Never Mind. (I Forgot.) by Anne Sharp

. d n i M r e v e ) N . t o g r o f (I

Artwork by Cameron Berryman

Fabricating Fiction: 4th Quarter Compass Homeschool Classes

Spring 2019

Fabricating Fiction: Writing Journeys & Creating Character Instructor: Anne Sharp Grade Range: 6th - 9th A journey is not as simple as a trip or a vacation. A journey changes you, makes you grow somehow or think differently, expands your horizons or hopes. This course focused on the transformational powers of a journeyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;how it builds character in both the literary and real worlds. During our 8-week journey together as a class, we explored various types of journeys: odysseys & quests, pioneer journeys & expeditions, wars, coming-of-age experiences, emotional & psychological & spiritual journeys. We learned that change might span years or just a few dramatic moments. We shared some personal journeys but, because our focus was fiction, we concentrated on characters sprung from pages and imaginations of professional authors, our classmates and ourselves. Some of our stories began in this class, and some of our stories are continuations from other Compass fiction courses. We have reached the end of our road together, and here are a few of our journeysâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; untold, until now. Enjoy! Anne Sharp

May 24, 2019

Compass Homeschool Classes

Compass Homeschool Classes offers Northern Virginia homeschool families a menu of high quality extracurricular and enrichment classes to supplement the core academic material taught at home. All classes are taught by qualified outside instructors who teach multiple levels of interesting, experiential classes in science, technology, languages, history, art, music and more. Classes are taught in Oakton on Wednesdays in a 4-quarter, 30-week academic year. For more information on Compass Homeschool Classes, contact: Jenny Grove-Bradshaw P.O. Box 21 Centreville, VA 20122 Phone: 703-544-5332 Email: admin@compassclasses.com

The best stories from Compass Homeschool Classes

Fabricating Fiction: Writing Journeys & Creating Character

Spring 2019

Never Mind. (I forgot.) Table of Contents

p. 5

A Broken Home...............................by Cameron Berryman

p. 9

Away from the Farm……………………….……...by Ismael Mir

p. 13

The Endless Dream…………….……………..by Adam Davis

p. 17

The Goddess in the Inferno .......................by Ruby Dews

p. 21

Test Subject 421…(Continued).........by Hannah Caldera

p. 25

The Strong Princess..............................by Kareema Salah

p. 29

Cracking Emeralds, Fixing Bells...by Aurora Dennison

p. 35

Silver from the Sun....................by Annabelle Hallworth

p. 39

Pulled Under.........................................by Ellis Kuester-Ha

p. 43

The Survival of the Empire..............by Jackson Schrum

p. 47

Cave.................................................................by Claire Wood

A Broken Home Cameron Berryman, Grade 7 Prologue “It’s all gone.... That took days to draw… why?” asked Nicolas. “Because you were a jerk to everyone!” I replied. My bro wrecked everything here. He made too many weapons to count! “Angela, why did you do this? And you too, stick figure!” Timmy chimed in. “You needed to be taught a lesson, and that’s what we’re going to do. No matter what it takes, you will stop this horrid behavior, on our behalf or not! Now, let’s see what you’ve done. Maybe then your callous attitude will fade away.” “Nah. You can’t make me.” So, I, Angela, dragged my brother by the arm and started to bring him to his first destruction: our home. Part I: Temple We trudged through a lot of sand. A lot of sand. Sand got in our shoes. It got in our socks. It got in our mouths (except for Timmy’s, since he has a stick figure mouth), eyes, and worse. Eventually, I saw something familiar… Nick spoke first. “Hey, that’s the temple of the marker! Was a nice place…” I ‘completed’ what he was about to say. “Yeah, before you ruined it! Look at it now!” “T’was my birthplace, where you forgot to draw a face… on me! At least I can talk now,” Timmy stated. “If you don’t stay quiet I’ll erase it!” “Not on my watch, brother. You’re not getting that marker back until you learn to use it responsibly! I’m not afraid to harm you anymore.” “You sound like Mom.” “Aren’t I supposed to?” “Now listen here, you aren’t the parent in this conve-” “Cut it out, you two. Now, Nicolas, can you see the masterful architecture here?” We all went a bit closer to it to see the rubble. The roof was mostly intact, but the rest was just a pile of ice and sandstone! Nicolas thought for a minute, then replied, “Never really paid attention to it, but it’s a bit late now. What’s left of it is pretty nice, though. I can barely make out the symbols on what was the roof… eta… sigma… alpha… what’s that mean?” “It means ‘marker palace,’ Mr. uneducated in ancient language,” I retorted.

“I have better things to learn. Plus, if I forgot it, it probably wasn’t important.” “Ah, but it is, young one. You still have much to learn. But, think about what this was before it was put in ruin. What do you remember when you got here?” “I remember wrestling the marker away from Angela when she got it.” “Those two seconds of holding it taught me unspeakable things.” “But, it was rather nice looking for just ice and sandstone. There were pretty nice carvings on the doors, and… hey! Stop making me think!” “You aren’t a sloth, you can think. But you remembered something, right bro?” “True, I kinda wish I didn’t destroy it… But I can’t repair it, at least not right now.” Timmy finished our conversation. “That’s the spirit! Now, let us move on to something even more broken! This is just the beginning. Part II: Fountain Sometimes I wonder if there’s a sliver of ice anywhere on this sand. Nick stopped screaming because his mouth was dry from a lack of water. After hours upon hours of pulling Nick along, I snapped. “Ugh! Why can’t you walk yourself? We’re tired too!” “Angela, I don’t want to go with you. You don’t get it. I’m still who I am. Evil. The damage has been done, why stop here?” “Might as well try! We’re trying to teach you a lesson here!” “Maybe this will relieve our pain of travels?” “Stick figure, nobody asked you anything.” “This is why I was so shy before I had a face… I was rejected from society. Now let’s go over there.” He pointed at what was a podium before it was destroyed, spewing water from the depths. I wasn’t sure what it was for, but there seemed to be a missing piece. “That’s the fountain with the key I needed to get in the palace! Not sure why it’s still going even when it’s rubble. To be honest, I’m not sure why I broke that. It’s probably saved a few lives along the way, including mine… HEY! I’M THINKING AGAIN!” “Nicolas, It’s a natural process. Go ahead, we’re listening. We don’t mind.” “That’s the point! I don’t want to! If that’s what you want then you’re not getting anything!” I had to say something. “Can we just go get some water now? Natural light isn’t enough to keep us going!” We did. The water may have been going every which way, but it felt good anyway. I didn’t mind at this point, and clearly neither did my brother. He tried to hog the water but some unknown force seemed to aim it away from him and toward me! Nick had had enough of the water bending away from him. “Fountain, come on! I don’t have all day!” “Maybe if you’ll say please it’ll give you some! How’s that for a twist?” Nick sarcastically asked it, “Fountain, can I please have some water? I don’t have all day!” Hilariously enough, the fountain stopped spewing water. “Really now? Was there any point in tha-bbllb!” The fountain concentrated all of its force right at his face and it blew him right out of the way! “Ha! Good one, fountain! Now can you actually give my brother some water, please?” The fountain listened and he got his water. “Thanks a lot, fountain. Can you be a bit more careful next time?”

“Hey look, you appreciated something. Let’s head to where my key was. I’m not walking anymore, though. My feet are killing me right now!” Timmy had an idea, but was cut off. “Maybe we could make a vehi-” “Maybe we could use the fountain to propel us over there? How’s that for an idea!” “Actually, that wouldn’t be too bad. It’s more water to save for later,” I replied. Timmy countered with, “We’d freeze if we did that! The water that we were soaked in would freeze around us.” Our fraternal bond somehow made us say “good point” at the same time. “Any other ideas? Timmy? Nick?” “As I was saying before the fountain idea, let’s make a vehicle with the marker. We should also make a few pieces of warm clothes.” “That sounds a bit more pragmatic than my fountain idea. Let’s do it!” We made a set of chairs with an arcade joystick to move it, with a strange tether between the three of them so that Nick couldn’t stray off too far. They moved at around one mile per hour, which was too slow for all of us. Then I suggested adding a more powerful engine, so we drew an extension and they almost went too fast! Part III: Campfire After wheeling our way over the icy side of our planet, we reached my checkpoint: The magical campfire. You can’t even call it a campfire now, it just looks like an ice stick with a little flame on it. “How convenient that there’s just a fire in the middle of a giant ice hemisphere.” “You could say the same for that fountain, okay?! I almost died out here!” “You’re not wrong, Angela, you’re not wrong…” “I still remember my experience like it was yesterday. I was practically wearing armor instead of clothes when I reached it. I was freezing and felt like I was going to become an Angelasicle until I met a strange golem creature made of ice and he guided me to this campfire with the key dangling over it as I pathetically crawled over there like a baby.” “How funny! That’s exactly what happened with the fountain except I was hot and you were cold.” “You can put on more clothes but you can’t take more off,” Timmy added. “The campfire was pretty nice, but now it’s just a single ice twig with a tiny ember on it!” “It was quite beautiful with the blue flame, I don’t regret visiting it.” Timmy eagerly questioned, “Do you regret destroying it?” “...Yes and no.” “Look how far you’ve come. You feel regretful about your actions, right?” “Yeah. Let’s head home now.” Final Part: Home We were lucky enough to get to the equator of our planet pretty quickly. We no longer needed our jackets because it was 100% perfect weather on the equator. When we reached our home, which was no more than one room, it was the only home that wasn’t reduced to rubble in our neighborhood. “Biased much, Nick?” “I don’t regret it. I still have a place to come home to even after all this time. I don’t know what to say about this little trip except for thanks. Is that the right answer?”

