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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Hoovey by Hazel Mills 3 As the Sun Glowed by Gabby Stein-Plog 4 Random Writing by Nathalia Ludban 6 a flickering candle. by Maya Ursua-Garcia 7 Patience by Jim Ohnesorgen 9 The End by Camryn Gunter 11 A Monster and Ucal Dickens by Lawrence Mays 12 Hostage by Ellen Porter 14 The Doll House by Jose Von Hoeven 16 The Candy Store and More by Madeline Geiser 19 The Black Hole by Alex Schroeder 20 Untitled by Marisol Shukie 22 Start a New Document. by Jasper Kaminsky 24 My First Friend in a New State by Mia Williamson 26 The Clock on the Wall by Selah Riehl 28 Spooky Story by Sam Hicks 30 The Holocaust by Parker Brinner 31 Neighbor 2.0 by Alondra Rodriguez
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Hoovey by Hazel Mills Hi, I’m Hoovey, I like to play basketball. At the beginning of the school year, I tried out for my school team. I made the team, which I was really happy about. There was this other kid named Donovin. He was probably my best competition on the team. Not saying that I’m scared of him or anything. On a cold and snowy night, I had to go to practice. Donovin and I were put on separate teams because we were the best players on the team. When we got the ball back, I tried to drive for a layup. I had dribbled past Donovin and as I was going for the layup I got pushed from behind. I fell down hard to the ground. I had blacked out for a second and then woke up a couple of seconds later. When I woke up, my head was hurting so outrageously bad and I couldn’t feel my legs. I could hear my dad come thumping down the bleachers to see if I was ok. He was shaking me to get me to wake up. I opened my eyes and I saw everyone had circled around me. My head was pounding so hard that I just wanted to fall back asleep. My dad picked me up and brought me to his truck immediately and rushed me to the hospital. We were driving down the road and I was falling asleep because my head hurt so much and I felt like I could barely keep my eyes open for one more second. My dad saw me falling asleep and he said I had to stay awake. A few moments later we were stopped. My dad tried stepping on the gas pedal as hard as he could, but we weren’t moving anywhere. He got out to check what had happened. He told me that the truck was piled up in the snow. He tried scooping all of the snow away with his hands, but it was no use because more snow just kept piling on. So he tried pushing, but there was too much snow to do that as well. He hopped back into the truck and told me that there was no way we were getting out of here alive. As he was saying that, I started falling asleep again. He told me I had to wake up and stay with him. We had been sitting in the car for about 15 minutes until we saw 5 men with shovels coming to help us. Eventually, we were able to move again. We arrived at the hospital and I was sleeping. The doctors were monitoring my heart rate to make sure I was still alive. I had woken up about two hours after we had gotten there. When I woke up, my mom, dad and sister were standing around the bed. My vision was all blurry so I could barely see them. The doctor had walked into the room and asked how I was doing. I noticed that I was stuttering a lot while I was talking to her. I had no clue what was going on because I couldn't really remember anything at that point. 1
A couple of days later, I went home with a cane and glasses. I had a cane, because when I fell I had hit my back as well. My vision wasn’t good now because of the accident. So to see a little bit better I had to put a cover over one eye and then, after a certain amount of time, I had to switch it to the other eye. After a couple of days, I received a get well soon card from someone from school. I tried reading it, but my vision was so bad and all I saw was a whole bunch of words all mixed up. I got extremely frustrated by this because I couldn’t even read a get well card. Every day for the first two months I went outside to try and walk, as well as spend some time outside. I would also go stand under the basketball hoop and just look at it. It reminded me of when I was able to run and jump and do all of the things I loved to do. Sadly it also reminded me of my accident. I’m finally able to walk on my own and even run. I’ve been going on a lot of runs with my sister to get back in shape. I already asked my coach if I could still be on the team. He said yes. When I joined back I wasn’t afraid of Donovin because of what he did to me, but I knew I was coming back stronger, better and ready to play. I definitely still wasn’t the best player on the team, but I was okay with that. All I had to do was get my strength and energy back. It had been about four months since I last touched a basketball. I had gone outside every day and stood under the hoop, but I never picked up the basketball. I thought that day that it would make me a little bit happier knowing that I could at least shoot the ball. So, I picked up the ball and I shot it. Or, at least I tried to and that’s when I realized that I barely had any strength in my arm to shoot it. It still felt good just holding the ball in my hands. I was still going to school but I always just sat in the back of every class doing nothing because it would give me a headache. All of my teachers knew what had happened so they wouldn’t yell at me for not paying attention. My sister would pick me up from school every day and drive me home. We always had a lot of fun in the car laughing and listening to music. And we still did have all that fun in the car, but it just didn't feel the same. We had our first game on February fourteenth. I was so excited to play that day because it was my first game since my injury. It all went really well and we even won the game.
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As the Sun Glowed by Gabby Stein-Plog
As the sun glowed Bright as a light Its peacefulness shown The flower was bright Bright as a light Its color glows The flower was bright There was no snow
Until the night I will not go The flower was bright Its peacefulness shown
Not leaving sight The wind smoothly blows Close to the night As the sun glowed
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Random Writing by Nathalia Ludban Has anything in your life ever changed? Did it change so dramatically that it felt as if it was a dream? Well that’s how it was for this one boy, one dangerous night. Once there was a boy who belonged to a wealthy family. He always got everything he wanted, as long as he behaved and never talked unless he was talked to. One day, he was roaming the halls of his lonesome house when he came across a room he had never seen before. He had wandered these halls for almost thirteen years and not once had he seen or come across this door. It was as if the door had decided to appear. Suddenly, the door was visible, black with a blood red handprint. When he started wandering closer to the door, as luck may have it, his parents showed up. When they saw him they asked,“What are you doing roaming these halls so late in the afternoon? It is almost time for dinner.” The boy answered, “I know it’s almost dinner, but I got distracted so I started exploring. I came across this odd door at the end of the hallway. I hadn’t noticed it before.” The parents immediately looked at each other and ran down the hallway. I asked, “What is it? Why is the door so terrible?”. When we all reached the door we stopped dead in our tracks, the door was open and what was locked up in there is now in our house and none of us are safe. 4
That night my parents started pacing outside my room, afraid of what came out of the room. They whispered to each other, “Remember the last owners of this house turned up dead the night the door opened? What if we’re next? What if what came out of the room comes for us?” With all the things my parents were saying, I decided to try and go to sleep. Sleep helps wash away bad thoughts. When I started to close my eyes, I saw it. It was a hooded figure with a face of a monster. The figure came closer to me and when I looked into its eyes I saw nothing. Its eyes were as black as the night sky, and its face was disfigured. It’s face had shards of glass sticking out of its face in every direction. Then the figure disappeared. All of a sudden, I heard a scream outside my room. Then, everything got dark, dark as night. When I woke up, it was morning, my head was aching. It was as if somebody had hit me in the head with a bat. I think I passed out when I saw the figure. I got out of bed, surprised by the fact that my mom hadn’t come to wake me up. When I looked outside my room I saw my parents, dead on the floor. Glass protruding from their corpses.
