Nothing. Just gray. Panic took control of me. Why did we have to drive at night? What if we were driving off a cliff? I was close to tears on the high mountain. My mom tried to put on a reassuring smile, but it was clearly fake. I squeezed her hand so tightly, it hurt for me as well. My sister was the navigator, and my dad was the driver. Endless gray consumed us. The lights of the cars behind us shone, but there were none ahead to guide us. We had to brake several times before the cars behind us got impatient. They weaved left and right, then passed us. They cruised ahead, then halted as they became blind. I felt like I was in a horror show and there was no exit, no escape to leave. As the other cars regained their speed by turning on “fog lights” that we didn’t have, we almost lost the cars. That was when the arguing began.
My sister thought it was best to increase speed so that we didn’t lose our guiding light. I agreed with my mom, though, who thought it was risky to increase speed driving when we couldn’t see anything. My dad agreed with my sister, so he started speeding to catch up. I squeezed my mom’s hand and started to hyperventilate. I couldn’t calm down. With my free hand, I put my hand on my heart and uneasily listened to the rapid beating.
As if the situation couldn’t get any worse, my sister announced, “There’s a sharp turn coming up.”
The large yellow signs with the midnight-colored left arrows were the only help for us. Again, questions invaded my mind. How will we escape this? Will we lose the cars ahead? Just then, the car in front of us disappeared. A new question formed inside my stressed head. Was it condensed in the fog or lost to something else ahead?
Sadly, my dad didn’t share my same worries, so we continued. But we soon found the car again in front of us. As we silently drove, I continued to hyperventilate until at one point, it let us go. Clear from up ahead. This didn’t comfort me though. There could be more of those areas. I was tired and wanted to close my eyes, but the fear overtook me. Squeezing my mom’s hand while listening to my heartbeat, I continued to look up ahead. But I didn’t see anything but roads, jungle, and no fog!
Editor’s Note: Content Warning — This psychological thriller contains Violence and Murder. It may be scary for some younger readers.
“George,” Mom said. Mom had black hair. She was always smiling. She only wore purple and yellow dresses. Today, she was wearing a purple and yellow dress because that was the only thing she wore.
“Why do we have to go to the stupid hotel?” George asked.
“You know, your father wants to go to this hotel really badly,” Mom said.
George was the type of kid who really was into Minecraft and Pokemon Go. He only wore orange shorts and purple t-shirts. His dad worked in the industry and got these tickets for this very fancy hotel. When they got there, there were four other people at the Hotel of Fanciness. When they got to their room, there were cookies for everyone. Then, in a flash, the dining room was ready to have dinner. There was one gigantic straight table. There was a selection of McDonald’s and every single color of Jell-O that existed in the name of Jell-O history. EVERYONE enjoyed their food…
15 MINUTES LATER
KRCCC!
Suddenly, the lights went out and everyone saw blood on the ground. The light came back on, and they could see Dr. Frankenstein was dead.
DUN DUN DUNNN!
George started crying. Then, George noticed that there was a bloody knife in his mom’s pocket. Coincidentally, his mom was sitting right next to Dr. Frankenstein.
“It isn’t what it looks like… promise.”
No one talked to George’s mom for the rest of the two days. When everyone was having breakfast, they all went up to put their plates in the sink. Suddenly, there was another strike. The lights went out and….
KRCCC!
Mrs. Frankenstein was dead!
This time, there was a hook in Mrs. Frankenstein’s throat with a purple piece of leather stuck to the end of the hook. The waiter thought this had gone on way too long.
“This has gone on long enough!!! Tonight, George will sleep alone and all the other people will sleep together,” said the waiter. No one was killed that night. That morning, George’s mom knew something was up.
“George, is there anything you want to tell me?”
“Nope. I have to tell Dad how appreciative I am that he let us all come here to this lovely hotel!” George’s mom now knew that something was up.
That night, at dinner, Mom yelled, “I know who the demon killer is!!! I was very surprised when I figured it out… THE DEMON KILLER IS GEORGE!!!”
George replied, “Honestly, it’s Dad. He gave me a needle every night and forced me to put it in my skin. He forced me using a gun! He is in a bet with someone. He has to kill everyone living in this hotel, and if he does, he gets a large amount of money!! He was controlling me.” Tears appeared out of George’s eyes. George’s dad walked in.
“This guuuy’s name is actually Dr. Lawrence Payne!”
KRCCC!
The lights went out, and a few moments later, the lights went on and George’s dad was DEAD!!!
CAUTION: THIS STORY IS A REAL STORY, SO BEWARE IF YOU DON’T LIKE STORIES.
A package appeared in front of Lillie’s door in the middle of the night. She was very confused. Why would someone send me a package at 12:00? She opened the package and there was a stuffed puppy. Lillie took the puppy and went back up to bed, although she could not fall asleep. Who sent it? Why in the middle of the night? Why a puppy?
In the morning, her mom asked if she had come downstairs. Lillie said, “Yep. I came down to have a glass of water, but I came right back up and fell asleep right away.”
Lillie said that because she didn’t want her to worry. Her mom had a lot of things to deal with now that her mom and dad were divorced. Lillie lived with her mom.
When Lillie got to school, her mom had to be VERY annoying. She yelled in front of the whole school, “WHERE’S MY SMOOCHY, SWEETIE?”
Lillie did not smooch her and ran to her best friend, Caroline. Lillie was her friend starting in pre-K. They had always been inseparable. They were always in the same classes. It was kind of magical.
At lunch, Lillie told her everything. She came over to Lillie’s house and Lillie showed her the puppy. It was gone.
“Seriously? I have dance class and you wanted to show me a puppy that doesn’t exist!”
That night, when Lillie came back for dinner, in the corner of the room, she found the puppy. Dinner was terrible. When she went back to bed, she put the puppy behind a locked door and left it for the night.
In the morning, he was still there. She took him out and put him on the bed. The puppy was white with some black spots. She named him Spots.
On the way home from school, Lille found a dog with the exact same design as Spots walking across the road with no collar – just like Spots. She picked him up and took him home. He had no identification.
When Lillie got home, she looked for the puppy, but he wasn’t there. She got takeout that night, so it was very good. Lillie locked the dog in her room and fell asleep.
In the morning, he was not there. There was a stuffed animal. Lillie put the stuffed animal in her backpack and went to school.
She showed Caroline the stuffed dog. Then, she told her what happened last night. She was very freaked out!!!
That night, Lillie and the dog went to her house to have a sleepover. As you might have known, today was Friday!!!
They stayed up all night and watched the puppy transform into the real dog.
The next day, Lillie started trying to train him, but that didn’t take very long because he already knew how to sit, roll over, play dead, speak, and paw. He also knew the basics, like flying and going on fire. You might be wondering if that was just me joking, but he really could fly and set himself on fire.
Lillie started going shopping to get him some dog food and a bed. She kept on wondering who sent her this dog. Then, Lillie realized that on the doll, there was a tag and that tag probably had some identification. When the real dog turned into the doll, it said, “SOMEBODY.” She was very confused and decided to give up for the day.
Then, a couple of days later, Caroline said that she was walking down the road and she overheard some people saying, “What a stupid gal she is. I don’t even know her name.”
“She is a nice lady. Did you know I randomly live on Seventh Ave and Eighth Street? I also went to college with SOMEBODY.”
Then, right away, Lillie knew that she, the doll, and Caroline had to sneak out of their houses and go to SOMEBODY’s house.
That evening, they snuck out. When they got to the house, it was very dark. It was like a little bit of space just filled with clouds and rain. It was 3:39, so it was bright outside, but in that little area, it was very dark, like it was midnight. They knocked on the door and the door creaked open. A slim man walked out. They asked to come in and it looked like he didn’t have a lot of visitors, so he looked nice. They came inside but there was only one couch and a lamp. Lillie asked him if he knew about SOMEBODY. He said that he went to college with him and that they were best friends, but they grew apart. He also told them that he lived right next door. Like, literally right next door. They rang the doorbell and there was a woman at the door. She slammed the door and opened the little peephole and screamed, “NAMES???”
“My name is Lillie Frankenstein.”
The lady gasped. It was kind of like she was choking, but she wasn’t. Lillie repeated her name to her. She immediately let Lillie in with the others. When she let Lillie and Caroline in, she told them that the dog could also talk, and he ordered her to send him to them. She thought it was just random. He would kill her if she told him no, so she chickened out and listened to him.
“SORRY.” She began to cry. “I am so sorry.”
Later that day, they all chucked the dog out of the bag they were keeping him in. He started licking them and they pushed him away. The dog started talking. “I don’t want any trouble, but you should have never trusted her. She hates dogs. She really, really, really HATES DOGS.”
(Roll the backstory!)
“SOMEBODY was born on October 20th and she loved dogs when she was two years old, although the dogs always barked at her and bit her and made her get rabies. When she went to the dog store, she went with her mom and got a dog. The dog loved SOMEBODY. But the only dog in the whole entire universe who loved SOMEBODY just had to despise her mom. It was a dark and stormy night when SOMEBODY’s mom was doing the laundry. The dog walked up to her and scratched her body in half. Blood was gushing out. So the house was filling up with blood. And poor SOMEBODY had to live on the streets, alone. When she turned twenty one, she bought her own house and she made enough money to go to college. SOMEBODY met Mark, the neighbor right next door.”
(Back to the present.)
“WOW!!!” Lillie kept repeating. “I had absolutely no idea that was why!”
“Remember this: she can be really persuasive for you to change your mind. And, most of all, I love the name Spots.” And, just like that, the puppy turned back into a doll.
The next day, it was a holiday, so they did not have school. Caroline and Lillie were wondering how they were going to save the world. Then Lillie started thinking… Maybe if she said “dog” fourteen times, she would get an idea.
“Dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog.” Then, BOOM!!! It worked. She was going to have to go to SOMEBODY’s house and…
(I DON’T MEAN TO INTERRUPT THE STORY, BUT THIS IS WHEN THE STORY STARTS TO GET DARK, SO IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF FIVE, THEN YOU SHOULD COVER YOUR EARS!! BACK TO THE STORY WHEN LILLIE WAS TALKING ABOUT HER MASTER PLAN.)
Lillie was going to have to go to SOMEBODY’s house and kill her. When she told Caroline, she totally lost all control, but it had to be done. The next morning, they went up to SOMEBODY’s house and tried to kill her, but she was waiting for Lillie with a sword.
“What did that evil dog say to you?”
“NO!!! I know you are lying!!!”
“Fine. I am not lying, but please don’t kill me. I will do no harm.”
“You fool… I know your plan and I will never allow it!!” Lillie started throwing knives at her and she started to get scared. She dropped her weapon and surrendered and, just like that, the knife was through SOMEBODY’s heart and there was no one in the room. Lillie ran home and started crying.
Spots crawled on the bed and under the sheets and said in a small voice, “Thank you. Every dog in the world will know your name.”
No one ever stepped into that room again. Even the police officers… and that is LITERALLY their job.
Editor’s note: This story is inspired by and responding to “The Little Mermaid.”
About 5 million years ago, a mermaid lived in a cool town filled with short buildings with fancy carvings and beautiful mosaics. She swam through the fake blue water until she got to her father, the King. He told her, “I strongly believe that you should go to The Surface of the Water.” She said to the short, bearded, well-dressed man, “I HATE The Surface and I like The Water.” Her father looked at her in a discouraging way, “Go now. Also, be back by 5:31 on the dot for dinner.” She started to swim away. “Oh, and don’t forget to do your homework!” The mermaid, Ariel, did the breaststroke to her house, picked up her chorus homework, and went up to The Surface. Ariel practiced singing her scales. Then she felt the faintest drop of rain. 0.01 seconds later, a thunderstorm emerged from the not-so-puffy clouds. A man fell off the cracking ship. He plunged into the water. Eventually, his head emerged from the crashing water. He grabbed onto the rock right next to Ariel. She paid no attention to the struggling man and kept on with her chorus homework. The stranger’s eyes flickered open but Ariel had already left. Later that week, Ariel went to school like any other day, but in science class, Miss Ursula had a new lesson in mind. “Children! Last night I had a dream where mermaids could walk on Land. So, I want one of you ladies and gents to volunteer to be teleported to Land!” No one wanted to explore Land. Miss Ursula walked around the room questioning every student to see if they truly did not want to go to Land. She stopped by Ariel, stared at her, and finally said, “You shall go up! You’re the King’s daughter, so surely you should go…” She slowly bent down and came close to Ariel’s face and then booped her on the nose and smiled a deranged smile. The next day, Ariel was teleported to the Land. She went exploring and found the man she had seen drowning. He was in a very fancy house on the shore of the water. She wanted to go investigate, so she peered around the tall, three-story house. It was decorated with vines and wisteria, near the front door there were all types of different flowers, including chrysanthemums, red and white roses, and jasmine flowers framing the doorway. She crept to the back and peered into the second-floor window, which was open, where the man now was being tailored into a very fancy suit. A posh man, with a long mustache, was serving him grapes and cheese on tiny toothpicks. The man being tailored saw her and yelled out the open window, “You look familiar! Come up here right now!” Ariel did what the man ordered and went in the front door that led to a winding staircase, up to the room where the mysterious man was. She peeked her head in and the man ushered her in. The man, who claimed his name was Prince Eric, asked her, “I saw you somewhere, but where?” Prince Eric pondered for a bit then came back to reality. “Oh! I saw you when I fell off that ship 2 days ago. You were singing so beautifully, what were you singing?” “I was practicing my chorus homework. I was just singing ‘He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’.” Then some time passed and Ariel and Prince Eric married and lived not very happily-ever-after.
Roster lived in New York City, and he loved it there. He had black fur and blue eyes. His best friends were a hamster named Peanut, a cat named Charlie, and the leader of the pack, who was called Rex. Peanut was all light brown with light brown eyes, and Charlie was black and white with blue eyes. Rex was black, white, and brown, and he had dark black eyes. He brought everybody food. They did not have someone who took care of them and fed them. Then, one day, while they were eating a pizza with STUFFED CRUST, a dog catcher came and scooped up Roster, Peanut, Charlie, and Rex with his net, hurting a couple of them. When they woke up in their cells, they saw how high-tech the security was, and they knew that they were not getting out of there anytime soon.
Chapter Two: The Escaping Plan
After a while, the dog catchers brought cat food for everyone to eat. Everyone thought it was horrible. That night, they planned their attack. The plan was when the dog catchers brought their food, they would all jump out. The next day, early before breakfast, a little boy and his mother chose to adopt Rex and took him home. Then, a crowd of people came rushing in, and the doors almost fell off their hinges. When all of the people left, Rex saw that Peanut and Charlie were gone, along with other pets he did not know.
Roster, Peanut, and Charlie opened their eyes. They were in a big dark place with other pets they didn’t really know. Then, a person in a yellow suit with a yellow mask put every pet back to sleep, and he did it by spraying sleeping gas on them. He was wearing a mask, so he was not affected by the sleeping gas. While Roster was getting his food, he jumped out and made a run for it. Now the person in the yellow suit was on the hunt for Roster, Peanut, and Charlie. When Roster, Peanut, and Charlie woke up, they were behind bars. When the person in the yellow suit and yellow mask came, they pretended they were asleep, so the person did not put them to sleep again. Peanut, Roster, and Charlie wondered if it would ever be the same, while Rex got a ninja suit and rope to save them.
Chapter Three: Owen
The next day, a person with a name tag that had “Steve” written on it came in holding first class food, not some stinky cat food. Even Charlie hated that food, and he was a CAT! Then, Steve dropped the food and ran away because something crashed through the window. It was Rex in a ninja suit holding a kitchen knife with blood on it. Rex told them that it was chicken blood. Rex used the knife as a key to save them, but when he tried to, a man picked him up and took the knife and ninja costume away from Rex. He put Rex in a cage and picked up Roster, Peanut, and Charlie, shoving them into the same cage as Rex. They had trouble breathing, and when they thought they were going to suffocate, a little boy named Owen opened the cage and gave them all treats.
Later, Roster, Peanut, Charlie, and Rex had dinner. Roster and Rex had dog food with gravy. Charlie had cat food with milk, and Peanut had sunflower seeds and water with a hint of carrot juice. Owen and his mother, Liz, had Chinese food. Roster, Peanut, and Charlie did not care because they loved their food anyway, but Rex really wanted some Chinese food. He whimpered and jumped up on their laps, begging for food. It worked! Rex got eight pieces of chicken, and he got some of the sauce with it. When it was time for bed, Owen brushed his teeth, and he also brushed Roster’s, Peanut’s, Charlie’s, and Rex’s teeth for them. Then the boy went to his bed, and Charlie slept on one of the pillows. Rex and Roster were curled up on the side of the bed near Owen’s head, and Peanut was between his hands.
Chapter Four: Rex’s Gone
In the middle of the night, Rex got up and crept out of bed and crept out of the room and then ran out the door, and as soon as he left, yellow eyes appeared out of the darkness holding a dagger and then followed Rex outside. When Roster, Peanut, and Charlie woke up, Rex was gone — he was nowhere to be found, and Owen’s mother was gone, too! And when they looked at Owen, there was a dagger stabbed in his chest. Owen was dead.
Roster, Peanut, and Charlie left the house and looked for Rex and Owen’s mother, Liz. After a while, they hit a dead end. They turned around to find Rex and Liz, but in the darkness in front of them there was a person with yellow eyes who then fell on the sidewalk. Rex was holding a dagger that was in that person’s chest. After that, they walked on the sidewalk and they saw the pizza with stuffed crust that started it all.
Rex picked it up with his mouth and said, “Let’s go somewhere the dog catcher will not find us.”
They found a nice spot, and when they were about to take a bite, dogs appeared out of nowhere and dragged Rex, Peanut, Charlie, and Roster into a cold dungeon, slamming the door behind them. Now Roster, Peanut, Charlie, and Rex were trapped in a dungeon with no food or water. They all realized they were not alone in the dungeon. Something was in there with them.
Chapter Five: Kicking Away
Rex, Peanut, Charlie, and Roster all huddled together, and in a blink of an eye, Peanut was gone. Then, Charlie and Roster were gone too. Rex ran and kicked and kicked at the door, but it would not open. Then, Rex saw something in the distance. It was a black dog. Rex kicked the dog so hard that he split it in half. After he kicked the black dogs in half, he saw the leader, and he knew it was the leader because it was wearing a gold crowd. Rex punched the lights out of the leader, and then kicked the door open with a mega-kick.
Meanwhile, Peanut, Roster, and Charlie were dumped on the sidewalk and trapped in a metal cage. Rex ran to a costume store and got ninja costumes for all of them. Then, Rex found Charlie, Peanut, and Roster.THEN, REX SUPER-MEGA-ULTRA-KICKED THE METAL CAGE OPEN LIKE IT WAS NOTHING!!!
Rex, Peanut, Charlie, and Roster ran and ran and ran until they stopped in front of a garbage can. Rex jumped up to see what was in the garbage can and saw a chicken, so he took that. Peanut picked up a carrot, Charlie picked up a fish, and Roster picked up a full can of baloney. They followed Rex to a rope, and Rex climbed it, Peanut, Charlie, and Roster following behind him. It led to a treehouse, where Rex took a bite of his chicken, Peanut nibbled his carrot, Roster opened his can and took a small bite of baloney, and Charlie took a big bite of fish. Then, they all realized something was climbing up the rope to them.
Chapter Six: Charlie’s Past
It was a skeleton wearing black robes and holding an ax. Peanut, Charlie, Rex, and Roster jumped out of the treehouse and onto the sidewalk. They were cornered against a door. Suddenly, a hand grabbed Rex and Peanut. Charlie and Roster made a run for it, and Rex threw a bone at the skeleton that made it fall apart. The bone turned around and picked up the ax. It flew back to Rex.
“Boomerang bone,” Charlie whispered to Roster.
They walked and walked until a net picked them up. They were back in a cage.
Roster turned around to look at Charlie. “Charlie, what are you doing?”
“Getting out of here,” whispered Charlie.
“Using your claws?”
“Yes, what else am I supposed to use?!”
That was when Roster noticed a scar on Charlie’s arm.
“What is that scar on your arm?” Roster asked.
“Like you care.”
“I do care.”
“You do?”
“Of course I do,” said Roster.
“Well, when I was young, my father wanted to kill me because he hated me, but when he tried to hit me with his sword, my mother jumped in the way and hit my arm. The sword flew and killed my mother and father, so I was on my own from then on.”
Chapter Seven: Cats Everywhere
Before Roster could say anything, Charlie’s cage opened and Charlie fell on the floor with a bang.
“Are you okay?” Roster asked, but Charlie did not answer. Roster tried to get out, but he could not. Roster did not know what to do. He sat in the corner of his cage, curled up.
Then, a wet, cold hand reached into the cage. It was a person in a yellow suit. The person told Roster that the place was closing, and if they did not get out in time, they would be trapped in there, and metal would surround the place they were in. Roster walked up to Charlie and tapped him. Roster saw the metal appearing from the roof, put Charlie on his back, and ran out of the store just in time.
Roster ran back to the treehouse. He was surprised to see Rex and Peanut there. All three of them poked Charlie at the same time. Roster put his paw on Charlie’s stomach.
“Charlie’s still breathing,” said Roster.
“So, Charlie’s not dead?” asked Peanut.
“Nope, not dead,” said Roster. Then, he whispered under his breath, “Not yet, at least.”
“What did you just say?” asked Peanut.
“Nothing!”
Then they heard rustling in the bushes. Rex, Peanut, and Roster turned around at the same time and saw a cat.
“Is that cat coming closer?” asked Peanut.
“One hundred percent, yes,” whispered Roster.
Then they saw another one and another one.
“What do they want?” asked Peanut.
“It’s a trap. They’re surrounding us, and there is nowhere to go,” whispered Roster.
Chapter Eight: Leaving Earth
Then, the cats started to climb up the treehouse. Suddenly, Charlie got up, and a cat jumped on Charlie. Then, a cat jumped on Peanut.
“THE CAT IS TEN TIMES BIGGER THAN ME! IT’S GOING TO SQUASH ME!” screamed Peanut.
Then a cat jumped on Roster, and a cat with a crown made of the most expensive fish jumped on Rex. When the cat got off Rex, another cat jumped on Rex.
“I am the leader of the club of cats, and they treat me like I am their queen,” said the cat with the crown.
“You look like the opposite of a queen!” shouted Charlie.
The cat with the crown told the club, “Get them out of my sight, now.”
The cats put Peanut, Roster, Rex, and Charlie into a small rocket ship and blasted them off into space. When they blasted off, the Earth exploded behind them. Roster, Peanut, Charlie, and Rex started to float in the rocket ship until they crashed into another planet. Roster, Peanut, Charlie, and Rex opened their eyes and saw that they were in a hospital.
“They are finally awake. I have been waiting,” said a voice in the room.
Rex, Roster, Charlie, and Peanut stared at each other, and nobody moved a muscle.
Chapter Nine: News People
A few seconds later, Roster looked where Charlie had been, but Charlie was not there. Then, Roster turned to look at the window, and Charlie was there, whacking the window. Someone suddenly grabbed Charlie — it was the news people.
The news people said that they had been following them because of what they were doing. One of the news people grabbed Roster, Peanut, and Rex. The news people took them to another rocket ship. When they were all inside, the news people said, “The Earth did not blow up. It just looked like it blew up, and the cats that put you into the rocket ship died.”
Roster, Peanut, Charlie, and Rex just looked at each other and they knew what to do. They shoved the news people out of the window. Peanut saw parachutes in the back of the rocket ship and jumped out and parachuted to the ground. Then, they ran to a dumpster.
“Why are we at the dumpster again?” asked Charlie.
“Yeah, why are we here?” asked Peanut.
“Maybe we are gonna build something?” said Roster.
“We are going to build something: a robot dog. And we are going to turn this dumpster into a house for us,” said Rex.
Rex, Peanut, Charlie, and Roster got to work. They built a robot and an amazing house. When they took a step inside, it was amazing.
“It’s going to be a lot easier living in New York City with a house,” said Peanut.
“This house is amazing,” said Charlie.
“It is huge,” said Roster.
“That means more room to roam around,” said Peanut.
“Let’s check out the robot dog!” said Roster.
“CHICKEN, COME HERE!” shouted Rex.
The robot dog came, and a red light appeared in the dog’s eyes. KA-BLAM!
“The robot dog blew up… You know what? Let’s go inside the house.”
“Sounds good,” said Charlie. So, they went inside.
Chapter Ten: The Amazing House
When they walked in, they saw more toys than they could count. In the corner, food bowls were filling up with the best food they could dream of.
“This house is the best,” said Charlie.
“Agreed,” said Roster with a mouth full of food.
“What should we do?” said Peanut.
“Play with all of these toys,” said Charlie.
They all played with the toys for about two hours. Then, they ate the food that they loved so much.
“I am tired,” said Peanut.
“Me, too,” said Roster.
“Me, three,” said Rex.
“Me, four,” said Charlie.
They opened the door to the bedroom, and it was amazing. There was a big bed, and Roster, Charlie, Peanut, and Rex slept on the bed like kings and queens. Peanut was snoring like this: “ZZZZZ!”
Roster, Charlie, and Rex were able to sleep at least. Finally, they could rest and enjoy themselves for once in New York City.
The girl is silent. This is unusual. The driver should know. He picks hitchhikers up wherever he can, and there’s always a, “Thanks,” or a, “Where to?” or at least a, “Hey, can I ride shotgun?” Not so with this one. And that’s not the only reason she’s strange either. She has the height and slightly rebellious posture of an eleven-year-old but wearing a trench coat made for a 50-year-old brooding detective with a high collar she’s keeping tightly wrapped around her neck, so it’s totally concealed. Though her position exposes her wrists–which are completely covered with bruises and tiny cuts. She’s also barefoot. The driver knows the look of an escaped prisoner. He’s picked them up a few times, as this area is notorious for its prisons and other secure facilities.. He knows the bruises on the wrists that indicate having worn handcuffs for a long time, the frantic look of their eyes, the tense, twitching way they hold themselves — as if they might have to bolt any second. Of course, the first three times he picked up escapees, he brought them to the nearest police station immediately. But there’s something about this girl… Normally he would respect a hitchhiker’s privacy, but now he decides he needs to probe. “So… ah, what’s your name, young lady?” He glances at her in the rearview mirror. A patch of something red is starting to spread over the collar of her coat. Her eyes flit nervously to him. “Ahh… Ah… ” she stutters. Her voice is hoarse as if she hasn’t used it in a while. This worries him. “Amelia? He prompts after hesitating. “Anna?” “Ah…. ” her mouth presses into a firm line. “Aaaaa….. mnesia.” “You… have amnesia?” Now he is truly worried. “Amnesia.” He thinks for a moment. “So… you can’t remember?” “Can’t remember,” she repeats triumphantly. “Ah… do you have any idea… why you can’t remember?” Her mouth goes into that line again. He realizes that’s all he’s going to get out of her on the matter. “Well, should I call your parents? Your guardians?” No answer. “Do you…have any family?” Nothing. “Well… I have to call someone.” Keeping one hand on the wheel, the driver reaches for his phone, lying next to him, with his other hand. He is about to dial 911 when he catches the strange girl’s eye in the mirror. He suddenly finds he can’t look away. Then, it happens. Her pupils constrict– just a little. Then the feeling– as if something in his mind, just a bit off for years, has finally clunked into place. His hand slowly moves away from his phone and comes to rest at two o’clock on the wheel. “No family… that’s all right. I don’t have any either. They’re all gone, you see.” At that word, something seems to click in her mind as well. “Gone… ” she says. “Gone… my family is gone.”
Officer
The girl scares him. She shouldn’t. Granted, she is scary. But so was the 17-year-old with the blood-red mohawk who was dealing drugs. So was the bald 14-year-old girl with obscenities tattooed up and down both arms, twirling a pistol in her hand. And so was the teen before that, and the one before that, and the hundreds he’s seen over the years. Being stationed at one of New City’s busiest subway stations, you get freaks like that. All. The. Time. But this freak is different. Usually they strut around looking for trouble or flaunting their disturbing tattoos. She keeps to herself, huddling in a corner formed by a dumpster and the wall. And the officer isn’t exactly up-to-date with the fashion scene at the moment, but he is pretty sure that a sweaty old ripped undershirt, long pink gloves, tight white shorts that barely cover her bottom, and a vibrant orange scarf are unusual even for a subway freak. Her undyed, shoulder-length, dirty-blonde hair sticks out everywhere in a very undignified way. Then it strikes him that she’s not wearing any shoes. Something is very wrong here. He decides to move in. In this line of work, you learn to follow every lead. She smiles pleasantly at him when he approaches. “Hello,” she says. Her voice is smooth — too smooth. Her tone is flawless. “Hello,” he says, slowly and cautiously. Then he tells himself to man up. This scrawny 11-year-old shouldn’t scare him. He’s 42, in prime shape for his age, and has a gun. He needs to assert himself. “Ma’am,” he begins sternly, “I’m afraid shoes are mandatory in this station.” “Is that so?” she asks sweetly. “Yes, it is. Rule 307 of the Customer Service Policy states clearly on the New City Public Transportation website.” “Oh.” She makes a little squeal. “Well, I didn’t know that – ” And then, it happens. The slight constricting of the pupils — and the strangest feeling, as though something in his mind, sunken to the bottom after years of forgetfulness, is sifted to the top. “Officer Davis Davidson,” she finishes. “I — I’m sorry.” Davis Davidson is stunned. Because that’s not his name. She smiles again. Her full lips look red in the dim light. He doesn’t fully register it, because she takes one step sideways away from him. Through his shock, he can hear dimly the roar that signals the arrival of a train. The girl cocks her head to one side playfully. “Well, I need to get going,” she grins, flashing yellow teeth. Then she is gone. The officer stands there, frozen, for 15 more minutes before one of his co-workers finds him. When he climbs into bed that night, he can’t stop thinking about what the girl called him. The badge reads Officer McShirley — that’s the surname he took when he was married. And well before that, when he was 20, he had changed his last name to Johnson. All the records show either McShirley or Johnson. There’s no way she could have known. But he was born Davis Davidson.
Cashier
The girl is ugly. Normally, the cashier isn’t a judgmental person, but this is simply a fact. Her hopelessly tangled and muddy hair reaches down to the floor, her face is covered in nettles and scratches, and he’s pretty sure those are real cockroaches on her arms. To say nothing of her fashion sense. She looks like she just escaped from a jail — a low-budget jail. She’s wearing a ripped white undershirt and tight, white shorts that barely cover three inches, and no shoes. There are scars and bruises covering her wrists and neck. The cashier isn’t the brightest (it’s not part of the job description) so he doesn’t stop to think how she might have gotten them. He simply checks her items. Bread, carrots, apples, frozen peas, frozen French Fries, a pint of mint ice cream, and two six-packs of water bottles. Not exactly typical shopping for a 12-year-old girl — they usually come in giggling with Haribos and sodas and lip gloss. This girl looks wise beyond her years, like a crazed sage living on a mountain eating worms. There’s a breathless expression on her face like she’s been through something horrible, and is simply glad to be alive. It troubles the cashier. “Your total is $29.99,” he tells her. “Paper or plastic?” “Nothing reusable?” Her voice is hoarse, but kind. “No,” he tells her, looking at her defiantly. She makes a tsking noise and makes eye contact with him. She looks almost regretful. Then it happens. Her pupils constrict, and the cashier gets the strangest feeling — as though out of his clogged and overstuffed brain, off his burdened shoulders, something has been taken. And then it’s as if he’s closed his eyes — just darkness and darkness and darkness. He tries to open his eyes, but they are open. He can hear the clamor of the supermarket, smell the cleaning products, taste the stale gum in the back of his mouth, feel the coarse fabric of his uniform against his hands — but he cannot see. He hears the girl giggle, hears the rustling and clunking of objects being dropped into a bag, and the pad of her feet running away. The cashier slumps to his knees. His head droops and a few salty tears seep out of his blind eyes.
Reporter
The girl shouldn’t be here. But the reporter seems to be the only one who’s noticed, as usual. She’s come to realize that, even though she’s only an intern at LINN (Leg International News Network), she’s really the only competent member of her team. Which is unfortunate, because they’ve been assigned the war-spurred chaos in B’leg. The girl really shouldn’t be here, for her own safety. There are crazed gangs and resistance fighters with machine guns and hand grenades everywhere. Even wearing a bulletproof vest, the reporter doesn’t feel safe. And this girl looks only ten, wearing a shirt that says My Grandma went to Seaside States and all I got was this stupid T-Shirt, a ridiculous flamingo scarf, and jean shorts that clash horribly. She is about to stride over to the girl to tell her to clear out when their team leader grabs her by the arm. “Avery!” he says sharply. “We need you on set! We’re live in 30 seconds! Where have you been?” Five feet away, she thinks as he drags her away. The camera is pointed at a dramatic landscape of burning buildings and half-naked, starving people running around and shrieking. It seems like something straight out of the pages of a dystopian novel. The team leader shoves a microphone into Avery’s hands and gestures impatiently at the cameraman. He nods, and Avery puts on her professional face. “Hello, Leg,” the leader announces pompously. “This is Alex Alexander, everyone’s favorite re – ” “We are live from war-torn B’leg!” Avery shouts into her mic. It lets out a squeal of feedback in protest. Alex Alexander gives her a look, but she’s already decided to take matters into her own hands. “The half-starved screams of innocent citizens caught in the crossfire fill the air, and the sharp tang of gunpowder is inescapable. Mud, fire, and death pollute these streets. And after the merciless attack of the resistance fighters, it is sadly proven once again that innocence never lasts forever… ” She pulls a six-year-old boy clutching a teddy bear that’s half ashes into the camera frame. “Young man! What was your life like before the attack?” “Uh… my name is Humphrey and I guess I liked watching cartoons. You know that one with the rabbit and the roach? That was my favorite. But then… I mean… ” Avery makes a roll the clip motion with her hand. Across Leg, their viewers will see a recording of yesterday’s attack. Avery waits thirty seconds, then continues talking. “After this ruthless rampage of ruination – ” (audiences adore alliteration) “ – everyone in B’leg is changed. Now, Humphrey is lucky when the news turns on! I – ” “True,” comes a loud voice. Avery whirls around. A girl — the girl is standing there. In their frame. “Excuse me?” The girl’s face, framed by hair that’s black at the top and white at the bottom, with only the barest shade of gray in between, twists into an expression of horror. “I — I’m so sorry – ” “Hey!” shouts Alex Alexander stupidly. “That’s the girl I saw you with!” Then the strangest thing happens — a flash of events in the space of a few seconds. The girl’s eyes constrict and something flashes in them — a truth, ancient and mystical and powerful. Then they glaze over, and she speaks. “True,” she says. “Wait, what?” Alexander asks slowly, befuddled. Avery sighs. “She – ” then she stops, because she realizes she doesn’t actually know what the girl did. Or what she said. “Ha!” Humphrey cries. “Polly, ya did it again!” The girl –- Polly? — looks uncomfortable. “Humph.” But the boy is suddenly talking animatedly to Avery. “I found ‘er a few weeks ago. Hid her in my basement. At first, I was just doing a good deed, but then I found out she has powers.” Another member of the team, Julia, who used to work in the tabloids, jumps in. “Is this boy crazed? In shock? Who is the Girl from B’leg?! Some may call these questions mere conspiracy theories, but the truth-seekers among you should check your newsstands.” She stops, realizing she’s live on national television. “Sorry, old habits.” Then it happens again. The constricting of the girl’s eyes, and she speaks, “True.” “Told ya!” Humphrey practically shrieks. “Powers! See, she can tell the truth from a lie!” “True.” “Watch: My name is Humphrey.” “True.” “My name is Alex Alexander.” “False. Humphrey, I really don’t want to do this, not on television.” “Actually, we’re not rolling,” interrupts the cameraman. “Not since she – you appeared.” “True. Oh. But still – ” “The camera’s not rolling!” “True – Humphrey, please – ” “You sleep in my basement.” “True.” Her face has the pained look of someone about to do something they know they’ll regret. “Humphrey, I’m sorry… ” And before Avery can say “wait,” she has vanished into the burning city.
Hiker
The girl is not there. The girl must be a figment of the hiker’s imagination. The girl cannot be real. The girl is not there. Besides, no girl is that strange. She’s a child — she looked 12 or 13. She was also completely bald, and had no eyebrows, eyelashes, or hair of any kind. She was dressed in a ripped white undershirt stained with red and green juices, tight white pants that stand out against her dark brown skin, and no shoes. Besides, if she was real, how could she have gotten there? Sure, there was a hiking trail nearby, but nobody with half a brain went hiking barefoot. And there are no roads or highways within ten miles. If her car had broken down and she’d wandered into the woods, she wouldn’t have wandered this far. Which only leaves the possibility that she’s completely insane. The hiker refuses that one. She doesn’t want to admit it, but insane people scare her. So, the girl is not there. But then she is. She is there. Behind a tree! A pine tree. The hiker knows, somehow, that this moment will be fixed in her memory till the end of her days — the moment when all her dreams and imaginings became real. This time, the hiker doesn’t hesitate. She plunges through a bush and starts toward the bald girl. The girl’s eyes widen, her mouth parts in shock, and she darts away. The hiker chases after, determined now. She tumbles through dense patches, rushes through the brief clearing where the sun streaks through the ceiling of twisting branches. She never knew the woods could be like this — crowded, thorny, dark, mysterious. Like a fairy tale. Years of hiking have only taught her cleared, dusty paths. It’s a wonder to see the forest like this. But she doesn’t let it distract her. She stays focused on the prize — the girl. She races through the forest, following the flashes of the girl she glimpses through the maze of trees for a good fifteen minutes, until they reach a clearing carpeted with pine needles painted gold by the setting sun. There, in that little alcove of the wild, she is surprised to find a small log cabin. There are no windows, but there is a smoking little chimney. The hiker grabs the knob of the door, but it’s locked. “Hey… ” she calls apprehensively. Silence. “I – I know you’re in there. Please, just come out. I’m not going to hurt you. Unless you’re insane. Sorry. I didn’t mean that. But — unlock the door, please.” Nothing. “Look…. I don’t want to break this door down… ” Nothing. “I could if I wanted to… ” That is true. The door is made of rotting wood planks that look like they might decompose on the spot with one good kick. And the hiker’s legs are pretty strong from years of climbing mountains. She waits another few seconds, debating. There is something wrong with this girl — that much was clear from the start. But what if she’s in danger? What if she thought the hiker was someone else? What if there was someone so horrible she felt the need to run barefoot through a forest and hide in a crumbling log cabin to get away from? The door comes down on the third kick. The cabin is damp and moldy inside. There is a smoking fireplace, a decaying table, and a single chair. The floor is leaves and dirt — one area is scuffed up where the girl might have been sleeping. And huddling, knees to chest, her face to the wall, shaking, sobbing in a corner is the girl. “Hey… ” the hiker says softly. “I’m not going to hurt you. Please… ” Slowly, the girl gets to her feet, still facing the corner. The sobbing slows until it is mere sniffling. Then she speaks in a low, shaking, tear-stained voice. “I need you to leave,” she says slowly. Then she sniffles loudly. “I need you to leave… right now. Leave, and you can’t tell anyone what you saw… ” She puts her head in her hands and starts wailing again. “I — I don’t understand – ” “LEAVE!” she roars. “I don’t — I can’t – ” Then more sobbing. “Look,” the hiker says hesitantly. “I’m sure that whatever it is – ” “You need to go,” she repeats, controlling the shaking in her voice. There’s an unexpected fierceness. “Please. Now. I can’t – ” “Look – ” “You should have left.” The girl keeps her head down, but drops her hands to her sides. Then she turns around. There is a tense pause. Then she picks up her head and their eyes meet — And it happens — the constricting of those midnight-black pupils — the feeling — the emptiness — yawning before her — The hiker collapses with a thump. And when she is dead, when the girl is alone in the woods, no one can hear her scream.
“EMMA!” said a voice so strong in my head that I woke up in fear.
“MOM!” I said, frantically getting up from my bed. My mom went storming in my room, opening the door. She opened it so loud that I felt my blood go up and down, up and down.
“What, Emma?” said my mom. Her voice sounded like she did not know what to do right now. Her clothes were stained with… hmm, cold water? I think she spilled water while she was getting up here.
“Uhh, nothing, bad dream… I think.” I said. I looked down and bit my lip. My mom was always in a grumpy mood.
“Emma, every single morning you say, ‘MOM.’ Is anything bothering you?” said my mom as she came towards my bed. She sat down on my bed, got my pillow, and put something in it. “Don’t open it until you are ready,” said my mom. She got off my bed, making a big creaking sound. She flipped her hair and got out of my room.
I just felt like I wanted a playdate with Yui. She was such a great listener and loved green tea. We had been friends since preschool. She had different fonts on her phone. So, yeah. I stretched out my legs and arms, then I scanned my room for my phone. I got out of bed and put on my fluffy slippers. I opened my kawaii drawer. It cost $2,000. Very expensive. I searched through all my stuff in my drawer. The shuffling made a nice noise. I felt that my phone case was cold. ICE cold. I hoped she could help me. AND SHE’S KOREAN!
Me: Huy Yui! 🙂
Yui: Hello Ai- Ma chan!^.^!
Me: Do you want a playdate?
Yui: OFC!
Yui: What is it about?
Me: Umm, something. It’s a surprise?
Yui: Yay!!
Me: YAY! See you soon.
Well, I guessed I had to go to her house now. I put my phone down in my kawaii drawer and rushed to do my daily morning routine. I speed past the door, not wasting time. Only, THIS HOUSE WAS SO BIG I GOT LOST IN IT. Which way do I go, which way?? I said in my mind. I made a guess. Hey, what else could I do? I run left, sonic speed. And I, oops — I bumped into my own mother. I crouched down so low, it was like I was playing limbo.
“OW!!” she said. She was hesitating, looking above her, left, right of her, but she did not look BEHIND her. “WHO’S THERE?” she said. She looked like she had seen a ghost. Golly gee, Mom, you never looked behind you, I said in my mind. I decided to run. I got up and ran until… BEEP! My phone rang. REALLY YUI? REALLY? It was a text message from Yui. Golly Gee. I AM IN TROUBLE.
Mom turned behind her, closing her eyes. I tried to make a run for it, but she already had the confidence to open her eyes. Darn. “Hello, hon, did you see anyone bump into me? Is it your dad? I know it isn’t you because you are a good girl,” said my mom, crossing her arms.
Gulp, now I felt super guilty. I really want to tell my mom the truth, but I ended up lying. “Um mom y-you s-s-see I did — er, I mean — didn’t bump into y-y-you. I mean I di-did, I mean, I di-didn’t b-bump into y-you!” I said. I sounded like I was squeaking instead of speaking. I got back up, then did a broken face.
“Umm, A-W-K-W-A-R-D,” said my mom, loosening up her crossed arms. “Oh, and you have school tomorrow.” She winked with her hands folded.
“Can I go to Yui’s house, please!!” I went down to my knees, acting like I was praying to God.
“Yes. But be back at 12:00, or you’re dead.” Her face was dark. My face was so scared. I got ready to pounce, that meant run. She had said “or you’re dead” in a low voice. She pointed at the clock with her index finger. It said 7:00. That gave me lots of darn time!
“Ok, Mom, thanks!” I ran off right again. Maybe even running + running = I AM RUNNING SUPER FAST! Then I stopped. I remember something that I needed to tell my mom.
“Mom, where’s the bathroom?” I said, while turning back. I was still scared.
“Go right, then go left. That’s where the bathroom is,” said my mom while going left.
“Okay, thanks, Mom!” I said. I turned back and ran. AND I followed her directions. I rushed so fast that I lost my slipper. I didn’t even want to pick it up. I was too excited to go to Yui’s!
One day, there was a fairy named Lilac. She lived in a cottage in the woods. Most of the stuff she owned, she had made herself. One day, she received a letter from the fairies. They wanted to send her to help the Kingdom of Fairies. The fairies knew that Lilac solved a lot of puzzles, so they knew she was smart. She rushed to her room to pack. She packed a flashlight, clothes, shoes, a notepad, and a pencil. When she started to get the map, she saw one of her cupboards began to glitter rainbow. She went out to see what was happening to the cupboard. There was a letter that was floating in the air that said: trust your heart. She wondered, should she trust this letter?She would give it a try. She closed her eyes and started to walk. Finally, she bumped into something. She opened her eyes. Right in front of her was a portal. Above it, it said: Land of Fairies. Yes! she thought. She went right into the portal. When she opened her eyes, she saw thousands of flowers. Some of the flowers were still fresh, and some of the flowers were wilting. She wondered what to do. The girl in front of her was a fairy.
“Who are you?” shouted the fairy.
Lilac replied, “One of the fairies sent me to meet you.”
And kindly the fairy said, “You must be Lilac. My name is Samantha.” Then she added, “Let me take you to the Queen.”
On the way there, they saw a fairy in the water. Sam said, “What are you doing here, Aurora?”
“I cannot reach out to Rain,” Aurora said.
“This is Lilac.” Lilac waved while Sam introduced her. Then Sam added, “She’s helping us save our kingdom.” Sam waved her wand, and Aurora was outside.
“I will help Lilac,” Aurora said.
Sam said, “We’re going to the Queen.”
“I will go with you,” said Aurora.
Chapter 2: The Queen
They continued walking, and a few minutes later, they arrived at a beautiful castle. They went in and saw beautiful rooms. Lilac was curious about the rooms, but Samantha and Aurora just passed by them. Finally, they reached a room with a beautiful shell door.
“Wait right here,” Sam said to Aurora and Lilac. She went in the room, and she came out again. “The Queen is ready to see you,” she told Lilac.
Lilac went into the room. Then, she saw the Queen. Lilac curtsied and sat down in front of the Queen.
The Queen said, “You can call me Queen Lily.”
Lilac said, “What can I do to help your kingdom?”
“I will show you.”
She led them up to a room with a glass case. She opened the lid. There, they saw flowers wilting. The Queen looked sad. “Here, I will tell you the story of these flowers,” Queen Lily said. “One day, there was a wise fairy. Her name was May. She took care of these beautiful flowers. One day, she met a mermaid. The mermaid said, ‘Give me the flowers!’ May gave the flowers to the mermaid. May trusted the mermaid. The mermaid sprinkled dust onto the flowers. A kingdom was going to appear, and the flowers would take care of the land. May saw a beautiful land. She saw a feather. She chased after it, but she got lost and couldn’t find the flowers again.” Lily then smiled and said, “With a little bit of magic, I got the flowers back.”
Chapter 3: The Gems
Queen Lily said, “Yesterday, the flowers started wilting, and the fairies were getting more tired every day. I realized this when I visited the flowers yesterday, and I saw that they were wilting. Then, I went to the fairies. Usually, the fairies meet me outside, but yesterday, they were sleeping.” She started crying when she said this. “If the flowers die, the fairies can’t take good care of the kingdom, and the kingdom will disappear.”
“It’s okay,” Lilac said to comfort her. “We will help your kingdom.” Lilac knew what to do, but she didn’t know how to do it.
Queen Lily hugged Lilac. “You have two weeks to rescue the flowers,” Queen Lily said.
Lilac’s heart pounded thinking about whether that time would be enough to rescue the flowers.
Queen Lily reassured her when she saw that Lilac was worried. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you can do it.” Then Queen Lily said, “You need to find the seven gems and give them to the Gem Fairies. I will tell you how you can give it to them later. But first, I will give you something. Come, follow me.”
They walked down the steps to a door. Queen Lily took a key hanging from around her neck and used it to unlock the door. They entered a room with dozens of glass cases filled with various pages and books. She opened one of the glass cases, and she took out a book. She then opened the book and said, “This book is all about the kingdom and the fairies that live in it. If you forget the story where May gets the flowers, you can find it in this book. Also, there is a map tucked into the book.”
Chapter 4: Leaving
“Who else is going with you?” asked Queen Lily .
“Aurora is going to come with me,” Lilac said.
“Okay, you might need this then,” Queen Lily said as she took two rings from off of her finger and slid them onto Lilac’s.
There’s so much to worry about, Lilac thought.
“You can leave tomorrow,” said Queen Lily.
The next day, they set out on a journey. They went on and on and on. “When do you think it’s gonna end?” Lilac asked Aurora.
“Remember,” said Aurora, “the path can last for a long time. Here,” said Aurora. “We can stop by a stream to get some water.”
They got to a stream, and they each took a long sip of water. Aurora got some sticks and leaves to make a cup with a lid. She dumped it in some water and closed the lid. She made another one and filled it with some nuts.
“Let’s go,” said Lilac.
They reached the forest.
“The map says we have to go this way,” Lilac said. She pointed towards the forest. It was dark. They were nervous. But they headed into the forest anyway. Before long, they started to smell smoke.
Aurora said, “What’s that smell?”
“I don’t know,” Lilac said.
They kept walking. And then they stopped in their tracks. They saw a big dragon with red scales who was breathing fire. The dragon heard all the noise and turned around, facing them.
Oh no, both of them thought.
The dragon said, “Who are you?”
“We are Lilac and Aurora,” said Lilac bravely.
“Why are you here?”
Aurora quivered as she said, “We are here to find a gem.”
“You aren’t the first ones to try to get the gem,” he boomed as he pulled open a cage.
Lilac saw who was inside and cried, “Rose!”
