Mr. Poodle and the Stray Cat, Starburst

One day, there lived a poodle named Mr. Poodle. Mr. Poodle had no friends, making the only stray or soon-to-be pet, a lost but kind cat, his only option. Mr. Poodle was a 13-year-old, living pup with his own family, made up of Mrs. Poodle and his three children, Marcy, Darcy, and Barcy.

Mr. Poodle was a lone pup while growing up, meaning his only friend was his teacher, Mrs. Brat. Mrs. Brat was not always a brat, you know. And so every single night he would wish upon a star and say, “I always wanted a friend. Give me a friend.”

’Til day one of 2013 he had been begging for that.

Meanwhile, the other pet, or should we say stray cat, named Starburst, was also in need of a friend. Her story was that she had lost her papa, and her mom was shot and taken to the hound. Stary got her name from a piece of wrapper she found in a trashcan named Starburst.

So, on day 145, Stary was eating up used garbage in the trashcan ’cause that’s what you find in a trashcan. In another 15 minutes, Stary was vomiting in the trash!!

Mr. Poodle was walking down the street when he saw Stary on his property.

He barked, “Get off! My owner may send you to the hound!!”

She did what she was told.

The next day, she came to the trash can (where she had vomited), finding Mr. Poodle with the rest of his family. She thanked him and said, “Thank you for saving me. You know, I’ve been wanting to ask you something. Of course, that something is: Mr. Poodle, would you like to be my friend?”

Mr. Poodle blushed and said, “Of course,” and so they hugged each other from day 146 to the last day of life for both of them.

Poems

The Table And The Chair

“Table and chair,” said the Dishes in the washer,

“Do you ever get dirty, or squeaky, or noisy,” say the Dishes to The Table and The Chair.

“Well as a duty being a Table you have to be sturdy, and dirty,” said the Table to the Dishes.

“Oh well as a duty being chair you have to stay comfy, but sometimes dirty, or you have to deal with farts,” said the Chair to the Dishes.

“Wow, wow, wow. I am the Dishes, yet nothing compared to The Table And The Chair.”

Connection

A family loves, loses, and cares. But we have a connection, that is like a flower, the soil grows a seed that has a strong stem supporting the bloom of the flowers. Take a peek inside, see the pollen ready to help, while a bee comes, takes the pollen to another and another plant, to help it grow. 

Father is the stem, who gives us courage,

While Mother’s petals bloom and give us protection,

Giving the baby life, making it turn into something superb!!

The Wind And The Trees / A True Haiku.

The wind blows the trees,

While they shake to the wind’s beat,

The leaves fall away.

World And You 

Roses may be blue, while the sky stays a brilliant shade of gray.

You see the world the same as me, but just maybe, just maybe we can see the world we share in a different point of view.

So that we can be one.

Roses turn red, while we grow. While the sky is blue and the sun shines. We see stuff differently and we will remember that mistakes we make are accomplishments.

One day something may die. As we ponder about how they think but mostly live. Someday something will die, but we will become brand new.

Roses break down into ash, while the sky turns gray, and clouds fill up then… Oh just oh I see the moon.

Rose will die, sky clouded up, grass cut down.

         But one thing which will stay as a piece is

                            My heart for you. 

Braid

Braids rule, and so do you, if you want some style and some fancy like you!!

Rad, drag, royal crown, maybe prince or princess crown!

A delicate crown made for you, maybe some flowers like the princess Rapunzel

I vote for “Braid-o-Matic”!!

Do you vote for it too!? Braids rule and so do you!!

Samosas

Super luscious, smooth but filling.

A beautiful blend of peas and mashed potatoes

Maybe some chutney, salsa, or podi can help too!!

Opens up warm and spicy

Super luscious, smooth but filling.

A beautiful blend of peas and mashed potatoes

Samosas rule and so do you, if you are wise buy the SAMOSAS!!

Four Seasons

Do you know the four seasons?

Well, let me tell you about them!!

Winter, the season of coldness and snow

Spring, the season of warmth and beauty

Summer, the season of hotness and activity

Fall, the season of all different color leaves

Now you know the four seasons!!

What a majestic color, Purple!

Purple, what a soothing color.

You see it makes me feel as if

Kids were laughing and playing, enjoying the sound of friendships and sportsmanship.

A juicy boost or fruits and veggies

Soft and warm on a sunny day, or rough and cold on a windy day.

Maybe a luscious cake, chocolate, and vanilla

Yum!!

Welcome, Purple

Welcome, Purple, how you make me feel as if I am a bird soaring through the skies, and how pleasant, how jovial you make me feel.

I wake up, have a good day, learn so many new things, get to share all my work, say hi, and then bye.

I woke up and the first thing which happened was purple, oh Purple, how you blind me with happiness.

Oh, I wake up, the clouds are gray, come to school late, never say hi or even bye, don’t even show all my work, and have bad dreams about how my teacher yells hollers and shouts.

But anyways what my choice is, you ask? Well, I will think of that which blinds me with happiness, got to say hi and bye, got to share my work…

Oh, what do you say, Purple, Purple, Dude you have… the golden prize, love, and the brains, and what a beautiful mind, this what I do.

I think of PURPLE!!

A Beautiful Season

Birds soar in the sky

Gliding along

I see two chickadees

Singing a beautiful song

I see a blue jay too

Feeding its babies

So many wonderful birds

Common but unique

Flowers sway in the warm breeze

Dancing gently with ease

Roses a shade of deep red

Bright pink, and cream colored

Daffodils bright yellow and white

Tulips pale pink and blood red

Pansies all different colors

Cosmos pink, orange and white

Rain falls

Soaking the land

Allowing the plants to grow

Raindrops fall from the clouds

Oh, look! It has ceased!

And the sunlight breaks through

And look, now there’s a rainbow too

Today we are very lucky

A flash of brown and white

Comes to stop in the grass

Nuzzling a patch of clovers

Sniffing the air cautiously

Then she races through the grass to the burrow

Anxious to reach her babies

She stops there and drops the food

And they start to eat the plants

The Four Seasons of Poetry

Winter

It’s a beautiful winter day

Soft white snow covers the entirety of the New York streets

Children gleefully tossing the snow around

Adults trying not to get their shoes and pants wet

Cars are buried in this whiteness

Little snowflakes drift down from the sky

Kids catching the wet flakes on their tongues

Screaming with joy

Bikes whiz by

Trying not to be stopped by the blizzard of snow

Building up on the street

What a winter wonderland.

Spring

Spring

Blossoms on trees

Everything soaking up the nice rays of the gentle warm sun

Rain

Tumbles down, feeding the plants and soil

Flowers – daisies, lavenders, and more

Which are blooming after a long winter

People take nice strolls down the streets

Only sweaters on

A relief after those overcoats from winter

Temperatures go up

From freezing to hot

Animals, like hedgehogs and porcupines, wake up

From their long hibernation

Rub their eyes

Yawn

And enjoy the beginning of spring.

Summer

Summer

Eat popsicles and

Go away on vacation

… Maybe

Swimming is great in the summer

Trees’ buds bloom

Cherry blossoms shower and

A gentle breeze blows through it all

Kids are off at summer camp

Adults stroll by

Just don’t waste the summer working, grown-ups

Children laughing and playing with glee

Watching the sun give its rounds through the summer.

Fall

Last but not least

We have the fall

The summer’s over

The trees change

From green to red, orange, yellow, and brown

Some stay green

Fall, to top it all off

It gets chillier and more breezes blow 

It’s a mix of summer and winter

Perfect time to sit back and enjoy the view

The swirling leaves 

Dancing while tumbling toward the direction of the ground 

Hurricanes of colors

Trying to say

“Summer’s over, let’s welcome winter.”

And then the four seasons of poetry 

Begin all over again.

To top it all off

You’ve seen the four seasons of poetry

Summer, winter, fall, spring

You’ve seen it all

But one more thing 

To top it all off – 

Everyone has a favorite season and 

That’s ok

But that’s no reason to

Say “I hate summer!” “Fall is boring.” “Winter’s too cold!” “Spring has too many breezes.”

Like every season for its own unique styles

Winter’s snow

Summer’s heat

Spring’s blossoms

Fall’s leaves

And like poetry too

It’s like a story

Split into many lines

Without much punctuation

It’s easy to write

When you think of something to say

It can be short, long, or in the middle

It can be about anything in the world

One sentence can be forty hundred lines in poetry

You can express yourself however you want

And that 

Tops it all off

Welcome Green

This pale feeling welcomes me, 

Somehow comforting, yet tiring. 

The way it makes me frown and smile

Gives me a way to learn and express 

Never stopping. 

If thou is not met, I shall believe what the heart tells me. 

The odd feeling can make this day brighten. 

It can make this day darken. 

For either way, it is like a house, 

Welcoming me, 

Giving me strength.

Will You Be My Owner?

Chapter 1

I woke up from a dream of kibble. Then I looked around and did not see any kibble whatsoever. That’s how I came to my conclusion that it was all just a dream. There were just bars of metal and the sound of lonely dogs howling. I was a quiet dog for my age, keen and cautious, always looking for whatever danger could be lurking around. I sighed. We never got piles of yummy kibble topped with strawberries like in my dream. I thought the animal shelter was nice. It gave us food, water, and shelter. Warmth, too. But it didn’t give us something we needed most. Love. Well, it did give us love, but not permanent love. Everlasting love. From an owner, I mean. I’m a corgi, and I stick with my pride. I’m hard to impress. Well, not anymore. I used to be, when I was living a happy life. I used to have a human. A wonderful human. But one day, there were tears. One day, there was a box. One day, there was an empty street. That one day I will never forget. I just don’t understand. Why would my human do that? She loved me. But she left me. Well, one day, I was walking around my cage when a sweet smell came in. A girl. She was carrying muffins. Yummy-looking muffins. The kind of muffins my friend, Checkers, would like to howl for until someone gave it to him. That was always his strategy. Lots of talking. That’s the thing. Humans talk too much. That is, from a dog’s point of view. We dogs don’t talk too much. Only the necessary things. I would like to have a conversation without the necessary words. With dogs, sentences get too short. Let’s move on. 

The manager came to us and said, “We have a new volunteer. She’s going to be walking you.” He patted my head. “She’ll be starting today!” 

Then he walked back when the phone rang. 

“Hi, cutie!” the volunteer told me. She was a girl, and she scratched my back. I wagged my tail. I was trying to ask her for some muffins. The next day, she came back with a younger girl. She whispered, “This is my daughter, Lily.”

 I sniffed Lily’s hand. It smelled like crackers and lotion. I licked it. She laughed. “You’re so friendly, Charlie!” 

Charlie? I didn’t have a name, but I liked Charlie. I’m pretty picky, and no one had ever found a name I liked, but I was satisfied with Charlie. They came every day now, taking us for a walk. For some reason, my girl always got a tiny bit of kibble in her pocket, and she gave it to us if we were good on the walk. She would always say, “Sit,” or “Stay,” or “Come,” or “Heel,” and I didn’t have a clue what they meant. But I figured if it involved food, I would do it. We would never do anything, though, but she would just laugh and give us a treat even if we cocked our heads. My girl never took the little girl with her on walks. The little girl would just stay in the shelter and wait. One time, though, the little girl did come. She fed us lots of treats, so I decided I liked her. 

But one day, no one came. I was worried. Very worried. I was pacing around my kennel when Checkers came and asked me what I was doing, but I just ignored him and kept pacing. He kept asking, but after about 30 minutes, he gave up and went to his bed. The next week, no one came, and I started to get really, really worried. After two weeks, the girl came back without the Lily, but she did come with a dog. I know. A dog. I couldn’t believe a dog held her up for two whole weeks.

“How’s Lily doing?” asked the manager. 

The girl smiled and said, “Fine, thank you.” 

I sniffed the dog. She growled at me. Rude! I tried licking her. I tried nudging her. I even let her chew on my ball! But, no matter what, she ignored me. She just pretended like I wasn’t there. I gave up and retreated. I didn’t enjoy these minutes of my life. Everyone was ignoring me. I had just wasted ten minutes. I sighed. I might as well get something done. I went to take a short nap. I had a nightmare. I was walking when I saw my girl. I ran to her, but she just was out of reach. She reached out her hand. Slowly, it turned to dust. Oh, no! It was horrible. I woke up scared. When I finally came to my senses, I looked around and saw the dog in a cage. Phew! My girl still loved only me. I don’t know why I call her my girl. I just hope she will take me home and give me that everlasting love I need. Over the next few weeks, my girl didn’t come again! But when she came back, she looked very tired. 

“Lily just came home from her heart surgery,” she said to the manager. “I’m so glad my daughter is okay!” 

The manager smiled.  I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but I could sense the sadness in her voice. I whined. When she came over, I nudged and licked her hand. She smiled a weary and sad smile. I whimpered and whined all day long. If my girl was like this, something horrible must have happened to make her this sad. If she was sad, I was sad, and everyone (every dog, I mean) hates it when I’m sad because I whimper and howl all day long. And that’s exactly what I did. I howled until my throat was sore and my mouth was dry. I lapped some water from my water bowl. I was really bored and sleepy. I took a short nap and woke up. My girl’s smell came drifting in. Click. She opened up my cage door. 

“You first.” She took me to our usual spot. But then she opened up the big gate. I didn’t know you could open that big thing! So many new smells. Almost too many to count. Almost. (I counted 231.) I rolled on the grass. I dived into some leaves. My girl laughed. I found something. Something moist, tall, and green. I ate it. It wasn’t half-bad. 

“Don’t eat the grass, silly!” She laughed. What? Never mind. I ignored her and ran all around! my girl came and unclipped my leash. Yay! Afterwards, she took me back to my cage. I wanted to stay out there forever.  Next, she took Checkers. I caught a glimpse of them. Checkers didn’t get to run around, though. He got put in the car. And I never saw him again.

Chapter 2

That happened quite a lot now. One day, my girl came to me and muttered that she would find me someone and that, one day, I would finally belong to someone. I don’t know what that meant, but I knew it wasn’t good because she was pushing back tears. I could tell. I licked her hand comfortably and supportingly. I sat down. I was bored again. That happened to me a whole lot. I missed Checkers. Who would I tell stories to? Who would I talk to in my free time? Who would be my best friend? I was pushing back tears. Even though dogs can’t cry, I was on the verge of crying. I tried to imagine Checkers running around happily, but it was hard, too. I just couldn’t help but wonder why. I came to the conclusion that he was going to be with his human. If that was true, I hoped he had a good human to play with him every day. But what if his humans were the worst?  And why did he have to leave me? I just wanted to curl up in my bed and be sad. So that’s what I did. I was really bored. Like I said before, I got bored easily. The following day, my girl came back. 

“I really want to keep you, Charlie!” she said, dully and sadly. Huh? “Someone is adopting you tomorrow. I’ll miss you! They will be picking you up here. I should be happy. I’m sorry. Plus, on the bright side, you’ll be happy!” She was blinking back tears. She hugged me and kissed me on the top of my head. “You’re the cutest dog in the world!” she exclaimed. 

Ack! Well, that was sudden. If you didn’t know, dogs don’t like surprises. Especially corgis named Charlie. Like me. The next day, a big van pulled into the parking lot. My ears perked up. A couple of people came in. Three, to be exact. Two big people and one small person. I sniffed. The small person was a girl. One big person was a woman, and the other was a boy. I slowly stepped back. The woman had long, golden hair with dark brown eyes. The little girl was a miniature copy. The man had dark brown hair and blue eyes. They reminded me of a blueberry. I know. Weird. I snuggled inside my bed. The little girl pointed to my cage and said, “Look! His name is Charlie!” 

“It’s her…” my girl said impatiently. I wonder why. I was going to stay with her forever, and I could cheer her up every day, so why was she crying? I wobbled over like a newborn puppy. I barked calmly and softly to the little girl. I nudged her hand and licked it. It did not smell like crackers and lotion. I was disappointed. I left and took a short nap on my bed. Soon I got lifted up and put into a box. I yipped and whined. 

“Woah! Easy, girl!” the manager shouted. He scratched me behind the ears. I calmed down. I still whined softly, though. I got put into the big van. It was pitch black in the box. It rocked and slid all over the place! I did not like this one bit! I decided to just settle down and deal with it. I was wondering about my girl. What if she left me like Checkers? I hoped she didn’t. I was sure she was there with me. She was always there with me until she left because her shift ended. I was sure she was trying to comfort me but I just couldn’t hear it. I thought. I hoped so. I wanted to know. I didn’t know, though. And that’s what was making me worried. But, that’s the thing. I hoped. I didn’t know.

Chapter 3

After I stopped bumping around in the darkness for a while, I opened my eyes. The thing had jerked to a stop. I heard footsteps. Something opened, and hands grabbed me out of the box. Soft and calm muttering and whispering. The man opened the door. Shouts. Surprises. I don’t like those types of surprises. Whooping. Hollering. Ears hurt. My ears hurt. I yipped for some peace and quiet. There was a long silence. Then louder hollering. This time, I howled. Very loud. 

“STOP!!! You’re scaring her!” the little girl shouted. She picked me up and ran up the stairs into a big room. She shut the door. There were soft pillows and rugs. There was a closet with some mirrors. There was a big drawer. She took a pillow and put it into a drawer. She put me on it. It was comfortable, and I fit perfectly. “This will be your bed for a while. Until we get you a proper bed, I guess.” Where was my girl? Suddenly there was a loud sneeze. It was followed by a series of coughs and sneezes. “MOM!” She ran down the stairs. She took me with her. “Mom! I don’t feel so good.”

Afterward, the woman came and took me. She put me back inside the box. It slid around again. The woman took me out and gently carried me to the shelter. At the shelter, she told the manager that her daughter was allergic to dogs and that she was very sorry. She left. Later, my girl came. 

“Oh! Charlie! You’re back!” Then there was lots of talking. “Oh. I understand what happened,” she whispered to me. I licked her. She shook her head and laughed. I didn’t understand, but that didn’t matter. I was back with my girl! 

Chapter 4  

I snuggled up in my bed like I always do. I looked around. Wait! I thought I saw a new dog in Checkers’ cage. I walked up to her and politely sniffed her. She sniffed back. She licked me. I licked her. Lots of back-and-forth things. Here’s what I knew about her: she was a puppy, she was a girl, her name was Daisy, and she was curious with a bubbly personality, just like Checkers. It made me miss him a whole lot. My heart ached. I wanted to tell someone about Checkers and how he was such a great friend. So I told Daisy. And I added all the non-essential information into my sentences, too. 

After I finished telling everything about Checkers to Daisy, I decided to rest my mind because it was zooming with thoughts. Actually, it was mostly zooming with questions and not thoughts. My biggest question was: did Checkers miss me the same way I missed him? I hoped so. I also hoped that my girl would one day take me home. I could imagine it. The warmth. The kibble. The love. And with that, I slowly but surely fell asleep. Sound asleep. The shelter door opened. That’s what woke me up. My girl was here! I licked her and rubbed my nose on her hand. She giggled. I got a scratch behind the ears. She took me on a walk. The whole time, she was talking to me. I wasn’t listening, though. I was thinking about Checkers. Oh, how I missed him! I could howl all day for him and not get tired. Super tired, I mean. I would definitely get tired. I realized that it was about time that I would be taken away by someone who was not my girl. 

I had more nightmares then. One was where I was in the big, dark house, alone, and then the door creaked open. I barked and yipped, thinking it was my girl and she had come to get me. But it was not. Someone came and flashed eerie and angry eyes at me. I whimpered. The person took me and dumped me in a box, and it slid all over again. Then there were car honks and bright lights. It was raining hard. I got thrown on the street, and I was hurt physically and mentally. My body was hurt, but so was my heart. That was the worst nightmare I had had yet. I trembled. 

The next day, I waited for my girl. But instead of her, someone new came. A girl, younger than mine. The new girl was filled with interesting smells. I wanted to distinguish all of them, but I just couldn’t. I got confused and ended up stumbling backward. I yipped after I stepped on my tail. Ow! I licked my tail and eagerly came and sniffed the new person. I named her “my girl Jr.” No, that sounded weird. How about “the girl?” That sounded casual enough. And, plus, she would never ever be my girl. I only had one girl. I sighed. I trotted around my cage, acting all excited. But, to be honest, I wasn’t all that excited. I wanted my girl, not the girl. Sorry if it gets kind of confusing. My cage opened. The girl got a leash and clipped it to my collar. She patted me. 

“Come on girl!” she said, but I didn’t budge. Who was ‘girl’? I knew the command “come on,” but I didn’t think she was addressing it to me, so I just lay down. I yawned. The girl talked to the manager for a little while and then came to me and said, “Come on, Charlie!” 

I jerked up and followed her. I exchanged a little conversation with some of my friends while the girl was looking at a square-shaped device. She laughed randomly and typed something on the device. Huh. A sound came out of the device and she put it to her ear. Weird. 

“Hi, Mom. Okay. All right. Yeah. Okay, thanks. Uh-huh. Bye.” She shook her head and laughed. She kept on looking at the device. I wandered on the street. So many different smells all just came shooting at me. I was really curious. I stepped forward. I tripped on the curb. Pain rushed quickly.

 Just then, an engine roar came. A big black vehicle came, like the one I went on before with the other family. It was zooming at me. I whimpered and whined, trying to get the girl’s attention. I was hurt, and I couldn’t get up. I barked this time. No one came. I was scared. Very scared. Suddenly, a dark shadow came over me. I thought the car was running me over! I thought this was the end. But, right then, light shone. I opened my eyes. Trees. Grass. Sun. I was alive! I’m pretty small, so the car must have gone over me! 

“Oh! Are you okay?” The girl scooped me up. She walked back to the shelter with a solemn and melancholy look in her eyes. I never saw her again after that. I was waiting for my girl the next day when I decided to talk to Daisy.

“Hello, Daisy. How are you?” 

“Fine, thank you. You?”

“Oui, je vais bien!” 

“Huh?” 

“That’s French! Weird, huh?” 

“Yeah!” Daisy smiled. “What’s French?” she asked. 

“Umm… a language, I guess?” 

“You sound like you’re not sure…” she said with a mischievous look on her face. I grumbled. 

“Well, I am!” I said. I raised my head high. She giggled. “I don’t think you’re taking me seriously, are you?” I said grumpily. Now, her giggles broke into a series of laughs. I frowned. “All right. Humph!” She was laughing so hard that she could be crying by now. I sighed and just smiled at her. “All right,” I repeated. This time, it wasn’t filled with annoyance, but it was filled with care. I curled up for a daily nap. 

Chapter 5

The bell on the shelter door dinged. That meant my girl! I jumped up and barked. 

“Hi, Charlie!” I licked her hand. I nudged her pockets, looking for treats. I found a tiny kibble bone and munched on it. “Charlie!” My girl laughed. She sounded serious but happy at the same time. I cocked my head. “Oh, I just wish I could adopt you. I’m too busy, though. With all my work. I know you understand.” She gently lifted up my head. She smiled through the tears that were starting to roll down her face. I licked them. Salty. She laughed. She kissed me and opened up my cage. She clipped on my leash. She wiped her tears and took me outside. “Oh, Charlie. I will miss you when you get adopted.” I yipped in agreement, even though I didn’t understand. She stopped. She sat down. She hugged me. “Oh, Charlie.” She started to cry again. “I heard what happened to you. With the other girl. I just can’t believe it! So caught up in her phone that she let you hurt yourself!” 

I could feel her boiling up with anger and irritation. I licked her face. She didn’t laugh, though. I was disappointed. That always worked. I yipped and barked and started wagging my tail. I just had to get my girl happy. I understood now. I was supposed to love and cheer up my girl. That was my purpose. That was life itself, its purpose. I needed to spread my love. I needed to guard her. To make her think life had a purpose. Yes, that was my mission and my purpose. I nudged her gently. She smiled and scratched me. When I got back, I talked to Daisy. I was just wound up with emotion. Dogs don’t feel very strong emotions like humans do. But sometimes I do. I just wanted to bundle up my emotions and throw them away or something to get rid of them. I felt so much love toward my girl. I felt like… she was special. One of a kind. The best owner a corgi could ask for. I smiled and felt happiness and sorrow swell up in my heart. I swallowed tears. I just can’t explain my feelings at that time. They all just mushed up and bundled together. I was feeling too many things all at once. I started crying. Not really tears and all. But super sad. Like I was crying. Oh, I sometimes wished that dogs couldn’t have sadness. But I was also glad. That I had experienced life. That I had experienced love and emotions. I trotted happily, suddenly feeling good for myself. I smiled. 

The next day, my girl came. She petted me but walked right past me! She walked to the manager and said, “Want me to handle Charlie’s new owners?” 

The manager nodded. A man, not much older than my girl, came. 

“Hello. I’m here to adopt uh… umm… Charlie?” he stammered and sputtered. 

The manager smiled. “Yes.” 

The man nodded nervously. 

“I’m a very busy man,” he said. 

The manager’s smile turned to a frown. “That’s not too good.” 

The man stammered, “It isn’t?” 

“No.” The manager looked slightly disappointed. The man looked nervous. 

“Well, I can still take her, right?” the man said right away. 

“Let’s see how it works out,” the manager said. He sounded concerned. The man smiled a crooked smile. One that kind of creeped me out. I had a bad feeling about this man. He nodded nervously. 

“Well, I’ll be off, then!” he said. He carried me in an awkward kind of way. 

“Woah!” said my girl. “That’s not how you hold a dog!” 

My girl did something with her arms, as though she was holding something, and the man copied her. Much more comfortable. He took me outside. He took me to a small, yellow thing, like the big, black one but, well… small and yellow. I got put into a box AGAIN! It rolled around AGAIN! I should stop capitalizing the word “AGAIN.” I really didn’t like this. I wobbled and tripped. Twists and turns were not pleasant for me since every time we had to turn, there would be a stop sign. The car would jerk to a stop and keep going really fast. Too fast. My stomach lurched. Something told me I shouldn’t have eaten the burger crumbs that were dropped on the floor. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the car stopped for good. I sighed with relief. I paced back and forth around the car. Suddenly, the trunk jerked open. I jumped out, expecting gentle hands. Instead, I hit the ground. I looked around. The man was nowhere to be seen. I looked everywhere. I’m not being dramatic. I was really worried. Suddenly, rough hands took me, and I got placed in the car. Soon, we were at the animal shelter. Lots of talking. I heard the man say, “I’m sorry, but I just can’t handle a dog.” 

I finally got put into my cage. What happened? It was all so sudden. At least my girl would come, and I would be happy. At last, I could be happy. I have this weird feeling. When other people I love take care of me, like the manager, I don’t feel incredibly, off-the-world happy, and it doesn’t make me calm. But when I’m with my girl, I do. Kind of weird, I don’t know, sensation or something. I can’t explain it. But I might as well be happy rather than complaining.

Chapter 6

From the very beginning, I have told you about me and my girl. I have told you how we were supposed to be together one day. But I have finally realized why there were tears. It’s because we are meant to be together, but we can’t. I can’t be with my girl. I’ve dreamed, and I’ve hoped. But that’s just not reality. And it’s never going to be. But, sometimes, the world will give you hope again. Hope for you to rise up. Sometimes the world will give you what you want. You just have to hope and love forever. Now, let’s get back to the story. The doorbell rang. It was a cloudy, gloomy day, but my girl could cheer me up. She walked in with a smile. 

“Hey there, Charlie.” I yipped. She scratched me. “I got a surprise for you after, okay, Charlie?” I wagged my tail. She took a treat from her pocket and threw it at me. This was a trick she taught me. I opened my mouth and caught it. I nibbled on it. It tasted like beef jerky. It was too big for my small mouth. I struggled to get it into my mouth completely. I eventually just gave up. After my girl took me on my daily walk, she said, “All right, Charlie, ready for the surprise?” 

I cocked my head to the side. She laughed. She cli pped on a bright blue collar and leash I had never seen before. She talked to the manager and walked out the door happily. She carried me to a blue car – it looked shiny – and put me into a box. What’s the deal with humans and boxes? But she opened it, and I popped my head out. I was next to my girl! After, like, five minutes, we got out, and I saw a nice home next to a lot of similar homes. There was a fence next to the door. It was big and brown and made of wood. She took me to the doorstep, and she took a small curvy thing, put it into another small curvy thing (it was smaller), and opened the door. Warmth. I jumped out of her arms. Then I realized something. I thought that me and my girl would never be together. That’s why there were tears sometimes. But, to my surprise, I was wrong. I am happy now. I am so happy now.

Willa Jean Queen of Summer

On the hottest day in the middle of July, young Willa Jean sat pouting on the bench next to the playground, in the fresh shade near the mulberry bush. As the other children played nicely on the play structure, Willa Jean sent them dirty looks. Now, it wasn’t exactly that Willa did not like these kids personally, but that Willa Jean hated not receiving attention, like now. How dare Mrs. Rosét send her to the red time-out bench? How dare her mom send her to summer camp?

Willa tried to look unbothered and occupied, but it felt very uncomfortable smiling while Willa’s mouth was so tired, so Willa Jean relaxed her mouth. Willa could not stand looking sad and lonely while she was in time-out. She decided to entertain herself by pulling on a leaf from a bush behind her.  

“Willa Jean,” called Sadie Lu, the CIT stepping from the red-doored summer camp building. “You can not go play until you say sorry to Juliana.”

“No,” said Willa Jean proudly. “She doesn’t deserve my honest apology.”

“You hurt her feelings,” said Sadie Lu, calmly. “And I am sorry, but you may not go play until you say sorry.” Fortunately, Sadie Lu knew Willa Jean very well by now. She knew you had to argue with Willa Jean to get her to do something before she did it. 

“Explain to me exactly how I hurt her in any way?” protested Willa Jean, “I, in fact, didn’t even touch her. I was just independently playing on the mat.” 

“Willa, you know what you did, and if you can not confess you will have to stay here until you do.” Sadie Lu had paid no attention to the things Willa Jean had said. 

“Fine,” muttered Willa Jean. She might not be able to use a proud voice anymore, but she was definitely not going to use her desperate voice. 

“So I can go get her?” asked Sadie Lu.

“Yes,” confessed Willa Jean. She stood very still as Sadie went to get Juliana.

When Sadie arrived with Juliana, Juliana stuck her tongue out at Willa Jean, who did not hesitate to do the same. Sadie looked down at Juliana, who immediately put on a puppy-dog face and said in a hysterically fake voice to Willa Jean, “Sadie, is Willa Jean going to say she is sorry?”

“Yes,” answered Sadie Lu, which Willa Jean found very offensive because Sadie Lu never listened to her when she said stuff like that. “Aren’t you Willa Jean?” 

“I’m sorry, and I take back… nothing!” Willa Jean declared, head looking down upon Juliana like she was older.

“That’s not fair!” shouted Juliana, hand sticking out to Willa Jean, eyes looking at Sadie who was definitely too young for a situation like this. 

Sadie sighed. “Willa Jean, please say you are sorry.”

“I just did!” protested Willa Jean, who thought she had definitely won this battle.

“You did not! Nuu-uhh.” snapped Juliana.

“Yu-huh,” hissed Willa Jean. So Sadie, the guardian of this problem, was satisfied with her defeat and said they could both go play as long as they kept their distance. 

That baby, thought Willa Jean. I bet that baby Juliana doesn’t even know how to tie her own thick pink and perfect laces. I bet her mom does it for her. Willa Jean felt pleased with her own maturity and rushed to the slide to slip down. 

A day could never be better than this.

The Secret Power

Lowe was running for her life. She clutched the magic orb and then soared into the sky. The clones were chasing her, beating their wings as fast as they could. The rainforest must be close now. If not, I think Launta would accept me just as well as Mari…There! The humid temperature and the mist of the rainforest came into sight as well as a patrol of six dragons. But they didn’t see her. Lowe tried to shout, but heavy talons grasped her snout and her voice became a muffed shriek in surprise. You’re not getting this! She thought as the clones tried to snatch the glowing orb in Lowe’s claws. Finally, she twisted her way out – but one tough clone pounced on her and sent the orb sailing into a giant boulder. 

“No!” Lowe screamed. “Help, somebody come!” Crack!  The orb shattered on the boulder. Only cracked pieces and shards remained. 

“Who’s there?” a voice yelled. It must be one of the serpents on the patrol!  Immediately, the clones fell back and disappeared into the haze. But not all. The same tough clone took one look at the shattered pieces of the orb and quickly snatched a medium-sized piece before joining the other clones. 

“No!” Lowe shouted, but he had already gone. She carefully cleaned up the broken pieces and stuffed them into her sack. 

“Who are you, and why were those clones after you and that?” The same voice from before had come. He pointed to Lowe’s sack with one sharp wing tip.

“My name is Lowe. I come from the Sky Mountains, and I’m a secret agent working for Xunsu Feng. I’ll tell you everything that happened just now. But with Mari and everybody,” Lowe said quickly. 

“Very well, but there’s one thing I would like to know. Why would they send a serpentet?” the serpent asked confusingly.

Lowe paused.  “Because Xunsu Feng knows what he’s doing. He knows I’m skilled. He knows that I’m better at stealing things than most other professionals.”

The serpent stopped. Then nodded. “I understand. My name’s Vine. Come on, I’m taking you to Mari now.” 

***

They walked and flew together in silence. Finally, Lowe could see a giant wooden platform with a wide palace on it. It was concealed from above because there were trees and vegetation growing above the platform. Smart, Lowe thought.

 “Here,” Vine said. He guided Lowe into the wide palace made of wood. Inside were two dragons, one light blue with silver spots. The other, who was larger than most dragons, was dark blue with faint yellow stripes. Lowe realized that the bigger one had a sky blue crown, and had matching anklets that had light blue sapphires embedded in them. That’s Mari.

“Well, who’s our new visitor?” Mari said. 

“This is Lowe, your majesty. She comes from the Sky Mountains. Lowe is going to tell you her story about stumbling into the rainforest with a bunch of clones chasing her and about that magic orb.”

Mari snorted, then walked over to a box on the ground and opened it with a key. She pulled out a crumpled piece of paper rolled up like a scroll.

“Hrm. This is what Feng meant?” Mari rolled open the paper. “All right. Silverspot, tell everyone that there’s a meeting at the Platform.” The light blue dragon nodded, then flew out the entrance. “Follow me,” Mari said.

***

They all flew to a wide area of wooden planks called “the platform.” The wood encircled a tree. Its height, from the looks of it, was about 300 feet tall. Eek! This tree is so tall that it makes me dizzy! Lowe thought. She saw dragons and serpents of all ages and sizes land either on nearby trees, the tree that the platform was encircling, or on the platform. Vine started to drift off towards a nearby tree when –

 “Vine, where are you going?” Lowe asked.

“Well…You see, every dragon or serpent you see in this forest is ranked. The higher ranked ones, such as Mari’s commanders, are on or closer to the platform. The lower ranked ones are farther away from the platform. Why do we do this? It’s because we can’t fit every single being on the platform. Every reptile deserves to hear what Mari has to say. Even if they don’t have to do anything with what she says.”

Lowe tilted her head.

Sigh. I know it’s a lot to process. But look for necklaces or wristbands with this pattern.” Vine showed a blue limestone wristband on him with five tiny wood carved sticks. “This shows my rank, Level five.”

“I see.”

“Anyways, I have to go now. You’re obviously important, go on the platform, look out for the wristbands and necklaces!” Vine shouted, and with that, he darted away.

Well, I guess I’ll just go on my way. Lowe flew and landed on the platform. Lots of confused looks were directed towards her. 

Mari stepped besides Lowe. “Finally, our storyteller is here, ”she said.

“What?”

“She looks like someone swallowed her only gecko!”

“She’s suspicious.”

“Yeah, she could be an imposter!”

“Mari, with all respect, I’d like to ask: where does this serpent come from and why are they speaking?” a solid red dragon asked harshly.

Lowe spotted Vine. He pointed to the red dragon, as if it was a message saying, Look there! Ah-hah! His wrist! It showed one wood stick. But there was something different about the color of the bracelet. When Lowe saw Vine’s wrist, the band was blue. But the red dragon’s band was faint yellow. I shouldn’t focus on that right now, c’mon Lowe! Pay attention to the speech!

“This is Lowe, she will do all the explaining,” Mari went on. “The floor is yours.” A sharp hiss from Mari came.

***

Nervousness crawled onto Lowe, each scale on her prickled with fear.

 “Well, it all started when uh, Ruler Feng told me to steal the glowing resistor, a special sphere that is purely magic energy, called light force. Light force is used to repel dark forces. That’s why we can use it to defeat Ophanar. But, uh, while I was getting chased uh, the orb broke. Here’s the thing, I got all the pieces but a clone stole one, we need to get it back.”

Where’s that red dragon again? Ah-hah! All the other dragons and serpents have blue bands. “Mari! I’ve found an imposter – he has a faint yellow band and all the others are blue!” Lowe whispered. 

“Conceal? You’re right. Tell everyone, I’ll signal my guards to catch him, once you shout. And if Conceal escapes? He won’t. I’ve set traps all around here.” 

All right, Lowe, time for a time to open my mouth. “Dragons and serpents! All around hear me!” Lowe cried. “There is an imposter among us!”

The Nightmare King, Ice Triagile, and the Rage of the King

“The king will not beat me again!” 

The Ice Triagile (part dragon, part tiger, and part crocodile) looks into his globe. He is in his dark, gloomy temple. 

“That king can take control of me. Why do I keep sending more minions? But the king is not the problem. Thunder Bear is!” he says in his dark and scary castle as he picks up a dagger and throws it at the painting of Thunder Bear. Right in the mouth.

“Your majesty, the serum is ready. Oh, and the Penerse (penguin/horse) was a traitor,” says Ty’le, the Ice Triagile’s son. 

“Bring him in.” 

“Yes, father.” 

“Well? Any last words?” 

“I – I was framed,” says the Penerse. 