“Yes, young one, it is indeed the right way to go. Now let’s go inside.” “Yeah, I’m tired of being on this chair. I saw my mom’s familiar face. “Children! Where have you been? You said you wouldn’t be long!” “Um… things happened?” She hugged us like a… mom who hasn’t seen her children for five years would. “I was worried sick about you two? Who’s your new friend?” “That’s Timmy. He’s a stick figure that Nick drew that came to life.” “I’m glad he’s here. Still, you’re grounded for the next week.” “Really Mom? Is this how it ends?” “I’m your mother, I can do what I want. Now go to your room.” We went up to my room, all three of us. “Well this is quite the how-do-you-do. What now, guys?” “Let’s just play a video game or something, Angela. Why don’t we play a co-op game?” Timmy had an evil grin. “Why don’t we play Mario Party?” The fraternal bond took over again. “NO.” Nick stared at me. “Looks like we’re not so different after all, sis.” “Maybe not. Why don’t we read my notebooks instead? It’s documented all of my adventures.” I picked up my notebooks, which for some reason only have four pages. “Let’s just add my side of the story to yours. That would make it have both sides.” I started to read his side of the story. “History shows a once great, prospering city. Everything was perfect back then… or so it seemed. The marker was the rise and fall of the great city. The catastrophe caused a near eradication of the people and destruction of all buildings, however, a select few lived to tell the tales of the marker. The powerful artifact was locked away, never seen again. People still hold on to the hope that the marker exists… But nobody is brave enough to search this desolate world. Except for my sister and me.” We hope you enjoyed the abridged stories of “The Adventures of Nicolas and Angela.”

Away from the Farm

By Ismael Mir, age 13

Riker sighed as a cool breeze swept over the valley, a relief after long hours of toil under the hot sun and a sign that the evening drew near. He decided he had done enough work for the day and started walking towards the farmhouse. He knew his father would disapprove but was thoroughly exhausted and did not really care.

As he opened the door, his mother rushed up to him and asked him what he was doing inside. “I’m going to take a nap, okay?” he replied. “You came in early.” “I finished most of my work and I’m really tired.” “That’s still no excuse. Finish it tomorrow; double your number of fields and half a portion of food today and tomorrow.” “At least she did not make me do it today,” Riker thought grimly. “With the harvest coming up, my workload will be tripled and doubled again while Mother and Father just sit around relaxing and doing the little things they find interesting on this farm. The same things I find interesting, like exercising the horses.”

Riker got up to his room and plopped down on his bed. He picked up his phone and saw a missed call and about a dozen texts from his friend Harry. As he called Harry back, he went and got some cool water. Harry answered and remarked “You’re inside early! Your parents are going to kill you!” “They already basically did. Double the work, and half the food.” “Ouch. Say, do you want to run away?”

Riker almost dropped the phone in surprise. Run away? The thought had crossed his mind when he was a little kid, but he had always told himself sternly it would not fix any problems. But now? His best friend was suggesting it to him like it was no big deal! Should he? He knew that Harry’s parents were much nicer, so Harry would not want to run away with him. And could he do it alone? “Uh…hello? Riker? Are you there?” His friend’s voice shook him out of his trance.

“Yup. Just thinking” he responded. “Are you okay?” “Yes.” “You never answered my question. Do you want to run away?” “I dunno. I don’t think I would be able to survive on my own.” “Who ever said you would be alone? I would come with you.” “What? Why would you run away?” “I don’t have to. My mom is the one who told me to ask you, and she said I could go with you if you said yes.” “Why would she say that?” “She knows that you don’t like your home, and that you would do much better away from your parents. And she knows I want to get out into the world, so this!” “When do we start?” That night Riker did not go down for dinner.

The next day Riker got up early and picked up the bag he had packed the night before. It had all the essentials he might need, plus some extras and money. He slipped into his warm clothes and sweatshirt, put his phone in his pocket, and creeped downstairs.

He tugged on his socks and his hiking boots, filled a two-liter bottle with water, and slung his now heavier backpack on his shoulders, and made his way to the kitchen where he ate breakfast and packed some extra food. He felt guilty for a second, knowing he was stealing, but then he realized that in truth, he was just taking what food his parents owed him, after depriving him for so long.

After he was done, he was careful to put everything back how it had been, as to delay his discovery. Hopefully his parents would just think he was outside doing his work as he was meant to be, very hungry. Then he opened the door and stepped outside into the cold, crisp morning.

As he walked through the dew -overed grass, he shivered slightly and thought of all he was leaving behind, but he compared it with all that lay ahead. It seemed that if the trip went well, good things were ahead. He stopped at the barn, gathering a few last things.

He walked down to the family hover car. Locked. He would have to take the horses. He walked back to the barn, gathered his two favorites, and saddled them up. They obeyed his every command instantly, for he had raised them gently since they were little colts. He mounted one named Blue Thunder, after the Air Force and Navy air demonstration teams, the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels. The other one, Whelen Oracle- who was named after the sponsors of Mike Goulian and Sean D. Tucker who were both aerobatic pilots- would come without being told.

Could he do it? He decided he must and started walked Blue Thunder down to the path that ran to Harry’s house. As he started along it, he became aware of a sensation slowly spreading through his body. He wondered what it was, and then was elated when he realized it was the feeling of freedom. He was, after many hard years, finally free.

Riker smiled when he woke up and found that Harry had put a pot of coffee on his small portable stove. They had met at the halfway point on the path the morning before and rode some 25 miles towards a train station. They made camp early because they had wanted to get a good rest so they (and the horses) could handle the remaining 30 miles the next day. Riker was already stiff and sore, but if luck went on their side, they would not have to ride for a while after this day. kiss.”

“The sleeping beauty has awoken. I was just thinking maybe I would have to resort to a

“Ahhh….”Riker stretched far as he could. “Just because you woke up early does not mean that you must impose the same upon me.” “I don’t wake up early, you wake up late. But here is some coffee, it will wake you up.” “Thanks, Harry,” Riker said, and took the offered cup.

After they had eaten breakfast, they packed up their gear and mounted the horses. They rode slowly at first, but increased speed gradually. Just past noon, they stopped and took about an hour to eat lunch and let the horses rest. Then they set out again, with still many miles to go.

They had been riding for some time when they realized that a strange whooshing noise had been following behind them. Riker signaled Harry to stop and rode quickly back the way they had come. And what he saw behind him did not bode well.

A police car was heading in the exact direction they were going in, presumably following their tracks! Riker raced back to Harry, telling him the news. They both doubled back and hid in a small cluster of trees. The police car passed by and they realized none of their tracks were visible, so the police must have just been heading that way based on their earlier tracks. They were temporarily

relived. Just then, something shot out of the sky and hit the ground next to them. Riker was thrown back and remembered nothing more. To be continuedâ&#x20AC;Ś

The Endless Dream By: Adam Davis Age: 14 After a long day working, I stood up from my desk stretching and looking around. All of the desks in my office were numbered. Mine was desk 434 and the desk to the right of mine was desk 435 then 436 and so on. The office was your run of the mill boring office, but each desk was unique. Every desk included a few personal items from each of my co-workers. For example, desk 436 has an exotic lime green flower and a toy bee. Desk 438 has a flying car and toy skyscrapers. The clock finally struck 5pm. A sigh of relief from everyone in the office as we all raced home. The door opens and the sun floods the gray hallway. It is the sense of freedom that makes everyone speed up their exit. I take a deep breath as I step into the sun and feel a smile grow across my face. I turn to look over my shoulder as one of my co-workers calls out my name. “Tim! How was your day today?” and in response I said “George, same boring day as every day.” My car is always sweltering at the end of the day. I open the door to let the heat out and after a few seconds I reach in to start the car and get the AC blowing. As I was putting my bag in the backseat, I noticed something in the passenger seat. A white legal-size envelope with nothing on the front. I check the car and look around me. Everyone is getting in their cars and waiting in line to exit the parking lot just like every other day. Confused I check the car one more time to make sure I didn’t miss anything else. I crawl in the car and pick up the envelope. I slowly examine the letter and realize it isn’t sealed. I slide my fingers into the envelope and pull the letter from inside. Again, I look around thinking this must be some kind of a joke. I am looking for George to pop out laughing at me. There was just one sentence in the middle of the neatly folded paper. “If you want to change your life you will find the Orb of Desire.” I placed it back into the envelope and chuckled a little to myself. I put the car in reverse and start the drive home. I pull into my driveway and feel a great sense of satisfaction to be home. I grab the letter from the passenger seat and my bag from the backseat and without a thought I toss the letter into the trashcan. I grab a snack and head upstairs to change clothes. I turn the tv on and lay down to relax. Seems the more boring the day the more exhausted I am. I start to doze and decide to let it happen. I scoot down and get comfortable and quickly fall asleep. Giant colorful flowers, small exotic looking creatures fly past my head. As I look around, I spot a little boy. He stands up and waves at me. I look behind me making sure he is actually looking at me. He nods and starts walking towards me. He says, “My name is Morpheus. I am here to assist you in finding the Orb of Desire.” Feeling incredibly confused I ask, “What? Who are you?” He smiles, “my name is Morpheus and I am the one who sent you the letter…the one in your car.” All of a sudden, my stomach dropped,

