This book was written by the students of 826LA’s WRITE ON! AFTER SCHOOL program in Fall of 2024.
The views expressed in this book are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of 826LA. We support student publishing and are thrilled you picked up this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.
Este libro fue escrito por los alumnos del programa Write On! After School de 826LA en la primavera de 2024.
Las opiniones expresadas en este libro son las de los autores y no reflejan necesariamente las de 826LA. Apoyamos la publicación de jóvenes autores y estamos felices que hayan recogido este libro.
Todos los derechos reservados. Prohibida la reproducción total o parcial de este libro sin autorización escrita del editor.
Editors:
Alexis Yang
Andrea Acuna
Aquill Francisco
Arisdeysi Cruz
Bella Benavides
Berenice Limeta
Elvis Vega
Helia Khandanroo Javan
Julia Malinow
Kaijing Zhou
Leydi Hernandez
Lucia Cisneros
Mariana De Oliveira Souza
Mateo Acosta
Missy Soto
Mike Dunbar
Pedro Estrada
Talya Ramirez
Trevor Crown
Cover Artwork & Book Design:
Karin Elsener
Echo Park 1714 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90026
Mar Vista 12515 Venice Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90066
SEALED IN TIME
Past Stories That Made Our Future
Illustration by Loris Lora
In celebration of our 20th Anniversary, 826LA dedicates this publication to all of those who have helped make our community what it is, what it was, and what it will become.
Thank you to the students, volunteers, educators, donors, staff, community partners, and time-travelers who have filled the last 20 years with such creativity, joy, and hope.
We look forward to another 20 years in partnership!
Introduction
Buried Treasure: Reflections on Time Preserved
On the sidewalk leading up to the entrance to 826LA in Mar Vista, the following words are barely visible, lightly scrawled in what looks like charcoal and unsigned:
“I lived here, I loved here, & one day I will be gone.”
Why do we do this? Why do some of us paint graffiti on the sides of trains that will travel thousands of miles to places we will never go, to be seen by eyes that we will never know?
We want the future to remember and understand us. That is why we create time capsules, the theme of the book you hold in your hand. When we create time capsules, we are trying to bottle some of the river of time that is always changing, and always changing us.
However, making time capsules is not about stopping or turning back the clock, any more than standing in a river stops its flow. Instead, they are the hands by which we measure the hours, the landmarks that let us know how far downstream we’ve traveled. Time capsules express our twin desires to be known, and to remember who we once were.
We live in the most well-documented time in human existence. We offer up large pieces of our lives on online platforms at ever increasing speeds, and yet we feel increasingly lonely and unseen. In these times of instantaneous digital expression, there is something thrilling in the delayed gratification and uncertainty of time capsules. When we create them, we do so with the knowledge that we might not be around to see them opened. We do not know who will open it, or how they will respond to the contents inside.
Time capsules are a mystery and an adventure. They can be a figurative or literal portal to another time. In this volume by the student authors from 826LA’s Write On! After School program, you will find all of that and more. In their stories, time capsules are found in or lead to haunted houses, underground kingdoms, and time machines stashed in janitors’ closets. Their characters find within them riches beyond their wildest dreams, the ashes of past tragedies, and varieties of cheese. Collectively, these stories capture our desire to discover our pasts, our futures, and of ourselves. And to make the connections between them.
This book was written in the midst of 826LA’s 20th anniversary. It is the latest addition to two decades of publications amplifying the stories students want to tell about themselves and their worlds. One can’t help but wonder: Twenty years further down the road, who will open it? What will they make of who we once were? Will there be that ache of recognition as when we look at a door frame, etched with lines and dates and height measurements? Will they marvel at how small we once were? Or how tall we have become?
–Mike Dunbar, Tuesday December 3, 2024
Stories
Finding a Time Capsule
Andrea Nicolas
Mud squelched whenever Lily put her foot in the path.
“Ugh, mud,” thought Lily, annoyed. “My new hiking shoes are going to be ruined.”
“Come on Lily, you’re sooooooooooooo slow,” complained Liv.
“Sorry Liv, hiking is just not for me, especially in this forest,” said Lily.
“Aw come on, hiking is awesome!” exclaimed Liv, while turning her head to face her friend who was behind her.
“Not very fun for me,” thought Lily. “It’s so lonely and scary.”
The day was cloudy, giving an eerie and sad vibe. Just then, both of them heard a ring of a bell nearby.
“Did you hear that!?” asked Lily, startled.
“Duh, I can hear it, y’know,” snapped Liv.
“My bad, my bad,” said Lily who was more scared of Liv than the sound.
“Ooh, we should follow it,” said Liv as she stared at the terrified look of Lily. “Unless, I don’t know, you’re SCARED.”
“M-M-ME? Scared???” stuttered Lily. “NEVER.”
“Well let’s go follow it,” Liv said, as she smiled at Lily. “I’ll lead, don’t worry.”
They both kept walking. Liv led the way like she’d promised, and Lily was behind, still frightened. Then, a high-pitched scream made Lily stop cold.
“LIV!!!” shouted Lily, as Liv ran toward the scream and ended up near the end of a small rock cliff.
Lily looked down and saw her friend covering her knee with her eyes shut. “You good, Liv?” asked Lily, worried.
“I-I-I think so,” said Liv, as she clenched her teeth in pain. She turned her head to face Lily and tried to smile. “But look what I found!” Liv held up a box with some gold that shone with the setting sun.
“Oooooh, let’s open it!” Lily exclaimed. Liv gave her the box, and Lily opened it very carefully. There was a very old-fashioned camera and other old objects inside.
“Must be a type of time capsule,” said Liv, “since there are many old things.”
At the very bottom of the objects, they found a note in old handwriting. It said, “Thank you for freeing me after so long.”
“What do they mean?” asked Lily.
Just then a blue light appeared in front of them. It was a young girl around age eight.
“Hello, my name is Stephie.”
The young girl explained that she was brutally murdered when she tried to make a time capsule.
“I wanted to make future people curious about my life with this, but—” She looked away and closed her eyes.
“Thank you anyway,” and with the blink of an eye, she vanished.
Andrea loves to read and draw. She loves all kinds of animals. She is kind of funny and very smart.
Taking a Step Back
Aurora L.
Have you ever wanted to go back to your childhood? I did just that.
My childhood best friend and I were at our high school in Oxnard collecting money for our college funds. We gathered only $5,000 when we actually needed $15,000. I was stressed, wondering if I could even make it into college, and so was Jazzleen. It’s not easy to get money in the future! We had to think of different ideas on how to make some money.
“Hey, isn’t there a pawn shop in the Sunny Stream Mall?” asked Jazzleen.
I took her idea, plopped her in my Cybertruck 2000, and we headed to the Sunny Stream Mall. We used hoverboards to move around the mall. We had some stuff to turn in to the pawn shop: an old, lonely gummy bear and a fidget spinner. We’d thought we’d get like 500 dollars, when actually we got only 50 cents.
“Bummer,” I said while walking outside. “Anything in your pockets?” I asked Jazzleen.
“I’ve got a stick of gum and a bottle cap,” she answered.
“Okay, but what’s that glowing thingy?” I asked.
“Nothing…” she said.
“That’s 100% a Smiski,” I exclaimed.
“You got me,” Jazzleen admitted
“Okay, just hand it over, and we’ll sell it,” I said.
I tried to intimidate her into giving the Smiski to me, but it was no use. We started walking back to the car, passing by advertisements, holograms, display cars, and new fashion trends.
We both sat on a bench contemplating the fate of not going to college. It was awful until I had a flashback to putting a box in a hole in my backyard.
“Get to the car,” I said blankly.
“What?” Jazleen responded.
“GET TO THE CAR,” I shouted.
“Yes ma’am:)” said Jazzleen. With no second thought she ran to the car and we both got in.
“So can you tell me what’s going on?” Jazzleen asked, confused.
“When I was little I wanted to make a time capsule,” I said while trying to focus on the road.
“Time what?” Jazzleen asked, with no idea what a time capsule was.
“TIME CAPSULE,” I said clearly.
“You mean those little boxes you can fill with stuff to mark the passing of time only to be rediscovered later?”
“Yes,” I answered, “but we have a slight problem... It’s in California.”
“You mean California, that’s like three hours away?!” Jazzleen said, shocked.
“Yup!” I responded. “It’s fine. We will be there in a breeze,” I said, being way too calm.
“FINE,” she said in a grumpy mood.
“No pit stops, shopping, photos, or anything that will stop us,” I explained to Jazzleen.
“Let me just buy one snack from 11/7!” Jazzleen said.
“No...” I denied her. “I think I have an old mint in the compartment space.”
As I drove down the freeway where my dad and I used to drive, I felt so nostalgic. That’s when traffic hit. I started to sink, sink, sink, sink…
“Hey look an ice cream stand—”
“No,” I cut Jazzleen off.
“A café—”
“No.”
“Photo booth?”
“NO!”
Upon denying so many great stops, I knew I needed to keep going and get my capsule back.
“Yes!” I exclaimed while traffic started to clear up.
“Only half an hour left!” Jazzleen said joyfully.
I looked to the side and saw the Santa Monica Pier! A few minutes later we arrived at my old home covered in plants and overgrown grass and surrounded by huge buildings and cars. The house was somehow still intact. Then went to the backyard.
“I’m getting the shovel!” Jazzleen said happily.
We dug up the capsule covered in dirt.
“Let’s see what we have here.”
When opening the box we found a beanie baby, old Pokemon cards, and even a 3DS!
“All of this stuff comes up to… ten thousand dollars!” Jazzleen said with joy.
“Wow, this makes me feel old, like fossil old!”
“Okay, let’s start heading back home,” I said.
After a long drive and one pit stop, we got back to the pawn shop.
“What do you have for me today, a paper cup?” the pawn shop man said sarcastically as we walked in.
“No, in fact we have something that might meet your desires,” said Jazleen as we pulled out the items. He looked impressed.
“I see you upped your game. How much do you want for it?” the pawn shop man asked.
“We would like about $10,000 for it.”
“Ah, you sure want it for a pretty penny I see, but deal.”
He handed us a stack of money and we walked out of the store jumping with joy. After we mailed the money to the college, we soon took our first steps onto our college campus—we had made it.
Aurora is a passionate writer and reader. She loves active activities, Snoopy, nature and wildlife.
The Time Capsule
Benjamin Lopez
We left the house and went to the beach. On the way to the beach, we saw the flying birds. They looked the same as they did 20 years ago. The houses looked super fancy. You could still see a gas station. A few years ago, there were electric cars. There used to be many charging spaces around. I used to drive to the beach with my friends. I remember we saw a seashell. It looked like a round circle, maybe it was blue.
Today, the beach was different than how it was 20 years ago. The water looked different. I liked how it was 20 years ago, even though the water had different-sized waves. The waves were as big as a building.
We saw a dock. The boats looked different because there were more triangle shapes.
The sand looked the same. The sandcastles looked the same. My friends and I made castles. We were fifteen friends. We were happy to be in front of the castle.
We took a picture, and I was in front of my friends. We were wearing swimsuits at the beach. I used the timer on the camera to take the picture.
Benjamin likes all kinds of food. He especially likes going to the beach. He finds inspiration at the beach, and swimming is one of his favorite things to do.
Sigma Rizzler Ohio Aura Skibidi
Carlos Curiel
“Get in the car. We are leaving right now,” I said to Omar.
Omar and I were in Las Vegas eating between doing other stuff. We were now leaving.
As we were going to the car, Omar said to me, “Bro, I am still hungry after eating all that food this long weekend. Can we go to 7-Eleven, please? Bro, I am so hungry.”
I told Omar, “Okay bro. I am still hungry too. I don’t know why, but I am still hungry.”
We arrived at 7-Eleven on a freezing night. After we got some more food, I saw a dog and I wanted to keep him. So, I did. We started walking outside, and suddenly saw a white house with long grass that looked like it had not been cut in the last 30 years.
Omar said, “It looks cool as sigma.”
Then I said, “You are tripping a lot, but I mean not going to lie, you are not lying. Do you want to go inside the house?”
Omar said to me, “Yeah, I kind of want to go inside the house.”
So, Omar and I went inside the house. It was so dark that we couldn’t see anything. I left the house to get two flashlights out of the car.
The dog started barking at me, and I said to him, “I will be back in a little bit, alright?”
I brought the flashlight inside the house. Omar had left me at the front door, and I did not want to go deeper inside. But I had to, just to get Omar. I went in and saw a tiny light coming out of the little opening of a door. I went in and I saw Omar holding a box.
“Omar, what is that?” I asked.
He said, “I don’t know, I just found it. I’ma open it right now.”
Omar opened the box and it said, “Time Capsule Open 2044.” Omar opened it and found a toy car, a water bottle, and a pair of shoes.
Omar said, “Not sigma at all. This is dumb to put that in a box, but I guess it is a time capsule so it is reasonable to put these items in here. After all, we can make like $45 for all of this.”
Then, at the door, the dog appeared with a tall guy, about 6’4”.
The guy said, “It is not safe in this house. About 60 people have died here because there is a creature, and no one has ever made it out. I think none of us will make it out of here. By the way, I’m Jacob.”
Suddenly, I saw a really tall creature at the top right side of the door. I said, “The creature…”
Jacob looked behind and saw the creature too. Jacob screamed at the top of his lungs and the creature went away. I peeked through the little space that the door had, and there it was. It went upstairs, so I told Omar and Jacob to hurry up so we could get to the front door before the creature. I ran and behind me was Omar and the dog, but Jacob stayed. Then, the creature came back downstairs and saw Jacob. He said to us, “Leave! I will take my life for you Sigma Rizzlers.”
The creature sliced Jacob in half as we made it to the front door. We got inside the car and I was putting the keys in when I saw the creature eating Jacob. If I didn’t hurry up we would be next.
After putting the keys in, I drove as fast as I could. The creature was right behind us, so I took the highway, and eventually, it disappeared from sight. We got home and I called the police. They said that they had never heard anyone call about that house because everyone who’d been there had died. They told us to come to the police station to ask us questions. After two hours of yapping to the cop we got back home and never saw that creature again. Or so we believed—for now… Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow MEOW meow meow meow meow MEOW MEOW MEOW meow meow meow. meow meow meow meow meow and meowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww meow meow meow skibidi meow meow meowwww MEOW, MEOW, MEOW, MEOW. meow meow meow meow meowwwwww meow meow meow meow.
Treasure Map
Daniel Rios
One day in the ocean, there were two captains named Natalia and Daniel. They went on a journey to find a treasure.
“Arrr! Let’s get some coins!” said Daniel.
“Let’s find an island for this treasure!” said Natalia.
When they got there, they found a time capsule disguised as a chest.
“A chest!” shouted both.
When they opened it… “Wait… these aren’t golden coins,” said Natalia.
“Agh!!!” groaned Daniel.
“Wait!” said Natalia, “a map!”
“A TREASURE MAP!!!” shouted both.
They got back on the boat. They followed the steps on the map.
“Go to land!” said Natalia. Both captains jumped out of the boat into the jungle. They passed crocodiles, pandas, and even lions.
“Let’s go there!” said Natalia.
Meanwhile, a dinosaur came by. “ROAAAARRR!!!” exclaimed the dinosaur.
“A dinosaur!!!” screamed Daniel and Natalia. Daniel and Natalia ran as fast as they could and hid in a small cave.
“Phew! At least that won’t be giving me a nightmare,” Natalia said with relief. Then both captains came out.
“Let’s head to the broken boat!” said Daniel.
“A BROKEN BOAT?!” asked Natalia. “Are you sure?”
“Chill the beans…” replied Daniel. They headed to the broken boat and went inside.
“Cobwebs!” said Daniel.
“Spiders!” said Natalia, vomiting a little.
Suddenly, a broken wand was found by Natalia. As she picked it up, it lasered an X on the wall leading into the broken boat maze.
“Oh dear...” Daniel said in a high-pitched voice.
“Well, here goes nothing…” Natalia said nervously.
The maze had high wooden walls and a wooden floor. They finished the maze in 25 minutes.
“I’m… tired!” said Daniel.
“Relax!” said Natalia.
“Hey look!” shouted Daniel. They found a jet ski by the log house, with the jet ski owner by the lake.
“A jet ski!” said Natalia.
“Hi! Can you help us find where the treasure is located?” asked Natalia.
“Ok!” said the owner. They got on the jet ski and went ZOOOOOM! ZOOM!! KAGULA!!! SISSSSSS!!! KNOKK!!!
“Here we are!” said the jet ski owner.
“Right here,” Natalia and Daniel gulped. The two captains walked to the boat.
“Treasure! My best life ever!” shouted Natalia.
Suddenly, an evil pirate swooped in, flying on a rope.
“Hey!” he said, “Are you guys trying to steal my treasure?”
“We will! It’s two versus one!” said Daniel.
“Oh yeah?” said the evil pirate. Two more evil pirates came by. “Now it’s three versus two! Ha ha ha!” he said.
“Charge bomb!” screamed Daniel. POW!
“Owie!” said pirate number two.
“Ninja Hearts! Throw!” shouted Natalia.
“Eeeeh!!!” screamed pirate number three. BOOM!
“Ouch!” said the evil pirate. “Ninja Stars!”
“No! That’s mine!” said the evil pirate. He threw a bunch of Ninja Stars at the captains.
“Oh dear!” said Daniel. “Ow! Gasp! The star!”
Natalia protected Daniel. “We’ll be okay! As long as we’re still together,” said Natalia.
“No… The Super Star,” replied Daniel.
Daniel and Natalia ran as fast as they could to get to the star. Then, they turned it into a rainbow.
“Huh? What?” said the evil pirate.
“OOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!” screamed the evil pirate.
Daniel and Natalia gave each other a high five. When they opened the chest, there were golden coins.
“Whoa...” said Natalia.
“That was an adventure,” replied Daniel.
Daniel is a nine-year-old boy who is in third grade. His favorite game is Parchisi Star. Also, his favorite food is McDonald’s. He has two dogs, Jack and Bela. He also likes Baby Mario. He is a director of his TV show called “The Mickeys TV Show.” He is also on YouTube and likes LAFC from Major League Soccer. He has four friends: Jassiel, Osvaldo, Liam, and Rodrigo.
Time Capsule Before Thanksgiving
Diego N.
It was Thanksgiving Day in the year 2022 when Diego was randomly sleepwalking in the forest. Once he felt the cold, Diego woke up.
“What?! What is this?! Where am I?!” Diego said as he looked around. Diego then realized that there was a tiny bit of shiny metal on the ground. “Hmm…” he thought to himself. It was a time capsule.
Diego decided to pick up the time capsule, but as soon as he touched the metal box he was transported to the future. The year 3000 to be exact.
“Why am I here?” he said. He wandered off looking very confused. He saw that in the year 3000 there were floating cars, fast jets, and flying buildings. Soon, he discovered a portal that was about to close. “Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” he screamed.
Diego had to act quickly. He stole one of the jets that was parked across the street to get to the portal in time, and to be able to get back to his normal life. Despite the jet crashing and getting stuck in the portal, he crossed into the present. Then, he opened the time capsule again and found one million dollars!
Diego is eight years old and loves to play soccer. He tries to get his homework done on time to read. Diego enjoys strawberry-flavored boba!
Time Capsule Turned Time Machine
Emma Diaz
Once there was a group of friends wandering through their favorite flower field. The flowers were bright orange, their favorite color. Sabrina loved to write, Justin loved basketball, and Nathan loved flag football—he was actually the best in the park. Jasmine loved making TikToks and Emma loved to sing. While they were talking, Sabrina tripped on something.
Everyone came to check on her and Sabrina said, “ What d-did I stumble on?” Nathan dug it up, and it was a box that said, “Time Capsule.”
Nathan said, “It is a time capsule! But to open it, there is a lock with a combination.”
Sabrina loved combinations. She was actually an expert. Even with her injuries, she was able to crack the code on the first try.
They took a closer look inside and Emma said, “Are you guys thinking what I’m thinking?”
They all said, “Yes!”
They walked through the time capsule since it actually turned out to be a time machine. Since Sabrina loved to solve codes, she figured out how to transport them back in time.
She asked the group, “When do guys want to go?”
They all said the same thing at the same time, “The 1900s!”
Sabrina said, “Okay. Hold on!” and blasted them back in time.
Everyone felt like throwing up, and Emma was especially scared because that was her phobia. Once almost everyone was about to vomit, they stopped.
Sabrina said, “Welcome to the eeeurgh—the 1900s.” She threw up violently.
Once everyone saw Sabrina throw up, all of them started throwing up. Emma felt embarrassed, Justin felt disgusted, Jasmine felt fine, Nathan felt dizzy, and Sabrina was pale as a ghost and felt like one.
They came out and decided to explore. They saw old buildings and it looked like it was an abandoned city. Nathan left a trail of leaves so they would know how to get back. They started to explore.
Nathan said, “I think we should go back. Our parents might get worried.”
“No! You’re such a scaredy cat, Nathan!” Justin said angrily.
“No, I’m not!” Nathan said.
“Why would you say that Justin?” Emma said.
“I agree with Justin,” Sabrina said.
“How could you agree with him?” Emma asked. “I want to stay but I don’t want to leave Nathan alone.”
Everyone was arguing, but Justin was not even near them. He was so angry that he got the urge to destroy the time machine.
“Wait, where is Justin?” Emma asked.
“OMG Emma that is not the point,” Sabrina said.
“Okay, Emma and I will go back home and you can stay here!” Nathan said angrily.
“Fine, you guys go back to the time machine and I’ll go explore more,” Sabrina said.
They split ways and Emma and Nathan went to find the time machine to go back home, but once they got to the time machine, all they saw was burnt metal and screws.
“What happened to the time machine?” Nathan asked.
“I don’t actually know,” Emma said.
Then they had no choice but to go find tools to rebuild the time machine.
To be continued…
Emma’s favorite drink is boba, her favorite color is turquoise, and she loves slime.
The Ancient Scroll
Hadley Glennon
One day, a girl about the age of ten sat in the park with her legs crossed and with a sad lonely expression on her face. Nobody wanted to play with her. She didn’t have friends since she moved away to Colorado in the second grade.
For two years, she had been longing for a friend. Without a friend she felt she had no purpose in life. The girl’s name was Alise. Alise had long, golden-blond hair. Her eyes were deep sky blue, and when you looked at them it was like you were staring into a blue ocean. Alise wore a white t-shirt and long blue jeans.
Alise looked at a beautiful green tree where she and her mother used to play. Her mother was a beautiful woman who sadly passed away in a terrible accident when Alise was four years old.
Alise noticed an odd bump shape in the grass next to the tree. She stood up wondering why there was a bump there, and slowly walked towards it. As Alise got closer to the bump she noticed it was a time capsule slightly coming out of the ground. Alise put her hand on top of the time capsule and ran her hand along the engraved markings on the side.
Suddenly, the time capsule opened with a silent click. She found an aged scroll rolled up tightly inside. Alise slowly undid the scroll and its aged paper slowly unraveled. The scroll started to glow. A very strong wind began to pull Alise into it. Before she knew it, the scroll engulfed her in light and into the scroll she went. When Alise opened her eyes, she found herself in a forest.
The trees were very green and flowers bloomed everywhere. A dirt path split the forest, leading somewhere far away. Alise knew that the forest could be very dangerous. That’s why she started to walk quickly along the dirt path, not wanting to spend another second in a forest that she was not familiar with.
As Alise walked along the dirt path she noticed that nobody had walked in the opposite direction. In fact, it seemed like no one even used the path anymore, considering Alise could only see the fresh footprints of her own shoes.
Right as she felt like her legs were about to fall off from walking, she found herself standing in front of a huge rock wall that had a huge wooden door in the center. Alise noticed a golden lever next to the wooden door, which she pulled. The huge wooden door swung open. Alise went through the door, not wanting to stay in the forest any longer.
As Alise took in her surroundings behind the wooden door, she noticed there was a huge town. Many of the people in the town looked very unhappy. Alise wondered why they seemed unhappy, so she decided to walk over to a woman to find out.
The woman said, “How do you do, little girl?”
Alise said, “I’m doing very well, but I would like to know why everybody seems so unhappy.”
The woman looked confused.
Alise repeated, “I would like to know why everybody seems unhappy.” “Well,” said the woman, “There is a new king, who is very mean to all of his people.”
“Oh,” said Alise, a little confused herself.
Alise said goodbye to the woman and walked away. She needed to talk to the king. She wondered, “Why was the king so mean to his people? Shouldn’t he be nice?”
As Alise rushed through the town trying to find the king’s castle, she wondered again, “Why was the king so mean? Was he born like that?”
Suddenly, Alise turned the corner and found herself in front of a huge castle. To her surprise, she found the king sitting on the grass with a glass of champagne.
“Little girl, what are you doing here? You know you are not allowed on my castle grounds!” the king said.
“I know I’m not allowed on these castle grounds,” said Alise, “but I’m not here to discuss that. I’m here to discuss why you are so rude to your people.”
“Are you challenging me to a duel?” said the king.
“Yes, I want to stop you from being mean and hurting those people,” said Alise as she pointed to the town behind her.
“Well, this battle will probably be over quickly since you have no weapons of your own. But to make it a little more interesting, I’ll at least give you a sword to fight with,” said the king.
He threw a sword on the grass in front of Alise and the battle began. Sword against sword, clang after clang, the battle raged on.
Suddenly, a dragon flew in from the sky and burned the king to ashes. Alise had done it and the town was saved. All of a sudden, the scroll started to glow again. It was time to go home. As the air sucked Alise into the paper, she knew now that she had a purpose in life.
Hadley Glennon is 10 years old. She enjoys being outside, reading, writing, and playing soccer. You can usually find her outside either sitting peacefully or playing soccer.
The Runaway
Hannah
Once upon a time, there was a man named Mr. Henry who got out of prison after three years for stealing.
“Finally, I got out of prison,” exclaimed Mr. Henry.
He was walking around to see his surroundings, when suddenly he thought, “Oh, what is that?” Seeing a park in the distance, he walked towards it.
“There is a hole in the ground.” Kneeling, he opened a box sitting inside the hole.
“Wow,” he said. “Everything shines in the box.”
“What do I do?” he asked himself, checking around to see if anyone was looking. “Should I take it or leave it? I don’t know what to do.”