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a flickering candle. by maya ursua-garcia I mean, looking at the pictures it isn’t so bad. I know they’re dead, I’m not an idiot. But, I like to hold onto the pictures of them, like pieces of my parents that I never had. People say I’m crazy, trying to find their murderers. It’s been fifteen years! They say to me. If the police never could, neither will you. They jeer at me. The girl’s only sixteen! They laugh about me. I never respond, as if a part of me knows that what they taunt is true and if I do respond, that I’ll never know the truth, and that this stupid cloud of guilt and hatred will hang over me like the glaring sun against my skin. I always have nightmares of gunshots. I wasn’t present at the death, but I was told how it happened. Apparently, my mother and father were home, and I was at my Aunt Lianna’s home for a night. It was considered lucky that I wasn’t home, or else they say I would have certainly been killed. The police couldn’t gather much from the scene, but all they saw was my mother and father both limp and pale on the floor, their hands entwined. The police saw bullet wounds on both of their stomachs, and they figured that they die slowly, and they knew what was going to happen, they also knew that they could do nothing to prevent their fates. So, they entwined their fingers and died together. Aunt Pandora told me that they didn’t get anything from the autopsy that could help the police. My eyes glaze over the picture, as I’ve searched it thousands of times, but I still look over it, every morning, part of me hopes that the picture will suddenly reveal a secret that I hadn’t seen before. In the picture, my father has his hand around my mother’s waist, as she lays her head on his shoulder. They are all grinning happily at me. My father had just been told of my mother’s pregnancy with me. In the middle of the sidewalk, they’re at a market place. A market place I’ve been to many times, asking all the shop owners different questions they wave away and go onto the next customer. I have searched every single face in the picture for over two years, and asked every family member I could, and yet they recognize no one except for my parents, of course. I sigh and put down the picture onto my dresser. Is this just a stupid obsession? Should I just give up and let it rest? It’d be easier... No.
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Patience by JIm Ohnesorgen Tonight I lay in my bed with a ton of wonders in my head. I think about my perfect dream, but soon enough I have to fall asleep. When I finally went to bed there’s millions of wonders in my head. I searched and searched for my perfect dream and there I am, just riding on a stream of clouds in the sky and just seeing myself pass on by. Then, when I finally open my green eyes, I hope for a new perfect dream, for a great surprise, when I finally decided to open my eyes I got out of bed to watch the sunrise.
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I also remember that I had to leave combed my brown hair and rolled up my sleeves. I got ready for another great day, right, but I still have to wait all-day for a new perfect dream, I can't wait, it’s going to be great. Till then, I will enjoy the day, so far it has been pretty OK,a lot of things I will have to wait for, but patience is the key for all things that you have to stay for, waiting and waiting till the day is over, but little by little, time goes on so all you have to do is hang on.
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The End by Camryn Gunter
There once lived a spoiled little girl named Bella who had everything. She had a family that loved her and she had friends that cared about her, but she didn't realize that until it was all gone. Two weeks earlier… Bella was on her way to go on a vacation to visit her grandparents in Alaska. When she got to the airport she said goodbye to her parents and left. When she was walking to her gate number 23, she bumped into a boy not much older than her. “Watch it,” she said with a disturbed look on her face. She then got onto the plane and was on her way, but shortly after the plane took off she felt the plane jerk. “What is happening?” she said with worry. The pilot got on the radio and told the passengers that it was just turbulence. So, Bella went back to sleep....then all of a sudden, the plane started to fall. While the plane was crashing, Bella heard screams that she couldn’t even describe, It felt like it was the end for her. When the plane hit the water they tried to get as many people out as possible, but they could not get everyone, That included Bella. Bella started to sink, but then she heard a voice in her head that told her to go back. She gasped for air when she got to the surface and there she climbed onto a piece of the plane that into the water when the plane crashed. Then, in the distance, she saw a figure land and she started to row towards the land with an armrest that shed found in the water. When she finally got to land, she walked up to a store and in a window and realized that it wasn’t just her town, it was all over the world. ”What if the world ends?” she thought to herself. Bella had a feeling of light that made her tingle inside. “Maybe I could stop it,” she said to herself softly.“Not alone you can't,” said a voice in the background. It was the boy from the airport
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and one other person that she didn’t know. Who are you?” Bella asked. The boy that she that bumped into said “Well, we can’t just stand here,” April said and started to walk into town. “Where are you going,” said Lucas. Bella was trying to catch up to April. Once they had both caught up to her Lucas and Bella realized that April was going to Target to get food and water. Once they got inside Target they all gasped with fear. “What in the world happened? ” Lucas said with a twisted look on his face. “It's one of the ships that were in the air,” said April. “It must have been hit by something while it was in the air,” said Bella. “Well, whatever happened to the alien that was in it hasn't seemed to have come out,” said Lucas. They all started to move closer, but then Bang! A hand that looked like a crippled potato came out of the ship. Once again they started to move closer and when they got to the ship they saw a human, or what they thought was a human. It told them to go to Grand Central train station and ask for Tim. “But we can’t leave you to die here,” said Bella. But the alien told them to go. So that's what they did. They started to head to Grand Central Station, but they were stopped by one of the aliens that was in the air and it tried to grab April. she refused and punched it in the face and then they all ran away. The friends had been walking for 2 hours and were almost there. Back at the Target, the alien thing had turned into blue icky-sticky-goo and was going to go find the kids, but then it saw a man hiding in the corner and went over there. The man let out a terrified scream, “Ahhhhh” It sounded like a little girl. Suddenly. the goo took over. The man was now walking toward the kids. Once the kids got to the train station they asked for Tim and the person took them onto the train tracks. “Why are we on the train tracks?” the kids said. Out of nowhere. the train started to blaze down the tracks. “There is a train coming,” they all screamed in fear. Bam The train hit!!!
