Midnight Writers May 2018

May 2018

Midnight Writers

Cover: “Should Have Burned

Table of Contents

ranged Blue Cloud

This Place Down,” an illustration by Page 12: The Masked Lady “Once Upon a Then,”a story by Blue Serendipity This Page: “My Dad Took “Night Sky,” a photograph by AnonThis,” a photograph by Incanesymous cence

Page 25:

Deranged Blue Cloud

“Interview with Seniors,” continues Page 35: “Bless You,” a photograph by Incan- “The Soul Sucker part 2,” continues descence “I Just Eye Balled it,” an illustration

by Shadow Page 26: “What Have You Done to Me?” a rant Page 36:

by Lucifer Page 13: “16,” a story by Hana Bagheri Page 3: “Interview with Seniors,” an interview “The Sun will come out... Tomor“Dandelions,” a poem by Cheryl Ask Aphro & Dite row!” a photgraph by Incadescence by The Masked Lady Zhang • Camper misses friends “Tastes like Butter,” an illustration by • Mermaid wants to be a fairy Page 27: Page 37: Deranged Blue Cloud “What Have You Done to Me?” “Shine Bright like a Lantern,” a phoUnmasked Lady continues tograph by Incandescence • The Masked Lady says her farewells Page 14: “Blindly I Follow,” a poem by Helen “Interview with Seniors,” continues “The Tangible Depths of the Human Incandescence’s Literary “Almost 22,” a photograph by Lucifer Bezuneh Mind,” a story by Eos Investigation “Who am I?” an illustration by An• Incandescence reviews the book Page 15: Page 38: dromeda Graceling by Kristin Cashore “Interview with Seniors,” continues “The Tangible Depths of the Human Page 28: “Good Thing I Can’t Read!” a photoMind,” continues Page 4: “Summery Winter,” a story by Blue graph by Incadescence “Memory Float,” an illustration by “K-Rant,” a rant by Blue SerendipSerendipity Caboose ity Page 16: “Winter Flowers,” a photograph by “To Remember or Not to Remem“I Love the Holidays,” a poem by “Interview with Seniors,” continues Celia Bowen ber,” a story by Cheryl Zhang HMscorpio “Even the Sun Flowers Won’t Look at “Alice’s Dress,” a poem by Hmscor- Me,” a photograph by Incadescence Page 29: Page 39: pio “The Four Season(ing)s,” an illustra- “Deeper Wounds,” an illustration by Page 17: “Purple Nights,” an illustration by tion by Celia Bowen The Masked Lady “Interview with Seniors,” continues Purple Nights “Snowy Tracks,” a poem by Tom “Hey Stranger,” a poem by Hana “It’s going down, I’m yelling MufaNguyen Bagheri Page 5: sa!” an illustration by Deranged Blue “Winter Wonderland,” a poem by Tom “Hufflepuffs Part 4,” a story by Eos Cloud Page 40: Nguyen “Blue Haired Girl,” an illustration “Twins,” a manga by Aya Hatashima Page 18: “Spring,” a poem by HMscorpio

by Purple Nights “Interview with Seniors,” continues “Summer Fun,” a poem by HMscor- Page 41: Page 6: “I’m Jelly of You.” a photograph by pio “Twins,” continues “Hufflepuffs Part 4,” continues Lucifer “I have FEETZ!” a photograph by Page 42: “Blooming Day,” a photograph by Incadescence Page 19: “Twins,” continues Eos “Interview with Seniors,” continues Page 30: Page 43: Page 7: “But First, Let Me Take a Selfie,” a “The Best,” a story by Incandescence “Twins,” continues “Hufflepuffs Part 4,” continues photograph by Lucifer “In the Circle of Life,” a photograph Page 44: “Pretty please?” an illustration by

by Incadescence Page 20: “Twins,” continues Deranged Blue Cloud “Interview with Senior’s,” continues “Memories of Winter,” a poem by “Harry and Hermione,” a rant by Page 45: “The Road Home,” a photograph by HMscorpio HMscorpio “Who’s a Good Boy?” an illustration “Santa, Not Satan Part 8,” a story by Celia Bowen “Are We There Yet?” a photograph

by Deranged Blue Cloud Incandescence Page 21:

by Incandescence “Satan’s ex,” an illustration by The Page 31: “Interview with Seniors,” continues Masked Lady Page 8: “More Than Color,” a story Androm“LOL,” an illustration by Deranged “Kittypillar part 2,” a story by The eda Page 46: Blue Cloud Masked Lady “Dancing With Our Hands Tied,” an “Santa, Not Satan Part 8,” “Peanut Butter,” a photograph by Page 22: illustration By The Masked Lady “Ugh, parents,” an illustration by The “Interview with Seniors,” continues “Who am I?” a poem by The Masked Masked Lady Lucifer “There Is No Law When There Are Lady Page 9: Page 47: No Cops Around!” a photograph by “Kittypillar part 2,” continues Page 32: “Santa, Not Satan Part 8,” Lucifer “We Aren’t in Kansas Anymore,” a “The Soul Sucker part 2,” a story by Page 48: Page 23: photograph by Incandescence Andromeda “Interview with Seniors,” continues “Masks,” an illustration by Shadow “Santa, Not Satan Part 8,” Page 10: “Satan’s Last Gift,” Illustration by “Sneak,” an illustration by Celia “Kittypillar part 2,” continues Page 33: The Masked Lady Bowen “The Goodest Boy,” a photograph “The Soul Sucker part 2,” continues Page 49: Page 24:

by Celia Bowen Page 34: Good Bye Seniors!

“Interview with Seniors,” continues Page 11: “The Soul Sucker part 2,” continues “The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” a Page 50: “Kittypillar part 2,” continues “Friendzoned,” an illustration by photograph by Lucifer Carpe Noctem!

“Oh Deer!” an illustration by De-

issuu.com/midnightwriters midnightwriters2018@gmail.com

Ask Aphro & Dite

Dear Aphro, I love overnight camp. It is so much fun, but I also hate the fact that it is only two weeks every year and the rest of the year I am stuck at home, pining for camp. I miss my overnight camp friends so much. I really want to see them again. How can I make the best of the fifty weeks in the year when I am homebound without crying in my bedroom?

Yours, Camp Lover Dear Camp Lover, I believe the two weeks of the year that you are at camp should be your best two weeks of the year and make the most of the time you have. For the other fifty weeks you are not at camp you should keep in contact with your camp friends as much as possible. You don’t have to just follow them on social media.

You guys can exchange cell phone numbers or emails and write to them everyday if you want to. So, you can still make the best of camp when you see your friends during the school year. I hope this helps.

With love, Aphro Dear Dite, I identify as a mermaid. I was born a mermaid and everything. But I want to become a fairy.

I heard there is a magical potion that can change you into a fairy. The only problem is that I have parents that are very reluctant for me to leave the mermaid community. I want to convince them, but I don’t know how. Help me.

Yours Fairy Wannabe, Dear Fairy Wannabe, My best advice is to make a pros and cons list. Sometimes your heart speaks more than your head and really think about “Is this how I want to live for the rest of my life?” If you really truly believe so; then I say you should get to convincing as soon as possible. Maybe they will say yes, maybe they will say no.

Who knows? Just try to politely convince them as much as possible. I hope this helps.

With love, Dite

Unmasked Lady

Hello Midnight Writers! I hope you brought your tissues because this will be my last column ever. It has been a total of four years that I have been in Midnight Writers. I remember starting off as a member that submitted every so often to the club. I really don’t know how to describe what I’m feeling right now; I’m ecstatic that my time in this hellhole known as high school is coming to an end, but I’m also heartbroken at the fact that this is my last Midnight Writers magazine.

I have a lot of things to say about Midnight Writers before I go, so continue holding on to those tissues.

Freshman year I was so shy and depressed, I always felt sad and would often cry during class. But then I joined Midnight Writers and I began to open up and found something to actually look forward to. Midnight Writers not only made me more confident about my art, but it helped me improve and grow. I honestly don’t think I would be continuing my childhood dream of being an illustrator without Midnight Writers. Now, we have had a lot of bumps on the way here. When I became an officer in my junior year, the club was about to die.

When I realized this, I was terrified that the club might end. I genuinely love this club because it has helped me with my depression, art skills, and my confidence. So I was really happy when the previous president allowed me to take control halfway through the year. It was a scary but fun experience being president. At first, I was worried because I was a new president with not a lot of training, and all the other officers had either graduated or quit. I felt totally alone and I felt like I would bring the club down. But then, Incandescence, my best friend for 7 years, told me she would happy to be my vice president. I felt so grateful that I wouldn’t have to go through running the club my senior year alone, and I knew I had found new amazing officers who will be great additions to the team. So even after all the hardships, and staying way past my bedtime making the magazines, I have to say this: thank you Midnight Writers. This club honestly gave me hope for the future that originally looked bleak and pointless. I made a lot of bad choices in friends, had horrible family problems, and you can’t forget about the traumatizing experience called school. But this club was there for me; I would gladly do it all again just to experience being part of this club. So thank you, and goodbye, Midnight Writers. Carpe noctem!

Incandescence’s Literary Investigations Hello and welcome to my eighth book review! Today I’m going to be discussing the novel Graceling by Kristin Cashore. This takes place in an alternate universe in which those that are born with two different colored eyes have a special talent, called a Grace.

Graces can be anything, ranging from the strange and useless, such as the ability to each a large number of rocks, to the dangerous and awe-inspiring, such as mind reading. The protagonist of the story, Katsa, happens to have the Grace of murder. Gracelings are both shunned and respected, and ultimately called into service of the king that the Graceling happens to live in. In Katsa’s case, she has been turned into a tyrannical king’s weapon, sent to subdue those who disobey him.

She meets another Graceling, Po, (who also happens to be very handsome) and, deciding to break away from the king’s hold, embarks on a journey to unravel a mystery. Along the way, she learns more about herself and her world, and maybe even discovers that she’s not the monster she thinks she is. I don’t want to spoil the plot, so I won’t say much further.