“Lilac!” Rose cried back from the cage.
Aurora stayed quiet. Then, Aurora muttered, “Please make this move,” running out of breath, waving her wand at a pile of twigs. The twigs started moving at her. She made them lay down on the grass and took one stick and said quietly, “Say something! Write this on the stick and distract the dragon.”
She moved the stick with her mind over to Lilac. And she said under her breath, “Make a waterfall,” and a waterfall started to appear right by her side. Aurora took a bucket and dunked it in the water and walked quietly over to the dragon’s back. The dragon felt the water and turned around, but Aurora was too quick. She ran to the other side and whispered something to Lilac, “Let’s go.” Once they were safely away from the dragon, Aurora said, “Why don’t we make something that will make the dragon want to trade with us?”
“Alright,” said Lilac, “what should we make?”
“I think dragons like fire. We need something with fire.”
“Well,” said Lilac, “we can’t make fire. I wonder what we should do.”
Aurora thought of it.
Chapter 5: Smokey
“There is a dragon living down by the stream named Smokey. We can go to her and ask for help.”
When they reached the stream, they took a long sip of water again. Aurora cried, “There’s the cave where Smokey lives. After we take one more sip, we’ll go there.”
They took one more sip and started off. Once they reached the cave, they knocked on the door. Smokey said, “Who’s there?”
“It’s me!” cried Aurora.
“Hi, Aurora! Who’s this friend with you?”
“Her name is Lilac!”
“Well, come in, come in. You can explain everything to me when we’re all inside.”
They went inside and drank milk and ate cookies.
Aurora explained, “We are trying to find the seven gems. The dragon will give us the gems. So, we were thinking you could help us make something for us to trade with the dragon.”
“I’ve got an idea. I just need two sticks and a couple blades of grass. Collect them for me, and I will make you something for the dragon.”
So, they went and got two sticks and a couple blades of grass. They went back to the cave where Smokey lived. Smokey said, “Thank you.”
She set out to work. It took all day and night, so Smokey let Aurora and Lilac sleep and eat there. Around nighttime, Lilac and Aurora did not have pajamas, so they decided to sleep in their clothes. Smokey said, “I have a few extra blankets. You can sleep in that.” She gave them two blankets and two pillows. Lilac and Aurora took them and lay down on the ground. They lay down feeling colder. They couldn’t do anything about it. They couldn’t sleep the whole night. The next day, Lilac and Aurora woke up and Smokey was making breakfast — eggs and waffles with strawberries.
“Are you done?” Lilac said easily.
“Yes,” Smokey said. “Come, have some breakfast.”
So, they walked over to the table, which was a long tree top with small pillows to sit on. They sat down, and they ate their food. They were all very hungry.
“Let’s go!” Lilac said to Aurora .
“Wait! I have to give you the thing to give to the dragon!”
“Right,” said Aurora.
“Let me quickly get it. Here,” Smokey said.
Smokey ran off quickly and got a bracelet for the dragon. There were red beads and green beads, and in the middle of the bracelet, there was a picture of a fire made from beads in the middle.
Chapter 6: The Fight
Smokey pointed out the way to the dragon’s cave. “You go straight, then you turn right, and you should be able to turn left, and then there they are.”
“Let’s go,” Aurora said to Lilac. They followed Smokey’s directions until they came upon a pond.
“Let’s take a drink of water,” said Lilac.
“No!” said Aurora. “We took too many sips of water.”
“But — but — but — ” stammered Lilac. Lilac sensed that they were going to have a fight.
“No buts,” said Aurora. “Let’s keep going.” Aurora started to walk. When she went a few feet away from her, she looked behind to see Lilac taking a sip of water. “Lilac!” shouted Aurora.
“Well!” Lilac shouted back. “You are not my mother!”
“Well, I do not care about this thing anymore!” And Aurora threw the bracelet. It shattered in gold sparkles.
Lilac wondered what to do. Aurora stomped off, so Lilac followed Aurora. “Do not follow me,” said Aurora when she looked back. She waved her wand, and Lilac fell on the floor. Aurora walked off.
A few hours later, Smokey came out. “Oh no!” cried Smokey. He carried Lilac inside of his cave. Smokey used his magic to see the past, and saw that Aurora put a spell on Lilac. Smokey used his own powers to undo Aurora’s spell.
When Lilac woke up, Lilac asked in wonder, “Where am I?” She said this as she blinked her eyes to clear out all the blurs.
“You are in my cave. Aurora put a spell on you,” replied Smokey.
“Why?” demanded Lilac.
“I do not know,” said Smokey. “Here.” He put a spell on Lilac so Lilac could remember what happened.
“Oh, I remember what happened.”
“Please, Lilac, tell me what happened.”
“Well,” started Lilac. “It’s a long story.”
“It’s alright, but all I know is that Aurora put a spell on you and broke the bracelet. You can stay here for the night. Have a glass of tea.” He handed Lilac a mug filled with tea. “It will give you energy,” said Smokey.
She slowly sipped the tea. It almost burned her tongue. She never realized until now that her dress was covered with mud and her hair was messy. “Oh,” she sighed.
“Do not worry,” Smokey said. “I will make you some clothing.” He took a bunch of twigs, grass, and leaves in a huge pile. He began to make a shirt, pants, and pajamas for Lilac.
“Thank you!” Lilac said gratefully. He finished faster than one hour.
“Put these on,” he ordered Lilac. “It’s nearly lunchtime. For lunch I will make some chicken from the chickens in the wild.”
Lilac sat down. “What should I do?” she said.
“Let’s play checkers,” Smokey said. He took out the checkerboard. “We will drink milk and eat cookies while we play.” They played for almost an hour. Lilac won. Smokey said, “Why don’t you take a rest? It’s been a long day. I’ll make lunch while you do.” Lilac took a nap for thirty minutes. When she woke up, the food was ready for her. It was perfect; it was not too hot, and it was not too cold. They both gobbled up the food. They realized they were starving. They finished the food in less than ten minutes.
“Why don’t we do this puzzle I got?” asked Smokey. Lilac took the puzzle from Smokey’s hands. “It’s a picture of a kitten,” said Smokey.
“I love kittens!” Lilac said. Lilac did that while Smokey took Lilac’s dress to the pond to be washed. When Smokey came back, Lilac only did half of the puzzle, but she had drawn the half she did. Smokey took a nap for one hour. He was tired after doing all the chores.
Chapter 7: Gems
After Smokey’s nap, Lilac was done with the puzzle. Lilac said to Smokey, “I really, really want to get the gems. When can I?”
Smokey said to Lilac, “You can get them soon, but I will have to help you.”
“Okay,” Lilac sighed. She wanted to do this adventure by herself.
“We’ll just have a snack, and then we can find the gems.” They had a snack of crackers with cheese. Lilac dressed in the top and pants that Smokey made for her.
They set out. “Let’s go there,” Lilac said, pointing to the top of the mountain.
“How will we get up?” Smokey asked.
“Climb it, of course!” Lilac answered.
“Let’s start climbing, otherwise we won’t get to the top of the mountain in time,” said Smokey.
“Let’s do this!” shouted Lilac. They started climbing. Once they were just a teeny little bit off the ground, they huffed and puffed, and they found a place to rest and eat some berries and drink a cup of water.
After they were well-rested, they started to climb again. They did this for a while. Climb a little bit, then eat and rest. Climb, eat, and rest. They finally reached the mountain when it was eleven o’clock. “Let’s sleep,” Smokey said. They slept.
They woke up in the morning and saw a ladder. Lilac said, “Follow me!” Lilac climbed up the ladder. When they reached the top, they found the first gem. It was bright pink, but there was something in front of it. A fairy.
Smokey asked what the fairy’s name was. She said that her name was Spring. “What do you want?” she demanded. “You want the gem? You can have it, but you have to trade for it with something.”
“What do you have, Lilac?” Smokey whispered. “I have this,” she whispered back, holding a picture of a kitten out.
“What is that?” Spring said.
“It’s a picture.”
“Will you trade it for the gem?” Smokey asked.
“Alright,” agreed Spring. “This is called the Spring Gem,” she said as she handed over the gem. “Take good care of it.”
Yes, Lilac and Smokey thought. We got the first gem! The Spring Gem. They went down to go to Smokey’s cottage to have a break. They didn’t have any more food and water. They finally reached Smokey’s cave. They ate and drank and took a nap. They felt refreshed.
“Let’s go,” said Smokey.
They set off again. Smokey made another bracelet. Finally, they reached the dragon’s cave. The dragon said, “What do you want?!”
Lilac said, “We want the gem.”
“What will you give me?”
“We’ll give you this.” Lilac pulled out the bracelet.
He snatched the bracelet out of Lilac’s hand. He threw the gem to Lilac.
“Look!”
“I knew it,” said Smokey.
“You knew what?” asked Lilac.
“That he would want the bracelet so much, I put magic in it!”
“Oh,” said Lilac. “I’m hungry,” Lilac said. “What’s for dinner?”
“I don’t know,” said Smokey. “Do you want to help me make dinner?”
“Yes,” exclaimed Lilac.
They went back to Smokey’s cave. Lilac and Smokey made pasta for dinner. They were so hungry they finished the food in, like, ten seconds.
“Let’s sleep,” said Lilac.
They slept.
They both woke up at the same time. Smokey made pancakes for breakfast. “Let’s get the other gem,” Lilac said.
Right when she said it, there was a knock on the door.
Chapter 8: Somebody At the Door
“Who is it?” called Smokey.
“Let me in, and you will see,” called somebody from behind the door.
“Okay,” said Lilac. “You stay here,” she said behind her back to Smokey.
“Since when were you my mother?” Smokey laughed.
But Lilac did not hear him. She was opening the door. To her surprise, Aurora was standing behind the door.
“I am sorry I used my magic on you,” Aurora said, looking down at her feet.
“It’s alright, Aurora, come in,” Lilac said loudly so Smokey could hear.
Smokey rushed to see Aurora and to show her the gems they got.
“Wow,” Aurora said.
“I like that one,” Aurora pointed at the Spring Gem.
The bright stars battle the moon, which hovers above the dark wavy canvas. Ripples strike the water, taking over the world. A skipped rock, almost pulled by the light current, washes over the reflection of sand against the water. The pretty sight washes away suddenly, late for an eternity of sleep.
Poem Two
I imagine skies Draped over my windowpane Just like a blackbird
Poem Three
Like stars through windows I unravel the night sky From my blue powers
Josie Anderson was running away from something unimaginable. She was running away in the Smith Forest, North of Elf Creek. She was running and running and then… splash! She fell into the river. She swam and swam for days. She didn’t know where she was going. She was hungry and cold… but she did not care at all. All she felt was the rumbling of it coming. She felt it stop, so she came out of the lake — a creek now, a creek that was labeled on all the maps.
“Elf Creek,” she whispered, and sure enough, as she turned around, she saw little people with sharp, small teeth in sky blue and plum purple dresses and shirts. “Something is wrong here,” she told herself. The faces, well… They, well, when I say this none of you will believe me, but they did not look real…
As she looked around, the elves evaporated into little pieces of dust. The thing that she was running from — it was back. She had no feeling in her legs, but she ran into the dark woods anyway. The thing she was running from — it gave her a toothy grin with its fangs exposed.
The witch walked into the sunlight and pushed Josie to the ground. As she bent down to take Josie’s soul, Josie slipped out of her daze and kicked the witch in the face. Scarlet red blood slithered down her face.
“Not just yet will I leave this world,” Josie whispered to herself. The witch glared at her with so much loathing that it could boil a soup. Josie took one step closer to the witch. “Why are you doing this, Mother?”
The witch looked at her. “So you recognize me, Josie. I knew my girl was smart but not this smart.”
Josie wanted to see her mother the way she had been when she was normal, before she ran away, before the incident. And then the memories flooded back. Her parents were fighting. Her mother was very violent. Well, for a long time it was just that, and then something changed. It happened when Mother was studying her little animals and one bit her. She stayed cooped up in her room. When she came out, it was only to eat and drink water. When she came out, she barely spoke to them.
Then Father stood up at dinner. “What is happening, Izzy? You have been like this for one month, and you haven’t told us anything about what is happening.” Worry struck Father’s face. Father was always mad, and his face never changed, but this look that Father gave Mother was something different, different from anything else. He was worried and something else… Something I can’t put into words, but the look was still something.
“Nothing,” Mother mumbled. Her voice was different — it was gruff and raspy, and Josie did not like it. Then, flash! She saw Mother and Father fighting, and Mother had a trunk and a bag. She was about to leave when father found out, and then it struck Josie.
“What if… I go into Mother’s room? Then I would find out what happened, right?” she asked herself. Josie gasped! She had a good idea… I know this does not seem like a lot, but for Josie, it was something new. What was happening to Mother had taken a toll on the entire family, so just thinking straight was a challenge. Josie darted into Mother’s room. It was… well… dark. The stained glass windows were completely covered by vines, the walls were covered with vines, and there were maps with animals, but something stood out: a shining silver coin. Josie turned the lights on and off, and the coin was still shining.
“What in the — “
Mother’s glare was unmistakable, Josie felt it from a mile away.
“I see that you are poking around in my room, Josie.’’
Josie, for the first time, was scared of her family — no, her mother — but instead of walking to her, she walked right to the coin, which turned red. Instead of running away, she inched closer, but when she looked at mother, her skin turned white, and then Josie ran.
CHAPTER ONE
Ann was having a nice dream, but when Aunt Josie was making breakfast, nothing was quiet. So, Ann woke up early just so she did not have to wake up to the sound of banging pots and pans. Ann opened her eyes to the hot, sticky summer air. Aunt Josie was making her bed. Ann heard that only because of one thing: Aunt Josie was singing. Ann decided to make some oatmeal.
“Aunt Josie?” Ann asked. “Do we have anything other than oatmeal?”
“Well,” Aunt Josie said, “We have eggs from your grandmother’s recipe. I always liked it when I was a — ” Aunt Josie was interrupted by a loud mouse. Aunt Josie hated animals. Something had happened to her when she was a kid, but Ann was not sure what it was…
Aunt Josie took a broom and smashed the mouse. Ann flinched in her chair. She was an animal lover. Aunt Josie was panting — she never successfully killed anything. Ann was still standing there in shock, and then an idea hit her. What if she went looking for Grandmother? Surely, she knew why Aunt Josie hated animals so much?
Aunt Josie was still thinking back on that one day — the image of a cursed wolf’s insides was stuck in her mind. The only thing that kept her distracted from it was thinking about Ann, but Josie remembered that night like it was yesterday.
She had been carrying a basket of apples down the road to the expecting mother of a girl. The mother had just learned that her husband had died in the war of the goblins. Josie entered the house. It was odd. She closed the door… It was also odd. The room was a circle with paintings of fish and water. There were photos of the mother and her husband. Josie went into the only room with a rectangular door frame, and there the mother was, lying in her bed.
“Trudy?” Josie called down to the low bed.
The woman woke up with a start. “Is he home?” She jumped out of bed. When she remembered that her late husband wasn’t coming home, her eyes swarmed with tears. She sat back down and cried, “How will I take care of my baby?” she sobbed.
Josie had an idea, “I can take care of her, Trudy!”
Trudy gasped. “Really? THANK YOU SO MUCH!”
The next week, out came Ann. Josie moved away from Trudy’s house and Trudy, just for Ann, so she could have a better life. That was all that Trudy wanted, so Josie did it.
CHAPTER TWO
Ann always wanted a friend, but the town was all the way on the other side of Wispy Hollows. Lova was what the town was called. The Mayor was called Mina. They called her that because her eyes sparkled like gems, but she was the most bossiest person in the WORLD! But her adviser, Jacob, was always wearing black. He had a hunchback; his hair was long, greasy, and black; and his skin was white like a ghost. The only thing that stood out were his bloodshot, red eyes. He was very sinister, but the only thing that paid off for that was that he opened an orphanage!… Next to a power plant… How about helping the poor people by giving all of them money?… But the money was stolen from people’s bank accounts… Welp, now you can understand that this guy was a BAD one. Everything that he tried to do was ruined. But the only way to get to the shops was by going into the town, so…
“PLEASE, can I go to the farmers’ market? I just want to see what is going on… and make some friends?” Ann’s voice broke. The tears dribbled down her face. Her brown eyes were attacked with emotion.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the table: “I said no! There are adults there that take kids, and, and, and, well… ” Josie was about to confess her deepest secret. Her voice broke. “Well, you are all I have left.” Josie ran over to Ann and held her tight. “I am keeping you safe.”
Suddenly, Ann understood why Aunt Josie was so strict all the time — she was making sure that Ann lived a happy and safe life. But Josie was flexible, so the next day, Aunt Josie took Ann to the market. But when they looked around, it was crowded with people.
“What is happening?” Josie asked a shopper right next to her.
“Well, today is the freedom parade,” he answered like it was obvious.
“Are the shops still open today?” Josie asked.
“Of course! They are in Westwind! Just take the train to Redmaw, then walk to the Map seller, and he will take it from there.”
Aunt Josie was so perplexed that she almost fainted. “Um, WHAT?”
Ann was also bewildered. What were all these towns?
“Here, let me take you to the train station, okay? Then you will get what I am talking about.”
Ann glared at him. How was she supposed to trust him if he didn’t tell them his name?
Aunt Josie was reading her mind. “What is your name?”
“Max. My name is Max.”
Ann gave him a dirty look. “Why didn’t you tell us?” she scowled at his weak figure.
“I do not trust all people…”
Of course, because Aunt Josie was Aunt Josie, she stared daggers at him and asked him for proof. While he was rustling around in his battered pocket, she slapped him across the face, and a trickle of blood went down his cheek. She pulled out a flask that she carried around. The things I live with, being the niece of a scientist, Ann thought.Josie put his blood in the flask, and it turned black. Ann rolled her eyes, and sighed. Not this again.
“Who are you?” Max asked.
But Josie muttered under her breath. “I’ve never seen this before…” She quickly smirked. “Okay, fine, you can take us to… what, Westmaw?”
Yes, thought Josie, the capital, where the Red Tavern is, where that mayor lives, where I can take the beacon to get home.
Little did Josie and Ann know, the market was not in Westmaw. It was in the stronghold.
So, they got on the train. The train conductor was going to stop at Redmaw last. Finally, after a long time, he announced, “Next stop, Redmaw.”
Even though Ann was expecting the voice to come, it never failed to make her jump. When she looked around, she saw Aunt Josie sleeping. When she shook Aunt Josie, she woke up with a start.
“Huh? Where am I?”
Meanwhile, in the backseat of the train, Max was very quiet reading a book. Aunt Josie nudged him to follow them, so by the time they were at the map seller, it was dusk, and the stars were as bright as the sun against the navy blue sky. Ann was immersed in her thoughts — the ones that bothered her the most, about her parents. Aunt Josie never told me about them, who are they? I call her my aunt, but I don’t even know if we are related. I mean, she is old enough to be my aunt… I have to find out. Oh! I remember Aunt Josie never talks about Grandma Izzy… Maybe I can talk to her?
Aunt Josie was fighting with Max for, like, the fifth time this hour.
“I told you, the map seller was closed! What do you have? Oh I know, a bad memory.” Max smirked. He enjoyed making people feel bad. That Josie woman only has a suspicion of who I am and what I am capable of…
Aunt Josie was still mad at him, and when she was mad, nothing good came after. “Listen here you toad sack. You just let me get some food, and then leave me and my family alone… okay?”
Toad sack! Max thought. She drew the line right there.
This was where Ann decided to speak up. “Stop, Aunt Josie! He is trying to help us and get us food.”
Ann did not even understand why they were even going with Max. Or why this was important to Ann or Aunt Josie, or why they were taking this so far. She just was getting sucked into the abyss of obedience.
***
Josie was determined to find out who Max was and what he wanted. While Max and Ann were sleeping, Josie went into the woods near the campsite. They were sleeping next to the road. They were at an old camping site and were renting a rickety cabin that swayed with the slightest movement and creaked with the smallest breeze. They were not allowed to use anything that had anything to do with fire because the cabin was made out of old oak wood and bark. It had been left behind a long time ago. Now, time to get to the exciting part…
CHAPTER THREE
When Josie was walking in the forest, she heard whispers. She turned her head. No one there. Pull yourself together, Josie. Who would be awake this late? She hesitated. Someone that’s not me. She went deeper into the woods. The second she went to the woods and saw the trees turn a darker shade of green, she saw a clearing. In the middle of it was a little gold coin. She picked it up, and it had the same markings of the coin from her mother’s room. When she saw it, some memories flashed in her mind, and then she heard howling in the wind. She rushed back to the rickety cabin where she found everyone lying and sleeping silently on the dusty ground.
When Ann woke up, the sun peeked into the window. Ann walked to the plain of daisies and saw Aunt Josie fighting with Max on the riverside, so she stepped closer to hear what they were saying. They were just talking about what to have for breakfast. When she inched closer, she saw a little glint in Aunt Josie’s pocket — a coin. When Ann went to touch it, Aunt Josie tried to slap her hand against Ann’s… But it was too late.
The wind whistled by my face as the waves trashed the ship around. From the bars of my cell and the small window I could see through, we seemed to be in the open sea — no one around to hear my cries for help. The ship jerked to the left, knocking me off the tiny chair that sat in the cell.
A male pirate rushed past. “Lower the sails!” he screeched as his fat, drunk body thumped up the stairs onto deck.
A blast rocked the ship around as the fire spread to my cell. The heat was overwhelming. My eyes stung, and my blood boiled as it rushed to my head. The room turned upside down and began to spin. My head felt hot, and a moan escaped my lips as another shot rang through the air, punching a hole in the cell two away from my own. Three pirates ran down and began to open my cell. I reached out a desperate hand as my legs began to shake, and my head collapsed on the ground. As the hole in the wall grew, my back fell through the opening. I had my last glare at the dark black sky before my body hit the water with a splash, and I saw the blurry images of the three men yelling from the hole, watching me, yelling commands. My mind pushed against the forever sleep, my body fought as I sank, the feeling of death crept over me, the warmth spread through my veins, my life was over, I was going back to him.
“Come,” his voice whispered in my head.
Chapter 2
The sand felt like thousands of needles poking through my skin. I pressed my eyes against the pain, counting the seconds until he came to torture me again. Seventy-two seconds passed till I realized that nobody was there, I was alone. Everything was pitch-black, apart from the blood red sand. My mind zoomed back to the blood dripping down the dark cave walls as my brother and sisters sat cramped up, trying to stay in the shadows, desperate to survive. My mind hurt from thinking of the past of a different girl. I was past that, and nothing was going to bring me back to it.
I knelt on my knee and stood, trying to get a better glimpse of my surroundings. I had nothing to do but walk forward and try to figure anything out. I picked up a rock to chuck it into the darkness, see if it would fall anywhere, but when I bent to pick up the rock, my hands slipped right through it. I tried again and again, desperate for anything. It made no sense as to why I couldn’t pick up a simple rock! The only reason I could think of was if I was a ghost, but that was not possible — I mean, how would that happen?
The memory of the sun’s rays shining through the water came back to me.
Chapter 3
But if I was dead, then how was I alive? It was not possible for me to be here. I would be in the underworld if I were dead. This wasn’t possible, unless some sort of magic had brought me here. Or maybe… this was the path to him. No, that was not possible! That could not be possible! I was NEVER going to go back to him, ever. I would rather die a billion painful deaths than go back to him. He had destroyed everything I loved, and if getting back at him was the last thing I did, then so be it!
I kicked the sand with frustration, thinking that the sand deserved it just for being there. The bits of sand flew in my eyes and mouth, and I spit it out bitterly. I was not going to stay here forever, and if I was going to stay here, I was going to do something! I started pacing around the whatever-it-was until I realized I had circled back to my footprints. I had been walking in circles for hours, with no end!
Chapter 4
Walking in circles with no end was going to do me no good. I was going to have to branch out if I was ever going to get out of this dungeon-dark place. I started walking forward cautiously, feeling where I was going before stepping, but after a little while, everything was the same. There was no point in being cautious.
I took a big step forward, then a couple others. It felt good to not be so cautious for a little while. I took another… I was sinking through open air! My arms flailed as I tried to scream, but no sound came out, and besides, if I wasn’t already dead, then surely I would be now. My hip hit the the ground and I rolled over in surprise and pain, grabbing my hip as I rolled down the hill. And splashed straight into a pond. I glared around as a body walked through me like I wasn’t there. The body — a girl — turned around. It was a younger me, the me from the day that my life changed, and the war struck.
It was a normal Saturday, and I was taking a walk around town running some errands.
“Hi Kiki,” said the baker. “By the way, a girl stopped in here and wanted to know where you live. She said her name was Maya.”
How funny, I thought. I don’t know anyone named Maya.
“She told me to tell you to meet her in front of the clocktower at 4:30,” the baker told me.
Now I was getting scared. But I was interested. So, I quickly ran to the clocktower. A girl with short curly brown hair and glasses waved at me.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” I replied.
The girl was wearing an all green uniform. Her hair was brushed. She looked very different from me. I was wearing jeans, a white t-shirt, and red Converse, and my black hair was pulled in a ponytail.
“Who are you?” I said.
“Why, I’m here to take you to the Witch’s Institute.”
“Wait, I’m a witch?! I cannot believe this!!”
“Yes, you’re a witch! Now let’s go!”
CHAPTER TWO
Maya got out her bike and told me to get on. She started to pedal, then she started to pedal super fast. Suddenly, we were flying — well, for three seconds until the bike started to drop. We landed in a pile of leaves.
“What just happened?’” I asked.
“My wand fell out of the bike basket. That’s what keeps us levitated. Help me look,” said Maya.
We rummaged around in the leaves for a few minutes.
“I found it!” Maya yelled. The wand was in a sharp thorny bush a few paces off the path. She ran to go get it and then stopped. “That’s poison ivy and I’m wearing a skirt! You need to go get it.”
“No, I can’t.”
“But you’re wearing pants,” Maya said.
“Fine, I’ll go get it!”
I ran as fast as I could, hoping I wouldn’t touch the poison ivy. I grabbed the wand and ran back. Maya patted me on the back, put the wand in the basket, told me to hop on!
CHAPTER THREE
We flew for about thirty minutes, and I tried not to look down. Finally, we arrived. The Witch Academy was big and made out of bricks. Maya led me in. She handed me my uniform, a map of the school, a wand, and a canvas bag to put everything in. Then she told me that I would pick out a cat tomorrow. A cat! I was so excited. I loved cats. Then, Maya showed me my room. Nice, I guess. There was a twin-sized bed, a closet, a small window, a navy blue quilt, a wobbly stool, and an old fashioned rug. Next, Maya gave me a tour of the school. I saw lots of other witches come from classes. Then, Maya and I sat down to eat dinner. Maya introduced me to her friend, Lily, and we became friends. After dinner, I went back to my room and got ready for bed. As I lay down to go to sleep, I realized that I was about to become a real witch.
CHAPTER FOUR
Next morning, I was woken by Maya, who told me it was time to go get a cat. So, I brushed my teeth and hair and put on my uniform. Maya led me downstairs to a room full of cats. There were black cats and small cats. Suddenly, a tabby cat kitten rubbed against my leg.
“I’ll take that one,” I said.
I picked the cat up and carried him upstairs. Next, I went to potions class, then witch history class, then basic spell class. Overall, I liked being a witch. I still missed my parents from time to time, but I had my cat and my friends, and the best part was that it had been almost a year at Witch Academy, and I will be going home for summer in a week.
“Then, the roof of the house flew off because of the tornado, and that’s how I got here. What is this place called?” I asked.
He replied, “Oh, this place is Champion Island, where there are masters of different games, and there are teams that are trying to beat them.”
I asked again, “Champion Island? Games? Masters? Teams? You are going way too quickly. I don’t even know your name.”
He yelled, “My name is Kappa Kappa! Kappa Kappa Kappa!!!”
I replied, “Thank you. Now, please chill.”
Kappa told me that if I went straight, I would find the team selection area. There were four teams that were all colored coded. There was blue, red, green, and, lastly, yellow. So, I went and joined the red team because they were in the lead, and I wanted to win. They said that the skate championship would be first. They said that I would have to compete to see if I was worth it. The only clue we had was a riddle: I can be active but also asleep. When I am asleep, I don’t bother anyone, but when I am active, I cause destruction. What am I?
I yelled, “I know, it’s a volcano! I think we should go to the volcano.”
Two hours later, we saw a huge volcano with lava pooling down, oozing all over the floor. Just around it was a huge field with rocky spikes on it. Giants were warming up with a rugby ball.
“Wow, wait, this isn’t skating. This is RUGBY!” I said.
“You’re here for the rugby championship,” said Kappa and the cats. “Ok, you go here.”
“Wait, what? Ugh, fine, ok, whaaat?!” I said. We were against the Giants. I didn’t sign up for this.
The game began. Wait, so I can’t pass to a teammate that’s in front of me. When the Giants came, they crashed into the floor, and it rumbled. I was feeling uneasy. I quickly realized there were two kinds of Giants: the kind that ran really slowly and the kind that ran really quickly. Ok, this one is slow, so let me juke this boy. Wait, he started gaining speed. Oh no, he’s fast! Just then, I stepped onsomething sharp, and I started sprinting. I looked down and saw a lightning bolt sticking out of my foot. Ow ow ow. Wait, I’m so fast! Wooooosh! Yay!
We won! Wait a minute, OMG! Yay, we got a scroll, let’s give it to Kappa boy. “Kappa boy, here’s a scroll,” I said.
He replied with: “Kappa kappa kappa kappa kappa.”
Then I ran away, and I went to the second game. It was the skateboarding championship. 3… 2… 1… GO!
Hmm… A tea kettle. Five thousand points. FIVE THOUSAND! Okay, I’ll keep on finding the tea kettles. Ten, thirty, one-hundred, a thousand. It broke the record, and now, I was the champion of skateboarding! Even though I won this one, there were many others to come. I thought this one was the easiest, but I didn’t think the others would be that easy. I was so excited. I was ready to get off this island.
One day on earth in the Cretaceous Period, Commander Rocky was deep in his work. “Hmmm, what should I do with the incoming dinosaurs?” he said.
“I don’t know, sir. Maybe we should try to tam — ”
“NO! NOT THAT STUPID IDEA OF GETTING ALONG WITH THE DINOSAURS!” commander Rocky yelled. “Get out of my office NOW!”
Mr. Rocky ran away in fear. Mr. Rocky was commander Rocky’s son. Mr. Rocky was named Mr. Rocky for some reason even though he was 9. So let’s just call him Rocky for now.
Rocky ran into the woods to get away from his dad. He went so deep into it that he got into a clearing. In the clearing was the very first dinosaur ever to be discovered. Its name was The Dinosaurus Alpha. It was carnivorous and very dangerous but its appearance was simple! It had Large jaws, a head like a Tyrannosaurus, and a simple body. It was like a bigger and deadlier Tyrannosaurus. Rocky was amazed. He reached to pet it but thought again, What if it bites me? But at the same time, he was thinking about the coming of a new age! A new age where dinosaurs and cavemen would bond with each other. He thought about it for a while and thought, I need to tame the alpha if I want peace!
But it would be very hard to tame the dinosaur since it was one of the deadliest dinosaurs ever to live. But he had to try! Rocky went back home and set to work. He started making a saddle for riding the alpha and made some straps so the saddle didn’t fly off. He finally got the confidence to go back to the Dinosaurus Alpha. He ran through the woods and came to the clearing where the alpha was still sleeping. Rocky got some fish from out of a pond near him and dumped all of it next to the dinosaur. He waited and the dinosaur woke up! It yawned so loudly that Rocky thought it was about to kill him!
The dinosaur stood up slowly. “AHHH!” Rocky yelled. The humongous dinosaur swallowed in one gulp. They stared at each other for a little while and the dinosaur gave Rocky a nice smile. I didn’t know dinosaurs could smile? Rocky thought.
Rocky kindly got him more fish and finally decided to name it! He named it “Jaws.” They were both very proud of the name. Somehow, Rocky heard a tiny voice in his head that said, “Thank you.”
Rocky yelped so hard that he may have broken his own eardrums. Then he realized that the dinosaur was trying to speak with him! He spoke back and somehow he understood! The alpha allowed Rocky to strap on the saddle and straps. Rocky got on and that’s where he started having the time of his life! Rocky started to ride the dinosaur and it felt so good! “YAHOOOOO!!!” screamed Rocky.
Rocky zoomed across the forest and explored places that he had never seen before! He saw great canyons, HUGE mountains, and beautiful oceans! Finally, he knew that he had work to do, so he said goodbye to Jaws and went back home. “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??” yelled the commander.
“Uhhh, chopping wood… ?” murmured Rocky.
“I KNOW WHEN YOU ARE HIDING SOMETHING FROM ME!” yelled Commander Rocky. “Please son, I am just trying to keep you safe,” he said softly.
I haven’t been what I pictured for as long as I lived. I always pictured myself talking to people and being perfect. “Miss Lily, are you able to tell us what the square root of 19 is?” Mr. Mad says. I tremble for a second, then my mind starts its work. I see stars and numbers, glances of memories. I go up to the board and write 4.35889894354. Mr. Mad sighs and says, “Very good, but would you please explain.” He knows I hate writing because I can’t speak, and when I try, my head hurts. I write sentences and sentences until I finish. He reads them aloud and says, “Very well, you may go back to your seat.”
After the heavy ring of the bell, everyone stands up and says, “Thank you, Mr. Mad.”
Then the other kids rush out at the speed of light. The day ends, and I walk home slowly. Suddenly, I see a girl. I glance again and she disappears. “You know that we, elves, don’t stare.” I turn around and see that girl again. I think in my mind,
What elves, crazy girl?
“Hey, that is so rude,” she says.
Wait, you can read my mind!?!? I think in my MIND!!
“Yes, all elves speak through their minds,” she sighs.
“Wait, wait, wait, what elf stuff?” I ask.
“I am here to take you to the world of time and life,” she explains.
“How do you read my mind? I want to think for myself,” I inquire.
“Just look in your brain and say, ‘Time is life.’ Also, my name is Theiry,” she says.
“Neat name! So where are we going in this so-called elf world?” I ask.
“Follow me, and just do what I say,” Theiry commands.
She takes out a shining necklace and says, “Life has turned, change is made.” A blasting blue light shines in front of us. Theiry takes my hand and squeezes it. I close my eyes and pray.
I suddenly see trees, fairies, flowers that change colors every minute, and elves. I thought they would have pointy ears, but most of them don’t. I see a bunch of elves. Then I see one that has leaves and vines for hair and tree bark for skin. There is one elf with pointy ears and strands of white hair. I look all around my hair. I don’t have the strands of white hair.
A bold voice says in my mind, “Who is this uhh, human?”
I flash behind me, but I don’t see anyone. I look around and see a gust of wind swarming around Theiry. Somehow, Theiry is talking to the wind. How crazy can this get? Then I hear something that I remember from when I was little. This song called Little Elf. It sings like an angel.
“Little elf, ride and lie
Take the time to stay in your prime
Little elf, hide and guide
Make a choice of left or right
Little elf, kind and fine
Take a chance to stay all the time
Little elf, ride and lie
Take the time to stay in your prime.”
The song strikes me hard in the gut. I follow the music and start singing it in my mind. Then, I feel a person place a hand over my shoulder. I turn and see Theiry. Amazed, she asks, “How do you know this song?”
“I heard it sung by someone,” I reply.
“Who are your parents?” Theiry questions me.
“My parents abandoned me as a child,” I snap back.
“Okay, c’mon, we need to get to my house,” Theiry says.
Theiry and I walk on a path and see a HUGE mansion. I see three people waiting for us. Theiry walks up to a man and whispers to him. The two other people are stunned. I slowly walk toward everyone. I hear, “We will try.” Then a blast of fire shoots at me. I somehow feel all of the power in my body turn into light, go to the fire, and turn it into ash. Everyone stares at me with amazement.
Then I hear, “All hail princess Lily.” Everyone drops to their knees. I think,
What the heck is going on??!!!!????
“What happened is that you are the princess who was stolen by humans. They stole you as a child because they wanted us to be even. We kinda killed their president. By accident!” Theiry explains.
“How do you know I am this ‘missing princess?’” I question her.
“Only the bloodline of rulers can be connected to the sunlight,” Theiry says.
“Your parents are the rulers of the eleven races,” a deep voice says.
“Lily, this is my dad, Trix,” Theiry says.
Trix is a tall, brown-haired elf.
“This is Jakknas, and this is Amar.” Theiry introduces me to the other two elves.
“Hello, this is the arrow and bow from the elven race.” Amar, a blond girl with long hair, slowly pulls out a silver arrow and a bow with trees and flowers.
“Thank you,” I answer.
“I am sad to say, but the king and queen were assassinated last night,” Trix says in despair.
“You will have to become the ruler of the elven kingdom.” Amar declares.
I take the bow and arrow and say confidently, “I am ready.”
“When the king and queen died, a poison gas went into the eleven worlds. Only someone from the royal bloodline can go to Nexis and go into the light. Because the poison gas started from the royals, it has to end by a royal death,” Theiry says.
“The assassin knew that; it was their plan all along,” Trix says and puts his fist in the air.
“I am going to go there,” I say with determination.
“You will have to go to the other side of the world,” Trix says, after calming down.
“I am going to Nexis, whatever happens,” I say bravely.
I walk for weeks and months until I get to Nexis. I find out Theiry, Amar, and Jakkanas followed me; that is just too annoying. Elves do not need to eat food and drink water for years, but I still do.
Months Later:
I am at the grounds of Nexis. The place where anyone who goes into the light fades into ash. I am looking to Theiry, to Amar, and to Jakkanas. I stare into the light. I am thinking, Should I die and save millions or live and kill millions? I look at my arrow and bow. I give them to Theiry and say, “Take this to my parents’ grave.” I think I am who I pictured. I am who I want to be. I step into the light, I feel a teardrop go down my cheek. I say, “Goodbye.” Then I slowly feel my body turn into ash. I am gone.
Epilogue:
What, where am I? I stand up and see broken cities and dust. I see gray clouds with a beast’s face.
“Zeke, Emma, Timea! Wake up! It’s time for breakfast,” Mom said.
“Ok, coming!” said the kids.
The kids ran downstairs.
“Honey, can you serve them breakfast? I have to go get dressed. Don’t stay in your PJs on the couch all day,” Mom said.
“Fine, but I’m only going to serve them this one time. I have to finish my football game,” Amon said.
He was slumped on the couch, surrounded by empty chip bags and beer bottles. His shirt was stained with boxed mac and cheese.
“Dad, why can’t we go in that room near your bathroom?” said Timea.
“Because I said so. I don’t look in your diary because you have privacy, so don’t look in my stuff either,” said Amon.
“Sorry, Dad,” said Timea.
“Whatever, it’s fine. Mom cooked you guys bacon and eggs. I’m going to sleep, so eat quickly,” Amon said.
“Ok,” said Timea. To her brother and sister, she added, “Guys, we should sneak in. I think Dad is hiding something from us.”
“But if we sneak in, Dad will catch us, and we will get in trouble, AND WE WILL PROBABLY GET GROUNDED, so yeah,” Zeke said.
“But what if Dad is going to do something bad in the room, and we have to stop it?” said Emma. “Dad goes in that room at night. I saw him once. Let’s get in right now since he’s sleeping.”
“Fine, but if we get caught, it’s not my fault,” said Zeke.
“Ok, but we have to figure out the code for the door to open it,” said Emma.
Chapter 2
“What if the passcode is about us? Like, two of us are ten, and one of us is twelve, so what if it is ten-twelve or twelve-ten?” said Zeke.
“Ok ten-twelve. Let’s try it,’’ said Emma.
“It unlocked. Holy moly! What is this place?” said Timea.
It was a small room with a big desk, a huge world map on the back wall, a big bin with bombs, crystals on the ceiling, and a big window with a hole.
“No way, bombs! What if they’re going to make the Earth split in half?” said Emma.
“Or EXPLODE!” said Zeke.
“We have to get out of here now,” said Timea.
“Oh no, the door is locked! What are we going to do?” said Emma.
“I also hear footsteps. HIDE!” said Zeke.
They ran and hid behind the cabinet. Footsteps echoed in the hall.
“It’s good to be back in the lab,” said Amon to himself. “It looks like someone has been here… Whatever. It doesn’t matter.”
“I have a plan to get out. When Dad’s head is turned, we can get out. He has the key on the door just in case he forgets the code, so we’re not locked in forever. LET’S DO THIS!” said Zeke.
They ran out.
“We made it,” said Emma.
“Guys, let’s meet here at 6:30 in the morning. Dad will be sleeping and Mom will be at work,” said Timea.
Chapter 3
Ring, ring, ring went the alarm at 6:30 in the kids’ bedroom.
“Guys, wake up. It’s 6:30. We need to go into Dad’s lab,” said Emma.
“Ugh, fine, but it’s way too early for this,” said Timea.
“Last one there is a rotten egg, but walk so Dad does not wake up,” said Zeke.
Zeke ran.
“I beat you all,’’ said Zeke.
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just get this over with,” said Timea.
“Timea, don’t say that, it’s rude,” said Emma.
“Yeah,” said Zeke.
“Sorry, I guess,” said Timea.
“Emma, put in the code for the door so we can get inside,” said Zeke.
Emma typed ten-twelve on the keypad. The door opened.
“Guys, I know this might sound crazy, but Zeke, you love tech and you’re good at it. Can you make Dad’s machine better at picking up the dirt and put it on whatever is under there, just in case it’s something bad? Then we can cover it up and get what’s under there. Emma, I can attach you to a string, and you can climb down to grab what is under there. If it’s something bad, Zeke will instruct you, and I will pull you up. Then, I will open the door a little bit, so I can see when Dad is coming or walking by if he wakes up,” said Timea.
“Got it,” said Zeke.
“I’m in,” Emma said.
“Ok, let’s do this,” said Timea.
Chapter 4
“All I have to do is reroute the system, update it, and code it,” Zeke said.
“Emma, are you ready to climb down? I’m also going to tie the rope to the pole over there just in case,” said Timea.
“Guys, the machine is ready. All we need is to grab the dirt and put it on top of what is under there, just in case,” said Zeke.
Emma climbed down.
“GUYS! I see a bomb with a timer that says we have 5 minutes,” said Emma.
“Is there a button to stop the timer?” said Zeke.
“No, there is not,” said Emma
“Guys, I brought my water bottle. Emma, I’m going to pull you up, and then I’m going to give you the bottle. Pour the water on the bomb. Zeke, put the extra dirt on top,” said Timea.
Chapter 5
“Guys, I just remembered something: those types of bombs can still explode when water is poured on them, but we still have to cover it up with dirt so Dad does not dig again and try to explode the Earth,” said Zeke.
“We have 2 minutes! I’m going to put the water on it now,” said Emma. She poured the water.
“I’m pulling you up right now,” said Timea.
“Ok,” said Emma.
Timea pulled Emma up.
“I’m going to put the dirt on it with the machine,” said Zeke. He put the dirt on it.
“According to my calculations, we have 30 seconds left,” said Zeke.
“We have to hide under that desk over there, just in case,” said Timea.
BOOM! The ground shook.
“WE DID IT!” said Emma.
Sirens blared, and the police came. “What happened here?” said Officer Oui Bucky.
The kids explained what happened.
“Where are your Dad and Mom?” said Officer Oui Bucky.
“Our mom is at work, and our dad is sleeping,” said Zeke.
Mom walked in through the door.
“What happened here?!” said Mom.
The police explained it to her.
“Oh my god! I’m so sorry, kids, that you had to go through this. We’re going to move to Paris,” said Mom.
The police walked over to arrest Amon.
“What-wha… happened? Why are you arresting me?” said Amon. “Your kids stopped your bomb, and you know why we’re arresting you,” said Officer Oui Bucky.
“Nooo, I didn’t do that!” said Amon.
“I’m sorry, Amon. You’re going to be sentenced to jail for life,” said Officer Oui Bucky.
1. Olivia and Cathie were hanging clothes up for customers when Maline came bursting out of breath saying, “Victory!”
Olivia asked, “What victory? Did you win the lottery?”
“Nope,” said Maline. “I won new customers!” Maline was a pretty nice person with black hair and always wore ripped clothes. She was beautiful. Olivia was the nicest person you could meet, with blonde hair and hazel eyes. Cathie (short for Caroline) was a neat girl with a southern accent. Thalia was a girl who was usually nice, but if you crossed her, you would live to regret it, with raven eyes that seemed to be able to pierce through you. And she always wore punk, showing clothes made of black leather.
It started to get really cold. It started to snow. Eventually, it snowed so much that Olivia, Maline, and Cathie were stuck!
2. It was Nate and Caden’s shift at the store. They were very surprised when the road was blocked, but that wasn’t enough to keep them from shoveling through it.
3. It seemed to be hard for Nate and Caden, but they were determined to shovel through. Then finally, they found the door! They opened the door and the bell jingled. “Oh, thank god!” said Maline, and hugged Nate and Caden. Olivia and Cathie were so relieved, they couldn’t speak. Everyone was freezing.
4. “Let’s talk about those customers,” said Olivia.
“Okay,” said Maline.
“Who are they and how much will they pay?” asked Cathie.
“They will pay a lot,” Maline said. “And they might be the royal family of England.”
5. Everyone in the room was speechless. “WHAT?!” asked and screamed everyone.
“Yes, yes. I know. Cool, right? But they aren’t. They are a billionaire family.”
6. “Yes! We will be the richest store ever!”
7. “Yes, we will. Now, we have to get ready for the family.”
“That’s today?!” asked Olivia.
8. “But the store’s being renovated!” Cathie said.
“Ahh! Seriously!”
“Ah, Mrs. Cullen, Mr. Cullen,” curtsied Maline.
9. ”Uhh, you’re here early — ”
“AHHH!”
Before she knew it, the billionaire wife was drenched with black paint — on her white dress, no less. Mrs. Cullen screamed with rage, loud enough so that the whole country could hear. She stomped out of the room like a child in a tantrum. Her baby boy started to cry. He was scared of the noise.
10. They had to go to court, guilty of ruining the billionaire’s favorite dress. They testified.
11. It was off with their heads, but they found a portal to Mt. Olympus. They fell through a really big hole.
12. They had only ever read about it in books. They never thought it was a real place, but it was. They thought they were dreaming, but they weren’t, not at all.
As she was falling down the big hole, Maline thought of her brother and her sister who she left behind.
“Oof,” said Ryan, Maline’s older brother.
“Ryan, you don’t have to fall over when I throw the football!” said Max, Maline’s sister, who was 9, but Ryan couldn’t catch it because it kept hitting him in the stomach, causing him to fall over. This was the last memory of her family Maline had before she moved to Queensland to start the store with her friends.
As Cathie was falling down the big hole, all she was thinking about was Sarah Ruth, her little sister. She had recently received a letter from her mother (who she was not particularly close with) saying that she disappeared last week. As you can probably imagine, Cathie was devastated to hear the news.
As Bella fell, she thought of the only family she had left, her idiot father. In some ways, she was glad to be away from him, but then she thought of the fact that he wouldn’t notice if a giant teacup started singing and dancing on the dining room table, so surely he wouldn’t notice if she were gone.
As Thalia was falling down the rabbit hole, she was thinking about her dog, Tulip. Tulip was 98 in dog years, pretty old. Thalia missed her dog. She had a strong instinct to scale the rabbit hole and run to her home and get Tulip. Sadly, this could not be done. She was also thinking about her sister, Rue. She also missed her brother, Thresh. They had lived in a small shack made out of wood. Thalia was an introvert who mostly kept to herself. Thalia wondered when the falling would end, and just like that, “BANG!” They hit the floor.
As I walked along the trail, I could hear the crunch of leaves and the singing of birds. I had always loved hiking and went hiking whenever I could. Snap! I tripped on a twig and fell face-forward into the leaf litter. Phew, at least the leaves saved me, I thought, and then I was jerked upward. I tried to scream for help, but no sound came out.
Suddenly, the pulling stopped and I was dangling in the air, about 400 feet above the ground. Then I was pulled sideways. I screamed, but again, no sound came out. After what seemed like 30 minutes of watching the ground speed below me, I felt myself plummet down toward the ground. This time I felt no urge to scream, only a strange urge to sing that got stronger as the ground grew nearer. 100 feet from the ground now, I saw a clearing dotted with trampolines. 75 feet and I could see the shapes of people jumping up and down on the trampolines. 50 feet, and I could hear singing. Finally, there were only 5 feet between me and the floor, and I stopped falling. I felt something around my waist loosen, and I landed on the ground with a thud.
I stood up, but then collapsed to the ground again as something gained control of me. In a panic, I fought at it, trying to shove it out of my mind, but nothing worked. I tried to move, but I couldn’t. A rasping voice in my head said, Ahhh welcome, Lily. Another puppet for my collection. I could imagine the voice smirking as the presence controlling me picked my body up and walked me to the nearest trampoline. The urge to sing was as strong as ever, along with a new urge to bounce on the trampoline. I was pushed by an invisible force onto the trampoline, and started to sing in time with all the other people, in the same weird, slurred voice.
Chapter 2
I could still think. All I could do was think. My mouth moved on its own. Words of all languages spilled out of my mouth and added to the swirling torrent of sound. I was tired, hungry, and thirsty, but no matter how hard I tried to gain control of myself, I couldn’t do anything. I went on like this in an endless loop, tracking the days and nights and growing hungrier and thirstier as the days wore on. Every 2 days, water was delivered by the same invisible force that had brought me here. After 5 days, everyone stopped again.
