 

“Of course!” Blue replied. “ Maybe the park could be our practice spot!” 

“Sure!” Turquoise responded.  So they practiced for the rest of the day.

The next day, Blue was at the park waiting for Turquoise but he did not show up until 20 minutes after he was supposed to show up.

“Why are you so late?” Blue said. Blue was frustrated because they usually had an hour to practice, now they only had 40 minutes to practice.

“Sorry,” Turquoise said, “I was, umm, umm… walking the dog.”

“Stop lying to me,” Blue said with an angry voice.

“I am not lying!” Turquoise exclaimed.

“I know you’re lying because you don’t have a dog!” Blue said. “So why were you really late?!”

“Because you are so much better than me I was worried and lost track of time.” Turquoise was telling the truth. “I am sorry.”

“I accept your apology, but why didn’t you just tell the truth in the first place?” Blue added.

“Because I thought you would laugh at me or be angry,” Turquoise said.

“I would never do that to you because you are my friend,” Blue said, “Now are you ready to start practicing?”

“Of course!” Turquoise said with joy. So they practiced for 35 minutes so they could get a little extra sleep for the big day tomorrow. 

Chapter 3: The Big Day

Blue woke up so happy because it was finally the big day where you got to prove that you were actually the color of the sky.

Blue got ready and ran down the street to Turquoise’s house to make sure he was ready. He was all good to go so they ran four blocks to get to the arena. They got there just in time.

So many colors. They saw Royal blue, Black, Gray, Baby blue, Light blue, Sky blue, and White.

They definitely did not think that White was going to make it but they were super nervous because they saw Sky blue, she basically already has the title. I guess she just wants to be the best.

“Ok, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!” said the computer.

“We got this!” Blue whispered.

“Remember you are NOT on a team,” the computer added.

“WHAT!?!?!?”

Chapter 4: Surprising Events

“In the rules, it does not say that you can’t be on a team,” Turquoise argued.

“Yes it did, way down in the corner so very small, see.” The computer showed them the flyer again but this time it was zoomed in super close.

“Oh yeah, I see it now,” Turquoise said.

In the corner, it said “No teams allowed.” The computer was right.

“I guess we have to go against each other for now,” Blue said with her sad voice.

“But but but we practiced together, we know each other’s moves and everything else,” Turquoise added.

“Rules are rules and we cannot change them,” the computer said. “I am sorry, but now we have to get on with the game. Does anyone want to leave?”      

“I want to leave, goodbye everyone,” Black said.

“Please don’t leave, I thought we were in this together but now I realize that that was a lie the whole time.” 

“Good bye.”

“Ok, bye, Black,” Turquoise and Blue said at the same time.

“Ok for real, let the games begin!” the computer said. “#1 obstacle. If you are the color of sky, you probably know how dodge clouds, so dodging clouds is the #1 obstacle.”

“AAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

“I am sorry but you’re out of the game,” the computer said.

“Awwww man,” Baby blue cried.

“Since someone already got out, let’s move to the next station, which will be a question,” said the computer. “If you are the color of the sky, you will know how many times the Earth spins around in one year.”

“I think I know the — ” Blue got interrupted by Turquoise.

“We are not supposed to be a team, remember?” Turquoise added.

“Oh yeah, I forgot,” Blue said with her sad voice again.

“Write your answer down on a piece of paper and put it in this box,” said the computer while pointing his fake finger at the box. “Royal Blue, your answer is correct, Light blue, I am sorry, but your answer was incorrect, Blue your answer is correct, Gray your answer is incorrect, I am sorry. Sky blue your answer is correct, White your answer is correct, now last but not least Turquoise your answer is…”

Chapter 5: Your Answer Is…

“Correct!!! Good job everyone, the correct answer was 365!” said the computer. 

“Ok, at the beginning of Round 2, we had 7 players, now we only have 5 players!” White said, sounding kind of happy.

“Only 3 more rounds left,” added the computer. “Now, let’s move on to the next round which will be an obstacle,” said the computer. “The sky is full of birds and dust so you have to get through all of that without goggles. Let’s begin!” 

“WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH! SOOOO MUCH AIR IN MY EYES!!!” yelled Royal Blue. “AHHHHHHHHHHHH I AM FLYING AWAY!!!” 

  “Royal Blue, you are out of the game, I am sorry,” said the computer.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!!!” yelled Sky Blue.

“I am sorry, but Sky Blue, you are eliminated.” The computer made it clear that Sky blue was out. “Are you ready for the next question?” 

“We’re ready!” the competitors said. 

“Alright, let’s begin,” said the computer. “If you are the color of the sky, you must know a lot about clouds so in this question you have to tell me something about clouds. White you go first.”

“Clouds taste like cotton candy!” said White. 

“I’m sorry, but that is incorrect,” the computer said. “Blue, your turn.” 

“Clouds are heavy because they’re filled with tons and tons of water.” 

“Good job Blue, that is correct,” the computer said. “Turquoise, your turn.” 

“Clouds are slow, slower than a sloth,” answered Turquoise. 

“I am sorry Turquoise, but that is an incorrect answer.” 

“Hello, I am Violet, and I am the color of the sky!” 

Chapter 6

The computer said, “Sometimes, people think that the color of the sky is purple. And some people think that the color of the sky is blue. So, you guys both win!” 

“No, I want to win!” said Violet. 

“Okay, you take the trophy and all the money!” said Blue. Blue walked home to see her best friend Turquoise sitting on the steps. 

“Do you want some ice cream?” Blue asked. 

“Sure,” Turquoise replied. 

The End!!!

Jack’s Soccer Adventure

Part I

Chapter 1

Jack was 15 years old and he loved to play soccer. One day, he went to the park to shoot goals against his brother, Miller. 

Miller was the goalkeeper. Jack said, “You’re too good a goalkeeper, I can’t score on you.” Miller said that he can teach Jack how to shoot the ball harder and curve the ball. After just two weeks of training with Miller, Jack knew how to shoot the ball harder and curve the ball. Jack entered the travel team tryout. After the tryout, his mom got him sushi because he loved sushi so much. 

After two weeks of waiting for the results, Jack finally got them. He made it on the A team, which is the harder league. Jack was so happy. The day after that, he practiced and practiced till 6:30. Then, he went to play his soccer match. Jack’s team, the Panthers, was losing to the Tigers 3-1. Right at the last minute, Jack kicked the ball into the net with so much curve and power it hit the goalkeeper’s hand, but still went in, and the ball left red marks on the goalkeeper’s hands. It was now 2-3. 

When there were 30 seconds left in the game, Jack scored a goal because the goalkeeper was looking at birds instead of watching the game and it was tied!! The game ended as a tie. The Tigers said goodbye to the Panthers and they all went home. Jack had sushi again for dinner, but when he woke up the next morning, he had a stomach ache. Jack thought about where it could have been from, and then he remembered the sushi!!!  

Chapter 2

Jack went to play soccer, but his stomach hurt so much, he had to take a rest. But he also needed to keep practicing. 

He had a game at 8:30 in the morning. Once he was done getting ready, he went to the soccer game and he started playing. He scored the first goal during the 25th minute, and then he got subbed out because he got tired. A while later, he got subbed in. Then, the other team scored and it was tied 1-1. Ten minutes later, it was half time. Jack got to rest for a bit after halftime. The other team almost scored, but Jack’s goalkeeper saved it and it was a close goal. Jack scored a goal but it didn’t count because he did a bicycle kick. The best player on the other team scored two goals and won. Jack was mad at himself. His coach said that it was okay that his team lost but Jack knew he could have done better.  

Chapter 3

Jack went to his first team practice. He did shooting drills and he aced the shooting even on his best goalie. When Jack went home, he saw on his computer a 95-rated player. Jack saw that he was worth $30,000. The next day, Jack went to his coach to ask him to buy the player, but the coach said he was too expensive. Jack mentioned that $30,000 was cheap for a 95-rated player and that the average money for a 95-rated player is double that money. But still, the coach said no. Jack went home sad, but then he had an idea. All of a sudden, Jack was very excited, and once he got home, he went on a website that said record your overall soccer rating. Jack clicked the record button and tried his hardest to get his rating. After that, he submitted his video. The program said to wait an hour for the results, so he passed the time by playing soccer. Then, when he went in to get the results, it said that he was a 99-rated overall.  

Chapter 4  

Jack could not believe his eyes. He wanted to show the coach the results but it was 9:30 and the sky was dark. Jack’s max outside limit was till 10:30 PM. He had to make the trip quick to the coach’s house. He went to the coach’s house and the coach said, “OMG, your rating is off the charts.” 

“Look at my soccer net worth, Coach,” Jack said. 

“Holy mama,” said the coach. “You’re worth 100,000 market value, sheesh!!!” Jack just got home at the last minute and his mom was surprised he made it back in time. Jack showed his brother, Miller. Miller was proud of Jack.

He said, “If you keep practicing, you’ll become a 105.”

“You think so?” said Jack.

“Yeah,” said Miller. “Let’s go to bed.”

“‘Kay,” said Jack. “Bye.”  

Chapter 5

When Jack woke up, he went to his game at 8:30. He could not wait till he won. When Jack got to the game, he started playing. He scored two goals. The first goal, Jack vollied the ball into the net. The second goal, he scored by curving the ball into the goal. Jack’s team won 2-0. It was time for the team’s payment. Jack’s manager paid him $100,000. Everyone else on the team and the manager were paid $50,000. When Jack got home, his family was not making enough money. Jack’s mom said that he needed to get more money from soccer. 

Jack said, “What is your job paying you?”

“Not enough money,” his mom said.  

“What about Dad?” 

“Also not enough,” said Jack’s mom. Jack did not want to do this but he had to.  

Chapter 6

Jack told his manager he was going to another team that would give him more money. 

“It’s called Manchester City,” he said to his manager. 

“What?!” said the manager. “You can’t leave. I’ll give you $500,000 instead of $100,000.”

“Nope, Manchester City is giving me $100,000,000.”

“What the?!? How rich are they?”  

“Very rich, said Jack. “Now, see you in the finals tomorrow against Manchester City.”

 Jack got home and he saw his mom and dad finding new jobs. His mom got a job as a cook because she loved cooking and she was good at cooking. His dad got a job as a worker for the same restaurant as Jack’s mom. 

The next day at the cup final, it was Jack’s old team versus Manchester City, his new team. Jack scored the first goal, and it was a long shot from 30 yards out. Jack’s old team thought they were going to lose. One of Jack’s old team players fouled someone badly and got a red card, so he had to get off the field and sit on the bench. Jack’s old team scored. It was a tie, so they went on to penalties. Jack’s new team won the penalties and won the cup. Jack was so happy. Jack got his payment of $100,000,000. Jack showed his family the check, and they were so proud of him.  

Miller asked Jack to go to the park. Jack said that it was 5:00 in the morning. Miller just said to go to the park with him. Jack said okay and went with him. He saw two people waiting for Jack. They asked to practice soccer with them. Jack said okay. He shot, and he scored five goals against them. Jack asked why Miller got these goalies to shoot on him. Miller told him at his next game, he was going to have a hard time scoring because they had a good goalie. When it was time for Jack’s game, he broke his leg shooting on the other team and had to sit out. Jack helped the coach for his team and his team won. When he got home, his mom and dad were devastated that his leg broke. 

  THE END

  PART 2  COMING SOON

High School Worries Stink

Chapter 1

Sam got another fail on his English work. He started to get furious. He really, really, really now wanted to get A+’s on his English and art classes, but then the teacher said, “Next test is going to get really, really hard.”

Sam went home and showed his family his grade. His older sister, Angelica, offered to help Sam with art. She helped him draw some pictures and helped him mix colors and hold the paintbrush correctly. Then, his little brother, Matthew, helped Sam with his reading and writing; together, they put together sentences until Sam felt ready to take the next test. He got an A. It wasn’t an A+, but it was better than an F-! Sam was a little upset and also kind of nervous about passing class and getting into a good college.

Then, Sam was doing sports, but when he was in gym class, he threw the football and got tackled by a big senior football player. His wrist and ankle were hurt really badly. The next day for his art project, Sam had to paint a perfect landscape. But the problem was he couldn’t hold the brush the way Angelica showed him too. His wrist hurt so much that his hand slipped and he accidentally drew a funny line in the wrong spot. When the teacher asked him what it was, he told her that it was an airplane. Sam turned in his painting and he was surprised when he got it back. He got an A+!

Chapter 2

When he told his family, they were so excited for him, but also confused. Angelica asked him why he had painted a big green line on his landscape.

“Well I was drawing and my wrist was twisted so I accidentally messed up the paints. So I told the teacher it was a plane,” said Sam. Angelica was confused, since there weren’t any green planes, but she was happy for Sam anyway. 

So then Sam said, “What do you think the next test is going to be?”

When he found out, he wasn’t happy. It was the highest level of writing. He had to write the hardest words into 18 sentences in 30 seconds. “What?! I can’t do that, my wrist is twisted!”

Sam took the test and was super nervous, but he thought about all of the hard work he’d put in and remembered how scary it was when his family was sick, and so he said to himself, No, I’m not giving up! I can do it!

Sam tried really hard and, surprisingly, he got an A+! He was so happy he told his family and they were all super excited for him. 

“How did you do it?” his younger sister asked.

“A lot of practice and help from your family pays off,” Sam said.

Chapter 3

The next day, it was Sam’s worst day. His first thing was sports and he had to play tennis. He tried to swing his racket with his hurt wrist, but he did it wrong and it broke! Then, when Sam had his test, he had to write for two hours without stopping. 

“Oh no!” Sam said, but the teacher said, “No help!”

Sam got an F. He felt really sad and worried. What if he didn’t pass the class?! He really wanted to get into a good college.

Then Sam had math and he said, “Phew! Finally something I’m good at!”

But he was wrong. The math was super hard:

(85,000 – 12 + 6) / 12 = 7,082.833

“You have to show your thinking!” the teacher said. Then Sam told the teacher his wrist was broken.  The teacher said, “Alexandra! Come! We need your expertise.” Alexandra came over and helped Sam write. Sam told her what he wanted to write with his fingers and she wrote it all down on the paper. 

Sam didn’t know it, but Alexandra messed up one of his answers. Sam got a B+ and he blamed Alexandra. Sam was so upset at Alexandra. 

He went to the teacher and said, “Alexandra messed up my answers on purpose!” The teacher asked Alexandra if this was true.

Alexandra said, “No!” 

“You’re lying,” the teacher said. “Apologize to Sam.” The teacher knew that Sam would never mess up answers on a math test. “Sam gets an A,” the teacher said. “And Alexandra gets… an F!”

“Woohoo!” Sam said.

When Sam went home he told his parents and they were so excited for him. They asked him a math problem:

(999,999,999 + 12 – 82)/ (600 + 80 – 2)/ 3 = 491, 642.05

“Wow! You’re really good at math!” his parents said. The parents couldn’t even put into words how good he was. “You’re even smarter than a computer! We had to look the answer to that question up.”

Sam felt satisfied. He for sure knew that he’d pass and get into a good college — at least he hoped he would.

Chapter 4

The next day, when Sam had his third to last test, Sam was nervous but also a little excited.

He asked his mom, “Do you think I’ll do well on my test?”

“I think you’ll do great.”

Sam wanted to make friends with everyone in his class. He went up to a girl he didn’t know and asked, “Do you want to be friends with me?” Sam asked. Surprisingly, the girl, Annabell, said yes! Within two minutes, they were friends. Sam felt really happy, but not happy enough. He still had 29 more people to make friends with. He didn’t want to get excited too soon. 

He walked over to someone else when suddenly someone else asked if he wanted to be friends. 

Sam said, “Of course!” His new friend’s name was Max. Wow that was easy. It only took one minute!

The same thing happened with everyone else in the class. The last one took six minutes, but now Sam was friends with everyone in the class. He knew everyone’s names and could call out, “Corey, come here!” or “Max, I need help!” or “Annabell, I need help!”

The next day, when he needed help, some of Sam’s new friends didn’t want to help him, but he was happy that twenty of the other ones did. They took their last test, and the teacher said Sam passed! And all of his friends passed! They were so excited they could all burst into flames!

Chapter 5

On Sam’s summer break, he was excited. He wanted to relax, and he was happy there were no more tests for now. He swam at the pool, talked to all of the friends that he’d made, watched movies, and had a lot of fun. However, he was so busy relaxing that he forgot everything his brother and sister had taught him about art and english. Sam asked his brother and sister if they would help teach him again. They said they would, as long as he promised not to forget again. After studying, Sam was ready to go to college.

When Sam got to college, he met his roommate for the first time. His roommate was named Jamie. 

“Hey, what do you like?” Sam asked. 

“I like sports,” Jamie said. “Football is my favorite.”

“Really? Me too!” said Sam. “What are you good at?”

“Art and English,” Jamie said.

“What are you bad at?” Sam asked.

“Math and science,” Jamie said.

Sam said, “Oh, it’s the opposite for me. Maybe we can help each other?”

“Sure!” Jamie said. “I’ve got a pretty hard math problem here.”

The problem was impossible, but eventually Sam figured it out. Three years in college have passed.

Chapter 6

The next day, Sam had a good feeling about it because he was already just four weeks away from being one with college. He was so excited he told his roommate Jamie, but Jamie was still asleep. Sam went back to sleep and woke up later to go eat breakfast. When they got back to their room, they were relaxing and working on their tests. Then they turned their “Everything You Know” tests in and got A+’s. Sam and Jamie both got really excited to tell their parents, but then they remembered their mom and dad weren’t there and got sad. They never thought they would get so many A’s and A+’s. 

Next was sports, and Sam broke his arm. He had to wear it in a cast. When he took his next test Jamie had to write it for him. But the teacher realized that it was Jamie’s handwriting and not Sam’s and gave him an F. Sam told her that his arm was broken, but she said that there was still no help allowed. Sam was sad. He really wanted to graduate and go to a good work.

Sam was so sad he didn’t even realize that two weeks passed and now it was the Fourth of July. He wanted to go see fireworks with Jamie. They went to see fireworks and he had never seen such cool fireworks before. When he got back Sam got a little letter from a teacher that said, “Hope you feel better soon.”

Sam had a test the next day, but he was super tired from staying up too late on the Fourth of July. Usually he slept late, but Sam had so much work to do. Sam really wanted to take a nap, so he asked his roommate if he would do his homework but he said no. At dinner, Sam left dinner.

“Really? You’re falling asleep before dinner? It’s only four o’clock.” 

“Yeah,” Sam said. Sam left.

“Okay, I’ll be in the cafeteria.”

The next day was the second to last day of school. He felt so happy. He had to take a test but he didn’t care. He just had to draw his picture of Costa Rica in less than one hour. 

When Jamie came back, Sam asked, “How is your day?”

“Fine, but I need your help with this math test,” Jamie said. Sam looked at the problem. It was 10 x 85. Sam looked at the paper and saw that the answer was 850. 

“850,” Sam said.

“Thank you!” Jamie said. “How did you solve that?”

“I just know that when you multiply by ten you just add a zero to the end of the bigger number.”

“Oh! I’ll use that next time.”

The next day was the last day of college. Sam was more excited than excited. Sam and Jamie went to the graduation party. When they saw it, Jamie said, “Wow! How could they put together such an amazing party!?”

“I guess college has its little secrets,” Sam said. Then they started partying and lost track of time. Then it was dinner time. They’d skipped lunch so they ate a big dinner. The next day he went to his first day of work at Einstein Lab. Sam was so happy he had his first job! He moved back to the town where his family lived and they never had to worry about medicine or getting sick ever again. 

The End.

Tommy the Mouse

Tommy groaned as he sat down in his cage. He looked at Joseph, who was playing with his toys as if they were the best things in the world. Joseph was a little brown rat that had a light pink nose and tiny little whiskers. He was like the opposite of Tommy in every single way

Tommy was a black mouse with a light brown nose and long whiskers. See what I mean? But, also, Joseph loved humans, and Tommy absolutely despised them. Tommy decided to start a conversation with him, even though he had just met him. 

“So… uh, you hate humans, don’t you?”

“No.”

“Well… you want to escape, right?”

“No.”

“Don’t you think this place is boring?”

“No.”

“Hmph.”

Tommy asked Joseph to write some things down. Well, that’s one of the things he likes, Tommy thought, watching Joseph. Tommy began explaining his escape plan. “So, you know the human’s laundry chute, right? We’ll sneak into their clothes that go down the chute, and then quickly scamper out.” Joseph looked like he was about to say something, but didn’t.

“Hm… how do we get out of the cage though?”

“W — I’m still figuring that out.”

“Hm,” Joseph said, and then looked out of their cage.

The next day, their tiny human came and showed them a sweater. “Human human! Hu — ! Human!” She showed them the sweater again. “I think she wants us to wear it,” Tommy whispered to Joseph. Joseph ran over to the cage and looked at her as if to say, Me first! Me first!

The human picked Joseph out of the cage and put the sweater on him. Next, it was Tommy’s turn. He was picked up (and he kicked and squirmed a lot) and the sweater was put on. He had to admit, it was warm. But he tried not to show that to Joseph. After that, the human plopped the sweater in their cage, and that gave Tommy an idea. Their owner’s parents did not really care about them, so they would not listen when their child talked about the rodents. They just said things like, “Yes,” and, “We know.”

So, the rats would hide in the sweater, the girl would ask her parents where the rats were, she would assume they let them out to play, while they went down the laundry chute to paradise!!! 

Tommy immediately told his plan to Joseph. “What if the girl sees us in the sweater? And how will we both fit?” Joseph asked.

“Well, if she finds out, we go to plan B.”

“What’s that?”

“Paw helplessly at the cage till she lets us out, and then we slide down the laundry chute.” 

Joseph looked at him skeptically.

* * *

Welp, as you can see, Tommy and Joseph were now pawing helplessly at the cage, waiting to get out. 

Tommy saw the human coming towards them. “She’s coming!” He whispered excitedly. 

The girl only had to look at them pawing at the cage a few times, and let them out. “Now come on!”

They ran to the laundry chute, the girl running after them calling, “Human! Ma — Human!!”

But they had already jumped down the chute. They could hear the girl crying behind them.

Still, they had other things to worry about. This was like a water slide — with no water! Tommy and Joseph felt like their tails were on fire. Thankfully, they fell down on the ground. When they looked up, they saw the wonderful eyes of a c — eyes of a cat??? 

The cat walked towards them, pushing them against the wall.  “This. Is. My. Alley!” she growled.

“Oh-h-hello cat. I’m going to call you — Waffles.” He did not want to admit it, but he felt a little scared. She growled louder. “Have mercy, Waffles! We just escaped from our home!” She scraped her claw against the ground and looked at it. 

“But if I don’t catch you, I’ll starve in the winter!” For a moment, she looked sad. Then her regular, terrifying stare came back. She started chasing them all around the alley. Then, Joseph spotted an air vent up high. They climbed up and went through. They had escaped Waffles. After a little while, they came out of the vents and landed in a grocery store. Once they explored a bit, they had to dodge a few feet from stepping on them and crushing them, you know, normal day. 

After that, an old human with a broom came, and once he saw them, he looked at them as if they were the weirdest things in the world. Then, he started bashing his broom against the floor. They ran behind the shelves and jumped behind the boxes. Then, when it looked like the humans were gone, they scampered out through the doors. They decided to take a little break on some white and black lines. They were both so exhausted from dodging things. Afterwards, they wanted to walk around a bit. But suddenly, a shiny red car with sharp tires came and almost sent them flying! If it weren’t for the human’s pants they were clinging onto, they never would have been able to be here again. The human crossed safely, and Tommy wondered how she did it. The human walked into the park, sat down somewhere, and rummaged in a backpack. 

The only reason he knew what backpack meant was because their owner had shown it to them so much, and he sort of picked it up. Wait… that was their owner’s backpack! Tommy tried running away, and Joseph tried to follow, but his tail got stuck and he squeaked in pain. The owner suddenly looked at him, with a surprised look. Then, she noticed they were her pets. She picked up Joseph, rummaged in her backpack again, still looking at the mouse, and then pulled out the sweater. Tommy smacked his forehead. She thinks he’s going to fall for that? Ha! Tommy thought. 

10 minutes later… 

He fell for it??? Really? Ugh, Tommy thought. Right now, Tommy was being held (more tightly than he’d like) in his human’s hand. Joseph, on the other hand, was nuzzling the human and squeaking happily in his sweater. Great, she’s taking us back to her building. Tommy tried signaling to Joseph to do something about this. He started to get annoyed. After three minutes, he finally responded. He looked at the human for a little and then unexpectedly, almost bit her. But he hesitated at the end. The human dropped them in alarm. She screamed, which apparently got her parent’s attention, and they came running down. They shooed Tommy and Joseph away, and started looking at the bite. The two rodents ran forward, happy to be rid of the humans, and…. fell into a hole

 * * *

Tommy blinked open his eyes. He saw a rat that looked just like Joseph.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing, ova’ here in our territory?”

“Joseph?”

“What? Oh, trying to stall are you?”

“You look like Joseph.”

“Joseph?” the rat replied. “How do you know Joseph? He was my brother, I thought he died!!” Tommy sat up, immediately wide awake. 

“Your…  brother??” he asked incredulously. Before the rat could answer, an older rat came up behind her.

“Louisa, Joseph is here.”

Louisa froze and looked at him. “Joseph? I — is that you?” The old rat made way for Louisa. She looked at Joseph and almost leaped forward to hug him. 

Then, she looked back and called, “ALLIE! Joseph is here!” A brown rat that looked just like Louisa came running, and hugged Joseph too. “I’ve missed you!” By now, Joseph had almost fallen down. Louisa and Allie stopped hugging him and he promptly fell backwards 

“We’re your sisters!” they both said at the same time. “And twins!” they said together again as Joseph got up.

“Wait…” Tommy said. Everyone looked at him as if he just appeared out of thin air. He looked at them all and his jaw dropped. “You’re all family?”

“Yes, we’ve been missing Joseph so much. I’m Louisa, this is my twin Allie. Over here, is Grandma and Grandpa.” Louisa gestured to the old rats behind her. “Then we have Arthur, and Ash.”  

Two rats with scars on their paws stepped up to Tommy and said, “Who’s this little mouse?” Arthur pushed Tommy backwards. 

Before anything else could happen, Louisa stepped in and said, “Okay, calm down.” Suddenly, a gust of wind made Tommy stumble. Louisa looked up and said, “I’m sure it’s nothing. We’ll just take cover in case.” More gusts of wind blew through the sewers. It smelled so salty. They tried to find cover, but there was not much that they could use here. Tommy suddenly got blown up out of the sewers, but thankfully he was holding onto the grates of the storm drain. Still, he was slowly losing his grip. He saw Joseph’s family being blown away behind him. The wind was too strong, and he let go.

 * * *

Tommy woke up with two black mice standing over him. He sat up and asked, “Who are you?”

“We’re your parents, Tommy!”

Tommy couldn’t believe his ears. “Parents?” he repeated.

The mice nodded their heads and looked to the right. “It seems you have brought friends with you.” Tommy followed their gaze. Joseph! he thought. 

“Is he okay?” he asked his parents, standing up.

“Yes, yes. He’s perfectly fine. Just getting some sleep,” Tommy’s mother said. “His family has told us all about that snowstorm.”

Tommy rubbed his eyes, and looked at his parents one more time before walking outside. They were on a farm! There were fresh crops growing in the fields, beautiful flowers, and when Tommy turned to look back to where he had come from, he saw a huge red building, with magnificent white doors. The whole place looked amazing. Tommy had gotten his dream. 

The Three Adventurers and the Big Monster

Chapter 1

One day, a girl named Giselle came along and found a secret door in the woods. It was locked, so she looked in the bushes and she saw the key. She unlocked the door before she went in, and she looked around and saw her sister, Sydney. She said, “Sydney, come quick!” and ran as fast as she could. They saw someone outside and they shut the door super fast. “Where were you, I texted you?” Giselle whispered.

Sydney said, ”My phone was dead, I couldn’t text you back.”

They heard a loud THUMP, BOOM, BAM! Sydney quietly opened the door a tiny bit… it was big and scary… IT WAS A MONSTER!

The monster was green and yellowish. Giselle shut the door and Giselle was very scared. She screamed very loudly.

“Shhh! We don’t want anyone knowing where we are,” Sydney said. There was a big bug. Giselle hated bugs. She stepped on the bug — but she had her new Vans on, and they were rose gold. She was trying not to cry but she was really upset. Sydney was just on her phone paying no attention to her. Giselle quietly went out of the room. Sydney heard the door and she looked out and saw Giselle. Sydney ran to Giselle. The monster was trying to come for her but it walked too slowly. It had two legs like a human but it was big and walked super slow. Sydney was running as fast as possible.

Giselle said, “Sydney you were just on your phone the whole time!” Sydney and Giselle were scared, but she tried to stay calm because the monster was right behind them. They finally escaped, but the monster kept following them, but they weren’t scared because they got used to it, though they still didn’t like it.

“OMG, runnnn, ahhh! It’s coming for us!” Sydney said.

“Shhh, mom is probably worried! Hurry, hope we don’t get lost!” Giselle said.

“Quickly, someone’s calling me,” Sydney said. “It’s probably mom, but keep running.”

“I see something weird farther up! Oh, it’s a book, I’m gonna pick it up,” Giselle said.

“No, just keep running. Ahhh! Help, the monster got me!” Sydney yelled.

“Sydney, I’m gonna dump water on it so it lets go of you. 1, 2, 3, splash!”

“Okay, keep running faster this time. I see rainbow!” Sydney said.

“Just pay attention! You don’t want to get caught by the monster again, right?”

“Just keep going! Don’t pay attention to anything else for the last time!”

“Okay, Giselle, now focus and keep running faster” said Sydney.                                                                                                                        

Sydney said, “Stop bossing me around all the time, Giselle!”

They both yelled,  “Ahhhhhh! The monster runs as fast as possible! Faster!”

Giselle and Sydney were both scared. They ran as fast as they could, trying to get away from the monster, but it was too slippery. The monster picked both of them up off of the ground, but the two girls slipped right out of the monster’s hands. The monster was about to eat them, they were out in time! He put his hands right to his mouth but they weren’t there; they were running farther from the monster.                                                                                                                                                        

Chapter 2

They were hungry because they hadn’t eaten anything in 24 hours, they were starving! They had camp the next day but they missed it because they didn’t make it home in time. They needed to have a snack or something, they could be like a human that never got full, that was how hungry they were. They were trying to find food but they were still running as the monster came along. They were trying to get back home but they didn’t know where it was.                                                                                                                 

“Oh no, Mom’s calling me. I think she’s worried. I’m gonna answer… “

Mom asked where they were. Sydney said Isabella had asked for a sleepover for 9 days, and she also said they were playing a game of checkers so that she actually believed it because she didn’t want her mom to know that they were lost. They tried to call Isabella and tell her if her mom calls and asks if they’re there or having a good time say, just say YES.

Mom didn’t know that they were lost in the woods. They knew where Isabella’s house was, so they decided to go come so their mom thought they were there the whole time.

“Giselle we’re going to Isabella’s house, turn around,” Sydney said. They did not walk too far but the monster showed up! “You can walk because it can’t jump,” Sydney said, and the branches and bushes they were walking through were poisonous to them and the monster because the monster was walking through it and it got small purple bumps on its slimy and gooey skin.

Their mom said that she was going to pick them up from Isabella’s house tomorrow because Isabella had dance, but she told her that she would go to dance with her so she was picking them up on the last day of this week. “We better hurry there, fast, run!” Giselle said. “We can stay for a while. We’ve never had a sleepover for this long. We are pretty far from her house. We have to run as fast as possible.”

“Giselle? Oh, come on, hurry, why are you behind me? You need to be next to me or in front of me or be behind me.”

“I don’t care anymore! Blah blah blah, whatever, I don’t care. We’re almost at Isabella’s house but it’s hot, we should get ice cream or an icy.”

“It’s very hot and I’m starving! When we get to Isabella’s house, I’m gonna ask for something to eat, maybe even two whole watermelons. Welp, I’m starving, so why not, I’ll eat the whole watermelon, except the skin.”

This ice cream was super good and creamy and cold. Since they were close to her house, they decided they should bike.

“Let’s go to the bike store! It’s right there. It’ll take like ten minutes,” Giselle said.

Gisella had gone here the other day. Her mom had called asking if Isabella could take them to school because they went to the same school and Mom was always so tired in the morning, and she said yes.

“I see Isabella’s house! It’s on the next block. We’re here! I’m gonna ring the doorbell,” Giselle said.

She opened the door, and Giselle said, “Hi.”

Isabella said “hi” back. She had two dogs, their names were Elinore and Frank. Frank was a pug and Elinore was a teacup. They went inside and washed their hands because they had been outside all day. Since they were so hungry, they had lunch and dinner at the same time. Since they were having a sleepover, they could stay up as long as they wanted, so they could play on their phones or maybe play Roblox or pottery life or pottery life HD. They could stay up all night! It would be so fun on their phones because remember, when they were at Isabella’s house, they could stay up all night.

“Where is Isabella?” Giselle asked.

“Oh, she is in the kitchen doing I don’t know what, I’m gonna go check. Hey, Isabella, what are you doing?” Sydney asked.

“I’m about to go to b — oh, right, we are staying up all night. But don’t you think it’s a little late to stay up? I’m a little tired.”

“Yeah, I guess I am a little tired, I’ll go let Giselle know,” Sydney said.

Chapter 3

Sydney asked Giselle if she thought they should tell Isabella about the — you know, monster. GIselle said she’d be scared or something like that. Sydney didn’t think she’d be scared. So she told Isabella and she obviously didn’t believe Sydney, but luckily she took a quick picture of the monster. Now she believed Sydney.

She was very scared and Sydney knew she was gonna scream so she covered Isabella’s mouth and told her to be quiet because no one could know about it except for them three. She asked why no one could know about it and Sydney told her,

“Because if anyone else knows about it, they will get attacked too, but don’t worry, you’re safe.” Then she whispered, “I think.”

Then Sydney told Giselle that she’d told Isabella and Giselle freaked out because she may get attacked but Sydney told her probably not because the monster could only hear things that are a regular tone but if it was a whisper, it could not hear what they were saying.

So if someone said something about the monster in a regular tone, it could hear and attack the people that knew about the monster. Since the monster was huge, it had huge body parts. The monster’s biggest body part was its ears, so it could listen to everything that was about it regularly.

Isabella was just putting her dishes in the sink. “I’ll be right there, I’m coming,” she said. She was putting her dishes in the sink.

“She’s coming and she’s getting water with ice in it,” Sydney told Giselle. “She has dance tomorrow, we’re doing it with her. She takes hip hop, the song she does is Tootsie Slide. It’s a good song. When Isabella comes in the room, she’s gonna teach us the dance. The dance has more moves than you think, oh, here she comes. Hi, Isabella, do you want me to play the song on my — “

 “Yes, please, because my mom hid my phone, ok…  “

“Now I’m hot from all that dancing, can I get some water?” Giselle asked.

“Yes, of course, mi casa es tu casa, right!” exclaimed Isabella. “Sydney, do you want anything?”

“Yes, please, can I have some iced tea?”

“Isabella said, “Perfect.” 

Once it was bedtime, they ate dinner, took a shower, put on their pajamas, brushed their teeth, then went to bed. In the morning, they ate pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Then they watched Netflix. They watched To All The Boys: Always and Forever.

Sydney didn’t like that show so she was doing gymnastics in the living room. When they were done watching their little show, they decided to go to the movie theater to see A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place II, and before you say anything, Giselle is 17 and Isabella and Sydney were 16, so don’t come for them.

They took out their three-person bike, it was super cool. Giselle kept spilling the popcorn so Sydney held the popcorn. Then we went to the second movie and made it just in time for the movie.

She had a 1-person bike and a passenger bike. Once they got to the movie theaters, their mom called just to check in on them. They told her where they were and she told them to enjoy, then they all turned their phones off and took their seats. Sydney got the snacks, Giselle saved the seats and Isabella — well, Isabella ate all the snacks.

Sydney wasn’t scared the tiniest bit but Giselle was — the one screaming and spilling the popcorn, so Sydney held the popcorn instead, then Isabella said she had to go to the bathroom. 30 minutes later, she still wasn’t back, so Giselle went to check the bathroom and she wasn’t there. Sooner or later, Sydney got a text saying, “HELP!”

Sydney ran to the bathroom to tell Giselle and they ran outside and saw the monster about to put Isabella in i’s eye (which is where it eats from). They ran to punch the monster and it dropped Isabella out of its gross and slimy wet hands. When the monster dropped her, she was all wet and her white shirt was tinted a bright green and yellow. Once she was on the ground, a piece of the monster’s slimy skin fell onto Isabella and then grew back. They all were grossed out.

Chapter 4

They made a secret name for the monster, its name was Doug. From now on, if they were to even think about that monster, they would find a way to try to stop it, but if you did think about it, you had to tell the rest of the group because they all do most things together.

Giselle went to go write more of her book called Strikers, Author: Giselle McCraw, Illustrator: Chastity Hampton. She made her first book in 2018-2019. Now, she was working on her second book. The monster got a new power which was reading minds no matter where you were. So now they couldn’t think about the monster or else he would come to get them and eat them.

Tomorrow was supposed to be the day they got picked up but they still had the monster probl — Sydney gasped, then yelled for Isabella and Giselle. “ISABELLA, GISELLE! I SAID THE WORD THAT DOUG IS!” Sydney said.

“The m word,” Isabella said.

Sydney yelled, “YES, THAT ONE!”

“In the show I watched, I think we have to clap, clap, stomp, stomp, and say, ‘Keep the thing away!’ for it not to come.”

“Uhhhhh, Isabella, it may or may not be right behind you.”

She slowly turned around and screamed. Giselle, Isabella, and Sydney all yelled and clapped twice, stomped twice, and yelled, “Keep the thing away!” It roared and moved away as quickly as it could, but it was still super slow.

Today was the day they were going to picked up but they were gonna ask their mom if they could stay for two more weeks. She said, “Fine, but we have to be home by 9:30.”

Sydney said, “Fine,” but she didn’t tell Giselle until Giselle said,

“Sydney, we have to leave now.”

Sydney told her she was staying and she said, “Then I am too because won’t want to get hurt by the monster.”

The next couple of days, they went out for dinner. On their way back home, they encountered the monster.

Can you guess what happened next?

They unfortunately got eaten. There were so many more people in there. Isabella got lost and couldn’t find her mother when she was 12 but now they know where she was, in the monster’s stomach. Isabella gave her mom a huge hug but then realized it was the wrong person. They tried to climb out of its left eye but that didn’t work. They tried climbing out of its right eye and that kind of worked but they slid right back in and ZAP! They got zapped. Isabella got them free by sticking her shoe through its eye and put her sweater where they slipped. Then once they were all through, they grabbed all of their belongings and went home to get them all squeaky clean, but Isabella was on Giselle’s back because one of her shoes wasn’t clean. Giselle said, “Phew we’re home!” as she dropped Isabella off at her stop, which was her bed.

Chapter 5

                                         

 Giselle wanted to watch some YouTube, but as usual, she ended up watching Netflix instead. Then Isabella got a call from her friend Mari (Short for Mariana) who moved to Miami with her mom. Her sister stayed in New York because she has a job and so did her dad. Mari surprised Isabella by FaceTiming her right in front of her door and just showing up by surprise. They were all now having a three-person sleepover together. Isabella was sleeping in her bed, Giselle was sleeping on Isabella’s Mom’s bed, and Mari was sleeping on the couch. Mari was sleeping over until Saturday and so were they (probably).

“We are leaving for dinner in 15 minutes” Isabella exclaimed. “We are going to Panera Bread, their food is sooooo good.”

They left to go to Panera Bread at 4:00 PM. They ended up leaving at 6:00 PM and got home around 6:30. They decided to have doughnuts for dessert and tomorrow, they were going to have ice cream. At 10:00 PM, they decided to go to bed because they had a long day. But also fun!

“Good night everyone, see you tomorrow!”

“Good morning, who wants pancakes!” Giselle, Isabella, and Sydney all woke up and thought,

Who is that? We have no one else in the house besides — Mari!

They got out of bed and went to the kitchen. “You’re making breakfast!”

Mari said, “Yep,” as the oven went ding! Mari said “Oh, the pão de queijo is ready.” Pão de queijo is brazilian cheese bread. Sydney then said,

“Como você está?” That meant, “How are you.”

And Mari said, “Eu estou bem.” That meant, “I’m fine,” and she said, “E você?” That meant, “And you.” 

Sydney said the same thing that Mari said. Mari was Brazilian and Sydney learned a lot from her three friends, Gabriella, Beatrice, and Clara. They all went to her school. Giselle, Isabella, Mari, and Sydney all went to the same school, that was how they met each other. BOOM, THUMP, THUMP! Isabella and Sydney saw the monster outside. Isabella showed Mari around to get her away while Sydney tried to get the monster away. She clapped her hands twice, stomped twice, and said, “Get the thing away!” but the monster didn’t go away this time. The monster started banging on the roof for the 4th time and Mari asked what the sound was, but Isabella ignored her and said,

“Get on my back, I am going to give you a small rollercoaster ride.”

Mari said, “No!” and went to the living room to look out the window and see what it was. Sydney pulled her away from the window as the monster shrank and went underneath the door and grew back when it was on the other side of the door. Mari slowly turned around and screamed. The monster had now put Mari in its stomach.

 To Be Continued…

   

The Fire Man

One day, I was at a bar and the entire place suddenly lit on fire. I escaped just in time, but the others weren’t as lucky. 

The next day, I woke up and went to work as normal. But then I started randomly teleporting. And there were constantly flames on top of my hands. I was confused as to what was happening. I decided to stay at work. However, mid day, there was a sudden fire at my workplace. I Knew it wasn’t me that started the fire so I was wondering who or what did. Everyone in the bar died… or did they? It turned out that everyone in the bar got powers, same as me. Some the same, some different. I was at the bar with my friend which meant he probably got powers too. Which meant that they probably teleported out or they were fireproof, but I didn’t really feel like testing that theory. Some people had to be fireproof, though, that or some people had to have teleportation other than me. 

I asked some scientists to help me control these new powers. They agreed and so I started to control my teleportation first and they were going to see if they could get a grasp of fire second. We tried to see If I had any other super powers, like flight, invisibility or super strength. I did not have flight or invisibility, but I did have super strength. So first I tested if I could lift a car. It felt as if I were lifting a feather. Then I tried a bus. It was pretty much like one pound to me. Then a train… 5 pounds… easy. Then I lifted up a ferris wheel. For me, it was around twelve pounds. By the time we finished, it was already 11:00 PM, so I went home to go to bed. By “go to bed,” I really meant watch TV. 

When I actually went to bed, it was already 5:00 in the morning. I was watching too much of “the Flash.” And then in the morning, I had a pizza eating contest. During that, I found out that I had a new power… superspeed. I was so competitive that my hands started moving at super fast speeds. Luckily, nobody was looking at me with the exception of the scientists who were cheering me on. 

Then I tried to master the superspeed. And I lost tons of weight by running for one second, which for me was around the world. I think it was about 50 pounds. So now I wasn’t fat anymore. Then I decided to be a superhero so the scientists made me a suit. When the first bad guy came along, he wasn’t someone from the bar so it took about two seconds. He was robbing a bank and tried to shoot me but little did he know, I had super speed so I ran straight past it and took him down.

From this one event, I became famous. Then my friend that lit the office on fire robbed a bank, so that was not very good. We both have the same powers. I hope he didn’t know about some of them. Even so, he probably didn’t know how to control them. He definitely knew about the super speed because he was just speeding around town. He took a wrong turn to his house so I got to his house and teleported through the door. Then I started speed punching him until he got knocked out. I brought the money back to the bank and then I took him to the maximum security prison where super humans couldn’t use their powers. But then a magic suitcase appeared in his jail cell. He opened it and it teleported him out of jail.

The first thing he did was run to me and he choked me. Why can’t I teleport? I thought, but then this guy came out of a secret door and blasted my friend with a laser and then he got sent to a maximum, maximum security prison. Meanwhile, I was off fighting bad guys, and then the next guy from the bar appeared. I didn’t know what powers he had so I had to hope he had the same powers as me and and I recently bought a new house for my girlfriend and me. There were two bathrooms, a pool, a hot tub, a trampoline, and three flat screen TVs.

The bad guy was robbing a grocery store, but right before he left, I teleported to the exit and he shot a fire bullet and I thought, WHAT THE H*LL IS THAT?! I teleported behind him, wondering what had happened. Then I tried to punch him, but he sensed me and teleported behind me and punched ME, and well, he got away. I got injured, but luckily my super healing made me go back to normal in about one hour so that was good, but if a bad guy struck before that, then we were doomed. Unless… if someone else who was at the bar was a good guy, then they might go attack if a bad guy did strike 30 minutes later. You guessed it: a bad guy struck, and it was the same guy who robbed the grocery store but then this girl flew in and punched the guy midair. “Ouch!”

“Why does she have super strength AND flight? That is too much!”

He tried to shoot a fire bullet, but he missed and then a sniper tranqed him so they could bring him to a maximum, maximum, maximum security prison. When I was healed, I asked her what her name was and she said, “My name is… ”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Biomes Out of the Box

Chapter 1

I lie in the grass. I do not remember a single thing. A figure walks up to me. I shut my eyes. I wake up in a bed. 20 people are looking at me. A strong, bald guy helps me out of bed and then asks how I got here. 

I say, “I don’t know.” 

He says, “I am Jake, leader of the crystal world.” He has big pointy ears. 

I ask, “Are you an elf?”

He says, “Yes, we all are. You are the only human.” 

He takes me outside and we end up in a stone box. The walls are 100 feet high. 

I ask, “Where am I?” 

He says, “The crystal world, I already told you.” 

I say, “Can we go to the desert biome?”

“No we can’t. They are all locked,” Jake says.

“Why not? How are they all locked?”

“You’ll catch up on everything, Newbie.”

“Who’s Newbie?”

“You’re Newbie. That’s what we call the new people,” says Jake. 

Next, I meet a guy named Oliver. 

He says, “Aren’t you the new Newbie everyone’s talking about?” 

“That’s not my name,” I say. 

“Why? What is your name then?” 

“That’s weird. I can’t remember.” 

“Yep, we think we get brainwashed when we come here.” 

“What do you mean, come here?” 

“The Over People bring us here. Also, tomorrow is your lucky day. You get to become an elf and learn how to fly!” 

We hear a loud horn. 

I ask, “What is that?” 

“It’s Jake calling a ceremony to see what your name is going to be.” 

“But I already have a name,” I say. 

“Remember? You got brainwashed!” Oliver says. 

“Come on, we gotta go, or else we’ll lose points” 

“What are points?” I ask. 

“You ask a lot of questions,” he says. “You have five points when you come into the box. When you lose all of your points by doing bad things, they’ll burn you at the stake. Six people have already been burned.”

 When we get there, the Jake guy says to us, “Hey Oliver, looks like you’ve already made friends with the Newbie.” 

“That’s not my name,” I say. “Oh wait, it is my name.” 

They ask me to light a bonfire. Since I am going to be in the Orange Elf Cabin, they are going to name me Josh. 

“Hurray, you’re going to be with me,” says Oliver. 

“Oh, thank God,” I say. 

While we’re walking back to the Orange Cabin, everyone starts high fiving me, elf-smacking me on the back, and congratulating me. 

“What’s the difference between the Blue Elf Cabin, the Pink Elf Cabin, and the Orange Elf Cabin?” I ask. 

“Well, the Blue Elf Cabin can teleport anywhere inside the box, the Pink Elf Cabin can run more than 120 miles an hour, and the Orange Elf Cabin can fly up to 50 feet in the air. Tomorrow when you wake up, you will be an Orange Elf. Then you’ll have flying training. Good night.” 

The next morning, I wake up and find myself levitating in bed. Then, everyone else wakes up. 

“Hey, you’ve already got the hang of it!” Oliver says. 

I go outside after breakfast and start to walk around. I look at each biome three times and meet Rick. 

I ask, “Who are you? I think I recognize you.” 

“Well, you should, because I am the leader of the Orange Elf Cabin,” Rick says. 

A Pink Elf walks up to me and starts cracking jokes about me being a Newbie. Then this Rick guy gets fed up and a laser gun appears in his hand. 

“Back off, or there will be a hole right through you in three seconds.” 

“Don’t you remember? I can outrun that lazer. I’m a Pink Elf. I can run more than 120 miles an hour.” 

“Well, if I tell Jake, your last point will be gone, and you will be burned at the stake.” 

The Pink Elf backs off. 

“That’s how you deal with bad guys here,” Rick says. 

“I have one question for you. Who am I?” 

“Nobody knows.”

“Not even I know who I am?” I ask.

“Not even you,” Rick says. 

“Wow, this place is weird,” I say. 

“Yup, sure is,” Rick says. 

I ask him, “How long have you been here?”

 Rick says it’s hard to tell because time moves differently in the crystal world. 

I ask, “Have you opened any of the biomes yet?”

“Nope, we still can’t find the password or figure out how more and more people get here.”

Then, we turn into elves. I remember that I am an elf and sigh.

Oliver comes to tell Rick and me that it’s time for dinner. 

The next morning, I go to my flying lesson. I am surprised to see that Rick and Oliver are the teachers. It goes on for what feels like a year, and then we get called in for lunch. I am starting to get used to the schedule. When I look at the board, I still have 5 points, not that I thought I lost any. 

After lunch, a girl elf comes up to me and tells me her name. I was going to tell her mine, but she was at the bonfire. We chat like normal people or elves, and then I see that she has blue eyes. It is odd because everyone else has green eyes. I ask, and she says she doesn’t know why. She says that they had tried to figure it out, but it never worked. I ask how we unlock the biomes, and she says that we need a password. We try to find out the password but can’t. 

At dinner, there is a food fight with the Blue Elves and the Pink Elves. I sit next to Oliver, Rick, and Mia the girl elf. We talk and try to ignore the fight. Then, I have a headache, and the numbers 2-4-1-9 pop into my head. I go to the forest biome. I put in the numbers and it opens.

Chapter 2: Biomes in the Open

Everyone is in shock. I stumble into the forest, and there I fall. 

The next day, they have a meeting to see if it is safe to escape. They tell me that I now have 305 points for opening a biome. In the afternoon, ten elves go searching for the biome: three Pinks, one Orange, and six Blues. The Orange Elf flies up but bumps into a tree branch. The Pink Elves start running and trip over some tree roots. The Blue Elves try to teleport, but they can only teleport to places inside the box. The Blue Elves carry the rest of the injured elves to the Red Cross Elves. 

After dinner, I am really curious to see what is inside, so Oliver, Mia, Rick, this guy named Chris, and I go out. We explore for a few hours until we hear a rumbling noise. Then, it starts getting closer and sounds like growling. When we all sprint back to the box, it has stopped following us. When we look to see if everyone is sleeping, they aren’t. The Pink Elf that was picking on me for being a Newbie is being burned. 

“Well there goes number seven,” Oliver says.

We join the bonfire. That’s when it gets out of hand. The grass starts to burn and there is a massive fire. It burns down the Blue Elf Cabin. Then, everyone hears a loud boom. A normal human with a megaphone with a bunch of guys wearing backward helmets appears and says “We are the Over People and we are here to put the fire out!”

They start spraying water at the fire. “I think they’re called fire fighters,” Oliver says.

But the elves do not want them to fight the fire. They want answers. All the elves go into the chamber of weapons. Orange Elves take laser blasters, Blue Elves take nunchucks, and the Pink Elves take swords. First, Pink Elves run towards the Over People, distracting them so the Blue Elves can teleport behind them. The Orange Elves fly up above and start shooting at them. 

“Enough! We are going to call a meeting, and after that, maybe, just maybe, we’ll let you go. Only if you can unlock all the biomes,” say the Over People.

Everyone looks at me. Suddenly, the Over People disappear. 

Chapter 3: The Struggle to Escape

For the next two weeks, everyone is getting ready to escape, and they are all counting on me. We all start to pack our things. The Blue Elves are getting ready to say goodbye to their teleportation providers. Only Jake isn’t packing. Everyone is very confused. He is going to stay.

We all set off to the forest that I unlocked. That’s when I get another headache. The numbers 1-8-6-3 pop into my head, and I fly to the desert biome. I put in the numbers, and my headache stops. It unlocks. Everybody looks at me and the biome. Jake is smiling.

“Blue and Orange go into the desert, Pink go into the forest biome. But be careful, Pinks, there are a lot of roots,” Jake says. 

As we are walking, I hear a weird noise in front of me. 

“Rattlesnake! Josh, look out!” Mia yells.

I take off flying. But in three seconds, while I am 40 feet in the air, I fall back onto the rattlesnakes and feel something wet. 

“Eeewww, you have rattlesnake blood all over your back,” Mia says.

“Good thing I have a change of shirts.”

I put on my second shirt out of five. Then, we see something shiny. It looks like 78 motorcycles, one for each of us. Mia has to ride on the back of Oliver’s since her’s broke. Oliver, as usual, complains. 

“She’s your friend.”

My motorcycle breaks and I fall off. I land on Rick’s motorcycle. I backflip over him, grab onto the back of the seat, and get in position. I leave my motorcycle behind. We crash, sending us over the invisible barrier. That’s when we see the Over People. I see the guy that was holding the megaphone earlier and punch him in the face. We get in line and take turns punching him in the face, 78 times in total. 

“Alright, you already broke my nose!” he screams. “Ok, just stop punching me, and I will give you your freedom!”

The rest of the elves keep on punching him until he is knocked out. We leave the building and enter a strange world. A sign reads New York City.

“Wait, I think I got my memory back!” we all say.

“I think my name is Ravi. I have an older brother named Neel who looks exactly like Rick.” 

“I think my name is Neel and my brother is Ravi. We live near the cathedral school in Apartment—wait, that’s classified,” Rick says. 

Just then, Mia turns into a kitten. Oliver and a Blue Elf turn into my mom and dad.

Chapter 4: Back to Normal

“Why is everyone wearing masks?” Oliver asks.

“Meow meow meow,” says Mia.

We call a taxi and say goodbye to everyone we’ve met. 

“So, are you guys new here?” the taxi driver asks.

“No, we live here.”

“Aren’t you guys from that TV show, Biomes Out of the Box?” 

“Wait, what?!”

We walk into our home and start watching the TV show. 

“How did you get that laser gun in your hands?” I ask Neel.

“I don’t know,” he says.

We fell asleep later that night. Suddenly, the police barge into our house and take us to a different movie set. 

“Not this again,” we all say.  They don’t erase our memories this time or turn us into different people. They just interview us. 

“Where’s that Mia fella?” 

“Oh I’ll get her,” I say.

They put us into a James Bond movie. Then we get put in a maze and turn back to our other-selves. We learn that the name of my mom’s elf persona is Michelle. 

Suddenly, we all fall asleep and I wake up back in my cabin. It turns out none of that happened. I try to go back to the biome that I thought I unlocked, but I guess I never actually knew how to. 

A plane crashes into the box. That’s when we realize this is how the Over People bring people into this place. 

Rick was brought in by a car crash that made him lose his memory, and I was brought in by crashing my motorcycle. Then I go to the desert biome and put in a passcode to try and open it: Car Crash, Motorcycle Crash, Plane Crash. Surprisingly, it opens. I check to see if I’m dreaming. 

Everyone sprints out, leaving everything behind. I realize Oliver is actually not my dad, Mia is just an elf, Rick is a friend, and Michelle isn’t even real. 

Oliver catches up to me. 

“Nice job, dude,” he says.

For the first twenty minutes, everything is normal. Then, the sun starts beaming on us. Since the Pink Elves run way too fast, they run into quicksand. Then, there’s a sandstorm, and in the middle of it, Jake realizes that we will have to stop for the night. 

At night, we hear something that sounds like laughter. When we go outside, there is a pack of hyenas trying to eat our sandwiches. Then, we set off in the middle of the night. Jake knows that it would be more dangerous and tough to get through this. When it gets really dark, we still keep moving. Then, we meet different elves. They look exactly like us. 

Jake asks their leader, “Who are you?” 

“We came from a box with ten biomes,” they say.

“Wait, but we’re coming from a box too,” Jake replies. 

“So there’s two boxes?” everyone says. 

“Our elves can fly, can run more than 120 miles an hour, and the elves used to be able to teleport,” the leader says.

“No way! Same for us.”

Then we realize that if we keep on walking straight, each group will end up in each other’s boxes. So we turn the other way. We see something in the distance. We get closer and find a third box. 

“There must be a million boxes!” I say.

Then, we hear a voice that sounds like the Over People. The voice says, “Yes, this is the Over People. We have come here to trap you elves because you have all caught a virus. It is called ‘Elfatopia.’ It makes you turn into an elf so we trapped you. If you were in the real world, you would have lived with humans and a war would have started between you.”

Chapter 5

We walk for what feels like a trillion years. Then, we think we see something. We aren’t very surprised because we’ve already seen, like, fifty boxes. This is different. It is a shiny black building that looks like a lab. 

We slam on the door three times and yell, “FBI, open up!!!”

The door opens and we all barge through, breaking every single thing they have. We go out the front door. 

“Looks like we’re here,” Jake says. 

“Well, I guess we’re elves forever,” Mia says.

THE END                    

The Grain

It felt like a nightmare. Maybe it was. Or maybe it never happened at all. By the time you finish reading, you’ll know what I mean. 

MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2031, 1:15 PM

EMERYVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL, EMERYVILLE, MONTANA, ROOM 201

“Jennifer, would you like to share your report next?” 

I smiled as Ms. Bragenstien acknowledged my raised and wriggling hand. 

“Of course.” I strode to the front of the room and grabbed the Grain Projection Chip (PC) connected to the Smartboard from her desk. Ms. Bragenstein said nothing, only smiled silently and expectantly as I plugged the PC into the Grain slot in my head and murmured, “Saturday, October 3, 2031, 5:00 PM.” My Grain presentations were already almost legendary at Emeryville Middle School. 

The Grain was invented in 2027 as a security device to monitor released prisoners. Their Grain recordings would be reviewed to make sure that they weren’t participating in any illegal activity. Thanks to the Grain and its memory recording power, crime rates plummeted phenomenally. But over the years, people started to implant it voluntarily, so they could relive the best moments of their lives. These days it was common, with babies getting it as young as 2 months old. There was even talk of making it legally mandatory. And if you didn’t get it, you were deemed suspicious — people assumed you had something to hide. 

I grinned at Ms. Bragenstien as the recording began to play on the Smartboard at the front of the room. 

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2031, 5:00 PM

22 WEMBLY ROAD, EMERYVILLE, MONTANA, JENNIFER’S BEDROOM

I smiled in the mirror, made sure my hair was neat, glanced at my notes, and began. 

“This report is on a very serious topic: The Cha — ”

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 5:01 PM

1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, WASHINGTON DC, OVAL OFFICE

The door burst open and I stepped into the Oval Office. The door slammed shut behind me. President Jackson looked up from the letter he was skimming and stared at me. 

“Marshal Jackson,” I growled. My voice didn’t sound like my own. “It’s time to pay for your crimes.”

Before he could stop me, my knife was hurtling toward his heart. It found its mark. Jackson collapsed with a thunk

Almost immediately, two men in black suits with guns jumped out at me from behind blue drapes on both sides of the room. I ran. 

The window exploded in a shower of glass behind me, the grass outside rushing up to meet my feet before me. 

MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1:17 PM

EMERYVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL, EMERYVILLE, MONTANA, ROOM 201

Everyone in the room was speechless. 

For a minute. 

Two.

Three.

My chest heaved up and down, beads of sweat starting to form around the hole in my head where I had yanked the PC out. I took a deep breath, tried to compose myself. Tried to look less panicked than I really was. 

“Ms. Bragenstein,” I began. “This is all a big mi — ”

“Jennifer,” Ms. Bragenstein interrupted. Her voice was oddly stiff. “Did you assassinate President Jackson?”

I was shocked. “I — what — no! Ms. Bragenstein, I have no idea how that recording got in my Grain!”

“You — you’re lying,” she said coldly. It nearly broke my heart. “No one can alter their Grain.” 

“Please!” I cried. “I can give you my report now! The Challenger — ” The other kids were staring. I didn’t care. All that mattered was Ms. Bragenstein and if she believed me, but she was unmoved. I panicked. Tears started to wet my cheeks. 

“I didn’t know you had this in you, Jennifer.”

“Please! You know where my house is — where I was recording! Wembly road! That’s nowhere near the Oval Office! How could I — ”

“That could have been any mirror. I didn’t see your surroundings, murderer,” she spat. “I suppose that was a confession. Rather odd way of doing it, but — never mind. The police will be here soon.” She picked up her phone to dial 911. 

I ran for the door.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2031, 1:40 PM

22 WEMBLY ROAD, EMERYVILLE, MONTANA, KITCHEN

“A half-day,” I told my mom, out of breath. “I’m going to my room.” I raced up the stairs of our small suburban house before she could object. 

I slammed the door of my room and collapsed into my desk chair, staring into the mirror. How was this my life? I lied to my mom. I ran out of school. And I was about to become a fugitive from the law. I couldn’t believe it. 

Sighing, I opened my computer and grabbed the PC connected to it. I plugged it into my Grain slot and said clearly, “Saturday, October 3, 2031, 5 PM.” On the screen, I watched the recording of me — no, of someone — assassinating the president. I paused as they threw the knife. Then I took a screenshot. Their hands were darker than mine. It wasn’t me, but I couldn’t very well go back to Ms. Bragenstein and show her the evidence. She wouldn’t believe me. It still hurt how quickly she had shunned me. 

But there was no time to dwell on this. I took off my backpack and dumped out all the schoolbooks. I took the purse containing $327 from various birthdays and gifts from my desk and put it inside the backpack. Then I emptied my state quarter collections into my backpack as well (for use in laundromats). I also put in some outfits, jackets and coats, books, my computer and PC, and an empty notebook and pen. I hesitated, then tore the first sheet from it, wrote a quick note, and left it on my desk. 

Dear Mom and Dad:

By the time you read this, I bet you’ll have seen the news. It looks bad, I know. But I swear I didn’t do it. You have to believe me. I had to leave. I’m going to try to find out what really happened. 

I’m so sorry.

Jennifer

I put on my backpack, grabbed my sleeping bag, and headed downstairs. 

“It’s, um, actually, we’re supposed to go back because we’re going to watch a movie in the gym. With sleeping bags.” I told my mom quickly. 

She gave me a suspicious look. “And… why didn’t I get an email about this?”

“Ms. Bragenstein told us she forgot to send it.”

“Okay, but I’m going to check your Grain later.”

“Sure, mom,” I said, trying to keep my voice from quavering. If I ever saw her again, I knew what she would find if she checked. I grabbed an umbrella and opened the door.

“Umbrella?”

“It… might rain.”

MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2031, 5:09 PM

DELI & BEER, EMERYVILLE, MONTANA

“Oh… and a butter roll, please.” I added. 

The man at the counter of the small, grubby, cramped deli gave me a strange look as I asked for the breakfast special at 5 in the afternoon. I glanced outside to avoid meeting his eyes. The ugly Deli & Beer was topped by a faded awning in a particularly ugly shade of green. It smelled of rat droppings and hastily applied cleaning supplies. I waited patiently. 

I took out one of the books I had brought, an atlas of the United States. It had maps of the whole country, each of the states, highway and landscape maps, etc. I opened it to the general map of the country. I took a pen and made a line from Emeryville, Montana (usually Emeryville would be too small to be featured on a map, but there were so few towns in Montana that it had to be there) to Washington DC. It looked far. I probably couldn’t get on a train or plane because I was a minor, so I would have to walk. I couldn’t think of any other option. Then, just as I was thinking it couldn’t be any worse, I heard:

“We interrupt this broadcast for some breaking news. Live from the Oval Office in Washington DC, I hand it over to Josephine Merson…”

I swiveled in my red, cracked leather stool, turning my attention from the atlas to the television almost hidden in a corner of the wall. The blond woman on-screen was standing in the Oval Office in front of the president’s desk… but it looked more like a crime scene. The window behind the desk was shattered, there was caution tape everywhere, and police officers and investigators were poking around with flashlights and magnifying glasses everywhere. 

“Thanks, Paul,” said Josephine. I could tell she was distressed, though she was trying not to show it. “We’re sorry to pull you from your soap operas” — she seemed to wait for laughter — “but something much more dramatic and entirely real has happened here. We’ve just received word from the police department in Emeryville, a small town in Montana — ” At the mention of his hometown, the man, carrying my plate out from the kitchen, stopped and stared at the screen. “ — That in the local middle school, a child has just played a Grain recording of herself assassinating President Marshal Jackson.” 

I froze. This was my worst nightmare, and it was already happening. It was revealed. 

They cut to a recording of Ms. Bragenstein in our classroom with a microphone held up to her mouth. 

“Angela Bragenstein, this student — Jennifer — was under your care,” said a voice on-screen. “Did you ever get any notion that she might have done something like this? Was this expected?”

“No,” she replied breathlessly. “Jennifer was a good student. The best. But now I can see it was all a ruse.”

They cut back to Paul at his blue desk in the newsroom. Flashes of the crime scene played on a screen behind him. “The student, Jennifer Hudson, allegedly fled the classroom after abruptly tearing out the PC that played the recording, and has not yet been found.” Then my school photo played on the screen. I gasped. The man with the plates looked at me. I looked away. 

“Wait a second,” he said. I hastily pulled my hood up, but it was too late. He’d seen my face. 

“If you have any information, call 1-800-706-2948.” 

The man reached for his phone. 

I slammed the atlas shut and shoved it in my backpack. I put it on and grabbed my sleeping bag from the floor. 

The man dialed the number. He noticed me sneaking toward the door. “No you don’t,” he growled. “That reward money’s gonna fix this place up… buy me a new pair o’ shoes. I’mma finally make me momma proud.”

“Sorry!” I cried, and dashed out the door. 

“WAIT!” He yelled, squeezing himself around the counter. “WAI — ”

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2031, 8:47 PM

ONEOTA PARK, SPENCER, IOWA

I stretched out my legs in my sleeping bag and tried not to cry. I’d been away from home for almost ten days. I missed my bed and my home and my family. I was lying in the dirt in my sleeping bag, leaning against a tree. Chipmunks skittered across the ground a few feet away. Owls hooted high up in the treetops. Even the animals were keeping their distance. I needed privacy. Other humans could recognize and capture me, but it was driving me slowly mad. There was only me to keep me company… 

Or maybe not, I realized suddenly. 

I remembered the person in the recording. They must have altered my Grain to put the recording there. Maybe they had left other recordings. I opened my backpack and took out my computer. I opened the Grain app, plugging in my PC. I browsed through my recordings. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary — me going to school, reading, hanging out in my room. Then I noticed something. While scrolling through the automatically taken screenshots from every hour, I saw one of a tall, white building from 6 PM on October 5. This was from just after the assassination. There were no buildings like that in Emeryville — just little delis and suburban houses. This had to be something from the secret assassin. I clicked the screenshot. A recording began to play on the screen. 

MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2031, 6:00 PM

CLIVE’S, BETHESDA, MARYLAND

I glanced up at the skyscraper, then crossed the street to the park, ignoring the honking cars. I sat down on the stone wall of the park and looked down at my jeans. 

“So, you found me. Maybe by accident. Or maybe you knew what you were looking for. If you have no idea who I am, close this recording now, Jennifer. You’ll know soon enough.”

I waited. Then continued.

“You’re still watching, which means that you now know I assassinated the president about an hour ago, and altered your Grain to frame you. You’re not going to believe me, but I didn’t mean to. I know who you are, Jennifer Hudson. You do well in school. I’ve seen your Grain recordings. You’re a total goody-two-shoes. I know this must have ruined your life. And I’m really sorry. Putting my recording in your Grain was a mistake.

“After I killed Jackson and crashed through that window — ” I let out a soft chuckle. “I took a taxi to the Rocket Pharmacy in Bethesda, Maryland. I have a… well, it’s where I’ve been living. I had been looking through people’s recordings. There was a list — well, hard to explain. I found you. You were perfect for what I needed. I know that sounds horrible, but — ” I tried to keep my voice even. “Just — try to understand. I only meant to take some of your innocent recordings, and copy them into my recordings, over when I killed the president. I didn’t know it would replace yours with mine. I didn’t know it would… switch us. I never meant for this to happen. Never. So I want to help you make this right. Go to the pharmacy. At least — at least give me a chance to apologize.”

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2031, 12:05 PM

ROCKET PHARMACY, BETHESDA, MARYLAND

I stopped to catch my breath behind a massive shelf of band-aids, hidden from a girl a few years older than me sitting behind the counter. The sunglasses started to slide down my sweaty nose. I briefly took them off, wiped my face with the scarf I was wearing, and put them back on quickly. I couldn’t risk anyone seeing me. I picked out a pack of brown band-aids, some disposable latex gloves, and two packs of tissues. I brought them to the counter, trying to listen to the radio while still concentrating on the girl to make sure she wasn’t studying me too closely. An 11-year-old on her own with a sleeping bag and backpack wearing sunglasses and a scarf could arouse suspicion, I had learned. 

“Your total is $9.72,” she said slowly and carefully. I put a $10 bill on the counter. 

On the radio, someone was saying, “Jennifer Hudson, who has still not been apprehended, is described as eleven years old, white, five feet tall, and with medium-length light brown hair. She was last seen on October 5, wearing a yellow collared shirt, blue jeans, and a cream-colored sweater.” I frowned and self-consciously tucked the yellow shirt I was wearing into my jeans. The owner of the shop frowned at me. I took the items, not bothering with the change, and quickly made for the door. 

“Wait a second,” I heard the girl say to me. “Get back here!”

“The reward for information leading to Jennifer’s capture is $500,” droned the man on the radio. “Her capture will warrant a reward of five million dollars. If you have information or believe you have sighted this young fugitive, simply call 1-800-706-2948.”

It still hurt being called a fugitive, even though it was kind of true. You’d think that after nearly four weeks of living on the edge and running from the law, I’d have gotten used to it. But the teacher’s pet in me could not adapt. That part of me felt like salt being rubbed on an open and infected wound every time someone mentioned the reward for my capture or how I was a dangerous fugitive. Sometimes I wasn’t sure how I could stand it.

And the worst part was, I didn’t know anything. I couldn’t learn anything. Going inside public places had led to too many close calls. I’d only gone inside this almost deserted pharmacy because I had a cut on my elbow that was probably going to get infected if I didn’t put a band-aid on it. And just my luck that this tiny place (that sort of resembled a hospital) didn’t carry newspapers. Well, it might have, but they were all already bought. That was how it was with all the free newspaper boxes on the streets, too. I couldn’t read the news, and I couldn’t watch TV. Instead, anything I picked up, I picked up by listening to people talk on the street. People wondered where I was. They talked about my “poor parents.” Sometimes how “ruthless” I was. But the most puzzling thing was this:

A few days ago I had passed an elderly couple on the street. One of them had said: “That dastardly Jennifer. So lucky that her plot was foiled. And how are you, young lady? Wait…” 

Then I had had to hide in a bush, so I didn’t hear the rest of their conversation. I’d spent the time since trying to figure out what they had meant. 

My “plot” was obviously the assassination of the President. So how had it been “foiled”? Maybe they were talking about how I had been caught. But somehow that just didn’t feel right to me. My plot had still been executed (definitely no pun intended), even if I had been caught. 

What if…

My plot was to kill the president. But what if he hadn’t been killed? 

No, that was impossible. The knife had hit him right in the heart. But still… 

However, there were more pressing problems at hand. I couldn’t get caught here. This was where the assassin had led me. It couldn’t end here. 

Summoning all my courage, I turned to face the girl, who was slowly walking toward me. “It’s all right,” she said to me unconvincingly. “I’m not going to hurt you. Just tell me…”

I took a step backward, reaching to pull up my scarf. 

She lunged, surprisingly fast, missing my arm but grabbing my hand and pulling it and the scarf down. I gasped. She’d seen my face on the news, like everyone in the country, I was exposed — she knew, she knew, she knew. 

What did I do in that moment?

In my old life, I would have tried to talk it out. I would have tried to explain, to gain approval. I would have tried to make things right. But maybe this life of crime was rubbing off on me. Maybe I was developing new habits, or maybe I was simply becoming a new person, because I ran. 

I wasn’t even thinking. I just dove to the wall, then bounced off and darted behind a shelf, sticking out a hand, sending boxes of Tylenol tumbling to the ground, blocking the girl’s path. I didn’t even feel bad about it. I wove my way through the aisles to the back of the shop, where a shelf of cleaning products stood in the center of the back wall. I looked around. I had assessed the entrances and exits of the pharmacy before I went in. The only way in or out was the door. There were locks on the windows. I could smash them with my backpack. Maybe I could get to the door and flee into the street. But everyone would see me. I had only one choice: hide.

Thankfully, the shelf didn’t make any of those horrible screeching noises when I moved it a few feet away from the wall. I squeezed in behind it, taking off my backpack and putting it on the floor. Then I pulled the shelf back as far as I could and hoped the owner wouldn’t think to look behind the shelf.

A few seconds later, I heard the girl’s footsteps. I peered through the gap between two boxes of Miracle Clean Powder. She examined the shelf. I held my breath. Then she turned around and walked back to the counter. I let out my breath in relief. I slowly, awkwardly, turned around in the small space between the shelf and the wall. Then I noticed something odd. The walls of the pharmacy were tiled, but this section of wall in front of me looked wrong. It was a little dim, but I realized that this part of the wall wasn’t a wall at all — it was a 5 foot square of wallpaper. 

It looked like a sample, the kind you might buy at a store and stick on your wall to see how it looked. I tugged at the bottom-right corner. It peeled. I peeled the whole thing off. There was a white door in the wall behind it. This was a secret door.

I felt a rush of excitement. I couldn’t believe it. Secret doors were the stuff of stories and books, but here was a real one. It was thrilling — moving — to be trusted with a real one. And even more than that — I remembered what the assassin had said. I have a… well, it’s where I’ve been living. This was their hideout. This was where I would meet them and get all my answers. 

The door looked a bit dirty but used. This was it. I picked up my backpack and, holding its handle with one hand, I turned the rusted knob of the door with the other. 

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2031, 12:07 PM

ROCKET PHARMACY, BETHESDA, MARYLAND, BACK ROOM

The back room of the pharmacy looked like it might once have been used for storing goods. There were dusty piles of boxes with long-faded labels in one corner. It was small, around the size of my kitchen at 22 Wembly Road: about 15 by 15 feet. There were no windows, but I felt along the wall until I hit a switch and flipped it, turning on a dim bulb hanging from the ceiling. There was a desk pushed to one wall, with a spinning-type professional chair next to it and a computer, mouse, speakers, and headset on it. There was a shelf on another wall with a microwave and a package of instant noodles. Under the shelf was a sink and — what? — a toilet. I edged away from the toilet and noticed a few potted plants on the floor. They looked like someone was watering them daily. There was a dresser next to a bed on the wall opposite the toilet. I dropped my backpack onto the small bed that was very slept in (this assassin sure was messy) and sunk into a battered armchair near the entrance. Then I remembered to close the door behind me.

I tried to relax. Papers, notebooks, and books were piled up in a corner next to the desk. The room felt like a home, but it felt wrong. Something was missing. No, someone was missing. The assassin wasn’t here. And I was getting impatient. I had come here, on his orders. So why couldn’t he be bothered to show up? 

Then I realized what some of the papers were. Newspapers. I grabbed the one on the top. It was dated October 4. The day before I “revealed my plot”.  Too early. I wasn’t going to get any news about the assassination from that. 

I kept searching. I noticed a mint-green three-ring binder with pink polka dots with tape over where a title might be written on the cover. That intrigued me. I opened the cover. It looked like it had been a photo book. But all the photos were torn out, leaving only tape and cheerful messages written in marker. It looked like a family scrapbook. Someone nicknamed “Win” and his mom. Win played soccer and a wide variety of video games. His mom worked somewhere that had a “take your child to work” day and a vending machine. 

This all felt strange and wrong. 

Tucked into the back was a copy of American News from October 11. Suddenly, the strange history of this scrapbook didn’t matter anymore. 

The headline read:

ASSASSINATION PLOT BY 11-YEAR-OLD REVEALED, THEN FOILED

There was that word again — foiled. Heart racing, I stumbled back into the armchair and read on.

To be continued…

Flee From the Fur

Once, there was a girl named Izumi, and she was an orphan. She missed her parents a lot, and she had only one thing left of them: an emerald ring. Her parents had told her that it would lead her to her freedom, but for the past four years, she had been living on the side of the road, and nothing good ever happened to her.

Chapter 1

It was another day on the side of the road, and Izumi was sitting there practicing her guitar so she could earn money to at least eat some food. She was trying to perfect a song when a cat came and sat down right next to her. She didn’t notice it until she came back from getting food.

“Meoow.”

Izumi looked down and saw the cat. It mewed again. It must be hungry! Izumi thought. She sat down and gave it some ham from her sandwich. It ate like it hadn’t had food in months! It does look very skinny, she thought. She went back to practicing her guitar.

The cat came to visit every day, and then, one day when Izumi had enough money, she bought a little float and a blanket to sleep on. That night, she let her cat sleep on the float with her. The cat—which she had named Jiji—went to sleep right away, but Izumi stayed up for a while thinking about if anything good would happen to her or if the cat could help her. She decided to think about that in the morning and sleep for now.

Chapter 2

Izumi woke up to the sound of loud car engines—they were louder than usual, and the cars were bigger than usual too!

“Wait, maybe it’s not the cars or their engines, maybe it’s…” She looked at her hands, but instead of hands, they were paws! Jet black paws! She looked in a little mirror that she had bought and saw that she had a cat’s face. She stepped back a little to see her full body, and when she looked she nearly fainted! She was a jet-black cat with bright blue eyes! She looked to her left and saw Jiji. She ran over to Jiji and asked why she was a cat.

“When you slept with me, the emerald ring was touching you and me. That emerald ring is not an ordinary ring, it’s a special ring that can turn you into a cat when it’s touching both you and another cat,” Jiji replied. 

“Yeah, but is there a way to change me back into a human?” Izumi asked. 

“You have to go to the Lord of the Cats, and there she will give you the answer to change back into a human. I do not know the answer to that, but I will help you reach her,” said Jiji. 

“Ok, but can we please go now? The cars are loud!” Izumi said.

“Well if you want to get away from the noise follow me!” Jiji yelled. She ran toward some bushes, waiting for Izumi to follow her. Izumi caught up to her and followed her through the bushes. 

Chapter 3

“How much longer?” Izumi complained.

“We’re almost there! Now chill out!” Jiji said impatiently. When they finally reached their destination, Izumi was shocked. Right in front of her, there was the biggest tree she has ever seen, and right in the middle of it was a big glowing stone. 

Jiji caught her looking at it and said, “That’s where the Lord of the Cats lives. It looks easy to get to, but trust me it’s hard.” 

“Why’s it hard?” Izumi asked. 

“Because, one: there are a ton of vines. And two: there are a bunch of bodyguards inside the stone and outside,” Jiji explained. 

“But I don’t see anyone,” Izumi said, confused. 

“That’s because they’re invisible.”

“WHAT?! How are we supposed to get past them!?”

“We’ll have to figure out a plan, dummy!”

“Riiight. So what’s the plan?” 

“I can’t think of a plan that quickly!” Jiji said angrily.

“Ok, so can we think of a plan?!”

“I thought you were nice!”

“I am just freaked out because I’m a cat!” While they were arguing a tall, big, gray, poofy cat stood there watching them fight. They clearly didn’t see him. 

“Ahem.” 

“Ahhhhh!!!” Jiji and Izumi screamed together.

“Oh, it’s just you,” said Jiji.

“Who’s he?” whispered Izumi.

“He’s my friend HairBall,” Jiji responded.

“Ok.”

“Can you help us?” Jiji pleaded, “Pleeease?”

The gray cat finally spoke. “Ok, ok, what do you want?”

“My friend here,” Jiji nudged Izumi, “got turned into a cat accidentally and needs to get turned back, but the only person that knows how to do that is The Lord of the Cats.” 

“So you want to sneak into the stone?” HairBall questioned.

“It’s for a good reason!” Jiji said.

“I didn’t say anything!”

“Ok but pleease??”

“FINE!”

“Uh, helloo, I exist,” Izumi said. 

“Sorry, I forgot about you,” Jiji said in a guilty voice.

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“Ok, let’s just make the plan,” Jiji said.

Chapter 4

It took a while for them to make a plan, but they finally did it. They planned to get some invisibility potion just in case. Then, they got some friends to distract the guards, and Hairball, Izumi, and Jiji snuck into the stone. What they didn’t know was that there was a narrow cliff that they had to go on to get to the stone. Their plan worked to get past the guards, but then when they came upon the cliff, they didn’t know what to do! They decided to hold onto the wall going in a single file line with Izumi in front. Izumi accidentally stepped a little too close to the edge where there was a loose rock. She slipped, but luckily she caught onto one of the rocks on the edge and pulled herself up. From then on, they stayed as close as they could to the wall.

Chapter 5

“Shhh!”

“No, you shh!”

The three cats had successfully snuck into the stone. 

“WOW!” they all said together. It glowed not too bright, but it was amazing. 

“What are you doing here?!” boomed a voice behind them.

They turned around to see the Lord of the Cats towering above them. She looked like a humongous calico cat. 

“We just wanted to know how to change me back into a human,” Izumi squeaked. 

“Ohh yeah, about that…” the Lord of the Cats said. 

“What, you know how to change me back?” Izumi asked hopefully.

“Umm, you can’t,” the Lord of the Cats said slowly.

“What do you mean?” Izumi asked in a scared voice.

“You can’t change back into a human.”

Izumi started shaking, then couldn’t hold it in and just let it out. She started crying so hard. Jiji and Hairball tried to comfort her, but she knew she couldn’t change back into a human and that was the end of her human life.

Ruby the Red Dragon

Ruby was born right by a volcano. When her egg cracked open, her mother and father weren’t there. As Ruby got older, she taught herself how to stay safe and gather food by herself. 

One day, she was flying around the island and found a castle in the clouds that looked like it was abandoned. She drew near to the castle, and suddenly, a group of knights came out screaming, “Charge!” They shot arrows at her but missed. They threw cannons and anything they could, but still, they didn’t have good aim at Ruby. Somehow, even though she wasn’t doing anything, Ruby started to feel drowsy and sleepy. Everything went black in her mind.

When Ruby woke up, the sun was not out and it was dark. She had been carried to the dungeons of the castle. Ruby shot fire out of her nostrils, but the knights didn’t seem to notice. She shouted as loud as she could, but the knights still didn’t do anything. 

Once she got placed with the other dragons in her cell, in dragon language they asked each other’s names. The first 45 seconds they got to know each other, they immediately knew they were going to be best friends. One of the dragons was named Sapphire, another one named Pearl, and one named Opal. 

Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into days, days turned into months, and months turned into years. All that time, the dragons made a plan to escape. 

One night, at 11:59 PM, they were prepared to break open their cells as quietly as they could. But the fire ended up blasting the castle in two pieces, leaving a cloud. 

As it did so, the dragons soared high to the cloud that the ancient castle was sitting on for millions of years.

The Spoiled Rich Brat

May 27

Dear diary,

My name is Chloe. My dad is REALLY rich. I can get ANYTHING I want. I bet my friends are so jealous!!! I used to have a lot of friends, but now I only have 6 because they said I was too sassy and boastful. But I don’t really care anyway because the friends I have now are WAYYY better. One day at school, there was a new girl. She looked poor, so I decided to tease her. So I told my friends, “We have to make a list of things to tease her with.”

We did, but we had to buy some things that were pretty expensive. So, of course, I asked my dad for some money! He said, “Of course,” and handed me 2,000 dollars. And that was the exact amount we needed! I said thanks and headed out the door.

We went to the local shopping market to buy the stuff we needed, like trash cans, tripwire, and a lot more. My dad was friends with the manager, Bob, so once he saw my friends and me he said, “What would you like today ma’am?” 

I said all the things we needed, and he said those things were out of stock. So I screamed, “Get me those things right now, before I have to call my dad!”

He said, “Ok, ok, ma’am,” and went to the warehouse to search for the things. He came back 10 minutes later and said, “I am so sorry but there is nothing I can do.”

So I screamed again and said, “You know that this is the WORST  market I have ever been to, and I am going to give this store the WORST review!!” 

I think he got mad too, so he screamed back, “Well, I’m gonna call your dad and tell him about you!”

My friends tried to calm me down, so I screamed one last time, “I DON’T CARE!” and stomped out the door.

xx

Chloe

May 27

Dear diary,

“Chloe, I need to have a talk with you!” my dad called.

So I said, “Yes,” in my very best daughter’s voice.

Then he opened the door. I wondered what he would talk about, like would I get some extra allowance, or would I get another dog to go with my other 2 Pomeranians? But then he said, “Chloe, I am very disappointed in you. Yesterday I got a call from Bob, and he said you were very rude.”

I thought, “Oh no!” Not this AGAIN!

And then he continued, “Bob told me you said his market was the worst store you had been to, is that right?”

“Uhhh…”

He started to yell, “CHLOE, YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE!”

And I decided that from that day, I would never talk to him ever again.

xx

Chloe

Dear diary,

Now I have to make a different plan since, you know… So I called my friends over to hang out and make a new plan. We decided to trip that poor girl from school and push her when there weren’t any teachers around. So we tried our plan and it worked. But summer break came quickly. So I said bye to my friends and walked out of school.

xx

Chloe

Dear diary,          

This summer break was the best break ever! We stayed at a resort in Hawaii and went and saw volcanoes erupting. Then we went to Colorado to a ski resort, and I thought that was even better. We went skiing on the Black Diamond, and I fell and twisted my ankle so I said, “I quit,”  and went back to the stupid lodge. When I got back to school, some kid pointed at me with my crutches. He also started laughing. So I said back to them, “Your families are probably poor as  dirt!” The truth is, basically money is all I care about. (Me in my head yelling, MONEY$$$$ 4 LIFE!)

I had to wear those AWFUL crutches for 8 weeks!!! Almost every person I walked past turned their head and looked at me. Another fact about me is that I like attention, but not this kind. Those 8 weeks were so painful and embarrassing, but at least I made it through. When I got to return those crutches I was so happy!! I yelled and screamed and shouted. My dad told me to calm down. I was about to say something, but then I remembered that I wouldn’t talk to him.

xx

Chloe

June 2

Dear diary,

Ok, so today I went to our attic to look for cool things to play with. While I was looking through some boxes, I found a diary. It looked really old and had the prettiest lace covering the edges. But this is the part I can’t believe. It said Sophie on it, and that was my mother’s name (at least I’m pretty sure). I spent the rest of the day thinking about the diary I  found and if I should ask Dad because I still am not talking to him. I finally made up my mind and went up to him. This is how it went:

“Dad? I wanted to ask if Mom wrote in diaries.” 

His answer was, “Yeah, she did, but let’s not talk about that.” He sounded sad when he said that.

So I walked back to my room. In my brain, I thought, “Wait, where is my mom? Where did she go? Did she leave us?”

That day I had so many thoughts swirling in my head. I was so tired so I went to bed.

TO BE CONTINUED…

The Seal

Once upon a time, there was a seal that wanted to go to the forest. The seal was one year old. He asked his mom if he could go to the forest. His mother said he could not go because he needed to be in the water. The seal grew and grew. Years passed, and he got upset and wanted to make a plan to go to the forest. He swam and swam. He even swam where he had never been before. He was swimming so fast that lost his hat and was too tired to even keep swimming. Then he saw a sign that said yard sale. So when he got his energy, he went to the yard sale. He found a glass container and a motor at the yard sale. Then he filled the tank with water and taped the motor to it. He hopped in the tank, and he went to the forest sitting in the tank at the end.

The End

Darkness Rises

An hour before dawn, a mysterious creature was spotted in Roseville Park in Hollywood, California. The police department said it was about nine feet tall. The police also spotted a gem that the creature was holding during the video that they took. People said that it belonged in a museum and that it was worth one million dollars.

“Someone must retrieve this gem.”  

When Jacob woke up with a start, there were so many things stuck in his mind:

  1. The incident at Roseville Park.
  2. Problems at home.

I mean seriously, it’s not easy to move into a new house, he thought.

As Jacob was walking to his friend Astor’s house, he could hear the loud thunder going: 

Boom! Boom! Boom! 

When Jacob arrived, he told Astor about the gem and that they could get rewarded one million dollars by finding it. 

“We’re going to be rich!” they said together in excitement. 

“I’ll see you at 1:10 am, that’s when we’re out.”

“Ok, Astor. First stop: 42nd street.”

As Jacob and Astor entered the dark house, a loud creeeak sound filled the hallway. As they crept along the stairs, a foot-sized claw pierced through the door.

Jacob and Astor rushed towards the door, and inside they caught a glimpse of a nine-foot monster carrying a two-foot gem. Jacob and Astor tried to snatch the gem from the monster, but it was too late. The monster had vanished…

***

After discussing the issue for a long time, Jacob and Astor finally thought of a plan to capture the monster and retrieve the gem. They programmed a weapon to trap the monster in a jar that would give it an electrical shock through its nervous system and put the monster to sleep. After the monster was captured, they would return the gem to the museum. 

Once it was dark, they put their plan into action. As they walked, they discussed how the monster must have teleported from California to New York. 

They came to a stop. The old oak door opened slightly, and they stepped inside and the old carpet on the floor evaporated. While they were checking downstairs, they heard a loud shriek coming from upstairs on the top floor. As they stepped into the dirty elevator, the noise became louder and louder until… Ding dong! The elevator door opened. 

Standing in front of them was the nine-foot monster carrying a two-foot gem. They aimed the weapon towards the creature’s heart and fired. It hit the monster, and the monster started twitching. Suddenly, it was trapped in an electrical jar which put it to sleep.

“Our plan worked!” screamed Jacob and Astor.
As they headed back towards the museum, the ominous clouds changed into white and fluffy clouds. When they entered the museum, the manager thanked them for their perseverance and bravery. Jacob and Astor handed him the gem, and the museum locked the monster’s jar in a cell, so the monster could never get out. They had saved the world! 

***

Epilogue

Then, a black hellhound appeared from the shadows.

“Darkness will return,” he said, and everything turned dark… 

1888

I was born in 1888. My family was dead. We had been investigating some bird, hippopotamus and t-rex when we heard a rumble. Then a volcano erupted and lots of lava was falling down.  It was big. There was thunder on the volcano and that was what was making it erupt. My family had been running back to our home but there was too much lava. So I hid under a big leaf and my mom and my sister and my dad were running to our home, but they all got caught and roasted by the volcano. 

So after all the eruption, I took them to the military and dug them graves and put a stone on them. I was homeless, but I wasn’t really, because I had my own house. I was hungry and then I saw the secret room where there were lots of fishing poles and spam. So I decided to go fishing. I cooked them up because I was over twenty (I was twenty one). Then I got some flaming rocks and I got my gloves and I picked up the rocks. I threw them at the graveyard. After I threw them, it started raining. The graveyard was rumbling. All of the dead people were coming up, and I saw they were zombies. There were only, like, people eaters. I ran and I saw my little four-year-old brother. He started chasing me. I saw my sister chasing another person. Then I threw a rock at my dad’s grave stone and he became a flaming zombie. 

I went to the house, and it was full of zombies. I dodged all of the zombies and ran to Dad’s secret room. There were a lot of zombies there. In the room, there were a lot of guns. I chose the mini gun and started shooting the zombies. And then I ran out of the bullets, so I chose two different weapons: the pistol and the sniper. I didn’t want to shoot my family, but I had to, because if they were zombies, they were of no use. 

I shot the flaming zombie, who was my dad. Then I shot my own little brother, then I shot my mom, then the pistol ran out of ammo so I used the sniper. Then there were only fifty zombies on my watch. The watch tells me how many people there are. There were actually 201 people, but after I shot the last person, I was all alone. I decided to live with my friend, the t-rex. His name was T-rex. Then there was lots of dead zombie flesh, but I told the t-rex not to touch it. The t-rex’s friend came, and after I was done playing with my friend, I went to the water. 

I found my friend, Shark. I saw a lot of fish. I asked Shark to kill all of those fish because I was hungry and had no food. I had all of these friends. I saw a traveler. He had a detective hat and sunglasses. He had long pants and a short t-shirt. I asked if I could live with him, and he said yes. 

When we got to his home, we lived together. After a while, he asked if I wanted some hot chocolate. I said I wanted a frozen hot chocolate and he gave me one. 

The problem was that the traveler was a werewolf. Today it was a full moon and I saw that he went in the garden. Then I followed him without getting caught, and then he looked at the full moon. Then there was a lot of fur, and then he started to grow more fur, and then he turned around and then he lived on the farm, so he ate all the pigs and the cows and the chickens and then he was going after me. And then I went back to bed and then he left the house. He didn’t sleep, he just stayed on the farm and stared at the full moon until it was the morning. Then he turned back into a person and I didn’t say that I sneaked out because I didn’t want him to know that I sneaked. 

After nine days, there was a lot of birds that I didn’t know, and then there were lots of people. Then I brought fish from the old ages and the traveler cooked it for me and then I ate it. He said at the next full moon, he would be having werewolf babies. After the full night, I saw a lot of little furry things, and those were like babies. They all followed the werewolf and they all turned into a werewolf. There were more people driving, and they all went for him the car. And then he was going for the person and then ate him up, and I was so terrified that I went back to bed and I didn’t sleep, I just searched up with my computer for werewolves. Then I saw that they eat only person meat. I thought he was going to go for me, but when he saw me, he didn’t run for me, he just went for all the animals. Then I researched: does a werewolf have babies? And they said: yes, and there were more babies until they died.  

Then I went to the garden. Then the chickens were getting more fur and laying more eggs. Then I ran away from the house and I lived with my friends. Then a big tsunami came. It flooded everything, and after a few minutes, the volcano erupted. Then I went to live in the arctic. It was too cold there so I ran to live in the desert, but it was too hot there so I decided to live in New York. And then I got through the pipe in New York. I went to someone else’s house and then I went through the tunnel and then I ran inside it and I saw a lot of scorpions. I got bitten by one and I fell down, and after a few days, I woke up and I was hungry. So I decided to eat the scorpions, but I needed a cooking place. I had an idea. So I brought all my scorpions to the volcano and cooked them. I chopped down the scorpion’s tail. I ate them and they were yummy, and there were a lot of enemies so I bit them and they got poisoned to death. I ate so many of them. But I got a poison bite because there were a lot of animals, and I was about to cook them but they attacked and then I just put it in my mouth so they didn’t eat it. The scorpion just went down to my stomach and I just bit them and they made a weird sound so I knew they were poisoned. And that’s how I died.

Then, they got poisoned and they died, and one by one I killed them, and then I saw there was a school of fish and I bit all of them and got an offense thing and a defense thing and then I looked and saw a big T-Rex and I bit them. It did no damage and I asked my friends to help so we defeated them and ate them for lunch.

So they ate him for lunch and I felt something weird in my stomach and then I almost died and then he said that he got poisoned, and then he bit him a lot and did poison and ate him and that’s how I got poisoned back.

And then he said that something was wrong with what he ate, and then he said he was born in 1888 and ate a lot of dinosaurs but the last one was really bad for his environment and health. Then I went to a doctor for about two weeks, who said I could go back when the time came. He said that I would at least need to avoid meat for two years and for now, I needed to eat vegetables. Then I said to myself that I could eat one little bite of meat. Then I ate it, and it had only been just one year, and I didn’t remember the taste but then I did! Then I went back to the doctor because I felt so sick and he asked if I had eaten meat. I said yes and he said no meat for 9 years. I didn’t eat meat for 8 years, but I got sick of vegetables, so after 9 years I went back to the doctor and then he said I could eat meat and then I went crazy on meat and then I ate a lot of meat from supermarkets. I didn’t buy them, I just stole them because I had no money.

After, I got really sick, then I went back to the doctors. He said I needed to go into a coma for about 30 years. I said to myself I thought I was going to die! Then after 30 years, I was about 40 years old and then I started cooking for myself and making my own money. I got a bank account and I got more money to buy more stocks to get more money. Then I got really tired of just waiting for money so I decided to play video games. I bought a PS5 and played the game like crazy. I played a Mario game and completed all the levels, so I played a different game and it was called rocket launch and I was so good at it and then I got the ball. I kept scoring and and got a lot of robots and then I got new clothes. I got socks, I got pants, and soon, my stock was going up soooo much because people were trading me and I was putting stuff in my stock.

Soon, I was a trillionaire and I went to a millionaire and then I bought lots of stuff, so I had thousands of dollars. I stopped wasting money and waited for me to be a millionaire and I went crazy on money now. I stopped eating meat and started getting healthy stuff like vegetables and fruits. I ate two snacks and three meals every day, and became the healthiest and richest boy in the world and then I was a nine millionaire. I was so crazy that I thought of breaking more games and then I broke all the games that I know so I started to install games that I didn’t know. There were so little games that I didn’t know about. Then I got a YouTube premium that had no ads and got new games that had no ads. Then, in one day, I got millions and millions of dollars and became the richest boy and became so curious to see who was giving me this money. I went to my old house and there was so much dust. I went to my room and saw the same lady giving me all the money and then I knew who she was. It was my grandma who almost died in a coma because someone pushed her and she almost fell 30 feet. She was in a coma still and donating all the money she had and now she had $9, but now $8, and then she died of a coma and she actually donated $1 to me, that was crazy. 

I went to college, and then after it became too hard, I went to elementary school. I went to meet my new friends and they were AJ, Michael, Andrea, Emily, Ryan, and Neil, and my first teacher was Mr. Granite. He was suspicious, so I followed him and I bought a new mansion near my school and then I was so suspicious of him. And then I followed him some more and then I decided I would go with my friends Neil, Michael, and Ryan, so I went with them.

We couldn’t find him in his house but we found him building a rocket ship and the garage door opened and he looked at us and then AJ and I didn’t know what to say. Then AJ finally said, “Freeze, dirtbag!”

Then Mr. Granite put his arms up in the air but then put them down because we did not have any weapons. And then we did elementary school, and then I got a new teacher when I was in 3rd grade. Then, on Friday, we were going to switch to our 3rd grade class and Mr. Granite was going to take off Friday at 2:00 PM. We went there just in time.

All of us played together and then we shook our heads. Andrea didn’t like it so Emily and Andrea stayed there. We got a new substitute teacher and I thought that was our teacher, so they waited for us and he was flying in the room wearing a red cape and then he fell down. He was lying down and then he brought rats because he was pretending to be a superhero, and then he showed it to everyone and then Emily was screaming and running out of the room.

What a crybaby, I thought.

And then, in 4th grade, we got a new substitute teacher instead of Mr. Cooper. Then we got a new substitute teacher and her name was Ms. Mary. And then she was going to get married to Mr. Tommy. And then she was making black makeup on her eyelids and then she was wearing everything black, and then Ms. Mary told us that she was from England and she did snorkeling and also there was a lot about hot dogs.

Then, at lunchtime, AJ said, “Ms. Mary is scary.” After AJ said that, he said that she lived in a cave and hung upside down. AJ said she was a vampire and then Emily said,

“We need to do something!” And then she ran out of the room.

What a crybaby, AJ thought.

And then Andrea said, “Don’t try to scare Emily.”

And then, when we got back, someone was climbing in the roof and I bet that it was Mr. Tommy. Then he said, “Will you marry me?”

Ms. Mary said excitedly, “Yes!”

And then they started smooching up until and after Mr. Tommy gave Ms. Mary a ring. AJ, Micheal, Ryan and I said that Ms. Mary probably tied up our real teacher on the railroad. “That happens all the time you know,” said AJ. And then they married and Mr. Klutz said Ms. Mary was his daughter. And then Michael, Andrea, Emily, Ryan, Neil, and I didn’t know that Mr. Klutz had a daughter but knew that he married a girl pig and that was the funniest thing in the history of the world. And then, after Mr. Tommy said that, he was starting a song about dirt and then we were going to go up for recess because the bell rang but we all snuck up on Ms. Mary and then they started smooching a million times and after that, they saw us and we ran out of the room. Thankfully, Ms. Mary did not say anything.  

After two weeks, we were going to 5th grade and then we got the same teacher but a new gym teacher and her name was Ms. Small. She was doing some juggling with nine balls and just shooting them up in the air and making all of them in the basketball hoop. Then she jumped on the trampoline and did a backflip and then got all those balls before they came down and shot the balls before they touched the ground. And then Michael, Ryan, AJ, and I were so confused that we laughed hard in confusion and then when she was done, we saw Ms. Small was very tall and her name should’ve been Ms. Tall instead of Ms. Small! Then she taught us to balance a feather with one finger and then she told us we had to juggle 10 balls in a row… It was so hard that I actually threw up and I got a headache. And when I got to Ms. Cooney’s office, our nurse told me that I had to go home. I thought I was happier than a panda eating 900 bamboo sticks.

Bill the Foodie

Bill was a foodie. He loved food of all kinds, and if you were to ask him if he had gone to this restaurant or that restaurant, he would always say yes. There were no restaurants in the vicinity of his house that he had not been to at least 17 times. But there was one restaurant he hadn’t been to that was across the world, but so far, he could not get there. It served special food, such as fish that only was in the waters in Australia, where the restaurant was.

He had heard about the restaurant from a friend of his in Australia who loved the food in the restaurant. He was in Chicago, and the weather had been bad, so he couldn’t get a plane. No boats would take him either, because they were worried about a storm. It had been raining and thundering for the past couple days, and there were no modes of distant transportation. Although Bill loved food, he also had a degree in building planes. One morning a few days later, an idea came to him. He would build a plane that could fly in any type of weather. But he knew that in the town where he lived, there were criminals who would steal his idea. He wanted to make sure that he would be the first one to file the patent.

He had a high stone wall built around the house, so high that it was unclimbable. He also had a tunnel built within the wall to get out and go to the supermarket or to one of his favorite restaurants. He went to a supply shop and got all the materials needed to build the plane. Then, he put them in his house via the opening in the tunnel in another place in his spacious yard. He started building the next day but accidentally put a piece in a place that it was not supposed to go, and it was bolted in, so to take it out and still have the plane be intact would be nearly impossible.

He was in a rage. Why hadn’t he checked that he was building the plane correctly? He felt like he was under so much pressure, but he realized that it was just a restaurant, and a plane that may or may not work.  Luckily, he had a close friend, who also built planes, and his friend gave him parts under the condition that he would let his friend fly in the plane as much as wanted. Gary, his friend, though, did not like food at all, and the nutrition he got was from a drink that he drank every day. Bill disagreed with him about just drinking things, but he told himself that he didn’t need to care. He knew that it wasn’t him, but other people do other things. Bill got a manual to build a plane, and he based his plane off of it. Unfortunately, the workman who worked for him also cleaned his house, and, by mistake, he threw away the manual. Luckily, right after, Bill saved it from the wastepaper basket, told the workman what had happened and forgave him, and then he kept going with his plane. 

Months passed, and he had his plane finished. Coincidentally, there was also bad weather, so he could still use his plane, and he flew happily to the restaurant. Also, he patented his plane.

The restaurant was everything he dreamed of. He loved the food so much that he decided to move to Australia permanently. He married and had children and everyone loved his plane, and soon it was used commercially. Time after time he went to the restaurant. He declared that it was the best restaurant he had ever experienced in his life. He lived a couple blocks away from the restaurant, so he could go there anytime he wanted. Bill realized that he didn’t need to go to every restaurant. He could start his own restaurant. And that is exactly what he did. 

Bill was happy with his restaurant, and he served interesting things, like smoked bats, steamed horse, and strange muffins full of grape and shallot and tomato. He had lots of customers because word passed quickly that he had very strange things in his restaurant. Every day, 50 people would come and take their favorite salads (with oranges, onions, and cranberries) and favorite soups (with grapefruits, tomatoes, and garlic). But he was bored with his menu. Every month or so, he would change it up. There would be tea with carrot juice, water infused with tomatoes, every strange item you can think of. Soon, people started moving closer to his restaurant, so that they could go there constantly. He had so many customers, he had to build a bigger restaurant to fit all of them! Finally, he decided to sell the restaurant. He sold it to his most loyal customers. The restaurant was operating even better without him. But he was still helping out if any of his new employees had any questions. Bill wanted to go back to Chicago though, so his entire family (he was getting quite old) packed their bags and left Australia. He wrote a book about his life, and a cookbook with the dishes he had made over the years. But word had come from Australia that the new employees had quit and sold the restaurant. He was devastated. What if they made his restaurant have normal food? He quickly flew to Australia, and had his by then 40-year-old children take over the restaurant. He flew back to Chicago, and after his children confirmed that everything was in perfect order, he relaxed. He made some of his dishes from the restaurant in his house, and they tasted even better. Word came out that his restaurant had become the number one restaurant in Australia. He was so very happy. People from all over the world had been coming to Australia just to see his restaurant. He flew over to Australia and saw that everyone was enjoying the food. He loved the food too, and finally he settled down and enjoyed the restaurant.

But, from the children’s view, life wasn’t all beer and skittles. They found that it was hard for them to run the restaurant as well as their father had. The children didn’t have the same obsession with food. They changed the dishes to what they wanted to make, and it felt easier. But they wanted to have a different career. They told this to their father, and he approved. They sold the restaurant, and moved on. One of the children became an accountant; another, a real estate agent; and another, a government official. They were all happy, and all fondly reminisced about the restaurant. But they still wanted to visit, so they saw how it was, and they helped with the food, and they gave the chefs ideas, as they weren’t totally separated from the restaurant. They still enjoyed it, they weren’t against it, they just had different interests than their father. Just like Bill and Gary. They had different opinions, but they still liked each other. Then, all the children remembered that they knew how to build planes, and got into the plane-building business. They enjoyed it, but realized that they actually wanted to be in the restaurant business again. So they bought it back and started again and found that they liked it more then they ever had. But they were getting old, so they soon retired, and left the family business to their children. And everyone remembered how the whole journey had started with one restaurant in Australia. Bill’s grandchildren liked it more than his children, and happily, they ran the restaurant the best that it had ever been before. 

But dishes were getting out of date, so the grandchildren changed it up a little bit. There was stewed tiger, fried guinea pig, and lettuce and orange peel salad. People enjoyed it, and one day, the grandchildren got an offer that they could not resist. A man was offering to buy the restaurant for 50 million dollars because it was such a good restaurant. He wanted the restaurant because he was a good advertiser, and he would get even more customers. It turned out that the offer was worth it. The man handled the restaurant quite well. Customers now from all over the world came to Australia from Hawaii just to go to Bill’s restaurant. It was in newspapers all over the world, and every single list of best restaurants always listed Bill’s restaurant as #1. By now, everyone in the world had at least heard of it, and three quarters of those people had gone to the restaurant. The man wanted to make the restaurant cheaper so that everybody could come. It was a good idea. Now, everyone had seen his restaurant, and lots of celebrities were coming to see how they got so much business. Most other restaurants had permanently closed because they could not keep up with Bill’s restaurant. The man changed the menu every day so that there would be lots of customers. They had to move into a bigger location so that there would be enough room for all of the customers! Business was doing well, and the man decided to open locations for this restaurant all over the world. It was doing so successfully that the business was worth two trillion dollars. All of the locations got more customers, and every single person in the world had heard of Bill’s restaurant. Bill’s restaurant even had a museum all about it. The business was doing so well that they had so many great chefs because all of the best chefs would take 5 million dollars to do the cooking. Finally, the restaurant was such a success that they had to move into the biggest building in Australia. They had enough money to create a whole chain of buildings named after them. Finally, the grandchildren took it back, and with the man’s advice, continued the restaurant for years to come.

Sticky Consequences

Max sat in his room thinking about the different ways to prank friends and start fights. It was his only thing to do while he was grounded in his room for starting the biggest syrup fight in the Slider’s house history. It was his dad who grounded him, of course.

Max sighed as he took out his book of how to cause trouble and flipped to the “grounded” chapter. Flipping through the pages, he read to see what trouble he could cause. The best he could find was how to make people think you were severely injured.

  1. Put out something that might be the cause of how you were hurt.
  2. Lie down and put where your “hurt part” is to a point where you have to move it to get it to show.
  3. Prepare what you are going to say to alarm everyone. For example: A gasp and then a screech.
  4. When they come and ask where it hurts, say that you can’t move the part and show.
  5. Then when they freak out, tell them that it was a prank and they might get really mad or give a lecture about pranking.

Max followed the instructions and his dad came running in, but instead of a lecture or a screech, his dad just grounded him for a longer amount of time. Max silently screamed in his head. Why can’t my dad be like other dads!? Let Mom do the grounding. He should be doing the screeching. ARRRRGGGGHHHH! he thought. But because Angie walked in and saw him first, his dad thought it was also her too. So she got grounded with him.

While he was still reading how to cause trouble, he heard Angie scowling. He turned around and told her, “It’s not that bad, is it?”  

Angie glared at him. “YOU might not care, but I do!”

“Then just don’t care!” Max suggested.

“I can’t!” Angie muttered.

“If you say so,” Max shrugged

Then there was a knock on the door and Max’s mom came in.

“I hereby grant you permission to take steps out of this room!” she declared

“It’s not like Dad to just let us go, is this a trap?” Angie asked.

“It’s not a trap, but I never actually asked Dad. I mean… I’m a parent, too!” Max’s mom shrugged.

As they walked out of the room, Angie skipping, Max cheesily smiling, and their mom’s head held high, they heard the thump of Max’s dad’s foot slamming the floor.

“YOU LET THEM OUT?! Surely, you know better than THIS?!?!?!” he screeched.

“I’m a parent too, just like you, I get these privileges too. I don’t need to ask. I’m not your copycat,” Max’s mom insisted.

“Very well… just clean up the syrup, okay? And do NOT get into a fight again, or else you’re getting grounded for longer. All three of you,” he sighed.

“Okay!” Angie and her mom said together.

“And Max?”

“Fine.”

When they got to the dining room table, Max started licking the table. It was the fun way to clean up. Not the boring way. He noted that in his head. Then he noticed Jack standing in front of the snack cabinet. “Hey, want help with the licking business?” Jack offered. “There are no good snacks left.” 

Max shrugged. “Sure, I mean, if you were here, we probably would have less of a chance of getting grounded. Dad just likes you because you help Angie more.”

“You might get grounded without me then,” Jack predicted.

Max’s mom turned around. “Let’s not talk about grounding now, shall we? Just don’t get in trouble, ‘k?”

“I’ll try. But don’t be that sure. Actually, don’t be sure at all,” Max replied with a sly smile.

His mom smiled. “Well, ok! Now let’s finish cleaning!”

Space Adventures

Chapter  1

9:30 PM, Heading to the Moon…

***

“Ugh… ” groans Leo. “I’m sick of eating mashed potatoes for breakfast lunch and dinnerrr!”

“Blaaah! Me too,” says Jacob.

“Kill me!!!” yells Andrew, a few moments later

The ship starts beeping. “That’s a good thing, right?”

“Uh oh,” says Leo…

Chapter 2

10:13 PM

SELF… DE… STRUCT… !!!

“Guess it’s the end for us,” says Jacob. “Good knowing you all.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” says Andrew. 

“WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIEEE!!!” screams Leo.

“Oh shut up, man.”

Chapter 3

5:54 AM

Minutes later…

Boom! Crash!

“Ohhh nooo, are we in heaven!?!?!”

“Ahhhh!!”

“We’re dead!!!!”

“Man, I hate Leo,” says Andrew. 

“We’re not dead, we’re just on like some sort of other planet… ?”

“Our ship is kicked,” says Jacob. 

“@#%!#&!” (INTENSE CURSING FROM ANDREW.)

Chapter 4

12:37 AM

“Guess we need to find the parts.”

“I think I found something there,” says Jacob.

“Where?”

“There.”

“Oh, look at that,” says Leo.

Chapter 5

10:15 PM

Leo points to a giant booster.

“Whaaa?” says Jacob. “Guess I will get it.”

“Seems like other people have been here,” says Andrew.

They keep walking when Leo starts screaming for no reason, “It’s bones!!!“

“Ugh, eww,” says Andrew.

“Why do I hear like a BZZzz?”

Chapter 6 

2:56 AM

“Take cover!”

“What was that?!” yells Jacob. 

“Looks like a giant robot sent to kill us all, sir,” says Leo. 

Andrew backs off. “Well, we better start to explore and report to NASA what we are seeing,” says Andrew.

“YOU THINK THEY WILL BELIEVE ALL OF THIS?!?!”

Chapter 7

8:19 AM

“Oooooh, fruits, something else, then mashed potatoes!” says Leo.

“Yum!”

“Sweet!” 

“Juicy!”

“How come you can breathe?”

“I don’t know.”

“Huh, I can breathe as well. I’m going to write this down.”

Chapter 8

6:34 PM

“Water!!!!” says Leo.

He walks to the big lake. They see a smooth pile of sand. 

“Maybe we can rest here,” says Andrew. 

Chapter 9

9:27 AM

“Why do I feel little legs on me?” asks Andrew. 

“Why do I hear Leo carrying something?” asks Jacob. 

“Guys, look what I found!It says that they’re called crawlers!!!”

“They look like scorpions… ”

“This is like earth, weeee!!!” Splash!!!!                                                                                

Chapter 10

4:45 AM 

“I think we should rest,” says Jacob.

“How?” says Leo.

“How about that?”

“Why do I feel pain on my feet?” asks Andrew. 

“Umm, should we tell him?”

“No, you noticed it, you tell him!”

“Umm, uhhh, you have a tiger snapper snapping your leg,” says Leo.

“AaaAAHhhHH! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!!!!”

Chapter 11

8:54PM

1 hour later… 

“Guess we should head there!”

“There’s a jungle here?!?”

“I’m so glad that tiger snapper is gone.”

“I hear crawling again, is it your 999 crawlers, Leo?” 

“No,” says Leo.

“I think I found their cousin, the black crawler,” says Jacob.

Chapter 12

12:46 AM

“Be careful though, black cavaliers can be territorial. I hope they don’t mind us, it says that they eat bigger things than us, so we should be fine.”

Chapter 13

8:14 PM

“What’s that green liquid?”

“Don’t jump in there. It’s not wat – ”

“JUMP FIRST! CHECK LAST! WEEE!”

“God, I hate him,” says Andrew.

“Is it just me or do I see a giant factory out there?”

Chapter 14

2:48 AM

“This is going to take forever… ” groans Leo. 

“We’re already here.”

“Oh.”

“We better be sneaky, I see robots EVERYWHERE, so we need to stick toget – ”

“Weeeeee!!” !says Leo.

“WHY!”

Chapter 15 

7:56 AM

“He is so dead.”

“I’M ALIVE!”

“Aww man, I found a teleporter!”

“Really?” asks Andrew.

“Yeah! Here.” 

Chapter 16

1:34 PM

“Where does it go?”

“I have no idea. See ya!”

“Wait, we don’t know where it goes?!”

“Guess I will see him on the other side.” 

Chapter 17

9:38 PM

“Wah… it’s all junk and rocks and dirt, we are in Jun Bot City.”

“Wah, I see a lot of them,” says Leo. 

“There are a lot of these little square robots with small eyes,” says Andrew. “I see another

Teleporter!” 

Chapter 18

4:24 AM

“Wow, you look pixelated!”

“Why are your words in a speech bubble?” says Andrew. 

“I have moves! We’re in a video game! Where is the next teleporter?”                                          

Chapter 19

“It says that we need to complete 10 levels and fight the last boss,” says Jacob. 

LEVEL 1

PRESS THE RIGHT ARROW TO GO RIGHT

PRESS THE LEFT ARROW TO GO LEFT

PRESS THE SPACEBAR TO JUMP

LOADING…

“Oooo, we have fireballs for fighting!” 

PRESS SHIFT TO SHOOT FIREBALLS

Nice! Now let’s go fight that boss!

 LEVEL 2

WAVE 1 OF ENEMIES

That was easy. 

WAVE 2 OF ENEMIES

That was also easy. 

FINAL WAVE OF ENEMIES

Ow! Flying enemies, really?

LEVEL 3

WAVE 1 OF ENEMIES 

God, these parasites may be small, but they have two hearts!

And we only have three!

WAVE 2 OF ENEMIES

Whaaa, that’s three big dragons! 

FINAL WAVE

What is that?! Looks like a stone gaint.

LEVEL 4

MINI BOSS LEVEL

“Oh no, that’s a hydra! Dodge its attacks!!!”

“Ow, ow, eek!”

“I need to heal, “ says Leo. 

“He’s got my back!” says Jacob. 

“Good, I’ll get the final hit, and yeet!”

“Okay.”

“Now what?”

LEVEL 5

BIG SWARM OF ENEMIES!!!

“Ahhhh! Take cover!!!”

“I got like 453 of them!!!”
“Ahhhhh, eeeek!” 

A few hours later……

LEVEL 10 BOSS LEVEL

“Whaa, that is… so… AWESOME!!!”

“Please no, Leo,” says Andrew. 

“ROAR!!!”

“Oooh nooo, it shoots lasers!!!”

“Run, run, run, run!”

“Whew, I got some good shots on him!!!!” says Jacob. 

“Not me!” says Leo. “This could have been 100% easier if he weren’t able to move!!!” 

A FEW HOURS LATER 

“Ugh… this boss is unbeatable.” 

“Bruh, Leo, we just beat it.”

“Oh, okay!” says Leo. 

Chapter 20

3:15 AM

PICK ONE OUT OF THREE TELEPORTERS 

TO GO BACK BACK TO EARTH 

“Awwww, but I don’t want to go back to eating mashed potatoes in NYC!” says Leo.

“Yeah, there needs to be another way… ”

“Hmmm… ”

“I’ve got it! How about we build a bridge all the way back to earth!” says Jacob. 

“How?”

“With all the things that we discovered.”

Chapter 21

6:34 PM

“Phew, we made it!!! I see the president!”

A few minutes later

“And let us celebrate the glory for ANDREW, JACOB, AND LEO for being so brave and going to another planet! And making a giant bridge all the way back to earth!!! Here are your medals, and here’s the money.”

“Wow, I can’t believe we did it,” says Andrew. 

“Do you know what that means?” 

Chapter 22

10:23 PM

A few hours of celebrating 

“Woo! That felt gooood!” says Leo. 

“Yeah,” says Leo. “Wonder what planet to go to next? Maybe Venus?” says Jacob. 

“Pssst, NO! Something new!” 

Beep, beep. 

“Huh, my contact watch is beeping. Hmm.” 

“I see NASA says that one of their satellites is seeing dangerous things on planet 5,603. It says if we don’t stop it now, bad stuff is going to happen,” says Jacob. 

“What do you guys say?” 

“Ok!” says Leo. 

“I’m in!” says Jacob. 

“Ok,” says Andrew. 

“So where’s the spaceship?” asks Andrew.

“We crashed it, remember?” says Leo. 

“Oh, ummm.”                                                             

THE END

 Ok, we’re done here.

The Alien Bob Books

Chapter 1: The Alien Trying to Get Back Home 

There was an alien that needed an alien spaceship and fuel to get back to his home in space. When his parents were going to go on vacation in space, Alien Bob fell out of the UFO and landed on Earth. The alien named Alien Bob was searching for a spaceship/UFO. He had been searching for weeks, but he gave up hope. But there was a firewall to get to the UFO. He went into the Internet but there were internet golems so he fought the internet golems with his sticky tentacles, and Alien Bob won against the internet golems. So then he went to see the internet firewall. 

The firewall said, “Guess the password if you want to pass or I will blast you with a fire.” 

Then Alien Bob saw the UFO. “Ok,” said Alien Bob, “I think firewall.”

 The firewall said, “Error, nobody ever got past me. You may pass, you just need fuel.”

Alien Bob went down to the underworld to defeat the fire golems. He dug with his green pail head. Then Alien Bob went to defeat the fire golems. He punched them with his green fists and defeated the fire golems. Then he went to the top of Mount Everest to kill the ice golems. He got to the top of Mount Everest. An ice golem missed the Alien Bob with a liter of fuel he brought all the time.

Then Alien Bob hit the ice golem, then got the fuel. Now, he needed to get back to the UFO. He went back to the internet. The internet golems were dead, so he said to the firewall, “Firewall,” and he put the fuel into the UFO. He went into space but there were obstacles in space, so he turned on his guns and killed the robots. He went back to his planet and reunited with his alien mom and dad, and his mom and dad were so excited when they saw Alien Bob. The last time they had seen Alien Bob was 20 years ago.

Chapter 2: When Alien Bob Got an Alien Dog and Cat

One alien day on an alien planet, there was this new invention called an alien dog and cat. Alien Bob really wanted the alien dog and cat. But Alien Bob’s parents said, “No, no, we are not doing that. You already got lost on earth. We’re not spending $9,999.”

“Mom, why are you crying?” said Alien Bob.

“Well, your grandpa invented alien dogs and cats and he died today, so I don’t want to get the dog or the cat. But you can use your money to get a dog or cat.”

 “Ok,” said Alien Bob. He got the dog and cat. 

Chapter 3: Learning Everything of Alien

The alien planet is named Bleezama. They always have hot weather. Alien Bob’s mom’s name is Bloop Burp and Alien Bob’s dad is named Alien Blurb. All the aliens look green and have 90 small eyes. Aliens Bob’s parents act very happy. Their house in Bleezama is green and blue.

Chapter 4: How Other Aliens Almost Destroyed an Alien Planet

One day Alien Bob was friends with different kinds of aliens. They played alien tag. Alien tag was played if you got tagged you had to stuff your head in water, then you tag someone else. Then one day Alien Bob’s friend didn’t show up. He knew that his alien friend Zooburg was up to something. Alien Bob placed a tracker on Zooburg, and he was on a ship with a super duper Death Laser of DOOM. The ship with Zooburg in it went to Alien Bob’s planet. But then Alien Bob got his jetpack and the Sword of Justice and went to the ship. He broke the glass and killed the person controlling the Death Laser of DOOM. Then he found the reactor that gives power to the ship and he broke it. Then his bad friend Zooburg died with the ship. Alien Bob felt happy because his friend almost killed him and his planet.

Chapter 5: Zooburg’s Rebirth

 You know in the last book Zooburg died, so he will be reborn in this book. Zooburg’s death resulted in his dad being mad, so he gave him a second life. His dad had the power to give him a second life because he was emperor of all aliens. You can only give someone a second life once you’re an emperor because it uses too much energy. You also have to have a reason to use it on someone. Then Alien Bob found out about Zooburg’s rebirth in one year. He tried to destroy the house but he got away with the Sword of Destiny. But then, five years later, Zooburg came back with the Death Laser of DOOM and his emperor dad. So then all hope was lost, but his mom and dad had been hiding for years. They had the lost Sword of the Cosmos. Legend said that anybody that had, it was the god of the cosmos. So then Alien Bob’s mom gave Alien Bob the Sword of the Cosmos. 

Zooburg said, “You have the Sword of the Cosmos?”

 “Yes, I do. I’m not killing you, I’m killing your dad,” said Alien Bob. He stabbed Zooburg’s dad, who died, and now Alien Bob was the emperor with special abilities. 

Alien Bob said to his parents, “I promise you guys will be emperors.”

Chapter 6: Alien Bob’s Parents Becoming Emperors

“Ok,” said his parents. Alien Bob made two more of himself. Then, his parents killed the copy of Alien Bob by stabbing it. Then, Alien Bob’s parents were now emperors. The emperor powers are making two more of yourself, making someone alive again, killing someone instantly, and making the Sword of the Cosmos.

The Bunny Who Wanted a Carrot

Once upon a time, there was a bunny that wanted a carrot. The bunny went everywhere and searched for a carrot, but there was no carrot anywhere. The little bunny asked his mom where the carrots were. Mom said where the carrots were and the bunny hopped to where his mother told him to, but there were no carrots. The bunny went home again and asked his dad where he kept the carrots. The little bunny’s dad told him where he kept the carrots, and the little bunny went there. The little bunny searched and searched there, but he couldn’t find any carrots. 

The little bunny got so upset that he went to the market to buy his own carrot. There were no carrots in the market. The people said that a big giant had come and eaten all the carrots up, and the little bunny believed that. He said that he would kill the giant and get all the carrots back. 

He took a sword and shield, put some armor on, and went into the forest. He found a humongous giant and threw a rock at its face. Then, he hit the giant in the butt, and the giant gave back all the carrots.

The Big Prison

In the magical world, the weather was the same no matter where you went. But instead of it raining because water evaporates, people in the sky shot water pistols from the sky.

Amber was watching TV in her cell while thinking about plans to escape from prison. She was sure that Steve could not read her mind, so she went on her evil paper and wrote “first things first 111”—that was a secret message that she and her partner could use to write messages on paper. 

Because she was little, she could just squeeze between the bars and into freedom. But she did that once, and she got caught. Now, she was in the biggest securest prison, and everything was covered with bedrock which was an unbreakable type of metal. But she knew that there was a solution to everything. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Steve the elephant was on duty in a different prison. He got a call, but since there was no internet there, he went quickly to the main office where no prisoners were allowed. This was because there was a strong internet connection, and if a prisoner was there, then their best friend might help the prisoner escape by just making a few phone calls and text messages. Anyway, he needed to go to the prison that Amber was in because he was a very good guard.

In the prison that Amber was in, she had to eat bananas for dinner. Since she did not like bananas, she just burned them and put them in the snow, watching the steam come out of the snow. It was so satisfying that Amber did that to a bunch of different bananas, and she almost got caught three or four times. 

Then, Amber got the greatest idea in the world! She could just escape and get caught, and she then knew what to do next. She just randomly went out and got caught on purpose. 

When she was in the waiting room in her trials, she noticed a vent and a lady. Amber climbed onto the vent and dropped a ladder to rescue the lady. She helped the lady and told her the plan. They climbed through the vent and hid behind the boxes. They had four choices: distract, invisible cloak, plead, surprise attack. 

She chose distract. Later, she knew that that option did not work because after, like, thirty seconds she saw that everyone was dancing around like maniacs.

She time traveled back with the lady, and she had a new plan. She would ask the lady for help. She would jump out the window with her and hop on the motorcycle. The lady agreed. So Amber II jumped out of the window, but the real Amber missed the motorcycle, and the guards began chasing her. 

But then, Amber II smooshed all of the guards, and the real Amber got on the motorcycle, and they escaped to freedom! So they took out their prison coats—which were really hot to be in—and they finally jumped out of their jeep, driving out of town to safety. It had been a long time since both of them had breathed such fresh air.

Amber asked the lady, “Can we be allies?”

“Ok! That is a good idea.”

Amber II said, “We better get out of here because… I think I see Steve the elephant, who is a very good guard, and… I think he is also right above us.”

They were running for their lives, but that was no use because they were sucked into Steve’s elephant trunk. Steve said, “Explain yourselves.”

“We escaped from prison,” said Amber. 

“And why and how in the world did you find us here?” asked Amber II.

Then, Steve the elephant launched into the biggest explanation of his life.

“So… I was in the middle of my own business, doing my prison guard duty, and I got a call! Since there was no internet where I was currently, I went to the main office, and the call said that I had to move to the prison that you were currently in, just because I was a good prison guard. And since it was on the other side of the world, I got on a plane. There, I saw your familiar faces, and then I realized I was you too.”

“But anyway,” said Amber, “Who even is Amber?”

“Do you not realize that you are Amber?”

“Anyway, who is that lady then?”

“That is Amber,” said Amber.

Steve closed his eyes for a long time, and they said together in their brains, This is our chance. Our chance to teleport.

They appeared one millisecond after Steve opened his eyes again.

Hey where did they go? he thought. Well then, I better get back on the train!!! I mean, the airplane.

So Steve went to the airplane and slept…

THE END

Ms. Small is Big

I do not understand everything about the English language.

My name is Mr. Cup, and the English language is weird. Isn’t it supposed to be where feet run and noses smell, instead of noses run and feet smell? Why is it called a hot dog, but you do not even have a dog? Why is it called a pineapple, but there is no pine? Actually, there is no apple either. The English language is weird. I think that I am going to complain to the president about it later.

Anyway, at school, it was time for our first day of a class that is kind of like gym, but it is dumber because you do not get to play cool games like dodgeball, basketball, and other stuff. Instead, you have to do stuff like balancing feathers in one hand and trying to throw a pillow the farthest. Those games are a lot less fun. I think that I should go to the president and complain about it.

After school, I went to my mom and asked her if I could have paper and a pencil so I could complain to the president. I wrote this:

Dear Mr. President,

I would like to complain about the English language. Why is it that feet smell and noses run? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around, where feet run and noses smell? That is only when you attach a nose to your feet and attach feet to your nose. Also there is no pine or apple in pineapple/

Sincerely,

Mr. Cup

When I got to school, there was a different teacher. She was big. Her head just about touched the basketball hoop and the ends of the gym. She was cool. We got to play dodgeball and other cool stuff, and then finally, when I got home I got the letter back. It just said that he changed the alphabet now everyone has to go back to Pre-K and stuff.

THE END

Mr. Potato

It was another fine day in the book production store. Everything was good today. Yesterday was the hardest day that the book company had ever had because they had the hardest decision to make: to hire a bad worker or wait six months and hire the best worker in the world. After eight hours of hard decision thinking, they said, “Six months is not that much. We will be able to handle it…”

Things kept moving well until…

Six months, 2 hours, 9 minutes, and 1 second later:

Woo hoo! They got the best worker in the world!!! Nothing could go wrong right?

But when they saw his work accuracy, they were disappointed. Everyone was sad. His speed was high, but he did most of the work wrong. They finally had to fire him because his accuracy was sooo low.

But before they fired him, they made a complaint to the person who measured everything in the world record book. They wrote:

Hello, this is the book company here. We would like to complain because it is NOT the best worker. His speed may be the fastest but his accuracy is the lowest. YOU ARE WRONG.

Sincerely,

The book company

They waited until they got an answer. The answer was so simple. It just said:

NOOO, that is wrong! We will come and check and see if you are right or we are right. Also, let’s have a bet about that. How about twenty million dollars?

They accepted it. In a few weeks, the person from the Guinness Book of World Records who measures the stuff was going to come all the way from planet Zog. He decided it was wrong, so the company got 20 million dollars. They decided to hire the worst person named Mr. Potato. He was actually a very good worker, but nobody noticed that he was an evil scientist trying to take over the world. He wanted the money to buy a secret evil lair, but since there were no secret lairs in the Milky Way galaxy, he had to go to a galaxy called the Evil Way.

 Exactly twenty million days in the future:

He did not come to the company ever again, he was not found in the Evil Way galaxy, and finally, he was wanted for 99999999 trillion dollars.

Mr. Potato’s EVIL PLAN CHART:

12345
Pose as a bad worker and then make the best worker a bad worker.Make them have a bet and then make the company win.Get hired in the company and stuff like normal.Be the best worker that the company EVER EVER EVER had.After having enough money to buy a secret lair, never be found again.

THE END

Most YouTube Fan

I had never been more frustrated than this. The only thing I wanted was YouTube. I had games, but I played them for sooo long that I played every game and maxed everything out. 

I got a call from my creator, Zach. The first thing he said was, “You have not found a way to access YouTube, have you?”

“No,” I said back. “I have not.”

Then he said slowly, “Good. But I will have to check.”

So then I said, “Can you install YouTube for me?”

“No,” said Zach.

Then I said, “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE?” 

He said, “I said NO!”

“But I will only use it once a year.”

“Nope.”

Then I said please, like, a million hundred times and he said, “Yes.”

Woo hoo! I finally had YouTube. I watched memes of cats playing the piano. But I think I watched too many of those because then I got another call from Zach.

He said, “I see you have not been using YouTube correctly, so I just recently took it away.” 

NOOO! I could not live without YouTube. Netflix and all of the other sites are no fun anymore. I wanted YouTube. YouTube. YouTube. YouTube!!!

Now I knew that he would never ever forgive me, so there was only one way to get this right. I had to go to the secret cave of Zachs, and then I could hack into his thing and get YouTube back again! 

I got there and pressed the enter key on his thing. First, there were a lot of weird, antique people. I walked happily with my eyes closed, and then I saw glass! I smashed right into it. I backed up and read the glass. It said: solve these riddles and then put them on the box, then I will see if it was correct. The riddle was this:

You measure my life in hours, and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin and slow when I’m fat. The wind is my enemy. What am I?

Hmm… I thought. Maybe it could be—? No, not that. I reread the question: You measure my life in hours, and I serve you by expiring. What Am I?

Then I thought of it: a candle!!! I put it on the box and then it said: correct > you may enter. YAY! 

I went to the next course and I saw a sign that said: break the bricks or if not go back. Only these three tools were options: C4, a jackhammer, and a spade. I chose the C4 and went on. I thought, whoa, I can’t believe that I am still not done!!!

But there was only one more obstacle. It said: which coin will drop faster—one that is at 1000000 degrees Fahrenheit or -3964873 degrees Fahrenheit? That was an easy one—the one that is hotter. It would freeze if it was that cold.

But then I saw my master, and I got kicked out of his server.

THE END

The Mysterious Fish

I, the most experienced scuba diver in the world, decline the statement that there are a lot of fish that we do not know about. I already know all of the fish.

 For example, the share fish. It has a lock button on it if it does not have any fish friends. But when it has some, the lock is opened. It also has a lot of share buttons on its body. That fish is my personal favorite.

 Anyway, I have to get proof that I have discovered all of the fish in the whole computer galaxy. I will tell you some of my favorite stuff and some stuff I really hate!

 First, I will tell you some of my favorite foods and my favorite drinks. Then I will tell you some of my least favorite drinks and foods. It is going to be extreme and very funny 100 percent guaranteed, so let’s start!!!

 I love zombie fish. People call them the “mysterious fish” because they have mysterious marks on their tails. These marks are different from the ones on their body because they have star-shaped markings. On their heads, they have heart-shaped markings.

For my favorite drink, I like red ice cubes mixed with different brands of head sheets. The ice cubes sheets make a salty and fizzy drink, while the head sheets have a sweet, eraser taste. So if you combine it all together you get a salty, fizzy, eraser, sweet taste! Yum!

I want to skip the part that I don’t like because describing it will make you throw up, 100% correct. I tried telling it to the person with the world record of not throwing up, and he threw up right away.

So here is the story of my scuba diving adventure:

I was currently underwater when I saw a great white shark. I thought, oh no! I did not already discover that animal. So I thought, well, I just now discovered the animal, so nah nah nah boo boo to the person that did not believe me. That happened tons more times, so then I went out and finished my journey.

That is all of my story so far because I am underwater and there are a lot more creatures to be found!!!

THE END

The Evil Christmas Villain 

Mr. Lamp was the most evil villain in the town. Nobody was more cunning than him. Santa Claus was not going to give him any presents because he was bad over the year.

Mr. Lamp went into his secret layer and started the engine, heading to Blueberry City. He thought he should start with house number one and go all the way to house number ten million, three hundred and sixty-five thousand, six hundred and sixty-six.

He quickly went to house one and saw a weird figure on the chimney. He thought it was nothing but an action figure, but it was actually Santa. He quickly went into the house and saw nothing but Santa in the room. He froze and Santa said, “Why are you in the house of Blueberry number one?”

Mr. Lamp said, “I only did this because this is my cousin’s house. I’m visiting for the holidays.” He was lying.

Santa said, “This isn’t your cousin’s house! Nobody lives here because this is my house! Now, shoo.”

Mr. Lamp went into his lair, and on his computer, he searched if Santa had more than one house. It said yes, Santa had more than one house. He had a house in every city. Mr. Lamp gulped. How could he get past Santa if he kept running into his houses? He might get tortured to death. He thought for a few hours and said to himself, “Maybe I could use my time gadget to freeze time so I can peek inside the house.”

He decided to go to house number two. He pressed his time gadget and saw that nobody was there. It was an old abandoned mansion. Then, he saw an evil clown staring at him like crazy. He thought I’m going to go to Blueberry for the last time.

He flew out the door with his eyes closed carelessly. Finally, when he decided to stop, he saw new houses but then he realized it was the forest he was creeped out by. It was the Hoia-Baciu Forest in Romania. He was scared of the forest because, according to the army tech person, in 1968 they recorded a UFO hovering over the forest. This was a true fact.

Then, he flew over to a city he knew a lot about. But he had not come here in a long time, so he did not know if there were new inventions that he missed because you can only view the news if you are in the city. It looked different from what it looked like before. Instead of Christmas trees, there were floating boats, but they did not have any ordinary ornaments. They had real diamonds, gold, emeralds, and rubies. Man, thought Mr. Lamp, this does not look like before!

But when he got to his secret lair to get his Christmas-present-sucker, he saw the sign. It didn’t say New York City, it said… Mayhem City. That was very weird. He didn’t know any kind of city named Mayhem City. And from there he discovered the Cursed Universe.

THE END

The Stinger Jellyfish

Mr. Jellyfish was going to go to the other part of the ocean because he wanted to sting humans really badly. But when he moved an inch, he saw his friend Lemon, whose face was all puffed up and excited. Lemon said, “Are you excited for the playdate tomorrow?” 

Wait, what? Mr. Jellyfish thought that the playdate was in a few days. Then he realized that he had to get his JF (jellyfish) school homework done. If he did not do it today, then his teacher would make him do nine times the work that he had to do. For his assignment, he wrote this poem:

Roses are red

Sun is yellow

Pens are inky

But garbage is stinky

He thought that his teacher would like it, but instead when he went to school the next day the teacher made him do it all over again because she thought that it was too stinky and garbage-ish. So, when he got home he wrote this:

Cups and books and cheese and ash

Now you know I’m talking trash

This might make you gag

But I like to smell the garbage bag.

This might not be a pity

But I like to pick up trash from the city

How about Monday as garbage day

Tuesday and Wednesday to

How about Thursday and Friday

And lastly Saturday and Sunday

What will we do without garbage day

But I like to pick trash from the bay

There! He had worked for two hours without making any mistakes. The next day, he figured out that he did not sleep the previous night. He passed his homework to his teacher and then slumped back to his chair. The day was finally over, and the school year ended tomorrow. He had to get a good night’s sleep, and he did.

The next day, school ended. He watched movies all day long, and then he came up with a plan of everything he needed to do. First, Mr. Jellyfish packed all of the stuff he needed, and then off him and his parents went.

The first obstacle he ran into was a wall. But that was no problem because the jellyfish could just sting the wall, and then it would go away. He walked a few more miles until he spotted a jelly-toxic tree. But he was equipped with a jelly flying suit so it was easy to jump over it. He walked a few steps, humming with his eyes closed, so then he bumped into a big cow. He got annoyed and said, “HEY COW, GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!” But the cow did not seem to understand English, so then Mr. Jellyfish said, “MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO” and the cow backed away. He thought that was easier than I expected. I just said some cow words and then he went away!

Then he fainted. His mom said, “Why did you faint?”

He said, “You remember when I said those moo words, right? I might be able to understand Mootongue which is really rare, you know.”

Then he saw a giant spider. That was one of his greatest fears. But he thought, it just looked like I thought it invited me to a duel.

Three against one. Both of his parents stung the giant spider but that was quite not enough. So then he stung the spider, and they defeated the spider.

He finally went to the local beach. He stung the nearest human. It felt great! And then he woke up and realized that was just all a dream, a BIG dream.

THE END

The Weird, Evil Clown

We were on the train going to the circus, when the train person said, “Ten hour delay.” What?! Is he joking? Ten hours! I did not like the sound of that. The parade at the circus started in only thirty minutes.

 I have been going to the same circus for like thirteen years. Maybe something went wrong because thirteen is the unluckiest number in our family.

 Maybe instead of going to the circus, we could visit Hoia-Baciu Forest, Romania or something. If that was real, then I would definitely go there. It was really cool. There were aliens there, and according to the military tech person, in 1968 there was a picture of a UFO hovering over the forest.

 We got to the next stop. My mom made furious calls to the train person while my dad beat up a robber in a prison where he works.

 I blinked once, and then I saw an evil-looking clown staring at me. I flinched, and then he was gone. I was now sweating like crazy. I thought, is the galaxy cursed?

I thought that the water machine galaxy was the safest place in the world. Those thoughts were freaking me out. Then I realized that a train was going to fall right on our heads. I said to my mom, “HEY LOOK HERE! A TRAIN IS ABOUT TO FALL ON OUR HEADS!!!”

 But she was not listening because she was screaming into her phone. She kinda looked like she was going to blow up!!! Right before the train fell on our heads, she said, “We are going to your dad’s prison.”

 I closed my eyes and covered my ears. But it did not come. The crash of the train did not come. I finally opened my eyes, and I looked at the train. It was floating. Something creepy was going on.

 My mom was acting normally. Mad, fearsome, and creepy. She was really heavy. I guess she was trying to be a heavyweight, but she already was one. She had to be 5940 sugg in waterpark units, which is 986 Pounds in American units or something.

 I had to do something. When we got home I told her my plan.

“Let’s go to the GFFF CASTLE universe. This place is way too freaky.”

And you will never ever believe what we saw when we got to the GFFF CASTLE… 

THE END

The Cursed Air Conditioner

Piper was more bored than ever. She asked her brother Griff, “Can you tell me a joke? I am more bored than ever!”

“No,” said Griff, “I am as bored as you.”

“Do you know what is causing this boredness to happen?” said Piper.

Then Griff thought so hard that his brain hurt. He finally said, “Maybe if we get some fresh air, that might help us.”

“Ok,” Piper said back.

So they asked their moms if they could go outside for some fresh air. Their moms glared back suspiciously at them until they finally said, “Yes, ok.”

The children went outside and smelled the fresh air. It felt great. This was as good as what Piper wanted: flying abilities.

Meanwhile, back in the house, their moms were talking about the weather.

“Do you think it is going to rain today?” asked Griff’s mom.

“No,” said their friend Granite’s mom. “I checked the weather forecast, and it said that it would be nice and clean.”

So then they decided to have a surprise playdate. The air conditioner was not happy at that time—it wanted to bore out someone, but it was not strong enough to bore out grownups with its magical powers.

Finally, after three hours Piper and Griff came back into the house, but the moment they went into the house they got bored, which made the air conditioner happy. He thought I think that the kids are back.

But when they got out of the room to eat dinner, the air conditioner got mad again. After dinner, they went to their bunk beds and were disgusted. What surprised them was when they noticed that it was the air conditioner. So they quickly got rid of the air conditioner. You will never believe in a million hundred years how their moms reacted when they figured out that the air conditioner was gone…

Fish Are Smart

The shark struck again. He tried many times to eat the fish, but he couldn’t. He thought I wish that there was a way to trick those little fools. So he got a trap and waited for what felt like one hundred million hours. But then the little fish said, “Oh! This is just another little dumb fish trap,” and the fish swam right past it. The shark was so furious that he thought that he was going to blow up. He then thought that if he could work with his other shark friends, they could create an invisible trap for the fishies.

But meanwhile, on the other end of town, all of the fishies were warned NOT to swim too much underwater and just eat homemade food, because if they don’t then it might be a trap and they will end up as the sharks’ next meal.

The sharks were about to finish their invention, but then a giant, angry-looking computer came up to him and said, “That will not be enough to fool the fishies. That is all I have to say.”

So then after the computer left, the sharks thought, that is a prank. We won’t listen to him. But when they completed their trap, none of the fishies came. They didn’t even come near the trap.

Then one of the shark’s friends said, “Why can’t we just sneak attack them?”

“Great idea,” said his other friend, Billy.

So they hid behind what they thought was a rock, but it was actually a rock that attacks back with the same amount of pressure that it receives. Since all of them were hiding on the rock, the mayor in the fish town said, “SHUTDOWN, LOCKDOWN!!! Close all of the fish shops immediately! If you are at school, shut down the school! Anywhere you are, just lockdown the thing!!! If you are brave enough, then you can fight in the war. These are the required things: #1. You must have a full army experience and kill at least 99999 people. #2. Get all of your army stuff and go, go, go, fight in the war!!!”

But they were already attacked and stuff. They did not need their weapons—they would already lose the war. But they still fought.

TO BE CONTINUED…

The Doll

Chapter One

At Home

It was 8:00. It was time to sleep. Tomorrow was my birthday. My dad said that if I didn’t go to sleep, I would be tired and miss my birthday, so I went to sleep. 

The next morning was my birthday. My dad was about to leave when he saw me walking downstairs.

“Happy birthday, dear! Your family is going to be here in just a minute, so you’ve got to get ready,” he said.

“Ok, Dad. So you said that the family is going to be here in a bit?” I asked. 

“Yes. So you and your mother better get ready,” he replied.

My dad went to the store. My mom and I went upstairs to get ready.

Chapter Two

At the Store

My dad went to the store. This is what happened.

What doll should I buy for my daughter? There is an aisle for kids, he thought. Why don’t I go there? Those dolls look like old antiques. I will buy one of these for my daughter. I hope she will like it. I will buy other things for my daughter.

“Hello, I would like to buy this for my daughter’s birthday,” he said.

“It will be 135 dollars because it’s an old antique,” replied the cashier.

“Ok, I will buy it. But do you know why the antique is expensive?”

“Yes, sir. It is because in 1895 an inventor created this doll. One night, the creator was sleeping. The doll came alive and killed the creator.”

“Thank you, I guess.”

“Have a nice day.”

Chapter Three

At Home

“Hello dear, I brought you a present,” said my dad.

“Really, what is it?”

“You’re the one who has to find out.”

“It’s a doll! Thank you, Daddy!” 

“No problem. But it’s time for you to go to bed so you can be full of energy.”

“Ok! Good night.” 

I went to bed. I pulled my doll in my arms and fell asleep.

The doll woke up, ran downstairs, and grabbed a knife. It ran back up the stairs and woke me up.

“Why did you wake me up, Dad? You said that I would need some rest,” I said.

The last thing I said was, “HELP!”

THE END

STORY 2

Mr.’s Maid

A long time ago, there was a maid. She worked at a mansion, which meant that she had a lot of work to do. She would take care of a child because the parents didn’t care about their child. One day, the child saw the parents yelling and smacking the maid. When they saw the child watching, they started chasing the child. The child started running to her bedroom, but she ran straight to the dungeon. The parents stopped running to her and went back to the maid. The child thought that they were too tired or afraid of her, but she was wrong. 

A voice came from one of the jail cells that said, “Come my dear. I won’t do any harm. I won’t hurt you I promise.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Now come to the darker side of the jail cell.”

She went to the other side of the cell and saw the maid down there. She had been down there for months, but the maid had been taking care of the child since she was born. She figured that the maid had an older sister. The older sister looked just like the maid that was taking care of the child. The child started screaming but no one came to help.

5 years later… 

Everyone in the mansion stopped thinking about the screaming from years ago. They also had a legend that whoever had a maid would be killed by their maid. 

THE END

STORY 3

Miss Doll

Long ago there was a doll named Miss Doll. She lived in a happy town with flowers and all that, but one night someone attacked the village. It was the doll creator. He was looking for Miss Doll. He left an hour later. Many people think that he didn’t find Miss Doll… but… they… were… wrong!

Many people were afraid of Miss Doll. But others were curious about her. One night, Miss Doll woke up. The doll was alive. Instead of purple eyes, she had red eyes. Instead of a pink dress, she had a white dress with stains on it. Instead of straight hair, she had curly, sharp hair. 

2 months later… 

Miss Doll grew up. She still had her outfit and stuff. The store was open and lots of people came in to see Miss Doll. So everyone searched for Miss Doll, but she was nowhere to be found.

2 days later… 

An old man was working on a new doll to replace Miss Doll. He brought it into the store. Her name was Miss Library. She was the prettiest doll anyone had ever seen. Every kid would fight over one of these dolls. The parents had to stop them. 

One day, a kid came to the store to find a doll to give to her sister to play with. She found Miss Doll laying in the corner of the store. No wonder no one could find it. 

She picked the doll up and said, “This doll will be perfect!”

She ran out of the store and gave her sister the doll.

Her sister said, “What kind of doll is this?! This doll looks so ugly!”

“Sorry! That was the only doll in the store. Miss Library sold out!”

“Fine. I will only keep this doll because that was the only one they had.”

It was night time and everyone was asleep. The doll woke up once again. The doll went upstairs and killed her older sister. The doll came back and started singing. It was like “a ring around the rosy,” but different. 

“Lalalala. Lalalala. Lalalala. Lalalala,” the doll sang over and over again. 

The doll reached the kitchen and grabbed a kitchen knife. The doll ran back upstairs and killed the little girl. Beware, if you find a doll named Miss Doll… DO NOT BUY IT!

THE END

STORY 4

The Mall

There was a mall that had everything you could ever need or want. Everyone would go there to see what they would have next. One night, a group of tennis players came and started stealing from the mall. 

A man in black came out of the shadows and said, “I have food for free.” 

The three boys started getting worried and ran out of the mall. They told their parents. The parents called the police. The man was never found. They figured that the man was not a man… He was a doll looking for someone to replace his body.

5 years later…

Everyone is now afraid of men, so all the men are in jail. They are testing them one by one. Some of them are positive and some are negative.

THE END

Super Max

SuperMax was one little, very fast boy who got lots and lots of trophies and medals from places like the running championship. He won every time and also did karate. He was a white belt in his second class. He got two for free because everyone knew that he won. He learned taekwondo, kickboxing, and regular boxing. He decided to quit racing but he still practiced. He was a blue belt and then started to learn some techniques. He was so focused that his brain hurt. Whenever the teacher said to go to blue square number one, he did it in one second! It took 500 steps to get there! 

Then, after they talked about courage, they went to the boxing bag, got their boxing gloves, and started punching them. The teacher taught SuperMax that you have to jab, cross, kick, overkick, and then hook. Then he was actually getting up to a yellow belt, but when he started to get focused, his brain started to not hurt. Then he saw a famous game of jujitsu. After that, he decided to do a trick on the jiu jitsu thing, but he didn’t know any of the things, so he didn’t do that. He saw that there was a king. Someone needed to defeat him but SuperMax wasn’t strong enough yet– he had to be a black belt at least! 

He started leveling up to an orange belt and started to learn the upper hook, side hook, and side kick. He was so good that he thought he could take the king over, but he had to be a black belt. After he got his 5th star, he got a new belt and then learned a new hook and back kick. He went to a karate competition and won. Then he had one yellow stripe on his belt. Now that he was a professional, he didn’t know if he should go. Then, he was a purple belt. He learned so many things that he couldn’t remember all of them. Then, he was a brown belt. He had to get 100 stars to get a black belt. 

He learned 50 more techniques, so he got 50 stars. He was too tired but he did it every day, and he started to be a black belt. After he got 99 stars, he had to do one more class, then he could get a black belt. He decided to do another class on the same day, and then he got a black belt.

Then, he went to the king. The king looked like his dad who died one million years ago. But his dad was a ghost. Then SuperMax started punching the king. After a million punches the king hit him back and did some damage, but SuperMax did not give up. He remembered that he had to say one word but forgot. He also forgot the paper and then his brain hurt. But he punched him once, and the King fell into lava. The crowd came to their feet in applause. 

Lost in the Woods

Chapter 1: Nancy

Crack! The twig made a noise as I stepped on it in the dark, vast forest. 

My name is Nancy Simmons, and a week ago something very scary happened to me. I was taking a nature hike with my Girl Scout troop when we got separated and lost. A few hours later, everybody was found. Well, everybody but me. It wasn’t long until they called the cops. Soon, there was a search party out in the woods. But no one could find me. 

Meanwhile, I was searching through the woods, all tangled and messed up. I tried to work my phone, but only the highest quality software could give me service in the middle of nowhere. I stumbled through the forest until I was super hungry. I remembered I had a sandwich in my bag and sat down on a rock, turning my flashlight on to eat. 

Suddenly, I heard tiny noises chit-chattering in the woods. I stepped in and I saw one hundred purple, orange, and green-winged fairies talking. They froze and saw me standing there. They started forming a swarm. I yelled, “Hey! What are you doing? Ahhh!!! A SWARM OF FAIRIES!!!” They started jumping about and chasing me. 

Crack! The twig made a noise as I stepped on it in the dark. Which is how we got here. 

Suddenly I saw them again. 

Meanwhile, an inspector named Inspector Simmons was looking EVERYWHERE for me, because Inspector Simmons was my dad. We got along really well. He was like my best friend. Both of my parents were super worried and were doing everything they could to find me. 

I guess you are wondering what happened to me and the fairies, so I will tell you now. I stepped into the place where they were talking, and they all stared at me. I talked in what I hoped was a slow persuading voice and said, “Hi, my name is Nancy, and I am really lost in the forest. Could you give me directions out of the forest?” 

The fairies looked at one another, and after what seemed like forever, one of them said in a quiet voice, “We cannot give you directions out of the forest, but we can give you directions to some animals who might know the way out.”

Chapter 2: Inspector Simmons

My name is Inspector Simmons, and Nancy Simmons is my daughter. A week ago she got lost in the woods. Her mom and I were searching everywhere in the forest. We even had ten search parties out in the woods. We tried to call her but she didn’t answer. It seemed like she was avoiding us. But we knew that was not true. We looked everywhere, but even then she was not found. Later on, we realized that she went into the passageway on the magical side, where there were fairies, imaginary creatures, and talking animals. (Real animals, not imaginary ones — but imaginary creatures can talk too.) Going through that passageway was really hard and there were only two reasons why she would go in there. Number one: she knew where it was and went through there to take cover from a bear or other animal. Or number two: she was stumbling through the woods and accidentally went through the passageway. We did not know where it was, so our only hope was that the creatures in the magical land helped her out.

Chapter 3: The Settlement with the Animals

This is Nancy. As you can remember, the fairies told me that I should go to the animals. I followed their directions (which, by the way, were hard to understand because they spoke so quietly), and it led me to a bunch of animals. I asked them, “Hi, my name is Nancy, and the fairies told me you know the way out of the forest. I am really lost, so I was wondering if you could give me directions out of this forest?” 

They all stared at me in awe. Finally, after a long time (I was used to it by now), the gazelle, of all animals, spoke up. “We can help you but you will have to speak to our leader.” 

I wondered who their leader could be. Well, it was a baboon! I walked up to their “leader” and asked, “Could you give me instructions out of the forest?” 

He said with an accent, “Perhaps, but you will have to give us something we have never tried or seen before in return.” 

I thought to myself, what have they never tried or seen before? Suddenly, I had the answer. My sandwich! I knew that I was hungry, but the sooner I got out the sooner I had something better than a sandwich to eat. But first I had to clarify that they had never tried a sandwich before, so I asked, “Have you ever tried a sandwich before?” 

“A sand-what!?” the baboon said in the same accent. 

“A sandwich,” I said. 

I took out my sandwich and held it out of my hand. 

The baboon took a bite and said, “This is yummy!” in his accent. 

I said, “Please, now that I have given you something that you have never tried or seen before, tell me how I will get out!” 

The baboon said, “Very well, but it is very hard to get out since you have entered the magical side.” 

“The magical side?” I said. “What is the magical side?” 

“The magical side is the side where there are talking animals and fairies and imaginary creatures. You are the first human to stumble into our magical land,” the baboon said. 

I understood, so I asked how I would get out, but the baboon was too busy eating his — well, my — sandwich. I waited. He finished and told me. I wrote it all down in my handy-dandy notebook. Then I left. I now knew I had won the trust of the animals and the trust of the fairies. 

Chapter 4: The Try to Journey Back Home

I used the directions the baboon and the rest of the talking animals gave me. I looked around myself and counted the days I had been in the forest: two whole days. I started to panic. “What if I never go home?” I muttered under my breath. I kept following the directions, but it seemed to me that I was lost. Again. Around me, there was peace in the beautiful cotton candy sky. It had wisps of orange and yellow edged into the starry, bluish-black night sky. I soon realized that in the magical land, there was no moon, just stars, and that there was a faint white circle in the background. I also saw stars in the day, but I saw a faint fiery ball in the distance. So, I realized that in the magical land, stars are brighter than the sun and moon. 

I made a bed out of pine needles that I had collected on my try to journey back home and slept for the first time in two days. Suddenly, at about 4:00 AM, a bad thought hit me like a ton of bricks: what if I am here forever?

Chapter 5: Imaginary Creature Land

In the morning I started walking again. I walked for about two miles and paused to drink water. But when I started walking again, someone or something tapped my shoulder. It felt a little soft and furry, but I wouldn’t take any chances for it to fool me. 

“Dad? Mom? Lucy?” (Lucy is my Girl Scout counselor.) No one was there. I just kept walking. 

Again I felt that soft furry paw on my shoulder. I spun around quickly and saw… The cutest animal ever! It was soft and furry with legs and paws. It had two antlers and a nose. I quickly realized that it was probably the imaginary creature animal the baboon was talking about. 

“Imaginary creature? Hello? What’s your name?” I said. 

The imaginary creature looked impressed, probably because I knew what an imaginary creature was. It said, “My name is Proppy, and if you want I can take you to my imaginary creature land.” 

I said, “Okay, because I am really lost.” 

Proppy squealed, jumped, and hugged me. He took my hand and led me through a doorway that I swear was not there before. We went through the passageway and the imaginary creature land was super cool. Proppy chose where we wanted to go. He said there was a rainbow/candy island, a winter wonderland, a waterland, a fireland, and a regular land where all the imaginary creatures lived. The creatures could choose where they wanted to go without hustle or bustle. There was also a royal land where the queen lived. It seemed like every group had a leader but the fairies. 

He said we were going to the royal land to meet the queen, who he told me was super nice and would like me right away. So, he chose the royal land, and we went through a rainbow rollercoaster. At the end of the rainbow rollercoaster was a palace decorated with shells, gold, silver, marble, and more. It looked majestic and beautiful. We stopped in front of the castle and entered through two huge golden doors. 

Proppy went inside to talk to the guard, and after a while, we went inside. There stood two imaginary creatures that looked just like Proppy, except Proppy had white fur and they had blue. We went further inside, and we saw the queen. She was wearing a heavy velvet cape embroidered with golden designs. When she talked, it seemed as if birds were singing. 

Not wanting to waste any time I said, “Hi, I’m Nancy and — ” 

She interrupted me and said, “Well, hello! Can I do anything to make you feel more comfortable here at the castle?” 

I said, “Well actually, I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to the human world?” 

After a while, she responded, “No, but I know a wizard that can get you there.”

Frustrated, I muttered, “This is a wild goose chase.” 

The queen, not noticing a thing, said, “Stay here for the night, and Proppy can lead you to the wizard’s den in the morning.”

 The guards led us up to a bedroom that was very pretty. The covers of the bed were red and the pillows were red and embroidered gold like the queen’s cape. The floor was carpeted red velvet. The lampshade was white, and the doors were gold. The doors were labeled “Human Room Number Five,” so I realized this was a room they kept just for humans. So, they had to bring a smaller version of the bed for Proppy. They gave me a fresh set of clothes, and I used a bathroom labeled “Human Bathroom Number Four.” Then, Proppy and I fell asleep to dreams of the scary adventures that lay ahead of us.

Chapter 6: A Talk With a Wizard

Early in the morning, Proppy woke me up to have breakfast with the queen, who was now wearing a green velvet cape embroidered with a white tree. I was surprised when the waiter brought a plate with — how should I describe it? — FILLED with every color of fluffy, delicious marshmallows. 

The queen said, “Bring on the other appetizers!” 

Out came different types of pastries, juices, chocolates, and more. I ate so many of the “appetizers” that afterward, I had no room for the main course: different types of pies and cakes! Everybody who was sitting at the grand oa4k table was watching me with odd expressions on their faces. After dessert — er, I mean breakfast — was done, teary expressions appeared as the queen gave us instructions for our journey and our never-ending sweet filled bags. I thanked her endlessly, as Proppy ushered me out the door. I managed one final “bye” as the golden doors closed. 

Nothing exciting happened when we were walking, so let’s just fast forward to when we got there. We saw an old, spooky cottage with spiders on it and we entered. Inside was an old man with a long, blue velvet robe and a small wooden table which contained a very big book with gold designs and lettering. It seemed to be a spell book, and next to it was a crystal ball and a wand. He didn’t even look up as he said in a deep voice, “Hello, what brings you here to my old cottage?” 

By then he turned around and we could see his green eyes and sharp nose. I said confidently (even though I was scared of him), “We — I mean I — need instructions to get out of the woods. 

“Hmmm…” he murmured. “Tell me child, how long have you been here?” 

I said, “Three days,” without emotion. 

Proppy was not even next to me. He was too busy playing with the crystal ball.

“I can open a passageway right now to get you back. In fact, if you came to me sooner, you could have been home two days ago.” 

“So open it!” 

He briefly nodded, and Proppy said, “You can visit soon right?” 

“Yes, Proppy,” I said. “Thank you so much,” I said to the wizard. 

“Of course, my child,” he said. 

“Bye!” I said to Proppy. 

“Bye!” he said. I jumped through the magical passageway.

Chapter 7: A Happy Reunion

I suddenly appeared in the middle of a crowd of police officers. Must be a search party, I thought to myself. By that point, I had service and called Mom and Dad. 

“Nancy?” 

“Mom! I made it out of the woods, and I’ll call a taxi to get home.” 

“Ok! You don’t know how much we were worrying.” 

I disconnected and hopped into a nearby taxi. Did I mention that I was in downtown New Jersey (that’s where the hiking trail was), and I live in Manhattan, so the drive was more like one hour? When the driver got to the stop, I would have given him a tip, but I didn’t have any money on me. 

I opened the door to my house and walked into the living room and… surprise! My Girl Scout counselor, troop, friends, and family were all crowded in our living room. They brought out the most beautiful cake I had ever seen. It had yellow designs all over it, and it had purple layers. On top were plastic letters that read, “Welcome Back Nancy!” We had so much fun. Some friends stayed over, but some friends stayed late and left. Like late. Like REALLY LATE. 

In the morning when everyone had left, I told my mom and dad all about my adventures over juice and toast. They were so proud of me! But here came the bad news: at dinner, I overheard Mom and Dad talking about going in there and capturing the magical creatures. I assumed, and still assume, they’re joking. 

The big takeaway I learned from this is that sometimes you can’t just rely on others. You have to take action. Like, if I waited for the police to find me, I would still be in the woods right now.

The End

Odd Aunt Lenore

Chapter 1

Aunt Lenore was a small old woman with a wobbly bun perched on her head. She had an owl named Agatha who was always perched on her shoulder. Aunt Lenore spent her days sewing and embroidering new clothes, which she sent to my family in big, bright pink boxes. Nobody knew what her house looked like. She hadn’t had visitors in 47 years, and her only electronic device was a phone bolted to the wall. Enough about her though. Let’s get to me.

***

“Miss Meadow! Miss Meadow!” the postman yelled. I looked up from my book, confused. Meadow was my rabbit. “You have a package from Miss Lenore!”

Why would my rabbit have a package? I ran down the stairs and opened the door. The postman was standing behind a huge box, red-faced and sweaty, probably from carrying that box all the way here.

“Thanks, Mr. Postman, but I’ll take it from here,” I said.

I lugged the box inside and got out some kitchen scissors. But when I tried to cut it open, the scissors bounced off the tape. It was like rubber. I examined the box from all angles. The only clue I found was a small label on one corner of the box. It read: xxxmailersxxx has sponsored this delivery. I peeled the label off and grabbed my bike out of the garage. Wheeling it out, I realized something. Wouldn’t my parents freak out if I wasn’t at home? I left a hastily scribbled note: gone out to mailers. Then, I hopped on my bike and began the 4-hour ride to the offices of the mailers who had sponsored the delivery of the package from my odd Aunt Lenore. 

***

“Name?” a grumpy old man asked when I walked through the door. “And business?”

I sighed. I had ridden all this way just to be interrogated by an old man. “My name is Nora Almentine, and I’m here to talk to the person who sponsored the delivery from Miss Lenore Almentine.”

“Eh? Related, are you?”

“Yes, now can I talk to the person who sponsored the delivery of Miss Lenore A?”

He chuckled. “I got us off track, didn’t I? Now, yes, I’ll take you to the office of Mr. Harold Druchins.”

He led me to a small room made entirely of glass. There was a table in the corner with a black swivel chair and a computer on top. Harold turned out to be a tall man with slicked black hair and a tuxedo. His eyes were ice blue, and his gaze made me want to run away and hide somewhere. But I couldn’t do that. He was my only chance of finding out how to open that box from Aunt Lenore, and then I could finally figure out what was in it!

“Hello Nora, I am Mister Harold L. Druchins. I have helped one thousand people with your situation, so I guarantee that I will not fail,” he said, sounding out all the syllables clearly.

“Ok,” I peeped. But I believed him. If he couldn’t open the box, I didn’t know who could.

Chapter 2

I told Harold everything. I told him about the box, how it was addressed to my rabbit, and how it wouldn’t open.

“Do you have a sample of the tape?” he asked. I shook my head. “All right then,” he sighed. “Meet me tomorrow at my office with a sample of the cardboard and of the tape. If you can’t get it off, just lug the whole box behind you.”

That night, I chopped and stabbed at the tape as hard as I could, but I couldn’t get the tape off. The cardboard, however, was easy. So the next day, I hopped on my bike and began the familiar ride to xxxmailersxxx. Harold was waiting for me there.

“Well?” he gruffed. I guess he wasn’t done with his coffee. Grown-ups are always grumpy until they finish their coffee.

“Um, I could cut the cardboard, but not the tape,” I murmured, my old nervousness under his gaze returning.

“Well? Why did you visit, you fool! Just slice off a side! Then the box is open! Boom, magic, and THEN YOU CAN LEAVE ME ALONE TO DRINK MY COFFEE!” he yelled. 

Knew it. He hadn’t finished his coffee. He turned and left me there. Alone. I shrugged it off, too excited to care that I was yelled at by an office worker.

***

When I got home, I immediately sliced off the side of the box. Inside was…

“Aunt Lenore!?” I gasped.

“Yes,” she said in a sly voice. “And don’t get all piffywiddles, I just came here to tell you a story.”

“What story?” I asked, suddenly wondering if everything I was told was a lie. Was the Earth really round? Were there really 50 states?

“My story,” she said.

“But– you can’t remember enough to tell stories!” I blurted.

“Yes I can,” she said.

“Why’d you address the package to my bunny?” I asked. Where were these questions even coming from?

“Well, Meadow was the only name that I could remember in this household! Funny, right?” She chuckled.

“Just tell the story. And stop stalling,” I growled.

She took a breath. “Ok. Here it is…” 

Chapter 3

“So, when I was little, I played video games all the time. When I was older, I bought a cottage. Now, they wanna demolish my cottage, and someone’s gotta stop them!!! THE END!” she said.

“That wasn’t much of a story…” I sighed.

“Well, does a story need to be long to be effective?” she asked sassily. “And next time, speak up! My ears aren’t in tip-top shape, y’know.”

I groaned. No one told me Aunt Lenore was so… well… sassy.

“Lady, did you just groan? Wow, you sure are a hard one to impress. Are you always a cloud like that on sunny days?” she snootily interrogated me.

I turned my nose away, to tell her that she wasn’t the only sassy one.

“All right, sassy niece, just tell me if you are gonna help me,” she smirked.

“What do you expect, Aunty L?” I asked her.

“Maybe… YES?” she pleaded.

“NO,” I snapped. “I’m sorry for what is going to happen to your house, but I really am not the person you want for this job. I’m clueless about clues, you see.”

“Oh, Nora,” Aunt Lenore snickered. “The only thing you need in this case is sass. There’s no clue finding, investigating, or any of that fifflesnorf. I’m only asking you to come to a hearing.”

“NO!” I yelled. “WHY CAN’T YOU HEAR ME THE FIRST TIME!? Look, I’m so, so sorry for what’s happening to your house, but I can’t!”

“Why? Is it that you just don’t want to help me? You’d rather just side with the public because it’d be too embarrassing to be on the side of your ol’ Aunt L?” she pressed.

Wow. This lady excels in sass. I knew there would only be one way out of this. Be on her side. “So, here’s the deal. I’m not siding with the public, because I think what they’re doing is awful. But I’m not siding with you, either. I didn’t even know this was happening until a couple of minutes ago! Do you expect me to just choose your side without information? How do I know you didn’t sign a contract and then turn on your word? But I’ll still be one of your biggest supporters, and I bet a lot of other kids will, even if we’re not in the room with you. The public made the wrong choice, and I fully disagree with that choice. So, I don’t know enough to fight in your favor, but I do know enough to side with you. So, if the public ever hears this: a citizen’s home is more important than a mall! Sure, a mall serves more people, but if you demolish a home, you’re making the citizen who lived there turn on you. I may not know why this is happening, but I do know it’s wrong. EXTREMELY wrong. So, if you make this decision, I will turn on you as well. Goodbye, government. I hope you make the right choice.” I said.

Aunt Lenore smirked. “Ha!” she laughed.

“What do you mean ‘ha’?” I asked.

But Aunt Lenore just kept on smirking, and then, FINALLY, she strolled right out of the door. 

Chapter 4

“Welcome to the morning news station! Today, we will be showing a LIVE hearing!” a way-too-cheery news reporter said gleefully into the screen. “Here we are, 9:35 AM, at the city’s town hall!”

The cameras showed a large, very fancy room, with one chair in the middle for my aunt Lenore. She walked in, with her gray hair half up, half down, little pink glasses perched on her nose, a pink tape recorder, pink jeans, and a white t-shirt.

“Hello, court,” she said, without a hint of sass. I was surprised. I didn’t know the lady could even breathe without sass.

“Hello,” the judge said. “Please sit in that chair, and state your argument.”

“People are on my side,” she simply said back. Hello again, Aunty L’s sass.

Then, she hit play on her tape recorder, and the speech I made yesterday was playing! ON TV! By the end, the judge was wiping her glassy eyes, and the court was flat-out bawling.

“Well, in — er by the order of the court, we demand people leave this lady’s house ALONE!” the judge yelled, her voice still wobbly.

I lept off of the couch and cheered. Everyone had been watching the hearing and had heard my voice. And my dad was bragging about it endlessly. He put together a parade barbecue party, all to celebrate how I stopped the demolition of the house. And “houses are more important than malls” became the town’s new motto. It was a day to remember. 

The Closet of Doom

Chapter 1: The Closet, Part 1

I walked down a dark hallway, barely able to make out a rectangular box, a closet. I heard whispers from inside.
“Sssssekdjaboyweneead.”
I couldn’t make out what they were saying. It was an old-looking closet made of wood, and I had a mysterious urge to open it.