“I can see you are a traitor. Kill her,” the Ice Triagile tells his son. 

A few minutes later… 

“Aaahhh!!!” screams the Penerse in pain.

***

“Solf (wolf/seal). Report,” says Thunder Bear. 

Solf says, “All good in the water, but I saw Uniale (whale/unicorn). Oh, and the Penerse is gone.”

Thunder Bear replies, “Oh, can you get it on our side?” 

Solf shakes his head. “It’s on their side! Oh, and I need to see the king.”

Thunder Bear says, “Okay,” then yells, “Open the gates!” 

The Crocoions (crocodile/lions) open the gates. When Solf is inside, he gives the king some water.

But it is poisonous. Just then, Solf changes into the Ice Triagile. Then the Ice Triagile walks away, and Crocoion guards run right at him. He takes out his blades and kills them. Just then, the Catbear comes out, but the Ice Triagile kills the Catbear. Then Thunder Bear charges at the Ice Triagile and fights him.

Then he takes the Ice Triagile, throws him in the water, and does a lightning strike, but the Ice Triagile flies up and hits Thunder Bear with an ice blast. The king fights the poison, gets back to normal, and hits the Ice Triagile back to his island, and so then they win.

***

A voice says, “You failed me.”

The Ice Triagile pleads, “Give me more time.” 

“Nooo! Your son will take charge,” says the voice. Then he kills the Ice Triagile.

The End.

The Defending Three

In a jungle. The VELOCIRAPTOR is running. 

VELOCIRAPTOR

Leave me alone, Dimetrodon! 

The DIMETRODON comes on stage. DIMETRODON is able to catch up with VELOCIRAPTOR. 

DIMETRODON:

Now you will be my snack!

VELOCIRAPTOR

So long, sucka!

VELOCIRAPTOR zooms off. DIMETRODON follows him. The PSITTACOSAURUS is onstage, looking down at the grass, trying to decide what grass to eat. 

PSITTACOSAURUS

Hmm. What grass to eat today? 

She sees VELOCIRAPTOR. 

PSITTACOSAURUS

Oh no! Run away! It’s a velociraptor!

VELOCIRAPTOR

(sighs) 

I think I did it. I think I outran him. 

(His stomach growls.) 

Uch, I need a snack. Who is that tasty guy over there? Gotcha! Hey, that’s just a rock.

Rustle, rustle.

VELOCIRAPTOR

Huh, what’s that? I’ll investigate who’s there. 

Rustle, rustle.

DIMETRODON

Roaaar!

VELOCIRAPTOR

You!

DIMETRODON

That’s right. I’ll get you this time! You made me lose my energy, so now I can’t run fast, and you will pay.

PSITTACOSAURUS

Ahhh!

PSITTACOSAURUS starts running. 

DIMETRODON and VELOCIRAPTOR

She’s mine.

They both start chasing her.

PSITTACOSAURUS

Leave me alone!

VELOCIRAPTOR and DIMETRODON are worn out.

VELOCIRAPTOR

(all worn out) 

I got her. 

DIMETRODON

(also worn out) 

No, I got her.

PSITTACOSAURUS

W-w-will you hurt me?

DIMETRODON and VELOCIRAPTOR fall to the ground.

VELOCIRAPTOR

(all worn out) 

If we would hurt you, you would hurt us with your quills.

DIMETRODON

Same. 

PSITTACOSAURUS

Can we be friends?

VELOCIRAPTOR and DIMETRODON get up and nod at each other.

PSITTACOSAURUS

Please – my family left me when I was three, and I am almost seven. I also have powers. 

VELOCIRAPTOR

You can join us.

DIMETRODON

What type of powers do you have?

PSITTACOSAURUS

I have everything, any power imaginable – like, I can make both of you have my powers.

VELOCIRAPTOR

Wait, don’t –

Boom!

VELOCIRAPTOR

Something’s wrong. I think I also have every power in the world. 

DIMETRODON

S-s-same.

VELOCIRAPTOR

I know we can defend the forest. 

PSITTACOSAURUS

Yes, I’m in.

DIMETRODON

As long as I get to smash.

VELOCIRAPTOR

Yes, you will! We will call ourselves the Defending Three.

VELOCIRAPTOR, the brains.PSITTACOSAURUS, the defense. DIMETRODON, the strength. And, together, they are the Defending Three.

While Ghosts Fly

‘Twas the night before Halloween

And all through the sky

Phantoms do soar

Both low and high

Pale as moonlight

Dusty as sand

Ancient as night

But cold as dead hands

Clear and transparent

Though they may be

They become no more than lost souls

On All Hallows’ Eve

Shooting shivers up my spine

Thy stolen spirits

Stench of evil 

Long lost time

Tommy’s Winter Adventures

Tommy and his friend Bobby’s acorn relationship was as strong as metal. Tommy and Bobby were in Antarctica, and when you’re in Antarctica, you’ve got to have some fun. So Tommy and Bobby agreed on going sledding on a nice, tall, snowy mountain. 

They packed up their stuff and made sure they were properly dressed — they didn’t want to get cold.

So they set off on to the snowy fields of the Antarctic. It was a good, long walk, but when they got there, they were stunned. It was huge. Tommy was a bit nervous, but he didn’t share this with Bobby because he didn’t want to ruin the fun. 

They got on Tommy’s new and improved blue sled, which Tommy was very proud of. 

“Comfy,” said Bobby as he, too, got on the sled. The sled started to move and soon they were speeding down the mountain. 

“This is fun!” shouted Tommy over the wind, but his words trailed off as Tommy lost his grip and fell off the sled. 

“TOMMY!” shouted Bobby. Unfortunately, Tommy slammed into a tree. 

“Are you ok?” asked Bobby, helping Tommy to his feet. 

“Yes,” said Tommy. “But I think I sprained my point.” (AKA his ankle.) 

“I have a plastic bag I can fill with snow just like an ice pack,” said Bobby. 

“Okay, try,” said Tommy urgently. Bobby quickly filled his plastic bag with snow and when he was done he gave it to Tommy. 

“Okay, now that that is solved, we still need to get you to a hospital,” said Bobby. 

“But I can’t walk,” said Tommy.

“I think I have an idea,” said an excited Bobby. “Try to get on your sled,” said Bobby. As Tommy hopped on his point to his sled he asked Bobby an important question. 

“What exactly is your idea?” said Tommy.

“I’m going to pull you by my stem up to the hospital nearby,” said Bobby. And he began to pull Tommy up the mountain. When they got to the hospital, the nurses wrapped Tommy’s ankle and said it would take two weeks to heal.

“Umm, Bobby, we have a problem. I can’t walk,” said Tommy in a worried tone.

“That’s okay. I will just pull you home on your sled,” said Bobby. And that’s what they did.

When they got home, they made a fire and had a nice time drinking hot chocolate, laughing, and telling stories from when they were little. 

Life in the Eyes of a Royal Drolfette

Ever since Jewelea had been attacked by evil invaders as a drolfette, she has lived on her own. But when humans kidnap her and try to keep her, she must escape to find Drolftopia and to recover her long-lost royal heritage. And she now meets some new challenges, being a hero and a magical queen. 

Prologue

One joyful day, there was news that not just one but four eggs had just been laid by Lady Rain and her husband, Lord Pluto. All rejoiced as soon there would be new royals! The eggs were beautiful, and each was, according to tradition, topped with a special crown for the baby inside. The crown would fall off when the egg hatched and would belong to the drolf or drolfette that had been in the egg forever. The crown also had the name of the prince or princess that was inside the egg. The egg that was laid first would, of course, belong to the future ruler. However, we have not gotten there just yet. Depending on if the egg had a star or heart on the front, it would be a boy or a girl. And so, one by one, the eggs hatched. 

First to hatch was a very special young princess from a bejeweled egg, who would become the queen. Her name was Jewelea. Then hatched twin princes, emerging from a shimmering black egg. Next hatched twin princesses, who were born from a soft, cream colored egg. Finally, there was one more pair of twins — this time a prince and princess from a mahogany egg.

Soon, Jewelea looked around, wondering what to do. She could hear a whooshing noise outside. She and her three sisters and three brothers panicked, scrambling everywhere. THEY WERE UNDER ATTACK! Running out the door, carrying their seven children, Lord Pluto and Lady Rain screamed. As the authorities started to arrive, they split and ran for cover. As Jewelea ran, she wondered whether she would ever see her family again. 

15 Years Later… 

Chapter 1: The Best Birthday

“Hm-hm, hm-hm-hm,” Jewelea sang to herself as she paced her hideout. It looked decent, seeing as she had lived there for fifteen years; there was a living room filled with old books, cushions, and mugs. There was a kitchen that held all of her food and where she had dug a hole in the wall for a sink and filled it with smooth stone she had found nearby. She had taken the hose from the house above her and stuck it through a pipe she had found at the dump, and now she just had to pull on the string next to the sink to turn the water on and off. She also had a bathroom, which had a bath exactly the same as the sink, just three times as big and using another hose. It also had a toilet that had a pipe leading to the sewer that she had connected herself, so now she had a toilet. And, of course, the bathroom had its own sink, using yet another hose and pipe. 

Finally, we reach the bedroom. It had five beds stuck into each of the walls, except that the back wall had a wardrobe instead of beds, and the front had the archway for a door. The whole house was deep underground, but it was totally awesome. Jewelea liked her house, and tomorrow was her sixteenth birthday! 

After a dinner of carrots, sunflower seeds, and lettuce salad, she went into the bedroom, climbed into her bed, grabbed her stuffed elephant, and fell asleep. The next morning, she woke up, brushed her teeth, combed her silky white fur, and ran into the kitchen to get the basket in which she would collect the food that she would eat for the day. Though she had a ladder leading towards the ground that most of her fellow drolves tread on, she rarely ever went up. She only went up if she needed to repair her water system or if she needed some fresh air. 

Today, she went over to her garden, which also had a chicken coop and a stall with a cow in it. The stall was big with hay bales and a water trough in it. The chicken coop had four chickens: a black one, a brown one, a white one, and a gray one. The chicken coop also had two floors — the bottom was where they ate, drank, and ran around, and the top was where they slept and laid their eggs. The nests where they laid their eggs were designed so that when an egg was laid, it went straight into a tub on either side that was filled with soapy water to clean the eggs as they sat there. 

Jewelea milked the cow, gathered the eggs, and harvested the lettuce, carrots, beans, sunflowers, strawberries, and herbs in her garden for the day. She took some wood from the woodpile near the stone chimney that reached all the way to the ground and took some matches from the mantelpiece, as well as a frying pan, some salt, a cloth, and an oven mitt. She lit the wood and started a fire, and while the fire was heating up, she scrambled eggs, strained milk, washed berries, and chopped herbs. When the fire was hot enough, she put the eggs in the frying pan, put on the oven mitt, and held the eggs out over the fire. As soon as they were cooked, she decided that she should eat them and then go exploring for a little while. So she ate her breakfast and ran up the ladder outside, but as she went into the street, somebody made everything go black.

Chapter 2: Discovered

Jewelea was TERRIFIED! As she was dragged along, she could hear a voice saying, “C’mon Joe, we gotta take this one to the hospital, it’s a beauty.” Jewelea did not know what a hospital was — the only buildings in Drolftopia were stands and houses, and the only ways of transport were by foot or wing, and all the animals that lived there were drolves! What was a hospital, and what was it for?

Jewelea howled. She howled and howled and howled with confusion and misery. “Owowaaa! Wooo! Arooo!” 

Eventually, whoever was carrying her said to the other, “Doesn’t this one ever stop?”

The other, whose name was apparently Joe, replied, “Don’t think so,” and chuckled. 

Jewelea felt the bag or box or whatever she was in get lifted into somewhere that she could not see, but before she could wonder what to do and where she was, the box or bag she was in started to shake violently. It was a curious sensation — it felt new and bumpy and strange, but it also felt warm and safe. Jewelea didn’t know what to make of it. But soon the rhythm of the thing she was in carried her off to sleep. 

When she awoke, she was startled to see someone staring at her through thick, square glasses. What was more, this creature had two legs, not four! The thing opened its mouth and said gently, “It’s all right, everything is gonna be fine. Though you will have to get surgery on your kidney, everything else seems to be in order.”

Jewelea sat there, trembling with fright and cold. It was not very warm in the place where she was sitting, and speaking of where she was sitting, it appeared to be some sort of table or counter with a leather cushion on top in a small room. The walls were lined with pictures of strange animals and plants. Cabinets, a sink much like the one back home, and some chairs covered one wall while all the others were bursting with those pictures. Jewelea heard the thing talking to another one just like it, but the other one had black hair and no glasses. Then, they grabbed something from under the counter she was sitting on and placed it next to her. It seemed like a box, except that it had a screen of wire mesh across the front. Inside Jewelea could see blankets, her stuffed elephant, and a small velvet cushion. The cozy looking bed tempted her, so when the things, which she thought she knew the name of but couldn’t quite remember, opened the box, she happily stepped in. 

They closed the mesh door as she stepped inside, and yet they opened a door in the top and gently pet her, then closed it once more. Jewelea found herself being moved towards another room. When the creatures carrying her opened the cage, she immediately jumped out, soaring onto a small chair in the corner, glad to be out of that thing! Jewelea liked the chair, and sat down on it, wondering, What are they doing now? They’ve already kidnapped me, brought me here, stuffed me in a cage, and I don’t even know who or what they are! So Jewelea growled as they approached her carrying a small, pointy thing, but they were not scared. This must have happened with a lot of the drolves they kidnapped. (Not saying she blamed her fellow drolves or anything.) But as they closed in, she howled and barked and growled some more. The creatures were confused. But they finally reached her and jabbed her with the pointy thing, and within minutes she collapsed, and fell into a deep, strange, dreamless sleep.

Chapter 3: The Hospital 

The next thing Jewelea knew, she was staring at some fuzzy blobs up ahead. She shook herself and tried to stand, but a sudden sharp pain in her side prevented her from doing so. As her vision cleared, she noticed she was in another room, this one with lavender walls, another sink and leather cushion bench, and a bunch of thingies with glowing screens and long metal claws hanging over her head. What should I do? Jewelea asked herself. I’m trapped in this place that seems to be an endless hallway of weird rooms, and I can’t even stand up! AND it’s my birthday! 

Jewelea sat there, thinking about it for hours, and by that time, she had recovered from what that creature had called surgery, so she could make a plan to escape. First thing on the morning of her recovery, the plan began. Jewelea pretended to sleep as one of the creatures came in. Suddenly she shot a jet of blue flame on the mesh, and it melted away. She soared out, gliding quickly on her jewel-encrusted wings, and flew straight out the door and into the hallway. Jewelea zoomed down the hallway, and at the end, she found a glass door. 

Not bothering to open it and wait for them to catch her, she put on an extra boost of speed and zoomed right through the door. Glass flew everywhere. There was a chinking noise, and then a sickening thud told Jewelea that the creatures had slipped on the glass and fallen to the tiled floor. In front of her were bushes and trees, and in the distance, she could see mountains. The fresh air felt good on her sweaty face. Panting, she looked around and realized she was lost! 

The trees and grasses were different then the rainbow colored ones in Drolftopia because these ones were only green and brown. Jewelea decided to fly up and see where she was. Soaring up into the clouds, she saw miles of the same sort of buildings and plants, with the occasional strange animal. Using her dragon vision, she focused on a small golden trapdoor thing in a large hill. The Great Separator! A sudden memory crossed her brain. A tan-colored drolfette was staring at her with kind, caring, sparkly blue eyes. Her eyes! A golden tiara bejeweled with amber and rubies sat on her head. Another drolf came into the picture. This one had stormy gray fur and bright, all-knowing brown eyes. A silver crown encrusted with sapphires and emeralds was on his head. Words made of diamonds were on the front of his crown. They read: Lord Pluto, King of all Drolves. Her parents! Lord Pluto, her father, said in a deep, calm voice, “Hello there! Welcome to Drolftopia, little one!”

Jewelea shook herself and started soaring towards the golden trapdoor. A strong instinct told her that she would be safe on the other side. She reached the trapdoor and put her pawprint in the scanner and zoomed through to find none other than Drolftopia!

Chapter 4: Voxes

Jewelea slowly stepped through the gateway. Drolftopia looked different than it had on her birthday. The usually bright, cheerful cottages were now a mass of gray and white wreckage. All of the drolves were gone. There was no color anywhere. Suddenly, Jewelea saw a blur of silver light. The light flashed by her fast as lightning, making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Jewelea sniffed. An odor of decaying flesh streamed through her nostrils. Jewelea, disgusted, flew high into the foggy sky above. 

From high up she could see all of Drolftopia. Silver flashes of light were appearing and vanishing, draining even the white trim on the wreckage of its color. I hope everyone is all right, she thought. But in the meantime I should investigate. So that is what she did. 

Swooping down silently, she hid carefully behind a large gray door and peeked around the edge. One of the silver lights had slowed nearby, inspecting a white board. Now that the light had slowed, Jewelea could see the details. Glowing red eyes peered from a slim, drolf-like head. 

Suddenly, the light opened its mouth to reveal a strong, muscular jaw with fangs so sharp it seemed the light cut itself every time it closed its mouth. The light breathed in the thin, dusty air as if drinking in the world around it. The white board became darker and darker as the light became brighter and brighter.

Jewelea then remembered the book she had borrowed from the town library about the beings of the spirit world. A picture on one of the last pages was of a white fox with glowing red eyes and razor-sharp fangs. Jewelea strained her memory and remembered that the paragraph next to the picture was titled: VOXES. Voxes, it read, were the evil souls of bloodthirsty foxes that had roamed the earth for centuries, killing all animals in their wake. Voxes sucked all life and color from the world around them to make themselves more powerful. 

These must be voxes, Jewelea thought. I have to do something! But what first? Jewelea suddenly soared up to the foggy clouds above. The vox didn’t notice. Jewelea closed her eyes and carefully listened to the evil silence around her. A noise startled Jewelea. A soft, miserable noise was coming from nearby. Howling! Jewelea rushed towards the noise. The noise was coming from a gigantic black metal cage. Inside, hundreds of drolves were howling miserably. Voxes were guarding the sides and top of the cage. I have to get them out! Jewelea thought. Gliding quickly upward, Jewelea peeked through the mass of vox guards. Underneath, though barely visible, was a shimmering silver key. 

Chapter 5: The Battlefield

Jewelea silently parachuted down to the ground. Creeping toward the metal cage, she thought about how best to get them to safety. Suddenly, one of the vox guards spotted her. He leaped, gliding creepily across the ground. Signaling to the others, he jumped down and ran. Jewelea rushed as fast as she could towards the cage. Zigzagging quickly, her heart pounding with exhaust and fright, she soared into the mist once more. Her fuzzy white silhouette blocked out the few rays of icy moonlight. She zoomed lightning fast towards the cage, but they had beaten her. Turning sharply, she sprinted away towards the marketplace. She had hardly ever been there, so she didn’t know what to expect.

And when she got there, she saw that the stands looked abandoned, and there was no merchandise on their shelves. The thick crowd was gone too. Jewelea hid behind a stand and waited for the world to end, for her vision to cloud and vanish, for her color to fade. But it never did. She realized then that the only way to save Drolftopia was to let the drolves go. But how? Jewelea thought.

Suddenly, she had an idea. Flapping her bejeweled wings hard, she lifted off the ground. Jewelea zipped to the cage just as the voxes got to the marketplace where she had been. She managed to get to the cage before they had figured out where she was and how to get there. Jewelea swooped down, grabbed the silver key in her mouth, and stuck it into the lock. There was a sharp click as the lock fell to the ground. Jewelea bit down hard on the handle of the cage door and pulled. The door swung open. The drolves soared out of the cage like a flock of birds, glad to be out at last. A tan drolf with blue wings and green eyes came up to Jewelea and said, “Thanks for freeing us! I don’t know what we would have done without you! But the royal family is still stuck. They’re at the palace, locked up someplace. You gotta save them!”  

“Bye! Thanks!” Jewelea shouted in reply as she zoomed as fast as she could towards the palace. The palace was a huge marble building surrounded by a large fruit orchard. A golden tower was in the middle of the courtyard in the center of the marble walls. The palace looked ghostly. Fog had settled around the great palace and made it impossible to see twenty feet in front of you in any direction. Jewelea flew towards where she thought the tower should be. Looming ahead of her was the tower, bright and golden as ever, and faint howls could be heard from inside. 

Chapter 6: A Palace of Gems

Jewelea parachuted into the tower. Rubble and torn furniture were everywhere. She followed the noises, and they got louder and louder with every step she took. As Jewelea rounded a corner, she saw a small wooden crate and inside, a brownish snout was poking out through the barred window. 

“Mom!” Jewelea cried.

“Jewels?” her mom replied. 

“I missed you, Mom!” Jewelea exclaimed. 

“I feel the same way!” she replied. “But could you get me and the rest of the family out of here, by any chance?”

“Sure,” Jewelea said. She picked the lock with her tooth, and the lock fell off. The door burst open and eight drolves flew out, circling her. 

“Hiya!” a storm gray drolf said. 

“How are you?” a cream-colored drolfette exclaimed.

“Hello, everybody!” Jewelea called. “I need to check who is who before I can greet you by name, because, like…” 

“We know. You ran away and you’ve been gone for sixteen years, blah, blah, blah,” a jet black drolf said. 

“Attention, hut!” a gray drolf said. He wore a silver crown. At the sound of his voice, all of the drolves lined up perfectly straight. 

At one end of the line, a beige drolfette with gold wings and green eyes said in a sweet, cheerful voice, “Hi! I’m Fern. Nice to meet you!”

Second, the pure black drolf with black wings and dark eyes said in a clever, mischievous voice, “Hiya, I’m Onyx.” 

Next, a storm gray drolf with silver wings and gray eyes said, “Hello, I’m Thunder, and this is my twin brother, Zigzag.” He gestured towards a drolf exactly like him, except with a white lightning bolt on his back. 

Finally, a cream-colored drolfette with bronzy wings and sparkly blue eyes said, “Hi there, I’m Cloud, and this is my twin sister Snowflake.” And she pointed a paw at a drolfette precisely the same but with a white spot on her forehead. 

“Nice to meet you all,” Jewelea replied. “Tell me if I got it right. Fern, Onyx, Thunder, Zigzag, Cloud, and Snowflake.” 

“Correctamundo,” Onyx said. 

“Ok. Great. Let’s go home to our bedrooms and sleep. I am exhausted.” 

 “Sure,” Snowflake replied.

The Beginning

It was a nice summer day. Then, all of a sudden, a black angel grabbed a spear and threw it at the sun, and the air turned to smoke. The dark angel went to a radio station and told everyone she was destroying the earth. Then, Jane leaned against her book shelf. Suddenly, a secret door opened! Jane stepped inside curiously. It led to an elevator which took her down to the basement. When she finally got down to the basement, she realized it was actually a secret hideout. Then, a dark figure in the room said, “Jane, you need to restore peace by battling the dark angel…” 

With no idea what was happening, Jane did what the dark figure said anyway. After the dark figure gave her a cool new costume to wear, she was ready to battle. Then, she ran back up and went into the elevator and rushed out the door and went to go find the dark angel. 

***

When Jane found the dark angel, they battled. The dark angel said she wasn’t really good at violence so… they had a dance competition! Jane wasn’t really sure how to dance because she actually never learned how to dance. Her friend at school told her that the only thing that mattered was having fun. So, Jane took that advice and had fun. And she actually won the dance battle because the dark angel didn’t really know what to do. But then, something happened. The dark angel’s dress turned pink… she was actually an angel under a curse by the Queen Devil, who was trying to take over heaven. 

***

Jane was confused but a little excited for the adventure the angel had told her was ahead. Then, suddenly, something came into view. It was a shooting star or something. It was coming straight towards her. She ran out of the way, then looked to see what it was.

The thing stopped. It was another angel. It was the other angel’s friend. She told Jane that the Devil was still working hard, but that he went back to Hell for his plans, so this would be the right time to help her get to Heaven. Jane, a.k.a. Phoenix, was a little confused about how to get to Heaven since she didn’t have wings.  

The angel said, “You just have to have kindness in your heart to get to Heaven.” 

She tried her best to fly, and she got to Heaven. She found out something strange.  Instead of being happy in the clouds, it was filled with gloom and red. All over the place there was evil, fire, dust, and ash. Jane was super confused now. 

The angel told her, “This was the work of the Devil.” 

But they quickly went down to an underground base. Now Jane understood that they needed a place to live so the Devil wouldn’t destroy it. They formed a plan to destroy the Devil and thought confidently of what to do. 

Then, they suggested, “Maybe let’s plan a sneak attack to find out their plans.” 

Jane thought this was smart but dangerous. She was up for the job.

The next time, Jane crept into Hell and quickly grabbed the plans. Then, she replaced them with a fake replica she had made on the internet. When she went back to Heaven, the angel said they’d do something with it. 

Then, they told her they’d rewrite the evil plans so they’d be in the wrong place at the wrong time and ready for the attack. Then, they heard a big thing like a bomb. They went up, and the war was beginning. Jane was upset because she found the plan ten minutes earlier, and they must’ve known it was a replica.

The angels grabbed anything near them and Jane, a.k.a. Phoenix, grabbed her bow and arrow. The Devil said he wasn’t good at fighting, so they had a dance battle instead. Jane wasn’t confident because she wasn’t good at dancing, but she tried her best, and she won. 

What happened next was unbelievable.

To be continued…

Three Is Turned to One by a Human Beast

Kkkra shooo!

“Jet, come eat breakfast,” Mom said.

What? What’s happening? Startled and half-asleep, I jumped up out of bed and banged my head on a chair. 

“Oh, just five more minutes,” I said, falling onto my bed.

“Come now,” Mom said in a strict Mom voice.

“OK,” I said with a sigh.

Creak, creak, creak. I came down the splintery wooden stairs.

Oh, hi there. My name is Jet. I’m twelve years old. I live in a war zone in my homeland city in the forest. My city and two other cities fight day and night. My city’s name is Wild Fasts. I don’t know why. The other city is named Steel City because it is foolproof, but it’s not really a steel city — it is a desert full of dark-skinned people. The last city is named Sharp because they have sharp, deadly knives and are full of bandits on a dock. My mom says my dad died in the war when I was three. We are lucky we are even alive right now.

I sat down in front of Mom.

“Here, today’s meal is toast,” Mom said.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said. “Oh, and Mom?” 

“Yes?” 

“When do you think it is going to stop?” I asked.

“What?” 

Kkkrrrunch!

“You know, the war,” I mumbled with my mouth stuffed with toast. 

“Oh, I’m not sure. It could go on forever,” replied Mom while pouring milk into the glass cups.

“I wish I could free these people from this ongoing war,” I said.

“Maybe if you really work on it, it will happen,” encouraged Mom.

I knew she was just encouraging me, but I smiled. I finished breakfast. 

“See you later, Mom. I’m going to meet my friends,” I said.

I went to the park. I turned all 360 degrees. Where are they?

“Boo!”

They came out from behind an ice cream truck.

“Aaak!!!”

Chapter One: DNA

“Hey! Why do you scare me like that every time?” I shouted.

“It’s fun!” my friends said simultaneously, giggling.

“But it scared me half to death!” I muttered under my breath. 

Anyway, these are my friends. They’re brother and sister. The sister named Ruby is twelve and the brother named Vac is eleven.

“So, anyway, what do ya want to do? Because I’m as bored as hell,” I ask.

“Wanna race?” Vac asked.

“Sure, because I’m going to win,” I said.

“To my house,” Ruby said.

“Bu — but that’s…”

“Then do ya Q-U-I-T?” Ruby cut in.

“No way,” I said.

“Then let’s go,” Vac said.

Three… two… one… go!

We dashed. I dashed so fast it knocked the wind out of me

“Done, haha! I’m done already!” I shouted in awe of myself. I looked around. There was no one there. This is gonna take a long time…

Finally, Ruby and Vac arrived five minutes later.

“We are done,” they gasped simultaneously. They were on their knees gasping for breath.

“What took you so long?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked.

“And what happened to your legs?!” Vac panicked, not taking his eyes off my legs like if he did, something would stab him in the back.

“Wha — OMG! There’s cheetah fur on my leg!!” I panicked too. We went to my house to talk to my mom. “What’s happening to me?” I shouted while pointing at my leg.

“I knew this day would come…” she whispered to herself while putting a hand on her forehead.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Your Dad’s DNA — it’s forming,” Mom told me.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Your dad was half-cheetah.”

I was half-beast.

Chapter Two: New City

Now I know why our city is named Wild Fasts. 

“But… I don’t understand what you mean! And — and you said my — my dad’s dead!!!” I shouted, tears dripping down my cheeks .

“No, he’s not dead. He’s in the wild somewhere. I just know it,” Mom told me.

“How did he get there?” I asked, still petrified.

“Like you wanted, he tried to make peace, but they thought it was a trap, so they attacked instead. The others made it back but — but he couldn’t.” She finished talking and sobbed.

I was mad — no, furious! But sad at the same time. I wanted to run out of here and find my dad. But I didn’t know if I would make it or not. Plus, I didn’t know where he was.

 “I know you want to find your dad, and I will let you. But you need to know how to control the cheetah in you, so I’ll lead you until we get there, and then I’ll go,” Mom told me.

“OK,” I told Mom.

“Don’t forget us,” Ruby and Vac said simultaneously. 

“It’s too dangerous,” said Mom.

“Just go with it. If they say something, they never take it back,” I told Mom like it was just common sense.

“OK, just one tiny, little problem… It’s that — this person in the other city,” Mom told us, saying the last part more quickly.

“First, that’s a big problemo! Second, how can we trust that ‘person’?” said Ruby.

“That ‘person’ trained Jet’s dad,” said Mom.

Why is everyone saying “person” like it’s important? I thought.

“OK then, let’s go in twenty minutes,” Vac said.

***

We got out of our city no problemo, but that was the easy part.

We spent several days in the forest sleeping, walking, and eating until we made it. There was a wall of stone and guards in every corner. The only way was up. The good thing was there was a hill near us.

“Ruby, did you bring the paper like always?” asked Vac.

“Of course,” Ruby said.

“Can you give it to me so I can make a glider for each of us? Then, we can glide in there from the hilltop,” said Vac.

“Fine with me,” Ruby replied. “Here,” she said while handing the paper over.

We went up the hill.

“That was a good hike,” I gasped while I basically fell. 

I would have tumbled down if my mom didn’t stop me.

Chapter Three: Arguing

“You guys should rest. We will go at midnight,” Vac said. “I’ll be making the glider.”

“Now, who made you boss?” Ruby asked.

“I’m not the boss. I’m just saying I’ll make the glider and you guys should rest,” Vac told her.

“Yeah, well, I want to help!” shouted Ruby.

“Well, I think I’ll be better off if I do this alone,” said Vac while he was making the glider.

“Well, I’m the one who gave you the paper,” Ruby said.

Blah blah blah…

Mom looked in her bag.

“What are you looking for?” I asked.

“Clothing to disguise us,” my mom answered.

“Good idea.” 

“There, a cloak.”

“OK, now let’s rest.”

***

At midnight, Vac and Ruby were still arguing, but they had made the gliders.

“Ok, now zip it,” I told them.

They finally stopped.

“Let’s go,” I whispered.

We glided. It was actually really fun, like flying. Mom and I were way in front of Vac and Ruby.

I saw Vac mouth, “This conversation is not finished.”

“Everyone got a cloak, right?” Mom whispered.

“Yes,” we whispered back.

We landed safely because it was night and no one was awake.

“OK, let’s wait ‘til sunlight. When it’s time, Mom will tell us who the ‘person’ is,” I said.

We lay down on the hard, cold rock waiting to sleep. Very slowly, I closed my eyes into the darkness.

***

We opened our eyes in the bright sunlight.

“I officially hate living in the street,” I said.

“Same,” Vac agreed.

“Let’s go,” my mom said.

My mom and I started walking, but Vac and Ruby were arguing about who was going to find the “person” first.

Chapter Four: The Person

My mom and I were so focused on finding the “person” that we didn’t realize Vac and Ruby were running a different way and arguing about who was going to find the “person” first.

They kept arguing until they found themselves lost and sat down on a bench, not knowing which way to go.

“OK, because we’re lost — and you know it, too — why don’t we just give up on this pointless argument?” Ruby growled.

“Deal?” Vac asked.

“Deal,” Ruby replied.

“Are we good?” asked Vac.

“We’re good,” Ruby answered.

“Good,” Vac said.

“Now, where did we come from?” Ruby said.

“There — no, there — no, I don’t know,” Vac said.

“There,” said an old lady nearby, pointing to the way they had come from.

“WHERE DID THIS OLD HAG COME FROM?” Vac shouted.

The old lady whacked Vac with her walking stick.

“I probably deserved that,” Vac mumbled.

The old lady was wearing brown ripped clothes, sharp teeth, and had sharp nails like talons and a white outline at the eye tail.

Ruby shot a glance at the old lady. 

“I think we are supposed to know her,” Ruby whispered.

***

Meanwhile…

“Mom, what does the ‘person’ look like?” I asked.

“Just an old lady,” my mom said.

Chapter Five: City Trouble

Bonk. Ooof!

I fell to the ground.

“Hey, what are you doing?” said the big guy I had bonked into.

He was bald and basically three feet wide and six feet tall. I made him so mad that he looked as hot as a flaming piece of charcoal. He was about to hit me, but he missed. It seemed like I was too fast for him, but then my cloak drifted off.

Security guards surrounded us.

“Oh crap,” I said.

There were two reasons why I said, “Oh crap.” First, the security guards surrounded us. Second, the cheetah DNA was once again forming.

We stood back to back. There was one space that was not closed.

“Let’s run through there on the count of three,” I mouthed through the side of my mouth, ticking my head.

“OK,” my mom mouthed back.

“One… two… three!” I said.

We ran for it.

My mom ran as fast as she could. I went the same speed, not turning back and not knowing where to go until we saw Vac and Ruby with the “old lady.”

“What are you doing with the ‘person’?!” I shouted.

“Oh!!! So this old hag is the ‘person’?!” Vac said. OK, I shouldn’t have said that, he thought.

Whack!

Chapter Six: Grandma

“I knew there was something suspicious about this person,” Ruby said, balling her hands into fists.

“Why are you running?” Vac asked.

“No time to explain,” Mom and I gasped simultaneously. The security guards were catching up.

“Run!” I told everyone.

We ran. Vac was the one who dragged the old lady. We turned a corner and, fortunately, the door was there, but unfortunately, there were even more guards at the door’s entrance.

We turned another corner before the security guards could and went into an abandoned building to hide.

“Mom,” Mom whispered to the old lady happily.

Ruby and Vac stared in awe at my mom, jaws dropped.

“What?” Mom said, looking uncomfortable.

“Let’s talk about this afterwards,” the old lady scolded Vac and Ruby, whacking them with her walking stick.

“So, what should we do?” Vac whispered.

“What about we make them follow us into a trap?” Ruby asked.

“That is not a bad idea,” Mom said.

“OK then, let’s do that plan,” I said.

“You’re saying it like we have another choice,” Vac said to me.

“Whatever. Just go with the plan,” I quickly said.

“OK then, who’s the bait?” Vac asked.

Nobody raised their hand. They were all staring at me.

“OK, fine. I’ll go,” I sighed.

Chapter Seven: Escape

Thirty minutes later, we had already set up the trap. It was a simple one, you know: dig up a hole and put sticks over it, then cover it with leaves. Anyway, I went to the front entrance and got their attention. Then, I ran.

I jumped over the booby trap, and when the guards chased me, they fell into the hole.

“Let’s go before backup comes,” I said.

We ran for the door. It was already open. We ran until we couldn’t see the city.

“I think we lost ‘em,” Ruby said.

We settled down in the middle of Wild Fasts and Steel City next to a tree. We set up camp and went inside tents.

“I guess the Steel City isn’t foolproof?!” I said.

“It could be in the history books: the group who — ” Vac started saying.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Ruby cut in.

“So, ummm, old ha — I know what you’re thinking; you don’t need to hit me — I mean, Grandma,” I said.

“Yes?” she replied in a croaky voice.

“Did you really teach my dad, Flin?” I asked.

“Yes,” she croaked.

“Can you teach me?” I asked.

“I suppose,” said the old lady with a small smile.

“We will start the next morning,” the old lady croaked.

***

“Wait, so why didn’t you tell us she was your mother?” I asked my mom.

“Because you would ask too many questions.”

“That’s true,” I replied, trying to block a tirade. 

“I guess I’ll go, then,” my mom said.

“Wait until sunrise,” I said with gleaming eyes.

“OK then,” Mom said with a sigh.

“Then let’s rest up,” Ruby said. Nobody could argue with that. 

I went into the tent with Grandma and Mom while Vac and Ruby went into the other one. I lay down. Now it’s not long until I see my dad.

Chapter Eight: Lessons

It was beaming sunlight when I woke up. My mom was about to leave. She and Grandma were hugging. We said a quick goodbye and hugged, too. When I hugged my mom, she said, “Do what Grandma says,” and slipped a pen in my pocket without me noticing. When my mom left,

silence fell…

“So, Grandma, what are we going to do?” I asked, cutting the silence. “Hunting, fighting, racin — ” 

“Meditation,” Grandma cut in.

“Why?” I said, a little disappointed but trying not to show it. 

Grandma glared at me.

Under a tree, Grandma and I sat down and closed our eyes. I twitched. I snuck a peek to see if she was still meditating. She was still meditating. I was aching, but I was trying my best to stay still. I wanted to know how much more I’d need to keep it up, but no matter what, I’d do it to find my dad.

So, I survived, and at the end, I was more comfortable. When what felt like two hours had passed, I stood up and felt a jolt of aching pain. It was only a cramp, but it hurt pretty bad.

