Andy and Emily Klement Short Story....................................................................................pages

The Survival Challenge

Mattison Townsend

“I think you’re ready Kate.” Said Kate’s dad. “ You are 19 and I think you are ready to live off grid on your own.” “You do want to live off grid like your mom and I right?”asked Kate’s dad.”Yes I always have, I want to live in the Grey Forest.”said Kate pointing out the window. “Ok then, that’s where the challenge will take place”said Kate’s dad. “What challenge?”asked Kate, confused. “That’s what the challenge is, I need to see if you can survive out there before you go off on your own.” exclaimed Kate’s dad. “Ok sure! , I know I can survive on my own for a few days with everything you’ve taught me over the years.” “That’s my girl.” Said Kate’s dad. “ I’ll make sure I have everything in my backpack before I go.” “Knife for cutting wood, rifle for hunting , and a water purifier.”Said Kate,checking everything off.” Don’t forget the map!”Yelled dad,as he handed it to her.”Be careful out there honey.” Kate’s mom reminded her. “I will.” “ Bye!” Shouted Kate as she bursted out the door. After 15 minutes of walking, Kate finally got to the Grey forest. “Well, I think I found my campsite!”Said Kate, looking at a huge flat space, with little to no rocks which was next to a river. “It’s perfect!” Kate was getting hungry though so she pulled her rifle out and went looking. Before long, she found a female deer and pointed the gun at it. Kate got spooked when a flash of brown dashed next to the deer. It was a baby! Kate felt bad.”I can’t kill a mother deer, I just can’t. She put the gun down and walked back to her camp. “I’m still hungry, but I guess I’ll just eat some berries off of that Bowzer berry bush, I know those are safe to eat. Even after eating the berries, Kate was still starving but they were enough to hold her over until the next day. Daylight was quickly running out, so she built a quick fire to keep warm and for light. She used her water purifier to make a quick glass before she went to sleep.The next day,Kate was starving,she didn’t see any other animals around to hunt or eat.She was determined to finish the challenge though.She used the rest of her energy to build a little shack to relax in the shade for the rest of the day. When the two days were officially over, she walked back to her house. “How’d it go?” said her dad as she walked into the door. “ It didn’t go great at all,” said Kate with a disappointed look on her face. “What? You finished the challenge.” exclaimed Kate’s dad, confused. “I was starving the whole time because I couldn’t kill a mother deer with her baby,” Kate said while making herself a sandwich. “ How pathetic is that?” said Kate, sitting back down on the couch. “Just because you didn’t kill a deer for food, doesn’t mean there’s not another way.” Said Kate’s dad, sitting down beside her. “What other way? I didn’t have the heart to kill the animals I needed for food, and the only thing I ate was berries,which wasn’t enough.” Said Kate.” Hold on let me show you” , said Kate’s dad as he led her out the backdoor to the garden. “ Wow, that’s a lot of potatoes.” Kate said as she stared at the potato section of the garden. “ Yes, this garden had held us over for up to 3 months in the winter when we couldn’t find any deer,” said Kate’s dad pointing to all of the produce in a basket, which needed to be washed. “ Yeah, I remember that, but where did we get the protein from?”, asked Kate. “The rivers.” replied Kate’s dad almost immediately. “ The fish! Right, catching fish was so fun as a kid” Kate said, excitement in her eyes. “ Yes, but since then they’ve made fishing nets where the fish just get

