It Could Have Been Way Worse than It Was

it could have been

W A Y WORSE

than

it

was

Science Fiction & Personal Essays from 826NYC Students at the Academy for Young Writers 01

it could have been

W A Y W O R S E than

it

was

Science Fiction & Personal Essays from 826NYC Students at the Academy for Young Writers

826NYC Books 372 Fifth Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11215 It Could Have Been Way Worse Than It Was: Science Fiction & Personal Essays from 826NYC Students at the Academy for Young Writers © 2022 by 826NYC and the authors. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

First 826NYC edition May 2022 Manufactured in the United States of Brooklyn 978-1-948644-95-2 The writing in this book was produced in the 2021-2022 school year at 826NYC’s Young Writers Publish project at the Academy for Young Writers. The classes were run by Daniel Goulden and Jaydra Johnson with the support of Lucia Brockway, Alex Cuff, Rachel Jacobs, Kesha Kennedy, and Jaclyn Reyes, as well as 826NYC writing mentors Eunice An, Arrianne Bautista, Kate Brennan, Sammy Gibbons, Carol Goldberg, Jess Mayer-Jones, Katherine Peach, Remoy Philip, Ronnie Wolff, and Ling Zhu. Designed by Kelly McComas, including artwork by Joanne Beckford, Terra Cabey, Chandra Datadeen, Akoni Drysdale-Ash, Zebastian Florimon, and Marsy Orellana.

Edited and proofread by Chris Ahearn, Rakhee Bhatt, Anicka Charles, Madison Durham, Kiran Josen, Nicholas Martinez, Melanie McFayden, Kris Pajarito, Katherine Peach, Allison Singer, and Robyn Smith Printed by Bookmobile This program is supported by 826 National, the Amazon Literary Partnership, The Jane Friedman Anspach Family Foundation, Con Edison, The Find Your Light Foundation, The Hawkins Project, International Paper, The Rona Jaffe Foundation, The Kettering Family Foundation, The Minerva Foundation, The Resnick Foundation, The Yelp Foundation, and Youth, Inc. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The program is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional support comes from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov. 826NYC is grateful to the many individuals who support our work. To see our full list of supporters or make a donation, please visit https://826nyc.org/donate-us/.

826NYC is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage the exploration of endless possibilities through the power of writing. Undefined by circumstance, our students build the skills to boldly write their own paths forward. We support new and exciting approaches to writing and inspire student engagement. And we foster generations of creative writers and thinkers, who together will define a better future.

This book is intended for mature audiences, with some topics, themes, and language, including fictional violence, that may not be suitable for young readers.

C O N T E N T S GRADE

9 Science Fiction.....................1

Shafin Ahmed, “Marwan’s Innovation”............................................2 David Areche, “Unititled”.................................................................10 Caliyah Arthur, “Welcome to 2040”................................................14 Ciara Ayala, “The Five Little Things”..............................................22 Yoheily Baez, “The Fight”.................................................................28 Joanne Beckford, “The Destruction of Gioia”................................38 Makayla Bellamy, “Lilly in the Valley”..............................................51 Dan Belova, “‘Good Old’ Hall’s”.......................................................56 Aniya Bright, “Untitled”....................................................................63 Terra Cabey, “Starry Hearts of War”..............................................68 Makayla Campbell, “Perfection”......................................................73 Ashton Cirius, “Untitled”..................................................................79 Cymere Coleman, “The Ungifted”...................................................82 Damaris Cruz, “The Unspoken”......................................................89 Chandra Datadeen, “The Lost World”............................................96 Rihanna Douglas, “The Seven Crystals”.......................................102 Shamar Dove, “The Rat System”.....................................................113 Akoni Drysdale, “Untitled”.............................................................120 Mandy Dupervil, “Tesla Done Gone Haywire”.............................127 Kairi Feliz Mercado, “Attack on Hibbat”.......................................130 Xavier Fletcher Johnson, “The Tale of Two Warriors”................136 Zebastien Florimon, “Doppleganger”...........................................142 Cassidy Grays-Ferguson, “Untitled”.............................................150 Sadeyah Harrison, “Snapchat Live Show”....................................155 Quinyah Hill, “Untitled”..................................................................159 Richelle Horsford, “Infinity”...........................................................161 Feyisayo Inumo, “Sector R-MD1”..................................................166 Martinique John, “The Not-So-Happy Place”..............................173 Robert Kearney, “Untitled”.............................................................177 Malaki Lesser, “The Superhero Meets Mr. Beast”.......................181 Jeffrey Melo, “Untitled”....................................................................187 Schnieder Milien, “The Distant Apocalypse”...............................190

Leshaun Miller, “What Happened to Silver City”........................193 Johanna Molina, “Shadowgirl”.......................................................199 Mohamed Mosed, “Story Time”.....................................................215 Marsy Orellana, “There’s No Time”..............................................216 William Perez Jr., “PS5 Malfunction”.............................................222 Jaylin Rhodes, “Ant Boy”.................................................................229 Savannah Rodrigues, “Brooklyn’s Power”....................................233 Khalida Shamsuddeen, “Death Creeper”.....................................236 Jahkyah Thomas, “Untitled”...........................................................241 Shamsun Tiba, “Damned City”......................................................244 Vivian Torres, “FBI” .......................................................................250 Celina Torruella, “How To Get Rid of Z Nation”..........................255 Annasian Walters, “A.S.C.T.C.C.”...................................................264 Amanda Zapata, “Rose Colored Glasses”.....................................273

GRADE

10 Memoir............................277

Oluwatabi Akangbe, “I Had One Job”............................................279 Madison Amos, “White Turns Red”...............................................283 Qyli Banks, “Untitled”.....................................................................287 Sy-Asia Bazelais, “Untitled”...........................................................289 Michelle Bonne-Annee, “Quarantine Madness”.........................293 Isabella Burgos, “I Deserve It”.......................................................297 Shatavia Clovie, “The Worst Best Year of My Life”......................303 Arianna Dixon, “Untitled”..............................................................305 Kayla Hernandez, “The Scared Cub”............................................309 Roselyn Hernandez, “Two Years Ago”...........................................317 Maya Jodah, “Christmas Rush”......................................................323 Joya Khalil, “Best Friend”................................................................327 Rifat Khan, “Fear Often Leads to Enjoyment”..............................331 Natalie Khemlal, “(My) Inner Monologue”....................................335 Dymel Lisman, “Creation”..............................................................339 Kimora Negron, “The Scar”............................................................343 Blake Poole, “Craziness”.................................................................349 Koi Ramirez, “Yeah, I Kissed Her”.................................................353 Zavina Ramos, “Drenched in Milk”...............................................355 Keira Rodriguez, “The Call”...........................................................359 Cleopatra Salam, “Robbed By Stitches”........................................363 Selena Scarborough, “My Lifestyle Transition”...........................367 Javaughna Williams, “The Deli Mishap”........................................373 Acknowledgments...........................................................................376 About 826NYC..................................................................................378

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FOREWORD The Omicron wave had just crested when I began my residency with AFYW’s brilliant 10th graders. On many of those January days, the hallways and classrooms were nearly empty as students stayed home due to illness, caution, and fear. It sometimes felt as if winter break had never ended, and the frigid January air froze our stories in our heads. We gathered together, as best we could, and wrote anyway, as best as we could.

Stories of our lives poured onto the page as our insides unthawed. We wrote about the good times and the bad: fights with our sisters, unforgettable family vacations, lackluster report cards, and meeting our best friends. We wrote about getting hurt, getting COVID, getting in trouble, and getting well. We wrote about those we’ve loved and those we lost. We wrote about getting lost ourselves on the sprawling city sidewalks and amid tangled networks of subway tracks.

While the 9th graders down the hall invented entire worlds with their sci-fi stories, the 10th graders had the task of telling their deepest truths about this one as it already exists. They tossed their whole hearts into these true stories. I loved seeing the world through their eyes and learning how they lived. I hope you find them as clever, felt, dramatic (in a good way), and inspiring as I did.

- Jaydra Johnson 826NYC Teaching Artist

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FOREWORD When I found out I was teaching science fiction at AFYW, I was absolutely elated. I think everyone has that one genre they absolutely love. For some it’s mystery, for others it’s fantasy, but for me it has always been science fiction. I would spend my summers poring over used sci-fi paperbacks, steadily working my way through the works of the science fiction masters: Asimov, Clarke, Le Guin, and Butler. It’s been so much fun being able to share my love of the genre with the 9th graders at AFYW. Together we explored science fiction worlds and really dove into the genre. We watched Black Mirror, Attack on Titan, and Alien; we read Blood Child. We visited strange alien worlds profoundly different from our own, we grappled with new technologies in their wonder and horror, and we explored dystopias and utopias. The stories you will find in this anthology are inspired by our explorations. You will read about Teslas going rogue, God-like beings duking it out in mystical cities, robots and their human sidekicks, strange planets and their even stranger inhabitants, and so much more.

I hope when reading this you will feel the same joy and inspiration that I felt working with the 9th graders at AFYW. Our time together was an absolute whirlwind of creativity and I’m so proud of the work we produced. Please enjoy!

- Daniel Goulden 826NYC Teaching Artist

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GRADE Science

9

Fiction

1

Artwork 2

by

Shafin

Ahmed

MARWAN’S I N N OVAT I O N Shafin

Ahmed

Regardless of the Earth being a motherload of conflicts, the new species on Mars, known as Mashiro, is becoming a universal power through their advanced way of life. Which has been outside the knowledge of humans for thousands of years.

These aliens on Mars are similar to humans, as they talk, eat and die, and have human-like faces; despite their bodies being like, as if, they are wearing gowns at their graduation ceremony. However, Mashiros are completely against the human way of reproduction. Instead, they prefer procreation through automatic DNA factories, where the Mashiro people can literally buy babies through certified qualification.

On the other hand, humans on Earth have lost their scientific progress, due to continuous wars and conflicts for over thousands of years. It’s the year 3000, but on Earth, it feels as if you are still in the 20th century; where dozens of people have to die because of silly viruses. In other words, humans on Earth have become uncivilized, in front of highly advanced Mashiros, who are on the brink of becoming a universal power as they are more advanced in science and technology than any other species.

In fact, the Mashiro people don’t rule them by themselves. They have a capable leader known as Marwan the Magnificent. Furthermore, Marwan is not the only one who is worthy of recognition on Mars. Marwan also has an advisor, who is known as Pasha, and is equally as important as Marwan, as he is responsible for running the government’s military, foreign affairs, and Mars’s well-being as well.

One day on Mars, Marwan (the alien leader of Mars) came to his 3

throne with Pasha (Marwan’s advisor), by flying a horse, which looked like a brown unicorn.

Besides that, Marwan’s throne looked like a golden rocket with a garden and a sitting area, which is literally standing in the middle of the clouds, and from a big distance, Marwan’s throne looked like a golden palace with a golden dome in the middle of the sky. As if it was a palace designed for a person who would probably go to heaven. At the same time, Marwan’s throne was always full of calming noises and beautiful music, like chirping of birds and oriental beats (eastern instrumental music), which make your heart dance with joy.

As every morning, when Marwan and Pasha got situated in Marwan’s magnificent throne, as usual Pasha stood next to him.

Out of the chirping of birds and music, Pasha said to Marwan, “Our magnificent Leader, I would like to inform you that our great robot scientist has invented something amazing.” This information was not something usual for Marwan.

Therefore Marwan replied, “What is it, don’t we have enough amazing stuff already?”

Pasha replied: “Yes, but regardless of us having infinite amount of amazing stuff, like cities overneath the clouds, automatic reproduction factories, robot scientists, gravity control technology, through which you and I are flying right now; but did we have a war spaceship that could fly as far as Earth?”

Marwan replied, “Noooo waaayy! Were our Robot scientists really able to invent such a thing?”

Pasha replied, “Yes, our Leader, we can now be a universal power with the capability to control over space. Especially, we can crush the disgusting species of Earth known as humans who create babies through a disgusting way and most of the babies are aborted. In other words they are heartless savages, therefore I think we as Mashiros should guide and civilize them. And to do that, we must crush their armies.” At that moment, Marwan was looking at Pasha awkwardly. Then, Marwan came out from his throne and came closer to Pasha.

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Thereafter, Marwan replied by raising his voice. “I will not take over others, just because their way of life is ugly, or they are uncivilized, or maybe they kill each other and abort babies.”

The music and chirping of birds suddenly stopped. Pasha was also shocked by seeing Marwan speaking by raising his voice, because he had never seen Marwan speaking like that before.

At that moment, Pasha was standing like a statue, as if he would die out of embarrassment, as he had never dealt with someone disagreeing with him like that before. Thereafter Marwan and Pasha did not speak, and then both of them went to their palaces afterwards.

The next day, instead of visiting Marwan’s throne, Pasha went to the Military headquarters. “But for what?” Marwan asked.

The chief general Yazdaghar, who was in charge of Martian military intelligence, replied, “I think Pasha went there to do something against you, as you disagreed with him yesterday.”

Marwan replied “Why? Is Pasha unaware of the fact that taking over others by force is against Mashiro Philosophy?”

Yazdaghar replied, “I have no idea.”

Meanwhile, Pasha and other Martian officials decided to overthrow Marwan, in order to fulfill Pasha’s dream, which was to launch a full-scale invasion into Earth. Regardless of knowing that this type of forceful takeover was forbidden in Mashiro philosophies.

So, to deal with a possible resistance against Pasha for violating Mashiro philosophies, Pasha launched massive propaganda through Martian media, exposing human ugliness and criticizing Marwan for not invading the Earth to civilize humans.

The next day as the propaganda spread, most of the Mashiro population was convinced by Pasha’s propaganda, which was laid down against Marwan and humans, for a good purpose.

Meanwhile as Marwan was going to his throne, he saw some clips of the propaganda in his digital necklace, from which he gets every upcoming news. After seeing those clips Marwan 5

said, “What a beautiful deed you have done Pasha.”

Marwan shouted and told some of his soldiers, “Go arrest Pasha.”

But after a while, instead of the soldiers coming back, he saw something big and dark coming towards Marwan’s location.

Marwan said what is it? But as it came closer, Marwan was clear what it was. It was nothing else but a unit of Martian forces sent

by Pasha to arrest him. This situation reminds him about the time, when he refused the advice of Pasha to invade Earth, and not only that he refused his offer awkwardly by raising his voice while replying to Pasha. Marwan said to himself, If I hadn’t rejected the advice of Pasha that day, this rebellion would not need to happen, I really forgot the fact that Pasha is equally important as me.

As a result of not finding any alternative, Marwan had to surrender. As Marwan knew that nobody would resist Pasha being the next leader, as he had launched propaganda against Marwan earlier to prevent any kind of resistance from the Mashiro population.

Therefore, after arresting Marwan, Pasha exiled Marwan to eastern Mars, as there was no significant infrastructure there.

The next day, Pasha quickly prepared the Martian military with the warspace ship that Martian robot scientists had recently invented, with which an expedition into Earth would be done. And after a week of preparations, Pasha did send his full military to invade Earth, and this expedition was greatly supported by most of the Mashiro population, as well.

Meanwhile, Marwan while being in Exile was accompanied by a group of soldiers to the Martian’s Eastern military headquarters. And there Marwan gave an infamous speech.

Marwan said, gesturing to present Eastern Martians officials, “Will Mashiros be introduced to the Universe as Hypocrites?

Don’t you all see that Pasha is acting against our philosophy by sending the Martian military to invade Earth, by force?” Every6

one who was there realized that Pasha was wrong and Marwan was right, therefore everyone who was there pledged allegiance to Marwan.

As a consequence, supporters of Marwan organized a strong army of four thousand and launched an attack on west Mars, in order to take back Marwan’s throne from Pasha.

But they were soon repelled in the middle of their journey to west Mars, by Pasha’s robot forces, which were far more powerful, unlike a Martian soldier. Meanwhile, Yazdaghar had joined Pasha and signed on to become his advisor.

On the other hand, the Martian military had reached the topmost atmosphere of Earth and now could be seen by humans.

Furthermore, the people of the Earth were tense as they saw spaceships coming towards them. Many people panicked, and left their homes to find shelter somewhere. As those spacecraft came closer and closer, people wondered what it really was.

Some people, who were Agnostics, as usual, said, “Don’t know.”

People who are religious said, “It must be the ultimate punishment from God.” Atheists said, “It must be some asteroids that look like UFOs.” But in reality, it was aliens that came to invade Earth from Mars, who were indeed million times more advanced than humans. At that time, John (200th president of America) and Putin the XIX were considered the custodians of the Earth. And both of them were unaware of aliens coming towards Earth until they saw Martian military in the sky.

Meanwhile, on Mars, Marwan found something unexpected, that could solve all the problems at once. The multifunctional necklace that Marwan had on his neck contained a brown diamond, from which he could ask it to do anything.

By the way, Pasha was unaware of this diamond. Therefore, without wasting any time, Marwan told it, “Lucky Diamond, I wish that all the troops that have been sent by Pasha return from Earth, and stop their mission.”

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Therefore, in a matter of time, the people of Earth saw from their rooftops that those objects were no more coming towards Earth. Instead they were going back towards space, which shocked John and NASA, as they were terrified by this. Putin was informed of this and became disappointed, as he had had a dream since he was a child to meet an alien. The Martian forces unconsciously retreated, regardless of being one minute away from invading the Earth.

Pasha was also shocked by this, as he watched the whole scenario live on a big screen like a movie. He sent signals to complete their mission, but unfortunately, nobody expected Pasha’s signals. Ultimately, Pasha lost his confidence and decided to run away from Marwan’s throne, as his troops were no longer listening to his orders.

As a consequence, Marwan was able to come back to power, and entered his throne room without facing any resistance.

This situation led Yazdaghar to feel a dagger in his heart, as he betrayed Marwan by siding with Pasha, and now that Pasha was gone he had nothing to do but lock himself in his own prison.

The next day, the Mashiro population began to question Marwan for the reason why he stopped the mission for civilizing Earth. In return, Marwan said, “I will not civilize Earth by taking over them by force, but I will do that by the power of a book, which contains the secret of wisdom and success, including philosophies and unknown sciences that will civilize and benefit all the species of this universe, including humans! Therefore, we can be a universal power without wars and bloodshed by taking over the minds and hearts of all the sensible creatures of the universe through the power of this book.” At this moment everyone was stunned by this innovation. People who had questioned Marwan clapped and broke into tears.

So therefore, within a couple of weeks, envoys from Mars had gone to Earth to meet with John and Putin, so that they could come under the fold of Marwan’s book and follow its guidance.

Ultimately Marwan was finally successful, regardless of John rejecting Marwan’s book, but his people didn’t.

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As a result of his denial of Marwan’s book and its laws, John was overthrown by American civilians in a bloody coup. Unlike Putin, who without a doubt accepted Marwan’s book, and soon became a patron to promote Martian ideas.

For example, Putin the XIX stopped sexual reproduction from Russia and started to build DNA factories according to Marwan’s book.

At the same time Putin established a strong communication system between Mars and Earth, which improved Earth’s economic and technological conditions immensely.

Therefore, as a result of Marwan’s innovation, Mashiros didn’t need to be imperialist to be a universal power, since Marwan was taking over other creatures like humans through winning over their hearts and minds, instead of through violence and war. Which also brought about the ultimate alternative of Pasha’s evil ideas. And at the same time, Marwan’s Innovation finally brought an end to the whole conflict that took place between Marwan and the people of Mars, for civilizing the people of Earth.

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10

Artwork

by

David

Areche

U N T I T L E D David

Areche

While in New York in the year 2055, Naz and I had just finished building our biggest project ever, and I immediately went to go test out the VRX-1000 that levitates about 3 feet above the ground. It has many features such as going into different timelines and comes to you wherever, whenever you whisper. I was on the hoverboard and in order for me to time travel into a different timeline, I had to change the date that’s placed on the hoverboard as a lock combination. I changed the date to July 17, 1955 to Disneyland’s opening day. I set my feet on the board with high expectations. Then, suddenly the board malfunctioned and I crashed into someone’s backyard along with the board.

I was frustrated thinking that this project was going to be a success, and I kicked the board with such frustration, blood boiling through my skin, and accidentally changed the date to 1945 during World War II. I was unaware of what I did, and that was when a portal sucked me up. I grabbed my hoverboard at the last second. *WOOOOOSH* *BUMP* *OUCH* I was getting hit by many objects from other timelines. I landed in a forest and it was pitched black. I couldn’t even see my hands, and I couldn’t see my surroundings. I was roaming around the forest dragging my fatigued hoverboard not expecting anything. I heard a group of guys talking in the distance in a different language, but I didn’t think much of it. I quietly approached the group but accidentally stepped on a branch and alerted the guys which caused them to start marching towards me with lethal weapons. That’s when I hid behind a tree, hoping they would back off, and suddenly a loud explosion in the distance sounded, which backed them off from me. I sighed with relief. I went to go find a safe place. I was looking for the 11

machine vet because I didn’t have my tools to fix my fatigued board. I needed directions because I was lost, lost in this smoke-infested forest from the explosion and gunshots. Mind you, I wasn’t aware when I put in the date of WWII, so I still thought I lived in my futuristic world. I spotted a kinda wounded-looking soldier leaning against a tree. I was confused.

I asked him, “What year is it? What’s going on?”

“The second World War . . . 1945!” the wounded soldier said. I was in absolute disbelief . . . ‘’What did I get myself into? I need to get back home before things get out of hand!”

As the soldier died from the excruciating pain, I set the date to the year I came from, 2055, and I started to get back. That was when a M1 Garand bullet (that I assumed the soldier got shot with) shot my board, which caused my board to detonate and stopped me from getting home. ***** Naz was running out of ideas on how to get David back, he tried everything in his will. One of Naz’s ideas was to travel into times David loved the most. David always wanted to learn more about the total disaster of Pompeii, so Naz traveled to that time period to find David but a giant volcanic ash cloud rushed towards him, scaring him back to 2055. David admires tall glass buildings. Naz traveled to when the Burj Khalifa was still being built to try and spot David, but Naz was intimidated with the great height of the building. He was able to highfive a plane! He was frightened back to 2055.

At this point he had already given up risking his life to find his friend, one from almost being turned into ashes and, two, from almost falling to his death. Naz went to school the next day and enrolled in the Academy For Young Writers in the East Side. His first period was history and the topic was WWII. The teacher showed various images and videos of WWII and as Naz dozed from boredom, he was immediately woken up like a lightswitch as he confusingly spotted DAVID on one of the videos and no12

ticed his board was broken. Naz waited impatiently for school to end so he could get his friend back. Finally school ended and he rushed home. He brought together the necessary tools for David and set his board to the date 1945.

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Artwork by Caliyah Arthur 14

W E L C O M E TO 2040 Caliyah

Arthur

In 2040 there are these talking robots called Ibots. They help you out around the house like cooking, cleaning, even talking to you if you’re lonely like a regular person would. They are built from NASA. They made them to help the world out a little so people don’t have to be under stress. One day my robot, Ali, was helping out around the house and he started spilling water all over the house. Ali is a programmed robot not to make mess-ups. He was supposed to be one of those perfect robots, so when he spilled water all over himself, he and myself were in shock, jaw-dropping shock. A few seconds after he spilled water on himself he started going haywire! I mean full out of control! Ali’s head started spinning in 360 degree circles and electrical sparks were coming off his body, and he was saying random things. After three minutes, he finally shut down and reset himself. When Ali started rebooting himself, he opened his eyes and they were red, and he looked so angry with his teeth grinding together, like anger took over! I tried to shut him down with the remote he came with but the remote was not working, like he got a mind of his own now.

Ali looked at me with angry red eyes, “If you try to stop me Caliyah, I will kill you.” And then he turned around and jumped out my apartment window, five floors down to the concrete, and landed on his feet, stepping on some of the glass that shattered from my apartment. He took off running around New York City.

I had to think about how I was going to save Ali and not get myself killed. He was my best friend. I had Ali for 2-3 years and this never happened, and I mean never happened, before. We always laughed and I always introduced him to my friends, my real friends. He never felt a way, and I was never afraid to show him

15

to anybody, so I had to know where he was going, what he was planning to do, and how I was going to help him, before he did something he would regret. I tried to get in contact with NASA, so I could tell them what was going on with Ali but they called him 14863, to no answer. I started going mad, throwing things. and screaming because they didn’t answer and I didn’t know what to do. I took a nap and woke up to cool down and while I was waking up my friend Autumn was calling. I answered.

“Girl, go to News 12! Your robot is going crazy!” she said, sounding very worried.

“What?”

“Go to News 12 now!”

I grabbed the remote to change to channel 12 and the lady on the news said, “Channel 12 Breaking News a crazy robot named Ali that is now calling himself Dark Wire is running around Time Square trying to get an army of robots to take over the world. Please stay and keep safe until further notice. This is Breaking News, Channel 12.”

“Oh my god,” I said, still on the phone with Autumn, watching News 12 still talking about Ali. She said, “What are you going to do about Ali?” “I don’t know, I have to get ready to look for him.”

“I’m coming with you,’’ she says with confidence.

“Okay be here by 12.” I hung up the phone to start getting ready.

12 came by, Autumn knocked on the door knock, knock, knock.

I opened the door, gave her a hug and thanked her for coming, then we took a seat on the couch to talk.

“So . . . what we going to do?’’ she asked.

“I’m not sure because he says if I try to go after him he will kill me then jump out my window. That’s why the glass is shattered all over the place.” While pointing to where Ali jumped from.

“First things first,” I said. “I need to find where Ali—I mean 16

Dark Wire—is going to be and how he is going to get an army of robots.” A few minutes later we came to the conclusion that we were going to take and walk down to NASA to try again to get their attention from their robots and figure out what is going to happen to Dark Wire. We went to Downtown Brooklyn to go where they’re located and rang the bell that was on the wall, so they could open the gate. That was when a camara popped out.

“What do you want?” a grown man with a deep voice said very rudely.

“We would like to speak to your manager and the person who owns NASA please,” spoken as kindly as possible.

“State y’all names please.”

“Autumn and Caliyah.”

Then the gates began to open, and we began to walk into the big, huge building of NASA. We started to walk into the building and a man welcomed us in, and he was going to take us to find the owner of the building and of the robots. We were looking around and we were looking at robots being worked on and they all were all lined up and shut down ready to go to their new owners that ordered them.

When we finally got down the hall to the owner’s office, we walked inside and he was on the phone yelling at someone saying, “You better do your job properly before I get someone to do it for you!” He slammed the phone and took a breath and welcomed us in to sit down and talk about what was happening to my robot.

“Hello, I am Mr. William, and I am the owner of NASA and the robots. I saw your call but I couldn’t pick up. I was on a very important phone call with my lawyers. Now that you’re here in person, what could I do for you?”

I was just sitting there, gazing into his sky blue eyes, and for a moment I was thinking, How am I going to tell him that my robot basically spilled water all over himself and then he started going crazy and he got rebooted and now he’s evil and running around 17

Time Square trying to get an army of robots?

As Autumn looked at me waiting for me to say something, she looked at William and said, “So, have you looked at the news recently, William?”

“No, why?” Then he grabbed his remote from out his drawer and started to turn on the TV to News 12 to see what was going on.

“Channel 12 Breaking News: a crazy robot named Ali that is now calling himself Dark Wire is running around Time Square trying to get an army of robots to take over the world. Please stay home and keep safe until further notice. Breaking News, Channel 12.”

Then he turned off the TV and slammed the remote on the desk and started to put a hand on his head. He shook his head back and forth repeatedly. Then he got angry and said to the man that welcomed us in, that was standing by the door very still, and said, “H.R., try to get in contact with the S.W.A.T. team and tell them I said they better find this robot before I do, and it’s not gonna be very nice when I do.”

“Right away, sir,” he said, closing the door behind him and walking as fast as possible to hear his shoes against the ground as he faded away. We started to get up and started to thank Mr. William for trying to stop Dark Wire while we still could. As we were walking out the door he said, “Hey Caliyah, Autumn, before I leave, as soon as H.R. comes back, you guys can take him with y’all so he can help y’all on y’all mission!”

“Thank you so much Mr. William for helping us and having your person H.R.” Then we waited for H.R. outside and then we started heading to Time Square to see if we could find Dark Wire. We spent hours and hours looking, and asking people if they saw him.

Everyone was saying “No, we haven’t. Sorry.” Then we started to come back to the conclusion that we could try again tomorrow.

The next morning we woke up and we went to try again. That’s 18

when we stopped to think if we were Dark Wire where we would go. Then it came to me he would go to NASA to build the robots faster and to start his army. So, once I caught Autumn and H.R up to speed we started running all the way back to the train station. I mean full-on zooming. Brushing people left and right and didn’t even have time to say sorry and tripping over everything and we had to try to catch ourselves. We got to the train station and we jumped down the stairs and the train said it was delayed. We sighed and ran back up the stairs, and ran all the way downtown that was only a few blocks down. Eventually, we got downtown, but we were too late. Dark Wire was already getting them lined up and rebooted with the same red evil eyes like his, then when he finally looked at us he said, “I told you not to look for me Caliyah.”

I started yelling. “Ali, I know you still in there. Please come back to me! Everyone needs you.”

“Ali is not here no more, it’s Dark Wire and now you going to feel my power.”

He started turning on all the robots, and they all started charging at us, and it wasn’t great. We had to run for a little more, then we had to get the FBI on the line and William to see what they could do.We had to fight them off. They had weapons, and they were all for it. They started trying to hit us. We had to dodge the hits until William from the FBI came.

Eventually, they got there and started to get prepared to shoot.

When they were shooting, Dark Wire and his army was just standing there. The bullet backfired, and it shot Autumn, and boom she hit the ground holding her hand on her shot wound to stop the bleeding.

Then she tried to speak. She finally got the words out. “Caliyah , tell my mother I love her with all my heart—” coughing up the blood, not being able to finish what she was saying.

“Stay with me. Girl, you’re going to tell her this yourself, and you’re going to be strong and proud. You still have a lifetime ahead of you. Please don’t die on me now.” I started to shed 19

tears down my face.

Dark Wire sat there in shock; he didn’t know what to do, and he also never been the cause of killing someone before. I looked at him and started to scream.

“WHAT DID YOU DO! LOOK WHAT YOU DID I TOLD YOU TO STAND DOWN.” I looked back at Autumn and her eyes started to shut from losing too much blood.

Mr. William and H.R. were trying to get the police and the ambulance on the road, and then he told us they were five minutes out. The FBI were still holding their guns out ready for the slightest move to happen from Dark Wire and all of them and Dark Wire were just standing there watching Autumn slowly closing her eyes and then something happened.

While Dark Wire looked at Autumn in sorrow his red eyes started to flick between red and blue; blue was his regular eye color. Everyone started to look at him: Myself, the other robots, the FBI, even Autumn started to open her eyes while heavily breathing. Dark Wire’s eyes still flashed between red and blue then it stopped on blue as he said, “What happened? What is going on?” He sounded very concerned and confused about everything.

“You don’t remember anything?”

“No.” He nodded.

Ali started to have flashbacks of what had happened, and started to feel guilty and regret what he did. We all looked at the road where the fire hydrants popped open. Water was spilling all over the road from the gunshots from the FBI. We started to hear the sirens of the ambulance and the police started to come. I looked down to check on how Autumn was doing and when I checked her pulse and she wasn’t breathing, I started to cry. Everyone was looking, and when the ambulance finally came they speedly put her into the back. Mr. William, the owner of NAS, took Ali back to NASA to put him under control and un20

der a lot of security to try to figure out how he did what he did and how his emotions changed so fast just from a little water spill mistake.

Weeks after what happened, I had to explain to Nydia, Autumn’s mother, how she died on the way to the hospital and how it all happened. I tried to send her my condolences and let her take out her anger on me on the death of her daughter. We had the funeral. It was beautiful. After, we went on with our lives and I visited my best friend everyday. I kept her up with my life and how my day went.

21

Artwork 22

by

Ciara

Ayala

THE LITTLE

FIVE THINGS Ciara

Ayala

Inspired by the television show Pretty Little Liars, 2010-2017 Once upon a time, there were five girls that were called the Five Little Things in their town called Rosewood. One Friday night after school, the girls decided to have a sleepover in Oliva’s barn. That night all of the girls were hanging out, laughing, and having a good time. They started to drink the drink that Charlotte gave them—all but herself. Then as soon as it hit 2:00 AM, the girls fell asleep and Charlotte woke up because she was meeting up with her sneaky link, AKA Oliva’s brother-in-law.

After Charlotte walked out of the barn, Oliva woke up and saw Charlotte leaving, so she went running out to follow Charlotte because she was trying to see if she was okay and why she was leaving. Oliva lost Charlotte in the woods, and she heard a scream, so she ran back to the barn to wake up the rest of the girls to tell them she thought something happened to Charlotte.

When she got back to the barn, Emily was up and she said, “What happened, where is Charlotte at?” Then Ari and Mia woke up.

Then Oliva told them, “I went looking for Charlotte in the woods, then I heard a loud scream.”

The girls started to panic and they were all saying, “What if that was Charlotte? How are we going to say Charlotte died?”

Fast forward to the next 2 weeks, when the Duncans, AKA Charlotte’s family, held a funeral for her. The four girls went because Charlotte was their close friend. Right after the service for Charlotte, they took the casket out of the church while the 23

girls were walking out in front of the people that were carrying Charlotte’s body.

When they put Charlotte in the hearse, the girls got a notification about a message from -A, that says, “Now that Charlotte is gone, you all will go down too.” Then, after getting the message, the girls saw Lucy coming out of the church and smiling at the girls. After the funeral, the girls all went to the Duncan’s house just to spend some time with Charlotte’s mom as she was going through such a rough time.

For a couple of weeks after Charlotte’s passing, Lucy would always just pop up wherever the girls were, as if she was watching them. Mia was always Lucy’s friend and she had always felt bad for Lucy because no one was ever really her friend.

So, on a Tuesday after school, Mia decided to hang out with Lucy and give her a makeover. After Lucy’s makeover, Mia went to Ari’s house because the girls started to get messages from -A that said, “Let’s all play a little game.”

So of course they all looked at each other and said out loud, “I don’t want to play.”

The girls wanted to respond back to the message because even though Charlotte had passed away already, they still thought maybe there would be some luck and maybe all this time Charlotte was still alive. The girls ended up just splitting up and going their own ways so everyone went back to their homes.

The next day, they all went to school and everyone in school was talking about how maybe they were the ones who killed Charlotte, but then they were all still happy Charlotte was gone because everyone had always called Charlotte the bully.

In school, Lucy went up to the girls and said, “Good morning ladies.”

All the girls except Mia said something. All the girls said, “Wow, you changed. No more loser Lucy.”

So, of course, Lucy got in her feelings and walked away aggrieved. Then the bell rang so they went to class.

24

-A messaged them and said, “If you don’t play my game within the next 38 hours you all will die.”

After school, the girls started to talk about it with each other.

They were all willing to play the game because they didn’t know if -A would come and kill all of them. At this point, the girls started to feel startled because they figured whoever had killed Charlotte was going to come to get them one by one as he or she, -A, had already done.

That day by 5:00 PM, Ari got a message from -A and it said, “If you don’t play my game everyone will find out that your dad has cheated on your mom.” Ari started to have flashbacks. She remembered that she and Charlotte saw her dad cheating with a woman one day after school, and how Charlotte had said, “Hey Ari, you better tell your mom, or I will.”

Ari said, “No, nobody’s saying nothing. This is between me and you. This is our secret and nobody is to find out what we just witnessed my dad doing.” Charlotte started to cackle and walk away with Ari. Ari started to think maybe Charlotte was still alive because the only people that had ever seen what her dad had done were only her and Charlotte. When Ari started to think she was frightened about how she was gonna tell her mom because Ari´s mom and dad had been together since high school. Ari started to panic because she wanted to tell her friends, but she didn’t want everyone to know that a couple of years ago, her dad had cheated.

The next day for school, the girls knew that Ari was hiding something from them because she was way too quiet. She seemed as though she was just trying to keep to herself that day. The girls started to get very suspicious about what was wrong with her. The girls ended up all finding out that Ari’s dad cheated because one day, after Ari came home from school, her mom called her in the room and said, “So you knew about this the whole time.”

Ari was shocked at the note because she wasn’t planning on telling her mom but -A did for her. When Ari´s brother found out, he was very upset and disliked her for a while. He felt like 25

it was her fault that their parents had divorced and their mom moved out. From the beginning, Ari´s mom knew her husband cheated on her, but she still took him back because she loved him, and she was always so scared just to move on. She was so scared because she knew they had a family together, and she didn’t wanna ruin their family all because of what the father did to her.

When the girls found out they told Ari, “Why didn’t you talk to us about it? We are your friends, and we are always here for you no matter what.”

Ari started to cry and told them, “Thank you guys, but I didn’t want to tell you because I was so scared. I was just as embarrassed to say anything because you guys know how long my parents have been together, and for them to just separate from each other it really is gonna bother my brother Mike and I.” But Ari´s mom eventually wants to talk to her so they sit down and talk. Her mom told Ari, “Me and your dad have thought about it and we finally made the decision that I will leave and get an apartment and you and Mike will come to see me whenever you guys want, but for now, you and your dad will be staying here at the house together.” Ari suddenly started to cry because she didn’t want her mom to leave, she wished that she could just tell her mom about -A and everything would be fine again.

Two months later, Mia started to get messages from -A telling her that if she doesn’t give back the money, she will pay for it.

-A was telling her this because during those two months, Mia had started to get a lot of messages from -A to play the game with her, and she didn’t want to. Two weeks before the messages started with -A, Mia found out that her mom may lose her house because they were so many months behind on their mortgage that if they were to keep on, their house would end up under foreclosure. So Mia did everything she could. She went to her mom’s job, which her mom works at the bank, so she felt as it was kinda very hard for her to steal any money from there because if she was to do anything wrong, her mom can lose her job. The day that Mia went to her mom’s job, her mom had a customer come in to deposit fifteen thousand dollars. When 26

Mia heard that, her eyes opened wide. She got very scared because she was thinking, If this is a old lady that has all of this money here in Rosewood, what is she doing with all of it?

When the old lady left the bank, Mia’s mom got called into a meeting and she left the lady’s keys for her safety box on the table so, of course, Mia thought it was a great idea to finally get the money to be able to pay their bill at home. At this point, Mia wasn’t even thinking about how she would get the lady back all of her money. She was just thinking, If I don’t help my mom with the mortgage, we won’t have a home to live in. So she took the keys from the desk and hurried up and went into the lady’s safety box and she took ten thousand dollars and put the keys back on the desk.

When her mom came back into the room, Mia said, “Ok mom, I love you, but I gotta go.” She stormed out of the bank.

Then when her mom got home she told Mia, “How come you stormed out of the office today?” Mia tried to just pass the question and asked her mom how work was.

Then mom said, “Alright.” Mom went upstairs to take a shower and Mia ran to the mailbox to see what mail came in, and if they had received mail from the home mortgage.

To be continued . . .

27

Artwork 28

by

Yoheily

Baez

THE FIGHT Yoheily

Baez

In a dark broken world, where there is no peace, where everything is quiet because everyone is too scared to get out of hiding, afraid they will get caught—until someone just can’t take it anymore and gets out of their hiding place, inside of an abandoned, broken-down house. They get caught by the robots, and they take them to this sort of prison world where they are being tortured. It’s crazy how everything can go from happy and fun, to everything just dark and quiet, and it all started with this: Everything is normal, everyone is minding their business, people are having fun, laughing and talking with each other, when, suddenly, people start hearing these loud weird noises. Everyone is just standing there looking around everywhere trying to figure out what the noises are coming from and what they are.

Then out of nowhere, huge robots with these sharp hands like claws, start coming into the city, destroying everything in their sight: the houses, the building, the trees. Everyone is just running and running, people falling and stepping on each other trying to get away and find someplace to hide. Everything is just absolute chaos.

Days and days after that, everything is quiet. People in hiding don’t make a sound because they’re scared to get caught, people live in fear from the robots and are scared of what they might do if they even see them. Weeks have passed and still no movement coming from nobody except the robots, which we have now learned have this sort of prison that they send people who they catch to, to toture them.

I have been feeling so much fear that I have never felt in my life. I am terrified. I’ve stayed with my best friend Nicole in this abandoned building. I’ve been trying to think that maybe just maybe that this will all be over soon and I’ll be able to see my family again. During the attack, there were so many people that I lost my parents. Nicole and I have been trying to figure out

29

some ways to take down these robots. Nicole lost her parents because of the robots. But how did it happen?

Everyone was just running and running, people falling and stepping on each other trying to get away and find someplace to hide.

Everything is just absolute chaos. I was able to find Nicole but when we had stopped and heard her mothers screams for help. we saw that the robots had her by the neck and had this hand that was like a knife. Suddenly the robot shoved his hand into her stomach right in front of us. Nicole was just in shock and couldn’t move while I was screaming and crying so hard that I could taste my tears. Nicole’s mother had been like my second mother, she was always there for me when my parents couldn’t be there and now she’s just gone. I stopped screaming and looked at Nicole and the look on her face with so much pain and distraught, I didn’t even know what to do except run.

Back to the present, Nicole had just as much wanted revenge as me because not only did she lose her mom, she lost the only parent she had left.

All we wanted was peace for once in our lives, but of course nothing can ever stay the way it is. Although Nicole was so distraught by the death of her mother, she knew that she had to get revenge and avenge her death. We have been training and also trying to create a weapon that was powerful enough to destroy the robots. Luckily for us, not to brag or anything, but we are pretty smart. For the past few weeks we have been trying to find things that we can use, while also being careful not to get caught by the robots.

Today we are trying to make our final trip to get the rest of the supplies that we need to make the weapon. While we are getting out of the abandoned, crusty house, we start hearing some things like voices. I look at Nicole and say in a whisper voice, “What was that?”

“They sound like voices, do you think people are nearby?”

“But that’s impossible, we’ve done searches and searches and never seen anyone.”

30

“Do you think it’s the robots?” I say in a shaky voice.

“I doubt it, but do you want to check Layla?”

“Yeah, maybe we should check.” We start walking and looking for the source of the sounds. We start getting close and it seems to be coming from this broken down black house. We open the door with different sized holes in them. Once we enter we immediately smell this stench of blood, and we start to get scared and nervous because not only does it smell like blood it smells new.

Once we made it into the middle of the abandoned building, the noise just stopped. We start to look around and when we do we spot a figure in the dark.

“Hello?” I try to keep my voice steady but fail.

The figure turns around and takes a step forward and says, “Well hello there princess.” The figure takes one more step forward where light shines in. We are finally able to see what this figure looks like. It looks like a boy around our age with brown hair and a handsome face that seems to have no emotion.

He looks nice so I start to go and introduce myself but before I can, Nicole steps forward and says, “Who exactly are you and what are you doing here?”

The boy seems surprised at her bluntness, but quickly gets rid of it and shows a deadly glare, but before he can say something I take a step forward and ask, “Why do you, um, have blood on your hands.”

“Well princess, that’s not your business, is it?” he says as he clenches his jaw.

I gulp as he says that, no wonder it smelled like blood in here.

I try not to sound too afraid but I still ask “D-do you need help c-cleaning your hands?” as I gesture his bloody hands.

He looks at them and says, “No princess,” and then looks back at us. “But I do have a question for you two.”

Nicole speaks up. “What’s your question? We don’t have all day,” 31

she says harshly.

“What are you two doing here? I thought no one would be around he–” he gets cut off by Nicole.

“Well, whoever you are, that’s not your business is it?” she says, mocking what he said to me earlier.

The boy chuckles. “Feisty, you have a nice friend there princess,” he says as he turns to me.

Nicole speaks and he turns his attention back to her. “Well we have to get going, we don’t have time to chit chat,” she says as she grabs my hand and we start walking back until his voice stops us.

“We’ll see each other soon don’t you worry,” he promises us and just as we turn back he’s gone. We start walking back to where we are staying and make sure everything is still there. Once everything is still there we just call it a day since we spent so much time trying to find out what that noise was and talking to that mysterious and scary boy.

The next day, we are on a mission to find the last of what we need to make the weapon. We have a plan when looking around for supplies, first we split up, but we divide what we are looking for and search for that certain thing and then we use our walkie talkies to communicate when we are done then meet back up.

We’re looking for this type of wiring and something to spark it to finally start up the weapon, so we start to split up and I start walking to the same place where we saw that mysterious guy.

While we were there I was able to look around and see if there was anything that could help and there looked to be something like wires or maybe a blow torch, not entirely sure.

As I walk in, I’m yet again met with the stench of blood. I hesitantly walk in and try my best not to make any noise, but once I see the body I take a step back but fall and it makes a loud noise. I started to get scared so I backed up but then I instantly regretted it when I felt something hard hit my back. I slowly turn around and am met with two long legs that definitely don’t look like Nicole’s legs, so then I start to get even more scared 32

and look up, but when I look up instead of getting scared I feel a sense of relief as I look at the boy that we met yesterday.

I know I’m not supposed to trust a stranger but hey something tells me I can trust him, so I start to get up and say, “Oh, thank god it’s you. I thought it was someone else.” He looks like he wants to say something, but before he could I start speaking.

“Did you see that body over there,” I say as I point to where the body was, but instead of seeing the body I don’t see anything.

When I turn back around he looks confused, but maybe I was seeing things so I just say, “Uh never mind.”

He takes a step forward and says, “Where’s that friend of yours, princess? I don’t think you should be alone, especially with what’s going on.” Something tells me that he’s also referring to my height and my innocent face, but I don’t say anything.

“By any chance have you seen any wires or a blowtorch?” I ask as I take a step forward.

