As we got in, an old man named Henry came up to us and said, “Don’t go to the 3rd floor, a little girl disappeared there.” He finished just as the doors closed. As the elevator started going up, I kept watch on the numbers, ticking higher each time. All of a sudden, the elevator jerked to a stop. Me and Abby screamed. “What's going on?!?!” she screamed. “I don’t know!!!!” I screamed back. Suddenly the elevator dinged and the doors opened. We stood in the doorway, shocked. As we slowly started walking down the hallway, I was unaware of the giant, beady eye staring at us from beyond the glass window. As we unlocked the door to our room, just like when we came into the hotel, our mouths fell open. The whole room had claw marks all over it. The mattress was flipped off the bed and the desk and floor lamp were both on their sides. We started looking around the room. All of a sudden we heard a scratching sound coming from behind us. We slowly turned around only to see a huge raptor standing right in front of us! Abby tried to scream but I covered her mouth. I told her to slowly back towards the closet, but she screamed anyway. My first instinct was to run to the closet and hide, so I did. Just before the raptor jumped on her, I grabbed her and pulled her out of the way. I kicked the raptor, it screeched, and ran away. It hasn’t tried to bother us since. Well, that's basically my whole story. I guess that we went back in time through the elevator. Please w/b, Tanya
Dear Ta
nya,
I have
October
the firs t key.
13, 2003
From, Henry
2nd Place: Hattie P., Grade 3 The Watch Amber surreptitiously slipped her dad’s watch off his wrist. Then, the curly-haired nine-year-old slipped away to explore the airport. Sidling over to a bookstore display, Amber swiped a book about dinosaurs and found an empty corner of the terminal to read. “Last call for Gate A6 to Miami!” blared a voice from the airport rafters. Amber snapped from her reverie, returning the borrowed item to the bookstore as she sprinted toward her family. “Where have you been? Never EVER run away like that!" Amber’s mother shouted. Her father placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Please. Let’s just try to have a relaxing trip.”
THE CLARION
9