The next day, I asked if we were going to do something else, but she gave me the stink eye, so I listened and sat down and closed my eyes. Every passing day was less painful but still very painful.

Two weeks had passed and we were still doing the same thing: same old mediation.“I can’t believe we’re wasting our time meditating while we could be looking for my dad!” I told Grandma, who twitched, but she didn’t respond. She was too busy meditating.

Chapter Nine: Frustration

Yyyhhhaaa!

Silence fell.

“Let’s meditate,” snapped Grandma, cutting the silence.

“OH, now I’ve had enough! I mean, every day I meditate, and what do I learn?! Nothing! SO. I. QUIT!” I shouted, storming out of the tent and sitting down under the same old tree.

“Dogmatic,” sighed Grandma.

I skipped lunch and went near the tree to eat dinner ALONE. I slept outside, but I couldn’t sleep in the frosty, cold wind until Ruby came. 

“What happened this morning?” she asked.

“Stuff,” I mumbled.

“Come on, dude. Break the silence act,” Vac said. I jumped. 

“Seriously, come on! Do you need to keep sneaking up on me?” I growled. 

“Stop stalling and spit it out!” Ruby snarled.

“Fine, I quit the whole thing!” I blurted.

“I’m sure she knows something. After all, she trained your dad,” Vac suggested.

“Sure, just trust an old lady that I learn nothing from,” I mumbled under my breath.

“What?” Ruby said.

“Nothing,” I said.

They walked away.

“Well, just give her one more try,” Ruby said.

The words echoed in my head. I sat there, waiting a little longer. Then, I tiptoed into the tent while Grandma was snoring. I slipped into the sleeping bag. 

I’ll give her one last try.

***

Sunlight came into the tent, burning my eyes. My eyes blinked rapidly. I saw my grandma outside. I trembled, every step I took getting me closer and closer to her, but at the same time she was going farther and farther away. My legs were wobbling like my bones had been removed. 

No! Get a hold of yourself, I told myself.

“Bbbttthhh,” I shuddered.

When I was in front of Grandma, I stopped. The words I wanted to say were stuck on the tip of my tongue. The only two words that came out were… “I’m sorry.”

Chapter Ten: Test

I was sweating, waiting for the answer…

“You’ve passed your test,” she answered.

She’s kidding, right? I thought. 

“What do you mean?” I stammered, not knowing what else to say.

“This has been a test all along and you’ve passed it,” Grandma cackled.

“What was?” I asked, happy but confused.

“You see, I was testing you to see if you would come back or not,” Grandma answered.

“But how did you know I was going to quit?” I questioned.

“I’ve had experience with many apprentices to know you were going to quit,” she explained.

“But…” I started.

“Tsk tsk tsk. Let’s just do the next level, shall we?” Grandma cut in.

I grinned.

“But just remember to do meditation daily,” she said.

Immediately my grin turned upside down.

“But you can rest for today,” she told me.Yes! I raced into the tent and lay down. I had the word “daily” stuck in my head, repeating over and over until the darkness swallowed me whole into the world of sleep.

Chapter Eleven: Message

It was finally sunrise. 

“Rise and shine,” Grandma said.

“Five more — ” I started to yawn.

She frowned. I didn’t argue. Grandma walked outside to the campfire.

I wore the clothes I wore the day my mom left. I felt something in my pocket, but I was too sleepy to notice. I half-sleepwalked outside to the campfire.

“What are we doing?” I asked half-heartedly.

I clutched my stomach when I saw what she was eating. Ruby and Vac were looking at Grandma, awestruck, but she hardly noticed.

“Hunting,” Grandma said, her words muffled by the deer fur in her mouth.

In that exciting moment, the only word I could say without barfing was, “OK.”

Grandma finished eating the deer and wiped the blood on her sleeve. 

“Wanna come?” I asked Ruby and Vac while they were frozen like statues.

“Yeah, sure,” they mouthed back, or maybe they twitched, but after that they both nodded, so I guessed it was a yes.

I dragged Vac and Ruby until they finally recovered from the shock of seeing Grandma eat the deer raw. I almost barfed just thinking about it. Anyway, we followed Grandma until we came to a stop behind a huge rock. I was about to ask why we stopped, but I spotted the rabbit, and the first thing I thought she was going to do was show me how to catch it, but I was wrong.

“You can catch it right?” Grandma asked.

“What in God’s name are yo — ” I started.

Shove.

I fell on my knees. Brownish-gold dirt smudged on them. The rabbit heard the noise of the thud, so it quickly ran away. I had two choices: shout at my grandma and ask her why she pushed me or run after the rabbit. I had to choose quickly because the rabbit was running away, so I chose to chase the rabbit because I could deal with her later. So, I dashed after the rabbit with all my might. The rabbit was too fast even though it was as small as a little baby. 

Faster, faster, faster, I thought to myself.

I burst forward at the speed of light. I caught the rabbit in a matter of seconds.

“I caught it! Ugh, now I’m lost.”

***

Many hours later…

“This. Is. So. Tiring.” I walked to the camp. Tired.

Ahhh!

I tripped on a rock and fell head first into the ground as a pen slipped out of my pocket. I grabbed it, stood up, and held it up to the moonlight. I saw a message that said… 

Text me.

Chapter Twelve: Messages

Every night, I went out into the moonlight to see if there was another message. But on the fourth day, I saw a name written on it:

Clover Rose

TO BE CONTINUED…

You Don’t Belong Here

You don’t belong here. The kids are mean. You are a wimp.

Those were the first thoughts that stuck in the back of my head as I stepped through the doors of Blowwhite Middle School for my first day of seventh grade. I felt excluded as almost 90% of the kids ran to one another, saying, “I missed you so much, Evelyn!” or “Samantha!!! What homeroom teacher did you get? I got Lilyberg!” Or, my least favorite, “I can’t believe there are new kids in school!” 

I felt as if everybody in the school had been there already and had a million friends already, while I was left to rot. I looked at my schedule as I revealed it from my pocket. 

“Mrs. Jimveds in Room 509,” I noted, pushing that to the back of my head. I pulled my backpack straps onto my shoulder and walked down the hall. I noticed that all of the rooms had a three in the hundreds’ place. I knew I was two floors up. I saw kids flooding into a door, and I kneeled over to investigate. I saw that it was a staircase, so I pushed my way politely into the crowd and thundered up a flight of stairs, then opened the door. I looked at the number in the hundreds’ place.

“Whoops,” I murmured as I looked at the nearest door: 414. I turned to go back to the staircase. Clunk, gukk, clink went everyone’s feet. I ran up the twisting tower of stairs, and I reached the fifth floor. I opened the door and ran into the hallway. 

Hmm, I thought, this is 503, now 505, 507… Okay, there’s 509.

It turns out it was 508, but the lettering must have worn off a bit because the teacher said, “I already have all my students… except Hannah Morrens. What’s your name, honey?” 

“Mia,” I told her. “Mia Lee.” 

She said, “You’re next door with Mrs. Jimveds.” 

She sent one of her students to help me next door. I said, “Thank you,” and then the student returned to his classroom.

As I opened the door to my new classroom, all of my classmates were already there. Mrs. Jimveds said to me, “You must be Mia!” 

I looked at my feet and said, “Hi.”

She said, “Go sit next to Maddie there. See?”

The girl who I think was Maddie waved. So, I sat at the only empty desk next to her.

“Hi! I’m Mia! What’s your name?” I asked her, faking some enthusiasm in my voice as I shakily sat down and unpacked my bag. 

“I’m Maddie Widdows,” the girl said. “I’m new.”

“Same!” I said a bit too loudly. People stared at us with confusion as I blushed and turned the color of the red on the YouTube logo. But I returned halfway back to my normal color when Mrs. Jimveds took attendance.

“Adam Jacobson.”

“Here!”

“Amanda Kaymond?”

“Present!”

“Beatrice Adams and Chris Liberty?”

Some boy in the back of the room made a kissy sound. I bet he was thinking, Beatrice and Chris, sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! But when Layla Menmor sent him a dirty look, he shut up. 

Mark Ravenson said, “What’s first, Madam?” Most of the boys cracked up. 

I was like, “You guys need to grow up!!!” Thankfully, Mrs. Jimveds started class then. 

“As most of you know, I’m Mrs. Jimveds, but you can call me Lola. That’s my first name. Now, Beatrice and Chris will be passing out math books.” 

Another boy — Kale Veggy — made the kissy sound again. And he actually said, “Beatrice and Chris, sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

Chris and Beatrice shot him a dirty look as they passed out math books. 

“And please complete pages one and two,” Lola added. So, when I got mine I filled them out. “Nice job,” Lola exclaimed when she passed my desk. Just then, the bell for second period rang. I got my stuff and checked my schedule. Mr. Peters in Room 414. 

That was the room I had seen on the 4th floor when I’d walked by in the morning. So, I gathered my stuff, thanked Lola, and hurried to Mr. Peters’ class. He checked me in when I approached the room. Apparently, only four other students were in class with me: Maddie Widdows, Areque Manelipo, Rosie Daniels, and Damien Ronaldson. I snatched a seat next to Rosie and Maddie, and Mr. Peters began the lesson. 

“I’m Donald Peters,” he said, “and welcome to music.”

Mr. Peters taught us to play a simple song on the piano before a brrring made us all jump. I thanked Mr. Peters and raced out of the room. I dug around in my pocket for my schedule. It… was empty. Where was my schedule? I retraced my steps to the classroom, where my schedule rested on the floor. I picked it up and studied it. Mrs. Jimveds, Mr. Peters… Elizabeth Ronald Rowling. In room…? It had been colored over with black marker. 

Oh no…! I thought, racing out into the hallways. The late bell had already rung, but kids were still streaming past. I peeked at one boy’s schedule. His homeroom was Elizabeth R. in Room 687. Okay. I raced up two flights of stairs and found the number 682, 683, 684, 685, 686… 687 — okay. I went into the room. Elizabeth greeted me. 

“Hi, you’re… Crystal?” 

I shook my head, “No.

“Tristan? Lee?” 

I shook my head again.

“…Mia?”

“Yes,” I told her. “Mia Lee.”

***

After Elizabeth’s class, I had four other classes, then, my lunch period, art, and science — my last period. It had been a tiring and stressful day, but only one day out of two-hundred days of school. So I knew there was much more to come —

But I was finally able to tell myself that I belonged.

Emma and Mount Everest

CHAPTER ONE: Introduction

“EMMA!” said a voice so strong in my head that I woke up in fear.

“MOM!” I said, frantically getting up from my bed. My mom went storming in my room, opening the door. She opened it so loud that I felt my blood go up and down, up and down. 

“What, Emma?” said my mom. Her voice sounded like she did not know what to do right now. Her clothes were stained with… hmm, cold water? I think she spilled water while she was getting up here.

“Uhh, nothing, bad dream… I think.”  I said. I looked down and bit my lip. My mom was always in a grumpy mood.

“Emma, every single morning you say, ‘MOM.’ Is anything bothering you?” said my mom as she came towards my bed. She sat down on my bed, got my pillow, and put something in it. “Don’t open it until you are ready,” said my mom. She got off my bed, making a big creaking sound. She flipped her hair and got out of my room.

I just felt like I wanted a playdate with Yui. She was such a great listener and loved green tea. We had been friends since preschool. She had different fonts on her phone. So, yeah. I stretched out my legs and arms, then I scanned my room for my phone. I got out of bed and put on my fluffy slippers. I opened my kawaii drawer. It cost $2,000. Very expensive. I searched through all my stuff in my drawer. The shuffling made a nice noise. I felt that my phone case was cold. ICE cold. I hoped she could help me. AND SHE’S KOREAN! 

Me: Huy Yui! 🙂

Yui: Hello Ai- Ma chan!^.^!

Me: Do you want a playdate?

Yui: OFC! 

Yui: What is it about?

Me: Umm, something. It’s a surprise?

Yui: Yay!!

Me: YAY! See you soon.

Well, I guessed I had to go to her house now. I put my phone down in my kawaii drawer and rushed to do my daily morning routine. I speed past the door, not wasting time. Only, THIS HOUSE WAS SO BIG I GOT LOST IN IT. Which way do I go, which way?? I said in my mind. I made a guess. Hey, what else could I do?  I run left, sonic speed. And I, oops — I bumped into my own mother. I crouched down so low, it was like I was playing limbo.

“OW!!” she said. She was hesitating, looking above her, left, right of her, but she did not look BEHIND her. “WHO’S THERE?” she said. She looked like she had seen a ghost. Golly gee, Mom, you never looked behind you, I said in my mind. I decided to run. I got up and ran until… BEEP! My phone rang. REALLY YUI? REALLY? It was a text message from Yui. Golly Gee. I AM IN TROUBLE.

Mom turned behind her, closing her eyes. I tried to make a run for it, but she already had the confidence to open her eyes. Darn. “Hello, hon, did you see anyone bump into me? Is it your dad? I know it isn’t you because you are a good girl,” said my mom, crossing her arms.

Gulp, now I felt super guilty. I really want to tell my mom the truth, but I ended up lying. “Um mom y-you s-s-see I did — er, I mean — didn’t bump into y-y-you. I mean I di-did, I mean, I di-didn’t b-bump into y-you!” I said. I sounded like I was squeaking instead of speaking. I got back up, then did a broken face.

“Umm, A-W-K-W-A-R-D,” said my mom, loosening up her crossed arms. “Oh, and you have school tomorrow.” She winked with her hands folded.

“Can I go to Yui’s house, please!!” I went down to my knees, acting like I was praying to God.

“Yes. But be back at 12:00, or you’re dead.” Her face was dark. My face was so scared. I got ready to pounce, that meant run. She had said “or you’re dead” in a low voice. She pointed at the clock with her index finger. It said 7:00. That gave me lots of darn time!

“Ok, Mom, thanks!” I ran off right again. Maybe even running + running = I AM RUNNING SUPER FAST! Then I stopped. I remember something that I needed to tell my mom. 

“Mom, where’s the bathroom?” I said, while turning back. I was still scared.

“Go right, then go left. That’s where the bathroom is,” said my mom while going left. 

“Okay, thanks, Mom!” I said. I turned back and ran. AND I followed her directions. I rushed so fast that I lost my slipper. I didn’t even want to pick it up. I was too excited to go to Yui’s!

TO BE CONTINUED….

The Undiscovered Night: 3 Poems

Poem One

The bright stars battle the moon, which hovers above the dark wavy canvas.
Ripples strike the water, taking over the world. A skipped rock, almost pulled by the light current, washes over the reflection of sand against the water. The pretty sight washes away suddenly, late for an eternity of sleep.

Poem Two

I imagine skies
Draped over my windowpane
Just like a blackbird

Poem Three

Like stars through windows
I unravel the night sky
From my blue powers

A New Age

One day on earth in the Cretaceous Period, Commander Rocky was deep in his work. “Hmmm, what should I do with the incoming dinosaurs?” he said.

“I don’t know, sir. Maybe we should try to tam — ”

“NO! NOT THAT STUPID IDEA OF GETTING ALONG WITH THE DINOSAURS!” commander Rocky yelled. “Get out of my office NOW!”

Mr. Rocky ran away in fear. Mr. Rocky was commander Rocky’s son. Mr. Rocky was named Mr. Rocky for some reason even though he was 9. So let’s just call him Rocky for now.

Rocky ran into the woods to get away from his dad. He went so deep into it that he got into a clearing. In the clearing was the very first dinosaur ever to be discovered. Its name was The Dinosaurus Alpha. It was carnivorous and very dangerous but its appearance was simple! It had Large jaws, a head like a Tyrannosaurus, and a simple body. It was like a bigger and deadlier Tyrannosaurus. Rocky was amazed. He reached to pet it but thought again, What if it bites me? But at the same time, he was thinking about the coming of a new age! A new age where dinosaurs and cavemen would bond with each other. He thought about it for a while and thought, I need to tame the alpha if I want peace!

But it would be very hard to tame the dinosaur since it was one of the deadliest dinosaurs ever to live. But he had to try! Rocky went back home and set to work. He started making a saddle for riding the alpha and made some straps so the saddle didn’t fly off. He finally got the confidence to go back to the Dinosaurus Alpha. He ran through the woods and came to the clearing where the alpha was still sleeping. Rocky got some fish from out of a pond near him and dumped all of it next to the dinosaur. He waited and the dinosaur woke up! It yawned so loudly that Rocky thought it was about to kill him! 

The dinosaur stood up slowly. “AHHH!” Rocky yelled. The humongous dinosaur swallowed in one gulp. They stared at each other for a little while and the dinosaur gave Rocky a nice smile. I didn’t know dinosaurs could smile? Rocky thought.

Rocky kindly got him more fish and finally decided to name it! He named it “Jaws.” They were both very proud of the name. Somehow, Rocky heard a tiny voice in his head that said, “Thank you.”

Rocky yelped so hard that he may have broken his own eardrums. Then he realized that the dinosaur was trying to speak with him! He spoke back and somehow he understood! The alpha allowed Rocky to strap on the saddle and straps. Rocky got on and that’s where he started having the time of his life! Rocky started to ride the dinosaur and it felt so good! “YAHOOOOO!!!” screamed Rocky.

Rocky zoomed across the forest and explored places that he had never seen before! He saw great canyons, HUGE mountains, and beautiful oceans! Finally, he knew that he had work to do, so he said goodbye to Jaws and went back home. “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??” yelled the commander.

“Uhhh, chopping wood… ?” murmured Rocky.

“I KNOW WHEN YOU ARE HIDING SOMETHING FROM ME!” yelled Commander Rocky. “Please son, I am just trying to keep you safe,” he said softly.

“Ok dad, I was riding a Dinosaur.”

“WHATTTT?”      

THE END

OR IS IT???

Almost the End

Chapter 1     

“Zeke, Emma, Timea! Wake up! It’s time for breakfast,” Mom said.

“Ok, coming!” said the kids.

The kids ran downstairs. 

“Honey, can you serve them breakfast? I have to go get dressed. Don’t stay in your PJs on the couch all day,” Mom said.

“Fine, but I’m only going to serve them this one time. I have to finish my football game,” Amon said.

He was slumped on the couch, surrounded by empty chip bags and beer bottles. His shirt was stained with boxed mac and cheese.

“Dad, why can’t we go in that room near your bathroom?” said Timea.

“Because I said so. I don’t look in your diary because you have privacy, so don’t look in my stuff either,” said Amon.

“Sorry, Dad,” said Timea.

“Whatever, it’s fine. Mom cooked you guys bacon and eggs. I’m going to sleep, so eat quickly,” Amon said.

“Ok,” said Timea. To her brother and sister, she added, “Guys, we should sneak in. I think Dad is hiding something from us.”

“But if we sneak in, Dad will catch us, and we will get in trouble, AND WE WILL PROBABLY GET GROUNDED, so yeah,” Zeke said. 

“But what if Dad is going to do something bad in the room, and we have to stop it?” said Emma. “Dad goes in that room at night. I saw him once. Let’s get in right now since he’s sleeping.”

“Fine, but if we get caught, it’s not my fault,” said Zeke.

“Ok, but we have to figure out the code for the door to open it,” said Emma.

Chapter 2

“What if the passcode is about us? Like, two of us are ten, and one of us is twelve, so what if it is ten-twelve or twelve-ten?” said Zeke.

“Ok ten-twelve. Let’s try it,’’ said Emma.

“It unlocked. Holy moly! What is this place?” said Timea.

It was a small room with a big desk, a huge world map on the back wall, a big bin with bombs, crystals on the ceiling, and a big window with a hole. 

“No way, bombs! What if they’re going to make the Earth split in half?” said Emma.                                                         

“Or EXPLODE!” said Zeke.

“We have to get out of here now,” said Timea.

“Oh no, the door is locked! What are we going to do?” said Emma. 

“I also hear footsteps. HIDE!” said Zeke.

They ran and hid behind the cabinet. Footsteps echoed in the hall.    

“It’s good to be back in the lab,” said Amon to himself. “It looks like someone has been here… Whatever. It doesn’t matter.”

“I have a plan to get out. When Dad’s head is turned, we can get out. He has the key on the door just in case he forgets the code, so we’re not locked in forever. LET’S DO THIS!” said Zeke.

They ran out.

“We made it,” said Emma.

“Guys, let’s meet here at 6:30 in the morning. Dad will be sleeping and Mom will be at work,” said Timea.

Chapter 3    

Ring, ring, ring went the alarm at 6:30 in the kids’ bedroom.

“Guys, wake up. It’s 6:30. We need to go into Dad’s lab,” said Emma.

“Ugh, fine, but it’s way too early for this,” said Timea.

“Last one there is a rotten egg, but walk so Dad does not wake up,” said Zeke.

Zeke ran.

“I beat you all,’’ said Zeke.

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just get this over with,” said Timea. 

“Timea, don’t say that, it’s rude,” said Emma.

“Yeah,” said Zeke.  

“Sorry, I guess,” said Timea. 

“Emma, put in the code for the door so we can get inside,” said Zeke.

Emma typed ten-twelve on the keypad. The door opened.

“Guys, I know this might sound crazy, but Zeke, you love tech and you’re good at it. Can you make Dad’s machine better at picking up the dirt and put it on whatever is under there, just in case it’s something bad? Then we can cover it up and get what’s under there. Emma, I can attach you to a string, and you can climb down to grab what is under there. If it’s something bad, Zeke will instruct you, and I will pull you up. Then, I will open the door a little bit, so I can see when Dad is coming or walking by if he wakes up,” said Timea. 

“Got it,” said Zeke.

“I’m in,” Emma said.   

“Ok, let’s do this,” said Timea.  

Chapter 4

“All I have to do is reroute the system, update it, and code it,” Zeke said. 

“Emma, are you ready to climb down? I’m also going to tie the rope to the pole over there just in case,” said Timea. 

“Guys, the machine is ready. All we need is to grab the dirt and put it on top of what is under there, just in case,” said Zeke.

Emma climbed down. 

“GUYS! I see a bomb with a timer that says we have 5 minutes,” said Emma.

 “Is there a button to stop the timer?” said Zeke. 

“No, there is not,” said Emma         

“Guys, I brought my water bottle. Emma, I’m going to pull you up, and then I’m going to give you the bottle. Pour the water on the bomb. Zeke, put the extra dirt on top,” said Timea. 

Chapter 5 

“Guys, I just remembered something: those types of bombs can still explode when water is poured on them, but we still have to cover it up with dirt so Dad does not dig again and try to explode the Earth,” said Zeke. 

“We have 2 minutes! I’m going to put the water on it now,” said Emma. She poured the water.

“I’m pulling you up right now,” said Timea. 

“Ok,” said Emma. 

Timea pulled Emma up.

“I’m going to put the dirt on it with the machine,” said Zeke. He put the dirt on it.

“According to my calculations, we have 30 seconds left,” said Zeke.

“We have to hide under that desk over there, just in case,” said Timea. 

BOOM! The ground shook.  

“WE DID IT!” said Emma. 

Sirens blared, and the police came.
“What happened here?” said Officer Oui Bucky. 

The kids explained what happened. 

“Where are your Dad and Mom?” said Officer Oui Bucky.

“Our mom is at work, and our dad is sleeping,” said Zeke.

Mom walked in through the door.

“What happened here?!” said Mom.

The police explained it to her.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry, kids, that you had to go through this. We’re going to move to Paris,” said Mom. 

The police walked over to arrest Amon.

“What-wha… happened? Why are you arresting me?” said Amon.
“Your kids stopped your bomb, and you know why we’re arresting you,” said Officer Oui Bucky.

“Nooo, I didn’t do that!” said Amon.

“I’m sorry, Amon. You’re going to be sentenced to jail for life,” said Officer Oui Bucky.

 The End 

The Fashion Store’s Victory, Book 1: The Queen’s Revenge

1. Olivia and Cathie were hanging clothes up for customers when Maline came bursting out of breath saying, “Victory!”

Olivia asked, “What victory? Did you win the lottery?”

“Nope,”  said Maline. “I won new customers!” Maline was a pretty nice person with black hair and always wore ripped clothes. She was beautiful. Olivia was the nicest person you could meet, with blonde hair and hazel eyes. Cathie (short for Caroline) was a neat girl with a southern accent. Thalia was a girl who was usually nice, but if you crossed her, you would live to regret it, with raven eyes that seemed to be able to pierce through you. And she always wore punk, showing clothes made of black leather.

It started to get really cold. It started to snow. Eventually, it snowed so much that Olivia, Maline, and Cathie were stuck! 

2. It was Nate and Caden’s shift at the store. They were very surprised when the road was blocked, but that wasn’t enough to keep them from shoveling through it.

3. It seemed to be hard for Nate and Caden, but they were determined to shovel through. Then finally, they found the door! They opened the door and the bell jingled. “Oh, thank god!” said Maline, and hugged Nate and Caden. Olivia and Cathie were so relieved, they couldn’t speak. Everyone was freezing.

4. “Let’s talk about those customers,” said Olivia.

“Okay,” said Maline.

“Who are they and how much will they pay?” asked Cathie.

“They will pay a lot,” Maline said. “And they might be the royal family of England.” 

5. Everyone in the room was speechless. “WHAT?!” asked and screamed everyone.

“Yes, yes. I know. Cool, right? But they aren’t. They are a billionaire family.”

6. “Yes! We will be the richest store ever!”

7. “Yes, we will. Now, we have to get ready for the family.”

“That’s today?!” asked Olivia.

8. “But the store’s being renovated!” Cathie said.

“Ahh! Seriously!”

“Ah, Mrs. Cullen, Mr. Cullen,” curtsied Maline.

9. ”Uhh, you’re here early — ”

“AHHH!”

Before she knew it, the billionaire wife was drenched with black paint — on her white dress, no less. Mrs. Cullen screamed with rage, loud enough so that the whole country could hear. She stomped out of the room like a child in a tantrum. Her baby boy started to cry. He was scared of the noise.

 10.  They had to go to court, guilty of ruining the billionaire’s favorite dress. They testified.

 11. It was off with their heads, but they found a portal to Mt. Olympus. They fell through a really big hole.

12. They had only ever read about it in books. They never thought it was a real place, but it was. They thought they were dreaming, but they weren’t, not at all. 

As she was falling down the big hole, Maline thought of her brother and her sister who she left behind.

“Oof,” said Ryan, Maline’s older brother. 

 “Ryan, you don’t have to fall over when I throw the football!” said Max, Maline’s sister, who was 9, but Ryan couldn’t catch it because it kept hitting him in the stomach, causing him to fall over. This was the last memory of her family Maline had before she moved to Queensland to start the store with her friends.

As Cathie was falling down the big hole, all she was thinking about was Sarah Ruth, her little sister. She had recently received a letter from her mother (who she was not particularly close with) saying that she disappeared last week. As you can probably imagine, Cathie was devastated to hear the news. 

As Bella fell, she thought of the only family she had left, her idiot father. In some ways, she was glad to be away from him, but then she thought of the fact that he wouldn’t notice if a giant teacup started singing and dancing on the dining room table, so surely he wouldn’t notice if she were gone. 

As Thalia was falling down the rabbit hole, she was thinking about her dog, Tulip. Tulip was 98 in dog years, pretty old. Thalia missed her dog. She had a strong instinct to scale the rabbit hole and run to her home and get Tulip. Sadly, this could not be done. She was also thinking about her sister, Rue. She also missed her brother, Thresh. They had lived in a small shack made out of wood. Thalia was an introvert who mostly kept to herself. Thalia wondered when the falling would end, and just like that, “BANG!” They hit the floor.

A Collection of Nature Poems

The Lamps of Dark

Night has lots of lamps

Some that shouldn’t even be on

But there is one as bright as night 

It lights the world

It has many names 

And it is the moon

All Things Green

Leaves, trees, all things green

They brighten up the world I see

In the sun, they shine like new

They look beautiful even from a view

That is just something I’ve seen 

About leaves, trees, all things green

Our Warm Glow

The sun is hot, just so you know

If you ever touched it, you should jump in some snow

The sun shines bright 

Like the moon at night 

It brings us heat on repeat 

And we know it shall not see defeat

The Color of the Sky

Many moons ago, there were two colors named Blue and Turquoise. They both claimed to be the color of the sky. 

One day, they both saw a flyer on the wall that said, “Prove that you are the color of the sky and you can win a hundred dollars! Come on December 8th, 1876.” Blue and Turquoise were very intrigued by this flyer so they both ran home to ask their parents if they could do it.

 Blue got home first and asked, “Can I go to this event?” Blue showed her parents the flier. Her parents said, 

“Sure, why not.”

Blue jumped with joy and ran all around the whole neighborhood.

Meanwhile, Turquoise was trying to convince his parents that he should go to the event too, but Turquoise’s parents were a lot stricter than Blue’s parents. 

“Please let me go, please,” Turquoise begged. 

“What is the meaning of this event?” asked Turquiose’s dad.

“The meaning of this event is to finally answer the question that we have had for centuries, what is the color of the sky. Plus you win a hundred dollars if you can prove that you are actually the color of the sky.” Turquiose’s parents were in a group huddle, probably talking about if he could go to the event.

“Your father and I have decided to let you go, plus we also talked about dinner. We are ordering McDonalds.”

“YAY YAY YAY!” exclaimed Turquoise. He was super happy.

Chapter 2: Practicing

Blue and Turquoise both realized that they needed to practice for the big event. They had two days until the big event. Turquoise saw Blue practicing. She was really good but Turquoise was not scared so he walked up to her and said,

“Do you want to practice with me?” 

“Of course!” Blue replied. “ Maybe the park could be our practice spot!” 

“Sure!” Turquoise responded.  So they practiced for the rest of the day.

The next day, Blue was at the park waiting for Turquoise but he did not show up until 20 minutes after he was supposed to show up.

“Why are you so late?” Blue said. Blue was frustrated because they usually had an hour to practice, now they only had 40 minutes to practice.

“Sorry,” Turquoise said, “I was, umm, umm… walking the dog.”

“Stop lying to me,” Blue said with an angry voice.

“I am not lying!” Turquoise exclaimed.

“I know you’re lying because you don’t have a dog!” Blue said. “So why were you really late?!”

“Because you are so much better than me I was worried and lost track of time.” Turquoise was telling the truth. “I am sorry.”

“I accept your apology, but why didn’t you just tell the truth in the first place?” Blue added.

“Because I thought you would laugh at me or be angry,” Turquoise said.

“I would never do that to you because you are my friend,” Blue said, “Now are you ready to start practicing?”

“Of course!” Turquoise said with joy. So they practiced for 35 minutes so they could get a little extra sleep for the big day tomorrow. 

Chapter 3: The Big Day

Blue woke up so happy because it was finally the big day where you got to prove that you were actually the color of the sky.

Blue got ready and ran down the street to Turquoise’s house to make sure he was ready. He was all good to go so they ran four blocks to get to the arena. They got there just in time.

So many colors. They saw Royal blue, Black, Gray, Baby blue, Light blue, Sky blue, and White.

They definitely did not think that White was going to make it but they were super nervous because they saw Sky blue, she basically already has the title. I guess she just wants to be the best.

“Ok, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!” said the computer.

“We got this!” Blue whispered.

“Remember you are NOT on a team,” the computer added.

“WHAT!?!?!?”

Chapter 4: Surprising Events

“In the rules, it does not say that you can’t be on a team,” Turquoise argued.

“Yes it did, way down in the corner so very small, see.” The computer showed them the flyer again but this time it was zoomed in super close.

“Oh yeah, I see it now,” Turquoise said.

In the corner, it said “No teams allowed.” The computer was right.

“I guess we have to go against each other for now,” Blue said with her sad voice.

“But but but we practiced together, we know each other’s moves and everything else,” Turquoise added.

“Rules are rules and we cannot change them,” the computer said. “I am sorry, but now we have to get on with the game. Does anyone want to leave?”      

“I want to leave, goodbye everyone,” Black said.

“Please don’t leave, I thought we were in this together but now I realize that that was a lie the whole time.” 

“Good bye.”

“Ok, bye, Black,” Turquoise and Blue said at the same time.

“Ok for real, let the games begin!” the computer said. “#1 obstacle. If you are the color of sky, you probably know how dodge clouds, so dodging clouds is the #1 obstacle.”

“AAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

“I am sorry but you’re out of the game,” the computer said.

“Awwww man,” Baby blue cried.

“Since someone already got out, let’s move to the next station, which will be a question,” said the computer. “If you are the color of the sky, you will know how many times the Earth spins around in one year.”

“I think I know the — ” Blue got interrupted by Turquoise.

“We are not supposed to be a team, remember?” Turquoise added.

“Oh yeah, I forgot,” Blue said with her sad voice again.

“Write your answer down on a piece of paper and put it in this box,” said the computer while pointing his fake finger at the box. “Royal Blue, your answer is correct, Light blue, I am sorry, but your answer was incorrect, Blue your answer is correct, Gray your answer is incorrect, I am sorry. Sky blue your answer is correct, White your answer is correct, now last but not least Turquoise your answer is…”

Chapter 5: Your Answer Is…

“Correct!!! Good job everyone, the correct answer was 365!” said the computer. 

“Ok, at the beginning of Round 2, we had 7 players, now we only have 5 players!” White said, sounding kind of happy.

“Only 3 more rounds left,” added the computer. “Now, let’s move on to the next round which will be an obstacle,” said the computer. “The sky is full of birds and dust so you have to get through all of that without goggles. Let’s begin!” 

“WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH! SOOOO MUCH AIR IN MY EYES!!!” yelled Royal Blue. “AHHHHHHHHHHHH I AM FLYING AWAY!!!” 

  “Royal Blue, you are out of the game, I am sorry,” said the computer.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!!!” yelled Sky Blue.

“I am sorry, but Sky Blue, you are eliminated.” The computer made it clear that Sky blue was out. “Are you ready for the next question?” 

“We’re ready!” the competitors said. 

“Alright, let’s begin,” said the computer. “If you are the color of the sky, you must know a lot about clouds so in this question you have to tell me something about clouds. White you go first.”

“Clouds taste like cotton candy!” said White. 

“I’m sorry, but that is incorrect,” the computer said. “Blue, your turn.” 

“Clouds are heavy because they’re filled with tons and tons of water.” 

“Good job Blue, that is correct,” the computer said. “Turquoise, your turn.” 

“Clouds are slow, slower than a sloth,” answered Turquoise. 

“I am sorry Turquoise, but that is an incorrect answer.” 

“Hello, I am Violet, and I am the color of the sky!” 

Chapter 6

The computer said, “Sometimes, people think that the color of the sky is purple. And some people think that the color of the sky is blue. So, you guys both win!” 

“No, I want to win!” said Violet. 

“Okay, you take the trophy and all the money!” said Blue. Blue walked home to see her best friend Turquoise sitting on the steps. 

“Do you want some ice cream?” Blue asked. 

“Sure,” Turquoise replied. 

The End!!!

Jack’s Soccer Adventure

Part I

Chapter 1

Jack was 15 years old and he loved to play soccer. One day, he went to the park to shoot goals against his brother, Miller. 

Miller was the goalkeeper. Jack said, “You’re too good a goalkeeper, I can’t score on you.” Miller said that he can teach Jack how to shoot the ball harder and curve the ball. After just two weeks of training with Miller, Jack knew how to shoot the ball harder and curve the ball. Jack entered the travel team tryout. After the tryout, his mom got him sushi because he loved sushi so much. 

After two weeks of waiting for the results, Jack finally got them. He made it on the A team, which is the harder league. Jack was so happy. The day after that, he practiced and practiced till 6:30. Then, he went to play his soccer match. Jack’s team, the Panthers, was losing to the Tigers 3-1. Right at the last minute, Jack kicked the ball into the net with so much curve and power it hit the goalkeeper’s hand, but still went in, and the ball left red marks on the goalkeeper’s hands. It was now 2-3. 

When there were 30 seconds left in the game, Jack scored a goal because the goalkeeper was looking at birds instead of watching the game and it was tied!! The game ended as a tie. The Tigers said goodbye to the Panthers and they all went home. Jack had sushi again for dinner, but when he woke up the next morning, he had a stomach ache. Jack thought about where it could have been from, and then he remembered the sushi!!!  

Chapter 2

Jack went to play soccer, but his stomach hurt so much, he had to take a rest. But he also needed to keep practicing. 

He had a game at 8:30 in the morning. Once he was done getting ready, he went to the soccer game and he started playing. He scored the first goal during the 25th minute, and then he got subbed out because he got tired. A while later, he got subbed in. Then, the other team scored and it was tied 1-1. Ten minutes later, it was half time. Jack got to rest for a bit after halftime. The other team almost scored, but Jack’s goalkeeper saved it and it was a close goal. Jack scored a goal but it didn’t count because he did a bicycle kick. The best player on the other team scored two goals and won. Jack was mad at himself. His coach said that it was okay that his team lost but Jack knew he could have done better.  

Chapter 3

Jack went to his first team practice. He did shooting drills and he aced the shooting even on his best goalie. When Jack went home, he saw on his computer a 95-rated player. Jack saw that he was worth $30,000. The next day, Jack went to his coach to ask him to buy the player, but the coach said he was too expensive. Jack mentioned that $30,000 was cheap for a 95-rated player and that the average money for a 95-rated player is double that money. But still, the coach said no. Jack went home sad, but then he had an idea. All of a sudden, Jack was very excited, and once he got home, he went on a website that said record your overall soccer rating. Jack clicked the record button and tried his hardest to get his rating. After that, he submitted his video. The program said to wait an hour for the results, so he passed the time by playing soccer. Then, when he went in to get the results, it said that he was a 99-rated overall.  

Chapter 4  

Jack could not believe his eyes. He wanted to show the coach the results but it was 9:30 and the sky was dark. Jack’s max outside limit was till 10:30 PM. He had to make the trip quick to the coach’s house. He went to the coach’s house and the coach said, “OMG, your rating is off the charts.” 