While I am not in possession of a superpower, I find that the characters in the book are surprisingly relatable. In the course of her dark and eventful tale, Cashore plays with the idea of awkwardness, how at a certain age gifts and talents are burdens, how they make it impossible to feel comfortable in the world.

With this vivid and exciting world, it has become one of my favorite books. Seriously, go read it! I’m sad that this is my final column; I hope you had as much fun with it as I did! And with that, I leave you for the last time. Remember, my Midnight Writers and Midnight Readers: Read on!

Special thanks to Sra. Steele, The Masked Lady, Incadencence, HMscorpio, Eos, Celia Bowen, and Andromeda 3

K-Rant

By Blue Serendipity “No matter how difficult and hard something is, I will always be positive and smile like an idiot.” — Chanyeol, EXO One of the things that bug me the most is when someone talks about how much they hate Kpop, or when they’re hostile and judge those who like the genre. First off, Kpop is Korean pop music. Not Chinese, not Japanese, it’s Korean. Hence the ‘K’ in K-pop. If it isn’t your style of music and it’s not something you like to listen to, then that’s alright. Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean you can hate on it or the people who like the music. The world of Kpop is wonderful and this is why.

“I’m not the pretty or beautiful, but I am the best.” — Dara, 2NE1 “A song with a strong message is strong enough to move the entire world.” — G-Dragon, BigBang Many groups actually have very positive songs. They have messages behind them and can be really uplifting. Groups such as 2NE1, BTS, B.A.P., and many more, have very good messages behind them. They range from telling you that your looks shouldn’t matter to dealing with the issues in society and the government. The idols themselves try to be good role models and set examples by donating money for good causes and helping others. Their songs aren’t all sexual and about romance.

Their music videos are beautiful and sometimes they symbolize things. BTS even used their choreography to remember those that were lost in the tragic Sewol Ferry accident and donated money to the families who lost someone.

“You can enjoy music without understanding it, music is an universal language.” — CL, 2NE1 The idea of listening to music in an entirely different language that you most likely don’t understand is something most people wouldn’t like. Kpop fans however, are people who are so open and accepting to different cultures. Even if they don’t understand the language, they like it and are fans of it. As a fandom, we’re generally more open to different things such as LGBTQ and different cultures. Yes, we’re overprotective of our groups and idols but only because we recognize the hard work they go through.

We watch them grow and mature and some of us go through the pain of seeing them fall apart. The strength of a Kpop fan isn’t something to underestimate.

“There is no shortcut in life.” — Kyuhyun, Super Junior For some of us, Kpop was a way out of a dark place. It helped a lot of us out of difficult times, and that just makes it even more precious to us. Kpop idols are human and they experience hardships, just like everyone else. Sometimes we lose bright, shining stars to the darkness and the entire Kpop fandom mourns the loss. Even if two different groups of fans hate each other, they’re willing to come together and support each other through difficult times. That’s the power of the Kpop fandom. We’re all a family, and families fight. In the end however, we’re still a family and we’ll still always be there for each other no matter how nasty or ugly the our arguments can get.

“Physical scars and psychological scars are different. I hope everyone can think for a second that scars exist even if you can’t see them.” — Jonghyun, SHINee; 4/8/1990 - 12/18/2017 Rest In Peace Jonghyun, you did well.

4

I Love the Holidays

By HMscorpio

I love the holidays so much.

I love the jingle of holiday music on the radio.

The Christmas specials on television.

I love to see Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer everywhere.

The holidays make me feel so warm inside.

Like a plush little bunny hugging me.

I love the holiday music the latest celebs put out on Spotify.

I love the holiday jingle.

And I can never say goodbye.

Alice’s Dress

By Hmscorpio Her dress is pretty.

It is full of rips and tears.

What has the dress done?

“Purple Nights,” Illustration by Purple Nights

Hufflepuffs part 4

By Eos

If by any chance you ever find yourself pulled through a painting into another dimension (because let’s face it, a teenage girl getting forcibly yanked into a Van Gogh painting by a descendant of Draco Malfoy is a completely ordinary occurrence), know that it doesn’t feel like you’re falling through a hole like what they say. Nor does it feel like nothing, or everything, or a slow, sinking feeling that devours you whole. Instead, it is an absolute obliteration of the senses. At first it does feel like nothing. But then you are able to feel a schism happening, perhaps canvas seams tearing apart. Even though you cannot see this schism, you feel it happening, and it seems to tear at your very basic grasp on reality. The intense colors you see as you experience this seismic tear become blurred and distorted until suddenly, you are able to see every color of the universe until they blend together into a blob that doesn’t mean anything. Not nothing or everything, but both all at once. And all the while you scream and scream until you realize that you’re not in your previous body. All traces of the previous world are gone, and you are left to stand in the middle of the schism that divides the universe. Remember this feeling, because it will become very important.

I opened my eyes to see a sky that doesn’t appear to be real, a spontaneous mixture of blues and whites. But then I remembered that of course the sky doesn’t appear real, because I am trapped in a

Van Gogh painting, (Wheat Fields with Cypresses to be exact) courtesy of one asshole named Alastor Malfoy.

As if nature knew what I was thinking, I turned my head right and saw Alastor lying on the ground next to me. Oh, great. Frantically, I scrambled away, but not before slapping him awake. Groaning, he got up and placed his head in his palms, appearing genuinely exhausted by whatever had just happened to get us here.

But I was not in a sympathetic mood, and so I began my interrogation.

“Alastor,” I said with a dangerous edge, “Why did you drag me into this painting? I mean honestly, if you wanted a private place to talk we could have snuck into the Ravenclaw common room. That place is basically dead on Saturday nights-” “Are you stupid?” Alastor asked, looking up to stare at me in shock. “For what we want to talk about, nowhere in

that cursed school would ever be secret enough!”

I sigh. He does have a valid point; If anyone at all were to overhear us rehashing the events of last May’s Magickal Ball, we might be in great trouble.

“But Alastor, you could have at least, I don’t know, WARNED me before dragging me into the apocalypse?? Like maybe a subtle ‘Hey, Ginerva, I’m going to push you into this painting and you might feel like you’re dying because of a gigantic random schism, but it’s okay because this is your life now!”

Alastor got up, sneering.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize your personal comfort is your top priority. Maybe I should have brought you a Frappuchino while I pushed you in, too. And what schism are you talking about? I just felt like I was falling, as they say.”

I got up to look at him, despite his infuriatingly tall stature towering over me, and

looked out into the golden wheat fields.

“When you pushed me into the painting,” I said softly, “It felt as if the universe tore itself apart, and I was in the middle of it. One side was too much colors, too much everything, and the other side was...absolutely blank. I’ve never felt anything like that.”

Alastor looked down at me with a look that for once wasn’t full of contempt, smugness, or laughter. Then, he proceeded to laugh. Loudly.

Tears started streaming down his face, and he wiped them hastily away.

“You-” he said, “You always exaggerate everything to make it overdramatic. I bet you just fell in, honestly, because only Ginerva Kartway experiences a schism that tears apart the universe, because you’re such a special snowflake.”

Typically, I don’t make generalizations about people as I struggle with my own identity as a Hufflepuff myself, but in

“Blue Haired Girl,” Illustration by Purple Nights

5

that moment I saw no flaw in generalizing all Slytherins as rude assholes, given the rude asshole that is Alastor Malfoy.

I whacked him hard on the arm. “You really are a jerk!

Why one earth would I lie about something like thatWhy!?”

Alastor laughed, and began to push through the wheat fields.

As he did, I noticed yellow oil paint got onto his hands.

“I may or may not have done that partly just to annoy you.

And for the record, after seeing everything I’ve seen, a schism of the universe seems like a bit...much.”

I followed him through the fields, and said “A bit much?

Right now we’re standing in the middle of a Van Gogh painting as two students at a magical school, I think that’s a bit much! Additionally, what have you seen as a Malfoy?

Whatever you’ve seen is a life of privileged magic that rides off the legacy of Draco, jerk!”

Alastor turned back to face me. “You would be surprised about what goes on in the lives of the privileged magical, so don’t try me, Kartway.

Speaking of which, now that we’re literally nowhere, let’s talk about...that night.”

6

Imagine this. You are a tenth year at Hogwarts, attending your first Magickal Ball. You, desperate to go, drag your weak/pushover yet lovable friend, Mari, as your date.

From getting your hair done, to painting your nails just so, to selecting a perfectly dark red dress, you are buzzing with excitement and ready to go. So, you and Mari squeeze into a “magical limo” that your mom rented, that in reality is a Muggle Honda painted black, and eat “fancy hors d’oeuvres” that in reality are mini-Oreos. But it’s okay, because tonight, nothing mat-

ters except showing up to the Magickal Ball.

Flash forward to the Magickal Ball. You and Mari are having the times of your lives dancing to Muggle music in the Hogwarts Ballroom with the other party-goers, when suddenly you get a tap on the shoulder. You do not turn around quickly enough to see who it is, but you do see a trail of black silk that disappears behind other guests. Mari suggests you see who it is, because she wants to rest her feet. So you go, and from there everything falls apart.

Following the black silk, you see that the person wearing it in what resembles a cape goes out into the courtyard.

Hesitating (Hufflepuffs aren’t known for their bravery after all) you decide to follow them, and silently run out behind them. It begins to drizzle at this moment, turning into a full on pouring of rain. They stand still in the middle of the pavement, and that’s when you decide to tap them on the shoulder, trembling in fear.

They turn around, shrieking, and you realize then that you just tapped a Dementor on the shoulder. Except...not a Dementor, because they have what appears to be a discernible human face. Except it’s too late to process any other details, because right know, the Dementor human creature appears to be trying to suck out your soul, and rain is pouring down, drowning your thoughts and mixing them in fear.

You whip out your wand from your clutch to try to summon enough strength to push the Dementor human away, but then you’re shoved onto the ground.