An icy hand touched my shirt when I woke up. I was lying in bed, staring up at a spider web in the corner of my bed. I looked down at my nightshirt to see that it was soaked and that the glass of water I had left there before I went to bed had spilled onto my shirt.
I looked at my alarm clock. 2:58 AM. Friday the 13th. August 2020.
I got up and looked out my window. I thought there was a strange rectangular box sitting in the backyard, and again I heard whispers like in my dream.
“Sssssekdjaboyweneead.”
I had a strange urge to go downstairs, outback, and open the closet door.
Suddenly, I was no longer in control of my mind. I was looking through the eyes of a person I didn’t know, their memories. This person had stepped into the closet and was screaming as he fell into a dark hole. The words Friday the 13th. August 1913. 3:00 AM flashed into my head. Everything blacked out, and then it showed another person — a girl this time — looking out of the window of a room the same shape as mine but decorated differently from the same dark closet. She looked around, and I saw a calendar in her room.
It said: Friday 13th. August 1957. 63 years ago. An old-fashioned alarm clock in her room said it was exactly 3:00 AM. She stared at the closet and seemed to make up her mind as she stepped out into the cold night air and went to open the closet door. She was just about to open it when I came back to my senses.


It was 3 days later at 7:30, and my mom was calling me.
“Aidan! It’s time for school. Wake up!”
I got dressed and went downstairs to find my younger brother already sitting at the dining table eating his breakfast.
“Did you sleep well?” asked my mom.
“Yes,” I lied. I had actually stayed up all night like on Friday and Saturday, thinking about the closet. “I need to go to the backyard to check something.”
“Can I come?” asked my younger brother, Jacob.
“No, it’s not something you want to see,” I said.
“Just take him,” my mom said.
I sighed. “Fine.”
“YAY! We’re going on an adventure,” shouted Jacob.
We stepped outside and walked to the backyard.
There was no closet there.
I bent down to where the closet should have been, but there was nothing except a few lines where my family had stepped, like everywhere else in the yard.
“Nothing,” I muttered to myself.
My brother frowned. “What?”
“Nevermind, you go to school. I’m coming.”
He jogged off to the garage to get his bike. I was about to do the same when I realized it wasn’t lines on the ground but 12 numbers.
191319572020.
“Odd,” I said aloud.
“AAAIDANNN!” yelled my brother from the garage.
“Coming!” I said, casting a final glance at the 12 numbers.


Middle school. The most boring possible place I could be. My history teacher, Mr. Hamilton, was giving us a dull lecture about the war of 1912.
“It dated from October 8th, 1912 to July 18, 1913, and it was part of the Balkan wars,” he said, but I didn’t hear the rest of his lecture. I was once again looking at the old closet and had the strange sensation of opening it.
“Aidan! AIDAN!!! Time for lunch,” I looked up to see my best friend, Nicholas Smith, shaking me hard.
We walked down to the lunchroom and waited in line to buy our lunch. Nicholas had bought his food, and it was my turn. I glanced at the lunch lady and realized with horror that she looked exactly like the same closet I had been thinking about all day.
I closed my eyes. When I open them, I thought, she’ll look the same as she always looks, not like a closet.
I opened my eyes and there was nobody there, no closet or lunch lady. Only the students eating lunch. I looked down at my tray of food and realized I had a hamburger and fries on my tray already. This was odd, I didn’t remember getting any food. I looked around and realized everyone was staring at me like I was a freak, and that I was the only person in line. I walked over to Nicholas’s table and started eating.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I muttered to him as he continued to stare at me.
“Are you feeling ok?” he asked
“Yeah, fine.”


It was after school. I had just come home and started doing my homework when again I saw the closet outside my bedroom window. I had the disturbing sensation that I had to open it.
I stepped out into the hot afternoon sun and was halfway through the backyard when my mom said, “Aidan???”
I looked back and saw my mom looking at me from the kitchen window.
“What are you doing out there?”
“Oh, uh,” I thought quickly, “I’m trying to get the soccer ball that I kicked into the backyard at night.”
“You can do that later, come help your brother with his homework,” she said.
I looked back at where the closet should have been. It was gone as I had expected, so I did as she had asked.

Chapter 2: The Closet, Part 2

I was lying in bed 5 hours later thinking about the closet and what I should do with it. I was afraid to fall asleep in fear that I would have more horrible nightmares. Should I open it or not? What was inside it? What did those 12 numbers mean? What were these visions I had about?
I awoke the next morning with bags under my eyes. I had gotten only about 2 hours of sleep that night, and those 2 hours I was asleep were full of nightmares and visions.
I ate my breakfast and walked to school, still thinking about the closet through my first lesson, science, while my teacher Mrs. Daniels was giving us a lecture about the mathematician Isaac Newton.
I kept thinking about it even at lunch, but thankfully I wasn’t stared at again. It seemed that everyone had forgotten the little “incident” that happened yesterday. Everybody, including Nicholas and the teachers on duty, seemed to be going about their days as though nothing odd had happened just yesterday.


Fortunately, nothing weird happened today. In fact, it was a relatively good day. We played soccer in gym class, and I helped my team win 7-3. The only thing that went wrong was when I got home again, I saw the closet in the backyard and had the mysterious urge I had been having for days to open it.
This is it, I thought. I was going to find out what was inside once and for all.
I took a step towards the closet then a tiny voice in my head cried, NO!
But then again, the urge to go open the closet filled me.
I made up my mind and started walking carefully towards it. When I was only a few feet away I reached out to touch the handle, just another inch…


I bolted and sat upright in bed, panting hard as I looked around the room and realized it was again 2:58 AM. Was all of that a dream? Including the school day? Or did I perhaps take a nap when I got home? My mind was buzzing with questions, all of them about the closet and what lay within it.
Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye, outside the window.
A half-robot girl had walked out of the closet!
I jumped out of bed and got a baseball bat from my closet just to make me feel safer, even though I knew that if I did meet that disturbing-looking girl, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance.
I walked out into the cool night air and looked to where the closet had been.
Unlike other times, it was still there.
Suddenly, two hands grabbed my shoulders, and I whirled around to find myself face to face with the very girl I had seen outside. I did what most other people would have done: screamed.


I awoke to find myself in a dusty chamber made of gray stone. I looked around and found an open door. I stood up and walked towards it, my knees shaking hard as I built up the nerve to look through it.
Nothing. It was nothing but a dark hallway. The closet was sitting in the middle of the hallway.
I stepped closer, put my hand on the ice-cold handle, pulled, and looked inside. I almost passed out as I jumped back to see a chair with a bunch of metal scraps in it.
No, not metal — a half-robot girl.
She looked up.
“Hello,” she said.

“Wha — what do you want?!” I stammered as she arose from the chair.
She breathed in. “Finally,” she said. “A new test subject for DOOM.”
“What???” I asked in horror.
“This,” she said. “This is the Closet of Doom. It was made in 1911 and holds anyone who goes inside it captive so we can test potions on them. I’ve been trying to find a subject for more than 60 years. There was a new hope when you were born in 2007 and your parents moved into the same house in which the maker of the Closet of Doom lived. I gave you terrifying visions of this closet — yes, I was the girl in the vision when it was 1957, and that boy was the first subject two years after it was created. Now, you will stay here while I return to my factory.”
“N-no, I’m leaving now, I’m not being a test subject in this Closet of Doom,” I said as I took a few steps back toward the room I woke up in.
“How are you going to get out of here?” she asked with a twisted smile as it dawned on me that I couldn’t actually get out of here.
“I-I’ll find a way,” I stammered.
“Good luck,” she said and disappeared.
“Hey! Come back,” I waited a minute.
No response. I wanted to start crying.
I was trapped in an underground chamber where nobody knew where I was, and I could only leave when someone came across this creepy closet, and who knew how long that would take?!

Chapter 3: My Discovery

1 YEAR LATER

I had been stuck for over a year now and was getting used to life down here. Only another 49 years or so, I thought gloomily. My family had probably moved on from the mysterious disappearance of Aiden Hawkins. I had figured out over the years that you do not age or need to eat when you come down here. Down here, you just wait for time to pass, doing nothing except watching the gray stone walls. The only source of light down here was a little crack in the top with sunshine coming in. That was also my only way of knowing if it was day or night, and to make it even worse, there were dirty puddles, leaves, and sticks all over the floor.
I didn’t know how I didn’t even go insane just staring at the walls and sleeping for a whole year. I occasionally heard footsteps overhead from my family playing in the backyard. The first time that happened, I tried shouting to them.
“Help me, I’m down HERE!!!” I’d yell until my throat was sore. But I had learned this dungeon was sound-proof — or something of the sort, even with the hole in the top.
I walked around, counting how many steps I walked, tapping the wall.
Suddenly, I heard a creaking sound, and the wall in front of me opened like a door leading to a long, dark hallway. My heart beat super fast, and I stepped into the dark hallway.
It seemed endless from my point of view, pitch-black and vast. I didn’t have a flashlight or anything of the sort, so I was hesitant to go inside.
I looked around the room. Something caught my eye: a pair of glasses.
Something clicked in my mind like two pieces of a puzzle. I remembered from a science lesson I had in sixth grade that you could make a fire with sun, glasses, a leaf, and water. I strained my mind to remember. Then, click. It was as if someone in control of my mind could hear me. Put a drop of water on the inside of the lens and let the sun shine down through it onto the leaf below.
I tried it once. Tried it again. The third time yielded no result. Growing more and more upset, I adjusted it to face the sun, but to no avail. A fourth time let up smoke but nothing more. Only on my thirteenth try did I start the fire.


Now carrying my makeshift torch — a stick stabbed through a leaf with fire on top — I walked down the dark hallway.
I put the glasses in my pocket, knowing they might come in handy and get me out of another sticky situation like this one.
As I walked, I passed disturbing things: skeletons, dead rats, and mold.
I walked and walked until I found a big stone door.
I pushed. It stayed shut.
I pushed harder. It stayed shut.
I pushed my hardest. It stayed shut.
I kicked it. It stayed shut.
I was about to kick it harder when something caught my eye.
A keyhole.
I knew there must have been a key to unlock this door but didn’t know where it may have been.
Suddenly, an idea flashed into my head. I rummaged around through my pocket and found the glasses. Carefully taking them out, I pushed them slowly into the keyhole.
I turned it and heard a click.
YESSS! I thought to myself. I took the glasses out. But I must have taken them out too fast because when I pulled them out, the part I had stuck in was no longer in one piece.
I put the glasses back into my pocket and pushed the door open, ready to punch anyone I saw.

Chapter 4: DOOM HQ
When the door creaked open, I saw a room. It looked like it had just been grabbed from an old-fashioned house. There was a moth-eaten couch that looked at least 100 years old, one of those old-fashioned black and white TVs with a long antenna, and a box with some fruit and potatoes — which looked as though they were very fresh and had just been bought from the store.
However, there was a modern-looking desk with a Lenovo computer sitting on top of it.
I took a step into the room and looked at the computer. It showed live security footage of a small stone room — no, the room I had been in less than 10 minutes ago,
Who lived here? I wondered. Why did they have old and new stuff put together, and why on earth would they keep an eye on people that were trapped like me? Did they create those rooms?
I looked around again. There was something else. A sign: founded in 1911, DOOM testing area A1.
Was DOOM a company of some sort? I thought. What did they test? Why did they test humans? My head was exploding with questions.
On the desk the computer sat on, I saw a box with glass beakers full of green liquids. They were labeled: foodless life potion. I put one into my pocket.
Suddenly, I realized what they were for. I didn’t have to eat down there because they had tested the potion on me. But that still didn’t explain why I didn’t age.
There was a door in the back of the room. It blended in so it looked almost invisible, and I approached it cautiously.
I pushed it open to find myself in a room exactly the same as the last one. I walked over to the computer on the desk. It showed live security footage of the same chamber I was in but from a different angle. I looked in the box to find even more glass beakers holding purple liquids labeled: potion of age-less life. That explained why I hadn’t aged in the chamber, either. I put one of these in my pocket as well.
I looked around and found a door beyond it.
I opened it and found myself in a big room I suspected was for meals because of the tables and trays.
I heard loud voices and lots of footsteps walking towards me from a hallway on the left of the room. I quickly looked around for a place to hide and leaped behind a trash can a split second before a group of robots had arrived — about 50 of them, all metal skeletons.
There were signs all around the room that read “DOOM testing area,” and the robots stepped up to megaphones. Suddenly, I heard something from the megaphones.
“TEST DEATH POTION TO SUBJECT G67 AIDAN HAWKINS.”
“YES, MASTER,” said all the robots at once. They sounded hypnotized.
I shuddered. They were going to discover that I had escaped the chamber, then capture me and test this death potion on me! Whatever that was meant to do, it definitely wasn’t something good.
I was looking for a place to run when I realized that the voice coming from the megaphone was the voice of the girl I had seen in the closet.
Was that girl the one leading DOOM?
One of the robots started walking towards me, and I half ran-half crouched, trying to escape without them noticing me. But as I passed the overflowing trash can, I tripped over a banana peel and fell forwards as everyone turned to look at me.
I did what everyone would have done: RAN!
I ran for the door I had come through, but I was stopped by a red transparent laser fence.
I looked around. One of the robots was projecting the light from its hand. I knew well enough not to run through the laser and get myself killed. The robot who had stopped me seemed as though it was the boss.
“STATE-YOUR-NAME-AND-YOUR-BUSINESS-AT-DOOM-TEST-AREA-980,” it said in a very slow voice. It stuck out a hand, and I saw a machine come out.
“Uh… I’m-I’m Nicholas Smith,” I said a little bit too fast. The robots all tensed. They had mechanisms on their hands that looked disturbingly like razor-sharp knives.
“DO-NOT-ATTEMPT-TO-BYPASS-OUR-LIE-DETECTORS-HUMAN.”
I grimaced. So the machine was a lie detector. They probably trusted me even less now that they knew I had lied to them.
“I’m Aidan Hawkins.”
“Your business?” the bot asked.
“Ummm, I got trapped here,” I said. They let go of the laser, and I took my chance and ran for the door.
I ran into the next room and slammed the door shut behind me. I could hear the bots shouting, “SECURITY BREACH. SECURITY BREACH. SECURITY BREACH. TESTING LAB A2 AIDAN HAWKINS.”
I ran to the door that led to the first room. It was closed and locked from the outside.
I was cornered. I looked for a place to hide and found a big box that was big enough to hold me.
I stepped inside and closed the flaps. The air circulation inside was bad, and it was very dark. The only light came from the crack between the 2 flaps.
I had gotten in mere seconds before the bots broke down both doors and stormed in.
“Where is he?”
“Search under the desk and inside the box, behind the door as well.”
I was doomed.

Chapter 5: Saved by HOPE

I thought desperately of a plan to get out of here, but I couldn’t come up with one. I hid there, waiting to be captured and taken to the creepy girl.
Why me? I thought. Why couldn’t someone else have discovered this closet? Why couldn’t it have been a stranger who had to fight this future-tech evil mastermind?
I looked around the box and saw a dark figure hiding there. I almost screamed, but it clapped a hand over my mouth.
“I’m hiding from them as well,” he said.
“Who are you?” I whispered anxiously.
“Benjamin Smith,” said the boy.
I fell over in surprise. “Wait a second, you’re Nicholas’s brother?”
“Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m Aidan Hawkins, his best friend.”
We shook hands.
“How did you get trapped in here?” I asked him.
“I found this closet and got pushed inside it, into a dusty chamber.”
“Really? That’s exactly what happened to me!” I exclaimed.
“Shhh, keep it down,” he whispered urgently. “The robots are coming to search this box, we’re sitting ducks here.”
“I’d like to live in freedom another minute or so, then,” I replied quietly. But there was no need. The robots were gone.
I peeked out of the box and saw an ice-colored figure standing in the middle of all of the broken DOOM robots, holding two long ice-colored swords at their sides.
The moment it saw me, it vanished into thin air and reappeared right next to me with its swords raised.
“Who are you?” they asked.
“I’m A-Aiden Hawkins. I was trapped down here by some weird closet. Who are you?” I asked them.
“I am part of the HOPE military, BOT DC 129. We are taking part in the war against DOOM. It has been going on for 134 years now.”
“The war? What is all this, and why are you here?” I asked.
“I’m a spy, and this war started like this: HOOM was a very happy place, until one of the rulers got into a fight with one of the very rich men. HOOM broke into two and started a war. There is no longer any peace. HOPE supports the king, and DOOM supports the rich man. The wealthy man in charge died two years ago, and his wife has taken over. You’ve probably seen her before: white dress, half-robot, insane smile, looks like a kid because of their ageless-life potion. I come to figure out what they’re doing,” he said all in one breath.
“They’re testing potions on humans,” Benjamin and I said together.
“What potions?” BOT DC 129 asked.
“Ageless potions and foodless potions,” I said quickly.
He eyed me suspiciously as if I was the enemy.
I looked away. “How did you teleport like that?” I asked, trying desperately to change the subject.
“We have very advanced technology. Years ahead of humans.”
“So, can we go to your base or whatever?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said, “but be careful.” He waved his hand and I became invisible.
“WOW!” I exclaimed. He did the same to Benjamin, then set off, and we followed him obediently.
He led us through a wall that looked so solid that I braced myself for impact. But I walked through the wall, and when we came through, I saw more than 100,000 HOPE soldiers lined up together.
“Why are they lined up?” I asked, amazed.
“We are preparing for the great siege,” our guide answered.
There were cryo-tanks and rocket mechs all around the huge courtroom. A big chair stood in the middle of it all, and in it sat a man with a big beard and glasses.
I suspected this was the king.
“60 seconds till we fight!” he announced. “50-40-30-20-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, charge!”

Chapter 6: The Attack on DOOM

The sound was deafening. I saw all the 110,000 or so soldiers charging our way. I moved out of their path just as the first scouts moved in to clear the area. More and more stepped through the barrier after the scouts, ropers strapped on jet packs, and flew through the roof. Benjamin and I went through the barrier after them.
What we saw was complete chaos.
Robots were being destroyed, blue troops appearing everywhere, ropers dropping and sliding down ropes through the roof. Explosions were going off everywhere, and there was a 90% chance that Benjamin and I, if we headed onward, would trip over a DOOM robot head or arm.
“10-9-8-7…”
I didn’t know if that was a bomb timer, but it didn’t sound good, and all the remaining HOPE soldiers were retreating.
“5-4-3-2-1…”
As Benjamin and I burst through the wall, we were knocked forwards onto our stomachs by the impact of the explosion.
I looked around. DOOM soldiers were streaming in and rounding up the remaining HOPE soldiers. The king had vanished.
Benjamin and I were running towards the exit when a red laser struck Benjamin on the back and he fell to the ground, stunned.
I stopped and shook him hard “Benjamin!!! GET UP!”
He had been knocked unconscious.
I dragged him to the door and kicked it open, slamming the door shut after us.
Benjamin opened his eyes. “Hello? Where am I?”
“Come on, Benjamin, we’ve got to go!”
“Huh?” The last few seconds dawned on him. “Oh, shoot, let’s go!”
We ran down a long hallway and arrived outside on a huge grass field. I saw a big building with an electric fence surrounding it. I turned and saw DOOM soldiers running after us, firing lasers at us.
We ran to the building’s huge electric gates and shouted for someone to open them.
“Somebody open these gates! We’re getting chased by DOOM soldiers!”
Two HOPE soldiers opened the gates and shoved us inside. Then they took out two big guns and shot them through the wall, ricocheting off all the DOOM soldiers and breaking them apart.


It was 2 hours later and we had explained our story to the HOPE soldiers that were in the huge building. There were at least 1,000,000 remaining HOPE soldiers. Most of them were guarding the building up top with sniper rifles we learned they called the “AntiVirus.” The building was amazing
There was a weapon room full of weapons of all kinds and a giant dining room big enough for at least 3,000,000 HOPE soldiers. I asked where the king was, and they said that they didn’t know. I told them he wasn’t at DOOM’s base, and that he had disappeared. They then said that he was probably captured by the DOOM troops.
They told us that they planned to attack DOOM’s fort. I asked how many troops would be going, and they told me that 10,000 would be heading in first and clearing the harder DOOM troops, and then another 100,000 would be taking out the troops guarding the king. Then they claimed that DOOM would send reinforcements and that they would then send in 1,000,000 troops — 200,000 to secure the king and the other 800,000 to take on the reinforcements. Then, if everything went right, they would go back to the HOPE HQ and bomb the entire DOOM fort.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Pirate Boy

Dedicated to my wonderful brother

⚠ Warning: this book is very exciting and hard to put down. If you find yourself in this case, the book you are reading is cursed with hardtoputdown powers. If you find your book like this, DO NOT WORRY. You can cure it immediately by putting it down

Caption: 10-year-old Pakish would have loved to stay in their small cozy cottage off the coast of the Caribbean sea. After all, why should you move? Why would you want to move? As they sailed off to sea in their small boathouse his heart pounded, knowing that this may be the adventure of a lifetime.

Chapter 1
The waves crashed against our boathouse. Even when it was the worst rain or thunder, Mom would always say, “Isn’t this fun, honey?” and I glumly nodded, trying to be thankful.
As my mother and father tucked me into bed, we heard a strange noise from above.
“What’s that, Mummy?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she answered, leaving my room to go check. When she came back, she said there was nothing. But then it got louder and louder and LOUDER until our boathouse sank down beneath the sea. My mother and father swam up to the sea. But they were not with me because I was asleep. Little did I know, I was sleeping on a pirate ship.

Chapter 2
I was told to swab the deck and do all of the chores that the pirates didn’t like. If you thought this was miserable, it got way worse. Instead of sleeping on the hammocks with the real pirates, I slept in a bucket.
“We have no room,” they would say. But I doubted that was true, because one night when they thought I was asleep, they talked really loudly about what to do with me.
“We should throw him out! He’s just a worthless boy who eats and doesn’t pay for food,” one pirate, Snoozy, said.
“No. He does our chores. The reason you, Snoozy, don’t feel it is because you’ve been faking knee pains!” another pirate, Hickalmen, said.
“All of you are wrong!” The meanest pirate, Cabooche, said. “We should make ‘im do chores and not feed ‘im! This way he’s payin’ us!”
“Cabooche is right! We will do that.”
And with that, I fell asleep. After all, I didn’t need to have more worries on my back.

Chapter 3
I was scared because of what happened last night. Not feeding me? I was just a lonesome boy whose home had a hole poked in it by the pirates! They are one hundred percent going to jail, and I will escape the ship eventually.
Later that night, while the pirates were asleep, I pulled the anchor off and snuck into a lifeboat. I rowed to land while they rowed to death.
You see, at that time I was ten, and I didn’t know there was always one pirate awake. So, as I rowed to land the pirate came after me. And, as luck would have it, the pirate on watch was Cabooche.
“Hey kid,” he said so loudly it woke all of the other pirates up. Hickalmen had a horrible sense of time. In fact, because Cabooche talked so loud, Hickalmen thought Cabooche wanted him to wake up. So, when he thumped out of the cabins, he demanded breakfast. But there was none. So, he literally smacked Cabooche to make breakfast fast. I laughed so hard I forgot I was trying to escape. Since my laughter was so loud, Hickalmen saw me. And then, I knew I was in big trouble.

Chapter 4
I had been caught. And I can tell you, it wasn’t fun. I was whipped three times by Cabooche. The worst thing was that now I had to sleep in their hammocks so that they could keep an eye on me. And I can tell you the pirates are so stinky.
It was the worst living with them. I now found out that I didn’t even get to sleep in a hammock — I had to sleep on their dirty clothes. I would rather sleep in the hammock than this. But I would also rather live than die because I refused to sleep on the pile of dirty clothes. So yeah, there were some big decisions that I had to make.
My back ached so much from the lashes that I got, and the Pirates didn’t even have any sympathy. They were the opposite of sympathetic. They made me do more chores even though my back hurt. I felt like I would snap in half.

Chapter 5
I decided to get revenge on Cabooche. And it was so cool. He was such a scaredy-cat. I found a sea wasp jellyfish — aka the most dangerous thing in the Caribbean. It stung him, but he thought it just magically appeared on the ship!
So now, Cabooche was on the hammock. He was whimpering in pain and it was so funny. He went, “Aah Ooh! Yowza! Zowie!!!” So that was probably the highlight of my day. And surprisingly, I didn’t get in trouble! It was the best. But the bad thing was that I had to help him. At least I got revenge!

Chapter 6
I was officially a pirate. You might be wondering why there’s no exclamation point at the end of my sentence. That’s because it wasn’t a good thing. But I wasn’t Pirate Cabooche or Pirate Snoozy. I wasn’t Pirate Hickalmen or Pirate Pakish. I was Pirate Boy.
At least my role of being a “pirate boy” was not to steal gold and jewels from other ships.
I was no captain, first mate, or gunman. Cabooche was captain. Hickalmen was quartermaster. Snoozy was a gunner. And the other pirates — Gustavo, Juceng, and Juan — were also gunmen. Lady Ella and Navarou were sailing masters. Lupalo was the first mate. And I had the most dangerous job: a powder monkey. I did all of the dangerous work. And I would most likely never get upgraded. So that was my dangerous life.

Chapter 7
Fine. I’ll answer you. Why was my font like this? Because I had been shot. No, this was not my ghost, it was me — but me with blood all over myself. And being bloody was no fun.
The pirates didn’t take care of me. Not at all. And guess what? They still made me do chores. Seriously. I. Am. Living. On these pirates. It was the worst.

Chapter 8
Yes, yes. I know you may be wondering — who shot me? Well, since I was a powder monkey, I helped the ship and made things go faster. The other ships wanted to kill me so things would get worse for the ship.
Lady Ella said she would help me escape the pirate ship, but with one condition: she would go to land with me. When night fell, Lady Ella voluntarily said that she wanted to be captain on watching. So as we went, she steered us to land! But then I saw the smirk on her face, and I realized she was faking. She was going to give me lashes! I’m innocent! I thought as the rope hit my back.

Chapter 9
Today, I escaped. Well, I didn’t know if I would escape, but I hoped I would. In the middle of the night, Hickalmen was on watch. As you know, he had a very bad sense of time. So when I got up, he thought I was just going to watch and do chores. So, he waddled to the cabin. Finally! The ship was all mine. I steered us to land, but then the boat hit a rock. Water started gushing in, and pirates started rolling off their hammocks.
I swam towards the closest rock then hopped on to it. There were some pirates awake, and they saw me. But there was one problem: they didn’t know how to swim! Quickly, they constructed a raft made from wood planks from the ship. Then, they saw me, and I explained everything to them. And then Hickalmen got punched off the raft, never to be seen again.
As Hickalmen plunged down, he said, “I will come again.”
I screamed to all of the pirates, dead or not, “LOSERS!” and then swam to land.

Three Minutes Before the Earthquake

Three minutes before the earthquake happens, Izzy has to escape the house. The floor is shaking, the house is falling apart. Three, two, one, the floor fell apart! Izzy almost falls but more trouble is coming, a flood! Izzy gets so scared, she packs all her stuff and runs away to a different town where her family lives. 

Ten more seconds! 

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one… the flood is coming! 

Izzy almost gets washed away. She finds her mom, dad, and big sister. She is so happy to see them. The town looks very new, kids are playing soccer, and parents are talking. It looks like no disasters will happen. So from now on, there will be no more floods.  

Uni the Unicorn

Uni the unicorn was staring at the glittering stream, thinking about nothing except for sunlight. Ten minutes later, her little sister named Luna came and plopped herself right next to her sister and asked, “Whatcha doing?”

“Oh, I was just thinking about my power of sunlight,” Uni said. 

“I was thinking about the same thing!” said Luna. 

At the same precise moment, the darkness of twilight took over the shining sun. Uni questioned, “What is happening?”

When she looked at Luna, her little sister did not have any pupils, her eyes were just plain white. Her mane had streaks of black, purple, and navy blue. Instead of the rainbow colors on Luna’s horn, there was bronze swirled with gold. 

Luna shouted, “Do you now know why my name is Luna? It’s because I am the evil sorcerer of darkness!” Then she cackled an evil scary laugh and strode off. 

Uni started to get the spooks. She asked herself, Was her little sister actually on the dark side, or was Luna just trying to be funny? 

Then Uni had an idea. What if she were quick enough to follow her sister to Luna’s home and spy? She got right to work. She galloped home and quickly packed up and got some food and water. Once she was done, she ran off into the darkness of the afternoon. 

But after months and months, she still couldn’t find Luna. So what she did was give up reluctantly and went home as slow as a snake.

The Chronicles of Mystery Part 1

Chapter 1

It was a foggy and rainy day as Samantha the detective hurried to the classroom. She was late because of a dentist appointment. As she opened the classroom door, to her surprise, all her classmates were missing! Samantha was frightened of what she saw. 

The walls were scraped, chairs and tables were broken, and books were scattered all over the place. 

Then, she saw a big hole behind the bookshelf that wasn’t there before. Samantha pushed the bookshelf with all her might and entered the secret chamber. 

The walls were crumbling. It was so big, you could easily get lost, Samantha thought. She found a staircase that led to the huge and crumbling clock that was actually very pretty. 

Suddenly, the clock struck 12:00. At the very top of the clock, two doors opened and figurines that looked like students from a long time ago spun round and round the clock. 

On one of the figurines, Samantha spotted a book in the arms of a small girl with silver wavy hair. Two other girls were placed beside her. One of the girls had long blond hair expertly woven into a braid, followed by the other girl with slick black hair tied into a ponytail. They all had one thing in common: a bracelet. 

Samantha took the book from the silver haired figurine and saw on the bottom there was a stone that said the girls’ names: the blond hair girl was Chloe, the shortest one was Avery, Linzy was the one with the darkest hair. 

Samantha tiptoed down the stairs. Next, Samantha slowly closed the secret passageway. Then, she slipped the book inside her backpack and hurried home as the last bell had just rung. 

The next day Samantha arrived at school early to tell her two best friends, Brooklyn and Riri, what happened because they were in completely different classes. Riri, an eight year old girl with wavy and pretty black hair, became best friends with Brooklyn and Samantha in 1st grade. Brooklyn, a nine year old girl who was a head taller than Riri, had pretty brunette hair.  Samantha, who was eight years old, was a head taller than Riri, and had pretty rose gold hair. 

“Samantha, today we have a substitute teacher. She’s new and you can join our class until your class is found,” Riri said.  

“You can sit next to us so we can write notes to each other of what we think could have happened,” Brooklyn said. So, they all went to class. 

“Samantha, did you tell anybody yet about the secret chamber?” Brooklyn asked in a hushed voice. 

“Well, not exactly,” said Samantha, “I did not want to tell anybody yet because I just wanted a mystery to solve by myself. ” 

 “Fine,” said Brooklyn. Riri was about to say something but the door slammed open. Then, out came the substitute teacher. She sat down on the chair and then took attendance. Samantha then noticed there was something awfully familiar about her slick black hair that was tied into a ponytail. 

“Single file line. Hurry, we are going on a field trip to the museum,” the teacher said in a loud and sturdy voice before Samantha could say anything.  

Then, everybody went on to the bus. Samantha found Riri and Brooklyn and sat next to them before anyone could steal her spot. On the way to the museum, they talked about the secret chamber and talked about what could be familiar about the substitute teacher and who could be the girls in the clock. 

“I found this book in one of their arms,” Samantha told them, and she showed them the soft yet mysterious book. Riri’s eyes opened wide. 

“Why are you so excited?” Brooklyn asked Riri.

“That clock is really old so it will probably have a history of who the girls are,” Riri said.  

“I don’t think that those girls are that old. Those girls should be grown-ups by now,” Samantha said.  

“We are here, come on,” said the substitute teacher. She then led the students inside the museum and gave them all a clipboard and a packet. “In your packet, you can take notes about any old artifact that is in the museum and what you learned and what you are interested in now.”  

“Come on, we need to go to the clock section,” said Samantha .

“Okay,” said Riri. 

“Can you guys slow down?” asked Brooklyn, doing her best to catch up with them. 

“Nope,” said Riri, giggling.  

“Hurry, the sign said the clock exhibit is going to close in five minutes,” said Samantha. Then, they finally reached the exhibit and, to their surprise, the substitute teacher beat them there. 

“Do you guys have an interest in clocks? I can show you some clocks from school if you like,” said the substitute teacher. 

“Yes, please,” said Riri in a polite manner. 

“Which clock would you like to learn about? I have a whole book of clocks,” said the substitute teacher.

“Do you have a book about a clock at school next to the principal’s office building?”asked Samantha. 

“No, there is not a clock there,” said the teacher in a suspicious tone of voice. They then heard someone shout. 

“Out of the clock exhibit, it is closing in one minute,” said a teenage boy who looked like a janitor.  

“There is something awfully weird about her. She is very familiar and just by the tone of her voice she is keeping something from us,” Samantha then said to Brooklyn and Riri. 

“Whatever you say,” answered Riri in a voice that she never used before. Samantha, Brooklyn, and Riri then walked to the bus. 

“What if there is no North side? What if the clock is hidden behind the bushes where Samantha accidently threw the ball over the fence?” Riri said. 

“Impossible. When we saw the ball go over the fence, it hit something hard that sounded like a few bricks,” said Brooklyn. “Oooh, I get it now!”

“Told ya,” said Riri. Samantha looked at them, looking very bored and tapping her foot.

“Okay, okay, come on. Let’s just jump over the bush full of thorns that Melissa got poked by in 1st grade. Great plan, just great,” said Samantha sarcastically.  

“But didn’t Melissa say there was a big clock in the back of the bush?” said Riri. 

“Congrats, we have a new smarty pants now. Congrats, Riri,” said Brooklyn. 

“Oh, stop itm Brooklyn,” said Samantha. 

“Let’s just go now to the bush but Brooklyn gets Melissa before we go to the bush now, okay?” said Riri proudly. 

“Okay, I will get her,” said Brooklyn, swirling her brunette curls. 

“Time to get off the bus.” said the substitute teacher who told everyone to call her Ms. Linzy and surprisingly she was only 11…    

To be continued…

The Day That Goes Haywire – Trilogy

My day today:

8:13 am – Wake up

8:15 am – Log on to Writopia Lab (Yay!!!!)

9:45 am – Writopia Lab ends

9:46 am – Go downstairs

9:48 am – Eat breakfast while watching the test cricket match

9:50 am to 3 pm – Do some studying, play cricket with my uncle

3 pm to 6 pm – Go to a friends birthday party, stay there until six, eat dinner, and come home

6 pm to 9 pm – Come home, play a few games of  The Sequence, and sleep

This is how my day should look today, I think as I get up.

“Joe! Are you up yet?” Mom shouts from downstairs. 

“Yes! I’ve been up for about 10 minutes,” I shout back as I log on to Writopia. The next minute, I find that my internet isn’t working. Then, my day goes totally awesome (I’m being sarcastic). 

Three things that go totally awesome in my day are logging on to Writopia Lab, going to a friend’s birthday party, and playing a few games of The Sequence. I have to shut down my computer, and start it up again 2 times. Finally, I get to Writopia Lab. For the rest of the lab, I have no problems. 

Next, I find that I am late for the party, by 50 minutes. Then, I get to the party and play till 6 pm. 

Back at home, I can’t find The Sequence, a board game where you have to make two sequences of 5. The first person to make both of them wins! You can also play in teams of two. Same thing goes: the first one to make two sequences of 5 wins the game. Finally, I find it. Then, me and my family play 5 games, 1 of which I won, and 4 that I lost. Then, I brush my teeth, and go to bed. I have a ton of nightmares, such as missing my book report deadline, being late for my State Report Oral, and other stuff, like missing Math or Social Studies or even SCIENCE.

The End lLets just hope that my Monday isn’t the same!!) 

The Day That Goes Haywire: Episode 2: Summer Starts

I, Joe Johnson, started my Monday like a normal Monday. Unfortunately, I forgot that I had the end of school year exams on Monday, as Monday was the last day of school, and I hadn’t studied a single bit!!! Dun dun daaaan!!! My grade, although I hadn’t studied, was 99.9%. My parents were furious with me! 

“Joe! You should have gotten 2,000,000,000,000,000,000% on your exams! Your mom and I always got that score on our exams!” my Dad said. I was startled.

 “Sorry!! I forgot to study for the exams!” I replied. Then, my day went totally awesome (sarcastic, again). As I tried to focus on the fact that school was out for summer break, I started worrying about Summer Camp, or Summer School. Or… or… or some other horrible thing. Instead, Mom and Dad planned a trip to, you guessed it, The Park of Waters and Slides that Stretch Up To 60 Feet Off The Ground, even though they know that I absolutely didn’t like that park. I guess that it was supposed to be some kind of punishment.

The next day, at 4AM, we flew to Cancun, Mexico, to go to the park. The park was not very fun. The resort, on the other hand, was awesome, but terrifying. 

“Ahh!!! Help!” I yelled. I had just triggered a booby trap.       

         To know more about Joe’s Summer Vacation, read the third book of the Day That Goes Haywire Series.

                         The End

The Day That Goes Haywire: Episode 3: Summer Vacation 

Summer is going horrible and horrifying for me so far. My parents are being controlled by an Evil Madmind. I only got to know about this when I overheard them a few weeks into summer vacation.

                  A few weeks ago: 

“Joe Johnson! Get up!” Mom shouted from across the room.

“Okay! Okay! Stop! Mom! Seriously! Stop throwing pillows at me! I’m up! I’m up!” I replied, as I held my hands up in surrender. Just as quickly as that had passed, Dad threw another volley of fire. 

“Dad! Stop! Chill! Why? Okay, seriously, you have got to stop throwing pillows at me now!” I roared, as I threw a volley of fire back at both Mom and him. I was shocked at this behavior from Mom and Dad. It really was surprising how carefree they had gotten after coming to Cancun. Was I the only serious one left?

This was actually true. I was really the only one left that was serious. My parents were being sort of “controlled,” though I didn’t know this yet. I only found out one night when my parents thought I was asleep…

Now: 3 Weeks into Summer Vacation

I only found out one night when my parents thought I was asleep. They talked about the madmind and how he was their “master,” and the most powerful person in the world, and how he would give them all that they wanted and so on and so forth. I was shocked at this. I was really surprised that they, of all people, would let themselves be controlled. They weren’t those kind of people. Upon investigating a bit further, I found out that there was a super secret camera that was hidden in my parents room. It zapped them with a weird blue light 2 times a day, one time in the morning, and one in the night. Now that I knew how that worked, I just had to disable it. I snuck into my parents room when they were out shopping. I then disabled the zapper. Now, I had saved my parents!

                 THAT’S ALL FROM THE DAY THAT GOES HAYWIRE TRILOGY!

Holiday Rush

Chapter 1: Vacation Jitters

Jack was at the zoo. “Do we really have to go to Florida? I’m worried about my dog,” he said. 

“Don’t worry about your weird dog,” said Jack’s older sister, Maddy. Maddy was sometimes annoying. Maddy thought that Jack’s dog, Benji, was weird. Sometimes Jack thought that, too. 

Jack looked at the animals and licked his ice cream. He had a frown on his face. He wasn’t happy for sure. After they got home, he and his family started packing. Maddy brought sunglasses, lotion, and flip-flops. Before going to bed, Jack fed Benji. Jack thought that if Benji could come on the trip to Florida, it would make his trip better. The next day, his alarm clock woke him up at 5:55. ”It’s not even 7:00!” Jack said, as he pressed the snooze bar of his alarm clock. Two minutes later, his dad darted to his room. 

“Rise and shine, buddy!” he declared.

Jack moaned as he got out of bed. He went downstairs. He saw Benji, then it hit him. Something he had to remember. 

Chapter 2: Something to Remember

Jack knew what this day was going to be. The day to go to the airport. He had another frown on his face. It was bigger than the one at the Zoo. “Why don’t you eat your pancakes?” said his dad. 

But Jack wasn’t in the mood for pancakes. He wasn’t in the mood to eat, either.  His tummy was in knots. He didn’t feel good. “I’m not hungry,” Jack said, gloomily. 

He went upstairs. When he got upstairs, he brushed his teeth, just like every day after breakfast. The only difference was that he didn’t have breakfast this morning. 

“Make sure you wear jeans and other warm clothes,” said his dad. Jeans? Jack didn’t like jeans. When he wore them, it felt hard to run, one of his favorite things to do. But Jack knew it was cold, so he listened to his father. The day so far was not a good one.

Chapter 3: To the Airport

“Get in the car!” shouted Jack’s dad. 

“One minute, Dad,” Jack said, as he put some dog food in Benji’s supper dish. “Here you go, Benji,” Jack said, as he put the dish in front of Benji’s feet. 

While Benji ate, Jack petted him on the head, where Benji liked to be petted. 

“Remember to bring Maddy with you!”Jack’s dad said. 

“Bye, Benji,” Jack said in a sad voice. 

He went upstairs. “Maddy! Dad said to come!” Jack shouted to Maddy.

“Give me a sec!” Maddy shouted back. 

“Get to the car in one minute!” Jack said as he headed to the car. 

“I thought Maddy was with you,” said Jack’s dad.

“She’s coming in one minute,” Jack responded. 

After Jack got out of the house Benji shuffled into Jack’s dad’s duffle bag.  

“I’m here!” Maddy said as she opened the car door next to Jack.

“I’ll put the luggage in the trunk,” Jack’s dad said. He got up and carried a piece of luggage to the trunk. One by one, Jack’s dad did the same thing over and over until all the luggage was in the trunk (including the duffle bag with Benji). “Let’s get going to the airport,” said Jack’s dad.

The car ride was long. Jack did not like being in the car for a long time. It became stuffy after a while. Jack made a face that showed he wasn’t happy.

“Sorry, I forgot,” Jack’s dad said. 

Forgot? Forgot what? thought Jack. He looked over to the side, and the window next to him opened. That made him feel better!

Chapter 4: At the Airport

“We’re here!” said Jack’s dad.

Jack saw his father look out the window on the left. Jack was sitting on the right. Jack leaned over Maddy’s spot to see the airport. “Out of my space, young man!” Maddy said in a harsh and scary voice as she pushed Jack to his seat. Sometimes having a sister was great, but other times, not so much. 

They went inside the airport. “Is it always so crowded day and night?” Jack asked.

“Of course, Jack. Have you ever been to an airport?” Maddy said. 

“Nope, not even once,” Jack responded.

Maddy made a face like she was thinking deeply. “You’re right,” Maddy said at last. “You have not visited an airport yet.”

“Terminal 24? Never heard of that terminal,” Jack’s dad said.

”Same here,” Maddy said. “ Perhaps it is new.” 

“We should ask other people where it is,” Jack said. 

“Good idea, Jack,” Jack’s dad said. “But where do we start?” 

“We ask people where it is. Simple,” Maddy said. 

“Right,” Jack’s dad said. “Let’s do it.”

Chapter 5: Looking for Terminal 24

“Do we have enough time?” Jack’s dad said.

“We have one hour,” Maddy responded.

“Then let’s scram!” said Jack’s dad. 

“Wait!” said Jack.

“What?” said Maddy 

“We can’t split up!” Jack responded.

“Why not?” Said Jack’s dad.

“We would have to waste our time looking for each other,” said Jack. 

“Jack’s right,” said Maddy. 

Jack and the rest of his family rushed to a man. “Do you know where Terminal 24 is?” asked Jack’s dad. The man shook his head no. They went to another man. “Do you happen to know where Terminal 24 is?” The man thought for a minute.

“Nope, I don’t know,” said the man.

Jack and his family were desperate. They had already spent 15 minutes. They went to another man. “Do you know where Terminal 24 is?” asked Maddy.

“Nope. But the people who work here will know,” said the man. 

“Thank you,” said Jack in a rushed voice. 

They went to a lady at the front desk. “Can you tell us where Terminal 24 is?” said Jack’s dad. 

“Sorry. I only work in this Terminal. I do not know where Terminal 24 is,” said the lady.

“Do you know anyone who knows where Terminal 24 is?” said Maddy.

The lady thought. “There is this man named Ben. Ben’s job is to clean Terminals 20 through 25. He knows where Terminal 24 is,” said the lady at last.

“Can you tell us where Ben is?” said Jack’s dad. 

“He usually works at Terminal 22,” said the lady.

“Thank you,” said Maddy. They went to Terminal 22. 

“Is Ben here?” Jack asked a man at the front desk.

“There was a Ben here an hour ago. He is now in Terminal 21. He’s a nice guy,” said the man. They had spent 30 minutes already. They were getting more and more desperate. They went to Terminal 21. They saw someone who was mopping the floors. When they got closer they saw his name tag. The name BEN was printed on the tag.They approached Ben and he turned around. 

“Hello,” Ben said as he smiled. Jack thought that it was a good greeting start.

“Hello. Could you tell us where Terminal 24 is?” said Jack’s dad. It had already been 45 minutes of searching.

Ben told them where to go. “It will take 25 minutes to get there,” said Ben.

“25 minutes!” They cried. “We only have 15 minutes!”

“Let’s scram,” said Maddy. They got to Terminal 24. “What? New passengers?” Maddy said.

Chapter 6: Delay Delay

“We missed the plane?” said Jack’s dad. 

“Wait!” Jack said. “It’s a delay.” He pointed at a sign. 

“Really? So all our rush meant nothing?” said Maddy. 

“I guess Jack’s right. Let’s sit together,” said Jack’s dad.

“That’s a great idea, Dad, except almost all seats are full,” said Maddy. 

“At least we can stand at the airport,” said Jack. 

“Or we can sit against the wall and wait,” Maddy said.

Suddenly there was a grumbling sound. “I think I’m hungry. Could you get those snacks out?” said Jack’s dad.

“Did you even eat breakfast, Dad?” asked Maddy. 

Jack’s dad blushed. “I, err…was busy,” Jack’s dad said. “I did not have breakfast.”

Jack got out some snacks for his father, but he wondered why he was so busy. But his thoughts were cut off by Maddy’s voice. “We should sit over here,” she said. 

They went over by a wall near a window. Maddy read a book while Jack’s dad munched on some snacks. But Jack was still thinking about why his dad was so busy. But he got no answers, which wasn’t surprising. He wasn’t expecting some random voice to answer him.

“Do you have your boarding pass?” asked Jack’s father. 

“Yes, Dad, and so does Jack,” Maddy said.

“It’s almost boarding time,” Jack’s dad said.

Chapter 7: Boarding the Plane

“Boarding the plane will start with the families with children, and those who served in the military,” a lady said.

“Come, let’s go. They said children board first, remember?” said Jack.

“Jack, you are a child, but they mean the children under 7 years old,” said Jack’s dad.

“Rats,” said Jack. “That’s not fair.”

They stared at the gateway as young children and their families entered the plane. Finally it was the regular boarding time. The woman started calling the last boarding groups. “A…..B,” the woman said as the boarding groups came to the gate.

“Which boarding group are we in?” asked Jack.

“Hmm. Good question. Let’s see,” Jack’s dad said in a very boring voice for Jack. “Uh…ah there it is! We are in boarding group C,” Jack’s dad said.

“Boarding group C!” said the lady.

Just in time, thought Jack as he pushed his father to the gate.

“Easy kid! We have to scan our boarding pass.”

Boarding pass? If Jack had known that he had to scan his boarding pass he would not have pushed his own father. “Maddy will teach you how,” Jack’s dad said. Jack really didn’t appreciate Maddy showing him how.

“First you give her your boarding pass. She’ll just scan it. Then you go straight with me,” Maddy explained.

Jack was just relieved that scanning his boarding pass was fast. Jack looked in front of him to see a big, box-like thing sitting there. “Go in and there will be two men half way,” said Maddy. Jack went inside. 

 “Boarding pass please!” said two men. Jack handed him his boarding pass. One of the men ripped a part of his boarding pass. 

“Wow. How did he do that?” asked Jack.

“No idea,” said Maddy. 

Chapter 8: On the Plane

Jack’s dad stopped at a seat in first class. “Come on, Dad,” Maddy said. 

“Maddy, I’m counting on you to look after Jack. I’m bringing my duffle bag. I want to relax,” Jack’s dad said. 

Jack couldn’t believe his ears. His dad was in first class while he was stuck in economy with Maddy. Jack went to the back with Maddy and sat in their seats. Meanwhile, Dad put his chair back. Benji got out of Jack’s father’s duffle bag and started to slobber on Jack’s dad’s shoes. Jack’s dad noticed and he looked down. Benji hid. 

“Hmmmmmmm,” Jack’s dad said. “I smell dog slobber on my shoes.” He went and took a nap. Again, Benji slobbered on Jack’s dad’s shoes. This time Jack’s dad caught Benji. He really wasn’t happy about Benji on the plane. But more nervous that Benji was right in first class. “I promise to keep you on the trip. But you can’t stay here. Go under the seats and find Jack,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Maddy snored so loud that Jack could barely hear his show he was watching on the airplane. Even with headphones on.

Chapter 9: Feeling Happiness

Benji quietly scooted softly under the seats. For some reason, luckily, nobody noticed Benji. Everyone was watching a movie or sleeping. On the way, he grabbed some steaks because he was hungry. In first class there was a scream. “Somebody stole my steak!” a person said. Benji ran to economy. He found Maddy’s foot. He put his head down on Maddy’s foot. 

“Agh! Something’s on my foot!” Maddy shouted. All the heads in economy turned to Maddy. But before anyone saw Benji, he hid. Then everyone just acted like nothing happened. Benji got out of his hiding space. 

“So do you know what was on your foot?” Jack asked Maddy. 

“Ugh. My foot smells like a dog,” Maddy said disgustedly. Suddenly Jack gasped. 

“Benji!” he said in a quiet voice. 

“How could such a weird dog make his way in this stuffy plane?” asked Maddy. 

“Where should I put him?” asked Jack. “We can’t leave him under the seats.” Benji took something long out of Maddy’s bag. 

“Are you crazy! This dog stole my sausage!” Maddy said, whispering. Suddenly there was a buzz on Maddy’s phone. 

“Keep the dog for the trip,” Maddy read outloud.

Chapter 10: Dog Days (for Maddy and Others)

Hour after hour Maddy kept getting messages from her dad. Every time she had to bail out for Benji. 

“Where are we going to feed him food? Benji’s supper dish is back home,” asked Jack just before a message went over the intercom:

“Please buckle up! We are about to land. Please push your seats to an upright position.” Maddy and Jack buckled up their seats. 

“Uh oh,” the same voice said. “ Sorry, but we have another delay. We can’t find a place to land.” Everyone groaned. One hour later, a voice said from the intercom that they were landing. Jack checked on Benji and Maddy. Benji seemed airsick. Maddy seemed very tired. 

Boom !

Now Jack seemed to be the one to have a sickness. It felt like he had motion sickness. Jack looked outside. He saw a bunch of planes, big and little. They had arrived in Florida. They walked through a glass-made hall and into the airport. 

“Dad, do we have a map of this airport?” asked Jack. 

“Nope. But I’m sure we’ll find one ourselves. They’re maps all over the airport.” They looked and looked for a map but they could not find any. In fact, it seemed like the more they went looking, the more they got lost. 

“Look!” Maddy said. “A door.” They went outside and Jack’s father slowed down a taxi. It didn’t look like a taxi, but looked like a truck. Maddy was the first one to climb in. 

“OLP! Yuck!” said Maddy. “Dad…this is a truck that carries animals to the zoo.” They walked until a real taxi came. They climbed in and took a ride to the hotel. They went past the front desk. They came to their room and then relaxed. 

“Don’t eat the snacks. We have to pay for those,” said Jack’s dad. Jack was surprised because he had already eaten two bags of candy from the snack bar, and taken some beef jerky for Benji! “Yikes, Jack! That must be 2 thousand dollars!” Really? thought Jack. For 3 bags? With nothing to do Jack grabbed the remote. By that time, Maddy was watching a soap opera. 

“Hey! I had the remote first!” said Maddy. Jack, without a word, switched the channel. They had a fight with words, drifting into physical things. It was Dad who stepped in because he got a call from the room right above them.

Chapter 11: The First Night and Day in Florida 

That night was a loud night. Jack, Maddy and their father could not sleep. The waves kept them up and the animals didn’t help. The next day at 8:00, they all woke up. 

“Uh Oh!” Jack said as he looked at the alarm clock. The breakfast buffet closed at 7:55. They rushed to the buffet. But they noticed they were still in their PJs. They ran back to their room and changed their clothes. They ran outside of the hotel. They walked until they found a good restaurant. 

Bonjour,” said the waiter. 

“Dad?” Jack asked. “What does bonjour mean?” 

“It means hello in French,” Jack’s dad said. “Servent-ils le petit déjeuner ici?” 

Jack had no idea what his dad was saying. The waiter took them to a table. Just then, a chef came with soup. 

“This is not a proper breakfast,” Maddy protested. Jack’s father just sighed.  They got out of the restaurant and found another one. This time it was an Italian restaurant. 

Accettiamo solo prenotazioni,” said a man. 

“Now what does that mean?” asked Jack.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Dad. This process went over 4 times. Then, they decided that they were wasting time and went to the beach. On the way, Jack took his father’s wallet. When they got to the beach, Jack used the money to buy slushies.

Chapter 12: To Make a Long Story Short

I guess you should know that this story is ending. Jack’s family couldn’t afford a meal. But they could afford a very cheap plane. The airline was called D.C. Airlines, which stands for Dirt Cheap Airlines. They went home on an airplane that was all patched up. Jack was happy that they went home because there was too much chaos he had to deal with. The end.

The End

Inspired by “Goodbye to a World” by Porter Robinson

“I love you.” That is how it all ended. On October 12th, 2067, the world ended. After seeing many collapse, he started seeing in slow motion. Looking at her, she was falling slowly, her eyes half closed, she looked worn out. Vision started being blurry until… she said, “I love you.” She collapsed and went still. No longer in this world, with nothing to live for, he collapsed. With one last breath, the world ended.

Found But Forgotten

Part 1

The way my life turned upside down all started with donuts. Yup, donuts. That delicious, puffy, glazed, chocolaty treat with sprinkles. It all started when I was seven years old at my soccer championship. It was intense. The goalie on the other team was staring me down. She spit on the ground and kicked the ground hard. 

“Ewwwwww!” I shouted in her face, splattering my spit on her face. It then temporarily blinded her as she screamed,

“Get it off!!!”

 I dashed around the spluttering goalie and kicked the ball into the net. I had scored the final point, and I won the Star Girls Soccer Championship. I ran with joy into my mom and dad and gave them a huge hug. Little did I know that would be the last hug I gave in a long time. I then ran around and gave my whole team high fives.

“Yay, great job out there, Abbigail,” my soccer coach bellowed as I did my victory lap. 

“You are totally the most amazing, splendid person ever!!!” yelled Taylor as I ran by. Taylor was my best friend in the entire world. 

My parents then called out and said, ”We’re going to go get donuts for your whole team because we are so proud of you guys.”

“That would be awesome!!! Thanks, Mom and Dad,” I yelled right before they left for the donut shop. I was all pumped and decided to take a break and sit down and talk to my friends. I talked and played hand games for half an hour or so. I was wondering why they hadn’t come back. The donut shop had only been a 15 minute drive. But there may have been traffic or a long line. I didn’t know so I just got out my iPad and played games with my friend. 

I didn’t know how long it had been until my friend’s mom said, “It’s been an hour and a half. Please stop playing.” 

Wait, but if it had been an hour and a half, why hadn’t my parents been back yet? I started to get worried and started to panic.

 “Where are my mom and dad?” I asked frantically. All the parents looked at each other and shared the same confused look. It was silent.

 “I don’t know,” a parent spoke up and said. 

There was a murmur of whispers by the parents going around. I could make out things like, “I always knew Tom and Sussie would be bad parents at some point,” “Oh the poor girl,” and, “Are they out at a club or something?” 

Then, sirens came blaring down the street. There was a big official car that said “Child Protective Services” on the front of it. 

A tall man in a black suit came out of the car and said, “We heard a child has been abandoned. We are here to take her to a good place.” 

What? My brain was racing. How were they here? Did someone tell them to come? Why? Who had done it if someone did? 

The big man came up to me and said, “Come with me.” I tried to escape but he was too strong.

 “Please, sir, this is a misunderstanding. My parents just went to get donuts, they will be back,” I yelled, trying to convince him and myself that that was true. But by then, I was in a truck driving away with nothing but my tablet.   

Part 2 

Ten years later, on a rocking ship, in a small bed. 

“Did you think they ever intended to come back, Abbs?” said Jaden, a fellow kid who was taken by Child Protective Services.

 “No,” I said, looking down at my feet. 

Jaden then tried to reassure me. “It’s going to be okay,” he said.

 “Are you 100% sure about that?” I said sarcastically.

 “No, I am 36.44897403890563891249% sure about it,” Jaden said sarcastically back. “But really, Abbs. No one can ever be really sure about anything, can they?” Jaden said, looking right at me.

 “No… ”  I said, giving in. 

“See? Life can’t be certain, especially if it’s someone else’s life,” Jaden said with a sad smile. “If I could predict life, I would have told my parents not to go on a trip in Miami and not to crash their car.” Jaden looked at his hands solemnly.

 “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up anything that may have brought back bad memories,” I said, patting Jaden on the back.

 “Oh no, don’t apologize. I practically find a way to bring them up into the conversation no matter what,” Jaden said, laughing slightly.

 “If we just keep looking to the future, it will end up better. And who knows? Maybe life will end up back as normal,” I said, looking out our small cramped bedroom window. Little did I know that that wouldn’t be the answer and that life would never be normal again.

A Trip to the Beach

Once upon a time, a girl named Maya and her brother Toby, were on summer break and they were so, so happy. So happy, that they decided to go to the beach with their friends named Zoey and Fin. The first thing they did was make sandcastles. They were 10 feet tall. Then they wanted to go in the water. They were in the water for about 10 minutes then Toby yelled, “Shark!” Everyone ran out of the water but there was one baby. Maya ran back into the water to save the baby. Maya saved the baby but the shark bit Maya. She started to bleed and cry. The lifeguards helped her while she cried. 

“Oh no!” Zoey said. Toby called her mom. Her mom’s phone was off. “Fin, call your mom.” 

“She is on a work call.”

The lifeguard called 911 and the shark lost all its teeth. Maya was happy the baby, whose name was Grace, was okay, but she was still crying. 

“What will we do? We need to help Maya,” said Zoey. 

“I’m okay, just really, really hurt,” Maya said. 

“Okay, but we still are going to help you,” said Fin. Maya was sitting on the sand.

Maya’s mom came running. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yes,” responded Maya. 

“What happened?” 

“I’m okay, but there are marks from where the shark bit me.”

“Okay, but you are bleeding a lot,” said Toby.

“Maybe we should go home and have lemonade and cookies,” said Maya’s mom. “That’s so good.” 

“Bring her to the hospital every day for 10 weeks,” said the doctor.

“Okay,” Maya said. 

At home, Maya had two cups of lemonade and three cookies, then she went to lie down in bed. Then Maya’s BFF, Becky, knocked on her bedroom door.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Sort of.”

 Maya’s mom walked in. “Mom, can I talk to Becky privately?”

“Yes.”

“What do you need?”

“I need to talk to you. It hurts, but I am not okay.” 

“Okay, so why didn’t you just tell your mom and brother?” said Becky. 

“But … because. If I told them, I’d be in such great trouble because I’m not supposed to go in the water when the lifeguard blows their whistle.” 

“Well, you’re hurt, so it’s better if you just tell your mom so she’ll help make you feel better,” said Becky. 

“Well, I guess I didn’t think of that,” Maya said while she looked down and played with her ring.  

“Why don’t we go tell your mom now?” 

“Becky. Don’t you think my mom will be mad if we tell her now when we just left the hospital?” 

“Well, let’s tell her, Maya. We have to tell her.”

Maya’s face turned red. 

“Come on!” Becky announced. 

“Okay,” Maya said, right before she sighed. 

They walked out of Maya’s room, holding hands. Becky helped Maya get down the stairs, and then it was time to tell her mom. 

“Mom,” Maya said in a shaky voice. “My leg really hurts.”

“Okay, why did you not tell me?”

“Because I was trying to be strong.”

“You are strong. Okay, let’s go to the hospital.”

“Okay.”

Starry’s Big Adventure 2

Starry and Matilda were starfish who just arrived back home after being adopted by humans. They worked hard to escape. They were so happy when they saw their families. 

When they arrived at home, Matilda lived four blocks down so it would be very easy to visit each other. They decided to spend the night with their families. Starry saw her sister, Lila. She looked liked Starry. They both played dolls. Lila was 4-years-old. Starry’s other sister, Stella, was 10 years old so she played a lot of video games like Animal crossing ™ on her Nintendo switch©. Lila wanted to play too but did not know how to work the joy-con.

Then, at 5:00 starfish time, their mom called dinner and they had chicken, mac and cheese, and broccoli. Starry loved the dinner. Starry gave out gifts and they went to bed. Lila and Stella shared a room. They did not complain about it. In the room, one side had unicorns and rainbows, and the other side had cats and Hello Kitty. Starry’s room was decorated with Barbies and puppies. She got the puppy decor from Pottery Barn Kids when she was nine. Starry was now 13, so she started to peel the Barbie stuff off the walls, and then she found Dora the Explorer wallpaper underneath the Barbie one. She peeled that one off too because she was too old for it. Now the wall was blank. 

She decided to pull out her computer and look at Pottery Barn Teen and she decided to get a hang-around chair, lamp, and paint. The next day, she went to the store and she got blue paint and a unicorn chair. She did not find a lamp that she liked so she decided to go to the mall next door. They found two lamps and three pillows. They were done shopping and went home for dinner. 

Starry went to her room to start decorating.  Matilda called and asked if they could have a sleepover. Starry went to her parents’ room and asked them but they said no. Starry decided to sneak out. She asked Matilda to come with her parents’ car and get close to the front window. She would be ready in 10 minutes. 

10 minutes later, she saw a black car pull up to the front window. Starry climbed out the window and Matilda opened the door just when she was about to climb in the car. She felt something tug her leg but she couldn’t see so she struggled him off and kicked him. She thought it was her dad, so she ran away. But when she looked back to make sure she hadn’t missed any bags, she saw he was dressed in all black and she knew enough from watching movies that he was a robber. She tried to call her parents, but they wouldn’t wake up. So she called her sisters and luckily they were up and tried to go into their parents’ room. They found a vent in the roof of the living room but the robber caught Lila. The robber was tall and he had a lot of garbage. His voice sounded very gruff, and he smelled like the sewer. Lila said, 

“Don’t wait for me! Go!” 

And luckily, she took karate so she hit him in the nose, and then she climbed into the vent to find their parents’ room. Stella ran and told her parents that there was someone in the house. She told her parents that a car was waiting outside but they wouldn’t budge. They said it was a nightmare and told her to go back to sleep. Stella did not obey, though. She quickly ran up into the vents, grabbed Lila by the arm, and pulled her into the car. 

Matilda drove to her parents’ house to tell them what happened. Matilda’s house was limestone with a pink roof and a black door. It was very quiet. Matilda went to unlock the door but then she noticed that she left her keys at Starry’s house so they ran back to the car and sped through the highway to get back to Starry’s house. 

The robber was still there, so they had to enter through the back door. The robber caught them but they ran away quickly. Matilda quickly grabbed the house keys and ran. Starry was scared because she wondered if her parents would listen to her little sister so they could come out. She was really tense and she couldn’t really walk. 

They got to the car and Matilda tried to start it, but she realized the robber pulled out all of their gas so they couldn’t move. They started running to Matilda’s house. They get Matilda’s keys and entered her house. They woke up her parents. Her parents agreed to come with them. They ran to Starry’s house and woke Starry’s parents up. When they saw Matilda’s parents, they thought it was not a dream anymore. They left out the back door then ran to Matilda’s house then called the police.

The police said most of the house had been destroyed and they had to get a new house. They stayed at their grandma’s house. They were excited. After the police said it was safe to go back home, they went to collect their stuff. Two weeks later, Starry’s parents said they found a house that they were going to buy and they were so excited. 

“I can’t wait to see your new house!” Matilda said.

The Magdusa: Part I

Chapter 1

Eggs and Milk

Ryan got on his red bike as the sun was about to disappear behind the oak trees in the county of Watching, New Jersey. As Ryan looked around while he peddled his way home to his small house atop Yan Mountain, he spotted the usual warning sign about some creature that apparently roamed the Watching Reserve. Ryan thought these rumors were fake just like a regular person would believe that aliens don’t exist. The village drunk who was some man named John claimed that the creature was known as the Magdusa and was around 6 and a half feet tall. John also claimed that the Magdusa could lift 20 elephants with one arm. These rumors, Ryan thought, were the stupidest thing he’d ever heard, which was nearly as stupid as his annoying little sister. 

Ryan hit the brakes as he finally arrived at his tiny house which he was forced to live in with his Mom and She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, his little sister. Ryan hung up his red Adidas hoodie on the wall.

“Ryan, do you have the eggs and milk I told you to buy 6 hours ago?” said Ryan’s mom, Anna, in a surprisingly calm tone even though she told Ryan to come home about 5 hours ago with the groceries. 

“I have the stuff right here,” said Ryan, patting his jacket down. Ryan’s body tensed as he realized the impossible, he had left the eggs and milk at the reserve 5 hours ago when he was having Ryan & Ryan time.

“Ryan, where is the food?” said Anna, giving Ryan her infamous glare that could stop a car right in its tracks.

Chapter 2

A Monster

Ryan sulked out of the house as he trudged over to his bike, his mind replaying the scene 5 minutes ago: his mom giving him hell on earth for being “lazy and selfish” for forgetting easily replaceable foods at the reserve. 

Instead of just sending Ryan out to the grocery store the next day when it was open, Anna decided to send Ryan back to the reserve to retrieve the groceries. Ryan grumbled while he rode his bike down the steep roads of Yan Mountain. Even though Ryan was forced to go to the reserve in the pitch-black night, Ryan wasn’t scared at all. Besides, for his 10th birthday a year ago, he got headlights installed on his bike. He also had asked for a dirt bike but Anna said, It cost too much and you have to earn it

The wind whistled behind Ryan’s ears as he picked up speed on a slope edging towards the end of the mountain.*CRASH* Ryan’s heart skipped a beat as he was thrown off his bike and onto the hard concrete of the road. Ryan felt the trickle of blood as his nose was bleeding. Ryan saw his bike’s headlights shine on a figure whose back was facing Ryan. The figure made a jerking motion as it smashed its fist into Ryan’s bike and the headlights broke, turning the road pitch black. Ryan’s heart was beating a gazillion times a millisecond as the figure, who Ryan assumed was the Magdusa, sniffed the air and walked towards Ryan’s direction. Ryan froze as the Magdusa came closer and closer to where Ryan was lying on his butt. In the dark, Ryan could make out bright green eyes that resembled emeralds as the Magdusa loomed over Ryan who was about 4 feet away. Suddenly, Ryan grasped his senses back from where they had wandered off to and made a run for his life. The Magdusa swiftly changed direction and stomped towards Ryan, as its footsteps could be heard from thousands of miles away. The wounded Ryan immediately sped up to the point where he felt like the Flash as the Magdusa suddenly stopped and sprinted down the mountain. Ryan didn’t stop sprinting until he spotted the light of his house. Ryan slammed the door shut then rushed upstairs to his tiny bedroom.

Chapter 3

Breakfast With Maggie 

Ryan woke up the next morning with a splitting headache. He had dreamed that he had been eaten and swallowed by the treacherous Magdusa. Ryan had never believed that the Magdusa prowled the forest until now. The stairs creaked as Ryan trotted downstairs to smell that Anna had prepared a delicious breakfast which in his household was a medium-sized plate of porridge and a glass of milk, but Ryan never drank the milk and immediately closed up his nostrils as Maggie drained her glass of milk in one large gulp. 

“Good morning,” said Ryan to Anna as he let out a long yawn.

“Hello, brother, it’s 10:00 A.M. and you were supposed to get your behind out and over to breakfast 2 hours ago and I already ate and drank your porridge and milk,” sneered Maggie. Ryan groaned as he sat down far away from Maggie at the wooden, 4 seat table. “Why so far away loser, scared?” taunted Maggie with a sneer on her ugly face which other people thought was very pretty.

“Leave me alone,” grunted Ryan as he got up from his seat and prepared to change and go biking back to the reserve. Ryan walked towards Maggie’s direction as he prepared to make a dash upstairs to avoid making eye contact with Maggie, then something caught Ryan’s eye. He had never really noticed how green Maggie’s eyes were. Today, Ryan wondered why her eyes seemed so familiar.

Chapter 4

Johnathan Or John

After, Ryan changed into his average look of navy blue sweatpants and a classic red Adidas hoodie, which only he knew had stains from a bloody nose that were otherwise unrecognizable due to his red hoodie but could be smelled if you were wearing it. Ryan knew Anna was still pissed at him for losing the food so Ryan was forced to bike all the way back to the Watchung Reserve’s millions of miles of lush greenery (The Watchung Reservation is actually 3.039 square miles). 

Ryan trotted outside and realized that his bike was destroyed from the incident last night with the Magdusa. It’s going to take hours and hours and hours of walking to get to the reserve, thought Ryan (the actual walk is around an hour and twenty-five minutes). Then, Ryan had an evil but brilliant idea, he was going to steal Maggie’s bike and use it to get to the reserve. 

Ryan sped down the mountain then came to a sudden stop. There was a gaping hole in the middle of the road, and in the middle was Ryan’s bike, perfectly fine as though nothing had happened. This was, of course, a shock for Ryan who was just replaying the incident last night in his head, his bike destroyed by the Magdusa. Ryan thought for a second then shrugged. He figured that must have just been daydreaming and that there was no way the Magdusa actually existed.

After dropping Maggie’s bike on the greenery beside the road next to the mysterious house 1313, which was the only house he actually recognized on Yan Mountain besides his own. There were a few things that made house 1313 so mysterious and creepy. The first thing was that nobody knew who lived in the house; the second thing was that the house looked very worn out and thousands of years old and Ryan knew that a serial killer was definitely a threat but it was extremely unclear if this house was a threat but Ryan was most certain that it was a threat.

“Okay, here I go,” said Ryan to himself. Ryan furiously peddled down the mountains for he had just wasted 10 minutes stealing his sister’s bike, thinking about his own bike, finding his bike, and staring at house 1313. The bike skidded to a stop as Ryan reached the end of the mountain. Ryan wiped some sweat off his forehead as he watched cars speeding past him, he knew he had to be precise to get past the river of cars in front of him. The cars continued to speed past Ryan as he waited for the exact moment a gap would appear between the two lanes of vehicles, the opportunity came and Ryan didn’t waste it and immediately peddled as fast as his legs could through the rare gap between the lanes of cars. “Well, I’m finally here,” said Ryan with a breath of relief as he stood in front of the gates of the Watchung Reserve. Now, all Ryan had to do was pay to get in and search millions of miles for a carton of eggs and a container of milk.

Ryan sighed as he got in a line for the reserve which was smaller than usual. Ryan looked around and he saw the usual 20 dollars = adult, 15 dollars = child. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the dirtiest five and ten dollar bills he’d ever seen, there was some blood and many creases on both bills. Once it was Ryan’s turn to pay to get in the Watchung Reserve. “30 dollars, please,” said the cashier, whose name tag said James Raskolnikov, he looked fresh out of college.

“What?” said Ryan, looking confused.

“I said, 30 dollars, please. If you’re deaf, then go to the visitors center for some help,” responded James in a rude tone.

“But the sign says 15 dollars = child,” said Ryan.

“Well, I guess you didn’t read the other sign. It says bike or any other vehicle = 15 dollars,” said James with a smug look on his face. Inside Ryan’s head, he thought, Man, this kid is a stupidly bad liar. I’ve been coming here for half of my life and I have never seen any sign like that. But Ryan knew he had to pay the 30 dollars which meant his snack money would now be no more. 

“Okay,” grumbled Ryan as he took out 2 crumbled dollar bills and gave them to James.

“Thank you, sir,” said James. Ryan hopped on his bike, while he was riding away he heard James shout, “Next!”

Ryan knew the eggs and milk could be anywhere throughout the forest so he decided to try and remember where he had put them to go… ugh, Ryan had forgotten what he had done after he had set the eggs and milk down on a log. Now Ryan was doubting he even bought eggs and milk. That gave Ryan an idea, a good one, too. Ryan’s idea was he could go to the store to buy doubles of the eggs and milk, then Ryan remembered his “snack money” was actually the money he could’ve used to buy the doubles of eggs and milk. 

“Well, there goes my idea,” said Ryan to a tree. Ryan imagined the tree saying back, 

“You deserved it,” with a mean face that somehow resembled Anna’s. Ryan hopped back on his bike and rode off. 

Suddenly, Ryan stopped to see a raggedy old man, eating raw eggs and milk while sitting on a tree stump. Ryan looked carefully at the food and immediately realized that the old man, who probably couldn’t afford to get in the reserve, was gobbling his family’s food.

“Old man, where did you get that food?” asked Ryan, who was trying not to lose his temper.

“Well, if you want some, there’s plenty to go around, Ryan,” said the old man, smiling with his teeth all dark yellow.

“Wait, how do you know my name?” said Ryan suspiciously.

“I know a lot of things, Ryan,” said the old man with a wink.

“What’s your name?” asked Ryan, who was already creeped out by the fact that this old man knew his name.

“Johnathan, but you can call me John,” said Johnathan or John with a smile. Ryan suddenly asked a question he’d been meaning to ask ever since he’d known the old man he was currently talking to was the village drunk.

“John, can you tell me about the Magdusa?” asked Ryan curiously.

“Sure,” said John.

 Chapter 5

Information From John

John moved the eggs and milk next to the tree stump as he prepared to tell Ryan all about the Magdusa. 

“So Ryan, what do you want to know about the Magdusa?” asked the old man looking Ryan right in the eye.

“Uhhhh, everything you know, sir,” said Ryan who was shifting uncomfortably on his tree stump.

“Very well then,” said the old man.

“Well, okay then,” said Ryan with a fake smile plastered on his face.

“The Magdusa is believed to be 20 feet tall but I believe it is 6 foot 5 inches (6’ 5”) tall. Any questions?” asked John.

“If the Magdusa is that big, how come no one has seen it?” said Ryan.

“Well, many believe the Magdusa can turn any person it looks at into a food of its choice, but I believe the Magdusa turns into a human during daylight and into its monster form when the sun sets,” said John.

“But how does the Magdusa turn into its monster form without being seen by people?” said Ryan who was beginning to feel suspicious about John’s knowledge about this strange creature. 

“That is where the Watchung Reservation comes in, child. When it is night, the Magdusa goes into the forest and transforms into its monster form,” said John.

“But what if the Magdusa is seen by a person?” asked Ryan.

“The Magdusa won’t be seen because it always waits for people to fall asleep, then it comes out,” said John.

“But doesn’t the Magdusa eat humans? So how does the Magdusa eat humans when it waits for everyone to be asleep?” asked Ryan.

“If somebody sees the Magdusa in its monster form, it will hunt the person down and kill them,” said John.

Treasure Map

 One night, there was a big comet coming down at Earth at unknown speeds. It landed on some sort of large patch of grass. That comet wasn’t any kind of comet, it was a home to someone. The comet landed in a house’s backyard, which was located in Rome, Italy. At the beginning of that night, there were four people living in the house. At the end of the night, there were two people alive, plus a murderer on the loose. Little did two kids know, they survived the deadliest poison in the world.

13 years later

Kyle and Jennifer had been living in an orphanage for years now. They did not know why their parents were not alive, but they did know that they were murdered. They thought they were staying at their aunt and uncle’s house in Berlin, Germany when their parents were murdered. Now, they were treated poorly at the orphanage and had slight memories of either their aunt or uncle, who both shortly passed away later. And most of all, they wanted to see the world and they also hated where they lived…

One night in Berlin, Germany, At the Orphanage

“Hey,” whispered Jennifer. “Wanna escape?”
“I don’t know. I mean, the janitor is always there. It’s kind of creepy,” Kyle muttered.
“I’ve got an escape plan. Come on,” said Jennifer. They reviewed the escape plan and followed the plan step by step. They sneaked through the vents and eventually got to the fancy lobby of a giant skyscraper. They saw the lobby people, and one of them was their friend, Aaron. Aaron had been working there for as long as who knows when. He was the man with a long, shaggy beard and white hair. He wore red robes and knew almost everything. Seriously, if you asked him a question, he would not only answer questions, but would also tell you the answer or how to solve it. They rushed to him and asked him if he could give them disguises.
“I’ll give you the disguises on one circumstance,” said the old man. “And that’s if you don’t tell one single soul that I’m giving you disguises.”
Kyle and Jennifer looked at Aaron with a puzzled expression.
“Why?” Kyle asked.
”Here. Follow me,” said Aaron. Aaron escorted them into his office and said, “The reason I’m not letting you tell anyone is because the owner of this orphanage was a hater of a lot of people, including your parents.”
The twins looked at each other in the oddest way imaginable. “Tell us more,” said Jennifer in a barking tone.
“I mean, the owner of your orphanage and this building killed every single kids’ parents at the orphanage,” said Aaron.
”WHAT!” they barked at the same time.
“I suggest you help those four kids at that orphanage and escape immediately,” said Aaron.
”We will save those children immediately, but first you need to tell us why he wanted our parents,” said Jennifer.
“Well, first off, I wanted to tell you this when you got older and I figured now would be the right time. It all started when your parents and the kids at the orphanage’s parents were in a secret group. The group was called S.S.L.T. It stood for Secret Society of Lost Treasures. The owner of the orphanage was in that group. One day, they found a treasure map that would supposedly lead to heaven and you would be able to visit all of your ancestors. Of course, they were all teens when they were in this group. The owner of this orphanage’s name is Prince Alizai. He likes calling himself that, but no one really knows why. Anyway, the group rules were for every treasure to stay with one person for the week, and when it was Alizai’s turn, he never brought it back.”
“So why did he kill our parents?” asked Jennifer.
“Well I think it was because he thought your parents knew how precious this treasure map is. This is the way to save your parents and all of your orphanage-mate’s parents… ”
“Wait, so you’re telling us if we find this treasure map, we might be able to bring our parents back to Earth?” asked Jennifer. The two of them looked at Aaron like they were listening to God.
“Where can we find this precious treasure?” asked Kyle.
“Well, for all we know, it could be across the world,” whispered Aaron.
“I searched for it for decades and found nothing,” said Aaron.
”Are there any clues?” asked Kyle.
”Well, yes. You first must look in the Amazon Rainforest. There you will find a civilization that has amazing books and treasures. Remember to tell them that you are Aaron Cunningham’s godson.”
“Wait a minute. If we’re your godchildren, that means you’re our godfather?” asked Kyle suspiciously.
”Your parents and I were best of friends until that dreadful day. Now go and save those children, and if you are lucky, you will never have to live in an orphanage again,” said Aaron delightfully.
“Will you come with us?” asked Jennifer.
“Well, unfortunately, no,” muttered Aaron. “I can give you all the things you will need for you and your friends from the orphanage, and I’ll be able to take you to the airport, but that’s it because I’ve had my turn and now it’s your turn,” said Aaron proudly.
“Well okay, but can you at least help us get those kids out of the orphanage? I mean, they don’t talk,” said Kyle.
“Yeah, he’s right. We don’t even know their names,” said Jennifer.
“Don’t worry, I even talked to those kids before I talked to you guys. It’s no biggie,” said Aaron.
“Wait, so we’ve been living with these kids practically our whole lives and we didn’t know their names but you did?” grumbled Jennifer.
“That’s honestly sad,” said Kyle.
“Well, if you need to know, their names are: Chase, Chloe, Jack, and Katherine,” said Aaron. “I think you’ll get along with all of them. They even said you guys hardly talk,” said Aaron.
”Well what are we waiting for?” asked Jennifer.
The two of them snuck upstairs to tell their soon-to-be-friends that it was escape time. When they got into their room, they packed everything up and woke all of their friends. First, they woke up Jack, who was reading a book and looked like he knew that they were coming. Jack was a tall kid for his age. He was a very sporty kid who liked playing baseball. He had brown hair with a tiny bit of freckles and was already rushing out of the room quickly.
“Let’s go, guys,” said Jack.
All of them rushed to wake everyone up and they quietly went to the lobby. ”Where’s Aaron?” asked Katherine.
“Dunno,” said Chase.
“I see him,” said Kyle, running to the entrance of the huge skyscraper.
Aaron called out to them to get outside. The six of them charged outside to the large parking lot and saw Aaron next to a large limousine. The children got in the limousine and off they went to the airport. The car ride took 15 minutes until they got to the rather large airport. The airport was huge. The children forgot that Aaron wasn’t going on the trip to the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. The flight would take 20 hours. On the plane, Kyle sat next to Jennifer, Chase sat next to Chloe (who were also siblings), and Jack sat next to Katherine, who were twins. For breakfast, they had strawberry oatmeal which was pretty decent for plane food. For lunch, they had Chicken Fingers and Fries. And for dinner, they had a choice of either Fish or Rotisserie chicken. The flight was long. Chase got seasick so Chloe made herself move to Jack’s lap.
“UGH!” said Jack. “GET OFF ME!” he screamed.
Chloe would not move so Jack casually pushed Chloe off him.
“Hey!” said Chloe. “What was that for!?”
“I had no choice, I mean, Chase got seasick so what did you expect?”
“FINE. But can you at least make Chase go use the bathroom so you don’t have to sit on my lap?” said Jack.
The two of them ended their fight and went to sleep. Six hours later, they arrived in beautiful Brazil. Aaron gave them instructions to ask a person for a large taxi. They got one, but the man who drove them did not speak.
“Is this a little weird?” said Jennifer.
“Yeah, this guy’s not speaking.”
“Wait a minute, this guy does not look Brazilian at all. Look at his suitcase,” whispered Kyle.
The suitcase read, “Flight from Berlin, Germany to Fortaleza, Brazil.”
“Guys, I think we might have a follower,” said Chase.
“I’m gonna agree with you there,” said a voice.
The man looked behind so the kids could see his face. It was Aaron, but Aaron did not have a beard. He looked a lot younger than he did in the past. His hair was black, not grey.
“You’re Prince Alizai, aren’t you?” said Kyle.
“A+,” said Prince.
“WHERE’S AARON!” screamed Katherine.
“There was no Aaron. I was Aaron in disguise.”
At that moment, Jack had just realized something. There was a piece of parchment in Prince’s pocket. Immediately, Jack whispered to Jennifer, “Look at his pocket.”
Jennifer elbowed Kyle and pointed at his pocket. Chase and Chloe went to sneak up at Prince and he looked back.
“AHHHHHHH!” screamed Chase and Chloe in unison.
They had the map. The children opened the car door and all of them ran as fast as they could back to the airport. Once they got the map, they looked at it, and it said the treasure was in a place called Cairo, Egypt. But it looked like it was in the water. “I think we found our flight,” said Kyle.
“We’re gonna have to sneak on a flight,” said Chloe.
“What are we waiting for, let’s go!” said Chase.
The six of them snuck past the boarding area and were now waiting for the flight.
“We don’t have any tickets, guys,” said Jack.
“I’ve got a plan. All we have to do is get outside of this airport,” said Jennifer.
They all eventually got on the plane. 19 hours later, they arrived at the airport in Cairo. It was 8:00 in the morning and they were near the treasure.
“Hello, hello, hello,” said a voice.
“It’s you again. You treacherous murderer,” said Jack.
“You really thought I was gonna let you flee away to find that treasure?” said Prince.
All of them ran as fast as they could to escape and they found snorkeling suits on the beach. They stole the suits and ran to the river. They swam and swam deep into the sea and they saw a huge white portal right in front of them.
“This must be it!” said Jennifer.
They jumped in the portal, and sure enough, they were in this huge place with clouds. They saw six people locked up in chains.
“MOM, DAD!” they screamed in unison.
They had not seen their parents in 13 years, each of them. They talked to them and realized the portal was shrinking.
“We’ve got to get back. Or we’re all dead,” said Katherine.
They just made it in the portal and were standing on the beach.
“Where are we?” said the parents together.
“We’re in Egypt!” said Katherine.

All of them went to a restaurant for lunch and each of the kids got chocolate milkshakes and had so much fun the rest of the day. It was evening now and the kids were playing on the beach. When their parents had died, all of them had their wallets in their pockets, so they were able to buy swimsuits so they got in the water.
“Well, well, well,” said a voice.
“AGAIN!” said Kyle.
“I see you have found my treasure map.”
“MOM, DAD!” They all screamed for their parents and they rushed over to the children and Prince.
“Prince has magical powers,” said the parents.
BAM.
There was a giant flash of light heading towards the parents and the kids. They ducked and the flash of light went the other way. They now saw one thing on the beach and that was Prince Alizai’s fallen body.
The spell had redirected onto Prince. “WE’RE ALIVE. THE BEACH IS STILL HERE!” they screamed in unison.
They had the time of their lives, and Chloe and Chase’s family, Katherine and Jack’s family, and Jennifer and Kyle’s family moved to Cairo. They would remember this moment forever.

Epilogue

20 years later, all of the children had jobs. Chase was a banker. Chloe was a painter. Katherine was an actor. Jack was a professional baseball player. Jennifer was an archeologist. Kyle was a pilot.
Their lives from that moment were, some people said, just a dream. But no, this was reality. They lived happily ever after.

The End

The Feast (Gone Wrong)

Characters (Chapter 1)                

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Jack, and he was going to have an all-you-can-eat feast at his house that night! Jack also had a dog named Bob. They liked to cook. 

The Supermarket and the Cooking (Chapter 2)

First, they went to the local supermarket and got some fruits and vegetables. Next, they went to the butcher shop and bought some meat. Then, they went to the candy & cake shop to buy a strawberry and chocolate cake. Finally, they started cooking. 

Jack’s first dish was a tomato, lettuce, and bacon salad! Bob also made some ranch dressing to go with it (yes, Jack’s dog is talented and can do that). Next, they made some fried chicken and some barbecue sauce to go with it (which the dog made, of course). Then, a person rang on their doorbell. It was their neighbor, Honey. 

Honey said, “Your food smells so good! Can I try the chicken?” 

Jack said, “Yes! We have plenty more!” 

Honey replied, “Thanks!” and she was off. Then, they made a honey, meat, and broccoli sandwich. They had some spare honey at their house. Then, another person rang on their doorbell. It was their friend, Noah. He loved vegetables (because he always wore green). 

Noah said, “Hi! Can I try your salad? I could smell it from a mile away! It smelled so good!” 

Jack replied, “Yes, of course, Noah! After all, you’re my friend.” 

Noah smiled and said, “Thanks! Bye!” Then, person after person came. Emily tried the sandwich. Liam tried the salad. Ava tried the chicken. In a matter of minutes, all the food was gone. Then, when Jack opened the door, there were SO MANY PEOPLE waiting. His other neighbors came. All the people from Jack’s school came. Even the mayor came to try some!

The Problem (Chapter 3)

Jack was thinking, Oh no! How will I ever feed all these people? Everybody waiting outside Jack’s door wanted to get a taste of his food. James, Jack’s friend, said, “What’s taking so long? Where’s the food, Jack?” 

Jack replied, “You see, lots of customers have come to my house to taste some and now I’m fresh out of food!” Jack got his wallet and he said, “Uh oh! I’m fresh out of money! How can I get my money back?” He said to the people, “I’ll be right back, ok?” Then, he had an idea. He went to the bank and got a $2,000 loan. Unfortunately, he was going to have to pay the loan back. He was worried. He now had money, but he had to pay the money back to the bank. Then, he had another idea. He could use the money to make a store! Once again, he bought some more fruits and vegetables from the local supermarket. Next, he bought some meat from the butcher. Then, he bought a HUMONGOUS cake from the cake & candy shop. He also had to buy some wood, screws, and wrenches from Home Depot. Finally, he told his friends from school to help him build the restaurant. 

Jack and his friends decided on a name for the restaurant. They called it: Jack and Bob’s restaurant. He hired some construction workers to build the restaurant for him. Jack gave the wrenches and screws to the construction workers and they started working. The construction workers asked why Jack wanted to build a restaurant. Jack said, “It’s just all part of my plan.” The construction workers just ignored him and kept on working. 

Meanwhile, Jack was cooking up some dishes at his house. He also realized that spicy foods go well with ranch. So he used his spare ranch to cook up some spicy chicken wings with ranch on the side. Then, he realized another thing. He realized that he was using a lot of sauces in his dishes. So, he asked the construction workers to rename the restaurant to: Jack and Bob’s Saucy Restaurant. Then, he rushed to the sauce shop and bought A LOT of sauces. He bought honey mustard, ketchup, Russian dressing, and more! He went back to his house, excited to incorporate all his newly found sauces into his dishes. He could also mix and match his sauces. He came up with white sauce, which is a hybrid of ranch and mayo, red sauce, which is a mix of ketchup and spicy sauces, and more! 

Meanwhile, the construction workers were almost finished with Jack and Bob’s Saucy Restaurant. It had shiny chairs, glass windows, the kitchen (of course), and even a TV! When Jack heard it was finished, he ran as fast as he could to Jack and Bob’s Saucy Restaurant. Then, he worked on his menu. When it was finished, the menu looked a little like this. He had Chicken Wings with ranch, Pita Bread with white sauce, Marinated Cucumber with mustard, Artichoke with spinach dip, Goat Cheese bites with cheese sauce, Cheeseburger with buffalo sauce, Carbonara with egg yolk, Sushi with soy sauce, Chicken Kabob with teriyaki sauce, Fish Sandwich with fish sauce, Katsu with bulldog sauce, Tacos with hot sauce, and most importantly, THE CAKE

Once it was done, people flocked to Jack and Bob’s Saucy Restaurant. Since so many people came that day, Jack decided to hire some restaurant chefs. He made A LOT of money. He gave back the spare loan money to the bank. He had paid back ¼ of the loan ($500). Now, he had ¾ left to pay back ($1500). And each of the dishes cost $10. So, Jack did the math, and he needed to sell 150 dishes. BUT, from that first day, they had no more dishes to sell. So, Jack and his chefs had to work very hard. The next day, they put up a sign saying that they were closed for the day. But people still came to the restaurant and waited in front of the door. They worked and worked and worked. The next day, they reopened the restaurant. Little did they know, a thief was watching nearby, and when Jack wasn’t looking, the thief stole his money.

The Thief (Chapter 4)

The next day, Jack got a message from the police. It said, “A thief stole your money.” Jack said, 

Uh oh. Someone stole my money!!!” Another problem was that Jack had three days to pay back the loan. He still had ¾ of the loan to pay back ($1,500). So, within those 3 days, he needed to catch the thief and get his money back. He sprinted to Home Depot and started working on the trap. Jack called it the Food-Trap 3000. It had a net (of course), sauce dispensers, and more! He needed to know where the thief was to make his plan work. And coincidentally, there was a compass right on the ground that said, “This is where the thief is.” Jack said, “WOW!” Now he could track down the thief and eventually catch him.

Jack brought Bob along with him (because dogs have a good sense of smell) and the compass would only lead Jack in the general direction of the thief. He also brought security cameras with him so he could see where the thief was while the thief didn’t know where Jack was. Jack used the compass. He found out that he needed to go northeast. He went northeast and ended up in a park. Jack thought, This is where the thief lives? 

Reluctantly, he set up the trap in a nearby bush and hung the security cameras on the walls. So he waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, after 2 hours, he finally got a glimpse of the thief. He felt that something was wrong. He ignored it, but Jack was ready to fire. But, when he fired, the net missed, the sauces sprayed in the bushes, and it was a complete failure. But Jack wasn’t going to give up. So, he rebuilt the Food-Trap 3000 and made it the Food-Trap 4000. It had taco launchers, hamburger bombs (lol), and a Bob balloon. So they waited again. And waited AND WAITED. After another two hours of waiting, they finally caught the thief. Jack celebrated his victory. Then, he went to sleep. He had a VERY LONG day. It was 1:00 AM when he got back. He had 1 day to pay back the loan. He was hoping that he would sell enough dishes to pay back the loan.

The Loan (Chapter 5)

Jack had $1,000. He gave the money to the bank. He needed only $500 to fully pay back the loan. Then, Jack’s friends (including Bob) surprised him with a box containing 500$! 

Jack was speechless. He said, “Where did you get all this money?” 

Jack’s friends said, “We combined all of our money and it equaled a total of 500$.”

“Oh,” replied Jack. After that, he paid back the loan. Then, he cooked (of course) and then slept.

Cooking Showdown! (Chapter 6)

When Jack woke up the next day, he checked his mailbox. He found a big envelope that said in bold letters: 

YOU HAVE BEEN INVITED TO A COOKING CONTEST AT 111 COOK STREET. IT STARTS AT 12:00 TODAY. THERE WILL BE 9 OTHER COOKS COMPETING WITH YOU. THE PRIZE IS THE ULTIMATE COOKING TROPHY!

Jack said, “WOW! BOB, COME HERE!” 

Bob said, “I like cooking! Let’s go!” 

Jack replied, “Ok!” He dressed into his clothes, grabbed his backpack, and went out the door. When he went out the door, he realized 111 cook street was 10 miles away! So, he took an Uber to get there. It was 11:00 when they got there. They still had one hour before the contest started. So they got some jelly doughnuts to eat to take up some time. They tasted SO good! Then, he went to the sign up and saw who he would be competing with. When he signed up, he saw a familiar face. Jack said, “Noah, is that you?” 

He said, “Yes, it’s me!” 

Jack replied, “Who are these other people?” 

Noah said, “I don’t know. We have some time before the competition starts, so why don’t we go shopping?” 

Jack said, “Ok!” So, Jack, Noah, and Bob went shopping. Jack bought a bracelet, Noah bought a cucumber eraser, and Bob bought a dog bone. By the time they were done shopping, it was time for the competition to start. The judge said, you must cook us an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. Jack said to Bob, “Let’s make our chicken wings for our appetizer, our cheeseburger for our entree, and we’ll have to figure out our dessert.” 

“Begin!”said the judges. Jack checked what materials he had. There were fruits, vegetables, meat, grains, and dairy products! Jack whispered to Bob, “Quick change of plans, Bob. We’re gonna make our marinated cucumber.” Bob nodded his head. Jack fried the cucumbers while Bob prepared the mustard. Then, Jack got started on the cheeseburger. Jack got the materials for the burger, while Bob prepared the buffalo sauce. This was going really well for Jack and Bob. Now, they had to figure out dessert. 

Luckily for them, there was an ice cream dispenser, and there was a chocolate syrup dispenser. So he pumped some ice cream from the dispenser and poured the chocolate syrup on it, and put a juicy, red strawberry on top. When he was finished, there was one minute left on the clock. So he put the dishes on the plate. After he did that, the judges said, “TIME’S UP! The first person presenting their dishes is Noah!” 

Jack whispered, “You can do it, Noah!” 

Noah said, “For my appetizer, I present to you a small lettuce salad! For my entree, I present to you my basil and broccoli pizza! And, for dessert, I present to you eggplant-flavored ice cream!” One judge held up a 7. Another judge held up a 6. The final judge held up an 8. 

The next judge said, “Next up is the team of Jack and Bob!” 

Jack said softly, “Here we go.” When he presented, the judges said nothing. They were in awe. Each of the judges held up a 10. 

Then, the judges said, “Jack automatically wins this cooking competition!” Jack said, “That was easy.”  

The End (Yay)

Kenzie’s Failing School

~

Traveling Chapter

1

Now, before we begin, I think that you need to know some things about Kenzie. For one, she’s an A – A+ student. For two, her full name is Kenzie Marian Brian Albus Margerete Renaya Roberts. It’s quite a mouthful, we can all agree on that. For three, she goes to Wolf Creek High. Her homeroom teacher is Mr. Amnesee, a kind-looking man with a very wide smile. His hair is shabby brown, and there’s a long scar running down the side of his cheek, making him look like he had been attacked by a tiger or something. Even though Mr. Amnesee has a very kind face, it makes his appearance very eerie, or at least uncomfortable. Kenzie has seen Mrs. Sapphire (the school’s vice-principal) shiver when he was present. And the final thing that you should know about Kenzie is that her parents are divorced (she lives with her dad because her mom left her when she was only 1 month old), and that she has a very annoying brother who’s in the last year of high school, whereas she’s still a sophomore. But the most important thing for you to know is that Kenzie’s a demigod (an offspring who is born from a god and mortal). Though she doesn’t know it. Her mom is Aphrodite. 

Kenzie has a story to share with you, a story that she couldn’t bear to admit, but it was simply the truth. HER GRADES WERE DROPPING! I hope that you, my dear reader, will pick out an important message, no matter what land this train is bringing you across. Now let’s get started! 

I couldn’t think straight. The creaking of the train’s wheel’s sounds was so irritating. I was on a train off to a nightclub place with her best friend, Peyton Alora Fleur Aisling Bexley Emerson Garcia. She had never told her her real name until I had forced her to, threatening to make a bee sting her if she didn’t tell. Something touched my ear. Oh. Just Peyton’s long, blonde hair. I went back to trying to concentrate. In the midst of the super annoying train — wheel — creaking — sounds, I remembered what my dad had once said:

“Life unfolds in chapters, whether you like it or not. They come in varieties, meaning that they can be all kinds of wicked and mean. But some are nice. So just take the time to enjoy that particular (nice) chapter when you can, and absorb all the happiness that you can while it’s still there. Remember: this happiness can really keep you enthusiastic sometimes, even in the bad and horrid chapters.”

“Kenzie.” Maybe I didn’t hear anything because I was so engrossed in my thoughts. “Kenzie!” The sound was like a whip to my skin.
“What?”

“We’re almost there!” Peyton exclaimed. Her eyes were glistening, like the sun itself was inside each of them. As bright as the sun, I thought. Strange. Literally just as bright as the sun. The exact same gold, blaring light. Beaming outwards, from her eyes. 

She snapped loudly right in front of my eyes, making me have to cross-eye to see her blue-gradient painted nails. “KENZIE!”

I looked up, to meet those sunny eyes again. 

~

Understand Chapter

2       

I reluctantly looked up. The building was vast, making me look as if I were an ant compared to an elephant. The windows were all made of glass and clear. I put her hand to the doorknob, which, I noticed, had the word “ON” carved in. With a deep breath, I pushed it open, to be greeted with a strangely warm gush of wind. Looking around, I sucked in the view. There was a DJ with a load of gears set up on a table. There was a stage in the very front of the room, with a microphone set there. I wondered why they still needed one if the music was already played by the DJ.  Platters of a variety of assorted fruits were all fanned out around the room. The room was strangely hot, but it all made sense since a tinge of excitement hung in the air. 

“Hey, I’m going to the bathroom,” Peyton said. I nodded.

While I waited, I sucked in all of the people, some looking as if they had hoped their whole life to be here, some looking as if some had been forced to come. Someone walked right into me. I toppled off-balance, trying to find somewhere that I could hold to steady myself, but instead felt my skin meet contact with a sharp edge. 

“Ouch!” I could feel my finger bleeding freely. 

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you!” A middle-aged woman with albino skin exclaimed. 

“It’s okay,” I murmured. “Hey, do you have any idea why there’s a microphone up there? Isn’t the music already played by the DJ?”

“Oh, you’re new to this as well, aren’t you? My daughter’s also plenty confused. She still doesn’t know that her dad’s Apollo,” she replied.

“What? You mean Apollo, god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the sun and light, and poetry?” My brain was filling with thoughts. “How could  somebody be an offspring of Apollo?”

“Oh, silly, you don’t know, either? Well then, you’re a half-blood; half-god, half-human! Well, I guess that today’s your lucky day! I’ll give you a history lesson, if you don’t mind. I used to be a history teacher as well, you know. Now, long before the Greek Gods came to power, millennials before, the world was ruled by titans, led by the evilest of all, the titan Kronos. He was evil enough to devour his own children, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus with a single gulp. Yet the three who were later to become the big three and ruler of the gods found a way out. They sliced Kronos to pieces and banished his remains to the depths of Tartarus. Kronos has been waiting all of these years to get revenge and be brought back to power. Yet only one demigod can defeat him — ”

“Hold your horses, what’s a demigod?”

“A demigod is the offspring of a god and mortal.”

“Oh, so that’s why my parents are divorced. My mom must be the god, then!”

“Yes, indeed.”

I was shocked, “Thank you very much. I have learned so much!” 

     ~

Mysterious Chapter

3           

I pushed past her without waiting for her reply. I needed to find Peyton. I needed to find her and tell her everything. Just as I was outside the girls’ bathroom, someone stepped out — an old hag with rotted black teeth with a hood over her head, but there were loose pieces of deathly white hair atop the black hood. She pushed past me without a glance. Weird. I opened the door, and called Peyton’s name.

“Peyton?”

No response. 

“Peyton, are you there? This is no time to play games!”

Still no reply.

“PEYTON?”

I knew that Peyton would have responded. She must not be here! But my eyes were pinned to this door while I was talking to the lady! The only way that Peyton could have gone out was through the pipes, which was a ridiculous idea. She had never been great at climbing, especially squeezing through tight, black places. 

But that’s when I spotted the old hag. I didn’t know why, but I decided to follow her. She wasn’t too far away, anyways. I dove behind, sliding between people, tailing the old hag. That’s when I noticed that she’d sat down at a table with the person I least expected to be here. I moved closer to eavesdrop, having a feeling that this would be good. The hag leaned closer.

“I’ve called her,” she whispered. Her voice was low, husky… and beautiful. 

“Thank you,” said Mr. Amnesee, nodding as he spoke. I slid under the nearest vacant table so that they wouldn’t spot me, though it didn’t seem to matter because they both seemed so sophisticated. 

“She will be very relieved once she hears,” the old had said. Rosmerta quickly opened her bag, revealing a photo of a woman with kind eyes, smiling, an aurora of power floating around. Thinking that I’d seen enough, I quickly moved between adjacent tables, making sure that I didn’t hit any of anybody’s feet. But only did I stop mid-pace when the old hag moved toward an abandoned hallway, near the entrance to what looked like a cellar. Looking behind herself, she scurried away, moving like death itself. I quickly debated with myself, wondering what I should do. I decided to follow the hag, maybe I could squeeze some information out of her.  I frantically looked back, making sure one last time that Peyton wasn’t here, or at least near, and tailed Rosmerta. I just noticed that, for an old lady, she scampered quite quickly. I was breathing heavily when I finally reached my destination, feeling as if I had already ran a mile.

I could feel something was going to happen. I looked around, searching for Rosmerta, but she was nowhere to be seen. Weird. My breaths grew ragged, my breathing frantic. Then I started to get nervous. WHAT IF ROSMERTA KNEW THAT I WAS HERE? WAS SHE JUST TRYING TO LURE ME INTO A TRAP? DID SHE KNOW THAT I WAS HERE AND WAS PLANNING SOMETHING? WAIT, WHAT IF SHE SAW ME THE WHOLE TIME? AHHHHH!          

Thinking about the possibilities, I shuddered. That’s when I spotted Rosmerta in the deepest part, cowering. That’s when she took out something. This something was very surprising indeed. It was a roll of tape. What could she possibly do with that? I wondered. But that’s when I heard a soft click. I saw the old hag take hold of a piece of tape, and stick it to a bare wall. I didn’t know exactly what she was doing, so I just watched. 

She was breathing heavily when she finally finished, so that the tape framed a small door big enough for her (and me) to fit in. I crouched behind a loose piece of wood, sweating for the unsureness. That’s when I noticed the tape had disappeared, so had the block of wall on where Rosmerta had framed the tape. I blinked several times, making sure that what I was seeing was correct. It was. I watched tentatively as the old hag stepped inside, took one deep breath, and changed right into Peyton. Wait, was I seeing right? Yup, I was. I WAS! I was so shell-shocked that I almost fell right out of my hiding place! I couldn’t believe my eyes!!      

I stayed still, listening. Then, with the whoosh of wind, a woman identical to the woman in the photograph appeared, looking around, eyes hard. Then, she stared at the exact spot that I was, eyes softening. 

Noticing my confusion, she said, “I’m your mother.” Her voice sounded soprano. I could’ve sworn that she would be a great female singer. “And you can come out now, Apollo. ”

A middle-aged white man appeared from the doorway. He waved his hand and left, hands in his pockets. 

~

Explanation Chapter

4

Aphrodite led me into the room where Apollo had transformed. 

“Why did you and dad divorce?” I blurted out. 

“It’s complicated.” Aphrodite fidgeted with her hands, which seemed very ungodly to me. 

It’s always been a sensitive subject for me, and I knew that, compared to being part of the chaos herself, Aphrodite may have a more specific reason. 

“Well, the simple explanation is that it didn’t work out. After I explained everything to him, you know, the fact that I’m not normal, and he freaked out.” Her eyes were like a portal to the past. I could almost see dad’s freaked face. 

“Anyways,” she took a breath and shook her head, the portal unwinded. 

I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful Aphrodite was. She wore a long robe, woven with exquisite silver fabric. Whenever she moved, it was as if the whole world bowed down to her. Every step she took, there was an era of power flowing around. Sometimes, there was an angry flash in her eyes whenever she was irritated. This warned the surrounding people now to deal with her. Not that any fool would want to without her signal. 

Her skin was a light shade of peach, not too dark, but not too pale. Her blonde hair, tied back into a perfect knot, was placed right splat at the back of her head. Her eyes were ocean blue, warm and kind, but also very stricken. Her lips were coated with sparkly red lip gloss, everything about her was so gentle, calm, yet at the same time powerful and forceful. You could tell that she wasn’t someone to mess around with, even if you didn’t know she was a Greek god. 

I looked up to meet those ocean blue eyes, sad.

“I have some questions to ask you,” I barreled on. Aphrodite immediately sat up straight, composing herself. 

“Anything.” Her face was warm, sadness long forgotten. “But, if these somehow reach out of my authority line, I cannot do anything to help you. Hera will be extremely angry with me. And when she’s mad, she’s MAD,” she said, her face suddenly serious. Shaking her head, she peeked at me. I couldn’t hold her gaze. 

“So… ” I stuttered for words. I didn’t know what to say. I mean, this is the first time that I’ve even spoken to someone with authority, let alone a goddess. 

“I want to know why you left daddy,” I settled with something straightforward. 

I knew nothing about being a god. That was probably pretty off since I was the daughter of Aphrodite, the god of love and beauty. But I still wasn’t her. AT ALL. Literally. 

“Oh.. ” She spoke as if she knew what was coming, yet she feared it. I couldn’t bear to admit it, but I liked the look on her face. It was a mixture of annoyance and overwhelmingness. It was quite unusual for a god to look like that. Yet there is a difference between reality and fantasy. And if you took a look at my mom’s face then, you would’ve guessed that she just got stabbed in the back with a dagger. 

“Well, I need you to know that we, well, separated because of the rules passed on through generations. I loved him very much. I wouldn’t have made the choice to divorce if I were a regular mortal. In fact, I love him with all my life. I might even die for him. But you need to know that things are the way they are, even if you wish that they weren’t. I always thought of playing with the thought of being normal. To be a typical mortal with a happy family, living a normal life. But when you’re, well, me, that would be a dream come true if it actually happened.”

A single tear slipped down her cheek. 

“Rules are rules, aren’t they?” She forced a sad smile, her voice trembling.

“Oh,” I said again. What can I say? I was preparing myself to hear my own mother tell me the real reason, but a wave of nausea still wrapped around my gut. I felt my nails bite into my hand. Then a strange thing happened. A smell of smoke. Then a flash of light. And before my eyes, Aphrodite was gone. 

“So, class, the answer to this problem is π^2. Any questions?!” Mr. Amnesee announced to the class. I looked up, deciding to stop picking my nails. The polish was peeling off, anyway. I was going to make mom proud. I was going to become an A+ student again. 

Axe

Prologue 

The car hummed as we drove through the bridge. We were visiting Dad, who was sent to the war. I was bored of the long drive so I clicked the first station on the radio. “Small storms are coming and rain. Stay safe on slick roads and watch out for black ice.” Thunder claps. The water beneath us was rising and dropping as if having a seizure. Before I had time to process my thinking, another thunderclap struck a pole on the bridge and it fell behind us. “HURRICANE!” my mother shouted! The bridge started to lean in and out like a needle and patchwork. It gave way and the car landed in the choppy waters. The beautiful summer day quickly turned into a disaster.

Chapter 1: The Ride

I pulled on my jeans and red sweater over my white shirt. I went down to eat breakfast.

“Hello, Anne.” 

“Hi, Mom.” I walked toward the pancakes and grabbed my cell phone. 

“Hmmph. No phones at the table, Anne” 

“Sorry, Mom, I’m just texting Janess about meeting Dad.” 

Mom smiled. As alway,  her smile was warm and it made her brown hair pop out against the pink pale of her lips. My mom always looked glamorous no matter what, wearing brown, yellow (like she was), blue, and even green! 

“I can make an exception.” 

“Coming, Mom!” I yelled. Mom was in the car fussing with the seat belt. “Can we go now, Mom?” I smiled at Mom as if she were the one holding us up. 

“Haha. Very funny” I buckled my seatbelt and sat back. The trees we had passed by were fluffy and green, and I hadn’t paid attention to the time and it was soon that I fell asleep.

I woke up with a sickening feeling in my stomach for no reason. Not the sick type but the type that made you feel nervous or that something bad was going to happen. Do you know what I mean? The car hummed as we drove through the bridge. We were visiting Dad, who was sent to the war. I was bored of the long drive, so I clicked the first station on the radio. 

“Small storms are coming and rain. Stay safe on slick roads and watch out for black ice.” Thunderclaps. The water beneath us was rising and dropping as if having a seizure. Before I had time to process my thinking, another thunderclap struck a pole on the bridge and it fell behind us.

“HURRICANE!” my mother shouted! The bridge started to lean in and out like a needle and patchwork. It gave way and the car landed in the choppy waters. The beautiful summer day quickly turned into a disaster.

Chapter 2: Random Axe

The car was sinking and the doors were jammed. Then I got an idea. But I had to tell Mom, but how? I would be underwater! I swam to the back, to my bag. My eyes were already getting blurry and Mom wasn’t moving. I got an axe from the emergency trunk and smashed at the glass. Mom’s fingers were at her throat, gasping for air. I grabbed her, took my bag and axe, and swam to the surface. The hurricane had just ended 30 seconds ago. My body was shivering, Mom came back to life, and I forgot something. The rest of the emergency bag! It had floated out of the car and got stuck on the last remaining base pole of the bridge. The rest was gone. All of it could have fallen on top of us. I swam to a small nearby island. Ignoring the pains in my leg from the seat that fell back on top of it. Mom was awake and was helping paddle. Now, my only resource was that axe. I touched the sand and — black.

Chapter 3

I woke up and my mom had a bewildered look in her eyes. Her arms were filled with sticks. I knew that if I complained then we would most likely have many threats so I started to help. Ignoring everything. Fire was done by mom and I attempted to fish for fish but I couldn’t catch anything. Oh! The water bent the light which meant I had to plunge deeper into the water. But, first I needed a weapon. I grabbed a nearby stick, beckoned for the axe from Mom, and sharpened my spear. I found some berries that birds were eating and I thought, We are having a feast tonight. Mom continued chopping at a tree. 

My throat was roasted, gasping for water. I looked uncertainly at the water. Nobody would find us. The bridge was so long it crossed from one state to another. We were in the middle, no reach from either place. I plopped some berries in my mouth, mother didn’t want any. Yuck! No juice in them! I went over to the water. I started to cry. How did I land myself here! I scooped some water and — WHAM. My mother hit me lightly with a log. 

“No unclean water! We weave together a basket to separate some of the water and heat it to make it fresh!” 

“Mom, how did you make a fire?” 

“Simple. I got wet bark, obviously, everything is drenched, a tsunami passed OVER us. Then I hit the axe on another piece of wood so the sparks would land on it, and I blew it gently to give it oxygen, then boom!” Mom always got to work in a situation and ignored her own feelings. I sometimes felt bad for her…

Sneak peek on Part Two:

I woke up in the night screaming! “HELP! MY INSIDES ARE BURNING!” My chest was bursting and I fell into an uneasy sleep. “Of course! Those berries were bird berries! They’re poisonous to humans!”

3 Seconds of Paranoia

Item: SCP-5327

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: No current containment procedures for SCP-5327 have been developed yet due to its unknown nature. Ideas have been left open for interpretation.

Description: SCP-5327 is a 3 second period in time where everything momentarily stops. All life ceases on Earth. The 3-second interval may or may not have happened already. There is no current way of telling how many times SCP-5327 has occurred, or when. Anyone that experiences SCP-5327’s effects soon forgets that it ever happened. Alongside forgetting SCP-5327’s events, the world seems to change every time SCP-5327 occurs. Records of anger before an SCP-5327 manifestation seemingly transpire after SCP-5327’s effects cease.

Addendum-5327-01: The following recording is a transcripted video of someone who claims to be Drew [REDACTED] poorly explaining an SCP-5327 manifestation. Apparently, he is the only current human to remember the effects of SCP-5327. He is currently being held in Site-49.

Video Begins: Heavy panting can be heard.

[00:30] I’m recording this because something just happened. Something really weird that I don’t even know that if I can explain — I don’t know if I can explain it.

[00:50] Time —

Long pause.

[01:46] Time just —

A second long pause.

[03:09] Time just froze. Or something — I don’t — I don’t — … How? I don’t know, nothing makes sense right now. I was feeling happy just a moment ago, but now I feel stressed and scared. I feel scared to move. I need —

Another long pause.

[05:34] I need help! Am I going insane?! The bird stopped in midair, midair! Midair! Midair!

Voice continues to grow louder.

[06:20] Midair! HOW DO — Freezing in midair is normal. This is normal. Well, I’m going insane. Help. I f — Feel — Midair! Midair! Fine — Freeze — I was happy, Freeze! Midair! Midair! Freezing in midair is normal. Midair! HOW DO — Freezing in midair is normal. This is normal. Well, I’m going insane. Help. I f — Feel — Midair! Midair! Fine — Freeze — I was happy, Freeze! Midair! Midair! Freezing in midair is normal. Midair! HOW DO — Freezing in midair is normal. This is normal. Well, I’m going insane. Help. I f — Feel — Midair! Midair! Fine – Freeze — I was happy, Freeze! Midair! Midair! Freezing in midair is normal. Midair! HOW DO — Freezing in midair is normal. This is normal. Well, I’m going insane. Help. I f — Feel — Midair! Midair! Fine — Freeze — I was happy, Freeze! Midair! Midair! Freezing in midair is normal. Midair! HOW DO — Freezing in midair is normal. This is normal. Well, I’m going insane. Help. I f — Feel — Midair! Midair! Fine — Freeze — I was happy, Freeze! Midair! Midair! Freezing in midair is normal.

Voice continues to go into nonsensical babble throughout the rest of the recording. Other voices can be heard in the background.

end tape

Addendum-5327-02: The following recording is a transcripted video from Site-49. Drew [REDACTED] is being held for an interview by Dr. Fent.

video begins.

Dr. Fent: Drew [REDACTED]. You have witnessed a manifestation of SCP-5327 before. We need you to describe that exact manifestation so we can analyze it better.

Drew [REDACTED]: I — I —

Officer Temmy: D-2911, if you do not respond, you will be terminated.

Dr. Fent: Give him time to recover, we can come back to this interview later if that is okay with you, Drew.

Drew [REDACTED]: I — I —

Dr. Fent: Terminate this interview.

video ends.

Attempt 2-5327-Witness-Communication:

video begins.

Dr. Fent: I’ll say this again, we need you to describe the SCP-5327 manifestation that you witnessed. If you do so, we might let you have a normal life again with class-c amnestics.

Drew [REDACTED]: I… I… Need more time…

Dr. Fent: D-2911, you have been given multiple weeks to recover. If you do not respond, you will be killed.

Drew [REDACTED]: I… OKAY! I was walking back to my house in Massachusetts, and then I froze. This would be normal. It would seem like I was in a sudden shock. But everything! Everything around me froze! The bird!! —

Dr. Fent: Calm down…

Drew [REDACTED]: Then there was this man… He looked like he was made out of galaxies. It was cool at the moment, but looking back… What the hell was that!?!

Dr. Fent: That’s what we’re trying to figure out. And what you are not allowed to know. Please continue.

Drew [REDACTED]: He… It touched me on the shoulder… And I started to record a video… And, I don’t even know if this is real anymore. I may have just gone insane.

Dr. Fent: We scanned your brain. It happened.

Drew [REDACTED]: I don’t have anything else to say…

Dr. Fent: Thank you. We can terminate this interview now.

video ends.

Extra Notes: Who is this person? – Dr. Fent.


Hello, Dr. Fent! You are the owner of this file. Would you like to edit anything?

y

Access Granted! HAGD!

“Hello, this is Dr. Fent writing. Um… I’m putting this at the end of the file to say that I don’t fully understand this anomaly.

Normally, I’m on top of things, but this is just confusing.

The person that D-2911 described… I don’t understand it. There’s some information that’s being blocked out. That I can’t see.

Probably the only people who have access to the higher information is the O5-Council.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any more information regarding SCP-5327. I can’t find any other information that could be of use, and even if I did, it’s probably going to be the death of me.

One day, I hope this gets revealed.

Because I feel that this is more than 3 seconds of paranoia and pause.”

end.

Good man, Dr. Fent. He knows when to chicken. – O5-12.


Hello, O5-12. Would you like to access file 5327-O5?

y

Please enter passcode.

We4rAllRunderkltheGFsamero3rRoof

Access Denied. Impersonating an O5 Council member will be a cause for termination. Please enter code to cancel MTF deployment at your location.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party. I^H Because I would not stop for death he ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Death he kindly stopped for me. Red Sky in Morning Sailor take e^H wArning.

Access Granted. MTF deployment has been terminated.

WeAreAllRunderkltheGFsamero3rRoof

Access Granted. Accessing FILE 5327-O5…

[UNKNOWN]: You wanted to talk to me?

[REDACTED]: If it’s the death of me. I want to understand.

[UNKNOWN]: Understand what part of what I do?

[REDACTED]: Why do you freeze time for three seconds rapidly?

[UNKNOWN]: So you have seen through those.

[REDACTED]: Why do you do it?

[UNKNOWN]: I’m saving you. Saving you from what you should fear most. The end of humanity. I don’t know if that’s a top priority, but I am trying to contain this… this… this beast that could rip apart everything. I have been constantly trying to discover new ways to keep it contained, and by pausing time shortly, it seems to have an effect.

[REDACTED]: Could you explain more about this anomaly?

[UNKNOWN]: I don’t think so. This is because you can’t see it. It exists, but it’s invisible to the naked eye. The best description I can give you is that it’s a terrorist atom. It has grown bigger over the years to the point where it’s feeding off of some nearby galaxies. I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this though. As I said, I’m constantly developing new ways to deal with the threats it brings. It seems to adapt to whatever I attempt.

[REDACTED]: Well… Just know… You have full support from us and the GOC. We are working together to help with your cause.

[UNKNOWN]: Thank you. Goodbye, O5-1. I hope to see each other soon.

[REDACTED]: Same here.

End.

Ms. Imaginashon

Chapter 1: Earthquake Disaster

Once, there was a girl named MS. Imaginashon. She helped people think of ideas. She loved her job that Mister Meyer gave her. My name is actually Loona. I am from planet Magination, same as my mom, MRS. Imaginashon, and my dad, MR. Imaginashon. People wonder how we came to planet Earth.
Well, it all started when I was a baby on planet Magination, a place where all the people had the best imagination. But one day, MR. Romio heard there was going to be a humongous earthquake on planet Magination. Everybody quickly left the planet using their imagination, and Loona and her family ended up on planet Earth in the country, America, in the state, West Virginia.
Loona realized she looked very different from everybody around them. They had big heads and they had four hands that looked like octopus hands and they were neon pink. The people in West Virginia did not know who they were and what they were doing there. Loona remembered that she had a paper bag so she took it from her suitcase and put it on her head because she was very, very embarrassed. Do not worry, they do not breathe!
The mayor of West Virginia’s granddaughter saw the imagination family and called her grandfather, Mayor Justice, to come look at what the new creatures were in her own state of West Virginia.
The Mayor was worried so he took some officers and went out the door to see the new visitors. When Mayor Justice arrived, he freaked out and shouted, “Stop, in the name of the law. Tell me who you are and why are you here!”
So Loona and her family did, and her father (AKA Mr. Imaginashon) said, “We are from planet Magination and there was a big earthquake and we ended up here to save ourselves.”
The Mayor froze and said, “Are you guys aliens?”
Loona and her mother and her father looked at each other and said, “What are aliens?”
The Mayor’s granddaughter said, “They are people who come from another planet.”
Loona looked confused and answered, “But you are from another planet than we are, does that make an alien?”
At that point, everyone from West Virginia standing there, including the mayor, his officers, and the granddaughter, couldn’t stop laughing. Mayor Justice decided the Magination family was nice and invited them to stay at his house.

Chapter 2: The Mystery Dessert

When they got to the Justice house, Mayor Justice showed them to their room and gave them some privacy. The clock turned 6:00 P.M. which meant time for dinner. Luna and her family were so excited to taste the dessert. Guess what it was? I am not going to tell you. Okay, I will tell you, but you have to read the next chapter.
When they got to the diner table, they sat down and ate the most delicious thing ever! It was pizza. They ate three whole pizzas because it was so good. Suddenly, it was the time they had been waiting for — dessert! Okay, I’ll tell you right now — it was CHOCOLATE CROISSANTS!!
Each of the Imaginashon family members ate 18 of them. Loona was about to get out of her riahc, oops, sorry! I said it in Magination language. I will switch back. Loona was about to get out of her chair when a siren went off. Tornado alert! Tornado alert!! Loona asked the Mayor what a tornado was. Mayor Justice said, “It is a very big wind that is formed by hot air and cold air.
Loona said, “Do we stop, drop, and roll?”
The Mayor couldn’t help but laugh. Suddenly, he said, “No, we have to seek shelter in the basement.”
Loona did not go to the basement. She thought and thought and thought until she got the perfect idea.

Chapter 3: The New Invention

Loona told her family and the Mayor that she was going to “the people that make things.” Mr. Justice said it was called an engineer. She thanked Mr. Justice for teaching her the correct word.
Loona’s BIG idea was to make a palm tree that was metal inside so it would stand up if the tornado came. The palm tree would also have moving roots and a brain that would help protect them in case the tornado or another disaster came. Each palm tree would have a parachute mode, a shield mode, and a sleep mode. The Mayor loved the idea but was worried about all the other people in West Virginia. Loona said they should make more palm trees for each family. The Mayor was so happy with the plan and brought Loona to the head engineer and she asked if he could make 1,000,000 more. Loona asked with a big bright smile on her face. The engineer was so shocked that he almost fainted and said,
“Sorry, kid, but that is too many for one day. We only can make one.”

Chapter 4: The Robot Family

Loona was disappointed. She went into the corner of the room and sat criss cross applesauce with her hands on her knees and hummed, “Hmm, hmm, hmm.” She thought very, very, very hard and finally came up with an idea of how to make moving metal people who could help with engineering the palm trees. She ran and told the engineers her idea. “Okay!!” they said “But you have to help us.”
She didn’t think once of saying no, so they went right to work. They first made a sketch of how it should look like. Then they took out metal plates and attached them together. Finally, they made arms and legs.
“Viola!” Loona said. They turned on the power button and then Loona said, “Look at that thing!”
The engineers asked Loona what she wanted to call this invention. She thought hard and finally said, “Robot, it is called a Robot.” If you ask me, this is the first time robots were invented. They made 2,000 of them!! When they were done, they started working on the palm trees. They needed to make them quickly because the tornado was coming. They went right to work. With the help of the robots, they finished one tree, then two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and on and on. They kept on making the metal palm trees. 6,000 trees, 7,000, 8,000… 100,000, 200,000….
The engineers were so tired but Loona and the engineers did not think of stopping. They made more and more and more until they couldn’t help it anymore, they were up to 999,999. One of the engineers screamed, “I can not do it anymore.”
The others said, “I am tired.” Loona knew everyone was exhausted and tried to re-energize them. She said, “We can do it! Its just one more tree!”
The engineers looked at each other and said, “Okay, we’ve got this! We will do it for Loona and West Virginia.”
So they made one more. Right when they finished, the tornado came and… read the next chapter to find out.

Chapter 5: The Escape of Doom

The tornado came and the room started to shake. Tables fell and the robots and palm trees were flying in the air and out of the building. Suddenly, they all heard a huge BOOM and the building collapsed. Loona’s mother, who was still in Mr. Justice’s house, heard the boom and saw the building her daughter was in collapse to the ground. She started to cry. She was so worried about Loona. She cried and cried until she saw a little yellow dot. It came closer and closer and closer until she realized it was a yellow parachute and it landed right in front of her. Loona’s mother looked at her husband, who was also crying, and said, “That is Loona! That is Loona! That is Loona!” with tears of joy running down her face.
Loona took the large yellow parachute off her shoulders and ran to her parents. Loona explained how she survived the BOOM. “It is all because of the trees that we made — when I heard the BOOM, I quickly turned on parachute mode!” Then Loona said, “We need to go back and give all the trees to the other people of West Virginia, if it saved me, it could save them.”
However, Loona noticed the robots and most of the trees were gone, how weird! Suddenly, Loona’s father, mother, Mayor Justice, and his granddaughter heard a rumble. They took out their palm trees and used it in shield mode. Right then, they all heard the song, “One maca two maca three macarena.”
They walked closer to where the music was coming from and saw little creatures who were made out of metal, otherwise known as Loona’s robots. Behind the robots were all the people of West Virginia, safe and sound. How amazing, the robots collected all the people during the big BOOM. Loona was worried the tornado may come again so she called out to all the people, “Turn your palm trees into shield mode.” Hours passed and it started to get late. Loona kept on yawning and she knew everyone must be tired too. So she called out to the people once again to put the palm trees in sleep mode so that they could sleep and still be protected. They all listened to Loona’s directions and put on sleep mode. In one minute, all of West Virginia was in a deep, deep sleep. The next day, when Loona woke up, she became the state hero.

Chapter 6: The New Job

The Mayor made a big party to celebrate the end of the tornado and gave Loona an award. Although Loona was just a child, he gave her an important job. The job was to give people ideas. For now on Loona was….
MS. IMAGINASHON

Epilogue

Dear readers:
This is Loona, I have a question for you … do you think this actually happened or was it made up in my imagination!?!?!? Enjoy thinking about that!

Kayla and the New Land

Chapter One: Kayla and the New Town

_____________________________ 

“Hi, I’m Kayla. I’m three years old and I live in a small town called HERISHI. I wuv my family awot.”

Knock, Knock. 

My mom ran to the door and my mom saw that it was the community police that would go around our town to check to see if everything was good. At first, Mom thought that we might have done something wrong, but when the police came, they said, 

“I see you have a bunch of past-due bills. And that’s a problem,” they told my mom. “Either you have to pay those bills back or we will have to fly you to America and give you and your husband a house and a job and you have to stay there until you can pay the money.”

After a month, we got to America. Luckily, the war had been over by then for a year. People were dancing in the street. I now lived in a small apartment room and I was now seven. My mom got me a backpack. It was really cool. She put it on me and said, “You are special.”

I said bye to my mom and I walked to school. I looked next to me as if my two best friends were I killed everyone. A girl came up to me and said, “Hey, twerp, I’m here and you’re there.” She pointed to the trash.

She grabbed me and pulled my head in there. I wanted to punch back but instead, I said, “Thank you.” 

I walked around and then there was a MEEP MEEP! I said to myself, “First bell is the toughest bell of the new year.”

I put my hoodie on my head and then I walked to class. I was so close, then I got stopped by a girl from the chess club who gave me a flyer. I said, “Thanks.” She was spitting at me while she was talking like a kindergartener. She said, 

“Welcomes, I tells yours news. Here’s a flyers.”

Finally, I got to class. The teacher said, “Get your textbook out, it’s time for history.”

Everyone was like, “Ugh!” 

But kind me said, “Can we learn about Hitler during the war he was a bit well diabolical?”

She stepped back and grunted. I laughed because I saw someone grunting on the streets, but I think this one was serious.

Chapter 2: The Heart Attack

____________________

She was grunting she was on the floor in pain. I was worried right then and then I knew. She was having a heart attack. I went to my teacher and said, “Where is your phone?” She fell on the floor. The class said, 

“Get the principal! Get the nurse!”

I took the phone and called 12345678. The people in my class said, “Call 119! Call 911!” I called the smartest one I heard. I called 119. It took me to a lady screaming in the phone saying,

“Lacey, stop it! You’re not funny!” 

 And I said, “It’s not Lacey, it’s Kayla!”

She said again, but yelling, “lAcEy sToP PrAnK cAlLiNg!!!”

I said, “Lacey is funny and she can prank call.” 

I hung up the phone then I called 911. They didn’t answer cause they were taking a break from the WWII people. The last thing we had to do was call the principal and the nurse. Everyone walked out of class. There were teachers yelling, and a lot of kids got spanked with paddles, but the only one left was me. I rolled over, did a tumble, and hit my head on a locker. I said dramatically, “This is the end!” I went on the floor. 

Happily, I got up and sprinted. I stopped and I was in the middle of trouble (if you didn’t know, it was still my first day of school so I HAD NO CLUE). My dad always said, “When you’re in the middle of trouble, do the smartest thing I repeated to myself the smartest thing the smartest thing I thought what is the smartest thing ?”

Chapter 3: The Dumbest Thing Ever!!!

____________________________________

I kept tumbling and I got stopped by the lunch lady. She said, “What are you doing out of class?” Now, so you understand, this had been going on for two hours now. I said,

“Uh, uh, I… “

Luckily, it was lunchtime. She said, “Kid, stay out of trouble.” She went to the cafeteria.  I sneaked, and still dramatically, then at the right time got to the nurse’s office. I told her. She said my teacher might be dead. She asked me if I knew CPR. I said, 

“Yes, one of my dad’s jobs was CPR during the war.”

When we almost got to the classroom, she said, “You’re a brave kid.”

I said, “Thank you.”

We sprinted to my classroom. We got there and she was on the floor, dead. I could tell she was not breathing. The last thing I could do was CPR.

1-2-3-4-5, again. 1-2-3-4-5, again. 1-2-3-4-5.

She didn’t wake up. The nurse had a breathing thing that would help her breathe. I thought while I was helping her, What could the hospital be doing? Probably eating donuts. I thought they restored for health. 

Soon, the principal came and understood what was going on. Everyone got to go home early and the teacher was dead.

I went home to my small apartment and I saw Dad there, just Dad

 Chapter 4: Dad

_____________________________

I asked Dad, “Where’s Mom?”

“Home,” Dad said. 

Home. I know he had to be joking because we were home. I knew something was up. He didn’t ask me how school was. I asked, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” 

I sighed. “Dad, tell me.”

He said again, “Nothing, okay? Now there are kids in this apartment playing downstairs. Go check it out.”

I stomped outside the door and cried, “UUGGGHHH!!!” I went downstairs to the kid’s playground and I saw three girls and two boys. They were chasing each other. I ran to get the closest weapon I could find and held it up and said,

“WhAt’S GoInG oN?”

They all laughed. I was confused. Wha — there was one girl, she had wavy hair that was so smooth and very nice clean clothes. 

She said, “Oh, we forgot to introduce ourselves. I’m April, and that’s Sunny, Dany, Sam, and Sammy. Sam and Sammy are twins. These are my friends.”

“You must be new,” said Sammy. “Where are you from?” 

April said, “The twins are very nosy, ignore them.”

I still answered his question. “I’m from Herishi.” 

They all laughed. “You mean, back in the time during the war? You were alive? That’s why you tried to kill us?”

“Well, yes, I guess.”

“It’s okay,” said April. Dany rolled his eyes.

“Why are you here?”

“Well, I don’t know — “

“Ignore him. C’mon, we will fix you up. We’re American. We have the new stuff.” She showed me a little thing with spikes. I said,

“I surrender.”

“No, silly,” said Sammy. “It’s a brush for your tangled hair.”

I was confused. Sammy said, “Danny and Sam, stay here.” They pulled me to the second floor to a very nice apartment. April said hi to her mom and went to her room. They placed me down. Sam went to April’s closet to see if there were any outfits for me to wear. April gently brushed all of the tangles out of my hair. While April brushed my hair, I thought, What is going on with my dad? Where’s my mom? I thought less and let them do what they had to do. Sam eventually found a good outfit for me. It had a big dog on it and a nice sparkly striped turtleneck. I put it on and I loved it. I asked if I could keep it and April said yes. I wanted to go home so I made an excuse to leave. I ran to the fourth floor, to my apartment. My mom and dad were crying. I wondered, Will we move again? My mom and dad said, 

“We have to get a new job.” 

I laughed. “Why so sad? We can make money.”

Chapter 5: The Job

_________________________________________

They did not want a job so I just ignored them and went to my room. I got out a book and wrote: Now that I’m in America, what will I do?

I wrote down:

1.Make friends

2.Become rich

3. Become famous

4. Go home

I always wondered what rabies were. I heard rumors about it being in America. Maybe tomorrow after school, I would see what rabies were. Would I even have school tomorrow?

My dad called me down and asked what I was doing. I lied and said nothing. He said, “There’s no school, what happened at school today… ”

“Well,” I said, “Long story short, my teacher may be dead from a heart attack.” Then I ran to my room until dinner. I kept writing, 

“What will I do in America?”

My mom called me down this time and I went to the kitchen and asked, “Yes?” She said dinner was ready. I was so happy. It was Herishi’s best dish.

It was a bread shaped like a donut with tomato sauce covered in cheese, then some pepperoni. My mom said, “It’s called pizza in America.”

I wasn’t listening but instead, I just enjoyed my food. When I was done, I went to the bathroom and picked up a toothbrush. Thugga thugga thugga thugga. Then I put on pajamas and went to bed. The next morning, I woke up to a note saying — oh, well, I forgot to say, well I couldn’t read so I’ll show you what it said: 

We are at a job interview, there is cereal in the fridge. April’s mom will watch you

Ps: Mamma and Papa

Well I knew what cereal was so I went to the cabinet to get Frosted Flakes and to the fridge to get milk. I heard to knock on the door, it sounded like: Knock kna kna knock. I opened the door. There were two girls standing there. One was April, she had a button-up shirt and a striped pair of pants and was holding a slice of bread. Then her mom, with scrunchies in her hair and a onesie, holding bread.

I let them in. She placed the bread on the table and sat down. I finished my cereal and got some toast, it was soooo goooooooood. I took like five  more slices to the point were I was so full, I could barely walk without jumping.

April chuckled. “You must like it.”

As I looked at her toast, she finished her toast right when I went to grab it.

I sighed. Mealanie (the mom) said, “Girls, go change.” She threw April a white t-shirt with a blue skirt and threw me a baby blue shirt with shoulders like a flower and an orange bottom. I changed. April came into my room. 

She said, “Wanna watch Adventure of Mr. Puppy Face and Prickly?” (Matilda Magaldi, 2020).  I said, 

“Yes, but where will we watch it?”

She laughed. “You have a TV!” I was confused. She said, “Think of it like this: a moving picture.”

When I said that I knew what she was talking about, we went to the living room and I just sat there. I waited for the TV to come on. When it turned on, I loved it. My favorite part was when Prickly had her birthday party, eeee!

 Chapter 6: Parents

___________________________

So when my parents got home, I was happy they had a face as if 1 million dollars was in front of them. They pulled out two hands and said, “We got a job!” Reeeeee! I was happy and was so excited, I did a little dance and said,

“Hitting the kay!” Kay stood for Kayla Alli Yeeck (pronounced y-eck). I stopped dancing and asked, “What job did you get, Papa?”

My dad smiled and said, “I’m your new teacher!” There was an awkward pause. I sighed.

“Why my class?”

Well,” he said, “I thought you would like it.”

I wasn’t happy. I held my hand up for my dad to stop and asked my mom, “What’s your job?”

My mom sighed and said, “I don’t think you will like it.” I immediately knew she was working at my school. I got really mad and stomped to my room. I didn’t even have dinner.

The next morning, I held my belly and felt like I was going to vomit. April told me, “If you need to throw up, go to the bathroom.” I ran to the bathroom and krrrr! There it went, this brown goo came out of my mouth. My mom came running to the bathroom and saw me. It kept coming out. I didn’t feel well. My dad ran to the cabinet to get medicine. Then he went to the basket to get a blanket for me, he also got a bucket. My mom picked me up and sat me down on the couch. He put on the TV to Tails of Mr. Puppy Face and Prickly. They told me where all the food was for breakfast and told me there would be no babysitter. I ignored them and just slouched. I enjoyed watching my Puppy Face. I heard two knocks on the door. I opened it and coughed. It was….

A salesman. He was at my front door saying “Hello, ma’am. Want some yummy peaches?”

I slammed the door and said, “This is not America.”  

I walked back and forth. “I don’t want peaches, I don’t want peaches.”

Then I heard another knock on the door. I practiced fast, saying, “I dOnT WaNt AnY pEaChEs!” I opened the door and yelled,

“I DON’T WANT ANY YUMMY PEACHES!” Then there was a pause. I looked up and it was April holding in tears. I held out my hand and apologized. She was all dressed up so I told her I couldn’t make it to school today, sorry. Then I closed the door. I jumped on the couch as if I weren’t sick anymore but again I still had to vomit. 

A few hours later, I heard my mom and dad come in. I jumped up and they had ishi pizza. It’s like pizza in Italy but it’s from Herishi. I immediately knew something was up. I jumped up and asked, “Did you quit your job? Did you kill someone? Are we going home?” 

They all chuckled and said, “No.” My mom hugged me and asked,

“Are you feeling better?”

 I said yes, and I jumped up and said, “PIZZA!!”

I ate a lot of it. It tasted like a gooey, yummy, cheese sensation, and I went to bed. The next day, I had to go to school. Ugh, school. I hated school now that my dad was my teacher. It was gonna be so awkward. So I put my happiest face on and walked out of my room. I waited for my dad to drive me to school, but instead, my mom and dad drove me to school. I found out MY MOM WAS MY PRINCIPAL. I held my excitement in and waited until I got to schoolground. When we got to schoolground, I jumped and said, “GOOD GRADES FOR LIFE!” But then I wondered, Wait a minute, why would I be happy with my mom as my principal and my dad as teacher? After that thought, I quietly walked away before my mother saw me. I walked into class aka homeroom and told April, “My dad is our teacher.” I told her to tell Sammy and tell Sammy to tell Sunny.

She chuckled and said, “Okay.”

My dad came in and said, “Okay, class, quiet down, start your warm-up. I’ll be writing down our schedule for the day.” I toughened up and started my warm-up. It was pretty simple but I had trouble with one question. It was:

400+280=n

What is the missing number n?

n=?

I raised my hand for my dad to come and help me and he came over and bent down and asked, “What do you need help with?” I showed him the paper. He told me to take 80 away from 200 and add 4+2 said 6 he gave me a high five and he said, “Add the 80 and you have your answer.” I wrote in my neatest handwriting:

400+280=n

What is the missing number n?

n=680

After that, I was done. On the board, what it said next was to get out your math book to practice 3 digit addition and 1 digit subtraction. I opened my math book to exactly page 560  and I continued until page 565. I stopped and I was so bummed the bell rang. I got my backpack and before everyone left for lunch, my dad said, “Have fun!”

I stayed behind and asked, “Dad, what’s for my lunch?”

He said, “Go to your desk, your mom is picking up pizza. She should be back by now.” I heard three knocks on the door (not like I was counting) and I opened the door. It was my mother. She was holding a happy meal. Back in Herishi, McDonald’s was a thing. I jumped up and down and quietly said, 

“I’m special! I get to have lunch with my mom and dad!” I sat at my desk while my mom sat at my dad’s desk. I enjoyed my burger and fries. There was another knock. I peeked and it was April. She said she wanted to eat lunch with my parents and me. I let her in and we talked about what we would do after school. My mom checked her watch and said, 

“Oh my, lunch is over, take her to recess with the other kids.” My dad said, 

“Okay,” and held April’s and my hands and we walked out the door and another door and another door to recess. I never had recess before so I didn’t know what to expect. April held my hand and dragged me to Sunny and Sammy. I asked,

“Where are Dany and Sam?

Sammy replied, “They don’t go to this school.”

“Oh,” I said.

“We have 15 minutes so let’s play tag!” Sunny said. I jumped up and said,

“Okay!” Well… I knew what tag was, it originally came from Herishi so I was pumped. We played tag until recess was over then we went back inside. 

“Two more hours left of school,” Sammy said with a smile on her face. 

“Are we going to the play area after school?” I asked.

Sunny replied with a smirk, “Of course we are, now let’s focus.” I raised my hand. 

“What are we doing?” I asked. My father smiled and said,

“Continue on that page and wait for everyone to finish up.”

“Okay,” I said and got back to work.

Chapter 7: A Few Years

________________

Well, a few years passed by and I was now in the 5th grade and well I was ready to learn more! Sammy and Sam moved and so did Dany which left me off with April and Sunny. Sammy and Sam, well I still got in contact with them but other than that I had not seen their faces in so long apart from the time they would send me pictures or videos on the holidays. I still lived in my apartment though with my mom and my dad. We also now had a cat. I think you know what that is. As I moved up in grades, my dad was still with me apart from second grade. I was now a straight-A student with no favoritism. I earned it. My mom was still the principal and will forever be the best, just like my dad. Now back to the story.

Chapter 8: School

_________________

So it was a Monday and my first day of fifth grade. I was gonna ask my dad to drive me but instead, Sunny and April wanted to walk me so I got out of my room, grabbed my backpack and my waffle, and ran. I said bye to my mom, my dad, and my cat, and left the room. I went outside to see April wearing a green turtleneck and her hair was straight and Sunny was wearing the same thing but with a blue turtleneck and blonde hair. I was wearing the same thing but with a yellow shirt and black hair. As we walked, I looked to the right and the left of me to see my best friends. Wait a minute, that reminded me of my very first day of second grade… anyway, we walked and we got to school. We did our secret code word: hehe hoho go go to do do. Which meant, translation: time to go to school into class.

We all looked at each other and hugged each other. “Our last first day of school,” Sunny said. April corrected and said, 

“Our last first day of elementary school.”

I laughed, then I walked in and breathed in and out. This year we got lockers so in my backpack, I had some decorations but before I decorated, I wondered, it’s been three years, have we made the money yet?

Anyway, I wanted to enjoy my year. I put a picture of my cat in my locker and put a mini disco ball and a fluffy carpet and a big K for my name. After that, the school bell rang. I toughened up and said, “First bells have no mercy against me.” While I was walking, I was daydreaming about me as a superhero, but the daydreaming got a bit out of hand so I stopped every time I got called on to answer a question. I said, “Kay kay girl,” and the whole class would laugh, even my dad. I was so embarrassed, but other than that, my first day of school went well. 

I walked home with April and Sunny and we went to the kid’s area which was a playground but indoor at our apartment and we went under a slide. We told secrets and we told jokes. It was funny. After that, I went to my apartment and I told my dad my whole day again. He already knew how my day went, he was my teacher. My dad told me there was a school board meeting and my mother would be home late. 

“Oh,” I said under my breath. “That’s okay.” I jumped to the living room, but right before I could even touch the couch, the doorbell rang. I yelled, “I’ll get it!” I opened the door, but before I did, I prayed it wasn’t a salesman, but it was the mailman handing me a card. “Wha — ” I said in shock. When my parents came home, I showed them the letter.

Chapter 9: The Letter 

____________________

When I saw the note, I immediately called my parents and told them to come. In the meantime, I called April in tears. “I may move!” 

I grabbed the nearest pillow and snuggled it. I also got my cat and cried. “I don’t wanna go!”

April said, “Calm down, how do you know?” I told her my story? “You I can’t believe it.” Then she hung up. I was gonna call Sunny but I was sad enough. With my cat in my hand, I glared outside as the rain fell peacefully. I had a smile on my face. 

I heard a click. “MY MOM AND DAD ARE HOME!” I showed them the letter and they sighed. 

“Our time in America is over.”

I shouted, “NO, NO! I  made friends, I got a cat, and I have the best life here. I don’t want to go!” They sighed again, as sarcastically as they could, and said, 

“Sorry, Kayla, I know you loved it here but it’s time to go.” With tears running down my face, I said,

“Get on a plane and fly home, I’m staying with April!” And ran to my room. My mother then said to me,

“Our time in America is done. We will no longer live in this apartment. We are moving AND STAYING IN AMERICA AND BUYING A HOUSE!!”

I was so happy, I wanted to hit the kay, but I was still sad. 

A few days later, when we were moving out of the apartment, I hugged April and Sunny goodbye, and our new life in America hadn’t ended. It had just begun.

                  The end

Credits: Thank you to Matilda Jean for allowing me to use her book as inspiration for the TV show Kayla watches

Let It Out

Kuqa was a young girl. Her mother had died last year when she was five So Kuqa only had her father. Most people couldn’t pronounce her name and she never had any friends. Kuqa in Albanian meant red. Kuqa’s mother was Albanian. Kuqa had not said a word ever since Roze (her mother) died. 

“Kuqa, it’s time for breakfast,” David (her father) said. Kuqa went to take her plate. It was Llakuma me eurocream. That was Kuqa’s favorite. Kuqa was homeschooled.

“Are you excited for school?” David asked. Kuqa nodded. She quite liked homeschooling. Kuqa gobbled up her Llakuma and then went to play with her dolls. Her dolls were from her mother. Kuqa named them Lulu and Nina. They were her favorite toys. She made them have a tea party with tiny plastic teacups. Kuqa had nothing to do most of the time. Before Roze died, they would go outside and play on the swings. But now Kuqa was an introvert and going outside just made her sad. 

           Kuqa walked up to the living room and pointed at a book. She knew how to read but not well so her father picked up the book and read to her. 

          “Once upon a time, there was a prince named Ocelius, he was a rude person who would judge everyone. One day, an old woman walked up to him, she said she wanted to give him some chocolates. The prince laughed and laughed then the woman turned him into a fly and stole all of his gold,” David read. Kuqa giggled, she loved that story. David kissed her good night and Kuqa went to sleep. 

Kuqa woke up at 6:00. She had a bad dream. She saw David sitting on the couch wide awake. 

“Come here,” David said. Kuqa walked toward the couch. 

“Do you like the idea of going to school?” David asked. Kuqa looked at David like he was crazy. 

“It’s just that you’d be so much smarter if you go, and I want you to learn in the best way possible,” David said. Kuqa didn’t want to go to school but she nodded yes because she knew if she said no, it wouldn’t work anyway. 

“And besides, you’ll have all your old friends there,” David explained. Kuqa thought for a moment. Her old friends, Lilly and Charlie, probably forgot her. Kuqa went back to her room to sleep for another hour. She had a nightmare. In the nightmare, she was in school. Everybody judged her because she didn’t talk.

David woke Kuqa up at 7:00. Kuqa was confused.

“Come on, get ready for school!” David said. Kuqa put on the backpack and ran to the bus. She was terrified. She saw Lilly. 

“Kuqa?” someone asked. It was Lilly. Lilly remembered her? Lilly ran to hug her. 

“How are you doing?” Lilly asked. Kuqa tried to respond but she couldn’t. She was too sad to talk. Then Charlie came. 

“Oh my god! It’s really you!” Charlie yelled with excitement. Kuqa hugged him. Lilly was confused by Kuqa not responding. She used to talk all day. Charlie seemed to expect a “hi” as well, but Kuqa just couldn’t say anything. Kuqa started crying. She was thinking about her mother. Kuqa cried very often. Lilly and Charlie were now SUPER confused. They gave Kuqa some space.  

She sat with Lilly on the bus ride. Lilly gave Kuqa a piece of paper and a pen.

“You’re not talking so maybe you can write why you’re so upset?” Lilly said. Kuqa wrote about Roze dying. This made Lilly stop talking to Kuqa. Lilly realized how sad Kuqa was. Lilly whispered something to Charlie. Kuqa knew what she said, it was that her mother died because Charlie looked at Kuqa with a sad look. 

Kuqa finally got to school where she saw her new teacher, Mrs. Lockerton. Mrs. Lockerton looked like a ghost with a very pale face, red cheeks, and a bunch of mascara. Kuqa tried to stay away from her. Kuqa saw the other teachers bring the new kids and make them introduce themselves. Kuqa had a piece of paper and a pen. She thought that Mrs. Lockerton would introduce Kuqa to the class.

“Class, bring out your books. It’s time to read,” Mrs. Lockerton explained. A boy was wearing a shirt with a stain on it. 

“Harold, didn’t I tell you that people in this class should wear good clothing!” Mrs. Lockerton yelled. 

“Sorry, Mrs. Lockerton!” Harold said with a scared look on his face. Mrs. Lockerton slapped the boy across the face. Kuqa did not like her teacher. 

It was time for lunch. Kuqa had a PB & J for lunch. She ate it fast. After lunch, it was time for recess. Kuqa hung out with Lilly. They talked to each other on a piece of paper. Kuqa wrote about her teacher and how crazy she was. Lilly laughed. 

“I heard she is a witch and that she kills children. Is that true?” Lilly asked. Mrs. Lockerton obviously wasn’t a witch so Kuqa started laughing. Lilly laughed with her. Kuqa realized that this was the first time she’d laughed since her mom died. Kuqa started to get a little sadder from thinking about her mom. Lilly noticed that she was sad.

“Do you think you need therapy?” Lilly asked. Kuqa wrote, maybe. Kuqa actually never thought about therapy. She thought of trying it. 

Dismissal came and Kuqa ran to the car. Kuqa wrote a note to her dad about trying therapy. David looked at her. 

“You want to try it?” David asked. Kuqa nodded yes. David smiled. Kuqa went home pretty happy. She almost talked but she still couldn’t do it. After trying and trying to talk, Kuqa got frustrated. She cried in the middle of the night. David woke up extremely tired. 

“What is it, honey?” David asked. Kuqa just didn’t know how to respond. She kept crying. She wasn’t mute, so why couldn’t she talk? 

“Red, red, you’ll be okay, you’ll talk one day,” David said. Red was David’s nickname for Kuqa. Of course, that was what Kuqa meant in Albanian. Kuqa hugged David hard. Harder than ever before. He always made her feel so much better. 

“Why don’t you sleep with Nina tonight?” David asked playfully. David picked up the doll. Kuqa grabbed it tight from his hands. She slept with the doll all night. 

She woke up at 6:00 am. She had time to eat her breakfast and brush her teeth (unlike last time). She was going to start therapy the next day. David told her it was culture day. Kuqa had to wear something in her culture. She looked through the closet. She saw the Albanian dress that Roze gave her. She stared at it. It had the Albanian eagle and some little flowers on it. Kuqa didn’t wear that dress since Roze died. Then she saw another thing in the closet — Roze’s scarf. It had the Kosovo flag on it. It was a little big for Kuqa but she decided to wear the scarf along with the dress. She went to the school bus. Lilly and Charlie saved a seat for her. 

“Nice dress, where is it from?” Charlie asked. Kuqa thought about it being from her mom. She shed a tear and ran to a different seat. Lilly punched Charlie in the stomach. She sat with Kuqa. Kuqa didn’t scream like usual but she was shedding tears so much. 

“I’m sorry about Charlie. He didn’t mean to make you sad,” Lilly explained. Kuqa nodded. “I think I know why you’re not talking. You want to keep in the feelings of your mom dying but you can’t. Some advice — let things out, you’ll feel better,” Lilly said. Kuqa wanted to know if this was true but she couldn’t just scream in class. She was going to see if that was true when she saw the therapist. The therapist knew best. Kuqa hugged Lilly. After a couple of minutes, they arrived at the school. Mrs. Lockerton was wearing a shirt with a Catalan flag. Mrs. Lockerton also had snakes on her pants so Kuqa was confused if she was Catalan or from somewhere else. 

“Bye, Kuqa!” Lilly waved. Kuqa waved back. Kuqa walked to her classroom. There was a kid with an Italian leather jacket. There was a kid with a scarf that said FRANCE, three other kids, and of course, there was Mrs. Lockerton. Kuqa guessed the other kids were sick or something.

“You might be wondering why barely anyone is here. It’s because the people that are gone wore better clothes. You guys didn’t. Your punishment is this,” Mrs. Lockerton said. 

“Mrs. Lockerton, where are you from?” Harold asked.

“I’m from Belarus, it shows the flag. Stupid child,” Mrs. Lockerton answered rudely. 

“No, that’s the flag of Catalonia,” Harold said. Mrs. Lockerton walked toward him and brought out a stick. She hit him. Harold started crying and then she hit him again. Then Mrs. Lockerton walked to Kuqa.

“What’s the two-headed eagle on the dress?” Mrs. Lockerton asked. Kuqa still couldn’t answer.

“What is it!?” Mrs. Lockerton screamed. Mrs. Lockerton was about to hit Kuqa with the stick but then…

“Stop!” Kuqa yelled. That was the first time in a year that she’d talked. A couple of the kids stared at Kuqa so surprised.

“It’s the Albanian eagle, my family is from Kosovo,” Kuqa explained. Mrs. Lockerton didn’t care. She hit Kuqa and sent her home. David picked her up. Kuqa got into the smelly car where David was probably gonna yell at her. 

“I heard you talked,” David said. 

“Yeah,” Kuqa responded. David smiled. He didn’t yell at Kuqa, surprisingly.

“How did you do it?” David asked. 

“I let my sadness out,” Kuqa explained while smiling.

“I love you,” David said. He kissed Kuqa’s forehead. 

                                                            THE END.

                                                               Afterward-

I want people to learn that you should always let your sad feelings out because it would make you feel so much better. So I wrote this story so people would do that and because I wanted to show Albanian culture to people. Kuqa was so sad she couldn’t talk, and when she let her feelings out, she talked, and I know you can do the same.

Finding Your Place

Amee is just an average teenage girl moving to Scranton PA from L.A. she has never fit in anywhere… or so she thought.

When she moves to Scranton PA, she finds friends, and apparently enemies.

The question is…

How can she stay together when everything is collapsing around her? 

 Finding Your Place

Prologue – Amee

I walk home from Westlake and try to open the wooden door to our house, but it won’t open.  I roll my eyes at the dark, wooden house with bright windows and big flowers and jiggle my key into the lock. I open the door and it loudly slams behind me. It smells like toast. I flip the lights on and grab a snack from the silver fridge. The dark brown chair screeches on the wood as I sit down to do my homework. After a while, my Math, History, and Art homework are done. I’m just about to reach into my bag for my Science stuff when I hear the door creak open and the strong sound of my dad’s boots clumping around the house, calling my name. I call back and he pulls a chair next to me. 

“Hey, sweetie,” he says, his deep, inviting voice grumbling with bad news. 

“Hi, Dad,” I answer. “You told me you wanted to tell me something?” 

He sighs and nods. “Um, yeah. Listen, Amee. We’re moving. We both know this is not the right place for us.” 

My lips quiver and my eyes quickly fill with tears. “Where are we moving?” 

He winces. “Scranton.” 

I gasp and a hand flies to my mouth. “That’s halfway across the country! Are you guys insane? What about me? What about my friends?” I stop. Tears escape my eyes and they quickly change to sobs. 

“Amee — ” he starts, but I push his words away and flee to my room. 

Chapter 1 – Amee

The Beginning 

“Hi. My name is Amee and I just moved here from L.A.,” I say from the front of the room. I hear mutters and whispers and I shiver. I hate muttering. 

“Why did you move in the middle of the year?” one girl with light blonde hair, tan skin, and deep green eyes asks. 

“Oh, um… ” I don’t think I’m ready to share that yet. I give a look to the teacher and, thankfully, she sees it. I walk back to my desk quietly and pull the chair out. It makes a shriek and I cringe. Everybody looks at me and I shrink in my t-shirt. 

I remember the look on my face when I got the news. I remember the gut punch when I was told. And mostly, I remember wondering why this all happened. 

We were moving to Pennsylvania. I didn’t understand! We had everything we needed right there in L.A.! But deep down, I had always felt out of place in L.A. No one ever talked to me and I felt like I didn’t fit in anywhere. I can’t believe I broke a mirror over that horrid hole of judgments. It was home though. I don’t know where my home is. 

My eyes focus on the classroom and I push thoughts of L.A. out of my mind. I live in Scranton now! I am happy! I am! I am. I shake my head as if to shake my thoughts away from my brain. I look around my classroom and eye the people in it. The group in the front row look as though they are in paradise. Their full attention is placed on the teacher as their eyes shift nervously from the board to their papers as they pen furiously to get everything down on the sheets. The group in the back looks as though they’re going to die. They all sneak-text under their desks and look everywhere but the teacher. And then there is me. Me, as in my own group, as in the only person who doesn’t fit in.  

After school, I walk home, dragging my feet. When I get home, I let myself in like I always did in L.A. I smile slightly and click the door open. The house is dark and I’m alone. As always. I run-up to my room, slam the door, and flop on my bed. Who am I? Do I fit in anywhere? 

Chapter 2 – Elizabeth

The Beginning, Pt 2 

“Hi, my name is Amee and I just moved here from L.A.,” says a girl with pale, porcelain skin, deep dark blue eyes, and hair so dark brown, you’d think it was black. Cool! L.A.! How about that, huh? I call out and ask why she moved here in the middle of the year.! Her eyes well up and she gives the teacher a look. Whoops. I quiet down and try to make eye contact with Nat. Natalie has been my friend since Kindergarten and she’s the closest friend I have. She stares at me fiercely and throws me a note. 

It says:

Liz – OMG! What the heck why did u ask that? You OBVIOUSLY made her sad! So confused. I like her so far! She looks nice!- Nat

I roll my eyes and scribble on the back of the page. 

Nat – Ugh I didn’t mean to! I just asked a question! You know how honest I am! Whatever. I like her, too! We should talk to her at lunch. – LIZZE♡♡

I focus my eyes back onto the teacher, and then it’s lunch. 

Natalie sees me in the cafeteria and waves me over but I go towards Amee. “Hi!” I say. 

“Um… hi,” she says quietly. WOW. She is shy. Whatever. I don’t mind. We talk and laugh for the rest of lunch, and when I go home, I think I might’ve made a new friend today!

Chapter 3 – Amee

Fitting In

When I get ready for school on Monday, I am nervous. This is my first full week at my new school and I don’t know if I even like it here in Scranton. My feet shriek on the tiled floor as I sulkily grab a piece of toast. 

A little voice in my brain:

What are you doing? 

A little voice in my brain:

You don’t belong

Me:

I do belong

A little voice in my brain:

What are you talking about? You don’t fit in anywhere

Me: 

I do fit in

The voice gets quieter.

And quieter.

I belong here. 

When I get to school, I am a little bit more confident but not by much. I walk into the classroom and everyone looks at me. Definitely not by much. A girl waves at me to come and sit next to her, and I get confused. Is it me she’s waving to? I look behind me, but I don’t see anyone. A warm sensation jolts through my body as I happily trot over. My eyes light up as I think, Ha! Told you! I do fit in! But then I see another girl. Walking towards the desk.

She sits down. 

I stop right in my tracks. The warm feeling turns to ice as I realize I don’t have anything.

Nothing.

No one.

Nothing! 

Something. 

What do I have to believe in? What? I sit down at a random desk and suddenly a note flies at my face and hits me smack in the nose. 

Dear Amee, 

Hi! It’s Elizabeth. Um I just wanted to say that you can TOTALLY sit with me and my friends at lunch again if you want to. No worries if you don’t want to, but we’d love it if you came! 

Xoxo Elizabeth 🙂 

I have that. I have that note to believe in. You will see me at lunch, Elizabeth! You can believe in that. 

Chapter 4 – Elizabeth

It Hurts 

When I come to school, I immediately plop my bag on the desk next to Nat and scribble a note to her on a piece of paper. 

Nat – 

I’m going to ask Amee to sit with us again, is that ok? Just wanted to make sure. 

Xoxo Liz

I see her brush off the back of the page and start writing while the teacher walks in and uncaps a whiteboard marker. 

LIZZE – 

Ummmm ok sure.

Xoxoxox NAT ;-D

Awesome! I rip a piece off the paper Nat and I were writing on and scribble a note. I fold the torn edges together and throw it at Amee, careful that the teacher is looking away so he won’t see me. It hits her smack in the nose and I wince. That’s gotta hurt. Luckily, the note drops in her black leggings after sliding down her green tee. She reads it and smiles slightly, nods in my direction, and focuses back on Mr. Frora. My eyes focus on Nat, and she senses my stare and turns towards me. Finally! I give her a thumbs up and suddenly the bell rings and I curse silently. Ugh, I totally spaced out! Darn it. Nothing I can do now. I grab my marble print bag and sling it across my shoulder. Amee meets up with me on the way to English and we make small talk.

Eventually, we go our separate ways; she has Math. When I get to the English room, Nat sits down and I see Faith walk briskly to get to the seat next to her.  Not so fast! I cut her off and slide into the empty chair as Faith slumps and plops into the seat behind her. I grin and make small talk with Nat as Faith desperately tries to be part of the conversation. 

“OMG, I love that show!” Nat exclaims when I bring up “The Office.” As we move onto the topic of pizza, Faith smiles like she’s hearing us as if we were on FaceTime and she was having bad internet. 

“I know, me too! Dwight is definitely my favorite character! So funny, am I right?” Nat and I stare. 

“We finished talking about that like so long ago.” Nat rolls her eyes and THANK GOD the English teacher walks in and everybody quiets down.

After English, it’s time for lunch (finally!!) and I walk to lunch and meet up with Amee. “Thanks for letting me sit with you,” she says breathlessly. 

“No problem!” I say as Natalie and Faith come up behind me. Faith links arms with Nat and links arms with me and starts walking towards the cafeteria, leaving Amee behind. I nudge Nat and jerk my head towards Amee. She nods, her eyes say, Ok fine, and pulls away from the chain, and I follow suit. Faith frowns and stops in her tracks as we link arms with Amee instead. Faith rolls her eyes and links arms with Amee, finishing the chain. She grins mischievously and digs her nails into Amee’s elbow. She yelps in pain and Faith pushes her away from the chain and links with Nat again. 

“Come on, New Girl!” she rolls her eyes. “Keep up!” As Faith pulls Nat and me towards our lunch table, I look back helplessly. I turn towards Nat, but instead of her sharing my concerns, she stifles a laugh, and Faith grins at her. Amee gets up and I see three scratches on the inside of her elbow. She gathers the stuff that fell out of her ombre white-to-purple backpack and walks confidently towards an empty table, but I can see the clear, salty tears forming in her eyes. 

Chapter 5 – Amee

 Betrayal 

Dear Amee, 

I am soooooo sorry! Do you want to sit with us tomorrow and talk?

Xoxo Elizabeth

Elizabeth,

HAHAHAHAHAHAH no. NO WAY. I am not going to “sit and talk with you” just to get completely embarrassed again. Again, NO WAY. I can’t believe I ever thought you were going to ACTUALLY be nice to me. 

  • Amee

I should’ve known. It was obvious. No one wants to be friends with me. I am the laughingstock of Oak Hills Elementary. I am finished! I am toast! Burnt, dead black, non-buttered toast! I walk out of lunch with my eyes red and my scratches even redder. I rub my eyelashes and wipe my cheeks. My schedule flutters off my locker wall and I see which period is next. Oh god. I have History, but that’s not the worst part. It’s with Elizabeth. And Faith. (And a few other people, obviously.) How am I going to get through this? No no no. this is not how I want it to be. I’ll be fine on my own. I can do this. I CAN do this. Can I?

As I walk into History with Gabi, I see Elizabeth sitting with Natalie as Faith talks to them, laughing, talking, and hurting my heart.

Chapter 6 – Elizabeth

Figuring It Out

Ok, am I allowed to be confused here? Nat seemed to like Amee in the notes that we wrote…

Unless she didn’t.

I quickly tell Nat and Faith I need to go to the bathroom, and when I get to the bright pink room (so sexist, by the way. Pretty sure the boys’ bathroom is blue). Anyway, I push the door open and immediately riffle through my backpack. I finally find a tiny gold bag with all of my notes since kindergarten in it. I quickly sort through the notes and find the ones that Nat wrote most recently. The words sure, and fine flash before my eyes and I realize she doesn’t like her! Obviously, DUH. How couldn’t I have noticed that before? I bolt out of the restroom before anyone sees me. As I walk out of the restroom and into the cafeteria, I try to make eye contact with Amee, but her head is down and she is nibbling chips while reading a book with a dark maroon cover.  I tried, at least, I thought. Nat waved me over and I plopped my lunch consisting of a hamburger, fries, and an apple. I bite into the soft bread and chew on the juicy meat. 

“Was that funny or what?” Faith asks as Nat smiles softly and laughs and reaches further into her sparkly lunch bag for the chocolate chip cookie she gets every day. “Ha, she deserved it,” Faith says immediately with a full mouth of cheese sandwich. Faith looks into my eyes and grins mischievously and I watch the corner of her eye follow Amee to our table. 

“Didn’t she, Lizzie?” Nat looks at me pointedly and I start to sweat. 

“Oh yeah, it was hilarious. You should do more. She totally deserves it.” 

Faith laughs and Nat sighs, relieved, and smiles to herself, but I feel terrible. 

When I get back to class, I write Amee a note and she responds totally meanly. I am so mad. But she still didn’t deserve those three red scratches. 

As I walk into History, Faith sits in the chair next to Nat before I can slide in. No biggie. The seat on the other side of her is open. Faith looks towards the door and I see Amee walk in. 

“Oh hi, New Girl,” Faith smirks. Everyone laughs and Amee’s face reddens. I feel bad, but I have to play along. Faith and Natalie are popular. They would make sure I had the worst rest of the school year ever if I defended Amee. “Why did you come here anyway?” Faith studies Amee’s watery eyes. Faith’s glare pierces Amee’s confidence and she runs out of the classroom. Nat covers her hands over her mouth and I can’t believe I was ever friends with these people. But, who else do I have? 

Chapter 6.5 – Amee                         

Faith glares at me and I stare at everybody looking at me in horror and literally run to the bathroom. Everything I’d hoped for was gone, flushed down the toilet of the stall I was hiding in. This is terrible! I sat and cried for a second, just flushed it all out. (No pun intended). I have had the worst day ever. Will Faith and Natalie ever leave me alone? Either way, I walk back slowly to History and inwardly vow I will not let Faith or Natalie bring me down. As soon as I walk in, though, I see Faith whisper something to Natalie, and they both laugh. I feel myself sinking lower and lower in my chair. So much for my vow. 

I disappointed myself. 

Chapter 7 – Elizabeth

Acting Out

As Amee slides down lower into her chair, I slide right along with her. Why did I let this happen? I can’t act like a baby anymore, I have to stand up for myself! And Amee! As we walk out of History class, Faith gets a mischievous glint in her eye and I smile. Perfect. Faith opens her mouth, and before she can say anything, I jump in. 

“You know what, Faith, before you open your big mouth again, let me give you a little news flash. If you think Amee will never belong, well guess what? You’re wrong! In fact, you are the furthest from right as you could ever get! We were all new kids, right? Well, look at us now! We belong. Amee is not different. Even if she doesn’t feel like she belongs right now, she will belong. Just like we all did. Amee is a kind and beautiful person inside and out. You might be pretty on the outside, but if you keep acting this way to my friend, you will always be ugly on the inside.” 

Faith stands there, shocked. Natalie flees to the bathroom, and I think I can make out tears streaming down her face. She started crying when I said the words “my friend.” Weird. Faith stutters and tries to make a comeback but all I do is walk away, feeling freer than I have in weeks. 

I really hope they will leave her alone. 

Amee walks up to me after my whole… conversation with Faith and smiles. “Thanks,” she says. 

“No problem.” I smile back. We talk and I feel like things are mended. Little do I know what Nat — er — I mean — Natalie, has up her sleeve. 

I see Natalie and Faith smile at each other wickedly as I stand up to get new paints, and when I turn back, Amee’s painting is splattered with water and they dumped out my cup. I pick it up to get new water, and at that exact moment, Amee decides to walk through the door and sees me, her painting, and the empty water cup in my hand. 

“What did you do!” Amee yells. Natalie points at me and says,

“Elizabeth dumped her water cup on your painting!” Amee opens her mouth in horror and turns towards me. 

“How could you!” her eyes water and she flees the room’s hot stares. 

Chapter  8 – Natalie

Seriously

Hi. I’m Natalie. I know you’re probably wondering why I’m so mean to Amee, and I would be too. I don’t know why Faith is mean to her, but I know my reason. You should probably know the backstory first. 

Elizabeth and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. All through Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, up till now, it’s always been “Elizabeth and Natalie”! Well, then Faith came, and then we were a threesome. I was fine with the duo though. Elizabeth was the first friend I’d ever had, and the best. I could tell her anything and she wouldn’t judge me. I felt safe with her. Then, Amee came and Elizabeth really liked her. She distanced herself from me more and more and I was scared. I didn’t want to lose her as a friend and I think I’ve already lost her. It might be too late but I have to try. She was the best friend I’d ever had and I’m not about to lose that over my pride. I have to fix things. 

Today is a fresh new day and I’m ready. I can do it! I plan to take out my phone and send her a text. It says:

Hey, Elizabeth. I know you’re probably still mad at me and I know it’s really weird that I’m not talking in text language but this is important. I miss you, Elizabeth. And I know that you probably don’t want to talk right now but I had to say it. The reason I was mean to Amee is because I was scared that I’d lose you. You are, or were, I guess, my best friend. And I get it if you can’t forgive me right now, or ever. But I just wanted you to know that. Love you. 

Wow. That is the longest text I’ve ever written. All I have to do now is press send. Just press send, Natalie, I say to myself. But I — I — I can’t. It’s too scary. I just have to do it. I press on the blue arrow and the message pops up in blue on my screen. Message sent, it says. Oooooohmigosh. I can’t believe I just did that. My heart is pounding harder than it ever has before. I literally RUN to school to see how Elizabeth reacts to my text. All of a sudden, my phone rings. I shut my eyes tightly and slowly take my phone out of my back pocket. I open one eye slightly to see who it is, and it’s Elizabeth. I slide to answer, relieved, but I’m not ready for what happens next. 

I hold the phone up to my ear and hear her say hi. “Hi, Elizabeth,” I say softly back.

“Hey, Natalie,” she sighs. 

“Did you get my text?” I speak into the phone. 

“Um, yeah,” she says and I hold my breath, waiting for an answer. Everything is silent around me, and it’s just me and her, breathing heavily and waiting. She takes a breath and starts talking. “Look. I know you meant well when you sent that text, and I get that you were scared. I really do. But, what you did was not right, and I just don’t know if I can forgive you yet. I just need a little time, Natalie,” she confesses. “I’m not ready.” 

Silent tears fall down my face and slip down onto my sneakers. “Oh, um, ok,” I say, my voice breaking. “I totally get it.” I brush tears off my face yet they still find a way to come back, salty and sad. I hang up, and it’s almost like I’m hanging up on our friendship completely. I am too late. I was trying to protect our friendship, but it seems like I’ve only made things worse. I lost her. 

As I walk to school, I try to make my eyes less red than they actually are. As soon as I get to school, Faith comes up to me and waves. I don’t wave back, but just keep walking. “Hey, hey, wait up!” Faith yells, but I shake my head. 