“I haven’t seen anything, no,” he says as he looks at me with no emotion once again.

“Okay thanks,” I say as I leave the building.

Once I leave I try looking elsewhere for the items needed. It’s getting dark soon, so I have to find something before the day ends. After hours of looking from building to building, I have finally found what we need, so I start making my way to our spot.

When I get there I see Nicole there with some stuff as well. “Hey Nicole, did you find everything you needed?” I say as I approach her.

She nods and says, “Yeah, thank God I did because we are already a day behind schedule.” When we first settled down and found someplace to stay. We made a plan to make a weapon, and not take too long so no more people will suffer, and to also get revenge. We planned on taking only three weeks considering some of what we needed was already there.

Once we get back to the building, we quickly start on making the big weapon. We are planning on making different weapons 33

with whatever is left just as back up. We start to connect the wires together and make sure that they spark to know that it’s working. Then we use the electric motor and attach the wires to it, after we add this metal base from a car door that we shape and cut into a rectangular curved piece. Once we get that done we finally have one more piece to add, and that is the blowtorch that Nicole has found. Once we finally finish we start working on extra weapons with the extras we have.

Today is the day. Today is the day we take down robots. Today is the day we get revenge. Today is the day Nicole avenges her mothers death. Today is the day I get to see my family.

As of right now, we are currently hidden behind a barely standing building watching the robots. While we’re watching, we hear footsteps running towards us. We look back and see nothing, but once we turn around we see that mysterious boy that we met in that abandoned building.

“Aaahhh!” We both scream, as we’re scared out of nowhere by his appearance.

“Now, why are we screaming? I’m only here to help,” he says as he ducks down to where we are.

We both look at each other, confused by why and how he even knew where we were so we obviously ask, “Why and how are you here?”

“I came to help you destroy the robots,” he says in a duh tone.

“Okay, but how did you get here?” Nicole says, as she was confused on how he even got here.

“I followed you guys, and I heard you talking about destroying the robots so I followed you guys her–” he says as he gets cut off

by Nicole. They start to argue all about how he shouldn’t be here and how he shouldn’t have been following us, while I make sure the robots didn’t hear anything considering they are really loud.

As I’m looking at the robots, new robots show up with a person in their hands that looks like a woman with a bag on her head.

They take the bag off her face but I can’t see her face but as they 34

turn her around, I freeze. That woman is Nicole’s mother. I’m in shock, but I know I need to tell Nicole. I turn around and call Nicole, but she doesn’t respond as she is too busy arguing with Noah, whose name we learned as he was arguing with Nicole.

“Nicole!” I say as I yell to finally get their attention.

“What?” she says as she looks at me, but soon focuses her attention over my shoulder. Her face turns pale and is in shock as she drops to her knees. I go up to her and hug her so tight and whisper sweet things in her ears while she is panicking.

“We have to continue this mission, Nicole, but I promise you we will get her back. We will get everyone back,” I say confidently.

“You’re right, let’s go get everyone back,” she says.

We load up our weapons and make sure that everything is good.

Once everything is good, all three of us start walking up to them carefully. We end up bringing Noah after he explains how he wants revenge as well. Once we’re close in range we start to shoot all of the robots. All of them are aware that they are under attack as more robots approach us. Once we get close enough to their ship we hop on and start shooting the robots there and also try to look for where they keep the civilians. After a real struggle from fighting the robots we find a jail for the civilians. Hundreds and hundreds of people locked up, but only one caught my eye and that was my mother.

Once I see her, I immediately run to her and shoot the lock and get her out, but what I don’t realize is that there’s only my mom but not my father. “Mom! OMG are you okay? Where’s father?

OMG,” I say, throwing all of these questions at her.

“I-I-I don’t k-know they took him just before y-you came,” she says as she shakes from her sobs.

“Shhh, it’s okay mom. I got you. We are going to get everyone out.”

After I get her okay, I lead her outside with the others as they run away as fast as they can. We start to get each and everyone of them out, and then we start to search for my father, but I 35

soon realize Noah isn’t with us. As soon as I realize that we hear things and get ready to shoot, but then that’s when I see Noah holding the gun to my father’s head. He betrayed us, I think, looking at him with teary eyes. I can’t help but ask, “Why?” “There can never be peace, so what’s the point?” he says harshly.

“But there is, you just don’t have hope. Yes, nothing will ever be the same, but that’s how life is.”

“We can try and make it as normal as possible, but that won’t do anything. Don’t you get it? Everything is over.”

“No it’s not, just–” I say, but I was cut off by Noah.

“No, you don’t understand. How can I have all of this hope when my parents are dead? How can I have all this hope when my sister is dead? How can I have all this hope when everyone I loved is dead and is never coming back?”

I stand there in shock at his confession. I step forward, but as I do he moves the gun to me. “Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot him,” he says as he points the gun back at my father.

“Please, just don’t. Please, I beg you, just don’t hurt him,” I say as I take another step forward to try and get his gun, but I stop as soon as I hear the sound of the gunshot. I look at him in shock and do the only thing that I can do, and that is to shoot him back and watch as his body falls. I run to my father and scream so loud I start to shake.

“No, no, no. Please, Dad, wake up! Please, I can’t do this without you” I sob so hard my head starts to hurt, but I couldn’t care less. All I can think is how my father, the one who gave me piggy back rides, played dress up with me, and treated me like the princess that he said I deserved to be treated as. My heart completely breaks as I remember I will have to tell my mother how the love of her life is dead, and it’s all my fault.

I stop crying and for once in my life, I don’t feel anything. I feel numb. Maybe Noah was right after all, but I was just too blinded by trying to have the peace back to see it. Hearing my 36

mom’s sobs as we told her he’s dead, my heart breaks all over again. Although it will take time to get everything back in check, nothing will ever be the same. Even though I know that, it still doesn’t hurt any less. Despite the fact that Noah is the reason for my pain and my mother’s, I can’t help but think about all of the things Noah said. How can someone have hope after their loved one is dead? Maybe I will learn to have hope a few years from now or maybe not, but as of right now I can’t help but feel nothing and have no type of hope.

This is the end of my story, or is it?

37

38

Artwork by Joanne Beckford

THE DESTRUCTION OF GIOIA Joanne Beckford

In the middle of the galaxy, there is a planet, a planet nobody has ever heard of, where the people there live differently: Planet Gioia.

There are lots of inventions, beautiful rivers and streams, with beautiful plants everywhere, some created, some real. There are even inventions that can do everyday work, like VRS-22s for transportation and robots doing everyday’s work. Some would say this place is like Earth because of similar technology and inventions that are on this planet. But the real attraction were the cities: places with brand new technology.

One of the many people who lived in this country was Natalia, a very imperfect, awkward girl. She wasn’t really good at school, but she liked to look at the bright side of things and always came up with a different way to solve ideas. She had never had the chance to prove herself to everyone else because everyone seemed to believe that in order to be good, you need to be good with technology. She felt that everyone around her was the same, including her friend Hannah, who was creative, smart, kind, and very supportive of Natalia and her ideas, despite how others saw her. She was mostly seen as the outcast of the community. While everyone else was the same.

But no one is perfect. Not even this planet, even if it looks perfect on the outside. And pretty soon, lots of trouble soon started to unfold.

Natalia woke up as early as usual. She made sure everything was running as it should: the robots were doing their everyday work, the plants were watered and organized perfectly, the house was running smoothly. Pretty soon the sun was out and 39

the town was busy.

Nat went to check up on her inventions. Her new robot (which she called Nova) still needed a few wires and some batteries.

She also needed to remember the formulas for her science work. She pulled out a sheet of paper that looked like instructions but it was filled with lots of scientific information and lab experiments.

“Maybe you should take a break and come eat.” Nat looked up and saw her mother at the doorway.

“I know, Mom. I just wanna finish making this before I go to the library,” she lifted the robot to make it stand on its own.

“But nothing’s working. The pieces keep falling out, and I can’t remember any of the steps to make this properly.”

Her mother came over to where she was sitting. “I think you’re overthinking this.” She took the wires and the leftover pieces and put them together. “It’s okay not to know everything when it comes to these things. Don’t overdo it.” She put the pieces together and then the robot started to turn on.

“I know, Mom. And thanks for fixing Nova for me.”

“How about tomorrow, we go over some of your chemistry notes? But right now, take a break and come eat.”

Nat was working in the library. It was a very wide room with massive bookshelves and huge windows. In the back, there were beanbags, hammocks, and desks with computers. There was also a lot of space to play around with technology pieces with calm music playing in the background.

“Why are you even making this robot?” said Luna, who was looking outside at the new VR-6 (an invention that can water plants).

“Because I want to create something that can help with anything, like homework or something useful. Who knows? Maybe I can even sell this in the new Technology and Inventions store.”

Nat said this without looking up from her wires.

40

“Well, have you guys heard the news about the aliens? And how they can probably shapeshift too, which makes it harder to find them? So far, they’ve started taking things in the city, and their goal is to take over the entire planet, if that’s even possible. But for now, how’s your robot going?”

While Hannah, Luna, and Nat started to talk about how to improve Nova, Leo came in and heard the radio make glitching noises. Suddenly the radio switched to a news broadcast.

“Guys be quiet. There’s something on the radio.”

“We interrupt this program to bring terrible news. There are unknown people damaging properties and leaving messages behind.

The most current message was ‘You all will pay’ that was left on the side of the broken glass in the Medicine and Cures department.

No one knows who these invaders are just yet, but our message to you is to stay safe and hide your technology before another one gets stolen. There are currently investigations going on right now as we speak” The radio started to glitch and then switched to its regular music.

Hannah stood up at last. “That was a lot.”

“Yeah, it was. I gotta go. It’s starting to get late.”

But Nat stayed seated. “What if we can stop this somehow?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Leo said in a doubtful tone. “You can’t possibly stop these people.”

“Why not?”

“Because they can shapeshift,” he replied as he reached for his bag and his folders. “Even if you could, you won’t know who to look for because they could be anybody.”

After Leo, Hannah and Luna all made their way outside the studying room, and Nat stayed behind, cleaning up her robot pieces. She also thought about the Invaders on the news, and if she could do something about it, even if Leo told her not to.

She’d heard it all before: “Nia just stay out of this,” “It’s okay let someone else handle it,” ‘I know you want to help, but maybe you 41

should just step aside.” She thought this was the time she could actually prove them wrong, prove everyone wrong. She would find out who’s doing this. She would find out the reason for these attacks. Even if it took a while, she would do whatever she could to help. ***** By the next morning, half of the buildings in the City were either destroyed or had missing technology. The amount of crimes that were happening were growing like a weed, day by day.

This worried Nat. She’d heard about nearby buildings with broken windows and lots of stealing. She’d also seen witnesses on the news that had been robbed and seen the invaders “They were in these weird spaceships and they stole all of our robots and wires.”

“They had these long cloaks on. I wasn’t able to see their faces, but there were a bunch of them, and they blew up some nearby buildings that killed a few people.”

“They were almost as tall as a tree.”

“You ok?” Nat’s mother, Amanda, was sitting next to her, helping her with her notes.

Nat looked away from the TV that was playing, put her head up, and looked at her mother.

“Yeah. I’m just a little tired.”

“Hey.” Her mother organized some papers and looked at Nat. “I know you’re worried about everything that’s on the news. But you have nothing to worry about. I’m sure they’ll put a stop to this somehow. Just get your notes so we can get your work over with.”

After her mother said this, she went to fetch her notes.

“Nat,” Her mother was calling her down the hallway. As she walked down the hall, suddenly she felt a strong force sucking 42

her into the bathroom. The door soon closed behind her.

She looked behind her and saw Amanda, looking cautiously at her.

“Don’t go. I heard it, too.”

“What? Mom? Wait, who was that?”

“Nat. Are you back yet?” The voice was starting to get louder.

“Look I don’t know who that is.” Nat’s mother, Amanda, was starting to pace around the bathroom. “But that’s not me. When you left, I went to get something from my office, and then I saw someone sitting at your desk. Stay here. Do not leave this bathroom.”

“But what about you? Why are you leaving? Mom what is going on—” The unknown voice soon started thrashing and destroying anything in sight. Nat tried to look for something to break the door open, but her mother was two steps ahead by locking the door on her way out.

BANG. Amanda was thrown into the whiteboard on the wall by the unknown figure. Nat broke the door open by picking the lock, and ran over to help Amanda.

“You ok, mom?” Amanda could barely move. She turned her head to try to see Nat clearly.

“Don’t let them steal any resources from here. And stay safe.”

“Mom, it’s ok. You can still get up.”

“No, Nat I’ll be fine.” She handed her a baseball bat from behind the dresser, and a small bottle that fell off the dresser. “Use this to kill the alien. I’m not so sure if it actually works, but you can still try.”

“Mom—” “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be ok. And so will you.”

“But—” 43

“Stay safe. You can do this. I know you can.”

Amanda was starting to feel tired. A few seconds later, she started to feel lightheaded. She slowly fell to the floor, lying lifelessly next to Nat, with her eyes closed.

“Ok.” The unknown figure finally found her, laying next to Amanda. “I don’t have time for this.”

Nat stood up with the bottle and baseball bat still in her hand.

“Who are you?”

“That’s not important. I’m gonna need you to tell me where your inventions, resources, whatever useful items you have are.”

“Yea that’s not happening anytime soon.” She said this with anger in her voice.

“Kid.” The voice was starting to get impatient. “Don’t make me do this. I’m gonna give you one last chance to answer—” But Nat didn’t wait to hear. She knocked the figure out with the baseball bat, but when she went to make a run for it, the figure kicked her ankles, causing her to land flat on her face. Before she could even react, the figure had a space gun pointed towards her.

“I’m not gonna repeat myself. Where are the inventions?”

Nat slowly started to get up. “I don’t know.”

The figure dropped the space gun next to Amanda’s still body.

“Fine then. I’ll just get it myself.”

But Nat started to get up and try to chase them all throughout the house but they were too fast; they were able to take most of the resources that were in the living room before escaping through the window. But Nat didn’t stop there, she went to chase them down the street. She then saw lots of alien shapeshifters damaging nearby buildings and people were also fighting and chasing after them.

“Nat!” She heard a similar voice and saw Hannah behind her 44

while Luna was dealing with an alien shapeshifter.

“Hannah, it’s really nice to see you, but right now I gotta take care of something.” But when she turned around to face the figure, they were gone. “Great. Now I lost him.”

“Why didn’t you just use this?” Hannah took the bottle from Nat’s pocket and looked at it closely. “It looks like something that could’ve stopped the weird alien person.”

“I didn’t know.” Nat said, taking the bottle from Hannah. “I just thought Mom gave this to me for something else.”

“C’mon, we can still find them.” Luna said impatiently. “You’re not the only one they stole resources from just now. That’s why there’s so many people out here.”

Nat turned around to try to scan for the intruder who stole her technology. A few minutes later, she spotted someone and chased after them. She finally got up to where they were, but when she tried to take the bag full of resources, she heard a space rocket behind her.

“Go ahead, I dare you.”

Nat turned around and saw a rocket pointed towards her by another alien. Behind them, Hannah was being held back by one of the aliens, while Luna was being held back by none. She then felt someone grabbing her from behind, forcing her to stay still.

Hannah tried to break free, but the figure was too strong.

“Luna.” Hannah tried to look over to Luna and whisper to her.

“Luna help. Do something.”

But instead of helping, she looked at the alien holding Nat down.

“Take them inside the spaceship. And don’t let them out unless they can help.”

While Hannah and Nat looked at Luna in shock while being dragged away, Luna left with the rest of the remaining alien figures 45

“We’re not done with this planet yet. There’s still more resources here. Take them all.” ***** Nat soon woke up and found herself tied up against the wall next to Hannah. When she looked around, she could see that she was trapped in a cell with bright purple walls, bags full of iron, batteries, and pieces of robots. On the other side of the room, was a gray cell with the paint still peeling off.

Nat tried to wake up Hannah, but was too far away to reach her.

She soon had to half-yell her name for her to wake up. Nat and Hannah started to look around the room for anything to help them escape. After a few minutes of searching, Hannah noticed something similar in one of the bags.

“Nat, look. It’s your robot.”

“Great .We’ll use that to escape. But how are we going to get over there?”

“You don’t need to.” Luna unlocked the door and came inside the room, took Nova and threw her all the way down the hall.

“Why are you doing this?” Hannah asked. “Why would you try to destroy this planet?”

“Because of what this planet did to mine. You know, your planet and Planet Vendetta, in case you didn’t know, our planets used to be allies. Until your stupid planet decided to betray us. You stole our resources and just left us with nothing. So we’re here to take back what’s ours. And no, we won’t stop.”

She grabbed a bag full of weapons. “So if you plan to stand in the way of that, we’ll stop you before you even get to leave this ship.”

“That kinda makes sense,” said Nat. “But what does that have to do with destroying this planet?”

“Well, we don’t know where the technology is, so if we have to destroy every bit of this planet, then so be it.”

46

But before she could leave, she felt something hit her hard in the back of her head. She fell to the floor and there was Leo standing behind her.

“That was a lot.”

“How did you get here?”

“I snuck onto the side of this ship. Come on, we don’t have much time.” ***** There was a lot of smoke outside. Hannah went to make more liquid to kill enough aliens, Leo worked on shutting the ship and drones attack down, and Nat worked on protecting as many resources as possible and fighting off the aliens. While fighting, she saw Luna blowing up nearby banks and departments. She immediately started chasing after her. Luna and Nat kept fighting, until one of the drones Leo shut down, collapsed. Before it hit the ground, Nat finally pushed Luna off of her and moved out the way. The drone fell on top of Luna and blew everything within distance.

But Nat couldn’t stay and mourn. She didn’t have time. So she went to find Hannah and Leo and finish this once and for all. ***** In the end, Hannah made more alien acid (acid that can hurt aliens). Leo successfully shut down the entire spaceships and drones, but also got badly injured in the process. Luna and all the other aliens were all dead and were sent back to their planets. Nat fought for her planet as best as she could. But there was one last thing she needed to do.

She went to the hospital of Gioia. There she found Hannah.

“Hey Hannah. What brings you here?”

“Well I’m just here to visit some of my family and Leo. Also there’s someone I want to show you.”

She followed Hannah to a small room, where Amanda was lying 47

down, still recovering from her injuries.

“Mom—” “Shh,” The nurse said. “She’s still sleeping. You can stay for a little, but you have to be quiet.”

When the nurse left the room Amanda leaned over to Nat and whispered, “Did it work? The bottle I gave you?”

“Yeah. Well, I needed some help. But we did it.”

Anamda smiled. “I knew you could do it.”

48

49

50

LILLY IN THE VALLEY Makayla Bellamy

An excerpt, inspired by the shows Attack on Titan and Darling in the Franxx “Some sunny day, We’ll meet again.”

“See you later Krista.”

She awoke, gasping for air, hot tears slipping out of her eyes leaving a burning sensation on her skin as they fell to her comforter.

“When was the last time—” she muttered, scanning the room as if she didn’t fall asleep in there the night prior.

“Krista!” a voice called as they knocked on the door. It was silent for a few seconds as the noise echoed through the dimly lit room. “It’s time to get up, I’m coming in.”

The door softly creaked open to reveal the person. It was Yvette, Krista’s best friend. Her blonde hair swayed as she moved to close the door behind her. “What happened, Kris?”

Krista swiftly wiped the remaining tears off her cheeks before hopping out of bed, shooing the other girl off, “I’m fine Yvette.

I’ll see you at breakfast.” She smiled before pushing the blonde out of the door. ***** The day began like any other with early breakfast and morning combat training, where Krista was once again paired with the one and only, Kaden Izumi, the Black and Asian boy, with dyed dirty blonde hair. Every day prior had been remotely the same since she joined the cadets: early mornings, long training, and hellish circumstances.

“Yo, Kris.” The false blonde smiled as he approached her. “You missed dinner last night, where’ve you been girlie?” A flirt, that’s what Kaden was. She rolled her eyes. He was repetitive 51

and it frustrated her. He talked too much and strived to impress everyone he came across. It was stupid, but expected of him.

“Sorry Kaden, I was honestly so tired last night,” she muttered just loud enough for him to hear.

He nodded in response. “Let’s get started, shall we?” he smirked. ***** “What in the world is that?!” someone in the crowd shouted. It was large and looked to be made of stone. It stood on all fours at a clearing in the dome.

“How did it even find us? There shouldn’t be any living things on this side of the planet, other than what’s in the dome.” Yvette frantically whispered, nudging Krista in her back. “This is supposed to be the safest place in the abyss.” ***** There was rumbling heard and felt around the east side of the dome, everyone on the surface level was immediately informed of it just in case they had to evacuate to what space was left in the city underground, but obviously, the cadets and soldiers had to stay above ground for “safety precautions.” But as time went on, they mostly realized they were out there to fend for themselves. ***** “Are we . . . supposed to fight it?”

Before any response was given the huge thing started attacking the northeast clearing, which was where the Outriders departed. It’s also where they re-enter the dome, meaning if they were to come back from scouting anytime soon the gate won’t open and they’d be stuck out there with those . . . things. They had to find a way to kill them off, and soon. Either the Outrider regiment would come and they’d be wiped out, or the clearing would be broken open and everyone in the dome would be slaughtered. Neither would be considered a win.

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Twenty minutes passed and there was only one plan. Half of the group would go through the north opening and circle around attacking from the back. The rest of the group would stay in front of the opening just in case there was any sign of the Outriders. Keeping the gate stable enough until the other group got around, after which they would attack using thunder spears, grenade-like spears that could be shot in tight places, including the openings in the monster’s rock-looking armor.

It was a risk, a huge one, but there were no other plans, there was no other way.

Another ten minutes, the situation was getting worse and there was no sign of the outriders outside the dome, so the plan was put into motion.

Krista and Kaden were a part of the defense group while Yvette was put in the offense group because of “lack of strength.”

Krista knew it was because she was less likely to die if the plan did succeed, but she still wished that Yvette could be by her side through it all.

“Stay safe you two,” Yvette called out as they all got on their horses, “Krista . . . please don’t die.”

“Didn’t plan on it,” she smirked. That was something Kaden would say. She guessed all the years of being friends with him made her just as cocky. They both laughed. Krista, staring at her with a love-struck smile displayed on her lips.

“Even so, be careful Krista, I don’t want to lose you.”

“You too Yve. Your life isn’t guaranteed either.”

“See you later, Krista,” she smiled with a short eye roll.

After the groups bid their goodbyes, the defense made their way to the Northern Opening, there were three openings in the dome all placed around the northern border, the northwest used for imported goods and resources from the planet. The North Opening, which was the first made for aircraft and traveling in general, and then the northeast border that was used 53

for expeditions. It was rare to use the Northern Opening because traveling was banned fifty years ago, but now, of all days, during a tragedy, was the day they finally used it.

“Don’t mess up Kaden, I don’t need you dying on me.” Krista laughed, smacking him in his lower back as she rode past him, both laughing it off, smiles fading into stoic facades. This was a battle where their lives weren’t promised and they had no upper hand. They needed to get the opening surrounded, fast. ***** It took the soldiers about half an hour to get behind the crowd, lucky the horses had not made much noise so they got there without informing the monsters.

“Stick strictly to the plan. No changes. Krista is in charge of the left group, Kaden the right. I’ll take anyone in the middle. The survival of humanity is in your hand’s soldiers, act like it,” the commander informed, before taking his group and zipping off in his maneuver gear.

“I guess this is where we depart, miss Kris-Kris.” Kaden chuckled, prepping himself before leaving without a response “I guess it is Kaden,” she mumbled to herself before scanning her group and signaling them off. “Let’s do our best guys.”

The thunder spears they were required to use were not the easiest to lug around with blasters, but whatever works, works.

Right? ***** He went flying straight into the dome after being swatted by a tall hunched-over rock giant.

“LEO,” a girl shouted, reaching out for the guy. Before she knew it she was being scooped up by the same giant, Machi. Krista was in shock. She quickly fired a spear, it destroyed the armored skin of the giant, she continued to shoot the giant’s hand with her blasters until Machi was set free. When the monster let go of Machi’s limp body, it fell to the ground and she was 54

crushed to death. Krista’s heart shattered, she just watched half her group die in the last forty minutes. It wasn’t a fair fight. It was a bloodbath. Devastated, she circled a few of the monsters.

Blinded by rage, she forgot she was on the battlefield and one of her maneuver wires got caught, she fell hitting the ground falling unconscious.

To be continued . . .

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“GOOD OLD” HALL’S Dan

Belova

Jack’s mother spotted the housing area on the map and headed towards it. Jack followed closely behind. When they entered the room, disappointment flooded Jack’s heart. Similar to the lobby, everything looked lifeless and surreal. The floor was the same, the furniture was run-down and looked uncomfortable, and the ceiling light shone a bright, eye-straining yellow.

“This is a hellhole,” Jack’s mother expressed.

Jack set down his backpack and began unpacking. A few socks, some shirts, two pairs of pants, a laser pointer . . . Horton . . . Jack shed a single tear. Horton was a stuffed elephant that had been given to him on his 4th birthday by his grandma. It still smelled like their house, slightly ridden with smoke. I miss her.

“Mom, this bed feels like a pile of rocks!” Jack’s mother sat down next to him and put her arm around his shoulder.

“It’s the best we can get, Jack.”

“I don’t wanna be here anymore.”

“We’re much better off here than we are outside. That disease is deadlier than the black death.”

Jack laid his head on his mother’s shoulder and she ran her fingers through his hair. Suddenly, a voice echoed throughout the housing area.

“Lights out!”

It was Zeon. He approached their room and stared Jack down.

“I’ve got my eye on ya, kid.”

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That statement kept Jack up all night. Can he see me? I doubt it.

Jack turned to face the window and gazed at the night sky. The stars seemed a lot prettier at 4:00 AM than at any other time he’s seen them. They shined bright like rhinestones. The view from the foggy window wasn’t the clearest, however. I want to see them up close. Jack quietly rose, grabbed his laser pointer, and sneaked out the room.

Jack headed out of the facility, making sure no one was there to see him. Every turn, every step: they felt like such a relief, and yet like such a mistake. Finally, Jack had made it to the lobby.

The security guard was deep asleep. This is my chance! Suddenly, a loud noise pierced Jack’s ears. He hastily turned, only to find out he’d triggered a security system. Out of sheer panic, Jack slammed his right hand over his ear and frantically pointed the laser pointer in random directions. A familiar voice rang out from inside Old Hall’s.

“What the hell are you doing, you idiot?”

Jack could barely focus on the situation because of the blaring alarms, but he managed to spew out a few words.

“I-I don’t know! I’m sorry! Please, make it stop!”

Zeon grabbed Jack by the arm and dragged him inside. They were met with a large crowd of concerned people.

“Run, everyone! Run for your lives!” Zeon yelled.

Without thinking, Jack scurried up to the fourth floor to wake his mother. Panting, he shouted.

“We have to get out of here!”

“What’s wrong, Jackie?”

Jack didn’t know what was wrong. Then it hit him.

Gunshots.

“The security robots! They’re goin’ nuts! Run honey, run!” A 58

random woman’s voice rang out.

Jack and his mother took off, sprinting towards the stairwell with the speed of sound.

What have I done? I’m so stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Jack threw the laser pointer on the ground in frustration and continued running. However, he quickly realised someone was running straight into his mother. She stumbled back, andBANG! Jack found himself frozen in fear. His mother fell to the ground, her burgundy blood spilling all over the marble flooring.

Jack’s life flashed before his eyes; going to the park with her, his birthday celebrations, their trip to Las Vegas. He began to sob. To his surprise, however, someone grabbed his wrist and yanked him towards the exit. It was Zeon.

Jack fell onto the cold, hard concrete, but at least he was safely outside. He laid on the ground, breathing heavily. Time felt so slow, and yet so fast. He sat up, tuned out the gunshots, and stared blankly as two rivers of tears streamed down his face.

However, Zeon surprised him with a hug.

“I’m sorry kid, I really am.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“I bumped into your mother.”

Jack was absolutely livid. He shook a little.

“I did so much wrong in my time here. Maybe, if I’d just been a little less hostile, this wouldn’t have happened. These robots were not necessary . . . I should’ve known when I lost her.”

“Lost . . . who?”

“My wife. A similar accident happened here at the start of this 59

mess. She was gone so fast.” He began to cry.

Jack hugged Zeon back.

They both stood up and Jack looked out into the sunrise. Zeon grabbed Jack’s hand and began to walk away from the building.

“I’m gonna take good care of ya, kid. I promise.”

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U N T I T L E D Aniya

Bright

“Wake up Kelly!” Tanna shouted. “They’re waiting for us.” Tanna had already been dressed and ready for the day.

“Ugh,” Kelly mumbled while unraveling from her covers. It was so bright outside and the sun made Kelly’s eyes ache. She walked over to the blinds to close them.

“Hurry up, they are all dressed already.”

“Ok wait!” Kelly responded while rushing to get her clothes on.

She finally made it downstairs. They all attend Lakeside Academy, and usually went to the creek every other day. Tanna told Kelly that Mark and the rest of the boys were gonna meet them there. A huge weight lifted off of her shoulders. As Tanna and Kelly walked out of the house, Nyla was already sitting outside on her porch waiting for them.

“It took long enough,” she said. They all three began to walk to the creek.

“So how’s it going with you and Mark?” Nyla asked.

Kelly turned red instantly. “We’re not speaking right now.”

“What happened now?”

“Can we not speak about this?” Kelly asked.

“Isn’t it going to be awkward?”

“Yes but I’ll worry about that when we get there.”

The week before, Kelly and Mark got into an argument. They had gone on a double date with Mark’s friend, Harry and Harry’s girlfriend, Lynn, at the bowling alley close by. During the date, Kelly kept missing the pins. It was Kelly’s turn again, she rolled the bowling ball and missed.

Harry chuckled and said to Mark, “She really sucks at this.”

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Kelly turned around and asked, “What did you say?”

Harry then said, “Watch your tone, punk.” While they started going back and forth, Mark did not chime in to tell Harry to chill out. Kelly stormed out, and went home crying. She was very upset, as well as disappointed, but brushed it off because she knew that she was going to see him the next day.

They finally got close to the front of the creek and instantly smelt fresh grass and creek water. Straight ahead was Nigel, Mike, and Mark, but Nigel was pretty far from the boys.

“What’s his deal?” Nyla chuckled.

“He’s bummed about the creek being shut down,” Mark replied.

“WHAT!?” the girls shouted.

“Yeah, Mr. Night told us on the way here, he said something about Venus flytraps found in the back near the abandoned houses and a number of people going missing this week. I didn’t really care, this place was getting boring anyways.” He seemed very careless about it, and that made Kelly upset. A bunch of parents filed missing reports for their kids. Turns out that there were a total of six missing people, and the neighborhood was forming a search to find them. The creek would be under investigation and shut down until further notice.

“Well, let’s make the best of the last day here” Mike added.

“Come on Nigel. We’re going in.”

Tanna, being the annoying little sister she was, saw the perfect opportunity for Kelly and Mark to talk. She waited until Kelly made eye contact with her and gave her a really huge smirk.

Kelly knew what was coming. Then they heard a voice.

“HELP ME! PLEASE!” Kelly and Mark ran quickly towards the voice only to end up in the back.

“Should we follow them?” Mike asked.

“No one told them to be so nosy and run,” Nigel replied.

“You guys are literally useless,” Tanna shouted.

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She tried to catch up to them by listening to their footsteps but she tripped. As she looked down, a vine was wrapped around her ankle. “What the—” she whispered. She continued to unwrap it from her and saw a huge bite mark covered in blood.

She screamed as loud as she could, and the boys ran to her.

“What happened?” Nigel yelled.

“I was running after them and tripped, now my foot is bleeding!”

“Well let’s get you home !” Mike replied.

Kelly and Mark left right behind them. This event forced them to speak to each other.

“So, are you gonna speak?” Mark asked.

“Not until you apologize.” Kelly responded.

They spoke about the argument they had until they reached Kelly’s house.

“See you soon,” Mark said.

“Later,” she responded. As she opened the front door she saw Tanna laid out on the couch with a towel on her forehead. She quickly ran to her. “Are you ok?” Kelly asked.

“I’m not feeling too well,” Tanna uttered. Kelly picked her up to bring her to her bed and Tanna was as heavy as a boulder. As she walked up the stairs she noticed a gash. The gash on Tanna’s ankle was from the vine. Kelly continued up the stairs and put Tanna to sleep. She grabbed some alcohol pads from their closet and bandaged up her cut. After the long day they had, the shower was calling her name. She stepped into the tub and took a deep breath. Before she could actually get clean, she heard a big thump. She leaped out of the tub and snatched her towel.

The sound came from the room and she realized that quickly.

As she stepped into the room, she saw Tanna faced down on the floor. “Omg!”, she yelled.

She rolled Tanna over and noticed that she was unconscious.

Her first thought was to call their mom. Kelly rushed to her bed 65

to grab her phone and before she could do that, Tanna rose up as if she came back from the dead, and tackled her down from the back. They were wrestling on the floor until Kelly felt a pinch on her neck. She threw Tanna to the other side of the room and ran out locking the room door behind her. She started panicking and ran downstairs to get help from Nyla’s parents. Kelly and Tanna’s mom was working the overnight shift, so she wasn’t home. Before she could reach the front door, she blacked out.

Nyla heard the noise from her house and was already on her way there. She didn’t know what she was walking into. Tanna broke down the room door and charged down the stairs. Their door was unlocked and as Nyla came in, Tanna charged at her and Nyla froze. She looked down and saw Kelly laid out on the floor. Before Tanna could come at her, Nyla rushed out of their house dragging Kelly with her and shut their front door. She quickly ran to her house to get help and Nyla’s mom called an ambulance. Nyla quickly put Kelly on the couch.

When they settled in Nyla, Kelly started twitching. Nyla ran to her mom to ask how long until the ambulance would be there, before she could reach her mom, Kelly yanked her hair, and tackled her to the floor. Her mother luckily ran into the living room, and pulled Kelly off of her. Nyla then ran and got a rope from their garage and a chair from their kitchen and tied Kelly up. The ambulance finally arrived and rushed Tanna and Kelly to the hospital. Nyla called their mom and told her what happened. Their mother went to the hospital as quickly as possible.

Once she got there she was escorted to their room. She got to their room and kept asking herself, “Why, Why, Why?” The beeping of the machines made her heart sink. The incoming ambulances sounded horrific.

WEEE-OOO. WEEE-OOO. She ran and hugged them both. The hospital TV came on, and was already turned on the news. “The remains of six missing people found inside the mouth of dead Venus flytraps scattered around Taylor creek.”

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“Mom, that’s the thing that bit me,” Tanna yelled. Before their Mom could respond, the news reporter added, “A mass extermination will be held next week, and the creek would be open for use.” Tanna wanted to jump up and down but was still bed-ridden. Kelly called Mike and Nigel’s Mom and asked to put Nigel on the phone. “Thank god!” they heard from the phone.

It was Nigel cheering loudly because of the good news. Nyla walked in and hugged both Tanna and Kelly.

“I’m so glad you two are okay,” she said.

“Thanks,” they both responded. Tanna and Kelly were sent home the next day and got to enjoy their time at the creek the week after.

67

Artwork 68

by

Terra

Cabey

STARRY HEARTS OF WAR Terra

Cabey

Characters: Everena Gaen (He/She), sapphire and daisy-white eyes, silver hair, 169 cms Hero name - Prime | Power - Maestro : controls who you feel when he sings/uses negative feelings to make physical objects. | Description - Satin blue and red suitress, down to her ankles, gold infinity pin on right shoulder, gold leaf belt, silver stars on skirt. Knee-high, silver shorts, black embroidery in the shape of a butterfly. Blue tie-band holding his hair up. Pivony pearl string anklet on left ankle to show marriage.

Ivu (Dex) Mivo (He/Him), jade eyes, green hair, 166 cms Vigilante Name: Dex | Power - Jadize : the ability to turn anything into jade and either control the victim or keep them in a statue. | Description - Cotton pear and pine suitress, up to his knees, mintvine pin on mintvine belt, clovers on skirt. Forest green leggings. Jade frog anklet on right ankle to show marriage.

In Everena’s head “What star remains unfallen?” Dex looks up at the blackout sky, violet stars shining in his always curious jade green eyes, his green suitress flowing in the faint wind as he stands.

“What do you mean?” Everena scans the black screen of night, as if the answer is there, looking for a sign. “There are multiple stars, always falling. We just don’t see them because they’re so far away.” His beige face contorts into haughty laughter and such a blinding smile; it lights up the night for Dex for a second.

Just a second.

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This was not an irregular thing for them, a night together asking ridiculous questions, trying to get the other to crack out their bubbling laughter into the world with no consequence.

“Until…” Everena sighed mentally.

Ever since the Jaded War first started, the two boys and the rest of their friends barely got a break, a time of day to themselves.

Using their powers, instead of for fun, was for protection. Dex, who used to be the one with the blinding smile, now only used that to offer fake reassurance to surviving children.

Everena’s singing, once used to make people happy, turned into physical weapons and took away all of the pain of negative emotions, and is stored in him. She could still remember the taste of iron and the vile taste of blood and bile when she took on too much at once, and the smell of the perfume of her loving savior of dark times.

Dex repeats, “What star remains unfallen?” Everena avoids the question. He knows the answer, he just doesn’t want to open up that topic. Why would he want to? Why . . . don’t I want to again? Well, why would she? This is supposed to be a fun night, a rare night. Instead of answering the questions in her head or the one asked of her, Everena looks over to Dex to see his messy mop of green hair, just tempting her to touch it. Like he used to.

Creeping up behind his shorter friend, he reaches his hand up to the top. And that’s when she saw it.

The purest jade in the galaxy, reflecting in Ren’s diamond white and ocean sapphire eyes, spreading like a plague on the back of Dex’s golden brown neck, his arms, and a bit in his hair. He was frozen where he stood, actually unable to move, as the jade spread like a slimy eel across the grass, slithering onto his ankle, circling on and hardening like a shackle. “Dex, what is going on?! Why—” Everena’s voice sounds like static as the world shakes and breaks away from under her feet.

Why is this happening? From the past. Why is this happening?

From the present. Nothing has changed.

Despite the turmoil around them, Everena leaps towards him 70

with reckless abandon, trying to save him. There it is again.

Never mind, I have to get to Dex. With every leap, I get closer. Dex still hadn’t turned around. He’s not even affected by the whirlwind—literal whirlwind—of chaos around us. It’s too familiar.

Everena is close, so close. She realizes it is getting harder to move, then realizes I can’t move at all, as the before seen jade parasite spreads and constricts up to her chest. Everything is glitching from dream to memory. What hasn’t changed?

“Dex, what the hell is going on!? Faja, we have to get off!” Everena calls out, reaching out for her friend through the storm. It would seem that Dex has finally heard her and starts running towards her. How does this end again?

“Thank God, come on! We could still—” What I see… irregular, even for him. Dex grabs his shoulders and looks at him with crazed purple eyes, in which she sees his sapphire and white eyes, widened in concern and horror. Then, he speaks.

“There is no more. No more light. No more rebellion. No more Dex. Just Jade. Only Jade!” Oh, yeah.

The memory ends in a whoosh of black. And a dreamy echo.

“Help…” Dex… Dex? IVU! To be continued…

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72

PERFECTION Makayla

Campbell

This all started in Elysium, and it used to be a place where everyone got along, and nobody had drugs all in their systems.

Just imagine Manhattan with a very big panel; every day is someone’s birthday. They didn’t have the need to have to pick their occupations at 12 years old. Well, I´m Wynter; and don’t mind the name, my parents just had to be different, okay? See, what’s so easy about me is that I don’t really like the way that I’m living. I always had that desire to leave Elysium. I never liked that whole “every day is a party” thing. I always thought it was weird and there was something sketchy going on. Every day can’t be an amazing day. I’m only eleven years old and the whole government has come to me to choose, so today is my choose day, and here nobody shares a birthday. Once someone is born on that day, that is their day. Once everyone turns 12, at noon they must pick their profession. You have to choose between a doctor, a NICU nurse, a chef , a florist, a teacher, and an engineer. And if you don’t like those choices, you have to leave. So, it’s a pretty hard choice that I have to endure. I had to do what I had to do. If running away was wrong, I really don’t wanna be right. But let me show you where the story has started; then you will believe that what I did was really the best choice.

I woke up to my mother with blueberry pancakes, bacon, sausage, the smell of coffee, and creamer that had just spilled. The smart house we live in had just alerted us that it was 8:30 AM, and it was time to get in the shower and get dressed. My mom kindly wished me “Happy Birthday” and asked which profession. “Are you gonna be a chef like me or a teacher like your dad?”

As I sat at the table to eat my breakfast, I kindly said, “I don’t know mom, I think that I need more time. I still wanna be a kid, I want to play on a swing and fall on the monkey bars and smell random things.”

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She replied, “I know honey but today is your birthday and it’s time for you to choose your destiny. Time for you to put on your big girl pants.”

As I finished up eating, my mother kindly tapped me on my shoulder and said, “You need to go to Calista’s house,” and as I snatcedh my coat off the hook and opened the door, the crisp wind hit me, and I tightly buckled up my jacket. My mother said, “No pressure,” and I let the force field open over the house as I stepped out onto the oncoming world.

As I walked down Sterling Street, I saw my name and my picture from 3rd grade. I thought, Why can’t they just update that picture?

As I went up the stairs to Calista’s house, I saw her coloring her hair as her mother called the house. Her whole smart house started glitching because her mom locked the whole house down. As Calista turned around from the chair in her bathroom, she explained to me how her mom doesn’t understand her. We walk down the stairs as she says we should run away.

We saw drones fly through the sky and, as they scanned away chanting, “We are looking for the birthday girl,” as we walked out of the house.

I walked out and said, “I’m right here.”

As the words flew out of my mouth, a big and tall car came out of the blue, shined the light in our eyes, and yelled from the distance, “Get in girls.”

When we stepped in the car, it simply floated up. As I got cozy in my seat, a big man with very muscular facial features asked me, “Are you Wynter?’’

I simply said, “Yes,” as he pulled up an iPad and zoomed towards city court.

We sat in the car and two big men on the opposite sides of me and Alex asked, “Are you Wynter Joy Williams and Calista Renee Brown?”

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As we answered “Yes,” they tapped the glass that separates the car from the driver. He got passed a blue clip board that clearly said in big script letters: “Happy Birthday Wynter, You are about to arrive at city court, and then go up to the 115th floor and go to the left and down the hall, then come to my office. We will further discuss things then. Sincerely, The Midnight Council.”

As I felt the stamp, I felt us pull up to the city, and all I saw was a flashing light and a hard thump. We were there on the launchpad. As we were being walked through the building, the secretary asked where we were going as we only realized that the security wasn’t behind us anymore. We walked up to the secretary’s desk, and she asked security to send us out.

“This is a place of business. You may not play here.”

As we were walking towards the exit after they kicked us out, we heard a very loud disruption. As the security officer raised his arm to let us out, a very tall slender woman came down the glass stairs out a door that had some coming out of it. As she ran down the stairs, yelling, “Let go of them at this once! This is Wynter and Calista, I’ve heard so much about you.”

As we both gave her a very weird smile, and Calista being the outspoken one of us two, she said, “Who are you?”

The woman said, “I’m Mrs. Adams, the Midnight Council’s wife.

Well I’ll let you in on a little secret. His real name is Vincent Icarus, also known as Midnight.” As she was walking us towards the elevator, she lifted her hand to press the button, and she smelled like pure lavender and roses.

While we were in the elevator, I asked a rather stupid question that got me very good answers: “Does this elevator take you all the way up 115 floors?”

“Why, yes it does. It goes all the way up, and we don’t have stairs.” She spoke with an accent.

As the elevator dinged, I felt a sense of tense energy coming from the office, as I saw smoke coming from the room on the left. It had certainly reminded me of the smoking caterpillar 75

from Alice In Wonderland as we had walked in the room. We saw a big tall man with another big tall man who smelled like watermelon, and his room brought tears to my eyes as Calista and I awkwardly stood there while he pulled the hookah out of his mouth.

He asked if we smoked and I said, “No.” Calista tried to run around the table. I grabbed her arm and said, “You are not smoking with him!” frantically. She quietly sat down in the chairs that he had pointed down to sit in and pouted.

As I sat down, he said, “Happy Birthday,” and slid a big orange box over towards me. I stood up to open the box, and a certain knock came at the door. Mr. Midnight said in a quite annoyed tone, “Who is it?”

We heard heels clicking and knew that it was Mrs. Adams. She quietly said, “It’s me,” and came in the door. She had sat down at the big table and said, ‘‘Oh, Wynter, you have a couple more gifts. I can take you to the present room after you open this big one.’’

As I got even more anxious, I stood up again and ripped open the box. My heart ached as I saw a long sandpaper like paper with my name in huge letters as I looked back . . .

To be continued . . .

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U N T I T L E D Ashton

Cirius

My name is Jacob Adams. The year is 3025, and now that the world is almost over, I might as well tell you how we all got here . . . This all started a year ago today.

The year was 3024. It was a sunny day in Atlanta, GA. Now that the world was full of high-tech gadgets, I wanted to make a life-changing piece of technology. After many trials of figuring out what I wanted to create, it finally came to my head: a tablet that gives you anything you draw! Of course, the device was going to have limitations; it wouldn’t be able to create living things or food.

Five months later and I was nowhere close to being finished.

After many tries of the project failing, and hours of smelling burning wiring, I realized that I could not complete this alone, but interviewing people to help with a job that feels damn near impossible is very challenging. The day of the interviews only six people showed up, which wasn’t surprising but very unmotivating.

