by Scot McAtee
The Introvert By: Kellyn Harrison
Sitting in a closed, bright room without a window makes me uncomfortable. How many of these people in this room feel intrigued by me? How many feel pity? I don’t want their pity.
Let me tell you about myself. I am a short brown haired, blue eyed seventeen year old girl floating through high school. I read classics and I listen to Fallout Boy. I don’t do drugs and I don’t party. I live with my single mom and because of that I am afraid of falling figuratively and literally. The only people I will ever love is my cat, mother, and deceased father.
So sitting here in this cold and bright room not only makes me feel uncomfortable, but exposed. Especially when you have a senior staring at you like you’re the last bucket of water in a hot desert. So after taking several glances so it doesn’t look like I am staring back; I see that he has a rather pentatonic shaped face with cheek bones caving in like the Grand Canyon. Not one single blemish was scarring his face and I swear his eyes were pits of gold. The only question I have is why would this gorgeous man be staring at me?
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After the bell rings I quickly gather my things trying to get out of the class as fast as I can, only to drop my English notebook. Before I can pick it up a large calloused hand grabs the book. When I look up, I am met with and lost in dark gold pools. Startled, I jump back knocking the rest of my books off my desk, resulting in the guy to chuckle. He then leans over to pick up the rest of my books. Grabbing my books from his out stretched hands, I mutter a quick thanks and leave without giving him a second glance.
Later during the day, at lunch, I go to stand in the line only to have golden boy stand behind me, talking to his friend. I turn back around quickly so I don’t have to face him and his friends; however he notices me and smiles. Seeing that smile reminds me just how easy it is for him to charm any girl and teacher. His perfectly white straight teeth could light the entire world if he wanted them to, but I can see right through the act. That one chip on the corner of his right front tooth proves to show that even the perfect things are damaged. Smiling back for a change, I get an eyebrow raised and a brighter smile. Turning around to hide my blush, I scold myself for being so clumsy and foolish.
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Of course after 3 weeks of drought the skies decide to open up the one day I had to walk home. Normally I would drive home or catch a ride home with one of my friends, but my car is in the shop and no offers were made. Even though the thought of my books becoming ruined with watermarks should make me worry; it doesn’t. Instead golden boy himself has invaded my thoughts. He has staked his claim in my brain and I do not like it. How he could break all my walls with only one sweet, innocent smile is beyond me. So as I am lost in these thoughts I did not notice the Ford Pickup pull up beside me and the owner roll down its window. Turning, suddenly startled by the interruption, I look to see the last person I wanted to acknowledge at this time.
“Do you need a ride?” he says.
Staring at him slightly hesitant, I answer with a, “No, my house is right around the corner.”
Not taking a hint, he states, “Well… I can drive you there; wouldn’t want you to catch a cold.”
Finally, letting up since he has a point, knowing my mother would not be too happy if I got sick, I answer, “Sure.”
I then walk over to the other side of the truck and climb in. He looks over smiling and then takes off, all while I am in the passenger seat getting frustrated with all that has happened. Finally, when we pull in to the driveway I blurt out angrily, “What’s wrong with you?!”
He looks over slightly startled and asks, “What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean! Before today you not once even glanced at me and now you are staying after class to help me and smiling that annoyingly sweet smile! Is this some type of joke formed between you and your friends because I do not think it is funny.”
For a few minutes we are staring at each other trying to figure the other out like wrestlers before a match. Then he finally speaks, saying something that catches me off guard, “Maybe I just saw a very beautiful girl and decided I wanted to get to know her. I didn’t think you would get offended.”
Not knowing what to say after that, I simply say thanks for the ride and leave the truck; shutting the door a little more loudly than I had planned. Cringing, I stalk up the stairs and turn around only to have those metallic pools staring at me with remorse. Before I know what I am doing, I jog back to the truck and lean over the open window to place a soft delicate kiss to his cheek saying, “Thank you for everything. See you tomorrow.”
Then I jog up the sidewalk, unlock the dead bolt, and enter the house. After setting my stuff down, I run over to see golden boy still sitting there with a pleasant smile on his face. He then backs the truck down the driveway, not before waving at me; him catching me staring.
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The next day at school, I leisurely walk to my locker only to find a note lodged in the door. Confused, I open the note reading the fine script.
Dear Melanie,
If you ever need a ride home text, call, or simply stop me in the hall.
My number is XXX-XXX-XXXX
Jay
I then stuff the note in my back pocket not planning on using it. Grabbing the correct books needed; I leave for class.
When I walk into the classroom the first thing I see is Jay sitting in the very back. I didn’t mean to look his way it is just that he is staring at the door like the door was the biggest present under the Christmas tree and you were forbidden to open it. When he sees me he smiles that torturous grin all while waving me over. Looking around, I notice that the only seat open is the one next to Jay. How ironic. Not wanting to look like an idiot, I stalk over to the chair set my books in the tray below and take out a pencil from my pencil bag. It was then that Jay decides t he wants to start a conversation by saying, “Did you get my note today.”
Not wanting to engage in a conversation, I say a simple and curt, “Yep.”
Still not taking a hint, he asks if I need another ride home. Not wanting to be rude, I answer with an, “I don’t know” and, “if I did I would use the note.” (not likely). The teacher then walks into the room and starts class.
Throughout the day, I notice the one mop of dirty blonde that has become so attached to me; look/stare at me. Sometimes I will look back, raise one eyebrow, and smile, but then I will ignore him and pretend I don’t notice. Not one word is spoken between us till the end of the day when the sky decides to cry again and I don’t have a ride home. So I am standing right outside the door that leads to the vastness of the world that has become drenched in rain, holding the one piece of paper that has my future written out on it. Finally, realizing that it is a waste of time just standing here and I am acting like a coward; I pull out my phone and dial the number. Surprisingly, he picks up on the first ring and we listen to each other breathe for a few minutes. Finally, when he is about to hang up I snap out of my daydream and finally say something, “Uhh… hey… I need a ride.”
“Melanie, is that you?” he asks.
I take a deep breath and then answer, “Yeah, do you mind, the clouds seem really sad today and it is really depressing.”
He chuckles and then answers with a “Yeah, sure I will be there in a second.” Then he hangs up.
After twenty minutes Jay pulls up as close to the school he could get. I climb into the truck all while giving a small thanks. He takes one look at me, smiles and then drives off towards my house. The whole drive there it was not awkward or uncomfortable, but it was the type of atmosphere where two people know they need to talk, so when we pull up into the driveway I break the silence with a “Why?”
He glances at me and then at the staring wheel not to surprised that I asked him something so vague and startling. Instead he asks, “Why what?”
Suddenly becoming flustered and aggravated, I answer, “You know what. Why all of the sudden do you want to offer a girl like me a ride home an
d get nothing out of it? Why are you staring and smiling at me for no reason? It is confusing and aggravating. If you want something from me, I am sorry but I am not up for being used and tossed aside. So if that is what you want, I will be on my way and do not expect me to talk or acknowledge you tomorrow.” At that I start to get out of the truck, only to be grabbed by the sleeve and pulled back in.
Jay is shocked and does not know what to say, but when he does, he replies with, “Do you not want me to smile at you? I thought that’s what friends do; not scowl or glare at each other. And about the staring thing, I am sorry, I couldn’t help it, when a beautiful girl walks in the room or talks to me for the first time in 5 years; sure I am going to gawk and stare.”
Not missing a beat I say, “You think I’m beautiful?” and forgetting that he probably has an ego the size of the solar system, I add, “Have you looked in the mirror lately?”
He laughs and says, “Well that’s not the first time I have heard that, and yes I think you are gorgeous.”
Unconditionally, this one statement makes me blush and look away. He then adds, “And by the way, I am not trying to use you, I am not that type of guy.”
I think that over, saying, “I may or may not have overreacted. But you can’t blame me, a jock like you, it is almost stereotypical.”
Jay snorts and then we sit there in his ford pick-up with the rain pounding on the hood. Then he surprises me by suggesting, “Do you want to go get dinner at the diner on Main Street?”
Then what surprises me most is my answer, “Sure.”
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It is 10:30 pm when Jay pulls into my drive way again. While we walk up the sidewalk to the front door, we laugh about how ironic it is that in the Hunger Games, Buttercup the cat had a greater chance of surviving than Prim did in a bombing. “So I guess it is true that cats have nine lives.” He states.
I snort and turn to face him. Realizing that the night is over and we need to part ways, I say thank you and turn to leave, but Jay grabs my sleeve and pulls me into a hug. His large arms envelope me into a big cave of warmth, myself not wanting to leave this bizarre feeling. Jay noticing this too pulls me in tighter; if that is even possible, and says, “Thank you tonight was the most amazing night, partially because I spent it with the most amazing girl.”
My cheeks redden and I snuggle my head into his neck. He then lifts my chin and kisses me ever so subtly. Not only are these golden boy’s arms warm but his lips are too. When we finally pull apart I kiss him on the cheek and walk into the house with a smile on my face. Only when I am pulling up the sheets and turning off my lamp beside my bed with a pleasant smile on my face, I realized that I have lost and Jay has won. This boy with the dirty blond hair, gold eyes, and gorgeous smile has helped me get over my fear. I have fallen figuratively. «
A tragedy waiting to happen
By: Kellyn Harrison
The blood ran down his neck and with one final gasp for breath he was gone. She was left to just take it all in. Tears fell from her eyes and down her cheek. Death truly had been forgiving. She was left with only one thought...
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It was a Monday morning and when you walked outside you could feel the thin layer of fog stick to your clothing. There was red, orange, and yellow leaves suffocating the ground and the ever so childish hallows eve decorations adorning front yards and porches. My favorite was looking at all the overly comedic pumpkins lined up on the porches, missing the days when I would carve intricate designs over the orange shell and grope the intestines out of its center until it was left hallow and lit at night. But realizing that it may never happen again I walk by and make my way into my death sentence. (A.K.A school)
I am a well-known introvert that knows her way around town. I live a mystery and no one has yet to figure it out let alone myself. My parents and brother died by an “animal attack” while I was at band camp; making me an orphan at age 12. At age 13 I was moved into my single Aunt Jessie’s modern house on the edge of town beside the ever so famous Epping Forest. Old folks around Main Street will tell you that there used to be an old highwayman and his sidekick living in a cave in the woods and now whenever people go up the hill that leads to the cave their car is said to be pulled up the hill. Now I don’t believe in the supernatural and paranormal activity, but it is fun to scare the little pipsqueaks that ran as fast as they can with their little midget legs past the woods.
When I walk into the school and to my locker; the first thing I notice is my 1 year of a boyfriend splayed against the red metal with his leather clad arms crossed over his chest and sunglasses adorning his face. So after ogling him for a few moments around the corner; I walk over as smooth as I can, roll my eyes, pull off his sunglasses that he thinks makes him look cooler than everybody. When I am met with his blue irises I am also greeted with that overly cocky smirk that everybody except me loves.
“Hey” he says while encircling his arms around my midsection.
“Hey, how long were you waiting here?” I ask with little to no concern.
“Not long.” He replies.
With that I turn around and reach down to grab my books for SpanishI which causes his arms to plop back down to his sides. When I get everything he takes my books and splays his hand on my lower back to urge me forward.
“What are you doing tonight?” he asks.
“I have cheer practice.” I answer.
“Ok, do you want me to drive you home after football?”
“Would you mind?”
“No, but it might be later before we leave; I am going to take a shower instead of waiting till I get home” he says while turning to face me and pressing his forehead to mine. I pull away with scarlet cheeks and make my way to class smiling a small and short smile.
“Thank you for the ride.” I say before getting out of the ford truck.
“You’re welcome; do you want me to pick you up tomorrow morning.” He asks with concern while giving the woods a quick glance.
“No, I’ll be fine.” I yell from the front porch. He then pulls out of the drive way and drives away from the woods when I am in the house and the door is locked.
It was later, at about 2 in the morning when my cat decided she wanted to go use the restroom outside. So here I am in my red and blue plaid pajama bottoms, black shirt, and pink slippers sitting on a bench watching my cat hunt the tall grass by the woods. But it was when I turned around for one second hearing a crow nearby and turned back around that I saw Chairman Meow missing.
“Chair?” I ask weakly while slowly rising from my seat. After I get nothing I walk closer to the woods and call for her again. When I still don’t get an answer I realize that I will have to inspect the scene and follow her. I then look down at my attire and groan realizing that my pink slippers are not the ideal hiking gear, but I suck it up and follow my stupid cat into the stupid trees.
When I walk a few feet past the tree line and kick a few fallen limbs, I hear a little moaning behind me. I then turn around sharply, but there is nothing there only the wind and the trees, so I turn back around to look for my cat; only to hear the light moaning again, but louder this time. Not wanting to stay in this dang forest anymore; I run through the brush and hanging limbs only to trip over something. When I look over my shoulder to see what it is, I am greeted with the dead eyes of my cat. A long gash of red on her stomach and two puncture marks on her arm. I sit there to soak in how someone or something could hurt and kill a small, stupid, and adorable cat in a few minutes. But it isn’t long after I sit there in the clearing for a few minutes saying good bye to my cat that I hear the rustle of brushes and sense the unwelcome presence of another organism.
“Well two meals in one night. I am one lucky man.” The person says while moving my hair aside with its cold and pale hand. Not wanting to make a single move, I just sit there and take his taunting trying to think of an escape plan.
“Oh come on sweetheart… I won’t bite…too hard.” He says with a chuckle and sni
ff of my neck. My hand then inches toward a fallen tree branch, but of course he sees my hand and kicks the branch out of reach.
“Now I didn’t want to do this out of force, but it looks like I am going to have to.” He says, but not taking any chances; I bolt up and run out of the clearing, not caring whether or not I have scratches on my face from fallen branches. It was when I was three feet away from the exit that I was grabbed by the neck and thrown into the bushes being knocked out by the sheer force.
When I wake up there was a heavy pounding in my head almost to the point of breaking my skull, a dull throbbing on the side of my neck, and metallic red liquid staining my right breast. I then slowly move my hands and lift myself off the ground, wanting to get out of these tortured woods.
“I am surprised you slept so little. I thought I had knocked you out hard. Note to self: Throw girls harder into trees than cats. Note noted.” The strange man finishes with a nod and wink toward me. I can’t help but shudder barely remembering what happened before I was supposedly thrown at a tree. When I go to stand up, I abruptly fall back down. He then flies up into the tree line keeping his face hidden.
“Ya, you might want to lay down a bit; you lost a lot of blood.” He says with a chuckle.
“What… are… you” speaking for the first time since getting home.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out” he says mockingly.
I then groan and lay my head back on the rock. Trying to make sense of what is going on.
“Oh come on! Your depressing mood is so brooding” he groans.
“I am sorry my pain bores you to death.”
“Not possible.”
I look up quizzing him and when I don’t get a glance or an explanation, I start to get nervous; knowing that silence is deadlier than the noise. When I move a little feeling uncomfortable with the circumstances, he looks toward me and I finally get a full glance of his face.
It was heart shaped with cheek bones that could cut your finger at one touch. His lips where pump and red; almost stained with plum juice. His hair finished the bad boy personnel; it was dark brown color with blond highlighting some of his roots; there was gel making his bangs stick up like the hair of a black cat. The one detail that caught the most attention was his eyes; they were as if the sun handed the angel some of its light and the angels gifted him with the suns light. I was entranced for a second until I remembered that he attacked me.
After he gave me that one glance, in a flash he was by my side and covered my mouth with the sleeve of his black leather jacket. I sat there not knowing what to do and more afraid of what he had to hide me from than him himself. But it was when another strange man came flying into the clearing that I became afraid of the vampire behind me. The other man took one look at my compromising position and then flew right at me, but never touched me. He pulled my kidnapper off and flung him across the opening causing him to hit a tree. I snicker to myself thinking that karma can really come back and bight you in the butt.
“Where have you been, and why are you torturing this kid.” He asks with exasperation.
“I wasn’t torturing I was just…hungry.”
I then decide to interrupt, taking my chances to say, “Ahh, have you know I am seventeen. Pretty sure I qualify as a young adult.” But I don’t even get a glance so I sit there to listen to why and what they are bickering about.
It was after a five minute stare-down and a few growls included that the one standing up finally acknowledged me.
He only gave me a glance at the neck and said, “I want her in her bed at her house in five minutes. I will be watching.” He then flew off in the direction of the hill.
“Jeesh, what’s got his knickers in a twist?” I ask.
I only got a small smile in return and was lifted off the ground being carried bridal style. He seemed to be an entirely different person than the one I met 15 minutes ago.
“So am I going to turn into a vampire or something?” I ask slightly curious.
“I hope not because then I will have to carry your dead weight around.” He answers with mock struggling. I just slap him and say shut up.
“How did you figure it out anyway?”
“Ohh come on… it was plainly obvious.” I answer while laying my head back in the crook of his elbow and flourishing my hand.
“Well you’re taking it better than most would.” He says surprised.
“Well I am not like most people; I have lived next to these stupid woods for gosh sakes. By the way thank you for eating my cat she was a pain in the keister. “I say as we near my house.
“Well your welcome I guess, but all joking aside if you hint anything weird just press this and I will be there. “He then hands me a necklace with a blue gem on the inside.
We are on the front porch steps when I say, “Ok, but remember I still hate you.” And with that I jump out of his arms, kick his shin for dramatic effect, and close the door; locking the dead bolt.
The next morning I wake up to a hunger. It wasn’t the normal growling in the stomach hunger, but a hunger of a need. The more I lay there the more it grows as does the tingling sensation evolving in my nose. After lying there; I smell the cinnamon bun scented candle, the light dust layering the bookshelf, and the potent smell of a dead and decayed animal lying maybe three miles away. So out of instinct I fly out of the house still in my pajamas and pink slippers to the decayed.
When I get to the place I realize that I was tricked by my own annoying urges and compulsions because what was left for me was nothing but a stain of red leading into the woods. Suddenly curious I follow the trail into the woods and up the hill. When I reach the top of the hill I am surprised to be met with a cave. It was in the middle of a small circle of scraggly trees. There is a leaves scattered in front of the cave and when you walk up to it cob webs are strung in the corners. I light a match to get a closer look and see that inside there are all kinds of animals strung up on the sides; from deer to squirrel; their necks bared. I walk closer and smell their potent smell, but stop and lean over in pain. The pain flares through my jawline and the only thing I can focus on are the animals and their blood soaking through their flesh. So I slowly crawl over to a small dainty squirrel and dig my piercing canines into its thin furry muscle. When the sticky metallic juice runs down my neck and throat I feel instantly better and the needle sharp points slide back into my gums.
When leaving the dark cave suddenly satisfied I climb down the hill and stop to see a man in camping gear shaking next to the tree. He has a tree limb grasped in his hand and its sharp end is pointed at me. Without thinking I run up to him and plunge my teeth into the vein popping out of the side of his neck. When finished I look down at the body and notice the blood running down his neck. He takes one final gasp and is gone. I fall down to my knees tears trailing down my cheeks; left to take it all in. Death truly had been forgiving. I was left with only one thought… ‘Where were the smelling salts?’, and with that I fell into a deep oblivion.
When I wake I am in a mysterious dark room and the same man that threatened me is sitting in the corner of the room in an old rickety chair. His head is flopped over the back and he has his arms crossed over his midsection; his eyes closed. He is still wearing the same attire as from the other night the only difference is the small green ring that is circulating his middle finger. When I look down at myself I see that I am in different clothes and my hair is damp; all traces of blood are gone from my body.
Curious as to where I am I get up and out of the bed and move toward the door. When I peak my head out I see that there is nobody around and all the doors in the narrow dimly lit hallway are closed tightly. With one look back at the boy in the room and then at the hallway I take one attentive step out of the room, testing my grounds, and when it comes out soundless, I keep moving forward into the hallway. I had made it all the way to the staircase when a cold pale hand clamps down on my shoulder, causing me to scream and punch my attacker in the face,
but instead he catches my fist in mid swing.
“What is wrong with you!?” I yell at the boy.
“Shhhhh. You don’t want to wake the dead while they are sleeping.” He says.
“What are you talking about?!”I say, but I am too late when the hallway fills with vampires.
“What is going on Jay?” a tall lanky boy says.
“I found her covered in blood beside a dead hiker” Jay answers.
“Have you gone in front of the council?” the boy asks.
“No, she just woke up.”
“Then where are you going on?”
“To get some food.” He finishes.
“Well before she eats she needs to be inducted. I am not sharing with a thief.”
With that Jay grabs my arm and leads me down the stairs into a large corridor. With that we pass through a series of hallways only to stop at a large set of double mahogany doors. Jay then leads me into the room and what I see is a large room almost congress like that has a chair in the middle. When we get farther into the room, I see 5 men sitting in front of the chair and one bulky on the ground in front of them. After taking several looks I notice that it was the same person that threw Jay off of me the other night. As we make it to the chair I am shoved down in it and shackles are placed around my legs and arms.
It is after an hour of bickering back and forth between Jay and the other men that I wake up to Jay unlocking my restraints.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Congrats you’re not going to die.” He says. Then after that I am taken to my room where new clothes are laid and a vile of the dreaded red metallic liquid is waiting for me. But I forget all about it and flop onto the bed tears already making tracks on my white ashen face. I am going to get home one way or another.
William and Juliet By: Kellyn Harrison
There was an umbrella still clutched in her hand and a broken necklace with its pendant lying in the other. She had a compact mirror and a folded up fan in her right back pocket. Lastly and the most confusing of all she had a pair of large round sunglasses gracing her forehead.
It was later on a Wednesday afternoon at about 3:00 when I got the call. I wouldn’t say that I was busy. More like I was busy thinking about what I was going to eat later that night, so the call was both annoying and relieving.
When I got to the scene I was instantly confused, not one trace of blood, hair, or DNA regarding anybody else to cause this harm. The only thing I could work with was a broken necklace and compact mirror. All the other things she had on her had her DNA on it. How this young pristine woman ever came in contact with death is a mystery to everyone.
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“Hun what has got your mind reeling?” My wife asks.
“Oh you haven’t heard? There’s been a murder down on 13th street. The girl looks like she got in the middle of those brawls down by the tavern. The only puzzle piece missing is the black eyes and bruises. Real mystery I have got in my hands right now.”
“Oh well a woman has no right walking past the taverns! What on earth was she thinking! Was she an erotic dancer?”
“No I don’t think she was drunken ma, and I agree she should not have gotten close to that place.”
“Was there any other DNA adorning her?”
“No there was not, but I did find a mix of hers and a young fella’s on the umbrella she had clutched in her hands.”
“Do you know what the gentleman’s name was?”
“Yes, it was a man by the name of William Hansforth, but he was buried a week ago in Highgate.”
“Interesting, do you think she caused his death?” she asks with sudden interest.
“And then kill herself by guilt; I somehow doubt that.” I say, waving off her suspicion and finishing my dinner of pigeons in white sauce.
The next day I sit in my office looking at all the evidence splayed across my desk. The only thing that I have gathered was that Juliet Allen did commit suicide and it was by a powdered poison kept in her compact mirror. Whether it was intentional or unintentional is questionable. That and if the death of William Hansforth helped.
Deciding that I am getting nowhere, I decide to start asking questions. I end up standing in front of a large and sheik gothic house that could easily house 8 people. When I walk up the stairs leading to the front door I notice the ring that should be bitten between the lion’s two jaws is missing. That’s strange. So instead of using the knocker I just rap my knuckles against the burgundy oak door. After a few seconds, I think that nobody is home, but an older woman with a tight grey bun on top of her head and piercing green eyes opens the door. She is wearing the typical maids outfit and has a feather duster clutched in her hands.
“Good day, how may I help you?” she asks.
“Yes good day. Would Mr. and Mrs. Allen be home at this time? If they are not I can come back later. I just need to ask a few questions about their deceased daughter.”
“I will go ask them. They should be awake and around now. I know Madame Allen was supposed to have tea with Mrs. Newman at 6. “
She moves out of the doorway letting me in and closes the door behind me before seeking out the house owners. While she does that I look around taking in my surroundings. To my left there is a family room and to my right is a dining room. In the family room a fire place mantel is flush against the far war and a couch set with chairs is placed in the middle of the room. The couch and chair cushions match the curtains with their rosy floral designs and intricate white stitching. In the dining room a long mahogany table is stretched throughout the room and dark plum chairs line the side of the table. An expensive glass chandelier hangs in the middle of the room. It was when I heard the subtle clip clopping of heels and stomping of shoes that had brought me out of my calculation and I bring my focus to the older couple coming down the stairs with the maid towing behind.
“Ahh Mr. Graymark, what can I make of this surprisingly welcome of a visit?” Mr. Allen asks, expanding his arms in a wide motion pointing out everything in the room. When looking both Mr. and Mrs. Allen over I notice that there is no sign of grieving in either of their faces.
“Well Mr. Allen I had a questions surrounding the upbringing of your late daughter’s death.” I answer with slight suspicion, wondering whether make up is covering the mourning or there has been no sadness making up this house at all
“Very well then what would you like to know?” he answers while sitting down in one of the plum dining room chairs, showing slight indifference.
“Well I was wondering if you knew what your daughter was doing the few days prior to her death. Was there anybody that looked shady?”
“All I know is that she would go out at about 4 o’clock every night and not come back till about 9 o’clock.” He says almost limiting the amount of information to give.
“Would you happen to know what she was doing between 4 and 9?”
“Yes she was out having tea with Ms. Withrow.” Mrs. Allen answers.
I look at Mr. Allen seeing a look of disgust and anger flash across his eyes.
“Mr. Allen would you like to add anything?” I ask him with slight suspicion.
“No that would be all.” Mr. Allen answers with dismissal.
With the new found information I have; I decide to talk to the very girl Ms. Allen was supposed to meet every day. When I get to the sweet rosy pink house I notice that every burgundy curtain is pulled taught against each other. As I walk up to the house and knock on the plum mahogany door, I see a small finger pull the curtain away and a small red head peak one eye out. Then when she closes the curtain I hear the pitter patter of feet and a series of dead bolts being unlocked; the same red head woman opening the door.
“Hello?” she squeaks.
“Hello. Would you mind if I come in and ask you a few questions regarding the death of Ms. Juliet Allen?” I ask with all the gentleness I can muster.
“Umm…. Yes…. Yes… sure. Come in I will make some tea.”
After she sets down some tea and chocolate chip cookies on the small delicate coffee table in front of the couch there is finally a word spoken between us.
“What would you like to know?” she asks obviously trying to keep the anxiety out of her speech.
“I have information that Ms. Juliet Allen would come over every day from 4 to 9. Is this true?”
“Well… yes and no. She would only come over let’s see Monday and Wednesday from 4 to 5. We would talk about everyday things like the weather and Sunday services.” She answers
“Is that all? Would you happen to know what she did after the visits?”
“Oh yes she said that she had to make a visit to the street corner market. The funny thing is she said it with tomato cheeks! I would always tease her about it guessing there was a fine gentleman in the equation.” She answers after clapping her hands in a gleeful manner.
“Is there anything else?” I answer leaning forward.
She answers by leaning forward and whispering, “Watch Mr. Allen I believe that there was hidden turmoil in that household for quite some time.”
And with that I packed up, thanked Ms. Withrow for the tea and cookies, and headed home to ma.
The next day I head to the street corner market that Ms. Withrow said Juliet went to everyday after their meetings. When I walk in I notice that there is only one employee working the front register and decide to start there. The kid had a brown comb over and blue overalls on, a small rose gracing his front pocket.
“Good evening sir, how may I be in your service?” the kid asks.
“Oh I just need to speak to your manager. Is he here?” I ask.
“Yes, but he is in an interview. We lost our best worker, died three weeks ago. Our best costumer died recently, too.” He says while shaking his head mournfully.
“What was the young man’s name?” I ask with sudden interest.
“William Hansforth.” He answers.
“Thought so, I am doing a case on Juliet Allen, heard she used to come here every Monday and Wednesday.” I say.
“Oh that’s right. I think there was something brewing between those two. It was kind of uncertain because there was a thing about daddy daughter troubles and different classes.”
“Ok thank you. I don’t think I will need to talk to your manager. Is there anything else I might need to know?” I ask needing more information.
“No that is it, but if I find anything vital I will make sure to call you or stop by on my way to work.” He answers with a smile.
Before I exit, the young man asks, “Sir we have a discount on all toiletries.”
Not needing any and having limited time I say thank you and leave with the chime of the bell above the door showing the way out.
The next day, after sitting in my office gathering up all the information I have, I notice the little white label stuck to the bottom of the compact mirror.
David & Son’s Co.
XXX-XXX-XXXX
Serving our society for the greater good.
When I get to the warehouse I notice that several windows are busted open and the wood bordering the outside needs replaced badly. The front door is ajar showing slight shadows coming from the inside. Pushing the door open, I peek inside only to come face to face with machinery and flipped over chairs. I notice that there is a small piece of paper lying across every surface and pick up one reading the fine print.
Caution! Poisonous
Stay away from the primacies!
Ignoring the sign I put on some latex rubber gloves and face mask making sure I don’t inhale anything. Noticing small vials filled with the same powder as what was in the compact mirror, I place one in a plastic bag and put away for testing. Knowing that the powder is poisonous and very deadly I make my way upstairs to the office and start looking around for any receipts. It was the first paper in the filing cabinet the catches my eye. In his very own signature is Mr. Allen’s name. All the sudden it makes since. The evil eye he was giving me and the weird sentence that Ms. Withrow told me right before I left her house. It was almost like she was pointing me in the right direction. How she knew, I had no idea. With this new found evidence, I make my way to the police to have Mr. Allen and his wife turned in for testimony.
After I contacted the police and they got Mr. and Mrs. Allen into custody, they had a short testimony that involved them telling their side of the story and me demolishing their last non- guilty pleas. Later after they were hand cuffed and put behind bars, Ms. Juliet Allen was finally laid to rest after two long weeks of tiring investigation. The only question I have is what was William’s story?
Juliet’s POV
It was a sun filled yet windy day and I had decided to pick up the groceries mother forgot to pick up this week, after visiting with Ms. Withrow. When I walk into the small street market, the small ding of the bell over my head signaled my arrival, the first thing I notice is the tall and lanky brunette running the front register. When he turned and said hello to my arrival, I immediately blushed and turned away muttering a quick good morning. Whenever I would turn down a different isle I could feel the cool kindness of his blue eyes. What in the world?! How could this one man have this much of an effect on me?
It was when I was done shopping that I dreaded the most. Of course by the time I walk up front, he happened to have the only register open. Why?! But being the sophisticated women I know my father would want me to be, I suck it up and deftly walk up to his register and place the groceries on the counter trying to avoid his hopeful gaze. But of course I went against what my brain told me to do and looked up only to be met with his smiling blue orbs. We stood there looking at each other with only the soft bleep interrupting the tension. Then he said something that left me puzzled and startled for a few seconds.
“Would paper be okay?” he says pointing to the stack of paper bags.
“Huh…oh yea…Sure” I say immediately blushing afterward.
When he has everything totaled up and packaged. I grab my things and hurry out of the store, not realizing that I had left my change pocket behind.
Later that night when I am getting ready to pull down my covers I hear the light ticking from my window. At first I thought I was hearing things, but when they started getting louder and more frequent is when I started to investigate. When I open the shutters I see the boy from the register.
“What are you doing here?!” I ask.
He lifts up my change pocket and says, “You left this and I thought that you would need it tomorrow.”
“How did you know where I lived?” I ask.
“First of all everybody knows where you live and second, you wrote your address in the inside lining.”
“Oh”, I say somewhat flushed.
“How would you like for me to deliver this?”
“Can you climb the siding?”
“I can try.”
So after he climbs the siding and steps into the room, I grab my pocket out of his hand and set it on my dresser.
“Um…I guess we haven’t made formalities. I am Will by the way. It is short for William.”
“Oh yes… I am-“
“Juliet Allen”, he says interrupting me.
“How did you know me?”
“Again everybody knows the Allens.”
“Oh right…Sorry”
“I better get going.”
“Yes I suppose so.”, I say with slight disappointment.
I help Will climb out of the window, but before he gets his other leg out he grabs my left hand, kisses my knuckles, and asks if we can see each other again. I of course still in a haze answer with a yes. Writing both our death wishes.
It has been three heart throbbing blissful weeks of sneaking out to see Will every day and night. I love how he doesn’t judge me based on my parents and accepts me as I am. I love how one touch sends tingles up my arms and legs. I love how when we hug he is easily able to engulf me into a world of only Will and I. So yes I am in lo
ve with Will and when I wake up on Saturday. I am a ghost, barely eating and only staring at one spot in the wall.
Was it only days before that Will and I became one. How hard did I fall for this blue eyed brunette only to have it crash down? Was it only yesterday that I got the call? How could one gunshot ruin both of our perfect worlds?
But I knew exactly who did it. It was plainly obvious the way he would anxiously look at everybody figuring out whether or not they knew. The way he came home only hours before, a slight splotch of brown on his shirt and the gun plainly visible through his belt loop. The only problem is that I have no proof and it is worthless with the amount of lawyers lined up on our door step. The only thing to end this long charade is to end it all.
So with that I grab my umbrella, sunglasses, compact mirror full of mysteries and take a walk.
The Wonders of the Unsolved Murders
Kyra Allee
It was about the 1990’s when this whole thing started with the killings in New York. The very first time it happened it almost looked like an accident, but as me and my team went farther into looking at the evidence it didn’t look like such a good accident after all. We spent about 4382.91(6 months) hours looking for this monster. It was hard linking them to anything because they were very clean about their dirty work.
It was about mid-January in the 1990’s when the killings started. I was a new detective in the field but I did know a lot for a new comer. I was originally in Boston, Massachusetts but I wanted to be on the unknown killing case. My boss called the other boss head boss in New York and asked “if he could use anyone else on the case”? And without any hesitation he replied “of course we could, we need as much help as we can get”. So like any so called traveling job I left my home in Boston, Massachusetts to go and hopefully make a difference in New York. When I arrived everyone was very friendly and the crew I had was just wonderful, they all welcomed me like I was there in the first place. Any who time flew by and it was about a month, that I was there. I started to go over the cases of the unknown killer and I started to look very closely at the way they all died and how they had a symbol on the back of their necks. It almost looked like a star with a diamond in the middle of it. They were about 3 or maybe 4 murders.
The next day I asked my whole team what they could and knew about the killings that had been happening. One replied” two of them have been killed behind dumpsters”. Another said “and the other ones have been found by the waters on the east coast”. Our research went on and on for days. But still we had no luck.
“RING, RING” it was the police, he said “Sir Can you come down here by Chapel Road”. I said “why? Is there a problem”? He said “we have murder here and we would like for you to come down here and check it out”.
As I approached the scene there was so many items that were yellow tagged. There was a flash drive near the water, a mountain dew bottle near the body, and a five dollar bill in the man’s mouth.
The police officer came up to me and said “so you see looks like he might have got hit by something and all his stuff went all over”.
I replied” yes, but why is his body so perfectly straight if he got hit? And why does his face looks so old I suppose?”
One of my lead investigators comes up and says “did you know that there is a drop of something in that’s bottle?”
Looking confused I said “really?”
He says “yes, but there is only a drop of it in there”
I said “well let’s get all this evidence in bags and begin to see what happened”
It was about mid-day and the police officer goes you got it from here right?
I replied yes, thanks for calling us.
He says “anytime”
By the time we got everything bagged and the body moved to the medical inspector it was time to start seeing who was doing all this cruel stuff.
When we got back to the lab I ordered all of my team to get all the evidence and give to Sam which was the medical inspector. A couple of hours went by and Sam calls me down for the results of what she found on in the bottle and what was on the flash drive. As I went into the lab, she said “well here’s the thing the flash drive has a password on it that won’t let me get into it , But on the other hand the reason our fellow passed was because there was an acid in his drink”
“What kind of acid may I ask” I replied
She said “that’s the thing I can’t figure that out because there are so many in here”
I said “well keep trying, you’re doing great”
I walked out of the room with the flash drive and called a buddy of mine and asked “ do you still do computer things”
He said” well yeah, of course I do, what do you need?”
I said “well, and then explained everything”
He replied “yes, just bring it on by”
When I arrived at his house, it looked just like the way his mom had it look when we were kids. Anyways I walked up the steps and he was waiting for me up there. “So detective what is it you would like to find out” he says
“Well I would like for you to get anything you can off of this drive”.
“Alright I’ll get to work” he replies
A couple minutes later he says “alright well it seems like there are some documents on here and that’s about it” his friend says to him.
“Wait a second” his friend says
“What” I replied
“There are some pictures and a name here” he says
“What is the name” I asked him
“Molly” he exclaims
“Alright, thanks bud we will have to have lunch soon as I run out door” I replied to him
I hurried back to the station and said “everyone go look on Chapel Road for a house”
A guy say “I’ll do it boss”
Minutes later there was a call and it was the investigator he says “there is a house here it about a couple steps away from where we found the body”.
I raced to the street and we both went in the house because it didn’t look like anyone was home and it was about to be condemned anyways. When we walked through the living room and there was a can of acid and a picture that said for my love molly.
We walked through the living room and there was a wallet on the floor and a necklace charm lying on the table. We bagged the items and went back to the station.
When we got there I right away gave the evidence to Sam. Within seconds she says “the wallet has a woman’s figure print on it and her name is molly, that’s what my scanner said it was” she says. “And the charm goes to a marches foundation chain” she also added. “ and If I know anything about these types of chains they are very rare to find” she implied.
Right about that time I came out the room where there was a woman with blood all over her and crying at my desk. I asked her “what had happened”
And she said “my name is Molly Crin and I killed my boyfriend of 5 years, because he was having an affair with my sister”.
Looking shocked that she just came in the station.
I say to her “we are going to have to test the blood on you and take some figure prints”
She looks at me and says “okay”
And sure enough we tested the blood and her figure prints and it all added up. The time the trial came it was already too late the judge already saw everything and sentenced her to life in prison without the right for parole.
The bus ride
Kyra Allee
I usually sit in the back of the bus because I’m not much of a talker. But out of nowhere this boy sits next to me. He seems nice but has an emo side to him, he looks about 6’1 and he has a southern accent; he smells so wonderful like the axe cologne from the mall. He then looks at me and says” do you have any chips in your lunch bag”? I’m just curious. I replied with a simple no. the boy pulls out a book titled “The Notebook”. Within a few minutes he rises from his seat and starts giving a s
peech about love and how it conquers all. Majority of everyone looks to the back of the bus and starts smirking. And the rest of the people who aren’t looking at the back of bus looked like they kind of understood what he was saying. He then just gestures out the window with his hand up and waving it back and forth to a little girl who looked about 7 years old.
Just as soon as he got done waving at the little girl the bus stops and he gets off. I was questioning myself and was like who is that. I look out the window and see the man pick up the little girl and hug her; she hugs him back with a smile that is going for one side of her face to the other. The bus doors close and we’re back on the road. The next stop that the bus stops at is my house. I get off and wave goodbye to the bus driver, the bus driver yells “you have a nice day now, and stay out of trouble”. I just smile and shake my head.
The next day came and like always I was the first one on the bus. The bus stops at the same corner it did yesterday to drop off the boy. Within seconds I see the kid run towards the bus and get on. He makes his way back to where my seat is and sits down.
“So how’s your day so far” the boy asked me
I said “pretty well, and yours?”
“Umm mine is not too bad” he says
“Well that’s good” I replied
Then he gets out what looks like homework from math class and starts to hurry up and do it.
“Did you not do your homework” I asked him
“No, I feel asleep way too early last night, I was really tired.” He said.
“Oh okay then” I replied.
We were about half way to school when a deer came out form the fields and just sat there like a bump on a log. The bus driver honked the horn hoping it would move but it didn’t. By the time the deer moved it felt like we were on the bus for like an hour but in reality we were only on there for about 10 minutes.
When we finally arrived at school and started to get off the bus the boy that was sitting next me when out the door first.
But to my surprise he stops and waits for me as I get off the bus. As soon and I get off.
He says “is it alright if I walk with you, I don’t know anyone here?”
“Sure, I don’t mind”. I said.
We walk into to school together and everyone just kind of looks. I show him how to open his locker and where his classrooms were. I walked him to his first period and then that was the last time I saw him until we were back on the bus.
I run to locker and get my books and rush to the bus stop. As soon as I get there I see the boy and the bus just about to pull up. On the bus, I ask him “the girl you wave at and hug when you get off the bus, who is it if you don’t mind me asking?”
“It’s my sister” he said.
“Oh” I replied course.
The bus came up to his stop and just before he got up to leave and go home.
I asked “would you like to be friends?”
“That would just be wonderful” he said.
And then my day after school was the same. The bus dropped me off and I say my good byes to everyone.
The end.
Boy Crushing
Kyra Allee
It was the first Monday morning in math class, and there he was sitting in the third row Michael Hayden. My best friend Alexia has had a crush on this boy for about 2 years now; he’s all she ever talks about. For this one year in all of school history Alexia and I where finally in the same math class together with him. Right before the bell rang he just happened to slip on in the room. Right then and there my eyes went from the board to totally just focused on him. But then I quickly looked away when I saw that Alexia was staring him down as well. I mean how could anyone not stare at him, with his khaki skinny jeans and his yellow shirt with his colored shoes and oh I can’t forget his brown sparkling dazzling eyes that just stuck out when he looked at you or his strawberry red hair that just made him even all more adorable. As I sat there quickly, taking glances at him I realized very fast like that I was kind of maybe crushing on my best friends crush. My mind and all just went from looking at him to thinking how wrong and rude of me it was to like Michael mentioning that it was Alexia’s boy crush. I just couldn’t help it though his everything made me crush on him, for an example the way his laugh is and how it’s high pitch at times or the way his smile is. Anyways I really wanted to just look at him one more time and try and maybe find something that I didn’t like about him so I would hopefully stop having a crush on him, but it was pointless I couldn’t find one thing. As class went on I finally worked up the nerve to pretend I was looking at a poster that was behind him, but in all reality I was just looking at him. I did this several times and then the very last time I looked at me and smiled so big. I hurried up and looked away. After class was over Alexia goes OMG! Guess what just happened? I looked at her blankly for a couple of minutes than she says “He smiled at me!” I replied “really that’s great”. The next couple of days where rough, my mind was focused on one thing and it were who was Michael really smiling at me or Alexia? Time flew by and I couldn’t bear it any longer I finally told Alexia that I kind of liked Michael too. First her faced looked like someone just stole her favorite t-shirt than she says “wait what?!” So I told her again and she says what did you think that I didn’t notice..? I see you looking at him more and more each day. She says I’m not offended, well much that is, after that whole conversation with her. We walked to class and this time Michael was already in his desk and before the bell rang he came up to me and asked “hey, sometime do you want to catch a movie or something with me?” Looking stunned I said “who you are talking to”, because at the moment Alexia was still beside me. His face lit up and he smiled from ear to ear and said “you”. Looking and feeling surprised I looked over at alexia for confirmation. She just shook her head yes at me, and I replied to him with a simple “yes I would love to”. Right about than the bell rang and it was time to start class, he wrote a note to me and said is tomorrow in the Moring good for you? I wrote back and said sure why not, let’s meet at the coffee shop on stamp road. When he opens the note and reads it he just looked back at me and smiled. Time went by fast in class and before I knew it, it was time to leave. I woke up at around 7 like I always do and got ready and left for the coffee shop. Honestly I wasn’t expecting him to already be there, but he was. I sat down and he goes “you look beautiful today”. I just smiled and said “well thank you”. We ordered our coffee and talked for a little bit than as we were walking to school he says “do you want to go out with me?” Thinking hard I was silent than replied “I would love to”. When we walked in the room I told Alexia and she goes “that’s great!” And then she replies “hey I have something to tell you to”, she said “I’m not single either”. Looking stunned I said” wait what?” She says “I’m dating Michael’s best friend Brandon”. Then I said “oh that’s great!”
And just like any teenage love story they lived happy ever after.
The Blood scare
Kyra Allee
The blood ran down his neck and with one last gasp for breath he was gone. She was left to just take it all in. Tears fell from her eyes and down her cheek. Death truly had been forgiving. She was left with only one thought... how could anyone be this cruel to do such a thing?
As he lay there dead in the street it starts to rain, his face becoming whiter than a sheet of paper. Her tears become heavier and heavier, she grabs his hand and says “please get up; I don’t want to lose you too”. Still there is no response at all. She looks up and sees a car coming for her. She quickly tries to get up and run but she slips on the sidewalk and falls. She looks over and sees the car stopped, the headlights still on where it was lighting up the man that lay in the dark on the street. The driver window rolls down and a man that looks about 37 or so says “get in now”. The man gets out and puts the dead man’s body in the trunk. The lady sits in the front feeling nervous and scared. She quickly looks at the man and says “I d
idn’t kill him, if that’s what you think, and where are you taking me? Who are you even?” The man just looks at her and says “I know who did this and gosh, for one person you sure ask a lot of questions”. He then reaches his hand across her and opens the clove department and hands her a napkin. “Here you go, so you can wipe off you face and all” he says. The lady replies and says “thank you”. The man stops the car and the woman starts to look around. He gets out and says “well, this should be a good place for the police to find him”. Tears run down the ladies face and she replies “yeah, it should be”. He opens the trunk and just rolls the dead man’s body to a nearby tree. The woman looks back stunned to see what this man is doing; he gets back in the car and says “right that’s the first job”. The lady looks at him and says “what do you mean?” He replies “Did you realize how it’s only his neck that is bitten.” “Yes,” says the girl. “Well, back in the day this town was taken over by witches, who caste spells on the men who turned them into creatures that have fangs and that can only survive on the blood of humans”.
“They are called vampires” the woman says.
Looking stunned at the woman’s response he replies, “How did you know that?”
“My great grandfather was a hunter,” she says.
“Oh well then” he says.
Then he puts his hands on the steering wheel and puts the car in reverse. “Where do you live?” he asks the woman “I live about a mile or so up the road.” For almost the entire way in the car there was nothing but silence. “That’s my house!” she yells. ERR… the breaks lock up trying to stop fast, he puts the car in reverse and pulls in the drive way. She gets outs and shuts the car door. “If you need anything then you know where I am” he says. He looks out the window as she gets goes up to her house and opens the door. She goes upstairs in her bed and lies down within a few seconds she starts to cry. “Why!” she screams. The woman ends up crying herself to sleep.
The next morning comes and she hears the phone ring she runs down stairs and answers it.
“Hello” she says
“Yes, hi is this Mrs. Clyde?” says the voice on the phone.
“This is she” the woman says
“Hi, Mrs. Clyde I am Mr. Stone a detective of the agency for the police, and I would just like to know if you can meet me anywhere right now?” says the person on the phone
“Yes, where at? And what is this concerning if you don’t mind me asking” she replies.
“Just meet me at the old café down by the fire station at oh let’s say 10?” Says the detective
“Alright sounds good” she says.
It’s about 9:30 am and she goes and gets ready. Mrs. Clyde gets up at the café at exactly 10am.
“Mrs. Clyde over here,” a voice calls out from a nearby table.
She walks over, and they introduce one another again. They shake hands and then sit across from one another. The woman than looks at the detective and says “so cut to the chase, what’s this about? “Well, he begins to say” “we found a body near a tree by Dale way.”
“And?” she replies
“It’s your husband, I’m so sorry” he says.
Looking stunned and dazed all at the same time, she starts to cry. The detective quickly runs to the woman’s side and says “I’m so sorry for your loss” and hugs her so tight.
“Are you positive it was my husband?” she asked.
“I’m afraid I am” he replies with a sincere look on his face.
The biopsy people checked him all out and found his wallet in his pocket with his ID and all of his credit cards.
The woman just gets up and walks straight out of the café and on her way back to her home, all the way there she was slowly breaking with every step she took. The woman gets up to her door and twists the door knop to open it, she walks in and goes straight for the couch. She lays there for a while and falls asleep. When she wakes up and goes to check her mail she sees that she has a voice message and goes and checks it.
“Hello, Mrs. Clyde its Mr. Stone here again if you could just swing by the office and verify that this is your husband it would do a great deed.”
The woman then picks up her purse. And walks out towards the police station. When she arrives the detective is already out there waiting for her and says “are you okay to do this?” she replies with a “yes.”
They then go in the building and go to where the morgue is. As she approaches the dead man’s body she starts to cry. When they remove the blanket from his face, she without a doubt says yeah that’s him. The detective looks at her and says “I’m sorry for your loss”. A tear runs down her cheek and then she asked “when can I give him peace?” the detective looks at her and says “if you want you can do it next week.” “Alright than next week it is” she says.
A WEEK LATER….
Today is the day that she has to be a good wife and put her husband to rest. She nervously goes into the church where than she sees him laying there in the coffin and all of sudden a memory flashed to her, it was the day that she ever met the man that she loved. She walks up there to where he lays and says “I will always love you my dear”. By this time the funeral was just about to start and everyone was getting there and walking in and taking their seats. Than it started and just as it began she started to cry and when it was all said and done, she was left up by his coffin as everyone got up and was making their way up towards his coffin to pay their respects. One person says “he was a great man” and another “he truly was a man of respect” the words of comfort kept coming. And at the end of the line was the man who helped her that one night. He approaches her and says “he was truly a great person” and then just walks away. Within days Mr. Stone calls and says “Mrs. Clyde I’m sorry to tell you but we could not solve the case with your husband, and we have no idea how he died”. She replies “alright thanks for your time.” As she is in her living room she whispers I know who killed him though.
Alayna Plummer W-3
Journey to a Beautiful Night
“ Liv its time to get up for school!” My mother called up to me on a dreary Tuesday morning. I sat up in bed, and stared blankly at my walls that were slowly coming into focus. I was trying to decide if I actually wanted to force myself to go to the prison like building called High school or if I was going to fake sick and convince my mother not to make me go.
It’s not that I really have a problem with the school itself, I love my classes and my teachers, I’m not unintelligent, I just don’t really have many friends if you could call them that. I lack the motivation to get up and go because I don’t relate to anyone in any of my classes except for a few teachers and why would I force myself into a situation where people are constantly disrespectful and rude to me. In more simple terms why would I want to go to school and have to deal with those who are so immature they find pleasure or entertainment in bullying me. I don’t, but after many moments of thinking about it I decided getting through another day and another step toward my future is better than skipping and being afraid of what’s to come.
To follow through with that decision I stood up pulling the blankets off and pushing them aside and feeling the rush of the freezing cold air after doing so. It’s funny how it’s hot when I’m trying to fall asleep but turns into the frozen tundra when I need to leave my bed. After taking a minute to adjust to the temperature of my room I shuffled to my closet to pick an outfit for the day. After the usual morning routine I ran to my car through the pouring down rain started the car and turned up the radio. I reversed out of the drive way and them made my way to school.
I pulled into the first available spot I could find that wasn’t one of the “I’m more important than you” spots because I’ve made that mistake before and trust me getting your car keyed is not a great thing to deal with. I locked my car and walked into the building and met up with my acquaintances outside of the auditorium as we usually did and listened to see what the topic was today.
; “You really think Elizabeth and Braxton are going together.” Elizabeth and Braxton were people who went to our school that both liked each other but never in a million years would ever tell each other. I cut into the conversation.
“I saw them in the hall when I was walking over here and they looked pretty serious, oh and Grace, nobody says going together anymore.”
“Well I do,” She argued so then the topic changed to phrases that are never used and old phrases that were hilarious and the conversation went on until the five minute bell rang and we all hurried to our lockers to get our books for class. I slowly approached my locker seeing as usual there were sticky notes posted all over it saying very immature and insulting things. I just pulled them all off not paying any attention to a single one. I opened my locker and took out everything I needed for Algebra 2 and then closed it. As I looked up to walk to class I saw a beautiful creature walk toward me only to pass to get to his class. His name was Riley Cooper He wasn’t like many of the others.
He was on our schools hockey team and he was pretty well known for it. Some of his team mates were the ones that would put the awful notes on my locker and he would play along but he’d always whisper his apologies as the group walked away. He was genuinely a nice guy.
After taking a moment to stare but trying not to be obvious I looked away and walked to algebra 2. I walked in right before the bell rang and slid to my seat, Just then our teacher Ms. Upton started to take attendance.
“Olivia nice to see you made it today,” she said smiling.
“Wouldn’t want to miss your class again” I said with a slight grin. Someone snickered and Ms. U glared at the back of the room. I know she was trying to help but I don’t think she realizes when she sticks up for me it makes it all worse.
She went on and taught the lesson, something about parabolas or something I really wasn’t paying much attention. Forty minutes later the bell rang.
“Have a nice day Olivia.” She called as I stood to leave.
“I will!” I said back to her. “I won’t,” I whispered to myself. I then left holding my books to my chest and hurried to my locker. To my surprise there was a beautiful yet simple gift taped to my locker, a single red rose with a note attached. I figured it had to be a joke. Did someone really want to give me a rose or was it the wrong locker? I gently took the rose off of my locker and read the note.
It read ‘I’ve truly been a jerk to you and this is my way of apologizing. I’m very sorry Olivia.’ I was so shocked this was really for me.
I opened my locker and stood on my toes so I could reach the top of it and carefully set the rose down in a spot where it wouldn’t be smashed. As I began to take out the things I needed to for my English class I felt a presence behind me. I turned and saw none other than the Gorgeous Riley Cooper.
“Hey Olivia,” His voice was soft and sincere.
“Hello Riley, how are you?” I said smiling at the ground.
“I’m fantastic. That’s a beautiful rose, who’s it from?” my heart sank. If he didn’t know that meant it wasn’t from him. I suppose that was ok it’s not like he was the only nice male in the school, just the cutest.
“I’m not sure,” I said then continued with. “I found it taped to my locker it was an apology but no name.” He smiled then looked apologetic himself.
“You deserve it, the way your treated, it’s not fair, I came over while I knew I’d be alone so I could apologize myself.” He smiled then rested a hand on my shoulder. “Have a wonderful day Olivia.” He moved his hand, walked a bit, turned around and smiled at me, and then walked away. In that small moment I actually believed I might have a good day.
I shut my locker and turned around. I knew this was too good to be true.
“Hey Olivia,” The guy smiled.
“What Dylan?” Dylan Lane is the big jock in our school like captain of the football team big jock. Aka number one idiot jerk at our school.
“Come on liv don’t be like that, I see you found my rose.” My jaw dropped.
“That was you?” I asked. He smiled and nodded.
“My sincere apologies, and I had a question.” He smirked
“What would that be?” I asked still not totally trusting him.
“Would you let me take you to formal?” He asked.
“Sure.” I said hesitantly He smiled and it almost looked like he was trying not to laugh or smirk but I didn’t think twice about it.
“Awesome I’ll see you there liv, Friday night at 8.” He said then walked away.
I can’t believe this was actually happening I was having a fantastic day this never happens. I went through my day smiling through all of my classes.
When I got to my car this afternoon there was a sticky note on my window but this note wasn’t rude it was a simple smiley face and the words see you at formal!
I gently took it off my window and smiled. I unlocked my car and drove home.
“Mom I’m home!” I shouted “and I have wonderful news.” My Mother ran down stairs that led to our kitchen and sat down at the island.
“Okay talk,” she said very excitedly.
“I was asked to formal today,” I said very calmly and she got even more excited.
“Who asked you?”
“Dylan Lane.”
“Isn’t he the one that…,”
“He also gave me a rose and apologized for everything he’s done, but yes mom the Dylan that’s rude.”
“What did you say?” which was a fact I just now realized she didn’t know.
“I said yes, well I said sure, but same difference,” I smiled. She jumped out of her chair and hugged me.
“That’s great honey! Oh my goodness, we have so much to do we have to get you shoe’s and a dress all before Friday!” she said
“Mom your kind of squeezing me, and I can’t breathe.” I said, and she laughed and let go.
I ran up to my room and did my homework. Later mom and I discussed shopping and other things that would need to be done before Friday.
I went through the rest of the week quickly Wednesday night buying the dress and shoe’s, and Thursday night figuring out all the little things.
Soon Friday night was upon us and after getting home from school I laid out the mint green sparkly dress we bought and the silver heels and started working on my hair. Hours later I was driving to the school where Dylan told me to meet him outside of the gym.
I pulled into the parking lot and got out of my car saying hello to a few people and got a few compliments and looks of shock. I waited outside of the gym for a while hoping Dylan would be there soon. After waiting for a half hour I decided to go into the gym where I found the same group of people I talk to every morning. Some had dates others did not. I was with them for a while and continued to look for Dylan.
Eventually I did find Dylan. Dancing with his Ex-Girlfriend and laughing with his group of friends when he saw me. That’s when I realized it was a set up, and that I had been stood up.
I walked out of the Gym and to the bathroom and started to cry. I Knew it was all too good to be true. I heard the door open and Elizabeth another acquaintance of mine had walked in.