“No, Faith. I will not wait up. I need a break. Bye” Faith stands there looking confused and angry. I sigh. What am I going to do without Elizabeth by my side like she always was?

Chapter 9 – Faith

Please 

“No, Faith. I will not wait up. I need a break. Bye.” Natalie walks away as I get confused. What did I do wrong? I don’t know. 

Look. I know I was mean to Amee, but there’s a reason. Duh. I’m not cruel. Well, I was. I was just jealous. Amee was getting all the attention and Elizabeth and Natalie liked her, and being mean was just a defense mechanism. So yeah. That’s my story. I’ll stop, but everybody just has to leave me alone. I walk into school and see Elizabeth and Amee talking, probably making up from the fight about the prank Natalie and I pulled. I see Natalie up ahead talking to some random girl and then it hits me. I have no one. I’d always thought I’d have Natalie and Elizabeth forever. We would stick with each other through thick and thin. But now, who do I have? 

Chapter 10 – Amee

What?

I can’t believe Elizabeth would do that to me. After all we’ve been through, she just goes back to Natalie and Faith and doesn’t even care about me. My feelings. I mean, I know she has been friends with her for much longer but after they were so mean to me for no reason? But, what if it wasn’t her fault? Natalie and Faith were giggling and Elizabeth looked sad and apologetic. I need to talk to her. I call her and she is sniffling into the phone when she picks up.

“Everything okay, Liz?” I ask. And then it hits me. I think she noticed it too. That’s the first time I’ve called her Liz before. I can’t believe I did it so normally, like she was a friend! I could hear her smile through the phone as she said, 

“I’m okay now.” My face breaks into a smile and suddenly, I feel like I had a friend. 

“So, um, what happened?” I prod. 

“Oh, nothing. See you at school, Amee!” She pushes the question away, says goodbye, then hangs up. I’m confused. Is there something she doesn’t want to tell me? I get dressed in a short maroon skirt, a loose purple blouse, and slip-on black ankle boots. I grab my backpack and slam the door as I’m walking out. My mom opens the door again and smiles at me. 

“Have a good day, sweetie!” I shrug. 

“Love you, Mom!” I say and wave as I walk away. 

When I get to school, I spot Natalie and Faith talking and quickly put my head down. Natalie says something and then walks away and Faith just stands there. I look around and I see Elizabeth leaning on a pillar with her head in her hands. She looks confused and stressed. I wonder what’s wrong. I walk over to talk to her, my boots slamming on the pavement as I run to catch up to her as she walks to English. 

“What’s up?” I say. 

“Oh, just the usual. Your friend finally calling you by your nickname.” She puts her arm around me and I laugh. As we walk to English, I can see out of the corner of my eye Natalie walking with her hands in the pockets of her light blue jeans and a single tear slips down her cheek and lands on the floor. She steps on the spot where it hit the ground and pushes her tear down harder, shattering it, and keeps walking. I look back at Elizabeth as we’re walking, her face emotionless and stone-cold, and know something is wrong.

Chapter 11 – Elizabeth

Not Ready 

“I’m not ready,” I say into the phone. I’m never ready for this. I feel a stabbing pain in my heart when Natalie hangs up the phone. I sit down on the couch, still in my pajamas, and process what just happened. I lost my best friend since Kindergarten. My phone rings and I check to see who it is. It’s Amee. I pick it up and put the phone to my ear. I’m praying for some good news. I can’t keep my sniffling in and she asks me what’s wrong. And then I realize that she called me Liz. Liz! She’s never called me by my nickname before and a warmth spreads through my heart, numbing the pain and confusion. 

“So um, what happened?” she asks. I groan in my head and sidestep the question, say goodbye, and hang up. I just can’t take any more confusion right now. I stomp upstairs in my slippers and put on black leggings, a black t-shirt, slip-on sneakers, and head out. When I get to school, I see Amee walking over to me and I wave. We talk and I put my arm around her. We see Natalie, and I immediately look down, not wanting to meet her eyes. I quietly wipe my eyes, but when I feel Amee’s eyes on my face, I wipe my face of all emotion. She sees the red tear mark on my cheek and I quickly try to wipe it away but it stays. It must be stubborn. Darn you tear mark! I think. I see her thinking and I get scared. What’s happening?

After school, I walk to my computer and check my email. Amee sent me an email with a Zoom link for 6:00 PM. I text her that I accept and she seems overly excited — weird. I’m excited and don’t know how to wait! I grab a snack consisting of: salt and vinegar chips, sweet strawberries, lemonade, brownies, and a piece of chocolate chip banana bread. Yum! I grab the TV remote and turn the coal-black screen to electric blue. I play my favorite movie, and before I know it, it’s 5:55 and I have to go. 

I join the meeting, see Amee, and then see someone I definitely DID NOT want to see right now. Natalie is in the Zoom meeting! “Hi, Elizabeth,” Natalie says. I give Amee a withering glare and her look says, Oh well, what can we do?

Chapter 12 – Natalie

Forgiveness

To: Natalie Carter

From: Amee Walker

Subject: Zoom

Dear Natalie, 

I am inviting you to a zoom at 6 pm today. Join this link: hptts://webzoom.usTWEB273985357bdFRpjfslj34755fldhgso3 

Elizabeth will be there so you can talk to her. I repeat; TALK TO HER. There is no reason to talk to me, be mean to me, or even look at me. I am doing this for Elizabeth. See you at 6. 

Sincerely,

Amee Walker 

Her email is so sad and I really want to write her back, but I know it’s wrong. My fingers push on the keys and I press send before I can stop myself.

To: Amee Walker

From: Natalie Carter

Subject: RE: Zoom

Dear Amee,

I’m surprised you wrote to me. Thanks for the link, I will come. I actually do want to talk to you on the Zoom, because I don’t want to say it in an email. I’ll be there at 5:40 so we can talk. 

See you there.

Natalie

At 5:40, I join the link she sends and Amee is there, waiting patiently. As soon as my video glitches on and the microphone is working, I launch into it. “Look, Amee. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, well I did, but I was scared I would lose Elizabeth. We’ve been friends forever and I didn’t know where I fit in if it wasn’t with her. I feel awful and the only thing my fear and anger did was break everyone apart. I am so sorry. I get it if you can’t forgive me, Elizabeth already did that. I’m sorry.” Amee looks to the camera and opens her mouth. 

“I forgive you,” she says. I think my Zoom might not be working, maybe I’m hallucinating, but I never expected THAT. “Look,” she says. “I know what it feels like to not fit in. You were mainly the reason I didn’t fit in hahaha but I get it. You hurt me, but I know you know that, and I know you’ll try to make it up to me.” I smile at her and feel like things are mended. One more to go.

Elizabeth joins as Amee and I are talking. She gives me a withering glare and Amee’s eyes say, Don’t worry, I’ve got this. “Hey Elizabeth,” she says. 

“WHAT THE HECK, DUDE!” Elizabeth yells so loudly that her sound cuts out for a minute. 

“Wow. Calm down, sparky” she says. “Look. Natalie apologized to me, and I forgave her.” 

Elizabeth rubs her ears like she didn’t hear right, but Amee nods and moves on. “Now, I know that you might have some feeling that you HAVE to be mad because I’m your friend. I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to. Natalie is really sorry, and she does have a good reason. We were all a little bit wrong, but I found a place in my heart to forgive Natalie, and all I’m asking is that you forgive her too.” 

I watch Elizabeth as tears stream down her cheeks. “Yes, Natalie. I forgive you! You’re my best friend! Of course, I forgive you!” I’m crying and Elizabeth’s crying and somehow, Amee is too. These are my friends. I’ve found my true friends. 

Chapter 13 – Epilogue  – Amee

The next day

I walk into school and see Natalie and Elizabeth waving me over. I run over and Natalie engulfs me in a powerful arm hug. Elizabeth smiles and slings her backpack over her shoulder as we walk into school, hand-in-hand. Natalie has to go to English and Elizabeth and I go to History. We sit at desks right next to each other and when she smiles at me, that’s when I know. 

I’ve found my place. 

THE END

The Tiger’s Dream

 Book One 

 There once was a tiger who wanted to go to the New York City Zoo but he lived in the New Jersey Zoo. He thought his zoo was too small and there were not enough animals. He had lived in this zoo for his whole life and he wanted to live somewhere else now. So one day, he set off on his journey to New York City. He took his map and he had a plan which was to go to the city and find the zoo in Central Park. He didn’t realize the map was for a different zoo and so he had to go back to New Jersey and get the map for the Central Park Zoo. He arrived in New York City and the people were terrified. He didn’t like that the people were scared of him. He didn’t care though, he just wanted to go to the zoo. He bumped into people and pets and he arrived at Central Park, except he didn’t know where the zoo was in Central Park. He had to steal a map from people. Well, he didn’t steal it, the people ran away and left the map behind. He saw some animals but he didn’t know where the Tiger section was. He kept looking around and a security guard saw him and brought him to the right section. And the tiger lived happily ever after.

Book Two

The tiger was in the Central Park Zoo and he wanted to meet new friends except there were too many animals, there were more than 100! And he couldn’t go to all of them in one day and maybe some animals would be scared of him because he’s really big. He went to other animals. First, he went to the penguins. First, he said, “You wanna be my friend?”

And they were like, “Sure.”

Then he said, “Can you help me get some new friends because there are a lot of animals in this zoo.” 

So they went off on their journey to find new animal friends. Then they went to the lions. The lions were sleeping so they had to come back later. They decided to take a break because it was a lot of walking, so they did. They got some water and they got some food to bring with them so they wouldn’t have to take a break, because it took hours to get to the other animals. 

Next, they went to the sharks. They asked one of the sharks, “Do you want to be our friend and look for other friends?” 

The shark said, “No, I already have my friends and I need to stay in the water.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t ask sea creatures because they have to stay in the water,” the tiger said. 

Next, they went back to the lions. They went over the gate and they were still sleeping but there were other animals behind them. There were other tigers, and this time the penguin asked, “Do you wanna be our friend and look for other friends?” 

The other tiger said, “Yes, well there are no other tigers here so I wanna be your friend and look for more friends too.”

So they went to the giraffes next. They were very tall so they had to use a microphone to ask them, “Do you wanna be friends with us and look for new friends?” The giraffe said yes and let the penguin and the two tigers get on his back so they wouldn’t have to walk. The giraffe was very nice, so that was why he did it. Next, they went to the little fishes in the little tank. 

“Do you wanna come with us because we could bring your tank and be friends?”

“Okay!”

So the penguin and the two tigers had to come off the giraffe because they had to carry the tank. The penguin said, “Maybe we should only ask those fishies because they live in a tank and the sharks live in a whole big tank.” 

Next, they went to the horses. The horses said no, they had a lot of friends so that was why they said no. They were like, “Okay, we won’t ask you again.”

Next, they went to the cows. The cows said, “Sure, we’ll be your friends.”

Now there were no more animals who didn’t live in the water so they had a dance party and lived happily ever after. 

Book Three

The tiger was exploring the zoo with his penguin friend. The security guard let him out of the zoo because he was a nice animal, he didn’t bite. All the people knew that so they weren’t scared of him anymore. 

First, he went to the large park where there was grass. There were lots of people and there were squirrels and birds. The people petted him and the penguin and then they went to the squirrels and birds. They gave the squirrels acorns and the birds got jealous so they brought some bird seeds too. He went to the next part of the park, it was the aquarium park. The people were like, “Why is there a tiger in the aquarium part of the park?” 

The tiger said, “Oh, we’re just meeting some new people and exploring Central Park.” 

So the people pet him too and they watched the aquarium for a little bit. They saw sharks, fish, and they saw stingrays and one big octopus. The penguin was scared so the tiger held the penguin’s hand. They went to the part where there was a slide. There were lots of kids. The penguin and the tiger went up to the slide to see some kids. The kids were like, “Ooo, a tiger and a penguin,” so the kids were very happy. They went to their parents and were like, “Can we keep them, can we keep them?” 

Their parents were like, “No, they’re zoo animals!” 

So the penguin and the tiger went back to their journey. They didn’t bring a map so they got lost. They weren’t in Central Park anymore, they were out on the street. It was no big deal, the people weren’t scared of the tiger and the penguin. So the tiger and the penguin got some ice cream and tried to go back to Central Park, and they went back to Central Park. They went back to their gate and they lived happily ever after. 

Book Four

The tiger was learning how to swim one day and today was the day. The teacher was the penguin. They went to the animal pool and the tiger got a floaty. The penguin didn’t need a floaty because he could swim. 

The penguin said, “First, lay back and try to float.” The tiger couldn’t float so the penguin didn’t know what to do. 

“Okay, let’s just start with the basics,” the penguin said. “We’re going to take a noodle and lay your arms on the noodle and kick your legs behind.” The tiger got it! The penguin was like, “Uh oh, the pool is draining, we have to tell the people that we’re still in it!” So they did. It took 2 hours to fill the pool back up so they had to go home and get water because they were tired. They went back to the pool and they were back to swimming. 

Next was to swim without the noodle. The penguin said, “Okay, we’re gonna try this without the noodle and see how you do.” The tiger did well but next, he had to try swimming with his head underwater and he got the goggles and he was good. But then there were other animals splashing around in the pool. 

“We’re the only animals that are supposed to be in here,” the penguin said.

“But it’s our pool too,” they replied.

“But we ordered a private pool.”

The animals said, “Well I suppose so.” So they went out of the pool and the penguin and the tiger kept doing their session. The penguin threw rings in the water and the tiger had to catch them. The tiger only caught two but there were three, so the penguin caught the last one for him. They were tired so they went out of the pool and went home and then they lived happily ever after. 

Book Five

Today was break day and that meant the tiger and the penguin could just play and they usually went to the big area in Central Park and played ball, except they wanted to do something different today.  They went to go visit the tiger’s old zoo in New Jersey. The penguin came too.  It took a long time to get there, that was why they had to pack. They packed water and food and they were going to New Jersey now. They took the right map to New Jersey and they took a map to the zoo in New Jersey and they finally got to New Jersey, but they had to find the zoo. So they got the map to go to the New Jersey zoo. They got through some forests while they were going to the zoo and they finally got to the zoo. They saw some old animals and so they said, “Hi.” And the old animals said, 

“Why are you here? You’re not from this zoo. You’re from the Central Park Zoo.” 

The tiger and the penguin just walked away and they went to the security guards. They were the security guards when the tiger was here. The security guards missed the tiger, but they didn’t miss him too much because they visited him every time they took a break. So they hugged each other and the penguin wanted to go home to the Central Park Zoo. The tiger said, “Okay, we can just go home.” So they went home. 

They were halfway home and it took hours to get halfway, except they were going the wrong way because they didn’t take the right map. So they had to jump on a bus and go back to New Jersey to get the maps. And then they walked back to Central Park Zoo and they finally got home.

Book Six

“Today, we’re going to the park,” said the lion and the penguin. They went to Central Park. The part where there are the tire swing and the swings, slide, monkey bars, and a see-saw.  They had to find the map to go to the park, so they got the map, they got to the park, but it was really crowded, so it was really hard for them to get in, so they had to wait a really long time for them to get out, or they could just rent the whole park. It was a good idea to just rent the whole park. So they did. So they got the whole park to themselves, but there were some people who really wanted to stay, so they let them stay. They had a blast and then they went to go get ice cream. The penguin got chocolate and the tiger got vanilla.  It was really hot, so their ice cream melted and they were really sad. So they went to Riverside Park and the tiger said, “For us, it’s National Park Day. That’s why we’re going to every park.” Next, they went to Battery Park.  There were not a lot of kids there, so they didn’t have to rent it again. They played and played, but there were no slides or swings, or a see-saw. There was just a tire swing and a slide, but they still had fun.  They had a fun day. 

The End.

Book Seven

Today was Hat Day.  They all wore really funny hats. The tiger and penguin wore hats too. The penguin had an orange and white and green one and the tiger had a green and yellow and blue one and they put some jewels on top of it.  But then, one of the other animals stole a jewel and it was one of the diamond jewels. So the tiger and the penguin had to go find the stealer. They couldn’t find him. He was probably hiding the jewel. So they asked everyone in the whole world. They had to ask one more person because that was the last person, so they did and they asked, “Do you have our diamond jewel?” 

He said, “No, I don’t.” 

They said, “Are you sure?!”  

He said, “Yes!!!!”  

And so the tiger and the penguin were very sad because that was their prized possession.  The guy who actually stole the jewel saw them and said, “I stole your jewel.  I’m sorry and I would never do it again.”  

They said, “I accept.”  They had a costume and hat party and they lived happily ever after!!!

Wolf Quest — A Breeze Acoming – Book 1 –Wind’s Crossing

YOU ARE A 2-YEAR-OLD FEMALE WOLF IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. YOU ARE QUESTED TO FIND A MATE, BUT FIRST YOU MUST BECOME AN EXPERIENCED ELK HUNTER.

Stats:

Name: Wind

Color: Black

Gender: Female

I howled, establishing my territory, space, and possibly attracting a potential mate. My mother-wolf, father-wolf, and pack got killed in a wildfire and I had to go on my own. I trotted along the way, scenting the ground looking for an elk carcass, as I did not feel confident enough to hunt on my own. There! I found an elk carcass, and oh, it smelled wonderful! But a troublesome bear kept me from the standing prey. I trotted back and forth, hoping the bear was full. He was not. I tried a growl, but the hungry bear hardly took notice, so I left, knowing that one day, when I had a pack, no bear would keep me from prey again.

I kept scenting the ground, and kept looking. Freeze. Pause. A hare. I licked my lips and stalked my prey, telling myself I would kill it. Pounce! The rabbit got caught by surprise and started to run, but a puny hare was no match for a wolf. I killed it with a crunch on the spine. It was hardly two mouthfuls. Unsatisfied with my catch, I moved on. 

It was getting dark so I decided to go to sleep. 

DAWN: I yawned as I woke, stretching my limbs, and cleaning my fur. Howls. Other wolves. I sniffed the air. It was the LunaNova Pack, 12 strong. I decided it was finally time to hunt some elk. Running and scenting as fast as I could, I finally scented out the elk herd. 

Trotting upon them, scenting them, to see who the weakest elk were. Weak. Very weak. Careful to avoid the bull elk, I bit the female elk’s chest. She kicked, she ran. So did I. It was a chase, and I was biting every chance I got. She finally had to rest, which left her vulnerable. I went in for the final blow. Snap. She stumbled down to the ground. I sniffed. Dead. The crows immediately came to eat the carcass, as I looked around, seeing who would dare challenge me for this.

A coyote. I growled. He was intimidated, but confident. I pretended to walk away. As I did so, I limped, to attract other coyotes. Once I saw about two others, I quickly turned tail. Yelp. Then the coyote fell limp. Giving me a look before his final breath. After the encounter, I headed for Pine, Pine Mountain to be exact.

I was ready. I was ready for the hardest part of a she-wolf’s life. As I trotted along the forest towards the large mountain, I used my sniffer to determine the whereabouts of this place. Though I had never been there before I knew exactly where to go by instinct, as every Yellowstone wolf knew. One time, my mother-wolf got shot with what looked like a green stick thing, by a creature known as a No-Fur. She quickly fell asleep, and I did not see her for some time. A day later, she came back to me, with a strange thing on her neck. Father-wolf did not think much of it at first until a group of no-furs came and took their Flashy-Captures, and spooked the pack. After that, Father-wolf chewed the thing off her neck and carried it to the river where it sank deep, deep below. After that, the No-Furs never bothered us again. I sighed longingly from the memory, but that was the past. Creatures stay in the present. Yapping of which, I arrived in the Pine Mountain pack territory. My destination. My Crossing for the first time.

I was headed down-wind, as I could scent things better, than upwind. Wolf. From here. Male, was what I got from my trusty snout. As I headed straight for it, my eyes gleamed with excitement. There he was. A possible mate. Something was wrong — he wasn’t a dispersal, like me. He was an alpha male! I felt my tail lowering behind my legs. Before he could speak, I quickly turned tail and ran. Very ashamed of myself, I headed out of their territory. Wait. Something caught my eye. A he-wolf! This time a dispersal like me! He nervously trotted towards me, tail behind his legs. In my wolf point of view it seemed like he was submitting to me, and we had not even said hello! As he approached me, head down, I kept my tail and head high, as I wanted to be the dominant one. 

“Hello,” he communicated. 

Speechless, I slowly said, “Hello, who are you?” 

“I am Arrow of Pine Mountain. I left the pack to create one of my own.” 

“I have traveled a long way. What is your name, young wolf?” 

“Arrow,” he said. 

Still cautious, I said, “Wind. My name is wind.”

***

ARROW BECOMES WIND’S MATE

As they ran through the snow, Wind felt extra happy as she was no longer alone. They were heading towards Slough Creek, as that was where den sites and hunting grounds were. Wind and Arrow knew they had to get there quickly and start prepping for the soon-coming pups. They soon arrived at Slough Creek, scenting for a decent den. 

“Here.” Arrow had scented something. Wind gave him an “okay” glance as she followed him into the woods. Arrow had found a suitable den! Close to hunting grounds along with the summer ones too! They whined in delight as Wind settled into the comfy tree den. 

***

THE END OF WINTER (Almost Spring)

Arrow could hear squeaks, yips, and little howls. He had been waiting all winter for this. He whined to Wind asking to come see his pups. Wind gave a whine of approval back as she cleaned her pups. “Wander, Amethyst, and Achilles,” Wind said. “Those are their names.” 

Leaving Arrow, he quickly said, “When should we leave?” 

Still caring for her pups, Wind quietly said, “We leave tomorrow, they are already 6 weeks, and are ready for the Crossing.”

***

THE NEXT DAY

Yawning, all of the pups and adults awoke, stretching every limb.“We have a big journey ahead of us, my pups,” Arrow announced. Wind and Arrow carried the pups to the nearest carcass for a quick meal. Wind’s ears twitched at the sound of a bear; however, it was far enough away that she was not worried. As she and Arrow approached the carcass, they were not aware the pups were facing the predator’s wind direction, and it made them oblivious to the bear stalking Amethyst. Yelp. Whine. Silence. 

Arrow and Wind quickly turned around to see that Amethyst had been killed by a male grizzly. Arrow and Wind quickly grabbed their remaining pups and quickly ran away from the grizzly in grief. At the sand crossing, they crossed and carried the pups towards the summer hunting grounds, hoping they could make it. It was almost sundown as they settled in for the night. 

THE NEXT DAY

Closer to the hunting grounds than they thought, they picked up the pups and ran as quickly as possible. As they approached the forest, they were overjoyed that they had made it. Setting the pups down, they took a rest, completely oblivious to the stalking cougar. As it closed in on them, its target was Wander. Pounce. Yellllllp. Wander… was gone. Wind and Arrow launched in on the attack, nearly killing the cougar. Wind gave a fatal bite to the cougar’s neck. The cougar fell. Wind and Arrow had gotten their revenge. Wind carried Achilles to the hunting grounds and they stayed there until Achilles was ready to move on.

Queen Fairy Crystal

Once upon a time, Queen Fairy Autumn and her pink fluffy unicorn, Bubblegum, went to a royal gala in New Orleans to celebrate the city’s 99th anniversary. It was also Autumn’s birthday. She got dressed in a long yellow ball gown, the color of gold coins. Then, she dressed up Bubblegum in a protector necklace which was jade and always shone brightly when the queen was in danger. Bubblegum also wore a white, blue, and pink tie-dye dress. Queen Fairy Autumn flew to the party while her unicorn galloped on a rainbow.

When they got there, the scent of chocolate cake filled the air. Fairies and elves celebrated the queen’s 32nd birthday until… The evil fairy Crystal crashed the party!

Crystal was wearing a jumpsuit made out of ice blue velvet and real ice cubes.

Then, Autumn noticed the wand. She nearly fainted.

Crystal had a dragon wand which had taken all the colors of Autumn’s people so that the Autumn’s kingdom’s colors were fading. Without color, everyone except the queen would start to fade to death.
Autumn had to make things right.

Before he died in a battle with the winter kingdom, Autumn’s father, the king, had said, “There is always a time to make things right before anything gets out of hand.”

“What have you done to my people?” said Autumn.

“I took over your land because I never got anything I wanted,” said Crystal.

“But don’t do this! You don’t know what you’re doing!” screamed Autumn.

“Mwaha-ha-ha-ha-aa, you will never get a hold of me!” Crystal yelled. “Zaaap!”

Crystal zapped her wand several times at Queen Fairy Autumn. But the wand did not work on Autumn.

“It’s time to make things right,” said Queen Fairy Autumn.

Crystal threw Autumn into the ocean which was full of tears.

But when Crystal looked at the water, she saw her true reflection — evil.

Because Autumn was gone, Crystal became the new queen — the Snow Queen of Winter. She made the queen’s people come back to color. There were gnomes, princesses, princes, ballerinas, dwarves, elves, pirates, fairies, mermaids, and good witches, celebrating the birth of a new season and a new queen. They were all dressed in coats made out of wool and leather. The new queen used her wand to make an ice castle. The people clapped and laughed and played games.

The Snow Queen had never felt this happy before. She finally realized that being evil was not the way to live.

Then one day, ice voyagers came. The Snow Queen made a big portal to protect her citizens. But the ice voyagers started taking away the snow which made everyone except the Snow Queen melt! Then there was no way she could get her people back, so she became evil again because all that she loved was lost forever. The people would only come back if a new season came.

Crystal was left alone in her ice castle with her mirror.

In another kingdom, far away, there were two neighbors, a girl named Kate and a boy named Gretel. They had love for each other; they even grew each other roses in different colors. Gretel would go over to Kate’s house to drink hot cocoa with marshmallows. They would build snowmen and go sledding together. The Snow Queen watched them in her mirror made of ice.

One day, when Kate and Gretel finished their hot cocoa with marshmallows, they went straight outside. As soon as they did, the Snow Queen sent transparent icicles straight into Gretel’s heart. He then became mean, greedy, and nasty. Gretel started to run away from Kate.

Kate screamed, “Why are you running away from me? I thought we were going to go sledding together!”

“Go away!” Gretel yelled in a rude tone. He ran away and never looked back.

Kate ran to her grandmother’s house. Tears flooded all the way down her rosy cheeks.

“Oh, Grandmother!” she cried. “I think the Snow Queen from the Kingdom of Winter took control of Gretel.”

“Oh, no!” her grandmother cried. But then she told Kate, “Oh, my darling, I know a shortcut to the Snow Queen.”

“What is it?” Kate said.

“First, you go to the lake where a magical bronze canoe is waiting just for you. Second, you will pass a beautiful garden where there are lots of flowers that are colors such as Yummy Yellow, Prancing Purple, Blaring Blue, Pretty Pink, Rose Red, Owing Orange, and Groomy Green. Then, you will see a pirate’s ship stuck on solid blue ice crystals.”

“Maybe the pirates can show me the way to the Snow Queen!” Kate exclaimed.

“Yes, they can,” her grandmother said. “But only if you are nice to them, even if they’re mean to you.”

“What next?” Kate asked.

“The final step is to find Gretel.”

“Thanks, Grandma!” Kate said with tears of joy.

“Oh, you’re welcome, my dear child,” Kate’s grandmother said.

“Bye, Grandma!” Kate said.

“Bye, darling!” Kate’s grandmother said.

Then, Kate put on her sweater, coat, mittens, scarf, hat, and snow boots. She raced out the door and went into the freezing cold. When Kate got to the bronze canoe, she had to go through all of the seasons. She climbed into the magical bronze canoe as her grandmother said. When she stepped inside the canoe, it moved by itself.
Wow, so this is what Grandma meant by magical, Kate thought.

When she got to the other side, she saw a beautiful garden with an old lady, who was wearing purple gloves and a purple dress.

“Hello there!” Kate said politely.

“Hi,” the woman said. “Can you please brush my hair, dear?”

The lady pulled out a purple comb and gave it to Kate. She took off her hat and held it tightly in her purple gloves while Kate brushed her hair. When Kate was finished, the lady asked her to do chores around the house. When Kate was finished with the chores, she asked where she could find the Snow Queen. The lady pointed right and Kate, without a word, left.

The next obstacle was a snowstorm. Kate fought the snowstorm like a warrior. Five minutes later, she saw a pirate’s ship stuck in solid ice. Kate walked closer to the pirate ship until…

“Aaargh!” one of the pirates shouted.

“Eek!” Kate screamed in horror.

“Hey, matey, why are you skedaddling here?!”

“Umm, ” Kate started to worry. “I want to find a way to the Snow Queen!” she screamed loudly, as if the whole world wanted to hear her little voice.

“Why, though?” said a girl pirate named Alivida De La Cruz.

“Because my friend, Gretel…”

“Gretel? Who in the name of the ship is named Gretel!”

“He’s my friend who got lured to the Snow Queen! And I… I… I just miss him.”

“Well why didn’t you say so then?”

“So will you lead me to the Snow Queen?”

“Yes, since you gave us a reason.”

“Thank you!”

“Yeah! But first, we are going to need someone to help us with the ice.”

“Umper!” Alivida De La Cruz shouted.

“Yes, Captain!” replies Umper.

“Get your axe please so that… uhh… what’s your name?”

“Kate,” Kate whispered.

“Uhh, Kate and I can break the ice to keep the river flowin’,” said Alivida De La Cruz.

“Yes, ma’am!” And down Umper came with the axe.

Kate and Alivida De La Cruz held the axe together. The ice went crush, crunch, croop! Then they climbed up the ladder for the ship and sailed through the icy water.

“To adventure!” Alivida De La Cruz said.

“To adventure!” said Kate.

In 15 minutes, they were at the Snow Queen’s ice castle. Kate was freezing, even though she was wearing a coat, snow boots, a scarf, hat, and mittens. “Thank you, Alivida De La Cruz,” Kate said.

“You’re welcome, matey! Anytime!” Alivida De La Cruz shouted.

Kate ran as fast as her legs could take her all the way up that iceberg hill. When she was in front of the ice doors, she opened them. Creak!

“Hello?” Kate said, shivering.

“Who is it?” the Snow Queen said in her snarling voice. The queen had a frown on her face. She had teal lipstick and icicles on her back, sticking up to the ice chandelier.

“Oh, hello,” Kate said.

“Well, well, aren’t you that little pest who was playing with this boy all the time?”

“Yes, Snow Queen, and I’m here to get my friend back, you crook!”

“Excuse me? What in the ice did you say?” Crystal said.

“I said, you crook!” yelled Kate.

“Out of my way!” Crystal screamed. She pushed Kate to the side.

Kate ran past her up to the Snow Queen’s throne room and saw Gretel, other children, elderly people, and grown-ups.

“Gretel!” Kate said in relief. “I am glad that you are fine.” She tried to hug him but he kept turning around and backing away. Then finally, Kate had a plan. “Gretel,” she said.

“Yes? What do you want?” Gretel said.

“I would like to talk with you,” said Kate.

“What is it?”

“Don’t tell the Snow Queen, though,” said Kate.

“Okay,” said Gretel.

Kate leaned forward and went to Gretel’s ear. Then, she hugged him and she said, “I love you!”

Gretel closed his eyes. All of a sudden, he wasn’t pale anymore, he was colorful. He was back to normal!

“Thanks for saving me!” Gretel said.

“You are welcome,” Kate said. “Now let’s get out of here!”

“Yeah!” said Gretel.

The two friends ran home. When they got there, Kate explained how she got to meet a pirate and an old lady who wore a purple dress.

“Wow!” Kate’s grandma said, fascinated. “It’s a good thing Gretel is back home now!”

In another kingdom, the Snow Queen, Crystal, adopted a cat and was happy… for now…

The Train of Horror

Once upon a time, I was a kid named Jack. It was a normal day in winter. I was sleeping. Suddenly, a letter popped in my window and flew to my bed. I opened it carefully, making sure my parents didn’t seem awake. The letter said, “Come to a train party, there will be hot cocoa and you will have a lot of fun.” I thought this was gonna be super fun. It said, “Go to fiftieth street at 3:30 PM.” I hid the letter in the drawer and then slept. 

The next morning, I forgot the letter, but then as soon as I saw the clock go to three, I remembered. I went into my room, grabbed the card, and ran to 50th street. And then I saw a line. A lot of people were lined up. There were kids like me. So I saw the time was 3:25. I quickly lined up. And then a man said,

 “Come in the train.” I couldn’t say what he looked like because he had a black hood on top of him, covering his face. We went inside. He said, “This will last a few days.” I thought that this would be no problem. So I saw a playground there. He thought that was pretty odd. But I was energetic so I invited two kids to come with me. 

They came and we played tag. Once we ran out of all our energy, we went back in. 

In all of the seats, everyone was missing. This was pretty odd. Then the guy with the black hood on top of him said they were on the way in a waterslide park in the train. Now I was thinking this would be pretty fun and odd too. It was too odd. How could there be a waterslide? Did they have infinite water? But I didn’t mind. I went to the water slide and I saw all the children who were jumping up and down in the water. And it was pretty great. After we were done playing in the waterslides, we all went to bed. Each room was carefully designed for three people. So then I thought this was perfect. I invited the ones I invited to the park. They said it was a great idea. I asked what their names were. The first one was Sammy, the second one was Rafa. I thought we were gonna be great friends. So, we went to bed. 

The next morning, a girl screamed on the train. Me, Sammy, and Rafa ran to where it came. We came to the room, opened the door, and already four kids were just standing there. I asked what happened and they said they didn’t know either. We opened the door and saw one of two roommates went missing. Now I was starting to think this was a really odd place. How could two kids go missing? We asked the four kids to investigate the room. They said okay. We searched every closet, including the roof. Finally, there was a footprint. Then, under the footprint, the plank was loose. He pulled it up and there was a letter. He told everyone to come. Everyone came. He read the letter out loud, making sure everyone could hear him. When everyone heard what was happening, they were now aware. I said for everyone to calm down, not tell the driver at all, because the driver was acting the most sus in the whole train. They agreed so we went to the water park. I said to Sammy and Rafa that we had to do something about this problem. They said that we should get more info so we did. I knew what the letter said. I didn’t want to tell it. I told it to Sammy and Rafa. It said,

 “DON’T RUN :D!” I knew something was up so I told them, 

“Don’t act scared because then whoever is doing this is going to react and attack.” So we agreed we had to get out of here. WAIT, OH NO. I realized we all remembered the legend on 50th street. A monster came trapping children, and when they said a word, they got their soul cut so that meant that the driver was the REAPER. Spread the word! They remembered 50th street was the most deserted place. It was the scariest. Whoever went there was never to be seen again so they investigated. No clues. We went to bed. 

Nothing happened, yet I sighed with relief. A scream filled the train. I expected the driver to come out but nothing. 

“Wait,” the girl said. She had a bad dream. “We know the REAPER is fattening us for the kill. We remember the REAPER got a curse. The only one he can kill is who is most afraid.” So it was good that she wasn’t that scared. So now I felt scared. I tried not to feel too scared. We went to sleep. I felt afraid. 

I felt like going to Rafa and Sammy and asking them to sleep with me, then someone opened the door. I sensed the REAPER close. I knew he had come for me and then as soon as he was about to cut my soul, my soul came back. A sigh of relief came to me. 

“What happened?” I was still afraid and the REAPER went away. Luckily, when we were about to go to sleep, we papered a button on the bed. When one of us pressed it, we alerted the other person that the REAPER was here. I pressed it: boom.

 “Yay!” I whispered. BOOM. The door slammed open. The REAPER came out. 

Of course, I think. The REAPER could hear every word we said but luckily he was all the way on the bottom of the train.

We survived the first night. I told Sammy and Rafa that the REAPER came into our room and was about to cut my soul. Sammy said,“There is another legend… it says one day, a boy and a group of 3 have powers. The first has the power to Command the animals, the second can control the ice and snow and water, the last cannot be cut by the REAPER but can kill him.” 

“THAT’S IT!” I told them I must be the one who can’t get cut and that was why my soul came back to me! I said, 

“Of course!”

 Sammy said, “But who are the other two?”

 “It’s YOU and Rafa!”

“No way,” Sammy said. “So what should we do?” said Sammy. 

“IDK,” I said. “Maybe we save everyone?”

“NO WAY,” said Rafa. 

“Why not?” I said.

“Because I know we have to save them but what about us?” said Rafa. 

“I agree,” said Sammy. 

“Let’s tell the crew,” I said. 

“Midnight 8:00 PM, another day of surviving,” I said. Luckily, no one screamed. “Wait!” *Lights turned off* “Sammy, Rafa!” They woke up. “What’s happening and the reaper is coming!” We went to bed faking. He passed right by us. Suddenly, dogs started to come in our room. That’s it! Rafa could control the animals. The REAPER saw. He came in the room and the dogs barked and attacked him, and wolves even started hopping in the window and attacking too and mice started to bite him. Cockroaches just annoyed him. The REAPER was scared of the animals. He was outnumbered and if he took a soul, they would devour him. He ran away, staying there, waiting for the next attack. They kept barking but then snow came in and stopped the barking. Its powder snow must have made a fluffy pillow and then a snowy hand closed the window.

Ouch! Goes the Weasel, Books 1 & 2

Squeaks to you all! 

My name is Ronalds Squeak-sq, and I am the youngest weasel in Utteramma Field. My brother, Carl, is the leader of Squeak Scouts. Squeak Scouts is another name for your “Boy/Girl Scouts.” Anyway, back to my family. 

My father is the Executive Director of Utteramma Field Electricity Institute (UFEI). The UFEI produces electricity to every weasel in town during the Weasel Uprising in 2123, when the Handemolen peeps are protecting every weasel in the world of the TSSA. 

Eventually, we smart weasels learned to use human materials, so we used them on our own as well. Back in my family, my mom just took a job as a nurse in Utteramma Field Hospital (UFH). With no one in my family guarding me, I had to figure out a way to get a babysitter. 

I dialed 167-999-9998 on the weaselphone in my house. A babysitter named Alexia came. Instead of making Mom mad, my mom was… well, actually proud of me. My dad, on the other hand, wasn’t so amused. 

He usually is the most easy-to-get-angry weasel in town, but sometimes, if I finish my homework early, my dad will reward me with three-quarters of an hour of TV time. 

This story is just the beginning of a story of what had happened to me and my family. Happy reading and exploring my inner self!

______________________________________________________________________________

“Ronalds, hurry up,” Carl whined, “or you will be late for your first day of nursery school.” Carl and I were eating breakfast on a chilly fall day. We had to block our entrance hole up with a huge plate to keep out the leaves from falling into our house. 

Yup. A weasel like me is going to nursery school already. That’s because we weasels’ generations have been separated by three years. That’s why weasel schools don’t earn much money, though the teachers have to spend so much energy controlling 3-year-olds. 

My dad, with a tough-looking face, glared at me with impatience, but didn’t even make a single squeak. I’ve got to hurry to school. Everyone in my family was impatiently waiting for me. Unusually, even my mom was glaring at me with impatience (that’s not common in my family). 

Alright, diary, see you at school!


Here in my school, Weaselmentry Nursery School (or as I like to call it, the WNS {pronounced WHNNS}), everyone gathered up, and I gazed out the window. Earthworms tumbled in the mud. I guess my new teacher put the window there for a reason. 

Finally, the bell rang. 

BLING! BLING! BLING!

“Alright, class,” the teacher announced, “my name is Mrs. Olaf. I am also the Phys Ed coach here. You have a very special teacher.” 

Everyone oohed and ahhed. All except for me. I sat there, still as a statue. (Well, I had to admit I was still blinking.) After Mrs. Olaf calmed everyone down, she announced another thing: “This is also my first day here.” I opened my mouth to squeak, but nothing came out. 

Despite my silence, I did manage to squeak up. “You — you just came?” I gasped. I paused to catch my breath. “Lie — like us?!” 

“Sure, hon,” Mrs. Olaf replied, “I just moved into Utteramma Field.” 

I guess school wasn’t so bad after all:* after all, I did have a teacher who had lots of things in common with me! 

*Oops, I forgot to mention that I didn’t want to go to school earlier in this book! So sorry for interrupting the story. Go on reading, now.

Just then, a booming voice came from the hallway. Every classmate in my class had their fur standing on their tips. I can’t tell if they were sweating or not, but I was. 

“Today, my new friends, I would like to announce the new staff and students in this school. First, our new Physical Education coach: Mrs. Dorriana Olaf!”

Everyone cheered during the 10-second-pause. Then, the strange voice continued. 

“Next, our new Computer teacher: Mr. Rockliff Anderson!”

We heard some cheering in the neighboring classes. The voice went on. 

“Finally, let me introduce the new generation of students. In Mrs. Olaf’s class, welcome the new students of Mrs. Olaf!”

We smiled to ourselves. 

“Next, welcome the students of Mr. Jankerson!”

Okay, so this is going to be a long announcement, so I will put it together in one piece. 

“Next up: Mr. McUnterson’s class!
Last but not least, welcome Ms. Lankeran’s class to this school!

Now, I want to announce that we are in a lockout drill. An eagle is coming! Lock everything!”

“What’s a lockout drill?” I heard someone ask. 

“It means ‘Lock everything,’ ” Mrs. Olaf replied, “because we can’t let eagles and other predators come and snatch us. Good question, Kiki.” Kiki. Now I know a new friend, I thought. 


After 10 minutes of waiting, we finally could squeak. The thing is, we were actually working pretty hard as nursery schoolers. We learned shapes, size, how to count to five, and a bunch of other things, including word study (that one was the hardest). 

After all that mind-cooking learning, it was finally time for recess. We had an extraordinary playground: lots of rides and also brainworking challenges and even steep slides. SO STEEP. It was going straight down! 

I was deciding to meet Kiki when the bell rang that ended recess. 

BLING! BLING! BLING!

Everything was now harder, even harder than the word study. We learned to use a ruler to measure. We even met numbers up to 10! 


On my way home, I thought about how far nursery school is taking me. It sounded so hard! HARD! By the time I got home, I was half panting, half shivering. And why? Because I was afraid to go back to school! 

When Carl saw me shivering, he asked, “Hey, Pooper-Ronalds, are you cold?” I didn’t answer because 1) He would reply with a much meaner thing than “Pooper-Ronalds” and 2) He would ask me more stupid questions. (Why did I use the word “stupid”?!)

When my dad saw me shivering, he asked the same thing, only politely: “Ronalds, my boy, aren’t you cold? Let me give you a cup of warm water. Meanwhile, borrow my jacket.” 

“No thanks,” I said, “I’m just afraid of school.” 

Unfortunately, Carl heard me and teased me: “Ronalds is afraid of school! Ronalds is a loser!” Just then, a voice shot down from the stairs as fast as the fastest bullet. 

“CARL!” Mom scolded. “Get over here right now. Time out for three hours!”

I was now quarter scared of school, quarter shivering, quarter sweating.* It was just too much to handle! I can’t believe my family is like this. Meanwhile, upstairs, I could hear my brother crying out, “Momma, don’t throw away my video games! NOOO!”

“I am too,” Mom said, “and I mean now.” What did that mean? I thought. This is what I do know: my mom locked the so-called “detention door” and trudged downstairs to the basement, where she threw away a video game console and a gadget. 

*Sorry, that was just three quarters, not four. And also, HOW AM I GOING TO GET TO SCHOOL WITHOUT KNOWING MY FRACTIONS?!

After heading downstairs to see what the commotion was all about, my dad pushed open the detention door and locked it again. I was expecting for Dad to punish him with 4th grade homework, but instead went there just to give a good shout to Carl. 

Although I was happy that Carl was now punished, I also feel kind of bad for him. I decided that we have a pretty breakable family. This is what I mean. I made a list below. 


Ronalds’ recipe for Family connection

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Ingredients: a family

How to make: Imagine that all your family members have a Wi-Fi love transmitting heart. If someone’s heart breaks, the entire Wi-Fi is disconnected and everyone is in a bad mood. (My family is like that.) So, to always connect, let each other calm down during a Wi-Fi free period. That way, your family could reconnect. 

Thanks for listening and making the recipe at home!


Whew, that was just too much writing! I’d better go and eat my lunch. After that, I’d take my afternoon nap. Good Noon, Diary!


Oh, hello again! Good morning!* Oh, right… I have to tell you what happened next! Silly me. 

*Sorry again! I just remembered, it is the afternoon! And, also, HOW AM I GOING TO GO TO SCHOOL IF I DON’T KNOW HOW TO READ TIME?!

Unfortunately, during my afternoon nap, Carl video-taped me talking in my sleep. He then burst out laughing when I awoke. He then played the video over and over. It sounded something like this:

Someone’s taking Ronalds away, poopsy pants! Leave Carl alone! Call Ronalds “Pickle Face”! Someone’s taking Ronalds away, poopsy pants!

That video — IT! THAT’S IT! My brother is just too obnoxious. He is just too… bad. Sorry, can’t think of another word. To my most luckiest luck, though, Dad heard the video being played. But that wasn’t just the only thing that was lucky; Dad also scolded him because — well, I’ll use markers to draw this. 

“NEVER DO THAT TO YOUR BROTHER! WHY ARE YOU TRICKING HIM THAT IT WAS RONALDS THAT WAS TALKING, NOT YOU?! YOU ARE GROUNDED FOR ONE MORE YEAR!!!”

Uff, I try to cover my tiny but sensitive weasel ears to drain out Dad’s ear-splitting noise. I could even hear his sound loud and clear even when I plugged my ears with my dad’s earplugs. But a punishment for Carl for more than a year?! Even the bullied victim (me!) felt sad for the bully (Carl). I was also relieved to hear that it wasn’t me talking, it was Carl. 

That night, I couldn’t sleep. Not because of school, but because of Carl’s punishment.


At school the next morning, I just couldn’t concentrate on my work. I kept on thinking about Carl. When I was to read a sentence with a vocabulary word, I answered with a squeaky voice, a voice kind of like this:

Wah cuas Wah Aqash Chew!

Everyone stared at me. And also, do you even know what “Wah cuas Wah Aqash Chew” means? 

Answer: “Wah Cuas Wah Aquash Chew” means “One plus one equals two.”

I started to sweat. In a bad way, that is (not in the way you sweat when you are relieved). No one figured out the answer, though. Only you did in the little script above.* 

*I could write even smaller than the answer I wrote. I was forced to write at the minimum of one-millimeter type.

Also, school was getting worse. Way worse. But I didn’t know that an exception was coming to town…


It was Wednesday, and it was Writopia Day. We started our stories that we are supposed to send for the governor to read last week. Now, we were finishing up our stories. Today was the deadline and the day the governor was coming to our school for Writopia Day. 

I was writing with so much concentration, I couldn’t even hear what Leo, the weasel sitting next to me, was saying to Lina, the weasel in front of my seat who usually blocks my view of the blackboard. I finished before anyone else did. Then, it hit me: the title was wrong:

A Onlman World

I was actually meaning to write

An Onlman World

Just as I was about to erase the mistake, Mrs. Olaf finally spoke up. “Class,” she said, “stop where you are. If you are not finished, you could finish tomorrow and the governor will read your piece tomorrow.”

I stood up and jogged to the door. No, more like rushing. My classmates came after me. Then, I saw a black car backing up into the parking lot outside. It must be the governor, I thought. I felt a shiver going down my spine. 

As my class strolled into the auditorium, I quivered. I’m not a brave weasel. I’m often shy and I don’t squeak up very often. When my class was assigned to an area, I gulped. Will the governor award me first place? Second? Third? Last? I just couldn’t hold a breath more, and it felt as if my throat were plugged. Ulp!

Finally, the governor strolled onto the stage. He took a microphone. I plugged my ears. I don’t like loud sounds. 

“Attention Everyone! Welcome to today, Writopia Day. First, let’s start by handing your brilliant pieces of writing to me.” 

And then, it hit me. I had made a mistake on my cover. And now it was too late. I felt tears fill my eyes. Everything was blurry. In no more than five seconds, I was crying. 

Finally, my teacher comforted me. I was one of the last weasels to hand in their work. I, with a trembling hand, handed in my work. I then tip-toed as fast as I could off the stage. 

Finally, the governor started to read the books out loud. All of them were boring. But the worst part came when my book was being read. I felt guilty for some reason that I had written the book. My book was lamer than the others. But then, after what felt like a million hours, the most exciting part came: the selections. The awards. I squealed. 

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

“Attention, everyone!”

came from the governor’s microphone. 

“The awards have been discussed by my fellow helpers. We will announce the winners.” 

I held my breath. 

“3rd place: Ira Lemising for the book The Trouble With Monkeys [2nd version]!
2nd place: Israel Knoma for the book The Ghosts with the Surprise!
And finally…”  

Some drum-rolling was played behind the curtains of the stage. 

“1st place is awarded to Ronalds Squeak-sq for the book
A Olman World!” 

What?! No way, I thought. I got first place? Impossible times a hundred.

Meanwhile, all of my friends were crowding around me like I was a hero or something like that. Yay, I had finally achieved fame! Now, it was just the right time to change my very-strict dad — read on to find out how I did it. 


I made sure everything on my list was present:

  1. Certificate and Trophy
  2. Bravery
  3. Smiling face
  4. Working brain

I knew that I already had #1 on my list. #2 was pretty hard and took some practice to overcome. But I still checked off #2. #3 was just as hard as #2; it made me panic! Finally, #4 was automatically checked off because I really didn’t need a working brain except when I’m panicking. That’s why I erased it. Actually, I really don’t need #2 and #3, either. That’s why I had a really big space; I just erased too many things! I just needed my certificate and trophy, which was, in fact, already beside me. 

Then, I slowly crept towards Dad’s door to his room (I don’t want to be tricked by Carl again for the third time this week.) Then, I nudged toward the door. It budged open. 

Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak!

“Hmm?” Dad said. 

“I just wanted to say,” I replied. Ronalds, that was such a stupid answer, I thought to myself. 

“What, Ronalds?” Dad asked. “I just wanted to say that I really don’t want you to be so not-thoughtful and careless,” I said, “and I have some things to cheer you up.” I handed him my certificate and trophy. 

“Why, good job!” my dad said. I have never seen him be so excited. 

And although I cured my dad, something was still not part of the plan… 

To be continued in…
OUCH! GOES THE WEASEL BOOK #2

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Ouch! Goes the Weasel
{Book #2: Ronalds’ Fourth Year}

By Enhao Ren

Author of Enhao’s Adventures and Crazy Days with Enhao, the best-selling series

Why, welcome back, everybody!

It is your old pal, Ronalds Squeak-sq. Remember what happened last week? Yes, that’s right. My brother Carl got in trouble for bullying me and was sentenced to be grounded for an entire year and two weeks. This week is now Carl’s second grounded week, and he still has 365 days to go. 

Because of this, Carl can’t be the leader of Utteramma Field Squeak Scouts. Squeak Scouts is what you call “Boy Scouts” or “Girl Scouts.”

Back in my family talk, my father is the Executive Director of Utteramma Field Electricity Institute (UFEI). The UFEI produces electricity to every weasel in town during the Weasel Uprising in 2123, when the Handemolen peeps are protecting every weasel in the world of the TSSA. 

Eventually, we smart weasels learned to use human materials, so we used them on our own as well. Back in my family, my mom just took a job as a nurse in Utteramma Field Hospital (UFH) a month ago. With no one in my family guarding me, I had to figure out a way to get a babysitter. 

I dialed 167-999-9998 on the weaselphone in my house. A babysitter named Alexia came. Instead of making Mom mad, my mom was… well, actually proud of me. My dad, on the other hand, wasn’t so amused. 

He usually is the most easy-to-get-angry weasel in town, but sometimes, if I finish my homework early, my dad will reward me with three quarters of an hour of TV time. 

Oh, sorry. I forgot we were talking about what happened last week. Well, I got first prize at this year’s Writopia Day, which is a holiday in Utteramma Field for all schools. The governor comes and reads our stories. Then, he and his helpers nominate the first, second and third place winners. 

After that crazy week, my dad had been pretty nice to me. But after the weekend, nothing went right anymore…


It all started when something covered in a huge cardboard box with wheels rolled into our door. 

@Rumble Rumble Rumble@

Carl trudged downstairs to peek at the commotion. “What the hell is that thing?” he asked in total disbelief. “Is it a monster? A dragon with wheels? An automobile?” 

Well, I’ll definitely tell you this: 

It was scary to look at it.

It really was. I shuddered. I don’t like creepy things. Just then, Dad galloped downstairs. Yes, he really galloped. “Well, well, well!” he said with pride, “our piano is here.” 

“What’s a piano?” I asked. “A type of monster? No, thank you!” 

“Don’t be silly,” Dad replied, “it is an instrument. An instrument is something that you use your hands or mouth to make the instrument make noise. The noise will sound very pleasant in a song. Here, I’ll teach you. I’m a real piano man.”

And you know what? A shiver ran down my spine faster than you could say, “Uh-oh.”


Yep, I really didn’t like the sound of that. My dad is the worst teacher ever. He always loses control of his feelings when something goes wrong. So, playing the piano with Dad’s way of education was rather hurtful. 

Before I knew it, Dad was placing me on the piano chair. “Alright, buddy, sit still.” 

“Yes, I will,” I squeaked, sitting up like a student really paying attention. 

“Alright, could you find ‘Middle C’ for me?” 

“Dad,” I said, “I don’t know where ‘Middle C’ is.” 

That got my dad ready. “THE ‘MIDDLE C’ IS AT THE CENTER OF THE KEYBOARD!” he screamed. Then, I pressed the center of the keyboard. But it definitely wasn’t “Middle C.” “THAT’S ‘MIDDLE B’! MOVE MORE RIGHT!” 

I moved right. I pressed the key, and I knew I got it. “That’s better,” said Dad, lowering his voice. “We use ‘Middle C’ as our guide,” Dad explained, “and ‘Middle C” is the first note, though there are notes at the bottom of it.” I didn’t get that. 

The rest of the piano time was just junk. Dad kept on urging me to find “Middle C” without looking at the keyboard. My dad kept track of how many times I got it:

None out of 20

My eyes went blurry after I was told the score. You know what was happening. I was crying. In a split second, I felt a teardrop trickle down my cheeks. My cheek pouches, to be exact. 

That night, I couldn’t sleep a wink. I was scared to practice the piano again. And because of that, I didn’t close my eyes until it was half past midnight. 


Because I only slept like, the first hour of the next day, guess what? I overslept. When I arrived at school, my friends were already having their daily snack break. When I stepped into the classroom, everyone froze, and they did, literally. Then, they burst out laughing. 

“Class, class, I don’t know why I am yelling,” Ms. Olaf, our class’ teacher and school phys-ed coach, screamed. Well, not literally screaming, but at the minimum, err… voice.* *Let’s go with that.**

**You see those two interacting single stars (*)? Well, I was supposed to put them here. I’m so sorry for the accident. 

Everyone quieted down in an instant. Katie, the most beautiful girl in the school, put up an “L” sign with her paw. Though Katie may be beautiful, she is often very serious. 

Recess was worse than ever. Many kids from older grades bullied me for being late. I hate being bullied. I hate it so much,

It is even a bit creepy for me. 

Yup. I hate experiencing something creepy. I like everything to be butterflies and lollipops.

Ahh… it just makes me dreamy when I see that font I wrote above. I love the handwriting for script type. (Although I printed it to glue in this notebook.) Oops, I forgot we were talking about something serious. 

Continuing on the “serious path,”

I was bullied so much, I cried for the first time in school. And it was very embarrassing. More and more kids came and said,

“This guy is a noob,”

and

“This guy is a crybaby.” .

Oh, and did you see that period? Sorry, I’ll erase that. There. Until, something happened. Did you see that mark, at the “guy is” and the “bab”? That’s right, two teardrops. Maybe I was a crybaby after all.


I, once again, couldn’t sleep a wink. This time, because I was afraid of piano practice and going back to school, because of that feeling when, you know, when something that’s your best dream ever happens to go wrong and it becomes your lifetime nightmare? 

I don’t know if you know the feeling or not, but let me tell you this: that was the case with me. And, unfortunately, I, once again, overslept. When I arrived at school, everyone was already in recess, playing after D/E/A/R* time which is after lunch. 

*Everyone in your family should know D/E/A/R time. It stands for
Drop Everything And Read.

And, even more unfortunate, was that I was sleeping on my desk the entire time in class:

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ… 

And, if that was not bad enough, I had drool all over my face and papers (I’ll show you my paper):

Please write a word that starts with the letter “T” and ends with the letter “E.” For example, tongue.


Please write a word that begins with the letter “M” and ends with the letter “E.” For example, mile


As you could see, our class is working on words ending with “E.” When I woke up, I was surprised to see myself on my booster seat. Guess what? I was in my car, being driven from school back home. “How was school today? I see you are very tired,” Mom cooed. 

“Good,” I lied, “very good. We studied to find words ending in the letter ‘E.’” At least I got some truths in, I thought. 

“Oh, really?” Mom asked in a voice that made her sound a bit excited. “May I see your piece of paper you worked on?”

I twitched around on my booster seat. I couldn’t show her that I had drooled on it. I didn’t want Mom to know that I was lying. I had to make an excuse. “Err… I lost it during lunch.”

That turned out to be a pretty dumb move, because the second Mom heard that, she made a U-turn that almost flung me out of the grasp of my seat belt. “Honey,” Mom cooed, “let me help find it for you.” 

I thought for a moment and called out to her, “Mom! The custodians had already shoved it into the trash basket!” That did the trick. Mom came running back toward me. She then climbed into the driver’s seat and made another U-turn that almost made me throw up. 


Back at my house, Carl was helping to wash the dishes from lunch. The second he saw me walk in, he shoved me with his dirty hands and called, “Ronalds Poopypants, Ronalds the Loser, and Ronalds the Crybaby is back!” His words ended after a big, long cackle. 

HEE HEE HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!

Just then, Mom came skipping downstairs three at a time. Yup, she really did. She then ran over to Carl holding a piece of duct tape. What was that for? I thought. But before my eyes could even turn around, Mom was taping the duct tape onto Carl’s mouth. I giggled to myself. 

Tonight was the best dinner I have ever had. Usually, Carl was the “root” of the commotion that usually takes place. But with his mouth duct-taped, no one even had to make a squeak


Remember the super-good night at my house? Well, let me just say that school isn’t the same. It is surprisingly because Carl is not there. Yup, I don’t like anyone from my family being away from me for even a minute. And in this case, I have to be away from everyone in my family for an entire seven hours. 

You might be wondering why I want Carl to be there, not anyone else. Well, that’s because Carl is the only weasel I know th________

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||


So sorry. I just don’t know why I just keep on falling asleep. Carl is definitely going to laugh at me for his entire life when he sees my notebook. The book you are reading right now. 

Anyway, I’m just too tired to write more. I quit on this book and I’m working on a new one two years later. See you then!

To be continued in…
Ouch! Goes the Weasel Book #3

The Haunted Cheeseburger (Series 1)

          THE HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER

                           PART 1

Once upon a time, there was a haunted cheeseburger and he got eaten by a pack of fries!!! Butt, oh, the butt you know that isn’t the, “Oh, but I don’t want to,” it’s the butt on your bottom. Someone ate them before they could finish themselves. So after, he had to go to the bathroom and you know what, they did. But, sniff sniff, sorry, if you, sniff, can’t hear me well, this story is just sooo sad!!! 

So anyway, they escaped from the pipes and they went to the Food Mart Valentine’s Day dance and had their moment but something happened. They realized that the ice cream cop that arrested Aaron when he took Ms. Potato Head the Pack of Fries in Part 1. 

So they hid for hours to survive. But they ran to the Valentine’s Day dance and had the time of their lives and they kissed but that kiss ended up turning into them eating 

each other!!! But wait, oh no!!! What happened? You will find out in Part 2. 

                            HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER

                                        PART 2

PREVIOUSLY ON HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER: 

“OMG, WE’RE GONNA GET SQUISHED BY SOMEONE’S BUTT!” SAID AARON. 

“I KNOW, LET’S GO IN THE PIPES!” SAID MR POTATO HEAD.

“WE’RE HERE AT THE VALENTINE’S DAY DANCE,” SAID AARON.

AND NOW THE PRESENT. 

“OKAY, WE’RE HERE FINALLY AT THE VALENTINE’S DAY DANCE AT THE FOOD MART,” SAID AARON. 

“OH MY GOSH, LOOK. THERE’S VOMIT CHEESEBURGERS. THERE’S FART PUNCH POOP CUPCAKES, AND AND FINALLY, PEE CHOCOLATE MILK,” SAID MRS POTATO HEAD.

“LET’S DANCE,” SAID AARON. 

“OH NO!!! IT’S THE COP THAT ALMOST CAUGHT US IN THE LAST PART! WE HAVE TO HIDE, COME ON, LET’S GO BACK IN THE PIPES,” SAID AARON. 

 “NO, IT’S GROSS IN THERE. ROTTEN HOT DOG, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

“HIDING FROM THE COP. SHE’S A PSYCHO. SHE WILL JUST SEE SOMEONE AND SAY, ‘YOU’RE UNDER ARREST!!!’ BUT I STOLE A COKE FROM THE FOOD MART BEFORE THE VALENTINE’S DAY DANCE AND THAT’S WHY SHE’S ON MY CASE.”

“BUT WHAT DID YOU TAKE FROM THE FOOD MART?”

“WELL YESTERDAY, I HEARD THAT THERE WAS GOING TO BE A DANCE AT THE FOOD MART. I WAS TOTALLY GOING TO GO BUT I NEEDED A DATE SO I STOLE MRS. POTATO HEAD,” SAID ROTTEN HOT DOG.

“HI.” THERE IS MUSIC THAT PEOPLE PLAY WHEN THEY FALL IN LOVE. “OMG, I MUST BE IN HEAVEN CAUSE I’M LOOKING AT THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PACK OF FRIED POTATOES EVER.”

 “WELL ANYWAY, THE COP IS GONE SO WE WILL GO BACK TO THE DANCE,” SAID AARON.

SEE WHAT HAPPENS IN PART 3! WILL MRS. POTATO HEAD AND AARON HAVE THEIR MOMENT AT THE UNDREAMABLE VALENTINE’S DAY DANCE AT THE FOOD MART OR WILL MRS. POTATO HEAD DUMP AARON FOR ROTTEN HOT DOG?

OH AND BY THE WAY, IF YOU HAVE A DOG THAT IS SUCH A GOODY TWO SHOES IT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE A DORK. TAKE YOUR DOG TO ISLA’S UNBEHAVED DOGGY DAY CARE.  

                       HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER

                                   PART 3

“So, Aaron, will you accept Mrs. Potato Head to be your yummy wedded wife?”

“I do.” 

“And Mrs. Potato Head, do you accept Aaron to be your husband” 

“I d — ”

“Hey, Mrs. Potato Head, what the heck are you doing here?” 

“Oh, um, Rotten Hot Dog, what are you doing here?”

 “I’m picking up my wife, wait. Rotten Hot dog — wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Mrs. Potato Head, what is he talking about?” 

“I’m sorry, but I married him at the Food Mart at the pre-Valentine’s Day dance and I agreed to go with him to the real dance in a month. I’m so, so sorry but I have to go with my real husband… ” 

“Well, what am I going to do now? We already got a mansion… ”

“OMG, Aaron, I do. Yes, yes, yes, we’re married, let’s go to our mansion, and Aaron, since we’re married, can you go to the Valentine’s Day dance with me?”

Of course. Yes.”

Read more in Part 6 where they have their moment at the Valentine’s Day dance (the real one) and move into their mansion or will a Rotten Hot Dog ruin everything and steal his woman back?

I know your address, you guys, you are in big trouble. This is your last chance to go to Isla’s inappropriate doggy day care!! 

                         HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER

                                    PART 4

Aaron: Come on, Mr. Potato Head, let’s go and boogie.

Mr. Potato Head: Oh, uuuuum, Aaron, I have to tell you something. I have fried potato Itis.

Aaron: WHAT!!!

Mr. Potato Head: But only on you, not on Rotten Hot Dog, and when you have fried potato Itis, you can’t marry the person you’re with, so I’m super, duper, fruit-looper sorry, but I have to divorce you. 

Aaron: But wait, I’m sorry. 

Mr. Potato Head: It’s too late!! Hi, Rotten Hot Dog, wanna dance?

Rotten Hot Dog: Oh, you know it.

Aaron: Well, now what am I going to do? 

Mr. Potato Head: Aaron. 1,2,3, APRIL FOOLS!! (JAZZ MUSIC.) We’re not really divorcing. I just wanted to get you really good and we’re having a pool party in our mansion tonight, and in the pool, I added some really cool lights and we will watch their favorite show.

Mr. Potato Head & Aaron: “NAILED IT!!!” 

                       HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER

                                  PART 5

Aaron: We’re finally home!

Mrs. Potato head: Y —

Mrs Potato Head’s soon-to-be husband: Mrs Potato Head, what are you doing!?

Aaron: Mrs Potato Head, who is this?

Mrs. Potato Head: His name is Mike, he’s my-soon-to —

Mrs. Potato Head’s soon-to-be husband: She’s my soon-to-be wife.

Mrs. Potato Head: Yeah. 

Aaron: But we’re married?

Mrs Potato Head: I’m sorry, I have to divorce you but you can come to the wedding. 

Aaron: Well okay. 

(5 hours later.)

Wedding Guy: Do you take Mrs. Potato Head to be your yummy wedded wife?

Mrs. Potato Head’s soon-to-be husband: I do. 

Wedding guy: And Mr. Potato Head, do you —

Mrs. Potato Head: I… I… I do not, Aaron, I’m sorry, I don’t want to marry Mike. Let’s go home and watch —

Aaron: “Nailed it!!?”

Mrs. Potato Head: YES! 

                          HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER

                                     PART 6

Mrs. Potato Head: Um, Aaron? (As they are sitting on the couch watching “Nailed it.”)

Aaron: Yeah?

Mrs. Potato Head: Well, uh, you see, we have to break up. 

Aaron: WHAT!!

Mrs. Potato Head: I’m sorry, it’s just I got engaged to someone else. 

Aaron: What? But the Valentine’s Day dance is coming up so soon, it’s in a couple weeks. 

Mrs. Potato Head: I’m sorry, I just- I have to do what’s right. 

Aaron: Fine, I’ll break up with you and I never want to see you again. 

Mrs. Potato Head: Wait no, Aaron, wait, this is a prank. 

Aaron: Nope, I don’t care if it’s a prank, I don’t want to be with you anyway. You prank me constantly and you never ever appreciate me. 

Mrs. Potato Head: OMG, what have I done? I can’t believe I just said that, I didn’t mean to break up with him. Oh my gosh, who made me do that? 

Rotten Hot Dog: Oh who did that to you, you’re wondering? Well, me, I did it. 

Mrs. Potato Head: AARON, WAIT! 

Aaron: Mrs. Potato Head, what’s going on?

Mrs. Potato Head: Please take me back, please please please. 

Aaron: Wait, what, why?

Mrs. Potato Head: It’s Rotten Hot Dog. I didn’t want to break up with you, he made me. 

Aaron: Well of course I’ll take you back. 

Mrs. Potato Head: Well let’s go home and watch — 

Mrs. Potato and Aaron: “NAILED IT!” 

                                HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER 

                                           PART 7

AARON: HEY, MRS. POTATO HEAD!  

MRS. POTATO HEAD: HEY, AARON. 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: YEAH, HEY, AARON!!

AARON: ROTTEN HOT DOG, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: OH YOU KNOW, JUST CONTROLLING MRS. POTATO HEAD’S MIND. 

AARON: WHAT?! 

MRS. POTATO HEAD: HELP ME, AARON!!

ROTTEN HOT DOG: OH, MRS. POTATO HEAD. HE CAN’T SAVE YOU UNLESS HE STOPS ME. 

AARON: THEN I WILL, HIYA!!!

ROTTEN HOT DOG: THE ONLY THING THAT CAN DEFEAT ME IS WATER. WAIT, I SHOULDN’T HAVE SAID THAT. 

AARON: WELL, THEN TAKE THAT! SWOOSH! 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: NOOO!

MRS. POTATO HEAD: YOU SAVED ME! 

AARON: YEP, NOW LET’S GO WATCH “NAILED IT.” 

                     HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER 

                                 PART 8

AARON: IT’S MOVIE NIGHT, MRS. POTATO HEAD. (AS THEY ARE SITTING ON THE COUCH.)

MRS. POTATO HEAD: I’M SO EXCITED, I CAN’T BELIEVE WE HAVE 998,987 SEASONS OF “NAILED IT” LEFT! I’M SO GLAD WE GOT THIS SPOTLESS MANSION. 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: YEAH, I’M SO EXCITED. 

AARON: WHA… ??? I THOUGHT I, WAIT, WHAAA? I AM SO CONFUSED. 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: OH, YOU SEE, I TRIED TO MAKE IT SEEM LIKE I WOULD DISAPPEAR IF I TOUCHED WATER, BUT REALLY, WATER MAKES ME STRONGER. 

MRS. POTATO HEAD: SO YOU BAMBOOZLED US. 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: I FOOLED YOU BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT BAMBOOZLED MEANS. 

MRS. POTATO HEAD: BAMBOOZLED MEANS YOU FOOLED US BUT ALMOST DIDN’T, WE’VE BEEN OVER THIS!!!

AARON: THAT’S NOT WHAT BAMBOOZLED MEANS, WAAAAAAAIT! 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: WHAT!  

AARON: WHEN WOULD YOU HAVE TIME TO DISCUSS THAT!!

MRS. POTATO HEAD: UUUUUUUUMM. 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: OH YEAH, WE WENT ON A DATE YESTERDAY. WE HAD SPAGHETTI. 

MRS. POTATO HEAD: FOR THE LAST TIME, IT WAS NOT SPAGHETTI, IT WAS ANGEL HAIR!!! 

AARON: HOLD ON, YOU WENT ON A DATE!!!

MRS. POTATO HEAD: ROTTEN HOT DOG MADE ME. 

AARON: CARE TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF, DUDE?

ROTTEN HOT DOG: UHHHHHH, OH, SORRY, GOT TO GO. 

MRS POTATO HEAD: WELL, STILL WANNA WATCH “NAILED IT”?

AARON: YOU KNOW IT. 

MRS. POTATO HEAD: SEASON 2,013, EPISODE 5,976. 

The Blue Bunny

Statistics:

The Blue Bunny(halloween)

My name is Thomas Marshall. I’m afraid it is not entirely safe to display any part of my identification because of the Interceptors. 

The following is a complement of stories from the perspectives of people who witnessed The Blue Bunny, because it would be hard to capture a full story from only one person. At the end, I will present the one and only journal of The Blue Bunny itself. However, I have read neither of these, because I think that the stories told there would not be worth reading, because the Blue Bunny would be more mad if I actually read it.

I have been running away from the Interceptors for a very long time. They can do so much damage to one’s self, you truly can never be safe from them. I am constantly forced to move away from the Interceptors because they can breed so quickly, and send their DNA through the air and reform in another place. The shielding from some of them is beyond nowadays’ tech, so I must stay at least twenty meters away from them if I want anything other than cancer. It also is not amazing for you if you have COVID-19. Yes, coronavirus still exists. It has been about 30 very long years of Covid, because scientists are more concerned with the blue Bunny. There are so many Interceptors that it is nearly impossible to list all of them. Before, there was only one type. Then, another came, and made more of itself. Then the two species bred, and added in more complexity. Another species got stuffed into the mix when some were exposed to radiation. The others were combined, mutated, and gene-spliced to make the rest. It started mixing in with almost all the other species in the world to create an enormous band of animals ranging from strange bunny clowns, to pirate rabbits, to bears that do surgery. Some of them are so fast that a mile radius is the point to start expecting death in the next few seconds. Some are large enough to smush you under their feet. Some can hack into any device, and make them blow you up. But the Interceptors all have a natural skill for hacking, reading data, and bombing the internet with virus websites. That is why it is unsafe to give any info about me, because the Interceptors would be on me in a heartbeat. They have such a large database of all their victims, so if any name matches, they will immediately track me down. They have made the internet almost impossible to use for fear of getting a virus downloaded. They are exceptionally good at coding viruses, so merely opening Google could download an app, and send them an email giving them my exact latitude and longitude, my name, in which direction I might be going, and in no time I would be injected. The injections are not normal. They are meant to turn you into one of them, and they can come from any one of the Interceptors. They could give you it by simply biting you like a vampire, throwing carrots, or even the surgery bear could give you a full scale “inspection” with no anesthesia. The surgery bear is highly unqualified, and is very incompetent in the medical buisness. The only reason the bear will pay you a visit is to try and see how necessary lungs really are. And for some reason, he never remembers.

Now, for the first story, about me. I am Thomas Marshall.

Thomas Marshall, 8:00-8:30 A.M., 13/5/2013:

I believe, to my understanding, that the moment when it all started was when I looked up from my laptop because of the small shadow of a rabbit on the lobby security cam. That was the moment when I was aware that something was wrong. After the outlet exploded, I started to shuffle towards the door. When the door unscrewed its hinges, I started to jog. And after a 3-inch face to face encounter with a humanoid rabbit, standing up like a human, I ran away and located the nearest elevator. The elevator took so long that by the time it got up to the top floor I was positive that that weird rabbit would come to “meet and greet” me. But when it did, there wasn’t a bunny in sight. I cautiously walked out of the elevator, but quickly faced a rabbit leaping nearly five feet to tackle me.

“What? Stop it! Get off of me,” I said.

“Hey, mind if I borrow some of your feet? That should sum up my collection to about seventy-seven, and boy, I’ll be lucky then!” I started to run down the stairs as I came up with the conclusion that that rabbit thought human feet were lucky as humans thought rabbit feet were lucky. I had randomly heard somewhere that rabbits didn’t really like water, so I took some blue paint from the storage closet. Pretty much the same, seeing as I didn’t have time to go to the sink. So when the bunny was on the ground floor of the building, I dropped the paint. That may have been one of my biggest mistakes. The rabbit was definitely scarier being blue than a regular white or pink or grey bunny. After I ran down to warn the others, they quickly ran into the elevator. I noticed that one of them had a hang glider, which might be useful for getting away. Unfortunately, there was only room for one. When we got to the top of the elevator, the Blue Bunny was standing in front of us.

James is a nine year old boy who lives in an apartment building with his mom, Charlie; his dad, Otto; and his sister, Fiddle. He and his family were going camping. His uncle is named D.J. Dunce.

James Nick, 8:30-8:32 A.M. 13/5/2013:

“Hey! There is a Blue Bunny! Come with me into the elevator! It’s perfectly safe! But I warn you, I think it is evil!” After that guy told us that, my sister lost it.

“Ah! We’re going to die! The Blue Bunny! Ah! Nooo!” Wow, that was a big reaction. This is James Nick here, speaking from the elevator, hopefully not going to get killed. Oh wait, I already was killed (almost) by my sister. At the top, the Blue Bunny was there.

“Hey guys, I need some feet ‘cause one guy didn’t want to give me his feet,” said the bunny. Oops, I got caught. It kind of scared me. I mean, he really could have done a better job, but still, the idea of stealing feet is a little freaky. Anyway, we decided to go back down the elevator to the lobby, because the rabbit had other plans, clearly. So it was a little creepy, but another scare would probably cross the line.

Fiddle is a twelve year old girl, who is James’ sister.

Fiddler Abacus, 8:30-8:32 A.M. 13/5/2013

“Hey! There is a Blue Bunny! Come with me into the elevator! It’s perfectly safe! But I warn you, I think it is evil!” James nearly fainted and started hyperventilating. His reaction was so dramatic that I was sure he was faking it.

“Oh, no, the end has come, and this is most likely the last second of my life!”

“Um, it’s just a bunny. Oh, stop it. We aren’t going to die. Besides, I thought you like rabbits.” He continued screaming, saying some things so dramatic and cliché that I would prefer not to put them here. I am Fiddle, here in the elevator, slowly inching away from James to try and get to the corner of the elevator. However, I have found this difficult with James possibly having symptoms of a sugar rush; running around, banging on the walls, and randomly punching elevator buttons. When we got to the top I had decided what I would do with this rabbit, assuming it really was evil. So when the rabbit sprang onto us, I tried to walk it to the edge of the building. Of course, it didn’t work out. Everyone else was pulling me back towards the elevator. James punched the down button on the elevator, and the last thing I saw was a rabbit jumping on somebody.

D.J. Dunce is a disk jockey who lives in Canada. He is the uncle of James and Fiddle, and took a trip to their apartment to go camping with them.

D.J. Dunce, 8:30-8:32 A.M., 13/5/2013:

“Hey! There’s a Blue Bunny! Come with me into the elevator! It’s perfectly safe! But I warn you, I think it is evil!” Well, that sounds boring! Waiting in an elevator, hoping some rabbit  doesn’t get you! As it turned out I was absolutely right! Boring! If only I had a bambox, a jukebox, or a CD player, I could brighten this place up! Me and four discs! But sadly, I left my bambox, CD player, DvD player, Blu-ray player, full desk set, and my two double-speaker radios, not including all of my 60 discs. Even a phone could do the trick. Whoa! Cool rabbit! Boom! Kind of creepy, but wow! Cool photoshop! Wait no, that’s not photoshop. Guess I’ll go along with the rest of the gang, on their camping trip. Oh, wait! I should get my Bambox.

Thomas Marshall, 8:32-8:36 A.M., 13/5/2013

I ran with the paraglider to the edge of the building, and jumped off. I had, of course, forgotten the superior ability of leaping when it comes to hares and rabbits. And so, after a little unwilling glug from a bottle the bunny was holding, I let go. From my perspective, the next thing that happened was me falling into a pit. When I reached the bottom, I felt something crawl up my back and land sitting on my head. After that, for some weird reason, I could jump a lot higher.

D.J. Dunce, 8:32-10:00 A.M., 13/5/2013:

Alright, I got my bambox! Time to get my discs! I got way too many discs to stuff into my backpack. So I took forty to my backpack, five to my left pocket, five to my right pocket, and ten to hold in my hands. I didn’t know where the others were, so I assumed they were at the top. They weren’t, so I went back down. Rabbit jumpscare! Ha ha ha! They were in the lobby, walking out the door. I ran after them (which wasn’t super easy with all my sixty discs and players) and just made it through before they closed the door.

“Where were you?” they asked.

“I had to get my discs, yo,” I replied. “To play about sixty discs on our trip!”

“Whoopie. What’s the first one called again?”

“The bookworms song?”

“Great.”

“Seriously! Let’s listen to some in the car!” We got into the car, and drove away.

***

When we got out of the car, we were in the forest. I set up all the music equipment behind a tree, and the others set up the tent. The moment the others stepped into the tent, I pressed the play button. However, I never got to hear the music.

James Nick, 8:32-10:00 A.M.13/5/2013

“Where is D.J. Dunce??? We need him ASAP!” said my mother.

“I don’t know! He just ran away to get something,” said Fiddle.

“Let me guess. To get his bambox,” I said.

“Let’s just go, he doesn’t even want to come!”

“Fine, fine. Get in the car, everyone!”

“Wait, he’s over there!”

“Where were you?”

“I had to get my discs, yo,” he said. “To play sixty discs on our trip!”

“Whoopie. What’s the first one called again?”

“The bookworms song?”

“Great.”

“Seriously! Let’s listen to some in the car!”

“Alright, everyone ready?”

“Yes!”

 ***

I realized it was lightly raining when we got out. It took us over an hour to set up the tent. I had no idea where D.J. Dunce was, and we really needed his help. The tent was really a basic structure, but with a rain collector on the top of it.

“Oh, where are you, D.J. Dunce? This thing is going to collapse,” said my mother. I struggled to hold up the top, but with the rain collector on it, it was nearly impossible.

“D.J. Dunce! Please! We need you now!”  The tent started to sag with the weight of the rain. The collector overflowed. It became too heavy for us to lift and we dropped it. The collector spilled water over all of us, soaking us from head to toe. It was a little hard to believe that so much water was contained inside that pot. I finally spotted D.J. Dunce and glared at him. I saw him push a button on his D.J. Deck, and music started blaring at us.

“AND THEN THEY READ!”

Fiddler Abacus, 8:32-10:00 A.M.13/5/2013

“Where is D.J. Dunce? We need him now!” said my mother.

“I don’t know! He just ran away to get something!” I said.

“Let me guess. To get his Bambox,” said James.

“Let’s just go, he doesn’t even want to come.”

“Fine, fine. Get in the car everyone!”

“Wait, he’s over there!”

“Where were you?”

“I had to get my discs, yo, ” he said. “To play sixty discs on our trip!”

“Whoopie. What’s the first one called again?”

“The bookworms song?”

“Great.”

“Seriously! Let’s listen to some in the car!”

“Alright, everyone ready?”

“Yes!”

***

I took the big pot out of the trunk when we got out. It was raining, so we decided to have a rain collector. The tent was a small green one, but flat at the top for the rain collector. A thick pole went through the middle of it to support the collector. However, the pole was basically a tree trunk. It could not support the full weight of the pot. D.J. Dunce said that he would go out and find something stronger, but he didn’t come back. The tree trunk cracked, and we had to hold the pot up with our bare hands. The pot was going to fall on top of us if D.J. Dunce didn’t come immediately. I saw him behind a tree, setting up a D.J. deck. I glared at him. The pot was just too heavy, and we dropped it, spilling water all over us. D.J. Dunce pressed a green button and music started shooting out of his speakers. But as I called him over one final time, he disappeared. He left the music still playing, and I ran over to his deck. The buttons had no labels on them, and none of them worked. I thought there would be a normal power button, but I was wrong. All the buttons were the same size, and all green. D.J. Dunce was nowhere in sight. Suddenly, the rain stopped. And as crazy as it sounds, the surrounding area was completely dry. Even our clothes. But the weirdest part was that a weird campfire suddenly sprang to life, and a tree fell on top of it.

James Nick, 10:00-10:05 A.M. 13/5/2013

The music kept on playing. Fiddle went over to try and turn it off, but it didn’t work. She called for D.J. Dunce, and as soon as she did, the rain stopped, and everything dried up. A campfire that we never made burst into flame, and a nearby tree fell on it.

“Forest fire!” cried Fiddle. We noticed another tent suddenly sprang up beside us and we all ran into it. As it turned out, D.J. Dunce was with us.

“D.J. Dunce! Where were you?” D.J. Dunce froze, not moving, not looking at any of us. “Well? The rain collector soaked us all!”

“You are not wet,” said D.J. Dunce.

“Still, the tent collapsed!”

“Um, I don’t think so.” He gestured to the ceiling of the tent.

“How do you operate your bambox?” asked Fiddle.

“What’s a bambox?”

“I thought you knew!”

“Why are you calling me a D.J.?”

“Because you are D.J. Dunce!”

“Think again!” And he stood up. He looked down at us, grinned, and fell flat on his back. Fiddle touched his face and said she felt plastic. A very long, blue ear shot out of the top of his head and wrapped around Fiddle’s arm. It curled down his face and pulled his mask off, revealing his blue face.

“Haha, you got me. Mind if I borrow a few limbs?” 

That was just too much for everyone. We ran out the tent door, and got in the car. It wasn’t until we got back to the building that we realized the bunny was in the trunk.

Fiddler Abacus, 10:00-10:05 A.M. 13/5/2013

“Forest fire!” I yelled. A tent appeared out of nowhere beside us. I had no time to think about who was doing this. I just ran to the tent and jumped in, and everyone else followed. D.J. Dunce was among them.

“D.J. Dunce! Where were you?” I asked. D.J. Dunce stopped moving completely. It looked as though he had been turned to stone. “Well? The rain collector soaked us all!”

“You are not wet, ” said D.J. Dunce.

“Still, the tent collapsed!”

“Um, I don’t think so.” He gestured to the ceiling of the tent.

“How do you operate your bambox?” I asked.

“What’s a bambox?”

“I thought you knew!”

“Why are you calling me a D.J.?”

“Because you are D.J. Dunce!”

“Think again!” He rose, grinning creepily. He fell over onto his back. I reached my hand out and touched his face.

“It’s plastic,” I said. Suddenly, a blue ear shot out from the top of his head and curled around my wrist. The other ear reached down and grabbed at his chin, and pulled a plastic mask off. It had a blue face, with wide, scary eyes, and a mouth that was smiling weirdly. It was the blue bunny.

“Okay, you got me. Could I just borrow some body parts for my bulletin board?” 

Nobody could handle that. We all bolted to the car and started it up. When we got out, the bunny was inside.

And finally, the Blue Bunny itself. I copied this story from a page in his journal. I will never read this, because he would be very angry if he knew I read this.

The Blue Bunny, 8:00-10:00 A.M. 13/5/2013

Ooh, the feet! Just a few watchy thingies to dodge, and the footies will be mine! A few extra outlet explosions wouldn’t hurt. Here we go! Here is the short circuit. BOOM! The outlet fizzled, then crackled, then every light, computer, and every device plugged into the outlet exploded, then went dark. Bits of white hot metal flew out from the outlets. Next, I jumped up the stairs, and stood outside the door of a room. I pulled out a screwdriver and unscrewed the door hinges. The door fell to the ground with a crash. I quickly ran out of the way before the guy inside saw me. I jumped down to the bottom of the stairs. The guy followed behind me, but delayed by about half a minute. I waited under the staircase, and stuck some explosive under it. The explosive would go off ten seconds after it was lit, so I had to time it perfectly. I lit the explosive twenty steps under the person, and in exactly ten seconds, the stair the person was on suddenly blew up, and the guy fell to the ground. When he got up, I made sure to get up close to him. He sat up and screamed. He ran to the elevator, and pressed the up button. I slowly ran towards him to scare him as much as possible. He got in just in time. I ran to the spot where there were no stairs above me, and jumped. I crashed through the roof and landed outside the elevator door. I stepped back, so that I was behind the elevator door, and jumped on to the elevator station. When the door finally opened, and the guy walked out, I jumped on top of him. Now, for the routine…

“Hello, good sir, may I borrow a foot or two?”

“Get off!” 

“Oops, sorry, I just would like to sum my collection up to seventy-seven, that’s all.”

“You collect feet?”

“Of course! Don’t you?” He ran into the elevator, and went to the bottom floor. I waited patiently at the top of the elevator, and when the doors opened, I stepped right up so that my nose was pressed against the door.

“Oh, thank you! You brought more feet!” One of the guys, the one I was chasing earlier, took a hang glider out of another person’s hands, and ran off the side of the building. I compared the distance between me and the glider, and my speed and the glider’s speed. I worked it out, and figured I should jump as hard as I could if I wanted to make it in three seconds. I leaped off the side and landed on top of the glider. The glider took a small dive, then straightened. I pulled a small bottle out of my utility belt, and stuffed it into the person’s mouth. He fell asleep instantly. I caught him before he fell, and we glided along far away, to an island. My first idea was to just leave him there and get his feet, but then I remembered the bunny ears Captain VunnIe had given me. The ears were almost like a headband, but with real bunny ears on them. I landed on the sand, but not very well. I tossed the guy in the pit as soon as he woke up, and threw the ears on his head. His skin started to turn blue, and his shoes started to fall off. His feet grew twice their original size, and he jumped up to meet me.

“Hello, Bunny.”

“Go away! What have you done to me? How did you do this? Why?”

“I thought it would be handy to have a couple extra bunnies. You know, to help me around, and stuff.”

“And why would I?”

“You are about to become a Blue Bunny, but I first will need to do some extra things.”

“No, don’t. I will run away if I have to.”

“How? You have no boat, and bunnies can’t swim.” He really did look puzzled, and he thought for a moment.

“How did you get here?” 

Even though I knew I shouldn’t say anything, I just had to tell him.

“A plane. Right over there.” I pointed to a plane behind a tree. He ran to it and fumbled with the controls. I ran after him, but before I got to him, he had already started the engine, and risen high enough that I couldn’t jump up to him (not to brag, but almost twenty meters). I called up to him, and shouted to come back, but he wouldn’t turn the plane around. I was trapped on the island, with little chance of getting off. Suddenly, I saw the plane turn around back, and I realized the person had been kind enough to bring me the plane back. I quickly jumped to it, and turned around, before the plane made a landing. The plane hit an air pocket, and jolted suddenly. I realized that getting Thomas wouldn’t benefit me much at all. I did see the other people with him though. I could get them. So I lowered the plane beneath the clouds, so I could see the ground below me. I was flying over the city already, which meant if I was going to catch them, I needed to turn sharply, by about 270°. I swooped towards the lobby entrance, when near there I saw a blue car with five passengers inside, passengers I recognized. I followed the car, and pulled out another device Captain VunnIe  had given me. It was a long range microphone that could pick up on talking from a mile away. I pointed it at the car and listened for something that could tell me where they were going, but I could hardly hear anything over the music. 

“D.J. Dunce, that music is getting to be a little annoying,” said one person.

“Okay, okay.” The music got quieter, and stopped. I could hear them much better now.

“So, plans for the camping trip?” That was all I needed. I knew there was one and only one camping site, so I followed the car towards the site. I landed  in the camping site, in an open area, but away from the people in the car. The area was a circle of  grass without trees. All around it, there were trees. I got there ten minutes before them, and by the time they got there, it was raining. The people in the car set up a tent, with a rain collector on the top. However, not everyone was there. One person was in the trees on the edge of the circle, with a table set up. I snuck towards him, and pulled out the last gift Captain VunnIe had given me. It was a strange cube, with one button on each side of the cube.  Each button had an image on it, one with a rain cloud on it, another with a sun on it, another with a symbol of snow on it. I quickly tripped him and fed him a drug that would make him fall asleep. The drug worked very well, he fell asleep almost instantly. I pressed the button on the weather cube, the sun icon. The clouds seemed to dissipate. The rain instantly stopped. Everything was perfectly dry. I pulled out a plastic mask I had made myself, and pulled it over my face. I ran into the trees, where the other people were, and built up a small campfire. I chopped down a tree with a laser, and it fell onto the campfire. I used the laser to burn the tree further, and a full forest fire sprang up. I built up a tent as fast as I could, and told the others to go into the tent. As the others came in, I went back. I did some quick scaring, which I will not show here. I ran out of the tent when I was done, and went into the trunk of the car. After that, I got back to the island. 

If you are thinking about sharing this information, don’t. If the Blue Bunny sees you with this, he will kill you. If you think Google Drive is safe, it isn’t. In fact, he owns the website. But as far as Google knows, they have total control. But enough spoilers. You’ll read about that in the next book. This info is for just you, just so that you’ll know about the Blue Bunny.

Tuck’s Grand Adventure

Once upon a time, there was a dog called Tuck. There was also a villain named Mr. Stupido. Mr. Stupido was, as you can guess, stupid. He wanted a magical snake that attracted dogs because he thought that dogs were cows and he tried to milk the dogs. Naturally, as dogs aren’t cows, there wasn’t any milk, and Mr. Stupido went on a search for the snake dog toy. One day, he got it. The magical dog toy was Tuck’s before Mr. Stupido stole it, so Tuck went on a quest to find his dog toy and to save all dogs from being milked. (He didn’t know that part yet.) 

There was only one thing on his side. Tuck was adorable! He used his charm to get lots and lots of food. Tuck began his quest by walking through his backyard. He got a little ways out when he thought, Oh boy, I want to chew something! 

He sniffed around his backyard until he found a really good stick. Then, he picked it up and started chewing. He kept walking. Soon, Tuck got hungry. He chased a few mice but they all ran away. Soon, he found an even better squirrel! He caught it. Tuck kept walking by the side of the stream where he had gotten the scent of Mr. Stupido and his toy. (Being stupid, Mr. Stupido left a really obvious trail.) 

Tuck saw a house nearby. It wasn’t Mr. Stupido’s, but Tuck was getting hungry so he begged for food and got some. The next house was Mr. Stupido’s, and it had a big sign on the front that said, “The home of Mr. Stupido,” so he walked in and got the toy. (Mr. Stupido didn’t have any security system.) When Mr. Stupido saw Tuck, he waved and said, “Hi, cowie!”

Tuck let all the dogs out and then went back home with all of the dogs (because he had the dog toy) and took a nice, long nap.

Ouch! Goes the Weasel {Book #3: Ronalds, Welcome to Elementary School}

Why, hello for the third time!

Ronalds Squeak-Sq, reporting for fun! Whew, I could finally fill out my third out of 100 notebooks placed on my humongous shelf. Ouch! Silly me. I forgot to tell you something exciting. I graduated from preschool. Goodbye, Weaselmentary! 

Yup, it might seem pretty confusing when you should be in first grade when you are six years old. But remember! This is Utteramma Field, the field of weirdness (in your perspective, that is). Here, preschoolers graduate when they are six. 

Now, I’m in Kindergarten. So remember to be KINDergarten! Oh, and I almost forgot to put something I just learned from my classmates: LOL! 

As you guys already know, my brother and botherer, Carl, is the leader of Utteramma Field’s Squeak Scouts, the boy/girl scouts of your kind. 

My father is the Executive Director of Utteramma Field Electricity Institute (UFEI). The UFEI produces electricity to every weasel in town during the Weasel Uprising in 2123, when the Handemolen peeps are protecting every weasel in the world of the TSSA. 

Eventually, we smart weasels learned to use human materials, so we used them on our own as well. Back in my family, my mom just took a job as a nurse in Utteramma Field Hospital (UFH) a month ago. With no one in my family guarding me, I had to figure out a way to get a babysitter. 

I dialed 167-999-9998 on the weaselphone in my house. A babysitter named Alexia came. Instead of making Mom mad, my Mom was… well, actually proud of me. My dad, on the other hand, wasn’t so amused. 

He usually is the most easy-to-get-angry weasel in town, but sometimes, if I finish my homework early, my dad will reward me with three-quarters of an hour of TV time. 

Oh, sorry. I forgot we were talking about what happened last — well, let’s say the last time you saw me.* Remember? My troubles with learning the piano with my dad and oversleeping two times in a row and being laughed at? 

I hope you didn’t remember, because just thinking about it makes me twitch like crazy. And I mean crazy. Oh, there I go. Finally. Whew! *Oh, and I finally remembered: The last time you saw me was two years ago. Long time no SEA! Hah! LOL! (Again!) 

I know you are itching for me to start my story, so here we go!


(Connect the second to last paragraph to this next section.)

Oops, I forgot we were talking about something serious (seriously, I have made that mistake over and over for the last six years, which means my entire lifetime. So far, that is.). So, I made a list of what mistakes to avoid. 

Ronalds Squeak-Sq’s Avoid-Mistake List

* (Rule 1) NEVER stammer

* (Rule 2) NEVER have spelling errors

* (Rule 3) NEVER forget that we are talking about something serious

* (Rule 4)  NEVER listen to Carl

* (Rule 5) NEVER accept Dad’s tutorial

Okay, you might think that this list is a little too ambitious. But for a weasel like me, this list is just a little beyond my level. 

Oops, I forgot to add something to the list. 

* (Rule 6) NEVER get carried away

There. That’s better. Squeaking about better, school was way better than Weaselmentary, my nursery school. (Sorry, I forgot to add that part into my intro.) No one is bullying me, I’m not having a negative attitude, you name it. 

When you were reading that, did your mind think that your brain was playing tricks on you? Well, if you said “yes,” you are completely WRONG! What I was saying to you was the truth. The complete truth. 

And — I disobeyed my rule #6. I got carried away again. *SIGH* When would I grow up?! URGH! I disobeyed rule #6 again!!! Ugh. I should have added a 7th rule. 

* (Rule 7) NEVER get out of control 

Wow. The list is getting better and better. Now, back to my story. 

Well, I couldn’t even concentrate on writing because of all this Utteramma Field afternoon sun. I stayed up all noon writing this. I should be taking my afternoon nap. See ya!


Good morning!* Let’s move on with our story now that we are no longer blinded by the Utteramma Field sun. 

*You do remember me making the morning-afternoon mistake in my first book, right? Well, you might have thought I made that mistake again. But nooo… surprisingly, I overslept. I didn’t notice until now. So that’s why I erased “Good afternoon” and put “Good morning” instead.

School was awesome. We learned about math, science, and even the vocabulary word “excited.” We even had some very interesting homework. So turn the page to see my worksheet. 

Word Study Worksheet
{Review Sheet 2}

Name: Ronalds Squeak-Sq


Section 1: Word Identification

  1. REMEMBER, a synonym is a word that means another. So what is a synonym of the word “mad”?

____________________________________________________________________________

  1. What is the definition of “excited”?

____________________________________________________________________________

  1. REMEMBER, an antonym is a word that is opposite of another word. So what is an antonym for the word “full”?

____________________________________________________________________________

Section 2: Verbs

  1. Mark is doing something after lunch. What could he have been doing? Circle the possibilities. There’s more than one.

(jogging)
(eating dessert)
(watching TV)
(Chilling out)

  1. After circling the possibilities, name what all your answers have in common. 

____________________________________________________________________________

Ouch! That’s a lot of homework. I’ve also got a math sheet, but this tiny notebook won’t fit that many homework copies for me to glue in. Double Ouch! I always get close calls of being spotted by my dad. He wants me to do homework, not to glue in copies to write a book. 

You might be thinking, “Oh, poor little Ronalds!” No, I’m not that poor in the family. I’m just a… er, a neutral guy, that’s it. But there’s just something that’s itching me… 

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

“Oh, hello, Mr. Poop!” That wasn’t something that made my feelings better. I turned around. Sure enough, it was Carl. “Me, the brave pilot, will be eating Ronalds, the little helpless chickie.” Then, I defended myself using a new “passcode.” The latest passcode was:

56197398

But today, a new passcode has formed:

~!@#$%^&*()_+QWERTYUIOP}|ASDFGHJKL:”ZXCVM<>?

Perfect passcode, as Carl won’t be able to guess it in the five tries I give him. Yup, that’s right. Five tries. Last time, Carl’s guesses were

“89702?”
“901876?”
“801909?”
“54321?”
“OLKA2ME?”

This time, Carl wasn’t even close. There were no numbers in my passcode, right? Well, all of Carl’s guesses were with numbers. And that’s what I call an Ouch! Goes the Weasel!! LOL! 

Arrrgh! I disobeyed my rule #3! Hmmph. And I would call that a double Ouch! Goes the Weasel. Anyway, I really need to calm down here. Let me take a good nap. See you tomorrow then, diary! 


Anyway, it had been a long day. I learned to ride my bike: the worst thing ever. My bike always wobbled from side to side. Why, you may ask? Well, it’s because my dad didn’t know there was such thing as training wheels. 

Next came an equally bad thing: I had to study* chess and tennis with my dad. 

*Know me! You must remember this: remember in my last book, where I was forced to study the piano with my dad as well? Remember how my dad was the worst tutor in the world? REMEMBER?!

That was what I would call an infinite Ouch! Goes the Weasel. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Oush! Boush! Burrech! Sorry. You know those times when you say a word too many times, it just sounds all weird? Well, that’s what happened to me. A–BBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! 

Arggh! What the hell had just happened?! 

*Blink Blink*

Oofy! Owwy! That’s when I had to cover my ears. My dad was screaming. 

CARL! GET OFF OF RONALDS!!!!!!!!!! (x10,000 !’s)

I blinked again. 

*Blink Blink*

Okay, tell me if this is true. Carl was — jumping on my bed, with me in it?! Okay, I must be dreaming. Let me check my eyes. 

*Blink Blink*
*Rub Rub*
(Repeat x10)

Okay, I get it. I’m not dreaming. Wait, yes I am… 

Hurr? Wait, was I daydreaming? Give me a moment to think about
th_____    =’’’

To be continued in…
Ouch! Goes the Weasel Book #4

The Afterthen

Chapter 1 – Surprised

It was a Wednesday. Alexis was procrastinating on her math homework, as usual. The sunflowers were bending upward and soaking in the sunshine. As it got warmer out, they seemed to be moving further and further from their wintertime weakness. Their petals glowed with raw magic and their hay green centers swirled like whirlpool water into the tall, thick stems. Then, she heard a rumbling behind her. She whipped her head around. So maybe, although Alexis would kill me if she found out I said this, it was just her pet poodle, Daffodil, growling at this toy she had that looked just like her. Alexis was just so bored in this beautifully magical town that she was combing through her almost-but-not-quite perfect days, searching for something even remotely spooky or dangerous. But eventually, she’d have to get back to her math homework or Mrs. LaNeil would kill her. She flopped back down in her chair, and, while tapping her pencil repeatedly between problems, she struggled through the remaining six sheets. That’s right, six sheets. Oh, teachers back then…

I don’t know exactly why Alexis had to procrastinate so much, since, to my dismay, I could not get that out of her. But my theory, which is probably right, (I consider myself to be very well acquainted with her), is that her pride simply would not allow her to be a good little girl and finish it early like everyone else at her school.

Once she finished, she flopped down on her boring pink bed and wished and wondered. She wished she didn’t have such a dull life. She wondered why she stuck out, why no one was like her, why she had to be alone.

The next afternoon was Friday, thank the sunflowers. She relaxed and read. Her ridiculous school uniform was on the floor. It included a pink hair bow, a white dress, pink tights, white ruffly socks, and shiny pink Mary Janes.

After a few weeks of dull routines, Alexis received a pristine white envelope with her name and address stamped on it in shiny gold leaf. She was not impressed. Probably some letter from a stupid teacher complaining about stupid grades. When she opened it, she collapsed on her plush white rug. Every year for every eleven year old in the village, there was an official tournament. Not for sewing, or spelling, or math. This was a tournament of magic.

And you may not know, but Alexis was special when it came to magic. She was easily the most powerful in her grade. Alexis could fly, make her hair burn or turn into red-hot, dripping lava, and so many other amazing things. But her specialty was earth. She could pick up pebbles and spin them into gold. She could pick up gold and spin it into pebbles. She could crush you in a second with a grain of sand. No one else was completely aware of it, but she was probably more powerful than many of the masters.

So she jumped and flew off her balcony, down into the fields of emerald grass. The trees were perfect; scarlet, golden, and deep blue. Her high, silver combat boots dug into the fertile soil. Then she practiced. She spun rocks above her fingers. She mined diamonds out of the ground by using all the effort in her body, and turned them into a tall tower. Next, she spiraled around the tower, all the way up. Then she shattered it to pieces, and did backflips and frontflips in the air as she came down.

After hours and hours, she worked out a routine. She was proud of herself. She knew she could win the tournament, but there was a few months before this would happen. It was an agonizingly long amount of time to wait. She leapt back up onto her balcony and went back inside. Besides, the sun was beginning to set. She had one of her usual late dinners alone in the dining room before heading to bed. That night, she tossed and turned. She didn’t think she would be able to wait. Her parents had better be ready for another drop in her grades. She didn’t care about that, though. Her worry, besides the long wait for the tournament, was that competition for the Sapphire Crown (the prize of winning the tournament) coming up, with the long amount of time for practice and improvement. This might wreck Alexis’s chance and the Sapphire Crown, which was the key to the most exciting opportunities in Sunflower. It was a secret, but it was what Alexis craved the most. The crown also brought respect to its champions. This adventure might come with a friend. After all these years of loneliness, someone might finally just walk up and invite her over for mango smoothies one day. Well, banana shakes would be preferable; after all, the mangos in Sunflower were awfully sour. But really, Alexis wouldn’t mind if it was rotten sunflower stems. Which some adults liked. Not that she understood why. 

Now there is really something I have to tell you. Alexis was not acknowledging the second part of the Sapphire Crown contest. Nobody knew what happened in the dark and shadowed second stage. Only one person made it past the first stage, which was the routine Alexis was making. Once the winner had completed the unknown second stage, they were forbidden to speak of it. That is, if they survived. 

Chapter 2 – The Contest

A few months was far too long for Alexis to wait. She had her routine completed, including all the finishing touches, and even a stunning outfit. (In my opinion, there was no need for her routine, despite its glory, because I am positive that she could have won the tournament with just that outfit. But she didn’t ask me). However, a few months is not forever, and the day came. It was conveniently over a break so all the teachers and students were free, as well as the stay-at-home parents and the town leaders and every other person in the village. Even the animals were free that week. Even the sunflowers, naturally. Moving on.

Alexis walked a short distance to the field where the competition was held. There were chairs set up in neat rows in the grass. She sat next to her mother, since she had no friends to sit with. She watched the other children perform their talents. She clapped politely after each one, but really she was terrified. The talents were just getting better and better and it seemed that every one of them would be that tiny bit better than her. That meant everything in a competition like this. She performed her routine as #56. 20 remained. It was rather uneventful. Now, I don’t mean that the crowd wasn’t impressed. Just that they weren’t really surprised at what she’d done.

At the end of the competition, the leaders walked onto the stage. They took folded yellow papers and passed them out to students. Before Alexis could open hers, some black-haired girl who could fly opened her paper and petals came out. This signaled that she had won the competition. Alexis’s expression was completely blank at first, and she worked hard to keep it that way. Her emotions and mind still felt frozen, unable to process the information overload. Alexis had been a close second. Very good, but not what she’d been hoping for. You see, she had been hoping to win. She dipped her head to her parents and left, only allowing the tears to stream down her cheeks when she was out of sight.

. . .

She hid in her room and cried. She didn’t know what was going to happen to her now. Her life was surely over. Everything was over. She could never…

“Alexis,” her brother Lincoln said, the door slowly opening.

“Go away.”

“Alexis, listen. The girl who won chose not to accept. That means you won.”

Alexis’s whole world brightened. Then she remembered the second task. She was nervous, but any place it sent her would be better than here. So she got up, wiped her eyes as best she could and walked to the field.

It was all a blur, really. Flashes of do you accept and I do and very well and things like that. But everything slowed down when they read out the second task.

“Your second task is to go into the Afterthen and save it. You must survive and come home to win the Sapphire Crown.”

“Wha-What is the Afterthen?” Alexis asked nervously. 

“The Afterthen is a land very near here that is stuck in a time warp. It is under the rule of tyrannical people who use time all wrong.” This was interesting. She was supposed to save a whole land from evil rulers and time itself? Great. A portal appeared next to the stage. “Are you ready to go now? Simply step through the portal and then you will be in the Afterthen.”

Alexis stepped through the portal before she had time to think better of it.

Chapter 3 – The Beach of Shoes

The first thing she saw in the Afterthen was a beach covered in shoes. Something in the sand was pulling her shoes off, and she felt a strange urge to be barefoot. But she resisted. She liked her shoes. Besides, there was no point in going into a dangerous land without shoes on her feet. Once she pulled away, the sand moved in another direction. Since she had nowhere else to go, she followed the wave of wet sand. As she walked further and further down the beach, she saw a figure moving in place. Closer now. It was a girl. Her eyes were wide with fear and she was running or at least was trying to. Her body repeated the same motions again and again, but didn’t move forward or backward.

Alexis inspected her closely. The air around her was purplish and moved around slowly, like fog. Alexis stuck her hand in the fog. It suddenly moved very slowly, but she was able to grab the girl’s hand and pull her out so she collapsed, breathless, on the ground.

“Who are you?” Alexis asked.

“I’m Hailee. Sunflower sent me to the Afterthen on a quest to save it, but I got stuck in this time warp.”

“I didn’t know anyone from Sunflower who has been sent to the Afterthen.” Alexis said. But maybe…

“I heard a girl fifty years ago got sent to another place in her second stage and never came back. Maybe that’s what’ll happen to you once you get to your second stage,” her brother had once joked to her.

“Hailee. Listen, I think you are from fifty years ago.”

“That’s possible.” Hailee said.
“Do you know anything about the Afterthen?”

“Well, I don’t know a lot, but this is what I do know. A long time ago, Sunflower was part of the Afterthen. Sunflower, which hasn’t changed much since then, acted as a safe refuge to lost travelers and anyone who happened to be in the extension of the time warp, really. Now, the leaders of the Afterthen didn’t like this, because they want as much time as they need while the rest of the land gets nothing. So they stole the time from Sunflower. They threatened to fast forward everyone in the town to their deaths if Sunflower did not break away. Sunflower, of course, agreed, so a powerful magician turned the town into an island and sent it away, and, well, that’s how we ended up where we are.”

“Wow. I caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…” Alexis began, but then gasped as if the air was sucked out of her when really it was the time and felt herself slipping into a time warp.

“GO! RUN! QUICKLY!” Hailee screamed.

They ran as fast as they could during the breaks in the time warp, but had to go slowly during the moments that it was in effect.  Now, you will be noticing this more and more in the story, so let me explain what is actually happening to these girls. You see, the time was moving from the area where they were to some other poor place where everyone would find themselves with too much time. It would pile up all around the people, and when they hit the piles time would slow down or speed up. People would be constantly teleporting from time period to time period, but I’m getting off topic. I think I know this story too well.

Moving on. With no other place to go, Alexis and Hailee dove into the ocean. Then the surface disappeared, and suddenly Alexis was drowning, but what did she feel beneath her feet, that grainy substance. Sand.

“What just happened?” Alexis panted.

“Well, that was the Ocean of Time. It just tried to rob us. We’re out now though, but we better get out fast, because it’s sure to be furious at us.”

“But why would it try to rob us?” Alexis was forced to scream this because the tide was loud and angry.

“Because the Afterthen used time frivolously and wasted it all somehow. However, that was a long, long time ago. These days, they rob it from whoever is around.” The ocean started pulling at Alexis’ feet and she felt so relaxed like she had all the time in the world. Some part of her knew this was bad, but the ocean seemed so kind and welcoming.  She snapped out of her trance soon enough, though, most likely because Hailee pulled her away, and the world around them morphed into a field of flowers and field mice.

“This is the Field of Mice,” Hailee observed from a small leather notebook she took out of her frilly skirt pocket.

Chapter 4 – Eye of the Hurricane

Alexis raised her eyebrows at the name. Hailee gave her a look.

“The people in the Afterthen are too busy wasting time to be creative about names. Besides, it’s not like it matters, as long as we will be relatively safe here, which we will be,” she reminded Alexis. Alexis had to agree. They kept walking.

After a few hours, they became hungry and tired so they stopped for a break. Alexis crafted bowls and cups out of earth. Hailee snapped her fingers, and suddenly rain came pouring down, filling the dishes with cold, clean water. 

“Impressive,” Alexis remarked.

“Yeah, I can control the weather,” Hailee said with a proud look on her face that she was having a terrible time hiding. Alexis dumped the water out of the bowls and grabbed Hailee’s hand. 

“Come on,” she said, grinning, “I know some edible flowers that make a delicious salad.” The girls hunted for daylilies for about half an hour. When they came back, their hands and pockets were stuffed with enough petals to give each girl several helpings of salad (not to mention what they had eaten while walking). They filled their bowls with pale pink and yellow blossoms and had a good meal, leaving them refreshed and ready to continue the journey ahead of them. Alexis buried the dishes, so no one would know the girls had been there.

The Field of Mice went on for what seemed like forever. When the sun began to set, the pair slept under the stars, the soft grass and daisies cushioning them, the traces of the daylilies still in their mouths.

They slept until 11:00 the next morning, and they were still so tired they would have slept for longer, but Alexis spotted the end of the Field of Mice a mile away. Normally, this would be hard to notice since it was so far, but as you know, this field is very colorful and very green, and what came after it looked black and burnt, so the contrast made it easy to see. She tapped Hailee’s shoulder to wake her up.

“I guess we’ve reached the end of the Field of Mice,” Hailee said.

“Do you know what that black place is?” Alexis asked.

“No, not yet.”

“What do you mean, not yet?”

“Here, I’ll show you,” Hailee responded, taking the rough leather notebook out of her pocket again. “This is how the notebook works. It is an enchanted item that Sunflower handed out to visitors before they left the Afterthen. They gave me one before my quest. I imagine they’re all gone now, after fifty years. Anyway. Basically, when I am in a certain place in the Afterthen, the notebook will show me the name of where I am, along with a short description and the appropriate warnings for wherever I am. So I can’t see what that place is until we are actually there.”

“Useful. But we should keep moving,” Alexis observed.

And that is what they did. Hailee put the notebook back into her skirt pocket, which was so frilly and poofy that no one would notice if you put an elephant into it. That mile was a boring mile, well, as boring as something could be when there was so much dread in the air. Because of this dread, Alexis was looking for something to distract her. Her wandering eyes stopped on Hailee’s bare feet.

“Was the reason you got stuck in the time warp the fact that you have no shoes?” Alexis asked. “After all, I didn’t get stuck in one, and I have shoes.”

“Well, it was probably just luck,” Hailee contradicted her. “Time in the Afterthen is random. You can’t expect it to have any kind of rhyme or reason. On the other hand, you might be partly right. People who fall for tricks are more likely to end up in dilemmas.”

“So?” Alexis said skeptically, not getting the point.

So, it’s partly my bad luck and partly my idiocy.”

“Interesting conclusion.”

The girls kept walking, forgetting the strange conversation in their dread. As they drew closer to the black place, the flowers became less common and the grass thinned out, until they were on a near-scorched field.

You may have guessed by now. They had reached the black place.

Chapter 5 – STAY AWAY

Hailee opened her notebook, but it was empty. She gasped. However, in a few seconds, words slowly appeared across the page. They were large and hastily written, as if scrawled by someone in a hurry. It wasn’t difficult to read though. Alexis could clearly see the message:

STAY AWAY

“This isn’t a good sign,” Hailee whispered in her shock. A shady figure stepped out from behind a cliff. He wore old timey detective clothes and was evidently from a time portal somewhere nearby. He took a small dagger from his pocket. And threw it directly at Alexis.

. . .

Luckily, Alexis blocked it with a wall of sparkling emeralds.

“You’ve got taste,” Hailee observed.

Alexis viewed her work with satisfaction. She peeked out. She noticed that the man was gone. She also noticed that instead of one dagger stuck in the wall of emeralds, there were at least a dozen. Whoever that man was, he was someone to watch out for. Despite the safety of expensive and glittery shields.

They stayed cautious as they walked through the almost never ending black place. They didn’t encounter many dangers, which was suspicious. It didn’t last forever, though. Within a few hours, they spotted an army of redcoats marching towards them, wielding muskets and bayonets. Eventually the tense march turned into an all-out battle, with Alexis tossing men into the air and Hailee striking down entire regiments with lightning bolts. More kept appearing. It was an impossible fight.

The girls ducked into an alley. They had a minute or so before there was the sound of footsteps behind them. But not thousands of footsteps. Just one person. It was a medieval knight. Then suddenly it transformed into a boy. His eyes constantly changed color and his clothes seemed to change styles every second.

“My name is Jack. I can get you out of here.” The boy promptly transformed into a redcoat.

“How did you do that?” Alexis asked suspiciously.

“There isn’t time to explain. Now, come on. You’ll have no trouble at all getting through them now.” With that, Jack tapped both of the girls and transformed them into soldiers. They would have protested, but an officer’s fancy shoes were heading toward the alley.

They blended in easily with the redcoats. Eventually, the army turned and started heading back in the direction of the Field of Mice. Alexis assumed that they were continuing the patrol. The trio broke off from patrol and transformed back into themselves again.

“I’ve been traveling around the Afterthen since I was little. I’ve never gotten this far. How did you do it?” Jack said.

“I guess we just got lucky,” Hailee said, shrugging.

“What’s that in the distance?” Alexis asked.

There was a field similar to the Field of Mice. It had no time portals and looked safe. Except for one thing. There was a golden palace, guarded by tiny camo dots.

“The palace of the rulers. Once you get inside, they’re quite vulnerable. And we can deal with the guards.”

Alexis simply could not believe it. She was nearing the end of her quest. All they needed to do was get past the guards and lock the rulers in some remote dungeon. Everything suddenly came together. The rulers used time wrong. If they were stripped of their power the armies from history would disappear. Perhaps one of the Sunflower rulers could take the throne. 

Despite the excitement, the journey took weeks of hard traveling. They ate dried petals that were leftover from before the black place. Eventually though, they reached the golden palace – and its army.

Chapter 6 – The False Victory

Jack had been right, the camo troops were easy to fight. They weren’t endless, like the redcoats. They easily broke into the palace. The halls were lined with paintings of the various “attractions” of the nearby areas. Gold suits of armor made loud noises as they walked past.

The palace seemed endless. Alexis’s feet ached terribly from the long journey they were so close to finishing. Hailee, who was barefoot, had to walk on the fancy red carpet to keep her feet from unbearable pain. After half an hour, a set of double doors labeled “THRONE ROOM” came into sight. They were so close!!!

. . .

Ten minutes later they opened the door. The rulers were eating lunch at a table to the left of the three intricately carved thrones. They didn’t notice the trio.

Alexis readied chains of hard earth. Hailee had a lightning bolt in each hand. They were about to throw them when suddenly they were blasted into the air.

Alexis couldn’t move. Couldn’t move at all. An endless void opened up beneath her. Couldn’t hear much either, except for a laugh. She searched desperately for the source of the laugh. She knew whoever laughed had thwarted their plans somehow, and stopped two powerful enchanters. Then she found the face. Jack’s.

“You really thought you could stop us?” Jack asked in that same tone he had used before the redcoats. “The rulers were notified by that detective that you were trying to stop us. He never misses anything. They sent me to stop you two from ruining our time warp here. Since I have proven satisfactory, I will become the new ruler of the Afterthen. And you? Well, you had better enjoy living in the void.”

THE END

Mountain Mama

The Lost Bunny

Hi, I am the queen of the mountains. My name is Mountain Mama. I am a girl with long, dirty brown hair, and I have a crown made of leaves and I am a fairy. I come out every day from my home in one of the mountains in West Virginia. You can see my home from the view of the summit pool. But one time I messed up. One cold winter morning, Miss Hess said that she doesn’t know where her little bunny disappeared. When she woke up she was gone. Mountain Mama was shocked. She said to Miss Hess,

“Do not worry, we will find your little bunny for you.”

So that night the queen set out for a look around the kingdom to find the little bunny. She looked and looked for an hour already. But then she found a carrot. She went down to get the carrot. She went down to pick up and maybe find a clue. So when she went down she found a hole and it was so tiny that I, Queen Mountain Mama, couldn’t even fit in there so I used my magic wand and I said, “Bibedy bobbidy boo, make me small.” So then she went in the tunnel. Read the next chapter to find out.

The Way To Go

 So I walked a little deeper into the cave. 

“Aaaaaaaaah!” A net just swung down right near my head. “Ok ok ok ok Mountain Mama, you are ok. You can do this, you are on the mission to find the little bunny.” It was brighter and it was, don don don, carrots. I thought this was a mystery, not a pile of carrots. She thought and thought until she had a brilliant idea. Not only was it a brilliant idea, it was a wonderful and blunderful idea, and it also was a big big big big big brainstorming idea. Ok I think that was a little too much. Ok now let’s get on to the real topic. The brilliant idea was, don don don, to dig through the huge pile of carrots. So she usd her magic wand to make a shovel, so that is what I did and then I started to dig. Let’s see how many hours that took me. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, yes it was 24 hours. Then I finally got to go into the cave and then to the next chapter.

Never Give Up 

When I went in, I saw a big table of carrots again. I said to myself again never give up. So I took a lot of the carrots and then I saw a little tail.  So little! 

I asked the bunny if she was missing and then she said,

 “Oh Mountain Mama, I was really scared. The wind blew me away and Mommy did not see so I ended up here and I did not know what to do.” 

“Well now,” I said, “you are safe. Let me bring you back to your mommy.”

“Ok thank you Mountain Mama.” Then I held the little bunny in my arms and I flapped my wings and I flew off. When I returned the little bunny, I flapped my wings again and I said,

 “That is why you should never give up!!!” 

The Mimic

Chapter 1

For my little brother, Damir

The sky is black and lights almost look like they come to you. Legend said that a Mimic lives in Embassy Park Where I live. Oh, if you’re wondering who I am, my name is Liam and I am 16. I have been spying on the Mimic for 5 years now and I know who it is.

It is my friend, Tanqr, the Youtuber. I know Tanqr is the Mimic because I went to his house and saw his tentacles. Tanqr was not the Mimic all the time. The Mimic died but his soul got into Tanqr.

Chapter 2 

On a Friday at midnight, I spy on him, but he is nowhere to be found. 1 second later, he is behind me! 3 hours later, I wake up. I’m tied up on a chair.

I say, “What do you want from me?”

“I want to KILL YOU,” he says in a broke-up voice. “I know that you saw my tentacles. You do not want to know what I am going to do to you.”

I say, “Where are we?” He says we are in the abandoned metro station. I ask why. He replies,

“Because I want you to suffer like I did.”

5 years earlier, Tanqr was making a video and the soul went into him.

Chapter 3

He was making a video of a game in roblox called arsenal. He also plays Big Paintball. The way The Mimic’s soul got into Tanqr was The Mimic had a hideout in a nuclear power plant with his friends and it exploded and killed them and one soul survived and got into Tanqr. Back into the future, the Mimic lets me go. The Mimic says he needs to go somewhere when he lets me go. The next day at school, my other friend, Mack, and I go to math class. 45 minutes later, dinggg! The math teacher, Ms. Katz, grades my work, and like always I get a straight A. Hmmm, Tanqr is not at school, which is weird. He needs to go to school.

Chapter 4

The next day, he still is not coming to school. It’s getting weird because I am thinking maybe he could be planning to take over the world. The next day, he comes to school, but he looks sus (P.S., sus means suspicious). I’m wondering what is he doing. He’s wearing a bowtie, but I haven’t seen him ever were a bowtie. Tanqr is also so nice today. He’s supposed to be shy. First, someone dropped their books and Tanqr helped him. Next, someone was getting bullied and he embarrassed the leader bully by saying that he pooped in his pants.

ChApTeR 5

After school, he says, “Yo, can I come to your house?” I say yes.

1 hour later, you will not believe what happened, not in a million years. Ok, fine, I will tell you. THE MIMIC’S SOUL GOT OUT OF TANQR. I can’t believe it, not in a million years.

2 Days later, I hear a whoosh sound at night and I turn around. I can’t believe it, the soul is here. I run to the bathroom and I splash the ghost and it goes away but it doesn’t die which is weird.

… To be continued.

Epilogue

The next day, the soul tries to kill me again. Does this guy ever give up? (No, he does not.) I can’t believe it. The Most Info about Ghosts book says that the ghost that attacked me does not give up (see, I told you). The author, Jalley Brown, claims she saw a ghost but I asked her at the museum of ghosts and she said she lied (which I partially knew) because she wanted attention and to be famous .Then I research all night and I get the only why to defeat the ghost is to get the rarest rock in the world, which is called (drum roll please): Clockstone.                                     

Monster and Mushroom: A New Beginning

There once was a monster who lived in the woods. We’ll call him Monster. What Monster really wanted was a house, but he was just too shy to go to the house seller. Monster wanted a house because he lives in the woods. But why was Monster so shy? Maybe because he lived in the woods so long that fungus grew on his toes, moss on his back, and a mushroom on his nose, and he was scared to show his face in public. Or maybe he needed a friend to encourage him. Anyway, onto the story!

Monster sat on his stump, wondering if he would go to the house seller today. No, I can’t! They’ll tease my mushroom nose! He thought. Sigh. So then Monster gathered up all his courage (he didn’t have that much) and he went over to the gate to the human world. When he got to the gate, he felt something under his foot. He picked it up in his giant fingers. It was a glass bottle, with glowing liquid inside! Great, this liquid might make me less shy! Monster thought with a smile. So he went back to his cave and placed the liquid on his stump table. Tomorrow, Monster thought, I will be social.

The next day, Monster woke up with a jolt. He was so excited to drink the pink liquid! He was shaking with excitement! And maybe also fear. Monster went to the kitchen of his cave and popped the top off the bottle. He went to drink it, hand quivering. Just as he had it up to his mouth and went to take a sip, a crow flew into the window and cawed. Monster’s hand shook so that all the liquid spilled onto the mushroom on his nose! No! The liquid! Now Monster couldn’t be social! Monster sighed. He went back into his moss-bed and fell into a deep sleep. He dreamed of wizards and dancing mushrooms. Then he woke up. Phew, just a dream, Monster thought. He got up and went to the river to get the extra pink juice off his nose. When he looked at his reflection in the river, he didn’t see anything missing at first, but then he noticed it. His face went pale. His nose mushroom was gone.

Monster kept touching the spot where the once red-with-white-spots mushroom was. Then the water rippled. Probably one of those birds, Monster thought. He looked up to shoo it away, and saw the most unbelievable thing. His nose mushroom. “Mushroom?” he said to the mushroom. Then, like it was alive, the mushroom jerked its cap up and hopped away. Luckily, Monster was faster. He caught the mushroom in his big hands and took it back to his cave. Hmm, Monster thought, I can have a big meal if I cook him! So then Monster decided to tie the mushroom up and cook him over a fire. Then Monster went out to get some berries as an appetizer. But then something poked his butt. Monster spun around, ready to attack, but it was the mushroom! He touched Mushroom’s cap and she hopped around playfully. Then Monster felt a pang of guilt. He tried to cook Mushroom, just so he could eat. No, he would not feel sad for this mushroom. Monster would just ignore it. Monster marched back to his cave. Mushroom followed. “Just leave me alone, ya dirty mushroom!” Monster shouted at the mushroom. Mushroom hopped away sadly. Great, Monster thought sarcastically, now I have nothing to eat. Monster saw Mushroom peek around the corner of his cave. “I told you, GET OUT!” Monster roared at Mushroom. Mushroom hopped closer. Monster got madder and madder. He roared at Mushroom, then Mushroom started hopping away, quickly. Monster dropped down on all fours and chased him. They were nearing the cliff. Perfect. Monster thought. Then right when Mushroom was about to fall off the cliff, she doubled back. Monster fell off the side and was being held only by a branch that was growing out of the cliff. Then, crack, the branch broke. Monster closed his eyes and braced for the fall onto the sharp, jagged rocks below. But when he landed on something, it didn’t perce his skin. It was bouncy. It was Mushroom! Monster bounced back up to the cliffside, and somehow, he found Mushroom there. Mushroom was magical! Monster reached out and touched Mushroom’s cap. It was soft as silk. Then together, they went and got food so they could have a decent meal.

The next day, Mushroom jumped up and down on Monster, urging him to get up. “What? I’m up,” Monster groaned. Mushroom had something on her cap. She slid it over to Monster. It was a small book. Then Mushroom slid over a black stick. Monster picked it up. It was shiny. He opened the book and put the strong black stick onto the paper and slid it around. Wherever the stick went, it made a line. Mushroom took the pen from Monster and used magic to write three letters: pen. “Is that what the stick is called? A p-pe-pehn?” Monster asked, sounding out the word. Mushroom jumped up and down. Monster took that as a yes. But why would Mushroom give me these magical objects? Monster thought. Then it hit him. He could draw a house! Then show it to the house seller because the humans spoke a different language! “Thank you, Mushroom!” Monster exclaimed.

Mushroom jumped around in response, as if to say, “You’re welcome.”

Monster drew a house, with a tall roof. It took him three hours, but he finished eventually. Here is what he did:

Monster took the paper and Mushroom followed. Monster walked over to the human world gate, his heart thumping. Ba bump, ba bump. Mushroom followed him, her hopping making little sound on the damp moss. Slowly, Monster opened the gate. Creeeeeak, it went. Monster stepped through the gate and into the portal. It felt like he was being stretched out and cut up, then being put back together. Mushroom followed, having the same experience. Then the feeling started to slow down, and Monster got plopped down on land. Mushroom bumped on Monster’s leg being shot out. Monster looked down at Mushroom, she was jumping around like crazy. “Calm down, Mushroom. I’m excited too,” Monster said calmingly. Mushroom slowed down. She tilted her cap up at him. Monster got filled up with hope. Monster strided over to the house seller, not noticing the stares from the people around him. He gathered up all his courage (he had a lot) and, with a shaking hand, he handed the house seller the picture. A crow flew onto the fence behind the house seller. It cawed. Monster shooed it away. “You don’t scare me,” Monster hissed at the crow. The house seller understood the drawing. He said something quickly in human and started walking to a giant metal container on black tree stumps. It looked like this:

The house seller walked inside and took out what Monster knew as a “unicycle.” Then the house seller hopped on his unicycle and started moving. He gestured for Monster and Mushroom to follow. Monster picked up Mushroom in his giant hands so she wouldn’t slow them down. Monster followed the house seller until they made it to a giant house. Monster put Mushroom down and walked inside. The ceilings were 4 feet above his head! Great! There was a black box, too. The house seller walked inside and picked up a shiny, black piece of bark. But it wasn’t bark, and the box wasn’t a box. “Television. Tv,” the house seller said, pointing to the box. Monster repeated, 

“Tellyvision. Tv.” 

The house seller pointed to the shiny bark. “Remote,” he said. 

Monster repeated again, “Reemote.”

 The house seller shrugged and mumbled something in human. It sounded like “cloz enuf.” Monster ignored it. He said in the closest human he could put on, 

“Mi wan hous.” The house seller put a sign outside that said with bold red letters “SOLD.” Monster knew that the house was his. 

“WOOHOO, Mushroom!” Monster exclaimed, and he started dancing. Mushroom started dancing too. They danced for hours together, then went inside to enjoy their new life.

EPILOGUE 

Monster sank back into his chair. He tried to press the tiny buttons on the reemote, but his fingers were too big. “Mushroom? Can you help me press the reemote buttons?” Monster called. Mushroom angrily hopped in the tv room. She was levitating a toothbrush with half-used toothpaste on it. “Mu — what? Why are you using a toothbrush? You don’t even have teeth!” Monster exclaimed. Mushroom angrily hopped over and pressed the “on” button for the tv. As she hopped back to the wetroom (we know this as a bathroom), Monster saw on the back of her cap she had used toothpaste all over it. Then Monster had an idea. He went to the feedingroom and took a prong-tip. Then he took it back to the tv room. He used the holding-side to press the reemote buttons, and the prongs to brush through his fur. Monster leaned back in his chair and sighed. He lived an amazing life now.

Age of i 2: The tournament of drama

CHAPTER 1: THE ICE CREAM DUO

Narrator: Before we get into this book, I have to warn you: the following stuff contains things that you won’t understand unless you read the last book, so now… LET’S GO! 

The golem fell down to the floor and split back to the ice cream, and in the middle of the ice cream was a note. Henry read the note, and it said, “Come to the Tournament of Drama, because if you do, the prize is a VERY rare gem that is PRICELESS, but if you don’t win, well, let’s save that for if you lose.” 

Henry read the note again then showed the note to his friends then asked, “What do you think of the note?”

“I say we should do it!” Ben said excitedly.

“Okay,” said Quincy.

“Well, okay, let’s do it. The note says to meet at the docks at 10:00 PM,” said Henry. “It also says only bring one weapon each.” 

The friends agreed that the weapons they were bringing were going to be sporks. Later, when the friends were at the docks, they saw that they had competition. Almost everyone there looked like they had trained for months. “Oh, oh, no, no,” said Ben. Then, a boat pulled over at the side of the docks. It was time. 

“Welcome to the Tournament of Drama’s transportation. Once we arrive, you will see a GIANT building. Once you see that, you will immediately enter OR ELSE. When they arrived, the kids saw the building, then the guy said, 

“By the way, my name is Clouse.” As told, the kids went into the building. When they got in, Clouse said, “that over there is Master Chen. He is the host of the tournament. Every day at 4:00 PM, he will tell who will fight and who will watch. This will continue until the final two, then the final two will compete in a fight to declare the winner. Also, use it or lose it.”

“Um, I would rather — ” continued Henry. Then, Clouse walked to the next competitor. Soon after, Master Chen came and said,

“Attention everyone, this is the ice cream duo. You will be competing against them. If you win, you stay.”

“What if you lose?” asked Quincy.

“Lose? Who here likes to lose?” Everyone laughed except Quincy. 

The Next Day… 

At lunch, Chen came to the cafe and said, “The person competing is… QUINCY.”  

“Uh oh,” said Henry.

“Everyone else, follow Clouse. Quincy, follow moi.” 

When everyone was at the battlefield, Chen said, “Please welcome our guests: Quincy and the ice cream duo.” 

The crowd cheered. “Three… two… one… BATTLE BEGIN!” 

As soon as Chen said that, the ice cream duo bolted down the battlefield to Quincy and made an ice cream sword and swung it at Quincy. Then Quincy, almost without thinking, dodged the ice cream duo’s swing, but they swung again and this time, HIT!! Quincy was frozen. 

“OUT!” screamed Chen. Then, Chen pushed a button on his chair and a big ditch opened beneath Quincy and he fell in, then the top of the ditch closed. 

“D-Did you just trap him?!?!” screamed Ben. 

“Uhhhhhhhhhhh, d-don’t change the subject,” said Chen.

Later, in Ben’s room: 

“I’m starting to get sus about Chen,” said Ben. 

“Why?” asked Henry.

“Because Quincy got sus about him and now he is gone.” 

“Good point,” said Henry. “Okay, tomorrow we are going to investigate this place.”

CHAPTER 2: DEAD END

Warning: the stuff in this chapter might be too creepy for some people. If you are 6 or under, skip to the next chapter.

It was the next night, and Henry and Ben were outside of the building. The building looked like a mansion-sized temple that would be built in China or Korea. 

“Nothing sus on the outside,” said Ben. 

“Let’s search your room,” said Henry. But then…  in the darkness, a pair of HUGE eyes appeared and then, an even bigger smile appeared that went above the eyes, then very skinny arms and legs that were black appeared, and then, the thing stepped out of the darkness. It was very tall, well at least it’s armz ‘n legz were. 

“RUN!!!!”

Henry screamed at the top of his lunges then, the black figure started spazzing out Allowing Henry and Ben to escape.

Later, in Ben’s Room: 

“So, that was bad,” Henry said, then continued. “We need to think of something else.” 

Ben walked over to his bed and he laid against it, then the bed flipped, putting Ben in an underground passage. “WABAWIDAANDA!” Henry said, then passed out. 

“Where am I?” Ben asked himself.

CHAPTER 3: THE FINAL MATCH

All contestants had been defeated except Henry and Ben and it was time for…

THE FINAL MATCH: where Ben and Henry were going to battle each other.

Before the battle, Ben whispered to Henry, “WHEN I WAS IN THE HOLE, I FIGURED OUT THAT THE LOSERS BECOME PART OF CHEN’S STATUE COLLECTION!” 

Well, at least he tried to whisper. Then Chen said, 

“Let the final battle BEGIN!” 

*Birds Chirping* 

“I SAID, LET THE FINAL BATTLE BEGIN!” 

Then Ben said, “Actually, I forfeit the tournament.” 

Then, Chen said, “Oh, ok, then Henry wins the Tournament of Drama!!!”

But Henry noticed something and said, “Wait a minute, didn’t Ben fall in a hole?” 

“Yes,” Ben said. 

Then Henry continued, “But I never remember you getting out.” 

Then Ben said, “Well, you see, Henry, Ben actually never did get out of the hole. But…  I’M NOT BEN.”  

Then, he started to get taller and turn black. It was the black creature! Then, the black creature stayed perfectly still, then Chen said, “You see, only one can remain, AND THAT WILL BE ME.” Then, Henry said,

“Okay, everyone saw that coming.” 

Then Henry ran to the hole and jumped in it, and Ben was there. “WE HAVE TO RUN, BEN.”  

CHAPTER 4: A TWIST THAT NOBODY SAW COMING

Soon, Zombie ice cream started flooding the walls. Then, one touched the black creature. Then, the black stuff on the creature started to disappear and it started to get smaller. Then there was an explosion of black and no one could see anything. Then Ben and Henry looked where the black creature was, and in its position, lying on the ground, was Quincy. 

When Henry looked down and saw Quincy in the black creature’s position, he went ballistic. Then Ben grabbed Henry and Quincy and ran to the end of the hole, then Ben saw light coming from the end of the hole, he jumped into the light and then he appeared in the treehouse. Then Ben looked to the side. What he saw was Henry passed out, but next to Henry there was a pink gem, and a note. 

Ben took the Pink Gem and read the note, the note said, ‘The Pink Gem is one of the five gems that stop the zombie ice cream from appearing, if you collect all of the gems and put them in a line on top of the warehouse, then all of the zombie ice cream will stop appearing and all of the living ones would disappear. The next gem you have to collect is the Red Gem, the Red Gem is on top of the mountains in Asia. Once you find the Red Gem, a note will be attached to it saying where the next gem’s location is.” At the bottom of the note, it said, “Written by… ” but there was no name next to it. 

Then Ben took the Pink Gem and put it in a chest in the treehouse. Then Henry woke up. Henry yelled, “Why are we back at the treehouse!?” Then he continued, “AND WHY IS THERE A PINK GEM IN OUR CHEST?!?!?”

“Wellllllllll…. ”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Lenmonoral Academy Part One

Chapter 1 

Magic

Amber Flickspell wasn’t a normal girl. For one, she was twelve, and knew how to fly a helicopter, and at the moment, she was lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to freeze it. “Falendor,” she muttered. “Falendor, Falendor!” Frustrated, Amber turned over and punched her pillow. 

“Amber, dinner is ready! Come set the table!” She heard her father’s voice downstairs, calling her.  

“Coming!” she said, walking out of her room. 

***************

“So, Amber, been practicing your magic lately?” Amber’s father asked her. His fire dragon, Flamelick, lay curled up in his corner, fast asleep. Amber took one longing look at him, then answered her father’s question.  “Yes.”

“And?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she sighed.

“Well, I’m sure it will come when it needs to, honey,” he said reassuringly.  

“But it also might never come — ”

“ — that’s enough, Sebastian,” he scolded. Sebastian, her younger brother, gave a mischievous grin and started eating his chicken.  But Amber didn’t feel magic churning inside her. What if — her stomach twisted even thinking it — what if she had no magic?

                                                                                *************

Amber weaved her way through the garden, brushing a fern off her leg, and stopped in a small clearing. A few trees dappled the sky, their leaves dancing in the wind. On the ground, there were many plants of a variety of colors. There was nightshade kennel, that was dark blue with a purple stem, burning flamcor, red, yellow, and orange, and countless others. But she walked up to the one in the middle, the most exquisite plant in the clearing. Each stem was either green, blue, purple, red, or black, and they all faded into a creamy, colorful white at the bottom. After that pair of colors, there was another, this time fading from white to a color. And it went on and on and on until it got to the middle, where a stem grew out, and at the top, a sparkling light came out of it. The light was made of tiny particles of —

Fairy dust, Amber thought. She moved her hand through it, remembering when it had finally grown to its fullest height, back when her mother was alive. She remembered it all. “Look, Mom, look!” she had said. Her mother had looked up from her book and smiled, then walked over. 

“Amber, that’s fairy dust. Even just a portion of it can make you do anything.” 

“Anything? Mom, that sounds like just a few things to me.” Her mother had turned her head towards the sky and laughed. When she laughed, everything felt better again. She could make Amber feel better, even in the darkest times.  Her mother had faced her and said, 

“Well, not everything, but it can make you fly, or shrink. That’s something, isn’t it?” Amber had turned wide-eyed and looked at the plant. 

“Are you sure that something as small as this could make you FLY?” 

“Yes, Amber, I’m positive. Do you know why fairy dust is so powerful?” she had asked. 

“No, why?” 

“Fairy dust is made with bravery and compassion. Those are the most powerful elements.” Amber’s eyes welled with tears. She searched her brain for her earliest memory of her mother, but all she could remember was cool blond hair resting on her face and arms embracing her. She sucked in breath, but it was no use. Drops of water slowly slid down her cheeks. She wiped them on her cloak, and trudged back up to the house, leaves crunching beneath her feet.

Chapter 2

What they wonder and what they know

“We have granted her the gift,” the first one said, “but she shines a little brighter than the rest. Why is that?” 

“She is the one. The weight of the world rests on her shoulders. She must save us all,” the second one murmured. The wise one looked up and said, 

“Yes, I agree, she is the one. She will not only have to save us all, she will have to defeat the one who has never been defeated. She has to find the thing that has never been found, and survive the place that has never been survived.” The first one looked questioningly at the wise one. 

“But one from her heritage has been stolen by the wicked-souled, the one that has never been defeated. Why take her into the battle, too?” The wise one looked on.

 “She will not be taken into the battle, she will be the one to end the battle.” The second one quietly said, 

“Yes… yes… I see it. She will be the one. She is the one. But she needs to know that she is the one. How do we tell her?” 

“We don’t,” the wise one said, 

“We have to watch. We do not help her. She will have help every step of the way, she just won’t know it.”     

Chapter 3

The seer tree’s advice

Amber shivered in the cold night air.  She was outside, wearing her blue-and-purple swirl cloak, standing in front of a towering oak tree. But this wasn’t any normal tree. This was the seer tree, the tree that could see the future. She took a deep breath, then knocked three times on the ancient oak. It grunted, then opened one eye. It looked down and saw Amber.

“I’m sorry to have woken — ” But she was cut short by the tree, its wide mouth split into a smile and it bellowed, 

“Amber!  How are you, and what brings you here?”

Amber opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead, she thought it. She knew better than anyone that the seer tree could read minds.

“Ah,” it said wisely, “you are wondering whether you have powers or not.” She nodded. “Well… well. Let me see here. Yes, that one,” it muttered, scavenging through its leaves. “You are unaware of it, Amber? Of the sensation that the sun is cold, the moon warm?”

Amber thought. Now that the tree mentioned it, Amber had seemed cold on that sunny day they went to the park to exercise the dragons, and when they were catching fish from the pond. “I have,” she said with confidence in her voice.

“Well,” the seer tree said, “if you have magical powers, you will get them in the next three days.” Amber’s heart soared. She was very sure that the tree had seen her magic happen! In the future, of course. She turned and ran home, and the last words she heard the tree yell were, “And don’t try too hard! You’ll get an opportunity soon!”

*******

The next morning, Amber got up before the sun rose and went out. She felt hot, which she took as a good sign and took off her cloak. She had taken several deep breaths when she heard footsteps. She felt a little spooked as her father never got up this early, but nonetheless, she tiptoed curiously around the house into the backyard. She followed the sound of the footsteps into the garden where she stopped. She saw someone pulling plants out of the ground, one by one, stowing each one into their satchel. Amber stood, horrified for one second, then without thinking, lunged herself at the figure, knocking them to the ground. “Stop!” she cried, but no sound came out. She had lost her voice. The figure was sucking her in… grasping her soul, tugging it. Sweat trickled down her face. She was falling in… in… Amber bolted upright in her bed, looking around. “Just a dream,” she thought. “Just a dream.”

**************

But as much as Amber hated the dream, it followed her out of bed, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. She sat down at her chair, as usual, and heard Sebastion whine that it was his chair, as usual. Her father scolded him, as usual. But, it felt… unusual. When she told him this, he stole an excited glance at Flamelick, then asked her the thing she least expected.

“Amber, are you having… strange dreams?” 

She looked up, startled.

“Yes,” she said, pushing her long, raven-black hair out of her face. He gasped and asked, 

“When?” 

“Last night,” she explained, starting with her being outside at night. When she ended, Sebastian let out a squeak of terror and ran to his room. However, her father’s face split into a wide smile as he said, 

“Amber, those dreams are called terror dreams. They’re there to mark the start of your powers. They stay with you for four months at the most, and three weeks at the least. The normal time to lose them is around two months, but the earlier they leave you, the more powerful you will get.” He paused and went on, “I myself only had the dreams for about a month and a half, and your — your mother had them for about five weeks.” He pushed back tears.

“But are the dreams always the same?” Amber asked. 

“A little bit is added on each time,” he said. 

“Oh, no!” she groaned. “That dream alone is bad enough!” 

Her father smiled weakly at her as if to say, “There’s nothing we can do about it.” 

“Well, Amber, this might actually be a good sign!” 

“How can a nightmare be a GOOD sign?!” she exclaimed.

“This is not a nightmare. This is a terror dream,” he said. “And with terror dreams come powers.” Amber gasped. “And with powers come this.” He used his finger to indicate his ear, which was pointed at the top. She gasped again. 

“I’m an elf?”

“That you are. And elves go to academies,” he said.

“I’m… I’m… going to… Lenmonoral Academy?” she breathed. 

“Yes, Amber you are going to Lenmonoral Academy!” 

****************

Amber heaved her trunk down the last step, collapsing the moment it hit the ground. Panting, she sat up and looked at her father.

  “Need a hand?” he asked. 

“No… I’m… perfectly fine…” she panted. “Fine… yes, I need help.” He grabbed the trunk and heaved, dragging it behind him. 

“What did you pack in here?” he said, exasperated. 

“Everything you told me to pack,” Amber said casually, her green eyes sparkling in the sunlight. 

“Well, either I told you to pack too much, or you packed a few extra things,” he said. “My guess is that you packed a few extra things.” 

“Well, if you think that, then you’re wrong, because the only extra things I packed are my flying boots, and an extra book,” she argued. 

“Fine, fine, let’s just make it out the door, and then we can talk about it.” Flamelick scampered over to her and nuzzled her cheek. 

“I’ll be all right, Flamelick, don’t worry.” She held out her hand. Flamelick nibbled her fingers. She giggled.

 “Okay, Flamelick, don’t worry, it’ll be fine.” She turned, and followed her father out the door.

***********

Amber clambered inside the Ottonoski (an Ottonoski is a flying otter/elephant), excitement coursing through her. She had only been in an Ottonoski once, when she was seven and had broken her arm, and they had needed quick transportation. But she wasn’t excited about riding an Ottonoski. She was excited about the reason she was riding it. An Eloker flight attendant, a man with light blond hair, brown eyes, and a mustache, stepped up to her and said, 

“Hello. My name is Charlie Egnol, and I will be your assistant for today’s trip. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. I will be in sector A-56 if you need me.” 

“Wait,” Amber said curiously as Charlie started to board. “There are different sectors in an Ottonoski?” 

He climbed down the steps and said, 

“Well, this one here is a big one, so, yes, Eurora has different sectors.” 

“Eurora?” she asked. 

“That’s the name of this particular Ottonoski,” he answered casually. 

“Oh.” Amber climbed inside Eurora, and looked around. The room itself was giant, with squashy pillows circling around it, and in the middle, a chair that could turn itself into a bed and a tray with water, a sandwich, and some fruit. The air smelled moist, and the whole room had a pink tinge to it. It was then that she noticed the doors, camouflage into the wall, leading to what she guessed were different sectors. 

“Well, I’d best be off now!” Charlie said cheerfully. He walked toward a door labeled,  “Work sectors, A-11 through A-73.” But just as he reached the door, a sound mixed with a very loud snore and high-pitched music rang out, and then the ground felt as if it were lowering at high speed beneath her feet. When she looked down, she realized that that was exactly what was happening. Then — BOING! Amber was bounced up, as if she were on a trampoline. But, unlike being on a trampoline, she didn’t come down. She felt the floor lower — without her. She looked over at Charlie in horror, but he looked as if he got bounced up by an Ottonoski and didn’t come down every day. Casually, he patted the wall and said (or, rather, yelled),

 “Eurora! Drop!” 

Amber felt the ground bounce back up to the right height, and, heart pounding in her ears, turned to him. 

“What,” she said furiously, “just happened?”

 Charlie answered by saying simply, “She just breathed.” 

“Oh, that makes sense, now I understand,” she said hotly. He turned to face her. 

“Ottonoskis don’t need to breathe. Air gets attracted to the small holes in their tail, and that’s how they get it into their body. However, they can breathe, and Eurora just did. You just felt what happens inside their body when they do,” he said, opening the door and walking inside. 

****************

Many hours had passed. Amber had drunk many glasses of cold water (a water elf kept refilling it), and Eurora kept doing loop-the-loops in the air, making her feel sick. An earth elf had come by once asking her if she needed anything. 

“No,” she had said. “But I have a question: how do you get up to Eurora’s Olwanxes?” (An Olwanx is a little bump on an Ottonoski. There are usually about twenty-seven of them.) He had made a ladder made out of plants, and then left. Aside from the water, fire, and wind elves that came by, Amber was alone with her thoughts. She started doodling a picture of what she imagined Lenmonoral Academy would look like, when Eurora did another loop-the-loop, causing her to smash into the wall face-first. Sitting up and rubbing her bruised cheek, she started on another page. She drew a castle, with blue gates and many towers. There was a pathway made of cobblestone, and carriages were coming up that road. Halfway through drawing a third carriage, though, she fell asleep. When she woke up, she thought,  Maybe Charlie can do something about how hot it is. She went through the door labeled: work sectors A-11 through A-73, looked for sector A-56, and, once she found it, opened the door. It was a replica of the room she had just been in, but smaller, and it had a desk with a computer. But no Charlie. She looked around. “Charlie?” she said timidly. but there was no doubt about it; Charlie wasn’t in this room.

************

Amber had gone back to the main room, and opened Eurora’s Olwanxes. She popped her head out of one of them and gasped. Not only was the wind cool, but the sky didn’t have a single cloud in sight, and when she looked down, she realized that she was flying over a sea of green trees, colorful plants, and every type of bird she could imagine. But, at that moment, Eurora did a loop-the-loop and it was all Amber could do to hold herself in the hump. She was climbing down when she heard a voice behind her. The voice said,

 “I would stay in the hump if I were you. There are big winds in the Clonerlech lands.” Amber fell down the rest of the ladder, startled. A face appeared above her. It was a boy, and he didn’t look too much older than Amber. He looked about sixteen. 

“We’re in the Clonerlech lands?” she asked. 

“Yes,” he said, “we are currently flying over Berrinor forest. My name is Thomas. I’m helping Charlie around the place. I suspect you’ve already met him?” 

“Yeah,” she said, “but I don’t know where he is.” 

Thomas looked curiously at her. 

“What do you mean? He’s in sector A-56.”

 “No, he’s not. I checked. Anyway, when will we get there?” Amber asked. 

“Well, probably in an hour or so. But Eurora might need to stop and take a break.” 

“Only an hour left?!” she exclaimed. 

“No, not exactly,” he said. “We’ll stop in the Erierlon lands in about twenty minutes at an Ottonoski airport.” 

She gaped at him. He laughed.

 “Amber, I’m excited too. You know, I’m in my fourth year at the academy.” 

“Wait…” Amber said curiously. “I haven’t told you my name yet. How do you know it?” 

“Because,” Thomas said, “I know the name of every person who boards. I have to. There’s twenty-one-year-old Henry, nineteen-year-old Emily, twelve-year-old Nora — ” But he was cut short by Amber.

 “Wait,” she said, “there’s another twelve-year-old here?”

 “Yes,” he said. “I thought you already knew. C’mon, follow me.” 

She bobbed excitedly around him as they walked into a sector labeled, “Rooms for 12 to 17 year-olds.” They walked down the hall, passing rooms labeled, “Lost treasures, or eagle egg room, or plant room.” Finally, they stopped at a room called, “Replica room for young elves.”  Thomas opened the door. A girl sat there. She had dark red hair that stopped at her neck, dark brown eyes, and, when she stood up, Amber realized she was very much her height. 

“Hi,” the girl said shyly. “I’m Nora. I’m going to Lenmonoral Academy, also. What’s your name?” 

“I’m — I’m Amber,” Amber said. But she was looking at Nora’s ears. The tips had turned grayish purple, and they looked very swollen. Nora saw where she was looking, and said even more shyly,

 “That’s just my elf ears becoming elf ears. They look like that, don’t worry.”

 “Oh. that’s neat. When did it start?” 

“A few days ago,” she answered. “Sometimes it hurts, but most of the time it doesn’t.” 

“When d’you think I’ll get them?” Amber asked. 

“Right now,” Nora said, pointing to her ears. She looked in the mirror, and saw her ears had turned a glassy blue. She gasped. 

“I… I didn’t know… I mean, I hadn’t noticed it before.” 

“When I got mine, my powers came a few… oh, what was it? About half an hour later.” Thomas smiled. 

“Well, I’ll leave you two to it, then.” And with that, he closed the door behind him, leaving the girls in the room. Amber tried using magic while Nora watched for a few minutes, but flopped down next to her, exhausted.

 “I give up,” she said. 

“You can’t just give up!” Nora said. 

“I can barely make a snowflake, but as long as you have signs, that’s good enough! Watch.” Amber watched as she twirled her hand majestically in the air, and she could just make out a single snowflake float silently down and land on Nora’s tongue. 

“Fine. I admit, that is not a lot but it’s more than I can do!” she said hopelessly. 

“Try again.” 

“Oh, fine.” Amber did the same twirl in the air that Nora had done, but still, nothing happened. 

“Well,” she said, “maybe snow isn’t your strong suit. Try filling that cup of water over there.” They tried, and tried other things in its path. They tried making plants grow, making a light wind, making a fire in the hearth, making, making, making. Nothing worked. Finally, after hours of practicing in the flickering light of the candle, who else to walk in but… 

“Charlie!” Amber exclaimed. 

“Where were you when I went into sector A-56?” He looked at her questioningly.

 “What are you talking about?” 

“What are YOU talking about?”

 “Nothing. I came in here to tell you two to get some rest. We’ll be flying into the night.” Then he left without another word. 

“Well, that sure was weird,” Nora said, before cuddling up to the couch and falling asleep. 

****************

Amber, too, fell asleep, but she suddenly found herself in her cloak outside. She heard footsteps. She followed them. She saw a figure ripping out their magical plants and stuffing them in their satchel. She lunged at the figure, tried to scream, “No!” and lost her voice. The figure tried to suck in her soul, but it didn’t end there. Instead, Amber grabbed her soul, pulling it back inside of her. The figure then raised its hands, and… 

“Amber! Amber! Wake up!” Amber shifted uncomfortably on the ground. 

“What?” Nora was peering at her with wide, excited eyes. 

“We’re at the airport! We’re in the Erierleon lands!” 

She sat up instantly. 

“We’re almost at Lenmonoral Academy!” 

Chapter 4

Color

Nora stared, wild-eyed, out the window. 

“Can you see anything?” Amber asked her anxiously. 

“No… wait, yes!” She squinted her eyes, looking for whatever it was that she had seen. “What did it look like?”

 “Well… it looked sort of shiny, like a toy glimmering in the sun. but it’s hard to see because of all the fog. It should clear up in fifteen minutes or so, but — hey! There it is again!” 

Amber looked out the other window and peered out. But the most she saw was a swirling fog. “I don’t see anything, Nora. Maybe it was just… I don’t know, another Ottonoski?” But then she saw it. A faint, shiny glimmer. It looked very far away, but — suddenly, the ground gave a very large heave, and thumped down to solid earth. 

“We’re finally at the airport!” exclaimed Nora. But no sooner had the words left her mouth than the ground began to rumble, throwing the door open and throwing the girls into the hallway. Thomas was there, along with Charlie. They brought them out into the main room, where the door outside had opened. 

“Thanks for the ride, Eurora,” Thomas said, petting the Ottonoski’s trunk. The air was chilly, and they saw their breaths rise in the air as they stepped out. Amber shivered beneath her cloak. 

“Inside, inside, please!” A short man with a tangled beard and a very round nose stepped up to her. 

“In ‘ere, you! Too cold, too cold, yes. Follow me.” The man walked through a thick crowd of elves, Nora and Amber trailing behind. Finally, they reached a glass door. The little man stepped up and pulled something out of his shirt. He waved the thing in front of the door, and, to their astonishment, the door opened. They stepped inside and looked around. They were in a very orderly room. The ground was made of marble, and there were gray armchairs. In the front room, there was a lady at a desk, absentmindedly freezing things like glasses of water, or bracelets. There was also an unlit hearth in the room they were standing in. The man turned to Amber and said, 

“D’yeh mind lightin’ that hearth for me?”

 “I — I can’t,” she said, embarrassed. 

“Course yeh can! Yeh just wave yer hand and BLAMMO! A fire.” (At this, he waved his hand dramatically in the air, narrowly missing Nora’s face.) 

“No, I’m sorry, I just don’t have my powers yet,” she mumbled. 

“Just ‘cause yeh don’t have yer powers, doesn’t mean yeh can’t try!” he said, with another dramatic wave of his hand. So Amber looked hopelessly at the hearth and waved her hand in the air. Nothing happened. 

“Well, at least yeh tried,” the man said. “I’m Stiltskin, if yeh wanna know. Well, that’s my last name. My firs’ name’s Redtail. Everyone calls me Stiltskin, though. Now, you’d best pick yer carriage. Follow me.” 

Stiltskin led them up a winding staircase and stopped when they reached a door. The door looked like just a door from afar, but up close, she could see it had tiny engravings in it. There was a fairy, a hippogriff, and many other mythical creatures. Unfortunately, Stiltskin opened the door too quickly, and the girls couldn’t look at it for too long. But what was behind the door was even more stunning. At first, Amber couldn’t see a thing. But, as her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she gasped. They had stepped out onto a balcony, the biggest balcony she had ever seen. It was at least as big as five Ottonoskis. Five BIG Ottonoskis. And the things on the deck were… carriages! But they weren’t ordinary carriages. They were made of gold or silver, and they were all jewel-encrusted. Some had rubies, some had diamonds, some had opal, and one even had all of them! 

“Well? Choose quickly now!” Stiltskin looked out through the sea of jewels. Nora had started moving towards one with opal and rubies. But Amber looked out through the carriages and one of them caught her eye: it was one with sapphire, moonstone, emerald, and diamond. The curtains were red velvet, and the carriage itself was gold. Stiltskin saw her looking at it and said, 

“Ah! So you’ve found yer ride! Well, I’ll bring this one down, and you go ahead back to the main entrance.” She walked down the steps, pondering what Lenmonoral academy would look like for the twelfth time. But when she got down to the main floor, she stopped, looking wide-eyed at the hearth. There, where there had once been cold, lonely logs, was a blazing, crackling, unmistakable fire.

 **************** 

“Nora! Stiltskin! The fire!” Amber rushed up the stairs, not even stopping to say sorry when she knocked over a short man in a green hat. When she got to the top of the staircase, panting and exhausted, she flung open the engraved door and rushed over to where Stiltskin was examining a carriage with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. He looked up, and by what Amber could see, he looked slightly annoyed. 

“What’re you doin’ back up here?” he asked. 

“The… fire… it’s lit… ” she said, hands on her knees. At that moment, Nora walked over and said,

 “I thought you had already picked your carriage! What are you doing back up again?” Nora looked at Stiltskin to explain, but he was gone. They turned around just in time to see his little foot disappear behind the open door. They looked at each other, then followed, Amber much slower, as she had also run up the stairs. When they got to the bottom, Stiltskin was beaming at Amber. 

“I told yeh you could do it, didn’ I? Didn’ I?” Nora swiftly moved past him and gaped at the fire, watching as it turned to embers as it reached the top of the hearth. 

“How did you do that?” she asked in envy. 

“Honestly, I have no idea. It was just there when I came down,” Amber said. But Nora was no longer looking at the fire. She had turned to look at her and slowly said, 

“Amber… your eyes…” Nora faltered, still staring. Amber looked at Stiltskin, and saw that he, too, was staring. 

“What?” she finally said to him after a few moments. He looked around jerkily and whispered in her ear, 

“I’ll get a mirror. It’ll explain everythin’.” And with that, he bounded up the stairs, only to return a second later with a very fancy mirror. She looked in the mirror and gasped. Her eyes, usually a brilliant shade of green, were rapidly changing color. It went from blue to lavender to red to yellow… it was too confusing. Keeping count made her head spin. Nora stepped up and said, 

“This happened to me also. The color it lands on is your main power. My main power is water, and my eyes were blue for a couple of hours. But… it’s still neat to watch.”

 “Wouldn’t my main power be fire, because I lit one with magic?” Amber asked, curiously. 

“No, the first thing I did was grow a small beanstalk.” 

She kept looking in the mirror. Was it just her, or were the colors slowing down? It looked as though the glassy blue was coming around a lot. She looked excitedly at Nora, who grinned back. She looked back in the mirror. The colors really were slowing down! Slower… slower… slower… the colors completely stopped. Glassy blue eyes stared back at Amber from the mirror. Stiltskin lowered the mirror. 

“Ice! That’s yer power! A thumpin’ good power, ice is!” He started to talk about the ice powers that he’d heard of, when Nora checked her watch and said, 

“Amber! We’re going to be late!” And she hurtled up the stairs, Amber and Stiltskin following behind her. 

********** 

After five minutes of staring out the window at the beautiful sights, Amber started looking for Nora instead. She kept thinking that they were there, with all of the looming towers and carriages. But nothing exciting had happened yet, other than the fairies that kept flying in through the windows. Amber had never seen one before, so she whipped out her sketchbook and stared intently at one who had landed on the seat and was talking to her in fairy. She knew the difference between girls and boys, and this one, with its long, orange-and-purple-hair, bare feet, and patterned wings, was definitely a girl. She started scribbling a picture of the fairy, who seemed very annoyed that Amber was paying no attention whatsoever. It started talking in what seemed like its impression of English. 

“… you know, you sould wiwy pay attention to me. You hoowmins awe so stwange. I don’t undewstand why I had to come hewe. hmph!” And with that, the fairy dove off into another carriage. Amber tried to see inside the carriage, but she was nowhere to be seen. Instead, something else caught her eye: a blue ear. Amber leapt up in her seat, looking through the window once more, just to make sure it hadn’t been a trick of the light. There! She caught a glimpse of it again. 

“Nora!” she said loudly. A face appeared out the window, but it wasn’t Nora. It was a boy, and by the look of the carriage and his ears, he was headed for the academy, too. He had dark brown hair, brown eyes, and looked as though he had just come off of a roller coaster. 

“Boy, fairies can be annoying. That one was asking me if I had a horse at home, and if so, how tall was it!” he said, obviously glad that the fairy was gone. Amber giggled. The boy looked irritably at her. 

“If you think it’s funny, it’s not. That fairy, that fairy pinched me, and you don’t want to know what a fairy pinching you feels like.” He looked at her sharply. “I’m Oliver. Who’re you?” 

“Amber.”

 Oliver looked at her, then asked, 

“Well, AMBER, why’d you call me… what did you call me?” Amber looked around, suddenly remembering why she was talking to Oliver in the first place. 

“Oh… I was looking for my friend… have you seen her?”

He looked questioningly at her, then looked around too. 

“No, but I have seen a few carriages, I could tell you what they looked like. I have a good memo — ” But he was almost thrown out of the carriage by a bump in the road.

 “Um… Oliver?” Amber asked, because he had disappeared back into the carriage. She waited for a few moments before realizing that Oliver wasn’t coming back out. She slumped in her chair, waiting and waiting and waiting for another looming tower to appear, just to get her hopes up. And finally, another tower did.

Chapter 5

Lenmonoral Academy

It was like no other one she had seen before. It was gold, and had so many towers, she couldn’t have counted them if she went around the castle. There was one tower, leaning just above some of the biggest ones, as if holding its breath, or as if trying to touch the sky. At the top of it, there was a flag, and it showed the academy’s symbol: a blaze of fire, a splash of water, a breath of wind, and a twisting vine. She looked out the window again and saw a crowd, and the biggest crowd she had ever seen. Clumped together, spread out, parents, kids, she could even spot a purple dragon sitting next to a man. But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find Nora. Once, she thought she saw her, but it was only a girl who had red hair too. The front gates caught her eye, and she gasped. They were gold, and two guards in Paddingswood silver stood on either side of it, cautiously surveying the crowd. But that wasn’t what had made her gasp. A woman in an elegant purple cloak and two vines twisting up her legs, which were the same color as her cloak, was chatting with a guard, who looked very attentive. Her hair, streaked with white and quite obviously once a brilliant shade of raven-black, was tied back in a strict bun. Her sharp blue eyes focused only on the guard, boring into him. She looked… somewhat controlled. Leaderly. That was the only thing Amber needed to know before realizing who this was. 

This is the headmistress, she thought, feeling foolish for not realizing it before. The woman looked exactly like what a headmistress should look like. She watched the woman a second longer before walking back into the crowd, although she didn’t know where her legs were leading her. She looked over her shoulder, just in case she could steal another glance at the headmistress, when —

”Ow!” a girl with long blond hair and blue eyes looked angrily at her. “Watch where you’re going!” 

“Sorry,” Amber said, but the girl clearly had a temper. She brushed past her without another word. As the girl walked away, Amber could hear her mutter, 

“Sheesh.”

“Gather up! Gather up, all of the elves who are coming to the academy!” The headmistress was shouting instructions out into the crowd, but when only a small group, including Amber, came up, she raised one hand and lowered it to the crowd. Snake-like vines twisted out of her hand, and out into it, disappearing behind a thick wall of people. Amber didn’t realize what was happening until the outer part of the crowd parted, revealing a somewhat larger group of elves. The headmistress looked to one of the guards and said, 

“Gather up the rest and bring them into the main hall. I will bring this group.” And with another flick of her hand, they were headed inside the castle. They stepped into the gleaming gates to the entrance and found themselves in a sort of brightly lit tunnel, but it wasn’t ordinary firelight. Amber looked at the walls and realized that the light was coming from the wall itself. A blue tinge escaped it, but it seemed to fill up the entire tunnel, flooding it with bright blue light. She looked, amazed, as the walls seemed to shrink inward, and the group suddenly became cramped. But, no matter how cramped they were, the light seemed to entrance them, and they couldn’t look away. Finally, a light came from in front of them, and this light seemed unmagical. They emerged in a room with five long tables, three dazzlingly bright chandeliers swinging from the ceiling, and a stage with ten chairs, in which professors sat. It looked very elegant, and everyone, as far as Amber could see, was trying to eat up every detail. The headmistress turned on her heel to face them, and all eyes turned abruptly towards her. 

“I am professor Ophelia Moontwist. This is MY academy, and therefore, you will not disobey the rules. Now, before the next group comes, I want to know who has done magic. If you have, please step out of the group.” Amber and a few other girls stepped up, and when she realized one of the girls was the girl she had bumped into, she edged a little farther away from her. Professor Moontwist looked at them for a moment, then led them up the stairs to the stage. Once they were up, she asked, 

“Now that I know who has powers, I want to know what your main power is. You!” She pointed to a nervous-looking girl with brown hair that fell over her shoulders and brown eyes. “What is your main power?” 

The girl quivered before saying in a tiny squeak, “M-my main power is c-crystal, but I f-first m-made it rain… ”

 “Good, good, crystal… interesting… and what might your name be?”

 “Juniper Skymist.” 

“All right, Juniper Skymist, you may go back down.” Juniper, looking relieved, walked quickly down the stairs. This time, Professor Moontwist looked sharply at the girl Amber had bumped into. 

“What is YOUR main power?” 

The girl looked up and slowly said, “My main power is earth, but I first made a lightball.”

 “And what is your name?” 

“Cattie Woodland.” 

“Cattie Woodland, you may go back down.” And it went on like that for four other people, until there were only Amber and a girl with curly reddish hair and hazel eyes. Professor Moontwist looked at Amber, then asked, 

“What is your main power?” 

“Ice, but I lit a fire first.”

 “And what is your name?”

 “Amber Flickspell.” 

“Amber Flickspell, you may go.” Dazed, she walked down into the now crowded main hall. She watched the last girl carefully. She looked completely unafraid. In fact, she almost looked more leaderly than Professor Moontwist. She watched as the girl walked down glamorously, and headed towards two other girls, one with long, pale blond hair and green eyes, the other with short brown hair and bright blue eyes. Amber looked around and noticed a girl with short red hair and hazel eyes. Nora flashed her a grin and disappeared back into the crowd. Excitement coursing through her, she began walking around, not knowing what to do or where to go. But a second later, Professor Moontwist called out,

 “Everyone! If you are water, ice, or snow type, sit down at the table in the middle!”

Amber sat down, looking at the others. She noticed Nora once again, and sat down next to her. “What are we doing?” she asked in confusion. 

“I think we’re being seated into our powers. You know, fire, wind, water, earth, and storm. My brother told me all about it. So did my sister. They’re both in their fifth year here.” 

“You have a brother AND a sister?” Amber said in exasperation. 

“Yes, but they’re not here right now. Professor Moontwist is about to give us our dragons!” Nora looked up to the stage, and Amber followed her eyes to see five dragons, two red, one green, one purple, and one shadowy black. And they were all looking, either impatiently or curiously, out into the crowd. She felt a jolt of excitement as one dragon, the purple one, stared right at her as sparks flew from its nostrils. And she felt even more excited as Professor Moontwist started speaking once more. 

“… the next five elves I call are to put on the receiver’s necklace, and look for a path of light towards a dragon. That dragon is to be theirs. Now, these are the elves who are coming up: Raven Nightmoon, Clay Starflight, Destiny Wisterlull, Memory Wisterlull, and Juniper Skymist. Please come up.” Amber sunk back into her seat. So no dragons out of that group were hers. But no matter how much sadness covered her, she couldn’t help watching. She looked up at the stage just in time to see Professor Moontwist pull a stone dangling from a string off of her neck. The stone was five colors, and she wasn’t surprised to see that the colors were blue, black, green, purple, and red. One of the girls, she couldn’t tell who, took the stone and slipped it over her neck. The girl looked at all of the dragons slowly, her eyes landing on one of the red dragons. She walked towards it, arm outstretched. She gasped quietly as the dragon walked up and nuzzled her hand. Professor Moontwist looked at the dragon and said, 

“Destiny Wisterlull, this dragon is now your responsibility. You care for it, and you name it. What is this dragon to be called?” Destiny looked at the dragon for a moment before saying, 

“Fireflick.” 

 “Fireflick, please follow my vine to your room. Destiny, please sit down at your table.” She raised her hand, for the second time that day, and dramatically brought it down with a swish of her hand. A vine crept out of it, twisting its snake-like body in the air, as if it were swimming. Amber watched Fireflick disappear behind the doors, and watched as the next elf was called forward.

And on and on it went, five elves, five dragons. She waited for her name to be called forward, but she waited all the way through the five main powers and she still didn’t have a dragon. The only fairly exciting thing happened during the weather types. They were halfway through, and once the five elves had gone, Professor Moontwist called out, “Cattie Woodland, Oliver Tistlemon, Petra Seashade, Azari Nightflame, and Nora Swirlcox.” Amber glanced at Nora, who looked as though her worst nightmare and best daydream had been squashed together in one moment. 

“Go on, Nora,” she whispered. 

