I felt a stabbing pain in my back. Then I heard my sister snicker. I had been having a nightmare. I had fallen asleep. My dad was never there. Not just in my dream. My dad was never in my life. He was never there. He would never be there. A hot tear rolled down my cheek. ----I guess I felt like there was no way out. Everything was over. My “father,” or whatever his dumb name was, had already left. My mama was always exhausted. My sister was so incredibly cruel. I felt like giving up… and running away. I sat on my floor for a while. I felt the cool tile touch my skin. If I ran away, what would I bring with me? How would I escape? Who would I tell? How would I survive? I think I sat in that very spot for hours, just thinking… and sulking. I hadn’t done my homework, or eaten dinner yet, and it was nearly 9PM. No one came to check on me. I sat there for a little bit longer, until I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. It was a white square… or no, a white rectangle? Right out my window, there was a mattress. An old, distressed, gross mattress that looked like it had been used for years and years. It had finally been given up on, just like me. It sat there, two floors down, directly below my window. I had forgotten… Milo, our garbageman, would come tomorrow morning. I guess they left it out on purpose. But, who were they? To read the rest of Julia’s story please use this link: Milo Continued Bike Rides By Tia A., Grade 6 It was the year of 97 when I met Willie Casten. Let's go back to the moment when I met Will. I was sitting on my wooden desk half asleep when Mr. Vicker called my name. “Linda, you will be partners with Will.” I didn't know who he was talking about because there were three Wills in our class. The first one was Will Johnson, the most popular boy in the 5th grade. He had short brown hair with small twists scattered in it and green eyes that glistened in the sunlight. The next Will was Will Jeremy. People called him Will and some called him W.J, like me. His sister, Callie, was my best friend and she looked exactly like him just with really long hair and pierced ears. The last Will was Willie Casten. Everyone knew about him but didn’t really talk to him. Occasionally he would ride down my street on his dusty red bike, but I mostly see him in the supermarket shopping with his mother who always had a string of pearls hanging on her neck. Mr. Vicker pointed to him and I looked questioningly at his bright red ears that popped out of his head. His glasses tilted to the side as I pulled up a chair to his desk. He looked at me with huge brown eyes and then started working on the paper without even saying hello. That day continued on in the same routine way, until that night at sunset when I was reading while sitting on my window sill. That’s when things got strange? (or That’s when everything changed?) I was reading the rest of the book my papa had given me for my birthday when I caught my eyes on something outside. I rushed to my window only to see that Will Casten was standing on the sidewalk holding something. I ran downstairs to ask him why he didn’t talk to me that day. When I came out of the garage he looked me straight in the eye with tears streaming down his red cheeks and he was holding a dead squirrel. There was blood flooding in his palms. That's when I THE CLARION
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