Through the rain, you look up to see Alastor Malfoy, shouting at the Dementor human. “She’s not the one! You

idiot, she’s not the one! She’s not a pure Hufflepuff!”

Turning to you, he screams, “Run! Quickly, go!”

In that moment, you can’t think. The only thought on your mind is to run like fire, and so you do. As you weave your way through the courtyard, blood staining your perfect dress, you bump into a presumably drunk Ernie Rabnott in the forest, making out with...Robert Longbottom?

Ernie turns to face you, and Robert hides behind a tree.

“G-Ginerva? You look like an absolute mess, what on earth kinda night did you have?” What would you do if your mind were completely blank in this moment, paralyzed by the events that occurred mere minutes ago?

In this case in a move you will immediately regret, you fire a spell at Longbottom, distracting Ernie and allowing you to keep doing the thing you know best; Running away.

As Longbottom’s shrieks echo in your ears and fade

“Blooming Day,” Photograph by Eos

away, thoughts start to return to your head; “You’re not a true Hufflepuff. True Hufflepuffs would never-” Tears stream down your face, and a voice rings in your head. “You can’t go back, stupid girl. You will never be able to return from this point on.”

Standing in the wheat fields with Alastor when he mentioned “that night,” all the memories that were boxed up inside of me for months flooded into my mind again, and I sank down into the wheat fields as my mind threatened to drown me whole. Alastor sat down next to me, and a tear escaped down my cheek because I’m weak, and vulnerable, and stupid.

“Hey, don’t say that,” Alastor said, even though I didn’t realize I said that out loud, “Even though I like to say you are in semi-good fun, that doesn’t give you the right to believe that about yourself.”

I stared down at the ground, rubbing the green oil paint on

my fingers. “Then why did you say to the Dementor human that I’m not a true Hufflepuff, Alastor? And why were you telling the Dementor who to go after?”

Alastor pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed painfully.

Clearly I wasn’t the only one who had residual trauma from that night.

“Ginerva, I need to tell you something about your friend-” Before he caould continue, the ground started to open below us. No, not below us. Below me. The world around us suddenly began to divide into intense color and dull nothing, and I could feel the seams of the universe ripping.

Alastor, bewildered, ran over to me, but nothing could be done.

“Ginerva, what’s happening?”

I looked at the divided landscape with dread, and answered, “The schism is opening.”

“Pretty please?” Illustration by Deranged Blue Cloud

Harry and Hermione

By HMscorpio

Harry always seemed to have a crush on Hermione, but I guess I was wrong. Some Harry Potter fans theory was that Hermione was more like a mother figure to Harry. I know Ron and Hermione were hostile towards each other at the beginning of their Hogwarts career, but they learned to understand each other in the end. I guess it was really Harry and Ginny all along. Ginny was Harry’s number one fan ever since she got a glimpse of him of boarding the train at his first year at Hogwarts. So, I guess it was always meant to be.

7 “Are We There Yet?” Photograph by Incandescence

Kittypillar part 2

By The Masked Lady

8

Aurora, Bennett, and I all crammed into the pristine elevator as the annoying machine abruptly piped up, “State your name.”

“Sol Star!” I snapped.

“Scanning,” the contraption stated.

A bright red light scanned our eyes efficiently and quickly began processing its findings.

“Recognition accepted. Greetings Sol Star, Aurora Star, and worker Bennett 1435; which floor?”

“Floor 177, the greenhouse!” Aurora piped up.

“Error, Worker Bennett 1435 has been restricted from the floor 177 due to code violation 35, 67, 89, 99, 127…”

“Oh my god Bennett, since when were you restricted from the greenhouse?”

Aurora shouted.

“Uh, since last week,” Bennett nervously replied.

“God dammit Bennett, why haven’t you been fired yet?” I groaned.

“Well Mr. Sol, I…” Bennett tried explaining.

“Zip it! I don’t want to hear any of your horror stories. Computer, I’d like to request Bennett 1435 to have access to the greenhouse just for today,” I grumbled.

“Processing…” The computer began to compute.

After a couple of clicks and beeps, the computer finally came to its response.

“Accepted, worker 1435 Bennett can now proceed. But due to protocol 15, Mr. Star has been sent the new change.”

“Oh no! Father!” Aurora groaned.

“Calm down. Father is busy, so that means the computer’s approval has been sent to his voicemail. Which means we have a couple hours before he notices,” I said.

The elevator closed its doors and began to glide to its destination. After a couple of seconds, the elevator came to a complete stop, its doors sliding open. A strong smell of rotten cheese filled the air.I felt myself gag.

“Ah, the wonderful scent of nature,” Aurora sighed.

“More like the disgusting smell of nature.” I retched in disgust. “Now come on,

we need to fix your mess.”

We quickly walked out of the elevator, into the enormous greenhouse. Greenery filled the room like a giant infection, leaving no open space in sight. The greenhouse contained many plants that Father had researched and invented, such as the pogo fruit, manga tree, and gala bush. We walked along the cobbled stone path leading towards the center that contained a gigantic fountain, which stood taller than any of the trees.

“Okay! Where do we start?” Aurora said eagerly.

“Well, we should probably start at the

catnip section, which filled with hungry fur creatures,” I groaned.

I pointed towards the catnip area, which was filled with little monsters munching happily away without a care in the world.

We all quickly hurried over, grabbing as many Kittypillars as we could carry.

“Okay, now what, geniuses? We can’t carry all these freaks!” I said sharply.

“Don’t worry, I came prepared!” Bennett giggled.

He pulled a small black box out of his hazmat suit and dropped it to the floor. A horrendous wheezing sound echoed from the machine as it began to unfold into a medium sized cart.

“Peanut Butter,” Photograph by Lucifer

“Tadaaa!”

“How is this supposed to help us?” I grumbled.

“Well, we can’t carry all of them, right?

Plus, we want to be discreet! So what’s better than our top-of-the-line Black Hole Cart? Now, it might not have a black hole in it, but it can hold almost anything without it being seen from the outside!”

“Wow, amazing Bennett!” Aurora gasped, awed.

“Okay, less admiring, more shoving these darn mutants into the pits of the black hole!” I demanded.

We all quickly scrambled around the catnip, trying to grab the feisty abominations away from their feast. The Kittypillars began to realize our goal and soon began running away on their stubby toes.

“Oh no you don’t!” Aurora shouted.

Aurora began plowing towards the escapees as they cried out in fear. But their short toes were no match for the beast, also known as my sister. After what felt like hours of shoveling Kittypillars in a basket, the catnip section was once again peaceful. I collapsed in exhaustion as sweat poured down my forehead. Aurora laid down next me and sprawled on the floor.

“We did it! See, I told you we could do it!”

“But Mrs. Aurora, what exactly are we going to do with the Kittypillars?” Bennett cautiously asked.

“Yeah Aurora, what is your plan?” I said in a biting tone.

“Uh… I was planning to just bring them back to Lab J. And they can just live there happily ever after?” Aurora nervously squeaked out.

“Aurora, are you insane? There are literally hundreds of them! How do you plan on keeping those noisy little freaks in that one room?” I shrieked.

“Don’t worry Sol! I’ll give them love, food, everything that they need!” Aurora cried.

“Now tell me dear sister, how will you keep this from Father?” I snapped.

“I’ll just tell Father that I want Lab J to be our personal lab,” Aurora stated proudly.

“Uh, not to ruin our accomplishments, but some of the escapees from before could have gone to other parts of the Sun base,” Bennett murmured as he nervously twiddled his thumbs.

“Oh god!” I groaned.

“Let’s take these guys back first, then we can handle the rest!” Aurora announced.

“This is the end, soon we will be overruled by Kittypillars.” I muttered to myself.

“Come on Sol!” Aurora cheered. “Our work isn’t done yet!”

Aurora and Bennett hurried over to the cart and began to push the cart with ease towards the elevator. After several pushes, the cart safely landed in the elevator with no problems whatsoever. I nervously bit my fingernails as we rode the elevator back to floor 114. When the doors finally opened, I noticed that there something happening on this floor. Instead of workers buzzing around, they were nowhere to be seen.

“Aurora what the-“ I tried speaking up but suddenly something grabbed me by the arms and pulled me out of the elevators.

“Why, hello there!” a high pitch voice squealed, “How’s my favorite nephew doing?”

Oh hell no. I nervously looked up to find none other than my annoying Aunt Sirius squeezing my guts out.

“Aw, how I have missed you! You have grown so much!”

Her face beamed in delight as her white hair glowed. Following behind her were the nervous lab workers, unsure how to react to the situation.

“Auntie!” Aurora cried in delight as she raced out the elevator.

“Aw, my little star, come here!” Aunt Sirius laughed as she grabbed both us and gave us a tight squeeze. “I wanted to visit you guys sooner but my silly brother added new locks to the base!”

“That’s because father was trying to lock you out,” I muttered.

“Nonsense! He is just playing hard to get,” Aunt Sirius laughed.

“Uh, Mr. Sol and Mrs. Aurora, the cart?” Bennett piped up.

“Oh hello there, peasant worker, what do you have there?” Aunt Sirius asked curiously.

“Nothing!” I shouted as I freed myself from her grasp and blocked her view of the suspicious cart. “Just some random pile of junk that Bennett is relocating.”

“Oh, how intriguing!” Aunt Sirius cooed.

“Ha ha, yeah, Aurora and I really should get going now,” I nervously laughed.

“But Auntie just got here,” Aurora whined.

“Aurora, the cart!” I hissed.

“Oh yes!” Aurora gasped. “Sorry Auntie, we have to go!”

“Okay dearies, you go play! I’m going to try to find my dear brother of mine. I can’t wait to see his face when he sees me!” Aunt Sirius giggled.

“Yeah.. he will sure be surprised,” I said as I helped Bennett push the cart to the lab.

“Bye Auntie!” Aurora waved.

I grabbed Aurora’s arm and dragged her along to safety away from the dangers of our aunt. Once in the lab I let out a sigh of relief.