“Oh… okay,” Nora said, sounding as though the air had been taken from her. Amber watched as she walked up the steps like a ghost. She saw the girl with curly reddish hair she had seen earlier, and she saw the girl push past Nora in line. Amber sat straight up, the excitement she had felt only moments earlier replaced by red-hot anger. But all she could do was watch as Nora looked at the other girl with pure hatred. Professor Moontwist looked at the girl and gave her the stone. The girl slipped it over her neck, smirked at Nora, and looked out at the dragons. Two of them were gray with purple claws and bright blue eyes, one was purple with a bright blue splotch on its paw, as if someone had spilled paint on it, one was a misty white, like a fog on a dreary day, and the last one was coal-black with forest green eyes and a purple hurricane-like shape on its tail, which was swerving this way and that, as though antsy to move about. The girl was walking towards the white one, looking it over carefully, but a moment later she swerved around and started walking towards the black one. It looked as though an invisible hand was pushing her towards it, and she stopped abruptly at its sleek, scaly head. Nonetheless, the girl still looked brave, and she tucked her curly hair behind her ear and held out her hand. The dragon looked doubtfully at her for a moment, but when the girl turned her head the other way, it nudged her hand happily. Professor Moontwist looked at the dragon and said, 

“Azari Nightflame, this is a weather night fury. Type: uncommon, main powers: moon, weather, and wind. Now all that is left to do is for you to name him.” The girl, Azari, said almost immediately,

 “Falconshine.” And then professor Moontwist looked at her, said, 

“Tell Falconshine to follow my vine.” Then moved on to Nora as the dragon walked down the steps. Professor Moontwist slipped the necklace off of her neck, yet again — but Azari never took it off, Amber thought. how is that possible? She barely had time to think about it, though, for Nora was looking out at the dragons, looking somewhat dazed. She walked down the line, first to the gray ones, but when nothing happened, she moved on to the misty white one. But after only a few seconds, her head snapped to attention at the purple one. She looked at it, puzzled for a moment, but she slowly started towards it, hand outstretched. The dragon, to Amber’s surprise, bounded up to Nora’s hand like a playful dog. It sniffed her hand all over before pressing its nose on it so hard, she almost fell down! Nora looked at the dragon for a bit, smiled, then muttered something under her breath. Professor Moontwist looked at the dragon, then said, 

“Nora Swirlcox, this is a wind-weather type, and her main powers are weather, wind, and earth. What would you like to name her?” She had barely finished her sentence, however, when Nora blurted out,

“Mistyshade.” 

“Nora, please tell Mistyshade to follow my vine.” And with that, Nora’s dragon had disappeared. It went on and on for what felt like ages until the weathers were over. But, once they were, Professor Moontwist looked out into the crowd and said, 

“Now, we’ll move onto the last section: the rares. These five dragons are almost extinct, but we need five rares every year. So, the next elves I call, come up. Audrey Finswick, Poppy Flowerdust, Luna SilverMoon, Sam Mistfawn, and Amber Flickspell.” 

Amber’s stomach lurched at the sound of her name, but she was slowly pushed to her feet and walked up the steps. The five dragons looked like tropical birds — but there weren’t five dragons. Four dragons stood dramatically, but where the fifth one should be, there was only a lone shadow. She barely had time to ponder, though, before she realized she was first in line. She looked up at the headmistress, trying to hide her terrified feelings. Professor Moontwist looked at her with a glint in her eye and handed Amber the stone. The stone itself felt smooth and cool to the touch, and when she slipped it over her neck, that feeling swept throughout her whole body. She slowly turned to face the dragons, and saw, out of the corner of her eye, something moving in the shadows. She quickly turned, but it was gone. Amber sighed. It was probably just her imagination, anyway. She walked over to examine one of the dragons, and yet again, her eyes snapped back to that same spot. But this time, there was something else there. A golden path that appeared to be made of light was leading towards the shadows, and a pair of blue eyes stared at her from their depths. Amber turned quickly, and saw something that surely hadn’t been there before. The dragon looked nothing like a tropical bird. In fact, it looked more like an ordinary rainbowspike than anything else. It was faded the colors of the rainbow with a silvery-white belly, and on its paw, she could see a gold sun with three stars around it in the same color. Its eyes were a dazzlingly bright blue, and she walked towards it, almost petrified by its stare. The dragon slowly lifted its wings just enough for her to see scattered star scales on the bright blue underside, making it look like the daytime sky, except with stars. Amber wanted to run away screaming, but she held her breath and edged closer, locking eyes with the creature. She held out her hand, and looked away, not wanting to see. She didn’t know what to think of it. Part of her was excited that her dragon was a rare, the other part was disappointed that the rare dragon that she had was plain. She was almost too lost in her thoughts, but she felt a warm, scaly muzzle press against her hand. She gasped quietly. Its scales felt like the cool night air, and she was reminded of home. Amber looked up at Professor Moontwist, who smiled, then said, 

“Amber Flickspell, this dragon is a rainlight fury. Her main powers are weather, ice, water, and light. What would you like to name her?” 

She stood, pondering, not knowing what to name her dragon. She was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to name her, but then Amber thought of the moment when she had touched the dragon, and it came to her. 

“Watertwist,” she said, looking at the sun on her paw.

 “Amber, please tell Watertwist to follow my vine.” Amber looked at her dragon, HER dragon, for a moment, then she stroked Watertwist’s scales and said in a low voice, 

“Watertwist, will you please follow that vine?” She pointed to the still vine, not moving an inch. Watertwist tilted her head, and she stifled a giggle. 

“Go on,” she said, looking into those great big eyes. Watertwist looked at the stairs, then bounded after the vine, which had started rounding the corner. And with that, Amber stepped down, knees shaking, and returned to her table. Nora was there, and she stared, open-mouthed, at her. 

“WHAT…WAS…THAT?!” she asked, looking as though Amber had just destroyed all evil. “Um… what was what?” she asked, looking curiously at her. 

“THAT! You just got a RAINLIGHT FURY! They’re almost extinct!” she said, excitement rising in every syllable. 

“Someone named Autumn Glory found a pack of only about thirty of them a few years ago! They were thought to be extinct, even then! But you got one!” 

She stared at Nora, not knowing what to say.

 “Well… she doesn’t look like a rare dragon, does she? She just looks like an ordinary rainbowspike. She can’t be THAT rare, can she?”

 “Yes, she can be that rare, Amber! I told you, THEY WERE THOUGHT TO BE EXTINCT! And, you got one. You got the type of dragon that was thought to be extinct! And all I got was a wind-weather dragon. At least she’s fully grown. Hey, we get to ride our dragons tomorrow!” Nora suddenly said, as if her jealousy was forgotten.

“I can’t wait. I wonder what it will feel like! Well, it will definitely feel like flying, but I don’t know what flying feels like, so I really hope it’s our first class!” Amber looked at her for a moment, but as she opened her mouth to speak, Professor Moontwist was starting to speak, and the whole room went silent.

“Everyone, before we start the feast, I would like to say a few words. Firstly, after the feast, you will be escorted to your room, and each room has three types of powers. For example, in one room, there is fire, weather, and ice, and in another, there is moon, earth, and crystal. Secondly, in your room, on your bed, you will find your flying outfit, including your flying boots, shirts that can help you turn invisible when your dragon does, and so on. And lastly, next to your flying outfit, you will find your course schedule, and the elves in your room will have the same one. Now, as I have spoken, we shall start the feast!” she waved her hand in the air, and silver goblets appeared. She waved her hand a second time, and silver plates and utensils appeared. And she twirled her hand in the air, and bowls of food appeared, along with food on Amber’s plate. Both she and Nora were utterly baffled. A boy to their right said, 

“First time seeing that? That’s exactly what I looked like when I saw it happen, too.” He nodded to Nora, then looked at Amber. Something about him looked familiar… 

“So, Amber, found out your main power yet?” Then it hit her. 

“THOMAS?” she said, looking at him in bewilderment. 

“Yeah,” Thomas said. “You’d better eat up. Tomorrow you start your lessons.” Nora looked at him the same way Amber had — as if she couldn’t quite place him. 

“Wait… weren’t you the person who dropped Amber off with me?” she asked, still looking curious. 

“Yep, and you’re Nora… Swirlcox? Is that right?” he asked her, a faint smile on his face.

“Yeah… that’s me,” she said quietly, grabbing a spoonful of potatoes. 

“So, as I was saying, Amber, HAVE you found out your power yet?”

“Um… yeah, it’s ice.”

“Oh. That’s what I thought. You have a blue tinge in your eyes.” He looked at her for a 

moment, then looked over his shoulder and said to a boy who looked about their age, 

“Hey, Raven! Come sit next to us!” 

A boy with unusual bright green eyes and very dark brown hair turned around, looked at Thomas, then said,

“You know you have snow power as your main and I have fire. I can’t.” 

“Oh, fine, as you’re the one who NEVER breaks rules, I guess you can stay there,” Thomas said sarcastically, looking hopefully at the boy who was supposedly named Raven. 

“NO, Thomas, I’m staying,” he said firmly, gripping the table. 

“Fine, fine,” Thomas said, and turned back to the girls.

“My little brother. He’s your age, but he’s all ‘never break the rules,’ so he’s no fun.” Nora laughed. 

“How many siblings do you have?” she asked him. 

“Well, we have a six-year-old brother. His name is Julian and then Raven, so that’s two, 

and then there’s Mabel, who already graduated. So, three.” He said all of this quickly, as if it were a speech he wanted to finish. And so it went on like that for a while, Amber and Nora asking him questions, him answering them, until before they knew it, Professor Moontwist was starting to talk again. 

“Everyone, everyone, now that the feast is over, please follow the escort at your table to 

your room. Once in your room, look at your course schedule, get used to being in there, and you should be in bed by 9:30.” Amber looked down the table to see a man in brilliant blue robes that matched his eyes. He was thin and had pale skin and brown hair. She sat up, not quite knowing what was happening, and lined up behind the man. He turned slowly around and started walking towards the exit, just as the other escorts did. With Nora behind her, she started following him down the blue-light path and into a door that blended into the wall. Once opened, Amber could see many other doors with pictures painted on them, like poison ivy or the night sky. They stopped at one showing an ice shard, a blazing fire, and a tornado. The man looked at them and said in a low, frosty voice, 

“Weather types, ice types, and fire types, enter this door.” 

Nora looked excitedly at 

Amber, and whispered, 

“We’re in the same room!” 

“We are?” she asked, puzzled.

“Well, I’m a weather type and you’re an ice type, so, yeah!” 

“Oh, now I get it! Good, at least I’ll know one person in my room.” They walked towards 

the opened door and stepped inside. It was a misty room with walls that were red, glassy blue, or lavender. The room had a hearth, which was flickering cheerfully, and six chairs piled around it — two lavender, two glassy blue, and two red. Over in the other corner was one medium-sized table with six chairs, and a purple carpet on the floor. Behind the table, there was a staircase, leading to what Amber guessed were their beds. She motioned to Nora that they should go check it out, and they hurried up the steps. As soon as they got to the top, they heard voices down below, which probably meant that the other elves had arrived. Amber looked around. It was, as she had suspected, the bedroom. There were twelve beds, four red, four glassy blue, and four lavender. At the side of each bed was a bedside table with a lamp. Nora looked at her and said, 

“I guess I’ll take one of the lavenders, and you take one of the blues.” 

“Yeah… I guess so,” Amber said, looking around. Another purple carpet was on the ground here, too. Nora started towards one of the lavenders, as she had said, and Amber took the bed next to it. She sat down in it and opened her mouth to talk to Nora, but a strange popping sound drowned her out. She looked down at her feet and realized that her suitcase was there, and on her bed lay a light purple, sky blue, turquoise, and pink swirl short-sleeved shirt with holes cut into the arms, blue jeans, and newly polished black flying boots with the Lenmonoral crest on the side. 

I guess I didn’t need to bring my flying boots with me, she thought. Amber looked at 

Nora, and realized that a popping noise had just echoed throughout the room once more. Lying on her friend’s side was a long-sleeved ocean-blue shirt and leggings that, on one leg, faded from neon green to purple, and on the other leg, faded from purple to neon green. And she could also see that Nora, too, had a pair of flying boots, but they were grey, not black. Aside from that, they were exactly the same as hers. The other thing the popping had brought was her suitcase, which, unlike Amber’s, was bulging. She stared at it and stared back at Nora. Nora laughed, and said,

“My parents made me pack a few extra things. They can be overprotective at times. 

Now, let’s go down and see who else is in our room!” And with that, she was off, racing down the stairs at top speed. 

“Wait for me!” Amber half-yelled, her black hair flying behind her like a shadow. When 

they got to the bottom, she counted ten elves, five were boys, and the rest girls. One of the girls she recognized as Destiny Wisterlull, the girl with the dragon named Fireflick. And she didn’t have to ponder if Destiny had a twin, for a girl walked up to Destiny, and she had the same bright, pool-blue eyes, but the other girl had red hair, while Destiny had brown. And she also placed one of the boys as Raven, Thomas’s brother. All of the other elves were complete strangers. Nora, however, seemed to know half the people in the room. She walked over to a blond-haired girl that had hazel eyes and said, 

“Hi, Eva! What’s your main power? Weather, fire, or ice?” 

Eva responded by saying, “My main power? Oh, just Ice.” 

Nora immediately looked at Amber and raised her eyebrows. 

“That’s Amber’s main power, too,” she said, motioning for her to come over. Eva looked 

curiously at her as she started through the small crowd to where they stood. When she got there, Eva said, 

“How old are you?” 

“Twelve,” Amber replied.

“Me too. Weren’t you the one to get the moonlight fury?”

“Yeah… ”

“They’re super rare.” 

“That’s what Nora said, too.” 

Nora looked at them and said, “You should really read an elf’s guide to dragons, Amber, that’s where I get all my facts from. You could get it at the library if you want to.” 

Amber listened intently and was surprised to hear how many things Nora knew.

“There’s a library here?” she asked. 

“Yeah, and greenhouses, and a garden, and obviously classrooms, and a lot of other things. I read about THAT in A History of Lenmonoral and Other Schools. It has a map of the place. It also has a map of Synteloc, that’s one of the other schools, Gistleno, and Echilora. Let’s get up to bed now. I know we only just got down, but I need to unpack all my stuff.” She smiled at Amber and motioned her to go back up. She climbed the stairs, and thought that she, too, should unpack. She unzipped her suitcase and started shaking everything out. She stuffed her patched, dirty flying boots under the bed, and heard a clink on the floor. She looked under and pulled her boots out. Out of the left one fell a small blue box with a note attached to it. It read: it will open when you need it. -Sychlora 

She turned the letter over, but nothing was on the backside. Who was Sychlora, and could Amber open the box? She picked it up and tried, but all that happened was her fingers became very sore. She gave up trying and stuffed both the note and the box under her bed, inside her boots. The next moment, Nora was bursting through the door, and she flopped down on her bed, looking at her suitcase. 

“Well, we’d better unpack.” And so they spent about half an hour putting everything 

away and organizing their bedside table, covering it with their belongings. Amber found many strange things in her suitcase, including dragon treats, which Sebastian had probably stuffed in. Luckily, Nora’s bulging suitcase wasn’t due to dragon treats. She unpacked four books, a writing notebook, and a few things Amber couldn’t figure out what were. One thing looked like a misty white ball with miniature trees, plants, leaves, streams, and a little door that she could just make out. 

“Um… Nora? What is that?” she asked, eying it with curiosity. 

“This? Oh, it’s my min-dwarf habitat. Min-dwarves are just very small animals that dwarves keep. So far I have two owls, a frog, three squirrels, and two woodpeckers. I really want a black cat, though. They’re really rare.”

 Suddenly, realizing what it was, Amber reached inside her own suitcase and pulled out an orb that looked almost identical, except that the fog was icy blue, and Nora’s looked like fall, while hers looked like winter, especially with the icicles hanging off of the trees. She slowly opened the small door, and held out her hand. A tiger no bigger than the palm of her hand stuttered out onto it, looking around. It growled and backed away when it saw Nora, but Amber simply picked it up and put it closer to her fingertips. 

“This is my second tiger, Esi, and my other is named Leku. I also have a fox, Nida, two squirrels, one is Silo and the other is Multo, a calico cat, Tilasa, two ravens, Iloe and Pilcel, a wolf, Xi, a raccoon, Azie, and a black panther, Tisk.”

 Nora stared at her, open-mouthed. 

“WHAT?! How do you have THAT MANY?? I only have eight, and you have eleven!” she said, exasperated.

 “I’ve been collecting for a long time; ever since I was five!” Amber said, laughing. “My dad gave me the ravens, though. We should head back downstairs now. We can finish unpacking later, and plus, I want to meet everyone.” Nora looked like she didn’t want to go back down, but she followed reluctantly as Amber started down the staircase. Amber counted ten elves, five boys and the rest girls. Nora’s reluctant expression changed, however, when she turned to look at a girl with silky blond hair and dark brown eyes. 

“Eva!” she exclaimed, rushing over. Amber looked curiously at the girl, and Nora whispered in her ear, 

“Friend from school. Well, not elf school, but, y’know, school.” She looked disgusted at even the word school, which made Amber stifle laughter. 

“And her name is Eva?” 

“Well, her name is Evida, but everyone calls her Eva or Eve.” Nora stopped behind Eva, and said, 

“Eva! Hi! How are you?”

Eva turned, and a smile appeared on her face. 

“Nora! I didn’t know you were at the academy, too!” 

“Yep, I am. And so is Amber!”

 “Who’s Amb — ” Eva started to say, but she was cut short as she finally noticed Amber standing there. 

“Hi!” she smiled at Eva, and Eva smiled back. 

“Hi… ” But at that point, Nora cut in and said, 

“This is Amber. I rode on the Ottonoski with her, and we went in to pick our carriages together. She got a RAINLIGHT FURY for her dragon, too!” By adding that last part, Amber suddenly felt like she wanted to disappear. Eva stared at her, open-mouthed, not saying anything until she coughed, 

“A RAINLIGHT FURY? Really?” Nora’s smile grew wider with every syllable Eva said. “Yeah, and hers has the mark, too. I saw it.” 

Now it was Amber’s turn to be surprised. 

“What’s the mark?” she asked in confusion. Eva spoke up, and it seemed she had finally regained her voice. 

The mark is a sun mark on the paw of a rainlight fury. Every ten times a rainlight fury is brought to Lenmonoral, the mark appears. It’s supposed to mark a lot of power, and a gigantic, unbreakable bondlight.” 

“And what is bondlight?” Amber asked. 

“It’s the bonding between you and your dragon. The longer you’re together, the harder it is to break. I’ve never actually seen bondlight before, though,” Nora said. 

“C’mon, Eve! You need to see the bedrooms and pick your bed. What is your main power, anyway?” 

She started bouncing excitedly up the stairs as Eva said, 

“Ice.” 

“Hey, that’s Amber’s, too! You can take the ice bed closest to us.” When they reached the top, Amber took her min-dwarf habitat and placed it on her bedside table. 

“I’m done unpacking!” she announced.

 “So am I!” Nora said. “We can help you, Eve!” 

Eva smiled and nudged open her suitcase, which teetered dangerously and then fell to the ground, spilling everything. There wasn’t as much as Nora’s, but it was still a lot, and Amber and Nora spent fifteen minutes unpacking. When they had finally finished, Nora flopped onto her bed, checked her watch, and said, 

“Uh… guys? It’s 9:15, we should get ready for bed.” 

And so they did, and once they were done, Eva started rummaging through her suitcase and pulled out a gold ball, which she placed in her hands and then placed back in the suitcase. She swirled her hand in the air, and a crystal shot out of it, landing next to Amber. 

“How did you do that?” she asked, picking up the crystal.

 “I’ve been practicing,” Eva replied, and they spent the rest of their fifteen minutes watching her performance, and waving to the people who crowded into the room. At 9:30, the man that had brought them to their room came in and told them to go to sleep. So Eva lay back down in her bed, and so did Amber. She didn’t even have time to see if Nora had gone to sleep, because she was in her backyard, in the middle of the night, with a figure raising its hands above her. She braced herself, but all the figure did was pull down its hood, and Amber realized who it was. It was her mother, and it wasn’t. Her eyes were clouded over in a dull, misty, cold grey fog. No pupils, irises, or white. Just grey fog. Amber reached up but drew her hand away quickly. The spot where she had touched had turned into fog and drifted away, only to recollect once her hand was drawn back. Her mother’s eyes narrowed, and she opened her mouth… Amber jumped up, fully awake. Except she wasn’t awake. She had jumped into another dream — and this dream was also a nightmare. 

To be continued…                                               

The Moon

Chapter 1: Spell of the Moon

I was walking at night next to the lake, like every night, but this time, something caught my eye. I just could not stop looking at the reflection of the moon in the lake. I slowly looked up and there it was. The moon was just too beautiful. It was calling to me. It caught me by surprise. I have heard this before, the moon, the beautiful, full moon is dangerous. I wanted to run away, but the other part of me was caught with the spell of the moon.

The spell of the moon was impossible to get out of. Looked like I was stuck forever. I could not call because I could not speak. I could not run because I could not move, and everything I tried to do would just give my energy to the moon. All I could do was glare at the reflection that was sucking me in, better yet, sucking my soul.

I glared and glared until I had no choice but to walk inside that very lake my great-grandmother stepped into, never to be seen again. The only thing passed on from her was her story, the story that was told to my grandmother, my mother, and me. I was supposed to tell it to my kids when I got older (since I was only 11), but now it was too late. I stepped into the lake and did not look back. I looked to the moon, and the moon looked back at me. Straight from my heart was my soul, up into the sky. Flying and laughing, right into the moon. What was done, was done, and what was taken, was taken. My soul was taken, and there was nothing I could do about it. Except that there was something wrong. My soul had too much passion than it was supposed to when taken from the moon. Instead of disappearing like my great-grandmother, I stayed staring at the moon. My mother came outside, and she knew what was happening. Before she could say anything, my body felt weird. After a few seconds, I had realized I was now a part of it, I had turned into water. My brown short hair floated until it perished into the wind.

Chapter 2: 1860

I opened my eyes and I was in a house.

“Are you okay?” said a lady.

“Ahhh! How am I alive!”

“Excuse me? I am sorry to startle you, my name is Mary Wilieson, what is yours?”

“Uhh, Luisa Wilson. Hahaha, My great great great grandmother was named Mary Wilieson.”

“Really? Dear, I think you hurt your head. There is only one Willieson in the 1860s.” She smiled.

“Yeah…  wait, 1860s!!!”

“You should get some rest, we will call you for supper,” she suggested. The nice, sweet lady stepped out of the room. Then it hit me. That was my great-great-great-grandmother! Back then, we were called the Wiliesons because it was “cool.” My great-grandmother changed it so it could be easy to say. I wanted to let her know what happened, but I could not let her know that she was my great great great grandmother. 

I stayed up in the room, making up a plan to escape (also wondering why I had 1860 clothes on). After a little while, I felt at home in that room. Even though it was dusty and old, the shape, size, and placement of things felt so familiar, but nothing could distract me. 

“It’s supper!!” 

Except for that. I was starving. I ran downstairs. 

“Sorry if my husband woke you.” She smiled

“No, it’s alright, I was already waking up anyway.” 

All the faces of their kids looked familiar from photos and albums.

“Try this, dear,” Mary said, putting food on my plate

“Mhhhhh, cheesy mashed potatoes with secret olives and a hint of paprika, old family recipe.” They all looked at me funny.

“What are you talking about? I just made this up.” 

“This present and past stuff is confusing.” That was what I wanted to say, but instead, I said, “That’s what I see, at least. Hee hee.” 

“You have a good eye, dear.” 

We ate and ate, and while we were eating, it felt like my family was with me. They were! We were in my house! That was why it looked familiar. Without making a mistake with my manners, I told them. “What a nice house you have, really feels like home.” 

“I am glad you like it, dear, we built it a few years ago to raise our family.” She smiled. She was also right, and after that, the Wilsons or Wiliesons were raised in the same house. I smiled back at her.

“Hey, you want to ride around with me and my horse?” said my great-great-uncle. 

“Nuh-uh, Pablo. She’s playing dolls with me,”  said my great-great-grandmother, Mila. What should I do? Play with Grandma Mila, or ride with Uncle Pablo?

“Don’t worry, Tio Pablo, we can go later, let the little ones first.” I smiled. 

“Tio Pablo?” he asked me.

“Pablo, sorry, going a little bonkers.” 

“Bonkers?” he asked again. Isn’t anything I say right!?

“Uh, meet you around 2:30, okay?” I said, pushing my grandma Mila to her room.

“How did you know this is my room?” she asked when we got there.

“You carved your initials right here,” I said, moving and pointing behind the bed. The only thing was it was not there yet!

“I don’t see anything, but good idea.” 

So close!  I knew she had initials carved because her room is my and my little brother’s room in the future. When my sister, Carmen, went to college, I upgraded to Carmen’s room, and now Grandma Mila’s room is my little brother’s room. I know, it’s confusing.

After a while, Pablo showed up with his horse (Pablo Junior) from the window. I hopped on the horse’s beautiful, light brown back, and we went through the town. Our house was pretty far away from the town but it was beautiful. 

“You know, Luisa, you are really pretty, and I am impressed by what you did at the dinner table.”

“Uh, thank you. Hey, that really looks like Time Square! I mean, look at those billboards.” I pointed.

“Where? That’s a cafe, You alright?”

“Yeah, just… ”

“Um, okay, well, I am reading these cowboy books that are cool.” I gave him a kiss on the cheek for being so charming. 

“Uhhh, well you wanna… wanna see the park?”

“Sure.” Then I snapped out of it, I can’t “like” my great-great-uncle! The worst thing happened next, Pablo galloped his horse in front of a beautiful sunset. He gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“Weird, it’s like, kissing my little sister.”

“I am sorry, Tio Pablo!” I hugged him, got off the horse, and ran. Ran like the wind. I ran so fast that my leg disappeared. Then arm!

“What’s happening?!” I tried dragging myself across the floor before Pablo looked for me. Suddenly, my other arm disappeared. Trying to get up with one leg, I saw I had none. I had no head, no spine, no anything. I sank into the ground. 

Chapter 3: Great Grandma’s Soul

When I opened my eyes, I was flying in the air. There she was. My great-grandmother, under the moon spell. Stepping into the lake. I was still invisible and could not feel myself. Before she stepped into the lake, she managed to say,

“I know you’re there, Luisa, but you can’t change the past. This was meant to be. The moon sucking souls is destiny.” She turned her head to look at me, straightly opening her mouth and showing her devil teeth and creepy face that was turning around and around.

“Hahahahaha! Cackle cackle! Hee hee hee!” She turned around and entered the lake. That was not my grandmother.

“You are really smart, Luisa.”

“Ahhh!” It was the little devil that was making the creepy faces.

“Let’s see how powerful and smart you are after this.” He moved his tiny hands around. There was the picture of my grandmother, looking at great-grandma disappearing in the air. 

“Mommy!” she yelled. 

A tear came down my face. After, there was Grandma telling the story to my mom. Now, it was Tio Pablo and me. Playing dolls with Grandma Mila. Eating with my family, past and present. My family looking up at the moon. Rain falling, houses on fire. Creating the lake, the same lake that helped the moon take my soul from me. A garden that children played in. Grandma Mila’s soul was being taken, little by little. Until falling in love. It was all so confusing and painful. 

Then there was me. Me under the spell, the horrible spell. I touched my face like a porcelain doll. 

“Cold,” Past Me whispered softly, trying to put her hand on her cheek. Terrified, I removed my hand from Past Me’s cheek. All these moments, horrible, beautiful, loving, painful moments.

“ENOUGH!!!” I screamed, wiping out my tears. “I get it, I have had sad moments, happy moments, any moment, and will never have them again. Just do what you have to do. You can’t make me travel back in time  and make me suffer, I will ruin the timeline and… I don’t know, I like it how it is.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, who said anything about that? There was something out of control with your soul but now it is back in our order. It would be fun to mess around with you but that was not the moon’s order.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Look, we can’t talk here, let’s deal with it in the moooooooon… ” the little devil said, kicking me to the moon.

Chapter 4: A Trip to the Moon

“Ahhhhhh!!” Ouch, I am still sore from that bump. The kick was so hard, I passed right through some guards and right into the hall. Say what you want about the nasty moon, he was beautiful. Before the guards chased me, I quickly went deeper inside. The moon was like a type of castle. All the paintings of relatives and flags of moons. It looked so magical. Most of it was blue, my favorite color! It was like a museum! I adored museums. I kept walking through the shiny patterned hallways. I found a pen under the big, long, blue carpet, that had a pattern like the carpet from my favorite movie, Aladin. I drew a mustache on a painting nearby. I suddenly heard some voices and quickly hid behind a pole, putting the pen in my pocket.

“She does not deserve to be here!” 

“I was just doing my nightly stroll, that’s all.” 

“Silence! If your mother told you the story, you should not have been walking around me at night.”

“What-cha-doing?” I looked slowly next to me. It was that creepy little devil! He smiled at me, showing his not surprisingly sharp teeth.

“Ahhhhhh!!!!” My scream made silence for everyone around me. The little devil’s smile grew bigger and grabbed me by the arm. His hand burned me, like friction between 

ice and lava. He pushed me forward and left a rash on my arm. It was the only thing I could feel. Then I realized who was talking. It was my real great grandmother’s soul. She was arguing with the moon himself! There was this other girl there, she looked a lot like me. I think that’s because she is me. That’s my soul the moon stole! My grandma and I turned around. 

“Oh no,” whispered my grandma. The moon had a smirk on his face.

“Bow to me!” he laughed.

“I’m good,” I replied. The little devil, great Grandma Stephi, and the moon were shocked by my answer. 

“Up top,” said my soul, putting her hand up. I was about to high-five her but great Grandma Stephi interrupted. 

“NO! You may not touch.” 

“Why not?” we both asked. 

“You don’t want to know.” 

“Silence! Let’s not talk about that, what I do want to know is who you think you are for responding in a horrible way!?!” said the moon.

“I think I know, and I am Luisa Wilson. You took my soul, and you thought you took my power and passion, but they are still in me. I am not afraid of you, I am not afraid of your little devils, and however many guards you put up in front of me, I will not be afraid. These slaves of yours deserve much more. These souls should not be here. You can scare and overpower anyone you want, but you won’t be able to do that to me. So you better be careful.” 

There was a silence until…

“You go girl! I just realized how smart I am, how smart we are.”

“Haha.”

“She is right! I will not be afraid of you anymore!” said the little devil.

“Leroy, do you know how I know how your father died? Do you know who poured lion blood and covered him in tiger skin? Do you know who has leftover blood and skin? Do you know who can kill you as well? Do you know who killed your father?” I heard all that and felt so bad for the little devil.

“Sorry, Luisa, I have no choice.” He bowed to the moon. 

“Little devil,” I whispered. 

“Come on, I believe in you, you were awesome on the tellie with great-great-great-Grandma Mary. You were awesome just now, do something to that moon,” said my soul, she hugged me. I hugged her back. We let go and touched hands. 

“I believe in you.” She faded away. Was that the last of my soul? Would I be without one forever?

Then I started to feel queasy. I blacked out, but from the story, I believe this is what happened. I turned half-human, but one half of me was missing, and now with my soul, I can’t breathe on the moon. My great grandmother’s soul carried me down to the lake, where I believe I turned into water. When I woke up, I got out of the lake full human. I saw Grandma’s soul go up to the moon.

“Grandma!” 

She quickly flew to me.

“Where is it I need to go!” I touched her. So her soul combined with me.

“No! It’s to… ”

Now I was full Human plus my grandma’s soul. I was able to fly and breathe on the moon. I felt a little weird but it would be worth it. I went up to the moon. I sneaked up to his lair, which I realized was there secretly behind his throne. I took all his materials and poured them on him.

Chapter 5: Cheese Moon

“What are you doing?!” he asked. Nothing had happened to him. Suddenly, everyone was chasing me. I hid behind a painting for a while, thinking what to do next. Suddenly, a flash of light came behind the painting. Someone discovered me! 

“Little devil, Leroy! I am so sorry what happened to your father but please don’t hurt me!”

“Don’t worry, I am here to help you, quick, before they see you.”

“Leroy, do you know what the moon’s weakness is?”

“I don’t know, he gets feisty when people say he is made out of cheese.”

“That will have to do. How do you get cheese around here?” 

“Urgh, there is this special pen, you have to draw and it will come to life. They are so rare, there are only two in the castle, one’s with the moon and the other was lost. Everyone looked but… ” Before he finished his sentence, I took that pen from my pocket and looked at it.

“That’s the one! How did you find it?!” His voice echoed through the hallways. Everyone rushed over to see what was happening. I quickly drew a man with a rare collectible card that my little brother had and hid behind the painting.

“What is it? Did you find the girl?!” yelled the moon from across the hall. 

“No, but I did find this card! It is a… ” 

“Rare collectible,” I whispered to him.

“Rare collectible!” he repeated. 

“I am a… ” 

“Trying to trade it,” I whispered again.

“Trying to trade it! With this guard.” Leroy smiled

“Okay, do your… thing quickly, we need to find that girl!” he said, waving his arms around. Then I remembered a TV show I would watch when I was little. Cheese moon! I drew the cheese moon character with his long legs, pink cheeks, cheesy holes, and cute little blue hat on top. We looked for the moon everywhere. The kitchen, his room, the lab, everywhere he might be looking for me. How ironic, we were both looking for each other. The evil soul-stealing moon, and the innocent little girl who wanted her soul back. We kept looking.

“Did you ask us to split up?” Leroy asked. 

“No, why?” 

“I think cheese moon had his own opinion,” Leroy said, pointing where cheese moon was standing.

“Oh great, now we are looking for two moons!”

“Cheese moon!” we called. We entered the throne room and finally found him talking to the moon.

“What is the meaning of this? Who are you?” said the real moon. 

“My name is cheese moon, nice to meet you, friend!” 

“Cheese moon?! Hey, little girl, do you have something to do with this?” the moon asked, as he saw me approach.

“Don’t be mad, little friend, I see you are wearing my costume, you must be a fan! Let me sing the cheese moon song to cheer you up. 

Guess who’s made out of cheese, the moon’s made out of cheese! You want a piece of cheese? All you have to do is say please. To get a bit of cheeeeese, all you gotta do is take a piece of me! Cheese moon cheese moon! Hope you like my tune! Hey!” 

The moon squinted a lot with one eye. He was not okay. He turned as red as a shiny apple and as hot as a jalapeno. He looked like he was going to explode. 

“Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! I want to rip your hair apart and break every bone in your body until people stuff fish inside your ears and bury you alive!” Yep, he was totally not okay.

“Whoa, whoa, friend, here, have a piece of cheese,” said cheese moon, breaking a part of himself. The moon squinted some more until slapped the piece of cheese out of cheese moon’s hand. Cheese moon looked disappointed and disappeared into the wind. 

“You! You did this, haha, it did not work. I will finish you off, and Leroy! You were helping her? I got someth… ” He could not finish his sentence. His mouth was as shut as a clamshell.

“Mr. moon?” I asked. He looked at his hands that were wobbling. After a few seconds, the real moon disintegrated.  Leroy looked at me with a stare.

Chapter 6: Dreaming?

I woke up in my bed and wondered if it was all a dream. I walked around my room and it was all normal. Grandma Mila’s initials were behind the bed. 

I guess it was just a weird dream, I thought. Then there was a weird glow coming from out of my window. When I opened my eyes, there was an angel in my room! 

“Aaaahhh!” 

“Why the scream?” the angel asked. It was a familiar voice, but much lighter and softer. “Don’t you remember? It’s me, Leroy.” 

“Leroy?” I could not believe what he was telling me. I looked at him with my mouth opened wide.

“Yep, that’s me! After defeating the moon, they turned me into an angel.” He smiled with his perfect, normal, shiny, non-devil teeth.

“Leroy! It is you!” I hugged him.

“Wait, did you say, ‘Defeat the moon?’” I said, surprised. 

“Of course, do you not remember anything?” he asked me. 

“Not really, so it was not a dream?” 

“What?” 

“How about great-Grandma?”

“I suggest you go downstairs.”

I rushed downstairs. There she was! 

“Great-Grandma!!” 

“Hi, Luisa!” Leroy came downstairs and smiled. 

“Well, I better get going.”

“No, Leroy, stay here, join us for breakfast.” 

“Um, okay.”

“Mom, Grandma, Great-Grandma, Felix (my little brother), this is Leroy.”

“We know who Leroy is. Don’t you remember the dinner we had with him yesterday?” said my mother. 

“Huh?”

“It’s alright, you have been through a lot. Let’s eat.” 

We ate breakfast, and my big sister Carmen visited from college. We all had a good time. I am still curious to know what happened after the moon was defeated. Half of me is scared that during my time of being water, I worked for the moon. What scares me the most about that, I could still be under his power.     

To be continued…

My Costume

One day, my parents told me to go outside and told me nothing else but that it was a surprise. When I walked outside, I saw a million smarties. Not really. But I did see something that made me feel that way. I saw my parents holding a zombie cheerleader costume and smiling. My eyes went big. I wanted to explode with happiness. But wait a second. How did my parents know that I wanted a zombie cheerleader costume? The only place where I had written it down was my…. diary! 

“Hey!”  I shouted at my parents. “You read my diary!”  

Guilty as charged,my dad said. I grumbled away, but my parents knew I was happy. 

The next day, Halloween, I walked outside happily with my costume and makeup. But when I had only taken a few steps, I saw my arch nemesis, Rosabelle. She was in a vampire queen costume with a huge hoop skirty skirt. I almost exploded. She also had creepy makeup, but the skirt had jewels, and she even had vampire teeth. My stomach went around and around like a blender. I wanted to go home. But suddenly, I saw her scratching herself, and suddenly, she tripped in a murky puddle and almost stained herself. I smiled. Maybe a big skirt wasn’t so good after all. This was going to be a great Halloween. 

Uni and The Butterfly

Uni was a baby unicorn. She had a rainbow mane, a blue tail, and a golden horn. Uni met a man dressed in blue who gave her a tent. He was wearing a blue striped shirt and navy blue pants. There were marshmallows in the tent and the only thing unicorns eat is marshmallows. The reason he gave her the tent is because she was homeless. 

“I’m a baby unicorn and I’m homeless,” Uni said. 

“Go under the awning to get out of the rain. I’ll be right back,” the man said. 

The man searched on Google, “What do unicorns eat?” On the screen, it said,

 “Unicorns eat marshmallows.” Luckily, the man had six bags of marshmallows in his house. He poured the marshmallows into a tent and put a small mattress and a blanket inside. He also put a little stuffy in the tent. The stuffy was a little unicorn. He took the tent outside. 

He said to Uni, “You can live in the tent. There is food and a mattress and a blanket. You can eat the food and sleep on the mattress and the blanket.” 

Uni said, “Thank you!”

She jumped because she was happy. But there was one thing she wasn’t happy about. She wanted a friend. 

Uni carried the tent to the beach. Uni ate her dinner, which was marshmallows, then she went to sleep. She had a dream and her dream was her playing with a friend. She really, really, really, really, really wanted a friend. 

In the morning, she went to the bay and saw a butterfly. The butterfly had blue and purple wings and golden metallic dots. She went up to the butterfly. 

“Do you want to be my friend?” Uni asked. 

“Yes!” the butterfly said. 

Uni jumped in excitement! They played and ate marshmallows in the tent and then went to bed. 

THE END! 

A Starfish Named Solar

Once upon a time, there was a starfish named Solar. All she wanted was to get out of the water and to see the stars. But her parents said she was too young to go out. One day, when she was older, she decided to get out, and her parents said she was old enough to get out of the water. 

She heard that there was a starry night where the stars were alive, but the night was very far away. She knew it would take years, and she was only ten at the time. When she was older,  the day came and she started to go out. She went out of the water and started going up a hill. When she was halfway up, she lay down because she was very tired and so she took a nap. When she woke up, it was already the next day, and she only had a few more days. When she went up the hill, she started sitting up to see all the stars. She put up a bed and telescope to see closer, and some things to eat. She also had a game to play so she wasn’t bored. 

There were a few nights before the day came. She decided once it was nighttime, she would look through her telescope to find the moon. The next day, she looked through her telescope and she saw Saturn. 

She brought a notepad so she could write down ideas, and on that notepad, she wrote, “Saturn can be found at night with a very big, strong telescope.” She had a big, strong telescope, too. 

She checked her calendar, and after the day, she saw that it was at night, so prepared everything she had to do to see the stars alive. 

That night, when the stars were alive, not only were the stars alive, but she also noticed a meteor shower! She was so happy! By the end of the meteor shower, she went to bed. The next morning, she started to go down the hill. It took days to get back to her pond. When she arrived, she told everybody in the pond about her week. There were lots of fish, and starfish, and snails. They were very impressed. That night, when the day was over, Solar dreamed about her day, and imagined she could go again. She even decided to become an astronaut and go to space. 

The End

The First Place Winner

Hi, my name is Fluffly and I am pug. I am also the most fashionable thing that has ever walked on earth. Scarlet red is the most fashionable color. I live in New York City. I have lived here for so long. I need to see the world. I plan to go to London. The capital of… hmm, I don’t know. If you have not heard, in London, there is a fashion competition and the winner gets a tour of the world. Now all I have to do is get on a plane. 

You are probably wondering who is your owner or do you live in an adoption center. Well, I live with no one. I kind of just do my own thing. I start to get ready. I put on my trench coat and black sunglasses to try to blend in with the crowd. I walk into the airport and there are so many people there, but of course, none as fashionable as me. I start to run to where it says “London,” then I wait to get on the plane.

 I go under a seat and look at people’s outfits. They are not flattering, especially their socks. Their socks are tan colored and have ugly, blue spots. I just can’t. After I tell you what I did, you have to promise not to hate me.

 I bit the sock off. I know, I know, but the sock is so ugly. I run to a different seat. Of course, I am looking fabulous like always. Then I hear someone say the plane to London is taking off in ten minutes! I run to the plane. Do you know when you are going on the plane and you look down and there is a small gap? I look down. I am so scared that I’ll chip a nail. I run quickly to first class. There is no one there because it is way too expensive. It’s perfect because none of the flight attendants will come and ruin my plan. 

There is a whole cart of food just for me. It has candy, cake, and all sorts of sweets. I am loving life until someone or something comes in. It’s a pug! I am holding back my tears. This pug is more fashionable than me!! One thing about me is I always tell the truth. She comes up to me and says, “Hi, I am Talyor and I am sneaking on this plane to London.”

I say, “I am, too.” Then I move away from her. She is weird. I start to stuff my mouth with chocolate cake with strawberries. I am raging with jealousy. She is so fashionable. I look at her and she is fixing her hair and smirks at me. Arg, I hate her. She is the WORST!! Her fur is like silk. I cannot believe my eyes. It’s crazy. 

Finally, the plane lands and I can get away from her. I start to walk to my hotel. My hotel is amazing. It has a huge hot tub. Then there is a huge TV and couch. My bed is just unexplainable. I lie down and watch some TV. Then someone comes up and gives me a massage. It is an amazing experience. I never want to leave. 

Then I go to get breakfast. I have fruit loops. I walk to the hotel and I look inside. It has so many clothes. Then I walk to the runway and start to stretch. I do my best fur flip. Of course, it’s perfect. Then I get dressed for the runway. I am wearing a red dress, the best color ever. It has a small trail and triangle cut-outs in the front. I am not really nervous. They announce my new arch-enemy, Taylor. She walks the runway with such confidence. Then they announce my name. I start to walk down the runway. I kill it. My fur looks great. Then they announce the winners. Taylor gets 2nd and I get first! I shoot a funny look at her, like saying, “I won.”

I get to go on the world trip. 

Hi, it is a day after my world trip. I have decided to stay in Rome! It is amazing, there is so much to do and see. Right now, I am at a restaurant eating pasta and pizza. I am starting to learn about their style. It is pretty good but it could be better. Believe it or not, right in front of me is Stella Jean. Ahhh! She has such a good sense of style. 

Spot

Chapter 1: The Light       

Once upon a time, there lived a baby cheetah whose name was Spot. He was faster than the fastest car. He was 5 years old. While his dad was out hunting, he and his mom were watching the birds fly and they were listening to the birds and trees. Just out of the blue, he asked, “Why aren’t I allowed to go out of our grass field?”  

His mom froze at that question and said, “Because you can’t handle it.” 

“What do you mean, I can’t handle it?” said Spot, bewildered at that answer. His mom didn’t answer.

At that same moment, Spot jumped up and dashed out of the grass field.                                                                                                    

Soon, he could hear his mother calling for him. He ran until he couldn’t hear his mother calling him anymore. But then he saw a light, or he thought so. Then he heard a sound, though also not very clearly.

Chapter 2: The Incident  

It sounded like someone saying, “Do you need help?” And it sounded like he or she was crying.  Before he could react, he saw something that made him freeze. It was his dad right in front of him. He expected his dad to be really upset, but his dad asked him very calmly, “Why are you out here?” When Spot did not reply, his dad told him that he was going to have to explain when they got home.

After that, Spot and his dad did not say anything to each other until they reached home. When they got home, his mother was relieved that Spot was safely home.

Dad had hunted a hyena for all of them to eat. Spot could tell that his mom and dad were not happy with him because it was one quiet dinner. After dinner, Spot was ready to run and check out what he had heard. But he couldn’t go out right then because his mom and dad would catch him. 

So he decided on going at night to find who or what was in the forest. When his mom and dad were asleep, he crept past them and left for the forest. As he went further away from home, he was startled when he heard the noise again. He looked all around, but could not see anything.

Chapter 3: The Map

Spot went into the forest. He couldn’t see any light so he started running faster and further away from home. And then he saw a light in the distance. He got closer and closer and closer and closer.  He was curious and a little scared.

Chapter 4: The Baby                

Then he saw a baby animal who looked just like him. It said, “Who are you?” 

“My name is… Spot, and who are you?”

“Hello, Spot. I am Slash.” 

“Hello! Where do you live, Slash? I have never seen you around here. But why are you crying, Slash?”

“I think the human hunters have captured my parents and taken them away. Have you ever used a map?”

“Um… no. Have you?”

“Yes, well one of the hunters dropped a map and a flashlight so I took them and ran away. Do you want to help me find them?” 

“Yes. Why don’t we go at dawn so we can see better? We can meet at Lucky Coin lake. Do you see it on the map?”

“Yes. It’s getting late now, let’s go home now. I’ll see you in the morning.”

 “Ok,” said Slash.

Chapter 5: The Truth 

Once Spot got home, he went very quietly so as not to be heard by his parents. Then he went right to bed.

Because he was so excited to see Slash at the lake early in the morning.

When he got up, he jumped up, and yelled for his mom to “wake up!” 

“Why are you up so early, Spot?” 

“Well… I met… another… cheetah… cub,” Spot said. 

“What!!!!” said his mother, surprised. “Where does he live?” 

“I don’t know where he lives but we agreed to meet at the Lucky Coin lake. Do you want to come?” Spot asked. 

“Yes! But why are we going there?”

“I will explain when we get there. Ok?” Spot said. 

So they headed to the lake, and there was the legend, Slash! 

“Hi there, Spot,” Slash said. 

“Hi, I want to introduce you to my mom!”

“Hi, there.” 

“Well, is she going to help us with the you-know-what?” Slash whispered to Spot. 

“I don’t know. You want me to tell her?”

“Yeah.”

Spot turned to his mom and said, “Well, ummm… do you want to help us save Slash’s parents?” 

“Wait, what?!!” said his bewildered mom.

“Well, Slash says his mom and dad got captured by human hunters. One of them dropped a map and a flashlight so Slash picked them up and ran away as fast as his little legs could carry him.  Do you want to help?” Spot said. 

His mom froze then said… “Yes!! Of course.” 

“Ok, do you think Dad would like to help, too?”

“Yeah,” said his mom, even though she was not sure of it.

“Ok, let me get Dad. You stay here,” Spot said, then ran home as fast as he could. 

When he got home, he looked all around but could not find his dad anywhere. He wasn’t in the backyard, he wasn’t in the den, and he wasn’t in the grassy field. He had no more time to waste so he ran back as fast as a lightning bolt back to Slash and Mom.  

When he got there, he was out of breath and his heart was pounding. Slash and his mom looked confused.  

“Where is your Dad?!” asked Slash.

“I have no idea, I could not find him anywhere,” said Spot.

Mom then remembered that he was going to go for a hunt to find dinner.  She turned to Slash and said, “Let’s go rescue your parents!”

“Okay, get the map out,” Spot said, trying to rush.  

30 minutes later…                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       “We’re here. Look!” Spot whispered as he poked his head through the bushes and admired the many different animals that were sitting in cages. The cages were connected to each other and sitting in a long line. They looked at each cage, and at the very end of the line, there were the cheetahs. There was a sign on the outside that said, “No touching the cheetahs.” At the front of the cages, there was one guard who was sitting on an uncomfortable wooden chair, sharpening his sword.  

Spot turned to Slash and his mom and said, “What’s the plan?”

“Let’s tackle the guard from different directions,” said Slash.

“Good plan,” said Mom.

They began to move in slowly from different directions. Mom whispered over to Spot and Slash, “Remember to be quiet so we don’t wake the others.” As they got closer to the guard, Spot got more and more nervous as he got closer and started sweating.  

They all counted quietly, “Three, two, one, gooo!!” Mom got there first and clawed the guard with her front paw. Pow!!!! The guard took his gun out and held it, sword out, and started swinging it at the three of them. Spot heard Slash scream, “AAHHHH!” Then out of nowhere, they saw a furry blur flying through the air at the guard before he could react and shoot at them.  Boom!!   

“He’s down,” yelled Spot. When he turned around, he noticed that the furry blur was his dad. He was about to explode with questions but he was so happy to see him. 

“Look what I found! It’s the keys!” 

“Wait! How are you here?!?” Spot said.

“I’ll explain later.” 

Slash ran to the last cage. When he saw his parents, he was so excited, he couldn’t hide it.  

“Hi, Mom, hi, Dad!” said Slash as he cried in tears of joy.

“Hi, who are these cheetahs?”

“They are friends.”

“Okay. We’ll talk later and get us out.” 

Chchch!!

 “Okay, now run, run!” 

And that’s the story about Spot and Slash, hoped you liked it! Bye!

To be continued…

Sneak Peek:

“Bye, Slash, see you tomorrow, same place.”

“Okay.”

Then they hugged. They were so happy it was over. 

“Bye!”

And then the cheetahs left. 

“I have something to tell both of you, come on. Well, I work with a company that helps cheetahs. That’s how I found you!!”

Dunt! Dunt! Dunt!  Be sure to check out the next one. 

The Adventures of Miles Black

One evening, Miles Black, the school bully, and his friends were egging houses. “SPLAT!” An egg crunched on Mrs. Blackwell’s window. Then they saw it, just what they’d wanted — a pet store that had a big sign saying “adoption day.” They went inside the store and went to where the bunnies were. They got them out of their cages. They hid them in their sweater pockets and went outside. When nobody was looking, they dropped them down on the ground. Suddenly, a bunny began sniffing. It sniffed all the way to a little boy eating baby carrots. The bunny climbed up the little boy, and the boy was covered in scratches, and bruises, and a broken arm by the time the bunny was done trying to take his carrots. Suddenly, the news spread. They all knew who it could have been, Miles Black and his team. The next evening, when they were ready to start egging houses, Miles said, “I don’t want to.”

“WHAT?” said Billy, the second-best bully.

“Yeah,” Miles replied. “Is there a problem with that?” 

“Whatever, dude, we will egg houses without you.” 

So Miles just went home early. 

“Oh, well, you’re home early,” said Mrs. Black. 

“I didn’t have much to study for, Mom,” Miles said (Miles’ mom didn’t know about the bullying). He ate dinner early and did everything early. He was afraid the bullies would tease him. 

The next morning, he put on his backpack and left. But he turned right around and went back to the house. He forgot he had baseball. When he walked to school, he took the regular route, not the bully route where he and the bullies used to talk about evil plans (egging houses and more stuff). 

“I see you finally stopped egging houses and bullying,” said Patricia Paro, the only smart kid in his class, when he was walking to school. He just pulled the hood of his hoodie on his head and walked away. When he walked into class, something was different today. There was one extra desk. Today, they had a new kid in their class. He looked like a nice kid. At lunch, the new kid asked Miles if he could sit with him. Miles liked him; he seemed like he would be a good friend. He learned his name was Michael and he liked baseball. 

“You know it’s spring, and we could use a new teammate, and don’t be shocked but we need a new name right now. Our name is Joe’s Pizza,” Miles said. 

Really? I mean, really? I didn’t know you liked baseball,” said Michael. 

BBRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGGG! The lunch bell rang. Michael and Miles ran back to class.

They started passing notes to each other, and they decided that they would meet at Miles’ house when they went home. It was a long four hours but they went through it. When Miles brought Michael to his house, Mrs. Black, Miles’ mom, was cooking Miles’ favorite food: tacos. And set on the coffee table in front of the couch was a big bowl of chips and guacamole. 

“Mom, meet Michael, my friend, and Michael, meet my mom, Mrs. Black,” said Miles.

“Hi, Mrs. Black,” said Michael shyly. Miles led Michael up the stairs into Miles’ bedroom. Miles’ bedroom was full of posters with baseball stars on them. It had a big, wide window looking out to a tree in his yard. At exactly five o’clock, Michael went home. 

The next day, they were walking to school. Miles saw the bullies. Then suddenly, Miles said, “I may not have told you everything about myself.”

“Okay, so tell me now,” said Michael. 

“I used to be a bully,” Miles blurted out.

WHAT!” replied Michael. For the rest of the day, Miles and Michael didn’t talk until after school when they realized that they were neighbors. 

“Sorry,” said Miles but Michael just walked away. Great, Miles thought. I need to find a new friend again. 

The next morning, Miles walked to school, sat alone at lunch, and his day went by as fast as a snap. When he got home, he found his grandma sitting on the couch. Miles forgot today was the day his grandma was coming over to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

“Oh, Grandma Joan, I forgot you were coming,” said Miles. “And anyway, I have to go upstairs  and make some Valentines for people I don’t even know.” 

“It is alright, and Miles, we are having rice and beans for dinner,” said Miles’ grandma in a nice, soft voice. So Miles went upstairs. After a while, Mrs. Black said,

“Miles, your dad is home. Come say Hi.”

So he went downstairs glumly. 

The next day, after they exchanged Valentine’s cards, Miles looked at one of his cards and it said a bunch of mean stuff but the card wasn’t signed. Then he looked around the room to see people whispering and pointing to Miles. At lunch, Milly Marino asked Miles, “Did you write this note?” 

“No,” he replied.

 “Good, because everyone got one.” 

That day, a lot of people asked him the same. Suddenly, he found who sent the notes.

It was the bullies. Of course. How could he not think of this (he was supposed to be the smart and talented Miles Black! Why else would someone make up a story about him?). That day, right before the class left for home, he asked his teacher if he could say something to the class. He said, “Wait, I know who sent the mean notes!” 

“Yeah, right,” one boy said. 

“The bullies did it, they wrote everyone mean notes including themselves so they wouldn’t be caught,” Miles said. Everyone was quiet for a second, then shouted out, 

“REALLY?!” 

Then the teacher said, “Anyone who helped write the note, step up.”

Miles looked at the bullies with red eyes. He made his hands into fists, and finally, the bullies stepped up and the teacher gave them Saturday detention. That day, when Miles was going home, Billy came and said, “You will get REVENGE.” He just smiled and ran all the way home. He was glad that was over.

My Pet Slime

Once, there was a girl named Piper. She loved, loved, LOVED animals, but she couldn’t have a pet because she was allergic to dogs, cats, guinea pigs, every kind of pet. Her mom wanted to make her feel better, and she knew that Piper loved to make slime, so she took her to the toy store to get a slime-making kit. 

When Piper got home, she opened up the kit and made the slime. Then that night, a fairy came and sprinkled her fairy dust all over Oozie. 

The fairy said, “You’re gonna be a lovely pet to this girl,” and flew away silently, as if to not wake Piper.

When Oozie came alive, he said, “Wow, what a cool place!” and snuggled on Piper’s counter and fell asleep. 

In the morning, Piper found out that her slime had come alive! She decided to name him Oozie because he was oozy. He could also change his shape. He could be flat as a pancake or round as a ball or just his normal shape. 

Piper screamed, “Ahhh!” And Oozie screamed back, 

“Ahhhh!” She ran to her parents’ room. 

“Mommy, daddy, the slime came alive!” Her parents ran into her room, but Oozie wasn’t moving. He was only alive for Piper because he was being shy. 

“Sweetie, it was just your imagination. Come on down for breakfast once you get changed,” her dad said.

Piper started to get ready for breakfast, but as soon as her parents left the room, Oozie came alive again! Piper loved Oozie so much so she put him in her backpack, but he couldn’t breathe. She cut out breathing holes in her backpack. When she came downstairs with her bag, she hoped her parents wouldn’t notice the holes. She dropped some crumbs through the holes. 

At school, she met up with her worst enemy, Claire. Claire was the most popular girl in the class. She has good ideas, but she teased Piper. “Hi, Pipe for my building that’s connected to my bathroom,” she laughed out loud.

“Hi, Claire’s the store.” Life was easier when you agreed with Claire, Piper thought.

Then, at the end of the day, Piper actually made friends with Claire, because Claire was nice to her in geometry and said sorry for calling her Pipe. They became best friends and had a playdate every day after school. Once Oozie got used to Claire coming over, he actually came alive for her, too, and they had many fun adventures. 

The end.

Wicked Witch of the Night

A werewolf haunts a decayed old mansion, the walking dead stalk you in the night. 

The crawling bones, the creaking floors, they make you want to die. A whole world of arachnids live in that big, old house.

 And you won’t escape alive, even if you try. The night was as quiet as a mouse. 

And you did not hear the walking mummy, who was as tall as the sky, but could become as small as a louse.

 But he’s as quiet as a mouse. And that was the end of you. You didn’t experience the walking evil living in the cellar of that house.

 The skeletons are with the ghosts.

 You hear the sound of creaking doors. 

The zombies eat your brains and more. 

The floating ghouls all go to schools, and the pumpkins are alive! 

The evil creature living in that house is none other than the wicked witch of the night! You walked downstairs to the cellar. The pumpkins lit the way. 

The witch ate children like you, and you cannot run away. The moon was full, the man turned into a wolf. The witch was cooking something, in that big, black cauldron of hers. 

She beckoned for you to come closer, and then she locked the doors. You crawled into a corner, like a little mouse. You saw the witch’s wart-filled face,

 She had some claws that were sharp as a mace.

 You could not now win with an ace,

 for you saw the witch’s wart-filled face. Her eyes were glowing red. And they were filled with rage!

 You saw the unfortunate humans that died, whilst trapped in her cage. The whole army of monsters, living in that big old house, cornered you like a little mouse. And then, they pounced!!!

Playtime

Chapter One

“Ugh. I’m so bored.”

 I flop down on my bed. 

“Hey, Siri. Interesting things near me.”  I scroll through the options. “Hmmm… Brooklyn escape room. And it’s called…. Playtime. It says two to four players. I’ll try to invite some of my friends.” 

First, I call Susan. 

“Hello?”

“Hi, Susan, there’s a really fun looking escape room and I scheduled it for 4:00 tomorrow. You wanna come?”

“Sure, I’m free tomorrow.”

“Great! See you then!”

I try calling Margret next, but she doesn’t pick up. Then, I call Lily. 

“Hi, Lily, wanna come to an escape room with me and Susan at 4:00 tomorrow?” It’s a bit of a risk, since I know Lily doesn’t like Susan, but I hope she can come. 

“I’m sorry, I have a class from 3:30 to 5:00.”

“That’s fine, Lily! See you at school!” I hang up. Guess it’s just Susan.

Chapter Two 

It’s a cloudy day when Susan and I go into the escape room. I’m talking with a worker at the escape room.

“Well, you see, there’s an emergency button, if something were to happen,” he says.

“But wait a second, where is it?”

“Have a good time!” he says, and closes the door. Weird guy.

“Huh,” says Susan. I look around. It’s a room. I mean, I know it’s an escape room, but this just looks like a little girl’s bedroom. You know, toys, a frilly bed, a dresser, and a bookcase. I notice that it’s very clean.

“Hmmm. I feel like there should be a puzzle we solve or something.” 

“I know, right?” Susan says. We keep searching the room for some idea of what will happen or some sort of clue everywhere we can think of (under the rug, in the dresser, on the bookshelves) when the lights flicker. On and off, on and off. Susan and I freeze. It stops. 

“Okaaaaay. What just happened?” 

“Don’t ask me.”

“Wait.” I spot something on the floor. It’s a piece of paper, and I pick it up. It’s in cursive.

 Mary likes playtime.

Okay, I’m really scared now like really. And that’s before I hear the whispering.

“Do you hear that?” asks Susan.

“Yeah, I do.” Whispering. Little voices. I can’t tell who they belong to. They talk over each other in a language I can’t understand. I plug my ears, but it doesn’t help. I feel like it’s creeping into my brain. Then, suddenly, it stops.

Chapter Three

“Okay, isn’t there an emergency button?” says Susan.

“I don’t know, he didn’t say where it was!”

“Well then, we’re just going to have to find it, won’t we.”

I used to not like how Susan could be bossy sometimes, but right now, I really appreciate it. We start checking on shelves, in drawers, in corners and crevices. Everywhere possible. Until finally, the only place we haven’t checked is under the bed. I think we’re both a little scared to go under there.

 “Okay,” says Susan. “I’m going under there.”

 ….. orrrr maybe I’m the one who’s scared to do it. She slowly crawls under the bed, going farther down until I can’t see her anymore. I wait for about a minute, but she doesn’t reply. “Susan?” I call. I lean down. “Susan!” 

But I don’t see her.  Like, as in she’s not there. There is nothing under the bed. Not even a dust bunny! (Like I said, it’s very clean.) But seriously! I’m alone! I’ve done escape rooms before, so I went with the creepiness, but this is too much. People don’t just disappear! But I had a feeling I was next. If there’s one rule that goes for everyone in the world, it’s that if your friend disappears under totally random circumstances, you can freak out. So that’s exactly what I do.

I try to bang on the doors. “Help!” I shout, but it’s like nobody hears me. So I search around. I’m sure there’s something I missed when trying to find the emergency button. Finally, I think I see something behind the dresser, so I muster up all my strength and push it to the side. Sure enough, there’s a green button. I press it but nothing happens. I’m shocked. I was sure that would be the answer. All of a sudden, an alarm starts blaring. Nobody comes. But the alarm doesn’t stop. I start tugging on the doorknob. I thought they weren’t allowed to actually lock people in! I give up and flop down on the bed. I can’t believe this! But then the alarm stops. I hear a click from the door. I decide to try one more time. I go to the door, grab with both hands, and pull. Like the door had never been locked, it opens easily. I’m so happy! But what about Susan? I think. But that’s when I see the… thing on the other side of the door. That’s really the only way to describe it. Something unspeakable. Something out of a horror film. One rated Z, which doesn’t exist. Yeah, that’s how scary it was. A monster. I’m about to slam the door in its… face-like thingy when all of a sudden, I feel a strange sensation in my back. I’m about to turn around when my perspective goes black. I close my eyes. And never open them in human form again.

Epilogue

A man sits alone in his house. As he stares out the window, a tear rolls down his cheek. He remembers the day about a month ago when his daughter disappeared. He wonders if she will come back someday. And maybe, just maybe, whatever his daughter had become was watching him, waiting for the day that he would join her. 

Friendzy the Dragon

Once upon a time, there was a dragon named Friendzy. 

Hi, I am Friendzy. I am red with wings. I love to do flips, somersaults, and handstands. I really want to learn how to fly like my mom and my dad. My dad always tells me to stay healthy and go to school. So when I went to school yesterday, I was the only one there, so I was so happy. 

Now do not get confused when Sheva turned into me. She said that we did not learn how to fly and breathe fire. So when I asked my teacher to teach me how to fly and breathe fire, the teacher said, “No.” The teacher was too busy trying to find the other students who were playing hide and seek. 

I was so mad that I had to find someone else to teach me how to fly and breathe fire, but I was so scared that I asked my brother to come with me. But then far away, I still saw another old dragon who I think knew how to fly and breathe fire. So I went up there with my brother and asked him if he could teach me how to fly and breathe fire. So the old dragon told me to come tomorrow. So I was so excited that I could just scream this out loud! 

So I rushed over and I went to bed quickly. “This was the best day ever,” I said. 

“What did you say?” said my dad. 

“I said that this old dragon on the mountain will teach me how to fly and breathe fire tomorrow,” I said. 

So when today was tomorrow, I went up on the mountain. 

“Hi again, are you ready to learn how to fly and breathe fire?” asked the old dragon. 

“Yes,” I said. 

“Okay, so when you’re trying to fly, you want to try to flap your wings so hard that you can lift up off the ground, and when you’re off the ground, you flap your wings a little slower. And this is how you breathe fire. So open your mouth wide, and let it breathe out,” said the old dragon. 

“I did it,” I said. 

So when I went home, I taught my brother how to fly! “I did it,” said my little brother. So when it was my tenth birthday, I told my friends to fly with me! 

“I’m having the best birthday ever,” I said. 

And that was how Friendzy learned how to fly and breathe fire. 

The End!

Vacations Everywhere!

Peggy was at home, very sad. She was grounded by her parents because she did not do her homework and couldn’t go out with her friends. She wanted to be at her grandma’s house, but she was too small to go there all by herself and her grandma lived far away. She was at her yard and saw something sparkly in the bushes and found a mirror. 

She looked at the mirror and said, “I wish I was at my grandma‘s house.” The mirror was magic so it took her to her grandma’s house. Peggy didn’t know that the mirror was magic, so she was surprised! She snuck out of the kitchen and surprised her grandma. 

Grandma was sitting and watching T.V., and when Peggy scared her, she looked to the side and asked, “How did you get here?” 

Grandma recognized the mirror and said, “You found my mirror. I left it at your house when I went there. Thanks for finding it.” 

“You are magical?” 

“Yes I am.” 

“What? You are?!” said Peggy, amazed.

Grandma said, “I am a witch. My mom was a witch, too. You are a witch, too. I will teach you how to be a witch, too. But don’t tell anybody. That was my mom’s mirror now it is mine.”

“How is magic real?” asked Peggy. 

“Magic is in our lives,” said Grandma. “First you need to think of the places you want to go and then you appear there. If you want to take a buddy, you have to hold its hand.”

Peggy held her grandma’s hand and they disappeared to Paris. They went to the carousel, rollercoaster, and ate cotton candy. They had so much fun. They went to Spain and went to Portaventura and went on a lot of rides. When Peggy was on a ride, her mom noticed that Peggy was not home and her mom started to get nervous. Peggy’s mom went to the yard and discovered that Peggy had the mirror. Mom got her mirror and went to Grandma’s house, but Mom did not see them. She asked the mirror where to go, and the mirror showed her. She appeared right in front of Peggy. Peggy was surprised.

Mom said to Grandma, “Enough playing with Peggy.” Mom grabbed Peggy’s hand and used a broomstick so that no one could see that they were transporting with mirrors. However, when her mom was about to go, Peggy jumped out of the broomstick and stayed with Grandma. 

So Grandma showed Peggy how to ride a broomstick because Peggy wanted to be a proper witch. “The first thing you need to ride a broomstick is that you need to learn where to sit and where to put your cat. So, your cat goes on the end of the bush and you sit at the front. To make your broomstick go, you need to move your legs up and down and then it will start flying. To turn your broomstick, you need to put your arm where you want to go. To land, you put your broomstick down to the floor, it goes straight, and when you want to stop, you pull it up. And that’s how you ride a broomstick.” 

Peggy went for a try and Peggy twirled, turned, and almost fell out. She screamed, “Get me off this thing!” 

Grandma said, “Stay calm and your broomstick will keep on flying the right way.” 

When Peggy twisted and turned she felt excited, but when she almost fell off she felt scared and nervous because she thought she was going to fall down onto the floor and get really, really hurt! 

Every day after school, Peggy’s mom let her go to Grandma’s only if she did her homework and behaved. Peggy did a very disgusting spell. “What is in this spell?” Peggy wondered as she asked her grandma.

“There is worm poop, worm slime, water, and sunlight,” Grandma told Peggy, putting her fingers together.

“Yuck!” Peggy said, disgusted. 

Peggy got all of the ingredients, mixed them together, put them out in sunlight, and waited for four hours. In those four hours, Peggy lay down, counting all the flowers and grass until she lost count. She counts about 1,400 flowers and 6,045 grasses. 

Peggy asked if her grandma had a pool in her backyard. 

Grandma answered, “Yes.”

Peggy got dressed in her swimsuit and jumped in the steam and the water was like fire. Peggy was really hot because the light of the sun was hard and shining really bright. Peggy sat on the edge of the pool and then stood up and dove in. She almost hit her head on the bottom, and the pool was really deep. It passed the grass. It was under the ground. 

The four hours passed and the potion turned green and icky. Even though the spell had horrible ingredients, it actually smelled like lovely flowers. Peggy brought her potion home and gave it to her little sister, and it turned her little sister into a worm. 

Her mom came in and said, “Why is there a worm in your sister’s room?”

Peggy answered, “I turned my sister into a worm.”

Mom laughed. “I see that you learned a new spell.” 

When Peggy got back to her grandma’s house, she asked, “How do you turn people back into themselves?”

Grandma answered, “Instead of the same spell, you use the opposite. Instead of smelly and disgusting things, you put flowers, grass, perfume, and the last thing is sunlight.”

Peggy mixed the ingreetings together. It took two hours. During the two hours, Peggy went into the pool that was deep. After the two hours, she went home and gave it to her sister. Her sister turned back to herself.

Peggy’s favorite toy was her stuffy. She got it when she was two months old and it was named Soniño. She slept with it. It came with a blanket, and the blanket was named Peludo. It was one of her first stuffies, and if someone took it away from her forever, she wouldn’t be able to sleep. Peggy didn’t like hard homework and tests, but she liked normal homework. Peggy wasn’t allowed to go to her grandma’s house because she had to do her homework. Since her homework was really hard, she didn’t want to!

THE TEST happened on Friday at school. THE TEST was a lot of really hard multiplication, addition, subtraction, and other math things. Peggy’s school was not a magic school. It was a very different school, which was very hard. They sent her homework for Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday-Thursday, they did little tests at home to prepare for Friday. If Peggy did all of THE TEST’s answers wrong, she would go back to second grade. If Peggy did halfway of THE TEST correct, she would stay in third grade. If she got all of the answers in THE TEST, she would be able to go on to fourth grade. Peggy was very scared and nervous to take THE TEST because it was a really big day, and she needed to know her answers.

Peggy was not able to escape from her house because there were lots of booby traps, and if she passed one, a big alarm would sound. The booby traps were for the parents to know when Peggy was escaping because they wanted her to do her homework. Some of the booby traps were on the floor and some were on the ceiling and some were on the wall. The walls were bright white and the ceilings were dark white and the floor had light brown patterns. The booby traps looked like a little ball with something that they sat on so they didn’t roll off. The ones that were on the ceiling and walls had this little sticker, and some walls had magnets that they stuck on. The sound they made sounded like an ambulance and a fire truck and a police car noise all together! The only way that you could pass them was by being invisible, but the problem was that Peggy didn’t have all her ingredients, book of spells, and magic pot since she left them at her grandma’s house.

While Peggy was trying to escape, she went to the kitchen to find some ingredients and see if she had enough. While that was happening, her parents and her family were all in a meeting at her grandma’s house. They talked about how worried they were about THE TEST because Peggy didn’t want to do her homework, and they were so worried that if she didn’t do it, she would fail. They all talked about what Peggy liked most, and they all forgot what it was. They were so worried that they would not figure it out, and that Peggy would escape and not do her test. Her mom went with her magic and went to a spell that said, “To Know Your Daughter’s Favorite Toy.” She mixed up the potion ingredients, and she knew right away that her Soniño and Peludo were just it. 

So, with her magic, she saw that Peggy was in the kitchen trying to find some ingredients for her spell. Her dad took her Soniño and Peludo with his magic, and her mom and dad went right back to their house. They warned Peggy of what would happen if she didn’t do her homework (that they would take Soniño and Peludo from her forever). Peggy got so worried because she could not sleep with Soniño and Peludo missing, so she went straight into her room. She forgot there was an alarm right on her door but her parents weren’t mad because they knew she was going to do her homework since she really loved Soniño and Peludo and that she would do anything to avoid her parents taking them away. 

Peggy was on her desk chair working hard on her homework. Every day, when she woke up, she had breakfast and went to her room to practice math, reading, writing, and social studies. Peggy felt nervous. If she didn’t get all of it right, her mom might be mad at her and make her practice more! 

After lots of days of practicing, the test day arrives. Peggy felt nervous. Very nervous, because she didn’t want to be held back or stay in third grade. The teacher set a timer, so they would do their work. 

The teacher said, “Ready, set, go!”

Peggy remembered all her studying and wrote, wrote, wrote everything. When math was done, she moved to reading. Then she moved to writing, and then to social studies. 

Finally, the test was over. When the teachers went to check her work, Peggy bit her lips and shook her legs. The teachers called in her whole entire family to say her results. Peggy took a deep breath in and calmed herself down. When the teacher said, “Peggy, you can move on to fourth grade,” Peggy was relieved and her family cheered. 

Since Peggy passed, her family thought of throwing a party. So, they went to buy donuts and a congratulations cake. Her friends and grandma and grandpa came to celebrate, too. Peggy got a present from Grandma and Grandpa. It was a card that said, “Congratulations, Peggy! You did great.” Peggy thanked her grandpa and grandma because she really liked the card. She gave them a kiss and a hug. 

Peggy also got a graduation dress and hat. It even said her name. 

At her school, everyone passed, and they had a graduation party. Peggy wore her congratulations dress that her mom and dad bought for her. It even had a tassel and it said the year that she graduated. They took a class picture. Peggy smiled happier than ever. 

Peggy graduated at this very fun play place. It had lots of games and lots of very fun rides. She went on ten rides and played many, many games. When it was time to leave, Peggy helped her teacher clean up the tables and put away the cake. Peggy was really sad to start fourth grade and really happy at the same time. She was sad because she was going to miss her teachers. They were really fun and helpful. She was happy to move to fourth grade because she really worked a lot this year, and she was really happy to find new friends and teachers. 

Her parents bought a house for the summer. It had a pool and it had a lake. They went swimming in the lake and in the pool. They also went paddleboarding in the lake with their paddleboard. Over the summer, they also did a thank-you card for her teachers. 

Peggy found out that two of her friends rented a house right beside hers. One friend was on the right and the other one was on the left. Every day, they invited each other to go to their houses and make a thank-you poster for their teacher. They also opened the pool gates and swam in the pool together with lots of flamingo floaties and surfboards. 

It was the last week of summer, and Peggy brought lots of things, so they started packing. When the day was over, they still had a lot to pack, so every day they packed a little until it was time to go. Peggy said goodbye to her friends and goodbye to her summer house. 

Peggy was happy that school was about to start. But she heard some really sad news that her friends weren’t going to the same school as her. She was going to miss her friends, but her mom and dad said they would always visit them. 

When school started, her teacher’s name was Ella. She found lots of new friends and classmates. But her old friends would always be her best friends forever. Mom and Dad were so proud. So were Grandma and Grandpa, to see Peggy make new friends and have fun. 

Now Peggy was doing her homework every day. She went to her grandma’s house and also learned spells, and got her very own cat. The cat’s name was Chocolate, because her fur was brown and it smelled like chocolate. She was a magic cat with the power to create chocolate any time that Peggy asked her to. Peggy also got her very own broomstick to share with her cat, so her cat could sit on the tail and they could fly home. Peggy also learned many new spells. There was a changing-color spell, a weather spell that was really hard and dangerous (because you were controlling the weather and you never know what type of spell you might create), and also a math spell that helped her concentrate. 

Peggy was talking to her grandma about magic spells, but then Grandma had some horrible, very sad news. 

She said, “I’m dying. I’m very old.”

Peggy was really sad, and she started crying a bit, but Grandma told her that this happens to everyone. Peggy hugged her grandma as tight as she could. Peggy said, crying, “But without you, I can’t learn magic spells!” 

“I know you will!” responded Grandma. “I have to go to the hospital now to see my checkup,” said Grandma, “and you need to go home.” 

So, Peggy took her magic mirror and hopped on her broomstick and took her kitten named Chocolate and they went home. She told the news to her mom and dad, who were super disappointed because they liked Grandma a lot! 

“We know that darling,” said Mom. “Do you want to go visit Grandma?”

“Of course I do!” responded Peggy. 

So Mom, Dad, Sister, and Peggy went out to visit Grandma. They all took out their magic mirror except her sister, she didn’t have one, but she hopped on Peggy’s broomstick and carried her cat Chocolate. They went to the hospital where Grandma was, and Grandpa. Peggy held Grandma’s hand super tight. 

“The checkup is done!” said Grandma. “I’m going home now. Want to come with me?”

“Yes please!” responded Peggy.

So this time, her sister hopped on her Grandma’s broomstick and they all flew to Grandma’s house. Three days later, it was the day before Grandma was about to die, they went to this very cute sprinkle shop called Delicious Sprinkles. They went in and bought a bit of delicious sprinkles. When they got home, they baked a cake with Grandma. Grandma was also a very excellent baker! They baked 100 cupcakes and ten cakes. Imagine ten cakes! When they were done, they sprinkled lots and lots of cute and sparkly sprinkles. Of course, Grandma had to help! When they finished, they popped the cake into the oven and they forgot that they put the sprinkles in. 

“We needed to put the sprinkles after!” said Peggy. 

When the cake was finished, the sprinkles were completely melted! So they added sprinkles again. Grandma took a little bite without any sprinkles. She said, “Melted sprinkles taste delicious all together.” 

Peggy took a little bite. “You’re right!” said Peggy with a mouthful of cake. They saved some for later. 

They got to the hospital to see how Grandma was doing with her last day. 

The doctor said, “She’s doing great.” Peggy gave the doctor a cupcake.
“Why thank you! It tastes delicious.”

“You’re welcome,” said Peggy.

They went back to Grandma’s house and they had a sleepover all together. Before they took Grandma to the secret room, Peggy and Grandma had a very personal goodbye and kissed together. 

Grandma said, “I know you’ll become a great witch.” 

Peggy thought about it, and she said, “I will miss you.”

While they took Grandma to the private room, Peggy discovered the book of spells. The book of spells was something that Grandma left for Peggy. The note said: “From Grandma, To Peggy. This book of spells was mine and now it’s yours so you will become a great witch like me and your family. You can also use it to teach your sister. Love you! – Grandma”

Epilogue

Two months later, Peggy has been leaving flowers every day after her studies and writing notes of what she studies to her grandma. Peggy starts teaching her older sister. Her sister and her get into a bit of a problem. Her sister tries a spell, they hear a rumbling and then they get blocked! What will happen next to Peggy and her sister?

The Robot Who Met a Person

In another world, there was a robot named Emily who really wanted to meet a person but herio mom said she couldn’t. Emily went to her room and started crying, and then she said, “I really, really want to meet a real person. I’m gonna find a way to.” 

She started thinking, she was really into science and she even once said, “Oh, I want to learn about who existed thousands of years before me.” Next, she asked her mom, “Can I look up on your computer what existed thousands of years ago?” The computer said they were called People. After that, she went and looked it up in her book, and the book said that they were really cool. But they didn’t have a picture of the people. So, Emily said, “Oooh, I really, really want to meet a person so I can see what they look like and see what language they speak.” 

Emily wanted to go, so now she was gonna go outside and look all over the city for a person, but when she went home, she started crying again because she could not find a human. Then, she asked her mom if she could look on the internet. Her mom said, “Yes.” 

She went on the internet and looked to see if there was a way to find a human, and it said to go back in time to the 1900s. She thought and then she looked on the internet and looked up how to go back to the 1900s. It said to go to the darkest cave in the land, but first she had to travel to the Robot Island on a robot bird. She did not want to tell her mom because her mom would not let her so she had to sneak out. She started packing up her things then said to her mom she was going to a sleepover with her friend for a week.

Then she said goodbye to her mom and walked out the door, took her car, and drove to robot city airport and looked for the sign that said Robot Island area then she got out of her car and then took out her suitcase from her car then went in to the airport. She bought a ticket using her money that she had saved for just the occasion. Then she took the move (escalator) to the top floor to the waiting room and waited for them to announce that the Robot Island bird was boarding. She waited ten minutes and then they announced it was time for the robots going on the Robot Island bird to board. So she got up and she walked to where the robot captain was and she gave the captain the ticket and she boarded the robot bird. She found her seat and she sat down and started reading her book, and then they announced that it would take five hours to get to Robot Island. 

 The robot bird was flying into the air and Emily looked out the window and everything looked so small. So she watched some TV, the flight attendants gave out some drinks, and Emily watched five movies that were each one hour. Then, she got off the plane, and she saw a bunch of trees and this giant ocean. She looked up in her research book, and it said that this ocean was the biggest ocean in the Robot world. And then, she walked out of the plane and she went to her hotel. It was this round shape and it said, “Robot Island Hotel.” She walked into the hotel, checked in, and the hotel manager gave her the key to her room and then he showed her where her room was. She walked to her room and put all her stuff down, and then went out of her room and her mission just began. She went out of the hotel and took her research book with her and looked for the cave then found it. Then, she sneaked towards the cave, but there were guards standing in the entrance, so she tried to find another entrance from the back but she couldn’t. So she broke open the cave and sneaked in, then tiptoed towards the time machine, but there was a guard standing right in front of the time machine. So she tiptoed a tiny bit closer but the guard saw her and said, “Out!” 

So Emily quickly tiptoed another way and came back, and then he turned around and she tiptoed away so the guard couldn’t see her. She was feeling confident. She thought she probably wouldn’t get to the time machine cause there was a guard right in front of it. So then, she went out of the cave and tried to get to the front of the cave. The guard was looking toward the back of the cave because he was expecting her to come back. So she went out of the cave and went to the front entrance. There were guards. So then she distracted them and said, “Come get this gold rock,” and she threw it and they went to go get it because they thought it was gold. So then she sneaked in and the guard wasn’t looking and she got the time machine.

She put it in her bag and she ran all the way back to the hotel. Now she was so happy she quietly said, “Yes!” She ran to her hotel and waited for the elevator, then she got on the elevator and rode up to the fifth floor and opened her research book and it said to go outside in an open space where no one can see you. So she took her backpack and put her research book into her backpack. She put on her footwear and walked out of the hotel door and waited for the elevator, and then got on the elevator. Now she was very, very, very hungry. She walked out of the hotel and looked for an open space where there was no one. So she looked around a little more and finally, she found a space where she didn’t see anyone and it was very open. So she got out the time machine and said, “I want to go back to the 1900s.” And then, a whirl of wind caught her and she flew back very fast. Finally, she landed. 

It was very different from the robot world when she saw it. All the people looked different. They looked like they had round heads and oval bellies and weird shaped feet and little tiny toes. They were wearing long dresses that went to their ankles. There were also people wearing t-shirts with short sleeves and they had little words on them, but the words were different from robot language words. She also saw shops and saw people walking in and out of the shops. It looked very busy. 

So Emily walked around a little bit. She saw people looking right at her face. Their faces looked confused and weirded out and scared because they never saw anything like it. She was feeling embarrassed and she thought it would take a little bit of time for humans to get used to her, and that meant it would take time for her to get used to the humans so she could really meet the humans. She walked around, then she recognized the writing. It was a little similar to robot language words. She saw a shop that said, “Costume Store,” so she went inside. 

She tried to hide herself so no one could see her. She looked around, then she saw a costume of a teenage girl. “Perfect,” she said, but then she realized she needed money and she would have to sneak out of the costume store. So she tried to hide herself and the teenage girl costume. 

Emily made it out and tried to hide herself when she was putting on the teenage girl costume. Now she wouldn’t be embarrassed because she was wearing the teenage girl costume. 

She started taking a walk and then she saw a park, so she went to the park and ran around a little bit. Then, she saw a hotel and she went into it. She waited in line. When it was her turn, she just thought, Oh, I forgot! I almost forgot. I got a little bit of magic from the time machine and I’ll use that and I’ll tell the time machine that I want money because I don’t have any money. 

So Emily said to the person at the front desk of the hotel, “I’ll just step aside for a second. The next person can go.” So she stepped to the side, stepped out of the hotel, and she ran into an open space in the park. Then, she took out the time machine and she said, “Abracadabra, Time Machine, I need…” And then she looked at the hotel, and it said, “For one hotel room, it’s going to be $25.” So she asked the time machine for $30 just in case. Then, the time machine gave her $30. So then she put it into her pocket and she went back in the hotel and, at the front desk, she paid the money and they showed her where the hotel room was. They gave her the key to her hotel room so she went into the hotel and put down her stuff and started to think about how she would get the humans to like her. Then, she got an idea. 

She would set up a stand that sold pancakes because she learned in a research book that one kind of food that humans loved were pancakes. This book was all about humans, and she brought it with her from Robot World. It was a robot language, which was similar to human English. So she took her bag, and since she had money left, she would buy stuff for the stand. So she saw a store that had supplies, and she gathered all the supplies like a table, and she went to a store called Alex’s Deli and bought pancakes. Then, Emily went to the park, and on the side of the park, she set up the stand. Then people started coming to get them. They said, “How much does it cost?” 

She said, “Ten dollars per pancake.” So they got a pancake and went. After she got 30 customers, she took everything down and cleaned up. She made $300! She was very happy. She had made lots of money and people liked her because she sold them pancakes. They didn’t think she was a robot because she was acting normally and wearing the costume. It was hard for her not to be her normal self, but she wasn’t uncomfortable, because people liked her.

Then, Emily walked back into an open space in the park and said to the time machine, “Time Machine, please take me back to Robot World, right back to the front door of my house with all my luggage.” So the time machine formed a cloud that took her right back to her front door with all her luggage, and she knocked on the door and her mom opened it and said,

“Hello, darling.” It had been less than a week, so she decided to go home early then go unpack her bag. 

The Isolation Experiment

Chapter I – The Isolation Experiment

The Isolation Experiment was a famous scientific test in which 5 humans were placed in large, white boxes with a chair, a bed, and a slot in which they would receive food. The goal was to test what happened if a person didn’t see anyone or anything but the room they were in for a month. To make sure that the subjects could stay active(ish), they would get to walk down the hall and back again.

Out of coincidence, or so they thought, they all met in the same place, at the same time.

Eliza and Maxwell were a mere wall away, yet never saw each other. Both began to lose their minds after a week (“People need people,” Eliza would mutter constantly).

Ally was in the next room from Maxwell, who took an approach to imagine that there were people in the room with her. She would have conversations with air that she was imagining was a person that she created. It was found that she stayed more mentally stable than the rest. Her room was next to Arianna’s, who was just surprisingly good at being alone. She would find a new way to entertain herself in a different way each day. She was the youngest of the group, being 19 at the time.

Anthony was in the first room to the right (next to Arianna), and from the first day, he tried to find a way that he could find a loophole in the experiment so that he could get some new scenery, see another person, or something else like that to maintain his sanity. Thinking about how to do one of these things was actually what kept him from going crazy, until he found out how to do it.

Chapter II – Into the Unknown

Eliza was in the farthest room on the left. Her sister, Lilian, had signed her up without consulting her first, therefore, she didn’t know until three days before the experiment had begun. Without being prepared and by being a “people person,” she fell victim to being alone immediately and began begging through the camera that she forfeit the experiment. After nobody came for a week, she lost hope and sat on her bed all day, every day, except for when she got her meals through the slot in the door and walked down the hall and back every day. She felt as if this would be her life forever, and that she would never see a face again.

That changed when the subjects met.

Maxwell signed himself up, thinking he’d be fine while being isolated from all of humanity, and, like Eliza, let loneliness get the best of him. His room was to the right of Eliza’s. He decided that it was best to just wait for the experiment to end.

Ally decided that she would sign up. She thought that if being put alone in a room would mess with her mind, she would just imagine that she wasn’t alone or that she was somewhere else. The experiment found that she was almost as mentally stable as before the experiment.

Arianna was just bored, and decided that the experiment would help her pass the time. She knew that the experiment would limit what she had to do, so she decided to keep herself busy every day with something else to do in the room.

Anthony was tricked into the experiment as a prank and just accepted to enter it, but he knew that he would do anything he could to escape or find a loophole. That’s exactly what he did. How it went down was that he used his hallway walk to change the experiment’s participants’ walk schedule so that they would all meet in the hallway at the same time. He took an alternate (and half improvised) route to the dry-erase calendar that depicted the subjects’ time in and out of the room, meal times, notes about each participant, etc. He had to find a way to not be seen by any of the lab’s cameras or anyone in the building. He erased the calendar so that everyone would be out of their rooms at the same time. He hurried back to his room and waited for the next day to come when his plan would be put into action.

Anthony’s plan would succeed and all of the experiment participants would meet at the same time, in the same place, and the experiment would be ruined.

Chapter III – Meetup in Hallway 9

The day had started like any other, and every experiment subject woke up at the same moment from a loud alarm through a speaker connected to the camera in each room. At 1:00 p.m. sharp, all of the participants began their walk. Anthony, being closest to the end of the hallway, arrived first to where all of the subjects would meet. He was quickly followed by Arianna, who gasped upon seeing him. “Another human!” she said, delighted.

Ally turned up next and froze before Anthony and Arianna, before slowly approaching them and saying, “… am I hallucinating?… !”

Maxwell was coming next, but Eliza came running from behind them, stopping abruptly when she saw other people. “The hallways are long and I’m the farthest from here… might as well run,” she said when she saw Arianna’s face.

When Maxwell made it to the end of the hall and lifted his head, his eyes widened and he said, “Hello there… ” slowly.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, loud alarms sounded from every direction. A voice echoed through the hallway. “MEETUP IN HALLWAY 9!” it screamed continuously.

“Run. My room’s the closest,” said Anthony. Everyone ran to Anthony’s room, went in, and locked the door.

“I guess we’re waiting here, then,” said Ally calmly.

“Guess so,” said Maxwell.

“We have to escape next,” said Anthony.

Chapter IV – The Tile

There were now 5 people in 1 small room with laboratory guards pounding on its locked door. The room didn’t have any openings other than the door, and for obvious reasons, it wouldn’t be the brightest idea to unlock it. There wasn’t anything to break a wall with in the room, so breaking a wall wasn’t possible. Eliza’s description fit perfectly. “Dead end,” she said.

“There must be something that people use to get out of these rooms… other than the door… ” said Eliza before her voice trailed off.

For thirty minutes, the five test subjects searched the room relentlessly for an exit. Maxwell pushed on the walls, Arianna kicked them.

“The floor… ” said Anthony slowly. “There’s a tile in the floor that’s loose. There could be something under it.”

Anthony headed to the corner of the room in which one of the floor tiles was significantly looser than the rest, being easy to pick up. Anthony did so, revealing a gaping hole. The tiles around the one that had been removed fell instantly. The hole seemed bottomless from where Anthony, Ally, Arianna, Eliza, and Maxwell were standing.

“Maybe we should drop something down fir — ” Ally began, but Arianna had already hopped down the hole.

“Is it safe?” bellowed Anthony, but by then, everyone else had stepped off the edge of the hole and was descending into the floor except for him and Eliza.

“Well then, see you at the bottom,” said Eliza before going after the others.

Anthony decided that if everyone else had gone and the guards were nearly through the door, he might as well take the only way out. “Here goes nothing.”

Chapter V – Welcome to Michigan

Anthony fell with a bang in a dark, sewage-like black tunnel. The other four were walking down the hallway it led into (well, Eliza was pretty much running again). Once everyone had made their way to the end of the hall, there was a large door. It took all five of them to open it. There was a large staircase that led to a busy highway. “What now?” asked Arianna.

“We find out where we are,” said Ally steadily. There was a sign about 200 feet away from where Ally was standing so she started walking towards it. The sign read, ‘Welcome to Michigan!’ and that there was a welcome center close by.

“Then let’s head to that welcome center,” said Anthony when he had caught up.

Arianna, Maxwell, Eliza, and Anthony trailed behind Ally to the welcome center in the distance. When they arrived, the people in the welcome center didn’t move. Probably because they were in disheveled, dirty laboratory clothing.

“Welcome to Michigan… ” squeaked a small man behind a large oak desk. Ally stepped forward.

“Look. We need a hotel. Where can we find one?” Ally said.

“The next exit on the highway,” said the man behind the desk nervously.

“Well then, farewell,” said Ally before walking out the door.

Everyone arrived at the hotel an hour later. To the five’s shock, there were a group of reporters eagerly waiting. There was a wave of  shouting from the reporters saying things like, ‘Why did you decide to escape?’ and, ‘How did you get past the laboratory’s guards?’ and, ‘Do you regret your escape?’ and with that, Ally said, “Now we face the media.”

Chapter VI – The Media

When Eliza, Maxwell, Ally, Arianna, and Anthony had been brought to the Michigan Today news tower and offered clean clothing, the questioning began. There were sleek, grey cameras everywhere, and a woman with blonde hair sitting across from the five of them.

“This is Michigan Today News and I’m Olivia Murphy with the five escaped subjects of The Isolation Experiment,” the woman said. “First question,” she said, turning to Anthony. “The Worldwide Laboratory’s cameras saw that the way you escaped was through a hole in your room’s floor. How did you think of checking under a loose tile?”

“Uh — what else were we gonna do?” Anthony responded.

“Next question is for you, Arianna,” said the newscaster carelessly.

Arianna jerked her head upwards upon hearing her name.

“You jumped into the hole first. Why did you do that before even testing it?”

“I guess if there’s a giant hole that seems to have purposely been put there, it must be safe to go down it… ” responded Arianna.

“Next question is for Eliza. Why did you decide to escape with the others?”

“If there are angry guards pounding at my door and an opportunity to get out of an experiment that is torturing me, I’m going to take it, of course,” responded Eliza angrily.

“We have to take a quick commercial break, but we’ll be back with the Isolation Experiment escapees afterwards,” said the newscaster.

Chapter VII – The Isolation Experiment (?)

The Isolation Experiment was a famous scientific test in which 5 humans were placed  in large white boxes with a chair, a bed, and a slot in which they would receive food. The goal was to put the experiment’s subjects into a psychopathic state of mind by isolating them from all other people. Either the scientists would watch them lose their minds… or they’d be a small percentage of the population that would find a way out of the experiment… through a tunnel, a welcome center, a hotel, and a news tower.

But surely, they wouldn’t figure that out.

And even if they did, how could they know it had all been planned? How would they guess that it wasn’t just good luck?

The Lab also had an extraordinary reputation. Nobody would believe that they would set up a fake experiment and have five participants agree to that while actually just mentally torturing them, it was scientists from around the world’s word versus the word of five people with no proof. This “Isolation Experiment” was going to go just as planned. They couldn’t escape.

But could they?

Chapter VIII – About the Lab…

Everything went wrong for the scientists at The Worldwide Laboratory. Their 5 test subjects were informed about the criminal plan and that there were phone calls, secret letters, and camera records proving it. They were told by an investigator that had become involved in the case. It had been in the airport that they were all set to depart back to their homes from.

“About the Lab… ” the investigator started. “… it was all a plan. They wanted to watch you all lose your minds.”

Arianna gasped slightly, but in a way, that suggested that she knew that what was said was true all along.

“They made the hole purposely… but tried to make it look like it just so happened to be there… ” Eliza said softly, apparently deep in thought, eyes staring blankly ahead.

“I could tell that it was all fake a bit… ” Maxwell began. “… but I told myself that it couldn’t be… at least it couldn’t be happening to me.”

There was an uncomfortable silence, with no sounds but the bustling of the airport in the background.

“When we all found each other at the end of that hallway, they must’ve known that we might have the wit to escape,” said Ally blankly.

“Or perhaps they made the hole for themselves to escape in case they were found out and if the lab was raided,” added Maxwell. “Anyone’s guess, honestly.”

The people in charge of The Isolation Experiment were all arrested on the spot. It was one of the most shocking scandals the world had seen at that time.

Chapter IX – The Farewell

All five of them rushed to their planes to return home, but not one of them thought that it would be the last time, because who knew what would happen next to The Isolation Experiment Escapees. They were now considered as celebrities all around the world. Their story would be told over and over, the wondrous story of The Isolation Experiment.

The Little Mushroom

One day, there was a little mushroom. This mushroom wasn’t like any other mushroom. At night, on every full moon, it would turn into a person that was neither black nor white, it was neither a boy nor a girl. If the mushroom wore a dress, it would be identified as a girl, if the mushroom wore basketball shorts with a shirt, it would be identified as a boy. The mushroom would also be granted unexplainable powers. These powers had the power to control anything it wished. It also had the power to read minds. There was only one rule to these powers. That rule was: never look at the moon. If the mushroom were to look at the moon, then the whole human race would be doomed. The mushroom would turn into a giant that wasn’t a human, but at the same time, it wasn’t a monster. It would just be a big giant that wouldn’t harm the human race but, because most of the human race is scared of what they don’t understand, they would try to kill the mushroom. That would make the mushroom mad, which would then lead to the destruction of Earth.

Finding the Banana Tree

Chapter 1: Obstacle Course 

There once was a monkey who wanted a banana so he went on an adventure.

On his search for his banana, he discovered an obstacle course. He had to swing vine to vine to go over a pond. So he jumped on the vines until some alligators came. “If you don’t make it through this obstacle course, you’re dinner for us!” 

And now the monkey was scared. So he had to go fast and he had to face his fear. 

The alligators followed him so that if he fell, they could catch him in their mouths. But he got through the obstacle course so the alligators didn’t have anything to eat. 

The next part of the obstacle course was pretty hard. He had to go through a maze but there were cheetahs in it! The monkey had to make sure he didn’t bump into any of them. He just had to try. So he went through the maze and then he bumped into a cheetah. He ran away, but while he was running, he found an exit. But then there was another cheetah! Both of the cheetahs bumped into each other and the monkey got out of the maze. The cheetahs were dizzy and mad that they didn’t get to eat the monkey. 

Then, the monkey had to jump on some hippos without getting eaten. The monkey jumped and he jumped and he jumped until he almost got chomped. He got away with only  a scratch. He finished that obstacle course. He found a banana but it wasn’t a regular banana. it was a golden banana! So he went back home and tried to eat his banana. But when he bit the gold banana, his teeth fell out. He felt sad. And he still felt hungry. 

Chapter 2: A Bad Day

Monkey had a bad day to start off with. He woke up hungry because he didn’t eat anything the day before. He decided to ask for help from his friend, Pete the Parrot. Since Pete could fly, Monkey had a great idea. He’d ask Pete to fly high and search the land for bananas. Monkey started to go to Pete the Parrot’s house. On his way to Pete’s house, he met a lemur who looked sad. Monkey asked the lemur, “Why are you sad?” 

Lemur said because she had no friends. 

Monkey invited her to come with him to Pete the Parrot’s house. Monkey asked the lemur her name.

“My name is Leah, what’s your name?” 

“My name is Miles,” said Monkey. 

They continued walking to Pete’s house. When they arrived at Pete’s house, Pete was outside planting tomatoes. 

Miles told him about not finding any bananas yesterday. He also told him about an obstacle course he discovered and how he was almost eaten by the alligators, cheetahs, and hippos. After surviving the other animals, he had found a golden banana. “I thought the banana was a real banana,” Miles said. “I bit it and my teeth fell out. It was a solid gold banana.”

So Pete agreed to fly over the jungle in search of bananas. After two hours, Pete returned with his findings. Pete said, “I found a tree with a lot of bananas, but it’s going to be dangerous  to get there.”

Miles said, “Fine, I’m not scared, because I’m brave and I want those bananas!” 

Chapter 3: Off to the Tree

So Miles, Leah, and Pete all headed into the jungle but first they took something to protect themselves from the predators. They gathered some sticks and rocks. Miles, Pete, and Leah went on an adventure to the tree. They were walking through the jungle being led by Pete. Pete was flying  ahead and told them to take a big blue palm tree. They got to the palm tree and a panther jumped out. 

The panther said, “This is my land, who are you? What are you doing here?” 

They felt a scared little wiggle in their tummies like butterflies. 

Miles said, “We’re on an adventure to a banana tree of bananas? I’m very hungry, I didn’t eat yesterday. My friend, Pete, found this tree.” 

Panther then said, “Well, if you promise to bring me back some bananas, I will let you go.” 

Miles agreed to the deal and they kept walking on the path to the banana tree. As they kept walking, Pete told them to take a right turn, so they took the right. Pete did not see the pool of snakes waiting in the path. Miles and Leah were freaked out when they saw the poisonous snakes. Leah said, “We have to find a way to get over these snakes.” 

Then Miles said, “We can swing from vine to vine, like I did yesterday during the obstacle course.”

As they swung from vine to vine, the snakes began to spring at them to bite their legs. Pete yelled, “Faster, faster!” 

Miles and Leah yelled back, “We’re trying but it’s so hard with snakes below us!” 

Miles and Leah made it across the snakes. “Whew, we made it.” 

Miles asked Pete, “Are we almost there? I want to eat the bananas, I’m hungry.”

Pete said, “We’re almost there.” 

Chapter 4: See You Again

Pete saw the tree and yelled, “I see the tree!”

Miles and Leah started dancing because they are so happy. Then, the cheetahs popped out and said, “Hello, Miles, nice to see you again.”

Leah said, “Who are these guys?” 

“I met them in the obstacle course I told you about,” said Miles. “They tried to eat me.” 

“Yes,” the cheetah said, “but this time, you will be our dinner.” 

Then the cheetahs yelled, “Attack!”

Pete started to drop rock on the cheetahs, while Miles poked them with the sticks. The cheetahs then fell to the ground and said,

“We surrender, please stop poking us with the sticks, and tell your friend to stop throwing rocks.” 

So Miles, Leah, and Pete stopped their attack. The cheetah moved out of the way and let them pass. 

Chapter 5: Finally

Finally, they arrived at the tree and took as much as they could carry. Miles said, “We can’t forget panther.” 

So they collected bananas for panther, too. After collecting the bananas, they headed home. On their way home, they stopped at a panther’s house and dropped off his bananas. They thanked him for letting them pass his land. Once they got to Miles’ house, they had dinner. Their dinner, of course, was bananas. Then Pete the Parrot said,

“I have to go back home to finish planting my tomatoes.” 

Miles said, “Ok, goodbye, and thanks for showing us where the bananas were.” Miles said to Leah, “If you want to stay here with me, you can.”

Leah said, “Ok, I would love to stay with you.” 

Crazy About Computers

Chapter 1: New Computer

“A new computer!?” shouted Veronica. 

When she found a new computer had been delivered to her dad, she got really excited, even if it wasn’t her computer. Her dad had worked from home, because her mom was the president of the U.S., so she was too busy to take care of Veronica.

“I can’t wait for my new computer,” said Veronica. 

“Really, it’s Daddy’s computer, Veronica,” Veronica’s mom said. “I won’t get you one if you won’t go to school.”

Her extended family was from England, but a month ago, they had moved to America. They had a cat and his name was Strike. Veronica named her cat Strike because a few years ago, when Veronica competed in bowling, her cat helped her win. 

“I need a new computer,” shouted Veronica. “I need it to order my new manicure set because in two weeks there is a birthday party, and I have to look my best!”

Her mom said, “If you want people in your class to like you, you have to go to school, that’s the only way!” 

Veronica got persuaded immediately. “But does that mean you will get me a new computer?” Veronica asked. 

“Yes!” her mom said, annoyed. Since her mom was distracted, she was late for work, as the president. So she got so mad at Veronica, that she said, “For dinner, I can’t cook your favorite pasta, this time. Just make a sandwich for dinner tonight, maybe next week if I have time, I can make the pasta for you, if you don’t distract me.” 

Veronica’s younger brother, Dylan, said, “You are so irresponsible! You are late for everything, again.” Whenever Veronica had arguments, she became late for school. 

Chapter 2: A Day At School

In the morning, Veronica had slept in, so she had eaten on the bus. 

“But Mom could get me an alarm,” she snapped. 

Her mom said, “Now get on the bus, you are not going to get me late again.” 

Veronica got on the bus, and was actually allowed to use her mom’s MetroCard. Veronica did not like school. When she arrived, some other girls whispered about her, and Veronica was pretty sure it was rumors about her and her mom since she was the president’s daughter and the dad was owner of the most famous restaurant. Most other girls in her school were jealous that she was a celebrity and her mom was the president and the other kids’ parents weren’t. They all did not want Veronica to know that they were jealous. Veronica’s teacher was also from England. When school was over, Veronica got to know her classmates better. She was happy. 

“Mom will finally get me a computer! I am so excited! I can do so many other things other than ordering my new manicure set!”

When Veronica got on the school bus, she actually had someone who could talk to her and actually, since that friend was pretty popular, she said that all of the girls on the bus would be able to play a game. Veronica was so excited that she actually had friends because before, she was not invited to any of the games.

Chapter 3: Sick!

Veronica talked about the whole school day to her dad because her mom was nowhere to be seen. “Where is mom?” Veronica asked. 

 “Mom is sick so she is in your room relaxing.” 

“Will I still be able to get my new computer?” Veronica said excitedly. 

“I am sorry, but she is the president, so she needs all the rest she can get so she can get back to work.” 

Veronica asked if her dad could get her a computer, but he was always doing things and didn’t have so much time to just order stuff. “Now to not be bored, how about you play with Dylan for a little while or you can play on your iPad,” said Veronica’s dad. 

Veronica would always choose to play on her iPad because whenever she tried playing with Dylan, he always made excuses, telling her he had to do something else, like make dinner. 

When Veronica was heading to her room, she passed by Dylan and he said, “Did you know that mom is sick?”

“Of course I know because that means I don’t get a computer, even though today on the bus some other girl invited me to play a game with some other friends! But I can’t get a computer because mom is sick,” Veronica aggressively said. 

“Then use mine!” Dylan said. Veronica gasped.

Chapter 4: Dylan’s Computer 

“You have a computer!?” shouted Veronica. 

Then Dylan automatically pulled Veronica over to his room and showed her it on his desk. Veronica was never really allowed in Dylan’s room but today she was allowed. She was super confused that Dylan had a computer because she didn’t know. She became super jealous. She was screaming inside her head. Her hands were in fists. 

“How could Mom not get me a computer, and get Dylan one? It’s not fair.” 

“Mom is sick, and she has so much work to do, until she gets you one, you can use mine. But you have to wipe every key that you touched after every single use. I want it SUPER neat,” Dylan said.

Dylan downloaded all sorts of video games, his screen was covered with them, and he used so much money to buy the games. 

Veronica then threatened to tell on Dylan, but Dylan said, “You can’t use my computer ever again, if you tell on me.” 

Veronica sighed. “I won’t tell if you let me play your games WITHOUT complaining.” 

“I have a perfect streak on all of them, besides, don’t you have a huge test tomorrow? You should study.”

Veronica asked him if she was saying all this to her so that she wouldn’t go on his computer anymore, and so she wouldn’t tell on him, and he nervously laughed and said, “No,” looking at the floor.

Veronica went to her room, and started texting her friends about how unfair it was to not get a computer. She and her friend, Caroline, got in a fight because her friend bragged that she had three new types of computers, and Veronica had none. Veronica got so mad, and her friend texted her not to sit next to her, or play games with her.

Chapter 5: Caroline Ignores For The Day

In the morning, Veronica left the house earlier because she wanted to make up with Caroline, and she knew that her ex-friend came to school super early to exercise at school. Veronica was going to say bye to her dad, and complain that Dylan got a computer and she didn’t. 

“Do you understand that Mom is sick and needs to go back to work soon, so she has to rest? Before, when Dylan got his computer, Mom was not sick, so she ordered one for Dylan. When Mom feels better, I promise she will get you a computer, too. And if you want to go to school, then you have to stop asking questions and eat,” said her dad. 

When Veronica was at her school, she saw Caroline and said, “I really want to make up!” 

“Is it because you just want friends? You are so lonely!” Caroline teased. 

Veronica was now not so sure about being friends with Caroline after all. Now Veronica realized that Caroline was the most popular girl at school for no reason because she was absolutely mean!  

“Caroline, I don’t have a computer because my mom is sick and I think that you know that my mom is the president so she has to rest the most so she can get back to work,” said Veronica.

“What about your dad? I thought you said you have a great dad that cares about you so much. If your dad cares about you so much, then why can’t he order it for you?” Caroline said meanly. Her eyes squinted at Veronica, her hand on her hips. “And anyways, I can’t even believe I am even talking to you? You are so snooty and I think that’s why no one wants to be your friend. I am going to tell everyone in the school to not even try to be your friend because you are not likable.” 

At math, Caroline did not sit next to Veronica. Veronica could not even pay attention in  class. “This is all your fault,” said Veronica to Caroline. 

“Can I have one of the school computers?” Veronica asked the teacher.

“Don’t you have your own to use? And no way you can have one, because we need them for students who don’t have access to computers at home, and besides, we already have a shortage of computers,” Mrs Jones, Veronica’s teacher, said. 

Then Veronica thought of a plan: to sneak into the classroom at midnight and get a computer. She was sure that she would return the computer after she ordered the manicure set, but then she remembered that Caroline told everyone in the class that no one should talk to her. She frowned, but there were other things that were fun that Veronica could do on the computer. She wanted to get back at Caroline, she wanted to play a prank — put a water balloon in Caroline’s locker so that when Caroline opened it in the morning, it would make her wet for being so mean! Hopefully, she wouldn’t get caught! Veronica thought this was the perfect plan.

Chapter 6: The Plan 

She knew her parents were watching TV, and had fallen asleep on the couch. She decided to climb out of her window. She pushed the window open, and it creaked. She climbed onto the roof, swung onto the gutter, and landed on her feet with a thud. First, she went to the water fountain and filled the balloon up with water. There was only one problem, every locker had a code! Caroline would pick something that was very not obvious, Veronica thought. She stomped her foot and didn’t even think about being too noisy. She said to herself, I need to figure out what Caroline’s very secret code is.  But she didn’t need to figure it out! Veronica was overthinking about the plan. When Veronica realized that she did not need to figure out what the code was, she heard some footsteps. Veronica said to herself, I can’t run because it would be too easy to hear the footsteps of me while I am running. Veronica had to think fast but she did not have any time so her only choice was to run! She brought the balloon, and since Veronica took rock climbing classes, she was able to climb out the window in five seconds, and her plan had been a failure.

Chapter 7- Planning Plan B

Dylan always snuck into Veronica’s room at midnight and didn’t see Veronica, so he shouted and Veronica’s parents were all freaked out that Veronica was not in her room sleeping, so when Veronica came back they were so relieved. 

“Where were you? We all were so worried! Why did you even sneak out at night?” Veronica’s mom said. 

“I was just getting my project from school, that I was working on this past week, it’s worth 40 percent of my grade, and is due tomorrow, so I was freaking out!” Veronica lied. 

“You could ask me to drive you, don’t scare me like that again. Next time, just don’t do it in the middle of the night. Okay?” Her mom said relieved, and sighed. 

Then Veronica went back to her room, and was exhausted. I can’t fail to pull the prank, Caroline should get what she deserves, she thought. I’ll wake up super early tomorrow morning to plan this,  Veronica thought to herself. She set her alarm that was technically for Dylan but Veronica stole it from him, for 5:30, and then when it rang, she started immediately planning and looking at the blueprints of the school, so she wouldn’t fail again. 

Chapter 8: New Girl At School

 When Veronica was just done planning the plan, she quickly turned off the lights and hid her plans and snuggled under her covers and fell asleep again. Since Veronica fell asleep again, no one would know that she had woken up at 5:30 to plan. Dylan woke Veronica up and Veronica couldn’t take her mind off her plan that she had planned. Veronica’s dad had made eggs and pancakes, and then Veronica was not late for the school bus, so she did not have to ride the public bus.

Veronica had memorized everyone on her school bus, and then she had realized that there was someone new, she looked pretty shy. All the seats were taken. Caroline and Veronica were living in the same neighborhood, so they took the school bus together. So Veronica could not sit anywhere, but there was one more seat next to Caroline! Caroline refused for Veronica to sit next to her but all of a sudden, the new girl said to Caroline,

“She can sit wherever she wants!”

That new girl, Shelby, was shy, but the master of standing up for others.  Veronica had made friends with Shelby immediately. They sat next to each other at lunch, and since they were starting to become good friends, Veronica told Shelby about the plan. They decided that Shelby would be able to be part of the plan because she helped make it 100% accurate. Shelby would get the computer and Veronica would pull the prank on Caroline.

Chapter 9: Rebels

In after-school, Shelby and Veronica were both in rock climbing class so they chatted about the plan the whole time. 

“So remember, set an alarm or anything to help you remember to wake you up at 12:00. I am using my little brother’s alarm, who is in 3rd grade, because I actually don’t have one. So you got it?” Veronica said. Veronica was a little embarrassed that she told Shelby that she did not have an alarm. 

“I promise that I won’t tell anyone,” Shelby said.  

When it was midnight, the alarm rang loudly and woke Veronica up, Shelby stayed awake until 12:00 because she wanted to make back-up plans. Then exactly at 12:00, both of them went to school and met each other in the corridor. 

“So remember: the computers are in the classroom, so get one, but if you want one too, then you can get one for yourself, and I am going to be pulling the prank on Caroline,” Veronica whispered. 

“Here’s a flashlight for you. I have my own,” Shelby said as she was pulling out the flashlights out of her mini backpack. 

Veronica said, “Well lets hope our plan works. If you hear any footsteps, then hide under the table in the classroom, and I will hide in the other classroom right across from Caroline’s locker. Okay?” 

“Got it,” Shelby said. 

Then Shelby got the computers and Veronica pulled the prank, and it worked! They headed home with the computers and Veronica was super tired and excited that she forgot to hide the computer. So, when Dylan snuck in Veronica’s room while she was sleeping, he spotted the computer from school and was going to immediately tell her parents, but he already woke Veronica up.

 She said, “Go away.” But Dylan already told Veronica’s parents. They looked very confused about the computer. 

“How did you get the computer from school to here?” they said. 

Veronica did not want to tell the truth so she said, “Dylan stole it from the school then did not want to get in trouble so he put it in my room!”   

“Really, you are going to blame me?” said Dylan. 

“Let’s discuss this tomorrow because it is so late,” Veronica’s parents said angrily.

Chapter 10: Caught Red Handed!

It was good that Veronica’s mom was not sick anymore so she always went to work super early, and her dad always just quickly made breakfast and then went back to his room where he worked. So Veronica did not have to talk about the computer. Veronica quickly ate breakfast and hopped on the bus and sat right next to Shelby. 

“I am so excited at the prank,” Shelby whispered. 

Then when they arrived at school, the principal had called them into his office. “I heard, Veronica, that you were Crazy about computers! They were missing this morning, but there last night, when the janitors checked.”

The vice principal said, “Let’s check the security cameras to see who stole them! I mean, they were probably stolen!” 

Veronica gulped, her palms were so sweaty, she had to keep rubbing them on her jeans. Shelby kept glancing nervously between the principal and Veronica. They checked the security cameras to find Veronica and Shelby, both in black hoodies and leggings to blend in. 

The vice principal asked with a harsh tone, “Where are the computers? This is really bad, you can end up a huge fine, and we have to tell your parents!” The Vice Principal exclaimed. “Whether you are the president’s daughter or not, it doesn’t matter!” 

Chapter 11: Making Mistakes 

“We are so sorry!” Shelby said.  

“We just wanted a computer and we will definitely make sure that we will return it by this morning because we know we felt bad!” Veronica said. 

Shelby begged, “Please don’t tell our parents, because we are so sorry!” The principle forgave Veronica and Shelby, but he was still going to tell their parents. 

When Veronica’s dad found out that Veronica had stolen the computers, he was upset but understood why. He said, “You have to be patient because your mom is really busy because she is president and I have to take care of you and work! I can’t even believe that you stole the computers from school! Just because you really want to get a computer, it really does not mean that you can steal it from school with your friend. I will get you a computer some time.” 

“You are going to get me a computer? I am so excited! You are the best dad ever! It’s gotta be perfect,” Veronica said excitedly.

Chapter 12: Getting the Computer

Then Veronica waited and waited, and when her birthday came, she got a new computer! 

“A new computer?! I can’t believe I have a new computer. This is so exciting but I can’t order the manicure set that I was going to order for the birthday party but I can download some games and order other cool things and I will have so much fun! Thank you so much! I love this new computer so much! You are the best parents ever,” said Veronica.

And the prank that Veronica had done was a success. Caroline got all wet when she opened her locker and no one had known that it was Veronica’s fault except Shelby and Veronica. Veronica was so happy because she finally got her new computer!  “YAY!”

Mercy’s New Place

Chapter One: The Introduction 

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Mercy. She wanted to go to a different place. She wanted to go to England, where her mom and dad lived. Before she took the plane, Mercy asked her friends if they wanted to go with her. Five of her friends said yes, and five said no. She went to her house and took some pants, t-shirts, sneakers, shorts, winter shoes, and more. When her friends were packing, she thought of all the things she could do in England.

Chapter Two: Leaving for England 

They took their stuff and left to go to the plane. In the meantime, they watched TV and movies. They watched Toy Story, WALL-E, and lots more. When they got there, they went to their house. Mercy went to hers and her friends lived in a different place in the apartment.

Chapter Three: Meeting her Parents 

Mercy went to the apartment, went to the house, got the keys, and opened the door. She saw her parents. She hugged them. “Long time no see,” said her parents. 

They went to sit for lunch (it was lunch in England). 

After they ate, they watched a movie. 

Mercy said, “I brought my friends, they’re in a different room but in the same apartment!” 

Mercy’s dad said, “Why? We want to see only see you.” 

Mercy said, “They were not coming to our apartment. They’re just visiting, what’s the problem?” “You can’t make them leave?” asked her dad.

“No,” said Mercy. “I don’t understand, why do you want them to leave?”

 Her dad said, “Because I explained: we want to be with you by ourselves.”

 “I won’t make them leave, sorry, they’re my friends,” said Mercy. 

Chapter Four: Angry Everyone 

Mercy told her parents she couldn’t. She left the living room and went to her room. She cried. Her hands were under her forehead, and she felt the teardrops on her soft coat. She sat on the chair. She decided to go to her friends. 

She said, “I have to make a plan because I want to sneak without my parents seeing me.”

Chapter Five: The Plan 


1. Tiptoe across the room

2. Hide underneath the table and wait until everyone goes

3. Go next to the corner of the room 

4. Go next to the door 

5. Take a bag, put everything needed inside 

6. Make a plan for how to tell friends in the hallway 

7. Get ready for the sneak 

Chapter Six: The Sneak 

Mercy remembered what to do. She took a deep breath, reached into her bag, and looked at the first step and she tiptoed across the room. She looked at the next thing. She hid underneath the table and waited for everyone to go. She went to the third step, then she went to the corner of the room and she looked at the fourth step: go next to the door. She went next to the door and the fifth step was to take the bag and put everything that she needed inside. The sixth step was to make a plan for how to tell her friends to go. She took paper out of her bag and she started to write how she’d tell her friends. The seventh step was to get ready to sneak. She took a deep breath and went to her first friend.

Chapter Seven: The Showing and the Telling

She took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. Mercy heard a loud thud after she knocked. 

Her friend said, “What’s going on, Mercy? Having fun?” 

“Yes,” she said. “But I have something to tell you.”

“Ok, what?” her friend said.

“Let’s go into your house.”

“Ok,” said her friend, not knowing what was wrong. They went. They heard another loud thud. Mercy still did not know what it was. 

Isabelle, who was her friend, told her, “Ok, what’s wrong?” 

Mercy took a deep reach into her purple bag and started talking. “Hi, Isabelle, my friend. I know this is hard for you, I had a discussion with my parents and they screamed all they could. I told them I can’t make this happen. They told me I had to. I cried in my room so much and I realized this is for the best. I know this is a big translation. I’ll catch you one. I am asking you, please with a cherry on top: can you go back to Spain, please?”
Isabelle asked, “Is there any other way?”

“I’ll go check.” She called her mom. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hi,” her mom said. 

“Is there any other way for my friends not to go?” 

“I’m sorry,” said her mom. “No, there is no other way. I wish there were.” 

“Ok, thanks mom,” said Mercy. 

“Bye bye,” said her mom. 

Mercy talked to her friend. “I’m so sorry, this is for the best.”

“Is anyone else except me coming back?” 

“Everyone,” said Mercy. 

Isabelle said, “Can you catch me a flight?” 

“Sure,” said Mercy. 

“Ok,” said Isabelle. 

Chapter Eight: Second Bye Bye

She went to her other friend. She told her the same thing (“Hi, Rachel, my friend. I know this is hard for you, I had a discussion with my parents and they screamed all they could. I told them I can’t make this happen. They told me I had to. I cried in my room so much and I realized this is for the best. I know this is a big translation. I’ll catch you one. I am asking you, please with a cherry on top: can you go back to Spain, please?”). Rachel said, “Ok.” 

And all her friends went back to Spain. 

Chapter Nine: The Problem

Mercy went to her house. She suddenly realized the door was locked. She tried knocking and she looked under the door. There was a mouse. 

Mercy said, “Huh, Mouse, can you help?” She did not expect the mouse to speak. 

He said, “Of course, what do you want me to do?” 

Mercy said, “Can you go under the door and take the keys from my dad?” But before he answered, she said, “I’ll call him.” She called him but he did not answer. She called her mom. No answers. 

“Can you take the keys from my dad and bring them to me?” Mercy asked. 

“Sure!” said the mouse. He went under the little crack and went to Mercy’s dad and jumped on him and grabbed the keys and went to Mercy. 

The mouse said, “Here they are!” 

“Thanks!” said Mercy. She took out a piece of paper and she planned how to sneak. She wrote down this…

Chapter Ten: The Plan 

She wrote down the same thing when she got out of the house, then she went inside and went to her room silently. 

Chapter 11: Apologize 

When she went inside, she heard a creak of opening the door. She saw her mom. 

Her mom asked, “Where have you been?” 

Mercy did not know what to say. 

She said, “At a restaurant.” She did not want anyone to know where she had been. 

“What did you eat?” her mom asked. 

“Macaroni and cheese,” Mercy said. 

“Cool! About that, I’m sorry we told you to not be with your friends, you have so many friends you should be with.” 

Mercy told her mom to go. She quickly called her friends. “I’m sorry for you going back and forth, back and forth. If any of you want to come back to England, you could come back.” 

She was mad at herself.

Chapter 12: No Fun with Lies!

Mercy called her mom, and told her all about where she was. Her mom was angry she lied. 

“Why did you lie? You could have told the truth. I would not be mad at you.” 

Mercy said sorry. 

“Next time, tell the truth.”

“Ok,” said Mercy.

Chapter 13: The Flight Back to Spain 

After a week of being there with her friends, she went back to Spain. She said bye to her mom and dad and went on the plane. She played games, watched movies, and when she got back, she told all her friends how much fun she’d had. She went back to school and told all of the teachers how much fun she’d had. She told the class how much fun she’d had.

Chapter 14: The End

And she lived happily ever after. The end.

City of the Forgotten People

Introduction: Katherine Smith

I’m in a forest, a canopy of trees covers me from the pelting rain. The wind whistles in my ears and tousles my hair. I feel calm and free, yet there’s something unsettling about this place.

To my left is a hill rising up to about 40 ft. It is covered in cruncy, brown grass and wilting flowers. At the top of the hill is a lone tree. It is being pulled in a tug of war between falling & staying upright. 

To my right is a vast extent of forest & greenery. Behind me, there is more forest. 

Ahead of me is a large building with a tower on one side. I take a small step forward. Suddenly, the wind picks up & it somehow rains even harder. The small tree on the hill snaps as an unexpected bolt of lightning hits it on the trunk. Slowly, a figure silhouetted against the horizon comes into view from over the hill. He or she, I can’t tell, walks hurriedly towards me.

“Go,” a deep voice bellows from the darkness. “Go & run, it’s coming for you. Go, hurry.” This time, the voice is higher. I recognize it, it’s my mom’s.

Chapter 1: Katherine Smith                                                                    

I wake up when I fall out of my bed. It hurts, but it at least wakes me from my nightmare. I look around. I’m in my bed, or at least next to it. There is no wind blowing & I can’t see that creepy person anymore. Although, I can still hear that voice.       

“Go, hurry, it’s coming for you.” Suddenly, Mom bursts in through the door. “Go, hurry, the school bus, you’ll be late.” 

 I jump up from the uncomfortable wood floor of my room and, as my mom leaves, close the door behind her.

 I fling open my closet door and grab the first thing I see; jeans, an old, faded t-shirt that used to be my older sister’s, & some tennis shoes. I get dressed and then head to the bathroom.

 I look at myself in the mirror. I’m a relatively short girl with bronze eyes and perfect, gleaming, white teeth. Most people say I’m pretty but some people say I’m special. Grandma says it’s my eyes. “There’s something about them, sugar plum,” she always says. My dad says it’s my hair. He says my mom’s special, too. 

I run down the hall & into the kitchen. There, Mom has laid out my breakfast & is now in as much of a hurry as me. “Bye, Mom,” I call as I grab two blueberry scones (one for someone special), and race out the door.

“Wait!” Mom calls after me. “Don’t forget this.” I turn around just in time to catch the backpack hurdling at me. 

“Bye!” I call. (Hopefully for the last time.)

I see the bus starting to pull away from the curb & in one last attempt not to miss it, throw a book at it. I miss it completely. I guess extra P.E. isn’t paying off. 

Well, I might as well ask Mom to drive me… again. As I walk back towards my blue & black two-story house, I take one last look at the school bus pulling away into oncoming traffic & freeze in mid-step. 

The bus driver must have seen me because she stops the bus stops & pulls it back to the curb. She rolls down the driver side window & calls, “You’re lucky I’m used to this, Ms. Smith, otherwise you would have been late”. 

“Thank you, Mrs. T,” I reply gratefully. I hand her one of the scones. 

“No one is quite like you, Katherine.” She sighs. The bus pulls away from the curb for the last time with me safely aboard. Not with my book, though.

I head towards the back of the bus, looking for a specific person. “Kat!” calls a familiar voice. 

“Peyton!” I feel like shouting, instead, I just walk calmly towards her & sit in the seat next to her. 

Peyton is an average height twelve-year-old. She has shoulder-length blonde hair, muscular body, & a dazzling smile. Peyton Bell is my best friend & has been since third grade even though we are total opposites. She is outgoing, I’m a little shy. I’m very smart, she is… well… she focuses on things like sports. 

We only have one thing in common; we have a nemesis, Arthur Morris. Peyton has a nickname for him, Slime Ball. Peyton is incredibly athletic & could beat Arthur in a fight any day. Not that she would, she follows rules. 

When we are about halfway to school, we feel a kick on the back of our seats. I groan in frustration & Peyton spins around, holding my book high over her head. “Hey, where did you get that”? I ask. 

“Oh, this?” asks Peyton, holding out the book. “When you threw it, you didn’t miss completely, it just didn’t hit the bus. Instead, it kind of went by my window that happened to be open. I caught it. You can have it, if you want.” 

“Please!” I reply, grabbing the book.

 There is another kick on our seats. An annoying voice says, “Hey, girls.” Arthur says the word like it tastes bad on his tongue. “I bet Kat over here will miss the bus tomorrow.” 

“Be quiet, Slime Ball,” says Peyton. “Or I’ll punch your teeth out.” 

“No, you won’t.” He shakes his head disapprovingly, as if daring her to. He’s right, Peyton would never touch him, let alone hurt him. 

Arthur returns his attention to whatever he was doing before he annoyed us. Peyton turns to me. “The nerve of him!” 

At least we won’t get bothered for the rest of the ride. I think.

Chapter 2: Katherine Smith

I groan as our math teacher drones on & on about division. “… opposite of multiplication… 124 divided by 4… ”               

It’s not that I hate math, it’s just that this teacher, Mr. Jones, makes it hard to like. Not only is it boring, but we learned division in fourth grade. This is why we call Mr. Jones, Mr. Drones.

My desk is next to the window. This window is all that keeps me from falling asleep. It’s too bright. Peyton sits behind me. It’s easier to pass notes without getting caught. In front of me is an empty desk. Next to me is a girl named Louissa Keene. She is one of those people who is always in everyone’s business.  

Louissa is nice enough, even if she’s a smart aleck. She seems to know most of the people in our big school. I wonder if she knows who Peyton & I are. Even though we sit less than 10 feet away from her, she has never once looked our way. 

I’m drifting off when the bell rings! Free, free, free! I think. Then I realize it’s the lunch bell. I groan & look at Peyton. She also groans & has a defeated look on her face. 

Peyton, my fellow classmates, & I walk out of the classroom in what is probably supposed to be a line but that looks more like a blob. We sixth graders are too cool for lines.

Today, Peyton brings her usual lunch, a ham & cheese sandwich with a caesar salad from the school salad bar. I have a blueberry smoothie and a hard-boiled egg. Peyton calls her lunch, “The usual.” I call my lunch… well, actually, I don’t call my lunch anything. Peyton is weird. 

As we settle down & start eating, I decide to tell Peyton about my dream. She may be a little weird, but she is a very loyal best friend. 

“Hey, Peyton, can I tell you something?” I ask. 

“It better not be about Natalie cracking your phone again,” she smiles, “because you know I’m not beating her up for you. She scares me, you know.” Natalie is my 16-year-old sister. She looks exactly like me, except she has three ear piercings. 

“No,” I say flatly. “This is not about Natalie, it’s about me.” 

“Really? That’s a first.”

“Look,” I say, wanting to get to the point, “last night, I had a dream… ” I tell her the whole story, and when I’m done, Peyton is not laughing, she is not even smiling. 

I look at her. “Well?” I ask. She looks like she just saw a ghost. 

“Ummm, Kat, what will you say if… ” 

“What!” I urge. 

“What will you say if I tell you that I also had that dream last night.” 

“I’d say you’re yanking my chain.” 

“And what if I’m not yanking your chain.” My mouth hangs open. I can tell, Peyton isn’t lying.

Chapter 3: Peyton Bell

It’s 4:00 PM & Kat & I are at my house. Mom drove us over here when school let out. Kat & I barely talked all day but now we are determined to get this whole “dream thing” sorted out. We go to the living room & throw ourselves on the couch; me lying on it belly up & Kat dangling over the edge. 

Even though it’s my house, Kat comes here so often that it’s practically like she has two houses. My house is considerably larger than Kat’s house, even if Kat has more people living in her house than I do. I have more siblings than her. They are in college right now, two twins, Allie & Monica, who just started, & Justin, who would be done but wants to become a doctor.  

“So, Peyton, what’s the deal with this?” asks Kat.

My first instinct is to say: “I’m sure there is an explanation for this.” Instead, I say, “Kat, there is something really weird going on, I know it’s not normal. I researched it on my phone on the bus & nothing came up explaining it.” 

“Okay, we just need to think. Was what I told you the exact same as what you experienced?”

“Exact, word for word, the same,” I tell her. 

“Wait.” She speaks so suddenly that she falls off the couch, her backpack hitting her on the head. When she climbs back on the couch, she has an excited look on her face. “We could ask around the school to see if anyone also had that dream.” I wanted to say that it was too risky, but when Katherine Smith has an idea, she will rarely back down. 

“It might be too risky, but maybe if we ask the right people… ” At that moment, the doorbell rings. 

Mom yells, “Can you get that, honey”? 

“Sure,” I yell back. “I wonder who it is,” I say, 

“Maybe the mailman,” Kat says. 

“No,” I reply. “He only comes in the morning, & even if he did, he wouldn’t ring the doorbell.” 

“Well, do you have a better idea?” Kat says, annoyed. 

“It could be a vampire,” I offer.

“Oh please,” Kat says. I run past her & open the door. 

“Who is it?” Kat asks, 

“A vampire,” I say, just to get on her nerves. 

Actually, it’s Arthur. He is standing awkwardly on the porch, the wind is blowing his hair into his eyes. He’s carrying a tray with cookies. “Hi, Slime Ball, what’s with the cookies?” I ask, trying not to look surprised. Never in my life would I expect to find Arthur Morris on my porch. 

“My mom made me bring them.” He looks more miserable than the time he forgot all his lines in the school play. He was considered a loser by all his friends for a week. “She found out I was coming here & made me do it. I really need to talk to you guys, though.” 

“And why would you come here in the first place?” asks Kat. She has recovered from her annoyance & is standing next to me. 

“Trust me, it’s important.” 

I am wary of him, I don’t want to make a fool of myself in my own house. The cookies make me think twice, though, & I let him in.

“So,” I say. “What do you need to tell us?” I sit down in my dad’s favorite chair & Kat sits next to me, on the beanbag chair. My dog, Cinnamon, jumps on her lap. 

Cinnamon & Kat have always had a special relationship. Of course, he loves me too, after all, he is my dog, but they are just really good friends. 

Arthur stands awkwardly in the middle of the living room, looking like when I had first seen him on the porch.

 “Sit,” I say. He does, setting the tray of cookies on his lap. Cinnamon bounds over & sniffs the tray curiously. “Don’t let him get those,” I warn. 

Once we are settled, (and once Cinnamon leaves the room), I cut to the chase. “Now can you please tell us what’s going on here?” 

He does. “I overheard you in the cafeteria, talking about that dream, well, I had that dream, too.” I expected something weird, but this… 

“Oh my gosh,” breathes Kat.

We all sit there in silence, I can hear everyone’s hearts beating. Even Cinnamon, who has poked his head back into the room, has enough sense to know that something strange is going on. He walks into the room, pausing just long enough to sniff the tray of cookies, & plops down on the floor by my feet. 

I decide to break the silence but have no idea what to say. Suddenly, I remember something from my dream. It’s not very vivid, but I know it happened.

 “Did you happen to see a bird in your dream?” I ask them. 

“Not that I remember,” says Kat. 

“Actually, yes,” says Arthur, “A big bird, flying right above me.” 

“Yeah, that’s right. Kat, you really didn’t see it?” 

“Nope.” 

“Interesting,” I respond.

We think for several tense minutes, searching our minds for anything else we can remember. Finally, Kat can’t take it anymore. 

“Are we positive we’re even forgetting anything?” 

“No, nothing,” replies Arthur. 

“Same, I remember everything,” I say. 

“I didn’t say are we positive we aren’t forgetting anything, I said are we positive we are even forgetting anything. We could know everything & we are just not able to connect the dots,” Kat said.

“I suppose — ” I’m interrupted by Arthur. 

“We are all such big idiots. While we’ve been wasting our time trying to figure out all this junk, it’s been right under our noses.” 

I sigh. “What’s been right under our noses, Arthur?” 

“The answer!” He’s really excited now. “I think we are being controlled by Aliens.” 

Chapter 4: Arthur Morris

Katherine & Peyton stare at me like I’m crazy. “… umm,” says Peyton, “you know Aliens aren’t real. Right?” 

“That’s what everyone thinks, but they’re out there alright. I know it.” 

“I think people are secretly testing on us at night,” says Katherine. 

“And you think my idea is stupid,” I mutter. 

“Actually, it’s totally possible,” replies Kat. “It’s just not as likely as my theory.” 

I roll my eyes. There isn’t much I can say to that

Peyton clears her throat. “Do you want to hear my theory?” Before either of us respond, she says, “I think Vampires have something to do with this”. 

“Vampires!?!” I say, alarmed. At the same time, Kat says, 

“What is with all this Vampire stuff!?!” Peyton laughs. 

“Relax. I’m just messing with you guys. Why so on edge?” 

“Maybe because there is supernatural activity going on in our brains. If you had a brain, maybe you wouldn’t have made such a stupid joke.”

With most people, saying that sentence would be like wearing red while a bull was around, but it just made Peyton laugh harder. “I was just trying to get on Kat’s nerves.”

All of a sudden, Cinnamon jumps up. He goes over to a certain area by the wall and starts sniffing vigorously. His tail isn’t wagging. Instead, it is sticking straight out, and his ears are too.

“Is he ok?” Kat looks worried. She and I look at Peyton expectantly. Peyton doesn’t respond. She looks even more worried than Kat, but she tries to hide it.

Finally, she whispers, “Shhh.” We stay there, listening. All we can hear is our own ragged breathing and Cinnamon’s soft whines. Then, all together, we take a sharp breath in. 

I can hear something. It’s faint, but it’s there all right. A soft hum, no louder than a bee’s buzzing. It gets louder and louder until finally, we don’t have to concentrate to be able to hear it. Suddenly, a bright blue light shines from where Cinnamon is standing. 

He gets knocked over, but hops right back up and is alright. He comes over to Peyton. She grabs him and holds him tight. When we look back at the spot the light had been, a blue and green oval has opened up. 

“What is that, a portal?” asks Kat. 

“I-I think so,” I respond. I’m not really paying attention to the portal itself, though, but what is through it. I can’t see much, but from what I can tell, there is a building, about 15 stories high, with a lot of windows. There are a few shapes moving around, but they are hard to make out. 

I get a very brief look at a tree-like object before Peyton and Kat start screaming. Soon, I start screaming too because I can feel myself getting sucked inside the portal. 

To be continued…   

Three Anaconda Araffe

Book 1: World is Starting in Three, Two, One, NOW

(Narrator is speaking)

Hi, my name is Besa, and today we are going to meet three anacondas and a giraffe. And this story takes place in the far, far future on the planet, Clone.

Once upon a time, in the far, far future, Africa and the Amazon collided and then three anacondas and a giraffe collided and what does that equal: three anaconda araffe! 

Chapter One: First Clone Day

(Narrator is reading and will explain what First Clone Day is in the next book) 

We’re just starting… 0.5

Once upon a time, three anacondas and a giraffe went through their bodies and then, when they said the magic word, they turned into one thing, and then when they said the magic word again, they turned into four things, and then, the continents moved super fast like in a millisecond, and then, an orca and a tiger went together and equaled a torca! And then, the three anaconda araffe said the magic word (BESA) and then they turned into three anacondas and a giraffe, and then the giraffe charged at the torca and then the torca was so stunned that it couldn’t move anymore, but then, the three anacondas squeezed them until they couldn’t breathe anymore.

Chapter Two: Now We’re Rocking!

And now, three continents went together in a snap, and then a rock and a star collided! And then, it equaled a rock star! And the rock star threw giant rocks at them/him. And then them/him said the magic word and then they collided, and then the three anaconda araffe charged so hard that they discollided!

Chapter Three: Getting a Sidekick!

And now a continent split! But a kangaroo and a flea collided but then they fell into the water and they collided with a shark and that equaled a flangark!

Chapter Three: Getting a Sidekick Part 2

And now three arachnids collided and equaled a vinegaspoon! 

Chapter Four: Getting an Infinite Frenemy

And now a jellyfish collided with an orca equaling an inca! And now the three anaconda araffe and the flangark and the vinegaspoon saw the inca, they thought that the inca was good, but it was actually bad, and so, it was actually a frenemy! 

Chapter Four: Getting an Infinite Frenemy Part 2 

The inca went back to its master called xbdhsjdb 88, otherwise known as the Clone Master (it was evil). The inca went back to the gang (three anaconda araffe, flangark, and vinegaspoon (A.F.V). 

Chapter Five: Now You See Me, Now You Goat

The Clone Master sent another army and called invisigoat, but the flangark started floating and that was how they saw the the invisigoat and then the vinegaspoon shot the invisigoat with silk and stung the invisigoat and threw vinegar like acid at invisigoat!

Chapter Six: Last Clone Day

And now, today is Last Clone Day! Last Clone Day is the day when the planet Clone copied another planet! 

(Narrator is speaking)  

To be continued in another book… 

Three Anaconda Araffe 

Book 2: The Second World is Just Starting

Chapter One: First Clone Day

The three anaconda araffe oddly survived it, but with some impenetrable body improvements. 

Chapter Two: Electric Zap in a Snap!

And now, dajya and daustralia collided! And then a dorny devil and a dajya delephant collided, and then that equaled a dorny delephant! But then the three anaconda araffe saw the dorny delephant, and then the three anaconda araffe was like, “Really!” And then the three anaconda araffe just went in front of the dorny delephant, and then right before the dorny delephant swung its dunk, the three anaconda araffe just zapped the dorny delephant! 

Chapter Three: The Ditch

And now, the dinternet collided with a witch, equaling a ditch! The three anaconda araffe (T.A.A.) found the ditch and T.A.A. thought that he could beat the ditch super fast, but he was WRONG. The ditch made T.A.A.’s forcefield to freeze, but what the ditch didn’t know was that T.A.A. could split through a forcefield. And so T.A.A. said the magic word in his mind, and so then they split! And the ditch was too low to fly high enough in time, and so the giraffe charged at the ditch and then the three anacondas squeezed the ditch so hard that it just made stars! 

Chapter Four: You Don’t Know What You Said in Your Dore 

And now, a deerphone and a deer combined and equaled a heerdeer! When T.A.A. was sleeping, the heerdeer hypnotized T.A.A. and since the heerdeer does everything that people say, the heerdeer hypnotized T.A.A. to say, “Eat me, eat me, eat me, eat me, eat me!” But the heerdeer didn’t notice, and he also hypnotized T.A.A. to say, “BESA!” And the heerdeer couldn’t hypnotize four things at once, so then, the three anacondas said, “Let me squeeze you until you can’t breathe anymore, and then let me eat you!” And then the heerdeer let the three anacondas squeeze and eat them, and then the giraffe wasn’t hypnotized anymore! 

Chapter Five: Last Clone Day 

(Narrator is speaking)

And now today is Last Clone Day! You now know what Last Clone Day is from the previous book, so I don’t need to tell you this time.

Three Anaconda Araffe

Book Three: Evil Sneazle 

Chapter One: First Clone Day 

(Narrator is reading)

And you all know what First Clone Day is because it was in the second book! So I’m just going to skip telling you what First Clone Day is and go on with the story. 

Chapter Two: Reintroducing Inca!

And now the inca found T.A.A. and then the inca started hitting and slapping and hitting and slapping and hitting and slapping and hitting and slapping T.A.A. and T.A.A. was like, “Why are you doing this?” And then the inca was like, “Oops, sorry.” And then T.A.A. was suuuuuper suspicious, and then the inca said, “I gotta go, so byeee!” And then T.A.A. followed the inca until he found the Clone Master!

Chapter Three: The Clone Master

And now T.A.A. is at the Clone Master’s headquarters, and he found the Clone Master, and then the Clone Master said, “Security guards! Attack!” And then T.A.A. started ramming at all of the security guards! And the Clone Master was like, “You wanna do it the hard way, huh?” And then the Clone Master said the magic word, and he turned into twelve Clone Masters, and then into twenty-four Clone Masters! And then T.A.A. was like, “No way you’re gonna beat me with twenty-four Clone Masters!” And he only needed to charge four times at the Clone Master to be able to defeat all the Clone Masters. 

THE END 

City in the Sky

Ch. 1

Dale and Artemis walked through the entrance. They were here in Steam City for Dale and Art’s work as journalists. A quote from one of his co-workers rang in his head: “Once they go to Steam City… well, they either don’t come back, or they come back almost, brainwashed. It’s almost like they encode their brains or something. Good luck, mate.” 

“When we get some information on The City, we can leave. Hopefully, what Steve said was a lie,” Dale said cheerfully.

A hand tapped on his back. Instinctively, Artemis ducked down and swung her leg to swipe the attacker off their feet. 

“Whoa!” The guard fell down to the ground. “Jeez!” The helmet rolled off his head to show a young man, about 30 years old. On his armor was a small tag that said #56.

“You’re new here. Don’t stay here too long! They’ll get to you. Don’t let them get to your brain. I’ve grown up seeing everyone like this. It’s not what you think. They don’t let us out of The City. I haven’t even seen the sky in my life! My name is Clyde.”

“Whoa, buddy! Maybe try saying that a little slower.” 

“They encode the citizens’ brains. I’m resistant to mind control. You need to run. They can’t find me talking to you.”

“How do you know we can trust him?” Artemis said accusingly. 

“You might want to hide the baby, too,” Clyde said. 

“It is our job to report things, even if we don’t have any concrete evidence. We have to do this,” Dale reminded. 

“Welcome to Steam City. Here in The City, we strive to make each and every one of our citizen’s happy. We have specifically designed every detail for our citizens’ benefit, and they are helping us, too. We hope you have a great time in our industrial utopia!” the speaker boomed in an automated voice all across the steel-plexiglass streets. Some children all of the same size were air biking, the exact same speed, in the exact same line. The baker walked through the street. A platinum-laced aerotrain showed up beside him. 

“You have been walking so, so long, sir. Are you sure you don’t want to ride on our aerotrain?” a person who you couldn’t tell was a man or woman with a blue and silver mask, symbolising that they were a train conductor, asked. 

“Yes, Conductor. I am thankful you came.” 

“It is fine, kind sir. This job pays very well.” The conductor held up a small graphite-gold coin. “I get paid 1 graphite piece every day! I love this job.” 

“I see we have some tourists. Welcome!” 

“Dale, I’m starting to think that guard guy was right,” Artemis muttered under her breath. 

“I don’t trust this, either,” Dale replied back.  

“I wouldn’t recommend being unhappy here. Things will start to go wrong.” The train veered off track and into a donut shop on the left side of the street. 

“Take Nathan and run!” The man ran across the street and almost to the wall. A single tear dropped down his cheek. 

“I’m sorry, Nate. I can’t take you with me. Try to survive.” He left the baby on the doorstep of a silver pod-house near the wall, saying a final goodbye. He quietly slipped under the silver wall. 

[Camera #21, broadcasting to Guard #56]

Now that Dale had left the child in his hands, he promised he would not let it down. Clyde decided he should have started what Dale and Art hadn’t finished, and began investigating what went on in the chamber hall where the counsellor decided what to do with the city.

[Camera #21, broadcasting to Guard #56]

“What is this corruption?!” a sharp and icy voice called from the chamber hall. 

“I’m sorry, sir, the prisoners escaped! The child and mother died in the crash. The man escaped.” 

“Impossible,” the white haired counselor sneered. “No one can escape this place.” 

“It’s assumed that he had help. From a guard named Clyde.” 

The counselor opened a digi-book, and skimmed through the pages. 

“Clyde… hmm… found it! Men, find Guard 56 and bring him to me! Remember, if it isn’t in order, it doesn’t belong. Unite through submission!”

Upon hearing this, the guard who had been spying on the meeting hastily ripped his number tag radar off and hid it in a spot far away. Now they would never be able to find him.

He would begin a new life, assume a new identity, and play by new rules.

Ch. 2

“Get back here!” The wind rushed in Nathan’s spiky hair as he raced through the plexiglass streets of Steam City, which used to be known as Vancouver. His beaten navy blue jacket and black and white edge corp games t-shirt billowed like a sail in the wind. The Chrometanium plated guards had their eyes locked on a shiny plastic object in Nathan’s hand. Nate hooked his hands on the hard exoskeleton guard mech suits, and hooked his jacket like a zipline along the power cords above the city. The guards clenched their fists and cables shot out of their wrists. The cables caught his jacket, and he lurched forward onto the ground. Nate was cornered. 

“Hand over the treats, kid! You got nowhere to run now.” 

“Who said anything about running?” He stomped on the left side of the storm drain, shifting its weight, and ultimately causing it to open. He landed with a splash in the drains of Steam City. 

“Ten steps forward… eight steps right… three steps forward. Five steps left. Ten steps forward… here!” He scrambled up a ladder right above a pod house, of which he was sure to be his. He carefully untwisted the hatch that would lead to the food storage area in his tiny apartment.

When he opened the hatch, he was blinded by bright yellow walls and an electroplate. An old lady snored on a massage chair in the corner of the room. He carefully backed down the ladder and retraced his steps. 

“Stupid! Hmm, what was it. Oh! It was ten steps left and five steps forward!” He slowly made his way to the correct hatch, and into his home. 

“I brought snacks!” he called from the food cellar. Nate’s house consisted of five main parts. The food cellar was underground, or, technically speaking, under-pod-floating-over-ground. The kitchen was the fanciest room, consisting of a marble floor and an oven. On the countertop on the side, there was a microwave with a heat and cool setting. Clyde, Nate’s adoptive guardian, was sitting at the countertop on an old computer he had salvaged from a construction site. He greeted Nate with the usual refrain when he came back from getting food.

“Jeez, Nate! Please at least try to fit in! If we get found out then — ” 

“The chancellor will find us and brainwash us to be zombies that he can control to his pleasure and ultimately our old selves will be erased from history, yada, yada, yada. I know!” Nate said quickly. Clyde’s mood lightened. 

“But… I guess it’s worth it. You really know how to run! What’d you get this time?” He looked at the box.  

“Jones box with rice and extra tamarind sauce? You know me, kid! What did you get yourself?” 

Nate replied, “Chicken Curry,” he said. They walked to the counter and began to indulge in a feast.

***

Midnight… a knock sounded at the door… Nate got up from his makeshift bed and creeped down the stairs. They found me. He quietly opened the door, making sure they didn’t see him. He hid on the underside of the door. 

“Tell us where the child is and we’ll leave you in peace. The chancellor will make you happy. He will make you both happy.” 

“Never! You’ll never get Nate. I believe that he can liberate this city. He can liberate all the cities.” Liberate the cities?! I can’t do that. I’m just a kid! There isn’t anyone like me… is there? 

“Wait, I sense something. There! Behind the door!” Clyde blinked a message in their secret language that they would use in case of an emergency. He said, 

“Run. Don’t worry about me. I’ll handle this. Go.” Nate jumped up on top of the guards and soared onto the bed which suspended from the ceiling. He quickly hefted the plexi-glass frame off the window next to the bed and leaped out. He felt like he was flying — until he landed on top of an electrical pole next to a tall building. All those years of training has prepared me for this moment.  He clenched his fists and a shock came through his gloves. Luckily, almost everything in the city was made of metal, so it wasn’t a problem leaping from building to building and climbing walls. What was a problem, though, was the huge jump in front of him. 

“You’re cornered.”

Nate panicked, not knowing what to do. 

***

“The chancellor will see you soon.” Oh no… this is all my fault. I shouldn’t have been so reckless. Stupid Nathan! Focus on getting out of here! He scanned the area for an opening. I still have my magnet gloves in my pocket, but they’re out of battery. Well, it’s worth a shot. A warden came to deliver food. The gruel on the plate looked disgusting, and Nathan did not want to eat it. He pulled his gloves out of his pocket and slipped them on. When the warden put his metal mech-suit glove into the food slip, Nate quickly reached for his hand and pulled hard. The warden’s suit helmet clanged across the bars, making him fall to the ground. They say the suits can custom change the interior to fit whatever size… it’s worth a shot. He struggled to get the suit on, with so many complex parts, but when he managed to fit it on, nobody knew it was him. He clenched his fist, trying the suit’s mechanics out. A cable shot out and wrapped around the warden. He picked the person up and locked him in the cell where he’d recently been.

“Oh no! That boy just escaped! Get him!” 

Nathan tried his best to impersonate the steel-faced warden. Almost immediately, the guards flocked out of the door. He strode down the streets of Steam City, knowing he couldn’t get caught. Once he reached the wall, he tried to get through, but the guards stopped him.

“ID card, please?” they asked in unison. 

“I can arrest you if I wanted to — ” Nate was cut off by the guards. 

“Rule number 85 page 56 paragraph two clearly states that guards can not be arrested. Impostor.” Oh no. RUN! He clenched his fist, and a sign that said, “No More Cable,” appeared on the screen attached to his left arm. I don’t still have that glove, do I? What if I did the magnetic boom with the metal hand… 

“Huh!” He slammed his glove upon the interior of the suit. The suit started to give out a small magnetic signal. It may have not been strong enough, but it was enough to scale the high wall. 

“Get him!” they called in unison. They shot cables out of their fists and grappled up to his height. Nate tried everything, but nothing came as a solution. He even activated a peanut dispenser in the helmet! He clenched his fingers, hoping for something to happen. This suit has CLAWS?! A pair of retractable claws shot out of the fingertips of the arm. I wonder… 

He sliced at the cables aimed straight towards him. It sliced through them like butter. 

“Yah!” He pulled himself over the wall. “I’m free-aaah!” Free. Free but tumbling. Is this the end? His life flashed before his eyes. “Oof!” He landed in a junk pile next to a run down old store, which what was left of the sign said “Mac / onalds”.  

A creature that he couldn’t tell was Fox, Squirrel, or Seal trotted up to him. 

“Hey there, buddy… you must’ve become like this from the radiation, huh? These suits can block the poisonous air, so…” He picked up a helmet that had fallen down from the wall, and it fit right on the “furreal,” which sounded a lot like Surreal. “Hey, Surreal… do you want to come with me?” The Furreal wagged its bushy flipper tail and nuzzled his suit. “Come on… we have some cities to liberate.” They walked hours and hours through the wasteland, and they were both getting tired. The water and food supply stored in both of their helmets had run out and you could hear their stomachs growling from a mile away. “So… tired…” Nate moaned. “Wish there were people… ah!” He let out a weak groan as he and Surreal were hoisted into the air by some kind of trap. It was made of a metal cage that seemed to shock them every few second. By the second shock, they passed out.

***

Nate opened his eyes. Where am I? Surreal?! He scanned around for his pet and found him on the other side of the room. There was a cool breeze, and a flickering light hung above a sort of scrap lab. In a makeshift door next to him, he heard voices saying, 

“The suit looks as if it was from the Steam City Unit.” A girl’s voice that sounded like it was Australian came from the other room. 

“What would a Steam City Guard be doing out here in Parallel City scraps?” a male voice said.  Parallel city?! Surely they couldn’t have walked that far! It seemed as if they were children, but he couldn’t be sure.

“What should we do with him?” a high-pitched voice asked.

“Leave him be, once he wakes up, we can interrogate him.”

“Help! Anyone!” Nate screamed at the top of his lungs, dehydrated. Four people shot out of the other room. The girl had long, raven hair with highlights of magenta that shot out only in the back, and piercing, steel eyes that could cut through diamonds. A boy with dark skin, and hair that looked like fields of chocolate shaved on one side stood behind his chair. He had two big round glasses on his head and wore a knitted, wooly sweater. Two children, a boy and girl, who looked as if they were of East Asian descent, stood on his right side. They looked like they were twins, but he couldn’t be sure. 

“Stop screaming like a baby. What even is a Steam City unit guard doing out in the scraps? Why are you also harboring a mutant?” Diamond Eyes said fiercely. 

“I swear, I’m not a guard! I’m just a kid!”

“Oh no, no, no, no no. We might catch his mind control virus!” Field Hair headed for the door.

“The control isn’t contagious.” The girl twin squeaked. 

“He could mind control us through the suit.” The boy piped. 

“Wait! No! This is complicated… I’m not affected, can’t you see?!” Diamond eyes shot a disbelieving glance at him. “Let’s do a test… the mind controlled always does what they’re told.” She picked up a matchbox, and struck a match. She handed it to Nate. “Go light that trash pile on fire.” Nate knew the obvious decision, but he decided to have fun with it. He slowly walked to the trash pile, and said, 

“Yes, master,” in a robotic voice. Right as he was about to drop it, he turned around, and said 

“Nope. I got you, didn’t I?”

Diamond rolled her eyes. “Fine… you’re like us, and now you’re one of us,” she quickly muttered, 

“Oh, this is going to be a pain.”

Black Magic

Hi, my name is Anthea. I’m also a furry. I’ve always wanted to go to school, but because of my powers, I cannot. My parents say my powers are dangerous. My powers are teleportation, invisibility, and I can make explosions. I want to go to school to find something to control my powers so they won’t be dangerous anymore. I live in a poor village, so I cannot find school in the village around my town. I’m thinking of changing my name so that I can go to school. I would have my cousin take my place. By the way, my cousin’s name is Athena. I need to talk to my parents. If I can go to my friend Jamie’s house, she’s the only one in our village who has a computer, I could find a magic school. That would be great. There are a lot of stories of me destroying things.

One time, I tried helping people fix their house but I ended up breaking it. I don’t want to get rid of my powers, I just want to make them useful. My cousin and I have our own unique qualities. But in singing, we are both good. My cousin and I have always been wanting to go to school, so she wouldn’t mind taking my place. I would have to be escaping at nighttime. Jamie and my cousin are going to help me escape. I’ll be taking the bus to Athens, Georgia. 

Jamie is helping me pack my things to go. 

“Anthea, are you sure you want to do this?” asks Jamie.

“Anthea, you can always stay here with us,” Athena says. 

“It was our dream, Athena, I want to go,” I say. 

We are saying our goodbyes. I know my cousin is sad but she is also happy that our dream is coming true. I know I’m making the right choice. What scares me is when we get there I won’t know anybody. But luckily, Jamie got me some tickets for a hotel. Dark Side and I have been saving up money since we were little to go to school. So I’ve got my college fund money. Sadly, I do not know what my parents are thinking. Dark Side does have an open mouth, so she’ll probably tell my parents that I left. Tomorrow will be a new day and I will register myself for power school. 

I’m going to my hotel and it looks gorgeous. Now I have to go to bed and make sure my next day will be awesome. 

I wake up this morning and I’m getting dressed to register myself for school. I can’t believe my dream is coming true. I’m going to prepare myself a bagel and cream cheese. Going out and seeing Georgia is beautiful. I’m taking the bus to the school cause it’s a mile away from my hotel. Seeing the school is amazing. It’s big and pretty. Looks like the school is very old. When I go inside the school, it is really big. It looks more like a ballroom. The principal of the school asks me what I’m doing here. I tell him I’ve come here to register myself. He’s glad and gives me a tour. After that, he asks me if I have powers. I agree and tell him I have powers. I’ve come on the weekend, so there is no one really there, except himself. I notice he is fixing the place. And I ask him if I can help. So the principal and I mop the floor, fix the chairs, and fix his office. 

After fixing his office, he tells me to come on Monday, and that I will make some really good friends.

Jamie has always taught me to be confident in myself with my dreams. So after getting out of the school, I go shopping for school supplies. Dark Side recently told me from Jamie’s computer that she’s going to school in New York, which is not that far by car from where we live. I’m really happy for her; she’ll be sending me a photo or an anime drawing. Jamie gave me money for school supplies before I left. I thanked her.

It’s Monday now, now I’m going to school. I’ve already made a friend. I bet Jamie would like her as well. Dark Side would be happy as well. Her name is the opposite of ours, Sunshine. And her sister is Light Side. I recently met a girl who worked in a pet shop, and she showed me a picture of a bunny.

The bunny was really cute and fluffy. She said she would give it to me for free and I was really glad to hear the news, because the bunny was really cute. I would have it in a cage, get a phone, and send a picture to Dark Side. I would name the bunny Fluffy. 

But getting back to school, it’s really hard. Today we are going to see what extra powers we have, are they legendary or common? I hope my powers are legendary. But this bully named Chloe and her assistant Lila always bother me and think that my powers will be common. My cousin thinks I’m gonna find a boy and get married. But I told her to stop telling me that, but she did tell me that my parents were happy but sad. At least I’m calmer now that she’s told me this because I know how my parents think. But there is a cute boy named Alexander. But I won’t focus on him — I have to focus on my studies.

Now we’re going outside to a field to see what our powers will be. First, it’s Sunshine. She gets a legendary– a guardian angel. And her sister is a nature fairy. While Chloe and Lila are common demon bunnies. When I hear the news that I’m the legendary person in my class, I am so happy. My powers are a griffin that can read minds. Even though Chloe knows I can read her mind, she still intends to do bad tricks on me. But I really don’t care.

I’ll describe Chloe for you. Blonde hair, blue eyes, yellow jacket, and a striped shirt. And she always tries to act like she’s the boss of everyone. She, too, likes Alexander. Whenever she sees him, she always acts so crazy. But I just ignore her. Though I do have a friend who’s a boy, as well. His name is William. He is a really kind friend; he is also legendary. His powers are a fire guardian. Just the opposite of Sunshine.

All four of us are going to have a sleepover, over at Sunshine’s house. It’s going to be really fun, I will bring some chips and Doritos. She says we are going to watch the movie Deadpool. But William disagrees. Soon enough, it’s going to be half of the year. Cause I entered in half of the year. But since there are three more years to go, I’m really happy. Tomorrow’s lesson is going to be about: can you fly or not? I think I can fly, cause griffins fly. Sunshine and Light Side can definitely fly. I don’t know about William, though. There’s this new boy going into school with us. His name is Felix. But I feel something suspicious about him. My cousin is enjoying her time there. I didn’t know that Jamie’s there, as well. 

The sleepover turns out really fun. Her mom is really fun and her house is beautiful. William tells us at night that he likes Sunshine. But luckily she is not there when he says it. We both tell him to tell her so it won’t be too late. Later that night, we do Truth or Dare, and I ask William truth or dare. And not wanting to do a dare, he says truth. So I ask him: who does he like? And he says that he likes Sunshine. But this time, she is there. She is surprised but happy. She doesn’t know what to say, so we continue on. Then they do a truth or dare on me. And I say dare. And they make me sing my least favorite song, Kiki, and play my least favorite video game, Fortnite! I don’t know why, but I do it. But I’m fine. So I do a truth or dare on Sunshine. Sunshine says dare. So I make her do something embarrassing: act like she’s a grandma and help her sister burp. And Light Side ends up burping. It’s really funny. But we keep on. Then, it’s Light Side’s turn. William asks Light Side truth or dare, and she picks truth. So William asks her. But he knows that she already does this.

“Is it true that you used your poo as hair gel?” says William. Embarrassed, Light Side says yes.

***

It’s been three years now since the sleepover. We’ve had many since then. It’s almost prom and I’m really happy. But I don’t know what to wear and who to go with. Alexander recently asked me out, but I didn’t respond. I don’t know what to say. But today I’m saying yes. 

It’s later. So now we’re going together. My only fear is my dress. So Sunshine and Light Side are taking me out to buy a dress. And after that I am going to send a picture to Dark Side. Dark Side has actually agreed to meet me at the airport, cause I asked her where she’s going to live for the rest of her life. And she said here, where we live. I was sad but told her the honest truth: I was going to stay in Georgia. She was really sad, but still, everything came with benefit.

Prom is fun, they have cake, a chocolate fountain, and Alexander and I are prom king and queen. This year has gone by so fast, it’s already graduation time. During the year, I have earned money so that I can bring my family over. I buy tickets so that my friend, my cousin, and my parents can come over. They all start new lives here. My cousin gets a good-paying job. And my parents have enough money for retiring. I start a family. My kids get powers like me, but they get a better future ahead of them and they have a better hold of their powers. We’re just a big family and we’re happy in our lives right now.

A Kid Can Face War

The Holocaust was a war that broke out, and at that time, our mother found out that children were going to be taken. She was told by one of her closest friends, whose name was Maria, and she told my mother,

“I heard from my husband that kids five and up will be fighting.”

Our mother was very shocked and scared. She was acting very nervous because she knew what was going to happen. At that time, my mom told Maria she didn’t think it was true. Maria also had a son who was one year older than me and we were best friends. That was before war, though soldiers had later taken his life, and when I found out about his death. I was sad and upset because I couldn’t help him.

I still remember the date of the war starting, it was September 1st, 1939. My friend died in October. I’ve forgotten the date, though. I remember I was scared for my life when I was holding my first gun. I didn’t even know how to use a gun at the time. It felt like I was holding 100 iron bars to me because I was young and weak, now a gun to me is light like a feather. The leather on my gun was the only thing comfortable for me at the time. Seeing how old the other kids were, I thought that maybe I should just be bait for them, but I was also terrified of getting killed. I helped around more, though, because we would find abandoned war houses and I healed the men there even if I was only six at the time. I did experience a lot of things, and we had to be careful because there could be German soldiers there. 

When I treated my first soldiers I was horrified and I asked myself, Am I being punished? Why did you send me here, mother? I was traumatized, but I knew that I had a job. When I healed men, I would have to either use water and medicine or kill them if they couldn’t make it. Killing them was the hardest option for me because I wanted people to live, but it was war so I couldn’t do anything. I remember wishing I was older so that I could be like the rest of the kids and that I could be able to do more.

I think I did get hurt about two times. The first time, I was kicked and punched by a soldier, it was painful because it was my face and my stomach and I remember feeling the hardness of the shoe. The second time was when I was shot for the first time. I thought I was going to die right there. I was crying from all the pain and that I couldn’t say bye to my mom. I saw light. I thought I was done but I was lucky and got saved by one of my fellow soldiers. I remember asking him,

“Can I say bye?”

He stood quietly. I love telling this story and will keep telling it until I’m old. I wish that this world could be a more peaceful place and that wars could end.

The Adventures of Krony Faulty: A Masher Basher

Chapter One

School

One day, at a school called Frendus Elementary, two kids named Gary and Bob loved to giggle, laugh, and best of all, they loved putting pranks. Gary and Bob always went to the basement. The worst place in Frendus Elementary. They both hated going to the basement, but one day when they were in the basement, Bob and Gary pulled a prank.

Suddenly, a brick in the wall shifted and moved, and they were both amazed by what they saw. It was a tunnel, and Gary recognized this tunnel. This tunnel was in a book called Ancient Tunnels. It said that whoever went through this tunnel would reach a place where you could find sand. 

But this was not ordinary sand, it said that when you molded this sand, it would turn into anything you wanted it to be. So Bob and Gary went into the tunnel, and guess what, it was booby trapped.

When Bob and Gary went into the tunnel, something really scary happened, Bob tripped on a rope and a bunch of arrows shot. But something amazing happened as well,  another person was leaning on a rock so the rock moved and blocked the arrow from shooting. Bob and Gary were amazed so they went to look for that suspicious man.

Bob and Gary kept on looking for that person, but could not find him. Suddenly, a peachy thing shimmered, so Bob and Gary followed it, and found that man. The man started telling Bob and Gary about his life.

He told them that a wizard named Tubby created him from sand. He also said his name was Krony Faulty. Bob and Gary laughed so hard that they fell to the ground and got up over a hundred times. Then they asked Krony, “Why is your last name Faulty?”

Krony said, “My last name is Faulty because I make lots of mistakes.” 

He said, “Did you know I have a SUPER POWER? It is to make mistakes. Remember when I saved you from the arrows? It was a mistake, I was actually leaning on the boulder.

“After the wizard created me, he told me that I will meet two kids who will come on my journey to stop evil machines from a planet called Chao. The planet Chaos wants to take over the world and it is up to us to stop them. But it has already started, a machine called Masher Basher, which is a living wrecking ball, is in the Amazon Rainforest.” 

Chapter Two

The Contest

When Bob and Gary went back to their class, they tried to ask their teacher when their next field trip was, but their teacher, Mr. Maclindono, said, “Are you crazy! We are not going to have another field trip unless we win the contest that you saw in the hallway. That contest will take us to the Amazon Rainforest. But, unfortunately, that contest is next week. So deal with it, we are not going on that field trip!!!”

Bob and Gary tried so hard to ask Mr. Maclindono, but the answer was always NO! So they had no choice but to try to win the contest, Bob and Gary had a wonderful idea. But they first had to go to the basement. So they got in trouble and told Krony what the plan was. Gary was smart and told Krony the wrong information, because Krony’s power was to make mistakes. 

Today was the day of the spelling bee contest and Bob was shaking so much, but Gary, on the other hand, was pretty positive that Krony could do it. So it began…. 

The judge was at the final word and it was camouflage. Bob said, “GAMOUFLAGE,” but another person named Cob said, “CAMOUFLAGE.” 

When the judge came to say the winner, at that same time, Krony was ready to throw a rock into the air. The judge was going to say, “The winner is C… ” (At that same time, Krony threw the rock up, but he made a mistake. Instead, he threw the rock on the judge’s cheek.) So his words turned to, “The winner is BOB!” The crowd was clapping and cheering and the teacher was jumping up and down, he was so happy!

Chapter Three 

The Field Trip

Gary and Bob went to the basement to ask Krony, “How are we going to take you?”

Krony told them, “There is a ring that can store me. If you say the words BUB, I will be stored in the ring, but if you say the words RUB, I will be out of the ring.”

Krony gave Gary and Bob the magical ring. Gary said, “BUB,” and a magical cloud appeared on Krony, it sucked Krony into the ring and disappeared. Bob told Gary, 

“Now we know what we are going to do.”

The next day, a plane arrived in front of the school. It was pretty big, and inside there were seats for Bob and Gary since they won the spelling bee contest. The two seats had a TV, footrest, and a full bed. Bob and Gary were ready to start their journey.

When they were on their journey, Bob and Gary had the time of their lives. Soon they were at the Amazon Rainforest and they were really excited. Or at least Gary was excited, but Bob was shivering to death.

Chapter Four

Masher Basher

When Bob and Gary stepped out of the plane, they were amazed. They saw birds, trees, grass, and mud. Suddenly, a flock of birds flew in the air. Bob and Gary knew Masher Basher was up to no good. So Gary said, “RUB!” and Krony came out of the ring. Together, the three of them went to investigate and they saw Masher Basher destroying one of the trees in the Rainforest. When they were heading back to the class, they couldn’t see it. They checked everywhere but could not find them.

 THEY WERE LOST!

Now it was only the three of them! So they went looking for Masher Basher. When they found him, Bob remembered that Krony was made out of sand, so he molded Krony into a chip that sucked energy. When he made it, he put the chip inside. BOOM, the machine was knocked out. Then Gary molded Krony into a boulder so then Krony smashed the wrecking ball into pieces. 

Black Magic

Hi, my name is Anthea. I’m also a furry. I’ve always wanted to go to school, but because of my powers, I cannot. My parents say my powers are dangerous. My powers are teleportation, invisibility, and I can make explosions. I want to go to school to find something to control my powers so they won’t be dangerous anymore. I live in a poor village, so I cannot find school in the village around my town. I’m thinking of changing my name so that I can go to school. I would have my cousin take my place. By the way, my cousin’s name is Athena. I need to talk to my parents. If I can go to my friend Jamie’s house, she’s the only one in our village who has a computer, I could find a magic school. That would be great. There are a lot of stories of me destroying things.

One time, I tried helping people fix their house but I ended up breaking it. I don’t want to get rid of my powers, I just want to make them useful. My cousin and I have our own unique qualities. But in singing, we are both good. My cousin and I have always been wanting to go to school, so she wouldn’t mind taking my place. I would have to be escaping at nighttime. Jamie and my cousin are going to help me escape. I’ll be taking the bus to Athens, Georgia. Jamie is helping me pack my things to go. 

“Anthea, are you sure you want to do this?” asks Jamie.

“Anthea, you can always stay here with us,” Athena says. 

“It was our dream, Athena, I want to go,” I say. 

We are saying our goodbyes. I know my cousin is sad but she is also happy that our dream is coming true. I know I’m making the right choice. What scares me is when we get there I won’t know anybody. But luckily, Jamie got me some tickets for a hotel. Dark Side and I have been saving up money since we were little to go to school. So I’ve got my college fund money. Sadly, I do not know what my parents are thinking. Dark Side does have an open mouth, so she’ll probably tell my parents that I left. Tomorrow will be a new day and I will register myself for power school. 

I’m going to my hotel and it looks gorgeous. Now I have to go to bed and make sure my next day will be awesome. 

I wake up this morning and I’m getting dressed to register myself for school. I can’t believe my dream is coming true. I’m going to prepare myself a bagel and cream cheese. Going out and seeing Georgia is beautiful. I’m taking the bus to the school cause it’s a mile away from my hotel. Seeing the school is amazing. It’s big and pretty. Looks like the school is very old. When I go inside the school, it is really big. It looks more like a ballroom. The principal of the school asks me what I’m doing here. I tell him I’ve come here to register myself. He’s glad and gives me a tour. After that, he asks me if I have powers. I agree and tell him I have powers. I’ve come on the weekend, so there is no one really there, except himself. I notice he is fixing the place. And I ask him if I can help. So the principal and I mop the floor, fix the chairs, and fix his office. 