“Liv are you ok?” she asked concerned.
“I’ll be fine.” I told her while I started to walk toward the door keys in hand.
“Olivia where are you going,”
“Home,” I said determined to leave this awful situation.
“Don’t go, get back in there and have a good time. You can dance with Braxton and I.”
“So the two of you are together,”
“Yes,” she said smiling “but that’s not the point,” You look amazing you can’t just go and let it all go to waste. You have more friends in there then you think. You don’t need all of the jocks and the preps to make something of yourself. You’ve had a group of friends all along. We care about you Olivia and we want you to get back in there and have a good time.”
; And she was right. I did have a group of friends that were great. I didn’t need Dylan Lane. He definitely didn’t need me.
“Okay lets go.” I said terrified. Elizabeth and I walked back into the gym and back to our group.
Except this time, no one was laughing. I was invisible to them but. It was a good thing. They had there joke but they didn’t care anymore and I was fine with that.
We made our way back to the group and had a great time.
Later I felt myself being tapped on the shoulder. I turned around and saw Riley standing there smiling.
“Hey Olivia,” he said
“Hello Riley,”
“You look amazing.” He smiled.
“Thank you so do you.” He smiled and the song switched from a fast paced song to something much slower.
We stood there awkwardly and then Riley finally spoke. He cleared his throat and extended his hand.
“May I have this dance?”
I took his hand and smiled and the rest of the night created beautiful memories I will never forget.
Aylana Plummer
Screams always heard
My daughter won’t stop crying and screaming in the middle of the night. I visit her grave and ask her to stop but it doesn’t help.
I was only 17 year’s old when I found out I was pregnant with Scarlet. Many would think at that age it’d be the typical story and believe I was alone without the father, but it was nothing like that at all. I was going into my senior year of high school and the father of the baby, my soul mate was starting his freshmen year of college. I was afraid to tell Andrew in fear he’d leave like every other man does in this situation. I wouldn’t blame him; I just wasn’t ready to lose him.
To my surprise he was ecstatic there would be another little Hollingsworth In the family. Andrew was so sweet to me through the whole pregnancy and when Scarlet was born he was the perfect father. I perfectly remember the day she was born. It was 6 am and I told Andrew it was time. We rushed to the hospital and I went through 8 hours of labor. Andrew never left my side.
As Scarlet began to grow we noticed she started to get sick. She would cry out in pain through the night. We felt awful. We took her to see her pediatric doctor and she didn’t find anything wrong with scarlet right away. The doctor decided it was in our best interest to let her run a few tests and scans on scarlet to make sure the problem wasn’t bigger than expected. Of course we agreed. Within a week from her appointment, our worst fears became a reality. We were two young parents with a two year old that was fighting lung cancer.
We immediately took Scarlet to the Children’s hospital where we were told they could take the best care of her in her current condition. After she was settled into the room she’d be in for a while to undergo many surgeries and radiation. We met with the Doctor and his staff that would be taking care of Scarlet while she was there. He was an excellent doctor and I trusted him to be able to accomplish what he told us he could to the best of his ability.
That he did. Scarlet was in the hospital for a month and I never left her side. Andrew had to stay home and work to provide the funds to help us pay for the procedures being done because we had already used all of the money we had saved for our wedding. It was nowhere near enough, but eventually Scarlet got better and we paid off what we could.
Two years later Scarlet is healthy. Everything is wonderful, until one night.
We put Scarlet to bed and told her a story. We told her about a prince that married a beautiful princess and they had a beautiful daughter who grew up to be an actress. It was her favorite story because she helped us tell it. After we kissed her goodnight we turned out the light and went to bed ourselves. When I woke up that next morning I knew something was wrong. Scarlet always ran into the room and woke us up in the morning because she wanted our attention. This morning she didn’t.
I rushed to her room to wake her up but she was gone, we called an ambulance to try to revive her but there was nothing they could do. They drove her to the hospital to do an autopsy. They came to the conclusion that her death was due to her lung cancer.
“Doctor I thought it had gone away” I cried.
“Cancer can come back and unfortunately we didn’t catch it” he stated.
I got sank to my knees sobbing. I lost my baby girl what am I going to do with my life now.
Months went by I hadn’t left the house, not unless it was necessary. Andrew would come in everyday after work and come to our room and lay there feeling just as empty as I did. Somehow, though neither of us was great at coping, our marriage survived. It was so hard though. We fought constantly, over things as stupid as what day of the week it was. It’s not that we were angry at each other, not at all, it was just our only way of getting through this.
One night as we laid awake staring at the ceiling. I heard a crash come from Scarlet’s old room, then a child crying. I jumped out of bed and ran down the hall. I flung open the door and screamed. Andrew had ran in behind me shocked the words stuck in his throat.
There was a shadow or a ghost maybe that looked just like Scarlet sitting on the bed crying, struggling. I ran out of the room scared to death, but it followed me.
“Mommy don’t be scared it’s me.” It moaned.
“Andrew!” I screamed.
He tried to run but tripped over the rug and fell.
“Daddy why are you so afraid of me? I’m your little princess remember.” It spoke again.
I ran to him and pulled him up by his hand and ran to our room him following behind, I slammed the door and started sobbing in fear.
“What was that?” I screamed.
“I think it was Scarlet”. He stated through heavy breaths.
“No it can’t be Scarlet, She’s dead Andrew!”
“Well I hate to break it to you honey but that ghost is our daughter!”
I froze and slid down the wall with my head in my hands. She continued to scream and cry all night. Neither of us could sleep.
The next day Andrew and I drove to the cemetery and visited Scarlet’s grave.
“Baby girl please stop this we love you and miss you too, but you can’t continue to do this to us. Please stop I’m begging you.”
Unfortunately she didn’t. Every night for the next few months she would scream and cry through the night. I went to her old room one night and sat there waiting for her to come out.
“Oh hello mommy.”
“H-hello Scarlet, honey what is it you want from mommy and daddy?” I asked her as calm as I could. Andrew stood in the doorway just in case something went wrong.
“I want you to hear me. You didn’t the night I died. I screamed and cried for you. The man wouldn’t stop and you wouldn’t come save me!” she exclaimed.
“What man?” Andrew asked.
“The man that put a pillow over my head that made me not able to breathe. That’s how I died.”
“No Scarlet the doctor said it was your cancer.” I told her.
“Well the doctor was wrong. I was killed, and you didn’t save me.” She said and she started to get angry.
“Honey we didn’t hear you.”
“No that’s impossible you heard me when I was sick with cancer but you couldn’t hear me then, you heard me you were just too wrapped up in each other to care!”
“Scarlet Princess that’s not true!”
“Oh Shut up Andrew!” she screamed. “You two didn’t care about me and now you’re stuck with me until the day you die!” she angrily screamed.
“Scarlet!”
“What Mother.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“You didn’t have to ignore me when I was suffocated, but you did. Deal with the consequences.”
Scarlet never stopped screaming through the night. Andrew took his own life because he couldn’t deal with it. Now here I sit haunted and alone, and looks like it’ll be that way for the rest of my life.
Alayna Plummer
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Tale as old as time
The Christmas music permeated through the house as Grandma and I decorated the tree. A string of light’s here, some ribbon there. We pulled out the individual ornaments and hung them carefully on the tree. Some older than I was, some brand new, some were homemade, other’s bought off of store shelves. I pulled one particular ornament out of the box that made me smile. It was small, silver, and round with a picture of a young couple in the middle with the words ‘Our First Christmas’ painted in red underneath of the picture. I delicately hung it on the tree and then looked at my grandmother.
“Grandma could you tell me again how you met grandpa.” She placed the small reindeer she was holding on the tree then looked at me and smiled.
“Of course, I’d love to. “ She said as she sat down on the couch and I sat down on the floor in front of the tree.
“It was a normal day in late November in 1950. I was 20 years old. I was waitressing at a Steak N Shake in Hammond Indiana. A man came in he looked like he was in his late 20s maybe earlier. He was tall and very handsome. He sat in my section.
I took a menu to him and asked him what he would like to drink.
“I’ll take a cup of coffee dear.” He said smiling at me.
“I’ll be right back with that honey.” I said to him and walked back to the counter to pour his cup of coffee.
I brought it to him and he thanked me, I took his food order and turned it in and put on a smiled while waiting on the other tables. I took him his order and when he left he thanked me for being such a wonderful waitress.
He walked out to a big semi-truck and left. I stood staring out the door for a few seconds smiling to myself.
“Don’t get hung up on him honey, the chance you’ll see him again is slim.” Another waitress who was a friend of mine told me.
“I know Sandy. I just thought maybe…” I stopped and sighed.
“You thought maybe he was the one. Honey you can’t fall in love with a guy just by being his waitress, I’ve made that mistake before.” She said as another customer came in. “Just take my advice and be careful hon.” She said then walked away.
“But he just seems different.” I whispered to myself.
But as much as I wanted to believe my heart, Sandy was right. I’d probably never see him again, and if I did I couldn’t let myself get hung up on him. I had to remember why I’m here in the first place. My parents are sick and I have to keep this job to help pay the bills. I can’t get distracted.
I’m sure one date wouldn’t be wrong though. Would it?
A week later I was going about my normal duties as a waitress and as I turned to help my next table, my heart skipped a beat. It was him. I shyly walked over to the table.
“Hello, my name’s Marion and I’ll be serving you today. Can I start you off with something to drink?” I said my voice slightly shaking. He smiled.
“Well hello Marion, I would like a coffee please.” He said. I smiled and walked behind the counter to get his coffee.
“Sandy, he’s back.” I whispered, and her eyes got wide.
“Then forget what I said Doll, and go for it.” She said, and walked away leaving me so confused as to what to do. I walked back to the table with his coffee and he asked me if I could sit. I looked back at sandy who had just walked past and she nodded. So I sat with him.
“Is there something I can help you with?” I asked him.
“Not really, I would just like to get to know you,” He said smiling at me.
“There really isn’t much to know,” I said shyly.
“I’m sure that can’t be true.” He said looking at me curiously.
“Okay, my name is Marion Lawrance. I live in Hammond and I’m working to help pay the bills, and take care of my parents and my other siblings. That’s really all there is to it I’m a pretty simple girl.”
“You have the pretty part right” He smiled, “If you’re going to introduce yourself I should probably do the same. My Name is Cyril Doyle, I’m a truck driver and I live in this area. I’m recently divorced and I have 5 children.” He said and his face got red as if he was embarrassed.
“Oh,” was all I could say. I didn’t have any more words, because I wasn’t sure what to say.
“Maybe I should go I didn’t mean to…”
“No, You seem very interesting Cyril Doyle. I would love to do this again, but right now I need to get back to work.” I said smiling at him.
“Well where can I pick you up to take you out?”
“Meet me here and we can go from there.” I said as I got up and started to leave.
“I’ll see you here Marion.” He said then winked as he got up to pay his bill. He walked out and I went about the rest of my shift with a smile on my face.
I felt like I was in love with a stranger, No not in love, madly in love. I told my parents that sometime soon I would be going on a date with a lovely gentleman that I had met while at work. They were okay with it, but also demanded that eventually they needed to meet him. Which of course I was okay with, what could they possibly find wrong with him.
A few days later as I was finishing my shift Cyril pulled up in a station wagon. I walked out to greet him and he opened the car door for me. He drove to a park nearby where we sat under a tree and talked for hours.
That’s how a lot of our dates went, we’d go to the park, out to dinner, or even roller skating, and we’d talk about everything under the sun. We fell in love quickly and after only a few months of dating I decided it was time for him to meet mom and dad.
“I’m a little nervous about this Marion.”
“Oh Cyril, don’t worry they’ll love you. I know I do.” I said gently, but I was so wrong.
My mother didn’t like him at all nor did my father. It was awful. They couldn’t accept the fact that he had been married before and that he had children. Cyril asked my father for my hand in marriage but my father said no.
Cyril and I still went together. We wouldn’t let anyone tear us apart.
“Marion I’m crazy about you Darling, I know you father doesn’t want us to marry but I can’t stand to be away from you.”
“Cyril what are you trying to say?” I asked him curious as to where he was going with this.
“Let’s elope love no one can say no. It’ll just be the two of us!” he begged.
“Oh darling, that’s a perfect idea but when will we go?”
“I’ll come get you tonight, then we’ll marry tomorrow.”
And that’s what happened that night March 19, 1951 we drove to Jeffersonville, Indiana. The next morning we went to the courthouse and met with the justice of the peace and we were married. I was now officially Marion Elaine Doyle, and I couldn’t be happier, for our love that started off with a simple up of coffee and a conversation.
“That story always makes me so happy grandma.”
“I know sweetheart.”
“Ah there you are my love telling stories again.” My grandpa said as he walked into the room.
“Only one of the sweetest love stories of all time,” grandma said smiling at him.
“If you’re in it, it’s perfect.” He said smiling back. With that I stood up and we finished decorating the tree, singing with the music, and talking about all the beautiful times they had together, and how the first Christmas led to some of the most beautiful Christmases throughout the rest of their lives together.
Alayna Plummer
What I do for you
What do you see when you think of girls that our big fans of boy bands or a lot of the bands in today’s music. You see someone that is loud, screaming for absolutely no reason, crying for absolutely no reason, and people who plan weddings that are never going to exist.
I however am the opposite. So why is it that tomorrow I’m going to a concert where I am going to be surrounded by those people? It’s because I am good friend.
My best friend Zach happens to be a big fan of th
is new band that’s supposed to be sort of punk rock and they seem cool but I’m definitely not looking forward to it. Especially because the only reason I have to go is because Zach’s girlfriend Emma wouldn’t go with him.
I was in my room sitting quietly trying to decide how I was going to make it through tomorrow, when Zach ran in.
“Audrey! The show is tomorrow!” He said excitedly and then jumped landing in my chair.
“Yes Zachary, I know the show is tomorrow. Why else would I be writing last minute excuses as to why I can’t make it?” I said then moved so I was lying upside down on my bed and hanging off the side. “Do you think if I lay like this long enough it could kill me?” He laughed and then pushed me back up.
“Maybe, but don’t try it because you’re going.”
“But I hate people,” I whined.
“Get over it,” he said mocking me.
“Ugh, fine I’ll be there, but don’t plan on me being happy about it.”
“It’ll be fun Audrey, I promise,” He said and then stood up. “Now what’s for dinner I’m starving?” I just got up and rolled my eyes and followed him out of my room.
“I don’t know let’s look.” We walked out into the kitchen where my parents had prepared some delicious looking spaghetti. We sat down as a family including Zach who might as well be my brother, I mean he’s here enough, and we ate.
My mother asked us about the concert she seemed very interested. She also pointed out how much of a different environment it would be for me. She’s always encouraging me to get out of the house and interact with people, but it’s just not my thing.
Later about an hour after dinner Zach left and I sat in my room the rest of the night thinking about how awful tomorrow was going to be.
After being awake for most of the night I finally fell asleep at 2:30 in the morning. Only to be shaken awake at 7:30.
“Audrey ! Wake up we have to leave in 3 hours!” Zach yelled still shaking me.
“Yes and I planned to sleep for at least 2 more of them so bye.” I tried to roll back over and fall asleep but I knew he was staring at me. I sat straight up and rolled my eyes. “Fine let’s go. The sooner we can get this over with the better.”
“Would you stop being so negative about this?” He begged.
“No Zach I won’t. You’re dragging me to an area that I’m going to be extremely uncomfortable in. I hate big crowds I can’t stand loud people, except for you sometimes, and to top it off the stupidity of the people there is going to be off the charts. I have no reason to be positive about this.”
He was quite for a minute. He was contemplating what he could actually say to that and finally just said, “Okay I see your point. I’m sorry Audrey. This concert is just a really big thing for me and you’re my best friends so I thought I’d share this amazing thing with you.” I hate it when he does that. He’s making me feel guilty for being unsocial to talk me into something I didn’t want to do.
“No I’m sorry, let’s go maybe this will actually be fun.” He ran up and gave me a hug.
“Thank you! This is why your my best friend.” I rolled my eyes.
“Whatever you say Zachary,” we walked out to, as he likes to call it, The Zach Mobile, and he started it then put in a CD of the band and turned the stereo all the way up. He reversed out of my drive way switched gears and then it was official. There was no way out of this.
I had to scream over the music to talk to him “Zach what’s the name of your stupid band again?” He rolled his eyes and screamed back “Okay first of all Audrey they are not stupid, they write and produce amazing and mind blowing music. Second the name of the band is Halestorm and the lead singer Lizzy is very attractive.” He stated.
“Right so are we going because you like the band or because you want to try and hit on the lead singer.” I laughed and he made a very annoyed face.
“The band is amazing Lizzy Hale being not bad looking is just a plus. Besides I could never leave Emma.” That last part was true. He and Emma were very close, I don’t think anything, or anyone, could separate them.
About 20 minutes later we arrived at the Venue. You could tell this was a Rock venue, the place was very torn up the stage had a lot of wear and tear, but the sound system was insanely awesome. Zach forced me into the building after he literally dragged me out of the car. The place was filled with provocatively dressed girls who were trying to get the drummer or guitar player’s attention, people who pretended to be fans to impress their actual significant others, and people with ridiculous and unrealistic dreams of meeting and being with members of the band. It was awful, and it was ridiculously loud. Every time I tried to turn and run out Zach would drag me by the arm back to our seats. I just did not want to be here at all.
We waited through a few opening acts, they actually weren’t that awful for just starting their careers. After the last opening act we had probably waited about 10 minutes for the band to come out and people started being even more idiotic and chanting for the band. I stood silently trying to imagine myself anywhere but there, but it didn’t help considering Zach had bought front row seats and there was constantly someone shoving trying to get closer to the stage.
Finally the band came on and everyone started screaming, Even Zach. They played the first song which was actually really good; I think I may have heard it on the radio once. Zach was having a blast, which was great, seeing him have a good time made it all worth it, especially since I wasn’t. I mean the band was great but these people were nuts. You wouldn’t believe half of the things some of these people were doing. It was insane. They played for at least another hour. The set list was pretty long but the songs we’re pretty great so that wasn’t a problem. Finally they left the stage after an encore and a freakishly long drum solo.
I ran out of the building the first chance I had. I was trying to find the Zach Mobile in the sea of cars in the parking lot but I got lost. As I was trying to find the car I accidentally ran into someone.
“I am so sorry I didn’t see you there.” I mumbled.
“It’s fine it was a pleasure to run into someone as pretty as you.” The stranger said smiling. I blushed.
“Well, thank you.”
“Would you want to meet for coffee sometime? You look like someone I’d want to get to know.”
“Sure,” I answered shyly.
“Can I have your name?” He asked as he started to write on a piece of paper.
“My names Audrey,” I answered and shook his hand. He handed me a piece of paper with his name and number on it.
“I’m A.J.” He smiled. And just then I heard a car honk behind me. It was Zach.
“Well A.J. I better get going. That’s my ride.” I started to back up toward the car.
“Ok well call me anytime ok? I’d love to meet up with you, It was nice to meet you Audrey. “
“Will do, it was nice to meet you.” I got in the car and Zach was beaming with excitement. “What idiot?”
“Audrey that was A.J. Hale,”
“Oh like the name of the band?”
“Yeah, also as in the younger brother of Lizzy Hale, Aka the Drummer of the band.”
I paused in shock then smiled. “Well looks like this concert was actually a good thing.”
“I told you it was worth it.”
“Yeah, I guess you did.” I smiled and stared out the window. I couldn’t wait to get home and call A.J. little did I know that was the start of a very long relationship, and the rest of our lives.
New York
Alyssa Johnson
It’s that time of the year again! Stacey will be taking her annual trip to New York City. This year her mom will be allowing her to take on friend along with them. Stacey isn’t really social so she doesn’t have a wide variety of friends to choose from. However, she has a few days to make a final decision.
The few days have passed and it was time for Stacey to decide what friend she’d be taking with her to New Yor
k City. She has chosen her friend Lottie. Stacey feels that Lottie will bring a great contrast to the trip making it more enjoyable.
Stacey, her mom, and Lottie are all boarding the bus to head on off on their way. Along the fourteen hour ride they decided they would use the time to decide what they’ll be doing on their days in New York.
“I really want to go out at night and see what it’s like.” Said Lottie.
“I don’t think my mom would approve of that, plus we are young girls. It’d be dangerous for us to be out at night.” Replied Stacey.
“Your mom wouldn’t have to approve of it if she didn’t know we were going to do it. We could sneak out while she’s sleeping, we both know she’ll be tired and want to sleep after this long bus ride.” Lottie whispered to Stacey.
“I still don’t think it’s a good idea Lottie, what if something bad happens?” Stacey whispered in a worried tone.
“Nothing bad will happen.” whispered Lottie
“We are going to New York! Let’s have some fun!” Lottie exclaimed.
A few minutes after the discussion both Lottie and Stacey fell asleep and they ended up sleeping for the rest of the ride. Stacey’s mom was unable to sleep on the bus so the entire ride she made an itinerary for the girls and her. The time has come and they arrived at Grand Central Station, well below it actually. Stacey was woke up by her mom and Lottie.
“Don’t forget our plan for tonight..” Lottie whispered to Stacey.
“I’m not doing it.” Declared Stacey.
The girls and her mom fond the escalators and began traveling upwards to get to the main level of the station. When they finally got up there they all gasped in awe.
“It’s beautiful.” Lottie said.
After they finished looking around at the station they headed out to catch a taxi to go to their hotel. They arrived at the Jolly Madison and were greeted by the doorman. They got their key and went to their room to take quick showers and figure out what they wanted to do first. They decided to spend their day walking around to learn the roads of New York City. Most of the time Stacey just gazed at the beautiful buildings, looked at all the detail of the city, and admired the bright lights shining above. Meanwhile, Lottie was all over the place leaving the two behind. She was going in and out of stores, not paying attention to crosswalks and Stacey’s mom got fed up with it and decided to call it a night heading back to the hotel. As soon as they got back Stacey’s mom fell asleep.
“Come on! Live for once! Let’s go out!” exclaimed Lottie.
“It’s not a good idea; it isn’t save for us out there.” Stacey replied.
“What if I buy you buy something special at one of the stores?” asked Lottie.
Stacey, thinking back to the watch she saw in the window of a store was very hesitant. She thought to herself “well.. it isn’t that far..”
“Fine! But just that one store!” declared Stacey.
“Yes!” Lottie yelled, almost waking Stacey’s mom.
Both girls managed to sneak out of the hotel room and remembered that the store was just around the corner.
“We have to make this quick!” Stacey said as they ran over to the store.
Once they arrived to the store they quickly ran to the watch. The price was a lot but Lottie had finally got her prude of a friend to go out and do something rebellious so she thought it was worth it to buy it for her. As they were checking out a man with a mask ran in yelling. Everyone in the store was freaking out, both Lottie and Stacey jumped to hide behind one of the post card stands. The man never seemed to look over them at all, he kept his gun pointed at the man working the register. It’s like he only wanted him. He started screaming things that the girls couldn’t understand, then BOOM. They watched the owner of the store get shot then the man ran out of the store. Lottie pulled out her phone and called 9-1-1, meanwhile Stacey called her mom on her phone. Stacey’s mother rushed over there as soon as she could and when she arrived the store was surrounded by cops. She explained to the cops that she was the parent of one of the children in there and that the other girl was her daughter’s friend. When she walked in the girls were giving a statement to the police. The girls were let go and they all went back to the hotel. Stacey’s mom was furious and told them they weren’t going anywhere the next day but she was glad they were okay. The rest of the trip neither Stacey, nor Lottie were allowed to leave her mom’s line of sight. However, the girls enjoyed the rest of the trip and were thankful they weren’t harmed.
Her
Alyssa Johnson
After a hard day I came home to see my girlfriend cradling our child. I didn’t know which was more frightening, seeing my dead girlfriend and stillborn child, or knowing that someone broke into my apartment to place them there. I stood there in shock, my body felt as lifeless as the two sitting before me. My emotions and feelings were running wild, I felt completely numb to what I was seeing. Today was the one year anniversary since the passing of Whitney and here she is sitting in the rocking chair holding our son. I could not determine if what I was seeing was real. I looked at our baby boy, Caiden, he was so beautiful, and his mother, just as beautiful. This made me wish he could have seen how stunning his mother was.
Whitney gave birth to Caiden a few months before her death but our little boy decided to go with the angels rather than stay with us. I don’t what it was that made me walk up to the bodies but I did, and the scar was still there. I remember her eyes being so full of life, so full of color, and now they hold a glassy, empty stare. A year ago today we were happily together with our son. I had the whole night planned for the two of us, I was going to take her to her favorite pizza place, Pizza Al’s, then we were going to go for ice cream after. However, she didn’t know the plan, all she knew was that she was to dress nice for when I got home so we could go. What really happened that night is not what I intended. We were all in the car, listening to music, laughing, having a great time then my phone rang. The Caller ID showed it was my boss calling me, he never called unless it was urgent, I turned down the radio so I would be able to hear and as I was swiping my phone to pick up the call that’s when it happened.
She appeared running at the front of the car so I swerved to avoid hitting her. The car flipped over the guard rail into a huge ditch. I was in no pain, but I could hear Whitney screaming, oh the noise was unbearable. Shortly after the wreck I saw flashing lights coming towards us, but I no longer heard Whitney, she had gone silent. I started yelling to get their attention, to help get Whitney out first, but they refused and got me out first. I watched the men and women tear apart my vehicle to save Whitney from the crash and as they pulled out her lifeless body, in the background back by the ambulance car that thing was standing there. It was the thing that caused the wreck! I was so frustrated yelling at the paramedics to get her but no one else saw her. The woman stood there tall, scrawny, wearing what seemed to be only underpants and a torn up shirt, she had very dirty blonde hair, nails that seemed like they could pierce your soul, how could no one see her? As we got into the ambulance in a rush to the hospital, I looked out the back window and there she stood at the scene of the crash, waving. I tried once again to tell the paramedic there was a woman out there but no one believed me. I kept seeing this woman everywhere. She was standing next to Whitney’s hospital bed, she was present at her funeral, and sometimes I even saw her in my dreams. This was a reoccurring thing for me and when I tried to get help no one believed me. Eventually doctors had enough and diagnosed me with schizophrenia, putting me in an insane asylum. I had stopped seeing the woman within a year and they released me just last week.
My first week at home alone was tiring but relaxing. It was my first day back to work, I was glad to be back, but it was also the anniversary of Whitney’s death. When I got to work I got my office set up and outside the window she was standing there. I began to see her everywhere I looked at work. I figured I was just seeing things due to the amount of stress at my first day back on the job so I jus
t brushed it off. While sitting at my desk I decided to do research, describing the woman and many similar articles appeared. Many people have seen the woman, her name was known as the “people reaper” She appeared to let family members know that she was the one who took the life of their loved ones. She did this as an act of revenge for her beloved one taking her very own life. After a hard day I came home to see my girlfriend cradling our child, and standing behind them was that woman.
Terror on France
Alyssa Johnson
It is November 14th, I walked down to the local shoppe to get the daily newspaper and in bold font the headlining story was “La France a été attaqué” which translates to “France has been attacked”. In the story following the headline they had a full name list of all the victims even his. It also said how France was to fire back today on Raqqa, Syria. Reading all this caused me to have a flashback of the day, and all the terrible events in our lives that lead up to it.
When I was five years old my mother, my friend Zan, and I stopped by McDonald’s in Quévert. We were just pulling up when we heard a loud crash. As we were trying to see what happened we saw a bunch of people run out of the restaurant. My mother then quickly drove out of the establishment. We brushed off what we just saw, even though we knew something had gone wrong. After a while of contemplating we finally decided a different fast food place to run by to get food from. When we got home we all sat down at the table to eat our food. My mom turned on the tele for background noise like she usually did. As we were eating we overheard a faint conversation about a McDonald’s restaurant. Both my mom and I quickly turned to look at the tele, and Zan being Zan just continued to eat, off in his own world. The headline along with the story read “ Aujourd’hui 19 Avril 2065 une bombe explose tuant un” which translates to “today, April 19, 2065 a bomb goes off killing one”. My mom and I looked at each other shocked, we were there. If we had got there just a few minutes earlier that one person could have been one of us.
At the age of seventeen Zan and I were officially dating. I remember during the month of March he would come over almost every day after school to have a snack and watch tv with me. On March 11th we skimmed past the news and heard something terrifying. An attack occurred, one that was soon to be the first of three. A Muslim French Paratrooper was shot dead. On March 15th two other Muslim French soldiers were killed and another injured in the shopping centre in Montauban. The final attack occurred on March 19th, four people were killed. Three of those four people were young children attending school. The news then declared a man hunt for a man named Mohammed Merah that lasted from March 19th to the 22nd. On the last day of the hunt they had found the man’s apartment and did a live cover of the police outside his building on the news. While watching the news I distinctly remember the man calling in, and until this day I can still remember his voice and those words he said. That day at 10:30 you could see the police rush in to get the man, you could hear tons of explosives and shooting, and that’s when we saw it. Mohammed Merah jumped out of the five-story building in hopes to get away, but that’s when a police sniper got him. It wasn’t until the next day that he was pronounced dead. I don’t know how I remember this dates so well after three years later. I guess all the panic and fear across the nation lead to me being able to remember it all.
Now that I am twenty I thought I had seen it all, I thought the attacks would be done. On January 7th, 2100 I went to a gathering in France to see the well-known Charlie Hebdo, he did the art for the newspaper. I was to meet Zan there and while I was waiting there were two gunmen came running at us. We were all confused as to what was going on so scattered, forgetting about Charlie. As I was running, I ran into Zan, who asked what was happening. Before I could get the words out we heard a few shots and screams. When the paramedics arrived twelve people have been left dead, and twelve have been injured. A day later on January 8th a gunman took hostages then the next day their location was tracked. When the police arrived at the location the men shot at them, killing them. During the month of January we lost twenty people, one of those who were Charlie, and twenty-two were injured.
Just this year, for my Zan’s birthday I got him tickets to go see France VS. Germany at Le Stade De France, however the date of the event wasn’t until a week after his birthday, on November 13th. The week passed quickly and we were now walking up to the stadium, he was excited as can be! As we started to get closer he said he had forgotten something. The walk back to the vehicle was at least a 10 minute walk. I then told him to go ahead, that I’d go in the stadium and wait for him.
I walked into the stadium; it was just as big as people have said it was. I noticed the French President was also here as well, what an honor it was. When I found my seat I sat down and I wonder what he had gone back to the car for. I’m sure it was just something simple that I’d find out soon. He should be back within twenty minutes.
“I can’t believe I forgot it, how stupid of me.” Zan said to himself.
I finally got to the car after a ten minute walk and couldn’t find what I was looking for. What did I do with it? I searched and searched for at least five minutes. She texted me saying the game was about to start and that’s when I found it! I began to rush back to the stadium and when I got there a security guard, whose name was Zouhier, was in a slight altercation with a young man. He told the man he was not allowed in the stadium. I wasn’t sure why, but something told me to continue listening. I texted Chanel to tell her something odd was going on outside the stadium that I would be in there soon. I watched the man continue to take steps backwards as he was yelling and that’s when it happened. It was all in slow motion, the man blew himself up. Something happened to me in that moment, I saw a great flash of light and my whole life flashed before my eyes. I tried to yell for help but it was like I couldn’t get my body to do anything, I just laid there. Was this it? Was I dead?
He told me he was on his way back, and that he’d be here soon. The game had been going for at least twenty minutes and I heard a loud boom. At first I just thought I was imagining things but the whole stadium noticed, even the soccer players. The announcers said it was nothing so the game continued. I had a really bad feeling so I snuck out of the stadium and called Zan. I must have called a hundred times and no answer from him. I then got a call from the hospital saying that Zan had been injured outside of the stadium, that I should come to the hospital immediately. When I got to the hospital I asked for his room and the nurse stopped me before I could go in, they wanted to tell me in person. They pronounced Zan dead due to a suicide bombing outside the stadium outside then she said they found something in his pocket and she handed me a tiny box. I opened the box and it was an engagement ring. I was already in so much shock as to what happened and what was currently going on. My knees buckled dragging me to the floor, my tears flooded the hall. As I left the hospital for the first and last time I headed to the local shoppe and saw a newspaper with a bold headline.
On The Road
Alyssa Johnson
It’s a few weeks before Sophia’s birthday; the day tickets for her favorite band go on presale. She has been waiting for this day for months. As an early 16th birthday present her dad lets her buy a floor ticket next to the stage. She was so excited to see her favorite band next year, she told everyone about it. As the next few weeks progressed things went downhill. Her parents had one of many court dates hastily approaching, which lead to persistent fighting between the two. She noticed her parents were financially struggling. In spite of this she got online and put her ticket u for sale. With the money she would get from selling the ticket she would help pay bills.
A few weeks later the heartbreaking day came, when her ticket was sold. However, she wasn’t too upset about this. Sophia believed that whoever bought the ticket deserved way more than her anyway so she was glad she was able to give someone the chance to go. Once it was sold she told one of her best friends that lived another state that she was no longer going to the c
oncert.
Some months passed, and it was now tax return time. Sophia didn’t have a job at the time, however her best friend, Tori, told her when her when her mom got the return she’d be buying tickets to one of the concerts on the tour Sophia was supposed to be going to. Sophia was beyond happy her friend was going to be able to go see such great people.
Sophia got a job in hopes she would be able to save enough money for a ticket to the tor. However, one day at work she was lifting something heavy and twisted her wrist really severely. Since she was at work she continued to work thinking it was a small sprain. A week later she still had excruciating pain so she finally went to the doctors. At first they told her it was broken but they refused to put a cast on it because they weren’t 100% sure. After that appointment she had to wait three weeks before her appointment with a specialist and to get an MRI. For Sophia an MRI was one of the most painful and terrifying thing ever experienced. However, the results showed she had torn the ligament in her wrist, meaning the muscle that holds both the radius and ulna together was tore making it so they weren’t aligned. This left Sophia in a full arm splint for seven weeks.
With the splint she faced many daily difficulties. She was unable to get dressed properly, fix her hair, do her makeup, write in school, etc. Along with those difficulties she was also in constant pain, because of this she would get easily irritated. That also caused her to get easily upset with the simplest things.
While all the complications with her arm were occurring her parents didn’t make matters any better. Every time they saw each other in public or when dropping her and her siblings off at another’s house they always yelled. It would be over the simplest things but they have so much hatred towards each other all they’d do is yelling. Every time something went wrong between her parents she’d receive a text that expresses how it’s her fault for not standing up and taking sides.
One day Sophia’s phone went off while doing homework. Expecting to have received a text from one of her parents, she didn’t view it until she finished her homework. After she finished she pulled out her phone and it was a text from her best friend. It was a picture of three tickets to the tour, with a caption saying she was allowed one friend. That’s when Tori broke the news to her that the extra ticket would be going to her. Not to mention the seats were two sections from the stage!
It’s August and Sophia is heading five hours to meet up with Tori for the concert, poster and all. She finally gets to the hotel and gives the guardian money for the ticket. The girls are getting in the car heading to the venue; it hasn’t hit them that they will actually be seeing their favorite band in a few hours. They arrive at the venue and find the gate entrance for floor ticket holders. While in line for over an hour they make some friends, get compliments on their posters, and get excited for the concert.
After a few hours of waiting they are finally permitted into the venue. They run down to the floor to find their seats, they get to their section, section M. They then find their row, but when they get to it the seats start at seat four not one. They have seats one through three so they call one of the security guards over to figure out what they do. He took the tickets and left to ask someone with greater knowledge on what to do. While he was doing that Sophia and Tori ran to take pictures of the stage, etc. They see the guard come back so they run back over to the parent to find out what they’re supposed to do. This is when they realized how lucky they are. The security guard is sure to inform them that the seats listed on the tickets do not exist, however, they will be getting upgraded. Sophia ans Tori look at each other thinking “how can you possibly upgrade this view”.
They get to the ticketing tent and tell the workers why they are there and they’re informed they will be receiving a different coloured wristband meaning they will be in a different floor section. As they are putting on the green bands the workers express to the girls that they will now be in section B. Both start crying realizing this meant they would be RIGHT next to the stage.
The concert is about to start, the lights dim, and the trailer plays, then fireworks go off. Following right after the fireworks is the first note to one of the songs “Diana” then the boys come running out singing. For Sophia it was such an adrenaline rush, the moment is here. She had gone through a lot to get here. Not to mention she still held that poster up even with the full arm splint and through all the pain. The feeling of being there is just incredible. It’s like for once all her fears, all her worries were washed away. She could be herself, she felt content with how she was and she felt loved. The concert showed her what it was like to let go and be carefree and happy. Seeing the boys live caused her to realize that her whole world was standing in front of her and that no matter what happened at home they will always be there to lift her spirits up.
Ashlie Horn
Better to have loved and lost
Just like anyone else, I have experienced tragedy. Everyone eventually does, unless you completely shut yourself out of everyone else’s lives and that’s not a healthy way to live. Tragedy usually strikes unexpectedly, but sometimes it is expected. People can be sick for ages and not have much long left, but when they pass you will still be shocked. Tragedy is not only losing people, but other things can happen too.
My experience with tragedy showed me that it’s better to have loved and lost, than to have not loved at all. Honestly, everyone hates losing friends, family etc. but it happens to everyone. The experience I had with having love and losing was with my close family/ friends. I lost one of my best friends, Analeis (Leisy) and my mom’s best friend Carlos (Papaw). With all of my heart, I truly did love them. It sucks that they’re gone but I appreciate the fact that I got to meet them, know them my whole life, and grow close to them.
Analeis was Carlos’s granddaughter, so I considered Leisy as a cousin, or best friend. As for my papaw Carlos, I considered him my Papaw and he always referred to me as his “white daughter” since he was Hispanic and I am white. What happened was when I was really little, only a couple years old, my mom and Carlos worked together at Ball. Eventually, he talked to her and said things like “Hey Becky. I’m coming over!” or “See you at your house at 8.” Even though my mom barely knew him. Secretly, he had a crush on my mom. But I always ignored that and so did my mom. It was kind of adorable actually. But that’s how I met both Leisy and papaw. Leisy and I would always play together when we were younger and my mom and Carlos would always talk and do adult stuff. Leisy and I grew older and we still always hung out.
A few years down the road when Leisy was about 11 or 12 she was diagnosed with Leukemia and she was sick for a long while. In all honesty, I only got to see her in the hospital once, and I regret not making an effort to have my mom and Carlos take me to see her in Indi. When I was in 7th grade, my papaw Carlos called my mom and I when I was getting ready for school one morning, and Leisy had passed away… I was heartbroken but the loss just drew me closer to the family. After that loss, I became really close to Leisy’s cousin, and Carlos’s granddaughter, Racquel. That was awesome, but after a lot of spending time with Racquel and papaw, last year he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He had a long fight taking chemo and other treatments. It was hard seeing him so sick and weak, and out of his normal state of mind. I took every chance I had to visit him though, because I learned from my experience with Leisy that I want to spend and see my loved ones as much as possible. I always went over to his house to go visit him and talk to him, even though he stayed sort of quiet and said as much as he could. I also took lots of pictures with him on my iPod and phone. On my phone, where most of the pictures were, I had an SD card. When I got a new phone and got rid of my iPod, I had all of our cute little pictures on the SD card. Around December or January of 2014, I had the SD card in the pocket of my brand new North Face jacket, and I happened to leave it somewhere at school. The next day I checked everywhere and asked teachers if they had seen it or if it was in the lost and found. I lost all the
pictures I had with him. I remembered that on some random day, I printed a picture off of me and him that I had, and framed it and gave it to him. Papaw Carlos always had it next to him on the table, the whole time he was sick. He passed away on November 10th, 2014, and at the funeral was the picture that I had for him, it was on one of the poster things with pictures of him and friends and family. Even though I don’t have it, I know his daughter Julie still has the picture so I know it still exists. It just sucks that I don’t have it for myself.
It sucks to go through all the loss, but it’s better to have loved and loss rather than to not love at all. I don’t regret any of it at all and I’m so glad I got to get close to the family.
Ashlie Horn
Tripp and Adeline
I heard a slight ringing in the back of my head, I was not really sure if I was unconscious or conscious. I took a second and pried my eyes open and looked around without moving. I saw my phone flashing across the room and realized what I was hearing was my alarm. I wiped the sleep out of my eyes, sat up, and slid off my bed to turn off the obnoxious alarm. It was 7:31 am. Why? Why do I have to go to school? I stretched and started getting ready. I threw on a Rasta drug rug, some American Eagle Khakis and my vans. After I walked into the bathroom, I looked at my shoulder length, curly, blonde hair. I combed it out and threw on my snapback and big black framed glasses. I’m a stud, huh. I grabbed my longboard and an apple on my way out the door.
As I arrived at school, I picked up my board and jogged inside. I ran upstairs to the Junior lockers and there she was, Adeline. Adeline is one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen. She had silvery blonde, wavy hair, clear down to her butt. She was pale, skinny, and had light green and blue eyes. She was always talking to new people, making friends, and being so friendly. She was such a people person. I imagined myself making my way across the hall to go talk to her. As I walk up, she stops talking to her little group of people and smiles at me, with that beautiful white smile, and huge dimples. I felt my face get red.
“Hey, Adeline. Right?”
“Yeah! That’s me.” She giggled.
“Uh yeah I knew that. Haha” I struggled, trying not to sound like an idiot.
“TRIPP! What the hell are you doing man? You look like you are drooling.” I snapped out of my day dream as my buddy Jess yelled at me.
“I uh, must have been day dreaming that’s all Jess. I’m a little tired from hanging out so late last night you know.”
“Tripp, you do NOT have to lie to me boy. I know you’re day dreaming about her.” He pointed a finger to some dark haired girl, named Trinity.
“Haha, no. Well, I have got to get to class. I’ll catch up with you later dude.”
No way. I knew there was no way could I tell Jess that I have a gigantic crush on Adeline. She’s like the most wanted girl in school, why would she go for a hippie like me? She wouldn’t. Maybe I should just find someone else to drool over. Like… Trinity. Yeah, Trinity. I tried to clear my thoughts and slow things down a bit while walking across our huge school just to go to Algebra 2.
While I was sitting in that terrible math class, the announcements came on about halfway through the class.
“ATTENTION, ALL STUDENTS REPORT TO THE AUXILARY GYM FOR A MEETING. ALL STUDENTS REPORT TO THE AUXILARY GYM FOR A MEETING”
Oh great. I thought to myself. A stupid meeting. Probably about cookie dough or something. I stood up with the rest of the class, and we walked down to the auxiliary gym. Thankfully, my group of friends were sitting at the top of the bleachers calling my name.
“Tripp! Tripp! Up here dude!”
There were probably about 20 guys sitting at the top waiting for me, it was honestly pretty welcoming. We all sat in silence as everyone in the school got sat down. We all stood up for the Pledge of Allegiance. In unison, we all said, or some mouthed, the words to the
Pledge of Allegiance without hands behind us or placed on our chest. We all sat down after the moment of silence, and Brittany Newman stood at the bottom of the gym with a microphone.
“Hello fellow students. I’m sure you’re all wondering why we’re having a random meeting. The reason behind this is because we wanted to introduce a new course you can take this year. It will be called People Skills, in classroom 102, with Mrs. Jenkinson. The purpose of this class is to enhance you’re people skills, and help you to interact with people you are not necessarily comfortable with or used to being around. This class can help with Job interviews, and maybe even meeting your significant other.”
A lot of people cheered at the last remark, meeting your significant other. After all the drama was gone and everyone’s excitement about the new class course had died down, we went to class and finished our notes and homework. At the end of class I sat in my desk, using my pencil to draw a little doodle on the smooth, wooden desk. I was thinking about everything. My friends, my divorced parents, how attractive I was, and how somewhat unhappy I was. I didn’t know what I was missing; I mean this should be normal for any 16 year old. To feel like you don’t fit in, or you’re not exactly sure what you need to be happy. I mean, I do have everything I need. I have an IPhone 6+, straight A’s, nice clothes, friends, family, and good looks. Yet there was still something missing from my life… Maybe it’s love? Psh, that’s a stupid thought. How could love seriously be that one thing I’m missing from my life? I have to be joking myself.
As the bell for lunch rang loudly through out the school, everyone got up and raced to the cafeteria to be first in line. I was like the 3rd person in the 1st lunch line. Suprisingly enough, as soon as I went to the area with the condiments, like ketchup, ranch, mustard ect, someone smacked my plate all over the front of my comfy rasta sweater.
“Dude, of course. My luck! Watch where you’re going!” I crappily said as I looked up and saw that the person who had done this was Adeline. She had the most embarrassed and shocked look on her face. I saw bright eyes fill with tears, and I quickly apologized.
“Oh my god, uh Adeline. I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to yell like that…” She giggled a little bit and looked at me for a moment.
“No, don’t apologize, I’m the one who should be sorry. I seriously didn’t even see you walking this way, my head is so full right now. I feel like I’m about to overload.”
“Oh, well you’re fine. This must mean something right?” I smiled, expecting a smile back. But she didn’t smile. She looked at me with a straight face.
“You uhm… should come get coffee with me before school sometime. We could meet here first and I can drive.” She said.
“Dude! Of course!”
And that’s how Adeline Jean, and I began our life together. Even though we were polar opposites, It still happened.
Ashlie Horn
Different perspective Rapunzel
As I was trying to escape from the authorities, I ran into a tangled up area of vines, grass, and bushes. I had no clue it would be a tunnel though. I fell backward into this little cave, tunnel thing. I began running, the opposite way I came in. I emergered in a little meadow. In the middle of the meadow, was a tower. The tower was extremely tall, the bricks were falling apart and there were vines growing up the sides. In the front of the tower toward the top, was a single window. As I was trying to get a good look and see if there was light or anything coming from the window, something whitish in color, came falling. It hit me in the face and knocked me right to the ground. I woke up, and this long, blonde, rope like stuff was all over me. I took a second and realized I was tied to a chair. In front of me, stood a beautiful, blonde babe. She looked kind of messy, but that’s okay because she has a beautiful face, dress and… hair? I followed where her hair started and it ended on me. The rope that had me tied to a chair was not rope… it was this psychotic girls hair.
I screamed.
“What are you doing to me!? I was only trying to find somewhere to hide, I had people
trying to kill me!”
She stood shaking, holding a frying pan as a weapon.
“You… you’ve come for my hair. And NO! You cannot have it!”
“Like I said, I only came looking at the tower for protection. I don’t mean any harm, I swear.”
“Hm, okay. How do I know that you’re not lying?”
“Grab my satchel over there… Reach in it and open it. There should be a paper on top with my name and face on it. It says I’m the most wanted. They think I’m a criminal but I’m really not.”
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair!”
“Oh my, that’s my mother!”
The last think I remember was Rapunzel taking the frying pan, and knocking me out. When I awoke, I fell out of a closet, still tied up. There she was, still standing there waiting for me.
“I’ll make you a deal. If you take me to see the floating stars that I see every year on my birthday, tonight, I’ll give you back you’re satchel, which I hid, and let you go.”
“No, no, no. That’s way too dangerous for me. Sorry about your luck but I just need my satchel and I will be on my way out of here, I promise you’ll never see me again.”
“Come on, I need to see those floating stars and what they mean!”
“Rapunzel, don’t you mean floating lanterns? They let them go, hundreds of them, every year on the lost princess’s birthday.”
“But, it’s my birthday...”
After a while, it was only like 2 pm, and this crazy girl had gotten me to give in. I needed my satchel and to get out of here. I knew it would be risky but, it was worth it. We both got out of the tower, and we started on our way to the palace. She acted like she’d never been outside before, playing with the animals, dirt and water. Come to find out, she HAD never been outside before. I felt bad for asking her why she was playing outside like a child. She was innocent like a child though
“So, you have this evil mother, that locks you in a tower, and doesn’t let you go outside, or do anything?”
“Yup, that’s what I’ve been dealing with for 18 years now. The only reason she is so strict is because of my hair. It’s special you know.”
“Yeah, its special im sure. Just long.”
On our way to the palace, I was helping Rapunzel up a steep hill, and I slid and cut open my hand.
“Damn it!”
“Hold on, don’t freak out, okay?”
“C’mon, put some stiches or something on it!”
Next, she started to sing. Her hair lit up like a yellow glow stick.
“Flower gleam and glow, Let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine, heal what has been hurt, change the fates design, save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine, what once was mine.”
I felt my face grow red and my eyes grow large. I yelled, and she covered my scream with her hand, and uncovered my hand with her hair, to show me my healed hand.
“Your hair... Really is special. Isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s why mother is so picky.”
After being shocked for a while, we continued on our trip. It was about 7 pm now. We were almost to the bridge that led to the kingdom. When we came to the outside of the woods, a small town was visible and then a bridge. We darted through the little town, and came upon the bridge. There were hundreds of villagers all over the bride, waiting on the sun to set, to see the floating lanterns. We got a boat, and paddled out into the middle of the little lake. It had become completely dark, and everyone let the lanterns loose. Rapunzel had a glow in her eyes that I’ve never seen before in anyone. She looked so happy. And in that moment, I realized she was the princess. Rapunzel was the lost princess. Of course, everything added up, she was blonde haired, big blue eyes, and lived with an insane old woman who kept her locked in a tower all her life. Today would’ve been the princesses 18th birthday. And it was Rapunzel’s 18th birthday. It all made sense. We stayed on the boat for a while longer and I explained everything to her… she seemed like she thought I was lying.
“I believe you.”
After all that was settled, we got that crazy old witch arrested, I gave back the crown that I had stolen, Rapunzel had met her real parents, and we got married.
Ashlie Horn
The Unhappy Amish Community
I opened my eyes and took a moment to realize where I was. I looked around, and saw the Pasteur and some mountains of course. A lavender butterfly floated by and landed on my wooden chair. I just stared and wandered, what will I will do today? Probably nothing exciting, maybe gather some more wood and set up more traps. I thought to myself. I got up, shook the dew off my hat and took a few steps. I couldn’t believe I fell asleep outside of my tent last night. I sat back down, and could smell the fresh dough being baked in houses for breakfast. A half an hour of sitting and watching the sun rise went by and Suzy came running up to me.
“Hey Tripp, How’s your plan going?” She said.
“What plan exactly?”
“The one that you’ve been telling everyone, except me. You know, about how you want to move into the mountains?”
“Oh yeah, that is going to happen soon. You should come with me… I don’t like to be alone and you know that.”
“Tripp… I’d love to. Most people don’t make it when they’re living up there… but we could try together. We just need the right tools and recourses.”
Suzy and I spent the day packing our tents, saying goodbyes to our friends, and getting all of our belongings gathered. We had to take all of our traps with us, and things like that. Suzy ran home to make sure she had packed everything. I was thinking about how much of a sin it is to live with her if we’re not married. Thinking of a plan, I decided I would propose to Suzy when we were on our way. When Suzy’s father came running toward me, I was shocked.
“Tripp! What do you think you’re doing? How dare you ask my daughter to go to the mountains with you?! We are clearly happy down here in the beautiful pasture. Look at what we’ve got! A church. Crops. Homes. A great community, an amish community. Why would you want to leave that all behind, and steal my daughted away too?! If you leave, we are shunning you both.”
“I had been planning on leaving for a while. She was the one who came and confronted me about leaving… so I invited her. I’m sorry. I also knew you would shun me, so I made sure it’s really what I wanted to do. I’ve been considering it for quite some time now. ”
“Be gone! You piece of rubbish.”
“Ha-ha! Okay, well just in case you were wondering, Suzy and I are going to get married. If we are being shunned I technically don’t need your blessing.”
He glared at me and scampered away. See, that was one of the reasons I wanted to leave my home that I’ve had for 21 years. People like him. All my life all I’ve heard is, “this is a sin, that’s a sin, you’ll be shunned!” Blah, blah, blah.
Shortly after my encounter with Suzy’s father, Henry, Suzy returned with a few things she had forgotten, and a sad look on her face.
“What’s wrong love?” I asked.
“My father says we will be shunned, if we leave. I don’t know if I would be able to live with myself…”
“It’s either be happy and be shunned, or be miserable and be not shunned.” I said.
“How would you feel about getting married…?” I gave her a smirk.
“Tripp… that sounds amazing… but we need my dad’s blessing and we can’t get that if we will be shun-“
“Shhhh. I’ve got it all figured out. Your father knows I want to propose, so he knows he cannot shun us. He would never want to miss out on his daughter’s wedding and maybe grandbabies being raised in the lord’s name”
“Oh, how clever. Shall we be leaving soon?” Suzy grinned.
“Yes of course, now.”
The evening landscape had become cooler, and the buzz of mosquitoes and the chirp of crickets had b
egun. The sun sank behind the horizon and left the sky periwinkle. Suzy and I started off. We were strolling up the hill, and once we got to the top of the hill we had to start climbing the steep mountain. It was going to be difficult with all of our gear and things with us. Hours went by; we were mostly quiet with the occasional “This is peaceful.” or “Are you doing okay darling?” When we were almost up the hill, at the bottom of the mountain, Suzy twisted her ankle. She cried out with a loud scream, so I came toward her.
“Suzy! How could you be so foolish, so clumsy?”
“I’m hurt Tripp, and you’re yelling at me for it? If you couldn’t tell, I slid on some loose rocks.”
I apologized. And replied, “Alright, I’m sorry. We can take a brake here, set up the tents, a fire, and let you rest overnight. We’re almost to the plateau.”
The next morning, Suzy and I woke up and fed on some hard biscuits and sipped on fresh water. About this time, we were mid- mountain. She said her ankle felt better so she insisted we kept going until we got to the flat part of the mountain, the plateau, where we planned on spending most of our time at. We went all day, stopped and took breaks, getting a drink and talking, and enjoying each other’s company. We had a conversation about how we were both unhappy down at the Pasture.
“Tripp?”
“Yeah Suzy?”
“Were you unhappy down at the pasture?”
“Yeah, I have been for the longest time. All those boring rules and nothing to do. Always struggling to survive because no one wants to help you. I was tired of everyone telling me that almost everything I wanted to do and enjoy was a sin. That’s why I became obsessed with trapping animals, so I always had food and it was a non-sinful hobby. I knew my sister and her best friend had traveled up here to the plateau and loved it. They rarely came back to visit me.”
“I’m so sorry Tripp. I have to agree with the boring part, and it got annoying living with my father. It’s going to be nice to be able to spend some alone time with you on this adventure. We will have the best time.” Suzy smiled.
Nothing could fix that unhappiness, except a little adventure. This had been the adventure that we had been longing for, living in the mountains, and getting away from our strict community. I was glad we weren’t going to be shunned, so we could come back and show off our children and visit. We wouldn’t have to share with anyone; there would be fresh streams, new grass, wild flowers and all kinds of things. That’s what we figured would bring us happiness.
After a day and a half of taking breaks and climbing the hill, taking the easiest ways possible, we reached the plateau. It was a flat area with steep slopes all around. We could see the Pasteur, thousands of feet away down the mountain. There was a crystal clear stream, bright green grass, bugs and soil, flowers and other little animals thriving. This place was so beautiful. It was so worth being unhappy all that time for.
Autumn Clark
Bubble Wrap Fashion
“Congratulations Giorgina! You are now the official owner of this building,” the realtor bubbled with feigned excitement as she thrust the deed into my hands. The realtor was very good at stretching her plum-painted lips over her cigarette-stained teeth in an unsettlingly inauthentic grin; her voice was chipper and bright, but far from happy. As I grabbed the deed out of her hands, I was thankful that I wouldn’t be dealing with her any longer.
“Thank you for everything ma’am,” I said politely, shaking her hand one last time. I couldn’t remember her name; I had never cared to learn it because something about her was so troubling, I didn’t want to involve myself with her any more than I had to.
She smiled her tight-lipped smile once again, and I shivered slightly. “You are welcome! Good luck, Giorgina, and call me if you need anything or have any problems!” I nodded and smiled slightly at this, and with that, she was off. She turned quickly on her heels and strode away, her mauve pantsuit rippling ever so slightly in the wind. I noted, though, how her hair was so hair-sprayed that it seemed almost plastic. I shook it off and turned to look at my new place.
I’ve been designing and making clothes ever since I was a child. The covering of a body has always fascinated me, and so I made it my life’s work. When I was 20, I dropped out of medical school to start my own brand. Lila Rose (named after my sister who passed due to leukemia when she was 8 and I was 13) launched on my 21st birthday. In the beginning, I was selling solely through the internet and making all my clothes by hand with a small team of investors/co-founders/employees/relatives and friends. Our first year (2012) we did $112,000 in sales, which sounds like a lot, but after the cost of materials, bills, and my “employees”’ salaries, I hardly came out ahead. The next year, though, we spent a lot of time advertising; thank the Lord for Facebook, because it’s the cheapest and quickest way to get the word out. In 2013 we nearly tripled our sales ($302,000). Our profit margin was impressive that year, but it was hard for my “employees” to balance their real lives and real jobs with my now booming business; after all, most of them were just my college friends or my cousins who I’d conned into helping me with this. So, I finally hired actual employees. We were still working out of the basement of my parents’ house, but at least we were closer than ever to being a real company.