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A Monster and Ucal Dickens by Lawrence Mays Our hero wakes up wondering,small smoke hovered on top of his hair and I already knew what had happened. Why do I have this life, Ucal Dickens thought as he sat with the adult dragon that he raised from a baby. How I found him is quite a tale, do you want to hear it well you can’t cause you're reading this book and as long as you are reading I am in charge, so on to the short story. It was a cold day, in the dead of winter, a snow storm raged and inside my cozy house things were banging. I noticed that my favorite water bottle was outside, so I got into some warm, heavy clothes to go outside. I went outside to get it, but it turned out that it was not my bottle, it was a dragon. Not just any dragon, but a nater and animal dragon. I decided to take it in. “What? You don't just see a dragon and not take it in?” he complained as he argued with his best friend Jogi. That was how I meet Geoff. At first it was unbelievable, but time after time, mistake by mistake, growth after growth he got bigger and bigger. We got closer together as friends and family until we were closer than ever. He may have done something amazing beyond belief. So it was that we went to the fall fest in Haven farms at Hadestown, with its dead corn mazes and rotten pumpkins that had survived the freeze and all sorts of events. Ucal was here with his mother, Merta Dickens, and my father Joans Dickens. He hasn't told them about the dragon.The only people that knew about the dragon is Jogi, Binn and Goan. So, being great at mazes me and my parents went to the corn maze first while at home Geoff was in an extra, extra, extra big fire proof cage because, duh, he is a dragon and no ordinary cage will hold him. We were having a good time when the maze suddenly started on fire. Though I am not one hundred percent sure of it, I think it might have been Geoff who started the fire. That’s when I began to think that it was about time that I had Geoff, an all grown up dragon, with me. For what stood in front of me was way worse than anything in the world. In front of me, before my eyes, I saw the amazing Codlack. It was hideous, it had a beak for a mouth, and small tentacles sticking out of the body of a dried up worm that had been in the sun too long. It had uneven legs and three different sized hideous tails, so it walked funny and its intelligence was very low. It was amazing, because it could eat so much dirt, and eat it so fast that it could turn into whatever dirt that it digests. It’s mouth was always dirty, with sharp strong teeth. They’re about the size of a normal dragon.
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Hostage by Ellen Porter
“Yep, me again! I’m here with another case of people being killed by random dragon-like animals. I’m at the intersection of South Lavender Grove and East Tye Drive. These people were killed in their sleep. The animals snuck into the house and gutted the Bakkers, a family with a brand new baby, with their talons. The newborn was killed too. Strangely, his body was never recovered. The scientists who are examining the gashes on the parents have no id-” I turned the TV off. My cat, Harley, moved beside me, signaling that she was awake. I pushed her over and covered myself with blankets. She stood up and padded over closer to my head. I stroked her downy fur. I get lost in my own head a lot. This time, I thought about those dragons. Why had they come to my city? What did they want? I didn’t want to get up, but I had to go to bed. I picked up Harley and carried her to my room. I set her down and changed into a sweatshirt. I got in bed and was asleep in minutes. When I woke up, there was a cold spot where Harley had been. She must have gotten up to eat earlier. I turned over. I hated school. I almost thought about pretending to be sick, but my friends would miss me. I decided against that idea. (*) I dressed in my lazy school outfit (sweats and a t-shirt) and hauled my backpack along with me as I walked into the next seven hours of torture. Other kids were in friend groups, talking about nonsense, as usual. I put my backpack in my locker and walked up to one of my best friends, Espree. She looked up from her phone and smiled. “I see the fashion police didn’t pull you over this morning.” I looked at her yellow jeans and a pretty blue flannel shirt. “The fashion police has learned not to care.” I looked across the boring hall. Couldn’t the teachers at least hang some pictures to make it look like they cared? I guess not. I smelled strawberry shampoo and pineapple perfume from down the hall. “Adi’s here..” I huffed as the one and only Adeline Ivanov walked up to us, beaming. “We won the game!!” She squealed. “Good for you.” Espree grinned. “Don’t you always win?” I asked. “Yep!!” Adi said, her eyes twinkling.. “Off to class!!!” the speaker roared, cutting off our conversation. (*) Adi, Espree and I always had frozen yogurt after school on Mondays when it was nice out. I usually got cake batter and strawberry. After we paid, we sat in the sun. “Your favorite news reporter was on TV last night.” Adi slurped, shoving yogurt in her face. “Yeah. She was on the dragon part.” Espree said, her eyes lit up. She was staring at her phone, creamy goodness dripping off her lips. “Anything interesting?” I asked. Her phone buzzed. She jumped up. “I gotta go.” (*)
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When Espree wasn’t at school the next day, I got worried. She never missed school. She’d even came to school when she had the flu (bad idea). Classes went on as usual, but Adi was quiet, which was unlike her. The Adi I know would only stop talking when a teacher told her that she would be sent out of the room if she made another peep. It was noon when things got even weirder. The lights went out, something flew over the school, and I think I wet my pants. Everyone started screaming. “Stay still and be quiet!” The teachers ordered. I heard my name. “Daphne! Get over here!” Adi whispered from across the hall. She was crouching underneath one of the disgusting lockers. Kids always seem to use them as trash cans when teachers tell them to spit out gum. However unsanitary it was, it looked kinda cool. I crawled over to her, unseen by the teachers. Some glass broke, screams sounded, and roars that could be heard from miles away erupted from the dragon that hovered over a kid. It was the size of a school bus, with black scales, massive horns, and silver eyes. An extremely angry looking creature. It had a scarred face and one of its’ eyes was swollen and oozed a liquid I’d never seen before. This creature didn’t belong here, that’s for sure. It didn’t hurt the kid, it just slipped a necklace with a white jewel over his head. He collapsed. Everyone ran, including Adi and me. She tripped over a loose tile on the floor, and I pulled her up, yanking on her arm to keep her running. She tripped again, and this time, she pulled me down with her against the gummy lockers. The dragon grabbed us in its talons, and there was only one thought running through my head. Was this what had happened to Espree? (*) As it turns out, being taken by a dragon was exactly what happened to Espree. I can only write this because the dragon didn’t bother to take my phone, and it only had a single crack running through it, but my battery is about to die. I’m starving and exhausted, and I miss Harley. These would count as my last words, so here goes. Am I dead? I don’t think so. Am I being held captive by a creature trying to eat me? Maybe. Am I in a dark void of nothingness? Yep. And will I escape? Probably not. Is Adi or Espree here? They were eaten just moments ago. Is this the last piece of writing I will ever write? Yes. Anything else? I can’t remember. Good-bye, Harley. -Daphne
