Category: Spring 2016

*Diary! Secret! Mia’s diary!*

Chapter 1: We are Packing

I was sewing in my room. My walls were pink with black and white polka-dots. The curtains in my room were pink with black and white polka-dots too. The covers of my bed were green with orange polka-dots. I was sewing a scarf. I stopped sewing and went to check what Lexi was doing. Lexi was sewing mittens.

“For whom are these mittens?” I asked.

“For me,” Lexi said. “Who did you think I was sewing it for?”

“Don’t know,” I replied.

“Anyway, what were you doing?”

“I was sewing a scarf,” I told Lexi.

“For who?

“For Kira,” I answered.

“Well, okay, get out of my room,” Lexi said. “I’m not mad, but I want my privacy!”

“Don’t be so mean,” I said jokingly as I was going out of Lexi’s room.

I went back to sewing my scarf. My scarf was blue, pink, and yellow. I kept on sewing for half an hour, and finally I was done with the scarf. I went out of the house to give the scarf to Kira. Just then, I remembered that I wanted to wrap it in wrapping paper.

When I went to get wrapping paper, Mom said, “Slow down, girl, where are you going?”

“To get wrapping paper,” I replied.

“For what?” my mom asked.

“For a scarf,” I replied.

“Where did you get a scarf, and who is that scarf for?”

“I sewed a scarf, and the scarf is for Kira.”

“Wait, I want to tell you some news,” my mom said with a smile on her face. “And also call Lexi and Dad to the living room.”

“Fine,” I said.

I was really happy we’d have family news again. Family news was always something good. Like, for example, one time, it was that Grandma Emma was in town, or that we were invited to a birthday party. I skipped happily to Lexi’s room, and told her to go to the living room. Lexi went straight to the living room. I skipped to my dad’s room, and told Dad to go to the living room. Soon, my family was all settled in the living room.

“Lexi and Mia, Dad and I have some news for you,” Mom said.

“What news? What news?” Lexi asked, really happy.

“We… we are going to move!”

“Move? Move… where?” said Lexi. Her voice wasn’t as happy as it had been.

“To New Jersey,” Mom replied.

“Is Kira going to move?” I wondered out loud.

“No, she’s not.”

“Then I’m not going to move!” I yelled.

“Is my best friend going to move?” asked Lexi.

“Did you forget your best friend’s name?”

“No,” Lexi answered. “Her name is Lily. And if Lily’s not going to move, then I’m not going to move.”

“Yes, you are going to move,” said Dad calmly.

“Are we just going to move for fun, or is it because Mom is gonna open a store?” I said.

“Not exactly. Mom’s going to open a new store and my work has a new location,” Dad explained to Lexi and me.

“BUT WE CAN’T MOVE! I’M NOT GOING TO LEAVE KIRA!” I cried.

“Yeah, we can’t move,” Lexi said. I was sure Lexi was on my side.

“But we are going to move,” Mom and Dad said at the same time.

“So I have to give the scarf to Kira right now, right?” I asked Mom.

“Right,” Mom said. “Well, wrong,” Mom corrected herself. “She can visit you and — ”

I interrupted my mom. “It’s a long ride to New Jersey, right?”

“Yes,” my dad answered.

“So, we’re going to end up not visiting each other, right?” I asked.

“We are going to visit Kira, just not so much,” Dad said.

“Is not so much once a week?”
“No,” Dad said. “Not so much means once every two months.”

“No! I have to see her at least once every two weeks!”

“You can use Facetime,” Dad suggested.

“Does she have Facetime?” I asked.

“Yes,” Dad answered.

“Yes,” Mom said, “we Facetimed Kira’s mom.”

“You sure?” I asked.

“I’m sure,” Mom and Dad said at the same time.

“Well, anyway, I got some boxes. Go pack your things,” Mom said. “We leave in two days.”

“Can we leave in three days?” I asked.

“Well… I’ll think about that,” Mom answered, giving Dad a look. “But let me get the boxes first.”

I whispered something to Lexi.

“Lexi, on one two three, let’s chant ‘we’re not moving!’”

Lexi nodded her head.

“One, two, three!”

Lexi and I began chanting, “We’re not moving! We’re not moving! We’re not moving!”

“Yes we are! Yes we are!” Mom began chanting. She motioned for dad to chant with her.

Mom and Dad began to chant, “We are moving! We are moving! We are moving!” Soon the whole family was chanting. Lexi and I were chanting, “We’re not moving! We’re not moving! We’re not moving!” and Mom and Dad were chanting, “We are moving! We are moving! We are moving!”

Soon Mom started chanting:

“Let’s be quiet! Let’s be quiet!”

The Kitaigorodsky family quieted down.

“Start packing already,” Mom suggested to Lexi and me.

“But we don’t have any of the boxes,” Lexi and I complained.

“Oh, I forgot about them. Let me go get some,” Mom said with a sigh. Then she added, “It’s hard to live here with you and Mia screaming that you’re not going to move. We’ll just move, and everything is going to be okay.”

Chapter 2: Moving Party

I forgot all about my scarf! I had to tell Kira that I was moving, and I could not move because I could not leave Kira at New York when I’m in New Jersey. I had to think of a way, and fast, to convince my mother and father that we could not move to New Jersey. I had to think fast, but I couldn’t make up at least one lame idea. I went over to Lexi’s room. Maybe she’d have an idea. I asked Lexi, “What are you doing?”

“What do you think?” Lexi answered.

“Doing nothing,” I answered.

“Well, what are you doing?”

“I was thinking of an idea to convince mom that we could not move,” I said.

“That’s exactly what I was doing!” Lexi seemed surprised.

“Have you thought of anything?” I asked Lexi. “Do you even have one lame idea? Why are you so quiet?”

“Nope, nope, and I’m not quiet.”

“Well, now you’re not, but you were.”

“Can we change the subject?” Lexi asked.

“To what?”

“To getting out of my room.”

“Don’t be so mad at me, girl!”

“I’m not mad! I just need my privacy.”

“Girls, are you packing?” Mom called from the kitchen.

“Um, we’re starting to pack,” I said as I was running into my room. But then I added, “I HAVE NO BOXES!”

“Go get some in the kitchen, Mia,” Mom yelled.

“Okay, okay,” I said as I as was rushing from my room to the kitchen to get some boxes. “You think I can pack all my stuff by myself?”

“Yes,” Mom said.

“Well, I need your help.”

“Okay, okay. Just put your boxes in your room, and I’ll pack them when you’re sleeping or tomorrow morning.”

I ran back to my room with boxes and put them right next to my bed.

“Now what should I do?” I called from my room.

“Now you should get your pajamas, brush your teeth and go to sleep,” Mom said.

“What time is it?” I called.

“8:30.”

“But my bedtime is at 10:00.”

“You know how long you brush your teeth.

“Oh fine.” I quickly changed into pajamas and rushed to the bathroom. There was a clock in the bathroom. I looked at it. It was already 8:45. I started brushing my teeth. Brush brush brush. I thought this was the shortest time I had brushed my teeth! But when I was done, I looked at the clock and it was 9:45. I had taken a whole hour to brush my teeth. Usually, I only took half a hour. This was a record for me! Actually, two records. One record was that I brushed my teeth one hour, not half an hour. And I never make such a big mistake like this. That was already two records! I rushed to the bedroom and plopped on my bed. Then I looked at the clock. it was still 9:45. I had a lot, well, not a lot, of time to read in my bed.

When it was 10:00, my mom called from the kitchen, “Turn the light off!”

“Okay, Mom.” I quickly looked at what page I was on, put my bookmark in, put my book away, and turned off the light.

The next morning, when I woke up, I looked at my bedroom. It was empty, except for boxes. I looked in drawers, but in only one of my drawers, I found some clothes. I quickly put the clothes on, and looked around. Boxes, boxes, and boxes. Boxes, boxes, and boxes. It was like I was a robber, and lots of police officers were surrounding me. I quickly stepped over all of the boxes (a.k.a. police officers). I looked in the boxes, and the boxes were actually, well, huge! Bigger than they were yesterday.

Suddenly the phone rang. I dashed to the kitchen with all my might, and right in time I got the phone. It was from Kira. She had already found out that I was moving from her parents. I didn’t know how they found out, so I asked my parents. You know what they answered? They answered that when they were Facetiming Kira’s mom, they told her. And Kira’s mom told Kira. And then Kira suggested a moving party! I was going to a moving party at Kira’s house! It was just going to be, me, Kira, and her mom. And it was going to start now. I went to Kira’s house and knocked on the door. Kira answered it.

“Welcome to your moving party!” she said.

I looked around her house. It was all decorated with pink, with black and white polka dots, just like my room is! I hugged Kira and said, “I DON’T WANT TO MOVE!”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t want to move either,” Kira said, and then added, “and I mean it.”

“Tell that to my parents,” I suggested to Kira.

“What’s your parents phone number?” Kira asked.

“Why are you asking?” I asked Kira.

“‘Cause then I can call them now,” explained Kira.

“Can’t you just walk to my house?” I asked Kira.

“Fine, I’ll tell your parents after your moving party!”

“Oh yeah, let’s start the moving party!”

I walked into Kira’s house and saw all my friends from school. I was surprised that all of them were here! Rachel, Pamela, Mallory, Areile, Kelly, Talia, Tara, and Nancy. I ran to Rachel, Pamela, Mallory, Areile, Kelly, Talia, Tara, and Nancy to hug all of them. After all, they were all my friends. Kira ran to get something. She came back with a blindfold. She tied it around my eyes. She led me into the dining room and then she took my blindfold off. On the dining room table was a big chocolate cake and in the middle it said with icing: We’ll miss you, Mia! All around the cake were ten cupcakes. One for each of us. Also in the middle of the cake it said:

Mia is nice

Inspiring

Amazing

“Thank you so much!” I yelled with all my might.

We all sat down and I found nine presents under the table. The first one I picked up was from Pamela. I unwrapped it, and inside was six sets of nail polish. There were the colors of the rainbow in each set. “Thank you so much!” I said to Pamela. “My nails will always be painted no matter what.” Next I grabbed Kelly’s present. I unwrapped it. Inside were two twin dolls! “I love them. They’re so cute!” I told Kelly. Next, I grabbed Mallory’s present. It was a picture of Rachel, Pamela, Mallory, Ariele, Talia, Nancy, Kira, Tara, Kelly, and a picture of just me. Next, I grabbed Ariele’s present. It was a gift card to Toys R Us. Ariele told me that inside there was $150. “Oh my gosh! That’s a lot of money! Thank you so much,” I told Ariele. “Now my parents won’t have to spend money. Next I took out Nancy’s present. It was a book and a diary with a pen. I tried to open the diary. I could not. “How do you open this diary?” I asked.

“There’s a password,” Nancy answered.

“What’s the password?” I asked.

“Mia,” Nancy answered. I typed the password Mia, and then I tried to open the diary. It opened! And then I could change the password to whatever I wanted. This was amazing! No one could look in my diary. Also, there was a book. it was Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Next, I opened Tara’s present. It was a cookbook, and things for me to sew. The cookbook was called Cookbook of the Year. I looked at  all the recipes. Amazing! There were recipes for cupcakes and cakes and cookies. Suddenly I got an idea! I could start a cupcake club in New Jersey with my new friends. If I got any friends, that is. We could bake cupcakes for people and get paid for that. They could be $5 a cupcake. So if someone wanted five cupcakes from us, they would pay $25.

Next, I saw two presents left. I picked them up at the same time. I unwrapped them at the same time. One of them was from Rachel, and it was a laptop. One of them was from Talia, and it was earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. I ran to Kira’s room to put on the earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. I came back with the earrings on my ears, the necklaces on my neck, and the bracelets on my wrists. Everyone stared at me with OMG eyes. I stared at them.

“What?” I asked them.Their mouths just dropped open. No one said a word.

”What?” I repeated.No one said a word. I ran into Kira’s room and looked at myself. Oh! I laughed. I was just so, so pretty!!! Then I came back and quickly logged into my laptop. I quickly downloaded things on my laptop. We started playing games on my laptop. Then it was time to eat. Kira’s mom came into the room, and sliced the cake into ten parts. She gave a piece to each of us. The cake was awesome. It was chocolate and vanilla cake, and the icing was half chocolate and half vanilla too. It was yummy! Delicious! I could eat this cake forever. I told Kira’s mom that. And then in my new cookbook, she found the recipe for that cake. it was called “Chocolate Vanilla Cake.” That was even better! I could eat that anywhere. Mom could just bake it, and then tada! We could have it. And I could have this cake for my birthday party. Awesome and amazing!

Then parents started to come to pick their children up. Before they even came into the house, I motioned for all of my friends, including Kira, to come into Kira’s room with me. I wanted to tell them something, and that had to be private without anyone sticking their nose into my business. When we were all in the room with the door closed, and I told them all how I felt.

“I feel very sad that I have to leave you, and I feel nervous that I have to go to a new school, and that I won’t get any new friends,” I said. “I don’t want to move. And I want you all to know that –– I will miss you all the same amount.” I motioned to all of them that I was done talking. We all went out of the room.

While we were going out of the room, Tara said, “Everything will be okay and we can Facetime each other, and I’m sure you’ll find new friends because this is your second time moving.”

“But this is different. The first time I moved, it was from Queens to Staten Island. That was just different boroughs. But I’m going to move to a different state. That’s way farther. And we’re gonna end up never ever visiting each other.”

Suddenly Tara’s mom told her that she had to leave this second because her sister had a ballet lesson. Tara hugged me and said, “Don’t worry. We’ll at least Facetime each other, and I think we’re going to visit each other.”

Tara hugged me, and I hugged her again. Then Tara and her mom left. In five minutes, Mallory’s parents appeared. We hugged each other, and Mallory said, “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find friends, and even if you don’t, we can Facetime each other and visit.”

“I don’t know about that visiting part,” I said to Mallory. “It’s a long way from New York to New Jersey, or New Jersey to New York.”

“But anyway we will get to Facetime each other.”

“Are you sure you have Facetime?” I asked Mallory.

“I’m sure.”

“You sure?” I asked Mallory, because maybe she made a mistake.

“I’m sure,” Mallory said to me once again.

“Triple sure?” I asked Mallory.

“Triple sure,” Mallory said.

“Then, bye,” I said and then added, “I’ll miss you sooo much!”

“i’ll miss you even more than you’ll miss me,” Mallory said.

“Nuh-uh. I’ll miss you more, and it’ll be more harder for me because I have to go to a new school find new friends, and I have to leave. You just have to let me leave, and you can just keep playing with our other friends. You don’t have to do anything! You don’t have to worry, there’s no nerves for you!”

“Do we have Facetime, mom?” Mallory asked her mom.

“Of course,” Mallory’s mom answered Mallory.

“Gygygaga” Mallory’s little sister said.

“So cute,” I said to Mallory.

“You think so?” Mallory said. “Spend a week with her. Then you’ll find out.”

“I’m not going for that,” I said.

“There you go. You proved my point,” Mallory said. “You don’t want to live with her.”

“We have to go!” Mallory’s mom said.

“Gygygaga,” Mallory’s little sister said.

“Goodbye,” I said to Mallory. Mallory and I hugged again. Then she left. Everyone but Rachel and Talia left because their parents had the wrong time so we played some games until they left. Then it was just me and Kira. Me and Kira talked a little bit and played some games. Then, I left.

I looked at the time when I came home. It was 3:30 p.m. When I came home, I told Mom that my moving party wasn’t a moving party. it was a amazing moving party. And that was true.

Chapter 3: Texting in the Car to New Jersey

I was riding in the car to New Jersey. I didn’t know what to do. I’d already been in the car a half an hour, and the ride to New Jersey was two hours. A whole two hours and I couldn’t do anything! I took out my phone and started texting Kira.

MK: Riding in the car to New Jersey.

KM: What do u see around u?

MK: Nothing. :(

KM: What r u doing?

MK: Riding in the car to NJ.

MK: What r u doing?

KM:Texting u.

MK: What were u doing b4 u started texting me?

KM: Homework.

“Uhhh! This so boring! Am going to ride in the car for two hours doing nothing?” Lexi yelled. I ignored her. I kept on texting Kira.

MK: :p  

KM: For what are u sticking out ur tongue?

MK: U still have to do HW, and I’m riding in a car.

KM: I’m giving u a look through the phone. :/

MK: Well I’m giving u a look through the phone!

KM: I see u have less nerves about the move now. :)  

MK: No I don’t!

MK: I feel WAY more nervous because I know there’s no chance I’m NOT moving now.

KM: Look I know u’ll find a new friend.

KM: U’ll be happy with ur new school, and it’ll be like u never moved.

KM: U’ll just have no me, and new friends!

KM: The first time u moved here, u told us how nervous u were to move.

KM: But u found us! it’ll be the same adventure like last time.

MK: But this is different!

MK: I was moving from a different borough.

MK: Now I’m moving to a different STATE.

KM: Wait, what’s a borough???

MK: it’s like Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten island.

KM: Oh. Wait, then what’s a state??

MK: A state is NY, NJ, illinois, MA, and so on.

KM: Oh. Kk.

MK: So continuing.

MK: I’m moving further than I was this is totally different and it’s a two hour ride and we’re never EVER going to see each other again.

KM: I think we should end texting.

KM: I see ur getting upset, and I have to finish my HW

MK: Maybe we can text again soon? :)

“We’re here!” Dad said.

Chapter 4: The House

Mom had told me that she was going to unpack for me while I was sleeping. I had agreed, because it was good that I didn’t have to unpack. That would be hard. I wouldn’t had known what to put where, and it would take forever. But Mom seems to take only a minute or five when unpacking the family stuff. I looked in all my new drawers and everything. The room was completely empty. It was kind of like I was in jail, because in jail the person gets barely any stuff, and that’s it. There was nothing on the walls, just plain white. I had to remember to paint my room. Suddenly, I felt so sleepy. I lay on the bed.

That was a good nap. I looked all around my room.The walls were pink with black polka-dots. Everything was like my old room! Just my covers weren’t green and orange with green polka-dots. Wait a sec. This wasn’t my room. This was… Mom and Dad’s room. I went into my room. The walls were pink with white and black polka-dots and so were my curtains! Just like my old room! The covers of my bed were green with orange polka-dots. Mom and Dad and maybe Lexi had carried me from my room to Mom and Dad’s room! I took out my phone. I started texting Kira.This is how it went:

MK: at New Jersey

KM: When did u arrive?

MK: 10 minutes ago.                  

KM: exactly 10 minutes ago?

MK: About 10 minutes ago.

KM: U r a weirdo

MK: meanie!

KM: excuse me

MK: just joking

KM: I knew that

KM: u think that I didn’t know that

MK: I knew u knew that

MK: Whatever

MK: C u soon

KM: I want to keep on texting!

MK: fine we’ll say some more words and then we’re done talking

KM: do u not want to be my best friend anymore?

KM: we used to be twinsies.

MK: I want to be your best friend. Wait. let me correct that. I NEED to be your best friend. NEED.NEED.NEED.NEED.NEED.

KM: doesn’t look like it

MK: looks like it and I know it’s true

KM: o well. having fun in New Jersey?

MK: BORiNG

KM: what’s so boring

MK: well I don’t know a lot about this place. By the way, this looks basically like my old home

KM: o well.doing anything

MK: No

KM: I think it’s time that we should stop texting

MK: I think so to.

Hmmm. I think I should probably go out and try to make a new friend.

To be continued…

Chapter 1: First Day

On her first day of tryouts, she got her gymnastics suit and her backpack and went on a plane. The plane was two hours. She was at the very back and there wasn’t anyone else next to her. She was feeling shy because it was her first day of gymnastics tryouts. She was wondering if she would get into the Olympics.

The teacher had said to them, “If you guys aren’t friends, I’ll kick you off the team.” Since it was a long time after the teacher said that, Maddie was thinking of Chelsea and maybe her other friends when Chelsea took the bus. Chelsea lived in Florida and Maddie lived in New York. When Maddie got out of the plane she took the bus. When she went to gymnastics, she saw Chelsea. She was shocked because Maddie and Chelsea actually weren’t friends, so she was extra shocked. Then they got teams, and Maddie and Chelsea didn’t have a team to go in, so they had to make their own group. But they barely got along. They kept saying mean things about each other’s ideas for the competition and they both wanted to win for the competition. So, they said sorry for real this time, because the wanted to win to go to the competition.

Then the coach came over and said, “Ready to start?” They both said yes and began. They worked on the floor and did the hardest stuff, because they wanted to go to the hard squad. They were glad that they were friends; it was better than just complaining. The only problem was that the other team was better than their group. They would never ever win, so they were really sad. They wished they would win but that would never happen. Well, maybe, but that would just be a dream.

Chelsea said, “What should we do about it?”

Maddie said, “Let’s both come up with an idea.”

The teacher said, “Come up with an idea, girls, quick! Before time is up and we practice.”

Chelsea said, “Quick, come up with an idea!”

Maddie said, “No, you are the one who comes up ideas. And I do it and you see if it’s right.”

Then Chelsea said, “Okay, I don’t want us to argue again. So, we should do what you say. You should do a handstand and a forward roll.”

Maddie tried to do it, but she kept on falling. They decided to switch places and Maddie had a good idea. She did a cartwheel, two back handsprings, and a fold-twist in the air. Chelsea did it and they both thought that they were going to get into the Olympics, and that they were better than the other teams. So, they kept on doing it over and over again until it was time for them to come up with a new idea and add it together.

Chelsea decided to do her routine from the last time she did gymnastics. They put it together and it worked out really well. Then, it was time for them to go home. Maddie called her mom and said, “Can we please have a sleepover with Chelsea? We need to practice our routine.”

He mom said, “Sure, just meet you tomorrow night.”

Chelsea and Maddie went to the backyard of Chelsea’s home and practiced. Then they found out that the Olympics were in four days and they wanted to practice; but first they thought about each other and they thought it was nice to be friends. Then they hugged each other and then they went to work. They were really rushed so they both did the routine and they were so happy that they forgot when they were mean to each other. Then it was time for them to go to gymnastics and then they went and kept on practicing. Then it was time to go home and Maddie went home. Then four days later it was the Olympics day and they had to do the routine, and after the teams did theirs they found out that they won. Yay! Then the next day they went and the team was much harder so they worked their butts off. The teacher named Ella was so nice. Then they just found out that Chelsea’s mom is having a baby, so Chelsea had to sleep with the group and Maddie wanted to join. So the next night they went to the cabin and went to sleep. Then in the morning the teacher woke them up, except Chelsea and Maddie, because they were from her group and they needed sleep.

Then the teacher woke them up and they got dressed up and they went to work. Then they did hard things (well, kind of). Then they found out that the country they were in would have the Olympics in five days. So they really needed to get to work.

Then they picked a song called “Shake it Off” for the tryouts .

Chapter 2: Getting Ready for the Olympics

Then they had lunch and they ate an apple and other great foods. Then it was time to do their gymnastics work. They had a hard time because they got it done and they were bored while they were waiting for others to finish their routines. Then it was time to do gymnastics. They did easy things like cartwheels. Then, it was time for lunch and they forgot their lunch boxes, so the teacher gave them lunch from the restaurant the teacher went to last night. They had pasta but it wasn’t as good as their mom’s. Then they went to sleep.The next morning, they practiced a lot.

Chelsea said, “Let’s do new things!”

Maddie said, “Okay.”

Then it was the day of the Olympics and they were doing the first competition. If Chelsea and Maddie won the competition they would win $1,000 and they would split it, $500 and $500. But, they wouldn’t be in the real Olympics — that happens once in awhile in that country. The next year, the Olympics would come. They almost didn’t win when Maddie was about to fall. Maddie felt disappointed for herself and for Chelsea. She was feeling that no one else would want to be her partner for the next competition. Her knees were shaking, but she didn’t fall and she was imagining her knees were shaking. Then, she hears Chelsea’s baby sister yelling and it wakes up her brain and she’s able to finish her routine. And they did their thing and they were on tv and they won. Yay! Then they got on the final team their moms and dads were watching. Then Chelsea saw her old friend.

Chelsea said, “Hi.”

Her old friend Zoe said, “I thought you did not like Maddie.”

Chelsea said, “Now I am her friend.”

Zoe said, “Well, now I am not your friend anymore.”

Chelsea said, “Why?”

Zoe said, “Well, I hate Maddie.”

But Chelsea did not care because she liked Maddie better than Zoe. The very next day, Chelsea went to Maddie’s house for a sleepover and they were doing their routine. They were doing a back handspring into a split and then a cartwheel. They wanted to go to sleep because it was getting late. The very next day they took a cab to the gymnastics place. They did their routine. Maddie said, “We should add more things to our routine.”

Chelsea said, “Good idea, but what should we add to our routine?”

Maddie said, “We should do bars.”

Chelsea said, “Good idea.”

“Thanks,” said Maddie. And then they tried it out and did a flip on to the bars and swung. But they didn’t like it: it was too short. Instead, they used the beam and did a dismount.

Chapter 3: Working on New Things

It was easy so they did it just fine. Then Chelsea went to Maddie’s house.  And they wanted to practice so they did it and they did it over and over again. Then it was time to go to bed but they could not go to sleep.

The very next day the teacher said, “We will be moving to a new class for the tryout team,” and they did. They got coach Mia. She is so nice; everybody likes her so she must be good.

The coach said to Chelsea and Maddie, “You are on the tryout Olympics.” Then it was time to practice, but they were bored.

They came up with a new idea. They were doing handstands into a roll. It was really fun, so they did that. Then it was time to have lunch, so they had a sandwich and an apple.

They had to eat healthy things because it makes you stronger. Then it was time for them to go home. So they went home together and they worked on a dance that was good. Then they had sweet potatoes for dinner. It was so yummy that they even had seconds. Then they went to bed and they fell right asleep. They were so sleepy. The next day was the competition, so they hurried to the gymnastics place and they hurried to change. They went to their teacher and they practiced. It was related to the Olympics. They forgot the competition was on Sunday and it was Monday, so they had to wait another week. Then they went to practice. And they added more to their routine.

Maddie said, “We should do a back handspring into a flip into a split.” That was the best idea she ever had.

Chelsea said, “Sure.” And they did the whole thing. Then they went home and they did their best to do well in the competition. Then they ate dinner. They had soup; it was yummy (Maddie’s mom is a great cook).

Before they went to bed, Zoe came in and said, “Sorry.”

Chelsea said, “It is okay.”

And then Zoe said, “Sorry,” to Maddie.

She said, “It is okay,” and they all hugged. Then they all practiced and they all went to sleep the very next day.

They all went to the gymnastics place and they said hi to the teacher and they went to work. They had to practice for the show but first they ate some cereal and then they went to work. After they were done they all chatted.

Maddie said, “I’m glad we’re friends,” to Zoe.

Zoe said, “Me too. I was wrong about you; you are nice.”

Chapter 4: Shopping

Then they went to a shop to buy new phones. Maddie got a blue one, Zoe got a yellow one, and Chelsea had a red one. Then they went to buy some new clothes. They got the same things: green shorts and a black tank top. It looked great! Then they all went to Maddie’s house and they had a chance to go to the Olympics.

In the morning they went in the car and they drove to the gymnastics place: it was the day of the competition.

Then they changed and they did their dance and they went to do the best dance ever. When they were done, they won! They were the best ever. Then they all had treats: they had cupcakes and cookies and other treats.

Then they all did a high five. And they all were the best gymnasts ever. 

The next day they all got their picture taken and they were famous.

The End

This is when she is at the play date. The other picture is when Addie asks her mom to go to Chelsea’s house.

The storm was raging. My mother and father ran to the lifeboats but they realized something was wrong –– my sister and I weren’t there.

“The children!’ my mother yelled at my father, and he quickly ran below the decks to find us. But we weren’t anywhere near the ship. We were far, far away from the boat, in the ship’s safest lifeboat. A while later my mother had no choice but to leave my father below the decks. But when the ship’s crew was lowering the lifeboat into the water, the ropes snapped in mid air and my mother’s lifeboat hurtled downwards towards the water.

“Mom!” yelled my sister. As the lifeboat went on its journey to find another ship that could bring us to New York my sister and I were crying over the deaths of our parents. A few hours later we safely boarded the Mississippi and heading toward Albany, New York.

Once we landed in New York, the Mississippi’s crew sent my sister and me to the nearest orphanage, but almost everything in it was so so old and dusty –– even the food! The only good part was the kids who lived in the orphanage they were all very very nice. But a few months later my sister and I could not stand the bad conditions of the orphanage so we packed all of our stuff, said goodbye to our friends, and left.

But that was about two years ago. Now we are working as doctors and scientists for the Atlas corporation. When we came to New York, we were wandering around the city until an undercover Atlas spy found us and took us to the main headquarters of Atlas. So far we have made dozens of grenades that unleash a deadly type of poison when they explode. We have also cured thousands of soldiers from wounds, poisons, and a deadly type of illness that will burn you alive. Ten years later, Atlas asked me to join the spies that go around bustling cities trying to find homeless children about at least ten years old, and I said yes. So my sister became a doctor, and I became a spy.

I still remember the first kid that I found on the streets. His name was Edward and he was fourteen years old. He started to live on the streets when he was ten years old because his parents died from a fire. It had started because their neighbor was cooking and he “accidently” lit a napkin on fire and dropped it into the pan that he was cooking with. It just so happened that there was oil in the pan. So yeah, his whole apartment exploded. So I brought Edward back to Atlas headquarters and the commanders trained him to be a soldier.

A few months later, I became a soldier and so did Edward. Now Edward and I are storming into battle at the Vespers main headquarters.

“Charge!” my general yelled at us. So we all charged into battle, thirsty for blood. In the next hour, bullets flew, men fell, and machinery exploded.

When we got back to base, my general quickly changed into his kitty pajamas and went to sleep. A few minutes later a group of Atlas soldiers snuck into the general’s bedroom. Inside the room, there were lots and lots of generals but their general was very conspicuous because of his pink kitty pajamas.

Suddenly all the generals inside the room woke up and started to yell, “!@#$%^&*”

Finally, when the founder of the Atlas calmed all the generals down, he told the soldiers very sternly that they should never ever sneak into the general’s room. Their punishment was to bathe in hot oil every day for every week of every month of every year for the rest of their lives. Edward and I both think the punishment was unfair but the general refused to release them.

A few days later my unit rolled into action at Bunker Hill. The first tent that my unit set up was the arsenal. Inside there were hundreds and hundreds of firearms. The next day, Edward, some of our fellow soldiers, and I boarded a battleship that took off towards the Atlas fleet. When we finally got onto the ship, we all took our positions. I probably got the most exciting job on the boat. I got to fire the gun! When we lost sight of Bunker Hill, we turned on the radar and the navigation device so we could see if any enemy ships were coming and where we were going.

A few hours later, our captain told us some big news. There was a whole fleet of enemy ships headed towards us. He told us to be ready if they suddenly attacked. When we could actually see the enemy fleet, we all opened fire. A few minutes later, we were surrounded by enemy ships and they blew us up. Edward and I were the only two crew members that survived.

By the time we spotted the island we were dead from thirst and water. We boarded the island and right away felt like it was better to die than to live. So right away we got out our army knives and tried to build a shelter so we could a least have a place to live in. By the end of the day, Edward and I had built the most magnificent shelter ever! (It was probably a lot better than Brian Robinson’s shelter.)

I told Edward to go and try to find some food, so he did. When Edward came back, I had already made the fire and was ready to cook the food. But when he came back he had some new cuts and also a huge claw mark on the side of his head. I asked him what happened, and he told me he had angered a huge chicken and it tried to kill him. Edward used his years of military training to kill the huge chicken. So after he told me the whole story he asked me to go with him to where he had killed the chicken so I could help him drag the chicken back to the shelter so we would have something to eat that night.

When we finally got back to the camp, the fire had already gone out so I had to make another fire which was pretty easy to make since I got first place in survival camp when I was fifteen years old. After we finished our magnificent meal, I told Edward to go to sleep while I tried to fix the radio transmitter and tried to call for help.

A few hours later, Edward woke and told me to go to sleep for a while. When I said no, he took the transmitter and started to do what I had done a few hours ago when he went to sleep. After a few minutes, I was so tired, I fell off the rock, hit my head on another rock, and blacked out. When I woke up, it was already morning and Edward was already back from the morning hunt with a bunch of wolves following him. Wait, what? A bunch of wolves!?

I asked Edward why he had adopted a bunch of wolves. Do you guys know what he said? He told me that when he was hunting, he heard the growls of the wolves and he seemed to understand what they were talking about.

In the morning, Edward confessed that the day before he had lied to me about the wolves. (Like I didn’t know that already.) He told me that the wolves had followed him back to camp because he had a hole in his bag of meat and the meat had dropped onto the ground. And then the wolves ate it and they followed him back to camp thinking they would get more food. But they didn’t, so they walked away.