“Look at my soccer net worth, Coach,” Jack said. 

“Holy mama,” said the coach. “You’re worth 100,000 market value, sheesh!!!” Jack just got home at the last minute and his mom was surprised he made it back in time. Jack showed his brother, Miller. Miller was proud of Jack.

He said, “If you keep practicing, you’ll become a 105.”

“You think so?” said Jack.

“Yeah,” said Miller. “Let’s go to bed.”

“‘Kay,” said Jack. “Bye.”  

Chapter 5

When Jack woke up, he went to his game at 8:30. He could not wait till he won. When Jack got to the game, he started playing. He scored two goals. The first goal, Jack vollied the ball into the net. The second goal, he scored by curving the ball into the goal. Jack’s team won 2-0. It was time for the team’s payment. Jack’s manager paid him $100,000. Everyone else on the team and the manager were paid $50,000. When Jack got home, his family was not making enough money. Jack’s mom said that he needed to get more money from soccer. 

Jack said, “What is your job paying you?”

“Not enough money,” his mom said.  

“What about Dad?” 

“Also not enough,” said Jack’s mom. Jack did not want to do this but he had to.  

Chapter 6

Jack told his manager he was going to another team that would give him more money. 

“It’s called Manchester City,” he said to his manager. 

“What?!” said the manager. “You can’t leave. I’ll give you $500,000 instead of $100,000.”

“Nope, Manchester City is giving me $100,000,000.”

“What the?!? How rich are they?”  

“Very rich, said Jack. “Now, see you in the finals tomorrow against Manchester City.”

 Jack got home and he saw his mom and dad finding new jobs. His mom got a job as a cook because she loved cooking and she was good at cooking. His dad got a job as a worker for the same restaurant as Jack’s mom. 

The next day at the cup final, it was Jack’s old team versus Manchester City, his new team. Jack scored the first goal, and it was a long shot from 30 yards out. Jack’s old team thought they were going to lose. One of Jack’s old team players fouled someone badly and got a red card, so he had to get off the field and sit on the bench. Jack’s old team scored. It was a tie, so they went on to penalties. Jack’s new team won the penalties and won the cup. Jack was so happy. Jack got his payment of $100,000,000. Jack showed his family the check, and they were so proud of him.  

Miller asked Jack to go to the park. Jack said that it was 5:00 in the morning. Miller just said to go to the park with him. Jack said okay and went with him. He saw two people waiting for Jack. They asked to practice soccer with them. Jack said okay. He shot, and he scored five goals against them. Jack asked why Miller got these goalies to shoot on him. Miller told him at his next game, he was going to have a hard time scoring because they had a good goalie. When it was time for Jack’s game, he broke his leg shooting on the other team and had to sit out. Jack helped the coach for his team and his team won. When he got home, his mom and dad were devastated that his leg broke. 

  THE END

  PART 2  COMING SOON

The Fire Man

One day, I was at a bar and the entire place suddenly lit on fire. I escaped just in time, but the others weren’t as lucky. 

The next day, I woke up and went to work as normal. But then I started randomly teleporting. And there were constantly flames on top of my hands. I was confused as to what was happening. I decided to stay at work. However, mid day, there was a sudden fire at my workplace. I Knew it wasn’t me that started the fire so I was wondering who or what did. Everyone in the bar died… or did they? It turned out that everyone in the bar got powers, same as me. Some the same, some different. I was at the bar with my friend which meant he probably got powers too. Which meant that they probably teleported out or they were fireproof, but I didn’t really feel like testing that theory. Some people had to be fireproof, though, that or some people had to have teleportation other than me. 

I asked some scientists to help me control these new powers. They agreed and so I started to control my teleportation first and they were going to see if they could get a grasp of fire second. We tried to see If I had any other super powers, like flight, invisibility or super strength. I did not have flight or invisibility, but I did have super strength. So first I tested if I could lift a car. It felt as if I were lifting a feather. Then I tried a bus. It was pretty much like one pound to me. Then a train… 5 pounds… easy. Then I lifted up a ferris wheel. For me, it was around twelve pounds. By the time we finished, it was already 11:00 PM, so I went home to go to bed. By “go to bed,” I really meant watch TV. 

When I actually went to bed, it was already 5:00 in the morning. I was watching too much of “the Flash.” And then in the morning, I had a pizza eating contest. During that, I found out that I had a new power… superspeed. I was so competitive that my hands started moving at super fast speeds. Luckily, nobody was looking at me with the exception of the scientists who were cheering me on. 

Then I tried to master the superspeed. And I lost tons of weight by running for one second, which for me was around the world. I think it was about 50 pounds. So now I wasn’t fat anymore. Then I decided to be a superhero so the scientists made me a suit. When the first bad guy came along, he wasn’t someone from the bar so it took about two seconds. He was robbing a bank and tried to shoot me but little did he know, I had super speed so I ran straight past it and took him down.

From this one event, I became famous. Then my friend that lit the office on fire robbed a bank, so that was not very good. We both have the same powers. I hope he didn’t know about some of them. Even so, he probably didn’t know how to control them. He definitely knew about the super speed because he was just speeding around town. He took a wrong turn to his house so I got to his house and teleported through the door. Then I started speed punching him until he got knocked out. I brought the money back to the bank and then I took him to the maximum security prison where super humans couldn’t use their powers. But then a magic suitcase appeared in his jail cell. He opened it and it teleported him out of jail.

The first thing he did was run to me and he choked me. Why can’t I teleport? I thought, but then this guy came out of a secret door and blasted my friend with a laser and then he got sent to a maximum, maximum security prison. Meanwhile, I was off fighting bad guys, and then the next guy from the bar appeared. I didn’t know what powers he had so I had to hope he had the same powers as me and and I recently bought a new house for my girlfriend and me. There were two bathrooms, a pool, a hot tub, a trampoline, and three flat screen TVs.

The bad guy was robbing a grocery store, but right before he left, I teleported to the exit and he shot a fire bullet and I thought, WHAT THE H*LL IS THAT?! I teleported behind him, wondering what had happened. Then I tried to punch him, but he sensed me and teleported behind me and punched ME, and well, he got away. I got injured, but luckily my super healing made me go back to normal in about one hour so that was good, but if a bad guy struck before that, then we were doomed. Unless… if someone else who was at the bar was a good guy, then they might go attack if a bad guy did strike 30 minutes later. You guessed it: a bad guy struck, and it was the same guy who robbed the grocery store but then this girl flew in and punched the guy midair. “Ouch!”

“Why does she have super strength AND flight? That is too much!”

He tried to shoot a fire bullet, but he missed and then a sniper tranqed him so they could bring him to a maximum, maximum, maximum security prison. When I was healed, I asked her what her name was and she said, “My name is… ”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Black

Black is lifeless, death. 

Black tastes like chocolate, but also sour and disgusting. 

Black is like a wither and its rose. 

Black is like death and its stench. 

Black makes the loud spooky noises of a cave. 

Black is also the darkness of that cave. 

Black feels cold and dark. 

Black is as tough as sandpaper. 

Black is lifeless, death. 

The Seal

Once upon a time, there was a seal that wanted to go to the forest. The seal was one year old. He asked his mom if he could go to the forest. His mother said he could not go because he needed to be in the water. The seal grew and grew. Years passed, and he got upset and wanted to make a plan to go to the forest. He swam and swam. He even swam where he had never been before. He was swimming so fast that lost his hat and was too tired to even keep swimming. Then he saw a sign that said yard sale. So when he got his energy, he went to the yard sale. He found a glass container and a motor at the yard sale. Then he filled the tank with water and taped the motor to it. He hopped in the tank, and he went to the forest sitting in the tank at the end.

The End

Darkness Rises

An hour before dawn, a mysterious creature was spotted in Roseville Park in Hollywood, California. The police department said it was about nine feet tall. The police also spotted a gem that the creature was holding during the video that they took. People said that it belonged in a museum and that it was worth one million dollars.

“Someone must retrieve this gem.”  

When Jacob woke up with a start, there were so many things stuck in his mind:

  1. The incident at Roseville Park.
  2. Problems at home.

I mean seriously, it’s not easy to move into a new house, he thought.

As Jacob was walking to his friend Astor’s house, he could hear the loud thunder going: 

Boom! Boom! Boom! 

When Jacob arrived, he told Astor about the gem and that they could get rewarded one million dollars by finding it. 

“We’re going to be rich!” they said together in excitement. 

“I’ll see you at 1:10 am, that’s when we’re out.”

“Ok, Astor. First stop: 42nd street.”

As Jacob and Astor entered the dark house, a loud creeeak sound filled the hallway. As they crept along the stairs, a foot-sized claw pierced through the door.

Jacob and Astor rushed towards the door, and inside they caught a glimpse of a nine-foot monster carrying a two-foot gem. Jacob and Astor tried to snatch the gem from the monster, but it was too late. The monster had vanished…

***

After discussing the issue for a long time, Jacob and Astor finally thought of a plan to capture the monster and retrieve the gem. They programmed a weapon to trap the monster in a jar that would give it an electrical shock through its nervous system and put the monster to sleep. After the monster was captured, they would return the gem to the museum. 

Once it was dark, they put their plan into action. As they walked, they discussed how the monster must have teleported from California to New York. 

They came to a stop. The old oak door opened slightly, and they stepped inside and the old carpet on the floor evaporated. While they were checking downstairs, they heard a loud shriek coming from upstairs on the top floor. As they stepped into the dirty elevator, the noise became louder and louder until… Ding dong! The elevator door opened. 

Standing in front of them was the nine-foot monster carrying a two-foot gem. They aimed the weapon towards the creature’s heart and fired. It hit the monster, and the monster started twitching. Suddenly, it was trapped in an electrical jar which put it to sleep.

“Our plan worked!” screamed Jacob and Astor.
As they headed back towards the museum, the ominous clouds changed into white and fluffy clouds. When they entered the museum, the manager thanked them for their perseverance and bravery. Jacob and Astor handed him the gem, and the museum locked the monster’s jar in a cell, so the monster could never get out. They had saved the world! 

***

Epilogue

Then, a black hellhound appeared from the shadows.

“Darkness will return,” he said, and everything turned dark… 

Sticky Consequences

Max sat in his room thinking about the different ways to prank friends and start fights. It was his only thing to do while he was grounded in his room for starting the biggest syrup fight in the Slider’s house history. It was his dad who grounded him, of course.

Max sighed as he took out his book of how to cause trouble and flipped to the “grounded” chapter. Flipping through the pages, he read to see what trouble he could cause. The best he could find was how to make people think you were severely injured.

  1. Put out something that might be the cause of how you were hurt.
  2. Lie down and put where your “hurt part” is to a point where you have to move it to get it to show.
  3. Prepare what you are going to say to alarm everyone. For example: A gasp and then a screech.
  4. When they come and ask where it hurts, say that you can’t move the part and show.
  5. Then when they freak out, tell them that it was a prank and they might get really mad or give a lecture about pranking.

Max followed the instructions and his dad came running in, but instead of a lecture or a screech, his dad just grounded him for a longer amount of time. Max silently screamed in his head. Why can’t my dad be like other dads!? Let Mom do the grounding. He should be doing the screeching. ARRRRGGGGHHHH! he thought. But because Angie walked in and saw him first, his dad thought it was also her too. So she got grounded with him.

While he was still reading how to cause trouble, he heard Angie scowling. He turned around and told her, “It’s not that bad, is it?”  

Angie glared at him. “YOU might not care, but I do!”

“Then just don’t care!” Max suggested.

“I can’t!” Angie muttered.

“If you say so,” Max shrugged

Then there was a knock on the door and Max’s mom came in.

“I hereby grant you permission to take steps out of this room!” she declared

“It’s not like Dad to just let us go, is this a trap?” Angie asked.

“It’s not a trap, but I never actually asked Dad. I mean… I’m a parent, too!” Max’s mom shrugged.

As they walked out of the room, Angie skipping, Max cheesily smiling, and their mom’s head held high, they heard the thump of Max’s dad’s foot slamming the floor.

“YOU LET THEM OUT?! Surely, you know better than THIS?!?!?!” he screeched.

“I’m a parent too, just like you, I get these privileges too. I don’t need to ask. I’m not your copycat,” Max’s mom insisted.

“Very well… just clean up the syrup, okay? And do NOT get into a fight again, or else you’re getting grounded for longer. All three of you,” he sighed.

“Okay!” Angie and her mom said together.

“And Max?”

“Fine.”

When they got to the dining room table, Max started licking the table. It was the fun way to clean up. Not the boring way. He noted that in his head. Then he noticed Jack standing in front of the snack cabinet. “Hey, want help with the licking business?” Jack offered. “There are no good snacks left.” 

Max shrugged. “Sure, I mean, if you were here, we probably would have less of a chance of getting grounded. Dad just likes you because you help Angie more.”

“You might get grounded without me then,” Jack predicted.

Max’s mom turned around. “Let’s not talk about grounding now, shall we? Just don’t get in trouble, ‘k?”

“I’ll try. But don’t be that sure. Actually, don’t be sure at all,” Max replied with a sly smile.

His mom smiled. “Well, ok! Now let’s finish cleaning!”

At the Movies with Mrs. Lady and Mrs. Beagle

MRS. LADY
Oh hi, Mrs. Beagle!

MRS. BEAGLE
Woof. [Oh hi, Mrs. Lady.]

MRS. LADY
Today we are going to the movies with my friend, Mrs. Knitting, and her dog, Mrs. Bulldog.

MRS. BEAGLE
Ruff ruff? [What movie? Star Wars, King Kong, Frozen 2, Jumanji?]

MRS. LADY
We are going to watch It’s a Wonderful Life!

MRS. BEAGLE
Riff ruff? [What the heck?]

That evening…

MRS. LADY
Mrs. Beagle, are you ready?

MRS. BEAGLE
Ruff… [I am not… ]

MRS. LADY
Oh well, you are not ready, but here is your hat. (Pulls out an ugly dog hat)

MRS. BEAGLE
Ruff ruff. [Thanks… but it’s super ugly!]

MRS. LADY
(Cries) You don’t like it? I knitted it. (She stops crying.) Let’s go to the cinema.

Outside

MRS. KNITTING
Oh hi, Mrs. Lady, and hi, Mrs. Beagle. Let’s go to the cinema!

MRS. BEAGLE
Ruff ruff! [Hi, Mrs. Bulldog, I have been waiting all day to see you!]

MRS. BULLDOG
Ruff Riff. [Me too.]

MRS. LADY
Mrs. Beagle. and Mrs. Bulldog, come!

Inside the cinema

MRS. KNITTING
Hi, sir, we are here to watch It’s a Wonderful Life.

THE SIR AT THE COUNTER

Sorry, but It’s a Wonderful Life has been out of cinemas for more than eighty years. You can watch Little Women, Frozen 2, or Jumanji

MRS. LADY
I think we will watch Little Women.

MRS. BEAGLE
Ruff. [I told Mrs. Lady that It’s a Wonderful Life was bad.]

MRS. BULLDOG
Ruff riff ruff! [I told Mrs. Knitting the same thing!]

MRS. LADY
Mrs. Knitting, I watched Little Women fifty years ago.

MRS. KNITTING
So did I!

They enter the theater. The movie starts.

MRS. LADY
(Screams) What the heck? This is not Little Women.

EVERYONE EXCEPT MRS. LADY AND MRS. KNITTING
Shhh!

SECURITY
Ma’ams, you need to leave this room if you wanna scream.

MRS. LADY
(Cries) Why, why?

SECURITY
Just get out!

MRS. BEAGLE
Ruff ruff! [What a bad idea!]

The next day

MRS. LADY
Oh look, I got a package. (She opens it.) It is a DVD of It’s a Wonderful Life.

MRS. BEAGLE
Ruff! [Oh no!]

Space Adventures

Chapter  1

9:30 PM, Heading to the Moon…

***

“Ugh… ” groans Leo. “I’m sick of eating mashed potatoes for breakfast lunch and dinnerrr!”

“Blaaah! Me too,” says Jacob.

“Kill me!!!” yells Andrew, a few moments later

The ship starts beeping. “That’s a good thing, right?”

“Uh oh,” says Leo…

Chapter 2

10:13 PM

SELF… DE… STRUCT… !!!

“Guess it’s the end for us,” says Jacob. “Good knowing you all.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” says Andrew. 

“WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIEEE!!!” screams Leo.

“Oh shut up, man.”

Chapter 3

5:54 AM

Minutes later…

Boom! Crash!

“Ohhh nooo, are we in heaven!?!?!”

“Ahhhh!!”

“We’re dead!!!!”

“Man, I hate Leo,” says Andrew. 

“We’re not dead, we’re just on like some sort of other planet… ?”

“Our ship is kicked,” says Jacob. 

“@#%!#&!” (INTENSE CURSING FROM ANDREW.)

Chapter 4

12:37 AM

“Guess we need to find the parts.”

“I think I found something there,” says Jacob.

“Where?”

“There.”

“Oh, look at that,” says Leo.

Chapter 5

10:15 PM

Leo points to a giant booster.

“Whaaa?” says Jacob. “Guess I will get it.”

“Seems like other people have been here,” says Andrew.

They keep walking when Leo starts screaming for no reason, “It’s bones!!!“

“Ugh, eww,” says Andrew.

“Why do I hear like a BZZzz?”

Chapter 6 

2:56 AM

“Take cover!”

“What was that?!” yells Jacob. 

“Looks like a giant robot sent to kill us all, sir,” says Leo. 

Andrew backs off. “Well, we better start to explore and report to NASA what we are seeing,” says Andrew.

“YOU THINK THEY WILL BELIEVE ALL OF THIS?!?!”

Chapter 7

8:19 AM

“Oooooh, fruits, something else, then mashed potatoes!” says Leo.

“Yum!”

“Sweet!” 

“Juicy!”

“How come you can breathe?”

“I don’t know.”

“Huh, I can breathe as well. I’m going to write this down.”

Chapter 8

6:34 PM

“Water!!!!” says Leo.

He walks to the big lake. They see a smooth pile of sand. 

“Maybe we can rest here,” says Andrew. 

Chapter 9

9:27 AM

“Why do I feel little legs on me?” asks Andrew. 

“Why do I hear Leo carrying something?” asks Jacob. 

“Guys, look what I found!It says that they’re called crawlers!!!”

“They look like scorpions… ”

“This is like earth, weeee!!!” Splash!!!!                                                                                

Chapter 10

4:45 AM 

“I think we should rest,” says Jacob.

“How?” says Leo.

“How about that?”

“Why do I feel pain on my feet?” asks Andrew. 

“Umm, should we tell him?”

“No, you noticed it, you tell him!”

“Umm, uhhh, you have a tiger snapper snapping your leg,” says Leo.

“AaaAAHhhHH! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!!!!”

Chapter 11

8:54PM

1 hour later… 

“Guess we should head there!”

“There’s a jungle here?!?”

“I’m so glad that tiger snapper is gone.”

“I hear crawling again, is it your 999 crawlers, Leo?” 

“No,” says Leo.

“I think I found their cousin, the black crawler,” says Jacob.

Chapter 12

12:46 AM

“Be careful though, black cavaliers can be territorial. I hope they don’t mind us, it says that they eat bigger things than us, so we should be fine.”

Chapter 13

8:14 PM

“What’s that green liquid?”

“Don’t jump in there. It’s not wat – ”

“JUMP FIRST! CHECK LAST! WEEE!”

“God, I hate him,” says Andrew.

“Is it just me or do I see a giant factory out there?”

Chapter 14

2:48 AM

“This is going to take forever… ” groans Leo. 

“We’re already here.”

“Oh.”

“We better be sneaky, I see robots EVERYWHERE, so we need to stick toget – ”

“Weeeeee!!” !says Leo.

“WHY!”

Chapter 15 

7:56 AM

“He is so dead.”

“I’M ALIVE!”

“Aww man, I found a teleporter!”

“Really?” asks Andrew.

“Yeah! Here.” 

Chapter 16

1:34 PM

“Where does it go?”

“I have no idea. See ya!”

“Wait, we don’t know where it goes?!”

“Guess I will see him on the other side.” 

Chapter 17

9:38 PM

“Wah… it’s all junk and rocks and dirt, we are in Jun Bot City.”

“Wah, I see a lot of them,” says Leo. 

“There are a lot of these little square robots with small eyes,” says Andrew. “I see another

Teleporter!” 

Chapter 18

4:24 AM

“Wow, you look pixelated!”

“Why are your words in a speech bubble?” says Andrew. 

“I have moves! We’re in a video game! Where is the next teleporter?”                                          

Chapter 19

“It says that we need to complete 10 levels and fight the last boss,” says Jacob. 

LEVEL 1

PRESS THE RIGHT ARROW TO GO RIGHT

PRESS THE LEFT ARROW TO GO LEFT

PRESS THE SPACEBAR TO JUMP

LOADING…

“Oooo, we have fireballs for fighting!” 

PRESS SHIFT TO SHOOT FIREBALLS

Nice! Now let’s go fight that boss!

 LEVEL 2

WAVE 1 OF ENEMIES

That was easy. 

WAVE 2 OF ENEMIES

That was also easy. 

FINAL WAVE OF ENEMIES

Ow! Flying enemies, really?

LEVEL 3

WAVE 1 OF ENEMIES 

God, these parasites may be small, but they have two hearts!

And we only have three!

WAVE 2 OF ENEMIES

Whaaa, that’s three big dragons! 

FINAL WAVE

What is that?! Looks like a stone gaint.

LEVEL 4

MINI BOSS LEVEL

“Oh no, that’s a hydra! Dodge its attacks!!!”

“Ow, ow, eek!”

“I need to heal, “ says Leo. 

“He’s got my back!” says Jacob. 

“Good, I’ll get the final hit, and yeet!”

“Okay.”

“Now what?”

LEVEL 5

BIG SWARM OF ENEMIES!!!

“Ahhhh! Take cover!!!”

“I got like 453 of them!!!”
“Ahhhhh, eeeek!” 

A few hours later……

LEVEL 10 BOSS LEVEL

“Whaa, that is… so… AWESOME!!!”

“Please no, Leo,” says Andrew. 

“ROAR!!!”

“Oooh nooo, it shoots lasers!!!”

“Run, run, run, run!”

“Whew, I got some good shots on him!!!!” says Jacob. 

“Not me!” says Leo. “This could have been 100% easier if he weren’t able to move!!!” 

A FEW HOURS LATER 

“Ugh… this boss is unbeatable.” 

“Bruh, Leo, we just beat it.”

“Oh, okay!” says Leo. 

Chapter 20

3:15 AM

PICK ONE OUT OF THREE TELEPORTERS 

TO GO BACK BACK TO EARTH 

“Awwww, but I don’t want to go back to eating mashed potatoes in NYC!” says Leo.

“Yeah, there needs to be another way… ”

“Hmmm… ”

“I’ve got it! How about we build a bridge all the way back to earth!” says Jacob. 

“How?”

“With all the things that we discovered.”

Chapter 21

6:34 PM

“Phew, we made it!!! I see the president!”

A few minutes later

“And let us celebrate the glory for ANDREW, JACOB, AND LEO for being so brave and going to another planet! And making a giant bridge all the way back to earth!!! Here are your medals, and here’s the money.”

“Wow, I can’t believe we did it,” says Andrew. 

“Do you know what that means?” 

Chapter 22

10:23 PM

A few hours of celebrating 

“Woo! That felt gooood!” says Leo. 

“Yeah,” says Leo. “Wonder what planet to go to next? Maybe Venus?” says Jacob. 

“Pssst, NO! Something new!” 

Beep, beep. 

“Huh, my contact watch is beeping. Hmm.” 

“I see NASA says that one of their satellites is seeing dangerous things on planet 5,603. It says if we don’t stop it now, bad stuff is going to happen,” says Jacob. 

“What do you guys say?” 

“Ok!” says Leo. 

“I’m in!” says Jacob. 

“Ok,” says Andrew. 

“So where’s the spaceship?” asks Andrew.

“We crashed it, remember?” says Leo. 

“Oh, ummm.”                                                             

THE END

 Ok, we’re done here.

The Bunny Who Wanted a Carrot

Once upon a time, there was a bunny that wanted a carrot. The bunny went everywhere and searched for a carrot, but there was no carrot anywhere. The little bunny asked his mom where the carrots were. Mom said where the carrots were and the bunny hopped to where his mother told him to, but there were no carrots. The bunny went home again and asked his dad where he kept the carrots. The little bunny’s dad told him where he kept the carrots, and the little bunny went there. The little bunny searched and searched there, but he couldn’t find any carrots. 

The little bunny got so upset that he went to the market to buy his own carrot. There were no carrots in the market. The people said that a big giant had come and eaten all the carrots up, and the little bunny believed that. He said that he would kill the giant and get all the carrots back. 

He took a sword and shield, put some armor on, and went into the forest. He found a humongous giant and threw a rock at its face. Then, he hit the giant in the butt, and the giant gave back all the carrots.

The Big Prison

In the magical world, the weather was the same no matter where you went. But instead of it raining because water evaporates, people in the sky shot water pistols from the sky.

Amber was watching TV in her cell while thinking about plans to escape from prison. She was sure that Steve could not read her mind, so she went on her evil paper and wrote “first things first 111”—that was a secret message that she and her partner could use to write messages on paper. 

Because she was little, she could just squeeze between the bars and into freedom. But she did that once, and she got caught. Now, she was in the biggest securest prison, and everything was covered with bedrock which was an unbreakable type of metal. But she knew that there was a solution to everything. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Steve the elephant was on duty in a different prison. He got a call, but since there was no internet there, he went quickly to the main office where no prisoners were allowed. This was because there was a strong internet connection, and if a prisoner was there, then their best friend might help the prisoner escape by just making a few phone calls and text messages. Anyway, he needed to go to the prison that Amber was in because he was a very good guard.

In the prison that Amber was in, she had to eat bananas for dinner. Since she did not like bananas, she just burned them and put them in the snow, watching the steam come out of the snow. It was so satisfying that Amber did that to a bunch of different bananas, and she almost got caught three or four times. 

Then, Amber got the greatest idea in the world! She could just escape and get caught, and she then knew what to do next. She just randomly went out and got caught on purpose. 

When she was in the waiting room in her trials, she noticed a vent and a lady. Amber climbed onto the vent and dropped a ladder to rescue the lady. She helped the lady and told her the plan. They climbed through the vent and hid behind the boxes. They had four choices: distract, invisible cloak, plead, surprise attack. 

She chose distract. Later, she knew that that option did not work because after, like, thirty seconds she saw that everyone was dancing around like maniacs.

She time traveled back with the lady, and she had a new plan. She would ask the lady for help. She would jump out the window with her and hop on the motorcycle. The lady agreed. So Amber II jumped out of the window, but the real Amber missed the motorcycle, and the guards began chasing her. 

But then, Amber II smooshed all of the guards, and the real Amber got on the motorcycle, and they escaped to freedom! So they took out their prison coats—which were really hot to be in—and they finally jumped out of their jeep, driving out of town to safety. It had been a long time since both of them had breathed such fresh air.

Amber asked the lady, “Can we be allies?”

“Ok! That is a good idea.”

Amber II said, “We better get out of here because… I think I see Steve the elephant, who is a very good guard, and… I think he is also right above us.”

They were running for their lives, but that was no use because they were sucked into Steve’s elephant trunk. Steve said, “Explain yourselves.”

“We escaped from prison,” said Amber. 

“And why and how in the world did you find us here?” asked Amber II.

Then, Steve the elephant launched into the biggest explanation of his life.

“So… I was in the middle of my own business, doing my prison guard duty, and I got a call! Since there was no internet where I was currently, I went to the main office, and the call said that I had to move to the prison that you were currently in, just because I was a good prison guard. And since it was on the other side of the world, I got on a plane. There, I saw your familiar faces, and then I realized I was you too.”

“But anyway,” said Amber, “Who even is Amber?”

“Do you not realize that you are Amber?”

“Anyway, who is that lady then?”

“That is Amber,” said Amber.

Steve closed his eyes for a long time, and they said together in their brains, This is our chance. Our chance to teleport.

They appeared one millisecond after Steve opened his eyes again.

Hey where did they go? he thought. Well then, I better get back on the train!!! I mean, the airplane.

So Steve went to the airplane and slept…

THE END

Ms. Small is Big

I do not understand everything about the English language.

My name is Mr. Cup, and the English language is weird. Isn’t it supposed to be where feet run and noses smell, instead of noses run and feet smell? Why is it called a hot dog, but you do not even have a dog? Why is it called a pineapple, but there is no pine? Actually, there is no apple either. The English language is weird. I think that I am going to complain to the president about it later.

Anyway, at school, it was time for our first day of a class that is kind of like gym, but it is dumber because you do not get to play cool games like dodgeball, basketball, and other stuff. Instead, you have to do stuff like balancing feathers in one hand and trying to throw a pillow the farthest. Those games are a lot less fun. I think that I should go to the president and complain about it.

After school, I went to my mom and asked her if I could have paper and a pencil so I could complain to the president. I wrote this:

Dear Mr. President,

I would like to complain about the English language. Why is it that feet smell and noses run? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around, where feet run and noses smell? That is only when you attach a nose to your feet and attach feet to your nose. Also there is no pine or apple in pineapple/

Sincerely,

Mr. Cup

When I got to school, there was a different teacher. She was big. Her head just about touched the basketball hoop and the ends of the gym. She was cool. We got to play dodgeball and other cool stuff, and then finally, when I got home I got the letter back. It just said that he changed the alphabet now everyone has to go back to Pre-K and stuff.

THE END

Mr. Potato

It was another fine day in the book production store. Everything was good today. Yesterday was the hardest day that the book company had ever had because they had the hardest decision to make: to hire a bad worker or wait six months and hire the best worker in the world. After eight hours of hard decision thinking, they said, “Six months is not that much. We will be able to handle it…”

Things kept moving well until…

Six months, 2 hours, 9 minutes, and 1 second later:

Woo hoo! They got the best worker in the world!!! Nothing could go wrong right?

But when they saw his work accuracy, they were disappointed. Everyone was sad. His speed was high, but he did most of the work wrong. They finally had to fire him because his accuracy was sooo low.

But before they fired him, they made a complaint to the person who measured everything in the world record book. They wrote:

Hello, this is the book company here. We would like to complain because it is NOT the best worker. His speed may be the fastest but his accuracy is the lowest. YOU ARE WRONG.

Sincerely,

The book company

They waited until they got an answer. The answer was so simple. It just said:

NOOO, that is wrong! We will come and check and see if you are right or we are right. Also, let’s have a bet about that. How about twenty million dollars?

They accepted it. In a few weeks, the person from the Guinness Book of World Records who measures the stuff was going to come all the way from planet Zog. He decided it was wrong, so the company got 20 million dollars. They decided to hire the worst person named Mr. Potato. He was actually a very good worker, but nobody noticed that he was an evil scientist trying to take over the world. He wanted the money to buy a secret evil lair, but since there were no secret lairs in the Milky Way galaxy, he had to go to a galaxy called the Evil Way.

 Exactly twenty million days in the future:

He did not come to the company ever again, he was not found in the Evil Way galaxy, and finally, he was wanted for 99999999 trillion dollars.

Mr. Potato’s EVIL PLAN CHART:

12345
Pose as a bad worker and then make the best worker a bad worker.Make them have a bet and then make the company win.Get hired in the company and stuff like normal.Be the best worker that the company EVER EVER EVER had.After having enough money to buy a secret lair, never be found again.

THE END

Most YouTube Fan

I had never been more frustrated than this. The only thing I wanted was YouTube. I had games, but I played them for sooo long that I played every game and maxed everything out. 

I got a call from my creator, Zach. The first thing he said was, “You have not found a way to access YouTube, have you?”

“No,” I said back. “I have not.”

Then he said slowly, “Good. But I will have to check.”

So then I said, “Can you install YouTube for me?”

“No,” said Zach.

Then I said, “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE?” 

He said, “I said NO!”

“But I will only use it once a year.”

“Nope.”

Then I said please, like, a million hundred times and he said, “Yes.”

Woo hoo! I finally had YouTube. I watched memes of cats playing the piano. But I think I watched too many of those because then I got another call from Zach.

He said, “I see you have not been using YouTube correctly, so I just recently took it away.” 

NOOO! I could not live without YouTube. Netflix and all of the other sites are no fun anymore. I wanted YouTube. YouTube. YouTube. YouTube!!!

Now I knew that he would never ever forgive me, so there was only one way to get this right. I had to go to the secret cave of Zachs, and then I could hack into his thing and get YouTube back again! 

I got there and pressed the enter key on his thing. First, there were a lot of weird, antique people. I walked happily with my eyes closed, and then I saw glass! I smashed right into it. I backed up and read the glass. It said: solve these riddles and then put them on the box, then I will see if it was correct. The riddle was this:

You measure my life in hours, and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin and slow when I’m fat. The wind is my enemy. What am I?

Hmm… I thought. Maybe it could be—? No, not that. I reread the question: You measure my life in hours, and I serve you by expiring. What Am I?

Then I thought of it: a candle!!! I put it on the box and then it said: correct > you may enter. YAY! 

I went to the next course and I saw a sign that said: break the bricks or if not go back. Only these three tools were options: C4, a jackhammer, and a spade. I chose the C4 and went on. I thought, whoa, I can’t believe that I am still not done!!!

But there was only one more obstacle. It said: which coin will drop faster—one that is at 1000000 degrees Fahrenheit or -3964873 degrees Fahrenheit? That was an easy one—the one that is hotter. It would freeze if it was that cold.

But then I saw my master, and I got kicked out of his server.

THE END

The Mysterious Fish

I, the most experienced scuba diver in the world, decline the statement that there are a lot of fish that we do not know about. I already know all of the fish.

 For example, the share fish. It has a lock button on it if it does not have any fish friends. But when it has some, the lock is opened. It also has a lot of share buttons on its body. That fish is my personal favorite.

 Anyway, I have to get proof that I have discovered all of the fish in the whole computer galaxy. I will tell you some of my favorite stuff and some stuff I really hate!

 First, I will tell you some of my favorite foods and my favorite drinks. Then I will tell you some of my least favorite drinks and foods. It is going to be extreme and very funny 100 percent guaranteed, so let’s start!!!

 I love zombie fish. People call them the “mysterious fish” because they have mysterious marks on their tails. These marks are different from the ones on their body because they have star-shaped markings. On their heads, they have heart-shaped markings.

For my favorite drink, I like red ice cubes mixed with different brands of head sheets. The ice cubes sheets make a salty and fizzy drink, while the head sheets have a sweet, eraser taste. So if you combine it all together you get a salty, fizzy, eraser, sweet taste! Yum!

I want to skip the part that I don’t like because describing it will make you throw up, 100% correct. I tried telling it to the person with the world record of not throwing up, and he threw up right away.

So here is the story of my scuba diving adventure:

I was currently underwater when I saw a great white shark. I thought, oh no! I did not already discover that animal. So I thought, well, I just now discovered the animal, so nah nah nah boo boo to the person that did not believe me. That happened tons more times, so then I went out and finished my journey.

That is all of my story so far because I am underwater and there are a lot more creatures to be found!!!

THE END

The Evil Christmas Villain 

Mr. Lamp was the most evil villain in the town. Nobody was more cunning than him. Santa Claus was not going to give him any presents because he was bad over the year.

Mr. Lamp went into his secret layer and started the engine, heading to Blueberry City. He thought he should start with house number one and go all the way to house number ten million, three hundred and sixty-five thousand, six hundred and sixty-six.

He quickly went to house one and saw a weird figure on the chimney. He thought it was nothing but an action figure, but it was actually Santa. He quickly went into the house and saw nothing but Santa in the room. He froze and Santa said, “Why are you in the house of Blueberry number one?”

Mr. Lamp said, “I only did this because this is my cousin’s house. I’m visiting for the holidays.” He was lying.

Santa said, “This isn’t your cousin’s house! Nobody lives here because this is my house! Now, shoo.”

Mr. Lamp went into his lair, and on his computer, he searched if Santa had more than one house. It said yes, Santa had more than one house. He had a house in every city. Mr. Lamp gulped. How could he get past Santa if he kept running into his houses? He might get tortured to death. He thought for a few hours and said to himself, “Maybe I could use my time gadget to freeze time so I can peek inside the house.”

He decided to go to house number two. He pressed his time gadget and saw that nobody was there. It was an old abandoned mansion. Then, he saw an evil clown staring at him like crazy. He thought I’m going to go to Blueberry for the last time.

He flew out the door with his eyes closed carelessly. Finally, when he decided to stop, he saw new houses but then he realized it was the forest he was creeped out by. It was the Hoia-Baciu Forest in Romania. He was scared of the forest because, according to the army tech person, in 1968 they recorded a UFO hovering over the forest. This was a true fact.

Then, he flew over to a city he knew a lot about. But he had not come here in a long time, so he did not know if there were new inventions that he missed because you can only view the news if you are in the city. It looked different from what it looked like before. Instead of Christmas trees, there were floating boats, but they did not have any ordinary ornaments. They had real diamonds, gold, emeralds, and rubies. Man, thought Mr. Lamp, this does not look like before!

But when he got to his secret lair to get his Christmas-present-sucker, he saw the sign. It didn’t say New York City, it said… Mayhem City. That was very weird. He didn’t know any kind of city named Mayhem City. And from there he discovered the Cursed Universe.

THE END

The Stinger Jellyfish

Mr. Jellyfish was going to go to the other part of the ocean because he wanted to sting humans really badly. But when he moved an inch, he saw his friend Lemon, whose face was all puffed up and excited. Lemon said, “Are you excited for the playdate tomorrow?” 