“I am dreaming…this can’t be a real.” He gives a little shrug and then proceeds to tell me that there is a code and he has the first clue. The only thing running through my mind is how ridiculous this is and that I just need to wake up. “Well, are you ready to find the Orb of Desire?” Morpheus says. This is just a dream; dreams are ways to work out problems in real life. “Okay, I am willing to go on this journey to find this Orb. Where do we start?” “The Orb will be found somewhere in this valley of exotic flowers.” We both start looking around, I begin pacing back and forth looking for clues. It wasn’t long before I spotted this giant lime green flower. It looked so familiar for some reason, I felt drawn to it. I yelled to Morpheus, “FOLLOW ME!” Giant may have been an understatement as I looked up from the base of the stem. “Paper, rock, scissors to see who is going up?” Morpheus says. I looked at him like he had lost his mind. “Heights aren’t my thing.” Morpheus then looked at me and said okay we will do it together. Reminding myself this is just a dream and you can’t die in a dream I decide to climb. We start out side by side but it isn’t long before we are more than an arms distance from each other. Bzzzzzz…”Do you hear that?” Morpheus looked behind him and yelled, “KEEP MOVING!” Those small exotic looking creatures were back and they were not happy we were climbing the flower. They began attacking us. We both climbed and swatted as quickly as we could. Morpheus lost his grip and slid down the stem. I threw my foot out and he was able to grab it just in time. As I struggled to hold on and allow him to get his footing back, I felt a sting on my leg. The pain was becoming overwhelming, luckily Morpheus had regained his footing and was distracting the swarms while I struggled to make it up the rest of the way. I rolled into center of the flower nearly passing out from the pain. I felt the envelope underneath me and reached to grab it as my eyes began to close. Morpheus made his way to me and quickly rolled me over and removed the stinger. Loud music and wind forcing my hair back. I am confused and still feeling a little pain in my leg as I start to try and figure out where I am. Morpheus is driving us with the top down and signing at the top of his lungs. I start to panic when I realize we aren’t driving as much as flying. It is a car but it isn’t touching the ground. Morpheus turns the music down and smiles at me. “Good Morning!” Now I am even more confused. He doesn’t skip a beat and says, “you found the first number, 4, and now we have to find the second. The clue told us to head to the city. So, we are on the way. We should be there in about 5 min.” I see a bottle of water and begin to drink it. I check my leg and realize what a good job Morpheus did and that I was healing well. I begin to relax a little and enjoy the feeling of the wind on my face. It was really a beautiful place; the colors are so vibrant. I can see the city on the horizon and start looking for clues. Street after street nothing pops out. It looks just like any other city. I am beginning to feel like this isn’t the right city when I spot a large skyscraper that looks oddly familiar. “Stop here.” I say. Upon entering the building, we see a giant crowd of people all wearing plain white shirts. We decide to slide along the wall to the elevators. It was amazingly easy to

go undetected. Feeling successful we enter the elevator and are confronted with caution sign, authorized personal only. With a quick glance at each other we both agree silently to continue. I push B and the doors shut. The doors slowly opened and we see a sign directly in front us saying High Security Area. I pop my head out the door looking to the left and then to the right. I take a double look to the right and realize the envelope is no more than 30 ft away. I point to Morpheus to look around the corner. He and I both look around the corner and then look to the left again. The hallway is plain gray concrete walls and empty as far as the eye can see. He says, “Let’s take this slow.” I step off the elevator half expecting a swarm of bees to take me out again. Nothing happens, I look at Morpheus and he slowly nods. He holds the door and it begins to sound an alarm. Without a word I took off down the hallway as fast as I could and grabbed envelope. When I turn to run back to the elevator, I see security officers running towards the elevator from the other side. I run as fast as I can and realize I won’t make it. I yell to Morpheus to go without me. He jumped out of the elevator and began running towards the officers and told me to get out, “Get the envelope out, I can get out of this.” I hesitated for a moment and then jumped on the elevator and pushed the button to close the doors. My adrenalin was pumping so fast that I almost didn’t realize what I had just done. Panic set in and I blacked out. When I awoke, I was sitting in a dark room on the ground. I panicked but felt a sense of relief when the envelope was still in my pocket. I opened the envelope and the number 3 was inside. I used the wall to help pull myself up. Looking around there wasn’t anything in the room. The door was open and led to a long hallway. I slowly walked through the rotted wooden doorway and I felt a chill run down my spine. This dream had changed to a horror movie. I hate horror movies! Wake Up! Wake Up! I can feel my heart beating through my chest. I continue walking down the narrow hallway. At the end of the hallway there is a large room filled with darkness. I can hear something breathing to my right, to the left I can see a door with light coming through the cracks. I take a breath to try and calm myself and get up the nerve to make my way to the door. I wait to see if the breathing moves around but it is in one spot, I think it is sleeping. I decide to take my chances and make my way through the darkness to the door. Sliding my fingers along the wall I feel my way out of the hallway and into the room. I stop and wait for a second to make sure the breathing is still. I slide my feet slowly one foot at time to try and reduce the chances of tripping. I can feel my heart beating faster and faster as I pick up the pace to get out of that room. As I approach the door, I pause to figure out how to open and close without alerting the creature breathing calmly behind me. I reach out for the doorknob and pray that it opens. I slowly twist the knob and it lets out a faint squeak. Panic sets in and I can hear the creature stir. I twist the knob and pull with all my might. The door is jammed. I twist and pull and twist and pull and just as I can feel the creature behind me the door gives and the weight of the creature leaping at the door helps jam it closed again. I can hear it snarling and growling on the other side. I am in such a state of panic I can’t think straight. I turn and find myself at the bottom of a staircase and as I look up, I can see an envelope. I turn to ensure the door is holding the creature in and I

begin running up the stairs. I can feel my heart pounding and sweat running down my face. As I reach out for the envelope, I can feel my self-passing out again. I awoke in a room that reminded me of a bank. There was a vault door directly in front of me and gray walls all around. The room was clean and bright. In my right hand was the envelope. I opened it up and found the number 4. “434” As I began to enter the code, I realized it was the same number as my desk. The vault door opened and inside was a blue spherical Orb. I am sure the second I step foot into the vault the door will slam shut and I will die some horrific death. I wait for the inevitable and when nothing comes, I find myself more and more intrigued. I decide to throw my shoe into the vault and see if my prediction is correct. Nothing happens. I decide that this entire journey has been useless if I don’t go in and get the Orb. I walk into the vault and towards the Orb. The Orb begins to glow and asks, “What is your desire?” I think for a minute and realize what I desire most is to know that Morpheus is okay and actually got out of that hallway. Without saying anything Morpheus appears next to me. He is a little disoriented but then starts thanking me and hugging me. I hug him back and feel myself finding a since of relief and satisfaction. The room begins to fade and I can’t hear Morpheus talking to me anymore. The bright room begins to turn dark but then light starts to appear. I open my eyes and find myself in my bed with the tv on. I look at the clock and realize I have over slept my alarm. I shake my head and realize it all really was a dream. It felt so real. I jump in the shower and get ready for work as fast as I can. As I look around my house, I realize I liked the brighter more vibrant world I dreamt about and decided I was going to pick up some paint when I got off work and paint these gray walls brighter colors. As I drove to work, I rolled the windows down to feel the wind run through my hair and breath the fresh air. When I arrived at work, I entered the building and George greeted me, “How did you sleep last night?” I smiled, “I had a great sleep and I hope that you have a wonderful day.” As I walked by him, he looked at me with utter shock but let out a little smile. As I passed my co-workers desks, I complimented the toy skyscrapers and asked about the exotic lime flowers. My co-workers were happy to chat and tell me all about how they had acquired their various treasures. During lunch I went to the breakroom and opened the window to let in the fresh air and as I looked out the window, I saw a boy that looked just like Morpheus. My world was more vibrant and I owed it all to Morpheus.

The Goddess in the Inferno By Ruby Dews, age 13

Waking up to a city on fire is not an ideal way to start the day. Felix, unfortunately, knew this firsthand (as did most of Earth’s surviving human population). So now he was sprinting through the streets, catching glimpses of once-proud structures warping and melting in the heat. Fiery death could be waiting for him anywhere he turned, hidden or not. He couldn’t trust the ground under his feet anymore, couldn’t be sure that it wouldn’t simply give way and plunge him into a flaming abyss. Snow’s gone now. Run, run, run. Get out of London. It’s not safe for you anymore. It’s not safe for anyone. Without Snow protecting the city—the healer, the witch, the almost-goddess revered by the people of London—everything had simply descended into chaos. Just like the rest of the world. How long had he been running? Maybe half an hour, maybe more—it didn’t matter, though. Running probably wasn’t going to save him, not as his whole world was going up in smoke. A telephone booth burst into flames in front of him, and he skidded to a stop, clutching his sketchbook to his chest, then darted into an alleyway. Smoke. So much smoke. No one’s screaming, are they all dead? Felix allowed himself a quick glance out of the alley. The entire street was still devastated by fire, but maybe he could make a run for it. There was a fairly intact building directly across from him—no, not a building, he realized, as the haze lifted and revealed that it had been a train station. An entrance to the London Underground, back before the fires had started to sweep the globe. Perfect. He took a deep breath—though he instantly regretted it after getting a double lungful of smoke. A few headache-inducing coughs later, his lungs were clear and he was on his way to the station. Ten meters wasn’t that far to walk, right? Surely no harm could befall him in ten meters of abandoned street. The street had other ideas.