In the morning, Edward’s loud cry woke me from my deep slumber. “Yay, yay, we’re saved, yay!!!”

I sat up and said, “Yo, keep it down, man.”

And he said, “But I need to signal that ship!!!” I took one look at the ship and wondered how Edward could be so stupid.

“It’s one of the Vespers’ ships!!!” I yelled at him. And then I saw her. Grandmama. “Stop it, Edward!!! That’s Grandmama’s ship!!!” I yelled at him. Then Grandmama turned her ship’s cannon toward our island and fired.

“Duck!” I screamed at Edward. He ducked and quickly fired back with one of the many coconut cannons that Edward and I had built. After a few seconds, I recovered from my shock and also started to fire back at Grandmama. Then I told Edward to stop firing because there was so much smoke we couldn’t aim correctly.

Five hours later, I said, “Hey yo, Edward, what do you want for dinner?”

And he said, “I’ll take some coconut water and that’s it.”

“Okay,” I replied.

In the morning old Grandmama ran out of ammo and ran to ask her fat son Samuel to deliver some ammo to her. While she was trying to radio Samuel, Edward and I took advantage of that and started to fire some coconuts at her ship, The Death Bed.

After a few minutes, Edward and I were looking at the ruins of old Grandmama’s ship The Death Bed, but I didn’t see that. With the last bits of her strength, she turned one of the ship’s last working cannons and fired at the island.

The next day, one of the Atlas ships found me and picked me up. When I got back to base, I learned that my sister had died of grief. Grandmama killed Edward when she fired the cannon in the last few moments in her life. My legs had been blown off in the explosion, so I couldn’t walk for the rest of my life. I hope I’ll be able to go for at least one more mission, but until then, Shadow Killer Out.

Hello, my name is Banana, and this evening I was browsing the web on a website about trains. It is an amazing video game web. After that, I went into the bathroom to brush my banana peels. This was how I looked: I had really fluffy hair.

It was great to be a banana. I looked so beautiful… So I went to bed, and then I woke up. It was a really fast sleep. Bananas sleep really well. I looked in the kitchen to say “Good Banana Day’’ to my parents, but they were GONE!

This is how my parents usually looked:

They were two long bananas with furry lips and long hair they were hugging.

This was how they looked when they were gone:

They looked like NOTHING or ______. I was really sad.

Waaah!

But then a minute later the whole story zoomed right on my HEAD. I said, “Story, don’t zoom on my head!” And then I suddenly thought, I can go on a quest to find my parents.

I was going to have a super powerful spear and hair… hehe, AWESOME! So I took a stick from the garden and started training right away. I was swinging my stick at a wall, but then suddenly a massive lightning beam shot out of my body and vaporized the wall.

“WOW, that was new!” I shouted and vaporized another wall. “I am ready to fight anyone who stole my parents! They will get CHIP-CHOPPED TO A MILLION TINY LITTLE BABY PIECES BY MY SUPA BABY STICK!” I screamed extremely loudly. There was a strange creepy echo.

OH! I forgot to show you my stick. Here it is: it’s tiny and brown and little, and it looks like a baby little tree without the creepy eyes that glare at you and eat your soul. It destroys you and makes you die in less than two tiny little milliseconds. It makes you barf out yesterday’s breakfast (which was really yummy). Isn’t it AMAZING?! A second later I found out that the power wasn’t coming from the stick. It was coming from ME! That’s the last thing I remember before I fell asleep.

                                                              ***                                                                             
I woke up to the sound of grunting outside. It was like “GRAAA, GRAAA, GRAAA.” It was really annoying, ugh. Then I thought, All of that was a dream? But then I quickly flicked my arm, and a bunch of lightning flew right out. “YES, it isn’t a dream,” I said. Then I made my breakfast and ate it. This is how it looked: it had A LOT of amazing eggs and muscular pieces of bacon. Ooh, pretty good. My mom made it better. I was starting to miss her.

Then I went outside to check out the grunting noises. There was a massive donut eating my stick and saying, “BANANA WILL DIE! BANANA WILL DIE!” This is how it looked: it was really hairy and had FANGS!

It was REALLY CREEPY. He was also was holding a MASSIVE club. He was saying “HAHA, YOU HAVE COME TO FIGHT ME AND GET YOUR HEAD RIPPED OFF AND CHOPPED INTO TWO PIECES! I ALSO TOOK YOUR PARENTS!” in a really metallic voice.

I was OUTRAGED! I closed my eyes and then suddenly a plane just flew two meters by me. I looked down, and I noticed that I turned GIANT! And the donut still was pretty big. Then suddenly, the story zoomed right on my head. (Again, ugh.) So I thought, I am UNSTOPPABLE and I am going to get that evil, stupid, big, horrible, terrible, donut brat.

So I swung my big hand, and out flew twelve unstoppable blue lightning bolts. But the monster donut was quicker than he looked! He dodged the bolts and spat out fifty donut holes. I dodged and stepped on the donut monster. I squashed him, and then he turned into a thousand tiny donuts. The donuts jumped on me and bit me!  “MEAN TINY DONUTS!”

I summoned some lightning to take care of them (not in a good way), and they all got vaporized and turned to pink powder. And then I shrunk, and I was small again. “WEEE.” My parents were tied up to a tree. I went to them and broke the ropes. They hugged me, and we lived happily ever after.

When Tim looked back on it, he didn’t know when it started. Was it when Spud did the unspeakable, or was it when when his mother Leanne died seven years ago? No, he thought. It had started on his 12th birthday.

Sarah was in for the day. Sarah was his older sister, who was 18 and in college. Even Dad was in a good mood. Sarah had given him a scrapbook, and Dad was just cutting his cake (which was lemon, his favorite), when he paused.

“Dad, what’s wrong?” Tim asked.

“Sarah will you get the present.”

“What?”

“Oh, wait.”

Just then, Sarah walked out with the strangest dog Tim had ever seen. It was brown and gold-specked with a long pink tongue hanging out of its mouth.

“He’s all yours,” Tim’s dad said. Tim looked at the dog and it pounced on him.

********************************************************************************************************

“Down, Spud!” Tim tried to pull his dog down. He sighed and gave up. Then, the ice cream came. Maggie O’Connor, the kid of the rich couple next door, was nice, but her parents spoiled her. She wasn’t that bratty, but her parents would do anything for her.  

Maggie taunted Spud with her ice cream. Then, he broke free of his leash and jumped on her. Now, Spud was a pouncy dog, but this was too much.

“The blood!” Tim’s dad yelled.

The hospital monitor bleeped. Tim stepped into the room. Maggie was lying on the bed, her blonde curls spread out. Tim wished that she would be okay and that her green eyes would open again.  

Her mother sat with her head in her hands while her father sat reading the Bible. No one looked up.

“Um… ” Tim began. “I’m sorry about Maggie.”

Mr. O’Connor looked up. “That is enough, Timothy,” he said.

“Okay, well, bye,” Tim said awkwardly. He went home.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” Dad said.

“What?” asked Tim.

“The O’Connors are filing a lawsuit against us. I don’t want to have to pay for this. We have to get out of the country, Tim.”

Chapter 2

Dad’s plan:

• Cross the border to Mexico
• If anyone finds out, go to Cuba
• If anyone finds out, go south

Tim packed some clothes, a picture of his family, some school supplies, a flashlight, and three tubes of toothpaste.

Then they left with Spud, of course. They climbed into Dad’s gray Porsche, and Tim smelled his old home one last time. Tim clutched the photo and the car drove off.

They drove on into the sunset, never stopping. Dad drove all night, or at least Tim thought he did. He fell asleep against his best efforts at 9:45. When he woke up, the sky was brightening again. It was almost as if the sunset was sinking again. His dad threw something in the backseat.

“Um, what is this?” asked Tim. He read the label:

SUPA-Cinnamon! Cinnamon rolls: three per pack. Microwavable. SUPA_YUMMY!

EW! Tim thought. He tore it open and ate it because he was hungry. It did not taste good — at all. It probably would have tasted even worse when it was heated. He saved one for Dad and gave the other to Spud, who ate it hungrily. He stared ahead and took out his math book. He made a solemn promise in his head to do three hours of schoolwork every day, except for weekends, and got to work on fractions.

A few hours later, Tim said, “Dad, I’m hungry.”

“Wait until dinner. No lunch on the road. We’ve only got 13,489 more miles to go.”

Tim wasn’t very good at math, but he knew this would take a while.

The road was dull. It was hot, and Tim was bored. Three weeks had passed, Dad stopping at delis at 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Tim had been the proud digger of seven holes because of some bad sandwiches from delis.

Just then, they came to a big gate. A man was standing in front of it, looking bored. Dad drove up to him. To Tim, he hissed, “Say ‘YES!’” Tim had no idea what he was talking about. Dad handed the man two passports.

“Liam McKinley, history professor doing research on the social aspects on Mexicans?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Dad.

“Your son Adam McKinley is coming with you because his mother lives there?”

“Yes… ?” said Tim.

They passed.

“Could you have been more obvious?” Dad asked.

“Dad, what was that all about?”

“We did it. We’re in Mexico!”

They still had a while to go, and Dad stopped in a pub, promising he’d bring Tim back something.

Tim waited. At 1:55 a.m., Dad came.

“Dad!” said Tim, but stopped when he saw his dad. He was as drunk, but Tim did not know.

“Gotta go. Gave it away, stupid,” he slurred.

“Dad, you can’t drive.” Tim grabbed the keys, but his father grabbed them back. He looked at Tim with a fire in his eyes Tim had never seen before.

“GIVE THEM TO ME, YOU USELESS #%$@!” Tim leaned back, tears pricking his eyes.

He doesn’t mean it, Tim thought. But he wasn’t sure.

Dad drove a lurching five miles before he hit a sign and the car flipped over. Dad passed out, so drunk he didn’t even know what was going on. Tim helped flip back the car. No one was hurt. No one saw; no one was around for miles. Spud was in the grass. Tim knew what he had to do. He grabbed his dad’s phone out of his pocket. He went into contacts and saw the name Leanne next to a heart. Leanne was his mother’s name. Tim pressed Sarah, which was next to it. The phone rung. Please pick up, Tim thought. It rung again. Please, Sarah.

She picked it up and said, “Hello?”

“Sarah, it’s Tim. Dad is drunk, we’re in Mexico illegally, and the car is messed up. Come, Sarah, PLEASE come.”

“OH MY GOD, Tim, I had no idea. What town are you in?” Tim looked at the sign.

“El Diablo.”

“Ironic,” she said.

“I love you. Mom would never have wanted this.” The phone went dead. Tim slipped it back into his dad’s pocket and tried to think of a plan.

He didn’t need to. Dad was so hungover, they stayed in the car for two days, and then a taxi drove up. Sarah came out, Tim came out, and they hugged.

“Whassat? Dad said.

“Dad, we need to talk,” said Sarah.

“Tim, get in the car,” said Sarah. Tim got in the car and plugged in his iPod. He could still hear Dad and Sarah shouting at each other.

“HOW DARE YOU COME IN HERE INSULTING MY FAMILY?”
“HOW DARE YOU NOT TELL ME YOU WERE MOVING TO MEXICO?”
And on and on, just like that. Dad stomped off to the pub, and Sarah climbed into the car with Tim. Sarah took Tim’s hand.

“Timmy, how would you like to live with me?”

“You know, Tim, maybe you should, while I… get back on my feet,” TIm’s dad said.

They took a plane to Sarah’s house in California. Tim had convinced Sarah to let Spud come too.

“Well, we’re home,” said Sarah. “Here’s your room.”

Tim loved the blue room, which was perfect for a 12-year-old boy.

The school was also great. The kids were nice and they accepted him and Spud, who had mellowed down after seeing the neighbors’ dog, Felicia.

Maggie was fine, and so was her family. But one night, Tim couldn’t sleep. He went downstairs.

“Sarah,” he said.

She looked up. Her wispy blonde hair was in her face and her glasses were on the end of her nose. “Tim?”

“Is Dad okay?”

The words came tumbling out. It was not what Tim was going to say, but somehow he knew it was right.

“Oh, Tim,” said Sarah, hugging him. He hadn’t realized how stiff his body had been. “Dad is okay, he just needs to get a better life. He’s going somewhere where people will help him. I think he misses Mom.”

“I miss her too,” said Tim, “and I don’t even remember her.”

“I was only 11, but I miss her every day. But I see her in you, Tim, in your smile, in your laugh. Tim, Dad misses her, but it’s going to be ok. For all of us.” The siblings cried together until Sarah said, “I’m going to medical school to cure people with the disease Mom had.

Tim didn’t say anything, for he was asleep, and then Sarah lay down her head and slept with him.

Chapter 1: The Mechanic

Creak went the bulky android arm as I screwed it on.

“Here you go,” I said, handing an astounded old man back his newly-fixed android.

“Wow,” he said. “When old Darla broke, I never thought that she’d run again. Really,” he said, looking up at me with true happiness in his eyes. “Thank you, Julia”  

“No problem” I said, smiling.  The old man handed me 50 shonis, highly  overpaying me; but as I looked at him walking away with a bounce in his step, I thought I understood why.  Father had always told me, ever since I was a little girl, that being a mechanic is the best job you could ever have. You get to fix broken things and make people happy. Plus, it pays well. Father always got more than other mechanics even, because he was known throughout Newistonia  as being one of the best mechanics around. Back when Queen Maria still ruled, Dad would apparently sometimes go to the palace. But now that Queen Zarfina is in charge, everything’s different.

I straighten my long brown ponytail and put the CLOSED sign on the door of my small mechanic shop. I catch a glimpse of my bright green eyes in the glass and smile. According to Papa, my eyes are my best feature. I clamber into my hover. I turn it on and hear the familiar creak of the engine starting up. I pull back on the steer lever and slowly rise into the air. I love the feeling of flying above all the passersby without a care in the world. As I’m cruising along a memory floats back to me….

“There you go,” Mom says. “Now, just put your arm on the lever.” I try, but let go of the startup drive in the process. The hover drops two feet in the air, but Mom swoops her strong arms behind me.

“You’re doing excellent,” she says, laughing. I smile as she carefully maneuvered our way down.

I frown and shake off the memory. Just after that fine spring day nine years ago when I was just nine, Mom had left to, “pursue her acting career.” Two weeks after that we received a sid link from the Speshona City Hospital, saying that Camilla Roberts had died of mental illness. We didn’t get any further information.

To get my mind off things I decide to send a sid link to Papa telling him I’m almost home. I’d already turned on my edonscreen when a maniac driver cuts me off. “$%&@#” I say and slam on the horn.

“Command unclear, Julia,” my edon, Ida, says.

“It wasn’t a command,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“Okay Julia” she says as I pull into the spot outside of our small town house.

I get out of my hover and lock the door. I walk up the front steps and open the front door.  “I’m home, Papa” I call out.

Chapter 2: Home Again

I walk in and go to Papa on the couch. He greets me with his usual “There’s nothing on T.V.”

“I love you too, Dad.” I say, and kiss him on the cheek. Suddenly he starts coughing. I frown. This hacking cough is one of his many ailments. He used to be a fine, healthy, middle-aged man; but when he hit 50 he started, as he put it, “getting old.” I made him stop working. What he mainly does now is watch football on T.V. and go for walks in the park. He doesn’t need to do that, but I want him to. It must seem like I’m being overprotective, but I just want to keep him as healthy as possible. I couldn’t bear to lose him, too.

I’m about to go to the cupboard and grab his medicine, but he says, “I’m fine honey.” I smile weakly. I put my arm down and open the fridge. “Anything good?” he asks.

“If half a slice of pizza and two chicken wings counts as good,” I reply.

“Can we order Italian?” he asks, as if I’m the parent here.

“Sure,” I say and send a sid-link to Bonnie’s Italian for three plates of their delicious steaming hot spaghetti. Our family loves Bonnie’s. My great-great-great grandparents went there all the way back in 5050. Now, 200 years later, Bonnie’s is still our family hangout. I sit on the couch next to dad and smile.

20 minutes later, I hear the buzz meaning weight has been detected near our front door. Our creaky old android Annie rushes to the door. She opens it to reveal the delivery android, Frank. We see a lot of him here.

“That will be 30 shonis,” he says, handing over our spaghetti. I put the money in his built-in cash register and close the door as he’s rolling away. I turn around to face Dad.

“Spaghetti time” I say.

Half an hour later, full with spaghetti we plop down on the couch. We turn on the news. What I see nearly makes me jump out of my skin. BREAKING NEWS: QUEEN ZARFINA, DEAD.

Queen Zarfina, dead??? It can’t be. I pinch myself on the arm and blink. Nope, the headline’s the same. It was no secret that she had killed her sister Maria to be queen. Everybody thought that she would do whatever it takes to stay queen. She has dozens of the best doctors in the world working tirelessly in her research labs. But I guess karma has caught up to her.

I turn to Papa and see he is wearing the same shocked expression as me. “Wow,” we say in unison.

Chapter 3: The Surprise

As I climb into my hover the next morning I still can’t believe that Zarfina is actually dead. It seems like she’s still here. Now I wonder who is going to be queen. She never had any kids, but no one ever worried about it, because like I said, we all assumed that she was going to live forever. Curious, I say to Ida, “Turn on newsfeed.”

“All right, Master Julia” she says. I look at the screen and the hover almost skids out of the lane. HONK. An old man glares at me as he passes me.

“Sorry!” I say. But honestly, anyone in my position would have done the same thing. Usually, handsome newscaster Tristan Cooper would cheer me up, but today, I want to punch him on the nose.

“WAR,” he says. Apparently everyone wants to be ruler. The first battle was only 2 miles from here in the rural Commentoy. “It could be coming to Speshona next.” Tristan says, before it cuts to ads.

I curse under my breath. “Ida, send a sid-link to Papa saying that there is a war.”

“I can’t do that, Master.”

“Why not?”

“Adam Roberts’ edonscreen has been disabled due to the fact that he is now a patient at the Speshona City Hospital.”

“WHAT??”

Chapter 4: At the Hospital

I shriek so loud the old man driving next to me says, “Watch it, kid.” I’m so confused. Papa, in the hospital? He was fine this morning… Or was he? I don’t know.

“Ida, I need the directions to Speshona City Hospital. Now.”

“Turn left on Bridge street….”

“Papa!!” I call out down the long sterile hallway of the hospital.

I see a kiosk on the wall and type in Adam Roberts. Hall 6, Room 4, it says. I rush there and bang open the door. I see Papa lying unconscious on a white hospital bed. It’s my worst nightmare. I see a doctor taking notes in a corner and say, “What-what happened sir?”

“Are you family?”

I nod frantically.

“Adam suffered from an unexpected heart attack. He might not make a full recovery.”

“Not a full recovery?”

“He had been unconscious for 30 minutes before our sensor picked up on his body. Because of that, he was getting sicker and sicker before he received help. But we will try our best. And what is your relation to him?”

“He’s my Dad,” I say weakly.

“We will keep you updated, Miss Roberts,” the doctor who I now see has a name tag saying Dr. Roth says. He briskly walks out of the room.

I collapse into a chair next to Papa’s bed and squeeze his hand tightly. “Please be alright,” I whisper. “Please.”

When I wake up the next morning I’m blinded by the bright white lights of the hospital. At first I’m confused and expect to see my pale blue wallpaper, but then I realize where I actually am. I quickly open my eyes and see Papa on the bed.

“Jules,” I hear him whisper.

“Yes???” I say and jump up out of my seat.

“If I…”

“Don’t say it, Papa, don’t.”

“Well, keep running the shop for me. The month’s rent for the house is 400 shonis. You must have that.” Then he breaks into a hacking cough and I rush to get him a glass of water, tears pouring down my face. I try to hand it to him but he’s too weak to accept it. I anxiously pour it into his mouth.

“Papa…” Than he squeezes my hand. But soon, I no longer feel the pressure of his hand. Tears slosh down my face like big, heavy raindrops as a beeping sound fills the room.

A white medical android rolls into the room. It says, “Mr. Adam Roberts of Speshona, Newistonia has, as of 10:32 a.m., died. I will now take his body to the research labs.”

I stand there, helplessly, as the android takes away Papa, my papa, to some foreign research lab. I rush to the bathroom, sobbing,

Chapter 5: Hank’s Message

An hour later, all cried out, I sit in the clean white bathroom stall and think about how alone I really am now. No parents, or even annoying little siblings. I start sobbing again, but pull myself together.

“What should I do?” I mutter. I take a deep breath and take out my edon from my back pocket. In a shaky voice, I say, “Ida, locate my hover.” My voice breaks and tears start flowing again. I wipe them away and follow Ida’s directions to Lot 12, Row 49. I climb into the hover and rise into the air. The wind hits my wet face, making it red and raw. I try to ignore it and think, Just wait until you get home, Julia.

Just then, Ida says, “Incoming sid-video from Hank Brennan.” This lifts my hopes a little bit. I’ve had a crush on Hank since elementary school. Now he’s moved to Acconio, the capital, to work at the palace. But I still get to sometimes talk to him, even if it’s not often. His face appears on the screen and I quickly wipe my tears away.

“Hey Jules,” he says.

“Hey,” I reply.

“Listen, I don’t have much time to talk, but I just wanted to tell you something.” I nod. “So, the other day I heard some royal advisors talking about you in the conference room. They said that ‘Julia should be notified soon, it’s getting late. She needs to be here, now.’ So I just wanted to let you know that you should come here, to the palace, ASAP.” Then the screen goes blank. Hank has hung up.

Great, I think. Just what I need, a 200 kilometer trip to the capital. Although, it does seem like I should be there, but…

I frown and pull into the parking space outside of the townhouse I now live in, alone. I slam the door of the hover and run to the family room, where I fall down onto the couch, hug my knees together and start to cry, my back shaking with sobs.

Chapter 6: Getting Ready

I walk to the small chest where we keep the blankets and pull out an old, ragged brown one. It was Papa’s favorite. Wrapping it around me, I walk back to the couch and curl up in a ball, inhaling his scent of the mint gum he’s always chewing mixed with a tinge of Bonnie’s spaghetti sauce, and I am filled with nostalgia for my pop. What do I do, what do I do? I think, rocking back and forth. Well, I’ll pack for Acconio.

I smile shakily, grateful for something to do. I slowly walk to the room I’ve had my whole life, and go to the brown dresser in the corner. I pull out ten t-shirts, one (shudder) skirt, and eight pairs of pants. I go to my closet and take out my blue suitcase. I throw the clothes, as well as sneakers, sandals, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and five big shirts for pajamas into it. I grab an orange waterproof sleeping bag and a small travel pillow and throw that in there too. Then I get the brown blanket from the living room. Satisfied, I zip up the suitcase and call for Annie. “I’m going on a trip,” I tell her. “And I’m bringing you with me.”

20 minutes later, I have put Annie in the seat next to me in the hover, thrown my suitcase in the trunk and given Ida the directions to Acconio palace. I pull into the air and have Annie turn on music. Suddenly I wonder how long it will take to get there. I ask Ida this who replies, “17 hours.”

Not too bad, I think. If I spread that over the course of two days, I could get there by Tuesday. Then I remember when Papa and I used to go on road trips to the ruins of the American cities each year for years. Tears well up in my eyes, sloshing onto the leather seat in big heavy drops. I try not to think about how I’m going somewhere far away solely based on something someone overheard but about Ally Clarkson’s new song, “Rainbows!!” I laugh, and am slightly cheered up.

Later in the day, I’m bored out of my mind. Even though auto-drive has caused many hover crashes, I still set the hover to it. As the wheel turns, I turn on Ida and begin playing Candy Crush. I twirl the candies together and my thoughts begin to drift. To Mama, Papa… I begin to wonder about my mother’s death. When she died, I was too little to really understand. But now I wonder, why didn’t they give us further information. Mental illness??? Sorry, hospital, but that’s not much to go on. But maybe Pop got more information and just didn’t tell me. Poor, fragile nine-year-old me. Now I think I know what happened. Had Papa been hiding something from me? As I pull into a motel that looks like it’s from 2050, I begin to feel upset. My father’s perfect untarnished memory is now being ruined. I settle into a restless sleep in my room with a twin bed that barely fits into the room.

Chapter 7: The Storm

I wake up at around six the next morning, used to getting up to go to the shop. I grab my suitcase and walk out of the room. Instead of the transporter usually installed at hotels, there’s just an ugly, hot pink, tiny elevator. Well, this looks like it’s the best I’m gonna get, I think, looking down the empty hallway.

I shove myself in, barely fitting with my suitcase and press LOBBY. When I get there, I see the concierge asleep at the front desk. I slip a 20 shonis bill onto the desk and hurry out. I clamber into the hover and rise into the air. I see some storm clouds ahead and steer away, thinking once again about Mom. Hadn’t I seen the sid-link from the hospital saying Ma was dead? I think. But maybe the hospital was lying to Papa as well. I sigh. Maybe she really did just die of mental illness.

An hour later, I see a storm about  20 feet away. I press the WEATHER PROTECTION button on the front panel as Ida says, “Incoming sid-video from Hank Brennan.” Hank’s face pops up.

“I know why they want you here!” he says in an urgent whisper. I gasp, but then the screen is filled with static. I look out the window and curse when I see that we’ve hit the storm.

“Annie, can you try and fix the receptor?” Although Annie is an old android, she’s still equipped with weather protection. Or so I thought….

As Annie climbs up the side of the hover, a particularly ferocious wind hits it. The water gets in her head cables and I gasp as Annie’s dark brown eyes turn black. She falls down the side of the hover. “No!” I cry out as Annie tumbles down into the raging storm. I yank out the brown blanket and collapse under it, mourning dear old Annie. I peer out of the sides of the blanket and begin to steer. Annie….

Chapter 8: Newsfeed, Water, Getting There

Annie. How could she be gone? She’s always been there. The comforting, ever-present friend. She had been Papa’s android ever since he fixed her up when he was a little boy. Even though Papa’s gone, I thought that I’d always have Annie. She was the only connection I had with Papa left. Now….. I cry and wrap the blanket around me. About half an hour later I begin to wonder why they want me at the palace. Wrapped up in grief, I hadn’t had time to really think about that until now. I try to send a sid-video to Hank, but then realize that the internet receptor is now permanently damaged. I could fix it, if only I had the tools. I never had the best forward thinking abilities. Well, I guess I’ll just have to make do with what I have. Which is… nothing.

An hour later, I turn on newsfeed, thinking about the war going on. It seems like ages ago that I was driving to work and my life changed forever. “Now we are deep into war,” Tristan Cooper says. “It is spreading, and the palace guards have yet to do anything about it.”

I think about poor Hank, who is a palace guard. Newistonians are very strong-willed, so he and his co-workers must be getting tons of angry letters this very moment. I tune back in to hear Tristan say, “And the battles are getting closer and closer to our capital each day. In fact, channel nine has exclusive information on the recent battle in our own Speshona.” I gasp and think about all my friends that might have been harmed. As Tristan goes over the list of casualties, I cling to my seat and am relieved when I don’t see Big Joe, who has been like a grandfather to me, or any of my other childhood friends.

When the show ends, I realize that although I changed into a new t-shirt at the hotel, it’s sticking to my chest. I feel like a little kid again as I say “Ewww,” and pull over the hover. I go to the back of the hover and put up the wash partition. I undress and press the WATER button. “Aah,” I say as the warm water pours into my dirty hair. I’m so glad that I installed the shower update two years ago. At the time, I found it unnecessary, but now, I’m so grateful that I did. Thank goodness for dear old Papa, who said, “You never know when you’ll need a shower.” I laugh at the memory. 20 minutes later I’ve wasted hot water and gotten back into the driver’s seat. Then, towering in the distance I see the tall spikes of the Acconio palace.

Chapter 9: Arrival at the Palace

When I reach the palace gates, a guard brusquely says, “Identification.”

“Julia Roberts.” I pull out my identification tag, which the guard harshly scans. I remember going with Papa when I turned ten to get registered and be given an I.D tag. By the age of 11, all Newistonians are required to be registered with an I.D tag.

I sigh as the guard opens the gate and I drive through. Unsure of where to park, I pull the hover down on the side of the parking lot and climb out. I take Ida and shove her into my pocket. Sadly, there’s no Annie any more, so I just take my suitcase and walk to the front door. I spot a familiar face and wave at Hank, who smiles and opens the door. Looking left and right, he deserts his post and ushers me inside.

“I’m glad you came,” Hank says. “Where’s your dad? And… where’s Annie?” Right. He doesn’t know. This is going to be hard. I shakily take a deep breath and begin to tell him everything. About Papa’s death, and the storm. In a way, saying it makes me feel better, but it also brings back memories I’ve been trying hard to forget. Hank looks at me, his bright green eyes filled with sympathy.
“I’m so sorry, Jules,” he says, his voice barely more than a whisper. I smile weakly. Just then, his edon, which is clipped to his belt, buzzes.

Startled, I say, “Who’s that?”

He plasters a grin onto his face and says, “My boss, Royal Adviser Evan Patterson. He says to escort Ms. Roberts to her chambers.”

“How does he know I’m here?” I ask, clueless.

He points to the walls and I see that security cameras are on almost every single wall. “Well then, ‘Ms Roberts’ let me bring you to your chambers.”

I laugh, and hold out my hand regally. “Why certainly, Monsieur Brennan.”

He takes my hand and brings me down a long, carpeted (I would say hallway, but that seems too drab, sooo) corridor. He stops at a large, wooden double door. He pushes it open to reveal the most lavish room I’ve ever seen. Shocked, I stare at the queen size bed, large wardrobe and plush white carpet. I walk in, stunned, and plop myself onto the teal comforter. I’m ready to fall asleep, when Hank pulls me up and says, ”You havent even see the bathroom yet.”

“I have my own bathroom?!” I squeal like a kindergartener. Hank laughs at me, and I playfully punch him on the arm. “In my defense, I’ve never had my own bathroom before,” I say. He just keeps laughing, and leads me to the bathroom. A grin breaks across my face. There’s a separate bathtub! This bathroom is as big as my room back home in Speshona. I twirl around, taking in the shower with a thousand different settings on the shower head, the double sink…. I smile and walk back to the main room, noticing a door I hadn’t seen before. I push it open and see a humongous walk in closet, filled with ugly frilly dresses, but also, and I’m shocked to see this, a few plain cargo pants and about ten t-shirts. I happily pull them out. I only packed a few t-shirts, and have been running low on clothes.

Then I hear a buzz behind me. I turn around and hear Hank mumble something into his edon. I turn around and he says, “They want you in the conference room.”

Chapter 10: New Job, New Life

20 minutes later, I’m seated in at a long table with about 15 stern-faced men. They introduce themselves as royal advisers. The one name that I remember is Evan Patterson, Hank’s boss. “Julia,“ he says seriously.

“Hey,” I reply, unsure of how to address a royal adviser.

“We have some very serious matters to attend to….” It seems like he’s about to say something, but refrains. “Well, let’s just say that Zarfina never really was the true queen of Newistonia.”

My eyes widen. I mean, I knew she was never the best queen, but taking over someone’s throne… well that’s just pure evil.

“We unearthed some shocking information that some extremely upset palace doctors gave. We also found some files in her private quarters,” he continues. “We found out not only that she was never really the true queen, but also something more about her past. She was a poor orphan girl who Queen Amanda and King Andrew adopted. They took her in as their own,and raised her along with their daughter Maria.”
“Wait, so Zarfina was adopted?!”

Patterson nods angrily and I can tell he wants to get back to the story.  

“As time passed, most people grew to forget that Zarfina wasn’t their true child. When Amanda and Andrew died, the crown passed to their first-born, Maria. Zarfina became extremely angry at Maria because in her opinion the crown should have been passed to her.”

“Why? Maria was their first-born.”

“Zarfina was a mere month older than Maria, but the royal advisors of that time decided that the royal bloodline must prevail. As you may know, after just five months into her reign as queen, Maria mysteriously died. People have long suspected that Zarfina killed her, but there was never any proof. You probably don’t know that Andrew and Amanda did have another girl, Camilla.”

I gasp. “Like my mom Camilla?” He nods solemnly. “How do I know that you’re not lying? Besides, if that was true, everyone would know about this. Zarfina wouldn’t have become queen.” I say frantically, biting my nails.

Patterson smooths down his bright red and gold robes and sighs, “Alas, there is more to tell.”

I wrap my arms tightly around myself, worried about what Patterson is going to say. I take a deep breath as he continues with his story.

“Zarfina, that clever mastermind, blackmailed the palace doctors into inventing the most powerful brainwashing device that ever existed. She then used it on all of the citizens through parties and meetings. She made everyone believe that she was her parents’ only child, and that Camilla didn’t exist at all. Camilla herself is brainwashed. She now believes that she was the late queen Maria’s hand maiden. Now that Maria is dead, Camilla moves to Speshona and begins a new life.”  Shocked, I sit in the comfortable brown leather chair and begin biting my nails.