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The Doll House by Josie van Hoeven Once upon a 2019 September 1 There was a girl named Cameron but her parents call her Cami, she was still in her second year of high school, but she had an obsession with dolls. She loved the ones that had black hair like Cameron’s soul, dark eyes like buttons, and dark dresses, like her. But she also liked other dolls. Monday, September 2 ¨Cami, time for school!¨ Cameron´s mom screamed. ¨One second mom,¨Cameron said, as she rolled her eyes. Cameron’s mom made a quick breakfast for Cameron to stuff in her mouth. Cameron put her black dress on, and asked herself, ¨Should I wear nasty, grumpy, or extra grumpy?¨ Cameron decided to wear nasty. As Cameron started walking down the stairs, she gasped. ¨My doll!¨ She yelled in a hurry. ¨I almost forgot my doll!¨ Cameron ran back to grab Temper-tantrum, her doll. Cameron started sprinting upstairs and then hurriedly ate her breakfast. She hopped in the school bus and walked bench after bench, but no one wanted to share the seat with poor Cameron. So Cameron sat on the floor. Even the backpacks had their own seat, but she and Temper Tantrum just sat there on the floor where all the muddy shoes had walked. As she was sitting there, some of the girls in the backseat looked at her and laughed because she was holding a doll at the age of sixteen. They didn't know that Temper Tantrum didn't like to be laughed at. At lunch, Cameron sat alone with Temper Tantrum, and again they laughed at her. Cameron sat at the end of the lunch table, and the girls sat next to her. As Cameron put her lunchbox on the table, the girls pushed off with all their weight off the seat. As Cameron´s butt hit the floor, she screamed,¨OW!!!¨everybody stared at her and whispered: ¨ew¨ and ¨so embarrassing!¨. Temper Tantrum´s head rolled all the way to the trash can. Cameron had a good bad idea! She stood up and looked red of angriness. Cameron took Temper Tantrum´s body dragged it all the way to the trash can, Cameron yanked Temper´s head and she threw both the head and the body away for good, or so Cameron thought. Cameron was trying to hold back her tears that afternoon in science she could feel dribbles coming out of her nose as she sniffed them back to control her emotions. What made Cameron happier is that no one was bugging her for the rest of 14 the day.
Then Cameron got some food at McDonald’s for her family to eat for dinner. Cameron walked home. When Cameron got home, her mom and dad greeted her by giving her a hug, she set the table and ate. It was eleven o'clock when Cameron was finishing her homework. As soon as she said, “Done!” in a loud voice she looked outside. Cameron saw that it was a full moon. So Cameron went to bed. While she was sleeping, the clock hit 12:00. Temper Tantrum had awaken. Temper’s body yanked her head out of the trash and put it on her neck. Temper walked all the way from school to Cameron’s home. As soon as Temper got to Cameron’s house she laid beside Cameron.
Tuesday, September 3
The next morning Cameron woke up. “AHHH!!!” Cameron yelled in fear. But then Cameron noticed it was just Temper Tantrum. Temper tried to hold still. “You shouldn't be here Temper,” Cameron said as she giggled. She put Temper in the trash at the bus stop. Cameron jumped in the bus, but Temper, she did not give up she stayed with Cameron forever and ever and ever… Temper jumped in Cameron’s backpack. As soon as Cameron got to school she had Math. Temper stayed in corners watching Cameron do the work. The same thing happened in Science, Social Studies, Biology, Language Arts and Spanish. Until she went to lunch, when Cameron sat at the lunch table she felt her backpack get lighter, Cameron looked around the table but saw nothing. The girls just sat and laughed at Cameron, she didn't know what was going on. As the leader of the girls, fell back off the seat, Cameron gasped. There was blood dripping off her body.¨ she ran like the wind to get to the teacher. As soon as she got to the teacher she gasped. The teachers were on the floor, they were melting. Cameron looked around again and she gasped once again, she saw Temper Tantrum sitting on the lunch table with a grin. All the other girls and boys were on the floor, bleeding as well with knives in their lungs and throats. The grin on Tempers face dropped into a frown. ¨ What have you done to me? The thread that has made my heart, has ripped. You have ruined me, but now I'm putting a stop to it. ¨ Temper took a knife out of her pocket and tried to throw it at Cameron like a spear, but it missed. Temper Tantrum´s frown got bigger. As she threw another knife at Cameron. It hit her. Cameron fell to the floor, as The blood dropped off her body she gasped for air, her last breath. After that Cameron´s head went blank and her heartbeat stopped... 15
The Candy Store and More by Madeline Gieser
It must be easy to imagine how the expression “kid in a candy store” was coined Why, not having all these delicacies would feel like a kick in the groin. Oh who would say no to all of these confections, we have tons upon tons of options. Sweet licorice, Shiny Lollipops, Starbursts galore, Cookie dough ice cream, Blue Raspberry cupcakes, Madeleine cookies, Cotton candy, Sparkling soda, Cream of pear, Fluffy whipped cream and strawberry sauce, Magic shell and edible glitter Fudges and toffees and the sweetest things you’ve ever bit. “Oh, one last thing my dears, that candy is poisoned…” (Spit) When Pigs Fly If you ever want something crazy, Like a square-shaped daisy, You will probably hope That your parents won’t ask you to cope. Sometimes they say, “You’ll get it the day That pigs fly.” So you wait And wait And wait And wait And wait And wait some more Until you see that pink mass soar. It will get a trotting start, 16
Moving about as fast as an 8-ton shopping cart. With its skin as pink as a rose And that odd oval shaped nose That loose skin flapping in the breeze, Gliding with ease, Making things happen whenever you please, Such as a car that could sail the seas, Or a carnivore eating peas Or a plant that can sneeze Or boiling water that can freeze Or bees having knees. I imagine you will feel Happy that you can grab your dreams on a reel. But…………... This poem is a big fat lie, If you want to achieve something, you’ll have to try.