caught, but the babies are able to get through the net.To make sure the river can still be populated with tons of fish to eat. “ That’s such a great idea!” Said Kate. “ Ok, then let’s get to work!” Kate’s dad said excitedly. Kate found the site she wanted to build on, not too deep into the Grey forest. It was right next to the river, so she could put her fishnet up to catch fish. Her dad helped her build her home with the same techniques he built their house with many years ago. When they were finally done, it was months later.Kate was now 20! Kate was ready to live in the beautiful Grey forest. There was just one more thing, the farm. “ It’s so pretty out here, I’m so glad I live here now.” Said Kate. “ It’s so great out here, but there’s one more thing.” said Kate’s dad. “ The farm!” Kate and her dad said in sync. Kate and her dad plowed out a small field next to her house. Kate’s dad came back with many seeds. “ There’s potato, carrot, lettuce ,tomatoes , and beetroot.” Kate’s dad said.” Will you help me plant them?” Kate asked with a grin on her face.” Of course,”said Kate’s dad.After 2 hours of work Kate’s dad said, “ Now, don’t forget to water them with the hose consistently, Ok? Wouldn’t want all this hard work to go to waste.” Said Kate’s dad with sweat dripping down his face. “Definitely”, said Kate giggling. They then went to the river and put two large fishnets up for the final touch. “ It’s so perfect.” exclaimed Kate. Kate’s dad hugged her. “ I knew you would enjoy living out here, and always remember, we’re always here if you ever need anything” “ Thanks Dad.”Kate said. As she sat on her couch she thought, what a wonderful place to call home.

It Was Just A Prank I Swear

Alexia Blaschke

The light reflected off of the dagger and blinded me for a split second, I squinted and tried not to recoil when I felt the sharp stab in my abdomen. A strangled scream escaped my mouth but it was muffled by the cloth that served as a gag. I tried to move my hands and legs, but the ropes were too tight and just dug deeper into my skin. The latin chants from the cult surrounding me grew faint, and I could tell I was losing a lot of blood. I let out an inaudible sigh, He is definitely going to make fun of me… You’re probably confused, so let’s backtrack. I’m Stella, an immortal, celestial being with power over the stars. But I’m also a complete chaotic idiot, so I guess it balances out, right? A couple hundred years ago, my friend Cosmo and I pulled a prank on an early human civilization, which resulted in this cult trying to sacrifice me. They didn’t know I was one of the deities they worshiped, so I guess I can’t be too mad at them, I’m just kinda weirded out that this is how they worship Cosmo and I. Like, come on guys, this is a bit excessive. Back in the present, my vision had begun to fade to white, I closed my eyes and everything cut out, like someone had pulled the plug on a game. When I opened my eyes, I was laying down in a small, dank cave that was littered with corpses. I left the cave and stepped into the open, lush forest, pinching my nose and fanning the air around me. “Yuck, do dead bodies always smell so bad? Those cult guys should really clean that up.” I heard a familiar laugh and grumbled, my face falling, “Shut up Cosmo.” The black haired immortal laughed even harder and answered me in between wheezes, “I’m sorry, it’s just- you- you actually got sacrificed by your own cult?!” He bursted into another fit of laughter and I gave him a nasty look, “Okay, okay-! I’ll stop.” I cross my arms and stick up my nose, “I get that it’s funny, but it is a little degrading. To be sacrificed by your own cult, I mean.” He pats me on the back, “Yeah, I know. Remember when that cult in the 1500’s tried to sacrifice both of us? That was degrading. It was still kind of fun though.” I glanced at him, a confused look painting my face, “What do you mean fun? They chased us through the woods with ugly potato sacks on their heads. I nearly lost my family’s sacred grimoire! I don’t exactly consider that fun.” He shrugs and I think back to that day. “Don’t let them escape! Those two are the last sacrifices we need to summon our saviours Lady Selene and Lord Cosmo!” My heartbeat pounds in my ears as I run away from the cult, a strand of my brown hair got caught in my mouth and I tried to get it out, I failed and almost dropped my book. I stopped running and held out an arm towards the potato sack people, “Stop! Stop! Stop! I have a hair in my mouth.” Their confused and angered yelling fell upon deaf ears as I got myself situated. “Okay, I’m good.”