I think I know what’s coming.

“15 years later, she called Camilla back into the city. Camilla, having no idea about her true past, thinks that she is being called by the queen for some important business. She unknowingly lies to her family and travels to Acconio. Zarfina then –– ” he stops and says quietly, “I think you know what happens next.” I nod and tears begin to leak out of my eyes. All this time, my mother was the true queen. Which means… Patterson nods.

“You are the true queen of Newistonia.”

~ End of Part 1~

Chapter 1

On a nice and sunny day, Stewart, the hero of the book, went to his uncle’s drum store called “Get Your Percussion Here!” So he went in, said hi to his uncle, then saw a drum he really liked. He looked at it every day.  And then finally, it was ten days until his birthday. Ten days later, he came back to the shop.

He asked his uncle, “Can I get a present here for my tenth birthday?”

His uncle said, “Sure, why not?” Then he went with his uncle to the drum he looked at every day. That drum didn’t only have the bass drum and the snare drum and the high-hat, and the low drum and the high drum, it also had the medium drum, cymbal one, two, and three, and the cowbell, and the main cymbal. He went to test the main cymbal. Once he hit it every thing that he saw stopped. Time stopped. Everyone around him stopped, even his uncle. The drums stopped. Something weird happened to his mind. It started to hurt. And he saw a picture.

Then he thought, maybe it could be the future.

He was like, “Why is everything frozen? Wait a second. Everything’s frozen! That’s awesome!”

Then he went outside his shop. Since the boy’s favorite food was candy, he went to Dylan’s Candy Bar and he looked at his watch to see what time it was. All he saw was 12:57 p.m. The seconds were 53 and they didn’t move one inch. Then he took some of his favorite candy bars, finished them, and threw them in the garbage. He went back to his uncle’s shop, went in and said these words: “Abra cadabra. I demand the world to unfreeze!” Then he looked at his watch. It was still 12:57 p.m. and fifty three seconds. Then he got a little bored. So then he wanted to go play the drums. After a while, he hit the main cymbal and then everything as he knew it started to go as if nothing had stopped.

His watch started to go, his uncle said, “Yeah sure,” and he didn’t know about Stewart stealing the candy bars.

Then Stewart said, “Wow!” with excitement. “Uncle,” said Stewart. “Can you please help me carry the drumset home?”

His uncle said, “Yeah sure, why not?” So they moved the drum to his house, said hi to his mom and dad, read a book, and went to bed.

The next morning he went to school. He had the worst day of his life. All his friends weren’t there and there was nothing to do, just him and all the girls in his class. He wondered where all of his friends went. When he came back home he rang the cymbal again. Everything as he knew it stopped. Time stopped. His parents stopped. And when he threw a book it didn’t go down, it just stayed in mid air. He went to his friend’s house and looked to see if they were home. Guess what he saw? He saw all his friends with chicken pox watching a movie, eating popcorn at Neymar’s house. That makes him feel he was just left out and they were not friends with him anymore.

He went back home. On the way, he went to the supermarket and took a snack or two. Then at home, he took his book, moved it back where it was supposed to be, and then rang the cymbal again. He thought, Should I keep this cymbal a secret, should I give to anyone, or should I just throw it away? You know what, I’ll just throw it away. And then he threw it out the window into the trash, read a book for a minute and went to bed.

CHAPTER 2

The next morning the first thing he did was look at his drumset outside. Then he was like, What the heck? Where is it? It was in the garbage. Where could it have gone? Then he looked at his room and right in front of him was his drumset.

Stewart said, “What in the world? How is my drumset still here? Didn’t I throw it out last night? This is so confusing. I wonder what happens when I hit them bottom of the main cymbal. I’m gonna do it now.”

Then Stewart hit the bottom of the main cymbal. A giant sized computer came out of the bass drum on the right side.

It said, “Hello Stewart, when would you like to go today?”

Then Stewart said, “I think you mean ‘where’ not ‘when.’ But anyway, how can you talk, Computer?”

The computer answered, “Oh, you programmed me ten years in the future.”

“Future? How do you know all this?” Stewart said.

The computer answered, “Because you made me. Ten years from now.”

“B-b-b-but how did you come from the future? This is just a normal drum set. I think…”

“But Stewart, it’s not. You made this drum set ten years in the future and then you came back here fifteen years ago and put it in your uncle’s drum shop.”

“Computer,” Stewart said in a confident voice, “why did I program you to come here?”

“Because five years from now there will be an alien invasion, and it’s going to destroy all of humanity and all of the world. You’re our only hope.”

“M-m-me? Why me?”

“Five years from now you’re going to survive the invasion, and in the future three years from now you are going to be super smart, but only if I tell you this. And Stewart, the next two years after those three years, you build something that can take you to space. You go there and look for aliens, ‘cause then they will still just be planning to take over Earth. You’re going to need to go to an alien, try to be friends with him and not say anything mean, and ask if you can take one of his hairs on his body. That will be some alien DNA. Go back home and make a machine that can make a forcefield around the earth to stop the aliens and in the next couple of months they can’t invade our planet and we can live our lives in peace. But don’t forget to test it in a little size on your alien friend.”

“But I’m not going to be smart enough to do that!”

“Remember what I said. Study hard for the next three years in school. Raise your hand as much as you want in class, and after school go home and do your homework and research on any device how to be smart. For the next three years. And also if you want to stop time with this drum set, just tap the main symbol and you can study for the next five hours of the day. And don’t forget, if you want to speed up time, which I don’t recommend to do, play the snare drum.”

“Okay, thanks, Computer.”

Now I will go and destroy the aliens that are trying to invade Earth! In the next book called The Drum Set: Alien Invasion!

“Your home planet, Planet X, was a very peaceful planet until it was invaded by aliens. You were just a baby and you were separated from your birth parents. You cautiously wandered into the town hall. You looked around and slowly started to walk forward, except after two steps you heard a crunch under your feet and you looked down. You saw that you stepped on the broken transporter tile, well, at least you thought it was broken. Slowly, you were enveloped in golden light, and then darkness. Suddenly, you appeared in the middle of a foster home on Earth. That’s when we found you. Being fellow aliens from Planet Y, we immediately understood your predicament and took you in. We brought you home and taught you how to improvise and how to survive. We taught you those things because when you are a survivor of a supposedly destroyed planet, and all of your family, relatives, and friends are dead, you have a target on your back. A big red one. Many monsters out there, or aliens, as you call them, would be rewarded by the Kraken, the one who destroyed your planet and many others, like ours. So we started to train you. We gave you lifelike illusions to teach you how to think on your feet. Then, in the middle of a practice session, when you were a little over thirteen years old, our little TV switched on and reported supernatural behavior and aliens being sighted on Earth. We were worried that they had come to get you, so we went outside to prepare. But we realized that preparing would do nothing when we saw what lurked in the shadows. And there he was. The Kraken. Waiting for us so he could kill us the second we stepped outside. As he crushed our puny little bodies, we shouted out to you, ‘Run, Warren! You don’t deserve the same fate as us!’ Remember, there can always be peace, you just need to find it. And remember Warren, wear your name proud, just as a true Peace would. To remind your enemies that they can never win, tell them your name, Warren Peace.”

Warren wanted revenge. His anger at the Kraken awakened his power to create things with his mind. He was thinking about his parents and what they said when he heard a voice in his head.

“Don’t worry Warren! We will always be in your head.”

Warren recognized that voice. It was the voice of his mother. Then Warren thought, “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

Then he heard his father’s voice respond, “You know we can hear you, son.”

“Sorry, but sometimes you can be a bit annoying.”

“Well, I guess every parent has their quirk. Well, back to the point. We believe in you. Now that you’ve discovered your newly-awakened powers, you should be able to build The Destroyer. But, it will take a year of work even with your powers. Once you’re done, you will have to shrink it to the size of a cup so you can put it in your pockets. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to move it because it will be the size of this whole house.”

“Ok, bye.”

The vision of them in his head flashed out of view. Warren mumbled to himself, “Ok, now I need to get to work.”

Two months later…

“Finally, I have all the equipment to build it,” he said as he’s walking into his house with the last of his supplies. Then he walked face first into a note that he wrote two months ago.

Remember, you don’t have to get supplies, you can just use your powers.

Then he remembered right after his vision, he had thought, “Wow, I need to take a nap.” But then he remembered that he always forgets things after naps. Therefore, he wrote a note so that he wouldn’t forget about his powers. But then when he woke up, he forgot all about the note. He should have put it in a better spot. And then a phrase that he heard on T.V. flashed through his mind: “Shoulda woulda coulda.” He slapped himself in the face and imagined that there were two hundred million dollars on his credit card. All the money that he just wasted back in an instant. He started feeling woozy and his knees gave way. He face-planted onto the cold wooden floor. It happened in a split second, but for him, it felt like it took an hour. Everything went black.

He woke up to the feeling of a cold washcloth on his head. He saw a kid about his age. He had the picture of Planet X and it’s many stars on his shirt (even though he had been a baby, he could still remember every single moment of terror that he went through on that day). He suddenly jumped up.

He screamed, “Who are you?”

The boy said, “How about a ‘thank you’? I just saved you from The Kraken.”

“Ok, thank you. I guess I was a little rude there. But seriously, who are you?”

“My name is Gagaroth. And I’m also from Planet X. It was very unfortunate what happened there. Now may I know your name?”

“My name is Warren. But how did you find me? And how did you even know that I’m here?”

“Well, our kind has a very special tracking system. All we have to do is envision the type of person, or even better, if that person has a name, and boom! We know the location of that person. You see, I’m looking for other survivors, and just happened to find you. I suppose you’re a little different from the rest of us. I walked in just as you conjured up the money out of thin air, and then you fainted. You realize there has only been one other that possessed the power that you behold.”

“So, what happened? Why did I black out?”

“You know, you need to be more careful. you should start with smaller things, if you use your power too much, then you start to get really sick. And it may cause death. But, with proper training, and it’s not that I’m recommending any specific trainers,” he gestured to himself.

Warren rolled his eyes.

“You can use more of your powers at any time without any consequences. I can help you with your problem if you help me with mine. Unfortunately, I haven’t found out a way to live life on Earth. You see, I just got here. Sometimes teleporting is a bit tricky, I suppose. Well, back to the point, I can’t seem to make a living, and since I don’t have your powers I can’t just make the money. Finding food, water, and housing has been a bit tricky. So the deal I’m offering you is for me to help you learn how to control your powers if I can live in your guest room. And you can spare a little food.”

“Ok. Seems like a good deal to me. But first, can I have some aspirin? I still have a bit of a headache.”

“Sure,” he pulled a bottle of Aspirin out of his supposedly empty pocket and held it out. “Here you go.”

Warren stared in wonder. “How did you do that? I thought you said you didn’t have the power to create?”

“Well, I don’t. But as my parents put me into the teleporter, they gave me this pair of pants. It allows me to pull small items, that would fit into a pocket, out of them. Conveniently everything except for money. Sense the sarcasm? Huh? Huh?”

“Calm down, man. I’ll get you some money. Except first you need to teach me how to do that without half killing myself.”

“Sure I’ll teach you. But I’m pretty sure you have 200 million leftover dollar bills from that incident from before. Doncha?” He held out his hand.

Warren looked around. He realized what Gagaroth was talking about. He saw piles of money everywhere. And when he said everywhere, he meant he couldn’t see the shining floor anymore. “Take what you want.”

“Really?” he responded into his pockets.

“Not a wise move, trust me.”

“Ok, b-”

“Nope, can’t take it back anymore,” he said as he rushed around the room, piling endless amounts of money into his pockets. Clearly, the effect was double sided, if you can pull anything out, then why not put anything in?

“Okay, now can you teach me how to use my powers?”

“Sure, let’s start next morning, 6 a.m. .”

“Next morning?” Warren responded, annoyed for having to wait.

“Yes, next morning. Well, whatever and good night.”

He went downstairs to the guest room. Once he was gone, Warren felt a chill go up his spine. His head spun around and he saw what looked like a mix between a shark, octopus, hyena, panther, black mamba and cyborg. Suddenly, he heard a loud booming voice that echoed through his head. It said in a metallic voice, “I will do to you what I did to your planet, and your so-called puny ‘parents.’”

Warren said, “What the—”

The one thing he could see was a giant fist coming at him, and the next thing, darkness. When he woke up, the first thing that he did was rub the grogginess out of his eyes. It was a little blurry, but he could still make out that he was in a dark room with a giant figure looming over him. He heard the same voice that he heard before he was knocked unconscious.

“Good, you’re awake. You see, the reason that I brought you here is because you have something that I need. And if you don’t give it to me willingly, I’ll use force.”

He managed to mumble, “What do you want?”

The monstrous figure chuckled, “Huh. It’s not one thing that I want, it’s many things. The first thing that I’ll need from you is your employment.  And then I’ll tell you more about my plans.”

“What if I refuse?”

“Funny you should ask that. For your answer, why don’t you just look across from you.”

Warren looked to his right, he saw nothing. Then he looked to his left and he saw Gagaroth. He had wide eyes and a frantic expression on his face. There was one problem. He had a gag and his arms and legs were chained to a hospital bed. Just as he saw the chained up legs and arms, he realized that he couldn’t move any of his limbs either. When he looked down, all he saw were ropes and chains and a few red splotches here and there that he assumed were blood. The Kraken roared in rage and shouted, “Well, make up your mind! Are you going to work for me or not?”

The Kraken roared in rage and shouted, “Well, make up your mind! Are you going to work for me or not?”

“And if I don’t work for you?”

“I thought you would have guessed that by now, but I guess you’re even dumber than you look. But, I guess you do have the right to know. You see, if you refuse my offer, then I’ll torture your friend here. And don’t try to use your powers to stop me. I have an electromagnetic field that has momentarily made you helpless.”

Warren stared at him with his mouth hung so wide it looked as though he could swallow the Internet. He finally replied, “Ok. I’ll work for you. What is my first task, ‘Master’?”

“Hey. I’m not deaf. I can hear the sarcasm clearly. Keep it up, if you want your friend to die in front of your eyes.” He stood up and walked away, knowing that he had clearly won.

Now Warren wondered what to do. He was restrained and he couldn’t use his powers. Suddenly he heard, “Warren!”

He looked to his left and he saw that somehow Gagaroth must have gotten the gag off because it was now laying on the floor beside him. Warren said, “What happened? All I remember was his fist and then I was out.”

“Well, once he knocked you out, he came for me downstairs. He was so loud that I could hear your conversation all the way downstairs. But thankfully since I got that head start, I built myself a clone. And all offense to him, he’s stupid. He went after the clone even though it doesn’t look remotely like me.”

Warren suddenly felt embarrassed that he hadn’t realized that it was a clone. Gagaroth continued, “Then he walked into the room just as I put the microphone inside the clones mouth. And then he took the clone and I was just left by myself in the house.”

“So you’re really safe? You’re back at home? Where am I? Can you come get me? How are you able to make the clone so fast? Is this really all true?” He blurted out.

“Whoa there, one question at a time. So for the first question, if that was a clone, of course, I’m safe and at home. Also, you are currently a mile beneath your house. And, or course this is true. Also, I’m right behind you.”

“What! Free me!”

“Hold on, hold on, I’m not finished. I’m not literally behind you, but the little drone carrying an Ipad on Facetime is right behind you, so turn around and say ‘Hi!’”

Warren said, “I understand that you have a clone in here, but the drone…isn’t that a little much?”

“Well you see, I kept the drone in my pocket, well, my clone’s pocket, I mean. So when I noticed that we were clear I just sent it out so you could actually see what happened up here.”

“Well I’ll do that but first you kinda, you know, need to free me from my chains. How bout it, huh?”

“Sure.”

Suddenly the clone of Gagaroth broke free of his chains, took out an Adamant Knife and slashed the chains away from Warren’s body.

“There. Good now?”

“Yes,” Warren said as he hopped off the bed and spun around. He had a picture of what the drone would look like in his mind, but he never expected it would look like a cupcake with frosting.

Gagaroth noticed Warren’s confused look and said, “Well I didn’t really have much time, I only had a few times to pull it out of my pocket. You see sometimes I don’t control what the thing looks like, all I control is what it is.”

“Wow.” That was all he could say. His home looked like a construction crew teamed up with a bombing squad and his house was the target. The furniture was ripped to shreds, and all of his food was on the floor with bites bit into it. There were claw marks on the floor. Warren thought he might be able to fix things, but he would need some serious coaching from Gagaroth first. He wouldn’t want to faint again.

Gagaroth looked at Warren and said in a disappointed voice, “Yeah, I know, it’s bad. But it could be worse, at least we didn’t die.”

“Well, I guess you’re right, it could’ve been much worse. Wait a second! Did he steal the project that I was working on?”

“Yeah, why would you ask?”

“I need an advil,” he mumbled to himself. “Well, you see, that project I was working on? It was a thing that might be able to save our planet and bring it back to the way it used to be. And it would have been able to kill the Kraken.”

Gagaroth screamed, “DUCK!”

“Why is there a duck in my house? And if there is, why are you screaming at the top of your lungs?”

“No! I mean DUCK!”

“Seriously, what are you-” Warren suddenly caught his drift. He ducked his head a second before a boulder the size of his head slammed into the wall behind him. If that boulder hit him, he would be dead by now. It would’ve cracked his skull right open.

He muttered “thanks” to Gagaroth. Then he turned to his attacker. He expected to see the Kraken, but instead he saw a cute little butterfly…that was arming a catapult.

On the catapult, there was a sign that said: Oh you like my new little plaything?

Seriously, I hope you enjoy it.

Sincerely, THE KRAKEN.

Warren thought “How is he controlling that butterfly?” As soon as he thought that in his head, the old sign vanished and a new sign appeared.

This one said: So, you’re wondering how I controlled the little butterfly’s mind?

Well, here’s the simple answer. I got pro skillz yo.

Suddenly an image popped up in Warren’s mind. It was the Kraken stomping on this planet and saying “If you don’t become my servant, I will do to this planet what I did to yours.” Suddenly, someone said, “Drumroll, please! The mighty man himself: THE KRA-”

“Edward!” The Kraken roared. “It’s a little late for that.”

Warren said to the vision of the Kraken in his mind, “I’ll leave you two to discuss this. I’ll just go. So yeah, bye!”

He snapped his eyes open only to find another boulder flying at his face. He thought “It was a distraction!” but he didn’t have time to worry about the Kraken’s cleverness. He dodged out of the way and lunged for the catapult. He grabbed the butterfly in his hands, and he was sad to admit, he squashed it. He wiped away the guts and blood on Gagaroth’s clone’s shirt and then walked back to the catapult. He imagined he was holding a sledgehammer and then smashed it to bits.

Suddenly he heard Gagaroth’s voice saying, “Wow. You just imagined a giant sledgehammer the size of your body, and you didn’t even break a sweat. Seriously man, good job.”

Warren realized that for the first time, “Wow, that’s right!” Just as he finished celebrating, he took a step forward and fell on his face. Then everything was black.

When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. I did not recognize my surroundings, but I did recognize the face that was hovering a few inches from mine. It was the face of Gagaroth, my best friend, and my only friend. He spoke, “Yeah, as you were saying, you didn’t faint at all that time.”

“Quit it with the sarcasm, okay? But really, what happened? I don’t really remember much, you know with the whole being unconscious thing.”

“So once you fainted, I walked towards you, and me and my clone brought you up to the house. Once we got there, we realized we couldn’t leave you there because the house was a wreck. So instead, we brought you to the local hospital.”

“What? How could you? We need to be off the grid! It’s enough that we’re running from monsters, but we can’t have the police knowing who we are! I mean, come on man! We’re probably going to cause some destruction if we destroy the Kraken. And we can’t be arrested after all of that. That would ruin everything.”

“You mean WHEN we defeat the Kraken. When. Have faith my brother, we can do this. We just have to bide our time. Also, you need to rest, you hit your head pretty hard when you collapsed. It was a big bump, and it needs time to heal.”

Warren lifted up his arms and felt his forehead. Instead of feeling his usually smooth skin, he felt a lump the size a tennis ball and instantly starting to panic. But then he remembered about his powers and summoned a Med Kit out of thin air. But this wasn’t just any normal first aid kit. I was the special first aid kit from his planet. He faintly remembered what it looked like so he summoned it from his memory. When he opened it, memories rushed back to him. Learning how to ride a bike, when his father patched up his knee when he scraped it on the sidewalk. And how his mother gave him some medicine when he got sick. No, he couldn’t worry about them now. He had work to do to avenge his parents.

He went back to the present, took out some Grocklack, and applied some to his forehead. In moments, the throbbing stopped and the bump decreased to the size of a little teeny pebble.

“Wow,” Gagaroth said. “Kinda forgot you could do that. But that reminds me. I haven’t fulfilled my promise yet. I have to show you how to use your powers with all your possible energy, without collapsing from the exhaustion of it. Because it would kinda suck if you defeated the Kraken, and then fell off the George Washington Bridge and into the water. You know what I mean? So first thing tomorrow morning, 10 a.m. , you’re going to the training room so I can get you back on your feet and teach you how to use your powers with maximum power.”

“Wow, that was a mouthful. But okay, I guess so. Let’s find a table so I can summon us some food for lunch. I assume it’s time for lunch, right?”

“Actually, it’s time for brunch, so even better. I saw some tables on my way here, let’s go over there.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

They walked over to the seating area and while the employees weren’t looking, Warren summoned some club sandwiches and some Coke. They ate in silence. Once they finished their meal, they went their separate ways to do some daily activities and just have some fun. You know, if you’re going to live on Earth as a teen, you should have some fun doing it. They said goodbye and the first very, very fun activity Warren was going to do was to clean up his house. When he walked in, he officially decided the world was against him, so he blew up the rest of the house with explosives. It was beyond repair. All the furniture was shredded, there were dirt marks and claw marks every few feet. So instead, he just decided to get a new house. He decided the perfect one for him and Gagaroth was a 37 room mansion on a cliff in Florida overlooking the ocean. So he summoned up some money (this time only a little at a time) and bought the house. After he furnished it, he summoned some blank pieces of paper and some pens, and started to draw up a battle plan.

The first step was to map out the Kraken’s hideout so that they didn’t get lost, because that would kind of suck. Once he mapped out the lair, he started thinking of ways to take down the Kraken. So far, the best one was to torture him for ten years and then slaughter him. I know that might sound gross, but trust me, he deserved it. But then he had to figure out how he was going to get the Kraken in a defenseless position. So far, his best idea was this: Gagroth would make some clones of himself and Warren, and then while they were distracted, Warren would slowly be building up weapons and ammunition. And explosives. Finally, once they realized the clones were, well, clones, they would come in and blow the whole thing up, leaving the Kraken and his crew exposed. While they stood there in shock (assuming that the explosion didn’t kill them) Warren and Gagaroth would come in for the kill with the new and improved DESTROYER 2.0.

It was going to be like the rocket slash missile he built before, except Gagaroth would build a smart computer inside of it, and add arms and legs. The missile would launch itself at the Kraken, hopefully killing him, or at least weakening him. If he wasn’t dead by then, a metal shell from the robots midsection would rise and the robot would become a killing machine with two energy chainsaws, the sacred sword, and 37 machine guns and bazookas.

So now that that was over, he summoned himself some early dinner and went to sleep. Later that morning, both Warren and Gagaroth went inside of the local gym. They had talked to the manager, and I’m not saying they bribed the manager to let them have the whole gym to themselves for the day, but they basically bribed the manager. Once they were all ready and warmed up, Gagaroth said, “The first step: always be calm and patient no matter what. Second: always have your goal in mind, and never change want you want to happen halfway through. There will be consequences. Third: never, EVER use your powers for evil. Only for good. Fourth, you have to have complete concentration. Fifth, when you become super famous, always remember how ‘Uncle Gagaroth’ helped you all that time. Ok?”

“Har, har, so funny. And when you said there will be consequences, what did you mean by that?”

“Well, first of all, have you ever wondered how the Kraken became so powerful?”

“Well actually, I never really thought of it. How did he become so powerful?”

“I’m going to tell you a story. It’s a long one but I think that you have the time to hear it. Ok, it all started when the Kraken was born. He was born on a planet like ours except it was all different. You may have heard of it, the legendary planet A. It was like ours in the sense that everyone was trying to make peace, except that it was also different in the sense that they expected so highly of everyone that when the Kraken, aka ‘Johnny’, was playing around with his friends and having some fun, he accidently cracked the portal and it sent a beacon out into space. It attracted all the monsters in that galaxy to the planet, they banished him to the planet of Askard.

At the planet of Askard, he was mutated, turned into a monster. He was stranded there until he came. He taught the Kraken how to have a thirst for revenge, and taught him how to live the life of a criminal. That was when he started his journey. Your planet was the 13th planet that he conquered. If you can’t stop him, then Earth will be the 15th.”

“That just means that we have to take him out soon,” Warren said.

“Agreed.”

To Be Continued.

It all started with my parents’ umpteenth wedding. Yup. My parents have been divorced more times than I can count. They do all of the divorce papers and everything, and then, about two weeks later, they both feel lonely and get back together again.

At first, I got sad when they get divorced. But now it’s just normal. Yesterday, they got divorced. I happened to have my best friend over, Jonny. So when he heard them saying they were getting a divorce, he looked at me with that I’m-so-sorry face. But I said I didn’t care and it was totally fine.  

Back to the wedding. I think this is their 100th wedding, so they made a big deal about it and invited everybody they knew. My mom started to get really anxious, as if she had never been married before, and started ordering me around.

We live in the suburbs of Chicago. I think it’s really boring, but my parents love it. My name is Jones. My mom, Josephine, got divorced with my father for the first time when she went into labor with me. I have brown hair, some freckles, and am five feet tall. I am 11 years old. My dad, Jack, looks exactly like me, except he’s six foot eight.

“Help Aunt Jo Jo in, okay, Jones?” my mom asked me.

Right then my world started ending. Let me tell you that she is not old, and that I don’t need to help her because she is frail. I have to help her by moving things away from the entrance, because she is too fat to fit in. So when I got down, things got embarrassing. It started like this.

“Aw, look at my baby boy! For some reason, you seem smaller!” she bellowed.

Actually, she probably just got bigger.

She then ran to me to hug me. I swear, I could see my life flash before my eyes. She basically tackled me. I fell to the ground.

I stood up, and asked, “Can you maybe be a little less rough?”

“Oh, of course, baby boy!”

So then it was sort of a real hug. It must have looked pretty weird because I was about as big as her finger, and I’m tall for my age.

“Now, be a good boy and remove all the flower pots and anything in my way so I can budge through the door.”

“Yes, Aunt Jo Jo.”

Well, it took, like, 20 minutes to get her in. But besides that, the wedding was good. People were a little cramped, because Aunt Jo Jo took up about twenty seats, but it was mostly okay. Until the vows. Here’s what happened:

The minister said, “Now it’s time for the vows.”

My father said,“Oh, we can skip that. We have done this tons of times, and it doesn’t really matter anymore.”

My mom said, “What do you mean? Is this just an excuse, because you forgot to write yours?!”

My dad said, “It doesn’t matter, Josephine! We have done this millions of times!”

My mom said,“You are always like this! Why would I even think of marrying you?”

I’m just gonna skip a lot of the conversation, because it got pretty ugly.

So ten minutes later, my mom and my dad said:

“We’re getting a divorce!!!”

They both stormed off. Wow. They have been divorced many times, but they have never gotten divorced at their wedding! That’s a new record for them.

Nobody in the audience was surprised. They just left. I left too. I wasn’t gonna help Aunt Jo Jo out. Not again.

………………………………..

My parents were divorced for about a week, and I thought it ended when I heard flirting coming from the backyard of my mom’s house. There are around ten houses on my block, and all of the backyards are attached. My dad’s house is actually right next to my mom’s house, so they were probably the ones flirting.

But when I went outside, my dad wasn’t there. My mom was flirting with the village drunk, Joseph. It was pretty hard to believe. Joseph is a heavy drinker, has a beer belly, and owns five mean pitbulls. And his house is the one that my mom says to always keep my distance from. He’s been married, like, five times before, and every one of the girls that he has married were huge and fat. And he is VERY conservative. My mom is a proud liberal. And guess what. My mom seriously just asked him out. Maybe this divorce is serious.

Apparently, the date went well. Joseph drank five beers, and got really drunk. He was polite and let my mom pay for it, and then they both came to my house. I finally got to meet him.

“So, this is the Jones I’ve heard all about, eh?” he said, not soberly. He then said, “You seem like a pretty good guy!”

I got a closer look at him. He looked like he hadn’t shaved in about six years, and there were tons of food scraps in his beard. I did not like him. Not at all.

He helped himself to a beer in the fridge, and then lay down on the couch with his shoes still on.

“I’m gonna teach you a life lesson,” he said. ”Education doesn’t matter. Just play football and get paid millions of dollars, and that’s all you need.”

My mom would usually be super against that, but she tried to ignore it. I saw her face turn red though, like she wanted to punch Joseph.  

So this was not good. I need to get him out.

……………………………………………………….

I woke up and went to my secret stash of candy and sweets for breakfast. Without sugar, I cannot stay awake, so I always need sugar at every meal. So, I opened the cabinet, unscrewed the loose screw, and opened the secret door.

But here’s the problem: all of the cakes and candy and food were gone. I glanced over at the couch, where Joseph was sleeping. On his shirt were cake crumbs, and by the side of the couch were candy wrappers.

I started to freak out. I would fall asleep in school, even during gym class, without sugar, I thought. I went to the fridge, and looked for some orange juice. At least that had some sugar in it. But when I looked in the fridge, instead of orange juice, there was a note. Here’s what it said:

Dear Kid,

Here’s a life lesson. Don’t eat too much sugar. That’s my job. If you are looking for the orange juice, it’s in my stomach and it’s not available. That’s all I have to say.

Signed,

Gosef

Wow. He was too drunk to even remember how to write his name.

I searched the whole house, and everything with sugar was gone. I was desperate.

I ran out to the deli, but it was closed, so I was forced to go to school without my morning dose of sugar.

First period, I have gym. We were doing the pacer test, which is basically running from one wall to another, but I was too tired to listen and did the endurance, which is just running. So while everybody was running from one side of the gym to the other side of the gym, I was running in a circle around the gym. The gym teacher shouted at me, and I didn’t hear a word he said.

I finally realized that I was running wrong, so I started the pacer. I ran back and forth about four times, and then I collapsed.

I was fast asleep, so the gym teacher had to carry me to my next class. I slept all the way to the end of lunch. But here’s the worst part. If I had been awake for lunch, I could’ve gotten candy. I missed my chance to not only have sugar, but my chance to eat too! So now, I was an incredibly tired boy, who was also incredibly hungry! I was even more screwed. It was all Joseph’s fault. I need to get him out.

I slept through science, and my classmates were tired of carrying me, so they just left me there. And I slept there until 5:30 p.m. Apparently the teachers had tried, and failed, to wake me up. They were getting pretty desperate, so the custodian punched me really hard in the arm, and I finally woke up. That custodian really can punch! I went home rubbing my arm.

When I got home, my mom was really mad at me for coming home late. I explained everything that had happened that day, and I asked her why Joseph was here and that I hated him. It took her a long time to say something good about him so she could prove me wrong. She ended up saying, “You just have to accept the way he is.”

Wow. We all know that she was dating him to get back at my dad and make him jealous. I went up to my room and went to sleep.

…………………………………………….

That morning, I got up early. I was ready to fight back. I knew the minute Joseph wakes up, he heads straight to a fridge to help himself to a beer. So I decided to pour oil right in front of the fridge. This was an easy, good solid prank – he would slip and fall on his back.

I waited for him to get up. Sure enough, he went straight to the fridge. But it didn’t work. He walked straight over it. He didn’t slip one bit. That was weird.

I tried again the next day, but with a different prank. I replaced one of the beers with maple syrup and cough medicine. But when he opened the fridge, he accidentally dropped that beer, and he just chose another one. Was he prank resistant?

Another day without sugar –– it didn’t go so well. At least I was going to live in my dad’s house for a week. He’s pro-sugar.

When I got home, something wasn’t right. He’s usually chipper.

“Dad?” I called out.

I heard a groan from his room. I ran up. He was lying in bed, miserable.

“Whats wrong?” I asked

He answered with some more groaning. I saw that the pillow was tear stained. Then I figured out why. He was sad because my mom and Joseph were together. He still loved my mom!

“Is it because of Joseph?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, I hate him too. He took all of my sugar!”

My dad sat straight up. He knew that I had to have sugar. He was the same way. “He couldn’t have!”

“He did. You know what, Dad?” I asked him, “We should get him out. Together.”

“How?” he asked.