Suddenly, all noise stopped as the rasping voice entered my mind again. Well I can’t let you die can I? I know most of you have done this before, but my new recruits need to know the rules.
What rules? I thought, and as if reading my mind, the rasping voice continued.
The rules are to stay in place until your food is delivered, AND EAT ALL OF IT AND NO MORE!!! If you don’t follow these rules then I will give you something disgusting, and you will have to eat it all.
A large picnic blanket flew down from the sky, laden with large bowls of slightly cold and overcooked vegetable stew. It looked delicious after 5 days with no food, and staggering with fatigue, I grabbed the bowl nearest to me. There was a spoon lying next to it, and I picked it up as well. I thought back to the safety lessons I had learned as a child and remembered that after not having food for a long time, you could only eat small bites of food at a time. As much as I wanted to gulp down the food, I forced myself to eat slowly. I saw some people shoveling food into their mouths as fast as they could — the newer people, I realized, the ones that came here after me. They obviously didn’t know that they needed to slow down. I wished I could tell them, but I couldn’t talk. After the meal was finished, everyone’s minds were taken over again, forcing everyone’s bodies back onto the trampolines, to begin the endless loop again.
Chapter 3
The days wore on. I could see the fatigue that I felt reflected on people’s faces as we jumped and sang without stopping. Yet they couldn’t do anything about it, and neither could I.
Days passed, and the world started going hazy. I lost track of the days. The only thing that kept me from collapsing was the need to obey the rasping voice. New people came, and the park expanded to accommodate them, but nobody left. I had seen people try to escape, but the bond was always too strong. I could see the hiking trails that wound around the trampoline park, and I could see the people walking along them that never even showed the slightest sign of noticing the trampoline park.
More days passed as I watched the trickle of people, and then one day, a tall lady with a long dress and some shiny things poking out of her back — were those wings?! — walked up. Nobody on the trail noticed… Wait a second, I thought, and I realized that she more like flew up to the fence of the trampoline park. A fairy! I realized. A real fairy!I thought they were only mythical creatures!
We are mythical creatures, said a calm, gentle voice in my head. I knew immediately that this voice belonged to the fairy, because it was so unlike the rasping voice that I heard so often.
Wait a second, I thought. Can you mindread? Can you see my thoughts?
Yes, I can, replied the fairy.
Can you help me get out of here? I thought at her, and I saw her lips curve into a small smile.
Remember, you still have your imagination. You always will. It is the key, she said.
What is your name? I thought.
I am Annika, she said, right before disintegrating into a puff of rainbow sparkles.
Chapter 4
I was always thinking of Annika’s words now. They were stuck in my head, and I could hear them clearly through the eerie singing. They repeated in my head over and over again.
Remember, you still have your imagination. You always will. It is the key.
Key to what? My escape? How could imagination be the key? The thoughts that followed were always pessimistic. I didn’t know what to do, and so I thought about it. It seemed familiar…. Oh! It’s that riddle that goes: imagine you are in a box, there is nothing around you, and the box is steel. How do you get out? And the answer is stop imagining! I guess I can try to imagine myself out of here.
I imagined as hard as I could, thinking of the hiking trail I had been on, thinking of home. Nothing. I nearly gave up on myself when another idea struck me. Songs have meaning right? So maybe I can imagine I understand the language, and I will find a way out. I tried that. I listened closely to the music, thinking, I know this language, over and over again in my mind. Slowly the words started to gain some meaning, and finally I could understand the words clearly. The song went like this: Remember to hold on to hope, It will help you cope with dangers, use hope to save yourself…
Well, I haven’t been doing much but giving up on hope, I thought, but if it will save me, I will not give up hope.
Chapter 5
I wasn’t thinking of anything but how I would get home. I was very hopeful and optimistic about the future. I knew I would get home if I was hopeful. Suddenly, just like the day when I got dropped into this miserable place, I got jerked upward, but there was no invisible force doing this. There was a golden harness latched around my waist, and it seemed to be pulling the dark creature that had controlled me for so long outside of my mind. I realized I could speak again, and I shouted down to the people below, “Don’t give up! Be hopeful!” They seemed to hear me because they tilted their heads up into the sky to look at me. I repeated my message until the people became no more than specks in the distance. I grinned to myself. I was on my way home.
Moonlight streamed through the open curtains and spilled into the room, penetrating its darkness and washing it with silver. The night had grown warmer in the past couple of hours, and the window was thrown wide open in an attempt to draw any kind of breeze in, but there was none. The scent of the roses from the courtyard below was heavy and sweet, drifting up from the gardens to sit sluggishly in the room.
Emily was sitting on her bed with her pajamas backward, and the cotton was sticking onto her because of the heat. She was wide awake, though this had less to do with the heat and more to do with her anxiety. In just a couple more hours, her grandmother was going to wake her up. The problem wasn’t that she needed more sleep, but that her hair had been magically grown by fairies and she couldn’t cut it off.
You see, fairies aren’t like you would think. Yes, some fairies are cool, but most fairies are evil to the bone. You see, unlike other people, Emily has the ability to see magical creatures. Regular, normal people see beetles for the bad fairies and butterflies for the good fairies.
For months, the fairies have been bothering Emily to no end. At one point, they had found her secret diary which included her notes about fairies, most of which were mean, so it was no surprise when fairies had her hair grow this long. She looked like Rapunzel, there was no way her grandmother wouldn’t notice. Just last night her hair was only up to her shoulders, now it was dragging along the floor! If her grandmother saw her hair, she would cut it off and then discover that the hair couldn’t be cut off, which would later make her grandmother suspicious. No, she couldn’t go to eat breakfast this morning, NO WAY.
“I’ll just have to read my diary,” she thought, “Then I’ll be distracted.” So she did and found an interesting piece of information that she hadn’t written:
“Your hair has grown as a punishment for the insults you wrote in this diary, but we can give you a clue as to what you need to cut off your hair. First, you must find something that is sharp, a type of metal that rhymes with peel.”
This was easy, it was obviously steel. There probably wasn’t another metal that rhymes with peel. But did her grandmother even own a knife? Maybe for cooking, but surely none of them were steel. There might be a steel knife in the kitchens where they served the cafe, but going to the cafe would mean getting out of her room. This was hopeless.
Under the bed she saw something shiny! She looked and found a steel knife. Emily immediately started chopping off her hair. It was uneven, but she could always fix it later. She tied it into a ponytail so it wouldn’t seem so uneven.
She got out of her room and, “Whoosh!” She wasn’t in her room anymore. There were butterflies and fairies and glitter everywhere! Emily was in the realm of fairies.
It was just another snowy morning in Minnesota. Anna woke up. She immediately turned on the radio. “The schools that have snow days today are West Bridge school, Martin Luther King School of fine art, Lakeside Middle school, Riverview Middle school, and Oakland Elementary school! “
“Yes!” Anna screamed.
“Darling, can you go to the library to fetch the three books that I ordered the other day?” her mom asked.
“Can I do it later in the afternoon?” Anna asked.
“Oh fine, but I need them for tomorrow,” her mom said.
Anna immediately pulled out her iPad and started to watch a movie. It was about a monkey trying to escape the jungle.
Later, it was lunchtime and her dad made a yummy PB & J sandwich. “Are you going to get the books?” her mom asked.
“Yeah, I will now.” She put on her puffiest sweater, thickest pants, longest shirt, warmest scarf, coziest sweater, and best snow boots. She opened up the door just a bit and she felt like her entire body was an ice cube. “It is freezing and I barely even put my foot outside. I think that I will go later before it closes and when it is less cold,” she said. She took off all of her thick and puffy layers and went back to her bedroom.
“Mom, what are the names of the books you ordered?” Anna asked.
“Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk, A Trip to the Moon, and uh…. I think it was called Beware. “ Right after she said the word beware, the door creaked open on its own.
“Mom! I have heard of this. It used to be the diary of a powerful king that ruled the world. When he passed away, his soul was kept inside the book. People say that the book is cursed.”
Anna heard it from lots of people and they also said that when the king comes from the dead, he will seek revenge on whomever kept his ancient diary. “You really believe that, honey? People lie… a lot. Let me show you. BEWARE. Did anything happen?” Nothing happened. A moment later, the window shattered into pieces, though nothing broke it, it just happened on its own.
“Now do you believe me?” Anna asked her mom.
“Yeah, fine,” she said with a worried look on her face.
Chapter 2:Finding of the magical orb of Shaddowtown
After about an hour and a half, it stopped snowing and Anna went to the library to get the three books. Right when she was about to pick up the book, she thought out loud, “Maybe before the king died, he cursed the book so whoever touched it would be cursed.” She quickly ran to the CVS store and bought protective gloves. Then, she ran back to the library and picked up the books with the gloves. She decided to read the book to see if there was any way she could return it to where the king was buried. Maybe there was some kind of portal to take her there. She opened the book to a random page and kept on flipping through it until she reached a page that said The magical Orb of Shaddowtown. It said that you need to say a special secret code to get to the magical world of Shadowtown, a place so frightening, people die from being there. It gave Anna the shivers. Only the most powerful leaders are buried there. “Maybe he isn’t who people think he is. Maybe he is still alive. All I have to do is find the orb, find the code, talk to the king, make him decurse this book, and it won’t be cursed again!” She said it so casually, like she has dealt with this before. She tried looking for clues in the book as to where the orb must be. It did say one clue. “Your passcode is in plain sight, mix up the letters to make them right.” The day was almost over and all Anna could think about was the clue. She was upset that she used her time and couldn’t find anything. She went to bed on a bad note.
She woke up the next morning and had school again. Right when she was brushing her teeth, she understood the riddle. In every diary, you write your name. Maybe it is spelled backwards! She opened the book and on it was a little tag that said XAM GNIK. She spelled it backwards and it spelled King Max. That was the password! Now, all she needed to do was to find the orb. It could be anywhere! Maybe there was a hint inside the book for the orb just like the hint for the passcode.
Chapter 3:A trip to Shaddowtown
Anna was looking for more clues in the book, but she didn’t find anything that was much help. Finally, after a lot of searching, Anna found a clue. It said, “The place that has helped you all this time, is the place that will solve what you call a crime. “ Anna was confused. “The place that has helped you all this time. “ Anna paused for a while until she thought…
The library! Of course! The library was what helped Anna find the book, so that was also the place that was hiding the orb. “That explains why the library is called King Maxwell library.” Anna rushed to the library. Anna got reminded of the movies she had watched before, like the ones that had books that acted as levers that opened some kind of passageway. Maybe that “lever” was a book about King Max’s history. Anna looked in the history section, and without realizing, she bumped into the wall and the wall flipped completely. I think that she found the secret room! In the middle of the big room was a crystal orb. Anna was about to take a step when, “Wait! Maybe this room is filled with booby traps?” She picked up a stone that she found on the floor and threw it on the floor. It immediately burned into ashes. There was a sturdy old vine that Anna could use as a rope to get across the floor. She got the orb and left home.
She was confused on how to get back, if there even was a way back, so she had to keep the orb until she could find out how to use it and get to Shaddowtown. Then she would return it because she didn’t want to look suspicious. She reviewed the page in the book and held the orb in her hand. On the side was a button. She pressed it and the orb started speaking. “Hello. What is the passcode?” the device asked.
“King Max,“ Anna said. Suddenly, the orb, a sphere kind of shape, flattened out and created a portal. “Orb, how will I come back home?” Anna asked.
“All you have to say is: Portal, take me home. Then you will jump inside it and fall in your bedroom. ” Anna nodded her head. Anna remembered to take the book with her. She was not sure she would find him. Would he actually be dead? Would he be hiding in his casket? Would he be living on the streets? Were there even streets in Shaddowtown? “I promise, you will be alright,“ the orb said.
Anna hopped inside the portal and came to the scariest place she had ever been in her entire life. The sky was black and everything she could see was grey. There was not a single human being on the street except her. There was a dust ball rolling beside her left leg. It was not like she imagined. There were streets like she thought there would be. She was looking for the Shaddowtown cemetery to find King Max.
Finally, she gave up and sat down under a tree. Droplets of water came down her cheeks. “First time at Shaddowtown” a voice said in the shadows.
“Who said that?“ Anna asked, frightened.
“Look behind you.“ the voice said. Anna turned around and saw that she was talking to a tree. She opened the book to a page titled The creatures of Shaddowtown. It said that there were secretive squirrels that live in the mysterious shadow-filled forest. There were also terrifying talking shadow trees, the one that Anna was talking to. There were also the mysterious shadow monkeys living in the jumpy joyless jungle. “Most of my kind are terrifying. It’s in the name, but you, little girl, sat on the right tree.” the tree said in a nice voice. “What brings you here?” the tree asked.
“Well I am trying to find King Max to decurse this book. I want to safely restore this in the library,” Anna said.
“You are in grave danger, little girl,” the tree said. “He is still alive, but 10 times more powerful. He can curse you with any possible spell. Good thing you are wearing gloves,“ the tree said. “The cemetery is on Shadow stone drive, which is passed that dumpster and to the next left. You’ll see the cemetery on the right,” the tree said. “Good luck. Know that whenever you need help, find the tree that has a big brown splotch of bark on the bottom roots. We trees can look invisible, like shadows. So if someone is after you, just hug me and we’ll both turn invisible,” he said.
Chapter 4: The Cemetery on Shadow Stone Drive
Anna walked past the dumpster, turned left, and then made a right and saw a sign that said Shadow stone cemetery. She walked straight on the path down the middle and found the stone that said King Maxwell the 1st. She found a shovel on the ground. She picked it up and dug for a while until she made a hole. She peeked her head and saw King Max, all alone, sitting by himself on a stool he put for decoration because he was going to spend his entire life there, so he needed to be comfortable. “Um, excuse me? King Max?” Anna said.
“Who has entered my home? I mean uh… I’m dead,“ King Max said.
“I know that you’re not dead. I am Anna and got here through the magical orb of Shaddowtown. I found the passageway in the library, and I have our diary called Beware. Can you please decurse it or something? We humans don’t deserve to be cursed just because you are a bad person,” Anna said.
“That’s not what happened. I used to be a ruler, a powerful ruler, and everyone loved me. Everybody promised that they would care for me forever and ever. Until one day a new ruler came and everyone betrayed me. They broke my promise. Anyway, so the other ruler cursed my diary. He meant it to curse me, but when I lost it, it got free to the world so others could be cursed and everyone blamed me. The ruler was called Richard Dixeon.”
“He is that suspicious guy that owns the library near my house! I knew something was fishy about him.,“ Anna said.
“I have been trying all my life to get out of Shaddowtown, but I am not as powerful as people say I am,” King Max said.
“I have a portal that can take us both out of here. Only one one condition. Can you decurse this book?” Anna said.
“I wish I could, but I don’t know the spell. Though I do know someone who does. His name is Sorcerer Goblin. He owns what people think is a flower shop, but is secretly his potion lab. It is on Maple drive,“ he said.
“Hey, I know that flower shop! It is two minutes away from my house. If you want, I can take you with me home and get the right potions do decurse this book, and while we’re at it, we can turn Richard Dixeon into a frog. That guy deserves to be taught a lesson,” Anna said. “Why did he want to curse you anyways?” Anna was interested in the topic.
“He didn’t want me to be a better ruler,” King Max said.
“If we want to go home, we need to dress you up in some better looking clothes, hundreds of humans will be seeing you. You can’t go looking like a dumpster threw up on you, no offense. Also, this is winter time, in Minnesota. You better be wearing your fluffiest outfit. Are there any clothing shops? Do you get everything here free because there are no humans around?” Anna asked.
“Pretty much,“ King Max said. He climbed out of his “home“ and they were off to Shadow Up my Outfit. When they got there, there were lots of options. Anna pulled out a fluffy blue shirt, Khaki long pants, a snow coat, boots, and earmuffs. “I didn’t know that Shaddowtown had a good sense of style,” Anna said.
“Now where is the portal?” Max asked.
“Um, all I have to say is, uh…. portal…. uh… “ Anna totally forgot what to say!
It had now been two whole hours and Anna was worried. “I bet that Mom and Dad are worried sick!” She was crying because she didn’t know what to do. She and King Max walked a while. Anna spotted a tree that had a brown splotch of bark on its roots. Anna hugged the tree. “Is someone chasing you?” the tree asked.
“Nope, I just forgot how to get home through the portal. I forgot what to say to make it appear,” Anna said softly.
“Portal, take me home,” the tree said.
“That’s right! How do you know?” Anna asked.
“I once met a human girl about 11 years old, like your age, and we were the best of friends, until she left Shaddowtown forever without telling me. Right before I never saw her again, I heard her saying, “Portal, take me home,’ and since I still think about her, I remembered what she said,” the tree said.
“Portal, take me home,” Anna said. The portal appeared. King Max and Anna hopped inside.
Chapter 5: A trip to the Human World
Anna and King Max landed in Anna’s bedroom with a loud thump. “Anna, is everything alright in there?” Ana heard her mom’s voice.
“Yep, my big stack of books just fell.” Anna felt her stomach flip when she lied to her mom. “I will open the window, you will go to the front door, and knock, of course. Tell my parents that you are my theater teacher and talk to my parents about how good a student I am. Then you are going to wait outside, I will tell my parents that I am going for a long walk and then we will go to meet the Sorcerer Goblin.” Anna chuckled a bit because of his name. After the plan worked, Anna and King Max walked to the flower shop.
“Sorcerer Goblin,” King Max said.
“Who comes to seek my secret?” a voice said.
“Your old pal, King Max, and a friend,” King Max said.
“What would you like today? Roses, daisies, lilacs, lavender, buttercups?” Goblin said.
“Um well, we were looking for potions,” Anna said.
“What kind of potion? I have a different section for that,” Goblin said.
“A decursing spell. A cursed diary. Can you decurse it?” King Max asked.
“Yes, of course, follow me,” Goblin said. He flipped the wall, sort of like the secret passage that helped Anna find the orb. There were thousands upon thousands upon thousands of potions, with crazy names like bulbrin, clantese, sordum, cansue, fulprit, and more funny names like that. After a while, Goblin found two potions and mixed them together (cansue, and prentalid). He put a droplet of the potion on the diary and it wasn’t cursed!
“Thank you so much, Sorcerer Goblin!” Anna said.
“Can we ask you for one more thing? Can you turn someone into a frog? ” they asked Sorcerer Goblin.
“Sure! Can you please get me flour, eggs, baking cocoa, milk, sugar, salt, a spoon, a bowl, cansue, artene, and sordum.” One minute later, they had everything they needed.
“Why all of this baking stuff?” Anna asked in a surprised voice.
“Well, do you think that this person will just agree to be turned into a frog? I will put the spell inside the brownie so he will want to eat it. He might think it would be suspicious, so we need to show them that we can eat them too. One will have a potion inside and one will not.”
Finally, the brownies were done. They all walked to the library. Goblin and King Max were hiding outside because they looked suspicious. (Don’t worry, Goblin isn’t an actual Goblin.) Anna walked in and said to Richard
“Hey, I really enjoy reading the books from this library, and I wanted to thank you for all of your hard work so I baked brownies for you. Mmm,” she said while taking a bite of the brownie labeled not potioned, safe to eat. Richard suddenly turned into a frog.
“And that is revenge for cursing my friend’s diary, King Max.” Anna was holding Richard. She threw him onto a tree five minutes away from the library. Anna headed back to the library to return the orb and Beware. She also stuck a sign on Richard’s desk that said: On vacation forever. Never coming back! 🙂
“Now that this adventure has come to an end, I think that we should celebrate. Milkshakes on me,” Anna said. The milkshakes tasted like victory.
But what they didn’t realize was that they were on an enemy list of a very grumpy frog that was waiting for his revenge…
Tails be lost is about a water dragon that has to go across a spongeing desert and raid a village. Will he succeed? Stay tuned to find out! Dun Dun Dunn! It’s for the readers that read adventure. It’s a story where you read the back cover so yeah you’re gonna have to read it, and if you already read it then read it again, so that if you missed anything then that’s why read it again.
NARRATOR:
Once upon a time in the 1500s, there is Gus. Gus is a water dragon, and there are other dragons, but there’s also the sunlight god, Tarima. If you see him in your village, then you’re a goner. It’s like playing with the Grim Reaper. Get a mile away from him. And he wants to feed on people, but there is a desert that separates him and other water and fire dragons so he will have to leave his cozy home and set off. But first, he would first have to pack. He will have to gather lots of water and more water, because of course water dragons need water, that’s why he needs it, DUH! He needs food. He has some leftovers after a day’s business lunch. He last did a hunt like this a month ago. So, Gus sets off. Gus is so hot and sweaty from a minute of walking in the desert that he is hopeless, but he sees an illusion of the water, an illusion, but he doesn’t know that, so he goes on and on trying to chase the water that is endless and hopeless. He knows that he can’t last long, but he decides to push on. Then he sees the city. It will be spectacular if a far traveler Gus is just bored because he has seen it before, but the difficulty is that the dragon has a weak spot and it is the tail.
GUS:
How the humans got this piece of information, I don`t know, but there are these the first time I encountered the holos were when I was 25. I was only just a child. Just so you know, a dragon lives up to 700 years, so anyways, it was my first time hunting a village. My dad got struck down by the holos. Holos are people that have a giant axe and they would patrol a block. Every holo has a block to guard, and they cut off the dragon’s tail.
NARRATOR:
Gus grabbed a hold of some peasants and a knight. On some nights, rarely, he would eat a king’s bodyguard. The knights are expensive tastes, but they try to put up a fight but Gus thought, I’m just too good and then I can trade it to the dragon market. Oh yeah, I’ll tell you all about that in a second. A big meal is a catapult or a siege tower, but he usually gets hobos and other sorts. Gus stays away from old ladies and grandpas. There is a market where dragons sell humans for dricki. Dricki are the coins that dragons use. And the nearest ones are two miles away. Take it away, narrator! Narrator? Narrator, we need you to come on. We’re waiting for you.
NARRATOR:
Okay. Fine, ahem, ahem. So, Gus had a problem. He was not able to cross the desert, so Gus had searched and searched but he had no idea how to cross it. He was about to give up when he spotted something. It was a catapult. Gus had an idea to go back home. First he would gather the fishing nets and wrap it around his feet. It was no hard task to take the people, because the dragon’s feet are the strongest bones in the dragon’s body.
GUS:
Aahhhhhhhhhh! I want it back, wait a minute that’s actually true, give it! Hey! Ripp!
NARRATOR:
Sorry readers, Gus is having a tantrum. Technical difficulties. Beep!
GUS:
Wahhhhhhhhhhh! I want it back!
NARRATOR:
Well, whatever, okay.
WRITER:
Can you please stop saying stuff, we only have like two pages left and I’m not going to waste it on you two quarreling! Okay!
BOTH:
Fine!
NARRATOR:
The grill was smoking. Gus invited some friends to his home with a gurg. A gurg is a phone. That is how Bill Gates invented the iPhone. His friends came over and had a great meal. Also, side note, you hear the booms of lightning? It’s actually the dragons bowling, and you know how the air shakes stuff, it’s the rain cloud, yeah, the dragons bowl loudly and fast. The end!
Epilogue
NARRATOR:
Two weeks later, when Gus was walking to the village to get some people, he saw something. He stepped closer to it and it was Tarima, the king of all dragons, otherwise known as the sunlight god. If you see him in your village, then you’re a goner. It’s like playing with the Grim Reaper. Even a mile away from him will do you no good. Once he saved a present life for a secret, and that secret is that the god of sunlight is a human that’s in a robotic costume.
“Hello, hello, hello, Beatrizz,” Bo said, strutting up to his future wife. “Wassup, yo?” These were the good ol’ days when Botros was a decent (mind you, I said decent, not good) person.
“Hi,” said Beatrizz. Suddenly the room went into slow-mo. She gazed at him lovingly.
“Beatrizz, Beatrizz. ‘Tis I, Botros!” Bo’s motto was “go big or go home.”
“Do I know you, ‘cause it feels like I do,” said Beatrizz with love in the air.
“Oh, Beatrizz. We were dating for a while,” Bo said, slightly offended.
“We were? I wasn’t aware,” Beatrizz responded, “Why did we break up again?”
“Excuse me! You don’t remember dating this package of handsomeness, a splash of kindness, and, uh… ” Bo opened and closed his mouth several times. “What’s another good thing about me? Um, totally unfaithful package. . . you get the memo.”
“What memo? I don’t even have a phone,” Beatrizz said confused.
“The . . . You know what, forget it. All I want to say is,” Bo draped an arm around Beatrizz’s shoulders. “I still looooooooove you.”
“And you know what?” Beatrizz whispered. Then, suddenly a memory broke free. It was weak like it had been tortured. “I love you too.”
“You do?” Bo asked in his crisped pirate-like accent (that was not real, he just did it to impress the ladies). Bo wriggled his eyebrows, leaving one raised. “You do!”
“Yes,” Beatrizz said, all the while stealing the spyglass and his sword made of shadows. She knew how to use the sword and immediately teleported away to her brother’s door and dropped the spyglass. And she was back in a blink. Bo, being the idiot that he was, did not even realize that his soon-to-be-wife was gone, sword, and spyglass, because he was testing his breath.
“Uh . . . Bee? Why are you holding my sword? Oh, nevermind.” Bo knelt one knee. “Oh, Beatrizz… what’s your last name? Oh whatever. Oh, Bee, will you be my wife?”
“Uhhhhh… don’t you think it’s a little early for that?” And as soon as she said that, she dropped his sword and bolted.
“Leaving so soon?” Bo asked. “But you did not even take the… wait, I don’t have a ring… whatever.” Bo bolted after her, and felt in his pockets. If Beatrizz said not to be his wife, she would burn. But he had no spyglass. “You stole it!!” he bellowed. He grabbed the sword from the ground and chucked it at Beatrizz. It hit perfectly in her chest, and snapped her spine in half. “MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!” Bo laughed evilly.
Three Years Later
“Heeeeeey,” Botros said.
“Hi,” Ablin said, exasperated.
“I need something,” Bo said, sinisterly. “Something you have. Something that was mine.”
“That is it,” replied Ablin.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know. You do. And your sister stole it. From me.”
“You always want something different each time so it is hard to keep track. Plus, my sister is none of my concern,” Ablin said like he had already so many times.
“She’s dead. I killed her,” Botros declared, an evil glint in his eye. “And now, give me what she stole. Every time I ask for it, your stupid little brain thinks that it’s somthing different. But no. It’s the same thing. It’s mine.” Bo stalked closer to Ablin. “Give it to me.”
“Is it that ring? Because if it is I threw it into a lake, and I want your television. So give it,” Ablin responded, brandishing his obsidian sword.
“Oh, no. Not the ring,” Bo said, unsheathing his sword made of darkness, with an emerald encrusted hilt. “That silly engagement ring that I gave to your sister. She declined. We all saw how that went down for her.”
“Well, if whatever you really want is in the bag, just reach in it and grab it,” said Ablin with a mischievous smile that was hidden with years of practice.
“Well, well, well.” Bo slashed the bag open. There inside was a jewel encrusted spyglass. The spyglass. “What do we have here?” He smiled wickedly, and held it to the light. He waited until the grass caught on fire. Then he cackled, and teleported away using his sword.
“Ha ha ha, my plan worked,” Ablin muttered as he drew back a curtain. He was actually in Bo’s home and he used the old spyglass trick. He got out of there as fast as he could and grabbed the TV on the way out.
If there was such a thing as the most lonely yet serene moment, this would be it. The glowing signs of stores and restaurants, the wind flowing through her curly, blonde hair, the memories of what was once a bustling city. How could so much destruction occur in so little time? The only answer lies in a newspaper that someone had left on the ground — an unidentified terrestrial being with the power to wipe out approximately 90,000 people. A being of so much size and strength, even the government’s most powerful resources couldn’t defeat it. This being was officially classified as “???” — creative. Although, that didn’t end up mattering as the whole city was wiped out. Only one human was left in this desolate place. A human who, at the time, was unconscious in a coma, and had been for years.
Her name was Elena. But her name didn’t really matter, as there was no longer anybody to refer to her by it. Starvation wasn’t an issue, as there were grocery stores and markets of enough food to last over a lifetime. If you were in this girl’s position, there would be multiple options for what she would do first. Some would say to hunt, to look for water, to look for shelter. Elena, however, did none of this. Food and water was accessible to her, and she could easily go into any of the skyscrapers or apartment buildings that were once full of residents. As she walked around, she held onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, there was at least one other human left. As Elena ran frantically around the city, she came to the harsh realization that what used to be her city, her home, was crumbling down to nothing at all. And in the future, if that even existed, some wealthy human would rebuild the city, and not a single soul would recall what used to be. Or possibly it would never be rebuilt, left to hide away in the dust. Only time would tell.
Over months of living in the city’s poor conditions, Elena grew used to the environment. However, the isolation was making a gradual impact on her sanity. She heard whispers behind her as she left each room and saw shadows behind her whenever she looked in the mirror. In terms of shelter, she had chosen to live in what used to be someone’s small house, a fair distance from the other buildings in the city. The house was old, and not in great condition. But it held the one thing Elena had left: her hope. So far, the first room- the kitchen- was definitely old. Dust bunnies hid under the furniture, moss grew in the corners, and yet, she felt drawn to this house. Possibly, it was because, although she was all by herself, her surroundings kept Elena company. The night sky, each star holding hope and determination, the plants, keeping their heads up despite the times, the dusty stacks of books on the floor, every one containing a story of its own, waiting to be unraveled.
As she walked around the house, Elena found another room. When she pushed the wooden door open, it produced a loud creak. Elena turned the light on, and she saw that inside was a washing machine. However, the machine held unwashed clothes, so she scooped up the damp clothes and hung them on the drying rack. She let out a weary breath as she left the room, slamming the door behind her. As a furious cloud of dust rose from the ground, Elena hurried away, searching for a washroom of some kind. Elena heard the sound of a door opening, followed by a voice: I’m home! But after rushing to the main door, she found that nobody was there. Had the voice really been in her head? It sounded too realistic to be merely a product of imagination. Elena shrugged it off as she came across another door. She then spotted one ant, then another, before realizing each ant was following the other. After staring down the trail of ants with hopes to intimidate them, Elena slowly twisted the doorknob. Unexpectedly, the door swung open before she could push it. She felt a cool breeze hit her, and she realized how much she had been sweating. The air pressure must have opened the door on its own. Regardless, the air conditioning felt good after being in the heat. She walked around the bathroom. It was pretty much just a standard bathroom, a toilet, a sink faucet, a shower, a mirror. Seeing herself in the mirror, Elena realized how much of a mess her hair had become. Hastily, she grabbed a hairbrush and began brushing out the thick knots.
After Elena finished brushing her hair, she saw another door right across from the bathroom. This wooden door was the gateway to a bedroom. To her surprise, the bedroom was clean. It had no moss growing in the corners, no bugs either… just a bit dusty. This was suspicious, so Elena looked around the room. She found bug traps on the floor, and some sort of spray on the desk, probably to prevent moss. Whoever lived in this house before must have paid heavy attention to their sleeping conditions. Suddenly, Elena heard a scratching noise. She whipped her head around. The scratching continued. It was coming from her left. She left the bedroom and started to the left, and the sound got louder. She followed it into another room that seemed to be the last room inside. The house sure was bigger than it looked. Inside the room, there was a pet bed, a cat tower, a litter box and a cat that had been scratching at the wall. Elena saw the cat, and started to tear up. She had thought she was completely alone, but she wasn’t. The cat walked over to her and rested in her lap, while her tears dotted its orange fur.
Elena checked inside the closet, and discovered three huge bags of cat food. She poured it into the cat’s bowl and left the room. She felt the empty dryness under her eyes where her tears had fallen. Do you feel alright, Elena? Are you lonely? Elena stopped dead in her tracks. Was she talking to herself, was someone else talking to her? Or was she just hearing things? She was deep in thought when she felt something licking her leg. She looked down, and saw the same orange cat. “I should give it a name,” Elena mumbled to herself. The cat felt like a hero to her. From that, the cat’s name was decided: Hercules. And so, from then on, it was Elena and Hercules against whatever was out there, and whatever, or whoever, had destroyed their city.
Night had fallen, so Elena started over to her bed. And as she had always done, she buried herself in the blanket and closed her eyes. But, this time, it felt different. She noticed that she was shaking slightly, and the whispers she heard grew louder, to the point where she had to pull the blanket over her head to feel safe. Although, she was exhausted, so she soon fell unconscious. Elena slept well that night.
When Elena woke up in the morning, her vision was blurred. But even what she could make out, her body, didn’t feel like her own. Her green eyes, her pale arms, her blonde curls, felt as if they belonged to someone else. But technically, one’s body is just a way to express their mind. So does one’s physical appearance belong to nobody? She pondered as she wandered around her room, deep in thought. She realized that she could no longer wait around. It would be a miracle for anyone to come and save her, and she had to figure out how to make that miracle happen. Elena threw the door open and ran through the hallway, out the house, to the grocery store or what was once a grocery store. She gathered food and bottled water in her drawstring bag along with an emergency poncho. Elena then had an idea, and she hurried to the convenience store. She was thrilled to find a satellite phone, a map of the closest cities on land, and an old-fashioned watch. The city was on an island, so it would be practically impossible to look for nearby cities. However, if she could call for help via satellite phone, she would have a chance at leaving the city. There was one last matter to worry about: Hercules the cat.
Back in the house, she poured some catnip into a small plastic bag, scooped up the cat. With that, Elena walked outside. She was aware that she had no chance of swimming across half of an ocean, but maybe she could find a boat. The biggest concern was whether or not she could drive, as the tide was usually low and storms occurred rarely. Down at the beach, there was a boat in decent condition. She climbed on and sprinted to the captain’s area. Elena gripped the wheel with determination. Her father had taught her how to use a boat when she was young, but whether she had held onto that knowledge was unknown. She started up the boat, but it wouldn’t budge. Possibly a piece of seaweed had clogged the motor? Or was the boat falling apart? She stared at the water. By now, the sun had set and stars had started to paint the sky. But one star shone so brightly, and it was moving horizontally… it wasn’t a star. It was a shooting star, a comet. Elena’s parents told her to always wish on a shooting star, so she closed her eyes as she wished for help in leaving the city, and for help in finding answers. She suddenly felt her boat ascending, lifting off the ground. Out of instinct, she tried to grab the water, as if it would hold her down. But she had stopped rising upward. The water was carrying her boat across the water using a wave. The wind sang a lullaby, and somehow, Elena fell asleep on that very boat.
When Elena opened her eyes, she blinked multiple times to confirm what she was seeing. The figure of a person, shaped of… water? Surely she was just lucid dreaming. Or, at least, that was what she told herself. The person, who seemed to be some sort of water spirit, also had something cradled in their arms. It was a cat, an orange cat. Elena stared at it with disbelief. Her cat. Or so she thought. The spirit spoke.
“Thank you for returning my cat to me, Elena.”
Elena nodded, but was still full of unanswered questions. Who was this person? What was this person? How was Hercules related to them in any way? How did they control water? Who destroyed her city? What destroyed her city?
“May I ask a question?” Elena began.
“Go ahead.”
“What destroyed my city?”
The water spirit was silent for a moment, and the silence grew loud. Elena waited anxiously for a response.
“It was a creature from the largest galaxy in existence, the Crowned Galaxy.”
“How big is our galaxy in comparison?”
“The Milky Way is the smallest galaxy in the universe.”
Thinking of her galaxy as “small” made Elena’s head hurt. The human mind could never comprehend such colossal sizes. It can barely comprehend dinosaurs, much less a galaxy multiple times bigger than ours.
The spirit continued. “The species was classified as “Accidentals.” It was created by alien scientists who were experimenting with genetics. They had unpurposefully created a heavily destructive and massive species. An Accidental could destroy your whole city with one footstep. And so it did.”
“What happened after that?”
“It left. The species was so large, it could hop galaxies. As a result, it had hopped into the Milky Way, presumably found that it was boring, and hurried back to its home galaxy. Or perhaps it ran to a larger one to cause destruction in a more ‘interesting’ galaxy.”
Incomprehensive tornadoes swirled around Elena’s mind. Who knew the truth could be so heavy? But after this, she had one more simple question.
“What’s your name?”
“Call me Hydro.”
Hydro then descended gracefully back into the ocean, as their figure slowly melted into the water. Elena’s skin started to glow, and she felt energy rush through her body. A voice in her head, Hydro’s voice, told her that she had received the power of water preservation. Elena then knew what Hydro wanted her to do. If too many humans learned about the other galaxies, the future of humanity would never be the same. However, if humans never found out, there would be no future. Elena found that her boat’s motor had seemed to be working. Perhaps Hydro had fixed it. Regardless, she started up the motor, turned the boat around, and drove it right back to the city’s beach.
Back in her house once again, Elena took out a book and began to write. She wrote about the other galaxies, about the Accidentals, about Hydro, about everything she had learned. She knew that she would spend the rest of her years writing this book. Suddenly, she saw Hercules sitting next to her. Isn’t he with Hydro? She thought.
Hydro isn’t with me right now, she heard Hercules’ voice say. The old Elena would question this, but she already found a water spirit, so this was expected. I can’t believe you wouldn’t even care to put me in the book, said Hercules’ voice.
Are you even magical? Elena wondered.
Of course I am! Elena laughed and started writing about Hercules and Hydro’s connection.
Did you know I’m actually a fire spirit? Elena stared at him as if he were joking.
I’m serious!He transformed into a similar shape as Hydro, but in red.
You were serious, Elena realized. It felt odd to see her cat in such a form, although it was his original form.
Elena continued to write in that book for her last years. But eventually, those last years turned into last months, and those last months turned into last days, until the day she dragged her pen through the last letter of her book. She scattered water across the cover, and the droplets began to glow bright blue. The glowing water encased the book, and Elena left it out on her desk. She laid down in her bed. For the last time, she buried herself in the covers. And for the last time, the stars watched her tired eyes shut closed. Elena, the forgotten girl in a forgotten city, never opened her eyes ever again. Someday, her knowledge would be discovered, rekindled. And her body, her rested mind, would always be watched over by the friends she had made.
I was lost. I mean, you can’t blame me. The streets of D.C. are more like a maze than a couple of roads. If you hadn’t guessed, I’m an alley cat. I don’t have a name, but I’ve been called a scoundrel and the like. I have no idea why. I wouldn’t be upset if a needy kitten was digging through my garbage! Ok, are you creeped out yet? No? I thought you would have realized it by now, but I guess I have to spell it out for you: CATS DON’T WRITE JOURNALS! Yeah, you really should have at least put some thought to that fact. Well, the truth is, this story is being written down after the story you are about to read has happened. Also, I’m not the one writing this. I’m just telling my friend Olivia what to put in here. Surprised? No? Maybe, just in case, I should spell it out again: CATS DON’T TALK! You know what? Maybe it would be easier if I just told the story.
Ok, back to the beginning: I was lost. Suddenly, I remembered where I was. Or at least, where I should be. Wendy’s is near here! I thought. I tumbled over to where I knew some half-eaten, half-rotten cheeseburgers would await me: the Wendy’s trash cans, any alley cat’s dream! There were four trash cans out there, and three smelled like fast food. The other one, though… I couldn’t put a finger on it! Or a paw, for that matter. It didn’t smell like magically good food, it smelled like actual, pure magic! I jumped inside to find out if there was anything to eat. There wasn’t, but I felt weird all of a sudden. I saw sparkles, and spun around and around. Maybe the trash can was empty, and I had hurt my head on the metal bottom. Then, the whirling stopped. I still saw sparkles, though. And pink trees. And flying cows. I had a feeling that I was not in D.C. anymore.
I didn’t know it yet, but I had fallen through a portal in the bottom of the trash can into a town called Misty Hill. It was set apart from the outside world, and for good reason: the people of Misty Hill knew magic, and used it on a daily basis! However, they needed some way to get to the “normals”, so they put up a portal. It was a bit unfortunate that they put it on the bottom of a trash can, since those half-eaten, half-rotten cheeseburgers I was drooling about earlier kept falling through, but even their wisest elders couldn’t figure out the principles of closing a portal.
Anyways, the cheeseburgers turned out to be a good thing because they cushioned the fall. At the time, the townspeople were inside. Except for one little girl jumping rope, that is. She was also eating a cookie, which sounds unsafe while turning a jump rope, but the rope was turning on its own! I walked up to her, and rubbed against her legs. My golden fur gleamed in the sun, and I made my big eyes even bigger.
“Meeeeooooow.”
“Hi little kitty! Like my trick?” She asked. I thought, yes! As hard as I could. I guess it worked because she said, “It’s only practice. My parents are teaching me how to do magic! It really helps when I’m hungry, as you can see!” Then she looked at me. “My parents are teaching me all about magic gems. My favorite is opal. It’s soooooo pretty! I have an idea…” She went inside a house, and stayed in there for a bit. Then, she came out holding something. I couldn’t tell what it was, just that it was glowing. It was also covered in bright, shiny, multicolored stones. She skipped up to me. “An opal collar,” she said. “For you! It has so many magical properties! It could make you able to fly, immortal, or even…” She paused for dramatic effect. “IT COULD MAKE YOU ABLE TO TALK!” she blurted out. My tiny jaw dropped. Put it on, put it on, PUT IT ON! I thought. “Here, let me get it on you,” she said. I resisted from scratching her. Suddenly, I felt like the shine from the opal was inside of me!
“Thanks! It’s pretty!” I said. Wait a moment… I SAID STUFF?! I guess the collar worked. Hmm… it was supposed to have other powers… maybe I could fly, too! I focused on being light, and floating on a cloud. Suddenly, everything around me started to shrink. Wait, no… I was just going higher and higher! I tried to go left — success! To go right — nailed it! To go down — I was home again! I didn’t want to try out immortality, though, because if I wasn’t immortal, I would die! Besides, I think immortality is one of those things you just have to depend on.
“I don’t have a name, because I was an alley cat before I came, but I want to know yours,” I said.
“Oh! Sorry, I still haven’t gotten used to, well, a talking cat. My name is Olivia. And do you know what? I’d like you to be my pet! Hmm… I think I’ll call you Pixie!” She said. I was overjoyed! Suddenly, a storm cloud appeared. It settled down on the hill that gave the town its name. Then, it turned into a person! A witch, in fact. She wore all black, and looked… well, evil!
“Who is she?” I whispered to Olivia, terrified.
“She calls herself the Shadow Witch. She thinks she rules the town, and I guess she kinda does, with all her evil magic.”
“Greetings, lowly peasants! I would just like to inform you that anyone who disobeys the following rules will be personally punished by yours truly:
Do not attempt to stop my reign.
Do not assist those who I hold captive.
Report anybody who disobeys the first two rules directly to me.
Remember, I am your ruler forever, and I CAN FIND YOU!” The shadow witch glared at the town one last time, then turned back into the black cloud and floated away.
“She was scary! But what did she mean by ‘I am your ruler forever’?” I asked Olivia.
“She’s immortal. That’s why nobody dares challenge her. She’s impossible to defeat! But you know what? I bet we could do it! We could save Misty Hill!” she replied. It was a good idea, but there was one flaw.
“If we manage to kill her, which is already a huge difficulty, how would that make us any less evil than her?” I said with a worried look on my face. Then, it hit me.
“I have an idea! What if we just try to turn her good? Also, um, do you know the particularly handsome black cat that was next to her?”
“Some kitty has a cruuuuuuuuush!” Olivia teased. “But good plan!” She quickly added. I blushed, if cats can blush.
“I do not have a crush! Anyway, what’s his name?” I asked.
“His name is Vampire. And I’m sure you do like him on some level. Maybe if the Shadow Witch turns good, he will too. Anyway, we really should start our quest. But, before we go, I need to tell you something. You are a helpless little kitten without that collar, okay? You need to keep it safe in order to keep yourself safe.”
“I am not helpless without it! I can do all the stuff cats can usually do!” I retorted.
“Listen, I really don’t want to start an argument with you. Just keep the collar safe, ok?”
“Ok,” I agreed. I’ll prove you wrong. You’ll see, I thought. Then, I realized there was something very important we needed to know.
“Where does the Shadow Witch live?” I asked.
“I have no idea, actually. You know what, though? My parents will!” she exclaimed. So, we set off to her house.
Two minutes later, we arrived at the house she had gone into to make my collar. Thinking about that made me think about our argument. I felt bad for disagreeing with her. After all, she was my only friend, even if she was wrong about me. I remembered a phrase I had heard long ago that seemed quite literal now. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, I thought to myself. We walked inside, only to have a terrible smell blasted into our nostrils.
“Ugh! Is mom trying her hand at cooking again? Daddy, I thought you promised not to let her do that anymore!” Olivia said. Her voice sounded funny, probably because she was pinching her nose.
“I’m truly sorry, honey. She read about a recipe that she thought would be simple, and I couldn’t stop her!” her dad replied.
“By the way, do you by any chance know where the Shadow Witch lives? Pixie and I want to make her good!” Olivia said casually.
“Well, um, are you sure you want to face her? I mean, I know you’re a brave girl, and your cat has that magic collar,” her father replied, flabbergasted. There it was again! Did underestimating me without my collar run in their family? I decided not to mention it. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, dumdum! I reminded myself over and over again.
“Daddy, I’m serious. Pixie and I really want to do this! It could save us all!” Olivia whined.
“Um, if it’s any help, I also really want to do this. She’s telling the truth!” I mumbled.
“Alright then, girls, she lives on Craggy Cliff,” her dad told us. Olivia’s eyes widened with recognition.
“You mean the Craggy Cliff, the main eyesore of Misty Hill? No way! Nobody could live there and not be evil!”
“True,” her dad said.
“I think you girls should go ahead. Be careful, though. Ok?” her dad said.
“Promise, Daddy.” With that, we started concocting a genius plan.
We agreed that first, I would fly out there to see if she was home. Craggy Cliff was at the edge of the town, but thankfully, the town was not very large, so the edge of it was only a ten minute flight. If the Shadow Witch was home, I would carry Olivia back to the lair with me. Then, we would talk to her (I would actually be talking more to Vampire, because he doesn’t speak human but I do speak cat, also because he is gorgeous). After the Shadow Witch turned good, we would become a foursome, working together to keep Misty Hill safe. Now, we just had to hope that everything would go according to plan.
Like we had agreed, I flew across the town to Craggy Cliff, where I saw a pitch-black castle shrouded in fog. I went over to one of the windows, and peered in, hoping I would not get caught. The Shadow Witch was even scarier up close. Not wanting to spend any more time on that horrible cliff, I flew back to where Olivia was waiting.
“She’s home, and she’s terrifying!” I whimpered to Olivia. Now, it was time for step two: I would fly back to the castle carrying Olivia. That seemed risky, seeing as she was a lot bigger than I was, but we tried anyway. We never got off the ground.
“It’s hopeless! We’ll never be able to save anyone!” Olivia wailed. Then, I had an idea.
“Olivia! I can’t carry you, but you can carry me!”
“Yeah, but I don’t see how that would help. You’re the one who can fly,” she said sadly.
“I can only fly because of the collar! But if you let me take it off, just this once, then you could wear it as a bracelet! And if you did that, then you could fly there carrying me, instead of the other way around!” I said excitedly.
“Pixie, you’re a genius! Just promise me that you’ll put it back on once we get there.”
“I promise! Come on, let’s try it!” I exclaimed. She took off my collar. Without it, I felt like I was an alley cat again. She slipped it onto her wrist. It fit her perfectly! She scooped me up under her arm, and flew away. She was unsteady at first, but then she got the hang of it. In what felt like the blink of an eye, we were there! As bravely as we could muster, we walked up to the front door… and knocked.
The door opened. The Shadow Witch stood in front of us, and I could practically see the evil oozing out from her ears. She shooed us inside, and gestured for us to sit on rickety stools. Then, she spoke.
“I have a feeling you aren’t here to help me. However, if you are, I will accept the gift that you should have brought. Oooooooooh, is this it?” She was looking at my MY OPAL COLLAR!
“Opal always was a favorite of mine. Thank you!” Just like that, the plan was shattered. She had taken away my opal collar, and with it, my ability to talk. I had expected that, though, so I had another plan. One that, along with saving Misty Hill, would also make people stop underestimating me. I walked up to the Shadow Witch and rubbed against her legs, just like I had this morning with Olivia. Now, that was a distant memory. I don’t mean in the ‘it feels like so much time has passed’ way, just that I have a bad memory and, as you are noticing right now, a very short attention span. Anyway, back to the story.
I rubbed against the Shadow Witch’s legs and purred like a motorboat.
“Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.” I made my eyes extra large, especially for her.
“Meeeooooooooooow!” I could pinpoint the moment that her hard heart melted, and the moment Olivia realized she had misjudged me. My collar was not who I was. I was who I was. And I was adorable.
“Oh, I’ve been so mean to the people of Misty Hill! I wanted respect, but I got it the wrong way. I owe everyone a huge apology!” the Shadow Witch confessed.
“Yeah, ya really do. But don’t worry, it’ll be ok. Pixie, I owe you an apology. I underestimated you and overestimated your collar. Friends, everyone?” Olivia asked.
“FRIENDS!” everyone shouted together. Except for Vampire. He meowed.