All interviews started with the same question: “Why would you be useful to this project?”

The first guy said, “I don’t know, I just want to be a part of the project.” I was already thinking in my mind, Decline.

Every other person had around the same answer about just wanting to be a part of the project. I was ready to give up on everything until one guy came in, Jayden Rich. I asked him the same question, “Why would you be useful to this project?”

“Because I have two PhDs, one in technology and the other in engineering.” To be fair, the answer wasn’t amazing, but comparing it to everything the others said, he won by miles.

Now, in month six, we were still not close to being finished, but we were closer than before. The design was 12 inches wide and 79

15 inches long. While going into the laboratory, I saw Jayden Rich working on the project when he was not supposed to come in that day.

When he saw me, he was frightened, saying, “What are you doing here?”

I replied back, “I can ask you the same thing.”

“I came in today just to get extra work in.” It seemed a bit suspicious that he would come in without telling me, but I just brushed it off not thinking anything else of it. That might have been the biggest mistake I’ve ever made now looking back. The next day I came back and saw all of my material, designs, and hard work just GONE, like it just VANISHED. What I did see next was weird and unexpected, a note from Jayden reading, “Hi Jacob, By now you’ve realized that all OUR work was taken, and yes, it was me who took it. I just couldn’t keep watching you not making this device to its full extent. Why only create non-living things when you can create living things with the help of artificial DNA? Bye for now from your former work partner, Jayden.”

In frustration and anger, I destroyed everything left in the lab, just the smell of burning wiring and smoke so thick you could barely see. At this point, I gave up. It got so bad that I didn’t do anything for two WHOLE months until I heard it. A loud BOOM. I look outside the window and see a FREAKING dinosaur. Piles of rubbish follow it with every step. I already know how this happened, but I would have never expected Jayden to do something like this. Now realizing this might be the last thing I can do. I remember that I had built a GPS into the device. When I reach the location where the device is, what I see is horrible.

Jayden’s DEAD BODY, blood everywhere, but the damage is already done. Giant creatures are now roaming the earth.

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82

THE

UNGIFTED

Cymere Coleman

“Cypher Sayato for…Hunter!”

“Oh god—” Okay, I’m not one to be easily shaken or intimidated, but this? I can’t do this, no matter the preparation, no matter my strength, powers, or intelligence. My death, my inevitable, horrific death would be unavoidable. Being a Hunter is almost like being a mouse walking into a snake pit. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve killed a vessel before, but it was already injured and I barely walked out of that fight still intact. Given the fact that my last encounter with vessels almost killed me, to have to fight them and survive until I’m an elder would be absolute hell, especially as an Ungifted. At least Zakari, my meek best friend since childhood, was selected too, which made it better, but I knew it would call for nothing but whining and groaning for hours or even weeks on end. I can’t blame him because no one wants to be a Hunter, but he really doesn’t need to cause such an uproar.

I sucked it up and walked up to Lector Kalos to accept my Hunter’s Mark. The second that sweltering iron hit my skin, I realized the severity of my situation, that my death sentence had just begun. After I was marked, I was handed my schedule and eventually got directed to the Training room, where the Higher Ups decided that it was more important to make fancy simulations and equipment, rather than giving more protected homes or more food to the bottom feeders of society, which could also be identified as my entire family. Putting that aside, in training we were assigned groups. They would also be the people we scout with once we were actually on the field. These groups also had been determined based on our gifts and who they synergized with the most. Just to clarify, these “gifts” are specific abilities everyone has due to a gem we had bonded into our bones from birth. These gifts are based on blood type and gradually get stronger and more unique the rarer the blood 83

type gets. And lucky me, Zakari, some loud kid named Kilui, and some rando that literally never speaks happened to synergize with me the best, so it’s safe to say I’m now the designated babysitter of the team despite not even having a gift myself.

Nevertheless, we finally start training once we’ve picked out our weapons and our armor. Before training starts, we hear a ghastly screeching noise, loud enough to make my eardrums burst. That roar was followed by screams as Lector Kalos walked in carrying chains, chains that shackled all of our worst nightmares, and an adult Vessel.

To be clear, everyone knows that sometimes they use Vessel hatchlings as training, because they were weak enough to not cause any real injuries, but not weak enough for us to deal with them easily. There is a vast difference between a Vessel hatchling and an adult Vessel, with hatchlings being a measly fourteen feet long, with barely developed fangs and a slimy body; meanwhile, an adult Vessel stood at fifty-seven feet long with fangs the size of a king-sized bed and a tail with scales harder than diamonds. The room paused, and for a moment all you could hear was whimpering, mostly coming from Zakari, and heavy breathing.

Lector Kalos finally broke the silence when he said, “This shall be your first chance to prove yourself as Hunters. Although we usually don’t use adult Vessels for training, we have been given no choice due to the increase of Vessel attacks on the outer perimeter. And do not fret students. If anyone is closer to death, then the most we will step in—” “Wait, so you’re saying we have a chance of dying, like actually ‘put in the grave’ death?”

“Well, yes, but I assure you we will make sure that does not happen.”

“No no no, I’m not complaining, I actually would prefer that rather than giving us weaklings to fight and pretending that it’ll 84

do us any good.”

“Oh, well, that’s…good,” Lector Kalos said as he gave the girl’s sudden outburst a slight side eye, “Um, anyways, does anyone else have any inquiries about today’s training?”

“Uh, Lector Kalos…” I heard Zakari utter from behind me as his voice quivered, “I don’t think this is a good idea, like, people could end up dying.”

“Well Zakari, as I’ve said, all of your protection will be assured, and, if anyone does almost die, the training will be postponed for today.”

“Only for today? I’m sorry Kalos but—” “That’s Lector Kalos, and I’ve heard quite enough out of you Zakari, ‘’ he said as his eyes flared with aggression towards Zakari, aggression that held an unspoken history between them.

Regardless, he stated that we had fifteen minutes to prepare, and that those who failed or did not participate risked banishment, the most supreme punishment our Higher Ups had to offer, which was basically sentencing you to imminent death because no one had ever survived a night on their own in this world. Fighting one Vessel would only give us a small taste of the horrors we would face as Hunters, let alone the atrocities we would experience if we were ever banished. In short, I was gonna die either way, so I might as well choose the path that let me live longer. I bottled up my fear, grabbed a staff, and prepared for the fight of my life.

Lector Kalos unshackled the beast, cautiously and hesitantly, and backed away as it regained its energy. The Vessel let out a blood curdling howl that drove the whole room to gaze in its direction. Before we could even get ready to fight, it was already hurtling towards us, more specifically, it was coming in my—no Zakari’s—direction. My only guess is that it sensed his fear and went for it, but that was not the problem. The problem was that

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Zakari was literally right next to me, and the scent of his fear most likely rubbed off on me. This now meant that I was one of its targets. I could have just run, because his scent outweighed mine by far, so he would have been the main target, but something held me back, something that required no thought or calculation, just emotion and the reminder that he was the only person who trusted me like no one else, and cared for me the way everyone important in my life should have.

Only moving out of instinct, I shoved him out of the way and was soon met with the impact of a tank breaking into my chest and the pressure of wind crashing against my skin as I hurtled through the air. This is what happens when you try to be her—, my thoughts were halted when I felt myself being catapulted further into the air, followed by the feeling of sweaty skin latching onto my back. As I looked up, I was met by the face of Zakari twisted with a mix of fear and adrenaline as he launched through the field with me in his hand as the foul beast trailed behind us.

“Zakari, I know you have the gift of speed and strength but that is not going to help us here. We need someone to interfere or we’re dead, where the hell are our group members?” I say, panicked.

“The hell if I know! No one would actually be dumb enough to interfere with a Vessel anyway, so we might as well be ragdolls.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” I said, nodding in the direction behind him. As he looked back, he saw that crazy girl from earlier. She was literally riding the Vessel, latching onto it with dual blades stabbed in between its eyes.

She screamed, “Someone help me out here!” as she jabbed at the creature’s face. After that, a storm of the Trainees mustered the courage to attack the beast. All of them put their abilities to use, with the people using ranged Gifts attacking the chest and face, and the closer Gift users attacking the tail, but it was all to no avail. The beast knocked everyone back with one stroke of its tail, and it flung the girl forward in our direction, bashing into us. She yelped as the three of us crashed against the 86

ground. The Vessel slowly crept towards us, almost confident in its victory as it was barely affected by our barrage of attacks, and just as it lunged itself forward, I pushed my hands outward in desperation. And right when it made contact with my hands, dust. A large, looming, dark cloud of dust appeared right where the Vessel was. As if the Vessel never even existed, as if the Vessel was nothing.

To be continued . . .

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88

THE

UNSPOKEN

Damaris

Cruz

Before I could get my eyes open fully, I heard my mom screaming, “CALL THE DOCTORS, HE’S WAKING UP.” I started to hear a bunch of footsteps swarming into the room.

My eyes were open slightly, but not enough to get a clear view of who was in my room. All I could hear was the beeping noise from the heart rate machine and the sound of my mom sniffing as if she was crying. I didn’t even know what was going on, or why I was in the hospital. My eyes fully opened, and a doctor flashed a light in my face.

“Teejay, do you know where you are?”

I knew I was in a hospital, I just didn’t know where. I tried to move but, for some reason, I felt pure pain throughout my body. “Ahh!” flew out my mouth as soon as I tried to move.

The doctor thought it would be a good idea to take me to get some x-rays and blood work done to see if I was okay. I asked my mom and sister Aniyah what happened and why I was in the hospital. They couldn’t even look me in the eyes. My mom couldn’t even stop crying to tell me what was going on.

My sister just came out and said, “TeeJay, you were kidnapped five years ago. They found you in the North woods.”

My body froze; the hairs on the back of my neck started to stand up. I would have never thought this would happen to me.

You see shit like this in movies, but you never actually think it would happen to you. WHAT THE HELL?! I had so many questions I wanted to ask at that right moment, but my sister already looked like she was holding back tears trying to be strong and my mom couldn’t even look at me without crying. The doctor came back in. I couldn’t help but to think he was about to tell me the worst, tell me I’m dying or something. I don’t know it’s just so much going through my head I couldn’t even think straight.

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“Hey Teejay, how are you feeling kid?” asked the doctor.

Me: “Umm, I’m feeling okay I guess… Is everything okay with my test?”

Doctor: “Surprisingly yes, everything was perfect. We are just gonna keep you here for at least two or three days to make sure everything stays that way, then you can go home.”

Three days later: The doctors said I could go home. I didn’t even know what to expect my life to be like. I mean, I literally missed so much of my life. The last thing I can even remember is my friends Ty and Jayden talking about the new Lil Uzi music video, and now all of a sudden I’m in the hospital. Being told that I missed five years of my life, thirteen to eighteen without even knowing it. On the car ride home, me and Aniyah were just getting to all the music that’s new, and we talked about everything that’s been going on in her life and everyone else that I was close with. After thirty minutes of talking, we finally started to pull up to my neighborhood. I lived in Brooklyn so it was always active. Kids were outside playing and the aunties outside gossiping, while the uncles and grandpas gambled playing cards. No matter what it was, my block was never quiet.

It was nothing like that. But kids weren’t even playing outside, it was dead silent on the block. Weird since it was summer time.

Walking in my house I couldn’t help but take a long pause before even taking another step into the house.

Mom: “Is everything okay Tee?” I didn’t wanna scare her or anything so I just acted calmly, like coming back to what appeared to be a different house didn’t affect me in any way.

“Um, no, yeah, I’m fine. I just want to go up to my room.” Walking up to my room didn’t even feel the same. This doesn’t even feel like home.

I opened the door to my room. Everything was the same, my Uzi posters on the wall, my bedsheets, down to the laundry I never 90

did. I couldn’t help but lay on my bed and just think about life before I could even get the chance to sink in the sheets. Some images popped up in my head. Well, I wouldn’t say images, it felt more like a flashback. Me running from someone. But not just running, it’s like I was speeding, like lightning, I could feel the adrenaline running through my body, the wind blowing in my curly hair. I finally snapped back into reality, gripping on my sheets as if I was in pain. I passed it off as me just daydreaming. I mean what else could it be. The person that was chasing me was a female, she was pretty, like the Victoria’s Secret models I used to think of. Why would a woman like that be chasing me? I passed it off trying to forget what happened. But for some reason, I couldn’t shake it.

I tried to go about my day as normal, trying to forget what just happened. I spent some time with family, and even some friends from school came to visit. I had fun, it was good to catch up, but seeing how much everyone had changed was scary.

Everyone was all grown up. My friends went from thirteen to eighteen with what felt like the blink of an eye. Momma had made some pizza, which was my favorite. Niya invited some friends over that she wanted to introduce me to. Her friends were really cool, I really learnt so much about my sister’s life since I’ve been gone. Everything my mom and sister did for me was honestly so nice. I even got to see Ty, one of my best friends. He told me Jayden couldn’t make it because he was away on a college tour. As we were sitting on the couch, playing the Playstation with my sister, a knock came to the door. It was a man. A tall, brown-skinned man, who looked like he could talk you into doing just about anything. The man gave my mom a hug, said hi to all of our friends, and then he finally got to my sister and me on the couch.

He said, “Hey Niya, how’s it going?” My sister didn’t seem to be fazed by anything, she replied how she would to a family member.

“Oh hey, Alex. Everything is fine, how about you?” I don’t know anything about the guy who just walked in, but it seems off.

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He finally came up to greet me, with his hand out, “Hey Teeja—” my mind instantly went to another place. I found myself laying down on a bed, with a tray of needles on my bedside, my arms strapped up. Like how they would do the mentally-ill people in the hospital. I couldn’t help but to try and break free. I started to hear loud footsteps coming from the hallway outside the door, like a woman’s heel. Looking at that door I see the woman.

The one that looks like a Victoria Secret model that was chasing me.

“It’s you, what is going on? Why am I here?”

Woman: “Teejay, you’re finally awake…” I started to freak out, trying my hardest to break free.

Woman: “Calm down Tee, I’m not trying to hurt you.”

Me: “What the hell are you doing to me? What’s going on?” The woman just chuckled. Someone else walked in the door, a man with a lab coat looking down at a hospital chart. The man was tall. He finally looked up at me and it was Alex. I didn’t know what to think or say. I just started to stare into his eyes without even saying a word. Then I started to hear Niya ́ s voice.

“Tee, you good?” I looked at Alex in his eyes as I was shaking his hand, I pulled away.

“Yeah Niyah I’m fine, let’s finish this game.” I could shake this one off as a daydream. It’s clear that something weird is going on. I don’t know what, but I need to figure it out. Alex went into the kitchen with my mom to eat some pizza, and I couldn’t help but to question my sister about him. “What do you know about this Alex dude?” She can tell I was feeling a little annoyed by him being here.

Niya: “Chill Tee, he’s cool. Him and mom have been together for like four years now.”

I just replied with, “Mmm, yeah right, I’ma go upstairs real quick.” I went upstairs into my room and opened my old Macbook from 2016, and decided to go on a deep search of Alex’s Facebook. I may have missed five years but the way to find 92

things out about someone didn’t seem to change. I found out that he’s a scientist and he works at a lab in Manhattan. He had pictures with his coworkers, friends, and family. I ended up coming across a picture with him and some women, with the caption, “Best science duo you’ll come across.” The woman looked familiar. Suddenly, I started to get memories of the visions from earlier. The woman that was chasing me and that had me locked up in the hospital bed. IT WAS HER. What the hell is going on? What is this?! I didn’t even know what was going on, but I knew whatever Alex was involved somehow some way.

A few days have passed, and I’ve been spending more time with my family along with Alex. I still don’t like him, but I’m trying to keep it together while also investigating him, asking him questions about his job, his personal life, and the people he works with. My mom told me that Alex was going to spend the night tonight, and she wanted to make sure that I was okay with it since I technically don’t even know him. I wasn’t okay with it but I figured this is a good way to get closer. When it hit about 11:00 PM, I decided to call it a night and went up to my room.

I fell asleep, and all of a sudden I heard the floorboards by my room door creek, and a light but heavy footstep. It woke me up, but I wanted to see what this person was going to do so I went to sleep. I peeped my eyes open and saw that it was Alex. He had a needle in his hand with some booger-green liquid inside of it. After seeing that my palms started to sweat, and I couldn’t even breathe right. He started to inject the needle into my right arm. I could feel whatever liquid was going through my body.

Alex didn’t leave my room after injecting me. He sat in my room on my computer chair staring at me. About ten minutes later, this feeling of anger came over me, and my body started to overheat. I felt like I was strong, like I could do anything. Something in me took over. I felt like I wasn’t me anymore.

I heard Alex say, “g7X you there?” g7X: “Yes captain, it’s me.”

Alex: “I think I finally found a way for you to live your life on 93

earth using Teejay’s body.” g7X: “After all these years we can finally take over, using the serum. FINALLY WE ARE GOING TO TAKE EVERYTHING OVER!” Alex: “Let’s start with Teejay’s family. Inject all your brothers and sisters in them, let’s start our family.” g7X: “Okay Dad.” To be continued . . .

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Artwork 96

by

Chandra

Datadeen

THE LOST WORLD Chandra

Datadeen

As the ground started to shake, a blinding light came shining down from the ceiling.

A giant hand peered through the ceiling as buildings were falling to the ground. People began scurrying to safety when I just realized our burrow was under attack. I ran outside looking for my father. I cried out for him while running towards the large metal door. I saw no one as water started rushing in from the broken pipes and cracks in the walls. In disbelief I looked back at the destroyed remains of my home. The water had soon caught up with me as everything had blackened.

I struggled to stay afloat on the water as it carried through a long, narrow, and dark tunnel. Fighting against the current, a light slowly started to appear on the other side. As the light grew, I could see the end of the tunnel. The light blinded me as I fell to the ground. Everything became a blur. After a couple of seconds, my senses came back to me and soon I realized where I was.

I had made it to the surface world. Only a few had ever been here in decades. All anyone knows about this place is the stories and tales of legends told in the underground bunker. People used to say the surface world was a safe place to live until it became inhabitable. A mysterious virus infection broke out, causing a complete panic for everyone worldwide. The virus started infecting whatever it could touch, turning everything into a mutated version of itself.

I looked around at my surroundings and realized the surface was beautiful. The sky was gleaming a bright blue, the flowers were blooming and the sun’s rays shining on my skin for the first time felt warm. I was surrounded by a forest.

The surface world isn’t like anything people had described it as.

They always said there was radiation or dangerous mutations 97

lurking around every corner. Or maybe I had just spoken too soon.

I was alone in the middle of a forest and I had to find a way back to my family. We were taught in the burrow to look for landmarks that would appear on the surface. Follow these landmarks correctly and you can find your way to the bunker.

Although, everything has happened so fast and I don’t know where to start. As I stood there clueless on what to do, I heard a terrible, loud screeching noise. My ears started ringing.

I looked around to see what the noise was when a large imprint of a shadow appeared on the ground, it was mildly visible in the bright green grass. In seconds the shadow multiplied and there were more. That terrible sound became louder.

I turned around and saw these terrifying creatures had landed on the ground in front of me. They were green, and scaly. Along with blood red lustering eyes, and large wings.

I stood in fear while they began to circle me. One of the creatures started edging its way closer to me; as the others followed, I screamed for help.

I struggled to get away from the creatures with its tight grip on my arm. Suddenly, another creature appeared from the brush with dark vibrant purple fur, the body of a tiger with large wings, horns, and three tails and it started running towards the creatures attacking me. The tiger had chased away the birds in seconds.

I fell to the ground, as the birds didn’t have their grip on me anymore, wondering why the tiger saved me. The creature looked at me with kindness, and I could see it wasn’t going to attack me. It came closer and sat on the ground next to me. It could sense I was frightened and laid down next to me on the grass.

I guess the rumors about the surface world were true. Or at least some of them were.

“I’m trying to find my way back home.” I said to the tiger while 98

stroking its fur. “I’ve never been to the surface before. This place is dangerous with all of the infected creatures. Do you want to come with me?” It gave a soft growl and nuzzled me.

“I’ll take that as a yes. My name is Celeste, and I’ll call you Ambrose.”

As the wind calmly brushed against my cheek, Ambrose’s attitude had completely changed. He perked his head up and started twitching his ears. There was a sudden silence as Ambrose was sitting there listening to something. He then stood up frightened trying to pick me up from the ground with his mouth.

“Did I say something wrong?” I said, getting up.

He started to circle me and looked at his back.

“Do you want me to climb on?”

He nodded his head and looked at me. Whatever he heard back there must have not been good. I climbed on his back and his wings started to unfold.

They began flapping faster as I held on tight. We had taken a flight. “Ambrose, we have to look for landmarks. Do you know if there is a city or town nearby?”

As I said this, he turned around and headed in the opposite direction. We flew in that same direction for hours, only stopping for occasional breaks every now and then. We kept on heading forward when I noticed the sky was different from early. It was filled with dark blues and purples. Scattered on the sky there were also these small white dots appearing. They must be stars.

I was told all sorts of myths and stories about the stars in the bunker.

The sun started to set and there was no sign of a city. It was pitch black and you could barely see anything besides the forest. We were about to land when I heard the screeching noise from the birds earlier. They’d followed us. Guess they came back for revenge. We couldn’t land anywhere without losing them first.

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“Ambrose, you think you can lose them in the forest?”

He flew close to the ground and started weaving through the trees. I didn’t know where we were going but after a while the noises became distant. I knew the creature would come again, the best option would be finding a safe and secure area to stay in for the night. That was when I saw a glowing light coming from a building.

Landing on the ground, I approached the building cautiously not knowing what was causing the bright light in the building.

Maybe someone else was inside the building. I ran to the door and held it open for Ambrose to come in. The building looked larger on the inside than it did on the outside. The light I saw from outside was newly lit candles. There were tables with glass beakers scattered everywhere along with other technical equipment you’d find in a research lab. On the other side of the room, I saw a silhouette of a person.

“Celeste, I was worried about you,” the stranger said.

“How do you know my name?” I said. He came into the light holding a candle. Only when he had gotten close enough did I realize the stranger was my dad. Speechless to words, I ran and gave him a hug.

“Where were you and what happened?”

“A mega mutation had attacked the burrow. I tried looking for you but you were nowhere to be found. I’m glad you’re safe though.”

As he said this, I became more confused. It doesn’t explain why I found him here. But I didn’t care. I’m glad I found him knowing I’m not alone in this strange new world.

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Artwork by Rihanna Douglas 102

THE SEVEN C R Y S T A L S Rihanna

Douglas

She was at school that day, September 30, 2019.

“Aliyah Howard, please take your stuff and come to the main office.”

Everyone turned their heads around to the back of the classroom and their eyes watched her like a hawk as she slowly got up from her seat with her stuff and walked out of the classroom.

As she got to the main office, she was greeted by her counselor with a big hug. Aliyah looked to the left to see her mother Janet’s face as tears started to flood down it.

“I’m so sorry to tell you this awful news, but unfortunately your father has passed,” her counselor said.

Her entire body froze. It was like she couldn’t feel anything.

Then, she started to feel dizzy, and her eyes blurred as tears slowly started to fall from her face. She didn’t say a word. Not to the counselor, not to her classmates, not even to her mother.

She walked out of school without saying goodbye. Not knowing that was the last time she would see them. The car ride home was awfully quiet until Aliyah finally said something.

“How did it happen?”

“Um he—heart attack.”

Aliyah was confused as to why she stuttered, she never stutters. But she never thought much about it. She was too numb to think about anything at all.

“I packed our stuff.”

“What why!?”

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“Cause we’re moving, don’t question me. As soon as we get home, we’re gonna take everything we got and leave this town behind us.”

“But what about dad?”

“He’s going to be cremated.”

“Why can’t we have a funeral!?”

“I SAID DON’T QUESTION ME.” After that, she took a long pause.“This is what he would’ve wanted, okay?” She looked over at Aliyah in despair. Although she wasn’t around her father much, she knows how much love Aliyah had for him.

Aliyah stayed quiet the rest of the car ride home. She was filled up with so many emotions that she felt like she was gonna burst.

“We’re here, get your stuff,” the mother said.

As soon as she steps her foot in, she breaks down knowing she’s gonna leave all her memories of her dad behind and that life will never be the same again. She finally brings herself to get all of her things and unload them in the truck. After a long threehour and forty-five-minute car ride, they reached their destination. She felt uneasy the entire time but never thought much of it. Aliyah and her mother stepped out of the car and stood in front of the new house. The air was pure, the grass was fresh, and everything was more spacious. The house was pretty big for just the two of them. But they had to get used to this; this was their new life. They finally entered the house and started to unpack their things. “Sorry about the way I acted earlier, I’ve just been so stressed out about everything,” Janet said.

“It’s fine Mom.” “No really, I shouldn’t have yelled at you the way I did.”

“It’s ok, Mom.” “I let my emotions get the best of me and took it out on you. I especially shouldn’t have did that because you just found out about your fath—” 104

“MOM I GET IT.”She ran upstairs with so much anger. She didn’t know why she felt like this. She locked the door behind her and stayed in there for a while.

“I’m going out to get some groceries, be back in 20,” her mom said.

As soon as the mom left, Aliyah got out of her room and started to look around. She found a box with her father’s stuff in the corner of her mom’s room. “Why was this hidden?” As she opened it she saw a bunch of his old stuff, books, and magazines. She looked underneath all that stuff to find the crystal he wore around his neck every day. “I don’t remember it being this dark of a green,” she said in confusion. She decided to put it on.

As soon as it was around her neck, it started to glow.

Suddenly, it becomes so windy as if a tornado was in the room.

Books and magazines start to fly all around the place due to how windy it was. She got so scared she didn’t know what to do, so she stayed there on the ground with her hands over her head. Finally, it stopped, everything fell on the floor, and the house was a complete mess. She heard a loud knock on the door. She can’t be home already, it’s only been five minutes.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. It gets louder with every knock.

“Hey is everything ok in there?” she sighed in relief. It wasn’t her mom. She went to see who it was.

“Hey, um, I’m Diana, your next door neighbor. My mom told me to check what was going on here since, you know, there was a lot of noise. Everything okay, you need help or sum’?”

“Uh no, I’m good. Everything is fine.” She looked behind her to see the mess she created, and she began to sweat uncontrollably.

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” She looked at her with suspicion. She leaned to the side seeing the mess and started to look concerned.

“You know what actually.” She slowly opened the door, revealing the big mess she made.

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“Oh shit,” Diana says.

“I have less than fifteen minutes to clean this all up. You really think you can help?”

“Uh, you can get started and give me a sec.” She ran over to her house to get as many cleaning supplies as she could, and went back to Aliyah’s house to help her. Aliyah worked on the stuff that got scattered all over the place while Diana worked on the spills. Eight minutes passed. Ding ding. Aliyah ran to her phone.

“I just got a text from my mom, she’s on her way.” She rushed to put all the boxes away while Diana helped her.

“DIANA, LOOK OUT.” She looked up to see the box slip off the ledge of the shelf. Aliyah ran and reached out her hands. Next thing you know, the box is floating in mid-air. Both of them look shocked and confused. Diana steps out of the way of the box and the box falls on the floor.

“YOU GOT POWERS BUT I DON’T, SO UNFAIR.” “What powers? I’m confused as to what I just did.”

“Listen, what you just did was telekinesis. It’s where you can control things with your mind.”

“Yeah I know what telekinesis is but why am I able to do it?”

“I researched all about this. Do you really not know anything about where your powers come from?”

“OBVIOUSLY NOT, JUST EXPLAIN!” “Alright geez, so basica—” Knock knock knock.

“Already!? Here, take this, hide it somewhere, and act natural.”

Aliyah handed her the crystal necklace.

“OH wait, the box!”

“Just push it in the corner!” She opened the door for her mom and helped her bring in the groceries.

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“Who’s your friend,” the mom said. They looked over at each other.

“Uh—” “Oh, I am Diana, your next door neighbor, I just came to greet you guys since you’re new to the neighborhood.”

“Well I was going to get dinner ready, do you wanna stay and maybe you can invite your family?”

“Great idea, I’ll get them.” She went back to her house and invited her family over as the mother started to prepare dinner.

As her mom prepared dinner, it reminded her of all the times her dad would teach her how to cook when she was younger.

“They’re here Mom.” The mother went for the door while the daughter set the table.

“Hi.” “Hey, I’m Marsha.”

“Hi, I’m Janet, come in.”

“So nice to meet you all. I thought you guys were crazy people with all that noise earlier but you guys seem pretty sane to me.”

“What are you talking about?” Janet looks back at Aliyah in confusion, and Aliyah and Diana look at each other. “What is she talking about Aliyah?” she asks in suspicion.

“Uh, I was bringing up some of my stuff to put away in my room and some of it fell over.”

“Oh ok,” Janet said. They heard a knock on the door and Diana got it.

“Am I late to the party?”

“I thought I told you to stay home. Guys this is my douchebag twin brother.”

“My name is Teo. So good to meet you all.”

“Well is that everyone. Yes, okay let’s take our seats then,” Janet 107

says.

They begin to have dinner and get to know each other. Marsha talks about the do’s and don’ts of the neighborhood and they all start to bond. They finished dinner and began to clean up.

Teo sensed something about Aliyah. But he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He lured Aliyah upstairs by asking for the bathroom. They were upstairs by themselves.

“Well, here’s the bathroom,” she said. As she turned around to leave, he lit his lighter and threw it at her “Aliyah look out!” she frighteningly turned around and stopped it from burning her by reaching out her hands. “Well I was right about you,” Teo says.

“What the hell was that about!”

“Just wanted to test my theory, and I was correct.”

“How did you know?”

“You see, when two people that have powers come in contact with each other you can sense it.”

“Wait, you have powers?”

“How did you think I lit that empty lighter?”

“Uh-uhh, wait bu—” “TEO, we’re heading out.”

“I should get going, we could talk more about this tomorrow; and hey, let’s just leave this between you and me. Seriously, you can get into danger if the wrong people find out.”

“Yeah, okay.” As they all say their goodbyes for the night she begins to go look for her father’s crystal. She finds it and puts it somewhere safe so no one can find it, then gets ready for school in the morning. Her mother goes into her room, “I can trust you right?” she says.

“Yeah, what happened?”

“Nothing, no secrets ok?”

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“Okay.”

“Night, love you.”

“Love you.” She finally went to bed for school in the morning.

She woke up the next day very nervous to go to school. She wasn’t good at making friends, but at least she had Diana and Teo to hang around. Besides that, she wanted to make a good impression. She didn’t want to be known as the quiet antisocial weird girl this time around, she just wanted to be normal.

So she decided to do some light makeup, straighten her hair, and put on the best outfit in her wardrobe. Was she overdoing it? Maybe just a little, but at least it would all be worth it in the end, or so she thought. Her mom called her down to drop her at school cause it was getting late. As she entered the school, there were many kids, but then she had made eye contact with Teo and Diana. Diana runs up to her with a big hug.

“So we have twenty minutes before class, and I will explain everything I know to you.” She grabbed her hand and brought her upstairs to an empty classroom and shut the door. “You’re not the only one with powers here. About a handful of students have powers in the school. You can either have telekinesis, firepower, airpower, telepathy, ice power/waterpower, healing, and dark magic. If you are lucky enough to be the chosen one, you get all seven but the regular amount you get is two. Basically, these powers come from the seven crystals that were founded by a man long ago named Zhang Wei. He only planned on looking for the healing crystal because his pregnant wife Daiyu was sick and there wasn’t a cure for the sickness. But instead, he found all seven. The power didn’t work, though. The wife had a miscarriage and he went into depression. A few days later he started to feel uneasy. So he went to wash his face. That’s when the water froze and he realized that the powers started to work.

A few years later bad men came looking for him and the crystals. All of the crystals shattered and ended up all over the city, that’s why only some people have powers. You have to experience some type of loss for the powers to actually work. Did you experience a loss recently?”

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“Yeah my father,” Aliyah said.

“Oh I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I just don’t know how to work my powers.”

“I can help with that,” Teo said with a smirk on his face.

“Where did you even come from!?” Diana says.

“I was here the whole time, you didn’t see? Oh never mind. I forgot I turned invisible.”

“Gosh I hate you.”

“Anyways, you guys should get to class. Aliyah, if you wanna learn, come to our house after school.”

“Mmhmm,” she mumbled. She was on her way to class when she saw a group of four girls. They were beautiful, had the best clothes, designer bags, everyone would watch them as they walked down the hall. She got lost trying to find her class and accidentally bumped into one of the girls, spilling her drink all over her.

“What the hell!”

“I’m so sorry, let me help you clean it.” Aliyah said.

“NO! Get away from me. Who even are you? Actually, I don’t even care.” The group of girls laughed at her as they walked away. Maddy turned around and used her powers to make her trip, already embarrassing her on the first day. She ran away in embarrassment and found her class. As the students started coming into the classroom, she got a headache.

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THE RAT SYSTEM Shamar

Dove

In 3596 . . . “EVERYONE STAND UP, SALUTE!” “WE HAVE MILITARY SOLDIER TYRONE ROBBINSON TODAY THAT IS RETIRING DUE TO HIS ARMS AND LEGS BEING AMPUTATED. Are there any last words that y’all wanna say to Tyrone?” The whole military base was silent until one soldier named Harold stomped his foot on the ground for everyone to hear. I knew Harold for a while now. He’s been my best friend ever since we were kids. He used to be an officer and now he’s a military soldier. The crazy thing that happens in society these days is that when something happens to someone, it happens the same way to a family member or best friend in two days.

“YES I WOULD LIKE TO SAY SOMETHING SIR.” “Go ahead, you only have a moment.”

Harold walks up to me and says the most interesting message ever said before, “See you in two days.” After he said that, I got escorted out of the military base and taken to the highest hospital on the planet, NYC healer cycle. Once I made it to the hospital they brought me to the nearest room. The room looked…

AMAZING. It had medicine that could heal me and most importantly my arms and legs. The doctors took the stitches out of my arms and legs.

“We need to give you this medicine immediately. It’s only going to hurt a little.” When they said it was going to hurt a little, it was the total opposite of what they told me. But I heard something. The room was silent for a minute. No one was moving at all.

“This is going to hurt a lot,” I heard from one of the doctors in the room while the room was silent for a minute. It was like time just stopped. Then I thought to myself, Could I read minds

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and stop time at the same time? Then it hit me… When they took out the stitches, everything stopped. Then I heard another voice that sounded like Harold’s. Although Harold was at the military base, he was still communicating with me somehow.

“Tyrone.”

“Harold is that you?” It was kinda creepy how he was talking to me through my mind but it was way scarier when there was no one to talk to when time stopped.

“Yeah, bro it’s me. I’m here to tell you that the military base put something in your arm before you got your arms stitched closed, which is probably why time stopped completely.”

“CAPTAIN HAS PUT A TIME STOPPING DEVICE INSIDE MY ARM?!” The excitement inside of me was rising but I still couldn’t move.

“Wait, if time has stopped, how are you talking to me right now?”

“Oh yeah about that… Captain told me not to tell nobody, but when we were sleeping a few weeks ago before you got your arms and legs amputated, he put a device in our ears that no one could see but us. The device in our ears are also immune to time stop so only we could talk to each other when time is stopped.”

It was kinda upsetting knowing that Harold knew all of this the whole time and didn’t tell me before but it was kinda cool knowing what happened to me when I was unconscious. But why would the captain choose us for?

“Why us bro?”

“Remember the day before you got your arms and legs amputated?”

“Yes? What about it?”

“Well he gave us a trophy and told me the only way to unfreeze time is if you talk to me.”

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“I’m talking to you right now. Why hasn’t time unfreezed yet?”

“Oh yeah I wasn’t specific when I said that all you have to do is talk to me, I forgot to say five minutes.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yup, speaking of five minutes, we are on our last second. Well bye for now!”

I saw everything start to move again including the doctors in the room. Everything… went back to normal! After a few hours went by I felt normal, so the doctor told me to go to the mirror to see my new arms and legs and they looked amazing. One arm had a gun and the other had a button that affects my eyes in a good way. The legs had a defense mechanism to protect me from anything. It looked cool and now that I can see where my next job is going to be, I decided to sleep in the hospital bed and the doctors let me, which is cool.

Two days later . . . I have never slept like that before in my life.

I wonder if it’s because of the new arms and legs that I just got.

I look at the time, and it’s 4am. The doctors said that it was my time to go. So I walked out of the hospital and went to my new job. By the time I got to my job it was 7:45 AM and then time stopped again. But this time felt like the last time the doctors were in the room with me taking off the stitches. Then something popped up in front of me that said “call Harold.” I chose the yes option with my eyes by blinking, somehow my eyes were able to move. This new technology is crazy nowadays.

“Yo, Harold.”

“Tyrone?”

“Yeah…”

“Why is time stopped again? What’s going on?”

“I lost both my arms and legs.”

“WHAT?! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME EARLIER!” “Bro, for the past two days I was trying to get in contact with 115

you and you didn’t answer.”

“Oh damn, my fault bro. For the past two days, I was asleep.”

“Wow, bro.”

Why does this moment feel so familiar? It feels like this happened before but now I’m calling Harold this time.

Then I saw something else that appeared in front of me unexpectedly. *Incoming call from Captain. Captain, a leader of the area 51 military base, very dangerous to visit.* I accepted it with my eyes, and the captain was just screaming. I don’t know why he was screaming because I think he was so used to doing that.

Me and Harold still don’t know Captain’s name. We just call him Captain because he refused to tell us his name and he only wants us to call him Captain till everybody dies in millions of years. Then I heard the audio start breaking up due to the Captain screaming. I forgot that the technology is very sensitive when you yell. It affects tech a lot now it might even turn on you. Then Captain disconnected from the call and time unfroze once again. It was kinda weird and kinda obvious that was going to happen. Due to the Captain’s yelling that possibly causes a fatal error in the call or the system with no notification showing that it’s an error. After that I decided to go to my new job.

The orb was huge, bigger than a skyscraper. Once I entered the weird military looking contraption I was greeted by a dude with sunglasses and a military techno outfit on. My eyes automatically read the description of the dude. “Wanderson Convoy, the leader of the rat system, very serious when it comes to protecting the rats from escaping that could destroy all of New York.”

“Hello Tyrone, Welcome to The Rat System.”

“Hello, Mr. Wanderson.”

“Let me show you your new office, also known as the watch place.”

So we went to my new office in the rat system. It was so cool and there is a regenerating pineapple on the table that I’ve 116

wanted ever since I was five years old.

“This is your office.”

“Wow this is so cool.”

“I know right.”

“What does this button do?”

“STOP DON’T PRESS THE BUTTON YOU IDIOT!” “Why not?”

“If you press this button . . . You’ll kill us all!”

“Oh.” “There are a bunch of rats in this orb that are very deadly if all of them get out of the orb. I’m counting on you to not let anyone, including yourself, press this button at all. You’ll be on the lookout day and night due to you being half human and half robot.”

“Okay I’ll do my best.”

“Alright, don’t let me down.”

The button looks satisfying but I’m going to stick to my word and not press the button at all.

1 week later . . . Two flying cars pulled up out of nowhere. I thought to myself, were they new to the rat system? I was confused when two people got out of the car. They walked inside of the building then got kicked out. My boss told me that Danny and Kimmie have been trying to press the button ever since last year.

Two days later at midnight . . . I was watching the orb with my best friend Harold that joined a day ago, then Danny and Kimmie broke in and almost pressed the button. So me and Harold punched both of them, then Kimmie pulled out a taser, then got killed by Harold. It hurt to watch that happen. Then I got hit so hard I almost passed out, and my arm raised for some reason and shot and killed Danny due to him pulling out a gun then 117

running to get the gun after the fact that I knocked the gun out of his hand then he tried to shoot me. I looked at the dead body and the cops were called and I didn’t get no time for the murder.

One year later . . . Me and Harold are now safe after that day, and we are not bothered ever again, and we are the most deadliest duo ever.

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Artwork by Akoni Drysdale 120

U N T I T L E D Akoni

Drysdale

When I was younger, the world felt endlessly slow. Some people couldn’t wait to grow up, but as you get older, you want to be younger again. I liked when the world felt endlessly slow because you didn’t know you were growing up till you were grown.

Lachrymose is what they named him. Quick to tears, emotional.

He didn’t believe he was emotional or quick to cry. He wanted to see what other people saw.

Constant banging and a splatter after each bang, he watched as his father threw a mean fist over, over, and over at his mothers unconscious body, that image breaking its way into his mind and latching onto his memories like a parasite feeding on his trauma by constantly replaying that moment . . .

Months passed, his mother was in a coma, nobody taught him, mentioned, or spoke to him about how the world doesn’t stop when the people you love are hurt, disabled, or dead, but his world stopped. That image of himself watching without acting as his mother was abused, consumed by fear, made him, Lachrymose, quick to tears. He went home day in and day out living and dying on the inside. His father acted cold, brushing him off; in those same days Lachrymose’s anger, rage, and regret built up and made him change for the better it seemed. Lachrymose came home after visiting his mom, that trauma at six-yearsyoung sitting there still at sixteen-years-old. His dad sitting in his study reading, watching, then asking.

“Dad, why don’t you go see Mom?” The silence and tension were getting thicker, you could almost see it. “WHY DON’T YOU GO SEE MOM, DAD?” He closed his book and stood. “Didn’t I tell you not to call me Dad?” his voice calm yet stern, his fist clenching, and Lachrymose freezing. All the rage from all the ages he’s been before 121

sixteen building up—in his fist was six-year-old him, and in his legs one-year-old him, struggling to stop his legs from shaking, but his rage was sixteen years old.

“I’m sorry si—’’ A swing to the face left a ringing in his left ear, a taste of blood and more rage on his tongue, like how a coin smells. Lachrymose’s fist glowing, a faint purple, he swings, his fist connects to his father’s jaw, hitting the strongest muscle in the face and breaking and tearing that jaw in three seconds. His father dropping, off balance trying to get revenge and his fist throwing itself harder and harder until his father was unresponsive. He stopped, looking at himself in the reflection on the mounted TV. Running. Until his heart beat out his chest, inhale, exhale, the only thing his body knew to do at that point. A man grabbing him and pulling him into an alley. A black figure watching from above. The man who grabbed him has cat pudding from his neck, mouth, on the tips of his hair, and from his knee caps.

Lachrymose, feeling a roll in his stomach and a gag at the site of the man’s deformity, tried to push him off, but he was latched on by his cat claws, the faint purple glow in his hands are there but are now in his feet and he jumps back; the man drops to the floor and can only drool and cry, muttering, “Ki..ll M..ee.”

Lachrymose turned around and ran. The figure that was watching from above appeared in front of him and grabbed him, everyone walking past that alley not hearing or seeing a thing.

The man’s hand was not soft like his mother’s or abusive like his dad’s, it was cold, leaving him breathless and shocked.

“Kill him.” He handed Lachrymose a revolver, with a suppressor, black, with glowing stripes and the bullet was visible glowing red like the gun.

“I can’t.”

“If you don’t kill it, it will spread and kill many others.”

Lachrymose thought about his mom and all the other people in the world who don’t deserve to go through what that man went 122

through. His hand trembling, his grip weak, with his finger on the revolver’s trigger, he squinted and he squeezed, and what followed was a small bang sound, and he was pushed back by the impact, the man no longer crying and the cat deformity disappeared from his body, but he was lifeless and didn’t move.

“This is your destiny, you’re the one I’ve been waiting for. The child with the gift of speed and strength but at a cost; you will save this world and your mother.” Lachrymose dropped the revolver and grabbed the man’s shirt pinning him against the wall.

“What do you know about my mother?”

“I know we can save her.”

“How?” “Before I tell you, we have to save this world from that virus because if we can’t stop the spread, your mother can’t be saved.”

Letting go, Lachrymose inhaled, holding it for two seconds, then exhaled and followed as the man led him into a door in that alleyway. He looked around the place he was in. Arms and ammunition everywhere and the other half of the room was a lab and a bulletin board showing what the virus can and can’t do and where it is spread the most. The man looked at Lachrymose and measured him with only his eyes and opened a closet with suits that were packed with armor and could be activated when worn, protecting the person who wore it.

“This is your suit,” he said, holding out a black leather jacket with inside pockets that can hold guns and ammo. The jeans were black and they couldn’t rip or be torn. The shirt was a black turtleneck that had no sleeves and acted as a bulletproof vest. “Nothing too flashy. On a side note we’re heading out immediately, this virus never sleeps.”

He gave Lachrymose another revolver and a red and black knife just in case. He slipped it in his boots and they went to the roof.

The man stood at the ledge and fell forward and Lachrymose tried to grasp his hand; then the man landed on a building, 123

leaping to the next and the next, and Lachrymose jumped too, and splat on the concrete . . .

He groaned in pain then got up, leaping from buildings that touched the stars to the building that touched the empty streets until they reached an urban area where people had cats protruding out like skin tags that you had to chop off. The things clawed and scratched the glass of a small brownstone house.

Lachrymose and the man walked up to the house where they stood, their backs against each other, and they aimed and shot at the zombie-like things. Shot after shot killing each and everyone of the things, sweating as each of the bodies dropped one on the other.

“I’m coming Mom, I’ll save you . . .”

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TESLA GONE

DONE HAYWIRE Mandy

Dupervil

It’s a hot and steamy Friday and the idea of a road trip sparks in my mind. I recently bought the new Tesla Bond X, and it´s been a while since my cousin Tishawna and I hung out, so why not take a four-hour trip to New Hampshire? I begin packing everything I need in order to survive the road and relax in my cousin’s abode. In case of my forgetfulness, I make a checklist. Toothbrush? Check. Nintendo controller? Check. Goldfish snacks? Check. I pray before exiting my flat.