I paid my employees well, and tried my hardest to be as accommodating as possible; I paid myself simply what I needed to survive, then put the rest away in the “saving for an actual store/warehouse” fund. Now, finally, 2 years later, Lila Rose was bigger than ever and I got to say that the first official store would be opening in just a few months. I traded in my small group of employees in my basement for mass production overseas, but I kept them around to help repackage and store my merchandise, and many of them were on the list of potential sales associates for my store once it opened.
Clutching the deed like it was a lifeline, I turned to face my new store and smiled broadly. I was a store owner. Lila Rose finally had a real physical location. My smile grew even wider as tears dripped down my cheeks and I rushed inside to start planning where everything was going to go. My best friend and co-founder Alyssa, was waiting inside, sketching out the floor layout.
“Is that what I think it is?” she said, smiling knowingly and pointing to the manila envelope in my hand.
“We’re store owners!” I screamed and rushed over to hug her tightly. After a few moments of embracing, squealing, and a little crying, I finally let go. “Okay, show me what you’ve got so far.”
“Okay, I want you to go stand right in front of the front door over there,” she instructed, sniffling and wiping the tears off of her freckled cheeks. I followed her instructions diligently, excitedly smiling the whole time. “Now you’re a customer; you walk in and laid out in front of you are racks and racks of beautiful clothes. There are mannequins displaying our favorite pieces for that season on both sides of you, and some of our other favorite pieces are on the racks directly in front of you. Above the racks are signs advertising sales and clearance racks, so you know you’ll get a good deal. Up the walls all around you are more of our most popular items, displayed so that you can see things you will be interested in from all angles. You are torn just trying to decide where to start because you are being bombarded by adorable things from all around you. A friendly employee shouts out ‘Hi, welcome to Lila Rose! How are you today?’ You answer ‘good’ as the employee approaches you, smiling, and asks if they can help you find anything. You tell the employee that you are just looking and they reply cheerfully, ‘Okay, well let me know if you need any assistance or need a dressing room or have any questions.’ The employee smiles and goes back to work. The cash registers are all the way in the back, so that if you find a piece of clothing you want, you have to wade through dozens of racks of other clothes so that it’s likely you’ll spot something else you want.” I started to cry again and Alyssa stopped talking to run over and hug me.
“I just can’t believe my dream is real, Alyssa,” I sniffle
d into her shoulder. “It’s been so much hard a work, but it’s finally real.” She rubbed my back while I cried with joy and relief into her shoulder for a few minutes. Finally, after I was finished blubbering, I stepped back to address directly. “It’s getting kind of late; you should probably head home, Alyssa.”
“It’s only 4 Gi! If you think that’s late, you belong in a nursing home! We have so much to do!” She laughed and gestured to the empty store around us.
“You have a baby at home, Alyssa, and she needs you. You go on and get home to her.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Well, Susan had a bunch of mannequins locked in a storage locker from when she had that, um, magic shop, and she said she was going to bring them over this afternoon, so I suppose I’ll just hang around here and wait for her.” Susan was my parents’ friend. She was a little eccentric to say the least; when I say “magic” shop, I really mean occult shop. Susan ran a shop for a while that sold all sorts of black magic items and spiritual stuff. I never went in there because it freaked me out, but free mannequins are free mannequins so I took her up on her offer to give them to me for my shop.
“What are you going to do until then?” Alyssa worried about me too much. I was small and frail from my anemia, and she was very protective of me, constantly making sure that I wasn’t in danger of being mugged or anything like that.
“Alyssa, I will lock the doors and keep my pepper spray close at hand,” I said, sarcastically. She gave me one of those I’m being serious looks and I sighed. “I’ll probably just do some sweeping, maybe go sort through those old boxes in the back. I’ll probably invite Max to come chill with me; his office is just a few blocks from here, I think. I can see if he can swing by and hang out for a bit after he gets off work. Maybe I can even convince him to pick me up something to eat on his way over.”
“Okay. I do feel a lot better knowing Max is going to be here. He’s pretty buff, he’ll fight off any murderers that come looking for you.” She smiled knowingly and elbowed me in the side lightly. “So, when are you going to ask him out, Gi? I know you want to.”
“Alyssa, you know we’re just friends,” I sighed. She rolled her eyes as if to say yeah, right. She was right, of course, I did want to ask Max out. I was too afraid though; he was older than me and so much smarter, so I figured he’d never see me in any way except like a little sister. We were good friends, too, and I didn’t want to ruin our friendship.
“Okay, well, if you’re going to be okay here, I’ll head home then,” she said, picking up her coat and purse. “Text me when Max gets here. And, text me when the mannequins get here; send me some pictures of them so I can start thinking about how to style them!” She started to back towards the door, keeping her eyes trained on me, waiting for my response.
“Of course,” I replied, trying to keep the joy in my tone. Secretly, I really didn’t want Alyssa to leave until Max was here. I really hate being alone, especially in strange, empty places. I knew Alyssa needed to get home, though, and I was a grown up, now, so I let her go. “Have a good night!”
“I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow to start unpacking things here!” She waved and, with that, she stepped out into the chilly October wind. And, I was alone.
The shadows on the wall seemed to grow a little longer, and the silence pounded against my eardrums eerily. I was definitely not good at being alone. I decided I should call Max now; the sound of his voice would calm me down a little. I dialed his office phone and waited as it rang and rang.
“Paulson Paper and Print Company, Maxwell Paulson speaking,” he said into the other line in his best business voice. His father owned an office supply company that supplied for some of the biggest office buildings and companies in New York, and Max was set to take over the business sometime in the next decade or so.
“Hello Maxie,” I said back in my best fake business voice. He laughed.
“Gi! To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I just got the keys to my new store!”
“Congratulations!”
“Thank you!”
There was an awkward pause. I scuffed the toes of my sneakers on the bare concrete floor; I could hear him shuffling papers around on his desk.
“Is that all you called for?”
“Well, Alyssa left me here alone and the mannequins aren’t supposed to be here for another couple hours and I thought if you didn’t have any plans, you might want to come chill with me until they get here.” I stumbled, worried that he would only come because he didn’t want to turn me down. “You don’t have to, though. I’ll be fine by myself if you’re busy or don’t want to come or something.”
“I’d love to come hang out with you for a bit, Gi. I can leave work here in a few minutes, I just have to wrap up a couple things. I can grab some champagne so we can celebrate your new store.” I grinned into the phone like an idiot.
“Could you maybe grab some food instead? I haven’t eaten all day and I don’t think drinking on an empty stomach would be a good idea,” I chuckled. He laughed with me.
“I’ll grab both. Just text me the address and I’ll head that way here in a little bit.”
“Okay! I can’t wait!”
I hung up the phone, smiled, and went back to sweeping, waiting anxiously for Max to get there.
Time passes quickly when you’re with those you love. Eating french fries and drinking champagne with your best friend makes the clock spin wildly. Hours of laughing and storytelling feel as though they pass in just a few short minutes. Time with Maxwell always felt like this, like the world suddenly decided to spin faster just for the time we’re together. We’ll sit down to talk and after a bit realize it’s been 3 hours. It’s a blessing and curse. It took no time at all until Susan was banging on the door, her truck idling out front with mannequins stacked haphazardly in the bed. Max and I pulled on our jackets and rushed outside to help Susan carry them all in.
“Thank you so much for giving these to me, Susan,” I said, grabbing a whole mannequin. They were wrapped in bubble wrap which made them far bulkier and more difficult to carry than expected. “It really means a lot. It’s a huge help and a weight of my shoulders knowing I have these already taken care of.” The three of us shuffled indoors, our arms full of bubble-wrapped plastic people.
“Oh, it’s no problem dear,” Susan replied, setting a mannequin down on the concrete floor gently. “They’ve served me well, and I always felt so terrible leaving them in storage, but I knew I couldn’t just let them go to anyone. I had to make sure they were going to a good home with somebody who would take good care of them.” She winked at me. I chuckled uneasily. It was a little strange how she spoke of them as if they were her pets or something, but I chalked it up to her eccentric nature and left it at that.
After all the mannequins had been hauled in (a task that was a lot more tiring than one might imagine), I gave Susan a hug and my best wishes, and sent her on her way. Max and I decided it would be best to store them in the back room until the floor was tiled, so that they wouldn’t be in the way. And, so, together we hauled all 25 of them to the back room. Finally, they were standing in a big group, wrapped in bubble wrap dresses and pantsuits.
“You know what, Max,” I said, leaning on the wall, looking the mannequins up and down. “I think the bubble wrap fashion line we have here is pretty genius. Maybe I won’t even put my clothes on them. I might just leave them like this.”
“I have a better idea. What if you just stop designing actual clothes and only design bubble wrap clothes now? This whole bubble wrap fashion could be the next big thing!” He walked up to a mannequin and straightened the bubble wrap so it covered her up a little bit better. “I can see it on the runways already.”
“Okay, genius, let’s get out of here,” I laughed, grabbing him by the arm and guiding him back to the store front.
“What are your plans now?” He asked, leaning on a counter that was to become a check-out counter eventually.
“Like, for tonight?” I asked, blushing slightly. My heart feebly hoped he’d ask me to go out with him, or invite me back to his apartment for homemade dinner and a movie night; my brain asserted that he was probably just being polite and conversational and didn’t actually care about my plans.
“Yeah, I mean, you weren’t planning to stay here and sweep the floor all night were you?” He asked, and lifted his champagne glass to drain the contents. “Oh! I bet you’re planning to go back and style those mannequins. Your new fashion line depends on those bubble wrap clothes being nothing but perfect!”
“Actually,” I said, giggling sheepishly. He turned me into a boy-crazy teenage girl all over again, but I kind of liked it. “I don’t--”
“Wait!” He cut me off; his smile slid off his face suddenly, leaving furrowed brows and a slight grimace. I opened my mouth to question, but he held up a finger, motioning for me to remain quiet for a moment. I shut my mouth promptly and watched his face intently as he closed his eyes; he was listening for something. “Did you hear that?” He mouthed to me, and pointed back towards the store room. I shook my head; all I’d heard was our conversation. We had just come from the store room, too, so I knew nobody could be back there.
“You probably just heard a car or the wind or something,” I whispered, but I noticed that his hands were shaking; he was gravely serious. He shook his head violently and shushed me again, motioning for me to listen again.
And then, I heard it.
Pop!
It was faint, a little popping noise coming from the back of the store.
Pop!
Again, it came. Quiet, but familiar. I knew that sound, I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
Pop! Pop-pop!
This time it was accompanied by more pops. I thought through everything stored in the back.
Pop!
It couldn’t be the brooms…
Pop! Pop! Pop!
It couldn’t be the boxes of old comic books from the last owner…
Pop!
It couldn’t be the mannequins…
Pop! Pop! Pop-Pop-Pop-Pop!
And then I realized why I knew that sound. I looked at Maxwell, and noticed the pure terror in his eyes too.
The bubble wrap.
“That sounds like bubble wrap popping, Max,” I breathed. Goosebumps raced up my arms and I felt hot tears of fear well up in my eyes. He nodded solemnly.
Pop! Pop!
“Do you have a weapon here?” He asked in a soft whisper, a wild, panicked look in his eyes. I nodded, wiped my eyes with my sleeves, and pointed to the broom leaning against the wall next to us. “That’s not going to stop an intruder.”
Pop! Pop-Pop-Pop-Pop!
“That’s all I have,” I mouthed back, shrugging. I was quivering, and terrified to even breathe. He nodded and grabbed the broom, holding it by the straw end so he could club whatever crazed lunatic was popping the bubble wrap in the back room. He motioned for me to stay where I was and then crept towards the back room, wielding the broom like a weapon. The popping was growing louder and more intense by the second. I knew Maxwell was trying to be brave, but his legs were quivering vigorously.
Pop-Pop! Pop-Pop! Pop-Pop-Pop-Pop!
The popping began to echo around the empty store, and a new shuffling noise joined the popping. I wondered if a wild animal like a raccoon or a family of rats had somehow crawled in. I thought maybe a homeless person had made their home in the back and hadn’t been noticed until now. I even considered the possibility of a poltergeist; I don’t even believe in ghosts, but in that moment that popping noise could have been coming from anything. I tried not to think a crazed murderer had wandered in to kill us and decided to play some sort of demented mind game by popping the bubble wrap.
Pop! Pop-Pop-Pop-Pop-Pop-Pop!
Max’s steps were growing shorter as he drew nearer to the doorway to the back; I knew he was balking at the thought of facing the unknown threat. His mind was probably racing like mine, starting with the most gruesome possibility and working through the list. With each shallow breath I took, the popping grew even louder and faster. My heart raced and my lungs rattled in my ribs, praying to every deity I could name.
Then, it stopped.
The popping stopped, just as suddenly as it had started.
Max paused, just feet from the door.
We waited, shaking, praying.
The newfound silence was more assaulting than the popping had been.
Then, all at once, a slight frame filled the doorway to the back room. The person who had been popping had finally come to face us. I stared at this person for a few moments blankly, terrified, knowing I was looking my demise in the face. Only after a few impossibly long seconds, did I notice the person’s lack of facial features. They had the shape of a human face, but they had no nostrils, no eyeballs, and they were pale as new-fallen snow. Their skin was smooth, perfect even, with a sheen almost like plastic.
Plastic…
And it dawned on me all at once that, standing there, bubble wrap free and staring emptily at us was a mannequin.
Max dropped the broom and stuttered in terror, trying to find the appropriate words for this situation and shrinking away from the body in front of him. Max, always so trimmed and well-kept, looked like an entirely different person in that moment. His pressed, white shirt had come untucked and his tie was askew. His hair, usually neatly combed, was an untamed halo framing his wild eyes. As he scooted backwards, tripping over himself, his pants pulled up to reveal his socks--red with little Christmas trees on them. Even in that moment of shock and terror, I couldn’t help but allow myself a little laugh; only Max would wear Christmas socks before Halloween.
“Gi…” he choked out, daring to rip his eyes away from the monster for a quick second to look at me pleadingly. I wanted to help him; in my mind I pictured myself leaping up heroically, grabbing his hand, pulling him to his feet, and bolting out the door to disappear in the crowd of people outside, but no matter how my brain screamed to get up and help him, my muscles were stubbornly cemented in place. I could only watch helplessly from my spot curled up on the floor a few feet away.
The mannequin monster’s plastic lips parted in a sickening smile, exposing rows of razor sharp teeth, as its friends joined it in the doorway. Max turned his attention back to the threat standing confidently in the doorway in front of him. And, abruptly, the lead mannequin monster lunged at Maxwell, its comrades not far behind. I shrieked and squeezed my eyes shut, knowing this was the end, for both of us. I sat there on the floor with my eyes frozen shut, paralyzed by fear for an eternity. I tried not to listen, but after Max’s screams stopped, the slurping and ripping noises were too loud to ignore. I choked back vomit and tried to keep my mind from imagining what they might be doing to my Max’s perfect body to elicit such horrifyingly repulsive noises. Suddenly, cold, smooth plastic ran softly across my cheek.
My hands started to shake even harder, and I struggled to not vomit from fear alone. I had no other choice but to stare death down, so I slowly opened my eyes. The smooth, featureless face of a mannequin was inches from mine. It’s head was cocked at a curious angle. I stopped breathing. It reached out and stroked my cheek once again, so careful and gentle. It smiled, stretching its thin plastic lips over its once pearly fangs that were now dripping with blood and stained a sick, rusty pink color. Tears poured down my cheeks and I could feel the blood pumping rapidly to every inch of my body. I opened my mouth to scream, to beg, to offer my final words, to do something, but nothing came out. It smiled wider. I tried to shrink back away from it, to morph into the wall, to drop off the face of the earth, but there was no way I could distance myself from it any further, as if the fangs hovering inches from my nose were my whole world now. I stared at them in horror and dread, unable to tear my eyes away from the instrument of extermination floating mere centimeters from my face.
As I stared unblinkingly at my own death, I realized that I’d forgo
tten to text Alyssa. It was such a trivial thing to think of, but it was all my brain could conjure up in these cold, petrifying final moments. I wanted to relive my fondest memories, or list my regrets, or at least think of something meaningful, but instead I could only think of a text message that should have been. I should have told her that Maxwell had showed up, that I was safe, that I was fed, that I was happy. I should have texted her when Susan arrived, telling her that there were so many mannequins and that our store was going to be a success and that they looked fabulous in their bubble wrap clothes. But, I didn’t text her and my phone was long gone and so was my life. Alyssa, who was probably peacefully sleeping next to her baby at this moment, would never even know how happy those final hours were. I was a really bad best friend.
The mannequin monster’s smile never wavered in those seconds. Those seconds were the opposite of the seconds I had spent with Max. He made the clock hands spin uncontrollably, forcing hours to pass in minutes. The seconds I had with this mannequin forced the clock hands to slow down to almost a dead stop, turning mere seconds to endless hours.
It reached up with its little plastic mitten hands, its still fingers molded together, and shut my eyelids gently. I allowed it to shut my eyes and tried to calm the chill running up my spine.
I inhaled slowly and thought, I really wish I had texted Alyssa.
And then, it all went black.
Autumn Clark
A Physicist and a Conspiracy Theorist
“Come on, Maggie!” Kelsey cried. “You’re telling me that you don’t have even a little bit of faith in the unknown?” I shook my head firmly. Kelsey was a wonderful girl, but she was too much of a dreamer for me to handle most of the time.
“Kelsey, you need to start living in the real world. I mean, books are nice, but they’re just made up. They’re all just products of late nights and a little too much beer, or something else, you know. I bet if you smoked enough cigarettes and cooped yourself up in a tiny New York apartment and didn’t sleep for about a week and a half, you’d have some ideas just as good.” Kelsey looked away, crestfallen. I know she’s just a kid, pretty much, and it’s not so nice to crush her dreams like that, but it really gets on my nerves sometimes. She’s smart for her age, almost genius level. She helps me with my college English homework and reads the newspaper everyday, for fun, and she’s only 14. Her biggest downfall, though, is that she’s naive. She believes in all that stuff she reads: magic, aliens, fairies…I used to be like her, when I was in elementary school, but she’s in highschool now and I’m just trying to give her a reality check.
“Maggie?” She asked, looking up carefully at me. “Could I maybe tell you about this episode of Ancient Aliens I watched? It’s not something I read, and there were scientists talking about how real it is.” I sighed heavily. She will never change. But her big brown puppy dog eyes were too pitiful, so I nodded.
“Okay, so, just think about this,” Kelsey said, getting all excited. She gets extremely animated when she talks about this stuff, waving her hands and talking incredibly fast. “What if the moon was hollow?”
“Kelsey,” I sighed. “The laws of gravity say that the moon acts the same way all other solid objects do.” She wasn’t even phased.
“Yeah, but what if science is wrong and the laws of gravity are wrong? What if the moon is something we don’t understand because we haven’t encountered it yet?” I didn’t even try to argue, mainly because I didn’t even understand what she was trying to say. “So, the biggest reason that some people think that the moon is hollow is that one time this satellite was trying to land on the moon but it came in too fast and hit the moon too hard and the moon supposedly rang like a bell for, like, hours after the impact! Plus, what are the chances that…”
I stopped listening. I don’t care to hear her conspiracy theories. The moon isn’t hollow, the earth isn’t hollow, there are no secret societies running the government. Yeah, we don’t know everything about the world, but everything we do know is backed up with facts and there’s no use sitting around, making stuff up, and trying to dispute the facts. Maybe it makes me a bad sister for not listening to her while she talked, but to be honest, I’d probably just get angry at her for questioning some of the most important scientific discoveries of all time. It’s times like these I wonder how I, a very left-brained individual, studying to become a physicist, ended up with somebody like Kelsey for a sister? She is the complete opposite of me. She’s irrational, emotional, and an idealist in the most annoying way. I mean, I love her to pieces, but she just doesn’t understand the world the way I do, and no matter how hard I try, she just can’t see things through my eyes. Trying to teach Kelsey the facts of the world is like trying to teach a potato to read.
“Kelsey,” I said, interrupting her and standing up suddenly. She was saying something about the flat bottoms of the moon’s craters (which I know isn’t totally true), but she quickly shut up when I stood up. “I need to go work on a paper. Could we maybe talk about the moon being hollow later?”
She smiled. “Tonight after dinner?” I rolled my eyes internally. She wasn’t going to let this go, but I could definitely put it off as long as possible.
“I really need to spend some quality time with this paper I’m writing. It’s due in like a couple weeks and I’m hardly started…” There they were again, those big puppy eyes. I sighed heavily again. “Okay, how about tomorrow morning? Mom and Dad will be at work and you and I can sleep in, then I’ll make you breakfast and we can sit at the table and eat scrambled eggs and toast and you can tell me all about the hollow moon. Sound okay?”
She grinned and threw her arms around me. “Yes yes yes! Thank you Maggie!” I smiled and patted her back. “Maggie, I’ve really missed you. It’s not easy being an only child. Mom and Dad won’t let me talk to them about conspiracy theories and my friends all think I’m a loon whenever I bring it up. You’re the only one actually cares enough to listen.”
And, I am a terrible sister. Here she is, pouring her heart out to me about how nobody cares about her and will listen to her, and I’m lying about having to write a paper to get out of listening to her. I’m the actual worst sister on the face of the earth. I promised myself to wake up early and make Kelsey the best breakfast ever and listen to her talk about the hollow moon and maybe even ask her about the hollow earth too.
That night, I had possibly the strangest dream ever. It started with me laying in my bed at my parents house, as I actually physically was. Then, suddenly, the room started to glow a beautiful, ethereal white. I sat up and looked around, trying to find the source of the light. I honestly couldn’t tell even what part of the room it was coming from, and so, startled, I hopped out of bed and looked frantically around the room. And then, there was a voice.
“Margaret…” the voice boomed. I jumped. The voice was deep and pure, almost sing-songy even, and so loud it rattled my fillings a little. I backed against the wall, trying really hard to think of a logical explanation for this. “I am the ghost of Christmas past…” the voice rumbled.
I sighed, relieved. It was only Kelsey playing a stupid prank on me again. I can’t believe she thought I’d fall for this one. “Ha ha,” I said, mocking Kelsey. “Good one. You got me. Now give it up and let me sleep, okay?”
“No Margaret, I’m being serious…” the voice came again. I laughed and laid back down in bed. “Fine, if you don’t believe me…” And the glowing grew unbearingly bright quite suddenly; I shielded my eyes with my forearm. Then there was a slight popping noise and the glowing stopped altogether. I sighed happily and shut my eyes, snuggling back into my bed.
“Hello Margaret,” said the voice again, but this time it was right next to me, not booming all around me. I opened my eyes. There was a strange man leaning over me, so, naturally, I began screaming bloody murder.
“Oh my God!” I screeched. “Who are you? Why are you here? Please don’t hurt me! Oh my God!” He stood there calmly chuckling while I tried to hide
under my pillow.
“I have already told you, Margaret, I am the ghost of Christmas past.” I hugged my pillow tight to my body and tried to think of a logical explanation for this. I must be hallucinating, I thought, or dreaming. And then it hit me. I was dreaming, of course. I took a deep breath and smiled at the figure standing over me.
“Okay ghost of Christmas past, what are you here to tell me? Where are the present and future? I mean, the holidays aren’t my favorite time of the year, but I’m no Scrooge, right?” I was rambling excitedly, laughing maniacally in my head at my stupid dreams.
“It is just I tonight, Margaret. I have come to grant you one wish.” The man was in a long cream-colored dressing gown, which would have been stylistically appropriate for the 1800s probably. His dark hair was cropped short.
“I wish you’d call me Maggie,” I said comically.
“Maggie,” he sighed impatiently. He obviously wasn’t amused with me. “Listen carefully and think long and hard about this one question. If you could get any one item from your past back, what would you choose?”
This caught me off guard. I’m not materialistic in the slightest, and I put very little value on objects. I would much prefer to have a lost person back than a lost object, but from this guy’s tone, I could tell he was serious about his question. None of the things I’d ever lost meant enough to me to want them back. I tried to think of something my mom had lost that she’d want back, but nothing came to mind. I could only think of one thing, and it was a really stupid thing, but I just couldn’t get it out of my head.
When my sister was 5, I was 11 and totally over her nonsense. Four year olds are annoying, especially when you’re a cool fifth grader and your kid sister is a kindergarten baby who keeps following you around on the playground at recess. Kelsey had this cheap little doll that my grandma had picked up for her at a dollar store somewhere, and she was so attached to it. She carried it everywhere, constantly talking to the stupid doll. I was tired of it. She was in kindergarten now; she needed to grow up and stop embarrassing me and the family name. One day, in the car, I snapped. My sister was sitting on her booster seat, talking to the thing. My mom was on the phone, paying no attention to us. I had been trying to read a chapter book, but Kelsey kept singing loud, made up songs about her doll and it was giving me a headache. Finally I reached over, snatched the doll out of her hands, and threw it out the window before she or my mom could protest.
Of course Kelsey started screaming, crying, and trying to kick me from the other side of the back seat. I was laughing at her because I had finally won and I was finally rid of the dumb doll, but I did feel some remorse. I hadn’t seen Kelsey cry this hard in a really long time, not even when I pulled her hair; I felt kind of bad for making her so upset, but my joy at the idea of never seeing the doll again won out my regret. My mom snapped her phone shut, pulled the car over on the side of the freeway, and whirled around to face us, her eyes wild with anger.
“What is going on back here?” she demanded. Her eyes were narrow slits and her tone was pure ice; I suddenly felt a lot less happy about the deed. I looked down at my feet and clamped my mouth shut.
“She… she… she threw Allie out the window!” Kelsey screamed between sobs and hiccups. I hunched my shoulders even further over so my mom couldn’t see my face. Hot tears of anger and frustration rushed to my eyes. I quickly tried to think of a cover story. Maybe I could convince my mom that Kelsey had accidently thrown the doll out of her own window, or I could just say that I had been reading the whole time and I didn’t know what happened. But, I knew that lying to my mom was always worse than coming clean about the dirty deed itself.
“Margaret Josephine Susan Fischer…” I flinched at my full name; my mom only used my complete full name when I was in triple big trouble. “Did you throw Allie out the window?” I hung my head even more and shrugged, tears now streaming down my face. “Don’t shrug at me young lady! Did you throw Allie out the window?” I nodded quietly. My mom sighed heavily. “Margaret, apologize to Kelsey right now and we’ll talk about this more when we get home!”
“Sorry Kelsey,” I mumbled incoherently. My mom demanded another, better apology.
“And look up when you’re talking to somebody! Honestly, Maggie, I thought you knew better than all of this,” she said. I could hear the disappointment in her voice, which caused me to cry even harder. I looked up at my mom first; she was looking at me sternly, an angry frown planted firmly upon her face. There was no sympathy for my tears this time. I looked over at Kelsey, who had stopped crying so she could relish in my punishment.
“I’m sorry, Kelsey,” I said. She was smiling smugly at me.
“You’re sorry for what, Maggie?” My mom pushed.
“I’m sorry for throwing Allie out the window, Kelsey,” I said. My mom finally turned around and left me alone.
“Kelsey, we’ll get you a brand new doll tomorrow after school, okay honey?” My mom said sweetly as she pulled back onto the freeway. “I know it won’t be Allie, but sometimes it’s a blessing to make new friends.” Kelsey began to chatter nonsensically about something else entirely, completely forgetting about the lost doll. I couldn’t believe I was in trouble for losing a doll she had already forgotten about. I tried to read the rest of the way home, but my tears blurred the words too much.
“Maggie?” came the deep voice from my dream man, snapping me back to the present. “You’ve been staring off into space for, like, five minutes. I’m glad you’re thinking carefully about this decision, I just want to make sure you’re okay…”
“I’m fine,” I responded quietly. I chewed on my lip for another minute or so, hugging the pillow to my body. I really wished I could think of something important that I had lost, but that stupid doll from 10 years ago was the only thing coming to mind. “I think I know what I want back…” The dream guy smiled, knowingly.
The next morning when I woke up, I laughed at myself for having such silly dreams until I noticed what was sitting on my bedside table. There, staring right at me, was a little blonde doll, just like the one I had throw out the window 10 years ago. I tried not to freak out, or question it. I’m a physicist and a firm believer that everything in life has a logical explanation. But, as Kelsey bounced into my room, too happy to be normal for so early in the morning and already babbling about the hollow moon, I realized that maybe it’s best to just leave some things unexplained.
Autumn Clark
Finding Yourself
“James, you’re not going to leave us again like this,” Elizabeth begged. She rubbed the back of the child on her hip and heaved a weighty sigh. James continued to load suitcases and bags into the back of his green Jeep. “James, please. Think of the kids. Think of me. I go nuts without you.” James continued to sift through his luggage, unmoved by her pleading. She walked over and slammed the Jeep door shut angrily; James finally looked up at her.
She was a mess, James thought. Her short blonde hair was twisted back in a wild ponytail and her mascara was dripping down her cheeks. James wondered when she had stopped wearing lipstick. She had always been angry and wild, he knew that, but she had never been messy. Now she was messy. She was a beautiful, gorgeous, perfect mess, the greatest mess he had ever seen, but still a mess. James suddenly realized she had been talking this whole time and the only thing he had heard was his only thoughts.
“James?! Are you listening to me?” Elizabeth was saying. “Of course you’re not listening. You never listen to me.” She set the child down on the grass and watched it toddle away.
“Of course I’m listening, darling.” Elizabeth was shaking her head. James quickly changed the subject. “When did you stop wearing lipstick, Lizzy?”
“Lipstick, James! Lipstick! You are concerned about my lipstick of all cotton-picking things! I haven’t worn lipstick since our second child was born, James. But you wouldn’t know that because you haven’t been around.” She was angry again, but she was always angry. Elizabeth was always a
ngry and James was always flighty, that was their dynamic. James looked at her tear-filled eyes and swept her up in a hug.
“Liz, my darling, why are you crying?” She didn’t answer; she would never answer this question. She instead sniffled into his shoulder for a few quiet minutes longer as he rubbed her hair. The more she sniffled, the tighter her hug around his torso grew. He didn’t push her to reply, he simply comforted her until she was no longer upset.
As Elizabeth cried into his shoulder, James watched their son, Tyler, toddle through their grassy yard. The grass needed to be cut, but James hardly had time for yard work now. Tyler pushed his toy vacuum cleaner through the yard, imitating its sound. Their cocker spaniel, Danny, ran in circles around Tyler, barking playfully. It made James smile, seeing Tyler and Danny play together like best friends.
James looked at their mailbox. Each family member had a hand print smacked on it in a different color of paint; even Danny’s paw had made it on there. As he stared at the mailbox, his eyes drifted to the little pink handprint on the side and he thought of Josie, inside watching cartoons. She was old enough now to understand that when daddy left, he was going to be gone for a long time, and that her life was going to be harder. She cried and cried every time she saw James’s suitcase. This past time, she begged him not to go, telling him that her homework was really hard in first grade and that she needed him to stay because mommy never helped her right. James only shook his head and hugged her as she cried, unable to respond.
James then thought of how when he had returned from his last trip, Tyler didn’t even recognize him. He was a simple being though, and smiled when Elizabeth informed him that James was daddy. Tyler then said, “Okay bye daddy” and left to go do his own thing. It hurt James to not be remembered by his own child, but he knew that the older Tyler grew, the better his memory would be and that he wouldn’t forget James again likely.
“James?” Elizabeth snapped James back to reality as she lifted her tear stained face from James’s shoulder and looked into his eyes. “What are you thinking about?”
James sighed. He released Elizabeth from his embrace and dropped to sit on the curb. After a moment, Elizabeth joined him, sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk beside him.
“I was thinking about the children,” he said softly. Elizabeth perked up a little at the mention of the children, as if the fire in her belly had leapt to life suddenly again. “I want Tyler to remember me this time. Do you think he will?”
Elizabeth sighed this time. “James, he’s awfully young. I doubt it, honestly.” James rested his chin in his left hand and stared at his feet. “It really just depends how long you’ll be gone, James…”
“Liz, you know I don’t know that. I never do. I’m not going on vacations--”
“You’re going on journeys,” Liz finished for him. “I know, James, I know. But it’s all the same to the kids and I. It doesn’t matter where you go or why you go; the only thing that matters to us is that you’re gone.” She looked over at James and he wanted to dive right into her ocean irises.
“I know, hon, but it’s important to me. I know that I’m out there somewhere, and I’m going to find myself in a sunset or in a starry sky or the depths of an ocean and then I’ll be done. I just have to find myself, Elizabeth. It’s a journey of self-awareness and once the journey is finished I will never leave you again.” Elizabeth looked away, her eyes dropping. James grabbed her chin and pulled her eyes back to his. “That’s a promise, Elizabeth.”
“Yes, James. But, when will that be?” James opened his mouth to respond but she cut him off with a hand. “I know, James. You don’t know when that will be. But I’m tired of waiting. I don’t know why you can’t find yourself here! I did! I know who I am, and that person is here with these kids in this house!”
“But you’re not me, Elizabeth.”
“Fine, James. Go. Go on your journey to find yourself while I stay here.” She pulled her hair out of her ponytail and ran her fingers through it meticulously.
“Liz…” James said, but she cut him off. He knew the best thing for her was space right now, so James kissed the top of her head, then got up and walked back into the house.
Just inside the door, he stopped to look at Josie. She was laying on her stomach, coloring pictures on the couch. James walked over and knelt down to get a closer look. Josie looked up at James, smiled sweetly, then returned her attention to her picture. It looked like a night sky full of yellow stars and planets and a big crescent moon.
“What’s this picture, Josie?” James said, pointing at the night sky beneath her crayon.
“It’s my ceiling. You know how you and mommy put those glowing stars and stuff on my ceiling? Well I see them every night when I go to sleep and they make me happy so I drew a picture of them for you and mommy so you can know how happy they make me.” Josie drew in a final star, then sat down her crayons and beamed proudly at her dad. James, taken aback at his daughter's sweet gift for him, reached over and hugged her tightly.
“Well, thank you Josie. That’s very sweet.” Josie kissed him on the cheek and he kissed her on the forehead. “You know what we should do with this picture? We should hang it on the fridge so everyone can see the stars like you see them.” Josie nodded enthusiastically and ran into the kitchen. James helped her pick out a magnet shaped like a pig and then stuck it to the fridge. Then he got Josie a cookie, as per her request, and sat her on the counter so he could talk to her at eye-level.
“Josie, you know daddy is leaving for a while again, right?” Josie’s eyes grew serious and she nodded quietly. “Well, I need you to help mommy with things like the dishes and taking care of Tyler, okay?” Josie nodded again. “Thank you, daddy’s big girl. You’re growing up so fast.” He hugged Josie again tightly and whispered that he loved her. Josie whispered it back.
“Okay, let’s go outside to mommy so daddy can leave.” He scooped her up in his arms and carried her outside, tickling her so that she would giggle so he didn’t cry. Elizabeth was waiting outside in a lawn chair, with Tyler on her lap. She looked at him as he sat Josie in the lawn chair next to Elizabeth.
“Goodbye, James,” was all she said. She wasn’t crying, she wasn’t angry, she simply seemed tired. James couldn’t blame her for being tired. James gave his final round of goodbyes. He let Danny lick his face, he ruffled Tyler’s hair, he kissed Josie’s head, and he tried to kiss Elizabeth, but she pretended to be too busy with Tyler. Then, with a final wave and an “I love you all so much”, James climbed into his Jeep and drove away.
As James drove down the block, he squinted into the sun setting over the trees and neat little rows of houses in his neighborhood. The sky was painted with watercolor paints in beautiful colors ranging from fiery oranges and reds to pale pinks and purples that blended into the darkening blue behind him. The wispy clouds stood in dark contrast of the light canvas behind them.
At the stop sign at the end of his street James paused to gaze into the sunset with wonder, thinking about how the beauty of the earth never cease to amaze him, right in his own neighborhood. James turned right and continued to think over all the beautiful sunsets he’d seen in his life, comparing them to this one. James soon came to the conclusion that this sunset was the most beautiful one he’d ever seen. James made another right turn and thought about the drawing hanging on his fridge as little twinkling stars appeared overhead. He then looked back on all the starry nights he’d ever seen. There were some spectacular night skies out there, but he decided that one drawn in crayon was a million times better than any sky he’d seen in Alaska or some remote African country. As James made another right turn, he couldn’t keep his thoughts from drifting to oceans. He’d seen the bluest waters on the planet, next to rocky cliffs and white sand beaches and brimming with coral reefs, but he was convinced that the most inviting blue he’d ever witnessed was in his wife’s eyes.
And, finally as James made his last turn and slowed to a stop back in his driveway, he decided t
hat the best place in the world was his house right here and that he had been looking for himself in all the wrong places for so many years. As James stepped out of his Jeep and wrapped his whole, happy family into his arms he announced out loud that he had finally found everything he had been searching for and then he silently vowed to never leave himself again.
And James was finally whole.
Autumn Clark
Support in All the Wrong Places
The first day of the New Love, New Life: Children of Divorced and/or Remarried Parents Support Group, my mom pulled up outside of the hotel/restaurant/church/convention center where the group was held and just looked at me sadly for a few moments as I gathered my things. Just as I was pulling my hat over my ears, I noticed her pitying stare and sighed.
“What?” I said, resting my hand on the car door handle, anxious to get out. She reached over and rubbed my back, obviously trying to be soothing. I just felt extremely uncomfortable. My mother never used to try to be so comforting but ever since the divorce, she had really poured on the sappiness.
“Just, try not to hate it, okay?” I didn’t say anything. I mean, I wanted to say something snarky like no promises, but I loved my mom far too much to hurt her feelings like that. She leaned over and kissed my forehead, then smiled sadly. “You had better get going; you don’t want to be late to your first meeting.” I tried to smile, but grimaced instead. Then I jumped out of the car before she could say anything more.
The winter wind hit me in the chest and ripped the breath from my lungs. I pulled my coat tighter around me and scurried into the front doors of the building. I had to follow little red signs that had the full name of the support group and big black arrows printed on them all the way to a conference room in the back of the first floor. Outside the doors labeled New Love, New Life: Children of Divorced and/or Remarried Parents Support Group was this little lobby with two ugly striped sitting chairs and a table with fake flowers in a dusty vase next to neat little stacks of business cards and pamphlets for the support group. A young girl was perched on one of the green and purple striped parlor chairs reading a pamphlet, so I sat in the one opposite one to rest as I stripped off all my layers of winter gear.
As I was pulling my hat off and trying frantically to smooth my frizzy blonde hair, I noticed the girl sitting across the table from me looking me up and down skeptically. I blushed furiously and tried to hide behind my armload of winter wear. She continued to stare, but, embarrassed, I said nothing to her and stood up to go into the conference room.
“Hey,” she said standing up and following me, “My name is Teddi Carmichael. Are you here for the sad kids group?”
“Am I here for what?” I turned to face her. She was standing behind me, smiling eagerly. She had discarded the pamphlet back onto the table, just slightly off of the stack, so now she clutched nothing in her gloved hands.
“Sad kids group. It’s what I call this hellhole. I mean, it’s supposed to be a great support system for kids who come from ‘broken homes’”, she used finger quotes around these words and rolled her eyes dramatically, “But, it’s a sap fest and totally lame.”
“Oh, okay.” I said awkwardly, and turned to walk into the door. As I reached for the handle, I could feel her behind me, so I scuttled through the door and resigned to sit as far away from her as possible to avoid further conversation.
In the room, it was a stereotypical support group. There were four long tables set up in a big rectangle and chairs all around. Just inside the door was a cart with cookies and carrot sticks and cups of lemonade. A man, standing at the little cart, held out a cup of lemonade as I tried to walk to the complete opposite side of the room. I accepted it and sipped it as I settled into a seat next to a stranger who didn’t bother to introduce themselves. And, suddenly, the chair on the other side of me was filled with the small frame of Teddi.
“This place blows,” she groaned. “What a waste of time. There’s so much I could be doing right now. I mean, the snow outside is perfect for snowmen, but instead I’m cooped up in here talking about feelings and junk.”
For the first time, I actually replied. “I think it’s good to talk about your feelings sometimes, especially with people who understand.”
“Oh no, you’re lame too. When I saw you, I thought you were going to be cool and we could blow this whole thing off together, but you probably came here because you wanted to. I’m really disappointed in you now.” She stared at me openly for a long few moments after she spoke. I had just met the girl and she was accusing me of being a disappointment. I was aghast.
I stammered for a few seconds before gathering my thoughts into coherency. “I’m not lame. I just like to talk about my feelings and really listen to other people, you know. It’s good to be kind of introspective sometimes, I guess is all I mean.” She was rolling her eyes wildly.
“You are like really boring. I can’t stand all that thinking and feeling and stuff. It’s pointless. It’s not accomplishing anything real. Like, honestly, we could be like doing something real but we’re not.” As she spoke, I glanced around the room, which was quickly filling up with kids ranging from probably 10 to about my age, 18. Some of them looked sad and lonely, some of them filled the room with their raucous laughter. But eventually, they all settled into their seats and made small talk with those around them and sipped their lemonade.
A man slid over the tables at one corner and walked to the center of the table square. “Here we go,” Teddi whispered to me and dropped her head into her hands dramatically. I scooted a little further away from her and sat up attentively for the man about to speak.
“Hello everyone,” said the man in a gentle voice. I could tell he had practiced for a really long time to ensure he had a voice that made you want to spill your guts. As if reading my mind, Teddi whispered, “He makes me want to barf.”
“I’m Neal Sklar. Please call me Neal, Mr. Sklar is my father.” He looked around like he expected us to laugh, but not a single person chuckled. I smiled politely when he looked my direction, Teddie put her head on the table. “My parents got divorced when I was 9 years old and it was a confusing time for me. I was sad and lonely and I only wish that I had had somebody to talk to who actually understood the situation I was in like all of you guys do. But, I grew up, as we all do, and I went to college to be a physical trainer and got married and had kids. It wasn’t until I had been married for about 10 years, when I realized how truly troubled I was still about my parents’ divorce. My marriage was falling apart, all because I didn’t truly understand what a real, loving marriage was. And, so I sought personal counseling and my wife and I sought couples counseling and it’s been another 5 years since then and our marriage is going strong. I love her, and I’m so glad I got help so that I could save what we have.” Next to me, Teddi was making gagging motions. I scooted a little further from her and tried to ignore her by putting my full attention on Neal. “4 years ago, I started this support group because going to counseling helped me remember all those feeling I had when I was a child of a divorced family. I was sad, lonely, scared. I felt helpless, unwanted, and even unloved.” I could see some people nodding as he was saying this, hanging on to each word. “I never wanted another child to feel like that again, and so New Love, New Life was born!” He smiled widely and the room broke into polite applause.
“For anyone who is new here, the way tonight is going to work is that we will go around the room and each person will state their name and explain their situation a little, if they like. Nobody is forced to talk here though. This is a comfortable environment, and I don’t want anyone to feel pressured in any way. I might prompt you with questions, or another member in the room might prompt you. If you don’t feel comfortable answering a question, just say so and we will understand wholeheartedly. Now,” he clapped his hands together excitedly, “Who wants to go first?”
A boy I guessed to be 14 years old raised his hand, and Neal slid back out of the table square to a seat, an
d it began. It was an incredibly sad, process. Each person who wanted to talk told their story in turn, and although each one was about divorce, each one was different but equally heart-breaking. Some people couldn’t even finish their story because they were crying too hard. When that happened, usually the person sitting next to them would wrap an arm around the crier’s shaking shoulders and offer them tissues and soft support until everything calmed down. By the time it was my turn, I was a little shaky and my eyes were already puffy from crying.
I stood up and said, “My name is Prue.” Teddi snorted and I looked at her, shocked. She was giggling and whispering my name over and over again. I tried to shake it off and continued. “I’m 18 years old and my parents’ just got divorced about 9 months ago. I think the hardest part of it has been the change. I mean, I’m an only child and I lived with my both my parents for over 17 years. That’s a long time. It was just really hard to adjust to life without it being us 3 versus the world, I guess.” Everyone was nodding and smiling encouragingly. “And, my dad…” That’s all I got out before I lost it. I started sobbing and, embarrassed, I sat back down to hide my face in the sleeves of my jacket. The strange boy to my left asked me if I’d like a hug and I politely declined, through my hiccuping sobs, but took the tissues he offered me with gratitude.
The group moved on to the next person, who wasn’t Teddi because she refused to speak. Eventually, everyone had had their turn and Neal stood up in his seat to request us all to join hands in prayer. Teddi grasped my hand tightly and whispered the prayer as Neal said it. I was startled by her solemn approach to religion, considering her dramatic approach to everything else.
As the group was dismissed, Teddi grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. “How much time do you have before you have to leave?”
“Well, my mom is probably outside waiting on me right now… Why?’”
“Let’s go swimming in the hotel pool!” Teddi exclaimed pulling me towards the hallway.
“That’s for guests only! We can’t do that! We’ll get in trouble! Plus, I don’t even have a bathing suit with me and my mom is waiting on me!”
“You know what, you’re right. We’d probably get arrested.” She shrugged and looked around, as if looking for another misadventure to jump into. Then, she looked at me and smiled broadly. “You know what, I like you.”
“What?” I said, taken aback at such a bold statement. I mean, I had spent the entire support group resenting Teddi.
“Every crazy girl like me needs a prude to keep her from going to jail every now and then right?” She elbowed me, still smiling like crazy.
“Did you just call me a prude?”
“You can’t deny it though. You’re practically named Prude.” She laughed wildly and leaned against the wall.
“My name is Prue. Not prude.” She shrugged. “But, it’s true, in a way,” I admitted. “And sometimes, it’s not a bad idea for a goody-two-shoes like me to have a crazy friend to keep them on from getting too stale or boring.” Teddi grinned widely and me and threw an arm around my shoulders.
“Prue, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” She made a wide gesture with her hand as she said it.
“That’s cliche,” I said. She shrugged her shoulders and dragged me out the door and into exactly what she said, a beautiful friendship.
Breeann Caldwell
Losing My Wings
They figured I was evil the moment I took my first breath. They assumed I was always malicious and hateful. They looked at my wings as weapons. They tried to take everything from me because of their assumptions. What they didn’t see was my love, my curiosity, my thirst for adventure. They didn’t see that I was once playful. They didn’t see that they were the ones who made me this way. I, Maleficent, was finally worthy of my name.
The kingdom was never a place for people like me. I kept to our quiet meadow, protecting the creatures that lived within. They were all I had. They were why I had strength after it happened. The people of the palace were never too fond of the Moors and sought to take it as their own. It was my job however, to ensure that this never happened. As the barbaric figures stormed the fields and made their way to where I was perched I readied my army and fought with everything I had. We had won, I had won, or so I had thought. Everything seemed fine until they stole what was most precious to me: my wings. The loss of my wings broke me. I was seeing life in a new vengeful light and would enact my revenge accordingly.
I waited for my chance to even the playing field against the king. It wasn’t until he had his daughter, that my plan finally came together. Since he took away what I loved most, I vowed to take something from him as well. I arrived at the christening appalled by the fact that I didn’t receive an invitation. That goody, goody fairy Merryweather informed the king that I was not wanted in the castle. He of course tried to throw me to the streets, but not before I could work my magic, I was only trying to bestow a gift upon her of course. I cast a spell on his daughter, Aurora. In doing this I ensured that she would be fine, that is until her sixteenth birthday. On that day, she would make her way up to the castles attic and prick her finger on a silver thimble, causing her to fall into an everlasting sleep. It’s not permanent I assure you, as long as the princess has found her prince charming, all he has to do is kiss her and she shall awake. In the long run, things changed as they so often do.
I found that not long after my departure the girl no longer resided in the kingdom. They had hidden her from me, thinking that everything was fine as long as she was out of my reach. After years of searching, my dim-minded companions still couldn’t find her. I turned to my faithful Raven to get the job done, and just like every other time, he succeeded. It was my plan to place more harm on the girl, but instead ensure that my magic was doing as it was told.
Aurora was a beauty that I had never met before. Her blond hair and curious eyes made her a living depiction of innocence. It wasn’t just her appearance that made her compelling it was the way she walked as if behind every bend in the forest was like turning a page in a book to find a new, more exciting plot twist. I decided I could never actually hurt a child like this, and would like to dispel any rumor that said I, myself, was the spinning wheel. It wasn’t me who captured Prince Phillip, but my minions. They were only doing what they thought I wanted, not following any real orders. I told them they had made a mistake, and it was I that freed him not the other dull fairies.
Phillip made his way to Aurora and actually saved her. So overcome by joy, I was taken aback when the price approached me. He was trying to kill me! I had no choice but to take another form. I choose a powerful dragon. I put up a good fight but the betrayal was too big, Prince Phillip struck the sword into my heart and I came crashing down. Betrayed in the beginning and in the end.
Breeann Caldwell
Not My Mother
Opening my history book I grudgingly began my homework: twenty pages of reading. Twenty pages! I swear that my teacher hates us. He himself probably hasn’t even read the damn book. I had only read “The civil war was a tough time for many . . .” when my mom called me.
“Megan! Could you please come downstairs for a moment? I need to speak to you.”
“Can’t it wait? I’m doing my homework.” Not that I was actually going to retain any of this crap.
No response. That’s strange, from past experience she would’ve jumped at the chance to yell a tad louder, emphasizing just how important her words really are.
“Mom did you hear me?” I called as I started down the upstairs hall. “I said I’m doing homework,” still, no response.
To my left I heard the closet door creep. From within a faint whisper erupted.
“Don’t go down there honey, I heard it too.”
“Nice impression of mom Lindsey. I thought you were at practice. Anyway do you know what she wants?” I asked, ignoring the fact that my 12 year old sister was hiding in t
he closet impersonating our mother.
Suddenly a hand emerged from the closet grabbing my arm and pulling me into the darkness.
“Hey! What’s your deal?” As my eyes adjusted I realized it wasn’t my sister but instead my mom. “How’d you do that? Wait why are in the closet? Weren’t you just downstairs?”
“I have been upstairs this entire time!” she stuttered as she whispered. “It wasn’t me that called you.”
“Very funny, ha-ha. But seriously I have homework what did you want to talk about.”
“Megan, I’m not joking.” For the first time I heard the seriousness in her voice.
We both jumped and cowered into the corner as a knock erupted from the closet door.
“Guys what are you doing? Get out of the closet.” It was my sister Lindsey. Both startled by the fact that she was home AND she didn’t see anyone downstairs it took us a minute to pull her inside with us. “Seriously what are you doing?”
“Didn’t you hear that voice? Or see anyone downstairs?” I stammered.
“Oh, the mom voice? Yeah that was me, I just messing with you. Also practice was canceled today so Jamie’s mom dropped me off. Now come on you weirdos. Mom I’m hungry, can you make me a sandwich?” And off she went, without a care.
My mom and I looked at each other in astonishment.
“You know she would make a good impersonator. Better watch your back.” I joked with my mom, pretending that not just three minutes ago I thought our house had been invaded by aliens. My mom smiled and replied: “I’m going to take a nap. Tell your sister she’s grounded.” And we parted ways.
As I walked back towards my room my phone began to ring. It was my sister.
“Ha-ha you were very funny. I have homework Lindsey. What do you want?” I was getting annoyed.
“Funny? What are you talking about? Never mind. Can you tell mom that practice was canceled and I need someone to pick me up? I’ve been calling for like fifteen minutes.”
I stood there for a few seconds confused by what she was saying.
“Lindsey. You’ve had your fun. If you’re going to call me make sure it’s for something important, I’ve had enough of your tricks today.” As I began to hang up I heard her pleas continue from the receiver.
“Megan, seriously! I need a ride. I don’t know what you’re talking about and mom isn’t answering! Megan you’re being so rude. Hello? Megan . . .” I listened to her and began believing that she was telling the truth.
Before I could decide whether to answer her, my door creaked open revealing what appeared to be my sister.
“Megan? Aren’t you coming downstairs for a snack? Mom made sandwiches.” It looked so much like her. She must be playing a trick on me.
“I thought mom took a nap? Also I’m not all that hungry.”
“No she’s in the kitchen. What do you mean you’re not hungry? You always have room for food.”
Lindsey’s voice rang from the phone, causing both I and the creature to move our gaze
“MEGAN! Where are you? Fine I’ll get my own ride. You’re going to be in so much trouble when mom finds out!” My phone clicked and Lindsey hung up.
The creature and I looked eyes once again, but this time something was different, more menacing.
“Who was that?” The figure asked.
“Um, just a friend. Why don’t you go downstairs I’ll be down in a minute,” hesitating to even speak.
A smile crept across the creatures face and just as I thought it would attack me it said: “Okay,” and shut my door.
I’m not sure what to do next call 911 or address the feet I see standing still on the other side of my bedroom door. As I turned to reach for my phone, I heard my door swing open one final time. The last thing I saw before everything went black was my sister’s face contorted into a form of wickedness I didn’t think was possible.
Breeann Caldwell
Revival
Her goal after high school was to be a doctor, a cardiologist to be exact. Both of her parents were in the medical field and how could he not follow their lead? Her path was basically written from the point she was merely a thought in his parent’s minds. They would be known as the family who bred scholarly, life changing, doctors. Who wouldn’t be proud of that title? Harvard was always in her sights, or even John Hopkins. The grades were there. She had been trained for this career. Medical classes had come in an abundance and after school studying was required, nothing could interfere with the plan.
The problem with this was that she had never even considered anything on her own. Did she even like the idea of becoming a surgeon? The sight of needles didn’t excite her and the knives were definitely not a favorite, but she loved helping people. She was good at what she trained for, she was precise, and she was following the plan to a T. But did she really thoroughly love the idea of the medical field, if one were to watch her and listen to her talk about it you’d see more of a robot reciting information than a person enthused about their future.
Her parents pushed her to be the best in this specific field, always filling her mind with terms such as catheter, diastole, and hypertension. By this point she could probably perform an angioplasty in her sleep. If everyone was so proud and happy of how hard she was work, then why wasn’t she celebrating with them when she had been offered a summer internship at IME?
“Not everyone is so lucky as to be accepted into a program like this. This will put you ahead of the other students. Not every junior is offered this opportunity,” said her mom when she expressed her fear of leaving her family and friends for the summer. “College is soon anyway, we won’t be there will we? You’re going to have to learn how to be on your own Natalie.”
I wish I didn’t even have this internship, she thought to herself, It’s so much pressure. What if I’m not as good as everyone else? These things often crossed her mind. She was the top of her class and was still worried about impressing others. It was how she was bred.
She wasn’t even allowed time to think about the internship before her parents had accepted it.
“I study all year, every night. Summer is supposed to be my break from school.” She said, attempting to appeal to her father, “No one even asked if I wanted this!”
“Natalie it is an honor to even be considered. And you’ve been accepted! Do you know how many students would kill to be in your position?” exclaimed her father. “You’re going and that’s final, this is your future we’re talking about. Your mother and I believe that the path you’re on is right for you, just trust us. We’ve been successful haven’t we?”
“Well yes, but . . .”
“Then it’s final, your mother and I know what’s best for you. You’re going this summer. You shouldn’t be so worried, as long as you work hard you’ll beat out the best of them.” Her father walked away without leaving time for a rebuttal.
He had only spoken one line but she knew what she thought was going to be an open conversation had ended before it had really even begun. They had always been like this. They were loving, but they had a tendency to push the limits of Natalie’s patience and sanity. If she received a 97% on a test they would ask why not a 98%. If she completed her studying within two hours, they would smile and “suggest” she went upstairs until she reached four. So she knew from past experience that the internship was in her near future just by the tone of her father’s voice, and that she was expected to be in the top five students who excelled.
The day had finally arrived for her to conjure up the willpower to load her bags into her family’s, almost uncomfortably clean, SUV and head to IME. It was 9:00 and the sky was partly cloudy as she stood in her driveway sulking, but as the car took its first turn onto the highway, it was like the weather had read her emotions for dark, gloomy figures took place of their white fluffy counterparts. Natalie stared out the tinted windows and watched as her school, th
e hospital, the local grocery all passed her by. They of course weren’t as taunting as the small ice cream shop, the shopping center, the skate park, each one giving her a reason to hate this forced decision.
“Don’t look so upset Natalie, you see your friends all year. This is your chance to show everyone up.”
Words she had heard a million times. Just go away. Natalie put her headphones in and let the music drown out all the excuses her parents were giving for stealing away her vacation.
