The RCDS 2017 Literature Journal

“New Document”: Poetic License Volume I

The 2016-17 Literary Journal of The RCDS 6th GRade

“If there’s a book you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” -Toni Morrison.

Many people today have thoughts or ideas, but don’t act upon them. They may also say, “this would be a great book.” Well, this year, the 6th grade students worked hard to create a variety of writings from short stories to analytical pieces to poems.

Throughout the year, the students were given the opportunity to “write the story” that has not yet been written. We got to see a whole lot of our own dreams come alive through our writing, especially me. Before the 5th grade, I never would do anything in this case. I would stand around, wait hesitantly for someone to just tie it up for me, even though I never said a word about it. But then one day I got so mad about something, and I just wrote it all down despite my loss of words.

I continued to write until it blossomed into something wonderful. Then I made a final draft and to this day I still look back at it. Now, I’ll regularly write for fun with the time I am offered. I hope some of these writings inspire you to make your own little creations, they might even have potential to become something bigger.

We, the 6th grade class, hope you sit back, put your feet up, and get lost in our stories that are now written.

Ellyana Perosi, Co-Editor

“New Document�: Poetic License Journal Editors:

Adele Bender Ellyana Perosi Journal Student Creative Team:

Matthew Bockelmann Grace Gibson McLane Gmelich Aidan MacManus Nathaniel WHittemore Journal Faculty Advisors: Aurea Hernandez-Webster Casey McChesney

Poetry noun po·et·ry \pō-trē, -i-trē also p-)i-trē\ 1 a : metrical writing : verse b : the productions of a poet : poems 2: writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm 3 a : something likened to poetry especially in beauty of expression b : poetic quality or aspect the poetry of dance Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poetry In the pages that follow, you will encounter an exhibition of a world that is vibrant, stunning, and immersed in images that shimmer in the lives of the 6th graders. Whether inspired by a snow squall, the breezes by the ocean, or the chirrup-jabber:: cackle-peep of jargon, these poems frame for you, through figurative expression, the activities and ideas of their time.

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The Sounds of Summer

by Bryce Devlin The Sounds of Summer I exit the doors of the prison cell To hear hundreds of children scream and yell Happy to escape the dreaded place With slippery smiles spreading slowly across their face Ready to be free for the first time this year Jumping and playing, full of cheer They run and sprint across the lot Going as fast as they can so it’s not too hot There stress and sadness left inside the school There happy and ready to go in the pool While the school just waits week after week Until summer is over and everything is gray and bleak

Gidget

by Alexandra Popham I pulled into the lot of a gas station, looked to my right saw a lonely store I look to my left saw an empty lot, A car pulls in.

Inside the car was a tall man, The tall man stepped out of the car, He held something, Something black, Something small yet big, Something alive, Something.

He walked slowly to me, my mom held me close Just in case, He opened his jacket, Slowly, And there she was, A black fat fur ball.

She was adorable, It was A black pug, She was as black as the night sky, She was perfect.

Mom told us to get ready to go, We jumped in the car, Next to the lonely store, I turned to my left, and looked out the window, I took one last glimpse of the tall man, And waved, He smiled and waved back.

The Spirit of Lacrosse

by Timmy Piacentini

Tweet.

Lacrosse game starts with a whistle, It sparks a tickle, Within my body.

Shots fired at the 6 by 6 net, Goals scored, Shots fired at the net, saved by the rambunctious goalie.

Slaps of sticks meet the bodies, Leaving battle scars that will last a lifetime.

Fans cheer, Their long lusty powerful roar.

All in the spirit of lacrosse.

Baking

by Grace SIlbert Can you bake?

Could you make a moist chocolate cake?

Red velvet, vanilla, raspberry, strawberry, confetti, All great flavors, But too many for me.

Would it melt?

Would it overflow?

Could it simply be felt, Without it falling low?

Would it run like stream, Or would it look like big scene?

Can you bake?

The Swarm

by Sophie Risin At the bell A swarm Storms the Halls I try to Escape None can I run Nearly escaping Until We are forced Outside by The siren of red We become one Swarm I am Dragged under Forced into The swarm A place Where I is all And No one Is One

Sweeter Experiences

by Chloe Krasko

Lick the batter on the spoon That vanilla color of the moon Pour the batter into the pan And put it into the oven as fast as I can Cupcakes rise Time flies While waiting for the treat That you can’t wait to eat That smell of sweet goodness Makes you want to eat it raw Cool it down, but not too much that it needs to be thawed Don’t have it so warm the frosting will melt; As I glanced Over to the oven At the cupcakes I have shoved in And I see the scrumptious treat That I can’t wait to eat Baking this may be hard As long as it’s not charred It will taste as good As it should If I had to give this a rank It would be ten I will use this recipe again And I will never stop baking

Life

by Grace Gbson Life goes step by step like a staircase to the moon You never know which way it’s gonna take you You think it’s gonna be fine but then there’s a bad sign You try to take a different turn but it doesn’t work You try to lurk Then it’s all ok because you find another way You try to stay but then the good times slip away You try to run again Put it pulls you back in The cycle goes over and over And you have to deal with it Because that’s life

Sounds of Summer

by Angie Getze As the ocean passes by my feet, The water relieves me from the heat.

As I jump into the world of blue, I wonder what else there could be to do.

As I see the coral reef ahead, I finally decide to turn my head.

A huge wave, swish swoosh You won’t believe the next thing I cross Was it a shark? Was it a whale?

I can’t wait to tell this glorious tale.

Are you ready for me to tell you what it is?

It was a… (CHOMP)

The Spectrum Bridge

by Adele Bender Just on this side of heaven there is a place called the Spectrum Bridge When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone That pet goes to the Spectrum Bridge There are meadows and hills for all our friends So they can run and play together The animals are happy and content Except for one little thing They all miss someone very dear to them who had to be left behind But the day comes when one suddenly stops and stares into the distance His bright eyes are intent His surprised body quivers Suddenly, he begins to run from the group He flies over the green grass His legs are carrying him faster and faster You have been spotted And when you and your special friend finally meet You cling together in a joyous reunion Never to be parted ever again Once again, you look into the eyes of your pet So long lost from your life But never truly absent from your heart Then you cross the Spectrum Bridge together

A Green Hat, a Red Feather

by Paige Cecil and Elle Molyneaux I jump up in the sky Even though I know I can’t fly All I need is pixie dust Or maybe a gust Of wind so I don’t fall Or maybe I don’t want anything at all I don’t know if I want to fly away But I know I don’t want to stay In this horrid place I want to chase A bird at night Not when it’s bright The lights hurt Soon I will hit the dirt I don’t want to stay strong But a tiny girl came along And made me fly I was so amazed I started to cry We flew away, into the wood And she told me I could Stay

Courage

By Quinn Stankovits Minute and innocent, A bumble bee’s wings can carry the bee far.

We don’t know how, But the weight of the bee should drag the bee down, right?

The answer is no.

The bee has courage.

To go somewhere in life, Like the bee, You need courage.

That bee took a huge chance of life, Or death… when trying to fly.

But now, bees are alive today because of that tiny ounce of courage.

The smallest extra dose of courage is what Will help you go far

Deciduous Forest

by Trestan Simon Chestnut branches flow through the air, Emerald leaves fall everywhere, The sound of birds chirping aren’t rare, The misty air played with my hair, No other scene I can compare.

Minute ants crawled through the grass, I watched a deer silently pass, Drops of water sparkled like glass A motionless beetle shone like brass, But now I have to go back to class.

The Mysterious Sea

by Alessandra Veltri I rest on the soft silky sand listening to the ocean, with the wave crashing above in motion.

As the waves break, the banks begins to shake.

Then I walk my hands out of the sinking sand.

All the pulling currents begin to stop, as I reach the top .

I propel through the water, and then get hit even harder.

When the wave then splashes my face, my heart starts to race.

I swim down, taste the salt, and hit hard to a halt.

I lie down on the soft sea floor quilt, feel the fluffy silt.

Then I finally get out of the water and say goodbye to its musical lilt.