“Safe at last. Now let’s drop these buggers in the room next door,” I said.

Aurora nodded in agreement as we pushed the cart into the next door, only to once again to be shocked. The room, which was once filled with bugs, was now filled with feathery cocoons all over the ceiling.

“What the…”

Before I could react any further, the door behind us opened abruptly.

“We Aren’t in Kansas Anymore,” Photograph by Incandescence

9

“I don’t know what you kids are doing, but for some reasons your father sent for me to check out why Bennett had access the greenhouse, so you guys better have a good explanation for-“ George 1 began.

George 1 mouth gaped open as he dropped his clipboard onto the floor in shock.

“WHAT IN THE SHOOTING STARS HAPPENED HERE?” George 1 shouted in rage. “I leave you all here for what, an hour? Now there are wasp nests all over this room!”

“They weren’t like this when we left to find the others,” Aurora murmured.

“Others? Did you just say OTHERS?” Oh, bloody nebulas! There are more out there?!” George 1 shouting.

It wasn’t like any George model to show any emotion at all, especially towards the Stars family. But I suppose since our relationships are a little special that he managed to find rage in his programming.

“Oh cosmic rays, how could I let this happen? It was illogical of me to leave you mad scientists alone!”

“Please George, don’t tell father!” Aurora pleaded.

“Aurora, this is no joke, and jokes isn’t even in my programming! I’m calling Mr. Star right now!” George 1 announced.

George 1 took out his communication device and began vigorously typing.

While he focused on typing. Bennett nervously slid down behind the cart, hoping to not be seen.

“You!” Gorge shouted toward Bennett as he continued typing.

10 Goodest Boy,” Photograph by Celia Bowen “The

“Don’t you dare hide from me worker, when I’m done here I’ll request level red punishment for you!”

“No, not level red!” Bennett cried in horror. Bennett collapsed on the ground and crawled towards George 1 like a puppy.

“Oh please, anything but code red!”

“And I’m taking away your soap privileges.” George 1 snarled.

“No!” Bennett continued to cry in agony as he wept on the floor.

Aurora and I nervously stood there as George 1 finished typing, with Bennett latched onto his leg.

Soon enough, loud steps came echoing from the halls, going faster and faster, until finally the lab door swung open to reveal Father with a befuddled look.

“What is this ruckus about feathery wasp nests-” He began, until he took in the state of the room. The color in his face disappeared as his eyes widened in shock.

“What… how?” Father tried speaking.

“Sir, based on my analysis, it seems like the Kittypillars have turned in cocoons,” George 1 stated.

“I can see that, George 1,” Father murmured. His eyes scanned the room and landed upon our guilty faces. He walked up to us and easily towered our short bodies.

“Can one of you please explain to me what happened?” Father asked.

“It’s all Aurora’s fault!” I cried out.

“Is not!” Aurora fought back.

“This is your mess! I’m just an innocent bystander!” I snapped.

“You’re just as guilty, brother! You helped me!” Aurora volleyed back.

“ENOUGH!” Father shouted, his voice echoed throughout the lab like a ringing alarm.

Silence filled the room, only leaving Bennett’s random sobs.

“Now, before we try to fix this mess and decide your punishments, is there anything else that you guys want to mention?”

Before we could answer, the door once again burst open.

“Finally I found you! And to think you were in here this whole time!” Aunt Sirius laughed.

Father’s limbs went limp and he collapsed to the floor, only to be saved by George 1.

Suddenly, chirping noises filled the room before a loud buzzing sound rang down from the ceilings. A hundred Kittyflies burst out of their cocoons. *** After the incident of the Kittypillars, all the Kittyflies and Kittypillars were collected with the help of all the workers and their contraptions. But there was no way Father was going to keep the hundreds of Kittypillars in lab J, no matter how much Aurora pleaded and cried. So Father created a planet just for the Kittypillars, called Cocoon. The planet was no bigger than a white dwarf base, but it contained all the necessities for the Kittypillars.

Soon enough, all but four Kittypillars were shipped off to Cocoon, where they will live their lives munching on catnip.

The leftover four was given to Aurora, because no matter how angry Father was, he couldn’t help but spoil her. As for Aurora and I, we were officially grounded for 200 years. Sadly, Bennett had a harsher punishment. When workers fail, they are usually disassembled and tossed, but for one strange reason Father made a rule saying that Bennett will never be scrapped. So Bennett received the punishment of code red, working near the deep pits of the core, shoveling molten goo.

Other then that, everything went back to normal in the base. Except for the new presence of Aunt Sirius.

“Why won’t you just go away?” Father shouted in agony as he tried locking himself in his office.

“Because I missed you brother, and your adorable little spawns!” Aunt Sirius cried as she tried chasing after him.

It has been a week after the incident, and Aunt Sirius still had not left the sunbase. Everyday, I could hear Aunt Sirius shouting while Father continued to run away and hide.

“Why do you keep avoiding me, brother?”

“Because I want you to go away!” Father snapped.

With all his might, Father managed to lock Aunt Sirius out of his office, leaving her banging on his door.

“Is this anyway to treat your favorite sister?” Aunt Sirius cried.

“If I ever had another one, it would definitely not be you!” Father shouted.

“Brother, you really hurt my feelings!

Especially when you keep reinforcing your front door!” Aunt Sirius wailed.

“That’s because you keep breaking in!

Now leave my base and stay away forever! Father demanded.

Father quickly raced to his emergency lockdown button under his desk, and with a hasty push, all the windows and doors were reinforced with steel, blocking Aunt Sirius’s continuous shouting and banging. *** Aurora and I sat in the living room that split our bedrooms. I sat peacefully on our rock dust bean bag chair, reading How to create Living Organisms. Aurora played with her evil spawns on the rug without a care in the world. Even though we are grounded it’s all not bad; at least I can still read.

Then, like so many times before, the wonderful silence was broken.

“My brother hates me!” Aunt Sirius wailed as she busted through the door.

She stumbled down towards our seating area and crashed against our couch.

“Every time I come to see him, he locks me out, shouts at me, and he even tries to trap me in the incinerator!”

Aunt Sirius continued to weep into our couch pillows as I awkwardly shuffled away from her.

“There, there Auntie; I’m sure Father loves you too,” Aurora gently spoke as she stroked Auntie’s hair.

“When we were younger we were always together! Our older siblings might

have pushed us around but we always stood by each other.” Aunt Sirius continued to mumble. “It’s all my fault, he most definitely hates me now.”

“Why would Father hate you, Auntie?”

Aurora asked curiously.

“Ugh, stupid grown up things happened and your father probably thinks I betrayed him,” Auntie sighed as she wiped away a few stray tears.

“But you two don’t need to worry about that! I’ll find a way to make your father stop hating me!”

Auntie abruptly stood up and beamed at us. Her face running with mascara, lit up with hope.

“Hey, I want you to do something for me.”

“If you want us to try to deliver more of your letters to Father it won’t work; he will burn them just like the previous ones,” I said.

“No, never mind that right now, I want you two to promise me something” Aunt Sirius said.

She knelt down between Aurora and me, her once emotional expressions serious.

“I want you both to promise to always to stay each others side, no matter what.”

“Ugh, why?” I complained.

“Don’t give me that tone! This is serious!” Aunt Sirius snapped. “I want you both to promise each other, promise that you will never abandon each another, that you will always stand by each other’s side, forever.”

I glanced at Aurora, whose eyes were bugging with excitement.

“Don’t worry Auntie, I promise!” Aurora giggled.

“Now promise that with your brother,”

Aunt Sirius ordered.

Aurora turned towards me and held out her pinky, a huge grin plastered across her face as she moved her pinky towards mine.

“I promise I will always stand by you, brother, forever and forever!” Aurora announced proudly.

I awkwardly looked at the two of them as they stared at me.

“Okay, fine, I promise too,” I grumbled.

Aurora and my pinkies locked together, and our promise was set. Aunt Sirius let out a loud sigh of relief as she stood back up and headed towards our door.

“Remember your promise, you two are very special and need to stick together no matter what!” Aunt Sirius reminded us.

All I could do was stare, dumbfounded at Aunt Sirius as she walked away.

I couldn’t comprehend why she was so serious about our promise. I mean, Aurora annoys me, a lot. But I’m not going to betray her or anything like that. Maybe Aunt Sirius’s mysterious guilt has gotten in her head and now she feels the need to save any relationship similar to the one between her and Father. But I don’t particularly care about any of that. All I ever wanted was to grow up and run the sun lab like Father did. But I’ve also always imagined Aurora by my side.

“Hey Sol, Kitty wants to say hi!” Aurora interrupted, as she shoved a Kittypillar in my face.

“Ew! Gross, get that thing away from me!” I shrieked.

I changed my mind, I hope Aurora takes her abominations and stays far, far away.

“Oh Deer!” Illustration by Deranged Blue Cloud

11

Once Upon a Then

By Blue Serendipity

Once upon a time, there lived a young man with hair as light as sand and eyes as blue as the ocean on a sunny day. This man was a prince who was cursed to be a frog for the rest of his life until he could find true love. He traveled far and wide as a frog, going from kingdom to kingdom, looking for his love. One day, he met a princess who dropped her crown into a well. He retrieved it for her, but only if he brought him into the castle. He had planned to make her fall in love with him and kiss him but instead, he was thrown out of the window. His name was Alieus.

A girl with hair longer than anyone could imagine and eyes greener than jade lived trapped in a tower. Every day, she longed to leave and explore the world she read so much about. On her eighteenth birthday, a man found her and helped her escape. There, she found her true parentage and returned back to the tower, ready to confront her kidnapper. Her name was Rapunzel.

The two were opposites and in some ways quite similar.

Living together in an unknown and unfamiliar world had helped them both grow and become the people the had to become. Rapunzel had a kingdom to lead and Alieus had Ella to care for.