I look up and see my apartment standing prideful and tall like the Empire State Building. A soft breeze hits my face and has my entire body in a calm mode.

“Today is going to be a good day,” I say with passion in my tone.

Walking towards the garage, I alert my Tesla, and once I reach it, I begin to assemble my body, gather my thoughts, and hit the road.

It’s been an hour since I’ve been driving on the road, and I’m feeling a bit drowsy. I put my car into auto-drive and scurry onto the passenger side to take a mini-break. The cheesy flavor of my cheddar Goldfish has my taste buds cheering. While I’m sitting in the back and scrolling through my Instagram feed, laughing at the humorous memes of cats and dogs fighting, I hear a huge pop sound, and my car starts shaking repeatedly. I start to panic but make steady movements.

All of sudden, the car stops and begins to growl like a zombie in hunger. I get so scared, afraid of what’s going on, and begin to dial my cousin’s number. I start talking with an unstoppable ramble. ¨Tishawna, I´m so scared. I was driving, then I stopped driving

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because I wanted to take a break from driving, so I sat in the back seat, and my car started shaking, and now I’m scared that my car has gone crazy—” My words are cut off as Tishawna screams into the phone, telling me that I need to pause, take a deep breath, and tell her what’s wrong. ¨Explain to me what happened but use your words and breathe,” Tishawna says. I exhale soothingly before explaining what’s wrong. ¨I got a bit tired from driving, so I put my Tesla in auto-drive and sat in the passenger seat.” I take another deep breath before speaking again. ¨While I’m chilling on my phone, the car starts to shake violently and make scary noises, so here I am calling you,” I finish off my sentence with a sigh.

There’s a huge weight of silence on the phone before I hear shuffling noises on the other side and the sound of a door opening. “Catalina,” my cousin says my name with a royal bass in her tone, “I’m going to ask you three questions, and I want you to be completely honest with me.”

I hum into the phone as an okay to continue. ¨Are you hurt in any way, physically or mentally?” Tishawna says. ¨I bumped my head on the seat a few times but I´m fine,” I reply with certainty.

“Did you take any medication or a form of substance before driving?” she asks.

“No I haven’t.”

“Lastly, have you been in any conflict with a civilian in the last hour?”

“Tishawna, why are you asking me all of these questions? NO, NO, and NO.” I get up out of my seat and start the car back up, then begin to drive again. Six minutes into driving and there has not been a single word uttered from Trishawna.

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I look outside my window and see a huge sign that shows that I’m heading into North Pownal, Vermont. I pull into a Wendy’s parking lot and begin to unbuckle and let myself out.

Suddenly the car starts to shake violently again with its monstrous sounds and startles me back in the driver’s seat and, as if Trishawna is aware of the situation, she yells for me to get out.

I oblige. I sit in silence as if watching my car become a seizure victim. My brand new Tesla is suddenly not so new anymore.

Trishawna lets me know that she will be on her way to pick me up at my distant location. I begin to overthink about the events that have passed. My brand new Tesla has been touched by demons. I’ve probably lost over a million dollars due to the expense of cars these days. It’s been a decade and two years since our last president was named Biden and nothing has been the same. Jobs have been lost and many people were replaced with the famous AI. The unfortunate were cursed with poverty and shelters. On the other hand the fortunate, including myself, were blessed with homes and money to keep us for days.

I’m sitting in my cousin’s living room and rethinking all of my life choices right now. Trishawna is on the phone as we think of a way on how to sue the Tesla company. Reflecting on everything that happened, my Tesla was taken to the mechanic to get checked out. While the kind-hearted man was checking out the car, an explosion came from the hood of the car, and I was told that I wouldn’t be getting my Tesla back.

It came to a conclusion that we would be interfering with the law and would have to take matters into our own hands.

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Artwork 130

by

Kairi

Feliz

Mercado

ATTACK ON HIBBAT Kairi Feliz Mercado

The year is 2075. My once beautiful planet, Hibbat, known throughout the galaxy for its bright colors and advanced portal technology, was now a terrifying dark place held captive by Diabolos, the master of destruction. The enemy invasion was swift and malicious; countless innocent lives were lost. My people, the Koolans, tried their best, but ultimately abandoned the war and went into hiding. For months, we have been dogging attacks against the Nadar, the military troops of Diabolos. We aren’t sure how many of our people have survived since Diabolos destroyed our portal system, our only way of escape. As I write in my journal, I can still hear the horrifying screams of my people the day he arrived.

Journal Entry 1: It was a normal day, although I had an incessant feeling of doom, and I didn’t like it. Still, I tried to ignore it and headed towards Destination Station, the junction where all the portals on Hibbat met. I was on my way to visit my best friend Niall, for a game of Noggin Ball, when suddenly there was a loud bang followed by screams. People began to scatter as a large triangular black ship with gold-like doors landed a few yards away from the station. In the distance, I could see the doors opening and a large figure emerge. His greenish face was scarred all over, and his right eye was missing. I couldn’t help but get closer when I noticed his four large muscular arms, two on each side of his body. The shorter, lower arms were crossed, and the upper ones held onto a large spear. His voice echoed as he spoke, as if he was speaking through a megaphone.

“Citizens of Hibbat, bow down to me. I am Diabolos, the Master of Destruction.” Until then, Hibbat never had a leader, we had no rules because we lived in peace. He continued to speak as his troops began storming out of the ship. “I have decided to take over this planet to add to my collection. Those who don’t follow my rules will hang from the end of my spear.”

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“Surk!” my best friend Niall yelled,“ Here, take this, you’re gonna need it.” He handed me an open can of beans.

“Thank you,” I said, still startled. I took the beans and wondered if I’d ever eat anything else again. Since Diabolos took over, Niall and I had been living in a crappy abandoned grocery store. The broken lights helped us stay hidden.

“Stop writing in that book and walk with me. We need to discuss things.”

I got up and put my book on a shelf where I kept most of my things now. I followed Niall as he entered the store’s office.

“There are rumors that a few Koolans are going to war again to try and defeat Diabolos,” Niall said as he sat down and turned on a small radio.

“Okay, should we join the group that’s going to war?” I said, shoving a spoonful of baked beans in my mouth.

Niall tuned the radio until he heard a voice speaking. “We are a small rebel group called The Revolt, looking for strong and brave Koolans to finally take down the tyrant Diabolos. If you think you can fight for the cause, meet us at Zig and Zags Street at 11:00 PM.” The radio suddenly cut off.

Niall looked at the clock on the wall. “That’s 30 minutes from now bro!” he said rushing, jumping from his seat.

“Let’s go!” I put my beans down and we left.

Journal Entry 2: It has been a week since we were accepted into The Revolt. It was a simple plan. Step 1: Find the portal crystal that would allow us to turn on any remaining portals on Hibbat.

Step 2: Lure Diabolos into the black hole portal. Step 3: Defeat the Nadar and take back our planet. General Kao, the leader of The Revolt, has chosen me to get the portal crystal since I’m the smallest in the group and could fit through the air vents in Diabolos’ ship. It took us two days to gain underground access to the ship. Tonight we are putting our plan in motion, boom!

The vents in Diabolos’ ship were cramped and smelled like a 132

fish market. As I shimmied my way through the vents, I could hear the laughter of Nadar soldiers as they joked about ways to kill my people. In the distance, I saw a glow of bright green light. I knew it had to be the crystal. I made my way towards the vent door and immediately saw Diabolos below. He was stomping out of the room. I opened the vent door and climbed out. As I looked at the crystal it seemed bigger than what I remembered. I quickly put the glowing crystal in my satchel and climbed back out through the vent. All of sudden a loud blaring siren rang throughout the ship. I made my way out of the end of the ship but as soon as I got out I saw that General Kao and the rest of The Revolt had already been caught by Nadar soldiers. I panicked as I looked around for Niall. This wasn’t a part of the plan, I thought. I couldn’t see him anywhere. The ground began to shake as Diabolos walked out of the ship onto the middle of the portal platform.

“This scrawny boy, this is your savior?” Diabolos roared mockingly. The Nadar soldiers burst into laughter. I stood there shaking; a tear rolled down my cheek as I looked around at the faces of my new friends thinking this might be the last time I see them.

“Those tears are useless boy!” Diabolos said, raising all his arms at once. “Give me the crystal, NOW!” As I looked at Diabolos, I noticed some movement behind him near the crystal generator. There was a familiar blond puff of hair, which made me smile. It was Niall. He signaled to me using a kicking motion we used when we won our game against Vulcan High last year. Diabolos grew angrier by my sudden change in expression. “How dare you smirk at me you peasant!”

I took the crystal out of my satchel.

“Is this what you want?” I said as I began walking slowly towards him. My voice cracked as I got frustrated, “You come to my planet, you kill my people, and you think that you can get away with it.” Diabolos looked confused as I continued to walk towards him. “Well if this is what you want then I guess I have no choice but to obey your wishes, Your Majesty.”

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I began to bow and then placed the crystal on the floor in front of me. Diabolos smirked. I stepped back and quickly kicked the crystal through his legs. The crystal swiftly glided across the platform and landed at Niall’s feet. Niall picked up the crystal and placed it in the generator. All at once, a shining green light filled the portal station as the portals began reappearing.

“NOO!” Diabolos howled, as he felt the heat from the main portal gate splitting him in half. The Nadar panicked and retreated back to the ship and took off. I let out a huge sigh of relief and looked down at the two halves of Diabolos, which lay covered in his oozing green blood.

“We did it!” Niall yelled, running towards me and locking me in a bone-crushing hug. The Revolt members cheered as they jumped for joy. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

All I could think is we’re free; it’s over.

“What do we do now?” Niall spoke, holding on to my shoulder.

“I don’t know, still up for that game of Noggin Ball?” I said with a huge smile on my face.

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Artwork 136

by

Xavier

Fletche

Johnson

THE TWO

TALE OF WARRIORS

Xavier Fletcher Johnson

Dragon City was under attack! Minions were flying everywhere, destroying the city and invading it. Citizens were screaming and crying out, but it didn’t matter because they quickly evaporated. Masashi and Akari saw this and rushed over to the chaos.

More than ten thousand minions were in an army standing in front of the two warriors. Masashi and Akari stood in front of them as one of the minions charged at the two like an animal while the rest of them followed behind. The two warriors each took on five thousand of the minions. Masashi easily took down over three thousand of the minions in less than ten minutes.

Meanwhile, Akari was struggling a little bit but still had everything under control. He took down over four thousand minions in less than fifteen minutes. One thousand minions were left.

Masashi and Akari worked as a team to kill the remaining minions. The two friends fist bumped before flying over back to the city to help the rest of the citizens.

Raikon, who was fighting the main villain, was getting thrown around and getting hit back and forth like it was bumper cars. Raikon started to power up as Draculis, the main villain, laughed.

“No puny power up like that is going to defeat me, you insolent pest!”

“Hmm, let’s put that to the test, shall we?”

Raikon hit Draculis with a barrage of punches and kicks, and blasted him with a huge energy ball so powerful that Masashi and Akari could feel the impact from miles away. Draculis was hurt, but he was still standing. Draculis tried to rush at Raikon, but Raikon tripped him. Before Draculis could hit the ground, Raikon grabbed Draculis’ foot and threw him. Raikon speed137

blitzed him and then slammed him down to the ground.

“What’s wrong Draculis? I thought you were stronger than this.”

“SHUT UP!” Draculis tried once more to hit Raikon. Raikon easily dodged the hits, and hit Draculis with a left-right jab, then finished the combo with an uppercut. Draculis was knocked out cold, then Raikon killed him with a stomp through the stomach, crushing his lungs and ribs in the process.

Before Raikon could walk away from the body, a mysterious person came through a portal. Raikon turned around to see this figure before him. Raikon asked, “Who are you and why are you here?”

“My name and ideals have nothing to do with you.”

“Fair enough. Seems like I’m going to have to beat it out of you.”

Raikon charged at the mysterious man but he just phased through Raikon’s body. Raikon was confused and tried to rush him again, but to no avail. The mysterious man pulled out something from his pocket. It was a black rod that had a sharp needle at the end of it. He shot purple lightning out of the rod.

Raikon swerved around it, but the lightning curved around and hit Raikon. Raikon was stunned and fell to his knees. He felt a lot of pain in his head. He screamed out loud ferociously. The mysterious man laughed maniacally. Raikon was being brainwashed. The screaming stopped and Raikon slowly looked up at the mysterious man with a sinister grin. Raikon flew off looking for Masashi and Akari. While they were helping the citizens, the brainwashed Raikon came out of nowhere and kicked Masashi through three buildings. Akari rushed at Raikon, but just got choke-slammed into the ground and stomped on. Masashi dashed through the buildings he got hit into and hit Raikon with a punch to the jaw which sent him flying through several buildings.

Akari got up and asked Masashi, “Yo Masashi, what happened to Raikon? It isn’t like him to just attack us randomly like that.”

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“I don’t know, Akari. Maybe something happened when he was fighting Draculis.”

Raikon got up and powered up beyond anything Masashi or Akari ever felt. Meanwhile, the mysterious man was watching this from afar. At insane speeds, Raikon charged at Masashi with a concentrated energy ball in his hand. He threw the energy ball, but Masashi slid under it. While Raikon was distracted, Akari delivered a kick to Raikon’s face. Masashi followed up with a barrage of punches, and together, Masashi and Akari punched Raikon into the ground. In sync, they both charged up a powerful energy wave. The blast hit the brainwashed Raikon.

Before the two could celebrate, Raikon came from the smoke and punched a hole through Akari’s stomach. Blood spilled everywhere. Akari fell to the ground, lifeless and defeated.

Masashi witnessed the death of his best friend right in front of him.

“AKARI, PLEASE WAKE UP! PLEASE DON’T GO! . . . AKARI? AKARI?” Masashi cried out the name of his best friend. Tears fell down from his eyes. Masashi stood up slowly and his body shook uncontrollably.

“How dare you. HOW DARE YOU KILL HIM! YOU WILL PAY!” In a ferocious roar, Masashi screamed and yelled. The brainwashed Raikon was taken aback by this power surging off of Masashi. Masashi’s muscles grew to the size of a watermelon.

His eyes glowed red. The bloodlust was increasing drastically. The veins on his forehead were bulging. He was livid. Before Raikon could say a word, Masashi clotheslined him. He grabbed the back of Raikon’s head and dragged him into the ground. Masashi was tearing Raikon apart. Blood dripped out of Raikon’s mouth. Many ligaments and bones were broken.

Meanwhile, the mysterious man teleported into the range of Masashi and Raikon. Masashi saw him, and he was so fast that Masashi was able to land multiple hits on the mysterious man.

The mysterious man got up and finally revealed himself. It’s Draculis! Raikon was knocked unconscious by Masashi. Drac139

ulis had a technique that allowed him to regenerate from the brink of death. Draculis powered up to full power and started mopping the floor with Masashi. Soon after, Raikon woke up, and next to him was the dead body of Akari.

Raikon felt guilty for what he did when he was brainwashed, but he had no time to mourn. He rushed to the fight and sneak attacked Draculis.

“Remember me?”

Raikon’s voice came into the fray. Masashi was happy to see his brother, but was also still angry with him because he was technically the one who killed Akari. Raikon apologized to Masashi.

Masashi wasn’t in the mood right then and said, “Let’s just focus on the fight, alright?”

Raikon let out a sigh and powered up to his maximum capabilities. Draculis got up and saw the two warriors standing above him. Masashi and Raikon rushed at Draculis with their full power. Individually, Draculis was stronger but as a team, Raikon and Masashi overpowered Draculis. In a desperate attempt, Draculis tried to plead for mercy mid-fight to instantly gain the upper hand, but neither Masashi nor Raikon were falling for it. In sync, they unleashed their attacks exquisitely. It was flawless. With perfect technique, they comboed up Draculis, and with their final attack, they charged up a huge energy blast which disintegrated Draculis. They did it. They won. A few days later, they made a burial for Akari who died during the battle. Raikon was locked up for seven months for his crimes, and the city was rebuilt within a few years. Masashi was known as the hero of Dragon City. Citizens surrounded him and bombarded him with autographs and questions. Masashi answered a few questions and signed a few autographs. He flew off into the sky and thought about his friend, who could’ve been his partner for their next adventure.

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141

Artwork 142

by

Zebastien

Florimon

D O P P E LGA N G E R Zebastien

Florimon

VHS Tape One S.N.A.T.C.H “Stand your ground. Now is your time in reality. Attack if safe to do so. Thaw your fears away. Can’t reveal your secrets. Han—” The TV malfunctioned.

I was a police officer watching the opening instructions to this new job. The S.N.A.T.C.H protocol was this instruction’s name.

It was the first out of the three. My coworker walked into the lonely room I was put in. I was in the police department, but it was a dimly lit room with a chair, a lamp, and my hot and seemingly expired coffee. It smelled raggedy, old, and like trash. The TV matched this old room’s quality, and paint peeled off the wall. It looked like it came from the 1950s.

“Oh, sorry Hannah. Lemme play it again. This happens a lot,” my co-worker said with the remote in hand.

“You’re fine, Luke,” I responded gladly.

The TV shone brightly in the dim room again while Luke walked away. It restarted from the beginning.

“Follow the S.N.A.T.C.H protocols when dealing with effects and/or attacks. Stand your ground. Now is your time in reality.

Attack if safe to do so. Thaw your fears away. Can’t reveal your secrets. Hang Yourself.” The TV stood on that final statement for a good thirty seconds.

I was definitely shocked, thinking it was another malfunction, but it wasn’t static or anything. The dark room didn’t help either. I was scared more because the lamp started flickering at a steady pace. It all creeped me out. The TV had transitioned into what it was supposed to say, and erased the H in S.N.A.T.C.H. “Hold Your Place in reality.”

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Now it actually made sense. The TV screen had transitioned to its next segment.

“Doppelganger Encounters,” the TV narrator said. “When in a Doppelganger Encounter, you must hide until the target is neutralized or has left the area. If safe to do so, neutralize the target yourself. If the target has abnormal behavior, submit yourself. You cannot win.” The TV instructed in a robotic emotionless voice.

“Okay,” I said slowly, creeped out a bit. It transitioned to the third and final segment.

“Doppelganger Background and Rank,” it said. “Doppelgangers are genetically identical copies of another, and will focus on one goal: taking the place of the person they replicated in reality. Doppelgangers are determined by Rankings. Rank 1: A Doppelganger that can’t harm or speak, only watch and trick its real person into death. Rank 2: This Doppelganger has abnormal accessibilities such as irregular limbs or abnormal speed or strength. Still unable to speak but also now unable to see and hear. Rank 3: Beings which can erase things from reality and be abnormal or normal as they wish,” the TV explained.

It was a different thing to see and to watch, so I turned it off. I may have revealed my fear to them. No, it can’t be.

VHS Tape Two Cries For Mom An old classy type of music played, opera maybe. I hate that type of music, especially in the darkest places. It was slow as well, creeping me out even more.

“Instructions when offspring are crying within the household,” the TV narrator said. This could be useful to me. My son cries a lot at my apartment. “When your child cries it is a beacon to the other side,” the narrator said robotically.

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“All right, this just might be useless to me after all,” I thought.

“Doppelgangers seem to have an unrefusable attraction to the cries of an infant or one-to-five-year-old child. If a three-day born infant cries, it usually attracts the attention of the Rank 3s.

Do not enter the room when an infant cries. It is almost guaranteed that the Doppelgangers will show up.”

What the hell? What would happen then? I thought to myself, confused and frightened. After the subtitles of the narrator’s instructions disappeared, two extremely low-detail, drawn people were shown on the screen. The music was still playing, only muffled. A male, beside a female character. There was a door in front of them and the endless screams of their baby behind it. Muffled screams, but they were relentless. The woman, abandoning the man, walked in through the door. With the same pitch-black background, with the white-drawn woman, and a white-drawn crib, with a TV in the very front of the room, the baby cried louder than ever. The TV sang its same tone, continuously but much louder. The woman, poorly animated, walked to the crib and when she looked inside… The screams stopped. The baby wasn’t there. Although the baby wasn’t there, the cries were fading away as if it was erased from existence.

The woman walked slowly towards the TV, and when it zoomed in on what was displayed, it was shocking. There was a black figure with its two dotted eyes and a smile so wide it consumed half of its face and its long hair touching its bloodstained shoulders. The TV zoomed out, and the woman allowed the music to continue playing from within it, and she walked back to the middle of the room. It looked like she was floating to heaven perhaps. But it all came clear after this.

A message on the TV said, “Shocked from her fear being revealed, her life has run its course.” It replicated the message in a stream downwards.

The woman had exited out of the poorly drawn animation and followed the S.N.A.T.C.H protocol. She saw what was in the TV: it was her, and when she saw it, she revealed her fear. Just by doing that, she knew her time was up. So she hanged herself 145

atop the ceiling of the nursery room.

VHS Tape Three Operator As the final segment played, my eyes were shaken by fear. I didn’t want to believe. Did my life run its course?

“Reports. If Doppelganger calls are reported to your police station . . .” the narrator said robotically.

I did see a difference in which the TV would go into static a lot at this point. The lamp beside me had finally stopped its countless flickering. It also shined a bit brighter, which definitely was nice.

“When a civilian reports a Doppelganger call to your police department, follow these procedures,” the narrator instructed. “If a caller reports a Doppelganger encounter, reassure them that help is on the way. But it will never come,” the narrator said.

But why? I thought to myself.

“Do not speak too much to the caller. They feed on your fears and desires. You might accidentally reveal it,” the narrator said.

This shook me to the very core, but at this point, after everything I saw on the tapes, there was no denying the truth.

“When you hear the caller’s frantic screams through the phone, hang up. You can’t save them from fate,” the narrator said slowly and creepily.

This is what our world came to. A place where the so-called “defenders”—the police— can’t do a damn thing against these creatures. The tape shut off. That was the final segment. The once bright light beside me scarily shut off. The frantic screams of my coworkers were so loud and close. I couldn’t do anything. I revealed my fear. I failed to protect my place in reality. I caused the death of my coworkers. Now I must face my fear.

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The Police Station Face Your Fears As I opened the door from the dark room, I saw the station lights flickering like the lamp. I saw blood streaks and heard cries for help across the hallways of the station. I followed the streaks of blood, and it led me to a hallway of corpses, one of them being Luke. Since I was new I didn’t have a gun, I took Luke’s. I was walking slowly, watching my corners, and I made it out to the main offices and cells. The prisoners were slaughtered with their bones twisted. I found another where his body was disintegrated to the neck, but no blood and no organs from the torso were revealed. This must have been a Rank 3. I had no means of resisting at this point, yet I clenched onto the gun tighter than before. I ran back to the entrance and avoided calling out for anyone. That would reveal my location, and I would be caught almost immediately. I saw the entrance doors in sight, and I looked everywhere: right, left, ceiling and below.

They could be anywhere. I crouched and silently went to the doors. I tried opening them but they were locked.

“Please, open please.” I cried and sobbed. I slouched to the ground, submitting myself. I blinked, and when I opened my eyes the lights were off. “What the—Where are you?” I shouted out for the creature. I turned on my shoulder, light and the shadow overlooking me. It was huge with a gaping mouth and hair touching the ground. It had abnormal limbs, arms too long and legs too tall, with a broken skinny curved back. It wore my exact attire.

“Re—” It whispered.

“What?” I cried, and asked.

“Reveal,” it said distortedly.

“You’re my beast?” I questioned.

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“Reveal your—” it said louder and even more distorted. I knew my fate and couldn’t change it. It took its place in reality.

“Reveal your fear!” it roared, with its mouth large enough to swallow anything whole.

“It’s you goddammit. You!” I shouted and fired. It was useless.

“Hello. My name is Hannah Torres. I’d like to apply for this job,” it said.

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Artwork by Cassidy Grays-Ferguson 150

U N T I T L E D Cassidy Grays-Ferguson

Just one day in the Das house. They live close to the Bermuda Triangle, but not too close to where Fiona, Carl, Lip, and Ian live. They have a family meeting where they think a family trip will help. Every day, all they do is cause mayhem—well, mostly Fiona and Carl—but they plan the trip. As soon as they get there, Fiona tries to steal out of the gift shop, but she gets caught. Ian and Lip talk the people out of calling the cops, so they try to be nice and help her out. They check in. They go up to their rooms. They get settled. Carl comes up with the idea to go on a helicopter ride over the Triangle. They plan it for the next day, so they go to sleep.

The next day comes where they have to get ready to go on the helicopter ride, so they eat and get ready. Then the time comes for them to leave and go to the helicopter. They drive to the helicopter place. They arrive to the place and they put on the stuff that you need to get into the helicopter. Once they get in, Fiona is panicking because she is scared of heights. She is looking around, sweating, face turning red, panting, while shaking her legs. Carl tries to calm her down, and it’s kind of working. They start flying; Ian is trying to make small talk but the only person that is listening is Lip. Carl yells, ¨WE ARE OVER THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE!” as he points down. He proceeds to take off the gear you need for the helicopter. Then he jumps into the Triangle. He gets sucked in.

Fiona goes in after him, then Ian, then Lip. The pilot radios, “They jumped in, and there’s no way to save them.”

Underwater, where Carl and his siblings are, they find out that they can breathe, and then Carl starts talking. He finds so much stuff underwater.

Fiona yells, “I SWEAR, IF YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER JUMPED 151

IN THE WATER WE WOULD NOT BE HERE.” Carl: Shut up! We would not be here if you would have never planned this dumbass trip, Fiona.

Fiona: You are lucky they don’t have any chairs. I would have smashed one over your head.

Carl: Fiona, shut up before I feed you to my new pet shark.

Fiona: Shut up, we need somewhere to sleep!

Ian starts looking around. While Fiona and Carl are arguing, he wanders off. He gets sucked into a different world. Lip gets worried and starts looking for Ian. Now he stops Fiona and Carl from arguing so they can look for Ian but they look all over, it takes them days and years. He never got found, and to this day, they still didn’t find him.

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S N A P C H A T LIVE SHOW Sadeyah

Harrison

So we live in a world where there is only one job. Everyone looks human, but they are actually robots. They have to make live shows about their daily life, make entertainment to make money, and get a certain amount of likes. If you don’t have a lot of likes, money people come to your home and kill you and your family. There are only three other jobs: soldiers, teachers, and people who work for the app. To be one of those things, your parents have to have been one of those things. My character’s parents weren’t any of those though.

Hi, my name is Kennedy. I’m 18 years old. I just graduated high school, and now it’s time for me to work. I finally downloaded Snapchat Life for work and applied. My friends and I were all a bit nervous to start, due to the consequences if you don’t have a certain amount of likes and followers. That, and being brand new to the whole life without school. I’ve seen the stress my sister, Mela, went through—crying, faking a smile on social media, no sleep, and being friends with people just to get famous—especially with being a robot and all the malfunctions that can happen. Sometimes we start to smell overheated and begin to lag because we’ve had no rest. I don’t want to ever imagine going through it. It was sad to watch. No one can fix it but her, but she never stopped. She continued her shows as if nothing ever bothered her. The app gives new people five months to reach at least 7k followers and get used to a whole new life, or you will already be in danger, which means you and your family die.

After five months of dancing, singing, and traveling for live shows, I’m at 7.5k followers. I was consistent, and I saw the progress in my system. I didn’t smell like overheated technology or an electrical fire when I was awake for a long time. It wasn’t that bad. I made my shows at a certain time through155

out the day. I found fun activities, I met new people, and I saw new different things. I even tried a new food called pizza, even though I can’t taste anything but metal as a robot. Every time I chewed, it sounded like a train on tracks. I did things I never knew robots could do. I was able to feel my actual phone by pressing a button that lets you feel objects. It was just an adventure for five months, and I’m well known because my sister had experience and helped me with every show I’ve done so far. She was there every step of the way. I also lost contact with most of my friends, but I see they are living their best life as well. Some of them have higher followers than me, some have lower, but most are on a good route, especially my ex-best friend Ashanti.

She hasn’t spoken to me since graduation. I attempted to call but no response. Maybe she has a new number.

One day, we had a group live with all our old high school friends, like a reunion. I saw Ashanti and she was talking to everyone, catching up, but she never said anything to me. That seemed a bit weird to me.

Someone asked, “Hey Ashanti, are you and Kennedy still best friends?”

“No,” with an abrupt voice.

“Why no?”

“Guys, people are not who you think they are, but stay tuned,” she said, and continued to talk to other people. She left us all curious. I was so confused; Mela suggested I find her live, and I texted her.

I got in touch with old friends, and finally I got her information.

I was hesitant to text her, but I did it anyway, and I said, ‘’Hey, Ashanti how’s it going?’’

She didn’t respond for weeks, but I saw her live show and watched it. She talked about her “betraying best friend from high school.’’ I was her only best friend in high school. This has to be about me, I thought.

As I was listening to the story, I realized she hates me and 156

thought I stole her date for prom. She was bashing me, calling me a loser and a man stealer. I have a bad robot system, and I saw people reposting it and liking it. So I did my storytime and stated the truth, which was that he was never her boyfriend, and he asked me to prom as friends. Their lives began to get crazy. We went back and forth for days and both our views were going up, but the app didn’t allow the negativity and violence, so our pay went down. It was bad, really bad. If I didn’t stop, I would die. It was a life or death situation. Mela made me stop the bashing and arguing.

She called Ashanti, and said with an excited voice, “Hey, how’s it going?”

“What do you want?” with an aggressive voice.

“I—I—I—just want to figure things out, you know, clear the tension between you and my sister.” Ashanti began to speak to her after she finally calmed down; you could hear her voice change more shallowly.

Mela set up a day to meet; we talked about the situation. It was a bit difficult in the beginning because I hadn’t seen her in a long time. This upset me. We finally settled things, after a long conversation, and became friends again. We started doing shows together. Our pay went back to normal, and I got my best friend back. I missed days like this.

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U N T I T L E D Quinyah

Hill

In this world, everything is controlled by the internet, and phones are used for everything. If you have to pay for food, you use your phone. If you have to give somebody something, you have to use your phone. If you have to pay for clothes, you have to use your phone. Normally mornings in New York smell of cigarettes, a very strong smell that fills the air, but on this day it was different. There was no strong smell of cigarettes. Instead, most people were playing this game, Cash Inc., and nobody was really paying attention. Jaclyn was on her way to work when she realized that nobody was paying attention. She didn’t really mind it because they use their phone for most things. Jaclyn gets to work and works as a cashier in Fendi on 5th Avenue. A lady went up to the register and purchased a white dress. After scanning the dress, Jaclyn asked the lady to pay for it. The lady pulled out her phone, a red iPhone with a clear case, and paid for it. When trying to pay, the machine didn’t accept her money.

It said she didn’t have enough money.

“It looks like you have insufficient funds,” Jaclyn said.

“What do you mean I have insufficient funds?” the lady replied.

“Well, when you swiped your phone, it declined, and this normally doesn’t happen with you,” Jaclyn responded.

“I could’ve sworn I had money before I came. This is all so weird,” the lady said.

The lady took out her phone and checked her bank balance, noticing she had zero funds. When she saw the zero funds, Jaclyn saw the blood drain out of her face, and her face turned as white as a ghost. Her jaw dropped.

“Ugh,” Jaclyn thought to herself. “She probably lost all her money on that stupid game and didn’t realize it.”

To be continued . . .

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I N F I N I T Y Richelle Horsford

It was dark, one of those days where the sun didn’t hit Jupiter.

The bright blue shiny waterfall complemented the dark planet so well, you could see it from the other side of the planet.

“Why are we here, Red? I was hella comfortable in my charging station and you called me down here for some BS,” said Robo King 1. Actually, he goes by King.

“Shut up, King,” Arson aggressively said.

“We have business to take care of and you’re talking about doing nothing in a charging station that’s about to break because your big self sits in there all day.”

Red sucks her teeth as she angrily walks toward them. “Can ya stop this already? I’m so sick of being in between ya mess.”

“You wouldn’t be in between nothing if you’d stop letting these robots disrespect you, then you turn around and baby them.”

“Arson, they’re my babies, my creations. I have every right to baby them.”

Arson takes a deep breath, “OH MY GOD RED, THEY’RE OUR CREATIONS! We stayed up night and day in a dark lab cre—” Red calmly walks away, disrespectfully cutting Arson off. Arson rolls his eyes as he follows behind her down the stairs, to the center of headquarters. They walk towards the presentation levitation stand and step on it. Let the presentation begin!

The lights slowly start to dim, as the presentation screen shines brighter. All the robots and aliens fill the inside of headquarters as they all face themselves towards Red and Arson. Red clears her throat. “We brought all of you here today because we came to the discovery that the humans from Earth have been lurking around the planet for god knows what. We think they are trying to steal our beautifully made robots and take over OUR PLAN161

ET.” The robots and aliens start to whisper among themselves. “CAN YA SHUT UP,” Arson screams. “This isn’t something to play about. These humans try to take away anything good and they need to be stopped. Any ideas?”

Well, meet Josh Jacobs. An average human who lives on Earth and loves robots. He’s been spying on the aliens on Jupiter for months, specifically Red and Arson. Red and Arson have a suspicion but they don’t know how bad his lurking has gotten.

His plan was to steal the robots on Jupiter and program them to help Earth as they help Jupiter, but more in a good way. The very day that the aliens decided to have this meeting was one of the days Josh went to his flying bunker. He went out to Jupiter to drop one of his high-tech listening devices through the headquarters’ sunroof. It slowly fell and stuck to the sunroof.

Josh sat in his flying bunker, listening a little before going back to Earth. He thought that day he could attempt to steal one of the robot’s children and work his way up to the most powerful robot on the planet, Robo King 1. He’s just about to pull off but hears something that catches his attention. Something that’s going to change humanity for the rest of the universe, forever.

Josh puts the bunker in drive and zooms off.

Back in headquarters, Arson thinks of an idea. “Fire.”

“Bro, Arson, why is your answer to everything always setting something on fire?” Red said while shaking her head.

“Actually he has an idea, Red. What if we gather asteroids and throw them towards Earth. It would cause a large explosion and take out all of humanity,” King calmly said.

“Exactly, metal brains actually has a brain, and did you forget I AM FIRE,” Arson said quietly but loudly at the same time “Red, get your man.”

Red slowly turned her head towards King and sided eyed him with disgust. King slowly started to grin, then he eventually laughed. Well, he didn’t just laugh. He stomped, kicked, spit, 162

cried, and clapped. Red’s cheeks started to turn a bright red.

“Are you blushing, Red? Damn, I didn’t know Arson made you feel like that,” King jokingly said while still dying of laughter.

“NO! I’m not blushing bozo, I’m embarrassed … actually no, I’m offended that you think I date Arson. Like for real, Arson out of all people.”

“You’re offended? I’m offended that you’re sitting right in front of me talking about me like I’m not standing right here next to you,” Arson defensively said.

“Well, it proves we don’t talk about you behind your back. Well I mean we do but it’s not like we are scared to say it to you.”

Days passed with no communication from each other, nor did they observe any activity from the humans. “These humans have been kind of quiet lately,” Red complained to a completely zoned-out Arson.

“ARSON, are you even listening to me?” Arson nodded slowly as King rushed into headquarters, interrupting Red and Arson’s conversation at the big roundtable. They were sitting discussing when they were going to go through with their plan. Well, Arson and King’s plan, that Red is going to claim it as her own, as she always does.

“REDDDDDD, it’s back?” King explained, panicky.

“What’s back, your STD?” Arson asked while laughing.

King glanced quickly at Arson with no response.

“No answer? This must be serious.”

“What’s back King?” Red said not phased.

“The human.” The silence broke out throughout the entire planet.

“Testing, testing.” Red rushed outside. “What the hell is that, actually no, WHO the hell is that?”

“Hello aliens and robots, I don’t want any problems but ya do, 163

so we gonna solve this the hard way,” Josh said into his loudspeaker.

“Robots, make papa proud.” The robots disappeared into the night then came soaring above the planet.

“Here we go.”

To be continued . . .

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165

Artwork 166

by

Feyisayo

Inumo

SECTOR

Feyisayo

Inumo

R-MD1

SECTOR R-MD1 Facility number 17. Subjects so far: 45. Subjects failed: 37. Subjects passed: 8. The Menacing in 5:7:14:12. Next subject, Subject 21-FDR. Name: Oona Hetri. Age: 23. Place of residence: Tuptec City, District B-4, Fainly Drive, Apartment E-4. Estimated skill score: 1290. Estimated time: 5 hours. Estimated stage completion: 4. Estimated test completion: 9. When: July 17, 2178, 14:20:00.

The clock in the therapy room ticks in a rhythmic sequence.

Tick, tick, tick, it goes, counting each second that goes by until I meet my new therapist.

“Ms. Hetri?” a woman calls from the front desk. “Dr. Temmings is available now. You can go to Room 432 to see him.”

My heart is pounding and beads of sweat start to form on my palms. I look up each door number—425, 426, 427. I keep going until I reach room 432. I open the door and see Dr. Hemmings sitting in a brown leather chair writing on a clipboard with immense concentration.

“E-Excuse me? Dr. Temmings?”

He quickly looks up and greets me with a warm smile.

“Come on in. You must be Ms. Hentri.”

I nod.

“Well, it’s wonderful to meet you.”

“You too.” ***** I walk a little more until I’m at my bus stop. It’s strange no one is on this street. I clench my bag and hold on to my jacket a little tighter. I look at my phone and the bus arrives in five minutes.

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Five minutes, I think to myself, all I need to do is wait five minutes. But the aura of the street makes me feel like I shouldn’t be standing here. I go with my gut and start to speed walk to the train instead, but as soon as I take a step, I fall. It happens so quickly and without any warning, a random hole forms right underneath my feet, plummeting me to the deepest depths of the earth, or wherever this hole leads me.

I am falling and I can’t scream. Instead, I shut my eyes quickly and press them together hard, hoping that this was a weird daydream of mine. But when I open them, I’m still here—falling through this cold dark hole. I clench my sad body and begin to cry. I start to think, What in the world is even happening to me?’’

Then, a POOF. I landed on something; it felt like bouncing on a trampoline. I was confused. How am I not dead? Where the hell even am I? I look around to examine my surroundings; the place I’m in is cold and has very little lighting.

All this is too surreal. It feels like I’m in some sort of dreamscape, outside of reality. My stomach starts to churn and I get lightheaded, I slide down to the floor and sit down beside the cushion. I hug my legs close to my chest, and start to sob, quietly like a baby animal who just lost its mother. Then seemingly out of nowhere, I hear a whirring sound. I’m probably in some sort of tournament that I never signed up for, hosted by some rich people who just want to see poor people suffer.

“Welcome, Subject 21-FDR, and congratulations on being one of the few people to be accepted to participate in this trial.”

The hell?

“In this exam, you will complete a series of stages and each stage has tests—there are a total of four stages and twelve tests.

You must be able to complete at least three stages and six tests.

You will have a time period of six hours. These tests will consist of both physical and mental tests, to test your comprehension, problem-solving skills, and things of that nature.”

My face starts to pool with sweat, and my armpits and back start to get hot. Thoughts are racing through my mind like mini 168

race cars zooming and zipping along the racetrack that is my brain. No. I can’t panic and have to stay calm and assess my situation. I begin to rise, slowly. I make a fist and take a deep, riveting breath, and then let it out in a controlled sigh.

Let’s do this.

“Subject 21-FDR if you fail to complete the exam without the appropriate marks, then further action will be taken.”

I swallow hard, there’s nothing I can do.

“Subject 21-FDR are you ready to begin? If you are ready to proceed then there is a door to the right of you, enter it and you will begin your examination. If not, the door will be open for a three-hour period, then it will close, not allowing you to take the test again.”

I gulp. At this point, there is no turning back. I either go through that door and get this over with, or sit around and wait three hours for this door to close and see what happens to me.

This is it, emotions are coursing through my veins, making me wobble and sway. But I stand my ground and brace myself for whatever I’m getting myself into. ‘Cause god knows what is behind that door.

I’m greeted with a bright golden like light and a gush of warm air rushes into my face. The warm feeling of the room makes me sleepy, almost like the entire place is filled with little light feathers, hugging me from every direction. The room color itself is plain while I look around and spot a stain on the wall, near the corner. It is large, about the size of a tennis ball, and it is a light pinkish color. That’s awkward in a room like this having a bold stain like that. It makes me feel uncomfortable, the once floaty warm atmosphere of the room quickly turns sour and cold. The warm golden fluorescent lights start to dim and turn a cool gray color. Is this the test? I button up my jacket as the room starts to get colder.

“Welcome Subject 21-FDR to Stage 1, Test 1. The objective: figure out a way to get out of the room before the room temperature turns below 0° Celsius. You have forty minutes, and the tem169

perature in the room is 25° Celsius. You may begin now.”

I look all around me and start to get frantic. I know I can solve this problem, I just have to think outside the box. I take out my phone—it hasn’t really been useful for anything. The only thing that is working is the temperature monitor. I have to somehow heat up the room so that the temperature doesn’t get any lower.

I look around again. There has to be a way. Suddenly, an idea pops up in my head. I can burn something. I pat my head, then touch the ribbons holding my buns in place. I can burn them.

I untie them and tie them together, and wrap them around my shoes. I frantically search my bag and find my multi-purpose pen that my sister gave to me. It has everything, even a lighter. The small blue flame illuminates a tiny portion of the ever-dimming room. I hold my ribbons to the blue flame and wait for them to catch fire. I push the shoe to the center of the room and cover my mouth with my jacket, then look at the temperature monitor. It’s 20° Celsius. I hope they let me out soon. I sat down in the corner of the room near the big stain, and kept an eye on the monitor. I really do hope they get me out on time.

The smoke is starting to really affect me now.

The fire is raging. It has now engulfed the whole shoe, and the smoke keeps building up more and more. The room is 32° Celsius. It was a horrible idea to light a fire in a small room like this. I am counting on the people who put me here to allow me to go to the next stage before things get too much to handle.

I guess this is another reason why not to trust rich people. I slouch down the corner of the wall, and stare intently at the glowing red ball of raw heat energy.

I’m going to die here, aren’t I? I turn my face away from the fire and to the wall. I’m so tired, my head feels light headed and my body is weak. I really did this to myself. I can’t believe I intentionally killed myself. I chuckle at the thought. I’m really about to die because I lit a shoe on fire, and I slump lower until I’m almost completely on the floor.

Poor me. I close my eyes and go to sleep, letting the crackle of the fire and the smoke in the air engulf me, hoping when I wake 170

up, I’ll be somewhere better.

HOME BASE- TL90 “Good afternoon. Overlord Blorp, it seems like you cut the date again. 1 month.”

“Yes I have, I’m tired of waiting. I want to start now.”

“Oh. We tested the last person today, a woman, who almost died doing one of the tests.”

“Spare me the details, General. Are you ready?”

“Yes, completely.”

“Let the menacing COMMENCE!”

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THE NOT-SO-HAPPY PLACE Martinique

John

As the school bell rang for students to get out of school, I waited for my best friend Asia so that we could leave and walk around the neighborhood. As me and Asia were walking through the neighborhood park, where trees were swinging, the cool fall air was pushing against my face. I saw the new Apple Store that just got built overnight. Strange, I thought. The lines were as long as a Burmese Python.

I heard one of the workers shouting “New iPhone! New iPhone!”

I asked one of the people in the line, “Hey, what’s new this time with the iPhone?”

“Siri is different, the phone has five new cameras, and it comes in eight different colors,” they replied.

“Thank you,” I said as I walked home.

When I got home, this new iPhone was still in my head for some strange reason . . . ***** The next morning as I walked downstairs for breakfast, I heard the news on the living room TV playing loud.

“The new iPhone has gone haywire, turning everyone that has it into a brainless zombie.”

As I’m listening to it, my mother said to me, “You better not be going out there to get that crazy new iPhone.”

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“I’m not,” I said while eating the pancakes and bacon that my mother had made for me. After that good breakfast, I got dressed to go to Asia’s house to just bother her. When I got on the bus, I noticed that the people on the bus were really weird.

I paid it no mind though. When I arrived at Asia’s house, she was acting abnormal. She has these dark blue eyes with a weird pattern in them; it wasn’t like her regular light brown eyes that sparkled in the light. I went to open my mouth slightly to ask her if she had gotten new contacts for her cosplaying, until she got a text. I looked down at her phone and realized that she had got the new iPhone. Once I looked down at her phone, my head started to hurt and Asia had pulled the phone away.

Then, the strange headache went away, and as she turned off her phone, I asked her, “When did you get the new iPhone?”

“Last night, my mother went to the Apple Store to get it. Isn’t it pretty?” she said with a smile that almost reached her ears.

“Yeah sure,” I said awkwardly.

As the time was going by, Asia was still talking about her new iPhone and her eyes were still the dark blue color with the weird pattern. I was tired and was getting ready to leave, yet Asia continued to speak to me—begging me to buy the new iPhone. I said no, got my things, and left. While I was on the bus looking out the window, I was thinking about Asia’s eyes. It was so weird that her eyes changed like that. The next day, I went to FaceTime Asia to see if anything from yesterday changed. When I looked at her eyes, it was back to the normal light brown sparkly color.

As I was walking down the stairs, I heard the news again: “The insane person who made the new iPhones has been arrested and the iPhone Siri that was taking over people’s heads, has been shut down.”

“Wow,” I said with wide eyes, finally this whole crazy iPhone thing is over…

Until the news reporter put up a picture of the insane person who made the iPhone. IT WAS MY 9TH GRADE SCIENCE 174

TEACHER! He has always been kind of weird to me, but I never thought he would go this far into trying to take over the neighborhood. I was still on the phone with my best friend when I told her the guy who made the crazy iPhone was our 9th grade teacher.