Untitled

by Claudette Yarbrough Been searching all night All day These always go missing Every time Searched high and low They’re gone I say that every time but I think it’s real They’re gone Checked In the closet and the drawers Even outside Found my laces and five other pairs but no Not okay I need these ones it’s a very important day These shoes Not on the rack in back or on top of the counter No way Can’t believe I didn’t see Look down That’s what I should’ve told myself Right there They were waiting for me My shoes They were already on my feet

One Goal

by Ryan Mitsch

One gentle pass back to the striker, One through ball to the right midfield player, Break-away, One vs one with the goalie, First shot, incredible save, Second shot hits the crossbar, Third shot, the goalie dives and captures the ball in his hand, He punts it high, we catch it low.

We play defense against their magnificent midfield, First pass, Second pass, Third pass, Shot!!!

Golazo!!!

Immediately the crowd screeched a chant, Olé Olé Olé Olé Olé Olé!!!

Down by one goal, Thirty seconds left pass, pass, Corner kick set play, Every player shouts, Chelsea, Chelsea!!!

Chip shot!

Header, Goalll!!!

One second left, Game over, O-T penalty kicks, Many go by, Everyone has scored, Liverpool has one shot left, incredible save!!

I am up last for Chelsea.

If I score, we win the championship, If I miss we tie, Bottom right corner with spectacular power, Goalie tips it and….

It hit the inside post, Hit the goalie’s head, Went to the back of the net!!!

We won the championships!!!

Ping Pong

by Luca Tenuto Ping pong, ping pong, the neon yellow ball goes back and forth until, clunk! it hits the hard clay court.

Then the action starts again with a, wham! a serve. a groundstroke back with a little topspin.

One Player moves up and tries to hit a slice. The weird sound the ball makes because of backspin. Thunk. Bounce back, the shot won the game.

The ball is served in. Pop! Oh no someone’s racket string has sprung. The neon ball lands in the net. The players are wearing the white uniform the match is over, and the loser is upset. Remember in tennis there is always tomorrow.

The Ocean

by Elle Molyneaux The ocean is a frightening place With creatures no one dares to face.

We have so much more to find I wonder if the fish will mind Us digging around in their homes Just looking around, only trying to roam.

Shining and gleaming This water is teeming With life: bugs and fish Floating, with a wish That we will leave them in peace Only letting them have a crease Of space to live and thrive, Hoping to survive We’re crying tears of salt Even though it’s our fault

The River of Rhythm

by Elly Perosi You know a song is finished When everything flows just right And just like flowing rivers and streams High tide has a loud or quiet height And when notes move like rocks and pebbles And everything starts to drift Do not lose hope Do not panic Because whatever it becomes, Is a gift

Under the Se a

by Jul ian Ma gherin i Under

th With a e water, ll the Swimmi fish ng by an As the ir dor d stared me sa Away f in the rom th l and back e past fins d eye. . ashed All th e Attrac colors in t te he sea The co d me to see ra .

All ha l, sand, ca ve a d v iffere es, fish, a nt sto nd roc ry to ks As I e k n me ow And gr rged from t as he sea I knew ped the bre ez my jou As it rney w e, ca as ove r.

I swam me to a clo se to go And go t on t he boa t, and it was On the over. boat I I real r ealize ized. d.

I real I leap ized t ed bac hat k To see , , The ma gnific ent se a.

My Tail

by Matthew Levy Have you ever seen a tail?

My tail? A pig’s tail?

Have you ever seen my tail?

A swirly twirly tail?

One that helps me balance, prevents me from falling down?

A tail that swings back and forth?

One that points north?

Not a hippo’s tail for fluctuating.

Or a dog’s tail for kibitzing.

Have you ever seen a tail?

Vivid and pink as can be.

Oh how I adore the tail that I posses.

My swirly twirly tail.

The Frog, The Dog & The Monkey

by Luca Tenuto

There once was a frog But he had a friend who was a dog The frogs name was Blake The dogs name was Jake Frog and dog played until A monkey came named bill The monkey was mean The frog was green The monkey pushed the frog The monkey also pushed the dog Frog and dog ran away The monkey stayed that day Then the monkey ran away.

Snow

by El Poem lie Fr ankel I hear the en the w d ind. T earing ho wl of he flu rests on th f f e tree y snow to be almos shake n. Th t read crisp e chil y air ru l of the shes u Not h arsh s p my s some n pine. o w , nor wher light e in b water but etwee rushe n. Th screen s dow e n the . The re is a quiet hazy . The lmost occas bump ional s you car ho soon into r rn enoug eality h you the cr but azed, are ba hazed ck to , win ter da ys.

Sounds of Summer

by Blaire Sheftel

Do you feel the same freedom as me?

The kind of freedom that feels freer than free.

When your feet hit the sand sending a burst of familiar warmth, Watching the fireworks for July the fourth.

Do wave to your summer friends, who you rarely see?

But now you do, and now you’re free.

Away from the stress of the stress of the constant tests, In which you can sleep in. Get some rest!

Do you immediately grab a bottle, and spray in your sun-in, To get beautiful blonde locks, and sun kissed skin?

And the most often phrase is “wow, you’re so tan!”

And you plug in your battery charged fan.

So now it is summer, and you are free, So this poem is about being freer than free.

Basketball

by Oliver Olson Hear the ball bounce up and down thumping on the court going into the hoop with a splash and a swish. See a player accomplish a crossover and pull up for three. See Steph Curry with his unbelievable range splash a three from half court and even full court. See John Stockton achieve an amazing pass to Karl Malone for a slam dunk. See the head coach create all of the team’s plays choosing carefully which plays to use. See fouls that cause teams to fight with each other, teams win and lose their games on free throws. See ejections from players who committed flagrant and technical fouls. This is the game of Basketball. It has evolved over the years, seeing great and new players enter and leave the court for the first and final time.

Prose noun \prōz\ 1a : the ordinary language people use in speaking or writing b : a literary medium distinguished from poetry especially by its greater irregularity and variety of rhythm and its closer correspondence to the patterns of everyday speech Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poetry These selections from our student artists will draw you into the minds, emotions, adventures, joys and trials of a myriad of characters, brought to life on pages describing never before encountered places. In many of the pieces in this section, you may not get to see these protagonists resolve their conflicts as these are short stories, novellas and novels in progress. These verbal impressions will possibly, in the fullness of time, become more from their early NaNoWriMo and portfolio based beginnings. Some others of these pieces are personal reflections, essays and arguments to get you questioning about the “What if?” Still, our budding 6th grade authors will leave you wondering and guessing at the possibilities…..

Home

by McLane Gmelich I opened the card and he said, “Merry Christmas” and I screamed! The day kept getting better and better. I got some new clothes, colored pencils, and a phone case but, all I really wanted was a puppy. Dogs always seem happy and I feel like we need that sometimes. Right when I was thinking that, my dad handed us a picture of the cutest dog on earth. Then my Dad said “He’s for the whole family.”

“His name is Dozer. He’s from Wisconsin and not even one,” he told us. We were all so excited to see him. Then, he explained since we were in California with our cousins, that it would take a week to get Dozer home. We all were a little disappointed because we couldn’t wait to see him. By the time the week was over, we were we were sick of waiting. Then we heard the car rolling up the driveway.

At first, Dozer was shy. My mom slept with him the night he got home because he was scared and crying. After a week, he seemed like a perfect fit for the family. Now I know that anything can happen if you wish for it.

The Island

By Bennett Raphalian

Chapter 1: The Crash

Crash!

Ezra couldn’t believe what was happening. His mind was racing and he heard voices screaming. People were panicking and piling into the safety rafts. He got on his life jacket and jumped into the treacherous, cold water.

Ezra, a 15 year old boy, woke up on a sandy island. He had no idea where he was and was sore from the plane crash. He looked around and took in his surroundings. The island was huge.

There were palm trees everywhere and a huge mountain. Ezra began to venture into the jungle to collect his resources to build his shelter. He decided to make his home high up in the trees and close to the beach so vicious predators can’t get him. He gathered vines and cut down tree trunks. He nailed pieces of wood into the tallest tree he could find with sharp sticks. He began to climb up and make a dumb waiter. Ezra used all of his strength to haul the wood up. After 3 hard hours of work his house was finished. It was good but not a work of art.