At 11:47 the sign reading “Institution for the Medically Elite” finally came into view and Natalie snapped back to reality. I’ll probably need to be mentally institutionalized after all this is over, she thought glaring at the too big and too bright sign. She opened her door and was welcomed by the sound of dozens of other families swarming around to find the correct dormitories.
“Natalie, I have a surgery scheduled for 3:30, you remember don’t you? So we won’t be able to stay very long.” her father said, reminding her that she wasn’t abandoned yet, but would soon be.
“I didn’t expect you to stay long anyway, I’m old enough to be independent remember.”
“There’s no need to be disrespectful, you’ll understand," said her mother.
“When I’m older, yes I understand that one day you want me to trade time with my future family in order to spend all my time working. It sounds like a riot. How could I not understand,” interrupted Natalie. She put her headphones back in and they went to find room 207 in silence.
Her room was small like most dormitories, and there were two, not one, but two beds. Two beds? Oh no!
“Wait so I’m sharing this room with someone?”
“It appears so. You were complaining about not having friends, maybe it’s time for you to make a new one,” stated her father a tad too formally. “Now that you’ve seen your room, I’m afraid your mother and I will have to be leaving. I’m sorry Natalie, truly I am, and hopefully you’ll understand after this why we do what we do. You know your stuff and at your age you’re quite impressive and have a technique. It comes naturally,” Yeah if naturally is studying six billion hours a day and practicing until my hands are numb, “that means you’ll learn to love it, even if you don’t see that now.” Her father was, for the first time in the last three hours, showing sympathy toward her.
Wrapping her into a hug her mom whispered “We love you sweetie. I’m so proud of you, I hope you know that.” Her mom let go of her and for a second, a tear may have been visible in her mother’s eyes. “Try to enjoy yourself as you learn. And remember to call us whenever you’re feeling lonely.” With that she watched her parents walk out of the room.
Final check in wasn’t until 2:30, therefore she had another possible two hours before she would meet her roommate. Until then all she could do was wait.
Kellan Worth appeared in room 207 at approximately 2:27. Kellan was the roommate that people weren’t exactly sure if they hated her or if they loved her, but either way she grabbed their attention.
“So you’re Natalie right? I ran into our RA in the hallway and she told me you had already arrived. Have you met that lady yet, I mean someone needs to tell her that poor personal hygiene is a thing and she’s infested with it.” That was the first thing Kellan had said to Natalie and half of it was insulting someone. To be fair Bridget does kind of smell like month old cabbage.
“Umm, yes. I’m Natalie Haxon.”
“I’m sorry was my introduction rude, excuse me. I’m Kellan Worth, as in I’m worth a lot more than spending my summer at this school.”
“Wait? So you don’t want to be here either?”
“Half of me does, and half of me doesn’t. I love the way the heart works and I appreciate the beauty of what surgeons do, but honestly who wants to fill their summer with more school?” Kellan is insane, but even she was able to figure out that she loves medicine. Should I lie and tell her that I love it too, that I just feel like I’m wasting my summer?
“I’m not really sure if I love the practice or not, I’m only here because apparently I’m good at these things so my parents are forcing this upon me.” Well you didn’t lie. Point for Natalie.
“Well if you’re good at it then why don’t you like it? I mean don’t most people enjoy things that come naturally to them,” Kellan paused for a split second contemplating her own words, “you know on second thought, if you were naturally good at killing people without anyone finding out, I wouldn’t recommend you to be a murderer. That’s not your alternate life plan is it though? Because if it is then I may need to request a room transfer.”
“If you’re asking if I plan on killing you, the answer is no. However I am dying of hunger. Do you want to check out the cafeteria?”
“Awesome idea! I’m starving. Also this will offer the perfect opportunity for us to get to know each other a tad better. I really want to survey you and see if you show any psychotic features. Not that I suspect to find any of course.” Kellan finished sarcastically.
“Great. I think it’s in the west hall, let me just grab my money.” Natalie dug around in her bag searching for her old, worn down wallet. “Alright let’s go.”
They walked in almost silence as they made their way to the west hall. A few words were exchanged but it was really just to note the birds flying. Despite, the quietness, it wasn’t awkward. Kellan had an openness about her. Her personality radiated and she didn’t even have to say anything.
When they finally reached their destination, Natalie’s stomach growled as if on cue. Well I guess something finally filled the silence.
“You weren’t lying about being hungry! I wonder if there is anything good here. It has to be better than regular school food.” Kellan lead the way into the lunch line and began searching for her meal. Surprisingly enough, there were a multitude of options. “This food has color and it was created in a school kitchen. I’m not sure if this is real life.”
“The options are definitely refreshing compared to the usual slop we’re fed.” They continued down the line admiring their many options. Both girls settled on a burger and fries.
The mess hall was modestly filled with students, each one seeming to look a little distant and lost. The new friends sat at a table near the center of the room near close to others but just out of hearing distance.
“So your parents are forcing you to be here? Why?” asked Kellan between periods of stuffing her face.
“They say they know what’s best for me. That I’m good at it and one day I’ll understand.”
“So I’m guessing you don’t see it that way.”
“No, not really. I had always just accepted the fact that being a cardiologist was a right fit. But then my parents enrolled me here without even asking, just assuming it would be okay. The thing is I was devastated at the thought of losing an entire summer to studying.”
“I understand the last part. I contemplated whether I was willing to give up fun in the sun for arteries and scalpels. As you see I came to a conclusion. As for the parents part, I can’t really relate. My folks are the non-college graduate parents hoping for a better future for their daughter.”
“Did they persuade you into going into a specific field?” Someone is really here by their own free will?
“Not really. I mean they just want me to go to college, as for what I’m studying it’s up to me.”
“So why did you pick to become a surgeon?”
“It fascinates me how the human body works, but that’s only a small fraction of why I love it. If you want the bigger overall reason, it comes down to what we’re actually doing, and that’s saving people. I have always watched the shows on TV depicting doctors. I mean have you seen Grey’s Anatomy? It’s fantastic.” Kellan paused for a moment waiting for Natalie to respond. “No seriously have you seen it because it’s a really good show?”
“Oh, I thought it was a rhetorical questi
on. Well I’ve seen commercials, but most of my time is spent studying, so I don’t really get invested into television shows.”
“Well it’s full of a bunch of great doctors who can connect with their patients. That’s what I want, the ability to connect, and if needed, comfort my patients. Doctors have the power to change lives. It’s scary but oh so amazing.” Natalie let her words sink in. I’ve heard most of this from my parents but for some reason, hearing someone my own age say these things makes me question my questioning. Kellan continued with “so my question is why do you hate it so much? The practice I mean.”
“I don’t hate it. It’s just I’ve never had the option to choose anything else. Both of my parents are doctors and I was raised to become one too. I just wish that they had left me room to breathe when it came to choosing my life path.”
“Well you’re at this school meaning that you worked hard and always talk about studying. That shows that you care.”
“I work hard because that’s what my parents expect.”
“I don’t think so. The kids here are the best of the best. People don’t become this good at something they hate. I mean I know that I’ve earned my spot here just as you’ve earned yours, our parents didn’t do this for us. You worked for this even if you didn’t know it.”
Maybe she’s right; maybe I do actually care about becoming a cardiologist.
“You’re a glass is half-full type of person aren’t you?” Natalie questioned.
“Well of course! There’s no better way to see things.” exclaimed Kellan.
“So about that show, Grey’s Anatomy was it? Can you explain the premise to me?”
“You’ll be spending the summer with me, and I own all the seasons on DVD.”
“Of course you do.”
“No parents to keep us from binge watching the show! You’ll have plenty of time to learn the premise.”
Breeann Caldwell
The Strengths of Dialogue
“No, no, no! We’re cool, we’re good, we’re going to make it on time.” I said aloud as I was stuck in traffic, already running late for school. “This will be the third time this week!”
I always did this. I sleep until the last possible moment and then begin panicking as I run to gather my things and ready myself to look at least half way presentable. It’s not like it’s my fault, I was up all night doing homework. Granted yes I did have two hours after school, but that’s my time to relax, you can’t just be continuously connected to school and then have the only break be that short eight hours. I mean a girl needs her downtime.
“Three minutes until the bell rings.” The parking lot was almost full and I was near the back like always. I would have to speed walk to make it on time. Oh well, whatever happens. There’s something different today though. As I’m walking I’m surpassed by Emily, going one million miles per hour, looking frantic as she heads to the door. We’re going to the same class. She sees me walking as well, why then doesn’t she just walk in with me and own it, instead of running until she’s about to collapse?
“Hey Emily!”
“Can’t talk. I can’t afford to be late to class like some people!” That was all she said to me before she dashed down the hall and bounded up the stairs.
I made hast, as I followed her path and walked into the classroom a mere seven seconds before the bell rang. I watched as Emily sat nervously at her desk, this was clearly not the look of someone who has always been running late. I slid into my seat about two people away from her and went about my business.
Class was definitely not interesting we were talking about how to accurately display emotion when performing a dialogue. Public speaking wasn’t really a problem for me, well as long as someone else was writing the script, as for my own work I was a tad self-conscious when releasing it to the public. Tuning back in I realized that Ms. Gates was announcing a partner project.
“You will all have this class and the next to prepare a three minute speech about whatever you want as long as it’s either a drama or a comedy. You’ll present these with a partner on Friday. And since I know you all so well and the last time we partnered up and you chose, zero percent of your class time was spent actually working, so I’ll be choosing someone for you.” Ms. Gates always had a way of making things more interesting . . . or annoying. “David and Sarah, Michael and Kyle, Emily and Sabrina, Daniel and Charlotte, Chance and Oliver, Hanna and Natalie. Please get with your partners and commence working.”
Charlotte turned around and stared at me with big eyes, whispering in an aggressive tone.
“Daniel! Why do I get stuck with the worst people! I’m going to end up writing the whole thing. At least you have Emily; she’s actually willing to do all the work.”
“What do you mean do all the work? I’m going to be doing stuff too. “She was acting as if all I did was sit around and let others do my work for me.
“I don’t mean it in a bad way, I just mean that if you don’t want to do anything you at least have that option and still won’t fail. I on the other hand will be screwed.” Charlotte turned away from me and stared down Daniel. “I hope you don’t expect for me to move seats.” Daniel got up and pushed a desk against Charlotte’s, sitting down heavily.
Emily was already approaching my desk before I had the chance to move. She moved quietly but not timidly.
“Sorry, I would’ve come to you, but Charlotte distracted me.”
“It’s fine. I’m used to it. This is going to be an interesting mashup.” Emily wasn’t exactly rude, but she said everything sort or auto-toned so it just felt harsher.
“Why do you assume that?”
“It’s just you’re very out there, and, well, I’m not. I prefer to be reserved.”
“I’m sure we’ll be fine. Do you have any ideas about what you want our scene to be about?” Hopefully she doesn’t choose something really boring about the environment or war.
“Not really, do you?”
“I was thinking we could do a drama and a comedy, you know how a drama is so bad it’s funny? One of those.”
“I have a feeling I’m going to be doing most of the writing and I have to warn you that I’m not necessarily good at performing or coming up with ideas. I don’t like being in front of people.”
“Just because you’re a good writer doesn’t mean I can’t be, but, you probably will. Not because I’m lazy, I just get distracted with too many ideas to actually be a fluid writer. I do love performing though, so maybe we can help each other.”
“Yeah, maybe. Do you have any character ideas?”
“What if the lead character is named Penelope? Or Sam? Or Tammy? You know what? I don’t actually think that names really matter. For now let’s just have her be an aspiring actress who doesn’t know where she’s going in life but dreams big, and the antagonist that wants to give her a reality check.” Emily stared at me for a moment before responding.
“Sounds familiar. Don’t you want to be an actress when you’re older?” She asked in a semi-sassy tone.
“Yes, and I’m assuming that you think that’s impractical.” She didn’t make things that easy did she.
“Great, we’re writing a play based on ourselves.”
“I guess you could think of it like that.”
I watched down as Emily wrote down the characters and the premise and began to work. Writing seemed to come so easily to her, I’ve read some of her stories from peer review and they’re marvelous. Why wouldn’t she be proud to stand up in front of people and deliver them?
“Okay, I have the intro between the two, but what else happens?” Emily asked
“Maybe the two of them get into a heated debate. You know over what’s fun about being practical versus having a safety net in life.”
“All right, this is actually kind of easy. I mean you kind of have the plot ideas, it all writes surprisingly well.”
“Than
k you, I think? Personally I don’t see how you’re even writing that fast. You already have a page and I’ve barely given you anything.”
“Like I said, writing is my thing. What scares me is going in front of everyone and reciting it. You always put actions and emotions into your scenes. How am I supposed to do that? I always feel stupid?”
“When you watch everyone else do their actions what do you usually do? Like for a comedy skit for example.”
“Laugh, because it’s funny.”
“There you go. I understand why the speech giving part is uncomfortable I absolutely hate it, talking in front of people reciting something I’ve written is terrifying to me. I feel super embarrassed at times too performing actions but I just have to remember that people are usually just going to laugh because I’m being funny, not stupid.”
“That’s actually really good advice. I’ve never thought about it like that. I guess I just assumed that since you’re such a people person, talking in front of crowds comes naturally. It never crossed my mind that you were nervous, you always look so at ease. I agree with you on the whole ‘reciting something I’ve written’ part, it gives the whole situation a degree of vulnerability that I’m not comfortable with.”
I paused for a second while Emily kept writing. It’s weird how we can be so different, but yet we have such similar insecurities.
“I think we actually lucked out with partners on this project. We both have strengths that the other can learn from.” I finally let out.
“I agree. It looks like class is almost over. If you want any writing tips don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll upload the script so you can see what I’ve written and add to it. I think this is going project won’t be a complete failure.” Emily ended sarcastically.
“I agree.”
Chrystian Hall
Shaking Hands With Death
My Grandmother was always telling me stories she used to hear when she was younger. Most of the time they’d be about every day, you know? Those stories that mothers told their children ended up giving up them a bit of a life lesson. Those were the stories she told me and I’d always smile and listen contently because they in fact did have good life lessons in them that I, myself, could use one day whether it be something about helping someone in need or just treating others with kindness. Then suddenly she told me a story that I wasn’t really prepared for at all and it struck me with a magnitude of shock at first that ended up turning into acceptance and agreement with the same idea.
Well anyway one day my grandmother looked at me and in a calm voice said, “It’s a gift to see the angel of death in front of people’s houses and to know that he’d be collecting someone there soon.” That scared me, I had no idea what made my grandma say this, what sprung it up, but it shocked me. Indeed it shocked me a good jolt. As I kept staring at my grandma who was now smiling and I smiled too and thought “You know, she’s right,” and I said “It sure is Grandma, it sure is.” Finishing my sentence I started to look away when I suddenly saw a corpse like look scrawl across her face. I blinked hard. When I opened my eyes slowly it had long since disappeared and the same old welcoming face that is my grandmother’s was what was left in its wake. I felt a moment of panic. Just enough to make me take a step back and I was now positioned in front of the main window of my grandma’s house. The window itself looks out the front door into the yard and neighborhood. My grandma began to ask what was wrong, to which I replied with a simple nothing as I turned and looked out the window.
Outside standing in the middle of the lawn was a tall figure. The figure was black as night and almost transparent enough that you would miss it if you weren’t looking for it. In one hand he held a book, the other he held what appeared to be a weapon, a scythe looking blade. He was draped in a tattered old cloak, but what the strangest part was he had black, tattered, worn wings, wings that looked like a raven’s. My eyes widen, I started shaking, and sweating. I did a double back and looked again at the spot where he was perched staring at the house, rocking back and forth from left to right. I closed my eyes, and made an audible sigh and looked down. My grandma walked over to where I was standing and hugged me, she whispered “its okay, I know you’re not okay.” I hugged her back, I wasn’t really sure what to do with myself, I didn’t have a clue how to process the information that I just witnessed.
When I get home that night I try to contemplate what happened, what I saw, what happened, WHO WAS THAT?!, WHAT WAS THAT?! I still couldn’t process exactly what it was after that. I couldn’t get to sleep that night, so I was awake almost night thinking about it.
The very next day she was found dead in her bed, died in her sleep.
At the funeral the rain was falling from the sky at a light drizzle and the sounds of soft sorrow filled the air. I looked up from staring at the casket holding my grandmother whom I just saw yesterday. What I saw next shook me, standing in the distance the figure that I had seen outside of my grandma’s house just yesterday. I attempted to stifle my gasp but it wasn’t 100% successful. Others around me looked up, but before they could see anything it had vanished. What I could make out was him having his hood on his robe down this time, I didn’t see a face though what I saw was a deformed, twisted almost blob of skin-like mess where his face should really be. He had just random locks of hair falling down and what seemed to be horns. Everyone turned and stared at me blankly, wondering what was wrong and what I had seen. Following my response brushing it off as mere nothing was met with my own mother coming up to me to tell me that I was being slightly rude and disrespectful at her own mother’s funeral. “No, y-you don’t understand...I don’t understand it myself fully” I tried explaining to her but she just turned her nose up to me and in a low growling whisper she told me that I should just leave. Suddenly I felt like a pincushion, my knees felt weak, and my stomach dropped. The color in my face drained completely.
I left in flash, tears almost swelling into my eyes. I didn’t live too far away from the cemetery, so I could just walk back home. As I arrived back at my humble abode I stopped right before placing my hand on the door knob, I felt flustered, and then I felt angered. She had no idea what it was like to just have just seen yesterday before she had died...to hear what she said to me before I felt, I looked up at the door to see a note had been taped onto the inside door. So, I proceeded to open the screen door between the note and I. Slowly opening the note, it appeared to have dried tears within the bounds of the papers, scrawled upon the page, in shaky cursive letters, read
“It’s okay, I saw him too. -Grandmother”
It was like time slowed, the sound of the rain pattering against the house, against the ground, the windows, and trees echoed away into a far off ringing sound. She knew, and didn’t say anything. She knew and I couldn’t do anything. Suddenly I heard a shattering sound and everything snapped back up into place. It was me, I shattered, I was watching my grandma die right before my eyes and I didn’t realize it. I was watching her give up and give in just before I had left her that day. It was a Metamorphic shattering of my entire life, I had spent so much of my time with her, it felt impossible, these feelings, these words, that day it didn’t make sense.
I heard the sound of wings flapping behind me. I didn’t move, dreading what was going to happen if I turned to peer at the source of the sound, several seconds pass. Finally after gathering up all the nerve I could muster and fighting tooth and nail through this angst I feel. I begin to rotate slightly, so I can just look to see out the corner of my eye, standing there, menacingly, was a bunch of crows. I nearly jumped out of my skin, I leapt backwards like it was one of those cartoons where the character gets moved by an immense force and not all of him follows at first. Yeah, that happened, I almost threw my screen door off its hinges and smashed through my door getting through it. The entire house shook as I used all my strength plus my body weight, to slam the door. There with my back to the door, I stood, panting h
eavily like a dog on a hot day, the sounds of my heart beating at an accelerated pace filled my ears, almost as if it was echoing around the room.
I chuckled and shook my head, to which I proceeded to go and shower to take my mind off the events of the day. After a hot shower I decided that it was a good idea to go apologize for my actions earlier and just before opening my door I stopped on the door knob, I had forgotten I dropped the note my grandmother wrote me before she died, I picked it up and decided to put it in my pocket. On my way to my mom’s house something unusual started to happen...stopping just before getting into her neighbor I pull my vehicle to the side. “No. No no no no. NO!” I thought to myself “This can’t be right, what is what’s going on here, I can’t be the only one seeing this.” Panic and adrenaline filled my body; instead of stopping at my mother’s house I pulled up to her house then pulled over to the curb and got it. There it was standing over there this fiendish being, who took the lives of my Grandmother, my father, and now my mother. I couldn’t stop asking myself why, why was it taking on all these forms was it toying with me?
I was pissed, I couldn’t let this happen, I will not let this happen, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I began to sprint at it, but as soon I took a step forward, my entire body tenses up and I freeze. Without warning and almost instantly, it turns. Staring at me, this time a face had formed...I couldn’t make it out from the spot at which I was standing, but with a snap almost like the world just went into static, and you could almost hear the buzz of the pilot lights lighting up like in the movies when an electrical switch is flipped in an old place, for 3 seconds and went back to normal the being was right in front of me. Wings out stretched it started to lean towards me, the hood upon its cloak fell backwards with a gust of wind, the image of my not even a day buried grandma’s face appeared. My jaw dropped, I tried to move but couldn’t, I tried grasping for air but the presence of this being was utterly terrifying, that I couldn't manage to do anything, after standing in utter terror for a couple seconds I was able to close my eyes.
I tried to force them to stay shut but I needed to open them to get away, what I saw next was the face of my father who died in an automobile accident. The image of his face had his jaw broken, a large shard of glass portraying out of his eye other bits of glass littering the rest of his face and a huge gash on his forehead running from his temple to the bridge of his nose, just like how he looked immediately after the accident. My lips started trembling, tears were swelling into my eyes, and my face was getting extremely hot. I force myself to look away.
As I looked away I suddenly felt a hand grasp the bottom of my chin to my jaw with a tight grip, it felt like it was going to crush my jaw, and force me to turn my head. It had its palm on my chin as it turned my head, the face had transformed into my mother, it cracked its head and constantly tilted its head to a different position like a demon, the face of my mother disappears, and the face devilish like man with hollow black eyes appears. “Why? Why are you doing this to me, what’s going on?!” I tried asking it.
It smiles a toothy smile, teeth that you’d see in like a beast mouth’s sharp, pointed, and jagged. He let’s go of my head, raises his hand, and snaps his fingers.
Suddenly I wake up in my bed to my phone ringing confused, I reluctantly answer the phone to hear that my mom had died yesterday. Sshe died by slipping falling and cracking her neck, I was also informed that she had a note in her hand, a note that was written on by both her mother and I. I chucked my phone at the wall and the screen shattered leaving an indent in the wall where it had impacted. I ran out into my living, I didn’t know what to do or what to think. Everything seemed like a blur, but in the midst of it, I looked out my window that points down the neighborhood. There, more...every house, each house.
Not moving.
Standing.
Staring blankly.
I started backing up slowly, I slipped and fell. I saw several seconds of stars as my head bounced against the floor before getting up. I groaned loudly, shook my head, and slowly got up looking at the front door window; it was covered up with a black cloth curtain. I slowly crept up towards the curtain like an animal stalking its prey. I grasped the curtain and began to move it. Slowly, ever so slowly I inched it out of the way and finally as I moved it leaned forward to look outside and saw my life, flash in short bursts from beginning to end and it ended with me, leaving my grandma’s house, brushing past the angel of death not realizing it with him grasping at my hand, and going to sleep not waking up.
Chrystian Hall
Finding Strength
Kon'nichiwa (Hello), My name is Sadamitsu, General Sadamitsu is what I go by to be exact. I am one of the great generals of Japan. I serve under Lord Minamoto-no-Raiko. He, my Lord, has sent me on a very important task. I am to transverse the lands of our great country in search of boys who give promise of remarkable strength so they may be trained as soldiers for his army.
I have been searching far and wide, until one day I arrived at a small logging village. To find out rumours and/or any other information I proceed to go to the local tavern. When I arrive to the tavern I walk in, and sit at an empty table and a barmaiden proceeds to ask if would like anything, I tell her that some sake would be lovely and she leaves to obtain my drink of choice. As the barmaiden comes back to the table that I am sitting at, I ask her if she will sit and chat with me for I had been traveling alone, and very much appreciate the company. She was silent as she started to pour to pour the drink into the ochoko, when she stopped pouring she looked at me and with a pleasant smile said “sure.”
She sat the tokkuri filled with the beverage down on the table she proceeded to sit across from me. As she sits I proceed to tell her my name, but leave out the fact that I am a General of Lord Raiko’s army. I pick up the bowl like glass sitting in front of me and proceed to drink the alcoholic beverage that rested within. As I finished the drink and set the glass down she introduced herself as Akiko. I made small talk with her, asking her what it’s like to live in this village, what’s like to work in this tavern the works. 30 minutes and 2 more glasses of sake later, I ask her if she’s heard any rumors about anything odd anything under the sort of a boy that is displaying large promising amounts and unusual amounts of strength. The look she gave me after asking was very questionable but the response that followed was like a sigh of relief. She spoke about a boy living with his mother in the woods named; Kintaro, the Golden Boy.
She told me she what she had heard from the woods men that go and collect lumber in the woods nearby. The rumor goes; there was once a brave soldier named Kintoki who lived in Kyoto, he fell in love with a beautiful woman and eventually married her, but, not long after and through the malice of some of his friends, he fell into disgrace at Court and was dismissed. The misfortune was taken so heavily that eventually he died leaving behind him his beautiful young wife to face the world alone. Fearing the enemies of her husband she fled to the Ashigara Mountains as soon as her husband died. Living in a lonely forest where no one ever came except woodcutters. She, then, born a child and named him Kintaro. The child was remarkable with his great strength, and grew stronger and stronger as he aged. By the time he was of eight years of age, he could cut down full sized trees as quickly as the woodcutters. His mother gave him a large ax to use to go out in the forest to help the woodcutters, who nick-named the child “Wonder-child” and his mother “Old Nurse of the Mountains”.
I was astonished by the thought of a mere child, chopping down fully grown trees at the age of 8 years. I thought to myself I must find him, but wait... this, it’s only a rumor so there is no way it could be true, which led me to feel very disappointed, which then led me to ask if there was any place that of which I could stay the night. She told me that they have a room available for rent, which I gladly accepted and paid for this nights’ stay and the drink, which I proceeded to drink the rest of. Feeling tipsy I carefully make my way to my room for the night.
I
awoke in the morning feeling slightly hung over, but nonetheless, I go and bathe and got scared a little bit but soon chuckled because I had forgotten that I had dressed in a woodcutters attire to not draw attention to myself. I bathe, and leave the tavern, to go in search of the “Wonder-boy” I vaguely remember hearing about last night. It seemed like it was really early since the sun wasn’t exactly out yet. I search the forest for most of the day. Worried that I wasn’t going to find anything I come upon this hill that I haven’t seen before. I start to ascend the hill when suddenly, I hear animal noises on the other side of it so I quickly crouch down and quickly sneak my way up the hill, as I reach the apex of the hill I see a river, some animals and a single boy standing by a tree. I looked questionably down at the animals, it seemed odd that they were together, each one was a bear, a monkey, a deer, and a hare. Then, I looked over at the boy who proceeded to grab the trunk of the entire tree and pull on it towards the river, he pulled once, he pulled twice, he pulled three times and the tree finally gave in and the roots gave way and the tree fell down across the rushing river. My jaw dropped, I was in total shock and awe at witnessing such an event. The boy then turned toward the animals and said something and the animals got excited. “I must follow him.” I thought to myself. I followed him for hours as he walked back him. He lived with no one other than his Okaasan (mother). I hear him talk to his mother about why he was out so long, he said it was because he was having a contest with his friends, the animals, to see who was strongest and he talked about how he didn’t compete because he already knew he was the strongest out of all of them. He finishes and I speak up saying, “Hey, next time you go out how about you take this old man with you to join the sport?” I slipped off my clogs and entered the cottage.
They asked me who I was, to which I replied, “That isn’t important, but what is important is the difference of strength in this boy and I, how about let us see who has the strongest arm?”
To which the boy replies with “As you wish but don’t be upset with whoever comes out victorious.”
I thought to myself; “Yes!, this could be my chance to see if this is the fabled wonder child, if he is then he will be able to best my strength for I am the strongest General.”
The boy extends his right arm, and I extend my right arm and grasp it and the test of strength begins. Eventually, I had to declare the match a draw. He is the one, the one I had been searching for. I turn to the Kintaros’ mother and tell her how strong of a boy she has and how not many people have boasted the strength of my right arm. I tell Kintaro about how I first saw him on the river bank and I tell him about how I followed him home to see if my eyes had deceived me. To which I then turn back to his mother and ask her if she has ever thought about taking her child to the Capital and teaching him to carry a sword as befits a samurai.
To which she replies that her son is too wild and uneducated and she fears that it would be very difficult, and she kept him in the woods to keep him from hurting anyone, but she said that she had wished that she could one day she her son wield two swords, but fear her hopes will never come true as she has no influential friend to introduce them at the Capital.
I told her she need not trouble herself about that. I reveal myself and my intentions to her. I tell her how Kintaro shows promise, and that I would like to take him back with me to the Capital so he can train to be a Samurai. To which she responds that she entrusts me with her son. Kintaro gets excited after hearing this. And we set off to the Capital after Kintaro says goodbye to his mother.
Upon reaching the capital I immediately take him to my Lord, and tell him about Kintaro and how he found the child. Upon hearing the story the Lord became delighted and demanded to have Kintaro brought to him so he could be made into one of his vassals. As Kintaro grew up into a man his master made him Chief of the Four Braves, Lord Raikos’ Army warriors who were chosen by himself from amongst the bravest and strongest of his soldiers. After the events of Kintaro becoming Chief of the Four Braves, news arose about a nearby city that a cannibal monster had taken living not too far away from and were scaring the people, so in order to prove himself, Lord Raiko ordered Kintaro to rescue the city. And he did so with great triumph, bringing the monsters head back to his master as trophy.
Kintaro rose to be the greatest hero of his country, with great power, honor, and wealth that ensued. And keeping his promise he once made to his mother he had built a comfortable home for his old mother, where she lived happily with him in the Capital to the end of her days.
Story based off the Japanese Fairytale: The Adventures of Kintaro, the Golden Boy
Chrystian Hall
The Wrongful Right
Honestly, wasn’t it even that bad or worth it?
Those were the first words that kept mustering to the surface of my mind. I stare up into the corner where the ceiling meets the wall, it’s so plain, bland, and flavorless, humdrum, so unstimulating, it was like there was still wet white paint on the wall and I was sitting here, watching it dry even though the hospital has been around for ages.
Am I doing the right thing here?
You see, my name is Emilio, I’m a high school senior student and I’m friends with pretty much everyone, well “friends” more acquaintances than actual friends really, but I get invited to go out a lot by my “friends” to go to parties and all but I’ve always declined them because I didn’t really feel like going out and also, I need to focus on my school work and getting my GPA up and my homework done. Well, this year it was different. This is the one year I did decide to go to a party, I thought:
“Well, why not? I’ve been doing good the past 3 years I think it’s time to treat myself a little bit,” and yeah I had been working hard ALL 3 years with almost no play, the only time I ever got away from my work was when I didn’t have any to do, or my REAL friends invited me over the weekends or something like that. Well, apparently that was a big mistake on my part. It’s not often that I will really want to attend a social event considering I feel awkward a lot in social situations when I get left out and it makes me feel a bit sad and unwelcomed and unwanted, it’s like coming to a nightclub and everyone there knows you and likes you but they don’t look at you talk to you or even attempt to interact with you in any means whatsoever.
Flashback, School’s is starting to become in session it’s day one, we’re all gathering together and getting our schedules for the year and I’m standing there in line, looking off in the distance because nobody is talking to me or I’m not bothering to notice if anyone is even trying to talk to me at all either way I could care less really, I just wanted to go home or at least get out of there real fast. Suddenly, I felt a prod in my arm, someone was attempting to get my attention or trying to play a joke on me by trying to get me to look for whoever did it and have a laugh together. It was like a cold static shock shooting up my spine. Turning my eyes to look to the side without moving, I creased my eyebrows down; I felt panic pulse through me and sending shockwaves of fear. I turned, to my relief, I saw a girl that was just a year under me, she likes to talk to me and I’ve heard rumors that she has like this school girl crush on me or something I’m not sure it’s probably not true because you know it’s me. She had her hair up in pigtails, it was pretty adorable actually. I sighed, that was like a heavyweight that I didn't have to deal with lifted off my chest and it felt good. She was smiling and I was awkwardly standing there staring at her, I didn’t notice I was doing that until after a couple seconds.
“Hey.” I said.
“Haiya!” she said.
Her name is Sara.
I guess that’s a pretty unique name, She’s always been nice and friendly to me. She knows a lot about me too, like my panics and my urge for avoidance to large crowds or just crowds in general really. I guess you could call it Social Anxiety or something like that. The scary thing on top of that is that I’ve been diagnosed with Depression so the fear of embarrassment or judgment isn’t helping when I feel like I’ve j
ust committed an act of social fop a, I think it’s mostly because of my parents both have Depression so the genetics for that are still there plus my brother also has been diagnosed with it which raises the chances of me having it even higher than what it was before.
Anyway, she’s a nice gal, not self-centered, nice, friendly, out-going, self-determined, self-motivated, hard-working, in the top of her class. The weird thing is, she likes to party. Yeah, she’s always telling me about the parties she goes to. Picture it for me, you have that nice, sweet, friendly-looking girl that has a good home, nice parents, and nice friends, everything she needs, and is #1 in her class. Now take that picture, add the hidden deep down risqué personality she has. And this time she invited me to a party.
“The party's at my house tonight. Around 8ish and I would really REALLY *REALLY* love it if you could come!” she informs me.
I stopped; I was considering the pros and the cons. But after the first pro I thought why not? My first deciding pro; it’s at Sara’s house with Sara. Yeah, I’ll admit I do have thing for her but I’m doing ,my best to keep it on the down low and to brush it off as to not make things awkward between her and I, so I agreed and she get really excited to FINALLY get me to agree to come to her party, after that she told me that she’ll see me later and walked away, I didn’t see her after that for the rest of the day.
I got up from the chair I was perched in, walked straight across the hospital corridor put my hands open palm against the wall and locked my elbows. What was I thinking? It was kind of stupid of me to go, but I did it for her, I’m doing this for her, I’m here right now because of her, why do I feel like this is all my fault then? I felt a spark of rage ignite a fire inside me that really pissed me off. My eyes started to blur with the coming of tears into them. I was so worried about her and so mad at myself for going I knew it wasn’t my place to be. I turn toward the chair I was sitting in slump down in front of it my face buried in the seat tears pooling the dip of the seat, it was one of those chairs you’d see in the elementary schools the ones with the sitting bars coming down into an ‘L’ shape and it had the 3 holes in the back, I grasped at the curve of the chair the part where the back of the chair is meeting the seat. I grasped it so tightly, I thought my wrists were going to brake, I didn’t notice how overwhelmingly I had been shaking. I jerked my body upward to the left bringing the chair with me. Upon, doing so I thrust my arms forward and threw the chair down the hall, yelling the first thing that came to mind; “I’m sorry!” The chair flew pretty far considering, It skipped on the ground a few times making loud sounds as it banged plastic against tile and metal against tile. It slid for a few seconds making a grinding sound like a sword on a whetstone as it stopped.
“I’m sorry, Sara.”
I looked at my watch, it read “7:55” I was on my way to Sara’s place, jamming out to the music on my phone I turned down the road towards her house, it only took me a few minutes to reach her house and I parked outside. I looked up at the house and remembered all the time’s Sara asked me to come hang out or have dinner with her family, I smiled, she was just the type of person that can make friends and make anyone happy in a snap. I raised an eyebrow, she said the party would start at 8 but it seemed like the party had already started, I shrugged my shoulders and proceeded to walk up to the door. Extending my hand towards the door, when suddenly the door slams open and standing in the doorway was a bubbly, rosy-cheeked Sara. Suddenly a scent that seemed all too familiar to me filled my nostrils, alcohol. That and out of control hormones. What a pleasant sight and smell this was, teenagers being stupid, making bad choices, it was a miserable sight.
“Uh, hello?” I reluctantly said unsure if I made the right choice coming to this party.
“You’re finally here! Hey!” She excitedly calls out throwing her arms around me; she too had the essence smell of alcohol.
What a night this is going to be, I thought to myself, sighing I hugged her back and went inside.
An hour passes and every 15 minutes I would find Sara trying to offer me a drink, but I declined because I needed to keep my wits about me. Every time she found me she would always ask why I’m alone and not talking to anyone. I didn’t answer though because she’d walk up with a drink in her hand and offer it to me, when I decline though she would drink it.
Another hour passed of her doing this.
By the first 15 minutes into the next hour she finds me sitting alone in a room. No one else around, she comes in and closes the door I look up worried and a bit scared. But I calmed a bit knowing it was only her, but it was obvious she was drunk.
She comes and sits down next to me and keeps smiling and looking at me like she wants something from me. I looked at her questionably. She starts to nervously giggle and laugh.
“What are you laughing about?” I asked.
“You, you know I love you right?” She blurted.
Shock pulsed through me.
“You’re drunk.” I said blushing.
Suddenly her head hits my shoulder and she is out cold.
She won’t wake up or respond to anything.
Someone from outside of the room yells that the police are here.
I stayed with her, and told the police that she won't respond to anything or wake.
And now I’m here, thinking back wondering if this is my fault that Sara is now in the hospital because of the alcohol. You see Sara, she’s in the hospital because she had too much to drink because she kept on offering me drink after drink after wretched drink and she would drink them after I refused. Should I have gone to her party knowing this was going to happen? She could die now, and it’s my entire fault.
Chrystian Hall
The Journey
Once every great while there lives to be a great, beautiful butterfly. But, before this butterfly must live it must develop through its’ life cycle as a caterpillar and this is where our journey begins. Life’s a journey not a destination.
Our journey of fate begins with the start of the life cycle of Mike the caterpillar. Mike, our dear friend, begins his life emerging from an egg. Mike takes a slow look around to get his senses together, his sight comes and his eyes are filled a strange new light and color. Mike tries to vocalize for someone, but he can’t make out any words. He crawls forward and begins to take in his environment. He looks down only to see that he is in a spot in a high place. “This must be a tree.” Mike thought to himself. “Oh! So this is what talking feels like, how brilliant!”
"Yes, that's a tree you are in right now. And everything you're seeing and hearing is the world around you."
Mike stops in and looks up. Perched right above him looking sinisterly at him was a black hawk.
"My name is Star Lord; I see that you're, to say, new to this world."
"Yes! I am! I sure am hungry too." Mike squirmed around to get a better look at the hawk, but suddenly, a shadow blacker than a moonless night, passes quickly overhead. Mike feels a rush of wind in his face. Mike feels the ground go out from under him. He was picked up by the hawk in the Hawks beak.
"What are you doing? Help! Put me down!" Mike thrashes about and is able to come free. Mike falls and lands delicately on a leaf that slowly falls down.
"That was really scary, I didn't know what to do or how to act." Mike was scared beyond his dreams. As if on instinct Mike hunched his head over and munched down on the leaf.
"Mm. This leaf is delicious!" Mike became excited
"They are really good aren't they?" Mike became less excited and the energy was drained from him.
"Oh no! Please! Don't hurt me!" Mike cowered in his fear when he heard another voice.
"What do you mean hurt you? I'm like you, I can't hurt a brother"
Mike turned to another caterpillar just like himself was inching its’ way up towards him. Mike was becoming eager to see another caterpillar just like himself.
“Oh! Hiya! My name is Mike!” Mike eagerly stated.
�
��Some call me Tim, but my name is really Timmy, you can call me Tim if you please.” Tim recited. Tim inched his way onto the leaf next to Mike and started nibbling down on the leaf as well.
“Tim, this world is a new and scary place for me. I haven’t been here for very long.”
“Me either Mike, I just hatched not too long ago but it feels like days have passed since that moment of time, you know Mike, on the other side of the cocoon world I think we can be friends great friends you and I will be.”
“What about right now Tim? Aren’t we friends now? Can’t we be friends?”
“In another time, perhaps we could have been friends but for now I must go my time is drawing near and the sun is setting.”
And with that Tim started inching away. Before leaving entirely Tim stopped and turned to look at Mike, and with a smile said:
“Catch you on the flip side.”
Mike wished Tim a farewell, and began to ponder what Tim meant by his time was drawing near. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, what did he mean? Mike asked himself over and over again. Mike closed his eyes and suddenly realized what Tim meant. His eyes shot open.
“It’s almost that time, time to become a butterfly!” Mike shouted out in excitement.
Mike hurriedly began making his way down the leaf that he was sitting on. When he began to slow down, realizing he had no clue on exactly what he was beginning to do.
“What exactly do I do?” Mike asked out loud.
“Why, you just fall off of this here branch.” an unknown voice said.
Mike looked up to see a snake coiling down the trunk of the tree.
“What?” Mike asked.
“Just, fall and everything will become clear.” the snake said.
“I don’t really think that’s going to help…” Mike started but then the snake lunged at him making him jump and move away from the branch.
“Oh no!” Mike called out.
He began falling.
“I’m never going to become a butterfly now...this is it this is where it all ends.” Mike sadly stated.
But then, he stops falling. Something catches him, he looks down. To his surprise he was caught in a web like substance.
“Whoa, what’s this?” Mike asked aloud.
“It’s called a web you dingus.”
Mike looks down to see a spider.
“Web? What’s a web?” Mike asked.
“Webs catch and hold things you should know this, you’re a caterpillar after all you make these to become butterflies.” the spider said.
“We do?!” Mike exclaim.
“Yes.” the spider sarcastically stated.
Hearing this Mike got really excited, and started to hurry off.
“Whoa! Before you go thinking you produce the web-like material like a spider does, I must tell you, you most certainly DO NOT make a web like a spider does it’s not produced the same.” The spider started.
“Wait, really? Then how do I create webbings.” Mike said starting to feel distraught.
“Use your saliva! You wrap yourself up with the material, but don’t forget you should probably be hanging off a stick or at the base of a limb on a tree.”
“Oh! Thank you for telling me this!” Mike yelled.
Before waiting to hear a reply he dashed off as fast as he could. Within minutes Mike found a cozy spot between a base of a branch and the trunk of a tree and began trying to produce his web. He tried, and tried until finally, he began wrapping himself up all snug. Mike wrapped himself from head to toe in his web cocooning himself from the world. One day passes, and Mike the caterpillar hasn’t yet emerged as Mike the butterfly. Another day passes, and finally; Mike becomes a beautiful Monarch Butterfly.
Connor Cain
Portfolio
1. Three Billy Goats Gruff: The Real Story
It’s been a rough, miserable life that I have had to go through. Discrimination, jokes, and all around rude people making my life terrible is what I deal with on a daily basis. This is the life of a troll. Ever since those darn billy goats gave me a bad reputation way back when, I’ve been the laughing stock of the village. Little do most people know, I adopted those three billy goats and raised them as if they were my own when I was just a young, twenty-two year old troll. I saw those three adolescent billy goats floating down the river on a raft with no parental guidance, and I pulled them to the side of my bridge and wanted them to be safe and sound. No one believed in a troll like me. The whole village thought a troll like myself was an unsuited parent for these three adorable goats! So, you know what I did? I proved them wrong! I was the best darn troll father that existed in the surrounding villages. Nurturing them, teaching them how to live a healthy lifestyle, and how to be the best billy goats they could be. Then the day came. The goats turned on me. They had grown up and realized that trolls just weren’t the most suited creatures to be their father, so they accused me of trying to eat them! Claiming that I was going to eat everyone of them, but waited for the fattest one?! This was deception at its finest. My life was ruined. Everyone from other trolls, the giants, the whole billy goat community, and even the bottom feeder elves were on my case about attempting to murder three, baby billy goats. Everyone was wrong. So, so wrong.
It was the warmest day of the year. Approximately one hundred four degrees fahrenheit to be exact. The billy goats were young, but could most certainly fend for themselves at this point of their life. I let the goats off to go fetch some food and water for dinner. Little did I know, while they were gone, they had an elaborate plan to have me thrown out as their father, so they could hopefully find a new, better looking one who wasn’t a troll. I was not expecting this by any means. There they were, on the hillside just hanging around, conversing with one another. I noticed that they called over a couple of llamas and some of their elf buddies. This wasn’t too peculiar, as they had all been companions for quite some time. As I laid underneath my bridge to catch some shade on that miserably hot summer day, I hear a sudden, startling pounding up from above on the bridge. I look up and yell, “Hey! Who goes there?!” As soon as the words come from my mouth, I saw my three little billy goat children being run down by an ogre from the village right next to us. Then I set off as fast as my troll feet could move! The ogre chased them all the way into our village and I followed. When we made it about hundred yards from our village, the ogre turned directions and headed west, the opposite way. “Thank goodness!” I exclaimed to myself. “My little baby goats are all okay and safe now,” I said aloud. The little guys headed to the town square for some odd reason, but I kept on pursuing. As soon as the four of us were all near one another, and a smile was across my face, the fattest billy goat claimed, “Dad?? Why would you try to eat us? What did we do to you to deserve this?! We’re just little, baby billy goats and you wanted to eat us. You’re our father! How dare you.” My troll face was indescribable. “What are you talking about, son? All three of you know I would never do such a thing!” I said. By this time, most people that had shops and stores in the square were out of them, listening to all of these falsehoods unfold. “Yes, father. You wanted to eat us for your own good. How could you?! You raised us to be great, successful goats, but you’re trying to murder and eat the only three creatures that have ever cared about you!” Shouted my other goat son. After this was said, the town all looked at me and wanted my head. Who were they going to believe? An ugly troll like myself, or these three, adorable billy goats? The crowd surrounded me and carried me to the village court house, shouting, “OFF WITH HIS HEAD,” the whole way there. I knew then that I had not much more to live for. The judge of the village heard my case and my pleas. Thank goodness he hadn’t sided with the rest of the village, or I wouldn’t be here to tell my story. He sentenced me to be exiled and sent way, way out into the mountains. Knowing I would never get to see my three billy goat sons, or my friends and troll family anymore hurt me incredibly, but I realized how lucky I was to be alive. The villag
e officers and the judge followed me to my bridge so I could claim all my belongings and head to the mountains for my exile. Tears rolling down my face, I notified my family what had occurred and they said to me they would fight for me, and get me back here. As much as I wanted to believe this, I knew that those backstabbing billy goats got what they wanted and there was no coming back for me. My exile to the mountains had begun and I was shipped nearly two hundred miles away into the center of the mountain range. This would be unbearably difficult for most, but this hurt me so, so, so unimaginably. I claimed those three little goats as my blood and wanted nothing but the best for them, then they go and spread such slander. It was time to move on though. I have nobody but myself, and I need to make a living for myself, rather than slump down and die. Therefore, I gathered myself and built a new bridge. I was eventually welcomed into a new village as the local troll. A village where I was embraced and loved, rather than have fiction spread about me and be hated by everyone there. It was hard at first, but here I am. I’ve moved on from those three darn billy goats, and have a beautiful troll wife, with two perfect troll babies. No matter what those goats were trying to do, they weren’t ever going to bring me down to their level.
Connor Cain
He’s Still Doing It
The date reads February 14, 2021 in my IndyStar newspaper. I’ve been in and around the Indianapolis area ever since I was a young boy, and The Star has always been one of my favorite sources of media. Twenty three years ago, my childhood hero had been born. His name? Peyton Manning. Far, far away, the greatest quarterback to ever step foot on a football field. Coming from New Orleans, Louisiana, he’s always had that likeable southern charm to him. As an avid Indiana sports fan my whole life, I grew up watching “The Sheriff.” The way he could lead a group of young men to win games and how he could just manipulate the way a defense plays has always been fascinating to a sports fan like myself. March 7, 2012 will always be an infamous day for the beloved Colts fan. It was the date that Jim Irsay decided to unfortunately let go of the greatest quarterback of the century and officially move on. I remember my father, a grown, forty five year old man, shed real tears the day that Irsay cut ties with Manning. But that was then and this is now. Today, February 14, 2021 the IndyStar front page reads “Manning Is Still Balling: Claims ANOTHER Super Bowl For Indy.” Of course I stayed to watch the game! I haven’t missed an Indianapolis Colts game for the last seven years. There was without a doubt that I would miss a Peyton Manning Super Bowl! I’m still in disbelief of the way he got back to Indy and how much he really has done for not just the community, but the whole state of Indiana. It truly is mind boggling.
That sorrowful date nine years ago still haunts Colts fans. Why would our owner and leaders of the organizations ever let someone so influential to a community just go like that. Someone that damn good just walk right out the doors. Yes, many did think Manning was just going to be some washed up, has been if he ever attempted a comeback after that fourth neck surgery, but like he’s always done, he prevailed and proved them wrong. He went to a Super Bowl his first year back and ended up claiming the most wins at quarterback for two different organizations. Who does that?! The guy has been balling since the 1990’s for goodness sake! Yes, surgeries have always bothered him, but with the treatments in today’s day and age, he keeps producing these MVP like numbers. After eight long years playing quarterback in Denver for the Broncos, Peyton’s contract finally expired and once again he was let go by an organization he did so much for. The Colts were a struggling team these days after the trading of Andrew Luck, so they decided to do something right for a change and dialed up Peyton and his agent. It was officially time for “The Sheriff” to come back home to the town that he built.
In the offseason of the 2019 season, and quarterbacking in doubt for the Colts, a push was made for them to resign the man that built this place into a football town. The push succeeded and Manning was drawn back into retiring in his true hometown. The Colts kept winning more and more games and were becoming one of the true turnarounds after such a few dismal years of miserable football. Like he did when he first joined the organization in 1998, Manning was turning around a football team that had many struggles. He was turning mediocre players into Pro-Bowlers, and turning Pro-Bowlers into great players. Not only was he selected as the first unanimous MVP since 2016, he was leading the Colts into the playoffs with the best record in the league and was riding the longest streak of most consecutive starts by a single player. Our beloved Colts rolled into the AFC Championship against the most hated New England Patriots. Like many times before, Peyton was not going to fall to these scrubs. Instead, he threw for four hundred twenty seven yards and four touchdowns, and led his team to a thirty one to seven win over their arch rival. Peyton was back in a blue uniform and playing for the Lombardi trophy. This sight could bring real tears to almost any grown man.
After another stellar performance behind the trophy arm that Manning had, the Colts won a Super Bowl for the town of Indianapolis. I knew work was going to be rough that next morning, but it would be forever worth it. Now here I am, sipping on coffee at my kitchen table, reading the headline about my childhood hero leading my favorite team to the greatest accomplishment in all of sports. On this chilly, but stunning February morning, I sit here and reminisce about how grateful I am that I was able to watch “The Sheriff” bring another trophy back to Indy and restore the football tradition that he once created.
Connor Cain
The Day It All Changed
After working a hard day I came home to see my girlfriend cradling our child. I didn’t know which was more frightening, seeing my dead girlfriend and stillborn child, or knowing that someone broke into my apartment to place them there. Here I am today, still traumatized about that horrific evening. My loving wife and baby, right there with no pulse, no heartbeat. Who could commit such a disturbing, horrendous act? My first thought was to check their vitals, but it was far, far too late. Immediately, I sprinted to our home phone and dialed 911. As I sat there waiting for police cars and ambulances to storm our block, tears were pouring down my face as I slowly comprehended what had just happened to the two people whom I loved the most. My heart hurt. My body hurt. My everything hurt. “This doesn’t happen to normal people. Why me?” These thoughts poured through my brain. After a seven minute wait, the local police crammed into our small, blood ridden apartment. The police officers soon turned their sprint into a slow, dreadful walk into the apartment. They immediately noticed the blood soaked carpets, the knife used for the killing, and then my two deceased loved ones. Tears still rushing down my face, the police attempted to talk to me. I could not be calmed down for the life of me. “These guys really want to talk to me about what had just happened? Are they freaking kidding me?” I thought to myself. Finally, I pulled myself together and answered the questions that the cops shot at me. As I was sitting in the kitchens with the officers, I noticed a small group of policemen talking to one of the detectives. It seemed as if they were in some serious thought and had something urgent on their mind. After my short glance over there, the group began to walk over to me. The detective questioned me, “Sir, are you sure you were at work this evening? We just called downtown to the electric store you’re employed at and they told us that you left work around eleven o’clock this morning.” That’s when I realized I was done for. The look of disbelief and disgust on my face said it all. “Sir, you are under the arrest for the murder of your wife and child. We are going to take you into the station for immediate questioning. Take him out of here, boys.” My act was caught. All of the unhappiness and distress these past few years had finally caught up to me and created a boiling point. No, I never wanted a child, nor did I want to be with her any longer. I knew about her frequent acts of adultery and how she would go run off with other men. Was I perfect? Not by any means. I wasn’t ready for a baby, or settling down and having a life with these two. What was I to do though? I couldn’t just leave her a
nd our child. This was the only solution in my mind. But here I am now: locked up in federal penitentiary doing hard time. I’ve lived in this town for all twenty four years of my life. I was loved by many, admired by tons of local townies, I was the high school all-star, but now I’m here as the most infamous criminal that has gone through Bone County.
My girlfriend and I had been together since we were sophomores in high school. Ever since the young age of fifteen years old, we were madly in love. Yes, we had our ups and downs like every other couple out there, but we made it through the adversity and still loved one another a tremendous amount. Then the first of many run ins with other men began. We were still young; around twenty one years of age. I was out at the bars with my buddies for a night out and I began my trek home around two in the morning. I came into our small, one bedroom apartment around three A.M. There she was, right in our own bed with another man. The disgust hit me hard. I didn’t know if I could ever love her again, but I unfortunately went running right back to her. Then the incidents just kept happening more and more often. About a year and a half ago, she announced her pregnancy. Now I really couldn’t ever leave her. I refused to be my dad. I would not allow myself to runoff and forget about our child and her, no matter how much our love kept falling off the edge. Then finally, I had my final breaking point. The morning of the murder, she expressed to me that she had found someone else and her and our child would be gone by the evening, so I better say my last goodbyes. My anger took over my whole body. As I slammed the door out of our apartment and headed off to work, I put together a diabolic plan so they could never, ever leave me, no matter the circumstances.
It was about ten A.M. when the idea came to me. I could just frame their murder and I would easily get away with it. So, that is exactly what I was going to do. I never express much detail about the actual murder, but I’ll just say it was a terrible, terrible act of violence. After I was done with it, I thought about ditching the framing idea and running out of town as fast as I could, but I realized the stakes would be much too high for that. I’d be caught pronto. So, I put it all together. I would just wait it out a couple hours, then call the police and explain that I walked into a murder of my two “loved” ones. As you can see, it didn’t all fall into place. I am currently serving a term of life in prison as I write this. Was it worth it? Of course not. Do I regret it? Yes, I most definitely do. But was it the only way out? Unfortunately, yes it was.
Connor Cain
Opposites Don’t Attract
There we were! Setting off on the road trip of a lifetime. My Uncle Keith and I were ready to take on the western states of the U.S.! I didn't plan on leaving until roughly 7:30, but Keith had us up bright and early, ready to take off by 5:15 in the morning. Keith tends to do this to me all the time; dragging me out of bed, much before I need to be! He kills me every single time we set out on our trips like this. As I'm dragging, attempting to get the camper ready, Keith is bright eyes and bushy tailed, full of energy, shouting out orders at me, while I move around like a snail. "Ugh!" I groaned. "Keith, I love you, man, but you have got to take a chill pill, it's waaaaay too early for this." He just smirked and said, "Hey, the early bird gets the worm, bud!" The morning dragged on slowly, and we finally had everything together. Time for the trip to officially begin.