He thought for a bit, then took the box with him. “How much will this money from 1986 and all this gold be worth along with these other old things?”
Suddenly, an officer spotted him.
“Oh no,” Henry said as the officer approached him.
“Hi sir,” said Henry with a scared face as he tucked the box behind him.
“Hi, what were you doing there?” said Officer Cop, looking at him with a weird face.
“Just trying to find my house,” said Henry.
“Why? Are you lost or something?” said Officer Cop.
“Yeah, just got out of prison from Main Street,” said Henry.
“Okay… Hope you do not do something bad again,” said Officer Cop.
As Henry walked away, gold fell from the box and Officer Cop looked back.
“Hey! Where did you get that?” said Officer Cop.
“Oh, um… ” said Henry as he started running as fast as he could.
“STOP!” Officer Cop screamed.
Henry slowed down and picked up a big rock from the ground.
Officer Cop backed up and said, “Sir, put that down.”
Henry threw it at his face.
“Aaaah!” screamed the officer.
Officer Cop called for backup while Henry started running away faster. “A16 on Main Street. Man on the run.”
Backup came and tackled Henry to the ground.
“Nooo! Stop!” said Henry with his voice going low.
They took him to the police car and he went back to prison for 15 more years.
Hannah loves her dogs and she eats shrimp pasta. She has one brother who is older than her. She lives in California.
Life Is Calm
Isaias Mendoza
It is currently the year 2042 and my name is Little. I am 40 years old and the year is almost over. I have still not been able to achieve my goal of buying a house. The world is very cruel in my opinion. Currently, life has not been treating me very well. I’m living in an apartment paying an abnormally large rent and I work at a pizzeria, Big’s Pizzeria. It’s not really my dream job, but it keeps me occupied for the day.
I do sculpting for fun in my free time. I have hundreds, maybe even thousands, of bowls, vases, plates, etc. I have yet to make the perfect vase or bowl for me. I plan on making a vase that people all over the world can admire and use to relate to what I am going through.
The world is very, very, high-tech, and not many people use gaspowered cars anymore. I’m currently the only human on earth using a gas-powered car, and it will stay that way until I make it big.
Until I was 18 years old, people called me Little Fierce Gorilla. I liked the nickname they gave me and did not really mind it until people started calling me a Smurf. I am not the tallest, and I am called what people know today as a little person. They had given me this nickname because of two things: One, I am a little person, and two, I turn blue every time I am mad. I didn’t get mad that often, considering I was the most popular kid in school.
I revisited my old tutoring program 826LA, now known as 628AL. They changed their name over time, and it has become the number one free tutoring program in the world.
In Future…
Julio Cesar Garcia Juan
In 2039, in Naomi, Florida, Lucifer made an experiment called the “2039 Experiment.” It was a failure. Lucifer put it in a container and dug up a hole. He tossed the container, now a time capsule, into the hole.
One year later, Lucifer remembered about the experiment and dug it up. There was now a lizard in the time capsule. The lizard was toxic and spit on Lucifer. He became mutated.
Lucifer said, “Why do I feel like power is going through my veins, and why does it feel good?” Then he went back home.
The next day, Lucifer woke up and looked at himself in the mirror and said, “What have I become?!” He was a monster. It felt like something or someone was taking over his body. He looked out the window and saw a horde of zombies. He joined the zombies.
Ten minutes later, five blocks away, Link and Kirby were eating and listening to the news. The news reporter said, “Do not go outside! Lock all doors and close all window blinds!” Then the TV turned off by itself.
Kirby rushed to the window to look outside and saw a horde of zombies coming towards him! Lucifer was levitating over the zombies. Kirby and Link got their swords and opened the door. All of the zombies looked at them. The zombies charged Kirby and Link. They were successfully killing the zombies, but the zombies were multiplying rapidly.
Kirby and Link quickly built a portal to travel through the universe, but it didn’t work. Suddenly, right when they needed it, as the zombies got closer, the portal worked! It brought Teddy and Jack into Kirby and Link’s world.
Teddy and Jack asked, “Do you need help?”
Link and Kirby said, “Yes!”
Jack created a black hole in his hand with magic. Some of the zombies were sucked into the black hole, but because they were multiplying, half of the zombies survived.
Lucifer grabbed Link and Teddy, but they hit him with their swords. Lucifer was able to regenerate, and threatened them. The four friends used their special ultimate power and defeated Lucifer. When Lucifer was defeated, the remaining zombies turned into ash, from their feet to their heads.
Link put on special gloves that resisted toxins, and he grabbed the lizard that started everything. Link put the lizard in a jar. Jack made a black hole again with his hands, and Kirby threw the jar with the lizard into the black hole.
Link and Kirby fixed the portal so that Jack and Teddy could go back through to their home.
Julio likes to listen to music, play video games, and do arts and crafts. He also likes to make puppet dragons. His favorite food is sushi, and he wins most of the time when he plays Rock, Paper, Scissors. He is inspired by one of his cousins. He does not like it when other people call him small.
Melanie the Baby Bear and Sofia the Butterfly
Kennedy Curiel Ramirez
Melanie the Baby Bear was looking for honey in a flower but was surprised instead to find a butterfly named Sofia!
Sofia had the power to change colors when travelling to the future. Melanie the Baby Bear had a secret power too. Melanie’s secret power was time travel.
Melanie lived alone and jumped into the forest where she traveled to the future with Sofia. In the future, there was a big bear named Scream who chased Melanie. Melanie the Baby Bear took Scream’s clothes. Annoyed, Scream left to go eat dinner, and Melanie stayed with Sofia the Butterfly.
Melanie watched as Sofia changed colors from blue to purple to pink while she flew from flower to flower. Melanie the Baby Bear and Sofia the Butterfly went to sleep because they were tired. Melanie’s time travel ended when she slept.
Melanie and Sofia returned to their families in the present! When Melanie the Baby Bear woke up, she saw Sofia the Butterfly was there. Sofia, still asleep, was now orange, yellow, and red.
Kennedy, a second grader, likes to play with her friends. She likes to read and do math problems.
The Haunted Basement of Deadliness
Kimberly J.
On October 31st, two friends, Angel and Cherry, were having a sleepover. At school that day Anna, another friend, had gotten an A+ and Cherry was still jealous about that. Anna wasn’t at the sleepover because she hadn’t finished her chores yet. Anna’s mother would punish her if she didn’t finish her chores.
When school ended, Angel and Cherry went to Angel’s house for a sleepover, but Angel’s mom told her not to break anything or there would be horrible consequences! When her mom left, Angel and Cherry started playing tag, but got bored.
Angel asked, “What if we play truth or dare?”
“Yes,” Cherry said. Angel and Cherry started to play truth or dare.
“Truth or dare,” Angel commanded.
“Dare,” Cherry said. “I like doing dare better than truth.”
“I dare you to go down into the basement!” Angel said. Cherry was scared, but she wanted to take on the challenge.
Angel thought about the dare she gave Cherry. The basement was dark. Angel shouted, “Scaredy cat! Scaredy cat! Ha, ha, ha!”
“Stop it, what if I get lost, or eaten by an animal, or something else?!” Cherry said. Cherry walked to the basement door and opened it. She was going down when suddenly she heard a noise, either a stick cracking or being thrown. Cherry stepped on top of a cube that said, “Good luck, loser.” This triggered a booby trap—a cage from above fell down and trapped Cherry.
“What does it all mean?” Cherry said. “Oh no! How do I get out? I’m going to be stuck here forever!”
“Ha ha ha! Hello my friend, Cherry! Remember when I couldn’t go with you and Angel to the sleepover because I had to do my chores? My mom is so annoying—yelling at me when I don’t listen,” suddenly said Anna.
Meanwhile, Angel was waiting for Cherry to come back upstairs. “Ugh, what the skibidi?” Cherry huffed.
Anna was still jealous of Cherry’s A+ grade. She was about to hit Cherry with a water bottle when she tripped on a cord and fell down to the ground. Cherry laughed at Anna’s fall.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me for falling or I’ll kill you!” Anna yelled. “Ha ha ha, I don’t believe you! Nah, nah, nah, ugly, ugly!”
“I will prove it later…” said Anna. Then she screamed, “AAAAAAH!”
Cherry screamed too!
“I will kill you both!” said the deadly ghost.
“NOOOO! Help or else the ghost, er… I mean the deadly ghost, will kill me like skibidi monkey!” Anna said.
Anna ran upstairs to escape while Cherry was trying to get out of the cage. She found a key chain that Anna dropped earlier when she fell. Cherry was trying to find the right key to open the cage. There were a lot of different keys.
“I finally found the SKIBIDI of OG skibidi of… Oh… I was supposed to be quiet or else the deadly ghost will come! What the skibidi?” Cherry said.
Meanwhile, Angel wondered, “Ugh, when is Cherry coming out of the basement?”
“O… M… G… What is this?” said Angel, picking up a ripped paper on the floor that Anna wrote. “Hmm… It says, ‘I dare you to find the time capsule and give it to me. Good luck skibidi. Signed, Mean Anna.’ What? I have to find it by myself?” Then, Angel thought, “Or I can go with Cherry… Hmm… I don’t know, but okay skibidi.”
When Cherry finally got out of the cage, Anna said, “Deadly, deadly ghost.”
The deadly ghost snapped and Anna coughed. The deadly ghost snapped again and Anna’s head fell off—she died.
“Bro, ghost, where is skibidi, I mean Cherry?” Angel said, going down to the basement. “Cherry, do you know where the time capsule is?”
Cherry said, “Oh, when school ended, somebody gave me a time capsule and I didn’t know if you needed it. And also the deadly ghost killed Anna in front of my own eyes, so yeah… Anna died.”
Cherry and Angel were trying to find the exit door. There were many doors with different knobs.
“Ugh! This is going to take us forever!” complained Cherry. While Cherry and Angel were looking for the door, they heard a scratch.
“Here, take our favorite picture and drink,” Cherry said, “Just go. You’re my favorite BFF of all time. Goodbye, Angel.”
“No, no, no! But okay I’ll go,” Angel cried.
After Angel escaped, she ran as fast as she could to the house of secrets where she could cry and her tears would disappear. Angel said cheers to Cherry’s death. Angel drank their favorite drink while she continued to cry. Gulp, gulp, gulp.
Kimberly J. likes to write stories that are funny and scary. Kimberly J. has a pet turtle named Mary. Kimberly J. likes to do puzzles with her brother who is 32 years old!
The Little Bear and the Crystals
Melanie Sedeno
Nicky is a bear who lives in the forest. He sees some white bears and is surprised because he is a brown bear.
He says to them,“What do you want?”
“We want to fight!” say the white bears who are from the North Pole. “We want your glowing crystals to get super powers!” The white bears then start fighting Nicky.
Nicky decides to fight back. He loves the crystals. They give him special fighting powers so he always wins. He had found these crystals in the ground when he was digging in his garden. Nicky’s mom had explained to him that the crystals had different powers: The purple crystals make you run fast. The blue crystals make you fly. The pink crystals make your food taste good. Orange make trees bear fruit on them. Yellow crystals make markers to draw with. Red crystals make cotton candy.
Nicky is fighting well against the white bears, when suddenly one of the white bears says, ‘’Nicky, wait! Let’s all dig underground. We’ll find more crystals for all of us.”
They dig in the ground with Nicky’s shovels. They find more crystals in the ground, right under where they are standing.
The white bears are so happy and say, “We are relieved. We don’t want to fight anymore!”
Melanie likes to play with her two cats, and likes to eat pancakes.
“Friendship” Bonding Time Gone Wrong
Milli’on Renea Franzoni
“Hello!” Samuel yelled.
Eca, a very nice and good boy, Ace, a very bad and calm boy, and Cea, an actual deity that was cursed, were all having a meeting.
“What do you want?” Ace said sternly to Samuel.
“Well… I have an idea! So, you know how you and Eca always fight? Well… What if we all have friendship bonding time?” Samuel said excitedly.
“Friendship bonding time’? Is this some kind of horrible joke? We hate each other!” Eca said.
“Yeah! And Cea can come with us!” Samuel continued. “We will find a time capsule I buried when I was 10!” he said.
“I think this will be a great way to help Eca and Ace bond,” Cea said.
“REALLY???” Samuel yelled.
“No, that is a terrible idea—” but before Cea could finish, the three were dragged into a portal by Samuel.
“Where are we going, Samuel?!” Ace said irritatedly, but with no emotion plastered on his face.
“A forest! A deep one!” Samuel said, as the four continued walking.
“Okay! I think we are close!’ Samuel said.
“Okay, now what?” Eca said.
“We keep on walking!” said Samuel. As the four continued to walk, Ace started to walk a different way.
“Ace! You’re walking the wrong way!” Eca yelled.
“I know. I am going to my kingdom to rest.”
“No, you are not! If I have to walk with Samuel then you do too!” Eca yelled, trying to grab Ace’s hand. It quickly got slapped away by Ace.
“Do not touch me!” Ace yelled.
Eca, without thinking, struck at Ace with a punch but got blocked by Cea.
“What are you doing Eca?” They yelled.
Then suddenly, a small, but dangerous crack in the world appeared. For context, it was so powerful that it could destroy the universe, and if big enough, it could also hurt Cea. The four stared at it, scared.
Despite knowing this was never going to work, Cea struck the crack with their power. Then the crack disappeared, and the strike hit Samuel on the head, knocking him to the ground and crashing him into an oak tree. Eca ran to Samuel.
“Are you okay?” Eca asked.
“No... I hit my head on an oak tree…” Samuel moaned in pain.
“I will call the hospital,” Cea said.
“Okay…” Samuel said.
“I was joking. I will never waste my time on something so pointless. Also, the crack was an illusion. It wasn’t real,” Cea said walking away.
“Hurry up, you’re wasting my time,” Cea said.
The four walked and walked, except for Samuel. He had to be carried like a baby by Eca. They reached the place and dug up the spot where the capsule was. They opened it up and inside was a single penny.
“Are you kidding me?! We walked and fought all that time for a single penny?!” said Eca. Completely outraged, he dropped Samuel.
“I’m going home, I have things to take care of,” Ace said.
The four went back to what they were all doing before. Eca was saving the world, Ace was “definitely not” committing crimes with his organization, Cea was being a deity and doing deity stuff, and Samuel was being Samuel.
*Thank you to Sophia Vasquez for letting me use your character Samuel!
Milli’on Renea Franzoni was born on September 26, 2012. She is an artist, writer, and reader. She had made a story with her friend Sophia Vasquez and had made a separate story with her friend Jaiden Higgins.
The Time Capsule
Montserrat Sedeno
Back in the 80s, there were three girls named Yeva, Sofia, and Kennedy who were playing a hand game while they were walking. Suddenly, they all fell into a hole. When they got up they saw light. When they looked around, there was a shadow and Kennedy screamed, “AAH!”
Sofia said, “You screamed in my ear.”
“Sorry,” Kennedy said.
Suddenly, something grabbed them by their legs. The three girls screamed, “AAH!” after they saw who grabbed them. When they looked back, they saw scary hunters. After the hunters grabbed them by their hands and dragged them to a fire, they tied them to a stick. But the girls were too heavy and then the sticks broke! The scary hunters fell in the fire with them.
Officer Fred, who took care of the town, was driving and saw the hole that the three girls had fallen into. He got his jacket, got the emergency ladder, and went down. He saw the same light the girls saw. He called more officers and asked them to bring the special time capsule.
When the officers came, Fred told them, “Okay, first we’re going to figure out what happened here.”
It wouldn’t be until the 90s that they would find out what really happened to the girls. The officer brought the time capsule down and said, “Okay, we’re going to put these roasted people in the time capsule.”
Fast forward to 2024, when three girls named Emma, Kimberly, and Monse were walking. Emma felt something hard and said, “Wait, there’s something hard under the dirt! We should get some shovels and start digging.”
They found out it was a time capsule, and when they opened it, they saw it was full of dead people. The three girls called the police and Fred picked up the phone. They told him about the dead bodies inside the time capsule. He rushed to his desk and he got the newspaper story about the dead people in the hole from the 80s through the 90s. You are probably thinking Fred was 110 years old at this point.
He’d had this job forever. When he reported the story to the Newspaper in 2024, the case was cracked open once more.
Fred decided to take pieces from the roasted bodies. When they found out who did it, the police crashed into a house, the door opened, and an officer screamed, “They came out bleeding!”
Then the guy bleeding, the one responsible for the deaths, fell to the ground and started shaking. An officer shouted, “ZOMBIE!”
Everybody started running. But when Emma, Kimberly, and Monse unfroze from the fear, they started running to the park to hide in the bathrooms. They rushed in but accidentally left the door open. They found a newborn baby on the bathroom floor, who was crying, and upon picking him up, a zombie came in.
“AAH,” the three girls shouted. They dodged the zombie and he left. Then, a guy came out of nowhere and pulled them into his underground bunker behind a tree. Here he had food, water, clothes, weapons to kill the zombies, and beds.
Emma started crying. Monse and Kimberly asked her why she was crying, and she said, “Cause I saw my parents.”
“So, why are you crying?” said Monse and Kimberly.
“It’s ‘cause they were zombies,” said Emma.
Then a zombie came in because they’d also left the door to the bunker open. The zombie bit Monse, Kimberly, and Emma... Monse gave the newborn baby to the guy and fell to the ground, shaking and slowly turning into a zombie.
“ROAR!” shouted Monse.
Monserrat S. loves the color pink. Another fun fact about her is she loves Alfredo pasta. And her favorite animal is a cat.
Alice in Wonderland
Natalia Rios
A girl named Eliza, a 16-year-old, fell asleep in her bed. The next morning, she woke up to the smell of delicious maple pancakes. Eliza got dressed and said hello to her sisters, Angelica and Anne.
They both replied with a “Hello!” and Angelica said, “Don’t forget today you guys are going to help me with my part time job!”
The two sisters groaned, “Do we have to?”
“I just put on my favorite dress!” Anne added.
“Yes! Now go change.”
Anne went to get changed, meanwhile Eliza finished her breakfast and went to watch TV. Twenty minutes passed and Anne came out.
“Where’s Angelica?” asked Anne.
“Downstairs in the basement,” replied Eliza.
Angelica came back up and gave a metal detector to Anne, and a shovel to Eliza.
“Are you ready?”
Both girls nodded. “Then let’s go!” Angelica exclaimed.
The three girls continued to the forest. They found jewelry, hats, and coins. Nothing too expensive though.
“Are we done yet?” asked Anne.
“Hmm, let’s walk for a few more minutes then we can go back home,” replied Angelica. They walked for five more minutes when the metal detector went off.
“Alright! Last treasure, or trash, of the day!” Anne pointed to where the metal detector went off.
Eliza then started digging until something made contact with the shovel. Wondering what it could be, she asked Angelica for help.
“Wow! This sure is heavy…” Angelica said, trying to hint that she needed help.
Finally, the sisters were able to lift up the large metal box. Anne dusted off the dirt with the duster in her archeology kit, revealing the bright red numbers and letters on the box.
“Don’t open ‘til 2024, signed 1920,” read the letters.
“Whoa, what’s that?” exclaimed Anne.
“It seems like a time capsule. Hmm… Let’s take this home and attempt to open it,” Angelica said. All three sisters helped carry the capsule home. Finally, they made it back.
“This is so heavy... I don’t wanna carry it anymore!” whined Anne. They put down the time capsule.
“I’ll go get a screwdriver,” said Eliza.
“Whatever. I’m gonna go talk to my boyfriend,” Anne yelled as she walked upstairs.
Angelica came back up with a screwdriver. “Alright, let’s see if this works.” Angelica unscrewed the four steel screws on the top.
Angelica managed to open the time capsule and dust went everywhere. Coughing, Eliza exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! There’s dust everywhere!”
After the dust cleared up, they saw the items inside of the time capsule. The items seemed like stuff from the early 1900s. Inside was a note with the date, a newspaper, a book from their timeline, and an old boombox.
“Wow! Look at all of this ancient stuff!” said Eliza.
“What’s all the—Whoa! Look at all this old stuff! It looks like it could go for hundreds?!” yelled Anne. The two sisters looked at her, trying to tell if she was being serious.
“Well, I think we should keep the items and make our own time capsule!” suggested Angelica.
Eliza agreed with her while Anne rolled her eyes and went upstairs. Angelica and Eliza collected items from around the house, such as a watch, a microchip with a recording on it, a book, and shoes that were in style. They put all the items in the metal box. Angelica grabbed the tape and labeled it: “DON’T OPEN ‘TIL 2044.”
“Perfect,” Eliza smiled. “Oh! How about we ask the town hall to place our time capsule in the safe? No one will be able to open it ‘til 2044.”
“Great idea!” Angelica added.
Angelica called down Anne to drive her to the town hall. In the town hall, there was a clerk with curly gray hair named Katherine.
“Hi girls, what do you need?” said Katherine in a heavy Southern accent.
“Hi there! Could you put this in the safe, please? It’s a time capsule and we don’t want anyone to dig it up beforehand,” Eliza asked.
“Why of course dear,” Katherine smiled, taking the time capsule and putting it in the big safe in the middle of the town hall. She locked it so no one could get in.
“Thank you!” The three girls thanked the clerk and drove back to their house.
They all fall asleep until the next day. Eliza woke up to a weird sound going off. It was her alarm clock. Not a normal phone or a classic alarm clock. A hologram clock. She looked around her room, at least it seemed like it was her’s. Eliza had awaken in a futuristic-styled room. Everything seemed more updated than it should have been. On Eliza’s hologram phone, her texts read out loud.
“Hey, sis! It’s 2044, the year the town has been waiting for. They’re gonna open our time capsule!” Eliza could not believe her ears. She raced out of bed to the town hall.
“STOP! What are you doing? We just made that time capsule yesterday!” Eliza yelled.
Everyone stared at her. The Katherine that had just helped her yesterday looked more old and wrinkly. She was also the one starting to go through the time capsule. Katherine walked up silently and with a frown to Eliza.
“What? Did I do something wrong? It’s 2024! Not weird 2044 with flying cars and jetpacks! I’m only 16...” cried out Eliza. The town gasped and stared at her.
“All of this is fake dear,” explained Katherine.
“W–What do you mean?“
“You’re not real. No one here is real. You’re dead… Well, sleep dead. There’s no time to explain. WAKE UP!” Katherine pushed her down to the floor. Eliza closed her eyes.
“AAH!” Eliza screamed while waking up to her head hurting. She got up feeling dizzy.
“You’re… awake? I can’t believe it. Doctor?!” Angelica screamed and ran out looking for the doctor.
Still feeling woozy, Eliza got up from the hospital bed and tried to walk out. Shortly after, she collapsed to the floor. “Ugh…” Eliza groaned, scratching her head.
“Oh dear, let me help you up!” said the doctor.
It turned out the person who was Katherine in her somewhat-dream was a doctor in real life.
“Um… What am I doing here?” asked Eliza.
“You might wanna sit for this.You were under a paralyzing illness called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. Just like the movie, you were under a deep sleep and we expected you to never wake up. But your sisters never gave up on you, and after 12 years, you’re awake!” explained Elizabeth, the doctor.
“WHAT?! I can’t believe it,” yelled Eliza.
“Yes, but there are a lot of doctors and police officers who want to ask you questions.”
“That’s fine. I’m just glad I’m alive.”
Natalia loves to write and sing. She prefers a quiet space rather than a loud environment. Natalia is also a good student and always gets good grades.
The Missing Stuff of the Time Capsule
Noah Claros
There was a dog named Callie who loved to dig in the wet dirt of her backyard. Weird, right? Kalaya was Callie’s very silly friend who often got really frustrated, and you didn’t want to get on her angry side. The leader of their group was Noah, and he was very fast. I mean, he was as fast as the Flash.
Noah, Kalaya, and Callie wanted to make a time capsule. So, they went to their three-story house that had a pool. Callie grabbed her favorite dog bone to be placed in the capsule even though it was all chewed up. Kalaya decided to put in a picture of her friends. Noah grabbed his favorite ball.
While they went to get a snack, somebody took all the stuff they were going to put in the time capsule and left. It was all gone. They asked around to some of their friends, and came up on a lead.
First, they went to Bulldog’s house. They asked him, “Have you taken the items that we put in the time capsule?”
Bulldog said, “No, I didn’t take them. I promise.”
Next, they went to Shiba’s house. Once inside, they saw Callie’s favorite bone, Kalaya’s picture of her friends, and Noah’s favorite ball. They asked Shiba, “Why did you take our time capsule stuff?”
Shiba replied, “I’m sorry. I wanted to do the time capsule too.”
They said, “You can do it with us!”
Shiba grabbed his favorite bed, which was very old and torn. They put it in the time capsule and asked Bulldog if he wanted to put anything in there as well. Bulldog put in the smallest stick he could find.
Callie dug a humongous hole next to a tree that had the words “So sigma” carved inside a heart. They finally buried the time capsule and went to an ice cream shop together near the beach. They watched the sunset go down.
Noah Claros is kind and warmhearted. He hates pizza but everyone thinks he loves it for some reason. Many mistake his name for Nathan and he is inspired by J.K. Rowling.
Everything is about Food
Omar Sanchez
One day Christ woke up hungry and he went to the kitchen to eat, only to see that he had eaten all the food from yesterday. Instead Christ went to IHOP to get pancakes with eggs, bacon, and a chocolate shake. After he ate, he watched TV for five hours and fell asleep. He woke up only to be hungry again! This time, he decided to go to In-N-Out. Once he got there, Christ went inside and waited in line. He ordered a cheeseburger, fries, and a soda. However, he could only get a cheeseburger and fries because of the taxes. He was so mad because of the taxes.
Out of pure anger, he started to destroy everything inside the In-N-Out. He was destroying the In-N-Out so badly that the police had to come. They tried to arrest Christ and he was so mad he started to fight the officers. However, they beat him up and put him in jail for 30 years. He was so sad because he couldn’t eat any more fast food.
Once he got inside his cell, a man named James started beating him up too! Christ was afraid of him. James hated him for no reason.
When it was nighttime, Christ heard some noises so he woke up and saw a short man going into his cell. Christ asked him what his name was. His name was Timmy and he wanted Christ to find a time machine with him. Christ decided to go because he’d always wanted to eat food from the future. He was poor and didn’t have a lot of money.