In the middle of the night Ezra heard a loud crack. He sprang to his feet and grabbed his wooden spear he made earlier. It was a lousy stick with a sharpened end sharp enough to pierce a small animal. Ezra climbed down the tree in his ripped up shaggy clothes and began to inspect the area. After a few minutes he heard the crack again, but this time closer to him. Ezra got his spear ready for anything to spring at him. Then he got hit hard in the back by something. He gathered himself together and saw what had hit him, a warthog. He swung wildly at his attacker and failed to hit it until he stabbed it right in the back. The warthog shrieked and ran off. Ezra ran back to his house and decided not to go back out until morning.

In the morning Ezra was starving. His stomach seemed to say “feed me!” Ezra decided to make more spears for backup. He went far into the green exotic jungle and every step he took the jungle seemed to swallow him up. He searched for about 15 minutes until he stumbled across a wild turkey. He threw the spear and hit it dead in the chest.

“Bull’s-eye!” Ezra said. He ran and took the turkey to the beach to cook it. He needed to make a fire to cook the turkey so he made one. He also made a knife from a antler of a deer. He filled his stomach with turkey that was surprisingly delicious. Ezra decided to explore the jungle for the rest of the day. He found an abnormally tall tree with dark green vines coming down from it. He went over to the tree to touch it. When he got there he put his hands on the vines and pushed them aside. He saw old rickety stairs that led down the tree. Ezra gasped, he saw five feet in front of him someone’s name carved into the tree with a date next to it.

“Chaz Michaels, 8/9/4,” he said to himself. Then Ezra realized that it was the year 2005!

The date was recent and that meant someone else was on the island before him and could still be on.

Chapter 2: Chaz’s Hideout

When Ezra got to the bottom of the stairs, he saw a dark room with unlit candles and matches on a table filled with cobwebs. He picked up a candle and match and lit the candle. The room was pretty small and had a faint smell of dead animals. Ezra had so many thoughts racing through his mind. Was someone else on the island with him? Is he dangerous or a threat to me? Ezra searched around the room and saw a dusty machete sitting in a corner. Ezra picked it up and walked over to the desk. He opened the drawer and there lay a journal. He flipped through it until he got to day 1. “ My name is Chaz, I think I am on a deserted island in the Bermuda Triangle. My boat crashed and I woke up on a beach. It was night, I heard predators howling and saw bats in the sky. I slept on the beach until the sun was up. I knew I had to make shelter so I found this tree and started to build my hideout. I put my hands in my pocket and found a note that told me that I was part of an organization that was kind of like spy’s and the F.B.I. I will search this island for whoever gave me this note. I am not here alone.”

That’s what the journal said. Ezra had to try and find Chaz and the other person. Ezra was terrified with confusion and fear. Chaz must know a lot about the island. Ezra took the machete and left.

He returned back to the beach and began to walk around the island in search of Chaz. This could be Ezra’s one shot at finding answers to this place. The first place Ezra looked was the mountain. Chaz could be somewhere on the mountain gathering food or water. Ezra took his machete through the jungle, cutting down exotic plants that stood in his path. When he got to the mountain he was shocked to see that it was a lot bigger than it looked on the beach. The climb was hard, Ezra had to use every ounce of his energy to climb the rocky mountain. When he got to the top he looked down at the island. He could see all of it and it looked like the island was a lot bigger than he thought. He searched the island from his view in hopes to find anything moving in the form of a human. Something hit Ezra hard in the head and then everything went black.

Ezra woke up in a small room with a candle lit. His hands were tied together and so were his feet. Ezra looked around the room and thought that it looked familiar. He realized that he was in Chaz’s hideout! Ezra heard a voice. He turned around and saw a man with a machete in his hand.

“Who are you and how did you get here?” said the man.

“I am Ezra, my plane crashed and I woke up on the beach. I assume you are Chaz”? said Ezra.

“How do you know my name!” demanded Chaz.

“I read your journal when I found this room. I also know that you received a note. I was trying to find you so I can help you.” Ezra said in a loud voice. He felt intimidated because Chaz looked to be about 24 years old. Chaz was strong with a mustache.

“I do need help.” said Chaz. “Listen, tonight I’m going to find this person. I’m so close to finding him. I have seen him before and know his hideout. He is also part of this organization I’m in. Were called WICKED. This man leaves me notes every night at this tree. Were like the C.I.A. but go on assassination missions. He got put on this island by WICKED to kill this guy named Jason Wild. A top agent for the enemy. He is highly elite and has weapons. He’s trying to launch a bomb and hit our base. Do you want in?” said Chaz.

Ezra had thoughts racing through his mind. All he did was nod his head and say “I’m in..” Chaz went over the requirements and rules for WICKED. He showed Ezra some fighting moves and how to kill someone instantly with only your bare hands. Chaz gave Ezra his machete to use because he had made a deadly hatchet that you could throw. When they were done chatting they went on a hunt for food. As they were walking through the exotic jungle Ezra saw something moving in the bushes. He tapped Chaz on his shoulder.

“Did you see that?” whispered Ezra.

“No, what was it?” Chaz whispered back. At that moment a warthog sprang from the bushes, nearly hitting Ezra again!

“Get it!” Screamed Chaz. Chaz and Ezra started to attack the warthog. Chaz was swinging his hatchet wildly and Ezra was waving his machete at the warthog.

“Gotcha ya!” Chaz yelled as his hatchet hit the warthog right in the head. It had been a hard and tiring fight.

“I... think that... was the same... warthog that attacked me last night.” Ezra was trying to catch his breath from the battle.

“There is a possibility it could be.” Chaz said. “Let’s bring it back to the beach to cook. I’ll make a fire and you could start cutting it.”

“Sounds good.” Ezra has never eaten a warthog before so he doesn’t know what it tastes like. ***

Back at the beach they cooked the warthog over a red blazing fire that kept them warm during the night. Chaz had to show Ezra how to cook a warthog. It was quite tasty to Ezra’s surprise. Chaz and Ezra sat on the beach and talked for the rest of the night until they grew tired. They wandered off to their homes and said goodnight. When Ezra got back to his house he realized something important. Chaz had forgot about finding the person that left him the note!“I must go remind Chaz.” He went through the forest until he found Chaz’s hideout.

“Hey Chaz it’s me Ezra.” Nobody answered. He only heard a small noise. Ezra went down the stairs slowly with only his small sharp stick. When he reached the bottom didn’t see Chaz or the journal. He looked around the room until he saw a stone that was half out of the wall. He pushed it back in so it didn’t fall and cause a commotion. Right as he did so a trap door opened up in the ground to a small opening, small enough for someone to fit into. Ezra climbed into it and went down the dark narrow passageway.

Towards the end of the passage he heard people talking.

“There is someone else on this island with us!” said a voice.

“Yes, but he is with us on our side. He has joined WICKED.” This time a different voice said it and it sounded like Chaz.

“Fine, does he know about Jason?” said the other voice. ,

“Of course he does, you idiot. Why would I have him join if he doesn’t know about Jason. It’s not like I said, ‘oh hey, kid, do you want to join WICKED and kill people? Think, you idiot,” said Chaz.

At that moment, he heard someone come in from a different side. Then everything went silent until the sound of two people screaming broke the silence. Ezra heard the sound of a knife cutting through the air. Then Ezra heard footsteps coming his way. He ran as fast and silent as he could. When he reached the end of the tunnel he climbed up the ladder and out the trap door. Ezra ran back to his own house and stayed there for the rest of the night.

Chapter 3: Investigation

When the sun came out again Ezra sprang out of his leaf pile which he called a bed, and went to Chaz’s hideout. When he got there he felt around for the loose brick until he found it. He pushed it back in and went down the trapdoor. When he reached the end of it he saw blood everywhere. It was on the ground and on the walls. Ezra gasped when he saw what had happened.

