Young Southern Student Writers-Winners of 2013

The girls quietly tiptoed up the stairways. At the top was an old, wooden door. Trusting their senses, Julie and Catherine peered through the wooden door. A sharp, quiet cry was coming from a dark corner in the dark room. Then, a low, dark growl. “The secret may be an animal or creature,” Catherine breathed.

“I have a small candle in my backpack,” Julie breathed back.

“How would we light it?” Catherine breathed. Julie felt the floor. A stone and stick closed into her hand.

“A stone and a stick,” Julie replied. Quietly getting the candle, she quickly and quietly lit the candle.

They caught their breath. There was a ginormous cage with a bear-­‐like creature inside. Another bear-­‐like growl came from the creature. Frightened, the girls stepped back. They had never seen this part of the school, after almost their first year!

Julie paused, noticing something else. There was a girl about their age huddled by the cage, crying. “That girl is from our class, and the principal took her somewhere this morning to test something,” Julie said, pointing.

“That is Marissa,” Catherine whispered. “Let’s go ask her what that creature is.” Julie looked frightened, but she agreed.

Marissa looked up. “You are probably here to ask about Beast, and I will tell you this: Beast is a terrible creature the school has captured, and uses Beast to bite kids very hard, but then they bandage the child and send them back to class,” Marissa said, showing a light blue bandage around her wrist.

“This is such a terrible school,” they muttered to each other. They all agreed to let Marissa help them out. Deciding to get to the bottom of this, the three girls looked around for clues.

They all decided there were no clues. “Why is the school so mean?” Catherine asked. “Let’s find out,” Julie said. They all thought they had to find out what was wrong.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps and hid. Mr. Domes was walking around and talked to Beast. Julie suddenly remembered the candle. A box labeled newspapers sat beside her. Cleverly she opened the box quietly. Putting the newspapers on the window, she lit each one and as soon as Mr. Domes saw the smoke, he called 911.

The girls rejoiced quietly. Their genius plan was working! Soon they heard sirens wailing. Police and firemen were coming, and that meant that the evil teachers could be arrested. A new school with incredible teachers. Just what all the kids wanted!

Lights came on. Firemen and police burst into the room. The girls ran out.

“This school has terrible teachers!” they yelled.

The police looked at them. “Really?” they asked.

The girls replied, “Yes, they make that terrible beast bite us if we are bad,” and pointed to Beast.

“Beast?” the police asked.

“It's that giant creature over there," the girls replied politely.

"Get all the teachers in handcuffs," the policeman to a group of police.

The chief fireman said to a group of firemen: "Take out that newspaper-­‐ fire."Take Beast to the Zoo and make a sign saying: Unknown Creature."

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