James woke up and tried to beat Christ up again, angry that Christ was leaving. Timmy helped Christ escape and soon they found the time machine. Christ was happy forever eating food in the future with Timmy.
Omar is very shy, kind, and smart. His favorite subjects in school are math and PE.
Peyton and Ronny’s Great Match
Ronny Alexandre Rodriguez
We are in the year 2044 at the 826LA Soccer Stadium. The match is about to start. Ronny, the greatest soccer player in the world, is nervous. He doesn’t know if he will win or lose. He is playing against the whole 826LA team by himself.
Before the match, Ronny starts practicing passes in the field with robots, when suddenly they slide tackle him because he did not pass the ball. Afterward, Ronny gets mad and starts a fight, and gets injured in the shoulder. It hurts a lot and he needs surgery.
Ronny’s best friend Peyton sees Ronny get injured because Peyton had dropped him off at practice. Peyton goes down from the bleachers, stops the fight with the robot, and he calls an ambulance.
In the hospital, the doctor says that Ronny can’t play anymore and that Peyton has to play instead because it’s very important. Peyton takes a flying bus from the hospital to the stadium. He decides to play against 826LA all by himself because, like Ronny, he is really good at soccer.
The match begins. Peyton has the ball and he is going towards the goal. The ball hits the post, and he misses. They all go to penalties. With the penalties, the 826LA team catches up 20-20, and they have one minute left on the clock.
Peyton shoots from the other side of the goal and into a fish shape. The ball starts moving like it’s underwater. The stadium looks like an ocean. The ball goes in at the last minute of the game and the score turns to 21-20.
Peyton wins for Ronny and the crowd starts screaming, “Goal!” Peyton is so loud that the whole stadium can hear. Ronny hears him from inside the hospital and screams, “Goal!” too. Peyton is proud. He visits Ronny in the hospital and they hug after the match ends 21-20.
One thing about Ronny is that he loves soccer. It is one of his favorite sports. A second thing is that Ronaldo is better than Messi. A third thing is that he loves his family.
Barbie and Ken in the Future
Samantha Mejia
Barbie, Ken, and their poodle, Snowflake, were surprised when their car drove them into the future!
Barbie and Ken were surprised because they saw flying cars in the sky. They were also surprised because they saw the restaurant where their mom took them when they were babies.
Barbie and Ken sat at the table, and they noticed round holes. They looked inside the holes and saw a pink donut. The hole was too deep to get hold of the donut. They sat down at the table. Their feet felt something strange: bike pedals! Barbie started pedaling.
Barbie exclaimed, “Ken, the plate with the donut is rising!” The way people ate donuts in the future was fun for them.
Outside the restaurant, there was a race track, and the cars all had rainbow tires and wings!
Barbie and Ken were shocked, but they liked the future. The food tasted much better than in 1955. They liked the pasta best, which had tomato sauce and cabbage in it. Their dog, Snowflake, also preferred the dog food of the future.
The owner of 1955 walked towards them while they looked at the racetrack and said, “Barbie and Ken! Come back here, to our time! It’s more fun here! You belong in 1955. You don’t belong there, in the future.”
Barbie said, “We want to buy a house here! We don’t like our house in 1955. It’s super old and the streets are wobbly. It’s warm here, and we want to live a new life with a new house.”
The owner of 1955 responded, “Okay! You do have a better life in the future.” He cried because he was sad to see them go, but he was happy that they would have a better life.
Snowflake woofed which meant he agreed with everything Barbie and Ken had decided.
Samantha, a second grader, loves her family and likes to play tag with her friends and her brother. Samantha likes to play in the snow. She has played in the snow with her family before, and she loved it!
What a Blast!!!
Yeva Kamenetska
Once there was a cotton ball named It, and she had a dog named Peaches (he was a Corgi, in case you were wondering).
It and Peaches were walking in Cottonville to get milkshakes. They spotted a roach with a really cool mustache, so they decided to follow him. After a while, he started walking faster and faster, and before they knew it they were running. It and Peaches were getting suspicious. Suddenly, the roach went through a door and they decided to follow him.
It and Peaches were exhausted! They were hiding behind a rock spying on the roach. They noticed he was digging something in the ground, and when he finished he pulled out a weird-looking box. It and Peaches had the same thought at the same time… It was a time capsule!
The roach said, “Hello, I know that both of you are spying on me. My name is Mr. Roach.”
Suddenly, It and Peaches got scared. Before they knew it Mr. Roach had opened the time capsule and a really powerful and bright light came rushing through, knocking over Mr. Roach. It and Peaches quickly grabbed the box and ran out of there!
After arriving home, It and Peaches investigated the time capsule. They grabbed a magnifying glass and peered through it. It read, “From 1910.’’
Peaches exclaimed, “Nah man, that’s old!’’
It said, “Umm… I think we should put on some protection.’’
Peaches argued, “You can do what you want, but I’m not doing that.’’
It put on her goggles, construction helmet, and lab coat. Then, they opened it. The time capsule exploded and the entire building collapsed!
The police arrived. The Chief said, “You need to pay us 50 bucks!’’
Peaches exclaimed, “Only $50? Here, keep the change!’’
Peaches handed the chief 100 dollars. It and Peaches dramatically walked away wearing really cool glasses while the fire still burned behind them.
Also, they never talked about Mr. Roach. He was dead.
Yeva is a 10-year-old girl who is in fifth grade. Yeva loves creamy colors, the evening, and really wants a Corgi as a dog. She also really likes pandas. Yeva was born in Ukraine!!!
Makeup Through the Future
Allyson L.
Do you ever wonder who invented makeup or how long it has been around? Makeup was first used by the Egyptians. Makeup dates all the way back to 6000 BCE. People created makeup because they believed that makeup was next to godliness and that it appealed to the gods. Back then, they would use kohl tubes to darken the eyelids, and would even use metal rods to put on the makeup.
Beauty standards change almost every year. In the 1920s, the beauty standards were thin eyebrows and red lips. Around the 1980s, bolder colors came out, like blue, purple, and pink. Around 2022 or 2023, people began wearing clean makeup. Light, not too much. Now in 2024, people are into something they named “Latina makeup,” which is mostly big eyelashes and thick eyebrows. This is my favorite type of makeup style.
But don’t you ever wonder what makeup is going to look like 30 years from now? Just imagine, what if people invented makeup that could move on your face or need a remote to function? Just imagine all the cool things and different tips for cool makeup ideas. Maybe we would have some robots that specialize in makeup and do the job for us.
Allyson is a student who attends ICEF Vista. She loves writing and doing makeup. When she grows up, she wishes to become a professional boxer.
The Mandalorian vs Doctor Doom
Arturo
One day at a park, the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda were taking a walk. Out of nowhere, they got attacked by Doom Bots. Then the Mandalorian got a call from his boss and he said, “Hello, you are under attack by Doctor Doom. He wants revenge on you.”
Then the Mandalorian heard screaming and saw Doctor Doom blasting buildings. Then Doctor Doom saw him. “Shoot, he saw me!” said the Mandalorian as he quickly hid behind a trash can.
“I know you are there Mandalorian,” said Doctor Doom.
Then all of a sudden—rrrrrrr—doors opened under the Mandalorian and he fell into a chute.
“Aaaaaah,” said the Mandalorian.
Then Doctor Doom looked over the trash can to see where he was. ”Where is he?” said Doctor Doom. Meanwhile, the Mandalorian landed in a gigantic freezer in an underground bunker that could only be opened from the outside. The Mandalorian was stuck in there.
”Shoot I’m stuck here!” said the Mandalorian
Minutes turn into hours, hours turn into days, days turn into months. Eventually he froze. Twenty years later, someone opened the freezer. It was a Doom Bot. They took the Mandalorian to a lab to do 40,000 tests on him. So it took three days for the tests. When he woke up on the third day, he escaped and went looking for his dark saber. He found it in a museum where he waited for it to close It took three hours. When it closed, he snuck in and wandered for 30 minutes.
“Finally!” he said, “I found it! Wait! If I take the dark saber out, then an alarm will activate. Fudge it!”
“Wheeeeeeee,” sounded the alarm.
He quickly hid on the second floor. One minute later, the museum was swarmed with Doom Bots. Finally, when the last Doom Bot came, the Mandalorian jumped down and put his saber to his neck.
“Tell me where Doctor Doom is and I will let you live,” said the Mandalorian.
“Okay, okay! He lives at the top of the mountain,” said the Doom Bot.
“Thank you!”
“Whee!”
“If you tell anyone, I’ll come after you.”
“Bye,” said the Doom Bot.
“Bye!” said the Mandalorian. It took him four hours to finally get to Doctor Doom.
“You finally came after 20 years,” said Doctor Doom.
“I’m ready to fight you,” said the Mandalorian.
They crashed their swords, finally. The Mandalorian stabbed his sword in the ground and suddenly the floor under Doctor Doom caved in. He fell into the ocean mist, never to be seen again.
Arturo is 10 years old. He is in the fifth grade and has two sisters, Roxana and Edna. Roxana is in eighth grade and Edna is in twelfth grade. In his free time, he likes to watch YouTube and play video games.
The Future is Unexpected
Arturo Lazaro
Pencil, a five foot ten wooden pencil with arms and legs, is in a laboratory with Golf Ball. Pencil gets shrunk and Golf Ball starts chasing her for an experiment to put her into a lava bucket to see what it will do. Luckily, One appears, and with his power he takes Pencil and makes her fall asleep, so that she cannot move or see at all.
Then, One takes Pencil to an Algebra Factory. One watches her try to get out the hydraulic press as a challenge. One just stares at Pencil as she struggles to get out of there.
Then Pencil accidentally blows a bubble. The bubble pops when it hits the ground. Then Pencil hits a button teleporting her 20 years into the future. Pencil finds out she is in the future. Pencil sees Two instead of Four. Four was Pencil’s competition host, but instead of Four, it is now Two doing the competition. The house she used to live in is now a five star hotel.
Pencil then goes up to Two and asks him, “Where’s Four?”
Two asks, “Four? Oh! Yeah he’s 2,763 miles away from here.”
Pencil gets shocked and tries to find a way out. Pencil spends one hour and 461 seconds being a pathetic failure.
Soon, she finds a button and then she pushes it and brings herself back to the present. Golf Ball then sees her and catches her. Golf Ball then puts Pencil in the bucket thinking it is lava but realizes it is actually water dyed orange! Pencil gets out and is freed from Golf Ball.
Arturo Jr. is the Latin author of over 10 books including Well Look Who It Is and You Are a Loser But You’re Not.
James and the Weird Land
Avery F.
In the morning crazy, naughty James was bored. His mom said, ”Why don’t you play outside?” It was dirty and rusty out there, but he went outside.
“Hmm, I’m going to go to the park.” When he arrived, he had a great idea! “I’m going to make a time capsule portal!”
“I bet you can’t,” said a grumpy old man.
James was so mad he wanted to punch him! ”Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr,” James said. Instead of punching him, he screamed at him, “WHATEVER. I WILL PROVE YOU WRONG!” Then he said softly, “Whatever.”
So he went to work. Then he saw a time capsule in the grass and fixed it. Then it opened and he got sucked in. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! HELP! HELP ME!”
Three hours later, he woke up in a weird land. He saw a man and said, “Hey! Where am I?”
“It is the year 2000000000000000000000000000000049,” the man responded.
“WHAT?! I should be dead right now. I’ve come from a different dimension called ‘Earth.’ I came from the year 200000000000.”
“Maybe we can work together.”
So they went on their newest adventure! But then they saw a paper. It said, “Clue flip me over.” So they flipped the paper over and it said, “If you want to escape, find the hidden key. It is in Crazylandia.
“Huh? What’s Crazylandia?” asked James.
“So, um… I’ve been here more than a year and I know what it is,” replied the man.
“HUH! What is it?!”
“It’s a big land where there are monsters.”
“MONSTERS!?”
“Yeah.”
”So, um… Where is it?”
“I have no Idea.”
“NO IDEA?!”
“Hey look, my friend Jack knows.”
“GREAT! Let’s just go ask him now.”
“Oh okay.”
So they went to Jack and asked him. “Oh, so first go north. Then south. Then east. Then turn right and then left… ?”
”BOY DO YOU THINK I CAN REMEMBER ALL THAT?!”
“Yeah.”
“WELL YOU ARE WRONG MY BUDDY.”
“Ok ok!” Jack sighed. “So just come in my super hyper tech sonic helicopter.
“I’ve got a plan to get in,” said James. ”So let’s dress in black and then wait for the guards to come in and secretly jump behind him. Then, run and steal all of the guards’ clothes. We will do it when the clock strikes 12 exactly.”
They did the plan and all the guards came running out. They snuck into the queen’s room, and they got the key. But then the queen woke up and said, “How dare you! Guards!”
But James, Jack, and the man ran out. Six hours later the guards came. “You are fired, you too, and you,” screamed the queen.
“We didn’t even care about you anyway,” the guards replied.
After James and his friends got away from the queen, they got in the helicopter and unlocked the portal. James finally made it back to the park. They threw the grumpy old man in the portal so that he would believe him and told him, “See! Now you BELIEVE! BYE!”
James went home, gave his mom a GIANT hug. His mom said, “WHERE WERE YOU?! I was so scared, I called the police. I went to the park and searched EVERYWHERE! Then I went to Mexico, Canada, Louisiana, Miami, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Hawaii, Europe, Paris, Brazil, Africa, Japan, China, New York, Argentina, Russia, Australia, Armenia, the Bahamas, Spain, Italy, France, and Germany. JUST FOR YOU!”
Avery LOVES SANRIO. She also loves playing with LEGOS! She also has a sister and LOVES TO EAT!
The Adventure of the Three Friends
Avery Youmans
“Ding ding,” rang the bells of Sofi and Jules’ bikes. I ran outside, getting my bike so we could ride to the Opal Street stores.
“Hi Ayla!” Sofi and Jules exclaimed.
“Hi guys!”
We rode our bikes for five minutes until we made it into the center of town. We parked our bikes and started looking at the shops.
“Guys, look!” There were some sticks on the grass in the shape of an X. We decided to explore to see what it was.
Jules kicked her foot to see if something was under the ground. “Ow, my foot!” Jules yelped in pain. “There is definitely something metal in there!” Jules said, still in pain.
“Should we try and dig to see if something is actually buried in the ground?” said Sofi.
“That’s a good idea Sof, but we don’t have anything to dig with.”
“I think I saw a store with camping gear. Maybe they will have shovels,” said Jules.
We went to the camping store and found shovels.
“Perfect!” said Jules.
Sofi paid for the shovels. We started walking to the place where we saw the sticks and started digging. After digging for five minutes I saw a metal box. We opened the box, which was really rusted and old.
“What do you think it is?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but what I do know is that it is very old,” said Jules.
The first thing we saw in the box was a really old photograph. It was a group of friends at a party. At least, we thought it was a party. The girls in the picture had really big hair and really pretty dresses.
“Oh, maybe it’s a prom?” Sofi said.
“Oh yeah, I think it is!” I exclaimed.
There was also a necklace with a note. The note said: “Since you opened our time capsule, you should be able to experience our time.”
“I don’t know.” I said.
And boom! We were in a whole new world.
“OMG! OMG! We are in the olden days!” We walked around and the only thing we saw were people with big hair. We asked someone that we saw what year we were in.
“It’s the year 1956,” said a country-looking guy.
“Wait, have any of you guys thought about how we can get out of this place?” asked Jules.
“Yeah, you’re right Jules. I haven’t thought about that,” said Sofi.
“Neither have I,” I said. “That is our main focus.”
“Let’s keep looking around so we can find a way out of here,” said Jules.
“Ok, let’s go,” Sofi said.
We could not find anything after it felt like forever looking around.
“I am really hungry,” Sofi said.
“Same,” Jules said.
“Me too,” I said.
“Let’s try and find a diner or something.”
We stopped at Denny’s and got breakfast for dinner. After eating, I said, “I’m going to go to the bathroom really quickly.”
“Wait Sofi, do you still have the time capsule?” Jules said.
“Yeah I kept it in my backpack. Why?” Sofi asked.
“I want to see if there’s a map or something in the time capsule.” Jules said.
“Oh yeah, that’s a really good idea Jules.”
“Another note!” Jules said.
“Oh wait, what does it say?”
It says, “Since you are in our time now, we want to send you on an adventure so you can go home. Have you ever heard of the gas station Dizmos? There, you will find your way back home!”
“Ok, are you guys ready to head over to the gas station?” I asked Sofi.
“How do you know you are going the right way?” asked Jules.
We walked for a little bit until we made it to Dizmos.
“What should we look for?”
“I don’t see anything!”
“Have you guys found anything yet?” I asked.
“No, not yet,” said Jules.
“Found something!” exclaimed Sofi.
We walked into the chip aisle where Sofi found something. Sofi pointed to a bright orange button. “I have an idea!” Jules said.
“What is it?” Sofi and I asked.
“Let’s all press the button to see what happens.”
“Ok. Three, two, one!”
All our hands pressed on the button.
BOOM!
We all coughed from smoke. I looked over my shoulder and saw our street sign. We all hugged each other and went to our houses, not believing the day we had.
Avery enjoys playing soccer! She also enjoys eating pickles and Chick-Fil-A. Avery likes writing creative stories best.
Time Capsule
Brandon Hernandez Santiago
There were two kids hanging out playing video games. Their names were Sophia and Alex.
Sophia said, “I’m kinda bored.”
“Well, what should we do?” asked Alex.
“Oh, we should build a time capsule,” Sophia said.
After that they went to a workshop store to buy supplies to build the time capsule. Once they got home, they immediately started to build the box. While they were building the box, Tom, the bully, started spying on them from the window without them knowing.
Once they were done, they started finding stuff to put in the time capsule. Sophia screamed, “ALEX! WHERE ARE YOU?! I found a lot of stuff we can put in.”
Sophia didn’t know where Alex was. Sophia started looking for Alex, but while she was looking for him she saw Tom spying through the window. She was scared, so she pretended she didn’t know that he was spying on them.
She quickly went to find Alex. Alex was sleeping calmly in his room. Sophia kicked the door open. Alex woke up immediately and screamed, “WHAT THE FLIPPING FLOPPEN DO YOU WANT?!”
He grabbed his pillow as a self-defense item, just in case someone was breaking in. Alex opened the door and he saw….
“Tom?! Tom, why are you here?”
“I came to say sorry for bullying you and I saw that you guys are creating a time capsule and I was gonna ask if I can join?” said Tom.
“We forgive you and sure you can!” said both of them, and they continued their day.
Brandon is a nice and smart person. He is from Venice in Los Angeles, CA. He loves to make food and to eat it after.
Long Lost Time Capsule
Camila Ruiz Garcia
One day, there were were three pookie wookies (aka best friends) named Kylie, Yaas, and Lily. They were good friends who never lied to each other. They had been friends since kindergarten. Kylie was 14, Yaas was 16, and Lily was 15. Yaas and Lily were on their way to Kylie’s house for a sleepover.
“Hi girls,” said Kylie.
“Hi Kylie,” said Lily and Yaas.
Then Kylie gave them two pieces of paper that said, “What we will be doing today.”
“Ok girls, I will tell you what we will be doing today,” said Kylie. “First thing we will be doing is face masks. Then we will watch a movie called The Conjuring.”
“Nope, I’m not watching that,” said Yaas.
“Someone is a scaredy cat,” said Lily.
“Don’t be rude to Yaas, Lily,” said Kylie.
“Fine,” said Lily in a sassy way.
Kylie suggested having a pool party and making cookies after face masks. After the pool party and face masks, Kylie decided to invite their new friends, Ophelia and Alexis, over. Once they arrived, the girls made the cookies and put them in the oven. Now they were ready to watch the movie! They turned on the TV.
“So we are watching The Conjuring,” said Lily.
“I’m scared! AAH!” exclaimed Yaas.
“We just started watching the movie Yaas,” said Kylie.
Two hours later, they finished watching the movie. Lily was asleep on the couch and Yaas was under the blanket.
“LILY WAKE UP!” exclaimed Kylie.
“I’m up! I’m up!” said Lily.
“We’re all going to go to the cafe right now,” said Ophelia. The girls all agreed and left the house with the cookies still baking.
The girls got in their Honda Civic and Kylie started to drive.
“What cafe are we going to?” asked Alexis.
“We are going to the Lazy Daisy,” responded Yaas. Once they got there, they got out of the car and Alexis fell on her face, causing everyone around them to stare.
“AAH!” screamed Alexis.
“What happened?” asked Kylie.
“I fell on my face… Whoa! There’s a lottery ticket on the floor!” said Alexis with excitement.
“Oh dang it!” said Lily, “I wanted to be rich!”
They got in the cafe and the barista greeted them, “Hello! What can I get you guys?”
“Can I please get a strawberry matcha latte?” said Alexis.
“Then can I get some water, please?” followed Lily. Yass then asked for coffee. Then the girls all sit at a table.
“I have to go, you guys,” said Lily. Kylie asked Lily where she’s going.
“I’m going back to your place,” said Lily, “Because I forgot my medicine there, and I also have to take my hamster to the vet.” The girls said goodbye to Lily and watch her drive away in an Uber.
Eight minutes later, the girls finished their drinks and Ophelia suggested they go home. As they approached Kylie’s house, they saw smoke from a distance.
“Wait, I just remembered that we forgot to turn off the oven,” said Yaas.
“Is that your house on fire Kylie?” exclaimed Alexis.
“Wait! That is my house! Let’s go quickly!” They zoomed to her house and found caution tape that warned them not to trespass. The girls got out of the car and saw firefighters pass by.
Wee woo wee woo wee woo!
“My house… ” said Kylie. The policemen told them to stay back, but Kylie said, “I’m the owner of the house! I live there!”
“Oh… ” said the policemen, “We thought Lily Morsen lived in that house.”
“No… Why? Lily’s my friend.”
“Oh… Because she was in the house when the fire started.”
“What happened?” asked Kylie, “Is she okay?”
The policemen informed Kylie that Lily was found not breathing on the floor and said, “My condolences… Your friend has passed away.” The girls all burst into tears.
The next day, Kylie did not have a house. Nowhere to live, she stayed at a hotel. Her friends came to visit her.
“I’m sorry you have no place to live,” they told her.
Kylie suddenly remembered something. She buried a time capsule in the backyard when she was five years old. She returned to her burnt home, got a shovel, and started digging.
“I see the box,” she said as she dug it out of the dirt. She opened it and saw a bunch of old photos.
“Whoa! Here’s the time that I did my first cartwheel and handstand! Oh! And here’s Lily when she was born! I miss Lily… ”
“We will always miss Lily,” said Ophelia.
“And we will never forget about her,” said the rest of the girls.
“Next time, we should remember to turn off the oven,” they said.
PS Alexis won the lottery. It was 100 billion dollars and she split it with Ophelia.
Camila likes volleyball. She loves Sabrina Carpenter and she has three fav volunteers: Ophelia, Alexis, and Yaas. She loves the band Nirvana. She enjoys 826LA in Mar Vista. Also, she has two best friends named Dania and Sofia. And also Zya. Shes loves boba and enjoys it a lot. Also, she is a slay queen.
The Time Capsule
Diego Ruiz
10/31/2099
“Oh, what is this?“ I said. There was a time capsule and I went back home. What I saw in the time capsule was a signed Lebron basketball, an 826LA shirt, and a Roblox gift card.
I froze myself during the 2044 solar eclipse. When I was coming back from the solar eclipse, someone kept following me. His name was THE BAD. When I got to my house, he started to lasso me. I had not much air in my mouth, I couldn’t breathe. He demanded that I give him the time capsule.
When I said no, he lassoed me even more. I had more of a hard time breathing. He tried to snatch the time capsule out of my hands. I kept it in my hand until I woke up.
When I woke up, I opened the time capsule, but there was something different. There was a nuclear potion. If you put it in a power plant, you could explode the world. Now I knew why THE BAD wanted the time capsule. I kept the time capsule for one more year.
One year later…
THE BAD came back again. He now had a bodyguard. He didn’t know that I had an inflatable baseball bat that could blow him into another universe.
I hit him. He was gone.
Oh no, he took the nuclear potion! I went to the power plant to try and stop him. When I got there, I saw him about to put the nuclear potion into a special place for the potion. When I went to tackle him, he tried to put a 20 pound weight on my foot.
When he put the weight on my foot, it didn’t hurt because I’m the Sigma Rizzler Skibidi. “He will not end the world,” I told myself.
He had a knife. I don’t know where it came from. Lucky me, I had a survival knife. We started to clash knives. He pushed me, and I pushed him back.
“Stop trying to destroy the world,” I said. Then he stopped.
“You’re my son. I don’t want to hurt you,” he said. We went to a cafe and had a cup of tea and chatted.
Diego is from Mexico is nine years old. He likes to play basketball and has been playing for four years. Fun fact: He is the Sigma Rizzler.
Stuck in the Year 2050
Gerardo
One day, there was a person named Teddy, and he was late for school. When he got to the classroom it was empty. A ball fell from his pocket, and rolled to a bookshelf in the classroom. There was a glow from under the bookshelf where a time capsule came out.
When the teacher entered the classroom Teddy asked her, “What is inside the time capsule?”
Then she said, “What time capsule? I don’t see a time capsule.” Teddy looked back and the time capsule was still in front of him. Teddy asked his other classmates if they saw the time capsule.
They said, “You’re probably losing your mind.”
After school Teddy stole the keys to the classroom when the teacher was sleeping during lunch. When Teddy tried to open the door the key was not entering the lock. Teddy didn’t notice until it was too late, but the key he used was crumbling apart.
So Teddy went to his friend, the janitor, because he had an extra key for the classroom. Teddy’s friend asked why he needed it. He told him he needed it to open the classroom and get a time capsule. The janitor didn’t believe Teddy and said, “I can’t give you the key. You sound crazy.”
So then Teddy snatched the classroom key out of his hand. He hid for two hours before the janitor gave up looking for his key. Finally, he opened the classroom door slowly, and there it was: the time capsule! Teddy grabbed the capsule, and ran away. When Teddy got home he opened the time capsule and inside Teddy saw a small slimy green alien. Teddy realized that what he had stolen was actually an alien spaceship and not a time capsule!