“Someone got ambushed last night. That’s what the screaming was about.” Ezra thought to himself. He looked around the room and saw a body lying on the ground. It must have been the person Chaz was talking to! His neck was severely injured and looked to be dead. Where could Chaz be? Ezra knew that someone had tried to kill Chaz also. Ezra decided to find them. Maybe it could be Jason Wild! Ezra had to keep a sharp eye out for anything unusually. He had to find Chaz so he could help him assassinate Jason Wild. He knew Chaz wasn’t dead. Ezra went back to his house and got a spear he made and his machete. Jason could be armed with guns or some sort of gadget. Ezra knew he had to be careful about what he did. The first place Ezra went was the mountain. Ezra could see the whole island from up there and could maybe see Chaz or Jason. Chaz would definitely help Ezra if he wasn’t wounded. On his way to the mountain Ezra heard someone.

“Ezraaaaaaaaaaaa!” said a voice. Ezra knew that voice. It was Chaz. He was calling out in exasperated pain. The call was not near but Ezra could still hear it. He ran toward the cry, hoping for the best. When Ezra got to Chaz he saw that Chaz was wounded in his right leg.

“I got hit by Jason in the leg. He snuck in my hideout and tried to kill me. Unfortunately he killed my friend.” Chaz said. Ezra thought it was best for him not to tell Chaz how he was there. “ I was lucky to get out of there with only a small, minor injury. My leg will be fine, I have a first aid with me in my backpack.”

“That’s good to hear. I was worried that you had been slaughtered in your hideout. Oops!” Ezra had said a little too much.

“It’s fine, don’t worry. I’m not mad at you, I would expect that you would come and get me to go find my other agent friend. You are a brave kid, Ezra,” said Chaz. Ezra helped Chaz get up and bring him to his hideout.

At Chaz’s hideout they took the dead body and buried under a dead tree. They carved his name into the tree and said a prayer for him. It turns out that Chaz’s friend was older and was sick. Ezra felt bad for him but knew he had to stay strong and not let down. If he let down his guard for any amount of time, then something could happen to him.

Jason was on the prowl, probably ….

The Foldable Hover Board: The Box Board Alec Pentikis

Imagine you were able to carry a fully functional hoverboard on your person

everywhere you went. That might sound like the distant future but, it’s not with the BOX BOARD.

The reason I designed this incredible product was because I wanted an alterna-

tive way of getting around on any terrain and even water. The board can hover up to 6 feet off the ground and clear even the hardest of obstacles. The board is built with the extremely durable material, Carbon Fiber.

The board’s design is fully collapsible due to 6 hinges, and it runs off 6 micro

GE9X engines. It’s made of 20 mm thick carbon fiber allowing it amazing durability.

The Box Board is only 50 pounds and it can travel up to 75 miles on one charge!

Astonishingly, the charge time is under 45 minutes. Also, don’t worry about hurting the environment. With built in high efficiency electric batteries, the board emits no harmful fumes.

After years of prototype after prototype, we have designed the board to look

like any average briefcase when fully folded. We also created the board with two color choices: matte black or red. Also, to decrease the risk of any injury, every individual motor is covered with a thick carbon fiber mesh. The board is also extremely stable while in flight, using our high powered stability system. Many hoverboards require you to take classes to learn to ride, but not the Box Board. Ours can be mastered in less than 20 minutes.

The Land of the Wild

by Aidan Macmanus

There were 1,238,924 people on the ship. Out of all of them, I am the only survivor. The night was as cold as a broken heart. I am slowly sinking into the frigid polar water when I see a small island. There are bright red lights on the island, swiveling around, shining light on every part of the island. Why are there lights on this miniature island in the middle of absolute nowhere? I can scantily concentrate on that question at all right now. The life raft imploded and it’s losing lots of air.

My legs have been in the water for 15 or more minutes now. I can no longer feel them. I can’t swim. From my current standpoint, This is where fate said it’s over for you. The water must be below 10° Fahrenheit and I can already notice signs of hypothermia. I am shaking uncontrollably and I feel drowsy as if I was about to fall into a state of unconsciousness. To my estimation, I have about 20 minutes until I become a human ice block. The life raft can no longer aid me at this point.

As I lie down on the raft, or what’s left of it, I see a slight ripple in the water. My heart stops like a car about to fall off a cliff. I am almost sure I saw a dark gray fin emerge from the water. Then I see two more fins emerge from the water. Sharks. My least favorite animal. Ruthless aggression clouds their mind and I don’t know what they might do to me.

When all hope is lost, a sudden idea pops into my head like lightbulb turning on. I decide to go for it. When I no longer see fins, I go down into the water and use all the strength I can muster up in my arms and swim my heart out. I soon find out that the sharks are not gone as I can feel they are close to me by the way the water is moving behind me. It is making a swerving motion which I know is how they swim.

I must keep my eyes closed or else they will probably freeze in the water. I emerge from the water and I open my eyes. I can’t believe that I am approaching the island. From what I see, I am about 50 yards away from it. My arms are insensitive and I keep on telling myself to keep going. That my life depends on it. and that your life depends on it. I descend back into the icy water and keep on swimming. The sharks are still hotly pursuing me. From how sharp the swerves are, they are closer than ever before. I am absolutely terrified as to what the possibilities are as to what they will do to me. I keep on swimming my heart out until I collide with something very soft. Sand. I have found land.

I crawl my way onto the beach and lie down to congregate my breath. It takes a few minutes until my heart stops beating at a rapid rate. After around 15 minutes, I realize that I have to find food, make a shelter, and start a fire as those are the three survival essentials. To do that, I must venture into the vast forest. I have no idea what great food and shelter lies within. I also don’t know what fears may lie inside either. I finally ascend to my feet and start towards the forest. Eventually, I would really like to find out where those illuminating lights are coming from and what they’re for.

There are giant mullins everywhere I look, their leaves extending out as far as the eye can see. I have never seen anything like it. I am going to assume that this island has never been discovered before because there are no archived documents of mullins this big. One thing I did notice, however, is that these leaves are perfect for constructing a roof. I whip out my pocketknife and start slicing the leaves from the plants. After I collect enough, I dump them all on the beach. I have leaves, now I need wood.

I go back into the forest and find some scrawny trees on the outskirts of the forest that have perfect straight and skinny wood. I knew this would be tough considering that I had no tools to cut down the trees. Using my pocketknife would take days which is time I don’t have. I decide to dig down deep within and discover the strength I had when I was swimming for my life to physically bat down the trees with my arms and body. I established the strength and was able to bat down twelve trees. I lug them to the beach as well and constructed my mediocre shelter. It is barely held up by the wood and the leaves would act as a roof if I did receive unfortunate weather. Now that my shelter is built, I need food as soon as possible.

You never know what food you could find in a forest. I’m thinking I could possibly find some berry plants or a dead animal I could cook above a fire. One thing I know for sure, I am not eating shark. I go deep within the woods because I contemplated that I would have a higher chance of finding food than on the outskirts of the forest. And to my contemplation, I was right. There is a large sea of berry plants. They are scattered everywhere. There are cranberries, blackberries, and even raspberries. I immediately went for the raspberries, as they are my favorite, and glutted my mouth with them. Unfortunately, I did not think about the turnout of me choking. I did end up choking and had to pound my chest to regurgitate the berries. I settled on going back to compose a wood basket to carry the berries back. I collect more berries than anyone could imagine and bring them back to the shelter. Now to mark off the last survival essential, fire making. I go back to the deep area of the forest to find the most quintessential fire making stones I can find. These particular stones were particularly hard to encounter. I searched for 30 minutes with no luck. Then, I find two perfect stones just lying on the ground. I dove to pick them up and they had perfectly sharp tips. I start thinking I might survive after all.

I sprint back to the beach. As I am sprinting, an enormous growl startles me. That’s not good. I really hope it is not what it sounded like. I look in the direction it came from. There was a great giant black panther with blazing blue eyes. He has something strange and peculiar around his neck. It is a shiny silver collar that is blinking with a bright red light. They look Just like the ones I saw before on the life raft. It hisses again and darts toward me.