Ella had grown up without freedom, much like Rapunzel. She had two step-sisters and a step-mother who used her as a mere servant. Before meeting Alieus and Rapunzel, she didn’t know what it was like to enjoy her life and make friends. Now, she had Alieus 12

as a fatherly figure in her life and Rapunzel as a motherly figure. Ella’s mother and father had both passed away when she was young. Rose was like her little sister.

Rose grew up visiting her grandmother every week. She had a loving family but never learned anything. Rapunzel taught her how to read and write, Alieus taught her to never talk to strangers, and Ella

taught her how to take care of herself.

“Alieus!” Ella called as she set the table. “Dinner’s done!”

“Ok!” Alieus said going into the bathroom to wash his hands. Just as he was drying them, the mirror seemed to ripple. His eyes widened and he watched as a bird flew through holding a letter. He opened it and a small smile formed on his lips. It was from Rapunzel.

She wrote telling them how much she missed them and how she was getting married.

Once upon a time, Alieus would’ve been the groom; after all, he liked her a lot.

She was the love that turned him into a human. If she had stayed with him and Ella, they could’ve had a life together.

But that was once upon a then.

“Night Sky,” Photograph by Anonymous“

Interview with Seniors

By The Masked Lady

Hello Midnight Writers! Since this is the last issue and my last year of high school, I decided to do a special interview with some seniors that I know and ask them about their experience at Winston Churchill High School. I’m going to be interviewing Ben S, Dre, Esther Q, Lucifer, HMscorpio and Incandescence.

The Masked Lady: First up, we have Ben Shrock! I have known him since beginning of high school and, we have been in several classes together. Ok, you ready?

Ben S: Mhm. The Masked Lady: Okay, first question, how would you describe Churchill in one word?

Ben S: Churchill is a diverse school.

The Masked Lady: So diversity would be your one word?

Ben S: Yep. Diversity.

The Masked Lady: Ok, which classes would you recommend students to take and which class would you tell them to stay the hell away from?

Ben S: I recommended students take ceramics because it’s a very sociable place to talk to people, create, and open up your mind. A class I would recommend that you do not take is AP World ‘cause that (sigh) wasn’t a great class so…

Random student: (Nods in agreement) I took Honors World and I hated it.

The Masked Lady: (laughs) Okay, which teacher do you think is the hardest grader?

Ben S: Hardest grader… for me that would be Mr. Savett.

The Masked Lady: Is there a reason?

Ben S: Because he only talks to a certain amount of people, and I was a very quiet person, so it was very hard for me to talk to him.

The Masked Lady: Oh, that makes sense. Which teacher is the most laid back?

“Tastes like Butter,” Illustration by Deranged Blue Cloud

Ben S: Mrs. Deoro.

The Masked Lady: Oh really?

Ben S: She is the most laid back student - uh teacher! (laughs) She acts like a student but she is a teacher.

The Masked Lady: Okay, who’s your favorite teacher?

Ben S: My favorite teacher… would probably be Mr. Clark.

He was my NSL teacher, and he was very nice. First year he was very nice because it was his first time at the school, and I think he was getting used to it, so he was transferring some of his energy from other schools so…

The Masked Lady: Okay, next question. What is your worst and best memory at Churchill?

Ben S: My best memory was for me was being on the tennis team because …

The Masked Lady: Aww, sorry continue.

Ben S: Because we bond a lot and it’s a good place. My worst memory was probably APs. That’s my worst memory: APs, because APs are a stressful time.

The Masked Lady: Yeah, I bet a lot of people agree with you.

Okay, what advice would you give to incoming freshman?

Ben S: Freshmen, do not stress out, you have a lot of years to come and you will get stressed later, but as a freshman its best to relax. Make sure you choose classes that you want, not what other people want because that’s what leads to college.

Yeah, so choose the classes you want to study.

The Masked Lady: What great advice Ben! Rate your experience at Churchill out of 10.

Ben S: Churchill… is a number 1 school but I would say it’s a 9 out of 10 The Masked Lady: Wow! Ben S: Because there are still some things they need to work on but other than that it’s still a good school. 9 out of 10 is still pretty good so…

The Masked Lady: Wow, that’s a really high score. You might be the highest scorer (laughs)We will see! How many APs did you take in total and what were they?

Ben S: I took 4 and I took APUSH, NSL, AP World.. oh wait, I took 5 because I also took AP Calc and AP Psych.

So yeah.

The Masked Lady: Ok whatBen S: And AP Bio! The Masked Lady: Ok! (laughs) Ben S: That’s a lot, I don’t know. I lost count.

The Masked Lady: One of my friends took 10 so it’s OK. Ben S: I’m not smart so it’s OK. The Masked Lady: What are your future plans after high school?

Ben S: My future plans are to go to college and depending what major I study, I’ll go to grad school after college. I also plan on getting a job-Well I already have a job but I want to get a stable job.

The Masked Lady: Which

13

college are you going to?

Ben S: I’m going to College of Wooster. It’s a really nice school. It’s a new school but its pretty good so.. yeah.

The Masked Lady: Okay, thank you Ben! Ben S: Yep. The Masked Lady: Up next we have Dre! I met in her my Honors English class and she has been in several of my art classes. Ok Dre, first question, how would you describe Churchill in one word?

The Masked Lady: I agree!

Who’s your favorite teacher?

Dre: It’s in between Mrs. Gilbert and Mr. McElheny.

Just because he went here, Mr. Roddy.

The Masked Lady: Oh yeah Mr. Roddy! Okay, next question. What is your worst and best memory at Churchill?

Dre: I don’t really have any good memories at Churchill while I was here, it’s been kind of bleh and mellow.

Dre: Chaotic.

Random person: What about your boyfriend?

The Masked Lady: Ok, which classes would you recommend students to take and which ones to stay the hell away from?

Dre: Oh yeah! My boyfriend is a good memory (laughs). The worst memory is probably all the depressing events we had during these past four years.

Dre: You can take Math because you’re going to have to, Art is a fun subject, and I hate Astronomy.

The Masked Lady: How many APs did you take in total and what were they?

Dre: Two. The Masked Lady: What APs did you take?

Dre: AP 2D design and Psych.

The Masked Lady: Next question: What advice would you give to incoming freshmen?

Dre: Do what your teacher says, take notes, and listen or else you will fail your courses.

The Masked Lady: Now that is some good advice right there!

Dre: Really good advice!

Dre: After I graduate, I’m going to do a 2 year transfer at MC and then head to California and continue my career as an animator.

The Masked Lady: Awesome, thank you Dre! Up next we have Esther Quackenbush. We have been in several ceramics classes together throughout high school. She also took AP 3D design with me this year!

Okay, Esther you ready?

Esther Q: Okay, I’m ready.

The Masked Lady: Okay, how would you describe Churchill in one word?

The Masked Lady: (laughs) Okay, rate your experience at Churchill out of 10.

Esther Q: …Fake.

Dre: 6 out 10.

Esther Q: Fake.

The Masked Lady: What are your future plans after high school?

The Masked Lady: Oh wow! (laughs) I was not expecting that!

The Masked Lady: Fake?

The Masked Lady: (laughing) You hated Astronomy? I liked Astronomy! Okay jokes aside, which teacher do you think is the hardest grader?

Dre: Mr. Sandford.

The Masked Lady: Wow, you were very quick about your answer (laughs).

Dre: Yeah, because if you didn’t do anything in complete sentences, he would get mad at you for it despite the class not needing grammar.

The Masked Lady: Oh yeah, I remember that. Which teacher is the most laid back?

Dre: Teacher that is the most laid back… I think Mr. McElheny.

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“Almost 22,” Photograph by Lucifer

Esther Q: (Laughs) The Masked Lady: Is there a reason?

Esther Q: Just a lot of people are fake. Like people are fake nice. Just like the teachers are fake, I mean like a lot of the stuff is fake and I feel like all the classes you take are kind of meaningless. I don’t know, that just makes it fake to me.

That might not be the right word to describe it, I guess, but to me that’s what it is.

The Masked Lady: No that’s fine, that’s a good answer.

Esther Q: Okay.

The Masked Lady: Ok next question, which classes would you recommend students to take and which ones to stay the hell away from?

Esther Q: Hmmm… I recommend them to take AP Bio because I feel like it is helpful, but make sure you don’t have Mr. Ernst!

The Masked Lady: (Laughs) what happens if they do?

Esther Q: Well then, you will probably still get a good

grade, but he’s just a bad teacher for the AP. And I also recommend them to take … actually I recommend them not to take NSL (AP NSL).

Just because it’s really not worth your while unless you are planning on going into something government related.

I wish I took AP World.

The Masked Lady: Really?

Esther Q: Yeah! I wish I took AP World just because it feels like a class I’d be more interested in. Because I’m interested in world relations. So I guess if you’re not interested in world relations, don’t take that class! Also, it counts for college credits, so if you’re not majoring in like English or History, then if you take one of those courses and do well on the AP then you can surpass those courses in college. Whereas for a course like AP Calculus, if you took that class, which I’m in now, then even if you do well on the exam, you’re still probably going to want to retake it in college. So I feel like that class wasn’t really worth taking, but like I feel like it’s going to help me in college. So maybe it was worth taking, it’s just kind of like whatever you

feel like; like if you’re bad at math then probably don’t take it because you will do really bad. Uh… what else? Oh, I recommend you to take AP Ceramics.

The Masked Lady: (Laughs) Esther Q: Oh, no, just kidding, don’t take AP Ceramics.

The Masked Lady: Aww! You didn’t like it?

Esther Q: No, I just recommend you take ceramics in general. Because it’s a really fun course and if you’re the type of person who actually tries in ceramics. Like don’t just like take ceramics just because…

The Masked Lady: It’s an easy A? Esther Q: Yeah, it’s an easy A. Yeah but actually try because you can make a lot of stuff and now that the ceramics - like the arts here-don’t cost money.

The Masked Lady: Oh yeah!