The Two Time Capsules
Giovani Flores-Seo
A man called Jake was walking to an airport. Jake got on the plane at 10:37. Then Jake fell off the plane. When he fell to the ground, he passed out. The mountains were watching him. His cat found him and brought him back in a wagon.His cat smelled to find him. The cat took him to the doctor.
Later, they found a time capsule. They opened it and found a soccer ball, toy airplane, rat, and an iPad. They started a soccer league, but they popped the ball by kicking it too hard. So they started to fly the toy plane, but the dark and lonely Shany, who threw the plane, hit 13 people with it.
Later, Jake healed and he went on a real plane to Ohio because he wanted to see his parents. Once there, he found another time capsule. In it, he found $1,000,000 and 50 gold bars. He flew to the United States and bought three lambos. With the other money, they bought a house.
Giovani is eight years old. He has three siblings and two dogs as well as one kitty. In his spare time, he likes to play Roblox on his iPad.
The Mission
Hazel Tamir
A couple of months ago, two friends Rebbeca and Sophia went to Canada, and they were staying in a cabin by themselves. At the cabin, Rebecca saw a lot of metal detectors. They got really scared. They had no idea what to do with them.
Then, Sophia tripped and fell. They looked around the room and could not find a bedroom for them to sleep in. There were no ice packs for Sophia either.
They then took a metal detector and went outside with it. They then found not just one penny, but 17! Afterwards, they found a box. They found a latch on the box, so they opened it up. They found so many cool things in it such as a chapter book, puzzle, a pen, and a pencil. They did not know where it was from.
Afterwards, they went to sleep on the floor right next to the door because they did not have a room to stay in. When they woke up and went outside it was gone. They had no idea where the time capsule went.
Afterwards, they went to the front of the house and checked there. They found it! They found a tag on it and found out it was from 1999.
They then felt a shake almost like an earthquake. They were no longer in the cabin. They got transported to another world!
Luckily, they still had the time capsule. But after 30 weeks, the time capsule was pulled up and reburied somewhere else.
Hazel is from Los Angeles, she loves things like sushi and animals. She also likes to spend her time reading and playing. She likes to have time with her friends but also time by herself.
The Size of a Butterfly
Kimberly Martinez
My friends Elly, Ari, Magali, and I were able to go to a fifth grade camping trip together. We were so happy, but there were other people that were sad because they couldn’t go. Some people couldn’t go because there were only 20 girls that could go and 20 boys that could go. The people that were not going had to stay with our teacher, Ms. Mares, in the classroom.
The day before the trip, I felt excited. My mom and I began to pack. It was the day! I got ready, ate breakfast, got my stuff ready, and left the house. My friends and I got on the school bus and left.
Once we got there, We were told we were staying in cabins and were given a plan for the next three days. It was cold, so I was glad I brought my jacket. At night time, it was time to put my pajamas on and brush my teeth so I could go to sleep.
The next day, we went on a walk to view the aquarium. We were halfway there and that is when we saw a potion. It was on the floor and Elly picked it up.
My friend Elly asked, “Do we drink it?”
I said,“No!” But they didn’t listen. Magali, Ari, and Elly drank the potion. They said, “Drink it, Kimberly!”
I drank it so I wouldn’t be a fake friend. When I drank it I felt weird. Then five minutes later, I felt like I was flying. Then I looked down and saw that I turned into a small blue butterfly. And when I looked at my friends, they were butterflies too. Elly was a small pink butterfly, Ari was a big red butterfly, and Magali was a big purple butterfly.
The camp teacher started looking for us. She told everyone to look for us. We were flying over them trying to find us and trying tell them where we were.
Then a kid said, “Look! There are butterflies flying.”
One of the camp helpers saw the potion. It had a note saying, “If you drink this you will turn into a butterfly.” But my friends and I did not read the note so that was why we turned into butterflies. The camp helper told the camp teacher what she saw and said, “What if the girls are butterflies?”
The camp teacher said, “That can not be them.” But it was us.
The camp helper said, “Look! It looks like people drank this.”
A kid heard what the camp helper said and she said, “Can I get water?”
The camp teacher said, “Yeah, go!”
So she went and got water, but we did not know that she got water to put on us. She said, “Butterflies come down!” and she then put water on us. It worked! We were not butterflies anymore.
We all said, “Thank you.“
The camp teacher and the camp helper asked, “Girls, why did you drink the potion?”
We all said,“Because we did not know anything would happen.”
Then they told us not to drink anything from the floor.
We all just said, “Okay!”
We walked back to the camp area. We were happy, but also sad because we couldn’t fly anymore. When we got to the camp area we played, ate, and went to sleep. After a long day of walking, and turning into butterflies, it was time to sleep. It was really cool turning into butterflies because we could fly. Now I know how butterflies fly and how they feel while flying.
Kimberly is from Mexico. She plays volleyball and soccer. She goes to Grand View Elementary School and is in fifth grade. She loves to do art and draw. She loves to color light blue. She writes about butterflies because it is her fifth favorite animal. She loves cinnamon rolls and stitches.
Prop 34
Liam Proposition 34 will replace housing and we will go backward on housing because inflation and skibadi are ruining housing. Sadly, we are going backward on housing. All of us should say, “No on 34.” If we lose, families will have to live on the street.
We have to beat them on 34 and if we win, we can bring Spiderman and bring all the superheroes like Thor and Hulk. We can go forward with housing with the superheroes, and people can defend themselves with housing. If we don’t defend ourselves, we can get kicked out of our houses.
It looks like we will win, so we are not going to replace houses. Spiderman does most of the work because he is telling everyone about Prop 34 and telling them to say “No.” We vote for houses and so do all the superheroes, such as Spiderman, Hulk, and Ironman. What I mean is the superheroes are really nice for helping because without their help, we would have lost Prop 34 and would not have housing. If they had lost, we would not have a place to live.
Liam’s full name is David Pinto Ades. He loves soccer so much. He likes any game that uses balls. He has one sister named Sophie. She is 21. Liam is 8. Here are his pets: A dog named Bella and a goldfish who lives in the kitchen in a fish tank. Liam’s favorite food is Brazilian food. His grandmother and grandfather live in Brazil. There are fruits called cupuacu and bacuri there. Those are his favorite.
I Filmed Everything
Liv C. Ryan
Once upon a time, Bryan, Hannah, and Bobby were hanging out at school listening to Claire, well… talk for two hours straight. Since Case—I mean Bryan was already bored, he decided to fart, creating a scene.
PHBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBT!
It was so loud that everyone at school looked at Bryan because they all thought he ate Taco Bell™, again. Bryan had promised he would never interrupt Bobby’s “girlfriend” Claire again, but Bryan broke the promise. “Heh… ” Bryan said, embarrassed.
”He ate Taco Bell again didn’t he? Well, I’m still going to get revenge even though we had a truce,” Bobby thought.
“Why did you do that?! I thought we had a truce!” Bobby hollered.
“I’m sorry… I couldn’t hold it this time,” Bryan said shyly.
“Ooooooooh,” Hannah said as she pulled out her phone and starts filming.
“NO! I’m not going to forgive you anymore!!” Bobby yelled. Bryan pushed Bobby on the ground.
“That’s what you get!” Bryan said. Bobby landed on hard rocks.
“For what?” Bobby said, voice cracking and rubbing his right eye.
Bobby started crying and furious teachers surrounded Bryan. Ms. Rose grabbed Bryan’s arm. “This time, you’re going in the special closet,” Ms. Rose said.
Bobby saw how mad Ms. Rose was, so he followed them. This time, Bryan was very scared. “Oh shiver me timbers!” Bryan said, trying to trick Ms. Rose into thinking that he was not scared. Ms. Rose growled and walked faster. Ms. Rose threw Bryan into the closet.
CLICK!
Bryan’s back accidentally pushed a button on a machine behind him. The door shut. It was pitch black in the closet until… VMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
Bobby was worried. He came from behind the wall, and opened the closet door. Bobby didn’t see anything except for a bright blue light. Bobby covered his eyes. “Bryan, where are you?!” Bobby said as his elbow covered his eyes and he walked into the blueness. Bryan ignored Bobby. His attention is completely on the time machine!
Bryan blindly wandered through the time machine. “Bryan, wait!” Bobby said, assuming that Bryan walked away from him (which he did). Bobby tried to follow Bryan into the time machine which Bryan had just disappeared into.
THUMP!
“OWWWW!” Bobby ran into the time machine button that said “OFF.” Bobby took his elbow off his face and stared at the “OFF” button.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Bobby thought. “How am I ever going to get revenge on Bryan ever again?!” Bobby cried as he got on his knees and turned his head to the ceiling.
As Principal Simmons walked through the hallway, she heard Bobby’s wails and rushed to see what happened. “What is all the ruckus?!”
Principal Simmons said. Bobby turned around with tears dropping from his eyes onto his knees. Principal S. was very confuzzled. “Why is Bobby on the—”
“BRYAN’S GONE!“ Bobby yelled as tears overflowed his mouth.
“OH. MY. GOD,” Principal Simmons said. Principal Simmons was so surprised that it looked like she didn’t have eyelids. Principal S. was scared and furious at the same time. “How did they find out about the time machine!?” Principal S. thought. “Why are you in here?” Principal Simmons asked with a high-pitched voice.
“Oh!” Bobby said. “Almost forgot. Bryan got thrown in here.”
“By who?” Principal Simmons asked, furious.
“Ms. Rose!” Bobby said, blinking his eyes and acting so very innocent. “Ms. Rose is so fired” Principal S. thought. “Thanks!” said Principal S. as she stormed off into Ms. Rose’s classroom. “But maybe don’t tell everyone about the time machine. Got it?” Principal Simmons said as she popped her head into the closet again.
Literally out of nowhere, Hannah appeared. “Oops!” Hannah said. Bobby started telling everyone about the time machine. He skipped to every classroom crying about Bryan being gone.
“I thought you hated him and wanted revenge on him,” Claire said, confused.
“Well now, I can’t do it anymore!” Bobby said, yelling at Claire.
“Because he’s dead!” Or so he thought. Bobby was crying again while Hannah handed him a tissue.
RINGGGG!
The school bell rang. Students left their classrooms. Bobby went over to the closet to see if he could get Bryan out of the time machine. Bobby pushed the bright red button that said “ON.”
“Noooo!” A voice coming from the corner of the closet said while the closet door closed. The missing janitor that was in the corner of the closet ran to the door.
Bobby gasped. “OMG! Are you the missing janitor?!” Bobby asked with fear.
“No, I’m your ex that was crying after our breakup,” the janitor says with sarcasm.
“Look man, it just didn’t work out—”
“OF COURSE I’M THE MISSING JANITOR! WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?” the janitor yelled, interrupting Bobby.
“Sorry… ”
VMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
The time machine was turning on. A bright blue light was summoned from the time machine.
“Oh shart,” Hannah said, lowering her phone from her face. Bobby and the missing janitor looked at Hannah while the time machine‘s light was glowing brighter.
SHWOOT!
Bryan was running out of the time machine. “CLOSE IT! QUICK!” Bryan yelled as a robot was chasing him.
When the time machine closed, it barely cut the robot’s forearm off. The robot’s forearm started crawling toward Bryan.
“AAAAH!” BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Bobby hit the robot’s forearm with a broom he found in the closet.
Pant, pant, pant. Bryan panted as he stood next to the door, exhausted from running from the robot. “Phew!” Bryan said as he wiped his forehead with his arm, while everyone stared at him.
“Pfft,” Hannah said. She noticed everyone staring at Bryan and realized what just happened.
Bryan tried to open the door. “Erm… ” Bobby started to say. He was using the broom as a cane and trying to look cool. “The door is locked.
This door can only be opened from the outside.”
Bryan tried to open the door again. “Guys, I’m no Einstein, but… I think we’re stuck.”
The missing janitor replied in a cringy voice, “OMG, HOW DID YOU KNOW!?”
They all rolled their eyes at him in unison.
“Sorry… ” The missing janitor said, scratching his head.
Liv is an eleven-year-old with a little brother named Max. Her birthday is on Halloween, and she loves fashion. Some of her icons are James Charles, the Kardashians, Lana Rae, and Leah Ashe. Liv also loves Dress to Impress, a game in roblox which half the Earth plays. Her favorite foods are ramen, Takis, and chicken soup.
Cop and Bob
Matthew Mendoza
Cop and Bob went to work. They made a toy and an iPad. Then they finished work, went to get pizza, and then they went home. Later, they woke up and got snacks to watch a movie. Then they went to work at 10:42, finished at 12:01, and went back home.
When they were 12 years old they went to school, and they finished school 20 years later. Now they were adults and were working to get money to buy a house. The next part of this story continues in chapter two, during the next day.
Chapter Two!
The next day, in part two, Cop and Bob bought a new house, and they went to work and they finished their work. Then Bob found a Pokémon card, which was a Charizard VMax HP 999999! He also found an Evil Mewtwo HP 999, and he found a Charizard HP 780. The first Pokemon card was worth $1,000, the second $25,000, and the last one $329,004. In all it cost $355,004 and that’s a lot of money. They wanted to keep the Pokemon cards, but they also wanted to sell the Pokemon cards tomorrow. But the story was not finished.
Chapter Three!
Next was tomorrow. Cop wanted to keep the cards, but Bob wanted to sell the cards, so they did a one versus one on Fortnite. Who would win? Would they sell the cards or keep the cards? Three, two, one, GO!
Bob was doing well and was doing so well—
Oooooh no! Bob died! The winner was Cop, so they kept the Pokemon cards. They were going to the store to buy snacks. When they got there, there was a robber. Cop was a cop and so he arrested the robber. There were two robbers, though, and the sad news is Cop got shot. Then the robbers ran away and Cop died. Bob was crying. Bob trained to be a cop for one year. A cop named Bob. He found the robbers. Bob arrested both of them finally. Bob was a real cop. He said, “this is for Cop!”
Matthew’s favorite food is Hot Cheetos. He was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, but now lives in sunny Los Angeles. When not writing, Matthew loves playing soccer, Fortnite, and dodgeball!
The Haunted Forest
Micah
It was a cool fall day and Jack was walking on a path. He was headed towards a forest that looked like it was green and calm. But, it was very spooky as he got closer and closer and then he entered the forest. Then he was on a new path and it was glowing. He kept walking and soon he saw a ghost right in his path!
He said, “This place is super scary.” But he kept walking. Then, he passed a weird tree and he got scared. The ghost was hiding behind the tree! It started to chase Jack. Jack ran past tall mountains and a beautiful lake, down a slope, and then he got to a prairie. The ghost was nowhere in sight.
Then, Jack went for a walk on the prairie. His metal detector sensed something and he started to dig. It was a time capsule from 1826! He opened it and everything inside was dusty.
Jack said, “This stuff is so old.” He saw a wheel, a bow, and an arrow inside. He also saw a glowing stick, a slingshot, and a piece of dynamite. Then, the scary ghost came out of nowhere and jumped on Jack. Jack screamed.
Meanwhile, ants came to the bottom of the piece of dynamite and carried it up to the ground. The ants slammed the door of the time capsule on it. Then, everything was silent. It was about three seconds and then there was a loud boom! The dynamite had exploded. A fire started. Jack ran away really fast and the ghost stayed behind. The ghost made a big mistake and burnt up and died.
The ghost was dead and Jack was safe, but he kept on running out of the forest, through a cave, and around a volcano. Jack almost got burnt from the lava! Leaving the field of nature, Jack ran into a shop.
The shopkeeper asked, “Where have you been?” But Jack wouldn’t tell. He got a bottle of water and ran home.
He went inside. He laid down in bed and said, “What an adventure!”
Micah is from Venice, California. He enjoys riding his scooter really, really fast. A fun fact about him is he can find a banana at any time. His favorite fruit is banana and his favorite color is green.
The Time Capsule
Nehemias
One day, Victor was walking down the street. There was a really big hill, and Victor was already tired from going up the hill. He didn’t want to go further, so he sat down. He felt tired and fell asleep.
When he woke up, it was 12:00 AM. the next day. He realized he had missed school and felt kind of bad about it. But then he noticed something strange, he wasn’t on the hill anymore. He was scared because he was lost. Victor started walking to try and recognize the place but stopped short when he realized he knew where he was.
He ran toward a shed, or at least looked like a shed. When he opened it, there was a time capsule inside. He opened the time capsule and saw things he had seen before, but someone had added new items, like things from the old times.
Victor was really confused. Who would know about this place? He knew the capsule needed a code to open, 187459, but when he looked closer, he saw that one side of the capsule was cut open. Even so, the objects inside were so interesting.
After everything that happened, Victor decided to go back home.
Nehemias is eleven years old. He likes to play soccer, basketball, and spending time outside. He also enjoys reading, and playing different instruments.
About Santiago Ruiz (story on facing page):
Santiago loves to play basketball and play video games. His favorite book is Cat Kid Comic Club. He is excited to see the musical of Cat Ki” with his class on a field trip. Santiago plans to someday have a company that sells basketball socks, shoes, and jerseys.
Nipper Goes to Fun Slide
Santiago Ruiz
Nipper wanted to go to Fun Slide for fun. So Nipper packed books and money for his trip. He got into his car and drove to Fun Slide. Fun Slide was 99 feet tall, and it had a VIP slide for $3,060.
Nipper ate ice cream. Then he decided to go to the biggest slide. At the top of the slide, he felt happy and brave. During the ride, he felt excited and dizzy at the same time.
After he came down the slide, he felt nauseous. He had to go to the doctor, but it was nighttime. All the hospitals were closed. The nearest doctor would take eight days to get there, and he would have to be in the car for eight days. He was not having a good time.
Then, his mom called him to say that the bank had sent him $1,000,000,000! The bank thought that he was Michael Jackson, which was a good and a bad thing. Nipper got in his car and he went to the doctor too fast. The cops stopped him. They said, “You are going too fast!”
“But I am sick,” said Nipper. Nipper was thinking whether the cops were rizzlers. The cops thought about whether they should help Nipper.
They said, “OK, we’ll drive you to the doctor.” But the cops got a flat tire! Then, they found a time capsule on the street.
It said, “Dear Nipper, It is your dad. I know you did not get to meet me. Take care of your mom for me. I love you, Dad.” Nipper felt sad because his dad had died before Nipper was born.
At the doctor’s office, the doctor said, “OK, it seems like you are sick.” The doctor gave Nipper medicine. In the meantime, the bank realized that Nipper was not Michael Jackson, and they took back the money. Nipper didn’t have any money to pay the doctor because he had spent all his money on the Fun Slide and ice cream. The cops had to pay the doctor, and then they gave Nipper a ticket for going too fast.
The next day, Nipper’s mom asked him, “Do you want to go to Fun Slide?” Nipper hung up the phone, and clapped his hand to his forehead!
The Dome
Sebastian Ruiz
Hi, my name is Jack and I have been stuck in a dome with my whole town.
Okay, let me explain what happened. There’s this company called “Green Oil.” They said that all the oil in 2044 was dirty. The company talked with our mayor and he agreed to put our town in a dome. The company told us that this way we would not get hurt during the oil removal. But here’s the thing: It has been two years since the deal!
My best friend Todd and I wanted to escape that night and save the city. It was time. I was nervous, but I had packed a lot of stuff: My hoverboard, my laser gun, and some food. I picked up my friend Todd.
It took us a year to dig a hole to escape the dome. We finally managed to get out at 2 AM and when we got there, I saw oil bubbles coming out. I immediately showed them to Todd and he thought that we were close to the building where the oil company was.
He was right! After looking for about an hour, we finally found it. It was heavily guarded and drones were all over the place. We had to wait for a long time to get in because of the drones. After getting in, I used my laser gun and shot one of the drones. Another one noticed me and took us to a prison cell.
We somehow managed to escape by using a pocket light cannon with little light beams. Two guards noticed us so we got our stuff and jumped out of a window nearby. Luckily, I had a crash pad and landed on it. Todd and I decided to split up and use talky watches (they are like walkie talkies but as watches!).
After looking around for about five minutes, I found the boss. I saw him making an ad about his oil company. After recording it, his accent changed to Texan. After a while, I saw an oil bomb moving down towards the ground. I got my phone and recorded it.
After a bit, the boss tapped on my shoulder and said, “Hello Jack.”
“GAH!” I yelled.
“You should not be here,” said the boss, and in a blink of an eye I was in a dark room. “Hello Jack. Do you know why you are here?” asked the boss.
“Yes! I know why, you little @#$#%!@!”
“Do you know why I do this?” the boss asked, but before I could say a word, he said, “I do this because when I was a kid, my papa and I went hunting for animals. We saw a bear and my papa tried to kill it. The bear ran towards him and killed my papa by getting him and ripping him apart.”
While the boss was talking, I got a little knife that I had in my back pocket. As soon as he left, I ran out of the room. The thing was that the room was in a mineshaft! I called Todd and he helped me to get out. We went outside and saw the boss, but when we walked up to him an explosion happened! I noticed the oil bubbling out of the ground! I got so mad at the boss that I jumped on him!
We fought for about five minutes. After that a big—I mean another BIG—explosion happened! Todd, the boss, and I were blown away! When I was able to stand up again, I saw a person waving at us. It was one of my friends that I met in the town, Greg. He and I quickly became friends, but when Jack and I decided to leave town we had to leave him behind due to protecting the secrecy of the plan. I guess he had come to help.
“Greg! Hey man. Sorry we left you behind! I can explain.’’
After talking for like five minutes, we saw the boss getting arrested. We managed to have the company remove the dome and everything went back to normal. We saved the town.
Sebastian likes reading and video games and D&D.
The Revenge
Viviana
There was once a 16 year old girl named Aurora. She was a princess who was in a castle surrounded by a forest. Aurora had a BFF named Katie along with a boy named Jake. On top of that she had a pet dog and cat named Luna and Sun. Luna, the cat and Sun, the dog. Sun was a pretty, fluffy, cute, and playful dog.! Luna was a quiet, small, pretty, smart, and fluffy cat. Aurora and Jake have been in a relationship since they were 13. Aurora’s younger sister Jesica had always wanted to marry either or her boyfriend.
Then one day, Aurora ‘s life changed, when she was taking a walk with Luna, Sun. When she hears a stick being broken behind her. Aurora turns sound and sees nothing behind except for a big bush. Aurora walks toward the bush and bush aside the leaves. There, she finds her boyfriend and her sister digging something up.
Then Jesica with a sigh said, “This is where my mom said this is where she buried the time capsule from father.”
Jake rolled his eyes, and with no regret Jake said something that changed the way. Aurora sees him.
Jake said with hope,” Once we find this time capsule will you be my girlfriend?”
There was a moment of silence then with pride and joy.
Jesica shouted,” Yes, but why do you want to break up with the future queen?”
With a sigh, Jake said,”Aurora can be a little crazy, sometimes also a complete weirdo; she doesn’t even have a real friend! All her friends just use her for her money.”
Suddenly they hit a hard rock but it was a time capsule.
“OMG! What is that!” Jessica shrieked.
“No, silly! It’s a time capsule!” Jake teased.
They pulled out this old rusted box. It had vines covered around it making it hard to get out of the ground. Suddenly, Aurora came out of nowhere, and snatched the time capsule out of Jessica’s hand.
“This time capsule is mine. How could you, Jake? I thought you were a loyal boyfriend, but you’re nothing but a fraud!” I was so angry, but I just blinked back my tears.
“I will get my revenge no matter what happens. Ugh, my friends will also get the revenge they deserve for all those years they have been lying to me.”
I walked home angrily and didn’t look back. Later at dinner, I found my sister already at the table. She looked at me sadly. I didn’t look back at her. I just sat down and looked away.
“Good thing our parents are away,” Aurora murmured under her breath.
“Ugh. Well it’s not my fault that you’re annoying and don’t even have real friends!” I yelled. Then I got up angrily and left for my room.
Viviana is 12 and she is in sixth grade. She enjoys playing an instrument called Koto. And she likes to dance. She is the only girl in the family of six, and her siblings are all brothers.
An Unexpected Day
Sofia Alvarado
“Finally I left that place.”
“Or did you?”
It was a Sunday night at 9:00 PM. Isabella was eating her vanilla ice cream from McDonald’s. While she was eating her ice cream, she was watching her favorite K-drama, “True Beauty.” It was her favorite drama out of the 40 K-dramas she had watched. While she was on her fourth episode she heard a noise coming from the ki—
That’s it .Thank you, narrator, I will take it from here… Okay, I’m ready. Let’s start this!
I heard a noise coming from the kitchen. I got up from my comfy place on the sofa to check the noise.
BOOM!
“Nope nope nope. That’s it! I’m going back to my comfy couch.”
As I was going back to the couch I heard a noise again. BOOM! BOOM!
“You know what? I’m going to go check on that. Let’s not be scared Isabella. You got this. Fighting.”
Creak, creak.
“I need to get this floor changed. This creaking sound is getting on my last nerves!”
Thump, thump.
My heart was beating so fast, I thought it was going to explode out of my chest!
“What in the world is that? Nope! No, I’m just hallucinating. I should go to sleep. Yep, that’s a wonderful idea. Yep, sleep sounds good.”
As I was walking to my bedroom, something kept rumbling in the kitchen.
“That’s it, Isabella, you get your butt back in the kitchen and check what is going on. Let’s not be a scaredy cat.”
As I went back to the hallways leading to the kitchen, a force pulled me so hard that I hit my head on a corner of a table. Everything went black.
“Ouch.”
I woke up, my head was hurting so bad.
“Ouch, ouch, ouch.”
I started standing up, but realized I was on the floor. “GROSS.”
My head was still hurting when I got off the floor, but I shrugged it off. I looked around and saw that I was still in the kitchen.
“Um…. OK. Let’s go to sleep.”
I walked down my hallway and into my bedroom, and then I looked up.
“Aah! There is a person in my house! Why does it look like a ghost?” I yelled out.
“Get off my property, you stranger!” the other girl said.
“Is she joking? She can’t be serious.”
“This is my house! What in the world are you talking about? No, I’m literally the owner of this property. Instead, you should be the one getting out!” I screamed at her. “I will give you two hours to pack up and get out of my house while I wait outside,” I told her in a annoyed tone.
“Hey, you can’t just leave like that… Hey, heeeeey,” the girl screamed. “What is up with these people? They can’t just go into someone’s house while the person is literally knocked out. Like, this is 2024. Get your own house,” I mumbled.