Wait, what? Mr. Jellyfish thought that the playdate was in a few days. Then he realized that he had to get his JF (jellyfish) school homework done. If he did not do it today, then his teacher would make him do nine times the work that he had to do. For his assignment, he wrote this poem:

Roses are red

Sun is yellow

Pens are inky

But garbage is stinky

He thought that his teacher would like it, but instead when he went to school the next day the teacher made him do it all over again because she thought that it was too stinky and garbage-ish. So, when he got home he wrote this:

Cups and books and cheese and ash

Now you know I’m talking trash

This might make you gag

But I like to smell the garbage bag.

This might not be a pity

But I like to pick up trash from the city

How about Monday as garbage day

Tuesday and Wednesday to

How about Thursday and Friday

And lastly Saturday and Sunday

What will we do without garbage day

But I like to pick trash from the bay

There! He had worked for two hours without making any mistakes. The next day, he figured out that he did not sleep the previous night. He passed his homework to his teacher and then slumped back to his chair. The day was finally over, and the school year ended tomorrow. He had to get a good night’s sleep, and he did.

The next day, school ended. He watched movies all day long, and then he came up with a plan of everything he needed to do. First, Mr. Jellyfish packed all of the stuff he needed, and then off him and his parents went.

The first obstacle he ran into was a wall. But that was no problem because the jellyfish could just sting the wall, and then it would go away. He walked a few more miles until he spotted a jelly-toxic tree. But he was equipped with a jelly flying suit so it was easy to jump over it. He walked a few steps, humming with his eyes closed, so then he bumped into a big cow. He got annoyed and said, “HEY COW, GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!” But the cow did not seem to understand English, so then Mr. Jellyfish said, “MOO MOO MOO MOO MOO” and the cow backed away. He thought that was easier than I expected. I just said some cow words and then he went away!

Then he fainted. His mom said, “Why did you faint?”

He said, “You remember when I said those moo words, right? I might be able to understand Mootongue which is really rare, you know.”

Then he saw a giant spider. That was one of his greatest fears. But he thought, it just looked like I thought it invited me to a duel.

Three against one. Both of his parents stung the giant spider but that was quite not enough. So then he stung the spider, and they defeated the spider.

He finally went to the local beach. He stung the nearest human. It felt great! And then he woke up and realized that was just all a dream, a BIG dream.

THE END

The Weird, Evil Clown

We were on the train going to the circus, when the train person said, “Ten hour delay.” What?! Is he joking? Ten hours! I did not like the sound of that. The parade at the circus started in only thirty minutes.

 I have been going to the same circus for like thirteen years. Maybe something went wrong because thirteen is the unluckiest number in our family.

 Maybe instead of going to the circus, we could visit Hoia-Baciu Forest, Romania or something. If that was real, then I would definitely go there. It was really cool. There were aliens there, and according to the military tech person, in 1968 there was a picture of a UFO hovering over the forest.

 We got to the next stop. My mom made furious calls to the train person while my dad beat up a robber in a prison where he works.

 I blinked once, and then I saw an evil-looking clown staring at me. I flinched, and then he was gone. I was now sweating like crazy. I thought, is the galaxy cursed?

I thought that the water machine galaxy was the safest place in the world. Those thoughts were freaking me out. Then I realized that a train was going to fall right on our heads. I said to my mom, “HEY LOOK HERE! A TRAIN IS ABOUT TO FALL ON OUR HEADS!!!”

 But she was not listening because she was screaming into her phone. She kinda looked like she was going to blow up!!! Right before the train fell on our heads, she said, “We are going to your dad’s prison.”

 I closed my eyes and covered my ears. But it did not come. The crash of the train did not come. I finally opened my eyes, and I looked at the train. It was floating. Something creepy was going on.

 My mom was acting normally. Mad, fearsome, and creepy. She was really heavy. I guess she was trying to be a heavyweight, but she already was one. She had to be 5940 sugg in waterpark units, which is 986 Pounds in American units or something.

 I had to do something. When we got home I told her my plan.

“Let’s go to the GFFF CASTLE universe. This place is way too freaky.”

And you will never ever believe what we saw when we got to the GFFF CASTLE… 

THE END

The Cursed Air Conditioner

Piper was more bored than ever. She asked her brother Griff, “Can you tell me a joke? I am more bored than ever!”

“No,” said Griff, “I am as bored as you.”

“Do you know what is causing this boredness to happen?” said Piper.

Then Griff thought so hard that his brain hurt. He finally said, “Maybe if we get some fresh air, that might help us.”

“Ok,” Piper said back.

So they asked their moms if they could go outside for some fresh air. Their moms glared back suspiciously at them until they finally said, “Yes, ok.”

The children went outside and smelled the fresh air. It felt great. This was as good as what Piper wanted: flying abilities.

Meanwhile, back in the house, their moms were talking about the weather.

“Do you think it is going to rain today?” asked Griff’s mom.

“No,” said their friend Granite’s mom. “I checked the weather forecast, and it said that it would be nice and clean.”

So then they decided to have a surprise playdate. The air conditioner was not happy at that time—it wanted to bore out someone, but it was not strong enough to bore out grownups with its magical powers.

Finally, after three hours Piper and Griff came back into the house, but the moment they went into the house they got bored, which made the air conditioner happy. He thought I think that the kids are back.

But when they got out of the room to eat dinner, the air conditioner got mad again. After dinner, they went to their bunk beds and were disgusted. What surprised them was when they noticed that it was the air conditioner. So they quickly got rid of the air conditioner. You will never believe in a million hundred years how their moms reacted when they figured out that the air conditioner was gone…

Fish Are Smart

The shark struck again. He tried many times to eat the fish, but he couldn’t. He thought I wish that there was a way to trick those little fools. So he got a trap and waited for what felt like one hundred million hours. But then the little fish said, “Oh! This is just another little dumb fish trap,” and the fish swam right past it. The shark was so furious that he thought that he was going to blow up. He then thought that if he could work with his other shark friends, they could create an invisible trap for the fishies.

But meanwhile, on the other end of town, all of the fishies were warned NOT to swim too much underwater and just eat homemade food, because if they don’t then it might be a trap and they will end up as the sharks’ next meal.

The sharks were about to finish their invention, but then a giant, angry-looking computer came up to him and said, “That will not be enough to fool the fishies. That is all I have to say.”

So then after the computer left, the sharks thought, that is a prank. We won’t listen to him. But when they completed their trap, none of the fishies came. They didn’t even come near the trap.

Then one of the shark’s friends said, “Why can’t we just sneak attack them?”

“Great idea,” said his other friend, Billy.

So they hid behind what they thought was a rock, but it was actually a rock that attacks back with the same amount of pressure that it receives. Since all of them were hiding on the rock, the mayor in the fish town said, “SHUTDOWN, LOCKDOWN!!! Close all of the fish shops immediately! If you are at school, shut down the school! Anywhere you are, just lockdown the thing!!! If you are brave enough, then you can fight in the war. These are the required things: #1. You must have a full army experience and kill at least 99999 people. #2. Get all of your army stuff and go, go, go, fight in the war!!!”

But they were already attacked and stuff. They did not need their weapons—they would already lose the war. But they still fought.

TO BE CONTINUED…

The Doll

Chapter One

At Home

It was 8:00. It was time to sleep. Tomorrow was my birthday. My dad said that if I didn’t go to sleep, I would be tired and miss my birthday, so I went to sleep. 

The next morning was my birthday. My dad was about to leave when he saw me walking downstairs.

“Happy birthday, dear! Your family is going to be here in just a minute, so you’ve got to get ready,” he said.

“Ok, Dad. So you said that the family is going to be here in a bit?” I asked. 

“Yes. So you and your mother better get ready,” he replied.

My dad went to the store. My mom and I went upstairs to get ready.

Chapter Two

At the Store

My dad went to the store. This is what happened.

What doll should I buy for my daughter? There is an aisle for kids, he thought. Why don’t I go there? Those dolls look like old antiques. I will buy one of these for my daughter. I hope she will like it. I will buy other things for my daughter.

“Hello, I would like to buy this for my daughter’s birthday,” he said.

“It will be 135 dollars because it’s an old antique,” replied the cashier.

“Ok, I will buy it. But do you know why the antique is expensive?”

“Yes, sir. It is because in 1895 an inventor created this doll. One night, the creator was sleeping. The doll came alive and killed the creator.”

“Thank you, I guess.”

“Have a nice day.”

Chapter Three

At Home

“Hello dear, I brought you a present,” said my dad.

“Really, what is it?”

“You’re the one who has to find out.”

“It’s a doll! Thank you, Daddy!” 

“No problem. But it’s time for you to go to bed so you can be full of energy.”

“Ok! Good night.” 

I went to bed. I pulled my doll in my arms and fell asleep.

The doll woke up, ran downstairs, and grabbed a knife. It ran back up the stairs and woke me up.

“Why did you wake me up, Dad? You said that I would need some rest,” I said.

The last thing I said was, “HELP!”

THE END

STORY 2

Mr.’s Maid

A long time ago, there was a maid. She worked at a mansion, which meant that she had a lot of work to do. She would take care of a child because the parents didn’t care about their child. One day, the child saw the parents yelling and smacking the maid. When they saw the child watching, they started chasing the child. The child started running to her bedroom, but she ran straight to the dungeon. The parents stopped running to her and went back to the maid. The child thought that they were too tired or afraid of her, but she was wrong. 

A voice came from one of the jail cells that said, “Come my dear. I won’t do any harm. I won’t hurt you I promise.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Now come to the darker side of the jail cell.”

She went to the other side of the cell and saw the maid down there. She had been down there for months, but the maid had been taking care of the child since she was born. She figured that the maid had an older sister. The older sister looked just like the maid that was taking care of the child. The child started screaming but no one came to help.

5 years later… 

Everyone in the mansion stopped thinking about the screaming from years ago. They also had a legend that whoever had a maid would be killed by their maid. 

THE END

STORY 3

Miss Doll

Long ago there was a doll named Miss Doll. She lived in a happy town with flowers and all that, but one night someone attacked the village. It was the doll creator. He was looking for Miss Doll. He left an hour later. Many people think that he didn’t find Miss Doll… but… they… were… wrong!

Many people were afraid of Miss Doll. But others were curious about her. One night, Miss Doll woke up. The doll was alive. Instead of purple eyes, she had red eyes. Instead of a pink dress, she had a white dress with stains on it. Instead of straight hair, she had curly, sharp hair. 

2 months later… 

Miss Doll grew up. She still had her outfit and stuff. The store was open and lots of people came in to see Miss Doll. So everyone searched for Miss Doll, but she was nowhere to be found.

2 days later… 

An old man was working on a new doll to replace Miss Doll. He brought it into the store. Her name was Miss Library. She was the prettiest doll anyone had ever seen. Every kid would fight over one of these dolls. The parents had to stop them. 

One day, a kid came to the store to find a doll to give to her sister to play with. She found Miss Doll laying in the corner of the store. No wonder no one could find it. 

She picked the doll up and said, “This doll will be perfect!”

She ran out of the store and gave her sister the doll.

Her sister said, “What kind of doll is this?! This doll looks so ugly!”

“Sorry! That was the only doll in the store. Miss Library sold out!”

“Fine. I will only keep this doll because that was the only one they had.”

It was night time and everyone was asleep. The doll woke up once again. The doll went upstairs and killed her older sister. The doll came back and started singing. It was like “a ring around the rosy,” but different. 

“Lalalala. Lalalala. Lalalala. Lalalala,” the doll sang over and over again. 

The doll reached the kitchen and grabbed a kitchen knife. The doll ran back upstairs and killed the little girl. Beware, if you find a doll named Miss Doll… DO NOT BUY IT!

THE END

STORY 4

The Mall

There was a mall that had everything you could ever need or want. Everyone would go there to see what they would have next. One night, a group of tennis players came and started stealing from the mall. 

A man in black came out of the shadows and said, “I have food for free.” 

The three boys started getting worried and ran out of the mall. They told their parents. The parents called the police. The man was never found. They figured that the man was not a man… He was a doll looking for someone to replace his body.

5 years later…

Everyone is now afraid of men, so all the men are in jail. They are testing them one by one. Some of them are positive and some are negative.

THE END

Lost in the Woods

Chapter 1: Nancy

Crack! The twig made a noise as I stepped on it in the dark, vast forest. 

My name is Nancy Simmons, and a week ago something very scary happened to me. I was taking a nature hike with my Girl Scout troop when we got separated and lost. A few hours later, everybody was found. Well, everybody but me. It wasn’t long until they called the cops. Soon, there was a search party out in the woods. But no one could find me. 

Meanwhile, I was searching through the woods, all tangled and messed up. I tried to work my phone, but only the highest quality software could give me service in the middle of nowhere. I stumbled through the forest until I was super hungry. I remembered I had a sandwich in my bag and sat down on a rock, turning my flashlight on to eat. 

Suddenly, I heard tiny noises chit-chattering in the woods. I stepped in and I saw one hundred purple, orange, and green-winged fairies talking. They froze and saw me standing there. They started forming a swarm. I yelled, “Hey! What are you doing? Ahhh!!! A SWARM OF FAIRIES!!!” They started jumping about and chasing me. 

Crack! The twig made a noise as I stepped on it in the dark. Which is how we got here. 

Suddenly I saw them again. 

Meanwhile, an inspector named Inspector Simmons was looking EVERYWHERE for me, because Inspector Simmons was my dad. We got along really well. He was like my best friend. Both of my parents were super worried and were doing everything they could to find me. 

I guess you are wondering what happened to me and the fairies, so I will tell you now. I stepped into the place where they were talking, and they all stared at me. I talked in what I hoped was a slow persuading voice and said, “Hi, my name is Nancy, and I am really lost in the forest. Could you give me directions out of the forest?” 

The fairies looked at one another, and after what seemed like forever, one of them said in a quiet voice, “We cannot give you directions out of the forest, but we can give you directions to some animals who might know the way out.”

Chapter 2: Inspector Simmons

My name is Inspector Simmons, and Nancy Simmons is my daughter. A week ago she got lost in the woods. Her mom and I were searching everywhere in the forest. We even had ten search parties out in the woods. We tried to call her but she didn’t answer. It seemed like she was avoiding us. But we knew that was not true. We looked everywhere, but even then she was not found. Later on, we realized that she went into the passageway on the magical side, where there were fairies, imaginary creatures, and talking animals. (Real animals, not imaginary ones — but imaginary creatures can talk too.) Going through that passageway was really hard and there were only two reasons why she would go in there. Number one: she knew where it was and went through there to take cover from a bear or other animal. Or number two: she was stumbling through the woods and accidentally went through the passageway. We did not know where it was, so our only hope was that the creatures in the magical land helped her out.

Chapter 3: The Settlement with the Animals

This is Nancy. As you can remember, the fairies told me that I should go to the animals. I followed their directions (which, by the way, were hard to understand because they spoke so quietly), and it led me to a bunch of animals. I asked them, “Hi, my name is Nancy, and the fairies told me you know the way out of the forest. I am really lost, so I was wondering if you could give me directions out of this forest?” 

They all stared at me in awe. Finally, after a long time (I was used to it by now), the gazelle, of all animals, spoke up. “We can help you but you will have to speak to our leader.” 

I wondered who their leader could be. Well, it was a baboon! I walked up to their “leader” and asked, “Could you give me instructions out of the forest?” 

He said with an accent, “Perhaps, but you will have to give us something we have never tried or seen before in return.” 

I thought to myself, what have they never tried or seen before? Suddenly, I had the answer. My sandwich! I knew that I was hungry, but the sooner I got out the sooner I had something better than a sandwich to eat. But first I had to clarify that they had never tried a sandwich before, so I asked, “Have you ever tried a sandwich before?” 

“A sand-what!?” the baboon said in the same accent. 

“A sandwich,” I said. 

I took out my sandwich and held it out of my hand. 

The baboon took a bite and said, “This is yummy!” in his accent. 

I said, “Please, now that I have given you something that you have never tried or seen before, tell me how I will get out!” 

The baboon said, “Very well, but it is very hard to get out since you have entered the magical side.” 

“The magical side?” I said. “What is the magical side?” 

“The magical side is the side where there are talking animals and fairies and imaginary creatures. You are the first human to stumble into our magical land,” the baboon said. 

I understood, so I asked how I would get out, but the baboon was too busy eating his — well, my — sandwich. I waited. He finished and told me. I wrote it all down in my handy-dandy notebook. Then I left. I now knew I had won the trust of the animals and the trust of the fairies. 

Chapter 4: The Try to Journey Back Home

I used the directions the baboon and the rest of the talking animals gave me. I looked around myself and counted the days I had been in the forest: two whole days. I started to panic. “What if I never go home?” I muttered under my breath. I kept following the directions, but it seemed to me that I was lost. Again. Around me, there was peace in the beautiful cotton candy sky. It had wisps of orange and yellow edged into the starry, bluish-black night sky. I soon realized that in the magical land, there was no moon, just stars, and that there was a faint white circle in the background. I also saw stars in the day, but I saw a faint fiery ball in the distance. So, I realized that in the magical land, stars are brighter than the sun and moon. 

I made a bed out of pine needles that I had collected on my try to journey back home and slept for the first time in two days. Suddenly, at about 4:00 AM, a bad thought hit me like a ton of bricks: what if I am here forever?

Chapter 5: Imaginary Creature Land

In the morning I started walking again. I walked for about two miles and paused to drink water. But when I started walking again, someone or something tapped my shoulder. It felt a little soft and furry, but I wouldn’t take any chances for it to fool me. 

“Dad? Mom? Lucy?” (Lucy is my Girl Scout counselor.) No one was there. I just kept walking. 

Again I felt that soft furry paw on my shoulder. I spun around quickly and saw… The cutest animal ever! It was soft and furry with legs and paws. It had two antlers and a nose. I quickly realized that it was probably the imaginary creature animal the baboon was talking about. 

“Imaginary creature? Hello? What’s your name?” I said. 

The imaginary creature looked impressed, probably because I knew what an imaginary creature was. It said, “My name is Proppy, and if you want I can take you to my imaginary creature land.” 

I said, “Okay, because I am really lost.” 

Proppy squealed, jumped, and hugged me. He took my hand and led me through a doorway that I swear was not there before. We went through the passageway and the imaginary creature land was super cool. Proppy chose where we wanted to go. He said there was a rainbow/candy island, a winter wonderland, a waterland, a fireland, and a regular land where all the imaginary creatures lived. The creatures could choose where they wanted to go without hustle or bustle. There was also a royal land where the queen lived. It seemed like every group had a leader but the fairies. 

He said we were going to the royal land to meet the queen, who he told me was super nice and would like me right away. So, he chose the royal land, and we went through a rainbow rollercoaster. At the end of the rainbow rollercoaster was a palace decorated with shells, gold, silver, marble, and more. It looked majestic and beautiful. We stopped in front of the castle and entered through two huge golden doors. 

Proppy went inside to talk to the guard, and after a while, we went inside. There stood two imaginary creatures that looked just like Proppy, except Proppy had white fur and they had blue. We went further inside, and we saw the queen. She was wearing a heavy velvet cape embroidered with golden designs. When she talked, it seemed as if birds were singing. 

Not wanting to waste any time I said, “Hi, I’m Nancy and — ” 

She interrupted me and said, “Well, hello! Can I do anything to make you feel more comfortable here at the castle?” 

I said, “Well actually, I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to the human world?” 

After a while, she responded, “No, but I know a wizard that can get you there.”

Frustrated, I muttered, “This is a wild goose chase.” 

The queen, not noticing a thing, said, “Stay here for the night, and Proppy can lead you to the wizard’s den in the morning.”

 The guards led us up to a bedroom that was very pretty. The covers of the bed were red and the pillows were red and embroidered gold like the queen’s cape. The floor was carpeted red velvet. The lampshade was white, and the doors were gold. The doors were labeled “Human Room Number Five,” so I realized this was a room they kept just for humans. So, they had to bring a smaller version of the bed for Proppy. They gave me a fresh set of clothes, and I used a bathroom labeled “Human Bathroom Number Four.” Then, Proppy and I fell asleep to dreams of the scary adventures that lay ahead of us.

Chapter 6: A Talk With a Wizard

Early in the morning, Proppy woke me up to have breakfast with the queen, who was now wearing a green velvet cape embroidered with a white tree. I was surprised when the waiter brought a plate with — how should I describe it? — FILLED with every color of fluffy, delicious marshmallows. 

The queen said, “Bring on the other appetizers!” 

Out came different types of pastries, juices, chocolates, and more. I ate so many of the “appetizers” that afterward, I had no room for the main course: different types of pies and cakes! Everybody who was sitting at the grand oa4k table was watching me with odd expressions on their faces. After dessert — er, I mean breakfast — was done, teary expressions appeared as the queen gave us instructions for our journey and our never-ending sweet filled bags. I thanked her endlessly, as Proppy ushered me out the door. I managed one final “bye” as the golden doors closed. 

Nothing exciting happened when we were walking, so let’s just fast forward to when we got there. We saw an old, spooky cottage with spiders on it and we entered. Inside was an old man with a long, blue velvet robe and a small wooden table which contained a very big book with gold designs and lettering. It seemed to be a spell book, and next to it was a crystal ball and a wand. He didn’t even look up as he said in a deep voice, “Hello, what brings you here to my old cottage?” 

By then he turned around and we could see his green eyes and sharp nose. I said confidently (even though I was scared of him), “We — I mean I — need instructions to get out of the woods. 

“Hmmm…” he murmured. “Tell me child, how long have you been here?” 

I said, “Three days,” without emotion. 

Proppy was not even next to me. He was too busy playing with the crystal ball.

“I can open a passageway right now to get you back. In fact, if you came to me sooner, you could have been home two days ago.” 

“So open it!” 

He briefly nodded, and Proppy said, “You can visit soon right?” 

“Yes, Proppy,” I said. “Thank you so much,” I said to the wizard. 

“Of course, my child,” he said. 

“Bye!” I said to Proppy. 

“Bye!” he said. I jumped through the magical passageway.

Chapter 7: A Happy Reunion

I suddenly appeared in the middle of a crowd of police officers. Must be a search party, I thought to myself. By that point, I had service and called Mom and Dad. 

“Nancy?” 

“Mom! I made it out of the woods, and I’ll call a taxi to get home.” 

“Ok! You don’t know how much we were worrying.” 

I disconnected and hopped into a nearby taxi. Did I mention that I was in downtown New Jersey (that’s where the hiking trail was), and I live in Manhattan, so the drive was more like one hour? When the driver got to the stop, I would have given him a tip, but I didn’t have any money on me. 

I opened the door to my house and walked into the living room and… surprise! My Girl Scout counselor, troop, friends, and family were all crowded in our living room. They brought out the most beautiful cake I had ever seen. It had yellow designs all over it, and it had purple layers. On top were plastic letters that read, “Welcome Back Nancy!” We had so much fun. Some friends stayed over, but some friends stayed late and left. Like late. Like REALLY LATE. 

In the morning when everyone had left, I told my mom and dad all about my adventures over juice and toast. They were so proud of me! But here came the bad news: at dinner, I overheard Mom and Dad talking about going in there and capturing the magical creatures. I assumed, and still assume, they’re joking. 

The big takeaway I learned from this is that sometimes you can’t just rely on others. You have to take action. Like, if I waited for the police to find me, I would still be in the woods right now.

The End

Odd Aunt Lenore

Chapter 1

Aunt Lenore was a small old woman with a wobbly bun perched on her head. She had an owl named Agatha who was always perched on her shoulder. Aunt Lenore spent her days sewing and embroidering new clothes, which she sent to my family in big, bright pink boxes. Nobody knew what her house looked like. She hadn’t had visitors in 47 years, and her only electronic device was a phone bolted to the wall. Enough about her though. Let’s get to me.

***

“Miss Meadow! Miss Meadow!” the postman yelled. I looked up from my book, confused. Meadow was my rabbit. “You have a package from Miss Lenore!”

Why would my rabbit have a package? I ran down the stairs and opened the door. The postman was standing behind a huge box, red-faced and sweaty, probably from carrying that box all the way here.

“Thanks, Mr. Postman, but I’ll take it from here,” I said.

I lugged the box inside and got out some kitchen scissors. But when I tried to cut it open, the scissors bounced off the tape. It was like rubber. I examined the box from all angles. The only clue I found was a small label on one corner of the box. It read: xxxmailersxxx has sponsored this delivery. I peeled the label off and grabbed my bike out of the garage. Wheeling it out, I realized something. Wouldn’t my parents freak out if I wasn’t at home? I left a hastily scribbled note: gone out to mailers. Then, I hopped on my bike and began the 4-hour ride to the offices of the mailers who had sponsored the delivery of the package from my odd Aunt Lenore. 

***

“Name?” a grumpy old man asked when I walked through the door. “And business?”

I sighed. I had ridden all this way just to be interrogated by an old man. “My name is Nora Almentine, and I’m here to talk to the person who sponsored the delivery from Miss Lenore Almentine.”

“Eh? Related, are you?”

“Yes, now can I talk to the person who sponsored the delivery of Miss Lenore A?”

He chuckled. “I got us off track, didn’t I? Now, yes, I’ll take you to the office of Mr. Harold Druchins.”

He led me to a small room made entirely of glass. There was a table in the corner with a black swivel chair and a computer on top. Harold turned out to be a tall man with slicked black hair and a tuxedo. His eyes were ice blue, and his gaze made me want to run away and hide somewhere. But I couldn’t do that. He was my only chance of finding out how to open that box from Aunt Lenore, and then I could finally figure out what was in it!

“Hello Nora, I am Mister Harold L. Druchins. I have helped one thousand people with your situation, so I guarantee that I will not fail,” he said, sounding out all the syllables clearly.

“Ok,” I peeped. But I believed him. If he couldn’t open the box, I didn’t know who could.

Chapter 2

I told Harold everything. I told him about the box, how it was addressed to my rabbit, and how it wouldn’t open.

“Do you have a sample of the tape?” he asked. I shook my head. “All right then,” he sighed. “Meet me tomorrow at my office with a sample of the cardboard and of the tape. If you can’t get it off, just lug the whole box behind you.”

That night, I chopped and stabbed at the tape as hard as I could, but I couldn’t get the tape off. The cardboard, however, was easy. So the next day, I hopped on my bike and began the familiar ride to xxxmailersxxx. Harold was waiting for me there.

“Well?” he gruffed. I guess he wasn’t done with his coffee. Grown-ups are always grumpy until they finish their coffee.

“Um, I could cut the cardboard, but not the tape,” I murmured, my old nervousness under his gaze returning.

“Well? Why did you visit, you fool! Just slice off a side! Then the box is open! Boom, magic, and THEN YOU CAN LEAVE ME ALONE TO DRINK MY COFFEE!” he yelled. 

Knew it. He hadn’t finished his coffee. He turned and left me there. Alone. I shrugged it off, too excited to care that I was yelled at by an office worker.

***

When I got home, I immediately sliced off the side of the box. Inside was…

“Aunt Lenore!?” I gasped.

“Yes,” she said in a sly voice. “And don’t get all piffywiddles, I just came here to tell you a story.”

“What story?” I asked, suddenly wondering if everything I was told was a lie. Was the Earth really round? Were there really 50 states?

“My story,” she said.

“But– you can’t remember enough to tell stories!” I blurted.

“Yes I can,” she said.

“Why’d you address the package to my bunny?” I asked. Where were these questions even coming from?

“Well, Meadow was the only name that I could remember in this household! Funny, right?” She chuckled.

“Just tell the story. And stop stalling,” I growled.

She took a breath. “Ok. Here it is…” 

Chapter 3

“So, when I was little, I played video games all the time. When I was older, I bought a cottage. Now, they wanna demolish my cottage, and someone’s gotta stop them!!! THE END!” she said.

“That wasn’t much of a story…” I sighed.

“Well, does a story need to be long to be effective?” she asked sassily. “And next time, speak up! My ears aren’t in tip-top shape, y’know.”

I groaned. No one told me Aunt Lenore was so… well… sassy.

“Lady, did you just groan? Wow, you sure are a hard one to impress. Are you always a cloud like that on sunny days?” she snootily interrogated me.

I turned my nose away, to tell her that she wasn’t the only sassy one.

“All right, sassy niece, just tell me if you are gonna help me,” she smirked.

“What do you expect, Aunty L?” I asked her.

“Maybe… YES?” she pleaded.

“NO,” I snapped. “I’m sorry for what is going to happen to your house, but I really am not the person you want for this job. I’m clueless about clues, you see.”

“Oh, Nora,” Aunt Lenore snickered. “The only thing you need in this case is sass. There’s no clue finding, investigating, or any of that fifflesnorf. I’m only asking you to come to a hearing.”

“NO!” I yelled. “WHY CAN’T YOU HEAR ME THE FIRST TIME!? Look, I’m so, so sorry for what’s happening to your house, but I can’t!”

“Why? Is it that you just don’t want to help me? You’d rather just side with the public because it’d be too embarrassing to be on the side of your ol’ Aunt L?” she pressed.

Wow. This lady excels in sass. I knew there would only be one way out of this. Be on her side. “So, here’s the deal. I’m not siding with the public, because I think what they’re doing is awful. But I’m not siding with you, either. I didn’t even know this was happening until a couple of minutes ago! Do you expect me to just choose your side without information? How do I know you didn’t sign a contract and then turn on your word? But I’ll still be one of your biggest supporters, and I bet a lot of other kids will, even if we’re not in the room with you. The public made the wrong choice, and I fully disagree with that choice. So, I don’t know enough to fight in your favor, but I do know enough to side with you. So, if the public ever hears this: a citizen’s home is more important than a mall! Sure, a mall serves more people, but if you demolish a home, you’re making the citizen who lived there turn on you. I may not know why this is happening, but I do know it’s wrong. EXTREMELY wrong. So, if you make this decision, I will turn on you as well. Goodbye, government. I hope you make the right choice.” I said.

Aunt Lenore smirked. “Ha!” she laughed.

“What do you mean ‘ha’?” I asked.

But Aunt Lenore just kept on smirking, and then, FINALLY, she strolled right out of the door. 

Chapter 4

“Welcome to the morning news station! Today, we will be showing a LIVE hearing!” a way-too-cheery news reporter said gleefully into the screen. “Here we are, 9:35 AM, at the city’s town hall!”

The cameras showed a large, very fancy room, with one chair in the middle for my aunt Lenore. She walked in, with her gray hair half up, half down, little pink glasses perched on her nose, a pink tape recorder, pink jeans, and a white t-shirt.

“Hello, court,” she said, without a hint of sass. I was surprised. I didn’t know the lady could even breathe without sass.

“Hello,” the judge said. “Please sit in that chair, and state your argument.”

“People are on my side,” she simply said back. Hello again, Aunty L’s sass.

Then, she hit play on her tape recorder, and the speech I made yesterday was playing! ON TV! By the end, the judge was wiping her glassy eyes, and the court was flat-out bawling.

“Well, in — er by the order of the court, we demand people leave this lady’s house ALONE!” the judge yelled, her voice still wobbly.

I lept off of the couch and cheered. Everyone had been watching the hearing and had heard my voice. And my dad was bragging about it endlessly. He put together a parade barbecue party, all to celebrate how I stopped the demolition of the house. And “houses are more important than malls” became the town’s new motto. It was a day to remember. 

The Closet of Doom

Chapter 1: The Closet, Part 1

I walked down a dark hallway, barely able to make out a rectangular box, a closet. I heard whispers from inside.
“Sssssekdjaboyweneead.”
I couldn’t make out what they were saying. It was an old-looking closet made of wood, and I had a mysterious urge to open it.


An icy hand touched my shirt when I woke up. I was lying in bed, staring up at a spider web in the corner of my bed. I looked down at my nightshirt to see that it was soaked and that the glass of water I had left there before I went to bed had spilled onto my shirt.
I looked at my alarm clock. 2:58 AM. Friday the 13th. August 2020.
I got up and looked out my window. I thought there was a strange rectangular box sitting in the backyard, and again I heard whispers like in my dream.
“Sssssekdjaboyweneead.”
I had a strange urge to go downstairs, outback, and open the closet door.
Suddenly, I was no longer in control of my mind. I was looking through the eyes of a person I didn’t know, their memories. This person had stepped into the closet and was screaming as he fell into a dark hole. The words Friday the 13th. August 1913. 3:00 AM flashed into my head. Everything blacked out, and then it showed another person — a girl this time — looking out of the window of a room the same shape as mine but decorated differently from the same dark closet. She looked around, and I saw a calendar in her room.
It said: Friday 13th. August 1957. 63 years ago. An old-fashioned alarm clock in her room said it was exactly 3:00 AM. She stared at the closet and seemed to make up her mind as she stepped out into the cold night air and went to open the closet door. She was just about to open it when I came back to my senses.


It was 3 days later at 7:30, and my mom was calling me.
“Aidan! It’s time for school. Wake up!”
I got dressed and went downstairs to find my younger brother already sitting at the dining table eating his breakfast.
“Did you sleep well?” asked my mom.
“Yes,” I lied. I had actually stayed up all night like on Friday and Saturday, thinking about the closet. “I need to go to the backyard to check something.”
“Can I come?” asked my younger brother, Jacob.
“No, it’s not something you want to see,” I said.
“Just take him,” my mom said.
I sighed. “Fine.”
“YAY! We’re going on an adventure,” shouted Jacob.
We stepped outside and walked to the backyard.
There was no closet there.
I bent down to where the closet should have been, but there was nothing except a few lines where my family had stepped, like everywhere else in the yard.
“Nothing,” I muttered to myself.
My brother frowned. “What?”
“Nevermind, you go to school. I’m coming.”
He jogged off to the garage to get his bike. I was about to do the same when I realized it wasn’t lines on the ground but 12 numbers.
191319572020.
“Odd,” I said aloud.
“AAAIDANNN!” yelled my brother from the garage.
“Coming!” I said, casting a final glance at the 12 numbers.


Middle school. The most boring possible place I could be. My history teacher, Mr. Hamilton, was giving us a dull lecture about the war of 1912.
“It dated from October 8th, 1912 to July 18, 1913, and it was part of the Balkan wars,” he said, but I didn’t hear the rest of his lecture. I was once again looking at the old closet and had the strange sensation of opening it.
“Aidan! AIDAN!!! Time for lunch,” I looked up to see my best friend, Nicholas Smith, shaking me hard.
We walked down to the lunchroom and waited in line to buy our lunch. Nicholas had bought his food, and it was my turn. I glanced at the lunch lady and realized with horror that she looked exactly like the same closet I had been thinking about all day.
I closed my eyes. When I open them, I thought, she’ll look the same as she always looks, not like a closet.
I opened my eyes and there was nobody there, no closet or lunch lady. Only the students eating lunch. I looked down at my tray of food and realized I had a hamburger and fries on my tray already. This was odd, I didn’t remember getting any food. I looked around and realized everyone was staring at me like I was a freak, and that I was the only person in line. I walked over to Nicholas’s table and started eating.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I muttered to him as he continued to stare at me.
“Are you feeling ok?” he asked
“Yeah, fine.”


It was after school. I had just come home and started doing my homework when again I saw the closet outside my bedroom window. I had the disturbing sensation that I had to open it.
I stepped out into the hot afternoon sun and was halfway through the backyard when my mom said, “Aidan???”
I looked back and saw my mom looking at me from the kitchen window.
“What are you doing out there?”
“Oh, uh,” I thought quickly, “I’m trying to get the soccer ball that I kicked into the backyard at night.”
“You can do that later, come help your brother with his homework,” she said.
I looked back at where the closet should have been. It was gone as I had expected, so I did as she had asked.

Chapter 2: The Closet, Part 2

I was lying in bed 5 hours later thinking about the closet and what I should do with it. I was afraid to fall asleep in fear that I would have more horrible nightmares. Should I open it or not? What was inside it? What did those 12 numbers mean? What were these visions I had about?
I awoke the next morning with bags under my eyes. I had gotten only about 2 hours of sleep that night, and those 2 hours I was asleep were full of nightmares and visions.
I ate my breakfast and walked to school, still thinking about the closet through my first lesson, science, while my teacher Mrs. Daniels was giving us a lecture about the mathematician Isaac Newton.
I kept thinking about it even at lunch, but thankfully I wasn’t stared at again. It seemed that everyone had forgotten the little “incident” that happened yesterday. Everybody, including Nicholas and the teachers on duty, seemed to be going about their days as though nothing odd had happened just yesterday.


Fortunately, nothing weird happened today. In fact, it was a relatively good day. We played soccer in gym class, and I helped my team win 7-3. The only thing that went wrong was when I got home again, I saw the closet in the backyard and had the mysterious urge I had been having for days to open it.
This is it, I thought. I was going to find out what was inside once and for all.
I took a step towards the closet then a tiny voice in my head cried, NO!
But then again, the urge to go open the closet filled me.
I made up my mind and started walking carefully towards it. When I was only a few feet away I reached out to touch the handle, just another inch…


I bolted and sat upright in bed, panting hard as I looked around the room and realized it was again 2:58 AM. Was all of that a dream? Including the school day? Or did I perhaps take a nap when I got home? My mind was buzzing with questions, all of them about the closet and what lay within it.
Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye, outside the window.
A half-robot girl had walked out of the closet!
I jumped out of bed and got a baseball bat from my closet just to make me feel safer, even though I knew that if I did meet that disturbing-looking girl, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance.
I walked out into the cool night air and looked to where the closet had been.
Unlike other times, it was still there.
Suddenly, two hands grabbed my shoulders, and I whirled around to find myself face to face with the very girl I had seen outside. I did what most other people would have done: screamed.


I awoke to find myself in a dusty chamber made of gray stone. I looked around and found an open door. I stood up and walked towards it, my knees shaking hard as I built up the nerve to look through it.
Nothing. It was nothing but a dark hallway. The closet was sitting in the middle of the hallway.
I stepped closer, put my hand on the ice-cold handle, pulled, and looked inside. I almost passed out as I jumped back to see a chair with a bunch of metal scraps in it.
No, not metal — a half-robot girl.
She looked up.
“Hello,” she said.