Fall Fall is here to stay, Feeling has me blown away, Leaves going astray Winter Snowfall in the night, Making people feel so bright, The cold just feels right Spring Gift that nature brings, Joy surrounds me like a ring, Sun, reign like a king Summer School ends like a wave, Happiness the season gave, Exploring a cave
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A.Lone I’m staying home alone, Staring out a window while the sun shone. I locked the back, But,oh, I hope my parents will cut me some slack, I broke the rules, Yeah, I broke the rules and if don’t like that, Feel free to eat my signature gruel. I invited people over, Joe and Betty and little Grover, To come and have a big sleepover, We’ll watch movies by George Clooney Eat cookie dough ice cream straight out of the cone and watch it melt, Drip, Drip, Drip, And then we’ll let it rip out on the dance floor, I’m staying home alone, Staring out the window while the sun shone, I locked the back, But, oh, I hope my parents cut me some slack, I broke the rules, And if you don’t like that, Feel free to eat my signature gruel, You have worn me down, so I confess, I might have forgotten to include my address. So I sigh,
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The Black Hole by Alex Schroeder As I walked near the area of a large city that us civilians have come to know as Tilted Town. I Raven James look towards the sky and I see a rocket launching into the atmosphere. I did not think much of it due to the fact that the man known as the visitor leaving in the rocket had given us warning that the rocket would soon launch. Still amused I looked to the sky and the rocket was going up into the air. Something strange happened the rocket seemingly went through the thing that scared us all, rifts. I was somewhat scared but this had happened last year with the rocket as well but something seemed different this time. The meteor shined above and blined all of us in sight of the humongous object. At this point I was very scared and confused and the rockets then came back above the meteor and began to all go into one rift right in front of the frozen object. I did not know what to do as I saw perhaps hundreds of rockets all going into the same rift and then, my stomach dropped as I watched the frozen rock start to move straight into the rift. I braced but then nothing happened and as I looked up I saw the meteor and all of the rockets were gone. Then I heard another rift open above the lake and saw the meteor along with six rockets coming down straight towards the zero point sphere. I watched as the rockets peeled off at the last second all in different directions as the meteor hit the force field protecting the orb and after penetrating it the meteor crashed into the zero point and created the brightest flash of light that any of us had ever seen. As the inhabitants were shot up into the atmosphere we saw as the zero point sphere slowing turned into a rapidly spinning black hole which began to swallow the island, the home that I grew up in. I watched trees get sucked in and watched the volcano and iceberg give into the incredibly powerful force pulling it in. Soon enough I was being sucked in and as I approached the black hole I could only hope there was something on the other side.
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Untitled
by Marisol Shukie
I was covered in mud from head to toe. Mom’s gonna kill me once she figures out what I did to my brand-new shoes. Stacy had pushed me in the mud pit again, mostly ‘cause I stole her candy stash three months ago. As I sprint back home for dinner, I hide my muddy shoes behind the hose and spray myself with water. I walk into the house, ever so quietly, without making a peep, until I hear Audrey scream into her pillow again. Honestly, our house is too small for a family of nine. It’s as loud as a zoo full of elephants, times twelve! Even in the middle of the night, you can hear the noisy sounds of Brett’s snoring all throughout the house. As I walk into my room, I quickly put my used-to-be white, now brown socks into the hamper. I went in the shower before anybody else could call it before me. Our shower is pretty much invaded by all of Audrey’s shampoos and hair stuff. I wish we had a second shower in this house. As the water finally turns into a warm temperature, I hear Arleene yell out my name, “Everett Marcelina Warren!!!!! ” I hate my middle name. What type of person names their male child Marcelino? Isn’t Marcelina girl’s name too? I guess some secrets are supposed to remain unknown. ” Mom wants you to set the table!!!!” I don’t know what’s louder, the speaker’s volume that my brother Brett beats on in his old stinky car, or my sister Arleene shouting orders at meat the top of her lungs like a war general. After my two-minute shower is complete, I put on my clothes and rush to mom to help her set the table. Mom is holding Susan, hoping that she will stop crying while making spaghetti sauce. She asks me to get out the forks and plates. Stacy keeps on glaring at me as if I had just thrown our cat Marmalade in her spaghetti. In case you haven’t noticed, Tracy keeps grudges for a very long time. She’s still mad at Kelly for stealing her stuffed bear. If I were being honest, my favorite sibling out of all seven of them is Marmalade.
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After dinner, I go on the bottom bunk under Ryan and look at Marmalade, who was staring at me with her bright blue eyes of intelligence. It’s almost like she’s a real human but trapped in an old fat cat’s body. Even though she sheds a lot, I still allow her on my bed. I start to gaze out of the window with Marmalade on my lap until I hear a rock hit my window with a thunk. I look down and see this dude with a leather jacket and his hair smoothed with too much hair gel. I realize it isn’t the window to our room. I see Audrey open her window and climb down the roof to go see him. The one thing I don’t understand is why, of all the girls in the world, would he pick Audrey to be his girlfriend? I see Audrey climb back up the ladder that leads to the roof and blows him a kiss as he speeds away in his convertible. Gross. No wonder why Audrey has too many hair products in the shower. Teenagers are weird.