As I was waiting, something caught my eye in the sky, and when I looked I saw a flying car.
“What in th—. Nope this can’t be happening.”
I ran back into the house looking for that girl.
“Hey you girl, um, what year is it?”
She looked at me as if I escaped a mental hospital.
“Um, 2044… Why?”
“I’m in the fu—”
Hey Isabella, watch your language.
I was just going to say the future. What did you think I was going to say?
Nevermind, keep telling your story.
Anyways… So I’m in the future talking to this girl.
“Um, okay. Soooo… What is your name?”
“Oh, I’m Isabella. Isabella Smith.”
“And I’m Emma. Emma Sanchez.”
We shook hands and then she invited me to stay at the house while I figured out what was happening and how to get back to my own timeline.
“So Isabella, do you want to go outside and look at how the future looks, or do you want to save it for later and find out by yourself? If you do want to go outside, we can get some ice cream while I give you a tour.”
“I would love to go outside,” I screamed excitedly.
We went outside and the first thing I saw was the same flying car, just floating in the air. I also saw that all the cars were driverless cars. I saw robots, houses that could shapeshift, robot dogs, and even flying houses. I really couldn’t believe my eyes at all.
“Wow! I never expected the future to be like this. Like, we already had some driverless cars, but now everyone has these driverless cars. You even have flying cars. That is amazing!”
“You think that is impressive, look at this.”
She grabbed my wrist and pulled me into an alleyway leading to the main city, which was really close to my house—or her house I should say.
“Hey, do you think that maybe later we can find my hou—”
“Look, a movie theater where you can pick your own chair, movie, popcorn, and snacks. And it only costs 20 dollars. Which was maybe like 20 dollars back in the 2010s.”
“Yeah, but you have to share with everyone else in the movie theater though.”
“Nope! You get your own little room.”
“Hey, that’s so cool, but can you hear the sirens of the police?”
“Oh, you’re right! Wonder what they need this time?” Emma said.
“Today is a regular population check. Whoever is in the city, come forward and check in with us with your bracelets,” the police said.
“Shoot! I forgot that was today. Um… Come with me. We need to go back to the house.”
“Hey, where do you girls think you’re going?”
“Run Isabella! Run for it! I’ll try to distract them. Go back home!” I ran as fast as my short legs could go. I ran and ran.
“Run Isabella. Go through the back door. No one can see you there.” I mumbled to myself.
Once I reached the back door, I opened it as fast as I could. I shut it hurriedly, closed all the windows, and locked all the doors so it looked like no one was home. I waited for 10 minutes and Emma still wasn’t back.
“Where is she?” I asked myself.
Ding dong, click, creak, shut.
“Isabella, are you here?”
“Emma! OMG, I thought you were dead!”
“Nope. I just told them you were from a different country. It was hard to explain, but they let me go.”
So she wasn’t dead.
“Do you want some water Isabella?”
“Sure. That would be nice. I’ll go to the bathroom.”
“Okay, sure.”
After I came back from the bathroom, I saw some water and biscuits on the table.
“Oh, you’re back already. I bought these yesterday and wanted you to try some. Come sit down.”
“Okay. Thanks.” I was drinking my water when I saw Isabella staring at me.
“Um… Is there something on my face?”
“No, I was just wondering. How do you feel? You just drank that whole glass of water, so…”
“I feel fine. Here, I want to show you something.” As I stood up my
head felt light. I started wobbling.
“Hey Emma, what did you put in the water?”
“You’re fine, just keep walking.”
Black. Everything went black.
Hold up. Why do you keep fainting?
I don’t know. I just want to add some extra drama. “Ugh.” I woke up chained to a wall.
“Where am I?!”
“Oh nice Isabella, you already woke up.”
“Hey Emma, please help me! I don’t know where I am.”
“Don’t worry Isabella. You can be out of here in maybe five years.”
“What in the world are you doing? And stop touching my precious face girl!”
“Isabella, don’t you remember drinking the water and fainting? Well that was all planned. Remember running home trying to escape the police? Well that wasn’t supposed to happen. I just told them you were with me.”
“Then why am I here?” I cried out loud.
“You’re here for an experiment.”
“Why?”
“Because you traveled through time. Duh! Well I’m supposed to leave so bye. I’ll bring you lunch in like an hour. We can’t afford you dying!”
“God, please help me!” As I was about to cry, I saw a pin on the floor.
“Jackpot.” I reached my foot out trying to get the bobby pin.
“Gotcha.” I picked the bobby pin up and started to get the locks open. Flip, flip. I got one open. Now it was easier to get the other one off. Twinkle, twinkle. Something lit up in front of my face.
“The portal,” I said. “Come on Isabella. Hurry up.”
Just as I finished, the door opened. “Hey Isabella, your food is here!” Emma sang out gracefully. “Where do you think you’re going?” She jumped at me, but I was fast enough to dodge her. “Come back here!” She yelled.
I ran across the room as fast as I could. Crash! She got a hold of my shoe. The portal was disappearing.
“No! No! I can’t let the portal go!”
I shoved Emma, hitting her face with my shoe. Plop. I entered the portal and was back in my normal house. I checked outside. It was dark. I checked my bedroom (safe).
“I’ve finally left that place.”
“Or did you?”
Click. Drop. Drip, drip.
I was dead.
Sophia is a normal girl with a normal life. She loves to listen to K-Pop. Sofia also likes to read books. Her favorite book is called “If he had been with me.” Sophia also likes her family.
Discovering a Time Capsule
Whitney
One day a little boy named Theo was digging holes in his mom’s garden. He was playing gold mines. As he was digging, he hit something hard. He moved the dirt off the mysterious box. Theo pulled the box out, but it was locked. Then his brother came and blew up the box opened. Theo got mad because he wanted to blow it up.
A mean old man came and stole the time capsule and captured Theo. “Aah! Help me!” said Theo. All of a sudden, the evil guy defeated the mom, Avery. Then Avery got back up. She threw him into a brick wall, but the evil guy, Zankey, paused time and put the brick wall on her head. He unfroze time and it fell on the mom.
They took Theo away in a space ship. The mom Avery had so much energy because she loved her child a lot.
Two hours later…
“Help me!” Theo said in a very scared voice. The mom ran in the house and grabbed a secret space ship and flew off into space and saved her son.
Whitney likes anime and Sanrio.
Olivia
Meyly Chea
I am eating popcorn and Skittles ice cream in the park. It is sunny, when all of the sudden, it starts to rain. The moon comes out. There are white and pink squares on the moon. I think that is strange. I want to go to the moon. Before I go, I will make a time capsule. I make a long box that’s pink, blue, and purple. I also need to make a spaceship in the same colors to get to the moon. I put my favorite things in the time capsule: a lightsaber, Boba tea, K-Pop music, sunscreen, and a sandcastle. These are my favorite things. I need to bring the time capsule to Disneyland.
I take a taxi to Disneyland, feeling excited. When I get there, I meet my friend Olivia at Disneyland. Olivia likes to play volleyball and eat chips. We shop for clothes at Disneyland. They are Mickey Mouse clothes. Then, we go on a roller coaster. We decide to play with the time capsule by the magic castle.
“We should drink Boba,” says Olivia.
“Let’s drink it,” I say.
We drink the Boba. We still want to be at Disneyland. We are not ready to go home yet. We want to ride another roller coaster. This time a scary one. We threw up at the end of the roller coaster, but we’re still not ready to go home. We buy some balloons and some ice cream. The ice cream is chocolate-chip-cookie-flavored.
“The ice cream is so cold!” I say.
“No it is not!” says Olivia. Finally, we go home and have a sleepover.
Meyly Chea is seven years old. She is in second grade. She likes to play volleyball. She can do the splits and a cartwheel. She loves to draw. Her favorite color is pink. She is a big sister to Meyling.
Time Friends
Kelvin
There is a gamer named Sonny who loves to play Fortnite. One day he decided to make a time capsule. He went to Walmart to get the supplies, which were metal, wires, and a clock. Once he built the time capsule, he put in his PS5, Fortnite DVD, a picture of himself, cookies, a laptop, and a calculator. He decided to bury the time capsule in a graveyard in a random man’s grave. Fast forward 20 years. The year is 2022, and Sonny is 51 years old.
A dog named Lunie buried her bone next to the time capsule. When she went to dig up the bone she accidentally dug up the time capsule. Evan, her owner, found the time capsule and took it home. When she opened it, Evan discovered the objects and saw that they were dirty and damaged. When she tried to fix the PS5, a fire broke out, burning her house down. Because she had no job, she had no choice but to live in the wilderness. After many days on her own, a kind man gave her one million dollars to get the supplies to fix the devices.
The man said, “Take this money. You look poor and hungry.”
Next, Evan and Dino, the kind man, worked together to fix the time capsule once and for all. After completing it, they pressed the button that took them 20 years into the past and, all of a sudden, met Sonny. They asked Sonny, “Who are you? Is this yours?”
Sonny replied, “How did you find this?”
Evan explained everything to Sonny and asked him if he wanted to be friends. Sonny said yes, and they pressed the button again, taking them back 20 years into the future. They had a wonderful time together.
Kelvin is seven years old and he likes apples and chips. His brother is named Dong Hao. He likes to play fortnite. Kelvin likes to draw. Kevin is in second grade.
Mc Apple
Hailey Orosco
It was a cloudy, gloomy day when I got out of school. I was hungry, and the closest fast-food restaurant I saw was McDonald’s. I zipped up my sweater, walked up the hill, crossed the street, and stepped inside. I went up to the cashier and ordered a Happy Meal. Once I got my order, I sat down by a window. I opened my Happy Meal and noticed they had given me a red apple. I was happy because I thought that they gave me extra food, so I bit the apple, but my teeth hit metal. The metal was so hard that it hurt my teeth. I was so hungry and had bit it so hard that a piece fell off.
All of a sudden, there was smoke coming out of the apple. When the smoke cleared, I saw a card inside, which was labeled “One million dollars,” but then the apple started to move. I grabbed the apple and ran out of the McDonald’s. I ran to the bus stop but then it started to rain. To make things worse, my bus was delayed. I put my hoodie up and hid inside a bush so I could see what was inside the “apple” without anyone catching me. But as I crawled into the bushes, I slipped and fell into a hole. I was upset that my favorite pants were covered in dirt.
After being mad about the dirt on my pants, I felt something moving in my pocket. I panicked. I unzipped my sweater and threw it aside. The apple from before rolled out of my sweater and onto the ground. The apple split open, and to my shock, a half-cyborg cat emerged from inside. The cat and I stared at each other.
I said to the cat, knowing that the cat wouldn’t answer, “Where did you come from, cutie?”
I tried to lead the cat by wiggling my fingers. After two minutes, the cat climbed into my lap and sat down. I decided to name him Ron, the best name I could think of. Ron and I relaxed after a long evening, until Ron suddenly leaped off my lap and projected a video from his eyes. I was confused and had a lot of questions. The video started with a man with a bushy beard and a friendly smile. He was walking down a street and he saw some random people grab Ron. They shoved him into a white van and drove off. The man chased after the van, but then the video cut off. Ron pulled up another video. It was a video of him getting cut in half.
He was screaming and crying as the bad people replaced half of his body with robotic parts from a cyborg cat. Then, the man from before burst into the room, knocked out everyone in sight, and ended the video. Ron played the last movie. The final video showed the man stealing the million-dollar card to save Ron. But he got caught and sent to jail.
He tries to escape with Ron in the apple, but he got shot, and then it stopped there.
I grabbed Ron and hugged him. I grabbed my sweater, tucked Ron safely into my pocket, and climbed out of the hole. The rain had stopped, and my bus had just arrived. I ran to catch the bus. When I got home, I told my family everything and begged them to keep Ron. After a while, they both said, “Okay, fine.”
And that’s how I met Ron.
Hailey has two sisters, and she is passionate about demon-slaying stories. She also loves to spend her time drawing and creating art. (Hailey is NOT in seventh grade.) She is in sixth grade. Most importantly, she loves her cat Chapito.
Dr. Nifareyo and Gabelgail
Kali
G.
In a dark, dark, dark, dark house lived a very, very, very, very mean doctor named Dr. Nifareyo (that was a lot) with his one and only cat, Gabelgail. He had a big nose and stinky feet. His cat was silly and mischievous. Whenever Dr. Nifareyo had a flower, she would try gobbling it. But Dr. Nifareyo would move it out of her reach and she would fall down as she tried to grab a bite.
From the outside, the house looked haunted, with creaky floors, spiders on the windows, and crows on the balcony of the second floor. Not only did Dr. Nifareyo has a cat, but he also had a bird named Shally. Shally was a funky bird that followed Dr. Nifareyo’s orders. Shally was really good at finding fish that hung on strings of light. She loved playing with them for hours.
One day, Dr. Nifareyo and Shally went on a mission together. Their mission was to catch gnomes from Gnome Village. The gnomes in Gnome Village had unique powers such as clumsiness, grumpiness, strength, and intelligence. Dr. Nifareyo wanted to capture all the gnomes and take away their power.
When they got there, Dr. Nifareyo threw freeze balls at the gnomes, and Shally captured them and threw them in a bag. Afterward, he threw them into a boba cup with freeze balls. The boba cup was a cauldron, and freeze balls as the tapioca pearls.
“Buahaha! Soon, all the power will be mine!” cackled Dr. Nifareyo in his evil voice.
But while Dr. Nifareyo was busy preparing the potion and laughing, the gnomes were planning their escape. Dr.Nifareyo was so distracted that he didn’t realize that the gnomes had built a chain with the freezeballs and used it to climb out of the boba cup.
Dr. Nifaryeo was so, so, so, so, so mad. The gnomes turned against Dr Nifareyo. He was outnumbered by the thousands of gnomes. His big toe was smashed by one of the gnomes as they hit him with a hammer. They tied up Dr. Nifareyo and took him back to the village and stuck him in a storage closet. He was locked inside for the rest of the day. The next day, he heard scratches on the door.
It was Gabelgail. She used her nails to open the door and untie Dr. Nifareyo, but even after he was untied, he looked squished. He had been in that closet for a long time.
As Gabelgail led Dr. Nifareyo outside to escape home, Dr. Nifareyo saw a box on the table. The box was so shiny that it looked like it was glowing and like a treasure box. Dr. Nifareyo took the box with him. Outside, Shally was out there waiting for them. He led Dr. Nifareyo home, where he opened the box. He saw a diamond, but not only a diamond. The box had a red glittery scarf, a pair of white heels, and a photograph of a superstar of the olden days. That’s when Dr. Nifarro realized that the box was actually a time capsule.
Nifareyo was thrilled about his discovery. He couldn’t believe what he had just found. Sadly, these items were more suited for a little girl. Dr. Nifareyo decided to put back the items in the time capsule and add a picture of Shally and Gabelgail. He closed the time capsule and walked outside. He walked around looking for the perfect spot to bury the time capsule.
He walked past the park, the playground, and the mail center. As he turned the corner behind the mail center, he saw a beautiful flower field.
“Perfect!” said Dr. Nifareyo.
He walked a few feet into the field. He dug a hole in the ground and placed the time capsule inside the hole. He covered the time capsule with dirt and patted it down flat.
“Someday, some little girl will be able to enjoy the treasures inside,” said Dr. Nifareyo as he walked back home.
Kali is a tough cookie. Kali has an older brother named Garland. She likes gardening with her grandma and mama. She has a dog named Skittles. Kali likes to watch T.V.
School Project
Jonathan Ramos-Cuellar
It was a nice school morning, and I was walking to my history class. My teacher was introducing the class project for the semester. She said it was going to be about creating a time capsule. I was so nervous because it was a big project, and it would affect my grade a lot.
When I got home, I went to see if I had any boxes I could use as capsules. I tried to find one in the bottom of the first floor before looking in my super dusty attic. I went up, and to my surprise, it wasn’t dusty. I found a box in a corner of the floor.
I brought the box downstairs into the living room and started to brainstorm. I spent some time brainstorming what I would want inside the box. I thought of things I could put inside the box. I searched for a special picture of my family. But it had been hidden by my brother as a prank for April Fools. I found the picture and put it in the box, but it took a while because I found it in the closet under my clothes. The picture was very important because it was a picture of me and my family, and it was taken on my mother’s birthday. Next, I decided to add a music sheet I liked to play for my friends and family. I brought the box into my room so my sister couldn’t open it. I had many important things in my room, like a box with lots of money, 20 dollars in total. It wasn’t the thing I was looking for. Then, I had a problem with the box since I needed a key to open it. In the box, there was a necklace inside from Guatemala, where my parents are from. Only my parents had the key, so I asked my dad, but he said no.
After I went to my mom, I asked her and she told me, “It’s in my closet.”
I went to my parents’ room to find it. My mom was right. It was in her closet, so I returned to my room to open the box and put the necklace in it. I was so happy I finished and proud of my work. When it was time to present, I really wanted to go first, but the presentation order went according to your last name, which meant I was among the last ones to present. When I finished presenting, I got a B+, which was a good grade.
Jonathan Ramos goes to a school named Camino Nuevo Charter Academic.
The Creepy Valley
Paige V.
The bell rings. You get a text message from your parents. They say you have to walk home.
You are walking down a dark steep valley while you hold a backpack. While you’re walking by yourself you start getting a weird feeling. Taking each step, you look at what’s around you, but you see nothing, just pitch blackness. Your tummy rumbles. You start to feel hungry. You feel like turning back to get food and go a different way home. Or you can keep going so you can get out of this valley. You decide to keep walking. The weird thing about this valley is the more you keep walking, the creepier it gets.
While you’re walking you trip on something, but you save yourself from having a bruise. You look back at the object you tripped on; it was a jar covered in dirt. You decide to unearth the jar and wipe the dirt off. You hold it wondering, “What’s inside it?”
You start to look around for somewhere to sit for your sore legs. You see a nearby rock and start limping towards it. You sit on this heavy rock and you try to twist the lid of the jar open.
Your hands are touching the hard rough lid when you hear in the background a deep weird voice saying, “Don’t open it.”
You get the creeps, but you think it’s just you imagining things. You take the thought off your mind and sigh with relief.
You put your hands on the rim of the jar and twist, and a little smoke peeks out of the jar into the air. You notice an old dirty book inside. It has a forest green color. You wipe the dirt covering the book with your hand.
“Oh look!” The title of the book is A Never Happy Land. You flip through the pages and stumble across a page in the book that looks very weird. On the page, a picture of a young girl under a bed reading a copy of the same book looking in fear. Surprised, you start reading more of it until you start getting bored of reading and throw the book onto the ground.
You decide to look more in the jar. You stumble across an old ripped bow. You grab it and you analyze it. You’re confused about why these items are in the jar. You toss it aside and pull more things out the jar. The more you look, the weirder it gets. You feel a crow feather touch the tip of your finger. Snatching it out of the jar, you grab another item. It’s a piece of paper that’s old and wrinkled like a spider web. You open it up and start reading. The more you read, the more mysterious it gets. It is neither happy nor sad. You start getting worried about what this note is about. Many thoughts start filling up your mind.
“What is this about?”
“Why is it here?”
You just have too many questions in your mind. You read this note even more. You gaze at the note until you get bored of reading the piece of paper. You grab all the items in one scoop, open your backpack zipper and drop it in. You get the courage to get up and you try to get back home. You scamper around like a lost puppy.
You get your phone from your pocket and look for directions, but your phone has no signal so you try your hotspot. Nothing is working, and you panic. You grab your stuff and start walking back to where you were but the road keeps on going forever. You scamper around, worried about what to do. You feel exhausted. You wipe your eyes and take a deep breath but then when you look up, you are sitting down on your bed. This was all just a dream.
Paige is 11 years old and now she is in sixth grade. She attends Thomas Starr King middle school. Paige does drawings for fun when she is bored. She likes to eat food like chicken and rice. Paige plays volleyball for fun and she also likes to do ballet. Paige is learning new languages like Korean.
Fixing Future’s Traffic
Alexander In 20 years, Alexander becomes a famous YouTuber. As he scrolls through the internet, Alexander sees all the new inventions everywhere around. Alexander watches many good new TV shows like New Age Godzilla and Mune Guardian of the New Moon ll, but is sad because the production of these shows is very slow. Alexander keeps scrolling and sees all the new toys that MrBeast has made for kids, like stretchable panthers that are covered in gold and black sliver that you can stretch like slime. He keeps looking over the internet and sees the new games he wants to put on his YouTube channel, like Frog Jumper, where you play frogs trying to get from one side of the swamp to the other, escaping the evil frogs.
Alexander loves the future, but he despises the ongoing issue of traffic. There is still traffic because of the number of cars on the roads and the underdeveloped automatic lights slowing everything down. The government ignores the problem, choosing profit over progress. Determined to create change, Alexander decides to use his platform to raise awareness about the traffic lights.
He starts making videos about the lights on his YouTube videos for weeks, gaining millions of views. His campaign sparks conversations everywhere, with local news stations interviewing people on their opinions.
“I think he’s a hero for talking about the lights,” says one man.
“I’m worried about how the government will respond to his videos. If the government comes after him, it can get bad,” says one woman.
“I think we should see this as an opportunity to finally do something about the lights for everyone,” says another woman.
More and more people learn about the videos Alexander has made and join the movement, spreading the word to other people and making their own videos in support. The government finally finds the videos, but they don’t like the attention they’re getting, and they know they have to act fast. The government sends Alexander an email.
“Dear Alexander,
We understand your frustration about the lights, but this won’t help. We kindly ask that you take down the videos before we get even more serious about the issues. This is not a request. Take down the videos.”
Alexander sees the email and gets anxious. He thinks about his fans, all the people looking up to him, and the change they’ve started. He resolves to keep making videos even after the government’s efforts to stop him. He goes to bed feeling invincible.
The government sees this and is furious. Without hesitation they hack into Alexander’s channel and delete all of his videos throughout the night.
The next morning, Alexander wakes up to find his channel empty. He feels sad and ashamed, wondering if all of his hard work was for nothing. However, Alexander realizes that the movement and his supporters have only grown stronger. People are outraged and spread the word even more.
“He didn’t delete his videos. The government must have hacked his channel. Don’t give up. Keep spreading the word,” says one TikToker.
“I’m going to fund my team to get Alexander’s videos back. Don’t give up. Keep posting videos to fight the government,” says MrBeast.
The government thought that people would forget the videos, but instead, even more people join the movement. The government starts deleting everyone’s videos, but it’s too much to keep up with. More than 100,000 videos are being made a second about the lights, and people are even protesting in the streets. Alexander sees this and runs outside, and joins the people in the street.
“It’s Alexander, guys! Look! Look!,” exclaims a protester.
“Raise him up, guys, for the movement, so the government sees we aren’t finished, and they have to fix the lights,” says another protester.
The people raise him up in the crowd chanting, “Fix the lights! Fix the lights!”
The crowd chants through the street, and the government can’t handle it. The government sees this and gives up, making a public statement that it will fix the lights. Upon hearing the announcement, the streets are filled with cheering and laughing in celebration of their victory. Within days, all the lights are fixed, and traffic flows smoothly. Alexander sits in his chair and feels overjoyed for what he’s done for the people. Alexander knows he couldn’t have done it without his fans, so he continues to make videos, knowing his job is far from over.
Alexander is nine years old. He enjoys drawing and creating arts and crafts with paper. His least favorite thing is doing homework, but he loves eating pizza and playing video games, which makes him the happiest. A fun fact about Alexander is that he likes spiders.
About Jacob R. (story on facing page)
Jacob is six years old. He has two brothers and loves to play soccer with them. His favorite food is Oreo ice cream. He enjoys playing tag with his school friends.
Jacob 20 Years In The Future
Jacob R
I am Jacob. Twenty years from now, I will be an artist because I like drawing and want to earn money for my parents. I want to earn $1,000,000 so I can buy everything my mom wants, including a yellow car that can carry 20 people. I will also pay for Lucas, Jonathan, and Katalaya’s college tuition. I will specialize in drawing animals, especially wolves.
I will also still be playing soccer with Lucas. I still won’t be able to beat him because I cannot outgrow him. He is still taller and bigger than me. But sometimes, I am better at soccer than Lucas. I will also be a sub for the Real Madrid team and Lucas will be a sub for the team as well. Sadly, Cristiano Ronaldo will be too old to play by then, so I won’t be playing with him.
Even though Real Madrid is in Spain, I will still be living in the United States. I will live in a big mansion with ten rooms, one hot tub, and one big swimming pool where Lucas, Jonathan, Mom, Dad, and Katalaya can live with me. My family will be so happy living together and we’ll watch movies every night. We will live happily ever after.
A Hunt for a Chest
Jamison
I was walking on a sunny day when I saw a rock. The rock was larger than usual. Curious. So then I went to it. There was something under the rock, and it was square. I moved the rock and saw something square covered in dirt.
Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself! Hello, my name is Jamison. I’m a person who loves games but the reason why I’m here is because I was getting an early walk and I discovered an object underground. The only problem was… I didn’t have a shovel.
So I went to call my friend Bob. I rushed home to get a shovel. My friend was waiting outside with his blue truck. Together, we drove back to the spot. With the shovel in hand, we started digging deeper and deeper until, finally, we uncovered a chest. The chest was a brown wooden box with a lock and a mini TV screen. Suddenly, my pet octopus teleported out of thin air. Bob got scared and ran away in fear.
“Wait, no, come back!” I called, but Bob was already gone.
Left alone with my pet octopus, we started thinking of how to open the box. The TV screen flickered to life and it showed the keys’ location, but it wasn’t exact, so we travelled to many places before we found it. My octopus and I teleported to 826LA, and there I found the key to open the chest. Inside was a curious collection of items: a large leaf, a tiny tree, a pumpkin, and a paper sun.
I said, “I don’t know what to do.”
Then my friend came back and said it was a scavenger hunt.
“But where do we go?” I asked.
Inside the chest, I found a paper map that led us to the vault. To unlock it, we needed to collect codes from four different locations, each representing a season. We teleported to every cold place until we arrived at a place called Big Bear. It was cold and snowing. There we saw three Xs, so we went to dig it up.
“We got one of the codes, number five,” Bob said.
“To me, it is too cold,” I said.