I immediately start running for my life. This panther looks extremely ravenous right now. I need to keep on running until I find a way to escape the beast. I look back and there are now not one but two panthers chasing me. More and more panthers come to aid the other in what looks to be a hunt for food. Which, in this case, would be me. Every single one of them has a collar strapped around their neck. This is very strange activity for panthers. I didn’t provoke them in any way, shape or form. I see a dead tree lying on the ground with an opening that looks like a home of a large human sized animal in which I can fit in. I make a sharp turn and leap into the opening. All I have to do now is wait until they leave. Once they arrive, the panthers stop and look around for me. I know it’s only matter of minutes before they utilize their kean senses to find me. I need to do something in the meantime. I look around and I discover a nice sized rock below me. I take it in hand and throw it in ten other direction. The panthers vamoose to the sound of the rock thudding on the ground. I was almost killed by animals twice in one night. That’s not a coincidence. Those panthers were not provoked as well as the sharks. The collars must have played a factor.

My insane theory is that these collars somehow are telepathic devices that can control any living thing. If so, these are very dangerous. What if humans had these? It would be complete and utter chaos! I must find where these lights are coming from. I know they have something to do with this. I will go to the center of the island and discover what is really happening on this island. I go back to the shelter and gather supplies like food, my pocketknife, and some tools I made out of extra wood. I made a hammer and a type of modified crowbar. I pack it all up in a bag I made with extra leaves and go on my way. The walk takes an estimated two hours until I reach my destination. I look up and see a humongous, heavily guarded facility. It looks like a military base. An experimental one. I put my ear to the giant steel door and I hear faint voices.

“Why are still doing this, man. Ivo keeps on making us do the patrol every night! We are on a designated island in the middle of nowhere!” One of the men complained.

“Do you want to get paid and eventually get the heck of this stupid island? If you do, I strongly advise that you do your shift.” The other one told him.

“I will bet my life that we will never ever encounter someone on this island.” He declares.

“I don’t want your life. How bout’ a couple million dollars?” The other asks. Their voices are getting really close. I

dive to a nearby bush and hide myself from sight. They walk out and continue talking. Well, arguing at this point.

“A couple millions bucks is the same thing as my life. I’m like your best friend and let alone your only friend.”

“Okay. You just stated three incorrect facts. First, a couple millions bucks is not the same thing as your life. The money is more valuable. Second, I have lots of friends. That’s way more than you can say you have. And third, you are definitely not my best friend. You’re like my thirty-second to thirty-sixth favorite friend.”

“Not true. You can’t live without me. And I’m pretty sure I single handedly gave you all your friends. I mean, you weren’t making any friends any time soon when you still use a nightlight to sleep.”

“No I don’t!”

“Yes you do!”

“No I don’t!”

“Yes you do!”

“No...I...don’t!”

“Yes...you...do!” They continued the argument for ages until they finally just did their shift. Lucky for me, they were so caught up in their intense argument that they forgot to shut the door with their key card. I get out of the bush and make my way inside.

There are many doors that have numbers on them. Those must be the rooms where the experiments happen. I keep on going deeper into the base. I reach to a room that is filled with guards. I peek inside and I am immediately scared out of my wits. These guards aren’t human. They’re gorillas! They have the collars on them as well. I am almost positive that those collars are telepathic. The gorillas had giant machine guns in their hand. I don’t care who these people are. But with weapons like those, they are unstoppable. I duck down and hide behind an experiment table. They aren’t talking. They’re just guarding their post. I escape the room without them noticing. I am excited to see that I am in the clear until I came across a room with hundreds of cages filled with innocent animals. Mothers, father, and even children and newborns. I see a panel with buttons, switches, and levers. I see a button that says release on it. I immediately go for the button. Before I can reach it, a siren starts blaring loudly. It is coming from above. I look up and see a dark vulture with a collar around its neck. the collar is blaring the siren. I have been spotted. I start to run to the entrance where I came in. I hear gorillas and guards yelling and their yells are getting louder and louder. The roars of the gorillas are absolutely terrifying.

I sprint past the gorillas in the room I passed and ran till my lungs couldn’t take any more. When I am about to exit, the two arguing guards came in. They looked startled so I clocked them both in the head. I had to get to my sanctuary on the beach. I was in the middle of the forest when the panthers came back. They looked as hungry as before and they swiftly cornered me. I put my hands in the air to announce that I surrender. The gorillas and guards caught up to me. One gorilla was really big with a giant step helmet on his head. White and red paint was smeared all over his body. He must be a general or some kind of leader. He picked me up and slammed me right to the ground. I couldn’t breath. I feel like a vacuum just sucked all the air out of my lungs. My ribs were broken. The animals cleared the way for a man. The man looked like an explorer. He had blue eyes and gray hair. He looks to be in his fifties. He stared down at me

“Hello. My name is Jonathan Ivo. Welcome to Project Wild.”

To Be Continued...

The Inside By: Grace Gilbert

“Dad, please don’t let them do this to me”, screamed Scarlett. Her dad was also blurry eyed “It’s a start to getting better, brain cancer is a serious matter” She could hear the razor above her head. Tears scraped down her face while she watched her hair fall off in front of her. It was dreadful, especially for an 11year old. This is just the beginning, but Scarlett already knew that. She quickly ran into the car not letting anyone see her, she looked in the mirror and saw a stranger, someone who was going to get bullied for being different, but someone who needed to fight for her life. She saw girls with their friends walking into stores and laughing, suddenly a deep dark hole created in her heart, she was terrified to go to school. Her dad pulled into a dark apartment that has a great view of the city, also known as her home. Seconds later she was in the elevator, her back slid down the wall and she covered the whole elevator with tears, her dad couldn’t bare to look at her, he was too scared he would cry too. “Will I turn out like mom, in heaven?”, Scarlett asked. Scarlett’s dad bent down to her level and gave her a big hug, the elevator ding went off and he carried her into the apartment “No, this time we will fight even harder. I promise”. He said very emotionally. Scarlett cried herself to sleep, she knew that people would think of her differently, weakly, just because her hair was gone. In the first through twelve grades is all about looks, no one cares about your personality, they don’t care about your religion, they care if you are fat, skinny, small, tall, pretty, or ugly.

Scarlett took a confident deep breathe as she walked through the school door for the first time in 2 weeks. She thought to herself if you are unhappy with what today brings you , you could be out of this world soon enough with mom.

Gasps filled her ears, whispers filled her ears. Scarlett tripped and nailed her head on the metal lockers, she started tearing up it was a start to a terrible day. She couldn’t take it,” Whydoes this world have to be so cruel why do they care about looks!

I could be as ugly as ugly gets but I could be the nicest person in the world at the same time, and you would be missing out!”, but no one heard Scarlett because… Hi my names Scarlett and I have been in a coma for 1 month now. No one could hear me because after my first word I was put in this situation , they didn’t hear me but they sure saw me laying on the ground. I can see outside my body but no one can see me, I know my dad sleeps besides me grasping my hand every night as I breath in and out and I hope my mother is watching me from above. My father is very faithful that I will soon wake up, but I don’t know where I should go, I can see my mother or stick to my father who has no one, he has nothing except his faith in me. Today will be the normal routine, I will wake up thinking I am in the real world, realize I am still in a coma, then watch over my dad as he sheds a tear onto my blue hospital gown. Occasionally I visit school to make sure no one is being bullied or made fun of for being different, which I have had experience with both situations.

Chapter 2

Most of the time I have a staring contest with my dad although he doesn’t see me he stares at my pale face with hopeful eyes, he is always the first one to blink. I know I can choose my destiny I just have to believe, I believe that my dad will be fine with or without me and I believe that my mom is safe in heaven. When all of this is over I will give my dad a super big hug, and say that I will always be with you in spirit or in human form, and that I am going to fight. On Wednesday I do a quick check at school, everything looks fine but then something strikes me a little boy with dark skin is being pushed from locker to locker. I race up to the bystanders and push them towards the action to stop it. Although they can not feel it they know to break this up , a girl with dark brown hair stands up to this bully. I wish when I was in school that I had this amount of bravery. My dad is next to me saying a prayer he always does then squeezes my hand. He looks so helpless, I just want to go down right next to him and be alive, LIVE! I want to help him through all this trauma like he helped me. Yes, me and my dad can both agree it is hard parenting with only one parent, but he did an amazing job, me and him have an inseparable bond, well atleast we did. Same with me and my mother, she was an amazing person, her smile would light up a room and her laugh was contagious. My dad says that I got my huge smile from her and though sometimes I am scared to admit it I know he is right. I wish my mom was still alive, here today, so my dad would have someone to be with.