“I think I have an idea,” I told him

………………………………………….

Joseph came home from a long day at the bar. He had to leave because the barkeeper kicked him out for starting a bar fight. He opened the door of his girlfriend’s house and was ready to pass out on the couch. He sat down on the comfy couch and was happy until…

“YAAA!” The couch popped up!

“AHH,” Joseph screamed.

He ran out of the house and sprinted to the bar to get away from the haunted couch.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

My dad and I high-fived. He had dressed up in a couch suit, and we waited for Joseph to sit down, after which my dad popped up. We scared the crap out of him!

One of the few things Joseph loved in life (his couch) was taken away from him –– at this house, at least. Maybe he would leave now! He did not really love my mom, I don’t think, he just loved our couch and our food. He didn’t like our couch anymore but maybe he would love….

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Joseph finally built up the courage to go back into his girlfriend’s house. He opened the door and found someone sitting on the couch. She took up the whole couch. Her waist was the size of the couch. Trust me, it was an extra large couch too. Her finger was as big as his arm. There were crumbs all over her face and shirt. To Joseph, she was beautiful.

“Hello,” she bellowed. “My name is Jo Jo.”

“Do you like beer?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she answered

“Do you like food?” he asked.

“Hell yeah!” she said.

“Take me with you!” Joseph pleaded. “You’re perfect for me!”

“Okay, honey bun!” she said. She picked him up and squeezed through the door. They ran away together.

And those two lived happily ever after. They were almost the same people! As for Jones….

Both my dad and my mom watched the whole thing. When Jo Jo and Joseph left, both of my parents started kissing.

“That was horrible, Jack! I hated Joseph so much! All he loved me for was my fridge, my couch, and my food!” my mom said between kisses.

“I missed you so much!” my dad said.

“I never want another situation like this again! Let’s never get divorced again!” my mom said.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

After that, my parents didn’t get divorced any more. They didn’t want to have such a bad situation again.

We all lived happily ever after. As for Jo Jo and Joseph, they were happy too. Everybody was happier.

I was happier to not be around Joseph. My dad was not miserable anymore. My mom didn’t have to deal with Joseph anymore. We were all happier.

THE END

Epilogue –– Ten years later

We were all sad yesterday. We had to attend the funeral of Joseph John.

Yup. Joseph died. At the age of 73. He was drunk and climbed on Jo Jo’s back. She lost balance and fell out the window. Joseph died, but Aunt Jo Jo was saved by her fat belly. She started bouncing when she fell, but she didn’t get hurt. Aunt Jo Jo was very sad that day. They had been perfect together.

The author that inspired me to write this genre was Jeff Kinney, the author of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series. The Genre is Realistic Fiction, but with Comedy in it too. In both my story and his book, Something bad happens to the main character, and they plot many schemes to stop it. None of the schemes work, but in the end, the bad thing goes away and they live happily ever after. Although it is a serious topic, I made it funny, because I like comedy.

One day Bob woke up. He remembered he was going to go on the Titanic. He was rushing because he was late. He got all of his stuff, grabbed his ticket, and he got some food and materials. He was going to play jacks and some cards with people on the Titanic.

Then he got in a taxi, and he told the driver to go to the Titanic. He got on the Titanic.

He was in room 100. He wanted to look outside to see a nice view. He met somebody outside on the deck. Her name was Scream. So he asked her, “Do you want to play jacks?”

She said, “Yes!” Ten minutes later, the ship crashed into an iceberg, and it was sinking.  They tried to get in a lifeboat, but it was too late. They tried to get in another lifeboat, but it was full. There were no more lifeboats. They were all full except the captain’s, but it was too far away. It had sunk already. It was near the end of the ship, but half of it was already sunken.

It became really cold. They had to get in a lifeboat! They tried to make a lifeboat, but it didn’t work! Bob took his axe and chopped some wood off the Titanic, so they could make a lifeboat. They quickly made it. They got some paddles, and they lifted it off. Then they jumped in it.

They got back to England and went to their houses. Then Bob said, “Do you want to go on another boat, the Titan?”

Scream said, “Sure! What day are you free?”

“Saturdays and Sundays.”

“How about Sunday?” Scream said.

“Sure,” Bob said. So they went back to their houses and they rested. They lived happily ever after!

The girl holding a basket on the street.

Filled with neatly rolled newspapers, plain white rags, and red apples without so much as a speck of yellow or green on them, the woven container is in almost perfect condition, as if someone has worked hard every night to repair its every scuff and scratch. All strange things, considering the fact that she is obviously homeless and extremely poor. There are many other girls much the same as her in looks, except of course for their patched-up baskets filled with newspapers, green apples, or white rags with remains of old stains showing through, but never more than one of these options lies in their contraptions. These children are scattered around quite a lot, almost hiding this strange girl if it were not for the calls advertising her goods. It is also evident that she is better-dressed than all of these forlorn-looking creatures, who are letting their last morsels of hope shine through small cracks in iron barred windows, hoping that the bits of golden warmth will be enough to attract customers on the crisp day. It is not. But she, just this one girl alone, with the blue-gray rag around her head and the simple sweater and skirt that must have once have been red, does not seem to be having any trouble attracting the busy passerby crossing the narrow street to her small walled in corner, surrounded on two sides by solid brick, drenched in a stench of rotten fish and murky fog from the old days. Yet the girl always seems to be standing on, or perhaps next to, a clean sheet something like a welcome mat that she invites her customers to wipe their feet on, perhaps to increase her chances of customers. But is this really the cause of the steady stream of pedestrians hurrying over from the street, not a rushing river, not any real type of river, but a forest stream, a stream just the same? I think not. Perhaps it has something to do with the extra coins dropped at her feet with a quiet whisper, “For your master, dear, blessings to him for all he’s done for our world.” the girl’s quick nod is a gesture of thanks, almost a “The same to you, for all your generosity.” Perhaps this has something to do with the words embroidered, neatly enough, on one of her sweaters:

Alexander Winkharp’s Cellar Peddlers

Chapter  1

It was quite a while ago when the first of what came to be the cellar peddlers sprung up, scattered through the narrowest streets of London, of which there remain many. It was the revolutionary idea of the great Alexander Percy Lawrence Peter Henry Winkharp, though few knew of his middle names. As one of the most generous of his time, Alexander had felt compelled to help those whom he saw every day standing in rags on the street. For a while, he did what one would expect from someone with these motivations: daily he would go out, delivering food and blankets to the poor. But Alexander did not feel satisfied. He wondered, rightly, why, if he happened to spill a bottle of shoe polish at the shoe polish factory where he worked, and had to pay for it out of his salary, and if he couldn’t afford extra food for the day, why should someone else suffer? For days and nights, Alexander wracked his brain for a solution. What he came up with was what would grow to become the Cellar Peddlers.

Alexander saved up enough to buy a few small cots at a junkyard sale. After fixing them up quite a lot, he sold them off again, making a reasonably sized profit; then again, these were cots. This simple process of buying, fixing, and selling once more to make a profit has been titled over our many years of existence as “Flipping,” and is indeed considered a distinguished profession in its own right. Alexander, though he would die before sinking to the level of his day’s low down “Flippers,” discovered that the art came quite naturally to him and made a mental note of doing it some more, secretly, of course, in the future. Now, enough on the subject of flipping, as this is not a matter that should venture to the center of your attention.

With a fraction of his small wages and the profit from the cots, Alexander did the most surprising thing you could imagine: he bought another four tiny, dirt-strewn cots that reeked with a vigorous stench of garbage. Alexander hurried to clean them up as fast as he could, for winter was approaching, and the extreme generosity of this person who challenges that of any other could not possibly permit his less fortunate friends to be forced to bear the harsh conditions of the winter, entirely out of doors and in the snow and slush – especially, with his plan in the workings, they might possibly, for perhaps just a couple of days, have a warm place to sleep and food for a day or two.

This done, on the very next Saturday when Alexander left his respectable shelter for his usual route – on which he often brought food to and dropped coins around the small community of beggar families where that rumor of his kindness had assembled – he stood atop the low rickety stoop of his building, scrutinizing the dusty, rat-ridden landscape beside the Thames, searching for just the right subjects on whom to test out his new plan, namely any groups containing children. He took a deep breath before taking a single step, remembering the long hours he had been up the night before, and thinking of the perfect way to do this. An announcement would not work. The ragamuffin families were not acquainted with him enough, and speaking to them as if he were their king would no doubt be dangerous. Nor would flyers, he knew, as many of the destitute population could not write their own names.

At last, though, in the darkest hours of night, Alexander knew that what he must do was speak to the groups he chose individually, to decipher the slang that made up their distinct tongue, and to convince them that he could indeed brighten their family’s’ futures. That he, though he lived in a tenement, lived throughout the entirety of its three low-ceilinged floors as its owner and was more than willing to share, if it were for the better.

So out and onto the roughly paved streets went he, out went the man with a heart as soft as silk and as big as an elephant. Out as a hero he would go when he was set to save the world, a feat which there is little doubt that Alexander achieved throughout his life. Out with long strides toward the first group he had set his sights on, whilst laying out the usual things he laid out on these trips: piles of food wrapped in thin blankets, dumpster clothes fixed up good as new, rusted trays nobody wanted except those who were sensible enough to know how to fix such a simple thing. But oh, save the sensible, for by the time any one of those poor souls who live in a world that seems so cold and far away from them got ahold of one of those trays, the once fine and shining metal under the rust was scratched and scored, and the crevices that lined the surface were filled with dirt. It was in this sort of moment that Alexander wished dearly that he had prepared much more. Through his head that seemed to be turning on and off repeatedly, he searched for the words he had planned so carefully in the night that seemed to have disappeared, calling to them and begging them to stay.

In vain Alexander tried to delay each placement of a gift, in vain he tried to ignore the ever-nearing lamp post, under which lay a few ratty blankets and tin cans, a home not fit for a hog, nor any living being. But a home it was, for a poor threesome of the human race itself: a man, a woman, and one small girl who had barely a scrap of cloth in her possession. They had lived in the shadow of the same post since before Alexander moved into the neighborhood, and the two groups were something close to friendly neighbors, but never daring to admit it and make the friendship official. However, it was truly because of them that any of the new arrivals had any trust for Alexander whatsoever, and they, of all people, he thought, as the lamp post grew nearer, would help him with his plan even if no one else did. Slowly, Alexander walked closer, comforting himself with the fact that he often stopped to talk with little Nellie and her family, and they would most definitely not be curious if he did so once more.

So Alexander took one last package from the sack he was carrying, and he knelt down to place it down. He recalled wrapping a thick shawl around a stack of warm cakes, then enclosing the package in old rags. Knelt in the same way as all those around him, the most generous man in the entire city lowered his head to exchange a few murmurs with the lamp post family. Nellie tugged at her mother’s dress and the two engaged in even quieter conversation before Mrs. Ledwell raised her head.

“It is true. You do seem to have something on your mind.” Then little Nellie raised her eyes and whispered in her own small voice, light as a feather.

“Relieve us of our curiosity, oh, if you could!” Nellie’s voice had always been subdued, her face always lowered, causing many to believe that her time of dreams and fantasies were over. But day by day, Alexander saw a glint in her eye, and knowing that the flame would hurt its master if extinguished, he liked to replenish it by slipping her a package of her own – a coin wrapped in a rag – which she would slip into the small brown box that the first coin had come in. Alexander often wondered how much she had saved up, for that was the only way a poor child knew how to use money. He believed she must be fit to be rich now, with all the little copper pieces filling her box. Then Alexander saw the faces of Nellie and her mother, and remembered their question. He recalled his thoughts and the plans he had made, just for this moment.

And Alexander spoke.

Hello, I am Emy, the main character of this story. My grandfather died reading a book (I do not know the title) because a tornado came out of the book. Now, let me tell you the story.

So, it was a regular day at school (Friday, if you want to know) and my friend Elvis kept reading this weird book. Because my name is Emy, he calls me Emmanuel.

Back to the book: it was all ripped up, and the title was Bressling. The pages were dark, the words were light. You could tell it was a very old book. One day, during recess, Elvis was reading this book. He said that he liked this book. I sat next to him, reading my own book. Suddenly, a tornado came out of the book and sucked Elvis in. I got so scared that I ran home.

I asked my dad, “What was the name of the book that Grandpa was reading when he got sucked in?”

“Oh, I don’t know… Bressling, I think. Why do you want to know?” asked my Dad.

Without answering my Dad, I ran to school terrified and breathing heavily. When I finally got to school, I took the book from Elvis’s desk. I looked. The title was “Bressling.”

“I knew it!” I said. I looked at the page where Elvis stopped because the book was still open to that page. I knew it was the correct page. Then, I looked at the sentence where he had gotten sucked in: “Then the book took in a man and a boy, Albert Senstein and Elvis Toddler.”

Albert Senstein was my grandfather. Elvis Toddler was my friend. “This book’s haunted!” said my friend, Nate. He was sitting in the room the whole time paying attention to his work until I ran to Elvis’s desk. Then I thought, The only way I get to Elvis is to read the book until a tornado sucks me in.

I started reading the book from the beginning. Then, a tornado came out of the book and sucked me in. The last thing I saw was Nate running out of the room. Next, I was falling from the sky and landed on the floor of a desert. Next to me was Elvis. He pulled me up and started talking.

“Hey! Emmanuel! Look at this old man. This is a character from the book.” He pointed at a white-bearded man. “His name is Zalen.”

“Hi, Zalen, I’m –– ”

“Emmanuel, I know. Hello, Emmanuel,” said Zalen, in an old, old voice that reminded me of my friend’s grandpa. That’s when I realized there was another man who looked about 72 years old.

I didn’t even know him, but he must’ve known me because he came up and hugged me and said, “Emy, I only saw you as a little baby. I always wanted to see you when you were nine years old. Now look at you –– you have grown. I am your grandfather who was sucked in by a tornado from a book.”

Then Nate came plopping on my head and said, “I started reading the book and then a tornado came out and I ended up here!”

I was annoyed. “So not only did I come here, but you did too. Now I have to get all of you out!”

Then my grandfather Albert looked at me. “Hey. Who put you in charge? I’m the oldest… I’m supposed to be in charge.”

Zalen looked at him as if he were blind and said, “I’m the oldest. Look at you. You’re 72. I’m 137!”

Then Albert said, “You’re in the book! You’re supposed to be inside the tornado!”

Zalen said, “Right, yeah. I wish the author of this book had never written it. Now I’m stuck here for the rest of my life!”

“It’s fine,” I said, “but how are we going to get out?”

Then Zalen said, “I know this witch that lives in the north. All we have to do is walk 100 miles to the north and then we’ll find her. She is the author of this book. She’ll know how to get us out.”

“Okay, not helping. 100 miles?!”

Zalen said, “Okay, fine, fine. But it’s better than nothing. What other choice do we have?”

“Good point. Isn’t there any faster way to get there?”

“No, sorry. We could camp. I have tents and food –– a whole lot of food!”

“Ok,” said five-year-old Nate, who did not know what was going on. He was only pretending to know what was going on.

Then, we heard a strange noise. The next thing we knew, Nate was gone.

We looked around for Nate, until Zalen said, “Where could he be? In this desert, there’s nothing but sand. There’s no hiding places.”

Albert said, “I disagree. There are cactuses all over this place.”

He was right: the desert was full of cactuses. I got an idea.

“How about the four of us split around and look for him? He always plays around with jokes,” I said. Then we heard the same noise again.

“It doesn’t sound anything like Nate,” Elvis said. “I think he is making one of his stupid noises.”

Suddenly, a little dwarf came out holding Nate.

Elvis said, “How much do you want for that stupid little boy?”

“Five hundred bucks,” said the dwarf in the same voice they heard earlier.

Zalen said, “You came to exactly the right person! I’m a billionaire!” Then he held up a wallet, which was not exactly a wallet. It was a big bag of money and gold. “I got it from my father!” he exclaimed, pulling out five $100 bills and giving them to the dwarf.

The dwarf said, “Give me another $500, or I’ll kill the boy.”

Then Elvis said, “Oh, whatever… Hey, dwarf, I know dwarves like big hats. Do you want this hat?” He took off his own hat.

The dwarf said, “No!” and pulled out a knife.

Then Elvis said, “I go to karate!” He wrestled the dwarf to the ground, took the knife, and threw it into one of the cactuses.

“I knew it would become useful someday!” said Elvis. He got off the dwarf and grabbed Nate. Then he said, “Don’t mess with me again!” The dwarf ran away.

Zalen took out a compass and said, “Go that way. Let’s go!” He pointed North, and we started walking. After 50 miles (we walked really fast) Zalen said, “Okay. My feet can’t walk anymore. Let’s rest.”

“Okay,” said Albert. “Do you boys agree?”

“Yes!” said Elvis and I.

“What about you, Emmanuel?” asked Elvis.

“I said yes!”

“Oh,” said Elvis.

Zalen pulled out a big tent and sticks from his backpack and started unfolding it. Then he put the sticks up and put up the tent and it was standing.

Zalen said, “Get inside the tent unless you want to stay outside. It’s getting dark.” Albert tried to go inside the tent but Nate pushed him aside and went in first.

Then Albert went in and said, “Nate! That was rude.”

Elvis got in next and asked, “Emmanuel, are you coming in?”

“Yeah,” I said, climbing in.

When I woke up, I was not in the tent….

I was not in my tent, and I was not even lying down –– I was in a chair. I looked around. There were other chairs, and Zalin, Elvis, Nate, and Albert were sitting in them. I tried to stand but could not because I was in front of a desk. So were my friends.

A man came into the room. He had dirty blonde hair, brown eyes, yellow teeth, black skin, black glasses, black pants, white t-shirt, and white sneakers.

He said, “Why don’t we take a test? Why are all of you the same? I’m not included.”

Then Nate raised his hand.

“Yes?” said the man. “Oh, by the way, if you cheat on this test, you will be eliminated. Oh, sorry –– did I say eliminated? I meant executed. Now that will calm you down.”

Nate said, “We all have to answer your stupid questions?”

“Um, no,” said the man.

Albert raised his hand.

“Yes?”

“We all have white teeth.”

“No.”

Then I raised my hand. “Yes, we are all captured, but we don’t care.”

“What do you mean?”

“You captured us, but none of us seem to care.”

“OH, now I get it. No. Now I will kill you…. Actually, no. I will spare you and give you one more chance. When I say ‘hey,’ you will race to the end of the room. I will kill the loser.”

We lined against the wall.

Then Albert said, “Hey!” and ran. When he got to the other side of the room, everybody looked at him, surprised.

Then the man said, “Look dude. I didn’t say ‘hey.’ You did. Get back to the other side of the wall. And when I say hey, you run. Is that understood?”

“Yes,” we all said.

Then the man said, “Hey!” and we all ran.

To Elvis’s luck, he got to the wall first. Then I got there and then Albert and then the limping old Zalin. We all looked at Nate, but he wasn’t running –– he was looking at the man.

The man said, “Okay. The little boy in the pajamas will be killed.”

Elvis wrestled the man to the floor and took the man’s gun and pointed at his face.

Then the man said, “Shoot, you stupid idiot.” He smiled a creepy smile that showed his yellow teeth.

Elvis shot. There was a great big sound that sounded like a bomb exploded. We all looked at the man, but the man was laughing. The gun was blank.

So, Elvis punched the man in the face, and the man fainted. Then, we found a bucket of bullets in one of the corners of the room. We loaded the gun and Elvis shot the wall. The gun worked because there was a hole.

“Let’s go,” he said.

We all stepped out and Zalin said, “What? This was the desert we were walking through until we woke up in that stinking room that smelled of rotten poop.” Then, we saw the tent. We all turned around and saw the room. But it wasn’t really a room –– it was a few cactuses built up into a room. We saw the hole we had gone through and then we understood everything: the man had taken cactuses, built up the room, and dragged us in there.

“I am keeping this weapon,” said Elvis.

“Listen, you kept the knife. Now you’re keeping the gun? You gotta be kidding me,” I said.

“Okay, fine, fine. You get the knife. I get to keep the gun.”

“No, I want the gun. You get to keep the knife.”

“No, I do.”

“No, I do.”

“Nope, I do.”

“No, I do.”

“No –– ”

“OK, can I say something?” asked Zalen.

“No!” Elvis and I said in unison.

“Okay,” said Zalen, and he walked away.

“Fine –– you get to keep the gun. I keep the knife,” said Elvis. He put the knife in his belt and handed over the gun. I put the gun in my belt (we both had belts because they were part of the school uniform).

Then we started walking. Soon, we had walked another 50 miles, and Zalen said, “Stop!” If we’d walked one more step, we would’ve crashed into a big hut with a roof that looked like a witch’s hat.

“This is it!” said Zalen. We knocked, and a very old woman opened the door.

She had a hat that looked exactly like the roof.

“Come in, dears,” she said in a very kind voice. Inside the hut there were many pictures. In the middle of the room there was a small black table, with pot of some green liquid on top.

“Can I drink that?” asked Nate.

“If you want to explode, yes,” she said, pausing. “Ah, yes, you don’t know my name and I don’t know yours. I’ll go first: my name is Minerva. What’s yours?”

“Zalen,” said Zalen.

“Albert,” said Albert.

“Emy,” I said.

“Elvis,” said Elvis.

“Poopy Pants!” said Nate.

“His name is Nate,” said Elvis.

“No, my name is Poopy Pants!” cried Nate.

“Alright,” said Minerva. “I believe that your name is Nate… but I am going to call you Poopy Pants.” Then she asked, “Why did you come?”

“We want to get out into the outer world,” I said.

“Who? All of you? And what do you mean by the outer world?”

“The answer to the first question: Nate –– well, Poopy Pants –– me, Elvis, and Albert want to get out. To the second question, we were trapped in a book called Bressling…” And I told the story about Bressling but kept forgetting to say Poopy Pants instead of Nate.

“Ah, yes, Bressling. I wrote it, and I cast a spell on it. And I read it and I got sucked in because I wanted to. And then I forgot something, so I cast a spell to write in the names that got sucked in. Now, all you need to do is drink this little potion that I am going to make right now… Here it is. Hokatee pokatee lokatee pookatee shokatee nokatee sokatee… ah, where was I…?” she interrupted herself. “Oh, right, yes. Noopatee kloopatee crumpatootatee, and, last of all… compoopatee! Oh, how dumb am I? I forgot the bowl, the water, and my wand.” Minerva got the bowl and the wand, and pointed at the bowl and said, “Shoompatee, gloompatee.” And then some water burst out of the wand and flew into the bowl. “Enough! Enough, you stupid spray!” The wand stopped the water and she said, “Now, what was the spell? Hokatee pokatee lokatee pookatee shokatee nokatee sokatee noopatee kloopatee crumpatootatee!” Then the water turned red, then orange, then yellow, then light green, then dark green, then light blue, then dark blue, then pink, and finally purple. And then it turned every color, in a mix. She took four cups and put them on the table. She took the bowl and poured equally into each cup.

“Alright. All of you who want to go back to the outer world, please drink this.” We all drank it except for Zalen. Then Minerva said, “Alright. Now, in ten minutes, you will go back into the outer world, in front of the book in the place where you were reading when you got sucked in. Why don’t you find something that’ll entertain you for the time being?”

Then, she pointed her wand at the table and said, “Shoompatee, loompatee, gloompatee, foompatee!”

A chessboard with chess pieces appeared on the table, and Elvis and I sat down at the table and started playing. “Thanks for the chess board,” I said.

She conjured a magic carpet using some other words I couldn’t hear correctly.

“Here you go, Poopy Pants,” said Minerva. Nate jumped onto the magic carpet and started flying around, and he went out the window and flew around the yard. Nine minutes later, the magic carpet landed. Nate got off. Elvis and I finished the chess game with a stalemate. Elvis was so close to winning –– he had a queen up –– but I drew into a stalemate.

Minerva shouted, “One minute to go!”

Sixty seconds later, we appeared in the classroom where we’d started.

“I miss Minerva and Zalen,” I said.

“I miss them too…. If we want to see them, we have the book.” Elvis pointed at Bressling. Then Nate started crying. We looked at him.

“What’s wrong now?” we asked him.

“I miss my flying carpet!” he cried.

I slapped my head. “He’s so stupid!”

Elvis and I ran home with Albert. We came home (by the way, I forgot to tell you, Elvis was my neighbor. I lived in apartment 5D and He lived in 6D).

My father sat up and said, “I do recognize you, Daddy. How the heck did you get here from that book?” He pointed at Bressling, which I was holding in my armpit.

Then Albert said, “You should’ve met Minerva.” And the three of us laughed.

Chapter 1

“Hi, my name is Scrappy, and this is Digger. We’re in the shelter with all the other dogs. WOOF WOOF,” Scrappy said.

The shelter door opened, and two girls came in with their dad.

“Their dad looks like the president!” said Scrappy.

“He is!” said Digger.

“Wow!” said Scrappy.

The two girls came over to their pen and said, “I want those two!” Digger and Scrappy were so happy. The girls took them out of the pen and picked them up. Then their dad paid for the dogs, and they went to the car. Scrappy wondered if they lived in a house, so he asked Digger. Digger thought that Scrappy had lost his mind.

“Scrappy, they live in a mansion!”

“Oh, yeah,” said Scrappy.

Then they tried to guess the girls’ names.

Chapter 2

“Maybe Fuzzy!” said Digger.

“Or maybe Coco!” said Scrappy.

“Wait!” said Digger, “What about human names? We’re saying dog names.”

“Maybe Megan!” said Scrappy.

“Hey, Megan, are you excited that we’re going to Hawaii for Christmas?” said the dad.

“Yeah!” said Megan in an excited voice.

“Score!” said Digger. “Bridget, are you going to go in the pool in Hawaii?”

“Yes!” said Bridget.

“This is going to be great!” said Digger.

Chapter 3

They were in the park when Scrappy saw another dog. He wanted to play with the dog. The dog was a golden retriever like Digger. Digger was right next to Scrappy, so Scrappy started to walk over to the other golden retriever. Digger followed. Scrappy asked if they could play with the golden retriever.

The golden retriever said nothing. He couldn’t hear Scrappy because Scrappy was so small. Scrappy felt sad and began to walk away.

Digger asked, “Why are you sad?”

Scrappy said, “I feel tiny… That dog couldn’t hear me, and I wanted to play with him.”

“That’s sad,” said Digger. “I’m going to go talk to the dog and tell him that you want to play with him.”

Digger started to walk over to the big dog. He asked, “Can Scrappy play with you? By the way, my name is Digger, and this is my best friend Scrappy.”

“Hi!” said the big dog.

“Oh, I forgot, what is your name?” Digger asked.

“My name is Whiskers,” the big dog said.

“Good name!” said Digger.

He whispered to Scrappy, “Funny name.”

“Yeah,” said Scrappy, giggling.

A few minutes later the girls called them to leave, so they ran and jumped on them, knocking them down. They started to lick their faces. Then their dad called them from the front porch of the house. The girls stood up, with Scrappy still holding on to Bridget’s leg. Digger told him to get off Bridget’s leg, so he did. They started to run up to the house, and they went through the doggy door upstairs to their room.

Chapter 4

When Digger got up the stairs, he and Scrappy talked about what they were going to do the next day.

The next day, when Digger woke up, he looked around, but Scrappy wasn’t in his bed. He washed his paws in the little doggy sink and went down to have breakfast. When he got down the stairs, Scrappy was there waiting for him.

“Did you hear the news, Digger? They’re going to Hawaii!”

“Who’s going to what the what?” asked Digger

“They’re going to Hawaii!” said Scrappy.

“Who is going to Hawaii?” said Digger.

“Bridget is going and Megan is going and the president is going,” said Scrappy.

“Ohh!” said Digger. “Are we going?”

“No! Of course not. I wouldn’t even want to go. Get stuck in the airplane for, like, 100 hours? I wouldn’t even be able to stay alive for two minutes!”

“What did you say?” said Digger.

“Oh, whatever,” muttered Scrappy.

That night, Digger and Scrappy helped the girls pack their bags. The next day, Digger and Scrappy said goodbye to the girls. They felt sad and confident at the same time because they were going to be left alone.

Chapter 5: The Robbers

For the next few hours, Digger and Scrappy slept. The doorbell rang. They started to bark – a package for the president! Digger opened the door. The delivery man ran in, stole everything, (chairs, tables, and the medal that Megan had won) and tried to get out. But, before the robber got out, the dogs already had a plan. They got the rope from the basement, tied it to the staircase, ran across the room, out the door, put the doorstop in, and waited. Then, they took the table and chairs and smashed them into the door. A few minutes later the dogs were fast asleep again while the robbers were taking all the stuff, but they were faking it. The robbers got out the back door by cutting a hole in it with their knife. Digger and Scrappy woke up, and they climbed up the wall and wrapped the rope around the door. As soon as the robbers opened the door, a big punching jack-in-the-box punched them in the face. They fell down and landed on the table.

Digger and Scrappy called the other dogs from the neighborhood. They ran through the door and started licking the robbers’ faces. Finally, Scrappy came out and gave the robbers a supergalactic lick. The robbers got up as soon as they could and left.

Chapter 6: The Return of the President

Twenty minutes later, the president parked the car in the driveway. Digger and Scrappy climbed on the heater and started to bark. Bridget and Megan ran to the door, swung it open, and picked Scrappy and Digger up and twirled around.

“My little fluffies!” said Bridget.

They squirmed like worms until they finally put them on the sofa. Digger and Scrappy rolled around amd couldn’t see anything. Then, Digger bumped into Scrappy and he almost fell off, but he caught him with his paws. They ran up the stairs and jumped onto the girls’ bed. They ran after the puppies but went to the wrong room. Then Digger and Scrappy went to another room because they were coming to their room. Eventually, when they found them, the puppies jumped on their legs.

“Arf, arf, arf-dee-arf,” said Digger.

“We can talk, Digger!” said Scrappy.

“Oh yeah!” said Digger.

From that day on, Digger and Scrappy had the best life any dog could wish for.

Jack was at the park eating ice cream. He was alone. He was sitting on a bench. He finished his ice cream and decided to play on the swings. He was feeling good. He was joyful. When it was night, he started to become worried because a big ice cream monster tried to attack him. The ice cream monster had a big mouth with goopy ice cream in his mouth. He had an ice cream ninja sword, and threw it at Jack.

Jack ran away. He ran to Manhattan, but the monster followed him. Jack stood up in a big tower, and he told the people, “Help! A monster is coming!”

They said, “We’re going to attack the ice cream monster!” They were getting ready to attack the monster. They used a lot of ice cream with a big pile of ice.

Jack was doing something different. He was trying to get an ice cream shooter. He got it from the ice cream material store. It was near the ice cream shop on Sesame Street.

He went back to the group. He said, “We’re going on the train to find the ice cream monster. He is always in the ice cream store next to Toys R Us.”

All of the police were blocking Jack when he went to the ice cream shop because the store was closed. One of the teammates distracted the police. Jack was distracting the police too. All of the teammates went inside the shop and the ice cream monster was inside. The teammate shoot the ice cream monster with a lot of ice cream and ice. It caused him to vomit ice cream. It caused him to have a broken eye and slime was going over him.

He fought back with a ninja star and one of the teammates fell down. Jack had sleeping potion and put it on the police. The police fell asleep. Jack came in in slow motion. His body is like he’s actually cool. His arms and his legs are moving slow and his arms are in his pockets. The ice cream monster had melted. And all of the teammates were happy and they went back home. Jack went to his mom and he told his mom that a big monster came, but Jack attacked the monster. All of the teammates said bye to Jack and Jack went back to sleep. And the teammates went back to sleep. And it was the next morning, and another monster came. They cooked up a plan. They smashed the monster with a big giant hammer and he was dead. THE END!

“Donald Trump is a big fat loser because his facial expressions are not good,” said Peaches.

“Well, you need to pee every second,” said Donald Trump.

“Well, actually,” Peaches said, “I only pee every sixty-one seconds.” Peaches hated Donald Trump, because once, Peaches was on loser.com. He loved being on it because he wanted all the media, but Donald Trump took his place. They were enemies.

“You are a peach. You should be ashamed of yourself. And I am a real person.” Donald Trump made fun of Peaches.

“Excuse me? Hold up here. Your face is so ugly that when you wanted to join the ugly contest, they said no pros allowed.” Peaches stood up for himself.

“Donald Trump! Can I take a selfie with you?” a fan of his said.                                                              

“See, Peaches? People love my face so much that they want to take pictures with me,” Donald Trump said.

Peaches grunted, and Donald Trump went to take a selfie with one of his fans.

Donald Trump said, “You’re so fat that when you got locked in Sleepy’s, you had to sleep on the floor.”

Peaches said, “Shut up. Bye.”

Donald Trump said, “I have to go to a party with all of my fans.” Donald Trump threw Peaches in the garbage.