Esther Q: Yeah, it’s like you’re getting like free things. So like if you need a new mug for your house, you can just

make one in class, like take it home and it’s free. Whereas you would go to pay $5 in the store, so you save money. I don’t know.

The Masked Lady: It also makes a great Christmas gift!

Esther Q: Yeah!

The Masked Lady: Like hmmm, what am I going to give to Grandma?

Esther Q: Yeah, it’s a really fun and artistic way to express yourself and stuff.

The Masked Lady: (Laughs) Ok you done?

Esther Q: Yes. The Masked Lady: Ok next question, which teacher do you think is the hardest grader?

Esther Q: Mmmmm… probably… I kind of think Mrs. Roe. The Masked Lady: Mrs. Roe? Oh I had her!

Esther Q: Yeah, just because she would critique me on the smallest things in my writing.

It would be like, if I did an extra space she would be like, “Oh there’s an extra space there.” And take off a point for it and it would be like….

K. The Masked Lady: Wow, harsh!

Esther Q: So yeah, I think she is the hardest grader.

The Masked Lady: That’s all?

“Good Thing I Can’t Read!” Photograph by Incadescence

Esther Q: I mean, I guess. Mrs. Phillips is harsh, but not really.

Like, she’s sometimes harsh, it just depends on what assignment you are doing for math.

15

The Masked Lady: Next question, which teacher is the most laid back?

Esther Q: (Laughs) Mr. McElheny.

The Masked Lady: (Laughs) Everybody has been saying that!

Esther Q: If I had to choose someone else other than Mr. McElheny, I would probably say… Mrs. Deoro.

The Masked Lady: Oh, someone else said Mrs. Deoro too.

Esther Q: Oh, wow, okay. (laughs) I’m not unique but …

The Masked Lady: (Laughs) You don’t have to be unique!

Esther Q: Yeah Mrs. Deoro… do I have to explain her?

The Masked Lady: If you want to. Like if you have a funny story or something.

Esther Q: Uh… not really.

The Masked Lady: Okay then, who’s your favorite teacher?

Esther Q: Mrs. Nixon… actually no, I didn’t have Mrs. Nixon as a teacher, but I feel like Mrs Nixon is a really sweet human being and I aid for the English office third period and whenever I’m in there, she always talks to me and asks me how my day is going.

bathroom and he called me and we broke up, so I went back to the classroom and we were like texting and he said something that made me like extremely sad, like he’s going to miss me so much or something like that. And then I like started crying…

The Masked Lady: Aww, poor baby!

Esther Q: Then Mrs. Nixon is like, “ Oh what’s wrong? Do you want to tell me about it?

Like are you ok?” And then she had to make sure I was ok before she did anything else with her work or anything.

She put my needs before hers and… I don’t know that’s what made me really like her and she always says hi to me and asks me how my day’s going and yeah, stuff like that.

The Masked Lady: Awww, that’s so cute.

Esther Q: Yeah and I didn’t even have her as a teacher!

The Masked Lady: Wow, so she’s your favorite teacher even though you never had her?

Esther Q: Yeah, I never had

her. So do I have to choose another teacher?

black out, and I look really good in black.

The Masked Lady: Ah, no, you don’t have to have her since technically she is a teacher so it does count towards the question.

The Masked Lady: (Laughs)

Esther Q: Okay, cool.

The Masked Lady: What is your worst and best memory at Churchill?

Esther Q: Best memory is probably the first football game this year.

Esther Q: So I was like, ready to go! And then just at the football game, I was talking to everyone, everyone was having a good time. And the game was going well, everyone was making up cheers and stuff like that.

The Masked Lady: We actually won!

Esther Q: Yeah!

Esther Q: Everybody was like so pumped at the game and it’s been like crazy, ‘cause like our school is like so not-spirited, to be honest. Our entire school was at that game.

The Masked Lady: What, we won?!

The Masked Lady: Wow really?

Esther Q: Yeah we won against Wootton! Yeah, that was my best memory.

Esther Q: Yeah, almost the entire senior class was at that game.

The Masked Lady: How come?

The Masked Lady: Wow!

The Masked Lady: Really, did we win?

Esther Q: Because I was really like, good that day. (laughs) I made sure I looked good for the football game. So I was like all dressed up, it was

Esther Q: Yeah I just had a really good time socializing with everyone at that game. And then, worst memory would definitely be the time when I walked out of US History,

The Masked Lady: Awww!

Esther Q: And how I’m doing.

During that period a month ago, I broke up with my boyfriend, like during that period, and I was on the phone and left the classroom to go to the bathroom. So I was in the 16

“Even the Sun Flowers Won’t Look at Me,” Photograph by Incadescence

freshman year. And there was this girl that was a senior, and it was awkward because I was the only other person in the bathroom who actually had to go to the bathroom. And they were all smoking in the bathroom.

“It’s going down, I’m yelling Mufasa!” Illustration by Deranged Blue Cloud

Esther Q: (Laughs) Hmmm… just to think about what you are doing, like specifically think about what you’re doing.

‘Cause I feel like I missed out on a lot of opportunities in my freshman and sophomore years that I could have taken opportunity of. Like if I tried a bit harder in some of my classes or whatever I could have been in honors societies for those classes. It’s like you don’t think about it your freshman and sophomore ‘cause it’s like, oh it doesn’t really matter if I get a B in these classes. Like, honestly, it doesn’t, but like, if you want to be in those honor societies and stuff like that, then it pays off to actually think about what you’re doing and know the future plans for your actions. Yeah, think ahead and don’t procrastinate, ‘cause I procrastinated a lot for like a lot of my classes and it honestly really didn’t pay off.

You think in the short term, it pays off; it doesn’t pay off, it just is worse to procrastinate, but in the lone term, like if you did get ahead of time then you could have gone out with your friends that night, you didn’t have to write that entire essay or whatever, you know.

have to start writing essay for college until your senior year ‘cause I didn’t, and I didn’t even think about it until my senior year, like what I wanted to write about. But I wish I kind of thought it through before.

The Masked Lady: Wow I was not expecting that story, you might have the most interesting bad memory story yet!

The Masked Lady: Solid advice there, Esther.

The Masked Lady: What did your write about?

Esther Q: Thanks.

Esther Q: Oh I have so many memories (laughs).

Random Person: I feel like another piece of advice would be to not to stress over college.

Esther Q: I wrote two essays: I wrote one about being really organized and having a bunch of lists on my phone and what each of the lists symbolize and meant to me. I think that one was the writing of your choice but like, I only submitted that to one college, but I did get in.

The Masked Lady: Oh god!

Esther Q: And I just came in and they are like “Oh shit.”

And they just stopped smoking, I was just in there awkwardly peeing, and they were still smoking.

The Masked Lady: (Laughs) That’s so gross! I’m so sorry Esther!

Esther Q: I think she said to me, “Make it quick” or something like that. And that girl who was smoking was in my class and she came back like five minutes after I did and I was like “Fuck” and she was sitting in the class.

The Masked Lady: Did you guys look at each other with that look and look away?

Esther Q: No, she sat behind me and I sat in front of her.

Yeah and that’s it.

The Masked Lady: Okay, next question. What advice would you give to incoming freshman?

Random person: Don’t go here! Do homeschooling instead!

The Masked Lady: This is Esther’s interview, child!

Esther Q: Oh, honestly don’t.

When I started worrying about college I was at the middle of… well the beginning or middle of senior year. Like junior year, all you need to do is to start visiting colleges and thinking about what to write for your essay. But just thinking about it, you don’t even

The Masked Lady: Nice! Nice!

Nice!

Esther Q: I just remember thinking about, because I wanted to think out of the box

and not just write an ordinary essay. So I wrote about that, hoping to like show that I was out of the box. So I was like, oh I’ll write about like all the different lists on my phone, like I have a bucket list and a list of kid’s names, and different stuff like that. What else… oh my other essay was on my experience in the Chinese immersion program and how it affected both my social life and choosing my friends and how it like helped me out in the long run with like college applications and just like…

I don’t know, other stuff like that. (laughs) I can’t really think about that too much I don’t really remember that essay that well.

The Masked Lady: Well, you are going to be the first person to have said what you wrote your college essay about.

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Esther Q: Yay! The Masked Lady: That’s some solid advice. I think people sometimes honestly don’t know what to write about. Like they sometimes talk about their instrument or yada yada .

Esther Q: Yeah, just like try to think out of the box because, like, it did pay off for me. I can’t answer for everyone, but it did get me into one of the colleges I wanted to go to which is Rutgers, which isn’t crazy hard to get into, but like, I don’t know. I didn’t get rejected, so that’s something.

The Masked Lady: Good job.

Good job. Okay, rate you’re your experience at Churchill out of 10.

Esther Q: I rate it an 8. To be honest, I feel like its a lot better than some other schools like North West and Quince Orchard. They do have a high academic standard so you do need to work hard, and you do need to get A’s and B’s. And that’s like the lowest you can get, or they make it seem like that, honestly it shouldn’t be that much pressure.

The Masked Lady: How many APs did you take in total and what were they?

Esther Q: So, sophomore year, I took my first AP, which was AP NSL, and then Junior year I took AP Lang, AP Psych, and I also took Physics but it was AP Physics 1 which you can choose to take the exam or not for that class and I choose not to.

The Masked Lady: Well, I heard it’s really hard so...

Esther Q: Yeah, I just felt like 18

I didn’t really want to take it, and I knew it I had to retake it in college so I was like whatever, I’m not going to take that. And then this year I’m taking AP Bio, AB calculus, and 3D design.

The Masked Lady: So that’s like 7 in total. Wow that’s a lot, you don’t have the highest score out of the people I’ve interviewed, but it’s still a lot.

Esther Q: Yeah, honestly to me, APs aren’t a big deal, since most of the courses that you take in high school you are going to want to retake in college. My mom was talking to me about it and like even if you do get a 5 on the AB Calculus exam, you’re going to want to retake it again in college for the easy A and boost your GPA with it.