After my mom died everything changed. Me and my dad were lonely, all we had left were each other and now all my dad has left is nothing. The doctor comes in at 1:00 and my dad asks when I will be returning, the doctor shrugs and leaves the room, but I know it will be soon. When my pulse starts to race that means I will be alive again, I imagine this moment almost everyday but in the back of my mind I also see the image of the monitor beeping. I am not scared of death, I know that I was or will

be a good person and that god will treat me well after knowing my mother. My mom always said death is apart of life don’t be scared of it, make it scared of you. Oh yeah, you probably want to know about how my mother died, but the truth is, I don’t even know. One day I came home from school and a police officer was waiting for me, he took me to the hospital but no one would tell me what happened, all I saw was my mother covered in blood, if I do die I beg god that I can just say one last word to my father. It will be I will always love you.

Chapter 3

Today, November 27th was different. I woke up to see the brown chair next to my hospital bed empty, I was confused, my dad is always right there. My heart raced, I wondered what had happened to him, did he get in a car crash? Did he have an unexpected heart attack? I was eager to know, I searched everywhere in the hospital, he was nowhere to be found. I don’t know why, but in this moment I really needed him. A few minutes later he was back waiting at my hospital bed, clinging onto a book. I wondered what it was, I saw him cry a little and I cried too. I wish he knew how much I missed him. As I got closer I could hear him mumbling, even though he thought I wasn’t there he was talking, something about how beautiful and funny someone was, but the way he said it I knew who it was, my mom. He held pictures in his hand of my mother in a car that crashed into a telephone pole. She was in the driver’s seat. “No, No”, I cried “Dad stop” I listened and teardrops fell down my cheek. “This is how she died, it is a picture from the police.”, he said sniffling “I never told you because I didn’t want you to think your mother was a bad person,” he balled and looked into my deep brown eyes, he hugged me and said he would never let go. I would never think my mother was a bad person no matter what, no 11 year old could think of their parents as bad people. The thought of it frightened me.

A part of me was always curious to know about how my mother died, but I didn’t want the news broken to me like this. When my father didn’t even know I could hear, when you are in a coma you really regret all the things you didn’t do in your lifetime. I wish I spent more time with my mother before she passed away, and I wish I got some type of companion for my dad, a dog would be nice or maybe even a new girlfriend. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, after watching cinderella you would never want a “new mother”. The truth is, I only want what’s best for my dad, I am not the perfect daughter but I am definitely selfless and weak when it comes to my father.I think about death and I think about living all the time but I don’t understand why this would happen to me why my dad had to be so lonely... My dad’s eyes light up, I wonder what is happening “Nurse, Nurse whats going on”, she smiles and comes back with a doctor, my pulse is racing. I wake up and see the once sad, deep, blue, eyes of my dad crying into my lap. I can touch him, he sees me, he knows I’m alive, but deep down I miss being on the “inside”, no one knew I existed, I was lurking in the shadows, I wanted to be invisible. I wanted to be in the inside, but I love my dad more than anything.

Death is Sad

By Angie Getze

I’m Leslie and I’m Dead.

If you were wondering, my name is Leslie. You might think that I’m a girl, but I am actually a boy. All through primary school I have been made fun of because of my name, and weight. Now I’m sure you’re wondering- “How much could this kid possibly weigh?” I am 13, and I weigh 225 pounds. I am proud of my weight. The worst that has happened to be was when this kid named Quinn beat me up and told me I was a loser. He was later expelled, but lately he has been giving me hate comments on my instagram posts. My mom told me to stay off social media, but I can help but looking at all of the mean things people say about me. It makes me feel horrible about myself.

My mom and dad are always very supportive of me. My mom’s name is Cathleen and my dad’s name is Carol. They always help me when I’m feeling sad. Or at least they did. My dad was a writer, and my mom was a lawyer. They always respected me for who I am. No matter what. I loved them more than anything. If I hadn’t had them, I wouldn’t of known most of the things that I do now.

I have eight siblings. There are four girls and four boys in the family, all similar ages, and we all respected each other. All of them were always there for me, but I guess I wasn’t there for them when they needed me.

I live in Boston, Massachusetts. Nothing too exciting goes on there, just the fact that many children at the public school disrespect each other.

I am currently dead. That’s why I chose to write this story. I lost many things until I realized I was with them again. I didn’t know why. I didn’t believe it. For some reason all of these dramatically bad things had been happening to me. I’m not sure why. I can’t remember something intensively bad that I have done to deserve it.

I used to have an other sibling. Her name was Analisa. She died when she was two. She was born with a rare disease that has not yet been specified, even though she died 8 years ago. It started out minor, but after a year and a half she was put into a medically induced coma. For some reason I hated her the most, and it felt like a normal day when she died. I used to think that was why god made me die too, but I didn’t kill her or try not to care that she died, it had just happened. All my siblings always thought of Analisa as the favorite; no one ever treated me like her. Even my mother and father treated her better. Now,

I completely understand that everyone knew she was going to die, and they

wanted her to die happy, but all of their children deserve the same love that their siblings are given.

The coolest thing about being dead is that I can walk to my house and see all of my family crying and wishing I was there. Most people may think that this isn’t cool, but they thought of me as the “fat one” or the “ugly one”, and for the first time I was the favorite. The bad thing is that I can’t walk up to them, hug them, and tell them “thank you”, because when you are dead it is like you are invisible.

All of the people in heaven are nice, but it seems like a dream every day, and have I mentioned how I hate dreaming? It isn’t how you imagine it until you get there, that’s what’s interesting. You open your eyes, and see a million buttons with descriptions and you can pick the ones you want to live with and experience. I picked a world with all overweight people and objects, to make me feel better about myself. It is pink and blue fluff everywhere, kind of like cotton candy.

My dog

I used to have a dog. His name was Stanley. He was 13 when he died, like me. He was a shi tzu. He always loved me no matter what. We started to go on a diet together, but that made my dog very sick. We went from feeding him raw meat and hot dogs to vegetables and puppy food. He was allergic to the puppy food but we had never noticed it.

The first few weeks of the diet seemed normal, but the fourth or fifth week Stanley started throwing it up. Whenever we fed him, it came right back up. We thought he just wanted his hot dogs, but it was different. We continued to try new healthy foods, but he just got sicker and sicker.

The next week we pumped his stomach. That’s what did it. It had killed him. I was devastated.

I was on the verge of killing myself. My mom later brought me to a therapist to talk about it.

A few months later we got on a plane to California to get a new dog. His name was Sailor. He was a beautiful dog with a big heart, but not as big as Stanley’s. We taught him how to eat healthy and not eat people food, but that didn’t motivate me to go on a diet myself because Sailor doesn’t give me that look when he wants me to do something, like Stanley did. Sailor doesn’t kiss me uncontrollably, like Stanley did. Sailor doesn’t think of me as everyone else, like Stanley did. Actually, I hadn’t figured that out yet. While I was on the plane I was thinking about the possibilities. That was the biggest one in my book. I like to think of the worst and hope for the best. That is what helps me through those hard times.

11 hours later

It was time to go. I packed a bag with all of the things i need and walked outside. there was a fat angel and a cloud. i hopped on the cloud and it soared me through the puffy skies and on to planet earth. It took me a long while until I realized something particularly strange.wait!

Why am i at my house? is the child here?i hesitated. I had no idea what to do. At the time, I didn’t know that if your are dead no one will be able to see you unless you have some Type of “special powers”. I didn’t have any. All I had was a bag filled with hamburgers, cotton candy, and the brief letter telling me that this was MY job. I was the perfect person. They were

counting on me. I had to go inside. I might not of wanted to, but that little girl would not do well on planet earth. I had I walked inside and hugged everyone, but no one responded. they were all crying, about my death. i was very confused. why couldnt they see me. oh, im an angel. They dont know im there. i walked into my bedroom and saw a little girl, one who looked very familiar but I didn’t know who it was. Analisa!