There was a homeless person named Calvin Klein. He was in the military, and he had no legs. He decided to help Peaches, not because he wanted to eat him, but because he wanted to help people who are hurt like him.

Calvin Klein took Peaches out of the garbage can and threw him at Donald Trump. Calvin put padding under Donald Trump just in case Peaches fell. Peaches and Calvin Klein high-fived each other.

Peaches started to have a population of fans walk toward him. The people were making a heart shape.

“Boo, Donald Dump.”

After, Donald Trump said, “I am walking towards my fans’ party anyway, so bye.”

A minute later, Donald Trump saw all of his fans coming toward the heart shape.

Donald Trump and Peaches started a debate.

Donald Trump said, “If anybody wants to marry me, I’m rich.”

And everybody except the man with no legs went to go from a heart shape in front of Donald Trump.

Obama came in, and since he was president, he had the right to put Peaches on loser.com. Now all of Donald Trump’s fans became Peaches fans. Peaches was so happy that he gave each homeless person $500 for food.

“My plan for 2020 is to get every homeless person a home and food.” One thousand people clapped and two people booed. Since the clapping was so loud, no one heard the boos.

So now, it was time to vote, and 90 percent of the whole world voted for Peaches except for Donald Trump’s wives and daughters. (The reason it was 10 percent was because Donald Trump married so many people.)

Chapter 1

I hear my mother making breakfast. The sun’s warmth is on my face, opening the morning to another wonderful day. I walk out of my room down to the kitchen to get breakfast. I eat my breakfast, nice warm pancakes topped with strawberries.

“Ellie, wake up!” I wake up to my friend Claire lightly shaking me to get me up. All the wishes I’ve ever had were in my dream, disappointing me, waking me up to a day trapped in a building I don’t like. I am in an orphanage with other people, people who wish their lives were better. I get out of bed get dressed in the ragged clothes that the orphanage provided for me. I walk out my room, go downstairs to another disgusting breakfast of cold eggs that haven’t been cooked fully. Staring at the eggs, I get the feeling that I should eat them. I have gotten used to it. I’ve been here since I was five. I am fourteen`now, and still stuck in the orphanage.

I remember the day when I was five, waiting for my parents to pick me up at school. It was rainy and foggy. The only person who picked me up was this creepy woman, named Ms. Kunzier. She told me to come with her. She brought me to my house and told me to pack my bags. Then she drove me to this building covered with vines. “You’re staying here now,” she told me. A burst of pain shot up my back; a tear rolled down from my eyes, making its way down to my cheek. She opened the door and walked me to where I was staying. I remember thinking that I would be home soon. But I never went home. An hour later she came back to my room and told me that my parents had been in a car accident.         

***

I used to play outside in my backyard all the time. Now, I cannot go outside whenever I want. The only outside I have is my imagination. I imagine being outside, running free. No one to tell me what to do and what not to do. A big field of grass, trees swaying, the smell of fresh grass. The wind blowing on me. Running away so that no one can find me. Growing up on my own.

No one ever visits this orphanage. I guess it’s because of how creepy it looks. Only once a while someone comes around and takes a tour. I’m probably going to be in here until I’m 18, and then I’ll start a life of my own.

In the orphanage, my life feels a video game, with someone outside the machine controlling every move I make. When the video game gets too old or out of order, I will get out. The video game of life. Obstacles here and there popping up in my face. I wish I was like someone not in an orphanage, someone who has a perfect life.

***

I go back to my room, get into my bed and lay my head on the pillow. My eyes slowly close into a nice soft sleep. I slowly drift off into a weird dream, where Ms. Kunzier is pulling my arm and taking me to a tiny walk in closet. She ties me up in a chair. I jerk my body away from the chair to brake the rope. but the chair gets up with me and follows me wherever I go. I go to the door of the closet and try to get out, but Ms. Kunzier locked the door to keep me in. My eyes slowly open. It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream, I keep telling myself.

Chapter 2

“Hey, people!” Claire says.

“Hey!” Molly, my other friend, replies.

“What’s up?” I say.

“You know, the usual, nothing much,” Claire replies.

“Wait!” Molly shouts.

“Shhh,” Claire and I whisper.

“Sorry, but wait — I have an idea!” Molly says.

“Then what is it?” Claire replies impatiently.

“Um… I forgot,” Molly says.

“Ugh” Claire sighs.

“No, really… what were you going to say?” I ask.

“Well, it was probably a really stupid thought,” Molly hesitated.

“Just tell us,” I reply, ignoring Molly. “We’re your friends.”

“Okay, fine,” Claire says.

“It’s impossible, but it’s sort of about how we can escape from here. I mean, I never wanted to be here in the first place,” Molly blurts out.

“Same,” Claire and I say in unison.

“I’ve just always felt blocked up in a jail cell here.”

“Let’s think about a plan. Meet me in Secret Headquarters after lunch,” I say.

Secret Headquarters is a secret place that no one has discovered yet except for us. There is a little door in the bottom of the wall… actually, it’s not really a door, but a little square shaped hole in the wall that functions like a door. When you go inside, there is a little space where you can sit. When Claire and I met, we found a hiding place, and our friendship began. Six months later Molly came along and joined our little friendship. Claire and I showed her Secret Headquarters, and that is how we all became close friends.

When I get to Secret Headquarters, I find Molly quietly reading. “BOO!” I scream.

“Ahhh!” she screams, but then she sees me and starts laughing.

Shortly after, Claire barges into the room. “The worst thing almost happened… well, one of the worst things.”

“What?” I ask.

“Well, Ms. Kunzier stopped me and asked me where I was going, but I said I was going to the bathroom and she let me go,” Claire explains.

“Good thing she didn’t find out about Secret Headquarters,” I say. “Okay, anyway, let’s get started. First, let’s think of a plan.”

“The only way for us to get out of here is to get the key to unlock the main door,” says Claire.

“Well, I know where the key is kept,” replies Molly.  

“Where? How do you know?” I question.  

“Let’s just say that I went into her room once,” Claire answers.

“Was there actually blood and spider webs in her room?” I ask. Everybody says that Ms. Kunzier’s room is filled with blood marks and spider webs.

“Not at all, surprisingly,” Claire replies.

“That’s good to know,” I mutter. “So, back to the planning… How does tomorrow night sound to you guys for the first attempt of the escape?” I ask.

“Sure, I’m fine with that,” says Claire.

“What do you think, Molly?”

“I’m also fine with that,” says Molly.

“Okay, maybe at 1 in the morning, since Ms. Kunzier is probably going to be asleep… even though people say she sleeps with one eye open,” I add. “So, when she is about to close her door to go to sleep, let’s run up to it and push it a crack open. About one hour later we can get the key to open the front door. Sound good?”

“Yes!” says Molly.

“Sure!” says Claire.

“Okay, remember… tomorrow,” I confirm.

We walk out of secret headquarters, quietly chanting, “Escape attempt number one!”

I go to bed thinking that finally I will get out of here.

Chapter 3

The next day, Molly, Claire, and I try to get as much sleep as we can so that we’ll be ready for our big night. We pack what is really special to us. I get an old sack and put my stuffed bunny in it. My stuffed bunny’s name is Bun-Bun. I have had Bun-Bun since I was born. In the sack I also pack a bottle of water and some clothes.

At midnight, Molly, Claire, and I sneak to Secret Headquarters. We discuss what we are going to do, and prepare ourselves for the things coming ahead. At 1:30 in the morning, we hear Ms. Kunzier walking down the hall and going to her room.

”Oh my gosh, she is coming!” Molly blurts out. Luckily, in this case, Secret Headquarters is about a meter away from Ms. Kunzier’s bedroom. We hear Ms. Kunzier approach her bedroom door. We rush out to near the entrance of Secret Headquarters. When she opens the door, we quietly run out and slowly close her door until it is open just a crack. Exactly 45 minutes later we take a peek through Ms. Kunzier’s room and see that she’s snoring.

“Okay, Molly, since you are the quietest and you know where the key is, you are going to get the key,” I whisper. Molly tiptoes down to where the key is. Molly sneezes and Ms. Kunzier turns and moans a bit. Molly runs out of the room.

“That was close!” She whispers, relieved. When we get downstairs to the main door, Molly places the key into the key slot.

“Who is that?” a voice says. Molly, Claire, and I jump up in unison. Ms. Saltine, the orphanage maid, comes into the same room as us. “Found you! Girls, you know you should not be down here at this time of night,” she says.

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to–”

Ms. Kunzier cuts me off by coming into the room. “Girls! Go to your room. All of you will have to wake up extra early tomorrow and help make breakfast. We will be having fresh pancakes, and you girls will have fresh leftovers. And bonus! You will clean up all the dirty dishes!” She walks away and cackles her very annoying cackle. She never gives us orphans fresh food – we always have leftovers.

“Ugh…” We all walk back to our bedrooms.     

***

“Try again on your adventure,” Ms. Saltine says to us the next morning. We are all shocked. We do not understand what just happened. It takes us time to understand what she meant. Even though we just did a lot of work by cooking a meal for 25 orphans and are now eating food scraps, we feel like we just accomplished something. Ms. Saltine is on our side.

Chapter 1

I admired the little brown houses as I walked through the quaint village. I stopped at the end of the road and saw a beautiful valley in front of me with a tiny stream. I could smell the jasmine and honeysuckle in the air.

Then a stranger with silvery blond hair approached me and with a welcoming smile. She said, “Welcome to the City of –– ”

Suddenly, she got shot in the back with an arrow. Slowly her eyes turned black, her skin turned grey, she looked at me with a disturbing smile and ––

I jolted up, banging my head on the wooden headboard of my bed. When, I wondered as I rubbed my throbbing head, are these visions going to stop? Although the beginning of the vision felt safe and slightly familiar, I did not like the end when the lady transformed into a creepy creature. Out of all the visions that I’d had, I felt that this one was the worst. Many questions started popping into my mind. How come these visions only started two months ago? Where was the beautiful valley that I saw? And most importantly, what do the visions mean?

“Kayla, the school bus is here!” yelled my mother.

I groaned. Those six words were the words that I dreaded the most every morning. The thought of walking into a seventh grade classroom full of judgmental kids and strict teachers made me shiver, especially when I could have a vision at any time. I grabbed my schoolbag and headed downstairs. Of course my brother was already waiting for me, tapping his foot impatiently when I walked into the tiny kitchen. Why was he so excited about school? I guess because he still was in first grade, and in first grade all you do is play games and read books. Sometimes I wished I was still a little kid: oblivious, carefree, and vision-free.

“Hurry up, Kayla!” My mother snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah, Kayla, hurry up!” Henry (my brother) mimicked. Rushed, I shoved

a muffin in my mouth, grabbed Henry’s small pudgy hand, and hurried toward the dreaded school bus.

I dragged him into the seats in the front row as fast as I could. The kids in the back could be dangerous. They had bullied Henry before (he is very gullible) and I wanted to keep him as safe as possible. The ride to school seemed to go on for a long time, even though it was actually quite short. As we passed the fountain near the park, I thought about the memories of my father there when I was just a little bit younger than Henry.

In books where the protagonist’s mother or father dies, the character always remembers only a snippet or two about their parents. But I could remember every little detail about my dad. Weirdly, my mother never appeared in these memories, it was just me and my dad. Me and Dad racing down the streets of New York. Me and Dad sliding down the slides in the park. Me and Dad reading a book together. I also remembered the night he left. Before he drove off into the foggy night and left me with my mother he said, Reach deep down into your heart and remember.

Before I knew it, hundreds of children were rushing out of the bus. Grabbing my brother’s hand we pushed our way to the exit.

“Bye Kayla!!! See you after school!” Henry bounced away into the small building on the left side of the field of grass. Sighing, I waved goodbye to him and walked to the huge building on the right side. After putting all my books away, I found the English classroom. It was covered with school projects and decorations that brought back bad memories of the past years: Ms. Gutter’s attempt to make the classroom seem like a ‘happy environment.’ Ms. Gutter finally walked in, wearing her long weird robes (where did she buy those from?) and lipstick. Even though she was very cheerful, she always gave us a quiz every three days.

“Oh no! I forgot the classical music today! Why didn’t you kids remind me?”

… No response.

“I see, aren’t we all tired today!”

… No response. That’s basically how the whole class went.  

The morning flew by and soon it was time for history class. History class was the most boring class ever!! Ms. Rath drones on and on during the whole class, so you would understand my ‘excitement’ for history class. I walked into class and took my usual seat in the middle. Ms. Rath started her lecture about World War II (or something). She started talking about the book we were going to read when I felt a nauseous feeling in my stomach and the desks in front of me started fading to white. The whole world around me changed into diluted colors. I always felt this familiar feeling in my stomach when I was about to have a vision. Panicked, I stumbled out of my seat and trudged to the corner of the faded room, attempting to hide from the other people in the room. I looked out the window and saw…

the same breathtaking valley. But this time a dark, curly-haired little girl pranced through the green grass and spun in circles. Then another figure appeared beside her and lifted her up on his broad shoulders, let out a deep rumbling laugh that vibrated through my chest. I then felt a pang of familiarity that disappeared as fast as it came. When the little girl ran into the small cabin the whole vision flickered into a dark, cloudy scene with demon-like arrows flying into people’s hearts, but then the beautiful landscape came back.

A moment later, the desks materialized again and then the shocked faces of my peers popped out from the fog, and lamely I replied, “I have a stomach ache.”

… Silence.

“Of course you do!” Ms. Rath cut in, “Let’s get you to the nurse. Don’t worry, Kayla!”

Ms. Rath dragged me into the enclosed hallways and once we got to a small corner she stopped and faced me, her cheerful and serene smile twisted into a dark frown. “What were you thinking, going to school without consuming the right medication this morning? You never had a vision before during school, are you running out of the pills?” She scolds, looking down at me. I was shocked.

“Uh, I, um, what?” Ms. Rath’s anger bubbled down to confusion.

“Your medications, the one you take to prevent the visions. Your father gave them to you! You will obviously be getting visions when you are this far away from the City.”

I paused for a second, the shock of finding out that Ms. Rath knew about my visions faded away and was replaced by the realization that the question that had clouded my mind for almost a month had been answered.

“You know why I’m getting these visions? You know?”

“Of course I know! I was assigned as your father’s advisor when he took you and left the City. You grew up there, that’s why you’re getting visions. Why didn’t your father tell you all of this?”

“My father left me and my mom, and from what I remember, he never told me anything about this ‘City’!” After saying this, it felt like ten weights were dropped on my heart; I couldn’t take all this information. “Okay, I think I feel a little — ” I searched for the right words to say to Ms. Rath’s impatient face, “overwhelmed.”

Without saying anything else, I pushed past her to get inside the classroom to grab my stuff, ignoring the weird looks with confidence. Then I called my mom, saying that I had a headache and I wanted to walk home.

I finally took my first full breath of air walking outside onto the bumpy sidewalk; watching the big puff of air dissolve into the cold winter sky. This was how I escaped: I had to be by myself, outside with no walls surrounding me. I started to think about what Ms. Rath had said. She used to be my father’s advisor in this whole different city (that I didn’t remember), why would my father need an advisor? She had also mentioned that I grew up there.

That was why these visions seemed so familiar! There was also a medication I could take to prevent the visions? How come I didn’t remember all of this? By the time I passed the Choo Choo Train Park, where I had fallen and broken my knee a while back (I never played in there ever again), I figured out the answers to my questions, I needed to see my father.

I climbed up the stairs two steps at a time up to my room and flopped face down onto my old worn quilt. My aura of peace quickly faded away once I was inside my room. After a few minutes of silence, I heard the steps of my mother’s soft slippers climbing up the stairs. I sighed ready for her to interrogate me. She walked in and looked at me for a good ten seconds and then walked over to sit beside me. Her blond hair tickled my cheek.

“How was your walk?” She looked at me with kind eyes. I laughed. My mother always asked the smart and unexpected questions, I loved her personality.

“It was relaxing and it cleared my mind,” I told her, smiling. My mom nodded with an understanding face and we just sat there quietly. I then thought about my idea to find my dad. Should I tell her? No, then I’ll have to tell her about my visions and I can’t do that, there must be a reason for why my dad left. I then crawled into my bed to lay down and calm my pounding head. Soon after that, I felt the weight of my mom leaving the bed and walking out of my room.

Chapter 2

I loved little children. They were so innocent. Henry was innocent but he was also very smart and educated about the world. Kids were not judgmental at all. That was why I was excited when my mom told me that my baby cousin Maureen was coming over to barbeque with us. Finally, I had somebody to spill my problems to! I felt like telling Henry about our dad might be too overwhelming. I didn’t want him to feel the same way I felt and I didn’t want to frighten him.

After hearing the shrieking of my two little cousins entering our quiet house, I rushed downstairs. Immediately guilt crept over me when I saw Henry realize that he had gotten home on the bus by himself.

“Oh Henry, I’m so sorry I didn’t come down earlier when you came home!” I reached over to ruffle his fluffy blonde hair.

“That’s okay, I know you have a bad headache,” he replied. I felt lonely realizing that he and my mom didn’t know about about the visions, or about this whole other life in this crazy demonized city that our dad potentially lives in. A high-pitched squeal broke mye away from my thoughts ––

“Maureen!” I looked to the doorway and saw my tired but bright-looking Aunt Pearl (I had always loved that name) and Uncle Thomas carrying little two year old Maureen and her brother, Peter, who was two years older than her.

My mother shrieked as she ushered the small group of people into the living room.

“Hi! Come in, come in! I missed you so much.” That was probably true, my mother’s whole family lived in Brighton so having them come to visit us in New York state was only a once-in-awhile type of thing. Aunt Pearl nodded and followed my mom into the cheerful room chattering excitedly and admiring Henry’s artwork from school hanging on the walls. Henry makes a beeline to Peter soon after the family settles down. I think Henry liked to boss him around after being bossed around by me (I tried my best to not tell him what to do, but sometimes the orders just slipped out!) so he chosed to play with Peter. I brought Maureen to the small playroom filled with random toy trucks and cars that Henry played with. I watched her grab and whack a small purple car. I sighed remembering the happy carefree times before I got my visions, two months ago, I didn’t have to take some medication to be able to go to school and there were no gaping holes in my life.

“Maureen, do you know who my father is?” I asked her.  Her little blonde head perked up after hearing her name and she stared at me blankly. “That’s okay, I don’t know who he is myself. I don’t even know where he lives. I mean, is he still alive?” I rambled on and on about my dad not caring about what the little girl next to me was thinking. Suddenly, Maureen pointed at the window behind me, her face pale. Whimpers started to come out of her tiny mouth. I stopped, my mouth seeming to zip up like the jacket hanging on the wooden rack. I turned around slowly, this was probably how the characters in horror movies felt; that rush of panic in your stomach.

The person standing –– no, floating –– was smiling at Maureen with black, empty eyes. His skin was grey, and there was a black arrow that seemed to vibrate stuck in his back. A picture flashed through my mind: the woman who approached me in my vision. I shrieked when I made eye contact with his ghostly eyes. Weirdly, fear appeared in his eyes and the man started to disappear, limb by limb. I looked at Maureen, she stared back at me, and screamed.

My mother rushed into the room. She stopped when she saw my eyes. I looked at her, scared and confused. After she grabbed Maureen she walked toward me slowly and almost cautiously. I followed her gaze to the antique mirror that hung above the small table on the wall. I rushed to it and stared at myself. Frizzy brown hair, pale skin, orange eyes –– WAIT! I do not have orange eyes! I started to panic, I looked down at the scratched wooden floor and then stared at the mirror again. The fiery orange faded into its usual, normal, dull brown color that I saw every time I looked at myself in the mirror. I heard Aunt Pearl and Uncle Tom walk over and turn silent in the back of my mind. I looked to the left and saw Henry staring at me, his mouth wide open. I just stared at the mirror in horror, what am I? What thing did I become?

The night went by in a blur, and all I saw was the fear in my mother’s eyes, imprinted in my mutant eyes. Never in my life, had I felt so terrified and uncomfortable. My visions started to come into the world; they were actually real. So that meant that this city was actually real, this whole mess was real. There was a hole in my chest –– you know, that sour feeling that you get when you drown in panic and confusion. The feeling that I got when I was lost in the new gigantic building in the beginning of middle school? That feeling was taking over my heart.

My mother stopped talking to me altogether. I think she was still trying to wrap her head around the idea that I’m a creepy mutant person with wonky eyes. I’m also trying.

I realized that I was the only person in this realistic world who knew about these visions. Except… except for Ms. Rath. Ms. Rath knows about the City. She was my father’s advisor. It seemed like my teacher had more to tell me before I ran away.

During the evening, we went out to our well kept lawn to stargaze. I tried to make out each constellation but failed. How are you able to organize so many stars into one constellation?

I sighed when I went under the covers. Another day of potential visions. Another day of fear. Another day of confusion.

Chapter 3

My next mission was to find Ms. Rath and make sure that she told me everything she knew about my dad and my eyes. Without going to school. Do you really expect me to be able to go to school the day after having a frightening (and embarrassing) ‘stomach ache’? No you don’t. That was why I was never going back to that history classroom. Fortunately, I didn’t have a vision last night, and I was granted permission miss school. That means I had a whole day to think about my eyes. My weird eyes.

My mom and I were both a little bit rattled after the incident last night and I got a refreshing vision-free night to let the idea of my mutant facial body part sink in. I hoped my mom was as understanding as she always was. I sighed as I walked down the hall to the bathroom. It seemed like I’d been sighing a lot lately. I wondered why. I was stopped by Henry.

“I have been having dreams.” That sentence that came out of my brother’s mouth stopped me on my tracks. “Weird dreams. Weird dreams with big orange eyes staring at me, with Dad telling me to ‘remember’ or something like that.” Henry seemed to get more frightened with each word.
“You have been having dreams about my eyes? Since when?” My brother may know more about me than I do.

“The first dream started two months ago, but I have only gotten three in total.” Henry paused, it seemed like he wanted to tell me more, but his emotions were holding him back. A few seconds later Henry whispered in a timid voice “I’m worried, Kayla.” My insides crushed. I was able to deal with my visions but the thought of Henry having to go through them too made me feel horrible.

“It’s ok to be afraid, Henry. I’ve been having visions too. They’re about our dad and a city where demons are invading. I’m trying to find out more about this mess and I think I know someone who might know more about our dad and my abilities,” I told him, trying to help Henry understand.  His eyes lit up, he probably saw this as some sort of adventure in the comic books… Kayla and Henry’s Adventure to Find Their History Teacher to Find Out More About Their Father!!!

I want to read that comic.

“Kayla, you may not think so, but I think your powers are really cool. In my dreams, your eyes have saved lives, actually, they called it Kratos?” Henry said thoughtfully. I saved lives? Me?

“You know what? We are going to find out more about this whole situation. My history teacher, Ms. Rath, knows about our father and –– ”

“Wait, your history teacher, the one who is friends with Mom? She babysits me while you’re gone!” Henry interrupted me. Ms. Rath babysits Henry? Knowing that she has been inside my home for something not related to school creeped me out. A lot. But that also meant that I could talk to her about everything. Finally, I felt so relieved to talk to someone about my visions.

Chapter 4

I stared at the demon towering over me, trying to get into its ugly mind. I snapped my fingers and the demon, with the five demons behind it, disappeared into ashes. I felt a fraction of my energy fade away as I stumbled to the safe house nearest to me. My energy seemed to be dissolving more and more every time I destroyed demons. I moved around the many injured people and went to go find my sister who told me specifically to meet her in the safe house near the Lily River after three in the afternoon. I heard shouts from out of the window and the whistle of an arrow. I wanted to scream in frustration. Why wasn’t General Lucien sending in the city’s powerful troops? Was he only relying on the talents of the Mutatia? The General’s intelligence seemed to be dimming after his advisor left. Our proud and beautiful city cannot be turned into a wasteland of demons.

“ Clairementine! Over here!” I turn my head to my sister sitting on the bench, finishing up wrapping a big bandage around a wounded Mutatia. I sighed at the sound of her childhood nickname for me. “Finally, I was so worried after the General sent the alarm to the Mutatia and you didn’t come back!” Her gentle face was eerily calm as she stared me down. I avoided her look by looking at my small signal panel on my wrist that was buzzing with an alert –– ALL MUTATIA MUST RETURN TO THE SAFEHOUSES BY THE FOURTH HOUR.  –– General Lucien. Oops. That’s why I did not recognize anyone on the battlefield.

“How did you even know about the alert, Grace?” I interrogated my sister. She sheepishly pointed at the wrist of her old Mutatia patient. I sighed and slumped into the dated, out-of-place, armchair. The springs squeaked under the new weight. I ripped of the silver mask that proved my status.

“Claire!” I just closed my eyes, not wanting to deal with anyone at this moment. “Claire! Wake up!” I inwardly groaned and opened my eyes. I see Brendan’s concerned face staring down at me. “Oh, good you’re awake.” I really wanted to laugh but I knew it would be unseemly for this situation.

“The General wanted all the captains to repower in the safehouses.” I nodded and dismissed my messenger. He still lingered. I turned my head and was about to question it when he said, “Most of your Saplings died overusing their power and the general was very angry.”

WHAT!!! Okay, calm down. I’m the leader I have to stay calm. “Oh! That’s awful! I will have to speak to him later to get some advice. Thank you so much for the information.” I said through gritted teeth. Brendan seemed to be disgusted at my lack of sympathy for the young Mutatia who died, but still understood my cue to leave. Even though he was almost a year older than me, it didn’t matter, he would still take my orders –– I was his captain. All of us trained and fought together equally. Anyone could also be your group’s captain, if you worked hard and wanted the responsibility. The responsibility. That was probably the worst part of my job. I was good at battle plans and organizing everyone and I loved being a leader; someone people could respect and look up to you, but I disliked having to always be bothered, always having to discuss things with other leaders, saying the right thing to be a good role model for my Saplings and, of course, making sure that they were trained the right way and using their privileged powers correctly. The young fighters were always so passionate about defending their city, they overused their talents, some were more powerful than others, and didn’t get to recharge in the madness of battle, therefore, they died.

I was used to all these tragedies –– people dying, turning into demons, etc.

I followed the signs of the safehouse to the repowering station, slipping my mask back on, and feeling a bit self conscious, as I do each time I put it on. Once I saw the small enclosed room, I waited on the line of Mutatia. Energy was extremely important to us. No energy? No powers, and no defending our city. Some Mutatia used different types of energy, but most used electricity. The general tried to experiment with other types of energy; water,  fire, wind, and solar. Different Mutatia reacted to different types, so the General decided to just use all of them. I was assigned to do tests on the energies for my project as captain last year. It took maybe about ten million years and ten million pounds of hard work to complete it. But the outcome was useful for my group and my battle friends. I figured out that the most powerful type of energy is electricity, and the least powerful was solar power. The line shuffled forward.

When I finished charging up I set off to find the General to talk about the situation. I tapped my wristband on my arm to to turn on the green light in the corner of the screen, to turn on my tracking device so my leader can know where I am. (You have to turn it off while in the power station). Every time I saw the lime green light flash on, I  felt a vibration between the vertebra of my neck which sent shudders down my spine. I seemed to be the only captain who has not adapted to this feeling, the feeling of people watching you and your every move. Maybe if they had chosen somewhere else to place the device, like my arm, I would not feel the vibrations.

Even though the battles outside my window are ruthless and bloody, the enemies do have some sort of organized plan that we have learned to live around. It goes mostly by hours. Because I have gotten used to the war scene after many years, I had learned the “schedule” and memorized it. I had to, all captains had to. Out of all the inhabitants of this city, the ones I pitied the most were the newborns, the toddlers. They have to grow up and figure out who they were while this war was raging outside their windows. While they took their first steps, and babbled their first words, there would be sounds of battle and demons in the background. Their first memories would be of having to hide in their shelters, and they would not be able to enjoy the amazing landscape of the city. While my childhood was full of oblivious, carefree, and battle-free memories: bounding down the valleys with Grace and spending time with my mother baking goods for our neighbors, (our city prides ourselves on the value of community that all children are being taught in their daily lives). There were little of these precious memories but I kept them close to my heart.

Sometimes I wondered if inhabitants of this city were actually going to experience that kind of life now that it has changed so much. Instead of superiors being the mayor, politicians, educators, the most important leader of our society was the General and people here looked up to the military: the fighters and their captains, and at the moment it was the Mutatia.

I wondered what the change “back to normal” will be like. Hard? Quick? Or will things slowly start to change. How will we ever forget the hours of when the demons will strike or when they rest and we can finally run back home that are lodged into our brain? I would never be able to stroll across town in the middle of the fifth hour (when the demons fight their second to last attack) calmly, weaponless.

Getting rid of these thoughts that came across my mind daily, I readjusted my mask that never seemed to form comfortably over my skin like it did for my fellow leaders. I then took a sharp turn left in a small alley way, ducking my head to avoid eye contact with anyone else.

Chapter 5

The General’s office was right in the middle of the city, for easy access. Usually he had many visitors, but at that hour, most inhabitants were “enjoying” their time in their homes. As I walked up the steps, a figure came into view. She had a silver mask on, covering her face the same way mine covers my face. The long dark braid that tumbled gracefully down her back was the only way I recognized the captain. Rayna. Funny how it took so long for me to determine who someone, that I have worked with for many years, was. She rudely bumped into me to acknowledge me.

“Oh, Claire, I did not see you in any of the safehouses. I was worried,” she said in a polite manner (but fake), even though she was obviously trying to embarrass me for not paying attention to the alert. She had always been like this, since we were younger and we just started learning how to be captains. Once, I smuggled in a bag of chips during a training to eat during break and, of course, Rayna was there and saw me take a bite out of a crunchy, greasy potato chip. She immediately told our trainer and he has hated me ever since. I have hated her ever since.

“I did not notice the message,” I replied stiffly. I did not want to give her any satisfaction with my tone.

“I heard what happened to your group,” she smiled. Wow, she just went straight into it. She didn’t even try to be polite this time. She was with me during the lecture about how keeping the fighters in your group safe and by saying that, she reminded me of why I should be ashamed. For once I was glad my mask was over my head because I am not good at hiding the emotions on my face. I roughly shoved past her, and strode up the rest of the stairs.

Yesterday, my friend betrayed me. The teacher asked her if I was talking. I don’t know why. He must have thought I was talking because my hand was placed over my mouth. I was really uncomfortable in my chair. I didn’t want to get in trouble. I had already had a bad recess, and now I had a headache because my friend was really inappropriate at lunch. I don’t want to say what happened, because it was too gross.

Mr. Monserati asked my friend, “Is Matthew talking?”

My friend hesitated. She laughed and said, “YES.”

I really wasn’t talking. She betrayed me. She was no longer my friend.

Because I am not God, I did not forgive her for getting me in trouble. I felt mad at my friend. God would have felt sad for her because she committed a sin by betraying someone. Judas turned his master in for thirty pieces of gold. Judas saw his sin and hung himself. My friend did not do that – all she did was hang out with other people. Judas had also betrayed him. It is bad to betray. I hope she will apologize. If she does, I will forgive her. Amen.

Chapter 1

We were in a big fight with Syria. One day, when I was flying to Syria to defeat them, I was talking to my pilot, Matthew. Matthew was my first friend.

“Take a left turn and shoot a missile,” said Matthew.

“Roger that,” I said.

Sometimes I would just get bored and talk to my pilot Matthew. We had nothing in common because I am a vehicle and so is he…

Matthew wanted a special army helmet. I wanted to help him by forcing the U.S. Army to give every soldier a helmet. It could save him from dying. It was bulletproof, and when he put it on, it would make the whole suit bulletproof and create a facemask.

I looked down, then up. I saw a whole group of Syrian army planes. They were green with army waves. So I talked to the captain, but he didn’t really agree with me. I said that it would be very good –– we could win everything. He still didn’t believe me. Finally, I convinced him, and he believed me. So he gave me and my pilot a helmet, but not anybody else. I didn’t really care. Everybody else cared. They said, “That’s not fair at all!”

They said, “That’s not fair at all!”

I felt sad. But the captain said, “Hurry up, get in the sky!”

I was too busy daydreaming, so he hit me. I finally stopped daydreaming and took flight. Maybe you don’t understand what that means … neither do I. But what I mean is that I took off. Now, let’s get back to the story.

Chapter 2

After that, there were a whole bunch of army planes pointing at me because they thought that I would start daydreaming again. I got mad and told everybody that I would stay focused. Finally, they left.

It was daytime and kind of windy. I started to run low on gas. There was still one plane next to me who didn’t believe that I had stopped daydreaming, so it passed over a tiny bit of its gas to me. I went as high as I could. I became frozen and I couldn’t control what I was doing. I was a little bit curious, especially about how to control myself again. I turned my jets on and was finally able to control myself again. We were all so happy!

