The Museum of Artifacts (Alexander V., Grade 5

The boys did their signature victory dance and shouted over and over again “Friends for Life.” As the sun came up the next morning, the boys were back in their rooms. They looked at each other in excitement and said, “Can you believe we were NFL players?” Kyle responded, “Yes, but more importantly, I realized how great of a friend you were, even in the future!” Liam rolled out of his Falcons sleeping bag and came over to give Kyle a high-five. “Let’s get a game in before my mom comes to pick me up.” said Liam excitedly.

The Museum of Artifacts By Alexander V., Grade 5

When the Los Angeles Museum of Artifacts opened, no one thought much of it. After all, museums weren’t the most exciting thing in the world. What made this museum unique though is that everyone living within three blocks of it got a coupon for one free visit. That was just weird. I knew this because I lived across the street from it. Everyone on our street was planning to go to the museum that Saturday to find out what it was all about. I was very excited. That Saturday, everyone in my neighborhood went to the museum. There was a tall man with sunglasses at the entrance to greet us. “Hello,” he said cheerfully, “Welcome to the Los Angeles Museum of Artifacts, here are your brochures. I hope you have a nice day.” My friends and I entered the museum, and our parents followed. Everyone squeezed into the entrance hall. The hall contained marble floors and stone columns supporting the high ceiling. There were also strange gadgets (artifacts, I guessed) displayed in glass cases scattered around the room. The one nearest to me looked like a sphere with holes filled with glowing green light. The artifacts were very eerie. I headed to one of the dozen rooms that branched out from the main entrance hall with my best friend Finn and our dads. We were all making bets on what we’d see in the next room. As we were walking along the very long hallway, I saw something strange. In the shadows lining the edges of the hallway I saw a pair of circular red objects that looked suspiciously like eyes. I shivered. All of a sudden, I was super paranoid. We were almost to the end of the hallway when all of a sudden, three men rose out of the shadows. But they weren’t men. They had nothing but a swirling miniature tornado below the waist. They also wore black World War II camouflage, and possessed gas masks with red goggles. Everything about them was pure darkness. They immediately reached out and wrapped their arms around Finn and our parents' necks. They quickly dragged them back into the dark. The one closest to me looked at me as if to say you’re next, before disappearing as well. For a second, I could hear struggling, but then there was nothing but silence. For what seemed like a century, I was frozen with terror. Then, my survival instincts kicked in. I sprinted down the hall as fast as I could. I felt bad about abandoning the others, but I knew there was nothing I could do. They were definitely unconscious, if not worse. And suddenly, I realized I was completely alone and vulnerable to those shadow men. As if on cue, once again they rose from the shadows and quickly chased me. They were slowly closing the gap between us. I looked back and caught a glimpse of the red goggles on one of their masks. I won’t let them catch me, I thought to myself. And then everything went dark. I woke up on an uncomfortable cot in a dark area. There was another empty bed across the room and a table with two chairs between that bed and mine. I got up slowly. It felt like I had slept