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Start A New Document. by Jasper Kaminsky
Yes, I know, this a not a normal topic. ‘Start A new document’ I mean, that’s what I had to do to get here, right? Google docs. Click. Start a new document. Click. Takes a few seconds id say, isn’t very interesting, right? Hello, my name is Jasper. Ever since I was like 6 I’ve always wanted to program. I have studied quite hard and I know a few things about code, and ‘non-programmers’ think that it's easy to make a single website or video game. Well, it’s way more complicated than you’d ever expect. Let’s see. Let’s start off with the basics; everything on the on your screen right now was programmed. There was no “Building blocks” like your painting or writing, or for heaven’s sake building a lego tower. It is way more complicated. I mean, there are like models for making a video game. For example, if you coding LUA, C++, or Java, in the model’s section you could look up “skyscraper” or “firemen” or “pyramid” but you can’t just put those in and expect it to work. You need to put code into it for those things to get to work. In other words, the computer needs to have the exact things in code, otherwise, it doesn’t understand, or it just straight up crashes. For example, if you have ‘Print’ Variable name: My Variable, it won’t work, because the computer doesn’t know if the name of the variable is My or Variable. (Variables are a harder concept that I’m not going to bother to explain to you unless you want to be a programmer when you grow up.) To put it in perspective, right now, do ctrl + shift + i. If you haven’t already, in the top left click elements. That is the code it took to make just the screen that you’re staring at. Try reading 1 or 2 lines of that. Make sense to you? Probably not, and most like chance inside your going like, “I don’t speak robot.” And yes, a human, a real person, wrote that, not only wrote but memorized. Now, a person didn’t just memorize just for that one project. It’s not like he had to remember it as a script, for a movie, TV show, etc. The person who wrote the code has memorized just little bits at a time, for example, role=” application” or position: absolute; top: -100 px. As this kept on going on, and the person kept on practicing these little bits of code, this person started understanding algorithms more and getting into the harder stuff of programming such as, \“cursor: URL(“chrome-extension”):// vxt-divide{iclinnjcnpihmbogglkigdkhk} What I’m trying to get to you is, it’s not easy, and just clicking “Start a new document” would execute thousands of lines of code. If not up already, do ctrl + shift + I again. Imagine writing that 1,00o times. As a fun fact, stacking 100,000 people on top of each other would reach about 1/2000 of the way to the moon. So, a line of robot language for every person on that tower of people. It’s not just, click. Open. It is more like, click. Follow about 1000 steps to get this person to the right page in a matter of seconds. Open.
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The 5 steps: 1. 2. 3.
4.
5.
Computer goes over all of your public information such as what country you live in, and where your wifi signals coming from, to make sure you’re not malware or any kind of bot. The site runs some code that identifies your computer type for maximum compatibility The site knows you’re eligible to be on the website so it measures your ping (internet signal speed) Ping(ms): The measurement of how long it takes for your device to connect to the signal where the wifi is coming from (the router.) You can look up your ping on google. A great ping is 0-20 ping. A pretty good ping is from 21 to 35. An ok ping is 36-45. A manageable ping is 46-59. A not very good ping is 60-83. A pretty bad ping is 84-124. An unmanageable ping is 125 and so on. The website goes over your internet signal; most websites have different power modes; some for internet, and some for power (battery life.) For example, if your phone is on 10%, it says you have 10% and you have the choice to hit low power mode or ok. If you have great internet, the website will automatically set to a high internet mode that gives you maximum compatibility. With a bad signal, it would set to a setting with not as much compatibility. After all of the four steps above are complete, the last thing the website needs to do is check your history, such as if you have an account signed up, or, if using google docs, what stories you have worked on in the past, in case you need to work on them. Once all these steps are complete all it needs to do now is load the code for the font, share button, etc.
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My First Friend in a New State by Mia Williamson
My name is Zennah and I am eleven years old. I am really short for my age I have dark brown poofy hair. I have a brother named Johnny, he is also kind of short, he has dark brown hair and skinny legs. ”Zennah, time to start packing your room,” Mom screamed to me. “One sec mom!” I yelled back. Oh, and I forgot to tell you that I was born in Nebraska, then I moved to Florida and now we are moving again to Maine. More specifically, Aspen Hills, because dad got a new job in Maine. He is a teacher, sadly not at the school I am planning to go to, which is called Aspen Hills Prep. I think that moving again really annoying. Anywho, I have to start packing a little more. Beep beep, I wake up to the sound of my alarm. “Zennah are you up yet?” my Mom whispers. “Yes,” I say. I look down and see the outfit that I laid out a week ago, that was meant for today. Today is the day we move to Maine. We have to be at the airport in an hour. The outfit that I picked out is a light blue skirt with daisy flowers on it. My shirt is white, with the words, Be the sunshine in somebody else's cloud. I pull my shirt over my head and slide my skirt up. Then I ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I ran downstairs to the kitchen and my dad is standing there making eggs for breakfast. After we eat breakfast, we go to the garage and into the car. The airport is about twenty-five minutes away. When we get to the airport we tag all the luggage we could manage to bring. Then we go through security, and finally we boarded the plane I sat next to my dad. y brother sat next to my mom. I love my dad, and I am happy I get some daddy daughter time. I brought some cards on the plane and we played uno. I won the first game, but my dad crushed me in the other 12 games that we played. The plane ride was only three hours, so we arrived pretty soon after the Uno games. I sleep for half an hour. When I woke up, my dad was there and we got off the plane. My dad rented a car and we took that to our new house. I liked the house, it was beautiful, but I wished I could go to the same school as my dad. I had worked so hard to make the friends that I already have and now I will never see them again. Now I have to make new friends. 24
Ding dong! I think that was the doorbell. Who could it be? Maybe one of our neighbors. I ran to the door and opened it. There stood a little girl who looked around my age. She was standing there with a plate of cookies and a bouquet of flowers. “Hi,” she said cheerfully. “Hi,” I said back. “These flowers are for your parents and the treats are for you and your siblings,” she said. “Thank you. Come in,” I smiled. She walked in the house with a big bright smile. “What school are you planning to go to?” she asked me. “I think I am going to Aspen Hills Prep,” I said. “That is where I go to school,” she said, “see you there on Monday.” She waved as she walked out the door. I closed the door. That was awkward, I thought. I went to sit on the stairs ate the cookies that she gave me. I was thinking and she was the first friend I made in Maine. That was pretty special for me. That is how I want my story to end. The story ends with me having a new friend.