Chapter 3

Then I started going so high, I almost touched space. I couldn’t go down. I tried and tried.

I asked Matthew to help me, but he was too busy watching TV on his phone. (He thought that I was controlling myself). He was watching CNN news.

I yelled, “Matthew!!!”

I realized that he was asleep and felt disappointed.

He eventually woke up.

“Where am I? Is it already night?” asked Matthew.

“Now we’re in space,” I said.

“What?? Why did we go into space? I thought you would be controlling!” he said.

“No! You never said that.”

“I did, but you were just daydreaming.”

I really was daydreaming. I was in big trouble. I just knew we weren’t going to win the war with Syria.

There were 300 stars all over the place! “Wow! I never thought that was actually true!” I said.

As I got back from space, I heard a reporter say that we had won! I got back and landed. I got pushed back by an airplane.

“Wow,” I thought. “I never knew that would happen.”

“Well, you know, it wasn’t really as bad as I thought it was,” I said to Matthew.

Matthew said, “Seriously, I don’t care.”

He was still watching CNN.

Chapter One: Shopkins

Hi, my name is Daisy and I am ten years old. I have one Shopkins toy. My sister is only a year old and has twenty eight Shopkins. This is not fair – I hate that my sister has twenty eight. I like Shopkins because they’re little, and my dog doesn’t eat little things. I like playing with them with my mom and sister. For Easter or Valentine’s Day I can get more. Valentine’s day is next week!

Chapter Two: Valentine’s Day

I woke up with a basket on my bed! Inside the basket were shopkins! I opened them… I got the worst one! I looked at its name without noticing that it was a limited edition. It was called Roxie Ring. My sister came in and screamed, “Ahhh, you have a limited edition?”

That’s when I realized I got a limited edition Shopkins!

I opened the other one that was in the same basket. It was Sally Scent. My sister screamed again, “Ahhh! Sally Scent! That’s not fair!” (That time she knew from the beginning that it was a limited edition. Now, whenever she screams, it means that I have a limited edition.)

I opened the other one, which was –

“Ahhh!” My sister screamed again. “Sunny Screen! That is not fair!”

Before I could stop her, she opened the other one. It Papa Tomato. She hesitated before moaning again.

I went downstairs and found the pups still sleeping. Me and my sis found another present with both of our names on it, so we opened it together. It was from Mom and Dad, and it said that we were going to move to a bigger house because we were going to have four new siblings!

My mom was pregnant with quadruplets!

Crying, I went to my room. I was shocked. I called my best friend, The Hair.

“I am moving to NYC,” I said.

“What? That was what I was going to tell you! I’m actually moving to New Jersey,” he said, “but I’ll be right across the George Washington Bridge!”

Chapter Three: Moving Day

I woke to a moving truck outside of my window. I did not know that we were moving today (I thought that we were moving this weekend), but whatever!

We drove to the apartment. My sister had a blue and pink bedroom, and I had a hanging bed. There was even a playroom with a whole collection of Shopkins! I found seventy seven Shopkins outside of the box and forty four inside of another box, and I opened them all. They were limited edition! And, I got all the Shopkins from seasons one and two!

After, we went to the Empire State Building. It was so cool! The Hair came with us!

Chapter Four: School

The next day, I discovered that The Hair went to the same school as me. I could not find him, so I went to the principal’s office to see if he knew where he was. The one problem was that the principal was not in his office at the moment. I looked on each floor.

The principal was still not there when I went back to class, so I asked my teacher if he knew where he was. It turns out that the principal was in the classroom the whole time! I asked him if I could transfer to The Hair’s class. He looked scary, but luckily he said, “Yes, of course! Are you new?’’

I told him I was, and then I looked for The Hair next door.

That night I learned that my mom had had her babies when I was at school. Their names were Hayden, Molly, Hudson, and Sarah!

We lived happily in New York.

Chapter One

Hi, my name is Daisy. My sister’s name is Chloe. My dog’s name is Olivia. We have a playhouse that we like to hang out in. You need to put a cover on it overnight, or else it will get wet. Last night, I forgot to put the cover on the playset, and it got soggy and wet and nearly fell over. Now we’re going to get a new piece of cardboard to start off our new playhouse. But, I’m torn because I don’t know what color cardboard I should get! I’m thinking of getting blue, but I don’t know… I’m also thinking about getting yellow because that’s my favorite color, and whenever I think of the color yellow I want a banana. I started to get stressed out because I didn’t know what color to get.

I asked my dad, “Surprise me: yellow or blue?” So he ordered the cardboard, and we went home and waited for it to come in the mail. When it arrived, I opened up the package and saw the cardboard – it was awesome. We set up the new playhouse and my sister went in first. It was her first time walking. She walked because she was so excited. And the color was… dun-dun-dun… BLUE!

Meanwhile, it was time for Halloween. We had to get our Halloween costumes, so we went to the Halloween store. I didn’t know if I wanted to be a journal, a pencil, or a playhouse, so, as usual, I asked my dad to surprise me. And, as usual, to get the costume in the mail.

After, we went home, waited for it for ten days, and by then it was already the day before Halloween. We got it, and it was a… dun-dun-dun… a pencil! I tried it on, and it fit me perfectly, so now I had to go and find something for Chloe.

So, we went to the Halloween store again. She seemed to like Elmo but I said, “Nah, not for you!”

I asked if she wanted to be a matching pencil but my dad said, “No, too cute,” but then I had an idea.

“Even better! You can be a piece of paper!” I told my dad, as usual, to mail it to me. We got it that day. We opened it up and it was a piece of paper. Then it was time to find a costume for Olivia. She’s a mini-Golden doodle. We went to the store and looked for different stuff, like Cotton Candy, Robots, People… but nothing seemed to work! Then, me and my dad ran to a different Halloween costume store, and it was the best one ever. It was ice cream with a dog cone!

The next day…

It’s Halloween! We got all dressed up and started with a nice, simple halloween set-up for the party. Then, at around – hmmm –  two o’clock, we started the party. At around five o’clock we had dinner. Then we went out, all dressed up.

I carried my sister, and we went to one house that had a sign that said “We have a sale!” There was something for Nick Jeff that I wanted to get. If you all don’t know, Nick Jeff is the Hair’s brother. I got it and, as usual, I said, “Ship it to Nick Jeff.” I gave his address and after that I was pretty tired. I went home and went to bed.

While I was lying in bed, I couldn’t stop thinking about how badly I wanted a phone. I’m going to ask her for one for my birthday. If I haven’t told you yet, my mom said that for my birthday – which is around the corner – I can be on the cover a magazine!

The next day, I went to the playhouse with my sister and my dog. My sister helped me with my homework. My mom told us that we could play after I finished my homework, so my sister helped me with it, and soon it was time to play!

Chapter Two

It was the morning of my birthday and my sister was awake. She woke me up. She says “Happy Birthday!” in her baby voice, and then she brought me downstairs. There were so many balloons and presents. My mom said I could open up one, so I did. I opened the smallest one, and it was a ring! It had a golden diamond shaped like a heart and a golden band. I was psyched! I ate cake for breakfast. It was my favorite kind of cake: ice cream cake. My sister got it all over her face and her nose. She had ice cream snot all day.

Guests started to come, and I got more and more excited. I like to start opening my gifts before we do all the other fun stuff, so I opened them. I got lots of stuff, but my favorite two were a phone and an interview at an agency to see if I could get on a magazine cover.

Once everybody left, I opened up a small gift. It was a card that said Olivia was pregnant. There were going to be puppies in the house.

A few months later…

Soon enough the puppies were here! We went back to the old list of names, and decided that the names would be Liz, Hayden, Emi, and Rose.

The pups got big, but not too big! I wanted to get an interview for the puppies for Weekly Magazine because they were so cute, but I couldn’t because it was too much money. The interview cost $15 per hour.

When I finally saved up enough money, I told my parents, “I think today will be the day I go to the interview.”

They said, “No, because you have to practice for next week’s skiing race.”

So I went to the mountain to practice, but the next morning I went to the interview. It was a small room that felt like a lobby. The butler offered me water, and then I went into the room, which smelled like puppies.

The butler hadn’t told me that this week was puppy week, which I discovered when I sat down (in this beautiful hard wood chair) and one of the thirteen writers told me. He also told me that on January 20th next year they are going to feature my pups in the magazine! By the time I left it was dark outside, but I was so excited!

When I got home, I ate dinner and went to bed.

The next day…

Emi was not in bed with Olivia.

Olivia came in and told me she was missing. We looked and looked but could not find him. It felt like we’d looked all over the world. But then, I remembered that there was one place left to look: the interview room.

The next day we went to the interview room. He was there! I said to him, “Emi, you cannot do that ever again!”

On the way out, I learned that we were to come here next month.

Next month…

Me and my mom went to the agency, and Olivia and Chloe came a bit later with Dad. They did it – we saw all the magazines the puppies were in!

 Chapter One

This is Daisy. She is the best student in the whole class – she wants to go to school every day.

It was the first day in 3rd grade, the best grade, and Daisy was jumping up and down (Daisy loved school). She told her mom that she did not need lunch because she could get it at school.

‘’Ok,” said Mom, “let’s go!”

“Yay!’’ exclaimed Daisy.

12 hours later…

“I’m performing my first science experiment!” Daisy told her mom. “I’m gonna go upstairs and start.” She worked and worked, and then she worked some more. She skipped dinner and she went to bed at 10 p.m. – which was late for her. She fell asleep on the table while working on her project.

When she woke up, the table, which used to be blue, was gluey and full of red feathers. She cried and cried because she hadn’t finished her project, but then her mom said, “Believe in yourself, you can do it.”

Daisy tried and tried and tried. She went to school with a frown on her face.

“Why are you so sad, Daisy?” asked her friend Sofia.

“Because I didn’t finish my science project,” she moaned. “I’m so disappointed with myself.” Daisy’s stomach hurt.

“Why don’t you just go into the science room? You have half an hour to work, which means that you could probably finish it.”

So Daisy did, and half an hour later she was done with her project.

The next day, she went to get the table. She put it in the van and drove off, and told her mom that she hadn’t been able to finish her project.

Her mom said, “It is what it is,” and dropped her off at school.

Then, the school bell rang, but it turned out that someone was messing around and had rung it accidentally. Daisy was glad it was a joke, because she was counting on getting to school a few minutes early so that she could retrieve her finished project.

Daisy jumped up and down until her stomach didn’t hurt anymore.

“Wow!” exclaimed her teacher.

“I can’t believe I did it!” she said with a big smile on her face.

The first class was science. Daisy went to the science room and shared her project, which was a feather table on which she would see if sugar would dissolve in gatorade. She did it, but the feathers that were going to go on the gatorade to make it look pretty had just been glued. The jar of feathers fell over and stuck to the table. Finally, she put her project on the table and it became fixed to the surface, making her experiment easier to perform (and prettier).  

The next subject was writing. Daisy wrote about her science project.

Five hours later, she came home through the back door and saw a puppy! “Why is there a dog in the back of our house?” she asked her mom.

“Because you did it! You did it – you finished your project! The puppy is my reward to you.”

“Mom, I have something to tell you.” Daisy hesitated. “I wrote it all down and asked my teacher if I could bring it home, and she said yes, so I brought the note home so that I wouldn’t have to explain it to you. Anyway, I’ll be up doing my math homework.”

One hour later, her mom came up, and she didn’t look that mad. “That was the best story ever! I’m not mad that you glued the table, but I didn’t like that table anyway, because your dad picked it out. Now, let’s go out with your puppy, and while I’m looking for a new table, you can think of a name for him.

Daisy made a list of possible names for the puppy:

Rose

Kate

Hudson

Olivia

Jessie

Jess

Hayden

Emmy

Chloe

Liz

Elizabeth

“That’s enough, that’s enough…” her mom said. “Let’s think of less serious names, cuter names, like Dandelion, or Cloudy, or Bubbles, or something like that.”
“Let’s name him Olivia! I love it, I love it! Please, please, please?” Daisy pleaded.

“Okay, fine. Let’s go to the pet store and get a collar for him. What’s his middle name going to be?”

“Let’s make it… Cloudy!”

They went and got him a sparkly pink collar. Then they went to the furniture store and ordered a new table. It would come that afternoon.   

Later that day, the table arrived!!! Daisy and her mom opened the package… and it turned out to be a bed!

“What?” cried her mom. “This is not a table. This is a bed!‘’ Her mom shouted.

Chapter Two

The next day was Saturday. They sent back the bed and ordered the right piece of furniture this time. When it got to their house, they opened it up and discovered it was… a… nothing.

’What?’’ exclaimed Daisy.

They gave up on looking for a table. Her mom asked her, “Did you love that table?”

“Yes, I loved that table! But it’s okay if I don’t get it back.”

“You can get it back your own way! What do you want?”

“Let me think about it… let me go to the Hair’s house.”
When Daisy got to the Hair’s house, he said, “You should get a brand new rainbow TV!”

Daisy was about to walk out the door. She had been thinking for a while and did not have the patience for the Hair.

“Wait, what do you want?” the Hair chased after her.

“I want something, but I don’t need it… ” Daisy sighed. “Actually, for a long time I’ve wanted a rainbow shelf that gives me everything I want while lying in bed. But Nick Jeff never gave it to me. My mom says that Christmas is around the corner and I might get one for Christmas, but who knows? I might not.”

She ran back home and asked her mom to buy her a rainbow shelf that would give her anything she wanted while in bed. “And the Hair also said I should get a rainbow TV!”

Chapter Three

The next day, a big, big box was delivered to Daisy’s house. The box was almost as big as the house! She opened the package and found the biggest, most ginormous rainbow TV she’d ever seen! That was only the outside. In another box, she found a tiny rainbow TV, which was awesome. Opening the third box, she discovered the rainbow shelf.

Forty six hours later, it was Christmas. Daisy marched downstairs. The Hair came over. They started opening presents. The sad thing was, he wanted to open the rainbow shelf last. Nick Jeff got a new wand, Daisy got clothes for her dog, and then she found a note saying “Go to Mom.”

Daisy went to Mom. Mom said, “Go to Dad.”

Dad said, “Go to Grandma.”

Grandma said, “Go to Grandpa.”

Grandpa said, “Go to Mom.”

So, she went to Mom, who said, “Go get everyone who was in the circle.” When everyone came, she said, “We’re going to have a baby!”

All of them had the best day, and celebrated the coming of a new family member. Daisy’s mom had been hiding this for two weeks!

Two Months Later…

Daisy went to school, and she told her class that she would have to miss some class in nine months, because of the new baby. She didn’t tell her class that she was going to have a new sibling, but she went to the Hair the next day, who was very excited for her. Two months after that, the Hair began to visit every day to see if the baby had arrived yet. One day, when he asked if the baby had come, Daisy’s family, sick of his questions, groaned, “Nooo.”

Chapter Four

Daisy and her mom started thinking of names. They went back to the list of dog names. Then, they went to the doctor to find out if the baby was a boy or a girl, and they found out it was a girl. Her name would be… Chloe! The idea came to Daisy, and her parents loved it. Two months after that, her mom’s belly was as big as two watermelons. It felt like just yesterday Daisy learned that she was pregnant!

Two weeks after that, her mom went to her seven month check-up. The doctor wasn’t sure if it was a girl anymore. Daisy and her mom would find out for sure when the baby was born. Two weeks after that, she went back to school, and finally told her class that she was going to have a sibling.

Chapter Five

Two months later, it was time! It was 9:45 A.M. Daisy didn’t go to school – instead, at 10:30, she went to the hospital to visit her new baby sister.

“Hi, Chloe!” she cried. It was a girl. Daisy was so excited.

Chloe’s first birthday was September 12th, 2239. It was the best day ever. Her first word was “Daisy.”

“TESS! TESS, GET DOWN HERE! SET THE TABLE!” Mother yelled from downstairs.

I groaned. I brushed my long brown hair off my shoulders and face. I sat up on the hardwood floor and pushed my only blanket off. It was the middle of winter, and this was Angelica’s first baby blanket. By now it was worn and faded, torn at all four edges. It didn’t even cover my legs anymore, and came down to about my waist.

If there was one more snowstorm this season, I would most likely get frostbite or even hypothermia.

I climbed out of my faded red nightgown and put on an ugly dark dress the color of a half rotten orange. Then I put a gray apron over it. The apron had been originally white but Mother refused to wash it because it was mine. I now looked like a pilgrim.

I guess this is what you get if you are born a Moreno. A Moreno is someone born with brown hair to a pure blonde family.

A pure blonde family is extremely rare and extremely cherished. If you are pure blonde, you are very rich and every relative in your family is blonde.

I “ruined” our family. Our family wasn’t pure anymore because of me, the Moreno. At first, when I came to understand what I was, I was ashamed and never showed my face to anyone. But now, I was changed. I didn’t really care anymore because I’d adjusted to their cruelty. I was used to it by now.

I rushed down the stairs from the attic. The small, cramped, slanted attic was the room where I slept. I wouldn’t even consider it mine because Annie shared it with me. Annie, the terribly annoying, noisy, clumsy cat.

I kept on going down flights and flights of stairs of our huge house, zigzagging past maids and butlers, who served my family members but did nothing for me, the Moreno.

I sighed. I ran into the dining room to face Mother.

“TESS! You took longer than you should’ve. Now set the table for me and your two sisters,” Mother scolded, and shoved me into the kitchen. Mother and my sisters had never stepped one foot into the kitchen –– they’d never even breathed near the door of it. Only maids and butlers went in there. And me, the Moreno.

I grabbed the fancy and expensive white lace tablecloth and spread it across the table. I started to walk back into the kitchen but Mother stopped me.

“Tess! You know that there aren’t supposed to be wrinkles in the tablecloth!” Mother shouted. So I fixed all the little tiny wrinkles, even the smallest ones that weren’t noticeable at first. Then, I finally set up all the plates, utensils, cups, napkins, food, and drinks. I waited for my sisters to file in.

“Good morning Mother. I thought you were going to get rid of the little Moreno?” my oldest sister, Angelica, said. She was wearing her flowing white dress, and her luxurious, silky hair was tied back in a french braid three-quarters of the way down her back. She scowled at me.

“Mother! I am terribly hungry. May we have breakfast now?” my other older sister, Evangeline, asked.

“Yes, darlings, sit around the table,” Mother said, and they all sat down. I started to sit in a chair but Evangeline stopped me.

“Tess, you have to sit on the ground over there. You don’t deserve to sit with us.” Evangeline gestured to the corner where the kitchen wall meets the dining room.

Angelica handed me a plastic plate with a plastic fork, two strawberries, and a mini waffle. They get more food than I do because they are blonde.

I took the plastic plate. They didn’t want me to make their fine utensils and plates as impure as I am, the Moreno.

I sat down in the corner where Evangeline told me to sit. I looked down at my food. I shoved the two strawberries into my mouth because I was beyond starving. I quickly ate the mini waffle and then threw out the plastic plate, which was now pink from strawberry juice, and took the garbage outside and left it in the bin for the garbage men to collect.

“TESS! GO TO TOWN AND BUY SOME MILK AND EGGS!” Mother yelled, and I made my way through the rocky path without shoes. Mother never bothered to get me shoes; she thinks I’m not worth it.

I saw the town coming closer and closer. My feet hurt. All the little pebbles, sharp stones, and tiny pieces of broken glass were unavoidable and dug into the soles of my feet.

Then the town came full into my sight and was right in front of me.

I ran to the paved road. I sat down and started picking all the sharp things out of my feet because I couldn’t stand it any longer.

I stood up and was relieved. There was no pain at all anymore.

I walked down the road to the farmer, Farmer Greene. He always sells milk and eggs.

“Hello, Mr. Greene. May I please have some milk and eggs for Mother?” I asked.

“How many, Tess?” Farmer Greene asked.

“Five milk cartons and five boxes of eggs,” I responded. If I got fewer than five, Mother would kill me and send me out on that horrible road, and if I got more than that Mother would send me back to return it. Either would involve going back on that horrible, sharp, painful road.

“Here you go, Tess, have a nice day. My wife noticed that whenever you come to town you never have shoes, so she decided to go out and buy you some,” Farmer Greene said thoughtfully.

“Oh, I am sorry, but I can’t accept that. You see, I am a Moreno, and Mother would kill me if I did. I truly appreciate it, but you see, Mother… ” I started to say, but Farmer Greene interrupted.

“It’s okay, take them –– I will escort you home. When you are done shopping, come here when you are done, Tess,” Farmer Greene said. I walked down the street into the heart of town.

I continued walking down the side of the street and came face to face with Mr. Warner.

“Good morning, Mr. Warner,” I greeted him. Mr. Warner was in his 70s and was the sort of man who was very prejudiced against anyone who wasn’t blonde, especially Morenos.

“Shut up, you foolish child! Your mother should have sent you away, little Moreno. She is stupid enough to keep you! You are a disgrace to the Faircastle family name! You are as impure as ever! Get out of my sight!” Mr. Warner screamed, and everyone in town stared. He threw me to the ground and all my groceries flew everywhere around me.

I recovered and knelt down to pick them all up. Then a boy kneeled down and started to help me.

“It’s not fair for Morenos to be treated like this,” the boy said.

“Are you a Moreno?” I asked, and then I looked up to see his perfectly blonde hair with not even one hint of brown in it. He was very tall and had small freckles covering his nose. He was wearing the most expensive pixelgram t-shirt you could get and fancy jeans.

“No, I’m pure, but that shouldn’t make a difference. It is just hair color, people, come on! This is like 20th century discrimination all over again,” the boy said.

“I know!” I agreed, and stuck the last of the groceries back in the bag.

“I am trying to stop all this stuff. It isn’t really working. My father won’t change the law. He just won’t do it. He likes people to be separated,” the boy said.

“Wait, you mean your father is the king?!” I was surprised. I mean, really surprised.

“Yeah. By the way, I’m Brad,” he said. He looked sort of embarrassed at my reaction to him being the prince.

“ I’m Tess. Just Tess. Mother won’t even let me use my last name,” I sighed.

“Oh, I am so sorry. Maybe I can convince my father to change the law and make everyone equal. It’ll be hard but I’ll try. Meet me by that rock tomorrow, same time,” Brad called and turned to go.

I stood up and walked back to Farmer Greene.

“Here you go, Tessie,” Farmer Greene said kindly, as he helped me slip on my new shoes. They were the softest, best-fitting, most soothing things I had ever put on. I had never really felt comfortable being a Moreno and all, but this was great. I guessed this was what normal feels like.

We walked back home together.

“TESS! WHY ARE YOU WEARING SHOES?” Mother yelled furiously. She was like a lion and I was a defenseless lamb.

I quickly ran into the kitchen and put away the groceries. I left Mother to talk this through with Farmer Greene.

I finished up my daily duties. I am never allowed to have lunch.  At most I have two meals a day, if I am lucky.

I did the rest of my chores and was sent up to bed.

I sat down on the creaky floor of the attic and crawled under the blanket. Actually, I couldn’t crawl under it –– it was way too small for that.

I lay down. Annie jumped on the floor from the top of the ancient bedside table Grandma Bessie so “thoughtfully” gave to me (she just wanted to get rid of it), and an antique vase from 2017 was sent into the air and came down with a smash.

“Oh, you clumsy little cat. Annie! Look what you’ve done! I am going to get in trouble with Mother now. Annie, I wish you weren’t so clumsy… move into Angelica’s room and annoy her! I’d like to see that,” I said and shooed Annie away from the mess.

“TESS! You darn Moreno, stop being so clumsy and clean this mess up. When you are done, get into bed,” Mother scolded, and went back down stairs. I swept up the mess and fell asleep.

The next day I was sent to town. I walked there happily in my extremely comfortable shoes.

I met Brad at the rock. He seemed excited.

“TESS! Guess what! Look at this!” Brad squealed happily and showed me a hologram of the show News On The Go.

“Hello, citizens of Carolina! Today the King has changed a law. The law has been changed so Morenos will have equal rights and will be treated the same as Pures. If you are not treating Morenos the same, you will go to prison,” the hologram said.

I was beyond excited. Mother would finally treat me the same as Evangeline and Angelica. I would get new blankets, and I would actually get a bedroom and I wouldn’t have to share with Annie anymore. The best part was that I wouldn’t be a servant or slave anymore.

“That is amazing! Thanks so much, Brad! But, I guess that means I won’t come here much anymore,” I said sadly while looking at the ground. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him.

“You don’t have to be sent here –– you can just come here on your own and sit at the rock, and I’ll be there,” Brad suggested, and that brought my spirits back up.

And that is what I did. I was still despised by my family, who held onto the old prejudices, but outside I was treated as an equal. Life was great. Every morning I would head into town, but instead of looking like a pilgrim, I looked like a normal girl.

That was all I had wished for, and it came true.

I was free.

Case file noted by Guy T. Bloom of the paranormal branch of the FBI.

Prologue

Donald Drumpf was an ordinary man… NOT! He is by far, the best candidate that you can vote for…. but there is a dark secret about him that nobody knows…. and this secret is about to destroy the world.

Chapter One: What happened?

Donald Drumpf was sleeping in bed. And he woke straight up. He was having a nightmare about his science test at school tomorrow.

“At least I don’t have the pressure of running for president,” he said to himself, and went back to sleep.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” said the ghost of a rogue wizard, before using his magic teleportation powers to go into Drumpf’s room. He started chanting a Darke spell while waving his hands over Donald Drumpf. There was a flash of light, and Drumpf woke up to a man in black wizard robes from the fifteen hundreds waving his hands over Drumpf.

“It’s already over,” he said. “YOU WILL AVENGE MY FRIEND!” There was a flash of light, and the wizard disappeared.

“Ah, whatever,” Drumpf said to himself. “I’ll just go back to sleep.”

Chapter Two: The Unknown Effects

That morning, when he woke up, he was worried about his test again. What are all the parts of the Bohr diagram again? he thought to himself. He went to the kitchen and poured himself some milk for his Captain Crunch cereal. When his parents got up and went near their son, strange effects started happening in their head. They wanted their son… to win some sort of election. They weren’t sure that he was going to, yet at the same time they were.

“Hey, son?” Mr. Drumpf asked. “Is there a class president election in your class going on?”

“Yes,” he answered. “But I didn’t tell you…. How did you know?” Now there was even more pressure on him. His parents wanted him to be class president? There were 43 kids in his class… that meant he had a  3.333…  percent chance of winning, because only 30 kids were running. At least he was good at math…

“Well, son, I expect you to win this,” Drumpf’s dad said.

“Look, Dad,” Drumpf started. “I already have a test today, and winning the election is even more pressure.”

“You will be grounded if you don’t get at least second place.”

“GROUNDED?! THAT’S INSANE! THERE ARE 30 KIDS RUNNING!”

“No arguing, Donald,” Mr. Drumpf started. ‘’You will win!” There was now a faint red glow from his father’s eyes.

“Dad? Are you oka –– ?”

“SHUT IT SON! YOU MUST WIN THE ELECTION!” his father said angrily, his eyes glowing a very bright red. Donald looked at his mother, because she would obviously be on his side. To Donald’s surprise, his mother had the same red eyes as his father, and she was pretty much just glaring at Donald for a few seconds.

She broke the silence by saying, “Must have son election win,” in a deep zombie like groan.

“What’s going on?!” Donald screamed, before running out of the house to his schoolbus. On the schoolbus, he met his friend Harry.

“Dude, my parents are going ins –– ” Donald started, before screaming. He saw the same red eyes he saw on his parents.

“Win election Donald must,” his friend groaned like a zombie, no… like his parents.

“Oh, shoot,” Donald said.

Chapter Three: The Deal

When Donald got to school, there was a crowd following him, all groaning like zombies.

“UURGGGH!” the kids repeated. From an aerial view, it looked like Donald was a powerful magnet, while the other students were magnetic sand.

“Win election Donald must,” they all chanted. Donald noticed that they all had red eyes.

“Um…” Donald started. “I gotta use the bathroom.” He dashed to the bathroom, and locked the door. He could still hear their constant groaning.

What is going on!? he asked himself. The ghost of the rogue wizard was right in front of him, yet Donald didn’t see him. The ghost then appeared to Donald. Donald flinched.

“Whoa!” Donald screamed. “Who are you?”

“I am the ghost responsible for everything happening to you.”

“Why did you do this?”

“Donald J. Drumpf,” The ghost started. “Be my apprentice.”

“Okay, rewind,” Drumpf said, confused. “WHY DID YOU NEED TO PUT THIS DUMB CURSE ON ME!?”

The wizard smirked. He then snapped his fingers. The constant groaning stopped. “You see, that’s what you can do to people if you get trained as my apprentice.”

“Why me?”

“Because I saw what a Darke heart you have.”

“Okay, you know what?” Donald started in a ‘smart alec-y’ voice. “I would have been your apprentice, but I was seriously going insane after you put that spell on me. If that was you, because I mean –– ” He was cut off.

“I was the person who put that spell on you, and you didn’t really freak out that much.”

“Well, give me some proof that I didn’t fre –– ” He was cut off by the wizard snapping his fingers. A misty projection of the scene popped up- He started chanting a Darke spell while waving his hands over Donald Drumpf. There was a flash of light, and Drumpf woke up to a man in wizard robes from the fifteen-hundreds waving his hands over Drumpf.

“It’s already over,” he said. “YOU WILL AVENGE MY SON!” There was a flash of light, and the wizard disappeared.

“Ah, whatever,” Drumpf said to himself. “I’ll just go back to sleep.” The projection turned into golden dust and fell to the ground before disappearing.

“Okay, maybe I didn’t freak out that much,” Drumpf said. “But I was really freaked out when the effects started happening.”

“I can’t disprove you that time.” The wizard said. “But will you be my apprentice?”

“Um, I don’t know. Let me think about –– NO,” Drumpf said. “You put my through the most dramatic night and day of my life.” Drumpf started walking toward the bathroom door.

“You know you haven’t suffered all the effects of the spell, right?” the ghost smirked. Donald stopped walking.

“What’s next, you make it so I actually fail everything that I do?”

“No, I made it so every single election you run, you win.” Drumpf thought he saw him mutter something under his breath, but disregarded it.

“And that’s a curse because?” Donald said. He could win EVERYTHING. This was insane.

“If you ever lose an election, the world will come to an end and everyone will be alerted it was you.”

“I mean, that’s kinda –– whatever.” Drumpf walked out of the room. What Drumpf didn’t hear in that conversation were the most important parts.

“No, I made it so every single election you run, you win. But the flaw is, you lose the power for your biggest election,” was what the wizard actually said. His next line? Here’s all the secrets: “If you ever lose an election, the world will come to an end and everyone will be alerted it was you. So be warned about your biggest election.” He was just following the code of conduct: You must state all of the effects of your spell. He started chanting a Darke chant to summon his master. A ghost of an old frail man appeared. He was also wearing robes.

“The deed is done, my master. But Drumpf didn’t accept the offer,” the Rogue Wizard said, bowing down to his master.

“The offer is meaningless now. So you did the deed, huh. Good,” the Wizard’s master began. “Very good.” The master then snapped his fingers. His apprentice began to shrink.

“What… WHAT IS GOING ON?!” the apprentice screamed with a feeling of betrayal, but he was more surprised than anything. “STOP THIS RIGHT nooow!” His voice was drowned out while he shrunk. His master created a bubble with his hands, and pointed his finger at his apprentice. The bubble traveled in the direction of his apprentice. When the bubble got to his mini-apprentice, he was encased in the bubble. The master then used telekinetic Darke powers to lift his apprentice bubble into the air, to eventually land in his hands. The apprentice  repeatedly smacked and punched the inside of the bubble. The master held the bubble in his hands as if it was a valuable vase…. then he crushed it with his bare hands.

“I didn’t need him,” he said to himself. “I looked into his mind… he was going to betray me… side with Drumpf. It’s over now. The world will fall to ashes. And all of it will be Donald Drumpf’s fault.”

Chapter Four: The Meeting

When Drumpf went out of the bathroom, he didn’t have a mob following him. He didn’t have zombies groaning “Election Win Donald Must” with red eyes. All the kids were back to normal. He wasn’t sure he could trust that wizard.

After school, when he got home, he did his homework in his room. Little did he know, the ghost master of the other Rogue Wizard was floating right beside him. He chose to appear to Donald. Donald flinched.

“Why do people keep –– ” Donald began, but was cut off by the Wizard.

“I hear that my apprentice has given you the offer of being his apprentice. Well, he said his apprentice, like he was supposed to.”

“What do you mean?” Drumpf asked.

“I mean you really would have been my apprentice.”

“Okay… you came here just to tell me that? I declined.”

“Well, he told you about the other effects, right?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Well in order for those effects to work, you need to shake my hand. I made a change to the effects.”

“What?”

“They won’t be zombies anymore.”

“Who?”