“Wha — what do you want?!” I stammered as she arose from the chair.
She breathed in. “Finally,” she said. “A new test subject for DOOM.”
“What???” I asked in horror.
“This,” she said. “This is the Closet of Doom. It was made in 1911 and holds anyone who goes inside it captive so we can test potions on them. I’ve been trying to find a subject for more than 60 years. There was a new hope when you were born in 2007 and your parents moved into the same house in which the maker of the Closet of Doom lived. I gave you terrifying visions of this closet — yes, I was the girl in the vision when it was 1957, and that boy was the first subject two years after it was created. Now, you will stay here while I return to my factory.”
“N-no, I’m leaving now, I’m not being a test subject in this Closet of Doom,” I said as I took a few steps back toward the room I woke up in.
“How are you going to get out of here?” she asked with a twisted smile as it dawned on me that I couldn’t actually get out of here.
“I-I’ll find a way,” I stammered.
“Good luck,” she said and disappeared.
“Hey! Come back,” I waited a minute.
No response. I wanted to start crying.
I was trapped in an underground chamber where nobody knew where I was, and I could only leave when someone came across this creepy closet, and who knew how long that would take?!

Chapter 3: My Discovery

1 YEAR LATER

I had been stuck for over a year now and was getting used to life down here. Only another 49 years or so, I thought gloomily. My family had probably moved on from the mysterious disappearance of Aiden Hawkins. I had figured out over the years that you do not age or need to eat when you come down here. Down here, you just wait for time to pass, doing nothing except watching the gray stone walls. The only source of light down here was a little crack in the top with sunshine coming in. That was also my only way of knowing if it was day or night, and to make it even worse, there were dirty puddles, leaves, and sticks all over the floor.
I didn’t know how I didn’t even go insane just staring at the walls and sleeping for a whole year. I occasionally heard footsteps overhead from my family playing in the backyard. The first time that happened, I tried shouting to them.
“Help me, I’m down HERE!!!” I’d yell until my throat was sore. But I had learned this dungeon was sound-proof — or something of the sort, even with the hole in the top.
I walked around, counting how many steps I walked, tapping the wall.
Suddenly, I heard a creaking sound, and the wall in front of me opened like a door leading to a long, dark hallway. My heart beat super fast, and I stepped into the dark hallway.
It seemed endless from my point of view, pitch-black and vast. I didn’t have a flashlight or anything of the sort, so I was hesitant to go inside.
I looked around the room. Something caught my eye: a pair of glasses.
Something clicked in my mind like two pieces of a puzzle. I remembered from a science lesson I had in sixth grade that you could make a fire with sun, glasses, a leaf, and water. I strained my mind to remember. Then, click. It was as if someone in control of my mind could hear me. Put a drop of water on the inside of the lens and let the sun shine down through it onto the leaf below.
I tried it once. Tried it again. The third time yielded no result. Growing more and more upset, I adjusted it to face the sun, but to no avail. A fourth time let up smoke but nothing more. Only on my thirteenth try did I start the fire.


Now carrying my makeshift torch — a stick stabbed through a leaf with fire on top — I walked down the dark hallway.
I put the glasses in my pocket, knowing they might come in handy and get me out of another sticky situation like this one.
As I walked, I passed disturbing things: skeletons, dead rats, and mold.
I walked and walked until I found a big stone door.
I pushed. It stayed shut.
I pushed harder. It stayed shut.
I pushed my hardest. It stayed shut.
I kicked it. It stayed shut.
I was about to kick it harder when something caught my eye.
A keyhole.
I knew there must have been a key to unlock this door but didn’t know where it may have been.
Suddenly, an idea flashed into my head. I rummaged around through my pocket and found the glasses. Carefully taking them out, I pushed them slowly into the keyhole.
I turned it and heard a click.
YESSS! I thought to myself. I took the glasses out. But I must have taken them out too fast because when I pulled them out, the part I had stuck in was no longer in one piece.
I put the glasses back into my pocket and pushed the door open, ready to punch anyone I saw.

Chapter 4: DOOM HQ
When the door creaked open, I saw a room. It looked like it had just been grabbed from an old-fashioned house. There was a moth-eaten couch that looked at least 100 years old, one of those old-fashioned black and white TVs with a long antenna, and a box with some fruit and potatoes — which looked as though they were very fresh and had just been bought from the store.
However, there was a modern-looking desk with a Lenovo computer sitting on top of it.
I took a step into the room and looked at the computer. It showed live security footage of a small stone room — no, the room I had been in less than 10 minutes ago,
Who lived here? I wondered. Why did they have old and new stuff put together, and why on earth would they keep an eye on people that were trapped like me? Did they create those rooms?
I looked around again. There was something else. A sign: founded in 1911, DOOM testing area A1.
Was DOOM a company of some sort? I thought. What did they test? Why did they test humans? My head was exploding with questions.
On the desk the computer sat on, I saw a box with glass beakers full of green liquids. They were labeled: foodless life potion. I put one into my pocket.
Suddenly, I realized what they were for. I didn’t have to eat down there because they had tested the potion on me. But that still didn’t explain why I didn’t age.
There was a door in the back of the room. It blended in so it looked almost invisible, and I approached it cautiously.
I pushed it open to find myself in a room exactly the same as the last one. I walked over to the computer on the desk. It showed live security footage of the same chamber I was in but from a different angle. I looked in the box to find even more glass beakers holding purple liquids labeled: potion of age-less life. That explained why I hadn’t aged in the chamber, either. I put one of these in my pocket as well.
I looked around and found a door beyond it.
I opened it and found myself in a big room I suspected was for meals because of the tables and trays.
I heard loud voices and lots of footsteps walking towards me from a hallway on the left of the room. I quickly looked around for a place to hide and leaped behind a trash can a split second before a group of robots had arrived — about 50 of them, all metal skeletons.
There were signs all around the room that read “DOOM testing area,” and the robots stepped up to megaphones. Suddenly, I heard something from the megaphones.
“TEST DEATH POTION TO SUBJECT G67 AIDAN HAWKINS.”
“YES, MASTER,” said all the robots at once. They sounded hypnotized.
I shuddered. They were going to discover that I had escaped the chamber, then capture me and test this death potion on me! Whatever that was meant to do, it definitely wasn’t something good.
I was looking for a place to run when I realized that the voice coming from the megaphone was the voice of the girl I had seen in the closet.
Was that girl the one leading DOOM?
One of the robots started walking towards me, and I half ran-half crouched, trying to escape without them noticing me. But as I passed the overflowing trash can, I tripped over a banana peel and fell forwards as everyone turned to look at me.
I did what everyone would have done: RAN!
I ran for the door I had come through, but I was stopped by a red transparent laser fence.
I looked around. One of the robots was projecting the light from its hand. I knew well enough not to run through the laser and get myself killed. The robot who had stopped me seemed as though it was the boss.
“STATE-YOUR-NAME-AND-YOUR-BUSINESS-AT-DOOM-TEST-AREA-980,” it said in a very slow voice. It stuck out a hand, and I saw a machine come out.
“Uh… I’m-I’m Nicholas Smith,” I said a little bit too fast. The robots all tensed. They had mechanisms on their hands that looked disturbingly like razor-sharp knives.
“DO-NOT-ATTEMPT-TO-BYPASS-OUR-LIE-DETECTORS-HUMAN.”
I grimaced. So the machine was a lie detector. They probably trusted me even less now that they knew I had lied to them.
“I’m Aidan Hawkins.”
“Your business?” the bot asked.
“Ummm, I got trapped here,” I said. They let go of the laser, and I took my chance and ran for the door.
I ran into the next room and slammed the door shut behind me. I could hear the bots shouting, “SECURITY BREACH. SECURITY BREACH. SECURITY BREACH. TESTING LAB A2 AIDAN HAWKINS.”
I ran to the door that led to the first room. It was closed and locked from the outside.
I was cornered. I looked for a place to hide and found a big box that was big enough to hold me.
I stepped inside and closed the flaps. The air circulation inside was bad, and it was very dark. The only light came from the crack between the 2 flaps.
I had gotten in mere seconds before the bots broke down both doors and stormed in.
“Where is he?”
“Search under the desk and inside the box, behind the door as well.”
I was doomed.

Chapter 5: Saved by HOPE

I thought desperately of a plan to get out of here, but I couldn’t come up with one. I hid there, waiting to be captured and taken to the creepy girl.
Why me? I thought. Why couldn’t someone else have discovered this closet? Why couldn’t it have been a stranger who had to fight this future-tech evil mastermind?
I looked around the box and saw a dark figure hiding there. I almost screamed, but it clapped a hand over my mouth.
“I’m hiding from them as well,” he said.
“Who are you?” I whispered anxiously.
“Benjamin Smith,” said the boy.
I fell over in surprise. “Wait a second, you’re Nicholas’s brother?”
“Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m Aidan Hawkins, his best friend.”
We shook hands.
“How did you get trapped in here?” I asked him.
“I found this closet and got pushed inside it, into a dusty chamber.”
“Really? That’s exactly what happened to me!” I exclaimed.
“Shhh, keep it down,” he whispered urgently. “The robots are coming to search this box, we’re sitting ducks here.”
“I’d like to live in freedom another minute or so, then,” I replied quietly. But there was no need. The robots were gone.
I peeked out of the box and saw an ice-colored figure standing in the middle of all of the broken DOOM robots, holding two long ice-colored swords at their sides.
The moment it saw me, it vanished into thin air and reappeared right next to me with its swords raised.
“Who are you?” they asked.
“I’m A-Aiden Hawkins. I was trapped down here by some weird closet. Who are you?” I asked them.
“I am part of the HOPE military, BOT DC 129. We are taking part in the war against DOOM. It has been going on for 134 years now.”
“The war? What is all this, and why are you here?” I asked.
“I’m a spy, and this war started like this: HOOM was a very happy place, until one of the rulers got into a fight with one of the very rich men. HOOM broke into two and started a war. There is no longer any peace. HOPE supports the king, and DOOM supports the rich man. The wealthy man in charge died two years ago, and his wife has taken over. You’ve probably seen her before: white dress, half-robot, insane smile, looks like a kid because of their ageless-life potion. I come to figure out what they’re doing,” he said all in one breath.
“They’re testing potions on humans,” Benjamin and I said together.
“What potions?” BOT DC 129 asked.
“Ageless potions and foodless potions,” I said quickly.
He eyed me suspiciously as if I was the enemy.
I looked away. “How did you teleport like that?” I asked, trying desperately to change the subject.
“We have very advanced technology. Years ahead of humans.”
“So, can we go to your base or whatever?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said, “but be careful.” He waved his hand and I became invisible.
“WOW!” I exclaimed. He did the same to Benjamin, then set off, and we followed him obediently.
He led us through a wall that looked so solid that I braced myself for impact. But I walked through the wall, and when we came through, I saw more than 100,000 HOPE soldiers lined up together.
“Why are they lined up?” I asked, amazed.
“We are preparing for the great siege,” our guide answered.
There were cryo-tanks and rocket mechs all around the huge courtroom. A big chair stood in the middle of it all, and in it sat a man with a big beard and glasses.
I suspected this was the king.
“60 seconds till we fight!” he announced. “50-40-30-20-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, charge!”

Chapter 6: The Attack on DOOM

The sound was deafening. I saw all the 110,000 or so soldiers charging our way. I moved out of their path just as the first scouts moved in to clear the area. More and more stepped through the barrier after the scouts, ropers strapped on jet packs, and flew through the roof. Benjamin and I went through the barrier after them.
What we saw was complete chaos.
Robots were being destroyed, blue troops appearing everywhere, ropers dropping and sliding down ropes through the roof. Explosions were going off everywhere, and there was a 90% chance that Benjamin and I, if we headed onward, would trip over a DOOM robot head or arm.
“10-9-8-7…”
I didn’t know if that was a bomb timer, but it didn’t sound good, and all the remaining HOPE soldiers were retreating.
“5-4-3-2-1…”
As Benjamin and I burst through the wall, we were knocked forwards onto our stomachs by the impact of the explosion.
I looked around. DOOM soldiers were streaming in and rounding up the remaining HOPE soldiers. The king had vanished.
Benjamin and I were running towards the exit when a red laser struck Benjamin on the back and he fell to the ground, stunned.
I stopped and shook him hard “Benjamin!!! GET UP!”
He had been knocked unconscious.
I dragged him to the door and kicked it open, slamming the door shut after us.
Benjamin opened his eyes. “Hello? Where am I?”
“Come on, Benjamin, we’ve got to go!”
“Huh?” The last few seconds dawned on him. “Oh, shoot, let’s go!”
We ran down a long hallway and arrived outside on a huge grass field. I saw a big building with an electric fence surrounding it. I turned and saw DOOM soldiers running after us, firing lasers at us.
We ran to the building’s huge electric gates and shouted for someone to open them.
“Somebody open these gates! We’re getting chased by DOOM soldiers!”
Two HOPE soldiers opened the gates and shoved us inside. Then they took out two big guns and shot them through the wall, ricocheting off all the DOOM soldiers and breaking them apart.


It was 2 hours later and we had explained our story to the HOPE soldiers that were in the huge building. There were at least 1,000,000 remaining HOPE soldiers. Most of them were guarding the building up top with sniper rifles we learned they called the “AntiVirus.” The building was amazing
There was a weapon room full of weapons of all kinds and a giant dining room big enough for at least 3,000,000 HOPE soldiers. I asked where the king was, and they said that they didn’t know. I told them he wasn’t at DOOM’s base, and that he had disappeared. They then said that he was probably captured by the DOOM troops.
They told us that they planned to attack DOOM’s fort. I asked how many troops would be going, and they told me that 10,000 would be heading in first and clearing the harder DOOM troops, and then another 100,000 would be taking out the troops guarding the king. Then they claimed that DOOM would send reinforcements and that they would then send in 1,000,000 troops — 200,000 to secure the king and the other 800,000 to take on the reinforcements. Then, if everything went right, they would go back to the HOPE HQ and bomb the entire DOOM fort.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Pirate Boy

Dedicated to my wonderful brother

⚠ Warning: this book is very exciting and hard to put down. If you find yourself in this case, the book you are reading is cursed with hardtoputdown powers. If you find your book like this, DO NOT WORRY. You can cure it immediately by putting it down

Caption: 10-year-old Pakish would have loved to stay in their small cozy cottage off the coast of the Caribbean sea. After all, why should you move? Why would you want to move? As they sailed off to sea in their small boathouse his heart pounded, knowing that this may be the adventure of a lifetime.

Chapter 1
The waves crashed against our boathouse. Even when it was the worst rain or thunder, Mom would always say, “Isn’t this fun, honey?” and I glumly nodded, trying to be thankful.
As my mother and father tucked me into bed, we heard a strange noise from above.
“What’s that, Mummy?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she answered, leaving my room to go check. When she came back, she said there was nothing. But then it got louder and louder and LOUDER until our boathouse sank down beneath the sea. My mother and father swam up to the sea. But they were not with me because I was asleep. Little did I know, I was sleeping on a pirate ship.

Chapter 2
I was told to swab the deck and do all of the chores that the pirates didn’t like. If you thought this was miserable, it got way worse. Instead of sleeping on the hammocks with the real pirates, I slept in a bucket.
“We have no room,” they would say. But I doubted that was true, because one night when they thought I was asleep, they talked really loudly about what to do with me.
“We should throw him out! He’s just a worthless boy who eats and doesn’t pay for food,” one pirate, Snoozy, said.
“No. He does our chores. The reason you, Snoozy, don’t feel it is because you’ve been faking knee pains!” another pirate, Hickalmen, said.
“All of you are wrong!” The meanest pirate, Cabooche, said. “We should make ‘im do chores and not feed ‘im! This way he’s payin’ us!”
“Cabooche is right! We will do that.”
And with that, I fell asleep. After all, I didn’t need to have more worries on my back.

Chapter 3
I was scared because of what happened last night. Not feeding me? I was just a lonesome boy whose home had a hole poked in it by the pirates! They are one hundred percent going to jail, and I will escape the ship eventually.
Later that night, while the pirates were asleep, I pulled the anchor off and snuck into a lifeboat. I rowed to land while they rowed to death.
You see, at that time I was ten, and I didn’t know there was always one pirate awake. So, as I rowed to land the pirate came after me. And, as luck would have it, the pirate on watch was Cabooche.
“Hey kid,” he said so loudly it woke all of the other pirates up. Hickalmen had a horrible sense of time. In fact, because Cabooche talked so loud, Hickalmen thought Cabooche wanted him to wake up. So, when he thumped out of the cabins, he demanded breakfast. But there was none. So, he literally smacked Cabooche to make breakfast fast. I laughed so hard I forgot I was trying to escape. Since my laughter was so loud, Hickalmen saw me. And then, I knew I was in big trouble.

Chapter 4
I had been caught. And I can tell you, it wasn’t fun. I was whipped three times by Cabooche. The worst thing was that now I had to sleep in their hammocks so that they could keep an eye on me. And I can tell you the pirates are so stinky.
It was the worst living with them. I now found out that I didn’t even get to sleep in a hammock — I had to sleep on their dirty clothes. I would rather sleep in the hammock than this. But I would also rather live than die because I refused to sleep on the pile of dirty clothes. So yeah, there were some big decisions that I had to make.
My back ached so much from the lashes that I got, and the Pirates didn’t even have any sympathy. They were the opposite of sympathetic. They made me do more chores even though my back hurt. I felt like I would snap in half.

Chapter 5
I decided to get revenge on Cabooche. And it was so cool. He was such a scaredy-cat. I found a sea wasp jellyfish — aka the most dangerous thing in the Caribbean. It stung him, but he thought it just magically appeared on the ship!
So now, Cabooche was on the hammock. He was whimpering in pain and it was so funny. He went, “Aah Ooh! Yowza! Zowie!!!” So that was probably the highlight of my day. And surprisingly, I didn’t get in trouble! It was the best. But the bad thing was that I had to help him. At least I got revenge!

Chapter 6
I was officially a pirate. You might be wondering why there’s no exclamation point at the end of my sentence. That’s because it wasn’t a good thing. But I wasn’t Pirate Cabooche or Pirate Snoozy. I wasn’t Pirate Hickalmen or Pirate Pakish. I was Pirate Boy.
At least my role of being a “pirate boy” was not to steal gold and jewels from other ships.
I was no captain, first mate, or gunman. Cabooche was captain. Hickalmen was quartermaster. Snoozy was a gunner. And the other pirates — Gustavo, Juceng, and Juan — were also gunmen. Lady Ella and Navarou were sailing masters. Lupalo was the first mate. And I had the most dangerous job: a powder monkey. I did all of the dangerous work. And I would most likely never get upgraded. So that was my dangerous life.

Chapter 7
Fine. I’ll answer you. Why was my font like this? Because I had been shot. No, this was not my ghost, it was me — but me with blood all over myself. And being bloody was no fun.
The pirates didn’t take care of me. Not at all. And guess what? They still made me do chores. Seriously. I. Am. Living. On these pirates. It was the worst.

Chapter 8
Yes, yes. I know you may be wondering — who shot me? Well, since I was a powder monkey, I helped the ship and made things go faster. The other ships wanted to kill me so things would get worse for the ship.
Lady Ella said she would help me escape the pirate ship, but with one condition: she would go to land with me. When night fell, Lady Ella voluntarily said that she wanted to be captain on watching. So as we went, she steered us to land! But then I saw the smirk on her face, and I realized she was faking. She was going to give me lashes! I’m innocent! I thought as the rope hit my back.

Chapter 9
Today, I escaped. Well, I didn’t know if I would escape, but I hoped I would. In the middle of the night, Hickalmen was on watch. As you know, he had a very bad sense of time. So when I got up, he thought I was just going to watch and do chores. So, he waddled to the cabin. Finally! The ship was all mine. I steered us to land, but then the boat hit a rock. Water started gushing in, and pirates started rolling off their hammocks.
I swam towards the closest rock then hopped on to it. There were some pirates awake, and they saw me. But there was one problem: they didn’t know how to swim! Quickly, they constructed a raft made from wood planks from the ship. Then, they saw me, and I explained everything to them. And then Hickalmen got punched off the raft, never to be seen again.
As Hickalmen plunged down, he said, “I will come again.”
I screamed to all of the pirates, dead or not, “LOSERS!” and then swam to land.

End Poem

Hello, player.

You are the player.

You finished this dream. This dream is a dream about a game. A game where you collect resources, fight monsters, and build buildings.

This dream is a dream inside a dream. That dream is of life. Of eating, drinking, making money, and getting jobs.

Each one of those dreams starts with a mother and a father.

The mother and father give birth to you. Now, you are in their dream, with them.

You start to enter other dreams, most of them are named. Some of the names are Minecraft, Roblox, Terriera, and Slither.io, but there are a lot more than that.

Sometimes, you dream of creating dreams. Sometimes, you dream of a game.

That game is this game.

And you have finished it.

*Credits display*

I, Broken Girl

Can you see?

Can you see what is happening?

Can you see I am suffering?

No. You do not.

No. You only saw a weak, mindless girl.

No pity. Just a girl who has gotten a taste of this world.

I have tasted it before.

I have been in it before.

I am not naive or dumb.

My name is Sarah.

My name is ordinary.

My name is not like me.

Me. The broken, tired girl.

Me. Who has not seen love for years.

Me. Who no one cares for.

My possessions are gone.

My hope is dim.

My heart is cracking.

Before, I was happy.

Before, I was loved.

Before, I was truly me.

After, I was broken.

After, I was looked upon as less.

After, I was changed.

Now, I am broken.

Now, I am looked upon as less.

Now, I am drowning.

We, the broken.

We, the crybabies.

We, the changed.

Do you see the truth now?

Do you feel my feelings now?

Do you remember me now?

Sights – A Haiku Collection

#3

Sleek skies of Heaven

Fill the empty void above us

All blue as always

#6

The mountain goes up

Beyond the mist of the day

No eye can see so

#8

When my fist reaches

The red blood runs under my thumb

And to my own arm

#12

It was a dark time

When the leaves were black with evil

I was so very scared

#22

The springlight of night

Fills my cold, hungry soul with beauty

I smile wearily, extend hands

#31

As the sun dies away

I realize it’s not all trustable

It dies like us, too

Ouch! Goes the Weasel {Book #3: Ronalds, Welcome to Elementary School}

Why, hello for the third time!

Ronalds Squeak-Sq, reporting for fun! Whew, I could finally fill out my third out of 100 notebooks placed on my humongous shelf. Ouch! Silly me. I forgot to tell you something exciting. I graduated from preschool. Goodbye, Weaselmentary! 

Yup, it might seem pretty confusing when you should be in first grade when you are six years old. But remember! This is Utteramma Field, the field of weirdness (in your perspective, that is). Here, preschoolers graduate when they are six. 

Now, I’m in Kindergarten. So remember to be KINDergarten! Oh, and I almost forgot to put something I just learned from my classmates: LOL! 

As you guys already know, my brother and botherer, Carl, is the leader of Utteramma Field’s Squeak Scouts, the boy/girl scouts of your kind. 

My father is the Executive Director of Utteramma Field Electricity Institute (UFEI). The UFEI produces electricity to every weasel in town during the Weasel Uprising in 2123, when the Handemolen peeps are protecting every weasel in the world of the TSSA. 

Eventually, we smart weasels learned to use human materials, so we used them on our own as well. Back in my family, my mom just took a job as a nurse in Utteramma Field Hospital (UFH) a month ago. With no one in my family guarding me, I had to figure out a way to get a babysitter. 

I dialed 167-999-9998 on the weaselphone in my house. A babysitter named Alexia came. Instead of making Mom mad, my Mom was… well, actually proud of me. My dad, on the other hand, wasn’t so amused. 

He usually is the most easy-to-get-angry weasel in town, but sometimes, if I finish my homework early, my dad will reward me with three-quarters of an hour of TV time. 

Oh, sorry. I forgot we were talking about what happened last — well, let’s say the last time you saw me.* Remember? My troubles with learning the piano with my dad and oversleeping two times in a row and being laughed at? 

I hope you didn’t remember, because just thinking about it makes me twitch like crazy. And I mean crazy. Oh, there I go. Finally. Whew! *Oh, and I finally remembered: The last time you saw me was two years ago. Long time no SEA! Hah! LOL! (Again!) 

I know you are itching for me to start my story, so here we go!


(Connect the second to last paragraph to this next section.)

Oops, I forgot we were talking about something serious (seriously, I have made that mistake over and over for the last six years, which means my entire lifetime. So far, that is.). So, I made a list of what mistakes to avoid. 

Ronalds Squeak-Sq’s Avoid-Mistake List

* (Rule 1) NEVER stammer

* (Rule 2) NEVER have spelling errors

* (Rule 3) NEVER forget that we are talking about something serious

* (Rule 4)  NEVER listen to Carl

* (Rule 5) NEVER accept Dad’s tutorial

Okay, you might think that this list is a little too ambitious. But for a weasel like me, this list is just a little beyond my level. 

Oops, I forgot to add something to the list. 

* (Rule 6) NEVER get carried away

There. That’s better. Squeaking about better, school was way better than Weaselmentary, my nursery school. (Sorry, I forgot to add that part into my intro.) No one is bullying me, I’m not having a negative attitude, you name it. 

When you were reading that, did your mind think that your brain was playing tricks on you? Well, if you said “yes,” you are completely WRONG! What I was saying to you was the truth. The complete truth. 

And — I disobeyed my rule #6. I got carried away again. *SIGH* When would I grow up?! URGH! I disobeyed rule #6 again!!! Ugh. I should have added a 7th rule. 

* (Rule 7) NEVER get out of control 

Wow. The list is getting better and better. Now, back to my story. 

Well, I couldn’t even concentrate on writing because of all this Utteramma Field afternoon sun. I stayed up all noon writing this. I should be taking my afternoon nap. See ya!


Good morning!* Let’s move on with our story now that we are no longer blinded by the Utteramma Field sun. 

*You do remember me making the morning-afternoon mistake in my first book, right? Well, you might have thought I made that mistake again. But nooo… surprisingly, I overslept. I didn’t notice until now. So that’s why I erased “Good afternoon” and put “Good morning” instead.

School was awesome. We learned about math, science, and even the vocabulary word “excited.” We even had some very interesting homework. So turn the page to see my worksheet. 

Word Study Worksheet
{Review Sheet 2}

Name: Ronalds Squeak-Sq


Section 1: Word Identification

  1. REMEMBER, a synonym is a word that means another. So what is a synonym of the word “mad”?

____________________________________________________________________________

  1. What is the definition of “excited”?

____________________________________________________________________________

  1. REMEMBER, an antonym is a word that is opposite of another word. So what is an antonym for the word “full”?

____________________________________________________________________________

Section 2: Verbs

  1. Mark is doing something after lunch. What could he have been doing? Circle the possibilities. There’s more than one.

(jogging)
(eating dessert)
(watching TV)
(Chilling out)

  1. After circling the possibilities, name what all your answers have in common. 

____________________________________________________________________________

Ouch! That’s a lot of homework. I’ve also got a math sheet, but this tiny notebook won’t fit that many homework copies for me to glue in. Double Ouch! I always get close calls of being spotted by my dad. He wants me to do homework, not to glue in copies to write a book. 

You might be thinking, “Oh, poor little Ronalds!” No, I’m not that poor in the family. I’m just a… er, a neutral guy, that’s it. But there’s just something that’s itching me… 

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

“Oh, hello, Mr. Poop!” That wasn’t something that made my feelings better. I turned around. Sure enough, it was Carl. “Me, the brave pilot, will be eating Ronalds, the little helpless chickie.” Then, I defended myself using a new “passcode.” The latest passcode was:

56197398

But today, a new passcode has formed:

~!@#$%^&*()_+QWERTYUIOP}|ASDFGHJKL:”ZXCVM<>?

Perfect passcode, as Carl won’t be able to guess it in the five tries I give him. Yup, that’s right. Five tries. Last time, Carl’s guesses were

“89702?”
“901876?”
“801909?”
“54321?”
“OLKA2ME?”

This time, Carl wasn’t even close. There were no numbers in my passcode, right? Well, all of Carl’s guesses were with numbers. And that’s what I call an Ouch! Goes the Weasel!! LOL! 

Arrrgh! I disobeyed my rule #3! Hmmph. And I would call that a double Ouch! Goes the Weasel. Anyway, I really need to calm down here. Let me take a good nap. See you tomorrow then, diary! 


Anyway, it had been a long day. I learned to ride my bike: the worst thing ever. My bike always wobbled from side to side. Why, you may ask? Well, it’s because my dad didn’t know there was such thing as training wheels. 

Next came an equally bad thing: I had to study* chess and tennis with my dad. 

*Know me! You must remember this: remember in my last book, where I was forced to study the piano with my dad as well? Remember how my dad was the worst tutor in the world? REMEMBER?!

That was what I would call an infinite Ouch! Goes the Weasel. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Oush! Boush! Burrech! Sorry. You know those times when you say a word too many times, it just sounds all weird? Well, that’s what happened to me. A–BBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! 

Arggh! What the hell had just happened?! 

*Blink Blink*

Oofy! Owwy! That’s when I had to cover my ears. My dad was screaming. 

CARL! GET OFF OF RONALDS!!!!!!!!!! (x10,000 !’s)

I blinked again. 

*Blink Blink*

Okay, tell me if this is true. Carl was — jumping on my bed, with me in it?! Okay, I must be dreaming. Let me check my eyes. 

*Blink Blink*
*Rub Rub*
(Repeat x10)

Okay, I get it. I’m not dreaming. Wait, yes I am… 

Hurr? Wait, was I daydreaming? Give me a moment to think about
th_____    =’’’

To be continued in…
Ouch! Goes the Weasel Book #4

Mountain Mama

The Lost Bunny

Hi, I am the queen of the mountains. My name is Mountain Mama. I am a girl with long, dirty brown hair, and I have a crown made of leaves and I am a fairy. I come out every day from my home in one of the mountains in West Virginia. You can see my home from the view of the summit pool. But one time I messed up. One cold winter morning, Miss Hess said that she doesn’t know where her little bunny disappeared. When she woke up she was gone. Mountain Mama was shocked. She said to Miss Hess,

“Do not worry, we will find your little bunny for you.”

So that night the queen set out for a look around the kingdom to find the little bunny. She looked and looked for an hour already. But then she found a carrot. She went down to get the carrot. She went down to pick up and maybe find a clue. So when she went down she found a hole and it was so tiny that I, Queen Mountain Mama, couldn’t even fit in there so I used my magic wand and I said, “Bibedy bobbidy boo, make me small.” So then she went in the tunnel. Read the next chapter to find out.

The Way To Go

 So I walked a little deeper into the cave. 

“Aaaaaaaaah!” A net just swung down right near my head. “Ok ok ok ok Mountain Mama, you are ok. You can do this, you are on the mission to find the little bunny.” It was brighter and it was, don don don, carrots. I thought this was a mystery, not a pile of carrots. She thought and thought until she had a brilliant idea. Not only was it a brilliant idea, it was a wonderful and blunderful idea, and it also was a big big big big big brainstorming idea. Ok I think that was a little too much. Ok now let’s get on to the real topic. The brilliant idea was, don don don, to dig through the huge pile of carrots. So she usd her magic wand to make a shovel, so that is what I did and then I started to dig. Let’s see how many hours that took me. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, yes it was 24 hours. Then I finally got to go into the cave and then to the next chapter.

Never Give Up 

When I went in, I saw a big table of carrots again. I said to myself again never give up. So I took a lot of the carrots and then I saw a little tail.  So little! 

I asked the bunny if she was missing and then she said,

 “Oh Mountain Mama, I was really scared. The wind blew me away and Mommy did not see so I ended up here and I did not know what to do.” 

“Well now,” I said, “you are safe. Let me bring you back to your mommy.”

“Ok thank you Mountain Mama.” Then I held the little bunny in my arms and I flapped my wings and I flew off. When I returned the little bunny, I flapped my wings again and I said,

 “That is why you should never give up!!!” 

The Adventures of Krony Faulty: A Masher Basher

Chapter One

School

One day, at a school called Frendus Elementary, two kids named Gary and Bob loved to giggle, laugh, and best of all, they loved putting pranks. Gary and Bob always went to the basement. The worst place in Frendus Elementary. They both hated going to the basement, but one day when they were in the basement, Bob and Gary pulled a prank.

Suddenly, a brick in the wall shifted and moved, and they were both amazed by what they saw. It was a tunnel, and Gary recognized this tunnel. This tunnel was in a book called Ancient Tunnels. It said that whoever went through this tunnel would reach a place where you could find sand. 

But this was not ordinary sand, it said that when you molded this sand, it would turn into anything you wanted it to be. So Bob and Gary went into the tunnel, and guess what, it was booby trapped.

When Bob and Gary went into the tunnel, something really scary happened, Bob tripped on a rope and a bunch of arrows shot. But something amazing happened as well,  another person was leaning on a rock so the rock moved and blocked the arrow from shooting. Bob and Gary were amazed so they went to look for that suspicious man.

Bob and Gary kept on looking for that person, but could not find him. Suddenly, a peachy thing shimmered, so Bob and Gary followed it, and found that man. The man started telling Bob and Gary about his life.

He told them that a wizard named Tubby created him from sand. He also said his name was Krony Faulty. Bob and Gary laughed so hard that they fell to the ground and got up over a hundred times. Then they asked Krony, “Why is your last name Faulty?”

Krony said, “My last name is Faulty because I make lots of mistakes.” 

He said, “Did you know I have a SUPER POWER? It is to make mistakes. Remember when I saved you from the arrows? It was a mistake, I was actually leaning on the boulder.

“After the wizard created me, he told me that I will meet two kids who will come on my journey to stop evil machines from a planet called Chao. The planet Chaos wants to take over the world and it is up to us to stop them. But it has already started, a machine called Masher Basher, which is a living wrecking ball, is in the Amazon Rainforest.” 

Chapter Two

The Contest

When Bob and Gary went back to their class, they tried to ask their teacher when their next field trip was, but their teacher, Mr. Maclindono, said, “Are you crazy! We are not going to have another field trip unless we win the contest that you saw in the hallway. That contest will take us to the Amazon Rainforest. But, unfortunately, that contest is next week. So deal with it, we are not going on that field trip!!!”

Bob and Gary tried so hard to ask Mr. Maclindono, but the answer was always NO! So they had no choice but to try to win the contest, Bob and Gary had a wonderful idea. But they first had to go to the basement. So they got in trouble and told Krony what the plan was. Gary was smart and told Krony the wrong information, because Krony’s power was to make mistakes. 

Today was the day of the spelling bee contest and Bob was shaking so much, but Gary, on the other hand, was pretty positive that Krony could do it. So it began…. 

The judge was at the final word and it was camouflage. Bob said, “GAMOUFLAGE,” but another person named Cob said, “CAMOUFLAGE.” 

When the judge came to say the winner, at that same time, Krony was ready to throw a rock into the air. The judge was going to say, “The winner is C… ” (At that same time, Krony threw the rock up, but he made a mistake. Instead, he threw the rock on the judge’s cheek.) So his words turned to, “The winner is BOB!” The crowd was clapping and cheering and the teacher was jumping up and down, he was so happy!

Chapter Three 

The Field Trip

Gary and Bob went to the basement to ask Krony, “How are we going to take you?”

Krony told them, “There is a ring that can store me. If you say the words BUB, I will be stored in the ring, but if you say the words RUB, I will be out of the ring.”

Krony gave Gary and Bob the magical ring. Gary said, “BUB,” and a magical cloud appeared on Krony, it sucked Krony into the ring and disappeared. Bob told Gary, 

“Now we know what we are going to do.”

The next day, a plane arrived in front of the school. It was pretty big, and inside there were seats for Bob and Gary since they won the spelling bee contest. The two seats had a TV, footrest, and a full bed. Bob and Gary were ready to start their journey.

When they were on their journey, Bob and Gary had the time of their lives. Soon they were at the Amazon Rainforest and they were really excited. Or at least Gary was excited, but Bob was shivering to death.

Chapter Four

Masher Basher

When Bob and Gary stepped out of the plane, they were amazed. They saw birds, trees, grass, and mud. Suddenly, a flock of birds flew in the air. Bob and Gary knew Masher Basher was up to no good. So Gary said, “RUB!” and Krony came out of the ring. Together, the three of them went to investigate and they saw Masher Basher destroying one of the trees in the Rainforest. When they were heading back to the class, they couldn’t see it. They checked everywhere but could not find them.

 THEY WERE LOST!

Now it was only the three of them! So they went looking for Masher Basher. When they found him, Bob remembered that Krony was made out of sand, so he molded Krony into a chip that sucked energy. When he made it, he put the chip inside. BOOM, the machine was knocked out. Then Gary molded Krony into a boulder so then Krony smashed the wrecking ball into pieces. 

Leo’s Story

Chapter 1: How to Train a Tiger…

The tiger, Marshmello, didn’t go at full speed because he wanted to see how fast he could go and then learn what he needed to do to beat the cheetah. When the cheetah, Jayce, was in the second lap and had half way to go, the tiger was only at the beginning of his second lap and had not tried very hard. There were also guards watching in the jungle in case the animals got hurt. Marshmello’s trainer, Chris, was a 5’10” man with brown hair who was very nice and had a good personality. He rescued Marshmello when the tiger was just a baby cub, and they have been working together ever since!  

Jayce’s trainer was a small woman named Lisa with a blond ponytail who was very grateful for her job and got along well with the cheetah. Lisa was experienced with cheetahs and knew how to signal and sign to them. When she saw that Jayce had won, Lisa was excited! After the first race, Chris was happy that Marshmello had almost beat an aggressive cheetah! Chris said that Marshmello was still young and had some things to learn. 