We set off with me beginning the drive from our hometown of Chicago. While driving in the car on the interstate, Keith made sure I stayed all the way in the far right lane the whole time and kept his eye on the speedometer so he knew I wasn’t going one mile over the speed limit. When I drive, I like to get to the destination as quick as I can, but nope, Uncle Keith wasn’t having any piece of that. “Boy, oh boy, you have got to slow down! I do not want to have to worry about a state trooper on our tail, pulling us over. Just play it safe and don’t speed like an idiot,” Keith told me. Already, I was getting frustrated by Keith’s actions. “Okay, Keith, just please be quiet and let me drive. Thank you.” Hopefully this would finally shut him up and have him stop nitpicking me for a little while. Our road trip to the great west continued, until Keith informed me that he was hungry. Me, being on a somewhat strict diet because of sports, I virtually ate little to no fast food, so I was not all that interested in stopping for any food. “Hey bud, do you mind if we grab a bite to eat over at the McDonald’s at the next exit? I don’t think I’ve ever been this starving in my whole entire life,” Keith informed me. “C’mon, Uncle Keith. Can’t we wait a little bit until we get to our hotel? Just snack on something small for a couple more hours then we can go out for dinner.” Keith was relentless though. “I’m taking you on a roadtrip across fifteen states and you can’t even stop to get a burger for me? I’ll even buy you a sandwich or two, too!” Keith persisted. “Okay, whatever,” I said. We finally pulled into the drive thru of the nearest McDonald’s and Keith let the worker know what he wanted loud and clear. The guy was practically screaming into the microphone, like he didn’t think the lady could hear him. I thought to myself, “What did I get into? He’s literally so embarrassing to take out in public sometimes.” Then my thought process was abruptly interrupted. “HEY, BUD, YOU HUNGRY AT ALL?? I GUESS I’LL BUY FOR YOU!” The beligerance in his voice made me cringe whole heartedly. “I’m good, Keith. Don’t worry about me.” As I attempted to get that sentence off with a smile. Finally, our order came and Keith shut up. Back on the road again for at least another two hours. I can do it. “Power through anymore annoyances and make it to the hotel room,” I told myself numerous times. Before we even got on the interstate, I begin to hear a loud noise coming from the passenger seat of the car. Keith is knocked out cold already, drool covering the side of his mouth, and snoring obnoxiously loud. My least favorite thing in the world is when someone can’t control their very, very loud snoring habits. I kept on driving though; getting to speed since Keith was passed out. After traveling through Iowa and Nebraska, we were finally to our hotel in Colorado. I awoke my uncle, and we checked into our hotel. When I first pulled in, I was a little shell shocked at what I saw. There were what looked to be two homeless men out in front of the hotel, sharing one cigarette between them. The roof of one side of the structure was leaking profusely and looked as if it could cave in at any time. I shot a look at Keith, wondering what we were doing at this rundown hotel, and why he booked a room at this place. Keith noticed and told me, “It sure is pretty, isn’t it?!” The look of disgust on my face said it all. “Hey, there’s not a single thing wrong with a little adventure! I looked at the rates and this was the best one in town! Can’t beat it, buddy.” I was still in disbelief that we were staying at such a makeshift hotel for the night. I knew Keith was a little cheap, but not this bad. “Uncle Keith, I’m going to do us a favor and look online for a hotel, just for tonight. I really don’t want to stay here. It’s kinda grossing me out. Heck, I’ll even cover the two of us for the night. You won’t have to spend a dime.” Keith responded with, “While I’d sure hope I wouldn’t have to spend a dime! You know I’m a little stingy with my money. As long as it has a place to sleep, and a place to wash your body, I’m set!” My face was blank. I didn’t realize my uncle was so cheap. After much persuasion, I eventually hauled my uncle back in the car, and I drove down the road for about four miles until we found a decent looking Hotel Eight. The both of us went up to the room, and clocked out for the evening. It’s hard to spend a whole day with someone who is your polar opposite, so I was ready to get a little peace to myself. “Goodnight, Keith.” I said. All I got for a response was a loud “Snnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooorrrrreeeeee.” “At least he’s asleep I guess,” I thought to myself.
Once again, the morning was started with Keith waking me up at the brink of dawn, telling me to get ready. Today, we are off towards Denver, Colorado. By 7 o’clock, Keith and I were off towards the capital city. We decided to go to a Colorado Rockies game and check out Coors Field. We made it to Denver with just one fast food stop, and only a tad bit of annoyance. The game started at noon, and of
course around 11:45, Uncle Keith got hungry again. So, as we show up late to the game, which is one of my biggest pet peeves, we missed the opening homerun by one of the Rockies players. The day had barely begun and I wanted to strangle Keith. Our day progressed, and the seven inning came around. The Rockies were up to bat and one of their players knocked a foul ball into the stands right next to us. The ball ended up whacking the fan sitting directly in front of us in the head, and putting him in his seat immediately. I rushed down to the fan to make sure he was alright, as Keith sat there and just laughed at the poor man. “Keith, quit laughing, the poor guy needs some help!” My words didn’t help, as Keith just continued to laugh at the guy. This was the breaking point for me. After attending to the man, I told my uncle that we’re getting out of here and going to get a new hotel, because I couldn’t take him any longer. As we were exiting the stadium, a homeless man was asking for money, so I dropped him two or three dollars. Once I did this, I had never seen my uncle so flabbergasted in his whole life. “You know they’re just faking it, right? They don’t actually need that money. All they want is attention.” This drew the absolute farthest line for me. Keith and I got in the car and I got on the interstate going east. Keith was clueless of course, because he didn’t know how to simply look at compass. After twenty minutes of silence in the car Keith asked where we were going, and I simply stated, “home.” Nothing else was said the rest of the ride home, and I drove nonstop until we finally made back to Chicago. As I pulled into my Uncle’s driveway I told him, “Uncle Keith, I do love you, but man, I never thought that our trip would be that miserable. You and I are just too different to be doing anything like that. I’m sorry it had to end like this, but I’m just ready to be home, and I couldn’t take someone who thinks nothing like me, for almost two whole weeks.” He responded short and simple. “I love you, too.” From there on, I drove home, took some aspirin, and headed for bed. I guess the saying opposites attract isn’t always true.
Danielle Meiggs
Glowing
“I can’t handle this anymore!”
“Emeri, please, I can help you.”
“No, Callie, you just need to go back inside. Go be with the family.”
“I can’t knowing that my little sister is out here all alone. I know you aren’t okay. What happened with you and him?”
“Nothing.”
“Emeri…”
“I can’t do this anymore. Please just leave me. I’ll be back in five minutes.”
“You promise?”
“Pinky swear.”
“That was the last time you saw your sister?” the therapist asked.
“Yeah, that was the last thing she ever said to me before she left that night,” I said, remembering that five years ago my sixteen year old sister went missing.
“Do you think that she would want you to be sitting here upset about her, or do you think she would want you to be living your life to the fullest?” my therapist asked, clearly not helping at all.
“Actually, you know what, you’re right, I’m going to head out now,” I said plastering a fake smile onto my face.
“That’s very good,” she said in a bored tone probably not caring anymore, not like she even did to begin with though.
I basically ran out of that room. I hate therapists, but my family says I need it. I’ve had a hard time ever since my sister disappeared that night. I was only eighteen when she had left. I was the last one to talk to her too. I could have stopped her from running or being hurt. We still don’t know what has happened to her. A kidnap, running away, murder, suicide. We don’t know. She was my best friend. I never thought she would be gone one day. I let her go too. I left her outside that day. I knew I shouldn’t have. I knew somewhere in my head that she was never going to come back, yet I still left. It’s all my fault. For the first two years, I put my life on hold. I didn’t go to college. I didn’t get a job. I didn’t go anywhere. I lived at home with my mom and my stepfather. He seemed irritated by my presents, but I didn’t really care enough. He didn’t seem irritated when his son stuck around, and better yet, his son was three years older than me. Anyways, I eventually realized that I wasn’t living my life how I thought I should, so I applied to college and looked everywhere for a job. And now, I finally feel like I have my life back together, clearly my mom doesn’t though. She sends me to a different therapist every week. It annoys me more than it helps me. I mean these people think they know my life and are helping me. They know nothing about losing a sister, and I bet half of them only wanted money. I just really wish I knew where my sister was.
I decided to go pay my mother a visit. I want her to understand that this is just hurting me more than helping me. On my way to her house, I sat and thought about my sister. I don’t think she’s dead. I don’t know why, but I just have a feeling. Sooner than I thought, I had arrived at my mom’s. I decided to sit in my car for a little while just to get all my emotions in control. I don’t think she understands how hard it is for me to talk about Emeri. I just…I can’t.
“Callie, did you walk out on your session again? Why are you here so early? Actually, why are you here?” my mother asked like she really did care, but from past experiences, I know it’s just an act.
“I came here in person to tell you to stop setting up these sessions for me because clearly you didn’t understand over the phone,” I said somewhat irritated.
“Oh Callie, I was just trying to help you,” she said again very distant like her mind was somewhere else.
“Mom, since Steve and Marc came into our lives, you stopped caring, so tell me this, why do you keep wasting your money when you don’t care?” I asked her hoping to get an answer unlike every other time I ask her this.
“I don’t understand why you keep calling Steve, Steve. He has been more of a father to you than your real dad has,” she said avoiding the question.
“I’m going to leave mom. Just please promise me that you will stop making sessions for me,” I begged her.
“Fine, pinky swear.”
I don’t think my mom realized what she had said to me. That was what Emeri always used to say to me when we made promises.
While driving away from my mom’s house, I saw the strangest thing. I thought I had saw Emeri in a passing car. It must have just been my mind though. There is no way that she would come home now, after all these years.
After randomly driving around for a half an hour just clearing my mind, I decided that I should go talk to my best friend, Alec. I drove to the one place where I knew he would be.
“Cal, why are you here on your day off?” Alec asked me.
“I need someone to talk to,” I said feeling exhausted even though it’s only twelve o’clock.
“Okay, well, I’m on break right now, so tell me what happened.”
“It’s my mother again. She thinks she’s helping.”
“Callie, I think you should keep going to these sessions though. I think that you should talk to someone who could help you move on. I can only do so much.”
“Alec…you were supposed to be on my side.”
“Please, just consider-” Alec was cut off by my phone.
“I’m so sorry. I need to take this,” I said looking and seeing that it was my mom who was calling.
She normally never calls me, so I was somewhat concerned.
“Mom?” I asked answering the phone sounding confused.
“Callie,” my mom said almost sounding like she was crying.
“Mom?! What happened?!” I asked feeling more panicked than I already was.
“She’s been fo-” she said but got cut off in the end by me dropping my phone.
“Alec, I have to go. I’m so sorry,” I said apologetically collecting my things.
I knew what she was going to say. I had to see for myself to make sure. I drove super fast hoping to get there sooner. I need to see her. I needed to get there quickly.
Eeeeeeeeeeee BOOM!
I need to get there…I need to see her…And then it went black.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. What is that beeping noise? Where am I? I tried opening my eyes and quickly shut them realizing how bright it actually was in the room.
“Someone shut off the lights! She’s waking up,” I heard a familiar voice yell.
“I’ll go get the nurse,” a feminine voice said.
I tried opening my eyes again, succeeding this time. I looked around the white room, realizing that I was in a hospital.
“Why am I here?” I asked my mom, who I realized was the familiar voice before.
“You were on your way to my house, and you got into a wreck,” she said hesitantly.
“How long have I been out?” I asked looking outside and seeing the dark sky.
“About…five or six hours,” she said looking at the time on her phone.
“Did anyone else get hurt? Was I the cause?” I asked panicked not wanting to be the reason for someone else’s pain.
“No, you were not the cause. Someone ran a red light, hitting you,” she said taking the weight off my chest.
“Are they okay?”
“They are in a coma right now, but they look like they are doing well,” she said looking at the door.
“Who else was in here?” I said remembering the second voice.
“Oh, that was no one. Don’t worry,” she said looking back at the door again.
“Okay?” I questioned not quite understanding what was going on.
“Hello Callie, how are you?” questioned the nurse as she walked in with a clipboard.
“I feel fine. When can I go home?”
“Well, we are going to keep you here for a few days just to make sure you are okay, okay?”
“I guess it’s fine,” I said not really wanting to spend another minute in there.
“Alright, very well then. If you need me, push this button,” the nurse told me while motioning to a button on the side of the bed.
The nurse left, and now I was in this room just staring at my mother. I want to know what she is hiding from me. I can’t remember why I was going to her house in the first place. Sometimes I jus-
“Callie, I’m going to head out, alright?” my mother asked interrupting my thoughts.
“Yeah, that’s fine. Will you be back though?” I asked as she was walking out of the room. My only response was the slam of the door. I don’t understand why she tries to act like she cares when it’s very clear to see that she doesn’t. As I was thinking, I didn’t realize that someone else had come into my room.
“Callie…” the voice trailed off. I didn’t want to turn around and look at the door because I knew. I knew that this was the person who left me so long ago.
“Callie, please, just look at me,” she pleaded. I just couldn’t. After all this time, I started to actually think that she was dead. I couldn’t believe that she was here. I turned around, surprised at what I saw.
“Emeri? Are you…glowing?” I questioned, somewhat frightened at what I was seeing.
“Callie, I have to talk quick. I have to go soon. I died that night. The night that you thought I left, I died,” she said so fast that I didn’t even have time to process.
“What? How?” I questioned scared to get an answer.
“You remember Warren, right?” she questioned. Warren was her old boyfriend. He was the reason why she was going to leave to begin with. He was abusive to her, and when she left him, he threatened her life. He said that if he couldn’t have her, then no one could. Our whole family was planning on moving the next week. Emeri kept saying that she was going to run, but we just needed her to wait. She couldn’t be out there by herself. I just we waited too long.
“He did this…didn’t he?” I asked just to make sure that my assumptions were correct.
“He did. When you left to go back inside, I heard someone walking towards me. I thought it was you again, so I turned around to tell you to go back in, but instead of meeting your face, I was met with a knife,” she said starting to tear up.
“Emeri…” I said, not knowing what to say. I couldn’t believe this. I couldn’t believe any of this.
“It’s okay Callie. I’m fine now. I just came back to tell you that it’s okay for you to be happy. I want you to live the life that you would have if I was still in it,” she said with tears running down her face.
“But that’s just the thing Emeri. You’re not in it. Things will never be the same,” I said with tears starting to stream down my face too.
“Oh but Callie, I’m always going to be there with you. I’m going to be looking out for you. I can’t wait until I get to see you fall in love or have my little nieces and nephews. I’m always going to be here. Always,” she said trying to stop her tears.
“I’m going to miss you little sis,” I said when I realized that our time was done.
“Goodbye Callie. I love you,” she said as she started to fade away. She looked so peaceful with a smile on her face and happiness in her eyes. I know that she will never be with me physically, but she will always be there. She will always be my rock.
“I love you Emeri,” I whispered looking at the spot where my little sister once stood.
“Callie, wake up,” I heard as I felt myself being shaken, “Callie! You need to wake up to take your medicine.” I knew that it was my mom trying to wake me up, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to wake up until I realized something. I need to live my life for Emeri. I need to do things for her. I need to have a life for her.
“Mom?” I asked as I opened my eyes.
“Oh thank the lord! I thought you were in a coma or something,” she said almost looking relieved that I was awake. I looked at her, like actually looked at her. Her face was worn from her tiredness. She had big, black bags underneath her eyes, and her hair looked like it was starting to turn gray. I never realized how much Emeri’s disappearance had stressed her out. I always thought that I was the victim. In reality, our whole family was a victim. I turned my head to see Steve sitting in the chair by the window looking at me with a worried look on his face. And right next to him was Marc, looking like he was happy that I woke up. I’ve been so blind by my hurt that I didn’t see that I had a caring family and support.
“Mom, Steve, Marc, I love you guys.”
“Oh honey, we know this has been rough on you,” my mom said with a happy look on her face, “We love you too.”
“Mom!” I said just remembering that I needed to tell her about Emeri.
“Yes?” she looked at me shocked that I basically just screamed at her.
“It’s Emeri, mom. She’s…she’s…” I stuttered not being able to say that word.
“We know Callie. I called you because her body was found in a lake,” she said with her eyes filling up with tears.
“Mom, I saw her. She loves us all. We’re going to be okay,” I said with a bittersweet smile.
Danielle Meiggs
The Work in Progress
Let’s start off. I don’t like people. Basically that’s all you need to know about me. I love the school aspect of school, but I hate the social aspect of it, so you could probably feel my joy when Mrs. Phillips told us we were going to be doing a group project. Scanning my eyes around the room, I found that we had an odd number of students in our class, so I was thrilled that I may have a chance to work alone. I zoned out as she was talking about the guidelines and the due date, already knowing that I was going to read them by myself later. All too soon, I realized that everyone was paired up. I scanned the room once more in hope that I would be able to do this project on my own. My hopes were crushed as soon as my eyes landed on the group of three girls smiling like crazy because they got to be paired up with each other. And then the realization hit me, I had to work with someone. I hoped that maybe the person would just allow me to do all
the work because honestly I was okay with that.
“Finn!” my teacher yelled, almost like she had been calling my name for a while. I looked up to the front of the classroom where Mrs. Phillips was standing, and I came eye to eye with my writing partner. Suzie Bryant.
“Finn, will you please come up here with Suzie so you guys can pick your topic together?” Mrs. Phillips said after she realized that she had my attention again.
“Yeah. I’m sorry Mrs. Phillips,” I said keeping my head down as I walked up to the front. I looked up once I got there, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. I guess I’m really shy too. That’s another thing you should know about me. Anyways, I took a quick glance at Suzie. She looked happy as ever. She was a fun, bubbly person who everyone adored. I don’t understand why she was unpaired. I somewhat feel bad about the fact that she has to be paired up with me.
“What do you want to choose?” Suzie asked looking at me. I didn’t even know what the project really was, so I just shrugged hoping that she would choose a fairly interesting one.
“Um okay,” she said looking very concentrated at the page, “I think we should go for this one.” She motioned towards the longest line on the paper. I looked at the page, and in italics, it read a girl who has found herself in a life changing event. To be honest, I thought it sounded interesting. I nodded my head, not saying a word as all these amazing story ideas started to flow through my mind. Her dad has cancer, no. She was kicked out of college, no. Her boyfriend of five years cheated on her, no.
“Finn, Finn, FINN!” I heard Mrs. Phillips say as she was waving her hand in front of my face, “Finn I think that you need some better listening skills.” I got the feeling that she was annoyed with me, and I felt bad. I guess I should stop daydreaming so much.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Phillips,” I say looking at the ground, “I was just thinking of some stories that would go alone with the topic we picked.”
“Well, go start writing guys,” she said as she shooed us away. Suzie led us to a pair of desks that weren’t occupied at the moment. Sitting down in the desks, Suzie looked at me expectantly.
“So what were your ideas that you came up with?” she said. I didn’t know what to say. I all of a sudden felt like my ideas weren’t good enough, so I panicked.
“Um…you see…well I…uh…” I stuttered out knowing for sure that my face was now the color of the red apple sitting on Mrs. Phillips desk.
“Don’t worry, Finn. Trust me, I will love your ideas,” she said as if she believed that statement to be true.
“What if she realizes that her boyfriend of five years is cheating on her?” I asked feeling somewhat better in my ideas.
“I like where you are going with that. The whole relationship thing, but I’m not too sure if we will have a bunch of dialogue to go along with the actions,” she said looking at me like she wanted me to realize something.
“Oh! I’ve got it,” she basically screamed in excitement, “what if we have the girl, right? And she meets this guy in school, and he is kinda closed off, and she tries to make him open up because she thinks that she may really like him, and-” I look at her expectantly as she just cut her words off. She was looking at me with this glint in her eye. I think she thought that I had zoned out because I wasn’t looking at her when in reality, I thought her idea was amazing. It was a little girly not going to lie, but with a few twist and turns, I think it would make a great story.
“I’m sorry,” she continued, “I’m talking way too much.”
“N-no, you’re fine,” I said cursing myself because I was a stuttering mess.
“Oh, okay,” she said looking down at her paper that was in front of her, “Do you have any ideas?”
“Actually,” I somewhat whispered, “I like your ideas. I think that we could put a lot of turns in it.”
“How about this,” she said, “how about we write our each verse and then combine them later?” She looked at me making sure that I agreed with her, and with a nod of my head, Suzie went on writing. I had no solid ideas. I couldn’t think of something that would actually be good. That was a struggle for me this year. I couldn’t actually think of good stories to write. It was almost like all of my imagination just went poof. The class went on writing away, while I was just stuck, and soon the bell rang. I had no idea for this story, so I really hope that Suzie will pull us through.
As soon as I entered the hallway, I knew I should’ve stayed in the class just a minute longer. You see being the “nerd” at this school, you tend to get picked on a lot. I hate it, and I hate the people who pick on me. I don’t even understand why they have to put others down, like why can’t you just be happy about who you are. I just don’t understand why people have to make others feel bad just so they can feel good. Anyways, when I walked out in the hallway, I was face to face with Burt, the jock of our high school. He is the quarterback, he plays an ungodly amount of sports, and the most important, he is dumb. Actually the teachers give him modified tests just so he can play sports. He’s my bully. No one sticks up for me because they don’t want to feel the wrath of him either. I understand. I wouldn’t want anyone risking their life for mine.
“What are you a sissy? What boy takes writing class? Huh, Finn?” he questioned while laughing obnoxiously with his meat head buddies.
“Yes, Burt, only a sissy would take a writing class. You’re right. Can I leave now?” I questioned back. I have learned throughout the years that if you just agree with him, he will not hurt you as bad.
“No you can’t,” he said shoving me. I knew where this was going to end up. I was going to end up missing AP Chem because the “almighty” Burt decides he wants to beat the crap out of me. And I was right. I felt a sting on my left cheek. I knew that it was already going to start bruising. I couldn’t run because then everything would just get worse. Also, I knew that no teacher would come to help. I know that it’s their job, but most teachers are scared of him. Well, I guess his dad. His dad is one of the main funders for the school, and with just a sign of his name, a teacher could get fired. I guess I had zoned out because the next thing I knew, I was on the ground with my stomach being kicked in. All of a sudden, I started feeling dizzy. I don’t think I’m going to make it much longer. My vision started becoming spotted, and before it went completely black, I saw a pair of red converse running towards me, and I could faintly hear the word stop. Then there was nothing.
“Finn, you have to wake up,” I heard being said. I felt stiff. My whole body felt like it had been hit with a truck.
“Finn, school is ending. I’m going to take you home. Will you please wake up?” I heard another voice say. That voice sounded like it belonged to Suzie, but there would be no way that she would bring me home. There is probably no way she even knew I was in here, and with that, I fell back to sleep.
I woke up, and the room that I was in was completely black. At first, I was scared. The last place I remember being was in the room with Suzie trying to write our paper when the bell rang. I looked around the room, and to my relief, I found myself to be in my own room. Now, how did I get here was the real question? I mean the obvious reason was probably because Burt decided to beat me again, and with the bruising on my arms that I can see, I’d probably say that that was the cause.
“MOM,” I scream as I come out of my room.
“IN THE KITCHEN,” I heard back. I knew that my mom would know the reason why I was here, so I walked downstairs to where the kitchen was.
“Mom, do you know how I got here?” I questioned.
“Burt,” that was all she said. I know that my mom wants to file charges against Burt, but honestly, it will just make everything worse.
“Oh, well, I had an interesting day at school today,” I say with a hint of sarcasm in my voice.
“Finn, I AM so tired of this. I am tired of you coming home injured and almost dead. You’re safety m
eans everything to me. I don’t understand how you can just live your life like this,” she said almost in tears. I understand that she is worried about me, but with Burt’s dad’s money, we have no shot.
“It is honestly no use. You know they have money, and you know there will be no way for us to win,” I said hoping that she would understand.
“Fine,” she said as she walked out of the room.
The next day at school, I hurried to my first period, which coincidentally is my writing class. I don’t want to deal with Burt and his goons early in the morning, so I get to school probably earlier than most teachers. As I sat my stuff down at my desk, I see that the only other student in there is Suzie. She was looking at me with that glint in her eye again. I don’t understand girls.
“Hey Finn,” she said waving enthusiastically.
“Hey Suzie,” I said sitting in my desk.
“How are you?” she asked sounding like she is getting closer.
“I am fine, you?” I asked just trying to be nice.
“I’m very good. Do you want to talk about our story?” she asked sitting down in the seat next to me.
“Actually, I didn’t get a chance to work on it last night,” I said just remembering our story, hoping that she would see the fact that I didn’t really want to talk to her right now.
“Oh that’s no problem; I actually got it done last night. Of course, you will be able to edit as you please, but I think this is very good. I think-” she continued as I zoned out. It’s not that I don’t like Suzie. It’s just that she is so… I don’t know. She is just so happy and talkative, and I would just like to relax in this free time and write.
“Suzie,” I said cutting her off, “if you want, you can leave your story here, and I can read it.”
“Oh okay,” Suzie said as she got up and left the class room with her head down. I didn’t mean to be mean, but I just don’t like people. As soon as she left, I started to read the enormous story she had placed on my desk.
Let’s start off. I don’t like people. Basically that’s all you need to know about me. After reading about five pages, I finally had gotten to the end. I love this story. It actually sounded a lot like my life except for the fact that the names were changed and that the boy and girl roles were switched. As I read the last line, I finally realized what this story was.
And in the end, he never noticed me. He never saw how I looked at him. He never knew I loved him, but now, I guess it’s too late.
I need to find Suzie. I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I think this is Suzie’s way of telling me that she likes me, I think that Suzie was the one who saved me yesterday, and I think Suzie was the one who brought me home. As I ran down the halls of the school, I couldn’t find her. I had looked everywhere, and she was nowhere to be found until I turned the corner. There she was hugging Burt like her life depended on it. I guess she was right. It is too late.
Danielle Meiggs
Not All About the Fella
Once upon a time, we were wrongly accused. You see it was not my sister and I who despised Cindy. It was our mother. She made us do all the wrong we had done.
Ana and I were outside on our big, old farm. We had loved the peace and quiet of the country. We loved helping our father with all the work. We would plow the fields with him, we would feed the animals, and we would harvest the crop when the time came. Our mother, however, hated her life. She was always so hateful to our father even though he was a kind, loving man, who had cared very deeply for her. Even though he cared, she did not. As we grew up, it was quite clear to see that she wanted to leave our father, and the only thing that was stopping her was the thought of her reputation being ruined. She didn’t even think to care about what we had thought.
And alas, she did what I most feared. It was late at night, and my father said that he had forgotten to blow out the lantern in the barn. Quickly, he went out, not wanting the barn to go up in flames, and quite suspiciously, our mother went out there with him. I didn’t know what to think, but I went and took my sister, Ana, to get ready for bed. Being the oldest, I just felt like it was my job. As Ana got ready for bed, I went outside to see what was happening. As I crept around the barn door, I heard them arguing. Arguing about money, about love. I knew then that it was not my right to listen, that I should not know these things, but my curiosity got the best of me, and I could not turn back. I look just around the door, not thinking anything major of it, but I should have thought again, for when I looked around it, I saw the most horrific thing. My mother had shoved a knife into my father’s stomach. I saw his eyes widen as the blood started to soak the once white shirt. As he looked down at the cause of his death, he mouthed one word. Why? I didn’t know what to do. I felt that if I had run to him, I would be met with my untimely death too, so I ran back to the house, hoping no one saw me. Before I could get in, my body collapsed. I couldn’t bear the thought of my father dying. My tears soaked my shirt in the thought of my father no longer being there. I worried about where we would go. I didn’t want to be left alone with my mother, especially now that she has committed the most awful offense. I had to be strong, though. I had to be strong for Ana. Pushing myself off the ground, I snuck back into the house. My mother had yet to come out of the barn, most likely trying to get rid of all the evidence. I went up to Ana and I’s room just hoping to fall asleep and wake up tomorrow with this just being some horrid dream.
“Ella, why are you crying?” my little sister asked probably hearing my heartbreaking sobs at the thought of our deceased father.
“Nothing is wrong, Ana. Please go back to sleep now,” I said with my voice shaking betraying my body. I felt as if a part of me was dying along with my father. He made every day worth it, and now…now I have to go through life protecting Ana from our wicked mother.
“Alrighty,” Ana said with a tired but cheerful tone. If she only knew…
I heard banging going on downstairs, but I was too scared to investigate it. I have a feeling that it was our mother cleaning up after herself, probably making it look like a suicide. I listened to the banging and clanking until the late hours of the night, and at some point I fell asleep.
“ELLA!” I heard as I was abruptly awakened from my sleep. I saw an orange glow outside of the window and knew exactly what had happened. Our mother got rid of any suspicion that she killed him. Now she can blame the lantern that was lit. It was a perfect story. After a few seconds of pondering about our mother’s ambition, I grabbed Ana who was just waking up from her slumber and hurriedly pulled her outside our home far away from the barn that was soon to catch the house on fire. As Ana and I watched our memories burn away in the fire, our mother came behind us placing a hand on each of our shoulders. When I looked back, she had a sadistic smile plastered on her face, and at that moment, I knew that what I had thought was the truth. She covered her tracks.
“Girls,” she said sounding not the least bit upset, “I have some horrible news to tell you. Your father ran into the barn to try and stop the fire, but it spread too fast. He was trapped in the barn. Girls, your father is dead.” Looking at Ana, I try not to break at the broken look on her face. She looks just as I had felt last night. I had to be strong for Ana, so I did not shed one tears as I hugged her, trying to comfort her in any way possible.
“We will be leaving to a new house later on today, so get yourselves ready. I have placed some dresses in the car for you two to wear. I expect you to look your best,” our mother said acting as if our lives were not completely ruined. I dragged Ana to the car and looked inside to see one green and one pink dress. They were the big, puffy kind that only rich people wore. This threw me off a bit. I could not decipher what my mother was planning, but I did as I was told and fixed my sister and I up. She looked lovely in the pink dress that was picked out for her.
“Oh Ana, you look absolutely gorgeous,” I said speaking my th
oughts as she twirled around having the best time she could based on our situation.
“You should look at yourself, Ella. You look absolutely stunning,” she said looking at me in awe. We had never worn pretty dresses like these, so we had loved the feeling of getting all dolled up even though we have not figured out why we have to wear them.
“That’ll have to do, I guess,” our mother said coming up to the car eyeing our dresses.
“I’m going to explain everything on the way to our new home, okay?” she said not really wanting an answer to her question, “Get in.” On the way there, our mother explained to us that we were going to live with our “new” dad who was very wealthy, so we had to act prim and proper in order to impress him and be liked by him. Also, she told us that we were to ask for jewels and expensive gifts if we were asked what we wanted. I did not want to go along with this deceiving plan. We were not proper girls. We enjoyed working in the mud, not sitting around demanding gems.
“And don’t you two even think about acting out of line because you will regret it,” she said sensing our hesitation with the plan. Her voice had an underlying promise in it, which chilled my bones. I knew what she was capable, so I had to make sure Ana and I acted like the little brats we were supposed to.
Once we arrived there, Ana and I were shocked at the size of the humongous house. Sitting on the steps was a pretty girl around our age, and I was so excited to have another sister added to our family, but apparently our mother did not share the same feeling as me, for when she looked out the car window, she whispered to us that we were not to be nice to the spoiled brat sat upon the steps. She told us that the little girl would try and hurt us because she didn’t want a new family. I did not think this to be true, but the fear of my mother outweighed my doubt. As we left the car, I locked eyes with the little girl. I wanted to smile, but I remembered what my mother had told me, and so, I glared at her while complaining about the dirt that had dirtied my shoe as I dropped out of the carriage, and I knew that this was wrong. This wasn’t me, but I had to stick with it for the safety of my sister and myself.
“Cindy, sweetie, please say hello to your new family,” her dad said to her, having a weary smile on his face while he looked at me.
“H-Hello,” she said putting her hand out towards me. I desperately wanted to shake it, wanting to be friendly to our new family, but I could not.
“Where’s my room?” I said, brushing past Cindy like I didn’t even notice her making sure to hit her shoulder as I marched into the house.
“You and your sister will be sharing the attic,” our “new” dad said to us. Honestly, I had no problem with that. I was excited to share a room with Ana, especially being in a new environment.
“That simply won’t do,” our mother said as she shook her head looking at him, “There has to be rooms on the second floor, right honey?” I had stopped after entering the door really hoping that he would say no. I hide just inside waiting for his answer.
“Well yes, there is, but it’s Cindy’s room and her mom’s old stu-” he said getting cut off by our mother.
“Perfect! We can just move all that stuff to the attic then,” she said starting to walk in behind me. I quickly ran up to the attic, following Ana’s steps feeling completely defeated.
“Ana, are you okay?” I asked walking in seeing Ana’s tears roll down her cheek.
“Yes, I’m okay. I just wish we were home now,” she said looking down. I couldn’t agree with her more. I wanted this to all be a dream, but sadly, this was our reality.
“Hey, it could be worse. It seems like our step-father is a nice man,” I said trying to keep a smile on my face.
“Or we could be forced to be mean to our new family…wait, we are being forced,” Ana said with a hint of an attitude. I understood where she was coming from though. We typically weren’t mean children, and now we have to act like we are just so we don’t end up like our father.
“I’m so sorry, Ana,” I said in a hushed whisper as I heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs to the attic.
“I’m sorry girls. There must have been a mishap. Your rooms are on the second floor,” Lord Treman, our step-father said.
“Good I felt like I needed a better room than this crappy place,” I said feeling my heart breaking as his face fell with every word.
“Well I hope you find your new rooms to be up to your standards. Now if you’ll excuse me,” he said turning around and walking out of the room. As soon as he left, my tears just started to come down uncontrollably. If my father saw me right now, he would be so disappointed in my behavior. I really just wish life was easier.
It’s been six years since that day, and everything has just gotten worse. My mother is so mean to Cindy, and behind closed doors, she is mean to us too. Ana has gotten worse. Since she was only eight when this happened, she now has grown up believing that she is mean and thinking that it is okay to treat people like that. Cindy’s life became horrible. My mother found every way to abuse her mentally and physically. Cindy wasn’t allowed to sit and eat dinner with us, mother took away all her beautiful clothes and gave her a nasty, old gray smock and wooden shoes, and she would give her chores upon chores, even some which made absolutely no sense. Her favorite one, though, was scattering a bowl of lentils into the ashes in the kitchen, and she always framed Ana and I for her crimes.
One day around two or three years ago, Lord Treman went to the fair and asked us what we had wanted. Remembering our mother’s words, we asked so beautiful dresses, pearls, and jewels. It felt wrong. I didn’t actually want any of those things. I didn’t want anything from him except the stories of his travels once he got back, but that to my mother was foolish. After hearing Cindy’s answer, I felt even worse. All she had asked for was the first twig that brushed against her father’s hat on the way home. It was an odd gift I give you that, but it must have meant something to Cindy.
When he got back, he had a load of the dresses, the pearls, and the jewels put in my sister’s and my room, but staring at the pile, I did not get any sense of joy or happiness. My sister did however. You could see the joy on her face, and it was because she had been brain washed by our mother. She thinks that this is okay now and that we should live our lives mean and greedy, and honestly it makes me sick.
Cindy had gotten her gift. She had received one hazel branch that had brushed her father’s hat. Her joy was indescribable. She had thanked him and then scurried off. I was very curious to see why she had wanted such a tiny thing, so I followed her, and quickly we had arrived at a graveyard. I stood behind a large oak tree so that I could watch her from a distant just to see what she was doing.
“Mother, it has been so hard,” she sobbed into the palms of her hands. The tone of her voice made me question everything I had ever done to her, but I shook those thoughts away because I was doing this for my sister’s, Cindy’s and my safety.
I watched silently as Cindy started to dig a small hole near her mother’s grave and planted the branch. Every day, I followed Cindy as she watered the tree and wept at her mother’s grave, and I wept with her. I cried for my father, my sister, Cindy, and all the wrong that I had done. Every time she had gone there, there was a little white bird that would be perched on one of the branches, and every time Cindy wished for something, the bird would throw it down from the tree. The first time this happened, I could not believe my eyes and thought that I had to tell someone, but knowing my family, I decided to keep it a secret, so Cindy could at least have one joy in her life.
And now two or three years later, it is the same routine. Cindy goes to the grave, I follow and stay behind the tree, and we both weep about our miseries. Something was different this time though, for when we got back, my mother had informed me of the king’s proclamation that there would be a festival for three days in order for the prince to select his bride. At first, I was hopeful that he would choose me, but
after a few seconds, I realized that I wanted to marry a farmer and retrieve my old life back. That was my real dream, not to marry a prince, which my mother did not find practical. She wanted one of us to marry him just to gain his wealth, not for love.
When the day that we were to attend the festival, our mother ordered Cindy to come and comb our hair, brush our shoes, and fasten our buckles. With everything going on, Cindy couldn’t keep strong and so she wept as she helped us get ready. After everything was said and done, she begged our mother to attend this event.
“Cinderella, do you really think that a girl like you should go to such a proper event?” my mother said with a smirk on her face. I knew that she would not let Cindy go because she knew that once the prince saw her beauty, he would immediately fall for her, and that just wasn’t okay with her.
“Please, ma’am. I will do anything,” Cindy was on her knees begging showing her actual desperation to go.
“Under one condition,” she said shocking all of us, “I threw a bowl of lentils into the ashes for you. If you pick them all out in two hours, then you can go with us to the festival.” Everyone knew that that was impossible, but there was a look of determination in Cindy’s eyes that made me believe she could do this. She sprinted to the kitchen hoping to make the time requirement. I followed her just watching to see what she has up her sleeve. She opened the windows and called to the pigeons and turtledoves to come and help her pick out the good and bad ones.
“The good ones go into the pot, and the bad ones go into your crop,” she told them, and within an hour, she had successfully picked out all the lentils. She started walking to the door with a proud smile on her face, and I backed up out of sight hoping not to be seen. I followed her to where my mother sat and as Cindy gave her the bowl of lentils, her face scrunched up in an unpleasant way.
“You still have no clothes, and you don’t know how to dance, so despite your thoughts, you will not go to the festival,” our mother said giving a wicked smile. With those words, Cindy’s tears started to flow down her face.
“Fine, Cindy, if you pick two bowls of lentils out in one hour, then you can go,” she said clearly knowing that it was impossible. And yet again I followed her to the kitchen, and she called the birds. Within a half hour, the lentils had been picked out. Cindy started walking to the door again, and I backed up making sure that I wasn’t seen. As she took the bowls to my mother, her jaw dropped. I don’t think she could believe that she had sorted the lentils in that amount of time.
“Cindy, you need to get this through your head, you are not going to go with us to the festival,” she said glaring into Cindy’s eyes, “You will just be an embarrassment. That’s it.” With that, Cindy ran away crying. I knew that she really wanted to go, but alas our mother was being her wicked self. I don’t know where Cindy went after she ran away because I was forced by my mother to go get ready for the festival.
A few hours later, we arrived. Our mother kept a close eye on us making sure we looked presentable enough. After a couple of hours being there, a beautiful girl walked through. I knew exactly who it was as I looked into her sad, glassy eyes, and I knew exactly where she had gone. She visited her mother’s grave and asked the bird for a chance to attend the festival. A collection of gasps ran through the room as everyone laid eyes on her. Apparently, the prince felt the same way as everyone else because he walked over to her and offered her a dance. Obviously she accepted after feeling the pressure of a million eyes on her. They dance all night laughing and talking. I felt so thankful that Cindy got this chance. She could escape my mother and live her life exactly how she pleases.
At midnight, the clock rang out, and all of a sudden, I saw the flash of a light blue dress rush past me. I looked up to see Cindy running up the stairs to the doors. I followed after her along with the prince. I stayed a few feet behind them though hoping not to be seen. We ran and ran eventually ending up at our house. I saw her jump into the pigeon coop and lock it from the inside. The prince ran up to the door and knocked so loud that I thought he was going to break down our door. Lord Treman opened the door, and from what I could tell, he was getting his axe, so he could break apart the coop. They quickly destroyed it only to find that no one was in there. Somehow, when we entered the house, Cindy was dressed in her smock washing the kitchen floor from the ashes that were spilled around.
The next day, it happened all over again. Cindy came back with a dress that was a beautiful silver color, and it was even extraordinary than the one from the night before. And again, the prince claimed her as his dance partner, and they danced together all night. Once again, the clock struck midnight, and Cindy made her escape. The prince seemed to catch on quicker this time because he was right on her tail, and soon I followed after. We followed her to behind our house once again. This time, however, she bolted up our pear tree. I had stayed in the shadows, so no one could see me. I wished that Cindy would just show the prince who she was, so they could live happily ever after.
Eventually, Lord Treman came out and cut the tree down at the prince’s request. To the prince’s disappointment, Cindy had eluded him again. Once everyone entered the house, Cindy was in the exact same position as the last night: gray smock, ashes all on her skin, and her hair a mess from the work she had done.
The next day was the final day of the festival, and everyone had gotten ready to go except for Cindy, but this night, she didn’t look at distraught about it as the first night, which probably was because she went anyways. Once my mother and sister left, I snuck away to follow Cindy just to make sure that my theories were true.
I had stayed a few feet behind Cindy as she left the house going in the direction of her mother’s grave. I hid behind the same tree once we arrived at our destination. Cindy sat at the grave for a while, and I was starting to doubt that it was actually her. Then all of a sudden, the white bird flew and sat on the tomb stone. I heard Cindy whispering to the bird, and suddenly, a beautiful, gold and silver dress landed in front of her. She looked up, and her hair and make-up was all made up and looked absolutely perfect. When she stood up, glass shoes were revealed as they were hidden by her fluffy dress. They were so unique and beautiful. As she slipped her foot in, it looked like a perfect fit from where I was sitting, and I was happy that for the last night she would breathtaking.
When she arrived at the last day of the festival, the prince ran up to her and wouldn’t let her out of his sight. Soon midnight had come around and the prince had learned his lesson, for he kept his arm securely around her waist not allowing her to run away.
“I have to go,” I heard her tell him in a panicked voice.
“Let me take you home,” he said leading her to the giant doors that would lead them to the outside.
“No you can’t,” she denied him, “My parents are very strict, and they don’t know that I am out this night.”
“I am the prince, you know? I’m sure they won’t have a problem,” he said turning to look at her in the eyes, and as his arm slipped from her waist, she sprinted down the steps making a run for our house. I watched as she lost her footing on the last step and had slipped out of her shoe. She turned around to grab it but saw that the prince started to head her way. With only thoughts of escaping in her mind, Cindy ran leaving the prince with her glass shoe. This time, the prince did not run after her. He grabbed the shoe and walked back into the castle muttering something about whoever’s foot fits this shoe should be his bride. I couldn’t believe my ears at what I had overheard, and I ran back home with the joyous thought of Cindy making her life better.
The next morning, the prince showed up at our house with the shoe in his hand.
“No one shall be my wife except for the one whose foot fits this glass slipper,” he said looking directly at my mother making it known that he meant business.
“Oh yes, prince,” she said bowing, “I do hope you find what you are loo
king for.” She looked over to my sister and I as she said that looking like she was about to do something that may ruin our lives.
My mother had requested Ana to try the shoe first, for she has always been my mother’s favorite. They went into the kitchen, and when they came back, they had announced that it fit. At first, I was shocked. The shoe looked way too small to fit Ana’s foot, but apparently it was not.
Not even two hours later, the prince and Ana returned with shocking news. I looked down at Ana’s feet and saw that the glass shoe was filled with blood, and as she took her foot out, I saw that her toes were chopped off. I couldn’t believe she would do something like that just to be with the prince.
“Would you like to try it on?” the prince asked me with a little bit of hope shining through his eyes.
“N-” I started to say when my mother interrupted me.
“She would love too. Wouldn’t you, Ella?” she said in a sickly sweet voice giving me a tight smile.
“Yes, prince, I would love to try on the slipper,” I said knowing that the small shoe wasn’t going to fit on my enormous feet. Once I got into the kitchen, I sat down and started to put on the shoe. After failing with it a few times, I stood up to go return it saying that it wouldn’t fit.
“Where do you think you are going?” my mother asked me walking into the kitchen. She pushed me back into the chair.
“Mother, what are you doing?!” I asked panicked as she started walking towards me with a bloody knife.
“I suggest you should be quiet Ella unless you want your sister and Cindy to die because of your misbehavior,” my mother said bringing the knife to my toes cutting one after one off. I held my fist to my mouth trying to muffle the blood curdling screams that escaped my mouth once in a while. I couldn’t have Ana and Cindy die because of my mother’s issue with me, so I was going to just go through with this.
“There you go, Ella. I’m so proud of you. Now, we can get all the money and power we deserve,” she said. I wobbled my way out to the living room where everyone was sat, and the prince looked at me with such love in his eyes as he saw that the shoe fit. I felt my heart break for him because I was not the one who he has fallen in love with, and as soon as we were far enough away, I was going to tell him that I was not his love.
He took me on horseback to the way of the castle. As we headed there, I noticed we were passing Cindy’s mother’s grave. I noticed that the little, white bird was sat on the grave, but Cindy was nowhere to be found.
“That’s not her! You have the wrong girl! Look at the shoes! Look at the shoes!” the little white bird squawked as we passed by, and slowly the prince turned his head to see that the once beautiful crystal shoes were now a dark crimson color.
“You fooled me,” he said looking upset because he did not really find his love.
“No, you are right. I’m not her, but I do know who it is. It is our step sister, and I want her to be with you. I was going to tell you once I knew that my mother could no longer hear us for certain. You need to go back for Cindy,” I told him trying to make everything wrong right.
“Then why cut off your toes if you were only going to tell me the truth?” he asked making me feel very stupid.
“I was threatened by my mother, you see. She threatened my sister’s and Cindy’s life if I did not go through with her horrid plan,” I tell him as we arrive back at my house. As we enter the house, I feel the burning glare of my mother on the back of my head.
“What seems to be the matter, prince?” my mother said seeming like she is very worried.
“This one does not seem to be right either. Do you happen to have another daughter?” he asked already knowing the answer.
“Oh, only the disgusting Cindy, but she cannot possibly be the girl you are looking for,” she said with a frown on her face, “Are you sure you have not just made a mistake?”
“No, I do not make mistakes about what is proven to be true. I would like to see this Cindy,” the prince ordered. She went to fetch Cindy, and when they arrived in the room, the prince stilled, for he knew that she was the one even if she was covered in ashes and ratty clothing. Cindy sat down in the chair in the living room, and after the shoe was washed, the prince placed it on her foot. Right away, you could tell that it was a perfect fit.
“This is my bride,” the prince said looking at Cindy with love in his eyes. Once he said this, my mother and sister stormed out of the room angered with the events that had occurred. I, on the other hand, watched as the couple road away on horseback. As the road off into the distance, the birds start to gather into the sky crying out as loud as they can.
The wedding happened a month later. I was thrilled when my mother told me that we all were going, and we were going to make everything up to Cindy, but I obviously knew that our mother just wanted the money that Cindy would be married into. When we arrived, we met up with Cindy outside of the church. Cindy was so happy that we wanted to become like a real family, so she allowed us to be in her wedding. I thought that it was surprisingly kind of her that she allowed us that honor, but I guess that was just Cindy. As we walked in, I was on the right side of her while Ana was on the left. Right before we walked through the doors, the white bird swooped down and ripped out one of my sister’s eyes. I looked in horror as Ana’s piercing scream ran throughout the church. I looked to Cindy and saw that she had a creepy smile, much like my mother’s, that was plastered to her face. All of a sudden, the little bird came towards me, and I ran not wanting to have my eye picked out. I tried to lose the bird by going down a plentiful amount of hallways. Our run came to a stop though when I had reached a dead end. The bird swooped down pecking my eye out. I let out a scream that I knew could be heard throughout the church. At this time, I realized that this was Cindy’s revenge. She had asked this little bird to do this, so it was done. I walked out of the church holding a towel to the eye socket that no longer held an eye. Ana had joined me, and as we were about to enter the car, a flock of pigeons came and ripped out our other eye. This time, our screams were combined making it sound like a mass murder was happening in the church parking lot. Our mother had run out of the church and looked to see both of us having tears of blood run down our faces.
“Dear lord, what happened?!” our mother screeched.
“She did this to us!” Ana screamed as she pointed to Cindy who had just exited the church with everyone else to see what all the chaos was about.
“I-I would do no such thing,” Cindy said with an innocent look on her face. Everyone believed her knowing that she usually was very trustworthy.
“I don’t understand. Why would you do this?” I asked her not really knowing where to look. I had assumed that everyone left because it got very quiet. All I knew was that Ana was right next to my side. Other than that, I was clueless.
“You see sisters,” Cindy said in a menacing tone, “You put me through years and years of torture. Because you could not see the pain you were granting me, I thought that you should not see at all. You two will always be wicked no matter what.”
I felt crushed. I thought back to the time when I would help Cindy without her knowing, I thought back to the times where we would cry together at the cemetery without her knowing, and I thought about the fact that I had cut off my toes just to save her from my mother. I had helped her and loved her as a sister from the beginning, but I didn’t show that, and now I’m being punished for my mother’s crimes.
“Cindy… I did not do those things to you. It was our mother. I admit towards the end, my sister and I started to torture you because our lives were threatened. Our mother was going to kill us if we did not go through with her plan. Cindy, it was not us,” I said fully knowing that Cindy had left because I had spent a good amount of time thinking back to the past years.
Throughout the years, I have regretted my decisions and even more so now, but we have to live with our choices and die
with the decisions we have made.
Danielle Meiggs
The Room on the Right
As I turned around, I saw the person who ruined everything. The person who killed her and who killed him. I thought I could trust her, but apparently I was wrong…I was so wrong.
“HILLARY, IT’S TIME TO GO! WE’RE GOING TO BE LATE!!” my mom screamed up the stairs just as I finished packing my bags.
“I’m sorry, mom. I didn’t realize what time it was,” I said running down the stairs while trying to get my left shoe on my foot.
“It’s okay. Just make sure you don’t forget anything, and remember I have a business trip all weekend, so call my cell if you need anything. And please just be safe with that loon of a father you have,” she said quickly checking her phone and looking back up at me with tears in her eyes.
“Mom, it’s going to be alright. It’s just two days,” I said giving her a hug.
“I know. I just don’t like having to leave you with your father. I’m going to miss you,” she said breaking our hug.
“I’m going to miss you too…Crap, mom we need to get going so you won’t miss your plane!” I hurriedly rushed out as I looked at the clock situated behind her head. After packing the few bags I had into the car, we headed off to my father’s house. As you obviously can tell, my mother and father got a divorce when I was really little; I don’t even really remember a time when they were together. Anyways, my mother thinks that my father is crazy always trying to fill my head with false accusations of her, but honestly, I haven’t spent enough time with him to know if this is true or not. Actually, I don’t really remember the last time I even talked to him.
At first, I was kinda terrified of staying with my father while my mother was away because I haven’t seen him in so long, but now I have accepted the fact since he was the only one available to watch me because my mom clearly thinks that I need to be babysat at age seventeen.
“Mom, you missed the turn,” I said as she sped right passed his street.
“Oh, you’re right. I was just thinking about the meeting. I’m sorry,” she said looking at me for a split second. I knew that there was something else that was wrong because she seemed so distracted.
“It’s okay. I just don’t want you to miss your plane,” I said looking at her trying to determine what was wrong with her. Within a few short minutes, we were pulling up into my father’s driveway.
“Alright, Hillary…I will see you in two days,” she said giving me a short side hug as I exited the car. I went to the back and unpacked everything that was mine. Here we go, I thought as I knocked on the door.
“Come in the door is open!” I heard my dad scream from the other side. I tried to turn the knob, but it wouldn’t budge as it seemed to be locked. I knocked again, and slowly the door crept opened with every hit of my fist. I looked down at the door in disbelief that that had actually happened.
“Dad!” I screamed as I walked in, “Where do you want me to put my stuff?”
“Just set it in your room,” he said from where he was, “Just go up the stairs, and it’s the first door on the left.”
“Okay…” I said trying to search for the stairs. After five minutes of trudging around the house without any help from my father mind you, I found the stairs. I hurried up them feeling tired of carrying my bag. As I reached the top, I realized something. I had forgotten what side my room was on. Guessing, I walked through the door to my right and was disturbed by what I saw. It was a bed room, but the weird thing was is that it was set up exactly like my room at mom’s house with what looked like a person sleeping in the bed. I didn’t get a chance to get a closer look because before I knew, my dad was right behind me.
“What did I tell you?!” he said in an angered tone, “I told you that your room was the one to the left not the right!” He stood in front of me, so his body would block the view of this mysterious girl.
“Who is she?” I asked. The girl looked to be exactly around my age and had very similar features.
“She is no one,” he said determined to drop the topic, “You need to listen to me if you want to have a peaceful visit this weekend. Don’t go back into that room.” He was looking into my eyes like he was trying to tell me to believe him. I wanted to, I really did, but I need to know why that girl is here in a room exactly like mine.
“Okay, dad,” I said turning around heading for the room on the left. As I closed my door, I saw my father walk back into the room with the mysterious girl. I only caught a glimpse of the girl starting to sit up. She had long brown hair with bright green eyes, just like me. The only difference I could tell was that she looked like she hasn’t seen the sun in her life while I have a light tan. The door quickly closed before I could see anything else. Storing this information in the back of my head, I started to unpack. My room was a dark red, which was a really beautiful color, but for some reason, it felt offsetting to me.
It wasn’t until it turned dark out that my father left the room with the girl.
“Dad, is everything okay with her?” I asked putting emphasis on her hoping that he would answer my unasked question.
“Yep everything is ay-okay!” he said with a big smile on his face, “What do you want for dinner, Hillary?”
“Oh, um, whatever you have. I’m not picky at all,” I said curious as to why he changed the subject so fast.
“Alrighty then, I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me,” he said walking off. As any person would do to fill their curiosity, I went to the door of the room. To my surprise, I heard a voice behind it.
“Hillary…open the door…” the girl said in a soft whisper. I was scared, yes, but I wanted to know who this girl was, so I would no longer have to fear anything in this house. As I went to turn the knob though, it was locked.
“Try harder…” she whispered again. With all my might, I turned the knob hard to the right and still nothing happened. I tried to listen for another whisper, but alas there was none.
I walked down to the kitchen to meet up with my father.
“What were you doing?” my father asked.
“Um…just unpacking…settling in…” I trailed off not wanting to be suspicious, but I knew it came off that way.
“Okay…” he asked looking at me like he knew.
Later that night from my bed, I heard cries, cries of desperation.
“You can’t keep me in here for forever!” the girl shouted from the room, and then there was a large crack as if a door had just been broken. I ran to my door hoping to lock it before anything could come into my room. I was scared, and I didn’t know what was out there.
“STOP THIS!!” I heard my father scream downstairs. I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what to do. I heard things breaking and words being shouted for the rest of the night. I didn’t sleep that’s something I do know.
It’s now late Saturday. I only have to make it tonight, tomorrow, and then tomorrow night I get to go home and never see this awful place again.
“Hillary,” I heard my father say as he knocked on my door, “Can you open the door please? We need to talk.”
“Um…yeah hang on a second,” I said as I got out of bed and unlocked the door.
“How are you? You look exhausted,” he said very bluntly.
“Thanks dad…I feel it too,” I said sarcastically.
“Did you not get a good night’s rest?” he questioned. At this point, I didn’t know if I should tell the truth or lie. He has clearly shown that he doesn’t want me to know anything about the girl in the other room, so I should pretend that I heard nothing just so I don’t get a lecture.
“I slept fine; I just had a nightmare,” I said looking around the room…aka my nightmare.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Hopefully tonight you will get well rested,” he said getting up ready to exit the room, “I’ll be downstairs if you need anything.” He was gone, and I coul
d finally let the breath out that I was holding in.
“What’s wrong?” I heard in a whisper from my door way. I looked up and to my surprise I saw no one.
“Who’s there?” I questioned back.
“In here silly…I’m your sister,” the voice whispered again. I realized then that the voice was actually coming from behind the mysterious door.
“If you’re my sister, then why don’t I know about you?” I asked hoping to get a full response.
“Because mommy killed me,” she said then let out a hysterical laugh. I ran downstairs fearful the mysterious girl in that room. There is no way that my mother could kill anyone. She just isn’t that type of person.
“DAD!” I screamed throughout the house trying to get to the bottom of this.
“IN THE KITCHEN!” he yelled back. I sprinted to the kitchen not feeling safe anymore.
“We need to talk now!” I said with great urgency. This mystery girl is insane; my mom couldn’t kill anyone.
“Alright, what do you want to talk about?” he asked nonchalantly as he was cooking dinner.
“Who is that girl?” I said getting straight to the point. I couldn’t waste any more time with something so… so…life changing.
“W-What girl?” he said stuttering over his words.
“The girl that was in the room that was exactly like mine! The girl who looks like me! The girl who just told me was my sister!! The girl who said MY MOTHER KILLED HER!!!” I said getting louder at the end as I began to get frustrated.
“Hillary don’t believe anything that girl says,” he said looking shocked.
“Why won’t you just tell me then? Why does she have to be a secret?” I asked not understanding why my life has change so severely in just a day.
“You will never understand. She isn’t someone to mess with though. Please, just never talk to her again,” he pleaded with me.
“Whatever,” I said turning around heading back into my room.
“He’s lying to you. You can trust me. I’m the only one who wants you safe. They want to kill you,” I heard a whisper from the door the first one since I went to talk to my dad. It’s around eight o’clock at night the next day, and all last night and today I have been sitting on my bed staring at the door of the room that contains my so called sister.
“YOU KNOW NOTHING!” I screamed as I threw my hairbrush at the door resulting in a big bang.
“Help me out, and we can escape. We can live freely together without the fear of anyone,” she told me.
“N-No, I can’t do that,” I stuttered starting to fear the person who was just few feet away from me.
“You can. Please help me, please,” she begged.
“I can’t. Even if I wanted to it’s locked, remember when I tried yesterday?” I asked trying to convince her that I couldn’t do it.
“You just didn’t try hard enough,” she whispered again, but this time, it sounded as if she was crying.
“Look, I’ll try again, but I can’t make any promises,” I said knowing that I would be able to do it, so I would stay safe. I walked up to the door and tried to turn the doorknob, and to my surprise and horror, the door opened. I saw the girl sitting against the wall next to the open door.
“You did it!” she said as she hugged me. I shivered as she came in contact with me as her skin was as cold as a blizzard on a December day.
“Why are you locked up?” I asked her as she seemed very much like me.
“Because they didn’t want me to get to you,” she said sneering at the word they, “They don’t want me to ruin their plan.”
“Their plan of what?” I asked genuinely confused.