Halfway to the station, a gigantic flaming wooden beam fell out of nowhere and ambushed Felix (no, that’s stupid, gigantic flaming beams aren’t sentient and they certainly aren’t capable of ambushing people on their own—but you know what I mean). And so he arrived at the station with his hair singed considerably. But at least he’d gotten there alive, and being alive’s always a plus. Cautiously, he made his way down the tiled stairs, onto the—strangely clean—train platform. “If this station’s deserted, then why isn’t there dust anywhere?” he wondered aloud, the soles of his battered sneakers leaving sooty impressions of themselves with each step he took. Someone else spoke, so suddenly that Felix almost jumped. “Easy. It ain’t deserted.” Out of the shadows came people who could only be described as tramps: ragged, hollow-eyed people who sought out hidden places to survive. A girl with half-shaved red hair, too many freckles, and bandages wrapped around her knuckles stepped forward—almost definitely the leader of this ragtag lot. “Now. Kindly explain why you’re trespassing on our territory, and maybe I won’t let the wolves rip your guts out.” “Wolves?” Felix squeaked. “You’ve got wolves here?” Indeed they did. Two of them—beautiful, silver things that seemed like royalty in animal form—paced around the group of people. One of them paused to show its teeth—which were somehow, inexplicably, metal. The girl gave an exasperated sigh. “Yes, we’ve got wolves. And they’re hungry. Haven’t had proper food in weeks. So unless you want them to kill you painfully and snack on your organs, start talking.” “I’m only here because the whole city’s on fire and there was nowhere else for me to go and the train station was—” “Stop.” The girl held up a freckled hand. “I’ve heard enough.” She regarded Felix coolly, her gaze betraying no emotion. Felix took a step back, nervously rotating a black cord bracelet on his wrist. “Are you going to let them kill me, then?”

“Let the wolves kill you?” The girl burst out laughing suddenly, a sharp and echoing cackle, like a knife made of sound. “To them, you’re not even worth killing! I mean, honestly, look at you. You’re too skinny to bother with.” “Thank…you? For not letting them eat me, I mean—” The girl shrugged. “Don’t mention it.” Then she continued, “I am a benevolent goddess, after all. Not letting my little pets here tear your limbs off is the least I could do.” Goddess? Felix’s heartbeat felt like it was rattling his ribcage apart. He scanned the faces of the other people in the tunnel—indifferent, mostly, maybe a couple of hostile glares here and there—but none of them seemed at all surprised by their leader’s statement. The corner of the girl’s mouth tilted up in a smirk. No. Not just a girl. Snow. The witch. The healer. “Something wrong, kid? You look rather shaky,” she said, with a pointed look at Felix’s trembling hands. “What are you doing here?” He couldn’t keep his voice from cracking on the last word. “What do you think? I’m helping people.” Snow took a step forward. Defiance and malice flickered in her eyes. The people behind Snow suddenly became very interested in leaving the train platform as quickly as possible, as if they knew this wasn’t going to end well. “You legged it! Now the whole city’s on fire because you weren’t there to protect us!” “They didn’t appreciate me anymore. Down here, I can—” Felix shook his head. “No. Absolute rubbish. You can’t just abandon people, we need you up there.” “If people take me for granted, it isn’t really worth it, now is it? Leaving now and then makes things a little more exciting.” “You’re not—” It was a long few seconds before Felix finished his sentence. “You’re not even really a witch, are you?”

Snow blinked. Once, then twice. “That’s not—of course I’m a witch, I’m—” “No. You’re just someone clever and mysterious who wanted to be worshipped. You wanted people to follow you, because—” he searched for the right word. “Because you’re lonely. That’s it, isn’t it?” Something seemed to leave Snow’s eyes. The spark of anger was gone, replaced by something pained and regretful. When she spoke, it was with the voice of a child—neither a goddess nor a witch. Instead, she spoke with the soft, clear voice of a child who knew enough about the broken world to brilliantly pass for both of those things. “I’m the only one who can do it. Heal people. Nobody else knew how.” “You shouldn’t have lied.” Felix turned and left the tunnel, coming out of the underground back to the upper world of smoke and fire. Snow made no move to stop him. He stood at the top of the steps, looking up at his personal inferno of a city—it was his now, wasn’t it, now that everyone else was gone? This is my world now. I’ll do with it what I like.

Test Subject 421 …continued By: Hannah Caldera 13, 8th Grade It had been three days and nothing interesting had happened. A rather bland man with food and water would come in twice a day and then he was gone. Not once had the man in the long white coat come in. The surroundings of the laboratory stayed the same, as did the deafening cluster of sounds from countless animals all around me. My eyes wander in a daze. I am still in the same, small, boring kennel that I was put in three days ago. All that has changed is the fact that my head is throbbing from the constant noise level. The black and white cat next me appears to be sleeping, and the German Shepard to my other side is whimpering. A few hours pass by, and the bland man with food comes in to give us our sun meal. This sparks a deafening barking session, and of course, I join in “Where are we and what are you doing with us,” I say, trying to hide the fear in my voice. The black German Shepard looks up, “He doesn’t understand dog, idiot.” I shoot him a dirty look. The black German Shepard next to me is named 422 and let’s just say having 422 as company has made the three days feel like three years. The man walks around the whole room taking out used bowls and putting in new ones with fresh food. After my meal I manage to sleep a little, only to be woken up a few hours later with loud barking. The man with the white coat is back. He struts into the room like someone with authority, his bald head shining in the light. “Today’s the day. Today’s the day. Today’s the day,” he says. Clearly there is some doubt in his voice the there is also excitement. The man walks along the walls to find the perfect animal for whatever he is doing. All I know is that I really don’t want to have anything to do with him, so I go to the back of my cage. Unfortunately for me, the man stops at my cage and stares for what feels like ages. Finally,

something clicks in the man’s head and he takes me out of my kennel. My heart starts to pound in my chest as he loops a leash around my neck and leads me to the center of the room. There is a large metal table here, with wires and tubes of all sizes, and colors draped across it. The man lifts me up onto the table and begins to mess with a few tubes. I feel all the other animals in the room watching me, their eyes burning my back. When the man is done messing with his tubes, he sticks a needle into me. “Ouch!” I scream. He doesn’t understand me, but he gets the point. To my surprise, he then sticks a needle into his own arm, and says, “Okay 421 let’s see just how smart I am,” and with that he presses a button and out of nowhere everything starts to spin. I see the scientist fall to the floor with a thud. Suddenly I can’t stand. My legs buckle. Everything goes black just after I see the man that usually has our food run into the room and scream, “Mr. Halpert!” *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* I wake up in my cage who knows how much later. I have no idea what happened, all I know this that my head still hurts. A lot. “You fainted like a weakling, that’s why you’re only 421” 422 snickers. “You know your jokes are terrible right?” 422 gives me a hurt look. Just then a little girl around five comes into the room. To my surprise, I find her kind of cute. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She stands at around 3 feet tall and has two blue bows in her hair. She skips up to my cages and says,

“You’re the one Daddy told me about, aren’t you? He said you made him faint and that he wishes his experiment worked.” The little girl’s voice is squeaky and high pitched. “That was me,” I say to her. I know she can’t understand me, but I don’t care. “I’m Alice,” the little girl says, “and you must be 421.” She looks me up and down. If only I could figure out what is going on in this little girl’s head. Humans have such complex emotions that I could never dream of understanding. The small girl skips over to the table. “Daddy says that if you put the right combination of needles together then we can switch bodies! Then after a whole day passes, we will be back to normal,” Alice chirps. I don’t understand anything she just said. How can humans make sense of all this nonsense? Alice crosses back over to my side of the room and opens my cage door. I don’t budge. “Come on Doggy,” she chirps “I just want to play with you!” Playing? I don’t know what that means, but something about how sweet and innocent her voice is makes me follow her. Alice leads me to the table and indicates for me to jump up. I do so with ease, because of my years jumping up on that one dumpster. Watching her with curious eyes, I ask her, “What are we doing little girl?” She laughs. To her this just sounds like a dog whining. Alice reaches for random wires and starts attaching them. It’s clear that she has no idea what she’s doing. She put a red one on a yellow one, a green one on a blue one, and attaches various tubes together. Finally, she sticks a needle in my arm and one in hers. Oh no. Now I know what she’s doing. “No please no,” I whimper. “It’s okay Doggy,” she says. “We are just going to switch bodies for a day!”

“Wait wha-,” she presses the button and for a second it seems like nothing happened. When her dad pressed the mysterious button, we both fainted, this time I just feel a strange tingling feeling. Looking at the girl’s face it’s clear that she feels it too. Around ten seconds of the tingling happens, and then my body feels like it’s shifting. Oh no, did it work? As the shifting gets stronger, we both black out, but not before I can see that the little girl is suddenly very hairy. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* I wake up very dizzy, and for a second, I don’t know where I am. I lift my head and immediately regret it. My head is spinning. I look around and realize that I’m not in my cage. That’s when it all comes flooding back. Oh no. I look around to find the girl and only see a mutt, around the size of a poodle outside of its cage. It is still knocked out, so I try not to wake it. I stare for a long time at it, there is something very familiar about it. Holy crap could that be me? I’ve never actually seen myself before. “Alice where are you,” I say, my voice shaking. Wait, did I just speak English? I sit up, but while doing so, I use my human hand to lift me up. My heart skips a beat and I think I might faint again. Looking down at my legs, I notice that there are only two of them, and they don’t have hair. The animals around me are all barking loudly. Usually I can understand them if I want to, but now I hear like a human. Wobbling around the room on my two human legs I find a mirror. “Holy crap…”

To be continued…

The Strong Princess By: Kareema Salah Age: 13. Grade: 7th Grade

A long, long time ago, in the kingdom of Azlagard, ruled by King Billiard the 5th, there was a small town, and right next to the town there was another kingdom, Peragonia, ruled by King Philip the 3rd. Now King Philip the 3rd had a daughter named Princess Olympia, and because she was turning 18 years old, it’s practical to get married. And bacause Azlagard was right next door, why not ask for a married proposal to bring the kingdoms together. So King Philip the 3rd ordered up his men to send out a messenger to the kingdom of Alzagard. But on the morning the messenger reached the Alzagard the Princess found out the news. “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT,” Screeched the Princess, in a high voice. She threw a metal tray on to the ground in ager and stopped around the room. The door swung open harshly as the handmaiden, Mary, stormed in. she looked frantically around the room and saw June, a maid, and the Princess in a corner. “I heard your cries of distress. What’s wrong?” Mary asked confused and worried. “What’s wrong!” the princess spat. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong! NO ONE THOUGHT TO TELL ME THAT I’M GETTING MARREID!” Her face was a boiling red and her hands were clenched into fists. “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DIDN’T TELL ME!” The princess stormed around the room and kick whatever was at her feet. “Your highness, the king-,” “What! My father told you not to tell me! That isn’t fair,” “Wait, how do you know you’re getting married?” Mary wondered out loud. “June told me,” princess Olympia smiled winningly. “WHAT! You promised the royal majesties you wouldn’t!” Mary was stunned that June broke her promise to the king!