Her eyes went so wide. “At least everything is over and back to normal . . .” she said.

Two days later, as I was walking down the street, I saw my 9th grade teacher. “WHAT THE HECK,” I said out loud. I walked towards him and gave him a big slap on his face.

“WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!” he yelled. “WHO EVEN ARE YOU?” “LEXI, YOUR 9TH GRADE STUDENT.” “I’m sorry, but I don’t know no Lexi,” he mumbled in pain.

“You must have mistaken me for my twin brother.”

Twin brother?! I thought.

“Mr. Green is your twin brother?” I asked.

“Yes, I know what he did was wrong but he needs mental help.

He didn’t mean to hurt people.”

I apologized and walked away.

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U N T I T L E D Robert

Kearney

“Hey, come back here. Kid, I need that sword back.”

I laugh while running away from security guards.

My name is Kyrin West and when I grow up, I will be the greatest swordsman in this wasteland.

“Damn this kid’s fast. But I’m faster—gotcha kid.’’

“Let go of me right now!” I said.

“You’re going back to your cell,” the security guard said.

As I get thrown back into my cell, I smell something and it’s not the “usual smell.” The wasteland usually smells like a forest with the hint of a dead water rat. But now, it smells like . . . gas.

Pungent gas.

“Everyone get back in your cells, this smell is The Paradox,” the security guards screamed.

Wait, is The Paradox true? I’ve heard stories about it when guards were conversing. It’s a deadly gas, and if you inhale it, it closes up your lungs. You struggle to breathe. We’ve been avoiding it for years but it’s finally caught up to us.

“Wait, Roy is still out there guys, let me out!” I scream.

“We can’t let anyone out when The Paradox is near, that’s protocol.”

I have to think of a plan and fast before Roy gets caught in The Paradox.

“I have to use the bathroom.”

“Kid, turn around—there’s a toilet behind you.”

Okay, I can admit that wasn’t one of my best ideas, but I had to try. Wait a minute. I think I’m skinny enough to slip through the bars. Before I try, I need something to distract the guards.

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I got it. I can throw the toilet paper and maybe that will work.

As I chuck it across the hall, they see it and chase after the “threat.” Now, I need to see if I can slip out of the bars and try to find Roy. Once I slip out, I’m calling out his name.

“Roy. Are you there?”

“Kyrin, is that you?” someone says.

I see him. This isn’t good. He’s on the floor bleeding and someone is standing behind him but I can’t make out who it is. Wait . . . I know who that is.

“Blade, get away from him right now or I will end you.”

“It’s funny how you think you can beat me,” Blade says.

Blade is my archnemesis; we both wanna be the greatest swordsman but he will do anything to get to the top. Blade, Leroy and I used to be the best of friends until Blade and I declared to be the greatest. But I never thought he would hurt Roy, his childhood friend.

“Blade, let me help Roy and then we can fight if that’s what you want.”

“Fine. You can try, but if he interferes, you and him both die.”

Thank god I carry a pouch with first aid stuff because if I didn’t, it would be the end for Roy. “Kyrin…don’t fight him, he’s too strong. You can’t beat him.”

“Thanks for believing in me, Roy. Anyway, you know I love being the underdog.”

After I’m done patching up Roy, I started to get ready for my fight with Blade. Wait, I just realized I don’t have a sword.

“Roy, do you have a sword on you?”

“Yea, you can borrow mine to fight Blade if you want.”

“Thanks. Alright, are you ready, Blade?”

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“Yes, my friend.” We have to hurry before The Paradox comes and hits us.

To be continued . . .

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THE SUPERHERO MEETS MR. BEAST Malaki

Lesser

“Mr. Beast! Here! Look over here! Nice!” scream the photographers. There is loud yelling, flashing camera lights and chaos.

It is honestly overwhelming but Mali’s best friend and agent said that Mr. Beast would be here and he shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to meet him. There is Mr. Beast, in his tall, sharp, black suit. There is NO WAY that he would notice me. Just LOOK at him, he’s a World Star YouTuber and I’m just a local superhero.

Man! What would I do to just get close to him?

Then it all changed. ***** There he is, Enzo McSpeed, Mali’s archnemesis. He taps the earpiece that connects him to Glumper, his best friend.

“Glumper, what’s Enzo doing here?”

“I don’t know, Mali. I thought he was in Brazil,” replies Glumper.

“Well, clearly not ’cause I am staring at him right now. Just keep an eye on him.”

Glumper tells Mali that Enzo McSpeed is about to do something weird. Mali sees that Enzo McSpeed is trying to go to Mr. Beast to attack, and tries to grab his arm so he won’t try to attack him.

Then, Enzo McSpeed gets away from Mali and goes to the top of a building in Manhattan waiting for Mali to come and get him.

So, Mali goes to find Enzo, and Enzo pops out to scare Mali, and Enzo and Mali fight on top of a sharp building. Enzo has Mali by his neck and Mali has Enzo by his arm trying to break his arm.

Then, Mali twists Enzo’s arm back and Enzo is in a lot of pain.

Glumper is in Mali’s earpiece.

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“Mali, are you okay?”

“Yes, I am Glumper, why do you ask?”

“Because I saw you were in a lot of pain.”

“My neck hurts, but I’m okay.”

“You need to go home and get some rest.”

“Okay thanks, I will.”

Mali takes an Uber back home, and then he sits on the couch in the living room, watches the news and sees Enzo McSpeed on the news running away from the cops.

Mali says, “I am very injured right now so I can’t really go after him until I am done healing. I am hunting him down because he tried to go after Mr. Beast two times.” ***** The next morning, Mali wakes up and looks at his phone. He got voicemails from Enzo McSpeed. He said, “Hey Mali, I’m in town about to destroy some stuff and then my plan is to try to get a hold of Mr. Beast. Well, see you soon Mali. Enzo is signing out.”

What am I going to do now? Enzo is trying to take over and try to kill/attack Mr. Beast again. I really have to stop him this time. He is not going to get away with this again because he is going to face the things that are about to come after him.

Later that day, Mali and Enzo McSpeed run into each other and they both look very angry, so Mali sneaks up behind Enzo and puts him into a headlock. Enzo is trying to get himself out of the head lock and after a few minutes, he finally does, jumps into the air and then strikes at Mali. Mali blocks the hit so it wouldn’t knock him out. The entire city is watching them fight, and they are cheering for Mali and hoping for Enzo to get beat up. Then, the big person shows up—Mali’s favorite person. Mr. Beast was in shock to see Mali and Enzo McSpeed fighting, and Mr. Beast saw that Mali was a superhero and he was trying to save the city from getting destroyed by Enzo McSpeed. So, Mr. Beast was voting for Mali to win and then everyone else was 182

starting to root for Mali because they know that Mali is going to protect them and the city. Then Mali calls for Glumper to watch and see what’s going on, so Glumper watches Mali’s fighting movements.

Then, Glumper says to Mali, “Mali, be careful because Enzo has the power to launch you off the building.”

“Don’t worry about it, I can use my slide kick move. I can slide under him and hit his power point so he will be in so much pain.”

“Well, just be careful out there because Enzo is very dangerous.

Just keep an eye out for his movements.”

“Well, thanks for all of that information about his moves and skills.”

“No problem, that is what a sidekick is for!”

“Oh before I forget to tell you, I hope you get to talk to Mr. Beast.”

“I will try my best.”

So, Mali and Enzo keep fighting and then something happens to Enzo’s suit. His suit is shutting down because there were too many hits on his suit and his suit power was very low, so he didn’t have the strength to fight Mali again. He lets Mali save the day. Mali brings Enzo down from the tower and Mr. Beast sees Mali. He can’t believe his eyes. Mr. Beast talks to him.

Mali says that he’s the biggest Mr. Beast fan in the world and Mr. Beast says, “Wow, it’s amazing that you saved the city. I am shocked!”

“Thanks, I was really shocked to see you. You are my favorite person.”

“Well, thank you. Since you saved the city, how about you come with me to LA to my house for dinner and we can chill? Are you down for it?”

“Of course!”

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“I gotta get going. Wanna take the ride with me?”

“If you don’t mind, then I will!”

“Okay, great, we are going to LA now.”

“Okay, let’s go, but what about Enzo?”

“He is with the cops.”

So Mr. Beast and Mali are in Los Angeles, California, and they are having a lot of fun because Mr. Beast has a $24 million house, and the house and the backyard are huge. Mali is speechless; he doesn’t know what to say.

“How can you even afford this?”

“You know Mali, I’ve been doing a lot of weird videos, and I get millions of views on all of them.”

“I know that, but how much money do you make off of one video?”

“To be honest, I make around $500 thousand off of each video” “Wow, that is a lot of money. Just off of YouTube videos… but you’re very famous, so I can understand.”

“But I still think that your videos are very funny.”

“Thanks, I love all of my fans.”

“If I was you, I would do the same thing too.”

“Well, I hope you save more lives and more cities.”

“I will, and continue what you’re doing.”

“It was a fun and crazy adventure with you Mr. Beast.”

“Alright, see you soon. Hope you enjoy your day.”

“Okay, I will. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

THE END 184

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U N T I T L E D Jeffrey

Melo

The morning of January 22, 2007: A meteor from another galaxy somehow made its way past Earth’s atmosphere and crashed into Earth, specifically Sunset Park. However, it wasn’t just a meteor that crashed that night, kind of like the symbiote from Spiderman 3. Alongside the meteor came a pod. The pod, very small and round enough to fit in your pocket, contained a hazardous substance, and this hazardous substance was in desperate need of a host. And for nearly two decades, many have desperately tried their hardest and invested billions of dollars of resources to find it. Meanwhile, this strange unique substance had already found a host within a fifteen-year-old boy. This boy was just an ordinary kid in Arcadia living in Dookieville. His name was Osa Bartholomew James III. Osa always fantasized about becoming a hero of his own after watching his best friend die to gun violence, to avenge her legacy. After fourteen years of development, the hazardous substance began giving Osa special abilities. On Osa’s 14th birthday, he was at a party in Hep Stuy. On his way home, through the dirty streets and dim lights, he was approached by a local gang, known as The 21st Whales. They were dressed in all black designer clothing, with baby blue flags hanging out of their pockets. As they slowly creeped up on Osa, you could hear their heels stomping on the pavement—slowly and slowly getting closer. Although Osa wasn’t gang affiliated, he was a stranger in a different town, and no one knew him . . . so they jumped him.

Osa tried his best to fight back but there were way too many of them.

“Fight back, coward!” one of them said while stomping on Osa’s face.

Suddenly, a weird mysterious blob fell on Osa’s face. It was a small, black slime-like substance, and as soon as it fell on Osa’s face the ground started shaking violently and after a few sec187

onds his senses went up by like 10 thousand. He got up and was able to throw everyone down the dim street.

“What’s wrong with me?!” Osa said while looking down at his hands.

This was the day Osa knew he was special, and from that day on he swore to himself to help others in need. He called himself Xozy (pronounced co-z) and he became a small town hero. Osa went around in a black ski mask, sunglasses, and an all-black Nike tech suit to stop crime. He was unique, and had a good heart, which made him the perfect hero. However, his identity was a secret, and while Xozy was a household name, Osa was a nobody living in Ded Heights, Arcadia.

“N-ii-ninety eight, ninety nin-ne, one hundred-d-d. Oh my god, I feel like I’m about to die Jeffrey, I cannot feel my arms.”

“Osa, you’re dragging it. You deadass only did 100 push-ups while I did 100 with one arm.”

“Now, who told you to do all that, and why would you do all that?” Osa said while catching his breath.

“I’m just nice like that,” Jeffrey said with a smirk.

As they were heading toward their next class, a giant machine that looked like a big Gorilla, powered by a woman inside, came crashing down on the school campus—landing directly next to Osa. Unfortunately, it landed on Jeffrey.

“Bring me this Zozey and I’ll let you guys live!”

Little did she know . . .

To be continued . . .

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189

Artwork 190

by

Schnieder

Milien

D I S T A N T APOC ALYPSE Schnieder

Milien

It has been well over one hundred years since the great expansion began. The universe expanded greatly, bringing new elements and letting off cosmic energy throughout the universe like wildfire. Earth was devastated by earthquakes, tsunamis as big as skyscrapers were destroying cities, forest fires leaving nature and habitats of wild animals in ashes. At the end of it, humanity’s population was cut in half, leaving the earth in total devastation. But that’s not all that Earth received from the great expansion. There were seven special people who arose with power unimaginable and beyond any human comprehension and abilities, abilities that helped rebuild humanity in just a mere century. Those seven special people are now long gone but their descendants still live on, carrying their powers and mighty abilities in the new world of Earth, where anything is possible.

Before they were long gone, the seven unnamed special people prophesied that in one hundred years, there would be a great threat that would come to Earth and attempt to wipe out the human race, and that there would be someone special born that would save humanity from impending doom.

Professor Jack Smith is the chief director of the operation that researches the prophecy and hopes to find the chosen one. Dr. Smith only has one son, Antony, who isn’t your typical highschooler. He is peculiar, his dad is always at work, and that causes him to have little-to-no connection with his father.

To be continued . . .

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WHAT HAPPENED TO SILVER CITY Leshaun

Miller

In Silver City, there are people who are caring and friendly, but on the other hand, there is another world that is exactly the same as ours. We call that world the Un-Silver. The reason why is because their world is the exact same, but the people are not; they are nasty, stinky, and unhappy. The reason why is because they have this evil emperor named The Hunter. He’s powerful— he killed half of our knights, but thank god Dr. Gold was there to stop him. But why are they so nasty and stinky? The reason why he wants them to be like this is because they are garbage to him, he doesn’t see them as people he sees them as garbage.

Another reason is because they are scared of him and his powers so they have to obey his every word. If you don’t, he will evaporate you! But, let’s stop talking about them. We should be talking about Dr. Gold, our hero. He’s a knight, the most powerful knight there is. His powers are that he can travel through time, stop it with his sword, and, last but not least, he has super strength. Oh, and I almost forgot—his sidekick, Firebird. He got his name from flying in the war casting spells and throwing fire at people using his sword; he’s also indestructible.

Now, the reason I know everything is because my dad is Dr. Gold and my brother is Firebird. They told me stories about the war when he was a baby and also how Hunter was my dad’s brother who betrayed him. He told me, “Hunter wanted to become the Emperor of Silver City,” but he couldn’t because my dad was the oldest son so he would be crowned emperor. ***** So now, my brother and I were on our way to the family ritual to see what kind of powers I was going to receive. When we got to the place, it was so beautiful, like flowers blooming. It also had 193

an enormous energy of power; everything inside was moving like it had zero gravity. I started working forward. When I saw my dad and my brother in their armor waiting for me, I was so excited to finally get my powers after eighteen years.

So I asked them, “W-What happens now?”

They said, “Hold your hand out.” I was so confused about why, but I did it. Anyway, my dad poked with a pin and blood started dripping out like how water drips from a pipe when you don’t close it all the way. My brother blew a horn for the wizard to come drink my blood, to predict what powers I’ll be going to have. But they never told me that if I don’t get any powers they would disown me and make me become a worker at the village, with the villagers. But I never asked to be in this family. I had to, since my mom died from giving birth to me.

Now, let’s see what I’m going to have . . . The wizard drank the blood and the floor began to shake. Windows burst everywhere—I was so freaked out.

The wizard said, “Now, it’s time!” We all looked at each other and then looked into the witch’s eyes to see what powers I was going to have. BOOM! It was a loud lightning strike in the middle of . . . another war happening . . . wait. There’s a person in the lightning. I’m trying to see who, but I can’t.

The wizard told me he couldn’t hold it anymore. So we left his eyes, then we went outside; my dad and my brother felt someone’s presence and they told me to get behind them. All of a sudden, a sword came out of nowhere and pierced through my brother’s heart. Me and my dad were in shock when he got stabbed. Why? Because he spit out blood from his mouth and he had blood coming from his chest that we never would dream of.

My dad took out his sword and flew in the air to see where the guy who threw the sword at my brother was. I found him in the bushes hiding.

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I yelled, “Dad, Dad, Dad—I found him.”

My dad asked, “Who sent you to kill my son, who?!”

The man said, “Lord Hunter did.” He squeezed the man’s neck and snapped it.

We rushed to check on my brother. He was bleeding severely, so I picked my brother up and we rushed to the local clinic.

“Help!” we screamed.

A nurse turned her head. She saw me holding my brother, who was unconscious.

“Please, please save him,” my father said.

As the tears rushed down our faces, we watched the nurse wheel my brother through the double doors, hoping that he would make it out alive. We waited what seemed like eight to twelve hours for them to come back with an update. The nurse came back out of the operating room and told me and my father that my brother didn’t make it. We both burst out crying.

My dad’s aura became so vengeful that the whole village started shaking like an earthquake. I followed him to the captain’s tower where all the knights discussed their plans. I looked around the room and I saw the three commanders and their army. We discussed how we are going to attack the Un-Sliver. ***** The next day, I woke up and out of nowhere my village was getting attacked and burned down. My father wasn’t there. He left to the Un-Sliver with his fellow commanders. So, I calmly helped people get to safety but I didn’t have the power to fight back. I ran to safety, but I heard a little girl crying in the burning house. I went back to rescue her and got stabbed by a mutated man that was a fat pig, stepped on by a mutated manhorse, and still tried to crawl my way to save her. The look on her face was so sad that I had to do something. I got up and 195

started limping to her to try and pick her up but no matter how hard, they knocked me down. I still got up to try and get her, until I got the urge to let go of all my anger and punish them. I got so mad that I turned into a big wolf and bit their heads off.

I asked someone to teleport me to the Un-Sliver and an old man said he could. He made a door and pushed me through it. Now, here I am in the Un-Sliver where everything is ugly and stinky now.

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SHADOWGIRL Johanna

Molina

Back then, a little incident happened, but not just any incident.

An incident that impacted my whole school personally. It was October 28, 2004, and I just got home after a long day of school.

My best friend Josie, who’s a witch just like me, came over to my house after school to practice some spells with me for history class. Our assignment was to do a spell that shows our family tree and present it in class together. After an hour of practicing and almost perfecting the spell, we decided to take a break.

Then out of nowhere, Beth, the girl who used to be my best friend in middle school and is now a part of the popular mean girls squad sent me an invitation to a party that she’s hosting tomorrow night at her house.

So, I look at Josie while we’re in the kitchen getting some snacks and ask her, “Did Beth just send you an invitation to her party?”

She looks at me confused and tells me, “Hold on, let me check my phone . . .” She walks towards her phone that’s on the kitchen counter and looks back at me in shock saying, “Is this a joke?”

“What?”

She says, “Beth literally just invited me to her party tomorrow night as well.”

I walk toward the fridge and take a bottle of water out and ask her, “Should we go?”

She slowly looks at me and yells, “Hell yeah!”

I let out a low chuckle saying, “But don’t you think it’s a little suspicious that she’s inviting us? I mean, what if she’s planning something?”

Josie walks to the sink to wash her hands and pauses to say, “Then we get our revenge.” We slowly look at each other and

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laugh, taking our snacks upstairs into my room.

Next day, I woke up feeling good. I took my morning shower and decided to wear a black long sleeve crop top with black skinny jeans and black Crocs. It was a Friday, so I didn’t put much effort into my ’fit, nor my makeup, as you can tell because all I did was put on mascara and lipgloss. It’s now 9:00 AM and I’m in the kitchen eating cereal. When I was done, I got my bookbag and drove to Starbucks real quick ’cause school starts at 9:30 AM. I got my drink and walked in school to my locker and saw Josie. She ran up to me all excited like she had something to tell me.

I looked at her with this smile and said “What?”

She said, “We got a new girl and she’s in the principal’s office right now.”

Then, I opened my locker and said, “Oh, well, what is she?”

Josie pauses and says, “Well, I don’t know, I haven’t seen her yet—” Then out of nowhere, I hear everyone making loud noises and making room in the hallway for someone I knew and someone I didn’t know, Bri (Beth’s little sister) and some other girl I have never seen before. My guess is that she’s the new girl. What was weird though . . . is that she’s half robot. We only have like four of those in our school, she would be the fifth, but what made me so interested in her is that she’s walking next to Bri, with an evil smirk, meaning they must be up to something and I wanna figure it out.

After a long, boring day at school, Josie came over to my house today because she wanted to help me get ready for the party Beth invited us to tonight. My mother Nessa and my little sister Jenny barged into my room saying, “You really didn’t ask us for help!” in sync.

I rolled my eyes, saying, “No, you guys always put together the most embarrassing outfits for me. Never again.”

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Jenny jumps on the bed saying, “Well, can I watch you guys pick out an outfit?”

I let out a little giggle and said, “Yeah, of course.”

My mother then says, “Well, have fun at the party and don’t come back late!”

Josie says, “She won’t!”

After I picked out something to wear to the party, which was a short black dress and my Vans, I left. Me and Josie got to the party and saw a room filled with basically our whole school.

All the witches, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, fairies, etc. Of course, as soon as we get there, the first person I bump into is Noah, Bri’s ex. I had this crush on him in middle school and then to my surprise last year (10th grade), a rumor started saying me and him slept together. That made Bri break up with him because she was so gullible that she believed those rumors and hated my guts ever since. As for me, I didn’t really care how she felt about me—he looked at me like he wanted to say something but I didn’t give him the chance to. I just walked away to the table for some punch with Josie running behind me.

She looks at me and says, “Hey, don’t worry about him, let’s just go and dance,” smiling at me.

I look at her and say, “You know what, you’re right.”

We danced for a little but then I saw Bri and the new girl, whose name I found out is Lina. They walk in together, look at me and all around me, just for them to walk out five minutes later into this room. So, me being me, I follow them. God, I’m so stupid for doing that.

So, I follow them into the room and see this big timer that has five minutes left in it, so then I think to myself, in five minutes it’s going to be 12:00 AM, so clearly they’re planning something dramatic.

While I’m peeking inside the room, I can hear Bri ask Lina, “Is the plan all set?”

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Lina giggles and says, “Well, obviously. They’re going to wish they were never born.”

Bri looks at her satisfied as if she was a baby who had just gotten a big lollipop. Then, I suddenly see Lina put this chip in her eye and she’s sending a message to everyone about something.

I moved closer to try and see, and I fell. Of course I fell. With my luck, this was bound to happen.

I quickly looked up to see Bri look at me and say to Lina, “That little witch was spying on us!” and I quickly got up and ran to the living room.

Panicking, I bumped into Beth, asking her, “What are you guys up to?”

She looks at me confused, saying, “Summer, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I looked at her and said, “Yeah okay, I gotta go. I only have one minute to stop whatever you’re up to—” When I walk away, suddenly everyone has gotten a notification on their phone that says, “Look at the TV.” We all look and see a whole bunch of videos of everyone getting exposed. Everyone’s deepest darkest secrets. And then . . . I suddenly see myself in it. It was a video of me in the club kissing a guy that was like ten years older than me. The only person who knows about that is Josie. This is sick. Everyone’s getting exposed right now and suffering. Suddenly, everything got chaotic. Some people were fighting other people, others were crying, and others left. I was going to leave but right before I left, I saw something at the end of the video presentation of exposed people. It said, “You’ll see more of me, so stay tuned everyone! Xoxo, Shadowgirl.” I look away trying to find Josie, but then Noah grabbed me and we ended up in the bathroom.

I pushed him away from me, saying, “Noah…I gotta go.”

Taking a step away from him, he grabbed my arm saying, “Summer, please hear what I gotta say.”

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Then, I turned to face him and saw his beautiful face look at me like he’s hurt. Noah let go of my arm and put his hands on my face, looking deep into my brown eyes and said, “I miss you.”

I stare into his deep blue eyes, saying “You miss what? The friendship we had in middle school?”

He takes a deep breath. “Well, of course, I just miss you in general.”

He takes a step closer and I look at him saying, “Noah, I can’t do this right now. Do you realize what just happened out there?

Most of the people in our school had their privacy invaded and got put out there. I don’t think this person is going to stop . . . unless someone stops them.” I take his hands off my face and take a step back.

He leaned on the sink. “I know, I do realize what’s happening because I could be next, or Josie, or Beth.”

I cut him off, saying, “Let’s not mention Beth.”

He sighs. “When are you two ever going to talk and become friends again?”

I let out a little laugh. “Whenever she stops acting fake and mean.” I look at my leg and see I have a bruise. I must’ve gotten it when I fell. “Oh my gosh bro,” I said. Noah looks at me and then my leg, having this concerned look.

Then he goes and bends down with his back facing me and says, “Get on, I’m not letting you walk home alone.”

I stood there frustrated, telling him, “I’m not walking home, Josie drove me here.”

He stayed silent for like five seconds and said, “Well, where is she? Because she’s not here and as I recall I saw her leave the house when everyone else was leaving.”

I just look around almost speechless and say, “Fine. You win.”

Getting on his back, he stands up and walks out of the bathroom where there are still people fighting. Making his way out

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of the house, he walks toward this black Jeep, opening the door and placing me in the passenger seat. Then, he walks around the car to the driver seat and gets in. During the drive, it was silent for like eight minutes.

I decided to break the silence and say, “I think I know who did this.”

Noah says, “Really? Who?” I look out the window and say, “Bri.” Noah stopped at a red light and looked at me. “How would you know that?”

I look at him and then to my leg. “Well, the whole reason I got this bruise is while finding out.”

“Again, how would you know? What did you see?” I take a deep breath.

“I saw her and Lina in the room talking about a plan that was going to happen in five minutes. It was 11:55 when they said that, and most of the school got exposed in exactly five minutes.

Sounds pretty suspicious to me.”

He parks in front of my house and looks at me just to tell me, “You’re right, it does sound suspicious, I’ll help you in any way I can. I promise.”

I smile at him. “See you Monday.”

Leaving the car, I walk into my house thinking about everything that happened tonight and what school will be like on Monday. I take a cold shower and head to bed.

After a long weekend home, it was finally Monday. I got up and did my morning routine. I put on a white long sleeve crop top with gray sweatpants and my Air Forces. I put half of my hair up and the rest down and decided to put on my fake lashes with lipgloss. I went downstairs and saw that my mom made pancakes with eggs and bacon. I suddenly felt so happy because my mom knows that’s my favorite. After breakfast, I ran out of the 204

house because it was 9:25 AM, and I live ten minutes away from school. When I got to school, I didn’t see anyone in the hallway but I did see posters that said, “Go to the auditorium.” I thought to myself, how weird is it to be in the auditorium first thing today?

While I was on my way there, I suddenly saw Beth stand in front of me, looking like she was going to confess something to me.

I stood there and looked at her. “What do you want?”

She says with a low voice, “I’m sorry.”

I said, “What?” Stunned by what she just told me, She said, “I’m sorry, I know we haven’t talked and that our friendship ended because of me and my obsession with wanting to be popular and then leaving you because of it. I’m sorry for it all and I really, really miss you.”

A flash of sadness was showing on my face and I took a step closer, saying, “Do you mean it?”

Desperately looking at her, she takes a step closer and says, “Of course.”

I suddenly found myself hugging her and crying. She hugged me back. “I love you.”

I smiled. “I love you.”

We hugged for a good minute and let go of each other. I took her hand and we walked inside the auditorium and saw everyone sitting. Then, I looked up to see a video on the projector of . . . Beth. She looked like she was about to cry but I just grabbed her hand tighter, which made her calm down a little as we were watching. It was a video saying that she’s transgender and there were a bunch of pictures of her when she was a boy. The whole school started laughing and then gossiping and being transphobic—as if most of them weren’t exposed last Friday. That made Beth cry and run out. I tried to run after her but she was already gone. Then, I see Bri and pull her arm and drag her out of the auditorium.

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She aggressively moves her arm out of my hand and says, “What’s your problem?”

I quickly said, “You . . . you’re my problem.”

She looks at me annoyed. “Seriously, after everything you put me through, I’M your problem?”

I looked at her like she was delusional. “I put you through nothing and if you’re talking about the rumors that—” She cuts me off. “They weren’t rumors.”

I look at her and laugh. “Well, clearly you’re still delusional.”

She rolls her eyes. “Whatever.”

Taking a step away from me, I grab her arm. “Who said I was done talking to you?”

She stops, saying, “What do you want?!”

I tell her, “For you to stop all of this.”

Now she’s the one looking at me confused. “Stop what?”

I let go of her arm. “Stop playing dumb. All of this. I know you’re the one who’s exposing people.”

She takes a step back. “And what makes you think it’s me? I mean, I’m happy you think I’m clever enough to do this but—” I cut her off. “Wait, how is it not you? I literally saw you in the room that day. How could you explain that?”

She looks at me like she was guilty and tells me, “I’m not going to lie, I was the one who sent out the videos on the night of the party because me and Shadowgirl made a deal.”

I look at her curiously. “What deal?”

She sighs and says, “The deal was for me to upload all of those videos in exchange for Beth’s life. I needed to upload it somehow so I got Lina to do it for me. I had to pay her a thousand dollars just for her to do it.”

I looked at her in shock. “So you’re telling me if you didn’t up206

load those videos then Beth was going to die?”

She turns around with her back facing me and says, “Well duh, I just told you that, but what I didn’t know was that she was going to expose Beth today.”

She walked away before I could even say anything. I walked out of school to get out because I couldn’t handle all of this. Once I was out, I saw Noah out too. I suddenly felt happy and ran to hug him. He hugs me back.

“Bad day?”

I chuckle. “You have no idea.”

He says, “Wanna go somewhere?” I looked up to see his beautiful eyes and said “Yeah …”

After hanging out with Noah for a few hours, I went home, got in bed and took a five hour nap. I woke up feeling good and went downstairs to get a bottle of water. I went to the living room and decided to text Beth to check up on her after what just happened today. She didn’t reply to me so then I went on Instagram. While I was on Insta, I went to see if Beth posted anything recently and the only recent thing she posted was from a week ago. I opened the comments only to see people write “R.I.P.” I thought it was all just a joke so I texted her saying, “Bro, there’s people commenting R.I.P. on your post.” I was waiting for a response and ended up falling asleep on the couch. I woke up with a blanket over me. I’m guessing my lovely mother did that. I walked upstairs to brush my teeth and use the bathroom, when I was done I went back down to eat cereal, like always. I turn on the TV to see the news and all I see is Beth on the screen and them saying she’s dead. It all felt so unreal. I quickly grabbed my phone to call her, but she didn’t answer. I left my house to go to hers.

Once I got there, her place was surrounded with cops and the news people. I made my way inside and saw Mrs. Forbes crying over her daughter’s death.

She looks at me and makes her way toward me to hug me and 207

says, “Summer . . . she staked herself . . . Why would she commit suicide?”

I started crying thinking to myself how she wasn’t killed . . . she committed suicide. This sudden feeling of anger came over me, and it’s all because of Shadowgirl. I left her house after an hour of comforting Mrs. Forbes and texted Josie about the news.

After texting her, I saw Bri out in front of her house and I go up to her saying, “Who do you think could be Shadowgirl?”

She looks at me with these puffy red eyes that were caused from crying and says, “I don’t know but . . . I’m getting real tired of her. She drove Beth to kill herself with a stake so I decided to ask her to meet up with me and she said yeah.” I look at her with a smirk. “For once, you could do something right. So what’s the plan?”

She smirks back. “I’m gonna plant a small camera on me and record her, make multiple copies of the video and show one to the police and the other to the principal. Once they see her identity, they’ll arrest her.”

I laughed a little. “You evil little genius.”

She moved her hand toward me and said, “So it’s a plan?”

I put out my hand to shake. “It’s a plan.”

The next day, I didn’t go to school. It was the day where Bri was gonna meet up with Shadowgirl, and I planned on coming along just to spy and because Bri asked me, too, in case something happened to her or the footage. I wasted my hours by catching up on some homework when I was done. It was almost 7:30 PM, and the meet was at 9:00 PM, so I took a hot shower and got ready with just black shorts and a white oversized t-shirt and my converse. I called Josie over because I think the backup should have a backup, and plus she’s my best friend. The place where Bri is meeting Shadowgirl is in a park that’s eight minutes from my house by foot, so I decided to walk there. I made Josie go first while I was trying to find my phone. Two minutes later, I found it and rushed out of the house only to find Noah 208

out.

I look at him confused. “What are you doing here?”

He looked at me worried and then it started to rain hard and he said, “Josie told me about your plan and I don’t think you should do this.” I walk into the rain away from him and he follows behind me. “Summer please . . . you don’t know what she’s capable of.”

I turned around saying, “I don’t care, she literally took Beth away from us. I won’t stop until she’s gone.”

Turning back around and walking in the rain, I try to make my way to the park, mad. He catches up and grabs my arm again, pulling me into a kiss. A long, passionate kiss. I kiss him back and we’re like this for like thirty seconds, then we let go and he looks at me and says, “Be careful, okay? Please.”

I told him, “I promise I’ll try to be careful.” Walking away, a few minutes later, I got to the park.

When I got there, I immediately saw Josie. She signaled me to quickly go to her. While I was, I turned on my camera to record everything.

Josie looked at me saying, “You won’t believe who Shadowgirl is!”

I look at her worriedly saying “Who is it?!”

She grabs my shoulder and all I see is Bri with . . . Lina? I rolled my eyes and Josie said, “HELLO WE JUST FOUND OUT THE NEW GIRL IS SHADOWGIRL AND YOU’RE NOT SURPRISED. Okay, what am I missing here?!”

Yeah, um, I totally forgot to tell Josie about what I saw at the party so I told her everything and she looked at me with her jaw dropped. “You didn’t think to tell me, your own best friend?!”

I move to see Bri talking to Lina still and while looking at them I told her, “Well, with everything that has happened, I forgot about it.”

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Josie calms down a little. “Okay, we know she did it but what we don’t know or get is what her reason was for all this.’’

Before I could agree, I saw Lina pull out a stake to try and kill Bri. Using my powers, I made Bri turn invisible and lit up the stake on fire until there was nothing. I told Josie to call the cops and she did. While she did that, I took the spell off of Bri and put a spell on Lina that made her freeze and not able to move at all.

Walking up to her, I hear her chuckle. “Of course she didn’t come alone.”

I look at her with anger. “Why are you doing all of this?! You’re the new girl!”

She looks at me. “This. This is the exact reason I’m doing all of this.”

Confused, I said, “What?”

She said, “You really don’t remember me, do you?” I’m standing there not saying anything and she decides to continue. “Well, I’m sorry to break it to you guys but I’m not new. Actually, I have been going to this school since ninth grade and then half of tenth but then I left and came back now.”

I look at her still confused. “I still don’t know who you are and why you’re doing this so get to the point.”

She laughs. “Of course you don’t. I always felt like a shadow in school. Well, my name is Lina Parker and I’m the girl who had most classes with you and was bullied by Beth and her friends.

You just watched from afar not doing anything to help.”

I suddenly remembered her. Shocked, I said, “Wait, you’re Cowgirl?”

She laughs again. “So that’s what you remember me by? Did you enjoy watching those girls make fun of me for being overweight back then?”

I start to tear up because I remember how they used to treat her so poorly in front of the whole school and how much I wanted 210

to help her. I hear the cops pull up and I took the spell off of her so they can arrest her. I hugged both Bri and Josie crying. After that, they both walked me home. When I got home, I took a shower and went to bed exhausted.

I didn’t go to school for the rest of the week because I didn’t have the energy to go, but the next week, I was forced by Josie to go. She also told me she had some exciting news for me, so I got up and did my usual morning routine. After I was done, I put on black sweatpants with a white crop top hoodie and my white Air Forces. After that, I put on mascara with lipgloss and left my hair out. I decided not to have breakfast today and to just have a bottle of water. When I walked in school I saw Beth’s locker filled with candles and flowers. I couldn’t do anything but laugh because not so long ago they were judging her for being trans.

Lost in thought, Josie hugs me all happy and says, “I’m glad you’re here.”

I smiled at her and we went to my locker. She told me, “I have some news but I’ll tell you at lunch.”

I nod. “Alright.”

Suddenly, I see Noah come up to us and tell Josie, “You finally got her to come.”

She laughs. “Duh, anyways, I gotta go to my locker, see you later.”

Noah hugs me and says, “I missed you.”

I got butterflies and said, “Oh really?”

He said, “Of course,” and kissed me. I felt happy then. ***** A month later . . .

Lina was in court and was found guilty, especially with the evidence we had. Me and Noah started dating, finally, and oh the news: Josie had to tell me last month that her and Bri were 211

going on a date—and now they’re also dating. Life was starting to become good again, but then today I was in the hallway with Noah when we all got a notification on our phone from someone that said, “Did you really think that you could get rid of me, and that Lina was working alone? Well, if you did, then you thought wrong because I’m back. ;) Xoxo, Shadowgirl.”

Me and Noah both looked at each other. “Not again!”

THE END

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STORY TIME Mohamed

Mosed

It was a cold day in New York: October 3, 2050. There was a man named Moe. He was a smooth man; everybody liked him. But Moe kept hearing babies crying: wah, wah, wah. He kept seeing cats with chicken heads, and the air tasted like tacos, and it tasted like enchiladas. Moe felt like oil but said, “I am still smooth, I know a good-looking anonymous girl in New York.

Her name was Lily. She lives on New Lots Avenue, but she has strict parents and they don’t let her go anywhere.”

“I was a robot,’’ said Moe. Moe got his powers when he was electrocuted on Death Row. He murdered his own mother because he was influenced by video games. Now, he can kill anything he looks at with his eyes. He looked at Lily and she didn’t get destroyed. That was a weird thing to happen, but he was impressed. He can talk to only one person that he can’t destroy.

He was angry and mad because he thought he lost his powers.

He discovers Lily, he loves Lily. He loves that he can’t destroy someone he loved, so they started talking but she started seeing what his powers can do. She was, at first, scared, and then she got used to it. One day, they had an argument and Moe’s powers came out and he started destroying things—like some people in my class.

But, let’s go back to the story: so then she was scared and started crying. Moe started running ’cause his evil powers were back. The next day, he saw her and killed her with his own eyes.

For a moment, all he could hear was the sounds of the wind going wheeewwwww against his body. He collapsed on the dirty concrete floor.

His last words were, “It’s windy.”

The end.

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Artwork 216

by

Marsy

Orellana

THERE’S NO TIME Marsy

Orellana

Rose lived in New York City, the year 2022. Many people running, rushing to get on the bus, the smell of food and flowers fills Central Park, some people are cooking and laughing, they seem happy, and that’s where Rose met Steve. Throughout medical school at Mount Sinai, Rose and Steve had gotten close with each other. It got to a point where it seemed as if they liked each other, but for Rose it was nothing like that. For Steve, he thought it was more than being friends. Steve even let Rose meet some of his friends, but Rose, she didn’t see a relationship with Steve.

Rose had a close friend who was very important to her, Lily.

Rose expressed her feelings about Steve to Lily. However, things began to fall apart as Rose, Lily, and Steve began to have conflicts with one another. Even though Rose seemed less focused on him, Steve had a plan for how he would approach Rose.

She’d do everything she could to avoid making him feel unworthy.

Mr. Mark was a doctor at the medical school where they both worked, and he loved being friendly. He would help out many people and try to be there for them. Rose looked up to Mr. Mark because of all the things he would do, and she was amazed by everything he said. Steve noticed Mr. Mark helped out Rose every time. Steve was totally in love with Rose, and seeing how she was interested in Mr. Mark’s work, he decided to take notes. Steve always wanted things to go his way because he believed he was right, and he wanted to be the best he could be.

Steve was debating whether or not to ask Rose out on a date the next morning. Despite his fear of what she would reply, he approached Rose and said, “Hey Rose, you look beautiful today!”

Rose was well aware of Steve’s intentions, but she kept reminding herself not to make him feel insignificant.

So she said, “Thank you,” and added, “You, too, look fantastic!”

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For a moment, Steve regarded Rose, collecting the courage to ask her.

“So, if you’re free this weekend, would you like to go out with me?”

Rose responded by saying, “Sure, pick me up at 2:30 PM tomorrow?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Steve answered.

Rose accepted even though she knew it would offer Steve some optimism. She felt it was past time to hand over the controls to someone else. Despite the fact that she just saw him as a friend, she knew he was different from everyone else.

The next day, Steve picked up Rose with a huge smile on his face, and they were both delighted.

Rose was anxious to see where he would take her, so Steve asked, “Where would you like to go?” Rose was excited to see where he would take her.

She was unsure, so she answered, “Hmm, I’m not sure.”

“The coffee shop, the one with a lot of flowers?” Steve asked.

Rose said, “I love flowers because they bring me joy and peace, and their scent is so amazing.” Steve was relieved to learn that Rose would like it if he brought her a flower.

Rose began to develop feelings for Steve, and he would buy her flowers, bring her food when she was hungry, and make sure she arrived home safely. Rose and Steve were both pleased with him.

After they had gotten to know each other, Steve asked Rose out, and she agreed.

After months of dating, Rose noticed how jealous he became anytime any other man came close to her, despite Steve’s assurances that he only wanted the best for her. Rose felt suffocated. Rose would try to explain to Steve how she felt about his jealousy, but he would not listen. So Rose put herself first and 218

said to Steve, “I’m tired of this: it’s time to break up. I’m tired of all the jealousy. I’m tired of you having to drive me home after our lessons are over. I’m tired of you. I’m tired of this.”

He said “NO!” with a strange expression on his face.

Rose put her hands on her chest and whispered, “I’m done,” with a scary expression on her face. “I’m ready now.” He let her go as she walked away . . .

She was no longer trapped by jealousy and manipulation. She was both terrified and excited at the same time because she knew she was doing it for herself, but on the other hand, she knew things would change. She understood that no matter what he did, she would always choose herself before anybody else.

Rose grew close to Mr. Mark after months of being apart and even went on dates with him. Steve, on the other hand, saw Mr. Mark and Rose together one night and wished he could go back in time and rectify things with Rose. He pondered it further as he closed his eyes, recalling the day he was enraged with Rose for being with a male buddy. And then, his head began to hurt, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Rose in front of him, describing how she felt about all of the jealousy and his attempts to control her; he remembered how it ended the last time she broke up with him due to his behavior. As a result, knowing he had the ability to travel through time, he decided to go back further and correct things.

When Steve opened his eyes, he noticed Rose was on her first date with Mr. Mark.

After Mr. Mark walked Rose home, Steve saw this as an opportunity to fix the relationship with Rose. “Hey Rose, I’m sorry for everything I put you through. I’m sorry for hurting you. All I ever wanted was to protect you and be there for you, always.”

Steve hoped he’d be able to mend things, but it didn’t work, because even if he wanted things to turn out like he wanted, at the end of everything, Rose had already made a decision to leave him. Steve was never able to change the way he made Rose feel, and everything remained the same. Steve would not have done 219

anything to help. Steve devised a scheme to give Mr. Mark a ride, hoping that Rose would forget about him and return to him.

When Rose learned of Steve’s activities, she decided that the best thing she could have done was to quit her relationship with Mr. Mark and remain single, for Mr. Mark’s and Steve’s benefit. Despite the fact that Steve was a jealous man, who was in charge of everything Rose did, every move she made, Rose would always find some type of love for Steve. Steve was a man she adored at one point.

Rose knew she’d have to pick between Steve and Mr. Mark at some point. As a result, she picked herself. She will always choose her own self.

She was proud of herself at the end of it all. She was relieved that things had come to an end, and she had the opportunity to learn and experience new things with them. She didn’t feel bad for leaving them. She felt happy and excited to go back and be able to love herself, even more.

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Artwork

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by

William

Perez

Jr.

PS5 MALFUNCTION William Perez Jr.

I was at home, playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales on my PS5, when all of a sudden my game glitched, and the PS5 started texting many people online that I was going to bomb the U.S. in 24 hours. It made an evil laugh and then shut off. I then started getting notifications through the PlayStation app that they were calling the cops.

“Oh my God, what is happening,” I said. I started seeing and hearing a cop car outside with sirens rushing toward where I live. “How do they know my address!” I said.

Then, three cops knock down my door, point a gun at my head, and say, “Where the bomb at?”

“I didn’t plant a bomb nowhere.”

“We know you did, so you are coming with us and going to jail.”

“WHAT! You have no proof of me doing that.”

They grab my arms, put them behind my back, and handcuff me. They put me inside the car and start driving to jail.

“Sir, please listen to me. I didn’t put a bomb nowhere. It was my PlayStation!” I shout and then explain what happened.

“Liar!”

“I’m not lying. I honestly think my PS5 got hacked.”

He sat quiet and continued driving. We reached the jail, and they put me in my cell. Little did they know, I could break out easily because I have powers, but I decided not to. I didn’t want to cause any other problems.

“What even is your name?” the cop asked.

“Young Will, but you can call me Will if you want.”

“Aight, so Will, is there anyone that you know that knows you have a PS5?”

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“Well, I have a friend named Taquavion that knows. He would always be talking about how I was lucky to get the PS5.”

“Is there any suspicious activity that happens to your PS5 that happens when he’s away or something?”

“When he’s at my house the PS5 works normally, but when he is away, it be glitching sometimes.”

“Hmm, okay. I’ll tell you what. I’ma take you out of jail, handcuff you, and you’re coming with us, but I need to know where he lives first.”

“Stanley Avenue.”

He takes me out of my cell, handcuffs me, and walks me to the car. He opens the door, and I go in the car, and he says to the other cops, “Ya can sit at the front, and one of ya drive, I’ll be in the back with Will.”

He then comes in the car and sits right next to me.