“Yes, it is,” replied Bob. Then I saw a paper. It said apple. So we teleported to my house and got some sleep. My friend Bob was sleeping in his car. When he woke up, he returned to my house, and opened my door to wake me up. We had to recharge, so we went to eat. We talked and decided to continue to search for the rest of the code. We went to the apple place, and there was a piece of paper on the tree. We got the number three, and it said sand. So we went to Long Beach and saw a hole to see the number four. We went to the vault, and it opened. I heard a ring, and I woke up, and I was sad.
Jamison is a person who loves games. They are called Roblox and Plants vs Zombies. He has a favorite sport called soccer and he plays it at school.
A Cheez Capsule
Ignacio A.K.A Iggy
It was a sunny day at Green Elementary. The fifth grade class was digging in the school garden on the right of the lovely lime-greencolored building and hanging vines. The garden had fruits and vegetables. It also had private fourth and fifth grade areas full of nice flowers. The fifth grade class was building a new area full of nice art pieces. Every kid was digging when suddenly… BONK! One of the kid’s shovels hit something hard. The teachers looked inside the hole that Bob was digging and found a box labeled 1990 Cheese. The kids were shocked, and everyone entered room 29 to open the box.
Upon opening the box, they found a variety of cheeses. One kid asked, “How are they not rotten?”
“Look at the mini fridge,” said another kid.
“Hey, the fridge is glowing, and the cheese is too!”
Then, Jacob randomly grabbed the cheese and took a bite. “Mmm, cheddar.”
The cheese started glowing. The cheese grew into a block again. Then, out of nowhere, a random potato came out of the box.
The potato said, “I am a super potato. I am looking for some cheese. Do you have some?”
“Sure,” Steve said.
Everyone was super confused. A time capsule with a mini fridge, super cheese, and a potato that could talk! Not to say anything, but the potato was on Steve’s shoulder.
“What is happening?!” Bob said.
Bob asked the potato what was happening. The potato said, “Before, I was a normal potato, but then a scientist named Billy Bob made a super fridge and infinite cheese and, finally, me. This school was his laboratory. He built his creations in a box because some people were after him.”
The potato added, “Here I am, along with the other stuff. I was so hungry, but Billy Bob got the idea because, far away in a castle, Joey made some part of a formula for infinite cheese. It was secretly shipped to the laboratory here. Billy Bob studied it. He was reading a book when it was struck by lightning, and it sparkled. There were answers for everything inside.
RING! RING! The school bell rang.
School had ended, and Steve decided to keep super potato and give everyone a piece of super cheese.
The person who made this bio is totally named Ignacio. His nickname is totally not Iggy, he is totally not in fifth grade, and he totally loves cheese. No, he is seriously addicted to cheese.
Crazy World
Helen Kheang
On a windy, rainy Monday morning, I was chilling in my cozy bedroom under a fluffy blanket and pillow. As I lay in my bed staring at the empty ceiling, I decided to start making my time capsule. My brother, Jefferson, had given me a time capsule that I would not open until 50 years later because I gave him an iPhone. I got up from my bed and set the time capsule on my desk.
Jefferson scared me as he ran through my door, screaming, ”What are you making?!”
I replied, “I am making a time capsule for Mom.”
He asked, “When are you going to make mine?”
I said, “Not right now.”
He got mad and ran out of my room, slamming my door, and saying, “I am never going to give you anything ever again!”
Jefferson ran to my mother, crying and saying, “Mom, she doesn’t want to make me a time capsule.” But my mother was too busy to pay attention to him.
He ran to my father crying, “Dad! Dad, help me. Mom wasn’t listening to me.” My father asked him what was wrong. My brother tells him I didn’t want to make him a time capsule.
After hearing my brother running around the house crying, I entered the living room. “What is going on?” I asked.
My dad frowned, “You’re grounded, Helen. Why are you being so mean to your brother?”
I answered, “I told Jefferson I’d make him one later, but he got upset.” Jefferson and I started bickering. My dad got mad and said, “Both of you are grounded for one minute!”
Jefferson and I stood in the corner of the room, staring at the wall. Jefferson sniffled for a few seconds as I stood there in silence with my arms crossed. A few moments later, we both burst into giggles. My dad came into the room stomping, and said, “Stop it! Both of you go to your room.”
I went back into my room and continued working on my time capsule. I looked around my room for things to put in my time capsule.
I put my iPhone, iPad, a whiteboard, my favorite comic book “Sisters,” and my diary inside the time capsule.
From my bedroom, I could hear my mom and Jefferson laughing. I decided to go check it out.
“What are you guys doing? Can I join in, too?” I asked.
Jefferson looked up at me and said, “Umm… I asked Mom if I could go to the movies, and she said yes.”
I got upset and stomped all the way back into my room. My mom yelled, “No stomping in this household!”
After a while, I asked my mom if she could take me to get boba and chocolate powder. She said,” Only if you stop stomping because I didn’t raise you that way. I’ll be back in 30 hours or less, and if you’ve stopped stomping, I’ll take you.” I felt bad for making my mom upset, so I apologized to her. “I’m sorry for stomping, Mom,” I said.
My mom accepted my apology. As she headed out the door, she said, “Oh, is your time capsule all done now?”
I replied, “Yes, it is.”
“Okay, give it to your brother,” she said.
I was worried about giving it to Jefferson because I was scared he would throw it in my face. But I decided to give it to him anyway since he had been helping me with the chores. He helped me fold the laundry, make my bed, and feed the fish.
I went into the garden and plucked the prettiest flower I could find. The garden was filled with vibrant flowers, and butterflies hopped from one flower to the next while the birds sang their pretty songs. I plucked a lovely pink flower from a bush. I headed back into the house for my time capsule and placed the flower on top of it. I took the time capsule and flower and walked to Jefferson’s room.
Jefferson was on the floor, playing video games. I placed the time capsule on the ground beside him and said, “You can have the time capsule and the flower and the things inside it.” He replied, “Umm… okay, thank you, I guess?”
As I walked out of my brother’s room, I was glad I had given him the time capsule. Although we fight and argue a lot, we are siblings. I don’t think there’s anyone else I’d want to have my time capsule.
Helen is a seven-year-old girl. Her favorite food is Nutella and her favorite color is pink. She has four brothers. She is not the youngest, because she has a baby brother.
My Contacts See the Future
Isabella H.
Everything started with a little girl named Nyla–she was twelve years old and in the seventh grade. She was creative, fun, and had red hair. Her parents worked at NASA and usually worked late every night. Nyla knew they were involved with robots, cameras, and smart technology but they never spoke of their work when they were home.
One night, while she was home alone, Nyla got bored playing by herself, so she went into her parents’ bedroom. She was impressed with the size of the room. There were lots of interesting things to look at. Nyla started jumping on the bed, looked outside, and saw that it was nighttime. When she went to stand by the window, she saw some purple contact lenses sitting on the sill. Nyla got curious and moved closer to look at them.
“OOOOHHH!” Nyla said, “These are so cool. I wonder what will happen if I put them in my eyes.”
She walked into the bathroom and put them in her eyes.
“Huh!” she exclaimed as she saw herself with purple eyes.
“Looking good.”
Nyla shook with fright.
“Where did that voice come from?” she said.
She looked around, but no one else was in the bathroom. All of a sudden, she heard the words, “I am a Magic Contact Lens, and I can talk with you!”
Then, POOF–Nyla found herself in the middle of a city; she saw flying cars, tall buildings, and a lot of robots. Then she realized that she was in the future. It was the year 2035!
“Hmmm,” Nyla thought. “I wonder what a school looks like in 2035,” so she set off to look for a school.
When Nyla walked into what looked like a school, her Magic Contacts said, “Hey, this is Bob; he’s here to meet you.”
“Nyla, you are in Robot School. How are you today?”
“Who’s talking to me?” asked Nyla.
“I’m Bob, your personal assistant,” replied the voice. “Is there anything I can help you with today?”
“Hmmmm, I don’t know. I don’t need help now,” Nyla replied.
Nyla walked upstairs and stopped in front of the robot to inspect him. But then heard a prrrp. The robot farted!!
“EWW! What was that?” she cried.
“It’s to make the robots more realistic,” the Magic Contact Lenses told her.
“Oh no, oh no… parent coming, parent coming,” Bob said.
“Oh no, my parents,” said Nyla.
Nyla heard her parents opening the front door of their house, and she realized she didn’t want them to find out that she was gone and make them worried. She took the contact lenses out of her eyes and was immediately transported back to the present day in her bedroom and went to sleep.
The next day, Nyla returned to her school and thought, “I really like my teacher because she’s NOT a realistic robot!”
Isabella is a girl in sixth grade. She has two cats, Misha and Sushi. She likes pizza. Maybe this will be her last book. She has a lot of friends.
My Time Capsule in 20 Years!
Jaqueline Ortega
“Grandpa!” exclaimed Tosha.
“My name is Edwin. What do you want?” replied Grandpa.
It was almost nighttime. Tosha held a weird-looking box up to Edwin’s face. Edwin’s face lit up with joy when he saw the box.
“My time capsule! I haven’t seen it in 20 years!”
Edwin’s mouth opened as he was about to ask a question, but he was interrupted.
Grandma called out from the house, “What are you two doing? Stop fooling around and come help me with dinner!”
Grandma Jen’s shrilling voice sent shivers down their spines.
“Let’s go,” they said shakily.
They hurried over to the house. But when they reached the dining hall, Grandma Jen’s face was really mad.
She yelled, “I CALLED YOU GUYS MORE THAN SEVEN TIMES!”
Her eyes set on the box in Grandpa Edwin’s hands. She yanked it from his arms.
She looked at Grandpa Edwin and said, “Is that what you’ve been fooling around with?!”
Grandpa quickly took it out of her hands and said, “My love, of course not. This is just a time capsule. I think it might have a pair of your diamond earrings.”
Grandma Jen grabbed the time capsule from Grandpa Edwin’s hands and opened it. She took the diamond earrings out of the time capsule and let the rest of the items fall out on the floor. There was a big crash on the ground.
We all stared at the items on the floor in shock. One particular item caught their attention. It was a jar with green stuff all over it.
“What is that?” asked Grandma Jen.
But before anyone could answer, Grandma Jen was already touching the green stuff around the jar. She gave some to Grandpa Edwin.
Grandpa Edwin said disgustingly, “I don’t want this.”
He shook it off his hand without paying attention and got it all over Tosha.
Tosha exclaimed, “Yuck, what is –”
Before she could finish her sentence, they got teleported 20 years into the past.
“Where are we?” Tosha said.
Before any of them could respond. A group of tall men came and shouted, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON MY TURF!”
With enough courage and a bit of sass, Grandma Jen said, “Calm down, we barely arrived.” Although she said it with pride, she quickly regretted it because one of the men struck her in the face.
“Don’t touch my wife,” Grandpa Edwin said with a serious tone.
“Holy cow, Grandpa!”
To be continued…
Jaqueline is 10 years old and is in fifth grade. She likes the color wine red and dogs. One of her favorite things to do is to hang out with her friends. Another thing she likes to do is play volleyball.
Creating Your Own Time Capsule
Jesus Aguiar
One day, I decided to make my own time capsule because I thought that it would be a fun activity. I needed to find a box or something to start so I went for a walk. I walked, and I walked. I took a turn, and I was now walking down an alleyway. I stopped and looked around and saw a box on top of a trash can. The box was large and made of brown wood: exactly what I needed, so I took it home with me. But when I opened it, I saw at the bottom there was a hole. “Oh no,” I thought to myself. “I have to throw it away.”
After a while, I moved on. As I walked, I saw another box. I grabbed it. It was the most perfect box for the time capsule. It was large and made out of brown cardboard. I went back home, and I started to put my objects in the box. I put in a two dollar bill given to me by my mom for good luck, an expensive toy car from a store near my house, my favorite bag of lemon chips, a can of Coca-Cola, a tech deck, and a PS1 because it will be worth more in the future. When I put my objects in, I buried the box in my backyard.
The next day, I woke up to see a pile of dirt and an empty hole. Someone had stolen my time capsule. In the corner of my eye, I saw a person running with my box. I went after him and asked him where he got that box. He lied, saying it was his, but the box was covered in dirt. I knew it was mine! At that moment, he started running, but I was able to get it back. I caught him easily because I am fast. Then, I ran back to my house to bury it.
Twenty years later, I became a professional soccer player. I signed with Real Madrid, and it is amazing! I went back to my house and dug it out. I was happy to see it was still there when I opened it; all my stuff was there. I will give everything in the time capsule to my parents because I love them very much.
Jesus is a great soccer player and he likes to play Fortnite. He is 11 years old and he is a sixth grader at Logan Academy of Global Ecology.
Kevin Lost His Job
Kevin In 20 years, I will be 28. I’ll work at In-N-Out and have a dog. I’ll work at In-N-Out because I love cheeseburgers. I’ll get money and live with my dad, mom, brother, and sister. At In-N-Out, I’ll only work Mondays and Thursdays. I’ll earn 20 dollars per hour, which I’ll save to buy a house. The In-N-Out that I work at will be in Glendale, where it is always cold in the winter.
When I wake up to go to work, I’ll realize that my dog is missing. He is a white and brown dog named Charlie. When I realize he is missing, I’ll go to the police station.
I’ll tell the police officer, “My dog Charlie is missing!”
I’ll be very upset, and the officer will reply, “No need to worry, I will find him.”
After I report my missing dog, I will go to work and arrive late.
When I walk in to work, my manager will yell, “This is your last warning for being late!” She’ll threaten, “Next time, you will be fired!”
I will still be panicking about the dog, so I’ll reply in a worried tone, “Sorry, it won’t happen again. My dog is missing, so that is why I am late.”
After my shift, I’ll head to the park to meet my mom. When I arrive, I’ll be shocked to see Charlie with my mom.
I’ll yell, “CHARLIE!” as he comes running towards me.
I’ll be so happy, and then ask my mom, “What are you doing with my dog?”
She’ll reply, “I took him on a walk because he needed to use el baño.”
I’ll walk back home with my mom and dog on a yellow street. As soon as we get home, I’ll realize my cat is missing. I’ll start looking for her everywhere, but she’ll be on the balcony. I’ll be relieved that she’s just sleeping. I’ll call my cat, Gisselle, and Charlie and feed them dinner. To celebrate finding them, I’ll get pizza and watch a movie.
Kevin likes to play with dogs. He plays with his Nintendo Switch and plays Minecraft and Fortnite. He is in third grade and his favorite classes are math and science. He plays soccer and football. His favorite food is pizza.
The People Who Chase Me
Lukas Ramos
I am making a time capsule about never giving up. This time capsule will hold my favorite memories and items in a box. It will have a letter from me to the future finder, my art journal, my soccer cleats, and a drawing of my buddy Soogk. I will bury the time capsule in the ground until someone opens it in the future.
Fast forward 20 years into the future …
The crowd is waiting for the new leader to give his speech at the Jungle Empire. The Jungle Empire is the new city that was founded 20 years later. The people in this city speak the new language known as Ung.
The crowd was chanting in Ung, “Hail the new leader!”
The crowd went silent when a body rose to the stage. It was the new leader. The new leader held the time capsule in his hands and lifted it toward the sky. But, when he tried opening it, the capsule slipped from his hands, broke, and fell into the water. The time capsule sunk about 40 feet in the water. All the items inside the time capsule got scattered across the ocean.
My letter to the future finder was broken down into small pieces by the waves and was slowly eaten by the fish and other sea animals. My soccer cleats and art journal were found in the fishing net of some Ungian fishermen. The drawing of my buddy Soogk was found by my older brother. My brother recognized the drawing of Soogk and gave it back to me. To this day, I wonder what happened to my time capsule. I wonder where all my other items ended up.
One week later…
My younger brother, Jacob, called me from Portugal. He asked me to hang out and play video games just like we used to when we were young. He was going to catch a plane to Los Angeles to see me. But when he went to the airport, they told him his flight had been canceled. My brother called, “I can’t come see you, Lukas. My flight got canceled.”
I replied, “Use the teleporter I made you.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I’ll be there in a few minutes,” said Jacob.
After a few minutes, a big poof appeared in front of me. It was Jacob. We played some video games and talked about our lives. Then, it was time to say goodbye. Jacob went back into the teleporting machine and returned to Portugal.
You do not know Lukas, but he is a nine-year-old fourth grader. His favorite things to do are play sports, like soccer, and draw.
Mermaids in Love
Meyling Chea
In 20 years, Earth will be called Cat and Mermaid World. Humans and cats will live on land, and mermaids will live in the ocean. Cat mermaids can go in the water and on land. Mermaids swim with big giant huge sharks.
Mommy Mermaid has a crush on Daddy Mermaid. Mommy Mermaid and Daddy Mermaid have long nails. Daddy’s nails are blue and Mommy’s nails are pink. Daddy Mermaid is with the Mommy Mermaid and he wants a baby.
The Mommy Mermaid says, “Goodbye, Daddy Mermaid. I don’t like you anymore!”
Daddy Mermaid cries and says, “You hurt my feelings. I am sad.”
Mommy Mermaid says, “I forgive you, let’s be together for our babies.” They get a baby from cats and humans. They date and love each other. They are a happy family. They have 100 babies. Some are boys and some are girls. They look cute. They are half-mermaid and half-human. Gummy bears come from the desert and want to eat all their babies. The gummy bears are giant with sharp teeth. Mommy Mermaid and Daddy Mermaid save the babies from the giant gummy bears. Mommy mermaid and Daddy mermaid both die. The grandparents of the gummy bears kill both Mommy Mermaid and Daddy Mermaid. The babies cry. “Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!”
Meyling is six years old and she is in first grade. She loves to eat ice cream and the color pink. She is a happy girl. She has a sister named Meyly.
No Way Back
Noe A.
Noe wakes up one day on his 32nd birthday and calls his mom, Jacked Mom. Jacked Mom then calls his grandma, Jacked Granny. Jacked Mom tells Jacked Granny that Noe said to bring their dog, DoodleBob to their house. So Jacked Granny gets in the car with DoodleBob. While passing a park she sees a little kid, Random Kid A, fall off the playground. She nicely helps Random Kid A, gives him candy, and drives him to Noe’s crib. Noe gives them caffeine and they faint. Then, he hands them a big potion that could get rid of every person in the galaxy.
His two kids were in the hospital so Noe pays the hospital two hundred thousand dollars to get them into the emergency room and then pays sixty thousand dollars for each of them to get microchips in their brains. Noe was hiring people to build his giant spiders a house because Noe was informed that by the end of the month, the spiders would be 10 times their height. Then Noe picks the kids up from the hospital and the doctor gives Noe twenty-thousand-dollar water for the kids to drink every night. Noe then has his Jacked Granny take them back to the house. Jacked Mom goes to the park and grabs another kid, Random Kid 3.
When Noe finds out he is elated to know that he is going to get another spider but gets desolate when he remembers that he spent a fortune on the surgery so he tries to find out if the water that the hospital gave him will work. He gives the water to Random Kid A and the kid’s mind goes into overload and Noe freaks out because he doesn’t know what to do because he is scared to go into the hospital since it is so expensive. He goes to the vet and he gets kicked out because he was punching the doctor and because he went to the doctor’s house and he neutralized his entire family. He grabs a loaf of bread off the table, loads it up with gross applesauce and then goes back to the real world because he was in the matrix. He grabs a bubble blaster because the loaf of bread got nerfed. He goes back to the vet and has the Flash take a picture with the Avengers and then has the little kid tell him he is not in Breaking Bad. And then Noe destroys both spiders on the Burj Khalifa. But there were three. So Noe looks back and Spider 3 eats him.
Noe is 11½ years old. He is in sixth grade. Noe is also a good writer. He knows how to do wheelies on a bike and he plays football.
Construction Workers in 20 Years
Saul M.
In 2044, Saul and his cousins are working in construction to design a house for their job. Saul and his cousins are strong and hardworking men who all wear the same black hat. In the future, the planks are holographic and there are tools that can easily put planks together. But, something is wrong with the blueprint, so the house is built wrong. This is a problem because the owner will pay Saul and his cousins less if the house is built wrong. That is a huge problem because they don’t have more houses to build and everything is too expensive.
Saul and his cousins have a job meeting and decide to go talk to the president about how everything is too expensive. Saul and his cousins grab their jetpacks and fly towards the White House. When they get to the White House, there are so many security guards that they can’t get five meters within the White House. They thought this would happen, so they disguised themselves as guards. They put on their disguises and blend in with the other guards.
When they are close enough, they break into the White House through a window. As they climb inside, they see many holographic statues and paintings. Saul says, “Try not to touch anything because an alarm might go off.” As they are distracted looking around, the president sees them, calls the guards, and puts them in the basement.
The basement is so cool. There is food and water, and it is so good. They find a hatch and go through it onto the roof, and the president is there.
“President,” says Saul.
“I thought you would find the hatch,” says the President.
“We just want to talk about your prices. We really want you to lower the prices. If you do, we can make more houses,” says Saul.
“No,” says the president.
“We can build you a gaming setup,” suggests Saul. ”Would you consider it?”
The president replies, “No.”
Saul and his cousins are desperate for him to say yes because if he doesn’t lower the prices they are going to become poor.
Saul says “We can make the White House bigger.
The president thinks about it and finally says, “Yes.”
Saul and his cousins go back home and celebrate. Saul and his cousins become super rich. Their net worth is a total of $1,000,000,000,000.
But since they don’t work and spent all their money, they become poor again and have to go back to work.
Saul is in fifth grade and is from Mexico. He plays soccer and likes to watch games. He likes to write about his career and about soccer. When he is not playing soccer he is watching T.V.
The Big Project
Jacob Sebastian
I had just finished my big project. I, Doctor Barnacle, had created the flying car. Apple wanted to see my invention. Hopefully, Doctor Terror didn’t realize he’d gotten a smaller payment.
DING DONG.
“That must be him,” I said.
I opened the door, and Doctor Terror came in.
“HOW DARE YOU?!” yelled Doctor Terror.
“What did I do?” I replied.
“How did I get 5%, and you got 25%?!” said Doctor Terror.
“Oh, uh, I don’t know, you owe me a lot. I was the one that finished the project,” I replied.
“First of all, cap!” said Doctor Terror.
One hour later…
“Muahahaha. He’s not here, bring in the rusty engine,” said Doctor Terror.
“He will never notice,” Doctor Terror said as he grinned maliciously.
The worker interrupted his wicked chuckles and asked, “How much are you going to pay me for my work today?”
“Uh, how about a penny?” said Doctor Terror with an irritable face.
“What did you say?” demanded the worker.
“How about a quarter,” replied Doctor Terror.
“Heck no, give me at least 100 bucks,” answered the worker.
“Ugh, fine,” said Doctor Terror
He handed the worker a crisp 100-dollar bill.
“Pleasure doing business with you. Now get out of the laboratory!” yelled Doctor Terror.
The next day…
I came to the laboratory to check the oil levels of the flying car.
When I looked inside the engine, I noticed something was different.
“Why is the engine so dusty and musty?” I said.
I decided to check the camera room to see if anything suspicious had happened after I’d left last night. I headed to the camera room and turned on the footage from the night before. I rolled the footage to the time I left the laboratory. After a few moments, I saw something that shocked me.
“It was Doctor Terror!” I exclaimed.
I decided to call in the mechanic and have a talk with Doctor Terror. But first, I would give Doctor Terror a taste of his own medicine.
Doctor Terror was on his way to the laboratory. He was speeding on the freeway, eager to see Doctor Barnacle’s reaction. When he arrived at the laboratory, he opened the door. The lab room was dark. Doctor Terror was confused.
All of a sudden, something hit him in the face.
“Ow!” yelled Doctor Terror.
I turned on the lights and stood in front of Doctor Terror.
Doctor Terror said angrily, “Did you seriously just throw pie and kick me in the face?”
“Yup,” I replied.
Doctor Terror growled and said, “Can I show you something?”
I agreed and followed him to a weird-looking device. It was a time machine.
“Wow, this is so cool. But what is it for?” I asked.
“Goodbye!” exclaimed Doctor Terror as he pushed me into the portal.
I swirled around and around until I reached the other side of the portal. I fell hard on my bum in what appeared to be an alleyway. I got off the floor and dusted myself off when I realized there was a newspaper on the ground. I picked it up and looked for the date.
I was shocked. Doctor Terror had sent me 20 years into the past. I was so mad at Doctor Terror. But, then I remembered that Doctor Fabatocious, who was a famous scientist, lived during this time period.
I decided to look for Doctor Jeffery Fabatocious, who was the “original” Doctor Terror. He had built a time machine 20 years ago.
It was the only way I could go back to the future.
Sadly, I didn’t know his phone number. Across the street, there was a bus boarding people. I decided to ask the bus driver how to get to Doctor Fabatocious’s laboratory.
I ran across the street and almost missed the bus. The bus driver opened the door, and I boarded the bus.
“Hi, do you know how to get to Doctor Jeffery Fabatocious’s laboratory?,” I asked.
The bus driver replied, “I believe I know where he lives. It’s outside my route, but I can take you after I drop everyone else off first if you want.”
“Yes, please, thank you,” I said, taking a seat.
Five hours later, we reached a junkyard.
The bus came to a stop, and the bus driver said, “This is as far as I can take you. Walk into the junkyard, and I’m sure you’ll see the lab. There’s not much life in these areas. Be careful.”
“Yes, thank you again, kind sir,” I said and got off the bus.
I walked towards the junkyard, looking around for a building. Suddenly, something hit me in the head, and everything went black.
I woke up tied to a chair in the middle of a gloomy room. A man in a lab coat paced back and forth. It was Doctor Fabatocious.
“You’re awake,” said Doctor Fabatocious.
He questioned me for about half an hour. He asked me who I was, where I was from, how I got here, and why I was there. I answered all his questions.
“So you’re from the future, huh?” he said.
“Yes,” I replied. “I need to use your time machine to return to the future,” I said.
“Very well,” Doctor Fabatocious replied.
He untied me and walked me to the time machine. It was not as new and shiny as Doctor Terror’s, but it was still pretty cool.
He turned on the power, and I stepped into it. In less than a second, I was swirling down a long tunnel until I landed in the laboratory.
“What are you doing here?!” exclaimed Doctor Terror.
“I time traveled. Doctor Fabatocious let me use his time machine,” I replied.
Doctor Terror’s face grew with envy. Doctor Fabatocious was like a hero to him. I interrupted his rising anger and asked him to talk.