“I didn’t mean to! It just came out,” “But you told her! And now she knows,” Princess Olympia turned from the window and walked tord to door. “Your highness, where are you going,” “To see my father, I need a word with him,” Olympia stood there and waited for Mary to move. “Your highness I can’t let you go see the king,” “Move now.” “Your highness I can’t, I’m sorry. If the king finds out you know, June and I will be in big trouble,” “That’s your problem, not mine. I need to see my father. So are you going to move or not?!” Mary shook her head no. “Fine,” Olympia stepped back and screamed. “HELP, HELP, HELP MEEEEEEE!” Footsteps came from out the hall and soldiers pushed Mary aside and made their way through. Olympia pointed to June and Mary. “Their imposters please help me.” Automatically the soldiers separated Mary and June from Olympia. “I have to go. They were trying to stop me,” A soldier nodded and let Olympia go. “WAIT! PLEASE WE’RE NOT IMPOSTERS!” June cried. Olympia walked down the hall and turned a corner, and then she kicked the wall. “Why didn’t my father tell me? Why didn’t June or Mary tell me sooner? And then regret it? It’s my marriage; it’s my wedding, so why didn’t anyone tell me? ” Olympia kicked the wall again and again. “Rude, mean, not cool, annoying, that’s what they are.” “Well it looks like someone is upset. Care to tell me what’s bothering you?” An old raspy voice asked.

Olympia turned from the wall to see who it was. The voice came from the old adviser Baron. He retired years ago but still lives in the castle. “I’m getting married!” Olympia glared, “did you know?” Baron smiled nicely and answered, “There is few things I don’t know of,” “So that’s a yeah or no?” “Both!” Olympia looked at the Baron confused, “Baron, this is unacceptable,” “Unacceptable how,” Olympia looked stern, “My father decided to arrange a married to the kingdom over.” “Oh! Ummmm, the oldest, prince Zen, I believe. Quite charming and a very accomplished young prince, he’ll make a great king and you’ll make a great couple.” “No! I’ve never seen him or talked to him. So I shouldn’t marry him.” “Your highness prince Zen is a great prince!” “I don’t care, I’m not going to marry him, and to prove it, I’ll, I’ll-,” “YOU’RE HIGHNESS! PLEASE RECONSIDER!” Called June and Mary from down the hall. Olympia turned tord them, “I’m going to run a way!” “Huh?!” “Wait, you’re highness,” “Please don’t,” “Consider,” Princess Olympia straightened and looked so much like a princess, “I’ve made my decision,” and with that she walked off. Some hours later Princess Olympia was in her room when the June and Mary ran in. They we’re panting and looked so out of breath. “You’re highness please,” Mary said in distress.

“You’re highness, we can’t let you go. We promised the king,” June stood at the door and waved her hands. “I don’t care!” “Why don’t you want to marry the prince?” “Because I don’t want to and that is my final answer,” “But-,” “Good bye June and Mary,” Olympia walked out of the room and stormed down the hall. “Please your highness; if you leave, we’ll get in trouble and the king will be angry. Just stay.” Olympia didn’t answer and was too busy to care. She turned a corner with Mary and June at her heels and saw the exit door. “Please you’re highness, please just reconsider,” “I already gave you the answer so stop repeating the question,” Olympia walked up to the exit door. But no one opened it. “Your highness where are you going?” asked a guard. “I’m going on an errand, so please open up the door.” The guard glanced at June and Mary. June shook her head no. “I’ m sorry your highness but we can’t let you out without a formal occasion,” Olympia glared and turned away. She knew she couldn’t command them to let her go through. She had to find another way, like a window. She looked around as she walked and just like that, she saw a window. Olympia rushed forward and opened up the window. Before anybody realized it Olympia jumped out the window head first, it was the first level so she didn’t have far to fall. Olympia hit the ground and tumbled down the hill, she stopped at the bottom with her bag of clothes, beside her. And ran off. To be continued…

Cracking Emeralds, Fixing Bells by Aurora Dennison grade 7

RECAP: Em(erald) is an ordinary girl who has no friends. (Ara)bella is the lady of the castle. Arabella is running from her lessons when she slams into Emerald. Em wants to be a lady and Bella wants a normal life. Em manages to steal her parents new invention: a time travel stone. Her and Em come up with an idea to switch themselves as babies. The switch succeeds however the future is very different. In this new future Em is the lady, as planned, but Bella had died of the disease that killed Em’s father. Now, Em’s father is alive, Bella is dead, and Em is the lady Arabella.

EM as BELLA Em could’nt believe it. Not only was she missing her best friend but she had to make the the impossible choice between the father she never knew or her only friend. She knew she had to choose Bella, but still, it was hard. She knew she had to get Bella back though because things would only get worse from here. In her time here Em had learned that who Bella had described to her as “the wretched, evil Madame Constance,” turned out to be quite nice when you didn’t run away 24/7. Em sort of liked the lessons and found she had a knack for most of them. She was a little sad to have to give up this life, but she knew it was necessary and she knew she would never get over the guilt. Still, she gave herself a few days to enjoy it. After five days Em forced herself to try and figure out the stone. She knew where to put in the date and time, but she still had no idea how the coordinates worked. The keypad was weird and Em didn’t know how to work it. Em had to shine a flashlight under her covers to look at it. After a few days Em had figured out how to work everything. She was halfway there. Now she had to figure out what to do when she got back in time.

BELLA

…. EM as Bella Em spent 3 days thinking of a plan. She thought of one plan to find Bella in the palace and convince her to not do the switch, but she knew it would fail. Bella had been so intent. Also, she could just get freaked out, seeing another Em. That was out of the question. Finally she came up with one that could work. She would wait till the old Em and Bella go back to the present, then switch the babies back. It was risky but it was all she had. Em began

to set everything up. She had the stone, a pair of normal clothes, and 5 food chips in case she got stuck. Now two weeks had passed since Em had got put in this new, messed up present. She was ready to go. In the middle of the night Em grabbed her bag of supplies and stood in the center of the room. She entered everything into the stone and took a deep breath, preparing for the pain. Em clenched her fists tight, squeezed her eyes shut and pressed the button. The room swirled around her and and then she was falling through walls of swirling blue light then everything went dark.

BELLA

…. EM Em opened her eyes and screamed. Right up in her face was a brown dog. She scrambled to her feet laughing because it was just a puppy, but immediately regretted it. She had forgotten the pain brought with time travel. The dog jumped on her and gave her a huge lick. Laughing again, Em pulled the puppy off her and looked at its collar. She gasped. “Buddy?” The puppy cocked its head to the side at the sound of his name. She burst into tears and pulled Buddy close. He nuzzled her with his wet nose. Buddy was Em’s dog. He had died when she was 10. After a minute Em pulled herself together and stood up. She had brought both the watch that adjusted and the one that didn’t. She looked around and immediately noticed that they were in the park and it was around seven in the morning. Her house was just down the road. Buddy must have run out since neither her mom or her dad were out. “Let’s go home Buddy. Come on,” Em called and they ran to her house. She stopped a few yards away and turned towards the palace. She watched as Bella and herself pressed the button and something swirled around them then they disappeared. She crept up to the window where her mother was and looked in. Em’s mother was still asleep and so was baby Bella. Em crept towards the door with Buddy at her heels. Luckily, he must have understood he needed to be quiet because he was completely silent with his ears listening for every sound. She tried the doorknob slowly. It turned! Then she pushed gently, and the door gave. It made a loud creak and she winced. Buddy trotted in, pushed past her, then snuggled into his bed. Em tiptoed towards the room where her mother was but stopped outside the master bedroom. She just needed one more look. She walked in and just looked. Tears silently slid down her face. She wanted him back more than she could say. She chose Bella though. There was no going back now though. Still it was not enough. Never enough. Em heard a loud thud on the front door and spun around. A huge stray dog had banged the door open. He howled and Buddy charged at him. That’s when all Hades broke loose.

BELLA Bella meets Em’s eyes as she presses the button. A movement behind Em catches her eye and she looks over Em’s shoulder. She just catches sight of another Em before everything goes….