After fixing his office, he tells me to come on Monday, and that I will make some really good friends. By the way, that photo below is a photo I took of myself.

Jamie has always taught me to be confident in myself with my dreams. So after getting out of the school, I go shopping for school supplies. Dark Side recently told me from Jamie’s computer that she’s going to school in New York, which is not that far by car from where we live. I’m really happy for her; she’ll be sending me a photo or an anime drawing. Jamie gave me money for school supplies before I left. I thanked her.

It’s Monday now, now I’m going to school. I’ve already made a friend. I bet Jamie would like her as well. Dark Side would be happy as well. Her name is the opposite of ours, Sunshine. And her sister is Light Side. I recently met a girl who worked in a pet shop, and she showed me a picture of a bunny. The bunny was really cute and fluffy. She said she would give it to me for free and I was really glad to hear the news, because the bunny was really cute. I would have it in a cage, get a phone, and send a picture to Dark Side. I would name the bunny Fluffy. 

But getting back to school, it’s really hard. Today we are going to see what extra powers we have, are they legendary or common? I hope my powers are legendary. But this bully named Chloe and her assistant Lila always bother me and think that my powers will be common. My cousin thinks I’m gonna find a boy and get married. But I told her to stop telling me that, but she did tell me that my parents were happy but sad. At least I’m calmer now that she’s told me this because I know how my parents think. But there is a cute boy named Alexander. But I won’t focus on him — I have to focus on my studies.

Now we’re going outside to a field to see what our powers will be. First, it’s Sunshine. She gets a legendary– a guardian angel. And her sister is a nature fairy. While Chloe and Lila are common demon bunnies. When I hear the news that I’m the legendary person in my class, I am so happy. My powers are a griffin that can read minds. Even though Chloe knows I can read her mind, she still intends to do bad tricks on me. But I really don’t care.

I’ll describe Chloe for you. Blond hair, blue eyes, yellow jacket, and a striped shirt. And she always tries to act like she’s the boss of everyone. She, too, likes Alexander. Whenever she sees him, she always acts so crazy. But I just ignore her. Though I do have a friend who’s a boy, as well. His name is William. He is a really kind friend; he is also legendary. His powers are a fire guardian. Just the opposite of Sunshine.

All four of us are going to have a sleepover, over at Sunshine’s house. It’s going to be really fun, I will bring some chips and Doritos. She says we are going to watch the movie Deadpool. But William disagrees. Soon enough, it’s going to be half of the year. Cause I entered in half of the year. But since there are three more years to go, I’m really happy. Tomorrow’s lesson is going to be about: can you fly or not? I think I can fly, cause griffins fly. Sunshine and Light Side can definitely fly. I don’t know about William, though. There’s this new boy going into school with us. His name is Felix. But I feel something suspicious about him. My cousin is enjoying her time there. I didn’t know that Jamie’s there, as well. 

The sleepover turns out really fun. Her mom is really fun and her house is beautiful. William tells us at night that he likes Sunshine. But luckily she is not there when he says it. We both tell him to tell her so it won’t be too late. Later that night, we do Truth or Dare, and I ask William truth or dare. And not wanting to do a dare, he says truth. So I ask him: who does he like? And he says that he likes Sunshine. But this time, she is there. She is surprised but happy. She doesn’t know what to say, so we continue on. Then they do a truth or dare on me. And I say dare. And they make me sing my least favorite song, Kiki, and play my least favorite video game, Fortnite! I don’t know why, but I do it. But I’m fine. So I do a truth or dare on Sunshine. Sunshine says dare. So I make her do something embarrassing: act like she’s a grandma and help her sister burp. And Light Side ends up burping. It’s really funny. But we keep on. Then, it’s Light Side’s turn. William asks Light Side truth or dare, and she picks truth. So William asks her. But he knows that she already does this.

“Is it true that you used your poo as hair gel?” says William. Embarrassed, Light Side says yes.

***

It’s been three years now since the sleepover. We’ve had many since then. It’s almost prom and I’m really happy. But I don’t know what to wear and who to go with. Alexander recently asked me out, but I didn’t respond. I don’t know what to say. But today I’m saying yes. 

It’s later. So now we’re going together. My only fear is my dress. So Sunshine and Light Side are taking me out to buy a dress. And after that I am going to send a picture to Dark Side. Dark Side has actually agreed to meet me at the airport, cause I asked her where she’s going to live for the rest of her life. And she said here, where we live. I was sad but told her the honest truth: I was going to stay in Georgia. She was really sad, but still, everything came with benefit. 

Prom is fun, they have cake, a chocolate fountain, and Alexander and I are prom king and queen. This year has gone by so fast, it’s already graduation time. During the year, I have earned money so that I can bring my family over. I buy tickets so that my friend, my cousin, and my parents can come over. They all start new lives here. My cousin gets a good-paying job. And my parents have enough money for retiring. I start a family. My kids get powers like me, but they get a better future ahead of them and they have a better hold of their powers. We’re just a big family and we’re happy in our lives right now.

2045

It is the year 2045, and global warming is at its worst. Temperatures are high and civilians aren’t helping. Tons of plastic waste is being released into the ocean. Beaches have trash on the shore instead of glistening shells and sand. However, people are forming groups with thousands of people, trying to save the ocean. 

It is a new school year, and Diego and Randy are close friends who are now in the 5th grade. Their school is near Bird Key Park in Sarasota, Florida. They patiently wait for Mr. Smith, who teaches facts about the world, and today he’s doing a lesson about oceanography. After class, Randy asks Diego if he can look at some of Diego’s vacation pictures since he recently went to the beach. As Randy flips through what feels like a perpetual album of photos, one photo catches Randy’s attention. There are soda cans and plastic bottles all over the sea shore. He asks Diego if the entire beach had pollution and Diego begins to tell the story.

Diego goes on about how horrible the ocean smelled and the look of it. He is glad they left. Diego says he saw way fewer seagulls than his last visit. He went for a swim and saw no more/fewer fish. The seashore was nauseating to even look at. The water was opaque and the coral reefs were bleached.

Mr. Smith finally arrives at the classroom after being 10 minutes late because he had to fix some air conditioners in other classrooms. He teaches the class fractions, decimals, and ratios. After 45 minutes, the class is dismissed. Since they both live near a beach, Diego and Randy decide to take a look at the ocean one more time. It is truly appalling. The coral reefs are nowhere to be seen, and it has a vigorous plastic scent. They both want to change this. They would need to build a huge community if they want to have a huge impact. Two average schoolboys determine to make a change.

Diego and Randy head to Randy’s house, where they can both start planning in the backyard. Since they are just average students, they probably won’t be able to make a community from scratch, so they decide to join one. With almost 60% of the ocean covered in garbage, they will need all the support they can get. Diego snatches his mobile device from his house across from Randy’s house and surfs the internet, looking for a program that helps get rid of the waste in the ocean. After a brief five minutes of vigorous searching, Diego finds a website that is free to sign up and takes place around their house. ORCA (Ocean Recognition Community Association) is the name of the community. Randy and Diego ask their parents if they have permission to sign up and they receive their consent, but only if they sign up themselves.

Once Randy and Diego finally complete the survey, they spring into action. Diego and Randy ride their bikes to the ORCA to meet and greet each other. They go to their local beach and get to work. They recycle about 50 pounds of trash that is left on the beach on the daily. It is dusk and both of the boys need to go back home. After they wake up the next day, they meet up in school with their other friends and tell them about the community. About half of the students they ask agree, varying from grades 4-12. Some of them need supervision, and the rest just need permission from their guardians.

Randy and Diego meet up at the daily community meeting with some of their friends. The boys introduce their friends Samantha, Briann, Al, Hyram, and others to the people in ORCA and they head to the shore! Samantha and Briann are siblings. Briann is in eighth grade and Samantha is in sixth grade. Briann is always looking for an adventure and Samantha just wants to follow in her brother’s steps. Al and Hyram are both in sixth grade, Al and Hyram have been best friends since kindergarten. Hyram is obsessed with clear skin. Hyram has his entire family supporting his decision. Even though Hyram wants to become a dermatologist when he grows up, he still wants to be with his friends instead of studying dermatology by himself. Al is the total opposite. Al would put a healthy skincare routine at the end of his bucket list, but he is obsessed with sea shells. Al doesn’t have a future career planned, but it is fine since he is only in fifth grade. Al’s older brother just moved to college and his family has planned a surprise party at the beach when he comes and visits. But with the beach in this condition, the party won’t seem to last long.

After 2 hours, they weigh all of the waste they have collected and they collected 80 pounds of waste today! There are still 3 hours before curfew so all of the kids in Randy and Diego’s school who signed up for ORCA print out flyers about the organization and place them all around the school and neighborhood. The next day, almost 20 more people join ORCA!

After a week or so, the seawater has become more pellucid. Some people in ORCA are oceanographers and they help take out the dead coral. More vibrant fish begin returning in the reef and more seagulls return in larger flocks. The next day, the community had recycled 100 pounds of trash! Randy and Diego are very proud of their decision because they feel like they made a huge impact in their neighborhood but they still have a long way to go. In a month, Diego and Randy help recruit over 50 people and a total of 340 people who sign up for ORCA. They recycle about 600 pounds of trash this month.

A few months pass by and 800 people sign up for ORCA. It is the end of the school semester, and Randy and Diego feel so proud. Randy, Diego, Hyram, Al, Briann, and Samantha helped cause a huge impact on their local beach. The water is very clear now, and the sand has very little waste in it. More people and tourists are visiting the beaches more often, and now, this is like a second-nature to most of the attendees. ORCA has raised a bunch of money and have been receiving loads of support. They plan to do larger projects and go further in the ocean, helping other beaches, and even other bodies of water.

***

Randy and Diego finally graduate from fifth grade, they apprise their parents about all of the positive impacts that they helped cause. With approximately 1,000 people in ORCA throughout the nation, they will need larger plans. During summertime, ORCA plans to go deeper into the sea and venture to other polluted beach resorts and bays. Diego and Randy have all of the free-time since they won’t have to worry about schoolwork or disarranged schedules. The community split into two groups. Group one consists of 250 people, and they’ll help clear out and filter the polluted water. They will also help clean up the land, giving it a crisp look. Group two consists of 400 people. Their duty is to head out to bays or further into the ocean to unearth trash and succor endangered sea creatures.

The Fourth of July is here, and now there are more visitors. With many more visitors, Group one will have many issues trying to recycle and trash the leftovers of the consistently visiting citizens. At this rate, the bay would clear up much more slowly. Some of their schoolmates, Samantha, Briann, Hyram, and Al were also in Group one. You had to be 18 years old or older, or 14-17 years old with guardian supervision to contribute in Group two. The older kids from the school went to Group two. Al’s parents took part in Group two. After three and a half hours, both Groups had a meeting to discuss the difficulties and simple parts. The next day, ORCA tries to buy all of the equipment that they need for a new contemporary morning. ORCA gets the money because of other huge brands donating to them for their good actions and to send support to ORCA so ORCA can grow larger. ORCA also creates a website, which has a donation section. The kids meet up and they trail off from Group one. They scout for plastic trash in the sand, and selfish people who just throw their garbage into the sand or sea. They pack their stuff and took off. After about one whole hour in, the kids notice how far they had trailed off. They end up lost.

They decide that it would be best to walk the other way, but everyone is already fatigued. Hyram begins to panic because he’s afraid that he’ll lose all of his skincare products. 

Al isn’t too upset because there are many shells on the shore. While they are walking the opposite way, Al takes his time because he is analyzing and collecting sea shells. Randy remembers about the mapping paper he packed earlier today. Unfortunately, Randy forgets to actually map out the trail. So they are really lost. They decide that it’d be smartest to just walk towards the city rather than Group one on the shore, since they are still in Sarasota, but just farther away from Group two. Briann glares into the distance and notices Group two on their boats returning. They try to track down Group two’s stop and head there. After walking up a steep hill of sand that was shards of glass, they decide to take a break. Luckily, they all packed snacks and water before heading far off into the bay. Randy and Diego snack on some fruit salads. Al eats some chips. Hyram eats some papaya and watermelon since he heard that it is good for your skin. It is 6:30 P.M. and then Samantha sees black silhouettes in the distance. Could it be civilization?

Samantha squints her eyes and then the picture is clearer, they are palm trees. Briann takes a minute to listen, and he hears popping and cheering. It is the Fourth of July Fireworks! The kids sprint up the hill, despite how weary they are. The fireworks slowly become louder. If this were to be any other day, the kids might’ve been alone for a much more prolonged time. They see the neighborhood gathering up and cheering. At last, they are safe. Each and every one of the kids sees their guardians, waiting for their return. They reunite and celebrate the Fourth of July together.

A few months pass by and they continue to do their daily deeds. They all have moved up a grade, but Samantha and Briann are moving to Salisbury, North Carolina because their father has work there. However, Briann still wants to be a part of ORCA. He saw this as an opportunity to expand ORCA. The kids have one last meeting before Samantha and Briann move away. Once Briann and Samantha move, they will advertise ORCA so people from where they live would want to also sign up. Before they move away, Briann tells Randy his plan so the next day Randy tells some people in ORCA and they think that would be smart. With all of the money they had raised, expanding would be a smarter choice than buying advanced equipment. Al, Hyram, Diego, and Randy help clear off more trash on the bay and they meet up after they complete their work. The kids stare into the ocean, talking, making jokes, and reminiscing all of the fun times they had with each other. They feel proud, even though they haven’t cleaned everything they wanted to in a year.

The Count’s Letter

Chapter I

Snowflake, a bunny, lived in the town of Meenlam. She was a postbunny, meaning she ran around the town delivering letters to her fellow townspeople. Snowflake also went to some of the nearby towns, such as Baldis, Rineen, Yoham, and Sarvenos. Snowflake was good at her job, but she was not the best because many of the other bunnies who worked with her were extraordinarily fast. Even when they ran to some of the farthest towns, they could get there in a very speedy three days, because those towns were over twenty kemdos away. Snowflake had heard some bunnies talk about the towns being over fifty miles away, but she had no idea what miles were. 

Snowflake loved baking. When she wasn’t delivering mail, she could often be found in her kitchen, baking something delicious. She often gave half of what she made to her neighbors because she lived alone and couldn’t eat everything before it went stale. Snowflake’s favorite things to bake were chocolate chip cookies because the batter was just as good as the cookies, and chocolate cake, just because chocolate cake is amazing. 

Snowflake also loved going to the beach, but only on cold days when she could be alone. Everybody came on the hot days because they didn’t like the cold water. Snowflake tolerated it better than most bunnies because she did it all the time and she also had a thick coat of fur. Besides, most of the time she just sat on the sand and gazed at the ocean or read. Snowflake liked being alone because she could think without having to hear everyone running around on the beach. 

One cold winter day, Snowflake decided that she should go to the beach, since she hadn’t been in a while. She sat down on the sand and watched the chilly waves rush towards her paws and then fall back into the ocean just before they pierced her boots. After about fifteen minutes of this, Snowflake decided to walk along the beach for a while. She was halfway to the small, abandoned garden of lilacs when she felt her boot thud against something sharp. She lifted her shoe, and she saw a tiny crab scuttling around on the wet ground. It looked lost, so she picked it up and walked it over to the sea. She set it down and the waves escorted it into the murky blue depths. A little bit later, she turned back and walked home. When she was nice and warm by her fire, she slept for an hour or so, and then she got up and made a batch of brownies. 

As she was waiting for the oven to ding, someone knocked on her door. She got up from the couch, and she opened the door. A cold gust of wind swept into the house, moving the fog covering the town to reveal a young bunny sitting on the doorstep. 

“Are you S-S-Snowflake N-Neepim?” the little bunny asked. Snowflake couldn’t tell if he was stuttering because he was cold, or because he stuttered no matter what. 

“Why, yes. I am Snowflake Neepim. What’s your name?” Snowflake replied. 

“B-Benny. Mrs. Evental a-asked me to f-find you a-a-and then to journey w-with you to this place and deliver t-t-this letter with you,” Benny said. 

Snowflake asked, “May I see the letter?”

“Y-yes. The l-letter is v-very important. A-at least, t-t-that’s what Mrs. Evental s-said. Also, s-s-she said it was. . . across the Forest!” Benny squeaked the last part as he handed the letter to Snowflake. He squeaked because the Forest was the most dangerous part of the world. Nobody knew what was past it, but clearly Mrs. Evental knew because she had to get a letter to someone there. Rumors flew around the village whenever someone went in because everyone believed that monsters and carnivorous plants lived there. The last time someone had gone in and come out alive was thousands of years ago when the Forest was new. To Snowflake, it didn’t seem right to risk her life just to deliver a single letter, but she would do it because Benny couldn’t do it alone. She grasped the letter as she looked at the address. 

32084 Grenom St NW

Bartrembos

“Alright. We’ll go across the Forest. We need to pack lots of food for the journey. Do you have any idea why Mrs. Evental wants us to deliver the letter?” Snowflake declared. 

“N-no, Ms. Neepim. Can I search your h-house for good f-f-food to bring?” Benny answered.

“You can, but please, call me Snowflake. I despise being called Ms. Neepim,” Snowflake replied. They walked into her house and started searching the cabinets to find foods that would be easy to bring. They ended up with two backpacks and two sleeping bags, and as they left the house, they waved at a town they might never see again. 

Chapter II

Snowflake and Benny stopped when they reached the Forest. They stared up at the towering trees looming above their heads. Then, with brave glances at the other, they pushed the shrubbery aside and stepped into the Forest. 

They had crossed the river before then, and they were miraculously almost dry. The river was known for being very fast and powerful, and most bunnies were drenched if they tried to cross or go fishing in it. Snowflake was very glad about that, since being wet while trying to cross a dangerous forest would not be good.

The first thing Snowflake noticed was the quiet. Before they went in, she heard the sounds of the river, birds, and the wind. In the Forest, there was nothing. There were no birds, no wind, and no animals of any sort, only the sound of their footsteps, which even now sounded muffled. 

“W-where are the n-n-noises?” Benny asked softly. 

“I don’t kn- aahhhhh!” Snowflake screamed. Benny clung onto Snowflake as a huge snake slithered down from the trees. It stared at them for a minute, and then it glided up the tree. Snowflake and Benny calmed down and continued walking. They came to a huge wall that appeared to be made of ivy, but it was probably stone underneath. They poked around for a while, searching for a door. Benny yelped as he fell through the wall, and Snowflake rushed to him. He had found the door, and he fell through it. Benny stood up and dusted himself off, and they paraded into the place beyond the wall. 

It was a castle that stood behind the wall. It towered above the rest of the Forest, leaving an immense shadow over the trees. Loud chirping noises could be heard anywhere, and the air smelled of royal perfume. Snowflake wondered how she hadn’t noticed it as they were walking, but then she remembered that nothing could penetrate the canopy. As soon as they stepped through, however, a group of guards rushed towards them, and they tied their paws behind their backs. These guards weren’t bunnies, though. They were parrots!

The guards bumped them through the palace and stuck them in a small cell. The only words they said were, “Breakfast is at 7, lunch is at 12, and dinner’s at 6,” and then they left them all alone. 

“W-what just h-happened?” Benny quivered as he spoke. 

“We’re in a castle, and those guards just imprisoned us! We need to get out of here!” Snowflake answered. She frantically searched the cell, but there were only two tiny cots and a toilet. She spied a nail beneath one of the cots, but she couldn’t reach it. 

“Benny, can you get that nail for me? I can’t reach it,” Snowflake asked. Benny nodded and squeezed under the cot. He stayed under there for a moment and then he popped back out, nail in paw. 

“Is t-this the nail y-you wanted?” Benny said. 

“Yes, thank you,”

“You’re w-welcome.”

 Snowflake reached her paw through the bars of the door, and she stuck the nail into the lock. Unfortunately, a parrot guard came down the hall, and Snowflake had to stop. The clock struck noon, and the guard started to unlock the doors. The prisoners trudged out of the cells and they followed the guard to what was probably the dining hall. Snowflake and Benny had no choice but to follow everyone to the hall. 

The parrots serving the food passed out trays, and they spooned a bluish-gray glop to everyone. Benny looked down at his food in disgust, and he spat and pushed it away. As she did the same, Snowflake whispered, “Hey, I’ve got some apples. We can eat those once we go back to our cells. Then we can break out of here!” 

“What’d you do to get in here? I smashed one o’ the windows in King Obb’s palace. You look like some little stupid people, so I’ll tell ya that this is King Obb’s castle,” a gruff voice grumbled. They turned around to see a massive pig with a severe underbite point to a window high up in the hall. Sure enough, it was smashed to bits. 

“I insulted King Obb. This guy did the same,” Snowflake replied. Benny nodded in agreement. Just then, bells rang and all the prisoners stood up and got escorted back to their cells. 

Benny gasped, “They c-cleaned it! Our n-n-nail is gone!” He plopped down on his cot and began to sob. Snowflake dug out her apples and handed one to him. She sat down and they began munching forlornly on the apples. 

“I have earpins!” Snowflake cried. 

“S-s-so?” Benny said. 

“So, we can use them to pick the lock!” Snowflake said joyously. She dug in her bag and she pulled out two earpins. She stuck one in the lock and wiggled it around. The door swung open just as a royal-looking person flew down the hall. Benny jumped up and shut the door. 

“What was that?” King Obb asked. His voice was nasally with a snooty accent, and it sounded wicked. King Obb spun around, and his gaze locked on Snowflake and Benny. 

“Probably one of those little punks bangin’ on the bars,” a parrot guard replied. King Obb didn’t look satisfied with the answer, but he turned around and marched on, the guard trailing behind. As soon as Snowflake could no longer hear their wings beating, she opened the door again and slipped out, backpack and sleeping bag with her. Benny followed her out, but then he whispered, “How w-w-will we get o-out? G-guards will be w-w-watching the exits.” 

“The window that the big pig broke!” Snowflake exclaimed after thinking for a few moments. They ran up as quietly as they could, and then they stopped. The window was too high up for them to reach. They couldn’t get out that way. 

“I know! We can s-stack the t-tables!” Benny exclaimed. They began stacking the tables, one after another, making sure they had a way to get up to the top of the stack. Once the tower was high enough, they crawled through the window and jumped down. Half of the dining hall was below ground and there were some high bushes below, so they weren’t hurt falling down. They ran to the wall, and they climbed up the ivy, and they jumped over. They were free. 

Chapter III

Snowflake and Benny raced away from the castle. They had gone out on the opposite side of where they came in, so they didn’t have to circle all the way around to continue going. They trekked in silence for a while, but they began to talk when the ground beneath them started to pull them in. 

“Why is the ground sinking?” Snowflake asked. 

“I t-think it’s q-q-quicksand!” Benny replied. They screamed as the quicksand swallowed them, but they stopped when they fell into a huge cavern. Floating lights filled the cavern with a warm glow, and dancing bunnies wearing bright dresses were twirling around a stage on the far end of the room. A slow, romantic piece of music was being played by an orchestra that appeared to be in a glass room above the ceiling. Snowflake loved the lights bobbing about. She wanted to hold onto them forever, and she felt herself drop into a dreamlike state. She saw Benny walking slowly towards them, and she felt a very strong urge to do the same. Snowflake walked to the lights, and the last thing she remembered was hugging them, and then everything went black. 

When Snowflake came to, she was still clutching the lights. Benny was muttering something about how he loved the lights so much, he would never let go. Then he woke up. Snowflake saw the lights again and she went over to them. One of them morphed into one of the dancing bunnies, but this one had a wicked grin, and she bent over and kissed Snowflake on her forehead. Snowflake collapsed on the ground, fast asleep. The bunny walked over to Benny, but he batted her away. Now the bunny came flying back and she knocked Benny down! As she stalked over to him, she tripped over her long high heels. Benny used this opportunity to grab a stick and whack her. He hit her until she was unconscious, and then he grabbed her keys and dragged Snowflake out. 

When Snowflake woke up, a massive Venus flytrap was looming over her head. She shrieked and Benny woke up with a start. They had both fallen asleep after they escaped. 

“What’s g-going on?” Benny asked groggily. Then, he noticed the plant and he screamed, too. He jumped up and quickly slashed the Venus flytrap’s stem with a sharp stick, and then he collapsed and he promptly began to snore. He was just tired.  

Snowflake waited an hour before trying to wake Benny again. It had been really early in the morning when they were faced with the Venus flytrap, and they would still get an early start that day. She nudged Benny until he woke, and they ate a quick breakfast before continuing across the Forest. 

For the next three days, they trudged through the Forest, only talking when they had to. It was a very boring journey, especially since nothing else imprisoned them or tried to eat them. 

Snowflake was thinking that the Forest never ended and that Mrs. Evental had just made it up when the Forest suddenly ended and they were standing in a beautiful meadow with flowers in all colors of the rainbow. Snowflake and Benny rushed forward, only to smack into an enormous web and the meadow flickered and disappeared. They tried to move around, but the web was sticky and they couldn’t break free. There was a buzzing noise that sounded like a bee, and a huge firefly loomed over their heads. It lifted Benny off the web with ease, and it made a weird sound that sounded as if it were sniffing him. It tossed Benny to the ground, and it repeated with Snowflake. This time, the firefly must have thought she would taste good, because it lifted her up to its mouth, and it was about to put her head in when Benny swooped down on a vine, grabbed Snowflake, and launched over the web. They tumbled down a small hill and landed in the creek at the bottom. 

“Oof,” Benny groaned from underneath Snowflake. She slowly stood up and grabbed Benny’s paw and helped him stand. 

“I thought… fireflies were… herbivorous,” Snowflake panted. 

“Me t-too. I guess t-that one w-wasn’t,” Benny agreed. They dusted themselves off and they continued walking. They had learned to just keep on moving, even when something was hard. 

They walked for two more days, which made them very, very tired, and then there was light up ahead. Snowflake and Benny glanced at each other, and they ran towards it, despite their legs aching as if they had just stood for a week without sitting once. They pushed through the bushes, and there was a small town sitting there, waiting to be discovered. They were out of the Forest. 

Chapter IV

They raced into the town, and they noticed a sign that said Bartrembos as they frantically searched for the mysterious creature’s house. They ran around for a little while, searching for the house, but it became dark very quickly, so they found an inn called The Four Mugs. Once Snowflake and Benny had checked in and placed their stuff in their room, they sat down at a table in the dining room and began to talk about their mission. 

“So, just to remind you of what we’re doing, Mrs. Evental gave us this letter to give to somebody at this address, and it’s very important that we deliver it because something really important is inside. Also, do you have any idea what’s in the letter?” Snowflake informed Benny. 

“N-no. Mrs. Evental s-said, ‘This letter has s-something very important inside. Please d-d-do not open i-it. Just give it to the c-c-count at this address,’” Benny said, mimicking Mrs. Evental’s voice. 

“Do you think we should open it? Actually, the count would probably notice, so we shouldn’t open it,” Snowflake said. 

“H-how would he k-know?” Benny asked. 

“The seal wouldn’t stick, and it might be broken.”

“Oh. W-what if we got a n-new seal?”

“We don’t have Mrs. Evental’s seal stamp. Look, the name Koria Evental is engraved in the seal. This count probably knows what the seal looks like, so he would know that we opened it,” Snowflake pointed out. A waiter walked over to their table with two lemonades and two bowls of fettuccine alfredo. They ate a delicious meal, and then they went up to bed and got the best night sleep they had had in days. The next morning, Snowflake and Benny ate a quick breakfast and then they left to go and find the count. 

“Scarcem s-street. . . J-jalims street. . . Grenom s-s-street!” Benny read the names of the streets as they passed them. They turned down Grenom Street and they looked for number 32084. 

“There it is!” Snowflake cried when they found it. 32084 Grenom St. was a tall and dark house. It was very neat and nothing looked broken or out of place. A weird smell was coming from the house. It was something like cinnamon combined with molasses. Odd chattering noises came from the back of the house. Snowflake and Benny walked up the steps to the door and they knocked on the door. It swung open to reveal a tall and gaunt bunny. He wore all black, which contrasted his pale white fur. He looked sad, as if he had been living all alone for the past ten years, and he had a very long nose, a thin line for a mouth, a worry crease, and very dark eyes. He gazed at them for a long time, and then he said, “Come in. I am Farmirn Jayis. Why are you here?” 

“We’ve come to deliver a letter from someone in our town named Mrs. Evental. Also, I am Snowflake,” Snowflake answered as she and Benny walked into the house. 

“Was Mrs. Evental’s first name Koria?” the count asked. 

“Y-yes,” Benny said. 

“And what might your name be?” Farmirn inquired. 

“B-benny,” Benny answered. Farmirn gestured for them to sit down in some large armchairs as he got out whatever had made that weird smell earlier. They turned out to be cinnamon spice cookies, and Snowflake and Benny took them gratefully. 

“Now, may I see this letter?” the count requested. Benny handed him the letter, and they peeked over his shoulder as he read it. 

August 7, 1483

Dear Farmirn,

I write to you to warn you of a bunny hungry for power in our village. He knows there is a place beyond the Forest, and he plans on storming Bartrembos and claiming it for himself. I want you to know so that you can protect Bartrembos from this evil bunny. He has black fur, green eyes, and one of his ears is half as long as the other. Please, protect yourself and your town from this bunny. I love Bartrembos, and I would hate for it to be taken over. Oh, I forgot to mention his name. It is Dreim Varlik. He is a powerful bunny in our town, so he will not have trouble recruiting an army and going there. Please stay safe. 

On a lighter note, I received your present. Thank you so much. The sapling was a very thoughtful gift. I still do not know how you can send that in the mail and get it here so quickly. It is a sapling, and that makes it very hard to transport it, especially all the way across the Forest. Thank you again!

Sincerely,

Koria Evental

“So, this b-bunny named Dreim Varlik is coming to take o-o-over Bartrembos just because he can, and w-we have no i-idea for how he learned about this p-p-place, right?” Benny said. 

“Yes. We must go to the Council at once and inform them of this danger!” Farmirn cried. He stood up and bolted out of the front door, letter in hand. Snowflake and Benny rushed after him. They were exhausted and out of breath when they reached the town hall. 

“Councillors! I am sorry for coming without warning, but I have just received a letter from my friend in a town called Meenlam. She informed me that there is a bunny in her town who discovered Bartrembos and they want to come here and take it over! We must pro — ” Farmirn said quickly. 

“Hold on there, Farmirn. Repeat that more slowly,” a councillor, who had the name Councillor Jinlis on his chair, interrupted. 

“I have a friend in a town named Meenlam. She just sent me a letter warning me of a bunny who has discovered Bartrembos, and that bunny is going to come here with an army and take over our town,” Farmirn repeated, much slower this time. 

“Thank you. Do you have any idea of how powerful this bunny is?” A councillor called Councillor Zarina asked. 

“My friend, Koria Evental, said he is very powerful and he will have no trouble recruiting an army and pushing through the Forest,” Farmrin answered. The Councillors turned towards each other and they began talking in hushed voices about how they should stop this threat. Eventually they came to a decision. 

Councillor Barikl said, “Go to the Emnesi. For the two young bunnies, that is where our army resides and trains. Tell them to block the town off and prepare their weapons. We are going to war with these flops for bunnies.”

Chapter V

Snowflake ran straight to the Emnesi after receiving directions from Farmirn on how to get there. 

“Block the town off! Prepare your weapons! A group of bunnies are coming from across the Forest and want to take over Bartrembos!” Snowflake yelled when she got there. 

“Who are you?” one of the soldiers asked. 

“I’m Snowflake Neepim of Meenlam. I came here to deliver a letter from all the way across the Forest, and some bunnies from my town are coming here to take over Bartrembos!” Snowflake cried. The soldiers murmured in discussion. 

Before they could speak, Snowflake called out, “The Council ordered you to do this!” As soon as she said “Council,” they started running about the camp, gathering their weapons and rushing out the door. Snowflake watched as they positioned themselves all around Bartrembos, making sure their weapons worked properly. They waited for hours, but at sundown, loud footsteps started coming from the Forest. A couple minutes later, Dreim Varlik’s army burst out of the Forest. They must have thought the people of Bartrembos would be just going about their normal day, but they found an army instead. Dreim’s army waited for a minute, glancing at each other and appearing to think, How did they know? before they charged at Bartrembos’s army. 

The next hour was filled with the clashing of swords and bows shooting nonstop. Everywhere Snowflake and Benny looked, soldiers were fighting and bodies were lying on the ground. Some moaned and twitched, while others lay still. Bartrembos was winning, but then the other army rolled a huge cannon out of the Forest. Three bunnies had to work to get a single cannonball in, but the balls were weak and they only destroyed a couple houses, which was not much compared to what it had looked like. Snowflake spotted Benny on the edge of the battlefield, and he was creeping towards the giant cannon, a bomb in one of his paws and a box of matches in the other. 

“Benny!” Snowflake shrieked. Benny turned around and put his paw to his mouth, signaling for her to be quiet. He crept up to the cannon, and he began to army-crawl between the bunnies’ legs. He went underneath the cannon, and he stuck the bomb into the hole after lighting it. He jumped up and ran back to Snowflake as the bomb exploded. 

When all the smoke had cleared, Snowflake saw the cannon, but it was completely destroyed. Many more bodies now lay near it, and Snowflake recognized them as the bunnies operating the canon and other warriors. The soldiers from Bartrembos used this opportunity to start fighting again while the others were still in shock. 

“Where did you get that?” Snowflake asked Benny. 

“F-farmirn gave it to m-me just in c-case we needed it,” Benny answered. Shouts came up from the battlefield, and Snowflake and Benny peeked over the wall of the fortress they were on to see the Bartrembos soldiers standing in victory. They had won the battle! 

Chapter VI

Snowflake and Benny were at a massive party. Once the battlefield had been cleared up, it was decorated with streamers and balloons that flew high into the sky. The town bakers had worked hard to make cupcakes, cakes, salads, and more for the celebration. It was so loud, Snowflake and Benny had to scream to hear each other. Near the end of the party, Farmirn got up onto the makeshift stage and quieted everybody. 

“I would like to propose a toast to Snowflake Neepim and Benny Kembi. They delivered a letter to me from Meenlam informing me of the bunnies who attacked us earlier today. If they had not come and given me the letter, we would probably be dead right now. To Snowflake and Benny!” Farmirn called. Everybody raised their glasses of lemonade and said, 

“To Snowflake and Benny!”

After the celebration was over, Snowflake and Benny stayed at Farmirn’s house for the night. The next morning, he took them in his donkey cart, and he drove them all the way back to Meenlam, and it took them only four days to get there. When they got back, they were celebrated as heroes because they saved another town from destruction. They became leaders in the town, and the first thing they did was create a road through the Forest to make it easier to get from one place to another. Snowflake and Benny led very happy lives, and they were written about in history books because they accomplished so many good things, and Snowflake and Benny became the greatest leaders in all of Meenlam history. 

The Story of Sunglass Dude & Pengu the Penguin

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: LET’S GO!

Chapter 2: Into the Forest

Chapter 3 The Impossible Eating Wall

Chapter 4: Wait, I Have a Great Idea!

Chapter 5: Hurry to the Flight!

Chapter 6: WE GOT THERE, WE’RE GONNA HAVE SUNGLASSES AND A DOG!

———————————————-

Chapter 1: LET’S GO!

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Sunglass Dude and a penguin named Pengu. The penguin and Sunglass Dude were best buds. Anyway, they were about to go on an adventure to go to Hershey Park to get sunglasses for both of them and get a dog.

So they started by getting out of the house and saying, “LET’S GO!”And they were off, with a grapple hook, on their journey walking to their favorite things. 

Chapter 2: Into the Forest 

So then they walked and walked so far that they saw a beautiful forest. The trees were light blue and it was like a miracle. They said, “Whoooooaaaaa!” They were so surprised that they said, “That’s so cool!” They were so happy to go through the forest! They saw birds and squirrels, and even a bald eagle. They played in the forest a lot, and it was the best place to play because the animals were nice to play with. Then they went off to walk off to the unknown, or should I say, the airport. So they went off on the long walk back on their journey. Then they saw a modern mansion. It had a pool and it was shiny and it was so cool! They saw the owner and Pengu, and Sunglass Dude said, “What are you doing in this forest?” 

The owner said, “Well, this is the mage forest, you know that, right?” 

They said, “No.” 

The owner said, “Well, we’re in magic city.” 

They said, “Okay.”

 Between them, they were like, “This is so cool!” 

Pengu and Sunglass Dude said to the owner, “We need to look around the city. Can you show us around?”

 The owner said, “Okay! Come with me!” 

When they were done, Pengu and Sunglass Man asked, “Is there an airport around here?”

The owner said, “Yes. But there is a giant chocolate wall that’s, like, impossible to eat through.” 

Either way they went…

Chapter 3 The Impossible Eating Wall 

… anyway, they went to the wall and started to eat through it. They were eating so long that they needed a rest, so they decided to sleep all day and then they kept eating. Even though they were so tired, they started to climb. But they kept falling on their butts. They said, “Oww!” every single time. Then they went on to keep trying and falling on their butts. 

Sunglass dude said, “I QUIT!” 

Pengu the penguin said, “ME, TOO!” Then they walked away. Suddenly…

Chapter 4: Wait, I Have a Great Idea! 

… Sunglass Dude said, “Wait, I have a great idea! Remember, we have a grapple hook. Let’s grapple over the top of the giant wall!” 

Pengu the penguin said, “Yeah, let’s do it!”

They did it, but they still had a river to cross. They saw the river and it was brown and smelled really good so they started smelling the river again and again. Then finally a person went up and said, “What are you doing?!” 

They said, “Umm nothing. We were about to go to the airport.” 

He said, “Oh okay.”

Pengu and Sunglass Dude got into a boat and began to sail to the airport. While sailing, they saw a bunch of fish, a bunch of swans, two great beard gray herons, and one mythical animal called a kitsune that is so cute and that is a type of fox. Everything was so cool to watch. Then they arrived at the airport. When they got there, they had some money for a ticket so they went and bought their tickets. 

Chapter 5: Hurry to the Flight!

When they got a ticket, first they went to one of the lunch bars because they were hungry. When they started to eat their first bite, they said, “This food is amazing!”

Then they kept eating there so long that they had to hurry to the flight when it was called! They said, “Oh no! We’re about to be late!” 

They both ran so fast that they were able to make it. By the time they got there, they were so tired, they were out of energy! They were so exhausted, that they slept on the plane for four hours. Then they ate some food and it was okay and they were full. They went to the bathroom and after, they were bored that they played some games on the screen in the seat in front of them. Pengu and Sunglass Man played Pac-Man, which made them happy. After they finished playing the virtual game, they were sleepy so they slept again and when the plane landed, they woke up. 

Chapter 6: WE GOT THERE, WE’RE GONNA HAVE SUNGLASSES AND A DOG!

When they got to Hershey Park, they were like, “We GOT HERE YESSSS, LET’S GOOOO!” So then they drove to the city in the car and they went to the bathroom, they were like, “This is so shiny!” They looked all around and got a quick drink. They kept walking and looking everywhere for the dog and sunglasses, and found them! Then they were like, “It’s party time!” So they made a cake and balloons and invited everyone and had fun. That night they played and cuddled with the dog with sunglasses who was very cute.

The end !

Or is it…

Don’t Take the Best of Me

Once upon a time, there were these three best friends named Abby, Amy, and Abigail. They were the best of friends and did everything together. But what two of the friends didn’t know was that Abby had a very big secret, a secret that she had been keeping ever since she met them in 1st grade until now, in 6th grade. Her secret was she had type 1 diabetes and felt ashamed of it because she felt that all she was to people was a sick girl who couldn’t take care of herself. That’s why, ever since she moved here to this small town in Colorado, she felt she didn’t have to be a sick girl near people, that was, of course, if no one found out.

But she still had to follow a certain number of rules for herself, so no one had to suspect anything. For example, everywhere she went, she needed to carry apple juice with her at all times to maintain her blood sugar and so it didn’t go too low or too high — because blood sugar was her main source of energy and came from the food she ate, if it went way too high, then it could cause severe heart conditions. So she needed to have and maintain a certain diet. And her mom to her felt like just another person who reminded her that she was sick because of all the importance she gave her. Sometimes, it even made her feel like her own mother was ashamed of her but she knew she was just helping her hide the fact that she had diabetes like by hiding her continuous glucose monitor under her clothes.

Ever since what had happened at her last school, when one of her closest friends recorded a video of her in a hospital having a seizure and showed everyone in her old school, she had lost all her friends. The thought of her having an illness was such a big deal that they stopped talking to her and stopped hanging out. That was until she moved here and she felt like she had the chance to begin a fresh start and to have no one who knew what had happened to her before she had moved here. That was until today, when some 3rd grader was getting bullied by some 8th grader and she wanted to tell the teacher but didn’t want to be a tattle teller. But she felt like she had to, so she did.

“Hey, you over there, don’t you know what happens to bullies when they pick on kids, they get reported to the principal’s office.” As she was about to go to the principal’s office.

But little did she know she was in for a surprise when the 8th grader said, “You will regret this.” 

And sure enough, she would.

The next day, when she was walking to school, she heard whispering and laughing, she didn’t think anything of it until she saw people staring at her when she walked inside the school. Suddenly, she felt someone pull her into the girls’ bathroom. It was Amy and Abigail. And just as she was about to scream,

“Why the heck did you pull me in here for?”

Amy put her hand against her mouth, closed the door, and pulled out her phone to show her the video that everybody was talking about. It was a video of her having a seizure in a hospital.

“What is this?” said Abigail. 

As Abby started seeing the video, she stared at them both and started having shivering lips as if she was about to cry.

“I can ex… pla… in,” she said as she was shivering.

“If you don’t tell us right now, we’re leaving,” said Abigail.

And just as they were about to leave, Abby built up all of her emotions and said, she said what she never thought she would say, ever,

“… I have… DIABETES!” 

Just there and then, Amy and Abigail stood there looking at Abby in a state of shock as Abby dropped down on the floor and started crying. But just as suddenly, she felt two arms touch her back as she looked over at both shoulders and smiled when she saw Amy and Abigail.

“We didn’t know you had diabetes, Abby, we are so, so very sorry, but what I don’t understand is why you never told us,” Abigail said with a calm voice.

“I guess I was just scared of what you and Amy might think about me.”

“You don’t have to be ashamed of who you are or what you are, we both accept you for being you, so who cares what everybody else thinks, you have us,” said Amy as all three of them hugged on the ground, crying and laughing.

The very next day, Abby decided to hold an assembly in her school and explain all about her illness to people and really open up something that she’d been trying to avoid for years. Some people supported her and some people didn’t, but at the end of the day, it didn’t even matter. Who cared what people’s opinions were of her? She should just be happy for who she was and not ashamed of that. She had people who actually cared about her, what more did she need?

Seymour & a Piece of Cheese

I, Seymor, am a little hamster who just really wanted a piece of cheese. Every night, I would sit eating disgusting sunflower seeds. I would daydream about cheese. 

But one day, a little girl came to clean my cage. I just ran out of the cage. The little girl screamed! 

I said, “Talk about loud!” I ran. All that time on my exercise wheels paid off. Buck, her big brother yelled, “get the hamster.” The little girl started throwing traps. Unfortunately, all of the traps went on Buck. Oww, that must have hurt. 

While Buck was pinned down, I ran to the front door to make my escape. At just the right moment, their mom came and opened the door. I ran out at last. I was outside finally. New York is not a safe place for a hamster! I ran, but everyone seemed to hate hamsters. One even caught me. I ran inside the cage, but I saw there was a hole in the cage, so I ran back out. When I was outside again, I ran for the subway. I ran down the steps to the subway and I sniffed cheese, but a person on a bench holding a coffee cup and with a hat on, was eating the cheese. Nooo! 

I ran to the person and I was literally on his lap. He seemed very scared of me, but luckily I got away before he smushed me. I ran up the stairs and I was outside. I used my little hand to swipe the top of my head. Phew, it was sweaty. I ran inside. Gee, it was cold inside. I jumped on this snuggly thing. I snuggled in this thing that was very comfy. 

After an hour, I left the house and I saw a cheese store. I started running like crazy and finally I was in front of the store. Luckily they just opened and the owner of the store had a bright smile on his face. I looked right and left and there was just CHEESE! The owner opened the door AND I RAN IN! I ate EVERY PIECE AND CRUMB OF CHEESE. I spotted a cheese piece on a pedestal. My eyes filled with water and I jumped and ate the piece of cheese. From that day on, I lived the BEST LIFE EVER! 

The End.         

Katenga

Mayoth, 37th, 29141

Proteus, EverDunes

Deliah Blue’s Private Journal

To whom it may concern: I am Delyonïah Blue, Captain of the Fortuna 3 Spacecraft which has Landed on Neptune’s 10th moon, Proteus, on Lapis 24th, 29121. However, today is the last day I will live, for I will give my life to banish the soul, Katenga the shapeshifting Demon, from this massive body of water, which Katenga has taken over to destroy all civilization in our galaxy. Force does not work because punches and knives go right through it. I think our only chance of defeating Katenga is to have fire on large poles and usher Katenga out of our dome, in fear we would evaporate him. Once we get him out of the dome, he will freeze in open space, because the dome is the only type of civilization we have made on Proteus. YES! Katenga has just frozen, but just in case, I will transfer his soul into a single grain of sand, which is to be lost. Hopefully, Katenga will not take control of any more unlucky people. This transfer is a secret process only people who have had Katenga inside of them know. Good-bye forever.

Mayoth, 74th, 29151

Proteus, EverDunes

Loradis looked up into the sky, to Neptune, and then he went back to growing potatoes. He did that for a while until his buddies growing the kale walked over to him and said, “We should probably go inside. It looks like there is going to be a haboob.”

“We need to get the tent out and do some surgery on it and make it able to guard over the crops. Hey, Couch Potato. Get it, now!” Loradis exclaimed.

Couch Potato ran back covered in sand, pushing down on him. The sand hadn’t gotten the crops yet, but it was close. Loradis took out the sawzall and he took out the tent reinforcements and sanded the tent poles in such a way that it would reinforce itself once it was in the ground. Then, he took the five small poles and planted them around the crops. He assembled the tent and the cloth was flat over the crops. Because he knew that a haboob was a sandstorm that had sand rain, with extra gravitational force. To stop this, he put the modified tent over with extra tension so the sand would not crush the crops on top of the tent.

Svetöralis was watching his father set up the tent, full of fear that his father would not be able to make it to the airlock in time. Fortunately, his father got back to the airlock, but it was full of sand.

“Daddy, get in!” Svetöralis yelled. Svetöralis ran to the airlock, wondering if his father was in. The door opened, and there was a small avalanche of sand on Svetöralis. He crawled out, looking for his father, but he was already latched onto his leg. When they went home, they both had showers and Svetöralis noticed there was a single grain of sand that wouldn’t come off. He pulled, but it wouldn’t come off. He decided to wait until the morning to see if it would fall off. 

In the morning, he was very tired and said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if I was a rock.” Then, the area around that one grain of sand turned green and he turned into the last rock he had seen, and he fell through his bed. He decided to turn into a carpenter, and immediately he knew the skills he needed to fix the bed. He fixed it, then he decided, “This is fun! Time to prank! I am a pig!” He turned into an enormous pig, and he decided to weigh himself on his scale. It broke. He tiptoed out the door and he went to his neighbor’s house and growled at the door. The neighbor opened the door, shaking, and then, in fear, he slapped the pig and then he closed the door as fast as he could. Then, Svetöralis turned back into a human and yelped, “Ow, that hurt, you know!”

The neighbor opened the door again, now mad, and pulled Svetöralis by his hair to the leader’s office and yelled, “This boy has been possessed by Katenga!”

“Hey, hey, let’s not make accusations yet, okay? Show me, Svetöralis Mars, show me, do you have the spirit Katenga?” The leader asked.

Svetöralis said, “I want to be a pig.”

The area around the grain of sand on his leg turned green again, and he shapeshifted into a pig.

“That’s the pig I saw before!” The neighbor yelled.

Svetöralis turned back to a human and said, “I want to start a program to look for alien life, and with this ability, I can speak to them, because when I turn into something, I am able to understand the language of the animal I turn into.”

“Hmm, that might actually be a good idea,” the leader said. “You’re on, kid!”

Jenny’s Candy World

CHAPTER ONE: The Cookie Tower 

Once upon a time, there was a teenage girl named Jenny who always wanted to be a princess. Jenny lived in a candy town with her mom and dad. Jenny knew her dreams would never come true so she decided to become a superhero. Her parents would always tell her that no one could just become a princess. She wanted to prove to her parents that she could become a superhero and a princess. 

One morning, when Jenny walked to the Cookie Tower, she saw the cookies slowly falling down. The cookie tower is a cafe where you would usually go to eat cookies. Jenny was worried that there might be people inside the tower. Jenny went inside the tower and saw people trying to make it out the back door. 

Jenny asked the barista, “Are you guys okay?”

“No, the cookie tower started to collapse!” said the barista. 

“Okay, how can I help?” Jenny asked.

“Just make sure that everyone is out of the Cookie Tower by the time it is going to collapse.” 

“Okay, everybody out!” Jenny said. She pushed open the door. 

Everyone wanted to get out of the Cookie Tower. Everyone ran out of the Cookie Tower and watched it collapse. 

The barista said to Jenny, “Milk from the bucket from the construction next door spilled on the Cookie Tower and it caused the Cookie Tower to start to go down and get mushy.” 

Jenny walked over to the construction area and she found the head construction worker. “The Cookie Tower got destroyed. I would like to ask you if you can build it again.” 

“Okay, but it may take a while,” he said.

“Okay, thank you,” said Jenny. 

Everyone thanked Jenny as she walked back for saving their lives. Jenny now felt one step closer to becoming a superhero.  But Jenny also felt one step further from becoming a princess. 

CHAPTER TWO: The Candy Store

Jenny walked over to the candy store to treat herself to some candy. The candy store was next to the old cookie tower. It was made of yellow cotton candy and smelled like pineapple, and you could take a bite as you walked down the street. Jenny realized the candy store was closed. She thought to herself, The candy store is never closed. Jenny felt a little bit upset. She walked over to the candy store owner’s house. It was in a chocolate apartment complex. When it got too hot, the apartment would always melt, so they would have to rebuild it again. And when it rained cotton candy and was humid, it would also collapse from that, too. 

When she got there, she realized that Nina, the candy store owner, was already outside and Jenny asked her,

“Why is the candy store closed?” 

“Because we had to shut down because of bankruptcy.” 

Jenny asked Nina how much was needed. 

She told Jenny 109k. 

“That’s a lot of money.” 

“I know, but I have to get it.” 

“How?” Nina asked. 

“I will loan you some money, and then when you get enough, you can pay me back.” 

Nina started to jump for joy. “Thanks, Jenny, you can get whatever you want in the store for free. Thanks. Wait, but how do you have all that money?” 

“I used to work for the richest man in Candy Town,” Jenny said.

From this, she thought she was going to give up being a princess because a princess got help and didn’t really help other people. She was just going to become a superhero.  

CHAPTER THREE: The Parents Talk  

Before coming back from Nina’s house, Jenny was craving chocolate from the yummy chocolate roads. Now Jenny was ready to start her walk back home. When Jenny got home, she called her parents downstairs

 “Mom, Dad!” called Jenny. “I have some great news,” said Jenny.

“What?” said her parents.

“I am a superhero!”  Jenny said.

“That’s nonsense,” said her parents.

“NO, IT’S NOT!” Jenny said as she stormed into her room. I am moving, Jenny thought to herself. Jenny started packing up as she listened to music. As Jenny walked down the stairs, of course her parents were not even home. She caught a gummy taxi all the way to the other side of Candy Town! When Jenny arrived at the new apartment, it smelled like a yummy s’more. It got late, so Jenny unpacked and got to bed. 

The next day, Jenny thought to herself when she woke up that she was feeling more like an adult. She had to go to the supermarket to get food for her brand new house. She walked to the store and everything was a gummy or a type of candy food, like her favorite vegetable was broccoli ice cream. After she bought herself some food, she was on her way back to her new house. When she got there, she realized she needed furniture. She called the candy store to ask if she could take some old furniture for free. Nina said yes. Jenny had this one chair in mind; it was a gummy bear chair. When you took a bite, it grew back to being a gummy bear chair. She picked up her chair and went back home. But when she got there, her parents were waiting for her at the new apartment.

CHAPTER FOUR: Jenny’s Way 

Jenny didn’t say anything when she saw her parents, she just walked back up to her new apartment. 

“Wait up!” Jenny’s parents said. 

“No, I am done with you guys, you were never there for me, but I will be able to be there for myself and take care of myself like the family I never had!” Jenny said. 

Jenny walked up to go inside her apartment so she could put her new chair down. Jenny’s parents were forced to leave because they were not a resident of Candy Town. 

Nina called Jenny’s candy phone. “Hey, Jenny!” says Nina. 

“Hi,” said Jenny.

“Is it ok if I come over to help you today?” 

“Yeah,” said Jenny. She hung up the phone. When Jenny got off the phone with Nina, she began to burst into tears. She was so torn apart about everything. Jenny went to text Nina and tell her not to come. Nina did not reply.

Jenny went to sleep and she slept for days and days and days and days and days. When Jenny woke up, she finally realized that she needed to be her own superhero, who fought for herself and who was powerful no matter what. After that day, Jenny was never down anymore!

Audrey and the Guardians of the Wall

 Chapter 1 – Getting Home

Once upon a time there lived a unicorn Audry. She was trapped in a land and the name of it was Earth. Her home was in Unicornland which was in the clouds. She wanted to get home, but the only problem was that there was a big wall that separated the two worlds. And there were a lot of guards that guarded the wall. 

One beautiful, sunny day, she went out and she decided to try to fly over the wall, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t jump over the wall or fly over it. But then she spotted a small window that was in the middle of the wall. She thought if she shrank to half her size, she could fly through it, but she didn’t. 

Then, many days passed and she was really frustrated. But then she thought that she could shrink herself to a fourth of her real size. When she did it, she should have been able to fly through, but her wings were too big. 

Then she was sitting outside when she remembered something. When she was shrinking herself, she forgot to shrink her wings. She shrank them, and she thought she could fly through. But she couldn’t, because her wings could only shrink to half of their size, not a fourth. 

So the next day, she was sitting outside and thinking of new ideas and how she could go back to her home. Then, an idea struck her. She thought that she could take out the bricks and make the hole wider so she could fly through. But there were three guards guarding it. 

One was so tired from all the work that he retired. But two of them were still standing there and they saw the unicorn trying to take out the bricks. They immediately took their staff and then the unicorn didn’t know what to do. And it was getting dark, so she went back to sleep. 

The next day, the unicorn thought that if she could put a sleeping spell on them, she could take out more bricks. She did that for the following couple of days. She did that but she only took out a couple blocks in a day. So she only took out half the bricks she needed to fly through it. Then, the guards woke up, and their hands were slippery and so they couldn’t hold the staff very well. So the unicorn took their staffs and so they ran away. They were too scared. 

The unicorn started taking out the blocks very easily. She took out another fourth of the blocks and only had another fourth to take out, but then a whole army of guards came, and then the unicorn put a sleeping spell on every single one except one, and then she took his staff away, which was the sharpest, and then she took out all of the bricks and could finally go home. When she got home, everyone was so happy to see her and she was so happy to be home. 

And then she built tons of layers on the wall so none of the guards could put a spell on any of the unicorns or hurt them ever again.

Chapter 2 – Back home 

But the unicorn never knew that there was a whole other island where they made those staffs so then the guards started making the same tiny hole. And then, when they made it, Audry and all the other unicorns thought they were trying to have some fun making windows. But they didn’t know that the guards were trying to get Audry the unicorn back. 

So then the guards had a special potion to make her come back to Earth. But the guards never knew that when she got back, she was training, so now anywhere she went, she had her powers, and not only flying. So it would be much harder for the guards to get her back. 

Then, when the guards finally got her back, they closed the window with magic bricks. But they didn’t know that the unicorn had all the powers now, so she could just break the bricks. But now that they knew she had trained, when they found out about it, they made a whole row of guards standing on each other’s heads so the unicorn wouldn’t be able to make a hole. But then the unicorn remembered that she could make herself and her wings bigger, almost fifty times. So she did that and flew to the top and started waving her wings. And the soldiers on the other row of soldier’s heads started wiggling and fell and got hurt so they ran away.

Then the unicorn started breaking the wall, but Audrey never knew that the staff had a special power. So when Audrey touched her wing with the staff, it took away some of her powers and was much slower than she had expected it to be. The guards were fully recovered when Audrey finished, so when the guards were fully recovered, they went back to action. 

But they didn’t know that Audrey’s powers had healed, too. So she quickly took out the last few bricks of the wall and flew through it. When she was finally back home, she closed the wall for good and put a magic potion that made soldiers not be able to open the wall again so the unicorns were back together and didn’t have to worry about anything else.      

Chapter 3 – A Black Hole                                        

 

One beautiful day in Unicornland, Audry found out that people from Unicornland were falling into a black hole. Audry went on her computer to try to find how to close the hole. But no matter how long she tried, she couldn’t find answers. Audry got closer. Then she fell into it.  Audy fainted on the way down. When she woke up, the same two guards were holding her. They told her if she came back to Earth, they would leave Unicornland alone. She said yes. 

Chapter 4 – A Secret Escape   

At night, when all the guards were asleep, Audry started breaking the wall. She flew through. When she got back, all the unicorns flew to a different land and they lived happily ever after.                

The end          

From the U.S. to Japan

Chapter 1

 “What time is it?” is the question I have been asking myself as I sit in the backseat of a Tesla. I bet you are wondering how I got into this situation, right? Well, it started right after school let out, when my friend, Sheila, was kidnapped. I don’t know how, or if I will see her again. 

Now it is three days later, I’m in Tokyo, and I am riding in the backseat of a Tesla, marveling at all the fancy controls and other gimmicks that the Tesla has. You see, the US government also wants to know where Sheila is, and has supplied me with an unlimited expense account. 

“Drive faster!” I yell at my chauffeur, Jack. 

“We are already going as fast as we can!” he yells back in his clipped British accent.

We are now in hot pursuit of the people who we think have kidnapped Sheila. I believe that the leader of their organization’s wife recently died and he wants company. Apparently, Sheila was one of his wife’s long lost cousins?

His name is Dr. Ren, and we are chasing his second, #2, who gets down to business! (Hahaha.) We speed down the crowded marketplace, knocking over vendor’s stalls and not stopping at red lights or stop signs. We are not going to let them get away!

I hope that Sheila is okay. She has never handled stressful situations very well. One time, in third grade, we saw a bird fall out of its nest and she didn’t stop crying. Eventually, her mom came to pick her up, and she spent the rest of the day watching movies, so it turned out okay.

Oh! By the way, I’m Amy. Amy Sullivan, and I am 16 years old. My dad is the president of the United States. 

I didn’t realize that I was looking sad. I guess I really, really miss Sheila.

#2 makes a sharp turn down a dead-end alley, but when we turn into it, he is nowhere to be seen. 

“Dang it!” I scream.

“We were very close, Miss Amy.”

I get out of the car to investigate. I check for loose bricks, doorways, anything that could give us a clue as to where Sheila went. I find nothing. Jack also looks around, but it doesn’t look like he is having much luck, either. 

“Amy! I think I found something!” Jack says.

Or not. I walk over to him and see him holding a license plate taped to the wall, behind some boxes. Like somebody wanted us to find it. 

           356 * 1449

As soon as we get back to our hotel, I go on my computer and look up the license plate number. Nothing comes up. It figures — this guy is a major villain. Of course he doesn’t put his license plate on the internet. Or, at least not the license plate that really matters. So I text my dad to see if they have it on any records, even though we are in Japan.

It has been hours since I sent the email and I still have not gotten a response. Suddenly, I hear a ding. I rush over to check my iPhone, and sure enough, there is a text there from dad. It says that the car with that license plate was last seen at Ueno Park. I run down the hall to the room where Jack is staying.

I knock very loudly, not caring if he is asleep or not. It doesn’t matter. He stumbles out bleary-eyed, looking as though he had just gone on a high-speed chase through a Japanese marketplace, which, technically, he had.                                                                                                             

“I have to sleep. We’ll talk in the morning,” he says.

He then (rudely) slams the door in my face, and I trudge back to my room for another night of no sleep and thinking about Sheila.

Chapter 2

The next morning, I wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go to Ueno Park. Maybe I can sleep after all, even though my dreams were filled with worry and regret that I could not stop Dr. Ren from kidnapping Sheila.

We drive over there in the (still very cool) Tesla. The drive is an hour and a half long so I have time to think about what I am going to do when I get there. Another thing that has been on my mind is why Dr. Ren chose Sheila over millions of other kids, even if she is somehow related to him.

I decide to ask Jack.

“Jack, why do you think that Dr. Ren chose Sheila?” I ask.

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean!”

“Okay, maybe I do, but I think that you’ll feel better if you figure it out yourself.”

“I’ll feel better if you tell me what you think and then let me grab all the credit for your idea!”

We sit in silence for a few moments. Why does Jack have to be so darn nice? It’s throwing off my style and I don’t like it. Then, after what seems like an eternity, he responds.

“I think that maybe Dr. Ren is using Sheila to get to you. Having the president’s daughter could be used for ransom, trade, slack the next time he gets in trouble with the US. And it was just too convenient that you are friends with somebody who is related to him.”

Wow. I hadn’t thought about it that way before, but now that I am thinking about it, he may be right. I mean, that might just be the last piece of the puzzle. I guess we’ll find out. (Or we might not, based on how things are going so far.)                                                                                           

I guess I just don’t want to fail. When I was a little kid, I always thought it would be so cool to be in a high-stakes mystery like in the movies, but now that I’m living it out for real, it’s scary. 

If Dr. Ren hurts her, it’s going to be my fault, if Jack’s theory is right. Which it probably is, based on how smart he is. I don’t know much about his background but I know that he used to work for the CIA. He is around 25 years old, but has been training with the CIA his whole life. Why, you ask? Because his parents were also with the CIA.

He could have been the leader of the CIA, but he chose not to because he hates meetings and things like that. Even though he would have gotten paid a lot. I guess he thinks that if he wants that job, he can always come back to it. I would definitely want to be head of the CIA. You get to go on cool missions, order people around, and basically just have a good time, fighting animals, people, and ninjas. 

I bet that Dr. Ren is going to have ninjas that I am going to have to fight. I have never fought a real ninja before. I know what you’re thinking. Why am I, the president’s daughter, the girl protected by dozens of secret service agents, going on a dangerous mission mostly by myself? I’ve got two answers for you. 

One, Dad wants me to be able to take care of myself and not become too used to being protected all the time. After all, Dad is not going to be president forever. Before he was president, I used to get picked on by school bullies all the time. He just sees this mission as a learning experience.

Two, because of that, three times a week I go to karate, chemistry, and meditation with the CIA. Karate, so I know how to fight back. Chemistry, so I understand the principles of science and can understand formulas and things like that. And meditation so I can learn to go deep within myself to find the energy I need to fight. It also helps me memorize complex equations and pretty much everything else. 

I have completed all of the training necessary for a normal CIA agent. Right now, as we are driving, I am using my meditation to gather all of my thoughts. This will help me to be more focused later on, when I really need to be. I wish that I could meditate forever and not have to deal with everything that is going on right now. But I know that Sheila needs me, and that is what keeps me going.

I know that she may be hurt or worse, but if I save her, she will probably never be in danger again. I travel even deeper into my thoughts, passing through the good, the bad, and the crazy. It’s like a hurricane in there, everything is swirling around, mixing together. I just wish that everything would make sense. I see swirls of light and Japanese and American flags flying around. I see my dad, and my secret service guard, including my maids and the chef who makes the most amazing lasagna. 

I never thought I would say this, but I think I miss home. The marble floors and hallways of the White House make me feel cozy and safe. I haven’t felt that way since the mission started. My giant room with the pink walls and bed that I hate but still love, because I love it there. Especially all of the stuffed animals from when I was a little kid in their crate next to my bed.

When I’m at home, I always am treated like a little girl, but on this mission, I get to be mostly by myself and take down bad guys. But I think it’s too much. The pressure is getting to me.

Either way, I hope this mission doesn’t take too long, even though I would do almost anything for Sheila. She’s my best friend, and I care about her. Even if I fail this mission, I’m sure there are more trained professionals who will be able to rescue her. I know that if I fail, she won’t be mad at me because I tried.

“Try your best.” That’s what adults always say. 

“You tried your best, and that’s what matters.”

Well, what if my best isn’t good enough? What if nobody can save Sheila? I hope that’s not the case.

“Amy, we’ve arrived,” I hear from the front.

I look out the window and there it is: Ueno Park. Even in the face of everything else, it’s so beautiful. Japan really is a special place. There are red maple trees everywhere, and golden arches and mini waterfalls. This place has everything! I wish I could have come here under happier circumstances.

“So, do you see anything?” Jack asks. 

“No, not yet. But I will,” I respond.

“I think I see something,” Jack says.

I look where he is looking and see a shadowy figure. I can’t really make out the shape, but it does look like a person. Not like it would be an animal. I mean, I guess it’s possible. With a guy like Dr. Ren, you never know.

“Snap out of it, Amy!” Jack yells.

Right. I have to focus on finding whoever the person is. I don’t like that he knew that we would come here. I start creeping towards him, trying my best to hide behind red maples, but they are so small that it probably isn’t working. 

Darn it! I lost him, and now he could be almost anywhere. I’m usually pretty good at hide and seek, but that is in places that I know. I’ve never been here before.

Oh! I see him again. He’s heading towards a huge bonsai. There are a million things that could be going on with that tree. It might even be a secret hideout.

Nope. He keeps walking, seemingly with a purpose, but you never know. Maybe he’s just a random guy. Nope! He looks too much like #2, and with these things, you can’t be too careful. I wish I knew for certain if it was him or not. Then I would have a real lead. 

Well he’s not getting away from me just yet. I break into a sprint, heading in his direction. The thought of Sheila keeps me going. He sees me and starts trying to find a hiding place. He knows I see him. He knew I would, but he would never let me get close to him. I pass the bonsai tree from earlier, and a couple of golden arches with cool writing on them. 

I see him duck down a side path littered with rocks, twigs, and all kinds of other things. It’s practically a minefield, just a very beautiful mindfield. 

There’s a little stream that he tries to jump over but he stumbles a little. Oh! I think I have it. Yup. I do. I know his weakness.           

Chapter 3

It’s been four days since I was flown to Japan by my distant cousin, Ren Tanaka. Ever since, it’s been nothing but fun nonstop. Uncle Ren lives in a huge mansion, the likes of which I’ve never seen before. And it’s like OMG! I love it! LOL. 

You may be like, “Who are you?” Well, I’m Sheila Jones. Best friend of Amy Miller, daughter of President Miller. Yeah that’s right, my best friend is the first, umm… daughter? 

I’m the class flirt and school gossip, and proud of it. There are like, so many cute servants that work for Uncle. I’m so glad that my parents agreed to let me take a few weeks off to relax in peace with Uncle Ren in Japan. It’s like, so pretty.

Today I’m meeting him for lunch in the huge cafeteria.

Bobby and Milly

Chapter 1 –  The Puppy

Once upon a time, there was a puppy named Bobby. And Bobby

Was so cute. Bobby had an owner. The owner’s name was

Milly.  Milly loved puppies.  That’s why Milly had a puppy.

Milly was five years old when she got the puppy.

But now, she was 12. Her worst fear was losing the puppy.

She was so happy to have a puppy. And lucky.

When she went to school, the puppy would

Always chew on his bone until she came

Back from school. The puppy loved Milly. And Milly

Loved Bobby. One day, she had to go to camp.

So the puppy was chewing and chewing. 

Until Bobby got tired of chewing. So Bobby 

Was barking at the door. So Milly’s 

Mom picked the puppy up and gave it a bath.

Then, when the puppy was done, milly came back

And picked it up. And then Milly played

Soccer with Bobby and Milly played tag with 

Bobby. And she played hide and seek with 

Bobby. Then it was time to sleep. So Milly

Was sleeping with Bobby .

Chapter 2 – Wake Up

Milly was sleeping. And then her mom said,

“Wake up! You’re going to be late for school.”

So she got up very fast for school. Then the dog was 

Sad because Milly always went to school. 

So this time he just was sleeping. Then, when

Bobby woke up, Milly was there. Then

Milly had to take a shower. Bobby jumped 

In the shower with her. Then she was tired.

So she took a nap. Then she watched a big 

Movie with Bobby. Then it was time to sleep. 

So Milly was sleeping with Bobby. Bobby 

Had a nightmare. But it felt so real.

And then Bobby woke up. Then Milly got late for school.

She took a car.

Chapter 3 – Where is Bobby?

Then, when Milly woke  up, she did not see Bobby anywhere.

“Bobby?” she said. Then she had to go to school. “NOOOO!”

But then she was already at school. Milly’s mom knew

How much Milly loved Bobby. So she looked for it. 

But she did not find it. When Milly got back from school,

She started looking for Bobby for 5 hours. But she 

Could not find Bobby. Then it was night. She had a nightmare.

She woke up. Then went back to bed.

Then, it was morning. She woke up and ate breakfast.

Then when she was done with breakfast, she was looking

At old pictures of her and Bobby. Then her mom came 

In the room. And said, “Don’t worry, we will get another puppy.”

“I don’t want another puppy. I want Bobby.”

Chapter 4 – I’m Sad

“I’m sad,” Milly said. Her mom came in and said, 

“Don’t worry. We will find Bobby.”

“But what if we can’t find Bobby?”

“We will,” said her mom.

Then they heard a barking noise. Milly went outside but it was 

The neighbor’s dog. She cried and cried. She did not know what to do.

Then it was night. Then she heard a barking noise. 

It was Bobby. “Where were you?” she said, then she hugged Bobby.

The end.   

Lucy the Teacup

Lucy is sitting on the table, just waiting to be filled with tea. She sees the maid walking towards her with a steaming hot kettle in one hand and a bowl of little sugar cubes on the other. Lucy’s best friend, Angela, who is a candle, is sitting next to her. 

Yes, Lucy thinks.

But all of a sudden, the maid trips and spills all the tea!!

“There goes my warmth, down the drain,” Lucy says quietly.

“It’s okay, we will both get what we want, I know we will,” Angela says.

Both Angela and Lucy mope until they spot the dining table.

“The dining table!!” They both say. “Our goal is the dining table, if we get to the dining table, we can be filled and lit every day!!”

“Wait, but what if I melt on the way there?!”

“You are not going to melt, you are a hard candle!!”

So the teacup and the candle jump on the nearest chair, which sneezes. The teacup and candle say bless you, and walk on with their day. Now they’re on the floor. Or how they say it, “The Danger Zone.”

“Okay, Lucy, we are in the Danger Zone. Try to tip toe, and don’t make any sudden movements. Okay?” Angela says.

“Okay,” Lucy says.

So the girls tiptoe to the middle of the floor and see a maid so they stop.

“What are you doing here?? You are quite dirty, let me go clean you up.”

2 Minutes Later

“There you go with your little friend,” says the maid, giggling at the end.

“Like I said, down there is The Danger Zone.”

“The only noise was the chair that sneezed,” Lucy says.

“This time we have to try to get there another way,” says Angela.

“Ohh, we have to go a way that the maid will not find us. We can jump on the fireplace…”

“I AM A CANDLE!! For goodness sakes!!!”

“I’m sorry,” Lucy says.

“Why do you live in this house anyway!!”

“Do you think I am the headstate teacup master!!! I give out the place that every teacup under the age of 60 goes??? Do you think I am my Dad?? I miss my dad so much, and Karen and Maya.”

“I thought you hated your sisters,” says Angela.

“Yea, but I can still miss them.”

“Okay let’s just try to get down there, on the fireplace,” Angela says with a nervous smile on her face.

Angela sighs hard and jumps with Lucy onto the fireplace. She can feel the heat on her candle body. But she keeps running, holding her best friend’s hand, and never letting go. Angela is running record speed with Lucy, only a foot to go, and Angela’s feet are burning. She can feel the melted candle dripping on her forehead. Both see a wood slide, that connects the end of the fireplace and The Danger Zone together.

“One, Two, Three… Jump!!!”

They jump off the fireplace and slide on the wooden slide they saw. Melted candle is smeared on the wood slide, and Angela’s legs are still burning.

“Are you okay?” Lucy asks.

“I think I’m fine, my legs just hurt,”Angela responds.

They slowly walk behind a standing vacuum cleaner and sit down.

“I think I just need water and a little break,” Angela says.

“That’s okay,” Lucy says.

They both spot a dog feeder and it has a bit of water in it. Lucy pushes the vacuum to the side of the dog feeder and they both hide behind it. But they both see a maid walking by. So they freeze. No one can hear, but both Lucy and Angela’s hearts are pounding out of their chests. They both think the maid is going to find them. But the maid just walks right past them.

“Okay, now let’s go to the dining table,“ says Angela.

“Wait, but what if I fall off the chair or the table? I will mess up the whole plan.”

“No you won’t, stop doubting yourself,” Angela says.

“Okay,” Lucy says.

So they tiptoe to the side of the wall and stop. Then they look around and keep moving. They get to the dining room table and are about to jump to the chair, until they hear a crack. They wait for something to happen but nothing does. So they proceed to jump on the chair. They look around once more and jump on the table. Luckily, all the teacups and candles are the same. But Lucy and Angela are extras, and get placed on the side table. Lucy gets into where the other teacup was and pushes the teacup off the table. The teacup doesn’t break, but the maid puts it on the side table. Then Angela does the same, with a candle instead. The same thing happens. The maid picks it up and puts it on the side table. Mission completed.

“Ohh yeah!!” Lucy says.

The Creature

There used to be a woman, and she worked late nights. While coming home, her car fuel ran out. She was stuck in this atrocious place. It was dark, and it had lots of trees. There was no street sign. However, she saw this building so she decided to go inside it as it was dark outside. She went inside and saw a man with a white coat panting and hiding in a corner. 

“Are you okay?” the woman asked.

“You need to hide, I cannot say anything right now as I’ve just met you.” 

The woman was shocked, and feeling scared. The woman quickly hid with the man, who was a scientist. Soon, before their eyes, a large jet black creature came upon them. Next second, they screamed. The woman and scientist were never to be seen again.

The scientist had created this creature by accident. Nobody was supposed to go to this place, but a group of teens went, and let’s just say we shouldn’t talk about what was found of them but that they were never seen alive again. 

The creature was now in town. It had seen all the people and was ready for them. People were scared to death. 

Everybody was staying inside hiding. Some people HAD to go out for work. And those were the people who never came back home. Some people died because the creature had found them hiding, and some people died out of starvation or thirst because they forgot to bring food when they were hiding and didn’t have enough courage to go get it. In total, 150 people died because of these reasons. The creature decided to give up since he couldn’t find any more people and left. 

There was this brave person who checked every day if the creature had left and that day when the creature had left, he cried tears of joy. However, it was never sure when the creature could come back.

14 Years Later

“Hope they don’t come after us, hahaha.” 

“Don’t worry, Dylan, they don’t even know who we are, hahaha.” 

“I have to go, bye.” 

“Bye!”

Dylan was a 13 year old boy who lives in a big village. He was the only child. He was born a year after the incident (you know, that creature coming to the village). His parents told him to always be careful of the creature, but he didn’t care. He didn’t believe that the creature was real, although sometimes he did believe that the creature might be real because of him remembering his mother and father running with him. There was something behind them that they were running away from. But sometimes he just thought it was a dream.

“Mom! It’s not real. Now stop bugging me.”

His mom sighed. She wanted to convince Dylan that the creature was real so he could be more careful. But he just wouldn’t listen. 

“Mom always talks about this nonsense!”

“Yeah, same. This stupid dangerous creature rubbish.”

“Anyway, let’s prank Mrs. Robins today!”

Dylan actually planned to go to the place that the creature used to stay to prove everyone wrong.

“Wanna have some Fuchka?”

“You bet I do!”

Fuchka was a common food in their village.

“I have to go finish homework, bye, Liam!”

“Please say you haven’t eaten Fuchka, you always eat it!” said Dylan’s mom.

“Sorry… I ate it,” said Dylan.

“Haven’t you heard about our neighbor who ate too much fuchka and then threw up for one WHOLE day and wasn’t able to digest anything?!”

“Mom, you know she threw up for a whole day, and wasn’t able to digest anything due to eating it for the first time. Her stomach didn’t recognize it.” 

“Go to your room now!”

Dylan went to his room and started his homework, thankful he wasn’t grounded.

Dylan was a smart student, and he was also clever. His cleverness would help him for something big that was going to happen.

In the morning, Dylan went to Liam’s house. There was no school and he figured Liam would be awake.

“Hi, is Liam awake?” asked Dylan.

“Yes, he is,” said Liam’s mom.

“May I go inside to meet him?”

“Sure, come in.”

“Hey Liam, I need to talk to you about something.”

“Okay? What do you want to talk about?”

“Could we go outside?”

“Okay?” Dylan said, confused.

They stepped outside. 

“You know that ‘creature,’ well, I was wondering if we could go secretly to the spot that it was hiding so we can prove everyone wrong.”

“Great idea, but when do you plan on going?” said Liam with a smirk on his face.

Liam also wanted everybody to stop talking about the creature.

“Around 7:00 PM?” said Dylan, answering Liam’s question with a stern face.

“Okay, let’s meet at your house though.”

“Okay, see you. Bye!”

At 7:00 PM, Liam came to Dylan’s house. Coincidentally, a young boy stabbed a young girl with scissors by accident. Everybody was helping the girl and trying to find the boy who ran away. This gave Dylan and Liam a better chance of not being caught. When they went, Dylan told Liam to go inside and yell his name if something was wrong while Dylan would see if there was anything outside the hideout.

Dylan realized that the place was dark and had lots of trees. That’s it. Next thing you know, Liam screamed. Dylan ran to Liam, and whatever Liam saw was gone. Dylan kept on asking Liam what he had seen, but Liam was shaking and not able to say anything.

“Liam! Are you okay?”

Liam shook.

“Sit down!”

Dylan sat Liam down.

“You seem traumatized! Let’s go home!”

They went home. Dylan took Liam home and told his mom that he had found him like this. He then whispered to his ear, “Don’t tell anyone.”

After going home that night, Dylan thought about the creature. Could it actually be real? Are we in danger? Thinking and thinking, he fell asleep. 

For a week, he checked up on Liam every day, hoping he would get better, and if he could tell Dylan what he saw. One of the village people came running to Dylan’s house one day to tell him Liam had started talking. Dylan felt happy that his best friend was speaking, but also felt worried about whether he had told anybody what had happened. If Liam told anyone, then they would be in trouble and not be able to investigate.

He ran to Liam’s house and asked him if he was okay. Liam was stuttering and said he was okay. 

“Are you okay?”

“Y-Yes.”

Dylan went to Liam’s house in the afternoon to talk to him about what he saw because there weren’t going to be many people around him at that time. 

“Hey, Liam. What did you see? Is the creature real?”

Liam had stopped stuttering.

“I don’t know what I saw! It was jet black with no arms and white eyes.”

Dylan realized that was the description of the creature. He sat/fell down with his mouth wide open thinking about so many things. Liam gave Dylan a glass of water. Dylan drank the glass of water and said, “What are we going to do now?” 

“I don’t know, we have to think of something,” said Liam.

They found out that the boy who stabbed the girl by “accident” came back. So to get their minds off of this for a while, they decided to go to the boy and ask him why he did this. The boy said, “I don’t know, I just blacked out and then next second, I realized I had stabbed someone.”

Dylan thought that when they went to see if the creature was real, it was there when the boy ran away. 

“Wait, can it possess people?!?!” Dylan said out loud. 

Liam then kicked Dylan in the leg.

The boy said, “Huh?”

“Nothing! We were working on a play and we are planning what the monster does in it.”

“Oh, okay,” said the boy.

Dylan and Liam then left and Dylan told Liam, “I think the creature can possess people!”

Since it was the evening, which was a perfect time to do something, Dylan and Liam went to the hideout, Liam put some bright flashlights inside the hideout. His mom told him that the creature only struck at evening or night because the light blinded it. A couple minutes later, they heard screeching and screaming. They ran away from the hideout, hoping and praying that everything would be all right.

17 Years Later

“Remember when we hurt the creature?” said Liam.

“I’m pretty sure we killed it. It would have no chance for those hot flashlights.” 

“It hasn’t attacked anyone from that day. Let’s forget about this situation. It’s been 17 years since it happened,” said Dylan.

Dylan had learned that he should have trusted the people. He became stronger and more sensible after that situation.

The creature had died because, even eternities later, the creature did not strike.

A Bedtime Story

“Misty!” Cathy called. “I need you to read me a bedtime story!”

As soon as she heard this, 13-year-old Misty came racing up the stairs.

“What kind of story do you want to hear, sis?” Misty breathlessly responded after she dashed to Cathy’s room.


“I wanna hear a story about a tiger!” Cathy screamed.

“Ok, ok,” Misty said. “Once upon a time, there was a tiger named Splash. Splash wasn’t an ordinary tiger. He had a big imagination, so he decided that he wanted to write a story. He got the idea from watching people write and draw all day at the zoo.


“The next morning, Splash woke up, jumped up and down on the other tigers, and told them all about his wanting to write a story. They all just laughed and said stuff like, ‘You can’t write a story; you’re just a puny tiger, Splash!’ This was true – Splash was just a baby tiger with a dream, but Splash didn’t get discouraged. Instead he decided to work harder.


“At snack time, Splash usually did what he liked the most in the world, and that was splashing in the water. That was also how he got his name, Splash. All of the other tigers were eating and bragging about how long they could stay on their hind legs. Splash had something more important to do with his time. More important than splashing in the water. He decided to start his first book. He needed pencil and paper first, so when the people started coming, he stole their pencils, drawings and their paper when they weren’t looking.


“At noon, after Splash got everything he needed, he wanted to think about what his book was gonna be about. When he started to jot down some notes, he realized something awful — he can’t write! Splash spent the rest of the sobbing and listening to the others laugh and play.


“The next week, Splash saw someone walking up to the shelter. It was a little girl wearing braids and holding a small teddy bear. She went and asked the guy, Phil, who fed the tigers, ‘Are the tigers for sale?’


“She had a sweet little voice, but Phil laughed and dismissed her. Splash whined to let her know that he cared.

“The next few weeks, she kept on coming and she kept Splash company. Of course, the other tigers laughed all day. It turned out that she and her family owned a zoo. It almost seemed like she could understand Splash and all the other animals in the zoo. She was so supportive of the animals and Splash loved her. He wanted to go to her zoo with more friendly tigers and live with her forever. After a while, he knew her name: Dorothy.


“One day, Dorothy didn’t come. Splash and the animals who actually cared became worried. They didn’t have their usual spark. They didn’t eat for two days and grew very weak.


“They didn’t see Dorothy for the rest of the year and they spent it crying. It was hard for them, not seeing Dorothy and all. They didn’t get why she suddenly left. They thought they would never see each other again.


“In a year, Dorothy came and Splash was mad. She didn’t come with the braids she used to wear. She came with jeans, long hair, and a shirt. She looked so different. She was talking to her friends. She acted like she didn’t know any of the animals there; it was hard to watch.


“The other Tigers made fun of Splash, they said, ‘We knew she was never gonna remember you, never!’


“At midnight, Splash rolled onto something. It was something special; Splash could feel it in his small tiger bones. It was numbers, 2001, N Clark St, Chicago IL.


“Splash felt it meant something and he wanted to go there. Wait; there was something else on the address.


“It said, ‘To: Splash, From: Dorothy; I am sorry that I left and didn’t say hi today. I left because my parents divorced and I was forced to live with my dad in Indiana. That address is for my zoo. I will talk to you tomorrow, bye!’


“Splash felt like singing, but he fell asleep right away. All that reading must have made him tired. He was snoring all night. Now the other animals couldn’t sleep!


“The next morning, Dorothy came back. She walked right up to Phil and said, ‘I’ll give you 1,000 bucks for this whole zoo.’


“‘Lots o’ money!’ he thought with a sly grin, ‘We’ll take it.’ he responded, ‘Bwah-ha ha! We will use the money for the zoo!’


“After he had realized that he just sold the zoo so he couldn’t use the money, he yelled, ‘YOU TRICKED ME!!!’ Splash was worried, so he ran out of the zoo and went to Dorothy’s zoo. When he got there the sign read ‘2001, Lincoln Park Zoo.’ Splash ran in and went to the other animals. The tigers seemed nice, the giraffes were magnificent, the lobsters were nicer than he expected, and the kangaroos were awesome.


“Dorothy came after a while and said, ‘Splash! I got the zoo and they are going to rebuild it here! I am so happy you came because I brought the whole crew.’ She showed Splash every single animal from the zoo except the tigers.


“‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Dorothy continued. ‘Where are the tigers? They are in a special place for ‘Horrible Tigers.’


“Splash liked this idea. He nodded his head.


“‘Well, let’s get this party started!’ Dorothy said.


“They partied all night and played Splash’s favorite musi — ”


“ZZZZZZZZZ!” Cathy was asleep. Misty slowly tucked her into bed and went to her room.

“MOM! I need you to tell me a bedtime story!”

Leo’s Story

Chapter 1: How to Train a Tiger…

The tiger, Marshmello, didn’t go at full speed because he wanted to see how fast he could go and then learn what he needed to do to beat the cheetah. When the cheetah, Jayce, was in the second lap and had half way to go, the tiger was only at the beginning of his second lap and had not tried very hard. There were also guards watching in the jungle in case the animals got hurt. Marshmello’s trainer, Chris, was a 5’10” man with brown hair who was very nice and had a good personality. He rescued Marshmello when the tiger was just a baby cub, and they have been working together ever since!  

Jayce’s trainer was a small woman named Lisa with a blond ponytail who was very grateful for her job and got along well with the cheetah. Lisa was experienced with cheetahs and knew how to signal and sign to them. When she saw that Jayce had won, Lisa was excited! After the first race, Chris was happy that Marshmello had almost beat an aggressive cheetah! Chris said that Marshmello was still young and had some things to learn. 

Chapter 2: The Second Race Begins

So the second race is on and Marshmello takes off faster and is beating Jayce. Then the cheetah falls behind and the tiger goes on speed mode and wins the game. The people who are watching are the trainers and the guards. Chris is happy! Marshmello feels good because he has been able to beat the aggressive cheetah. Jayce feels disappointed because he has lost to a young, young tiger and Lisa is upset because he was the fastest animal, how could he lose to a young tiger?

Chapter 3: Jayce and His Friends Gang up on Marshmello 

So the tiger is going back to the jungle and then, all of a sudden, three of Jayce’s gang (the cheetah and two friends) jump on Marshmello because he had won the race and they want payback!  Then Marshmello runs away because he is faster than the others. The trainers are on a lunch break and don’t know about it. 

So the cheetahs catch up to the tiger and then the guards who watch the animals say, “Get back to your Cages.”  

Then Marshmello says to Jayce, “Fine, we will race again, but if I win then no chasing me, ok?” 

“Fine!” says Jayce.

Chapter 4: They Play Again!

Marshmello feels a little bit scared, he knows he might actually lose! Jayce is feeling like he needs to win this because if he wins he will be the fastest animal in the jungle, and he wants to impress his friends. There are two guards watching and the two trainers are also there. The trainers started to warm up the cheetah Jayce and the tiger Marshmello for the race. 

The cheetah’s trainer tells him “Don’t let the tiger take off faster than you!” The cheetah can understand what she says, but can’t respond since animals can talk to each other but not to humans. 

The tiger’s trainer tells him, “Don’t go full speed, because if you go full speed you will get tired. Wait until there’s a quarter left in the second lap.” 

So Marshmello and Jayce line up. The race begins, and in the first lap Jayce wins because he goes full speed, but in the second lap Marshmello takes off faster and the cheetah gets tired. The cheetah made a mistake because at the first lap he still had half of the race to go, and he went full speed. Now, in the second lap, he is tired because he should have waited to go full speed until there was only a quarter left in the second lap of the race. The tiger goes even faster, like when you eat a chili and it makes you quicker. Jayce catches up to Marshmello and now they are matching paces at the same line. 

With a quarter left, the tiger finally goes full speed, like what Jayce did in the beginning. 

Then the cheetah gives up and says, “Ok, we get it mister, you’re faster than me! Wait up! Before you go can we please be friends?”  

Marshmello jokes, “Only if you beat me!” 

Marshmello will go to a new trainer, because Chris only builds baby cubs instead of big cats. Lisa is actually happy because the cheetah had been able to make a friend!  

Epilogue:

There is a new tiger now, Cherry, and Chris is now training her. 

He tells her, “I taught this tiger, Marshmello. First, I made him race the fastest animal, a cheetah, and lose and get better at his weakness. Then I trained my tiger in how to take off and he played the fastest animal again. The third time they played together, the cheetah gave up and they made friends and Marshmello even made a joke.” 

Then Chris says to Cherry, “There’s going to be a big competition when you get 13 or 14 or 15, and you’re going to play against the fastest animal in the jungle.” 

Marshmello shows up and says, “What’s up?” 

Cherry says, “Are you Marshmello?” and the trainer signals “Yes.” 

Then she says, “I’m going to play against him when I’m 15? He’s so tall. No worries, I’m going to beat this guy!”

To be continued… 

LOST

Here I was. The last place ANYBODY would ever imagine. Here, I’ll give you 1,000,000 dollars if you can guess it. See, I told you so. I was here floating on my bed in the middle of the huge Atlantic Ocean. 234th day, the last millimeter of bread eaten, and, according to my clock that broke 103 days ago, it was 3:01 AM. My last relationship that I ever had was also… the final food I would ever eat (yes, it’s depressing, but I’ve only had relationships with food so far. It’s not ok).

“I hate you,” I said. That was all I could mutter. All I could say for the last 234 days of misery. Cause of course your ‘BEST FRIEND’ will go ahead and say,

“I dare you to go sail across the world! Without a sailboat.” That’s what friends say when they realize you are the most evil, horrible person on earth. And see, I could have just said no. But I hated my life. If I were to describe my personality to you, you would think I was the most horrid, evil, hideous person to step on the planet. And I am. I AM the most awful person to touch the earth. So I ran away from my own home. I was happy to get that dare. At the time. Now all I want is to survive. But I think I have proven that’s impossible.

235th day, already resorted to sea water, and possibly 1:010 AM (my clock is bad). Last relationship was yesterday at 2:59 AM. The last water was two days ago.

Ok, I think I’ve learned NOT to drink sea water. I’m in AGONY… my throat is even DRIER and I think I swallowed a seahorse. Not pleasant. Like at all. I have lost almost half of my body weight and I have probably already lost most of the water in my body. The mattress is soggy and I’m kinda sinking in it. I saw a cruise boat pass by, but they saw I was absolutely covered with cuts and dirt. They thought about rescuing me, but instead tried to run me over. This is an everyday problem. Don’t worry about me. Actually… is that a shark? Ok, maybe help me.

236th day, NO MORE SEA WATER, time is 1:12.988787:80 AM (yes, that was a forehead slap moment), last words spoken were, “I hate you,” two days ago. Supposedly, I’m supposed to die today because of LITERALLY NO WATER FOR THREE DAYS.

Ok, are you kidding me. That way, that way, that way, that way, that way, that way, that way, that way, that way, and that way. Nothingness. Empty space EVERYWHERE.

I thought that there would be no water for three days and you die. This is my third day. And bread does not have water in it.
Ok, does bread have water in it? I ain’t got any water and I’m alive? Maybe this is Heaven and I just don’t know. Do you realize when you’re in Heaven? I have too many questions and no answers

237th day, I’m alive? Time is unreadable to my eyes, and I feel like I am going to die… finally.

Just die already. Everything is extremely blurry and my stomach feels like an ocean in a hurricane. I’m begging to die.
Even IF bread had water, that was three days ago. I should be dead by sundown.

237th day (continued), it’s sundown. I can feel death. It’s like a snake. Coiling around you until you die. Squeezing you tighter and tighter. Then once it’s bored, it finishes you off. I know, it doesn’t sound very pleasant. Right now, the snake of death is at my neck. Trying to kill me. I refuse. But it always wins. I can scream, yell, shout, but nothing will help me. What should my final words be?

“I hate you.”

The waves engulf my almost dead body. What will people think… when they see a dead 11-year-old girl in the ocean.

238th day, I’m dead. No sense of time.

I actually can’t tell if I’m dead or not. I’ve lost all feeling. And I can’t open my eyes. But my mind feels refreshed. And my throat… can’t feel it. I can still hear. The waves crashing against… wait. Crashing against what?

“Are you alive?”
“Are you disrespecting me?”
“Talk to me!” This was painful to hear. But I had to get used to it. I had already learned three things: I’m not dead
Whoever these people are gave me water. I like them.
I’m on a sailboat trapped under the bench, tied up.
At least I couldn’t feel the slaps I was given. I was slightly disappointed. I don’t deserve to be alive. I had tried to say help for about two hours. Hejiuwp was the closest I got. At least I could make noises?

239th day, I’ve given up on trying to live. Finally a working clock– midnight.

They are lost, too. When you start in, Japan I don’t think you can make it to the Bermuda Triangle. These guys too dumb to find the the back of their hands.
“Ahem,” one of them said to the other.
“What? Did you finally realize that we actually are in California?”
I heard a sigh, then he said, “Ummm, North is actually that way!!”
“What! That’s impossible! The S on the compass means North!” It was my turn to sigh this time.
“Dif ya kna daf the n mans norf?” I stated. They stared at me and I realized I still could NOT talk.
“I think you need more water.” And without hesitating they threw me overboard, this time without a bed to keep me up (oo, I realized they thought I said something else that was very mean).

240th day, no clock whatsoever, no food, no water, should I even try to survive?

Nope. I’m not even gonna try to survive. Why do humans have to float? If we did not float, I would be deader than TWO doornails, let alone one. Those weird poor sailors couldn’t even take care of themselves, let alone another poor girl. I might have destroyed their lives. As soon as I find anything to float on, I will immediately eat it? Will that kill me? How about just hanging off and sticking my head in the water until I die? I have already tried that. Your mind won’t let you. On my 200th try, I gave up and kept swimming. Nothing EVER works.

241st day, yummy driftwood, I FOUND MY CLOCK! (12:2334 PM… my clock is comforting, but not useful).

I don’t think driftwood is poisonous. I ate it and I probably feel better to be honest. I’m probably gonna get hypothermia soon. I found half of my mattress floating around. It was soggy and gross. Needless to say, I left it behind. It’s currently a storm and I’m just hoping lightning won’t hit.
LIGHTNING HIT. HUGE WAVE COMING. HEL —

242nd day, my clock is finally broken. So is my right leg. Last water three days ago. Why is it raining FROGS?

“Ow. Ow. Ow.” Weird frozen frogs are falling from the sky. My leg is broken. I almost drowned yesterday when a huge wave came. Why is this happening to me? I’ve heard of this strange occurrence happening before. When a tornado hits a lake. BOOM! Frozen frogs falling from the sky. None have hit my head yet (I would absolutely die if it did). Only about 10 in a 15 foot range each minute. That means about… 18328.6666667 falling every minute in the whole Atlantic Ocean (as you might have figured out, I’m a math prodigy).

243rd day, no idea what time it is. My right leg is still broken (duh) and bleeding (saltwater is not fun for the cuts).

This is agony. Wait wha– is that– MY BED?! I swim to the bed and crawl on. It feels like… HOME. I might never get back to my real home but this is just as good. I might be bleeding to death, but for the moment, it does not hurt. This is Heaven. This is all I need.

The Fairytale Portal

I looked into the deep lake. I s’pose you could call it a pond. That pond had been there for years, and when a drought occurred, we were afraid it would dry up.

Are you wondering why a retired police officer cares about this lil ol’ pond? It’s simply just very dear to me, my wife, the villagers, an’ probably the inhabitants. It’s dear to me and my wife, ‘cause that’s where I proposed. It’s dear to the village ‘cause it saved them from the drought. Oh, you’re wondering how? It  just seemed that someone “popped out of the pond.” Not literally, but that gentleman said so. It might as well be true, ‘cause he came in the middle of the night all soaked. Sure gave me a fright! And he carried a bucket of “Magical” water. None of us really believed him, thought he might be a little wonky in the head. But it sure did the trick! Rather odd if I do say so myself, for he was wearing a crown and said he was “Arthur.” Never saw him again, the little lass.

Anyways – back to the pond. The pond is a symbol in this town. It has overcome the impossible, brought attractions, and it’s very pretty. Sorta mesmerizing. You look and you see a million people’s dreams come true, just floating in the pond. ‘Course, after you snap out of it, you feel like you’re enlightened. That’s probably why me an’ my wife stare at it in the evening. It’s lovely in the evening.

You said… it might be a – portal?!

You’re kidd- Wait. Arthur, magical, overcame the impossible, mesmerizing – it all clicks…

That was the moment I realized that the pond might be a… portal.

The Finale

So Cherry, the new tiger, is just running around with her trainer in the beautiful jungle. The sun is reflecting on the leaves. Cherry is seven and when she gets older she is going to race Marshmello. Marshmello is the fastest animal in the jungle and he is also a tiger. Cherry’s birthday is today so Cherry is eight and she is going to have a good day. So the trainer lets Cherry sit on his lap and brings all of the tigers to say, “Happy Birthday.”

Then, the next day, the tigers go to find Cherry so they can have fun, but she is exercising with her trainer. The tigers are scared for Cherry ‘cause something bad might have happened. But then Cherry comes back.  

“Where were you? We were afraid,” all the tigers say. 

“I was in the jungle with Chris taking a run cause I have to exercise. Also, Chris fell and hurt his knee so he had to get a knee strap, and he is coming back soon,” Cherry explains. 

While Chris is recovering from his injury, Cherry goes out to train with the other tigers. 

“Let’s get faster,” says Luca, Cherry’s friend. 

“Okay, why not?” responds Cherry. 

Cherry follows Luca to the road near the racetrack. They set up their starter blocks. 

3….2….1…. GO!!

Cherry is losing to Luca. How am I going to get back and win? she thinks. Cherry goes into speed mode. Her legs feel uncomfortable as she goes as fast as she can. She passes Luca. Yes! I’m beating an aggressive Tiger! That’s fast! thinks Cherry. Cherry wins the first lap!

Lap 2. Cherry starts to get a little bit tired. She gets a cramp under her ribs. Luca zooms past her. Then, the cramp goes away. Cherry jogs halfway around the road. Then, Cherry gains on Luca. They’re tied. They run at the same pace, but Cherry cuts Luca off. Luca moves to the other lane slowly, then Luca catches up to Cherry right as Cherry crosses the finish line. 

“Good job, Cherry,” pants Luca. 

“Good job, too. You almost caught up to me, but I’m too fast for you!” says Cherry. They walk back through the jungle together. 

“Cherry beat me in the race!” Luca says to all the other tigers. “Now, I think she’s ready to race Marshmello.” 

So Marshmello and Cherry lineup. 

“There is going to only be one race,” say the guards. 

So they start in 3….2….1…. Go!!! Marshmello starts faster and Cherry is like a second behind so Cherry catches up and now they are both at the same pace and Cherry is now ahead. Marshmello falls behind. Cherry wins the first lap and Marshmello just finishes his first lap. Cherry is now winning and Marshmello is now at the same line and pace. Cherry cuts Marshmello off and Cherry wins the race!!

“Good game,” says  Marshmello. 

“Good game,” says Cherry.

Then Chris comes back.

“I beat Marsmello,” Cherry says. “I was so excited!!” screams Cherry.

The End

The World of Powers

Chapter One

FOREST 

Once upon a time, there lived a boy who had a friend. Their names were Carl and Merissa.  When they were going to school, they saw posters of Pusheen, a cat who has bagel through her head. Merissa thought that it could be a play at school. 

After school, their teacher said, “Tomorrow is Spring break.” 

When Carl and Merissa went home, they were really hungry. 

So they opened the fridge, and a troll appeared, and said, “You are the chosen ones, come with me through this portal.”

Merissa freaked out! But Carl knew that if he went through this portal he would become a legend. Merissa and Carl discussed the portal, and the answer was YES! So they went into the portal. When they reached the other side, Carl and Merissa saw a forest. Then, Carl spotted a tree with a door. 

Chapter Two

TORNADO

When Carl and Merissa went inside the door, they saw another portal. They both went inside this one and saw a beautiful world. The world had flowers and trees, and a lot of greenery.

The world was called Crave. Suddenly, a huge bird, which had a yellow beak and big white feathers, arrived. The bird told Carl and Merissa that an evil man called Fralanduperbuttbutt was destroying Crave. The bird told them there was a prophecy that two kids, named Carl and Merissa, will have to go to a place called Gruld to get their powers so they could stop Fralanduperbuttbutt.

The bird said, “I am going to be your ride so be careful. We are going to cross a big tornado.”

It took days and the bird was chattering too much which annoyed them. Suddenly, the clouds started getting darker and darker. 

The bird said, “Be careful, the storm is coming.” 

It was getting more windy and finally, they were in the storm. 

The bird said, “Be careful and hang on,” again.

The bird flew around and around the storm, so he made a path for Carl and Merissa. 

The bird said, “ I will have to go now, but good luck.”

Chapter Three

RIDDLES

When Carl and Merissa reached Gruld, they saw a merchant, and the merchant said, “You must solve this riddle to get your powers”. 

The merchant also said that the boy should go first:

I am not ice cream,

But I am cold,

I am in drinks,

To chill your face,

If you heat me,

I will die.

What am I?

First, Carl said, “Is it water?” but the merchant just shook his head.

Then he said, “Is it cold water?” but again the merchant just shook his head. 

Carl was really confused, but suddenly, at the speed of light, he said, “ICE!” and the merchant said, “YES,” and gave Carl the power of ice.

While Carl was playing with his power, Merissa had to solve this riddle: 

If you give me food I will grow,

But if you give me a drink I will die,

What am I?

Merissa said, “FIRE!” and the merchant was impressed. Then he gave Merissa the power of fire.

Chapter Four 

FRALANDUPERBUTTBUTT

Suddenly, Carl saw a glimpse of a gollum and he thought that it was Fralanduperbuttbutt. So he called Merissa and went to go and battle the gollum.

The gollum caught Merissa, but Carl made a frozen spear and attacked him, and this kept on going.

4 HOURS LATER

Then together they made water and “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!” They defeated him.

Chapter Five 

HOME

When they defeated him a potion appeared, and it said “drink me” on it. So Carl and Merissa drank a little and went back home.

When they reached home, both of them learned a lesson: to never open the fridge after school.

They also realized that it has only been a minute since they went through the portal.

Right now, Carl and Merissa probably are saying the same thing to their grandchildren. 

“NEVER EVER OPEN THE FRIDGE AFTER SCHOOL.”

THE END

Kate and Olivia’s Adventure

Chapter 1: The Treasure Map

Kate is a cat. One morning as usual she was eating pizza for breakfast with her BFF Olivia the lion while telling each other jokes.

“What did the door say to the other door?” said Kate.

“….Oh I know!” said Olivia “I a-door you.” 

“No,” said Kate, “I don’t door talk to you again!”

“Ha ha ha ha,” they all laughed! When she went back to the box, the pizza came in. She found no pizza, but she found a treasure map. 

“Look, look!” Kate said. “I found a treasure map in the pizza delivery box!”                                                                                                                    

Chapter 2: The A.E.

Olivia came running over! 

“Look there is a treasure,” said Kate. “It is called the A.E!!!!?????” 

“It’s a phrase,” said Olivia, “it means the Adventures Eye so that’s what the treasure is called!?!”

 “Let’s find the treasure.” They both said.

“Let’s each pack a bag, grab some food, grab a sword, a whole lot of water, and a notebook!” said Olivia.

“I’ll grab some food, some stuff for us to drink, a tent, and a knife!!” said Kate.

Chapter 3: the Adventure Begins

“Let’s follow the treasure map,” said Olivia.

They followed the map to an old hollow tree. 

“It says ‘Go in the door carved in the hollow tree,'” said Kate.

They opened the door carved in the hollow tree and then it slammed behind them! Inside the hollow tree was a house with a piece of armor and a table with a puzzle on it, and that puzzle was missing one piece!?! On top of the puzzle was a paper with a riddle on it. It said, “I feel heavy, I also feel empty, I never feel fear, but I always feel alone and if I move, blood may spill?!?” They looked around. They looked & looked. Until…

“I got it,” they both said, “in the armor!!!!”

They looked in the armor and they found the last puzzle piece. It was glued to the armor so it took them a long time to get it off and they scratched and they scratched. It finally fell on the floor and when they picked it up they put the last piece in the puzzle and then they appeared on a frosty island.

Chapter 4: The Undersea Monster

“What a great island!” Olivia said! “Why do you look nervous?”

“Be- be- be- be- because they are on an iceberg in the middle of an o- o- ocean!!! The map says they have to go in the water!!” said Kate

 “Luckily I brought scuba diving clothes for us.” said Olivia. “Oh no,” Olivia said, “our scuba diving clothes are frozen!”

“…let’s rub our scuba diving clothes on our backpacks!” said Kate.

“Great, that worked!” said Olivia.

They put theor scuba diving clothes on. They dived into the water and followed the map to an old shell house. Then a sea monster came out of the shadows!! 

“Cool, a sea monster on our adventure!” said Olivia.

He said, “My name is Bob. Are you in search of A.E?!?” 

“Yes!” they both said.

“You have to make an agreement with me to get past me. I am a guardian of the A.E!!!” said Bob.

Chapter 5: The Agreement 

“How about we give you a knife and we pass you?” said Kate!!! 

“Nooooo!” said Bob.

“Why?” said Kate.

“I’m not gonna use it, because I don’t like to chop up food and I don’t like to use it as a weapon.” 

“How about a supply of food?” said Olivia. 

“Noooo,” said Bob. “I don’t eat your kind of food. I would prefer to eat seaweed or sting rays!”

“How about two backpacks?” said Kate. 

“Nooooooooooo,” said Bob again. “You give me the map and you may pass me!”

“Is there anything else we can give you?” they both said. 

“No!” said Bob. “Give me the map because I am a guardian and I don’t want to let any outsiders get past me.” 

“All right, let’s give him the map. Here you go,” said Olivia.

They swam around the sea monster for years. Finally, they gave him the map, but it was stuck to Olivia‘s hand.

“Alright, you may pass anyway!” said Bob. “You can’t even use the map because it’s stuck to your hand!”

 When they passed the seamonster they landed in a picture. Kate and Olivia were stuck in a picture frame, but in the picture Olivia was holding the map. They were very nervous that they wouldn’t get out of the picture frame.

Chapter 6: The Puzzle

They looked around the picture. All they saw were four levers. 

“Hm…”

They both looked around. 

“… We have to pull the four levers!” Olivia said.

“Genius” said Kate.

They each pulled two levers. Nothing happened! Nothing happened for one hour. They looked around and the only thing they could think of to get out of the picture was going into the house inside the picture. They went into the house and inside was house furniture and a paintbrush. They picked up the paintbrush and they painted a really big hammer! Everything they painted came to life. Then, they painted a really big car and wooden cart (to carry the hammer so they wouldn’t have to carry it all the way to the front) and then a string. 

They tied the cart to the car and they pushed the hammer inside the cart and then they got into the car and drove to the front of the painting. They picked up the hammer and they smashed the glass of the painting frame for five weeks. Then they landed in front of a castle.

Chapter 7: The Fight 

“The treasure map says we have to fight?” said Olivia.

“You mean fight the two knights in front of us?” asked Kate.

“YES!” answered Olivia. 

They grabbed their swords from their backpacks!!!

“W….w…well…wh…wh…what……a…a…..are….w..w…we…..wait……wait…..

waiting……..f……f…..for,” they both shrugged. 

Olivia and Kate worried they were going to die because they were against two knights!

The knights and Kate and Olivia were all very nervous so the Knights said, “We are very nervous because you are cats, and cats can scratch you and pounce on you!” 

“So,” said Olivia and Kate, “maybe we could make an agreement and trade

things and we can get past you.”
“How about we give you a javelin and you give us your backpacks and everything you have!” said the knights.

They both said, “Ok, yes we will give you our backpacks and everything we have except for the map!”

The knights agreed. They traded the things and followed the map.

“The map says we have to walk into the castle and find the treasure!” they both said in relief.

Chapter 8: The Scepter

They followed the map to an old room.

The treasure should be here!” said Olivia. 

“But where is it?” said Kate 

“It says there are traps?” said Olivia.

They trained for one year so they could get past the traps! While they were practicing, the traps were shooting at them. Suddenly a bow and arrow shot out at them. They dodged it. They dodged and ducked and did cartwheels and made it past the traps. They had to get past the traps while they were still practicing. It took them one year to finish. Finally, they saw the treasure chest.

They tried lifting the treasure chest’s lid but they couldn’t open it, so they used the javelins that they had traded with the knights. They opened it and inside was a scepter!

“WWOOWW,” they both said. 

At the end of the scepter it had a glowing stone on the top!!!

To be continued …

Escape From the Mall

Once, there was a lipstick whose name was Magenta. She lived in the makeup store in the mall. People were smothering her guts on their lips! That was how her parents died. One day, Magenta decided to escape because she knew soon a person would buy her and that would be dangerous, one time a person almost bought her. She planned her escape at night so no people would see her but there was one obstacle, there was a night guard, and his dog and cat. It was a big problem!!!

The mall soon opened and filled with busy shoppers and people smothered the lipsticks’ guts on their lips. Every time this happened, Magenta thought to herself, Oww! 

Hours passed and finally the shoppers left, the mall closed, and the night guard came in with his pets, the dog and cat. Magenta was too small to see where to go to reach the exit, then she had an idea, she took the springs of an empty blush container and attached them to her feet. “Boing, Boing” went the springs when she jumped. The night guard heard the noise and Magenta quickly dropped the springs and closed her lid, the night guard looked at Magenta then the springs. “Those springs must’ve fallen off that blush container,” he said. He walked away muttering to himself, “This place is old.” 

Magenta attached small bits of tissue to the end of the springs, so the springs would not make noise. How am I going to get out of the mall? Magenta thought to herself, then jumped to the top of the shelf. She took the empty blush container and threw it on the sleeping dog. The dog woke up and started for the door, and the night guard started chasing the dog. Magenta took a mighty leap and landed on the night watcher’s head!!! The night guard was too busy chasing the dog, so he didn’t notice Magenta. Soon, Magenta worried that the night watcher would notice her, so she jumped off the night watcher’s head and ran into the arts and crafts store, but she didn’t know that the cat was in the shop. When Magenta saw the cat, she immediately jumped to the top of a shelf and thought to herself, Cats can climb so the cat can get me. Then she had a plan, she took a red, glow in the dark, cherry-scented, no smears marker, drew a perfectly round, red dot on the shelf, and cooed, “Here kitty kitty.” The cat climbed up the shelf and when the cat saw the dot, she kept pouncing the dot because she thought it was a laser. When the cat was distracted, Magenta jumped off the shelf and disguised herself as a mouse, ran out of the store, and headed for the door. Then the night guard turned around and shouted,

“Mouse!!!” and started chasing Magenta! Magenta ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, when she reached the door it was closed. Dead end. Then she ran to the tool store and pushed a hammer that was near the window with all her might. The hammer broke the window and before she could jump out, the night guard grabbed the tail of the disguise. “Got you,” he said. Magenta held onto the window ledge tightly. Magenta grabbed a needle, let go of the window ledge with one hand, and threw the gleaming sharp needle at the night watcher’s eye. “Oww!!!” he shouted. He cupped his hands around his eye. When Magenta’s disguise tail was free, she leaped out of the window. She did it! No people would smother their guts on her lips! She would explore the world.                                    

The End 💄                                                                             

Awkward Barn

Thinking back, I can hardly believe how such a peaceful trip ended up in a scandal that ruined our family. Oops — I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Ronald P. Miller. Well — it used to be Miller. That was my dad’s last name. Now, it’s Johnson. 

The Awkward Barn 

I was staring out the window of my dad’s Toyota when it all started. It was a quiet day. Cloudy. The dirt road was full of bumps, and unpaved. I didn’t tell anyone, but I disapproved of this road.

We were driving out into the country to visit my paternal grandmother. In case you don’t know, that means my father’s mother. But — oops, again — I’m not supposed to talk about him. I think I’ll have to to get through this story.

In any event, we were going to visit my grandmother. She lived in the country and owned a farm. Yup — a real farm. Cows, chickens, the lot. The whole shebang-bang. Even a big red barn, forever since called by my family “The Awkward Barn” (when they even discuss it). 

Granny Miller welcomed us with open arms. Literally. She gave me a hug that squeezed out all my organs. Even though that’s not scientifically possible. I’m on the school’s honors program, and if my health professor found out about this, he would go nuts. 

We were welcomed into the house, and I went to my room in the loft. That is a place in the barn where hay is kept. I set up my sleeping bag on two bales of hay and placed my backpack on the ground. My mother was sleeping on the other end of the loft, on the rickety bed with the old quilt, full of holes and stains. I disapproved of that quilt. I never told her that that quilt was the vomit quilt used by relatives when they were sick. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Was that the right choice? Looking back now, I don’t know. 

Then I headed down the rickety stairs. I heard my father talking to my grandmother. 

“… had him. I didn’t ever want you to,” she was saying. “That’s why I put them in the loft.” 

“Ma,” I heard my father say. “You know my thoughts about this. When we…” 

“What are you two talking about?” I blurted out.

“Ronald!” cried my father, looking surprised and almost relieved. “Er… how much did you hear?… ” 

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry.” I said quickly. “Was this a good time? I didn’t mean to butt in like this.” 

I don’t know if that was the best way to say it. I was really thinking in the moment. If my English professor were here, she’d make a thousand corrections. But that’s not very realistic. If my math professor were here…

“Oh, no! It’s a perfect time!” said Granny Miller, sticking a smile on her face. Was that smile part very respectful of me? Our school counselor would freak. 

Granny and my father acted happy, but I could tell something was up. I don’t want to hide things from my family. But before I could ask them what was up, Granny said,

“Who wants apple piiii-iiiiiiiie?” She took a cold piece out of the fridge and held it up in front of my mouth. I didn’t like cold pie. Still don’t. But I ate it, just to be polite. I had a few disgusting bites, then took one of Granny’s porcelain plates and put it and the pie on the table. To clarify, the plate was on the table, and the pie was on the plate. Was that hard to understand? My English professor says to not use long, unnecessary sentences. I’m totally getting held back this year… I barely scraped by last term, with only Bs and As. My best grade was only an A+++! If I want to stay on the honors program, I need to average at least an AA. I mean, they don’t publish the actual criteria, and no one I know has ever gotten that grade, but I know I need to stay on top. 

After the pie, we played Trivial Pursuit: Farmer’s Edition. My father and Granny teamed up. They won, obviously. My mother and I were a team, but we barely managed half a point. Oops — you can’t actually get half a point in Trivial Pursuit. Our school’s Board Games Club director would get so mad at me. 

After that, we played Monopoly. I won. I am a master of strategy (not to brag. I hate to brag. Was that bragging? I hope not. I bet soon I’ll be seeing the school counselor on an hourly basis). Granny grumbled a bit, but I think she’s just competitive. Then, we played Scrabble. I knew I could win, but I gave mother a chance, opening up places where she could score big. I thought it was only fair, because she hadn’t won a game yet. When we finished scoring, and mother won, Granny slammed her fists down on the board and got this really angry look in her eyes. She had come in last, her best play was “COW,” eight points. 

Okay,” she growled. “Let’s eat dinner now.” 

We had sheperd’s pie. In case you don’t know, that is like mashed potatoes, but with some meat and carrots and peas. And things. It is pretty good. But all throughout the meal, Granny kept rambling on and on about all the original Millers being shepherds in Ireland or England or some country. Whatever it is, it’s been scratched off the family tree by now. Also, my mother called that company that tests your DNA to make sure I was actually part Irish (or other foreign country from my father’s side). 

But I’m getting ahead of myself. 

After dinner, Granny served apple pie (luckily, heated up). She gave herself a big piece and gave Dad a medium piece. I got a smallish piece. She was about to cut the tiniest of slivers for Mom, but then said loudly, “You’re on a diet, aren’t you Jessica?” and did not give her any pie. 

No one said anything, but my mother, Jen, is not on a diet. 

That night I couldn’t sleep, but I pretended to so mom wouldn’t fret. I thought about how Granny knew full well my mother’s name, and that she was not on a diet.

Granny… Granny wouldn’t say things like that, I reassured myself. She’s old. 70. She probably forgot mom’s name… and maybe my mom was on a diet earlier… but didn’t tell me…  but if she was… on a… diet, why didn’t she tell… me? I wondered sleepily as my head started nodding — for real this time. 

By morning, I hadn’t forgotten about the diet thing (oops — my English professor doesn’t really like the word, “thing.” I bet you anything I’m getting held back. And my school’s Gambling and Statistics instructor would agree). 

I went downstairs and saw a large breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, ham, pancakes, and a load of fruit. The table was the kind of table that was a rectangle. There was a tall chair on on each of the short sides and two shorter chairs on each of the long sides. The table was empty. I was about to sit in one of the tall chairs when Granny came in from the kitchen and sat in it, pushing me aside.

“Excuse me?” I asked politely (I think), but just at that moment, she started loudly pouring herself orange juice and splashing a lot. Then, my dad came in from the bedroom (Granny was in the master bedroom because she owned the house). Right now, I’m wondering if there was another reason she was in the master bedroom and mom had the vomit quilt. 

“Hey gang,” said dad cheerfully, absentmindedly taking a seat on the other tall chair. He glanced at me and a sad look passed over his face for a second. Then, he stared down Granny and said loudly, “Why don’t you come sit next to me… Ronnie boy.” But he did not look at me. He was staring hard at Granny the whole time. 

Carefully, I sat down next to dad, torn between staring at Granny or looking sad. I ended up looking sort of sympathetic at Granny, which I was sure pleased no one. It was a very uncomfortable breakfast. 

Afterwards, Granny took us all into the barn. Long story short, I don’t like barns. Very unhygienic. And too much dung and messy animals. Barns smell terrible! But I didn’t show it. Instead, I pretended to thoroughly enjoy the whole stinky experience (oh no! Really I am not being respectful at all! Though, mother says I should feel free to speak my mind about The Awkward Barn).

Near the end of the tour, Granny was showing us the animals. After the cows, sheep, and horses, we came to the pigs. Dad seemed to want to get on with it quick and get to lunch (it was noon already — or should I use the exact time? My math professor will have fainted by now, I’m sure), but Granny couldn’t get enough of the pigs. She kept rambling on and on about pigs: what they ate, how they were born, how they pooped (pardon my language), on and on and on. She concluded her lecture with: “And last but not least… you really are a PIG, Ronald.” 

I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked. My mom was sad. But my dad was furious.

“Ma,” he huffed. “I told you not to bring this up.” 

“Why am I a pig?” I asked, as politely as I could be. 

“Because–” started Granny rather nastily, but father interrupted. 

“Let me,” he growled. “Tell this story.” He huffed a little, then began.

“When you were born, we made a deal.” He sighed heavily. “I guess I should tell you why. My mother… never wanted me to get married. She just wanted me to stay in this house forever because… I’m an…” 

Suddenly Granny spoke. “Because I just want you to be my little boy forever, Dedalus.” Then she fiercely whispered, “I can’t have you giving away family secrets! We’re the only two who know this and it’s going to stay that way!”

Dad looked sad but resigned. “Fine,” he said. “Because she was an overprotective mother. See?” He whispered to Granny. “I’m not lying to my son. Anyways,” he continued in his normal voice. “She was never the biggest fan of… well… your birth in general. So we compromised. You would keep our last name, and your mother picked your first name. But she… she chose the middle name.” 

“Did you ever wonder what that ‘P’ stood for?” asked Granny with a nasty grin.

“Er…” I said. I had never really thought about this and my parents had never told me. I always assumed it was something like “Patrick,” or “Paisley.”

“PIG,” bellowed Granny. “Hahahahaha!” I couldn’t believe it. But Granny was so nice! I just… just… there must have been some explanation. I stood there for an eternity, desperately waiting for someone to say, “April Fools!” (although it wasn’t April Fools’ Day. My World Customs teacher would go ballistic).

But right then something in my mother snapped. “You have no right,” she said, shaking, “no right to speak to my son like this. I’m — we’re leaving. He is going to live with ME and MY family and not you… people. WE’RE LEAVING.”

And with that, she took me and marched out of THE AWKWARD BARN. 

As we drove off, we passed a Miller’s Hot Dog Palace (not Granny Miller). It used to be my mom’s and my favorite restaurant.

We ate lunch at McDonald’s.

Sweet Murder

Chapter 1

We were playing tag. My friend was chasing me. There was nowhere to go and then I thought of something: the forest! I ran as fast as I could towards the forest. We went deeper and deeper into the forest. Can we stop? Then, we came upon a few dead bodies. It was on the other side of a little hill. It was almost as if the trees were forming a gate around it. When I saw the bodies, I got really worried. And then we figured out that the dead bodies were our parents! I was very sad.

 Chapter 2

(3 weeks later)

I hear a big thump and a wake up. I realize what the sound is. The paperboy tossing the newspaper at the door. I get up, open the door, and look at the newspaper. On the headline, it says, “Mister K murdered.”

I call my friend and say, “Did you see the headline on the newspaper?”

He says, “Yeah, can you believe it?!”

I say, “Do you think it could have anything to do with the dead bodies we saw?”

Chapter 3

My friend agrees with me that we have to find out who the murderer is.

“First, we have to start looking for clues,” I say.

My friend says, “Got it. Let’s start looking.”

“I know,” I say. “In movies, aren’t there always like bad people in the alley ways?”

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”

Chapter 4

“Which alley should we search first?” I say.

“How about Crook’s Alley?” my friend says.

I say, “Why Crook’s Alley?”

“Because ‘crook’ is another word for a bad person,” my friend says.

We walk by the bakery and the donut shop to Crook’s Alley. We walk on Crook’s Alley and see a sign .

<This way to Clues about an anonymous murder. The wrong path leads to certain Doom >

Chapter 5

“So how do we know which way to go?” my friend says.

“Let’s check around for clues. Remember X marks the spot. Hey, look at this fine print,” I say.

The fine print says, “How many seconds are there in a year?”

“I think it might be a riddle,” I say. “How about we go to the shop and see if there are any calculators.”

It says on the fine print that this riddle expires in seven minutes and the calculator shop is on the other side of town. We won’t be able to get there in time.

“Well, if this isn’t a riddle, maybe they don’t want us to find out how many seconds are in a year. Or maybe they do. How about we pick the highest one? Let’s go to the left,” I say. 

“No I think we should go to the right,” my friend says.

“How about we both go the way that we want,” I say.

And we both walk off in opposite directions.

Chapter 6

So I walk down the path. And then suddenly, a big metal wall falls down behind me and on the wall there is graffiti that says:

Welcome to your DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM

And then, the floor opens up and a machine that looks like a big, tall, bending straw pointing towards me comes out and says, “Scanning, scanning, scan complete. Starting Doom process.” 

My friend starts down his path and a metal wall slams down behind him. Then a computerized voice says, “Please continue down the path.”

Chapter 7  

“DOOM process complete,” the machine says, and projects an image of my friend being zapped by a laser and obliterated into smithereens.

“NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,” I say.

I feel like I want to smash that machine to bits. And I try to smash the machine to bits. But then it says, “Hostile takeover. Prepare to be obliterated!” And then it shoots out a laser that makes a big crater in the floor

I run for my life.      

 Chapter 8 

I keep running down the path for my life. I see my friend walking down that path where the paths meet up and I think I must be seeing things, and I’m insane and crazy and out of my mind. Then I run up to him and poof him in the nose to make sure he isn’t a  projection. And To make sure I’m not seeing things. And I feel he’s there and I yell, “YOU ARE ALIVE!!”

My friend says, “Of course I’m alive.”

And then I yell, “Run for your life.”

We go down the tunnel to a place where there’s a man sitting at a table and he says, “I’ve been expecting you.”

Chapter 9

I say, “We’re looking for clues about an anonymous murder.”

The man says, “Yes, the murderer is the guy who works at the donut shop. You can go now.”

And then we leave and the donut man gets arrested.

The End 

JOLIE’S ADVENTURE: THE SUPERPOWERS BEHIND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Chapter 1: Dianna The Brainwasher

One day in Vermont, a girl named Dianna was walking in the forest to chop down some trees for wood. She wanted to build a treehouse. Dianna was tall as a tree with a winsome, brown bob and loved to read historical books. Funny thing is that she disliked all animals that possibly were roaming in the forest. As she was walking in the woods, she saw a tree with deep scratches on it and she knew that it had to be a bear’s big claw imprints. Dianna was starting to get anxious.

Suddenly, a big, brown bear appeared 10 feet away. Dianna ran swiftly until she saw a way out. A long, gray train that was approaching. She ran to jump on the train, but she missed the jump and the train ran over her left ankle. “Ouch!” she screamed in a hurt voice. She looked down and her ankle was horribly scraped. Luckily, after she said in fret voice, “I hope my ankle is not broken,” it healed up quickly as if nothing ever happened. Dianna was shocked by how quickly her ankle healed because she had never experienced something like this before. Dianna started to think – is this imaginary?

Dianna predicted another train was coming. So she waited. Eventually, after ten minutes, another train came briskly. Dianna jumped on the train thinking she was heading back home, but she fell asleep on the train and ended up in the Jim Crow South. She got off the train in Montgomery, Alabama! Dianna was frightened… and she was also wondering how her ankle healed so quickly.

In Montgomery, Alabama, Dianna met Martin Luther King. He told her that she needed  to help Black people fight for equality. Something sparked Dianna to get involved. Unfortunately, right before her eyes, people were getting beaten so badly by the police for protesting against segregation. At that moment, she was so angry, she shouted loudly while crying, “You do not need to do this! Stop it! Racism has to stop!” All of a sudden, the police dropped their weapons and looked at Dianna and said, “You are right! We are going to stop this police brutality!”

Dianna realized she had superpowers –  whatever she spoke with passion, it became reality. Feeling bold, she stood with John Lewis and Martin Luther King in protest, hoping this was the start to ending racism in the South. But this was not the end, something else was brewing in California with a young, clever, girl named Savannah… 

Chapter 2: Savannah The Flyer

At the same time, in New York City, an activist named Malcolm X was fighting for equality for Black people. Savannah, a young activist, with brown hair hanging to her shoulders and caramel skin, was living in California. She wanted to help stop racism too, so she decided to fly to New York City to help Malcolm X with his plan. Savannah’s superpower was to fly. She discovered that she had flying powers when she was climbing on the top of the tree and fell, but luckily flew up into the sky. 

On her way from California, she stopped and landed on the ground so she could go to some fancy coffee shop to get some water. She was out of breath from flying from California. She sipped on some water and got back flying. On her way to New York, she saw Commander Melanoff’s Mansion, the Rodent Gazette building, and Eerie Elementary. While Savannah was flying, she felt a sense of calmness.  

Finally, after ten hours of flying, Savannah got to New York City. She was out of breath but excited. At the same time she landed, Malcolm X was giving a speech in The Audubon Ballroom. One man showed up named Thomas Hagan who was there to get rid of Malcolm X. As Savannah was walking down the street, she looked through a window and saw Thomas Hagan with a tool in his hand. She ran high-speed in the ballroom, grabbed Malcolm X, and hastily flew up through the ceiling to the sky and flew away so Thomas Hagan wouldn’t eliminate him. After that day, Savannah changed history and Malcolm X continued to be an activist.

Chapter 3: Jolie The Time Traveler

Across town, in Harlem, a girl named Jolie was an activist for Black Lives Matter. She was watching a documentary on her TV about Rosa Parks. Jolie was very meticulous about things like cleaning her bedroom and making sure the dishes were clean. She had sandy-brown hair that she always wore in a bun. In the living room, while she was watching TV, her lamp lights went off and on… 

All of a sudden, she blinked and she was sitting next to Rosa Parks in the front of the bus.

Jolie was so nervous and felt she could have a heart attack, because she had warped back in time to the Civil Rights Movement. Jolie knew from her past adventures through her imagination she could create a tunnel, she could warp into a book with her favorite character, but she didn’t know she could time travel through a movie. Meanwhile, the bus driver stood up and walked over to Rosa and Jolie and commanded, “Get to the back of the bus!” Jolie thought this demand was diabolical and she refused to move. Instantly, Dianna tiptoed on the bus and slowly walked past the bus driver and whispered in his ear, 

“Let them sit on this bus.” The bus driver nodded his head in yes motion. Following behind Dianna was Savannah, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X. They all sat in the front of the bus and the other people on the bus were shocked. They just so happened to be on the same bus. Was someone trying to tell us something? The next stop was a meeting to discuss the next moves for the Civil Rights Movement.

Epilogue

The Civil Rights leaders and Superpowers were in a meeting in Chicago to discuss the next move for the movement. They were all sitting next to each other.

“I think these three young girls should help us in the next march,” Martin said proudly.

“Absolutely!” the girls said repetitiously. They stared at each other in excitement. The two men who were sitting next to Martin and Malcolm nodded in an aye motion after reading the reports in their hand. These two men were deciders who choose what happens next in the movement.

The Superpowers joined forces to change what happened to the Civil Rights leaders. MLK and Malcolm X lived until they were 100 years old. Jolie time traveled back home to another adventure. Eventually, Dianna went back to Vermont. Savannah flew back to California. All three girls’ lives had changed for the better. They were now a part of American History… even though Jolie’s real name could not be mentioned to avoid anyone finding out that she was a time traveler.

The Escapists

SAMIRAH

Chapter 1

I LOOK OUT AT THE CITY from my prison window, sighing unhappily. Yes, I did mean prison. I am currently stuck in the basement of my Uncle’s Dad’s wife’s brother’s son’s mansion, along with a dozen girls. I should probably tell you why I am here in the first place. It’s all my own parent’s fault. I mean, who gets their own child into this so-called “girls’ school”? (As the adults call it.)

Anyway, in this world, we women and girls aren’t allowed to do anything except look pretty. This has been going on for many centuries. So I decided to rebel and run away, which, of course, was against the law. This made my parents call the police, who then ran after me, caught me, and now, here I am. In my prison thing, I want to run, to feel the air whipping my face again. 

In the darkness of night, I lie in my bed, eyes closed, and I try to think of something, anything to let me escape. I do this each and every night, but by midnight, I always think up nothing. 

It’s dinner. I sit down at my usual table with the usual DISGUSTING food to cry silently. Before I start eating, another girl who looks about my age sits down next to me. 

“Hi!” she says with a warm smile.

Before I get a chance to respond, an alarm wails. We look at each other. 

“Fire alarm. Follow me,” I whisper. 

I jog ahead of her and hear the “teachers” (I’ll just call them guards) yell at other inmates to go to their cells, and suddenly, I start sprinting. “HURRY UP!” I call from the end of the hall. When she finally catches up, I find that the door is locked. I curse silently. She takes an ID card from her pocket and stuffs it into the slot in the door. How did she get that?

“Whoa,” we say at the same time. 

The door opens up to a huge dining room with a ceiling so high it could house two medium sized elephants, easy. Above the mahogany table, a crystal chandelier hangs, casting mini rainbows across the room.

LILY

Chapter 2

I’M THAT GIRL SHE’S RUNNING WITH.  This isn’t exactly a new chapter, but whatever. 

Right. We’re in the dining hall. Suddenly, I hear footsteps that sound like they are coming from the room right next to us. “COME ON!” I whisper-shout to the girl I am escaping with. I duck underneath the table. Fortunately, a fancy embroidered tablecloth hangs over the table so we are hidden, for now…

The door creaks open just as she makes it under the table.

I press my face to the ground, and I can make out a dozen fancy heels and loafers coming toward our hiding place. The chairs squeak as they’re pulled back to be sat in. The people’s feet move under the table, and now we barely have any space. I can hear my breath, louder than I want it to be. My heart pounds. They’re just people, I think, trying to calm myself down. They have ugly, expensive shoes. They can’t chase us that fast. I still tremble.  

The fancy people start talking. 

“I have heard there’s been a fire,” says one lady in a crisp accent.

“Yes, and I think that a few girls have even escaped! I am astounded. We need to make catching them our top priority,” a man adds.

There is much gasping to this statement. Fancy people. Psh.

Back to the story.

Another man states in a cold voice, “Luckily, they won’t get far. As they are mere girls.” He spits out the word. “They won’t be able to run much.” The men laugh evilly, but the women sniff, being girls themselves.

 We stay still there for an hour. Two hours. Finally, the adults scoot back the chairs and stand up. 

“Thank you so much, Mr. Deague, I’ve had the most wonderful of times here,” a lady says graciously.

“Ah, but we are not done! Let’s go out to the yard, and finish this party there!”

The fancy adults cheer like children at a carnival. They walk through the door on my left side, leaving the huge door open behind them. 

“Maybe we shouldn’t go that way,” I suggest.

“Yeah… but before we go, what’s your name?”

“Lily,” I tell her. “What’s yours?”

“Samirah. Or Sam. Let’s go!” 

***

We race to the opposite door to the one the party guests went through, and it leads into a GIANT kitchen. On the walls, pots and pans hang from copper hooks. There are two stoves — one big one and one the same size a regular person has. Another door is on the other side of the room from where we came from. But then I stop in my tracks. A woman, wearing a cook’s uniform, faces the wall. Surely she heard us opening the door.

But she just says, “Ah, that would be Mr. Bonrab. Could you please tell the master that their drinks will be ready in five minutes?”

We look at each other.

“Um… yes. Yes, I can!” I squeak.

We wouldn’t be able to carry that message. Oops. 

Together, Sam and I turn to the other door and run out as fast as we can.

SAMIRAH

Chapter 3

THE DOOR TAKES US TO ANOTHER HUGE ROOM. This time, it’s the front hall. Well, probably more like one of the twenty front halls. That’s how big this place is. A big oak staircase climbs up to the second floor. A dozen doors lead out to different rooms, and right ahead of us is the front door. But I hold my breath. It can’t be that easy. There has to be some security. It’s a mansion! 

Turns out, I’m right. A man in a navy blue guard’s uniform comes out of one of the many doors. His face glistens, like he has been just exercising.

“And just what are you doing here?” the man asks. 

“Oh… we’re just friends of the kids here!” Lily jumps in.

“The master has no children, and no children are currently staying here.” 

“… ah.” Lily looks guiltily at me. I try to send her It’s okay with my eyes.

“Oh, sorry! She got mixed up. Um, she means that, uh… ”

“I don’t think you are meant to be here. You seem to be… trespassing. I’m going to take you to a room upstairs, where you will wait for me to come back.”

“Ok,” I sigh.

Goodbye freedom.

***

So now, we’re stuck in a room that’s locked and we have NO IDEA how to get out. This is FUN. Why me? I think angrily. I just want to be free.

I survey my surroundings.

There are two wooden chairs in front of a big mahogany desk, and behind it, a swivel chair. On the desk was a desktop computer, and pens. The walls were bare except for a small painting and a vent, which is directly behind the desk. No windows, no doors except for the one we came through. They must really not want us to get out. I sit on one of the two chairs facing the desk, and Lily sits in the other chair. We have nothing to do but wait. I can hear my heart, fast as a racehorse.

And wait.

THUMP

And wait.

THUMP

And finally, after what seems like forever, I hear beeping from the hallway. The door slowly opens, and in comes the guard from before. 

“Hello again. I am a guard here, as you know, and my name is Mr Berdis.” He sits down in the swivel chair. “Could you please tell me your names? Your real names?”

“I — I am… Joel,” I fake, my voice shaky. 

He studies me for a few seconds. I don’t breathe.

“I’m deciding to believe you,” he announces.

WHEW. That went better than I thought it would. “And… um… will you let us go?” I ask hopefully.

“I might, after you — ” He points to Lily. “After you tell me your name, and both of you explain what the heck you were doing in this place.”

Lily says her name is Matilda, but then the guard warns us, “You young ladies look like you’re eleven, so I hope you won’t lie. But, however, if I do figure out you are not telling me the truth, things will not go well for you.”

“Okay,” is all I can say, when something amazing happens.

LILY

Chapter 4

YOU KNOW HOW THERE’S A VENT RIGHT BEHIND THE DESK?  That vent is our savior. Wait. Actually, our savior is a red-head teenager who looks like she’s around fifteen. That’s all I have time to register before I’m knocked out. (Disrespectful, frowny face.) Well, I also see the guard get knocked cold too. Anyways.

***

When I finally come to, my vision’s blocked by a black and white checkered blindfold. I want to take it off, but something tells me if I do that, I’ll get knocked out again. I decide against it. I can feel the bounce of someone walking and the two warm, strong arms that are carrying me. The blindfold is ripped off my face, and I see that we are in a new room. A door of each wall leads into other rooms. 

A face looms above me as I sit, propped against the wall, on the floor. I stifle a yelp. 

“It’s fine. We jus’ wanna see if you two are worth the rescue,” the girl assures me. I realize she’s the same red-head that rescued (or captured) us. “Um… h-hi?” I stutter. 

She chuckles. “Heh. It’s fine. I just knocked you out ‘cause we can’t have other people knowin’ how to get ‘ere.”

“Okay, but could you tell me anything? Like how you knew we were in the room?” I need some information before telling them about me. “Alright. We will, but I’m gonna wait for our leader to tell you, when she gets back from her mission,” Red-Head decides. “And my name is Rainda,” she adds, and exits the room. I watch people streaming in and out of the four doors.

Okay. Recap. We escaped from prison (ugh, “girls’ school”) because of a fire, ran around the mansion a bit, got captured, got rescued, knocked out, and now here I am, in what seems like a colony of people that — no. Too much is happening. My head spins. 

I look at the desk and chair in the middle of the room.

“Uuhnwah?” I hear from beside me. I look over, and see Sam stirring. “Wait-what-where-are-we? Lily?”

“Yeah? I’m here.” I take her hand.

“Good.” She exhales with a big whoosh, her dark complexion turns red. I put my hand back in my lap. “Where are we?” she asks, so I explain everything Rainda told me.

“So now… we just wait for their leader to come,” I finish.

A few minutes later, Rainda comes back. “She’ll come pretty soon, ‘K?” 

“Got it,” Sam and I say, jinxing. 

Just as Red-Head said, the leader comes a little later. She wears a black bodysuit, with twin knives strapped where jean pockets usually go. “You’re not gonna stab us with those, are you?” Samirah eyes the knives nervously. I’m worrying about the same thing.

“Oh no, I won’t,” the woman laughs, laying the knives on the desk. “So,” she starts. “You were rescued, or captured if you want, by Miss Rainda here.” She nods at Rainda approvingly. “And now you probably want to know why we did that, and who we are?” 

“Yeah, pretty much,” I add. “But no blindfolds next time, please.”

“I’m afraid I can’t grant you that wish, but will tell you about us. Oh, and by the way, my name is Sona. Anyway, we call ourselves the ‘Escapists.’ Others call us… never mind. It is away from what I was about to say.”

Never mind? They call themselves Never mind? Oh. She doesn’t want us to know.

She doesn’t trust you… my mind whispers. You should grab those knives and run. 

“Be quiet.” I accidentally say aloud.

“What?” asks the leader. 

“Uh… sorry, never mind.” I bite my lip.

SAMIRAH

Chapter 5

HOW COME SHE GOT TO BE CONSCIOUS FIRST? Oh, well. We don’t all get what we want. 

“So,” Sona continues, “we’re always recruiting new people to help us. We’re alway watching, writing down the people who we think will help us. We’ve been watching you two for a while, and now I’m sure that you can help us. We just had to break you out.”

“Um… what skills do we have?” I wonder.

“Well, you, Samirah, are pretty fast. You can run away from people trying to capture you.” She draws out the word pretty. “I hear you’ve already tried to run away?”

“Well, yes… but — ” I try to protest, but Sona reminds me,

“Those men are four times your leg size, Samirah. And you almost got away!”

Fine. It’s true. I am much smaller than the men, and I did almost get away, but I don’t know if I can really trust the Escapists. 

“And you, Lily, taught yourself to pickpocket,” she says.

Lily and I stare at each other. How did she possibly know this much about us?

  “How do you — ” Lily starts.

“Know so much about you?” 

“Yeah.”

“I can’t tell you, unless you join us.”

***

Rainda leads us to another room, where she tells us we’ll be sharing it. Instead of a desk and chairs, it’s a bedroom, and actually cozy! There’s a bunk bed with non-pink sheets (finally!), on the right side of the room, and a dresser with some new clothes that don’t include dresses for tomorrow. It’s kind of small, but I like it. Since I don’t really have any belongings, I claim the top bunk with the jacket I had on. There isn’t a window, but there is a whole bookshelf, and I LOVE reading. 

As I sift through the bookshelf for a good book, Lily asks me, taking a break from another book she found, “Do you think they made the alarm go off?”

“Who is ‘they’?” I ask her.

“The Escapists, stupid!” she responds, acting like a little sister. 

“Maybe…” I trail off. “Do you think we should join them? I don’t really have a nice place to return to.”

“I’m thinking about it. I also don’t really have a safe home, either.”

“So that’s a yes?” I ask, my voice hopeful.

“Not yet.”

LILY

Chapter 6

I’M MAD. I DON’T KNOW WHY. I JUST AM. It’s probably just because I’m tired (and hungry). I’ve had a long day, escaping from the prison thing, running around a mansion for a while, then getting captured for the second time that day, (the first is when I met Sam), then getting rescued and given an impossible choice: should I stay or should I go?

Hey, that kinda reminds me of that song by… what was it? Oh, whatever. I need sleep. I look down at my watch, given to me by my dead mother. (Long story… one that I don’t like.) It’s 10 o’clock! “Alright, bye. Imma crash,” I tell Sam, who looks surprised. I haven’t really talked for the past hour. I clamber onto the bottom bunk, staring up at Sam’s mattress above me. I lie like this a while, thinking about if I should join the Escapists. Long past when Samirah starts quietly, almost politely, snoring, I finally fall asleep.

***

My eyelids flutter open. For a count of three, I don’t move. Then I get up, making my bunk creak. 

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Sam jokes from the top bunk. “I’ve been awake for an hour already.”

“Samirah — ” I protest.

“Yeah, I know. Come on! Get dressed and have some breakfast.” She seems to be in a good mood, making my spirits rise a little. 

We walk back to the intersection, once again bustling with people. Where we had met Sona, the Escapists’ leader, the day before. Rainda comes bounding towards us. “You want some breakfast?”  

“Yeah,” I respond.

“Alrigh’. This way!” She gestures for us to follow her, then jogs into the door on our right. We walk down a long corridor with long light fixtures, turn left, down another shorter corridor, which then opens up into a smallish restaurant. 

“You have a restaurant here?”

“Yup! Our entrance is… Oops.” 

***

After a nice breakfast of a syrup lake with a side of pancakes, sausage, and chocolate milk, I feel fully refreshed. 

Rainda then takes us back to the intersection, where we meet up with Sona, who is at her desk. Again. 

“Have you come to a conclusion yet?” she asks us.

“No…” I say at the same time Sam says,

“Yeah!” 

“Okay then… Samirah, are you going to stay with us?” Wait for it… wait for it… 

“Well, I wanna stay with you guys. But… I also want to be with Lily.”

Huh. I thought she was going to leave me. So, now I have an easier choice. “Now I’m leaning towards staying too.” I inform Sona. “But I still don’t really know.” 

“Okay. That’s fine.” She doesn’t look mad at me, which I appreciate. With a warm smile, she turns to Sam. “But I’m glad you want to help us!” 

My insides seem to melt. Sona is being so nice to me, yet I still don’t really want to be with her. My own friend is joining, and I still don’t want to. Why do I still think I can find my father? I won’t! Ever! 

When my mom died of a pandemic virus called Repoat two years ago (another pandemic centuries ago that you might have heard of is Coronavirus. That one was famous), my dad left me in the care of one of his friends, who I really don’t like. Blah blah blah. 

 Me and Sam walk back to our room. When we get there, she asks, “Why don’t you want to join?” I guess I should break the news. I tell her everything I just told you, pouring my troubles out. When I finish, I feel so much better, I want to jump around. She doesn’t even say ‘I’m sorry’ and move on. Instead, she mutters, “And I thought I had the worst problems.”

“Like what?”

“Well, getting captured. Having the worst parent in the world,” she answers.

“But I had no idea you were dealing with that.”

Now that I think about it, my dad probably didn’t want me. Not that I was bad (well, I do pickpocket… ) but that he just wasn’t a good dad. 

“Sam,” I announce, “I have something to tell Sona.”

SAMIRAH

Chapter 7

WELL, THAT WAS SOME NEWS. But at least Lily joined! I walk with her to Sona’s desk. When she hears the news, she exclaims, “Great! You two have to do one quick thing before you’re officially with us. DEVIN?” she calls. “LEAD THESE TWO TO THE JOINING ROOM, PLEASE!”

A girl who tells us nervously, “Hi! I’m — uh… I’m Devin! And I’m um… twelve.” Then, she scurries like a mouse through the same room we went through to get to breakfast. 

***

It takes a while to get there, but eventually we arrive at the room. The “joining room” is a metal-walled room with two dozen big bubbling vats filled with molten metal of all different colors. One vat has pink (ugh), another has turquoise, and yet another with red liquid metal. There are a ton of other colors, but it would take me a while to go to all of them. On a table that leans against the back wall sits smallish-medium cement squares, carved deep with small to medium C’s, next to a various assortment of tools and other things. The room is so hot, I can feel the hairs of my arms rising.

“Um.. I’m going to stay with you until another person comes who will — uhh, help you,” Devin informs us. 

“Okay!” I whimper, my voice squeakier that I like. Those vats of lava-like metal make me feel small and tender. 

***

Finally, a young woman with a brown leather tool belt and a long ponytail comes in and tells us her name is Henrya. “What’re your guy’s favorite colors?” 

“Turquoise,” I tell her.

“Ooh! That’ll go nice with your dark skin,” Henrya exclaims. 

“I like red,” Lily says.

“Nice! Red will look great on you too!” Henrya tells us as she takes out a flexible measuring tape. “I need to measure your wrists.” 

She wraps the measuring tape around my wrist and mutters, “Size five,” then measures Lily’s wrist. “Size four.”

Henrya takes a big ladle with a mouth from the table and dips it in the vat of turquoise molten metal, then pours it into the carved C of one of the cement squares.

She then dips the ladle in the vat filled to the brim with red liquid metal, and pours that into another deeply carved C a little smaller than mine.

“Now we just have to wait,” she tells Lily and me, as the metal liquid steams.

***

Around half an hour later, after some tries at break-the-ice chats, the metal C’s are getting cool. “Alright,” Henrya stands up and walks over to the table where the metal C’s are cooling. “The metal bracelets are getting cool now!”

She takes a tool from the table, and uses it to pry the two metal C’s out of the squares. 

“Ooh! Hot!” Henrya recoils her arm when she tries to pick up one of the bracelet things.

“I thought they were cooling?” I frown. “What are they, anyway?” 

“Well, they were cooling. But they just aren’t super cool yet.”

“Oh.” 

“And I’ll get back to you later about your second question.”

Henrya takes out another two cement squares, this time carved with small holes. There is already silver cooled metal in the holes, which she also takes out of its mold. On my bracelet, she attaches the one of little silver dots into a slot I didn’t notice before. 

“You don’t have to watch me the whole time. It’s gonna take a while.” Henrya glances at us. I was getting pretty bored.

“M’kay.” I look at Lily. “Do you wanna leave?” 

“Sure.” She turns to Henrya. “We’re going to leave. See ya!” She hightails it out of the room, clearly as bored as I am. I follow her out. 

LILY

Chapter 8

WE WALK BACK to the dorm room, and a thought occurs suddenly to me. I’ve never seen anyone male with the Escapists.

“Hey… Sam? Have you ever seen a man here?”

“Yeah! Of course I have! You’ve met your dad, right? He’s a man!”

I slap my face. “No, stupid! Here! With the Escapists!”

“Ohhhhh. Here? I’ve never seen a man here.”

“Then I guess this is an all-girls community.” 

So maybe they rescue only girls? Or they rescued boys, too, but don’t allow them to join? Now I’m just confusing myself.

I walk to the bookshelf to get out the book I was reading before. I only finish a page or two before there’s a knock on my door. “Come in?” 

The door opens a little, and Devin peeks through the crack. She opens the door fully, making it creak in annoyance. “The bracelet things Henrya was making are ready!” she announces.

I groan. “Can we just, like, relax a little?”

“Well… no. Sorry. Come on!” Devin bounces out of the doorway. 

Ugh. fine. We followed her into the intersection with Sona’s desk. Henrya waited next to the desk, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Ah! Finally,” she exclaims when we get there. “I just finished the things I was making! So, here they are!” She holds out the two metal C’s for us to see.

“So… what are those?” I ask. 

“They’re bracelets.” Henrya tells me, as if I don’t know.

“I know that, but — ”

“Yeah, yeah. So. these three buttons here? This silver one calls for help if you get caught, and this black one here means you’ve found a possible recruit, and it’ll take a picture of  the possible recruit. This white one deploys a glider!”

“Wow.”

We take a moment to admire it.

“How do you do this? This is like, top rank technology, from the future!” Sam’s eyes widen.

“Once you’re with us for a while, I’ll show you!” Henrya beams. “Who wants me to put it on first?”

“Uh.. me?” I say.

“Is that a question?”

“Me. Me first, please,” I correct myself.

She clamps it around my wrist, and I black out. 

SAMIRAH

Chapter 9 

I’M NERVOUS. REAL NERVOUS. When Lily blacks out, I’m cornered by Devin and Henrya. “It’s your turn.” Henrya grins evilly.

I struggle, trying to resist them putting on the blackout bracelet (as I call it), but it does no good. My vision turns black as I think, once again, goodbye, freedom. 

***

My eyelids flutter open. I yelp as I see a face looming over me, but then I settle back down when I realize it’s just Lily.

“Where are we?” I wonder. 

“Just take a look.” she says miserably.

I do. We’re in a metal box, not tiny, but not big. That’s it. Just a bare, metal walled box. 

Chhhhhhhhick! A panel I didn’t notice before slides open. A new woman with blond hair pops into the new opening. 

“Hah! Still there. You’ll need some food, huh?”

The woman ducks out of the opening, and returns a few seconds later with two trays. “Here ya go!” she says, and hands over the two trays. Plopped onto the tray was some oatmeal. Was it morning? 

“Lily, you have a watch right? What time is it?”

“7 A.M.” 

“Was I out for a while?

“I dunno. I was conscious just before you,” she tells me.

We stay in the small metal room for a week (according to Lily’s watch). I’m bored, hungry and scared most of the time. We get food two times a day, instead of three. 

“We need to find a way out of here,” I say, then notice a camera filming us and listening to us. 

“There’s a security camera,” I whisper, as if it will make a difference to how the camera hears us. 

“Well, shoot. I guess we can make a secret language?” Lily suggests.

“Yeah, but we’ll have to face the opposite direction from the camera.” 

I turn the other way, but I find another camera on that side, too. “Well, that’s great,” I mutter.

No one talks for a few minutes.

Lily speaks up. “Um… could we do the child’s position from yoga, and make up the moves under ourselves?”

“Yeah! Great idea. They’ll hear us, but they won’t understand!”

So this is what we do. After maybe another few days, our sign language thing is done!

Now we need to think up a plan, I say, using our secret code.

LILY

Chapter 10

 OUR PLAN IS PRETTY SIMPLE. We will wait until the woman who gives us food comes, and me and Sam will pull her in. Then, I will pickpocket her and climb out of the hole. Then we will lock the woman in so she can’t follow us. (We made the plan through our code.)

We wait until dinner, which we think will be the best time because all the guards will be tired. The panel on the ceiling slides open. “Here’s your dinner!” Dinner-Woman tells us. Her coat hangs down through the hole, and I grab it and pull with all my weight. Sam takes a hold too. The woman topples into the room. Before she knows what happens, I take a keycard from her pants pocket. I clamber out of the room, Sam right behind me. With the keycard I took from her, and seal the room. 

I’m out of the room, on the run again. I run around, trying to find a map so we can get out. 

I hear footsteps echoing through the hallway behind us. 

“We need to go faster!” I whisper at Samirah, too rushed to use our code. The footsteps are closer now. I can hear the pounding of feet loud and clear, instead of echoey. My shirt snags on something. I turn around to free my shirt but instead, a woman in a guard’s uniform stares at me. I kick her shins, freeing myself from her grasp. She falls over with a big WHUMP.

Ahead of me, Sam pushes open a door. The room is deserted except for an asleep woman behind a wooden table. The grey painted walls peel at the edges. Then I see our goal: a door behind the woman at the table, labeled with a glowing, blinking orange “exit” sign. 

Not wanting to wake up the woman, I tell Sam in our sign language, go to the door!

“Ok.” 

I see a small black slot in the door. 

Use the card to open the door, I say using the code. I hold out the card. She grabs it for my hand and steps quietly to the door. She inserts the card into the slot.

Click! The door unlocks! We’re freeeeeeeee

“Not so fast.” The woman we thought was asleep turns out to just be faking. With a start I realize the woman is Sona. We’re so close to freedom, and we get caught! The fourth time this week! 

“I’m not capturing you,” she says, surprising me. “I may be the leader, but another person is trying to take my spot.”

“So — ”

“So what I’m saying is what happened was a test, though they did it way too harshly,” she cuts in. “Go to Sederburg Street. Look for the dumpster. There’s a slot. Put the card in. You’ll be in the real headquarters.”

“Gotcha.”

Together, me and Sam jump through the doorway, into the world.

To be continued…

The Hungry Lion

I am so hungry. Oh, hi, I am a nice lion. I love to sleep. I have to go now. Oh no! My tail feels loose! I have to find something to eat! Oh, look, I’ve found some deer, but another lion is trying to eat all of the deer. 

“Hey, you, stop eating all of the deer!” the nice lion said. 

 “Never!” said the mean lion. 

“Fine. If you do not share, I will quickly attack you,” the nice lion said. 

Then, the mean lion ran away from the nice lion. And then the nice lion was so close, but he saw that there were so many more obstacles that he did not know what to do. So then there was a big brick wall that he needed someone to dig under. So then a cheetah asked the nice lion if he needed some help. So the nice lion said yes. So the cheetah dug under the brick wall for the nice lion. But then he saw the antelope running away! But the lion followed them. So then, when he followed them, a very, very big antelope had a big horn, so then the big antelope fought the lion! So then the mom lion found the nice lion and brought him back home, but the mom lion brought him to his starting place! So he had to do everything over again. 

So then he found a big sled so he could ride on it and knock into everything, even into the big antelope with big horns. So then the nice lion found the antelope, but he only ate the hairy parts of the antelope, which was the tail. So then the lion became very mad and he had to run very fast, but he was not as fast as the cheetah! So then he called the cheetah and they became best friends. The cheetah was hungry, too, so they both ate together. 

The End! 

Rolly and Mouse

Once upon a time, there was a dog. His name was Rolly. He loved to chew Mouse, his toy. 

Mouse was a slightly chewed up and dirty bone. One day, Rolly went on a trip with his owner. He took Mouse with him because he loved Mouse. His trip was a road trip, so one day on the road trip, he went with his owner to get food and he took Mouse with him. He chewed him but he was too hungry, so he dropped Mouse and went to the car to eat. But he forgot Mouse! So he ate but then he realized there was no Mouse. 

He went downstairs in the van and he looked at the kitchen. “No Mouse!” he cried to his owner. “Where is Mouse?” But his owner was a person so he did not understand what Rolly wanted. He took him out of the car because he thought Rolly needed to walk cause he was in the car for a long time. He was sad at night, he could not go to sleep. All day, he looked everywhere, no Mouse. He cried so much, but his owner did not know what he wanted. He asked, “Do you want your food?”

Yes, but that’s not what I want, I want Mouse! He nodded, yes, I want food. And the owner gave him food and he tried to find Mouse. He was sad the next night. He went out to get some food in the restaurant he lost Mouse. He saw a dog that was next to Mouse. He barked, “Get out of the way! This is my toy!”

The dog said, “No, it’s mine.” 

His owner said, “What’s wrong?”

 Rolly pointed. “Look at that dog.”

 “He has Mouse!” the owner said. Rolly went close to the dog and he was mad, really mad. 

“You have my mouse.” 

“Come get him.” 

The dog chewed Mouse. Rolly went to the dog and got Mouse. They tugged. “Stop, this is my toy,” said the dog. 

“Hey,” said Rolly. “That’s my Mouse.” 

“No,” said the dog. He tugged harder. Rolly tugged harder. “No,” said the other dog, and he tugged even harder. Rolly tugged harder. They tugged more. The owner of the dog that tugged Mouse came. Rolly’s owner came and tugged at Mouse. 

Rolly said, “I need Mouse, he’s my toy, he’s mine, you took him, I dropped him from my mouth, you can’t take him. Now I can’t sleep without Mouse, I can’t do anything without Mouse, he’s my toy, you can’t take him.” 

Rolly tugged harder. The dog cried. He said, “That was a beautiful sentence. You can have Mouse, I see how much you care about him. I see how much you love him, so he can go.”

 Rolly, the owner, and Mouse went to the hotel they were staying in. After they were there for a week, they went swimming and after that they went home and they lived happily ever after. 

Potato Land Book One: Humans Try to Take Over Potato Land But One Awesome Team Will Stop the Humans!

Chapter 1: Evacuate!

“Ring, Ring!” The lunch bell rang and all the students of the Potato School filed together inside the cafeteria to eat lunch. William, a young potato child, sat down on a table to eat his yummy ham and cheese sandwich. Shortly after he took his second bite out of his sandwich, he heard a “THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.” The ground shook fiercely. 

“Oh my!” a potato child exclaimed. 

“What is happening?” another said. And all the potato children ran outside their school and saw huge pieces of floppy laces with what looked like shoes attached to them. (The potatoes themselves usually just wore t-shirts and shorts.) Then they saw humans! William felt very scared at the moment. He shivered.  

“Ahhhhhhh!!!” Everybody screamed including the humans because they were so surprised to see talking potatoes. So all the potato children and potato teachers went to the evacuation center and pressed a big red button that set an alarm off to every building in Potato Land. Every Potato Land citizen knew exactly what it meant. They all went to an underground hole and sat there. 

Chapter 2: William Barely Escapes the Hands of a Human!

For days and days they sat in that big hole. Until one day brave William thought to himself, we can’t just hide here forever, someone has to stop the humans from destroying our land! So William carefully climbed out of the emergency hole and went out to stop the humans! 

“William?” his parents called out. Where are you?” 

“Oh no. I guess he went exploring again,” his mom said. His parents were used to him getting lost. 

“Oooh, what is this?” A human had come to William and had been licking his lips. 

“Ahhhh!” screamed William. He slowly looked up and saw a human looking down hungrily at him. “Please don’t eat me,” whimpered William, his braveness fading. 

“What else do you think I will do?” boomed the human. “Not eat you? Ha ha ha!” 

William scrambled up to the top of a building barely escaping the hands of a big scary human. 

Chapter 3: William Creates a Team!

He went back to the hole and thought about going outside again to fight the humans but he realized that he would need a team. As he climbed back into the hole, his parents rushed over to him. 

“What were you thinking, William?!” cried William’s dad. 

“We were so worried about you!” said his mom while hugging him tightly. 

“I was trying to save Potato Land. Our land! But I will need a team to fight the humans and to keep them from eating us,” said William. 

So William went to find some people to join his team. First, he went to find his friends, but when he found them they were so cowardly that they wouldn’t even come out to see him. So then William went to find some random people in the deep dark hole who were brave and adventurous to join his team. At last he found four other potato children who volunteered to help fight the big, bad humans! There were two girls and two boys. 

“Hello everyone.” William said. “Thank you for coming and joining my team! I am very grateful for that. Shall we call ourselves The Brave?” Everybody nodded in agreement. “Then great! Let’s go!” The Brave set off into the dark night trying to wake the humans from their sleep.

Chapter 4: Defeating the Humans!

It turns out, the humans made a whole city out of Potato Land! Oh no! thought William. He saw some humans clustered around his school using hammers to break it down and turn it into a new building!

 “Over there!” William told his team. They rushed toward the humans and started hitting them. William had lots of bad luck because  he saw the human who tried to eat him earlier! Oh no. William thought. Had he come to try and eat me again?

 “Hey!” said the human who tried to eat William. “Aren’t you the tasty potato that I tried to eat earlier?”

“No offense, but you do look very tasty.” 

“I take offense very much!” said William.

 “Hey, let’s get on with fighting them,” whispered one of his teammates.

“Okay, sorry,” answered William. The potato children charged at the humans and surprised them but when they hit the humans, the humans didn’t feel a thing.

“AAARRRGGGHHH,” William shouted so loudly that the humans flew back from the impact.

 “How did you do that?” His teammates asked.

“I… don’t know.” William said, just as surprised as them.

“Get him!” cried the human who tried to eat William.

“Run!” William told his team.

“I shall defeat them once and for all!” “YYYEEEAAAHHH!!!” Once again, William did the cry so loud this time even louder than the first one and all the humans around them flew back millions of miles away from them.

Chapter 5: Announcing the Hero of the Day! 

     “YES!” his whole team yelled. “WOO-HOO!”

“We did it!!!” All the potatoes in Potato Land crowded the hero of the day. The mayor himself came up to William and told every potato in the land that William was the hero of the day and from then on, he and his team were called, “The Mighty Brave.”            

The End

Rain

I was only inside for the fourth day in a row and it was killing me. It was finally camp time, the time I look forward to all year, and it just wouldn’t stop raining. I wished I was back in Miami with Jenna, Ryder, Mom, and Dad. Instead, I had to be in this terrible sleepaway camp bunk. Don’t get me wrong, I love camp. It’s just I’d way rather be stuck at my mansion in Miami then in a tiny bunk. At camp, you can do lots of things, just not when it’s pouring rain. We don’t even have a TV. Thank god Katey, a girl from my camp, brought her iPad. Without that iPad, we’d be dead.

As the sunlight peaked out over the lake, I got out of bed. The rest of the girls in my cabin were already up and waiting for me to wake up. We all put on our coats and sprinted to the dining hall. That was the only place that we could see other people from camp. Today’s breakfast was blueberry muffins and apple juice. When I got into the dinning hall, I overheard a girl ask my BFF Julia if the clouds would ever stop peeing. At least Julia’s in my bunk, I thought to myself.

“Penny,” I heard Julia call, and I realized I was still at the juice counter.

Julia

Julia is Penny’s best friend. They have been in the same camp cabin with the other girls forever, but have a strong relationship. They are both born in October and both love to dance. Though all the girls in the cabin are friends, they are besties. Julia is from Illinois and is in fifth grade.

Katey

 Katey is the coolest girl in the bunk and who the girls rely on for snacks. She is obsessed with water skiing and is very good. She’s from the Hamptons so she is an expert swimmer. We always have our spring break sleepover at her house, even though some people have to fly.

Carrie

Carrie is the fancy person in the bunk. She lives in Connecticut and her dad is a lawyer. She does swimming and lacrosse. We have our winter sleepover at her house because she has an indoor pool and spa.

Jenny

Jenny is the DIY queen and is super nice. She is really good at soccer and she always wins the games for us. Her parents write to her every week (sheesh). She lives in Texas and always brings BBQ to the sleepovers. 

Adley

Adley is the funniest person in the world. She always makes us feel better with a joke. She’s also the best makeup artist in the world, and makes us look so good for the end of year party. She is from New York and is such a city girl.

Brin

Brin is the rider. She does super high jumps on horses. That girl is from Florida and she is very good at cooking southern food. She cooks fried chicken for us every year and it’s so good. She taught us all to play Gin-Rummy and now we play it every night.

Audrey

Audrey is our counselor. She is super arts & crafts-y and loves water polo. She was a camper here for 7 years and she loves camp. I’m glad she’s our counselor because she’s super fun. She always talks about how one time, she was at camp and it snowed!

After a long night of watching TV and sleeping, we got up for breakfast. We went to the dining hall and ate some fruit and oatmeal, then trudged back through the rain to our cabin. We got dressed into elastic pants and t-shirts, then headed over to the gym. Today we had dance class and basketball. I wish we could swim in the lake, but we can’t. At least we can go to the gym today. It’s finally open. Usually, we’d be camping tonight on top of Mt. Shirly. It is a tough climb, but worth it.

It’s 7:00 pm and we are having a movie marathon with candy (which we do every night and love). Tonight, I’m not very focused because of the rain. It is pattering and pouring down from the sky so, so hard. Julia and I are next to each other whispering while the other girls watch Mamma Mia. I grab my phone and tell the camp girls that I’m gonna go get cookies from the cafeteria house. I step outside expecting it to be pouring, but it’s not. The rain is falling slower and slower until it completely stops. I call the girls and we celebrate. One by one, the cabins empty and the path fills. The counselors set up a campfire and we all roast s’mores together. There’s still one more week of camp to do fun things outside. I can’t wait for tomorrow, which is something I haven’t said in awhile.

Fortnite

Editor’s Note: This story is inspired by the game Fortnite, which was developed by Epic Games. Content Warning for gun usage and video game violence.

One day I was playing squads on Fortnite with my friends when all of a sudden my TV started glowing. I put my hand up to the screen and my hand went through it. I was confused. Then I said into the mic, “Hey guys, are you seeing this?” 

Zaniya asked, “Seeing what?” 

Then I realized only I could be part of the Fortnite world. Maybe. Is this what I actually think it is? I cautiously walked in, and I realized I was in a lobby. I thought Fortnite had a lobby. I was in a Fortnite lobby! I remembered I was with my friends. I slapped my forehead thinking, am I dreaming or hallucinating? I thought if I was in Fortnite I could change what I was wearing. I went into the clothing section and saw all my skins. In order to test my theory that I was not dreaming or hallucinating, I went to the emote section and saw all my emotes. Next to Vbucks, I saw everything that I had in real life I had here in this virtual world. It’s like I entered Fortnite – or did I?

I heard a voice say, “Games starting in 3, 2, 1!”

I was immediately transported through the air and brought to what looked like the waiting place from my gaming experience. This was different. It looked exactly like Fortnite but you could not get killed. I floated over to the Battle Bus, and then we flew into my favorite game. I figured I was in Fortnite, so I got ready to win a game. I dropped and landed at a humongous house and walked inside. I picked up a gun and started firing it. Firing the gun felt good and I thought, I think I’ll like it here. I grabbed the loot and after I was done, I had an AR, a shotgun, an RPG, and healing. A few seconds later, I could hear footsteps and got ready. As soon as they came inside the person tried to shoot me but I jumped so high. I was surprised how high I could jump! I shot at him and lasered him and he died. I looked up and watched in amazement as I saw my kills, my health, my ammo, and my building materials. I wondered if someone was playing me and I was the character in Fortnite. I did a move only I knew to test my theory. I set C4 bombs everywhere, got a gun, and shot the house down. The loot rained down on me. Then I built my own house/base to live in and protect myself. I made windows and doors and everything that belongs in a base and more. A few more people came to the house. I bombed, sniped, shot out the air, and killed everyone. I, ZRC, ended the game with a win and 20 kills. 

Later that day, I, ZRC, was relaxing and partying at Party Hub. I was thinking about how good I was and how I won every game I went to. I knew this was a dream come true and I would never leave. The excitement was like a bubble about to burst when I heard over the intercom, “Come to the lounge where you will meet all agents.” I ran to the inter-lounge and saw Skye, Midas, Meoscles, Pelly, and Brutus. Over the intercom, I heard they were going to pick one person to become a new agent in Fortnite. Everyone cheered! I was full of excitement. Midas said “Drum roll please, the new agent also the best Fortnite player here other than us is ZRC!” I said, “YES!” and jumped for joy! My friends said “Yeah man!” 

After everyone left the lounge, the agents told me to stay behind and pick my favorite gun to be my weapon as an agent, and to make a new skin.

I picked a shotgun and the skin I made had a wolf mask. My hands and arms were covered in ice and my body was very muscular with abs and biceps. I looked down. I was wearing an ice skin with an ice shotgun and ice arms and hands. Being an agent was hard work. I had to pick henchmen to work as assistants. I had to pick a place to stay where I lived. I chose to make Salty Springs into an ice land with a mansion in the front with henchmen as guards. I had become a hot drop, which means everyone is coming here to get my gun. Whenever someone killed me, I would just respawn into another game. I checked my pocket to see if I had my phone. When I pulled out my phone, a piece of paper appeared in my hands and told me to call myself. I called myself and on the phone screen. It said, Zahir has answered. He heard my voice saying, “Hello? Hello?” Then I asked, “Can you play me on Fortnite?”

 “Wait, what do you mean to play you? Don’t you see me the new agent bro? I don’t know what you’re talking about, bye.”

 ZRC thought that maybe he did not know he was in the game. He knew he wanted to be the best Fortnite player in the world, but to do that he had to defeat Ssunde and the X Brothers. The X Brothers are a glitch that prevent people from winning but they don’t have an external body. They are bots programmed into the game. They just think they are real people but they are actually glitches programmed to ruin the game. My team is the Beard. His special ability is that he can drive things really well like helicopters, boats, and stuff. Zanirock’s special ability is that she can shoot really fast, faster than me, ZRC 2008. I have the special ability to have the best aim in the world and the best leadership in the world. I also have a specialized gun and henchmen. My team and I were itching to battle Ssundee after we placed second best in the world, but Ssundee is always in front. I sometimes wonder how he is so good. Gameday was in 2 days. Today, everyone was partying at Party Royale. Me and my team were having a good time laughing and joking around when our opponents came and said, “Good luck, you’ll need it ‘cause you’re going down!” 

When the X Brothers turned around, I saw them glitch for a second. I told my team, and they said, “What are you talking about?”

“We saw nothing man, just worry about having fun,” we replied.

It was Game Day. My team put on their game faces and walked out into the lobby.

We heard the last words from this bot, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1!”

We were launched into the Battle Bus and jumped out.

Skye dove into the tallest building there. They looted the place and then saw one of the X Brothers. They said, “3, 2, 1,” and killed him in 3 shots.

His brother was hot in pursuit when both X Brothers came out of a bush and said, “We are still here.”

“I talked about how I killed you. Are you hacking at the same time?”

They said, “We are a hack.”