“How about we discuss the terms of the contract with Apple?” I said. “Fine,” said Doctor Terror.
After a long talk, we came to an agreement. We would both get 15% and equally share the credit.
“By the way, I got you something,” I said.
“Yeah? What is it?” asked Doctor Terror
I handed him an envelope. It was a signed autograph of Doctor Fabatocious.
“OMG!” yelled Doctor Terror. He was so happy and apologized for pushing me into the time machine.
“It’s okay. I shouldn’t have pied or kicked you in the face either,” I said. We headed back to the lab to fix the flying car.
Jacob V. is 10 years old. He has four siblings. His hobbies are to play games and spend time with his family. He plays Fortnite and Rocket League. He loves playing with his dog.
Space Fight
Santiago Ortiz
In 20 years, it’s 2040, and people on Earth can travel into space.
There’s a group of friends: the youngest, Lukas, who is eight years old and wears an all white suit; Josh, who is ten years old; and the oldest, Harrison, who is twelve years old.
There’s a new shop on Earth called FUTURE SPACE. They sell technology: updated iPads, TVs, watches, headphones, and phones. Their newest item is a set of space tubes that can take you to Mars. Outside of the shop, they have flyers that say “SECRET TUBES HERE.” You have to pay to use them, and it’s like a scavenger hunt that leads you to Mars but you only have ten minutes to find the tubes.
One day, Josh has a brilliant idea. He wants to find one of the secret tubes. He tells Lukas and Harrison, his neighbors, to bring all the money they have. Somehow, the youngest has the most money. Lukas has seventy five dollars, which is helpful because they are low on money, and with that they are able to buy scavenger hunt tickets. They head to the store and go straight to the counter. “One ticket for the Secret Tubes, please.”
The worker gives them their tickets and says, “Follow me.”
He walks them to the back of the store, where there is a shiny red box with a lock. Unlocking it, he hands them a ticket and says,“When I push this button, your ten minutes start. You’ll need to look around the store for clues and solve puzzles that will lead you to the secret tubes. Good Luck!”
Josh, Lukas, and Harrison start walking around the store, looking for clues. The first one they find is a riddle on a card: “I’m disguised, but I’m here.”
The boys search for what the item can be. They scan the shelves, open drawers, and tippy-toe to see over the top of cabinets. Lukas points out a puzzle set on the only table in the room. Harrison solves the puzzle. It is a map to a room behind the storefront.
The boys follow the map to the room, and there they find another clue: a puzzle piece. Josh completes the puzzle, another map that will take them to the final room.
It is a cold, gloomy room. In the middle, there is a message engraved on a flat stone. It reads, “Find the button in under 20 seconds.”
Suddenly, a timer begins counting down.The boys run around the room, looking for the button. They scan the walls, search the floor, and turn over every stone, but still, they can’t find anything.
“Hey, come check this out,” Harrison says.
Josh and Lukas rush over.
“Touch right here, there’s a weird bump,” says Harrison.
“Oh yeah, there is,” Josh and Lukas say.
With two seconds left on the timer, they push the round-shaped bump together. The timer stops, and the room transforms into an elevator. The elevator goes down and down.
“Where is it taking us?” the boys wonder. They are scared and confused.
THUD.
The elevator stops, and the doors open. The boys step out and look around.
“It’s the secret tubes!,” exclaim the boys.
On their side, there are space suits hanging up. Two kind workers lead the boys to the changing station and help them suit up.
“OMG, this is so cool guys,” Lukas says.
“Yeah, I’m so excited,” Josh replies.
After they change into their space suits, they are taken to the secret tubes. The workers secure their seat belts and tighten their helmets.
“We are ready to blast off. Commence the countdown: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!” the machine says.
“BLAST OFF!” they all yell.
The workers pull down a lever and send the boys into space. The boys swirl down the tubes, passing through the stars and the moon, until they reach Mars. After a long ride, they land on Mars, unbuckle their seat belts, push open the door of their capsule, and step out. They take their first step on Mars.
Clash!
“What’s that sound?” Harrison asks.
“I don’t know,” Lukas replies.
“Look over there!,” Josh exclaims.
It is a fight between robots and aliens. They are crashing and yelling at each other. The boys decide to find a way out of there as soon as possible, so look around for any sign of an exit.
They spot a sign that reads, “EXIT.” The boys rush over to the exit, but suddenly hear the robots and aliens getting closer. They turn around and see the robots and aliens chasing them with weapons. The boys reach the exit, buckle themselves into the capsules, shut down the tunnels, and land on a reddish planet. They are back to the first spot!
“What’s going on here? This should’ve sent us back to the store,” Lukas says.
Harrison lifts the sign and reveals another one that reads, “Loop Around.” The robots and aliens have made a decoy. It is a trap. There is no way out.
Harrison yells, “Hey guys, get into these suits.”
There are piles of old robot suits. The boys put them on quickly and hide between the piles. The army of robots and aliens are still far from them.
“What are we going to do,” Josh asks.
“If the sign was a decoy and the start was the entrance, then perhaps
it can also be the exit. We should get as close as we can to the starting spot,” Harrison replies.
“Okay. That sounds like a good idea,” Lukas and Josh say.
The boys get out of the piles and walk toward the starting point. But then a robot appears behind them.
“Hello,” it says in a robotic voice.
“Hello,” the boys reply, mimicking it.
Right after they say hello, the suits break into pieces. It turns out they only had ten seconds of power left in them.
“Imposters!” the robot yells.
Robots and aliens rush toward them. The boys quickly jump out of the suits, running towards the start.
“Hurry up, guys!,” Harrison yells.
The boys buckle themselves into their capsules, shut down the tunnel, and pass the stars and the moon before landing on the store. They are so happy to be back on Earth.
“We made it!” the boys exclaim. They are finally home.
Santiago likes video games. His favorite color is blue. He likes pizza. He likes school. His favorite month is December.
The Robot
Alejandro Vargas
Once, there was a robot named Robot in the year 2044. He lived in Los Angeles, where there were tall skyscrapers, flying cars, and a yellow sun! Robot was happy, alien-like, and six-foot-five, but he could get mean easily.
On a Monday, he was walking around California’s skyscrapers with his family–his mom and dad. He turned his head, and suddenly his family was not there anymore. He got worried and asked, “Where is my family?”
He looked for his lost family everywhere in the city, but they were nowhere to be found. Suddenly, he saw a cave with a purple potion inside. It smelled like soda. He put it in his robot pocket to save for later.
But, his family was still missing. He missed them, so he went to the President’s big castle to ask for help, and there they were!
“Hey, that’s my son!” Robot’s family said with a jolly look.
Suddenly, Robot saw a dark green, jumbo, massive snake. The snake put Robot in the castle’s cage. Robot quickly drank the purple potion. He turned into a jumbo, massive robot and punched the cage bars. He was free!
Then, he punched the dark green snake and saved his family.
“Thank you for saving us, son,” the Robot’s parents said.
“You’re welcome, my family. I missed you.” the Robot replied. Robot saved his family, and they lived happily ever after!
Alejandro is nine years old and in the fourth grade. His hobbies include playing soccer, video games, and swimming. His favorite player is Cristiano Ronaldo. Most importantly, his favorite food is pizza.
20 Years Later
Alexia Matas
First, Alexia and Joshua, who were 16 years old, got tickets for a plane and flew 9 hours to New York. Then Alexia’s cousin drove them to a secret beach called Rockaway Beach. There was a volcano near the beach. They walked to the volcano, where they found a metal box. When Alexia and Joshua touched it, they were teleported to the future. The box was so heavy that they decided to take it back. But since it was so big, they released it into a tunnel leading to their hotel. That’s when Alexia and Joshua decided to create a time capsule. In the tunnel, there were metal scooters they used to carry the box with them. In the future, they noticed that everything was almost the same but slightly older. They reached their room and no one
questioned them. Everyone was now a robot. They went into their room and opened the box. The objects that were in the time capsule were a picture of Alexia and her family, a book from 826LA (The Summer Playbill), a pack of Cheez-Its (cheddar cheese), a Rubik’s Cube, and a pink plastic ruler.
Alexia realized she didn’t want to stay in the future because she didn’t want to grow old like a granny. She didn’t want to have wrinkled skin or wear reading glasses. Looking at the family photo, Alexia realized she needed to go back since she missed her family. She wants to go back to watch Netflix. Joshua also wanted to return because of Roblox. He was obsessed with the game.
Alexia and Joshua decided to use math and used the pink ruler to measure what they needed. They formed calculations, used the Rubik’s Cube to replicate a new one, and placed it inside the existing one using division. They made a perfect box, a cube. They used the Cheez-It pack, which they realized had expired, to make a pill. They taped the pill on the 826LA book and wrote 2024! That was the missing equation.
They teleported back to the past. Back at the hotel, they were exhausted and fell asleep. When they woke up, it felt like a dream, but they knew it was real.
Alexia Mata is nine years old, almost 10 in May. She’s from El Salvador and has four older siblings. She’s in fourth grade and her favorite colors are red & blue. She loves to play sports like soccer and flag football. She was inspired to write this story because of her big brother Joshua. They like going on adventures together especially with their cousins to places like New York.
Finding a Mystery Box
Angie Jimenez
On a sunny afternoon in 2015, a ten-year-old girl named Anabell was in her backyard. Anabell had long, brown hair that she curled into the most perfect swirls. She was wearing a comfy pair of sweatpants, a blue long sleeve shirt, and her favorite white Converse sneakers. She was jumping on the trampoline in her backyard when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She saw a box next to her backyard door and decided to check it out.
When she reached the door, she realized what the box was. It was a TIME CAPSULE!
Anabell was excited about her new discovery, but also scared. She was worried that a living animal might jump out of the time capsule. But, Anabell’s curiosity got the best of her, decided to open it anyway. When she opened it, she realized the time capsule was from 1989!
Inside, was a postcard of Los Angeles with the year 1989 written on it and a pair of concert tickets. The concert tickets were for the Rolling Stones, which was Anabell’s favorite band.
She checked the date: May 11th. She couldn’t believe it. They were there for that very night.
She was so excited at the possibility of seeing her favorite band live, it was her dream come true. Anabell ran over to her mom and asked her to take her to the Sofi Stadium. Since they lived in San Bernardino, they needed to leave right away to get there in time.
After a long two-hour drive, Anabell arrived. She stood in line, with the tickets in her hand. When she reached the ticket scanning area, she handed her tickets to the worker. But instead of scanning them, the worker started laughing. Anabell was really confused.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
The worker replied, “These tickets are from 1989.”
He pointed to the corner of the ticket. Sure enough, in tiny print was the rest of the date: 1989.
“I know, but they’re for the Rolling Stones show, so they should work,” she said.
“Ma’am… we’re going to have to ask you to leave,” said the worker.
Anabell replied, “Fine, whatever.”
When her mom came to pick her up, she cried all the way to their car. But then her mom said something.
“It’s okay, I got you tickets to see the movie Cinderella.” Her mom said.
Anabell had been asking her mom to take her. She was happy again and hugged her mom.
Angie is 10 years old and she is in fifth grade. Angie’s favorite color is purple but to be specific she likes lavender. Angie also likes to watch the sunset and sunrise.
Finding a Time Capsule
Ariana R.
There was a girl named Yaretsi. She loved animals, all of them. One day, Yaretsi was walking in the park with her friend, Aarrora, when Yaretsi fell.
“What did I fall on?” Yaretsi wondered.
Aarrora said, “Look, what is this?”
Yaretsi looked at it. “It’s a time capsule!”
“Are you sure?” She asked.
“Yes, let’s see what’s inside!”
“Okay!” So they looked inside and found a toy, food, and a picture of… Yaretsi and Aarrora! They were so confused.
“Why do they look like us?” asked Yaretsi.
“I don’t know. Maybe we should tell our moms.”
So Yaretsi and Aarrora went to their moms and showed them the time capsule.
“Where did you find this?” asked Yaretsi’s mom.
“Why?” Yaretsi wondered.
“Because those are your ancestors!” said Aarrora’s mom.
“What?” said Aarrora.
“I don’t understand!” exclaimed Yaretsi.
“Me neither,” Aarrora added.
“What should we do?” asked Yaretsi.
“I don’t know.”
Then an old lady came to them and said, “Hey, are you two okay?”
“Yes we are okay! We just need to find someone,” Yaretsi responded.
“I can help!” said the old lady.
“We are looking for a girl named Ariana and a girl named Violet.”
“I am so sorry, I don’t think I know them. Maybe let’s look on the internet.”
So they went online and looked up the names of their grandparents for a long, long time until they found a map with a hint!
The first hint is so hard, but they got it. The hint said, “I am where you swim and have so much fun. What could I be?”
“I know,” said Yaretsi. “It’s the pool!”
So they went to the pool and looked for a long time, then Aarrora said, “I found it!”
Yaretsi ran to Aarrora and said, “Look what’s inside, the next hint!”
The hint said, “I am where the tree and sunset are.”
“What?”
“I don’t get it.”
“Me neither.”
“Wait, I think I know… the forest!”
“You are so smart.”
“I know.”
So, they ran to the forest and looked for a long time.
“I can’t find it.”
“Me neither.”
Then Aarrora looked at the hint again, which had another part that said, ”By the tree in the middle.”
“Wait, it says ‘in the middle.’ Come on, we’ve got to go to the middle!” So they searched in the middle but still couldn’t find it.
But then Yaretsi fell. “Why do I keep falling? What did I fall on? Oh! The last hint. What’s inside it?”
They opened it and black smoke erupted from the hint, and the air turned cold.
“So, you are the ones who released me!” said a witch.
“What do you mean?” the girls exclaimed in fright.
“Wow, you look like Ariana!” hissed the witch.
“And your little friend looks like Violet, her friend. It’s my time to do something bad in this world! You two made a big mistake!”
Ariana is a fifth-grade girl. She lives with her two dogs named Churro and Oso. She loves to doodle and she draws what she sees.
Into the Future
Christian Cruz
One day, in the year 2044 in Ohio, two humans were spending a relaxing day in their house. All of the sudden, they heard a weird sound coming from the backyard. They decided to go check it out. When they opened the door to their backyard, they saw two robots and their pet turtle, Mozzarella, who was taking his daily stroll in the garden. One of the robots was an inch tall and the other was 10 feet tall. The humans looked at each other, confused. The two robots were covered in dirt, and there was a big hole in the ground. They had a yellow “M” on a red circle on their backs. One of the humans recognized them as the “server robots” that had been made a few years ago by some scientist.
The robots were made 10 years ago in a factory. They were created to be servers at McDonald’s but they weren’t released since there were already too many cashiers. The scientist buried the robots in the ground and passed away just a few years ago.
The robots noticed the humans standing by the backyard door. They waved to show they were nice. The humans invited them into the house.
The humans tried asking the robots what they were doing there and where they had come from, but the robots couldn’t speak beyond their programmed phrases, such as “What would you like to order?”
One of the humans brought out a whiteboard and told the robots to show them what had happened after they were buried by the scientist.
The robots grabbed a marker and wrote their names. The one-inch robot was named Tall, and the 10-foot robot was named Small. They drew a scene from the thunderstorm the night before, showing how a lightning bolt had hit the ground where they were buried. The electricity revived them, and just a few minutes earlier, they had dug themselves out of the ground.
The humans were shocked by the robot’s journey. They told the robots that robots were used more widely now and that they could help them start their new lives. But, the robots were so mad that they had been thrown away while other robots were now accepted in the human world.
The robots left the humans’ house and decided to take over the world. They created a remote control to command all the robots in the world. The robots started chasing the humans, who ran away. One human accidentally pulled the lever on one of the robots, shutting it down and breaking it free from the control of the remote’s control. The humans realized they had to shut down the robots and started fighting back. But Tall and Small couldn’t be stopped since their old design didn’t have levers.
Tall and Small fled, and spent 10 centuries looking for a civilization to take over but had no luck. Eventually, they found one filled with dinosaurs. They tried to control the dinosaurs, but the dinosaurs ate the robots.
The robots decided to create a time machine but didn’t have the supplies.
After 10 centuries, now they could conquer the world. When they saw their first human, they captured him and more followed, but the people evacuated into their homes.
The robots realized they could rule the alien world instead. They became the leaders of the alien world, and made a mind control device to command the aliens to make more robots and inventions. The aliens found a way to make an energy source, which the robots could use to remove the lever from all robots. They then returned to the human world, and took over making 10 robots per second in factories.
The two humans from the beginning survived. They used a helicopter to destroy the factory, breaking down its door after 10 days. They demolished the factory, and only left Tall and Small.
The two surviving robots went to find more land until they reached a mine shaft. They wanted to find materials to rebuild the factory. The robots continued exploring the mine until they reached a dead end. When they reached the dead end, they decided to return, but they found two people outside the mine. The two people attempted to capture the robots, however, the robots managed to escape using their running energy and ran back into the mine.
The two robots found some rocks and tried to throw them at the people, however, the people caught the rocks and used the rocks to trap the robots in the mine. When the people left, the robots managed to escape from the rocks.
After escaping, the robots walked to the city, where they discovered rocket pieces. Using the metals from the rockets, they built a spaceship. The spaceship needed a total of 10 minutes to reach a fast speed. After 10 minutes, the speed became extremely fast.
The robots found the alien planet again. Once on the alien planet, they captured 20 aliens using a mind control device. The captured aliens were made to build more robots. The aliens also rebuilt the factory.
The robots finally had enough robots to rule the world, however, the aliens got tired and went to sleep. This resulted in the robots going to find animals to make blankets for the aliens. This way, the aliens would sleep well and continue to work. Once the aliens resumed working, they made a total of two thousand robots.
The robots wanted to make more robots from better materials. They only discovered coal, but it was not enough. They attempted to discover other materials beside coal. The aliens found a special type of rare metal called robotic metal. With robotic metal, they can make the robots immune to a lot of dangers.
The robots made a tall robot that would look like a human so it could go undercover, sabotage the humans, and steal their ideas. The robots took the blueprints from the humans that showed how to make a jet. They returned to the alien factory and built the jet.
Only 20 robots could fit in their two jets. The two jets were commanded by Small and Tall. The robots jumped off the jets using parachutes, landing in a human base. They became invisible to find copper, a rare material. The robots had never seen copper before, so they stole it to keep as a treasure. This left the humans without much copper. However, it was only one percent of the total copper, as they had hidden the rest.
The robots believed the humans had no more copper and decided to build copper robots. They discovered copper was a weak material, as it made the copper robots fragile. However, they discovered that they could eat the copper, take some of its properties, and make it for 10 months. Knowing this, they decided to return to the human base in hopes of finding more copper.
Once they took the copper, they destroyed the human base. However, the humans had already moved their base to the Grand Canyon. The robots returned to the jets and went to look for more materials. They discovered another base, decided to land there, and searched for humans. The robots destroyed the human base, leading the humans to attempt to activate their force field. This failed, and the robots destroyed the base.
After the robots destroyed the base, they found something that was a copper mine, and only had two pieces of copper left. They left with an entire 500 buckets of Copper returned to the robot factory. Then ate all the Copper and went to find robotic metal. Then they made 20 robots out of robotic metal.
Then the humans rebuilt the base. They found more materials, and used a new one called the Shiny Metal. The Shiny Metal is way shinier than regular metal and can reflect light and lasers. This metal could replace mirrors and was 25 percent stronger than regular metal. The humans used shiny metal to make a robot, the first robot made by humans. Then the humans made more robots with Shiny Metal.
The humans used these robots to attack, but there were only 20 shiny robots compared to 500 robots made of robotic metal and two made of original metal, Small and Tall. The humans went to destroy every single robot, but they made something new, an invention they had always seen in the movies: a Magic Staff. To make it, they needed a special material called the Magic Stone, hidden in the deepest caves in hot magma and lava. They also needed Shiny Gold, a 25 percent weaker version of gold but rarer. Shiny Gold is found hidden within the Shiny Metal, and both are found in the same cave
The humans had Copper, so they created a 20-foot tall copper robot, taller than Small. This distracted the robots while the humans went to find the two materials. They first found a cave, went to its lowest level, and then found where the Shiny Metal lives. They mined the Shiny Metal, but they were only there for Shiny Gold. They got five buckets of Shiny Metal, which equaled a lot of gold. Then they went to find the Magic Stone. In the human world, there was only a little amount of Magic Stone, with only five per cave, and there were five billion caves. However, one cave had two hundred and fifty million Magic Stones in it. Legends said that there was a Magic Stone Monster that could destroy five buildings in five seconds, and 200 buildings in 200 seconds.
The humans went to the deepest point of the cave to find the Magic Stone. Two of them fell, and now there were only two people left in the cave.They started walking but they didn’t have any light and could only rely on magma and lava. They soon found five Magic Stones, saw the hole of the cave and started running towards it, but suddenly a rock fell and they lost the exit. They used their pickaxes to mine their way out and ran all the way to the exit.
When they got back, they saw the robots capturing all the humans. One of the robots said, “Good luck.”
The two humans mined the Shiny Metal and Shiny Gold and made two Magic Staffs. They needed energy and suddenly saw a paper that said the energy was from the… the rest was ripped. They went back and found the last piece of paper which matched perfectly. The paper said the energy was from the robots. The two humans went to find the robots, there were five. They destroyed all five distracted robots by trying to use the Magic Staff but it didn’t have magic anymore so they hit the robots with it.
Then they gained enough power for the staff.
The two humans went to the robot factory and the robots laughed at them, thinking the Magic Staff was cheap and fake. The Staff activated, a lightning strike hit them extremely hard, and the human used their lightning power against the robots. It made an electric ball and destroyed half of the robots.
The robots made fifty thousand more robots to destroy the humans. Then they went to their jet to go back to their mines and make a new type of metal: Electric Metal, which can absorb the electricity and shoot lasers. They made the first electric metal robots.
The two humans were the only ones left, and were the only chance to save humankind. The first human and the robot started shooting everywhere. Then the other human who had learned magic, started to control fire. After the fire, the humans tamed a Phoenix, the Electric Metal robot went to ultra laser, and shot the electric human until the fire Phoenix saved them. The electric robot stood still and the human used the phoenix to make fire and shoot it into the robot. The robot thought it could survive the fire, thinking it was just electricity, but it burned the robot and exploded. Next, the factories started burning, and all the robots inside got destroyed too.
Small and Tall had a safe filled with 100 robots and all the humans left except for one.
Suddenly, a staff fell into the human’s hand from the phoenix. The staff spoke, “Hello, new wizard.”
The human quickly learned dark magic and immediately went after the robots. The robots ran all the way to the safe, but the dark magic was a bit strong, and made a hole in the safe. They managed to close the safe, the dark magic wizard shot the back of it, completely destroying it. He now had enough power to upgrade himself to be invisible and hidden.
Tall opened a chest in his stomach, and there was a magic laser.
Christian is a fifth grader. He has a pet turtle named Mozzarella Cheese. He also likes to swim and go to Six Flags.
The Long Line
Diego I.
Once upon a time, in the year 2030, there was a guy named Jacob. He was a teen who wore glasses, had a bag, and a Gucci hat. Jacob went to college, was kind and nice, had braces, and helped people.
One day, Jacob went to the park. This park, which was bigger than the Titanic, had remote-controlled robot turtles. The park owner had 30 people helping him to drive the robots. Jacob saw a robot turtle that was very fast. This robot turtle was one square foot in size and gray. It was also all alone. Jacob wanted to bring the turtle back to its robot mom, but, because it was summer, there was a big, long line to return the robot turtle.
Jacob had a superpower: when he snapped his fingers, he became invisible. Jacob used his power to become invisible so he could cut the long line and return the robot turtle.
Before Jacob got to the front of the line, he heard someone screaming, “WHERE IS MY TURTLE?”
Jacob saw the man who was yelling and asked, “Is this your turtle?”
The man said, “YES, THANK YOU SO MUCH!”
The man then paid Jacob 20 dollars for finding his robot turtle. Jacob was very happy, but then realized he had given the man the wrong robot turtle. Jacob was so scared when he heard the man say, “HEY THIS IS NOT MY TURTLE!”
Jacob said, “I’m so, so sorry!”
“It’s ok, mistakes happen,” said the man.
Jacob took the turtle back, then snapped his fingers. He turned invisible so he could go to the front of the line and finally return the turtle to its robot turtle mom.
Diego goes to third grade and the school that he goes to is Gabriella Charter School. Diego’s favorite color is red. Diego loves soccer a lot. Diego’s favorite soccer player is Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Secret
Gabriel Cruz
Ethan was standing in his shed with one of his time capsules. He went to get a drink, leaving the time capsule behind. Susana, his next door neighbor, and Anahi, her 9 year old cousin, kicked a ball over the fence and climbed over. When they saw the time capsule, they grabbed it. The girls took the time capsule to Susana’s house and went to her back yard. They pushed a button on the time capsule, and a portal opened up, transporting them into the 1980s. They were in a secret room where Ethan stored his treasures.
While Ethan was still getting a drink in the house, his watch started ringing because it had a time capsule alarm. Ethan knew someone had stolen his time capsule. He freaked out and started running to his backyard.
Ethan didn’t see his time capsule in his backyard, so he went to Susana and Anahi’s backyard. When Ethan got there, he saw a portal.
Ethan was curious, so he went into the portal and found himself surrounded by billions of dollars in gold.
Susana and Anahi went into the portal and saw a bunch of gold. They stood looking at the gold for 20 hours. After they pressed a button, and went back home, and went to sleep. Next, they returned to the yard, went into the portal, and stole a gold bar. Ethan kept going back to check if someone was stealing his gold. Every day, he saw less gold.
When Ethan saw that they were stealing his gold, he went to their bedroom and stole back all the gold for himself. The girls saw that Ethan had stolen the gold and ran to him, saying, “That’s my gold!”
Their mom said, ‘’Leave that man alone, girls!”’ But when the girls ran into their mom, Ethan had a chance to run.
Ethan went to get a drink, but he was not going to make the same mistake again. When Ethan was tired, he went to sleep and left the time capsule at the sink. When the girls went back to steal it, there was no gold. Ethan had tricked them because he was mad.
“The first time you stole my time capsule, you didn’t even ask to borrow it!’’ He said to the girls.
Their mom had enough! The girls were grounded for one year and got spanked. Ethan laughed so much that the girls said he was their enemy.