The next day, the Shadow Witch came once again to Misty Hill. she declared peace, and apologized, as promised.
“I know that I did a terrible thing, forcing you to do as I said through dark magic. I apologize for that, and hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. Also, I have appointed a new ruler, since I was so bad at it. Everyone, please give a round of applause for the Sunshine Witch and her cat, Pixie!”
Olivia and I stood up from our picnic blanket in the audience, and got up onto the stage. She was smiling from ear to ear, and so was I. Then, she spoke.
“Hi everyone. Um, my name is Olivia, but you can call me the Sunshine Witch. I am happy to stand in front of you today, and start to spread joy around Misty Hill. However, I couldn’t have done it without my cat, Pixie. Pixie, would you like to say a few words?”
“Hi. I am also happy that Olivia is your new leader. She is a great leader, if a bit stubborn. So, yeah. That’s all.” Everyone applauded. I walked over to Vampire.
“Hi! You were great up there,” he said. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: he has an opal collar now! Olivia made a matching one for him!
“Thanks,” I said, blushing. Olivia walked over to us.
“Pixie, come with me. I have to take you somewhere!” I followed her to the portal.
“Do I have to go back to the outside world? Is this goodbye?” I said, a bit overdramatically.
“No! I would never part with you! You’re my pet, remember? Just jump in! Trust me!” I jumped through the portal.
I tumbled out inside a Wendy’s trash can. I hopped out so that Olivia wouldn’t fall on top of me. A few seconds later, I heard a clunk, and Olivia clambered out of the trash can. We walked up to the front of the Wendy’s.
“Wait here,” Olivia said. I sat down next to the door, and Olivia went inside. She came out with a bag. It smelled like Wendy’s, but not rotten!
“I thought you deserved to try some Wendy’s that wasn’t from a trash can,” she said. She reached into the bag and produced a cheeseburger.
“Is it all for me?” I asked, mouth watering.
“Yup!” was Olivia’s excited reply. I stuck my nose into the soft bun. It smelled like butter. I savored the smell until I couldn’t wait any longer, then bit in. it was the best thing I had ever tasted! In about a millisecond, I had sucked down the whole thing. When Olivia had finished hers, we went back through the portal. The Shadow Witch and Vampire were waiting for us. It was good to be home.
As predicted by yours truly, Olivia was a great ruler. The Shadow Witch, Vampire, Olivia, and I became a foursome. We practiced magic, had sleepovers, and did karaoke. The opal collars also made it so that Vampire and I didn’t grow up, and stayed cute little kittens forever. The Shadow Witch enchanted Olivia with the same spell that made her immortal, so we literally had forever to keep being awesome. So, yeah. We went all over Misty Hill, solving problems and making people happy. (With, of course, very frequent trips through the portal to get Wendy’s!)
So, basically, that’s my life story. Except, y’know, it doesn’t end there. It keeps going, because I am still alive! I will be forever! Olivia went home for the day. Her fingers got tired, so she taught me how to type. So, yes, you now have a talking, flying, immortal, and typing cat. I think next, I might learn how to jump rope or play hopscotch, so that I can play more with Olivia. The Shadow Witch and Vampire are out getting me some cheeseburgers. Wait! Did I just hear my magic kitty-phone ring? I did! It’s Vampire… oh no! Maybe the cheeseburgers sold out! No, not that. Vampire says – he says the Shadow Witch sensed dark magic! She said it wasn’t coming from Misty Hill, though! She said… the dark magic is coming from the outside world!
Three minutes before the house broke down, Amelia had to get out of the broken house. It looked like a scary mansion. Nobody was there. It was just cracked mirrors and wood. The ground was shaking and the house was about to break, but a fire was outside. She had to get out or she was going to get burnt.The house was about to collapse in 3, 2, 1.
Amelia got out just in time, but the fire was still there. She packed up all her stuff and ran away. Her whole village got burnt except Amelia. She had to go to a new town and build a house. She felt sad and scared. Her family did not make it. It was just Amelia, left alone.
She had to get her own wood, so she went back in the forest. However, when she came back to the forest, she was glowing. It was a gem, a magical gem, but what did it do? She forgot the wood and brought the gem to the town. When she brought it, people and buildings started coming back. It was her family and her village. Amelia was so happy to see her family again. That was the story of Amelia trying to get her family back.
Alien Joe lives in Zagburn. Alien Joe has big eyes and can swim in boiling water. Zagburn is a hot planet. It’s 400 degrees, which is why the aliens are all made of water. They’re exactly 65% water. It rains fire on planet Zagburn. The aliens survive in a bunch of water houses that are stabled by gravity so they don’t collapse. Zagburnians have hands that look like mustaches, but they’re not brown. It’s like a blue mustache. They’re actually pretty tall, they’re about 67 and ¾ inches.
Alien Joe fits in with the other Zagburnians, but he’s an orphan. The Zagburnians decided to have a war with the Yagburnians and his parents died in that war. They were at war for the planet. They were fighting as soldiers. The Yagburnians are made out of obsidian and they’re really evil. The Yaburnians got forced out of the planet because Zagburn won, so now they have to live on an empty planet that has nothing alien involved, Luno. The planet is made of ice, so a quarter million aliens die every year.
Alien Joe wants a family. Alien Joe is going to try to make friends and then try to convince them to be his family. He thinks he can make friends with Alien John, who is the nicest alien in the alien universe. There’s a bunch of rumors about Alien John (a Yagburnian) — if you meet him and you’re friends, then every wish you have will come true. Alien Joe could wish for a family from him! Alien John is not very good at being a detective so he’s not good at figuring out who really wants to be his friend. All you have to do in front of Alien John to be his friend is act rude. So basically, shake your butt in front of Alien John. Alien Joe goes up to Alien John and shakes his butt. It works! Alien John and Alien Joe are now friends.
The hints and rumors actually backfire because they’re all fake! It was just to torture people. That’s probably why the Yagburnians were the ones who told them all those rumors. Alien Joe wishes for a family and the opposite happens. He ends up in a torture chamber! The Yagburnians forced Alien John to stay with the Zagburnians because they wanted revenge on the Zagburnians. The Yagburnians forgot that the Zagburnians have water powers so he can easily slide out of the torture chamber. Before the Yagburnians left, they told the Zagburnians about Alien John and his powers so the Zagburnians would come to him and make wishes. They said he was Willzen which meant he could give you powers to have any wish you want. He’s not like a genie. He was supposed to be 100% better than a genie. But he was 100% worse!
Alien Joe is going to sneak up and go to Alien John. Since the Yagburnians have fire powers and the Zagburnians have water powers, he can easily get rid of him. Alien Joe sneaks into a puddle because he’s the only one who knows about all this and he jumps out and destroys Alien John! Alien John flattens up and sizzles for five minutes. Then he transforms into a volcano and explodes. He’s a fire alien. Now Alien Joe warns everyone and he tells everyone to form into a big bridge to Luno and then they all jump across and now they turn into a giant water monster. They all jump onto the floor and that turns them into the giant water monster. The Yagburnians do the same. The Zagburnians hit them and the Yagburnians try to hit, but then they miss. Then they charge through the middle and there are more of them so that easily destroys them. But then there are two immortal people who are immortal because they were seriously from Willzen and they can grant wishes. Willzen people also have immortal people. The Willzens do not like the Yagburnians. Two Willzens are disguised as Yagburnians, and they have been watching in their mind and they give Alien Joe the power to grant any wish. Now, Alien Joe is the emperor! He gets a family. They look just like him. Now he can grant any wish since the Willzens give him the power to. Alien Joe feels happy.
One day, when the sun was up and hot, Ali the snake was slithering in the desert as usual. Right then, he heard that the latest book was coming out and it had only one copy! He slithered straight to the library only to see that everybody was leaving. Ali asked somebody what had happened. He said, “The latest book that just came out was bought but the person who got the book said he dropped it but doesn’t remember where. Nobody found it after that.”
Then, Ali thought that if he found the book, he could buy it for free. He first started with finding the name of the person who sold the book to know who had bought the book. So Ali found the person who sold the book and his name was Fred. He had black hair, was about 5 feet tall, and had a red jacket. Ali asked Fred who he sold the book to. Fred replied, “The man didn’t say his name but he was in his teens ,had red hair, and had a grey jacket. Pretty easy guy to recognize but rumor is that he is hiding.”
Ali said thanks to Fred and he said, “No problem.” After that, Ali set off to find him. He just saw him but he ran away and Ali just couldn’t catch up to him. Just then, out of the corner, somebody crashed into the man who was running away. Ali caught up to the man and said, “What is your name and where did you know you dropped your book?” The man answered,
“I’m Jack, but I guess that I just dropped the book.”
Just then, a small bucket fell on Ali and Jack started running away. Meanwhile, Ali didn’t like tight spaces so he tried to wiggle out but the bucket was too heavy. Then, somebody lifted the bucket. It was Fred. He said, “I saw the whole thing but I was too far away to do anything. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the book. It had a big gem in the middle surrounded by tiny gems.”
Just then, a gem fell out of somebody’s bag. Ali couldn’t see the man who dropped the gem because he was running. Then, he spotted a trail of tiny gems and followed them to the missing book! Then, Jack and the man who dropped the gem came out of a corner and Ali hid. Jack said to the man who dropped the gem, “Did you get the book, Bill?”
Ali suspected Bill was the man who dropped the gem. Bill had brown hair, brown sweatshirt, and peach skin. Ali got an idea. He made a shadow of a King Cobra and Jack ran away but Bill picked up the book and tried scaring Ali away. Just then, somebody jumped out of a bush and grabbed Bill. It was Fred, but Bill didn’t even think about looking. He dropped the book and ran away as fast as he could. Ali grabbed the book from the ground. Then, he asked Fred, “How did you know I was here?” Fred replied, “I saw the crystals and they led to Jack and Bill. Then, I realized that they were working together and saw that you tried to scare them and I tried it too. First, I sneaked up on them. Next, I waited for you to scare them once, then I scared them the second time. So that’s how I found you.”
Finally, they both returned the book and Fred gladly sold it to Ali. The tiny crystals on the book were put in a red and blue pattern. There was also a very big gem in the middle. It was half red and half blue and felt very smooth and soft. Ali started reading the book. The title was “The Missing Book.”
Jonathan’s summer was only one day in when his parents sent him to sleepaway camp for the whole summer, right until the day before 6th grade started. He preferred staying home and playing video games rather than trying to catch fish in the middle of nowhere. He decided it couldn’t be so bad. Instead of trying to make excuses not to go, he went straight to the camping store called John’s Way To Nature. He brought the list, which his parents had given him before he left.
Tent
Toothbrush and toothpaste
Any hygiene products
Sunglasses and a hat
Clothes for like two months
Things you want to buy for there
Sandals
Sticks
Sleeping bag
Books or entertainment
After paying $300 for all of that, he started heading home, where there was a bus that had a big Camp Lyonlogo that appeared right at his house. His parents rushed him to get inside the bus and gave him a bag with everything he had not gotten and a little card. Barely able to say goodbye, he entered the bus carefully, looking at all the new people he was gonna have to spend his summer with. Some of these people looked nice, and all the others seemed to be ready to kill you if they needed to. He examined the bus for a spot to sit. He found one next to Leo Maine, a boy at the camp. On the ride, there were movies, games, and even secrets being told, but on the 12th row to the right, the two boys made no conversation.
Finally, when they arrived, Jonathan had the courage to say, “See you around, Leo.”
“Mhm, see you around,” Leo responded. Then, the head of Camp Lyon made an announcement.
“Attention, all 10 and 11-year-olds, due to budget cuts there will only be 4 cabins for all boys this age. Sorry, but if you hear your name being called, go to the person calling you. They’ll be your counselor this summer!”
“This is gonna be a long summer,” Leo whispered to Jonathan. He nodded to show he agreed.
Soon enough, all kids were with their counselors, 10 in total. Jonathan ended up being with Leo, Nathaniel, Kai, and Lukey. He got top bunk and Leo got bottom. Nathaniel got top and Lukey got bottom. Kai got his single and so did the counselor, Mike. Most of that day was getting organized and unpacking. By the time dinner came, maybe even the duck in the pond was starving! He took a seat with Leo, then two other kids joined: Mika and Maya, twins who had been there for more than 5 years. They seemed quite normal, especially since they welcomed him kindly. Jonathan had noticed that Kai and Lukey had been watching him since he had sat down. They had a sinister look on their faces, almost enough to make a child run. Jonathan was a strong boy, so instead of getting all nervous, he ignored them and continued eating the rice and salmon on his plate calmly. When it got time to go back to their bunks, all the kids from Cabin Two noticed Mike was gone. Jonathan suggested they go back to the cabin, and if he was not there they’d get someone. Unfortunately, they found him, except he was on the floor with a dagger right in his heart. It didn’t take anybody long to realize that he was dead.
“Do we get someone?” asked Leo.
“No, we keep this to ourselves and we just figure out who did it alone. We’ll just say he had to leave for college sooner than we thought and boom, we find the killer!” Jonathan responded.
“I see what you mean, but we’re not professionals! We’re just kids, you know?” Kai added.
“They might accuse us! Is that what you want, Kai?” Jonathan said.
“OK, fine, but trust me, I still think telling the police is a better idea,” Kai responded. Only problem they had to face was who was gonna lie to the head about him leaving? They decided to ask Mika the twin to come over that night to tell him about their situation. He came happily and suggested that he tell the head which everybody agreed on quickly. They took Mike’s body out and gave him a little funeral before they buried the body so nobody would find it. When they were done with that, Mika left the cabin to tell the head, they all wished him good luck. About 5 minutes, later Mika came back.
“Well first of all, I’m getting transferred to this cabin and also she found a new counselor who won’t sleep with us but will help us with activities!” Mika said happily. Everybody sighed in relief and they agreed they’d start investigating in the morning but sleep that night.
Jonathan had a hard time sleeping because of the picture of Mike with a dagger in his body. Same thing with Mika, who wanted to be reassured that Maya wasn’t getting stabbed by a killer. Nobody could be reassured after finding a dead body with a killer on the loose able to kill anybody they love! When morning came, Kai said he thought the killer was somebody on the inside. How would they know dinner was then? Mika agreed, but Mika didn’t know who was on the inside. There were just so many options.
“Tomorrow, we’ll investigate. Today, we act like we… we know nothing. Just like normal campers, nothing out of the ordinary!” Jonathan told the group.
“True, but like — ” Nathaniel interrupted Jonathan. Bang!
“Guys… anybody else hear that overdramatic bang?” Mika asked.
“Yes, I did hear that overdramatic bang,” Jonathan responded.
“I think I’m gonna go and see what that was,” Kai said while opening the cabin door.
Then, as Kai entered the 4th cabin, he looked and he saw Mary dead. Mary was Mika’s twin sister’s counselor who Maya had told Mika all about. They saw a pan which they assumed had been used to kill Mary. It was bloody and so was her head where blood was dripping down her neck. It was a scary scene but mostly something nobody could forget. Kai was a strong boy but that didn’t stop him from shedding a small tear that dripped through his face. By the time he came back, he’d realized that this meant they had another body! Luckily, the ground had space for another funeral, to which Maya and the boys were invited.
“Great, we have another murder to solve! Mika, would you do the honors of telling the head again? I say we find this out now before worse things happen,” Jonathan said. They agreed, but they knew it was gonna be hard considering the fact they still had to do activities all day. Investigating a murder while making a fire isn’t normally how you’d do them.
“Ok, suggestion, we investigate at night?” Nathaniel said.
“Actually, that’s a pretty good idea. Even though we’ll be tired, we won’t have to worry about counselors and activities!” Mika responded.
“We are gonna be here for about 2 months. I think we can do this, right?” Jonathan asked.
“Yeah, I assume,” Nathaniel said.
“It’s been 20 days and we still have nothing,” Jonathan said.
“Guys, where are Kai and Nathaniel?” Mika asked, looking nervous. “I’ll go check the boy’s shower if you guys want!” Mika said while already running to the room. After about 3 minutes of waiting, he came back.
“Guys, I have bad news… ” Mika said with hesitation.
“Don’t tell me they’re dead, I can’t deal with it!” Lukey said while covering his ears.
“Yes…” Mika said, unable to finish his phrase. Knock Knock.
“Enter, please,” Jonathan said, carefully trying not to let a killer in.
“Hello, kids, I’m Mr. Brown and I’m here to help,” Mr. Brown said.
“Ok, but what type of help?” Jonathan replied.
“Backstory, a very long backstory. It all started with the Lyon, Grey, Stone, Maine, Ri, and Smith families. The Lyons had the idea of the camp so all families decided that Camp Lyon was an appropriate name for it. After years of success, I came along asking them about a murder, but they knew nothing about it. Only a few weeks later, the Lyons died by murder. After that, the Greys, Maines, and Stones decided to close it down, but the Ri and Smiths didn’t want to, so the Greys, Maines, and Stones left and never talked to the Ri and Smiths. So then, the Ri and Smiths took over Camp Lyon. Now, Kai Ri and Nathaniel Smith are dead, a little suspicious, you know?” Mr. Brown asked after taking a long breath after talking without stopping.
“Are you saying that our parents kill people?” Jonathan asked, scared for the answer.
“Yes, unfortunately, I think all of your parents have killed innocent people,” Mr. Brown said while fixing his brown hat.
“Are you gonna arrest them?” Leo asked.
“Well, I have to, they could kill again, which wouldn’t be good,” Mr. Brown responded.
“This past month has been fun, but it’s time to go home, meaning we won’t see each other anymore, so please don’t forget me until next summer,” Maya cried.
“Don’t worry, I won’t, but also don’t forget what happened this summer, like the events and people,” Jonathan said.
Epilogue
Jonathan was on the bus, his friends laughing while he softly chuckled. These two months had been a lot. He even said it felt like a long day, but that wasn’t the point. His orange shirt with Camp Lyon on it was wrinkled and dirty. He saw the camp and Mr. Brown slowly walking away, his face red like normal. Maya’s face suddenly went sad.
“Jonathan, I… will I ever… ever see you again?” Maya asked.
“I don’t know, but just promise me one thing: come back next year,” Jonathan responded.
“We’ll try our best!” Mika giggled. “Leo, so?” Mika asked.
“I don’t know, but I think I’ll be back,” Leo said slowly while putting his water bottle in his bag.
My mom was making me walk through the streets of South Africa. My dad had gotten a new job so we moved from New York to South Africa and now I didn’t have any friends. Suddenly, as I was about to turn back and head home, I saw something that made me jump. It was a baby penguin being attacked by a seagull. Before I knew it, I was running at the seagull and screaming, and then the seagull flew away. I saw that this baby’s parents were dead, so I decided to keep the chick and raise her until she was old enough to leave my house.
Two weeks later, the penguin chick, who I named Joanne (after Johannesburg street, where she was found), was almost ready to leave the nest (or house). I was feeding her raw fish that I had blended into a chunky smoothie. I made a nest for her in my room under a heat lamp out of leaves, sticks, and petals. Also, I let her swim in my kiddie pool. Finally, she was almost ready and I gave her the first whole fish to celebrate.
After all these months, it was time for Joanne to leave and go into the sea. I was going to be all alone again, and I might never see her again, but I knew it was the right thing to do. I led the first (and only) feathered friend I had to the beach. There, I watched as she jumped into the waves of the South African ocean.
One Year Later…
My family and I had moved into a house and I had made friends. When it was penguin breeding time, and a penguin made a nest, I recognized the penguin. It was Joanne! I knew she would always be with me no matter what.
Two hours earlier I’d read her a story that I’d written, where a girl’s mom dies and she’s found by the queen and becomes a princess, but then the queen almost gets assasinated, but they flee and live happily ever after. When I’d said, “The End,” and asked if she liked it, she’d squirmed.
“What?” I asked her.
“Well, don’t you think… that we’re — well, too old for stories about princesses, talking animals, and happy endings? Maybe we should read about more grown-up things, like kidnappings, or murder mysteries,” Beetle said.
I didn’t think so. I liked to write about princesses and talking animals. I liked knowing there would be a happily ever after. But I didn’t want to lose Beetle as a friend. I noticed that she’d been growing up faster. She told me to drop that nickname and just call her Beatrice, like her real name was. But she was lodged in my mind as Beetle.
“I guess,” I responded. “I’ll revise it so the queen dies because the mom turns into a zombie.”
Beetle smiled. “Now that’s a good ending.”
I studied her face to see if she was joking. She was wearing the usual: blush, lip gloss, pink eyeliner. She’d brought her quilt, but I knew underneath she was wearing something maturer than me. I just had on a wool sweater over a t-shirt and some jeans, along with no makeup. My unbrushed hair whipped into my face.
“It’s getting late. And windy. And I need to revise this story,” I said, getting up.
Beetle waved goodbye as we got to the fork in the road that separated our houses. As I walked in my house, which was a quiet lavender with a yellow door and trim, I alerted my mom that I was there, and then ate my very cold meatloaf. After I finished, I went to my room, got out a piece of paper, and wrote the incredibly morbid, apparently ‘mature’ story I promised Beetle. After an hour or two of writing, my eyelids started to droop. I slowly changed into some pajamas, brushed my teeth, and pulled the black ringlets of my hair into a bun.
“Eira! Bedtime!” My mom called out. But I didn’t answer. I was already in a deep sleep.
Many moons ago, there were two colors named Blue and Turquoise. They both claimed to be the color of the sky.
One day, they both saw a flyer on the wall that said, “Prove that you are the color of the sky and you can win a hundred dollars! Come on December 8th, 1876.” Blue and Turquoise were very intrigued by this flyer so they both ran home to ask their parents if they could do it.
Blue got home first and asked, “Can I go to this event?” Blue showed her parents the flier. Her parents said,
“Sure, why not.”
Blue jumped with joy and ran all around the whole neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Turquoise was trying to convince his parents that he should go to the event too, but Turquoise’s parents were a lot stricter than Blue’s parents.
“Please let me go, please,” Turquoise begged.
“What is the meaning of this event?” asked Turquiose’s dad.
“The meaning of this event is to finally answer the question that we have had for centuries, what is the color of the sky. Plus you win a hundred dollars if you can prove that you are actually the color of the sky.” Turquiose’s parents were in a group huddle, probably talking about if he could go to the event.
“Your father and I have decided to let you go, plus we also talked about dinner. We are ordering McDonalds.”
“YAY YAY YAY!” exclaimed Turquoise. He was super happy.
Chapter 2: Practicing
Blue and Turquoise both realized that they needed to practice for the big event. They had two days until the big event. Turquoise saw Blue practicing. She was really good but Turquoise was not scared so he walked up to her and said,
“Do you want to practice with me?”
“Of course!” Blue replied. “ Maybe the park could be our practice spot!”
“Sure!” Turquoise responded. So they practiced for the rest of the day.
The next day, Blue was at the park waiting for Turquoise but he did not show up until 20 minutes after he was supposed to show up.
“Why are you so late?” Blue said. Blue was frustrated because they usually had an hour to practice, now they only had 40 minutes to practice.
“Sorry,” Turquoise said, “I was, umm, umm… walking the dog.”
“Stop lying to me,” Blue said with an angry voice.
“I am not lying!” Turquoise exclaimed.
“I know you’re lying because you don’t have a dog!” Blue said. “So why were you really late?!”
“Because you are so much better than me I was worried and lost track of time.” Turquoise was telling the truth. “I am sorry.”
“I accept your apology, but why didn’t you just tell the truth in the first place?” Blue added.
“Because I thought you would laugh at me or be angry,” Turquoise said.
“I would never do that to you because you are my friend,” Blue said, “Now are you ready to start practicing?”
“Of course!” Turquoise said with joy. So they practiced for 35 minutes so they could get a little extra sleep for the big day tomorrow.
Chapter 3: The Big Day
Blue woke up so happy because it was finally the big day where you got to prove that you were actually the color of the sky.
Blue got ready and ran down the street to Turquoise’s house to make sure he was ready. He was all good to go so they ran four blocks to get to the arena. They got there just in time.
So many colors. They saw Royal blue, Black, Gray, Baby blue, Light blue, Sky blue, and White.
They definitely did not think that White was going to make it but they were super nervous because they saw Sky blue, she basically already has the title. I guess she just wants to be the best.
“Ok, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!” said the computer.
“We got this!” Blue whispered.
“Remember you are NOT on a team,” the computer added.
“WHAT!?!?!?”
Chapter 4: Surprising Events
“In the rules, it does not say that you can’t be on a team,” Turquoise argued.
“Yes it did, way down in the corner so very small, see.” The computer showed them the flyer again but this time it was zoomed in super close.
“Oh yeah, I see it now,” Turquoise said.
In the corner, it said “No teams allowed.” The computer was right.
“I guess we have to go against each other for now,” Blue said with her sad voice.
“But but but we practiced together, we know each other’s moves and everything else,” Turquoise added.
“Rules are rules and we cannot change them,” the computer said. “I am sorry, but now we have to get on with the game. Does anyone want to leave?”
“I want to leave, goodbye everyone,” Black said.
“Please don’t leave, I thought we were in this together but now I realize that that was a lie the whole time.”
“Good bye.”
“Ok, bye, Black,” Turquoise and Blue said at the same time.
“Ok for real, let the games begin!” the computer said. “#1 obstacle. If you are the color of sky, you probably know how dodge clouds, so dodging clouds is the #1 obstacle.”
“AAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
“I am sorry but you’re out of the game,” the computer said.
“Awwww man,” Baby blue cried.
“Since someone already got out, let’s move to the next station, which will be a question,” said the computer. “If you are the color of the sky, you will know how many times the Earth spins around in one year.”
“I think I know the — ” Blue got interrupted by Turquoise.
“We are not supposed to be a team, remember?” Turquoise added.
“Oh yeah, I forgot,” Blue said with her sad voice again.
“Write your answer down on a piece of paper and put it in this box,” said the computer while pointing his fake finger at the box. “Royal Blue, your answer is correct, Light blue, I am sorry, but your answer was incorrect, Blue your answer is correct, Gray your answer is incorrect, I am sorry. Sky blue your answer is correct, White your answer is correct, now last but not least Turquoise your answer is…”
Chapter 5: Your Answer Is…
“Correct!!! Good job everyone, the correct answer was 365!” said the computer.
“Ok, at the beginning of Round 2, we had 7 players, now we only have 5 players!” White said, sounding kind of happy.
“Only 3 more rounds left,” added the computer. “Now, let’s move on to the next round which will be an obstacle,” said the computer. “The sky is full of birds and dust so you have to get through all of that without goggles. Let’s begin!”
“WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH! SOOOO MUCH AIR IN MY EYES!!!” yelled Royal Blue. “AHHHHHHHHHHHH I AM FLYING AWAY!!!”
“Royal Blue, you are out of the game, I am sorry,” said the computer.
“AHHHHHHHHHH!!!” yelled Sky Blue.
“I am sorry, but Sky Blue, you are eliminated.” The computer made it clear that Sky blue was out. “Are you ready for the next question?”
“We’re ready!” the competitors said.
“Alright, let’s begin,” said the computer. “If you are the color of the sky, you must know a lot about clouds so in this question you have to tell me something about clouds. White you go first.”
“Clouds taste like cotton candy!” said White.
“I’m sorry, but that is incorrect,” the computer said. “Blue, your turn.”
“Clouds are heavy because they’re filled with tons and tons of water.”
“Good job Blue, that is correct,” the computer said. “Turquoise, your turn.”
“Clouds are slow, slower than a sloth,” answered Turquoise.
“I am sorry Turquoise, but that is an incorrect answer.”
“Hello, I am Violet, and I am the color of the sky!”
Chapter 6
The computer said, “Sometimes, people think that the color of the sky is purple. And some people think that the color of the sky is blue. So, you guys both win!”
“No, I want to win!” said Violet.
“Okay, you take the trophy and all the money!” said Blue. Blue walked home to see her best friend Turquoise sitting on the steps.
Excerpt from The Traveler’s Book of the Burrow with notes from N. Leo:
What exactly is the burrow?
The burrow is a city on a planet that floats just at the boundaries of a black hole.
It is sometimes on the ground and sometimes in the sky*1.
It can fly and has lots of entrances.
One entrance is the gate.
Most people enter the burrow from the gate.
The gate is a tall arch with lasers that can be sealed like a fence.
On top of the arch are the guard posts that house superheroes*2.
It is a part of a laser wall which encircles the burrow.
Inside people that want to go inside are signed up and inspected to make sure that they are peaceful.
Everyone who is peaceful is allowed in the burrow*3.
The second kind of entrance is multiple ports which only some people may fly into.
There are holes in the laser wall like doors that let ships in when the burrow is airborne and cars when it is not.
They often connect to people’s houses.
Inside the burrow has four sections.
The living section, which is composed of flat laser streets in which people drive in anti-gravity speeders, and houses which are sometimes connected to ports below them.
The trading section is where all people socialize and all the businesses and schools are there.
The burrows gates lead directly there.
The criminal section, otherwise known as the vault, where all the captured supervillains live in laser houses and are served casha for every meal.
And the burrow section, which is dominated by the burrow, is a vast building with 2948 floors, 50*4 of which are known commonly.
20 floors are contributed to guests, or superheroes.
Level 3 and above burrow citizens all have private quarters here.
That is the burrow*5.
Who are notable characters of the burrow?
Doctor Bunny:
Doctor Bunny is a cunning mad scientist who is one of the four mad scientists of the burrow.
He is the general of the bunny army and has led three bunny crusades.
He is a level 3 burrow citizen and lives at monkey street in the living section.
His house is connected to port 3-A5 A.K.A the Port of the Bunny.
Doctor Wolf:
Doctor Wolf”s personality can be described as radioactive.
He is another one of the four mad scientists of the burrow.
He is obsessed with everything radioactive and is the author of AnOde to Radiation by D. Wolf *6.
He is also the author of many other books including the Famous Guide to Mutants by D. Wolf*6.
He is a level 7 burrow citizen and lives on Beast Street in the living section.
Nice Leo:
Nice Leo is a substitute teacher at Sheep School Elementary.
He is another of the four mad scientists of the burrow.
He loves robots and has a special ability of resurrection.
He is the author of A Day in Sheep School by N. Leo.
He loves reading books and lives on necron street in the living section and is a level 3 citizen.
Rescue:
Rescue is the sole level 6 citizen of the burrow.
She lives in the burrow and leads the four departments.
She has wrote laws 30-40*7 in the burrow book of laws.
The Sheep;
Not much is known about the Sheep.
They were there when the founder of the burrow came and built the burrow.
They are as old as Nice Leo*8.
They live in the burrow.
Their citizen level is unknown.
What are the 7 levels of citizens?
In the burrow, all people who have ever signed up have a level pass.
This shows where they live, what responsibilities they have, and what their authority ID is.
It ranges from 1-7, 1 being the least authority, and 6 being the highest.
1: low level: guest
2: common level: citizen
3: advanced level: active citizen
4: very advanced level: member of the governing of the burrow
5: elite level: high-ranking member of the governing of the burrow
6: supreme level: leader of the burrow.
7: special level: potentially dangerous citizens
The known floors of the burrow (uncompleted)
1=lobby: a huge room with some couches and tables where people wait to be received.
A desk at which a superhero sits and receives people.
An elevator.
A gate (common entrance of the burrow).
2-5=meeting floor: contains 100 meeting rooms in which the inhabitants of the burrow meet.
Details of the rooms vary.
6-10=bunker floor: a large floor made of pure adamantium.
Contains food supplies, self defense weapons, and entertainment for up to a year for 50 people.
11-13=the bedrooms: all level 3 citizens and above have bedrooms here.
Sheep sleeps here.
Rooms serve as storage, temporary to permanent housing, (people’s houses get destroyed a lot).
And many other functions.
All rooms have elevators connected to them.
14=nature floor: a huge room with walls made of towering trees.
Contains a clean grassy area which is perfect for picnics, a rocky slope for rock climbing that has an overlook to a stream coming from the burrow drinking water channel that leads to a pond.
Burrow citizens can swim here with the ducks in clean water.
Level 5 citizens may choose to live in vast tree houses here*9.
It did not work out very well. (see: the airborne burrow)
2*: not very good ones in my opinion because the burrow gets destroyed 3 days a week.
3*: if necrons and orks are peaceful, everyone is.
4*: actually, at the start of the first bunny crusade, I had an adventure and discovered some more.
5*: some of it at least.
6*: they are good books.
7*: also law 41 which states that all living things in the universe are moose, which I helped make but that statement/law/religion got destroyed after the mooseian heresy.
8*: which he is not in my opinion.
Come on!
He is in 2nd grade!
In sheep school.
9*: when will I be a level 5 citizen!
When!!!
Part 2: When Moose Attack (Short Story)
Nice Leo was walking down the street when this story started. Sheep was walking beside him. Suddenly, Nice Leo saw a huge cinder block falling from the sky right on top of Sheep. Smash!!! Nice Leo gasped. He ran to the nearest superhero.
“Sheep just got crushed by a giant cinder block!”
“Oh my god, we need to tell everybody!” said the superhero. He started running around and telling everyone.
Nice Leo heard: “Moooooooo, mo, mooo!”
The moose ambassador was standing over the sheep.
Oh no! thought Nice Leo. Sheep is their emperor! (See part 3: bonus information.) Soon, almost half the burrow was in Doctor Monkey’s hospital.
“I — I — I am afraid he has stopped breathing!”
Everyone gasped. Doctor Wolf spoke.
“Sheep has been eaten by zombies, zapped with laser guns, starved, and he never died!”
“How could he be dead now?”
“I am sorry, but he has stopped breathing!” said Doctor Monkey.
“That’s right, he is totally dead so there is no need at all to look at him any more,” Doctor Bunny said with his ears back. Everyone was too busy crying to hear him.
Nice Leo noticed two things.
One, that sheep teacher and no one from sheep school was here, and two, that if the moose admiral found out about this, he might think that the burrow had purposely assassinated the sheep.
Nice Leo’s fears were confirmed as he saw through the security cameras that seven moose marines and the moose admiral were coming into the burrow.
“Hello, what business do you have — boooooooooooooom!!!”
The welcoming superhero had asked that question and was incinerated in a flash of laser power as one of the moose marines shot his firearm at them.
“Meh, meneh, meneeeeeee!” said the moose admiral.
“The moose are attacking!!!!” Nice Leo screamed. Soon everyone was panicking, rushing to their homes or the bunker floor. Nice Leo caught a glimpse of a huge mooseonaght ravaging the burrow defense force. He had to help the burrow defense force! He took a laser cannon and power sword and went to battle against the moose. He ran into a clearing and saw a huge mooseonaght smashing a superhero against a house while three more fired at it, the repulsor beams simply pinging off it.
“Death to the moose!” Nice Leo screamed and shot his laser cannon. The laser cannon had sufficient power to slightly annoy the mooseonaght. It turned its head and Nice Leo threw his power sword at it. Now, it was really annoyed. Nice Leo ran for his life as the mooseonaght chased him. He ran straight into one of the moose marines. He took out his power sword and he and the moose marine engaged in a furious sword duel. Then he saw the lumbering mooseonought behind him and he ran away. Eventually he reached his home. Or what used to be his home. It had been reduced to flaming wreckage. And the sheep class, including Sheep, were standing in front of it.
“B — But you”re dead, Sheep,” said Nice Leo.
“Sheep not dead!” said Sheep.
Sheep teacher spoke. “Um… Nice Leo, we were going on a field trip.”
“But Sheep got crushed by a cinder block!” Nice Leo said.
“Oh yeah, that?” said Doctor Bunny, coming there. “That was my Sheepotron 2000.” Everyone glared at Doctor Bunny. “What, is it my fault that the moose invaded?
The end
Part 3: The Best day Ever (short story)
Excerpt from The Complete Records of the Burrow by D. Wolf:
Doctor Wolf inspected his new mutant.
“Two little tentacles,” he decided, and pressed the “growtentacles” button. It was weekends like this that he loved. He could just sit in his lab all day, writing books and creating new mutants, and on the best of days, releasing them in the living section. It was very entertaining to watch how they developed. But today was going to be the best day ever! He had finished developing his newest creation, the psy-alpha! He wrote in his diary.
Dear Diary,
Today is going to be the best day ever!
The tentacle and eyeball mutants are developing well and I just can”t wait to release the psy-alpha!
More tomorrow, D. Wolf.
Then he got up and said to himself: “Now it is time to release the psy alpha. How about I release it near Nice Leo’s house? He screams with joy every time he sees one.”
Doctor Wolf brought the cage to Nice Leo’s house, went back to his lab, and opened it digitally.
These sounds in this order came from Nice Leo’s house:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SMASH!!
GLORP GLORP!
MUNCH MUNCH!
“He must have loved it!” said Doctor Wolf. A floating brain with one huge glowing eye and lots of green tentacles burst from the roof of Nice Leo’s house. “Shame about his house though,” Doctor Wolf remarked. The burrow alarm sounded and squads of superheroes started firing at the psy-alpha. “Now what are they sounding the alarm for?” Doctor Wolf wondered. The psy-alpha sent a bolt of psychic energy that reduced a squad of superheros to ruin. “Awwww, your first psy-bolt!” Doctor Wolf cooed. Nice Leo came up the steps to Doctor Wolf’s observatory.
“WHAT WERE YOU DOING YOU, LOUSY WOLF?!” Nice Leo bellowed.
“I gave you a present! It’s over there eating a squad of superheros!” Nice Leo took a laser gun and shot at the psy-alpha. Its psy-shield deflected it and it rammed through Nice Leo’s brain. As Nice Leo fell to the floor, Doctor Wolf said: “It does not like when you shoot at it Nice Leo.”
Rescue and five more squads of superheros came directed concentrated fire at the psy-alpha. One of Nice Leo’s surrogate bodies came up the stairs. The psy-alpha vaporized Nice Leo’s house where a superhero was hiding.
“My poor house!” Nice Leo cried. Finally, the psy-alphas shields failed and it was blasted to pieces.
“Awwwwwwwwwwwwww… ” Doctor Wolf said.
“Maybe Nice Leo doesn’t like mutants. Next week I will release the eyeball monster near Doctor Bunny’s laboratory! He must love mutants.”
Part 4: The Tech Club (short story)
Excerpt from The Complete Records of the Burrow by D. Bunny:
Doctor Bunny checked the time. It’s time for the tech club! he thought. His doorbell rang. Doctor Wolf, the moose ambassador, and Nice Leo were there. Five minutes later, they were all sitting inside.
“Today, we will be playing with dangerous explosive chemicals!” Doctor Bunny announced.
“Mooo, moooo, moo, mooo, Mooooooo, mooooo!” exclaimed the moose ambassador.
“Yes, that is very important, everyone. Do not let fire get anywhere near the chemicals!” Doctor Bunny said. Nice Leo tried to build an explosive charge lobbing cannon.
“And so I put the fire ball next to the explosive chemicals and-” Nice Leo said.
“Don’t do that — ” Kaaaaabooooooom!!!
“I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THAT!” Doctor Bunny yelled.
“But it was such a good idea!” Nice Leo said.
“Moooo, moo, mooo!” said the moose ambassador.
“He wants to go next,” Doctor Bunny said. The moose ambassador took out a metal rod.
“Mooo, mooooo, mooooooooooo, moooooo, mooooooooo, moooooooo,” said the moose ambassador. He pressed a button on the rod and two hollow stones filled with the explosive chemical rocketed upwards. Then the rod sent out a plume of flame. The rocks exploded and flaming chemical coated bits of rock rained everywhere.
The first explosion was followed by more as those pieces of rock exploded and rained more. Three minutes later, Doctor Bunny’s living room had been reduced to flaming wreckage. After Doctor Bunny had finished yelling, it was Doctor Wolf’s turn. What looked like a large fleshy balloon with a lighter stuck in it floated into the room.
“This is a miniature homing bomb,” said Doctor Wolf. “It is full of explosive chemicals, it follows its target and when it finds it ignites the lighter stuck into its side which makes it go boom!”
“That’s cool, um, who is it set to now?” said Doctor Bunny.
“You!” said Doctor Wolf.
Kkkkkkaaaatttthhhhhooomm!!! After Doctor Bunny’s resurrection, they continued. It was Doctor Bunny’s turn.
“I made an explosive sword,” he said. “It is an explosion proof sword that is coated in explosive chemicals. When it hits another weapon, it explodes and destroys the other weapon and anything else in the vicinity. But you are not harmed because it comes with explosion proof power armor!”
Doctor Bunny put the explosion proof power armor and hit Nice Leo’s unsuccessful invention with it. KRACK! Nice Leo’s invention was gone.
After that, they had steak with mushroom salad and caramel cake for dessert. Then, Doctor Bunny said goodbye and everyone left.
“See you next week,” Doctor Bunny said.
That night when Doctor Bunny wanted to douse the fire, he saw a peculiar huge jug of what looked like water, labeled: fire extinguisher. “Hmmmmm, I don’t remember this,” said Doctor Bunny. “Well, I might as well use it to extinguish the fire!”
The last sound that night was the explosion of a jug full of explosive chemicals being poured into a fire.
“That’s what you get for incinerating my house last tech club when we were playing with disintegration beams,” Nice Leo muttered at his house.
Jack was 15 years old and he loved to play soccer. One day, he went to the park to shoot goals against his brother, Miller.
Miller was the goalkeeper. Jack said, “You’re too good a goalkeeper, I can’t score on you.” Miller said that he can teach Jack how to shoot the ball harder and curve the ball. After just two weeks of training with Miller, Jack knew how to shoot the ball harder and curve the ball. Jack entered the travel team tryout. After the tryout, his mom got him sushi because he loved sushi so much.
After two weeks of waiting for the results, Jack finally got them. He made it on the A team, which is the harder league. Jack was so happy. The day after that, he practiced and practiced till 6:30. Then, he went to play his soccer match. Jack’s team, the Panthers, was losing to the Tigers 3-1. Right at the last minute, Jack kicked the ball into the net with so much curve and power it hit the goalkeeper’s hand, but still went in, and the ball left red marks on the goalkeeper’s hands. It was now 2-3.
When there were 30 seconds left in the game, Jack scored a goal because the goalkeeper was looking at birds instead of watching the game and it was tied!! The game ended as a tie. The Tigers said goodbye to the Panthers and they all went home. Jack had sushi again for dinner, but when he woke up the next morning, he had a stomach ache. Jack thought about where it could have been from, and then he remembered the sushi!!!
Chapter 2
Jack went to play soccer, but his stomach hurt so much, he had to take a rest. But he also needed to keep practicing.
He had a game at 8:30 in the morning. Once he was done getting ready, he went to the soccer game and he started playing. He scored the first goal during the 25th minute, and then he got subbed out because he got tired. A while later, he got subbed in. Then, the other team scored and it was tied 1-1. Ten minutes later, it was half time. Jack got to rest for a bit after halftime. The other team almost scored, but Jack’s goalkeeper saved it and it was a close goal. Jack scored a goal but it didn’t count because he did a bicycle kick. The best player on the other team scored two goals and won. Jack was mad at himself. His coach said that it was okay that his team lost but Jack knew he could have done better.
Chapter 3
Jack went to his first team practice. He did shooting drills and he aced the shooting even on his best goalie. When Jack went home, he saw on his computer a 95-rated player. Jack saw that he was worth $30,000. The next day, Jack went to his coach to ask him to buy the player, but the coach said he was too expensive. Jack mentioned that $30,000 was cheap for a 95-rated player and that the average money for a 95-rated player is double that money. But still, the coach said no. Jack went home sad, but then he had an idea. All of a sudden, Jack was very excited, and once he got home, he went on a website that said record your overall soccer rating. Jack clicked the record button and tried his hardest to get his rating. After that, he submitted his video. The program said to wait an hour for the results, so he passed the time by playing soccer. Then, when he went in to get the results, it said that he was a 99-rated overall.
Chapter 4
Jack could not believe his eyes. He wanted to show the coach the results but it was 9:30 and the sky was dark. Jack’s max outside limit was till 10:30 PM. He had to make the trip quick to the coach’s house. He went to the coach’s house and the coach said, “OMG, your rating is off the charts.”
“Look at my soccer net worth, Coach,” Jack said.
“Holy mama,” said the coach. “You’re worth 100,000 market value, sheesh!!!” Jack just got home at the last minute and his mom was surprised he made it back in time. Jack showed his brother, Miller. Miller was proud of Jack.
He said, “If you keep practicing, you’ll become a 105.”
“You think so?” said Jack.
“Yeah,” said Miller. “Let’s go to bed.”
“‘Kay,” said Jack. “Bye.”
Chapter 5
When Jack woke up, he went to his game at 8:30. He could not wait till he won. When Jack got to the game, he started playing. He scored two goals. The first goal, Jack vollied the ball into the net. The second goal, he scored by curving the ball into the goal. Jack’s team won 2-0. It was time for the team’s payment. Jack’s manager paid him $100,000. Everyone else on the team and the manager were paid $50,000. When Jack got home, his family was not making enough money. Jack’s mom said that he needed to get more money from soccer.
Jack said, “What is your job paying you?”
“Not enough money,” his mom said.
“What about Dad?”
“Also not enough,” said Jack’s mom. Jack did not want to do this but he had to.
Chapter 6
Jack told his manager he was going to another team that would give him more money.
“It’s called Manchester City,” he said to his manager.
“What?!” said the manager. “You can’t leave. I’ll give you $500,000 instead of $100,000.”
“Nope, Manchester City is giving me $100,000,000.”
“What the?!? How rich are they?”
“Very rich, said Jack. “Now, see you in the finals tomorrow against Manchester City.”
Jack got home and he saw his mom and dad finding new jobs. His mom got a job as a cook because she loved cooking and she was good at cooking. His dad got a job as a worker for the same restaurant as Jack’s mom.
The next day at the cup final, it was Jack’s old team versus Manchester City, his new team. Jack scored the first goal, and it was a long shot from 30 yards out. Jack’s old team thought they were going to lose. One of Jack’s old team players fouled someone badly and got a red card, so he had to get off the field and sit on the bench. Jack’s old team scored. It was a tie, so they went on to penalties. Jack’s new team won the penalties and won the cup. Jack was so happy. Jack got his payment of $100,000,000. Jack showed his family the check, and they were so proud of him.
Miller asked Jack to go to the park. Jack said that it was 5:00 in the morning. Miller just said to go to the park with him. Jack said okay and went with him. He saw two people waiting for Jack. They asked to practice soccer with them. Jack said okay. He shot, and he scored five goals against them. Jack asked why Miller got these goalies to shoot on him. Miller told him at his next game, he was going to have a hard time scoring because they had a good goalie. When it was time for Jack’s game, he broke his leg shooting on the other team and had to sit out. Jack helped the coach for his team and his team won. When he got home, his mom and dad were devastated that his leg broke.
Sam got another fail on his English work. He started to get furious. He really, really, really now wanted to get A+’s on his English and art classes, but then the teacher said, “Next test is going to get really, really hard.”
Sam went home and showed his family his grade. His older sister, Angelica, offered to help Sam with art. She helped him draw some pictures and helped him mix colors and hold the paintbrush correctly. Then, his little brother, Matthew, helped Sam with his reading and writing; together, they put together sentences until Sam felt ready to take the next test. He got an A. It wasn’t an A+, but it was better than an F-! Sam was a little upset and also kind of nervous about passing class and getting into a good college.
Then, Sam was doing sports, but when he was in gym class, he threw the football and got tackled by a big senior football player. His wrist and ankle were hurt really badly. The next day for his art project, Sam had to paint a perfect landscape. But the problem was he couldn’t hold the brush the way Angelica showed him too. His wrist hurt so much that his hand slipped and he accidentally drew a funny line in the wrong spot. When the teacher asked him what it was, he told her that it was an airplane. Sam turned in his painting and he was surprised when he got it back. He got an A+!
Chapter 2
When he told his family, they were so excited for him, but also confused. Angelica asked him why he had painted a big green line on his landscape.
“Well I was drawing and my wrist was twisted so I accidentally messed up the paints. So I told the teacher it was a plane,” said Sam. Angelica was confused, since there weren’t any green planes, but she was happy for Sam anyway.
So then Sam said, “What do you think the next test is going to be?”
When he found out, he wasn’t happy. It was the highest level of writing. He had to write the hardest words into 18 sentences in 30 seconds. “What?! I can’t do that, my wrist is twisted!”
Sam took the test and was super nervous, but he thought about all of the hard work he’d put in and remembered how scary it was when his family was sick, and so he said to himself, No, I’m not giving up! I can do it!
Sam tried really hard and, surprisingly, he got an A+! He was so happy he told his family and they were all super excited for him.
“How did you do it?” his younger sister asked.
“A lot of practice and help from your family pays off,” Sam said.
Chapter 3
The next day, it was Sam’s worst day. His first thing was sports and he had to play tennis. He tried to swing his racket with his hurt wrist, but he did it wrong and it broke! Then, when Sam had his test, he had to write for two hours without stopping.
“Oh no!” Sam said, but the teacher said, “No help!”
Sam got an F. He felt really sad and worried. What if he didn’t pass the class?! He really wanted to get into a good college.
Then Sam had math and he said, “Phew! Finally something I’m good at!”
But he was wrong. The math was super hard:
(85,000 – 12 + 6) / 12 = 7,082.833
“You have to show your thinking!” the teacher said. Then Sam told the teacher his wrist was broken. The teacher said, “Alexandra! Come! We need your expertise.” Alexandra came over and helped Sam write. Sam told her what he wanted to write with his fingers and she wrote it all down on the paper.