Ssundee came up from the ground and surrounded them. As the leader I am, I took the lead and I shot Ssundee then 360 no-scoped one of the X Brothers. I one-pumped the other X Brother, but they rose back up. We did the only other thing we could do: Trap them with traps. We got spike traps and built a tower so they could not get out and ran 5 seconds later. They heard a noise. Then we heard, “You have won the place of the Best Fortnite Player in the World!” Ssundee and the X Brothers came out of the tower by hacking them. They tried to shoot us but then they went stiff. We all looked up and saw the Fortnite agents controlling him. They said, “You cheated! The penalty is that you get banned from Fortnite FOREVER.”

Me and my team said, “Yes sir!” and we heard my voice in the real world say, “Yes sir!” I got a VIC-Roy and won the place of Best Fortnite player. A machine transported me back home. Now, I had two powers: being able to have the best aim in the world and being able to go in and out of video games whenever I wanted. When I stepped out of the game, my sister, Kyle, and my real self were frozen for a second. Then I thought maybe I freeze time every time I go into a game. After that, I joined my real body, and I played Fortnite.

Spelling Bee Champ

On Monday night, Taylor Chris was sitting on her couch next to her mother. They were watching Taylor’s favorite reality show: Spelling Bee Champ. It was the last round and it was a boy, Marc, vs. a boy, Harry. Marc had to spell nefarious. If he got it right, he’d win the challenge.

Under her breath Taylor spelled, “N-e-f-a-r-i-o-u-s. Nefarious.”

Taylor’s mom chuckled. “Taylor, you should be on this show. Every word they’ve shown, you’ve spelled correctly.”

Taylor shook her head. “No way! Hundreds—no, thousands of people watch this show! Maybe even millions.” Taylor shuddered. 

But little did Taylor know her mom registered her anyway. Taylor loved talking and interacting with other people. The only kind of shy she is, is camera shy. She just doesn’t like being on camera. Marc answered nefarious incorrectly. Next was Harry. Harry had to spell claustrophobic – much harder than nefarious.

“C-l-a-u-s-t-r-o-p-h-o-b-i-c. Claustrophobic. Fear of being in small spaces,” Taylor muttered. Taylor high-fived her mom when she got it correct. Maria Spindle was just about to crown Harry the new Spelling Bee Champ when someone in a sweatshirt and headset came and whispered something in her ear.

Maria Spindle smiled. “Guess what? We’re starting a new promotion: The International Spelling Bee Championship! We’re not just in the US any more!”

Taylor’s mom looked nervous. “Taylor… I registered you for the next spelling bee.”

Taylor was laughing until she saw her mother’s face. “Mom, I know you meant well, but next time make sure that I won’t be going up against the best spellers from around the world before you register me for a contest.” Taylor thought for a minute. “Where are we going?”

“All over. But the first stop is Sydney, Australia, then London, England, then Paris, France, then more.”

Taylor was tired so she went to bed but before she did, she packed one carry-on suitcase. She packed two weeks worth of clothes, pajamas, and shoes for any and every condition. And in her book bag she packed her coloring book, colored pencils, encyclopedia, thesaurus, and dictionary. Finally she went to sleep. She supposed she was excited for the trip but she was too tired to tell.

The next morning, Taylor got up quickly. Their plane for Sydney left at 1:00 pm. They could not be late. Taylor choked down her toast and slurped her orange juice as quickly as she could before her mom stopped her.

“Taylor? Stop this nonsense.We have three hours to get to the airport! It’s only 9:00 am.” Taylor slowly calmed down, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the Spelling Bee. Were there going to be a lot of kids? Was everyone going to be much more sophisticated than her? What if she was the only one her age?! But her mom kept reminding her to calm down. It sort of worked. She supposed. S-u-p-p-o-s-e-d. Usually spelling calmed Taylor down. D-o-w-n. But now those questions just flooded through Taylors head like a storm. S-t-o-r-m. Ugh. Not even spelling could get these questions out of her head. H-e-a-d. Taylor didn’t understand. She’d been in spelling bees before. Why did this bother her? Maybe it was because this would be on international television. T-e-l-e-v-i-s-i-o-n. Taylor was starting to relax and let her guard down, until she thought of a new question. Q-u-e-s-t-i-o-n. Aye. She couldn’t stop thinking of words – but what if during the Spelling Bee she stopped completely? While Taylor’s mom drove them to the airport, Taylor flipped through her dictionary. She pointed her finger to the word wicked. W-i-c-k-e-d. Next cerebrum. C-e-r-e-b-r-u-m. Taylor played this game until they arrived at the airport.

“Mom, can you quiz me on some of the words in my thesaurus?” asked Taylor.

“Of course,” said her mom. The first word was crimson, c-r-i-m-s-o-n, the next catastrophe, c-a-t-a-s-t-r-o-p-h-e, the third private, p-r-i-v-a-t-e, and the last extreme, e-x-t-r-e-m-e. Soon they boarded their flight. Their tickets said first class! They were served hot fudge sundaes with peppermint syrup, and brownies for lunch. As it turned out, it was the captain’s birthday. There was a confetti cake with rainbow frosting and white sprinkles and the party favors were huge bags of toys and fancy chocolates.

At the bottom was a dictionary with a note that said, “Bring home the trophy for the good old US of A. Captain Lenora White.” This dictionary was huge, many more words than her beat up old one. Taylor loved it. Taylor flipped to the middle and pointed to the word crustaceans. C-r-u-s-t-a-c-e-a-n-s. Hyacinth. H-y-a-c-i-n-t-h. Taylor always thought everyone should know the beauty of words.

When they arrived in Sydney, Taylor and her mom took a cab to their hotel. Once there, Taylor’s mom quizzed her with words from the new dictionary.

“Disconcerting!”

Taylor thought for a moment before saying, “D-i-s-c-o-n-c-e-r-t-i-n-g.” Taylor clapped her hands.

“Triumphant!”

Taylor immediately answered, “T-r-i-u-m-p-h-a-n-t.”

Taylor’s mom thought for a moment before saying, “Nonchalant.”

Taylor quickly said, “N-o-n-c-h-a-l-a-n-t!”

Taylor’s mom paused for effect, “Last but not least… unforeseen!” Taylor memorized this word in the cab on the way to their hotel.

“U-n-f-o-r-e-s-e-e-n.”

The next day the Bee began. Taylor’s mom tugged her curly brown hair into pigtails with pink ribbons. Taylor pulled on the pink lace dress she brought, the white tights, and pink sneakers. Taylor took her dictionary and she practiced the word demonstrations. D-e-m-o-n-s-t-r-a-t-i-o-n-s. Then mystery. M-y-s-t-e-r-y. And so on. Right before they left for breakfast, Taylor did the word duplicate. D-u-p-l-i-c-a-t-e.

Taylor sat next to a girl with red hair and green eyes wearing a pink sweater and pink jeans.

“Hi I’m Joanna Kelley. Nice to meet you. This is my sister Amelia Kelley. We’re from England.” Amelia smiled.

“I’m Taylor Chris. Nice to meet you too.”

Amelia asked if the girls wanted to quiz each other. Joanna volunteered her dictionary. Taylor got quizzed on malicious, m-a-l-i-c-i-o-u-s, empty, e-m-p-t-y, and harmonious, h-a-r-m-o-n-i-o-u-s. Joanna got quizzed on trivial, t-r-i-v-i-a-l, classic, c-l-a-s-s-i-c, and charisma, c-h-a-r-i-s-m-a. Amelia got quizzed on marvelous, m-a-r-v-e-l-o-u-s, unruly, u-n-r-u-l-y, and admiration, a-d-m-i-r-a-t-i-o-n.

Soon the Bee started. Maria Spindle called a girl named Karen Lee up first.

“Karen Lee, your word is devotee. Please spell devotee.”

Karen said nervously. “D-e-v-o-t-e-y, devotee.” Taylor sucked in her breath and she knew that was the wrong spelling.

Maria Spindle grimaced. “I’m sorry Karen, but that is the incorrect answer. Devotee is spelled d-e-v-o-t-e-e. You may exit through the double doors.” Maria plastered a smile on her face and said, “Next up… Taylor Chris. Taylor, your word is triskaidekaphobia.”

Taylor sighed in relief. She knew this word. “T-r-i-s-k-a-i-d-e-k-a-p-h-o-b-i-a, triskaidekaphobia.”

Maria beamed. “That is correct Taylor! You’ll be moving onto the next round.” After she went, Taylor didn’t really pay a lot of attention to the other people. The last person to go was a girl named Justine Fleur from Paris. Justine got the word sapphire, s-a-p-p-h-i-r-e. She got it incorrect. She spelled it with only one p.

After the Bee, there was a banquet for lunch. There was roast chicken, steamed broccoli, vegetable quinoa, and boiled peppers. Taylor didn’t eat much. She was too nervous about the Bee tomorrow.

After the banquet, Taylor repacked her things. At 6:00 pm, Taylor and her mom left for London. When they arrived in London, Taylor and her mother were escorted to a fancy motel. The man at the front desk gave them the key to room 5 on floor 1. Taylor picked out a pair of faux leather leggings and a blue button down shirt for her outfit for the bee. As Taylor brushed her teeth, she mentally quizzed herself on: horrible, h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e; gangly, g-a-n-g-l-y; pneumatic, p-n-e-u-m-a-t-i-c; and conundrum, c-o-n-u-n-d-r-u-m. All done, she thought.

That night she had nightmares about words, shouting unpleasant things. She woke up quickly and tip-toed out of her bed. She went to the dresser and looked at the clock. It was only 2:00 am. Rats. She went back to her bed and eventually fell into a fitful sleep.

The next morning Taylor dressed into the outfit she picked out the night before, and just pulled back her hair with a headband. Taylor’s mom was still sleeping and Taylor didn’t want to wake her so she just went to breakfast quietly. At breakfast, Taylor got two chocolate glazed donuts and sat down next to a boy wearing jeans and a tee shirt.

“Hi,” Taylor simply said.

“Hi,” said the boy, taking another bite out of his scrambled eggs. The boy tried to comb his shaggy red hair, but it didn’t work. He just waited, and waited.

“So are you waiting for something?” asked Taylor.

“Yeah, my grandad.”

This is awkward, thought Taylor. “I’m Taylor,” she said, holding out her hand.

“Uh, hi, I’m Mason. Okay, so are you here for the spelling bee? I am.” Taylor just moved away from the boy whose name was Mason.

Mason shook his head. “I came on too strong again didn’t I? I do that a lot, sorry!”

Taylor grabbed her plate and moved to a different table.

At 4:00, the Bee started. First they called up the boy Mason.

“Mason Kall, your word is superstition,” announced Maria Spindle.

Mason said, “S-u-p-e-r-s-t-i-t-i-o-n, superstition.”

Maria Spindle did not look that impressed. “Alright, Mason, that is correct. You’ll be moving on.” Taylor had a feeling Maria Spindle found Mason as annoying as she did. 

“Next… Lisa Wu! Your word is desolate.” Lisa got desolate incorrect, then was Louie Martino who got sriracha incorrect, then Georgie Smith who got necessary correct, and Lila Jane Parks who got international correct. Then it was Taylor’s turn.

“Taylor Chris, come on down. Your word is astonished.”

Taylor thought for five seconds. “A-s-t-o-n-i-s-h-e-d, astonished.”

Maria Spindle put on a wide toothy grin and looked straight at the camera, “Correct Taylor! You may sit down at your seat.” Taylor walked back to her seat meekly, when she saw a beefy kid snarl at her.

“Karlo Yang, your word is finance.” The beefy kid walked up.

“F-y-n-a-n-s-e, finance,” the beefy kid said proudly.

Maria Spindle winced. “I’m sorry Karlo, that is incorrect.” 

Veins bulging, eyes bugging out, hands ready to smash some bones, Karlo screamed, “What!” He smashed the podium. Maria stood at his feet and pounded against the hardwood stage.

As even beefier security guards held him back, Karlo screeched, “Lemme at ‘er! Give me Maria Spindle!!! I know I got finance right! You just want me to lose my cool on international TV! Well it will not work!” 

Karlo took one look at the mess he made and fell to his knees sobbing about forgiveness. The beefy security guards hauled Karlo away.

“Well… that was interesting. Next is Mick Torrent. Mick, your word is silhouette.” About a dozen more kids went but Taylor just couldn’t stop thinking about Karlo, the way his eyes bugged and how he fell to his knees sobbing. It made Taylor think about reality, or whether they were all just pawns in somebody else’s imagination. The thought made Taylor shudder. S-h-u-d-d-e-r. When she was nervous she spelled. Ugh. U-g-h. It’s happening again. A-g-a-i-n. Taylor remembered her mom’s sweet voice, and how when it was time for bed, her mom would bring her a glass of milk and sing her a lullaby when she was younger. She thought about how they played double dutch, and checkers, and monopoly. She thought about snuggling together on the couch when Spelling Bee Champ was on and just spotting clouds that looked like bunnies, and lying together on the sun dried grass. These happy memories calmed Taylor down. When they exited the stage, Taylor’s knees wobbled, but this time not with nerves. Excitement.

At lunch, Taylor found out why Mason bugged Maria. Listen: “Maria Maria Maria Maria! Am I winning? AmIwinning? Am I? Am I? Am I? Am I?!”

Maria sighed. “Look! Mason I cannot tell you,” Maria said slowly.

Mason just frowned. “Not fair! Not fair! Not fair!” he screeched.

“Security!” Maria cried.

Taylor grabbed a red velvet cupcake, a confetti cupcake, and a chocolate fudge cupcake, with a side of Milky Ways, Kit Kats, and M&Ms for lunch. Taylor took the goodies to the room she shared with her mom. Tomorrow was the final challenge. Whoever got three words in a row won!

The next morning, Taylor went up last. Everyone else only got two words in a row correct. 

Taylor’s first word was skulduggery. S-k-u-l-d-u-g-g-e-r-y. She got it correct. Then burglar. B-u-r-g-l-a-r. Correct. Last, modicum. M-o-d-i-c-u-m. She got them all correct. 

“Jacklin, tell Taylor what she’s won!” Maria shouted to a woman in a red sequined leotard, with bright red lipstick, black tights, and red, six inch heels.

“Well Taylor, you’ve won ten free trips to Disney World, 250 million dollars, and a 40 million dollar gift card to every bookstore in the world!” Jacklin said. “Plus…” the crowd murmured about how much more Taylor’d win, “your own private plane, which includes a coupon for the next 10 repairs, 4 bedrooms that have their own bathrooms, 2 kitchens, 3 TVs, 2 dining rooms, and 2 TV rooms.”

Taylor’s jaw literally fell open.

A lady that looked like Mason climbed onto the stage and said, “My Mason should’ve won!”

Mason looked embarrassed. “Mother.” Security guards started pulling her back.

“He should’ve won!” she screamed.

“Well that was odd,” said Jacklin.

Bob

May something, 2075

Dear Diary,

This is the most stupid thing I did in my life. I mean who writes in a diary these days? My stupid wife told me to write in one so I can get my thoughts on paper. Do you think I care about that? If you said no, then congratulations, you’re right. I’m Bob. I have a few things that I need to tell you about me. First, I have eight sons. Second, I’m drunk and, instead of water, I drink vodka. But really think about it. Who drinks water anymore? It’s either beer or vodka. Third, I am 50 years old. Also I’ve had five wives and I’m obese. Oh and lastly, I smoke a lot.

My wife tells me to eat healthier so I don’t get sick. I don’t get sick so I guess I eat healthy. I eat McDonald’s and Burger King. If my wife makes me eat healthy then I eat corn with a lot of salt (otherwise it’s not OK) or I eat a rainbow bagel with loads of nutella (no lots of nutella, not good).

May something, 2075

Dear Diary,

It’s morning and my wife gave me some yogurt with honey. I was like, “Who eats that?” So instead, I took fruit loops and chocolate milk. Unfortunately, she caught me and threw it away. I started screaming like a maniac because that was the last bowl of fruit loops left. I took the honnynut cereal off the shelf and poured it into the salad bowl which is used for cereal not salad because salad is unhealthy, I think. Please tell me I’m right.

Anyway, my wife said we have to go outside to breath some “fresh” air. Ugh. So, I decided that I’d go to the deli and buy myself some airheads. At least I’m walking a bit. I got there and guess what happened. They were sold out. You’re asking why. Well, I bought them all yesterday. But then I looked to the side and guess what I saw. Cheetos. My friend Jimmy loves them so I’m gonna try it. BRB.

June something, 2075

Dear Diary,  

I’m back at home watching tv and writing in this stupid thing, and guess what’s for dinner. My favorite, not. A burger with lettuce and tomato. Why eat that when you could get a Big Mac at McDonalds for a buck or a really juicy burger from Burger King. That would be much better than whatever burger that cost $18.99.

In case you were wondering, I work at the worst place ever. A buffet with, you guessed it, salads and omelets and, the worst of all, salads. Wait, did I already say that? I think I did. Right. Or did I just think it? You know that feeling when you think you say something and you’re not sure if you actually did? Or did you? Because you could have just thought it or said it. Y’know.

Anyway, so about my job. Well, it sucks. I could’ve gotten a better job and I’d rather get assassinated. I stand at the register being like, “Hey, want to sit at this buffet that is so disgusting you will get food poisining.” It’s more than a nightmare.

June something, 2075

Dear Diary,

I’m going to the gym to get some exercise. And I think that what I’m doing right now is really smart because I always see these ads on youtube that are explaining that to stay healthy, you need to exercise. So I’m gonna try it. My wife was proud and I don’t care. I’m there and I see all these weird things that somehow help you stay healthy. There is the conveyer belt thingy that I see a lot in the buffet stocking area. It brings the food and tins to the kitchen to wash. I wonder what you do with it. I’m going to the info desk to check what it’s for.

So I asked this man what the stuff is for and he started out like this:“I see you’re new here.”

How does he know that I’m new? I never even met him before. He was the skinniest person I ever saw in my life and he is a stalker. I’m gonna call him Stalker Dude. Why not? I mean, he is a stalker. I wonder what being a stalker is like. You get to spy on people. Oh, and in case you’re wondering I’m writing in a really uncomfortable position. I’m on the treadmill (I figured out what it was called) rolling off over and over again. It’s annoying.

Next, I went to the peloton (I only know what that is called from youtube). That stalker dude came and told me how to use it. So I’m sitting on it and it was supposed to help me burn calories, but I don’t think that it’s working really well. Lastly, I went to the dumbbells and I have no idea how those stick men lift them. Stalker Dude came and told me how to use it like I have no idea how. Ill need to put this diary down and lift some stuff.

So, now I’m in an ambulance. You’re asking why. Well, I dropped the dumbbell on my ribcage and I broke it. It was 50 lbs. I have to rest now so I’m gonna write tomorrow.

June something, 2075

Dear Diary, 

I forgot to tell my boss that I’m in the hospital so he called me and threatened that if I don’t come to work then he will rob me and take away Youtube premium. I was raging. No, he is not taking away Youtube premium from me. Youtube is also a part of my life. I cannot live without Youtube and especially not Youtube premium. My rage though. I was just furious. Even all the people that needed surgery who got put to sleep woke up. I was also supposed to be sleeping, but who cares. The doctor said I’ll have to be in the hospital for another month or so, until my rib cage heals, but they said that I have to rest if I want it healed. I guess I do. I mean, who wants to spend a year in bed doing nothing, but sleeping with a bunch of almost dead people?

June something, 2075

Dear Diary, 

So the doctor checked in with me and said my treatment wasn’t working. That sucks. And you know why it didn’t work? Because I was watching youtube to spend my last hours of happiness on Youtube premium. I told my doctor what my boss said and you know what he said? Good for you. Who says that? He’s lame. I’m gonna call him Lame Dude. So, Lame Dude came in and told me to breathe deeply. I don’t know why though. He said it was because he needs to see if my heart is working properly. I was thinking about that and it came to me that what he said meant I could die. And when you die, no Youtube premium! So, I guess this is my life now (that is soon ending).

I don’t know what to do now because, unfortunately, Lame Dude took away all devices and said, “If you keep watching Youtube or playing video games then you might die.” That made me scared so it was the first time in my life that I let someone take away my devices. But still, I’m not so sure I can trust lame dude because he’s lame!! Lol.

June 6, 2075

Dear Diary, 

Lame dude came in and told me that he will start the surgery. I was surprised. He never told me about a surgery. Just then, he pushed something into my leg and I fell asleep. No idea how it happened, but it did. So guess what. Now I need surgery and Lame Dude put me to sleep in like a second. Sounds weird, don’t you think? Ok, now I’m struggling and suffering. I will end now. I will not be writing until, like, next month. Going to the gym was a very bad idea. Very bad idea.

Dear Diary,

I am out of the hospital! In case you want to know, it’s been a month since I wrote here. I actually thought of giving up, but nope. My wife forced me to keep going and this time, no exceptions. Ugh. Why does my life suck?

June 27, 2075

Dear Diary, 

It’s the next day and now I’m getting really frustrated. I forgot to give my boss a note about why I was away and he didn’t believe me when I said my story. He said I was a liar and by liar I mean big fat liar. That’s supposed to be quoted but who has time for quotation marks and grammar? Grammar is stupid. It just takes up a lot of time and even if you don’t use it everyone can understand you. For example, if you text someone R U OK, they will understand it. Anyway, I am going to work now and I have to stop, bye!

 June something, 2075

Dear Diary, 

When I came in, I noticed that the register was covered in tomato sauce. I checked inside and there was no money! Just then, my boss came in and noticed me with the register open and then he barked, What are you doing with our money!!! This is unexceptable!!! Again I do not care about quotes.

So, if you are reading this, which you shouldn’t, don’t comment on any mistakes I make. It’s already a pain in the butt to just write this.

I told my boss that I was just waiting for the first customer to come when I realized that the money was gone. He didn’t believe me so he told me he would go to my house and search all of it for the money. One thing I can say is he’s a dum dum.

In the meantime, I will just serve the customers that come and pretend like nothing happened. I feel bad for them. The only problem for my boss is that he doesn’t know where I live and I live all the way in the Bronx and the buffet is in Brighton beach. I really don’t know how I get here every week day.

Anyway, the buffet isn’t so popular so I had to wait a whole hour for the first customer of the day to come. It was already 12 pm. We open at 10. Something that is really weird about this buffet is that we pre-set everything the night before so we won’t have to do it in the morning And because it also is supposed to save time. Heh, like we need to save time.

June something, 2075

Dear Diary,

So the first customer came and I gave them a table to sit at. They were mad because I gave them the table near the bathroom when everything else was free. I can see that on their faces that they were mad. We don’t have enough money to buy a janitor so the bathrooms stink. I’d rather go to McDonalds to go to the bathroom.

So anyway, the customers went up to get their plates and to get the food. We have a chef that makes custom food and everyone goes up to him. The customers noticed that and quickly ran up to him and asked for something. Don’t ask me what because I don’t know what they asked for. So the chef started working and gave me a wink. You are asking why. Well, you shouldn’t even be asking this question because you shouldn’t be even looking at this diary! I mean I don’t even care. Not like my personal stuff is in here, but still close this right now. Or, if you are snoopy, don’t and keep reading. If you are still reading this then it is obvious that means that you are snoopy and guess what? I don’t care.

Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh right! The chef giving me a wink and you asking why. Well, we were childhood friends and we were trouble. What I mean by trouble is big trouble. We were pranksters. I remember when we were 5 (or was it 6? Or 10? I don’t know) we put dead rats in the jars of candy at his grandmother’s house. It was a great experience to see her faint. I know what you are thinking. Why is there so much dark humor? Well, again, you shouldn’t be thinking that because you shouldn’t have read what I wrote before. Again, not like I wrote anything personal here but still! So I’m guessing that he is pulling another one of his chef pranks like putting sugar instead of salt on sushi. The customers are heading to their seats to wait for the food when the second customer comes in. I give them the table closest to the second bathroom. The second bathroom is even more stinky because everyone forgets about it. About two people enter it each day. The other bathroom however, I don’t even know.

I started spying on the first customers again. The first bite of the meal and the ladies tongue stuck out. The food was gross. I quickly went over to the chef to see what he did.

What did you do?

Again I have no time for quotes. Anyway, he said that the woman of the couple ordered bread. Turns out that the chef had used his last batch of ground up cricket flour and made it into cricket bread. Then the man of the couple ordered chocolate chip cookies and the chef made chocolate chirp cookies which have crickets in them. He made the crickets not visible in the cookie so when you took a bite there were crickets inside. Their butts were sticking out and eventually into your mouth. Unless you aren’t respectful to bugs and don’t get how nutritious they are and decide that you are not eating them.

Anyway, I see that the second set of customers are going up to get cole slaw. I mean, why cole slaw? Why? It is like the most expensive item on the menu. The coleslaw is supposed to have fresh grown cabbage that is not organic. We have a garden, but nobody ever goes in because it is filled with clouds of pesticides. Ya, the gardener quit his job. Hm, that gets me thinking. I can quit this job, but then what if I don’t get another job and I’ll be homeless? And I won’t be able to pay for… Youtube Premium!!! You know what? I’m better with sticking to this job before deciding to quit. Especially because I’m getting a dog soon. It will be the biggest moment in my life. Only maybe after when I divorced my least favorite wife, which is my fourth! She was the meanest person on Earth!!! She made me eat salad! Like, why salad?! I can’t even hear the word salad, it sounds so gross!!! OK let’s change the subject. Nevermind, next customer.

I gave these customers a seat right next to the corner where everyone pukes because our food is so gross. It always stinks there and there are stains on the floor. I had to go to the bathroom so I went across the street to McDonald’s. Such a disappointment when you work in the worst restaurant and then across the street you look over and you see the best restaurant. The fourth customer came in and this time they were single. It was a woman that had long black hair. She had a dog at her side. I ran up and started petting it. I think it was a siberian husky puppy. It was jumping on me just like any playful puppy would, when I noticed that the puppy was in here because the person wanted to eat, not because the puppy wanted to see me. Again, I feel like I’m starting to go through a phase of depression. I’m going to start looking for a better job. The job I’m looking for is a job that I will get tons of money from. I want to get a job that is not torture like this one. Hopefully, one day that will happen. Anyway, I need to give the customer a seat. I gave her the seat next to the custom food chef. Lol. I don’t feel like writing anymore so I’m going to just end it here. See you tomorrow, Diary. Or should I say stupid Diary. 

July something 4th, 2026

Dear Diary,

It is another day of work and I am not happy. It is Tuesday, which is my least favorite day of the week. That is the day when the restaurant is empty and I don’t get paid as much. So I guess I can come a bit late. I am right now getting off the stop on the train and now walking down the block. I see a group of people standing behind a couple and then they are standing behind someone. The only problem was that they were angry. Their eyebrows were pointed down and according to a Youtube video I watched, scrunched eyebrows meant anger. I didn’t know why, so I went up to the entrance of the restaurant when I saw the customers waiting in line to go in. Uuuh. This was strange. Whatever. I opened the restaurant up and all the tables were filled.

That is when the last customer told me in an angry voice, “Great way to start off a holiday.” I guess he was being sarcastic but wait, what holiday? I asked him and he told me and said that it was the 4th of July. I almost started crying. 4th of July is my favorite holiday of the year and I missed it all. I didn’t even check the date.

Like I even ever check the date. About twenty people everyday ask me the date and I’m like, “How would I know?” It’s very annoying. I can’t even imagine those poor kids having to put the date on every little thing of school work. Now, I’m too scared that the customers are going to leave because of the bad service and writing isn’t really going to help with this so ya, bye.

July something, 2075

Dear Diary, 

So it is the next day and I am taking a day off from work. Work has been really tiring the last few days, so I’m staying home and relaxing, aka watching Youtube and eating Pringles on the couch. I always take a day off of work because once a week my boss goes to a place with no reception so he can’t tell me to go to work or whatever. That day is usually on Wednesdays, like today. But what is funny is that he pays me the same amount as the workers that work there for six days a week. Lol. Wait, I have a call from someone, just a sec. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I am dead!

The call was from my boss. He had called telling me that he was mad that I wasn’t at work! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I thought that he was in a place with no reception. He wasn’t! He was in the building where the restaurant is and he noticed that I wasn’t there. I am doomed. He knows where I was all these weeks because he secretly installed an app on my phone that let him see where I was the whole time. I know this because I was looking frantically on my phone for something and I came across a calculator app. Um, why is there a calculator app on my phone? I thought I got rid of math from my life. I opened the app and it wasn’t a calculator (thank god), but as I guessed it was a tracker. My boss was tracking me since the hospital. How did he download it though? I’m not even going to answer that. I’m just going to delete the app and he won’t be able to download it again because my phone is going to be on me the whole time. I’m still not going to work. I’m just going to pretend that I’m sick and tell my boss that. One second. I don’t want to write anymore. I’m depressed again. Maybe I can get away with not writing anymore for a bit. I want to go to the hospital again so I won’t have to go to work or write in this diary again. But the only problem is that I won’t have any Youtube videos to watch because of what my doctor said last time I broke my rib cage. I really want some type of excuse so I can get out of the stupid Earth and into my world, which is a place where everyone agrees with me and there is only the food I like to eat. A world where I can do whatever and won’t have to pay for anything. I will have Youtube Premium for free!!!! That would be great. Ok, so this is getting boring to write now so ya, bye. 

July something, 2075

Dear Diary, 

Now Thursday. I really don’t like Thursdays. Well, to be honest, I don’t like any days of the week except Saturdays and Sundays. All the days at work are boring. It really is time to get a better job. Well, not necessarily a more money job, but a job that is more fun than the trash place where I work at. It literally smells like animal poop. Well, at least I think it does. I don’t really know how animal poop smells. Like, I just think that it smells like someone’s poop that ate beans in their last meal. Hopefully, my prediction is correct. Well, I don’t want it to be correct because if animal poop smells like that then that is just disgusting. This topic is very disturbing and makes me cringe just thinking about it. I’m just really tired of this job now. I’m going across the street to use the bathroom and eat some lunch. If you are wondering, across the street means McDonald’s. I’m going to ask if they have any free spots to work there. Be right back.

Ok, so I’m back and good news! Finally something good! I am going to work at McDonald’s now! I am really happy because I actually get to work in a place where life would be good. I get good food and a clean bathroom. I really hope that I will get enough money from this. I will go to my boss and quit now. I hope that my friend won’t care that I have left him at hell. I will text my boss saying that I quit and I will start working at my second favorite restaurant ever. In case you were wondering, my favorite is Burger King and my third favorite is Dunkin Donuts. Is Dunkin Donuts even a restaurant? If not, then KFC is my third favorite. I’m really tired now so I’m going to stop writing. 

July something, 2075

Dear Diary,

I am now writing this because I am going to try the gym again. My wife is proud of me that I tried again. My goal this time is to get a concussion.

So, I am on the way there. I am hoping that the stalker dude won’t be there. Ok, so I am entering the doors to the gym and there is a different person at the help center. He asks if I need any help. I ask him why would I need any help and he says because I look new. I tell him that I am not new. Then, I start to get annoyed because both help people thought I was new at the gym. Ok, maybe the first was right, but still! I am going to lift a one-pound weight and hope that that won’t break my rib cage. Ok, that was pretty light and now I don’t know how that helps with losing your weight. Now I’m going to the peloton. The peloton is actually pretty fun. I was on it for about twenty minutes. Then I went to the treadmill. I put it on one mile an hour. It isn’t really going so fast but I like it. It reminds me of one of those slides that I used to use when I was a boy. I still don’t get how this lets you lose weight. I am just sliding off the platform. This is boring. Anyway, I’m going to come back here later to go on the peloton more. I’m going to go get some lunch at Burger King and then go to my favorite candy shop, Candytopia, to get some Nerds. I am on the walk there and at a crosswalk, so I should stop writing for now.

Okay, so that was a successful cross. Anyway, I am almost at Burger King so now I am thinking of what to get. I do want a big burger with cheese, bacon, and french fries. That is my usual order though. Then, I will take a large Fanta out of the fridge. I went to my usual table right near the kitchen so I can smell all the good stuff being cooked. The cashier called my name and I went up to get my food. I sat down at the table and began to eat. I don’t want to keep writing while I eat, so I will come back later.

I had my usual order and it was delicious. It was all juicy and chewy, my favorite consistency of a burger. The drink was really fizzy and sweet. I love when my soda tastes like that. I mean, it kind of always tastes like that, so there is nothing special about it. But you know, whatever. I am heading out to go back to the gym. I want to go on the peloton more. It feels relaxing. I don’t really remember where the gym is though. Is it to the right or left? Maybe it’s to the front? I don’t know, but I’m going to figure it out. I might have gone into the subway before and I think that that is right, but you know, it could not be. I am around 70% sure that I went to the subway to the gym. I am going to take the 7 train and hope that the train will take me there. I am not going to write in the subway because it is embarrassing, so I will come back later.

I am out of the train and looking around. I have never been here before. I don’t think that this is where the gym is because apparently this place I am in now is called Williamsburg. That is a strange name for a neighborhood. Is it named after a person named William that ate a burger here? I don’t know and I don’t care. I am going back to the subway to go back to where I was. Let’s see, I went in the L train and got off at the last stop which was… I don’t know. Somehow, from there I need to get back to Burger King and from Burger King somehow get to the gym. I am going to stop writing because I am going to be in the subway now. When I come out, I will write again.

Okay, so now I am out of the subway and writing again. I am so confused now. I don’t see any Burger King or gym. This is really weird. I thought that I got off at the right stop. I know I did. I remember this station and I know for sure that I got off here. Did I go straight to here? I think I did, so let’s try to get there. Ok, so now I am walking to who knows where and hopefully getting to Burger Ling. Now that I think about it, saying and writing Burger Ling so many times makes me hungry again. I need my order. I’m craving it right now. I need my large fries and double burger with bacon and cheese. Wait, I just remembered! I wanted to go to Candytopia! How did I not remember this? I am going to get another order from Burger King and then go to Candytopia to get some Nerds. Why are they called Nerds? You know what? I do not care what they are called and I never will. But something I do care about is how good Nerds are. They are really good and come in many different flavours. I can write you a ten page essay on why they are good, but guess what? Yay! You are correct! I will not write an essay because I need to get my food. I am dying from hunger and nobody can stop me. I need to get to Burger King and eat my usual order!!! It is the only thing that will make me live a good life, even though my life is already bad. Wait, is this what I’m seeing? It’s the gym! Why haven’t I seen this before? I am really pissed off right now. I walked right past it on the way to the subway! You know? I really don’t care about anything right now. I want to go eat!!! Has anyone died from being hungry? I think so. So, where is Burger King?! I thought that it was supposed to be right here. Why is there a sign on the door? You know what? I’m not even gonna try to read it. The lettering is too small, anyway. I am going into Burger King and getting my usual order. The door is locked!!! What is wrong with this place? How can they be closed at a time like this? It is literally 7pm! Oh, um. That took me a long time to get back. Well, looks like I am going home!

July something, 2075

Dear Diary,

So I am back! Yay! No! Hmph. I am going to try to go to the gym and actually get on the peloton again. Hopefully, it’s not very crowded. Pelatons are usually everyone’s favorite thing, which kinda sucks. I am headed to the gym and a second ago I realized I can use Google Maps to help me get there. I am so dumb. Actually, I am the smartest. Only that incident was dumb. I mean, that incident was not dumb. It was just incorrect. Whatever. I am following the GPS and it says that I should be at the gym in a minute, which I am partially happy about. I am happy that I will get in the peloton, but I am not happy about being at the gym in general. I’d rather go get nerds. Wait, I just forgot, I was gonna go to the candy shop. I’m going to go there now and go to the gym later. I search up the candy shop on Google Maps and start walking. It isn’t too far away. It took me a half an hour to get there! Whatever. OK, I will go to the 5th aisle. Wait no, 1st aisle, no, 3rd aisle. Wait no, the Nerds are in the 6th aisle. Ok, I’m starting to get dizzy from all that walking and looking at candy.

I’m breathing hard. I don’t think I have asthma. Or do I? Whatever. I’m walking through the aisles to see if there are any new flavours of Nerds. Everything is the same. I am just walking, getting five packs of each flavour, but still no new OMG, there is a new flavour!! Not of Nerds though. It’s a new flavour of Hershey chocolate. Hershey chocolate is my 3rd favorite candy. After Nerds and Airheads. Anyway. Is it annoying I keep saying anyway? If it is I‘m sorry, but I don’t care so, ya know, deal with it. I don’t even want to write in this so don’t give me a hard time. Anyway, I bought my stuff and went to the gym. On the way there, I was eating my candy. It was a great taste. I got all the flavours of Nerds, all flavours of Airheads, wait—I didn’t even eat the Airheads I bought at the deli before. Whatever. Now for the new flavour of Hershey. Why is there no taste? I thought it was supposed to be a really good flavour. Let me guess, they made so many flavours they decided to make it flavourless. I hope not. Ok, what!? The packaging says extra sweet with enriched flavour!!! Those pathological liars!! I’ll eat the Airheads now because the Hershey bar ruined my day. Finally something actually good!

Wait a second, this has no taste too!!! What is up with this candy? I am going home!!! I got home faster than I thought I would, probably because I was running. It is hard for me to breathe and my wife is concerned. I don’t see why though. We are on the way to the hospital now. Ugh, it’s taking so long and I don’t even need to go there. I am fine. Anyway, I will stop writing because I am literally raging again.

Ok so, we just got to the doctors in the hospital and now I am being tested for this disease that apparently killed a lot of people in 2020. It was a global pandemic. Now, don’t ask me what that means because I don’t know. Anyway I feel weaker right now so I will stop writing and update you tomorrow.

August 2nd, 2075

Dear Diary,

Anyway, now I am in the hospital diagnosed with something called corona. My doctor said there is a low chance that I will survive. Well, it’s not like I care. At least my eight sons will think the same. My wife took pity on me and said that this could be my last diary entry and I should spend my last few months well. I am surprisingly not sad because I do get to spend my last few months of life watching Youtube and stuff. They tried to give me medicine, but it didn’t work. Anyway, I guess all I can say is bye. So, bye, hope you all are not like me and make sure to not get uh, what’s it called? Something with a c. Co, co—oh ya, Corona.

Super Saber-Tooth Tiger

The Saber Tooth Tiger was walking in the jungle and he saw a red door. He knocked on it and Superman and Supergirl opened the door. They had laser eyes, they could fly, they could run really fast, and they were super strong. They wanted to adopt the Saber Tooth Tiger as a pet. The Saber Tooth Tiger said yes! He was going to be a super pet! As a super pet, he could save the world. He had super powers and laser eyes. He could fly and was super strong. He had a cape and was called Super Saber Tooth Tiger.  

One day Superman, Supergirl and Saber Tooth Tiger got captured. 

“ROAR!” said Saber Tooth Tiger. 

“It’s okay Super Saber Tooth Tiger,” they said.

Superman and Supergirl were going to use their laser eyes and sneak out, but there was a guard. Saber Tooth Tiger distracted him. Then Superman and Supergirl snuck out of prison and Saber Tooth Tiger left and followed them 

“Come on, hurry up,” Superman said. “Back to the hideout okay?” 

Before they got to the hideout, Supergirl said “Can we adopt that bird over there?”

They did not know that the bird was from the prison, but they were going to find out soon. The bird had a camera. A few weeks later the bird captured Saber Tooth Tiger but not Superman and Supergirl. He brought him to the prison and locked him up.

“ROAR!” said Saber Tooth Tiger. 

Superman and Supergirl snuck in and unlocked the cage.

“Come on Saber Tooth Tiger,” they said. 

They flew out of there, but the bird saw them and went after them.

Superman shut the windows and doors of the prison. Then they ran, but when they got back they could not find the hideout. They tried to find the hideout, but the people from the prison turned it invisible, so they walked right past it. There was an invisible cage that they didn’t know was right above them, so they were captured again. They went to another prison this time because it was someone else that captured them. All three of them used their laser eyes and they punched their way out of there. When they got out, the hideout was not invisible anymore. They went back to the hideout and locked it. They were safe.

Both of the prisons were having a battle to try and capture Superman, Supergirl, and Super Saber Tooth Tiger, but neither of them did. 

The End

HS Travels the World

Chapter One:

The Battle between GSS and S.E.W.W.F.T.C.R.H

HS went to Egypt and to find the SPHYNX. But before he found the SPHYNX, he found Gus and S.E.W.W.F.T.C.R.H. battling. And then GSS and S.E.W.W.F.T.C.R.H made HS get into battle. They put a force field around him and then GSS and S.E.W.W.F.T.C.R.H used the power of hieroglyphics to defeat him. And then he found the SPHYNX’s magical power teleported him to Madagascar, closer to his destination.

Chapter 2: Robot Spiders

HS went to Madagascar, and then found robot spiders. And then he battled with all the robot spiders, and he used his power of being legit and using the power of hieroglyphics. And then he defeated the robot spiders.

Chapter 3: I Don’t Know The Flea

He teleported himself to the Lost City of Atlantis! But then, he met up with I Don’t Know The Flea. Since that flea is 110,889 times bigger than a flea and he can jump 110,889 times farther and higher, but HS used the power of legit hieroglyphics and Sebas. 

Chapter 4: Legit Legit LeSplit

HS was still in the Lost City of Atlantis. But then he met up with Legit Legit LeSplit. So then they started battling. And the  Legit Legit LeSplit was splitted. And then it erupted like a volcano, and then it started chasing HS. But then, HS used the power of legit, and during the battle he found a little interesting friend named Lappy. And then he used the power of legit hieroglyphics Sebas and Lappy AND Legit Legit LeSplit. And then he defeated Legit Legit LeSplit. 

Chapter 5: Run Away From What?

HS accidentally teleported himself to the Australian Outback. And then all the animals said “RUN AWAY” And then he said “RUN AWAY FROM WHAT?” And then the animals said “RUN AWAY FROM WHAT.” And HS said “What?” And the animals said, “You said it! RUN AWAY FROM WHAT!” 

Chapter 6: Now I Know What to Run Away From

HS was still in the Australian Outback, but now he saw Run Away From What. And then they came together. And they became a team! 

Chapter 7: Entering the Falcon Fury

Run Away From What and Lappy and HS accidentally teleported themselves to the Falcon Fury. “Hey look, it’s Falcon Man and Dynamut.” And then they became a team, but they saw Scooby and Shaggy!!! And then they all became a team. 

Chapter 8: Just Seeing It

Run Away From What, Lappy, HS, Falcon Man, Dynamut, Scooby, and Shaggy teleported themselves to Where. And then Run Away From What HS, Falcon Man, Dynamut, Scooby, and Shaggy saw this giant nightmare character. And then it was coming after them. But then they realized they were stuck in quicksand. And then they realized that all of the greatest carnivores in the world were coming after them. Then they woke up. 

Chapter 9: Who’s This Dragon?

They accidentally teleported themselves to a mysterious place where no one knows what’s gonna happen the next second. And then they saw a dragon and then they said “Who’s that dragon?” DUN DUN DUNNNN! And then the dragon said “Who’s That Dragon.” But there is also an evil dragon behind all of them. And that dragon said “Who’s that dragon?” And also because that’s his name. And Who’s That Dragon went into the team. Everyone worked together to defeat the evil dragon!

Chapter 10: I Think I Found Snoopy!?

The gang (which is called The What No Next) said “I think I found Snoopy!?” And then, Snoopy became part of the gang. 

Chapter 11: (The What No Next) Disappears (or did it…)

The What No Next thought they disappeared because they didn’t see themselves. And they’re like “Oh! Where am I?!!! Oh! Where am I?!!! Oh! Where am I?!!! Oh! Where am I?!!!” 

Chapter 12: (The What No Next) Did Not Disappear

The gang felt everyone else but they didn’t see it because in front of them there was a mirage (a make yourself invisible mirage). And then they found out that it was just a mirage. 

Chapter 13: Entering the new dimension

HS found a new portal that was sucking them into a new dimension, which is the video game dimension!!! Because video games are awesome. It looks like all the characters are little blocks, like minecraft. They found something super crawsome (a mix between crazy and awesome). They found Captain Underpants!!!! And they also found crawsome again: George and Harold. And they found another crawsome thing! Three ultimate villains. Which they are… LaserLightmare! Poopocabra, and Socktopus! But then they realized they were good guys! And then Captain Underpants, George and Harold, LaserLightmare, Poopocabra, and Socktupus went into the team. 

Chapter 13.5: Entering a new dimension part II

They got sucked into another dimension! Which was the Dream Dimension! You can dream what you want in there.

Chapter 13.10: Entering a new time part III

They found another portal and it sucked them in and then they went through time.

Chapter 15 

The World of Yot Dogs 

HS teleportaled to the world of yot dogs. And then, all of the yot dogs became friends and all of the yot dogs became his food, but they are magical. And each one makes a power. He ate all the infinity yot dogs and each yot dog has a power, so he got infinity powers. HS had every single power in the world. 

Chapter 16 

The World of Cot Dogs 

HS accidentally teleportaled himself to the world of Cot Dogs. And they looked exactly like the yot dogs (from chapter 15). He ate all of them and they took away all of his powers. (He didn’t really know that he lost all of his powers.)

Chapter 17 

The World of Bot Dogs 

HS found a portal and then he was go for my life or don’t go for no life. And then he went in the portal. And then he found Bot Dogs. (They look exactly like the Cot Dogs and Yot Dogs from Chapter 15.) And then he ate all of them. And then HS got all his powers back.

Chapter 18

The horrible Hackensack of the horrible Hackensack

HS teleportaled himself to the horrible Hackensack of the horrible Hackensack. And then he found a horrible Hackensack of the Horrible Hackensack. And then they battled. And then the horrible Hackensack of the Horrible Hackensack did a punch in the H and then he lost his powers!

Chapter 18.1

HS to Bot Dog land

HS had one remaining power left for only one minute. He teleportaled himself to Bot Dog land. And then he ate all of the Bot Dogs there as fast as he could and then there was only three seconds and one Bot Dog left! And he tried to eat the Bot Dog as fast as he could. And then when he finished it and then only one millisecond was left! And then HS teleportaled himself back to where the horrible Hackensack of the horrible Hackensack was (HHHH). 

Chapter 18.2

HS returns…

HHHH couldn’t punch HS because HS put a closing forcefield with disintegrating spikes around him. And then, HHHH dies!

Chapter 19

Monopoly Man 

(and he has to get to the top of the castle to be able to get out of the Monopoly World)

(And he only has 2,500 Monopoly coins)

(And if he gets to 0 Monopoly coins, then he dies for the rest of his life!)

(and if he gets three doubles he also dies for the rest of his life!)

(If you roll a double you get a second turn)

HS didn’t realize the forcefield when HHHH died and gave him the same powers that HS had. And then HHHH made him teleportaled to Monopoly Man (with fancy music). And then Monopoly Man forced him to roll the dice and then he rolled the dice. He rolled a 6 and a 6. And then he landed on a hotel and the cost 100 Monopoly coins. (And now he only has 2,400 monopoly coins.)

He rolled another 6 and a 6 and then he gets 200 and more Monopoly coins. (And then he had 2,600 Monopoly Coins)

And then he rolled a 5 and a 6. And he got to the second level of the castle. And then he rolled another 6 and a 5. And then, now, he went to jail. And he paid111 Monopoly coins to get out of jail (and now HS has 2,489 Monopoly Coins) and then he rolled a 6 and a 5. And then he’s to the fourth level of the castle. And now he got a 6 and a 5. And then he got to the 5th level of the castle and now he went out of Monopoly World. 

A giant hieroglyphic keyboard, but luckily HS knew his hieroglyphics. And then he entered the code, which was 

And then it was on the fritz, and then disintegrated. And before it disintegrated, it exploded. But then, HS found someone named AS. There was HM (hieroglyphic monster), and then he battled and battled and battled and battled and battled and battled and battled and battled and battled (x 1000). And HS won. 

A Day Underwater with the Dolphins

I am going swimming this weekend and it’s time to go. Underwater there are fish nibbling at my feet. It is very unpleasant, but I keep walking deeper and deeper into the sea. I see dolphins jumping and doing loops in the water. I see ripples in the water as they disappear in the distance. The fish are a turquoise-yellow with green scales. I try to run but I just bonk my head on the bottom of the ocean. The fish gets scared and swims away. The dolphins gently lift me on their backs and bring me to the dock. I get off and thank the dolphins. I eat lunch at the mini-bar. I eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then I go back to the sea. I call Beth the Dolphin and she comes. Beth gently swims out farther and farther into the sea. That is the end of my vacation. 

The Scary Ghosts

One Halloween, the ghosts were trick or treating. A boy saw them, and he scared them and they ran away. The ghosts stole their candy! They were stealing everybody’s candy. 

The kids were mad that their candy was stolen, because they had gone everywhere and had worked so hard to get it. They stole sour candies, chocolate candies, skittles, M&M’s, and regular candies like gummy sandwich candies. 

The ghosts flew up to their treehouse. There was no ladder, since they could fly, and there was no entrance, since they could just float through. The room on the top was where they kept the candy. It was their most secret room. 

The kids went on a long walk in the forest and they walked a long way until they found it. The kids came prepared. They had a truck and a ladder. They had an extra tall ladder and they put it at the top. The ghost house was protected. They pushed hard to get through, but the walls were so hard that they couldn’t get through. A big storm happened and the house blew down. The kids also found a cave. One day, the kids tried going in to get the candy, but they got kidnapped by the ghosts. They tried to hypnotize them so that they could find more candy, because the kids were really good at finding candy. It worked!

The ghosts woke up and they were trapped. But they couldn’t go through the wall, it was a ghost wall! The kids found the candy and then they stole the ghosts’ lair so no one could get in. The kids put extra protection. You even needed a code so that you could get in. They made another ghost wall over the ghost wall, and another one with ghost walls and ghost walls. They were trapped, so it would take them a while to get out. The ghosts hadn’t made any progress getting candy.

After the ghosts woke up from their sleep, the ghosts turned good. They became ghost heroes. They realized that if they were bad, they would starve to death and be stuck in this little room forever. So they screamed and somebody heard them. The person opened the door and another door. They finally opened up the wall and let the ghosts out. 

A few more ghosts came along. They chased after the ghosts and brought them to the ghost planet, where they are all ghosts. There were no ghost walls and no doors. Everything was for the ghosts. The ghosts were happy, and they had all the candy they wanted. (Ghost candy!) 

In the end, they were all happy, because they all had what they wanted and were not in battle. There were two big planets and they were like, “Yaahh!!!” 

The Crazy Meatball Incident

This has been translated from Marshmallowian by The Institute of Marshmallow and English. Except from some parts with a * on either side of it.

One day, on Meatball Land, there was a big enormous explosion from the meatball volcano. On Meatball Land, everyone is a marshmallow and they only eat meatballs. On the day when the explosion happened, all of the tiny marsh-villages got covered completely in meatballs and tomato sauce. The marshmallows had to evacuate before all of the land got covered!!! They had to think of a way out. Maybe they could dig a tunnel to the unknown Cow Land. That’s how it all started.

Chapter Numero Uno

My name is Bart, Bart DeFulletgrominu van Grickenshpein. I am a Jumbo Marshmallow. I am the richest on all of Meatball Land! Right now, my loyal servants are digging a tunnel to Cow Land where only the greatest explorers have been. But now it’s different. It is an emergency for all of Marshmallowanity to evacuate the surface and go underground to where the cows live. It is a hard time for us marshmallows.

“Servants, dig dig dig. It’s going to blow soon. I don’t want to die. Do you? No – so get digging.”

Then suddenly I heard a big boom!! Could that be the volcano? I looked in the direction of where it came from. It was not the volcano! It was TNT. That gave me a good idea. Maybe we could use TNT!

“Servants, get the TNT. We’re gonna blow it!!!”

This turned out to be a bad idea. You will see why later.

My servants piled all of the TNT into the hole they made. From that hole they set a long piece of flammable rope with fire. When it exploded, something very bad happened: the volcano exploded too!! Just then I had forgotten about violation code #45627, which says that if you’re less than a mile away from the volcano, you can not use TNT. This is because it will explode into the meat caverns and will make the volcano erupt! I thought through this. After a little while, I realized that I was the one who made the Meatball Volcano explode!!!

I was astounded! I could not believe I had forgotten about violation code #45627 It was is the most important code in our area! 

*What will happen next in The Crazy Meatball Incident?!*

Chapter 2

Two days later…

I just escaped going to jail because of that TNT incident. I ran away from Meatball Land on a train, a car, my own feet, and a roller-coaster (the roller-coaster was actually kind of fun). Now I am pretending to be a poor marshmallow in the streets of the dreaded Beyond Meatball Land, which is 300 miles away from any real meat. But I am safe here. No real marshmallow would ever come here. That would be disgusting! Well, there are no more things to talk about. I will just go and beg for more moolah. 

Chapter 3

Twenty-four hours later…

Hello. 

I just saw a silver and white airplane fly over.  It had something that said “NASA” on it and it had an alien in a white jumper as the driver. I think it might be trying tooh no I am floating through a green tunnel going to the NASA thing!

They greet me with a taser in my leg, but too bad for them, marshmallows can not be electrocuted.

They try to talk to me: “Hello, we have come to extract you.”

But I cannot understand what they are saying. I try to talk to them, but they cannot understand me! I have only heard of real aliens in fairy tales. But these aliens are much different. You see, they have fluff on the top of their heads and five sausages at the end of their hands.

Wait, I think, these are Humans!!! OMG, are they going to bring me to earth?

Ever since I first read about Humans, I have always wanted to go to Earth. It’s my dream planet! 

Chapter 4

Three days later… 

I am on Earth.

I am so excited.

I want to live here.

This is awesome!

I love this place. I wonder why they brought me here.

I don’t think I’ve said this yet but: this is awesome!

Have I said this is awesome?!

Wow, I really like this place as you can tell. I think I am becoming famous here! There are reporters everywhere and they are asking me questions I do not understand. Everyone is taking pictures of me and one of the kids is eating a marshmallow! Holy moley! They do that here?! I hate Earth now! But I guess that is just one kid, so I love Earth now, again!

Well, that’s all I am going to share of my life (the rest is private), But it was a fun experience sharing it with you. So until then, adios!!!

What are you looking at? The story is over!

You’re still looking at this! 

You are still looking, now go and drink your coffee or go finish your life.

The Value of a Trophy

I stare up at the mountain, my legs ready to give out beneath me.

My ski coach announces, “I know this is challenging, but we’re going to try to ski down this easy green.” So far, my beginner ski group has only skied down the Magic Carpet. 

Glancing down at my feet, seemingly permanently stuck in a pizza shape, I tell my coach, “I think maybe I will be injured on that super steep trail.” 

My coach laughs. “It’s basically flat. You’ll be fine.” The basically flat trail looks like it is 90 degrees steep. My coach calmly skis to the lift, completely parallel and with poles in his hands. I keep peeking up at the mountain as I slide over to him and my group. Distracted, I trip over my own skis and sprawl on the ice. My face burns, and I jump up as fast as I can and jump on the lift. Soon, I regret doing that. I just hurried up the process of getting to the steep trail. Under my new, soft, warm mittens my hands tremble, and I am glad I don’t have ski poles, for I would have dropped them. The wind stings my face like evil grains of sand. I lean back on the ski lift, my heart pounding. But I soon realize that in doing that, I am making the lift go a mile a minute. It seems like a couple seconds when we come off the lift. 

As I look down the rugged terrain of the easy green, I wish I never came. As soon as I had turned 12, I should have given up hope of skiing. But no. I persisted and begged my parents to take me. My tired, busy parents. They had work, but they did bring me, and for what? I was in the little kids group, and I saw other kids my age, even younger, skiing down the mountain in a blur of color, their manageable skis skidding against the icy ground with a loud crunch. But…really, I’m still a kid, and it’s never too late to start stuff when you’re a kid.

I know I’m a kid, I think confidently. After all, I can still order from the kid’s menu at restaurants. So I can always improve! Even if I am three times the age of the other kids in my group and still not better than them, so what?

“We’re going down now.” My coach yells. 

I blurt out, more to myself than him, “I’m not afraid!” 

My coach gives me a weird look. “That’s – that’s great, Olivia!” Then he starts down the mountain. I clutch my legs, steadying them. I close my eyes and the pounding in my head stops.

 “I will get good – great – at this sport,” I whisper. I force my skis to turn parallel, and I fly down the mountain. “Yeahhh!” I cry. “I’m so fast!” But after scanning my surroundings, I realize that I’m the slowest person on the trail. Before I know it, I fall head over heels. My skis are teared off and my poles are wrested from my hands. I scream, then I realize that I am still, for I am on a flat part of the trail, called a catwalk. 

My coach bends down to help me. “Whoa, that was a big yard sale fall for a catwalk!” I’m so embarrassed. I will never get good at skiing. I trail behind as we ski to lunch.

A month ago

I hurried down our stairs, wriggling into my scratchy school sweater. I heard sounds of enthusiastic and loud talking in the dining room. “Mom, Dad-” They weren’t even at breakfast. Mom was in her office, writing, and Dad was probably at his lab in the middle of the city. The only people that were there were my younger brother and sister. They were six and twins, and had brown hair. Sadly, six is when kids start to annoy you and stop being quiet and obedient. 

George whispered loudly to Lily, “Olib looks sad.” 

I scowled at them. “Don’t call me Olib.” George and Lily giggled and threw stale cereal at me. I stomped into my mom’s office, wrenching the cold, silver door handle open and immediately I got hit by a stuffy smell. It seemed like my mom’s office didn’t have any oxygen in it. It looked like a common, messy office. Mom was sitting at her desk with her back to me, typing furiously on her laptop. Her trash bin was overflowing with crumpled pieces of paper, but random pieces floated through the room, and my mom was forced to look up and snatch at the air once in a while. “Mom, I really want to go skiing for spring break,” I say, choking on the musty air.

My mom turned around, bags under her eyes. “Olivia, for the last time, NO! How many times do I have to tell you?” 

“But, we’ve never gone for my whole life! All my friends have gone since they were small, and everyone except for me knows how to ski. Besides, it would be good for me, don’t you think?”

“Your father and I have jobs. What about George and Lily? We can’t bring them. You never want them to come anywhere with you.”

“Ugh, don’t other people have families too? They take time off for trips. We’ll bring George and Lily. Mom, it’ll be good for you and Dad’s health too.” 

My mom smiled and said, “Alright, we’ll go for a week and a half for spring break. Lucky for you, your dad’s boss is expecting a baby, and I just completed a piece of writing so I get a break. Your father or I will bring you tomorrow after school to buy ski gear for the whole family. Now get ready for school, the bus is coming soon.”

“Thank you, Mom!” I cried, hugging her. Then I hurried out of her office.

Back to the mountain.

I stomp into the crowded lunchroom with barely enough space to move, and the scent of french fries and chicken nuggets hit me. I am glad that we stopped skiing for now. I am also glad that George and Lily are not in my group. Imagine, my own siblings, in the same ski group as me. I sit down, yanking my ski helmet off. Suddenly, a group of kids come clamoring into the cafeteria. I hear an animated voice. “Nuh-uh, Scooby Doo! Barbie sucks!” I immediately recognize it as Lily. That meant George must be with her. I see his bright green ski helmet bobbing above the helmets of the four year olds in the group, and he seems to be ordering them around somehow. My siblings must be young enough to fit in, but old enough to have authority to be the leaders of this group. Lucky them. I scuttle to the lunch line, avoiding my siblings. But oh, I had to buy a neon rainbow ski helmet. George and Lily see me, and they cry out, “There’s our sister, Olib! She is on the same level  as us!” The whole cafeteria looks at me, every person turning in their black metal chairs to see. The food on the round, ugly table is forgotten, and as my siblings’ group erupts in raucous laughter, I erupt in fury.

I turn away, not wanting to show my bad side in front of so many people. My eyes well up, so I widen them to keep tears from spilling out. I grab the nuggets and fries from the lunch lady and hurry back to my seat. When I pick up the food, I squeeze it forcefully in my rage. In a moment, my hand starts to throb painfully. I release the soggy, wretched, and deformed chicken nugget, and I see that it has burned my palm and left my hand oily and shiny. I pick the nugget  up, and with no mercy, I shove it in my mouth. My favorite food has always been chicken nuggets, but it doesn’t taste so good anymore. The mood at lunch guarantees my mood for the rest of the day, and I decide to ask my parents to go home when I get back to the hotel.

“Can we go home?” I ask my parents at the hotel when my siblings are sleeping. They look at me in disbelief.

“But, didn’t you beg us to come here?” My dad asks, glancing at my mom to confirm.

“Yes, but it’s horrible. I came here too late, and now I’m so much older than all the other kids in my group. George and Lily are on the same level as me, and the kids my age are skiing like, double blacks and blacks!” I cry.

“Honey, you’ll improve,” my mom says. “If you try harder than everyone, you’ll improve faster. Soon, you’ll be rushing down the mountain like wind!” My mom pushes her hand in front of her as fast as it would go and makes a whoosh noise with her mouth. She thinks it sounds like the wind, but she is wrong.

“Sure,” I mutter. “But how much more of this do I have to endure? George and Lily taunting my every move?”

My parents look at each other, and my dad ruffles my hair. “You can do it, kiddo.” They climb into their bed, and sighing, I walk over to me and my brother and sister’s bed, shove them over, and climb in. I’m sure that I cannot sleep.

A year ago, at school

I walk into middle school. It is crowded by ugly and dented maroon lockers that are overflowing and people hurrying around to get to class. The lumpy gray walls are stained with who knows what, and the doors required full effort to be opened and the hallways smelled like rotten eggs. Hurrying to my locker, I open it and grab out my mini fluffy pink carpet. It feels so soft! I need it for school, because of the rotten egg smell. I press the carpet to my nose and inhale the smell of detergent. Without warning, I hear a crackling sound of the static of the speaker. The principal’s voice blares, “Class time,” and everyone rushes to their different rooms. I slam my locker closed and suddenly, a shadow falls over me.

Jessica, Britney, Hawke, and Ace stand over me. They are the Mean Machines. Ace and Hawke are famous for being loyal accomplices, Jessica is famous for being the heir to Britney, and Britney is famous for her hundred different expressions and being able to tell whether someone was lying or not.  I tremble all over. Hawke and Ace block my route to safety and Jessica and Britney advance toward me. “You don’t have any fashion style, do you?” Britney asks with the first of her one hundred different expressions, and I looks down at my purple sweater, green pants, and yellow sneakers. It hits me that she was right. “And, uh, what level did you say you were at skiing?” she asks.

“I never said anything about that,” I answer defiantly, regretting that I had discussed that topic so loud, so close to the Mean Machines during homeroom. “Now why don’t you get to class, it’s getting late.” Britney rolls her eyes and acts like she didn’t hear me. 

Jessica adds, “Britney and I go skiing every spring break. We’re skiing hard trails.” I didn’t say anything. She continues. “And I just can’t accept your fashion choices. Also, you’re not good at anything. You can’t play any sports, and skiing is easy. So why don’t you give it a try? I’d love to see you tumbling down an easy Magic Carpet trail.” The Mean Machines turn and walk away, Hawke and Ace flashing evil smiles at me.

I cry. There is nothing else to do but feel sticky tears run down my cheeks. When I walk into class, my nose is runny, my eyes puffy and red, tear streaks on my face, everybody stares at me. The teacher murmurs lazily, “Sit in your seat. You’re late.” He turns back to the chalkboard. I am staring at my desk the whole class.

Morning at the mountain

I wake up from the dream. The Mean Machines’ faces swim in front of my eyes, and I grit my teeth. But there is nothing I can do. They have continued tormenting me all the way up till now. I eat breakfast with my family, then I go to ski school.

Going there, I get a nasty surprise. Jessica and Britney are there with their parents, in matching pink skin tight ski suits. “Oh…hi, Olivia,” Jessica says. “Remember how Britney and I skied hard trails a long time ago? Well, now we’re racers, and very fast and good.” I look at her. She looks at me. 

Without warning, Britney interrupts in her sickly sweet voice, “Olivia, are you going to be here next week Tuesday?”

I think about it, then I say, “Yes, that’s my last day before I go back.”

“Well,” Britney says, “There’s a skiing competition at the back of the mountain. We would love it if you’d join.” She smiled, and the real meaning was clear: We would love to watch you make a fool of yourself. But that wasn’t going to happen. 

“Sure,” I said. “Do I need a skin tight suit?”

“No, you can wear that ski suit of yours. But be warned, you’ll be slowed down by the bulkiness.”

“Thanks for the tip!” I smile. Jessica and Britney walk past and their parents follow.

As Jessica walks past, she whispers, “It’ll cost money. You might want to rethink your choice, because it is pretty expensive.” She flips her hair and continues walking. 

“Where’s Ace and Hawke?” I call after them. 

Jessica glances at me and shrugs. “They’re back at home, gaming together. Why would you care anyways?” She doesn’t wait for an answer, but links arms with Britney and skips away, which is a feat I do not know how she manages with the awkward ski boots.

I practice as much as I can, and even after class ends I ski down trails by myself.

At night, I beg my parents for something again. But this time, it is the money to participate in the ski competition. But they say, “We don’t want to waste the money, there’s no point. It’s not even going to help you, and it’s not fun anyways. You’re probably not going to win anyways.”

“Please!” I implore. “Just this one competition.”

My parents look at each other, and my mom says, “I saw it on the ski map. It’s way back behind the mountain, and two hundred dollars. Olivia, do you really think we’re going to spend that money just so you can not even have fun?”

“I will have fun!” I cry out. “I have to beat Jessica and Britney!”

“What?” My parents ask, and I tell them what happened. 

My mom grinds her teeth in anger, and she says, her brown eyes flaming, “Olivia. You’re entering that ski competition, and you’re winning it.”

I ski hard. Every day, I stay out late, practicing. I work harder than anyone in my group. I level up quickly. And finally, I’m ready for the ski competition.

Jessica and Britney stand close to each other as my parents grudgingly hand over the money that is crumpled from them clutching it so hard. Jessica and Britney see me, but I cannot see their expressions under their ski helmets, but I’m pretty sure it’s not pleasant. A man in a ski cap talks into a gold microphone that says SKI on it. “Welcome to the Annual Kids Ski Race! All participants get on the ski lift to the trail.” I look back at my parents, who give me encouraging nods and thumbs up. I follow the other participants. My legs tremble a little bit, and the butterflies in my stomach start fluttering again. I almost regret my choice of joining, but not quite. 

After we’re on top of the icy trail, we get into a line. I’m nearly the last one because my last name starts with an X. I stop and inhale. I’ve come to love the cool and fresh smell of the mountain. When Jessica goes, it’s perfect. She’s like a bullet, whizzing around the obstacles. Britney isn’t so successful. She teeters for a moment in the middle, but regains her balance very fast. But one second in skiing is enough. It’s for sure, she can’t win. At the bottom, Britney screams and throws her poles on the ice, making a weird aaaaahhhh And boing sound. I smirk a little bit.

When it’s my turn, I crouch and lean forward. As soon as the buzzer sounds, I’m off, skiing like mad. I can’t believe how much I’ve improved since the first day I arrived at this ski resort. I forget everything when I ski, with the wind whipping around me. Jessica and Britney stare at me, and I can see Britney tremble in anger. I focus on turning my feet parallel. I’m skiing so fast that I can feel a shudder run through my legs as I ski over the bumpy ice. I stop at the bottom, and my mom and dad erupt in cheering. They aren’t the only ones. Most of the people there are clapping and nodding at me. I hardly notice the last couple of racers coming down the mountain.

The man in the ski cap talks into the microphone again. “It was very close, there were some ties. But third place goes to…Goyle Fredericks!” A burly boy takes the tiny trophy made of bronze and  snorts in disgust as he walks away. “Second place goes to…Jessica Hall!” The Ski Cap man says. Jessica looks so happy when she takes the medium sized trophy made of silver. I cross my fingers. “And,” the Ski Cap man yells, “The winner is…Olivia Xu!!” He holds out the huge gold trophy to me. My parents are screaming. I feel like I’m in a trance as I walk over to the man and take the trophy. My mom snaps a few pictures, and we start to walk back to the hotel.

On the way back, Britney catches up with us. Her parents, Jessica, and Jessica’s parents are way behind talking. Britney looks nervously at my parents. “Cengrejulshins,” she mutters without moving her mouth. 

“Sorry?” I ask. 

“Cengrejulshins.”

“Oh. Would it be any easier for you to spell it out?”

“I just wanted to say congratulations, okay?” she says.

“Thank you, Britney. Remind me why you hate me again?” I ask. She frowns and stalks away, but my spirits are too high to be quelled by her annoying manner, so I skip in front of my parents to the hotel. I realize that if your spirits are soaring, they can lift up your feet in those clunky ski boots.

My mom opens the door with the room card and I run inside. I’m upset when my parents don’t look happy. “Why are you guys looking sad?” I demand.

My dad glances at my mom. He seems to need confirmation for every word he says. “Well, uh, there’s this, um, problem with our jobs, er, we left, so, ah-”

“That’s enough,” My mom says. “I will explain it without hesitation. Do you remember when, in my office, I told you your dad’s boss was expecting a baby and I just finished a piece of work? Those were all lies. Our bosses don’t let us off, for some reason. That is why we haven’t brang you and the twins on vacation, ever. But we did, because your dad and I decided that you guys deserved it.”

It takes a moment for me to realize. “YOU LOST YOUR JOBS?” I scream. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME? WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU DO THAT? THAT IS THE LEAST WORTHIEST SACRIFICE EVER!”

My dad winces. “Olivia, you waited so long to go skiing, and look, you got a gold trophy! We didn’t want to worry you.”

I glare. “THAT WAS NOT WORTH IT! YOU GUYS BOTH GAVE UP YOUR JOBS SO I COULD GO SKIING????!!!! AAAAAAAAAH! WE COULD’VE NOT GONE!” I remember when my mom and dad had locked eyes when they were paying at a ski shop, and how they so grudgingly handed over the money for the ski race. “THAT’S WHY YOU DIDN’T WANT TO PAY FOR ANYTHING! DID YOU GET A NEW JOB?”

The foolish humans peek at me and my dad says, “Uh, I got a job as a trash guy, because nobody else wanted it. Your mom, nah.” I groan and roll my eyes— in classic Britney-style. Britney! Britney’s family has billions of dollars and they live in a mansion. Now, they are residents in the most chic hotel in the mountain. How badly does Britney want this trophy? Would she pay money for it? But those thoughts would have to wait for later. I have to get a good night’s sleep, because tomorrow I will be going back home.

I shove my backpack into the car and squish into the backseat with George and Lily. It is very early in the morning, so thank god, the twins had fallen asleep as soon as they got into the car. My dad drives a tall car rolling on huge wheels. He starts the monster, and I lean my head on the window and stare out. Suddenly, I see a crazily flat car, looking like it got bashed with a hammer but stayed sleek and cool. I recognize it as Britney’s family’s car, and it’s driving right next to us. She looks despondent, so I sit up tall in my seat to look at her phone. Britney is watching a replay of herself skiing. Their car rushes past us, and I stare after it, pondering, for a long time.

When we get home, I throw my bag on my bed and collapse. The trip had been so long! It is already evening, so I decide that I need to do some research on Britney and her family, and then I would sleep for 11 hours.

Morning, I jump out of my soft and warm bed. The air is alive with the yells of George and Lily – and my mom and dad! Then I remember why I am hearing them. Because they are not at their jobs! It is the last day of spring break, so I take the chance to wear my fluffy sweater and sweatpants. Grabbing a handful of Fruity Cheerios and my gold-plastic trophy, I hurry out the door. I don’t even bother yelling at my siblings when stale cereal hits me on the back of my head, but I do bother yelling a good morning to my parents.

I run all the way across town to Billionaire’s Row. The biggest house looms in front of me. It is similar to the White House, just smaller. Still, it is very intimidating, with its white walls and floor-to-ceiling windows. I stare up and I see a window decorated with pink window stickers. I can just see the ceiling, which is pink. I know it is Britney’s room. I ring the doorbell, with much coaxing from the brave half of me. A narrow face flashes in front of Britney’s window and disappears. A couple of seconds later, the huge door creaks open.

Britney is standing at the door. “What?” she snaps, then spots the trophy and her eyes narrow. She probably thinks that I’ve come to brag in her face. “Fine, you won. I don’t care,” she growls.

“Did you want to win or did you want the trophy?” I ask. Some people like to just have trophies shining on their shelf. I hope Britney is like that. Her eyes widen, and I know that she’s deciding whether to lie or tell the truth.

“Just the trophy.” She lowers her head, miserable, like she just revealed her life’s biggest secret.

“Would you like to buy it?” I ask.

Britney’s head jerks up and she stares at me suspiciously. “Why would you want to sell it? It’s first place, and plastic mixed with gold.”

“I know.” I say, nodding.

Now that it is confirmed, Britney’s eyes light up with greed. She reaches into her pocket and extracts a pink purse. Then she freezes, and says, narrowing her eyes, “Why? What is the reason you would want to sell it? I am not buying it until you tell me.”

I try to coax her. With difficulty and with both arms, I lift the trophy up and wave it in front of her face. Then I tilt the trophy so it catches the glare of the sun. Britney does not move a muscle. I groan and say, “I want money to buy my favorite thingamajig from a store, alright?”

“Lie,” Britney says simply. She waits. I wait. She waits. I wait.

“I’m sure there are plenty of other people who would want this trophy and don’t want the reason.” I snap, but I don’t walk away. 

Britney smirks and starts to giggle. Then she starts to snort, then laughs full time. Suddenly her face becomes expressionless, and she looks at me and says, “Enough. Just tell me.”

So I do. It spills out of my mouth like a waterfall. It seems to me that I wanted to tell it before, but I didn’t want to at the same time. It is a relief to get it all out. Britney stands like a statue, her eyes fixed on me. When I’m done, Britney looks at me with a weird expression on her face. Then I realize that it is concern. I remember that her family used to be very poor. “Britney,” I say seriously. “I think you’ve just gotten your number one hundred and first expression.”

“Come with me,” Britney says. I’m pretty confused, but she leads me to an ATM machine and she inserts her credit card inside. Then Britney turns to me and frowns. “Don’t look, Olivia, I’m entering my passcode.” I turn away and look around. We appear to be inside a bank, and it is pretty empty. An old woman with white hair and glasses is slowly moving around behind a desk, doing stuff to papers from time to time. 

She looks up at me, takes around thirty seconds to process that I’m there, and says, “Oh, hello, may I help you?” Without waiting for an answer she turns and walks to the other end of the desk. 

Then Britney calls, “Okay, come here, Olivia.” I turn around and I see cash flowing out of the ATM machine as fast as words had flown out of my mouth. Then it jerks to a stop. “This is, I’m guessing, 500 dollars or so?”

“Oh my gosh, that’s so much, thank you!” I gasp.

She gives me a weird look. “That’s not enough! I’m giving you like, 200 million dollars. It’s just that the machine won’t give me anymore. ” I nearly DIED right then and there. 

“NOOOOOOOOO! Just pay the amount the trophy is worth!” The fact that I can take SO MUCH of someone’s money without doing anything will be enough to to make me guilty for the rest of my life.

“Okay, okay, 100 million dollars!” she cries.Without waiting for an answer, Britney marches up to the old bank lady. “Helga. 99 million, 999 thousand, 500, please.” She holds out her ATM card.

Helga smiles. “Hellllooooo, Britney.”

“Hello, Helga. 99 million, 999 thousand, 500.”

“How may IIIIII help you?”

“I would like you to take 99 million, 999 thousand, 500 out of my bank account.”

“Sooooooo. We are taking money out of a bank account.”

“Yes. 99 million, 999 thousand, 500, please.”

“Nooooooo. IIIIIIII cannot. You are underaged, Britney.”

Britney sighs in exasperation. “Okay, fine then. My parents will let me anyway.” She calls her parents. She glares angrily at Helga for being difficult. Helga blinks back at her slowly. Something similar to a staring contest happens between them, except Helga blinks constantly while Britney does not.

There’s a whirring sound outside the bank door and the flat car pulls out. Britney’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Tucker, walk arm in arm. “Yes, Britney? If you called us here for nothing, I shall be extremely upset,” Mrs. Tucker snaps.

I’m pretty sure Britney shrank a little. “Can Olivia get…100 million dollars?” She asks in a small voice.

“NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY?” Mrs. Tucker roars. The sudden movement nearly jerks Mr. Tucker off his feet. Mrs. Tucker is furious. A hundred daggers shoot out of her eyes, ten at Britney and ninety at me. “DON’T YOU DARE TAKE MONEY FROM US, YOU UNSCRUPULOUS RASCAL!” She yells at me. Now she turns to Helga. “WHY DID YOU LET THEM DO THIS?” Mrs. Tucker screams.

Helga blinks. “Wellllllll, Mrs. Tucker, what is your question?”

“WHY DID YOU LET THEM DO THIS?”

“Because they-”

“TOO SLOW! WHATEVER!” Mrs. Tucker turns her angry gaze on everyone. This had never occured to me, but right now, Mrs. Tucker seemed 50 feet tall, while everyone else is as tall as an ant. At any second, she can stomp on us and crush us. 

Britney says, “Your motto is, ‘No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted.’ So…?”

“BRITNEY! I NEVER SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU MY MOTTO! I MEANT FOR THAT MOTTO TO MEAN THAT EVERYONE SHOULD BE NICE TO ME! I ONLY SAID THAT ON MOTHER’S DAY! AND YOU GUYS WERE LOUNGING AROUND, AND PROBABLY FORGOT THAT IT WAS MOTHER’S DAY!” Mrs. Tucker howls in frustration.

“Mother, you don’t want to be hypocritical, do you? And Dad and I did remember, it was SUPPOSED to be a surprise at night!”

Mrs. Tucker looks like a volcano, ready to explode. Her feet are shaking in their 7-inch thick heels. “Why didn’t you give me the surprise? Also, an act of kindness that I was referring to is like, giving a beggar a crumb!”

“No, your motto says any act of kindness, no matter how small. We didn’t want to because you were being mean to us.”

“YOU ARE BEING PLAIN HORRIBLE!” Mrs. Tucker stamps her foot, screeching like a howler monkey. She takes a deep breath. “Well then, isn’t it our choice how much to give?”

“Yes, OUR. Now I think we should give $100 million. Also, she is not taking money. I’m paying for this trophy.”

“Okay, pretend the trophy is an act of kindness from that human and let’s get out of here.”

“NO. I AM NOT DOING THAT.” Suddenly Britney stops, a smile on her face. “I’m sure that my followers on Instagram and Snapchat would love to hear about EVERYTHING my hypocrite of a mom did.”

Mrs. Tucker blanches. “You wouldn’t. I forbid you. Give me your phone RIGHT NOW.” 

Britney takes out her phone, takes a few steps backwards, and says, “I can send it immediately, but I’m not. Are you giving Olivia money or not?”

Mrs. Tucker hesitates. “Fine. Just don’t send it.”

But I didn’t want the money! I racked my mind to think of an excuse. “Guys, NOPE. I can’t bring it home anyway.” 

There is a triumphant look on Mrs. Tucker’s face as she looks smugly at Britney.

But Britney asks me, “What’s one of your parent’s phone numbers?”

“Uh, 4975935676.” 

“No it’s not.” Britney is using her crazy power again.

“9368036854.”

“Stop lying to me.”

“9175694589.”

“That’s better.” Britney dials the number and my mom picks it up. “This is Britney. Hi Mrs. Xu, you have to come to Bank of America. It’s an emergency. Bring Mr. Xu if possible. Olivia and I are on the third bank on Billionaire’s Row.” Then Britney hung up. “They’re coming,” she said, smiling widely. 

I know that my parents will be here any minute, because our once-happy house is right next to Billionaire’s Row, so I plead for Helga to help me, to hide me behind her desk. Britney forces me away. I start hyperventilating. Britney grabs my shoulders. “Stop it, Olivia. $100 million dollars is only a small portion of Dad’s money. It will not make a dent in it. So stop hyperventilating and take it!” 

Suddenly my mom and dad burst into the bank, panting. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?” they cry. 

I glower at Britney, and she grins at my parents. “May I talk to you guys privately?” My parents shoot me worried looks as they follow Britney to the other side of the bank, glancing at the pile of cash at the feet of the ATM. I am in a trance as I watch them talk.  I groan and cover my eyes. 

“Mr. or Mrs. Xu, do one of you guys have PayPal? The money I have here is…” Britney checks the ATM. “$500, so you guys are going to get $99,999,500.” 

My dad nods slowly, almost as slow as the woman behind the desk. He takes out his phone. My hands take over. I run over to him and snatch the phone from him, clutching it tightly. “We are NOT receiving 100 million dollars. This trophy is more plastic than gold. It is worth less than 100 million.”

“Oh. Kay. Fine. Then. One. Mil. Lee. Un. Dol. Ar. S,” Britney says in something close to a growl, and I know that she isn’t going to take no for an answer. “But…….that’s x200 less than what I was going to give you, so how about-”

My dad and I speak at the same time with me saying: “No no no no no, that’s okay” but with him saying with a shrug: “Um, sure.” There is a tiny gleam in his eye.

My mom just frowns. Finally she says, “Don’t pity us. We can get on fine.”

Britney turns to me and my dad. “So I’ll give you $1 million. And there’s an extra $500.” I regretfully hand my dad his phone and turn away. He’s going to take the money. 

 I decide I should constantly be giving Britney’s family stuff, but there probably isn’t anything I can give her that her dad can’t get or doesn’t have. “Britney,” I say, “What is your biggest desire, your need, your want?” I want to know so I can get her something.

But she shrugs and answers, “I don’t have one. I don’t need anything.” 

“What is your biggest secret?”

“My secrets aren’t big, they’re barely even secrets.” Wow. This is getting to be way harder than I thought it would be.

“Well then, tell me your biggest.”

“The biggest…why do you want to know?”

“AAAAAAAAH, WE ARE NOT DOING THIS AGAIN!” I scream.

“Okay, okay, the biggest is Jessica does my reading homework for me.”

“Why?”

“Um, I kind of am bad at reading.”

“Oh my. Okay,” I say thoughtfully. “Do you have any books at home?”

“No. And don’t push it.” Britney’s face is as red as a tomato. I don’t. Mrs. Tucker grabs Britney and marches out the door, growling like a starved animal the whole time. Tomorrow, over to Britney’s I go.

When I wake up, I don’t want to get up because my bed is soft, but then I remember why I even woke up, and I jump out of bed. My dad has to leave now because of his job as a trash guy, so he is wearing his old and faded Snoopy T-shirt, cargo pants, and a cap. He waves as I grab some cereal from the box. We walk out together, but I turn right and he turns left at the crossroad. We did not speak for the whole time, not even a “bye” when we split. It was a good kind of silence though.

I go into Barnes & Nobles with some money and buy the best books I can think of, the Harry Potter series. The line is long, and the cashier is about as slow as the lady in the bank. Finally, carrying the bag of books, I step out of Barnes & Nobles and continue on to Billionaire’s Row.

Once again I knock on the tall wooden door, and once again the door is opened by Britney. “It’s so early….” she yawns. “Whaddya got in that bag?” 

I hold it out to her. “It’s yours. I got it for you.”

“What’s in it?”

“Books.”

“Oh. That’s nice.”

“They’re Harry Potter.”

“Uh, the problem is, I can’t read Harry Potter.”

“Oh man. I’ll teach you!”

“Haha.” Britney smiles, then she gasps. “Wait. You’re not joking?”

“No, of course not.”

“Okay…”

“This time every morning, on your doorstep?”

“Sure…”

“You’ll try hard, right?”

“Yes. Duh! I am the queen of trying hard! Come to think of it, I am the queen of everything!”

I leave Britney, who is flipping through the first book with doubt. True to her word, Britney works crazy hard, as hard as I did on skiing. Every day we struggle through a chapter or so, and finally, one day, we finish Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone.

“I’m going-to have a lot of fun…with Dudley this sum-mer.” Britney stutters through the last sentence. She flips the page, but the only thing there is the About the Author. Britney looks up at me in shock. “I finished the book?” she asks in disbelief. I nod, grinning a little bit, and she starts to laugh. It is crazy. She throws back her head and shrieks, which I assume is manic laughter. Then she stands up, still shaking with laughter, and says, “Thirty minutes are up. I’m getting back inside.”

We speed through the rest of the books and finish all seven. It is nearly summer already. When we finish Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Britney turns to me. “I will ask my repetitive question. Why?”

“It’s a long story…” I say.

“I have time. And tell everything, and what you thought of it, and how you processed it.” So I tell her. Fun fact: when she is interested, Britney is very good at listening. Once I finish, Britney is looking very, very sad. “I’m moving away this summer,” she says quietly. 

I gasp. “On the first day?” 

“Yes.”

“That’s in a week!”

“I know.” We sit side by side. Britney’s head is lowered, the success of finishing all the books forgotten. I don’t know how long we sat there. Finally, Britney stands. “What are you doing?” she asks.

“Just thinking,” I answer.

I left Billionaire’s Row that summer. My dad decided that “we should move to somewhere richer and fancier”. I wanted to stay, but I couldn’t. So on the first day of summer, I stood in front of our fancy car, clutching a book and the plastic/gold trophy. Olivia and her family were there to wave us off. “In the car,” my dad said, and I did, waving to Olivia. My dad started the car, and I looked out the window, waving until the Xu family was out of sight. That was the last time I ever saw Olivia, but she had given me something my dad couldn’t, and I remembered her. I still have the trophy. It sits on my counter, higher and separate than the other trophies. I learned how to write better, in a class in the city, and I wrote down in a journal, my first entry, everything that Olivia told me on the day we finished Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, and I created this. The trophy is a souvenir of my old life in Billionaire’s Row.

Britney

Where Have All The Goslings Gone?

Today the mayor of the town has gone out and stated that the entire pond has been dumped and taken away by an unknown villain. The mayor stated that there would be a $500 dollar gift for anyone who caught the person who stole it. The most important thing is that all the goslings are gone! The police are investigating and so far they have found some clues and suspects. One of them is named Jacob Hendreson. If you see him with a big truck that has animals quacking in it, tell the police immediately. We have seen him at the time of the stealing, but there were a few others there so we don’t know for sure. The other thing is that if you see someone by the pond, you should try to interrogate them. We also know that another suspect is Jimmy, who works at the doughnut store. He was seen close to when the crime happened as well. If you see him with a big trailer or a pond in his backyard then tell the police immediately.

It was early and I was going to get a doughnut from my friend Jimmy. I decided to go to the pond and sit for a bit, since I was tired. I saw a guy pull up in a big red truck and rip out the entire pond!!! I ran over, got into his truck and pushed him out. I drove the truck back to my house. I knew that someone was going to notice so I put the pond in the basement, and the goslings in the pond into my rabbit cage (they were so small that they all fit). A few hours later the police came in. They wanted to know if I had a pond. I knew what they meant and I was really scared.

I fake laughed and said, “No pond here!”

They left and I knew that I had to hide or destroy the pond. But I really did not want to because the pond was the town’s pride! But then I thought, what about the goslings? Where would they live? So I hid the pond in a better place. I put it in my closet. It didn’t fit too well but I didn’t think that people would go searching closets for ponds. I remembered the doughnuts and went and got some.

My friend Jimmy said, “The mayor went out and listed you as a suspect and said that if you saw anything suspicious tell him.”

Jimmy was nice so I was sure that he was not lying to me because he was nice and he was my friend. I was scared about that warning so I went back to my house and didn’t come out for the rest of the day.

I wanted to put the pond back but I would probably go to jail. I had an idea to put the pond back at night when no one was watching. I woke up that night and drove my truck with the pond in the back to the area where the pond used to be. I was about to put the pond down into the hole where it was when all of the sudden a police car went down the road. It was odd because there was no one else out. Then I remembered that it was take your duck to work day and that the police were taking their ducks to the pond to see if people were there. It was the only day of the year luckily. It took so long to remember that by the time I looked up I saw the policeman with handcuffs. Then I was being escorted away to jail.

I was in jail and I had to think of a way out. I saw a few keys that looked like they fit in the lock on a bench across the hall. I picked them up. The hall was very tiny. I opened the jail cell and looked for my car. I found my car with the pond still attached to it. I got in, got my keys, and drove away. I was ready to put the pond back when I realized that it was morning and my friend jimmy would be going to work at the doughnut shop, so I went back to my home. I felt really mad so I didn’t sleep too much so I went to my friend Jimmy’s store. I thought it would be nice to buy a doughnut from him, so I did. After that I looked and found out that there was nothing tonight and that nobody would be out so I could put the pond back. I got up at around 2 am and I got into my car and drove to the old pond area. I was about to put it back again when all of a sudden a bunch of people in birthday hats started singing the happy birthday song. This was the second time this happened! I was wondering what were the odds that this would happen two times? I was really mad so I went back to my house. I ate my doughnut in silence because everyone else was at the party. I then went to sleep. After that I had another normal day and I hoped that that night I would finally put the pond back into the hole that it was once in. I woke up that night and I got in the truck and drove over. I then put the pond in finally and drove back home. I really hoped that nobody would notice the pond back or they would trace it back to me. I was wrong.

The next day police came to my house and put me in court. The judge was Mr. Duck. A duck. He sentenced me to two years in jail. That’s when I saw the bad guy, the man in the truck. He looked super happy, like he was enjoying the fact that he wasn’t going to jail. He looked like a big guy that had too many doughnuts and he had a big scar across his face. Then I knew who it was: it was Jimmy all along! I had him come up and he said that he did it. Finally it was over. And I had ended this craziness. I went back home and got into bed. I saw on the news that the bad guy had gone to jail. I was so happy that I just went to sleep and stayed in bed for a day. Mostly because I was super tired though. I looked in the mirror and was shocked that I was so tired (well not really) and that I looked like I was really hungry. So I got some food and got back into bed. I was just so tired.

Weird Food World

Chapter 1

Once upon a time… there was this guy named Bob, and stuff, I think. He lived in a house near a gurgling river. And in that river, instead of fish, there were swimming watermelons! And he lived underground with moles that were pears! And the oven was a heated banana! And the world was a hollow coconut! So he went above ground and saw a sunflower seed ant! The grass was hard like coconut skin and a pumpkin seed beetle.

If only I could find the Fruitanator 3000 and reverse it, thought Bob. So he set off to find the Fruitanator 3000. First he found a map and it said to go to The Pineapple Forest. So he went there and found the next clue. It said to get to the other side of the forest and find the next clue. When he got to the edge of the forest he found the Plains of Rambutan. There he found a colony of banana seed termites! They were running toward him. But they weren’t coming for him. He looked behind him. There were about 3000 grape bees! They came in groups from 30-400 per hive! Their hives were as big as fourteen golf balls. But their hive was made of Saltines. The bees could sting and that hurt! So Bob slithered every which way, dodging the bees.

Once that was over he saw an old wall covered in moss. It wasn’t just a wall though… it was a whole house! Who would live here? Bob whispered to himself. He went over to the house. There he saw the second clue! It said: Now go to the tundra made out of whipped cream, there you will find the last clue. Finally you will find the Fruitanator 3000. 

Finally! he thought. 

Chapter 2: The Fruitinator 3000

He found out that it was a long walk to the whipped cream tundras and he didn’t have proper gear. But on the way, he saw a small hut. He went inside and found out that there were a whole ton of jackets, boots, and hats. There were even sweatpants. He found out that it was a shop. He went to go pay for the things he wanted. He grabbed two hats, one jacket, three pairs of sweatpants, and two pairs of boots. Then he paid and it was a total of only thirteen dollars. Then he left to go on his adventure to the tundra.

A few days later he got there and he started looking. After a while he found a huge house and went in. Then he fell down a secret doorway.

He walked down the hallway and finally, enclosed in glass, there was the Fruitanator 3000. But then he realized he would have to go back home, through plains, through The Pineapple Forest, and finally back home where the moles were as green as the grass (FYI they were pears). On the long walk home he met one final animal. It was a giant lion made out of more than a trillion different seeds. He got past it by sneaking past him carefully. Then he went home and reversed the Fruitanator 3000 and zapped everything back to normal. 

UFO Universe

A UFO was spotted yesterday on June 7th over Brooklyn NY.

Meanwhile, mysterios MIBs (men in black) have been popping up all over Brooklyn.

Nobody knows where they have come from. On a side note, local pigeons have gone missing.

Here are some precautions to keep in mind: 

1: Try to have nothing to do with MIBs (men in black).

2: If you see a UFO, STAY AWAY, and call 911.

3: If anyone you know, their pets, or their children disappear, call 911.

4: If you notice a family member acting strangely, call 911.

5: If you see anything weird JUST CALL 911!

Here, Mrs Jane Landrish, 46, tells us about a UFO she spotted; she was one of the first to see them:

“It was 8:00 at night, and I was out for a walk. I was on 11th street and 6th avenue. I saw a shape in the sky. At first I thought it was an airplane, but then it lit up with a blinding white light. I closed my eyes, and felt it whoosh past. I opened my eyes. It was a strange, saucer shaped object, and it was hovering over a stray cat. I watched, as some sort of tractor beam pulled the cat into the ship. (I’ll just call that thing a ship.) I ran, terrified, back home, and locked the door.”

The interview ended there, with Mrs Landrish breaking into a cold sweat.

That’s what the newspaper said this morning. Yes, I read the newspaper, but only because my grandfather leaves it lying around. Anyways, I found that pretty intriguing. UFOs in Brooklyn! I put down the newspaper and turned to lie on my back. Ahhhh, Saturdays. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. No school. As I lie in bed and I stare up at the ceiling, I wonder if there really are UFOs in Brooklyn, or if it’s just a hoax.

I heard my door open. I look towards it. My dad’s standing in the doorway.

“You okay, kiddo?” He asked. 

“Yup.” I replied.

“Phew,” he said. “I was starting to think that you would never wake up!”

With that, he closed the door. I rested my arm on my night stand and knocked over my glass of water. I screamed. The water was still freezing. I heard footsteps. My door burst open. My grandpa was standing there. He took in the scene and then closed the door.

“False alarm!” I heard him yell to my mom and dad. I heard them run back down the stairs.

I sighed. It wasn’t enough that I was unpopular, I had to be clumsy. Plus I lost my favorite manga yesterday. And I was pretty sure I was coming down with a cold. AND a dog bit me yesterday. Thankfully, it was not a stray, it had been spayed. Yay, I didn’t have rabies. Still, stuff was pretty bad for me. I grabbed my phone. It was time to text my best friend, Amelia.

Hey!  Amelia!

What?

U free for laser tag at 1?

Of course, it’s Saturday!

I don’t have any other  plans! 

Oh yeah, how could I forget? LOL

See ya at 1!

I will so beat u today!

That’s what u think!

I turned off my phone. Well, at least now I had something to do. To be honest, just lying here in bed on my back was pretty boring. I got up, went to my closet, and pulled out some clothes: a turquoise size 12 t-shirt, a midnight blue hoodie, and some jeans. Then I checked my apple watch. It was 10:07. I had exactly one hour and fifty three minutes before I had to be at Lighting Lasers, the laser tag place. I ran into the kitchen and grabbed a blueberry muffin. I ate it, then poured some orange juice into a cup, and took a swig. Nice and refreshing. Then I pulled on my turquoise converse high tops, and tied them. Then I grabbed my turquoise water bottle. Okay, you can say it. I like turquoise. Nearly everything I own is turquoise or blue. I ran outside and started my morning run.

I stepped outside and felt a warm, fresh breeze. It was a warm, sunny spring day. As I went to close the door, my pomeranian puppy, Emory, came through the open door, running, and jumped on me.

“Whoa!” I shouted, my arms flailing as I tried to regain my balance. Then I fell on my butt. “Ow!” I yelped. I stood up, trying to act as though that hadn’t just happened.

I heard someone say, “That looked painful.” 

I whirled around, trying to find the person who had spoken. It was my brother, who was standing in the doorway. He was fifteen, three years older than I am. He smirked at me, and I could see that he had his phone in his hand, which was replaying a video of what had just happened.

“You *censored* *censored* *censored* *censored* *censored*!” I screamed. “You’d better not post that!” 

“Okay, okay, I won’t post it.” he said.

“Good.” I said, turning away.

“Oops!” I heard him exclaim. I turned around, and he was smiling at me. “Posted it!” 

“Aaghhh!” I yelled. I ran at him, my fists clenched, and punched him in the face. 

“Ouch!” he yelled. It didn’t stop with one punch, though. I had been taking taekwondo lessons, and I was a black belt. I punched him again, hit him with roundhouse and snap kicks, hit him with a neck chop, and punched him some more. By the time I was done, he was sporting a bloody nose and lip, a black eye, several bruises, and a broken arm.

He lay on the ground, curled into a fetal position. He had no idea that I had been taking taekwondo, and he had no idea how good I was.

“You know what?” I said. “I think that’s enough exercise for now. I’m going inside.”

I stepped over his trembling body, and into the house. I set down my water bottle, and picked up my phone. 

At that very moment, my phone rang. It was Amelia. Funny, I was just about to call her. I answered the call and heard her voice on the other line.

“Maia! Come quick! We’ve got a situation at laser tag.”

My dad drove me to laser tag. When I stepped inside, I saw Amelia arguing with two boys. The owner of Lightning Lasers, Josh, was sitting in the corner, reading a book.

“You can’t be here right now!” I heard Amelia saying. “We made a reservation!”

“We?” One of the boys said. “I don’t see anyone else with you. Who are you talking about, your imaginary friend?”

I could see Amelia getting angry. I decided that now would be a good time to step in.

“Oh, hi Amelia. Want to tell me what this is?” I asked, gesturing at the two boys.

“Maia! Thank goodness you’re here! I’ve been trying to tell these two that they can’t be here, because we made a reservation, but they won’t listen to me, and Josh has not done us a whit of good!”

“Huh?” Josh asked, looking up from his book.

“Don’t just sit there like it’s tea time, help us out!” Amelia screamed.

Okay, I should probably explain all the British-y stuff. See, Amelia’s mom is from England, and whenever Amelia gets angry, she starts talking like she’s British. Including a British accent. But the accent is only when she’s really mad, so it probably won’t come up now, over a thing like laser t-oh, the accent has kicked in.

“Listen, we were here first, so just leave and nobody get’s hurt.” She said, now with a British accent. To show that it wasn’t an idle threat, she punched one of the boys in the stomach.

“Hey!” he exclaimed. That’s when a full fledged fight broke out. Fists and feet flying everywhere. 

That’s when I heard a voice.

“Ahem.” I looked toward the sound of the voice. It was Josh. He had finally looked up from his book. “If it helps, we have a new version of laser tag. It’s a four person game.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?” I demanded.

“I was occupied.” He held up his book and pointed at it.

“Ugh. You are SO annoying,” I said. “But yes, we will play the four person game, IF we get to be against them.” I pointed at the two boys. 

“Sure, whatever you want,” he said. “I don’t care.” 

I turned to look at the boys. It was payback time!

As I stepped into the huge, darkened room, designed for laser tag, I noticed that it had changed a bit. The walls were taller, and there were a few more power ups on the walls. I strapped on my gear and grabbed my laser tag gun. Then I was ready to go. 

The five minute timer started, and it was time to play. I hid in my favorite spot, in the corner behind the wall with a hole for a window. I saw the boys sneaking around, staying close to the walls. I jumped out from behind the wall.

“Payback time!” I yelled. Then I noticed the laser tag guns in their hands. They looked like something you would see in a sci-fi movie.

“Whoa.” I said. “Where did you get those? Did you bribe Josh?”

“No, foolish human.” One of the boys laughed. “These are ours. And they are real.”

“Wait, I’m sorry, what? A, you’re not allowed to have real guns in here. B, you’re not allowed to scare your opponents on purpose. And C, we’re all humans.”

“Those rules do not apply to us,” he said. Now he and his friend were walking towards me. The lighting was making their skin look grayish.

“Um, yes they do. They apply to everybody.” I said.

  “But not to us.” he replied. Now it looked like his hair was shrinking back into his head, and his teeth were growing sharper. It also looked like his eyes were turning completely white. That’s when I realized that everything that I thought was happening was actually happening!

“Y-you’re aliens!” I stammered.

“Yes. We knew that you would make that connection eventually. You, of all people, believe that we might be real. And we are. However, we are planning to conquer Earth, and if you had figured out that we were real, then you would have been a serious threat to our plan. So, we must stop you from figuring out that we are real. And there is only one way to do that.”

I started backing up. “W-what are you t-talking about?” I asked, fearing that I already knew the answer. I kept backing up, and then tripped and fell on my butt. I kept backing up, using my hands to pull and my feet to push. I felt my back hit the wall. 

The aliens were still walking towards me. I covered my face with my arms. The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was one of the aliens pointing their gun at me. 

Alex Armado

Basilisk was not kidding about the Markothies. Right when Alex and Fistinis left the gates, the creatures came right out of the shadows.

Alex and the wizard made their way across a grassland to an old fort called Fort Ranger.

“You go and look around,” Fistinis said. “I’m going to see an old friend… He’s a cyclops. And if there is a shiver down your spine or you see a cloaked figure, run. Leave me. And head towards the mountains about two hills away.”

Alex looked around. He knew he was in enemy territory now.

“Hello,” said a boy. “My name is Will.”

Alex picked up a sword on the ground.

“Will!” he said. “Why are you walking around the castle? Tell me your name and your business!”

“You just said my name and my business,” said Will.

There was a sound. And light getting close to them. 

They hid behind a rock.

They saw three tall cloaked skeletons. They each had two giant swords.

“Their swords are made from Condor blades,” Will said.

They were Markothies.

The Unexpected

I am a soldier in Nevada at Area 51 and see a UFO. I shoot it with a bazooka five times. It falls. My military team and I look at it, and we find the ship but no driver. We start fixing it, and when we’re done, we send it out for a test flight. It turns out that it works perfectly. We send it on a trip to our boss. He says we are lying. We show him that it flies perfectly and shoots laser beams perfectly.

The aliens

When we take another trip back to Nevada, our UFO stops completely in the middle of nowhere and falls. Right before it touches the ground, the aliens stop the ship and say, “Why did you take our ship?”

We were scared so we left, running away, hoping they wouldn’t kill us. We call our boss and tell him to bring a car. It came in five minutes. We say, “thanks,” then we get on and it takes us seven minutes because we have to dodge the aliens’ laser beams. We get there safely, but terrorized. We outsped the aliens by a lot. 

The Ship

The next day, I’m trapped inside a ship. We’re terrified when they open the door and start talking. To me, they say the captain’s name is Frédérique hunk. I’m the one to ask. Then I get a message and it says the alien cannot talk to me and that this is all training.

“I made this training for you,” says my boss. I get so mad when I get out of the training that I go and skin my boss.

What If They Existed 

I’m so happy yet so sad that I thought that the aliens were actually in the spaceship. I searched it five times but nobody was there. That’s when I start having an interest in looking for them. After five years of work, I finally was able to find them and they were in front of him the whole time. They were in Area 51 and all of them were there.

After 10 years, I decide to end my career and become a guy that just lays out in the summer the whole time without doing anything.

The Marriage

He decides to marry his girlfriend after six months of dating. After a year, they have a baby. His name is Mort. After five years, his son decides to have the same interest and since they both have the same interests, his father gave him a lot of tips. One of his tips was don’t go try hard when it can all be in front of you where they lived in Area 51, because that’s where you wanted to stay and in his end, he shows me the fake alien ship that they found and he was happy for his life. That day was when his son found an alien, a real live one. His son and the alien were best friends. But I knew it wouldn’t last, it was too dangerous that night, he killed him.

The next morning, the alien is gone. The boy asks his dad if he had seen it. He says no.

The next morning, at 3 am, there’s a gunshot. His dad wakes up and sees the window open and his son is dead. They call the cops.

The Crime 

 Their first hypothesis is that the alien killed him. He says that’s impossible because he killed the alien and found out that it was just a robot from ten years ago from military training. So it must be something else and the weird thing is that we heard a gunshot, but there were no bullets on the body.

“That’s impossible,” replies the officer.

“Trust me, it’s true. There was a gunshot whether you believe me or not I heard one.”

There are no heart vitals. He goes back to his son’s room and finds a hole under his bed. He goes inside the hole, it was really deep at the end of the hole. He found a whole alien village. They see him capture him and put him in a cage.

He woke up in a cage and couldn’t remember anything but that he was in the cage. He tried getting out, but couldn’t. It was locked. He had no clue what had happened. He tried to remember and remember. He was in the alien village under his son’s bed and that he was captured by the aliens. He sees an alien and says, “Where am I?”

The alien doesn’t understand anything. I grab him by his feet and make him fall to take the key, get the security guards gun, and run out. I blast the gem that holds the village up.

The village is being destroyed. I try to get out, but it was too late. I ran as fast as I could, but I clearly couldn’t. I gave up. I tried to look at the village, but bam, one huge rock squishes my body. I was dead.

I wake up in my house. Everything seems normal except that me and my family are aliens. 

The Alien Family

The dad also has laser eyes. He is scared. He decides to kill his wife. He is desperate for money. He decides to go to a store. He points the gun in the cashier’s face and says give me the money. He gets $1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 from the grocery store. He decides to kill himself and burns all of his money.

After he shot his wife, he robbed the store. At the store, there was a security camera with a hallucinating bullet. He did not die. He hallucinated it. Two days later, he woke up in a jail cell with six security guards around the cage. A guy shows up in front of him and tells him that he did not die. He told him that it was all a hallucination.

The Truth

He also told him that he had an important mission. The mission was that a meteor was going to crash into Earth and he had to destroy it before it destroyed the whole world. He had to go by himself in space. The guy said that if he didn’t do it they would kill him.

The Training

One month before the mission he would have lots of training such as being in a fake ship to be ready for the departure and landing. They also taught him how to drive the ship. The training was really hard but he passed it and went on the mission.

The Mission 

The day he had to go he was terrified and he was not ready. Or so he thought he was now ready for the departure. At first, everything seemed to be all right until he hit a meteor. His ship was not working anymore and he had just passed the atmosphere. He was in the middle of nowhere.

He sees a weird pink, blue, and red type of hole. He was extremely terrified. The ship was going straight inside the hole.

The Hole 

As soon as we enter the hole, our ship starts to stumble. I am super scared. We enter an alien galaxy. I could tell because I saw aliens floating everywhere. I was super scared as soon as I got off the spaceship. The aliens greeted me with food and jewelry. They thought I was a god, so they made me their king.

Life As A King

In the beginning, it felt weird having all that power. But then I got used to it, life as a king of 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 trillion aliens. After a lot of thinking, I decided to go back to earth and dominate the Earth. While it had been 13 hours in the alien galaxy instead it had been 1,300 years in the normal world.

The World 

G__o took over the world and is keeping everybody as prisoners. He was planning on taking over all the galaxies. We had to stop them before it was too late. We had two days to stop his master plan. He had guards everywhere around the world. We told all the aliens to attack. We had a lot more aliens than they had. Something we did not know is that they have an A.N.B. (alien nuclear bomb). They destroyed all the aliens and me.                                 

The Boy?___

He always wanted to take over the world and as he said, he would do until he found Gano.

Gano was the most powerful person or should I say robot in the world. He was the guard of the opusdelerami. This was a very antique gem that gave you infinite power.

The Story 

As a kid he always got bullied. Everybody would make fun of him. Even the teacher makes fun of him. Until one day he fell into a sewer and found the opusdelerami. He didn’t know what it was, so threw it back into the sewer and went back up every day. He kept wondering what it was. Until one day he decided to go back into the sewer and got it. 

The Sewer 

While he was in there he found everything but the opusdelerami. Until he saw GANO, he told him that if you would drop the opusdelerami, it would. You are lucky it didn’t. 

(GANO) I was about to die so get this ring and put it on so you will have any superpower you want. 

Okay fine. 

The Ring 

The next morning, I went to school. Became invisible and stripoed the bully’s face. I shoved it down his throat, made him poop it, and shoved it back up to his mouth. Then flushed his body down the toilet piece by piece.

And did the same to every person who treated. 

The Outbreak

Chapter 1: Rising

Buddy was in the house playing games. Suddenly, he hears a voice speaking really loudly outside. Since his parents aren’t home, he went to go see what it was. So, he left the house and started running to the sound. He ran so fast that he bumped into somebody. He bumped into his friend, Fred, and was surprised to see him. Fred whispered into Buddy’s ear, “Don’t go there! There’s a fallen hacker outside!” 

Buddy said, “Who is it?” 

“The captain of the fallen hacker, Vex,” Fred replied. 

So, Buddy and Fred went to their friend Teddy’s house. They knocked on the door and Teddy opened it.

Teddy said, “Come in! Come in!” 

Chapter 2: The Plan 

Teddy grabbed some water for Buddy and Fred. Teddy also knew about Vex. He told them that Vex was about to use the atomic virus to destroy the city.

“What is the atomic virus?” Fred asked. 

Teddy said, “It is a digital bomb just like a regular atomic bomb. If it is fired, we wouldn’t even live here because it would destroy us all.” 

Buddy said, “We need to stop that bomb!” 

Teddy said, “Don’t worry. We have a plan.” He showed Buddy and Fred the SHARD, the Malcom bridge, and the HACKERS TOWER. Teddy told Buddy that they need to go to the Malcom bridge and build a zipline to the top of the SHARD. Then they’d steal the f19 grappler and three javelins to fight the evil guards. Then they started to go to Teddy’s lab.  

Chapter 3: Stealth

As they went to Teddy’s lab, they got mini digital command centers. They got a drone and gave it some money to get some stealth boots. One hour later, they got the boots. They went downstairs with their boots and snuck up under Vex’s stage. 

Buddy wondered what Teddy was thinking. Why are we sneaking under a stage? He thought.  

Teddy grabbed a random rope from one of its wires and cut it. That would affect the stage’s sound barrier, which could barricade Vex’s voice.

Chapter 4: Lift 

They grabbed a grappler from a store and started heading to Malcolm bridge. When they got there, the bridge blinded them with its extreme light. The SHARD was 7,000 kilometers away from Malcolm bridge so they had to go one by one. When they got there, it was already 11:30pm. They were so tired that they had to rest on top of the SHARD. 

So the next morning, they woke up for breakfast. Luckily, Teddy bought some bread. They used the zipline to get to the guard’s outlet. They were lucky because the guard was outside. They explored around the outlet for some javelin. They found three javelins and even some extras! They heard some footsteps coming in the hallway. So they ran out of the door. 

Chapter 5: Escape

Guards started blocking the door so they had to use javelins to get out. After they ran out, they found a treehouse. But, some person was in the treehouse. He told them to come up. When they met the boy, he looked the same age as them. He told them that Vex’s guards have security cameras everywhere. “BEWARE!” He told them. He got them some water and food, and then they went out. 

Chapter 6: Reunite

After they went out of the treehouse, they saw Vex’s guards chasing them from behind. They had a green banner of digits on their armour. They were fierce and quickly gaining on Buddy, Fred, and Teddy. The group went to the retaliated forest. They ran until they couldn’t run anymore. Then they saw some cobblestone and went to see what it was. They found a jungle temple that early hackers built. It was between two digital trees. 

Buddy read about those. He knew that early hackers built it for shelter and the moss on the cobblestone meant eternity. He also knew that there were the most valuable treasures in the chest, but they needed to beware the hidden arrow turret.

Chapter 7: Inside

They went through the door of the jungle temple. They put the levers in the right order and walked in. The temple was as dark as the night. There were a few torches and they saw some symbols on the walls. Suddenly, Teddy froze. He sighed in relief. He almost touched a pressure plate.

He told Buddy and Fred, “If we press on a pressure plate, that means a trap will hit you!” Then, Fred looked at the moss on the side of the wall and he ripped them off only to find that it was hollow. Then, Fred touched something at the end. 

He said, “That was an arrow turret.” They started walking into the door and they found the treasure nestled between two stone blocks. They found diamonds, gold, silver, and marble. Then, suddenly someone ran into the treasure chamber.

It was the boy from the treehouse. He told him that the guards had been chasing him. Then, behind him, there was an ocelot. He told them that his name was Salty. They left the treasure there and started walking out of the temple. They went out of the retaliated forest and went to the city.

Chapter 8: Desire

They went to Hacker’s Tower. There was a sewer there beside the tower. The boy told them to go in. They jumped into the sewer and found a secret base. The boy introduced them to the captain and his dad. They had a huge command center in the base. Everyone in the base also wanted to barricade the atomic virus and stop Vex. The hope was very low because he could launch the virus any time. In no time, Vex’s footsteps were clocking on the sewer cap.  

Chapter 9: Hope

They walked out of the sewer. Then, behind them, Vex’s guard grabbed them. They felt hands go around them. They took them to Vex’s torture chamber. There was a stand with a lever and a pool of lava behind it. The room was all made out of glass and digital technology. They put them on the stand. 

“This could be it for us,” thought Buddy, Fred, and Teddy. 

Then suddenly, a guard fell with an arrow through his head. There was the boy and his dad and an army full of crossbows and swords! 

Chapter 10: Rejuvenation

After they went out, the boy invited them to stay for dinner. The dinner was quite awkward. They were using old fashioned forks and old fashioned plates. 

Teddy asked them, “Why do you use old fashioned stuff?” 

The boy said, “I don’t know.” 

Suddenly, they heard a bomb beeping. Luckily, it wasn’t the atomic virus; it was just a regular bomb. It destroyed the Mercury Tower, the smallest tower in the city. Vex’s guard killed 3,765 people in the explosion. People have to get rejuvenated if they want to survive. That meant plastic surgery.

Chapter 11: Explore

Buddy, Fred, and Teddy went to the scythed mansion to meet the richest man on earth and in the history of the city. They went to meet him because he was the only one in the city who could afford a conduit. They needed the conduit because it was a beacon that could destroy Vex’s evil weapons. They went to Harry Ross (The rich guy). 

They went to ask him, “Can we have a conduit?” 

He started to talk to himself quietly. Later he said, “I will give you the conduit, only if you find the nautilus shell and the heart of the sea.”

Three hours later, they came back with a huge nautilus shell and one silk touch on the heart of the sea. After they gave it to him, he came back with a pure gold conduit. Buddy took it from him and said thanks and turned away to Teddy’s house.

Chapter 12: Split

They put the conduit in Teddy’s safe jar. It was already 12:08am. They said goodbye and went home for some sleep. The next morning, they found a scarf when they took a walk in the retaliated forest. It was the boy’s scarf. 

They went into the jungle temple again. They avoided all the pressure plates and started walking to the treasure chamber. They walked past the treasure and found three levers. They pulled the levers in the right order and there was the boy, tied to the wall. 

After they got him out, the boy said in dismay, “Vex’s guard chased me and then I got whacked by one of its javelins, and that is why I ended up in here.” 

Chapter 13: Sacrifice

After they went out, two heavy guards pushed them against the wall to the torture chamber. Before they got their heads chopped off, there was suddenly a voice. It was the captain from the base. He started fighting and cut the chain off their arms and legs. The sergeant of Vex’s guard shot him with an arrow and then he died. They saw Teddy’s dog. They started heading towards the boy’s treehouse. And when they got there, there was the ocelot, who was Salty. They sat on a bean bag and played on their computers. One hour later, the SHARD exploded from Vex’s bomb! 

Chapter 14: Locating 

The boy told them that there was a new city that people were living in that had an arsenal of troops that could stop enemies. It was way better than the city and it was super protected by good guards. But they need a plane to go there and they couldn’t afford the price of the flight, so they went to Harry Ross for some money. He gave them 8 digital coins and that was enough for four people. Next morning Buddy, Fred, Teddy, and the boy packed up together and headed to the airport. When they got to the plane, there was everything that Buddy liked. 

Chapter 15: Plane

They were in First class and they had everything you could  imagine. The boy read a book to be entertained. Later, the flight attendant said, “Five minutes till landing!” 

When they got there, all of them were excited because they were safe. And they were right, it was safe. They lived in a really fancy hotel and in the best room, all thanks to Harry Ross. The room was filled with quartz statues, four beds, six tables, eight chairs, five bathrooms, two dressing rooms, and a snack cabinet. 

Chapter 16: Regardless

At 8pm, they went for a walk on the hotel bridge. By 10pm, they went back to their room and watched TV. On the news, it said “VEX DESTROYED THREE-QUARTERS OF THE CITY!” “Vex is going to destroy our city,” they thought. 

Buddy said, “We have allies so, we can all defeat him.” 

The next day, they told the king of the city about Vex. He said he would round up all the guards he had. They went to the computer room and located the city that Vex lived in a few years ago. The king told them they have a secret base under the pool. They dived into the hotel pool and pulled the trap door open. Inside, there were a lot of people hacking other evil hackers. The king showed them around the dungeon. There were a lot of cells for the prisoners. 

Chapter 17: Spells

They walked out of the dungeon and started to their room. They slept till 11:00 in the morning and then went to the palace. When they got there, the king showed them the most powerful digital spells they had. The king said if you said the wrong spell, the spell will deflect back to you. That made Buddy stunned. Later that day, they went to the lab and typed in an ultimate bug software to save the city. 

Chapter 18: Conclusion

Next day, they heard the news say that Vex was going to destroy the city that they were living in right now. They went to the palace to tell the king, but the king had already rounded up an arsenal of troops and a lot of royal bodyguards. They heard the planes coming in, but now we have allies so we can defeat them. 

THE END 

The Doll

1865. Adelaide Mason was a well-behaved 9-year-old girl. Her parents were very rich, and Adelaide got everything she could ever want. The Mason family lived in a mansion on Grandiose Drive, in Indianapolis. Adelaide had one older brother named Charles, who was 15 years old. 

Mrs. and Mr. Mason never believed that their daughter would ever run away. How could she? She got everything she could possibly want, and a huge house. But they thought wrong. 

On October 2nd, Adelaide Mason ran away at night. Mrs. Mason was the first to notice. The front door had slammed shut, and it woke her up. 

“What is that?” she screamed

“Probably your imagination,” replied Mr. Mason

The next morning, Mrs. Mason called Adelaide to breakfast. There was no answer. 

“Dorota, go fetch Adelaide from her room. She’s probably not awake yet,” Mrs. Mason said to one of the maids. 

Dorota came down to tell Mrs. Mason what had happened. 

“Adelaide is not in her bedroom,” Dorota told Mrs. Mason.

Everyone searched everywhere, but there was no sign of Adelaide. They searched all the nooks and crannies, and all around the Masons’ property. 

Then, Mr. Mason called the police. The police looked all around town and asked everyone on the street if they had seen a short girl with black curls and fancy clothes on. No one had seen Adelaide.

That night at dinner time, a creepy doll appeared in Adelaide’s chair. The doll looked exactly like her. Tight black curls and a pretty white lace dress on just like the one that Adelaide had. Except that the doll was not as big as her, and really creepy. The doll had a bloody face and blood all over the white lace dress. 

“What is that doll doing here?!” yelled Mrs. Mason

It seemed like the doll was trying to say something to Mrs. Mason, but it was so hard to hear, and she couldn’t make out the words. 

“Ah! Charles, did you take one of Adelaide’s dolls and put red paint on it?” asked Mr. Mason

“I didn’t do anything, I swear,” replied Charles

“Ok, get that thing out of here Dorota!” yelled Mrs. Mason again

Mrs. Mason was very upset. Someone was trying to replace her own daughter with a creepy doll. 

The next morning, everyone walked to the table feeling really tired. At first, they didn’t even realize that the doll was also walking into the kitchen. She even sat at the table. 

“Oh my goodness! What is with that doll!” screamed Mrs. Mason 

The doll was wearing a white dress with puffed-up shoulders, and a green shawl. It was the same dress and shawl that Adelaide had. That sure woke up the Mason family. 

“Dorota, go throw that thing in the garbage. It is disturbing us, and creeping us out,” said Mr. Mason

Dorota went and threw the doll in the garbage can. 

“That doll is concerning me,” said Mrs. Mason, worried.

“Yes, I don’t know what to do with it. It seems to be a doll version of Adelaide,” replied Mr. Mason

“But, but that is not possible!” stuttered Mrs. Mason

“I know it’s not, but what else could it be? It looks exactly like our daughter, and acts like her also,” said Mr. Mason, again making a point. 

“Did Adelaide have any dolls that looked like her?” asked Mr. Mason

“No, I do not believe so,” replied Mrs. Mason.

When the Mason family was done with their breakfast, Mrs. Mason decided to go up to Adelaide’s bedroom to remind herself of her daughter who she would never see again. When she walked into the bedroom, she saw the same doll Dorota had thrown away on Adelaide’s bed. 

“Where in the name of heavens did this doll come from?” screamed Mrs. Mason acting really startled. 

She decided to take the doll out to the garbage bin and hoped to never see it again. 

The same day repeated over and over again. Dorota taking the doll to the garbage, and it coming back every single day. As the same day happened over and over again, Mrs. and Mr. Mason became more aware of it. After over two weeks of the doll coming back, the Mason family agreed to not take it to the garbage anymore because it would do nothing.

The doll began to be the new Adelaide and started to do the same actions as she would take. The Mason family was getting more and more scared and creeped out.

After one week, Mrs. Mason had an idea to kill the doll. She was going to cut up her hair, and just destroy the doll. 

The next day, Mrs. and Mr. Mason got to work. They first cut off some of her hair and made it all frizzy. Then, they ripped up her dress and drew shapes all over her face. Finally, they put her in a garbage bag, tied it up, and brought it to the dump. 

After that, the doll never came back, but neither did their daughter. 

The Mason family never ever believed that they could kill their own daughter, but they just did, not realizing it. 

That night, when Mrs. Mason was in Adelaide’s room, there was a note on her bed. The note read:

You have killed your own daughter. I am the one who turned her into the doll. She was tired of being rich.

Sincerely, 

The witch Beatrix

“Oh my goodness!” Mrs. Mason weeped

She called everyone else into Adelaide’s bedroom. It was a sorrowful night. Everyone cried and had nightmares about the doll that was actually their family member. 

The next morning, Mrs. Mason went on an adventure. She went out into the woods and looked for Witch Beatrix. 

She walked about a mile, and a tall slender woman with a cloak came to her. 

“You must be Elizabeth Mason,” said Witch Beatrix.

Witch Beatrix had a deep voice and never showed her face. She always hid her face under the hood of her cloak. 

“Yes, and you are Witch Beatrix, the one who turned my daughter into that horrible doll,” replied Mrs. Mason. “But, who exactly are you, and why did you turn my poor little daughter into a dol?,”

“I did that because that is what she asked of me. She was tired of being made fun of at school because she was so rich. If I turned her into a doll, she wouldn’t have to go to school and experience it anymore,” Witch Beatrix told Mrs. Mason, “And I am witch Beatrix. I grant people wishes whenever they need me,” 

“It doesn’t seem as though you grant people their real wish,” added Mrs. Mason.

“I grant people what is needed for them,” argued Witch Beatrix. “Now go.” 

“Wait. Adelaide could have just told me. She loves me and would tell me anything,” said Mrs. Mason.

“Ahh, you thought you were a good mother giving your child everything she wants, but actually that is the wrong choice to make,” responded Witch Beatrix

Mrs. Mason went back to her home and thought about what she had done. She had killed her own daughter and didn’t even know it. 

After that, the Mason family learned their lesson. To discipline their children, and to get more information before taking action.

The 2 Cat and 1 Monkey Friend

BUTTERCUP

Hi my name is Buttercup, and one of my best friends is named George. He is a brown, white, and black cat, and one eye is green and the other is blue. I am the color peach and white. One of my eyes is bleached. I was put in the laundry machine, and one day my mom put bleach on my eye by accident. When I looked everywhere, I had x-ray vision. My other best friend is Mr. Monkey. He is dark brown and peachy color. Both of his eyes are black. He loves bananas. He can dance. I went to Peru with George. Mr Monkey didn’t want to go. We came back from the trip, and George was gone. Six months passed, and we didn’t find him, until my aunt said that she found him. When I saw him, I burst into tears. Stuffing was coming out of my eyes. I slept good all the time everytime George was here.

GEORGE

Hi my name is George, and I am going to tell you about what I have been doing during those six months. I have traveled to the kitchen. DUH DUH DUUUN! It was such a journey. There were mountains. The humans were so strong that they picked up the mountains. One of them said they were books, but I think they were mountains. I had to run over the humans. It was so difficult. I started to jump, and a person looked at me and called someone and said, ’’I found him.’’ In my head, I said, “Yeah right.’’ I met my best friend/my brother. I was so happy I hugged him so tight. I went back home and slept right away, knowing my brother is always going to be with me side by side.

MR. MONKEY

Hi, my name is Mr. Monkey. What I did during the six months is sleep, eat, sleep, eat, and so on. I was relaxing until I wanted to get a banana. I had to face the DOG. DUN DUN DUUUUN. I ran as fast as I could, and the dog was chasing me. I jumped on the dog and jumped to the bananas. I did! I ate one and quickly ran back to my room. I am named Mr. Monkey because I am also elegant. I always put a towel around my neck to be clean. I also am a teacher. I teach Buttercup and George. I am in Monkey University. I learn how to use bananas to make different chemicals.

My Journal

Chili was in a closet. The police are outside. He was panicking. He didn’t know what to do except run. He heard the footsteps and the calling of the stalker. He’s crying, but he couldn’t make any noise OR HE’S DEAD.

1 week before all of this happened

He was at home doing his homework before he heard a noise in the wall, and next to Chili’s wall was just cement that’s all. The noise was louder and louder just like his heart beat. He went closer to the wall and his sweat was running through his skin. He couldn’t breathe. 

Was this normal? 

Like a flash, he ran to his mom so hard the tiles on the floor broke like pencils. Chili told his mom what he had heard, but his mom told him, “Do you have a fever?” 

Chili went back into his room and heard the same voice. He ran to his mom again, and his mom said she heard a voice too. They called the popo and they came in 10 minutes.

When they were about to go outside, someone pulled them in…

What happened

They got pulled in and they started to scream, yell, kick, punch. The door closed and got locked.  Tears ran down their throats. Their voices were cranky and painful. While they were screaming, the person was getting more angry. 

Chili said to his mom,”I TOLD YOU SO NOW WE ARE GOING TO GET KILLED.YAY”

“IT’S NOT MY FAULT!” Chili’s mom said. While they were getting dragged, Chili was playing on his phone. His mom was like ಠ_ಠ. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU ARE CRAZY!!!! ¿(❦﹏❦)?HIDE THE PHONE!!” 

“My phone died.”chill said. “Wahhhh!  I NEED A CHARGER.”

  (╥﹏╥)LET ME JUST DIE “JUST KILL ME’’ 

Far away, they saw a glowing silver sparkle. It was a knife! They started to scream and scream and scream. 

Chili’s mom kicked the stalker in the leg, and the stalker fell on his face, and they started to run.ヽ(゚Д゚)ノ.

They ran to Chili’s  mom’s room since there were more hiding places than Chili’s room.They hid in the closet  (∩︵∩). While he was in the closet, he felt excruciating pain. He saw he made a big cut on his leg when he ran, since he dropped glass and fell on it. He had covered his cut with his sweater. He must have been so focused on saving his life he didn’t really focus on the cut. He kept on losing a lot of blood. He had a fever and his face had turned green and yellow.(´~ヾ ).His mom was helping him as much as she could. Chili was about to scream because of the pain. Chili’s mom covered his mouth. Chili’s mom peeked through the closet and she saw the stalker distracted. Chili’s mom told him to try to stand up but he couldn’t. Chili’s mom took the risk, put Chili on her back, and ran. But then they heard police with the sound of the guns ready for anything that comes in their way. They heard punching, tasers, and other things. At the end, they caught him. Chili and his mom got out of the house and they saw his face. 

It couldn’t be. Is this real? There he was. Chili’s 5th grade teacher. With a smirk on his face. Chili was happy that he and his mom were safe and sound, but that night haunts him every night. It is a mystery why Chili’s teacher did that.

THE END

(ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧ ✧゚・: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)

Bob the Dwagin

Chapter 1

Once upon a time, there was a dwagin named Bob. Bob lived in a cave in the middle of nowhere. 

He used to live in a waterfall by a lake named Peace on this land. He was kicked out of the waterfall because he kept breathing fire on tourists and stuff! 

But there was one boy that wanted the dwagin to stay. The boy’s name is Billy. Billy loved dwagins. They were his favorite animals. He loved every type: water, ice, fire, earth. Everyone, except undead dwagins. Undead dwagins were mean and ferocious. They attacked anyone they saw. Billy’s favorite type was fire though, because they were classic. That is why Billy wanted Bob to stay at the waterfall. 

But the other townspeople wanted him to move. They all shouted, “Move! Move!” to Bob the dwagin. But Billy told everyone that Bob shouldn’t move because he was happy with his “company” there. But they all disagreed. Everyone said that he was dangerous and unfriendly. 

Once he moved, Billy snuck away at night to find Bob. It turned out Bob found a cave near the village, but still in the middle of nowhere! It was small and warm and snug, but it was too small to have his friends over.

Chapter 2: The stuff

When Billy found Bob, they decided to go out and play. While they played, Bob found a big wooden box that was lined with real gold, and it was really heavy and locked. Luckily, Billy had a paperclip so he opened the chest. In the chest were diamond and gold, and even a note. It said: So ye found the treasure all filled up with gold, now go to the town and get your reward. 

“Wow!!” said Billy. “Sorry Bob, but you can’t go.” 

Bob was kind of sad because they found the treasure together, and he wouldn’t be able to get his reward. Billy said that he would ask the mayor for his reward. Bob felt better after Billy told him that. So Billy carried the big treasure chest all the way to the town. When he showed the mayor what he had found, the mayor was so happy he let him take two things from the chest, then it would get transported to the museum.                                                                   

Soon after he finished speaking, the moving truck arrived to pick up the chest. Soon, 

everyone wanted to go to the museum and see the chest. 

“You did a good job,” the mayor told Billy. 

Then Billy asked, “Mayor, can Bob come back? Because he was the one who found the chest.” 

The mayor was so happy with Bob that he let him go back to the waterfall. When Bob went back to the waterfall, he hugged Billy. He noticed that everyone was there, and they weren’t scared of him anymore. Bob felt happy. He was smiling. So he lived happily ever after. 

THE END 

The Singularity

CHAPTER ONE: Getting Ready

In year 4077, the King of Avalon told every person in the city to take themselves to the palace for a war. Noah went to the palace. He put his fingerprint on the scanner and the voice replied, “BED WARS.” 

Noah didn’t want to go to the Bed Wars. He wanted to go to the Snowball Fights. The reason why he didn’t want to go to Bed Wars is because he has to go to a really really high place up in the world. He doesn’t want to get killed by a sword or get knocked out with a snowball and fall like a million feet down. Next day, he went to the arena for Bed Wars. He was surprised that he had to build a bridge to other forts with blocks of wool. Even more awkward is that he saw that the forts are made out of wool. He was on the Blue team because he wore a blue armour. He has three other teammates and a blue bed. One of his teammates built a fort made out of blue wool and every one was armed with fire charges to break or set on fire the wool that opponents are building to raid your fort and pickaxes for breaking the beds and wool. There were also swords to kill enemies and bow and arrows for long range distance. When the countdown ended, all the people were building bridges of wool and protecting. Suddenly, the bridge that he was building was trembling. He looked behind him and saw someone throw a fire charge at him and his bridge. But Noah was fast; he ran to the green team’s fort and saw defenders charging at him. 

CHAPTER TWO: Awake

He started feeling brave and threw a snowball at a person and it knocked him off his fort and fell down to the kraken (under the island’s hole and then you die from it). The other defender charged at Noah, but he missed and fell on the ground. He was on the edge of the island, which was made of ice and then he couldn’t hold it anymore so he fell into the kraken too. He broke the green bed and he heard a giant voice and said, “Green team eliminated.” He raced back to his fort and his teammates were there eating lunch. 

Later they introduced themselves. “I’m Kyle, he is Alex and this is Andy.”

 Suddenly they heard the same voice and heard, “Yellow team eliminated.” Andy told him that the Red team are Cheaters and they have a better upgrade and they have better fighters.

CHAPTER THREE: Outcoming

They saw a red armoured person who was trying to shear wool, so Kyle got angry and kicked him off the island. Alex and Andy charged to the Red team fort. The defenders were raging like a bull when they saw the defenders and ran back to their fort out of breath. Noah went to the Red team’s fort and lastly without a defender seeing him, he broke the bed. 

He heard the voice say, “Red and Blue team eliminated.’’ 

Noah thought to himself, “How can two teams lose at the same time?” 

Suddenly, he heard the voice say, “Deathmatch!”

CHAPTER FOUR: Deathmatch

The island became smaller and a pulsed line was getting closer. If the pulse hits you, you are dead. (The pulsed line is a line that is made of dark matter and hydroelectric.) Some guy from the Red team knocked Alex off the island and to the kraken. At the same time, the defender killed Andy and threw him to the pulsed line. 

Kyle fell to the kraken because someone threw a firecharge at him. Noah was the only person left on the Blue team. He was feeling angry and stabbed the person who was charging at him. Some person kicked him on the back, then Noah kicked him to the kraken. Now it was Noah and another person. They fought till sunset. Noah remembered the time he felt scared. So he kicked the guy to the edge made out of ice and threw a snowball, and then he fell to the kraken. Suddenly he heard the voice say, “Blue team wins.’’ 

He felt really happy and proud of himself.

Granny

Beep! Blop! Beep! The annoying sound of my alarm clock wakes me up. I am about to go back to sleep when I remember it is the birthday of my grandma, Granny Mary, and what I don’t know is what she wants. I creep down the stairs into her bedroom and open her trunk of memories. That is when I stumble across a ripped-off page of her diary from when she was younger. Here is what it says:

Dear Diary,

Today was my 10th birthday and it was all going perfectly until my brother Tommy “accidentally” threw out all my presents (video games) and birthday treats (Oreos, sprinkles, Chips Ahoy, various other cookies, and ice cream in a wide range of favors). I am so mad and upset at him. I wanted the video games so badly, but I remembered that I am a girl, and a girl is not allowed to have video games or even like them, so I guess that I will get another doll to add to my huge collection of dolls and not have any video games. I really want to have equal rights and be able to get video games. Hopefully next year will be better.

-Mary Blob

That is when I realize what to get Granny for her birthday. I will give her the birthday that she never had. I grab the diary entry and rush to my parents’ room.

“Mom, Dad, wake up!” I say in a rush.

“What is it?” answers my half-awake mom.

“I know what to get Granny for her birthday,” I say.

“Great, what is it?”

“First, you have to get out of bed and get dressed,” I say.

With that, my mom jumps out of bed, gets dressed, and heads downstairs. I go down the stairs and get a bite to eat. We meet in the car.

“So where are we going?” says my mom, still unsure of what we are doing.

“We are going to the Toolfast Shopping Center. There we will see Mathew’s Marvelous Market where you will get…” I take the diary entry out of my pocket and read, “Oreos, sprinkles, Chips Ahoy, various other cookies, and ice cream in a wide range of flavors. I will also get all video game related things in stock at Violet’s Video Game Hut.”

My mom says, “But you will…”

“…not get all the video games in stock—only a few.” I say, completing my mother’s sentence.

“Okay,” she says.

We arrive at the Toolfast Shopping Center. I hand my mom the diary entry. We know what to do. We jump out of the car and head our separate ways. When I arrive at Violet’s Video Game Hut, I notice that all the games are sold out except for Super Mario Brothers, a game from when she was a kid. I guess that is the only game I could get her. I wish I could give her more video games because she really wanted them. Whether or not my mom gets the other stuff right, video games were the main thing she wanted.

 I meet my mom back in the car.

“The supermarket went well,” my mom says in her cheery tone, “I got everything on the list!”

“The video game store was a disaster,” I say. “They were sold out of everything except for Super Mario Brothers, so I got that but not any one of the games she wanted.”

“That is exactly what she wanted. She always told me that she wanted Super Mario Brothers. That is the perfect gift!”

“So what are we waiting for? We have a party to throw!” I say, containing my excitement for the party.

With that, we jump into the car and rush home. One we get there, we wake up everyone, except Granny. We set everything up. We just finish setting up when my sister hears Granny coming down the hallway, so we hide. When Granny arrives in the kitchen, we all jump out and say, “Surprise!”

Granny is very surprised! We all gather around and sing, “Happy Birthday” to her. After that, we play party games and have all the treats on her list. She is flattered. At the end of the party, we give Granny her presents. Mine is the last one to be given. My mom hands her the gift.

“Super Mario Brothers!” Granny says. Her face is full of joy. “I have always wanted this. Mia, thank you for the best birthday ever!” Granny says.

“How did you know it was me?” I reply back.

“Your mother told me. Thank you.”

Granny gives me a big hug. I hug her back. We go back to partying. It is clear that it is the best birthday ever.

Do Aliens Exist?

Yes, they do exist. There was once an article I read in school that said “Aliens do exist, because there is life on Mars.” There is life on Mars because studies show that there used to be water in between the rocks on Mars. This is important because life can’t exist without water and wherever there is water, there is life. Another reason I think that aliens do exist is the one time I actually saw one….

Chapter 1: The beginning and stuff

The first thing you have to know about New Jupiter is that it used to be filled with aliens. Until the basic humanoids (also known as droids) came along. They destroyed every alien in sight. Some got away but the rest were terminated. Once you get to know droids, they’re quite nice. But some droids are bad. They’re never bad on purpose though. They are programmed by Cybermort. He used to be an alien himself. Then some mean aliens kicked him and his followers out of Old Jupiter and into CybaMars (what Mars is called today). Cybermort wanted revenge. He wanted revenge because of a lot of things but the main reason he wanted revenge was to destroy all the aliens, even himself.

Chapter 2: I find the alien

I ran across the stage to door 1-A, as I crossed the theater room and up the stairs.

The assignment was due today and I only had a matter of time before the bus left. I ran like the wind as I sped down the hallway of my house. I raced to my room, opened the closet door, and took out my 7000AMKV Hoverboard. After that, I wasn’t worried, I jumped out the window with my hoverboard connected to my feet, hoping I wouldn’t be late for school.

Our bus driver wasn’t normal. He had two claws for hands, a fish tail, and the head of a velociraptor. He drove the kids to each class, which was in their own building. I had astronomy class first then I headed to my homeroom where Ms. Satan was doing her usual morning routine of yelling at kids, “teaching” math, smoking an electronic eyeball, and looking at her devil tattoo. After I was done with that torture, I had my favorite class yet, science! Science class is my favorite because we get to do experiments and blow up stuff. I also like science because my science teacher has a dark history.

I was making my way to music class, when I got tackled into a locker by a mysterious creature. Suddenly, the creature with big green muscles whispered in my ear, “##! ####! %#####! ^%$$%%@!” Out of my shock, I managed a very loud SCREEEEEEEEAM! Suddenly the doors burst open, and the security rushed in. 

“What happened here?” the security guard said. 

“An alien!” I screamed. Suddenly, my eyes rolled into the back of my head and I passed out.

Chapter 3: The power of the scroll

I woke up in a strange reality that had strange metal ground and some robot-like creatures suddenly the scene changed and I was in an ancient building which I could tell from history class at school. I sat up and looked at my surroundings and saw a very slow creature. The creature had big tusks and scorpion-like legs and a mouth full of black teeth. As it came closer to me, I saw that it was talking in a strange voice. I reached out to touch it, but my hand just went through like it was a ghost. 

Then the scene changed once again. And I was in an ocean. I saw a green magic scroll laid at my feet. I went to reach for it, starting to read what it said.

One will find the ancient being, an innocent supernatural with ancient blood. They must find the secret mask for it will lead you to a final task and there you shall fight with all of your might. For this battle is great and shall lead to your destiny. This magic scroll is still untold of what it can do. But all I know is to give it to you. 

The letter disappears into smoke and a magic, green flame burns around it. I take the scroll and it surprisingly doesn’t burn me. And suddenly, I can’t breathe. I’m underwater for too long. I try to imagine getting out of this place. Suddenly, the scroll starts to glow and everything goes black. 

The Final Battle… or is it? 

I woke up on the strange metal land I was on before. This time, I was inside a giant vase that had two letters on it. C and M. I was guessing this was the final battle. Then gripped the scroll and imagined I had an elemental sword. And when I slashed it, it came out as different elements. A different element for every slash. I felt a tingling sensation in me that told me to hide. I hid myself behind a big beam as three robotic-like creatures came around the corner. I jumped out from the beam I was behind and slashed with my sword a fire that came out and knocked them down before they could even get their shock rifles out. I assumed they were cyborgs by the robotic parts on their head. Then I heard the alarm blaring, twenty five shock troopers surrounded me. Before they could shoot, an alien with super speed came behind all the cyborgs in a couple of seconds, knocking them all out. 

“Hey you’re the alien from school,” I said. I recognized the alien from his muscular green body and his black teeth, like the creature from my dream. But this time I could understand the creature as he talked in his foreign language. 

He said, “Go. Go away. I will distract them. Go. Defeat! Go defeat Cybermort. And avenge us all!!!!” 

Then I start running down the hallway, listening to the alien. Something was motivating me to trust him. As I reached the final port, I saw cybermort sitting in his red chair.

“Well well well,” he said. “The hero is finally here”

I charged at him but he dodged my sword. Then he pointed his finger at me and yelled, “HADOUKEN!”

Suddenly my body was set on fire. I slowly put it out by slashing my sword at me. No damage was done to me, but it was the element of water. I yelled, “Bring it on!” Then I tried to hit him again with incredible speed. Hitting him with a knockout blow. 

“Ooof!” he yelled as electric sparks flew out of his body. Then the most incredible thing happened. Cybermort fell off the railing and all the cyborgs shut down. 

Then my alien friend rushed toward me and held my hand. Suddenly, my eyes closed and the world went black.  

And that’s how I know aliens exist. 

Scary and Short Stories

THE COUPLE AND THE RIVER

A couple, Tom and Julia, were walking on a bridge over a river. 

Tom said, “I love y–” 

Then Julia fell into the river. Tom couldn’t save her. Later, he went home and never went outside, even for her funeral.

“I can’t take it anymore.” He threw himself in the river and drowned.

THE BOY IN THE TRAIN

His name was Sam. He was my love, my sweet, my everything. Then something tragic happened.

When we were walking to the train, he fell on the train tracks. I was on my phone, I didn’t notice, so when I heard the train coming I was looking for him, I called out:

“Sam! Sami!!! Where are you?”

Then he said, “Right here, mommy.”

I screamed, “Help, please!” But it was too late, the train had run him down. It was the saddest time for me, really sad.

Every night now, I scream “Sami.” I can still hear his voice echoing in my head saying, “I’m right here, mommy…”

Love you, Sami.

THE BOOGEYMAN

One century ago, there was a man whose name was Boogey.

When Boogey was a child, he would go to school and the other students would make fun of him for his name. So one day, in high school, he never showed up to class. His parents searched their house and never found him. His fellow students, of course, didn’t care. People say he went into the woods and starved to death, but two weeks later, somebody found his body in his basement. SUICIDE.

Some people say that they’ve seen his ghost in their basements or in the closets. One boy, Jimmy, named him the Boog Monster, but he is well known as the BOOGEYMAN. 

THE TWO GIRLS IN THE LAKE

One day, there was a family, they had two daughters, Helen and Sofia, and a son, Jimmy. They lived in Maine, close to a lake.

One day, when it was very cold, Jimmy wanted to go ice skating. So Helen and Sofia took him outside and helped put his ice skates on. Then he went ice skating, and the ice started breaking under Jimmy’s feet. Then Helen and Sofia pushed him out of the way in time. But then Helen started to feel the ice breaking under her feet and so did Sofia. Then the ice broke. The two girls had drowned. Jimmy ran home crying… 

Two weeks went by and Jimmy wouldn’t get out of his bed. That night he saw two shadows walking on the lake holding hands. It was his sisters. He got so scared that he locked the door to his house. Then the sisters barged into the house, took Jimmy, ran to the lake, and drowned him.  

THE DEAD HAUNTING

One day, there was a town called Death’s Peak. It was actually the happiest town in the world, but that changed one day when it started raining, it rained everyday for years and the town grew sad.

The rain was overwatering the plants and there were many floods, and people grew sick and died. Four years later, the whole town died, but the ghosts of the people still remained in the town and were abandoned for about a century…

Then some people came to the town and built over it. The ghosts grew mad and started to burn and kill each one of the people that had tried to build a town over theirs. Twenty years went by and they had killed over a thousand people. The town still remains and is known as Doodletown or ghost town.

DEJA VU 

One day, there was a girl named Sophie. She had a bunch of problems (mentally) so nobody would believe whatever was about to happen.

When Sophie was walking to school alone because her parents were sick and needed rest, so while Sophie was walking, she saw a big dog, so she took it home without telling her parents.

That night she heard a scream coming from her parents’ room. Then she saw what the dog really was. It was a tall man holding a knife. Because of her mental illnesses, she had seen a dog, not a man, then he stabbed her…

THE MAN IN THE MIRROR

There was once a girl named Melissa, and she had no friends. One day, she was walking on the street and she came across a beautiful mirror in an antique shop that was closing up. So she bought it for four dollars.

When she got home, she put the mirror in her room. Then in the night she heard a whisper. There wasn’t anyone in her room so she went back to sleep.

An hour later, she heard another whisper. Then she got up and looked at the mirror. Then a dark figure appeared in the mirror. 

Melissa looked behind her and saw nothing. But in the mirror, there was a man. 

He said, “I’ve been thinking a lot, and I wanted to ask, will you be my friend?”

“Yes,” Melissa said without giving it one thought. They spent the whole night talking and then it was time for school.

Melissa was happy that she had a friend. But that day in school, some girl, Hannah, asked Melissa to be her friend. So she did.

The next day, she couldn’t find Hannah anywhere. She asked the teachers about it, but all they said was that she was probably just sick… They were wrong.

A week later, they found out that Hannah had been murdered. 

So here was the crime scene. She was standing in her room. Her room had a bed, a small couch, a dresser and a mirror… Melissa froze, and then asked her friend if he was anywhere else than in her room. 

He said, “No? I just stayed here and—how was your day?”

“Fine,” Melissa said.

Then he started talking about his life. He said he was never loved by anyone, not even his family. Then his big eyes started to turn black. Then he said his name was Jereld, and that he just always wanted a friend. He also said that when he was three, his classmates made fun of him because of his big eyes, then he said, “You have big eyes.”

Melissa ran as fast as she could outside of her house…

Melissa woke up in her room and checked the mirror. Jereld wasn’t there. But a little later, she found out he changed his name and his gender. Now he is known as BLOODY MARY.

THE ICEBOX MURDER

In 1921, Charles Rogers was born.

When Charles was a young boy, he was physically and mentally abused. Later on in life he was very stressed after a couple of years he went psycho and only stayed in his room, the way he communicated was putting notes under his door. One day, the police came to his house and knocked on the door loudly. They had knocked for five minutes before kicking the door open… They searched the house. 

When they got to the basement, they found a refrigerator, and then they opened the refrigerator and found what looked like hog meat. But, later on, they found out that it was actually his parents’ disassembled bodies. The police looked in Charles Rogers’ room and saw that the doorknob had blood on it. So they left the house because Charles wasn’t there.

One day, in 1975, they declared that Charles had died…

But did he really?

Daisy’s Adventure

There used to be a unicorn named Daisy who lived in California, in a rainbow castle. Across from the castle was a beautiful rainbow. Daisy adored the rainbow more than she loved chocolate cake! Daisy studied social studies at school and learned all about the panorama. She worked very hard on the project of California’s panorama. 

Daisy had always been trying to go on top of the rainbow to see the panorama of California. But each time Daisy tried, there were obstacles stopping her. Today she saw the rainbow and whispered to herself, “Today I have to get past those obstacles and finally get to see California’s panorama.” Daisy, with all her bravery, started to go through the castle’s gates. Once she stepped out of the gates she met a river with no bridge. 

She tried thinking of what to do and thought of it… making a boat! It was a perfect idea because she loved architecture and there were plenty of logs next to her to build a boat. As time flew by, Daisy got more work done. And before she knew it, she was all done with building the boat. She dragged the boat into the river, and hopped on the boat.

“Phew,” she said. “If it weren’t for the logs, I couldn’t have made it.” 

After the river, there was another obstacle: a creepy dark forest. Daisy knew she had a big fear of forests. But, she remembered what her goal was: to finally go on top of the rainbow and see California’s panorama, so she took a deep breath and walked into the forest. As she walked, she met a tiger who was a very scary one. It had sharp scary nails, and dark green eyes, and the biggest roar Daisy had ever heard!

“Roar!” 

Daisy was frightened. Really frightened! But since Daisy was really intelligent, she knew just what to do: stand still and tiptoe carefully behind the tiger until he was out of her sight, and it worked!

“Phew,” she said, “If it wasn’t for all of my intelligence, I wouldn’t have gotten past that scary tiger.”

Finally, there was only one more obstacle: a big scary roller coaster!

“Oh-no!” Daisy exclaimed. “I totally forgot that the roller coaster was the last obstacle. I know I said I would finally go on top of the rainbow to see the panorama, but this is too scary for me.” 

Then she started to run away, but remembered that she was a very persistent girl and that she would have come all this way for nothing if she left. So, she went up to the roller coaster and hopped on. She took a deep breath, and waited for the roller coaster to turn on. And then it did. She started screaming but managed to arrive at her destination: the rainbow!

“Finally,” she exclaimed. “Now I can go on top of the rainbow and see California’s panorama!” 

So she went on top of the rainbow and saw the panorama, and always lived happily ever after when she remembered the time she went on top of the rainbow. And did it again.

The End.

Germ Clash

One day a BIG germ called Shadow was walking then whomp! A huge germ slapped him into a volcano then, KA-KOOM!!!! A huge serpent called Lord Sparr ya-yeted Shadow! Then they all started fighting! Shadow had the bow and sword. Lord Sparr had the whip. The 2 germs clashed loudly as Shadow shot a poison arrow, almost knocking down Sparr! Sparr ran away yelling “Mom!” Shadow chased Sparr into a cave and cut Sparr’s head off! Shadow ran away with Sparr’s head. Shadow ran back to his fortress and put the head on the wall as a souvenir. Then, Shadow wrote on a piece of paper on top of Lord Sparr’s head, “This is what I got from defeating Lord Sparr!” Then he taped it on the top of Lord Sparr’s head.

Then all of a sudden, Lord Sparr kicked open Shadow’s door. CRASH! Lord Sparr kicked the door so hard the whole fortress shook like a shock wave. But Shadow saw that Lord Sparr was a zombie with magical powers. Then Shadow took off running. Lord Sparr chased him. But Shadow took his jetpacks off the wall and he zoomed away at 35,000 miles per hour. Lord Sparr could only run two miles per hour. 

But then when Shadow was about to go back to the fortress to add new batteries, he said, “Oh, I almost forgot!” and he grabbed the head and he added new batteries and then he took off.

Lord Sparr used his magical powers and he guided Shadow back and he used magical powers to lock Shadow in a dungeon. But Shadow just broke the dungeon and flew back to Earth and Lord Sparr followed, but he was very, very, VERY slow.

Shadow hollered, “So long, sucker!” And he hid on Earth. Lord Sparr didn’t know where he was, so he went into a random stranger’s house and the stranger said, “Hey! What are you doing?” And he kicked him out of his house.

“Yow!” Lord Sparr yelled when the stranger kicked him out of his house. “Owie, owie!” Then he ran back and he tried to find a doctor but the doctor said, “Hey! You look like someone from out of this world!” And she kicked him out and said, “I only accept people from this world!”

Then, Lord Sparr finally found Shadow. Shadow said, “Uh-oh!” then when Lord Sparr was about to throw him into the volcano, Shadow was quicker and he tased Lord Sparr and he threw him into the sun.

Then Shadow just bought a house and a Lamborghini and he tested out how fast the Lamborghini went and then “Yoweeee!” The Lamborghini was 2,000 miles an hour.

Then Shadow found a secret button that said, “Push button for jetpacks.” Jetpacks huh?? Shadow thought. This was going crazy! He activated the jetpacks and then, ZOOM! The Lamborghini went so fast it flew out of the world! Then Shadow zoomed in space back to Earth so Lord Sparr could not find him.

Then Lord Sparr just made a house in the sun. But Lord Sparr’s house was a little toasty. Then Lord Sparr caught on fire! “Help! Help!” he cried. Then Lord Sparr quickly sprayed some water on him, but then Lord Sparr figured, “Wait! This is goooood and hot water!” Then he looked down and saw: He was shooting flames on himself! But since Lord Sparr was a zombie, he could stay on fire, so Shadow lived on Earth and Lord Sparr lived on the sun.

THE END

(And they never met again!)

Dragon Story

Once upon a time, there was a dragon whose name was Oliver. He was known as a myth, but not the hero. The hero is still alive, but in hiding because he knows that he is the real bad one.

One day, a girl named Stacey wandered in the woods because she heard a dragon roar. She went farther in the woods. She went even farther in the forest. She heard even more dragon roars. After all the trees she walked past, she saw two caves directly across from each other. Then she saw Oliver who had red eyes. Stacey was scared. She pinched herself to see if it was a dream. It was definitely not a dream.

She stepped closer to the caves. She stood right in the middle of the caves. Then fire came out of one cave and went straight to the other one. Then she heard a groan. It sounded like a lion’s roar. The roar was louder and longer.

The fake hero’s name was Cornelius, but Oliver called him Cornie. She started to climb the cave with Oliver after Cornie flew away. She finally made it to the top. Slowly, she walked in the cave. She saw a tree stump and Oliver was sitting on it. She felt so bad for him. She was determined to cheer him up.

She walked next to him and asked what was the matter?

He said, “Life is just not fair.”

“I know,” said Stacey. “My grandfather is a dragon expert, but he has a different opinion from everyone.”

Oliver said, “That’s why you look like him. Your grandfather and I were best buddies until people took him away because they thought I was the bad guy.”

“Oliver, please tell me!”

“Okay, once upon a time there was a dragon whose name was Oliver. He was known as a myth, but not the hero.The hero is still alive, but in hiding because he knows that he is the real bad one.”

“Wow! I had no idea, I’m so sorry,” said Stacey. “I probably should’ve told you before you told me the story that I can’t keep a secret.”

“You can’t tell anyone, they won’t believe you. You need proof,” said Oliver.

“Oh, I have proof. When I was a baby I put video cameras before that happened,” said Stacey. “Give me a ride down. Everybody needs to know!” she said.

Oliver said, “Why not? You can’t keep a secret and you have proof.”

She hopped. After 13 times of showing the video, they were convinced. Oliver was finally free, but Cornie was punished.

“Thank you Stacey for everything.”

The Unicorns and One Pony

Chapter 1

Once there was a pony. Her name was Emma. Emma wished she was a unicorn. All the unicorns in town did not allow Emma in their group, so every day after school she cried to her mom. Her mom was a unicorn. One day she went to school with a fake unicorn horn and rainbow mane. 

One day she went to the doctor to get plastic surgery. The doctor thought she might die. Emma wanted to die, but her mom said not to do the surgery. Emma was depressed. Then her mom told the principal that all of the unicorns were making fun of her, but the principal was a unicorn so he said, “Well, your daughter has mental issues.” The pony had to move from California to New York because her mom had a job there

They moved. The school that she went to was very welcoming. They even had a surprise. She loved it and on the bright side, it was a private only pony school. And for Halloween, they were all unicorns. When they went trick or treating, she saw a friend from California! 

Chapter 2

Apparently the other unicorn that was from the other school moved to the same place the next day. Emma was relieved that the other unicorn went to a different school. That night, Emma had a nightmare about her old school moving to New York and all the other unicorns were living in her building. 

Chapter 3

When Emma woke up, her mom said that her school moved to New York. 

“Ahhhhhhh!” said Emma. 

The Marine Biology Specialist

The ocean is a beautiful place and there are so many tropical fish that have not been found yet. In my research, I found so many new fish, and one of them was called the Ecnoctus. It was a three-eyed creature with two tails and eight fins. But there are many more fish I can name, and I can only name a couple right now. Another fish is called the trienathodon. It is a creature with one eye, four fins, and two mouths. One was bright purple and the other one was dark orange, and that is why I love the ocean. But I have to go to the bottom of the ocean and find more animals. 

The Snowy July

Maria was bored. She was bored like she’s never been bored before, all because it was wet and dreary outside. All she could do was play checkers with her grandma because Mia’s parents were on a trip in Argentina where they got bundles of snow!

“Oh, it’s so boring inside. I wish we had snow, don’t you Grandma?!” Maria pouted.

“Yes dear… wait, I remember when I was your age I loved inventing things and I built a snow machine and I think it might be in the attic,” exclaimed Maria’s grandma. Five minutes later, the old snow machine was pumped and ready,

“3…2…1… go!” Maria yelled, and she hit the crank. And so much white, cold, fluffy snow came bursting out!

“This is the life!” said Maria.

“Woah, it still works!” said Maria’s grandma. Then, after they were done lounging in it, those two wanted to put it back. But how would they clean up the snow? “Oh no! Wait… I also remember when I was your age, I made another invention that cleans it all up! I think it’s in the attic!” exclaimed Maria’s grandma. And it was!

Maria turned the crank and four little active snowplows and ten tiny shovels and vacuums spurted out and in one hour, fifteen minutes, and forty-two seconds, the living room was squeaky clean. Then, four hours later, Maria’s parents arrived.

“Hi honey! Did you have fun?” asked Maria’s mother.

“Oh… uh, sure I did?” Maria exclaimed, glancing at her grandma.

“Great!” said Maria’s father.

The Unicorn and the Dragon

Once upon a time, there was a unicorn and her name was Penelope. Penelope lived in a castle. She had servants that kept her company. Every day her servants would bring her back some gold. The servants were tired of digging gold and they gave up. Finally, Penelope decided that she was going by herself! She got everything and left. Back at the castle, the servants were wondering where she was.

They said, “Where is Penelope? I was gonna cook her some cake.” Meanwhile, Penelope was trying to cross a river. The river was very strong. Penelope saw a log and tried to roll it over to the river. But it was too heavy. So, she put one hoove into the river to test if the water was warm enough so she could swim in it. It was warm, very warm. She jumped in and kicked her hooves back and forth. She reached out and grabbed the land.

Penelope climbed out and shook the water off her fur.

Back at the castle, the servants were beginning to worry. The cake was beginning to get cold. Days passed and it was getting colder. Penelope had tons of gold, but she wanted more. One day, she met a dragon. The dragon had dark blue eyes and gigantic wings. She stepped back.

Then she said, “You cannot kill me!”

“I am not trying to kill you. I only want to make friends.”

“If you want to be my friend, you need to help me find more gold.”

“Okay!” the dragon shouted and they walked off to find more gold.

At last, the dragon decided that he would tell Penelope his name. He walked over to her and whispered, “My name is Spike.”

“Good to know.” And Penelope went back to work. Spike looked down and saw a hedgehog. Maybe he would be his friend.

The End

Coco Finds a Friend

Chapter 1: Coco the Cat

Hi. I am Coco. I am a cat. I just got to a new place with humans in it! They are nice, but on my first day I was super scared of them. I’ll tell you about it…

I was in a bag. That’s right, a bag. It was so uncomfortable, but that’s always what happens when I’m going to the vet so you can’t blame me when I say I thought I was going to the vet that day. But then I noticed me and my owners, Dan and Cathy, had been in this moving thingy for a long time. 

So I said, “Dan, where are we going?” 

But since I was a cat and he was a human, he didn’t know what I was saying. 

“Cathy, the cat is meowing a lot, I think we should stop for a snack,” he told his girlfriend. 

I agreed with him since I was hungry.

We were at McDonald’s and they didn’t have cat treats! I was so mad and I begged Dan to give me cat treats. He understood me this time and gave me cat treats! That made me sleepy so when we were back in the moving thingy, I took a nap.

I did not expect to arrive in a noisy city when I woke up, but Dan just had to carry me out of the thingy! I was definitely not at the vet today. We went into one of the tall buildings. I was scared! 

But then Dan said, “Are you ready to meet my sister, Cathy?”

Chapter 2: The New House

At that moment, Dan knocked on the door of a place. It soon opened and a pretty lady was there. This was the start of my new life. I tried to get used to it and now I have been here for about a week. I love playing with these humans! They are so fun and have the best toys! I have to say though, when I first came into the house, I hid under their couch. But this weird bearded man sat cross legged on the floor waiting for me to come out. I was not gonna come out when that guy was there. Then, this girl lay down on the floor staring at me. I thought she was weird too.

But now, I’ve been thinking about my old family. And I don’t mean Dan and Cathy because they already left. I mean my mom and siblings. I’ve already had two litters and I missed them too. What I really needed was a friend. I tried to be friends with the humans but the only human who really was a good friend to me was Dan and he was gone now.

Chapter 3: To Find a Friend

I don’t know why the people put the scratchy thing on the wall, but at that moment I was trying to climb up it. I kept failing! Soon I gave up and went to a human that everyone called a boy, but who had long hair. I was confused. He put out his hand for me to sniff and I did. He was eating cheese! Now my mission was to get the cheese! But that meant I had to go up on the counter and the lady didn’t like when I did that. But if it was for cheese, I’d do it.

When I got to the kitchen however, I saw the lady talking to someone. It was another lady! Oh, how I wish I had a friend like that. Also, I felt so sad that I just left without thinking about my cheese when it was right on the counter!

That night, after the humans went to bed, I searched the whole house! Even the long haired boy’s room! But there was no new friend to be seen. Well, except for my little avocado toy that had an incredibly cute face! But he was not real. He was catnip. So I just went to sleep on the couch. 

Chapter 4: Avocado Man

I woke up in the morning when Long Hair Boy sat on the couch to watch TV. 

“Come on, Long Hair Boy. I was sleeping! Why did you do that?” I shouted at him. But of course, he did not hear me. I was still a little mad from last night so I was cranky at him. I still wanted a friend. All of the sudden, right then, I got an awesome idea! What if the avocado toy was real? What if it was not avocado toy, it was Avocado Man! I was so happy that I ran away and scared Long Hair Boy.

I looked for it and found it right where it was last night. I tried to get it to play with me (or should I say him) but he didn’t want to. I figured that he needed some time to get really awake from last night. So I went to the litter box. 

Some time later, the lady came out of her room and said hi to me. I was soon bored with her so I tried Avocado Man. I think she saw me and came over. Then the most amazing thing happened! She started to move Avocado Man! It was so cool! He was real after all! He could even talk!

Chapter 5: A New Friend

I was really happy! I could kiss the lady! But not really because my lips can’t do that. So I jumped up and down instead.

Well, now I have a friend! My big problem is solved! Thank you for being here with me and listening to my story!

Bye!!!

Lucy the Hedgehog

Lucy, the Hedgehog, was in her hole under the dirt. She really wanted to live in a castle so she decided to visit the princess. She was so excited, she packed really quickly and set out for the journey to the castle where the princess lived… but when she went outside, she saw a river with alligators swimming around and she thought, “I can go across the river!”

Lucy waited till the alligators fell asleep at night and she swam around them. She finally went across the river. 

Lucy found herself in a village but there were a lot of cars and she was so small. Lucy decided to jump on a taxi car and get a ride through the road. When she got across the road, she saw a villain. He said,

“Why are you over here?” Luckily Lucy found a paper bag and she put it over his head and ran away. Just about when Lucy thought everything was okay, she heard thunder. “A thunderstorm is coming,” she thought. So she quickly ran to the nearest cave but she saw that there were two baby bears inside. So she found another cave and she saw a cute little rabbit inside. 

So, Lucy thought she could go inside and help the rabbit. When she went inside, the rabbit woke up and Lucy said, “Where are your parents?” 

The rabbit said, “I don’t have any parents.” 

“Are you scared?” said Lucy. 

The rabbit said, “No I am not scared.” When the thunderstorm ended, the hedgehog saw that the rainbow was really close. She was really excited! But when she saw that there was a very big tiger who was right next to her, she was so scared she wanted to run away. But she was lucky because she had a brilliant idea. She was going to hide until the tiger fell asleep and then she would run away and that’s what she did after he fell asleep. 

Now she was very excited to see the castle. But she saw that there was a big hill blocking her. Just then an idea popped into her head. She saw beavers in the lake and thought, maybe the beaver can be my friend.

THE END

CATS

Chapter 1

Have you ever been in a family where you can talk to cats but everyone else hates them? Funny how that happens… Well anyway, maybe that’s part of the reason why I have a nasty habit of running away. There was an argument… It had started out simple. We were picking wallpaper and furniture for my room. I had wanted to get cat stuff, and a cat. Maybe obvious. But it got real bad, real fast. I had wanted Mom to let me be me. But noooooo! I had to be her! Not me, her! The non-cat loving, awful dinner cooker of a mom.

Well anyway, to take a break from my parents or ‘cool down’ as they put it, I had run out into the woods where I usually wandered when I ran. Then a cat appeared. I wasn’t expecting her but who cares?

“Scram!” I aimed a kick at her.

“Hey,” she recoiled. “I was just trying to comfort you!” she said defensively, before she slunk off.  

“Wait,” I called. ”You can talk?” I was so surprised!

“Of course I can talk,” she said in her refined manner, and I noticed that she was a ragdoll cat. The fur around her neck was all—how do you say it? A bit like a boa? “All animals can talk,” she continued. “But only one person every one thousand years can talk to cats.” She thought for a minute. “I’m not quite sure what the other animals’ numbers are, and they rarely collide.”

“Rarely?” I asked. “Am I-”

“No,” she said almost rudely. “That’s too cliche.”

“Okay,” I said slightly let down, for some reason.

“Come on, we have work to do,” she started walking briskly with her tail held high.

“Wait, what work?” I asked while trying to catch up.

“Your training, of course,” she replied vaguely.

“What?”

“Do you know nothing?” she seemed upset for a reason I couldn’t guess. “Hurry up.” And I realized that her eyes were filled with tears.

“Why-” I started but before I could finish she interrupted.

“We’re here.” she stopped suddenly. She stopped in front of, wait for it… a pile of rocks. I know right! Out of all the places for this ‘training’ thing, it had to be rocks! Rocks!

“Um,” I started.

“What?” she asked, clearly unaware that we were standing in the middle of nowhere.

“This is it?”

“What do you think?”

“I think that it’s gonna turn into something, but I think that you’re gonna say that that’s so cliche and this is actually where the training is.”

“No.”

“Wait what?”

“N-O, no. That clear enough for you?”

“So what is going to happen?” but in my head I added ‘little miss sassy pants.’ Suddenly there was a loud rumbling sound. “What?” I muttered as a cave formed before my eyes.

“Come on,” my companion called. “Don’t worry. It’s safe, you know.” Then she turned back to the cave, started walking, and laughed.

Chapter 2

There were three words to describe the cave: boring, boring and boring. You’re thinking: a creepy cave, cool. Trust me. It’s not! Okay, fine. It’s dark, slightly chilly, but other than that nothing. A soft sunset colored light was coming from the depths of the cave. Then I saw something that totally surprised me. Cat flaps. That might sound a bit random but who knows.

“Do you live here?” I asked.

“Not just me,” she said with a twisted smile. Suddenly I heard loud rock music coming from one of the cat flaps. And I mean loud!

“Ugh, might as well get this over with.” The cat sighed.

“Get what over with?” I started to say, but before I could finish, three incredibly fat cats stepped out singing:

The three fat cats

We like to eat rats

Wherever the bed is that’s where we’re at!

“Ugh,” she sighed again.

“Oh,” I remarked. “That’s what you meant.”

“Meet Steve, Joe and Bob.” She didn’t sound very enthusiastic about the introductions.

“Hi, I’m Layana,” I told them.

“Hey, I’m Joe, but as you probably know, I’m 62,” said one of them. I recognized him as a scottish fold. He was rubbing his belly like he had just eaten an exceptionally large meal.

“None of them are too bright,” the ragdoll whispered, which reminded me, I was tired of calling her a bunch of different words.

“What’s your name?” I asked curiously.

“Not now, the stink’s coming in,” she replied. I held my nose as a foul scent drifted through the room. But later I wondered, once I knew her better, if she had changed the subject on purpose. As we were leaving the ‘Cat flaps’ room, I decided not to mention the subject of the name in case she lashed out at me. We were approaching a chamber filled with lanterns.

“Well that explains the sunset light,” I remarked.

“Don’t get used to it,” she told me. “We’re not staying in here for long.” 

“Then, where are we going?” I asked her, slightly puzzled.

“We’re going to my favorite place in all of Cat Land,” she purred, like cats do, but it was soothing, sort of.

“Wait, Cat Land?” I realized how weird it was. “Out of all things, you guys could name this place you go with Cat Land!”

“What?” she said. “Cat Land, where did you get that from?”

“You!” I cried.

“No.” She was grinning now. “I never said Cat Land. It must be shock or something.”  I fell silent because I knew she had said Cat Land, which meant one thing. The ragdoll was hiding something!

Chapter 3

“Come on,” the cat’s voice echoed through the passage we were in.

“Ugh.” I was getting a bit fed up with my companion’s behavior. Just then I heard a sigh. At first I thought it was my sigh echoing back, but then I realized it wasn’t me. I sped up.

“Layana! Get up here!”

“Coming!” I called.

“Meet Silky,” she said once I caught up, completely out of breath.

“Layana is a lovely name,” said Silky in a sweet delicate voice.

“Uh, thanks.”

“Well,” the ragdoll cut in. “We were about to go outside so-”

“But I haven’t shown her my song yet!”

“Fine, might as well get this over with,” she said with another sigh.

I am siamese 

Give me treats please!

If not then just let me through

If you please

If you please!

“In case you haven’t noticed, songs are kind of a thing in here.”

“You’re turning into a tour guide, Andromeda,” said Silky before slinking off.

“Your name’s Andromeda?” I was so startled that I had forgotten to be cautious. “That’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Come on we have lots of things to see.” She completely ignored me. Outside was quiet except for the chirping from the crickets. I looked up.

“Wait, I need to be home by now, it’s night!”

“Why, do you really want to go back after this!” She lowered her voice. “After that?” 

“You know about the fight?” Surprisingly I wasn’t mad.

“Of course I know about the fight. I know everything about you.” Okay now I was mad!

“What!” I shouted. “Who died and made you in charge? Why should you get to know everything about me! It’s just plain wrong.”

“Oh, we’re doing this thing,” she sighed. “Well if you must know, you are not going home anyway.”

“Why not?”

“Because, you have to start your cat whisperer training.” 

“No, you can’t make me and I refuse.”

“Actually I can make you.”

“How?”

“Ask ‘the teach’.”

“Who’s ‘the teach’?”

“You’ll see.”

“No I won’t, I’m leaving.” I took off down the passageway.

“That’s a dead end, you can’t leave!” Andromeda called after me. I realized she was right.

“Now what?” I asked when she had caught up.

“Come on, I’ll take you to see The Teach.”

Chapter 4

“So, where is this ‘teach’ guy?” I asked after setting down the passageway. “‘Cause I’m starting to think he is kinda shifty.” 

The Teach isn’t shifty,” Andromeda told me. “Besides, he’s one of only humans here besides you. So show some respect.”

“You know, I’m only doing this because I have nowhere else to go.”

“Yes, that is the 59th time you said that.”