I started to run again, Cosmo cackling beside me, we came upon a cliff and stopped just in time. The ugly cult leader stepped forward, he was the only one without a potato sack, and honestly, I think he’s

the only one who needs one. Like this guy was so ugly he made gods cringe. “Looks like you’ve ran out of room to run. Surrender now or we’ll take you by fo-” Cosmo and I jumped, cutting off the grotesque looking cult leader, he called after us as we fell, “Wha- hey!” I felt the grimoire slip from my grasp as we landed in the freezing water below. The moment we woke up again I had started searching for my family’s grimoire, “Where is it?!” I yelled, frantically shuffling around through the surrounding grass. Cosmo popped his head out of the tall grass, blades of the grass sticking out of his curly hair. “Found it Stella!” I ran to him and snatched my grimoire back. “Oh I thought I lost you!” I squeal, relieved to have the important book in my possession again. “You’re talking to it like it’s alive…” Cosmo says, looking at me weirdly. I turn to him with a glare, “Don’t test me. You were the one who provoked them in the first place. I wouldn’t have nearly lost this if you had just minded your own business.” He chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. “I guess I could’ve lived without insulting the leader, but you saw what he looked like! How could I not?!” I sighed and chuckled a little, “Yeah, that’s true..” “Stella. Stella. Stella!” I snapped back out of the memory and moved Cosmo’s hand out of my face, “Would you stop snapping in my face? What is it?” He pointed to the glowing figure in front of us and I turned to them. The figure gave me a disapproving look and I sighed, “Hi Dad.” “Hi Stella. Can you explain to me why you just got out of a cave full of corpses?” I gave him a guilty smile and he continued, “Or maybe you could explain why you haven’t told me about almost losing the grimoire? Or why you have a cult that revolves around both you and Cosmo?” I chuckled awkwardly, “Well you see Dad...Cosmo and I might have, sort of...dropped a copy of our family’s grimoire way back when as a prank and it kind of spiraled from there…”

He gave me a disbelieving look, “YOU TWO DID WHAT?!” “WE WERE BORED!! IT WAS JUST A PRANK I SWEAR-!!”

His Book

Samantha Owen

Okay, so there were red flags. There always are - I mean we’re human, being flawed is like our whole thing. But I should have known Matt’s red flags weren’t the kind I could just turn a blind eye to. Don’t worry I’m not going to bore you by listing all the ways he failed. Like how he wouldn’t hold my hand in public. Or like how he refused to let me meet his parents. Or like how he wouldn’t look me in the eyes unless I told him exactly what he wanted to hear. I wouldn’t do that; it would take days, and I understand how boring me ranting about the supposed love of my life would be to you. Okay, so, get this, the first time he said he loved me he didn’t even say it. He wrote it. In a book. In a foriegn language. Right before he left for a three month long trip. A three month long trip which he didn’t think to call me once. Look, I get some of y’all would be like how romantic, he confessed to her in a book, but no, it’s really not. It’s medieval. It’s cruel. And frankly, it’s a true sign of a coward. What’s the point of us developing our technology if we aren’t going to use it? Maybe he loved me so much that talking to me would make him miss me even more and hurt him? Well, tough. When you tell someone something of such weight, you at the very least give them a chance to react. I’m not bitter about it. He wasn’t the one made for me. That’s fine. People move on. How do you move on from realizing the light of your life is a spineless jellyfish more interested in saving face than looking out for you? You get rid of the evidence. You erase the proof that you were vulnerable with someone who did not deserve you. Giving away the necklaces, pictures, and everything else was surprisingly easy, but the notes? For some reason it’s so much harder to let go of his words, of the poetry that was only ever meant for me. I had to do it though, if I kept them, I would read them, and if I read them I would cling to them, and if I clung to them, I would cling to the hope that everything would work out for us. And I just couldn’t have that. I mean it’s hard to quit things that feel good in the moment even when we realize how bad they are for us in the long run. Look at the facts: smoking, drinking, loving. But I, unlike Matt, was able to do the right thing despite not wanting to. So I gave away his book. The one where he told me he loved me. The one where the first boy ever told me he could feel that way for me. The one where the only boy who mattered told me I mattered to him. The one where some punk started messing with my head. I know it seems foolish to give away something that was so important to me, but it would hold me back. Stop me from becoming me instead of just being his. I didn’t want to be his anymore. I didn’t want to be the girl ready at his beck and call whenever it was at his convenience, but never when the timing was right for me. Now my first thought was to burn it. Seemed symbolic and stoic and well, all the empowered