Sam didn’t know it, but Alexandra messed up one of his answers. Sam got a B+ and he blamed Alexandra. Sam was so upset at Alexandra.
He went to the teacher and said, “Alexandra messed up my answers on purpose!” The teacher asked Alexandra if this was true.
Alexandra said, “No!”
“You’re lying,” the teacher said. “Apologize to Sam.” The teacher knew that Sam would never mess up answers on a math test. “Sam gets an A,” the teacher said. “And Alexandra gets… an F!”
“Woohoo!” Sam said.
When Sam went home he told his parents and they were so excited for him. They asked him a math problem:
“Wow! You’re really good at math!” his parents said. The parents couldn’t even put into words how good he was. “You’re even smarter than a computer! We had to look the answer to that question up.”
Sam felt satisfied. He for sure knew that he’d pass and get into a good college — at least he hoped he would.
Chapter 4
The next day, when Sam had his third to last test, Sam was nervous but also a little excited.
He asked his mom, “Do you think I’ll do well on my test?”
“I think you’ll do great.”
Sam wanted to make friends with everyone in his class. He went up to a girl he didn’t know and asked, “Do you want to be friends with me?” Sam asked. Surprisingly, the girl, Annabell, said yes! Within two minutes, they were friends. Sam felt really happy, but not happy enough. He still had 29 more people to make friends with. He didn’t want to get excited too soon.
He walked over to someone else when suddenly someone else asked if he wanted to be friends.
Sam said, “Of course!” His new friend’s name was Max. Wow that was easy. It only took one minute!
The same thing happened with everyone else in the class. The last one took six minutes, but now Sam was friends with everyone in the class. He knew everyone’s names and could call out, “Corey, come here!” or “Max, I need help!” or “Annabell, I need help!”
The next day, when he needed help, some of Sam’s new friends didn’t want to help him, but he was happy that twenty of the other ones did. They took their last test, and the teacher said Sam passed! And all of his friends passed! They were so excited they could all burst into flames!
Chapter 5
On Sam’s summer break, he was excited. He wanted to relax, and he was happy there were no more tests for now. He swam at the pool, talked to all of the friends that he’d made, watched movies, and had a lot of fun. However, he was so busy relaxing that he forgot everything his brother and sister had taught him about art and english. Sam asked his brother and sister if they would help teach him again. They said they would, as long as he promised not to forget again. After studying, Sam was ready to go to college.
When Sam got to college, he met his roommate for the first time. His roommate was named Jamie.
“Hey, what do you like?” Sam asked.
“I like sports,” Jamie said. “Football is my favorite.”
“Really? Me too!” said Sam. “What are you good at?”
“Art and English,” Jamie said.
“What are you bad at?” Sam asked.
“Math and science,” Jamie said.
Sam said, “Oh, it’s the opposite for me. Maybe we can help each other?”
“Sure!” Jamie said. “I’ve got a pretty hard math problem here.”
The problem was impossible, but eventually Sam figured it out. Three years in college have passed.
Chapter 6
The next day, Sam had a good feeling about it because he was already just four weeks away from being one with college. He was so excited he told his roommate Jamie, but Jamie was still asleep. Sam went back to sleep and woke up later to go eat breakfast. When they got back to their room, they were relaxing and working on their tests. Then they turned their “Everything You Know” tests in and got A+’s. Sam and Jamie both got really excited to tell their parents, but then they remembered their mom and dad weren’t there and got sad. They never thought they would get so many A’s and A+’s.
Next was sports, and Sam broke his arm. He had to wear it in a cast. When he took his next test Jamie had to write it for him. But the teacher realized that it was Jamie’s handwriting and not Sam’s and gave him an F. Sam told her that his arm was broken, but she said that there was still no help allowed. Sam was sad. He really wanted to graduate and go to a good work.
Sam was so sad he didn’t even realize that two weeks passed and now it was the Fourth of July. He wanted to go see fireworks with Jamie. They went to see fireworks and he had never seen such cool fireworks before. When he got back Sam got a little letter from a teacher that said, “Hope you feel better soon.”
Sam had a test the next day, but he was super tired from staying up too late on the Fourth of July. Usually he slept late, but Sam had so much work to do. Sam really wanted to take a nap, so he asked his roommate if he would do his homework but he said no. At dinner, Sam left dinner.
“Really? You’re falling asleep before dinner? It’s only four o’clock.”
“Yeah,” Sam said. Sam left.
“Okay, I’ll be in the cafeteria.”
The next day was the second to last day of school. He felt so happy. He had to take a test but he didn’t care. He just had to draw his picture of Costa Rica in less than one hour.
When Jamie came back, Sam asked, “How is your day?”
“Fine, but I need your help with this math test,” Jamie said. Sam looked at the problem. It was 10 x 85. Sam looked at the paper and saw that the answer was 850.
“850,” Sam said.
“Thank you!” Jamie said. “How did you solve that?”
“I just know that when you multiply by ten you just add a zero to the end of the bigger number.”
“Oh! I’ll use that next time.”
The next day was the last day of college. Sam was more excited than excited. Sam and Jamie went to the graduation party. When they saw it, Jamie said, “Wow! How could they put together such an amazing party!?”
“I guess college has its little secrets,” Sam said. Then they started partying and lost track of time. Then it was dinner time. They’d skipped lunch so they ate a big dinner. The next day he went to his first day of work at Einstein Lab. Sam was so happy he had his first job! He moved back to the town where his family lived and they never had to worry about medicine or getting sick ever again.
Tommy groaned as he sat down in his cage. He looked at Joseph, who was playing with his toys as if they were the best things in the world. Joseph was a little brown rat that had a light pink nose and tiny little whiskers. He was like the opposite of Tommy in every single way.
Tommy was a black mouse with a light brown nose and long whiskers. See what I mean? But, also, Joseph loved humans, and Tommy absolutely despised them. Tommy decided to start a conversation with him, even though he had just met him.
“So… uh, you hate humans, don’t you?”
“No.”
“Well… you want to escape, right?”
“No.”
“Don’t you think this place is boring?”
“No.”
“Hmph.”
Tommy asked Joseph to write some things down. Well, that’s one of the things he likes, Tommy thought, watching Joseph. Tommy began explaining his escape plan. “So, you know the human’s laundry chute, right? We’ll sneak into their clothes that go down the chute, and then quickly scamper out.” Joseph looked like he was about to say something, but didn’t.
“Hm… how do we get out of the cage though?”
“W — I’m still figuring that out.”
“Hm,” Joseph said, and then looked out of their cage.
The next day, their tiny human came and showed them a sweater. “Human human! Hu — ! Human!” She showed them the sweater again. “I think she wants us to wear it,” Tommy whispered to Joseph. Joseph ran over to the cage and looked at her as if to say, Me first! Me first!
The human picked Joseph out of the cage and put the sweater on him. Next, it was Tommy’s turn. He was picked up (and he kicked and squirmed a lot) and the sweater was put on. He had to admit, it was warm. But he tried not to show that to Joseph. After that, the human plopped the sweater in their cage, and that gave Tommy an idea. Their owner’s parents did not really care about them, so they would not listen when their child talked about the rodents. They just said things like, “Yes,” and, “We know.”
So, the rats would hide in the sweater, the girl would ask her parents where the rats were, she would assume they let them out to play, while they went down the laundry chute to paradise!!!
Tommy immediately told his plan to Joseph. “What if the girl sees us in the sweater? And how will we both fit?” Joseph asked.
“Well, if she finds out, we go to plan B.”
“What’s that?”
“Paw helplessly at the cage till she lets us out, and then we slide down the laundry chute.”
Joseph looked at him skeptically.
* * *
Welp, as you can see, Tommy and Joseph were now pawing helplessly at the cage, waiting to get out.
Tommy saw the human coming towards them. “She’s coming!” He whispered excitedly.
The girl only had to look at them pawing at the cage a few times, and let them out. “Now come on!”
They ran to the laundry chute, the girl running after them calling, “Human! Ma — Human!!”
But they had already jumped down the chute. They could hear the girl crying behind them.
Still, they had other things to worry about. This was like a water slide — with no water! Tommy and Joseph felt like their tails were on fire. Thankfully, they fell down on the ground. When they looked up, they saw the wonderful eyes of a c — eyes of a cat???
The cat walked towards them, pushing them against the wall. “This. Is. My. Alley!” she growled.
“Oh-h-hello cat. I’m going to call you — Waffles.” He did not want to admit it, but he felt a little scared. She growled louder. “Have mercy, Waffles! We just escaped from our home!” She scraped her claw against the ground and looked at it.
“But if I don’t catch you, I’ll starve in the winter!” For a moment, she looked sad. Then her regular, terrifying stare came back. She started chasing them all around the alley. Then, Joseph spotted an air vent up high. They climbed up and went through. They had escaped Waffles. After a little while, they came out of the vents and landed in a grocery store. Once they explored a bit, they had to dodge a few feet from stepping on them and crushing them, you know, normal day.
After that, an old human with a broom came, and once he saw them, he looked at them as if they were the weirdest things in the world. Then, he started bashing his broom against the floor. They ran behind the shelves and jumped behind the boxes. Then, when it looked like the humans were gone, they scampered out through the doors. They decided to take a little break on some white and black lines. They were both so exhausted from dodging things. Afterwards, they wanted to walk around a bit. But suddenly, a shiny red car with sharp tires came and almost sent them flying! If it weren’t for the human’s pants they were clinging onto, they never would have been able to be here again. The human crossed safely, and Tommy wondered how she did it. The human walked into the park, sat down somewhere, and rummaged in a backpack.
The only reason he knew what backpack meant was because their owner had shown it to them so much, and he sort of picked it up. Wait… that was their owner’s backpack! Tommy tried running away, and Joseph tried to follow, but his tail got stuck and he squeaked in pain. The owner suddenly looked at him, with a surprised look. Then, she noticed they were her pets. She picked up Joseph, rummaged in her backpack again, still looking at the mouse, and then pulled out the sweater. Tommy smacked his forehead. She thinks he’s going to fall for that? Ha! Tommy thought.
10 minutes later…
He fell for it??? Really? Ugh, Tommy thought. Right now, Tommy was being held (more tightly than he’d like) in his human’s hand. Joseph, on the other hand, was nuzzling the human and squeaking happily in his sweater. Great, she’s taking us back to her building. Tommy tried signaling to Joseph to do something about this. He started to get annoyed. After three minutes, he finally responded. He looked at the human for a little and then unexpectedly, almost bit her. But he hesitated at the end. The human dropped them in alarm. She screamed, which apparently got her parent’s attention, and they came running down. They shooed Tommy and Joseph away, and started looking at the bite. The two rodents ran forward, happy to be rid of the humans, and…. fell into a hole
* * *
Tommy blinked open his eyes. He saw a rat that looked just like Joseph.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing, ova’ here in our territory?”
“Joseph?”
“What? Oh, trying to stall are you?”
“You look like Joseph.”
“Joseph?” the rat replied. “How do you know Joseph? He was my brother, I thought he died!!” Tommy sat up, immediately wide awake.
“Your… brother??” he asked incredulously. Before the rat could answer, an older rat came up behind her.
“Louisa, Joseph is here.”
Louisa froze and looked at him. “Joseph? I — is that you?” The old rat made way for Louisa. She looked at Joseph and almost leaped forward to hug him.
Then, she looked back and called, “ALLIE! Joseph is here!” A brown rat that looked just like Louisa came running, and hugged Joseph too. “I’ve missed you!” By now, Joseph had almost fallen down. Louisa and Allie stopped hugging him and he promptly fell backwards
“We’re your sisters!” they both said at the same time. “And twins!” they said together again as Joseph got up.
“Wait…” Tommy said. Everyone looked at him as if he just appeared out of thin air. He looked at them all and his jaw dropped. “You’re all family?”
“Yes, we’ve been missing Joseph so much. I’m Louisa, this is my twin Allie. Over here, is Grandma and Grandpa.” Louisa gestured to the old rats behind her. “Then we have Arthur, and Ash.”
Two rats with scars on their paws stepped up to Tommy and said, “Who’s this little mouse?” Arthur pushed Tommy backwards.
Before anything else could happen, Louisa stepped in and said, “Okay, calm down.” Suddenly, a gust of wind made Tommy stumble. Louisa looked up and said, “I’m sure it’s nothing. We’ll just take cover in case.” More gusts of wind blew through the sewers. It smelled so salty. They tried to find cover, but there was not much that they could use here. Tommy suddenly got blown up out of the sewers, but thankfully he was holding onto the grates of the storm drain. Still, he was slowly losing his grip. He saw Joseph’s family being blown away behind him. The wind was too strong, and he let go.
* * *
Tommy woke up with two black mice standing over him. He sat up and asked, “Who are you?”
“We’re your parents, Tommy!”
Tommy couldn’t believe his ears. “Parents?” he repeated.
The mice nodded their heads and looked to the right. “It seems you have brought friends with you.” Tommy followed their gaze. Joseph! he thought.
“Is he okay?” he asked his parents, standing up.
“Yes, yes. He’s perfectly fine. Just getting some sleep,” Tommy’s mother said. “His family has told us all about that snowstorm.”
Tommy rubbed his eyes, and looked at his parents one more time before walking outside. They were on a farm! There were fresh crops growing in the fields, beautiful flowers, and when Tommy turned to look back to where he had come from, he saw a huge red building, with magnificent white doors. The whole place looked amazing. Tommy had gotten his dream.
What are Ortho-K lenses? They are lenses that you wear at night. Every night, the lenses correct your eyesight, and in the morning you have the best eyesight possible. Although they’re expensive (about $2,000 – $4,000 dollars, plus the cost of equipment), kids should definitely wear these lenses. If your eyesight is growing worse, you should immediately wear these lenses. If you have good eyesight, you should still prepare to wear these lenses, because your eyesight will grow worse in the future. Plus, wearing Ortho-K lenses can help remove your eye problems.
So when should kids wear the lenses? Ortho-K is recommended for kids and teenagers, because that’s when people’s eyesight grows the most. By the time you are 22, your eyesight slowly stops growing, and you can decide if you want to continue wearing lenses, wear glasses, wear contact lenses, or have laser surgery. When you turn 24, the age when your eyesight stops growing, you can do what you decided to do.
Let’s learn some science behind Ortho-K lenses. Part of your eyeball is your cornea. If your cornea is attached to your eyeball, then you have great eyesight. If it’s far away from you eyeball, then it will be hard for you to see. During the night, when you are sleeping, the lens pushes your cornea closer to your eyeball. In conclusion, the lenses improve your eyesight. Remember, it will take a few days, about 3, before it will be completely good.
Author’s note: If you are planning to wear Ortho-K lenses, you can go to two places. One is in the Golden Horseshoe in Scarsdale. Although the place is less expensive than the other one (it’s around $2,000 dollars), it isn’t customized, making it not as safe. Ortho-K Specialty in Bayside, Flushing is more expensive ($4,000 dollars), since it has customized lenses. My doctor, Dr. Cho, told me the information in the first section.
Gardening Tips
Are your garden plants being eaten by bunnies? One way to get rid of them is to put powder, such as red pepper powder, around the plants or anywhere you feel like will be most effective. For more complicated experiments, check the resources at the end of this article.
Birds can eat some of your plants, too. Shiny objects scare them away. You can place DVDs, aluminum foil, or any other shiny objects around the plants. It can be dangling from a string, or just lying around. Getting a scarecrow might be another good idea.
Michael Phelps has won 28 medals in his life: 23 gold medals, 3 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals. 13 of the gold medals he won individually, and the other 10 were relays. During his career, Michael Phelps also set 39 world records — more than any other person.
Does anyone know what Michael Phelps’ best strokes are? Butterfly and freestyle. Although Micheal is very good at butterfly, he first learned how to do backstroke because, when he was young, he didn’t like putting his head in the water, so he just floated on his back.
Want to hear a really surprising fact? Michael Phelps can do 34 pullups!
You can also check out the video I put at the bottom of this article.
One day, a girl named Giselle came along and found a secret door in the woods. It was locked, so she looked in the bushes and she saw the key. She unlocked the door before she went in, and she looked around and saw her sister, Sydney. She said, “Sydney, come quick!” and ran as fast as she could. They saw someone outside and they shut the door super fast. “Where were you, I texted you?” Giselle whispered.
Sydney said, ”My phone was dead, I couldn’t text you back.”
They heard a loud THUMP, BOOM, BAM! Sydney quietly opened the door a tiny bit… it was big and scary… IT WAS A MONSTER!
The monster was green and yellowish. Giselle shut the door and Giselle was very scared. She screamed very loudly.
“Shhh! We don’t want anyone knowing where we are,” Sydney said. There was a big bug. Giselle hated bugs. She stepped on the bug — but she had her new Vans on, and they were rose gold. She was trying not to cry but she was really upset. Sydney was just on her phone paying no attention to her. Giselle quietly went out of the room. Sydney heard the door and she looked out and saw Giselle. Sydney ran to Giselle. The monster was trying to come for her but it walked too slowly. It had two legs like a human but it was big and walked super slow. Sydney was running as fast as possible.
Giselle said, “Sydney you were just on your phone the whole time!” Sydney and Giselle were scared, but she tried to stay calm because the monster was right behind them. They finally escaped, but the monster kept following them, but they weren’t scared because they got used to it, though they still didn’t like it.
“OMG, runnnn, ahhh! It’s coming for us!” Sydney said.
“Shhh, mom is probably worried! Hurry, hope we don’t get lost!” Giselle said.
“Quickly, someone’s calling me,” Sydney said. “It’s probably mom, but keep running.”
“I see something weird farther up! Oh, it’s a book, I’m gonna pick it up,” Giselle said.
“No, just keep running. Ahhh! Help, the monster got me!” Sydney yelled.
“Sydney, I’m gonna dump water on it so it lets go of you. 1, 2, 3, splash!”
“Okay, keep running faster this time. I see rainbow!” Sydney said.
“Just pay attention! You don’t want to get caught by the monster again, right?”
“Just keep going! Don’t pay attention to anything else for the last time!”
“Okay, Giselle, now focus and keep running faster” said Sydney.
Sydney said, “Stop bossing me around all the time, Giselle!”
They both yelled, “Ahhhhhh! The monster runs as fast as possible! Faster!”
Giselle and Sydney were both scared. They ran as fast as they could, trying to get away from the monster, but it was too slippery. The monster picked both of them up off of the ground, but the two girls slipped right out of the monster’s hands. The monster was about to eat them, they were out in time! He put his hands right to his mouth but they weren’t there; they were running farther from the monster.
Chapter 2
They were hungry because they hadn’t eaten anything in 24 hours, they were starving! They had camp the next day but they missed it because they didn’t make it home in time. They needed to have a snack or something, they could be like a human that never got full, that was how hungry they were. They were trying to find food but they were still running as the monster came along. They were trying to get back home but they didn’t know where it was.
“Oh no, Mom’s calling me. I think she’s worried. I’m gonna answer… “
Mom asked where they were. Sydney said Isabella had asked for a sleepover for 9 days, and she also said they were playing a game of checkers so that she actually believed it because she didn’t want her mom to know that they were lost. They tried to call Isabella and tell her if her mom calls and asks if they’re there or having a good time say, just say YES.
Mom didn’t know that they were lost in the woods. They knew where Isabella’s house was, so they decided to go come so their mom thought they were there the whole time.
“Giselle we’re going to Isabella’s house, turn around,” Sydney said. They did not walk too far but the monster showed up! “You can walk because it can’t jump,” Sydney said, and the branches and bushes they were walking through were poisonous to them and the monster because the monster was walking through it and it got small purple bumps on its slimy and gooey skin.
Their mom said that she was going to pick them up from Isabella’s house tomorrow because Isabella had dance, but she told her that she would go to dance with her so she was picking them up on the last day of this week. “We better hurry there, fast, run!” Giselle said. “We can stay for a while. We’ve never had a sleepover for this long. We are pretty far from her house. We have to run as fast as possible.”
“Giselle? Oh, come on, hurry, why are you behind me? You need to be next to me or in front of me or be behind me.”
“I don’t care anymore! Blah blah blah, whatever, I don’t care. We’re almost at Isabella’s house but it’s hot, we should get ice cream or an icy.”
“It’s very hot and I’m starving! When we get to Isabella’s house, I’m gonna ask for something to eat, maybe even two whole watermelons. Welp, I’m starving, so why not, I’ll eat the whole watermelon, except the skin.”
This ice cream was super good and creamy and cold. Since they were close to her house, they decided they should bike.
“Let’s go to the bike store! It’s right there. It’ll take like ten minutes,” Giselle said.
Gisella had gone here the other day. Her mom had called asking if Isabella could take them to school because they went to the same school and Mom was always so tired in the morning, and she said yes.
“I see Isabella’s house! It’s on the next block. We’re here! I’m gonna ring the doorbell,” Giselle said.
She opened the door, and Giselle said, “Hi.”
Isabella said “hi” back. She had two dogs, their names were Elinore and Frank. Frank was a pug and Elinore was a teacup. They went inside and washed their hands because they had been outside all day. Since they were so hungry, they had lunch and dinner at the same time. Since they were having a sleepover, they could stay up as long as they wanted, so they could play on their phones or maybe play Roblox or pottery life or pottery life HD. They could stay up all night! It would be so fun on their phones because remember, when they were at Isabella’s house, they could stay up all night.
“Where is Isabella?” Giselle asked.
“Oh, she is in the kitchen doing I don’t know what, I’m gonna go check. Hey, Isabella, what are you doing?” Sydney asked.
“I’m about to go to b — oh, right, we are staying up all night. But don’t you think it’s a little late to stay up? I’m a little tired.”
“Yeah, I guess I am a little tired, I’ll go let Giselle know,” Sydney said.
Chapter 3
Sydney asked Giselle if she thought they should tell Isabella about the — you know, monster. GIselle said she’d be scared or something like that. Sydney didn’t think she’d be scared. So she told Isabella and she obviously didn’t believe Sydney, but luckily she took a quick picture of the monster. Now she believed Sydney.
She was very scared and Sydney knew she was gonna scream so she covered Isabella’s mouth and told her to be quiet because no one could know about it except for them three. She asked why no one could know about it and Sydney told her,
“Because if anyone else knows about it, they will get attacked too, but don’t worry, you’re safe.” Then she whispered, “I think.”
Then Sydney told Giselle that she’d told Isabella and Giselle freaked out because she may get attacked but Sydney told her probably not because the monster could only hear things that are a regular tone but if it was a whisper, it could not hear what they were saying.
So if someone said something about the monster in a regular tone, it could hear and attack the people that knew about the monster. Since the monster was huge, it had huge body parts. The monster’s biggest body part was its ears, so it could listen to everything that was about it regularly.
Isabella was just putting her dishes in the sink. “I’ll be right there, I’m coming,” she said. She was putting her dishes in the sink.
“She’s coming and she’s getting water with ice in it,” Sydney told Giselle. “She has dance tomorrow, we’re doing it with her. She takes hip hop, the song she does is Tootsie Slide. It’s a good song. When Isabella comes in the room, she’s gonna teach us the dance. The dance has more moves than you think, oh, here she comes. Hi, Isabella, do you want me to play the song on my — “
“Yes, please, because my mom hid my phone, ok… “
“Now I’m hot from all that dancing, can I get some water?” Giselle asked.
“Yes, of course, mi casa es tu casa, right!” exclaimed Isabella. “Sydney, do you want anything?”
“Yes, please, can I have some iced tea?”
“Isabella said, “Perfect.”
Once it was bedtime, they ate dinner, took a shower, put on their pajamas, brushed their teeth, then went to bed. In the morning, they ate pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Then they watched Netflix. They watched To All The Boys: Always and Forever.
Sydney didn’t like that show so she was doing gymnastics in the living room. When they were done watching their little show, they decided to go to the movie theater to see A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place II, and before you say anything, Giselle is 17 and Isabella and Sydney were 16, so don’t come for them.
They took out their three-person bike, it was super cool. Giselle kept spilling the popcorn so Sydney held the popcorn. Then we went to the second movie and made it just in time for the movie.
She had a 1-person bike and a passenger bike. Once they got to the movie theaters, their mom called just to check in on them. They told her where they were and she told them to enjoy, then they all turned their phones off and took their seats. Sydney got the snacks, Giselle saved the seats and Isabella — well, Isabella ate all the snacks.
Sydney wasn’t scared the tiniest bit but Giselle was — the one screaming and spilling the popcorn, so Sydney held the popcorn instead, then Isabella said she had to go to the bathroom. 30 minutes later, she still wasn’t back, so Giselle went to check the bathroom and she wasn’t there. Sooner or later, Sydney got a text saying, “HELP!”
Sydney ran to the bathroom to tell Giselle and they ran outside and saw the monster about to put Isabella in i’s eye (which is where it eats from). They ran to punch the monster and it dropped Isabella out of its gross and slimy wet hands. When the monster dropped her, she was all wet and her white shirt was tinted a bright green and yellow. Once she was on the ground, a piece of the monster’s slimy skin fell onto Isabella and then grew back. They all were grossed out.
Chapter 4
They made a secret name for the monster, its name was Doug. From now on, if they were to even think about that monster, they would find a way to try to stop it, but if you did think about it, you had to tell the rest of the group because they all do most things together.
Giselle went to go write more of her book called Strikers, Author: Giselle McCraw, Illustrator: Chastity Hampton. She made her first book in 2018-2019. Now, she was working on her second book. The monster got a new power which was reading minds no matter where you were. So now they couldn’t think about the monster or else he would come to get them and eat them.
Tomorrow was supposed to be the day they got picked up but they still had the monster probl — Sydney gasped, then yelled for Isabella and Giselle. “ISABELLA, GISELLE! I SAID THE WORD THAT DOUG IS!” Sydney said.
“The m word,” Isabella said.
Sydney yelled, “YES, THAT ONE!”
“In the show I watched, I think we have to clap, clap, stomp, stomp, and say, ‘Keep the thing away!’ for it not to come.”
“Uhhhhh, Isabella, it may or may not be right behind you.”
She slowly turned around and screamed. Giselle, Isabella, and Sydney all yelled and clapped twice, stomped twice, and yelled, “Keep the thing away!” It roared and moved away as quickly as it could, but it was still super slow.
Today was the day they were going to picked up but they were gonna ask their mom if they could stay for two more weeks. She said, “Fine, but we have to be home by 9:30.”
Sydney said, “Fine,” but she didn’t tell Giselle until Giselle said,
“Sydney, we have to leave now.”
Sydney told her she was staying and she said, “Then I am too because won’t want to get hurt by the monster.”
The next couple of days, they went out for dinner. On their way back home, they encountered the monster.
Can you guess what happened next?
They unfortunately got eaten. There were so many more people in there. Isabella got lost and couldn’t find her mother when she was 12 but now they know where she was, in the monster’s stomach. Isabella gave her mom a huge hug but then realized it was the wrong person. They tried to climb out of its left eye but that didn’t work. They tried climbing out of its right eye and that kind of worked but they slid right back in and ZAP! They got zapped. Isabella got them free by sticking her shoe through its eye and put her sweater where they slipped. Then once they were all through, they grabbed all of their belongings and went home to get them all squeaky clean, but Isabella was on Giselle’s back because one of her shoes wasn’t clean. Giselle said, “Phew we’re home!” as she dropped Isabella off at her stop, which was her bed.
Chapter 5
Giselle wanted to watch some YouTube, but as usual, she ended up watching Netflix instead. Then Isabella got a call from her friend Mari (Short for Mariana) who moved to Miami with her mom. Her sister stayed in New York because she has a job and so did her dad. Mari surprised Isabella by FaceTiming her right in front of her door and just showing up by surprise. They were all now having a three-person sleepover together. Isabella was sleeping in her bed, Giselle was sleeping on Isabella’s Mom’s bed, and Mari was sleeping on the couch. Mari was sleeping over until Saturday and so were they (probably).
“We are leaving for dinner in 15 minutes” Isabella exclaimed. “We are going to Panera Bread, their food is sooooo good.”
They left to go to Panera Bread at 4:00 PM. They ended up leaving at 6:00 PM and got home around 6:30. They decided to have doughnuts for dessert and tomorrow, they were going to have ice cream. At 10:00 PM, they decided to go to bed because they had a long day. But also fun!
“Good night everyone, see you tomorrow!”
“Good morning, who wants pancakes!” Giselle, Isabella, and Sydney all woke up and thought,
Who is that? We have no one else in the house besides — Mari!
They got out of bed and went to the kitchen. “You’re making breakfast!”
Mari said, “Yep,” as the oven went ding! Mari said “Oh, the pão de queijo is ready.” Pão de queijo is brazilian cheese bread. Sydney then said,
“Como você está?” That meant, “How are you.”
And Mari said, “Eu estou bem.” That meant, “I’m fine,” and she said, “E você?” That meant, “And you.”
Sydney said the same thing that Mari said. Mari was Brazilian and Sydney learned a lot from her three friends, Gabriella, Beatrice, and Clara. They all went to her school. Giselle, Isabella, Mari, and Sydney all went to the same school, that was how they met each other. BOOM, THUMP, THUMP! Isabella and Sydney saw the monster outside. Isabella showed Mari around to get her away while Sydney tried to get the monster away. She clapped her hands twice, stomped twice, and said, “Get the thing away!” but the monster didn’t go away this time. The monster started banging on the roof for the 4th time and Mari asked what the sound was, but Isabella ignored her and said,
“Get on my back, I am going to give you a small rollercoaster ride.”
Mari said, “No!” and went to the living room to look out the window and see what it was. Sydney pulled her away from the window as the monster shrank and went underneath the door and grew back when it was on the other side of the door. Mari slowly turned around and screamed. The monster had now put Mari in its stomach.
One day, I was at a bar and the entire place suddenly lit on fire. I escaped just in time, but the others weren’t as lucky.
The next day, I woke up and went to work as normal. But then I started randomly teleporting. And there were constantly flames on top of my hands. I was confused as to what was happening. I decided to stay at work. However, mid day, there was a sudden fire at my workplace. I Knew it wasn’t me that started the fire so I was wondering who or what did. Everyone in the bar died… or did they? It turned out that everyone in the bar got powers, same as me. Some the same, some different. I was at the bar with my friend which meant he probably got powers too. Which meant that they probably teleported out or they were fireproof, but I didn’t really feel like testing that theory. Some people had to be fireproof, though, that or some people had to have teleportation other than me.
I asked some scientists to help me control these new powers. They agreed and so I started to control my teleportation first and they were going to see if they could get a grasp of fire second. We tried to see If I had any other super powers, like flight, invisibility or super strength. I did not have flight or invisibility, but I did have super strength. So first I tested if I could lift a car. It felt as if I were lifting a feather. Then I tried a bus. It was pretty much like one pound to me. Then a train… 5 pounds… easy. Then I lifted up a ferris wheel. For me, it was around twelve pounds. By the time we finished, it was already 11:00 PM, so I went home to go to bed. By “go to bed,” I really meant watch TV.
When I actually went to bed, it was already 5:00 in the morning. I was watching too much of “the Flash.” And then in the morning, I had a pizza eating contest. During that, I found out that I had a new power… superspeed. I was so competitive that my hands started moving at super fast speeds. Luckily, nobody was looking at me with the exception of the scientists who were cheering me on.
Then I tried to master the superspeed. And I lost tons of weight by running for one second, which for me was around the world. I think it was about 50 pounds. So now I wasn’t fat anymore. Then I decided to be a superhero so the scientists made me a suit. When the first bad guy came along, he wasn’t someone from the bar so it took about two seconds. He was robbing a bank and tried to shoot me but little did he know, I had super speed so I ran straight past it and took him down.
From this one event, I became famous. Then my friend that lit the office on fire robbed a bank, so that was not very good. We both have the same powers. I hope he didn’t know about some of them. Even so, he probably didn’t know how to control them. He definitely knew about the super speed because he was just speeding around town. He took a wrong turn to his house so I got to his house and teleported through the door. Then I started speed punching him until he got knocked out. I brought the money back to the bank and then I took him to the maximum security prison where super humans couldn’t use their powers. But then a magic suitcase appeared in his jail cell. He opened it and it teleported him out of jail.
The first thing he did was run to me and he choked me. Why can’t I teleport? I thought, but then this guy came out of a secret door and blasted my friend with a laser and then he got sent to a maximum, maximum security prison. Meanwhile, I was off fighting bad guys, and then the next guy from the bar appeared. I didn’t know what powers he had so I had to hope he had the same powers as me and and I recently bought a new house for my girlfriend and me. There were two bathrooms, a pool, a hot tub, a trampoline, and three flat screen TVs.
The bad guy was robbing a grocery store, but right before he left, I teleported to the exit and he shot a fire bullet and I thought, WHAT THE H*LL IS THAT?! I teleported behind him, wondering what had happened. Then I tried to punch him, but he sensed me and teleported behind me and punched ME, and well, he got away. I got injured, but luckily my super healing made me go back to normal in about one hour so that was good, but if a bad guy struck before that, then we were doomed. Unless… if someone else who was at the bar was a good guy, then they might go attack if a bad guy did strike 30 minutes later. You guessed it: a bad guy struck, and it was the same guy who robbed the grocery store but then this girl flew in and punched the guy midair. “Ouch!”
“Why does she have super strength AND flight? That is too much!”
He tried to shoot a fire bullet, but he missed and then a sniper tranqed him so they could bring him to a maximum, maximum, maximum security prison. When I was healed, I asked her what her name was and she said, “My name is… ”
I lie in the grass. I do not remember a single thing. A figure walks up to me. I shut my eyes. I wake up in a bed. 20 people are looking at me. A strong, bald guy helps me out of bed and then asks how I got here.
I say, “I don’t know.”
He says, “I am Jake, leader of the crystal world.” He has big pointy ears.
I ask, “Are you an elf?”
He says, “Yes, we all are. You are the only human.”
He takes me outside and we end up in a stone box. The walls are 100 feet high.
I ask, “Where am I?”
He says, “The crystal world, I already told you.”
I say, “Can we go to the desert biome?”
“No we can’t. They are all locked,” Jake says.
“Why not? How are they all locked?”
“You’ll catch up on everything, Newbie.”
“Who’s Newbie?”
“You’re Newbie. That’s what we call the new people,” says Jake.
Next, I meet a guy named Oliver.
He says, “Aren’t you the new Newbie everyone’s talking about?”
“That’s not my name,” I say.
“Why? What is your name then?”
“That’s weird. I can’t remember.”
“Yep, we think we get brainwashed when we come here.”
“What do you mean, come here?”
“The Over People bring us here. Also, tomorrow is your lucky day. You get to become an elf and learn how to fly!”
We hear a loud horn.
I ask, “What is that?”
“It’s Jake calling a ceremony to see what your name is going to be.”
“But I already have a name,” I say.
“Remember? You got brainwashed!” Oliver says.
“Come on, we gotta go, or else we’ll lose points”
“What are points?” I ask.
“You ask a lot of questions,” he says. “You have five points when you come into the box. When you lose all of your points by doing bad things, they’ll burn you at the stake. Six people have already been burned.”
When we get there, the Jake guy says to us, “Hey Oliver, looks like you’ve already made friends with the Newbie.”
“That’s not my name,” I say. “Oh wait, it is my name.”
They ask me to light a bonfire. Since I am going to be in the Orange Elf Cabin, they are going to name me Josh.
“Hurray, you’re going to be with me,” says Oliver.
“Oh, thank God,” I say.
While we’re walking back to the Orange Cabin, everyone starts high fiving me, elf-smacking me on the back, and congratulating me.
“What’s the difference between the Blue Elf Cabin, the Pink Elf Cabin, and the Orange Elf Cabin?” I ask.
“Well, the Blue Elf Cabin can teleport anywhere inside the box, the Pink Elf Cabin can run more than 120 miles an hour, and the Orange Elf Cabin can fly up to 50 feet in the air. Tomorrow when you wake up, you will be an Orange Elf. Then you’ll have flying training. Good night.”
The next morning, I wake up and find myself levitating in bed. Then, everyone else wakes up.
“Hey, you’ve already got the hang of it!” Oliver says.
I go outside after breakfast and start to walk around. I look at each biome three times and meet Rick.
I ask, “Who are you? I think I recognize you.”
“Well, you should, because I am the leader of the Orange Elf Cabin,” Rick says.
A Pink Elf walks up to me and starts cracking jokes about me being a Newbie. Then this Rick guy gets fed up and a laser gun appears in his hand.
“Back off, or there will be a hole right through you in three seconds.”
“Don’t you remember? I can outrun that lazer. I’m a Pink Elf. I can run more than 120 miles an hour.”
“Well, if I tell Jake, your last point will be gone, and you will be burned at the stake.”
The Pink Elf backs off.
“That’s how you deal with bad guys here,” Rick says.
“I have one question for you. Who am I?”
“Nobody knows.”
“Not even I know who I am?” I ask.
“Not even you,” Rick says.
“Wow, this place is weird,” I say.
“Yup, sure is,” Rick says.
I ask him, “How long have you been here?”
Rick says it’s hard to tell because time moves differently in the crystal world.
I ask, “Have you opened any of the biomes yet?”
“Nope, we still can’t find the password or figure out how more and more people get here.”
Then, we turn into elves. I remember that I am an elf and sigh.
Oliver comes to tell Rick and me that it’s time for dinner.
The next morning, I go to my flying lesson. I am surprised to see that Rick and Oliver are the teachers. It goes on for what feels like a year, and then we get called in for lunch. I am starting to get used to the schedule. When I look at the board, I still have 5 points, not that I thought I lost any.
After lunch, a girl elf comes up to me and tells me her name. I was going to tell her mine, but she was at the bonfire. We chat like normal people or elves, and then I see that she has blue eyes. It is odd because everyone else has green eyes. I ask, and she says she doesn’t know why. She says that they had tried to figure it out, but it never worked. I ask how we unlock the biomes, and she says that we need a password. We try to find out the password but can’t.
At dinner, there is a food fight with the Blue Elves and the Pink Elves. I sit next to Oliver, Rick, and Mia the girl elf. We talk and try to ignore the fight. Then, I have a headache, and the numbers 2-4-1-9 pop into my head. I go to the forest biome. I put in the numbers and it opens.
Chapter 2: Biomes in the Open
Everyone is in shock. I stumble into the forest, and there I fall.
The next day, they have a meeting to see if it is safe to escape. They tell me that I now have 305 points for opening a biome. In the afternoon, ten elves go searching for the biome: three Pinks, one Orange, and six Blues. The Orange Elf flies up but bumps into a tree branch. The Pink Elves start running and trip over some tree roots. The Blue Elves try to teleport, but they can only teleport to places inside the box. The Blue Elves carry the rest of the injured elves to the Red Cross Elves.
After dinner, I am really curious to see what is inside, so Oliver, Mia, Rick, this guy named Chris, and I go out. We explore for a few hours until we hear a rumbling noise. Then, it starts getting closer and sounds like growling. When we all sprint back to the box, it has stopped following us. When we look to see if everyone is sleeping, they aren’t. The Pink Elf that was picking on me for being a Newbie is being burned.
“Well there goes number seven,” Oliver says.
We join the bonfire. That’s when it gets out of hand. The grass starts to burn and there is a massive fire. It burns down the Blue Elf Cabin. Then, everyone hears a loud boom. A normal human with a megaphone with a bunch of guys wearing backward helmets appears and says “We are the Over People and we are here to put the fire out!”
They start spraying water at the fire. “I think they’re called fire fighters,” Oliver says.
But the elves do not want them to fight the fire. They want answers. All the elves go into the chamber of weapons. Orange Elves take laser blasters, Blue Elves take nunchucks, and the Pink Elves take swords. First, Pink Elves run towards the Over People, distracting them so the Blue Elves can teleport behind them. The Orange Elves fly up above and start shooting at them.
“Enough! We are going to call a meeting, and after that, maybe, just maybe, we’ll let you go. Only if you can unlock all the biomes,” say the Over People.
Everyone looks at me. Suddenly, the Over People disappear.
Chapter 3: The Struggle to Escape
For the next two weeks, everyone is getting ready to escape, and they are all counting on me. We all start to pack our things. The Blue Elves are getting ready to say goodbye to their teleportation providers. Only Jake isn’t packing. Everyone is very confused. He is going to stay.
We all set off to the forest that I unlocked. That’s when I get another headache. The numbers 1-8-6-3 pop into my head, and I fly to the desert biome. I put in the numbers, and my headache stops. It unlocks. Everybody looks at me and the biome. Jake is smiling.
“Blue and Orange go into the desert, Pink go into the forest biome. But be careful, Pinks, there are a lot of roots,” Jake says.
As we are walking, I hear a weird noise in front of me.
“Rattlesnake! Josh, look out!” Mia yells.
I take off flying. But in three seconds, while I am 40 feet in the air, I fall back onto the rattlesnakes and feel something wet.
“Eeewww, you have rattlesnake blood all over your back,” Mia says.
“Good thing I have a change of shirts.”
I put on my second shirt out of five. Then, we see something shiny. It looks like 78 motorcycles, one for each of us. Mia has to ride on the back of Oliver’s since her’s broke. Oliver, as usual, complains.
“She’s your friend.”
My motorcycle breaks and I fall off. I land on Rick’s motorcycle. I backflip over him, grab onto the back of the seat, and get in position. I leave my motorcycle behind. We crash, sending us over the invisible barrier. That’s when we see the Over People. I see the guy that was holding the megaphone earlier and punch him in the face. We get in line and take turns punching him in the face, 78 times in total.
“Alright, you already broke my nose!” he screams. “Ok, just stop punching me, and I will give you your freedom!”
The rest of the elves keep on punching him until he is knocked out. We leave the building and enter a strange world. A sign reads New York City.
“Wait, I think I got my memory back!” we all say.
“I think my name is Ravi. I have an older brother named Neel who looks exactly like Rick.”
“I think my name is Neel and my brother is Ravi. We live near the cathedral school in Apartment—wait, that’s classified,” Rick says.
Just then, Mia turns into a kitten. Oliver and a Blue Elf turn into my mom and dad.
Chapter 4: Back to Normal
“Why is everyone wearing masks?” Oliver asks.
“Meow meow meow,” says Mia.
We call a taxi and say goodbye to everyone we’ve met.
“So, are you guys new here?” the taxi driver asks.
“No, we live here.”
“Aren’t you guys from that TV show, Biomes Out of the Box?”
“Wait, what?!”
We walk into our home and start watching the TV show.
“How did you get that laser gun in your hands?” I ask Neel.
“I don’t know,” he says.
We fell asleep later that night. Suddenly, the police barge into our house and take us to a different movie set.
“Not this again,” we all say. They don’t erase our memories this time or turn us into different people. They just interview us.
“Where’s that Mia fella?”
“Oh I’ll get her,” I say.
They put us into a James Bond movie. Then we get put in a maze and turn back to our other-selves. We learn that the name of my mom’s elf persona is Michelle.
Suddenly, we all fall asleep and I wake up back in my cabin. It turns out none of that happened. I try to go back to the biome that I thought I unlocked, but I guess I never actually knew how to.
A plane crashes into the box. That’s when we realize this is how the Over People bring people into this place.
Rick was brought in by a car crash that made him lose his memory, and I was brought in by crashing my motorcycle. Then I go to the desert biome and put in a passcode to try and open it: Car Crash, Motorcycle Crash, Plane Crash. Surprisingly, it opens. I check to see if I’m dreaming.
Everyone sprints out, leaving everything behind. I realize Oliver is actually not my dad, Mia is just an elf, Rick is a friend, and Michelle isn’t even real.
Oliver catches up to me.
“Nice job, dude,” he says.
For the first twenty minutes, everything is normal. Then, the sun starts beaming on us. Since the Pink Elves run way too fast, they run into quicksand. Then, there’s a sandstorm, and in the middle of it, Jake realizes that we will have to stop for the night.
At night, we hear something that sounds like laughter. When we go outside, there is a pack of hyenas trying to eat our sandwiches. Then, we set off in the middle of the night. Jake knows that it would be more dangerous and tough to get through this. When it gets really dark, we still keep moving. Then, we meet different elves. They look exactly like us.
Jake asks their leader, “Who are you?”
“We came from a box with ten biomes,” they say.
“Wait, but we’re coming from a box too,” Jake replies.
“So there’s two boxes?” everyone says.
“Our elves can fly, can run more than 120 miles an hour, and the elves used to be able to teleport,” the leader says.
“No way! Same for us.”
Then we realize that if we keep on walking straight, each group will end up in each other’s boxes. So we turn the other way. We see something in the distance. We get closer and find a third box.
“There must be a million boxes!” I say.
Then, we hear a voice that sounds like the Over People. The voice says, “Yes, this is the Over People. We have come here to trap you elves because you have all caught a virus. It is called ‘Elfatopia.’ It makes you turn into an elf so we trapped you. If you were in the real world, you would have lived with humans and a war would have started between you.”
Chapter 5
We walk for what feels like a trillion years. Then, we think we see something. We aren’t very surprised because we’ve already seen, like, fifty boxes. This is different. It is a shiny black building that looks like a lab.
We slam on the door three times and yell, “FBI, open up!!!”
The door opens and we all barge through, breaking every single thing they have. We go out the front door.
“Jennifer, would you like to share your report next?”
I smiled as Ms. Bragenstien acknowledged my raised and wriggling hand.
“Of course.” I strode to the front of the room and grabbed the Grain Projection Chip (PC) connected to the Smartboard from her desk. Ms. Bragenstein said nothing, only smiled silently and expectantly as I plugged the PC into the Grain slot in my head and murmured, “Saturday, October 3, 2031, 5:00 PM.” My Grain presentations were already almost legendary at Emeryville Middle School.
The Grain was invented in 2027 as a security device to monitor released prisoners. Their Grain recordings would be reviewed to make sure that they weren’t participating in any illegal activity. Thanks to the Grain and its memory recording power, crime rates plummeted phenomenally. But over the years, people started to implant it voluntarily, so they could relive the best moments of their lives. These days it was common, with babies getting it as young as 2 months old. There was even talk of making it legally mandatory. And if you didn’t get it, you were deemed suspicious — people assumed you had something to hide.
I grinned at Ms. Bragenstien as the recording began to play on the Smartboard at the front of the room.
I smiled in the mirror, made sure my hair was neat, glanced at my notes, and began.
“This report is on a very serious topic: The Cha — ”
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 5:01 PM
1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, WASHINGTON DC, OVAL OFFICE
The door burst open and I stepped into the Oval Office. The door slammed shut behind me. President Jackson looked up from the letter he was skimming and stared at me.
“Marshal Jackson,” I growled. My voice didn’t sound like my own. “It’s time to pay for your crimes.”
Before he could stop me, my knife was hurtling toward his heart. It found its mark. Jackson collapsed with a thunk.
Almost immediately, two men in black suits with guns jumped out at me from behind blue drapes on both sides of the room. I ran.
The window exploded in a shower of glass behind me, the grass outside rushing up to meet my feet before me.
My chest heaved up and down, beads of sweat starting to form around the hole in my head where I had yanked the PC out. I took a deep breath, tried to compose myself. Tried to look less panicked than I really was.
“Ms. Bragenstein,” I began. “This is all a big mi — ”
“Jennifer,” Ms. Bragenstein interrupted. Her voice was oddly stiff. “Did you assassinate President Jackson?”
I was shocked. “I — what — no! Ms. Bragenstein, I have no idea how that recording got in my Grain!”
“You — you’re lying,” she said coldly. It nearly broke my heart. “No one can alter their Grain.”
“Please!” I cried. “I can give you my report now! The Challenger — ” The other kids were staring. I didn’t care. All that mattered was Ms. Bragenstein and if she believed me, but she was unmoved. I panicked. Tears started to wet my cheeks.
“I didn’t know you had this in you, Jennifer.”
“Please! You know where my house is — where I was recording! Wembly road! That’s nowhere near the Oval Office! How could I — ”
“That could have been any mirror. I didn’t see your surroundings, murderer,” she spat. “I suppose that was a confession. Rather odd way of doing it, but — never mind. The police will be here soon.” She picked up her phone to dial 911.
I ran for the door.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2031, 1:40 PM
22 WEMBLY ROAD, EMERYVILLE, MONTANA, KITCHEN
“A half-day,” I told my mom, out of breath. “I’m going to my room.” I raced up the stairs of our small suburban house before she could object.
I slammed the door of my room and collapsed into my desk chair, staring into the mirror. How was this my life? I lied to my mom. I ran out of school. And I was about to become a fugitive from the law. I couldn’t believe it.
Sighing, I opened my computer and grabbed the PC connected to it. I plugged it into my Grain slot and said clearly, “Saturday, October 3, 2031, 5 PM.” On the screen, I watched the recording of me — no, of someone — assassinating the president. I paused as they threw the knife. Then I took a screenshot. Their hands were darker than mine. It wasn’t me, but I couldn’t very well go back to Ms. Bragenstein and show her the evidence. She wouldn’t believe me. It still hurt how quickly she had shunned me.
But there was no time to dwell on this. I took off my backpack and dumped out all the schoolbooks. I took the purse containing $327 from various birthdays and gifts from my desk and put it inside the backpack. Then I emptied my state quarter collections into my backpack as well (for use in laundromats). I also put in some outfits, jackets and coats, books, my computer and PC, and an empty notebook and pen. I hesitated, then tore the first sheet from it, wrote a quick note, and left it on my desk.