THE END
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The Clock on the Wall by Selah Riehl
Prologue Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock I wait patiently, but he does not wake, his face still cold as stone. “Ugh,” is the noise I make as shake him to life. I am in the room with my patient, Fred. I had been working with him because he had just come out of a knee surgery that took a lot of his energy. He also had a full-time job and two daughters to take care of. After that, he went somewhere to get something, something none of the doctors know about. Then he came back, took a few steps into my grayish flower-covered office and collapsed. None of the doctors could trace anything, There was not a trace of blood in his body and no clues either. Chapter 1 ”He was seen coming out of a liquor store?” The chief could not understand why such a kind friendly father would be going into a liquor store. Finally, the chief made a thoughtful decision, he called his secretary and said: ”Yet again, we will need to hire more detectives for the new case.” He hung up before Wilma, the secretary could argue to change his mind. Chief Cosha tried to relax his nerves as he sat in his blue green office in his red chair with the black marble table in the middle. On the other end of the line, the secretary had been frustrated by her boss. e had not been treating her fairly, Considering that she sat in a smaller cubicle than any other employees with only a mini-desk and a trash can in it. But, she didn’t care at this moment. She was looking at something a lot more interesting. (*) Chief Cosha walked out of his office, clueless of what had happened for the fourth night in a row. He passed the bulletin board with a sigh,there it was., All their solved and unsolved cases stuck together with a long piece of red string. He passed his secretary's cubicle. He had never noticed the pictures of her son and all her favorite music discs, but he didn’t need to, He knew them by heart. Then he noticed that her computer was still open. He opened it, curious to see what she had been doing. She hardly ever needed to use her computer. The chief could not believe his eyes. His secretary was hacking into the government! Wait, no that was not the government it looked more like a dating site, and wait! This is the site he used. He had to hide this.
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Chapter 2 Back in the doctor's office: Dr. Beverly had found something, She found a sample of blood. ”I found it! I found blood! We have to get to the analyzer!” Dr. Beverly shouted. She rushed to the room that had the only wrong label in the whole building. She sped in only to see two large men each were dressed up in an all-black uniform, sunglasses and their hair smoothed down. “Why hello, I just need to get to that analyzer behind you,” the two men looked at each other and moved closer together blocking the analyzer out of sight. “You see I need to analyze this blood it will solve some huge now I just need to...” the two large men picked Dr. Bradly off her feet into a large black truck slamming the doors and locking them shut. Meanwhile, the chief had gathered all the detectives that he had called in he gave them their first mission. “ I would like you to find out who ATE MY DONUTS! “ Chief Cosha screamed then he turned around then out of nowhere he broke his vertebrae and fell dead in the center of the chief’s office.
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Spooky Story by Sam Hicks
I'm walking home from work when I hear something off in the distance. I check my phone to see that it's 1:00 am. I rarely ever run into somebody at this time. “I must be hearing things. Had a long day at work I suppose” I say under my breath. As I walk for another couple of minutes I hear the same exact sound. It almost sounds like someone is struggling from something. “Ugh,” I say as I walk over to whatever or whoever is making the sound. “I just wanted to go home and go to bed,” I say as I approach the thing that was making so much noise. I pull out my flashlight on my phone so I can see what it is. As I flash the light on it I gasp. It's a woman who looks like she is about the die at any moment. I drop my flashlight and try to untangle her. When I’m done, I see that she has a t-shirt and some shorts on and so I give her my jacket. “Are you ok?” I say as I take a closer look at her. As I do, I notice a bunch of bruises and some blood in a couple of places. “T-t-than-k-k yo-u-u” she says as she begins to sob. “It's okay,” I say. “I'm going to call the police and they can send you to the hospital”. As I begin to call 911 she stops me. “Please d-don't,” she says. “H-he will f-find out and will try to kill you”. I put my phone down and look at her. “Okay. You will come back to my place and get situated up”. “Ok,” she says and blood goes down her forehead and she wipes it away. When we get back to my place I tell her to take a shower and I will get her some things to wear and somewhere to sleep. She does what I say and I take her shirt and put it into the washing machine. As I head to my room, I noticed an envelope on the welcome mat. “Hm. this wasn't here when we got here. I'm sure of it.” I pick it up and look at what's inside. Its a note that says: She was supposed to Be DEAD. Well, since you intervened, I guess you will be the one to end to end up dead.
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I stared at the letter for about 10 minutes before I decide to throw it away. It must be a joke I think to myself. But for the rest of the night, I can't help but think, what if its not fake? The next morning….. When I wake up I don't know where I am. I'm sitting in a chair with my hands tied up and I have a piece of cloth in my mouth. I try to scream but can't. Nobody can hear me I think to myself. I hear something off in the distance, almost a crash of plates or something. I try to scream but can't. “Ah. I see your awake.” someone says a s they walk into the room. “Perfect, was getting a little board having to wait for you to wake up. Wanted to do it in your sleep but realized, it's not that fun.” I start to cry as he takes off my mouth wrap. “What do you want from me” I say with tears streaming down my face. “Oh you know.” he says, glaring at me. “No,no I don't!” I scream at him. He then grabs something from his pocket and points it at me. Before I could even realise what is happening, I hear a gunshot go off. The End.
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The Holocaust by Parker Brinner I was twelve years old. I was sleeping in my bed and then I heard
Crash! Boom! Screeeetch! I fell out of my bed. My vision was blurry, my ears were ringing. In the distance, I heard my mom screaming. I assumed it was a dream. I pinched myself and got up off the cold wooden floor. I picked up my lantern and went outside my bedroom door. I went to my mom’s room she was screaming frantically, while my dad was fighting back against some sort of soldier. I couldn’t see over the dust and smoke. I cleared my vision and my dad walked out the door handcuffed. I hit one of the soldiers and told him to put my dad down. He was mad. One of the other soldiers screamed,
Nimm ihn auch Bring him too, in German. I heard stories from my friends of German soldiers. They hated Jews and I heard that they take you to camps where they kill you, starve you and don’t give you water. I was scared. I screamed and fought back, but they were too strong and they were much bigger than me. My mom kicked one of them, but then they pushed her down. My dad escaped from their grasp. He punched one of them and then they beat him with some sort of bat. They grabbed him again, he was bleeding from the lip and mouth. Then my dad yelled
Lass uns frei Let us free. They grabbed me by the hair and threw me down the stairs…
Wo bin ich Where am I, I woke up in a hard rock bed, my dad right by my side. I woke my dad up. He said, “Es tut mir leid, dass ich uns nicht retten konnte”. I’m sorry I couldn’t save us. “Es ist in Ordnung Papa. Wo sind wir? Was ist passiert?” It’s alright dad. Where are we? What’s happened? He said that we were captured by a Nazi group that had taken our town. Back home our whole town was Jewish and the Nazis had finally figured it out because of all the synagogues in our area. My dad looked terrible. He looked tired and grumpy. He had a black eye and lots of cuts on his face . His shirt was stained with blood. I asked “Was ist mit Mama, Papa passiert?” What’s happened to mom dad? “Sie ist wieder zu Hause. Frauen werden nicht in Konzentrationslager gebracht, die sie nicht für wertvoll halten”. She is back at home. Women do not get taken to concentration camps, they don't think they are valuable. I was very mad I was very sad at the same time. We were going to die. I was so scared and I screamed out for my mom “Mama”!” My dad told me to calm down. I went to the bathroom to do my morning rituals. Then I remembered that we didn’t have any of our stuff. I went back and fell back asleep.