The Masked Lady: That makes sense. One more question: What are your future plans after high school?

let me major in interior design, which I’m really passionate about.

The Masked Lady: Aw, why not?

Esther Q: Just because there is not a lot of money in that field and they tried to push me to major architecture and minor in interior design, but I just wasn’t interested in architecture because the more I looked at it, I couldn’t do both swimming and architecture at the same time. I mean, I’m really interested in marine bio and I’m probably going to stick with that all four years because I heard there are a lot of cool internships for that.

Like this girl I was talking to said she went to Alaska to this like wildlife reserve where she helped injured animals.

I’m not saying that right, but

like they helped a baby beluga whale and seals and different stuff like that and there is also shark tagging in marine bio and a bunch of other stuff.

That’s mostly why I went to Florida, because it’s just a great place to do marine bio, with Seaworld and its location right on the ocean.

The Masked Lady: Thank you, Esther, and good luck to you.

Esther Q: Yeah, thanks!

The Masked Lady: Next up we have Lucifer! We have been close friends for most of my highschool years and has helped me a lot with the magazine. Okay, but first, Lucifer, how are you feeling?

Lucifer: About what? I’m really tired, honestly.

Esther Q: I plan to go to the University of North Florida and I’m also swimming there.

It’s tentative; I always wanted go to University of Florida, so depending on what happens I may either do my masters there or transfer over there.

But I visited University of North Florida and loved it; I probably think I’m going to just do my masters there just because I want to stay there all four years. Then I hope to travel the world at some point, just because I love traveling and stuff like that.

The Masked Lady: What’s your major?

Esther Q: Oh yes! I want to major in marine biology, which I may change to business, which I’m not too interested in but my parents wont

“I’m Jelly of You.” Photograph by Lucifer

The Masked Lady: Okay, that counts as a feeling. First question, how would you describe Churchill in one word?

I like how you are like “Okay, I’m done now.” Okay, which teacher do you think is the hardest grader?

be like, “Ok! Lets go over the answers!” For this one problem! So it was really chill and we just talked in his class.

Lucifer: One word? Wow, just hell… just hell. It’s just, I didn’t really have a good experience in highschool and every single day was a hard day.

Starting from freshman year it was like hard already, but now that I’m a senior it’s so much more terrible. And like, now its AP week, wow, things are going down the drain really fast. It’s just complete hell.

Lucifer: Well I think Mr. Kim is a pretty harsh grader. But that’s also because he has expectations for his students. Although they are kind of high… and harsh, but he always tells us we are too lazy, it’s kind of true, but he has high expectations and he knows how to make tests that are actually hard. They’re different from the standardized test. But overall, that kind of curves it, but it’s still kind of harsh. Other then that, maybe Mrs. Malanoski. But also same thing for her, she just has the same expectations for her students and she teaches in a way that you’re actually supposed to understand and if you don’t understand then you should go in and ask her for help. But she still like makes these tests really hard.

The Masked Lady: Okay who’s your favorite teacher?

The Masked Lady: I never went in.

Lucifer: (Laughs) Yeah! Okay, real teachers suck!

Lucifer: Ha ha, me either.

The Masked Lady: Yeah, they

The Masked Lady: There, there, do you need a hug?

Lucifer: (Laughs) I’m okay.

The Masked Lady: Okay, next question, which classes would you recommended students to take and stay the hell away from?

Lucifer: To take… I’m not sure. It really depends on what their planning on doing in the future, like if they’re more STEM based then they should obviously take maybe chemistry, bio, and classes like that. But if they’re not as math based then maybe they should take art classes, band, chorus, writing classes, or maybe psych. It just really depends on you. So I can’t really give advice on what you should take, but actually don’t take AP Physics E&M, because that class will kill you! And Mr. Fugal will not teach you!

The Masked Lady: Oh, wow.

Lucifer: WOW! Also if you have Kim, just drop dead, in that moment. You are so screwed, do not, DO NOT take Kim’s Lit class! Okay.

The Masked Lady: (Laughs)

Lucifer: I-I honestly do not have a favorite teacher. Because every single year, every single teacher made my life terrible, but there was this one teacher from last year, he’s a substitute teacher, and it was because Mr.Tappis, my math teacher, was on leave. We called him Mr. G, well he was really nice, even though he wasn’t the greatest teacher…

The Masked Lady: Well he is a sub.

Lucifer: Yeah, he’s a sub but he was really nice.

The Masked Lady: Wow, out of all your teachers you pick a sub! (laughs)

do. What is your worst and best memory at Churchill?

Lucifer: Sigh… worst memory, there’s too many to choose from!

The Masked Lady: What was the worst of the worst?

Lucifer: Worst of the worst?

Oh! Having multiple tests, oh my god it was that one day...!

Ha, go to the Midnight Writers April Magazine if you want to know, there’s more details, but that one day I had so many tests and quizzes, I only knew about three of them and I had six of them! I only have seven classes, and I had six assessments that day, one in each class! And I only knew about three of them, and it was like really, really bad, I had to write about it, that’s how bad it was.

The Masked Lady: You can read it in the April Magazine, I’m pretty sure you called it Banned From Heaven.

Lucifer: Yep, that’s what it was.

The Masked Lady: Okay, next question, which teacher is the most laid back?

Lucifer: Mr. Fugal is really laid back. Taking his class is kind of like taking a review class. Instead of an actual class where you’re being taught. He kind of just doesn’t care, but he also still kind of cares, but he won’t say anything to you.

Other than that, yeah I think Mr. Fugal. Oh, Mr. Achille!

Another physics teacher, Physics 1, and I think he teaches Mechanics. He’s so laid back, like everyday in class he would be like “Ok, let’s do this one problem!” And then like there will be 10 minutes left in the class and then he will

“But First, Let Me Take a Selfie,” Photograph by Lucifer 19

The Masked Lady: I’m pretty proud of your writing.

Lucifer: Thank you, thank you.

The Masked Lady: Okay what about your best memory?

Lucifer: My best memory?

Honestly, my best memories would have to be on half days or when my friends and I skipped class together. Or like after school, when we walked back to my friend’s place and we got to see her dog Daisy!

The Masked Lady: You love Daisy?

Lucifer: But I don’t know if that counts because that’s not really in school. But if it would be technically in school then maybe just lunch because, it’s not a class and you just get to do whatever you want.

The Masked Lady: What about the Disney Trip?

through this. Honestly, you don’t even know what I’m talking about, but you’re really going to go through hell. You just need to take it one step at a time and just, like, shut up and listen when people are talking to you ‘cause you need to understand this and when you are being an ignorant brat you’re just making your own life harder. And don’t die!

There we go, that’s my advice.

The Masked Lady: Great job, Lucifer.

Lucifer: Ah, thanks.

The Masked Lady: Okay, rate you’re your experience at Churchill out of 10.

Lucifer: Heh, wow, like a -100! But actually it was not great, did not enjoy high school at all, and would not do that again. That’s it

The Masked Lady: (Laughs) That is one solid Yelp review right there!

Lucifer: (Laughs) Yeah, won’t do it again!

The Masked Lady: How many APs did you take in total and what were they?

Lucifer: I actually took less AP’s than the average. I only took about 8, that’s because I hate school. I was like better just chill. Starting from the very beginning, probably AP NSL. Then AP Lang, AP Lit, AP Econ, AP Psych, AP Calc, AP Physics E&M, and AP Euro.

The Masked Lady: Ok what is your future plans after high school?

Lucifer: College, obviously.

The Masked Lady: Which

college are you going to?

Lucifer: I decided on Northeastern, it’s in Boston. For the first semester, I’m planning on studying abroad in Germany for business. So we will see how that goes.

The Masked Lady: So, do you have any plans after college?

Like traveling…

Lucifer: We’ll see, at that point I don’t think I’ll have any money to travel but I’ll probably just find a job or go back to school, it really depends, I’m not sure yet.

The Masked Lady: Thank you Lucifer!

Lucifer: Thanks!

The Masked Lady: Up next we have one of our lovely officers: HMscorpio! First question, how would you describe

Lucifer: The Disney Trip was fun! That was really fun, like the band trips that we went on were really cool and it was an actual vacation, kind of like a vacation in the middle of the year. So that was cool, but you have to pay money so that was the down side of that.

The Masked Lady: But it was still fun?

Lucifer: Still fun.

The Masked Lady: Okay, next question. What advice would you give to incoming freshmen?

Lucifer: Advice? Oh, wow… don’t be annoying. Like just chill and you don’t have to pretend to be cool ‘cause we all know you aren’t. Really just calm down, you’ll get 20

“The Road Home,” Photograph by Celia Bowen

Churchill in one word?

HMscorpio: Horrible!

The Masked Lady: Horrible?

Is there a reason why?

HMscorpio: Just wasn’t a good school for me; It’s too big, too preppy, and just too competitive. Not really a school for my LD (learning disabilities).

The Masked Lady: Okay, next question, which classes would you recommend students to take and which ones would you recommend them to stay the hell away from?

HMscorpio: The classes I recommend students take are global studies and survey of modern American culture.

The Masked Lady: Is there a reason why?

HMscorpio: I love global studies because I love learning about what’s going on in the world and in the present day. And in survey of modern American culture, you learn about the arts back then. The first semester is country, and second semester is movies.

The Masked Lady: What

about classes to stay away from?

HMscorpio: I would say astronomy, because there are kids that just don’t want to learn there; it’s just loud, and there’s a lot of work.

The Masked Lady: You dont think it’s an easy A? HMscorpio: No. The Masked Lady: No? HMscorpio: And TV production because a lot of the kids just slack off and they don’t really put a hundred percent into the Daily Dose.

The Masked Lady: Okay, next question: which teacher do you think is the hardest grader?

HMscorpio: Mrs. Deoro.

The Masked Lady: Oh, you do think she is?

HMscorpio: Yeah.

The Masked Lady: Really?

Wow, most people say she is pretty laid back.