Dear Mom and Dad:
By the time you read this, I bet you’ll have seen the news. It looks bad, I know. But I swear I didn’t do it. You have to believe me. I had to leave. I’m going to try to find out what really happened.
I’m so sorry.
Jennifer
I put on my backpack, grabbed my sleeping bag, and headed downstairs.
“It’s, um, actually, we’re supposed to go back because we’re going to watch a movie in the gym. With sleeping bags.” I told my mom quickly.
She gave me a suspicious look. “And… why didn’t I get an email about this?”
“Ms. Bragenstein told us she forgot to send it.”
“Okay, but I’m going to check your Grain later.”
“Sure, mom,” I said, trying to keep my voice from quavering. If I ever saw her again, I knew what she would find if she checked. I grabbed an umbrella and opened the door.
“Umbrella?”
“It… might rain.”
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2031, 5:09 PM
DELI & BEER, EMERYVILLE, MONTANA
“Oh… and a butter roll, please.” I added.
The man at the counter of the small, grubby, cramped deli gave me a strange look as I asked for the breakfast special at 5 in the afternoon. I glanced outside to avoid meeting his eyes. The ugly Deli & Beer was topped by a faded awning in a particularly ugly shade of green. It smelled of rat droppings and hastily applied cleaning supplies. I waited patiently.
I took out one of the books I had brought, an atlas of the United States. It had maps of the whole country, each of the states, highway and landscape maps, etc. I opened it to the general map of the country. I took a pen and made a line from Emeryville, Montana (usually Emeryville would be too small to be featured on a map, but there were so few towns in Montana that it had to be there) to Washington DC. It looked far. I probably couldn’t get on a train or plane because I was a minor, so I would have to walk. I couldn’t think of any other option. Then, just as I was thinking it couldn’t be any worse, I heard:
“We interrupt this broadcast for some breaking news. Live from the Oval Office in Washington DC, I hand it over to Josephine Merson…”
I swiveled in my red, cracked leather stool, turning my attention from the atlas to the television almost hidden in a corner of the wall. The blond woman on-screen was standing in the Oval Office in front of the president’s desk… but it looked more like a crime scene. The window behind the desk was shattered, there was caution tape everywhere, and police officers and investigators were poking around with flashlights and magnifying glasses everywhere.
“Thanks, Paul,” said Josephine. I could tell she was distressed, though she was trying not to show it. “We’re sorry to pull you from your soap operas” — she seemed to wait for laughter — “but something much more dramatic and entirely real has happened here. We’ve just received word from the police department in Emeryville, a small town in Montana — ” At the mention of his hometown, the man, carrying my plate out from the kitchen, stopped and stared at the screen. “ — That in the local middle school, a child has just played a Grain recording of herself assassinating President Marshal Jackson.”
I froze. This was my worst nightmare, and it was already happening. It was revealed.
They cut to a recording of Ms. Bragenstein in our classroom with a microphone held up to her mouth.
“Angela Bragenstein, this student — Jennifer — was under your care,” said a voice on-screen. “Did you ever get any notion that she might have done something like this? Was this expected?”
“No,” she replied breathlessly. “Jennifer was a good student. The best. But now I can see it was all a ruse.”
They cut back to Paul at his blue desk in the newsroom. Flashes of the crime scene played on a screen behind him. “The student, Jennifer Hudson, allegedly fled the classroom after abruptly tearing out the PC that played the recording, and has not yet been found.” Then my school photo played on the screen. I gasped. The man with the plates looked at me. I looked away.
“Wait a second,” he said. I hastily pulled my hood up, but it was too late. He’d seen my face.
“If you have any information, call 1-800-706-2948.”
The man reached for his phone.
I slammed the atlas shut and shoved it in my backpack. I put it on and grabbed my sleeping bag from the floor.
The man dialed the number. He noticed me sneaking toward the door. “No you don’t,” he growled. “That reward money’s gonna fix this place up… buy me a new pair o’ shoes. I’mma finally make me momma proud.”
“Sorry!” I cried, and dashed out the door.
“WAIT!” He yelled, squeezing himself around the counter. “WAI — ”
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2031, 8:47 PM
ONEOTA PARK, SPENCER, IOWA
I stretched out my legs in my sleeping bag and tried not to cry. I’d been away from home for almost ten days. I missed my bed and my home and my family. I was lying in the dirt in my sleeping bag, leaning against a tree. Chipmunks skittered across the ground a few feet away. Owls hooted high up in the treetops. Even the animals were keeping their distance. I needed privacy. Other humans could recognize and capture me, but it was driving me slowly mad. There was only me to keep me company…
Or maybe not, I realized suddenly.
I remembered the person in the recording. They must have altered my Grain to put the recording there. Maybe they had left other recordings. I opened my backpack and took out my computer. I opened the Grain app, plugging in my PC. I browsed through my recordings. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary — me going to school, reading, hanging out in my room. Then I noticed something. While scrolling through the automatically taken screenshots from every hour, I saw one of a tall, white building from 6 PM on October 5. This was from just after the assassination. There were no buildings like that in Emeryville — just little delis and suburban houses. This had to be something from the secret assassin. I clicked the screenshot. A recording began to play on the screen.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2031, 6:00 PM
CLIVE’S, BETHESDA, MARYLAND
I glanced up at the skyscraper, then crossed the street to the park, ignoring the honking cars. I sat down on the stone wall of the park and looked down at my jeans.
“So, you found me. Maybe by accident. Or maybe you knew what you were looking for. If you have no idea who I am, close this recording now, Jennifer. You’ll know soon enough.”
I waited. Then continued.
“You’re still watching, which means that you now know I assassinated the president about an hour ago, and altered your Grain to frame you. You’re not going to believe me, but I didn’t mean to. I know who you are, Jennifer Hudson. You do well in school. I’ve seen your Grain recordings. You’re a total goody-two-shoes. I know this must have ruined your life. And I’m really sorry. Putting my recording in your Grain was a mistake.
“After I killed Jackson and crashed through that window — ” I let out a soft chuckle. “I took a taxi to the Rocket Pharmacy in Bethesda, Maryland. I have a… well, it’s where I’ve been living. I had been looking through people’s recordings. There was a list — well, hard to explain. I found you. You were perfect for what I needed. I know that sounds horrible, but — ” I tried to keep my voice even. “Just — try to understand. I only meant to take some of your innocent recordings, and copy them into my recordings, over when I killed the president. I didn’t know it would replace yours with mine. I didn’t know it would… switch us. I never meant for this to happen. Never. So I want to help you make this right. Go to the pharmacy. At least — at least give me a chance to apologize.”
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2031, 12:05 PM
ROCKET PHARMACY, BETHESDA, MARYLAND
I stopped to catch my breath behind a massive shelf of band-aids, hidden from a girl a few years older than me sitting behind the counter. The sunglasses started to slide down my sweaty nose. I briefly took them off, wiped my face with the scarf I was wearing, and put them back on quickly. I couldn’t risk anyone seeing me. I picked out a pack of brown band-aids, some disposable latex gloves, and two packs of tissues. I brought them to the counter, trying to listen to the radio while still concentrating on the girl to make sure she wasn’t studying me too closely. An 11-year-old on her own with a sleeping bag and backpack wearing sunglasses and a scarf could arouse suspicion, I had learned.
“Your total is $9.72,” she said slowly and carefully. I put a $10 bill on the counter.
On the radio, someone was saying, “Jennifer Hudson, who has still not been apprehended, is described as eleven years old, white, five feet tall, and with medium-length light brown hair. She was last seen on October 5, wearing a yellow collared shirt, blue jeans, and a cream-colored sweater.” I frowned and self-consciously tucked the yellow shirt I was wearing into my jeans. The owner of the shop frowned at me. I took the items, not bothering with the change, and quickly made for the door.
“Wait a second,” I heard the girl say to me. “Get back here!”
“The reward for information leading to Jennifer’s capture is $500,” droned the man on the radio. “Her capture will warrant a reward of five million dollars. If you have information or believe you have sighted this young fugitive, simply call 1-800-706-2948.”
It still hurt being called a fugitive, even though it was kind of true. You’d think that after nearly four weeks of living on the edge and running from the law, I’d have gotten used to it. But the teacher’s pet in me could not adapt. That part of me felt like salt being rubbed on an open and infected wound every time someone mentioned the reward for my capture or how I was a dangerous fugitive. Sometimes I wasn’t sure how I could stand it.
And the worst part was, I didn’t know anything. I couldn’t learn anything. Going inside public places had led to too many close calls. I’d only gone inside this almost deserted pharmacy because I had a cut on my elbow that was probably going to get infected if I didn’t put a band-aid on it. And just my luck that this tiny place (that sort of resembled a hospital) didn’t carry newspapers. Well, it might have, but they were all already bought. That was how it was with all the free newspaper boxes on the streets, too. I couldn’t read the news, and I couldn’t watch TV. Instead, anything I picked up, I picked up by listening to people talk on the street. People wondered where I was. They talked about my “poor parents.” Sometimes how “ruthless” I was. But the most puzzling thing was this:
A few days ago I had passed an elderly couple on the street. One of them had said: “That dastardly Jennifer. So lucky that her plot was foiled. And how are you, young lady? Wait…”
Then I had had to hide in a bush, so I didn’t hear the rest of their conversation. I’d spent the time since trying to figure out what they had meant.
My “plot” was obviously the assassination of the President. So how had it been “foiled”? Maybe they were talking about how I had been caught. But somehow that just didn’t feel right to me. My plot had still been executed (definitely no pun intended), even if I had been caught.
What if…
My plot was to kill the president. But what if he hadn’t been killed?
No, that was impossible. The knife had hit him right in the heart. But still…
However, there were more pressing problems at hand. I couldn’t get caught here. This was where the assassin had led me. It couldn’t end here.
Summoning all my courage, I turned to face the girl, who was slowly walking toward me. “It’s all right,” she said to me unconvincingly. “I’m not going to hurt you. Just tell me…”
I took a step backward, reaching to pull up my scarf.
She lunged, surprisingly fast, missing my arm but grabbing my hand and pulling it and the scarf down. I gasped. She’d seen my face on the news, like everyone in the country, I was exposed — she knew, she knew, she knew.
What did I do in that moment?
In my old life, I would have tried to talk it out. I would have tried to explain, to gain approval. I would have tried to make things right. But maybe this life of crime was rubbing off on me. Maybe I was developing new habits, or maybe I was simply becoming a new person, because I ran.
I wasn’t even thinking. I just dove to the wall, then bounced off and darted behind a shelf, sticking out a hand, sending boxes of Tylenol tumbling to the ground, blocking the girl’s path. I didn’t even feel bad about it. I wove my way through the aisles to the back of the shop, where a shelf of cleaning products stood in the center of the back wall. I looked around. I had assessed the entrances and exits of the pharmacy before I went in. The only way in or out was the door. There were locks on the windows. I could smash them with my backpack. Maybe I could get to the door and flee into the street. But everyone would see me. I had only one choice: hide.
Thankfully, the shelf didn’t make any of those horrible screeching noises when I moved it a few feet away from the wall. I squeezed in behind it, taking off my backpack and putting it on the floor. Then I pulled the shelf back as far as I could and hoped the owner wouldn’t think to look behind the shelf.
A few seconds later, I heard the girl’s footsteps. I peered through the gap between two boxes of Miracle Clean Powder. She examined the shelf. I held my breath. Then she turned around and walked back to the counter. I let out my breath in relief. I slowly, awkwardly, turned around in the small space between the shelf and the wall. Then I noticed something odd. The walls of the pharmacy were tiled, but this section of wall in front of me looked wrong. It was a little dim, but I realized that this part of the wall wasn’t a wall at all — it was a 5 foot square of wallpaper.
It looked like a sample, the kind you might buy at a store and stick on your wall to see how it looked. I tugged at the bottom-right corner. It peeled. I peeled the whole thing off. There was a white door in the wall behind it. This was a secret door.
I felt a rush of excitement. I couldn’t believe it. Secret doors were the stuff of stories and books, but here was a real one. It was thrilling — moving — to be trusted with a real one. And even more than that — I remembered what the assassin had said. I have a… well, it’s where I’ve been living. This was their hideout. This was where I would meet them and get all my answers.
The door looked a bit dirty but used. This was it. I picked up my backpack and, holding its handle with one hand, I turned the rusted knob of the door with the other.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2031, 12:07 PM
ROCKET PHARMACY, BETHESDA, MARYLAND, BACK ROOM
The back room of the pharmacy looked like it might once have been used for storing goods. There were dusty piles of boxes with long-faded labels in one corner. It was small, around the size of my kitchen at 22 Wembly Road: about 15 by 15 feet. There were no windows, but I felt along the wall until I hit a switch and flipped it, turning on a dim bulb hanging from the ceiling. There was a desk pushed to one wall, with a spinning-type professional chair next to it and a computer, mouse, speakers, and headset on it. There was a shelf on another wall with a microwave and a package of instant noodles. Under the shelf was a sink and — what? — a toilet. I edged away from the toilet and noticed a few potted plants on the floor. They looked like someone was watering them daily. There was a dresser next to a bed on the wall opposite the toilet. I dropped my backpack onto the small bed that was very slept in (this assassin sure was messy) and sunk into a battered armchair near the entrance. Then I remembered to close the door behind me.
I tried to relax. Papers, notebooks, and books were piled up in a corner next to the desk. The room felt like a home, but it felt wrong. Something was missing. No, someone was missing. The assassin wasn’t here. And I was getting impatient. I had come here, on his orders. So why couldn’t he be bothered to show up?
Then I realized what some of the papers were. Newspapers. I grabbed the one on the top. It was dated October 4. The day before I “revealed my plot”. Too early. I wasn’t going to get any news about the assassination from that.
I kept searching. I noticed a mint-green three-ring binder with pink polka dots with tape over where a title might be written on the cover. That intrigued me. I opened the cover. It looked like it had been a photo book. But all the photos were torn out, leaving only tape and cheerful messages written in marker. It looked like a family scrapbook. Someone nicknamed “Win” and his mom. Win played soccer and a wide variety of video games. His mom worked somewhere that had a “take your child to work” day and a vending machine.
This all felt strange and wrong.
Tucked into the back was a copy of American News from October 11. Suddenly, the strange history of this scrapbook didn’t matter anymore.
The headline read:
ASSASSINATION PLOT BY 11-YEAR-OLD REVEALED, THEN FOILED
There was that word again — foiled. Heart racing, I stumbled back into the armchair and read on.
Once, there was a girl named Izumi, and she was an orphan. She missed her parents a lot, and she had only one thing left of them: an emerald ring. Her parents had told her that it would lead her to her freedom, but for the past four years, she had been living on the side of the road, and nothing good ever happened to her.
Chapter 1
It was another day on the side of the road, and Izumi was sitting there practicing her guitar so she could earn money to at least eat some food. She was trying to perfect a song when a cat came and sat down right next to her. She didn’t notice it until she came back from getting food.
“Meoow.”
Izumi looked down and saw the cat. It mewed again. It must be hungry! Izumi thought. She sat down and gave it some ham from her sandwich. It ate like it hadn’t had food in months! It does look very skinny, she thought. She went back to practicing her guitar.
The cat came to visit every day, and then, one day when Izumi had enough money, she bought a little float and a blanket to sleep on. That night, she let her cat sleep on the float with her. The cat—which she had named Jiji—went to sleep right away, but Izumi stayed up for a while thinking about if anything good would happen to her or if the cat could help her. She decided to think about that in the morning and sleep for now.
Chapter 2
Izumi woke up to the sound of loud car engines—they were louder than usual, and the cars were bigger than usual too!
“Wait, maybe it’s not the cars or their engines, maybe it’s…” She looked at her hands, but instead of hands, they were paws! Jet black paws! She looked in a little mirror that she had bought and saw that she had a cat’s face. She stepped back a little to see her full body, and when she looked she nearly fainted! She was a jet-black cat with bright blue eyes! She looked to her left and saw Jiji. She ran over to Jiji and asked why she was a cat.
“When you slept with me, the emerald ring was touching you and me. That emerald ring is not an ordinary ring, it’s a special ring that can turn you into a cat when it’s touching both you and another cat,” Jiji replied.
“Yeah, but is there a way to change me back into a human?” Izumi asked.
“You have to go to the Lord of the Cats, and there she will give you the answer to change back into a human. I do not know the answer to that, but I will help you reach her,” said Jiji.
“Ok, but can we please go now? The cars are loud!” Izumi said.
“Well if you want to get away from the noise follow me!” Jiji yelled. She ran toward some bushes, waiting for Izumi to follow her. Izumi caught up to her and followed her through the bushes.
Chapter 3
“How much longer?” Izumi complained.
“We’re almost there! Now chill out!” Jiji said impatiently. When they finally reached their destination, Izumi was shocked. Right in front of her, there was the biggest tree she has ever seen, and right in the middle of it was a big glowing stone.
Jiji caught her looking at it and said, “That’s where the Lord of the Cats lives. It looks easy to get to, but trust me it’s hard.”
“Why’s it hard?” Izumi asked.
“Because, one: there are a ton of vines. And two: there are a bunch of bodyguards inside the stone and outside,” Jiji explained.
“But I don’t see anyone,” Izumi said, confused.
“That’s because they’re invisible.”
“WHAT?! How are we supposed to get past them!?”
“We’ll have to figure out a plan, dummy!”
“Riiight. So what’s the plan?”
“I can’t think of a plan that quickly!” Jiji said angrily.
“Ok, so can we think of a plan?!”
“I thought you were nice!”
“I am just freaked out because I’m a cat!” While they were arguing a tall, big, gray, poofy cat stood there watching them fight. They clearly didn’t see him.
“Ahem.”
“Ahhhhh!!!” Jiji and Izumi screamed together.
“Oh, it’s just you,” said Jiji.
“Who’s he?” whispered Izumi.
“He’s my friend HairBall,” Jiji responded.
“Ok.”
“Can you help us?” Jiji pleaded, “Pleeease?”
The gray cat finally spoke. “Ok, ok, what do you want?”
“My friend here,” Jiji nudged Izumi, “got turned into a cat accidentally and needs to get turned back, but the only person that knows how to do that is The Lord of the Cats.”
“So you want to sneak into the stone?” HairBall questioned.
“It’s for a good reason!” Jiji said.
“I didn’t say anything!”
“Ok but pleease??”
“FINE!”
“Uh, helloo, I exist,” Izumi said.
“Sorry, I forgot about you,” Jiji said in a guilty voice.
“Yeah, no kidding.”
“Ok, let’s just make the plan,” Jiji said.
Chapter 4
It took a while for them to make a plan, but they finally did it. They planned to get some invisibility potion just in case. Then, they got some friends to distract the guards, and Hairball, Izumi, and Jiji snuck into the stone. What they didn’t know was that there was a narrow cliff that they had to go on to get to the stone. Their plan worked to get past the guards, but then when they came upon the cliff, they didn’t know what to do! They decided to hold onto the wall going in a single file line with Izumi in front. Izumi accidentally stepped a little too close to the edge where there was a loose rock. She slipped, but luckily she caught onto one of the rocks on the edge and pulled herself up. From then on, they stayed as close as they could to the wall.
Chapter 5
“Shhh!”
“No, you shh!”
The three cats had successfully snuck into the stone.
“WOW!” they all said together. It glowed not too bright, but it was amazing.
“What are you doing here?!” boomed a voice behind them.
They turned around to see the Lord of the Cats towering above them. She looked like a humongous calico cat.
“We just wanted to know how to change me back into a human,” Izumi squeaked.
“Ohh yeah, about that…” the Lord of the Cats said.
“What, you know how to change me back?” Izumi asked hopefully.
“Umm, you can’t,” the Lord of the Cats said slowly.
“What do you mean?” Izumi asked in a scared voice.
“You can’t change back into a human.”
Izumi started shaking, then couldn’t hold it in and just let it out. She started crying so hard. Jiji and Hairball tried to comfort her, but she knew she couldn’t change back into a human and that was the end of her human life.
Ruby was born right by a volcano. When her egg cracked open, her mother and father weren’t there. As Ruby got older, she taught herself how to stay safe and gather food by herself.
One day, she was flying around the island and found a castle in the clouds that looked like it was abandoned. She drew near to the castle, and suddenly, a group of knights came out screaming, “Charge!” They shot arrows at her but missed. They threw cannons and anything they could, but still, they didn’t have good aim at Ruby. Somehow, even though she wasn’t doing anything, Ruby started to feel drowsy and sleepy. Everything went black in her mind.
When Ruby woke up, the sun was not out and it was dark. She had been carried to the dungeons of the castle. Ruby shot fire out of her nostrils, but the knights didn’t seem to notice. She shouted as loud as she could, but the knights still didn’t do anything.
Once she got placed with the other dragons in her cell, in dragon language they asked each other’s names. The first 45 seconds they got to know each other, they immediately knew they were going to be best friends. One of the dragons was named Sapphire, another one named Pearl, and one named Opal.
Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into days, days turned into months, and months turned into years. All that time, the dragons made a plan to escape.
One night, at 11:59 PM, they were prepared to break open their cells as quietly as they could. But the fire ended up blasting the castle in two pieces, leaving a cloud.
As it did so, the dragons soared high to the cloud that the ancient castle was sitting on for millions of years.
My name is Chloe. My dad is REALLY rich. I can get ANYTHING I want. I bet my friends are so jealous!!! I used to have a lot of friends, but now I only have 6 because they said I was too sassy and boastful. But I don’t really care anyway because the friends I have now are WAYYY better. One day at school, there was a new girl. She looked poor, so I decided to tease her. So I told my friends, “We have to make a list of things to tease her with.”
We did, but we had to buy some things that were pretty expensive. So, of course, I asked my dad for some money! He said, “Of course,” and handed me 2,000 dollars. And that was the exact amount we needed! I said thanks and headed out the door.
We went to the local shopping market to buy the stuff we needed, like trash cans, tripwire, and a lot more. My dad was friends with the manager, Bob, so once he saw my friends and me he said, “What would you like today ma’am?”
I said all the things we needed, and he said those things were out of stock. So I screamed, “Get me those things right now, before I have to call my dad!”
He said, “Ok, ok, ma’am,” and went to the warehouse to search for the things. He came back 10 minutes later and said, “I am so sorry but there is nothing I can do.”
So I screamed again and said, “You know that this is the WORST market I have ever been to, and I am going to give this store the WORST review!!”
I think he got mad too, so he screamed back, “Well, I’m gonna call your dad and tell him about you!”
My friends tried to calm me down, so I screamed one last time, “I DON’T CARE!” and stomped out the door.
xx
Chloe
May 27
Dear diary,
“Chloe, I need to have a talk with you!” my dad called.
So I said, “Yes,” in my very best daughter’s voice.
Then he opened the door. I wondered what he would talk about, like would I get some extra allowance, or would I get another dog to go with my other 2 Pomeranians? But then he said, “Chloe, I am very disappointed in you. Yesterday I got a call from Bob, and he said you were very rude.”
I thought, “Oh no!” Not this AGAIN!
And then he continued, “Bob told me you said his market was the worst store you had been to, is that right?”
“Uhhh…”
He started to yell, “CHLOE, YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE!”
And I decided that from that day, I would never talk to him ever again.
xx
Chloe
Dear diary,
Now I have to make a different plan since, you know… So I called my friends over to hang out and make a new plan. We decided to trip that poor girl from school and push her when there weren’t any teachers around. So we tried our plan and it worked. But summer break came quickly. So I said bye to my friends and walked out of school.
xx
Chloe
Dear diary,
This summer break was the best break ever! We stayed at a resort in Hawaii and went and saw volcanoes erupting. Then we went to Colorado to a ski resort, and I thought that was even better. We went skiing on the Black Diamond, and I fell and twisted my ankle so I said, “I quit,” and went back to the stupid lodge. When I got back to school, some kid pointed at me with my crutches. He also started laughing. So I said back to them, “Your families are probably poor as dirt!” The truth is, basically money is all I care about. (Me in my head yelling, MONEY$$$$ 4 LIFE!)
I had to wear those AWFUL crutches for 8 weeks!!! Almost every person I walked past turned their head and looked at me. Another fact about me is that I like attention, but not this kind. Those 8 weeks were so painful and embarrassing, but at least I made it through. When I got to return those crutches I was so happy!! I yelled and screamed and shouted. My dad told me to calm down. I was about to say something, but then I remembered that I wouldn’t talk to him.
xx
Chloe
June 2
Dear diary,
Ok, so today I went to our attic to look for cool things to play with. While I was looking through some boxes, I found a diary. It looked really old and had the prettiest lace covering the edges. But this is the part I can’t believe. It said Sophie on it, and that was my mother’s name (at least I’m pretty sure). I spent the rest of the day thinking about the diary I found and if I should ask Dad because I still am not talking to him. I finally made up my mind and went up to him. This is how it went:
“Dad? I wanted to ask if Mom wrote in diaries.”
His answer was, “Yeah, she did, but let’s not talk about that.” He sounded sad when he said that.
So I walked back to my room. In my brain, I thought, “Wait, where is my mom? Where did she go? Did she leave us?”
That day I had so many thoughts swirling in my head. I was so tired so I went to bed.
Once upon a time, there was a seal that wanted to go to the forest. The seal was one year old. He asked his mom if he could go to the forest. His mother said he could not go because he needed to be in the water. The seal grew and grew. Years passed, and he got upset and wanted to make a plan to go to the forest. He swam and swam. He even swam where he had never been before. He was swimming so fast that lost his hat and was too tired to even keep swimming. Then he saw a sign that said yard sale. So when he got his energy, he went to the yard sale. He found a glass container and a motor at the yard sale. Then he filled the tank with water and taped the motor to it. He hopped in the tank, and he went to the forest sitting in the tank at the end.
The dark and swervy hallways led to the one room that controlled everything. The walls of the hallways were covered in dark granite and had long, steep stairs. The man got to the bottom of the stairs, and he opened the door to see that the queen was about to leave.
“What are you doing, Your Royal Highness?”
“Well, Mr. Dompettle, I am seeing my sister. She is towards the end. Why are you here?”
“Well mama, it is my job to do this. I must feed the prisoners.”
Mr. Dompettle kept walking down the hall, placing a bowl of food in the compartment of every prisoner. Some of the prisoners complained that they needed more food and some tried to grab Mr. Dompettle by the jacket.
“Man, I hate my job. But I get to work for the queen. Not everyone can say that. “
When he got to the queen’s sister’s jail cell, she grabbed him by the coat. She told him a secret that her sister told her. It was too crazy for Mr. Dompettle to even believe. She let him go forcefully and said, “Don’t just stand there! Give me my food!”
With Mr. Dompettle’s shaking hand, he handed her a bowl of slush and went on. In the back of his head, he thought of what the queen’s sister told him. He had to figure out what it meant because all she said was a passage or poem.
Chapter 1: The Secret
That morning, Mr. Dompettle woke up and he raced out of his cabin in the woods. He was late for work, so when he got on the bus, he told the driver, “Speed up! I work for the queen, and I have never been late one day of my life!”
The bus driver sped up and everyone in the bus started screaming. Mr. Dompettle said the same thing that he said to the driver and everyone quieted down.
Finally, he got to the palace and ran to the changing quarters to get his uniform. When Mr. Dompettle finished changing, he ran up the stairs. Finally, he got to the room and lined up right as the queen approached the door. She rushed in and assigned everyone to their quarters besides Mr. Dompettle.
“I know that you were running late, and that is okay, but I also know that my sister told you the secret. Don’t tell anyone, your life depends on it!” said the queen in a harsh voice. “Now go and feed my prisoners.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Mr. Dompettle walked down the steep stairs with granite walls and started giving out the bowls of food. The prisoners did the usual and tried to grab Mr. Dompettle’s jacket, complaining about the lack of food. When he got to the queen’s sister’s chamber, she was dead. Mr. Dompettle ran back up to the queen’s room and said, “Your Majesty, your sister… Your sister… She is dead.”
The queen rushed to the bottom of the palace, ran down the stairs with the granite walls, and went to her sister’s jail cell. Indeed, she was dead. There was a bit of thought that Mr. Dompettle killed her, but she reconsidered her thoughts and said, “Mr. Dompettle has been the most loyal; he couldn’t have killed her.”
“Take my sister out of her jail cell and bury her. Make someone make a stone. I don’t care who it is, it just needs to be magnificent,” boomed the queen.
Mr. Dompettle helped take the queen’s sister out of her jail cell. The queen ran up the stairs with the granite walls and locked herself in her room. She got no sleep that night and just sat in her room and cried. Even though her sister had killed people, the queen was still heartbroken. She and her sister had always gotten along, but one day, they’d gotten in a huge fight that had made the queen’s entire family go against her sister. Then, the next day, she ran away.
“WHY WASN’T IT ME!” yelled the queen.
That night in his cabin, Mr. Dompettle sat down at his table and wrote the very words that the queen’s sister told him. “The dragon’s slay, a heart of gold, a gem of beauty.” He wrote those very words on his last piece of paper and hid it in his coat. He would take it everywhere with him, so the secret wouldn’t come out.
“The dragon’s slay, a heart of gold, a gem of beauty.” Mr. Dompettle repeated that over and over but still had no idea what it meant.
Now one of the people that could have fixed the problem was dead, and the others didn’t even know that there was a problem. The dragon needed to be slayed, they needed a heart of gold, and they needed a gem of beauty to bring back the queen’s sister, Diana.
“Good luck, my peasants,” said the strange voice.
Chapter 2: The stranger
Mr. Dompettle woke up, took the bus to the palace, ran downstairs and into the changing quarters, walked up the stairs, and went into the room and lined up. The queen did the same thing as yesterday: she assigned everyone besides Mr. Dompettle.
“Mr. Dompettle, what did my sister tell you?”
“The dragon’s slay, a heart of gold, a gem of beauty,” they said together.
Right then and there, there was a knock at the door of the palace that startled both of them. The queen told the guards that she would open the door and for them to go to their quarters, so they did. Now, she opened the door with a creak, and there was a beautiful lady with a bright red cape and a dark black suit. The beautiful lady repeated the queen’s secret in her ears and said, “You must slay the dragon in the woods, find a heart of gold, and get the gem of the land. The biggest gem in the land is a red ruby. Then, your sister will come back to life.”
The queen and Mr. Dompettle couldn’t ask for help. No one could know about this. Now, the two had to get cool suits and weapons. But it was late, so they both had to go home and be careful before they went.
“Goodnight, my queen,” said young Mr. Dompettle.
“Goodnight, Mr. Dompettle,” said the queen.
Mr. Dompettle went home that night and had a sword and gun on the table. If there were a dragon out there, no one knew where it was. If it were in the woods, he had to be prepared.
An hour before dawn, a mysterious creature was spotted in Roseville Park in Hollywood, California. The police department said it was about nine feet tall. The police also spotted a gem that the creature was holding during the video that they took. People said that it belonged in a museum and that it was worth one million dollars.
“Someone must retrieve this gem.”
When Jacob woke up with a start, there were so many things stuck in his mind:
The incident at Roseville Park.
Problems at home.
I mean seriously, it’s not easy to move into a new house, he thought.
As Jacob was walking to his friend Astor’s house, he could hear the loud thunder going:
Boom!Boom! Boom!
When Jacob arrived, he told Astor about the gem and that they could get rewarded one million dollars by finding it.
“We’re going to be rich!” they said together in excitement.
“I’ll see you at 1:10 am, that’s when we’re out.”
“Ok, Astor. First stop: 42nd street.”
As Jacob and Astor entered the dark house, a loud creeeak sound filled the hallway. As they crept along the stairs, a foot-sized claw pierced through the door.
Jacob and Astor rushed towards the door, and inside they caught a glimpse of a nine-foot monster carrying a two-foot gem. Jacob and Astor tried to snatch the gem from the monster, but it was too late. The monster had vanished…
***
After discussing the issue for a long time, Jacob and Astor finally thought of a plan to capture the monster and retrieve the gem. They programmed a weapon to trap the monster in a jar that would give it an electrical shock through its nervous system and put the monster to sleep. After the monster was captured, they would return the gem to the museum.
Once it was dark, they put their plan into action. As they walked, they discussed how the monster must have teleported from California to New York.
They came to a stop. The old oak door opened slightly, and they stepped inside and the old carpet on the floor evaporated. While they were checking downstairs, they heard a loud shriek coming from upstairs on the top floor. As they stepped into the dirty elevator, the noise became louder and louder until… Ding dong! The elevator door opened.
Standing in front of them was the nine-foot monster carrying a two-foot gem. They aimed the weapon towards the creature’s heart and fired. It hit the monster, and the monster started twitching. Suddenly, it was trapped in an electrical jar which put it to sleep.
“Our plan worked!” screamed Jacob and Astor. As they headed back towards the museum, the ominous clouds changed into white and fluffy clouds. When they entered the museum, the manager thanked them for their perseverance and bravery. Jacob and Astor handed him the gem, and the museum locked the monster’s jar in a cell, so the monster could never get out. They had saved the world!
***
Epilogue
Then, a black hellhound appeared from the shadows.
“Darkness will return,” he said, and everything turned dark…
I was born in 1888. My family was dead. We had been investigating some bird, hippopotamus and t-rex when we heard a rumble. Then a volcano erupted and lots of lava was falling down. It was big. There was thunder on the volcano and that was what was making it erupt. My family had been running back to our home but there was too much lava. So I hid under a big leaf and my mom and my sister and my dad were running to our home, but they all got caught and roasted by the volcano.
So after all the eruption, I took them to the military and dug them graves and put a stone on them. I was homeless, but I wasn’t really, because I had my own house. I was hungry and then I saw the secret room where there were lots of fishing poles and spam. So I decided to go fishing. I cooked them up because I was over twenty (I was twenty one). Then I got some flaming rocks and I got my gloves and I picked up the rocks. I threw them at the graveyard. After I threw them, it started raining. The graveyard was rumbling. All of the dead people were coming up, and I saw they were zombies. There were only, like, people eaters. I ran and I saw my little four-year-old brother. He started chasing me. I saw my sister chasing another person. Then I threw a rock at my dad’s grave stone and he became a flaming zombie.
I went to the house, and it was full of zombies. I dodged all of the zombies and ran to Dad’s secret room. There were a lot of zombies there. In the room, there were a lot of guns. I chose the mini gun and started shooting the zombies. And then I ran out of the bullets, so I chose two different weapons: the pistol and the sniper. I didn’t want to shoot my family, but I had to, because if they were zombies, they were of no use.
I shot the flaming zombie, who was my dad. Then I shot my own little brother, then I shot my mom, then the pistol ran out of ammo so I used the sniper. Then there were only fifty zombies on my watch. The watch tells me how many people there are. There were actually 201 people, but after I shot the last person, I was all alone. I decided to live with my friend, the t-rex. His name was T-rex. Then there was lots of dead zombie flesh, but I told the t-rex not to touch it. The t-rex’s friend came, and after I was done playing with my friend, I went to the water.
I found my friend, Shark. I saw a lot of fish. I asked Shark to kill all of those fish because I was hungry and had no food. I had all of these friends. I saw a traveler. He had a detective hat and sunglasses. He had long pants and a short t-shirt. I asked if I could live with him, and he said yes.
When we got to his home, we lived together. After a while, he asked if I wanted some hot chocolate. I said I wanted a frozen hot chocolate and he gave me one.
The problem was that the traveler was a werewolf. Today it was a full moon and I saw that he went in the garden. Then I followed him without getting caught, and then he looked at the full moon. Then there was a lot of fur, and then he started to grow more fur, and then he turned around and then he lived on the farm, so he ate all the pigs and the cows and the chickens and then he was going after me. And then I went back to bed and then he left the house. He didn’t sleep, he just stayed on the farm and stared at the full moon until it was the morning. Then he turned back into a person and I didn’t say that I sneaked out because I didn’t want him to know that I sneaked.
After nine days, there was a lot of birds that I didn’t know, and then there were lots of people. Then I brought fish from the old ages and the traveler cooked it for me and then I ate it. He said at the next full moon, he would be having werewolf babies. After the full night, I saw a lot of little furry things, and those were like babies. They all followed the werewolf and they all turned into a werewolf. There were more people driving, and they all went for him the car. And then he was going for the person and then ate him up, and I was so terrified that I went back to bed and I didn’t sleep, I just searched up with my computer for werewolves. Then I saw that they eat only person meat. I thought he was going to go for me, but when he saw me, he didn’t run for me, he just went for all the animals. Then I researched: does a werewolf have babies? And they said: yes, and there were more babies until they died.
Then I went to the garden. Then the chickens were getting more fur and laying more eggs. Then I ran away from the house and I lived with my friends. Then a big tsunami came. It flooded everything, and after a few minutes, the volcano erupted. Then I went to live in the arctic. It was too cold there so I ran to live in the desert, but it was too hot there so I decided to live in New York. And then I got through the pipe in New York. I went to someone else’s house and then I went through the tunnel and then I ran inside it and I saw a lot of scorpions. I got bitten by one and I fell down, and after a few days, I woke up and I was hungry. So I decided to eat the scorpions, but I needed a cooking place. I had an idea. So I brought all my scorpions to the volcano and cooked them. I chopped down the scorpion’s tail. I ate them and they were yummy, and there were a lot of enemies so I bit them and they got poisoned to death. I ate so many of them. But I got a poison bite because there were a lot of animals, and I was about to cook them but they attacked and then I just put it in my mouth so they didn’t eat it. The scorpion just went down to my stomach and I just bit them and they made a weird sound so I knew they were poisoned. And that’s how I died.
Then, they got poisoned and they died, and one by one I killed them, and then I saw there was a school of fish and I bit all of them and got an offense thing and a defense thing and then I looked and saw a big T-Rex and I bit them. It did no damage and I asked my friends to help so we defeated them and ate them for lunch.
So they ate him for lunch and I felt something weird in my stomach and then I almost died and then he said that he got poisoned, and then he bit him a lot and did poison and ate him and that’s how I got poisoned back.
And then he said that something was wrong with what he ate, and then he said he was born in 1888 and ate a lot of dinosaurs but the last one was really bad for his environment and health. Then I went to a doctor for about two weeks, who said I could go back when the time came. He said that I would at least need to avoid meat for two years and for now, I needed to eat vegetables. Then I said to myself that I could eat one little bite of meat. Then I ate it, and it had only been just one year, and I didn’t remember the taste but then I did! Then I went back to the doctor because I felt so sick and he asked if I had eaten meat. I said yes and he said no meat for 9 years. I didn’t eat meat for 8 years, but I got sick of vegetables, so after 9 years I went back to the doctor and then he said I could eat meat and then I went crazy on meat and then I ate a lot of meat from supermarkets. I didn’t buy them, I just stole them because I had no money.
After, I got really sick, then I went back to the doctors. He said I needed to go into a coma for about 30 years. I said to myself I thought I was going to die! Then after 30 years, I was about 40 years old and then I started cooking for myself and making my own money. I got a bank account and I got more money to buy more stocks to get more money. Then I got really tired of just waiting for money so I decided to play video games. I bought a PS5 and played the game like crazy. I played a Mario game and completed all the levels, so I played a different game and it was called rocket launch and I was so good at it and then I got the ball. I kept scoring and and got a lot of robots and then I got new clothes. I got socks, I got pants, and soon, my stock was going up soooo much because people were trading me and I was putting stuff in my stock.
Soon, I was a trillionaire and I went to a millionaire and then I bought lots of stuff, so I had thousands of dollars. I stopped wasting money and waited for me to be a millionaire and I went crazy on money now. I stopped eating meat and started getting healthy stuff like vegetables and fruits. I ate two snacks and three meals every day, and became the healthiest and richest boy in the world and then I was a nine millionaire. I was so crazy that I thought of breaking more games and then I broke all the games that I know so I started to install games that I didn’t know. There were so little games that I didn’t know about. Then I got a YouTube premium that had no ads and got new games that had no ads. Then, in one day, I got millions and millions of dollars and became the richest boy and became so curious to see who was giving me this money. I went to my old house and there was so much dust. I went to my room and saw the same lady giving me all the money and then I knew who she was. It was my grandma who almost died in a coma because someone pushed her and she almost fell 30 feet. She was in a coma still and donating all the money she had and now she had $9, but now $8, and then she died of a coma and she actually donated $1 to me, that was crazy.
I went to college, and then after it became too hard, I went to elementary school. I went to meet my new friends and they were AJ, Michael, Andrea, Emily, Ryan, and Neil, and my first teacher was Mr. Granite. He was suspicious, so I followed him and I bought a new mansion near my school and then I was so suspicious of him. And then I followed him some more and then I decided I would go with my friends Neil, Michael, and Ryan, so I went with them.
We couldn’t find him in his house but we found him building a rocket ship and the garage door opened and he looked at us and then AJ and I didn’t know what to say. Then AJ finally said, “Freeze, dirtbag!”
Then Mr. Granite put his arms up in the air but then put them down because we did not have any weapons. And then we did elementary school, and then I got a new teacher when I was in 3rd grade. Then, on Friday, we were going to switch to our 3rd grade class and Mr. Granite was going to take off Friday at 2:00 PM. We went there just in time.
All of us played together and then we shook our heads. Andrea didn’t like it so Emily and Andrea stayed there. We got a new substitute teacher and I thought that was our teacher, so they waited for us and he was flying in the room wearing a red cape and then he fell down. He was lying down and then he brought rats because he was pretending to be a superhero, and then he showed it to everyone and then Emily was screaming and running out of the room.
What a crybaby, I thought.
And then, in 4th grade, we got a new substitute teacher instead of Mr. Cooper. Then we got a new substitute teacher and her name was Ms. Mary. And then she was going to get married to Mr. Tommy. And then she was making black makeup on her eyelids and then she was wearing everything black, and then Ms. Mary told us that she was from England and she did snorkeling and also there was a lot about hot dogs.
Then, at lunchtime, AJ said, “Ms. Mary is scary.” After AJ said that, he said that she lived in a cave and hung upside down. AJ said she was a vampire and then Emily said,
“We need to do something!” And then she ran out of the room.
What a crybaby, AJ thought.
And then Andrea said, “Don’t try to scare Emily.”
And then, when we got back, someone was climbing in the roof and I bet that it was Mr. Tommy. Then he said, “Will you marry me?”
Ms. Mary said excitedly, “Yes!”
And then they started smooching up until and after Mr. Tommy gave Ms. Mary a ring. AJ, Micheal, Ryan and I said that Ms. Mary probably tied up our real teacher on the railroad. “That happens all the time you know,” said AJ. And then they married and Mr. Klutz said Ms. Mary was his daughter. And then Michael, Andrea, Emily, Ryan, Neil, and I didn’t know that Mr. Klutz had a daughter but knew that he married a girl pig and that was the funniest thing in the history of the world. And then, after Mr. Tommy said that, he was starting a song about dirt and then we were going to go up for recess because the bell rang but we all snuck up on Ms. Mary and then they started smooching a million times and after that, they saw us and we ran out of the room. Thankfully, Ms. Mary did not say anything.
After two weeks, we were going to 5th grade and then we got the same teacher but a new gym teacher and her name was Ms. Small. She was doing some juggling with nine balls and just shooting them up in the air and making all of them in the basketball hoop. Then she jumped on the trampoline and did a backflip and then got all those balls before they came down and shot the balls before they touched the ground. And then Michael, Ryan, AJ, and I were so confused that we laughed hard in confusion and then when she was done, we saw Ms. Small was very tall and her name should’ve been Ms. Tall instead of Ms. Small! Then she taught us to balance a feather with one finger and then she told us we had to juggle 10 balls in a row… It was so hard that I actually threw up and I got a headache. And when I got to Ms. Cooney’s office, our nurse told me that I had to go home. I thought I was happier than a panda eating 900 bamboo sticks.
Bill was a foodie. He loved food of all kinds, and if you were to ask him if he had gone to this restaurant or that restaurant, he would always say yes. There were no restaurants in the vicinity of his house that he had not been to at least 17 times. But there was one restaurant he hadn’t been to that was across the world, but so far, he could not get there. It served special food, such as fish that only was in the waters in Australia, where the restaurant was.
He had heard about the restaurant from a friend of his in Australia who loved the food in the restaurant. He was in Chicago, and the weather had been bad, so he couldn’t get a plane. No boats would take him either, because they were worried about a storm. It had been raining and thundering for the past couple days, and there were no modes of distant transportation. Although Bill loved food, he also had a degree in building planes. One morning a few days later, an idea came to him. He would build a plane that could fly in any type of weather. But he knew that in the town where he lived, there were criminals who would steal his idea. He wanted to make sure that he would be the first one to file the patent.
He had a high stone wall built around the house, so high that it was unclimbable. He also had a tunnel built within the wall to get out and go to the supermarket or to one of his favorite restaurants. He went to a supply shop and got all the materials needed to build the plane. Then, he put them in his house via the opening in the tunnel in another place in his spacious yard. He started building the next day but accidentally put a piece in a place that it was not supposed to go, and it was bolted in, so to take it out and still have the plane be intact would be nearly impossible.
He was in a rage. Why hadn’t he checked that he was building the plane correctly? He felt like he was under so much pressure, but he realized that it was just a restaurant, and a plane that may or may not work. Luckily, he had a close friend, who also built planes, and his friend gave him parts under the condition that he would let his friend fly in the plane as much as wanted. Gary, his friend, though, did not like food at all, and the nutrition he got was from a drink that he drank every day. Bill disagreed with him about just drinking things, but he told himself that he didn’t need to care. He knew that it wasn’t him, but other people do other things. Bill got a manual to build a plane, and he based his plane off of it. Unfortunately, the workman who worked for him also cleaned his house, and, by mistake, he threw away the manual. Luckily, right after, Bill saved it from the wastepaper basket, told the workman what had happened and forgave him, and then he kept going with his plane.
Months passed, and he had his plane finished. Coincidentally, there was also bad weather, so he could still use his plane, and he flew happily to the restaurant. Also, he patented his plane.
The restaurant was everything he dreamed of. He loved the food so much that he decided to move to Australia permanently. He married and had children and everyone loved his plane, and soon it was used commercially. Time after time he went to the restaurant. He declared that it was the best restaurant he had ever experienced in his life. He lived a couple blocks away from the restaurant, so he could go there anytime he wanted. Bill realized that he didn’t need to go to every restaurant. He could start his own restaurant. And that is exactly what he did.
Bill was happy with his restaurant, and he served interesting things, like smoked bats, steamed horse, and strange muffins full of grape and shallot and tomato. He had lots of customers because word passed quickly that he had very strange things in his restaurant. Every day, 50 people would come and take their favorite salads (with oranges, onions, and cranberries) and favorite soups (with grapefruits, tomatoes, and garlic). But he was bored with his menu. Every month or so, he would change it up. There would be tea with carrot juice, water infused with tomatoes, every strange item you can think of. Soon, people started moving closer to his restaurant, so that they could go there constantly. He had so many customers, he had to build a bigger restaurant to fit all of them! Finally, he decided to sell the restaurant. He sold it to his most loyal customers. The restaurant was operating even better without him. But he was still helping out if any of his new employees had any questions. Bill wanted to go back to Chicago though, so his entire family (he was getting quite old) packed their bags and left Australia. He wrote a book about his life, and a cookbook with the dishes he had made over the years. But word had come from Australia that the new employees had quit and sold the restaurant. He was devastated. What if they made his restaurant have normal food? He quickly flew to Australia, and had his by then 40-year-old children take over the restaurant. He flew back to Chicago, and after his children confirmed that everything was in perfect order, he relaxed. He made some of his dishes from the restaurant in his house, and they tasted even better. Word came out that his restaurant had become the number one restaurant in Australia. He was so very happy. People from all over the world had been coming to Australia just to see his restaurant. He flew over to Australia and saw that everyone was enjoying the food. He loved the food too, and finally he settled down and enjoyed the restaurant.
But, from the children’s view, life wasn’t all beer and skittles. They found that it was hard for them to run the restaurant as well as their father had. The children didn’t have the same obsession with food. They changed the dishes to what they wanted to make, and it felt easier. But they wanted to have a different career. They told this to their father, and he approved. They sold the restaurant, and moved on. One of the children became an accountant; another, a real estate agent; and another, a government official. They were all happy, and all fondly reminisced about the restaurant. But they still wanted to visit, so they saw how it was, and they helped with the food, and they gave the chefs ideas, as they weren’t totally separated from the restaurant. They still enjoyed it, they weren’t against it, they just had different interests than their father. Just like Bill and Gary. They had different opinions, but they still liked each other. Then, all the children remembered that they knew how to build planes, and got into the plane-building business. They enjoyed it, but realized that they actually wanted to be in the restaurant business again. So they bought it back and started again and found that they liked it more then they ever had. But they were getting old, so they soon retired, and left the family business to their children. And everyone remembered how the whole journey had started with one restaurant in Australia. Bill’s grandchildren liked it more than his children, and happily, they ran the restaurant the best that it had ever been before.