EM Buddy tackled the other dog with a ferocious bark. Em screamed. She knew tiny Buddy would never stand a chance. Her father runs out to the scene from the bedroom and her mother from the living room holding a crying Bella. Em closed her eyes, her mother screamed, and her father grabbed a walking stick. He managed to separate the dogs using it. They were both bloody and growling at each other. Her father chased the stray out and it ran away, still snarling. Em went to scoop up Buddy but stopped. Her parents did not know her. Shoot. Em had failed. Her parents them turned to her. “And who are you?” Her father asked in a demanding but not mean voice. “M-m-me?” She squeaked. “Yes.” Her father said. Em had not planned for this so she came up with something as fast as possible. A mix of Em and Bella. “I-i’m Ella.” “You must be an orphan!” Em’s mother concluded. Em had no choice but to go with it. “Yes. My parents recently died from hunger. I don’t want to go to the orphanage. Please don’t send me there.” She pretended to plead. “I am sorry, but I don’t think we have a choice.” Her father said sympathetically. “We will let it slide this time that you have broken into our house because you saved our dog but next time…” She knew the rest but she hoped they would not spot her next time. “Look,” she said. “You can trust me. The only reason I came here this time was to return your dog. I found him in the park. This dog attacked us on the way in.” This was half true. “Really. Well thank you then. We better get to the orphanage.” Her mother said “Actually, you two look very tired. I can get there myself.” Em improvised. “Well if you're sure then,” her father said tiredly. “Goodbye Ella.” “Goodbye.” Em said. She gave Buddy a hug and walked away. Then she ducked behind a bush, got the stone ready, then paused. Maybe she shouldn’t go back. Em sat there for a while. There was nothing she could do in this time but what if she went back farther? Yes. That’s what she would do. Em decided to go back to the day before her and Em first came, then switch the babies so that they would be putting it back. Em reset the stone and pressed the button. The swirling started, then that falling, and finally she went out.

BELLA …. EM Em was now back in the park. She opened her eyes and layed there for a few minutes. Then sat up slowly wincing a little. It did hurt less after laying there though. Em got up and checked the adjusted watch. It was two in the morning. She walked over to her house and looked through the window. Her father was asleep with baby Em in her crib. Em went over to the door and, once again, the door was unlocked. She now appreciated that her mother always forgot to lock the door. Buddy ran up to her. Em now knew why Buddy was happy to see her when she went back last time. He sniffed her then decided that he liked her, and Buddy gave her a huge lick. It was all Em could do to keep from laughing. Em crept down the hall and into the living room, Buddy right at her heels. She silently picked the baby her up and looked and then walked as quickly as she could while being quiet, out the door. Buddy whimpered when she closed the door on him, but he could not come. Em slipped through the bars and ran to the palace she climbed through the first floor closet window. She ran down the halls and into the master bedroom. As expected, both parents were asleep and so was Bella. As quietly as possible Em placed the baby Em down and picked up Bella. She then ran back through the halls and out the window while taking care not to wake the baby. Once again she made her way through the mazes of flowers and shrubs. Holding the Bella close. She finally made it to her house. She double checked her dad was still sleeping and went to the front door. Buddy was sitting right where she left him. She she opened the door and he playfully pounced on her. Thankfully he was light enough not to knock her over. She walked over to the crib and placed baby Arabella down. Em looked at her father, so peaceful in his sleep. She pictured his warm, bright, full, green eyes. They were much like her own. She wished she could save him too. There was no way though. As she was looking down over him a warm tear fell from her cheek onto his. She noticed her was wearing a locket. She had never seen this before. She opened it. It had a picture of her mother and father in it. As long as she could remember he had a locket but not this one. I different one that held a picture of her and her mother. She had never seen this one. Then she realized why. She knew it was right. Em slipped the locket off him and put it on. She smiled, It felt right. Then she whispered to Buddy “Hey, come wait with me to see things through.” He followed her outside. Em hid in a bush between her house and the park. She ate some food and then began to drift off. A pop woke Em up. She looked at her watch. Now was when her and Bella should be arriving. She saw them in the street then she saw that Em wake up. She watched it all play out as it should. It was just like a movie. She was startled when Buddy lept from her lap. He ran towards the park and onto a passed out Em. It was all good now. Yes. Em watched Buddy. “You chose Bella. You chose Bella.” she kept telling this to herself but still the tears came. She had her time with him. That was more than she ever thought she would get. Em composed herself and pressed the stone. The swirling blocked out Buddy. “Goodbye” She said for the final time. Then she fell into the blue and everything went dark. 32

BELLA Bella woke up to see Em was just waking up too. “Did we do it?” Bella asked. Em sat up. “Bella?!” “Yes? Did we do it?” “Bella.” “Em are you okay?” Bella asks nervous. Em starts crying. She hugs Bella who is very confused. “You were dead! I thought it would never work. You’re really here!” “What do you mean? Did it not work.” Then she gets it. “Oh. You mean I was dead, and you had to go back and fix it.” “Yes. Bella, we were wrong. We have so much. You have parents. You have a life so many wish for. I have a mother better than I deserve and a best friend better than I can ask for.” The two of them stay there together for a few minutes. “You’re right. I have so much. We were greedy. There is nothing we can do now. Let’s enjoy our wonderful lives. I did get something out of what we did. A best friend. Forever?” “Forever.”

Artwork by Kareema Salah

Silver from the Sun By Annabelle Hallworth Age 12 Splash, splash, splash. The ocean’s peacefulness is blissful. It allows me to escape from the troubles at home. I amble along the beach, the cool sand burying my foot each time I take a step, and falling off when I lift my foot. My eyes scour the shore for sea glass. Although it is hard to find as a neophyte, sea glass can be found as easily as you can find fish in the ocean for someone who has searched for it practically her entire life. I scan the horizon. The sun has just risen, and is glistening off the water. Little fish look like silver in the ocean darting about, because of the light reflecting on them. Dolphins jump out of the ocean, their silhouettes seeming to hover in mid-air for a split second. I have been walking for quite some time and I should get home before Mom starts worrying. Reluctantly, I plod home, nervous to see if Mom and Dad are fighting again. When I reach out house, I can hear my parents shouting. I sigh. I should be used to this by now, but I still keep hoping that they have resolved something. Taking a deep breath, I turn the doorknob and enter into the mudroom. I swiftly and silently creep up the stairs in the mudroom, so that I can avoid the kitchen, where my parents are fighting. I quietly open the door to my room, slip inside, and shut it. Plopping into my desk chair I reach for my horse magazines and begin flipping through them. Eventually, I spot a picture of a palomino horse and grab my scissors. After I have cut it out I tape it to the wall above my bed, adding to my collection of horse pictures. The images showcase horses and ponies ranging from Arabians to Shetland ponies, flea-bitten grays to chestnuts. Although all of these horses are amazing, none of them seem to be my dream horse. I don’t know exactly what my dream horse looks like, or even the breed, but I’ll know it when I see it. I stand up and flop onto my bed. Watching sea gulls through the skylight in my room’s ceiling cause my eyes to slowly close.

Right when I reach the state when you are about to fall asleep but you can still hear people, Mom yells, “Fine! We’ll do it your way!” and slams the mudroom door. Now that I’m fully awake I can hear Mom’s car engine start in front of the house and fade away. My eyes begin to fill with tears. The world looks all swirly and blurry. The pinto horse on my bed spread under my face begins to darken as tears slowly slide down my cheeks and dampen my bed. I close my eyes and continue my silent crying. Darkness fills my vision as I sluggishly awaken. I wait for my eyes to adjust to this new lighting. When I shoot a glance over at my digital clock on my nightstand ,I am surprised to find that it reads 7:43pm. Darn it! I push myself up into a sitting position, then slump back down again. There is no use in attempting to get dinner now. Dad doesn’t permit that after all. My stomach grumbles its disapproval of my realization. I drag myself up to the top of my bed, slide under the comforter and fall fast asleep. Beeeeeeeep! Beeeeeep! Beeeeeeeep! I reach out to smack the off button on my alarm clock, but I miss and fall out of bed with a thud. Grumbling and groaning I stand up and trudge over to my window and pull back my curtains, which showcase a beautiful nature scene with a herd of horses, to reveal a blinding sunrise. I freeze and wait until the splotches of light have left, allowing me to gaze out onto the ocean. Even though it’s summer and there is no school, I still wake up at 6:00am. Why? I have multiple reasons. One, I love watching the sunrise. Two, Dad makes breakfast at 6:07am and if I want anything good to eat, I need to be downstairs and dressed by 6:15am. Three, Since I got up for these reasons, I started going down to the beach at 6:30am, before too many people are there, to collect trash. This has become such a habit I cannot imagine a summer without cleaning the beach. I quickly grab a sea turtle jumper from my closet, throw it on and braid my hair. I open my door and amble down the hallway leading to the kitchen. Dad is at the stove cooking pancakes and bacon. “Good morning Dad!” I chirp, trying to be cheerful so that Dad might possibly respond with words. “Mmmmm,” he responds like usual, not moving his glance from the stove. Oh snickerdoodles! My attempt was unsuccessful again. I meander over to the table with a look of defeat on my face ad plop down on a chair. Dad places another batch of five pancakes on the already huge stack of flapjacks and returns to his cooking. I begrudgingly heave myself back up off the chair and plod to the counter next to the stove, where the pancakes are. Grabbing a plate from the cabinets above the counter I realize that I forgot to put caution tape around the sea turtle nest that I had found yesterday!