Chapter 2: The Second Race Begins

So the second race is on and Marshmello takes off faster and is beating Jayce. Then the cheetah falls behind and the tiger goes on speed mode and wins the game. The people who are watching are the trainers and the guards. Chris is happy! Marshmello feels good because he has been able to beat the aggressive cheetah. Jayce feels disappointed because he has lost to a young, young tiger and Lisa is upset because he was the fastest animal, how could he lose to a young tiger?

Chapter 3: Jayce and His Friends Gang up on Marshmello 

So the tiger is going back to the jungle and then, all of a sudden, three of Jayce’s gang (the cheetah and two friends) jump on Marshmello because he had won the race and they want payback!  Then Marshmello runs away because he is faster than the others. The trainers are on a lunch break and don’t know about it. 

So the cheetahs catch up to the tiger and then the guards who watch the animals say, “Get back to your Cages.”  

Then Marshmello says to Jayce, “Fine, we will race again, but if I win then no chasing me, ok?” 

“Fine!” says Jayce.

Chapter 4: They Play Again!

Marshmello feels a little bit scared, he knows he might actually lose! Jayce is feeling like he needs to win this because if he wins he will be the fastest animal in the jungle, and he wants to impress his friends. There are two guards watching and the two trainers are also there. The trainers started to warm up the cheetah Jayce and the tiger Marshmello for the race. 

The cheetah’s trainer tells him “Don’t let the tiger take off faster than you!” The cheetah can understand what she says, but can’t respond since animals can talk to each other but not to humans. 

The tiger’s trainer tells him, “Don’t go full speed, because if you go full speed you will get tired. Wait until there’s a quarter left in the second lap.” 

So Marshmello and Jayce line up. The race begins, and in the first lap Jayce wins because he goes full speed, but in the second lap Marshmello takes off faster and the cheetah gets tired. The cheetah made a mistake because at the first lap he still had half of the race to go, and he went full speed. Now, in the second lap, he is tired because he should have waited to go full speed until there was only a quarter left in the second lap of the race. The tiger goes even faster, like when you eat a chili and it makes you quicker. Jayce catches up to Marshmello and now they are matching paces at the same line. 

With a quarter left, the tiger finally goes full speed, like what Jayce did in the beginning. 

Then the cheetah gives up and says, “Ok, we get it mister, you’re faster than me! Wait up! Before you go can we please be friends?”  

Marshmello jokes, “Only if you beat me!” 

Marshmello will go to a new trainer, because Chris only builds baby cubs instead of big cats. Lisa is actually happy because the cheetah had been able to make a friend!  

Epilogue:

There is a new tiger now, Cherry, and Chris is now training her. 

He tells her, “I taught this tiger, Marshmello. First, I made him race the fastest animal, a cheetah, and lose and get better at his weakness. Then I trained my tiger in how to take off and he played the fastest animal again. The third time they played together, the cheetah gave up and they made friends and Marshmello even made a joke.” 

Then Chris says to Cherry, “There’s going to be a big competition when you get 13 or 14 or 15, and you’re going to play against the fastest animal in the jungle.” 

Marshmello shows up and says, “What’s up?” 

Cherry says, “Are you Marshmello?” and the trainer signals “Yes.” 

Then she says, “I’m going to play against him when I’m 15? He’s so tall. No worries, I’m going to beat this guy!”

To be continued… 

The Finale

So Cherry, the new tiger, is just running around with her trainer in the beautiful jungle. The sun is reflecting on the leaves. Cherry is seven and when she gets older she is going to race Marshmello. Marshmello is the fastest animal in the jungle and he is also a tiger. Cherry’s birthday is today so Cherry is eight and she is going to have a good day. So the trainer lets Cherry sit on his lap and brings all of the tigers to say, “Happy Birthday.”

Then, the next day, the tigers go to find Cherry so they can have fun, but she is exercising with her trainer. The tigers are scared for Cherry ‘cause something bad might have happened. But then Cherry comes back.  

“Where were you? We were afraid,” all the tigers say. 

“I was in the jungle with Chris taking a run cause I have to exercise. Also, Chris fell and hurt his knee so he had to get a knee strap, and he is coming back soon,” Cherry explains. 

While Chris is recovering from his injury, Cherry goes out to train with the other tigers. 

“Let’s get faster,” says Luca, Cherry’s friend. 

“Okay, why not?” responds Cherry. 

Cherry follows Luca to the road near the racetrack. They set up their starter blocks. 

3….2….1…. GO!!

Cherry is losing to Luca. How am I going to get back and win? she thinks. Cherry goes into speed mode. Her legs feel uncomfortable as she goes as fast as she can. She passes Luca. Yes! I’m beating an aggressive Tiger! That’s fast! thinks Cherry. Cherry wins the first lap!

Lap 2. Cherry starts to get a little bit tired. She gets a cramp under her ribs. Luca zooms past her. Then, the cramp goes away. Cherry jogs halfway around the road. Then, Cherry gains on Luca. They’re tied. They run at the same pace, but Cherry cuts Luca off. Luca moves to the other lane slowly, then Luca catches up to Cherry right as Cherry crosses the finish line. 

“Good job, Cherry,” pants Luca. 

“Good job, too. You almost caught up to me, but I’m too fast for you!” says Cherry. They walk back through the jungle together. 

“Cherry beat me in the race!” Luca says to all the other tigers. “Now, I think she’s ready to race Marshmello.” 

So Marshmello and Cherry lineup. 

“There is going to only be one race,” say the guards. 

So they start in 3….2….1…. Go!!! Marshmello starts faster and Cherry is like a second behind so Cherry catches up and now they are both at the same pace and Cherry is now ahead. Marshmello falls behind. Cherry wins the first lap and Marshmello just finishes his first lap. Cherry is now winning and Marshmello is now at the same line and pace. Cherry cuts Marshmello off and Cherry wins the race!!

“Good game,” says  Marshmello. 

“Good game,” says Cherry.

Then Chris comes back.

“I beat Marsmello,” Cherry says. “I was so excited!!” screams Cherry.

The End

The World of Powers

Chapter One

FOREST 

Once upon a time, there lived a boy who had a friend. Their names were Carl and Merissa.  When they were going to school, they saw posters of Pusheen, a cat who has bagel through her head. Merissa thought that it could be a play at school. 

After school, their teacher said, “Tomorrow is Spring break.” 

When Carl and Merissa went home, they were really hungry. 

So they opened the fridge, and a troll appeared, and said, “You are the chosen ones, come with me through this portal.”

Merissa freaked out! But Carl knew that if he went through this portal he would become a legend. Merissa and Carl discussed the portal, and the answer was YES! So they went into the portal. When they reached the other side, Carl and Merissa saw a forest. Then, Carl spotted a tree with a door. 

Chapter Two

TORNADO

When Carl and Merissa went inside the door, they saw another portal. They both went inside this one and saw a beautiful world. The world had flowers and trees, and a lot of greenery.

The world was called Crave. Suddenly, a huge bird, which had a yellow beak and big white feathers, arrived. The bird told Carl and Merissa that an evil man called Fralanduperbuttbutt was destroying Crave. The bird told them there was a prophecy that two kids, named Carl and Merissa, will have to go to a place called Gruld to get their powers so they could stop Fralanduperbuttbutt.

The bird said, “I am going to be your ride so be careful. We are going to cross a big tornado.”

It took days and the bird was chattering too much which annoyed them. Suddenly, the clouds started getting darker and darker. 

The bird said, “Be careful, the storm is coming.” 

It was getting more windy and finally, they were in the storm. 

The bird said, “Be careful and hang on,” again.

The bird flew around and around the storm, so he made a path for Carl and Merissa. 

The bird said, “ I will have to go now, but good luck.”

Chapter Three

RIDDLES

When Carl and Merissa reached Gruld, they saw a merchant, and the merchant said, “You must solve this riddle to get your powers”. 

The merchant also said that the boy should go first:

I am not ice cream,

But I am cold,

I am in drinks,

To chill your face,

If you heat me,

I will die.

What am I?

First, Carl said, “Is it water?” but the merchant just shook his head.

Then he said, “Is it cold water?” but again the merchant just shook his head. 

Carl was really confused, but suddenly, at the speed of light, he said, “ICE!” and the merchant said, “YES,” and gave Carl the power of ice.

While Carl was playing with his power, Merissa had to solve this riddle: 

If you give me food I will grow,

But if you give me a drink I will die,

What am I?

Merissa said, “FIRE!” and the merchant was impressed. Then he gave Merissa the power of fire.

Chapter Four 

FRALANDUPERBUTTBUTT

Suddenly, Carl saw a glimpse of a gollum and he thought that it was Fralanduperbuttbutt. So he called Merissa and went to go and battle the gollum.

The gollum caught Merissa, but Carl made a frozen spear and attacked him, and this kept on going.

4 HOURS LATER

Then together they made water and “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!” They defeated him.

Chapter Five 

HOME

When they defeated him a potion appeared, and it said “drink me” on it. So Carl and Merissa drank a little and went back home.

When they reached home, both of them learned a lesson: to never open the fridge after school.

They also realized that it has only been a minute since they went through the portal.

Right now, Carl and Merissa probably are saying the same thing to their grandchildren. 

“NEVER EVER OPEN THE FRIDGE AFTER SCHOOL.”

THE END

Awkward Barn

Thinking back, I can hardly believe how such a peaceful trip ended up in a scandal that ruined our family. Oops — I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Ronald P. Miller. Well — it used to be Miller. That was my dad’s last name. Now, it’s Johnson. 

The Awkward Barn 

I was staring out the window of my dad’s Toyota when it all started. It was a quiet day. Cloudy. The dirt road was full of bumps, and unpaved. I didn’t tell anyone, but I disapproved of this road.

We were driving out into the country to visit my paternal grandmother. In case you don’t know, that means my father’s mother. But — oops, again — I’m not supposed to talk about him. I think I’ll have to to get through this story.

In any event, we were going to visit my grandmother. She lived in the country and owned a farm. Yup — a real farm. Cows, chickens, the lot. The whole shebang-bang. Even a big red barn, forever since called by my family “The Awkward Barn” (when they even discuss it). 

Granny Miller welcomed us with open arms. Literally. She gave me a hug that squeezed out all my organs. Even though that’s not scientifically possible. I’m on the school’s honors program, and if my health professor found out about this, he would go nuts. 

We were welcomed into the house, and I went to my room in the loft. That is a place in the barn where hay is kept. I set up my sleeping bag on two bales of hay and placed my backpack on the ground. My mother was sleeping on the other end of the loft, on the rickety bed with the old quilt, full of holes and stains. I disapproved of that quilt. I never told her that that quilt was the vomit quilt used by relatives when they were sick. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Was that the right choice? Looking back now, I don’t know. 

Then I headed down the rickety stairs. I heard my father talking to my grandmother. 

“… had him. I didn’t ever want you to,” she was saying. “That’s why I put them in the loft.” 

“Ma,” I heard my father say. “You know my thoughts about this. When we…” 

“What are you two talking about?” I blurted out.

“Ronald!” cried my father, looking surprised and almost relieved. “Er… how much did you hear?… ” 

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry.” I said quickly. “Was this a good time? I didn’t mean to butt in like this.” 

I don’t know if that was the best way to say it. I was really thinking in the moment. If my English professor were here, she’d make a thousand corrections. But that’s not very realistic. If my math professor were here…

“Oh, no! It’s a perfect time!” said Granny Miller, sticking a smile on her face. Was that smile part very respectful of me? Our school counselor would freak. 

Granny and my father acted happy, but I could tell something was up. I don’t want to hide things from my family. But before I could ask them what was up, Granny said,

“Who wants apple piiii-iiiiiiiie?” She took a cold piece out of the fridge and held it up in front of my mouth. I didn’t like cold pie. Still don’t. But I ate it, just to be polite. I had a few disgusting bites, then took one of Granny’s porcelain plates and put it and the pie on the table. To clarify, the plate was on the table, and the pie was on the plate. Was that hard to understand? My English professor says to not use long, unnecessary sentences. I’m totally getting held back this year… I barely scraped by last term, with only Bs and As. My best grade was only an A+++! If I want to stay on the honors program, I need to average at least an AA. I mean, they don’t publish the actual criteria, and no one I know has ever gotten that grade, but I know I need to stay on top. 

After the pie, we played Trivial Pursuit: Farmer’s Edition. My father and Granny teamed up. They won, obviously. My mother and I were a team, but we barely managed half a point. Oops — you can’t actually get half a point in Trivial Pursuit. Our school’s Board Games Club director would get so mad at me. 

After that, we played Monopoly. I won. I am a master of strategy (not to brag. I hate to brag. Was that bragging? I hope not. I bet soon I’ll be seeing the school counselor on an hourly basis). Granny grumbled a bit, but I think she’s just competitive. Then, we played Scrabble. I knew I could win, but I gave mother a chance, opening up places where she could score big. I thought it was only fair, because she hadn’t won a game yet. When we finished scoring, and mother won, Granny slammed her fists down on the board and got this really angry look in her eyes. She had come in last, her best play was “COW,” eight points. 

Okay,” she growled. “Let’s eat dinner now.” 

We had sheperd’s pie. In case you don’t know, that is like mashed potatoes, but with some meat and carrots and peas. And things. It is pretty good. But all throughout the meal, Granny kept rambling on and on about all the original Millers being shepherds in Ireland or England or some country. Whatever it is, it’s been scratched off the family tree by now. Also, my mother called that company that tests your DNA to make sure I was actually part Irish (or other foreign country from my father’s side). 

But I’m getting ahead of myself. 

After dinner, Granny served apple pie (luckily, heated up). She gave herself a big piece and gave Dad a medium piece. I got a smallish piece. She was about to cut the tiniest of slivers for Mom, but then said loudly, “You’re on a diet, aren’t you Jessica?” and did not give her any pie. 

No one said anything, but my mother, Jen, is not on a diet. 

That night I couldn’t sleep, but I pretended to so mom wouldn’t fret. I thought about how Granny knew full well my mother’s name, and that she was not on a diet.

Granny… Granny wouldn’t say things like that, I reassured myself. She’s old. 70. She probably forgot mom’s name… and maybe my mom was on a diet earlier… but didn’t tell me…  but if she was… on a… diet, why didn’t she tell… me? I wondered sleepily as my head started nodding — for real this time. 

By morning, I hadn’t forgotten about the diet thing (oops — my English professor doesn’t really like the word, “thing.” I bet you anything I’m getting held back. And my school’s Gambling and Statistics instructor would agree). 

I went downstairs and saw a large breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, ham, pancakes, and a load of fruit. The table was the kind of table that was a rectangle. There was a tall chair on on each of the short sides and two shorter chairs on each of the long sides. The table was empty. I was about to sit in one of the tall chairs when Granny came in from the kitchen and sat in it, pushing me aside.

“Excuse me?” I asked politely (I think), but just at that moment, she started loudly pouring herself orange juice and splashing a lot. Then, my dad came in from the bedroom (Granny was in the master bedroom because she owned the house). Right now, I’m wondering if there was another reason she was in the master bedroom and mom had the vomit quilt. 

“Hey gang,” said dad cheerfully, absentmindedly taking a seat on the other tall chair. He glanced at me and a sad look passed over his face for a second. Then, he stared down Granny and said loudly, “Why don’t you come sit next to me… Ronnie boy.” But he did not look at me. He was staring hard at Granny the whole time. 

Carefully, I sat down next to dad, torn between staring at Granny or looking sad. I ended up looking sort of sympathetic at Granny, which I was sure pleased no one. It was a very uncomfortable breakfast. 

Afterwards, Granny took us all into the barn. Long story short, I don’t like barns. Very unhygienic. And too much dung and messy animals. Barns smell terrible! But I didn’t show it. Instead, I pretended to thoroughly enjoy the whole stinky experience (oh no! Really I am not being respectful at all! Though, mother says I should feel free to speak my mind about The Awkward Barn).

Near the end of the tour, Granny was showing us the animals. After the cows, sheep, and horses, we came to the pigs. Dad seemed to want to get on with it quick and get to lunch (it was noon already — or should I use the exact time? My math professor will have fainted by now, I’m sure), but Granny couldn’t get enough of the pigs. She kept rambling on and on about pigs: what they ate, how they were born, how they pooped (pardon my language), on and on and on. She concluded her lecture with: “And last but not least… you really are a PIG, Ronald.” 

I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked. My mom was sad. But my dad was furious.

“Ma,” he huffed. “I told you not to bring this up.” 

“Why am I a pig?” I asked, as politely as I could be. 

“Because–” started Granny rather nastily, but father interrupted. 

“Let me,” he growled. “Tell this story.” He huffed a little, then began.

“When you were born, we made a deal.” He sighed heavily. “I guess I should tell you why. My mother… never wanted me to get married. She just wanted me to stay in this house forever because… I’m an…” 

Suddenly Granny spoke. “Because I just want you to be my little boy forever, Dedalus.” Then she fiercely whispered, “I can’t have you giving away family secrets! We’re the only two who know this and it’s going to stay that way!”

Dad looked sad but resigned. “Fine,” he said. “Because she was an overprotective mother. See?” He whispered to Granny. “I’m not lying to my son. Anyways,” he continued in his normal voice. “She was never the biggest fan of… well… your birth in general. So we compromised. You would keep our last name, and your mother picked your first name. But she… she chose the middle name.” 

“Did you ever wonder what that ‘P’ stood for?” asked Granny with a nasty grin.

“Er…” I said. I had never really thought about this and my parents had never told me. I always assumed it was something like “Patrick,” or “Paisley.”

“PIG,” bellowed Granny. “Hahahahaha!” I couldn’t believe it. But Granny was so nice! I just… just… there must have been some explanation. I stood there for an eternity, desperately waiting for someone to say, “April Fools!” (although it wasn’t April Fools’ Day. My World Customs teacher would go ballistic).

But right then something in my mother snapped. “You have no right,” she said, shaking, “no right to speak to my son like this. I’m — we’re leaving. He is going to live with ME and MY family and not you… people. WE’RE LEAVING.”

And with that, she took me and marched out of THE AWKWARD BARN. 

As we drove off, we passed a Miller’s Hot Dog Palace (not Granny Miller). It used to be my mom’s and my favorite restaurant.

We ate lunch at McDonald’s.

Sweet Murder

Chapter 1

We were playing tag. My friend was chasing me. There was nowhere to go and then I thought of something: the forest! I ran as fast as I could towards the forest. We went deeper and deeper into the forest. Can we stop? Then, we came upon a few dead bodies. It was on the other side of a little hill. It was almost as if the trees were forming a gate around it. When I saw the bodies, I got really worried. And then we figured out that the dead bodies were our parents! I was very sad.

 Chapter 2

(3 weeks later)

I hear a big thump and a wake up. I realize what the sound is. The paperboy tossing the newspaper at the door. I get up, open the door, and look at the newspaper. On the headline, it says, “Mister K murdered.”

I call my friend and say, “Did you see the headline on the newspaper?”

He says, “Yeah, can you believe it?!”

I say, “Do you think it could have anything to do with the dead bodies we saw?”

Chapter 3

My friend agrees with me that we have to find out who the murderer is.

“First, we have to start looking for clues,” I say.

My friend says, “Got it. Let’s start looking.”

“I know,” I say. “In movies, aren’t there always like bad people in the alley ways?”

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”

Chapter 4

“Which alley should we search first?” I say.

“How about Crook’s Alley?” my friend says.

I say, “Why Crook’s Alley?”

“Because ‘crook’ is another word for a bad person,” my friend says.

We walk by the bakery and the donut shop to Crook’s Alley. We walk on Crook’s Alley and see a sign .

<This way to Clues about an anonymous murder. The wrong path leads to certain Doom >

Chapter 5

“So how do we know which way to go?” my friend says.

“Let’s check around for clues. Remember X marks the spot. Hey, look at this fine print,” I say.

The fine print says, “How many seconds are there in a year?”

“I think it might be a riddle,” I say. “How about we go to the shop and see if there are any calculators.”

It says on the fine print that this riddle expires in seven minutes and the calculator shop is on the other side of town. We won’t be able to get there in time.

“Well, if this isn’t a riddle, maybe they don’t want us to find out how many seconds are in a year. Or maybe they do. How about we pick the highest one? Let’s go to the left,” I say. 

“No I think we should go to the right,” my friend says.

“How about we both go the way that we want,” I say.

And we both walk off in opposite directions.

Chapter 6

So I walk down the path. And then suddenly, a big metal wall falls down behind me and on the wall there is graffiti that says:

Welcome to your DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM

And then, the floor opens up and a machine that looks like a big, tall, bending straw pointing towards me comes out and says, “Scanning, scanning, scan complete. Starting Doom process.” 

My friend starts down his path and a metal wall slams down behind him. Then a computerized voice says, “Please continue down the path.”

Chapter 7  

“DOOM process complete,” the machine says, and projects an image of my friend being zapped by a laser and obliterated into smithereens.

“NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,” I say.

I feel like I want to smash that machine to bits. And I try to smash the machine to bits. But then it says, “Hostile takeover. Prepare to be obliterated!” And then it shoots out a laser that makes a big crater in the floor

I run for my life.      

 Chapter 8 

I keep running down the path for my life. I see my friend walking down that path where the paths meet up and I think I must be seeing things, and I’m insane and crazy and out of my mind. Then I run up to him and poof him in the nose to make sure he isn’t a  projection. And To make sure I’m not seeing things. And I feel he’s there and I yell, “YOU ARE ALIVE!!”

My friend says, “Of course I’m alive.”

And then I yell, “Run for your life.”

We go down the tunnel to a place where there’s a man sitting at a table and he says, “I’ve been expecting you.”

Chapter 9

I say, “We’re looking for clues about an anonymous murder.”

The man says, “Yes, the murderer is the guy who works at the donut shop. You can go now.”

And then we leave and the donut man gets arrested.

The End 

Lea’s Unicorn (Books One and Two)

Book One

Once upon a time there lived a girl named Lea. She lived in Toronto, Canada. Every night Lea had always dreamed of owning a unicorn, but she was bullied at school for believing that unicorns were real.

Her friends and classmates told her things like “Unicorns aren’t real” or “You’re stupid.”

One day, Lea met a woman at a museum in a unicorn section.

“Are unicorns real?” asked Lea after the woman was done saying about Unicorn magic.

“Yes,” said the woman.

“Where do they live?” asked Lea.

“They live in Cloudymay Falls, just above the clouds you see in the sky,” said the woman.

After Lea and the woman talked for a while about unicorns, Lea eventually left and went home. When the time came when she had to go to bed, she looked up in the sky instead of falling asleep. Finally, at 12:00 midnight, she saw a big group of unicorns flying through the clouds. 

“Unicorns! Here! Right now!”

Lea ran to get her phone from downstairs and took a picture of the gorgeous sight. She could not believe her eyes! Lea wished she could meet and get a unicorn! But, there was a problem. How could she get up in the clouds? Lea had to use her creative mind right now. Poof! She had an idea. What if she could search up ‘how unicorns can use magic?’ Then, she could use magic to make her be able to fly! The next day she searched it up, hoping for an answer. Today was a great day! She followed the steps carefully and after about half an hour, she got it! The first thing she wanted to do was use magic to give her body extra rest, since she was up really long last night. With a few magic words and hoof movements (which she used her feet for, since humans did not have hoofs) she felt a lot more rested than just a few seconds ago.

“I can’t believe it!” gasped Lea.

I can use magic now! Lea thought. Now I’ll wish for a Unicorn! She tried to say the magic words, but instead of a unicorn appearing, she started rising in the air and fell down on her back.

“Ouch!” cried Lea, in pain.

She tried to search why that just happened, and she found that you couldn’t wish for unicorns. Lea thought again.

“I know!” said Lea in excitement. “I can wish to be up in the clouds, and then I can meet Unicorns there.”

But she couldn’t try right now, because she had to go to school soon. Lea got dressed, brushed her teeth, and put away her breakfast dishes from earlier. Then Lea put on her backpack, shoes, and coat and headed over to school. All day, Lea thought so much about meeting unicorns in the clouds that she could barely focus and almost couldn’t hear the teacher. Once she even got stuck in a daydream for half an hour! During recess, her friend Goldie showed her a diamond ring.

“I can control it with my mind!” said Goldie.

Lea watched as Goldie made the ring fall and fly and do loop-the-loops with her eyes.

“Wow!” Lea said, thinking even more about magic.

“I can do magic too,” she said. “Look!” Lea whispered special words underneath her breath, and then she started to fly.

Goldie was so shocked. She almost fell over.

“How — Wh-wh-what?!” Goldie cried. “You need to show me how to do that!”

Lea thought for a moment. “I would, but if I tell you how, the magic will take advantage of me and will break our friendship forever!

Lea had learned that morning as a little part of her research. Goldie quickly changed her mind and shuddered at the thought.

“Okay!” Goldie quickly spluttered. Goldie handed Lea her ring. “Would you please examine this ring for magic?” she said. “I want to see if it has any magic you have.”

Lea looked at it closely. She made sure not to miss even a speck of the ring. Lea handed the ring sadly to Goldie.

“The only magic I can find is the magic of controlling the ring,” she said, frowning.

“It’s fine,” Goldie said. “You’re a very lucky girl.”

After school, Lea went to her backyard and made sure no one was watching her. Then, she made a crystal orb appear in her hands, and, with that, Lea shot up into the sky like a rocket and landed into the clouds.

She heard unicorn noises.

“Hello!” said Lea, to a unicorn beside her. “I’m Lea. It’s a dream to meet you!” The unicorn slowly backed away. “Don’t be shy,” Lea persuaded her. “I’m a nice person, and I know what it’s like to be shy. When I was in first grade, I wouldn’t talk to anyone, not even my parents!” Slowly, the unicorn walked back to Lea.

“I’m, uh, I’m… ” The unicorn got quiet. She was now shaking. She felt like crying, when finally, she spoke up a little. “I’m Celestine,” she said, almost bursting into tears. “Sorry, I’m just a very shy person. That’s how I was created to live in this world.”

“That’s definitely okay,” said Lea. “I totally understand. I have a question. You don’t have to say yes, but it would be a dream come true if you did. Can I please own you?”

Celestine thought and thought. “Sure!” she said. “I’d love that so much!”

Lea couldn’t believe her ears! She was accepted to own a real life unicorn! Lea and Celestine flew back down to where Lea lived.

“Would you like it if I used magic to make a home in my big backyard for you?” Lea asked.

“Sure!” Celestine nodded happily. She was not at all shy anymore. She loved Lea! Lea whispered some words under her breath, and then the most magic cloudy colorful cloud house appeared in her backyard!

“O-M-G — ” Celestine paused. “Thank you so much!” Celestine flew straight into the cloud house with Lea. “This is so big, colorful, and fluffy!” Celestine giggled. “Wait — are those unicorn cupcakes?! This is the best!” Celestine cried.

“I totally agree!” Lea said.

“This is 75,000 times more fun than my house!”

“Can we both come in here whenever we want?” Lea asked, with hope in her eyes.

“Of course!” Celestine said.

The next day, Lea went to the library after school. She was reading a book called ‘Unicorns Past and Present.’ She had just finished it and put it back when she noticed a book with something glowing behind it. Lea was curious. She simply took out the book.

“Sparkles and magic, would you look at this!” Lea cried. Where the book was a pink thing that looked exactly like a portal. “I want to go in!” Lea bounced. She took a few steps back and ran straight in the portal! “Wow!” Lea said.

The portal was smooth and nice. At the end it was super bright! She got to that part and landed on a huge gummy bear! It felt like a squishy dream! Lea looked around. She saw candies of all sorts, from huge Skittles to huge lollipops, and huge lollipops to huge cupcakes!

“This is so yummy looking!” Lea said. She took a bite of a gummy bear. “Ow!” Lea said. She looked at the gummy bear. “A stick was in here!” Lea said disgusted. “Eww!” Lea found a different gummy bear and ate it. “Ah!” Lea said. “Much better!”

She used magic to make a magic phone appear in her hands. She called Celestine.

“Come to the Emerson Library and find a bright pink glowing portal” Lea said. “Jump in that, and you’ll find me!”

Celestine agreed and flew to the library and jumped straight into the portal.

“This is so smooth!” Celestine said, rubbing her hoofs against the walls of the portal. Then, Celestine came to the end, the super bright part of the portal. “Ah!” Celestine cried, falling. She landed on a cupcake.

“Celestine!” Lea said. “Nice to see you!”

Celestine looked a bit angry. She had frosting all over her.

“Want me to help you get the frosting off” Lea asked.

Celestine nodded happily. After they got off the frosting, they looked around.

“Look at those candies on the ground!” Celestine said. “I want to try one!”

Celestine picked up a raspberry gummy. So did Lea.

“This tastes kind of funny,” Lea said.

All of a sudden, Lea and Celestine turned into raspberry gummies! Then, they shot up into the sky and back in the portal.

“Why did that happen?” Celestine was confused.

Lea picked up the phone she made earlier and Googled why that happened.

“I think those were poisonous gummies,” Lea said, putting the phone away. “But we aren’t poisonous anymore.”

Lea and Celestine landed back in the library, and they both flew back home.

“This day has been so fun!” Celestine said. Lea agreed.

“I hope we have more adventures like this!”

The End!

Book Two: Lea’s Surprise

Chapter One: A Nice Morning

Lea was sitting on her couch. She was thinking about the portal in the library. I can’t believe that was only one book ago! thought Lea. It was 9:30 am, and Saturday, Lea’s favorite day of the week.

“Hey, Lea!” Celestine called from the basement, rather sadly. “Look what I found!”

Lea flew to the basement. There was a big, probably bigger than Lea, hole in the wall.

“Oh no!” Lea cried. “How did this happen?”

“Well,” Celestine said, “I was eating Cloud Cake, a food from the Unicorn world, when a big flash appeared. Then what do you know, the wall was broken!”

Lea studied the hole. Something looked odd. Very odd. Extremely odd. What was that little blue glowing thing? It started growing. Now it was inside every bit of the hole. Oh! It was a portal!

“It’s a portal!” Lea said. “Should we jump inside?”

Celestine thought, staring at the hole. “Okay,” she said.

“Three, two, one, go!” Lea said.

Celestine followed Lea.

“This portal is huge!” Celestine said.

“Oh no, aahhh!” Celestine and Lea fell from a 350-foot drop. Luckily, so luckily, of everything, including a chokie to land on, they landed on a huge cotton candy cloud.

“Thank god I landed on something so soft!” Lea said, panting.

“And tasty!” Celestine said, with a mouth full of cotton candy.

Lea wondered why the cloud was on the ground. Whatever. Lea and Celestine looked around. They looked like they were in a magical, tropical place. They saw a sign that said ‘Wavie Swirl.’

“That must be the name of this place,” Celestine said.

Lea nodded. She glanced at a castle. She read the sign beside it.

“It said something about an extremely magical and famous baby. Can we go in?” Celestine asked Lea.

“Of course!” Lea said. They walked in and went to the third floor. It said the baby would be there. 

“Who are you guys?” the baby asked. “Are you guys from Wavie Swirl? And by the way, my name is Cameron Green.”

Lea was shocked. Since she knew she lived in a book, she jumped out of it. She flipped the pages to the beginning of her own story you’re reading right now. What?! It said the author’s name was Cameron Green! She flipped back to the page she was on before she left.

“We are visitors,” Lea said. “Also, how are you in this story, but also the author of it?!”

“Long story,” Cameron said. “But, I can tell you the reason I’m so famous is because, since I can write this story in my head, I can decide my future and everything that happens in the book you and me and Celestine are in.”

“Cool!!” Lea and Celestine said together.

“Hey, um, can you make this book so that me and Celestine can go to Disney World tomorrow?” Lea asked.

“Fine,” Cameron said. “But, can I please come too?”

“Sure,” Lea said.

Celestine agreed. Then Lea and Celestine left Cameron and the magical building, and headed toward some coconut trees.

“How can we get back home and cover up the hole?” Lea asked Celestine. “I don’t want to worry my parents.”

Celestine and Lea looked around. Lea spotted the cloud Lea and Celestine had landed on. The portal to Lea’s house should be above it. They could fly up to the portal. Lea told Celestine her plan.

“That sounds unicornilliant!” Celestine said.

Lea stared at Celestine. “What does that mean?” Lea asked.

“It’s just the unicorn way of saying brilliant. Unicorn language is slightly different from humans.”

“Oh, aha. Now it made more sense. Let’s go!” Lea smiled.

They started flying toward the cloud. They hopped on it, staring closely at the swirling blue portal. “Ready?” Lea asked, grinning.

“Ready,” Celestine replied, also grinning.

“Three, two, one, go!” Lea yelled.

Lea and Celestine went shooting up into the sky. Whoops! Might have gone 100 feet too high. They tried again. Ugh! Twenty feet too low. Three’s a charm, right? Let’s hope so. Yes! Just high enough to reach the portal.

Chapter Two: A Note From Fairyland

“Hey, what’s this?” Lea asked.

In the portal, she saw a piece of paper. She picked it up. It said, This note you are reading right now is from a fairy named Ariela. And since I’m magical, I know your name, yes, Lea.

“Wow!” Lea gasped.

She continued reading, I also know your unicorn friend, Celestine.

“Osh kosh my gosh!” Celestine said. They giggled and giggled.

Then they continued. The note said, I know you two are very smart, with you, Lea, getting all fours on your report card this year. Lea blushed. I challenge you two to a very important task. I live in fairyland, as you probably guessed, but there’s a problem. Kayla, a super smart and talented fairy, just (I start to cry) Kayla just died last week. The whole kingdom is crying and really misses her. I’ve been looking at you since one book ago, Lea’s Unicorn, with my magic globe, and based on how creative, determined, sweet, and clever you are, I was wondering if you’d take her place. Please write a note back to me and drop it in the Marigold Lake, near your home. You don’t need to write any addresses, because, since that lake is magical, its magic can send the note straight to me, as long as you say Ariela, my name, at the end. Hope I hear back from you soon. Have a great day! 

“The portal is ending!” Lea said. Celestine and Lea carefully landed on the couch. “I can’t believe we get to go to fairyland!” Lea said. But. Lea started to cry. “I feel so bad for that fairy!” she said. “Poor Kayla!”

Celestine started to cry too. Then they stopped.

“We should write a note back saying that we’d love to!” Celestine said.

Lea agreed. Celestine wrote the first part.

“Dear Ariela, we’d love to hlep!”

“That’s not how you spell help,” Lea said. “It’s H-E-L-P.”

Celestine corrected herself. She continued, saying, “We need to kno- 

“The word know is not K-N-O,” Lea said. “It’s K-N-O-W.”

Celestine corrected herself and continued saying, “where FairyLand is, and if you kud –”

“You don’t spell could K-U-D, it’s C-O-U-L-D. Can I please do the rest of this so you don’t make silly mistakes?”

“Fine,” Celestine said, rather sheepish.

Lea wrote the rest of the note, ignoring Celestine. Celestine was upset that Lea had treated her like if Lea was a teacher, and that Lea was completely careless about her (or it seemed like that). Celestine tried to hold in her tears, and, since Lea was paying no attention, she opened the Wavie Swirl portal, went through, and closed it like it had been before. Not long after, Lea finished the note.

“Hey, Celestine, the note is finished!” she said. “Come! Hello? Celestine?” Lea looked around the house over and over. An hour later, there was still no luck. “Where are you?!”

Oh brother, Lea thought. She was about to cry.


Chapter Three: Celestine’s Gone Missing!

Celestine landed on the same fluffy cotton candy cloud she had landed on with Lea. She grabbed a handful, and with that, bounced of the cloud. Celestine saw a little girl, so beautiful, on a swing. Her shirt had a tag with her name, which looked like it was Candice. Celestine saw a paper beside her with her name on it. It was math she did.

She’s really smart! Celestine thought, eyeing the paper. When she looked up, Candice was smiling at her, really happily.

Are you a unicorn?!” Candice said, almost falling off the swing.

“Yep!” Celestine said.

“Can I please own you?!” Candice said, with hope in her eyes.

Celestine thought. Lea was kind of a witch to Celestine, so Celestine was glad to get rid of Lea. “Sure!” Celestine said, smiling.

Candice screamed in excitement.

“Want to visit Cameron Green?” Celestine asked.

Candice nodded, still speechless. They went up to the third floor of the building and saw Cameron, looking just as before.

“How may I help — wait — Celestine!!! You were supposed to be in the human world with Lea! I’m the author of this book, and Lea is your owner. Why did you not tell Candice you already have an owner?”

Celestine snorted. “Because — well — I’m about to reach my boiling point.” Celestine’s face turned red. “Because Lea’s a brat!”

Cameron and Candice gasped.

“That’s it,” Cameron said. “I’m making Lea appear here and controlling your mouth to tell her what you said!”

Nooo!!!” Celestine cried.

She used her magic powers to make Candice appear on her back, and they disappeared into the sky.

“This is fun!” Candice squealed.

Although, Cameron had just made Lea appear.

“Why am I here?” Lea said confused. “I’m busy. I’m on the lookout for Celestine.”

“Celestine was just here,” Cameron said. “But, she has a new owner now named Candice. Celestine said you were a brat.”

Lea gasped. “But — how?!” Lea cried. “Well then, I don’t want to be her owner anymore.”

“I can make her appear,” Cameron said.

In a flash, Celestine was standing there with Candice.

“How could you act like such a beast?!” Lea yelled at Celestine.

“Me?!” Celestine gasped. “No, no, no. I’m pretty sure you meant to say you are the beast!”

“How could you though?” Lea said.

Lea started to cry. Celestine started to feel like someone poked her in the stomach with a knife.

“I’m sorry,” Celestine said. “It’s just, you were acting like you knew it all, and you were ignoring me like a brat, and you acted like I was the dumbest person ever. I’m pretty good for someone who just learned English not that long ago!”