“You’re keeping track?”

“Yeah, what else could I do?” Although our voices were pleasant, our faces were tense. The passageway was widening. Incredibly slowly, I almost didn’t notice it.

“Wait,” I said slowly “‘One of the only humans’ here! What do you mean ‘one of’?

“You’ll see,” she told me in total darkness.

“Why is this taking so long?” I complained and asked at the same time.

“We’re here!” she interrupted. A handsome oak door stood in front of us. Suddenly, it swung open, revealing a tall middle aged man.

“Thank you, Andromeda,” he said. 

“Can’t I stick around?” she asked hopefully.

“No,” he said firmly.

“Fine.” She left silently. The man gestured for me to go inside. I did, only to enter a room with no taste in decor! For some reason, I’ve always been picky about things like this. There were odd things like rusty pipes, plastic bottles and garbage bags that were squirming! But the strangest thing above all, was a girl around my age with a rather large nose that ruined the rest of the face. She had sharp, almost purple eyes and was wearing a ripped leather jacket that had silver spikes even though some had fallen out, over a white t-shirt and navy blue jeans, also ripped. But her hair was really cool! It was dark brown hair that she seemed to have tried to dye pale pink but she hadn’t bleached it first so it was barely visible. It stuck up in odd angles at the top, but stuck to her face in the middle. I rubbed the deep blue streak in my bronze hair. For some reason the girl looked familiar.

“Now, girls, you are both on the same page here. I’m The Teach. So something strange happened twelve years ago, when you were born. See, you girls have two things in common. For one, you can both talk to cats, and second you are both twins.” 

“What!” we both said.

“Calm down,” said The Teach. “So usually, when something like this happens the power goes to one twin, but for you, the power got distributed between you.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“You can each talk to different kinds of cats,” he explained.

“How come we have different parents?” the other girl asked. Her voice had a slightly harsh edge to it.

“Those people aren’t your real parents Tina. Your real parents are dead.”

“What happened to them?”

His face froze. “We don’t know.”

Blue’s Story : A Novel By Mae Benne

Chapter 1

Blue noisily walked down the creaking stairs and into the kitchen. Her short brown hair was a mess, but her hazel eyes were glistening in the morning sunshine. Her body was covered in an oversized soft t-shirt and grey shorts. She had been drawn downstairs by the familiar scent of pancakes that had wafted up to her room. She walked right into the scene of her father dressed in a t-shirt he had received from his college and a pair of Nike basketball shorts. He was dancing to the country music on the black radio, sitting on the shelf and setting the wooden oak table that Blue and her dad had just bought. Blue chuckled to herself as her father, Phil, had started to sing along to the song. Phil turned around to see his daughter laughing at the spectacle of him jamming out to the country. 

“You should see yourself when you’re dancing to music.” Phil said, grinning with his soft hazel eyes at his daughter. “So, I was thinking,” said Blue’s father, “We could head over to the park to shoot some hoops after breakfast. How does that sound?”

“Wonderful!” replied Blue, yawning sleepily as she sat down at the table and placed her napkin on her lap and put her elbows on the table. 

“When do you expect the pancakes to be ready?” asked Blue.

“Pretty soon,” said Phil.

“Will there be enough time for me to change before the food is ready?” asked Blue.

“I think so, if you hurry,” replied Blue’s father. 

Blue raced up the stairs into her bedroom. She looked around and peered at the paintings on her wall. She had made a special trip to the local art store, although it had taken her a little while to find it, as she was new in town, just to find decoration for her previously bare, beige walls. Blue walked up to her black dresser and pulled out her drawer to see the faded photograph of her mother in her teen years, and a tattered photo album. She picked the photograph up and studied it and thought of the little memories she had of her mother. She thought about her soft angelic features and long wavy brown hair that she always kept in a tight, beautiful braid. She recalled the sound of her mother’s carefree laugh. Then she would remember the night she left, as she always did when she thought of her mother. She remembered being bunched up in a ball covering her ears, under her forget-me-not blue covers, hearing her father plead with her mother to stay. She remembered hearing her mother say how boring the town was and how miserable she was, and how she felt limited and held back by the lack of resources in the area. Blue remembered hearing the front door slam and running down the stairs in an attempt to get her mother to stay and she remembered her father wrapping his robust arms around her. She remembered trying to break free from her father’s comforting grip, through tears and sobs and finally getting out of his arms to chase after her mother. But by the time she had run out the door her mother had disappeared into the grey, dreary night. 

“Are we going to talk about it?” thought Blue, as she snapped back to reality. That day was the 7 year anniversary of her mother slamming the front door and leaving for good. Blue wiped away a small tear that had fallen on her cheek and gently placed the photograph of her mother back into the drawer. She had found the photograph the day they moved in, as she was rummaging through the brown, cardboard boxes of things she had stumbled on a photo album that contained an old photograph of her mother. She had pulled it out and hid it in her dresser. Blue took a deep breath and picked out a flowy summer dress with flowers embroidered on it from her closet and put it on. She slipped her opal ring on her finger and put on her favorite earrings and necklaces. She picked up her hair brush and combed out the knots that she had developed in her hair as she slept. Blue then walked to her door and down the stairs to the kitchen.

 Chapter 2

Blue dribbled the ball twice, took a deep breath and shot a free throw. She always did the exact same routine before she shot a free throw, during spring break she had made this routine with her coach. He had said this routine would help her with muscle memory and that when she did her routine with pressure weighing on her shoulders in a game it would calm her nerves and let her focus on the goal of making the basket. She shot and watched as the ball swished through the orange net.

Phil cheered her on then said, “But you need to work on keeping your elbow in, form really does matter. If you stand in front of the mirror and pretend you’re shooting a free throw and see what your form looks like and try to improve it just ten times a day, you can make a huge difference in your form.”

“You say that every time I practice.” Blue said, rolling her eyes.

“Ok, ten right hand lay-ups. I will pass you the ball once you get to the basket.” said Phil.

Later that day Blue called her father into the living room. 

“Dad, come here.” Blue yelled across the house to her father.

“Be right there.” called Phil. He then proceeded to walk in. He was wearing a pair of baby blue denim jeans and a grey button up shirt. He had just taken a shower and his hair was dripping wet.

“I found a great summer writing program. Wanna see?” said Blue. Turning her computer in his direction. 

“Sure, honey.” said Phil, as he sat down next to Blue on their leather couch. 

“So, this writing program is in Soho. It focuses on all the genres I love, and Grace is going to the camp as well. Grace and I want to spend as much time with each other as possible since she is moving to Japan. I was also thinking, since it starts at 10, we can grab breakfast before I start.” Explained Blue.

“Sounds like a plan.” said Phil. “Maybe Grace could come with us to breakfast.”

“I would love that. I will go to text her right now.” Blue said while getting up from the black, leather couch and grabbing her rose-gold phone.

Chapter 3

The gravel crunched under Blue and Phil’s feet as they walked on the driveway to the car. Phil climbed into the front seat and buckles his seatbelt and placed his hands on the wheel. Blue opened the backseat door and climbed on to the grey, plush seat and set her bag on the floor. It contained her laptop, notebook, lunch, and her phone. She buckled her seatbelt and yawned.  

Phil turned his head toward Blue and said, “All set?” 

“Yea, love you.” Replied Blue, smiling sweetly at her father. 

“Love you too.” said Phil. “Are you nervous about getting started at this writing camp?”

“A bit, but I am really excited.” Replied Blue.

Phil then drove out into the cobble hill street, and across the 

Brooklyn bridge into Soho.

Chapter 4

Phil drove through a green light. He turned the radio up and hummed to the melody of the music. Then he turned right onto Spring Street. They drove past Becky’s bakery and An Artist’s Heaven art store on the way up to the location where the writing program was occurring. 

“We are almost there.” Said Phil turning on to the right lane and putting his right turn signal on. 

“Ok.” Replied Blue.

A rusty, pale blue car came speeding in with Evan Monatela at the wheel. Phil attempted to swerve out of it’s path but it was too late and the car crashed into Blue and Phil’s car. The car flipped over and bursts into flames. 

A few moments later

“The Dad is D.o.a, but I think there is hope for the girl. Have we ID’d the body, yet?” said an E.R worker that had arrived when the call about a car accident had come in. 

“No, we haven’t yet.” said the E.R worker’s coworker, helping the E.R worker with placing Blue in the ambulance. 

“The girl definitely has a concussion and possibly some internal bleeding. Although she is in critical condition,  it looks like she will make it.” the E.R worker explained. “I feel bad for her she is going to have to wake up with her world turned upside down. One minute she is enjoying a car ride with her father and next moment she’s in a hospital and her father is dead. I hope her mother is around to support her.” 

“Yea, I can’t even imagine that happening to me.” said the coworker peering at the girl lying unconscious in the ambulance.

Blue was flown in a helicopter to the hospital in Philadelphia. She arrived and her doctors performed surgery on her injured head, and the shattered bone in her leg. Blue remained in a coma for three days.

Chapter 5

Blue woke up and groaned from the pain of her pounding headache and a broken leg. A nurse walked in, with a blue hospital uniform on. Her raven black hair was pulled up in a tight bun. On her feet were small black slip on shoes, that made small tapping sounds as she walked around the room. She was carrying a clipboard and she flipped through it and wrote something down with a blue pen that had the Hospital of Connecticut written on it in silver lettering. The nurse looked down at Blue, realized she was awake and said,

“Good to see you awake, Blue.” 

“What happened?” asked Blue, her voice meek and dry. She was croaking like a frog.         

The nurse sighed and looked at Muracke with poignant eyes and said, “There was an awful accident. A drunk man named Evan Monatela crashed into your car. That man killed your poor father and nearly killed you. You are lucky to be alive, Blue. Evan is currently being prosecuted for his crimes.  I hear he will be charged with vehicular manslaughter and drinking while driving and other things.” 

“You’re lying. It’s not true, go away!” screamed Blue through tears.  

The nurse walked over to the side of the bed and peered at the small fragile girl. She wrapped her long, delicate arms around Blue and held her in her arms, as she wept. The nurse explains what had happened and what injuries Blue had. 

“Your father was sprung from the car and was dead on arrival, someone called 911 and paramedics rushed to the accident and saved you. You were flown over here in a helicopter and you had surgery for your injuries. Your leg was shattered and your head was pretty banged up, but other than that you’re doing well. This is a lot to handle and I know it was a very traumatic experience, so we have a psychiatrist on hand that you can talk to whenever necessary,” said the nurse.

Finally the nurse had to leave and attend to other patients in the recovery ward. Blue was left broken by the news that the nurse had just delivered to her. She wept and wept herself into a restless slumber. She dreamt of wonderful days spent with her father, curled up in his welcoming lap. She dreamt of reading books like Owl Moon and The Lonely Book in bed, snuggled next to her father. Then her dream turned into a nightmare and flashes of her father drenched in blood, dying at the scene of the accident appeared in her mind. She tossed and turned during the night until dawn broke across the grey sky, that was mimicking the feeling Blue had felt inside ever since she found out about the death of her late father. All she felt was emptiness and pure anger at the man who had killed her loving, innocent father. The only person she felt really knew her and loved her. She had friends like Grace, her best friend but after Grace would leave for Japan their friendship would fade away and they would never see each other again. She felt alone in the world without him. Evan Monatela, the man who killed her father, when that name crossed her mind she imagined strangling him. Wrapping her arms around his throat and squeezing as hard as she could but then reminded herself that it would be a terrible thing to do. It would be almost as bad as what he did to her father. 

Chapter 6

The nurse who had told Blue what happened to her parents walked into the room with a tray of food. It consisted of packaged pancakes, hashbrowns and 1% milk. The nurse placed the tray on the hospital’s glossy, wooden side table and hugged Blue tightly and whispered into her ear, 

“It will be ok.”

The nurse pulled up a small tray table in front of Blue and placed the tray on the table. She propped a pillow up behind Blue’s back and helped her sit up. She then said to Blue,

”Eat up”

Blue looked up at the nurse with tears in her glossy green eyes and said, 

“What am I supposed to do? I’m completely alone. My mother left me and my father when I was only five years old and now my Dad is dead. I don’t know what to do. I have Aunts and Uncles but I don’t know, they probably don’t even want me.” It was the first thing Blue had said in a few days.

The nurse’s face softened and showed empathy for Blue, she sat down at the end of the bed and said, “When I was about your age, my parents died in a terrible plane crash. I felt exactly the same as you feel now. I felt alone and even abandoned by my parents, but I pulled through. I pursued my dream of becoming a nurse. You are strong, and you will persevere. I know you will, Blue whitener.”

“I don’t know if I can.” whispered Blue through sobs and incessant tears. Her previously warm, olive complexion was now pale and almost grey. Her long, brown, baby hair now seemed to be faded and aged. Her blanket and cast covered her bony figure. 

“There’s someone here to see you. Her name is Bridgit Tate, she is going to be your foster mother. She’s also a nurse at this hospital, she will take great care of you.” said the nurse as a middle aged woman with sharp, icy blue eyes walked in the door and smiled sweetly at Blue.

Chapter 7

“Hello Blue,” said Bridget.

“Hi.” replied Blue, wiping her tears.

“How are you?” asked Bridget. 

“Okay, I guess. I mean I got in a car accident.” replied Blue, weakly.

“Yea, you did. The doctors say you will be up and running in about a week. Then you can come to my house, I’m sure you will love it there. I would love to paint your room hot pink,” said Bridget. She then walked over to the side of Blue’s bed and turned her head towards the nurse, “How much do I get for taking care of her?”

“500 dollars a month, but that shouldn’t matter should it? Blue is an admirable, magnificent human being, and I would be honored to have her in my home even without paychecks every month.” said the nurse, who was quite skeptical of this woman who was supposed to take care of Blue. 

“Yes, I completely agree, but I was just wondering what the amount of money I will get to support Blue is. I would like to know what I should set my budget for her room so that I can get started right away,” said Bridget. Bridget then said, “Well it looks like you are eating breakfast so I will leave you to it. It was very nice to meet you. I am very excited to have you in my home and hope that overtime it will become your home as well. Goodbye, Blue.” Bridget said as she left the room. 

Blue could hear the clicking of Bridget’s heels as she walked down the brightly lit hallway. Then Blue said to the nurse,

”Did you really mean the things you said?” 

“Every single word.” said the nurse, as she flashed a quick smile to Blue. 

“When you go and live with this Bridget woman, keep me posted on how she treats you.” the nurse said. 

“Ok, why?” asked Blue, frowning.

“This woman just doesn’t seem trustworthy. I have learned to trust my gut when it tells me something. I think she should be focused on you rather than the money she gets for taking care of you,” replied the nurse. 

“Ok,” said Blue. She had liked Bridget but thought there was something a little off about her. But she was still not ready for this woman to replace her deceased father, she was barely even ready for her to become Blue Tate.

Chapter 8

The nurse walked into Blue’s hospital room, lit by fluorescent lighting, and brought with her a tray of food. 

“Today is your final day here at the hospital. I am really going to miss you, Blue. It has been phenomenal to get to know you.” said the nurse.

“I’m going to miss you too,” said Blue.

Briget walked in with a purple polka dotted dress, a black shawl and cream colored high heels. She smiled at Blue and the nurse. 

“Nice to see you guys again. Are you almost ready to head home?” asked Bridget, with a smile. 

“I will be ready once I finish with my breakfast. I also have to wait for them to give me my crutches, and I will have to practice walking with my cast and crutches a bit in the waiting room, if that’s ok with you of course,” replied Blue.

“That’s totally fine. I will be in the waiting room if you need me, and let me know when you are ready to leave so I can help you practice and we can go to my car. I parked it right up front so that you would not have to walk far.” said Bridget.                                                                                                                                                     

“Alright.” said Blue as she ate her breakfast of cereal, milk and orange juice. She was dressed in a white hospital gown and on her wrist was a shiny, plastic bracelet that had the hospital’s name written on it. 

Briget left the room and sat down in the waiting room. The nurse then said to Blue,

“Are you sure you are ready to go. I’m sure I can get you permission to stay a bit longer.”

“Yes, I’m sure. Even though Bridget is not that motherly and will never, ever, ever replace my Dad, I think we will be able to form a strong bond. I know you are a bit skeptical of her. I’m sure she is great.” said Blue, hopefully. 

“Alright. If you say so.” said the nurse, sighing. 

Chapter 9

Blue walked with her crutches up to Bridget. They continued practicing and Blue slowly started to get comfortable with her crutches.

“I think I am getting the hang of this,” said Blue.

“Yea, I think you are.” replied Bridget. 

“Ready to go. I really think I am going to love it there.” Bridget said, her eyes bright with excitement.

“Yes, I’m sure I will.” said Blue.

They walked to the elevator and down into the parking lot. Bridget pressed the button on her car keys and a small, white toyota camry beeped nearby.

“There it is.” said Bridget.

Blue and Bridget walked up to the car and got in. Bridget buckled her seatbelt and turned the key and the engine started to hum, she looked back at Blue and saw her struggling.

“Oh my goodness, I am so sorry. I entirely forgot you need help getting in the car. Here, I’m going to go over there.” said Bridget while she unbuckled her seat belt and opened the car door to get out. Bridget assisted Blue into the car and placed her crutches in the trunk. Bridget got into the car and said, “Prepare for the two and a half hour drive to connecticut.” chuckling.

Chapter 10

Finally, Blue and Bridget pulled up to a small brownstone house in the center of a block on Kane Street. 

“This is it. Your new home.” said Bridget, happily as she climbed out of the car.

“It looks wonderful.” said Blue, getting out of the car with Bridget’s comforting help.  Bridget locked the car and opened the house door and led Blue into the house. Blue’s crutches made noises across the wooden floor. Bridget turned on the light to show a brown leather couch and a wooden coffee table with five beer bottles and two wine bottles, thrown on their sides, on it.

“Oh god I am so sorry about that, I did not get to clean up after last night, just please don’t tell anyone about this. I was really nervous about you coming and I should not have had so much alcohol. It won’t happen again.” said Bridget, her face tinted red from embarrassment.

“That was all just from last night.” thought Blue, frowning. 

“Here I will show you your new room.” said Bridget walking towards the back of the house. She opened the door to a small room, which was empty except for a small cot with brown flannel sheets and a small grey dresser, with an alarm clock on it. 

“It’s not much, but it’s something and we will decorate it soon. I wanted you to have complete say in everything, so I only got a small amount of things. You need a bed of course.” said Bridget.

“Thank you so much.” said Blue, as she walked into the room and sat down on the bed. 

Chapter 11

Blue woke up and walked out of bed and out the door. She walked into the kitchen and found Bridget cooking asparagus and BLTs. She was humming and spreading the mayo onto the pieces of brown, toasted bread. She looked up at Blue and said,

“You’re up. That’s wonderful, I’m just making lunch; roasted asparagus and BLTs. I hope you like them.” 

“Thank you so much. I really appreciate what you are doing for me. I honestly don’t know where I would be without you, foster care probably. Just, thank you.” said Blue. 

“Your welcome, I was just so lonely in this house. I don’t have many friends and no significant other and I wanted to help someone so I decided to adopt and sure enough you came along.” replied Bridget. 

They both sat down at the table and ate the BLTs and asparagus. Blue picked up her fork and cut her asparagus and placed it in her mouth. 

“Do you have any hobbies that you enjoy, sports or other things?” asked Bridget.

“I really enjoy playing basketball all actually, I was on my school’s basketball team, along with my best friend Grace. I was even a point guard.” said Blue. “I guess I can’t go to the Blue school. Are there any schools around here with basketball teams?” 

“I am not sure but we can look although I have a niece who went to school around here who loves basketball. We can ask her where she went and if there was a basketball team at her school.” added Bridget. “How is your food?”

“It is delicious. Thank you for making it.” replied Blue. 

Blue put her last bite of food into her mouth and placed her fork and knife on the plate. She wiped her mouth and said, “May I be excused?”

“Of course, Blue.” replied Bridget. 

Blue picked up her plate, rinsed it out in the sink and placed it in the dishwasher. With the napkin in her hand she looked around, looking for a trash can. 

“Where is the trash can?” asked Blue.

“Right behind you actually.” directed Bridget.

Blue turned around and threw her napkin away. Then she walked back into her new room. 

Chapter 12

Bridget walked into Blue’s room and asked, “What would you like to do today?” 

“We could get some clothes.”

“Ok. Before I went to pick you up at the hospital I went to the store and chose some clothes for you. I hope that they will fit you.” Bridget said while she handed Blue a Marshalls shopping bag with three outfits stuffed inside.

“Thank you so much.” Blue said while taking the clothes out of the bag and laying them on the bed. 

“Sorry I did not know what your style was. I tried to pick out something you would like.” said Blue. Blue and Bridget drove to her house.

Chapter 13

Blue climbed into bed and yawned as she drifted off into a deep sleep. She woke up in the middle of the night and looked around at her new room. The walls were cream colored and on the ceiling was a small chandelier, off to the side of the room was a built-in closet with two bronze handles. It was dark and the curtains were drawn but a small amount of moon light was coming. Blue pulled off her covers and walked over to the window and opened the curtains to see a bright full moon in the sky. She remembered her father telling her marvelous stories about the moon. She remembered him pointing up at the moon and his soft, familiar voice seemed to fill her head. Tears fell from her eyes and she wiped them away, but her shirt was now wet and tear stained. She could see a light coming from behind her closed door and could hear the faint sound of the TV in the living room. 

She decided to get up and get a glass of water from the new kitchen. She tiptoed out of the room and peered out the door to see Bridget watching the television and swigging some beer. Blue just walked up to the fridge and opened it to see an abundance of alcohol strewn about the fridge. 

Blue grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it with tap water from the sink. She had started walking back to her room when she heard the jumbled words,

“What are you doing?”  

“Just getting a glass of water,” said Blue. 

“Whatever. You know your pathetic. That’s why your mother left you and Dad crashed that car on purpose just get away from you.” said Bridget, walking up to Blue and hitting her. The side of Blue’s was red and stung where Bridget had hit her. “Not one of your aunts and uncles even wanted you.”

“Ok.” Blue said, confused as she looked up at Bridget, scared.

Chapter 14

Blue woke up the next day tired and still scared of Bridget. She got out of bed and squinted at the bright morning sun that was shining in her face. She walked up to the drawer to find it filled with clothing all from the gap. In through the partially closed door came an orange cat that was meowing. She knelt down on her knees and let the cat lick her hand. She sat down with her legs crossed and played with the cat, she even smiled a small smile, for the first time in a while. Finally when the cat lost interest and went to venture off into the rest of the house, Blue went back into the drawer and picked out a yellow romper. She stepped out of the room and endured misery and abuse from Bridget.

***

Blue laid awake in bed devising a plan to escape her misery. She made a checklist of things she would need in her mind. Food, a water bottle, backpack and some clothes, and Bridget’s macbook air. 

“Where will I go? Should I try and find my mother?” thought Blue. “I am going to find my mother.” she finally decided. 

The next day Blue looked up her mother’s name. Immediately, she found a phone number and address. She packed a bag full of the things she needed.

While Bridget was going to the bathroom Blue snuck out of the house and took a train three hours away and then took a bus into her mother’s neighborhood, and then walked until she found her mother’s house. A yellow brick house with blossoming cherry trees in the front yard. She walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. Her mother answered the door with a little baby in her arms.

Blue’s mother stared in shock at Blue and said,

“Hello Blue.” 

“Hello.” said Blue.


Scoot and the Big Bear Mystery Book 1

Scoot is a red panda. The first thing he did when he left the Prospect Park Zoo was to go on a scooter. He has a secret identity. And the secret identity’s name is Ninajet. He wants to defeat Big Bear. Big Bear is the red pandas’ biggest enemy. 

Finally Big Bear said, “I want to see how strong you are, if you want to defeat me. But you’re not going to beat me. You’re like an old time little loser.” 

“Well, you’re the one older than me,” Scoot said. “It’s almost your death day. So you might just need… good luck.” 

“I don’t need good luck, you do.” Big Bear growled. 

Quickly, Scoot grabs his secret magical white sword and starts fighting. 

Big Bear was like, “What? How did you get that sword?” His mouth was open and stretched and you could see all the teeth going together and his mouth was open in a big circle/oval. And finally the sword hit the middle of his neck and bum bum bum… blue glitter came out of his neck. And his soul said, “You killed me now get ready for your DEATH!” 

They battle and of course, Scoot wins. He has his magical sword, which is the strongest weapon of all. The soul died just like its body. “Cool!” Scoot said. The big bear was easy to kill. No one ever tried to chase it because Big Bear started posting links acting like he was “strong.” But really, he was real weak and mad weak. Even his soul is weak. Souls are supposed to be as strong as light. 

Just then, a yellow plane flew over his head. It came down with a transforming thump! It transformed and came down feet first. It came down into the forest in China. The plane’s name was Donny, Scoot’s personal best friend plane. 

“You won over Big Bear,” said Donny. 


Sylvia and the Wishing Tree


Wishing Day

It was Wishing Day again. Every year, thousands of people gathered at the Wishing Creek. Due to the storm, the creek was flooding, so most of the people gathered at the pond or stream. Not me and my family.

The Wishus and Their Ways

My parents were very religious to the ways of the Wishus. Me and my five siblings (including baby Hazel) loved to eat the delicious Wishu food, and my parents didn’t even mind making it 7 days a week! 

Father Gives Me Some Advice

That fateful day, we gathered at the creek, which was now waist-deep if we went to the original candle floating spot. Which we did. My Papa always said, “Now, Sylvia Lorali Hollyblade, the Natives didn’t leave because there were storms, did they?” So we finished lighting and sending away our wishing candles.

Introducing….Maria!

Since it was the year 2357, we had a maid-robot (maid bot) to help with the chores. Her name was Maria, because that had been the name of my robo-cat before it short-circuited and wandered into the acid stove.

Maria Scolds Me About (Yawn) Weather

We had just gotten the new type (Clovebot 3000) and at the moment, she was telling us the weather. “More rain to come and you should expect thunder, with a hurricane chance of 0.0356, Sylvia. Really, with Hurricane Lila and Leo on the loose, you should pay more attention,” Maria scolded me, due to the fact that I was rolling my eyes. I groaned. I never should have suggested to Mother that we install the personality chip.

The Wave of Ultimate Doom

As I turned to grab my warm towel, a sense of foreboding rushed through me. I remembered my Papa’s words: “Never turn your back to the water.” I turned around quickly, but not quick enough. A wave roughly the size of a large horse swelled up and came crashing down on us, knocking me off my feet and causing me to cut my hand on the edge of a sharp rock.

Fingers and Babies 

My eyes watering in pain, I could hear Hazel crying. Grabbing her hand, another hand slipped into my fingers. Metal, I thought dimly. Then I was pulled out of the water. 

Land…Finally!

Feeling the fresh air in my lungs, I knew I was secure. I reached for Mama’s hand to know everything was alright, only to find nothing. I sat up cautiously, knowing that my surroundings may not be safe. But when I looked around, everything seemed perfectly fine, except for the fact that I was on the other side of the creek. No one was with me, no one to grab me, say that everything would be alright. My only choice was to climb the huge, sharp cliffs that screamed: I’m dangerous! But I had to go there. It was the only way. Elders had told of a tree that could grant you wishes, even bring back the dead, only for a small fee of 1 ancient penny. I had a penny that people had used back in the 2100s, a copper coin with markings of ancient rulers like Abraham Lincoln. My social studies class had each received one, and then we had played a weird game called “chess.” Ancient people were weird. I had a plan to climb up there and demand the gem return my family.

Mountains, Rivers, and… Maria?

Fog rolled in from the jagged rocks, and from that fog there would be more rain. Everyone knew that if the river flooded, your only option would be to climb to higher ground. I looked around for Hazel or anyone else, hoping everyone had made it safely. I found Maria caring for the baby, and we began climbing up the mountain in hopes that we could reach the top in at least two days.

Why Climbing a Mountain is Actually Very Boring

 Every few minutes, a wave would come crashing up, and we would have to hide in a crevice and wait for about 10 minutes so that the ground wouldn’t be too slippery. One time, the wave was so big, we had to wait an hour. Soon the sun was starting to set, and me and Maria began to build a small tent on one of the large crevices we had found while Hazel slept on my back.

Cleaning Cuts and OH, IT’S DINNERTIME!!

 Thinking back, I realized that my mission was probably impossible. Finally, I finished building the hut and Maria started cooking dinner. Looking into my purse, I searched for a first aid kit to heal some of the cuts we had. I managed to pull out a dusty bottle filled with purple liquid. I applied some to me and Hazel before going to dinner. 

Lavender-Raspberry-Lettuce Salad With a Side of My Siblings

On the ground were two napkins with food on them. I fed the gooey food to Hazel and took a bite of the lavender-raspberry-lettuce salad that Maria had made. I had never tasted it myself, usually eating my mother’s salad, but as I bit into it, I realized why my two older brothers, Noah and Lucas, had loved it. My older sister Lilah liked it too, but like me, she enjoyed Mother’s salad more. 

Eating Yummy Food

The salad was sweet, then sour, until settling into something more that relaxed my very bones. I was about to shovel it into my mouth when Maria cleared her throat and eyed the honey-colored liquid on my right. I took a tiny sip and basically exploded. The liquid started as a warm, sweet juice, but quickly turned boiling hot, then freezing cold, before melting into a sour lemonade, and finally turning into a sweet goo that disappeared, leaving behind a marshmallow taste.

More Food and… Chickens?

Finally, slightly worried, I bit into the last one, tiny round balls that bounced around in my mouth before plopping into my throat and leaving behind the taste of something meaty. Of course, the only meat I had ever had was beef, but this meat tasted of the chickens the elders described, fatter birds than the eagles that flew above our village, but tasty. They were extinct now, of course, but apparently delicious. 

Phones are Addictive

As soon as I finished dinner, I got out my phone. My home screen was a tiger, the extinct “striped fury,” and today I wasted no time deciding if I should change it to a robot. Instead, I texted my friend Olivia.

Hi Olivia guess where i am?

SylviaTheAmazing

Where?

OutstandingOlivia

On the other side of the river in the mountains!

SylviaTheAmazing

OMG no way! Want a rescue search?

OutstandingOlivia 

Nah, we’re pretty safe up here. Where are you right now?

SylviaTheAmazing

The hills on the far end of the village. The storm reached pretty far

OutstandingOlivia

Wow! Well, I gotta go. You know how Maria doesn’t like phones.

SylviaTheAmazing

Yeah, she calls them DoomDevices. Bye! 

OutstandingOlivia

Byeee!!!!:)

SylviaTheAmazing

Snow

I logged off, feeling sleepy. I stepped outside of our makeshift hut to find twinkling white specks falling from the sky, bright and cold, like a soft blanket. The only thing that had ever fallen from the sky was rain. The photos of the hail that fell on the northern hemisphere could never be like the real thing. The world was warming up, and people weren’t exactly helping. This snow was the real thing. 

It sure is pretty, isn’t it? Someone behind me asked.

I Meet a Really Creepy Kid

I spun around to see a young boy (14ish) in pale grey pants (sooo last year) and a brown jacket over a shimmering opal shirt, faded because of the thin layer of dust that covered it. His bleached whitish blond hair was swept to one side, with his dark bangs almost covering his eyes, like he had dyed them. His eyes were a super pale blue, like ice on a cold winter night, making my green eyes seem dull in comparison. 

“Who are you?” I asked, but I wasn’t afraid. The police were seconds away, able to fly at 240 mph with their new wingsuit.

The Wolves

 My name is Devin. I am a Wolf. His voice spoke in my mind, a hidden whisper that only I could hear. I shivered, thinking of the stories others had told, of sneaky men and women who hid in the mountains, without any form of modern technology. Apparently, they could communicate with their minds, as Devin was doing right now. But this kid didn’t seem like much, just a boy who needed to rethink his clothing style. He stared hungrily at my phone, which hung at my side, its galaxy phone case glimmering in the shine of the setting sun. 

I can help you reach the top of the mountain and get back to your family, but I will do it only for a price. His voice sounded like the mist on a cold night, creeping around, yet silent to everyone’s ears. 

I shivered. “Take me there,” I whispered, the cold mountain air stinging my cheeks. 

We Pack Our Stuff

“Come on, we’re leaving,” I told Maria as I ducked into the hut. The warm air smelled like cinnamon, and it was toasty and dry. Robots truly were magic. We packed our things, and began to close the tent. As I grabbed my mirror/iPod, I gasped.


 I Fix My Hair

My hair was a mess. My long auburn hair was a straggly mess, and the sparkly ribbons that had held it in place had fallen off. My lacy, emerald green dress was wrinkled in places, and the navy slip-ons I had decided to wear had a small tear on the tip. My white socks were even showing through! I quickly combed my hair into a glamorous braid and straightened my dress. I put on new athletic indigo sneakers and tied green and purple ribbons to my new double waterfall braided hair. My new ‘Scarlet Kiss’ lip gloss worked perfectly with my green dress, and I added a smoky black touch with hints of gold to my eyes, so that I could really bring out my soft green eyes. I even added a soft coral to my cheeks so that I could get that natural beauty look. As I closed my mirror and started to close my suitcase, I was sure I looked amazing. 


I Climb the Mountain

“Are you ready?” asked Maria, her black wiry hair blowing in the wind. She always seemed so… unreal, with her humanoid, heart-shaped face and pale features. Her peach-colored cheeks and pale pink lips seemed pretty yet distant, like she hadn’t fully mastered the art of looking human. Her cornflower-blue eyes seemed to pierce your soul, always searching for something they would never find. 

“Yes,” I agreed, smiling even though I could feel my lips cracking. We began to climb, with Maria carrying Hazel and Devin in the lead. I thought about how good it would be to hug my mom and tease my younger brother Adrian again. I was filled with guilt that I hadn’t thought of them in the past few hours.


We Discuss Payment

 We are almost there, called Devin. Let us discuss my payment for leading you here. I twitched slightly because I had forgotten about payment. Of course he would want payment, I was foolish to think that he had been willing to do it for free. I tugged off my silver ring with an opal set in the middle, which was probably worth a lot, but Devin shook his head. We find lots of that here in the mountains. Plus, it might be a fake. I want tech-nology. He said the word “technology” carefully, like this was the first time he had said the word. As I scrambled over a rock, I pulled out my spare holograph glove. 


I Give Devin My Holographic Glove

I raced to catch up with Devin and showed him how to use it. “You just stretch your hand, and you have a variety of choices! You can order food via drones, watch your favorite TV show, or research anything! And, if you want to shop/order food while remaining anonymous, as long as you register for the Buy One, Get A Million Free coupon, which I did, then it appears right next to you out of the FSV! (Free Shipping Void) Also, if you want to turn it off, just curl your hand into a fist!” As I said these things, Devin stared at the glove in wonder. As I finished explaining, he nodded. I will have it. He whispered. I handed it to him, not telling him that this model was from 8 years ago, so I didn’t really care about it. 


We Reach The Top! Yay!

We reached the top and saw a weeping willow tree with an old face carved into the trunk. Purple blossoms with twinkling white centers blossomed on wavy, elegant, and smooth branches and the dusty ground was littered with the petals. The leaves…well, they were beautiful. Pearly pink, light magenta, deep indigo, dark mauve, and glimmering jade leaves, all in a feathery shape. Iridescent, turquoise, heart-shaped leaves were nestled in between the petals of the soothing flowers.


A Tree Talks To Us

 The twisted bark swirled together to form the face, which spoke to us in a melodious, deep voice. “Hello! Would you like to have your deepest wish come true, only for a small price?” It asked. “Yes!” I replied. “I would like to have my family back!” I tossed it the penny, and one of the branches grabbed it swiftly, curling the leaves around the copper coin. 

“Hmmm… a true copper coin…haven’t seen one of these in a long time. Unfortunately, you still have to go through the cave. But thanks for the coin!” It said, and one of the branches seemed to point towards a dark cave that I hadn’t noticed before. Shadows curled around the edges of the gray cavern and stalactites dripped from the ceiling. I shivered just looking at it. 

“I have to go through that?” I blurted out, cold terror coursing through my veins. The cave radiated fear, and I wanted to run far, far, away from it, till I could never see it again. At the same time, a part of me just wanted to get it over with. 

“It’s the only way to see your family,” The tree told me gently, like silk in the breeze. I decided to get it over with, so I ran towards the cave, one leg after the other, my feet climbing the rest of the hill, my mind racing with the million possibilities that this could go wrong. My feet slowed down, into a steady jog, then a speedy walk, until finally, my steps brought me to the entrance of the cave.


I Walk Inside A Creepy Cave

I stroked the outer wall of the cave, and the freezing fear that I felt made me shiver. The cave glimmered with a thousand jewels, yet they all seemed muted, black. I realized that the cave was actually made of onyx and grey moonstone. I stepped inside, my feet lingering in the air as the shadows enveloped me. I broke into a fearful sprint, running away, yet also towards, my fear. I soon discovered the cavern was a maze, and the center emitted a faint purple glow. I realized this cave fed off my fears, so I closed my eyes and willed the cave to obey me. I imagined the thousands of hands that must have worked to build this cave, and I imagined them working for me. I imagined them carving a new path, straight to my family, and I ran, completely trusting those hands. And as I crashed into someone, a human, I realized it was my mom and my family. As we laughed and I wove a path towards the tree, I realized, I knew, we could fix this, we could be fine. And as Maria’s face lit up as she saw us, baby Hazel started to smile, and Devin grinned at me, I knew I was keeping this family, no matter what. I would risk my life to help these people who were so important in my life get down this mountain. 

How To Get Down A Mountain Without Getting Killed

The whole ‘getting down the cave’ part turned out to be surprisingly easy. Apparently the tree (it told us to call him Joeblossom) could “lend us a branch,”  as he put it. So we spent the most terrifying 5 minutes of my life hanging on to a floating branch and trying not to throw up. Fun! As we stumbled to the ground I hugged my family, high-fived Maria, and awkwardly did a handshake with Devin.


2 Years Later…

“So, Devin,” My mom asks, her blond hair draped over her shoulders, “How are you liking Lakebrown High School?” 

I keep on eating my noodles, trying to control the burning sensation in my cheeks. 

“Good, Mrs. Hollyblade,” says Devin quietly. He has finally learned to speak, but he is still very shy. 

“And are you meeting…anyone interesting?” She asks, side-eying me. 

“MOM!” I yell, now supremely embarrassed. I am sure my cheeks are tomato red. 

Devin looks embarrassed, too, and he quietly mutters, “I have to get back to my adoptive family’s house.” He leaves, and I rush to my room, softly smiling. I remembered the first time I’d seen Devin, his pale blue eyes sparkling. I decide to write about my experiences on that mountain in my diary. I get out my laptop, and begin to type,

It was Wishing Day again.


The Zombie who Eats Tacos Everyday

Chapter 1 Taco Man 

A guy eats a tomato taco. A guy eats a lettuce taco. A guy eats an egg taco. A guy eats a beef taco. A guy eats a bison beef taco. A guy eats just a taco bread taco. A guy eats a rice and beef taco. A guy eats an ugly hard boiled egg taco. 

This guy’s name is Taco. He lives with wife, Ms. Taco, and his little baby taco Jr. Taco goes into outer space so he can shoot tacos at people who want to eat them. He throws tacos at people. His salary is $1,123 per second because it’s really hard to aim tacos at people’s head. Right now he wants a better life because his salary is only $1,123 per second and he wants a salary of $2,908 per split second. Ms. Taco is old and has alzheimer. 

Mr. Taco goes on the computer to try to get a new job. 7hr5847n nhcv. His computer turns into a hologram. The computer becomes evil, hacks a government computer, and releases an atomic bomb on Mr. Taco. At the time, he is searching for a new job called Sauce eating to see how much sauce he eats. If he eats five truck loads of sauce, he gets a trillion dollars every hour and every hour after that. Every time he does that, after that, he gets one less minute so he gets money easier. But then, he gets hit with the atomic bomb so he dies.

Ms. Taco also dies, sadly. Taco Jr. didn’t get hit because the stroller protected him. Taco Jr. lost half of his whole body. He lost his right arm, right leg, and half of his right face. He gets a mechanical replacement for that part, which is basically computer-infused with lasers. But then, an evil computer hacks it and the computer wants to destroy Taco guy who right now has somehow came back to life as a ghost who is found by taco Jr {aka hologram hacked taco Jr} blasts Mr Taco with a Laser Gun labeled Ingenita Terra BE Mr Taco saw it was an alien gun “what the hell are you doing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Taco Man got blasted back and started to fade away then an unknown knight armored being blasted a red blue beam of light at taco Jr then the knight said in a familiar voice “I am here to warn you about how to kill that half robot half human.”                               

Chapter 2 Lottery

Soon Taco Man saw a glimpse at something on the back of taco Jr’s robotic half it said 2405 7hr5847n nhcv “weird the year is 2393” he said. Then they teleported to a graffiti filled alleyway he asked the knight “what is going on” “I won’t tell you at least not yyyeeetttt”screamed the knight after a flash of red light.

Chapter 3 How You Die

Taco Jr. shot the knight with a laser gun which killed him supposedly. Then the ghost of Taco Man shot taco Jr. with an ice laser. Taco Jr. stumbled backwards and fell into a black portal. The ghost of taco Man also went into the black hole. Taco Man blasted taco Jr. with another ice laser, but this time taco Jr. activated a gadget and reflected it. But taco Jr. lost his balance and fell into a deep dark hole. But they were still in the black hole, but Taco Man doesn’t know that he’s the one who is making everything happen. Whatever he’s thinking about is what happens. He made the deep dark hole when he was thinking about trapping taco Jr. Then taco Jr shoots a bunch of knives while he was still trapped in the hole. Taco Man didn’t know that was going to happen, so when he got hit by the knives, even though he was a ghost he still got stabbed by the knives since they were coated with poison. Then the ghost saw he was turning into a human again. Then he started coming down because he was still floating and his black hole started to disappear. Then before they knew it, they were both people teleported into a coffin. They were pushed against the walls. There wasn’t enough space for both of them. They teleported above an ocean next to the sun next to a meteor shower into the Sahara. Then they stopped in the sky. That’s the last time they teleported. Then they fell. They were screaming. 

Chapter 4 The Truth 

Taco Man and the Mysterious Knight teleported to an unknown city. Taco Man figured out that it was the future. He found Mrs. Taco. Then, they instantly teleported back to their time. And then they realized it was actually the past. Then they saw a Brontosaurus. And then they teleported back into the Sahara. Then, Taco Man realized that other places they teleported were places that Ms. Taco went to. And then Ms. Taco surprised him from behind and said, “So you figured it out.”    

Chapter 5 Revive

Mrs. Taco says, “I was the one who hacked the computer in order to live longer”

“Why”said Taco Man. 

“I was born in 98718,” said Ms. Taco. 

“What?” said Taco man.

“I teleported backwards,” said Ms. Taco. 

Chapter 6 Finish Line 

“Well, goodbye…

“Nooo,” said the Knight.

Chapter 7 Into the Void 

 Then, they disappeared. They saw so many colors. They were in the Void of Time.   


Handcuffs

PART 1

“But⁠—” 

“Gwen. It’ll be ok.”

“NO!” 

“Sweetie…”

“Please?”

“No. No is no. Now⁠—”

The lady gets cut off. She’s the secretary. 

“Honey…”

“FINE! I don’t care anyway,”

I storm off.

Dad calls after me.

I leave to my room.


:3

Let me explain. I was just calling the military phone and my dad and I just got word that my mom, now the MIA soldier, had gone MIA and⁠—sorry. I can’t stop crying.

My dad told me, when I was around 6, when mom left, he told me that he loves me but if mom goes MIA, I have to go live with Great Aunt Mia, which is ironic. I have never seen her, and I don’t wanna. I just DON’T. I mean, I get that dad can’t manage, but why can’t I go to a freaking foster home?! That has to be better than a relative, that, in dad’s words, is a ‘Gloomy Crabface.’ I know I haven’t met her, but I hate her for an odd reason. Mostly because she is taking me away tomorrow. I don’t get how she’s related to dad, but… I don’t know. It’s just that I’m so sad not only for myself, but for my mom. Questions lingered in my mind, like Where is she? Is she hurt? Is she DEAD?! If she’s alive, is she thinking about me and Dad??? How did she disappear?

I don’t know the answers, but I assume the worst. Mom’s probably dead, lost somewhere. 

All I know is, I just really want her to come home.


:3

A gray Cadilliac pulls up. A woman with about 3 MILLION wrinkles comes out. Jeez, I think, She is OLD! Her bleach-blonde hair is like a shining star compared to her clothing and face. Her eyes are literally gray. Not light blue, gray. She is wearing a white collared shirt and gray leggings. Why though?! It’s summer! This lady already sucks. 

Dad doesn’t cry. He holds it in, but I feel tears in my eyes like they’re burning. Dad pulls me in and hugs me for what seems like forever. When he lets go, I grab my 2 duffel bags, one for clothes, and the other for my things. I walk quickly down the steps thinking that if I get out fast enough, the sadness and pain will stop. From the car window I wave, just long enough for Mia to drive off. 

“So,” She begins. Her voice is like gravel, and it’s eerie how judgmental she seems. 

“What? Just drive. I don’t wanna talk,” I say, frustrated.

“Well, it’s not what you want. It’s what you have to do,” she says, tensing.

“I don’t have to talk!” I say, my own words cutting me. 

I see her eyebrows furrow, thinking. She has tiny pencil eyebrows. “Well, Gwen, you have to live with me,” she says thoughtfully.

“I don’t need you to take care of me. I don’t even need mom!”

“Ah, Kristina. She’s a good woman, strong-hearted. What a shame that she got lost.” 

I go silent. The mention of her makes me full of love and sadness. 

“I’m sorry if that offended you,” she says, faking it. I can tell.

“I’m fine, okay?! Just leave me alone,” I say gloomily.

She stops.

So do I.

:3

We pull up to a, wait for it, green house in a block of yellow ones. It’s like mold. It’s huge, over ten rooms, I think. Whatever. It’s just stuff, not people. I trudge inside. There is a pretty girl with a perfect bun sitting down, watching TV. She looks my age, 12. She stands up when I come through the door.

“Hi, I’m Juniper,” she says cheerfully. 

“I’m⁠—” I start.

“Gwendoline Ruby Jones. I know,” she says creepily.

“How⁠—”

“Grammy told me what happened. I’m sorry,” she says, for the first time, not cheerfully.

“Where are your mom and dad?” Mia interjects. I still hate Mia.

“Work,” Juniper responds.

“Ok.”

“Well, um, nice to meet you, Juniper?” I say awkwardly. It feels strange to talk since she’s done all the talking.

She lets out a giggle.

“Nice to meet you, too! BTdubbs, call me Juni.”

“Cool,” I say, and for the first time, a bit happy.

“Glad to cheer you up! I can tell you’re a bit happy,”

“How⁠—”

“Mom taught me how.”

I stand there, baffled.

She giggles again.

“Well, I better lead you to our room!”

“Our?” I ask.

“No, Gwen, me and the lion’s. Of course ours!” she laughs.

“Um, ok,” I say, smiling a bit.

She leads me up two spiral staircases.

She goes into the room.


:3

It has yellow wallpaper with black polka dots, like a bee. One bed is dark purple and has see-through drapes. Then there is a blue bed, next to the purple one with identical features.

There is a closet with all the clothes moved to the side and room for way more. Her closet is the size of my old room that I shared with dad, which isn’t big. There are two bins of toys, both full. If the room wasn’t crazy enough, it has its own bathroom and shower. I stand there in awe. This one room is the size of my condo. I stand there, mouth wide open. Juni collapses into giggles and I realize what I’m doing and I giggle too. As much as I like this, I miss home. There is no place like home, where we could get messy and laugh. Mom used to help me and dad bake. We always screwed up, no matter what. My mom has/had a free spirit and didn’t care about messes. Her long brown curls always fell in the bowl. And sometimes, her brown eyes would get so wide with laughter. I was only with her for 6 years, half my life. God, I miss her. 

I stop laughing and so does Juni. My laughter turns into tears while I fall on the bed. Everything is blurry. I hear footsteps of Juni walking over as I curl up in a ball and just fall apart. Juni keeps whispering stuff, but I can’t hear over my own thoughts. Eventually, I stop. Everything stops. I sit up straight like nothing happened. 

“I’m hungry,” I say.

Juni looks at me like I’m crazy.

“Um, ok?” she says. 

We walk down to the kitchen. 

 :3

One thing I notice about Juni is that she is super happy, unlike me. 

It’s really annoying.

:3

About 3 weeks later, the day before school appears. Juni is currently telling me who to avoid and who to like:

“Ok, so not Josh, most DEFINITELY not Trista, hang with Ella, she’s awesome. Avoid Fatima. She is so fricking annoying!” She talks on and on. 

This seems like I have about 5 people I can be friends with. She drones on and on forever while I stare at our backpacks. Juni’s is white with little flowers on it. Mine? Juni wanted to pick mine, but I said no. I took a black one with a galaxy on it. I’m really geeky, if I didn’t tell you, and I loved it. It showed me how a person can go on in the galaxy. Juni wanted me to pick a black one with white polka dots, but… I just didn’t like it. So while hers is super happy and fun, mine, to her, was nerdy. When she said that, I said thanks. She made a face at that.


:3

We are sitting at the counter while Mia makes breakfast. She insists on waffles. I don’t feel like food today. Clatter! Juni’s plate drops down, almost broken. She doesn’t care and eats it all. I push mine away.

“Gwen, you need to eat,” Mia says, tensely.

“No. Ok?” I snap. 

She goes quiet and picks up my plate. I walk upstairs to get ready. Juni eats quickly and follows. We walk in our room. I go to the bathroom while Juni stares at her closet. Yeesh. Fancy much, Juni? I brush my hair and pick it up in a ponytail while Juni is STILL at our closet.

Now it’s getting out of hand. Staring at clothes? Who does that? I just grab my overalls and a shirt. I tie my jacket around my waist. It’s black and red plaid. When I walk out, Juni raises an eyebrow and asks, “Are you sure you want to wear that?” 

“Yeah. I don’t care how I look,” I respond flatly.

“Um, ok.” She giggles. We only have 10 minutes ‘til eight, when we have to leave. Juni spends about 2 minutes in there and comes out with her super long hair in a perfect ponytail dressed in leggings and a black and white tee shirt with the word Believe. 

God. She’s really pretty. There is no feature out of shape. Her tiny nose, perfect brown eyes…

Middle school is gonna suck. FIGHT ME IF YOU DISAGREE! COME AT ME BRO! 


:3

We walk into a school with pearly white outer walls and rows and rows of silver lockers. REALLY nice school. My old school was sucky compared to this. My old school was brick and had rows and rows of dusty lockers. At least I had friends back there. 

“You coming?” Juni asks.

“Nah. Gotta get everything from the principal.” I respond.

Juni walks away to a group of girls. There is this one girl in the middle, talking, and everybody is staring at her like she’s a god. I mean, the girl in the middle has locks of gold hair and freckles dotting her skin. She is… shallow from what it looks like. The principal hands me a paper and walks away without a sound.

Rude.

I find my locker, locker number 8. WOWWWW. Juni’s is locker 6 and Shallow Girl’s is 7. My favorite number. 7. Seven was also my mom’s favorite number, too. 


:3

I walk over to Juni during recess. She waves and introduces me. “Girls, this is my cousin Gwen. She just moved here,” she says. 

I did not move here, I think. I give a half a second smile then go back to a stare. 

“Cool! I’m Ivy,” says the girl with her dark hair down and her blue eyes gleaming. I like her.

“Hey, I’m Ana.” This girl has red hair and baby blue eyes, like Ivy’s, just lighter.

“Um, hi. I’m Ella,” Shallow Girl says. This one has golden locks and freckles dotting her nose and face. She has her hair up, like Ariana Grande up, but it still reaches down her back. They start talking.

“Omygosh, did you see what Fatima was wearing?! It’s like, a white shirt and overalls. So cringe!” Ella says. Ana agrees while Ivy stares off and gives a slight nod. 

“I know, right?!” Ana says with a smile. My eyebrows crease and my eyes are wild. 

“Dude, that isn’t ok. People can wear what they want! So don’t judge or you will be judged, by everybody you looked down to,” I spit out. Ana stares with a mouth open while Ella gives me a disgusted look. But the worst is Juni. She furiously stares at me and then looks at me like I’m a different person. The expression I like the most is Ivy’s half smile.

“Well, then go run off with your BFF, Fatima. Go along, Gwenny!” Ella says mockingly.

“OMG! The weirdos are BFFS!” Ana laughs.

Juni looks at me and takes a breath.

“Yeah. They’re perfect.” Juni says, laughing with the others.

“What about you, Ivy? Cat’s got your tongue?” Ella giggles. Ivy opens her mouth and mumbles something like I gotta go to the bathroom. The other girls laugh. Jerks, all of them. I think.

“You should be ashamed, all of you, for treating other people like they don’t have feelings,” I say angrily and I rush to the bathroom. I think about how horrible they are, how mean they are. Even Juni. 

I hear Juni say, “I can’t believe that we are related.”

 I run faster when a teacher chases me. I run in and a stall is closed, and muffled cries come out.

“Ivy, open up. It’s me, Gwen,” I say. The door opens with a creak. I look at her. There is red around her eyes and she says, “Gwen, how do I get them to stop?”

“Say stop. And firmly. Like you mean business. Or even try to make your voice say, Do it or I will actually hurt you.

She giggles. I help her up and we walk out together. When we are near the door, she stops and goes out the other door. “Sorry. Too complicated,” she says. I get it. She walks back to the group while I stay by the cold stone steps. I sit. It’s the most serene I’ve been in ages. I stand up and walk over to a tree. I touch a leaf and it reminds me of Mom. She loved leaves and always went outside. The smoothness of the leaf feels like the touch of Mom’s fingers against mine.

PART 2

A few weeks later, I’m on my bed and see my stuffed penguin.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving, Mommy!” I yelled.

“It’s for the best, honey. Why don’t we go to the store and get you a present to remember me by?” she asked sadly.

“Ok, Mommy, but I’ll always remember you!” I grumbled. I didn’t want some stupid present. I wanted Mom. We loaded into her black car. Dad was doing something at home in the attic. I didn’t know what it was. We went to Bullseye Shop. Mom held my hand while we walked. I was only six, just remember that. Mom led me to the toy aisle and she let go of my hand. I grabbed back on for dear life and she sighed and picked me up. I liked playing with her curls. I looked around while she held me and all I saw were princess dolls or army figures or even glittery toys. (EW! Who’d want THAT? Not comfy at ALL!) The army figures upset me. Mom pointed to a teddy bear with a pink lace bow.

“What about that one, sweetie?” she asked.

“It’s gross, Mommy!” I said, complaining.

Then she saw the army figures.

She rushed me past those and found what was soon to be my most prized possession.

I know this may sound weird, but I will tell you this to explain: I LOVE penguins. I don’t know why. I just like that they are cool birds. Even though they can’t fly, they fly in some way.

It was a giant stuffed penguin with soft blue eyes and a pastel yellow beak. It wasn’t rainbow, or glittery, just… .a penguin, I guess. I smiled and Mom picked it up.

“Oh, this is so cute! Why didn’t I see that, smart girl?” I laughed while she gave it to me. I held onto two things: My mother and my penguin. I didn’t want to let go of the penguin or my mom, so the cashier had to scan it in my arms. 

Once we got home, Dad came out with two presents. The big one was for me and the small one was for Mom. I unwrapped mine quickly and saw one of those kiddie computers. In Mom’s was a sculpture of our family. We all hugged tightly and we all cried a bit. We spent the rest of our day sad-happy. Then it turned out to be the worst day of my life. 

Later, Mom got called to leave. When we heard that, we all got sad and we all cried really, REALLY hard. Mom gave me and dad a kiss and when she hugged me, she whispered, “I’ll never leave you guys.”

I didn’t understand then, but I do now. When she left, I crawled to Dad and reached over for my penguin. 

Back in my room, I’m close to tears. I decide to reach over to my phone, the old little iPhone 6 while Juni has iPhone 11 Pro. Jeez. Great Aunt Mia probably shops at Yucci. RICH. I pull up my texts and find 321. I turned off my alerts on all texts so I missed a lot. All Dad’s texts were like I’m sorry, I just can’t take care of you, I love you, Missing you, Give me a call. I decided to take up the offer on that last one. 

I dial: 555-907-8070. His number. I hold my breath for a second when Dad’s voice comes on. 

“Gwen? Oh my gosh, I have big news! Wait, is this even you?” He sounds like he’s aged in like 4 weeks.

“Yeah, Dad. What’s the news?”

“Well, I know I’m a bit upset but mostly happy. You know that day I gave your mother the sculpture of us?” 

I get excited. “Yeah?!”

“Well, they found it shattered on a trail which sounds bad, but if you think about it, Mom could be alive!!” He excitedly says.

“Oh. OH!! Dad! This is great!! Also, can you visit me soon? I miss you. I’m holding The Penguin right now. I got sad,” I say.

He goes silent.

“Honey, I don’t think I’m ready. Only calls for now, right? Is that ok?” he asks.

“Oh- o-of course Dad, take your time.” I fake happiness in my voice.

“Glad you understand. Gotta run, love you!” he says. He hangs up when I hear footsteps. I shove The Penguin in my bag under my bed. Then I hear giggles.

Oh Lord. 

I think I only hear one when I hear 3. 

Oh Lord double.

I see Juni, Ana, and Ella, and in the back is Ivy. She shoots me a half smile. 

“OK, Gwen. Juni, very dorkily, convinced me that you’re ok. You aren’t weird,” Ella says, not even saying hi, no trace of sarcasm. Ana giggles and nods. Juni goes red while Ivy looks down.

“Well, what if I wanna be weird? Who said being weird was bad, Ella? Aren’t we all weird in our own way, Miss I-like-making-people-feel-bad?” I say, frustrated. 

“Well, I said that being weird is bad,” said Ella, bratty, know it all. Ana giggles and agrees. Ugh. 

“Get out. This is Juni’s room, and we’re using it,” Ana says matter of factly.

“Sorry, the room says that it doesn’t want two, not Juni and Ivy, mean girls infecting its area. The room says nope, ” I say with a grin.

Ivy gives me a tiny smile and Juni’s mouth twists in a weird way. Ella and Ana both give me a mad glare, the stare burning in my scalp. “Let’s go, girls,” Ella says. 

Ali and Juni follow while Ivy calls, “Be right there! I dropped my ponytail holder that was on my arm!” A lie. It makes me feel good that somebody would lie just to talk to me, in a strange way. 

“If you don’t want to be friends with them, you should tell them,” I say as Ivy is done calling. She is still facing the door. She stands quietly and then turns around to talk.

“Gwen, what if I want to be friends with them?” she asks. Now, that makes me quiet. She spent all this time complaining to me about how horrible they are. Now she wants to be friends with them? “They are nice when you are friends with them. Sure, they talk about other people and make jokes, but they don’t try to be rude,” Ivy says.

I sense something is off about the words rolling out of her mouth and into my face. “Who told you that?” I ask, like stone. 

“Ana,” she says quietly.

“Well then you sho⁠—” I start. We hear Ella call for Ivy. Ivy speed walks away to them. I am left, sitting in my room. I feel stupid. 

Of course! I figured it out. Ella and Ana are an unstoppable team of bullies. And it’s not just Ivy they bully. And they means Juni, Ella, and Ana. Girls like Fatima, and Trista, and many others. They don’t say it to their faces, but everybody knows they talk about people. Everybody just knows. Ivy stands quietly, but they are labeled popular, even though everybody doesn’t really like them. So if nobody actually likes them but still wants to be friends with them, what’s the point?


:3

The next day, Juni says matter-of-factly that she’s going to walk to school with Ella and Ana. She doesn’t mention Ivy, which I find weird. 

“What about Ivy?” I ask. 

Juni tilts her head. “Ok, can you keep a secret and like, not tell Ivy? TBH, we’re thinking of cutting her from the group. She seems to like you better than us, anyway. Ella and Ana are sad. Ivy was cool before you came. She fit in.” 

And with that, Juni walks out the door to find Ana and Ella waiting. 

I never really thought of it like that, me stealing Ivy. I guess I did. Maybe I should leave them alone. I grab my backpack, heavy with homework, and head out. Instead of seeing Ana, Ella, and Juni walking, I find Ivy laughing nervously when Ella says that we are best friends. 

“What is that supposed to mean, Ivy?” I ask coldly.

“Gwen! I didn’t mean it. I try so hard to fit in and I⁠—” Ivy pleads.

“That’s enough. I’m done,” I say, and I speed off toward school. My head hurts and I want to cry but I don’t allow myself. They would get satisfaction from my tears. I reach up to the school steps and run up. I speed through the hallway and push down three people. I don’t really care. I mean, my mom is gone, my cousin is horrible, my only friend left, and now my dad doesn’t even want to see me. How much can one twelve-year-old girl take? I know people have much more horrid lives, but right now it’s the worst. Something in me tells me that I have to do something big. Something so people will know my sadness and pain. I know it’s bad, but everybody has to know the feeling inside your gut that makes you want to puke or cry or run away. I decide to hatch a plan. One that will not fail. One that will make them understand. One that will stay with them forever and ever. 


:3

After I get out of school, I race “home” and don’t do my homework like Mia says and I don’t do my chores, because Mia has to give the kid with no mom chores. I run up the stairs when I hear Juni, Ivy, Ana, and Ella. I slam the door and whip out my notebook. Here’s what I write:

  1. Take something important from them and hide it. Let them know how bad losing something important is.
  2. Adjust the words on the huge board, the one with plastic letters on the school and call Juni and her friends out. 
  3. ….. No idea……
  4. OOH! Got it!

I don’t write my plan out because Juni might flip through my notebook. But it’s great. It’s dangerous. It’s perfect.


:3

I pack my bag with food, water, and clothes because they might kick me out. I remember The Penguin and pack it too. I decide to strike at twelve a.m. Nobody will know I’m gone. I’m so determined that I’ve forgotten to be scared. This is probably the most important thing I will ever do. After I’m done, I go downstairs for water. Then I see Ivy’s shoulders shaking. She must feel bad, I think. But then I hear her.

“G-Gwen hit me and⁠—and then she said I’m a stupid brat. I thought she was my friend…” she wails. I didn’t do that. I didn’t. I should just walk away. But I don’t even wonder why she’s lying, I just wonder what I should do. Because I’m this close to hitting her for real.

“I did not, Ivy. Now stop the act before I hit you for real, not in the magical fairyland in which I hit you,” I yell. Ivy stops and the other girls just stare back and forth between us. That is when I decide I’m doing this now. But first I hiss, “I will teach you, very, very soon.”


:3

I take the seven cans of spray paint I bought and head to the school. I took seven because I know that with that number, I will be lucky. I stop at their lockers and I think that I should do them each with their own message. In bright pink, I write: I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND on Ivy’s locker, and on Ella’s and Ana’s I write, STOP MAKING PEOPLE FEEL BAD. 

And on Juni’s… I write I THOUGHT YOU WERE ON MY SIDE. That’s when the lights come on.

“POLICE! STOP AND PUT YOUR HANDS UP!


:3

I sit in my cell. I’m sentenced to a month and 3 days here. In juvie. Thing is, they made me apologize, but I’m not sorry. The only thing I am sorry about is that I couldn’t see their faces. But Juni visited me. That was one of the worst. We talked a bit like this: 

“I can’t believe you. How could you?” Juni says angrily. 

“How could you? You were the one who called me weird. You were the one who took Ella’s side and you know she was wrong,” I say sternly.

“Well, Ella was just trying to help you fit in,” she says defensively.

“What about Ivy? Why did she lie, huh? You know I didn’t⁠—” 

I get cut off.

“I know you didn’t. I know now. But I can’t just abandon Ivy like that. She was jealous that you were stronger than her. Braver,” Juni whispers that last part. “Truth? So was Ana and Ella. And me. You just yelled what you thought, while none of us could do that. We have to fit in,” she says. Most she’s said in one sitting.

“Thanks, but I’m not forgiving anybody,” I say.

“Neither am I,” she says. And with that, she strides out. 

What was really painful was when Dad visited. 

I didn’t know what to expect. He might yell or scream. But he didn’t. He was so mad but, also, happy, like he was hiding something. I hate it when Dad hides stuff. He’s still here. Good thing is that I’m sent to live with Dad after all this. Then he walks over to me. The prison guard lets me out to see dad.

“Why?” he asks.

“They betrayed me. I couldn’t sit around and let them,” I say.

“Oh,” he says calmly. “I’m so sorry. I should have stayed with you. You got so angry. I feel like it’s reflecting off of me leaving,” 

“It’s not your fault. I just⁠—I guess all the anger of Mom leaving and my friends leaving just came out of me,” I say, almost in tears.

“Oh, and I have something else I need to tell you,” he says.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Gwen, your mom is coming home after this month, when you are out of here,” he says, his voice breaking.

I don’t say anything. I just cry. My heart fills up and I feel like a bomb ready to explode with happiness. I already know that the next month will take a long time.


:3

This is the day I go home. Nothing is resolved with Juni and Co. I told Dad what happened. Then a car pulls up and Mom runs out with bruises and cuts and love. I hear some pain in Mom’s voice, like she had been so terribly hurt that she couldn’t talk. 

“Hi, my little penguin,” she says in tears.

“Hi, Mom,” I say cracking up. Dad just stays quiet.

“Hi, Rob,” she says to Dad. Before, I talked to mom over the phone and told her what happened. She was sorta mad but not too much. By the way, I asked mom what had happened to her, but she won’t say. I guess it’s too painful.

Then me, Mom, and Dad sort of clump on the couch and stay there. Me and mom are hugging The Penguin, too. 

For some reason, I think that I left Juni and Friends in a good way, a way where they probably are sorry right this minute. A way where they know what they did, and now they know why I was hurt. I don’t care that I didn’t make up with them, I just care that I’m home. 

With the only people I need.


Grass

Chapter 1

Dwayne And Greg

The bell rang, sending feelings of scariness through the playground. They pierced through my thin, green skin. I tried to stretch out of my spot in the ground. I had to move before the kids came trampling to the playground, running right towards me and all of my best friends. 

“How about we work together to stretch each other out?” Dwayne screamed. 

It was a big risk because if we pulled ourselves out of the ground then we would have to find water and more nutrients, but we all agreed and started by stretching my blade so that I could be free first.

Thump, thump, thump. The stampede of kids came closer. I jumped up and down in my spot a couple of times. 

They finally got me out. “Yay, I’m free!” I screamed. It felt so weird and confusing to be out of the ground. But I felt happy too!

Now we could work on getting Greg out. 

“Come on,” yelled all of my friends around me. “We have to do this faster!” And then the wind came, which helped get us closer to rescuing Greg from the hard ground. 

“There is a kid running right towards us!” Dwayne said. The kid was not just running at them. But at me! There it was, the foot about to step on me!!  What should I do! I tried even harder to stretch my friend out from his hole. 

Finally, we got him and the rest of us out. I was about to start dancing, but we had to get away before the kids came and stepped on us. 

As I jumped awkwardly across the field, I saw the kids in the other direction. I just kept on running. Greg was in front of me, jumping really fast and everybody else was behind us. 

We all hid under the mulch to have a rest. I felt like I never wanted to go back home. Being out of the ground was the most amazing thing! After a while, we started running again. This time I was in the front. And I made sure I was in the front, the whole time. After I hopped for what felt like a thousand hours, we finally got to the chapel. It was even better than I had imagined it would be up close. The steps leading up to the chapel were huge. My friends and I started looking around inside for the perfect spot to live. The ceilings were so high. They felt 10,000 feet tall. We could hop around here for days and never see the end of it. 

I jumped over to Greg. “Do you want to live in my spot with me?”

“Where is your spot that you will live in?”

I walked him over to a chair in the back corner and showed him around, but there was one problem. “This tiny spot right here is a—Oh no!” I screamed. “What just happened!”

The lights had turned off. I did not know what to say to my friends. So I just shouted out. “Hey everybody, don’t worry! It will be okay, we can find a way out of this,” I yelled.

When I looked back at Greg, he was not there! Oh no! What should I do? This was really starting to feel scary. Greg announced, “Hey guys! I can fix this!” Just then, the lights turned back on! 

“Yay! Yay!” everybody screamed. Greg saved the day. Everybody was circling around him with pride. I was so proud of him too. I gave him a huge high-blade and then moved on to the little place that I would live, maybe with Greg. Greg is my best friend now. 

When I got to my new tiny spot, I noticed that it needed a little bit of a clean up. I picked up a feather and started cleaning up, asking Greg to help me.

“All I need help with is this little spot right here.” I pointed to a candy bar wrapper and some dust. 

“Yes, but I am not going to do all of the work,” Greg said.

“Fine.”

As I worked, I thought about all of the adventures that we had gone through to get here and how hard it was. I missed home a little and wished I could be back there, but I couldn’t go yet. We had just gotten to the chapel and we needed time to rest. 

“Dwayne!” Someone screamed in my ear. It was from Greg. I had been daydreaming and stopped cleaning up. He was just reminding me that I had to do some of the work too. 

“Ok,” I said. After a little while, I was worn out. I figured we would need some water and soil, so I told the group I would be right back. 

I was out for way longer than I thought I would be and it was dark way faster than I imagined. It was quickly dark and scary. Bats were squeaking and looking at me with bright yellow eyes. I was freaked out, so I turned around and headed back to the chapel with the soil and water for my friends. After a while, I was so lost, but the next thing I knew I had bumped into Greg. He was trying to find me. We headed back to the chapel!  

Once inside, I gathered my friends around me. I wanted to tell them what I had been thinking about.

“I think we should go back home to our original spots. Think about how hard it will be for us to get water and soil every day.” 

They all agreed. We immediately headed out of the chapel and back to the playground area that we called home. I felt brave and happy to be going back, but also lucky to have had a chance to move, jump around, and go on an adventure. 


December 19th

We were sitting in the classroom talking about how we wanted to do the athletic ability class, but my mom said no. We wanted to do it because Grace isn’t that good at running, and I enjoy it. It would be a win win! After that, we just talked about our weekend plans.

 I then started to smell smoke. I glared over at my best friend Grace. She has been my best friend for over 10 years. Grace stared back with her eyes WIDE. 

She said to me, “Chloe, the smell is getting really really strong. Should we say something?” 

The smell was getting really strong. I said back to her, “No, let’s wait here until further notice.” Little did I know that I had just made the biggest mistake of my life.

 Just then the fire alarm rang. Everyone in the school rushed out of the building just like we practiced in our fire drills, except this time it was much more chaotic, like our lives depended on it, because they did. I heard a scream and automatically recognized that the scream was Grace’s. 

I ran back into the building, even though my life could have ended right there. I saw Grace surrounded by fire as she let out her final screech. 

I yelled to her, “Never forget that I love you!” 

I ran out of the building screaming for help. Once I was outside, I watched the school burn from a distance. Many were crying. The teacher called attendance to make sure everyone was here and safe. She called:

“Henry?”

“Here.”

“Ben?”

“Here.”

“Chloe?”

“Here.”

“Dan?”

“Here.”

“Kate?”

“Here.”

“Rina?”

“Here.” 

“Zachary?”

“Here.”

“Grace? Grace! GRACE!!! WHERE IS GRACE?”

I knew. Tears were in my eyes. The firefighters came with an announcement. I could hear my heartbeat echoing through the pure pressure of myself understanding what was about to happen. They stated that they found a dead body inside of the treacherous fire. They described the body and asked if anyone knew the person they described so they could call her parents. I told them what I saw and the firefighters tried to calm me down as I sobbed. Grace’s parents arrived at the school bawling. 

“If only I just agreed to leave with Grace earlier.” I said to myself, trying to hold back tears.

Every day felt so empty without her by my side. All the hours were unexciting and lonely. All the minutes were filled with grief. I could never replace her. EVER. The world needed her. I needed her.

TWO YEARS LATER

  My life was surrounded by that day. The day of the fire. December 19th.  Every time someone said Grace’s name, my heart skipped a beat. Today is Grace’s second yahrzeit. I’ve gone to therapy every other week preparing for this day, so I wouldn’t have breakdowns or asthma attacks. Therapy was working fine although it was hard not to cry on December 19th. This year, I prepared a list of inside jokes, handshakes, ideas, art projects, dreams, and most importantly, our talks. I passed around the list for everyone at the gathering to see. Only me, my parents, Grace’s parents, and Grace’s siblings were at the gathering.

I made it out of the gathering without any asthma attacks or breakdowns. I was really proud of myself for being strong. I teared up, although not too badly.

When I got home, I heard some strange sounds. I peeked out of my bedroom door and noticed my mom talking on the phone. She was talking discreetly. She had no idea I could see her. She then said the words into the phone that changed my life. “I did it ok! I did it! I set the fire!”

I yelled at my mom so hard while wailing! She immediately got off the phone. She explained everything to me. She told me that Grace was always doing better than me in school. 

“SO YOU KILLED HER!?!?” I screamed. I was confused, how did my mom know she would die?

The words spiraled around in my brain. My mom told me, “When I first had the idea two years ago, I immediately started planning. I know that Grace is a slow runner. So I didn’t support your athletic ability classes. If I did, Grace would become faster and would have survived the fire. You recognized the huge scream of Grace and ran for her.”

 It all made sense now. I called the police and they took my mom away while I cried. I have no one. No one.

  In school the next month, I was completely productive. I was trying to be more available and open since I noticed I really hadn’t been. I realized that I am grieving however, that can’t take over my entire life. I still need to live it and fulfill the dreams both Grace and I forever wished would come true.

 And they did.

THE END.         


The Spotlight

Chapter One

The Play

The firefighter clowns poured water on each other instead of the fire. An old lady wearing a huge wig of grey hair ran away from the fire, yelling. 

“Help me!”

 Meanwhile, a little, wrinkly elephant started flapping his ears while a chubby boy ran up and hooked a cable onto the fake elephant. The cable rose and the elephant started to fly! The audience cheered with “OOhs and Ahhs.”

I couldn’t understand what the actors were saying next, but suddenly I felt a tickle up my wires, a feeling that always excited me because I don’t usually get my chance to shine. Sometimes I get sad about how much the other colored spotlights get to shine.  

I felt it coming, and I shined like a spotlight should shine right on Dumbo! But then, it happened again. The other spotlights were shining way more than me. I felt another tickle and I shut off immediately. That’s what happens when I get super sad. The whole crowd gasped. No one could see Dumbo. Now no one would say it was a great play, only that it was just OK. 


Chapter Two

Invisible

After the play, I stretched and I pulled so hard that my wires unstuck. Walking through the school campus and across the road always helped me feel less sad. Plus there was something I wanted to check on at the Dollar Tree. I climbed to the curtain and slid down to the stage. I sat there for a while because I was so tired. 

After a while, I got up and walked behind the curtain. I  grabbed the invisible spray that the grown-up actors sometimes used to sneak around during the play. I sprayed it on myself. It felt like the spray paint they put on me when they were making me. Poof! I was invisible to all things except myself. 

I went out from the back of the stage and headed towards the road to get to the Dollar Tree. I sometimes sneak the mini lamps out of the store to compare their brightness with mine. I keep getting dimmer and dimmer and I wanted to see how long I have left. This was the only thing that felt bad about walking around after plays, but I have to do it to see how much longer I have in my life. 

I used my back-up battery, turned on my light and shined my light at a rusty, old stop sign. Then I turned on the mini lamp, which also had a battery, to see which one was shining more. Mine was obviously dimmer. I turned off the mini lamp and chucked it at a tree. It bounced back to me. I put it in a hollowed-out tree where I put all the mini lamps that I’ve ever gotten, which was a lot. It was getting late so I headed to Berry Hall, where the stage was. I climbed up to where I pulled my wires out, stuck myself back in and fell asleep. 

Chapter 3

A New Life

I was jolted awake with a big flash, then a huge charge of electricity. This time there were grown-ups rehearsing. They were also doing Dumbo, just like the kids were. Their costumes looked a bit better than the kids and the scene where Dumbo flies was perfect. 

Once again it was my turn to shine. I felt so strong and ready to go that I turned on my light a half a second early. The man who controls the spotlights tilted his head and made a funny face. Oops! I thought. But then I noticed that he didn’t really care so I felt relieved.

One of the actors used the invisible spray and hooked up Dumbo, who started to fly. My light got brighter. All of the other colored spotlights looked back at me as if to say, “Just because you’re shining brightly doesn’t mean you are cool!” 

I started flickering. I’ve gotten dimmer, but I’ve never actually flickered before. I couldn’t stop the horrifying seizure of light. Everybody looked down and covered their eyes. Even Dumbo, who was in the middle of flying, covered himself with his big cardboard ears.  

Suddenly, the man shut me off and the stage went dark. Because the windows were open and the sun was shining, you could still see a few people on the stage. Everybody was astonished when the director yelled, “Cut cut cut!” He was the one who always stopped them from rehearsing if something went wrong. 

I barely get to shine and, for one moment, I was really shining. Now I am pretty sure that they are not going to use me ever again. 

“We will repair that spotlight on Friday before the play,” said the maintenance guy. 

Wait, I thought. Does that mean that they’re not going to throw me out? I was so relieved I couldn’t describe it. It was like getting a Visa gift card at the Dollar Tree with infinity dollars on it!    


Chapter 4

Green Eggs and Ham

I missed the Dumbo play because I was busy being repaired. In the meantime, they replaced me with a new white light. I didn’t feel very good having to miss the adult Dumbo play, but I was still very, very happy that I was going to be brand new when I came back. 

I was out for about two days. I was a little worried that the new white light would replace me permanently. 

But then I thought, “Why would I ever be permanently replaced by the white light if they are repairing me?” Right after that thought swept out of my brain as if someone had a broom, I heard the maintenance man say, “We’re going to put our new white light in the spot where this light was.”

I felt so angry to hear this. I wanted to turn on my light and flicker and give them another seizure!

“We need a blue spotlight for our next play,” he said. “Green Eggs and Ham.”

The other maintenance man looked at him as though he had a good plan. “Since I put a new battery in this one,” he said, “I will go ahead and add a blue sheet in front of its bulb so we have a blue spotlight.”

Huh?? I thought. I was amazed. I was going to be up where the colored spotlights were. Then I had a terrible thought. What if they still make fun of me? What if they say things like, “You just became a colored light because you are terrible at being a white light! At least that another white light is decent.”

The next morning, I was no longer lying on the big table with all my insides pulled out of me. I was hanging from my wires next to all of the colored lights. They didn’t seem to be warmed up enough to wake up yet, but soon they would probably be up. Bad thoughts and good thoughts crashed into my head, fighting and jumping on each other. But, like I when I got fixed, the good thoughts repaired everything that had been broken. 

“What? Huh? Why are you here who are you? Why is there a blue light here?” 

I looked over and all the other spotlights looked amazed that there was a new color. They were peering so hard at me to see who it was. After a while, they realized it was me. It was like they couldn’t speak at all. They all looked at me right in the humongous blue eye.

At that moment, bad thoughts weren’t just destroying things in my head…they were also destroying all the good thoughts. It was like a war going on, but the good thoughts were easily losing. Because they were good thoughts, they couldn’t actually hurt the bad thoughts, even if they wanted to. Only fix them. But there was only one good thought left in my head, which wasn’t even that good. Maybe they will leave me alone. Then I will not be teased, but ignored instead

Then I heard the pink spotlight — the one on the other side of the row — say “Congratulations!”

The little thought that they would leave me alone became a huge giant. It started fixing bad thoughts into “Phew!” thoughts.

The play started. The two characters argued over the green eggs and ham. One of them pushed the other into trying the green eggs and ham, but he was disgusted by them. After a while, when they had gone in the rain, on the train, under the tunnel, also with a goat and a fox and a mouse and everything else…while they swam in the water…I shined as hard as I could to make the water sparkle and light up as much as possible. Everyone in the audience was dazzled by how brilliant the water looked. 

The green light purposely shined right on the eggs to make them look green. Then, the character who said he would never eat green eggs and ham ate them. The curtain closed with loud applause. 

I felt perfect, with feelings of pride and courage and strength jolting through me.

Unicorn

Hi I’m sally. I am 8 years old. One afternoon, I was walking home from camp like I do every day and I passed by a forest I had never seen before. I started walking in the forest. Then I stopped. I saw a big unicorn, so I hid behind a bush. 

The unicorn started coming closer to me. Then I realized that the bush had food on it. I tried to run away but she had already swallowed me whole. Inside the unicorn’s stomach, I was sitting in a swarm of rainbow wet stuff. It smelled like cotton candy. 

So I had been in there for a few hours. I got hungry so I tried the rainbow stuff… it tasted amazing! My cell phone rang. It was my mom. I picked it up. My mom said, “Sally where are you!!???” 

“I’m stuck inside a unicorn!” I said.

My mom laughed. “There is no such thing. GET HOME!!!

I said, “I’m in a forest. Come and get me!!!”

“Ok.”

Mom walked in the forest and stood there. The unicorn came close to mom. She just stood there and she got eaten by the unicorn. Splash. Mom fell in the unicorn’s rainbow stuff.

I told Mom to try it. Mom hated it. She said it tasted like barf… Mom’s phone rang, it was dad.

He said “Where are you??? I made dinner!!!” 

“We’re in a unicorn!” said mom. “Come and help us!”

Dad said, “Where are you?” 

But mom already hung up. So dad just used his tracking device. So he got to the forest and looked around. Mom and I climbed up the unicorn’s mouth. We saw Dad so we pulled him in. We fell and splash! 

Dad said, “Why did you pull me in you could have got out!!” 

“Well it is too late now.” 

Dad said, “I can’t believe I had made dinner!! It’s probably cold now!!! 

“Well it’s your fault you made dinner for the first time!”

“I’m hungry,” said Dad.

I said, “Have some rainbow stuff.”

“I love it!!” said Dad. Dad called his brother Uncle. 

Dad and Uncle never had a great relationship. They are always bickering. Uncle picked up his phone. He said, “WHAT DO YOU WANT???”

Dad said, “Sally, Mom, and I are stuck in a unicorn.”

“I don’t believe that,” said Uncle. 

Dad said, “Do you want me to send you pictures?”

“A swirl that is rainbow and the unicorn is cute,” Uncle said. “Ok I believe you. I’m coming to get you.” 

He went into the forest and saw the unicorn. The unicorn saw him and walked away. Uncle was mad. So he climbed on the unicorn and the unicorn yawned so he went in its mouth. Uncle was in the rainbow stuff.

Dad said, “Did the unicorn eat you?” 

“No,” said Uncle.

 I went in its mouth. “Seriously. You could have got us OUT!!!!” 

“Ok,” said Mom. “Don’t be rude.”

“I’m hungry. My wife didn’t make dinner.” 

Sally said, “Have some rainbow stuff.” 

Uncle had some. He absolutely hated it, but not bad. Aunt likes old fashion things. She didn’t have an iPhone. She was 50 years old and I thought that was very old. So Uncle called her. 

“.futreukiutrce5ujy6usa6wedtfc64esdfbtrycbetrtgh itduiykdv6tj??” said aunt.

“Go put your dentures on,” said Uncle.

Aunt kinda ran to get them. She screamed she realized that a tooth was missing. For some reason, she got tired and just sat on the couch and watched the news. The people in the unicorn got fat because they ate too much rainbow.

THE UNICORN EXPLODED!!!


The Adventures of Julia and Lucia

Chapter !

Julia and Lucia are sisters. They live on a couch. They have one maid to bring them food, clothes, and a potty. 

Julia said, “Bring me some chips!”

Then the maid said nicely, “I’d rather not because I brought you food 20 minutes ago.”

Lucia needed a pencil so she yelled at the maid, “BRING ME A PENCIL!!!” 

Then the maid said, “You need some exercise, so your mom and dad are going on a business trip and I am going to ask if I can get off haha. They are going to be gone for 8 months, and I will be off 8 months.” 

Julia said, “I will make a stove on the couch.”

The maid yelled, “Who is going to get the stove?”

 Then Julia said, “Oooooooooooo!!!!”

 So their parents got on the plane and the maid went to Paris, so they lived for 3 months so far, then they got really hungry!!! So Lucia gave up. She had to get up because she was starving and thirsty.

Julia would not get up. She said, “I will stay here until I die.”

Lucia said, “But I do not want you to die. Remember we are immortal.”

“WHAT! We are immortal?” 

Lucia yelled, “Ooooopppppppppssssssss! I was not supposed to tell you that.”

Julia got so so so so upset that they were immortal. They were immortal, but they still aged. It was a little weird. They still got taller and got fat. 

The maid did not know that they were immortal, so when the maid was back from her vacation she did not believe that Julia stayed on the couch for so so so so so so so so so so LONG. So the maid was like thinking in her head if she actually stayed on the couch for that long, and plus she didn’t switch positions. She thought and thought, but she could not figure it out, but she longed to know what was going on. Julia was still shocked about the immortal thing. 

But then Julia screamed out, “I do not want to be immortal!”

Then the maid heard everything.

Lucia said, “Noooooooo! The maid heard!”

That day they wondered where their parents were, then they saw the news on tv that there was a plane crash, but they did not survive. The girls were devastated because their parents died and they had to live with a rude maid for their lives.

The maid said, “I quit.”

“YES!” said the girls. They were really happy. 

While Lucia was jumping up and down on her bed, Julia was still sitting on the couch. The maid was going to leave the next morning because the maid was like their mom. The maid rushed to the airport, then Lucia ran outside and screamed, “Do not go!”

Then she broke into a random car [the keys were in the car]. She had good driving skills and she got the maid in time. The maid agreed to stay. They went back to Lucia. They lived a nice life then dun dun dun.

Lucia mentioned that their parents were immortal, so they did not die. Julia thought that they were on a fancy island. The sisters did not care as much now because they know that their parents are safe, and that is the story of the couch girls [Julia is still sitting on a couch]. 

Chapter !!

Remember us? The sisters Lucia and Julia. We used to live on a couch, but we quit it. So we are going on a quest to find our parents, with our maid obviously.

“We gotta find them!” Julia thought that they were at a secret island. “We are going to search the world just for them. We are leaving tomorrow. The maid told us that she used to be a flight attendant.” 

The pilot sold the plane to her for very cheap, like 1000 bucks. Then the maid took a flight lesson, then she was a pilot. She thought it was too much, so she went on the Internet, found a job that said maid, and that is the story of most of her life.

The sisters got packed and ready to fly. They were a bit scared because she had not controlled a plane in 10 years. She was nervous too, but nothing could stop them from finding their parents, so they set off on their 10-hour trip. They got on the plane. They kept asking each other how much longer, but at least there were movies on the back of the seat.

“Ahh!” they screamed. 

“There is a bit of turbulence!” the captain/maid said. 

Then crash! The plane fell in the water, but thank god they were close to an island. They swam until they reached the island. Finally, they reached it. 

They were so happy they were immortal, however the maid was not, so she drowned. 

The girls did not like that they were on their own. The island was like a big forest. There were berries that they could eat and the salt water they could drink. They did not really want to drink the salt water, but then they remembered that they were IMMORTAL!!! YAY!!! 

So they still starved, but did not die. There was a coconut tree on the island. They cracked it open and water came spilling out. The sisters saw two people on the island across from them. They headed over there, but they were two bandits so they took a run for it then they ended up on a different island. 

Then they saw their mom but no dad. They hugged each other. 

They asked, “Where is dad?” 

Mom said, “He passed on the plane crash.” 

“I thought dad was immortal?” 

“No. He was not.” She asked Julia, “How did you know that we are immortal?”

“Ummmmm.” Then she pointed to Lucia. 

Lucia put her hands up. Mom was not disappointed because she had to find a way to tell Julia because she always wanted to live but not be immortal. Then they started crying. They really missed Dad. They thought he was immortal, but he was not, so it was very devastating.

They got on a pirate boat and got to the house. There was a lot of seasickness that I do not want to explain. It took a week to get home, but they made it.

They walked through the door and Dad was a ZOMBIE!!!!!!!

 Chapter !!!

Julia and Lucia were terrified!! Their father died! Ok, they got over that eventually, but they would never get over that their father was a ZOMBIE!!!!!

Zombies usually look like they have been beaten up, but he was dressed in a nicely tailored  suit. Mom shouted how much money. Dad was not normal. He was see-through and he had mental issues now sadly. We are lucky to even have him here right now.

“Dad!!!” Julia said, sitting on the couch but not forever anymore.

Dad was going to the park and killing the kids there. He has super strength now, so he suffocates the kids with his hands. Then parents started calling the police.

“Ooooh nooo.” Julia called Mom and Lucia. They came as fast as they could, but they did not make it in time. 

He was already handcuffed and in the police car.

They went to the police station the next day and tried to explain that Dad has issues and he is a robot. They lied about the robot because they wanted to take him out of jail, but it did not work, but it was reasonable.

Then the officer said, “If he is a robot, why do you need him?”

“Umm BECAUSE HE IS MY DAD.”

The officer said, “You lied. You said he is a robot and that is illegal.” 

Yay they were in the same jail cell as Dad. 

So they were trying to escape out of the window with Dad’s super strength. They were secretly going out, but then lunch came early. 

Then they had no lunch and no food for the rest of their lives, but they were immortal so they will live. Then they tried a different way to escape. Then Dad unlocked the lock on the door, but there was someone at the front desk, so that did not work .

The third time, they went on a trip outside for fresh air. But the police was guarding them, but he was dumb and he was on his phone, then he started sleeping. Yay! That policeman took their wallet and used all their money, then revenge! 

They took his wallet then went to the most fancy restaurant ever. After that, they went on a luxury vacation. They flew first class each 8,000 dollars. So all in all, it was 32,000 dollars. The vacation was to the Carribean. They were sitting for 5 hours when they got the food from the stewardess. It was pasta with tomato sauce on it with a side of cheese. The dessert was lemon pudding with chocolate sprinkles. Lucia and Julia went around the plane asking for second lemon puddings, then the flight attendant said to sit down if there is turbulence. The first time they ignored her, but then the plane was shaking, then they were scared. They went to their parents, but they took Dramamine to make them fall asleep. Then a flight attendant walked by.

It was the maid.

They started yelling, “Maid maid!” 

The maid fainted. The girls were shocked about the maid. They thought she was dead. Then she woke up and she passed them. The pilot on the plane fell asleep, and the plane rushed down to the ground.

The pilot woke up when it fell on the ground. It was a long way from the airport, and it was a lot of nausea. The sisters threw up a few times.

And that is the end of my story. They learned that they should always listen to the maid. 


Monkey Spy

When your day gets completely turned upside down, finding out you have a spy in your household is not that big of a surprise. Having a second spy, ok that is a little kooky, but having a third spy, that is a monkey????? Now it is going way too far. First Violet, then mom, now Leland. Ok, well let me start from the beginning. It all starts in Florida…

4 Weeks Previously 

Mom was cooking dinner in the kitchen of our small condo- apartment. It was spaghetti and meatballs, but it didn’t smell like that at all. Me and my sister Violet were playing spit on the dining room table, and the twins (Luca and calvin) who were both one and a half were fighting over a bubblegum wrapper. Suddenly, the phone started ringing.

“Hey mom?” I called “The phone is ringing!” I didn’t pay that much attention to it. The phone rang a lot. I stroked our pet monkey named Leland and watched her slowly walk over to the phone, her face pale. This was very unusual of her. She never did things like that. Now that I noticed, Mom had actually been acting like this our entire vacation. Panicked, stressed, and nervous. I looked away from Mom. Violet seemed to have noticed it too, because she had dropped her cards on the table, very unusual of HER. Even the twins had stopped screaming, and were staring at Mom open mouthed with spit dripping down their chins. What was happening? I saw Violet stand up and walk over to mom. She picked up the phone before mom could. 

  “Hello?” She said. It only took 1 second for her usual smile or grin to turn into a look of complete seriousness. She nodded at mom, then hung up. 

 “Experiment 124679830” She called, looking directly at Leland. He turned his head to face mom. 

“Take action.” As soon as the last word came out of her lips, Leland started scampering around the house, as though he had been programmed to. My jaw dropped. The twins managed a simple

“Ohhhhbegubidaga” Before mom scooped them up and put them in the stroller. Violet was running around packing, like Leland seemed to be doing, and so was mom.

“MOM!” I shouted so she could hear me over the noise of the packing “WHAT IS HAPPENING??” I could make out a quick “I will tell you on the way! We have to hurry! Violet knows what to do! Follow her!” Wait, so Violet knew about this too? My mind was filled with a jillion questions, but I only had one thought.

Follow Violet.

I ran with my bags across the street, barely keeping up with V and my mom with the twins in the stroller and Leland, who I think is a spy robot monkey now.

“Where, are, we, going?” I gasped

“To the train!” My mom shouted. “I will have to leave you guys there! Again, Violet will explain everything!” We had reached the train. Mom gave us each quick but tearful goodbye hugs. I blinked back tears. I had never left my mom before. Not even for a sleepover. I was honest to goodness very very scared. Mom gave Violet the stroller, and Leland jumped out of my arms and onto Violet’s shoulder. We entered the train station just as the train pulled up. It was all going so quickly, and none of it seemed very real. It was all like a blurry dream. The doors opened. Violet pushed the stroller into the train. I quickly looked back to see if Mom was waving goodbye, but she had disappeared. The train doors were starting to close, and Violet had to grab me and pull me in. It was much nicer than I had expected. The seats were leather and there was an old woman with a frilly dress with a cart filled with food parading up and down the train. Violet sat down and motioned for me to sit too. I was hesitant at first but then I gave in. She took the twins out of the stroller and put them on her lap, bouncing them gently. She was nine years older than me and I was only 7. She turned to face me. 

“Okay,” she said. “Now I have to tell you the entire history of our family. It all started when I was 10 and you were just 4. Mom knew that this day would come someday.”

“But what do you mean ‘this day’?” I interrupted. She glared at me and I shut my mouth. 

“The day when the spy attackers would come, or as Mom would call them: SNAKE. I don’t know what it stands for but it sure does sound awfully important.” She paused and stared out the window dramatically.

“She told me this, and I am going to tell you. First off, Mom works for a spy institute where they look into the future and this little monkey,” she motioned to Leland, “is a spy too. And not just any spy, a world class detective.” 

My mouth dropped open. But after all that happened today, this wasn’t that surprising. 

“So she is sending us off with a monkey spy, we don’t know where he is taking us, and we don’t know when we will see mom again?” I asked her, my arms crossed over my chest. Violet nodded. I sighed in frustration. I grabbed Leland off of Violet’s shoulder and put him in my lap. He squirmed to get away, but I held him tight. I started to feel drowsy, and shortly after I had fallen asleep. 

Chapter 2

 I blinked my eyes open. Why were we on a train? Then I remembered it all. My cheek had prints from Violet’s coat on it, and I had a little crusty drool on the corner of my mouth. I wiped it off with my sleeve. 

 “Are we there yet?” I asked Violet drowsily. She shook her head.

“Leland said there are 12 more stops.”

“Wait, Leland can talk now?” I asked. Everything was so confusing now. I just wanted to go back home.

“Monkey Translator. Duh.” Violet looked at me like I was the crazy one. I tried to roll my eyes, but I could really only go halfway. I was glad I had brought my book. 12 more stops seemed like an eternity to a 7 year old. I unzipped my bag that I had been hugging to my chest and pulled out my favorite book of all time: SPACE CATS Into The Spacevolution. I also pulled out my worn out, beat up, patched stuffed animal. Flufster McFlufferson went straight into my lap. I leaned onto Violet again, and curled up with my book.

10 Stops Later

Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Nothing to do. I read my book 4 times, I lost at cat’s cradle 16 times (and won once) and I braided Leland’s hair until he screamed and bit me. Violet said it was my fault, but I think that Leland has cabin fever too. I could tell the twins wanted to go home. They were fighting over the last Annie’s Bunny Gummy. I had the urge to scream at them. 

“Violettttttttttt” I whined. “How many more stopsssss?”

“FOR THE LAST FREAKIN’ TIME, THERE ARE TWO STOPS LEFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” She screamed at the top of her lungs. Everyone on the train went quiet and stared at her. She turned beet red and giggled nervously.

“Umm, heehee sorry Ruth,” She said in almost a whisper. 

“I like the color of your face,” I said as I poked her on the cheek. The train pulled to a stop and the doors opened with a swishing sound. I sighed in relief. Only one stop left. So did everyone else including Leland who kind of smiles because his mouth turned up in the corners a little bit. 

Ten people started taking their bags and getting off the train. There were only twenty people including us, so it was a lot less crowded and claustrophobic. Leland said in his monkey translator which is basically a speaker on his chest “Our stop is in ten minutes. Start gathering your things.” His voice was metallic and scratchy and didn’t sound at all like I imagined a monkey’s would sound like. I literally jumped up on the seat and started doing my happy Snoopy dance. Violet shot me a glare and pulled me down. I looked around at the seat and noticed all my things were scattered everywhere so I had to take two trips to my backpack which weirdly enough was ten feet away. I shoved everything in there and zipped it. I didn’t do a very good job zipping it so I dragged it back to my seat–or attempted to– but everything completely fell out again. I groaned. Violet was putting her stuff back in her bag and trying to comfort the twins at the same time. I put everything back in hastily and zipped it up correctly. I continued to drag it to the seat before Violet saw me and rolled her eyes. She walked over and picked it up with one hand, ONE HAND, and walked over to our seat where she rolled her eyes a second time.  I watched as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. She groaned in anger. 

“Stupid Battery” She mumbled under her breath. I shook my head. She was becoming a teenager more and more each day.

Chapter 3

I walked back over to the seat and sat down, only to spring up 2 seconds later. The doors opened, and the intercom crackled with life.

“This is NYJ airport. I repeat, this is NYJ airport. Please clear a path for the closing doors.” I grabbed my bag and ran out of the doors. I looked around. So this was an airport. I wanted to go home, where I didn’t have to wonder if things were fake.

 I marveled at the sight of everything. So clean, so shiny, so new. Then I remembered that I was supposed to stay with Violet and the twins. Oh, and Leland. I swiveled to look behind me for them, only to collide with a tall man with a black suit and tie, and tan skin. I was so short I could only see the bottom of his chin at the highest, and with that only by craning my neck so far I heard a snap. I heard the sound of the stroller on the tiled floor. The man looked behind me. I closed my mouth, just noticing that my mouth was a big O. 

“Are you Violet, Ruth, Luca, and Calvin Perolline?” A gravelly voice said. It was the man. I stepped back and huddled closer to Violet. How did he know our names? Violet narrowed her eyes.

 “Who’s asking?” She said, her teeth gritting. I decided that if Violet was mad, I was mad too. I put my hands on my hips and tried to look as angry as possible. Leland seemed to be very suspicious of this man. He was baring his teeth, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. 

  The man cleared his throat.

“I am Sir Cleve-” He screamed a manly scream. I didn’t know why until I saw Leland attached to Sir Cleve’s face. He pinched as hard as a little monkey spy could, and at that point I knew. We could trust no-one. This man was disguised as our friend, yet Leland thought he was an enemy. Nothing was simple now. No black or white. Life was a million shades of gray. Before I had finished my totally deep thoughts, Violet had my arm firmly clenched in her hand. She started running and so did I. We ran and ran until I didn’t know if I could run any more. My legs were the wind, and my heart was my spirit. Carrying me on. (This was probably in a famous book or something) Violet stopped suddenly, and I crashed into her butt. Ouch. I looked for Leland, then realized he was on my shoulder. I was scared. Very scared. I was gasping for breath and wheezing for air. I needed my inhaler. I pulled it from my jeans pocket. I put it in my mouth and sucked up ten breaths of air. I stopped weezing. Then I looked up. We were stopped in front of a mangy-looking motel with the red and black sign hanging off of its hinges and the small double door caked with mud. I stared at Violet with my eyebrows raised as if to say, “This is where we are staying the night?”

Violet shrugged and said, “It’s the least costly.” I opened the door and Violet pushed the stroller in the door. Inside, there was a small desk, with a young teenager with earbuds in and her phone out. That was all. No couch, no TV. Nothing. 

“Um, excuse me?” Violet said. The girl didn’t look up. “Excuse me,” Violet said, her voice a little bit louder. The lady looked up and pulled out an earbud. 

“We would like to stay for one night.”

The lady took out both of her earbuds and hung them around her neck. “How many beds do you need?”

“Um, two please,” Violet said, doubtfully. 

The teenager widened her eyes in disbelief. “Two?! That’ll be fifty dollars per person.” 

Now it was Violet’s turn to widen her eyes in disbelief. “For this tiny little shabby motel?” 

The teenager looked offended and shoved her earbuds back in. We stormed out. 

Chapter 4

I woke up the next morning STARVING. Where were we anyway? And why did I have something wet on my face? I slowly blinked away sleep from my eyes and saw that I was on a couch, with Luca and Calvin  sleeping on top of me. I identified the wet thing as Calvin’s tongue. Gross.  

I slowly pulled the twins off of me and onto the couch itself, not my shoulder and getting off it when something hit me. Where was Violet? And Leland? I looked around the room. It was really fancy. It had I bed, but it was small, and the velvet couch we were sleeping on. Violet was snoring softly in the bed, with Leland curled up in her arms. I saw a big window on the side of the hotel room. It was covered by velvet curtains, the same ones the couch was made of. I walked over there, but discovered that the floorboards were SUPER creaky, and started tip toeing. I peeked through the curtains, and saw that it was still dark out. The sun was beginning to rise, but still dark out. I pulled it back and creeped over to Violet’s bed. I shook her. 

“Violet. VIOLET. WAKE UP!!!!!” I whisper shouted. She sat up in bed quickly and then, seeing that it was only me fell back in bed and groaned.

“It’s too earlyyyyyyy” She whined. I pulled the blankets off her. She moaned into her pillow.

 “Get up!” I said. She sleep walked off the bed. And fell. A muffled groan came from her, but you could barely hear it because her face was mashed into the velvet carpet and her butt was sticking in the air. I rolled my eyes. I quickly undressed out of my clothes from yesterday and into a fresh green t-shirt and blue jeans. I tried to braid my hair like Katniss in the Hunger Games but it turned into a giant knot of hair so I gave up. All the while, Violet was slowly getting ready and dressed. We opened the blinds so light poured into the room, waking up the twins. They started crying.

“We should probably go on a walk. Get some fresh air.” Violet said while putting the twins in the stroller. I didn’t have a better idea, so I nodded and started to put on my velcro hello kitty sandals. About 10 minutes later, we were walking along the block. The weather was perfect. It wasn’t too cold, or warm but it was crisp. It was a perfect day for a walk, but sadly, everyone was ruining it. The twins were screaming. Violet was on her phone, and I was trudging along, ten feet behind. Violet apparently had enough of it and put her ear buds in, listening to music as she walked through the park.

 Then her patience broke. She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled as loud as she could. Now this is a thing you would only know if you were Violet’s sister. She whistles loud. And I don’t mean PE Teacher loud, but loud loud. Loud enough for the president of the United States to hear if he listened. Although I doubt he would be. Loud enough that if WWIII was happening they would pause to listen. 

So, imagine how loud that would be if you were standing right next to her. All of a sudden, we heard a pounding on the ground. Getting  louder. And louder. What was it? And Violet didn’t know either judging from her expression. Then it was ear splitting we had to look up. 

Bad Idea.

  Chapter 5

When I looked up, I had to run to avoid getting trampled by the thousands of feet that were galloping, bounding, and scurrying towards me. Thankfully, my staying alive instincts deflected the worst injuries. I ducked behind a trashcan to watch the parade/stampede. I scanned the crowd, which was gazelles, giraffes, elephants, and zebras. Oh, and snakes-for my sister and brothers. No sign of them. I was getting a cramp in my thigh, when the stampede stopped. Stopped, miraculously, in front of Leland, who was standing on his back legs waving his arms frantically in front of him and squawking monkey nonsense. Oh right. My pet monkey was a world class detective. He motioned for me to come over. There was a part of me thinking “Why the HECK are you following a monkey’s instruction? Are you CRAZY?!?!” (Which yes, I was) But the bigger part told me to just do it. 

I crept out of my hiding spot and crawled towards Leland. I saw Violet and the twins huddled next to Leland. Suddenly, we heard huge stomping. Like BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!!!!!! And there, in front of me was the shortest, fattest man I had ever seen. 

“YOU!! Vy you vuin my plan?! You vuin evevyving!! MY plans! All my plans!!” He said in a strong french accent. “WHY????” He said and broke down sobbing.

   This was the bad guy? This short man with a suit? Who is kneeling on the ground sobbing? Ha. But, there had to be a twist. There was always a twist. And of course, there was. He stood up, grabbed hold of Leland by the neck  and killed him. I heard the crack. I saw him go limp. I heard myself scream. And then I launched myself at the man, half screaming half crying. I didn’t have any reason to believe he was still alive. I was angry. So ANGRY!! I had done everything I could to stop it from happening, and it did. Leland was dead. And I tried to hurt him for how he had hurt me. But I couldn’t. There was a wall. Made of glass, through what I could see from my eyes that were clouded with tears. The mysterious man with the monkey blood on his hands was smirking on the other side of the wall. And then I just couldn’t anymore. So I slid my back against the invisible wall, and tucked my head in between my knees. Was Violet dead too? What about the twins? But I couldn’t just stay here. I had to help them. I couldn’t go home now. I didn’t want to, with all the wait on my shoulders. So I stood up, and put my hands on the barrier. I slid them on the smooth surface until I found a crack, as I had expected. I pulled it and it shifted slightly, and I slid to the other side. The man on the other side looked unamused. I ran up and grabbed his shirt. 

“Where are my siblings?” I seethed, spit flying into his face. He just smirked again and whispered harshly:

“Where your faith crumbles.” I dropped the shirt and he vanished, leaving a puff of smoke behind him and the smell of lingering ash. 

The End

Roman Story

Oceanus attended a school for training to fight in the Roman army. Oceanus was born in Rome. He was 18 years old, in Rome his father was a bladesmith. The Roman army had drafted because since his father was a bladesmith. Oceanus was good with a sword. He had to join the army. The year was 206 BC and Oceanus was training at the school with his friend, Maximus. He wasn’t sad because he wanted to become a centurion. The general himself was going to graduate them.

Oceanus woke up in the middle of the night because the alarm bell was ringing.

“What is going on?!!” asked Oceanus.

“It’s just a drill, keep your hair on,” said his commanding officer. 

“A drill in the middle of the night?” The officer shrugged. 

The next morning Oceanus got dressed and went down to the mess.

“Hey! Oceanus over here!” yelled a very excited Maximus.

“Hi,” Oceanus said as he got to his table. “Did you hear the drill last night?”

“I slept right through it!”

Oceanus rolled his eyes. Maximus could sleep through a fire and he gladly would.

“I figured as much,” mumbled Oceanus.

Fifteen minutes later he was practicing on top of the shallow river. He and Maximus were practicing with their swords.

“Aren’t you excited we’re going to graduate in two days! And then we can-”  Oceanus stopped the sentence by knocking him with the handle of his sword which knocked him on his back in the mud.

The next class was archery.

“So when we graduate will you join with me?” asked Maximus.

“I just want to go home,” answered Oceanus.

“Excuse me, but will Maximus and Oceanus please shut up!” said the teacher with a glare so cold Oceanus felt like the temperature dropped 10 degrees celsius.

“Sorry, sir we’ll be quiet,” Oceanus said and gave Maximus a dirty look. The next class was advanced weaponry which was where you learned how to fire a large crossbow, at least Maximus wasn’t in this class. During lunch Maximus kept trying to convince him to join. Finally after the twentieth time Oceanus gave in.

“Fine I’ll join!!!” yelled Oceanus. 

“Jeez, okay, I’ll stop.”  

The next day was a blur, packing and walking around the campus for the last day. The next day they graduated but there was a surprise.

“You are all joining the army,” said the general, “your instructions are on your bunks.” He turned around and left the whole grade in complete confusion. 

Then five months later he and his group were scouting the approaching army. They had been sent very close to a very large lake which led to the ocean.

“Are you sure that that’s the army? The other scouts said that there were about one thousand others?” asked one of the other scouts.

“I guess that they were off,” said the leader with a shrug.

“Off by one thousand?” asked another scout.

Their leader just shrugged again. “I don’t know.”

“Hey, I think that I see the general!” said another scout.

“No you don’t, he’s over there,” said the leader pointing to the far side of camp. 

When they got back to the camp they filled out a report and wrote how the army was smaller than expected. That night, as Oceanus slept he thought and he felt lonely yet he was in the middle of a heavily guarded fort manned by thousands of soldiers, but they were deep in enemy territory hundreds of miles from the closest border of the Roman empire. Oceanus drifted to sleep.

DONG DONG DONG DONG!!! Oceanus woke with a start as the alarm bell rang.

“We are under attack, this is not a drill!!” His commanding officer’s voice cut threw the words of panic coming from Oceanus’s tent. “Get your gear and get out there you will receive further instructions there!”

Oceanus grabbed his sword and armor and ran towards the nearest exit. He put on his armor and ran towards the gate.

“You there get over to the catapults!” A rough hand grabbed his shoulder “NOW!!”

Oceanus didn’t have time to argue. He left and went to the catapult crew. They told him to release the trigger so he did. The machine fired onto the approaching army but the enemy archeries open fired on them killing all of the crew but sparing Oceanus and one more, six were dead. The camp was burning and the gates were being rammed down, arrows flew and injured soldiers called for medics who they might never see. Just when it looked like they were winning, loud war cries that sounded like a tiger about to pounce on and kill  his prey sounded from the hills from the left and right. They were surrounded. 

In Front, there was the main body of the army to the left, there were about 500 enemies to the right, there were 500 and behind them was the river. Oceanus was thinking about how quick he could run maybe he could run just fast enough to the lake and get on one of the ships and hide. A loud command cut threw his thoughts.

“You go fire the catapults,” said a centurion who had blood on his uniform.

Oceanus went to the catapults and loaded the large heavy rock on the hull of the catapult with six others. Then the commander aimed the catapult at the gates towards the approaching army but the shot would take some of their own soldiers.

“Wait that will take some of our own men!” said a very concerned Oceanus.

“Some people are made to be sacrificed,” was his reply. And he fired the machine. The sound of the rock hitting the ground followed by the sound of crunching bones was enough to drive someone crazy. Oceanus was running. The Centurion mistook it as an act of desertion so did the other five.

“Hey, you traitor-” His words were cut off and so was his head. Oceanus ran. There were five enemies on his tail and he ran faster. 

They chased him, he ducked inside the armory. It was mostly empty because of the battle going on. He grabbed a crossbow off the shelf and aimed it for the door. The door opened and the enemy got a greeting. Three arrows in his chest he collapsed. Oceanus reloaded the crossbow and shot the next enemy. Then an enemy spear came and hit a rack of shields, they came falling down onto Oceanus. Oceanus ducked and protected his head as they came falling down on him. Somehow he wasn’t crushed, he was hiding under the shields and an enemy entered shield raised he lowered his shield and looked around. Oceanus leapt from his hiding place and cut the ropes that held a door. The door shut as the enemy dove for the other side the gate slammed shut. Oceanus was left in the cold dark room. He looked around the room and took the nearest torche off the wall and looked around the room. Where the rack used to be was a hole.

“What was that?” thought Oceanus. He went down the corridor. He took five steps and then he saw two paths left or right.

“It’s a trap don’t go either way go back it’s a trap,” said a voice in his head. He went left. He crept down the hall. He walked down the hall for about 10 minutes before he came to an end. There was dirt completely around him except for behind him. A dead end. Oceanus stood up and smacked his head on the roof.

“OOOOW!!” He suddenly realised that he had hit his head on wood not cold soft mush dirt, hardwood. He pushed upward and a trap door sprung open and a ladder dropped down. Oceanus pulled out the crossbow that was strapped to his back and fired up into the hole that had just opened. No answer. He climbed the ladder and pulled out his sword. Someone attacked him. Oceanus grabbed his attacker’s sword hilt and smashed the sword onto the other person’s face. 

“Oceanus?” said his attacker. 

“Maximus?” 

“Yeah, follow me.”

Oceanus followed Maximus to a stable. There were seven other soldiers there, the highest rank was a captain which was three ranks below centurion.

“Let’s go,” said one of the soldiers.

They all hopped on a horse and rode away from the battle towards the nearest fort to get reinforcements. The soldiers had told Oceanus that the rider sent reinforcements was captured so they had been sent.

Five months later 

Oceanus strolled down the wooden stairs of the fort. He was thinking about what had happened five months ago as they had ridden to the fort. They had been riding when one of the riders grunted and fell off his horse with an arrow in his side. Oceanus pulled the crossbow from his back and steadied it. Twelve enemies had come running through the woods with spears and swords. Oceanus fired his crossbow at one of the enemies. 

Dead. The captain had told him and Maximus to go ahead. They had rode ahead and had gotten reinforcements. They had arrived in time and had won the battle but the death toll had been high for their side. The other riders had never been found. Him and Maximus had been promoted to centurion. Oceanus hadn’t been as excited as he thought he would be. He was just regularly happy, not as happy as he had been when he had realised that Maximus was not dead. Seeing a battle can do that to someone. 


Sub Society

Ben Joy loved his siblings. They were so nice to him and he was the youngest of them. His brother Zach, his 2 sisters Lila and Yasmin. The only thing that he hated was the fact that he was starting school. And today was the first day of school. His brother Zach drove him to school and Ben got prepared for torture. 


Two weeks later

Now my prediction is right, third grade is horrible. The worst part is, let me tell you, the substitutes  they love to yeeeeeeeeeellllllll. 

Everyday this is what happens: 

Where is your notebook? 

It’s right here. 

Where is your work?

It’s right here. 

Get out your notebook

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllllll 

They are so mean. Here is a list of substitutes: 

Mrs. B: most annoying.

Mrs. L: most likely to yell. 

Mrs. K: she has red hair. Some classmates think she got red hair from getting so mad, her hair went on fire. Me and my friends made our own club called the Sub Society and do wars against subs. 

One day, our substitute Mrs. B was really annoying. By that time, we were voting for class president and she kept asking us what we were doing and we said, “We were voting.” 

Our teacher, Ms. Abreou, saw us going around to different tables and she asked what we were doing. We were all silent and then suddenly, out of nowhere, Ms. B said that we were voting and we got in trouble for the rest of the day. 

A story about Mrs. L: One day, we were surprised that Ms. Abreou wasn’t here and that we had Mrs. L as a substitute. We got into class and started doing our morning work. There was an announcement over the loudspeaker. It said, “All third grade teachers bring your students down to the cafeteria.” 

Mrs. L didn’t do anything. We told her what the announcement said, but she kept saying that the announcement said, “All third grade teachers come down to the cafeteria.” 

We kept arguing with her, but she still said no. That’s how we didn’t get to eat lunch. 

A story about Ms. K: 

You know how I said earlier that some of my classmates believe that her hair was red because people believe that when she got so mad, her hair goes on fire. Well, we had her today. She seemed pretty calm. The thing I forgot to tell is that sometimes in class she curses. I was sharpening my pencil and one of my classmates, Xavier, said to me “Jasper! Your pencils are already sharpened!” 

The substitute saw him and said, “Shut up and put your hand down!” 


Present: 

Well, me and the Sub Society, which includes my friends Irving, Victoria, Audrey, and Clara, were all discussing how we were going to make a trap.

“First,” said Irving, “We need to write this all down on a piece of paper.” 

So we got started. “We’ll make a trap door inside the classroom floor with a can of hot water underneath. We will tell the sub that we need help and lead her in the direction of the trap door. She will fall inside it, but we still have to be prepared when she gets out, so we will run to the stairs and get heavy cans of metal blocks and put it on top of the stairs. When she comes up the stairs, we will throw down the metal cans, and then it will crash into her. And for the last trap, when she gets to the main part of the school, we will pour a foot of hot water and pour it on her.”

The Unicorn and the Butterfly

Once upon a time, there was a unicorn and a butterfly. They were friends. One time, they met in the forest and brought cookies with them to the forest. The next day, they went to the forest. There was a little girl who saw them. She rode the unicorn. Her parents said finally we found you. The unicorn and butterfly knew that it was not safe in the secret forest anymore. People knew that the secret garden was there so they moved to a different forest and found more unicorns and butterflies. They all became friends and nobody found the garden. 

One time, they ran out of food so they went to go find food. They found mangoes and went home. It took an hour. When they got there, it was hot so they made mango smoothies and went to sleep and had a nice day. 

Unicorns are not the only mythical creatures. There are alicorns and pegasus. An alicorn has pegasus wings and a unicorn horn. A pegasus has wings. Butterflies come in different colors and can do different things. The next day, they went to the music shop and got a violin to play in an orchestra. After the orchestra, they went to get chocolate ice cream. Mmmmmmmm that was tasty. They went home and found a new friend named tweet bird. They had a lot of fun together. The end. 


Jamie and the Swallow Nest

Chapter 1

Swallows are special birds. They build their nests on the sides of old buildings, in the gaps between the roof and the exterior walls. The foundation is made mostly out of little bits of mud. The inside is lined with grass and old feathers. The entire painful process may take months, even whole seasons.

The Thompsons were an ordinary family living in a very, very old house. There was Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, their three children, and Mrs. Thompson’s mother, the kids’ grandmother. Victoria was the oldest child at the age of thirteen. Gregory, who was about to turn eleven, was the perfect example of an aggressive, obnoxious, video-game-obsessed middle child. Then there was Jamie, the youngest, who had just turned nine. Jamie was quiet and thoughtful, and was therefore a big disappointment to Gregory, who had always wanted a rowdy, competitive little brother to play rough with.

The children’s grandmother had lived with the Thompsons for as long as anyone could remember. Her husband had died of cancer right before Victoria was born. She was a strong and energetic woman for her age, and usually the peacemaker of the family.

 The older members of the family were glad Jamie hadn’t turned out like Gregory—with two Gregorys in the house, it would be a miracle if the roof didn’t come crashing down on the family.

Mr. Thompson worked in a small town nearby, where the kids also went to school and did their shopping. Their father drove them to school every morning, and their mother picked them up in her car at the end of the day.

It was a regular Tuesday afternoon. Victoria was clothes shopping at the mall with her girlfriends, and Gregory had gone to a classmate’s house to check out their birthday loot, which included the latest Mario Kart and a virtual reality set.

Jamie was the only one going straight home. As usual, he went straight up to his bedroom to do his homework.

Some time passed. He heard the screen door slam, a sure sign that Gregory was home.

There was a faint chirping noise outside. Jamie looked up. It was an old barn swallow gathering mud for its nest. Fascinated, he observed it for a while, then went back to work on his math problems.

The nest was finally ready. It had taken so long.

The female swallow, after careful consideration, had decided to build hers right outside a dusty brick house on the outskirts of a small town near a huge lake. The lake was a perfect water source for making mud pellets. The nest was hidden under the roof directly above a second-story window.

After gathering materials for the final touches, the swallow returned to the nest. Her mate was already there. He was painstakingly lining the edge of the nest with grass and old feathers. He had to be very careful—there were four tiny white speckled eggs sitting in the center, due to hatch in one week.

The female added the last bits of mud to the nest corners. Being careful not to move any of them around, she sat on the eggs. Until they hatched, she wouldn’t be able to leave again. Abandoning the nest for those last ten minutes had been extremely risky. 

It was going to be a long week for the two swallows.

Chapter 2 – one week later

The female swallow and her mate silently watched their babies push their way out of their eggs. The nearest one already had its beak sticking out of the shell.

The new parents bent forward to help crack the eggs. It was hard work.

Twenty minutes later, it was done. Four tiny baby swallows were resting in the nest with their eyes closed. They had all survived.

Jamie was doing what he did every afternoon—homework.

He heard cracking sounds and glanced around. Nothing. He looked behind him, in front of him, above him, and even went downstairs to make sure it wasn’t just Gregory breaking something. It wasn’t. He went back upstairs.

More cracking sounds.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t pinpoint the source of the sound. Eventually it stopped and he decided he had imagined it.

His mother called him down for dinner—spaghetti and meatballs. Jamie sat across from Victoria, who was staring at her food like it was an alien from another planet, and next to Gregory, who was busy violently stabbing his meatballs for no apparent reason.

“Vicky, eat,” Jamie’s mother prodded.

What’s new? thought Jamie.

Victoria took a deep breath, as if she was about to say something very important, and cleared her throat. “Mom, I’m… I’m going vegan.”

Mrs. Thompson groaned. “I spent so much time on these meatballs. How long will you be doing this?” 

“As long as I can..?” Victoria trailed off, seeing the look on her mother’s face.

Jamie’s grandmother spoke up, turning to her daughter. “ Samantha, let Victoria do what she wants to. She’s old enough to know what’s good for herself.”

Victoria gave her grandmother a grateful look.

Mrs. Thompson looked lost for a second. She glanced back and forth between her daughter and her mother. Even Gregory, sensing the tension, had stopped stabbing his meatballs.

“Fine,” Mrs. Thompson relented.

“I’ll eat your meatballs,” Gregory volunteered.

Victoria transferred her meatballs to Gregory’s plate one by one. “As long as you eat them instead of pretending they’re your enemies in a video game, go ahead.”

“Wrong. They’re my opponents on the race car track. You’re allowed to knock out your opponents.”

“Whatever. Same thing.”

“Whaddaya mean same thing?” Gregory stabbed his meatball so hard, Jamie jumped in his seat. “They’re completely different, Vicky!”

Victoria rolled her eyes. “Don’t call me Vicky.”

“Mom does.”

“Well, she shouldn’t either.”

“Stop arguing, you two,” Mrs. Thompson ordered. 

“But Moooom, he’s the one being annoying…”

“Yeah, well, I’m allowed to talk about video games, Mom…”

Jamie listened to his siblings bicker uselessly. He wolfed down his food, excused himself, and sat on the sofa to read a book. It wasn’t enjoyable to be the youngest child. In fact, ever since he had started fourth grade, his life seemed to be a cycle of school, homework, eat, sleep, repeat. He couldn’t remember the last time he had experienced anything really exciting. He wanted something interesting to happen for once.

Chapter 3

Two weeks had passed. Being in charge of four baby chicks wasn’t an easy job. The swallow and her mate had to take turns finding food and bringing it back to the nest every half hour.

At the moment, she was staying with the chicks and her mate was looking for food. They had opened their eyes only a few days ago and were now hopping about. The new parents had taken careful precautions to build up the sides of the nest so the chicks wouldn’t walk off the edge.

Suddenly a crash resounded from inside the house and the wall shuddered. The nest lurched sideways. The mother swallow let out an alarmed chirp, followed by her chicks. The world tilted.

Bit by bit, the nest was crumbling away from the exterior wall.

It took some time for the swallow to realize what was happening. In a flurrying panic, the mother swallow flew out of the nest. She had no way to save her chicks. She let out one more distressed chirp.

The nest, her beautiful nest that she had worked so hard on, broke apart from the wall and fell, her precious chicks along with it. The nest landed on the ground with a thump.

The mother fluttered down to the broken remains of the nest, fearing the worst, and almost collapsed with relief. All four of her chicks were frightened but alive.

The nest, on the other hand, was a problem. It had shattered into tiny pieces.

The swallow stared at the rubble in shock. What was she supposed to do now?

It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon. Jamie, Victoria, and their grandmother were playing cards in the den. Gregory, who wasn’t blessed with the ability to sit still and pay attention, let alone “stare at numbered pieces of paper,” as he put it, was swinging his plastic club and pretending to be a ninja. Their mother’s china vase sat on the window.

Victoria scanned her cards. “It’s my turn. Jamie, Give me your Jacks,” she said. 

“Don’t have any. Go fish.”

Victoria took a card from the deck. “Gram, what’s Mom making for dinner tonight?”

“I have no idea. It’s my turn… Vicky, give me your sevens—”

CRASH.

The whole house shook. The three card players glanced up to see a guilty Gregory leaning on his club with shards of china littered all over the carpet.

Gregory frowned. “Oops…”

The children’s grandmother stood up. “Jamie, Victoria, clear out,” she said slowly. Her voice was low and dangerous.

Jamie scrambled out of the den after his sister, shut the door, and ran up to his bedroom, which was directly above the den. He would be able to hear the conversation below with no problems.

He closed the door and then pressed his ear to the carpet. His grandmother was busy chewing Gregory out. She was on a roll. 

“…don’t you realize how expensive that vase is? You just wait until your mother finds out, Gregory! You have to be more careful! This was nobody’s fault but yours…”

Just then there was a faint thump. Jamie felt it more than he heard it. It seemed to come from outside. Jamie heaved himself up, opened his window, looked down, and drew in a sharp breath. He didn’t believe his eyes.

Chapter 4

Mr. Thompson was enjoying a peaceful afternoon snack all to himself when his youngest son barreled down the stairs three at a time, yelling at the top of his lungs. “Dad! Dad, oh my God, you wouldn’t believe what just happened – it’s crazy, you have to see this—”

“Is everything alright? I heard a crash in the den,” Mr. Thompson said worriedly.

“Yes, Gregory broke Mom’s vase—”

What?”

“-but that’s not important- Grandma has it under control—what you really need to know is that there’s a fallen swallow nest outside, Dad, come see, c’mon…”

Mr. Thompson followed his son out of the house with one last anxious glance at the den door. Jamie led him around to the back, below his bedroom window. “C’mon, Dad… right here, look…” 

Mr. Thompson looked over his son’s shoulder, awestruck. There were scattered pieces of a swallow nest in the dirt, and huddled together in the middle of it all were two swallows and four baby chicks.

“What do we do, Dad?”

Mr. Thompson bent down to observe the chicks. “I don’t know.”

“Hey, Dad…” Jamie thought for a minute. “What if we make them another nest?”

Jamie’s dad frowned. “How? We can’t piece these mud pellets back together.”

“Like… we could use a box. Or… something.” Jamie realized he hadn’t really thought it through.

“Actually, Jamie, that could work! I could nail it below your window.”

“Below? The old nest was above. That’s why I couldn’t see it until it fell down.”

“You’ll see. Jamie, I’ll be right back…” Mr. Thompson re-entered the house.

He returned a few moments later lugging a tool kit and a small cardboard box in one hand and a long maintenance ladder in the other.

“Dad, I didn’t know we’ve always had a giant ladder in the house!”

Mr. Thompson grinned. “Well, I finally have an opportunity to use it. It’s been in the downstairs closet all this time.”

They got to work. Jamie picked out the strands of grass and feathers that had lined the old nest and set them in the new one. Then, with some difficulty, he and his father placed the baby swallows in what would be their new nest. The swallow parents instinctively flew in too to stay with their chicks.

Mr. Thompson unfolded the ladder, set it up under Jamie’s window, and climbed onto the top step. Hands shaking, Jamie lifted the cardboard box and handed it to his father. He fingered the hem of his shirt anxiously and watched Mr. Thompson nail the box to the wall. He hoped the new nest would hold up better than the old one. 

The hammering stopped. It was done. The nest was now firmly attached to the wall. Jamie suddenly realized why his father was putting the new nest under his window instead of above—he would be able to see it from his bedroom without any difficulty, and he could keep an eye on the swallows.

Mr. Thompson made his way down the ladder. Jamie helped his father bring the tool kit inside and put the ladder back in the closet. As soon as they were finished, he ran up to his bedroom, opened the shades, and looked out his window. The swallows were safe and happy. Jamie smiled to himself.

That night at dinner, Jamie recited the entire story to the family. They listened without interrupting him and seemed impressed—except for Gregory, who couldn’t care less, despite having caused the crash that was the most likely reason the nest had fallen in the first place—but Jamie didn’t mind. He was happy and content. With Mr. Thompson’s help, he had saved a family of swallows. He felt very proud of himself.


Bad Guys Never Win

So you know how there is the super mean and snobby super popular girl with 2 best friends in all the movies and books and shows? Well, that’s Jessica Martinez, Abbigail Streffer, and Flora Nightingale. And you know how there is that super cute and popular boy that every girl has a crush on? Well, that’s Rafa Abascal. He has been my best friend since the first day of first grade. I don’t have a crush on him but Jessica does. And she wants to spend every second that she can with him.

My name is Theora Frincey and I love basketball. I’ve played it all my life and was trained by Stephen Curry because my mom knows him. Anyway, I’m going to tell you about one time at school.

I was at basketball practice when Rafa came up to me.

“Hey, your three-pointer is on point! Could you teach me how to get better at mine?” he said.

“Sure,” I replied. “I’m always happy to help a friend out.”

We both laughed at that because he has been asking me that since third grade. And we’re in eighth grade now.

Right then, Jessica, the leader of the J.A.F. crew came up and interrupted our conversation.

“Why not I teach you, I’m much better anyway.” She said snobbily.

So I got really mad because she always steals the people I want to teach how to shoot. So I did something I wanted to do for five years and threw the ball I was holding straight into her stomach. Really hard. Like as hard as I would throw if I was shooting from the other side of the court hard. She fell to the ground and slid all the way from the hoop, to the half court line. She looked stunned for a second. Then she started bawling.

“Coach Jenkins! Theora threw a ball at me!” she yelled.

Coach Jenkins came over and looked back and forth between me and Jessica with no expression on her face. Then, she smiled and gave me a high five. I was shocked. But not even close to as much as Jessica.

“COACH JENKINS! THEORA THREW A BALL AT ME! WHY ARE YOU GIVING HER A HIGH FIVE?!” she yelled, still crying.

“You are a snobby, annoying, GIGANTIC-egoed, BRAT. I PRAISE Theora for throwing that ball at you. I would do that if I could. Nobody likes you, you know that, right? Not even your friends. They hate you! They are only your friends because if they weren’t, you would get SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO mad and your parents would probably sue their parents.”  

I looked around and everyone was shook. Nobody knew that Coach Jenkins could be so honest to a student. Some boys were shouting, “Whoo!” “Yes!” “You tell her!” and other stuff like that. 

“I also don’t even understand how you could think that you are better at shooting than Theora. You know for a gosh darn FACT that that is a straight up LIEEEEEE!”

“Oh. My. Gosh. I couldn’t say it better myself, Coach Jenkins. There’s nothing left to say except…” I gestured to my friends a gesture that we made up so we could all know to say… “YOU. BETTER. BACK. OFF. HATER!!!” we all said simultaneously.

That was the story of how Coach Jenkins was the best teacher ever. In conclusion, Jessica became popular for being roasted by a teacher so she left the school, and the J.A.F. crew was over.

The End


The Unfortunate Tale of Mr. Dirk Chepe

PART 1:

Dirk at birth…

What a strange baby he was. Even though he was seconds old back then, he had already sprouted his infamous Trump-like orange hair. And he already had a beard, of all things! The doctors decided to examine him for study briefly. Since the parents did not especially care for him, after what he looked like and how many problems he had caused for his poor mother during the pregnancy, they said okay.

It turned out that Dirk (pronounced like “Dirt”, except with a k at the end, then Chepe pronounced like “chape”) had off the charts testosterone levels, and he needed to be treated immediately. So every single day of his life, he would have to inject a part of his lifetime supply of fluids that the doctors gave him in the first weeks of his life.

Enough of that testosterone stuff. Let’s talk about Dirk’s emotions as a baby. Even then, when he was born, he had severe anger management problems. (Now, he isn’t as mad all the time, since he kills and/or severely injures at least 10 kids a week in his toddler skiing “lessons,” or “massacres,” you can pick which you’d like to call them.) Back then, whenever his parents put broccoli on his plate, or anything he didn’t love, or basically anything that wasn’t applesauce, he would throw a temper tantrum that only his mom could calm down, and even that took at least four hours. But it certainly wasn’t just food. There are too many things that he hated to list here, but here are some of the major things:

  1. Food, of course.
  2. Any moment that his parents weren’t holding him.
  3. When he was trying to sleep without his mama.
  4. When he was trying to say his name but it came out like Dirt! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
  5. When everyone else in the world seemed to be holding back laughter if they weren’t already laughing when they said or saw his name.

There shouldn’t even be military school for two-year olds, but there was. And Dirk was such a bad boy, that tearfully, his parents had to send him there.

 PART 2:

Military School

It was very hard for Dirk to adjust to military school, since he missed his parents so much. But it toughened him up, once he finally acclimatized. However, his parents would have never believed this when they sent their darling Dirk to military school, but military school probably impacted their son to kill young skiers…

At the age of eight, Dirk was a skilled fighter, one of the best in his class. When he was fifteen, he was a tall, lanky, muscular boy who could have been an American Ninja Warrior. He never attended a college of any kind. When he was twenty, he joined the military.

In his teenage years, he was quite popular with the girls. Bethany even married him. Except eventually, she would get into a lethal skiing accident.

A year after joining the military, he made a drastic career change and decided to become a professional skier. He thought this was the best decision he had made in his entire lifetime. Others, especially his future students, some dead, probably didn’t…

 PART 3:

Dirk Chepe, Professional Skier

Dirk made a pretty decent pro skier, at least for the skiing part. He preferred it over other contact sports like football or wrestling, because on a flat ground, his opponent would just fall down. But on a steep, icy, snow-covered black diamond, the opponent(s) would bump down the hill, screaming and falling head over heels. It was even better on moguls! Since he did so much contact, he was sometimes disqualified from competitions for life. He didn’t care unless it was the Olympics, that he cared about. By the end of his skiing career, on much more than one occasion, he pushed many people into the trees, mostly in hit and runs. He loved doing that on moguls especially. It was so delightful to see people bumping and crashing, especially when no one on the course, or anywhere except him knew that it was him, except for him.

Then, he was even more handsome (at least according to the girls he dated) than in his teens. Eventually he had eight wives, excluding Bethany. Here they are.

  1.   Emily married him when he was 21. One day, they were skiing out together. The previous morning, they had a fight about Dirk’s aggressive skiing and Dirk pushed her on the moguls. Emily snapped her neck as Dirk said:
    1. “So now you know what competitive skiing is like now, huh? Hahahaha!”And for the rest of the day, the snow there was stained pink.
  2.   Amelia married him when he was 22. Somehow, the ski lift that she was on didn’t meet current safety standards (it was very old). She fell off the lift and broke all of her ribs, one patella, one humerus, her skull, her lower lumbar, two wrists, two ankles, one radius, seven metatarsals, and 30% of what was still not broken in her body. As you could guess, she died.
  3.   Wendy married him when he was 24. They went to the same mountain where Amelia died. Wendy’s chair lift didn’t meet safety standards either, and when she was supposed to get off at the top of the mountain, the lift sped up to 20 mph. When Wendy tried to get off, she broke all of her ribs. During emergency surgery, she died.
  4.   Audrey married him when he was 25. She needed to tighten her ski boots, but Dirk pushed her down the triple black diamond and she died.
  5.   Margaret married him when he was 26. She said, “I love you Dirk.” Dirk said, “YoU CaLlEd Me DiRt?! HoW DaRe YoU!!!!!!” Dirk punched her in the forehead and Margaret immediately died of brain injury.
  6.   Sophia married him when he was 29. Dirk had no idea she was a terrible skier, so he put Sophia on a slalom course. Sophia went too fast and died.
  7.   Sally married him when he was 33. She was a daredevil, and eventually she did a ski course too difficult…
  8.   Winona married him when he was 34. She was a very cautious skier prone to psyching herself out, however with good skill. But then one day, Dirk forced her to do a double diamond, and she had a panic attack and died.

(Please know that no one wanted to anger a professional skier like Dirk, so not even the owner of whatever mountain the death happened on dared to anger the possibly honorable skier Dirk Chepe. Everyone in the skiing world knew of his aggression, and knew that if they tried to report him, they would be a victim of Dirk’s homicide as well.)

PART 4:

Ski Instructor, Dirk Chepe

At age 42, Dirk retired from being a pro, and sought a job in teaching toddlers how to ski, thinking that maybe, just maybe, toddler screams would be even more appealing to him than grown people’s screams. He easily found a job at Whiteface Mountain, NY. After all, he was over half of his life; he might as well enjoy it every winter day on the mountain. And every summer day? He spends his time at Cerro Chapelco, a ski mountain in Argentina, where summers in the US are winters there, and winters in the US are summers. Sometimes, down in South America, when he feels like it, he plucks llamas off of the hills, strangles them to death, takes them home, butchers them, and eats them for dinner. My ski sketch is a good example of what a ski lesson with Instructor Dirk is like. (Also known as torture and/or a massacre). Dirk’s grand total of injured and/or dead skiers right now is 127,489. (I will update the casualty count every time I visit this doc).

In 2018, Dirk started a ski resort on Annapurna, Nepal in the Himalayas (also known as the deadliest mountain in the world), just so that when he had the time to visit, he would always see people looking like idiots trying to ski down the 26,550 summit and slip on the vertical rock face. Luckily or not, Dirk’s resort still made enough money to pay all of the death expenses, though the brochure that advertised his resort did say that skiers would ski at their own risk, and pay all of the medical bills if necessary (which, if you could not assume, was always necessary). After all, paying the bills WAS why Dirk started his resort. Shh!

So, it looks like we have reached the end of this biography. I’m pretty sure that me and the reader can conclude that the skier Dirk Chepe is a terrible person, and unfortunately, that will not change. Oh well. Not all stories have to have happy endings. And neither does this man.

The End.

The Three Princesses

Once upon a time, there lived 3 beautiful princesses and their lovely mother, Selia. They lived in a small house in a far city called Noarmuinia. The 3 princesses all wanted their own palaces. That morning, they were all eating supper together. 

“Dear mother, I think it’s time for the three of us to finally live on our own, you know? Take charge of the world! Don’t you agree?” asked Princess One to Mother Selia.

“My sweet girls, I truly agree. But do you think you’ll make it past the big, bad prince? We all know that he is trying to take over the world!” answered Mother Selia.

Princess Two said: “Mother, you should know we’re all responsible at this age. We’re already twelve! We have to discover the world and go out, right dear, beloved sisters?”

“Yes, certainly true,” said the rest of the sisters. 

Then Mother Selia said, “Oh dear, you do make a good point. Just be careful, OK? And especially remember that I love you!”

“Of course we will! And we will even build our own royal palaces,” Princess Three said. “It will be splendid, dear mother.” 

Mother Selia said, “OK royal dears, go off in the world! And take charge of your life! Just remember I love you!”

So the princesses went out into the world and built separate palaces. The first Princess built her palace out of glass, the second built her palace out of wood, and the third built hers out of brick. Then, one evening, something went wrong at Princess One’s house. 

The big bad boy knocked on the door and said, “Open up! Open up!” 

So Princess One came up to the door and said, “Not by the lace on my royal gowny-gown-gown will I let your stubby self in!” 

The first princess had a glass house. The big bad prince seemed to get super mad, so he said, “I will crack and crush with my stone and break your glass house down! Hiyah!” 

Princess One said, “How truly dreadful, you horrid big, bad boy! You crushed my dearest glass house! I guess I’ll just go to my loving sister’s house.” 

Now Princesses One and Two are at Princess Two’s house. And the big, bad boy returned again and said, “Open up! Open up!” 

So Princess Two said, “Not by the lace on my gowny-gown-gown will I let your scrubby self in!” 

So the big, bad prince got mad—very mad. 

“I will crack and crush your wood house down with my cushioned, red laser car!” said the big, bad, prince. “Vroom, crash!”

“Oh my! Or dear! Or gosh! How dreadful! I guess we’ll just have to live at Princess Three’s palace.” 

Now Princesses One and Two are at Princess Three’s house. And the big, bad prince returned once again and yelled, “Open up! Open up!” 

So Princess Three repeated, “Not by the lace of my gowny-gown-gown will I let your scrubby self in!” 

So the big, bad prince seemed to get mad, very mad. 

“I will crack and crush your brick house with my giant metal hammer!” he yelled. “Hiyah!” 

But the brick house would not even budge. The big, bad prince finally gave up and said, “I am sorry. I just want one friend.” 

So Princess Three said, “Aww, we’re so sorry too. But why did you want to break our houses down?”

“Ummm.. Well I wanted to impress you. Can I please live with you?!” asked the big, bad prince.

“Of course!” said the princesses. And they all lived happily ever after.

The End.


Captain Daddy and the Pied Piper

Captain Daddy was walking to his favorite pie store right after saving a beaver dam from breaking. He got very hungry. He was very weak and tired, slumping forward. He was craving pie. Suddenly he heard a flute, the tune sounded eerie and jumpy. 

He thought: Maybe it’s a bad guy. He followed it. There sat a man made entirely out of pie with a wicked grin and a flute in his hand. He was made from strawberry pie, apple pie, chocolate pie, and more. Delicious scents wafted from him. Suddenly the man gave an evil and quite eerie laugh.

“Soon everybody will want to eat pie and they will be under my control, for I am the Pied Piper.”

“Stop!” shouted Captain Daddy.

“Hello, hello,” said Pied Piper. “You are here and the best superhero, right, Captain Daddy?” 

But Captain Daddy was gone. All that was left was a piece of his red cloak. 

“Ha ha ha, I scared away Captain Daddy! Too bad he always jumps out too soon, he could have gotten me earlier!” he yelled, boasting. 

“Got ya!” yelled a voice. Suddenly, Captain Daddy jumped down from the sky because he could fly and ate the Pied Piper whole. Too bad he smells so delicious, thought Captain Daddy. Makes it easy to track him down. “Yum, it tastes like apple pie, strawberry pie, and all the pies in the world!” he said. 

The End

2063

Two middle-aged people ran down a camp, optimistic to reach the big metal gate that is the only exit or entrance to, or from, the camp. Their names were Jem and Billy. Pursuing them were a set of men dressed in blue futuristic armor. As Jem and Billy reached the gate, Billy said:

“Climb, I’ll run around the camp to stop them from following you!” 

Jem began to climb and bounce around on her back. In a baby cradle was baby Peter. 

One of the blue, armored men followed Billy and the other aimed its guns at Jem’s head. 

A loud bang echoed through the camp followed by the scream of Jem. Then the sound of a lifeless body hitting the ground. 

“Jem!” Billy’s voice could be heard from camp 29. Billy sprinted at the body of his once beautiful wife. 

“Billy,” Jem’s hand trembled as it clasped his. “Take care of Peter for me, for us.”

“I will,” Billy said, tears streaming down his face. “Don’t leave me, please!”

Jem’s arm went limp as the last of her life was drained from her. Billy stooped down in a puddle of blood and picked up baby Peter. Even Peter could sense the sorrow in his father’s face for he began to cry.

The two men shot Billy from behind and tried to tug the baby cradle from his weak hands. He clutched with all the strength left in him, for he did not want to lose another person he loved. As he finally died and they managed to tug the cradle away, the baby began a chorus of crying and wailing at the men. Nevertheless, they held the baby cradle and walked into the dark night.

Peter snapped awake, he was tired of reliving his parents’ deaths the night they had tried to escape the misery of the camp in hopes of raising him in a new life. Unfortunately, that plan didn’t quite work, for both his parents were shot and killed before they could get over the wall. Somehow, the enforcers had known they were going to attempt their escape that night. Who told them, not even the oldest people in the camp know. If Peter were to find out though, he would kill the person who snitched on his parents even if he had to take the death penalty. 

Lucy was Peter’s adopted younger sister. They had adopted her from the orphanage when Peter had his 13th birthday because her parents had been killed by the enforcers. Even though she was adopted, Peter loved her as much as he would’ve loved his parents. He sacrificed his rations that they gave them when she was five and still growing. Now she was nine, and he was 15, and they were both living with Peter’s aunt.

Long ago, in the country once known as the US, a violent dictator built an army of enforcers, soldiers to do his bidding, and built 60 camps and a shining capitol. He had views that only “certain individuals” were worthy to live in the capitol. The rest were forced into camps where they would have to harvest resources used to build and power the capitol. And to remind the camps they were an inferior force compared to the capitol, they set up the Reamble.

Peter walked out of their small hut and ran down to the old abandoned warehouse where he and his friends used to meet. Now it was used as a meeting place for the gang of thieves that Peter was part of, the deadlock. When Peter was seven, and him and his family were starving, they had offered him a place in the gang, and from then on that’s how he fed his family. Today when he walked in, they were already crowded around a small map on table.

“Where are we robbing today?” Peter asked them.

“The barracks,” one of them responded, uninterested in his appearance.

Whoa, thought Peter. This is where the soldiers kept their guns, armor and belongings. They also slept there so this would be super dangerous.

“Are you insane?!” Peter said.

“It’s final. We’ve agreed on it,” the same man said.

That night, Peter prepared for the robbery. He ran down to the barracks but no one was there. Suddenly, a spotlight shone down on him and two men tackled and cuffed him from behind. He saw the boss of the gang getting paid by a policeman then he ran off into the darkness. The two men brought him onto a hovercraft that in the direction of the capital of Eros. 

“Where are you taking me?” he asked the enforcers.

“To the arena,” they responded in an unsympathetic tone.

They arrived at a big arena, and the guard said, “You have one day of training to prepare for the Reamble.”

Peter knew well that the Reamble is the way the capitalists built their elite army.  One hundred criminals are put in a ring with knives and weapons hidden around the map. They have to kill each other until there is only one left. Then the wall opens and you can run at the small pile of weapons and supplies. The winner gets a million dollars and a lifetime supply of food. 

 Peter went straight to knife throwing in the arena until his arm couldn’t throw anymore. Luckily, he had used a knife in his lifetime of robbery. By then, he had mastered it and was prepared for the next day.

Peter went back to his room looking at the capitol on the way. There were huge glinting buildings. Food would never be scarce here. The room he was given was huge with a diamond table and glass chairs. A large TV sat on a wall across from a large fluffy beige sofa. A bowl of fruit sat on the diamond table. Peter walked over to the bowl and picked up a plum. As his teeth punctured the smooth sweet surface of the plum, the sweet juice exploded in his mouth. He turned around and saw a white marble counter with three chairs hovering above the ground.

He walked into his bedroom and saw a large king’s bed with fluffed up pillows placed along the bed back. There were two closets on either side of the doorway filled with clothes that you could choose. He went over and collapsed on the bed. Thoughts of tomorrow swirled around his head.

Peter woke up and got dressed in a black shirt and jeans and took another plum as he walked down to the arena. He entered to a roar of fans and people watching the fight. He got into position and waited for the door to open.

Part Two: The Reamble

The doors swung open and Peter sprinted toward the pile of weapons and supplies. He grabbed a dozen knives and spun around. A large man swung a big iron spiked mace. It landed right to the left of Peter. Peter stabbed him and blood began to flow from his chest. He crumpled to the ground holding his hand to the wound to attempt to stop the blood flow. Peter felt terrible. Then there was a sharp pain in his left shoulder. Blood soaked his shirt where the arrow had hit. He snapped the shaft and threw a knife at the man dressed in the same outfit as him. It hit the man in the leg as he tried to run away from the pile and he started to limp away from the pile as the blood stained the grass he walked on. Peter picked up a large rock and hit the man on the head. His eyes closed as the puddle of blood around his head began to form. He looked down and crumpled by the side of the man and tears began to stream down his face, the bloody body reminded him of his parents. He would have to push through it so he could get back home to Lucy. 

He looked around and saw people hacking away at each other with knives and swords. Now he faced the choice, should he stay and help continue the blood bath. Well, he thought, the less opponents the better. He picked up a mace and ran back into the slaughter. 

He swung the mace at a small boy’s head and heard the crack as the mace hit his skull. By now Peter’s shirt was covered in blood. He gasped as he saw there were only 5 people left at the pile. About 60 had run at the pile and there were now 6 left counting himself.

“Stop!” Peter yelled.

“Why?!”  one girl with a spear asked.

“We could alliance!” Peter yelled.

Peter knew he couldn’t win all on his own. Plus these were the strongest players so they would be good allies. Also when there were very few people left he could kill them. 

“Okay!” they all said. 

They gathered all the weapons and supplies that were in the pile and set up a camp by the pile. Off in the distance he saw smoke coming from what he assumed was someone’s campfire. 

“What’s your name?” Peter asked a girl with blond hair, blue eyes, ripped jeans and a black leather jacket.

“Heather.” She responded in a high voice.

“Guys do you see that?” Peter asked seeing the smoke drifting up about 60 yards away from the entrance of the woods.

“Let’s go kill that idiot who started the fire.” A boy in a leather jacket named John said.

Peter noticed he was holding a knife behind his back as he said it.

They tread off through the forest toward the smoke coming from the campfire of a competitor. As they were about to reach the camp John tried to stab them in the back. He only was able to stab a boy from camp 4. I spun around and impaled him with a knife. He collapsed on the forest floor and another boy from camp 3 tried to stab Heather but she was to quick for him. She grabbed his arm and impaled it with her knife. He screamed as the blood ran down his arm and stained the grass below him. A big boy from camp 2 grabbed his head in his arms and violently jerked them in different directions. There was a loud crack and the boys body fell to the grass.

John turned to the others,

“Why are we even keeping Peter alive what use is he to us?” he asked

They all turned on him and started stabbing him and punching him. 

He tumbled down a hill into the woods and blacked out. 

Peter woke up and noticed there was no one left. He was getting up off of the forest floor when a voice said “Final 2, fight!” So Peter ran through the woods and found John. I threw a knife at him and it hit him in the arm. John shot an arrow at Peter and it hit him in the leg. Peter charged John and stabbed him in the chest. He fell bleeding to death at Peter’s feet. Then a voice came on, 

“Congratulations Peter from camp 25!”

The End


Dude the Cat

Dude the Cat has tattoos and rainbow fur. He has a mean dad who won’t give Dude the Cat a basketball for Christmas. His mom wants to get him a basketball for Christmas, but there has to be a special occasion for him to get the basketball. 

=====

Dude the Cat was at basketball camp, which was called Basketball Dudes. He plays basketball. 

He said, “Can I get a basketball?” 

His dad said no, but his mom said, “For a special occasion, yes.” Dude was sad. He went to his room crying. His mom came and said, “I’m sorry, but we can’t just give you one for no occasion.”

Dude the Cat said, “I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at Dad.”

The mom said, “Well, it doesn’t matter about Dad. Just listen to your mom, and your mom says for a special occasion, and that’s that.”

Dude went back to camp and he talked to his friend Joe that he’s going to try to ask his mom to get it from his money. 

Joe said, “Great idea!” 

First, Dude went back home. It was nighttime. He ate dinner and he went straight to bed. The next morning, when he woke up, he ran to his mom and he said, “Is it camp?! Is it camp?!” 

His mom said yes, but his dad said, “I wish it was cancelled.”

Dude said, “Well, I’m going to solve the problem.” 

Chapter 2

Dude went to his camp running. He didn’t even greet the teacher. He went straight to his friend to say, “I have an idea! I have an idea!” The idea was smart. He told his friend, “I’m going to ask my mom to get a basketball from my money.” 

Joe said, “That’s the most amazing idea in the history of the world!” 

Dude got in trouble because he didn’t greet the teacher. At the principal’s office, he got in trouble because the teacher was so strict. They weren’t going to call his parents, he just had to talk to the principal. The principal said, “If you do that one more time, we will call your parents.” Dude was too excited to concentrate. So he got in more trouble. They had to call his parents. 

When his dad got there, his dad said, “I hate you.” 

Mom said, “We’re getting divorced.”

Dude the Cat smiled at the dad. 

Then, when it was bedtime, Mom went to give him a kiss and a hug. 

And then, the next morning, he remembered he needed to tell his mom his idea. He told his mom about the teacher first, and then he told his amazing idea. And the mom said, “On the weekend, you can do that.” 

At camp, he was running to his friend, but this time he remembered to greet the teacher. He went off to his friend and said, “My idea worked!” 

Today was Friday. He was so excited for tomorrow, so he went rushing to camp and he was the first one there. Dude found out he got there at 7. Camp was supposed to start at 10. For the three hours, he ate breakfast while he was playing with the basketball. But every time he looked at the basketballs, Dude got so excited for tomorrow when he would be practicing with his own basketball. When everybody came, he was playing basketball so well, he got an A+. 

When he went back home, he ate dinner, and he couldn’t even fall asleep with how excited he was. 

The next day, he was so excited. He asked his mom, “At what time can we get my basketball?!” 

She said, “After lunch.” 

Dude said, “Awww.” 

At lunch, he only ate half of his sandwich because he was so excited. His mom said, “You can only get the basketball if you eat all of your sandwich.”

After lunch, he said, “You don’t have any more excuses. Let’s go get the basketball.” 

She said, “All right.”

He got a rainbow basketball because it was his favorite color. 

Chapter 3

Dude asked, “Where does Dad live?”

Mom said, “He lives with his sister.”

“Can we have an interview with his sister?” he said. 

Mom said they could have one tomorrow. 

It was the next day. She came over and for some reason, she really looked like his teacher. She was strict, she looked like it, and she was acting like his teacher. She was very weird. But she seemed to be like his dad. That’s when Dude had the greatest idea in the history of the world. Their teacher had a tattoo. That’s not the amazing part. The amazing part was that he could check if Dad’s sister had a tattoo. And she sure did have a tattoo. He was going like crazy. This could not be his teacher. But Dude’s dad was mean so that made sense. He went to school, and Dude ran to his friend. And Dude yelled at him. 

“Our teacher is my aunt!” Dude went crazy. Joe went crazy too. He told Joe this was very bad. But his aunt didn’t know that he knew she was their teacher. 

Joe said,“I dare you to tell her that you know she’s your aunt.” 

Dude said, “Fine.” 

The teacher came to the camp and Dude said, “I know you’re my aunt.” 

She said, “No I’m not!” 

He said, “You have to be honest, everybody knows you’re my aunt because of the tattoo, I saw it then and you have it now.” The tattoo was a rainbow unicorn climbing a rock on her belly.  

“You just have to release the secret. Everybody knows,” Dude said one more time. He felt so, so glad that he found out who the teacher was and why she was so strict. She had to admit it. 

“I am your aunt.”

“I wish I could put an army on you, but you’re not just my teacher, you’re my aunt.” It made sense that she was strict because his dad was strict too. 

Dude told her, “I hate you. You are the worst teacher in the history of the world.” 

She started to cry. 

He was like, “That’s so fake.”  

“Alright. I was faking it. But you gotta admit that you cannot say those bad words.”

“Well, it’s actually true. I do hate you,” Dude said. 

She kicked him. They started fighting. And guess what? Dude won. Everybody cheered

for him. He was smiling at her because he won. She was bleeding. 

He said to her, “You suck.”

“YOU suck,” she said back. 

So Dude said, “You’re looking in the mirror,” 

“Fine, you won. But don’t forget you have to play basketball in the lower level because you suck.”

“Don’t forget you’re looking in the mirror!” he said. Dude went bump, bump, bump, all the way to the highest level easily. 

When he went home, he told his dad, “Your sister is the meanest teacher in the history of the world.” 

Dad said, “You figured it out?” 

“I got the basketball,” Dude told him.

“I wish I could kill you,” replied Dad. 

“I wish I could kill YOU!” 

“I wish I could get a dog. I got one,” Dude’s dad said. He didn’t. He just wanted to make 

Dude jealous. 

Dude went home to hug his mom. And he said, “I hate basketball camp because my aunt is the teacher. But I still love basketball.” 

Mom said, “I know. Your aunt is strict.” 

Dude told her, “You are the best mom in the history of the world.” 

She hugged Dude very tight and said, “You are a very good son.”

               Mom:

Crowned for Nature


Adele

One summer evening when my family had rented a cottage, my sister Juliet and I decided to take a stroll in the gardens that were far away on the edge of the property. As I walked to the back doorstep and over to the top of the hill, I heard Juliet calling for me to wait for her. I slowly turned around to see her rushing out the door with her sweater.

Juliet

I panted as I yanked the rest of my sweater on and called, “Wait,” to Adele. As I ran to the top of the hill, I found Adele staring at the beautiful bridge that was covered with flowers down the big hill. We carefully crept down the hill. The bridge looked like it would break at any second. I looked at Adele, and she looked back at me. Hand in hand, we slowly walked down the bridge. Once we got to the end, we stepped on the soft grass, and I spotted Adele leaning over to a bird as if she were talking to it. I climbed up some rocks nearby, where I saw birds circling above. I creeped toward Adele as the birds fluttered toward her and me. Half of them were bluebirds and the other half were cardinals. The two groups of birds chirped at each other. The bluebirds flew away and circled Adele’s head. Then the cardinals fluttered their way over to me and circled around my head.

Adele

More and more birds flew out from the trees and from under the bridge, some of which possessed long white sheets for me and Juliet each. They were wrapped around me and Juliet. The sheets wrapped around us like cloaks. It was 8:00, way past dinner, and my sister and I both hadn’t eaten. I took off the sheet and the birds cawed in my ear. It was so annoying. Juliet laughed a bit, then stopped when I glared at her but still thought it was funny. I ignored her, but it was really hard. Besides that, she was a really fun sister I guess. 

Juliet had now gone off into the woods. Uh oh. I thought we hadn’t rented that part. I called out for her, but that just woke up my parents. Aaaaauuuggghhh. There was nowhere to go but the woods. I shot toward the woods without thinking. Once I realized what I had done, I heard my parents calling for me and Juliet in the distance. But I couldn’t turn back. I wandered further into the woods and started searching for my sister. I heard the birds, the same ones that were on the bridge before. 

After days of looking, I finally found a bracelet belonging to my sister. 

Juliet

Once I realized my bracelet was missing, I was able to find a log that had been chopped down by a storm, with the inside cleaned out by a beaver. I found some moss and made myself a small home. It took such a long time for me to get to sleep. 

Finally, I heard the birds chirp as I awoke from my sleep. I turned out to really be a sound sleeper. Ow. I moaned when I sat up and bonked my head. I crawled out and dragged it over to a bench, stopped, then continued. At least it’s light, but tiring.  


Candy Sushi Fun

Once upon a time, there was a Candy Sushi girl. Her name was Lucy, and she was 12 years old. She lived in Hawaii (Maui), and she had three sisters named Aryana, Louisa, and Hilary. She and her family were very happy in Hawaii, but one day, Lucy realized that she really wanted to do something. That something was that she and her family had always wanted to go to Florida. So one day, she told her parents that, and they said, “Oh that’s a great idea, maybe we should go to Florida!” 

So one day, the Candy Sushi people had a meeting, and Lucy’s parents told her and her sisters that they would be going to Florida the next day. Her parents told them that they had to pack quickly because they were going on a boat to Florida. So Lucy went up to her room, and she packed all her stuff. She went to sleep, and soon it was the next morning. She woke up, she went downstairs, and she saw that her Candy Sushi mom had made her pancakes. That was her favorite dish, so she had ten of them. Soon it was time to go, and she got on the boat with her family. 

The boat was a three-day boat ride, so she had a room that she was going to sleep in. She went into the room, and she saw that she was sleeping with her sister Louisa. She saw that the boat was a cruise ship, and it had lots and lots of entertainment. So first, she, Louisa, and her sisters went on the water slide. It was super fun and so they went on it ten times! Soon it was the afternoon, so she had tea with her family on the boat. She had a delicious cake with cookie dough pieces on top. 

After that, she went to sleep, and in the morning, she woke up. She had breakfast in the dining hall, which was waffles. After that, she went swimming, and she went in the hot tub, which was very fun. After that, she took a shower, and she played Sorry! with her sisters, which was also really fun. Soon it was lunchtime, and she had a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. That night, there were going to be s’mores so she had a fun time with her sisters. And she had ten s’mores! After that, there were fireworks. 

They next day, she woke up, and there was going to be a scuba diving tour underwater. She and her family were going to do it, so soon they put on the scuba diving gear (including a wetsuit so their Sushi bodies would not break), and they jumped into the water. On the scuba diving tour, they saw wonderful sites, like the glaciers and lots of fish. And they even saw starfish, which were amazing to see. When they got back on the ship, they had lunch, and after that, they went swimming again. Soon it was time to go to sleep, so they went to sleep. 

That next morning, it was almost time to leave the ship, so they got off the ship, and they landed in Florida (Miami). Soon they went to their hotel, which was a very nice hotel. It was almost nighttime, so they went to sleep. 

The next day, they woke up, and they went to the beach. On the beach, they played games, and went in the ocean, and they swam a little. After that they went into a cave, which was really cool, and they explored the cave and found treasure! They found ten pieces of gold, and someone had left a note with it. The note said: If you want to find more gold, go to the hot water beach and dig a hole in the hot water beach, and you shall find the next note. 

In the afternoon, they went to the hot water beach and they dug a hole (surprisingly, the water was very hot), and they dug and dug and dug. Soon they found the note, which said: If you want to find all the gold, dig a little to the right and a little deeper. So that was what they did. Soon they found a very beautiful pirate chest, and they opened it, and they found hundreds and hundreds of pieces of gold. The Candy Sushi people had a meeting that night, and they were trying to decide what to do with the gold, and finally they decided to donate it to a health place back in Hawaii, where they had a friend. 

Soon they wanted to go back to Hawaii because they were missing all of their family and their land. So, they went back on the plane to Hawaii, which was much faster and only took five hours. They played a few board games on the plane, and soon they were back in Hawaii. So they got back to their house, and they went to sleep because it was now nighttime. 

The next morning, they used their allowance to buy stuff, because on their last trip they lost their Kindles, so they went to the Kindle store, and bought a Kindle with their allowance. Their Kindles were very nice, and one day Lucy was reading her Kindle, and she realized that the Kindle had magic, because she went on the app and saw a little note that said, You can do magic on this Kindle. Lucy wondered what kind of magic she could do. The app answered: You can use this on your enemies or your friends to feel better if they’re sick, and you can use it for anything that you want.

Soon it was time to go to school, and Lucy had been in this school for her whole life so she knew everything about the school. This year, she would be in fifth grade, and she had Mr. Clemens, who was a very fun teacher. She knew that because her older sister Aryana had had Mr. Clemens two years ago as a teacher and she had said that he was very nice and really really fun, so she was super excited to start school. 

The next day, Lucy woke up, and she realized that it was the first day of school. When she went to school in the morning, she was really excited because when you start the fifth grade in school, you get a new binder. When she got to school, Mr. Clemens was waiting at the door to welcome his students. When she went inside the classroom, she saw that Mr. Clemens had set up a lot of desks, and soon it was first period, homeroom. First, they played a game called introducing yourself. 

After Lucy introduced herself, she saw a girl named Madeline. Madeline was very nice, and she said that she was from Texas and that she had come to Hawaii to visit her cousins. Her parents had decided to live there because they really liked Hawaii. After that, they had a computer class with their teacher Ms. Jackson. Ms. Jackson taught them how to type really fast. Lucy and Madeline were really good at typing and they were assigned a project for the Brearley school news. Lucy and Madeline were really excited because they had become best friends. Next period was math! 

Math was fun, but a little boring for the both of them. After that, they had lunch together in the cafeteria. Soon, it was the end of the day, and Lucy went home. When she got home, her mom asked her, “How was the first day of school?” Lucy replied saying that it was great, and that she made a new best friend, and her name was Madeline.

After a few weeks of school, Madeline asked Lucy to come to her house. Lucy replied, “Sure!” Lucy went to Madeline’s house and as soon as she got there, Madeline offered her a popsicle and together they watched TV. After that, it was time for Lucy to go home, and she was very upset because she enjoyed her time there. When she got back home, she went to sleep because she had dinner at Madeline’s house. 

The next day, Mr. Clemens said that they were going to go on a field trip. They were going to a horse stable. There, they were going to ride lots of different horses and clean the stables. Lucy discovered her talent for riding horses. She started with a brown horse named Chestnut. When she got on the horse, they taught her how to ride the horse and make it run. The horse manager said, “Wow, you’re very good at riding horses. Maybe you should come to us on Saturday to take classes.” 

That evening, Lucy asked her mom if she could take classes there because she had really liked riding Chestnut. Her mom said yes. The next Saturday, Lucy returned to the horse stables and she saw Chestnut again. She learned how to do jumps over a few classes, and soon, she became a champion kid horse rider. She entered many competitions, and her whole family was very proud of her. 

Soon, she went to the Olympics. Madeline was also very good, but not nearly as good as Lucy. Madeline also entered competitions with Lucy. Sometimes they tied, but she didn’t make it into the Olympics. When Lucy was in the Olympics, her whole family was there cheering her on and she won first place!! 

Soon it was her 13th birthday, and to celebrate, they got her a cookie dough cake, and they went to a movie theater to watch The Grinch Who Robbed Christmas. Lucy, Madeline, and the rest of their friends went to her house to play a few games. They played Sorry!, UNO, and Monopoly. Lucy won UNO, but she didn’t win the rest of the games. Soon it was time for all the girls to go except for Madeline, because Madeline was staying for a sleepover!! Lucy was really excited!

Madeline and Lucy had pizza for dinner. After that, Madeline and Lucy watched movies until midnight, and at midnight, they made smores. It was time to go to sleep, but Madeline and Lucy didn’t go to sleep. Instead, they stayed up until morning and only got two hours of sleep. And when they woke up, they were really tired. Lucy’s mom woke them up for breakfast, and they had frozen waffles. After that, they went to a trampoline park called Rush. There, they bounced on the trampolines, and they jousted with foam blocks. They also played dodgeball. Soon it was time for Madeline to go. When Madeline left, Lucy realized that she still had her magic Kindle. So she went home and decided to explore with it.

 She used it on one of her enemies: a freshman named Eric Sandies. That day, Eric was being very annoying, and was bragging about his new computer. He was telling everyone about how he got the newest computer and newest iPad at the Apple store. Lucy went up to Eric, and she pressed the Kindle button. Eric was ZAPPED into the air, and his head hit the ceiling. He was blasted into the air. He was never seen again.

The next day, Madeline was sick, so Lucy used her Kindle to make her feel better. That was when she realized that her Kindle was actually magic. The next day, Lucy asked her mom for an ice cream, but her mom said no. So she went up to her room, pressed the button, and asked for a cookie dough ice cream sandwich. She discovered that the Kindle was kind of amazing, and she had to savor it. 

Then she went through another year of school (7th grade). Soon it was her fourteenth birthday! She was going to have a sleepover birthday party in her grandma’s house, which was in Kauai. They all traveled to Kauai to visit her grandmother. The house was really big, so all of her friends could fit in. First, they watched Inside Out, and then they watched Super Human (the TV show). While they were watching these movies, they were eating a candy set that Lucy had prepared for them. After that, they made s’mores, which was super fun!! Then, Lucy’s mom said it was time to go to bed, but they stayed up talking about a lot of different stuff. 

In the morning, they made shaped pancakes that were really cool, and Lucy made an Eiffel Tower-shaped one. Her friends made even different shaped ones, which were really good too. After that it was time for her friends to go home. After a month or so, it was time for Christmas. Christmas was her favorite time because they got to decorate the Christmas tree, and it was super fun because she and her sisters always had fun decorating it. And then Lucy said, “I got the angel that goes on the top of the tree!” 

And then Hilary said, “I got the photos of us!” 

And then Aryana exclaimed, “I got the crafts that we made!” 

And then Lousisa said, “I got the letters!” 

Soon, they were finished decorating the tree. After that, they left out the milk and cookies for Santa Claus. 

The next morning, Lucy woke up first. And she said, “Wake up Aryana! Wake up Hilary! Wake up Lousia!” After that they woke up their parents, who were very sleepy but happy. Soon it was time to have Christmas breakfast, which was pancakes. Soon after that, it was time to open presents with their grandma, who was coming over to celebrate Christmas. First, Lucy went and opened the present first. Her first present was a magic kit. She was really excited because that year, she had really gotten into magic. It was Aryana’s turn after that. She got a playdough set because she really liked squishing things. After that, Hillary went. She got Squishies because she really adored animals.  Finally, Louisa went. She got a swimsuit because she really liked swimming. After that, all of them opened their stockings at the exact same time and got the exact same things. They all got a peppermint bark bar, some really cool pens, and some really cool origami paper. 

Next, their parents opened their presents. They had all gotten together and got their mom a new set of really nice black pens she really loved and always wanted. They got their dad a purple and pink shirt. After, they talked to the grandma and played board games. Then, they sat by the fire, gave hugs, and got hugs. After that, they had eggnog, which was really delicious becuase their mom had made it, and she was really good at making eggnog. Lucy got a new horse riding jacket, and her sister got a few board games. Then, they all sat together and played Hillary’s new board games. They were really fun, but challenging. 

Then, they went to this thing they always went to where they made a gingerbread house, which was super fun, and decorated it with candy. This year, Lucy wanted to do something really exciting, so she put a peppermint stick as the chimney and gummy bears on the roof. Then, she decorated the doors with M&Ms and Skittles to make it look really nice. Then, she decorated her gingerbread man with icing. She decorated the roof part with icing. She covered it all with the icing until there wasn’t a single brown spot. Then she smoothed it out and put Sour Patches on both sides. Soon, she was done with her gingerbread house. So she helped her sister Louisa, because Louisa was having trouble shooting out the icing. Soon it was time to leave, so they packed up their gingerbread houses and brought them home. They’d eat some but not all of it, and save the rest for another time. 

Next day, they went to school. At school, Mr. Clemens said that he was going to give a special social studies class. They were going to learn about humans. That day, Mr. Clemens told them all about humans and what they ate, all the places they lived, and what they looked like. Lucy soon became really interested in humans. She would ask Mr. Clemens lots and lots of questions about humans. She really wanted to go into the human world, but knew it was a little impossible. 

One day, she saw her magic Kindle, and thought, “Maybe I can use this to get the human world.”

 She asked it, “How can I get to the human world?” 

The Kindle told her, “You must go to the land of Sour Patches and ask the Queen how to get to the human world. If you’re nice, she might lend you the magic carpet she doesn’t let anyone use unless they’re very nice.” 

So Lucy asked the Kindle, “How do I get to the Sour Patch world?” 

The Kindle said, “That’s easy! You find a hole, dig deeper, and follow the path. After walking for a few minutes, you see a mat, and tell the mat to go to the Sour Patch world. Sit down, and the mat will fly you to the Sour Patch Queen.”

 So Lucy did exactly as the Kindle said, so she dug a hole, followed the path for a few minutes, and found the mat. But she couldn’t remember what the Kindle had said after that. She thought he said sit on the mat, but that was a little strange, so Lucy didn’t think that was right. So she followed the path for a few more minutes, and she found a goblin. 

The goblin asked, “Where are you trying to go, Ms. Lucy?” 

Lucy gasped and said, “How do you know my name?”

And the goblin said, “That’s easy! I am the know-it-all goblin. I know what you’re trying to do, you’re trying to get to the Queen of Sour Patches because you want to get to the world of humans.” 

Lucy was stunned, but decided she was going to go along with the goblin. She asked, “How am I supposed to get there?” 

The goblin said, “Just sit on the mat and tell it to take you.” 

Lucy realized that what the Kindle had said was true. So she went back to the mat, but it had disappeared! She waited, and then said, “Mat, come back!” She thought that might be a way to get the mat back, and she was right. The mat came back immediately. 