I gently place the plate down, grab a pancake, roll it into a tube, stuff it with bacon, and rush down to the beach with my backpack equipped with stuff for my “beach patrol” walks. As I jog to the beach, I stuff my mouth with my “pandogake” and try to eat it without choking. When I reach the beach a few minutes later, I run as fast as I can in the sand to where I had spotted the nest the day before. Whew! I breathe a sigh of relief when I see that the eggs are fully intact. Although I don’t have a permit that allows me to put caution tape around the nest, a camp that I attended a few summers ago promoted it. (Well, not without a permit but….I am helping the environment). I grab a few old fence stakes from the sand hill behind the nest, stick them around it, and tie caution tape, connecting the stakes around the top. Stepping back from my masterpiece, a wave of satisfaction rushes over me. As I grab my backpack off the sand, I spot a mound in the distance that appears to be moving up and down ever so slightly. Filled with curiosity, I jog over to the mound. As I move closer, I realize that the mound is a horse; a horse that I have spotted with the wild horse herd on the beach! Carefully, so that the horse doesn’t stir, I slow from a jog into a creep. Tiptoeing around it, I examine this beautiful creature more closely. I spent many hours trying to imagine what my dream horse looks like, only to come up empty minded (like empty handed, but in your mind). If only I had found this untamed stallion earlier, all those hours wouldn’t have been wasted. Yes, I checked. and this dream horse is a male. His gray coat glistens silver in the new daylight. The classic appaloosa dots speckled along his back seem to be diamonds. Craaaaack! My flip-flops break a shell settled in the sand. The still, peaceful environment quickly becomes chaos as the horses’ eyes roll back in his head and I attempt to quiet his neighs with what was meant to be a soothing voice, but gets more frantic as I continue. “Hey boy,” my voice breaks, “it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. You’re so pretty.” I gain control of my voice right as the horse tries to get up. He successfully gets on his front hooves, but when he moves his hind legs to support him, his left back leg gives, and he collapses back onto the sand. On his second attempt, he reaches a standing position and holds it while his hurt leg shakes and finally, he gives a sharp whinny of pain and falls into the soft shoreline. “You poor thing,” I whisper. “How did you injure your leg? Can I touch it?” “Ppppppnh.” He blows air out of his mouth and I take it to mean, “Why not? I’ve tried everything. As long as you don’t hurt me.” I gently creep over to his magnificent, musclepacked hindquarters. When my hand gently and lightly brushes his hurt leg, his skin twitches like it is trying to rid itself of a fly. Softly grazing his leg, my hand reaches the hock when it finds what I’m searching for. My eyes fill with tears as my hand recognizes what is hurting this wild horse. Trying to keep calm, I take hold of the barbed wire and work it off of his leg.

You might be thinking, “So, this horse hurt itself by tangling its foot up in a barbed wire fence and ran away? Why are you so upset?” This wire was tied in a slipknot, like on of those things that cowboys use in the movies to catch cows. My guess is that someone attempted to catch this stallion with a barbed wire lasso. Only a cruel, horrendous person would do that. They wouldn’t care if the horse became hurt. All they care about is selling it, riding it, or whatever they plan on doing. Whoever did this wouldn’t even give him a name. Speaking of which, I need to give this appaloosa a name. Jerked back to reality by the fact that I might have something in common with a mean, feelingless horse tamer, names pop into my mind right and left: Dreamer, Silver, Bob. It all becomes a jumbled mess until – hang on a second. Bob?! Anyway, somehow “Stormwater” came out of the confusion. I guess that since he is feisty like a storm and his coat is the color of water during a downpour, it fits him. Uggghhh! Stop getting distracted Connie! I reach into my backpack and pull out the antiinfection foam and a towel. I jog to the ocean and dampen the towel. When I get back to Stormwater’s side, I squirt the foam on the towel and press it to the wound. The foam and the salt from the ocean cause Stormwater’s injury to sting and he kicks his leg out trying to get away from the horrid feeling, just barely missing me. Quickly, I tie the towel around his powerful leg with enough pressure that it will stay on but not so tight that it will cut off his circulation. I skitter out of the way as Stormwater begins his match against the towel. Stormwater bucks, he rolls, he tries to bite it. Although my bandage fought a good fight, the horse finally rids himself of his enemy. I glance up at the sky and realize that I need to get home. While I pack my bag back up, I think about what to do with Stormwater. I come to the conclusion that I can’t leave him on the beach. I can only bring him one place that would be safe. Stormwater is going to have to come home with me.

Pulled Under By Ellis Kuester-Ha Age 11/Grade 6

Off the Scandinavian coast. The year is 2119. Climate change has killed many creatures because they could not adapt to the changed conditions. Average temperatures in the Antarctic are 29 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter. A team of scientists on a ship called Beauty sets out to restore ocean currents to help reverse climate change. “It’s a beautiful day today, only 80 degrees and rain! Finally needed the change, didn’t we? Now, let’s continue with the news.” William turned off the radio and yawned. “Old age”, he thought, “is killing me”, as he cracked his knuckles and stretched his sore back. He got out of bed, changed from pajamas into a suit, and looked through the porthole. The sun hid behind monstrous clouds emptying their contents into the sea, which churned and bubbled and frothed away. “Old chap, how did you sleep? After two nights you should be used to the ocean,” Hermann, his German roommate and the ship’s lead engineer greeted him from the bottom of the bunk, imitating William’s stark British accent as he did every morning. “Cut it out,” William grumbled sluggishly and with a slur. “Have a coffee,” Hermann laughed, not bothering to change how he spoke and gave his cabinmate a cup of lukewarm, plain coffee.

William gulped down the entire cup and jumped out of bed cheerfully. “Ah, much better!” he announced and opened the cabin door, carefully avoiding the bottom of the door so as not to trip and stepped into the hallway. He followed the narrow hallway to the galley. “On to the first one, William!” Hermann bellowed, as he sat down with his toast next to him. “Norwegian Current, isn’t it?” William yawned. “Yes, this one needs to be warmed up,” Hermann explained, “And I’m first taking the wildlife from there and taking them to the lab, and then the zoo?” William questioned him, even though he knew the answer already. He knew that Hermann liked to follow the protocol. Over the years of working with him, William had learned that Hermann would back off when he felt that the team was following the procedures he laid down when he first joined the mission.

Two weeks later, in the northern Atlantic

“Done,” William sighed as he watched the icefish, seals, and algae in their onboard ‘zoo’. They would be joined by other flora and fauna soon. After rescuing all the wildlife that had survived, the team onboard the Beauty had successfully cleared the ocean around the Norwegian Current of the ice blocks and warmed the water temperature to what it had been for centuries. “Yes, one down, I forgot how many to go. Greenland Current is next, right?” Jean, a youngish man with a distinctive moustache also sighed. He the developer that had programmed the radiators that had warmed the current. “Yes,” William sighed again.

Six months later, in the southern Pacific

Months had passed. Sixteen ocean currents had been already restored to their previous temperatures and were beginning to move in their century-old patterns. They had settled into a familiar pattern. There had barely been any mishaps, except an aggressive giant squid off the coast of Japan, but that problem had been easily solved when a sperm whale came by. William had learned to ignore Hermann’s unsettling morning greetings. It helped that Hermann’s engineering skills were in high demand as each new current presented its own challenges. They had just finished lunch and were about to embark from the Galapagos Islands to the next current, when the ship started tilting, barely noticeable at first. “What’s happening?” William sprinted towards the emergency lifeboats. The ship was slowly being pulled into the depths. The team members were screaming in panic as the safety glass sphere emerged from the right and left bottom sides of the ship, enclosing it and turning it into an immobile submarine. The capsule had been Hermann’s idea. His years as a navy engineer had trained him to consider all possible scenarios, most of them remote and terrifying. Soon, they were passing rocky reefs teeming with swarming marine iguanas, which had released into the waters only days before. Suddenly, they were caught in a current, which started propelling them east, away from the Galapagos and towards the coast of Ecuador. William knew it was pointless to fight the inevitable. He knew the current was going to lead them to the Humboldt Current, lurking hundreds of yards below the surface, and then push them into the Galapagos Current again, trapping them in a succession of circulating neighboring currents. One by one, team members started to assemble around him, bombarding him with questions. “William Mountfield and Hermann Müller are required to attend the emergency meeting on the bridge. I repeat, William Mountfield and Hermann Müller are required to attend the emergency meeting on the bridge!” the captain’s voice suddenly blasted over the speakers.

“That’s us, come on let’s go!” Hermann, who William had not noticed, shouted, as always a little too loudly and too close to Bill’s ears. “Okay, let me go straight to it. We are running out of food and water supplies. If we eat the same amount as we have and feed the animals, our supplies will be depleted in about twenty days, when our mission should have ended. We have no remaining means of communication. So far, so clear?” the captain of the Beauty explained, looking around at the people standing around him. Everybody nodded in silence. “Ok, now to the real question. With only twenty days left, we need to figure out why we go pulled under, and how to get out of this again.” “Maybe it’s a submarine current,” the lead physicist, an Irish woman in her fifties, with greying, untamed curls proposed, breaking the stunned silence. “But we could have also been pulled down by some sinking water that we had not warmed up fully. It’s what I had warned you guys about all along, but you just wanted to rush through this,” the lead ocean scientist interrupted, shooting a glance at the captain, before looking across to Hermann, who nodded ever so slightly. A murmur went through the group. This might have been a plausible cause. A seemingly minor heater malfunction, too minor to notice in a rush, would have been enough to cause this. The discussion soon went around in circles. Sensing that they risked getting trapped in blaming each other, the captain ordered the inspection of the heaters, which soon confirmed that one of the units was malfunctioning. In the rush to move from one current to the next before funding for their mission would run out, the crew had not tested the temperatures of the currents as frequently as Hermann had laid out in the instructions. Procedures had not been followed. “And what now?” a remarkably uncomfortable and unusually serious Jean whispered, with a barely detectable quiver. “Warm up the water surrounding the ship. As it rises, we’ll get lifted out of this current and towards the surface. About two heaters would provide enough heat to get this done. The problem is, there aren’t any openings in the capsule to jam the heater through,“ the lead physicist explained, speaking a little too slowly as she looked at Jean. His jokes at the first meeting two years before had sowed some doubt about his professionalism. She had tried her best to move past her initial impression, but first impressions stick, as her mother had always reminded her. “There is,” Hermann barked. “Where?” Everybody turned around to face him. “There are two emergency openings, one at each side of the sphere. There are small, but they are on the drawings in the manuals. You have them in your files,” Hermann spoke calmly, with his eyes steadily fixed on the captain. To be continued….

