Wishing Well (Selvi R., Grade 5

2: Strange Things A couple of weeks later, Jo moved out. She was excited to stay in a new place. But soon, strange things started to happen. Jo lived on the fourteenth floor, but she would constantly wake up to a tapping on the window. One night, she thought she saw a face, but she must have been mistaken. Jo settled into her new apartment. She enjoyed living out of home, but the strange happenings were bothering her. Eventually, she decided to look into them. She stayed up late one night, looking through the window for the face that haunted her dreams. Finally, as the clock struck midnight, she saw an eerie face outside her window. She opened it and looked out. “Can I help you, sir?” “Yes,” the face responded in a dreary monotone. “What do you want?” The face jumped through the window. “YOU!!!” It screamed.

3: The Face Jo started running, but the face chased her around the apartment. It left a trail of glistening blood behind. It was sickening. Jo felt as if she was about to throw up. She bolted to her apartment door, but it was locked. “AAAAAAAAAAH!”Jo shrieked as she rattled the doorknob. The eerie face was inches away from her. She could smell his rotten breath and see his yellow teeth gleaming, grinning at her. Jo ducked under him and ran until she couldn’t run anymore. She was breathing heavily. The face was getting closer, closer, closer still… Jo punched the face in the face. She rushed to her bed and dived under the sheets. She could hear her heart pounding. Jo peeked her head out of the sheets and saw the face. She screeched and ran for her life. The face was right behind her. “Run, Jo run!” she told herself. Jo was backed up against the window. She could jump, but she would probably die. She jumped...

Wishing Well By Selvi R., Grade 5

Asha stared down at the wishing well. Known to have been sacred in her family, providing them with good health, happiness, and wealth. But Asha didn’t believe in it. She believed in true hope. Just like her grandmother. “My girl, do you know why you are named Asha?” Asha shook her head, all those years

ago.

“Why?” “Because you have brought this family so much hope.” And Asha would hug her grandmother. But not anymore. Now, it seemed like the world had its hands wrapped around her throat. Like it was plunging her into darkness, drowning her in a realm without hope. She was sitting in the emergency room. Waiting. Hoping. Crying. Her grandmother had fallen sick in the middle of the night, vomiting everywhere. They carried her to the hospital. They told Asha to wait at home for a little bit.

She had walked over to the wishing well, for the first time in her life, and looked down. And she cried. Tossed in a coin, with an imaginary wish tied around it. Soon, her father came back to pick her up.

When they reached the hospital, her mother’s eyes were stained with tears. The doctor had told them she didn’t have time. To say their goodbyes now. Everyone told her it would be alright. That if they just hoped, it would be alright. But Asha didn’t want to hope. She wanted to know if, 100 percent, her grandmother would make it. But nobody could tell her. Gingerly, she stepped one foot into the room. She noticed the beeping, the loud machines. She stared around the room in horror. Her grandmother didn’t need all these machines. She was fine…wasn’t she? She was a fighter…wasn’t she? Asha’s eyes fell on her coughing grandmother. She wrapped her arms around her, and tears seemed to pour out of her. Her grandmother bent forward and unclasped the locket that had been tied around her neck. The locket poured into Asha’s hand. “I don’t understand.” Asha said. “My girl,” Asha’s grandmother weakly whispered. “I need you to have hope. To believe in yourself. Promise me.” Asha nodded. “I promise.” She hugged her grandmother, and they both knew what was going to happen next. Asha’s grandmother closed her eyes slowly, and began to sleep eternally. Asha was pushed back by her family. They had heard the rapid beeping slow down, until it finally reached a full pause. The room was crowded, and Asha ran out. She sat down on the hospital bench, and looked at the necklace that had been tightly clamped in her hand. She pried open the locket and read the engraving.

Have hope. Believe in yourself. For, with hope, you can do anything.

Asha immediately noticed that the words were similar to what her grandmother had said before she died. Asha took in a shaky breath. Hope had always been a special concept to her family. Maybe they had hope when they emigrated from India to America that they would find a better life. And did. Asha cocked her head to the side to study the picture on the right side of the locket. It was a picture of the wishing well, outside of her house, and Asha’s whole family congregated around it. Asha’s grandmother was in the middle of the family, her arms wide in the air, reaching for the stars. Asha wasn’t in the picture, but her mother was. She was the little girl in the corner, with arms wrapped around her mother, or Asha’s grandmother. Asha’s family started to walk out of the hospital room. Asha quickly clasped the necklace around her neck, and tucked it into her shirt. She heard murmurs coming from everyone’s mouth.

“She’ll be cremated on Monday.” “The doctors say that she was sick of old age.” “I wonder how the little girl will handle it.” “Hope doesn’t matter.”

The last comment stung like salt on an open wound. Asha felt scared, felt cold inside. Like she had no choice but to run. And she did. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her.