So she got on the mat and said “Mat, take me to the Queen of Sour Patches.” The mat took her up, up in the air. Lucy was stunned, she never thought she would be flying, and here she was! She sat back down and enjoyed the ride. Soon the mat was up in the clouds, they floated for a few minutes, but soon the mat started floating down, down, down. They landed in the Sour Patch world. Right outside the Queen’s door. So Lucy bravely went to the door. And went knock, knock, knock. 

A Sour Patch man come out. He looked like a servant but she wasn’t sure. “Who are you? Why aren’t you a Sour Patch person? Get out of our world!” 

Lucy was really afraid, so she went down the hill and saw a Grandma Sour Patch. She went to her and asked, “Please help me, I am a Candy Sushi girl and I need to get into the Sour Patch Queen’s castle.”

The Sour Patch Grandma looked up and said, “Very well. I will take you. You seem kind.” So she told Lucy to hide behind a bush. She went up to the door and bravely knocked. Sour Patch guard greeted Sour Patch Grandma Amy. “Hello, I am here to bring in the Candy Sushi girl!” 

The guard said, “Okay, if you know her.” 

Lucy emerged from behind the bush and walked in with Grandma Amy, whose name she just learned. Then, she saw a beautiful place with stained glass everywhere. She saw a tiny, tiny Sour Patch on the throne. She knew that wasn’t the Queen. So they moved on, and then, they came to a bigger throne with a bigger Sour Patch. Lucy thought that was the Queen, and she was correct. 

The Grandma approached and said, “Miss Queen, I have a visitor for you.” 

The Queen said, “Who’s that? She isn’t a Sour Patch.”

Lucy said, “Miss Queen, I am a Candy Sushi girl, and I really need to know how to get to the human world.”

 The Queen said, “Very well, I can see you are kind and brave. I will show you how to get to the human world.” So she motioned for Grandma Amy to leave. 

Lucy thanked Amy for her kindness, and she replied, “You’re welcome, Lucy. You deserve it.” Then, she whispered, “Go on the magic carpet, and I will say a few magic words. The carpet shall take you to the human world.”

Lucy got on the magic carpet, and whispered a few words. It sounded like the Queen was saying, “Go Lucy, go. Go to the human world.”

Suddenly, Lucy shot up into the air. She was flying! The view was amazing. Then, the magic carpet said, “Lucy! We’re flying! This is an overnight trip. You should click your phone and your room will appear.”

 Lucy did, and a room did appear. She went in, and there was a dining hall and everything. She also saw a bed. She was amazed. Realizing she was really tired from her trip, she went to bed. When she awoke, she was amazed at the beautiful bed. 

The carpet said, “Good morning Lucy, I hope you had a wonderful sleep. Go have breakfast in the dining hall now and we’ll probably land in the human world in 30 minutes.”

 Lucy changed and waited in the dining hall, where fresh donuts appeared. She had them with hot chocolate. The magic carpet called her out. 

She asked, “Are we gonna land soon?”

And the magic carpet said, “Sure! In about one minute.” 

Lucy went to the edge of the magic carpet. She saw tall skyscrapers. Lucy asked, “Where are we?” 

The carpet said, “New York! This is where I’m from.” After, they landed. It was not very bumpy. They landed on a soft patch of grass, which Lucy recognized as Central Park. “We landed in Central Park! That’s amazing!” Lucy looked at a mirror someone was carrying and realized she didn’t look like a Candy Sushi girl. She realized the Queen had also changed what Lucy looked like. 

And the magic carpet said, “I turned into a human too!” Lucy thought the carpet looked like her sister. They both looked about 18. Lucy said, “Let’s go and explore!” 

They saw other humans. 

“Hello, my name is Lucy. And I’m not sure exactly where in Central Park we are.”

And the woman said to Lucy, “Hello, dear. Here’s a map. Are you from here? You don’t look like you are. You look like you’re maybe from India.”

Lucy said, “Oh, yes, I am. Of course.” She chuckled. 

The woman said, “Okay, have a good time in the park.”

Lucy went to the playground, played on the swings, and thought, “If the woman thought I was from India, maybe I should go there!” So Lucy bought a plane ticket for herself and the magic carpet. It was at 6 AM the next day. They booked a hotel, and they slept. 

Next morning, they went to the airport. After checking in, they boarded the flight to India. They were in business class, so they went to sleep for eight hours of the flight. But the flight was 14 hours, so they watched some movies and played games, and talked. They were the first to get off because they were in the front of the plane. Then, they got off, and saw a beautiful sight of India. There was traffic, kind of like New York, but they thought it was much better. They checked into the hotel. They wanted to spend their only day in India to visit the Taj Mahal. They were amazed. It was a beautiful sight. They wanted to see inside, so they asked the security, “Can we go inside?” 

The security guard replied, “Yes, if you buy tickets.” 

They had. So they endured and saw it was beautiful inside. They took their long flight back. They slept and played games. When they got back to New York, Lucy realized she really missed her family and friends. Lucy told the carpet she wanted to go back. The carpet transformed and took her back to the Queen. The Queen welcomed her back. 

Lucy asked, “Where’s Grandma Amy?” Lucy gave her a gift: a picture of the Taj Mahal. 

Lucy got on the mat, waved to the goblin, and arrived home. She said, “Mom! Dad! Hi! Hilary, Aryana, Hi!’ When they asked where she was, she told them she had been at school because to them, she had only been gone for 10 minutes. She wrote a postcard to Grandma Amy. She thanked Grandma Amy.  

Grandma replied a few weeks later. The card said, “Hi Lucy, so nice to talk to you again. Thank you so much for the picture. It’s beautiful.” 

Lucy replied, “Thanks, Grandma Amy!” 

A few weeks later, Madeline was over at Lucy’s house hanging out. She asked Lucy if she could touch her Kindle. Lucy said, “H-How do you know about it?”

“I figured it out,” Madeline responded.

Lucy said, “Okay, I guess you can use it once.”

Madeline used it to make ice cream appear. She ate it, and told Lucy how lucky she was. “You have to savor it!”

Lucy said, “I know, I just don’t know what to use it for except for making sweets appear. 

After some thinking, Lucy said, “I know, I’ll use it to grant people wishes. If someone wants a baby sister, I can grant them that wish!”

Madeline said, “That’s a great idea, then you will be like a superhero, and everyone will like you, and you will be so popular.”

So the next day, when she was in school, she used the Kindle because her best friend Emma wanted a dog. Then she said, “Emma’s mom, get Emma a dog and be pleasant about it.” 

The next day, Emma came back and said, “Lucy thank you so much, my mom got me a dog last night and the dog’s name is Happy.”

 And the next day, one of her friends named Julie told her she forgot her science paper at home, and she really needed it, so Lucy used her Kindle to get Julie’s science paper. Everyone loved Lucy now because she was helping them get stuff like ice cream, science papers, and pets. And then one day a girl named Ruby, who was really popular, asked Lucy “Can I have your Kindle?” 

Lucy said, “I’m sorry, Ruby, but this Kindle is mine.”         

Ruby muttered, “Whatever,” and she walked away.

Lucy called after Ruby, “I’m really really sorry, but this Kindle is mine!”

When she got home, Lucy was reading a really good book called The Thea Sisters about five girls named Paulina, Pam, Collete, Violet and Nicky. She realized she really wanted to become Violet from the book. She turned to her Kindle and said, “I really want to become Violet.” 

The Kindle said, “Sure, I’ll transport you there”

Lucy said, “Thanks!”

The Kindle then said, “Wait, you need to hold on to the desk.”

The desk then flew and flew, and suddenly, Lucy was up in the air. She wasn’t holding on to the desk anymore. When she landed, she saw four other girls and she recognized them as Pam, Paulina, Collete and Nicky. She could tell Nicky was Nicky because she always wore a dark green shirt and red pants. She knew Collete was Collete because she was the most fashionable in all the stories. She knew Pam because Pam always looked relaxed. She knew Paulina was Paulina because she was the only one left. 

Soon she started her adventure! Paulina, Pam, Collete and Nicky didn’t know she wasn’t Violet. They all thought she was. Of course, Lucy wasn’t acting as Violet. She was just there, but the inner Violet spirit was guiding her.  So she was basically just following along looking. They encountered a mystery, worked together fabulously, and solved the mystery.

Soon it was time for Lucy to go home.  She held onto a desk nearby and said, “I would like to go home.” She then flew and flew and flew and flew, and soon landed in the house. When she landed after a few minutes, Louisa, her sister, knocked on her door.  

Louisa said, “Hiiii Lucy, want to do something together?” 

And Lucy said, “Sure.”

Louisa asked, “What do you want to do?”

Lucy said, “How about we play Clue?”

Louisa said, “That’s perfect, I’ll call Aryana and Hilary.” So she called their sisters, and they came into Lucy’s room. They were playing Clue, and Lucy thought it would be Peacock in the garage with the dagger. So she made an accusation and said, “I think it is Peacock in the garage with the dagger.” And she was right.  

The next day, Aryana won. But while they were playing Clue, Lucy didn’t feel very into the game like she normally was. She was feeling spacey, like she was thinking about something else. But she didn’t know what she was thinking about, and then she realized was that she was thinking about her old best friend, a Swedish Fish girl. Her name was Freddie, she was super nice and fun. They had met when Lucy was in kindergarten, and Freddie had come from Swedish Fish world because she had a grandma here. She and her family really liked it here, so they decided to stay. A few months later, Freddie got very sick and was in the hospital and had pneumonia. So Freddie’s family decided to move back to Swedish Fish world for her health, and Lucy never saw her best friend again. For the last three years, Lucy had been missing her best friend a lot, and today she was especially thinking about her because Clue was her favorite thing to do with Freddie. 

Before Freddie left, she said to Lucy, “Bye Lucy! I hope I see you again soon.” But they never saw each other again. Lucy really wanted to see her best friend again though. So one day, she went down to her mom and said, “Mom, did the doctors in Swedish Fish world cure her?” 

Mom said, “They’re still working on her. She hasn’t improved or gotten worse.” 

Lucy said to her mom, “Can we go to Sweedish Fish world and visit Freddie?”

 But later, she heard her mom saying to her dad, “I’ve always wanted to go to Swedish Fish world because it seems so awesome. And because Lucy misses Freddie so much, and Freddie’s older sister Sophie misses Aryana so much, maybe we should go!” 

The next day, Lucy’s mom announced that they were going to Swedish Fish world to visit Freddie’s family. 

Lucy said, “Mom, how are we going to get there?” 

And her mom said, “Well Lucy, I haven’t figured that out yet. I’m going to have to email Freddie’s mom about that. I’m really wondering how she got back to her house.” 

Lucy said, “Okay!” As she went up to her room with Louisa, she was thinking about Freddie, and if they weren’t going to go to Swedish fish world, what would they do?

Lucy realized that she could sit by Freddie’s bed and make her feel better, and maybe even use her Kindle to help her feel better. She went up to her room, and she went to her Kindle and said, “Kindle, can you make Freddie feel better?”

 And the Kindle said, “I’m sorry Lucy, but I can’t help with health problems because it’s not fair to other people.” 

She responded, “Okay, Kindle. I understand.” Lucy went downstairs, and she realized that her mom was talking on the phone. Then, she realized that it was Freddie’s mom. She went up to the door of the room that her mom was in, and she eavesdropped. She heard her mom saying, “I’m so worried about Freddie. Will Lucy be able to go into the hospital to see her?”

 But she could not hear Freddie’s mom answer, so she was really disappointed. She went into the kitchen and asked Mom when she was done with her phone call, “Hey Mom, how are we going to get to Freddie’s house?” 

Her mom said, “We’re going to go there next month!”

TO READ MORE, WAIT FOR PART TWO CANDY SUSHI FUN!

Lost in Time

Once upon a time, there was a genius inventor named Steve who created a time machine that could go backwards and forwards in time. He would use this time machine to improve his research and hopefully bring back an extinct creature.

When he invited a few friends to see the machine, they were fascinated. They were also inventors and scientists, so they studied the machine so much that they were there for hours. Unfortunately, one of them accidentally activated the time machine and zapped them all back in time into the Paleozoic Era. 

When they landed, the time machine had gone with them, but the power was drained, so they had to find a new power source. The problem was that they were at the age before dinosaurs! 

The scientists were panicking and didn’t know what to do. When Steve studied the time machine and found out that the energy was completely drained, he told the others that they needed to find a new power source. Since the scientists were in the middle of nowhere, they didn’t know where they could find a new source to power up the time machine so they could go back to their time.

As the scientists were searching, the time machine glitched and teleported them to the Ice Age. It was freezing cold, so the scientists found a cave to shelter from the snow. Steve knew that he would have to get back to the present, so the scientists started to search again, and they found a metal that could be melted into a power source for the time machine. The only problem was that they couldn’t melt it because they were in the Ice Age. Then, Steve had an idea of making a fire to melt the metal. 

He started to search for stuff that could ignite, and instead he discovered a frozen woolly mammoth in the snow. Steve got really excited and took it back to the cave to show the other scientists. He told them to keep it safe while he went to find something that would burn. When Steve came back empty-handed, he took some fur from the frozen specimen to study, if they could ever get back to the lab.

Suddenly, the time machine glitched again, and they were thrown back into the start of humanity. Steve didn’t panic — he figured that the early humans could lend them materials to create fire to melt the metal so they could get back home.

At the same time, Steve and the scientists were really starting to get hungry. They would have to share food with the early humans. The scientists and the early humans worked together. The scientists would make a fire to cook meat, and the early humans would hunt for food. The early humans hadn’t invented fire yet, so the scientists taught them how to make a fire and how to use it. 

Once the scientists were full, they found out that they had forgotten to take the metal that could get the time machine to work properly and running again. Now Steve and the scientists needed to find a new power source, but had no idea where to start. 

While Steve and the others were scattered all over the place trying to find a power source, the time machine glitched again, and now they were in the Jurassic time period. Steve and the scientists didn’t hesitate to keep searching for a power source to bring them back to their time, but because they were in the Jurassic time period, they had to be on the lookout for carnivorous dinosaurs such as the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Velociraptor. 

When Steve and the scientists were searching for an energy source for the time machine to work, they were greeted by a pack of Utahraptors that were looking for a nice little appetizer. The scientists froze trying, just as they were attacked the time machine glitched yet again because of the heat, and teleported them just in time. Steve and the others found themselves back in the Ice Age again.

This is great! Steve thought. Now he could find the metal that he lost here. He also needed to bury the time machine in the snow to protect it from being trampled. Unfortunately, it got too cold and glitched again before they found the metal that could get them back. Once the scientists found the metal, they were ready to go back to the early humans to melt the metal so they could then go back to the present. However, they now needed to force the time machine to glitch again so they could get back to the early humans. 

Steve guessed that a dramatic and quick change in temperature would trigger it. He dug the time machine out from the snow, and it worked; the time machine glitched again. Once they were back in the time of the early humans, they melted the metal and headed home.

Upon their return, they were going to celebrate by eating ice cream, and Steve was going to present the time machine to the government. He and the scientists walked outside the minute they got back to the present, but they were shocked to see that the world was so much more advanced than it was when they left. To their surprise, time machines had already been invented! They eventually realized that the present time got altered because they changed the past — they introduced fire to the Neanderthals too early, and everything changed slightly after that. 

Steve got really angry, so he started to think of a solution that would make him famous anyway. Steve thought, What if I made a forgetting machine to wipe the memory of fire from the Neaderthals… That was a story for another day.


Do You Want Me

CHAPTER 1: Sophie?

“Mom!’’ Angela yelled. “Sophie’s here!” Sophie! Sophie as in the girl who slides me bacon under the table when she sleeps over? 

“How long will Angela’s stupid friend be staying?” groaned Alex, my other owner. 

“One month, and Sophie’s not stupid!”  Mom said. 

Alex rubbed me behind the ears (my favorite spot to rubbed) and said: “I guess it’s just you and me Randy!” I barked in approval. Ding dong.  That means doorbell! I ran towards the door to say hi to Sophie. 

“Traitor.” Alex laughed under his breath, walking towards the door. 

When Sophie opened the door, she screamed really loud and ran back to her car, buckled her seatbelt and closed the door. 

Oh! I get it now! Sophie wants to play chase! 

I barked in agreement, gave a big yawn and ran. Sophie screeched. Angela caught my collar right before I reached the car. If I had 2 legs instead of 4 and had gotten a headstart like Sophie, I would have totally beat her. 

Angela walked me back into the house and got in the car with Sophie. It sounded like something serious was going on in there. Even Sophie’s dad joined the conversation. At the end of their “small talk,” Sophie and Angela hugged. Angela beckened mom come in the car with them and told Alex to hold me while she climbed into the back of the car. When she heard the news she looked very surprised, but then put a hand Sophie’s shoulder. 

When they opened the car door, Sophie stayed in while mom and Angela told Alex to put me in our parents’ room. 

Oh! They probably want to play hide and seek! I ran up the stairs, onto the bed and flipped covers on my head. 

“Randy!’’ Alex muttered, roughly pulling the sheets from over my head. 

I jumped off the bed and onto my dog bed near the “pond window” and watched Alex leave the room, closing the door firmly. Wait, did I just let him lock me here?! What now? Will I ever see Angela graduate? Will I ever play football with Alex and his team again? Will I ever stuff bacon into my mouth when Know ones looking? Will I—Oh never mind! My bacon brain is too tired to think anymore about this situation. I’m just going to do my favorite thing besides stuff my mouth with bacon, which you all do just not as much as me probably and which I will do on the count of three. 1…2…3!…ZZZZZZZZZ!

***

The sounds of footsteps woke me up. I yawned widely. My paws quietly scampered across the rug, my feet making little marks on the rug floor. I walked over to the door, my eyes still closed, and hit something hard. Ruff! Ruff! Ruff! Owwoo! Well, don’t wanna do that again. Oh look Bacon, Bacon 2, Bacon 3 and Bacon 4 are here. The Bacons are my chew toys. Okay, here’s the plan boys. I’m gonna knock on the door on the count of three. You ready? 1…2…3! 

I run towards the door and… BANG! The pain learches at my body again. Owweee that hurts! But, I am Randy. And Randy is known for trying again! So this Randy is trying again and again!

I again run towards the door and the pain learches. Oh! I get it now, they probably don’t know that I’m up here! Alex, Angela! Mom, Dad! I start jumping up and down so they can feel the vibrations in the house. Come on, Angela! Alex, you know I’m up here- car! Car means Dad, and Dad means freedom! Bacon 3, you’re the heaviest, so jump with me! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! I’m up here! 

“Eeeeeek!”  

That was Sophie! She must be in trouble! I have to see what’s going on! Why is Sophie screaming so much? Why have they locked me in here? And, most of all, why does Bacon 4 smell like baby powder? 

“Uh Randy?” Angela? Angela! Angela sat down beside me. She rubbed me behind the ears and said: “Randy Sophie has gotten a fear. A fear we cannot control.  Now, and for a little while, you will not be in the same room as Sophie. Sophie has gotten cynophobia.”

What does that mean? Is she scared of bacon? I can help her overcome that fear! 

“Cynophobia does not mean that Sophie’s scared of bacon,” said Angela, reading my mind again. 

Okay, then what does it mean? 

“Cynophobia means that Sophie is scared of dogs.” 

My heart dropped. Sophie was scared of me? But why? Was it my fault she’s scared of dogs? And why don’t pancakes have bacon instead of chocolate chips? All these thoughts started swishing around in my brain like Cheerios in a cereal bowl (especially the one about pancakes) until all that was left was mush and questions floating in my peanut-sized dog brain. 

“It’s not your fault Randy,” Angela said, smiling as if she was reading my mind. “She’s afraid for reasons like getting tackled by a life size dog and her Aunt got bit by a dog and had to go to the hospital.” 

“Angela?” Sophie asked nervously. 

Sophie? I barked really loud so she could hear me, but then I sensed Sophie was scared as she jumped back and ran to Angela’s room. I remembered what Angela had just told me. The shivering sensation started to rumble around in my stomach like it did when I hit the door. Right, Sophie is scared of me. I slowly walked back to my dog bed and, with every step, my tail felt heavier and heavier. I sadly snuggled onto my bed and faced the window, chewing on Bacon 2. Angela patted me on the head and left the room, closing the door very quietly because I didn’t hear it, or care. All I could sense right now was my own sadness swallowing me up. 

I stared out the window at Mom leaving the driveway and the pizza man arriving on his bike. His dark red suit with a slice of cheesy pizza on the back of his yellow coat hanging lightly in the sunset- wait, pizza man! Everyone knows that pizza man means pizza. 

I ran out of my bed, but stopped in my tracks. Angela had left the door open! I ran past the door and quietly walked past Angela and Sophie, but dance partied down the stairs shaking what my momma gave me!

CHAPTER 2: A Pizza man in disguise!

When I got downstairs, the pizza man was already at the door and took a leap in the door, making Dad abruptly step back. 

“Hello! And who is this?” The pizza man asked, slyly pointing at me. I sat up straight, looked the pizza man in the eye, and barked.  

“This is Randy,” replied Dad, patting me on the head. 

“Yes, of course! I mean, nice to meet you Randy!”
“Well how much is it? I’m sure the girls are getting hungry,” said Dad. 

“That will be $18.99.” Dad paid the pizza man and went into the kitchen to set the table and put out the pizza. 

I nodded towards the pizza man as in goodbye, and I was about to turn around when I smelled something delicious. It was a white ball. I licked it. It tasted so good! I ate the whole thing. Sugar coated my whole face. Ooh! Another delicious ball. I ate it all up. The ball trail went through the door, followed by many more balls. Until I reached the pizza man. 

“I’ve been waiting for you.” The pizza man smiled. 

My eyes started getting heavy; my brain started filling with bacon. 

“Randy no! Don’t do it!” yelled a familiar voice.  

“Shut up fur bag!” yelled the pizza  man. 

How rude! I thought. That was the last thing I said before I blacked out. The last thing I remembered was climbing into that pizza man’s bag (what a dumb dog I am!) because I was tired. The pizza man whisked me away.

***

“Shut up you dumb dog!” yelled the pizza man, whipping Randy’s dad with his own leash. “Tell me what I want to know and no one gets hurt!”

Yawn. I try to get up out of this dog bed, but it’s zippered! Who zippers a dog- oooohhhh, right. This isn’t a dog bed, it’s a pizza box bag! 

“Help! Help me voices I heard before Iblacked out! It’s hard to breathe in here! Help me! Please.’’ My voice got more and more hoarse every time I spoke. 

That’s it, I knew nothing good came from pizza men. I was gonna die here. I felt myself leaving as my breath started slowing and my heart started slowing down. Falling onto the bag, letting myself fall didn’t matter anymore. I was LEAVING! 

“Randy!” 

The zipper opened and I immediately jumped out and smelled the fresh air. I coughed up a fit, leading myself out of the bag. A face I’ll never forget jumped out at me. It was the face a crying baby couldn’t forget, it was my…

……Mother. I started to cry. All these thoughts and emotions whirled around in my head. “Mom… Mother?” I sobbed all over her. What was I to do? I was just a puppy all alone in this big big world. I was a small puppy, a helpless puppy. No, I wasn’t, I wasn’t. I wasn’t completely confident in myself, but all I could do was cry. My thoughts were all fused together. I didn’t know which ones to believe in, which ones to turn away, or which ones would just make me cry all over again, so I just believed in all of them. What was happening to me? Where was I? Who was the pizza man really? Do they serve bacon when you’re kidnapped? And, most of all, would I ever see my human family again? Angela? 

“Hey look!” said a dog who looked exactly like me. It was my twin brother, Charlie! 

“Charlie!” Charlie looked EXACTLY like me except I have a black spot under my left ear and Charlie has one under his right, but we still look like the same Irish Setter as our loving dad, who I noticed wasn’t here. All eight sisters were here (What? I had a big family!) who looked like my mother. She was a golden retriever, but not a golden retriever more like a white retriever. 

When I was a newborn, I remember we wouldn’t be able to find either my mom or the sisters when it snowed and my dad would take us on days out. We would go to a nearby deli and the manager would always give us fresh bacon and other meats for breakfast and in the afternoon we would go to the Houston, Texas dog park, but the old days weren’t always good. We were street dogs, but lived on grass (it’s complicated) in Houston, Texas. There weren’t pounds nearby, so we were safe for now, but one day things got a little shaky.

A truck rolled forward and the gravel on the road shook as it passed. There was a peculiar feeling as the truck stopped in front of my family and me. And then we noticed the big sign. In big, blue inky letters the sign spelled out

ROB’S POUND

For all your furry friends in need!

FOR HELP CALL 555-555-5555

We do:

Rabies checks/antibiotics 

Euthanization (put your dog to sleep) 

Pet capture

And many more!

Mom tried to hide us, but it was too late. The man grabbed me and Charlie. Dad jumped in front of us, but the man kicked Dad out of the way. 

“Help! Help!” I called, but no one could save me. 

The man who took us looked a lot like the pizza man. He had dirty brown hair that messed around on his forehead. He had an uneven beard and dark brown eyes and his millions of tattoos over his tan skin would haunt me forever. Oooooohhhhh. When I said the pizza man looked like the pound dude now I realized…THE PIZZA MAN WAS THE POUND DUDE! 

AND THE CROWD GOES WILD! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHGH! Okay enough small talk. THE CROWD GOES WILD! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! Okay really. THE CROWD GOES WILD! AAAAAAAAHHHHHH- COULD YOU SHUT UP QUARTER OF BRAIN THAT ISN’T BACON?!  

Now this all makes sense now! In Texas, the pound dude took us and was whipping us for weeks! Those were dark days. I didn’t get to see Charlie very much. The only times I got to see him was when Charlie was in pain and then I wouldn’t be able to see because I was crying too hard. The most important question in my mind right now was if they served duck bacon in puppy prison. Don’t tell my mom I said this but the… pound. YYEEEEEEEOOOOOOPPPPEEEEERRRRRSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HERE COMES HOME! NNNNNNNOOOOOO!   

The pound dude made a really bad decision one night when he was out late and drank too much. He drove the pups outside into a really crowded park (like I said a really bad decision) and started whipping us out on the grass. It just so happened to be that one year old Angela and four year old Alex and their parents were there. When they saw Charlie and me getting whipped, they demanded all the dogs in Rob’s pound for all your furry friends in need! They found them nice homes all around the world and things have been like that for a long time.

“YOU STUPID, STUPID FUR BAG!!!!!” screamed a voice from down the hall. 

My family and I huddled close. 

“TELL MEEEEE!!!!” yelled the voice. 

My family jumped out of the door that the pound dude had left open when he left. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  

We stepped into a murky room with a big ol’ chandelier hanging from above. Charlie and I peeked into a doorway and beckoned the ladies to come over. There was another door, and inside there was a pitch black room with a flamey fire pit and the last person I wanted to see was there: the pizza man. 

He was holding some sort of rope thing and a lantern was set at the table nearby. We all leaned in and saw something so painful to watch that we wished we never saw it. It was my dad. And the pizza man was holding his leash, one he used on special occasions with the metal part on the end. He was getting hit with it. More like getting whipped. And if that wasn’t enough, he was locked in metal chains.

CHAPTER 3:

My dad’s last chapter

“TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO KNOW YOU F***N DOG! WHERE’S YOUR FORTUNE  AND THE CROWN? THAT HEIR WILL BELONG TO ME!” screamed the pizza man, whipping my dad again. 

“I will,” my dad breathed calmly, “never tell you where our fortune is. The heir belongs to my sons, Charlie and Randy, and even if it didn’t I would never give the heir to a human.” 

I’m puppy royalty? (drool, drool, drool, drool) 

“IF YOU DON’T TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO KNOW, YOU AND YOUR FAMILY’S FLUFFY TAILS WILL BE GONE!” yelled the pizza man. 

The pizza man was getting more violent by the second. He was hitting my dad harder now and had locked him in metal chains that jingled when he struggled to get out. I couldn’t bear it. I started to silent cry. My dad. My loving father. The one who always had my back even when no one else had. He had sacrificed so much for me and the rest of my family and I had to find a way to help him! 

“If you would like to cut off my family’s fluffy tails, you may, but you will have to go through me first,” said my dad, resisting. 

“YOU MUTT-”  

“I’m an Irish Setter.” 

“JUST SHUT UP! YOU JUST TELL ME WHERE THE F***’N FORTUNE IS AND NO ONE GETS HURT!” 

I really couldn’t help it. I ran out into the room and yelled: “YO! You want my old man? Well den you ‘ave to go through me first!” 

“AHA!” the pizza man yelled. 

My heart started beating. Had I made matters worse? The next thing that happened scared me and it also scared my dad. The pizza man pulled out a knife and grabbed me by the scruff of my neck. He held the knife up to my neck. 

“TELL ME OR THIS GUY, THE HEIR TO THE STUPID PUPPY THRONE, WILL DIE!” yelled the pizza man, his yellow teeth shining. 

“Alright, alright! I’ll tell you! Just don’t hurt my son,” said my dad softly. 

“No, Dad, no! Don’t! Don’t do it! Daddy?” I couldn’t do it. Who knew what would happen to me and the rest of my family after the pizza man took our fortune? Would I ever see Angela again? Would I ever eat Pancetta bacon again? 

“Listen to me and bend down so you can hear me,” said my dad. 

The pizza man bent down with the knife in my dad’s face and was still clutching me in the other. 

“Dad, no. Don’t do it!” I yelled, but I couldn’t convince him. 

My dad leaned in and pulled the knife up to his face and… pushed it slowly through his neck. 

I couldn’t watch. 

“WHAT!” screamed the pizza man. He stomped out of the room and started whipping the rest of my family. 

I was a little shocked myself. I didn’t know my dad would do such a thing. I started to walk out when I heard my name being called by a familiar voice. 

“Randy.” 

“Dad?” I heard the voice again and walked over to where my dad was lying. I couldn’t figure out what he was saying, but he was talking and I could see his lips moving. 

“Randy,” my dad started. 

I didn’t want to interrupt him because this would probably be the last thing he said to me. 

“There is a map. A very old map. It has the way to the fortune. The map’s at… at.” My dad had ended. All his hard work had been sacrificed to the underworld. 

I started to cry. I felt so alone in the world. One of my most trusted dogs was gone. The world was too big for me, and I couldn’t do anything about it. The thing I most loved was gone. 

I dragged my dad back to where the rest of my family was being whipped and an idea sparked into my head. I got in line and started getting whipped. I whispered something to Charlie who whispered something to my sister and so on. I barked and we attacked. 

The family bit into the pizza man’s leg. I took the first bite and Charlie took the second. We ran over to my dad’s dead body and brought him over to the pizza man. We had 2 more to go. My sisters, Abby and Shyla, and the rest of us helped put my dad around the pizza man’s ankle (he had his eyes closed because of the pain; that’s what you get for messing with my family) and Charlie, who had the best impression of my dad, said: “I will haunt you in your dreams!” 

The pizza man ran out of the room like we planned, his squeaky shoes made high pitched squeaks as he left. I didn’t know it, but I was going to have a topsy turvy life from then on out. The room looked murkier than before.

“So…” started my sister Anna. 

“Do you think…” added my other sister Shannon. 

“We should…’’ ended my other, other sister Jordan. 

“Eat bacon?” I suggested. 

“NO!” yelled all three. 

“I think we should…” began my sister Hannah.  

“Bury him.” My mom sniffled. 

That wasn’t the worst thing. It started raining outside. Not only the skies were pouring, but so were we. Now only eleven of our living, breathing, souls dragged ourselves outside into the dark, gray rain. The twelfth was dead, being dragged  by his loved ones. 

As the rain poured, we were all lost in thought. I couldn’t figure out where to go, what to do, and who needed me most. Should I go back to Angela or stick with Charlie? My mother was pretty sad too and she was getting old, maybe I could take care of her. 

“You two are now the men of the family now,” said a voice in my ear. 

I knew she was talking to me and Charlie and that the voice was my mother’s. Her cold wet fur rubbed against mine for a second; it felt like the world had stopped and kept fast forwarding. The moment when I was a carefree newborn on the streets of Houston, Texas. And fast forward to all those good times with Angela and Alex and Sophie before she got Cnya- whatever you call it. All those football games with Alex, dog courses with Angela, even the movie nights with the whole family. 

I dragged my dad’s feet to help with my mom, who was now a couple steps in front of me and my thoughts dragged off. 

I wonder how Pancetta would taste with duck bacon at breakfast? If ham was smoked bacon then why is it called smoked bacon? As my thoughts started to buzz, my surroundings started to seep in. We were passing houses and nothing really caught my eye except for when a woman said that it was August 16th and time to take the trash out. Was it already August? How long had it been? 

As the woman dumped her trash out, she missed the garbage can, but didn’t care. How rude! She just slapped Mother Nature in the face! Now, I realized why these people didn’t care that a bunch of dogs walked by. There were dogs everywhere. There was a particular group of dogs that had a white retriever like the girls, a tiny goldendoodle, a HUMONGOUS Berger Picard, and and an Alaskan Malamute all eating from the trash can the woman dumped outside. They waved and we sadly waved back. The dogs shrugged and went back to eating.

CHAPTER 4: THE END

We walked a little farther and got to a sandy beach and sat down for rest. We were all starving and almost dead, so we decided after the funeral we would part ways. I didn’t know where to go. 

“Now,” muttered my mom almost crying, “we can’t make this a proper funeral, but right now I want you to pray to your father and then we’ll share.” 

I had to just close my eyes and think. I was remembering all the great times I had with my father and all the laughs we had together, when I heard a voice that sounded quite like my dad’s. 

“Randy. Listen to me and don’t talk. I’m not allowed to tell you where the map is or anything about it, but I can give you a piece of advice. When the world lets you down and you can’t get back up, all you need to do is try, try, try again and you will never fail.” The voice died down and I just stood there with my eyes closed, staring into the darkness of my grief. 

Who was that voice? Was he telling me something important? 

“Does anyone feel like sharing?” sniffled my mom.

No one raised a paw. We all just stood there with our heads lowered down.

“I guess it’s time,” I muttered. 

We all walked our different ways. My mother stayed at the beach, lying with my father. Some of my sisters went right and some went left, but we all left. Charlie shook his head at me, walked past the beach shed and hung his head low. I couldn’t believe it. Did Charlie think that it was my fault that Daddy died? Well, maybe it was. If I didn’t go out through the door, the pizza man wouldn’t have been able to rebel against him. Is that why everyone was mad? 

I walked a little farther to the right when I heard a high pitched scream. Where was the scream coming from? I heard it again. It was coming from the way Charlie went. I ran towards the shed and peeked around it. There were three men and one woman. 

“So, what do you want fur ball?” said one of the men. He had a thick body and dark black hair and I guess he was the leader of the group. He had two colleagues with the same red hair and buff chests. 

“Stop, just stop!” said the woman, but the man ignored her. 

Then, I thought: If I don’t go out there then things won’t go as they did before. 

I was wrong. The gangsters apparently were drunk and killed my brother. I was the only man of the family now. 

Running towards the sea of unknown and landing on the road, I took a couple steps forward and got used to the rocks under my feet. I kept walking. The steps felt unworthy and despicable, like I didn’t deserve to take them. I just kept walking and walking, and kept thinking to myself thoughts that, for once, I didn’t want to think about. 

I saw a familiar car and went closer. The car belonged to Angela and Alex’s parents! But then I got scared. They were parked outside a hospital. Was everyone okay? I was scared to go inside. I had faced way too many deaths for a lifetime, but I stepped inside anyway. 

The thing that surprised me most was being able to find them so easily. They were sitting on the first bench. Mom’s head was on Dad’s shoulder and Dad’s was on top of hers; both were crying. I came up and sat on Mom’s lap. He looked as I did seeing them crying. 

“Oh Randy,” Mom started, “they’re gone.” 

Oh no, who was gone? 

“Randy, Alex, Angela, and Sophie have all died in a car crash,” said Mom. 

I didn’t know what to say. So I didn’t. But I had to close this story with a word so I said…. 

BACON.


Cookie the Bear

Hi I’m Cookie the bear or you can just call me Cookie. I live in a cave and I’m 3 years old. My mom and dad left me in this dark cave when I was really young… I was alone in this cave for the next 3 years of my life. But I made some friends. I have Rocky (he’s a rock) and I have Sophia the squirrel. I think she’s alive. She doesn’t like to move around much. For food, I eat these berries in a bush around my cave. Sometimes these moving objects come toward my cave and a living thing comes out and starts staring at me. It’s creepy. At night I look up at the shiny things in the sky and count how many there are, but there’s just way to many… Then I just go to sleep. I wake up and I go to the lake and get some fish for breakfast, then I go back to my cave. That’s my daily routine until one afternoon… I woke up from my nap and I see a piece of fish on the ground. “Oh free fish! At least I don’t have to go all the way to the lake for lunch.’’ I reach for the fish but it moves back. I reach again but it goes back. Then I started chasing after the fish until a tall living thing put me in a net! I tried getting out but I was stuck! Don’t forget me, Rocky And Sophia! I’ll come back I promise!” Then they shot something at me and I fell asleep.

***

*Yawwwnnnn* I opened my eyes and saw a cave, trees and bushes. “The living things (humans) probably felt bad and let me go back to my home!’’ I ran to my cave until I hit my head when I tried to go in it. “What!? I can’t go into my own cave?”  It was a flat surface, no place for a home. It was like a wall. I started scratching it until little pieces of paper fell off. “This isn’t my cave! It’s not even a cave!” Something wasn’t right.

 “Well if my cave isn’t a cave, then that must mean the trees are fake and the bushes are fake!” “Dun Dun Dun!”(Dramatic effect) “I have to get out of here! I need to survive! How am I gonna eat or sleep or most importantly PLAY!!!” * Ting ting ting* “What’s that noise?” Then when I turned around I saw a round flat thing (a plate) that had berries on it. “Food!” I was sooo hungry. I ran to the berries and ate all of them in three seconds. “Yumm that was good. But I have to focus on getting out of here. Hmmmmm let’s see, there are 3 see through squares (windows), a tall wooden rectangular board (a door), and a hole where they drop off the food…. Wait! A hole! I can go through the hole where they drop off the food so I can escape! Wow I’m so smart.” So I made my way into the hole and I actually got through! “Wow I never knew it would be this easy!” Then as soon as I stepped out of that hole, there was this noise that went sort of like *beep beep beep beep BEEP!* It was so loud! I turned to make a run for it while the living creatures (humans) were making it out of a rectangular opening (a door) So I was running and running until I looked back and saw 2 living creatures (humans) catching up to my speed with huge nets. I knew that if I didn’t try hard to make it out I would be stuck here, in this place, alone, forever. So I ran and ran and ran and “FREEDOM” I was so happy I made it out. But I had to hide so I made a quick turn to a dark narrow space (alleyway) filled with metal cylinders with stinky food in it (garbage cans). “Ok at least the living things are not chasing me anymore.” I was walking toward the end of the narrow space (alleyway)  until a small round animal with pink long tail (rat) jumped in front of me. 

“AH! Who are you!?” 

“Oh the name’s Ruby and I’m a rat! Tada!” said Ruby.    

“Ummmmm okay, well are the tall living things (humans) chasing you too?” 

“ What tall living things? You mean humans?”  

“Humans, what are those?” I asked.  

“The tall living things!” Ruby told me. 

“Ohhhhhhh that makes sense.” I said. 

“So what is a bear like you doing in the big city?” Ruby asked. 

“Well you see I live in the woods and I’ve been bearnapped by humans and I need to get back home so I can be with my friends Rocky and Sophia. Without them I’m just a bear with no friends.”  

“Well I’ll help you find your home,” Ruby said.     

“Really? You would do that?” 

“Of course, everyone deserves to have friends.” Ruby said.  

“Yay thank you so much!”              

 ***

“Ughhhhh we’ve been walking for hours! Where are we?” 

“We are in the big city!” 

“Ummmmm reality check, but we’ve been in the big city the whole time! All this time we’ve been walking in circles!” “ 

“Oh uh whoops.”  

*sigh* “I’ll never get back home.” 

“Don’t think like that. I’ll get you home but which woods?” 

 “What do you mean?” 

 “There are many woods in the world but which one do you live in?” 

“Oh, I live in the Canadian woods.” 

“WHAT!!!??? Wow that’s very far, that’s like north. Well we’re going to have to take a little trip up north but we’re never gonna make it by foot. So we’re gonna have to get on a plane and go to Canada.” 

“How are we gonna have to get on a plane? I don’t think that they even allow animals on planes not even bears.”

 “Well they allow PETS like birds, cats and dogs. So all we have to do is dress up like one of them.” Ruby said enthusiastically..

“Yeah! They will never notice that its a bear or a rat!” I said happily.

“Okay here’s the plan. First, we go to a shop and steal some kitty ears and dog ears the whole animal fake stuff. Next, we run to the airport and make our way into one of those pet cages. Then, the people at the airport will assume that we’re just ordinary pets, so they’re going to put us in the plane where all the pets are. Lastly, when the plane lands we are gonna land in Canada and we’re going to get out of our cages and make a run to the woods and boom your home.” 

“Yay! But what about you where are you gonna live?” I asked.

“Umm save the questions for last let’s go buy some animal stuff. We have a plane to catch!” Ruby said happily.

“Hey what are those other animals behind the trees they kind of like you-”

“Ummm it’s probably nothing, maybe it’s from all that walking we did you must be very tired.” Ruby said suspiciously..

“Yeah you’re right” I said believing her.       

So we walked all the way to the closest store and bought-technically stole some kitty ears, dog ears and stuff like that.


***

“Wow you really look like a cat, a small one though.” I said.

“Yeah you look just like a dog we are gonna nail this” Ruby said.

“So now since we’re all ready we should be heading to that airport” I said.

“Yeah” Ruby said.


***

We were on our way to the airport but we were still kind of far so we were talking about our past and what we do.

“So where are your parents?” Ruby asked.

“Well they left me when I was very little so I can take care of myself in my cave. I was lonely at first but I met some friends I met Rocky and Sophia and they’re my best friends, like you, your my friend too because you helping me get home.” 

“Well you know what they say you gotta help a friend in need.” she said kind of guiltily.

“Well how big is your cave? You think it’s big enough to fill 100 rats.”

“Probably more it’s really big. Why?” I said.

“No just asking,” Ruby said.

“Okay. Look there is is the airport!” I pointed 

“We made it yay! So now all we have to do is sneak in through the door when someone’s coming out and not get caught. But when we get in we have to sneak in one of those pet cages.” Ruby said.

“But will we fit in the cage?’’ I asked.

“Yeah they’re big. But in order to get in the cage the owner must be distracted so we can open it and get in.” Ruby said confidently.

I turned around and saw the rats again.

“Ruby?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Ruby replied.

“I think those pack of rats behind the trash can are following us,” I said suspiciously.

“Ummmm probably from all that walking. Now come on no fooling around we have a plane to catch!”

***

Now we just have to wait until a person comes out of the door so we can sneak back in.

20 minutes later… 

“The perfect moment… And… 2 more minutes… ” Ruby said.

“By now we probably missed our plane. Why not we go through the back door when someone comes out, like now!”

We ran and ran and ran and we finally made it inside. We quickly found a cage to get into until Ruby had to go to the bathroom.

“I have to go to the bathroom ill be right back,” Ruby said in a hurry.

“You’re a rat! Just use it somewhere else!” I replied.

 But she already left.

10 minutes later…

“What took you so long! I’ve been waiting for ten minutes come on!” 

We quickly got into a cage and waited for the owner to drop us off we’re the suitcases go. Although it was kind of hard because Ruby and i got into two separate cages with some rude cats that tried to scratch us, we just dealt with it until they got tired out.

*Bang* The people that worked at the airport threw us inside the bottom part of the plane where all the pets go.

Ruby and I quickly got out of our cages so when we land we jump out of the plane and run to the woods. But we were gonna land in the next 5 hours.  So we decided to wait and talk it out. But then Ruby and I got really hungry and we didn’t have anything to eat before we got on the plane. So we tried looking in seperate directions of the plane for food. But the only place where they had food was where all the people where, and it would take a miracle for us to sneak up there.  

*grrbrrgle* “Soooo hungry yyy,” Ruby said.

“Me too but just 4 more hours,” I said sadly… 

“Ya know what I’m going up there, and I have a plan.” Ruby said. 

 ***

“ Okay, so now we have to sneak in the snack bar and bring down some food where the animals are so we don’t get caught!” Ruby said excitedly.

“Ok so let’s go now since no one’s looking.” I said.

We were going to get a little bit of the food and bring it down to eat but, I saw that Ruby was getting a lot of food for like an entire pack of animals but I just ignored it. She was hungry…  Right? But as soon as we were gonna turn around to go down, a flight attendant caught us and held us both from the tails. We were gonna run but she was just too fast.

 “Ah, AH let go of me!” Ruby and I said.

Then we struggled so much that we got loose and ran all the way to the bathroom and locked ourselves in until we had a plan. 

 “What are we gonna do?’’ I asked. 

“I don’t know” Ruby said worryful.

 We were so nervous that we thought this was the end of finding my home until the Pilot said, “Welcome to Canada!” We were so happy that we finally got to Canada but the flight attendants and co-pilots we’re trying to knock down the door so we thought fast and there was an emergency escape pod on the top of the bathroom with paraschoots hooked to it. So we put on the parachutes and jumped off the plane. We landed on a small building and slowly went down. 

“Okay well at least we made it out.” I said.

“Yeah but now we just need to look for the woods and then your home!” Ruby told me.

“Yes!” I said

 “Wait the woods!” I said enthusiastically.

“Yeah. What about it?” Ruby asked.

“The woods I can see it! We just got to run a couple more blocks and we’re there. But Ruby I think those pack of rats are following us! I see their tails behind those trees.” I told Ruby.

“Ummm your probably sick from all that running Cookie that’s why we should get you to your cave.” Ruby told me.

“But I don’t get sick,” I told Ruby.

“C’mon let’s get to your home, aren’t you excited?” Ruby asked me.

“Yeah I really am but where are you going to live?” I asked Ruby.

“Ummm i’ll tell you later okay?” Ruby said.

“Okay,” I replied.

***

*Pant, pant, pant, pant, pant* 

“We’re here! We’re finally here! My home!” I said happily.

“Yeah your home” Ruby said weirdly

Then I turned around to look at my cave and I saw the pack of rats that were following us and I think they knocked me out cause everything after was a blur.

 ***

I opened my eyes and I looked around. I was home. But when I wanted to move, I couldn’t. I looked at my paws and feet and they were tied with thorny flexible branches tied to a tree. I couldn’t move.

“Ruby help! Ruby help!” I yelled for help.

“Well, Well, Well,” Ruby said in an evil voice. Well not really she sounded like a baby hahah.

As she turned around sitting on a throne of rats in MY CAVE! Not even helping me!

  “Hey what are YOU doing in MY CAVE, and why’d you tie me up!? Are some kind of crazy psycho rat!?” I yelled at her.

    “*chuckle, chuckle, chuckle* You are so gullible and naive Cookie. I can’t believe you never noticed.” Ruby said.

“Notice what?” I asked.

“See what I mean? This is what i’ve been trying to do the entire time! I wanted to take your cave in the first place when you asked for help. You think you could actually trust a rat? Why live on the streets if I can just take your home all to myself and rats,” Ruby said. 

“Well I don’t know. I never knew a rat or saw one before. I don’t know most things because I’ve never went anywhere else except here. But what I do know is that you’re not my friend and you’re crazy!But why would you do this? To me?” I asked sadly.

“Because living on the streets is for other animals but not me. I always wanted a home so now since I have this cave I am never going to let it go, not even to a nice, gullible, nieve bear!” Ruby said.

“So this was the plan. The question of how big my cave is, the rats following us everywhere, the long bathroom break, and all the food you we’re taking to the animal section on the plane? Why not we share the cave?” I asked persuading.

“What?! Never this is my cave, my food, my home!” Ruby said angrily. 

“But you have a choice. You either become one of my slaves along with the rats, or you’re banned from this cave forever!”

“I’d rather live on the streets, because I never ever want to see you again in my life!” I yelled.

“Well then your loss. No wonder your parents left you. You don’t know anything. But thank you for giving me this cave.” Ruby said evilly.

“Hey it not your cave it’s my cave!” I yelled.

But it was too late. I had lost everything. They threw me on the side of the road, with no home. And I have no one not even my parents. But when I turn my head I see these two big bears. I feel like I’ve seen them before. Mom? Dad? I ran to them so happy.

“Mom, Dad, I missed you so much.” I said tearing up.

“Why did you leave me?” I asked.

“Well we were caught by zookeepers or the humans and we finally escaped looking for you. We missed you so much Cookie. Now let’s go to your cave.” My mom said.

“Well a mean rat took my cave and 100 of her rat friends and they banned me from my cave.” I said sadly.

“Well no one steals our cave!” My dad said.

So we all went in and kicked some Ruby—i mean rat, butt! Then I said to Ruby, “Who’s the gullible one now?”

“Rocky! Sophia!” I said.

“I would like to introduce you to my parents. Mom this is Rocky and Sophia and dad this is Rocky and Sophia. They’re my best friends.”

“Well it’s good to be home.” Dad said.

“Yeah I’m never being friends with a rat.”

Then after that we lived happily with no rats.

THE END


Agent Puppy

Hello, my name is Agent Puppy. I’m actually an agent. I am a puppy which explains my name.

I’m really small, which is why The Puppy Organization hired me. Tomorrow I will be given my first mission. I’m so excited. Usually I would be squealing with joy, but I am a very serious puppy in a very serious puppy organization. I am the most amazing… spy. Of course they choose small puppies because the smaller the puppies, the smaller places they can hide. On top of that, we are very light. Oh, and my breed of course is Chihuahuas, but we aren’t as fancy as a Poodle or as strong as a German Shepherd, but we all love our puppy powers! 

We have so many cool gadgets. Like the Puppy Puller, which is a grappling hook, and Puppy Levitation, which is my jetpack, and of course my favorite is… the almighty, all powerful puppytastic… Boneifide! It shoots bones from my front paws! So amazing, right? Of course the Slipified is chewed slippers being shot from your back paws, but they aren’t that bad. And making them is lit, mostly because we all love chewing slippers! It satisfies our teeth.

Well, enough about me. But I hear that my first mission is going to be… going and stealing the Kitty Organization of Advanced Kitties, but they call themselves BTD for Better Than Dogs. Frowny face! Cats are never better than dogs! But I am kind of just saying that because I am a dog. I have to defend my species! Well, I just received an email on my PC, Puppy Communicator. Well the plan is they are going to launch a spell on fireworks which will make everyone in love with kitties and hate puppies! That’s so low, kitties! Well, what I have to do is dress like a cat and go into the Le Cats Hotel, for cats only. That’s where the kitty boss is staying for the night and with him the secret code to all their security, the code to disable the fireworks, and the secret information to all their field kitty agents! We could win over the humans with all of this, and our field spies have learned that the kitties have been told that all the codes are one word! It could be anything! It could be kitties, or cake, or cats are better than dogs! Wait, that’s not one word… CABTD as in Cats Are Better Than Dogs. Not true! At least we don’t spit hairballs! Sure, we chew shoes and drink from the toilet and use the bathroom outside in public… Wow, dogs are strange. Well, anyway my flight leaves soon… 

In Las Vegas… 

Okay I’m in Las Vegas, and I am dressed like a cat. Luckily cats are pretty dumb, so they won’t notice if I still look a bit like a dog. Hey, they didn’t say what kind of cat! This was what I wore last Halloween for a cat party. I had to blend in! Otherwise how would I have been able to find out that Carl was a double agent! But luckily this time I’ll be able to save our entire organization! If the BTD launches that cat spell, then puppies are done for it! No chewing slippers! No drinking from toilets! Nobody scooping up what I did on the sidewalk and even worse, no one to love me! Pouty face. Anyway, back to the mission. I got them to think I’m a cat, and my room number is 864. Right next to the kitty boss’s room, 865. That’s great! That’s bad! If I’m next to him, who says once I get it he won’t disable a bomb through the wall and get into my hotel room! I know if he tries to do that, I can use my PG (Puppy Glider) to be able to fly off my porch with the important files on my PF  (Puptastic Flash Drive). Okay, I just saw the kitty boss leave his hotel room. I’m going in. Weird, he left his door open. Eh, easier for me. Wait, this could be a trap. I have to use my PP. I know it sounds silly, but it was either that or number two cause. Number one was puppy oil! PP stands for Puppy Powder. I was right! There are lasers spread out across the room. These are state of the art lasers! Yikes. I threw a pebble, and it got split in half. Then Marshmallow comes behind me. Oh, I forgot to tell you that I have a sister. Her name is Marshmallow. She is pretty young. She is two years old. 

“Go back, Marshmallow! I don’t want you to get hurt!” I say.

Fine! But I’m going because I want to not because you told me too!” She says with her baby voice, and she tries to storm away, but she falls a lot, so she hit the floor a couple times to be able to get to our hotel room right next door!

I go under the lasers and do a couple backflips, then I see Marshmallow at the other side of the room.

Woah, that was super cool. I’m going to try!” she said, trying to do a backflip. 

Marshmallow, if you go through the lasers, then no chocolate pudding for dessert! I’m warning you, Marshmallow Belle Summer!” I said with my I-am-in-control-voice, and boy, did she jump. 

No pudding!!! You monster!” she says astonished. “Oh, say bye bye to the puddin — ”

 “Okay okay okay, bye, I’ll go to the hotel room!” she interrupts. 

Finally, I can go and get the flash drive. I hope she doesn’t cause any problems. Okay, I’m typing and hacking all the documents into the flash drive, including their future plans. Oh, if this doesn’t get me a promotion, then I don’t know what will! Okay, it’s all in my flash drive. I’m ready to go. I am disabling… the lasers… okay done!

 “Marshmallow! Come on, we have to go!” I yell.

But Marshmallow isn’t coming. I know what will make her come. 

“Marshmallow, if you don’t come, then I won’t let you have chocolate pudding!” I yell at the top of my lungs. She isn’t coming. Okay if this doesn’t work, then I think something is seriously wrong. “I’ll give you ice cream!” I yell even louder!

But she isn’t coming. I go out of the room and find our hotel room open. I go in and find the most terrifying thing I could ever imagine. I find her collar, where I put a tracking device (because believe me, she can get lost) and I find it on the floor with a post it attached.

It read, If you want your little mutt back, then come to the pool in five minutes, and don’t bring any of your little *gadgets* or else you can forget about seeing your little dog ever again, and if you do find her, you’ll find her at the bottom of the pool. See you then, Agent Puppy.

Signed,

Kitty Boss. 

I grinned and put a straight face on. I left the flash drive in my pocket but first emailed everything to the Puppy Boss, in case I don’t make it out with Marshmallow or alive. Okay, I am at the pool. Maybe they hid her somewhere near the pool. I’m looking behind the vases. I don’t see her. Wait, yes I do, but I see her reflection. 

She’s right on top of — “Oh hi, Kitty Boss,” I say with distaste.

“Hello, Agent Mutt. I see you have come to find your little sister. Too bad you won’t be able to get her back! Unless you want a little negotiation,” said the Kitty Boss. 

“It’s actually Agent Puppy, and I will get her back. I will trade her for all the fish you want,” I say. 

“What I want Agent, is the flash drive. You think I’ll give my power up that quickly. I have the upperhand against you. I want your flash drive with my information on it. You can’t slip out of this dilemma, now can you?” said Kitty Boss. 

“How do I know this isn’t a set-up? Show me Marshmallow,” I say.

 I know what you’re thinking, But the flash drive! Well she is my sister, and I knew this was a set-up of course. So I took out the flash drive from out of my sleeve and showed him the flash drive. 

“There it is. I’ll bring down Marshmallow, after you give me the flash drive,” said Kitty Boss with a grin on his face.

I wasn’t going to give up that quickly. Marshmallow was tied to the bottom of the high diving board, with duct tape on her mouth. She was right on top of the pool. I had my plan already set out since I read that note. I wasn’t giving him his flash drive.

 “I’ll give you your flash drive, but first let Marshmallow go,” I say.

“Oh you want me to let her go. I hope she can swim!” He says as his kitty henchman unties the rope.

No!” I scream, and she goes falling.

Suddenly everything is in slow motion. I see Marshmallow’s tears dripping into the pool. I see her slowly falling, I throw the flash drive towards the pool and leap, I catch Marshmallow and we fall onto the side of the pool just making it as me, Marshmallow, Kitty Boss, and the kitty Boss’ henchman watch the flash drive fall into the pool and sink to the bottom of the pool. 

“You idiot!” he screams. “Not only do I not have my information, but neither do you! And your lives shall end!”

 “Ugh, cats. So dramatic. You definitely didn’t get it from dogs, I must say. But you are fierce. I’ll give you that, Well I’d love to chat, but S’more and I here have to leave! Adios, gatos!” I yell, and I hold Marshmallow tight and jump out the window.

Then I say, “Hold on tight, S’more!” and I equip my secret Puppy Puller and swing back to Puppy Org. Hey, if I told you guys that I had a secret Puppy Puller, then it wouldn’t be a secret now would it. 

“Woah! Never call me S’more ever again! And what about the flash drive? Aren’t you going to get fired???” asked Marshmallow.

“First of all okay, I’ll never call you S’more ever again, and I broke his flash drive, the one in my sleeve not the real important one in my pocket with cat pics on it, not the one with the information on it, and I saved you. I call it less of a negotiation and more of a win win for me,” I say.

And I got my promotion and became a field agent. But there have been some fishy things as in fish being found in the Puppy Boss’ desk. Everyone was happy and perfect, so it seemed, or was it?

The End, or is it

                 Clue #1 

                 T he

                 B oss

                 I s

                 A

                 C at


Sins and Crimes

Chapter I                      

As the mannequin holds me to the ground, blood pours out of my chest through my shirt. I never thought I’d be here.  As I lay helpless on the floor, I think about my life. My misery. My anger. 

I think back to the night my life changed forever. I was fourteen years old at the time. My mother left  me when I was four years old, so as long as I could remember it was just me and my dad. Ever since I was born, my dad strived to give me the best life possible. To him, this just meant getting rich. He thought the most logical way to do this would be to invent something. Every day I returned home from school, my father had decided that he was “onto something” but by the next day he had abandoned the idea. 

 Some of his ideas like a mechanical dish sponge were practical but other things like disposable rain boots were completely ridiculous and stupid. When I was fourteen years old, my dad came up with an idea that he thought he could actually sell. His idea was a self-charging cell phone and I personally thought anybody would benefit from that. He began pitching his idea to many companies. One of the employees named Daniel Ozark from a company called TechToday was developing a similar product and thought my father was trying to sabotage this.

Two nights after my father’s pitch, Ozark knocked on my father’s apartment door claiming  that he had a deal to propose about my father’s product and needed to talk to him about it in the hall. My father and I were overjoyed that TechToday was actually interested in my father’s product. I was about to go out into the hallway to see why the conversation was taking so long, but just as I approached the door I heard a gunshot and saw blood beginning to poor through the crack under the door. I instantly fell to the floor sobbing. Amidst sobbing I heard Ozark’s footsteps as he sprinted away from the scene of the crime. I couldn’t believe it. Daniel Ozark, a seemingly innocent man, had stolen my father’s entire fortune and killed him.  

It’s Ozark’s fault that I’m going to be killed by a mannequin. I never would’ve resorted to crime if it hadn’t been for my father’s death. But I don’t have time to think about this now.  I’m losing blood rapidly and I can feel the life draining out of me. The long elegant diamonds around the mannequin’s neck have punctured deep wounds in my skin allowing for blood to pour out. I try to wiggle my way out from under the mannequin but I feel more stabs from the diamonds pin me down to the ground so all I can do is lie helplessly and hope that I am taken out of my misery. 

I consider calling out for help but if I’m caught robbing the largest jeweler in New York City I’ll spend the rest of my life in prison and odds are it’s too late for me at this point. Then suddenly I feel I sharp stabbing in my chest. I gasp for air and then my vision goes black and I fall completely lifeless.  

Chapter II 

I groggily open my eyes to find myself lying in a warm, neatly made bed, in a small room that looks much like a hotel. I sit up to examine my wounds on my chest from the mannequin but find them to be completely healed. The skin is now shiny and smooth rather than rough and torn apart.  I sit up and examine my surroundings. There is a night table on either side of my bed and each of them are decorated with dazzling and elegant bouquets of flowers. On the walls there are gilded picture frames which have exquisite photos of underwater seascapes and of grand looking waterfalls. There is a large television on the wall directly across from the bed and underneath is a gorgeous honey colored bureau. On top of the bureau there is a wicker basket full of candies, fruits and are two leather backed books. I stand up and bring the basket to my bed. I flop down onto the bed and toss the books out of the basket and begin munching on the sweet delicacies. I may not know where I am but I would never turn down free food.

When my father was shot I was furious that he never gave me the life and the wealth he promised me and so I resorted to crime. It served me well. I had a few close calls but I was never caught and from every casino, bank and jeweler I ever robbed I finally had the life my father meant for me. 

All of a sudden I feel a surge of rage. Why didn’t my father give me a better life? Why did my mother leave me? Why at the age of 38 do I still live alone? I’m too angry to eat any more candies. I grab the first book that I had tossed aside and thrust myself into a pillow. I can feel my hands shaking. I don’t know where I am, or why I’m here.  How come I, Travis Hunter, a criminal, am being granted free food? If I don’t remember finishing the robbery I must have been caught! How did I not see this before? I’m trapped! In an attempt to calm myself, I once again pick up the book. I think the title The Afterlife for Dummies sounds like a great novel and so I open the book and continue reading. 

After flipping through introductions and copyrights I finally reach chapter one. I begin to read: If you are reading this you have reached the land of the dead. Welcome. Please report to the front desk immediately to discuss your housing-Thank You! Me? Dead? This can’t be! I am very much living and breathing. Or am I? Being in the land of the dead simultaneously makes all the sense in the world and no sense at all. 

Of course, just waking up in a completely new location with no wounds does partially justify the fact that I may be in the land of the dead. That being said, there’s no such thing as the afterlife- there just isn’t. If there really was an afterlife my father would’ve come back to Earth. To me. But he didn’t. This all could just be a big prank, so I decide against going down to the front desk. Instead, I turn on the TV, but the TV doesn’t work. I keep pressing buttons but the only thing that shows up is a flashing notification that says, “Please report to the front desk!” So I do. I stand up and walk downstairs to where I assume the desk is. I can’t believe that I had actually given in. I didn’t want to believe that I was in the afterlife. I couldn’t be dead. There was more I needed to do. I needed to finish robbing the jeweler, to find love.  But deep down inside it seemed to be the only logical explanation. 

Chapter III 

“Here you go. Fill these out and bring them back when you are down,” says the receptionist standing at the front desk as she slams a pile of forms as thick as a dictionary onto the desk. I look at her wide eyed. Does she really expect me to do all of this?! 

“Come on, it’s really not that much-now go!” I pick up the stack, using my forearms to support all of the weight. The receptionist was right. It’s really not that much. The first page looks like this: 

Welcome to the Afterlife! 

You, Travis Hunter, died of blood loss yesterday while robbing a jeweler. We want to make your stay in the afterlife, which will last for the rest of eternity, as comfortable as possible. Therefore, you may pick one of the following three choices for the rest of eternity: 

Choice Number One: 

Heaven or Hell

This is the standard choice. Good people will go to Heaven and not so good people will go to Hell. We will inform you if you belong in Heaven or Hell before you make your choice. Please understand that very few people actually go to Hell (criminals,serial killers, etc.) and even if you do we will still try to provide an experience appropriate to your behavior on Earth.

Choice Number Two: 

Community Service on Earth 

Since you are now dead you are technically a ghost and may return to Earth invisibly to help make a positive impact. This choice is our most advised. Here in the afterlife we like to do everything we can to help our neighbors on Earth. 

Choice Number Three: 

Haunting 

This is a very ill advised choice. Choosing to haunt humans can put you in immense danger and possibly throw off or ruin the rest of your time in the afterlife–which is eternity. 

Please contemplate your options and pick a path.

For Choice number 1, go to page 1; for choice number  2, go to page 47; and for choice number 3, go to page 113. 

I know what I’ll do. If I really am dead I’ll make the best of it, and that means making it worse for everyone else.  Choice number three had my name written all over it. I could destroy the life of Daniel Ozark and his family. I could finish robbing the jewelry store I died robbing. I will finish that robbery. I must–I will destroy the lives of everyone who destroyed mine. 

Chapter IV 

 “Sir–you did read this, choice three is a very ill advised choice,” says the receptionist after I turn in my forms. 

“I’ve made my decision, and it is final!” I shout, really losing my cool.

“All right sir,” says the receptionist, shaking her head. “Here are the rest of the forms and information you’ll need.” She says, placing a packet down on the desk. 

“Thanks,” I say sarcastically, and walk away with the forms. They read: 

If you are reading this you have chosen to go back to earth to haunt and complete your “unfinished business.” Please understand that this is a very dangerous choice and may result in many consequences. 

 You will be transported back to Earth 36 hours from now. Before you leave please fill out the following form: 

Name____________  Date of Death________________ 

Date of Transport____________ 

Where on Earth would you like to be transported?_____________

I understand that I will be invisible to all humans and that choice #3 is a very dangerous choice. 

_______________________(your signature) Thank you! Please enjoy your stay in the afterlife! 

After I finish the form I bring it to the receptionist’s desk. 

“New York City, huh?” says the receptionist, her eyebrows jumping up and down. 

“Oh, yeah,” I respond.

“Alright–we’ll call for you in 36 hours.” 

“Thanks,” I say and walk back up to my room. 

Chapter V 

I’m still asleep when I hear a booming voice in my room calling, “Travis Hunter! Our teleportation to Earth leaves in 35 minutes. Please report to the front desk immediately.” 

I look around, baffled, trying to see where the voice is coming from but I don’t see anyone so I decided there must be some hidden speaker. I hurriedly freshen up and head down to the desk for my transport. 

“Hello, Travis,” says a receptionist. 

“Please step into this capsule,” she says, motioning towards a small cabinet next to her desk. I raise my eyebrows at her questioningly. Does she really expect me to fit into that cabinet?                                                                                                                            

“Go on,” she says.

 So I do, and it really isn’t that small. Just as I’m about to open my mouth to ask what she’s going to do I begin to feel myself swirling around in all sorts of crazy loops like a sock in the washing machine. As I begin to feel nauseous, the swirling stops and the capsule opens. I step out to find myself on a dirty New York City amidst many tourists and vendors. I start pacing down the street, noticing how dirty the city has become–so crowded and full of shouting people. 

A large pack of students on a trip begin walking down the block straight towards me–their stares are dark and devious. They’re really out to get me. I run as fast as I can but they’re still tailing me. Just as they’re about to slam into me I shut my eyes, hoping it will somehow help reduce the pain I’ll feel–but then no pain comes. The pack of students seems to walk straight through me. 

Chapter VI 

 Before I knew what a terrible and vile man Daniel Ozark was I was so excited for my father’s pitch with TechToday. Before his pitch he told me all about the company and its employees–including Daniel Ozark. I was able to salvage very few of my father’s belongings but I was able to save an information packet from the convention where he pitched his cell phone to TechToday. The packet included the personal information of many participants in the convention. Including Ozark. In the years following my father’s death I constantly studied the packet, memorizing the addresses and phone numbers of Ozark and his family. This information was all I needed to begin my haunting.

I walk into the first apartment building on the street, bolt up to the front desk, pick up the phone and dial Ozark’s number. 

“Hello?” He answers in a hoarse voice. 

“Daniel Ozark!” I shout with rage. “I’m coming for you!” 

“Hello?” he says again with no emotion. I continue shouting but he can’t hear me and he hangs up. I pick up a pot of plants on the desk and smash it on the floor. I don’t understand–why can’t he hear me? And then it dawns on me: I was dead. I couldn’t be seen, heard, or felt. I felt so much animosity towards Ozark, towards the afterlife, but mostly myself. I felt so senseless and naive. And now I’m stuck attempting to haunt people for the rest of eternity!  If I can’t be seen, heard, or felt the only basic function I can perform and have it noticed is to pick up items, and give the illusion that they’re floating. I’m so angry. There’s only one thing left to do–so I walk up to Daniel Ozarks apartment. 

Chapter VII 

When I enter Ozark’s apartment he is sitting on his couch smoking a cigar and watching TV.  I slam the door and he looks up in alarm. 

“Who’s there?” He shouts with panic. “I know you’re in here! Show yourself!”

 While Daniel continues shouting into space, I creep into the kitchen and grab two butcher’s knives. I hold them up high to create the illusion that they are flying through the air. 

I slowly walk into the living room where Daniel is panicking and begin to approach him with the knives. He cries out so terrified I feel I have already succeeded. He pulls out his phone to call 911. His hands are so shaky he can hardly hold it. I knock the phone out of his hand and throw it out a window across the room and watch as it falls 13 stories and smashes on top of a garbage truck. I throw the first butcher knife across the room so it lands right in the middle of a photo of Daniel hanging on the wall. I expect him to scream out in terror, but rather he just stands in the middle of the room petrified. It’s the perfect opportunity for me–so I strike. I throw the second butcher knife straight into Ozark’s chest, piercing his heart. 

I watch in elation as Ozark begins losing blood. He breathes so heavily–gasping for all the air he can get, and then one second he’s done. He stops breathing. I did it. I killed Daniel Ozark. 

Chapter VIII 

I sit down on Ozark’s couch to review what I’ve just done. I’ve really done it. All for my father. I am so proud and I just sit back on the couch to relax. Just as I am dozing off to sleep I feel a strong burst of air come from above and begin sucking me up like a vacuum machine. I fight and flail to stay on the couch but I can’t control it. I am thrown in crazy loops and turns and when it stops I am back in the hotel where my afterlife experience began. I storm up to the desk–enraged. 

“Excuse me!” I shout. “Why on Earth am I here?” 

“Please follow me, sir,” the receptionist responds. 

“No! I will not follow you until you tell me why I am here!” I respond, still yelling. 

“Sir, your recent actions on Earth have resulted in a dangerous and severe phenomenon and we need you to help reverse your actions. Now please come with me.” 

“No!” I yell back. Before I can continue protesting two guards walk in and drag me away from the desk. They drag me down a long corridor that smells like mildew and into a small dark enclosed room with a table and chairs on each side. The men thrust me into a chair and chain me to it. The taller of the two men exits and the other stays with me. Before long, a tall, intense looking woman wearing a navy blue blazer enters and sits in the chair across from me and motions for the other guard to leave. The guard exits and now I am alone with this mysterious looking woman. 

Chapter IX 

“You, Travis Hunter, murdered a Mr. Daniel Ozark this morning on Earth,” says the woman. I nod and she continues talking. “Every time a dead person or ghost murders a living human, there is a different and dangerous outcome. And I fear that you have created something we may never be able to undo.” 

“What do you mean?” I respond, now very nervous. 

“Travis, when you died, you reached the afterlife and were given 3 choices–correct?” 

I nod. 

“It seems that when you killed Mr. Ozark you disturbed this balance. Ever since your murder, when people die they just rest silently in their coffins.” 

“So what?” I respond.

“So what?!” She exclaims, obviously beginning to lose patience. “Mr. Hunter, you do realize that you’ve just destroyed the afterlife forever!” 

“Well, why is this even a choice if it’s so dangerous?!” I respond. 

“You see, when setting up choices for the afterlife, an angel got to make two decisions and a demon got to make two decisions. The angel chose Heaven and community service and the demon chose Hell and haunting. Understand?” 

I nod. “But I still don’t understand why you need me! What am I supposed to do?” I shout. 

“We have two options as to how to approach this. We can (a) send you directly to sector 13 of Hell which is the most violent and tortuous sector and allow my team and I to try to figure this out. Or you may (b) go back to earth for community service, which may help balance out the bad and evil you recently put into the world and resolve this issue.  And if you do a good amount of community service we may be able to let you into Heaven. What is your pick?” 

I contemplate it for a minute and then respond. “B.” 

“That is your final decision?” asks the woman. I nod. 

“We’ll give you your community service assignment tomorrow morning at 7:00 am sharp and we will send you to Earth directly afterwards. Understand?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“Please return to the room where you slept the day you died. I will see you at the desk tomorrow at 7. Goodbye, Mr. Hunter.” 

Chapter X 

I arrive back in New York at 7:45 with a community service assignment that reads: 

Travis Hunter

Temporary Community Service Assignment: 

You will be stationed in a NYC subway station and your job will be to (a) pick up any litter and throw it away and (b) help return and find stolen items. There will be serious consequences if you disobey this. Thank You for your service and devotion to the afterlife. 

~Marleen Murphy 

Head of Afterlife Operations

I can’t believe it. Community service in a subway! Not only is it boring, it’s vile. But I have to do it–to get into Heaven. I can’t be doomed in Hell forever! I can’t be tortured for the rest of eternity!

Instead of walking to the nearest subway station, I walk five blocks further in order to reach a cleaner one. I sit down on a bench and just watch as people walk by and talk and yell. I find it astounding how much trash people drop and how random the stuff is. One guy drops his license and now I have to chase him through the station to slip it back into his pocket. I pick up so much gross trash, from cigarette butts to food rinds and at the end of the day my hands are completely covered in dirt. I am not coming back to this station tomorrow. It is an absolute waste of time. Besides I bet I’ve already done enough community service to fit into Heaven. I’ll tend to some of my unfinished business instead. 

Chapter XI 

 At 11:30 pm I arrive at the jeweler. I pick the lock and sneak inside with a sack that I hope to fill with diamonds. When I enter, I walk on the opposite side of the store than I did on my first attempted robbery, just to ensure I don’t trip over the mannequin again.  I take out a mallet and begin smashing cases and pulling out pounds of jewelry and throwing it in my sack. I take a small elevator down to a large vault in the basement. The vault is beautiful–full of beautiful diamond sculptures. I pick one up to admire it. It’s carved in the shape of a heart and is absolutely stunning. 

I can’t believe it. I’ve actually done it. I’ve robbed the jeweler. I have my revenge! I start running on my way out, out of pure joy, but then I trip over a piece of shattered glass, fall backwards, and drop the diamond sculpture. It lands on my foot, holding it down to the ground–disabling me from standing up. 

I can’t believe myself. I’ve done it again. I’m stuck. I pull and yank my foot as much as I can but it’s just stuck. I’m not in pain; I just can’t move. But then it strikes me! If I’m a ghost, I can’t feel pain, I can’t die again–so I reach as far as I can and grab my mallet. I heave the mallet back and smash it against my ankle, watching as that gorgeous diamond sculpture shatters into tiny bits and pieces. But I’m free! I watch in awe as the scratches the glass had cut in my skin seal up. I jump up, run back to the vault, grab another sculpture, and race out of the jeweler as fast as I can with my sack of riches. I’m so proud! I’d done it! My father would be so proud. But then a scary thought hits my head. 

What will I do now? I’m dead, what’s the point of money anymore? Where will I keep the riches? I have nowhere to live. 

Chapter XII

I don’t know what I should do with all the riches. They’re worth so much but I have nowhere to hide them. For the moment I decide to take the riches back with me to my old apartment building and hide them in the secret cabinet where my father used to store his inventions. When I get back to my apartment, it’s still completely the same. I look back through old photos and my bedroom. Practically everything I own was stolen. I had never questioned this. Until now. I just completed a masterful heist and yet all the riches seem to be causing more trouble for me than helping me. Maybe if I hadn’t been a criminal I might’ve had a family or might’ve been able to lead a normal life. I probably wouldn’t even be dead. I can’t believe myself. I should’ve seen this before. I sit down on my couch and turn on the TV. Just then I once again feel the vacuum sensation. I restrain as much as I can but once again it just sucks me up and drops me back in the afterlife hotel. 

Chapter XIII 

“Travis Hunter!” I hear a voice scream as the woman in the blue blazer enters the lobby. I look up at her questioningly. 

“Why do you think you are here?” She asks with malice in her eyes. 

“I don’t know, ma’am,” I respond, my voice very nervous and unsteady. 

“Follow me, Travis,” she says in a suddenly calm voice. I begin following her and she leads me back to the room where she had explained the phenomenon I had created. 

“Sit down,” she says–in a very intense voice. I obey. She chains me to the chair and sits across from me on the other side of the table. 

“You, Travis Hunter, have directly disobeyed my instructions and you have jeopardized the function of the afterlife forever!” She shouts. She stands up and opens the door and a middle aged man being held by two guards staggers in. The man reaches towards me and I towards him. I know this man. I love this man. This man is my father. I hadn’t seen him in so long. I had forgotten what happiness felt like. The wonderful sensation of happiness makes me I feel like I’m flying. But then in a matter of seconds it’s taken away from me.  

“Not only did you disappoint me,” says the woman, “you let down your father. You really think your father, who gave everything for you, wanted you to become a criminal?” 

I don’t know what she’s talking about. My father didn’t give me anything. Everything he promised me he lost.  

“No. Your father didn’t want you to become a criminal,” she continues. “You robbed a jeweler when you were supposed to be doing community service! Your father belongs in Heaven where there is no place for you. We are moving you to sector 13 of Hell.” 

I can’t believe it. I let my head fall to the table in distress. I’d destroyed my life. Forever. 

“Effective immediately,” she says. She claps her hands twice and two guards enter. They each pick me up by one arm and begin dragging me away. I flail and fight but they’re too strong for me. I beg for mercy. I just want forgiveness, and my father. I’d waited so long to see him. But it’s too late. The guards drag me out of the room and just before I’m pushed through the dark portal to Hell I get one final glimpse of my father’s tears. 

The End


The House

The house is haunted, and someone is there with you, looking at you right now. 

You hear a sorrow cry coming from downstairs, then you hear footsteps coming. 

It starts to get louder and louder, until you see a shadowy figure. You run, knowing you are being chased. As you run, you hear screaming, and it’s making you more desperate to leave. 

As soon as you run down the stairs, one zombie randomly starts to walk to you. When you look, you see there are people in the building and scream in horror. 

All the people in the building are zombies. 

When you run, one zombie blocks your path out. When you run the other way, you see the shadowy figure. You think this is all over so you start to sweat, but you have an idea. You run towards a zombie and knock it down and run to the door. 

The finger grabs you and chops your head off. 

 The end, literally 


Short story made after a lot of begging

Once there was a billionaire named Billy Bob Bob Bob Joe and his last name was Joe Bob Bob Bob Billy. He could swallow anything and gain the properties of said material if wanted. If he swallowed a machine, then he could do what that machine could do. He had swallowed a jet so he could fly really fast. He flew over to Area 51 because he wanted to break in. The U.S. Air Force saw him coming and said, “No trespassing.”  

“Sure,” he replied

Then he swallowed the gate and the Air Force had no choice but to shoot him. He swallowed a stealth machine and turned it on and then he turned the top layer of his skin to be bulletproof Kevlar. Then he snuck into Area 51. He searched everywhere but he could only find a bunch of test tech like new stealth planes and he could not find a single alien.

He thought, Boring. I’m getting out of here. He went back to his company building in L.A.

“Mr Joe Bob Bob Bob Billy, where were you?” his manager asked.

“Nowhere you need to know and please call me Billy Bob Bob Bob Joe.”

“Of course,” the man replied.

“How is business going?”

“We are churning out more technology by the second. And our sales for our computers are doing especially well.”

     “Can you get my game designers for me?”

“Of course, sir.” The manager got them and they started designing games. After a month he left the rest of the games to his game designers.

I’m all set for life. That was my game plan, I always wanted to know what was in there, I guess. Break into Area 51 and then I’m all set. Area 51 was always so interesting. Government secrets are cool. I just wanna live peacefully. Oh and lemme tell everyone that in  area 51 there is probably nothing there except for a bunch of military test tech, he thought. I don’t want anyone on my back trying to kill me or nothing. And life won’t get boring, I guess. Everything will go downhill pretty fast for me because bad people won’t like me for sticking my nose into things and everyone will try to kill me. Because of this, I can’t focus on my work. A big bounty would be on my head. So no thanks for me. Uh uh. I’m good. Then he continued working because he realized he liked designing games and technology stuff and he didn’t want to coast on his billions. He had a decent life.


Mermaid…Unicorn…Cat

Once in a pretty blue ocean was a mermaid… unicorn… cat. Yes, a mermaid unicorn cat. With long pink, blue, and purple ears, a scaly mermaid tale, and a long unicorn horn.

“I love my life,” she told her friend, Maria, who has short black hair, and doesn’t have a unicorn horn or cat ears. She’s just a mermaid.

Maria said, “Unicaid, you never know what could happen. Your life could turn into cloudy dark skies here in the ocean.”

“But it’s so nice here! How could anything bad ever happen here?”

“You never know.”

Just then, skies did turn cloudy and dark. The water felt less welcoming and more closed. All the rainbows started to collapse and turn into Skittles. Towering over the water was a big fat man in a scientist coat, holding an open bottle, pouring it in the water.

“What- what is that?” asked Unicaid.

“Now that, my friend, is just what I was talking about what could happen.”

“Who- who are you?” asked Unicaid.

“I am the Toxicky Water Scientist named Doctor Unsmartypants.”

“What are you pouring in the water?” asked Maria.

“Toxicky water, because I’m the Toxicky Water Scientist! Duh!”

“We have to stop this!” said someone.

“I know!” said others.

Unicaid asked, “But how?”

“Oh, I know,” said Maria. “We can get a filter from the outside world with clean water and help our world!”

“I have some friends from the outside world,” said Unicaid, “and I know where they live! They all have filters! And I bet they could lend one to us.”

“Okay. It’s kind of creepy that you know where they live, but all right,” said Maria. “Good idea.”

They slipped out of the water and started slithering down the road.

“So… I know the street, but not exactly the house—”

“Wait, what?” asked Maria.

“I’m sorry! But don’t worry. We can knock on all the doors and ask what door Alena Smith is on!”

“Everyone will just scream!” exclaimed Maria.

“Why?” asked Unicaid.

“Ya know. We’re not the same species!”

“Oh… yeah. But I bet it will be alright.”

“Fine!!!” Maria seemed to be getting mad. “Let’s do this.”

They knocked on one door. No answer.

At the second door there was an answer! But it was: “Ahhhhhhhhhh!” The lady screamed.

“Told you!” Maria said selfishly.

“Ayayayay!” Unicaid exclaimed, “Braggy braggy!”

They slithered down to the next door and knocked on the third door. “Whoah!” was the reply, “Who are you?”

“I’m Unicaid! And this is my friend, Maria,” Unicaid said proudly.

“Ahh! Yes! Unicaid!” The lady said, “Alana has told me so much about you! I’m Lea. Nice to meet you!”

Lea had long, brown, curly hair, and skin the color of chocolate.

“You too!” Maria seemed relieved.

“So where does she live?”

“Oh, Alana? Why do you need to talk to her? Is anything wrong?”

“Well,” Maria started, “This toxicy water scientist came and—”

“Toxicated up the water?

“Umm, yeah, basically.”

“So why do you need Alana for that?”

“We wanted to get a filter from her house so we could help save our ocean,” said Unicaid.

“Oh, I have a filter,” Lea said. “You can use it if you want.”

“That would be great! Thank you!” Maria said, seeming even more relieved.

Lea went inside and gave them the filter. Then Unicaid and Maria thanked her as they slithered back into the ocean.

“We got a filter!” They said as they plopped it in the water. It sounded like when you put a penny into a fountain. Dr. Unsmartypants tried to stop them, but it was too late. It was already in. Everyone cheered for them, except for the scientist. 

“Why? Why? Why?” Dr. Unsmartypants said, seeming very, very, very frustrated. He towered over the water and walked away.

“Yay! Hooray for Unicaid and Maria!” And suddenly the water felt more welcoming, less closed, and the dark skies went away. All the Skittles turned back into rainbows, and everything was okay.

The End!


HE. MAY. GO. ALL. THE. WAY!

“Welcome to Super Bowl 100 The Seattle Seahawks vs. The New England Patriots,” said the commentator. “This is going to be a great match. At the half, it is 28 to 27 Seattle. At three quarters, it is tied at 35 with a safety given up by Seattle. Now there are five minutes left in the game, and we are tied at 49. Seattle has the ball on the 50-yard line. Wilson throws to Baldwin, and that’s a first down. Baldwin is still going! Touchdown! Seattle up by seven at 56. Seattle returned! He gets past the defence, touchdown! We are tied at 56 now. Patriots kickoff. Seahawks get five yards on the return. Wilson takes the snap. Fakes the run, Wilson runs past the linemen, he is in the clear. HE. MAY. GO. ALL. THE. WAY! Russel Wilson 80-yard touchdown run to put Seattle ahead by seven. With the touchdown, we are at the two-minute warning. Pats return the kickoff five yards. Brady hail mary to Edelman, he gets to the 20. Brady hands off to Michelle. He is taken down at the one. Brady gets a QB sneak past the line. Conflict on the Pats’ sideline. Brady decides that they will try for a two-point conversion. Brady snaps. Brady runs to the corner, Bobby Wagner chasing him. Wagner strip-sacks Brady. Wagner has the ball; he is running. Wagner goes all the way! Two points for Seattle! Pats try an onside kick. Seattle recovers. Pats use first time out. 30 seconds on the clock. Wilson takes the snap. He runs in the backfield and is just running around. 15 seconds left. Wilson being chased. 10 seconds. Wilson throws the ball as far as he can. Ball is in the air for five seconds. Pats time out. Five seconds left. Wilson takes the snap. He runs to the sideline. Time is up! Seattle wins the 100th Super Bowl. They have done it! No losses in the season and a Super Bowl title. Brady made the biggest mistake in the Super Bowl. Wilson has the longest QB run in Super Bowl history! Let’s hear what Wilson has to say.” 

Wilson says, “I cannot believe this. We played great. This is great.” ______________________________________________________________________________

After the game, the commentator got in his car and started to drive home. It was really late at night, so he was very tired. Then, all of a sudden, he couldn’t see any people or any cars and saw complete darkness. Then his mind blanked. CRASH! He found his car smashed into another car. He had dozed off and didn’t have control. The two cars he crashed into were the Seattle Seahawks’ car and the Patriots’ car. He was hurt, but he got out of the car immediately to see if the teams were hurt. The police were already at the site of the crash, and there was a huge fire. The police called the firefighters, and the firefighters put out the fire and took him to the hospital.  Nobody on the Seahawks or the Patriots got injured. The commentator just got really injured, but he got better really soon. He had broken his collarbone, his neck bone, his backbone, and his arm.  

The Patriots filed a lawsuit because they didn’t like his commentating, and he crashed into them. The Seahawks, though, were okay with it, and they were fine with it.  

His lawyer was really bad because no one wanted to be his lawyer in the case, because they’re afraid he’s going to lose. His lawyer was not that good, so the commentator had to try and deal with that and be his own lawyer.

His lawyer kept telling him, “It’s okay if we lose, it’s okay if we lose.” But the commentator kept a positive attitude the whole time.

The lawyer said, “Man, we’re gonna lose.  I can’t believe you’re even trying. You shouldn’t be trying against the Patriots. They’re gonna have the better lawyer. They’re gonna beat us. Even though I am a lawyer, I have to admit they’re gonna beat us. So it’s okay if we lose.”

The commentator replied, “It’s not okay if we lose because I didn’t do anything wrong in that scenario. They crashed into me. They shouldn’t file a lawsuit on me just because the car ended up in the crash.”

The commentator felt guilty because he knew he fell asleep in the car. The first person to find out he was sleeping was the lawyer, who kept it a secret until his death.

He made a statement where he accused the Patriots’ bus driver that he fell asleep, dozed off, and crashed. That was a lie, because the Patriots’ driver wasn’t sleeping; the commentator was sleeping himself. The Patriots argued that they saw the commentator not paying attention, and they saw him drift off into the lane, and then they saw the crash. The jury thought that the Patriots were wrong because the Patriots had lost the Super Bowl, and the commentator had been speaking about them for everyone in the audience to hear, so the judge had thought that the Patriots were just mad because they lost the Super Bowl and the commentator was saying bad things about them.  This could be revenge.

The commentator went to court the next year and they didn’t know what decision to give, so eventually they went to the Supreme Court.  He won in the Supreme Court with a new argument saying, “The Patriots aren’t admitting that their bus driver fell asleep, and I’m admitting that I wasn’t not paying attention, because I have all a perfect concentration, but you guys never said that you have anything that prevented you from having a doze-off.”

He also said, “They’re trying to get revenge on me, when all I did was comment on the Super Bowl.”    

The Patriots said, “We’re not trying to get any revenge. You almost killed us, and if anyone got harmed, you would have to say that you have to do something about it. If it’s just about the Super Bowl, it’s not gonna be this severe. If I just say something on Twitter, not in court, so basically if someone gets harmed, you should come to justice and say that you did it.”

The judges thought that the Patriots didn’t defend themselves, and just brought up new arguments, so the Patriots would lose.

He won in the court, and he filed a lawsuit on the Patriots for crashing into him, because the Seahawks showed him a camera where the Patriots changed lanes. The Seahawks had hated the Patriots for a really long time, so every time if something went wrong, they would have to get back at the Patriots for the last-second Patriots win during the Super Bowl before. The Seahawks always had a camera in their car, and they happened to be staying at the same hotel as the Patriots, so they were driving on the same road. The Seahawks had the video of the bus driver going into a different lane, which was true, but just because it was earlier in a crash, and they didn’t have film of the crashing, so they only showed him changing lanes. But he did change lanes, which was a factor of the crash. The Patriots lost in court and were fined 1,000,000 dollars. The Patriots were really mad about it, and the bus driver had to go to jail, because falling asleep in a car is illegal, so he went to jail really mad, knowing he didn’t fall asleep and remembering every detail of the crash.

The commentator was relieved that he got away with it, and surprised the Patriots with filing a lawsuit, but was happy that the Patriots’ bus driver had to go to jail. The commentator forever lived hidden because he knew that people didn’t like him because all the Patriots fans didn’t like him because making the Patriots lose in court is a big thing.

Ten years after his death, they found the camera showing that he actually was sleeping in the car, and shouldn’t have won in court because he actually fell asleep in the car. 

The end.


Life of a Boy with Powers

Part One: Ordinary to extraordinary

Place: Annapolis, Maryland

Dimension: Hearth-not-Earth

Once upon a time, there was a fourteen-year-old boy named Leo. He didn’t know it at the time, but he was about to become more than your average boy. On his way home from his best friend Misha’s house (who lived across the bridge), he was hit by lightning. He was walking on the bridge with an Anti-monopoly board game when a thick bolt of lightning struck him. He passed out and his mind went completely blank, and his eyes went white in an instant. Someone found him a couple of minutes later and took him to the hospital.

His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Parker, learned in the hospital that Leo’s eyeballs were great conductors of electricity so the lightning went straight for him while he was crossing the bridge. He was put into a deep sleep until he was sixteen years old without realizing it. He woke up in the hospital, and found out that he had lost his eye. So they left the hospital with an eye patch covering Leo’s eye.

What Leo didn’t know was that he could accidentally control electricity, or that he could do things related to electricity that no one else could do, without realizing it was himself doing it. One time, he was playing Temple Surfers (a combination of Temple Run and Subway Surfers) on his iPhone when suddenly it died. 

“Oh, come on!” He ran out of his room and shouted, “Mom! Can I borrow your charger?”  

“Sorry, but I’m using it because my phone is five plus,” his mom replied (plus is percent).

“Porca miseria!” Leo carelessly said in Italian as he stomped into his bedroom and plopped onto the bed. He was so furious that his bedroom light flickered off and his phone turned on. He looked at his phone screen to check the percentage, and guess what it was? Full charge, or 100%.

“What happened?” he said as he turned the light back on. But then, he remembered the lightning strike two years ago. “Wait, what?!” he exclaimed, and ran out of the house, but with superspeed, like Hercules.

Later on, after doing some thinking, Leo concluded that when he was so mad sparks of electricity probably went into the phone, charging it instantly, and more sparks turned off the light. He didn’t know how that happened, but he was excited because he never found out about it. So he tried testing it out by going home and trying to turn off and on the lights, and so that happened and worked. Then he tried to travel at the speed of light and so he ran as fast as he could, and he could actually see light by his side because, of course, he was running as fast as the speed of light.   

Next he tried flying, but he knew he was really short and the knowledge came to him suddenly that, since he was really short, he could not fly. You have to be really tall to fly. He didn’t know how. He went to Misha’s house and looked inside, and overheard him telling his little sister a story about this magic potion that can make you taller in less than 3 hours, and an evil scarecrow was guarding it.  It was actually a mixture of a robot and an actual scarecrow. You can’t see him because when you get really close, he’ll attack you. Leo knocked on the door and Misha answered it.

“Well you’re back, and that’s awesome!” said Misha, and they did their ‘secret handshake.’ 

“I need to find out where the magic potion is,” Leo said. They went in the house.

“Really? Ok. It’s somewhere in the middle of Romania, Europe,” Misha said. He knew this because he actually, once, tried to get the potion, and he was told that it was in Romania, but he never found it.

“Thanks!” Leo ran with the superspeed he was given.

“Good luck!” Misha yelled. “Man, how does he do that?”

Part Two: The Scarecrow

Place: Somewhere in Romania

Dimension: Hearth-not-Earth

Leo had already told and explained his plan to his parents, and surprisingly, they accepted it. Since he had powers, they knew that he could protect himself.

“Just make sure you don’t die, honey,” Mrs. Parker told him.

“I won’t,” Leo responded.

“Be careful,” she said.

“I will, I will.” And Leo ran to the Annapolis dock, and dove into the warm Chesapeake bay, for what was a long journey ahead of him.

On the way, he found a map to the potion in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He found it because of a storm that drowned him. He floated up because there was a lot of air in his lungs already, and that’s how he found out he could breathe in water.

After finding the location on the map, Leo found that the place was surrounded by fire, and he figured out that the scarecrow might have fire powers. He found the magic potion on a tree stump, but when he was about to touch it, there was something that grabbed his shoulder. He looked around and there was the robot scarecrow, including at least one million other tiny robots.

“Do not touch my potion! I know why you have come for it, and I will put an end to your task!” the scarecrow bellowed in his robotic voice. 

Leo ran away from the scarecrow, surprisingly not touching him at all.  So he ran away from the robot with superspeed, but he didn’t have the potion. So Leon found this little pond and he heard a whisper that is saying, “Clone yourself to get it!”

Leo said, “How?”  But there was no reply.

He figured out that the lake was magic. And then there was some rumbling, and there was someone else that was standing there, and he took a closer look and saw it was himself, and so the clone multiplied and then multiplied again and again and again. Soon, there were at least ten thousand Leos surrounding the pond. It was the lake that had done this, he thought. And so he went back to the robot, his clones following him, but he couldn’t find him anywhere, and figured out that it could be a decoy, or they were hiding behind them. So he went the other way, and found the robot trying to attack them.

The million tiny robots were reduced to one robot, and it was so tall, as tall as Kevin Durant in the Golden State Warriors. 

“This robot used the potion, so if you fight me then you will fight him,” the scarecrow explained in monotone.

So the ten thousand Leos fought the robot first, but failed. 

Then came a thunderstorm, controlled by all of the Leos, and so it was pouring and it dried out all the fire, and a huge lightning bolt struck the tall robot and he was dead. 

“Curse you!” the scarecrow yelled. And then Leo himself jumped up and killed the cruel scarecrow by striking a sudden bolt of lightning, and he was dead too.

“I guess you didn’t put an end to my task.” Leo took the potion, drank a little bit, and he started feeling that the bushes were shrinking, and so when it stopped shrinking he looked down and it looked as though he was 7 feet tall. In fact, he was.

“Hey clones this is aweso—what happened?” All of the clones were gone. Disappeared. 

So Leo tested his flying and he flew all the way on top of Romania and then to Italy, and found out that he was able to fly since he was so tall. He was super happy. So he flew back across the Atlantic Ocean. He didn’t really feel bad about leaving them behind because he had himself.

Part Three: Fight in Dubai

Place: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Dimension: Earth

Leo wanted to fly up Mount Everest on Earth, so he took the Dimension Teleporter to Earth, and flew to Asia and Nepal because he was already in China, to fly above the Great Wall. He was 20,000 feet above sea level when he felt that he couldn’t breathe. So he went back down 2,000 feet to get an oxygen mask, and then flew all the way up and saw the view.  It looked like he was in space, since he was so high up. He could see literally all of Nepal. It was snowing constantly, and everything looked snowy. He felt very satisfied. He wanted to fly up the tallest building in Dubai, called the Burj Khalifa.

Meanwhile, there was someone who liked to be called Nikyl to “seal his secret identity” as he said, who was pulled into a whirlpool, and got water powers, and could manipulate other people into giving him their powers.

Leo heard on TV that Nikyl wanted Leo to be Nikyl’s next target, so Leo decided to fight him. He thought about Dubai and closed his eyes, and after a moment he opened his eyes, but he wasn’t in Nepal. He was somewhere else.

“Where am I?” he asked someone who was passing by him.

“Dubai,” a man replied in a forgein language that Leo didn’t know.

“What?” Leo asked, but the man was already gone.

“He said you are in Dubai.” Leo turned around and there was a kid behind him. He was about Leo’s age, had brown hair, and his face reminded Leo of someone familiar.

“Misha! What are you doing here?”

It wasn’t long when Leo found out that he could teleport. He was thinking a lot about Dubai, so he teleported. This was too much for Leo already! Misha and Leo were at the entrance of the Burj Khalifa.

“You’re going to fly that high?” Misha looked at the top of the tower. 

“Yeah, I flew on top of Mount Everest, too. No biggie,” Leo said confidently.

Misha’s eyes almost popped out of his face. “Okkayyy…”

So Leo was halfway up the tower when he saw the water make bigger waves than before.  He stopped flying and there was someone that appeared from the water. He heard people screaming and saw people running. It was Nikyl. He had blue eyes and black hair. His face was blank. He had a poker face. And then there was this water strike coming from Nikyl, aiming at him. It was blue and foaming with bubbles. It was about to touch him when it immediately turned into ice and fell down.  Leo looked down and saw Misha, smiling.

“Did you do that?” Leo asked.

Misha nodded, still smiling.  

Leo looked up at Nikyl and saw that he was manipulating a water monster, so Leo flew to Nikyl, but stopped because he looked familiar, too, like when he met Misha.

“Sabino?” Leo asked, confused. Nikyl looked a lot like Sabino, who Leo was friends with also. In fact, Misha, Leo, and Sabino made up a trio.

“Who are you, how do you know me, and why are you here?” Nikyl or, as Leo suspected, Sabino asked.

“Oh, let me introduce myself.” Leo struck a huge bolt of lightning that pierced through the sky like Achilles’ sword, and Sabino stumbled, surprised.

“Convenient, Leo, that you’re back.” Leo and Sabino did the same ‘secret handshake’ that Misha and Leo did when Leo went to Misha’s house to ask where the potion is.

“Umm… guys?” Misha shouted from way below, “Could you come down here? I don’t think I can get up there.”

“Be proactive,” Sabino said.

“And you can easily build an ice staircase,” Leo added.

“Nah. I think it’s a little weird that we are up there. Just really, you know,” Misha pointed at the spectators who were mostly taking pictures with their phones, even a newscast.

So Sabino and Leo came down to meet Misha when about a thousand of people came to meet them to interview them. They reminded Leo of his clones. But worse.

A lot worse.

Part Four: Ending

Place: Annapolis, Maryland

Dimension: Hearth-not-Earth

Dum-tek-a-dum

Sabino’s drum gave a unique rhythm that banged through his house like the drum was summoning something. Everyone in the house was doing some movements, from nodding the head, to dancing. At least everyone was having a great time. Misha was playing the clarinet, and Leo, the trumpet. It was a year after the three had met in Dubai. All of them were very blown away that each of them had powers.

The song ended and everyone was cheering, “Happy birthday Sabino!”

It was Sabino’s eighteenth birthday.

They were done with higher school, (or high school) and since it was Sabino’s birthday on the last day of school, the moms of the trio decided to throw a party. A big one. All of the students were invited. 

Leo felt like the happiest person in the world. And so he knew, there were a lot more possibilities than a flash of lightning.

THE END

Or is it…

Yes it is…or maybe not…or maybe…you don’t know…only I do…dun dun dun!


The Amber Ring

Chapter 1

Sharpay

Right now, I am running for my life along with my faithful sibling who is holding the amber ring that we must hide, even though I am only 12.

“To the slope quickly!” Ben yelled. 

Though the villains chasing us had ideas of their own… You must be very confused, but I promise it will all be explained when I am not being chased by 2 people who can kill. 

Oh good, we’re here. The amber ring cave. Now that we’re safe, let’s begin. 

Recap: Ben and I were normal kids, or at least we thought we were. Our mom owned a ring that we always thought was beautiful, but now we know it was dangerous. Inside this ring was a very dangerous specimen, whatever that means. That’s all Mom ever said about it. Oh, I forgot. The people who were chasing us were the leaders of the other side of the fight.

 They wanted the ring because they wanted us dead. 


Chapter 2

Ben 

“Oh wow, that was fun,” I said sarcastically. 

“That wasn’t fun,” Sharpay said, clearly sarcasm was not in her vocabulary. Or readily understood. 

Tomorrow is my birthday, and the biggest gift I can get is being alive and safely having the ring. I remember when we used to throw a big party in the backyard with sprinklers, the yummy cake that Mom always made, and the bouncy house that Dad put together. I miss them. Even though they are just a few miles away, it feels like I will never see them again. 

“Ben, Ben, Ben! What are you writing?” 

“Nothing.” I quickly covered the book. My sister could be so annoying sometimes. Suddenly, we heard buzzing. 

“They’re back!” 

We climbed into the secret hole that was hidden at the base of the cave.

“Sharpay! Quickly!” 

We both jumped into the porthole towards the underground secret base. I quickly started to close the hatch.

“Wait!” Sharpay yelled, “My hair bow!”

Our mom gave each of us a present before we left for the secret mission. I got the journal (but I share it with Sharpay) and she got the hair bow. 

“Come on Sharpay!” 

She grabbed the bow and jumped into the hatch. I was waiting, ready to catch her. 

We ran, even though no one was chasing us. First mission complete. 

Chapter 3

Sharpay

We just arrived at the heart of the busy tunnels. There, our cousin, Will, was waiting for us. 

“Quickly!” he said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because they tracked me down.”

My heart was racing. My brother was arguing with Will. All I heard were scraps of the ongoing conversation. 

“I told you to be careful.” 

“I tried.” 

“You’re so much smarter than them.” 

“But they have the amber ring.” 

“No, we have it!” 

“Okay, whatever.” 

I stayed silent. I didn’t want Ben yelling at me. But I knew I had to say something, so I did. 

“How did they track you down?” I said quietly. 

Maybe I shouldn’t have asked this question, I thought to myself. Will looked upset. Then he told us a story that I will never forget. 

He got captured, and the villains said they would track down everyone and release the amber ring once they had it. So he had no choice but to reveal his location. 

“It’s fine,” Ben said. “We have many other bases.” 

“Okay,” said Will, reassured. 

Meanwhile I keep thinking about the sparkle I saw when I left the cave. I screamed! 

“What was that about?” Ben asked. “You’re going to make my eardrums bleed.” 

“We lost the amber ring!” I said, trembling, 

“No, we didn’t, it is in my backpack. Look!” 

It wasn’t there. Without thinking, I ran back to the cave. I only stopped for as much as a breath of air. I didn’t look back. I tried to block the noises of Ben’s screaming. Finally, I made it to the amber ring cave. 

Suddenly, strong arms grabbed me, and then darkness. 

Chapter 4

Ben 

I couldn’t believe Sharpay. She made us go through so much trouble. Tracing and retracing my footsteps over and over again. We finally arrived at the palace that the villains lived in. Somehow, I thought that she would be here. I don’t know what brought me here, fate or coincidence, but out of some magic, I knew she was here. Thank god, the villains weren’t home. 

Plan: 

  1. Go to the back door, and then use rope to hoist ourselves onto the roof. 
  2. Pound a hole through the roof, tie the rope and lower ourselves down.
  3. Find a good hiding place. 
  4. Um, uh, think of a number 4. 
  5. Search the house for Sharpay and look for any breadcrumbs 
  6. Find Sharpay (hopefully) 
  7. Hoist ourselves back up through the roof and down to safety.

Easy. 

Not. 

I couldn’t let this happen to my little sister. She could be annoying at times, but I made a promise to keep her safe. 

“Don’t worry. Nothing will go wrong,” Will said.

“About a thousand things could go wrong.” 

“At least it’s not a thousand and one!” 

I rolled my eyes. “We don’t have much time, let’s go.”

Will and I crawled through the grass to the back of the house.

“Rope,” I said, holding my hand out.

“Check,” Will said.

They had a chimney, so step 2 wasn’t needed. I picked up all the rope and dropped it down the chimney. Then I tied the rope around my waist and jumped. Immediately, I saw that Sharpay untied her bow and placed it on the floor. 

“Why can’t I come?” Will called from above.

“You need to keep a lookout!” I yelled back.

I followed the bow, which had been unfurled, towards the bookshelf, where there was a 

poem:

You must go where the rare orchids grow

then go below where there is no foe                                    

then to the maze where the young does graze

You are in a daze to be amazed                                                                                 

And there you will find me – Sharpay

 Chapter 5

Sharpay

I untied my ribbon and led it to a certain bookshelf, then wrote a small note and placed it within a book. I moved quickly and secretly before the villains noticed. 

“Move on quickly, or else I’ll slap you.”

I moved at a fast pace, hoping to keep up with my captors. I heard them talking to one another. 

“We’re gonna have to leave to search for the ring. Hope the girl doesn’t escape.”

One of the men opened a secret passage. I knew about the secret passage, of course. That’s why I mentioned it in my poem. Mom had been in a similar situation as I was, and if she could escape, then I could too. Even though I knew Ben would come to rescue me, I still wanted to find a way to escape on my own. 

In the secret passage, orchids lined the walls, or at least I thought they did. I was pretty sure they were orchids. I brought my nose towards the bright purple flowers. 

“Get a move on, girl! Get in here and do not make a noise,” the villains said.

I did as I was told. I nodded silently as I was getting pushed and dragged into a cage. I looked out one of the small windows in the cage, I saw a bird and felt a ray of hope. But then, the door clanged shut behind me. I was trapped! At least I had the amber ring. But I hoped Ben would know where to go and would bring his lock picks.

I studied the cage to find a secret code, but instead of finding a code, I found a key! Hidden in the dirt was a silver, curved key. Suddenly, I had a thought. Maybe mom knew I might be captured one day and left a key for me! I smiled, thinking of my clever parents. I opened the door and ran outside. Only to bump into to a horrified Ben!                             

“Aaaaaaaahh!” 

“Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!”

Giggling, I fell to the floor.

“Guess I didn’t need to find you,” Ben said sheepishly.

“Guess not.” I smiled.

Chapter 6

Ben

I almost wanted to kill Sharpay, but she had been kidnapped, so I’d wait to yell.

“I miss Mom and Dad,” Sharpay said sadly.

I did too, but I didn’t dare tell Sharpay. 

“Come on, let’s go!” I said to Sharpay, 

I was not mad but I was scared because the villains could come back any second now. We ran, hopefully to never come back to this horrible place. Sharpay and I ran up the stairs to where we entered the fortress. 

“Will, come on!” I yelled up through the chimney. 

“I’ll meet you outside,” Will responded with a loud echo. 

What does he have, a microphone? I thought to myself. 

Sharpay and I ran outside through the main door. This was easier than the way we came in. Why didn’t we just do this?

 Will… When outside, we saw Will with an ice cream cone. 

“Where’d you get that?!” Sharpay yelled. 

“I got bored, then a little hungry, so I raided the kitchen for something sweet. Then I found this! I really hope it’s not poisoned.” 

“Why did you eat that!” I said.

“I was hungry! This flavor is worth getting poisoned for.” 

Sharpay rolled her eyes with a little smile. 

“Come on, let’s go to the stream. There’s a rowboat there. We can use it to escape,” I said. 

Little Tip from Will: 

If you are on a secret mission, going to a top-secret place, avoid the road and always take nature path. Be careful of poison ivy! 

P.S. always bring snacks. 

We walked towards an abandoned treehouse. We used it as our secret base. Sharpay went up to grab a map. She handed it to me and then we were off! Following Will’s long complaints about how we had no snacks besides peanut butter and apples. After a while, Will was satisfied. 

 

Chapter 7

Sharpay 

After we made it to the rowboat, Ben lifted it up and then dropped it again! 

“What’s wrong Ben?” I said.

“There’s writing on the bottom!” 

“What type of writing?” 

“It looks like mostly gibberish.” 

“Look again, maybe it’s a code!” Will said. 

“Will, can I use your notebook?” Ben asked. 

“It’s mostly just doodles of burgers and fries!” Will exclaimed. 

“Can you spare us one page?” 

“But, it’s my french fries and burger collection.” 

“Fine.” 

Ben flipped the boat over and examined the code. 

“Look at it,” he said.

“Sharpay, remember when Mom taught us to crack different codes?”

“Yeah. I remember my favourite one was to cross out all the even numbers,” I reply. 

“Okay, let’s try that.” 

T S U Y N L N Z E

M L H B F E L E S W

Q I U T H H O M

T O F M P A

N X D 3 D 3 A 3 D

TUNNEL BEE WITH MOM AND DAD 


Chapter 8

Ben

“Sharpay, do you still remember the way to Tunnel Bee?”

“Yes, we just have to go north for 16 miles, east for 7 miles, and then north for 2 more miles, then we go underground.” 

“Will, how long would it take to go 16 miles north?” 

“About an hour and a half.” 

“Only!?” Sharpay said. 

“Yup.” 

“It’ll take a lot longer than an hour and a half, if we don’t go,” I said.

We rowed for a while. I was glad Will doesn’t complain as much about food as before. Suddenly, Sharpay got quiet. 

“What is it?” I asked. 

“That,” Sharpay said, pointing into the distance. 

In the distance, there was a black sky with angry thunder and waves taller than our house. Which was pretty tall. 

“Sharpay! Find the nearest island or place to dock.” I yelled through the wind, but it was too late. Sharpay grabbed me as a massive wave went over the boat. I saw Sharpay drop the amber ring. 

“Thank you,” I mouthed through the wind.

Our boat split into two! I held onto the front of the boat with one hand. With the other, I grabbed Sharpay as tightly as I could. I wanted to say that everything was going to be alright, but I don’t like to lie. Black waves sloshed all around us. Finally, I couldn’t hold on any longer. I let go of the boat, and Sharpay and I were flooded by darkness. Even though I couldn’t see anything, I made sure that my grip on Sharpay remained strong. 


Chapter 9

Sharpay 

In the morning, I woke up on a sand dune. I reached into my pocket and took out the hair bow. I was glad it wasn’t lost in the storm. Just a few inches away, Ben was sitting down, writing in his journal. 

“Morning Ben.” 

“You’re already awake?”

“Where’s Will?”

“I don’t know where he is, maybe he’s—” 

“Look! I have a piña colada.” Will said, holding up a large coconut with a weed straw. Ben glared at Will. I tried to hold back a small giggle, but it still came out. I avoided looking at Ben, because he would probably glare at me too. 

“Where did you find the coconuts?” Ben asked. 

“You mean, piña colada.” 

“No trust me, I mean coconuts.” 

“No, I’m pretty sure you mean piña coladas.”

“Sharpay, what do you think?” 

“Sorry, Ben, but I’m going to say piña coladas.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll show you where the piña coladas are.”

“Since we’re gonna be stuck on this island, palm trees might make a good fort, and coconuts come from palm trees, so we can eat and sleep,” Ben stated, clearly annoyed by the piña colada incident. 

“I can build a fire,” I said.

“Fine with me,” Ben said.

“Will, come chop wood with me.” 

“Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,” Will said. “Can I continue collecting more piña coladas?”

“No,” Ben said. “Now c’mon.” 

Will followed him, dragging his steps. 

“Phew,” I said. I hate chopping wood. 

Will tossed me his lighter. “Good luck,” he mouthed. This should be easy. How hard could it be? Soon, I had a fire burning brightly. A few minutes later, Ben came holding a mound of wood. Will came back holding a handful of berries. I rolled my eyes. We all helped Ben build the walls in the hut. 

Soon, I found that my stomach was rumbling. 

As if Ben read my mind. “There’s a lot of coconuts if anyone’s hungry.” 

“Piña coladas,” Will said. 

“Piña coladas,” Ben said, whispering to himself. 

Soon, my eyes started to close. “Goodnight,” I murmured, and fell into a dreary sleep. 


Chapter 10

Ben    

I shook Sharpay awake. A small boat was pulling up and inside was—

“Mom, Dad!”

Sharpay and I ran up to our parents, hugging them long and hard.

“I thought you would never come back,” Sharpay said, tears streaming down her eyes.

Dad turned to me as if I had something to say. I was speechless. I felt a tear well up my cheek. I ran into their arms.

“I missed you so much,” I said. 

I climbed into their small boat. 

“Will!” Mom said. “Your parents are waiting for you at your house. Come with us.”

“My parents?” Will said and happily climbed into the boat. 

We all sailed away happily.

Will tip:

Family is the best! 

Epilogue 

Ben and Sharpay

When Ben and Sharpay get home, they celebrate Ben’s birthday party. Their mom makes a yummy cake, and their dad puts together a bouncy castle. Soon, the family got used to being home again. 

I know that this is not a fairytale, but they did live happily ever after. 


A New Kind of Freedom

Hi. My name is Ellie-Mae. I am moving from freezing Minnesota to boiling Florida. I am not ready. The whole reason I have to move is because of my mom’s stupid new job. At the moment, I am throwing out out all my pants, long sleeved shirts, and coats. Now I have to buy a ton of shorts and sun hats and sunscreen and popsicles and flip flops and I think I’m losing my mind. I am putting everything into giant garbage bags and in half an hour, we’re taking it to goodwill.

“EM? Where are you?” yells my mom. Sometimes she calls me EM just to save time.

“Right here mom,” I yell back.

“Ellie, we’re leaving in half an hour!” she says, entering my room. “Ellie, stop dawdling, we have to leave!!”

“I know, Mom. You’ve only told me, like, a million times,” I say back. “Also, I’m not dawdling.” I can’t believe she is doing this. She is making me move away from everything I’ve ever known, and now, she is lecturing me for dawdling. Really, mom?

I hear a cry from the next room. “Momma, Holly took my toy again!!” Oh great. It’s the littlies. Holly and Joy are six year old twins, and they are identical in looks, but in nothing else. Joy is a spunky, adventurous daredevil, while Holly is forever cautious, except about stealing everything of Joy’s. They are so annoying. I however, am 12, nowhere near six. I just don’t get them. They act like everything is such a big deal.

Hey, wait a minute. I run into their room. “Aren’t you guys supposed to be packing up your toys?”

Joy puts on her cute face and cute voice. “I sowwy, Ewwie. I didn’t mean too. They just looked like,” she sniffs, “so much fun.”

“OK, fiiine,” I say. Even though the twins are annoying, they are still so cute. They both have streaky blonde hair, like I used to. (Now I have brown) They also have these beautiful blue eyes. Mine are just hazel.

A few hours later…

All my stuff is gone. Everything. Everything for weather under 50 degrees. No more hoodies, or sweatpants. No more winter boots, or winter hats. No more fuzzy fleeces, or heaters. We will need about a kajillion ACs and fans. I’m actually kind of sad. Before I know it, tears are streaming down my cheeks. I know it sounds silly, crying over giving away some old pants, but, for some reason, it’s making me really emotional. Oh well. I guess I’ll just try to get some sleep. After all, it is 11pm and I have to get up early to pack more.

“Ellie-Mae Rose Davis!!! Get up!!!” That’s what I woke up to this morning.

“Yeah, Mom, I overslept. What’s the big deal?!” I responded, because she oversleeps all the time.

“Ellie, it’s 1 o’clock!!!” she said. So now I am rushing to pack up all my books before the van comes at 1:45.

Finally, I’m done. Now I’m gonna go check on the twins juuuuust in case. I open up my door, and march into the twins room. Sure enough, they are sitting on their beds not packing at all. 

“Hey guys, come on, you know what—Joy?” Joy is crying. That’s not like her at all.

I sit on her bed. “Joy, what happened?” I say in my most gentle voice possible. It’s not gentle enough. She grouches.

“Why do you want to know?” Man. I thought I was being gentle.

“Hmmph,” I hmmph and walk away. I go over to Holly. “Holly, what happened to Joy?” I say to her.

“I don’t know!! She just started crying out of nowhere!!” Holly responds. Oh well, I think. I’ll get to this later. We’re moving tomorrow. That’s what I should worry about. I go back into my room, and keep packing up my books. 

OK, so it’s four am and moving day. The twenty six hour drive is straight ahead. Luckily, nobody in our family gets carsick, so we won’t have to do a barf stop an hour in. We are leaving at four so we can get as much driving time as possible. We get in the car. It’s a seven seater, even though we only have four people in our family. My mom in the front, me in the middle row, and the twins in the back. That means I get a big comfy seat to myself. That’s good because it’s such a long car ride. I have my snack bag, with cheetos, chex mix, string cheese, oreos, goldfish, bunny grahams, and more. I get hungry fast. That is why I have so much food. I also have my phone with Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen on it. It’s really all I listen to. If you haven’t listened to those musicals, you really should. They are great for car rides. OK, onward. We buckle in, and zoom off. 

Not five minutes into the ride, Holly says, “Mommy?”

“Yes Holly?”

“Um, I forgot to use the bathroom,” she responds.

My mom pulls over into a gas station. “Go quickly,” she says.

And Holly does not. It’s been seven minutes now. My mom tells us to go in with her. We go in, and Holly is standing in front of the bathroom door.

She says, “I’ve been waiting for them to come out!!”

“Oh Holly!” my mom says. “You’re supposed to ask the employee for the key!! I thought you knew! Come on, let’s go.” My mom goes and asks the cashier for the key. He gives it to her and my mom unlocks the door. Holly goes and comes out.

“Okay, let’s go now,” I yell. We get back in the car and start driving again. I eat my cheez-its. I listen to Dear Evan Hansen. I listen to Hamilton. I listen to Dear Evan Hansen. It gets stuck in my head. Joy hits Holly. Holly hits Joy. Holly cries while Joy hits her again. Ugh. I turn my music up louder. I fall asleep. I wake up and it is 3pm. Wow, I slept a lot. Hamilton is still blasting in my ears. It’s hard to believe how I fell asleep listening to that. I look back and the twins are sleeping. Aww, how cute. Holly is sleeping on Joy’s shoulder. Ooh, Sincerely Me is coming on. (If you didn’t already know, it’s a song from Dear Evan Hansen that’s really funny.) 

One week later…

I am starting school tomorrow!!! Aah!! I have all my stuff. Composition notebooks. Graph paper. A calculator. I think I will be ready. The twins start school too. 1st grade. I know Joy is excited, but I’m not sure about Holly. She’s much more sensitive. I hope to make some friends. So, let’s go!!

Today’s the big day. School! I jump in the car, with my new striped backpack and buckle in. We’re off! It is a short drive, only about 10 minutes. I step out, and the new school is huge! Four stories, and a big grass lawn. It looks very modern, mostly made of blue glass. I cannot believe how big it is. Okay, breathe, Ellie, breathe. I walk in and the hallways are filled with people.

Someone pushes me from behind and says, “Newbie.”

I walk into my classroom and every single person is tan. Tan, tan, tan. Some may be spray tans, but for the most part, natural. While I look like an albino polar bear in the snow. The teacher takes attendance. Emma? Noah? Sophia? Ellie Mae?

“Here,” I say. Everyone starts looking at me.

“Thank you Ellie Mae,” the teacher says, “but next time, you can just raise your hand.” 

Oh no. I’ve already messed up, and it’s not even lunch yet. I hear snickering in the background. Oh, good. It’s time for lunch. No wait. Not good. Not good at all. I won’t have anyone to sit with. Shoot. Maybe I’ll eat in the bathroom like in movies. That’ll really boost my social confidence. The girl who eats in the bathroom. Great. Perfect for my resume. The bell rings. Everyone runs out of the room. Everyone but me. I walk slowly out of the room.

As I’m walking around the school, I see a poster for one free sailing class. Hm. That actually sounds really fun. In Minnesota, nobody sailed at all. I haven’t even seen an ocean yet.

I text my mom and say, “Free sailing class 2 go 2. Can I go? It’s on Sep 12.”

She almost immediately texts back, “Sure. Also numbers are not words.” Yes! I might find something I actually like here in muggy Florida. 

It’s time. September 12th. My first ever sailing class. I’m in my new glittery bikini that I bought just for this. I walk towards the boat dock and I see a girl in the exact same swimsuit!! We both laugh and point at each other. I can’t believe we bought the same thing!! This is hilarious. We start talking and I figured out that her name is Juniper, and she’s lived in Florida her entire life. She told me that she could show me around. Oh my god, this is great!! I think I made a friend. I’m not sure yet, but I think I did. There are three other girls there, all in matching swimsuits with polka dots. I decide to call them the polka dot girls. There are also two boys who are in swim trunks. The instructor comes out, and she looks like she is about eighteen. 

She says, “Okay guys, I am your instructor, Jaylee, and I will teach you the basics of sailing. The number one thing is don’t get hit with the boom! The boom is the bottom part of the sail and it is strong enough to knock you off the boat, which we don’t want happening. The water is cold. So, let’s get started, shall we? First up we have, uh, Nicholas.” One of the boys stands up and goes over to Jaylee. I can see that she is telling him how to control the boat, but I can’t hear what she is saying. He goes out on his own after about 15 minutes, and slowly navigates the boat in a small circle. 

“Umm, Kacy?” Jaylee says. One of the polka dots gets up. She falls in while trying to dance on the boat. “Maisie?” Another polka dot. Maisie doesn’t fall in, but she decides that she doesn’t want to go out alone and Jaylee basically does it for her. “John?” 

“Can you call me Jack?” he asks. 

“Ok, Jack, it’s your turn,” says Jaylee. He navigates the boat very well. It’s Juniper’s turn now. 

“Good luck,” I whisper. She does okay. Jaylee has to yell out a couple instructions. Now it’s Chelsea, the last polka dottie. She also falls in. Finally, it’s my turn.

Jaylee whispers, “I’ve got a good feeling about you.” She explains everything to me, and then, I do it. I turn the rudder, I avoid the boom. I think I did everything almost perfect. I steer the boat back to shore and Jaylee hugs me.

“You did so well!!” she cries, “I knew it.” I am just in awe. It was really fun. I can’t believe I had done so well. I now know what I want to do. I want to sail.


Daisies

Emily was a girl like any other. She lived in a modest good sized house with her mother, father, and older brother Sam. Remember this now you might need this later.

That Tuesday, Emily went and picked daisies from the meadow.

“Ooh, pink daisies,” Emily cried. She quickly scooped them up and scurried home.

As soon as she went home, her older brother Sam ran over to her. As soon as he saw the daisies, he locked eyes with his sister and shared a worried look. Emily was confused. Sam dragged her to the kitchen, grabbed the daisies, ripped them up, and poured them down the drain. 

“Hey!” Emily screamed. “Get back here!” She started chasing him all around the house. As they tore through the living room, their mother was reading a book on the couch. 

“What is the meaning of this?” their mother asked. Sam told her about the daisies while catching his breath. At each word he said, his mother’s face paled even more. Emily was fed up.
“Why are you acting like the daisies are something bad? They’re just flowers!” Her mother didn’t hear her as she was calling for their father. 

Her father raced into the room and their mother started launching into an explanation of the daisies. Like their mother, his face paled at each word she spoke.

And Emily repeated, “What is the deal with the daisies? They’re just a bunch of flowers.”

Her father told her that they would explain in the car as he told her to pack just the essentials. Her mother shoved her blue and pink striped travel bag at her and told her to pack a flashlight and some spare socks. Her mother grabbed her and Sam’s coats and shoved them through the door, and the second they stepped into the car, the door was closed. 

Her father was usually one to go by the rules and he was a slow driver, but Emily was surprised at how fast he was driving, making sharp turns and not stopping at stop signs. 

“Now can you tell me what the deal about the daisies are?” Emily asked. 

Her mother took a deep breath and sighed. 

“This started a long time ago, during which your great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother, Agnes, was alive. She was a duchess. In other words, an ambassador of England.”

“Wow,” Emily breathed, “so we’re royalty!”

“Not now, Emily. This is important,” her mother said. So she continued the story, “Agnes was an ambassador of England. Since she was an ambassador, she travelled everywhere. From France, to Spain, even all the way to Japan. One day after a long trip to Norway, she sat down in the meadow. Yes, Emily, the very meadow you picked your daisies from.”

While Agnes was sitting down, she had a question. She thought to herself, ‘Why are the daisies pink? And why do they only bloom at a certain time and at a certain date?’ So she decided to go and ask the landscaper and the gardener. They had no idea. They told her that the daisies were there when they came, so they never bothered with them. A few times they tried taking them out but they wouldn’t budge. 

“So she went to the King. He was a personal friend. She didn’t talk to him all that much because he was a king, but she wasn’t afraid to talk to him. The King didn’t know either. All he knew was that his father’s father met a merchant on the street, and the merchant sold the seeds to him. That day he planted the seeds, and when he woke up, the flowers were fully grown. That was impossible. Agnes knew something fishy was going on, so she headed to the council. The council knew nothing more than the gardener, landscaper, or the King. So Agnes decided to find some information for herself. 

“The next day she headed to the royal library. She knew she was in for a long day because the library was three stories high (that was very high back then because they didn’t have the technology we do).” 

“I’m hungry,” Sam moaned. 

“Shhh,” Emily whispered, “I want to listen to the story.” 

“Here,” Mom said, and she tossed Sam a granola bar and gave Emily a box of yogurt covered raisins. 

“Now back to the story,” Mom said, “as Agnes walked down the long, cavernous hall, she looked at all of the books. She grabbed a big pile of books and settled down into the big, comfy armchair. She read and read and never saw anything about pink daisies, let alone daisies that only show up once a month. All she found was a chapter about glowing pink fungus. When she was about to give up and head home, a book caught her eye. It was titled: Flowers of the Rainbow. 

‘I guess one more book couldn’t hurt,’ Agnes said to herself. So Agnes settled herself once again into the big, comfy chair.

“When she reached the last chapter, the chapter about pink flowers, she found what she was looking for. So she rushed home to the gardener, the landscaper, the King, and the council. They couldn’t believe their ears, but apparently a councilman was taken aback by Agnes’ determination (it wasn’t very common for women to be too determined on a single thing. Mostly they were just there for tea parties), so he asked her to marry him. Of course she said yes. So they lived a good life and had three children. One of them was your great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother Fiona.”

“How did Agnes meet the councilman?” Emily cried.

“How did he decide to marry her right there and then?” Sam asked. 

“Woah, woah,” their mom said. “One at a time, one at a time. But let me finish my story first!

“When she and the councilman were married, they decided to do research about the pink daisies together. They found that the pink daisies were planted by leprechauns. That was the reason the plants wouldn’t budge. They tried to make the petals green, but it was a miscalculation and  they made the petals pink! Leprechauns hate pink, so that’s why the daisies only show up once in a blue moon. So, on the next blue moon, (12 years later) they went to the flowers and met the leprechauns (they show up every blue moon to look at the daisies). So when she went to the leprechaun, Agnes apologized for disturbing the flowers, and that nobody in her family (the Bellinghangrhs) would ever bother the pink daisies again.”

“But why did we have to run away?” Emily asked, still confused. 

“Because Agnes struck a deal with the leprechauns that whoever picked the daisies would have to serve them for 100 years.”

“But I can’t live 100 years!” Emily cried.

“Don’t worry, Agnes made sure that if we had a good, valid reason, we would not have to serve 100 years of servitude. Instead, we would pick them red bell peppers for 2 years. I know you don’t like the sound of that, but Agnes saved you from 100 years of leprechaunian servitude, and that’s harsh!”

“But you still didn’t answer why we had to run away.” Emily said.

“Oh we aren’t running away, sweetheart. We just can’t be late to the place where we meet the leprechauns or else they will think it’s a sign that we think that we’re better than them.” 

3 Days later … 

“Wow, I’m glad we got that over with,” Emily said, slumping on the couch. “I’m pooped!” 

“Haha,” Sam said, “you said ‘pooped’.” 

“Oh shut up Sam!” Emily said.

“Now we don’t use that language,” their mom said. 

“Sorry mom,” Emily muttered. 

“What a day,” their father said. “At least we got out of 100 years of leprechaunian servitude! But your mom almost made it 6 years of picking red bell peppers.”

“But I didn’t!” Mom called from the kitchen. 

“But barely,” Dad whispered.

“I heard that,” Mom said, standing at the doorway with her hands on her hips.

“Ooh, hands on her hips is not a good sign,” Sam said. 

Mom cast a disapproving stare at the both of them. 

“Someone’s in trouble, someone’s in trouble,” Emily chanted, tauntingly.

“I’m gonna get you,” Sam said.

“Get back here you two!” their father said as he tackled them to the couch. Their mother gave them another disapproving glare, this time at Emily too. 

“Ha ha,” Sam said jumping to his feet, “you can’t punish me if you can’t catch me.”

Emily ran with him. Their mother chased after them, their father right behind her as he tried to reason with her.

“Margaret”—(Margaret was their mother’s name, Robert was their father’s)—“they’re just kids!” he tried to tell her, catching his breath at the same time.

As the family tore through the house, Emily thought, “I have the best family!”


World of Women

1/23/19

Running for Change

I was running. Who knew I would be running for my life while I was trying to change the world? My heart was pounding as an angry mob of kids chased me. They threw the flyers that I gave them at me. It was a terrible sight. This was not the day I was planning. I started walking home.

2/6/19

College

I found a place to hide as the mob rush past. I don’t have much time to explain, but I am Violet. I don’t know parents. When I was little, probably five, my parents died. I was left in my brother’s dorm room. Finally I ran away. College classes were so boring. They were not hard. They were just so boring. Even though I’m only eleven, I studied since I was five and a half. I got As on all my tests. I’m even better then my brother, Benjamin.

¨Mom and Dad would be proud,” Ben always said. I never believed him. He is seven years older than me, but I’m much smarter. This is why I ran away once I got better then my brother (that took a year and a half). But now I’́m changing the world, one girl at a time.

2/19/19 

Changing the World

I have a job, a house and a family. I have a job at the Women’s Rights Society. I change women’s lives across the globe. I have a small house in Cape Cod. I live with my cousins Lilian and Nicholas. Lilian works at the Women’s Rights Society with me. Nicholas is a soccer teacher. 

Our house has two bedrooms, a small kitchen, and two bathrooms. Lilian, Nicholas, and I all sleep in one room. Lilian and I sleep on the top bunk and Nicholas sleeps on the bottom bunk. The other bedroom they use for a reading room. 

In the Women’s Rights Society we get groups of people or schools to focus on human rights. People usually thought it was unfair we focus only on women’s rights. They think it’s a problem. They’re the problem! They are the ones who are being so unfair! Since I’m 12 now and already finished college my goal is to save 7,300 more lives in the next ten years.

That means I would save two to four people a day. That’s Lilian’s and my dream: change the world and save it. Lilian just got a new job at the Save The World Society. Her boss and the President of the society is her friend, Brigid. Lilian’s friend, Lily, is the vice president of the society. Brigid and Lily want to save the world, one plastic bag at a time.

3/2/19

Saving the World Society

Lilian works in two societies. Two days at The Women’s Rights Society and three days at Saving The World Society. On Lilian’s second week at her new job, Lilian takes me to her new job. Everyone is so nice. They are all women and they all love The Women’s Society. Today, Lilian has a test to make sure she can do the job. We always have to take a test because we’re kids. People! We graduated college already and we were eleven!! Give us a break!!!

3/12/19

Lilian

When Lilian comes home today, something happened. Lilian walked up to the door. Her brown hair was in a long braid. She walked to the door slowly. She opened the door.

“How did you do?” I asked. She looked so sad I shouldn’t have asked.

4/5/19

The Test

“I did it!!! I passed!!!” Lilian screamed. I was so happy for her. Now she can change the world and save it!

“Lily even said I did better than most of the adults!”

“That is so great!” I said. I was so happy for her.

5/27/19

The Women’s Rights Society

I walked to work the next day. Work was only 1 stop on the F train. I opened the door.

“Violet,” Rio said, “Sam would like to see you.” Rio works at the front desk. She tells people what the company is about. It’s been a few months since I started my goal. I saved 90 people each month. In other words I saved 270 people in three months that means I saved 2-3 people a day. I thought of all this as I walked to Sam’s office. I knock on her office door.

“Come in,” Sam said. It didn’t really think it sounded like Sam. I went in any way. I really regret that. It was dark in the room something jumped on me…

 6/9/19

The Evil President

When I woke up it was dark, but I sensed Sam. She always wore a lot of perfume. I snuck to the door. I opened it. I ran. I really wish I got just a promotion. I ran and ran down 8 flights of stairs. Everyone asked me what was going on. Sam had gone mad. I called the police.

“Hello,” the person on the other line said. 

“Yes,” I said. “Someone’s gone mad.” 

“We will be over in 10 minutes,” they said.

“Bye,” I said. I locked Sam in the worker’s lounge room.

“I guess we need a new president,” someone said.

“Let’s make Violet the President of the society,” another person said.

1/23/29

Women’s Rights Society President

After Sam was put in jail, I became president of the society. It’s been 10 years since I started my goal. I’ve done it! Saved 7,300 lives in ten years! I’m still changing the world, one girl at a time.


The Mermystery

There once was a mermaid named Laura and she was twenty one. Laura had two friends. The friends’ names were Anna and Sophie. Laura was still not married. Anna was getting married in twenty days and Sophie was getting married in thirty days. The next day, all three of them went for a swim in the prettiest reef in seven miles from Anna’s home. In about forty minutes later, they went to their hideout. Then they got there so they swam out and all went back to their home. The next day, while they were waiting, they saw a light, but they ignored it and swam away. They talked about both of the weddings for a while. Then, when they were swimming back before they split up, they saw the light again and were getting curious. They went closer and then Laura’s tail got stuck on a fishing hook. Someone tugged on the line and started to reel it up. Anna and Sophie started trying to get the hook off her tail, but it wouldn’t budge. It was getting really close to the surface and all three of them heard the fisherman saying that he saw something orange, which was Laura’s tail. And they all got very scared. 

Laura made herself invisible quick and the fisherman were surprised because he thought he saw something on the hook. And then Laura dropped on the boat and it made a sound. The fisherman got scared. He knew that he was just hallucinating. Then, she thought really hard to get legs, but that didn’t work. The fisherman started to drive his boat away with Laura. Sophie and Anna started to follow the boat and they rushed in front of it, trying to stop the boat. But they were not strong enough. Laura tried to wiggle off the boat, and her tail was halfway off, but it wouldn’t budge. She was getting too dry and she saw a water bottle on the boat. The fisherman turned around and Laura took the water bottle she saw and poured it all over herself. She was so close to getting off the boat and she flipped off, and it made a huge splash. The fisherman knew that he was not hallucinating, so he jumped in. Laura saw Anna and Sophie, and all three of them became invisible. And they swam off, putting bubbles in the fisherman’s face. The fisherman swam after them, but they were too fast. The fisherman had never been so curious in his life. The mermaids were out of sight to the fisherman, but they were really at their hideout. The fisherman was running out of air and he could not see them, so he gave up and swam up to his boat, jumped on his boat, dried himself with a spare towel he brought, and drove away in his boat, feeling very scared.

For a little bit the three mermaids stayed in their hideout, in case. Right before they were leaving, Laura said that no one should say anything to their parents because they would be furious. The next day, they went for their morning swim over the reef and swam to their hideout and Laura said that the light that they saw was not the boat because she’s seen a boat and that’s not what it looks like. So the next morning, they followed the light and they were seeing something very big after swimming many miles. When they got a bit closer, they saw it wasn’t blurry anymore. They saw a place with lots of guards, but they moved aside to let the light in. The three of them made themselves invisible so that they could go into the palace too.

They saw a big room with everything you could imagine. When they got closer to the light, still invisible, they saw that it was the Queen of Mermaids. She had a light face, and her name was Aquata. Close up, she looked very pretty with very long dark blue hair.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

The three mermaids became visible and said, “How did you see us?”

“I am the Queen of Mermaids. Of course I can see you. I just didn’t tell the guards because they could destroy you,” Aquata said. The Queen says to Laura, “I know you are not married yet and your parents are not happy about that. So I have a great prince for you. I will throw the biggest wedding because he is my son.”

Laura screamed, “Yes!” And then, Aquata said to the three mermaids that she would lead them out so the guards wouldn’t do anything to them. She wanted Laura alive for the wedding. She escorted them out of the castle and swam home. When Laura went home, she told her parents about the Queen’s son and how they were getting married. Her parents had no choice but to say, “yay” because they needed Laura to get married and because she was now going to become the next queen once Aquata dies.

The next day, they tried to go back into the castle by being invisible, but the guards did not open the doors since they only opened for the queen. And then Laura pulled them aside and said that if they swam over them really high up to the sea level, they can get in. It was difficult to get in, but they did it. They walked into Aquata’s room and Aquata was so mad at them. Again, she held them by the tails and told the guards not to let them in again. The guards were surprised that they did not see them come in and were furious because they tricked them. They swam back eighty miles to the reef and talked there. And Anna wrote everything down with water pen. And then Anna gave the water paper to Sophie to take it to her home because it was the safest. 

The next day, Sophie brought the paper which had everything about the castle, guards, and Queen Aquata. Then, the Queen met them on the reef and behind her was her son. Sophie crumpled the paper in her hand. Aquata said in a serious voice that Laura and her friends had to come practice at her castle for the wedding. Sophie took a water pen and pencil to take notes. She and Anna had to come because they were the bridesmaids. They went to the castle and they had to catch up to the Queen and Prince because they were very fast. The three mermaids caught up to them right at the castle and they went to the royal wedding room. After the four hour practice, the three of them went back to their homes and the son stayed to measure his wedding gown. The next day, Aquata came to the reef with her son to practice again and this happened for another couple of months. 

Finally, it was the last practice and Aquata taught them so well that it could not be ruined. During the ceremony, as Laura was about to get married, Laura’s uncle Daileass barged in.

“Uncle Daileass, what are you doing here?! You were not invited,” Laura screamed.

“I want to be King!” Daileass said. Before the wedding, he took the crown that the son was gonna put on as a king, but he poisoned it. The prince looked at the crown and saw some green dots on it. He had experience with it and knew that Daileass did it because he wanted to be King.

The Prince yelled to his guards, “Get him!” The guards took Daileass out and they finished the wedding with the bridesmaids and they lived happily ever after with four merchildren.


Secrets in the Shadows

Carol

My name is Carol Mystic. I am twelve years old and I died. Dying is not that bad. It doesn’t hurt. It just feels like falling asleep. I don’t remember what happened. All I remember is that it happened at the playground and I don’t know who did it. I know what I have said so far doesn’t sound bad but I am so mad at whoever pulled me from my family forever. My story is trying to find life again. Everyone who dies wants something and I want to come back. 

Jase

I don’t feel dead, but I know I am. I am not some angel with feathery wings. I just wander around the site of my death. I don’t leave it and that’s because if I leave, a part of me will stay (it is hard to explain). This rule applies to all spirits.  I am fourteen and I died in my garden. My physical body stays, but my personality watches as my family holds a small ceremony in our yard and as my body is carried away forever.

Shy

My name is Shy Ash and I am still alive. I can see the two dead children. I am thirteen, but I am powerful. I can see the dead. Carol and Jase want to come back and I will try to help them, even if it kills me. After Carol died, the playground closed and Jase’s parents have high security now. But I will bring them back permanently.

Carol

My parents moved after I died, moved to New York from New Jersey. I was going to get to New York by boat. As I stepped outside the playground, I felt half of my personality torn from my body. As I walked, I saw my reflection in a window. My shoulder-length deep brown hair, my extremely rare deep red eyes, and my albino skin, just the way it had been when I face planted in the dirt when I died a year ago. And then I felt it. I crumpled in pain as the aftershock of leaving half of me behind came, but I kept going.

Jase 

“Oh dear,” I said when I realized my perfect brown hair was covered in dirt. At least my brown skin was okay.

“Okay,” I sighed, “here goes,” and I climbed over the garden wall. The pain hit me like a tidal wave and I shut my green eyes and fell to the ground.

“Time to go,” I said and ran looking for the other dead who might be able to help me. And that is when I met the beautiful Shy Ash.

Shy

The way he looked at me was amazing. It was the way my mom looked at me before she died. Too stunned to say much,, I managed to utter one word.

“Carol,” I said.

“You can see me?” he gasped.

“Yes,” I said, “and I bring you back so everyone can see you.”

“But who is carol?” he asked me.

“Another kid who died,” I said. I grabbed his hand and together walked.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“To the harbour,” I said. “Carol will be there.”

We walked for a long time and then we found the boat and the gorgeous red-eyed spirit I was looking for.

Carol

One of the two figures was alive and she could see me, but the boy was dead.

“Listen,” said the girl, “I might be able to bring you back, but will have to listen to me.” I nodded. Any chance to be brought back is a blessing. The girl beckoned for me to follow her and I did. We end up stowing away on the boat. I am full of fear, not for myself because no one can see me, but I am scared for the girl who is visible to everyone.

Jase 

After we make proper introductions, Carol asks a question: “What will we say to our families if this works?”

Everyone is silent about this until I smartly say, “If you have magic to bring us back then can you just wipe everyone’s memories about our deaths?”

“No, you idiot!” says shy. “It’s called the spirit paradox and it is nearly impossible to use.”

Then we hear a stomping noise and the lid of the box we are hiding in is raised. A handsome blonde haired spirit is revealed.

“There are rules in death too,” he says but Shy leaps at him and drags him up to the deck. The rest is so awesome. 

Shy

I wrestled the blonde to the ground and held him there until he said, “Fine you can ride free,” but that did not satisfy me. I held him over the edge of the boat and dropped. He emerged, treading water and yelling at us. I giggled and we spent the rest of the rest of the ride in peace. We met more spirits, but I pretended she could not see them so they were all nice. When we reached the shore, Jase asked Carol a question: “Why were you trying to go to New York anyway?” 

Carol

“I just wanted to see my family one last time before they moved to Mexico. They were planning to stay in New York and move to Mexico,” I said.

Shy put her hand on my shoulder and said, “We need to go to find a spot to wait for the paradox to start.” We ended up staying at Shy’s aunt’s house. The building was a sweet pink color, unlike the woman inside.

“Shy. That’s you, I reckon, and I don’t reckon you’re wise to come back here,” she said. 

Jase

There are some things wrong with being a spirit: 1. You can’t fly. 2. You can’t see or walk through walls. 3. You can’t haunt dreams (well, not really). What I would want to do is haunt this woman’s dreams until she was nicer to shy. All through dinner she yelled at Shy about all the ways Shy’s mom’s (her sister’s) death was Shy’s fault.

Shy 

My name is Shy and I have a secret. I love Carol and I think she loves me back. But being in love with her would be weird. What I mean is that we can’t go of being girlfriend and girlfriend because she is dead. But I also have to tell Jase that I do not like him. In fact, I would have liked it better if we had needed a different spirit for the life ritual. I would have been a lot happier. Sometimes I will need to go up to Carol and say that I love her, but what if she doesn’t like me. What if she doesn’t like all the weird things about me, like how I could not bring my mom back or how I ran away and stole from people just so I would not have to stay with my dad or that I hate boys. I just hope she loves me.  

Carol

Once we leave the house I begin to worry. I want to ask where we are going and why we can’t do this at home. All these thoughts are starting to drive me crazy when I see Shy looking at a note:

“←↑→↓↤↔↕→→↓↔→↕↑↔↓→↔↑↓↓←→↕↔←↕↑↓↦↔↝↜↔↕↑←↖”

“These are the steps to use the paradox,” she says, “and I have to memorize them.” That night we stay at a crappy motel. Shy has the room above me and I can hear her thumping around doing the steps on the note.

Jase

I have to share a room with carol, the girl who says that she knows why Shy gets her own room, but won’t tell me why. The next morning we meet in the parking lot and Shy says “we meet at the graveyard at midnight,” and then she leaves to go get the ritual ready. We meet her at the graveyard. Carol holds my hand. Shy stands it front of an altar made of sticks and she has also drawn a circle with shapes inside of it. Shy looks at me and starts to chant.

Shy

Carol and Jase are standing back to back inside the circle (perfect). I begin to dance around the circle. The steps imprinted in my brain: ←↑→↓↤↔↕→→↓↔→↕↑↔↓→↔↑↓↓←→↕↔←↕↑↓↦↔↝↜↔↕↑←↖

“Come on, come on,” I mutter. I dance and dance until the circle starts to glow.

“Wait,” cries Carol, “I don’t want to go back.”

“But I do,” says Jase.

“Step out of the circle if you want to live,” I yell. Jase steps out, but for some reason I step in. Then a bright light comes and illuminates the sky.

“Goodbye, Jase,” I say and I take Carol’s hand and say, “sorry, Jase,” and together the two of us walk into the sky.

Sky (Epilogue)

Carol and I are happy as we are dead and we check on Jase once a month. I know he misses me but I would never be happy in the living world. Carol and I went to find the blonde I tossed off that boat twelve years ago. Carol and I have been married for two years and Jase has been doing fine. One day, Carol and I take a walk when I see a spirit that looks exactly like m, every feature pure white.

“Mom,” I say.

Two years later we adopt a child. We name her Angel and that is how we spend forever.


Hannah and Anabelle

Chapter 1 

W i t c h e s   a n d c u r s e s


Once there was a girl named anabelle who had a pointy nose and a sister that saw a farm. She was thirsty so she got a Gatorade. She drank it and felt weird. “Ohhh…” she neighed. She looked down to see… a HORSE body!!!

 She quickly looked up and saw the farm. She ran to it. She looked and saw hay blocks “Mmm, yummy” she neighed. She ran to the hay blocks. She stopped. She was shocked. There was a VERY BIG fence in front of her. On the other side was SO MUCH hay. She really wanted it. She stepped back and JUMPED over the wall. She walked up to the hay and one block of hay disappeared! 

“WOW” she neighed. She quickly gobbled the rest of the hay blocks up. The world turned purple and green in her eyes. She felt oozy. “Ooo…” she whined. Then she walked up to the fence and bit it. “Owww” she neighed. She fell down and fell asleep. 

Then she suddenly wanted to be rich as a queen, and then woke up. She snuck out of the farm to get a REGULAR Gatorade. She actually STOLE it because she lost her money. What? She’s a HORSE! She drank it all up. “Ahhhh,” she horse-sighed. “Better,” she neighed. 

“Hey, what’s that horse doing out of the farm, betty?” One horse neighed to another. 

“I dunno, crispy!” neighed the other horse. 

“Uhhh, hi?” she neighed 

“Uhh, hey betty?” crispy asked. 

“Yeah, crispy?” betty neighed. 

“WHO IS THAT?!?!?!” crispy screamed. 

“I’m, uhh,  p r i c k ?” she neighed. Her real name was anabelle, but she thought it was too fancy for a horse. It WAS!!! 

“Ok, im betty, and this is crispy,” neighed betty. 

Then prick ran off into the old town. She saw a stained glass window on a VERY old cobblestone tower. “Hmmm, sneaking isn’t illegal as a horse, since you can’t arrest a pony…” prick neighed. So she quietly galloped into the tower. She saw… A WITCH!!! 

“Oh no, it’s a… hey! I can turn into a human now! But how will I tell her if i’m a horse…?” prick whisper-neighed. “I’ll just, uhhh, try to talk i guess,” prick thought. 

The witch turned around just then. “A horse! Get her, enchantments! Get her, human who drank my magic Gatorade and turned into a horse!” the old, ugly witch ordered grumpily. 

“Sis?” prick asked. “SIS!!!!!!” 

The other horse screamed. The they horse-hugged each other. 

“Oh no, they are SISTERS!!! The Gatorade spell will go away then!” the witch thought. The horse sisters turned into… HUMANS!!! 

“Sis! We’re human again!” prick said excitedly. Just then, the witch turned into a… QUEEN?!?!?! “Okay, you caught me. I’m really a queen. I’m a nice one though! Come into my horse and buggy, and I’ll take you to my palace. You’ll get your own room too!” the queen said. She wasn’t nice. Not even mean. She wasn’t even evil. She was  P U R E E V I L . 

The sisters came into the horse and buggy. “Good thing we’re not horses anymore!” prick said. “He he he,” the girls giggled. 

“Be quiet!” the witch ordered. The girls stayed quiet for the rest of the ride to the palace. The palace was really big, and it had big turrets that looked like they would be as big as a dragon. There was a drawbridge, and the girls thought that it was over water but it was over LAVA! The queen got off and told the girls to do the same. Then the girls got off and walked into the palace. 

“Follow me” the queen said. She led the girls into the prison, but the girls thought that they were going to their room. 

“This doesn’t look like we should stay here,” prick whispered to her sister. 

“You’re right!” Her sister said. 

The queen opened a door to a jail cell. “Right through here, ladies,” The queen said mysteriously. 

“But that’s a jail cell, not a bedroom!” prick said to the queen. 

The queen said, “I know that!” as she pushed them into the cell and locked the door. 

“Noooooooooo!!!” The sisters screamed at the queen as she walked away. 

Chapter 2

T h e  d a r k  w o r l d


prick looked around the cell and saw a sink with brown, dirty water coming out of it, a toilet that’s broken and clogged, a bed that doesn’t have a blanket, and a pillow that is a diamond, the hardest mineral. “Hmm, that might be useful some time,” prick thought. 

Then, prick’s sister, hannah, had a wonderful idea! “If we work together, we can lift the heavy diamond and throw it at the bars! It might work!” hannah noticed. 

So the two sisters lifted the diamond and threw it at the bars. It made a hole just big enough to crawl through. They crawled through the hole and escaped jail. “Shouldn’t we take a bathroom break?” hannah asked. 

“Uhhhh, let’s just get out of here!” prick laughed. Then the two girls ran out of the prison and ran towards the door. The queen saw them leave. 

“Huh? GET THEM!!!!!!” the queen shrieked. 

But the girls took the only horse and buggy back home. “YAH!” Hannah yelled in the driver’s seat. They went home and parked the horse and buggy outside on the other horse post. 

They open the door of their cottage. “MOM? DAD? WE’RE HOME!!!” the girls yelled. Their home was empty, except for their pet goldfish, gilbert. “Blub, blub.” gilbert blubbed. 

“Not now, gilbs.” hannah said.“Uhhh, sis?” hannah asked. 

prick wasn’t there. “YAH!!!” prick screamed and jumped out from behind hannah. 

“AAHHHHHHH!!!!!” hannah screamed in fear. 

“Where’s mom and dad?” hannah asked. “They’re-they’re-they’re… GONE!!!” prick said, scared. Then they went outside and looked for someone to take care of them. All the townspeople were GONE!!! 

“WHERE IS EVERYBODY?!?!?!” they both screamed. The sisters were so scared. Then a PORTAL appeared. The sisters linked arms, looked at each other, and nodded. Then ran into the portal. Everything went black. They were in a white, tall, room. There wasn’t a way to escape, except for a large gap at the top. They hooked arms, pushed their backs against each other, and started to CLIMB!!! 

At the top, they were stuck. “How are we going to get apart from each other, anabelle?” hannah asked.

 “Uhh, i don’t know, but my nickname is prick now. Actually, it was my horse name. I’m keeping it. Actually, i know how to do this. Hang by your legs then get your hands up, put your legs down, and climb up,” prick said.

 They did that and prick jumped over to hannah’s side of the top. “Wow…” they said together.

 “A dark world” prick said. There was a nest of dragon eggs and they noticed; the portal back home was GONE! It had somehow glitched onto the other side of the dark world. 

“Oh, you’ve got to be KIDDING me! PLEASE tell me this is a dream! Just TELL ME! Someone PINCH me,” hannah screamed. 

prick pinched her. “Owww!!! What was that for!?!?!?” hannah asked. 

“You asked SOMEONE to!” prick said. 

“Ugh. can we just go home? To the portal?” hannah asked, getting mad. 

“Okay, OKAY!” prick said then a BIG BIG BIG dragon came and scooped them up. 

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” they screamed. “SHHH! YOU’RE NOT SAFE HERE! I’M A NICE DRAGON! MY NAME IS FLAME. DON’T WORRY! I’M NOT LIKE THE QUEEN!” the dragon said. “STAY HERE! MAKE SURE MY EGGS DON’T HATCH!” she said. 

Then she flew off. C r a c k ! 

“sis, what’s that…?” hannah asked. 

They turned around slowly. “THE EGGS!!!” they both yelled together. Then, out of three eggs, popped out… THREE DRAGON BABIES! prick hid behind the nest, hannah didn’t get there in time. One baby pecked at her leg. There was a flowing stream of blood. She tore the sleeve off of her leather jacket and tied it around the wound. The other two babies pecked and missed. 

“SIS! WHERE ARE YOU?!?!” hannah screamed wildly. 

“I’M RIGHT HERE!!!” prick yelled. 

Hannah got up and ran to prick. “FLAME! COME BACK NOW!” they screamed together. “ WHAT!?!? I TOLD YOU; D O N ‘ T  L E T M Y E G G S H A T C H !” she roared.

“I have an idea.” hannah whispered to prick.

“What?” prick whispered back.

“RUN!!!” hannah yelled. Then they ran all the way to the portal with flame chasing them in the sky, shooting fireballs. They leaped through the portal. 

Chapter 3

I ‘ m   f u l l   n o w

“Phew!” hannah said.

“Hello!” a small, cute voice said. “You look like you need help! Come to my hut, and I’ll show you my sisters! My name is coco!” the little girl said. 

So hannah and prick followed coco into her hut. “These are my sisters, clair, chloe, cindy, caroline, cassandra, catrina, cobra, cady, callie, and me, coco!” coco said. 

“Do you want some food, girls?” coco and her sisters said in unison. 

“Uhh, no tha—” hannah was going to say, but prick was already stuffing her face. hannah pulled prick out but she kept going back. 

“I guess i am pretty hungry” hannah thought. She took a pig in a blanket. “Mmm!” hannah mmm-ed. She took more and more. 

“Uurp. I’m full, hannah,” prick said. 

“Me too,” hannah said. 

“ATTACK!!!!!!” the little people said. “RUUNNNNNNNN!!!” hannah and prick yelled together. 

They saw coco and her sister’s car. They saw the key, got it, jumped in, started the car, and hit the road. 

“I don’t have a license, sis!” hannah said in the driver’s seat. Then a portal appeared. 

“Go to the portal! Quick! Quick!” prick said. They drove into the portal. 

Chapter 4

N o t   n e i g h s   a g a i n !

They were in a land full of… HORSES?!?! 

“I want to be a horse now.” prick neighed to hannah. 

“But you ARE!” hannah neighed. 

“YOU TOO!” prick neighed. 

“Hey! prick! It’s me! betty! Down here! I never knew you had a sister!” betty neighed. 

“Hi, betty! How’d you get here?” prick neighed. The sisters got out of the car. Then betty DISAPPEARED! 

“HUH?” the girls neighed. Then, ALL the horses disappeared, except them. 

“Wait, we can’t disappear since we’re actually humans.” prick said. “Hey! I’m a human now! Sorry, sis. Say something smart to show that you’re a smart human.” prick said. 

“Neigh+neigh=two,” hannah neigh-into-said. hannah was a human again! They both were humans again! Then a portal appeared! 

“I hope it’s home, i hope it’s home, i hope it’s HOME!” hannah wished. Then they leaped through the portal. 

Chapter 5

H o m e    a g a i n

Meanwhile, the queen thought, “Maybe, I can take a chance. Try to be nice. I can be a HERO! People will love me.” She went down to the prison, opened up the jail cells by the remote all at once. 

“I’M NICE NOW. :D” the queen announced. All the innocent prisoners ran out and hugged the queen and thanked her so much. 

Back to the girls! They were HOME! Then crispy, betty’s ‘friend’, SHOT hannah with a magic soul-stealer 2000 gun. “You never spoke to me or even told me you had a sister, PRICK!” crispy said. “Yes, i’m human now!” crispy said again. 

“Why, crispy, why?” prick asked with tears in her eyes streaming down her face. 

“You…” hannah said, softly. 

Then the queen came in. “I’m nice now, don’t worry!” the queen said, then splashed a potion into hannah’s dying mouth. “Don’t worry, it will make her stay ALIVE!” the queen said. Then hannah BURST back to life and knocked the soul-stealer 2000 gun and used it on CRISPY. 

“Burned to a crisp!” hannah said. 

“Hah!” prick said, still crying a little.

THE END


Lost in the Forest

One day, I started a backpacking trip with my sister and two of her friends. I was stuck with them for the rest of the week. I’m fine with my sister’s friends, but my sister? No thank you. She takes any chance she gets to insult my brown hair and tall appearance. The date was July 23, 2019. It was 7:15, and I could see only the last speck of sun. I found a perfect spot to set up the tent because it was already getting dark, but my sister wanted to keep hiking and find the site that we had planned to set camp at.

“You are so stupid!” I exclaimed, “I am not hiking in the dark, Allison!”

She snapped back. “It won’t be my fault if you die all alone, Amilia.” Although I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that.

I stayed where I was and set up my tent, but my sister and her friends kept going. I felt unsure about staying where I was alone, not knowing how far my sister would be, but I felt more unsure about hiking through the forest in the dark. All I needed to do was to wake up early and find my sister before she left the site, but what if she goes off trail or leaves before I get there? Or what if I’m farther than I thought? As you can tell, I tossed and turned the whole night. In fact, I could only sleep for about 3 hours. 

I woke up a couple minutes ago, and I was already regretting my sleep. It started raining just now, and if I woke up earlier, I would have probably gotten to the site before the rain. I am so stupid. Without another hesitation, I grabbed my poncho and started speed walking along the trail, soaking in my regret and self pity. 

All of a sudden, I stopped in my tracks. There was a fork in the trail. That’s when I realized I didn’t have the map. Though I had held it for the entirety of our first day on the trail, I didn’t remember which way to go. I went with my instinct and went to the path on the left. I was walking for what felt like hours, though it could have just been minutes since I chose the path. I just kept on walking until I was half starved, but I couldn’t stop there, I had to keep walking. I walked and walked until I reached an empty campground, and thought, I must have reached the campground. Allison must have left, but I can eat here!

 I knew which path to take from the campsite. I wasn’t that unfamiliar with the path. I sat down and took out a bar from my backpack and started eating. It tasted so good because I had been walking for 4 hours according to my watch, and I started at 9. After the bar, I took out my trail mix because Allison had all of our real food. After eating, I stood up and started to walk again, this time, faster, because I knew that I didn’t have much farther to walk. 

I walked with intensity, no matter how tired I felt for another two hours before another thought came into mind, what if that was the wrong campsite, and I had really gone the wrong way? I still walked for another three hours until the sun started to set. I had truly given up now. The rain was dripping off of every tree in sight. Everything was soaked. I was terrified, and I realized that I had gone the wrong way. I turned around and walked and walked. There was no space on the trail to set up a tent now, so I had to walk the dark with my flashlight in hand doing exactly what I told my sister I wouldn’t do.

“Hello?!” I screamed, “Anyone there!?”

I was only answered by the sound of rain hitting the leaves and insects living their lives. I walked for another four or so hours before realizing the sun was rising, and I still probably had a long walk to go before even reaching the campsite. My legs felt like if I took another step they would snap, my stomach felt emptier than Hawkins lab, and my giant purple water bottle was emptier that my stomach! Despite how I felt, I kept walking, 

“Allison?” I yelled, “Help me! Help!”

I walked for what felt like weeks before I reached the campsite. By then, my lightheadedness reached a maximum, so I got out my sleeping bag and went to sleep. When I woke up, my lightheadedness had gotten better, but I was dehydrated to a point when I thought my body couldn’t take it anymore. I had one day left before my body would die of dehydration. I needed water. I sat there feeling the rain on my head… the rain! 

It’s water, so I can drink it… Right? It was my only option, so I had to try it. I sat there watching the rain drizzling into the bottle. One fifth of the way full, one fourth, one half, my throat was hurting more and more to a point where I couldn’t take it. At one point, I gave up waiting, snatched up the water bottle and drank. I knew I couldn’t waste time anymore, so I stood up and kept walking.

My legs hurt at every step even though I had rested, but I needed to get home. I walked and walked for another 2 hours until I couldn’t take the pain anymore. I sat down on the trail, drinking the last bit of water out of my water bottle. My eyelids felt like they were 20 pounds, and I sat there for another five minutes going between being awake and asleep. All of a sudden, I couldn’t take it anymore and just took out my sleeping bag and fell asleep. 

I woke up in my bedroom feeling better than ever and I just stood up and went on with my normal life until I felt dripping on my forehead. 

“Mom, the roof is leaking!” I yelled

That’s when I really opened my eyes, and I was still stuck in the forest with water dripping down on me. I sat up and my back ached with pain, and I cried, I cried for hours. I then realized that I couldn’t just sit there. I had to go. My water bottle was still empty, but I kept walking and walking for hours and hours. It was six o’clock when I finally sat down to eat for the first time in two days. The food tasted better than heaven. I ate and I ate until the bag of beef jerky was all gone. After I had eaten the jerky, I was still not ready to walk, but I needed to. My pace going back to the fork in the road was way slower than my pace a few days ago. I was walking much slower than before. Despite everything, I kept walking. 

I walked until 4 in the morning, and I collapsed. I was next to a stream and filled my water bottle, made a fire, and boiled the water. I took out my sleeping bag and went to sleep. My brown hair looked like pom poms stuck on my head. I slept for hours and hours until I woke to the sound of chirping birds. When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital bed and the birds chirping were actually the beeping of machines. I heard voices. It was the sound of my mother telling the doctors that Allison found me by a stream. What? 

“Oh you’re finally awake, I thought you wouldn’t…” She couldn’t say more.

This is a dream, this is a dream, “This is a dream, this is a dream, THIS IS A DREAM!”

I fought my mother as she tried to hold me on the hospital bed, so I couldn’t get up.

“NO! THIS ISN’T REAL!” I screamed. “WHERE AM I? HOW DID I GET HERE? WHERE IS ALLISON?”

“Wait a second, I’m going to call dad.”

“Hello?” says my dad’s voice, I can see him on my mom’s phone screen. I can also hear a noise in the background, a crying sound.

“She woke up, Burt.”

“Great! Alison and I were just having a chat.”

“What chat?” I asked, trying to sit up

“Lie down Teresa, it’s nothing,” replied my mom.

I watched her screen turn black as she hung up, then my eyes closed, and I fell into a deep sleep.


The Strange Computer & the Missing Parent

One Saturday night, a girl named Lucy Aqua Rose said to her mom, “Can I please use my computer?”

“Yes.” Her mom said, but Lucy said to herself, Why? She never lets me use my computer at night. She was confused. She heard evil laughs coming from her mom and dad’s bedroom. Her dad was in the air force right now, and Lucy felt like her mom was up to something no good. 

She thought to herself, My mom is probably working with The Evil B’s. Their names are Bianca, Ben, Beatrix and Lucy. Mom’s name is Mila. She looked at the news for clues, and she just remembered that a few days ago, she had read on the news that The Evil B’s were hiring new people. Suddenly Lucy got up and fell smack onto the floor! 

“MOM HELP! I CAN’T GET UP AND MY LEG HURTS SUPER BADLY!” she screamed. 

Her mom said, “I don’t care, get up!!”

As her mom said those words, Lucy felt like her mom didn’t care anymore, as if she didn’t belong. The 16 year-old Lucy Aqua Rose wanted to investigate!

She wanted to investigate because ever since the news article came out about the Evil B’s hiring new employees, she hoped that her mom hadn’t become an Evil B employee. It was getting late, so Lucy took a shower, got dried off, put her hair in a braid, brushed her teeth, put on lotion, got into her pj’s, got into her bed, and then fell asleep. Lucy’s 2 year-old brother Matt came in her room and said, “Lucy, mom is gone!”

But Lucy couldn’t hear Matt because she was fast asleep. She was dreaming about her dog and all the fun they had before he disappeared one hot summer day. The family dog who was black and a little brown, was named Oreo. One hot summer day three years ago, Lucy woke up and Oreo was gone. 

“Mom I’m gonna go for a walk,” she said.

Lucy looked all over the neighborhood. Once she reached the park, she sat on a bench, and then she cried and cried and cried. Finally she called her BFF Lulu for support, well Oreo was her best friend. After a year of searching, she gave up. 

Finally, she woke up. She checked her phone, and she had a million or even billions of texts from her dad! 

The text said: “Help I’ve been captured!” She asked for his location and he replied, “I cannot tell you but I will, I am still on the army premise in a fallout shelter. I am in the basement of the fallout shelter.” 

“But which army premise?” 

Her dad said he was in the army premise in London. She lived in London. 

She got dressed and then packed a backpack. She put on her backpack and called their family babysitter. She came in 2 minutes because she lived right across the street!

“I will be back in about 3 to 5 hours or more.” 

The babysitter said, “Okay, but who will pay me?”

“My dad!” 

So she ran off saying not another word. She called her dad once she started walking to the army premise. But he didn’t pick up! Once she got to the army premise, she looked all around, but couldn’t find her dad. So she called him one more time, still no answer.

She was starting to feel suspicious. She called her mom to see what was going on with her.

She said, “Hi Mom, I was wondering if you were working with the Evil B’s.” 

“No,” she said in a very sarcastic voice. 

“You are then, Mom.” 

“No, trust me.” 

Meanwhile back at home, the babysitter was playing peek-a-boo with Matt. Matt loves the babysitter and peek-a-boo. The babysitter said naptime, and so she picked up Matt and put him in his crib tucked him in and put him to bed. Then the babysitter made his bottle and got him a clean pacifier. She gave the stuff to Matt, then she closed the door. She went downstairs, turned on the TV, and went on Netflix. She got onto her Netflix profile and then watched Flinch, afterwards she watched Home Alone. She woke up Matt when he was waking up. She turned off the TV and went upstairs, and then Matt started whining and she asked what was wrong.

“I want sis,” he said in a very cute voice. 

Lucy couldn’t get into the fallout shelter, so she ran and hid behind a Camo porta potty, and then she took off her backpack, and then she took a special Amulet out of her backpack. She put it on, and then she started gaining the Amulet’s power. She was weak, but strong without it on and so, she zipped her backpack up quietly, and then she put her backpack on, got up, and then ran towards the guards who happened to be guarding the fallout shelter, and so she said, “Fire amulet, go,” and it automatically shot fire.  

“OMG WHAT,” the guards said. “LET’S GET THAT THING, YEAH!” 

Meanwhile in the Fallout shelter, Dad Ben was yelling, “LUCY HELP ME!” She ran back behind the camo porta potty, and she took out her computer to email her cousin who was in the same air force to see if he was okay. But when she opened it, it looked like it had been hacked. She actually happened to know how to unhack.

Lucy tried and tried and tried, but couldn’t. She gave up after 5 hours, sitting in the dirt behind the porta potty. She reached into her camo ripped jeans back pocket for her phone, but it wasn’t there, so she checked all of her other pockets. It was not there either. She started rummaging through her backpack, but once she had reached the bottom, it wasn’t there. Crying inside, she tried to hold her tears in, and she successfully did it, but she needed her phone to call her dad or text him and that phone cost $1,099. She zipped her backpack up. She looked around for her phone. She found it lying in the dirt. She got up. She walked towards her phone. She saw a masked figure take her phone and run. So, she chased the masked figure, and when he looked back, she used her amulet to camoflauge. She kept running and stopped when he stopped. She revealed herself and followed him into the lake. 

“Amulet, give me diving equipment.” 

Her clothes magically went into her backpack, and it transformed into an oxygen tank. She dove behind him, until he stopped. She followed him into an underwater cave. He pressed the wall and a magic door opened. She followed him inside, she could breathe now. Everything transformed back into her normal clothes. 

“Hey, crazy guy, give me back my phones, and tell me the truth. Are you the one who hacked my computer?” 

“Who are you? And what are you doing here!” The masked figure said. 

“My name is Lucy Aqua Rose.” She used the amulet to camouflage and crept up to the masked man to remove his mask. 

She revealed herself once again, she saw that he was her cousin! She started asking questions: “What are you doing here? What is this place? Why did you take my phone?” 

He answered, “I didn’t want to do this, some random person hypnotized me, but the water just unhypnotized me. Do you have your computer with you?” 

“Yes, I do. How did you know you were hypnotized?” 

“I had a GoPro on while the hypnosis was happening.”

Lucy unzipped her backpack and gave him her computer. Then, he took off his hoodie and sweatpants, underneath he had on an air force uniform. He pressed a badge that made the sleeves of his uniform fall off. Then, he started unhacking her computer. After it was done, she turned it on, went into her profile, put in her password and checked her email. All the emails had disappeared. She checked her Google Drive. Everything in there was gone too. So, when she checked for apps all of them were gone except one: ROBLOX. Her cousin returned her phone. 

She swam to the surface, and returned to the fallout shelter. She killed two guards, who apparently were not strong at all. She got her dad and returned home. They returned home to see Matt and the babysitter making cupcakes in the kitchen. Then, Dad went to Matt and gave him a hug. Matt turned around and yelled, “Daddy!” The babysitter said Mom was home. So then, Lucy said, “Dad, ask Mom if she’s working with the Evil B’s. If she says no, give her this truth gummy.” 

He went to their room, and gave Mom the truth gummy. While she had originally said no, she finally revealed she was working with the Evil B’s.

Dad told Lucy, “Your mom is an Evil B.”

And Lucy said, “I knew it all along.” Lucy was VERY MAD. She was as mad as a whale in a whirlpool. 

Dad called the police and Mom went to jail. When the police came, Mom yelled, “No! Don’t take me. This was all a huge mistake!” 

Lucy said, “Mom, I know you are lying.” 

The next day Lucy, Dad, and Matt went to the New York Aquarium. They saw sharks, octopus, and other invertebrates. Then they also saw turtles. They all missed Mom. But they are glad that she got turned in because she did some bad things. Lucy saw a baby turtle and a mommy turtle swimming in the big tank outside. Lucy wondered if her mommy taught her how to swim. 

The end


The TV

The person was bored, so he wanted to do something. He wanted to watch something, but he didn’t have a TV. He wanted to go get a TV. The person started walking down the street. He was bored and wanted to watch TV. He went to the store, so he could get the TV. There were no more TVs when he got there! He went somewhere else to find a TV! So he went somewhere far from his house to get one. Then he got the TV. When he was flying back, the TV fell out of the plane. So he jumped out of the plane. He was falling—he saw the TV! He grabbed the TV. He saw a car on top of a hill, and he fell into the car. As soon as he fell into the car, the car drove all the way back to his house. He fixed his TV, and then he started watching it. 

The end.