But dishes were getting out of date, so the grandchildren changed it up a little bit. There was stewed tiger, fried guinea pig, and lettuce and orange peel salad. People enjoyed it, and one day, the grandchildren got an offer that they could not resist. A man was offering to buy the restaurant for 50 million dollars because it was such a good restaurant. He wanted the restaurant because he was a good advertiser, and he would get even more customers. It turned out that the offer was worth it. The man handled the restaurant quite well. Customers now from all over the world came to Australia from Hawaii just to go to Bill’s restaurant. It was in newspapers all over the world, and every single list of best restaurants always listed Bill’s restaurant as #1. By now, everyone in the world had at least heard of it, and three quarters of those people had gone to the restaurant. The man wanted to make the restaurant cheaper so that everybody could come. It was a good idea. Now, everyone had seen his restaurant, and lots of celebrities were coming to see how they got so much business. Most other restaurants had permanently closed because they could not keep up with Bill’s restaurant. The man changed the menu every day so that there would be lots of customers. They had to move into a bigger location so that there would be enough room for all of the customers! Business was doing well, and the man decided to open locations for this restaurant all over the world. It was doing so successfully that the business was worth two trillion dollars. All of the locations got more customers, and every single person in the world had heard of Bill’s restaurant. Bill’s restaurant even had a museum all about it. The business was doing so well that they had so many great chefs because all of the best chefs would take 5 million dollars to do the cooking. Finally, the restaurant was such a success that they had to move into the biggest building in Australia. They had enough money to create a whole chain of buildings named after them. Finally, the grandchildren took it back, and with the man’s advice, continued the restaurant for years to come.
Max sat in his room thinking about the different ways to prank friends and start fights. It was his only thing to do while he was grounded in his room for starting the biggest syrup fight in the Slider’s house history. It was his dad who grounded him, of course.
Max sighed as he took out his book of how to cause trouble and flipped to the “grounded” chapter. Flipping through the pages, he read to see what trouble he could cause. The best he could find was how to make people think you were severely injured.
Put out something that might be the cause of how you were hurt.
Lie down and put where your “hurt part” is to a point where you have to move it to get it to show.
Prepare what you are going to say to alarm everyone. For example: A gasp and then a screech.
When they come and ask where it hurts, say that you can’t move the part and show.
Then when they freak out, tell them that it was a prank and they might get really mad or give a lecture about pranking.
Max followed the instructions and his dad came running in, but instead of a lecture or a screech, his dad just grounded him for a longer amount of time. Max silently screamed in his head. Why can’t my dad be like other dads!? Let Mom do the grounding. He should be doing the screeching. ARRRRGGGGHHHH! he thought. But because Angie walked in and saw him first, his dad thought it was also her too. So she got grounded with him.
While he was still reading how to cause trouble, he heard Angie scowling. He turned around and told her, “It’s not that bad, is it?”
Angie glared at him. “YOU might not care, but I do!”
“Then just don’t care!” Max suggested.
“I can’t!” Angie muttered.
“If you say so,” Max shrugged
Then there was a knock on the door and Max’s mom came in.
“I hereby grant you permission to take steps out of this room!” she declared
“It’s not like Dad to just let us go, is this a trap?” Angie asked.
“It’s not a trap, but I never actually asked Dad. I mean… I’m a parent, too!” Max’s mom shrugged.
As they walked out of the room, Angie skipping, Max cheesily smiling, and their mom’s head held high, they heard the thump of Max’s dad’s foot slamming the floor.
“YOU LET THEM OUT?! Surely, you know better than THIS?!?!?!” he screeched.
“I’m a parent too, just like you, I get these privileges too. I don’t need to ask. I’m not your copycat,” Max’s mom insisted.
“Very well… just clean up the syrup, okay? And do NOT get into a fight again, or else you’re getting grounded for longer. All three of you,” he sighed.
“Okay!” Angie and her mom said together.
“And Max?”
“Fine.”
When they got to the dining room table, Max started licking the table. It was the fun way to clean up. Not the boring way. He noted that in his head. Then he noticed Jack standing in front of the snack cabinet. “Hey, want help with the licking business?” Jack offered. “There are no good snacks left.”
Max shrugged. “Sure, I mean, if you were here, we probably would have less of a chance of getting grounded. Dad just likes you because you help Angie more.”
“You might get grounded without me then,” Jack predicted.
Max’s mom turned around. “Let’s not talk about grounding now, shall we? Just don’t get in trouble, ‘k?”
“I’ll try. But don’t be that sure. Actually, don’t be sure at all,” Max replied with a sly smile.
His mom smiled. “Well, ok! Now let’s finish cleaning!”
“Ugh… ” groans Leo. “I’m sick of eating mashed potatoes for breakfast lunch and dinnerrr!”
“Blaaah! Me too,” says Jacob.
“Kill me!!!” yells Andrew, a few moments later
The ship starts beeping. “That’s a good thing, right?”
“Uh oh,” says Leo…
Chapter 2
10:13 PM
SELF… DE… STRUCT… !!!
“Guess it’s the end for us,” says Jacob. “Good knowing you all.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” says Andrew.
“WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIEEE!!!” screams Leo.
“Oh shut up, man.”
Chapter 3
5:54 AM
Minutes later…
Boom! Crash!
“Ohhh nooo, are we in heaven!?!?!”
“Ahhhh!!”
“We’re dead!!!!”
“Man, I hate Leo,” says Andrew.
“We’re not dead, we’re just on like some sort of other planet… ?”
“Our ship is kicked,” says Jacob.
“@#%!#&!” (INTENSE CURSING FROM ANDREW.)
Chapter 4
12:37 AM
“Guess we need to find the parts.”
“I think I found something there,” says Jacob.
“Where?”
“There.”
“Oh, look at that,” says Leo.
Chapter 5
10:15 PM
Leo points to a giant booster.
“Whaaa?” says Jacob. “Guess I will get it.”
“Seems like other people have been here,” says Andrew.
They keep walking when Leo starts screaming for no reason, “It’s bones!!!“
“Ugh, eww,” says Andrew.
“Why do I hear like a BZZzz?”
Chapter 6
2:56 AM
“Take cover!”
“What was that?!” yells Jacob.
“Looks like a giant robot sent to kill us all, sir,” says Leo.
Andrew backs off. “Well, we better start to explore and report to NASA what we are seeing,” says Andrew.
“YOU THINK THEY WILL BELIEVE ALL OF THIS?!?!”
Chapter 7
8:19 AM
“Oooooh, fruits, something else, then mashed potatoes!” says Leo.
“Yum!”
“Sweet!”
“Juicy!”
“How come you can breathe?”
“I don’t know.”
“Huh, I can breathe as well. I’m going to write this down.”
Chapter 8
6:34 PM
“Water!!!!” says Leo.
He walks to the big lake. They see a smooth pile of sand.
“Maybe we can rest here,” says Andrew.
Chapter 9
9:27 AM
“Why do I feel little legs on me?” asks Andrew.
“Why do I hear Leo carrying something?” asks Jacob.
“Guys, look what I found!It says that they’re called crawlers!!!”
“They look like scorpions… ”
“This is like earth, weeee!!!” Splash!!!!
Chapter 10
4:45 AM
“I think we should rest,” says Jacob.
“How?” says Leo.
“How about that?”
“Why do I feel pain on my feet?” asks Andrew.
“Umm, should we tell him?”
“No, you noticed it, you tell him!”
“Umm, uhhh, you have a tiger snapper snapping your leg,” says Leo.
“AaaAAHhhHH! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!!!!”
Chapter 11
8:54PM
1 hour later…
“Guess we should head there!”
“There’s a jungle here?!?”
“I’m so glad that tiger snapper is gone.”
“I hear crawling again, is it your 999 crawlers, Leo?”
“No,” says Leo.
“I think I found their cousin, the black crawler,” says Jacob.
Chapter 12
12:46 AM
“Be careful though, black cavaliers can be territorial. I hope they don’t mind us, it says that they eat bigger things than us, so we should be fine.”
Chapter 13
8:14 PM
“What’s that green liquid?”
“Don’t jump in there. It’s not wat – ”
“JUMP FIRST! CHECK LAST! WEEE!”
“God, I hate him,” says Andrew.
“Is it just me or do I see a giant factory out there?”
Chapter 14
2:48 AM
“This is going to take forever… ” groans Leo.
“We’re already here.”
“Oh.”
“We better be sneaky, I see robots EVERYWHERE, so we need to stick toget – ”
“Weeeeee!!” !says Leo.
“WHY!”
Chapter 15
7:56 AM
“He is so dead.”
“I’M ALIVE!”
“Aww man, I found a teleporter!”
“Really?” asks Andrew.
“Yeah! Here.”
Chapter 16
1:34 PM
“Where does it go?”
“I have no idea. See ya!”
“Wait, we don’t know where it goes?!”
“Guess I will see him on the other side.”
Chapter 17
9:38 PM
“Wah… it’s all junk and rocks and dirt, we are in Jun Bot City.”
“Wah, I see a lot of them,” says Leo.
“There are a lot of these little square robots with small eyes,” says Andrew. “I see another
Teleporter!”
Chapter 18
4:24 AM
“Wow, you look pixelated!”
“Why are your words in a speech bubble?” says Andrew.
“I have moves! We’re in a video game! Where is the next teleporter?”
Chapter 19
“It says that we need to complete 10 levels and fight the last boss,” says Jacob.
LEVEL 1
PRESS THE RIGHT ARROW TO GO RIGHT
PRESS THE LEFT ARROW TO GO LEFT
PRESS THE SPACEBAR TO JUMP
LOADING…
“Oooo, we have fireballs for fighting!”
PRESS SHIFT TO SHOOT FIREBALLS
Nice! Now let’s go fight that boss!
LEVEL 2
WAVE 1 OF ENEMIES
That was easy.
WAVE 2 OF ENEMIES
That was also easy.
FINAL WAVE OF ENEMIES
Ow! Flying enemies, really?
LEVEL 3
WAVE 1 OF ENEMIES
God, these parasites may be small, but they have two hearts!
And we only have three!
WAVE 2 OF ENEMIES
Whaaa, that’s three big dragons!
FINAL WAVE
What is that?! Looks like a stone gaint.
LEVEL 4
MINI BOSS LEVEL
“Oh no, that’s a hydra! Dodge its attacks!!!”
“Ow, ow, eek!”
“I need to heal, “ says Leo.
“He’s got my back!” says Jacob.
“Good, I’ll get the final hit, and yeet!”
“Okay.”
“Now what?”
LEVEL 5
BIG SWARM OF ENEMIES!!!
“Ahhhh! Take cover!!!”
“I got like 453 of them!!!” “Ahhhhh, eeeek!”
A few hours later……
LEVEL 10 BOSS LEVEL
“Whaa, that is… so… AWESOME!!!”
“Please no, Leo,” says Andrew.
“ROAR!!!”
“Oooh nooo, it shoots lasers!!!”
“Run, run, run, run!”
“Whew, I got some good shots on him!!!!” says Jacob.
“Not me!” says Leo. “This could have been 100% easier if he weren’t able to move!!!”
A FEW HOURS LATER
“Ugh… this boss is unbeatable.”
“Bruh, Leo, we just beat it.”
“Oh, okay!” says Leo.
Chapter 20
3:15 AM
PICK ONE OUT OF THREE TELEPORTERS
TO GO BACK BACK TO EARTH
“Awwww, but I don’t want to go back to eating mashed potatoes in NYC!” says Leo.
“Yeah, there needs to be another way… ”
“Hmmm… ”
“I’ve got it! How about we build a bridge all the way back to earth!” says Jacob.
“How?”
“With all the things that we discovered.”
Chapter 21
6:34 PM
“Phew, we made it!!! I see the president!”
A few minutes later
“And let us celebrate the glory for ANDREW, JACOB, AND LEO for being so brave and going to another planet! And making a giant bridge all the way back to earth!!! Here are your medals, and here’s the money.”
“Wow, I can’t believe we did it,” says Andrew.
“Do you know what that means?”
Chapter 22
10:23 PM
A few hours of celebrating
“Woo! That felt gooood!” says Leo.
“Yeah,” says Leo. “Wonder what planet to go to next? Maybe Venus?” says Jacob.
“Pssst, NO! Something new!”
Beep, beep.
“Huh, my contact watch is beeping. Hmm.”
“I see NASA says that one of their satellites is seeing dangerous things on planet 5,603. It says if we don’t stop it now, bad stuff is going to happen,” says Jacob.
There was an alien that needed an alien spaceship and fuel to get back to his home in space. When his parents were going to go on vacation in space, Alien Bob fell out of the UFO and landed on Earth. The alien named Alien Bob was searching for a spaceship/UFO. He had been searching for weeks, but he gave up hope. But there was a firewall to get to the UFO. He went into the Internet but there were internet golems so he fought the internet golems with his sticky tentacles, and Alien Bob won against the internet golems. So then he went to see the internet firewall.
The firewall said, “Guess the password if you want to pass or I will blast you with a fire.”
Then Alien Bob saw the UFO. “Ok,” said Alien Bob, “I think firewall.”
The firewall said, “Error, nobody ever got past me. You may pass, you just need fuel.”
Alien Bob went down to the underworld to defeat the fire golems. He dug with his green pail head. Then Alien Bob went to defeat the fire golems. He punched them with his green fists and defeated the fire golems. Then he went to the top of Mount Everest to kill the ice golems. He got to the top of Mount Everest. An ice golem missed the Alien Bob with a liter of fuel he brought all the time.
Then Alien Bob hit the ice golem, then got the fuel. Now, he needed to get back to the UFO. He went back to the internet. The internet golems were dead, so he said to the firewall, “Firewall,” and he put the fuel into the UFO. He went into space but there were obstacles in space, so he turned on his guns and killed the robots. He went back to his planet and reunited with his alien mom and dad, and his mom and dad were so excited when they saw Alien Bob. The last time they had seen Alien Bob was 20 years ago.
Chapter 2: When Alien Bob Got an Alien Dog and Cat
One alien day on an alien planet, there was this new invention called an alien dog and cat. Alien Bob really wanted the alien dog and cat. But Alien Bob’s parents said, “No, no, we are not doing that. You already got lost on earth. We’re not spending $9,999.”
“Mom, why are you crying?” said Alien Bob.
“Well, your grandpa invented alien dogs and cats and he died today, so I don’t want to get the dog or the cat. But you can use your money to get a dog or cat.”
“Ok,” said Alien Bob. He got the dog and cat.
Chapter 3: Learning Everything of Alien
The alien planet is named Bleezama. They always have hot weather. Alien Bob’s mom’s name is Bloop Burp and Alien Bob’s dad is named Alien Blurb. All the aliens look green and have 90 small eyes. Aliens Bob’s parents act very happy. Their house in Bleezama is green and blue.
Chapter 4: How Other Aliens Almost Destroyed an Alien Planet
One day Alien Bob was friends with different kinds of aliens. They played alien tag. Alien tag was played if you got tagged you had to stuff your head in water, then you tag someone else. Then one day Alien Bob’s friend didn’t show up. He knew that his alien friend Zooburg was up to something. Alien Bob placed a tracker on Zooburg, and he was on a ship with a super duper Death Laser ofDOOM. The ship with Zooburg in it went to Alien Bob’s planet. But then Alien Bob got his jetpack and the Sword of Justice and went to the ship. He broke the glass and killed the person controlling the Death Laser of DOOM. Then he found the reactor that gives power to the ship and he broke it. Then his bad friend Zooburg died with the ship. Alien Bob felt happy because his friend almost killed him and his planet.
Chapter 5: Zooburg’s Rebirth
You know in the last book Zooburg died, so he will be reborn in this book. Zooburg’s death resulted in his dad being mad, so he gave him a second life. His dad had the power to give him a second life because he was emperor of all aliens. You can only give someone a second life once you’re an emperor because it uses too much energy. You also have to have a reason to use it on someone. Then Alien Bob found out about Zooburg’s rebirth in one year. He tried to destroy the house but he got away with the Sword of Destiny. But then, five years later, Zooburg came back with the Death Laser of DOOM and his emperor dad. So then all hope was lost, but his mom and dad had been hiding for years. They had the lost Sword of the Cosmos. Legend said that anybody that had, it was the god of the cosmos. So then Alien Bob’s mom gave Alien Bob the Sword of the Cosmos.
Zooburg said, “You have the Sword of the Cosmos?”
“Yes, I do. I’m not killing you, I’m killing your dad,” said Alien Bob. He stabbed Zooburg’s dad, who died, and now Alien Bob was the emperor with special abilities.
Alien Bob said to his parents, “I promise you guys will be emperors.”
Chapter 6: Alien Bob’s Parents Becoming Emperors
“Ok,” said his parents. Alien Bob made two more of himself. Then, his parents killed the copy of Alien Bob by stabbing it. Then, Alien Bob’s parents were now emperors. The emperor powers are making two more of yourself, making someone alive again, killing someone instantly, and making the Sword of the Cosmos.
Once upon a time, there was a bunny that wanted a carrot. The bunny went everywhere and searched for a carrot, but there was no carrot anywhere. The little bunny asked his mom where the carrots were. Mom said where the carrots were and the bunny hopped to where his mother told him to, but there were no carrots. The bunny went home again and asked his dad where he kept the carrots. The little bunny’s dad told him where he kept the carrots, and the little bunny went there. The little bunny searched and searched there, but he couldn’t find any carrots.
The little bunny got so upset that he went to the market to buy his own carrot. There were no carrots in the market. The people said that a big giant had come and eaten all the carrots up, and the little bunny believed that. He said that he would kill the giant and get all the carrots back.
He took a sword and shield, put some armor on, and went into the forest. He found a humongous giant and threw a rock at its face. Then, he hit the giant in the butt, and the giant gave back all the carrots.
In the magical world, the weather was the same no matter where you went. But instead of it raining because water evaporates, people in the sky shot water pistols from the sky.
Amber was watching TV in her cell while thinking about plans to escape from prison. She was sure that Steve could not read her mind, so she went on her evil paper and wrote “first things first 111”—that was a secret message that she and her partner could use to write messages on paper.
Because she was little, she could just squeeze between the bars and into freedom. But she did that once, and she got caught. Now, she was in the biggest securest prison, and everything was covered with bedrock which was an unbreakable type of metal. But she knew that there was a solution to everything.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Steve the elephant was on duty in a different prison. He got a call, but since there was no internet there, he went quickly to the main office where no prisoners were allowed. This was because there was a strong internet connection, and if a prisoner was there, then their best friend might help the prisoner escape by just making a few phone calls and text messages. Anyway, he needed to go to the prison that Amber was in because he was a very good guard.
In the prison that Amber was in, she had to eat bananas for dinner. Since she did not like bananas, she just burned them and put them in the snow, watching the steam come out of the snow. It was so satisfying that Amber did that to a bunch of different bananas, and she almost got caught three or four times.
Then, Amber got the greatest idea in the world! She could just escape and get caught, and she then knew what to do next. She just randomly went out and got caught on purpose.
When she was in the waiting room in her trials, she noticed a vent and a lady. Amber climbed onto the vent and dropped a ladder to rescue the lady. She helped the lady and told her the plan. They climbed through the vent and hid behind the boxes. They had four choices: distract, invisible cloak, plead, surprise attack.
She chose distract. Later, she knew that that option did not work because after, like, thirty seconds she saw that everyone was dancing around like maniacs.
She time traveled back with the lady, and she had a new plan. She would ask the lady for help. She would jump out the window with her and hop on the motorcycle. The lady agreed. So Amber II jumped out of the window, but the real Amber missed the motorcycle, and the guards began chasing her.
But then, Amber II smooshed all of the guards, and the real Amber got on the motorcycle, and they escaped to freedom! So they took out their prison coats—which were really hot to be in—and they finally jumped out of their jeep, driving out of town to safety. It had been a long time since both of them had breathed such fresh air.
Amber asked the lady, “Can we be allies?”
“Ok! That is a good idea.”
Amber II said, “We better get out of here because… I think I see Steve the elephant, who is a very good guard, and… I think he is also right above us.”
They were running for their lives, but that was no use because they were sucked into Steve’s elephant trunk. Steve said, “Explain yourselves.”
“We escaped from prison,” said Amber.
“And why and how in the world did you find us here?” asked Amber II.
Then, Steve the elephant launched into the biggest explanation of his life.
“So… I was in the middle of my own business, doing my prison guard duty, and I got a call! Since there was no internet where I was currently, I went to the main office, and the call said that I had to move to the prison that you were currently in, just because I was a good prison guard. And since it was on the other side of the world, I got on a plane. There, I saw your familiar faces, and then I realized I was you too.”
“But anyway,” said Amber, “Who even is Amber?”
“Do you not realize that you are Amber?”
“Anyway, who is that lady then?”
“That is Amber,” said Amber.
Steve closed his eyes for a long time, and they said together in their brains, This is our chance. Our chance to teleport.
They appeared one millisecond after Steve opened his eyes again.
Hey where did they go? he thought. Well then, I better get back on the train!!! I mean, the airplane.
So Steve went to the airplane and slept…
THE END
Ms. Small is Big
I do not understand everything about the English language.
My name is Mr. Cup, and the English language is weird. Isn’t it supposed to be where feet run and noses smell, instead of noses run and feet smell? Why is it called a hot dog, but you do not even have a dog? Why is it called a pineapple, but there is no pine? Actually, there is no apple either. The English language is weird. I think that I am going to complain to the president about it later.
Anyway, at school, it was time for our first day of a class that is kind of like gym, but it is dumber because you do not get to play cool games like dodgeball, basketball, and other stuff. Instead, you have to do stuff like balancing feathers in one hand and trying to throw a pillow the farthest. Those games are a lot less fun. I think that I should go to the president and complain about it.
After school, I went to my mom and asked her if I could have paper and a pencil so I could complain to the president. I wrote this:
Dear Mr. President,
I would like to complain about the English language. Why is it that feet smell and noses run? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around, where feet run and noses smell? That is only when you attach a nose to your feet and attach feet to your nose. Also there is no pine or apple in pineapple/
Sincerely,
Mr. Cup
When I got to school, there was a different teacher. She was big. Her head just about touched the basketball hoop and the ends of the gym. She was cool. We got to play dodgeball and other cool stuff, and then finally, when I got home I got the letter back. It just said that he changed the alphabet now everyone has to go back to Pre-K and stuff.
THE END
Mr. Potato
It was another fine day in the book production store. Everything was good today. Yesterday was the hardest day that the book company had ever had because they had the hardest decision to make: to hire a bad worker or wait six months and hire the best worker in the world. After eight hours of hard decision thinking, they said, “Six months is not that much. We will be able to handle it…”
Things kept moving well until…
Six months, 2 hours, 9 minutes, and 1 second later:
Woo hoo! They got the best worker in the world!!! Nothing could go wrong right?
But when they saw his work accuracy, they were disappointed. Everyone was sad. His speed was high, but he did most of the work wrong. They finally had to fire him because his accuracy was sooo low.
But before they fired him, they made a complaint to the person who measured everything in the world record book. They wrote:
Hello, this is the book company here. We would like to complain because it is NOT the best worker. His speed may be the fastest but his accuracy is the lowest. YOU ARE WRONG.
Sincerely,
The book company
They waited until they got an answer. The answer was so simple. It just said:
NOOO, that is wrong! We will come and check and see if you are right or we are right. Also, let’s have a bet about that. How about twenty million dollars?
They accepted it. In a few weeks, the person from the Guinness Book of World Records who measures the stuff was going to come all the way from planet Zog. He decided it was wrong, so the company got 20 million dollars. They decided to hire the worst person named Mr. Potato. He was actually a very good worker, but nobody noticed that he was an evil scientist trying to take over the world. He wanted the money to buy a secret evil lair, but since there were no secret lairs in the Milky Way galaxy, he had to go to a galaxy called the Evil Way.
Exactly twenty million days in the future:
He did not come to the company ever again, he was not found in the Evil Way galaxy, and finally, he was wanted for 99999999 trillion dollars.
Mr. Potato’s EVIL PLAN CHART:
1
2
3
4
5
Pose as a bad worker and then make the best worker a bad worker.
Make them have a bet and then make the company win.
Get hired in the company and stuff like normal.
Be the best worker that the company EVER EVER EVER had.
After having enough money to buy a secret lair, never be found again.
THE END
Most YouTube Fan
I had never been more frustrated than this. The only thing I wanted was YouTube. I had games, but I played them for sooo long that I played every game and maxed everything out.
I got a call from my creator, Zach. The first thing he said was, “You have not found a way to access YouTube, have you?”
“No,” I said back. “I have not.”
Then he said slowly, “Good. But I will have to check.”
So then I said, “Can you install YouTube for me?”
“No,” said Zach.
Then I said, “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE?”
He said, “I said NO!”
“But I will only use it once a year.”
“Nope.”
Then I said please, like, a million hundred times and he said, “Yes.”
Woo hoo! I finally had YouTube. I watched memes of cats playing the piano. But I think I watched too many of those because then I got another call from Zach.
He said, “I see you have not been using YouTube correctly, so I just recently took it away.”
NOOO! I could not live without YouTube. Netflix and all of the other sites are no fun anymore. I wanted YouTube. YouTube. YouTube. YouTube!!!
Now I knew that he would never ever forgive me, so there was only one way to get this right. I had to go to the secret cave of Zachs, and then I could hack into his thing and get YouTube back again!
I got there and pressed the enter key on his thing. First, there were a lot of weird, antique people. I walked happily with my eyes closed, and then I saw glass! I smashed right into it. I backed up and read the glass. It said: solve these riddles and then put them on the box, then I will see if it was correct. The riddle was this:
You measure my life in hours, and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin and slow when I’m fat. The wind is my enemy. What am I?
Hmm… I thought. Maybe it could be—? No, not that. I reread the question: You measure my life in hours, and I serve you by expiring. What Am I?
Then I thought of it: a candle!!! I put it on the box and then it said: correct > you may enter. YAY!
I went to the next course and I saw a sign that said: break the bricks or if not go back. Only these three tools were options: C4, a jackhammer, and a spade. I chose the C4 and went on. I thought, whoa, I can’t believe that I am still not done!!!
But there was only one more obstacle. It said: which coin will drop faster—one that is at 1000000 degrees Fahrenheit or -3964873 degrees Fahrenheit? That was an easy one—the one that is hotter. It would freeze if it was that cold.
But then I saw my master, and I got kicked out of his server.
THE END
The Mysterious Fish
I, the most experienced scuba diver in the world, decline the statement that there are a lot of fish that we do not know about. I already know all of the fish.
For example, the share fish. It has a lock button on it if it does not have any fish friends. But when it has some, the lock is opened. It also has a lot of share buttons on its body. That fish is my personal favorite.
Anyway, I have to get proof that I have discovered all of the fish in the whole computer galaxy. I will tell you some of my favorite stuff and some stuff I really hate!
First, I will tell you some of my favorite foods and my favorite drinks. Then I will tell you some of my least favorite drinks and foods. It is going to be extreme and very funny 100 percent guaranteed, so let’s start!!!
I love zombie fish. People call them the “mysterious fish” because they have mysterious marks on their tails. These marks are different from the ones on their body because they have star-shaped markings. On their heads, they have heart-shaped markings.
For my favorite drink, I like red ice cubes mixed with different brands of head sheets. The ice cubes sheets make a salty and fizzy drink, while the head sheets have a sweet, eraser taste. So if you combine it all together you get a salty, fizzy, eraser, sweet taste! Yum!
I want to skip the part that I don’t like because describing it will make you throw up, 100% correct. I tried telling it to the person with the world record of not throwing up, and he threw up right away.
So here is the story of my scuba diving adventure:
I was currently underwater when I saw a great white shark. I thought, oh no! I did not already discover that animal. So I thought, well, I just now discovered the animal, so nah nah nah boo boo to the person that did not believe me. That happened tons more times, so then I went out and finished my journey.
That is all of my story so far because I am underwater and there are a lot more creatures to be found!!!
THE END
The Evil Christmas Villain
Mr. Lamp was the most evil villain in the town. Nobody was more cunning than him. Santa Claus was not going to give him any presents because he was bad over the year.
Mr. Lamp went into his secret layer and started the engine, heading to Blueberry City. He thought he should start with house number one and go all the way to house number ten million, three hundred and sixty-five thousand, six hundred and sixty-six.
He quickly went to house one and saw a weird figure on the chimney. He thought it was nothing but an action figure, but it was actually Santa. He quickly went into the house and saw nothing but Santa in the room. He froze and Santa said, “Why are you in the house of Blueberry number one?”
Mr. Lamp said, “I only did this because this is my cousin’s house. I’m visiting for the holidays.” He was lying.
Santa said, “This isn’t your cousin’s house! Nobody lives here because this is my house! Now, shoo.”
Mr. Lamp went into his lair, and on his computer, he searched if Santa had more than one house. It said yes, Santa had more than one house. He had a house in every city. Mr. Lamp gulped. How could he get past Santa if he kept running into his houses? He might get tortured to death. He thought for a few hours and said to himself, “Maybe I could use my time gadget to freeze time so I can peek inside the house.”
He decided to go to house number two. He pressed his time gadget and saw that nobody was there. It was an old abandoned mansion. Then, he saw an evil clown staring at him like crazy. He thought I’m going to go to Blueberry for the last time.
He flew out the door with his eyes closed carelessly. Finally, when he decided to stop, he saw new houses but then he realized it was the forest he was creeped out by. It was the Hoia-Baciu Forest in Romania. He was scared of the forest because, according to the army tech person, in 1968 they recorded a UFO hovering over the forest. This was a true fact.
Then, he flew over to a city he knew a lot about. But he had not come here in a long time, so he did not know if there were new inventions that he missed because you can only view the news if you are in the city. It looked different from what it looked like before. Instead of Christmas trees, there were floating boats, but they did not have any ordinary ornaments. They had real diamonds, gold, emeralds, and rubies. Man, thought Mr. Lamp, this does not look like before!
But when he got to his secret lair to get his Christmas-present-sucker, he saw the sign. It didn’t say New York City, it said… Mayhem City. That was very weird. He didn’t know any kind of city named Mayhem City. And from there he discovered the Cursed Universe.
THE END
The Stinger Jellyfish
Mr. Jellyfish was going to go to the other part of the ocean because he wanted to sting humans really badly. But when he moved an inch, he saw his friend Lemon, whose face was all puffed up and excited. Lemon said, “Are you excited for the playdate tomorrow?”
Wait, what? Mr. Jellyfish thought that the playdate was in a few days. Then he realized that he had to get his JF (jellyfish) school homework done. If he did not do it today, then his teacher would make him do nine times the work that he had to do. For his assignment, he wrote this poem:
Roses are red
Sun is yellow
Pens are inky
But garbage is stinky
He thought that his teacher would like it, but instead when he went to school the next day the teacher made him do it all over again because she thought that it was too stinky and garbage-ish. So, when he got home he wrote this:
Cups and books and cheese and ash
Now you know I’m talking trash
This might make you gag
But I like to smell the garbage bag.
This might not be a pity
But I like to pick up trash from the city
How about Monday as garbage day
Tuesday and Wednesday to
How about Thursday and Friday
And lastly Saturday and Sunday
What will we do without garbage day
But I like to pick trash from the bay
There! He had worked for two hours without making any mistakes. The next day, he figured out that he did not sleep the previous night. He passed his homework to his teacher and then slumped back to his chair. The day was finally over, and the school year ended tomorrow. He had to get a good night’s sleep, and he did.
The next day, school ended. He watched movies all day long, and then he came up with a plan of everything he needed to do. First, Mr. Jellyfish packed all of the stuff he needed, and then off him and his parents went.
The first obstacle he ran into was a wall. But that was no problem because the jellyfish could just sting the wall, and then it would go away. He walked a few more miles until he spotted a jelly-toxic tree. But he was equipped with a jelly flying suit so it was easy to jump over it. He walked a few steps, humming with his eyes closed, so then he bumped into a big cow. He got annoyed and said, “HEY COW, GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!” But the cow did not seem to understand English, so then Mr. Jellyfish said, “MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO” and the cow backed away. He thought that was easier than I expected.I just said some cow words and then he went away!
Then he fainted. His mom said, “Why did you faint?”
He said, “You remember when I said those moo words, right? I might be able to understand Mootongue which is really rare, you know.”
Then he saw a giant spider. That was one of his greatest fears. But he thought, it just looked like I thought it invited me to a duel.
Three against one. Both of his parents stung the giant spider but that was quite not enough. So then he stung the spider, and they defeated the spider.
He finally went to the local beach. He stung the nearest human. It felt great! And then he woke up and realized that was just all a dream, a BIG dream.
THE END
The Weird, Evil Clown
We were on the train going to the circus, when the train person said, “Ten hour delay.” What?! Is he joking? Ten hours! I did not like the sound of that. The parade at the circus started in only thirty minutes.
I have been going to the same circus for like thirteen years. Maybe something went wrong because thirteen is the unluckiest number in our family.
Maybe instead of going to the circus, we could visit Hoia-Baciu Forest, Romania or something. If that was real, then I would definitely go there. It was really cool. There were aliens there, and according to the military tech person, in 1968 there was a picture of a UFO hovering over the forest.
We got to the next stop. My mom made furious calls to the train person while my dad beat up a robber in a prison where he works.
I blinked once, and then I saw an evil-looking clown staring at me. I flinched, and then he was gone. I was now sweating like crazy. I thought, is the galaxy cursed?
I thought that the water machine galaxy was the safest place in the world. Those thoughts were freaking me out. Then I realized that a train was going to fall right on our heads. I said to my mom, “HEY LOOK HERE! A TRAIN IS ABOUT TO FALL ON OUR HEADS!!!”
But she was not listening because she was screaming into her phone. She kinda looked like she was going to blow up!!! Right before the train fell on our heads, she said, “We are going to your dad’s prison.”
I closed my eyes and covered my ears. But it did not come. The crash of the train did not come. I finally opened my eyes, and I looked at the train. It was floating. Something creepy was going on.
My mom was acting normally. Mad, fearsome, and creepy. She was really heavy. I guess she was trying to be a heavyweight, but she already was one. She had to be 5940 sugg in waterpark units, which is 986 Pounds in American units or something.
I had to do something. When we got home I told her my plan.
“Let’s go to the GFFF CASTLE universe. This place is way too freaky.”
And you will never ever believe what we saw when we got to the GFFF CASTLE…
THE END
The Cursed Air Conditioner
Piper was more bored than ever. She asked her brother Griff, “Can you tell me a joke? I am more bored than ever!”
“No,” said Griff, “I am as bored as you.”
“Do you know what is causing this boredness to happen?” said Piper.
Then Griff thought so hard that his brain hurt. He finally said, “Maybe if we get some fresh air, that might help us.”
“Ok,” Piper said back.
So they asked their moms if they could go outside for some fresh air. Their moms glared back suspiciously at them until they finally said, “Yes, ok.”
The children went outside and smelled the fresh air. It felt great. This was as good as what Piper wanted: flying abilities.
Meanwhile, back in the house, their moms were talking about the weather.
“Do you think it is going to rain today?” asked Griff’s mom.
“No,” said their friend Granite’s mom. “I checked the weather forecast, and it said that it would be nice and clean.”
So then they decided to have a surprise playdate. The air conditioner was not happy at that time—it wanted to bore out someone, but it was not strong enough to bore out grownups with its magical powers.
Finally, after three hours Piper and Griff came back into the house, but the moment they went into the house they got bored, which made the air conditioner happy. He thought I think that the kids are back.
But when they got out of the room to eat dinner, the air conditioner got mad again. After dinner, they went to their bunk beds and were disgusted. What surprised them was when they noticed that it was the air conditioner. So they quickly got rid of the air conditioner. You will never believe in a million hundred years how their moms reacted when they figured out that the air conditioner was gone…
Fish Are Smart
The shark struck again. He tried many times to eat the fish, but he couldn’t. He thought I wish that there was a way to trick those little fools. So he got a trap and waited for what felt like one hundred million hours. But then the little fish said, “Oh! This is just another little dumb fish trap,” and the fish swam right past it. The shark was so furious that he thought that he was going to blow up. He then thought that if he could work with his other shark friends, they could create an invisible trap for the fishies.
But meanwhile, on the other end of town, all of the fishies were warned NOT to swim too much underwater and just eat homemade food, because if they don’t then it might be a trap and they will end up as the sharks’ next meal.
The sharks were about to finish their invention, but then a giant, angry-looking computer came up to him and said, “That will not be enough to fool the fishies. That is all I have to say.”
So then after the computer left, the sharks thought, that is a prank. We won’t listen to him. But when they completed their trap, none of the fishies came. They didn’t even come near the trap.
Then one of the shark’s friends said, “Why can’t we just sneak attack them?”
“Great idea,” said his other friend, Billy.
So they hid behind what they thought was a rock, but it was actually a rock that attacks back with the same amount of pressure that it receives. Since all of them were hiding on the rock, the mayor in the fish town said, “SHUTDOWN, LOCKDOWN!!! Close all of the fish shops immediately! If you are at school, shut down the school! Anywhere you are, just lockdown the thing!!! If you are brave enough, then you can fight in the war. These are the required things: #1. You must have a full army experience and kill at least 99999 people. #2. Get all of your army stuff and go, go, go, fight in the war!!!”
But they were already attacked and stuff. They did not need their weapons—they would already lose the war. But they still fought.
It was 8:00. It was time to sleep. Tomorrow was my birthday. My dad said that if I didn’t go to sleep, I would be tired and miss my birthday, so I went to sleep.
The next morning was my birthday. My dad was about to leave when he saw me walking downstairs.
“Happy birthday, dear! Your family is going to be here in just a minute, so you’ve got to get ready,” he said.
“Ok, Dad. So you said that the family is going to be here in a bit?” I asked.
“Yes. So you and your mother better get ready,” he replied.
My dad went to the store. My mom and I went upstairs to get ready.
Chapter Two
At the Store
My dad went to the store. This is what happened.
What doll should I buy for my daughter? There is an aisle for kids, he thought. Why don’t I go there? Those dolls look like old antiques. I will buy one of these for my daughter. I hope she will like it. I will buy other things for my daughter.
“Hello, I would like to buy this for my daughter’s birthday,” he said.
“It will be 135 dollars because it’s an old antique,” replied the cashier.
“Ok, I will buy it. But do you know why the antique is expensive?”
“Yes, sir. It is because in 1895 an inventor created this doll. One night, the creator was sleeping. The doll came alive and killed the creator.”
“Thank you, I guess.”
“Have a nice day.”
Chapter Three
At Home
“Hello dear, I brought you a present,” said my dad.
“Really, what is it?”
“You’re the one who has to find out.”
“It’s a doll! Thank you, Daddy!”
“No problem. But it’s time for you to go to bed so you can be full of energy.”
“Ok! Good night.”
I went to bed. I pulled my doll in my arms and fell asleep.
The doll woke up, ran downstairs, and grabbed a knife. It ran back up the stairs and woke me up.
“Why did you wake me up, Dad? You said that I would need some rest,” I said.
The last thing I said was, “HELP!”
THE END
STORY 2
Mr.’s Maid
A long time ago, there was a maid. She worked at a mansion, which meant that she had a lot of work to do. She would take care of a child because the parents didn’t care about their child. One day, the child saw the parents yelling and smacking the maid. When they saw the child watching, they started chasing the child. The child started running to her bedroom, but she ran straight to the dungeon. The parents stopped running to her and went back to the maid. The child thought that they were too tired or afraid of her, but she was wrong.
A voice came from one of the jail cells that said, “Come my dear. I won’t do any harm. I won’t hurt you I promise.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Now come to the darker side of the jail cell.”
She went to the other side of the cell and saw the maid down there. She had been down there for months, but the maid had been taking care of the child since she was born. She figured that the maid had an older sister. The older sister looked just like the maid that was taking care of the child. The child started screaming but no one came to help.
5 years later…
Everyone in the mansion stopped thinking about the screaming from years ago. They also had a legend that whoever had a maid would be killed by their maid.
THE END
STORY 3
Miss Doll
Long ago there was a doll named Miss Doll. She lived in a happy town with flowers and all that, but one night someone attacked the village. It was the doll creator. He was looking for Miss Doll. He left an hour later. Many people think that he didn’t find Miss Doll… but… they… were… wrong!
Many people were afraid of Miss Doll. But others were curious about her. One night, Miss Doll woke up. The doll was alive. Instead of purple eyes, she had red eyes. Instead of a pink dress, she had a white dress with stains on it. Instead of straight hair, she had curly, sharp hair.
2 months later…
Miss Doll grew up. She still had her outfit and stuff. The store was open and lots of people came in to see Miss Doll. So everyone searched for Miss Doll, but she was nowhere to be found.
2 days later…
An old man was working on a new doll to replace Miss Doll. He brought it into the store. Her name was Miss Library. She was the prettiest doll anyone had ever seen. Every kid would fight over one of these dolls. The parents had to stop them.
One day, a kid came to the store to find a doll to give to her sister to play with. She found Miss Doll laying in the corner of the store. No wonder no one could find it.
She picked the doll up and said, “This doll will be perfect!”
She ran out of the store and gave her sister the doll.
Her sister said, “What kind of doll is this?! This doll looks so ugly!”
“Sorry! That was the only doll in the store. Miss Library sold out!”
“Fine. I will only keep this doll because that was the only one they had.”
It was night time and everyone was asleep. The doll woke up once again. The doll went upstairs and killed her older sister. The doll came back and started singing. It was like “a ring around the rosy,” but different.
“Lalalala. Lalalala. Lalalala. Lalalala,” the doll sang over and over again.
The doll reached the kitchen and grabbed a kitchen knife. The doll ran back upstairs and killed the little girl. Beware, if you find a doll named Miss Doll… DO NOT BUY IT!
THE END
STORY 4
The Mall
There was a mall that had everything you could ever need or want. Everyone would go there to see what they would have next. One night, a group of tennis players came and started stealing from the mall.
A man in black came out of the shadows and said, “I have food for free.”
The three boys started getting worried and ran out of the mall. They told their parents. The parents called the police. The man was never found. They figured that the man was not a man… He was a doll looking for someone to replace his body.
5 years later…
Everyone is now afraid of men, so all the men are in jail. They are testing them one by one. Some of them are positive and some are negative.
SuperMax was one little, very fast boy who got lots and lots of trophies and medals from places like the running championship. He won every time and also did karate. He was a white belt in his second class. He got two for free because everyone knew that he won. He learned taekwondo, kickboxing, and regular boxing. He decided to quit racing but he still practiced. He was a blue belt and then started to learn some techniques. He was so focused that his brain hurt. Whenever the teacher said to go to blue square number one, he did it in one second! It took 500 steps to get there!
Then, after they talked about courage, they went to the boxing bag, got their boxing gloves, and started punching them. The teacher taught SuperMax that you have to jab, cross, kick, overkick, and then hook. Then he was actually getting up to a yellow belt, but when he started to get focused, his brain started to not hurt. Then he saw a famous game of jujitsu. After that, he decided to do a trick on the jiu jitsu thing, but he didn’t know any of the things, so he didn’t do that. He saw that there was a king. Someone needed to defeat him but SuperMax wasn’t strong enough yet– he had to be a black belt at least!
He started leveling up to an orange belt and started to learn the upper hook, side hook, and side kick. He was so good that he thought he could take the king over, but he had to be a black belt. After he got his 5th star, he got a new belt and then learned a new hook and back kick. He went to a karate competition and won. Then he had one yellow stripe on his belt. Now that he was a professional, he didn’t know if he should go. Then, he was a purple belt. He learned so many things that he couldn’t remember all of them. Then, he was a brown belt. He had to get 100 stars to get a black belt.
He learned 50 more techniques, so he got 50 stars. He was too tired but he did it every day, and he started to be a black belt. After he got 99 stars, he had to do one more class, then he could get a black belt. He decided to do another class on the same day, and then he got a black belt.
Then, he went to the king. The king looked like his dad who died one million years ago. But his dad was a ghost. Then SuperMax started punching the king. After a million punches the king hit him back and did some damage, but SuperMax did not give up. He remembered that he had to say one word but forgot. He also forgot the paper and then his brain hurt. But he punched him once, and the King fell into lava. The crowd came to their feet in applause.
Crack! The twig made a noise as I stepped on it in the dark, vast forest.
My name is Nancy Simmons, and a week ago something very scary happened to me. I was taking a nature hike with my Girl Scout troop when we got separated and lost. A few hours later, everybody was found. Well, everybody but me. It wasn’t long until they called the cops. Soon, there was a search party out in the woods. But no one could find me.
Meanwhile, I was searching through the woods, all tangled and messed up. I tried to work my phone, but only the highest quality software could give me service in the middle of nowhere. I stumbled through the forest until I was super hungry. I remembered I had a sandwich in my bag and sat down on a rock, turning my flashlight on to eat.
Suddenly, I heard tiny noises chit-chattering in the woods. I stepped in and I saw one hundred purple, orange, and green-winged fairies talking. They froze and saw me standing there. They started forming a swarm. I yelled, “Hey! What are you doing? Ahhh!!! A SWARM OF FAIRIES!!!” They started jumping about and chasing me.
Crack! The twig made a noise as I stepped on it in the dark. Which is how we got here.
Suddenly I saw them again.
Meanwhile, an inspector named Inspector Simmons was looking EVERYWHERE for me, because Inspector Simmons was my dad. We got along really well. He was like my best friend. Both of my parents were super worried and were doing everything they could to find me.
I guess you are wondering what happened to me and the fairies, so I will tell you now. I stepped into the place where they were talking, and they all stared at me. I talked in what I hoped was a slow persuading voice and said, “Hi, my name is Nancy, and I am really lost in the forest. Could you give me directions out of the forest?”
The fairies looked at one another, and after what seemed like forever, one of them said in a quiet voice, “We cannot give you directions out of the forest, but we can give you directions to some animals who might know the way out.”
Chapter 2: Inspector Simmons
My name is Inspector Simmons, and Nancy Simmons is my daughter. A week ago she got lost in the woods. Her mom and I were searching everywhere in the forest. We even had ten search parties out in the woods. We tried to call her but she didn’t answer. It seemed like she was avoiding us. But we knew that was not true. We looked everywhere, but even then she was not found. Later on, we realized that she went into the passageway on the magical side, where there were fairies, imaginary creatures, and talking animals. (Real animals, not imaginary ones — but imaginary creatures can talk too.) Going through that passageway was really hard and there were only two reasons why she would go in there. Number one: she knew where it was and went through there to take cover from a bear or other animal. Or number two: she was stumbling through the woods and accidentally went through the passageway. We did not know where it was, so our only hope was that the creatures in the magical land helped her out.
Chapter 3: The Settlement with the Animals
This is Nancy. As you can remember, the fairies told me that I should go to the animals. I followed their directions (which, by the way, were hard to understand because they spoke so quietly), and it led me to a bunch of animals. I asked them, “Hi, my name is Nancy, and the fairies told me you know the way out of the forest. I am really lost, so I was wondering if you could give me directions out of this forest?”
They all stared at me in awe. Finally, after a long time (I was used to it by now), the gazelle, of all animals, spoke up. “We can help you but you will have to speak to our leader.”
I wondered who their leader could be. Well, it was a baboon! I walked up to their “leader” and asked, “Could you give me instructions out of the forest?”
He said with an accent, “Perhaps, but you will have to give us something we have never tried or seen before in return.”
I thought to myself, what have they never tried or seen before? Suddenly, I had the answer. My sandwich! I knew that I was hungry, but the sooner I got out the sooner I had something better than a sandwich to eat. But first I had to clarify that they had never tried a sandwich before, so I asked, “Have you ever tried a sandwich before?”
“A sand-what!?” the baboon said in the same accent.
“A sandwich,” I said.
I took out my sandwich and held it out of my hand.
The baboon took a bite and said, “This is yummy!” in his accent.
I said, “Please, now that I have given you something that you have never tried or seen before, tell me how I will get out!”
The baboon said, “Very well, but it is very hard to get out since you have entered the magical side.”
“The magical side?” I said. “What is the magical side?”
“The magical side is the side where there are talking animals and fairies and imaginary creatures. You are the first human to stumble into our magical land,” the baboon said.
I understood, so I asked how I would get out, but the baboon was too busy eating his — well, my — sandwich. I waited. He finished and told me. I wrote it all down in my handy-dandy notebook. Then I left. I now knew I had won the trust of the animals and the trust of the fairies.
Chapter 4: The Try to Journey Back Home
I used the directions the baboon and the rest of the talking animals gave me. I looked around myself and counted the days I had been in the forest: two whole days. I started to panic. “What if I never go home?” I muttered under my breath. I kept following the directions, but it seemed to me that I was lost. Again. Around me, there was peace in the beautiful cotton candy sky. It had wisps of orange and yellow edged into the starry, bluish-black night sky. I soon realized that in the magical land, there was no moon, just stars, and that there was a faint white circle in the background. I also saw stars in the day, but I saw a faint fiery ball in the distance. So, I realized that in the magical land, stars are brighter than the sun and moon.
I made a bed out of pine needles that I had collected on my try to journey back home and slept for the first time in two days. Suddenly, at about 4:00 AM, a bad thought hit me like a ton of bricks: what if I am here forever?
Chapter 5: Imaginary Creature Land
In the morning I started walking again. I walked for about two miles and paused to drink water. But when I started walking again, someone or something tapped my shoulder. It felt a little soft and furry, but I wouldn’t take any chances for it to fool me.
“Dad? Mom? Lucy?” (Lucy is my Girl Scout counselor.) No one was there. I just kept walking.