“Their plan to kill you just like they did to me,” she said looking at the ground.
“How can I be sure that you are telling me the truth? Why would they kill me now? How did I not even know about you? Why-”
“There’s no time now. You just have to trust me,” she said looking behind me at the door, “We need to leave.” At that time, it sounded like a car was pulling up in the driveway.
“We need to hide,” the girl said as she looked out the window, “It’s going to happen soon.” Trusting her, we ran to a little compartment underneath the stairs that I didn’t even know existed.
“I found this place a couple of months ago. I don’t think our father knows anything about it,” the girl whispered as she kept her ear to the door trying to listen. I went up next to her trying to hear who was outside. I didn’t want to be kept out of the loop any longer.
“Where is she?” I heard my mother ask my father.
“She’s upstairs in her room, and before you ask, no she has no idea what we are planning to do,” this statement from my father shocked me. They were really planning on killing me. Why? I don’t know, but it was going to happen. I felt the tears of betrayal slide down my cheeks silently as I continued to listen.
“Do you have everything…especially the bleach?” I heard my mom ask.
“Yes, yes. Everything is in my bathroom,” my father responded. I heard their footsteps go up the stairs as my mother called out telling me that she was here.
“HOW COULD YOU LOSE BOTH OF THEM?!?” I heard my mother scream.
“THEY HAVEN’T LEFT THE HOUSE! WE JUST HAVE TO FIND THEM!!” my father screamed back probably angry at my mother for blaming this all on him.
“HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID?!?” my mother responded. I heard running steps all over the house knowing that they were frantically searching for us.
I looked to my sister and whispered something I never thought I would ever say, “We need to kill them.” At first she looked shocked, but then realized that it was the only way we were going to make it out of this house. I looked around the room and saw no useful things.
“Do you have anything we can use in here?” I asked her hoping to get a positive reply.
“I have a baseball bat over here…um…and here’s a golf club…” she said sorting through the large amounts of junk.
“They have to be here somewhere. You guard the front door while I go search the top floor again,” my mom said in a rush as she ran away.
“We can kill him first. It will be quick,” my sister whispered to me.
“Okay, on three. One…two…three…” I whispered as we pushed opened the door ready to kill.
“THEY’RE DOWN H-” the words of my father were cut off by the golf club concaving his skull in. With little effort, he was dead. We looked up to the stairs and saw our mother with a face full of shock, and she ran. We followed her fairly quickly, and we got up there just as a door closed. With a swift kick, Molly, who is my sister, had knocked the door down. In the corner, we saw our mom cowering; you could tell that she was crying probably realizing her mistake in trying to kill me.
“Hillary, why are you doing this? Your father told you not to listen to her,” she sobbed out.
“Why did you want to kill me?” I asked back with rage filling my eyes as I looked at the person who I thought I could trust the most.
“What are you ta-” and with one hit from Molly, our mother was dead.
“What was she going to say?!” I asked Molly, who looked at me with a murderous glint in her eye.
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” she said as she came towards me.
“W-What are you doing Molly?” I asked backing up towards the door.
“You’ve helped me do the hard part. Now, I just have to kill you,” with that I ran as fast as I could out of that house, but to my horror no matter how hard I turned the lock, it wouldn’t unlock. I was trapped with a ghost, who killed my parents.
As I turned around, I saw the person who ruined everything. The person who killed her and who killed him. I thought I could trust her, but apparently I was wrong…I was so wrong.
“Looks like you’ve lost,” Molly said with a vicious laugh, “You should’ve listened to your dad shouldn’t you’ve.�
� By this time I couldn’t even respond because I was crying too hard.
“You think you’re perfect, but you’re just as bad as me,” she said getting closer.
“And guess what Hillary? It’s over,” she said just as she raised the bat.
“HILLARY,” she yelled. I looked up at her in confusion as she continuously shouted my name.
“YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE ME LATE FOR MY PLAN. HURRY UP, WE HAVE TO GET YOU TO YOUR DAD’S,” Molly screamed in my mother’s voice.
“This is just a dream…” I said as I stood up, waking up in real life, “It wasn’t real.” My mother stood over me looking panicked as I had not been getting ready.
“Okay we need to get going, and then I need to drop you off, and then-”
“Mom don’t worry everything will be okay,” I said to her trying to calm her down.
After about twenty minutes, we were all packed and ready to go, and after about ten minutes of a car ride, I was standing outside my father’s house. I knocked not sure if I should just walk in or not.
“COME IN,” I heard my dad yell from the other side.
“Where do you want me to put my stuff?” I asked as I walked in.
“Just go up the stairs, and it’s the first door on the left. That’s your room,” he said.
“Okay…” I said trying to search for the stairs. After five minutes of trudging around the house without any help from my father mind you, I found the stairs. I hurried up them feeling tired of carrying my bag, just remembering not to go into the room on the right.
Danielle Meiggs
Only Sleep Can Tell
“Cindy, why don’t you come up here and present your idea?” Mrs. Kouffman, the most horrid person in the world, asked.
“Uh…oh…um…okay,” I stuttered out uneasily. You see, I am a good student, top ten in our class actually, but presenting terrifies me. I’m the girl who everyone defines as weird. I keep to myself, I never talk unless I’m forced, and I don’t have any friends. I’m a loner, a misfit because people see me that way.
“Ohhhh there goes the weirdo,” I heard being whispered throughout the class. Everyone laughed as I started to walk up to the front of the room with my boring looking poster.
“Everyone quiet! You may start now Cindy,” Mrs. Kouffman said looking down at the rubric in front of her.
“Alright, so my-y topic is over d-depression and the effects of the different medicines to cure t-this awful disorder,” I said presenting this to my health class.
“Of course she did it on that…” I heard a boy whisper again throughout the class.
“Well…um…I suffer from depression, so I thought that it w-would be i-interesting to hear from the point of view of m-me,” I stuttered out focusing my eyes on the notecards that I had wrote weeks before.
“We all know you do! That’s why you’re weird!” the same guy from before shouted.
“That’s enough, Drew!” Mrs. Kouffman yelled. Curious, I looked up to see her glaring holes into Drew Chasar’s head. The Drew Chasar. The one that is the best at sports, academics, and girls… The one who also makes my life a living hell.
“You may carry on,” Mrs. Kouffman said giving me a encouraging smile.
“I-I have been prescribed m-many different t-types of medicines,” I said trying to keep my voice from shaking, “Some have a-actually worsened my s-symptoms, believe i-it or not.”
“I don’t believe it,” Drew said looking at me. I don’t understand what I ever did to him to make him feel this hatred for me.
“DREW! OFFICE NOW!” Mrs. Kouffman screamed clearly annoyed with his juvenile behavior.
“Why?” he asked nonchalantly as he kicked back and put his feet on the desk, “I’m pretty comfy here.” Everyone around the class chuckled with the exception of me, of course. I don’t find him amusing one bit just an a*s.
“Because you have been disrupting the class ever since I called on Cindy to present her project, and not to mention that now you are disrespecting my classroom,” Mrs. Kouffman said clearly losing her patients fairly quickly.
“Oh I don’t mean any harm, Mrs. K. Just playing around with an old pal. Right Cindy?” he said looking at me as if I would be killed if I said the wrong answer. This was my time. This was my time to end all of the bullying and harassing. I had a chance, but was I going to take it?
“Yes, I know he’s just kidding. We’re friends,” of course I wouldn’t. His hard glare made it impossible to tell the truth. I knew he hated me, and I didn’t need any more pain on top of what was already given to me.
“Are you sure Cindy?” Mrs. Kouffman looked at me suspiciously.
“I-I swear,” I said stuttering starting to get annoyed with myself.
“Fine, just no more interruptions or you will be gone,” she said signaling for me to keep going with my presentation.
“Depre-”BBBRRRING BBBRRRING. Mrs. Kouffman’s phone went off as I was beginning again.
“Oh I’m sorry dear,” she said as she answered the phone, “Hello.”
It was going on ten minutes, and I didn’t think that she was going to get off anytime soon because it sounded important as her answers seemed very thought out and formal. I went to go sit down and collect my things because class was about to end, and I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to finish my presentation today.
“Way to go Cinderella,” Drew said with disgust, “You’re absolutely disgusting. No one would ever love you.” I ignored him because what else was I supposed to do? Fight back? I didn’t want any repercussions. Tell the teacher? Again I don’t want anything more to happen.
“Cat got your tongue?” he asked me getting right in my face. No, you idiot, I thought as I looked down at my desks.
“Pathetic,” he said backing up a little. I don’t know what happened in me, but I just grew so tired of all this constant bullying. I’m not pathetic; I’m just a girl who didn’t want to be beaten up. I am just a girl who is just as insecure as everyone else.
“I’m not,” I mumbled still finding my desk the most interesting thing in the world.
“What did you say?” he said in a hate filled voice.
“I’m not,” I said much louder looking straight up into his big blue eyes.
“You’re not what?” he said almost daring me not to say any more.
“I’m not pathetic. YOU ARE! You think that you’re all big and bad. You can’t run everyone. You aren’t in charge. You think you are the coolest thing ever, but what happens after high school? What’s going to happen then? It won’t be about your name; it’s going to be about what you bring to the world, and so far, it hasn’t been very pleasant,” I said looking him dead in the eyes feeling good about what I just said.
“You’re going to regret that,” he spat out as the bell rang signaling the end of class.
“Goodbye students,” Mrs. Kouffman said waving from behind her desk as she covered up the mouth piece of the phone, “Oh, and Cindy, we will finish up your presentation next class along with the rest of the class, so be prepared.”
I felt good about myself, at least until I stepped into the hallway.
“Where do you think you’re going, Cinderella?” Drew asked with a group of his friends standing behind him. I never understood that nickname because if I’m not mistaken Cinderella was beautiful and actually turned into a princess, so honestly I never really cared about the name.
“I’m going to my locker Drew. Care to join me?” I asked very sarcastically. I liked this new found confidence that I had. I felt like I actually controlled my life, and it was a good feeling.
“Why would I want to be seen with you?” he asked looking appalled by my offer.
“Who would want to be seen with you? You tear people down, and I bet all your friends here are just scared of you or are using you for you looks,” I said motioning to the jocks and then the platinum blonde barbies that stood behind him.
> “Why do you feel that you have the right to say this?” he asked clearly fuming by my bluntness.
“Because I’m Cinderella apparently,” I said starting to walk away, “And princesses do as they please.”
“It wasn’t meant to be a compliment. I meant the Cinderella who was disgusting before all the bipity bopity boo,” he said making me laugh at his odd behavior. Never in a million years did I ever think that I was going to hear my bully Drew Chasar say bipity bopity boo.
“Can I ask you a question?” I said turning around quickly almost making him run into me.
“No,” he said looking in my eyes.
“Okay…well why do you hate me? What did I ever do to you?” I asked not paying any mind to his answer.
“I don’t hate you…” he said looking away, “If I never bullied you, I would never get to talk to you.” I was horrified by his answer. He bullied me for years because he wanted to talk to me?! I ran away from him and eventually out of the school just wishing that this day would have never happened. Cindy…Cindy… I heard being whispered throughout the trees around me. Cindy…Cindy… and then everything went black.
“Wake up Cindy,” I heard. The blackness surrounded me, and I didn’t know where I was, but with just a few moments everything cleared.
“You’re going to be late to work,” and with that sentence, the black faded to become what I know as my room, and I came face to face with my husband, the one and only, Drew. That dream was the past, and he’s so very lucky that I’m a forgiving person.
Life as we know it
By Jacob Walton
“You woke up, she didn’t….”
I usually try to stay away from sketchy situations but sometimes stuff just happens and I have no control what so ever over it. This is one of those tragic situations where it doesn’t end well for either party. I run a little store on the corner of downtown Chicago, its one of the stores that the big companies don’t worry about but it still brings in a large amount of business. It one of the best spots and I have been offered so much money that I could retire ten times over, people see the value in the spot and I keep telling them that It’s not for sale, for god sake I even put a sign in the window. This man though, he was something different, he was strong headed, a trait that I share but this man also seemed to be the type with evil intentions, he was bald with a scar on his right eye, the type you don’t get from a normal day to day life, he stood a bit shorter than me, around 5’9, he dressed well enough to get the point across that he meant business. By his demeanor I could tell that he didn’t want it to start a store or a restaurant, he wanted it for something else, that something I did not know but it couldn’t be good.
“I can make you one of the richest men in the world, up there with Trumps and Gates, a mansion in the Hollywood hills with enough to make Hugh Hefner jealous” was his new sales pitch, still didn’t convince me, he never would convince me.
“This... this store, this house, this place,” I said as I slammed my hands on the table “Is all I want, I don’t need a giant mansion, I need you to get the hell out!” I yelled at him.
With the dirtiest look ever he got up and opened the door, before he left he turned around and shouted “You’ll regret this, you love this store, and well I hope you love it more than anything else” and with a grunt he slammed the door. After him leaving I immediately locked the door and put the closed sign up. He was trying to spook me, I wasn’t going to have it, I walked up stairs and sat on the couch. I sat there thinking, wondering, arguing within my head on what he meant, what he was trying to say. It was around 12:00 when Nicole came upstairs.
“Hey is bed-time big guy,” she said in a seductive voice.
“I’m not in the mood, sorry I’m just a bit concerned,” I said in a apologetic voice, “He came by again”
“Again, that *&^%, why haven’t you called the police on him yet, I starting to get really irritated, he comes by every month like you are gonna magically change you mind.”
Now Nicole is one of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting and when she says she hates someone, she means it.
“he, said something that rattled me, I was too angry to think about it when he said it,” I said with my head down in shame, “He got to me, I know it shouldn’t, it’s just words but I don’t know why, he got to me.”
“Well try and forget about, I’m heading to bed, it’s been a long day,” She said as she ran over and gave me a kiss. “Goodnight” She yelled from the bedroom. I finally headed to bed after a while. I laid down next to her but it didn’t help. I couldn’t sleep.
“Why are you still up, go sleep” is what Nicole said, it was 1:20 and she had work, I felt bad but I couldn’t sleep knowing that guy out there had his evil plans. Nicole was a simple girl but I had known her forever and only around 2 years ago I built of the courage to ask her out, she is a shorter girl, something that I always preferred.
I responded with “Sorry, can’t sleep, I got too much on my mind, it’s like my mind can’t rest.”
“Well tell your mind to calm the hell down and sleep.” Is how she responded, she defiantly needed her sleep so I did my best to lie down and put my mind to rest. Within minutes I was asleep, it wasn’t a strong sleep but it was sleep no matter what. I woke up tomorrow to something that would haunt me forever. I went to the shop early in the morning, around 6 or 7am. It was normal for me to get there early as I normally have to tidy up and get ready to open at 9am. When I arrived the sight I saw was horrifying, the whole shop was torn to shreds , it looked like someone went crazy with a chainsaw. Glass and all other materials were on the floor, and on the wall it said “You’ll regret this” those words spoken by the persistent man. I immediately turned it over to the proper authorities but they had no evidence to convict him.
I kept the shop closed for clean up, I thought a week was enough time, Nicole even took some time off to help, on Friday the shop was finally back up standard and we were able to re-open Saturday. I went home and jumped straight into bed.
“What has you in such a good mood?” Nicole asked as she slid into bed and gave me a kiss.
“I don’t know, I guess I’m just excited to start the day tomorrow.” I responded.
“Good, I don’t need my big man getting all scared by a little bald man.” She said as she laid down.
The day went as smooth as planned, we got even more customers than normal since it was the grand re-opening , got comments from everyone saying that though we were done for good but I kept telling them that “I’m gonna keep truckin’,” no matter what bald headed prick says. After a good of selling I went home and to sleep.
As I fell asleep I felt un-easy but I decided that I shouldn’t worry about it, and that I should get my rest. It was around 3am when the fire woke me up. It had engulphed our entire house, all I could hear was Nicole screaming, it wasn’t the scream of being the scared it was one of the loudest things I have ever heard and it would haunt me for the rest of my days. My door, a blockade of fire and rubble, blocked any change of a normal escape, my best bet was out the window. The window didn’t look like the best way out but It was the quickest and speed is what I needed, I tore off most of the window but it was still covered in flames, I had to jump. I kept telling myself “im not gonna burn in here, this isn’t the end of the road for me!” I jumped, all I remember seeing was the ground coming at my face in slow motion, it felt like the world was revolving completely around me, not as if I was special but as if my life flashed before me. In an instant I was out.
A week later
“Oh look who’s finally awake, you barely got out of there” Said a voice as I woke up, the light was blinding and confusing but as my eyes adjusted I saw a doctor in front of me, it didn’t take a brain surgeon to realize I was in hospital. I looked around and saw an empty bed next me.
“how long have I been out?” I asked the doctor
“a week” he said in
a sad voice, “Your girlfriend…” I didn’t let him finish
“what happened to Nicole, WHERE IS SHE” I asked
“you woke up, she didn’t” he said in a calming voice. I started crying un-controllably.
“Someone did stop by to drop off this note, I didn’t read it because it might have been personal,” said the doctor
The note said this “Your girlfriend, you livelihood, your health, all over some dumb store, how does that feel, your life as you knew it is over”
Power Trip
By Jacob Walton
Power, something desired by everyone, it has caused murder all the way to love. The allure of power is overwhelming and if you don’t control it you can be under the grasp of the thirst for power. The thirst, the greed, the clawing for power starts with young Acacisus in Ancient Greece. He was one of the many men who have succumbed to greed, a greed for power and he intended to get it one way or another.
His first thought was to overthrow the leader of his village but he then decided that this was not enough.
“No.. he is too weak, the source of his power is what I seek, the Gods of Olympus, those are who deserve to be overthrown, they have held their throne’s for too long.” He thought to himself. Mount Olympus, the home of the gods, is not an easy place to reach, it is a long journey that only few have made but those who have had a purpose very similar to Acacisus, they wanted to reach the gods, some for worship and some for power. Acacisus realized this and found out quickly that his journey would be impossible without the help from his village. His first idea was to tell the leader of his village what he needed the help for but soon realized that he would never help him overthrow the gods.
“I am going to go get help from the gods for our village so we can be prosperous and live like those in Athens and Sparta.” Is how he decided that he would trick his leader. He thought this would work perfectly and they would have no problem with this. It worked better than he ever thought it could.
The leader responded to his request “For the benefit of our village I would be stupid not to help, if there is anything else you need? We packed you food, water and extra clothes.” Acacisus responded with “I could use some armor and maybe a sword.” The leader responded with “why would you need these tools of warfare on a peaceful mission, you aren’t lying to me Acacisus because if you are there will be more than a thunderbolt waiting for you!”
Acacisus responded quick “no no no, I need them to defend myself from all the deadly animals and creatures and this is a very dangerous journey that I am embarking on to help the village.”
The leader now calm said “fine, if you say so, Nikandreos! Bring Acacisus the best shield, xephos and armor we have.”
Acacisus wondering what a xephos is said “what’s that? a special type of sword?”
the leader surprised by this question answered “it’s a sword meant for hero’s, it blade cannot become dull, they are blessed by the smith god Hephaestus.”
“You’re your giving it to me? Really just for this quest?” He responded.
The leader then said “no you can keep it, its your early reward for helping the village.”
“thank you so much leader, I’ll put it to good use.” He said and started walking away from the village thinking that he fooled the old leader but in secret the leader knew his true intentions.
“it’s a long journey to Mount Olympus” he thought to himself as he started climbing up what seemed to be a mountain that went on forever.
3 Months Later
With the help of his village and a lot of resilience he was able to trek up the infamous Mount Olympus finding himself inside the Agora; the home of the lesser gods Apollo, Artemis, and Hermes. His eyes were on Apollo the God of Music and Light. Acacisus knew this was going to be his only chance to gain in power, his plan was simple.
Request for the gods power to be placed within his sword, he had thought this “if all my power is within my sword I will be able to kill a god and take my place among them just as Kratos did when he murdered Ares and took his place as the New God of War.” But before any god killing could take place he had to get something to eat, even though they packed quite a bit of food they didn’t pack enough for a 3 month long trip. He traveled to the Agora Market to pick up some of its famous ambrosia that has the ability to heal all wounds. After his quick trip to the market it was time for him to face to god of music and light.. Apollo. His temple was far above all the others within the Agora, he felt that this put himself above the other gods in the Agora, especially his sister Artemis.
When Acacisus finally reached the temple, which seemed to have a thousand stairs leading up to it, he was halted by 2 guards which had swords and shields that glowed like the light.
They stopped him and said “You! Who comes to visit the god Apollo? state your name and reason!”
Acacisus responded “I come here to ask for help from the best god, my village is In dire need of help and Apollo is the only one that can help us.”
The Guard Responded with “That is an appropriate request and you have been given admittance to the Temple of Apollo.”
Walking through the temple Acacisus only thought one thing, “Power will be mine” When he finally reached the throne of Apollo he was dumbfounded when he saw the size of the god. He had always know gods where bigger than men but he stood 12 feet tall.
Apollo addressed the mortal “What do you want from the true leader of the gods”
Acacisus responded with “I wish to gain power and I believe you are able to give me that power, I want for you to infuse your power within my blade so I could have to ability to slay Zeus and Give his power to the world”
Apollo stood up and responded “I agree that Zeus has led the gods for too long, but how do I know that you won’t just keep all the power to yourself and not release it to the world?”
Acacisus responded “I swear by the power within my blade that the power will be released to the world with only a small amount for me and some going to you so you may become the new king of the gods.”
Apollo laughed and said “Apollo the new king of the gods, I like it and what god would you be young mortal?” Acacsisus hadn’t pondered this yet but he did have an idea in mind that would please the god of light.
He said “Well I would take your place as the new god of light, you would take the powers of Zeus and you powers would be of no use to you anymore.”
Apollo nodded his head and laughed “I love this idea, give me your blade and I will give it enough power to kill the king of gods.” Acacisus handed over his blade with no hesitation. Apollo grabbed it and inspected it
“You think this thing deserves the power? Ha… how about I give you a real weapon. A blade with the power to match that of the King of the Gods, My blade.” Acacisus thought and nodded his head no words were need, Apollo broke the xephos in half and summoned his holy blade in front of Acacisus. With the power within this blade Acacisus left the temple and headed to kill the king of the gods.
The king of the gods had always feared a revolt and his day had came but Apollo forgot to tell Acacisus one thing, that the king of the gods is always listening and as soon as he stepped out of the temple and lighting bolt with enough power to kill a god came rushing down at him.. killing him instantly. Acacisus with a whole through his chest grabbed the blade of Apollo and hugged it.
“My greatest source of power” He said with his last breath.
War… War Never Changes
By Jacob Walton
WWIII, the Great War, the End of Civilization, these are names in which the war of the world has went by, but you cannot name something who’s only purpose is to destroy. The war between the Republic and the Control. These are the countries that control over 90% of the world with the rest being divided up into smaller countries. Nobody in
this war wins; it is a story that only ends in total destruction with both parties ending in a pile of radioactive goop. Total Nuclear Destruction, is how the world ends and it ends with nobody on top.
2020 and the great war is coming to a close, and everyone is worried on how it will turn out, whether the Republic will win or not, the Republic is the result of a mass alliance between all of America and Europe. The Control is the Result of Terrorist gaining support from most of Asia and Russia, enough to where they are more powerful than any country by themselves. They gained this support over many years of taking over and building treaties, they soon went from being a terrorist group to being a straight up country and they had developed one of the greatest militaries of all time. China and Russia were the first to ally themselves with the new powerhouse of a country.
The major battle’s occurred mostly in the United States or the land formerly known as the U.S.A, but the final one, the one that caused the dropping, was in Russia or the area that used to be known as Russia. This was the ultimate battle, both forces through threw everything they had at each other. General White was leading the Republic and Supreme Maxon led the Control onto the battlefield. They were both considered to be the leaders of the Alliances.
At first there were missile barrages, and then the heavy’s dropped.. the MOABS, mother of all bombs, a man death machine that would rain down hell on the battlefield but those by themselves could not end the war. The mother had been used, but the father was still in the shed, The atomic war was started and the Republic threw the first shots, but it wasn’t long till the control fired back and they hit hard, the third world war had ended the same way the second had, complete destruction. As the bombs were falling you could hear the screams and yells of people on the battlefield.
“GET DOWN! GET DOWN!” was shouted out by the field generals and captains, but they knew that the best hiding spot in the world wouldn’t protect them from the hell that was about to fall upon them. The place they were fighting was no simple battleground, it used to be homes, where families lived and now they either lye dead or have evacuated but if they would of stayed they would of died what so ever.
“Life, the power to live is a strong one in this world” are some of the words spoken by General White before heading into battle, he did not know that this battle would be his last but he knew what it would be… a blood bath, both armies where heading straight for each other in the climax of the greatest war of all time. Over a million men and women, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, vaporized in an instant.
“Fire every damn thing we got, those bastards are going to pay” Shouted General White. From missiles to the famous nuclear bomb everything in their arsenal was fired but they were just late. It was almost the same exact moment when Maxon ordered the complete arsenal of the Control to b fired. These two individuals decided the fate of the world, and it wasn’t a good one.
Nuclear Destruction was the end of the world. There had been some survivors but they wouldn’t survive the fallout.
The Diary of a 8 month long relationship
By Jacob Walton
April
He rode my bus, he made fun of me, he did all he could to make me laugh, he was an interesting little combination of rude and charming. When I first met him I really didn’t have any feelings for him but it seems in these closing months he has done everything to impress me.
If I learned one thing from my friends is that when a boy asks "how was your day?" he likes you...
Every day we walked home together he seemed to be nicer and nicer doing all he could to make sure that I wasn’t mad at him, at times he went over the line but he would realize that quickly and apologize.
May
Well I guess my friends were right… well better said they were extremely right. After walking home together on a Monday he stops me at the corner of his street and says
"Are you single?" he asked confidently.
I responded with "of course, why?"
“Well I bet you can guess what I’m alluding to, do I have to say it?” He said in an awkward way.
“yes…. Yes you do!” I said while giggling.
He sighed “fine, do you want to go out?”
I laughed at him and said “I was wondering when you would ask”
June
With us living a block away from each other we were able to hang out quite a bit. I'm shy so I kind of had to wait for him to take a lead. He is a natural leader, a cocky one at that but still a leader
July
We were able to hang out over the 4th of July; we went down to his family’s campsite down by the lake. It was cold out but he gave me his jacket.
When he gave it to me I chuckled and said “wow which movie you got that move out of.”
He responded sarcastically as normal “Every single cheesy love story made, do I need to lay it over a puddle nest? Or will that me enough my Queen” We laughed. My parents wouldn’t let us sleep in the same tent, my father being over protective and all. I love my parents I do but sometimes they go too far.
Shelbie. I still can’t believe that your parents wont let us sleep togeth… sleep in the same tent, sounds less provocative.” He said
“wait did you just call me Shelby? You never call me Shelby anymore, its always baby, bae, Queen.” I said dumbfounded.”
“I felt like being formal, is there a problem?” he said with that grin he gets every time he is up to something.
“what are you plann…” I couldn’t finish my sentence before he had kissed me, I wondered how long he had planned that out, I bet he knew I would ask that. He plans everything, sometimes I wonder how far ahead he is.
August
As I guessed he had everything planned, school started around the middle of the month, he is a clever one, he got to school around 10 minutes before me so he was able to find my locker ( we keep the same lockers) and he pasted a note on the door.
The note read “you didn’t think I would forget with all the beginning of school stress, happy birthday baby.” It didn’t help that my friends had already grabbed it off my locker and started reading it so the surprise was ruined but he expected that. When I opened I found something interesting, a not tapped the inside of the door.
“Just in case you friends suck” He had a locker 5 down from me so he was at his laughing his butt off, he had a stupid sense of humor but I liked it for some reason.
He turned and said “guess my back-up worked” he then turned to faith and said “also you need to stay out of other peoples business before you ruin everything.” I hoped that he was predicting anything.
September
Walking home with him had become a challenge with my parents starting to insist that I get a ride home due to the cold weather… its 60 degrees out. I could school was starting to stress him out, we started hanging out less, he was less creative, but he was still the same Jacob. He had taken AP World History and Journalism, kept asking to pick one, not both but he insisted. I knew that his AP class would be filled with all the smart girls that I couldn’t even compare to.
October
As I guessed he has to start cancelling plans, the late night texting stopped and, what saddened me the most was the cute names stopped, now I was just Shelby.
November
I guess all the best things must come to an end and this was one of them, on Friday we go into an argument walking home and it was because of the stupidest thing, I wanted to go hang out over the weekend but he has studying and all these things to do. After it was over we walked away later that night he sent me this
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while but I think we should take a break, school should be our number one priority but right now it isn’t.” He then said “I still wanna be friends though” that is when I knew that the end had came. 8 months, 12 days, and 3 hours, that Is how long it lasted.
Jason Wisinski
Last chance to see him
There is 5 minu
tes left in the quarter when those five minutes are over so is the game we have the lead we just need to control it. Are couch was very happy that we were winning but he wanted us to end the game with a win. Are couch took a time out so we could have a breather and there was 3 minutes left I want you guys to run time off the clock then I want you to go for the easy shot. We are up by 10 points let’s not make any mistakes and it would be nice to leave here with a win tonight right team. We all screamed right when we got back into the game we did exactly what he said to do take time off of the clock and make the easy shot. We did we went for easy shots we increased are lead and at the end of the game the score was 57-43. We won and that was are 5th win in a row we were doing really well so far when we were done shaking the opposite teams hands. We went to the locker room changed and went on to the bus wear we were all glad we won we got back to the school and are parents picked us up because we were in the 8th grade we couldn’t drive. Couch told us that we would have practice and we had a game on Thursday. My mom picks me up and she tells me how good I did and that the team was looking really good then my grandparents called me and told me how good I did and all of that good stuff. When we got home I went into my room grabbed some pajamas and took a shower. When I got out of the shower that’s when things took a turn for the worse. I could hear the phone ringer but my mom got to it before I could get out of the bathroom. But when I got out of the bath room that’s when my mom told me my papa joseph just had passed away. I was kind of shocked but yet I knew him but I didn’t really know him all that well.
She asked me if I was ok and I said yes but it didn’t really hit me till the next couple of days. Today was only a Monday but the whole week we had family come over because the funeral was going to be on Friday. I was going my sister was going to stay at a friend’s house I just wanted to be with my dad since it was his father who had passed away and getting to miss school that was just and extra thing. Tuesday we had practice just like couch said after practice my parents talked to both of the couches and told them I would not be at practice on Friday but I would on the game on Thursday. My head couch new my parents pretty well and he did tell my parents if they needed any thing just let him know and he told me I was more than welcomed to come talk to him. But when I was walking into the locker room after practice that Tuesday the 7th grade couch told me he was sorry about my loss. That night I asked my dad if he knew him and he said yes because I saw him go over and talk to my dad it turned out that he was my uncles best friend. That night my uncle Ricky came over and hung out with us but Wednesday night my dad’s 4 brothers were all over and so were there wife’s and kids. We were all talking about my papa Joseph and all of the adults were going throw thons of pictures of my papa Joseph. Then they told me and my cousin chance to go in my room and paly my Xbox if we wanted to and we did we were the oldest kids there he was in the 7th grade and I was one grade ahead of him. But we went into my room and we played football and then we played a racing game because we got bored of playing football.
Then all of my family members went home and they said they would come over on Thursday and my parents told then I had a basketball game so instead of coming over and hanging out they. Went to my basketball game to cheer me on and there to support me and that game believe it or not brought my family closer together but what happened that game was unreal. I can’t exactly explain what happened at the game but I am going to tell you what I thought was going on. We went to the locker room to get are basketball uniform on while we were putting on are shoes and focusing on what the game plan was. Are couch came in and he said get on your knees bow your head and lets pray there has been a lot going on this week so let’s pray. That’s when it hit me that’s when me losing my grandfather really hit me because when he was praying he said lets pray for the skies they had a family member pass away this week. Then he looked up at us and said lets go win this won for Jason and his family then we went out of the locker room and the A team that game they were on fire and yes there is an a and b team and I was on the b team. When we went into the locker to get ready for are game passing the bleachers I saw a bunch of family and friends there supporting me and my family throw this hard time. I didn’t start that game but I did play a lot and when couch put me in we shot down them so they couldn’t even score against us we were up by ten points we had the ball and I got fouled so I went to the free throw line and my couch told me to slow down and focus on the free throw shot the first one I made and the whole place went crazy my couch called a time out to tell me how good I was doing and pointed to the score board and said those are your points. Then I got ready for my second free throw and when I looked over at my family I bounced the ball and I thought I saw my papa joseph on the basketball court clapping and telling me I am proud of you. That was the last time I will ever see him and that win was for him.
Jason Wisinski
Finding a way out
Markus get into my office we have another mission for this time you are retrieving something for me and I need it back in one piece. What do I have to retrieve for you and where is at. See Agent Harm this is way I wanted you to do this assignment for me no questions asked you just do the task at hand. It’s my job sir I don’t ask any thing I just go get it done. They thought you very well when they started your training you are probley the best spy agent I have ever seen. Thank you sir I was 6 when they started my agent training know I am 17 and almost at the top of the food chain. Well you are defiantly earning your respect here Markus I want you to listen very closely on what I am going to tell you. There is a building in New York City and there is something in that building that I need and I need it back here pronto and it can’t be harmed. When does the plane leave sir and where is the file so I can read up on it before I am in there getting it for you. The plane leaves in 30 minutes and the file is on the plane.
Alright sir then I will be on my way heading for the plane. Markus don’t break or destroy what I am sending you to retrieve because if you do you will regret it. I won’t sir you can trust me I will bring it to you whenever I get back and is Shawn driving the plane and will he be helping me on this assignment. Yes he will be helping you with this assignment I will never understand way my oldest agent and youngest agent like working together so much. Markus there you are I was about to call the chief to ask if you were coming. Is the plane already Shawn and do you know what is so important to the chief way he wants whatever’s in this building so bad. Yes Markus the plane is already to go just let me make some minor adjustments and we will be on are way. I don’t know what is in this building but it must be something that chief really needs because he wants nothing to happen to it. Take a set Markus cause this is going to take a while and you might want to read the file that chief sent it is on your set.
New York- Markus we are on top of the building right know are you ready to enter. Yes I am ready to get whatever this is chief wants and get out of here in the file it says that security is really tight around here. Markus be careful and try not to get yourself caught because this case is really important to chief. I will Shawn I will call for you if I need back up. As I get off of the airplane I get straight towards the door on the roof and I open it up and think about what I need to do. As I am heading down the stairs I see a guard so I creep down and then I lean toward him and knocked him out. I grabbed the walky talky so I can hear if they are sending any guards my way because they are going to find out that one of there men is down. Once I sneak past some other guards I start heading to the room that the file is in. But when I get close to the room I hear two voices talking about this project they are working on so people will for get about who they really are. I wonder if that’s what they did to me when I was 6. After thinking about all of that I rush in to the room and I was holding a stun gun and told them to get down I shot one of the doctors with it. The other looked at me and said son you don’t want to take this file you are working with the wrong people we are the good side not the people you are working for. I grad the f
ile and tube I looked at the other doctor in the eyes and I said when did you start testing this on people. About 11 years ago you’re not going to hurt me are you son. No I am not this stun gun doesn’t hurt Shawn are you there. Yes I am right here is everything alright Markus. Yes I got the file but the file is how to brain wash people so they don’t remember who they really are and when they started testing it is when they started training me to become a spy. You don’t think they used that one you do you Markus. Shawn I don’t remember anything from before I was 6 so I am thinking they used it on me. Well come up to the airplane we will take the file to the chief and see if we can figure this out because if you have another life you should live that one not this one. Alright I will be on the roof in about 3 minutes. Alright Shawn lets live New York and go see what chief has to say for him self. Will do we will be there in 6 hours you can go set down and think about this. Markus we are hear grab the file and the tube so we can go ask chief some questions. Markus you are back all ready and you have the file in hand so I take it you have it. Yes I have it but I have a couple of questions for you to clear some stuff up for me. Did you use this on me when I was 6 or younger because if you are using the brain wash thing it is all wrong they should know what they are doing? Yes we did use it on you Markus and its just so they don’t have think about the stuff they have don’t. But chief Markus is just a kid don’t you think he should go live his own life. No he should not chief pulls out a gun he shoots Shawn it the arm but Shawn drops a tear gas bomb and it fills the whole room up. So I grab Shawn and since that happened I live with Shawn and we are both out of the whole spy game.Jason Wisinski
Robin Hood’s side kick
Everyone knows the story of Robin Hood how he stole from the rich and gave it to the poor. Well there is one person that usually does not get the credit he deserves and that is me little john. It kind of makes me mad I was with Robin Hood the whole time when he stole the king’s money and gave it to the poor but do I get the popularity that he gets no I do not. But I am going to tell you the story how I remembering it happening know mine and Robin hoods story are going to be a little different. Since he changes up the story so he could be the main hero and get recognized for his heroic deed. The story I am about to tell you is the true story how Robin Hood got famous and it not because he gave to the poor. Back when I was younger and better with an bow and arrow I never got a long with the king and all of his people underneath him. I wasn’t exactly on their good side then I saw a young man stealing trying to make it on his own so I took him under my wing and thought him everything I knew. That young little man turned out to be Robin Hood and he became my side kick and we stole from the rich to give it back to the poor.
But when we were going to steal from the king that’s when he wanted to go out on his own. But I knew he would not last on his own but of course as stubborn as he was he never listened to me. The king is smarter than what Robin Hood thought because when he went to the archery commotion he dressed up as an old man and who ever won got to marry the kings daughter which is the princess and robin hood was in love with the princess. I knew that robin hood could not pull off winning the commotion without me so I dressed up as an old man as well and I help my student became the best archer he could but I still didn’t think he could beat half of the commotion so I had to help him out a little bit but when he goes and tells people that he won that all by himself and he was considered the top archer in the land but know body knew the truth except for me. But Robin Hood knows who the best is and it is me I never had any kids but Robin Hood is the closes I have had to having a kid. Everyone thinks I am his side kick and that’s not at all how it is it’s not even close.
The one time when he was not my side kick was when we went to take the kings money because they started arresting innocent people. The king found out that someone was going to try and steal his money so instead of stealing all his money we took all of the prisons out of his prisons. Because no one should be arrested for something they didn’t do but we still ended up stealing some of the king’s money. But neither one of us cared about the money it was all about saving people from the king who was very unfair in how he ruled his kingdom. But the way the story ends is totally different because Robin Hood goes on to marry the princess and they are know ruling the kingdom and is running it very fairly. As for me on the other hand I was known as Robin hoods side kick who was called little john but was really tall. Every time I try and tell my side of the story no one believes me I just want people to know what actually happened back in my glory days. But I wouldn’t have it any other way because Robin Hood has always gone in front of me he was my number one priority.
Jason Wisinski
Attack of the Wax People
Hey Jack are you ready for the new wax mannequins for are wax museum. Of course I am ready for the new wax mannequins maybe that might come to life or something like that. Well I will see you tomorrow to help you unload the mannequins from the truck. Alright and drive safe Jack I will see you tomorrow then. I put my work clothes in my locker and headed to my car but if I knew what was going to happen with those wax mannequins I would not have told my boss that I would be there early on Saturday to help him. I get into to my ford expedition and I go pick up three of my best friends to go get something to eat since I got off of work early. I picked up my best friend Tom and then Chris and the little brother of our group Drake who is the youngest one. We went to are favorite restaurant Buffalo wild wings were we eat almost every Friday we go there so much that the waiter knows all of us by names and knows what we want to eat. While we are waiting for are food we talk about the new wax mannequins and that’s when Tom, Chris, and Drake said they are coming to the wax museum to see the new pieces. Then we talk about the new movies that are supposed to come out this summer and the ones that we are really excited to see because we are already making plans to go see them at the movie theater. When we are done eating I go and drop off all of them and neither one of us would have guessed what was going to happen on Saturday.
My alarm clock goes off at 6:40 so I would have 20 minutes to get dressed and take a shower before I have to go to work to help out my boss with the new wax mannequins. I leave my house and I am heading to work when I see the wax truck pass me so I just fallow it into town I thought I saw the back of the truck move but I thought it was the road. I should have seen what was actually happening I pulled in the parking lot. Get out of my truck and I walk up to start unloading but for some reason the guy driving the wax truck look filmier and he was really scary looking. But I just stopped thinking about it and I just went on doing my job because I figured that I was just being weird. When I brought in the last wax mannequin in I went to the brake room and I just saw Tom, Chris and Drake all walk in the door but then I heard bubble wrap popping so I run over to see what the deal is and there was this little kid playing with the bubble wrap on the was mannequins. I told the little kid you can’t play with the bubble wrap and him and his mom went on with their day. Then I went back to the brake room and that’s when I heard bubble wrap unwrapping aging but this time it was not a little kid playing with the bubble wrap this time the was mannequins were unwrapping them self’s. Once they got the done with the bubble wrap they started to head for the people that were unaware that the wax people were going to move and start throwing people around like a rag doll. Everyone in the wax museum was screaming and everyone was trying to get out of the building but the wax mannequins. Got in front of the door to block it while all of this was happing I was trying to find my three best friends I finally found them on the other side of the museum.
Tom said dude what is going on the mannequins came to life or something. I know Tom they are attacking people plus they have the main entrance blocked off but there is a back door we can go to. But it is down stairs and we are going to have to cross where the mannequins are if we want to get out of here. Well Jack if we are doing that then we might as well bring something to protect us with just in case something goes wron
g. I agree Drake and if anything goes wrong do not go back for any of us at all don’t come back for any of us. There is some supplies in the room next door lets go there so we can get something to protect are self’s with. So all for of us went into the room next store to see if we could find anything to help us escape form these attacking mannequins. We did find a mop and a flash light then I found a night stick that one of the guards must have left. Me and my best friends we were already to go down there and face are fears and get out of this wax museum. But when we are heading down the stairs to meet the mannequins the FBI was there and they had all of the mannequins in hand cuffs and they were being loaded into police cars. An agent came over and asked us if we were alright we all said yes then I asked him what was going on. He said the 8 mannequins where bank robbers who have been on the run for more than 4 years and they have finale been caught. Good because we all thought they were real life mannequins attacking people but that would be crazy. At least that’s what I thought until I didn’t see any one of them take off their mannequin custom or there mask so that makes me believe. They were real and the government is trying to clean up the mess because they don’t want anyone to know that stuff like this can really happen.
Julie Blissitt
The Heist
“Austin, hurry up! I don’t have time to wait on your helicopter. The heist is going down right now and you either bring me my escape chopper or you don’t get any of the cash!” I yelled at my friend as we played Grand Theft Auto V.
“I’m trying! I can’t get to the airport! This car won’t go fast enough, Owen!” Austin yelled back. “I’m almost there! Just give me two minutes!”
“I’m timing you. I’m scoping out the place right now. Let me know when you’re on your way. By the time you get here, I’ll have the money and I’ll have thrown the sticky bombs so we can get away,” I explained.
“Alright! I’ve got it. I’ve got the chopper. I’m heading your way right now,” Austin shouted.
I stormed my character into the gas station and held up my gun. The man at the counter started to panic before he started loading all of the money into a bag for me.
“Owen, I see the police. They’re gonna be there soon, but I’m almost there!” Austin warned me.
“I’ve got the money, just get on the roof and once I’m in the chopper and the cops get here, I can throw the sticky bombs and blow them all up. We can easily get away then,” I shouted excitedly. I ran my character out the door and waited behind the building for Austin. “I can hear the sirens, Austin. Hurry!”
“I can see the building and I can see you. We’ve got this,” Austin reassured me. “I’m here! Get in, get in, get in!”
My character climbed into the helicopter and Austin began to take off. I threw the sticky bombs as the police pulled up to the gas station and blew up literally everything. There was so much fire. It was so bright. By this time, Austin and I had four stars and were highly wanted criminals. So far, our heist was going just as planned. After flying around and shooting at other police helicopters for about five minutes, our wanted level finally went down. Our heist was successful.
“Yes! Finally! Oh my god! A successful heist with my best friend! Let’s split up the three grand I stole! I’m so proud of you, Austin! You didn’t screw up and we made it,” I screamed entirely unashamed. Austin and I split the three grand and celebrated our heist with bowls of vanilla ice cream. I shut off my Xbox and sat back in my chair.
“Today, was successful don’t you think, Owen?” Austin asked.
“Very,” I replied. “I wish we could hold heists like these in real life. We’d be so rich!”
“Yeah, that’s probably not a good idea at all. That’s why they made this game. So we can do illegal things, but not actually break the law,” Austin explained quietly.
“Oh come on, Austin. Live a little. Rules are just guidelines anyway. I don’t follow them and look where I am! I’ve yet to get in trouble with the police,” I retorted.
“I still don’t think it’s a good idea, Owen.” Austin said meekly.
“It wouldn’t even have to be a big heist. Our own heist could be stealing a pair of headphones from Walmart. It’s not like we robbed them of sooooo much money. They only cost seven dollars. Face your fear, Austin. Live on the edge for once! It’s such a rush!” I yelled. “I’ve stolen makeup for my girlfriend, headphones, food, even some clothes. It’s not hard. Alarms don’t go off unless you steal expensive electronics that have security devices on the side. It’s so easy to get away with. Just try it with me once. You won’t get caught. I promise.”
“Ugh, I’ll do it once. Only because you’ve done it so many times and you haven’t gotten caught. However, if I do get caught and I get arrested, I’m going to kill you,” Austin agreed. “What are we gonna take from Walmart?”
“Hmm, just a coloring book. I don’t want it to be too intense for my little baby, Austin,” I teased.
“Shuttup, I’m not a baby. You want me to steal something bigger? I will. I’ll go in and steal a t-shirt. It’s better than a freaking coloring book,” Austin said aggressively.
“Deal. I’ll drive you. Let’s go,” I smirked.
Austin and I hopped in my Jeep and I drove the ten minutes to walmart. I could tell he was nervous. He was shaking in the passenger seat. I don’t know what’s got him so worried. Even if he does get caught he’ll just get kicked out. He won’t get arrested for something as small as a t-shirt, but I wasn’t about to let him know that. The fear was pretty funny to watch. I might let him know after it’s all done with and we get back to my house. For now, I’m just gonna sit back and relax and watch how this all unfolds.
We arrived at Walmart and sat in the parking lot discussing our “heist”. I was going to wait in the car while he went inside to get the shirt. I told him to pick out something he likes. I also told him not to run because that doesn’t look suspicious at all. He got out of my car and walked inside the building. All I had to do was wait. I assumed he was going to try and hide the shirt in his pants, but I’m honestly not too sure how he plans to take it.
About five minutes later, he walked out of the building. He didn’t have anything in his hands which was good, but I couldn’t tell if he took the shirt or if he chickened out. He climbed into the passenger seat of my jeep and proceeded to pull a Jurassic World t-shirt from his pants.
“Heyyyy, look who grew up and decided to live on the edge,” I smiled.
“Shuttup, Owen. That was stressful. Honestly it was a rush too, but wow, that was stressful. Never again,” Austin said.
“Alright, man. Let’s go home, haha,” I laughed.
I drive the ten minutes back to my house and we climbed the stairs back up to my room. I sat on my bed and he sat at my computer desk and proceeded to put on his new shirt.
“You seem mighty pleased with yourself,” I laughed again.
“Oh I am, trust me,” joked Austin.
“By the way,” I added, “Even if you did get caught, you wouldn’t have gotten arrested. You would have just gotten kicked out of the store. It wouldn’t have gone on your record.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before I almost had the miniature heart attack?!” Austin shouted angrily.
“It just wasn’t as funny,” I laughed.
Julie Blissitt
Into the woods
To start things off, my name is Yuri. I’m two years old and I am a Siamese cat with a fear of abandonment. I feared my whole life that I would get abandoned by my fantastic family. That’s exactly what happened. I grew up with that family and I was born in their house. My mother was raised here and my father lived next door. But they moved and had too many pets so I’m sitting in the backyard of my old house, that’s now abandoned, wondering what to do. How could you just abandon someone like that? Cat have feelings too, you know. But, I’m alone now. In the wild. I’m not a wildcat though. I’m domesticated. I’m a house cat. Do you know how hard it will be for me t
o survive out here without anybody’s help? I don’t know how to hunt. I never learned that skill. I’ve been fed from a bowl for as long as I can remember. I can pounce and I can run pretty fast, but I’ve never actually had to put that skill to the test. Now is my chance apparently. Things usually happen for a reason. Maybe CatGod has something big in store for my future. I hope so. I don’t want to eat trash forever or even be alone forever for that matter. I feel so low. These are such intense emotions for a cat.
I walked toward the fence gate and crawled under and through the small gap in the bottom.
“Is this the alley?” I asked myself in Catspeak, “Does this mean I’m an alley cat now? This is so much to process.” I stopped outside of the fence just before the alley and I waited. I looked to my left and I looked to my right. Both ways extended for miles it seemed and I didn’t know which way to choose. After a few minutes of contemplating, I began to walk down the right side of the alley. I walked slowly at first, then quickly once I began to feel like someone was watching me. I looked around for a pair of eyes but saw nothing. A loud shriek let out from some sort of creature and I began to sprint. I passed my neighboring dog, Stud, and I startled a small squirrel, but I kept running. After making it to the end of the alley, I came to a harsh stop at the edge of the highway. I looked both ways before running across the street and into the woods beside it. I sighed with relief after entering the woods. I had never been so scared. Other cats were out to get me. Cars were out to get me. What else was out there? Who knows? I just knew that I needed a catnap. I nestled under a log and fell into a deep sleep from exhaustion.
I awoke a few hours later to something lightly tapping at my nose. My eyes flashed open and I hissed. I backed away and arched my spine.
“Who are you and what are you doing on our grounds?” Asked a solid grey cat with a deep voice.
“M-My name is Yuri. I didn’t know these were your grounds. I’m so sorry. I was left alone and I was so tired with nowhere to go. I didn’t me-.”
“Silence, child. I am Rain. You’ve done no harm by sleeping. You said you were alone?” Asked the black cat.
“Yes, Mr. Rain. I am alone,” I said solemnly, looking up to Rain and the tabby cat approaching behind him.
“This is Fire. He is my second lead. I am first lead in our glaring. Would you like to join us?” Asked Rain.
“Join you in what?” I asked.
“Join our glaring. Become a part of the team. It’s survival of the fittest in this world and you’ll need all the help you can get. We can provide protection,” explained Fire.
“How do I know you’re not lying to me? How can I know that I can trust you?” I asked.
“You don’t know. You can’t know unless you risk it and give it a try. Follow us. We’ll take you to our village. We can be your new family. You’ll never have to worry again” said Rain.
“Family? That sounds...nice,” I smiled.
Julie Blissitt
Alice’s Apocalypse Friend
“Alice! Hand me my sword!” the Mad Hatter exclaimed. I threw him his sword and grabbed my own. It had been blessed with holy water and had been blessed by an elven princess. It was the most powerful sword in the world and I was wielding it. I spun and slashed through the manic rabbits. The apocalypse had just begun and a form of rabies had gotten everyone sick. People and all animals had been infected through their wounds, but the Hatter and I had been lucky enough to avoid that gruesome fate. I whipped my sword and so did the hatter as we stabbed through dozens of the infected.
“Run, Hatter, run! Follow me through the woods! We can escape!” I yelled at the Hatter as the number of infected rabbits diminished. He ran after me as I was slightly faster and my sword was lighter than his. We ran through the woods and approached an old hut that I used to play in as a young girl.
“Will we be safe here, Alice?” Hatter questioned.
“We will be for now. There’s no knowing what will happen. This is our only hope until a plan is set,” I replied. Hatter sat on one of the dusty rocking chairs and coughed profusely as the dust scattered from his movement. I rummaged around the hut to look for provisions and I had found a few. There was fresh food so someone had been here before us and someone had left it here. Oh, I hope they didn’t meet a tragic fate. As I noticed someone had been here before, I walked to the front to lock the door to make sure that person wouldn’t come back. “Hatter, there’s food back here if you’re hungry. It’s still fresh so don’t worry. Eat as much as you need. You’re much bigger than me, I know how you feast.”
“Alice, you are kind, but you are a growing young girl and you should eat first. You need it more than I do. I can wait until you’re finished and I can keep watch,” argued the Hatter.
“Well, I’ve found a can of soup that I would really enjoy eating, but there seems to be no bowls,” I said solemnly.
“Here,” said the Hatter, “Take my hat. Put a cloth on the inside and you can use it as a bowl for your soup.”
“Oh, but Hatter, your hat will be ruined. I know how much it means to you,” I refused.
“Take it, Alice. You mean more to me than the hat,” Hatter insisted. I took the hat and started to make a fire to heat up my soup that would go in my new “Hat-Bowl”. If I could have any companion on this horrible journey to survive the apocalypse, I would choose the Hatter. There is simply no one better.
The Witch
Julie Blissitt
The last thing I saw was my alarm clock flashing 12:07 before she pushed her long rotting nails through my chest, her other hand muffling my screams. I sat bolt upright, relieved it was only a dream, but as I saw my alarm clock read 12:06, I heard my closet door creak open. I quickly lied back down and ducked under the covers. I was terrified. The door continued to creak and I continued to sink into my bed.
The door eventually stopped and I heard nothing but my heavy breathing. Then, I began to hear heavy footsteps. They were slow and they sounded like hooves. I slowly peeked from a small crack between my blanket and my bed to see a tall, wispy, ghost-like woman standing in my room. She had to be taller than 6 feet, her eyes were red, she had horns and hooves, but she stood on her hind legs like a human and had normal hands with rotting nails. I believe hell was in my bedroom.
There was nothing I could do. I was paralyzed. I was so scared that I was in tears. I wanted to make a run for the door but there’s no way I would have made it. It would catch me before I could even get down the stairs. I slowed my breathing. It was 12:07 now. If I tried to run, my fate would surely be that of my nightmare. I waited another minute. It was now 12:08. I peeked out from under the blanket once again and the figure was no longer standing in the middle of my bedroom. I sighed with relief and took the blanket off from over my head to find the scary woman hovering over my bed just below the ceiling. She lowered herself until she was floating just above me and her mouth opened four times wider than any normal persons’ could. She sucked in and I felt myself drain immediately. She was eating my soul and soon I would be no longer. My life was flashing before my eyes but slowly as she carefully sucked in every bit of my soul. I remembered summer picnics with my family, date nights with my girlfriend, holidays, birthdays, concerts, and just everything that made me happy and made me who I was. I was content with how my life was, but I never thought my life would end like this. I never thought I’d die so young, but here I was, slowly falling apart and there was nothing I could do about it. One minute passed and everything turned black. This was the end of me, the end of my world.
Maria Mecklenburg
The Hypnotizer Who Stole My Man
“She’s coming!” I yelled to myself. Ugh! I hated that girl. So annoying. So whiny. So unfashionable. So dirty. So unsophisticated. So low-class. So mean. Too picky. Too neat. Too cheerful. Too full of herself. Too demanding. Too ungrateful. Too… weird. Let’s face it. That step-sister of mine…sucked. I hated living with her but I had no choice. She always tried taking me for granted, told all t
hese lies to the adults, and always acted as if she was better than me. And her name? The obnoxious girl’s name was Cinderella.
Cinderella was always asking for things. Can I take a break? Who was that at the door? Are you feeling alright step-mother? It was SO annoying. Well, one day, Miss Curious went over the line. She got the nerve to ask…my mom…if SHE could go to the grand ball. HA! Can you believe it? That would be social suicide. Oh, but she wouldn’t understand. After all, the girl thinks that me and my sister are the mean ones instead of her. I mean, she’s always spinning things around to suit her. Always making it seem like we’re the bad guys and she’s the innocent one. Well, I’m here to tell everyone the facts.
It was the beginning of summer, and everyone was making themselves useful. Everyone, except for Cinderella. My sister was outside helping the neighborhood kids with their community service for the elderly.
“Why do we have to rub your feet?” asked a little girl. My sister, being the sensible one, of course, tried to reason with her.
“Look ya little brat,” she said, “Do you want me to sign your paper or NOT?!”
“But you’re not even an elderly person.” Complained the annoying child.
“Oh, why thank you. I KNOW! I don’t look a day past 20.” My sister gushed, flipping her hair over her wrinkly shoulder.
Meanwhile, I was putting on my makeup. Not that I needed any, of course. Even my mom was making herself useful. She was teaching Cinderella how to properly go about her everyday tasks. Like the amazing mother and teacher she is.
“CINDERELLA!” said my mother in a calm, soothing voice. “How many times do I have to tell you how to clean the fireplace? Are you an idiot? You can’t do it right unless you crawl in there and SCRUB!”
Cinderella, on the other hand, was doing nothing but agreeing with my mom on everything to be a total suck-up.