The Survival of the Empire By Jackson Schrum Age: 14 “Your Majesty, it is ludicrous that you want to give all of these separate kingdoms more autonomy. You are speeding up the demise of your own empire!” cried the bald and round Felix von Thun, Austria-Hungary’s foreign minister. As Emperor Franz Ferdinand sat at one end of a long, narrow table, he had been only half-listening to the sounds of his top advisors as they argued. At Felix’s outburst, however, the Emperor scowled. His face became less stern when his gaze shifted to his wife, Sophie. “If we continue with this policy of oppressing the people, uprisings and rebellions are inevitable,” she said softly. “We must develop the plan before our meeting with the governors next month,” reminded Alfred, prince of Schwarzenberg. Alfred, tall and thin, was one of Franz’s top advisors and closest friends. Franz had become a more timid leader since would-be assassins nearly took his life in Sarajevo more than two years ago. Just a month into his reign, Franz knew he needed to create a better relationship with the Triple Entente--the United Kingdom, France, and Russia. Felix, clearly frustrated, exclaimed, “If we go through with a divided empire, surely our allies and our enemies will think that we’re weak. You could find that some of your advisors would lose faith in a monarch who wants to bring a downfall to his kingdom.”

Again, Franz remained quiet. Sophie fidgeted and Alfred sighed as Felix stormed out of the room. Sophie excused herself too. Alfred sat down next to Franz and said, “I can’t understand why you haven’t dismissed him. He is power-hungry and disobedient, not to mention that he has a terrible temper.” Franz finally spoke, “I cannot dismiss him. Felix has quite a few followers who would be outspoken against me if I no longer had his support.” Alfred suspected that Franz had not recovered from the assassination attempt in 1914, and took care not to upset anyone, for fear of being a target for someone else’s bullet. When Felix left the Emperor, he walked down the hall to his quarters. He sat behind his desk, took out his quill and paper, and began to write to a trusted ally. In the letter, he requested a meeting for midnight, when he could be certain no one would overhear their discussion. A few minutes later, he called for a messenger. Promptly at midnight, Felix updated his ally, Anton von Albori, on the plans of the Emperor to divide up the empire. The men agreed that such a move would lessen their powers and wealth. Then Felix explained his plan to his friend. “Perhaps if the governor of Bosnia killed the empress, Franz would back down from his plan to divide the empire.” His friend looked at shocked at first, but then agreed, saying, “Yes, it is unlikely that the Emperor would grant autonomy to kingdoms that would assassinate his own wife.” After a few more minutes of conversation, Anton departed, promising to recruit a skilled mercenary, someone he’d hired before. A month later, the governors of the kingdoms of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire began gathering in Vienna, called there by Emperor Ferdinand. The Emperor was ready to reveal his plan to divide the empire and create more stability.

The governor of Bosnia, Stjepan Sarkotic, arrived first. He arrived a day early, prepared to convince the emperor of the need to grant him more autonomy. When Felix heard the news that the governor of Bosnia had arrived a day earlier than expected, his entire plan had to be rushed. He sent a message to Anton: “Direct Ian Princip to come to the palace at once. It is time that he meets the wife. Signed, Felix.” When the messenger arrived at Anton’s residence, he discovered that he was absent from the servant at Anton’s door. The servant, noticing the name Ian Princip on the letter, directed the messenger to Ian Princip’s nearby home. When Ian received the letter, he struggled to read it, as German was not his native language. He understood he had to move quickly, and made his way to the palace. When he arrived, he used his new identification to gain entrance to the palace, and overheard someone call out to Felix von Thun’s wife. Thinking this was his target, he hid and when the opportunity came, he struck. Ian quickly fled. Franz Ferdinand had just finished explaining his plan to the Bosnian governor when a guard rushed into the room, exclaiming, “Felix von Thun’s wife has been shot!”

Cave By Claire Wood Grade 7 “Ok, so, we’re all clear on the plan? We all meet at Jade's house tomorrow around noon then we’ll pack everything up and head out. Sound good?” Shelby sends the text to the group chat. Blake, Lacey, and Sebastian all text, “yep” or send a thumbs up emoji. But, of course, Jade does not confirm. Great. I wait about an hour and do some homework...still no answer. But then Blake texts, “Jade you still on for camping tomorrow?” And she responds immediately. “Yeah yeah! Of course I'm still going. I am the one who has the tents, anyway.” Jade and I have pretty much always had this weird relationship. Like she’s mad at me or something? I honestly don't even know if or what or when I did something wrong.

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“I think we have everything all packed up, right?” I say VERY hopefully. We’ve been at this for about an hour now and it's not even that much stuff Lacey says, “yep!” as she's checking the last few things off of her list. She’s Lacey, so of course she has a list. Then we head out to the campsite.

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It's about two o’clock when we arrive. “Let's set up the tents everybody!” Sebastian yells as soon as we pulled into the parking spot “I don't know why he had to yell it, but that's probably a good idea.” Lacey says. “How about Sebastian and I set up one of the tents, and Jade and Shelly set up the other?” “Sounds good.” we all say at pretty much the same time. Blake chimes in and says, “and I can start setting up all the cooking stuff.” Lacey gives a thumbs up and the rest of us nod.

Ugh, I have to work with Jade, this will be fun... We go grab the tent and bring it over to the “plot” and unzip the bag. So far so good. “I hate setting up tents. It's the actual worst.” I say, trying to start a conversation.

“Mhm.” she says barely loud enough for me to hear. “So, do you know what we’re having for dinner? Blake was in charge of food, so who knows what the hell that guy is gonna cook up.” “Yeah. We really don’t know what’s gonna happen. Did I ever tell you about the time he made fish lasagna for me?” Ding, ding! We have a winner! She actually responded with actual words. “You didn't. We don't talk much if you haven't noticed. That sounds pretty terrible though.” Jade cuts her eyes to the side for a split second before responding “It really was. He made me eat it.” she shudders and shakes her head. “I legit gagged.” “Blake’s great and all, but he can go a little crazy with his cooking.” We finished setting up the tent pretty quickly.

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“Dinner!!” Blake calls. “This will be fun.” I tell the group. “So today we will be having……hot dogs!!” “And…?” I say waiting for him to say some kind of crazy food. “What’s the twist?” Jade asks. “Twist? What do you mean?” “Dude...you know...twists.” Sebastien says staring a little too hard at Blake. “I really don’t and why are you staring?” tilting his head away from Sebastien. “Twists,” Sebastien whispers. “Anyway, let’s eat!” Lacey abruptly says. --------

We are sitting around the fire chatting after watching Sebastien spookily start it...a little too enthusiastically. “These woods are haunted. I know it. They’re definitely haunted. No doubt about it.” Blake says out of nowhere.

“Ugh, here we go again. There are no ghosts out here...or anywhere for that matter!” Jade complains. But just as she said it, there was a noise from somewhere in the woods. It sounded almost like a bleat. Whatever it was, it came from behind the tents, deeper in the woods. “What the hell was that, Sebastien?” Jade asks while glaring at Sebastien. And I ask Sebastien, “What did you do this time?” “What..? That noise? That’s not what I set up.” He says quickly and then mutters, “Oh shoot, I wasn’t supposed to say that!” “Well, what did you setup?” Blake asks. “Nothing big. Just an alarm clock to go off at 3 in the morning. You know, ‘cus it’s early.” Sebastien replies. Sebastien furrows his brow as he realizes, with the rest of us, that there was a strange noise in the woods, and none of us made it. -----------

After that we all went to our tents, still a little shaken up, and tried to sleep. I’ve been lying awake in my sleeping bag for what seems like an hour. I’m pretty sure everyone else is asleep. So I decide to get up and go for a short walk which helps me clear my mind sometimes. But, as I stand up, I feel a little dizzy. I shake it off, and start walking behind the tents. I get maybe 50 feet into the woods when I hear some suspiciously deliberate crunching of leaves behind me. In between me and the tents. So I turn my head around to see what is making the noise and it turns out that it’s just a wild...Blake. “What are you doing...in the woods...in the haunted woods...by yourself...at night...in the haunted the woods?” Blake asks as he catches up to me. “I couldn’t sleep so I went for a walk to clear my head.” “By yourself...at night...in the haunted the woods?”

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“We’ve gone pretty far into the haunted woods. We should go back.” Blake asks, still with a hint of fear in his voice. He’s been asking the same question for the last 5 minutes...every 30 seconds. “It’s fine!” I say for the 10th time. “It’s just the woods. Wait, what’s that?”. We walk closer to the dark spot ahead of us.

Is it a shadow? It looks like a...It is a...cave “Blake, it’s a cave. We found a cave!” I say excitedly. “Let’s go in it!” “Um...let’s not go into the the haunted cave in the haunted woods...are you insane!” “No, you are, Ghost Boy” I say as I walk confidently into the cave.

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It’s dark. It’s really dark. It’s like, really, really dark. Blake follows me in to the cave, already hyperventilating. I hear him fiddling with his keys and then ‘click’ light fills the small area around us. Ghost Boy to the rescue! We walk down the humid natural tunnel not talking, just listening to the echoes of our footsteps. Wait, too many footsteps. “Screeeecch” “Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!” Blake babbles and hunches over as if to throw up. So much for Blake. I stand perfectly still as someone…,or something whispers my name and places something on my head. I reflexively reach for my head to take the...thing...off. But nothing is there.

Wait. (I remembered.) Some best lines from our stories.

“This is ridiculous, and I want to just wake up!” --Adam Davis

"The sun hid behind monstrous clouds emptying their contents into the sea, which churned and bubbled and frothed away." --Ellis Kuester-Ha

“The surroundings of the laboratory stayed the same, as did the deafening cluster of sounds from countless animals all around me.” --Hannah Caldera

"Looks like we're not so different after all, sis." --Cameron Berryman