Again I felt that soft furry paw on my shoulder. I spun around quickly and saw… The cutest animal ever! It was soft and furry with legs and paws. It had two antlers and a nose. I quickly realized that it was probably the imaginary creature animal the baboon was talking about.
“Imaginary creature? Hello? What’s your name?” I said.
The imaginary creature looked impressed, probably because I knew what an imaginary creature was. It said, “My name is Proppy, and if you want I can take you to my imaginary creature land.”
I said, “Okay, because I am really lost.”
Proppy squealed, jumped, and hugged me. He took my hand and led me through a doorway that I swear was not there before. We went through the passageway and the imaginary creature land was super cool. Proppy chose where we wanted to go. He said there was a rainbow/candy island, a winter wonderland, a waterland, a fireland, and a regular land where all the imaginary creatures lived. The creatures could choose where they wanted to go without hustle or bustle. There was also a royal land where the queen lived. It seemed like every group had a leader but the fairies.
He said we were going to the royal land to meet the queen, who he told me was super nice and would like me right away. So, he chose the royal land, and we went through a rainbow rollercoaster. At the end of the rainbow rollercoaster was a palace decorated with shells, gold, silver, marble, and more. It looked majestic and beautiful. We stopped in front of the castle and entered through two huge golden doors.
Proppy went inside to talk to the guard, and after a while, we went inside. There stood two imaginary creatures that looked just like Proppy, except Proppy had white fur and they had blue. We went further inside, and we saw the queen. She was wearing a heavy velvet cape embroidered with golden designs. When she talked, it seemed as if birds were singing.
Not wanting to waste any time I said, “Hi, I’m Nancy and — ”
She interrupted me and said, “Well, hello! Can I do anything to make you feel more comfortable here at the castle?”
I said, “Well actually, I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to the human world?”
After a while, she responded, “No, but I know a wizard that can get you there.”
Frustrated, I muttered, “This is a wild goose chase.”
The queen, not noticing a thing, said, “Stay here for the night, and Proppy can lead you to the wizard’s den in the morning.”
The guards led us up to a bedroom that was very pretty. The covers of the bed were red and the pillows were red and embroidered gold like the queen’s cape. The floor was carpeted red velvet. The lampshade was white, and the doors were gold. The doors were labeled “Human Room Number Five,” so I realized this was a room they kept just for humans. So, they had to bring a smaller version of the bed for Proppy. They gave me a fresh set of clothes, and I used a bathroom labeled “Human Bathroom Number Four.” Then, Proppy and I fell asleep to dreams of the scary adventures that lay ahead of us.
Chapter 6: A Talk With a Wizard
Early in the morning, Proppy woke me up to have breakfast with the queen, who was now wearing a green velvet cape embroidered with a white tree. I was surprised when the waiter brought a plate with — how should I describe it? — FILLED with every color of fluffy, delicious marshmallows.
The queen said, “Bring on the other appetizers!”
Out came different types of pastries, juices, chocolates, and more. I ate so many of the “appetizers” that afterward, I had no room for the main course: different types of pies and cakes! Everybody who was sitting at the grand oa4k table was watching me with odd expressions on their faces. After dessert — er, I mean breakfast — was done, teary expressions appeared as the queen gave us instructions for our journey and our never-ending sweet filled bags. I thanked her endlessly, as Proppy ushered me out the door. I managed one final “bye” as the golden doors closed.
Nothing exciting happened when we were walking, so let’s just fast forward to when we got there. We saw an old, spooky cottage with spiders on it and we entered. Inside was an old man with a long, blue velvet robe and a small wooden table which contained a very big book with gold designs and lettering. It seemed to be a spellbook, and next to it was a crystal ball and a wand. He didn’t even look up as he said in a deep voice, “Hello, what brings you here to my old cottage?”
By then he turned around and we could see his green eyes and sharp nose. I said confidently (even though I was scared of him), “We — I mean I — need instructions to get out of the woods.
“Hmmm…” he murmured. “Tell me child, how long have you been here?”
I said, “Three days,” without emotion.
Proppy was not even next to me. He was too busy playing with the crystal ball.
“I can open a passageway right now to get you back. In fact, if you came to me sooner, you could have been home two days ago.”
“So open it!”
He briefly nodded, and Proppy said, “You can visit soon right?”
“Yes, Proppy,” I said. “Thank you so much,” I said to the wizard.
“Of course, my child,” he said.
“Bye!” I said to Proppy.
“Bye!” he said. I jumped through the magical passageway.
Chapter 7: A Happy Reunion
I suddenly appeared in the middle of a crowd of police officers. Must be a search party, I thought to myself. By that point, I had service and called Mom and Dad.
“Nancy?”
“Mom! I made it out of the woods, and I’ll call a taxi to get home.”
“Ok! You don’t know how much we were worrying.”
I disconnected and hopped into a nearby taxi. Did I mention that I was in downtown New Jersey (that’s where the hiking trail was), and I live in Manhattan, so the drive was more like one hour? When the driver got to the stop, I would have given him a tip, but I didn’t have any money on me.
I opened the door to my house and walked into the living room and… surprise!My Girl Scout counselor, troop, friends, and family were all crowded in our living room. They brought out the most beautiful cake I had ever seen. It had yellow designs all over it, and it had purple layers. On top were plastic letters that read, “Welcome Back Nancy!”We had so much fun. Some friends stayed over, but some friends stayed late and left. Like late. Like REALLY LATE.
In the morning when everyone had left, I told my mom and dad all about my adventures over juice and toast. They were so proud of me! But here came the bad news: at dinner, I overheard Mom and Dad talking about going in there and capturing the magical creatures. I assumed, and still assume, they’re joking.
The big takeaway I learned from this is that sometimes you can’t just rely on others. You have to take action. Like, if I waited for the police to find me, I would still be in the woods right now.
Aunt Lenore was a small old woman with a wobbly bun perched on her head. She had an owl named Agatha who was always perched on her shoulder. Aunt Lenore spent her days sewing and embroidering new clothes, which she sent to my family in big, bright pink boxes. Nobody knew what her house looked like. She hadn’t had visitors in 47 years, and her only electronic device was a phone bolted to the wall. Enough about her though. Let’s get to me.
***
“Miss Meadow! Miss Meadow!” the postman yelled. I looked up from my book, confused. Meadow was my rabbit. “You have a package from Miss Lenore!”
Why would my rabbit have a package? I ran down the stairs and opened the door. The postman was standing behind a huge box, red-faced and sweaty, probably from carrying that box all the way here.
“Thanks, Mr. Postman, but I’ll take it from here,” I said.
I lugged the box inside and got out some kitchen scissors. But when I tried to cut it open, the scissors bounced off the tape. It was like rubber. I examined the box from all angles. The only clue I found was a small label on one corner of the box. It read: xxxmailersxxx has sponsored this delivery. I peeled the label off and grabbed my bike out of the garage. Wheeling it out, I realized something. Wouldn’t my parents freak out if I wasn’t at home? I left a hastily scribbled note: gone out to mailers. Then, I hopped on my bike and began the 4-hour ride to the offices of the mailers who had sponsored the delivery of the package from my odd Aunt Lenore.
***
“Name?” a grumpy old man asked when I walked through the door. “And business?”
I sighed. I had ridden all this way just to be interrogated by an old man. “My name is Nora Almentine, and I’m here to talk to the person who sponsored the delivery from Miss Lenore Almentine.”
“Eh? Related, are you?”
“Yes, now can I talk to the person who sponsored the delivery of Miss Lenore A?”
He chuckled. “I got us off track, didn’t I? Now, yes, I’ll take you to the office of Mr. Harold Druchins.”
He led me to a small room made entirely of glass. There was a table in the corner with a black swivel chair and a computer on top. Harold turned out to be a tall man with slicked black hair and a tuxedo. His eyes were ice blue, and his gaze made me want to run away and hide somewhere. But I couldn’t do that. He was my only chance of finding out how to open that box from Aunt Lenore, and then I could finally figure out what was in it!
“Hello Nora, I am Mister Harold L. Druchins. I have helped one thousand people with your situation, so I guarantee that I will not fail,” he said, sounding out all the syllables clearly.
“Ok,” I peeped. But I believed him. If he couldn’t open the box, I didn’t know who could.
Chapter 2
I told Harold everything. I told him about the box, how it was addressed to my rabbit, and how it wouldn’t open.
“Do you have a sample of the tape?” he asked. I shook my head. “All right then,” he sighed. “Meet me tomorrow at my office with a sample of the cardboard and of the tape. If you can’t get it off, just lug the whole box behind you.”
That night, I chopped and stabbed at the tape as hard as I could, but I couldn’t get the tape off. The cardboard, however, was easy. So the next day, I hopped on my bike and began the familiar ride to xxxmailersxxx. Harold was waiting for me there.
“Well?” he gruffed. I guess he wasn’t done with his coffee. Grown-ups are always grumpy until they finish their coffee.
“Um, I could cut the cardboard, but not the tape,” I murmured, my old nervousness under his gaze returning.
“Well? Why did you visit, you fool! Just slice off a side! Then the box is open! Boom, magic, and THEN YOU CAN LEAVE ME ALONE TO DRINK MY COFFEE!” he yelled.
Knew it. He hadn’t finished his coffee. He turned and left me there. Alone. I shrugged it off, too excited to care that I was yelled at by an office worker.
***
When I got home, I immediately sliced off the side of the box. Inside was…
“Aunt Lenore!?” I gasped.
“Yes,” she said in a sly voice. “And don’t get all piffywiddles, I just came here to tell you a story.”
“What story?” I asked, suddenly wondering if everything I was told was a lie. Was the Earth really round? Were there really 50 states?
“My story,” she said.
“But– you can’t remember enough to tell stories!” I blurted.
“Yes I can,” she said.
“Why’d you address the package to my bunny?” I asked. Where were these questions even coming from?
“Well, Meadow was the only name that I could remember in this household! Funny, right?” She chuckled.
“Just tell the story. And stop stalling,” I growled.
She took a breath. “Ok. Here it is…”
Chapter 3
“So, when I was little, I played video games all the time. When I was older, I bought a cottage. Now, they wanna demolish my cottage, and someone’s gotta stop them!!! THE END!” she said.
“That wasn’t much of a story…” I sighed.
“Well, does a story need to be long to be effective?” she asked sassily. “And next time, speak up! My ears aren’t in tip-top shape, y’know.”
I groaned. No one told me Aunt Lenore was so… well… sassy.
“Lady, did you just groan? Wow, you sure are a hard one to impress. Are you always a cloud like that on sunny days?” she snootily interrogated me.
I turned my nose away, to tell her that she wasn’t the only sassy one.
“All right, sassy niece, just tell me if you are gonna help me,” she smirked.
“What do you expect, Aunty L?” I asked her.
“Maybe… YES?” she pleaded.
“NO,” I snapped. “I’m sorry for what is going to happen to your house, but I really am not the person you want for this job. I’m clueless about clues, you see.”
“Oh, Nora,” Aunt Lenore snickered. “The only thing you need in this case is sass. There’s no clue finding, investigating, or any of that fifflesnorf. I’m only asking you to come to a hearing.”
“NO!” I yelled. “WHY CAN’T YOU HEAR ME THE FIRST TIME!? Look, I’m so, so sorry for what’s happening to your house, but I can’t!”
“Why? Is it that you just don’t want to help me? You’d rather just side with the public because it’d be too embarrassing to be on the side of your ol’ Aunt L?” she pressed.
Wow. This lady excels in sass. I knew there would only be one way out of this. Be on her side. “So, here’s the deal. I’m not siding with the public, because I think what they’re doing is awful. But I’m not siding with you, either. I didn’t even know this was happening until a couple of minutes ago! Do you expect me to just choose your side without information? How do I know you didn’t sign a contract and then turn on your word? But I’ll still be one of your biggest supporters, and I bet a lot of other kids will, even if we’re not in the room with you. The public made the wrong choice, and I fully disagree with that choice. So, I don’t know enough to fight in your favor, but I do know enough to side with you. So, if the public ever hears this: a citizen’s home is more important than a mall! Sure, a mall serves more people, but if you demolish a home, you’re making the citizen who lived there turn on you. I may not know why this is happening, but I do know it’s wrong. EXTREMELY wrong. So, if you make this decision, I will turn on you as well. Goodbye, government. I hope you make the right choice.” I said.
Aunt Lenore smirked. “Ha!” she laughed.
“What do you mean ‘ha’?” I asked.
But Aunt Lenore just kept on smirking, and then, FINALLY, she strolled right out of the door.
Chapter 4
“Welcome to the morning news station! Today, we will be showing a LIVE hearing!” a way-too-cheery news reporter said gleefully into the screen. “Here we are, 9:35 AM, at the city’s town hall!”
The cameras showed a large, very fancy room, with one chair in the middle for my aunt Lenore. She walked in, with her gray hair half up, half down, little pink glasses perched on her nose, a pink tape recorder, pink jeans, and a white t-shirt.
“Hello, court,” she said, without a hint of sass. I was surprised. I didn’t know the lady could even breathe without sass.
“Hello,” the judge said. “Please sit in that chair, and state your argument.”
“People are on my side,” she simply said back. Hello again, Aunty L’s sass.
Then, she hit play on her tape recorder, and the speech I made yesterday was playing! ON TV! By the end, the judge was wiping her glassy eyes, and the court was flat-out bawling.
“Well, in — er by the order of the court, we demand people leave this lady’s house ALONE!” the judge yelled, her voice still wobbly.
I lept off of the couch and cheered. Everyone had been watching the hearing and had heard my voice. And my dad was bragging about it endlessly. He put together a parade barbecue party, all to celebrate how I stopped the demolition of the house. And “houses are more important than malls” became the town’s new motto. It was a day to remember.
I walked down a dark hallway, barely able to make out a rectangular box, a closet. I heard whispers from inside. “Sssssekdjaboyweneead.” I couldn’t make out what they were saying. It was an old-looking closet made of wood, and I had a mysterious urge to open it.
An icy hand touched my shirt when I woke up. I was lying in bed, staring up at a spider web in the corner of my bed. I looked down at my nightshirt to see that it was soaked and that the glass of water I had left there before I went to bed had spilled onto my shirt. I looked at my alarm clock. 2:58 AM. Friday the 13th. August 2020. I got up and looked out my window. I thought there was a strange rectangular box sitting in the backyard, and again I heard whispers like in my dream. “Sssssekdjaboyweneead.” I had a strange urge to go downstairs, outback, and open the closet door. Suddenly, I was no longer in control of my mind. I was looking through the eyes of a person I didn’t know, their memories. This person had stepped into the closet and was screaming as he fell into a dark hole. The words Friday the 13th. August 1913. 3:00 AM flashed into my head. Everything blacked out, and then it showed another person — a girl this time — looking out of the window of a room the same shape as mine but decorated differently from the same dark closet. She looked around, and I saw a calendar in her room. It said: Friday 13th. August 1957. 63 years ago. An old-fashioned alarm clock in her room said it was exactly 3:00 AM. She stared at the closet and seemed to make up her mind as she stepped out into the cold night air and went to open the closet door. She was just about to open it when I came back to my senses.
It was 3 days later at 7:30, and my mom was calling me. “Aidan! It’s time for school. Wake up!” I got dressed and went downstairs to find my younger brother already sitting at the dining table eating his breakfast. “Did you sleep well?” asked my mom. “Yes,” I lied. I had actually stayed up all night like on Friday and Saturday, thinking about the closet. “I need to go to the backyard to check something.” “Can I come?” asked my younger brother, Jacob. “No, it’s not something you want to see,” I said. “Just take him,” my mom said. I sighed. “Fine.” “YAY! We’re going on an adventure,” shouted Jacob. We stepped outside and walked to the backyard. There was no closet there. I bent down to where the closet should have been, but there was nothing except a few lines where my family had stepped, like everywhere else in the yard. “Nothing,” I muttered to myself. My brother frowned. “What?” “Nevermind, you go to school. I’m coming.” He jogged off to the garage to get his bike. I was about to do the same when I realized it wasn’t lines on the ground but 12 numbers. 191319572020. “Odd,” I said aloud. “AAAIDANNN!” yelled my brother from the garage. “Coming!” I said, casting a final glance at the 12 numbers.
Middle school. The most boring possible place I could be. My history teacher, Mr. Hamilton, was giving us a dull lecture about the war of 1912. “It dated from October 8th, 1912 to July 18, 1913, and it was part of the Balkan wars,” he said, but I didn’t hear the rest of his lecture. I was once again looking at the old closet and had the strange sensation of opening it. “Aidan! AIDAN!!! Time for lunch,” I looked up to see my best friend, Nicholas Smith, shaking me hard. We walked down to the lunchroom and waited in line to buy our lunch. Nicholas had bought his food, and it was my turn. I glanced at the lunch lady and realized with horror that she looked exactly like the same closet I had been thinking about all day. I closed my eyes. When I open them, I thought, she’ll look the same as she always looks, not like a closet. I opened my eyes and there was nobody there, no closet or lunch lady. Only the students eating lunch. I looked down at my tray of food and realized I had a hamburger and fries on my tray already. This was odd, I didn’t remember getting any food. I looked around and realized everyone was staring at me like I was a freak, and that I was the only person in line. I walked over to Nicholas’s table and started eating. “What happened?” he asked. “Nothing,” I muttered to him as he continued to stare at me. “Are you feeling ok?” he asked “Yeah, fine.”
It was after school. I had just come home and started doing my homework when again I saw the closet outside my bedroom window. I had the disturbing sensation that I had to open it. I stepped out into the hot afternoon sun and was halfway through the backyard when my mom said, “Aidan???” I looked back and saw my mom looking at me from the kitchen window. “What are you doing out there?” “Oh, uh,” I thought quickly, “I’m trying to get the soccer ball that I kicked into the backyard at night.” “You can do that later, come help your brother with his homework,” she said. I looked back at where the closet should have been. It was gone as I had expected, so I did as she had asked.
Chapter 2: The Closet, Part 2
I was lying in bed 5 hours later thinking about the closet and what I should do with it. I was afraid to fall asleep in fear that I would have more horrible nightmares. Should I open it or not? What was inside it? What did those 12 numbers mean? What were these visions I had about? I awoke the next morning with bags under my eyes. I had gotten only about 2 hours of sleep that night, and those 2 hours I was asleep were full of nightmares and visions. I ate my breakfast and walked to school, still thinking about the closet through my first lesson, science, while my teacher Mrs. Daniels was giving us a lecture about the mathematician Isaac Newton. I kept thinking about it even at lunch, but thankfully I wasn’t stared at again. It seemed that everyone had forgotten the little “incident” that happened yesterday. Everybody, including Nicholas and the teachers on duty, seemed to be going about their days as though nothing odd had happened just yesterday.
Fortunately, nothing weird happened today. In fact, it was a relatively good day. We played soccer in gym class, and I helped my team win 7-3. The only thing that went wrong was when I got home again, I saw the closet in the backyard and had the mysterious urge I had been having for days to open it. This is it, I thought. I was going to find out what was inside once and for all. I took a step towards the closet then a tiny voice in my head cried, NO! But then again, the urge to go open the closet filled me. I made up my mind and started walking carefully towards it. When I was only a few feet away I reached out to touch the handle, just another inch…
I bolted and sat upright in bed, panting hard as I looked around the room and realized it was again 2:58 AM. Was all of that a dream? Including the school day? Or did I perhaps take a nap when I got home? My mind was buzzing with questions, all of them about the closet and what lay within it. Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye, outside the window. A half-robot girl had walked out of the closet! I jumped out of bed and got a baseball bat from my closet just to make me feel safer, even though I knew that if I did meet that disturbing-looking girl, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance. I walked out into the cool night air and looked to where the closet had been. Unlike other times, it was still there. Suddenly, two hands grabbed my shoulders, and I whirled around to find myself face to face with the very girl I had seen outside. I did what most other people would have done: screamed.
I awoke to find myself in a dusty chamber made of gray stone. I looked around and found an open door. I stood up and walked towards it, my knees shaking hard as I built up the nerve to look through it. Nothing. It was nothing but a dark hallway. The closet was sitting in the middle of the hallway. I stepped closer, put my hand on the ice-cold handle, pulled, and looked inside. I almost passed out as I jumped back to see a chair with a bunch of metal scraps in it. No, not metal — a half-robot girl. She looked up. “Hello,” she said.
“Wha — what do you want?!” I stammered as she arose from the chair. She breathed in. “Finally,” she said. “A new test subject for DOOM.” “What???” I asked in horror. “This,” she said. “This is the Closet of Doom. It was made in 1911 and holds anyone who goes inside it captive so we can test potions on them. I’ve been trying to find a subject for more than 60 years. There was a new hope when you were born in 2007 and your parents moved into the same house in which the maker of the Closet of Doom lived. I gave you terrifying visions of this closet — yes, I was the girl in the vision when it was 1957, and that boy was the first subject two years after it was created. Now, you will stay here while I return to my factory.” “N-no, I’m leaving now, I’m not being a test subject in this Closet of Doom,” I said as I took a few steps back toward the room I woke up in. “How are you going to get out of here?” she asked with a twisted smile as it dawned on me that I couldn’t actually get out of here. “I-I’ll find a way,” I stammered. “Good luck,” she said and disappeared. “Hey! Come back,” I waited a minute. No response. I wanted to start crying. I was trapped in an underground chamber where nobody knew where I was, and I could only leave when someone came across this creepy closet, and who knew how long that would take?!
Chapter 3: My Discovery
1 YEAR LATER
I had been stuck for over a year now and was getting used to life down here. Only another 49 years or so, I thought gloomily. My family had probably moved on from the mysterious disappearance of Aiden Hawkins. I had figured out over the years that you do not age or need to eat when you come down here. Down here, you just wait for time to pass, doing nothing except watching the gray stone walls. The only source of light down here was a little crack in the top with sunshine coming in. That was also my only way of knowing if it was day or night, and to make it even worse, there were dirty puddles, leaves, and sticks all over the floor. I didn’t know how I didn’t even go insane just staring at the walls and sleeping for a whole year. I occasionally heard footsteps overhead from my family playing in the backyard. The first time that happened, I tried shouting to them. “Help me, I’m down HERE!!!” I’d yell until my throat was sore. But I had learned this dungeon was sound-proof — or something of the sort, even with the hole in the top. I walked around, counting how many steps I walked, tapping the wall. Suddenly, I heard a creaking sound, and the wall in front of me opened like a door leading to a long, dark hallway. My heart beat super fast, and I stepped into the dark hallway. It seemed endless from my point of view, pitch-black and vast. I didn’t have a flashlight or anything of the sort, so I was hesitant to go inside. I looked around the room. Something caught my eye: a pair of glasses. Something clicked in my mind like two pieces of a puzzle. I remembered from a science lesson I had in sixth grade that you could make a fire with sun, glasses, a leaf, and water. I strained my mind to remember. Then, click. It was as if someone in control of my mind could hear me. Put a drop of water on the inside of the lens and let the sun shine down through it onto the leaf below. I tried it once. Tried it again. The third time yielded no result. Growing more and more upset, I adjusted it to face the sun, but to no avail. A fourth time let up smoke but nothing more. Only on my thirteenth try did I start the fire.
Now carrying my makeshift torch — a stick stabbed through a leaf with fire on top — I walked down the dark hallway. I put the glasses in my pocket, knowing they might come in handy and get me out of another sticky situation like this one. As I walked, I passed disturbing things: skeletons, dead rats, and mold. I walked and walked until I found a big stone door. I pushed. It stayed shut. I pushed harder. It stayed shut. I pushed my hardest. It stayed shut. I kicked it. It stayed shut. I was about to kick it harder when something caught my eye. A keyhole. I knew there must have been a key to unlock this door but didn’t know where it may have been. Suddenly, an idea flashed into my head. I rummaged around through my pocket and found the glasses. Carefully taking them out, I pushed them slowly into the keyhole. I turned it and heard a click. YESSS! I thought to myself. I took the glasses out. But I must have taken them out too fast because when I pulled them out, the part I had stuck in was no longer in one piece. I put the glasses back into my pocket and pushed the door open, ready to punch anyone I saw.
Chapter 4: DOOM HQ When the door creaked open, I saw a room. It looked like it had just been grabbed from an old-fashioned house. There was a moth-eaten couch that looked at least 100 years old, one of those old-fashioned black and white TVs with a long antenna, and a box with some fruit and potatoes — which looked as though they were very fresh and had just been bought from the store. However, there was a modern-looking desk with a Lenovo computer sitting on top of it. I took a step into the room and looked at the computer. It showed live security footage of a small stone room — no, the room I had been in less than 10 minutes ago, Who lived here? I wondered. Why did they have old and new stuff put together, and why on earth would they keep an eye on people that were trapped like me? Did they create those rooms? I looked around again. There was something else. A sign: founded in 1911, DOOM testing area A1. Was DOOM a company of some sort? I thought. What did they test? Why did they test humans? My head was exploding with questions. On the desk the computer sat on, I saw a box with glass beakers full of green liquids. They were labeled: foodless life potion. I put one into my pocket. Suddenly, I realized what they were for. I didn’t have to eat down there because they had tested the potion on me. But that still didn’t explain why I didn’t age. There was a door in the back of the room. It blended in so it looked almost invisible, and I approached it cautiously. I pushed it open to find myself in a room exactly the same as the last one. I walked over to the computer on the desk. It showed live security footage of the same chamber I was in but from a different angle. I looked in the box to find even more glass beakers holding purple liquids labeled: potion of age-less life. That explained why I hadn’t aged in the chamber, either. I put one of these in my pocket as well. I looked around and found a door beyond it. I opened it and found myself in a big room I suspected was for meals because of the tables and trays. I heard loud voices and lots of footsteps walking towards me from a hallway on the left of the room. I quickly looked around for a place to hide and leaped behind a trash can a split second before a group of robots had arrived — about 50 of them, all metal skeletons. There were signs all around the room that read “DOOM testing area,” and the robots stepped up to megaphones. Suddenly, I heard something from the megaphones. “TEST DEATH POTION TO SUBJECT G67 AIDAN HAWKINS.” “YES, MASTER,” said all the robots at once. They sounded hypnotized. I shuddered. They were going to discover that I had escaped the chamber, then capture me and test this death potion on me! Whatever that was meant to do, it definitely wasn’t something good. I was looking for a place to run when I realized that the voice coming from the megaphone was the voice of the girl I had seen in the closet. Was that girl the one leading DOOM? One of the robots started walking towards me, and I half ran-half crouched, trying to escape without them noticing me. But as I passed the overflowing trash can, I tripped over a banana peel and fell forwards as everyone turned to look at me. I did what everyone would have done: RAN! I ran for the door I had come through, but I was stopped by a red transparent laser fence. I looked around. One of the robots was projecting the light from its hand. I knew well enough not to run through the laser and get myself killed. The robot who had stopped me seemed as though it was the boss. “STATE-YOUR-NAME-AND-YOUR-BUSINESS-AT-DOOM-TEST-AREA-980,” it said in a very slow voice. It stuck out a hand, and I saw a machine come out. “Uh… I’m-I’m Nicholas Smith,” I said a little bit too fast. The robots all tensed. They had mechanisms on their hands that looked disturbingly like razor-sharp knives. “DO-NOT-ATTEMPT-TO-BYPASS-OUR-LIE-DETECTORS-HUMAN.” I grimaced. So the machine was a lie detector. They probably trusted me even less now that they knew I had lied to them. “I’m Aidan Hawkins.” “Your business?” the bot asked. “Ummm, I got trapped here,” I said. They let go of the laser, and I took my chance and ran for the door. I ran into the next room and slammed the door shut behind me. I could hear the bots shouting, “SECURITY BREACH. SECURITY BREACH. SECURITY BREACH. TESTING LAB A2 AIDAN HAWKINS.” I ran to the door that led to the first room. It was closed and locked from the outside. I was cornered. I looked for a place to hide and found a big box that was big enough to hold me. I stepped inside and closed the flaps. The air circulation inside was bad, and it was very dark. The only light came from the crack between the 2 flaps. I had gotten in mere seconds before the bots broke down both doors and stormed in. “Where is he?” “Search under the desk and inside the box, behind the door as well.” I was doomed.
Chapter 5: Saved by HOPE
I thought desperately of a plan to get out of here, but I couldn’t come up with one. I hid there, waiting to be captured and taken to the creepy girl. Why me? I thought. Why couldn’t someone else have discovered this closet? Why couldn’t it have been a stranger who had to fight this future-tech evil mastermind? I looked around the box and saw a dark figure hiding there. I almost screamed, but it clapped a hand over my mouth. “I’m hiding from them as well,” he said. “Who are you?” I whispered anxiously. “Benjamin Smith,” said the boy. I fell over in surprise. “Wait a second, you’re Nicholas’s brother?” “Who are you?” he asked. “I’m Aidan Hawkins, his best friend.” We shook hands. “How did you get trapped in here?” I asked him. “I found this closet and got pushed inside it, into a dusty chamber.” “Really? That’s exactly what happened to me!” I exclaimed. “Shhh, keep it down,” he whispered urgently. “The robots are coming to search this box, we’re sitting ducks here.” “I’d like to live in freedom another minute or so, then,” I replied quietly. But there was no need. The robots were gone. I peeked out of the box and saw an ice-colored figure standing in the middle of all of the broken DOOM robots, holding two long ice-colored swords at their sides. The moment it saw me, it vanished into thin air and reappeared right next to me with its swords raised. “Who are you?” they asked. “I’m A-Aiden Hawkins. I was trapped down here by some weird closet. Who are you?” I asked them. “I am part of the HOPE military, BOT DC 129. We are taking part in the war against DOOM. It has been going on for 134 years now.” “The war? What is all this, and why are you here?” I asked. “I’m a spy, and this war started like this: HOOM was a very happy place, until one of the rulers got into a fight with one of the very rich men. HOOM broke into two and started a war. There is no longer any peace. HOPE supports the king, and DOOM supports the rich man. The wealthy man in charge died two years ago, and his wife has taken over. You’ve probably seen her before: white dress, half-robot, insane smile, looks like a kid because of their ageless-life potion. I come to figure out what they’re doing,” he said all in one breath. “They’re testing potions on humans,” Benjamin and I said together. “What potions?” BOT DC 129 asked. “Ageless potions and foodless potions,” I said quickly. He eyed me suspiciously as if I was the enemy. I looked away. “How did you teleport like that?” I asked, trying desperately to change the subject. “We have very advanced technology. Years ahead of humans.” “So, can we go to your base or whatever?” I asked. “Yes,” he said, “but be careful.” He waved his hand and I became invisible. “WOW!” I exclaimed. He did the same to Benjamin, then set off, and we followed him obediently. He led us through a wall that looked so solid that I braced myself for impact. But I walked through the wall, and when we came through, I saw more than 100,000 HOPE soldiers lined up together. “Why are they lined up?” I asked, amazed. “We are preparing for the great siege,” our guide answered. There were cryo-tanks and rocket mechs all around the huge courtroom. A big chair stood in the middle of it all, and in it sat a man with a big beard and glasses. I suspected this was the king. “60 seconds till we fight!” he announced. “50-40-30-20-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, charge!”
Chapter 6: The Attack on DOOM
The sound was deafening. I saw all the 110,000 or so soldiers charging our way. I moved out of their path just as the first scouts moved in to clear the area. More and more stepped through the barrier after the scouts, ropers strapped on jet packs, and flew through the roof. Benjamin and I went through the barrier after them. What we saw was complete chaos. Robots were being destroyed, blue troops appearing everywhere, ropers dropping and sliding down ropes through the roof. Explosions were going off everywhere, and there was a 90% chance that Benjamin and I, if we headed onward, would trip over a DOOM robot head or arm. “10-9-8-7…” I didn’t know if that was a bomb timer, but it didn’t sound good, and all the remaining HOPE soldiers were retreating. “5-4-3-2-1…” As Benjamin and I burst through the wall, we were knocked forwards onto our stomachs by the impact of the explosion. I looked around. DOOM soldiers were streaming in and rounding up the remaining HOPE soldiers. The king had vanished. Benjamin and I were running towards the exit when a red laser struck Benjamin on the back and he fell to the ground, stunned. I stopped and shook him hard “Benjamin!!! GET UP!” He had been knocked unconscious. I dragged him to the door and kicked it open, slamming the door shut after us. Benjamin opened his eyes. “Hello? Where am I?” “Come on, Benjamin, we’ve got to go!” “Huh?” The last few seconds dawned on him. “Oh, shoot, let’s go!” We ran down a long hallway and arrived outside on a huge grass field. I saw a big building with an electric fence surrounding it. I turned and saw DOOM soldiers running after us, firing lasers at us. We ran to the building’s huge electric gates and shouted for someone to open them. “Somebody open these gates! We’re getting chased by DOOM soldiers!” Two HOPE soldiers opened the gates and shoved us inside. Then they took out two big guns and shot them through the wall, ricocheting off all the DOOM soldiers and breaking them apart.
It was 2 hours later and we had explained our story to the HOPE soldiers that were in the huge building. There were at least 1,000,000 remaining HOPE soldiers. Most of them were guarding the building up top with sniper rifles we learned they called the “AntiVirus.” The building was amazing There was a weapon room full of weapons of all kinds and a giant dining room big enough for at least 3,000,000 HOPE soldiers. I asked where the king was, and they said that they didn’t know. I told them he wasn’t at DOOM’s base, and that he had disappeared. They then said that he was probably captured by the DOOM troops. They told us that they planned to attack DOOM’s fort. I asked how many troops would be going, and they told me that 10,000 would be heading in first and clearing the harder DOOM troops, and then another 100,000 would be taking out the troops guarding the king. Then they claimed that DOOM would send reinforcements and that they would then send in 1,000,000 troops — 200,000 to secure the king and the other 800,000 to take on the reinforcements. Then, if everything went right, they would go back to the HOPE HQ and bomb the entire DOOM fort.
⚠ Warning: this book is very exciting and hard to put down. If you find yourself in this case, the book you are reading is cursed with hardtoputdown powers. If you find your book like this, DO NOT WORRY. You can cure it immediately by putting it down
Caption: 10-year-old Pakish would have loved to stay in their small cozy cottage off the coast of the Caribbean sea. After all, why should you move? Why would you want to move? As they sailed off to sea in their small boathouse his heart pounded, knowing that this may be the adventure of a lifetime.
Chapter 1 The waves crashed against our boathouse. Even when it was the worst rain or thunder, Mom would always say, “Isn’t this fun, honey?” and I glumly nodded, trying to be thankful. As my mother and father tucked me into bed, we heard a strange noise from above. “What’s that, Mummy?” I asked. “I don’t know,” she answered, leaving my room to go check. When she came back, she said there was nothing. But then it got louder and louder and LOUDER until our boathouse sank down beneath the sea. My mother and father swam up to the sea. But they were not with me because I was asleep. Little did I know, I was sleeping on a pirate ship.
Chapter 2 I was told to swab the deck and do all of the chores that the pirates didn’t like. If you thought this was miserable, it got way worse. Instead of sleeping on the hammocks with the real pirates, I slept in a bucket. “We have no room,” they would say. But I doubted that was true, because one night when they thought I was asleep, they talked really loudly about what to do with me. “We should throw him out! He’s just a worthless boy who eats and doesn’t pay for food,” one pirate, Snoozy, said. “No. He does our chores. The reason you, Snoozy, don’t feel it is because you’ve been faking knee pains!” another pirate, Hickalmen, said. “All of you are wrong!” The meanest pirate, Cabooche, said. “We should make ‘im do chores and not feed ‘im! This way he’s payin’ us!” “Cabooche is right! We will do that.” And with that, I fell asleep. After all, I didn’t need to have more worries on my back.
Chapter 3 I was scared because of what happened last night. Not feeding me? I was just a lonesome boy whose home had a hole poked in it by the pirates! They are one hundred percent going to jail, and I will escape the ship eventually. Later that night, while the pirates were asleep, I pulled the anchor off and snuck into a lifeboat. I rowed to land while they rowed to death. You see, at that time I was ten, and I didn’t know there was always one pirate awake. So, as I rowed to land the pirate came after me. And, as luck would have it, the pirate on watch was Cabooche. “Hey kid,” he said so loudly it woke all of the other pirates up. Hickalmen had a horrible sense of time. In fact, because Cabooche talked so loud, Hickalmen thought Cabooche wanted him to wake up. So, when he thumped out of the cabins, he demanded breakfast. But there was none. So, he literally smacked Cabooche to make breakfast fast. I laughed so hard I forgot I was trying to escape. Since my laughter was so loud, Hickalmen saw me. And then, I knew I was in big trouble.
Chapter 4 I had been caught. And I can tell you, it wasn’t fun. I was whipped three times by Cabooche. The worst thing was that now I had to sleep in their hammocks so that they could keep an eye on me. And I can tell you the pirates are so stinky. It was the worst living with them. I now found out that I didn’t even get to sleep in a hammock — I had to sleep on their dirty clothes. I would rather sleep in the hammock than this. But I would also rather live than die because I refused to sleep on the pile of dirty clothes. So yeah, there were some big decisions that I had to make. My back ached so much from the lashes that I got, and the Pirates didn’t even have any sympathy. They were the opposite of sympathetic. They made me do more chores even though my back hurt. I felt like I would snap in half.
Chapter 5 I decided to get revenge on Cabooche. And it was so cool. He was such a scaredy-cat. I found a sea wasp jellyfish — aka the most dangerous thing in the Caribbean. It stung him, but he thought it just magically appeared on the ship! So now, Cabooche was on the hammock. He was whimpering in pain and it was so funny. He went, “Aah Ooh! Yowza! Zowie!!!” So that was probably the highlight of my day. And surprisingly, I didn’t get in trouble! It was the best. But the bad thing was that I had to help him. At least I got revenge!
Chapter 6 I was officially a pirate. You might be wondering why there’s no exclamation point at the end of my sentence. That’s because it wasn’t a good thing. But I wasn’t Pirate Cabooche or Pirate Snoozy. I wasn’t Pirate Hickalmen or Pirate Pakish. I was Pirate Boy. At least my role of being a “pirate boy” was not to steal gold and jewels from other ships. I was no captain, first mate, or gunman. Cabooche was captain. Hickalmen was quartermaster. Snoozy was a gunner. And the other pirates — Gustavo, Juceng, and Juan — were also gunmen. Lady Ella and Navarou were sailing masters. Lupalo was the first mate. And I had the most dangerous job: a powder monkey. I did all of the dangerous work. And I would most likely never get upgraded. So that was my dangerous life.
Chapter 7 Fine. I’ll answer you. Why was my font like this? Because I had been shot. No, this was not my ghost, it was me — but me with blood all over myself. And being bloody was no fun. The pirates didn’t take care of me. Not at all. And guess what? They still made me do chores. Seriously. I. Am. Living. On these pirates. It was the worst.
Chapter 8 Yes, yes. I know you may be wondering — who shot me? Well, since I was a powder monkey, I helped the ship and made things go faster. The other ships wanted to kill me so things would get worse for the ship. Lady Ella said she would help me escape the pirate ship, but with one condition: she would go to land with me. When night fell, Lady Ella voluntarily said that she wanted to be captain on watching. So as we went, she steered us to land! But then I saw the smirk on her face, and I realized she was faking. She was going to give me lashes! I’m innocent! I thought as the rope hit my back.
Chapter 9 Today, I escaped. Well, I didn’t know if I would escape, but I hoped I would. In the middle of the night, Hickalmen was on watch. As you know, he had a very bad sense of time. So when I got up, he thought I was just going to watch and do chores. So, he waddled to the cabin. Finally! The ship was all mine. I steered us to land, but then the boat hit a rock. Water started gushing in, and pirates started rolling off their hammocks. I swam towards the closest rock then hopped on to it. There were some pirates awake, and they saw me. But there was one problem: they didn’t know how to swim! Quickly, they constructed a raft made from wood planks from the ship. Then, they saw me, and I explained everything to them. And then Hickalmen got punched off the raft, never to be seen again. As Hickalmen plunged down, he said, “I will come again.” I screamed to all of the pirates, dead or not, “LOSERS!” and then swam to land.
Editor’s note: Content Warning: This story explores violent themes and discusses self-harm.
King’s footsteps slowly getting louder.
King: Our sons are married and my daughter must marry the king from the nearby kingdom but she refuses; she says she wants to marry a wizard! (King slams on table as he says wizard.)
Queen: A princess has one job, marry a prince. Marrying a wizard is absurd!
Together: How HORRIBLE!!!
Meanwhile, princess Penelope is sneaking off to the wizard’s hut.
Wizard: Ah Penelope you have come at last!
Penelope: I must marry a king against my father’s wishes so I came to say goodbye, my love.
Wizard: Well, what if your father is dead?
Penelope: Well, then my step-mother would rule.
Wizard: Well, what if your step-mother is dead?
Penelope: Well, my step-brothers will rule and make me a slave!
Wizard: What if your step-brothers are dead?
Penelope: Weellll… I guess I will rule then and get to make my own choices.
The Wizard gets an evil gleam in his eye. He only loved Penelope to get the kingdom and then he would kill her.
Wizard: Well, I guess you should leave, my love, your father must be wondering where you are darling.
Penelope leaves and closes the door.
Wizard: Now I’ll do what I do best: kill.
The next day, Penelope hears a scream as she wakes up and runs to the noise to find her poor step-mother crying over her step-brother’s dead bodies.
Queen: OH NO! WHAT SHALL I EVER DO….?
Penelope: Step-mother… What happened to my step-brothers… ?
Queen: They were killed in their sleep! Killer is unknown.
King: WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR SONS!?
Penelope: They were murdered, father…
Everyone is silent except for the queen’s cries of heartbreak.
Queen: If I can not live with my sons, I will die, so I will kill myself to join them.
Before anyone could stop her the Queen brings out the king’s sword and stabs herself and collapses onto her four sons’ bodies and dies.
King: I will die too. I am a horrible king to let my sons die.
He takes the sword, pulls off his armor and stabs himself and dies.
That night, there is a funeral for the king, queen, and princes and a crowning for Penelope.
Penelope: I know who did this and I must kill him before he kills anyone else. GUARDS, find the wizard and bring him to me.
Guards come back with a struggling wizard.
Wizard: My love, how could you do this to me!
Penelope: How could you do this to ME? I tell my father I want to marry you and in the end, you kill my family! I will marry another man who was my second love. I was going to pick you as my husband but you killed my family. You shall be burned at the stake tonight!
Guards take the wizard away.
That night, Penelope stays in her room but hears the fire burning the wizard away and his cries of pain. When she comes out, the wizard is dead.
Two days later, a wedding is happening for Penelope and the prince of a nearby kingdom.
Two years later
Penelope has a family and a life but one of her daughters is magical.
Ann: Mother, why do I have magic?
Penelope: You must have inherited it from a wizard I used to know and love until he killed my family.
Three minutes before the earthquake happens, Izzy has to escape the house. The floor is shaking, the house is falling apart. Three, two, one, the floor fell apart! Izzy almost falls but more trouble is coming, a flood! Izzy gets so scared, she packs all her stuff and runs away to a different town where her family lives.
Ten more seconds!
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one… the flood is coming!
Izzy almost gets washed away. She finds her mom, dad, and big sister. She is so happy to see them. The town looks very new, kids are playing soccer, and parents are talking. It looks like no disasters will happen. So from now on, there will be no more floods.
You finished this dream. This dream is a dream about a game. A game where you collect resources, fight monsters, and build buildings.
This dream is a dream inside a dream. That dream is of life. Of eating, drinking, making money, and getting jobs.
Each one of those dreams starts with a mother and a father.
The mother and father give birth to you. Now, you are in their dream, with them.
You start to enter other dreams, most of them are named. Some of the names are Minecraft, Roblox, Terriera, and Slither.io, but there are a lot more than that.
Sometimes, you dream of creating dreams. Sometimes, you dream of a game.
Uni the unicorn was staring at the glittering stream, thinking about nothing except for sunlight. Ten minutes later, her little sister named Luna came and plopped herself right next to her sister and asked, “Whatcha doing?”
“Oh, I was just thinking about my power of sunlight,” Uni said.
“I was thinking about the same thing!” said Luna.
At the same precise moment, the darkness of twilight took over the shining sun. Uni questioned, “What is happening?”
When she looked at Luna, her little sister did not have any pupils, her eyes were just plain white. Her mane had streaks of black, purple, and navy blue. Instead of the rainbow colors on Luna’s horn, there was bronze swirled with gold.
Luna shouted, “Do you now know why my name is Luna? It’s because I am the evil sorcerer of darkness!” Then she cackled an evil scary laugh and strode off.
Uni started to get the spooks. She asked herself, Was her little sister actually on the dark side, or was Luna just trying to be funny?
Then Uni had an idea. What if she were quick enough to follow her sister to Luna’s home and spy? She got right to work. She galloped home and quickly packed up and got some food and water. Once she was done, she ran off into the darkness of the afternoon.
But after months and months, she still couldn’t find Luna. So what she did was give up reluctantly and went home as slow as a snake.
9:48 am – Eat breakfast while watching the test cricket match
9:50 am to 3 pm – Do some studying, play cricket with my uncle
3 pm to 6 pm – Go to a friends birthday party, stay there until six, eat dinner, and come home
6 pm to 9 pm – Come home, play a few games of The Sequence, and sleep
This is how my day should look today, I think as I get up.
“Joe! Are you up yet?” Mom shouts from downstairs.
“Yes! I’ve been up for about 10 minutes,” I shout back as I log on to Writopia. The next minute, I find that my internet isn’t working. Then, my day goes totally awesome (I’m being sarcastic).
Three things that go totally awesome in my day are logging on to Writopia Lab, going to a friend’s birthday party, and playing a few games of TheSequence. I have to shut down my computer, and start it up again 2 times. Finally, I get to Writopia Lab. For the rest of the lab, I have no problems.
Next, I find that I am late for the party, by 50 minutes. Then, I get to the party and play till 6 pm.
Back at home, I can’t find The Sequence, a board game where you have to make two sequences of 5. The first person to make both of them wins! You can also play in teams of two. Same thing goes: the first one to make two sequences of 5 wins the game. Finally, I find it. Then, me and my family play 5 games, 1 of which I won, and 4 that I lost. Then, I brush my teeth, and go to bed. I have a ton of nightmares, such as missing my book report deadline, being late for my State Report Oral, and other stuff, like missing Math or Social Studies or even SCIENCE.
The End lLets just hope that my Monday isn’t the same!!)
The Day That Goes Haywire: Episode 2: Summer Starts
I, Joe Johnson, started my Monday like a normal Monday. Unfortunately, I forgot that I had the end of school year exams on Monday, as Monday was the last day of school, and I hadn’t studied a single bit!!! Dun dun daaaan!!! My grade, although I hadn’t studied, was 99.9%. My parents were furious with me!
“Joe! You should have gotten 2,000,000,000,000,000,000% on your exams!Your mom and I always got that score on our exams!”my Dad said. I was startled.
“Sorry!! I forgot to study for the exams!” I replied. Then, my day went totally awesome (sarcastic, again). As I tried to focus on the fact that school was out for summer break, I started worrying about Summer Camp, or Summer School. Or… or… or some other horrible thing. Instead, Mom and Dad planned a trip to, you guessed it, The Park of Waters and Slides that Stretch Up To 60 Feet Off The Ground, even though they know that I absolutely didn’t like that park. I guess that it was supposed to be some kind of punishment.
The next day, at 4AM, we flew to Cancun, Mexico, to go to the park. The park was not very fun. The resort, on the other hand, was awesome, but terrifying.
“Ahh!!! Help!” I yelled. I had just triggered a booby trap.
To know more about Joe’s Summer Vacation, read the third book of the Day That Goes Haywire Series.
The End
The Day That Goes Haywire: Episode 3: Summer Vacation
Summer is going horrible and horrifying for me so far. My parents are being controlled by an Evil Madmind. I only got to know about this when I overheard them a few weeks into summer vacation.
A few weeks ago:
“Joe Johnson! Get up!” Mom shouted from across the room.
“Okay! Okay! Stop! Mom! Seriously! Stop throwing pillows at me! I’m up! I’m up!” I replied, as I held my hands up in surrender. Just as quickly as that had passed, Dad threw another volley of fire.
“Dad! Stop! Chill! Why? Okay, seriously, you have got to stop throwing pillows at me now!” I roared, as I threw a volley of fire back at both Mom and him. I was shocked at this behavior from Mom and Dad. It really was surprising how carefree they had gotten after coming to Cancun. Was I the only serious one left?
This was actually true. I was really the only one left that was serious. My parents were being sort of “controlled,” though I didn’t know this yet. I only found out one night when my parents thought I was asleep…
Now: 3 Weeks into Summer Vacation
I only found out one night when my parents thought I was asleep. They talked about the madmind and how he was their “master,” and the most powerful person in the world, and how he would give them all that they wanted and so on and so forth. I was shocked at this. I was really surprised that they, of all people, would let themselves be controlled. They weren’t those kind of people. Upon investigating a bit further, I found out that there was a super secret camera that was hidden in my parents room. It zapped them with a weird blue light 2 times a day, one time in the morning, and one in the night. Now that I knew how that worked, I just had to disable it. I snuck into my parents room when they were out shopping. I then disabled the zapper. Now, I had saved my parents!
THAT’S ALL FROM THE DAY THAT GOES HAYWIRE TRILOGY!