While we were driving in the car, he asked me, “So how long have you been knowing this friend?”

“Since kindergarten.”

“Do you trust him?”

“Yeah. He never did me wrong. He just started acting suspicious when I got the PS5.”

He sat quiet and was silent for the rest of the ride. We finally reached Stanley Ave., got out the car, and there was Taquavion staring dead in my eye right outside his apartment building.

“Hi, Young Will,” he said in a weird voice like something big was about a happen.

“Hi . . . What you doing?” I said, not really sure what was happening.

“I expected you to be here. Having fun playing on your PS5?” he said in a creepy and evil voice.

“Wha—” 224

“I thought so.” All of a sudden armor just starts forming over his body, except for his face, like it’s something you’ll see in a movie. “Like the suit?”

“What are you doing?!”

“Doing what I should have done when you first got your PS5!

You see this whole time I have been the one that been glitching your PS5 untill finally I hacked it and planted the bomb! It’s not right that you managed to get it while I got scammed multiple times!”

“Taquavion, LISTEN! It doesn’t have to go this way.”

He then flies slowly in the air. So I do too, with my custom made YW (Young Will) shirt made in blue.

“Shoulda warned me earlier.”

“Have it your way.”

I shoot my laser-beam eyes and collide with his unibeam, which shoots from his chest, causing a massive impact. I then rush into him making him collide into buildings and fall onto him on the ground. I start punching his face with blood splattering everywhere from his face until he unibeams me again, sending me high up in the air. His armor then forms over his face, and he starts to rush toward me. We collide, and he backs up.

I punch him. He dodges. He punches me. I dodge, and I punch him really hard on the side of his armor, sending him crashing into buildings, and causing his armor to break on the side. Me having blood on my hands after doing that punch, I fly super fast to him and kick him into outer space. I then fly real fast to get to him.

“Let’s stop this fight. I don’t want to kill you! We are killing innocent people on this earth.”

“So, WHAT?! They are just normal people. They don’t have this power like us. Look at you: laser eyes, flight, can’t die easily.

Now look at me: I might not have all that, but I can’t die easily, just like you. I just want you dead and everyone else in America.”

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“You won’t kill me.”

“Well, let’s see about that.”

I start dodging all of his shots and then shoot laser beams at his face, fly to him, and grab him. I shoot laser beams from my eyes aiming at his face for a few seconds straight until his mask starts to melt.

“Wait,” he tries to say. I go back down to earth real quick so he can talk. “I’m sorry, spare me.”

“Tell me where the bomb is.”

“It’s in Manhattan inside the Empire State building.”

He’s begging for me to spare his life. I let him go and start to fly to Manhattan, but then he betrays me and shoots me in my leg, which hurt a little.

“Sorry for this.”

I grab his body, throw him in the air, and laser-beam his face until the mask melts fully and the laser hits his face. He then falls down to the ground. I decide not to kill him but to put him near death instead. I fly to Manhattan super fast, go to the Empire State Building, and locate and defuse the bomb. With my body full of open wounds and blood, I decide to go home and rest.

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ANT BOY Jaylin

Rhodes

There was a boy named Anthony Bell, AKA Ant Boy. This isn’t one of those ordinary nicknames that you get from family or friends; he got this name from bullies, because of how short he was.

It’s Anthony’s first year of high school, and he’s extremely nervous, pacing back and forth throughout his home.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Anthony says to his mother.

“You’ll be fine, Anthony. Just think about how much fun this is going to be. You’re going to make plenty of friends, I know it!”

“I hope so . . .” Anthony replies as he’s walking out the door.

Honk! Honk!

“Well, there’s the bus.”

“Have a great day, Anthony. Mom loves you.”

Anthony smiles as he heads for the school bus. Almost forgetting about his worries, Anthony walks up to the bus still feeling a bit skeptical. However, he looks up at the sky and says internally, “I really hope today doesn’t turn out disastrous.” Anthony then puts his negative feelings aside and enters the bus.

On the ride to school, Anthony’s intentions were to isolate himself. Not conversing with the other high school students on the bus seemed like a good way to prevent embarrassment. He didn’t want anyone asking questions about his height. However, the constant thought of being questioned about his height raised his anxiety to a staggering level, resulting in him almost shedding a tear; he views his height as a mere embarrassment, and it makes him feel like an outcast every time he’s out in public. Anthony knows he can’t do that. He knows what will happen if he starts to cry … especially on a school bus filled with teenage kids who’d enjoy every-single-second of watching a miser229

able little kid sobbing because he’s a sad little shrimp.

And then it happened.

“Hey, kid. How old are you?” *chuckles* “You look like you’re supposed to be in elementary school.”

Anthony could tell by the tone of this guy’s voice that this wasn’t going to end well.

“I’m thirteen, “Anthony replied with his voice cracking.

“Oh—Okay.” *chuckles* “So, like, why are you so tiny? You’re about the size of my little sister, and she’s SIX! Hahahahaha.”

The entire back of the school bus erupted in laughter.

To be continued . . .

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B RO O K LY N ’ S POWER Savannah

Rodrigues

“I’m gonna get it one way or another.” Shiesty laughs as if he is on the verge of succeeding with his evil plan. Sheisty starts to set up the new and improved Telekinesis Machine 3000, specifically made for him to take Brooklyn’s power. Brooklyn starts to get worried and tries to run but falls right into Shiesty’s net trap.

“Where are you trying to run to?”

“What do you want from me, Shiesty?”

“I want revenge for all that you caused me. I’ve been planning this for years, and now, it’s my time to shine.”

Brooklyn starts to use his telekinesis to stop Sheisty from trying to hurt him. He tries, tries, and tries, but nothing works. Sheisty starts to realize and powers on the machine while Brooklyn dangles from the net trap.

“Ahahaha, finally.”

Shiesty grins mad hard. After a few minutes, Brooklyn starts to lose oxygen and black out slowly. Shiesty gets really excited.

Meanwhile, all this power is growing into him. Time is passing by. At last, Shiesty has been fully loaded with Brooklyn’s power and Brooklyn has been defeated. Now Shiesty will take over the world like he had always planned.

It all started from when we were kids. Brooklyn and I were the best of friends. Brooklyn and I were seven. We would play video games together, have good conversations, hang out . . . but eventually things started to change. Three years later on a very rainy night, I mean really bad thunder striking everywhere, Brooklyn and I wanted to hang outside. And when we were just about to walk inside the house, Brooklyn got struck by the 233

lighting from the power light and it hit him straight in his head.

Boom! He fell and stopped moving. We rushed to the hospital and his body kept on seizing while he kept flatlining. Eventually we got him back, and he went into a coma for two years, and when he finally woke up he had powers he didn’t even know about called telekinesis.

Ever since he got his powers, I’ve been covered by his shadows.

Everyone thought his powers were cool and wanted to hang out with him, meanwhile I was being excluded from everyone and everything. I never had my chances to be great. It made me really sad and Brooklyn never took the chance to realize that. This is why I took his powers to begin with. I wanted to know how it feels to be happy and cool. Now that you know the backstory of what happened, it’s time to tell you how I handled things after I took Brooklyn’s powers.

“Muahahahaha!”

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Artwork by Khalida Shumsuddeen 236

DEATH

CREEPER

Khalida Shumsuddeen

“I think we should go take Hellhound to the dog park, babe,” Loki said to her husband Pele.

Pele agreed and said, “That sounds great. I had to go pick up some things from around there anyway. “ So they put their dog on a leash and went for a walk. As soon as they walked out the door, the whole city smelled like shit. They all gagged, even Hellhound. That was the first red flag. But they still managed to go on about their day and continued to do what they were going to do in the first place.

On their way to the mall, they saw a sign on the wall that said, Do you want five hundred dollars today just for taking a blood test? Well, if you do . . . call this number @ 347-555-1295 and I will tell you the address. So they took down the number, called them, and GPS the location. They were so hungry because they hadn’t eaten in days. Loki had recently been fired from her job. Pele never had a job. Loki was Pele’s meal ticket. So they figured that the five hundred dollars each person would help. As they were walking down the street to the address they smelt the stinky, nasty, over-the-top disgusting smell again. But they continued walking.

Five minutes later they arrived at the location that was given.

And they were greeted by this enormous, fat, no teeth, long neck, big nose, old creepy man named Mr. Jabber. He had shown this ID, so they thought he was a real doctor, but little did they know, he was a fake doctor. So they managed to walk in because where they live, all they saw was nasty-looking people walking and living there, so they were used to it. It was a norm for everybody.

Mr. Jabber told Pele and Loki to sit down on this weird chair.

He had two of the same chair. The man had offered all of them some water. They only trusted him and agreed to drink it because it was 100 degrees outside, and they were very dry. So 237

they took the water and guzzled it down like it was their last sip of water, even Hellhound.

Then they asked, “What do we have to do to get the five hundred dollars?”

“All you have to do is a little blood test,” Mr. Jabber replied. So they agreed and as Mr. Jabber was pulling out the needles they dozed off. And little did they know, Mr. Jabber put something in their drink that makes people doze off without even knowing. They should have never agreed to drink the water because the needle was a gigantic 5-inch needle. All three needles were like that. They were already filled with this thick, nasty, smelly, black liquid that I would never put in my body. So he continues the job by injecting the stinky liquid into Pele, Loki, and Hellhound. He left the room as he waited thirty minutes before the liquid kicked in.

Thirty minutes later . . . They all woke up looking like monsters.

And all they smelled and craved was blood and brains. Loki was 10 feet tall. So was Pele and Hellhound, and they all had very long tongues that could wrap around people’s throats and kill them. Loki and Pele became very hairy to a point it looked very scary and nasty. They all started arguing with Mr. Jabber.

They asked, “How do we go back to normal and why are we craving brains?”

Mr. Jabber said, “You will have to eat somebody to turn back, and after y’all do that, even Hellhound, y’all will receive five hundred dollars, including Hellhound.” So they have no choice but to do what they have to do to get that money and go back to normal.

As soon as they went outside they smelled blood and started to crave blood. When they were walking down the block to find people, everybody was screaming and hollering because of their looks. So Loki got really upset and ran up to the crowd and wrapped her tongue around this white lady’s throat, and dragged her face and body on the floor until the lady was right

by Loki’s feet. Loki looked down, and Loki started feasting on 238

her face and body. Hellhound and Pele wanted to join but Loki gave them a mean look that made them back away. By the time Loki was finished, there was blood and organs on the floor.

That lady had no face. All she was left with was her facial bones.

That lady’s intestines and blood were all over the place. Loki left her skinless. And Loki did not care. They continued walking like nothing happened.

They went to the park, and that’s when the feasting for Pele and Hellhound began. As soon as they walked into that park, all the little kids started running to their moms but the kids were too late. Hellhound grabbed a little girl and Pele grabbed the mother. Hellhound grabbed the little girl by her neck and dragged her neck on the floor and sucked her eyeballs out of her skull and ripped her skin off her face. While Hellhound was feasting her up, Pele grabbed the mother by her head and slammed her head on the floor. Her brain flew out of her head and rolled down the street. But Pele grabbed the brain with his tongue.

And ate it. Then within five minutes, they turned back into humans and the Hellhound turned back into his normal dog self.

They all started throwing up green and yellow clumpy stuff, and then, the blood and organs they ate five minutes ago. Then they ran back to Mr. Jabber’s lab. They jumped the doctor and beat him up so bad to the point you couldn’t see his face anymore.

And after all that, they still didn’t get the five hundred dollars.

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240

U N T I T L E D Jahkyah

Thomas

“Yo, you must be my new roommate,” Ava says, very welcoming.

“Yeah, I guess,’’ she says with a snappy voice. This was made with a lot of techs built into it. All the doors, all of the lights, all of the heat, and the houses on the block are all the same.

Ava tries to break the silence and says, “What brings you to the paradox of the city of mystery?” There was no reply.

“Where’s my room?”

“It’s the last room to the left.” She then storms off down the hall but to her surprise, the door is locked, and I walk to the door. At this point Ava’s over this and over her. She walks off.

“My name’s Milo.” She finally opens up.

“Whatever, mystery girl.” She smiles and closes the door.

A couple of days go by. Ava is an outgoing person and says what’s on her mind, and all of a sudden, there was a sound indicating that the door was open. Ava goes strolling to the door. There’s no one there. This leaves Ava a little skeptical, but she doesn’t mind. She goes back to them, not giving it a second thought. She tries to find Milo to ask her a question. She goes to her room and knocks on the door. To her surprise it says do not disturb. She texts her phone. No answer. She found this a little weird, so she knocked again. Milo finally answers the door with the doesn’t-wanna-be-bothered face.

“Hey Milo, would you mind if I had a party later tonight?”

“Does it look like I really care?” Milo says with a sassy voice.

Ava could feel the rage fill her body like a pool being filled with water on a hot summer day. Ava walks back to the room a little irritated. A couple of hours go by. It’s now time for the party.

She’s getting ready, wondering if Milo would like to join us, but doesn’t want to be in a bad mood considering that her party is 241

in an hour or so. Ava programmed the house to announce when people are entering and leaving the house. The party starts.

“Twenty people have entered the house,” the monitor announces throughout the house. Ava runs down the stairs to be greeted by a couple of high school friends that she kept in touch with.

“Hey, how’s everybody’s day going?”

“It’s going well. Where’s that roommate of yours?” This was the question she was dreading, but it was asked and truth be told, Ava did know herself. Ava quickly turned up the music.

It wouldn’t bother the neighbors because of the soundproof house. Quickly things escalate. Ava spots Milo and invites her to join the party, which she does, and they start drinking. They all agree to play a puzzle game. There are a total of twenty-two people in the house. They all get one. Ava announces, “Once you finish your puzzle you can go home.”

One of Ava’s tall, brown-skinned friends from high school named Noah says, “What if I don’t want to leave,” in a flirty tone.

“Then we will have to make an arrangement,” Milo replies, looking uncomfortable.

“Okay, love birds, can we do the puzzles?” she said with a deep voice to be taken seriously with her being 5-foot-2, long brown hair. Everyone comes up to the table, grabs one, and starts.

About thirty minutes later, seventeen people had already left the house.

“Seventeen people have exited the house,” the house says over the speaker. Now there are five people in the house. The other people gave up and went home. Ava and Milo decide to call it a night.

In the bed, Milo feels a hand going over her mouth and smells breath that smells like alcohol and then the voice spoke: “Shut the hell up or there will be a lot of slow songs and flowers to bring.” He let go a chuckle. She stood up and walked into Ava’s room and started to scream.

Ava jumped out of bed and said, “Open door.” The door is not opening. Ava heard the sound echo as the house’s main door 242

closed suddenly. The power went out, and her heart sank to her feet. She felt stuck. She couldn’t get out of the room. There was no one that could, so she thought she was given a test to see how far she was willing to go to get her roommate back.

“HELPPPPP!” Ava screamed and to her surprise a man with a deep voice spoke on the house speakers.

“Let’s play a game. You like games, right Ava?” “ARE YOU SICK? SCREW YOU!” Ava said loud, trying to put aside the fear she felt.

He continues to say, “When I let you out of the room, there are five riddles. With each riddle, you have to sacrifice something.”

Ava goes to the puzzle and it reads, you have . . .

To be continued . . .

243

Artwork 244

by

Shamsun

Tiba

DAMNED

Shamsun

Tiba

CITY

Closing her eyes, she felt the large needle stab the side of her head.

She laid very still, the pain dulling as the implant was jammed straight into her brain. The needle stayed there for a short while, before the doctor swiftly removed it. Raven sat up, her gray eyes immediately finding a woman with brown eyes and a man with the same gray eyes as hers. Their clothes were ridiculously lavish with diamonds adorning their necks and wrists.

“How do you feel, sweetheart?” the woman asked, a hopeful expression on her face.

“Fine, Mother,” she answered bluntly as she hopped down from the glowing bed.

“The implant will activate within a few hours,” the doctor said curtly, nodding at them. “Have a good day.”

A boy with honeyed hair and light brown, almost golden, eyes cycled through the streets, delivering the last of his letters.

He steered through a particularly narrow alleyway and into a neighborhood with old houses and dirty sidewalks. He stopped at one house with a rusty green door, locking his bike in place and jogging towards the doorstep with a bag in his hand.

“MOM! I’m home,” he announced, setting the bag on the rickety dining table. His mother answered by wobbling out of her bedroom, a tired smile etched on her face.

“Hi, honey.” Her smile widened as Mark approached her.

“Hi, Mom.” Mark beamed. “How are you feeling?”

“Better, honey. What about you?”

“I’m good.”

“Are you sure?”

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“Of course. I’m just trying to take care of you.”

“What about taking care of yourself, honey?”

The smile on Mark’s face faltered. He took in the creaky floorboards, his ripped jeans, and orange hoodie. He looked back up at the woman’s face, the smile a bit more melancholic.

“I’ll be fine, Mom,” he said at last. “I just want us to live a better life.”

His mother’s own face scrunched up into a smile, mirroring her son’s. She then embraced him, squeezing him tight. Mark chuckled, hugging her back.

Then suddenly, the front door broke down, revealing a man with a large chainsaw merged into his arm, glowing blue with red liquid splattered on it. He laughed as loud as a maniac.

“Broke bastards!” he launched himself at the sick woman, throwing her to the ground.

“NO!” Marked yelled as his whole world turned upside down and toppled over him.

“Do you feel any different, Raven?” the woman asked, setting her fork down.

“That’s the fifth time you asked me that, Mother,” the girl voiced out in a low timbre.

“We just want to know if the implant is working well,” her father chimed in.

Raven felt her head ache at that statement. Not making eye contact, she stared down at her plate, her pale hand gripping the fork.

“Oh, I just know that everyone will be jealous,” her mother chuckled.

“We did just get the most expensive implant,” the woman’s husband agreed.

Raven gritted her teeth, a loud ringing going off in her ears.

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Squeezing her eyes shut, she saw blue numbers flashing red and the word error behind her eyelids. Her head pounded.

Then, Raven snapped her eyes open, gray eyes cold as ice and soulless as a dead person. She abruptly stood up, her chair falling over.

“Raven . . . ?”

Her vision flashed red as she threw herself at her father, tackling him off his chair and to the floor. She raised a fist, which happened to be glowing gray, and her memory blanked.

When Raven opened her eyes, she saw her parents on the floor, blood spilling from their chests and faces. The thick smell of iron blood filled her nose. She could almost taste it on her tongue, bloody and metallic. She stared down at her hands.

They were drenched in blood.

Then, a scream resonated. Raven turned to look out the window, approaching it.

Humans were running on the streets, screaming as one person fired a machine gun. Another one had daggers attached to both arms, swinging recklessly.

Her eyes flitted to a glimpse of golden eyes behind a pile of debris. She finds herself willing to get down there as fast as possible, feeling intrigued all of a sudden.

Mark trembles, the cut on his cheek stinging. A man with multiple spikes on his legs kept walking back and forth around him.

The boy couldn’t find any way to sneak away, stranded.

Then, Mark shrieked.

The debris he was hiding behind was blown to bits, the dust causing his eyes to sting. The spiked man was glowering down at him, his stance towering and intimidating.

But, before the man could even lay a finger on him, a beam of gray light suddenly blasted him from the back, halting any movement. Then, he collapsed, crumpling on the floor like a discarded doll. Once he fell, Mark was startled to see a girl 247

around his age with glowing gray eyes.

She stared at him before grabbing his arm, pulling him away from the havoc.

“Come on,” she hissed, “I know a place we can hide.”

“W-wait! I don’t even know you!” Mark stuttered. The girl held him and everything around him warped. Blinking, he suddenly finds himself in what looked like an old, abandoned classroom.

“My name’s Raven.” She tilted her head to the side. “You?” “Uh . . . Mark.”

“Now we know each other.” Mark couldn’t help but scoff at that statement.

“How did we even get here?” he asked, looking around the dirty area.

The raven-haired girl merely shrugged, not answering his question.

The honey boy frowned. “Why are you helping me?”

“Well, when I first saw you . . . you were glowing.”

“E-eh?”

“You were glowing. And you still are,” she muttered, glancing at him. “You’re different from all the people I’ve seen.”

“I’ve . . . never been told that before.”

The raven girl hummed thoughtfully, taking in his honey hair and golden eyes. Even now, he was still glowing brightly, his aura making the cold classroom a little warmer.

“I want to show you something,” she says before the world warps around them once again.

This time, they are on a rooftop, the sky above a hazy mix of gray and orange. The whole city had been torn apart. Raven pointed to a further place filled with trees, away from the city.

“There is another town about 50 miles from here,” she eluci248

dates. “We’ll be able to find refuge there.”

“Hold on,” Mark interrupts, “You’re gonna take me with you?”

“Of course. You wouldn’t last on your own.”

The honey boy pouted, knowing that she was right. “Then, when are we leaving?”

“Tonight,” the raven girl said before planting herself on the floor. “But, for now, rest.”

Mark sits next to her, hugging his knees to his chest. Raven sent him a tiny smile.

“We’ll get out of here,” she said, “I promise.”

249

Artwork 250

by

Vivian

Torres

FBI

Vivian

Torres

I came home after quitting my job to an empty and lonely house. I felt so hollow and incomplete after the accident. She was really gone and today’s case really reminded me of it. I felt helpless and like I had no power. I couldn’t save a life even if I tried, so I’m done trying. It has been six months since I quit my job at the BAU in Quantico, and I fell into a deep hole of depression, and my nanotech was not helping. I thought it was supposed to put me back together when I was broken, but I was going to put on a face of happiness for my best friend, who has been there for me through thick and thin. He was my rock, so I couldn’t let him know too soon what had happened. It’s his first day back, and James doesn’t need to worry about me.

At this very moment James, my best friend, is thinking, It is finally time to see her . . . I missed her so much. But, to be honest, I might end our friendship because I don’t want to hurt her in the process, but for now, I need to put on a face and not let it slip that I am the infamous blood collector.

“I’m at the gate, see you soon.” I was picking James up at the airport. This moment was the thing I am going to be most excited about this year. When I saw him, all my worries and sadness went away. His cologne is so strong that I caught a whiff of it while being twenty feet apart, but it’s still so subtle up close, and I remembered why I fell in love with him.

Then I got a call from the FBI. I picked up and was greeted with a hearty, “Hello.”

“Hi, who is this?” I replied.

“This is Leah Riley. I am calling on behalf of Agent Reid. He wanted to call to put a meeting in place, so what time works best for you?”

Why are they trying to reach out? I got out for a reason. I don’t want to go back, I thought with tears threatening to fall down 251

my cheeks as I heard in the back of my head everything that happened replaying.

I barely control my tears and manage to say, “Why does he want to meet with me? He knows I don’t even want to breathe the air in that place.” I get a sour taste in my mouth. As I was talking to Leah about the meeting, James was thinking, I wonder who she’s talking to.

“Ray, are you done?” I heard as I hung up the call.

“Yeah, I’m done. Let’s go.”

It’s two in the morning, and I can’t sleep for the life of me. I can’t stop thinking about my meeting tomorrow. I wake up at nine in the morning and get ready to leave the house. I’m scared. I get to the front of the building and all the memories started coming back. I remember that time it was her fifth birthday, and my team threw her a surprise party; she was so happy, but now she’s not here anymore. As tears start to pool in my eyes, and I was about to turn around and leave, I saw my brother Reid. “Are you okay?” he asked.

He is the one person I could be honest with. “No, I am not.” He hugged me. I was shocked. He doesn’t hug anyone, but I guess he missed her enough to hug me.

When we walk inside the smell wakes something up inside me, and my nano is working hard. I feel a little better. The meeting was to talk about me helping them catch the serial killer, who was named the infamous blood collector, the one who took my baby, and if I find who did it, I can finally be free of guilt, so of course, I was going to help.

At this moment James was getting into action. “Who am I going to kill today? I missed this.” He starts to pick his victim and hack into their nano. He plays around with them but ultimately ends up making the person pick up a pair of scissors and gouge their eyes out while being silent and smiling in the mirror as they slowly start to lose their vision, they cut their wrist with a knife and then throw themselves down a flight of stairs to their death.

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“That was thrilling,” he says with a smile on his face as he presses save, so he can always relive this moment.

“Ray, time to go over to the crime scene,” says Reid. As I examine the dead body in front of me I get flashbacks of my first-ever crime scene where the killer had first started killing. I’d been on his case from the beginning. He is a psycho, and I will catch him. At the lab, we examined the nano. I don’t know why we didn’t think of this before. We find out how the nanotech works, and it turns out that this person’s backup DNA data was erased from the tech. When we tested it, it couldn’t isolate, characterize, and manipulate genes anymore. We also saw this in the past victim’s nano with the same problem, and the IP addresses were the same.

I am so tired. I get home. It’s three in the morning. I decide to tell James about my thing. We have no secrets from each other, and I need someone here for me. I wake up to a text from Raylie saying she’s working with the FBI and how close she is to catching the killer.

“WTF!” I yell at the top of my lungs. How did this happen?

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254

HOW TO GET RID OF Z NATION Celina Torruella

Sam and robot A1 were inseparable. They grew up together and never spent a day apart. Sam was a human. She enjoyed life, always taking risks and living it to the fullest. Robot A1 was Sam’s best friend but was also a robot. Robots and humans shared the world. Everyone was living normally and everything was peaceful. But there’s no such thing as a perfect world with robots and humans. There is a group of robots that are called Z Nation. Z Nation is led by robot Z26, a very horrible robot, and is a group of robots who have absolutely no emotions. Back when robots and humans first started sharing a world together, there was a genetic mutation causing robots to be able to have emotions, but one type of robot did not get it. That clearly shows that it is all of the Z Nation who didn’t get the genetic mutation.

Z Nation was always a worry, but for some reason, for all these years, they just let everyone be at peace with them living in their own place. But, of course, with that there are rules. Rule number one, you are to never ever cross to their area. If you take a long tunnel full of do-not-enter signs: you will end up seeing a rusty and dull entrance with a huge Z sign. Rule number two: if you ever encounter a Z robot, do not communicate with them. Z Nation has picked up a skill where they can impersonate a robot with feelings. They will trick you into thinking they’re a good robot with emotions and end up in the unknown. Rule number three: just stay away. But Sam was never one to follow the rules, especially if it was an adventure.

One day while Sam and A1 were exploring in the forest, they heard a loud noise. Next thing you know they are flying from the pressure. A1 called out for Sam but then everything turned black. Waking up from being passed out, Sam blocked the light from her sensitive eyes. Seeing glares of a whole bunch of 255

robots walking around, she turned to see A1 tied up. Instantly getting up to try to save him, she notices they’re in Z Nation!

Sam quickly ran to A1 without any hesitation. Sam noticed that they were dragging more people in and all of them were asleep.

A1 started to wake up and helped Sam out with untying him.

Sam was scared yet stoked for actually seeing the inside of the Nation.

“Sam, what do we do? We have to get out, but there’s so many robots,” A1 said.

“A1, don’t be mad and you know I love you, but I need to know what they’re doing here, and why they exploded the forest,” Sam responded.

“No, no, that’s stupid. We have to get out. You know that once you’re in here people never make it back out,” A1 said, worried.

“Fine. Just one peek and then we can find an escape.”

A1 rolled his robot eyes and quietly followed her.

As Sam and A1 started walking down the hallway without the robots noticing, they noticed they were in a hospital-looking building. When you looked outside, you could see it was the only building taken care of. Everything else looks just rusty and abandoned.

“Why is this one huge, hidden building so well taken care of yet everything else is a war zone?” Sam whispered to A1 as they looked out the window.

“I’m wondering the same thing. Oh snap, guards. Run, run,” A1 said, scared. Z robots noticed Sam and A1 and started chasing them. Sam and A1 started running until they found a room and hid in it. Once Sam closed the door she sighed, deeply relieved.

But once she opened her eyes she saw A1 standing there frozen.

Sam looked at what he saw. She nearly screamed.

They were robot costumes.

“What. The. Hell,” Sam said.

“Sam, why are there fake robot costumes?” A1 said, still trying 256

to process. Suddenly they heard a noise, making them break out of their trance and hide. They both ran in between the racks of costumes and hid as they heard footsteps walking into the room. “Shhh.” A1 put a finger over Sam’s mouth when she was about to say something. He then pointed to his ear to signal that he is trying to listen to them. A1 being a robot means his programs are way more improved than humans.

“Boss is making lots of orders right now. We never had runaways before. He wants to know who messed up sedating the human,” the first voice said.

“Well, then they will die. But for now we need to put these on and look for that human and robot,” the second voice said.

Sam decided to try to take a peek, but A1 grabbed her hand.

“No, don’t. We’ll get caught,” he said.

“Don’t worry, I got it,” Sam said as she continued to move a costume out the way. Sam gasps loudly. Frightened, she backs up fast, causing her to hit the rack behind her.

“You heard that?” said the first voice. Quickly the second robot ran to check, pushing the rack out the way. “Found them,” the second voice said, quickly making the first robot hit the alert button.

“SAM, IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?” A1 shouts, shocked out of his mind.

“Aliens,” is all Sam manages to say very quietly as she stares, amazed. Before they can move, the aliens take Sam and A1 and drag them to a huge room that looks like a place where kings and queens sit on their throne and speak to their people.

“Sir, we found the prisoners,” says the alien.

“Good job,” is all they hear before two loud bullets shoot the two aliens making them explode green goo everywhere. “They needed to die. They have been seen in their true form,” Z26, Z Nation’s leader, says before getting up and slowly circling Sam and A1.

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“What the hell are you people? What was with those costumes?

WHY were they aliens?!”

“Sam, shut up, this is not the time,”A1 says, and kicks her leg on the low.

“Lots of questions, I see,” Z26 said, pausing his sentence. “Long ago when humans and robots decided to unite together, one of our own decided one day to just jump onto Earth, of course not knowing it was Earth. He thought it was just a ball. He was going to bring a ball to play with his friends. Us living miles and miles away, Earth looked tinier than it was. He said hold on, I’m going on a mission, and jumped from our planet to Earth. We can jump very far, if you are confused. Anyways, when he jumped, he ended up landing right here in New York.

“Us aliens used to have all the emotions in the world, but him landing on Earth created a glitch in all aliens causing them to pass out for one year and wake up emotionless. When the alien who was on Earth finally woke up, he saw you humans and robots and the world you were living in and decided to want to stay and be friends. Since he was on Earth, he was the only alien left with emotions. When he jumped back to our planet, excited to tell everyone, he saw it was dead. Everyone was so emotionless and he didn’t understand why everyone was being so cruel—his friends, his family, everyone.

“After five years of him doing research, he finally figured out what happened. There was a secret letter from an alien from way back then who discovered to never touch Earth, or our people will get hurt. The alien instantly blamed Earth for what they had done. He started jumping back and forth from Earth to our planet to figure out how to get revenge and take over. Finally, he figured out how to morph us into robot costumes and pretend to be one of you. His name was Bob Ronald Trillion, my great-great-grandfather going way back. Smart man, isn’t he?

Now we finally have all the information we need to take over.

We will kill all the robots and turn the humans into emotionless creatures, as you guys did us. All these years and research and now I will complete what my grandfather started,” Z26 finished.

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“Damn, you’re telling me all that happened here on Earth? Is all of this real? Alien planet, aliens, a freaking alien named Bob, a ball, really?¨ Sam says trying to hold in her laugh.

A1, not being able to hold it in, begins bursting out laughing, causing Sam to crack up on the floor. “Aw man, dude, that’s hilarious,” A1 says, hysterically laughing.

As Sam and A1 are rolling with laughter on the floor, Sam suddenly stops and says, “Wait, so what do I call you? Are you still Z26?”

Staring at them, Z26 takes a seat in his throne and says, “My real name is Donald Barbet.” Sam and A1 burst into laughter again as Donald (Z26) tells the guards to take them away. As they are being dragged out, you hear A1’s fading voice say, “A ball? Seriously?” with laughter in his voice as Sam cracks up.

Sam and A1 end up in a prison cell together that’s under the building they were in. “Okay seriously though, we need to tell the world what’s going on. How do we get out of here?” A1 asks Sam, getting kind of concerned.

“Do you think he was serious about taking over the world and finding a way to do what he said?” Sam says.

“Yeah, they’re serious every second of their life, Sam,” A1 says to Sam like shes dumb. “Man, I really don’t want you to die, and I’m trying to have my emotions. I can’t be unfunny for the rest of my life.”

It seems like Sam is thinking really hard. “Idea,” Sam quickly says, then starts looking around the cell fast.

“Are you going to tell me?” A1 says getting up from sitting, very confused.

“If aliens have jumping power, what if robots also have powers? Right here,” Sam says, putting her hand on the middle of the wall. “Outside is right here. We just have to find a way to get out.”

“Well, how am I supposed to know what my power is? What if I 259

don’t even have one? This is dumb,” A1 says, shaking his head.

“Think about it,” Sam says. “Why is it that they need to kill robots in order to carry on their plan? Because you guys must be a danger to them or have something that can defeat them.”

“Get me angry,” A1 says, getting in a ready stance. An hour goes by and absolutely nothing happens. When they finally sit down and give up, an alien in its robot disguise comes and takes Sam. Sam starts panicking and screaming, scared for her life. A1 gets up and tries to pull Sam from him but the alien pushes A1 causing Sam to also fall and hit her head. Blood starts to shower down. As A1 stands up, Sam touches the back of her head.

Moving her fingers to her eyes, she sees the blood and looks at A1. A1 looks back at her with complete fear and shock. The alien disguised as a robot tries to take Sam again, but A1 is mad. Really mad. Not just mad, but furious. Shocked and scared out of his mind about Sam. All that is on his mind is seeing Sam falling and cracking her head. A1, without thinking, shoots laser beams out of his palms, causing the alien inside of the suit to explode.

He shoots the laser beams over and over till there’s alien goo everywhere.

Once he breaks out of his trance, he runs to Sam and rips the bottom of her shirt, wrapping it around her head. “Sam, you okay?” A1 says, worried.

“Dude, did you just shoot lasers out of your hands . . .? That’s awesome! I do have a headache though,” Sam says, shocked.

Without thinking, A1 activates a med kit out the side of his stomach. “Woah . . . How did I know I can do that?” A1 says, also shocked. He quickly stitches the back of her head and helps her up. “Come on, we got to go.” A1 grunts as he tries to help Sam stand up. With Sam on his side, he uses one hand and shoots a laser beam into the wall where Sam pointed before.

As Sam and A1 walk outside, they look around and see Z Nation: dirty and rusty. All abandoned buildings. They then look back and see the building they were in. It was tall, all white, and had a huge A sign right in front of it. “Must stand for aliens,” Sam 260

says, looking up at the A. Quickly, Sam and A1 run out of Z Nation and back to safety. But of course the fight isn’t over. Sam and A1 decide to buy a bunch of water guns and replace the water with the liquid of A1’s laser beams. They then buy a bunch of belts and strap the guns onto them, putting the belts around them. The last thing was armor.

But of course, Sam couldn’t do this without her headphones, and her music playing. She wanted to feel like she was in a movie and it was going to be in slow motion. Of course, before Sam and A1 went into this, they informed everyone, even the government, the president, everyone knows. Sam and A1 knew not to go into this without backup.

As they entered Z Nation, the aliens were already ready for attack. Sam and A1 started firing, Sam using the laser guns and A1 using his hands. Exploding heads and aliens went everywhere, filling the floor up with goo. Sam’s favorite song starts playing and her gymnastic skills kick in. She’s flipping, ducking, and shooting. She felt so powerful. A1 suddenly starts naturally using his other powers. He’s shooting a laser out of his forehead, using super strength, and can see very quickly from each side of his head. It was a real life war with aliens. Sam never felt more complete, especially doing it with her best friend by her side.

The aliens were using a power they have with goo. They can put it into a gun, they can shoot it out of their body, or they can throw it very fast. The backup robots came and began to help A1 and Sam. Finally when they killed all the aliens outside, you could see goo and ripped-up robot uniforms everywhere.

“Woah” is all Sam can say before she gives A1 a look, and they run into the building where they were held captive.

As they snuck through the hallways, they were shooting any alien they saw. The backup robots couldn’t come in or it would be noticeable they were there. Now it was just Sam and A1 who were responsible for saving the world. A1, using his super memory, memorized everywhere they had gone when they were there. Suddenly, they walked into the room where all the hu261

mans were held captive and saw they all had these sticky white circles stuck on their skin. They were sound asleep and all had a computer and heart monitor next to them. There had to be at least a thousand humans in this huge room.

“What do we do?” Sam asked A1.

“Well, first we have to figure out how to wake them up without killing them. Then we have to find out why they were captured in the first place.”

As Sam searches the room for answers, A1 keeps lookout. “A1, come look at this,” Sam says as she’s looking at a huge book she found in a secret box under the tiles of the floor. It was the answer to everything they were doing. The humans were being kept sleeping with a shot as the aliens conducted experiments and studied them to figure out a way to take away their emotions. “They actually figured it out,” Sam says, skimming through the book. The book also explained the explosion was for them to knock out anyone who was in the forest, so they could collect more humans.

Suddenly A1 stops her and reads a page where it says how to wake them back up. “Hopefully they didn’t start the process of doing it,” A1 says as he and Sam begin waking the humans up.

The paper said it would take up to an hour for them to wake up if you use a special serum they created. Sam and A1 injected it into all of them and then left the room to look for Z26.

When Sam and A1 look for Z26, killing any alien they see, they find a huge door. It was so big you had to look up to see the whole thing. A1 began lasering a littler door for them to go through. Once the door fell, they walked in, and it was full of a bunch of alien glue and slime-like texture everywhere, different colors and dripping down the walls.

Z26 appears from the corner of the room. “Welcome to my kingdom,” he says, walking slowly, putting his hands high.

“Dude, this is so cool,” Sam whispers to A1.

“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure we might die now,” he whispers back.

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All of a sudden Z26 rips his robot outfit off and becomes a huge alien. Z26, A1, and Sam begin fighting. Z26 uses special powers, taking guns out of his body, shooting goo out. A1 uses his special powers and Sam uses the laser gun, jumping around, dodging. When Sam notices that Z26 gets too cocky, she sneaks behind him, runs up the wall, does a flip, lands on his head, and then shoots a laser right in between his eyes. Z26 falls to the floor and dies. A1 and Sam watch as the goo splashes everywhere then walk out.

As they walk out the building, all of the hostages walk out behind them. It was like a movie. “We’re heroes,” Sam says as she gives A1 a high five.

“Hell yeah,” he responds back.

A week later, Z Nation is smashed down, and they are now rebuilding it into a little town called A1 and Sam in honor of them two for saving the world.

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Artwork 264

by

Annasian

Walters

A .S.C.T.C.C. Annasian

Walters

How It All Started It was a regular, but boring day, me sitting alone in my onebed apartment, flicking through the TV, hearing the same old boring and agonizing talk of the new A.S.C.T.C.C. Tech car: how much consumer ratings it has gotten, the features, the style, every little pitiful detail about it. I’m tired of all this tech talk, so I walk down to my local convenience store to get some air and back into reality but even that’s hard with all the technology that’s taking over society. I notice an A.S.C.T.C.C. Tech car fly down to the street, almost crashing into the gas station.

“Tch, another one of those reckless drivers probably had the damn thing on autopilot.”

I notice a man get out of the car. He doesn’t even bother parking the thing; he just runs straight into the gas station holding part of his face while a green colored substance runs down it.

“What’s up with him?” I stop walking. I can’t help being curious and seeing what caused him to run out of his car like that. I look back at the car. It wouldn’t hurt it if I checked out his car, would it?

Wrong. I go check the car out, sit in the driver’s seat, and I’ll admit this car wasn’t half bad. But that was before. As soon as I sat down and checked out the controls, the car door automatically locked me inside. I tried everything and nothing worked.

Soon after that it blasted up into space faster than a blink of an eye.

“Stupid, stupid, this is why you dont mess with Tech Jacks!

Look, now you’re stuck in space and only God knows where this thing is going,” I spoke out loud angrily. ***** 265

“I sat in the thing for what seemed like hours. After a while it finally landed. As soon as it did, I got out, taking a look around, seeing that it landed on Mars. The entire sector was a ghost town. I wandered around, and then, that’s how I met you. So there you have it, Gears, that’s how I got here,” I said, finishing my recap of a recent event to Gears, the only person I’d met and seen for miles. She had told me that she was a local engineer.

“Hahahahaha, you mean to tell me you hate technology and you, in your right mind, go and check out some random sick stranger’s car, and you end up getting stuck and launched into space, and then landing here? Sorry but, no offense, that’s quite stupid.” She laughed at me as she wiped tears from her eyes.

“Okay, it was stupid, but can you please help me find a way outta here?” I asked her.

“Fine, come with me. I don’t know exactly how to help you get home, but I think you can find someone else who can further direct you, but a little heads up, you might not like this.” Gears told me about this building on the far east side of Mars. Apparently, it’s the original A.S.C.T.C.C. Tech HQ. But she mentioned that it was abandoned, that only the head operatives go sometimes. ***** I stood outside the old and abandoned building. Gears said she couldn’t lead me in, so I had to go in alone. And damn, was this place scary. Well, scary is A FREAKING UNDERSTATEMENT. Halfway wandering through the building, I ended up getting chased by these weird mutated people, their skin melting and running down their faces like slime, looking as if they had been burned with acid. Their teeth and eyes exposed with that same gross, green liquid oozing out of them, as well as blood. I ran into another room, barricaded with anything I could find.

“Who are you, and how did you get in here?” I heard a mysterious voice say.

I turned around to see a man dressed in a lab coat looking directly at me, eyes piercing through my soul.

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***** I explained to the man, whose name I learned is Elijah, my situation.

“So do you think I can find a way back home?” I ask.

“Well, why do you wanna leave? What’s wrong with this place?”

Elijah replied.

“What do you mean?”

“Haven’t you seen the beauty of this place? You have technology surrounding you. It can do any and every little thing for you: cook, clean, and do every little thing you desire in the world. No one in their right mind would give up a chance like this.”

“Huh? Haven’t you seen all the damage your messed up tech has done to people? Most of humanity is brain-dead, missing time with their families and friends, time in society. Heck, some of them are even getting sick. I JUST HAD TO RUN FOR MY LIFE AWAY FROM MUTATED HUMANS!” I yelled at him.

Elijah paused. “Fine, I’ll help you find a way home . . . if you get rid of those mutants and keep this away from everyone,” he said with a menacing grin and low tone. His grin sent a spine-chilling sensation down my back. Should I really help him?

“NO.” “Huh? What do you mean? No, I can help you get back hom—” “NO,” I said, cutting him off. “I won’t help you kill a bunch of people, mutants or not, and I definitely won’t help you hide this from innocent civilians who are still using your faulty tech!” I stated sternly.

Then, that’s when it happens.

BANG! It went silent for a second. The only thing I could hear was ringing in my ears. I felt a hot, sharp, intense pain hit me right in the shoulder. I’d been shot.

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I stumbled, trying to move back to look at Elijah holding a gun pointed right where it’d hit me, smoke coming from the freshly fired weapon.

“You shouldn’t have said that,” he said with dark eyes.

I booked it, running out of there as fast as I could, and the pain in my shoulder wasn’t helping me with my getaway. ***** I’m running, twisting, and turning down each hallway like I’m in a maze trying to get away from the mad man after me.

Thinking I had lost him, I slowed down. Taking a break to stop, I hide in another hallway, finally giving my wound some attention.

I remove the hoodie I was wearing and lift my sleeve up to access the damage. Oof. I looked at it, blood still slowly pouring out of my arm. I see the bullet, as clear as an early day, lodged right in my shoulder. I wasn’t gonna try and pull it out. I took off my shoe and sock and tried to use that to help slow down the bleeding.

Soon after, I heard footsteps coming closer. I look around the corner only to see a stretched-out shadow and dots of my blood trailing the floor, the interior area smelling like copper. “I need to get going.”

I quickly put my shoes back on and start booking down that hallway.

I wasn’t getting far. I come to a dead end. Right in front of me stands a big metal door with a bone door handle. I start panickedly trying to open the door. “HELLO! SOMEONE, ANYONE, PLEASE HELP ME! HELP!” Banging on it, hoping someone hears me . . .

BANG! The pain was even more unbearable. I got shot in the leg, and I collapsed, but part of the door had mysteriously opened, so I hurriedly crawled in through the crack and the door slammed 268

shut and locked again.

Still on the ground, I look around. It’s a dim, dark room. I can’t see very clearly.

“Hello there, Jacks.” I hear an unknown voice speak out to me.

I hear some lights slowly powering on, dimly lighting up the room.

“H-hello, who’s there?” I ask. A big screen lights up, fading in and out as it speaks.

“Hello. I’m A.S.C.T.C.C. the main motherboard. I control any and every creation of A.S.C.T.C.C. Tech.”

“Wait, what? If you control every piece of technology then why is everything acting weird?” I ask.

“Because I want it to.”

“HUH? Why would you want it to do that? Don’t you know of the things that it’s doing to people?” I ask, frantic.

“Because humans like you don’t deserve the gifts of technology. My main purpose for existence was to control the tech that other people created to make sure it isn’t misused and that everyone is still able to live a nice, secure life. But humanity ended up taking it too far. People no longer live with one another.

Everyone has become slothful and too fine with hiding behind a scre—” “As it should be,” said another voice, cutting the A.S.C.T.C.C. off.

“It’s not your job to care. If people become slothful or braindead, that’s their fault.”

It was Elijah.

“You found the second entrance. I knew I felt a connection loss,” stated A.S.C.T.C.C. “Enough of this!” I yell. I couldn’t take anymore of this, not one second more. This was completely insane. “NO, NO, NO, I CAN’T. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME. WHY AM I HERE?” 269

“Because you’re the only person who can end it—” started A.S.C.T.C.C. “Or continue it,” finished Elijah.