The Crash

At about 4 hours into the plane ride, we heard a message over the loudspeaker. He said, “we have been experiencing some mechanical issues with the aircraft that cannot be fixed.

We do not know much on whether we will land on land or in water, but wherever we land, everyone has to stay as calm as possible.Brace for impact.” That’s when I knew my family and I were going to die. I called my grandfather and told him that I would die but always guide him and watch over him from heaven. I then closed my eyes and just prayed. I didn’t pray that I survived. I didn’t pray that the plane would be fine. I prayed that my family would survive and somehow call for help and save everyone else, because I remembered in second grade how Quinn and the other kids told me that the world could ALWAYS spare a fat person.

Right after I hung up the phone, we crashed. It was water as a matter of fact, cold, salty water. Everyone was forced to swim onto the land, which was a whopping mile away. I refused, however the plane was sinking and there were killer sharks in the water. It was either drown while staying in the flooded plane, or get eaten by a shark. My family went off swimming without me. I had a secret. In kindergarten we all learned to swim, well, everybody but me. That was the secret. Every time we had swim lessons, I hid in the classroom where no one could find me. The teachers gave me letters to give to my mom, but I just threw them away. I know right? I am a savage. But my savage moves really screwed me up because I don’t know how to swim, and I’m so fat that it’s not worth learning.

Next thing I know I’m under the water. For some reason I didn’t realize that I was underwater, I just was inhaling salty sea water as I sank to the bottom. Then it went black. For about five minutes all I saw was an endless pit of black fog. Then I saw myself, plummeting through the large body of water. I didn’t know I was dead until I closed my eyes and then opened them.

When I opened them, I was amazed. I saw just what I imagined. Pink and blue fluffy cotton candy everywhere. Oversized angels, buildings, and all the food I’d ever need. At first, I was terrified. Afraid my family hated me since I never learned how to swim. Afraid I would be here forever, not knowing how I died. My guess was that a shark ate me, because while I saw that endless dark pit, I saw shark teeth floating around as I was lying there.

I was sad. I was confused. I felt so many mixed emotions that I couldn’t keep track of. I knew I was in heaven, but I just still couldn’t wrap my head around it. I looked around. I found a little pink fluffy cottage that said “Leslie, loved by family and friends”. At first I said to myself” whoever made this plaque really doesn’t know me because I only have one friend, who probably doesn’t even know that I’m dead. After I was done with my thought, I went inside. There was a bed, a chair and a small letter stating why I’m here. It said- “ dear Leslie, my name is Alexis, the head angel, we have sent you here to help us. There was a small child who died but went back to life on earth. We have been looking for the perfect person for decades, and I think we found him. Being my foolish self, I asked who the special person was. It was me. She said that in exactly 11 hours, she would send me to earth on a cloud for 11 days, and if I didn’t come back with the child I would be sent through a portal that leads to a world “that shall not be named”. I’m sure that since she wouldn’t tell me the name, it’s probably some awful place that all the disgraced people go.

Flying Away

by Chloe Constantinopoulos Chapter One - Bree Today, my daily lesson in school was about life five hundred years ago. The year is 2516, and apparently my idea of school is different than it was a while ago. For me, school is sitting in a chair for about five seconds and seeing pictures flash on a screen and then go instantly into my brain. But today, I found out that people used to have to sit in a building for eight hours every day of the week, and learn everything on their own. Not only that, but they had to learn it after an actual human taught it to them. I can’t believe that I thought my way of school was hard.

Anyway, my name is Bree, I’m fourteen, and I live on Hailbrook, one of the floating islands of the world. There are four other islands, but no one knows anything about them, because communication with them is blocked, and it’s impossible to get off an island. I live with my mom, dad, and my older sister, Noelle, who is eighteen.

Noelle just got her job as a Tube Tech. She makes sure that the tubes, which supply our food, clothing, and pretty much everything else, are up and running all the time. When my best friend Maya and I are her age, we want to be picked as Border Breakers, who spend all of their time trying to find a way to get off of the island. If they are successful, they get to build passages to the other islands, and explore the world below.

Until we’re eighteen, Maya and I will have a lot of free time. If we’re not at school, we can basically do whatever we want, so we spend most of our time in each other’s houses. So, that’s where I’m heading right now.

My city is pretty large, but there aren’t as many people as there are in the other cities.

Everything on the streets is either white or silver. We have colors, but we don’t put them on things that don’t naturally have color. The houses are shaped like cylinders, and have flat roofs.

No one has much of a yard, as we don’t think they have a purpose. I guess you could say that we have a simple, but modern living style.

“Hey! Bree! Over here!” I heard as I approached Maya’s house. She was calling me from her capsule window, or as they called it in the twenty thousands, a bedroom window. “Hi, Maya.” I said with a scared tone, because she had the look on her face that for her, was never good. “I need to talk to you about something, and it’s really important,” said Maya. “I want to leave Hailbrook.” “What!” I said. “Are you out of your mind? No one has ever made it off this island.

The border prevents it. Besides, what’s wrong with our island?” So she said, “I heard a rumor that people on the other islands get to choose what job they want, and if, or when they want to start. I need that, Bree. I really need it.”

Chapter Two - Noelle Another day, just sitting in a tube cave, waiting, and hoping, for something to break. I really don’t see any point in Tube Techs, because the tubes were built so well that nothing ever goes wrong. The Hailbrook government probably just needed to create another job, so they quickly made one that was useless. Even if something did break, I probably wouldn’t be helping because I’m not good at that kind of stuff. The jobs are assigned by picking names out of a hat.

It has nothing to do with your skills, which by the way, I don’t understand.

The next day was different. We actually needed to fix something. But, there was one little problem. This had never happened before, so no one knew what to do. Our training, as we just found out, wasn’t relevant to how the tube system works. Even the people who had been there for sixty something years didn’t know what to do. The sirens were blaring, and everyone was panicking. Then there was me, the girl who didn’t pay attention during training, and didn’t have any interest in the job, trying to fix it.

I soon found out that there was nothing I could try to fix. Everything we receive from the tubes comes when a giant fan shoots it up. Although, I don’t know if that is true, because everything comes from the world below. And yes, people have tried to exit that way, but even in the trash tubes, there is border technology prevents it. If it senses humans, it will block them at a certain point and send them back up. Either way, there is nothing that anyone can do right now. Even the Chief can’t do anything.

Unless there are hidden mechanics somewhere on the island, there is no way to get to the places we would need to fix this. There are four possible outcomes of this. One, there really are hidden mechanics and it can be fixed. Two, the tubes miraculously fix themselves. Three, the Border Breakers or someone else open the border and we escape. Four, if none of the above work, everyone will die.

Chapter Three - Bree I couldn’t stop thinking about what Maya had said to me. “Who could she have heard the rumor from? Is there someone on Hailbrook who knows about the other islands? How did they find out?” Questions kept swarming through my head until I got a HoloMessage from Noelle.

“Bree,” it said. “Something went horribly wrong at work today. The tubes are broken and nobody can fix them. If they stay broken to long, they will explode and wipe us all out. I know that you’re under the working age, but you’re smart. I need you to help find a way off this island, before it’s too late. I’ll be in the caves, searching for some way to fix this, if you need me.”

I know this is a life or death situation, but I can’t believe I’m actually going to get to work with the Border Breakers! I hope that I don’t make a fool of myself, because if the chief Border Breaker, Chief Pyrid, thinks that I slack off, she can remove my chances from ever becoming a one. Although, if I do mess this up, I probably won’t live to see my initial ceremony.

Soon enough, I was panicking. Why would Noelle tell me this? She knows that I go crazy with worry if there’s an emergency! I had to find out more about this tube thing. So, I’m going to go find Noelle in the caves.