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The Neighbor by Alondra Rodriguez It was my 11th birthday. My parents were hiding it, but I knew they were saving up money to get me a gift. I saw the empty jars full of countless rusty pennies and folded dollar bills hidden in our tiny storage closet. I knew they were planning on getting me a great present. I could picture it in my mind, a new purple bike, or a new pair of shoes. I couldn’t wait! The doorbell rang. It was a hot day. One of those days where it’s not too hot, but just right. One of those days where you would just dip your legs in a swimming pool to get cooled off. “Come in!”. I slowly creaked opened the door. As soon as I saw him, my heart began to race. It was our next-door neighbor. My parents, my sister, and I saw him on a wanted poster once as we were returning from a walk in the park. My sister pointed it out first, “Hey, isn’t that Mr. Carson?”. She was pointing at his face taped up on a dusty street light. The wrinkled paper read “ Wanted -DEAD OR ALIVE- Jacob Benjamin Carson (Picture) About 5 '6, early 50’s. 5,000 DOLLAR REWARD.” “Oh… good afternoon Mr. Carson! How may I help you?”. He was always a bit odd to me even though my mom said that Mr. Carson wasn’t a criminal. But sometimes, I would catch him digging a hole in his backyard or dubiously staring at our house. Once, I caught him dragging a black trash bag before the sun rose. It looked really heavy and left a trail of mysterious juices. I didn’t want to think much of it, but I couldn’t sleep that night. He slammed the door. “That was strange….” I mumbled to myself. Later on, the party had started. Banners and posters hung everywhere saying “Happy 11th Birthday Charlotte!”. We were all crowded in our tiny backyard; my parents, sister, the rest of my family and some of my friends. Our backyard wasn’t fenced, and there was barely any grass, it was all dirt that made your nose itchy. He suddenly just popped out of nowhere again, it was creepy. The music stopped quickly. Everyone stared at him. “Hey, Jacob. Come in. Come, have a seat please.” my mother, Amelia said. “Ah, yea...thanks….” he mumbled in response. “Hey Mr. Carson, long time no see…” I heard my dad, Charlie, try to start a conversation with him. After briefly talking to my dad, he chose an empty seat next to mine. I felt really awkward next to him. I offered him food, but he said “no thanks...” and just sat there, staring at the ground. He didn’t eat anything. He didn’t talk. He always just responded with a simple mumble. 10 Minutes after the party (Amelia’s Point of View) “Charlotte? We should open your presents now.”. First thing I heard when I entered the house after cleaning up outside, “Mom, where did Charlotte go? I can’t find her.”. “I don’t know. I saw her a few minutes ago.” “But, it’s been 10 minutes and I can’t find her. I’m worrying.” “Oh, honey, she’s probably hiding…”. 33
That night, Charlie calls the cops… “911, what’s your emergency?.” “(Gasp) My daughter is missing!” “Ok, calm down sir. Where was she last seen?” “We had a house party and she just…disappeared (gulp).” “Can you describe her for us?” “She had a blue and purple dress with brown boots, and she has brown-ish, blond-ish hair and she has blue eyes. She’s about 4’6 feet and she’s 11.” “We’ll try our best. Stay calm and we’ll alert you if we find a clue.” “Ok, (gasp) bye.”. Beep beep beep beep. From Amelia’s point of view... “Ok well, I already called them and gave them a description of her. But, how? Maybe she wandered off. Oh, I should’ve installed the fence last week. What if someone at the party took her? Jacob... what if Jacob took her? I mean, I ” “Don’t assume. Anything could’ve happened.” It was true. These days, any sort of chaos can happen. Any kid, including Charlotte, that steps out on the streets can get lost. “But, what if he actually took her?!” “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure…. Where’s your proof?” Earlier that day, during the party, Charlotte’s Point of view “Hey, um...” he finally started talking. “Can you show me which flower you like the most in the garden that’s in front of your house? I just… ahh… what? Oh, yea I just want to… Roger... oh, I mean, I just want to give you a present next time we meet, because I couldn’t get you one... today.” The thought wasn’t odd to me until I was crumpled up in his claustrophobic trunk, sweaty and freaking out. A speed bump made me hit my head on the roof of the trunk. I started hearing ringing noises, and my breath was short. I tried finding an emergency exit button, my hands carefully sensing around the whole trunk. Soon, I gave up looking and accepted the fact that I was getting kidnapped. I felt like passing out. The trunk opened slowly. I felt a soft breeze of fresh air brush my face. Suddenly, I felt something inject me, and I started to fall asleep. I woke up in a dark room, with just one light shining at my face, like in a movie. Everything seemed unrealistic. I was tied up in a cold chair. In front of me, I saw my mom and Mr. Carson whispering about something. My vision was blurry. The room seemed foggy. I was thirsty and tired. I wanted to go home. “Mom, thank goodness it’s you! Help me out, please!” I tried squirming out of the chair. I stood up but realized I couldn’t since my feet where trapped by tight, metal semicircles planted in the ground. “Mom, it’s me Charlotte, help me.” A blade popped out of my mom’s hands. “Here, my hands are here. Cut here first and then I can help you cut the..” “Shhhh...”. She gently pressed the knife on my neck. The blade shimmered in the lonely light as if showing off its sharpness. She pressed harder and harder every second. The blade felt like a bee sting in slow-motion. As my neck was burning, a million thoughts rushed through my tiny little head. Was this all a dream? 34