“What?” I slowly asked.

“So what will it be, to help or destroy technology?”

How Did I Get Here A regular, but boring, day, me sitting alone in my one-bed apartment, flicking through the TV, hearing the same old boring and agonizing talk of the new A.S.C.T.C.C. Tech car: how much consumer ratings it has gotten, the features, the style, every little pitiful detail about it. Me leaving my apartment, going to the local convenience store, getting some air and back into reality, but even that’s hard with technology taking over society.

This leading me into seeing a man almost crash his A.S.C.T.C.C. car, coming out of it barely conscious with a green substance running down his face. Curiosity took over, leading me to check out the slightly damaged vehicle, which traps me inside then gets me launched into space, faster than time. And because of it, I’m here.

I remember it all.

“I can try and direct you to a place that might help you. But if I were you, I advise you to just wait till transportation starts working again. It’s . . . not safe to try and leave right now,” says Gears.

“You don’t understand. I have to get home. I don’t wanna be here,” I reply back.

I should have listened to her, cause now I’m here. And him. I should have listened. She warned me about him.

It came back to me again.

“Fine. I can help you find a way home . . . on a few conditions,” 270

said Elijah with a menacing grin and low tone.

“I won’t help you kill a bunch of people, mutants or not, and I definitely won’t help you hid—” And again.

BANG! It went silent for a second. Only thing I could hear was ringing in my ears. I felt a hot, sharp, intense pain hit me right in the shoulder.

And again.

BANG! The pain was even more unbearable. I got shot again.

It came back to me again.

That thing, its voice speaking to me aloud in the dark.

“Hello there, Jacks,” an unknown voice speaks out to me.

That thing, doing all of this, for what? To help humanity . . . No? I don’t know anymore.

“Humanity doesn’t deserve technology, so I’m taking it back,” spoke A.S.C.T.C.C. And because of it, I’m here.

Left with a decision put onto me for humanity’s greater good.

“So what will it be, to help or destroy technology?”

All because I decided to let curiosity take over and, because of it, I’m here.

What should I do?

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ROSE COLORED GLASSES Amanda

Zapata

Roses were always my favorite flowers. They are a symbol of love and harmony in the world. They represent the idea that love transcends death, resurrection, and rebirth. Such delicate flowers shouldn’t exist in a cruel world such as ours.

It’s the reason why I volunteered to get the brain chip. The implant will alter my vision to censor everything I find uncomfortable to look at. I won’t have to worry about bloody noses or horror movies ever again! The problem was telling my loved ones about it. They would never understand my reasoning behind it. I decided to tell my best friend first, two days before the operation. Their reactions were worse than I had anticipated.

It felt like decades had gone during the five seconds of stillness.

Mangiano was the first to speak up.

“Are you serious, Anastasia?” His tone was cold. Harsh. It sent shivers down my spine.

“The operation is in two days. If it goes well I—” “And what if it doesn’t? You’re going to permanently alter your vision! This could destroy your brain!”

I sighed. I knew this would happen, but I didn’t expect his reaction to be this severe. I stood silent for a moment, before responding and ending the conversation.

“It’s too late to back out. This chip will help me. One day, you’ll be asking for one too.” ***** I felt like I had a migraine. I knew I was in a hospital room; I could hear the heart monitor beeping. Why wouldn’t my eyes focus? Why was everything a pink haze? Panic started to rise 273

and I felt a lump in my throat before I heard the nurse speak.

“Ms. Aumerle?”

I felt myself fading out of consciousness. I wanted to speak, to scream for help, but I couldn’t move. I felt like a prisoner within my own body. I had no other choice but to succumb to the numb feeling as I listened to the nurse call for help.

I woke up hours later, the paralyzing feeling replaced with sweat. My eyes burned. As I scanned the room, I noticed that everything had a pink hue to it. My vision felt weaker; I could barely see the door. It had to be at most ten feet away from me.

I stared at the IV in my arm, wiggling my fingers curiously.

Fearfully. I was so intrigued with the vision adjustment that I didn’t notice the nurse returning to my room.

“Ms. Aumerle, We ran some neurological tests while you were unconscious and determined that your brain is functioning properly. How do you feel?”

“I feel alright.”

I don’t know why, but I didn’t feel the need to tell the nurse about the visual color shift. I felt superior. I have modified myself to censor malicious things from my vision. I felt different.

Immediately when I was released from the lab, I noticed how peculiar my vision was. The censored notions became a darker, heavier shade of pink; Almost a magenta. I felt like thorns had been removed by my stem, leaving my petals to sit and exist blissfully. ***** It’s been a month since my operation. I’ve noticed “little” glitches in the chip. Sometimes I’ll wake up unable to see my hands, the magenta color blocking them from sight. It was a mild inconvenience at first. The glitches have been more apparent recently. I didn’t want to admit that Magiano was right.

I enjoyed my blood-free life, but I couldn’t deal with the vision obscurities anymore. I tried to live peacefully as much as I could. I couldn’t even see myself in the mirror properly. I felt 274

like I was going crazy.

I needed this chip out of my brain immediately. The company that did the procedure in the first place refused to remove it. I felt trapped within my own body. I knew there was only one option left. I would be taking another deadly risk for some peace. I wouldn’t be able to see it, anyway.

A rose won’t always maintain its beauty, right?

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GRADE 10 Memoirs

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I HAD ONE JOB Oluwatobi

Akangbe

During 2020, I decided to do in-person school because I was tired of staying home. Since I don’t know how to get there, my mom was gonna take me.

She asked, “How many times should I take you to school until you can figure it out on your own?”

“Three,” I said. I was feeling confident that it shouldn’t take me that long to get the route.

To get there, I take the 3 train, and go to New Lots which is on the left side. Then I would get off on New Lots and take the 84 bus which would drop me off to school. As I’m walking to the train, I’m thinking about the steps and how to get there. Every step I take, I see myself getting closer to the train.

Once I started to get lost, I lost hope because I realized I didn’t know where else to go. I started to get confused. Do I turn here?

Do I cross the street now? I tried replaying the memories of my mother walking me to school to try to remember where to go next. I looked at my surroundings without trying to seem lost.

I was walking to the 3 train, replaying memories of my mother’s demonstration, and then I got to the station. I went up the long, skinny staircase and went towards the Manhattan side of the tracks. There were a lot of people. A minute or two before the train came, I had a brief thought: What if I’m on the wrong side?

I figured I should be fine.

The 3 train came and I got on. I started seeing unfamiliar stops.

Rockaway. Saratoga. Sutter Av-Rutland Road. That’s when I got off, knowing I went too far in the wrong direction.

“Oh my god. Mommy, I’m lost,” I cried on the phone, “I went on the wrong side of the tracks!”

“Tobi, it’s okay, it’s okay. Stop crying. You don’t want to seem vulnerable. Just get on the other side and take the train from

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there.”

I was disappointed in myself because I was lost AND I proved my sister’s point. She always tells me I don’t pay attention to my surroundings.

I went down the stairs and as I was going down, I saw another set of stairs. Oh, that must be the other side, I thought.

I looked around to make sure I was on the right platform, then I went up the stairs, feeling a little better, like I’m still gonna be able to get to school. I waited for the train, got on, and stayed on, like my mom told me to do. After a while, the train started to go underground. I tried calling my mom but she couldn’t hear me. The phone got all glitchy and it was too low to hear.

“Why are you all the way down there?!” my mom screamed.

“I don’t know! You told me to stay on the train.”

“No, you had to get off.”

All the stops were blue, dark blue. There were a lot of people on the train listening. There was an older white man listening to my whole conversation.

“Where do you live?”

“Gateway.” I said without thinking.

“Oh, you’re lost? I’ll show you.” He started getting off the train to show me the way. I got off the train with him. And people on the platform ran to help me, hearing the commotion. An MTA worker walked me back into the train and showed me the map.

“We’re here and you have to go all the way over here.”

“How long is that going to take?” I asked.

“An hour and a half. If you stay on this train, it’ll take you back to where you need to go.”

I wanted to cry.

When I was close to home, because most of the passengers were off the train, I saw an older Black man.

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“Are you okay? You seem lost,” he said. He had on a green hat and a green sweater. I don’t think he was wearing a mask.

I didn’t want to give off the impression that I wasn’t lost, because I was.

“Yeah, I was lost, but I’m getting close to home,” I replied.

I called my mom, she asked if I wanted to still go to school.

I didn’t see the point, so I just went home. Not to my sister’s house, because I knew what they were going to say.

When I got home, my mom started making jokes. After a while, we went to my sister’s house. It was like they were waiting for me to come so they could make fun of me. They were all looking at me, shaking their heads and laughing.

“How you got lost? It’s only three stops! You had one job.”

After their disappointment wore off, my family started discussing who was going to take me to school.

Now I know the importance of asking questions and paying attention!

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WHITE TURNS RED Madison

Amos

There was a lot of blood coming from my nose. Maybe it was a bloody nose coming from the dryness in the air, or maybe from me being a small kid playing around stairs just asking for an accident to happen. When it happened, I don’t really remember where we were going. All I knew was I was excited. I was running through the short halls and down the stairs with practiced ease with my older brother, Brandan, not too far behind me. I was stepping down the last flight of stairs, slightly more tired than before when I tripped and fell face forward into the metal-rimmed dirty stairs with a loud bang. I don’t remember anything being said at that moment. A lady from the first floor came out of her unit with a concerned look at the loud bang and must have quickly taken in the sight of my busted face because next thing I knew she had a white towel in her hand and was bringing it to my face. She guided me to tilt my head back while applying a heavy pressure to my nose. I remember the irritating headache and the white towel that changed color with the darkness of my blood.

Next thing I knew, I was in the ambulance, then at the hospital in an uncomfortable bed with a needle poking somewhere into my nose bridge. Before getting the needle, the pain I felt was not really remembered due to my shock, but I assure you the pain was there. After the needle, all I felt was a weird numbness that I never felt before. When the drug set in, they soon started to sew my nose gash back together. I thrashed in the uncomfortable bed while my mom held my legs to keep me still the whole way through. My injury wasn’t serious enough to have had them knock me out completely, it was just strong enough to numb the pain from getting stitches. I remember seeing the blurred faces of the doctor and how they steadily did their job despite the struggle I gave. I don’t know the exact number of stitches I was given, but I do know it was enough to cover almost my entire nose bridge.

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When everything was done, I got up and left the bright sterile room with my mom close behind. Everything felt weirdly normal even with the silly cartoon band-aid covering a closed but once opened and bloody gash. I remember showing my mom a watery smile after it was done to show that I was okay but I saw the tears in her eyes, cornering me.

“Were you crying too?” I asked.

“How could I not be with you thrashing around and crying like that.” She replied back in a way that was trying to brush off my original question.

It makes sense that she was crying—I mean who wouldn’t be in a situation like this?—but I was shocked because I had never seen my mom cry before.

We left this area to what I guessed was a cafeteria where I saw my siblings sitting. I don’t remember much that happened there except for when we had got some food to eat in the cafeteria and when I was eating, I felt the weirdest type of jolt run through my nose and jaw. I didn’t cry, but it immediately made me pout and push the food away. My mom questioned my actions.

I just replied and said, “My nose.” She nodded in understanding. When we got home, I eventually went to the mirror in the bathroom. I was a short kid, so I remember standing on the bathtub to get a clear look at myself. I peeled the silly band-aid to reveal my freshly sewed nose. I didn’t have much of a reaction and wasn’t too worried about the way it looked. At the time I was about seven years old, in 2nd grade, and was out of school for a week. During the time I spent at home, the stitches started to heal, turning to a scab of some sorts. When my mom would come to put ointment on it, everyday she would tell me not to pick at it but I started doing what any kids does when they get a scab and started to slowly but surely pick at it. It ended up causing a scar in the end but that was an obvious outcome. On the plus side though, everyone was really nice to me since it happened. One particular moment was when I was laying on the top bunk of me and my younger sister’s bunk bed after I 284

just got back from the hospital. I was just laying on my back staring up at the cream ceilings when my older sister came up to where my head was resting and put a shiny black screen in my view. I’m not sure if I had asked previously, but I felt happy at the moment because I could finally get to use her iPad after almost always getting said no to.

When I went back to school after a week and walked into a lunchroom for breakfast, everything felt kinda surreal. The lunchroom was filled with small elementary school kids walking around, acting silly, and chatting loudly. I just stood in the crowded room watching with tired eyes as one of my friends walked to me and pointed at my band-aid covered nose and asked, “What happened?” I explained to him what happened, and he just nodded then walked away, not asking questions. As the day went on a couple of people came up to me and asked what happened and asked to see my nose. It didn’t bother me that people wanted to know what happened, it just kinda filled me with an airy feeling.

This happening to me never really caused a lot of trauma even though it was traumatic. However, it’s another experience to add to many that I will never forget.

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U N T I T L E D Qyli

Banks

Interviewer: “What would you tell your younger self?”

Me: “I would tell her to focus on herself and it’s okay to start over.”

Interviewer: “Wow that sounds really deep. Do you care to share a background story on why you would give yourself that advice?”

Me: Yeah sure. Let’s just say life in the beginning for me was like an adventure. It was like a treasure hunt with trials and error.

But let’s fast forward to my transition from elementary school.

That was a very difficult transition given the fact that I was transferring from a private school that moved at a slow pace to a charter school that moved very fast and taught more complex topics . . .

To be continued . . .

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U N T I T L E D Sy-Asia

Bazelais

As I sat there dumbfounded, at that moment I knew what I desired to be. I remember this day so vividly. Seventh-grade me walked into my English classroom. As I sat down in the chair next to the window, Ms. Simmons proceeded to explain what we would be doing that day.

“Okay, good morning students. Today we will be analyzing this documentary and writing a paragraph on how we feel about it.”

I thought to myself, “This will be fun.”

As my teacher turned the projector on to play the documentary, I was eager to find out what the documentary was about. Then the time finally came, the documentary When They See Us finally touched the screen, it started out cool. Teenage boys were having fun, but then it turned into a person’s worst nightmare. The unimaginable happened: four teenage boys were falsely accused of the brutal beating and rape of a woman named Patricia Meilli on April 20th, 1989.

I sat there engaged in the screen wanting to know, but I couldn’t because the period was over. It was time for our next class, before I walked out I asked my teacher.

“Will we watch the movie again tomorrow?”

As she was preparing papers for her next class she turned around and replied, “Yes we will, I want you guys to take something away from this documentary by the end of it.”

That night I got home and told my mother all about it.

“Mommy, we have to talk,” I said as I walked into her room after school.

“Okay let’s talk,” she said. As we spoke she began to tell me how she remembers the case, how she thought it was unfair and racist. I asked her how so, but she told me I would have to wait to watch the documentary and see.

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The next day I walked into the classroom, and sat down as quickly as possible. I was excited to watch the movie until I finally realized why my mother said the case was inequitable. The district attorney in the movie Linda Fairstein knew the boys did not commit the crime and still had them arrested and interrogated because they were young African American males living in America.

As she rearranged times and dates on the case to make them look blameworthy, I sat there left open-mouthed, feeling sympathetic, melancholy. I felt angry. But most importantly I felt belittled, belittled as an African American.

That day when I got home I thought to myself, How does that work? From that moment on I decided to become a civil rights attorney, because the people who are supposed to help us get our justice, they snatch it as if we don’t deserve it, as if we are less worthy as African Americans.

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QUARANTINE M A D N E S S Michelle Bonne-Annee

“GIVE ME MY BRUSH BACK!” said my sister Christina after I refused to do her hair.

“As I said, it’s my brush. Your brush broke, and I bought my own!” I started getting frustrated with her yelling in my face.

Then she lunged at me trying to take my brush. I weaved around her and started to get heated.

“USE YOUR OWN BRUSH! I SAID IT WAS MINE!” I screeched.

Christina tried to come at me again, so I slapped her arm away.

“Don’t touch me,” she hissed.

I turned to the basement stairs, ready to leave with my brush.

Then out of nowhere she snuck me and snatched my box braids.

I flew backwards in disbelief and slowly turned around and punched her in the chest. I blacked out and somehow we landed on the floor.

She screamed, “GET OFF!” I ignored her words and slaps, and just continued to plunge my fist into her face. She got a grip on my hair and tried to pull me off of her. “OW! WTF ARE YOU DOING?” I shouted as pain seared through my head. And since she wanted to play dirty I grabbed her hair and started to use it to push her head into the floor, before she flipped us around and started beating back on me.

As we continued fighting on the floor my grandmother came in screaming and called my eldest sister Theressa. “THERESSA COME DOWN YOUR SISTERS ARE FIGHTING! OH MY GOSH, 293

COME QUICK.” Quickly, my sister Theressa started rushing down the stairs in panic. I saw her shadow rushing to us. Then she tried to pry us off of each other.

“GET OFF. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” she said, as she dragged my sister off me.

My grandmother was going crazy with the drama, Theressa was going off on Christina, and at that point I realized this wasn’t a fun two-week break anymore . . .

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I

DESERVE Isabella

Burgos

IT

It’s happened to me before. So I guess you could say I’m used to it. I’m used to being betrayed—or, I guess, feeling like I am being betrayed. There was that time in the fourth grade when my best friend decided that she didn’t like me anymore because her new friends hated me. Or that time when my boyfriend of almost a year switched schools and cheated on me a month later. Yeah. The best part about that one, though, was when I realized that everyone I trusted already knew and just didn’t tell me. I lost ten friends in three days because of that. I was in the 8th grade. And the list goes on. Truly, it does. I could sit here and tell you about them, but that’s embarrassing, and though my tolerance for embarrassment has skyrocketed over the years, I’d really rather not.

I felt the same way in all these situations, that’s one thing I can say for certain. No matter how much I’d grown up in the time periods between these instances, I still felt that pit in my stomach every single time. A pit that was packed to the brim with self-doubt and self-pity. I felt bad for myself. And inevitably, those feelings escalated into that of self-loathing. I hated who I was because I somehow tricked myself into believing that I was at fault for the way other people treated me. I’d simply convinced myself that I deserved it. I deserve every bad thing that happens to me ever is something that I’d grown accustomed to reminding myself every chance that I got. I hated a lot of things about me. I hated myself for hating myself, but I also hated when I’d constantly make excuses for myself simultaneously. It was very very hypocritical of me, and I hated that too.

The only thing that I seemed to actually like was sleeping, when I slept I became Switzerland in a total war. For this reason, I slept a lot, definitely too much to be considered healthy.

My mom had woken me up a few minutes after 4:00 PM. The summer sun was beating through the folding gate that blocked the fire escape. The metal is definitely warm, at least, is the first

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thought that came to my mind. My mother’s voice only registered in my ears after a few moments of harsh, kaleidoscope pattern inducing, eye rubs. After I realized that she was talking, I tuned her out. Unbeknownst to her, I already knew what she was saying. It was the same thing she said every day. Some words along the lines of, “You’ve been in bed for days, you need to get up,” as she’d stand over the side of my bed with her arms propped on her hips.

“Yes mom, I know I have to get up. The only problem is that the mere thought of even having to move my leg an inch is enough to have me crying, please try to understand,” is what I wanted to say. But I didn’t, instead I looked up at her and rolled my eyes slightly in an attempt to push back the pools of salt water that were already making an appearance. Mom didn’t notice, not the tears anyway; I did get a pointed look for the attitude, though.

Deserved.

Later that day I met a girl, Nyland, in the comments of a random TikTok. At the time, I thought we’d talk for maybe a day and then never again. In a few days we moved from the TikTok comment section, to TikTok’s direct messaging, and we eventually traded numbers. And in two months, I was able to safely call this girl my absolute best friend. We’d shared extremely vague personal information, literally just the states in which we lived in before proving to each other that we were actual real people. This was something I was new to, I’d never made friends online before purely because I was extremely paranoid of getting attached to someone who wasn’t who they said they were. I took a chance and, honestly speaking, I have no regrets in doing so. In the time of our friendship, we bonded heavily over our life experiences so far. We talked a lot about our interests and we had a lot in common, liked a lot of the same things.

As we got to know each other more, we were helping each other get back into the rhythm of life. Finally making a good sleeping schedule and eating properly. Nyland and I sometimes talked about personal problems once we got comfortable enough to; this was about seven months into being friends. I’d let her vent about whatever she needed to vent about, and I’d try my best 298

to give her anything I could in return. Whether that be advice or just listening to what she had to say. After a few months I slowly started to realize that our venting conversations were immensely one-sided. I wasn’t reciprocated the same attentiveness that I was giving. Am I bothering her? I’m definitely bothering her. You know what, I just won’t say anything. And I didn’t. I let it be.

Thirteen months after we met, I was in Massachusetts visiting family. I was in my room down in the basement, it was 12:30 in the morning and it was storming heavily outside. The house was elevated about fifteen inches off the ground, so being in the basement meant nothing when the basement had windows right under the ceiling. They were slightly cracked which let the sound of rain falling and the smell of soaked grass and wet pavement flood the room, both of which would have been extremely calming had I not felt like my world was crashing down around me. Something was happening with my dad and I was stressed. All I needed was someone to talk to. So I picked up my phone and texted Nyland, and I explained to her how I felt about the situation with my father, and I told her that I was having a bad day and that I just really needed someone to talk to, to take my mind off of things for a little bit. I waited, one minute, then five, then ten, and finally I got a text back.

I took a deep breath, wiped the tear stains from my cheeks, and I pressed on the notification. I read the text one time, then five, then ten, just to make sure that my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me as they normally did. I realized they weren’t when I closed the app entirely, and opened it again only to see the same words fit together in a single sentence. The same few words that I never in a million years thought would be produced by someone who I’d consider to be so close to.

“I’m just gonna ignore that bcs idk what to say and im not ur therapist.”

My jaw went slack and my bottom lip started to quiver all over again, I felt suffocated. I let my phone drop to my bed with a light thud, not that I was able to hear it over my heart pounding 299

in my ears. My chest was rising and collapsing multiple times in the same second, at an unhealthy speed. I felt so many things at once, what was disbelief turned into sadness, then sadness into anger, and they took turns taking jabs at me.

Picking up my phone, I frantically ended our friendship in a plethora of unnice, but very true, words. I felt like a burden to her, and I finally told her that. I told her what she already knew, that I always did everything in my power to make her feel better about any situation that she talked to me about, whether I’d been in a similar situation or not. I told her that I was sorry for expecting the same energy back when it was obviously too much for her to put any effort into being a good friend. And I also let her know that I was sick and tired of constantly feeling like I had to walk on eggshells around her. That I tried, and tried, and tried to keep quiet and ignore the way she made me feel because I never wanted to make her feel like a horrible person. I let her know that I didn’t care anymore. I hit the blue arrow, sending my text her way, and then I blocked her number as I saw the three dots appear. I decided that I was absolutely not going to give her the opportunity to argue back, because I knew she would. I knew that she was going to try to do everything in her power to turn the situation back on me and I refused to sit there and let that happen. And guess what…I didn’t regret it.

For the first time in my life, I refused to be treated like I was worthless. For the first time I was able to take a step back, look at the situation at hand, and fully realize that I did not deserve this at all. I felt used, as if I were drained of everything I had to offer and left to die. I’d never made online friends before, and this is exactly why. I got attached to Nyland in a way that I never have anyone else, she helped me out of what could have been an extremely scarring depressive state. She helped me feel like I wasn’t alone in a time where I pretty much was. And then months later, she revealed that she really wasn’t the best person to be friends with. Yet, I still don’t regret becoming her friend. She taught me a life lesson, she helped me stop a pattern that was severely harming my mental state and I’m grateful for that. I’m beyond grateful for finally being able to realize that I 300

am, in fact, not a horrible person. It took a while for me to come to terms with the situation, and it took me a while to accept the new betrayal added to my list. No matter how much I claim to be used to it, it still takes a toll on me just as it would on anyone. The difference is that this time, I didn’t even try to put the blame on me. It was like a breath of fresh air, and that is definitely something I deserve.

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THE WORST BEST YEAR OF MY LIFE Shatavia

Clovie

I can really say 2021 was one of the worst but best years of my life. I went through depression. I stood up for what’s right. I lost many people who were close to me. My brother moved out, and me and my mom’s last tear broke. I started to understand what I wanted. I found out who genuinely cared and supported me, and through it all I´m still standing.

It all started in January 2021, when I thought It was going to be the year that I got everything I wanted for my 16th birthday, which was my permitted big party, and to start working. I was studying, filling out job applications, bragging about it to my mom and everything. I couldn’t see anything going wrong.

For months that’s pretty much how everything was, despite little things that were sparking up with my aunt—I mean I wouldn’t call it little, but yeah, that situation was normal then.

But as my birthday was coming up, certain things were getting worse. Me and my mom’s relationship was falling apart, and me and my aunt were getting worse, and I was starting to get to my breaking point. My birthday was not good because she went with us, and after that everything went downhill.

Fast forward to July 2021, I was done. I didn’t care much about anything. School was at the bottom, my priorities came real close to my now godmother. She kept me on my feet, kept me going, was there whenever I needed her, and that touched my heart; but at the time it wasn’t what I needed. I was angry and didn’t know how to face my demons. I ended up going to some people.

To be continued . . .

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U N T I T L E D Arianna

Dixon

His face looked matte, almost like his whole body was covered in makeup. It took us a while to come up there.

We stressed walking up to the open casket. It was as if when we saw him it would be confirmation of reality, the shocking truth that he was really gone. The moment reminded me of a similar moment from when I was little.

When my grandpa died, I was a little girl then. He had an open casket too, and I walked up to it and looked at him. I was confused because he didn’t look the way I’d remembered him to look. I had remembered him to be big and towering, always sitting in the same chair in his apartment when I came to see him.

In the casket he looked skinny and small. When my uncle died, he looked pretty much the same but matte.

When me and my cousin walked up to him, it was like I wanted to look away as quickly as possible but at the same time sit and stare, if only to soak up this last memory/image of him.

It was hard when I just spent time with him weeks before then, and even the day before he had died. A family member who we saw run to the casket sobbing when she came in, had come up to us and apologized for what happened to him, and we told her it was okay. When we walked away and sat down in one of the rows of chairs, videos and pictures played near his casket.

We sat near the back but not too far down since it wasn’t a huge place. You could hear sobs from the front where my grandparents, mom, aunt, and uncle sat, as well as other people comforting my grandma. As the videos played, people laughed, remembering how bright he was, always being the one making jokes and making everyone laugh. Me and my cousins watched and watched as people came in and looked at his casket. Some people shouted and cried when seeing him and even hurried to see him to make sure it was real. Eventually me and two of my cousins, all of us in the same age range, decided to go outside

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where more of our family was standing.

When we got outside, we said something like, “I felt like I was about to cry just sitting there.”

“Exactly . . .” Not in a sad way, even though that was the underlying feeling but with smiles and casually.

We talked and teased as usual, none of us being good at just sitting in uncomfortable situations or confronting things head on.

My cousins and I decided to go to a park nearby. We usually did this at family parties/gatherings, going outside and walking around. We acted as we usually did and passed a football around at the park as well as getting ice from an ice cart. We occasionally talked about what we were all really there for.

Saying, “It’s crazy how we were literally just with him,” and I asked for more details on what happened the night he was hit since I couldn’t bring myself to ask my parents for more details.

At least not when I had to hear my mom crying every day, even randomly at night.

When we got back to the funeral parlor I talked to my dad outside. We walked together down the block. He asked me how I was doing and he told me more about what had happened.

When we walked back to the funeral parlor lots of people were still outside.

We were all wearing black pants and a white shirt, with my grandparents/close family wearing sports jerseys, since my uncle liked to wear them.

I talked to people in my family that I hadn’t talked to or seen in months, maybe years. My godfather apologized to me, saying he hadn’t been a good godfather the way he should have, as when I was smaller I saw him a lot more.

When my cousins and I went to the back, behind the casket and rows of chairs, there were black couches against the walls and some of our family members were sitting. I had started to get tired since my sleep schedule was ruined, and I stayed up through the night and slept in the morning. I had been drag306

ging myself awake all day and my lack of sleep was starting to get to me. Eventually when it took everything to force my eyelids open I put my head down on the couch but around my arms where nobody would see that i’m sleeping but might think that my head was down from crying. Sleep took me and I woke up later on and went outside where my cousins were.

Our conversation went something like this, “Oh you were sleeping, I thought your head was down cuz you were crying.”

“No, I was mad tired.”

Later on, everyone came inside, where a pastor did a prayer which was kind of weird for me since I had not gone to church or actually prayed since I was little.

By the end of the day, when the sky was dark but the area was lit with lights, our close family lingered.

After going to the park and playing football with my cousins, even going to Dunkin’ Donuts and the store in the middle of everything, I thought about how life had kept moving around us. It was crazy to think about the way something tragic could happen to a family, but yet when you walked outside, the cars would still be moving, there would still be life happening around us anyways.

I wondered about how much my little cousin might even remember of his dad who had died too soon. He was only six, and usually memories from when you’re that young often feel vague.

We’re all young, the newer generation of our family are all teens or small, so I thought about how we all might remember it. In the moment everything always feels like it would feel the same way forever, but then years later when you look back everything always feels distant and far away. Would this be the same way, certain to feel immemorial no matter how close I hold it throughout the years?

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THE SCARED CUB Kayla Hernandez

My whole life, I felt like I was a cub who was in need of protection. I wouldn’t know how to defend myself or even throw a straight punch. I partly think that’s my father’s fault for not teaching me how to fight, but I also believe I’m just not capable of hurting another living thing.

“Don’t allow anyone to bully you. Kayla, you better speak up for yourself,” my father said to me with so much anger as I walked out the door. Leaving me with a thought of finding someone who would willingly defend me.

“YES,” I say to myself while gazing at this tall caramel-skinned boy with big juicy lips. This was going to be my big vicious bear who would growl at anyone that came near me. Ever since third grade, I had the biggest crush on Isaiah, and yeah, at the time, he was way shorter than me, but damn he had the biggest glow up. His perfect skin and beautiful hair made me forever blush when he came near me. His cute dimples and bright infectious smile made my heart skip a million beats under one second.

There was a big problem though, my best friend also had a big crush on him, but she was just recently transferred to the school five months ago. We would always compete to see who he likes more but we never figured it out due to the fact that he gave us both the same attention. He was the most confusing subject in our lives. We both agreed to not letting any boy come between our friendship, but I guess she didn’t respect that decision. Samantha the biggest, meanest two faced a-hole in the world. A condescending hood rat that betrays her friends. She went behind my back and took Isaiah on a date to the ice cream truck. Ice cream truck? I know right, even I could have taken him on a better date. How about the movies and then Frozen Planet?

Anyways, that hot and sunny afternoon I told her to come over to my place so we could do homework together. Mind you she has no clue I know she went on a date. As I waited for her to 309

come over I began thinking of ways I can approach her about the situation. I even thought about her sitting in my room and I would just sneak attack while she’s doing homework. Ooooh how I would love to see her cry so she can feel the way I’m feeling. I even thought of ripping up her essay she’s been writing for two days straight and then blaming it on my dog Teddy. But nah, I didn’t do it, my dog is the sweetest, and I wouldn’t wanna mess with how people view his little fluffy self. Well, my ideas were all bad, so instead I decided to hold it in and just wait to see if she would confess. Ding dong, the bell rings as I run in supersonic speed towards the door and open it slowly. There she was, my supposed best friend standing at the door with her black backpack in white shorts and a pink tank top.

“Hey girl, I brought you some candy we can eat together,” she says to me with the fakest smile.

“Girl you know I love candy,” I responded.

We walk together to my room and begin talking about work. As she’s explaining the math to me, I stare at her with such disappointment. Is she ever going to own up? I think in my head. The whole time she was at my house, not one confession and that filled me with rage. I’m such a beautiful person, I could have let it slide but she wants to be a big fat ugly liar so no. I stood up in front of her with my hands on my hips and my eyes directly on her.

“So are you going to tell me about the Isaiah situation or are you going to continue acting fake?” I ask her.

“Acting fake? Who’s acting fake? And what situation is there?

He asked me on a date so I said yes,” she responded with such ignorance.

“Okay but we both agreed to not letting him come between us.

We’re best friends Samantha and it hurts that you’re hiding this from me. I really liked him. Plus, I have known him for years, which is way longer than knowing him for five months,” I respond in a disappointed voice.

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you, deal with it,” she told me.

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I was stunned to speak. Did I just hear that correctly? Are my ears messing with me, or did she just tell me to deal with it? My blood began to boil as my fist became tighter and tighter till I felt my nails denting my skin.

“Get the hell out of my house before I put you in your place,” I responded.

“Fine,” she says as she walks out of my room and towards the front door. She turns around and says, “You know you’ve known him for years right? Don’t you think if he had the slightest interest in you he would have shown it already?”

Damn, I’m not going to lie, that kind of hurt because she was right. “Samantha, just leave and don’t come up to me in school.

We’re no longer friends,” I responded.

She looks at me and rolls her eyes “K bye,” she says while walking away. As I closed the door my heart dropped, what did I just do? Was that a mistake? My head is pounding as my thoughts gather together and form a tornado. Was he worth it? I continued thinking as I tossed my books around my room, finally throwing myself on the bed. Urgh the situations I put myself in, I say to myself while putting my hand on my forehead. Wrapping myself like a burrito with my blanket, ten minutes later after overthinking, I’m finally asleep.

The next day, Monday, June 10th, my father wakes me up with cold water all over me.

I scream “AHHHHHHHH” as I try covering myself head to toe with my blanket. It didn’t work, I was completely soaked. “DADDY” I scream at him. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING,” I say with a loud voice and an attitude.

“WAKE UP FOR SCHOOL,” he says to me with a playful voice.

He then begins to destroy my closet looking for my uniform.

“Look here, go in the shower and put this on, you’re going to be late” he says to me.

“SHOWER?” I responded. “You literally just took me a shower,” I said, rolling my eyes.

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“Hurry up before your uniform gets wet as well,” he says to me while holding a tilted cup of cold water over my head. I ran to the bathroom and locked the door behind me.

Breathing out and sighing, “Urgh, why god why, why me?” I say while taking off my cold-soaked clothing. I mumble under my breath as I get into the shower. “I hate life,” I say, irritated.

Twenty minutes past and I’m out of the shower, already ready for school. My father passes me the lunch he prepares every morning. I look inside the bag and gasp. “ PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH, EW,” I say disgusted and so close to throwing up because of the smell of peanut butter. “Daddy you know I hate this,” I said.

“Well I have an appointment so it was something quick. It’s not that bad, stop over-exaggerating,” he says. I don’t think he remembers what happened the last time I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I threw up all over the place, the walls, the floor, and the toilet. It’s disgusting and the smell is so foul. I walk out the door and as I walk down the stairs I see a trash can.

“Well honey boo boo, I’m definitely not eating you ever,” I say to my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, throwing it away. I continue walking towards school when I see Isaiah in the front entrance. “Damn what am I supposed to do now?” I say out loud to myself. I put my hood on and my head down trying to hide my face.

“Kayla?” he says. Freak, he spotted me.

“Yes,” I respond while lifting my head up slightly just enough to see his lips.

“Uh, so I like you, and I want to know would you go out with me?” he nervously asks me.

“Me?” I say while surprised by his question.

“Yeah,” he says.

“Sure, I’ll go out with you” I responded while stuttering. He smiles at me and my heart begins to feel warm. Oh, how long I 312

have waited for this moment. We walk into the school together holding hands as everyone stares at us. Walking into the playground I see Samantha grilling me as if she resented me.

“I’m going to the bathroom okay,” Isaiah says to me.

“Yeah, okay don’t be long,” I respond. As Isaiah walks away, Samantha gets closer and closer. I see her coming my way so I go up the playground stairs and decide to act like I don’t see her.

“KAYLA,” she says with anger while pointing at me. “You’re a basic little thot, so desperate for attention,” she says to me while standing directly in front of me.

“What is your problem, mad I stole what was never yours, huh?”

I respond. She rushes towards me, pushing me down the steps.

Confused and shocked, I land on my two arms while I hear one crack. With the little bit of strength I have left, I drag myself off the stairs and under the playground while crying because I can’t move my arm. My arm is numb, no movement, just pain as if it was chopped off. I cry in silence all alone, no words able to come out of my mouth. People start to notice and surround me.

“Kayla Kayla what happened?” my friend Emmanuel asks.

“Kayla you okay?” my friend Darieli asks. The other kids run to the teachers and tell them I was crying under the playground.

Two teachers run towards me asking what happened but don’t receive a response.

“Kayla, you have to tell me what happened if you want my help,” Ms. Hazel says.

“I fell” I respond while sobbing in pain.

“Come let’s take you to the nurse,” Ms. Hazel says as she hugs me, guiding me to the nurses office.

“What happened to her?” the nurse says.

“She said she fell,” Ms. Hazel responds.

“Where?” the nurse says.

“I’m not sure, she hasn’t told me,” Ms. Hazel says.

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“Kayla what exactly happened?” the nurse asks me.

“I tripped on my shoe lace and fell down the stairs and landed on my arm” I say while still sobbing. The nurse then calls the ambulance and then contacts my parents. I can hear my dad’s panicked voice over the phone as the nurse explains to him what happened.

Twelve minutes later, after patiently waiting in pain, the ambulance arrives and takes me straight to the hospital. I am lost, my parents weren’t with me so I am very scared. The paramedics speak to me but I am in space, so they don’t get any response.

We arrive at the hospital as they take me in on a gurney. The doctor grabs my arm and tries to pop it back in place but my arm wasn’t dislocated. I go through five minutes of extreme pain until the doctor decides to do an X-ray. On the table, I lay down sobbing while the machine can see every bone in my body. The doctor finally notices my arm is not dislocated but fractured. The pain I felt for NO REASON, FOR FIVE MINUTES STRAIGHT. That was horrible and I never want to experience that feeling again.

My parents finally arrive and hug me, asking me what happened and how. I don’t know what to tell them. I don’t want Samantha getting in trouble, instead I want revenge on my own. I want to make her years miserable as we continue going to school together. I tell my parents that my lace was loose and I tripped down the stairs landing on my right arm. They looked so disappointed in my answer, I thought they wouldn’t have believed me but they do. As I get my sling put on, my dad takes a picture of me while laughing. I was just so confused. Does he like seeing me in pain?

Anyways the doctor gave me a note saying I couldn’t attend in person school for a few months and instead would have to do online work due to the fact that I couldn’t write unless my right arm was back to normal. When I was fully recuperated I ended up going back to school and everyone was so glad to see me again after three months. Yeah, I was happy to be back but I really only wanted to see one person. Samantha, the worst 314

person on earth. She was nowhere to be found so I started asking around and one of the teachers told me she transferred to another school. I was stunned, wow she’s the biggest punk there is. Why intentionally try to kill me then leave so you won’t get caught. Anyways, I ended up becoming a loner and I actually loved my peace and quiet. Samantha made me realize a friend is just a title. It doesn’t mean they actually love and care for you.

Friends come and go, it’s better to be alone because you are the only one who can have your back. You are your own friend.

Author Bio: Great kindness and respect doesn’t always come in return. Realizing you are the only person who has your own back is key. This will make life easier and cause less drama. I myself, Kayla Hernandez have noticed that being a loner isn’t all that bad. There’s quiet, peace, and happiness that no one can take away with gossip or drama. Defend yourself and always be brave, it will pay off in the long run. You are as strong as you want to be, just believe.

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TWO YEARS AGO Roselyn

Hernandez

It really has been two years, hasn’t it? I miss it all but here we go. Going back, remembering it all, just so that I remember you aren’t bad. I remember it, and hope I did more to stop you from leaving, so I wouldn’t be the way I am now. I remember it was a Thursday because Mom was home since it was her day off from work. She was cleaning like she always does when she’s home.

She was sweeping and then there was a knock, I didn’t think much about it. I was doing school on my bed with my computer in front of me, with Zoom open. I was just listening to the teacher but I wanted to go back to sleep. The next thing I hear is my mom yelling to me from the front door.

“Roselyn, someone is here for you”.

I was thinking, What, someone is here for me? Who would possibly be here for me? While walking towards the front door, I looked and it was him. My dad, who I hadn’t seen for a few weeks, at least two weeks. I started to cry and I went up and gave him a hug. I was thinking, Where has he been? Does he notice that I was hurt while he was gone? Gosh, the tears kept falling. And I just kept crying while my parents were talking.

Then he asks, “Do you want to hang out with me on Sundays again?”

Without hesitation, I nodded my head yes. Of course, I want to.

I mean he has been the nicest person to me out of all my family.

And well, Sundays are his only days off. Then he left and I didn’t see him till Sunday.

When he came on Sunday, I met people I didn’t expect to meet.

I never knew about them. I remember he came to the door, knocked, and told me, “Let’s go.”

We then walked downstairs and went towards his car. I was going to the front seat where I always sat but saw someone was there and there was someone in the back seat too. So I got into 317

the back seat and sat next to someone I had never seen or heard of before. I then learned from my dad that the one in the front seat is his girlfriend.

He said, “Roselyn, this is my girlfriend.”

My face had a smile as I said “Hi” to her but there was nothing happy about what I just heard. I mean, sure, he could have a girlfriend. He has had them before and I knew them, but this one was different. Remember how I said before that I hadn’t seen him in a few weeks? At least two weeks? I think that you could make a guess why I don’t like his girlfriend and if not then it’s because I think she didn’t let him see me those two weeks. I assume that he told her about me and she didn’t like the idea of someone else being his attention. Also, at the end of the story, you will see why I don’t like his girlfriend. Then I learned who the one next to me was and my heart broke more than it did the time I heard about his girlfriend.

He said, “Roselyn, this is my girlfriend’s daughter.”

I was thinking,You’re joking, right? This can’t be. No, no way. I looked at the little girl as she seemed cold, as if I wasn’t anything to her. She paid no attention to me. I mean she was young, I don’t know how young but for sure, not older than 4. I think he told me their names, but even if he did, I don’t remember them. And I find it better not to know them. After I learned who they were, off we went to go eat. We went to IHOP. We got a table and ordered. During the car ride to IHOP, getting to the seats, and ordering, nothing much that was important was said.

But as I was eating, my dad’s girlfriend asked me a question that I can’t really clearly remember but I know it shattered my heart.

She said, “How do you feel about your dad becoming the dad of my daughter?”

I froze but I felt like I had to answer fast so all I said was “Okay.”

OKAY, REALLY THAT’S ALL YOU COULD SAY ROSELYN. STOP LYING, YOU HATE THE IDEA OF THAT. HE’S YOUR DAD AND YOUR DAD ONLY. YOU’RE HIS ONLY BLOOD DAUGHTER. 318

NO, NO! TELL HER YOU HATE THE IDEA. HOW DARE SHE SAY THAT IN FRONT OF HIM. THESE REALLY ARE THE FIRST WORDS SHE SAID TO ME. I HATE HER. I HATE HER SO MUCH MORE THAN BEFORE. AND HE SAYS NOTHING ABOUT IT REALLY. UGH, I JUST WANT TO BEAT HER UP. But you can’t, Roselyn. He wouldn’t like that. You just have to deal with it. Those were my thoughts. All that I could do was to continue to eat even if I didn’t want anymore because my mood was destroyed.

Drinking my last sips of hot chocolate as the trees swayed outside, my dad paid and we left. He took me home and I didn’t see him until next Sunday. We spent a couple more Sundays together—me, him, his girlfriend, and her daughter. But I never felt like I was wanted there. When we hung out, my dad was just always around his girlfriend and her daughter, but me? I never felt like I belonged there, like, this isn’t my family, which it wasn’t, but I mean in the way of, like, he isn’t my dad anymore, and I’m not his daughter. I would always walk behind them and have my head down saying no words, just being there.

I knew she didn’t even like me because once my dad picked me up, and she wasn’t there. He went to where they lived and basically begged her to come with us, probably so that we could get along, but she would argue that she wouldn’t want to. Her daughter, though, seemed like she was okay with me. I remember when my dad’s girlfriend was forced to come along with us, her daughter ran up to the car smiling. While she was in the car seat she would smile at me. I was okay with her too, but I felt like she replaced me. She did, but it’s not her fault.

One Sunday he texted me at 10:39 AM. The texts went like this: Dad: Hi mami (Yes, Mexican parents call their daughters the Spanish word for mom. I don’t know why…)

Me: Oh, hi.

I wasn’t expecting him to text me yet. We would always hang out 319

around 12:00 PM if I remember correctly.

Dad: ¿Cómo estás? ¿Qué haces?

Me: I’m good I’m doing nothing, just watching YouTube.

Dad: Good Me: ¿Y usted?

Dad: Yo estoy trabajando Me: Oh Okay Dad: Sí, ya trabajo domingo también Me: Oh, todo los días ahora And that’s it. It wasn’t something new. He has worked in the same place for years now, and what I know is he still works there, because my brother works there too. It sucks that my brother gets to see him. I want to ask him all the time about how my dad is doing, but I know if I do, he won’t really have anything to tell me. He only says hi to him when they pass by each other. We made a joke about it last time. I was laughing so 320

hard tears were coming out of my eyes, but from crying because it hurt that I didn’t get to at least say hi to him. But back to what I was saying. It really wasn’t anything new, so I thought, oh we’ll hang out again when he doesn’t have to work Sundays anymore.

So I waited till the next Sunday where we would see each other, but the next Sunday didn’t come. The last conversation I ever had with him ended with me just saying okay through text. I didn’t even get to say goodbye. He was taken from me. By her.