Lea looked sad but guilty. “I’m sorry,” Lea sighed. “I guess I was a brat kind of. I really am sorry.” 

“It’s okay,” Celestine said. She turned to Candice. “With all due respect, you are no longer my owner.”

No!” Candice screamed. That was really loud! Oh. My. Goodness. The room felt a little shaky. More shaky. The floor crumbled. The walls broke. The building tilted.

Emergency escape!” Cameron yelled. “Follow me!” Cameron led everyone to a small door that hadn’t gotten damaged. It led to a big cupcake. “Jump inside!” Cameron yelled. They all jumped into the cupcake. 

“This icing is amazing!!!” Candice yelled. After breaking — and eating — through the cupcake, they landed on the nice grass.

“Phew!” Lea said. “We made it!” But the building did not. It was all in a bazillion pieces. Only about one small quarter of the building stayed undamaged. Celestine came over, sliding on a giant gummy bear.

“Who knew gummy bears could be so slippery!” she smiled.

“I want to try!” Candice and Lea yelled together.

Cameron agreed. Just a few moments later, everyone was sliding on gummy bears. Candice was going to do that too, but she ate her giant gummy bear instead. Candice was an audience member.

“Okay, guys,” Lea said. “Three, two, one, go!”

Everyone went sliding across the field. Some people even went to watch. The gummies were so powerful that they were sliding for 20 minutes.

While the race was happening, Celestine asked Cameron a question. “How are you a baby but are so talented?”

“It’s because I’m magical,” Cameron said. “I spent 20 weeks training to be ahead in my speech and abilities!”

“Oooooooh,” everyone said.

“There’s the finish line!” Lea said.

So far, Celestine was in the lead. Cameron was next, and Lea was last. Oh! Lea just got ahead of Cameron! Just before Celestine got to the finish line, Lea got ahead of her!

“Yes!” Lea said. “Good game, guys.”

“Congrats, Lea,” Cameron said as they all shook hands.

“Thanks,” Lea smiled.

Woohoo!” Candice cheered.

After they spent a little longer in Wavie Swirl, Lea and Celestine went back home.

“Today has been an unbelievable adventure!” Lea said.

Celestine nodded. “I’m so lucky to have you, Lea. I can’t believe I tried to get rid of you!”

“It’s fine,” Lea said. “I kind of deserved that.”

“Anyway, I really hope we’ll do this again!”

The End


The Humbug

Chapter One

This is the ship that the Humbug owned. He was an immensely rich Humbug. But he was also a thief. One day, he went to the temporary bank, a.k.a. the school, to steal a high security and top secret object. It was an iPad that could hack into anything. He dodged the lasers and ran past the almost always sleeping security guards. They were called Unael and Arwen. Then he started fighting the security robots with his mega-sword. One robot, called Sam, started winning a baseball bat fight with The Humbug. (The mega-sword could transform from a giant broadsword to a baseball bat.) But suddenly, Sam tripped. And the Humbug started whacking Sam. Sam fell down with a broken robot leg. And Unael awoke and started chasing The Humbug. The Humbug ran up the stairs, and Unael ran down the stairs. The Humbug went down the stairs and went into Ms. Maverick’s classroom. He started looking for money, but then he saw animal tracks on the floor. He followed them to a slightly opened closet. Then, suddenly, a giant dog jumped out of the closet and started chasing The Humbug. The Humbug ran down the stairwell to the bottom floor. He ran into the science room. And something happened… 


Chapter Two

The Humbug started making a potion to turn the giant dog into a regular dog. When he was done, he snuck out and started looking for the giant dog. It was 1:00 when he found the dog gorging itself with the cafeteria’s leftover food. Then, the Humbug stabbed the syringe that held the potion into the dog. Instead of growing smaller, the dog grew bigger! It started charging towards The Humbug. The Humbug thought fast and threw his really cool shoe at the monster. The monster got really mad and started punching the floor, but that really hurt. The monster started punching the wall, but that hurt also. It tried to punch the ceiling but he fell over.

And it said, “I want my mommy!”

Then it fainted. Then The Humbug turned the corner and bumped into Unael, the lazy security guard. They started sumo wrestling, and backup for Unael came, such as 909 S.W.A.T. teams and 101 C.I.A. agents. The S.W.A.T. teams were waiting outside. The C.I.A. was wrestling The Humbug. The Humbug epicly defeated every single S.W.A.T. officer and C.I.A. agent. 

Then The Humbug started running. He jumped over everybody and punched and kicked every security guard that wasn’t already knocked out. Then he jumped into his hover car and drove into the skies. He drove to Fez, Morocco and landed in his private airstrip. Then he took off his cool burglary suit and changed into his awesome auction suit. He drove to the auction house. He owned it. Then he sold every single object that he stole from the school, whether it be pencil or bills each worth 9,999,999 for $9,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999. People bought the bills because they worshipped Bsmzzcd, the god of no money. After 100 years, 9,999,999,999,000 S.W.A.T. teams and 1,000,000 military police officers besieged The Humbug’s mansion. But The Humbug sumo wrestled every officer to the ground. Then he lived happily ever after. Until he died.

To be continued… 


A Bad Day (Kinda)

Tom, Steve, and Bob were driving a car. But the gas ran out in three seconds. So, Bob went to get money.

“Bob is dumb,” Tom said.

He took some quarters out of his pocket, filled the tank, and both of them took off in the car. Steve was dumb too. Let me tell you why.

“Let’s run this cliff,” Tom said.

What do you think happened? They missed by 300 feet.

Presenting… the three stories about Tom, Bob, and Steve… 

So, Steve came along, crashing with Tom because he thought Tom was stupid. Anyway, Tom went back to the garage to see what was happening to Bob. But when he got there, all he saw was an armored truck with a heavy machine gun or a four-DC Tri-blaster rifle. He didn’t know which one.

“Hey, Tom,” said Bob, “I pickpocketed a rich dummy who was smoking.”

“Gimme that money!” said Tom.

Steve came to see what was going on. “What are you doing?” Steve said.

Bob literally crushed Tom and rolled away.

“Let’s team up,” said Tom.

So Tom and Steve bought a wrecker truck and sped up to the heavy truck and burned a tree so that Bob couldn’t get away.

“Hey,” said Bob.

“Stop trying to burn my… Boom!”

“Wrong type,” said Tom.

“Sorry.” Steve smiled.

Tom was actually trying to invent a potion that would blow up anything and was called a super TNT. It would have been able to blow up Bob’s truck, except for a tiny problem. How do you get into Bob’s truck? So Tom tried to use his brains, but he ended up getting blown up and flew into Steve who went driving like crazy, and literally died. 

Meanwhile, Bob entered the story. Tom and Steve bought a car with the money Tom stole when he head-dived into Bob’s truck (thank goodness) and made a run for it. They drove all the way into the city. Just then, the car ran out of gas. So they ran to the police office and busted the safes to steal the money so they would strike it rich. Meanwhile, the villain enters the story. Officer Thug went inside and saw Tom and Steve.

“What is going on here?” he said.

He was a regular person and a skilled officer. So Tom and Steve were locked in jail playing with VR goggles. Since Tom and Steve had snuck into college, they were also fumbling with potions. Tom was making a poison potion to kick the guards in the butt. And Steve was trying to make a hole in the cell. First, Tom enchanted a bow and shot both guards in the butt. Steve invented a chain saw and sawed through the whole cell.

“We are free!” said Tom and Steve.

And they rushed out of the prison. Tom got an enchanted diamond sword and armor. They were in Minecraft! (They were in it all alone.) Tom went to rob some clothes because there weren’t any cops around now. Tom head-butted some dudes.

“Hey, I found a good place to make a house,” Steve called out to Tom.

It was an old castle. They gathered up their trusted team and fixed everything up. Soon, it looked awesome and even had an epic potion room. Tom and his friends were bombing other cities and crushing enemies they didn’t like. They burned cities until they rusted. Soon, they were making complicated potions and enchantments. Tom was the engineer, and Steve was the leader. Everybody was alive and had everything they needed, so they all were wise and kind of strong.

THE END!


Sydney’s Poems

A lovely room

The opposite of the night,

Drapes a shimmery white,

A plant of bright dark green,

Nothing you’ve ever seen.

White doors opening wide 

To a sandy beach.

You’ll love the room so much, 

You won’t be able to speak.


What teachers seem to be!

My teacher’s name is Ms. Plumpagee and she is very plump.  

She acts like she’s stuck in the 1900s and her hair is rather a stump.

She never washes her hands, after a lesson of history.

I’ll ask my father to sue her, yes he is really quite rich, you see. 

Then next year I had a teacher, she was horrid and a snitch.

Then I really wished Ms. Plumpagee, was mine and was here stick.

I was really rather quite generous,

After I sent her away. Wow, a year ago I was rather quite mean to Ms. Plumpagee.


Witches

All skinned in black,

Can’t say no to drab,

Mysterious creatures.

Hidden in the cape of black are feelings,

Not well known,

Be them from the dead or be them from the alive.

Who knows the beauty, the flaws, the ugliness, of these power stricken people?

And I am one of these people,

Safe from being underestimated.


My piece of hope

My lips are blue

My hair turned blue

My skin turned blue

Everything blue

A cry of sadness 

And despair

A grave of white

Surrounding by few

A willow hanging

On top of a pond

With grass surrounding

Like your front lawn

A swan of white

With an orange beak

You’ll love her too

So to speak

Lily pads 

On the water blue 

A girl praying 

Crying too

A rising sun 

A golden hope

Falling hills

A golden rope

Climbing up

And climbing down

But you can’t ever

turn around

The journey hard

The path so clear

Don’t turn around

You’re nearly there

Don’t let the blues

Get in your way

For your mountain

Is here today

Climb it first

Climb it next

And you’ll find

Your golden rope

A piece of sun

And some hope.


Killersx

Today I was going to the beach. Then I realized something, something very strange. I saw dead bodies wash up to shore and slowly come to life. I ran but saw only more and more, like they were invading New York. I don’t know where they came from, but I want to know. Badly.

Back in 2010, the first wave of the apocalypse hit, and my family was taken and murdered, and now — by the beach — I saw them all coming up. I saw my cousin Jeffrey, my dad Bobby, my mom Rhona, my brother Tim, and my sister Shelby. They were all the same people, but they’d been dead for a long time. Before, they had bright orange hair, but now their hair has been darkened and looked maroon, with streaks of black. Their skin was all bloody, and their clothes were raggedy, ripped, and had blood stains on them. 

I know that I’m probably going to die or life is going to be like this forever. For my kids and then theirs too. But I also have a good feeling I am going to have to fix this fast. I really have to find how they got here and how to get rid of them. I don’t know how, so I might need some help.

***

I have been really questioning where the sugar honey ice tea they came from. So I have been calling everyone, hoping to find some people to help me do this thing, even though I think I am the last person because of the apocalypse.

So, I have been dialing a ton of random people, and so far I only have one. His name is jyeugwdgwhd. I can’t pronounce it. It sounds just like gibberish.

Life is hard. Life is hard. Life is hard.

I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Todd, and I hate horror movies. I get really nervous, and now I’m experiencing one by myself. I’m thirteen years old, and so far my favorite thing to do in life is not die. It’s not that I want to be immortal. It’s just I don’t want to die the hard way.

Because I’m not rich, all I’m living in is my basement, and yes, you think I could go to some house like somewhere fancy, but most of them have been destroyed burnt or just plain gross. So far it has worked well because there hasn’t been another wave of the apocalypse since years ago in 2016. The waves come every three years, and I don’t know why. And I really want to find out.

Right now I hope I’m safe because dead bodies have been arriving on the shore, awakening from some place in the middle of the ocean. And I don’t know how I can do all of this with a guy that doesn’t even know how to spell his name.

***

The guy said that his backstory is that he was a sad man that lived at the end of gfhj j street. I think he is from another world. Another another.

***

Hmph… the guy is actually named Gus, and he lived in Angola, Africa. He said he was just joking with everything he said. Though he told me something dark and freaky. He said he has a photographic memory, and he saw his parents one day when he was a kid. He was one month and three days old. He saw one thing, a “person” with ripped clothes, and he saw them with scissors and then stabbed his mom and dad in front of his eyes. And he thinks it was a zombina (zombie), and so he wants to get revenge and kill all the zombinas in the world.

Well one, his backstory it is really disturbing and gross. But he might help me… 

Ten days later… 

So, ummm, zombies have been really invading our houses, and well, I found one more person named Hope, and she is not that smart, but her name might be the key to win this. 

I feel like all of this was a dream, and it is all not real because before all of this, when I was nine, everything was normal. So do we live in the Matrix or what… Nevermind. 

Thirteen days later… 

Hope said that this is all a dream, and she can read the future with her magical sword, and her sword’s name was rebelitoticomarama and her name is really I’m going to take a walk. 

I started walking, but then a blue green blue portal came out under my foot, and I slipped, and I screamed, but then all of my friends came in and half of a zombie and then I saw something amazing… 

To be continued… 


The Weird Pig

Once there was this pig named Kograt. He was 1,000 years old and very young for a pig.

One day, Kograt felt ill. He thought, Is it the potato smashed with tomatoes or the hay smushed with onions? Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and the illness still didn’t get better! 

One winter morning, Kograt found himself farting ice cream!

So immediately he yelled, “Author!!!

And a pig dressed as a doctor came running,  “What is it this time?” the pig doctor named Author asked. 

“I’m farting out ice cream!” Korgat sang in an opera voice.

“You’ll be fine. It’s just a sign that you’re becoming a computer!” Author said in a calming voice. (That, my friends, was totally not true. I don’t want to spoil the story for you, so just saying!) 

“Lskdjf lkjoijehoiuk jslkdjf iw jlsejf sdlkfj dijweoifjio jwijfihrglkjdhfglksjdfhglsjfdh bla bla boiufijfjjd lba lb bla bla b6la,” Author said.

While Author was babbling on about scientific stuff, Kograt slowly dozed off and suddenly woke up, and he felt he was sinking in his bed of hay. And he dropped down a portal that led him inside a toilet. Since he was a weird pig, he had taco wings. So he used them to fly around the toilet and then after a few laps, the taco wings got smelly and just broke off. Now the pig had nothing to do, so he searched around the toilet and found a computer.

And he said, “Hi, my future self. You do know that I am going to be a computer someday, right?”

But the computer just answered him back with a funny cat video.

Sixteen hours later… 

Kograt had nothing to do, so he just wandered around the whole time. Suddenly a snake appeared in the bathroom and ate him. And he turned into an owl. He didn’t know he turned into an owl at all, because he was dumb. In the snake’s belly, all he found was dust. So he tried eating the dust, but that didn’t turn out so well because the dust had poisonous snake venom. It was the exact type that will turn any owl into a pig, then a rabbit, then a sofa, then a tissue box, then a pig again, then a rabbit, then a sofa, then a tissue box, then a pig, then a rabbit, then a sofa, then a tissue box over and over again… so… Kograt changed back into a pig. Then changed into a rabbit. Then changed into a sofa. Then changed into a tissue box. And finally, after many, many, many changes, he finally changed back into a pig, then stopped.

But Kograt wasn’t the only one having a bad day. (Well, it wasn’t bad for Korgat since he was dumb). The snake was having a bad day too, a bad flu day. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and the snake’s flu still didn’t recover.

One autumn afternoon, the snake started farting books.

So he immediately called out, “Gunther!”

And a snake dressed as a doctor came slithering. “What is it this time?” Gunther asked.

“I’m farting out books!” the snake howled.

“You’ll be fine. It’s just a sign that you’re going to puke out a pig,” Gunther said calmly.

That, my friends, was true. After eating a lot of medicine, the snake finally puked out Kograt. Since Kograt was free, the snake was hungry. So the snake ate Kograt again. And the same thing happened over and over and over again.

First, the snake felt sick.

Then, he called out, “Gunther!”

Then, he ate medicine. Then, he puked out Kograt. Then, he ate Kograt again and on and on and on!

Finally, Kograt escaped and then went and tried to get out of the toilet. But then he found an X-ray, and he tried it on himself. And he found out that all this chaos happened because he ate hay smushed with onions, plus tomatoes smashed with potatoes together (which gives all pigs constipation).

Being in and out and in and out of the snake’s belly made him smarter, so he put his taco wings back on, since the smell had drained away, and sang, “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” in an opera voice as fast as he can.

And so that made his taco wings charge up and out of the toilet.

But suddenly, a dark shadow appeared behind him, and there was a Frankenstein. Not like other pigs, Kograt was really fond of Frankenstein! He even read all Frankenstein’s comics! So, Kograt climbed on his back and pulled off his head and used Frankenstein’s mouth to shrink Frankenstein’s head to keep as a souvenir. That, Frankenstein found really interesting — that his mouth was a shrinking machine and that he could still see even though his head had been pulled off by a pig to keep as a souvenir.

Kograt suddenly felt his taco wings droop down slowly… 

“AAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Korgat was falling backwards down a 100,000,000,000,000 foot toilet! Then Kograt woke up, his heart still racing, and realized it was a dream! Relieved, Korgat felt something bumpy underneath him, and he looked, and it was a teeny tiny Frankenstein head… 

The End


The Head Family

Mr. Big Head

When Mr. Big Head was a little kid, his parents told him not to get so angry. But did he listen? No. Mr. Big Head is an angry man. Every day he gets madder and madder and madder. One day that got too far. It was a normal day for Mr. Big Head. He was mad because his breakfast was a tad bit too hot and spicy. Mr. Big Head was really grumpy. When he went to work, he was really mad because his computer wasn’t starting. So he smashed it! Everybody in the room stared. That made Mr. Big Head even madder. Then he went over to his boss’s computer. Boom! He smashed it! And he kept doing that until everybody’s computer was smashed.

“Okay, now everything’s fine!” said Mr. Big Head.

Then a little kid was making too much noise on the street. That made Mr. Big Head really angry. He took his broken computer and threw it out the window at the little kids. All the little kids ran home.

And Mr. Big Head ran after them yelling, “Puny little kids!”

Work was over for Mr. Big Head. He decided to take a cab. Somebody by accident on the way bumped him lightly. So he punched them out of the atmosphere! Finally he got into his cab. The cab was smelling bad. So he started yelling at the driver. Eventually he punched him. He Finally he reached home. The door wasn’t opening for five seconds, so he kicked it down. The cat was in front of his way, so he kicked it to who knows where. He was eating dinner, and he was getting angrier and angrier about his dinner. His dinner was yuck in every way.

“Me want candy!” he screamed.

Finally, it happened. Kaboom! Mr. Big Head’s head exploded. After he died, the rest of his body lay in jail because he assaulted a cab driver.

The End.

And the moral of this story is don’t be like Mr. Big Head in any way. I mean, unless you want to die by getting too angry.


Mrs. Little Head and The Deadly Laughter

Mrs. Little Head was a really happy person.

When she was a little kid, her parents told her, “You should control your emotions. You shouldn’t be too happy all the time. It isn’t good for you.”

Did she listen? Well, no. She didn’t really have a choice — she was just happy all the time! It was a special day for Mrs. Little Head. New neighbors had joined the neighborhood, and two little puppies were giving birth to other puppies. Mrs. Little Head was really happy. She set off for the ceremony of the puppies. She had arrived just in time. The ceremony was starting. Mrs. Little Head thought the ceremony was really good. She was super happy. On her way out of the ceremony, she passed the two new neighbors.

She said, “Hi, new neighbors, what are your names?”

The neighbors answered, “Mason and John.” And they added, “Stay away, or else!”

Mrs. Little Head was like, “Okay! I’ll stay away!” She smiled at the neighbors. 

She overhead the two neighbors saying, “That woman is too happy. She should really not be this happy.” 

Then Mrs. Little Head said, “It’s good to be too happy! It’s not too good to be too angry like Mr. Big Head, my brother.”

Mrs. Little Head set off for work. Today was a big day for their company. They were getting so many orders all over the world. Can you get me one pack of pencils and two pillows? was one of the orders. Can you get me one king bed and two twin beds? was another order, etc. 

Mrs. Little Head was really happy. She was known throughout the office for being really cheerful and happy. At lunch break, a lot of people came up to Mrs. Little Head and started telling her jokes.

One of the jokes was, “What do you call someone who steals burgers?”

Mrs. Little Head said, “What do you call someone who steals burgers?”

“A burger-lar,” they said.

Mrs. Little Head started roaring with laughter. Then other people also started laughing really loud, which made Mrs. Little Head laugh even louder and harder. Soon the whole neighborhood was laughing. Because of one man. Mrs. Little Head laughed so hard that she choked on a piece of rotting bologna sandwich and couldn’t breathe. Nobody realized she was choking because they were all laughing so much. Five minutes later, Mrs. Little Head had passed away. The guy who told the joke went to jail because Mrs. Little Head had died. Nobody ever forgot about Mrs. Little Head, and the joke was added to the “don’t-dos” around the world.

The End. 

Mr. Normal Head

Before you start reading this chapter about Mr. Normal Head, there is one thing you need to know about him. He is very different than Mrs. Little Head and Mr. Big Head. Unlike Mrs. Little Head and Mr. Big Head, Mr. Normal head has absolutely no feelings whatsoever.

Mr. Normal Head was waking up on a normal day. Any day was normal for Mr. Normal Head. It didn’t matter if he won the lottery or not, pooped in his pants, or received a bill from the bank, or was robbed. His trademark reaction was just to shrug. He didn’t really know what to do in any situation.

Mr. Normal Head was eating cereal for breakfast. He accidentally spilled it on his pants. He just shrugged. “Eh, whatever. Just cereal. Could have been worse.”

Mr. Normal Head went outside to work. It was pouring really hard, and there were thunderstorms and tornadoes and any bad thing you could think of. Even Mr. Big Head. He shrugged. “Eh, it’s just all the bad things in the world that could ever happen. Who cares?”

Mr. Big Head came over. “Hey, I care!” Mr. Big Head said.

Mr. Normal Head said, “You may care, but I still don’t care.”

Mr. Big Head got so mad that he punched him.

Mr. Normal Head just continued walking as if nothing had happened.

Mr. Normal Head arrived at work with one arm missing, a chunk of his leg missing, and a black eye. Everybody started staring at him. Mr. Normal Head shrugged with one arm. Suddenly a man came rushing into a room.

He said, “Which of you do I want?” Then he said, “Oh, this guy looks like General Material.” He looked battle-scarred, that’s why the man picked him. He said, “Do you want to be a general, sir?”

Mr. Normal head shrugged with one arm.

The man said, “Okay, I’ll take that as a yes.”

The man took Mr. Normal Head away and started his training immediately. 

Mr. Normal Head just kept getting the best grades for his training, except when it came to the guns. Mr. Normal Head just stood there doing nothing. 

Soon enough, World War I, one of the deadliest battles ever, started. The problem was that Mr. Normal Head the General was assigned with a gun. He didn’t know how to operate it. So, he just stood there. And that wasn’t good for his health. Later, he was dying. He had several wounds, none of which were good. The doctors tried to revive him. But the wounds were just too much, and Mr. Normal Head passed away. 

The End.


Mrs. Blue Head

Mrs. Blue Head was crying one morning because she didn’t have any food, and she had to go to the supermarket to get some. The supermarket was only 15 feet away. She trudged along, depressed, to the supermarket. Then she finally entered the supermarket. Everybody was staring at her. That made Mrs. Blue Head cry even harder. She got her food and exited the supermarket as soon as she could.

She cried all the way back home. Then she ate her cereal. Then she left for work.

Mrs. Blue Head worked in a private office because no one wanted to hear her crying, wailing, and howling. She entered her private office. There were no people in the building because Mrs. Blue Head was really loud, and her crying could give you a headache. Mrs. Blue Head didn’t get right down to work. For the first hour, she was crying. The second hour, she was working and crying. And for the rest of the hours, she was mostly working and crying.

Mrs. Blue Head was proud of herself. She had done a lot of work today and a lot of crying today. She exited the building and saw someone crying. That made her cry even harder and harder! All the cars sped by — no one could bear to hear Mrs. Blue Head’s wailing. Even the person who was crying left. When they all left, she started to cry even harder. Mrs. Blue Head was crying so hard she was literally covered in water. She ran to the store to buy a muffin. All of the people in the store closed their ears, and the customers ran out. Mrs. Blue Head cried even harder.

Finally, all the protein that she had eaten was lost. She grew very pale, and she fell to the ground. Somebody called 911. But even before they called 911, the medics came and said that she was already dead.

The news made everybody cry, but then someone said, “If we cry, we will end up like Mrs. Blue Head.”

The End.


Mr. Thrilled Head

It was not a normal day for Mr. Thrilled Head (unlike Mr. Normal Head). It was his birthday today! And he was going on a sleepover, a vacation, and he was getting his driver’s license, and a promotion, and he was moving, and throwing a party!

The first thing on Mr. Thrilled Head’s schedule was to brush his teeth. Then eat his breakfast, then take his morning jog. But Mr. Thrilled head was too excited for a jog — it was more like a sprint! Mr. Thrilled Head had eaten ice cream and cake for breakfast (like he always did). After his morning sprint around his house, which was pretty big (the perimeter was 57 feet), Mr. Thrilled Head went to work.

He had an essay to write. That didn’t take him long. He was so excited he finished in five minutes. And his essay was so good that he got a double promotion. Now he was his boss’s boss.

Next on his list was his office party! They were having a really good time for four hours until they agreed to call the party off.

Then he had his birthday party. When he arrived at his house, he saw so many presents! He was so excited he ran straight through ten buildings, knocking down zero presents. Then he ran up to his office room and started circling around and around, searching for something. Then he was like, “Whatever!” and fell and broke his head, which wasn’t good for his health. Then he died.

The End.


Mr. Lightbulb Head and His Great Ideas

“I have an idea!” said Mr. Lightbulb Head. “I will eat breakfast today! I have another idea! I will prepare breakfast before eating it! I have another idea. I will eat oatmeal for breakfast.”

Okay readers reading my book. You understand that Mr. Lightbulb Head has a lot of ideas, and his superpower is to be annoying. Nobody liked Mr. Lightbulb Head from his neighborhood to seven neighborhoods down. Whenever he went to the supermarket, he said, “I will buy a watermelon! I will buy a mango! I will buy everything!”

“Ugh!” everybody would say.

Mr. Lightbulb Head would not reflect on his past. He thought he was a great person who was not annoying. Like Mrs. Blue Head, he worked in a private office.

He said, “I will invest in Whole Foods! I will invest in Trader Joe’s. I will invest in everything!”

Recently the building next to him was demolished because no one wanted to hear him say, “I will invest in Whole Foods! I will invest in Trader Joe’s. I will invest in everything!”

They just left a sidewalk there because if they had put a park there, they wouldn’t be able to maintain it.

He was getting a promotion party today. He may be annoying, but his boss couldn’t deny his good work. He went to his boss’s office. His boss couldn’t deny his good work, but he could have a wicked plan. And that he had right now. His plan was to use champagne, and the cork would hit Mr. Lightbulb Head in the head, and it would shatter and he’d die.

Mr. Lightbulb Head’s boss was not having a good time at the party.

He asked, “Can I have some champagne or wine or whatever you have?”

“Sure,” said the boss.

Mr. Lightbulb Head said, “I have an idea!”

“What’s your idea?” said the boss.

“I will drink champagne, not wine,” he said.

The boss started laughing. Then everyone started laughing. Then the boss opened the cork for the champagne, and it flew and hit Mr. Lightbulb head square in the face. His lightbulb shattered on the ground, and he died.

The End.


Forever

Chapter One

Hi, I’m Anastasia Forever. My mom is a queen, and my dad is a king. I also have servants. They are really fun. I finally realized that I was getting more attention than my older sister (Sofia Forever). Everyone in the kingdom always wondered why my family’s last name is Forever. No one really knows actually. But I think it’s a cool last name. Sometimes when I go to school, I pretty much know all the answers. Most of the time I usually wander off in the woods by myself.

One day, while wandering off in the woods, I thought I found this animal I’d never seen before. I bent down, so it would not see me. I examined the unknown animal. It looked like a wolf. But instead the wolf had the same exact mark that was by my eye. Was this my own type of animal?!


Chapter Two

The animal got closer to me, and the animal said my name.

“Anastasia.”

“H — how do you know my name?” I said with fear in my voice.

“Do not be afraid. I’ve been by your side since the day you were born.”

I felt kind of nervous at first, but I started to believe the unknown animal. I actually had fun with the unknown animal.

Before I left, I stopped.

“Wait, I never asked you your name.”

“Well, my name is Emily Forever.”

That really made me wonder. Why does she have the same name?


Chapter Three

The next day, I went over to the woods to see the unknown animal. The animal came out. Before I could say anything, the unknown animal gave me a necklace.

“Use this if you want to get in contact with me anytime of the day.”

Before I could say anything, she said, “If you see any other animals like me, our animal names are jewel ivy.”

I finally said something, “Thank you!”

As soon as I came home, Sofia was in my room.

I said, “Hey! What are you doing in my room?!”

“Tell me where you’ve been for the past days, and I’ll get out.”

I felt annoyed by her disgusting behavior. “I won’t tell you where I’ve been because it is none of your business!”

“Well, if you don’t tell me, I will tell your teacher you cheated on your test!”

“You would not dare!”

Before she could take another step, I trapped her in the dungeon for two hours straight. We were allowed to do that to each other. I was glad she did not notice my necklace…


Chapter Four

After a couple of hours, I let her free of course. She told on me. I called Emily with my necklace before I could get in trouble. I put some sporty clothes on. I hopped on Emily and escaped from the castle. I was so tired I fell asleep on Emily.

Hours later, I woke up. I was hungry, so I decided to eat.

I asked Emily if she could take me back, but she said, “I must show you something.”

I agreed to let her take me there.

“River.”

When she said that word, I felt like there was color to it.

She said this, “River is magical.”

I felt a little a bit of a shiver go down my spine. It was really cold. I fell fast asleep…

When I woke up, she took me straight home without saying anything. Before I went back on my porch, she told me to clap three times to a beat. I did what she told me to. When I did what she told me too, I went invisible.

“Cool!” I said.

I snuck into Sofia’s room, and I saw her crying. I asked her why she was crying. She got a low score on her test. She printed out a copy for me to do. I did it, and she came back home with a 100. My parents were full of joy!


Chapter Five

Sofia was in her room crying. Mom, Dad, and I went to check up on her. My mom and dad sent her to the dungeon while we were feasting on delicious food, while Sofia was sobbing sadly.

I kind of felt bad in a way. I always wondered why my older sister got treated differently.

The next day at school, our teacher Mrs. Villa asked the class what their favorite type of animal was. I politely raised my hand.

I said, “Jewel ivy.”

The teacher looked at me like I was crazy or something. I said it was real. I called Emily with the necklace she gave me.

Emily crashed through the wall and was in the class. My teacher fainted. The whole class was surprised. When class was dismissed, a whole crowd came running up to me and asked what my necklace could do and where I got it from. For the first time, I felt like I meant something to my school.


Chapter Six

As soon as I got back home, I rushed to my room and jumped on my bed. Relief!!! I changed into my sporty clothes and called Emily with my star necklace. She came. I hopped on her back, and we headed to that magical river.

We got there. I hopped in the water and started to splash Emily. She disappeared.

“Where did she go?”

Before I could finish what I was saying, she jumped up behind me and threw a big wave at me. I laughed. I was soaked. I went home and put my cozy p.j.’s on and fell into a deep sleep.


Chapter Seven

The next day it was Saturday. I decided to play on my laptop when I noticed that someone had done something to my laptop. I clicked on a video. It was my sister who sent me a video. I listened. She said she would get revenge. I was scared, so I told my parents, and they told me it would be okay. I was scared of my older sister who I was never scared of. I was so surprised…


Chapter Eight

The next day I went to school. My teacher asked me to speak with her, so I did. She asked me to take off my necklace and put it in my bag. We had a test today. She gave me the test, and I started to take the test. The next day we got the scores, and of course I got a 100. When I got home, my sister said that she found out where I been every day. I was super frightened. So, she told me I had to bring her. I said I was sorry so many times, but she decided to just laugh.

Right at that moment, my mom came in the room saying, “Hide hide hide!”

I did not know what was going on, so we just hid under my bed. I asked what was going on, and she said that our kingdom was having a war with my dad’s brother’s kingdom (Uncle Charles). I was disappointed. I always relied on him.

My mother said that we might have to use the secret door under my bed to have safety for now. We landed in the secret room and waited for two days. Our messenger had bad news for us. My dad would not be coming back until the next two years. My mom did a really long sigh. Sofia cried, and I just did the silent treatment…

Chapter Nine

The next day, I didn’t go to school. I was very sad. I would not be able to see my dad in the next two years. I did not do anything. I just sat there thinking. One day I told myself, Wait, what about Emily?! I jumped out of bed and ran to the cave. She was sitting there with my sister?!

For the rest of the day I just stared at the ceiling. But something unordinary happened. My father was back?! Wait, wait, what was going on! They pranked me. I was so angry I stormed off to my room, and I just decided to talk to Emily. I went to the cave, and she wasn’t there. I felt confused because she was usually there. I decided to go back to the castle. But when I got to the castle, no one was there either. So I decided to go lay in my bed and go to bed.


Chapter Ten

It was a couple of weeks, and I still hadn’t seen anyone. I just wanted to see my family and Emily again, so I decide to go on a short adventure. The first stop was the magical river! I checked there. I didn’t really see anything. But I did see the paw prints of Emily. I decided to follow them. There was a puzzle. I looked around, and when I did, I saw something that would help me solve the puzzle. I solved it. Then a door opened. I crossed the swap. And I saw them. Wait, a surprise party.

They all said, “SURPRISE!!!”

I was so happy. My parents told me that Emily was my great-grandma. Everything went great ever since.

THE END


Shortys and the Big Race

 

     Scene One: The Beginning

 

On stage, we see a bush and a red brick wall and no trees. It’s bright, sunny, and hot. There’s chirping birds.

 

MILLY (off stage)

Hey! Wait up.

 

Four girls run on stage. Emy first, Milly second, Kayla third, and Cat last. Emy touches the wall, and Milly closes her eyes and puts her hand in the bush.

 

EMY

First place.

 

Emy flips her golden hair with her hand.

 

MILLY

Second place.

 

Emy and Cat laugh as Kayla touches the wall.

 

KAYLA

Second place.

 

She puts an imaginary medal around her neck. Cat misses the wall by inches.

 

CAT

Third! I would be first if my mean sister Kay…

 

KAYLA

Watch it sissy.

 

EMY

I’m still counting!

 

Cat taps the wall with her finger.

 

CAT (muttering)

Third.

 

The narrator walks out as Cat silently argues with her sister, and Emy tries to break up the fight. Milly still has her hand in the bush, not noticing what’s going on. She has her eyes closed.

 

NARRATOR

The four girls called themselves the shortys because they each had long names that they had shortened. Emy was Emuleta, Kayla was Kaylamenta, Cat was Catrenen, and Milly was Milliana. They shortened them because they didn’t like them, and then people could pronounce them and couldn’t make fun of them.

 

EMY

Open your eyes, Milly.

 

Milly opens her eyes and sees her hand is in a bush. She pulls out her hand and touches the wall.

 

MILLY (muttering)

Last.

 

Their enemy Jane comes on with her sidekicks Lily, Gale, and Sadie.

 

JANE

Oh my. Lookie here.

 

CAT

Shut up, Jane.

 

EMY

You remember the time where we tricked you into jumping into the lake?

 

KAYLA

Don’t make fun of our names.

 

JANE

I challenge you to a relay race.

 

CAT

It is on!

 

Scene Two: The Training

 

We see a brick wall and Milly snoozing on the ground.

 

KAYLA

Come on, come on, come on.

 

Kayla runs on with Cat trailing behind her.

 

CAT

Hey, wait up! You got a head start! That’s cheating!

 

Emy walks on.

 

EMY

Okay, now the order. Cat, you first.

 

CAT

Why me?

 

EMY

Just, just…

 

KAYLA

You heard her. You’re first!

 

She turns to Emy.

 

KAYLA

Me next, right?

 

EMY

Sure.

 

CAT

Yeah, yeah,

 

EMY

Me next, of course!

 

KAYLA

And finally, Milly!

 

Milly sits up.

 

MILLY

Did I hear my name?

 

EMY

You did. You’ll be finishing off the race for us.

 

Milly faints.

 

EMY

Did I say something?

 

Scene Three: The Race

 

Narrator comes on stage.

 

NARRATOR

The race!!!

 

Narrator walks off stage and coach walks on.

 

COACH

Ready, set, go!

 

Cat starts to run off the stage, and narrator comes on.

 

NARRATOR

So they ran and ran and ran and ran, and Cat came in second behind Lily. And then Kayla started to run. And right behind her was Gale, but Kayla stayed ahead of her and finished before her. And then Emy started to sprint. She ran and ran and ran and ran. She was almost halfway there when Gale came home and Sadie started and Emy took first before Sadie. Then, Milly started to run.

 

Milly runs on stage with Jane close behind.

 

NARRATOR

Milly ran and Jane ran and Milly ran and Jane ran.

 

Milly and Jane turn towards the audience and run in place. They run off stage and come back on stage, and Lily, Emy, and Kayla come on stage to see the end of the race. And Jane has her hand out to touch the wall. And she touches something.

 

JANE

First.

 

Everyone laughs. And Milly touches the wall and cries with joy.

 

MILLY

First.

 

Jane opens her eyes and sees her hand in a bush.

 

MILLY

This memory is a keeper.

 

EMY

Good job!

 

Everyone bows.

 

ALL

The End.

 

Everyone walks off but Kayla.

 

KAYLA

See you in my next book, “Odd One Out.”

 

Emy walks on as Kayla takes a silly bow.

 

EMY

Come on, Kay. We don’t have forever!

 

Emy starts to pull Kayla off stage as she sends fake kisses to the audience.