Scholastic Art and Writing 2022 Central and Southern Indiana

Page 136

### You can no longer tell where the dead man ends and the warehouse begins. His limbs, glowing in the dark, now carpet the floor in overlapping zigzags. Spirals of fungus grow out of torn skin. The room smells dank and moldy. The closer I get to shelf K37 and 38 the denser the limbs become. They loop over and back on each other creating mounds of flesh. I climb up, stumbling every few steps. My foot gets lodged in a hole. I yank it out. The alarm I tripped on my way in continues to ring. I’ll be done before anyone can stop me. The limbs begin to recede. They become more structured, woven together. Then, I see it. Right below K37, the limbs have formed a casket. I lift the lid of arms, legs, and elbows. My father’s body sits inside, glowing fluorescent green. His head has regrown correctly this time. Dense moss forms his goatee. The scene feels almost religious. The moonlight streams through the limb-strewn shelves like a stained glass window. I set down the cans of kerosene, and pry his mouth open with my hands. I pick one can back up, unscrew the lid, and pour it down his gullet till it's empty. I do the same with the other can. Police sirens begin to blare outside as I strike the match and flick it into my father’s mouth. His body is immediately consumed, and his limbs are like fuses. The fire eats them up with a hunger leaving behind ashen butterflies floating down from the shelves. I sit down on the charred ground where my father’s casket was and smile at the ceiling. A butterfly lands on my nose. I’m free.

136

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Writing Judges

0
pages 276-278

Participating Writing Schools

1min
pages 279-282

Joel Robertson

8min
pages 267-271

Shelia Hernandez

0
pages 257-258

Hailie Woodring

1min
pages 239-241

Alexander Kutza

5min
pages 253-256

Lucia Trujillo

1min
page 238

Clara Malek

0
page 237

Claire He

3min
pages 230-232

Claire He

3min
pages 228-229

Claire He

0
page 233

Maggie Hoppel

4min
pages 234-236

Sonali Guttikonda

2min
pages 224-226

Jessica Ding

1min
pages 220-221

Claire He

0
page 227

Kaia Starnino

14min
pages 187-194

Alexandra Yang

7min
pages 195-199

Victoria Simich

0
pages 200-201

Alyssa Gaines

1min
pages 222-223

Sally Bradshaw

5min
pages 214-219

Maggie Hoppel

7min
pages 177-181

Lily Martinson

9min
pages 182-186

Chloe Sun

1min
pages 157-158

Claire He

11min
pages 170-176

Vila Miller

13min
pages 120-127

Hanna Warren

12min
pages 143-148

Madeline Stuckwisch

13min
pages 136-142

Eli Whitcomb

12min
pages 149-154

Gabrielle Woehr

3min
pages 155-156

Joel Robertson

11min
pages 128-135

Malana Kramer

1min
pages 116-117

Cat Sergi

0
pages 112-113

Amani Severson

2min
pages 110-111

Yurun Zheng

6min
pages 88-91

Maxwell Robinson

1min
pages 82-83

Mary Wang

14min
pages 74-81

Lucia Moxey

3min
pages 66-67

Jacob Penola

11min
pages 68-73

Alex Lu

5min
pages 60-62

Leah McKay

6min
pages 63-65

Bree Johnson

3min
pages 58-59

Jessica Ding

6min
pages 54-57

Mathilde Robinson

16min
pages 31-38

Dylan Stringer

9min
pages 44-47

Alex Lu

6min
pages 24-27

Lee-Ann Kao

1min
pages 48-49

Mathilde Robinson

8min
pages 39-43

ABOUT THE AWARDS

0
page 10

Lucia Moxey

4min
pages 28-30

INTRODUCTION

2min
pages 11-13
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