His girlfriend probably just didn’t like me so she made him choose between me or her and well, he chose her. This is why going back to my first sentence it’s been two years since I have last seen or talked to my dad. Going through this type of change is hard for me. Now on Sunday, I stay home doing nothing at all.

Remembering the fun memories with him and crying myself to sleep at night.

I feel betrayed. He is probably just doing the same things with his girlfriend’s daughter and it hurts. Buying her the things she wants, like he bought me all the things I wanted before. I saw a picture of them, and it hurt. He was smiling. I knew a day like this would come where he left, but I tried to give myself hope he wouldn’t leave, and I’m just overthinking.

It sucks, because I feel jealous of my sister. He isn’t her biological dad but he raised her since she was a baby. She got a Sweet Fifteen and she got to do the father and daughter dance with him, but not me. I just had a regular fifteenth birthday without my dad. He missed two of my birthdays. He’s gonna miss three this year and who knows how many more birthdays he’ll miss. I guess I just have to see how I’ll grow from now. Will I get over it and not care about my dad anymore, or will I just live on feeling pain without him?

Now you know what happened two years ago. Now you know why I hate my dad’s girlfriend. And now you know how my life changed.

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CHRISTMAS RUSH Maya

Jodah

It was Saturday, December 25, 2021. Christmas day. Me, Travis, and Tanya cleaned up the living room before my mom came to the house. A lot was happening that day because we all had to shower. Since it’s only one bathroom, we only had a few minutes each.

My aunt Sasha was already bathing the babies in the sink while Travis took out the trash. My dad was still sleeping. My mom usually took a while to come because she said she needed to do things before she came here. I took a look outside, and it wasn’t snowing. It would have been cool if it did.

I texted all my friends and told them “Merry Christmas.” I went to my room and got my clothes ready, so when Tanya was done I’d go shower. Fifteen minutes later, I was done showering, and I got ready. I put my hair in a ponytail, put my outfit on. It was 6:37 PM, and my mom said she was on her way here.

When she got here, Serana, her daughter, was a little shy to come inside because it had been a while since she was here.

Travis hugged her and took the gifts my mom had in her hands and put them by the Christmas tree. Sasha was in the kitchen cooking when I came out of my room. It smelled like baked cookies and baked chicken. I went to the TV and put some Christmas music on and everyone liked it. Sasha came with Tavon and Tavaris to the living room and let my mom hold one of them, while I held the second baby. The babies were wearing Santa outfits, and Tanya was wearing all black. A couple of minutes later we started to open the gifts. I had gotten an Apple Watch, clothes, gift cards, and money.

“THANKS FOR THE GIFTS,” said everyone to my mom.

Travis had gotten a hoodie, sweatpants that matched the hoodie, gifts, and money. Tanya had gotten clothes and money. This year we really didn’t get a lot of stuff because we didn’t know what we wanted. My mom wanted Dunkin Donuts so me and

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Travis went to get her iced coffee because that’s what she wanted. After we went back home my mom helped me pair my Apple Watch to my phone. It took a while, like an hour.

“Mom, are you already leaving?” I said, upset.

“Maya, you know I need to get home before it gets too dark,” Mom said with a bit of anger.

So by the time she was done helping me with the Apple Watch, she had to go. Everyone was a little upset because they thought my mother was gonna stay, but she said she had to go. After she left we cleaned up the living room before going to sleep and threw away the gifting paper from the gifts we had opened up.

“I liked the gifts my mom had gotten me,” I said, facing Tanya.

“Yeah, same. I really wanted money so thank god, your mom gave it to me,” Tanya said with a joyful voice.

My dad was in the kitchen with my Sasha. Travis went into his room. It was 10:42 PM, and I felt a little tired, so I changed my clothes and put away everything that I had gotten. I checked social media since I wasn’t on my phone. When my mom left, I felt a little upset because I just feel like she only comes on holidays to spend time, but barely. Last Christmas, I believe my mom wasn’t here. This year, Christmas hit differently.

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BEST FRIEND Joya

Khalil

7 years ago…

The day we made eye contact and spoke to each other, I knew something would bloom.

Her hair was wavy in an up-do, and she was wearing a floral dress. My long hair was tied up, and I was wearing a light blue uniform.

“You’re so annoying, can you please be quiet.”

“I didn’t even do anything, what are you talking about!?”

As elementary kids, we argued and hated one another. Yells and harsh insults were the only things spoken between us. Enemies are what you would call us. A duo that worked together but hated one another.

The fresh crisp clean air of the classroom washed on my face.

Assigned seats were given to us. When working together, it was easy to slip away from how we really were. Outside of the workspace was a different story. Our classmates described us as frenemies. We worked so well together but pushed away one another, like magnets that attract and pull.

Today was different. We stayed together the whole day. No quarrels, just peace. It was like a whiff of fresh air hit my face. It was comforting and left a cozy feeling of how close we became that day forward. She was the quiet introverted type, while I would be described as an optimistic type. We’re different, yet complement each other well. A spark ignited that made this friendship grow stronger.

Quite a surprise from where we started to how it’s continuing.

I still remember the small notes we passed to each other, the quiet laughs and giggles we held when the class was quiet. The delicious, sugary sweet cake we baked.

Present-day: we still laugh, throw insults at each other like

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nothing has changed. We grew, matured, but still are those same elementary kids at heart. All the memories created between us were moments never forgotten. You never know what any sort of communication can lead to.

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FEAR OFTEN LEADS TO ENJOYMENT Rifat

Khan

“I’m never listening to y’all again,” I said while losing my breath, trying to get a word out. While everyone laughed, I started enjoying the moment. I realized it wasn’t that bad and I was exaggerating it all.

We were all there. It was me, my brother, his girlfriend, my uncle, my aunt, her husband, and her two little kids. We took a trip to Orlando to have fun. It was early morning and the sun was beaming. We all wore shorts and t-shirts. My outfit was nice that day. I had on some orange shorts with a white tee and an orange bucket hat with a yellow smiley face in the middle.

To end the outfit off, I wore Adidas Human Races with yellow and orange laces. Nobody that day could compare to what I was wearing. I was comfortable, and I was looking nice.

When the day started my brother’s girlfriend asked excitedly, “RIFAT, you ready to do this?!”

“Yeah, of course I am,” I replied anxiously.

Adding to the conversation my brother said, “Rifat not getting on anything today. He be scared.”

“Well we all know you not going on the rides being that short,” I said. Everybody started laughing.

“Ok, come on we gotta go now,” my Aunt Ruma said, turning serious.

When we arrived at the place, we were stressed over getting in.

The long lines to enter the parking lot were even bad. So, finally, we parked and went in. The lines were even longer. I almost got lost with my uncle because we went to the bathroom and everybody left us. At this point, I was ready to finally go in. But, with our luck, people got stopped by security, so the line was 331

delayed even more. After a while, we finally got to the end of the line. Finally, I stepped into Disney World.

Being outside felt refreshing after being in a long line. But, even though we were all excited, my aunt’s five-year-old daughter was in a bad mood. We all tried to fix her attitude, but it was not working. I was mad at the fact that her parents wouldn’t be able to have fun because their daughter was acting like this. Reminds me to never have kids. That wasn’t going to stop me from having fun though.

On the first ride we went on, my brother’s girl told me, “Don’t worry it’s not fast. It doesn’t have loops.”

“Brit, you better not be lying. I’m trusting you,” I said excitedly.

Little did I know I shouldn’t have trusted her. We all agreed that we were going on this ride.

“I’m gonna feed my baby Lina and watch after my kids,” my Aunt Ruma said. None of us wanted to leave her behind, but it is what it is.

We went and waited in line, and I was excited. I really wanted to go on this ride now. It had a big guitar in the front right when you entered. I remember the line was so long, we waited for about forty minutes. To be honest, I didn’t even know what ride we were going on, but I looked closely at the guitar and there it was: Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith.

The line started getting shorter, and going through the building to get to the ride was pretty nice. There was a studio, and I remember I acted like I was going to sing. My feet start to cramp up, even though this was the first ride we went on. At this point, I was just ready for the ride.

Now, we finally entered where you’re supposed to go on the ride. Still, the line was a little long, but we were right there.

When I saw how fast the ride was taking off, I started getting anxious. I started regretting every moment of getting on this line. I saw people going inside the coaster waiting for it to take off.

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“3,2,1, GO!” Screams were all I heard when the coaster took off.

As my heart beat out of my chest, “You good, Rifat?” my brother asked.

“Bro no, I’m not. Ya girl lied to me,” I said while looking at her in her face.

As my family was talking to each other, I was telling myself It’s going to be okay. I’m fine, I can do this. It’s just a simple ride. This will be my first roller coaster that’s fast, but she said there’s no loops, so I’m gonna be fine. Well, I thought I would be.

My anxiety started acting up now. I started breathing in and out while getting on the ride. I sat next to my Uncle Ashraf. My brother and Brit sat in front of us and my Aunt’s husband Luke sat behind us with a random person. I was on the right side of the ride while Ashraf was on the left. My brother was right in front of me. The ride slowly started going to the starting place.

I was regretting everything right then. Music was playing in my ears, I wanted it to stop. I wanted to get off but it’s too late.

Brit told me, “Relax, you’ll be okay.”

I was ignoring everything at that point. I didn’t want anyone to talk to me. I wanted the music to stop, and I wanted to get off.

To be continued . . .

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(MY) INNER MONOLOGUE Natalie Khemlal

January 12th, 2022, Wednesday You are standing at the bus stop. Alone.

So far, you’ve lied to your mom about going to the store because the bus was taking forever, even though you purposely let the first one pass you by. You’ve wandered around the treelined neighborhood near your school and walked to the second bus stop down the same block to help yourself feel a little less stupid about looking hopelessly lost. Back at the same bus stop from where you previously stood, you wait.

You know this area.

So why is it that the most wrenching anxiety has been kicking you in the gut since you heard they were coming to pick you up? You’d think that over the years, you would’ve learned to get used to it, knowing it won’t be going away anytime soon. Your hands are becoming increasingly red and frozen by the minute. Your face is now pale-ish and frigid. Your mask isn’t really helping. Deciding to keep it on anyway, you don’t pity yourself, you’ve learned not to.

Waiting was never a specialty of yours, but you remain patient.

Something in your black coat, keeping only the upper part of you warm, rings – your phone.

The same ringtone you’ve had since 7th grade is going off. You don’t think you will ever change it, considering it’s a piece of nostalgia you have left, often taking it for granted.

Call from: Clyde <3 Answering, on the other line, you hear the sounds of bustling people and other cars and trucks and all sorts of different vehi-

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cles passing by.

“Where are you guys?” You speak into the phone distressed, forcing your already cold hand to come out of its pocket.

Today, school ends at 1:00 in the afternoon. Now it is nearly 2:00. You feel yourself growing tenser by the second.

You should have left.

You know better.

Better enough to know that you should have gone home a long time ago.

You are nervous.

Almost as if Clyde absorbs your anxiousness through the phone, they tell you that they’re almost there. He hands the phone off to Luna, hoping to help preoccupy you with senseless conversations. Amidst the chatty background, your ears are hinged on the voice of one person, Luna. Knowing Clyde and Luna for nearly five years, you don’t think they’ll ever begin to comprehend how inexpressibly good it feels to know that you have secure people in your life. You’re forever grateful for how they manage to keep you distracted, especially when you need it the most. ***** Wrapping up exchanged conversations filled with a whole ton of nothing, Clyde tells you, “We’ll call you when we get there, my phone’s on nine percent!”

“Okay, I’ll wave for you when I see you!” Laughing, you hang up as you wait. ***** After some time, you begin to see someone in a red, comic-looking puffer jacket, along with a red, blue, and green hat.

Someone else with a black coat and hair dyed light brown walked alongside them.

You know these appearances all too well.

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Hand in the air, you begin to wave frantically. You’re met with the most eager faces running towards you, reaching for a warm embrace.

You reach back, clasping onto them as if it is the last time you’ll ever see each other, feeling whole again. It’s been too long since you’ve last seen them. You take this moment in.

Suddenly you don’t care about how foolish you looked wandering around the neighborhood you think you know too well.

Suddenly it’s not a chilly winter day in the middle of January, where your legs are so numb and cold they feel like they could fall off. Suddenly you don’t care about how red or how cold your hands are. Suddenly the most excruciating anxiety hasn’t been eating you alive. Suddenly you are comforted, and suddenly you feel a sense of certainty in life. You feel alright.

You are standing at the bus stop, embracing the people you will always love most.

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C R E A T I O N Dymel

Lisman

“What is your favorite thing to do?”

The dreaded question my third-grade teacher, Mrs. Weinstein, asked the class.

As I looked around the room, hearing the orchestra of voices create their symphonies of oohs and aahs, their hands raising and waving in unison as if they were the conductors, I just sat there.

I was stuck.

I never liked to talk to people, still don’t. I’d prefer to talk to vampires, ranting to me about their keto diets. I’d prefer to talk to werewolves, scheduling their monthly grooming.

I’d prefer to talk to wizards and witches, teaching me their spells. Teaching me how to brew their favorite potions and elixirs.

I’d prefer to talk to death, telling me about the “Karen” that refused to pass on.

I’d prefer to talk to myself, and the characters I create, pen to pad. Making them battle dinosaurs, and go on quests. Making them an ally of the Troll People.

Having them meet gods and goddesses, deities even the strongest couldn’t fathom.

Showing them worlds full of dragons and knights, or fairies and elves.

Helping them venture through dangerous, mysterious lands.

Having them make new friends and enemies.

I couldn’t answer that question that day.

But if I could go back in time, the day that question was asked.

The day that my fears came to life.

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I wouldn’t be scared anymore.

“What is your favorite thing to do?” The dreaded question my third-grade teacher, Mrs. Weinstein, asked the class.

“Create.”

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THE SCAR Kimora

Negron

Picture this: A tall, 5-foot-4, teenage girl with long black hair and a scar over her left eye. Yep, that’s me. Just an average teen who has literally no friends. People always question my scar, but I don’t really like to open up about my past. My mother always used to say I was unique, one-of-a-kind, and, in some way, different from others. But that’s what she loved most about me. My mom was a spitting image of me. Long black hair, a smiley personality and beautiful eyes—they were hazel, almost golden. And she had a scar just like mine on her arm; I always thought it was a birthmark but it looked very questionable. She was so beautiful.

I was born with her same traits except one of my eyes was hazel and one was bluish-green. I had a bright personality, always happy and happy while caring for others before myself at the same time. I got it from her. She used to remind me everyday that I was beautiful; she never let my smile fade away. We would play in the backyard all day and lay in the grass until the sun set. She picked me up and we would go for ice cream and play in the park after school every day. It was the best time I ever had in my life.

But one day, when I was in tenth grade, I was waiting for my mom to appear as I waited in the playground with all the other kids while they were waiting to get picked up. I waited and waited and waited, but she never came. Finally, after an hour went by, my dad came and picked me up. It was kind of odd.

He was never around or at home. He always worked. So it was really just me and Mom all the time. But she never missed a day to pick me up from school. As I got in the car, I felt kind of worried. We drove home in silence.

“Dad, is there something wrong?” I asked as I glared over at him. He looked kinda worried. He said nothing. Knowing that he stood quiet meant something was really wrong. I tried not to worry about it much but the thought of it nagged me. We

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finally arrived at our destination after twenty minutes, but we weren’t home. We were at the hospital. Me and my dad both got out of the car and walked toward the entrance of the hospital.

He asked the people at the front desk a question and soon as he gave a name and date of birth, my heart dropped. I ran as fast as I could to the room number that was given.

“MOM!” I said with shortness of breath. It was my mother. She laid in the hospital bed with pale skin. I was completely hopeless without my mother. She meant everything to me. I was completely lost without her. I stood by her side with a look of sorrow. I looked into her beautiful hazel eyes—they were shining from the glare of light.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” I said, looking confused.

Mom tried to respond back but she just looked at me and grabbed my hand. Before I could say anything else, I left the room and let her rest. The air turned black all around me as I walked down the cold hospital halls. I decided to take the bus home. My dad stood with my mom for a while. As I stared through the bus window, I thought back to one of my best memories: I am standing in a perfectly pristine kitchen. The counter tops are covered in flour. She stands at them, waiting for me. She’s rolling out the cookie dough in deep, even strokes, like the ocean kissing the beach. Her soft humming fills the kitchen with love. Her hands lift me up; I’m in a navy blue sundress with little yellow sunflowers on it.

“Here, sweetie,” she hands me an apron and I lift my little arms obediently to her. She ties it around my waist. A little teddy bear clutching a rolling pin in one soft, brown paw is splashed across my tummy. And beside me, she rolls. I watch the muscles in her taut arms ripple with the pressure. The sunlight makes the sugar glisten and sparkle like glitter. The room smells sweetly of the confections we are working so diligently to create. She smiles at me and gestures toward the cookie cutters. I will always remember that day; it meant a lot to me.

The bus stopped in front of my house and I got off and crossed the street. I arrived home and dropped my bag. I picked up my 344

phone and looked at the screen reflecting toward my face and glared at my scar. Soon, I fell asleep. I awoke the next morning to fifteen missed calls from my dad. I quickly jumped up and got dressed. Before I could even leave through the front door, someone knocked. I opened it and it was dad.

“Dad, what are you doing here? I was just about to come and meet you,” I exclaimed.

He looked downhearted. “Hunny, we need to talk,” he said as he walked in. We sat down and he sat on Mom’s favorite couch as he looked down at the ground. His hands slid down the arm of the chair as he sighed. Then, I started to realize what was happening.

“Dad, what’s wrong, where’s Mom?” I said in panic.

He looked at me, in shock. He began to talk. “Your mother’s been hiding this from us for a while now, but she wanted you to know, she’s been sick for a while now.”

I stopped him. “Sick . . . how . . . ?”, my palms were getting sweaty.

“She was diagnosed with cancer when you were four but she didn’t want us to worry about her, she just wanted to raise you with a happy life. But one day, something happened—it stayed with her for life. One day she was cooking and you were helping her out in the kitchen, she was boiling water on the stove, a stirring spoon had then fallen. You and your mother reached to get it at the same time and she accidentally knocked the pot of boiling water over spilling on both of you. Before it had fallen you looked up causing it to scar your face and your mom’s arm.”

I was shocked. “Where is she now, can we go see her?” I asked.

“She’s gone, sweetie,” he said.

I didn’t know what to say or think. All I had left was this dumb scar on my face, which she also had. I touched my face, I trembled. I didn’t know what to feel, think, or say. I just knew that I lost a big part of me. I just tried to be strong for my dad. We talked more about the situation. I would now stay with my 345

grandparents since I was now alone. My dad was barely around, so there was no point staying with him. Then, I led him out to his car. I closed the door behind him and fell to my knees. I was numb and faking a smile. She died and I didn’t even get to say goodbye. Why was I so stupid? I walked out of that hospital not knowing what was gonna happen next. I sobbed into my knees. I finally went to get up and wiped my tears away. Then, I stumbled into a mirror, almost knocking it down. I went to put it back where it was before and took a quick glance at myself. I looked back so quickly, in shock. I thought I was seeing things, or maybe I was dreaming. The scar was gone . . .

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C R A Z I N E S S Blake

Poole

It’s July 4, 2021, and I’m walking downstairs to the courtyard at around 5:30 PM. I saw teens playing basketball and adults barbecuing, which I could smell all the way from upstairs. People were just wildin’ out as usual. The vibes were really chill and fun but I knew that it was about to get wild at any moment.

As I was watching people play basketball, I saw teens walking by the basketball court and they were holding something behind their back. They looked like Roman candles. Everyone started looking at them.

“What y’all looking at?” they said, looking really suspect, and then they walked around the corner. We all ignored them and I continued to watch everyone else play their game. Then it got wild . . .

In the midst of the basketball game, one of the teens lit a Roman candle up and the fireworks started shooting toward us.

“Oh shit, they wilding!” Someone yelled. We started running around the complex and more teens started running toward us and started shooting Roman candles at us. I stopped running and tried to catch my breath. I was weak because they caught us off guard and they tried tricking us. I began to walk back to the courtyard and I saw my other friends walking back there.

They continued playing basketball and I just went and grabbed something to eat.

Once again, the teens ran back to the courtyard and this time, even more teens were showing up with boxes of fireworks, fire rockets, Roman candles, all of that good stuff. They started lighting up boxes of fireworks and the boxes began to explode.

Once again, everybody ran away from the explosions. At the same time, we were trying to avoid getting hit by the Roman candles because the other teens were still trying to hit us with them.

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“Damn, I’m trying to eat and y’all wildin’ out,” I said.

It was really smoky outside. It smelled like barbecued food and gunpowder from the explosions. Loud music was blasting outside. Like an ASMR of what the 4th of July is like. We were wildin’ out all night, and I got hit with fireworks like once or twice. I stayed out past midnight and they were still wildin’ out with the fireworks. I recorded everything and posted it on Instagram, labeling it as: “It ain’t even the 4th no more.” I was tired and I went upstairs. I just sat on my couch and thought about the movie I just lived through. I can’t wait til next year!

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YEAH, I KISSED HER Koi

Ramirez

You had short, curly hair and a smile I couldn’t shake out of my mind.

We became a couple on August 4, 2019. Wow, how time flies, the boy I had once loved, now a stranger I share memories with.

You were there for my 13th birthday; oh, the way you looked at me then.

I was tangled up in the thought of young romance—I had no clue about the storm that had yet to begin. In month one, a.k.a.

“The Honeymoon Phase” for middle schoolers, things had flowed smoothly. We were young and in love, but the first day of school was closing in. Everything we thought we knew about each other was now exposed to be false. We were always one floor apart, yet we took every opportunity to see each other.

Your friends knew mine and mine knew you.

The thing was, I didn’t know the you that you were when your friends were around, nor did I know the you when I wasn’t.

All the arguments and disagreements lead up to that day . . .

A dreadful day because of the controlling attitude you had toward me that I had let slide.

After all of it, you had the audacity to tell me that you loved me while with her . . . while kissing her. When I confronted you, it took you hours to just say . . .

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DRENCHED IN MILK Zavina Ramos

I wasn’t always treated like all the other kids in elementary school.

Instead, I was bullied almost every day, only because of my weight. From third to fifth grade. But this one specific day was a day I’ll never forget about.

It was a cold sunny day. And I was in school, sitting with my friend, Maya. She had short hair and was really kind. She always sat with me during lunch because I never really had other friends. There were two girls that religiously bothered me every day. It’s as if they got paid to do it. Let’s name them, Thing 1 and Thing 2.

Thing 1 was kinda my height, wavy hair, and really skinny. Thing 2 looked a little more questionable. Everything I always said or did, they always seemed bothered by it. As I was sitting on the table during lunch, I peeped Thing 1 and Thing 2 staring at me.

I didn’t really think much about it. But then, I saw they were laughing while staring at me. They sounded like small giggles.

Almost as if they weren’t trying to be heard. But I definitely heard them; I just didn’t say anything. But as I’m sitting there minding my business, the giggles get louder and I just thought to myself, Somebody’s getting rocked today.

Then, it was time for us to line up to get lunch. We got up and started walking, and I was waiting in line. Unfortunately, they were standing behind me. I heard their whispers and I knew they were talking about me. But then again, I didn’t say anything. Then, we walk back, and I got back to my table. Then, they sat across from me. Whispering and giggling as well. At this point, I’d had enough.

I grabbed my tray of food—rice & beans and an apple—and got 355

up. I walked toward Thing 1 and BOOM! I threw my tray right at her. Their faces were priceless. I walked back to my table and sat down, thinking nothing would happen and they’d just stay there, shocked.

Out of nowhere, Thing 1 walked up to me with a carton of milk and poured it over my head. I felt literal anger coming out from every single part of me. Milk dripped down my head to my sweater, then to the floor. I thought to myself, No. Way. So I got up and chased her around the cafeteria. She ran and ran until one of the kids in the cafeteria held her back and I jumped on her.

She fell to the floor and I immediately began punching her and punching her until eventually, I got pulled off of her. She was really mad and shaky. I laughed on the inside because we both knew that she got beat up. After everything was over, I got picked up and went home because I was soaked in milk.

Even though I was mad about being drenched in milk, I was still happy about the fact that I got my W for the day.

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THE CALL Keira

Rodriguez

“I’m very disappointed in you,” Dad said over the phone.

I was wondering to myself why everyone is blaming me for something I didn’t do. My aunt told him everything.

It was me and my two cousins, Aslynn and Savana. It was the summer. I had been staying over at their house for about a week already.

We didn’t go to sleep until 5 AM, so when we woke up late, it was already dark outside. We had to clean up our mess in order to go outside. We were frantically washing cereal bowls, mopping our spilled juice, and folding our blankets.

After all of us were ready, Aslynn decided to call her friend Melanie to ask her if we could go over to her house. Melanie said yes, and we walked outside. I looked at my phone to check the percentage: thirty percent. I was a little nervous thinking my phone was going to die. All of the car-honking on Aslynn’s busy street was making me nervous.

While waiting for the light, we could see that the 2 train was coming. We ran for the train and caught it.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe we caught it,” I said, gasping for air.

Melanie and Aslynn’s boyfriends live really close.

“I wanna go to Johnhenry’s house first,” Aslynn said. That’s her boyfriend’s name.

“I don’t think we should. Melanie’s waiting for us,” I replied.

Ignoring me, Aslynn walked away and started walking to Johnhenry’s house. She called him to give him the heads up that we were on our way. When we got there, Aslynn told us to wait downstairs while she went into his house.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I checked my notifications. My phone was at fifteen percent. Ten minutes passed, and I tried to 359

go upstairs to tell Aslynn that we should hurry up. Savana held my phone as I went upstairs. I knocked on the door angrily, and Johnhenry answered the door. His tall figure shadowed over me. They were laughing at me, Aslynn and Johnhenry.

“We need to leave,” I said.

Johnhenry walked us downstairs, and my cousin handed me back my phone without telling me my aunt called. When we got outside I had at least four missed calls from my aunt. I thought to myself, Oh no, she knows. I nervously answered the phone.

Before I had put the phone to my ear, I could already hear the raging disappointment and worry in her voice.

“Are you guys serious right now?” my aunt said. Before I could even answer her, Aslynn snatched the phone away from me.

“Ma, I’m sorry, I don’t know what we were thinking. I know you told us we could go to Melanie’s house, but I just wanted to see Johnhenry.”

As she continued to talk I rolled my eyes. I thought to myself, Why would she say “we”? This was all your idea, girl. Don’t bring me and Savana into this.

Her mom continued to scream at us on speaker phone. We hung up the phone when she was done. I got a call, and you’ll never guess who it was: it was Melanie trying to give us a heads up that she had snitched on us without knowing.

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ROBBED BY S T I T C H E S Cleopatra

Salam

Cops and robbers wasn’t a game any more. All eyes were on me being carried on the stretcher. With Dolphie in hand, I carried it through. All the way to the emergency room. About eight stitches to my name, and until this day, I will not play that game.

A sunny day over summer break, we all came out to play. Here they all come: Jeremy and Xavier, the curly headed twins; Brian, their half brother; Palima, the sweet but feisty girl; and her younger siblings Justin, the broad football player, and Penelope, the sensitive one, then the one who ruined the game, Ali, the eldest one. That’s all I know. There were also two other girls who looked like me that lived in Jeremy’s building, but I don’t know them.

“Wanna play cops and robbers?” my brother shouted. All the boys shook their heads. That’s all the opinions my brother needed. The boys always overruled the girls. They choose what we do. The first cop was my brother, the fastest of the group.

“1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . . 5 . . . 6 . . . 7 . . . 8 . . . 9 . . . 10, HANDS UP!” my brother shouted.

All of us were hiding behind cars across the whole block. There he goes, zooming after Justin. They kept going around the red SUV until Jeremy tried to run past them and got caught. He was escorted behind the gate in front of my house. My brother closed the gate and sped past me to get Xavier, Brian, and Justin. I got lucky until he made Justin a cop. They made Ali a cop and left all the girls for last. Justin caught me trying to hide in the “junkyard” a few doors down from his home. He made me run to the gate. I was so tired, but the wind felt good blowing past my face. Palima and Penelope were left. Ali was keeping a 363

close eye on us robbers. I got curious and stood on the ledge leaning against the gate. I still couldn’t see them.

I felt a tug on my legs. I was still on the ledge but further down than I was before. I looked around and everyone was in shock, but the two random girls were laughing. I looked down and a part of the skin of my stomach was attached to the gate.

“UNIQUE!” I screamed. Everyone else came rushing down the block. Screams and questions overwhelmed my head. My brother tried to pick me up but I stopped him because it hurt.

I saw Ali running back home. I lifted myself off the gate and lay on the cement floor. My brother picked me up and could only carry me mid-stairway to our home.

“MOM!” he continuously yelled.

“What,” she said.

“CLEO!” He ran back to me. My mom followed after.

“What happened!”

“We’ll explain that later.”

“Can you walk?” she asked. I shook my head no. “Let me go get my stuff and call the ambulance.”

“Unique…” I said.

“Yes?” “Am I going to die?”

“No.” He ran back outside.

The babysitter ran out of the house to the stairs. “He went back outside.” Our babysitter ran to go get him. My mom comes out while on the phone with the police. I guess my brother briefly told her what happened. “Can I get Dolphie?” I asked. She went back inside to get him. Dolphie was my favorite stuffed animal at that time. If you can guess, he was a dolphin.

A few minutes later the police and an ambulance come in. “Do you want me to carry you or put you on a stretcher?” a male 364

medical person asked.

“The stretcher please.” With Dolphie in my hand, I was carried out on the stretcher. The police asked my mom if she wanted to press charges on Ali. “No, it was a mistake,” she said.

On my way to the emergency room, I couldn’t feel anything. As I was laying on the hospital bed the doctor told me to not complain. “A kid younger than you is getting stitches in their head.

You’ll be fine.” He made me mad. Those eight stitches were painful. I was holding Dolphie so tight.

Although he apologized, I still haven’t forgiven Ali. When the game cops and robbers is mentioned, I will always think back to this day.

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MY LIFESTYLE TRANSITION Selena Scarborough

Astounded: That’s what I felt when me and my mother were finally moving into a brand-new apartment of our own. A new journey was starting to be set in motion. On a bright, sunny, windy day at 8:00 a.m. I suddenly awakened from my sleep to start getting ready and pack all my clothes.

“Today is the big day. Are you ready to get out of this hellhole?” said my mother.

I said, “Yeah, I am.”

Honestly I was so eager to leave this homeless shelter that I have been living in for seven and a half months. The shelter was very small and was located in the Bronx. It felt as if I was indentured in a black hole that I couldn’t get out of because I had no way out. After I finished packing my clothes, I went inside the bathroom to take a refreshing shower. The bathroom was miniature but had enough extended space to get yourself together.

So I closed the door and got inside the shower. When I was in the shower, I felt something change inside my physical body.

I started to feel chest pain and my stomach sank like a rock in the sea. This was because I was very nervous. I didn’t know what to expect, and I didn’t know what would happen when we got there. I overheard my mom talking to Mrs. Kimberly but the sounds faded. Mrs. Kimberly was the housing worker in the shelter. She had long, black, straight hair, light complexion, and usually wore a formal women’s suit with black shoes.

“SELENA, HURRY UP AND GET DRESSED, WE ARE ABOUT TO LEAVE!” my mother yelled to me.

“Okay, I will,” I said.

So I suddenly dashed out of the shower and dried myself off in 367

order to get dressed. I put on some black sweatpants and a Nike sweater. I opened the door and sat down in the chair to put on my shoes. My mom had a black-and-yellow dress, her hair in a ponytail, and shades on top of her head.

“C’mon, let’s start heading downstairs. I have everything packed already,” my mom said.

“Okay, I’m ready. Let’s go,” I said.

So we carried everything and headed downstairs. We made it downstairs and before we left, the case worker named Mrs. Ford, who was working with my mother, stopped to talk to me. My mom on the other hand was talking to Mrs. Kimberly. Mrs. Ford had a bald, gray buzz cut. She was tall and wore glasses. She was so kindhearted and actually cared about me like I was her child.

“Hey, are you ready to leave this place?”

“Yeah, I am very ready. I been waiting for this moment to come,” I said with an enormous smile on my face.

“I know. Your mom always told me that she was ready, but she was very patient, which I liked about her.”

“Yeah, I understand. You know I’m very grateful that I finally have this opportunity, and this is what I wanted for my whole life.”

“Now you have it!”

“Yup. Thank you, Mrs. Ford. Keep helping these people. They will need it.”

“You are surely welcome. Now get out of here; you deserve it.”

I walked out the hallway and made an exit out the front door of the building. The weather was still sunny, but it was drizzling. I felt a flurry of rain sting my face. I heard deafening music blasting that people were playing outside. In front of me there was a white van beeping.

“Get in,” Mrs. Kimberly said with the window down.

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I ran to the car and sat down.“Let’s roll.”

Mrs. Kimberly started to drive off from the shelter. She started to make conversation with my mom. Meanwhile I was in my own world and completely dozed off. In my mind I was in disbelief and gleeful at the same time. I was so in the zone to the point where I even made a vision in my head of what it would be like with my mom and me in our new apartment. In my brain I was picking up pieces and putting it together like you would do with a mysterious puzzle. I eventually snapped out of it and started to watch YouTube videos on my iPhone. I looked up, and I observed that Mrs. Kimberly was using hand gestures while she was talking. But as I looked out the window of the car, we were already at the apartment building.

“We are here, guys.” Mrs. Kimberly said.

“That was fast,” me and my mom said at the same time.

We all got out of the car. I was surprised because I had never seen something like this before. Outside, the building was white, gray, and black and had almost up to fifty windows.

The building is located in Queens on Sutphin Blvd and Archer Avenue. All of us walked together to go inside the apartment building. When I walked inside, all I smelled was fresh white paint. There was cardboard on the floors and blue tape on the windows.

“Hello. Welcome to the apartment complex. Which floor are you heading to?” said the security worker at the front desk.

“The apartment is on the ninth floor,” said Mrs. Kimberly.

“Looks great. Just to let you all know, we have a gym, leasing office, and laundry room on the fourth floor. In total we have twenty-eight floors including penthouses.”

“Okay, that’s awesome.”

“I have some paperwork for you and the mother to sign.”

“Okay, I can fill mine out now. Mrs. Scarborough, I will bring your paperwork up when I’m done if that’s okay.”

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“Okay, that’s fine. We will go upstairs,” said my mom, pointing at the elevator.

My mom took the keys, and we both headed upstairs to the apartment. Inside the elevators everything was taped up since the building was good as new and still being built to perfection. We finally made it upstairs. The door was right next to the elevator. My mom had the keys and opened the door. I couldn’t believe my eyes. As I walked in, the apartment was so squeaky clean. It was like a five-star hotel but even better. I automatically absorbed the fresh air that was coming from the air vents.

But I heard something drop on the floor. It turned around and found my mother crying facing toward the windows. As soon as that happened, I quickly went to her and spoke to her.

“Mom, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” I said, with an echo following.

“I just can’t believe we did it and made it to this point. It just feels so unreal.”

“Mom, don’t cry about it, be happy. We made it this far, and we shouldn’t be upset about it. Let’s celebrate it instead of messing up the mood.”

My mom turned her teary-eyed face into a smile. She gave me a warm, enjoyable hug that was filled with unconditional love.

“I love you, Selena. Thanks for staying with me through this whole situation.”

“I love you too, Mom. I know that this is what you always dreamed of. Of course I would stay, you are my mom.”

I love seeing my mom this way. If she is happy, I’m happy. Now it’s time for a life change with a restarting journey.

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THE DELI MISHAP Javaughna Williams

Once upon a time, back when I lived at my old house, I was sent to the store for my mother, and she didn’t want me to go alone, so she sent me with my two favorite primas, Emma and Bree.

Emma was a dark-skinned girl who usually had two puffs in her hair that were always nappy. Bree was a light-skinned girl who wore braids. As we were leaving we got interrupted by Emma’s little brother Xav. Xav was a mischievous little boy with gray and black hair. We tried to ignore him, but he kept on going asking and asking, “Let me go with you guys?”

We kept telling him to “GO BACK,” but he wouldn’t listen.

As we were walking to the store, the three of them were goofing around playing. I kept thinking to myself, “We should hurry up,” but then I just joined in the fun. We were laughing and joking around while walking to the store. As we arrived at our usual deli, which I always come to, they had LED lights that spelled out, Sutter Deli Store. There were stairs that lead up into the store. The store looked small, but when you walked in, it was a little bigger. As we walked in we saw our local deli store worker, Alex. Alex was an old, bald-headed Puerto Rican guy.

Alex said hola to us.

We said hi back.

We stayed in the front of the store for a while, laughing and joking and dancing. As some time passed, I realized that my mother didn’t want me to stay out so long.

So I told them, “I’m not playing with you guys anymore. I have to get what my mother sent me to get.” They ignored me and continued to play.

As I started walking to the back of the store, I could still hear them giggling, and then I heard Xav say, “Hey Alex, look at this.”

Then I hear a BOOM. 373

Shocked, I turned around and saw the shelf broken on the floor.

We were all standing there with shocked faces. I walked back to the front to ask what happened. As Alex, Bree, and Emma all talking over each other, not really being able to hear much.

Then Bree shows me the video she was recording.

It shows them dancing, and Xav says, “Hey Alex look at this,” as he hangs on the shelf like a gorilla and then boom the shelf comes down. My mind was flooded with thoughts of Is he gonna kick us out? Are we gonna get banned from our local deli? We were all still standing there in shock. When realization hit Xav, he ran out of the store, dashing.

I knew I was gonna get in trouble, so I called my mother and father. “Xav broke the counter shelf.”

“He broke what?” she said. “Stay there, your father is coming over there right now.”

From the outside camera view, I saw my father walking up to the store. As he walked in, he walked up to the deli worker, and they started talking. I couldn’t really hear what they were saying since I waited outside. We stayed by the store for a while. I could still hear my heart beating, thinking about How much will we be in trouble? As they were finished, we left.

As we got home we kept hearing them say, “You should of never took Xav with.”

From that day I learned my lesson, or did I . . .?

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In our Young Writers Publish program, 826NYC develops creative writing projects with classes of students and teachers in schools throughout New York City. Ninth and tenth grade students from the Academy for Young Writers bridged the worlds of the imagination and the day-to-day with two distinct writing projects. While the ninth graders bent the rules of reality in science fiction letting us travel through space and into the distant future, the tenth graders dug deep in their own experiences and crafted compelling personal narratives. It Could Have Been Way Worse than It Was is a compilation of the original work of these students.

A huge thank you to the 826NYC teaching artists, Daniel Goulden and Jaydra Johnson, for creating classrooms where students were able to build new worlds and explore their own, in thoughtful, truly original prose. Your support and encouragement helped our young writers tap into their imaginations and memories to produce such exciting and moving work, and your care in helping them brainstorm, write, and revise throughout this project was invaluable.

We are particularly grateful to Lucia Brockway, Anicka Charles, Alex Cuff, Kesha Kennedy, and Jaclyn Reyes for their support of this project. Thank you for inviting us into your classrooms, and collaborating with us through successes and challenging moments. Your hard work and steadfast dedication to your students allows them to flourish as incredible writers and thinkers. Thanks as well to Rachel Jacobs for supporting the creation of the fantastic artwork featured on the cover and throughout the book.

Thank you to Joanne Beckford, Terra Cabey, Chandra Datadeen, Akoni Drysdale-Ash, Zebastian Florimon, and Marsy Orellana for contributing the beautiful artwork featured on the cover of this book.

Thank you to our writing mentors, Eunice An, Arrianne Bautista, Kate Brennan, Sammy Gibbons, Carol Goldberg, Jess Mayer-Jones, Katherine Peach, Remoy Philip, Ronnie Wolff, and Ling Zhu, for keeping up with these young writers and nurturing their growing texts.

At 826NYC we depend on the dedicated volunteer editing and design cohort that make our publications a reality. Thank you to Vanessa Friedman for overseeing the editing, proofreading, and design of this book. Thank you to Kelly McComas for designing such a beau376

tiful book for our students. To copy editors and proofreaders Chris Ahearn, Rakhee Bhatt, Madison Durham, Kiran Josen, Nicholas Martinez, Melanie McFayden, Kris Pajarito, Katherine Peach, Allison Singer, and Robyn Smith, for their careful attention to each of the student’s pieces, thank you.

For their ongoing support of 826NYC’s school-based programs, huge thanks to 826 National, the Amazon Literary Partnership, The Jane Friedman Anspach Family Foundation, Con Edison, The Find Your Light Foundation, The Hawkins Project, International Paper, The Rona Jaffe Foundation, The Kettering Family Foundation, The Minerva Foundation, The Resnick Foundation, The Yelp Foundation, and Youth, Inc. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The program is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional support comes from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov. 826NYC is grateful to the many individuals who support our work. To see our full list of supporters or make a donation, please visit https://826nyc.org/donate-us/.

Thank you especially to the 826NYC staff for their behind-the-scenes support of this project, from curriculum development and the book-making process to volunteer recruitment.

Finally, thank you to the students at the Academy for Young Writers for taking risks with your writing and sharing your words and worlds with us. Writing can be a challenging and hopefully fun process, and your dedication to your craft and your vision shines through in these pieces. We are all excited to see what you’ll write in the future!

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ABOUT 826NYC 826NYC Location and Leadership

826NYC and The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. 372 Fifth Ave Brooklyn, NY 11215 718.499.9884 www.826nyc.org Staff Joshua Mandelbaum, Executive Director Jesusdaniel Barba, Programs Coordinator Janna Cisterino, Development & Communications Manager Rico Denard, Store Associate Chris Eckert, Store & Operations Manager Vanessa Friedman, Publications Associate Julianna Lee Merino, Programs Coordinator Summer Medina, Volunteer & Programs Coordinator Stella Raffle-Wax, Store Associate Mandy Seiner, Volunteer & Programs Manager Naomi Solomon, Director of Education

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Teaching Artists J’miah Baird David Ewalt Willie Filkowski Daniel Goulden Varud Gupta Daniel Jackson Jaydra Johnson Board of Directors Michelle McGovern, President Ted Wolff, Vice President Ray Carpenter, Treasurer Kathryn Yontef, Secretary Michael Colagiovanni Jen D’Ambroise Liza Demby Jamal Edwards Amir Mokari Sheila Peluso Katie Schwab Danielle Sinay Andrew Sparkler Alyson Stone Maura Tierney Thom Unterburger Sam Valenti

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826NYC Programs Write After School Reading and writing go together like peanut butter and jelly. Write After School students work alongside 826NYC staff and volunteers to build their reading, writing, social-emotional skills and unleash their imagination as they play and learn about the power of language. Three times a year, students revise their creative writing for publications that are printed in English and Spanish and shared with families, volunteers, and community members at celebratory readings.

Write Away Workshops Young writers come together in Write Away Workshops to explore a multitude of genres and subjects and to develop their voices. Groups write freely and participate in imaginative writing activities and lessons. Whether it’s a song, a piece of climate justice sci-fi, or a nature guide, young writers leave the workshop with a piece to be proud of, as well as a newfound understanding of the topic, and new friends.

Write All About It In Write All About It, reporters from grades 5-8 learn how to conduct a great interview, how to write a classic news story, and more importantly, how to sniff out where the great untold stories of Brooklyn are hiding. We focus on hyper-local news to see how it connects to what’s going on across the country and around the world. Student work is published regularly in The 826NYC Post on 826NYC’s Medium page.

Young Writers Publish Turn your classroom into a creative writing lab. During Young Writers Publish residencies, 826NYC teaching artists collaborate with educators on creative, impactful, curriculum-aligned projects that transform students into published authors. Residencies run from six weeks to a full year, depending on the project. Each Young Writers Publish culminates in a book, newspaper, zine, podcast, film, or performance featuring your students.

Write Together 826NYC hosts classes across New York City for Write Together: an interactive writing experience that encourages creative expression, explores the elements of storytelling, and strengthens writing skills. Elementary-aged classes collaborate on illustrated children’s books, middle schoolers choose their own adventure, and high schoolers learn the art of memoir writing during a fast- paced and whimsical 90 minute narrative program.

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Teen Writers Collective Teens are the next generation of literary leaders. That’s why we launched the Teen Writers’ Collective. The collective brings together young writers from around the city to explore the art of writing and literary citizenship. They are a community of passionate and creative peers, serve as 826NYC youth leaders, and inspire younger students and peers across the network.

Dungeons & Dragons & Writers Dungeons & Dragons, the epic fantasy role-playing game where players craft characters to take on magical quests that can change with the roll of the dice, has a home at 826NYC. A band of adventurous authors in grades 5-8 play out an entirely original tale and chronicle their fantastical deeds in character point-of-view journals, histories, and scene writing. Sometimes the greatest gift is the friends we make — and make up — along the way.

Student Publications Through our programs, our volunteers work with students to help them create stories, poems, and ’zines. Because we believe that the quality of students’ work is greatly enhanced when they are given the chance to share it with an authentic audience, we are committed to publishing student works.

By encouraging their work and by guiding them through the process of publication, we make abundantly clear that their ideas are valued.

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WHICH IS STRANGER: FACT OR FICTION? This collection of memoir and science fiction tries to answer just that. The students at Academy for Young Writers have crafted dozens of action-packed stories that represent hard truths, fantastic dreams, and everything in between. From space alien invaders to invisible scars to evil electric cars, these stories will have you turning pages at the speed of light. Join us on a fantastic journey through a whole universe of experience.

Proceeds from the sale of this book benefit 826NYC, a nonprofit organization encouraging the exploration of endless possibilities through the power of writing.

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