“The people who are around you, idiot. Everything else he said is still intact.”

“Okay, do I need to sign a paper or anything?”

“Nope, you just need to shake my hand.” He took out his hand for a handshake. Donald took out his. Then he made the biggest mistake of his life: He shook the hand.

Chapter Five: Cause & Effect

Donald then got used to winning everything –– he didn’t have to fit any requirements. He got cocky. He started going under those requirements on purpose. He started having bad debates for the debate club, he brought a stuffed animal for a dog contest, he didn’t even try. And he is being faced with the biggest challenge of his life right now –– becoming president of the United States. Little did he know that the wizard was rubbing his hands together, laughing so hard he fell to the ground. He had almost succeeded in avenging his son who tried to destroy the world himself, DomDaniel. The effects of the spell were going away. In only a few months, the world will be ashes. If only he had accepted the offer as his apprentice. Then they would stay together on the planet Dorghast, the planet of Darke ghosts. You could come in if you are not a ghost, but you needed a Supreme Darke Ghost to escort you. You get there via Darke flying, or using the NoAir spell in space, what he was planning to do after the world explodes, maybe after using a Shield spell for the explosion. The presidential campaign is still going on, so if you don’t want the world to explode, VOTE FOR DONALD DRUMPF!

Once upon a time, there was a terrrerian that consumed stars. The terrrerian consumed stars by piling dirt up until he was at the stars. Then, he ate the stars after they fell from the sky. To get down from the dirt mountain, he flew from tree to tree until he found maple syrup. Then, he boiled the maple syrup to make sand. He used the sand in a mixifier with stone, and he got sandstone. He ate the sandstone, and then jumped from the mountain and landed safely.

He used the extra sandstone to greenify the hooligans that were smashing the buzzlight bottles, that were made by the magical buzzlight fairy, who made the buzzlight company. When the terrrerian greenified the hooligans, they turned green and stopped moving. The buzzlight fairy was very happy, so the terrrerian got a bunch of green bobbleheads that yelled at greenery. The bobbleheads were magical, so they could grant wishes. But, when the bobbleheads granted wishes, the bobbleheads yelled even more at the greenery, which would make the greenery sad. The greenery would cry, which made the greenery grow. When the greenery grew the bobbleheads evaporated slowly till there were no bobbleheads left. The greenery somehow had magic powers because the greenery absorbed the bobbleheads.The bobbleheads reproduced because one bobblehead refused to grant wishes, and then there were 100 bobbleheads again.The terrrerian accidentally wished that he had an obsidian skull, and then he got his face stuck in a skull made of sponge marshmallows. The terrrerian wished the skull off his face and wished for a walnut salad, but when he ate the walnut salad he turned blue. Luckily, he had one wish left, so he wished that he was back to normal again.

But then there were no bobbleheads left. He still had some walnut salad left, so he fed it to the stars, and the stars fell all the way down to earth. Then the earth dissolved and became a star planet. He jumped off the star planet and turned it into a huge sponge marshmallow that broke gravity. He made three-dimensional televisions, took them to the sponge marshmallow planet, and ate them.

When he ate the three-dimensional TVs he could travel into the three dimensions. Then he traveled into the world of Potonia and bought a reversal potion. Then he travelled back into his own dimension. He threw the reversal potion at the sponge marshmallow planet, and it turned into a regular planet. He jumped back down to his planet and realized that the hooligans that were smashing the buzzlight bottles. They were still smashing them because they were ungreenified.

The buzzlight fairy was really angry, so she tried to destroy Jupiter, but instead she turned Jupiter into a firecracker. The firecracker exploded into the sun, which sent the whole galaxy hurtling into space.The galaxy crashed into a humongous spiderweb and there was a galaxy-wide spider apocalypse. But the spiders were peace loving creatures, and said that they would forgive the humans if they made it illegal to hurt a spider. Then the humans outlawed hurting a spider and outlawed spider farming. The humans were happy living in a world with spiders. Everyone had no fear because the spiders would protect them.

SADLY, TH
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MESSAGE

People, and he subliminally messaged everyone to eat carrots. When everyone ate the carrots, they had super eyesight. The terrrerian still needed to remove the hooligans that kept smashing the buzzlight bottles, so he ran around the earth really fast, and that turned the earth into a super-friction planet, which only a few creatures would not survive. One of those creatures were the buzzlight-bottle-smashing-hooligans. After that, the buzzlight fairy was happy, so she gave the terrrerian time in a can. When the terrrerian opened the time in a can, there was a potent poultry powered popcorn machine that exploded exactly every elephant Ecuador ever executed. Then there was a worldwide Ecuador-executed elephant deficiency, which started a nuclear fallout. Because of the fallout, the spiders started spewing superheated spasm gas. The gas disabled the nuclear fallout by personifying it and sending it on a trip in its favorite rocket ship.The only side effects of the superheated spasm gas is that baby chickens turned green, and all the spiders shrunk again.

When the terrrerian saw the green chickens he thought he had greenified them by accident. So he fed all the baby chickens his spare walnut salad, and the baby chickens turned yellow again. The unbalance of color was balanced, so everything that was green turned yellow. The terrrerian realized that he didn’t greenify the baby chickens, and they were green before. Then, thanks to the transdimensional televisions, the terrrerian totally consumed, he transported himself into the rainbowredorangeyellowgreenblueindigoviolet dimension.

In the rainbowredorangeyellowgreenblueindigoviolet dimension, everything was rainbowredorangeyellowgreenblueindigoviolet. In the dimension, the terrrerian went into the color utility store and was going to buy a color unbalancer, but when the terrrerian walked in, he saw that a thief stole all the color unbalancers. Then everything in the rainbowredorangeyellowgreenblueindigoviolet dimention turned green because color spectrum looked like this: rainbowredorangeyellowgreenblueindigoviolet instead of this: rainbowredorangeyellowgreenblueindigoviolet. Because green was the same in both spectrums, the rainbowredorangeyellowgreenblueindigoviolet dimension turned green. Then the terrrerian bought a cannon and it hit the thief.

The terrrerian then put the color unbalancers back, and then got one for free because he got the color unbalancers back. Then the terrrerian went back home and used the color unbalancer. Then the color was unbalanced again. One side effect of the color unbalancer was that the hooligans were ungreenified, so they were yelllowified. Yellowifing something made it faster, stronger, and greenify resistant. When the terrrerian tried to greenify the hooligans they just smashed the buzzlight bottles faster. So, the terrrerian used a purplify potion to normalify the hooligans, and then the terrrerian greenified the hooligans using a green explosion.Then the terrrerian was hungry again. The terrrerian destroyed all of the stars near earth and destroyed Jupiter, so he visited buyyourownstar.com and bought a star,but the shipping was  $100,000,000,000,000,000. The terrrerian called Subway Steve and asked him to come to the terrrerian. Then Subway Steve came and the terrrerian rode him to planet with a realy confusing name: hfdjmzcnjnbvmcfk,l.kjhnmlkdfgjfkvlijbnndmgjbrn gnkhb5rilkfnghnktuhbnjhutjhutktjnbjknufmjrknvbtmbnhjkvthukbtnjkukidvmnkbktjhbvgrjnvnjxjkrmthn, AKA Planet 9.

The terrrerian went to planet 9 to get the star, but they ran out of stars, so the terrrerian used a crazily confuddled corn cob powered cod liver oil cannon to shoot cod liver oil at a star. Then the star was supercharged and spun to Earth. The terrrerian walked to earth and saw that the hooligans were ungreenified. The terrrerian realized that greenifying the hooligans wouldn’t do anything, so the terrrerian created a giant Buzzlight bottle and sent the hooligans to it. The hooligans stayed there and never bothered the buzzlight fairy again.

Or did they…?

The Buzzlight Fairy was just minding her own business, drinking a cup of tea and  watching buzzlight-bottles network. Suddenly she felt a massive pain in her side. She dropped her tea on the floor and the china shattered. This was no ordinary pain. It was as if a thousand knives appeared in her side. Suddenly the pain stopped. The Buzzlight Fairy then envisioned a being with immense capabilities, known as “the terrrerian”, creating a massive buzzlight bottle in place of Jupiter, which had been destroyed. She then saw the being place four hooligans on the planet who started smashing it immediately. The Buzzlight fairy became frustrated. Why would one make such a beautiful thing only to have it destroyed? It was then when the Buzzlight fairy swore she would get revenge against this being.

The terrrerian smiled gleefully as he saw the hooligans smashing the buzzlight bottle,without paying the slightest bit of attention to the buzzlight bottle that the terrrerian was holding. Then the ground started to shake as bits of the buzzlight bottle rose into the air. A blinding ball of light appeared. As the light faded,the terrrerian saw a fairy whose eyes were flaming. The buzzlight fairy.

“The buzzlight bottles you’ve destroyed. That you’ve sacrificed to the void. You must stop destroying them tonight or else your soul will take flight,” the buzzlight fairy said cryptically before disappearing in a ball of light.

The terrrerian then took the hooligans in a net and moved them to MarZ. On MarZ, there was zombies everywhere.When the terrrerian dropped off the hooligans off on MarZ, he expected the hooligans to get zombified, but they turned the zombies into Buzzlight Bottles! It turns out that the hooligans absorbed the magical powers from the bobbleheads, like the greenery, in The Terrrerian. Now the hooligans could turn anything they wanted into buzzlight bottles and smash them! The terrrerian tried to talk to the hooligans and asked them to stop smashing buzzlight bottles. All the hooligans said was “rfgfhtvfdzycuy,” and they walked away. Then the terrrerian felt a pulling force, like a vortex. A ball of light flickered to life and started to expand.Then it faded away and the buzzlight fairy hovered in its place.

“Hello, terrrerian. Now before you say anything, I must ask you; why did you make a giant buzzlight bottle just to have it destroyed?”

“I didn’t know that you existed before. If I knew, I never would have made it. I tried to stop the hooligans, but apparently they can turn anything they want into buzzlight bottles,” the terrrerian telecommunicated

“Can they turn each other into buzzlight bottles?” inquired the buzzlight fairy.

“I don’t know.”

The terrrerian then flew to MarZ. He took the hooligans to the nearest planet that didn’t turn into a firecracker and explode, SaTURN. On SaTURN everyone fell sideways.The terrrerian placed the hooligans in a small room and hoped the hooligans would turn each other into buzzlight bottles. What the terrrerian didn’t know, is that they placed the hooligans above the six percent helium that was on Jupiter. The hooligans turned the room into a buzzlight bottle and escaped. Before the terrrerian could react, the hooligans turned the helium into buzzlight bottles.Then SaTURN, with all the hooligans on it, started falling sideways. The terrrerian and the buzzlight fairy, who was with him, chased SaTURN. Because SaTURN was falling sideways, it crashed into Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Out of the disproportionate mush of planets the terrrerian and the buzzlight fairy saw the trapped hooligans.

“I got it!” said the buzzlight fairy, racing towards the hooligans.

No, I’ll do it, telecommunicated the terrrerian, speeding up. The terrrerian raced the buzzlight fairy to the hooligans but the terrrerian took them out of the planets first with a net.

I told you I could do it, the terrrerian thought.

“This time, my attempt will work,” said the buzzlight fairy.

The terrrerian and the buzzlight fairy went to MarZ next. There, the buzzlight fairy tried to put a zombie mask on a hooligan, but the hooligan kept resisting. Finally, when the buzzlight fairy was able to put the mask on the hooligan, the other hooligans turned the mask into buzzlight bottles.

See? I told you it wouldn’t work, the terrrerian communicated telepathically.

“Why don’t we work together? It might work, ”said the buzzlight fairy defeatedly.

Fine, the terrrerian transmitted.

The buzzlight fairy and the terrrerian then created a plan. They were going to summon a magical warlock called Asmoth. To summon Asmoth, you place candles around an altar made of stone, place an axe on top of it and chant “htomnomsamusyberehi” three times. The thing about the axe is that it has a buzzlight bottle hidden inside it. When Asmoth is summoned, he will grab the axe and yell, “WHO SUMMONED ME?” When the hooligans see Asmoth pick up the axe, they will start attacking him. Then Asmoth will get angry at the hooligans and destroy them.

It was time to put their plan into action.The terrrerian and the buzzlight fairy set up the altar and brought all the hooligans to it.Then they put the axe on the altar and chanted the word three times. Then they flew away to a safe distance.They saw a tornado of axes which then disappeared, with Asmoth the warlock in its place.

“WHO SUMMONED ME?!” inquired Asmoth. He then picked up the axe. The hooligans attacked him. From the distance that the terrrerian and the buzzlight fairy could only see explosions of dust and massive mushroom clouds. Then they heard Asmoth say “I AM ASMOTH THE WARLOCK,YAS YAS YAS!” before his shape blurred, and disappeared. When they inspected MarZ they saw that the whole planet was no longer there. Another planet had been destroyed. Now the only planets left were Earth,Venus,and MerCUREy.

“Guess my job’s done here,” said the buzzlight fairy.

“See you around,” thought the terrrerian.

“Bye,” said the buzzlight fairy.

Then the buzzlight fairy disappeared in a puff of smoke. The hooligans were gone forever.

Or were they…?

One month after the disintegration of the hooligans, the terrrerian was on a beach walking past a tree. He kicked a rock at it. The rock hit the tree. Unluckily for the terrrerian, that tree was a palm tree. Palm trees have leaves filled with greenify potion, which is what makes them green. Normally, this wouldn’t have any effect on anything, but because of the Earth’s brief moment as a sponge marshmallow planet, the palm trees, which become super absorbent around sponge marshmallows, retain their sponge-marshmallow-like insides. The combination of the vibration of the rock hitting the tree, the sponge marshmallow minerals, and the greenify potion create a silent propulsion system for the palm tree. The palm tree then silently rocketed into the atmosphere, without the terrrerian noticing a thing.

As the tree zoomed past Earth, it passed the previous location of MarZ. The sponge marshmallow, which is a superabsorbent material, absorbed the disintegrated hooligans. The palm tree rocket would have crashed into Venus, but because Venus is made of iron and rock, which boost the effects of greenify potion, the palm tree rocket blasted straight through the center of Venus, leaving a cylindrical hole in the middle of it. Then the rocket, burning through the last of its greenify potion fuel, crashed into MerCUREy. The minerals on MerCUREy started to cure the hooligans of their death, reviving them.The hooligans combined with the palm tree, the sponge marshmallows, and the last of the greenify potion. The hooligans combined into one hooligan who could jump higher, was immune to greenify potion, and was extremely smart. The hooligan didn’t want to smash buzzlight or buzzlight bottles anymore.

The terrrerian, oblivious to the fact that he caused the resurrection of the hooligans, turned around towards the glimmering ocean and saw out of the corner of his eye the empty place where the palm tree should be. Then the terrrerian thought Wasn’t there a tree there? Then the terrrerian kept on walking.                                                                                                    

Two days later…

For the past two days, the hooligan had been working on a way to escape the nonexistent atmosphere of MerCUREy. The hooligan cooled the small amounts of hydrogen, helium, and oxygen in the air until they became a liquid. Then the hooligan put the liquids in a bowl and mixed it with the merCUREic sand. This created a gigantifier. The hooligan consumed part of the mixture and grew to the size of ten giraffes. Then he jumped to earth (with his super jump ability) and started to smash everything. The hooligan left smashed trees and upturned grass in his wake. Then the hooligan did something terrible. The hooligan combined the nitrogen in earth’s atmosphere with the merCUREic mixture he had, and threw the mixture to the moon. This caused the moon to enter a sped up orbit, making the moon go into a solar eclipse. Because the moon used all of its orbital energy in those five seconds, the moon couldn’t move for the next 100 years. That meant there was a solar eclipse for the next 100 years. MWAHAHAHA!!!

The eclipse was the first thing the terrrerian noticed. Then the terrrerian heard the smashing of trees and grass.

“TERRRERIAN,” said a voice.”I’M COMING FOR YOU!”

The terrrerian saw a massive figure stomping toward him. Then, he saw the figure was a hooligan, combined with greenify potion and palm tree wood. Then the terrrerian realized what he had done. The terrrerian realized that kicking the rock against the palm tree caused it to rocket into space and collect the hooligan dust. The terrrerian realized that the palm tree rocket landed on MerCUREy and revived the hooligans. The terrrerian realized that this was all his fault.

The terrrerian needed to defeat this monstrosity. He teleported to Potiona and back and threw a greenify potion at it, but the hooligan absorbed it and only seemed to grow more powerful. Then the hooligan picked up a star from earth’s sky and smushed it in his hand. He poured the starjuice on another star that he picked up. This made a starbomb that would explode and suck all the air out of earth’s atmosphere.

“I HAVE A STARBOMB,WHICH WILL SUCK OUT ALL THE AIR OF EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE,” the hooligan said. “IT WILL EXPLODE IN three… two… one.”

The bomb exploded and there was a blinding flash of light.Then all the air was sucked out of earth’s atmosphere.The terrrerian saw the plants withering, and turning brown.

Somewhere, somewhen, there was a Star-god. Star-god envisioned the hooligan exploding a starbomb, with the terrrerian standing frightened in the background. I must help this being, the Star-god thought before he teleported to the terrrerian.

The terrrerian turned around and saw a blinding flash of yellow light.

“I am Star-god. I am here to help you,” said the Star-god.

Then the terrrerian and the Star-god started fighting the hooligan. First, the terrrerian built a missile made of maple syrup and shot it at the hooligan, but the hooligan grew stronger and absorbed the maple syrup. Then the sun god tried to ignite a mini star and throw it at the hooligan,but the star couldn’t ignite because there was no oxygen. Then the terrrerian used a return-oxygenizer 5,000 to return the oxygen to earth, but he accidentally returned 5,000 times as much as there was before. Because there was 5,000 times as much oxygen, all the spiders became huge. Then the terrrerian saw his best spider friend Aragag.

“Aragag!” the terrrerian called. ”It’s been so long.”

“Terrrerian!” Aragag greeted. ”How are… BLEEEH!”Aragag said as he barfed on the hooligan’s shoes.

“HEY!” the hooligan said. “THOSE WERE MY NEW SHOES!”

The hooligan, in a fit of rage, lifted his foot to stomp on Aragag, but Aragag was quick. Aragag shot a web at him, but the web wasn’t strong enough. Then the Star-god extracted hydrogen from a star and coated the web with it. Then the Star-god lit the rope on fire, so if the hooligan struggled, he would get burnt. Then Aragag shot the hooligan at the moon. The hooligan flew into the moon, Venus and MurCUREy, sending all three planets hurtling into the sun with the hooligan. When the moon went into the sun, the sun absorbed the moon which caused the sun to send out a radioactive shrinkamatronization asteroid that fell on earth, which caused all the spiders to shrink and caused the oxygen level to return to normal.

The hooligan was never seen again.

Chapter One:  The Encounter of Sorts

Pat stared out of the thickly layered window pane at the flurry of small white flakes of snow that were quickly piling up upon the rough ground. He turned to look at the clock that he had nailed to the wall.  Its thin hands read 4:35. He knew he should be asleep, but something about the snow fascinated him. He thought of what Sam would’ve said. “Not surprised. You’re probably the strangest boy in Arkansas.” He would’ve chortled absent-mindedly in his thick Irish accent while cleaning his bowie knife that everyone in the whole town recognized. That’s what he would’ve said. But Sam was taken by a bear while hiking in Blackwood forest two months ago. Everyone assumed he was dead. Pat had gotten an entire lecture from his father about being safe when hiking alone in the wilderness, but Pat didn’t care. He loved Blackwood forest, and nothing would stop him from hiking there.  

Suddenly, Pat straightened his back. He thought that he must be seeing things because he had been awake for half the night. This species was rare around these regions and should be hibernating, but no. A black bear was trudging through the snow, its thick fur flecked with white.

Pat slung his satchel, with its fat four-hole button he’d found on the wooden table in the tailor shop, over his scrawny shoulder and rushed outside.  The cold immediately shot through his small stature and overcame his body. Still, Pat fought on and pulled forward toward the corner of the town with the big hill.

Once he had gotten there, Pat pulled his binoculars from the bag and raised them to his squinting eyes. The bear wasn’t very far off.  A mere twenty minutes north east. Pat’s hands were shaking.

Suddenly, his bony arms lost grip of the heavy binoculars, which swung down to his chest.  They knocked him backwards and the satchel flew to the bottom of the hill, making a loud clunking sound. He climbed back to the top of the hill and raised the device to his eyes. The gear that focused the vision of the lenses had been pulled far right. Pat saw a blurry black shape rushing toward him. Lowering the lenses, he saw the bear galloping towards him. A bolt of fright shot through Pat’s entire body and, in a wild state of mind, he dropped everything and sprinted toward Blackwood forest. The binoculars bounced against his chest and he turned to see the Bear gaining on him.

Pat caught a glimpse of the treehouse he had made thick in the trees of Blackwood forest one summer. It was constructed from the strong oak in one of it’s famous dark-wooded trees. Pat dashed through the thistles and brambles as they cut against his arms and legs. Finally, the treehouse was straight ahead of him. He struggled and climbed up the thick rope leading to the small cabin. Pat made it and felt the tree shake as the bear clawed against the bark. He sat on the wooden floor and panted breathlessly. He glanced to the corner of the room to see his BB-gun with it’s wooden frame and black markings smudged onto the end of the steel barrel as it glistened in the sunrise. He scooted over to it and reached for it, then propped it up against the balcony overlooking his small town and the barren wasteland of snow riddled with foot prints.

Pat peered down the end of the barrel and at the black bear who was retreating back north. He pulled the trigger and a brief burst of flame and sparks spurted from the gun. This was followed by a sluggish trail of smoke and a whistling sound. The small pellet flew through the air and easily punctured the bear’s thin flesh. It fell on its side, but Pat knew a single BB couldn’t’ve killed a bear of such power as a black bear. He pulled the binoculars to his eyes and squinted to see the bear up close.  It was a female, her thin flesh was dark in places, and her ribs were visible. Now Pat understood. The bear had been hunting for food because it was starved. Even though it had attacked him, Pat felt bad for the animal. He cared for and loved all nature.  

Pat lowered himself down from the tree on the knotted rope, dug into the emergency knapsack he had sewn himself, which was safely nestled in a secret compartment in the wall of the treehouse, to find a small jar full of salted pork. He dropped a juicy piece of the pork in front of the bear.

Afterwards, Pat decided to stay in the forest one night until the snow storm let up. He wasn’t worried about his parents. They were probably relieved he was finally out of their hair. Pat was content as he drifted to sleep on the floor of the cabin suspended in the tree.  

He awoke at sunrise to a horrible sight.

The ground was damp and littered with pine needles. Pat stopped to see it. A Blackwood was on it’s side. The lower half had been splintered by lighting, Pat gathered from the blackened ash-stained wood.  He counted the seemingly endless rings in the tree to see that this “Blackie,” as old countrymen say, was about 27 years old. A tree of that age could be the strongest wood in any market. This tree had fallen and covered hundreds of feet of land –– including Pat’s escape route. Pat muttered a curse, but he knew that he had always been preparing for a situation like this.

He climbed up to the treehouse and reviewed his inventory. He dumped the backpack onto the floor to examine his belongings. A six-inch Kings matchbox with 46 matches. A roll of thread with a pin jabbed into it. A thick hunting knife with a leather cloth wrapped around the blade, and a week’s worth of salted meat and a few onions that had grown deep underground while Pat was treasure hunting. In the treehouse itself, Pat had a 6-48 mosquito BB-gun with it’s signature long and thin barrel. There was also a small shelf with a jam jar of pellets, and 3 books: The Hardy Boys: murder in an alleyway, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and Robinson Crusoe.

By mid-afternoon, Pat was bored and scared. Powerful winds made him shiver and dig his feet deeper into the mossy ground. He was sculpting a rock with his hunting knife. The rock was thin and had a needle-sharp tip. Many curves bore through it because it had been sitting at the bottom of Ratchet creek,  a playful brook that flowed through most of Blackwood. Pat suddenly dropped the rock as he heard a faint growl. He turned to see the black bear awakening, it’s eyelids slowly reaching toward the thick, dirty fur of the forehead.  Pat knew he was supposed to be frightened, but somehow he wasn’t. He edged closer to the bear and picked up the dew-stained piece of pork, then threw it closer to the bear’s mouth. She immediately gobbled it down and slowly pulled herself from the dirt, a swarm of fleas quickly succeeding from her thick fur. For the next few days, the bear would lumber alongside Pat, not making any sort of violent movements, not really interacting with Pat at all. Pat was a bit jittery about the presence of the bear, but thought about all of the incorrect things his father had said to him, and that this was fully indulging in nature. However, he lied awake at night wondering, what his friends would say. Bear boy! You love animals so much you’re practically becoming one! He drifted into an uneven sleep.

Pat sat on a small boulder, motionless.  He didn’t talk much and barely ever tried to socialize with others at school.  At his small school house, there were eleven boys and ten girls.  The two genders broke into separate groups and nobody in the boys group really had specific friends.  To Pat, all of the boys were pretty much the same.  But he was different.  

The bear scratched her paw against her flank to rid herself of what seemed to be a very annoying parasite. Pat found his eyes drooping and climbed to the treehouse to take a nap. Suddenly, his eyes were open again, and the blurred tint of his small wooden life force faded into focus. He peered out the frame of open air to see the sun glint through clumps of leaves. It was about 3:17 in the afternoon, according to his calculations from examining the sun.  

“You drool in your sleep,” said a voice suddenly from behind him. It made the hair on the back of Pat’s neck stand up straight. He immediately jerked his head around to see a girl. She was tall, with brown hair, and was staring at him with penetrating eyes.

Pat ignored any sort of salutations required for a situation like this, and blurted, “Who are you? What the hell are you doing here!?”

She tilted her head to the left and looked at him, unfazed. “Well, you seem very polite. I was out exploring here in Blackwood, when I noticed a Blackie on it’s side. I climbed over it, because I’m not a midget, and saw your treehouse.” She paused for a reaction and then pointed to the corner of  the treehouse. “Nice mosquito, by the way.”  

Pat stared at her in disbelief. “First of all,” he began, “people who can’t climb over 6 ½  feet tall trees aren’t midgets. Second of all, you just barge into someone’s home?  You’re the one who should be working on politeness.”  

She brushed her hair out of her eyes and said matter-of-factly, “I thought you would be an interesting person to meet.” 

Pat rubbed his eyes.  

“My name is Aliza, by the way,” Aliza said, sticking her hand out toward him.  

“Pat,” he said, simply swinging his hand out to join hers.  They sat there together on the wooden plank floor for a few empty minutes before Pat broke the silence by saying, “Well, time for you to go back to your jerk parents. I’m not going to be able to use you for anything.”   

“Excuse me?” Aliza said, raising her eyebrows. “What do you expect?”

Pat almost yelled, “You’re a girl. I’d like to see a girl hunt.”

Aliza huffed with anger and slapped Pat across the face. He was stunned as his cheek stung with pain. Aliza picked up his gun from the corner of the treehouse and said soberly, “Well, then, try and stop me.”

Pat walked behind Aliza uneasily as they stepped along the wet grass and dirt. Aliza raised a finger to her lips and rushed quickly to another, much younger, fallen Blackwood. She stabilized the gun in a ridge of cracked wood. She squinted one eye and steadied the barrel. Pat walked up next to her to see she was aiming at a rabbit, which was nibbling on some beige fungi.  She fired the gun briefly and it released the same flurry of sparks as before. Pat heard the whizzing sound once more, but the rabbits ears perked up and it ran stubbornly into a nearby patch of bushes.  Aliza cursed and Pat laughed, “You’re a good shot, but you don’t know anything about nature. Rabbits have some of the best hearing in the entire animal kingdom. They would be able to hear a BB coming easily.”  

Aliza jerked to attention before letting out a response probably littered with swears. She moved back into her hunting position, but angled the gun upwards and fired it a second time. An ear piercing squawk was heard and a small bird dropped from a branch above to the soft soil below. Aliza turned to face Pat and smirked. She jumped over the tree trunk and snatched the small bird from the ground, then walked back to the treehouse. Pat followed her reluctantly and grabbed some of the few dry sticks lying on the ground near him to start a fire.

“So, sure, you can hunt, but that is my treehouse that I assembled myself. I am not letting you sleep there,” Pat remarked by the fire late at night.

“Fine,”  Aliza responded soberly, “I’ll sleep on the ground.” Pat stomped his foot onto the dying fire, which made a slow hissing noise as it was quenched.  

“I’m turning in,” he said, lowering his voice unnecessarily and then marched off to the treehouse. Aliza patted the sleeping bear besides her whom she had been introduced to by Pat, and it growled in its sleep. She turned to a nearby patch of moss and lay onto it.  

That morning the sun shot through the old wood of the treehouse, spreading slats of masked light across the small room. Pat’s eyes adjusted to the smaller flurries of snow floating lazily down from the sky. He snatched his cracked glasses, which were sprawled on the ground, and fitted them onto his face. Suddenly, as Pat’s foggy vision subsided, he noticed his gun abandoned from the usual spot. Groaning, he looked out the window to see Aliza tanning a deer hide with the rock he had been sharpening the day before.

“Good morning!” she yelled up to him, her voice echoing across the sleepy forest.

“What have you been doing?” bellowed Pat.

“I woke up early, grabbed your rifle, and went out hunting,” she smirked. “The deer like eating the frozen dew. Then I cooked the meat and gave it to your bear.”  

“It’s not my bear,” Pat retorted.  

“Well, she basically lives with you,” countered Aliza.  And, how long have you been here? Who would want to live like this?”  

Pat scampered down the ladder.  “About 2 days, and I’m the one who would want to live here,” he paused. “My parents give me these boundaries –– I feel like I’m just an obstacle to them.”  

Aliza frowned. “Sorry about that.”  

“Well, that’s the real reason I’m out here. I could’ve climbed that tree, but I want to prove to them that I could survive by myself.”

“You can’t just stay out in this forest forever,” she looked Pat in the eyes. “You’re eventually going to have to go back.”

Pat turned away from her and looked up to a tree. “Well, I’m going to stay out here as long as possible. If my father was out here, he wouldn’t survive a month.” Pat chuckled, “He only hunts for sport and doesn’t care at all about the effects it has on this forest. We’re lucky that no one has tried using this forest for lumber.”  

Aliza tilted her head, “But you hunt too!”  

“I only hunt for survival,” Pat responded condescendingly.

“Thanks for telling me, that explains your attitude,” she said.  

Pat should’ve been offended by this, but he ignored the comment.

Aliza looked down and began, “Well, I have the opposite situation. My parents, they don’t care about me. I barely ever go to Blackwood, all I’ve heard about was when Sam went missing. Ever since, I have wanted to go out here and see if they would care. Seems as though they don’t.”

Pat glanced at her and smiled grimly. Suddenly, a noise in the bushes startled the both of them. They swung around to see a swaying light emerging from the clearing. Pat quickly grabbed his gun from the mossy earth and aimed it toward the noise. A figure came into view. He was bulky, had a crippled and grizzled face slashed with a long scar, and had short, darkened hair. It was Pat’s father.  

“What are you doing here, Pat?!”

“Father, I ––”

“You left me in the middle of the night to go to Blackwood?  You’ve been living out here for three days!” Pat opened his mouth to speak, but his father interrupted him, “We are going, right now,” his father gestured to Pat.  

“No,” Pat responded stubbornly.

His father stopped abruptly and turned to face Pat. “What did you just say to me?”  

Gaining confidence, Pat stood and rooted his feet into the ground, “I said no.” He paused. “You have been giving me obstacles and rules for my entire life! Will you for once just leave me alone!?”  The father looked disgruntled, as if this had never occurred.  

“Fine,” Pat’s father said, containing a bloody outburst of anger.  “Do you really want me to just let you die alone in this forest? Fine, then I will.” He looked livid.  “Sooner or later, you’ll come from this retched place and you’ll be begging me for a real home and food.”

A tear trickled down Pats face as he held an indescribable expression of sadness, anger, and hatred.  

The father trekked off into the darkness of the night and soon vanished. Pat sat back down as Aliza stared at him, dumbstruck with her mouth gaping, “What in the world just happened?”  

Pat leaned down towards the ground and said, “That was my father.”

Aliza responded candidly, “Well, yeah, I got that from context, but there is a girl and a sleeping bear right next to you, and he didn’t notice?”  

Pat looked up and said, “That’s because he’s a self-centered ––”  A gust of wind made the trees creak and sway, shielding Aliza from the curse Pat emitted. “He gets very unreceptive of thing that are going on around him when he is involved in certain exchanges.”  

“Okay… ” said Aliza, tilting her head, “but that doesn’t explain why he didn’t notice the bea ––”  

“Listen, Aliza,” Pat snapped, “My father’s an idiot.” Aliza raised her eyebrows and frowned.  “Now, it’s been a long day, so good night.” Pat croaked. Aliza scratched the bear once more in it’s favorite place, behind the ear, and went to sleep.  