Somehow, the girls escaped while Ethan was sleeping. Ethan jumped up, ran to the kitchen, and saw the girls.
“Please don’t take it!” He said.
But secretly, the girls were working for the government because they suspected something odd in his house. They had a fight with Ethan, but it was boring because the girls had walkie-talkies. Ethan ran to the backyard, and got into his car, and drove fast because he saw the military coming.
The military captured him when he was only a mile away. They sent him to prison for 50 years. The girls were still grounded, but their sleepover was DONE.
Gabriel is a third grade student from Los Feliz STEMM Magnet. He loves drawing, crafting and colouring. His favourite subject in school is mathematics. The thing he looks most forward to this year is games!
Crazy Street
Gamaliel U.
If I made a time capsule, I would be sure to put a picture of the time my mom took me to Disneyland.
My mom took me to Disneyland, but she didn’t know how to get there. I reminded her that I had a map to Disneyland. We got back on track. There were ducks walking in the street while we were trying to get there. My mom got out of the car and carried the ducks to the sidewalk. All of a sudden, there was a big hot dog in our way.
“Let’s eat the hotdog!”
My mom and I ate the hotdog!
I took the first bite. The hotdog had ketchup on it.
I said, “The ducks are holding popcorn.”
My mom said that the mom ducks were going to give the popcorn to the babies.
I said, “The ducks said thank you in duck language.”
It started raining, and then there were clouds, so we couldn’t see. Luckily, just then, the wind blew us all the way to Disneyland.
My mom and I went for a ride, but there was a loooooong line. Then we found a fun ride. We went into the ride and it was called The Star. The ride was spinning, and spinning, and spinning so fast.
Gamaliel is seven years old. He goes to Clifford. He loves to read Dog Man books and likes to draw. His favorite breakfast is pancakes.
100 Years into the Past
Arianna “Gigi” Salgado
On a hot afternoon school day at Mountain Lion Middle School, two friends were taking a break after fifth period. Jade was wandering around with Jin-soon before they headed to the snack machine when they stumbled upon the employee’s room.
“We should check the employee’s room!” said Jin-soon excitedly.
“Ya… no,” Jade said bored, while walking away.
Jin-soon rolled his eyes at Jade and sprinted downstairs like a tiger. Jade ran after him to get Jin-soon back. When Jin-soon got downstairs, he noticed all the decor. There was a secret room with wooden furniture, cleaning supplies, a table full of snacks and plushies, books on shelves, and writing supplies. Jin-soon was not expecting plushies and snacks in the employees room.
“The employees are so lucky!” he exclaimed.
Before Jin-soon could walk to the table to get the snacks, Jade grabbed him and tried to drag him back to the stairs.
“When will you learn?” Jade groaned.
Jin-soon remembered the secret room they had noticed earlier and decided to go to it.
“Jade, you forgot your keys!” Jin-soon said loudly before he escaped.
“Where?” Jade stopped trying to drag Jin-soon, which led Jin-soon to run to the secret room.
“Hehe!” Jin-soon giggled.
Jade kept looking around the room curiously and wondered where the keys could be. What she didn’t realize was that she hadn’t brought
“When did I ever bring keys?!” Jade said, confused.
Right after she finished her sentence, a loud machine door opened, filling the room with creaking sounds.
“Jade, wanna go into the machine with me?” Jin-soon asked loudly. Almost stepping into the machine.
Jade realized what Jin-soon was doing and quickly ran into the secret room, seeing Jin-soon waiting for her in front of the portal.
“I’m gonna go in!” Jin-soon said to get Jade to fall for his trick. Jade quickly tried to catch him but tripped on Jin-soon’s shoe; Jin-soon kicked Jade into the portal and followed her. “Ow! You’re so mean,” Jade complained.
Before Jade could finish her sentence, she realized they were both in the portal. It seemed like they were at the same place but it looked super different.
“Not what I was expecting,” groaned Jin-soon.
While looking around the area, Jade got up slowly and looked around. “Ya… I’ma get out of here…” she said, slowly turning to go back in, but as soon as she looked at the portal, it faded away.
“The portal really said, ‘Not today,’ to you!” Jin-soon snickered, trying so hard not to laugh while Jade was too stunned to speak.
Jin-soon decided to upset Jade and not be the reason why they were both stuck. “The portal ate and left no crumbs.”
Right after Jin-soon said that, Jade fell to the ground and became lazy.
“We’re stuck here!” Jade shouted, whining at the same time.
“Not my problem, Jellybean,” Jin-soon snickered.
Jin-soon got out of the room and noticed that the place looked super different from what it had ever been. Jin-soon spotted a calendar, and his face changed to a worried expression because the calendar said,
“Nawh!” Jin-soon said loudly, and then he ran into the room where Jade was. “Jade! We’re so cooked!” Jin-soon shouted while trying to carry his buddy Jade, who was making a puddle of tears on the ground.
“No!” she sobbed. “I want to go home! I shouldn’t have gotten in trouble when I had the chance!” She started crying.
Jade whined and whined and didn’t want to get up. After 20 minutes, Jade was still whining, and Jin-soon, sick of Jade’s complaints, finally succeeded in carrying her out of the secret room.
“I keep forgetting you’re strong as an Ox! I don’t wanna get out of here!” Jade whined and screamed like a little kid.
“Okay, where do you want to go? We ain’t gonna escape if we do nothing,” Jin-soon said, annoyed. Right at that moment, he got to the door and opened it, surprised to see there were only students.
Jade and Jin-soon hoped that the machine would open to let them get out quickly, and… it opened! Jade and Jin-soon went in as fast as a bullet. Jade went upstairs into the basement to check if everything had gone back to normal, and good news, it did!
Five seconds later, Jin-soon caught up to Jade, trying to catch his breath from running. The bell rang for fifth period to start, and Jade and Jin-soon just went into normal mode, while walking to fifth period.
Gigi is a fifth grade student who loves to sketch, crotchet, cook, and listen to music! Gigi’s favorite colors are dark blue, cherry red, and pastel pink. She has a big brother that is very cool and is in 11th grade. She also loves Ghostface and Knott’s Berry Farm.
Spooky Spider
Heather Camey
Heather and her twelve friends went to Disneyland. There’s a magical castle there. At the castle, the girls found a time capsule and a unicorn. They all then went to Princess Land.
Inside the time capsule, there was a doughnut, skeleton, spider, and two pencils. There was also an address. Heather and her friends decided to go to the address. It took them to a pink house. There was a dog as big as a bear inside. Then the girls all agreed that they should go home. At Heather’s house, everything was normal. But then they heard a noise that scared Heather and her friends.
To be continued…
Heather is seven years old. She is in second grade. Her favorite color is pink. She enjoys time with her friends. Her dog’s name is Milo, he is black and light brown.
Finding a Tarantula in a Time Capsule
Jade Rubalcava
One day, Sally moved into a new house in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The house was two stories tall, with six rooms and a backyard. Sally was 29 years old from Mexico. When Sally went inside her house, she remembered it had an attic. So, she went up and found a time capsule!
When she saw the time capsule, she called her friends, Marco and Jazmine. When they got there, Sally opened the capsule. She, Jazmine, and Marco found a tarantula! And it was alive. It had poison in it, and was going to bite them. Sally needed to kill it.
She went downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed a knife to kill it. But the spider was a robot and couldn’t die. But it still had poison in it, so Sally, Marco, and Jazmine were scared. They all ran out of the house! Little did they know, the tarantula had put a tracker on them!
Once the spider found them, they screamed. Jazmine, Marco, and Sally ran from the spider. They then ran into a guy named Aaron.
Aaron said, “I built a poisonous spider robot just like that.” Sally, Marco and Jazmine were in shock.
Sally said, “I found it in my attic.”
Aaron asked, “Where do you live?”
Sally said, “Sunset Ave.”
Aaron said, “I used to live there, and I made a time capsule and forgot it there. I’m sorry for the spider.”
Luckily, Aaron had a remote control for the spider. He had it saved, so he was able to turn the spider off.
Jade R is 10 years old and in fifth grade. She likes to play football.
Wizard Versus Robots
Leo M.
Once upon a time, there was a wizard named Jack. He had black hair, a lavender hat with stars on it, black pants, and white Nike shoes. He was sleeping in his tower with his wizard hat. The tower was gray and spooky. Jack had an idea.
‘’I’m going to make deadly potions to defeat the robots,’’ he said proudly.
‘’What are the ingredients to make a deadly potion to defeat the robots? Where did I put all the ingredients?” Jack said confusedly.
He looked everywhere in his tower, but he couldn’t find his ingredients, so he made a phone call.
‘’Hello, is this Bryant?” Jack asked.
‘’Yes this is him,” Bryant said. Bryant had a red T-shirt, white beanie, blue sports pants, and black hair.
‘’Bryant, do you have any ingredients to make deadly potions for me by any chance?” Jack asked.
“Sorry, I don’t have any deadly ingredients for you, Jack,” Bryant said. “Maybe you can look outside for the witch. She is really nice.”
“Thank you, Bryant,” Jack said.
Jack decided to look outside, but he spotted a box that belonged to someone. He wanted to look inside, but he didn’t know it was something that he needed.
“What is inside?” Jack said. “Oh my God, it’s an angry potion that I need for the deadly potion, but I need to talk to the witch.”
Jack spotted the witch and wanted to ask if she had what he needed.
“Hello, witch, do you have any of the flying potions and the magic potions?” Jack said.
“Yes, I do, wizard. If you give me some sugar, I will give them to you,” the witch said.
“Deal, let’s do it,” Jack replied.
The witch gave the materials to Jack, and Jack gave sugar to the witch. Jack went back up to his tower and made the potion.
“I did it! Uh-oh, I need to hurry up.” Jack said.
Leo likes the book “Out of My Mind” and Ghostbusters.
Moises and the Monsters
Moises R.
Moises, the sigma YouTuber, and his golden dragon, Mike, went to 826LA. Moises ate a snack, and Mike ate lasagna. Mike ate 100 lasagnas from a pizzeria. Moises and Mike found a time capsule in the pizza box. The time capsule had snacks from the future, spicy and green, and gold tickets too.
Moises and Mike finished eating the snack, and then someone came from 826LA. They ran away because they were scared of the Titan. The Titan was scary and ate people.
Moises and Mike grabbed the time capsule and took it to their house. The Titan continued eating people along its path. It found Moises’ and Mike’s house because they left the door open.
Out of nowhere, a bad guy came, but the titan was only six feet tall. The bad guy bit the titan’s hand and sucked its blood, so the Titan grew bigger and transformed into a colossal Titan.
Once the Titan transformed into a colossal Titan, it tried to eat Moises and Mike. But Mike bit his hand and became a titan, then punched the colossal titan. The colossal titan threw Mike into the ground.
Colossal Titan continued to eat so it could get stronger. Mike got eaten by other titans, leaving Moises alone with the time capsule.
Moises ran away and hid the time capsule in his grandma’s house, where no one would ever find it.
Moises likes watching Youtube videos. He is in fourth grade. His favorite color is gold. He enjoys playing Fortnite. He loves to eat spicy food.
If My Skateboard Could Fly
Robert Lugo
It’s the year 2044, and I am skateboarding up to the sky with my two kids to get pizza for them. Then we are going to fly on the skateboard. My skateboard has arms, so it can take commands. We are going to Mexico with my wife for pizza.
But there’s a problem! When the kids eat the pizza on the flying skateboard, they suddenly throw up! Then they cry and want to go home.
“No problem!” Since the skateboard takes commands, I tell it to slow down, and they stop throwing up.
So then my kids saw a flying cat on a cloud, and the kids adopted the cat.
Now my wife, the kids, the cat, and I are all on the skateboard together, and we fly around to places like Mexico eating pizza.
But there’s a problem! The skateboard suddenly runs out of energy, and we begin falling. We land in Hawaii, and there is a volcano going off.
The skateboard says, “I can fly again if you give me fruit.”
So I find a blueberry in the bushes. I pick it up and give it to the skateboard.
Then we get on the skateboard just in time before the volcano goes off. My kids, wife, and cat are safe, and make it home safely.
Robert is a third grade student from Logan Academy of Global Ecology. He loves gaming, skateboarding and playing with his toys. His favorite food is pizza and his favorite time in school is recess!
Universal Battle
Santiago Cruz
Hello, I am Esre. My dad gave me a time capsule to try to open. Inside, I found a ticket. It asked me, “Would you like to enter? Yes or no?”
I said, “Yes,” and it teleported me to an arena named U Arena. In the arena people were shouting, “You’ve got to win!”
I sat down, and a computer said, “How many gold coins would you like to bet?”
I only had 500 gold coins (one dollar = 100 gold coins), so I bet all of my coins on Fighter A.
After the battle, Fighter A had lost. Then I realized that it said “10,000,000x,” which meant I could win or lose $500 million! Now I owed gold coins, so to earn them back, I had to win a tournament.
I entered a tournament. For my weapon, I chose a glove with rockets I had made at home.
I entered my first fight. My opponent was a big guy and a pro fighter. He attacked first. I used my rocket to launch myself into the air. He fell. Then, I used both of my rockets to hit him and won the fight!
I headed to my next fight and won every single one, upgrading my gloves to make them stronger and better after each battle.
Then came the final two battles.
When the second-to-last battle started, something was weird about my opponent. He carried a weird scythe and threw it at me. I dodged it, and shot three rockets at him, but when it was going to hit him, his
scythe knocked them back, and hit my head, destroying my rockets. He dashed toward me, hitting me with his scythe and kicking me.
I used my strongest move: “Enhance,” which doubles everything. After that I used my power and hit him. Then he tried to attack me again, but everything felt slow, and I finished him off with all my rockets and 10 punches, knocking him out.
I went to the upgrades and added my strongest upgrade. Cloning myself once, and bought some tools to modify it. I changed the limit to five clones.
During the break, I went back to my universe’s timeline. After returning, it was now dinner time. I ate quickly and tried to go to my room.
My mom said, “Where are you going?”
“My room.” I said.
“Not so fast, you better finish your plate,” she demanded. So I did.
After that, I went back to the U Arena, and the final fight started.
I realized that my clone had different weapons. The guy stood still. I attacked him, but he dodged it. Then he started moving rapidly, so I lunged at him again, and then there was smoke.
When the smoke cleared, I saw the same guy, but he now had a different weapon. As I looked into his eyes, I could see that one of his weapons was a green dagger that matched the color of his eyes.
The original villain jumped up into the air and threw his scythe, but was blocked by my clone, who had a shield and pushed the scythe. Then my clone threw his shield, spawned another, threw it, and repeated the action. The original one grabbed his scythe, blocked the attack, and summoned smoke along with two more clones of himself. One had a sword, while the other had ninja stars with random abilities.I summoned two more clones. One had nunchucks, and the other one had energy creation.
We kept fighting. When the fight was over, I saw a random figure leaving the room. It felt like time passed forward, but I didn’t really think about it.
In the next fight, the same figure came, and he looked like me but was wearing something. I saw his gloves were on fire. Then he paused time, and I said, “Who are you?”
He took off his cloak and he looked like me, but he was burned. He told me that instead of getting clones, he got time travel. When he fought, he lost and went back in time. He fought for me and won for me, that’s why I was in the final battles. He said he was trapped in here because, when he lost, the rule was that the loser could not leave until he won a battle.
We started fighting. He kept pausing time and was beating me up. I spawned my clones, and we fought for what felt like ages.
Then I saw something, it said “Yes” or “No.” I accepted, and it said “Skill unlocked: Imagination.”
I realized I could now warp reality to my imagination. I shot multiple rockets, took off his armor, and won the battle. I took his time travel glove and combined it with mine.
After I won, I got to choose my wish. My wish was to send my evil version back to his timeline and gain a copy ability. I paid off the coins I owed using my imagination ability to make anything.
Then, I went back home for bedtime.
Since Santiago is 11 years old and tired, he wanted to rush. He was too lazy to write the full story so he created a villain to blame.
Stars of the World
Zayra M.
Me and my brother were dancing, and I thought we should go to the woods. We then went to the woods to find a time capsule. We saw a pink and purple sparkly box, and then my brother said, “Nuh-uh, no no no no no no!”
I said, “I don’t care about you,” and I opened it.
Inside, there was a tiny white bunny. She jumped and hugged me, and I fell. I needed to take the bunny to the vet because she hurt her elbow.
“This bunny cannot jump for a whole day!” The vet said. “OK, got it.” I say.
Then the bunny punched the vet in the face.
“Take that!” I said.
We all ran to class.
A teacher said, “You are so late! Time out!”
I was so mad I got fire in my brain.
We sat down for the rest of the day. We did the same thing but backwards.
The white bunny went to the vet. Then, we found another time capsule and this one has a bear with an alien costume. So the bunny and the bear played together.
They played hide and seek in the backyard. A fish nearby flopped over and was trying to eat and scared them.
The bunny, bear, and I ran into the house and tip-toed to my room. We covered ourselves with a blanket and hid under the bed. The fish couldn’t find us so he went away.
Then it was time to go to sleep, so the bunny, bear, and I all slept on my bed.
The next day we saw that it was raining and we all decided to go outside to play in the puddles.
My brother then took the bear and the bunny to the doctor to get a vaccine. The vaccine was just to make sure they were healthy.
The vet said, “Don’t eat candy for the rest of your whole week!”
We all went home and jumped in bed. The bed was really ginormous. My white bunny, my bear, my unicorn and I were in the bed.
Then my brother said, “Get down right now! Eat right now! Hurry up!”
We ran and then we jumped on my brother. We said, “Giddy-up horsey!”
Bunny said, “Can we eat?”
Then we said, “Giddy-up horsey!” and I slapped him in the face. We got Capi for dinner. It was really good soup. We went to the restaurant and said, “Blah blah blah blah…”
Then my brother said, “What are you saying?”
I said, “Blah blah blah.”
I felt happy and funny because I said blah blah blah. I got a trophy for being so good.
Zayra is five years old. She goes to Clifford. She loves to color, draw, sing, and sleep. Their favorite colors are green, purple, and pink!
Acknowledgments
826LA would like to thank to following for their support in making this chapbook possible:
Alexis Y.
UCLA College Corps Fellow
Anna H.
Arielle C.
Aquill F.
UCLA College Corps Fellow
Bella B.
UCLA College Corps Fellow
Berenice L.
UCLA College Corps Fellow
Bryan S.
UCLA College Corps Fellow
Elvis V.
UCLA College Corps Fellow
Emily P.
UCLA College Corps Fellow
Eric N.
Ethan S.
Eva H.
Gary W.
Gerardo F-S.
Gwen B.
Helia J.
UCLA College Corps Fellow
Jack G.
Janis C.
Jennifer K.
Josephine B.
Julie S.
Kaijing
UCLA College Corps Fellow
Leydi H.
UCLA College Corps Fellow
Lucia C.
UCLA College Corps Fellow
Madison W.
Marisa H.
Michelle G.
Mira V.
Mireya P.
UCLA College Corps Fellow
Missy S.
UCLA College Corps Fellow
Molly T.
Mwanday Y.
Ollie K.
Omar A.
Parker R.
Rita H.
Sofia L.
Sweta G.
Trent O.
Yasmin K.
Xitlali N.
UCLA College Corps Fellow
About 826LA
Vision: 826LA envisions a Los Angeles where every child has access to quality writing education and is empowered to express themselves creatively through writing. We envision a Los Angeles where every teacher is supported in their writing-based educational objectives.
Mission: 826LA is dedicated to unlocking and cultivating the creative power of writing for students ages 6 to 18, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.
How we advance our mission: A nonprofit organization, our services are structured around our understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.
With this in mind, we provide after-school tutoring in all subjects, evening and weekend workshops, in-school programs, field trips, college access, help for English language learners, and assistance with student publications.
All of our programs are challenging and enjoyable, and ultimately strengthen each student’s ability to express ideas effectively, creatively, confidently, and in their own voice.
Core Values:
826LA values joy in the service of achieving educational goals. Our community norms value diversity, equity, inclusion, and access. We therefore prioritize partnerships with Title 1 Schools, engagement with historically marginalized populations, and training and deploying communitybased volunteers in support of our mission. As a teaching approach, we value creativity, authenticity, empathy, and lively, rigorous, and studentcentered writing education. As an educational enrichment organization, we value supporting teachers, principals, and other school staff in the pursuit of excellence.
Programs
As an educational enrichment organization, we value supporting teachers, principals, and other school staff in the pursuit of excellence.
Tutoring
From Monday to Thursday, students attend 826LA for free individual tutoring in all subjects. Students receive homework help and write stories based on prompts. Students submit their writing for inclusion in chapbooks, which 826LA publishes throughout the year. To celebrate students’ hard work, 826LA unveils these chapbooks at book release parties, where students read their work to thunderous applause from their volunteers, families, and peers.
Write On! After School (WO!AS)
Monday through Thursday, we offer after-school tutoring to our younger students ages 5 to 11. Students work one-on-one with trained volunteers to receive homework and writing support.
TNT Tutoring
On Tuesdays and Thursdays evenings, we offer after-school tutoring to our teen students. Students work with volunteers on homework, writing, and college preparedness.
In-Schools and Writers’ Rooms
Because not all students can come to one of 826LA’s writing labs, 826LA brings specially trained volunteers into under-resourced public schools. The volunteers provide one-on-one assistance with writing projects. 826LA works with teachers to craft projects designed to engage students while targeting curricular issues. In addition to visiting many schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District each year, 826LA hosts Writers’ Rooms at Manual Arts High School, Roosevelt High School, and Venice High School.
Workshops
826LA’s Workshops bring students together with artists, writers, and professionals for creative collaboration and development. Whether the subject is flash fiction, playwriting, or preparing for the AI singularity, our workshops foster creativity while strengthening writing skills. This includes our Summer Writers Workshop and monthly Sunday workshops at the Hammer Museum.
Write On! Summer Camp
826LA’s Workshops bring students together with artists, writers, and professionals for creative collaboration and development. Whether the subject is flash fiction, playwriting, or preparing for the AI singularity, our workshops foster creativity while strengthening writing skills. This includes our Summer Writers Workshop and monthly Sunday workshops at the Hammer Museum.
College and Career Access Programs
Our College and Career Access Program is designed to support students in their journey toward higher education and career success. The program culminates in two major events each year. In the Fall, the emphasis shifts to college applications, where students receive one-on-one assistance from specially trained volunteers to enhance their application writing. In the Spring, the emphasis shifts to scholarship applications, where again students are paired with dedicated volunteers to craft compelling scholarship essays. Additionally, our career access initiative offers robust internship programs, providing valuable work experience for many high school students. This comprehensive support system ensures our students are well-prepared for both academic and professional achievements.
Sign up to make a monthly donation to 826LA and you’ll join our Future Bestsellers Club. For as little as ten dollars each month, we’ll deliver writing from our brilliant, emerging authors right to you! Go to 826LA.org/donate and click on Future Bestsellers Club to join.
Staff
Jaime Balboa
Executive Director
Diego Quevedo
Chief of Staff
Shani Foster Director of Education
Christie Thomas Director of Development
Pedro Estrada
Programs & Operations Manager, Echo Park
Mike Dunbar Programs & Operations Manager, Mar Vista
Mateo Acosta
Associate Director of Community Engagement
Carinne Mangold
Store and General Operations Manager
Time Travel Marts in Echo Park & Mar Vista
Alma Carrillo
Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships and Communications
Trevor Crown
Senior Manager of Volunteer Innovation and Assessment
Ariadne Makridakis Arroyo
Senior Volunteer Coordinator
Katie Feige
Institutional Giving Manager
Maddie Silva Manager of Special Initiatives
Arisdeysi Cruz
Tutoring Program Coordinator
Marco Beltran Writers’ Room Program Coordinator Manual Arts High School
Wendy Beltran
Senior Writers’ Room Program Coordinator
Roosevelt High School
Cole Montgomery Development Coordinator
Ariana Ponce Olivares
Senior Civic Engagement Coordinator
Wilson Swain
Creative Engagement Specialist
Julia Malinow
In-Schools and Tutoring Program Coordinator
Board
Karen Van Kirk
Board President
Customer Experience & Operations
Sarah Rosenwald Varet
Board Vice President
Governance Committee Chair Attorney
David Ullendorff Board Treasurer
Finance Committee Chair Co-Founder, Mathnasium
Cisca Brouwer
Development Committee Chair Attorney/Writer
Ben Au
Litigation Partner, Orrick
Jeff Boos Brokerage Operations & Services, Side
Scott Boxenbaum Comedian & Real Estate
Iman Farrior
Business Affairs Executive, Creative Artists Agency
Joe Ferencz CEO/Founder, GameFam
Scott A. Ginsburg Real Estate, Boulevard Partners
Susan Ko Clinical Psychology & Executive Leadership
Hon. Holly A. Thomas Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit
Dave Eggers Emeritus and 826 Founder
Advisory Board
J.J. Abrams
Judd Apatow
Miguel Arteta
Mac Barnett
Steve Barr
Joshuah Bearman
Father Gregory Boyle, S.J.
Amy Brooks
Stefan Bucher
Kathleen Caliento
Monique Demery
Mark Flanagan
Ben Goldhirsh
Rebecca Goldman
Ellen Goldsmith-Vein
DeAnna Gravillis
Terri Hernandez Rosales
Christine Jaroush
Spike Jonze
Miranda July
Catherine Keener
Keith Knight
Al Madrigal
R. Scott Mitchell
Lani Monos
B.J. Novak
Miwa Okumura
Amber Paasch
Jane Patterson
Keri Putnam
Sylvie Rabineau
Sonja Rasula
Will Reiser
Luis Rodriguez
Tara Roth
Brad Simpson
J. Ryan Stradal
Natalie Tran
Sarah Vowell
Sally Willcox
Julie Wiskirchen
Shop the Time Travel Mart!
Visit our Time Travel Mart storefronts in Echo Park and Mar Vista where you can shop for all your time traveling gears and gadgets. From Mammoth Chunks to Robot Milk to original student-authored books, we pride ourselves on being the only Los Angeles purveyor of quality goods from the past, present, and future. The proceeds from the store help to keep all programs free for our students. You can also visit the stores online at timetravelmart.com.
Echo Park 1714 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Mar Vista 12515 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066