I don’t know which cave she’s in, and I’m not supposed to be in any of them, but I have to find her. She did say that if I needed her, to come to the caves. So technically it will be her fault when I go in. Although, I will still need to sneak in, because I’m very small for my age, and the guards would never believe that I’m eighteen.

Maybe I can ask Maya to pretend to be my mom and say that she’s taking me on a field trip. Wow. That’s actually a pretty good idea. I’m going to Holochat (call) her.

“Maya, I need you to be my fake mom and sneak me into the tube caves.””Wait, What!” she said. “Why? You told me that you never want to set foot in those caves.” “Well,” I started. “This is kind of an emergency. Long story short, Noelle told me that the tubes broke and they can’t be fixed. If somebody doesn’t do something soon they will explode. I want to talk to her and find out the details.”

“Wait a minute,” she started. “If somebody can’t fix the tubes, then we will need to get off the island. Maybe that pressure will make them work more efficiently, and they will find a way out. Then we will be free! Right?”

“Sort of,” I replied. “The first part is right. But if it comes to that, let’s just say them becomes me.”

“You get to work with the Border Breakers? You’re so lucky. Anyway, if this could lead to getting us off of this island, I’m in. I’ll be there soon.”

Chapter Four - Bree Maya and I made it to the cave’s main entrance. There weren’t any guards, so Maya left, and I went in alone to search for Noelle. The passages were pitch black, except from the lights of the alarms on the walls. All of the workers were running back and forth in chaos. I started running to blend in, but it became voluntary.

I couldn’t find Noelle anywhere! I don’t know my way around, but I’m pretty sure that I checked all of the passages. She wasn’t in any of them. I tried asking the workers if they had seen her, but but after one word most of them had all run away. Only two listened to me, but they both said they had no idea who she was. I get that she’s kind of new around here, but I thought someone would know something about her or where she could have gone.

What was really weird was that I asked the Chief if he had seen her, and he also said that he had never heard of her. Although, I didn’t give him much time to think. He had said, “I have a lot of workers, and I don’t recall there being a Noelle, but I might be wrong. Wait a minute, who are you anyway?” I ran away when he asked that, and to my surprise, he didn’t come after me.

I continued running, until a woman stopped me and said, “Do you need help? Where are you going?” I replied, ”I’m looking for my sister, Noelle. Have you seen her? Well, first, do you even know who she is?” “I know her,” she said. “ I saw her going into a supply closet a little while ago. Although, if you need to see her, you’ll have to wait because non-workers aren’t allowed in.”

I ignored my confusion about why she would be in a supply closet for so long, and started running again. Honestly, I didn’t care that I wasn’t supposed to be there. If that woman didn’t notice, there’s a huge crisis. I wasn’t going to let her, or anyone stop me from talking to Noelle.

I was running so fast that I almost crashed into a pole. When I stopped, I realized that what I thought was a pole, was Noelle. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “You need to leave.

Now!” “That’s your response?” I started. “I run through these caves for over an hour looking for you, and that’s the first thing that you say to me? Besides, you told me to come here.”

“Sorry,” she said. “I overacted a little. I know what I said, but you can’t be here. It’s two dangerous. Also, I asked you to work with the Boarder Breakers, not with me. I already called Chief Pyrid to tell her you’re coming. Go and help over there, while I do my work here, okay?”

“Fine. But don’t think I won’t ask you about this later. You can’t keep all of this from me, Noelle. Soon enough it will be all over the news and everyone will know everything about this, including me. Also, be prepared to tell me why only one person here knows who you are.”

Chapter Five - Noelle After Bree left, everything started to go downhill. I’m not saying that it has anything to do with her, but that was when it started.

Anyway, the first thing happened when I was heading back to look for something to fix. A message came over the speakers from the Chief. He said, “Sorry everyone, I’m leaving. I tried to hide it, but I’m not at all qualified to be here, and I have no knowledge whatsoever about the tubes. I guess you’re all on your own now. See you later! Or not.”

Everyone was a mess. The Chief may not have been a very good leader, but if a job looses it’s Chief and isn’t able to replace them within twenty-four hours, the job is shut down. And right now is a really bad time for the Tube Techs to be forced out. In case you were wondering, the tubes being broken is not an exception.

On top of that, I had another problem. Remember when Bree asked about only one person here knowing who I am? Well, let’s just say that’s not because I’m not popular. That one person that knew who I was must have been my best friend, Sam. I met Sam at our job choosing ceremony. We were both going up towards the end of the ceremony, and we were really bored. We started talking and joking, but we soon realized that in a few hours, we were probably never going to see each other again. So, we came up with a plan.

We made a list of all the jobs, best to worst. We decided that the person who picked last would still get to pick, but if they got a job worse than the other person, they would pretend they had picked the other person’s same job.

I was the last one to pick, nut you’d probably think that whatever I picked couldn’t have been worse than what I have now. It was. I picked the hardest and grossest job of all. A Messenger.

Messengers have to run across the island to message to people without Holo Service. It may not sound that bad, but you sweat a lot. And I despise sweat.

I ended up pretending that I picked Tube Techs, but that’s not what was registered when I picked Messenger out of the hat. A computer system records what someone took out of the bowl, and turns it into permanent data that everyone can see. So anyone in the caves that didn’t personally know me, would have no idea who I was because I wasn’t registered in the caves.

Everyday when the badges get checked, Sam sneaks me in using her badge. It’s not that hard, though, because there are never any guards.

All of this has been working for the past few months. I’ve never had anyone question me about it, or had it become a problem, until now.

Chapter Six - Bree

After Noelle kicked me out of the caves, I went to the Border Breaker Headquarters and talked to Chief Pyrid. I found out that they are actually pretty close to escaping. They know what they need to do to, but they don’t know how to do it.

The border is made of glass, but it doesn’t seem like it. There is a border in front of the glass that keeps anyone from getting within thirty feet of it. If they can manage to break that, we will have a straight shot off of the island. But, there’s another problem.

Even if we can get off the island, it’s floating in the middle of the sky, so we wouldn’t have anywhere to go. As far as I know, the air outside of Hailbrook isn’t strong enough to hold a human. Someone might be able to invent something to make us fly, but no one has flied since 2204. Because the border is not very high, there isn’t anywhere to fly.

Anyway, they think they have built something that is strong enough to break the inner border, but they haven’t tested it out yet. The machine has to be operated by someone, as have all of their previous inventions. And every time they have tested an invention, the person operating it has either died instantly or has been seriously injured and died later on.

Every time they ask for volunteers, they get a smaller and smaller amount. This time, they didn’t get any. Not one single person wanted to risk their life this time. Everyone associates this with suicide. Although, at least that means their aren’t any unhappy people on the island.

The Border Breakers believe in this one more than they ever have, so they want me to test it. As much as I want this and think this will work, I can’t be sure that I’ll survive. I really don’t want to do this, but I think I might have to. They said if they can’t get someone to test it then they will stop trying and we will be stuck on this island forever. I don’t want that either, but I don’t think as much as I don’t want to risk my life. Actually, I don’t really know what I want. But I know that I have to choose soon.

I’m also really confused about why Noelle sent me here. She told me to leave the caves to protect me, but she just sent me into a much more dangerous situation. She had told me that she knew exactly what I was going to do. So unless they lied to her, she is the reason I might have to do this. Either way, she knows what she’s doing. I’m going to do it. I have to.

Chapter Seven - Noelle As you were probably wondering, I did know what I was doing when I sent Bree to test out the invention. I know that it’s dangerous, but I believe in the invention. And even if it doesn’t work, and she dies, she will have died heroically. Then everyone else on this island will be killed by the blast of the pipes, because no one did anything else about it. Well, at least that’s what I thought could happen.

Bree tested the machine, and it worked. She blasted a giant hole through the border. That sounds like a good thing, right? Well it’s really not. The blast from the machine was so strong that it killed her. In a few hours, all of Hailbrook’s population of one million three hundred and six people will leave the island. Except for my sister.

I know that this is all my fault. I tried to keep her safe, but I got her killed. Although, wherever we go after we leave, there will be a ceremony for her. She saved all of our people, so she will be the first one to be put on our new memorial wall. She will be remembered forever.

She’s the girl that helped us fly away.