To be continued…

Once upon a time, there was a haunted house. Inside, there were a lot of monsters. A little girl went inside the house. Then she saw a skeleton, and then the skeleton put a knife in her. She died. The little girl turned into a ghost. Now she was a monster! She had sharp teeth, eight legs, and was purple.

She called all of the monsters. The monsters came, and then they left the haunted house with their powers. They destroyed the EARTH. Then they made a huge time machine!

They all went inside of the time machine. They went to a nice world in the future! It had palm trees, flowers, trees, and bees.

The monsters said, “Ew, I don’t like this world, it’s too nice!”

They went in the time machine again. They went to Evil Place. There was goo and webs and slime everywhere. The monsters loved it. There was a lot of evil, and there was an evil guy who had sharp teeth and a knife! His name was Mr. Killer.

They were all evil too. They all worked together to make the biggest evil potion. Then they ran around in a circle and made a huge EVIL TORNADO!!!

In the evil tornado, they went back into the time machine and took their evilness into the human world. Then the tornado turned the humans into evil humans. They formed an army!

The army took over the world. After that, there were webs, trees were broken, and there were bats and skeletons.

They lived evilly ever after.

Prologue

In the last story, Max, Finton, and Freddy had defeated Lord Robbers and were free of his threat… for a while. They were trying to figure out the medical potion to heal all of the men lost in the last battle. Their fleet needed to be repaired too, so there were lots of repairs that needed to be fulfilled. Meanwhile, Lord Robbers was also preparing his little surprise….

Chapter 1: Evil Meeting

Zilbon, Lord Robbers, Quantuo, Xanga, Jumba, Kaka, and Strangehead (members of the Red Strikers) were sitting down on a table back at Larbazako. Lord Robbers was showing them secret plans for some strange secret weapon that they were going to use to crush the Blue Lions and the Squag, which now was named the Blue Squags. The strange secret weapon was a laser, a very powerful laser that could destroy a whole base with one blast. They were going to go to Slankamos to destroy the Squags’ main building. The Squag’s main building was guarded by the Blue Lions’ troopers.

The 105th Legion was very powerful. It was the highest ranking troop squad of the whole Blue Lion space. The 301st Legion was the second highest ranking squad. They were planning to send thousands of Quinns, evil henchmen of Lord Robbers, to attack the place, but Lord Robbers knew that wouldn’t work. He needed more. He told all of his people that they had to lead the Quinns into battle. They all agreed to do it. At the mention of this, every person at the meeting turned on their superswords and stabbed them into their slots, making a blue hologram of their grand master appear in the center with all of the secret information. The only thing that could power this strange source of different blueprints was the super swords from every Red Striker. The master was very happy, but also extremely mad because they hadn’t killed the person the master had said to kill. The master’s name was Extreme.

“You have done well, my apprentices. But that battle we could not afford to lose.”

“Sir, they were outnumbering us,” said Xanga.

“I do not care,” screamed Extreme.

“Many of our troops died out there, master,” said Zilbon.

“We shall win our next battle,” said Jumba.

“Why don’t we discuss our next battle plans?” asked Extreme.

Chapter 2: Squad Healing Center

Max was very worried about all the injured soldiers because there were so many of them. Fortunately, a recipe could stop death, but it was far away in another land, guarded by many enemy soldiers. That was their next mission. They needed to pack up for it. Finton and Freddy were also coming. Trevor wanted to help, so he came too. Erin decided to drop them off at the spaceport. This is what Max packed: a gun, extra ammunition, lunch, a lot of food (food from different planets like Sakalato and Yfdghh,kb c), an extra bottle of hydrating juice, and a bottle of lava in which he would cook the actual food. In addition to providing a place to prepare his meals, the bottle of lava would keep the food from cooling, thus preventing rock from forming on it.                                      

Trevor also packed a super sword, a charge plug, two extra charging stations, food that Lulu had cooked for him, a training droid, and an extra robe.

Finton packed a rifle, extra ammunition (like Max had), frozen food, a blender to liquefy it, a bottle to drink to drink it from, some roots from trees you could eat, and vegetables.

Freddy, of course, packed five boxes of trick stuff, a mobile toilet, toilet paper, and a baby seat for the toilet. He liked copying other people, so he bought two packs of frozen food, sixty-five miniature trees, a giant lava bottle, and a twisted gun, bubble gum instead of ammunition packs, an extra pair of dirty socks, two extra underwears, a giant piece of metal, a soldering kit, and a second twisted gun.

Suddenly, Erin came into the room. “What’s going on? Time to leave, people. Rise and shine. We’re leaving,” he said. “The crawler’s here. Hello!?”

Suddenly everyone grabbed their packs and hurried out the door.

“Move it, move it, move it! This no drill!” Erin was obviously not happy.

Trevor followed his mentor out the door. When they got downstairs, the guards opened the door. Like Erin had said, the crawler was waiting outside, along with other Squags, who said said “Good luck“ and “Be safe.” Max and Trevor said goodbye to Lulu and Lucy. When they got on board the crawler, the driver helped them with their luggage.

“To the nearest spaceport,” said Erin. The driver turned the crawler onto the road as fast as it could go and zoomed away.

On the way there, Freddy took out one of his miniature trees and asked Finton, “¿Para qué se usan esos árboles?”

“You use the roots to make smoothies, dummy!”

Freddy suddenly had an idea to lift the humor. “So, waz sup, dude?”

Trevor and Max burst out laughing.

“It’s pronounced ‘What’s up’,” Trevor said.

Finton whacked Freddy.

“Waz dat for?”

“Stop fooling around, Freddy! This is real stuff, bud! We’re going all the way to the center of the whole enemy core,” said Finton. “And in your language, daz foi yo foolin’ around.”

Chapter 3: Second New Planet

When they arrived, they got a cart and put their luggage inside. Since Freddy was a weakling, Finton had to help him. Max was nervous. Trevor wanted everything he saw.

“Hey, look at that! That’s the new kind of bubble gum that came out precisely three seconds ago,” shouted Trevor.

“We have to walk three platforms,” said Erin. “No fooling around here.”

The stairs were as high as skyscrapers. Max and Freddy had never been to a spaceport, except for the one back at the base.

Suddenly, the stairs started moving. “Look at that! We don’t need to climb it!” said Max. The elevator ride was awesome. You got to see the whole spaceport from up there. There were thousands and thousands of platforms. There were starships floating in midair anchored with chain to keep it on the platform. There were millions of people and different aliens. There were guards keeping order. The restaurants served exotic foods of other planets. There was even a pilot diner.

Unfortunately, the gum Trevor wanted was sold out. There was a giant starship in front of them with big letters on it that said: Destination to Main Government Planet. Thousands of guards were guarding the top level. Erin ignited his super sword and the guards stepped away.

On the side of the platform, a little sign said: “Rating: ★★★★★ Food Served: Every Planet Known to The Government Space Possible: ∞.”

The doors to the ship opened. Trevor, Max, Finton, and Freddy walked through them. Erin said goodbye and the doors closed. The ride was on!

Chapter 4: Battle at Fortress Destroy

The juice was delicious, and the space cruise was going smoothly. The ride to the capital of the Government was nearly over, and Finton, Max and Freddy were at the diner eating, while Trevor was discussing how he loved to train. He said the battle was gonna be hard, so they all had to train their best.

“Hey, Finton! Mind passing me the — ”

BOOM!! Erh, erh, erh. The alarm had gone off. The space cruiser was under attack… Outside, thousands of enemy cruisers had just come out of the turbo engine, which was going at the speed of light. They were firing at the cruiser at full blast. Aboard the cruiser was Freddy’s greatest enemy, the dreaded Trick Destroyer — a gun that turned off every trick onboard the spaceship. Two soldiers came out of the hallway.

“Please report to the main deck,” said the soldiers. Trevor, Max, and Freddy rushed up to the top deck. Finton was commanding a huge army of soldiers. Every enemy cruiser was shooting at our cruiser.

“Fire at sector ten!” BABOOM!!! Smoke was coming out of the hole where Finton used to be standing. “Darn, that cannon!” Finton came out of a smoking hole. Two enemy cruisers were on fire. The cruiser had fire all over. Every battle station was smoking. The laser fire rained through the sky like flies at a garbage dump.  As the cruiser returned fire, Max, Finton, and Freddy went under the deck to ignite the turbo engine. Trevor tried to deflect the laser fire with his swinging super sword.

“Hit the turbo engine button, Freddy!”

“¿Cuál es eso?”

BEEP!

“Self destruct engaged.”

“Freddy!!!”

“Incorrecto.”

“Run to the escape pods!” said Max. Everyone was running to their escape pods.

“Where’s Trevor?” asked Finton. Trevor appeared right next to them. Smoke was all around him. His face was black.

“Stupid cruisers,” Trevor muttered. Two guards were standing around the last escape pod available.

“Run for it!” said Trevor. Beep. The escape pod was launched. Chances were lost.

“No!”

“Self destruct in ten… nine… eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two — ”

Finton pushed Max outside. Freddy and Trevor fell into space. Finton jumped out. The explosion pushed them forward, and a great big ball of fire behind them that used to be their cruiser was now debris fluttering around them. Now they were lost in space.

Chapter 5: Evil Knows How to Plan

“Success achieved! The boss will be extremely happy!” The members of the Red Strikers were having a giant party.

“They died! Three cheers for the trick destroyer!” There were all types of food at the evil feast.

BAM!

The door burst open. Jumba came in.

“We’re under attack.” Rocks started falling from the ceiling.

“The feast is ruined!” cried Lord Robbers.

“Send all units!” cried Xanga.

Diong, diong, diong.

The battle outside was tremendous. Thousands of wounded Quinns were lying on the ground. Few were left. The other side was looking much better than its evil match — only a few soldiers were down.

“Send more troops!” ordered Kaka. More came rushing out, only to be killed.

Suddenly, sides changed: the Quinns had taken control of the battle. They were forcing the 105th legion back to their ships.

“Retreat!” ordered the 105th general. The troops rushed back, and the Quinns fired the cannons while the 105th legion tried to escape. Many ships fell from the sky.

Despite their heavy losses, the Quinns had won.

“Now we can’t have a feast about anything! We didn’t win or lose!” Strangehead said.

“I wanted more of that candy bread!” cried Lord Robbers.

As they went back inside, a war drum sounded in the distance.

“What the heck was that?” said Zilbon.

“Quinns into battle positions!”

Ten rows of Quinns stood strong. Twenty spearmen were in the front guarding for any close combat intents. Out of nowhere came a band of aliens with swords, guns, and spears. They were green and had eyes like those of a fly, a green snout in the middle of their head, and brown robes.

AAAheee!!! Chang! Blahg, wago dapo boom! Chang wayyyaaagggooo! Tambow!!! Mwakamaka! Dwaga! Traga! Die!!! BOOM! Weheee!!!

“Now we have something to celebrate about,” said Lord Robbers, “I get my candy bread!”

“No, I get it,” said Xanga.

“Don’t fight, guys!” said Jumba

Chapter 6: The Continuation of Chapter 4

“Now what?” said Max. The space around them was peaceful. They had been floating for hours.

“¿No crees que va a venir una nave para salvarnos?” asked Freddy. Suddenly, a bright light interrupted their conversation, and Trevor turned on his super sword. A ginormous space cruiser appeared out of nowhere. Its shiny decks looked as beautiful as gold, and its twenty-six engines looked super shiny with flaming blue jets shooting out.  

“It’s a Model 58.73 Code 97597.725.7000. I used to have a bunch of those in my room,” said Max.

“Uh, looks like we’re boarding, people.”

Trevor was right. The airlock on the 27,000 foot-tall, 123,000 foot long, and 29,000 foot wide spaceship was opening, letting out seventy-five spaceships that were ten feet tall and twenty feet long.  

“Now that’s an airlock,” said Finton.

“I guess we board one of these ships!” said Trevor.

Max, Finton, Freddy, and Trevor boarded the nearest ship. There were fifty-seven Quinns  on board. “Ahh! Battle positions!” yelled Finton. He loaded his gun and aimed at the Quinns. That was when they realized the Quinns were all tied up.

¨Greetings, noble Squag Trevor!¨ said the mysterious, double-mysterious, even more mysterious, superbly mysterious, totally mysterious, amazingly mysterious, terribly weird, with a terrible face, weird, antennae-headed weirdo named Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota. “Welcome aboard my spaceship. We shall take you to meet my master.  Meet my loyal assistant, Wombazengasambataheenga Zambeegotosanjamotameta.¨

When they arrived at the spaceport, the first guy they had met led them up the stairs to a door.  And when the door opened, what they saw was unimaginable.

Chapter 7: Normal Day for Erin

Erin was pacing through when he bumped into Simon.

¨Want to duel?” said Simon.

“Pleasure,” said Erin.

Erin pulled off his glasses. Simon did, too. They extended their glasses. Then, they burst out laughing!

“Hwahwahwahwa… dueling with glasses! Blahaha,” laughed Erin.

“So funny! So funny!” said Simon.

“This is serious,” said Erin. He turned on his super sword and slashed at Simon’s legs. Simon flipped backwards and extended his super sword in 0.3 seconds. Erin attacked. Simon counterattacked. Erin flipped backwards and lashed the air with his extreme super duo combo, stabbing into the middle of the air where Simon was supposed to be. Simon was actually behind him and Erin sensed him. He arched his blade backward, deflecting the jab. Then Simon and Erin burst into a two-hour laugh. Hahaha! They laughed hard because their swords were only styrofoam training superswords.

Erin waved goodbye to Simon and walked into the library. He loved to study, and he also loved to read. Erin had a lot of favorite series. He remembered that he needed to see how the mission was going. When he turned on his mission tracking computer, the screen turned blurry and his mission tracking computer exploded!

“Something must be going wrong!” thought Erin. He went to the main communications system to speak with Eramag, Sofia, Mateo and Aaron.

“Eramag,” Erin said. “I have lost communication with mission 5.0.2600261000.”

“Find communication with mission 5.0.2600261000 and increase to maximum capacity to see if there is any sign of this mission,” Eramag yelled at nearby communications officers.

“We’ll find ‘em,” said Sofia.

Chapter 8: Getting to Zanklazumos

Inside the doors were hundreds of troops of the 576th legion troopers.

“What the…?” said Finton.

“I didn’t know this!” said Trevor.

“Cool!” said Max. “I thought all of you guys perished!”

“Esto es assustador,” said Freddy.

“Welcome to the 576th legion troopers headquarters!” said Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota.

“Let us show you around!” Wombazengasambataheenga Zambeegotosanjamotameta said.

Around them was a large room full of computers. There were three floors to it and probably more because of the elevator. Lots of different troopers were working around the computers. Different things kept on popping up on the screens that they couldn’t even read. The computers were flat touchscreen pieces of transparent glass that showed what you were working on in the center. There was a lot of talking. It sounded like they were on a completely different planet… but they knew they weren’t.

Freddy secretly reached into his pack and pulled out a canister. The canister read “Super Stinky Fart Gas.”

“Esto va a ser bueno,” whispered Freddy.

There was a hissing sound in the air.

“What’s that sound?” said Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota.

“I don’t know, sir,” said a nearby trooper.

Suddenly, the air smelled bad. Freddy pulled a whoopie cushion out of his backpack. Wombazengasambataheenga Zambeegotosanjamotameta said, “Sorry for the stinky smell.”

Freddy placed the whoopie cushion under Wombazengasambataheenga Zambeegotosanjamotameta’s behind. When Wombazengasambataheenga Zambeegotosanjamotameta sat down a loud fart filled the air. Suddenly, another fresh coat of stinky air flew out. Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota says “Wombazengasambataheenga Zambeegotosanjamotameta, how dare you fart in front of our visitors?”

Freddy couldn’t help but laugh.

“Freddy!” yelled Finton, Trevor, and Max.

“How dare you do that in front of our hosts! I am so ashamed of you!” yelled Finton.

Then they turn toward Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota. “Sorry for this misunderstanding. My friend is a joker,” said Max.

“And he won’t do it again,” added Finton, clenching his teeth and staring so hard at Freddy that Freddy started to sweat.

“Quieren prender el aire acondicionado,” said Freddy.

After a bunch of sorrys, the ship started to move.

Chapter 9: Mass Invasion

The fleet contained fourteen starships. Each one had one hundred billion troops, small blockade runners, blockade ships, troop deployers, troop transports, crew transfer shuttles, supply carriers, and X-class escorts to make a billionaire die of the zeroes. The fleet was an exquisite combination of different capital ships, frigates, and flagships, and all of them were prepared for a mass invasion of the planet Zanklazumos, one of the outer rim planets of the Red Strikers’ force. It contained the recipe to heal the lives of dead troops. It was guarded, but with strategy you could break in. They were going to use the plan below.

“This is going to be great!” said Finton.

“We’re going to have so much fun invading them!” said Max.

“Esto va a ser excelente!” said Freddy.

“What ship are we boarding?” asked Finton.

“You will be on board the troop transporter,” said Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota. The troop transport descended. It was a steady, low descent. Freddy, Max, and Finton were aboard the troop deployer. There was very little light. The ambience was silent. Everyone was ready to deploy. The suspense was unbearable.

“Suddenly, the troop deployer blew up and everyone died. Even our main characters. Yes, I know you people say we can’t kill our main characters, but this story says otherwise. Yes, people, we killed them, get over it,” read the crew report aboard the troop deployer, named ALADA (which stands for Air Land Action Depositor A-transport).

“Ha, what story? And how could the main characters die?” asked Finton.

“Ja, eso fue lo mas chistoso, no se pueden morir los personajes principales,” said Freddy. The troop deployer safely landed on the planet and deployed the troopers. The air was smoky. Suddenly two Red Strike guards walked up.

“Identify yourselves!” they said. Suddenly, a crew transfer shuttle zoomed into its landing site. A figure dropped right in the middle of the two guards. A super sword extended from its hands and the two guards dropped dead beside him. Max and Finton drew out their blasters and aimed at the unknown figure. Suddenly, the blasters flew out of their hands and the ground erupted in front of them. Dirt flew and then it was all silent. The figure turned around and took off its hood.

“Seriously? You were trying to kill me?” said Trevor. “Not nice!” Trevor’s hand stretched out to reveal the electromagnet. He moved his hand up and Max and Finton instantly rose. He moved his hand to the side and back in the direction of Max and Finton. The blasters dropped into their hands.

“Sorry, Trevor,” said Finton.

“How could you scare us like that?” Max asked.

“It seemed like the right thing to do to save you lives,” said Trevor. They walked a long time til they reached the evil fortress. The door was bolted shut. Trevor placed some detonators and got out of there real quick. The door blew open.

“Aren’t you scared that they’ll find out we’re here?” asked Max.

“It’s not a stealth mission,” said Trevor. “They told us to get in there, get the recipe, and get out.”

“Yeah, but we shouldn’t warn them of our presence,” said Max.

“Of course we should! That way they’ll all come out and get their butts kicked,” said Trevor.

The massive capital ship landed, two turrets dropped out of the front. Trevor screamed at the camera that had also dropped down. “What! I thought you had enough arsenal to blow this planet to shreds!”

“That is understood,” replied the robotic voice. 4,000 other turrets came out of the bottom.

“Fire!” yelled Trevor. The turrets released so much laser fire that all three walls surrounding the base were smashed to splinters — or, more accurately, goo — because they were metal. And then, they walked in.

Chapter 10: Kill Them Now!

Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota clicked the walkie-talkie.

“Prepare to destroy those crazy heroes!” said a creepy voice.

Chapter 11: Destroy Them

Back at the Red Strikers’ evil base, Lord Robbers was preparing the super weapon for transportation to Slankamos, and the massive weapon looked like a giant needle. It was seventy feet long, forty feet wide, and twenty feet tall. The big needle was being carried by a huge robotic arm into a spaceship that was going to carry it to Slankamos. Then, Lord Robber would look through the little screen, move his little joystick until the little mark was over the right place, and click the button that said FIRE. And then the giant laser beam would melt his enemies and he would defeat them once and for all.

Lord Robbers cackled, “HA HA HA!” before getting his little pad that fired it and testing the weapon by firing randomly into space. Lord Robbers clicked the big button that said fire. Suddenly, the hangar around them exploded in flames.

FIRE, FIRE, FIRE, the alarms blurted.

Lord Robbers cleaned up the mess and tried again, clicking the FIRE button a bunch of times. Water came down from the ceiling and a bunch of fire bots came out looking for the fire. He cleaned up the mess again and tried once more. He clicked the BIG red fire button and the giant green laser beam cut through the sky and KABLAMO — they heard an explosion.

“Was that supposed to happen, Commander?” Lord Robbers asked.

“No. It was not,” said the commander. Suddenly, a little screen popped out of the ceiling. There was a scared Quinn commander on it.

“OUR BRAND NEW SHIP WAS JUST BLOWN UP!” yelled the Quinn commander.

“Wait! Was it that one that I just wasted all my money on?” asked Lord Robbers.

“I think so!” said the Quinn commander.

“No! No! No! How could this happen?!?” said Lord Robbers. Lord Robbers accidentally stepped on the self destruct button and his brand new weapon blew up.

Chapter 12: Funny Does Not Mean Good

Every single computer screen on every Government-controlled planet showed a message:

“Haha! I am Lord Robbers and I will eat all your food by using this teleporting device! HAHAHA! I will also blow up your planet for the sheer fun of it! I will also achieve universal domination, and if you astrophysicists down there say that it is impossible because the universe goes on forever, and you quantum physicists thinking about the Schrodinger’s cat say that I have a 50 percent chance of world domination and a 50 percent chance of getting my butt kicked, let us change that principal to having 100 percent of world domination. Shaboom, suckers! So for the big shazam, I will blow up your planet!”

When the Government planet saw what was happening, they immediately reacted by calling forth an entire fleet and prepared to destroy Lord Robbers once and for all.

Chapter 13: The Preparation of the Super Weapon

Lord Robbers had decided to demonstrate his super weapon to the rest of the Red Striker leaders, by destroying a random civilian planet. He walked to his live feed media room in his ship, hovering above the main base (the cannon was actually on the planet below him and not on the ship.) He went to his console room and clicked the big red firing button (this was the right button). The green laser bolt flew toward the planet and detonated a whole entire city. The Red Strikers clapped and Lord Robbers said, “This laser is the emblem of our destructive name. We are called the Red Strikers. We strike and destroy! Clunk clunk clunk!” (He is a cyborg, so that is how he laughs.)

Chapter 14: The Deep Dark Hallways

Trevor, Max, Finton, and Freddy walked into the base. There was no one. It seemed abandoned. There was no light; the electricity was cut off. You couldn’t even see your hand in front of you. Trevor turned on his supersword. The sword extended from its hilt and started buzzing, glowing green in the darkness. They walked down the steel hallways, their footsteps resonating on the ground. There was a red light glowing in front of them in a circular chamber and a dark figure hovering over a panel. Max, Finton, and Freddy silently drew their guns. They were all holding Maf 2345’s (Maf is short for MFLP, which stands for Multi-Function Laser Pistol). The Maf had a tiny viewscreen in which you could select the good guy or the bad guy. If you accidentally pointed the gun at the good guy, it would lock the trigger and not allow the laser to pass. If you did, for some reason, sweep the gun over the bad guy and not pull the trigger, it would automatically do it for you. It also had a stun mode, a knockout mode, a kill mode, and a melt mode. They selected the dark figure in the chamber on their Mafs as a bad guy, and put it on knockout.

The man turned around and they finally realized who it was. It was Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota.

“Oh, I see you have come to my greetings party. Or garage sale, since I’m selling proton grenades! MWAHAHA.”

“You’re actually evil?” Finton said. “I didn’t know that!”

“No, but I have just told the secret location of your base to Lord Robbers! HAHAHAHAHA! And now that I am done with you guys, I will kill you all with a single proton grenade while I escape, smooching my crazy girlfriend who is dressed in a sports bra, even though it is extremely cold in here and she will probably freeze to death… which is sad. Now you will play your part. Please stand right where you are while I go click the button to deploy my hovercraft.”

Meanwhile, Freddy had gotten distracted. He had gone to the basement and captured the healing potion, which was why they were there in the first place. He went upstairs again and appeared behind Trevor.

“Ya tengo la poción!” said Freddy.

Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota said, “How did you get that? It was covered by the maximum security fence.”

“Creo que fumigue” said Freddy.

“You farted, Freddy?” said Finton.

“Whoa, I didn’t know your farts were so powerful,” said Max.

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” said Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota. “You just stay where you are and let me click the button.”

“Hello, honey pie,” said Yamakazamotamotamotadomanota Xambagotamezinitabedagota, Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota’s girlfriend.

“Ah, hello, sweet pea. I was just about to assassinate these evil people,” Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota said.

“Aw, but that guy looks really cute!” said Yamakazamotamotamotadomanota Xambagotamezinitabedagota.

Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota set the proton grenade to fifteen seconds. He then clicked the button for the escape craft. Fortunately, Max and Finton weren’t stupid. They still had the Mafs, so they pulled the trigger. Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota and Yamakazamotamotamotadomanota Xambagotamezinitabedagota fell to the ground, stunned.

Trevor, Max, Freddy, and Finton ran to the hovercraft and clicked the escape button. The explosion of the proton grenade resonated behind them. Unfortunately, they had to get out of there quickly, and since Yamakazamotamotamotadomanota Xambagotamezinitabedagota, Wamakazamotamotamotadomanota Zambagotamezinitabedagota, and his assistant Wombazengasambataheenga Zambeegotosanjamotameta were traitors, and so was the whole fleet. So they decided to escape in the stealthy way, a way which I will not explain right now. They hijacked a capital ship, went out into space, proton torpedoed all the other ships, and hit the megadrive button.

Epilogue

Lulu and Lucy were sitting at home for a girls night in when Lord Robbers snuck in. He grabbed them both by the neck and smashed them into his craft. Both of them were knocked unconscious, and Lord Robbers put them into his craft. The iron bars lit up and you could see Lord Robbers creepy cyborg face.

“Clunk clunk clunk!”

The cyborg’s laugh faded into the cool night air.

CHAPTER 1

I was walking toward the subway station with earbuds ringing with the sound of 50 Cent in my ears to help me walk on. When my tired legs got to sit down on the subway seat…

“Kasye,” Mom said.

I looked up to see Grace (my sister) holding her hand out. I rolled my eyes to Mom. Her green eyes pointed at my hand. I knew what my sister wanted. I stopped the music on my phone, pulled out my earbuds from my ear, and handed everything to Grace. Grace played a game while listening to Justin Bieber. Grace says she’s a “Belieber” (she’s obsessed with Justin Bieber). Then, all of a sudden, the subway lights went out. I heard someone scream, then the subway car stopped. I heard a huge CREAK and then the subway car fell sideways.

CHAPTER 2

My head throbbed. I heard my sister cry. People were holding up their phone flashlights for light.

“Listen up!” a man’s voice said, “Point your flashlights at the subway door. We’ll try to open the doors.”

“What will happen after that?” a voice said.

Everybody was silent, shining their flashlights on the door.

“We walk,” he said.

“One… two… three… push!” Creeeak went the door.

“Oh –– ” I covered Grace’s ears.

“It’s open,” the guy said.

The silence broke and everybody started toward the door. I went out into the track and saw more closely the guy who opened the door. He had light, straight, gold hair, sky-colored eyes with a hint of jade. Tall and strong. Right when I walked out of the car, he started to walk with me.

“Hi,” he finally said.

“Hi,” I said back.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Should I tell you my name?” I asked.

“I’m Carter,” Carter smiled.

“I’m Kasye.” I said.

“Cute name,” he said.

“I look like a poppy,” I blushed.

“No, you look more like a rose.”

I blushed more.

CHAPTER 3

I was scared. It was cold. I squeezed my sister’s hand.

“It’s okay,” Carter said, rubbing my back.

People tried to call 911, family, police, but there was no wifi. The driver was dead and his walkie-talkie was broken.

We were stuck.

We had to walk.

And I wanted to survive.

I put Grace on my shoulders to try to call 911. I shivered. Walked to the right of the tracks where there was a hill in the middle of the tracks going down, so we didn’t get electrified. Mom was helping an old woman whose leg was broken. 

“I’m scared too,” Carter said.

“Can I trust you?” I asked in my serious voice.

“Yes,” he said, not smiling but looking me in the eye.

I put Grace down. Then I hugged Carter and cried on his shoulder. He hugged back. And in that moment I felt safe.

CHAPTER 4

Dead mice and trash covered the area, sewage and mud pooled into my shoes, and the worst part, I was in love.

Yes. Carter. My heart thumped in me as he came closer.

“It’s so hot in here!” Grace complained.

“Go ask Mom for water,” I said.

Grace was right. People had bare skin showing right now. Even Carter had his sweater off.

“STOP! Don’t drink that, honey!” a woman’s voice shouted.

I turned to look as a kid found a puddle of swampy, muddy, sandy sewage water. The worst part was the kid put a scoop in his hand and gulped it down. The mom ran over as the kid threw up on the track. This was getting bad. Luckily, there was a doctor with his tools in his bag. The doctor made the kid throw up again. And the problem was that more people got sick. Even Mom did, and Carter said he would wait with us until she got better.

You might think I was crazy, but I met a stranger who was crazy cute and I now was crazy in love with. That’s a lot of crazy.

“Over the past hours,” Carter said, “I feel the need to admit something… I…” he blushed, “lo –– ”

“Love you,” I finished.

“I love you too,” Carter said.

Then I learned up and looked him in the eye and we kissed.

Chapter 5

We walked and walked.

And when we saw a bright light behind us, I thought it was heaven. There was screaming. I heard Carter yell, “TRAIN!”

He pushed me right as the train flew over him.

At first, I was confused. But then I saw red. A puddle of red. And then I saw legs, feet, arms, more red.

“NO!” I said as I realized it was Carter’s body.

He was dead.

Mom put her hand on my shoulder. “Let’s keep going,” she tried to sooth my wrinkling heart but like a sharpie it stayed.

We walked three more hours. I was devastated the whole way, crying and barely able to keep my balance. But then we saw another bright light, this time not coming toward us.

Chapter 6

“Yes!” people yelled, rushing toward the light. I did too.

Finally, we jumped off the tracks and on the platform.

“Ahh!” people yelled. And then everything went blank.

I woke up to beige walls and curtains. Hospital. I felt rested, calm, but I remembered Carter and his body sucked in a red bloodbath. Mom and Grace walked in and gave me a kiss on the head and a heart-warming hug. I got out of the hospital and looked up at the frostbite sky and thought, Peace, finally, peace.

I walked home, my feet crunching in the snow. Although Grace had crutches, we were fine. And although Mom was in a wheelchair, we were fine. And although my heart had one huge piece missing, we were fine. Fine, or good, or okay, or not too bad. Like a bird flying and soaring… and then falling in an ocean, drowning, and dying, never to see the light again. That’s fine to me.

That night, I met Grace in Mom’s room for nightmares haunting me, reseeing the horrors I saw. And then we all woke up and played Sorry the game.

Chapter 7

Three Days Later…

I woke up to the chirping of birds. I put on my robe and grabbed a mug and made coffee. Mom was in the kitchen making blueberry pancakes. I grabbed some and sat on the couch. I watched the news and finally something caught my attention.

The headline: “One More Boy Walks Out From Subway… A Boy Named Carter.”

“Carter!?” I yelled. I ran to the hospital, only to see Carter outside in the snow staring at me.

I ran and threw myself into his arms. We fell in a pile of snow and rolled around, hugging.

“How?! What?” I said.

“You left me there!”

“What? I thought you were dead!”

“Didn’t you want a funeral with MY BODY?”

“We were scared! You would’ve held us behind!” I said, crying. Carter looked at me with a bitter face. The tears burned with flames and then froze in the cold.

“Do you love me?” I asked with the bitter face mask still on.

He didn’t seem to know how to answer.

“I….” But I knew his answer. “Don’t,” he said.

My face softened and turned from surprise to pity.

“What did I do!?” I yelled.

“You left me. I’ll never be able to play football again!”

He walked away.

“Do you… hate me?” I said out of breath.

At first, I thought he didn’t hear me, but he stopped. He turned and he was crying too. Then he walked away.

Chapter 8

My legs ached, my head ached, and my heart ached. I went to the hospital and I waited for my appointment. Outside, in the silent waiting room, I heard, “… you know you’ll die soon.”

“I… know,” said a voice I knew was Carter.

Then crying. His mom. And I was tearing up the memories of Carter.

One Week Later…

Carter was dead. Gone. And I was at his funeral.

“We will remember Carter…” I was sick in the belly. Hurt, and dissolved. My life, my heart, gone.