“Alright, step-mother.” Replied Miss Brown-noser. At that point, I came walking into the living room, dressed to impress. I looked ravishing. Everyone said so. Then, my knees gave way and I found myself on the floor. Cinderella started running, wait no. She came CHARGING at me. Yeah. And with a horrified look on her face, as if her face wasn’t already hideous enough, and started shouting in my face.
“My goodness!” Cinderella screamed at the top of her lungs. Then, as if she wasn’t already way out of line, she started asking all these personal questions that were NONE of her business.
“Are you okay step-sister? What did you trip over?”
“Ugh, how DARE you interrogate me like a criminal?!?” I calmly asked her. But it was pointless. Cinderella decided to play the innocent game. Like always.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just trying to help.” She replied.
“YEAH RIGHT!” I politely corrected her. Then she started bossing me around. Like always.
“Perhaps you should put some ice on it.” Cinderella demanded. “That was quite a fall.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Puh-LEASE! I didn’t fall. I purposely decided to do a random gravity check.”
Who gave her the right to talk to someone like me?
Anyway, after that, the mail came and my mom said it was an invitation to the biggest event of the year. The prince was having a grand ball! Oh, it was so exciting. And his purpose? To select an eligible lady to be his BRIDE! OH! Oh, it was so exciting! Of course, he only meant for the upper-class people to go. Why would he want to marry a low-life peasant girl? Well, apparently, Cinderella thought he was into that kind of embarrassment, because the next thing we knew, she started going all hay-wire. It was RI-diculous!
“Wow! Am I allowed to attend?” she snarled at my mom. Just then, I noticed my sister in the doorway. She had probably just came in and heard everything, because she looked disgusted that Cinderella would speak in such harsh tones.
“Mommy,” asked my sister, “How dare you let her speak to you like that?!!”
“I agree!” I joined in.
The rest of the night was horrible. My mom agreed to let the brat go if she took out the trash, cleaned our rooms, did the dishes, laundry, sweeping, dusting, mopping, scrubbing, organizing, gardening, make us hot chocolate, and make us all dresses for the night. I mean, that’s it? That’s all she has to do? Come ON! So not fair. Well, guess what? I finally forgot about it once I got to the castle. What a relief. The place was absolutely stunning. And the prince? Well, he was gorgeous! What a hunk! We locked eyes for a moment, and I knew just then that we were meant to be together. But unfortunately, some girl in a ginormous dress showed up and hypnotized the prince into falling in love with her. He went crazy! At the end of the night, the mysterious girl lost her shoe, so the prince went around seeing whose foot fit. I tried it on and it fit, but like I said the prince was hypnotized, so his thoughts were way out of wack. He married…Cinderella instead! Worst night ever!
Maria Mecklenburg
The Last 10 Minutes
Go LEFT! My mind screamed. I sighed, confused as I groped the count-down capsule in my hand. I looked down reassuringly to see 56 years printed across the screen. There was something calming, knowing I had that much time left to live. I turned my head left to see a paved road, running straight to school.
“Time for some change.” I mumbled as I veered my Jeep to the sharp right, straight into a wooded forest on the way of town. Crisp air raced through the windows and for once I felt free. After a few miles, I put pressure on the break and flipped off the engine. This was the first time I’ve ever disobeyed the strict rules of my supervised, gated, run-down community, and quite frankly it felt amazing. That is, until I looked down at the count-down capsule with horror. Printed on the screen was 10 minutes. 10 more minutes to live…
What happened?!!? I thought. I had 56 years left. 56 YEARS!!! This cannot be happening. Am I really going to die in 9 minutes and 52 seconds, 51 seconds, 50 seconds?
“Isn’t time precious?” Whispered a voice from behind. Goosebumps fanning out over my body, and gasping for air, I jumped in my seat, startled and frightened. Nobody was in my car other than me. Or so I thought, up until now. As I slowly turned my head around to face the backseat of the car, my lip trembled and my teeth chattered in fear. I was waiting to see a horrific image. I was prepared to see a hijacker, an armed robber or burglar, a murderer even, someone wearing dark apparel and an evil grin. Instead, a woman sat, legs crossed with a simple smile, wearing a white gown, white shoes, white tiara, and a white pearl necklace.
“Who are YOU?” I snarled.
“Well!” she exclaimed. “Hello to you as well. My name is Savannah. I’m here to guide you.”
My head started to hurt. The inside felt like it was scrunching itself into a tight little ball of confusion. Temples starting to thump, veins pushing against my skin trying to get out, and knuckles turning white as I dug my nails into my palms, I tried to get some answers from the woman.
“What?!? What does that even mean?”
“I said that my name is Savannah.” She replied. “It means that I have a name and I’m called Savannah and-”
“NO!” I interrupted her. “I meant, what do you mean when you said that you’re here to guide me? How’d you even get in my car? WHY are you in my car?”
She smiled at me, showing her pearly teeth. She leaned forward in the seat closer to me and said sweetly,
“I meant that I’m here to help you change your past to alter the present. To answer your question ‘How’d I get in your car?’ I simply opened the door and sat down. Why? Because I’m here to help you change your past to alt-
“Alright, alright.” I interrupted. “I heard that already. Listen, nut job, I don’t know who you think you are, or where you came from, but I’m not taking you with me. All I wanted to do is bust out of the gates of this hell hole and run away. And now all of a sudden I only have 9 minutes and…27 seconds left” I finished, looking down at the count-down life capsule.
“So, if you could get out and hike back t
o whatever insane asylum you broke out of, that would be great. If they catch me, they catch me, but I’m not going to bring you down with me. I just want to know what’s GOING ON!!!” I yelled.
“Right.” Savannah said, nodding her head in agreement. “And I can help you. But you have to help me.”
“Help you?!? I’d rather kiss a toilet seat.” I told her.
She sighed and smoothed out her white dress. Then Savannah raised her fingers to her head and started to rub the sides in frustration.
“Oh, Caleb, this is going to be a challenge. But I’m not going to let your comment ruin this for me. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to get my wings for a long time.”
“How do you know my name?” I asked. I shook my head from side to side. It doesn’t matter. Just get rid of her. My mind whispered.
“Get OUT, LADY!! I’ve only got 8 minutes and 35 seconds left before I die, for some reason, and I don’t need you adding to my problems and wasting my last 10 minutes of life. Unless you have an explanation as to why one minute I have 56 years and the next, I have 10 minutes, then beat it!” I said.
I had to get out of here. Maybe it was because I tried to escape. But our time-life didn’t automatically take away 56 years for trying to break out. Does it? I’m not sure. I just hated it so much here. Hundreds of soldiers and security guards, constant supervision over us, our lives planned out for us. We didn’t get a choice of jobs, or how long we were allowed to do things, and we only got a limited amount of food. We had stupid rules. Girls weren’t allowed to have tattoos on their shoulders or they would get fined for being scandalous. Guys weren’t allowed to arm-wrestle. We had to have our hair a certain length. We weren’t allowed to have phones or gaming systems. We had dumb laws saying you had to always sit down from the left side of a chair. Adults were only allowed to have three children, any accidents would be aborted. Children were forced to get up for school at 5:00 in the morning. We were assigned classes, had to wear certain clothes, and weren’t allowed to leave town, or you would pay the consequences.
It made total sense to drive off. Get away. Have freedom. So, instead of taking the usual path to school on the left, I had steered right. My thoughts were interrupted by Savannah.
“I do have an explanation. You see, after you drove off into the woods 56 years ago, the towns-
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I stopped her. “I wasn’t even alive 56 years ago.”
Savannah pointed a finger in the air.
“Ah,” she said. “But you were. The townsfolk were worried after you didn’t come to school, the town meeting, or return home at your 8 o’clock curfew.”
I got out of the car and looked around. Savannah got out of the back seat and stood beside me. My attitude toward her went away. My face softened. The time capsule read 4:03, 4:02, 4:01. And that was it. 4 more minutes is all I had.
“Well, what happened?” I asked quickly. I rushed the conversation so I could know what was going on as quick as possible.
“I mean, I don’t think I would forget 56 YEARS of my life.” I continued. “It feels like just a few minutes ago I made the decision, to run away.”
Savannah nodded her head, her white tiara bobbing along with her.
“Right, right, I’m getting to that. After you drove off into the woods, you were about to run into the tree. So you slammed on the break, trying to stop your car, franticly trying to turn the wheel, but it was stuck. And then you crashed. Fortunately for your Jeep being made out of hard recycled material, not a scratch was made. But you had hit your head on the wheel when the force of the smash jerked you forward. You fell into a deep sleep.”
“I don’t understand.” I said.
Savannah took a step closer and looked deep into my eyes as she continued to explain in her sweet, beautiful voice.
“Caleb, you still look like a teenager even though you are 56 years older because a lumber jack was walking through the woods and found you the night after you crashed. He happened to also be a doctor. He used you as his guinea pig to experiment with human preservation. He sprinkled a salt-like material on you and you stayed young even as you got older. Even as the time on your life capsule went down. He left, thinking that it wasn’t going to work and later died of natural causes. He didn’t have the chance to tell the people in the village about how he found you. Caleb, you went into what is now called a ‘coma.’”
“For 56 YEARS???” I asked.
Savannah nodded her head.
“I’m afraid so. You just came out of your coma a few minutes ago. I was told to come down to earth to help a teenager in need. A boy named Caleb. You. I was told that if you learned a lesson that not only would I get my wings, but your life would also be changed.”
I looked at Savannah in shock.
“Y-y-you’re really an angel?” I asked. She then nodded her head and motioned for me to follow her. Walking through the thick-wooded forest, my spine stiffened as a cold breeze whipped at my body. I looked down at the capsule in my hand. In 2 more minutes I would be dead. What had been the point in having so much time to live, if I spent most of it in a coma? My mind was going crazy. Little clips and videos of my life played like a CD in my head. Pictures and images were thrown at me. I didn’t want to die!
“I can help you.” She said.
“HOW?!?”
“I can send you back into the past. You will have your life back, as well as 56 remaining years. I’ll send you to back a few seconds before you turned right. Before you went into the woods.” Savannah said.
We arrived at a tiny little shack. When we entered the room, dust and spider-webs greeted me. In the middle of the room was a single chair.
YES! My mind yelled. DO IT! LET’S GO!
“Okay.” I finally answered, nodding my head in agreement. “What do I do?”
She gestured towards the chair. Confused, I walked over and sat in it.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. Went the time capsule. I looked down in horror. Only 20 seconds left. Man, she better make this fast.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. Only 17 seconds. This is it. I’m going to die.
“LISTEN!” Savannah yelled over the time-capsule. “All you have to do is go left!”
“RIGHT!” I agreed.
“NO, I said LEFT!” she shouted.
“I meant right as in okay!” I told her.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. I didn’t bother looking at my life-capsule. I knew it read 13 seconds. Head darting all around the room, knees shaking, my breath suddenly became restrained. I started gasping. It was getting hard to inhale.
“ALRIGHT,” Savannah yelled. “Here we go!” she started throwing sparkles at me and waving her arms all about.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. 10 seconds left. Oh no! I wasn’t going to make it. My hands started turning pale. I grabbed my throat that felt like it was being squeezed. It was as if there was a pillow over my face, strangling me.
“GOOD LUCK, CALEB!” the angel yelled.
“WHAT?” I hoarsely said.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.
“GOOD LUCK!”
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, this is it.
All of a sudden, I found myself in the driver side of my Jeep. I was sent back in time. I let go of my throat. My breathing came back normally. I looked to my right. There were the woods. I looked to my left. The prison. I mean school. I had to turn left, or I would be in the same place that I was. And so left I turned.
Maria Mecklenburg
Dream or Reality?
“You dumbass!” I cried as he tied me to the rails. “Don’t you know this line has been abandoned for years?!?”
“Of course I know,” he replied, giving me a little smirk, “no one comes here at all.”
Just then did it sink in. He didn’t intend for me to be ran over by a train. He wanted me to be all alone where no one would think to look for or find me.
“Mason, come on.” I tried reasoning with the guy. “You’re really going to leave me here? Not even going to kill me
properly?”
Laughing, he said,
“Nah, I think I like the idea of you suffering.” He turned his back to me and started to walk away into the darkness. It was late. 2:30 in the morning.
“Ya know once I get out of here, I’m coming for you!” I tiredly yelled after him.
“Well, there goes another death threat.” Mason said. He turned back around to face me and added, “How did that work out the last time, hmm Kristen? Didn’t you hit me in the head with a brick, and then left, thinking you killed me?”
I thought for a minute. “Well, if you would’ve died the first time I came after you, my boss wouldn’t have told me to bash your head in.”
For some reason or another, Mason smiled at that. It was like he thought it was funny that the both of us, being trained assassins, were assigned to kill each other. And they just had to assign the killing Friday. Yesterday. The day we were celebrating our one year anniversary of dating.
YESTERDAY…
I had just got home from a failed mission. I had been so close to my taking out my target, when a tourist got in my way. I couldn’t make out who it was, but that wasn’t important. I knew the rules. No witnesses. I tried killing him with my sniper, but he dived behind his car. I lost sight of him. Next thing I knew he tried killing me. This wasn’t any ordinary person. I didn’t know him. I figured he was probably from some other agency that I hadn’t heard of and was after the same target. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. What I needed to do was take them both out and I needed to do it quickly. I still had to clean myself up and go back into character for my one-year anniversary with Mason tonight.
I always had to lie to him about my job as a cover-up and I had been running out of excuses lately. I needed time. I wanted time. But time isn’t what I got. What I got was competition. I don’t remember how many grenades came hurling at me, but luckily, with all the training I had, I was able to quickly get rid of them or dodge them. I hurriedly got back on my feet and with a handgun, I ran down the hill that I had set up camp on. But when I got down there he was gone. I took a step closer to where I had last seen the strange man, and I heard a crunch under my foot. I bent down to take a closer look and I saw that it was a necklace. It seemed as if it had snapped off in all of the commotion. I took a closer look and realized that it was Mason’s. He never took it off. Not even when he went to sleep. The only time he took it off was when he was mad at me.
After telling my boss about it, he told me to bash his head in. I had to get rid of all thoughts and feelings about my boyfriend and get the job done. It’s how these things work. But when I got home he noticed his necklace in my hand, and gasped.
“Kristen…” he slowly backed up, one step at a time then quickly turned around, jumped over the kitchen table and darted into our bedroom. I knew he was going for a weapon when I heard the creaky opening noise of our nightstand where we keep only a handgun in. I took a brick out of the fireplace and waited for him to come back around the corner.
“Kristen!” he yelled. “Come out come out wherever you are!”
“Never!” I yelled back. His footsteps got closer and closer.
“No hard feelings, babe. I got to kill you though. You know how these things work.”
“Yeah, I do.” I replied. “One of us is going to end up dead after lying to each other about our lives for a year.”
Then I jumped out and bashed his head with the brick. But Mason hadn’t died. He came back for revenge.
Now I lay on the tracks, not able to move. I jerked my body from side to side and somehow, after much wriggling and squirming, I broke free. I felt myself falling. Then BAM!
All of a sudden, I woke up. What? I woke up! Oh my god, it was all a dream. I’m lying on the floor next to my bed. My body aches really bad. I must’ve rolled off the bed in my sleep. It was scary to think that I have dreams of me and my boyfriend trying to kill each other. I propped myself up on my elbow, and then cautiously stood up. It took me a minute to regain my balance. Ugh. What a horrible way to start the day. With a sore back and fresh bruises. After rubbing my eyes, I squinted at the clock. To my disappointment it was 2:30 in the morning. Huh, just like in the dream, I thought. I tiredly crawled back into bed and looked to my left, relieved to see Mason. All the noise I made while falling off the bed must’ve woke him up, because he looked wide awake. My boyfriend was looking in my eyes, completely okay. What a relief. But he wasn’t wearing his necklace and I saw his hand quickly reach for the nightstand where we keep the handgun…
Maria Mecklenburg
The Brat Learns a Lesson
Abigail plopped down on the leather couch after shuffling her feet across the hardwood floors, sad because she was all by herself tonight. Abigail saw it as a disappointment that someone as glamourous as herself didn’t have a friend to have movie night with tonight. She often wondered, “Why not? I’m awesome…and hilarious. And just last week I donated a whole quarter to St. Jude’s. I’m a great friend! They just don’t see it.”
She convinced herself that her loneliness was everyone else’s fault, and turned on the TV. It didn’t take long to load and in the meantime, Abigail started complaining about how small and crappy her 52 inch plasma HD LG flat screen that she won in a contest was.
“Those cheapskates should've given me a TV that works!” the screen came on a few seconds after wards to which she sighed annoyed at.
“Finally.” It was ridiculous that Abigail thought she should have a million friends with the attitude she had.
Abigail continued to flip through the channels, trying to find something to watch. After she scrolled through the whole guide several times, she pressed DVR and looked through all the movies and shows that she had recorded. Ten minutes later she picked the Hunger Games. Halfway into the movie, Abigail was hugging a bowl of popcorn to her stomach and yelling things at the TV.
“Kaedo!” she screamed, as the character was killed. “NOOO! Don’t let him die! He’s hot!”
Abigail woke up a few hours later on the couch. She got up to go look in the bathroom mirror. There must have been something wrong with the mirror, because her reflection was totally opposite. Abigail’s hair was flipped to the left, but her reflection had hair flipped to the right. Abigail had a black t-shirt on and her refection was wearing white.
“What the hell?” Abigail said, at the same time that her reflection said,
“What the heaven?” Abigail gasped.
“Who are you?” she asked the girl in the mirror. The mirror replied,
“I’m Liagiba.”
Abigail rolled her eyes and said “Isn’t that just my name, but backwards?” Liagiba nodded her head ye. Abigail shook her head from side to side in disbelief.
“This is a dream, right?”
“This is a nightmare, right?” replied her opposite. Liagiba then adjusted her glasses as Abigail repositioned her contacts. Abigail couldn’t believe what was going on, so she asked Liagiba what happened last night.
“Well, I don’t really know. I remember I was watching a movie called the Game Hungers, and this ugly guy named Odeak was brought back to life. So I whispered at the TV, ‘Nooo! Don’t let him live! He’s ugly!’ and then I woke up under the couch.”
“WHOAH!” Abigail yelled. “You really are my opposite.” Abigail didn’t care how weird the situation was. She was just glad she had someone to talk to.
“Do you like dogs?” she asked.
“NO way.” Liagiba said. “I’m a cat person.”
“Oooh, I love chocolate ice cream.” Abigail continued. “What about you? Vanilla?” “Yeah how’d you know?” Abigail started grinning from ear to ear, happy that she was talking to someone so opposite from her. Literally. Of course, as this was happening, Liagiba was frowning suddenly, Abigail thought of something.
“Wait, so I don’t have a boyfriend, so does that mean that you do?”
The reflection answered with a head nod.
“YES!” Abigail yelled.
“This is so weird.”
“This is so normal.”
“So,” Abigail said, “Since I live in a huge house that means…”
Liagiba finished the sentence. “It means that in my world, I have to live in a box under the bridge.” After she said that, Abigail started chuckling. To her it was hilarious. She thought everything was funny. Unfortunately, in a parallel universe, Liagiba thought everything was boring, and so instead of laughing she either just stood there with a blank expression, or she cried.
Wow.
Abigail closed her eyes and thought to herself.
The only time Liagiba’s life is great, is when mine sucks. The only time she’s happy is when I make fun of her. I mean, is when I’m not being mean.
She opened her eyes and she wasn't in the bathroom looking at her in the mirror anymore. Suddenly, she found herself back in the living room with a blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders. The bowl of popcorn kernels was on the coffee table and the credits for the Hunger Games were still rolling on her TV screen.
Oh my god.
She thought. Or was it “Oh my devil” Abigail jumped up and ran to the bathroom. The reflection was moving with her. The reflection was wearing a black t-shirt, just like her. The reflection was saying and doing exactly what she was. The reflection was just simply…Abigail... she sighed in relief and started laughing.
“I was just a dream.” Abigail said out loud. Then she started thinking of Liagiba and the fake parallel universe that her imagination had created in her sleep. But just in case, Abigail changed her wording for once.
“I mean…it was just a nightmare.”
THE END
Happy Valentine’s Day
Meaghan Hitz
“Isn’t this just adorable?” I asked excitedly as Larisa and I entered the school hallway. The pep club, myself included, had spent hours the day before decorating the halls with the Valentine’s Day theme. There were red and pink hearts taped to the walls, doors, and lockers, along with matching balloons and ribbons taped to the ceiling. “We plan on adding more after school today, since we didn’t get to finish everything, but what do you think of what we have so far?”
Larisa was silent for a moment before quietly responding with, “It’s sickening.”
I gasped dramatically, pretending to be hurt by her predictable reaction. “Why on earth would you say that? What is so revolting about getting people to show their love for one another?”
She rolled her eyes. “We’re high schoolers. None of you guys are actually in love; you just think you are.” Of course she would believe that.
“Why are you always so negative?” I asked as we finally reached our lockers, which were conveniently placed side-by-side.
“The same reason why you’re always so positive,” she replied, dropping her backpack to the floor before ripping off the paper heart stuck to her locker. She quickly opened the metal door while I was still fiddling with my combination, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed that she stuck the cutout onto the inside of her locker door, instead of just throwing it away like I thought she would.
I was going to comment on it, but as I opened my mouth to bring it up, I noticed a piece of paper fall onto the floor when my locker door swung open. If it had just been a piece of notebook paper I would have thought nothing of it, just assumed that it was a crumbled up note or something, but it was pastel green construction paper.
“What’s this?” I asked out loud, catching Larisa’s attention. She didn’t say anything, just watched me as I picked up the page and unfolded it. The handwriting was a bit difficult to read, and after scanning over it a few times, I just sighed in defeat and handed it over to Larisa. “What does it say?” She was always able to read hand-writing, no matter how sloppy it was.
She smiled as she took the note and skimmed through it, but as she read she grimaced, annoyance clearly in her tone. “It’s a sappy love letter.”
“Really?” I lit up with excitement. “That’s great! It’s so cute that someone wrote me a love letter for Valentine’s Day.” I couldn’t help but blush at the thought. It was so sweet and thoughtful that a boy was willing to take the time to do such a thing, especially with their ‘manly’ reputation on the line.
“I find it stereotypical.”
“What does it say, word for word? Is it just something off the internet, or did they actually write something personal?” I pestered her with questions as I hovered over her shoulder, our passing period and first class forgotten.
“I’m not reading this thing word for word,” she bit out through clenched teeth, seemingly terrified of the thought. “It just goes on about how they love your attitude, smile, laugh, and how you’ve brightened up their life.”
Seriously, I love Larisa like a sister, but how could she be so indifferent about all of this? “This is so exciting! Who is it from? Does it say? Are there any hints if it doesn’t say?”
I kept pestering her with questions as she handed the note back to me. “It’s signed Tris, but that doesn’t look like his hand-writing...” She trailed off, like she was getting deep into thought.
My thoughts came screeching to a halt at the name Tris, my brain not registering the rest of what Larissa said. “Tris? Tris Loret from study hall? The one with dirty blonde hair and pretty blue eyes?”
“That’s the only Tris I know of,” Larisa murmured, distractedly getting the books she’d need for her first class. “He wants to meet up with you today in the park behind the school, apparently.”
I could barely contain my enthusiasm. I actually bounced once or twice, causing me to receive a strange look from a lone passerby in the hall. I didn’t care. “Oh just wait until the others hear about this! I’m going to have a date for the dance after all.”
Larisa gave me a strange look. “This doesn’t sound weird to you? I don’t think he even knows your last name, much less where your locker is.”
The warning bell rang out, and it was only then did I notice that we were almost completely alone in the hallway. “We’re going to be late!” I exclaimed, ignoring Larisa’s comment, and I quickly tucked the note into my jean pocket. Larisa had already finished at her locker, but just she waited patiently for me to grab my things before we walked down to first period together.
Unfortunately for me, the entire day dragged out a lot longer than it usually did. Minutes took hours to go by, and I was starting to get seriously impatient. This was the first romantic thing to actually happen to me outside of my daydreams, and I didn’t want to wait much longer to make it a reality.
Finally, the last bell rang, and I practically ran out of the geometry classroom. I was getting butterflies in my stomach, the anticipation killing me, but I tried to keep my cool as I grabbed my backpack, waved goodbye to Larisa and my other friends, and headed off to the meeting place.
Did I look alright? What would he want? As cute and nice as Tris was, I never really got to talk to him. Now that I thought about it, he wasn’t really the kind of person to write love letters, or letters in general… I immediately shook the idea from my head. I wasn’t even going to bother with Larisa’s theory. I was going, whether Tris was there or not, so what was the point?
I eventually reached the park, a small little sanctuary with a few saplings planted here and there among the giant oak trees, with a fountain in the center. At first I was worried because I didn’t see anyone, but I eventually spotted a figure a few feet away, leaning against one of the trees.
“Tris, is that you?” I called out, coming closer.
The person wasn’t who I thought it would be. He was pale, short, and slim, so definitely not Tris. His face was covered with freckles, and if it wasn’t for his dorky, thick black glasses I wouldn’t have recognized him. “Wally? No, it’s Wayne, right?”
He smiled shyly, seemingly confused. “Wayne Fuller, yeah. That’s me. Keren, hey, uh, I didn’t e-expect to see you here. Um�
�� is Larisa with you?”
“No,” I said, immediately realizing that something was wrong. “Are you okay? You’re acting really nervous.”
Wayne shrugged, pushing up his crooked glasses so they wouldn’t fall off his face. (Apparently, that happened a lot.) His expression turned disappointed at my response, and suddenly it made sense.
“You wrote the note, didn’t you?” I asked, and I couldn’t help but narrow my eyes when he nodded. Great, that means I’ve been spreading a rumor all day about that note. The irritation bled into my voice. “Seriously? I thought Tris was going to be here! Why didn’t you sign with your own name?”
“I thought Larisa wouldn’t come if I signed with my own name. I guess it didn’t really matter, though…” He shuffled nervously and looked down at the ground. He was embarrassed, dejected. Rejected, I realized.
“She didn’t come because the note was in my locker, not hers. We both thought this was for me!” I explained, and his head shot up.
“Really?” he asked hopefully.
“Do you think I would lie about this? Now come on; if we’re quick we should still be able to catch her!” Before he could protest, I grabbed the sleeve of his hoodie and started running, dragging him along with me. “We should be able to beat her to her house, since her bus has a few stops before hers, but…”
Wayne yelped as I jerked around the corner of the sidewalk, tugging his arm, heading onto Larisa’s street. Her house was the third one on the left, with the all of turtle statues in the empty bird bath. I stopped at the driveway, letting Wayne go. He caught his breath as I took the note from my pocket and handed it to him. “Here,” I said, making him take it. “Now you tell her what’s up and get yourself a girlfriend. Got it?”
He smiled brightly, nervously. “Okay, I’ll try my best.”
At that moment, the bus rounded the corner of the street, and I gave him a thumbs-up before I took off again. It was times like this when I was glad I was in track during freshman year. I was able to hide behind a neighbor’s car before Larisa noticed me, and I slowly peaked up from behind it to watch. There was no way I was missing this.
I was too far away to hear them clearly, but I could still figure out what was happening. I saw Larisa walk tiredly to her house, and become visibly surprised when she noticed Wayne in her empty driveway. He nervously started speaking as he handed over the note meant for her. He was most likely explaining.
They talked for a little while, and finally Larisa laughed and shook her head. I assumed the worst, until I realized that Wayne was blushing and grinning. She probably told him that she didn’t like Tris anyway.
The two of them were out there for a while, just talking to each other, before Larisa nodded and kissed Wayne on the cheek. I smiled.
I wasn’t getting my date like I wanted, but seeing Larisa actually smiling with some boy made it worth it. My work here was done.
Family
Meaghan Hitz
“Dashiell, can you come here? I need to talk to you,” Everett said, catching my attention along with my partner’s. I hadn’t noticed the blond approaching, which was a bit embarrassing, since I was supposed to be guarding the village. Thankfully, in the dark of night, he couldn’t see my startled expression.
“Oh, okay.” After glancing back at my partner worriedly, I followed my superior out of earshot and into the privacy of the woods. Besides the moonlight shining through the tree branches, it was completely black. We stood in silence for a short while, and I began to worry that I had done something wrong. “Is everything alright? You look nervous.”
Everett took a deep breath. “Drake attacked the east river settlement yesterday.”
Immediately, fear struck me. “What happened? Are they okay?”
“The village was overrun and raided, and the message wasn’t clear on all of the damage. It sounded bad.” Everett took the time to brush the blond hair out of his eyes. “I understand that your family lives there, so I figured that you could escort the messenger, and go check on them when you get there. The messenger knows the path well, and although she can take care of herself, it won’t be hard to convince the others that she needs extra protection, with the recent attacks in that area.”
I went quiet for a moment before I replied. “Thanks, Everett. I really appreciate it.” Still, my worry was drowning my gratitude.
He seemed to understand, for he had been in the same position before with his sister. He had been a nervous wreck after she had gone missing. “After all you’ve helped me with, I owe you. You’ll leave tomorrow morning at dawn, and if all goes well, you should arrive by nightfall.” I nodded silently. He turned to leave me, but then stopped, as if he suddenly remembered something. “If the others ask about your sudden change of duty, don’t mention your family. That’ll get us both into trouble.” With that, he was gone.
Knowing that dawn would come faster than I’d like, I went to my shared hut instead of back to my post. Everett would probably grab someone to take my place, anyway.
Nightmares plagued me throughout the night, haunting me with the possibilities of what had happened to my village, and I eventually gave up and started to prepare for the journey ahead. It turned out to be fortunate that I started to pack so early, because by the time I had finished, morning light was starting to reveal itself. Although it probably shouldn’t have, that fact made me embarrassed. After lifting my bag’s strap over my shoulder and slipping my sword into its scabbard, I left the hut and stepped outside.
It wasn’t hard to spot the messenger, for her fiery red hair was difficult to miss. She was standing in the center of the village, with a sword of her own strapped to her back. She stood impatiently, giving me an irritated look as I approached her. “Don’t tell me you’re the one that’s supposed to be ‘protecting’ me.” Her harsh tone broke the silence loudly.
“It wasn’t my idea,” I replied truthfully, walking passed her. “Now come on; I want to get there before sunset.”
“Trust me,” she muttered, “you’ll be the one that we wait up on.” With that, she turned and started down a different path, and my face turned red as I backtracked and followed her.
She seemed content with not speaking, and I understood. Although for now, we were safe in our own territory, Drake’s army or his spies could still easily be anywhere. It was best to be careful.
We traveled in silence for most of the morning, following the slim path through the trees and the underbrush. Darkness started to fade away as the sun rose, making the trail easier to navigate. Thankfully, there were no attackers, but the peacefulness of the forest quickly faded to boredom.
My stomach was starting to growl when I noticed the faint sound of rushing water. “Where are we?” I asked. When I first travelled to Everett’s village, there was no stream.
“We’re almost to the Silent River. All we have to do is jump across the stepping stones, and then we’re out of here.” She looked up, and after deciding which way was west and comparing it to the sun’s position, the messenger smiled. “We’re right on schedule.”
She went quiet again, but not wanting our conversation to drop so easily, I asked, “Why is it called the Silent River?”
“You don’t hear it until you’ve found it.” She pushed a low hanging branch aside, revealing the waterway. I was shocked; it had sounded like we were nowhere near it. The trees grew about a stride away from the muddy bank, and even now, when we were on the water’s edge, it still just murmured rather than roared.
“Wow,” I whispered.
She grinned at my response like she was taking personal pride in it before she turned and started following the bank. “The rocks should be down here, unless the river is flooded. Then we’ll have to wade across. I wouldn’t worry about it though, since it’s been about two days since it last rained.” After glancing over her shoulder to check that I was following, she continued. “I’ll watch the river and find the stones. You watch the other side of the shore. If you see a
break in the underbrush, that’s the path.”
“Okay.” I was glad that our walking had noticeably improved her mood. I followed her instructions and scanned the other bank of the river, and after a few moments I spotted a hidden path on the other side. “Is that it?”
The messenger nodded before racing ahead, making squishing sounds from where her feet splattered into the mud. For the first time I noticed she wasn’t wearing shoes, which must have been uncomfortable, but she didn’t seem to mind.
She stopped in front of the stepping stones, which were large, but barely visible rocks nestled in the river. They were all different shades of pale gray, and although I had yet to touch one, I could tell that they were smooth and probably cold. The water was almost high enough to cover them completely, and that bothered me.
“Watch your step,” she said with the cockiness of one in their element, before skillfully stepping onto the first stone, then the second. Given the fact that her feet were bare and muddy along with the rocks being wet and slippery, it was amazing that she had the grace necessary to not slip.
In no time at all, she was completely across, and after hopping off the last rock, she turned and grinned. “I’m waiting.” Her tone was more teasing than taunting.
I carefully stepped onto the first rock, and immediately I started to slip. I could hear the messenger start laughing as I quickly caught my footing before I fell off. My face grew hot with embarrassment as I carefully made it to the second rock. When I reached the third, my shoe lost traction on the wet stone and I crashed into the water with a yelp.
I was soaked to the bone, so I didn’t bother with the rocks as I just waded across the rest of the river, drenched, blushing, and irritated. She was still giggling as I climbed onto the shore, but she said, “Don’t worry about it. Everyone falls off the first time.” That only made me feel a little better.
She insisted that we eat while we walk, in order to save time, and I didn’t complain. “If you’re walking, you’ll stay warmer, and your clothes will dry faster,” she said.
It was almost past noon when I heard something rustling in the underbrush beside us. I stopped immediately, scanning over the area. We were in a small clearing, surrounded by giant oak trees, and I was put on edge when I noticed how many hiding spots there really were. The underbrush, the trunks, the branches; anyone could have been easily sheltered from view.
The messenger noticed that I wasn’t moving and stopped as well. “Is everything okay?” she asked.
Everything was quiet for a moment, and suddenly the clearing exploded with at least five Drake warriors, who were surprisingly young. My sword was out in an instant, and blocked the attack from the first soldier. I heard the messenger draw her sword as well, and we stood back-to-back.
I kept my feet firmly grounded and calmed my breathing as the warrior tried to strike again. I once again blocked his sword and was able to twist my weapon to rip his out of his hands. He immediately jumped back, not wanting to face me unarmed. I was able to slice the next one’s shoulder, and when he got too close I used my left hand to punch him in the face. Not very sportsmanlike, but I didn’t fight to play fair, I fought to win. Still, I was careful to not seriously injure them. That would cause more problems than it would solve.
We fought for a few more minutes before one of them ran off, and the others started to panic and retreat one by one. I put my sword back in my scabbard, and I couldn’t help but think that these people must have been rookies. If they were trained, we would have gotten injured.
“You okay?” the messenger asked as she looked me up and down.
“Yeah. Are you?”
She nodded. There was an awkward silence for a moment before she said, “My name is Lexus, by the way.” Her tone was different, and I realized that she was speaking with a little more respect than before.
“I’m Dashiell,” I said, now with a smile of my own.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, with only a few false alarms. Since no one came back to finish the job, I suspected that the Drake trainees from before had snuck off on their own. We were a bit jumpy for most of the afternoon, but by evening we had calmed down.
The two of us continued down the hidden path, which was getting harder to see as the light started to fade. Lexus was much more willing to talk, now that the sun was setting and her task was almost complete. “My little sister is always trying to lead my younger brother around by the nose, which causes some interesting situations,” she rambled. Ever since she’d started talking, she hadn’t stopped, though I didn’t mind. I liked talking to her more than just awkwardly following in silence.
Still, with the sky getting darker, I asked, “How much longer until we get there?”
Lexus seemed to snap out of her rant, and suddenly she was herself again. “The village should be just up ahead.”
Before we made it to the clearing, Lexus said, “Hey, uh, thanks for listening. If you hadn’t guessed, it’s been a while since I’ve talked to someone about something other than business.”
“No problem,” I replied, and that was when I saw the village.
It was horrifying to see my home, my real home, almost completely burned to the ground. All of the buildings were destroyed except for the stone church. The farms were gone. The buildings were gone. Almost the entire village was gone.
Cold fear surged through me. I had to see if my family was okay.
I ran to the church, momentarily forgetting about Lexus. I was relieved when Declan was at the door of the church. The scar across his face looked like it had been reopened, which probably wasn’t good. He was battered and bruised, but seemed to be mostly alright despite that. “Where are they?” I asked, not wasting any time.
Declan had known me long enough to know who I was talking about. He sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Dashiell, but…” He didn’t know how to say it, but I already knew what he was going to tell me. Dread and grief started to form in my stomach. “Amunet didn’t make it.” I knew it. The love of my life was gone.
But then I realized something. “What about Mirai?”
Declan smiled weakly. “She’s in here.”
I followed him into the church, ignoring the people inside. There were more survivors than I had dared to hope for, and I was glad, but they weren’t my priority. Not right now.
The church was small and simple, with a few chairs that were pushed off to the side, against the wall. People were mostly huddled together in small groups, families sticking close to one another. Most of them had blankets, for it was surprisingly cold in the old building, but I barely registered it.
Mirai was in the corner of the room with a person I recognized, but couldn’t name. She was sitting in his lap, and she looked up when she noticed me approaching. She reached out, making a grabbing motion before clapping excitedly, bouncing up and down happily.
“Hey Mirai,” I said gently, picking up the one year old. She smiled and giggled, trying to wrap her arms around my neck. I sat down cross-legged, holding her close to me. She looked up with her big lavender eyes that she got from her mother. I had been so close to losing her, too…
When Lexus found me I was still on the floor, holding Mirai close as I started to tear up, the weight of the situation finally crashing down on me. She said nothing, just put a hand on my shoulder and smiled sadly at my daughter, who looked so much like the one I lost.
I didn’t care what Everett said; I was going to stay here, where I was needed. My best friend Declan was one of the only protectors left, and he’d be overwhelmed too quickly if someone attacked again. If I lost him or Mirai, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I’d also grown very fond of Lexus, despite the fact that I’ve known her for only a short time. I wasn’t entirely sure why, but I knew I’d be really upset if she was hurt as well. I already lost Amunet.
I wasn’t going to lose them, too.
I Wish I Didn’t
Meaghan Hitz
“I want to see R
ae,” I said, my voice still hoarse and breathy from the vocal cord paralysis. It was Saturday morning, a little over a month after the car accident. I was standing at the entranceway of the dining room, and my parents were sitting at the table. They looked up, concern appearing on their faces. They didn’t expect me to be up this early.
“Ross, honey,” My mom started, her voice strained, stressed, but I wasn’t listening to her little speech again.
“I want to see Rae,” I repeated, trying to raise my voice, but only managing to choke at my sister’s name. “Why won’t you let me see her?” I had to stop and take a breath in between before I ran out of air, “You see,” another breath, “her all the time.”
My mother watched nervously as I walked over to the table and sat down with them, worrying that my shortness of breath and my broken leg would do me in. However, my father wasn’t as troubled over my condition. “Ross, we’ve been over this. Someday you’ll understand, but right now, you just have to trust us, alright?”
“Why should I trust you if,” I gasped, “You never trust me?” My parents took a moment to register what I had said. My mother struck first.
“Ross, you know that’s not what we mean,” she insisted, but I was already getting up, adjusting my crutches and preparing to leave. We’ve been having this conversation since the night after the accident, and I was sick of it. I was frustrated that they kept cutting me out. My mom, sensing my mood, quickly tried a different approach before I could go. “Hey, how about you go visit Ty? You two could spend the afternoon together.”
She’d been trying to get me over there for weeks, insisting that I ‘needed a friend to help me through this,’ as she phrased it. I didn’t want to go because Ty lived in a two-story house and his room was on the second floor. Still, after a moment of thought, I said, “Okay, fine.” Maybe if I went were they wanted me to go, they’d take me to where I wanted to go.
She dropped me off an hour later, and Ty’s parents left a few minutes after she did. I was a little confused at first, but Ty reassured me that his older brother Jackson was there, so we’d be fine. “Dude, what’s wrong with your voice?” he asked me, hopping onto the couch to sit next to me.
“Vocals paralyzed,” I choked out, starting to regret my decision about coming here. I didn’t want him to see me like this; it was weird and overall embarrassing.
“Is that why you didn’t call? Texting only?”
Before I could answer him, his older brother walked into the living room, carrying a large cardboard box. “Hey, I’m gonna go see Gran and give her the stuff mom made for her. You comin’?” Jackson asked us as he passed us, heading towards the front door.
“Heck yeah, sure! Come on, Ross,” Ty said, helping me back up. “Don’t worry, my grandma’s awesome. She’s in the hospital because she tried to fight the neighborhood bear again.” He way he casually said this scared me a little.
Jackson helped me and my crutches into the backseat, and Ty rode shotgun. He was talking to me the entire time we were in the car, deciding that if I couldn’t speak well, then he’d just talk enough for the both of us. I didn’t really mind, though, because that gave me the chance to block him out and think. Rae was at the same hospital their grandma was. Could I see her? Would they mind?
When we got there, I was embarrassed to find out that the lady at the desk personally knew both my family and Ty’s. “Hey, Jackson,” she said visibly brightening as we approached. “Hello Tyler, and Roscoe; how are you? How’s your leg?”
I smiled sheepishly, glancing down at the cast. “F-fine,” I whispered, feeling odd about talking to a stranger who acted like she knew me.
“Voice still bothering you, huh? Did you come to see your sister?” she asked, typing on the computer to pull up some information.
My heart stopped for a moment. Could I? I glanced over to look at Ty. He immediately understood, since I’ve texted to him about this little ‘Rae problem.’ Ty said, “He is, but we’re here to see our grandma. We were heading to the same place anyway, so we gave him a ride.”
The woman chuckled. “Do I even want to know what your grandma did this time?” she said as she wrote down a room number onto a piece of paper and handed it to me. “Here, Ross. I’ll be down there in a second. I just need to take care of some things.”
“Okay,” I breathed, and I started down the hallway, finding it somewhat difficult to carry the piece of paper while using my crutches. Finding the room took longer than I thought it would have, and I may have gotten lost on the way, but I eventually found it. However, it didn’t look like a normal patient’s recovery room, and that worried me.
“There you are!” I heard the lady from the desk’s cheerful voice as she came up from the left hallway. She opened the door for me, smiling, and gave her a weak thank-you before cautiously entering the room.
“Rae?” I called out quietly. When I saw her, it took me a moment to realize what I was seeing. She was there, lying on the bed, hooked up to multiple machines with unknown purposes. She was pale, covered in healing cuts and bruises. She looked weak, fragile, and that scared me. She was the oldest; she was always strong, brave, lively, and just plain happy. Seeing her like that was… unnerving. But there was something else, too. Although she appeared to be asleep, I could tell something was off.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked the woman, though my focus stayed on my sister.
It was only then that she realized. Her voice became soft. “They didn’t tell you, did they?”
“Tell me what?” I whispered, a sense of foreboding taking over me.
“Your sister is in a coma.”
“…What?” I tried to scream it, but I ended up choking on that single word. No, no this couldn’t be happening! I limped over to Rae’s bedside, and although I tried to stop them, tears started welling up in my eyes. It couldn’t be true. There was no way! How could Rae be in a coma? She was the most determined and powerful person I knew, even outdoing my father. How long was she going to be like this? A cold fear surged through me when I realized that she might never wake up, ever.
I heard the woman leave the room, probably going to call my parents, but I didn’t care. In fact, I barely noticed. I just held onto Rae’s too-cold hand and started sobbing.
My parents didn’t want me to see her, and now I know why…
I wish I didn’t.
Snow White and Rose Red
Meaghan Hitz
I thought only the damsels in distress were supposed to be cursed with some terrible spell. I believed that in fairy tales, only the monsters, trolls, and giants were stolen from. Because I was a prince, I figured that I would be fine to go off into the world with no one but my brother, Auburn. We were only exploring for a short period of time. We could handle ourselves, couldn’t we?
On that particular week we had decided to go visit the cabin, an old building that was often used while hunting, just to get out of the castle for a while and have some fun. We’d brought some of our gold, just in case, along with the Trinket. The Trinket was a cursed object that had to be with the youngest of the royal family at all times or else some ‘terrible fate’ would befall the current owner, blah blah blah. We figured that as long as it was in the building we were staying in, it would be fine. After settling in, my brother and I left to explore.
While we were outside, wandering deeper into the forest, we spotted a dwarf. He was short and mean, like most dwarves are, sporting filthy clothes and a long white beard. This one in particular had language that could have made my grandfather blush. Despite that, Auburn, who’s always been more social than me, politely said hello.
The dwarf gave us a glare, grumbling and cursing us under his breath. He looked us up and down before recognizing us as the princes. I expected him to apologize when I saw his eyes widen, but he didn’t. Instead, a wicked grin spread across his face a moment before he ran passed us and disappeared, following the path that we came from. Within seconds, he was gone. “What’s up with h
im?” I asked, but with Auburn’s shrug, we kept going.
Not even an hour later, I felt it. I wasn’t sure what it was, exactly, but I knew I felt it. I looked up at Auburn, and he appeared to be nauseous too, so whatever was happening to me was also happening to him. The tingling, sickly sensation began to travel, sending a pins-and-needles feeling through my body. My knees suddenly buckled, and I blacked out.
When I woke up, I was terrified shocked. (Princes are never scared) Both my brother and I had been turned into giant, black bears! We weren’t sure what had caused the transformation, but we had our suspicions. We slowly stood and turned around before following the same path as the dwarf took before. Surprisingly, we didn’t have much trouble with moving around our new forms.
We soon arrived at the cabin that we were currently staying in, and immediately we saw what had happened. The door was wide open, even though there was no sign of a forced entry anywhere. Inside, every piece of gold we had brought was gone, and so was the Trinket. I knew it had to have been the dwarf; not only had he known that we were here, but he had also been extremely questionable earlier. He had stolen the Trinket and triggered the curse.
“We have to get the Trinket back,” Auburn growled, and I was amazed to hear that he still spoke English. That was probably really weird to see. “How do we find him?”
“Well, we are bears. Can’t we just sniff him out?” I asked. It sounded reasonable to me. With my new nose, I could detect much more than I could before.
Auburn managed to roll his eyes. “We’ve only been bears for a few minutes. We can’t tell one scent from the other. We’re gonna have to go look for him.” We argued for a few minutes before we came up with a solution. I would search the woods on this side of the river, and he’d search for the dwarf in the south. We’d try to find his house, because that’d be where he’d hide the Trinket.
Auburn and I split up, and for weeks, we couldn’t find anything helpful. The days were starting to get colder, and we just knew that the kingdom would be panicking over our disappearance. There was no sign of the dwarf or the Trinket anywhere. I was beginning to lose hope that we’d ever get turned back into people.
I had lost track of time long ago when I first found the cottage. I was excited, a shimmer of hope forming. Maybe the dwarf lived there? If not, maybe it was somebody who knew him? Without hesitation I bounded up to the door and, with some difficulty, managed to knock like a normal human. There was no way they were going to answer the door to a bear, after all.
Instead of an old dwarf, though, it was a pale and delicate girl with silvery white hair. She was about my age, though she couldn’t tell that due to my current appearance. Her pale green eyes widened with fear, and she let out a scream.
“No, wait!” I called, and she stopped trying to shut the door when she heard my voice.
She looked at me with confusion and fright. “…Who are you?” Her voice was quiet and soft.
Before I could answer another girl walked up behind the first. She looked like she was the same age, but the similarities ended there. She had a strong build, with fiery red hair and tanned skin, and her burning brown eyes looked me up and down suspiciously.
“I-I’m Roan,” I answered honestly, leaving out my title as prince. I felt like they wouldn’t believe my story anyway, especially the redhead. “Can I come in? I’d like to ask you some things.”
“We’re not supposed to invite strangers into the house,” the redhead said bluntly. “Bear or otherwise.”
The albino smiled sweetly, ignoring the other. “Sure, come on in.” She opened the door wider, so I could get out of the cold. “I’m Snow White, and this is my sister, Rose Red.” Snow seemed pure and Rose seemed prickly. I wondered if their mom did that on purpose.
I murmured a thank-you as I stepped into the room, trying my best to avoiding knocking over anything. I sat down on the floor near their fire, looking around the single-room cottage. There were three beds pushed into the corner together, and there was a kitchen to the left, with a small table and three wooden chairs that didn’t match. The floor was mostly covered by an ancient rug. There wasn’t much furniture or belongings, so it didn’t feel cramped, despite its size. Overall it was small, cozy, and best of all, it was warm.
Snow shut the door quietly before walking over and sitting down beside me. Rose followed, but decided to watch from the bed instead of on the floor with us, still reluctant about the possibly dangerous animal in her house. “So, what did you want to ask us?” Snow asked as she looked up at me with doe eyes.
“Well,” I started, not sure how to start. “Have you two seen a dwarf around here? He’s a bit average in appearance, pretty rude, and-.”
Rose snapped her fingers in realization before saying, “Does he have a dirty beard and a bad attitude? We met ‘im a few days ago. Why, is he your friend or something?”
“Not exactly,” I murmured. “Do you know where he lives, or where he was going?” Rose shrugged as Snow shook her head.
“He chased us off as soon as he could,” Snow replied solemnly, brushing her hair out of her eyes. “If we meet him again, we can tell him that you asked about-“
“No,” I said too quickly, but continuing with, “It’s fine; you don’t have to do that for me.” In reality I would have loved their help, but if the dwarf knew a bear was looking for him, that would make my job much more difficult. “I appreciate the offer, though. Thank you for the help.” At least now I knew that he was in this area.
As I stood to leave, Snow’s expression changed to hurt. “You’re leaving already?”
“I don’t think I’m really welcomed.”
Rose looked away guiltily, and as Snow turned to face her, the redhead mumbled a quiet, “Sorry. You can stay if you want, and if our mom is okay with it.”
Snow jumped up excitedly as she brushed off her pale yellow dress. “I’m sure mother would love the company! We rarely get visitors, being out here on our own.”
They treated me like a guest after that moment, and when their mother returned, she didn’t seem surprised to see me. That made me wonder what was considered ‘normal’ in this particular cottage, but I figured it would be better not to ask. Their mother was a frail woman, with strain and age on a face that was too young for it. She was completely okay with me being there, and before I left, she invited me to come over whenever I wished.
I visited them every night afterwards. Sometimes I’d even sleep over, for they didn’t mind, and it was getting extremely cold outside. Snow especially seemed to enjoy my presence, and Rose warmed up to me after a while. We’d talk, explore, and even play together on occasion, like we were kids. Time started to fly by, and I began to forget what I had set out to accomplish in the first place.
However, when winter started to lessen its grip and the chill began to fade, my worry made itself known once again, and it was harder to truly have fun with the girls. It had been months since my brother and I had left home and gone missing, and our family probably suspected that we’d been killed by something. I was thinking that I was going to be stuck like this forever.
It was mid-spring when I finally found the dwarf again. It was an accident, really, but I had been out with Snow and Rose. The two of them had gone off by themselves, Snow chasing after Rose as she ran ahead. I followed slowly, becoming submerged in my own thoughts.
Snow let out a fearful gasp up ahead, and her cry caused me to snap out of my musing. I subconsciously let out a snarl as I charged ahead, ready to attack whatever had put them in danger enough for her to be scared. Bear or not, I still had the princely instinct to help the damsel.
I charged through the forest, coming to an open clearing. The dwarf was there, with his beard shorter than before. His jacket was ripped, and he was carrying a knapsack, gripping it tightly as if to protect it. He had been in the process of cursing the girls when he noticed me.
He let out a screech and grabbed onto Snow, shoving her towards me and causing her to h
it the ground with a yelp. He jumped back and begged for me to eat them first, and that just irritated me further. I let out the most animalistic cry I’ve ever made, and I launched, giving him a blow that knocked him unconscious immediately.
Rose and Snow watched in amazement as I suddenly started to glow, and within moments, I was human again. I looked down at myself and started to laugh happily. I was back to normal!
“Wait..,” Rose started as I dug through the dwarf’s knapsack and retrieved the Trinket. “You were cursed?” I nodded, turning to face them. “Who are you, then?” she asked, her and Snow’s face both showing hints of betrayal, confusion, and worry.
“I’m Prince Roan,” I answered with a smile. When they didn’t say anything, I continued. “I haven’t changed. The only reason I didn’t tell you was because I didn’t think that you’d believe me. That, and I was starting to think that I’d never get turned back anyway.” I approached Snow cautiously, helping her get to her feet. Much to my horror, I realized once she stood up that she was just slightly taller than my human self.
Snow accepted my help, and after she stood, she hugged me. “Thank you,” she said softly. “And you’re right. This doesn’t change anything.”
She pulled back, holding onto my shoulders. She smiled sweetly, and I knew that I was forgiven.
“Anything else we should know?” Rose asked a bit heatedly.
“I have a brother,” I said casually, but then my eyes widened. “Auburn! I need to find him. He was cursed too, and who knows where he is right now. Come on!” I called, and much to my surprise and relief, both Snow and Rose followed to help.
We were able to turn Auburn back to normal as well, and when he and Rose saw each other, it was love at first sight. Auburn and Rose will both deny this. My brother and I were able to return home, and our parents were especially happy to see us alive and well. Not soon after, I actually married Snow, and my brother married Rose. Both they and their mother moved into the palace with us, and we still live there to this day.
I Do.
Rachel Cudworth
I looked around my empty room. White walls surrounded me; the only furniture in this echoing space was an antique metal twin bed, positioned under a worn wooden window; as well as an old dresser, with chipping white paint. I have been here longer than I can recall. My only memories I can think of flash by in my head like an old film, no sound, just pictures in time that I can’t place. The only glimpse I get of the outside is through that window. It looks out and down about six stories. Trees all lined in perfect rows hide a dense forest behind them. Their leaves have started to turn into the colors of autumn; reds, oranges, and yellows fill the space between the dying green grass and the horizon. This view changes from season to season but nothing more. This place must sound like some sort of prison, on the contrary- it is actually a mental hospital (is there really a difference?).
Suddenly there was a slow, steady knock on the white metal door that separated me from the room and the halls of hell. Three knocks came and then the door opened. Two men walked in: one being my doctor- more specifically a physiatrist who has been trying to treat me to cure something going on in my head. They won’t tell me what it is; whenever I ask they just look at each other and whisper something to one another. This irks me. I want to know what is wrong with me, how I got here, and why I have to stay. I want to get out; maybe on the outside I will find these answers. Going back to the other man who walked in with my doctor, he is all too familiar, he is one of the repugnant guards who works here; I have no idea where they find these men but it must be somewhere unpleasant.
“Please,” my doctor requested with a gesture of his hand, “come, we are taking you into the commons room, I believe it would be good for you to converse and intermingle with other patients.”
This has never happened before; I can’t even recollect the last time I spoke to people other than my doctor and occasional guards that were a little too gossipy. I followed willingly. I was escorted down halls lined with doors identical to the one that locked me away in the room of white. As we passed each one I wondered how many other people were actually here; how many people were occupying the identical room with the tiny window.
We continued down a handful of corridors until we entered a large room lined with tables facing a long stage with dirty, pale looking curtains overhanging, covering whatever was behind. I saw several other patients sitting at the tables, many staring off into space; a few mumbling under their breath. They all looked so lost as if disconnected from reality. As my eyes continued to scan the room, I felt a light tap on my shoulder, bringing me back into reality.
My doctor looked at me as he gestured behind me; I turned to see a soft eyed woman looking at me. She put her hand up a waved it, motioning for me to come and sit. I gradually made my way over to her. I stopped as I neared the table she was seated at. I cautiously pulled out a chair and sat down. She looked at me; her eyes looked old and gentle. I examined my hands and wrists; this is something I did unconsciously at times when I felt uncomfortable. I played with the white hospital band on my wrist, with my name and what I’m guessing is a patient number below it. Eventually she was the first to speak.
“Hello miss, I’ve been told to talk to you by your doctor, he thought it would be good to see a new face,” she paused, thinking, “So how have we been lately?”
I thought about this for a bit and eventually answered, “I’ve been better.”
“That doesn't sound very encouraging…” she spoke with a pensive tone laced behind her voice.
“Yeah well when you’re stuck in a place where no one tells you what the hell is wrong with you it’s a bit hard to be hopeful lady.” My words came out a bit more venom filled than what I had intended. “... sorry, I’ve just…” I paused to think of a way to remedy the look on of inquisitiveness plastered on her face. “I understand, you don’t need to explain yourself, I can sense the pain and stress in your voice underneath the anger.”
“So why are you here?” I questioned, knowing that this wasn’t a place people came to without reason.
“Truthfully I can’t explain right here, or else they may stick me here and trap me just like you, however come to the commons at midnight and we can talk then, the guards will be distracted don’t worry and I know the doctors by then have made their rounds and gone home.” She spoke fast, and in a hurry, which caused her to muddle her words together. I understood the gist and nodded to indicate.