women do it. Taylor swift in her picture to burn songs. Eliza in her song in Hamilton. I thought that if it was good enough for my idols, it was good enough for me. Who knows it might even be a healing experience. But then I looked back at his book’s cover. Before it was his book, it was mine. My favorite. It fascinated me. It comforted me. It surprised me. It wasn’t its fault that he ruined it for me. Also, what an actual punk to ruin a book for me. It’s enough to be my villain origin story. Anyway, back to the point, I couldn’t take out my frustration on something that had been so kind to me. So, I gave it to the bookstore on the square. Someone might read it and have no idea that the real story wouldn’t be found in its pages but rather unfolding in the life of its readers.

The Rocking Chair

Chloe Stokes

I could die pulling that thing. I don’t want to. They weigh about 2,000 lbs, those wagons. Just because I physically can pull it, doesn’t mean I have the mental capacity. Oh dear! How rude of me. My name is Boss. I gave myself that name because I like to think I am the ruler of others. Now, let me explain my situation. I was chosen to be a mule for this family moving westward. Wherever they think they’re going though, can’t be far. Why, they’ve barely got anything! All they brought were some clothes, seeds, pots and pans and weird trinkets for cooking (can’t they just eat grass??) and a small black book called the . . . um . . . Bihble. My point is, they can’t travel anywhere with that little, so it won’t be too much walking . . . will it? Over the years, I’ve learned a ton of English. Well, like little simple commands. “Go, stop, halt . . .” blah, blah. This family though wasn’t speaking any form of English I’d heard. So, when they hooked me up to the wagon, and screamed something at me, I didn’t move a hoof. Finally we began on our way. Turns out, they were trying to tell me to ‘go.’ We began walking and man, the wagon was heavy. The eldest lady had insisted on taking this giant rocking chair. It must’ve weighed about a whole ton. Well, that’s what it felt like to me at least. We had to walk on and on with it, me and my fellow mule companion. We walked around 20 miles and then our family began to set up camp. The next day we walked again, only 20 miles. Every day we went only this small distance and we barely got anywhere! I guess many people didn’t want to walk for longer than that. As I was walking one day, there was a large item in my path. I couldn’t identify it so I went on walking. I stepped right through it. I backed up to examine what I’d just stepped on when I saw a face. DID I STEP ON A FACE? But as I backed up more I took a sigh of relief as I noticed it was just a painting. But why in the world is there a painting lying here on the trail?? Later on in the path I noticed more and more items along the way. They all looked pretty heavy . . . and that, ladies and gentlemen, is when I came up with my amazing realization. Families must’ve gotten rid of these heavy items because the mules couldn’t carry them. So if I got rid of the rocking chair . . . We were resting one day, the sun being very hot and frying us like we were potatoes, when I noticed the youngest boy in the bunch was crying. When I walked over to see what was happening, I nearly fell into this gigantic hole. Were they trying to kill me? The hole wasn’t for me. We buried the old woman right there on the trail. The trail! We were sitting in silence and I began to think how horrible it is that she can’t have a proper burial. How horrible it is that no one will know she’s here. That her family will never be able to visit her grave. Horrible that all these grandparents have to walk this whole way and take this perilous journey just for a new opportunity for their family. Suddenly, I was proud to pull that rocking chair, the only thing they had left of their grandmother. I’d pull it over mountains, in valleys, over oceans. I would make sure that it reached its destination. I would

make sure that family always had the rocking chair. After resting for 3 days, we had to head on our way. Winter was around the corner and we had no time to lose. My companion and I were hooked up to the wagon and we started walking. Then I noticed something different. The wagon was awfully light. As I looked behind us, trying to figure out what had happened, I saw, sitting where they had buried the old woman, the rocking chair.