She then smiled and brought her bag up to the table top. She fumbled around with the zipper for a moment before finally getting the purse open. She dug around in the various pockets before pulling out a leather bound book that looked like it had been through hell and back, and a pen. She uncapped it, fitting the cap on the opposite end of the pen and began to write in the book. He hand moved fast into curly letters scrawled across the page. She closed the book and smiled once more.
“So I’ll see you when I see you huh?” she spoke as if I wasn’t about to meet back up with her in a few hours.
“Yeah.” A simple and short answer was all I gave back as she gathered herself and the bag to her shoulder. She nodded as if confirming the unspoken plan that was set in motion before lifting herself out of the chair and gently pushing it back into place. She turned and headed for the exit to the commons. I watched as her figure became smaller as the measure of dirty tiles grew larger between us.
My doctor came up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, disturbing my observation of the lady. I looked up at him and saw his indication for me to follow. I did, with another guard at my back. This time it was a bigger woman, I have seen her a few times, all the times she talked my ear off about body building and being healthy, even though her idea of healthy was a protein shake for breakfast and lunch and a muscle builder pill for dinner. Kept her ‘lively’ she said. Luckily today she was not as talkative and it was silent the whole walk back to my room.
When we arrived in front of the door to the echoing white room that I was all too familiar with the doctor opened the door with a key that I had never seen before, it was tiny and polished; hanging from a silver chain, that I watched him put back around his neck and carefully tuck into his shirt.
He pushed open the door with one hand and I ambled into the room. Before closing the door I heard a quiet remark from my doctor. As I turned to face him I questioned, “What was that?” he quickly answered back, “oh nothing I was just saying how it was good to see you talk to someone for so long.” I looked at him with a quizzical look, as he turned to walk out.
It is true that I don’t talk much but this wasn’t cause for comment. Does he know? Surely he couldn’t have heard the lady and I’s conversation? No… I’m fine. Just remember the plan and keep to that.
I padded across the scuffed tile floor to the bed. Setting my body onto the bed was much more of a laborious task than it should’ve been. My body felt weak, I usually don’t exert myself so much…
I waited for the sounds in the hall to stop indicating that the doctors had finished and were heading back to wherever they laid their heads at night. The lady said the guards would be distracted, and since I don’t have any compelling reason to think the doctor is on to us, I followed through with what I was instructed to do.
The door proved to be much heavier than what the doctor and guards made it look. My frail arms struggled under the weight but I managed to crack the seal to the hall. Once the crack in the frame was large enough for me to slip through I made my way into the cold corridor; hugging my arms to myself in an attempt to keep not only warm but quiet.
I moved my feet, on in front of the other, down the hall following the path I took earlier to the commons. Each door I passed daunted me with thoughts of whom or what lied behind them. Were they empty, waiting for someone to fill the space with thoughts and delusions, or were they already occupied by some poor soul? Was the furniture just as pale as the ones in my room? Did the door make the same noise when the doctors came to check on their residence?
My thoughts and questions were interrupted when I entered the commons. The lady sat at a lone table placed in the center of the room. He back hunched as in thought, a cigarette hanging on her lips taunting me of the habit I once had before I came. The smell of must and newly light nicotine wandered in the air. She didn’t look up, obviously aware to my presence as she took the cig out of her mouth but still unmoving, giving me no indication of what to do.
I padded my way across the cold tile floor, each step more daunting than the last. He hand suddenly whipped up from its relaxed position to bring only one finger from her delicate hand up, indicating for me to wait. I did, stopping in my tracks and became a statue in the room. She slowly looked up, something was different in her eyes, I couldn’t tell what, but I knew her mood had shifted from when we had spoken earlier. Her eyes held an emotion that I hadn’t seen before or at least in some time.
I became frightened, my mind said to run, run far, run back to the pale room where I had put my thoughts for so many nights. However, my legs wouldn’t respond to my mind obvious terror about the situation.
The lady began to rise from her sitting position, bringing a new wave of fear over my body with each nearing step she took. Her face morphing into one of disgust
“Why are you here my dear?” Her voice coming out like nails on a chalkboard. My mind spun. Why was I here? I don’t know? How do I not know? Do I want to know? What the hell is happening???
The lady’s presence crept closer and closer almost at the rate of my pulse.
My mind went numb. I knew the feeling. I was looking in on myself. “MOVE!” I screamed at my body idle on the floor; but I knew I Couldn’t reach my idle body.
The world went silent and the only thing I could see was the woman screaming at my emotionless face. Fragments of words began to tumble through the air, drifting by my face.
“How don’t you know?!" How many times do we have to go through this!?” immediately everything kicked back in. I heard her forced voice and strangled screams. She looked pained but also terrifying.
“What do you mean, ‘how many times’?” I managed to get out once my mind could process what the lady had said. A look of fury came over her face. She quickly turned and headed for her bag back on the table. As soon as she reached her destination, her hand shot inside the leather bound bag and struggled, again like she had at our earlier encounter. Finally she pulled out the book once more and forcefully strode back over, cigarette at a nub with a mass amount of ashes waiting to fall from the end.
“That’s what I mean when I say, ‘how many times’.” she managed to get out before handing me the book with tears weld up in her eyes ready to tumble down the hills of her face.
I held the book in my hand for a moment before slowly making my way to the cover. It looked old, very old. I finally opened it to find scribbled notes across the first page, and the second, as well as many of the others, all dated from many years ago. Most had notes like ‘showing progress,’ before drearily coming down to the numbering of days in ascending order on a numerous amount of pages.
I finally got to the last page. No date, only a scribbled note. Do you even want to get better?
The words resonated in my head, memories flooding my mind.
“What…” was all I managed to get out before lifting my head up to see the lady had vanished. no bag, no table, nothing to even hint at another being existing with me in the musty room, only the faint smell of smothered nicotine faintly in the air.
The words resonated with me as I made my way back down the hall, this time only having my thoughts focused on myself rather than the possibilities that lay beyond those doors.
I found myself back at my door much faster than I had anticipated, my head still running in circles. Who am I? What have I become? How did all this happen?
My hand touched the cold door as my legs froze. My head hit the door as more and more thoughts came into my mind. The contact with the door triggered something and not only thoughts were flooding in but memories along with them.
I remembered coming to the hospital, my face puffy and dark; my body frail and covered in markings. What had I done? I watched as my mind lead me through events that seemed so foreign to me. I moved in stiff motions through the check in process. The next scene that passed was one of me in a chair in my doctor’s office. He was asking me questions and I could see myself getting more and more aggravated at his incessant inquiry. I snapped at him a few times, he surprisingly kept his composure.
His voice came through and it was the same question posed before. Do you want to get better? My body didn’t respond to the question, as if the phrase passed through the air and over my head.
Why wasn’t I responding? I do want to get better. I do.
A hand gently touched my back and jolted me out my daze. I lifted my head from the door with a blank stare. The hand tapped me once more. I finally responded and turned my weak body around to see a nurse. A concerned look on her young face.
“Are you okay?” her voice gentle but concerned. “No, but I will be.”
A few months later I was released. My head finally felt like it was put on the right way again. I just needed to embrace the help I was being offered. I needed to want to get better. I needed to help myself.
What Really Happened
Most people when they think of Little Red Riding Hood, they think of a small girl just running an errand for her grandmother out of the goodness of her heart, when she suddenly gets attacked by a big mean old wolf but is saved by a heroic huntsman. This story has been tumbled along in and out of so many ears and mouths that everything is all messed up! I’m not a small child with a red cape, the wolf isn’t big and bad, and the huntsman isn’t a hero! Not to mention my so called grandmother who is supposedly the victim of this crime…
Let me begin this with saying that I’ll be telling you what’s r
eally up in these parts of the wood, no magic and heroes come along here, oh no. just some good old bounty hunting with lil’red and the big but not so bad wolf.
Sounds funny doesn’t it, a small child hunting out criminals with a scary predator of the night? Well I hate to burst your bubble but it’s not like that. I may look like a child but let me assure you, I am not. As for the wolf, he can be scary at times but scratch his neck in the right place and he becomes the biggest baby you’ll ever see. My apparent red cape in all of these telling’s of my tale is not actually that. In my earlier days I sported some feisty long scarlet locks that probably looked like a cape; I’ve since chopped them off to end that little misunderstanding.
That huntsman I talked about earlier? He isn’t a hero. No really, a much as your girlish fantasies want him to be, he’s not all the story makes him out to be. He interfered with official business and prevented the capture of a criminal long on the run. So, on that note it would be great of people could stop calling him a hero for “saving me.” He didn’t.
My “grandmother” is also not the sweet little old lady people have come to enjoy hearing about, she is in fact a criminal, and we are definitely not related. People are lucky I’m tough-skinned; many other would take being misconceived for the criminal’s granddaughter as an insult worthy of harm.
So now that I have who’s really who in this whole charade, I can get down to the business of what really happened that day.
I was on my way through the woods to take down that infamous and deceiving granny, she had been on my list for years and every time I tried to get close to finding her she manages to sneak off once more. But not this time, or so I thought. I had inside information. Her daughter had caught wind of her mother’s crimes and told me where she was hiding.
The woods were cold that day and I had my hair down, it was unusual for me, since I’ve had numerous problems with my hair being down, however it was just too cold to have it up. Enough about my hair though, you’re probably wondering about the wolf? He’s my Helper of sorts, being an animal he has an advanced method of tracking, I don’t want to catch the wrong person or lose my bounty, so I bring him along sort of as a backup to help me out. He stays quite a bit behind me so that most likely where the part of him following me came from.
I like to stay sort of “undercover” when I’m traveling on my way to find a bounty. So I like to keep my weapons either under my clothes or in a basket, I like to go for the innocent look, that way people don’t suspect I could snap their neck in about three seconds if I want.
Eventually the wolf caught wind of her scent and he made his way up to me to tell me about where he thought she was in relation to our position. She was straight north to us and I sped up my pace.
Now about the lumberjack… He always poses problems when it comes to me catching this little granny. He is her idiot assistant, I know that sounds a little cliché but it’s the truth. I kept the thought that he could possibly mess up all of my plans but I figured if he hadn’t intervened already he wasn’t going to be a problem later.
Oh how wrong I was… idiot.
We finally reached the old lady’s door, I could feel the heat radiating out of the cracks in the wood. She was cooking. I had the wolf go around the back and find a way in, hopefully taking her by surprise. I knocked on the door once the commotion stopped. Wolf answered the door wearing one of her knight gowns, snickering to himself in the process. I told him to stop goofing around so we could get to work.
I followed the wolf into her bedroom and saw her tied up, I proceeded to question her about her crimes but I didn't get very far when that oaf, the Axeman clamored his way into the house. I hid with the granny in the closet and held her mouth shut. The wolf positioned himself on the bed, hoping to trick the Axeman into leaving. We knew he was quite gullible. He fell for it until the granny decided to bite my hand and let out the most blood curdling scream for the Axeman.
He proceeded to attack myself and the wolf; however the wolf being a bit more of a coward ran away as soon as there was an opening. I had to fight off the Axeman as long as I could before his meaty arms grabbed me and carried me out of the house. I squirmed and he finally released me. I was pissed. I didn't want to waste more time with another failed attempt so I turned after giving him a death glare and stalked my way back to the bounty office to report back to the granny’s daughter that he mother is still loose.
Now that you know the story it's a bit disappointing right? No lessons, no knight in shining armor saving a damsel in distress. I’ve put it all behind me though. Next time there won't be any mistakes.
Just Exist.
Life is inherently absurd. The things we go through in life aren’t designed by some divine being. It’s all random occurrences and each one after depends on how we handle the first. Our actions in this life don’t determine how we end up in the next, if there even is one.
We’re all drifting, just taking the punches as they come. We think we have a plan but in reality life is just one big tumbling mountain of opportunities sticking out of the cracks like branches. All we have to do is reach out and grab one. Just one. And that on branch will lead to the rest.
“To swallow mortality is enough of a task, and leaving your mark is just too much to ask.”
We don’t all need a plan; we don’t all need to need to leave a mark. We just need to exist. We need to live, to interact, and to experience. Life is one big absurdity.
The people who you think you’ll have until the day of your passing won’t really be the people there for you when you take that last breath. You’re family isn’t always a family, and your friends are often filling that gap. That’s a bit absurd right?
The least we can all do is try. You don’t have to shoot for the stars if you can’t find them through the clouds. At least you’re looking.
Getting mixed up in what life has to give and take is all part of living. Getting caught up in friends or school or just yourself isn’t a bad thing. It’s how humans operate. We’re all social creatures but also quite selfish without even knowing it. How absurd.
People push you to go to a university, and have a set plan when you can’t even plan out what you’re going to wear the next day. Everything happens at random times, there are not fixed variables in this game. We are not fixed variables in anyone’s game.
We all want life to mean something. So take the irrational leap of faith off the mountain. Let the branches fly by. Reach out and give your life opportunity.
Organization is a way of living for some but it’s not a way of making life. You will never fit your life into categories, black and white. It’s all grey. And we all need to learn to love the in between, because that’s all there is most days. Absurdity is always around us.
Life must be lived, not understood.
We become guilty and regretful of the things we once wanted. The things that in one point in time we were so sure of. We hurt without thinking because we don’t see how the pain could come. Failures and achievements. We believe that’s what makes us. But nothing makes up who we are. Nothing can compare or explain or even being to define human life in this universe.
Every life won’t stay the same.
We give our hearts out to the people we believe we love and get them back worn and experienced, ready for the next endeavor. It’s our brains that can’t handle the change.
Maybe death is the best option for this absurd life? But then again it’s also the more irrational decision one can make. There is no purpose to this existence. There is no reason that we should all be here. As cruel as that sounds it’s the reality of this life.
We make our own purpose. We live for the people and experiences we encounter, we try and grab onto some sort of meaning to this life when there is none. Our purpose is to find meaning, but it’s impossible to find meaning in something so absurd.
I won’t push clichés into your mind of how this life must have meaning. That’s a little too
easy.
After all this I still find myself questioning, if life is this absurd then why are we here, why are we conscious? I can’t credit this to some divine being. That’s even too absurd for the part of me that’s writing this. No, I can’t say someone planned my life out for me and know my every step.
I control my own actions, no one else. I control my own reactions, no one else.
I‘m not here to make anyone question their direction in this life, I’m not here to plant doubt into the minds of people teetering on their own epiphany for living.
I’m here to speak. I’m here to breathe. I’m here to question. I’m here to love. I’m here to help. I’m here to live.
Death, Me.
My grandmother told me it was a gift to see the angel of death in front of people’s houses, to know that he’d be collecting someone there soon. I thought it was a gift too, up until the day I began to see it in front of every house.
It was a cold day, leaves brushing across the sidewalk. I couldn’t tell you how long I’ve been walking. He’s everywhere. His breath follows me. Its warmth doesn’t help, I’m still shivering yet the bumps on my skin still aren’t from the cool air.
I see him and I wonder who’s soul he’s come after. I dread the day that he’ll come for me. It won’t be a day like this. It won’t be a day where my passing will be a welcome sight. It’ll be a day that I want to live for that he’ll come knocking. I won’t be ready, not like I am now.
This isn’t a gift, this is a nightmare. I know when people are about to have the worst day of their short lives. I’m filled with sorrow for the ones I’ve never met.
They weep in their homes while he watched through hollow eyes. He laughs, feeding off their pain. Deep down I know he can’t enjoy taking people’s hearts away from them. Although his deep chuckle coming from a place unknown pushes me to think otherwise.
I’ll say this again. There is no gift in knowing the sight of death. The shadow casted across steps and doors is haunting. The knock that brings a souls breath to their last is sickening.
Some scream. Some don’t even notice. Those are the souls I feel for, one ones forgotten. The one’s that no one it there to mourn for. The souls that die like they live, alone.
The world gets colder for the brief moment after the knock. The souls return to their resting place after gathering the new. They pass me and I see their faces of greed. They would die again to harvest just once more. No remorse is shown for the passing. Only hungry faces and toothy smiles of want.
I want to run and hide but I know my day will come. When those bony hands will come to my door, knocking for my soul. There’s no escape.
His skull turns in the dark cloak draped across his bones. The gaping holes where eyes once resided look at me. He always notices me, he knows I watch. I’ve learned so much from this routine.
I walk my empty roads for hours each day to see who will come next. The good days are the ones where he is absent. Most days I’m not so lucky.
The worst days are the ones where he comes to a hospital. A place that many are taken from but many also hop to recover in. I can’t imagine the family who has their loved one taken away when recovery is in sight.
Death is not what people believe it is. They imagine a white light at the end of a dark tunnel or even demons damning them for the rest of their days. It’s not. When you pass, you pass. There are no angels to take you away, no demons to torture your soul.
I don’t think people can comprehend that death comes and you just don’t exist anymore. You aren’t conscious anymore. You can’t ever stop thinking when you’re alive so death seems like something that has to happen in some sort of spiritual way.
I think that’s why people are religious. They can’t handle the thought of a life with no meaning, no reason at the end. Giving up on a meaning in this life is scary but for me is the cruel reality.
The day death stood at every door was the day I knew my time had come. I live through other lives. I don’t have my own to grow from. How can I when I know the saddening truth?
He came for me when I was low, which came as a surprise to me. But the empathy in his eyes told me he was not the one in control. The lost souls came with him, which was unusual. However the fact that he was at every door and in front of me was also unusual.
I saw relief and pity in the sockets in his face. I was confused. Why? Why had he come for me in this manner? He bowed his head and the souls surrounded him. Tearing apart his cloak until all that was left was a pile of bones at my feet. Their empty eyes looked at me and they swarmed my small body.
I was wrapped in the cloak and I felt my skin begin to fall. I was becoming death. This was my purpose. I looked down at the souls cowering at my feet. How could they be afraid of me when they decided when my time was up?
I felt my body move and I had no control. I shifted over to a home. My home. Oh no. My hand moved to the wood on the door and as I began to knock I stopped. I didn’t want to take a life. Especially one of my family’s.
My hand moved again and finally made contact with my door. There was no scream, no weeping. The souls came and raided my home. My body was dragged out, and I watched as they carried me away.
I awoke from my dream in a dead sweat from a knock on my door, everything went black. I knew I was dead.
Racquel Garcia
Beaner-Family Mafia
It’s really crazy if you sit back and think how different other families are and what they do and go through, but my family is a different story. My name is Adam Garcia and I am 19 years old and I happen to live with my old man, Carlos Garcia and my ma, Connie Garcia. I don’t have any other brothers but I have plenty of cousins to make up for it, my oldest sisters name is Julia Garcia and my little sisters name is Monica Garcia. Each and every family is so different, it just awes me. My family on the other hand is just extraordinary.
I remember now like it was yesterday, it was just my dad and I sitting out back by the pool.
My father looked at me with a look I have never seen before, “Adam, can we talk?”
I laughed and sarcastically said, “Noooo dad, yes of course, what’s up?”
My dad smiled and took a good breath, “You know how family comes first right, you know what this family is about right, you know exactly what we go through and the things we wish we didn’t have to do, but do it anyway right?”
Seriously I looked at him, “Yeah dad, I know all this, learned it by you when I was only 8.”
He chuckled and grinned, “Well we may have to leave for a little bit, we have a threat to ruin the business.”
I looked puzzled but serious, “You know I will be here for you, where we going and for how long?”
Very focused and serious he took another breath, “We have to go back to Ohio, the Black Nics took your Grandma Dora.”
I stood up with mad rage, “What, we will get your mom back dad, no way are those slim balls gonna get away with it pain free.”
I went straight to my room, packed my glock and some other things I may need when Julie walked in and asked me what I was doing and where I was going. I couldn’t take it anymore so I told her everything going on. Julie was just as mad as I was, but we heard cries from the hallway when we noticed Monica had been listening.
I kneeled down next to her, “Sis, everything will be okay, dad and I are going to get her back, I promise.”
Crying she mumbled, “I know you guys can get her but what happens if you or dad dies?”
I guess I never really thought about that, “Well sis, yunno me and dad, we get things done, may be messy but we get it done.”
I grabbed her face and looked straight into her eyes, “I will call you every second I can, I love you, don’t worry yourself, it causes wrinkles.”
Monica stopped crying and chuckled a bit while I hugged her and Julie joined in to.
My ma came up the stairs very concerned, “Adam, I’m guessing they know what’s going on?”
I looked up at her, “Yes, they deserved to know, but I reassured them that dad and I can handle this one.”
Later that day dad and I packed and got ready to head out around midnight and start our way to Ohio to go stay at one of my cousins’ hotels. I decided to drive so my dad could get some rest while I listened to some Tupac and called Monica every so often. About 4-5 hours later and we were in Bono, Ohio; we decided to go to Grandma Dora’s and see how everything was left and to feed her birds and cat. Her house was trashed; the Black Nics sure did destroy a lot of things. Dad and I were both furious on how they disrespected the family.
Angry I spoke up, “I don’t care what it is dad, I want blood when were done with them!”
My dad looked me dead in the eyes, “There will be plenty of blood son, and don’t you worry.”
After we tried picking the glass and other broken things and reorganizing the house how it used to be, we headed to my cousins hotel.
Sally my cousin smiled at us when we arrived to the hotel, “Hola family, we’ve missed you guys!”
I gave her the biggest hug since I haven’t seen her in a couple years and dad spoke to her about what was going on I think because she busted into tears.
I walked back up to her and held her, “It will be alright Sally, we will get her back home safe, I promise you that!”
After catching up and cheering up my cousin, dad and I headed to our hotel room to shower and get some rest.
“Hey dad, their only like 30 minutes away so around noon we can head out and scope out the place then do what we gotta do.”
My dad nodded at me before he started dozing off, I on the other hand decided to call Monica and check in with everyone back at home.
I couldn’t really sleep, just with the family back at home without dad and I worry me, the fact my Grandma Dora is being held captive and who knows what has already happened or what’s going to happen, and that my dad and I are risking our lives. I can’t lose my dad, neither can Monica, Julie, and ma, they would break and the family bond would probably fall apart. I ended up getting a few hours of sleep but woke up around 8 in the morning and made some coffee, showered again, and got ready for the day to make sure everything was packed and loaded. I woke my father up around 10:30 to drink some coffee and be awake and ready by noon. Half hour before we headed out, we stopped by and talked to Sally and Rita, both my cousins.
Rita smiled and hugged me with tears in her eyes, “You got this Adam, and do what you need to do to bring Dora back home.”
Sally looked at me and grabbed my face, “Be safe cousin, and make sure your father knows his limit.”
I looked over at my old man, then back at Sally and Rita, “There is no limit, and we will have blood, a lot of it.”
Dad drove this time and drove 30 minutes to get to the place they were hiding grandma at. All day long we scoped everything out, found all the cameras, guard dogs, security, etc.
My dad nudged me, “I brought these pills for the dogs, within 45 minutes they will pass out, the security guards we can just kill them quietly, and the cameras, we shoot em with the pistol that has the suppressor attached, got it?”
I nodded while loading a pill in each hotdog for the dogs to eat. When the guards weren’t paying attention, dad and I threw the hot dogs over one at a time, until all the dogs had ate one. While dad was going to shoot out the cameras as I went in further, I was going to head towards the guards and complete what I had to do. As I approached closer and closer, I was finally right behind one of them. I grabbed the wire from my jacket pockets and slowly raised my arms and then quickly pulled it over his head and strangled him until he collapsed, I proceeded to do that 5 more times. Finally the dogs were knocked out; I finished all the guards, so I went and got my dad and the rest of the equipment. Before heading in I made a phone call to Monica and dad and I told them we loved them and to not worry. It was time; we slowly headed in toward back door.
Once dad and I reached the back door we slowly pried the door open and headed in quietly. I made sure to have my assault with me and my dad had his submachine on him while we slowly crept through the building. We came across some people socializing and we knew this is it. I quietly ran up on one guy that left group that was headed somewhere and put my gun to his head.
“Where’s my grandma?”
Gasping for breath he stuttered, “Hola, I... I don’t know man!”
I got angry and grabbed my blade out, “Now tell me now or else I’m slitting your throat!”
Panicking he busted, “She’s with Julio! Not me! He has her, over there!”
He pointed up a flight of stairs, “Thanks, bye!”
As I removed gun from his head I slit his throat, “Maybe you should of told me when I asked the first time.”
As I crept to the stairs I seen my dad smiling at me, I knew he was about to have a blood party. As soon as I reached the top of the stairs to hallway that led to my grandma, I bumped into another guy.
He looked at me and kept walking but then he turned around, “Hey holmes who are you?”
I smirked, “Your worst nightmare ‘holmes!’
I put the gun to his head and said, “Now walk in where my grandma is an act normal or I will blow your brains out!”
Shockingly he stuttered, “Okay, don’t kill me, I have a wife and kids and another on the way.”
I laughed, “Yeah I have a whole family, and you took the main guys mother, you screwed up not me, now do what I say!”
He walked into the last door in hallway and started a normal conversation then I rolled in and shot him in the head first and seen him, The Julio, The Boss.
Julio had a gun to my grandma’s head, “Don’t you take another move Adam, I will blow your precious grandma’s brains all over you.”
Angrily I shook, “Don’t touch her!”
Thankfully my gun was already pointed at Julio and I was froze so he didn’t kill my grandma.
I waited a moment, “Hey Julio, how’s the family?”
He laughed and gave me attitude, “Obviously better than yours!”
I laughed with him, “Yeah it’s gonna suck when they no longer have Mr. Julio to take care of things!”
Right after saying that POW; I shot Julio all over his desk and unfortunately my grandma.
I hugged her and cleaned her up as much as I could, “Come on grandma, dad and I came to save you!”
Grandma Dora just kept crying and kissing me when I heard my dad’s submachine gun rolling fire, so I had her hide while I went to go help pops. I went slammed the door and put chairs in front of door and took off down hallway, then down the stairs. As soon as I hit the top of the stairs and started heading down I saw my dad spraying the submachine all over. I started shooting everyone when I saw a gas tank and got a whole new plan.
I yelled out from across building, “Dad, can you handle it? I have an idea!”
My dad nodded at me smiling so I looked around and found a huge metal bin. I grabbed it and ran back upstairs, moved chairs, smashed door open, and grabbed my grandma.
I yelled, “Let’s go! As soon as you see the big bin you get inside of it! Alright?”
Grandma Dora nodded and seen the bin and hurried inside of it. I started pushing it on a cart and shooting while my dad was doing the exact same. I rushed my grandma to the door while my dad slowly was coming our way and as he reached us I aimed at the gas tank. Very steadily, I held my aim then as soon as I got the chance, I shot it and we took off running. The whole building exploded into flames as we ran back to the car.
We all made it back safe and sound. I called Monica as soon as I got in the car and got situated. Dad drove us to Grandma Dora’s house so we could visit and make sure she was alright and had some family there. I decided to drive to hotel to pack and drive all the way home so my dad could rest.
Out of dead sleep my dad rolled over smiling, “Enough blood?”
I laughed hysterically, “For sure dad, we did it, and more blood to
be shed!”
Racquel Garcia
My Cousin’s Suicide
I remember it all like it was just yesterday, in reality it had been almost 15 years. My best friend and my cousin, Alexis had been only 16 years old and had been through more than any teenager should ever go through. I, Danny was 18 at the time, and honestly never seen such thing coming. My cousin and I have always been total opposites but somehow managed to not kill one another. I always thought we were just normal crazy teenagers. Alexis and I had always been really close but since it was our older teen years, we would party and stay at each other’s houses frequently. One day I was just laying on her bed and she was smoking a cigarette out her window so her mom didn’t find out and I wondered why she smoked, was more quiet, and always happened to have her body covered. I always knew Alexis was depressed because she lost her dad when she was only 9 years old, and that messed her up pretty bad. That’s when I saw it later that night, she was passed out and her sleeve must of came up because all I seen were fine red lines horizontally on her wrists. I didn’t know what to do but lay there and think and ask myself questions and try and put it all together, it just wouldn’t add up.
I laid there and under my breath repeated, “Was she suicidal?”
“How long has she been harming herself?”
“Did I ever say or do something to make her hurt herself?”
“How depressed could she really be?”
“Why?”
That morning I noticed Alexis looked tired, but she slept more than me. We were always so different, so I didn’t know how to come out and try and talk to her. We went downstairs and I made her some pancakes for breakfast, while she went for a morning smoke.
I smiled at her as she walked in, “Hey! I made your favorite!”
With dark rings around her eyes and a sad face she managed a small smirk, “No thanks Danny, I’m not hungry.”
I was pretty hurt and just sighed, “Alright, I’ll sit them over here just in case?”
Aggravated, “You don’t need to freaking do that Danny but whatever!”
She took off to the bathroom and I waited for her to come out to talk to her, but 10 minutes later and she was still in there. I decided maybe I should go in and see what she’s doing. As I slowly cracked the door, I noticed her on her knees bent over the toilet. I thought she was maybe just not feeling good from the day before but why would she be sticking her fingers down her throat to make herself puke?
“Alexis, are you okay?”
She quickly turned around, “Why are you in here!?”
I quickly got worried, “I just was checking on you, and I saw you forcing yourself to puke. What’s up? You okay?”
“I’m fine Danny! Why do you care so much!? Jesus go back to your perfect little life, you have everything you want, you always have it going right. Just go okay!? I’m fine!”
I snapped but with tears and pain, “No that’s not how it is Alexis! I care about you more than anyone, even myself. Tell me what’s going on with you. I saw your wrist last night when you were asleep, now this. I may not be able to relate but I am good at advice and I’m family, I’m never going to leave your side. I promise you, my life isn’t perfect; I just try every day to be better than who I was yesterday and push myself so I feel good enough. I never feel good enough though, never.”
“You don’t give yourself enough credit, you are the smartest, prettiest, funniest person I know Danny. I’m shy, quiet, sad, hurt, depressed, failing at everything. Look, I’m even failing at trying to lose a few pounds and also failing at opening up to you and talking. I’ve never been good for anything.”
We sat there for a good minute until Alexis just broke down completely; she spilled her heart out for an hour straight while I just cried. I never thought my cousin would be going through these things. She wasn’t like me, or the family, but I still was going to help her best I could even though she told me she didn’t want me dragged into it.
Few months passed and I noticed Alexis getting worse, I tried being there for her and she would freak out on me, but I still never quit. Every day I stopped by, seen if she wanted to hang out, talk, whatever, but she just sat in her room upset with mascara stained cheeks. She was almost like a zombie, depressed and I didn’t know how to get her out of it. My cousin was slowly losing touch with reality and getting worse day by day. Every day I tried more and more to just try and be there and talk to her but she was shutting me and everyone else out. A few days later and her parents seen her arms, and her mom insisted she go get help. From listening and trying to be there for Alexis, I knew that would make it worse. I begged and begged her mom and she wouldn’t change her mind, but her step dad didn’t want her to go, he agreed with me. I decided to just lie in bed all day and try and figure something out when I heard a tapping noise at my window.
I walked up to the window and seen Alexis standing there, “Alexis, are you okay? You look sick!”
As Alexis climbed through the window she didn’t say anything but break down into hysterical sobbing. I helped her to my bed and just held her there in my arms until she cried herself to sleep. I noticed she wasn’t who she used to be, she had dark bags under her eyes, no make-up, hair thrown up and you could tell she hadn’t washed it in a few days. A few hours passed and as I was starting to doze off Alexis started moving around a bit.
As she put her arm around my stomach she whispered, “Danny, are you awake?”
I cleared my throat and sat up a little bit, “Yeah I’m here, how are you feeling?”
I could tell she was crying again because my shirt started to get damp again and I wasn’t going to force her to talk so just rubbed her back until she calmed down and stopped shaking. She was so beautiful and unique and I don’t understand how she could feel like this.
She coughed and sighed a minute, “Danny, why are you still trying? I’m nothing but a lost cause, why do you think my mom’s done and sending me off?”
“Alexis, you are my cousin and quite frankly you are my best friend, even if we have absolutely nothing in common. You are my rock and if I ever lost you, I don’t know what I’d do. I sit and constantly think of ways to why and what and how to cheer you up.”
She sat up and looked at me puzzled, “Danny, you need to quit trying, please, I love you and I don’t want to hurt you, nobody cares, but you, but I can’t hurt you.”
“We will never agree on anything right,” I said then chuckled a bit which caused her to smirk a little bit.
“Nopppe, never, besides on food,” Alexis said with a bit of excitement.
I had passed out a few minutes after our conversation but started to wake up and Alexis was whispering to me, knowing I was asleep.
From what I caught she said, “Man Danny, I hate how you care so much and won’t give up. I love you more than anything, but I won’t be around much longer and I’m sorry I have to do this to you, you were my best friend that never agreed with anything, but always wanted the best for me and I really appreciate that. If it wasn’t for you, I’d probably be dead from the pills I got hooked on, so thank you. I wish I could have been more like you, happy, planned for a future, good listener and good at giving advice. All I’m good for is shutting people out and well, being me. I love you Danny, thanks for being here since the start and I’m sorry I’m going to be going soon. Never give up though, for me.”
I fell asleep with tears running down my face after hearing what my cousin thought I didn’t hear. I had to change her mind about leaving, I just had to. I woke up and rolled over to see Alexis but she was gone. I had to do some school work and go to work but I knew afterwards I’d be sneaking into Alexis’s house, with her favorite candy, a movie, and a teddy bear. As I was making my bed I noticed a piece of paper under the pillow she had used. It read, Thank you for last night Danny, I love you so much.. I smiled and put it in my little box of memories which was a thing Alexis and I started back in grade school.
I got
off work and picked up the things I needed and went and changed into a t-shirt and sweats and headed to Alexis’s house. I tapped on her window but nothing, I kept doing it for 5 minutes but still got no answer. I decided to let myself inside instead. She was passed out on her bed so I decided to try and scare wake her. I put on her old zombie monkey mast from few years back and tapped her, but nothing.
“Alexis, I’m here to eat your brains,” I whispered while doing monkey noises.
Still she didn’t respond, so I put her stuff I got her on table next to her bed and accidently knocked something over. I found her lamp switch and flipped it and looked around for whatever it was I dropped. I felt around under her dresser, table, and bed, and under her bed I felt something. I grabbed the object and noticed it was an empty prescription bottle. I looked at it and seen what it was and that they weren’t hers but her moms. I looked around and found another bottle which was her step dads.
Still on my knees I started panicking, crying, and repeatedly shaking her, “Alexis, wake up! Don’t be doing this right now, please! Wake up! Common cuz, be joking, wake up.!”
I sat there holding her crying when I noticed she had a note by her head that read, I’m sorry Danny, don’t be mad please, please understand, you’ve always been understanding. I called her mom and told her to come to her room and she knew something was wrong because I couldn’t even talk straight; I was all mumbles, slurring, and stutter. Her mom walked and her husband following and they just froze there and got goose bumps. At once they both just started balling while Jen, Alexis’s mom fell to the ground, blaming herself. I couldn’t let her go, I was so numb and it all happened at once. Her funeral was the hardest thing to sit through. I cried and cried while I was getting hugged by a bunch of family and friends. I was trying my best to hold myself together but it was so hard. After going up to see her I laid the candy and bear I got her right next to her and put a note in there which read, I’ll never be mad at you, I’ll forever love you, and I am going to move forward for us. RIH my beautiful cousin. Alexis may have been depressed and suicidal but she was family and I still loved every moment spent with her. We may have been total opposites but we managed to have the strongest bond. She will forever be in my heart, opposites do attract and I see that now. I wish she would have seen how wonderful, beautiful, funny, and just how unique she was. She was perfect but went through too much and couldn’t take it.
“I’ll see you one day cuz, save a spot for me.”
Racquel Garcia
Peter the Chameleon
“Lucy, come downstairs to blow out your candles!” screamed my mother from downstairs.
“Hold on mom! I’m putting another dress on!” I yelped down the stairs while falling over one of my heels.
“Quit changing every 5 minutes Lucy or you won’t be getting your Birthday present today!” my mom threatened me but I could sense the sarcasm.
After I heard her say that, even though I knew she was somewhat fibbing, I booked it downstairs because I was wishing a hundred times I got the husky I wanted! As I hopped down the last step, all the lights were off and there was a glow coming from the kitchen so that’s where I headed.
Out of nowhere my family all at once sang, “Happy Birthday to you x2, Happy Birthday dear Lucy, Happy Birthday to you!”
My cake was covered in sprinkles and pink and black cheetah print and read, ‘Happy 7th Birthday Monk.’ I closed my eyes and wished that I got my puppy, I wished super hard that when I opened my eyes, after blowing my candles out, there was a box laying right beside my cake. My heart was pounding super hard and it was wrapped all nice and pretty with small holes in it. The box looked a bit odd though, I figured it was a bit small for a puppy, but if that’s what my mom wanted to do, oh well. I opened it slowly so I didn’t hurt it, and as soon as I started to open it I noticed there wasn’t any fur, more like bumpy, scaly skin, and it was green!
I screamed so loud, “Mooooom! What is that ugly thing?”
All my mom could do was hold her stomach, laughing, “Monk, that is a chameleon.”
Disgusted at this creature and my mother I started whale crying, “I just wanted a husky, not this ugly thing, it’s hideous, and get him away!”
I ran to my room and didn’t talk to anyone for the rest of the night, because I was so upset with how MY Birthday had to end crappy. I slept longer than I usually do but as soon as I hardly opened my eyes I seen a new tank and things and I knew it was for the chameleon. Not even wanting to think about him, I rolled over and tried going back to bed. I just couldn’t sleep so as I opened my eyes to this fat thing sitting right in front of me. I lost it once he licked my eyeball, I was beyond furious.
At the top of my lungs, I screamed out, “Mom! This thing just licked my eyeball! Come and get him now! I don’t want him!”
“Honey, he is in his tank, he didn’t lick you.” My mom said from other room.
I looked this thing dead in the eyes, “How are you right here when you’re supposed to be in your tank ugly?”
His eyes were so creepy but he stuck his long tongue out and then out of nowhere, “Because I can appear wherever I wanna toots.”
All I did was started screaming and rolled straight off my bed, all I could think was how in the heck did this chameleon just talk to me?
My mom came running into my room, concerned as ever, “Lucy are you okay? What happened?”
I just pointed where the chameleon was or where he used to be. My mom looked at me all angry and shook her head and just walked out. I couldn’t even understand how this thing was talking to me. I just laid there on my IPad and played some games for a few hours.
“Hey you. Whatchu playing?” came from that chameleon that happened to be peaking over my shoulder.
“How are you even talking, I want answers now, or… orrr, I will drop you from my window!”
The chameleon’s eyes had gotten even larger than what they were, “Callllllm down kiddo. I will tell you, I am just a talking chameleon and too bad you look crazy to your mom and whoever else you tell.”
I had it, I grabbed this thing for the first time, “gross you feel nassssty!”
As he wiggled his way out of my hand he yelped, “That hurt jerk! You were gonna throw me out the window weren’t you?”
“Okay, you got me. So uhm what is your name?”
He stuck his nasty tongue out and slapped my cheek with it and joyfully said, “My name is Peter, Peter the chameleon!”
I couldn’t help but laugh a little but Peter and I sat on my bed for hours until my mom decided to come in.
“Lucy who are you talking to?” My mom concernedly asked.
“Oh, I am talking to Peter, Peter the chameleon!”
She was so puzzled at me, I could just see it, “Uhm, okay monk, you like him then?”
I gave Peter a look like hmmm and then looked at my mom and said, “Yeah, he isn’t that bad, guess I have to deal, right?”
My mom just smiled then walked back out of my room and Peter and I stayed up forever just chit chatting with each other.
I started noticing new things about Peter like, whatever he eats, he turned that color, his tongue was super strong, I hang on it and swing sometimes, and he was probably better than a husky anyway. We did everything together and I absolutely considered him my best friend. One random day he was acting really weird so I kept bugging him to figure out if he was okay.
“Hey, Lucy can I be honest with you?”
I looked at him very concerned so sat him up on counter, “Yeah, what’s wrong Peter?”
“Well, uhm, Lucy I am supposed to grant you 3 wishes and I have been nervous because you are only 7 and I also don’t know what happens to me afterwards.”
I was silent for a good minute, “Really... I get to wish for anything?”
Peter stared at me and I can see the sadness in his eyes, “Yeah...”
I wanted to get his mind off things so we just Netflix and chilled the rest of the nigh
t.
I woke up pretty early and I couldn’t seem to find Peter anywhere, so I started panicking.
I ran down the stairs hyperventilating, “Mom, have you seen Peter!?”
She gave me a look that she knew where he was, “Yes I have, and he is gone now.”
I couldn’t help but start balling, “Where is Peter!?”
“I took him to the pet store, “I figured you wanted it that way Monk.”
I looked in my mother’s eyes, “You are horrible,” and took off back upstairs.
She yelled up the stairs, “I’m sorry, you just haven’t been yourself since Peter came into the picture!”
I threw on some boots, shorts, and sweatshirt and ran out the door not even caring what my mom would say. I needed to find Peter before he was gone forever. I walked to town and thought to myself about these three wishes. I wondered if I could make wishes still even though Peter wasn’t next to me.
“Peter, if you can hear me, I have my first wish, “I wish that I can hear you think and see what you’re seeing so I can find you.”
For a good 5 minutes, I didn’t feel any different then out of nowhere a weird foggy image showed up and I could hear Peter thinking, a lot. I walked around while listening to Peter then once he said something about Joe’s Pet Store, I knew where he was. I started running not even caring about traffic or people; I just needed my pet chameleon back.
As I finally got to the shop, I just barged in, “Peter! Where are you?”
I could hardly make out where he was but then I heard him thinking saying he was in the corner getting stared at by a big ball python. I ran over to where Peter was and went to go grab him when some big guy got in my way.
He looked at me rudely, “Ms. This is not your chameleon anymore, so I am going to have to ask you to not touch him. Plus he changes colors and have you seen his tongue?”
I looked this fat guy dead in the eyes, “I wish you would listen to whatever I say!”
I then stomped on his foot as hard as possible and said, “Now can I have Peter back now?”
Dead eyed the man calmly said, “Sure can lil lady.”
I grabbed Peter and said, “Hey sir can I have whatever I want here? And I know he changes colors and has a strong tongue, but there is another thing if you listen.”
Peter opened his mouth, “Hello I am Peter.”
I laughed, “Too bad you won’t remember any of this.”
I let Peter walk around and find things he wanted for himself and threw it all into a shopping cart for him. I figured since my mom thinks I am still missing, I could just sneak Peter and myself up into my old clubhouse. Instead of using the ladder, Peter thought it would be fun if he went first and shot his tongue out and bungee shot me into the tree house. We sat up there all day and just enjoyed each other until Peter had something on his mind.
“Hey Luc, you still have one more wish...”
“Oh yeah, you ready?”
Peter climbed up to my lap, “Yes... but be super wise about this and I want you to know you were great, and… I love you.”
“Peter, I wish that you stay forever, be my best friend, and never leave my side, ever.”
Peter smiled at me and nodded and after that Peter was forever mine, so we just sat there and watched our favorite show on Netflix while he tried on the little clothes he got from the pet store.
Racquel Garcia W3
Ugly Miracle
It was just an average Monday morning, tired and half dead. I hated school with a passion, only reason I went was because I was star athlete on the football team and I was a ladies man. I guess you could say I pretty much got whoever and whatever I wanted. I never got turned down so had a new girl every other week. I use to get away with dipping class or coming in really late or still hung-over. I walked over everyone and owned Great Shark’s High School and everybody knew that. I roll over and don’t even remember inviting Tessa over, but their she was lying in my bed. I rolled over quietly to get ready for school so I wasn’t late like usual. Today was our scrimmage game and hard core practice coach was talking about so I figured I’d shower now and later.
“Is that you Wesley?” softly whispered Tessa coming into the bathroom.
I got kind of mad she didn’t just leave so arrogantly said, “Yea, what’s up that you had to come in here?”
“I figured I would just say good morning before you headed to school, so uhh... good morning.”
“Ha. Yeah good morning to you too, now if you will leave because I am about done in here.”
I packed all my football equipment and threw some pizza rolls into the microwave while I gelled my hair and put on my outfit.
Walked in and headed to my locker and what do you know, there is Iian my best friend and Emily and Sarah that are always breathing down my back wanting to talk and flirt with me. I had a few minutes to get to class before I was tardy so I straight ignored these decent looking girls and jogged up the stairs to class. A loud shatter, cracking sound echoed when I hit the top of the stairs and I turned around and there was my phone in a million little pieces. I was beyond mad and now late as ever to class. As I walked in all eyes were on me, but I was extremely mad so the glances weren’t calming me down or making me feel any better. The teacher just looked at me and shook his head and walked over to me and just stared at me all crappy.
He sighed and whispered, “Wesley, you’re tardy.”
My temper just shot even higher, “What!? Really, you wanna give me a tardy now? After like a hundred times of warnings and crap!?”
Mr. Borty the History teacher just shook his ahead again and muttered, “I’m sorry Wesley, you should be here on time like everyone else.”
I was about at my breaking point; could this Monday get even worse than it already is? I was ready for school to just be over with so I could take my anger out on playing and practicing during football. The rest of the day, I just sat there and listened to some rap and took naps.
Finally 3:15 hit and that meant practice! I rushed to the locker room and their stood outside the locker room, Summer Hall. Summer was the hottest and most popular girl in school and she was there, totally checking me out.
“Hey cutie. Whatcha doin by the locker room by yourself?”
Summer smiled and giggled a bit, “Well actually I came here to see if you were coming to my Birthday Party on Friday?”
“This Friday? Yeah, I will be there for sure. I best get some time with you since I am coming in all.”
While she smiled with a sparkling look in her eyes she said, “We will see how you play your cards Wes.”
My mood did a 360 and I walked into the locker room with the biggest smile on my face, thinking this is the best looking and most popular girl ever. Of course I didn’t want to date her, just wanted to be able to tell everyone I had her, I never do relationships because it’s just way too much commitment. I played my butt off during practice just thinking about the week flying by then Friday, Summer’s party. I drove through town after practice and all the ladies eyes on me and all the guys’ eyes on my Audi R8, felt great knew I was so handsome. I drove home and mom already had dinner made, my favorite Spaghetti! Decided if I jumped in shower than ate it would be better than being all dirty and eating. My dad must have been thinking about me because I noticed after my shower I had the latest best-selling cologne around, Hollister and Abercrombie boxers, and the most recent J’s. After I downed all my spaghetti and eating 3 plates of it, I went and did my homework while listening to some music. It was around 1 am when I decided it was time to call it a night or I wouldn’t make it to school.
(Few days pass, now it’s Friday)
Woke up and did the usual thing I do every day before I head to hell. I got ready as fast as I could, considering today was the party and I needed to talk to Summer. I grabbed my keys and rushed straight out the door. While I was pulling out of the driveway the neighbor kid left his bike in our driveway and go figure, I ran it over and po
pped a tire, just my luck. It was still pretty dark out and muggy, but I had to hoof it unfortunately. The walk to school seemed to take forever and I decided to hit the alleys to make it there quicker. I was passing this old abandoned trailer park when some creepy guy that looked like he was on some sort of drug came out from around one of the trailers. He crept up to me and stood there for so for a good minute I just stopped and stared back.
Finally he spoke all low and jittery, “Hee...eey... Do-oo yyooo-u haaa-aaave annn-yy smooo-keees?”
Shockingly I had like 2 in my bag from Iian last weekend, “Yeah, give me a minute to grab them.”
I noticed he was slowly moving closer and closer to me but I just tried to give him these cigarettes and go to school.
“Yo—uuu seeeeem ss---oo allll aboou-tttt yoooo—urrselfff.”
I stopped in the process of taking my bag off, “Excuse me? What the hell are you tweakin on dude?”
He stepped closer and muttered, “I ammm me-eeee. Youuu wiii-ll finnn-dd yourrrsellll-f soon friennddd.”
“You are nuts yo. Get the hell away from me,” as soon as I spoke I bent down and grabbed the pack in my bag.
As I was pulling them out he straight lunged at me and attacked me. I don’t remember much but he bit my lower right side. I don’t know how long I passed out for, but I know I was late for school.
I finally got to school at 9:10 and decided to go to bathroom and check my body out since I was attacked. I stood in front of the mirror and I sure did look sick. As I lifted my shirt I seen it, I was horrified. This bite was so disgusting; it was puffy and looked like black liquid was pumping through my veins. I was not telling anyone, especially Summer. I went to my locker and their she was. She looked so beautiful, she just smiled at me, and it was so seductive.
“Still coming to my party,” she said while grabbing my arm.
I was like awed by her so stumbled by saying, “Definitely.”
She walked off and left me so speechless. Even though this nasty wound on my body hurt and I felt like I was getting a cold, I was not missing this party and my chances at getting with Summer. School went by so slow, I almost left, but I stayed and just dealt with it. Finally school was finally over and I got really stoked so walked home pretty fast. I held my side the whole time because it was starting to leak whatever that black liquid was. I made it home and made a pizza then planned on taking a quick shower and get ready for tonight. I knew I had to look the best from every other guy so I needed a few hours.
Right before my shower, I stripped and checked myself out in my mirror and noticed I looked really sick; this black stuff was all through my side now and looked like it was shooting through every little vein. I looked gross, there was no way I was going to look the hottest. I found my best outfit, nice jeans with holes and a blue button up with my black vans. I was dumb and snuck into my mom’s room and grabbed her make up to try and hide my veins. I looked like a ghost with my mom’s foundation blotched all over because she is paler than me. I figured it’s going to be dark, nobody will even notice me. I totally spaced my car wasn’t usable at the moment so at the last minute I asked Iian to swoop me up before the party. As soon as Iian pulled up, he seen me from my door and jumped out of his car and just looked at me.
He threw his hands up and yelled, “Bro, you look sick as hell!”
My self-esteem just went from lower than it was to nothing, “I caught something.”
Iian started laughing and jokingly said, “Yeah, Gonorrhea!”
Tonight was already starting off horrible. I wasn’t the hot one anymore; I got bashed left and right. I wondered how Summer was going to take it. Iian and I finally arrived at Summer’s party and it was pact, biggest one I’ve seen all year. I felt like all eyes were on me, but not in the good way. Everyone looked shocked, happy, and cracking jokes about me, I didn’t know how to feel because this has never happened to me before. I see Summer and walked straight to her. Just as I thought she looked disgusted.
“Ew Wesley... You look super gross.”
“I’m sorry, I am sick...”
Summer just laughed and looked at me and hesitated, “Uhm... Sorry Wes but I’m gonna go see Jake. You just aren’t attractive anymore.”
I just stood there, even as Summer walked away from me. I was ugly, alone, and hated myself, how could anyone feel like this? I grabbed a bottle of Jack and went and sat in the pavilion by the water thinking to myself. Thinking how anyone would want to be alive and listen to everybody talking bad about you.
Half the bottle down and I’m crying thinking really bad. I thought I heard footsteps approaching but figured I was just hearing things.
“Hi... you looked a little depressed, my names Grace.”
I was shocked and really drunk, “What do you want, I’m doing fine.”
Her smile quickly faded and she stiffened up and put her hand on my knee, “You just looked depressed and alone, I know that feeling and I was just trying to be there for you, you looked like you needed someone.”
“I don’t need anyone!”
She got up and just looked at me and started walking away, away from me. My mind was racing, the first girl that seems to actually care?
“Hey, wait; I’m sorry come back...”
She spun around and smiled and she was so beautiful, “it’s okay, I planned on checking back up with you in a little.”
After that she came and sat next to me and it was weird, never had I ever believed in love, relationships, opening up to people, but for the first time, I felt it.
“I’m ugly, why are you even here…?”
Grace just looked at me, “You’re handsome Wesley, I’ve known you since we were in middle school, I knew besides the looks and everything, that there was something about you.”
I just smiled at her and I did it, I moved the hair out of her face and leaned in and kissed her. I never felt this feeling when I kissed anyone, but I felt it with Grace. I pulled away and wanted to tell her about my bite but when I told her I needed to show her something, it was gone, completely gone. I looked like me again. I spent the rest of the night sitting and talking to Grace, hearing about her past, I never wanted to hurt her. I honestly don’t see why anyone would hurt her, even though she told me I was someone who bullied her 6-7th grade. I wasn’t letting her go now, ever. We walked back up to the party and leave so I could walk her home.
“Hey cutie, you look like you did a 360!” Yelled Summer.
“Thanks.” I said while grabbing Grace’s hand.
Summer ran up to me and grabbed me, “Wanna go to my room?”
I never thought I’d do this but I pushed her off of me, “No I’m with Grace, so go find another guy.”
Summer ran off all mad while I looked over and Grace just smiled at me and I smiled back. I never knew I would fall in love like this, never knew I’d ever be this soft hearted, under a few hours. I walked Grace all the way home that night and seriously felt like my life did a 360 for the better.
Marissa Jennings
The Miracle
October 31, 2010, was the night a tragedy happened. It was cold and windy. Tonight was the night, one of my friends down the road was having a Halloween party. I was so excited because it was my very first one I have gotten invited too. The party started at seven o’clock. It was about a half an hour until it started. At this moment I was at Riley’s house getting the party set up for her. “I will be right back, I’m going to run to my house and get my costume on”, I told Riley hurriedly. She shook her head up and down to let me know that it was okay. She yelled out the door, “you can take my bike, it will make it a lot faster.” So I went ahead and took her bike. It was a little small for how tall I was, but I knew it would be a lot faster to ride it to my house. As I was riding my bike down to my house, my other friend, Taylor, was heading to her house to get dressed too. I was about one-fourth of my road away from my house. Then I felt it, my knee got caught on the hand
le bars and I flew over the front of the bike, my head going towards the pavement. I began to tear up and as soon as I opened my eyes I saw Taylor trying to help me get up. She asked me if I was okay, and I told her that I was fine. As we both began to head to our house again, I got this really bad migraine. I walked through the garage and went straight to my room. I was still crying at this moment. My stepdad, Tracy, came into my room because he heard whimpering. “Are you okay?” He asked me worriedly, “How did I get into the house?” I replied. His face went into shock like a deer in head lights. Then he asked me what happened to my foot. I looked down to see there was a bunch of scratches on the top of my right foot. I told him I don’t remember. That’s when he knew that something was not right. He began to call my mom while rushing me to get into the truck. My mom was going into shock because she had no clue what was going on. We both met up at the middle school, because that’s where my mother was to pick up my sister from swim practice. Once we got there, we switched vehicles in the matter of like thirty seconds. It was crazy; my head was spinning and everything. The crying wasn’t helping as much but the pain was too intense. We finally got to the hospital. The emergency workers told my mom to sit down and fill out this paper work. She told them she will as soon as my daughter is getting x-rays. They looked at her like she was on crack. So after my mom flipped out they took me straight to the room to get the x-rays done. Not even five minutes later the doctor came to my mom and told her there was a helicopter on the roof for me to be life lined to Indy for immediate head surgery. I had bleeding on the brain; the size of a quarter. My dad finally got to the hospital when the doctor was telling my mom. Another thing the doctor said was that, “There is one seat open, if you would like to ride with her.” My mom knew she should go but then my father does not have his license and would have no other way of getting to Indy to see me. She told my dad to just go ahead and go with me. It was just all a big rush. I finally got into the back of the helicopter. My father was in the front passenger side. I remember seeing him looking back at me and he was just crying with me. Then the next moment, I got sick all over my body. It was so disgusting. The only reason why I started to puke was because of all the pressure from the blood between my skull and brain. Usually it takes about an hour and a half to get to Indy. Well it only took the helicopter about twenty five minutes, I guess. As soon as I got there, they put me into surgery. All I could remember after that was me waking up in a room crowded by all of my family. I was so blessed to have all of them. I was so scared at the moment because I had no memory of what was going on. After that I stayed in the hospital for a couple of days. I remembered both nights I had to get up at two in the morning just to get this injection. I would say this was the worst experience I had ever had. The very last day in the hospital, one of my nurses took me around the hospital and showed me how I got here and everything. It was pretty cool. Two weeks later, I was still out of school because I couldn’t take all the pressure on my head still. Even once I got back to school, I had to take naps in the nurse’s office during recess.
I was told this was a miracle. The doctors told my mom after my surgery, that they almost lost me in surgery because the bleeding was getting too much. If I had waited any longer I would have been gone. I am so thankful for everything in life now. If it wasn’t for God being with me I wouldn’t have the loving family I have now. Overall, the fact of me getting into an accident wasn’t the big effect, but it reminded of how much those around me care. My older sister, Nakia, was in the waiting room of the hospital very distraught and crying her eyes out. She was afraid that I would not make it through surgery. It showed me that she will always be there for me no matter what. That is what has changed my views toward life. I was always told, “Don’t take life for grant.”
Marissa Jennings