HMscorpio: Well if we turn in something very late, well not very late; like somewhat late,

like 2 minutes late. She will grade it very hard, and she is very strict about punctuation and such.

The Masked Lady: Thats cool.

Okay, next question. What advice would you give to incoming freshman?

The Masked Lady: Oh okay, that makes sense. Next question: which teacher is the most laid back?

HMscorpio: Take advantage of the four years you have.

You only get one four years of highschool and you can do a lot of things like start a club, and start making friends as early as possible because in the long run it will be too late.

HMscorpio: Mr. Rosenthal.

The Masked Lady: Oh, the history teacher! He is also our…

HMscorpio: Class sponsor.

The Masked Lady: Class sponsor, yeah. Okay, who’s your favorite teacher?

HMscorpio: I guess Mr. Wilson, because he is relatable, fair, and he doesn’t like follow every single MCPS rule.

The Masked Lady: Which class does he teach?

HMscorpio: He teaches Geometry and Algebra 2.

The Masked Lady: What is your worst and best memory at Churchill?

HMscorpio: Okay the worst, let’s just get it over with. I had to miss the freshman picnic because I had an accident.

The Masked Lady: I actually don’t remember the freshman picnic.

HMscorpio: Yeah, it was the beginning of freshman year.

The Masked Lady: Well that sucks that you missed it. What about your best memories?

HMscorpio: My best memory at Churchill was taking a field trip to the Holocaust museum for the Jewish Student Union, Junior year.

“LOL,” Illustration by Deranged Blue Cloud

The Masked Lady: Okay, rate your your experience at Churchill out of 10.

HMscorpio: 2 and a half.

The Masked Lady: How many APs did you take in total and what were they?

HMscorpio: I took zero APs. The Masked Lady: Zero?

Wow, you probably have the lowest amount so far. That’s not a bad thing, APs suck.

Okay, what is your future plans after high school?

HMscorpio: I’m going to attend Montgomery College for two years. Even though I wanted to take a gap year in Israel before college, I’m going to take a gap year after the two years in Montgomery College. And I may or may not become a citizen of Israel and live there from then on.

I might go back to the States and go to school in Maryland for two years and then just live in the States for the rest of my life. Or after Montgomery College, in the gap year, I might stay in Israel.

The Masked Lady: Okay that’s it, thank you!

HMscorpio: You’re welcome.

The Masked Lady: Next up we have none other than our

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Vice President Incandescence!

I have known her for a total of seven years! We met way back in the sixth grade and we have been best friends ever since!

Now tell me Incandescence, how you feeling?

Incandescence: I am hungry.

The Masked Lady: I can tell.

Anyway first question, how would you describe Churchill in one word?

Incandescence: I’m thinking either exhausting or hell.

The Masked Lady: Which one are you leaning more towards though?

Incandescence: Hell, because you can be exhausted in hell.

The Masked Lady: Yeah, that it very true. Okay, next question, which classes would you recommended students to take and stay the hell away from?

Incandescence: I recommend that when you are in 9th grade that you take APUSH, because you learn a lot. I mean I thought it was pretty interesting too. But it prepares you for your future APs and how you should like study. And the rest of your classes are honors, so, it shouldn’t be too hard. I also recommended you take psych because that is a lot of fun.

The Masked Lady: Wow, really?

Incandescence: Yeah, it’s a lot of fun, the teachers are good, and it’s not hard, so it’s pretty easy. Also it’s an AP, so you know, whatever.

The Masked Lady: What about the classes that students should stay away from?

Incandescence: Stay away 22

from physics.

The Masked Lady: AP Physics or regular Physics?

Incandescence: Just in general.

Like, it’s been an awful experience. Chemistry, both Honors and AP, just fuck off, like, so terrible. Math has been pretty bad, but it’s like, useful so you should take it even if you hate math.

The Masked Lady: Plus, you have to.

Incandescence: Yeah, you have to take math.

The Masked Lady: Okay, next question, which teacher do you think is the hardest grader?

Incandescence: Out of all the teachers that I’ve had?

Incandescence: Bueler, she is a pretty harsh grader. And she makes her own course, so it’s like Spanish 4/5, and there is no official curriculum. Anyway, it was a terrible experience.

The Masked Lady: I trust you on that. Okay, next question, which teacher is the most laid back?

Incandescence: Mr. McElheny.

The Masked Lady: You don’t even have him!

Incandescence: I can tell.

The Masked Lady: (Laughs) Incandescence: Um… I think Mr. Collins, when I had him in 9th grade for geometry. He also taught gym, so he was

very laid back.

The Masked Lady: Huh, gym and geometry, what a weird combination.

Incandescence: Yeah! We kind of just did our own thing and he would put the answers on the board.

The Masked Lady: That’s nice.

Incandescence: That was pretty nice. Mr. Ernst was pretty chill. Like I didn’t do anything in his class, like, the entire year. And I had him for two periods so that was nice.

The Masked Lady: Wow, nice!

Okay, who’s your favorite teacher?

Incandescence: I would have to say Mrs. Blanken, because,

The Masked Lady: Yeah.

Incandescence: Out of all the teachers I had, I think Ms. Patel in 10th grade was a pretty hard grader. Because I never got an A; I got one A in the entire semester, out of all the writings. Also I’m just saying this in the future, Boppana and Kim, stay the hell away from.

The Masked Lady: (Laughs) Incandescence: Like, you’ll die. I mean I would die, I mean some people like them but I don’t understand why.

The Masked Lady: Hard, cold truth.

Incandescence: Yeah…um.

The Masked Lady: Oh there’s more?

Incandescence: …. Bueler The Masked Lady: Ah. “There Is No Law When There Are No Cops Around!” Photograph by Lucifer

first of all, her class was my favorite, she taught AP Psych, and then she also wrote my recommendation.

The Masked Lady: Yay, thank you, Mrs. Blanken!

Incandescence: Yeah, so, she did that. And she’s super nice and easy to talk to. And like sometimes, I mean it still a little intimidating to talk to teachers, but sometimes it’s fine and she is by far my favorite teacher.

The Masked Lady: What is your worst and best memory at Churchill?

Incandescence: The worst is probably the entire APs and SAT, and just, like, tests. Oh, also a lot of times it’s like when you have seven different tests in one day, those weren’t great. The best was probably… lunch.

The Masked Lady: (Laughs) That is true, technically you are in school so it does count.

“Sneak,” Illustration by Celia Bowen

Incandescence: Yeah or it’s pretty much with classes where I have close friends and we can mostly like hang out and talk. Also, I went to Disney and, although you weren’t there, Lucifer was and that was really fun.

The Masked Lady: How many kids do you think were mainly in orchestra just for the Disney trip?

Incandescence: I don’t know, but I was in that class in 10th grade pretty much just for that.

The Masked Lady: I see, you have your priorities straight.

Okay, next question. What advice would you give to incoming freshman?

Incandescence: Do the opposite of what I did and don’t procrastinate.

The Masked Lady: Aw, such good wisdom.

Incandescence: I’m not following my own advice.

The Masked Lady: At least you have the advice that is good for the heart. Okay, rate your experience at Churchill out of 10.

10 in total.

Incandescence: …Two.

Incandescence: College.

The Masked Lady: Two out of ten, wow!

The Masked Lady: ….

Incandescence: One for you and one for Lucifer.

The Masked Lady: Aw, thank you!

Incandescence: That’s pretty much it.

The Masked Lady: How many APs did you take in total and what were they?

Incandescence: I took ten in total, I took: APUSH, NSL, Bio, Psych, AB calc, BC calc, Lang, Lit, Euro, and Physics. I think that’s it.

The Masked Lady: Oh, wow, that is a lot!

Incandescence: Well, I did take

The Masked Lady: Okay, what is your future plans after high school?

Incandescence: ….

The Masked Lady: Which college are you going to?

(Laughs) Incandescence: Maryland.

The Masked Lady: Maryland, nice. What are you planning to study there?

Incandescence: As of right now, I’m planning on studying business but I’m actually not sure what I’m doing with my life so I actually don’t know.

The Masked Lady: Do you know what your plans are after college, like find jobs; take a trip, or anything?

Incandescence: Get a job, that’s like my goal in life right now. Maybe find myself.

The Masked Lady: Okay, well, thank you Incandescence for your answers!

Incandescence: You’re welcome! But you know Masked Lady, you have been interviewing so many people that I think it’s your turn to be interviewed.

The Masked Lady: Okay Incandescence, fire away!

Incandescence: First question, how would you describe Churchill in one word?

The Masked Lady: I would describe Churchill as hell.

Because HELL is where Satan

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sacrifices the poor dear innocent children into the hells of testing and homework and all that jazz. That was more than one word.

I don’t even remember all the amendments. I’m that bad with government, so yeah, I recommend you stay away from AP NSL.

Incandescence: That’s okay, which classes would you recommend students to take and stay the hell away from?

Incandescence: Which teacher do you think is the hardest grader?

The Masked Lady: I would recommend students to take fine arts, even though you are not interested I feel like fine arts like ceramics or… I actually recommend ceramics more, is a good way to take a break and try something new.

Plus, one of my teachers, he would always say every year, “Be smart, take fine art! Tell your friends!” And the thing is, none of my friends like art so I felt really bad for never recommending someone. Like, literally in class I was talking to a girl and I said, “ I would want to recommend someone to take fine art excpt all my friends hate it.” And all of a sudden I hear this “GASP!” and I look up and I see my teacher Mr. Roddy standing in front of me and was like,“How could they?!”

The Masked Lady: Okay, I might be kind of biased because my teachers gave me bad grades in English because I sucked at the class. I think Mrs. Roe was a hard grader but that’s because I was really bad in her class. I also think Mr. Kim is a hard grader but that’s also cause I was really bad in his class (laughs)! Then there’s Mrs. Levitt, she’s not a teacher anymore but I was also really bad in her class, too. So mainly I thought a lot of the English teachers were really hard graders just cause I was really bad at English.

Incandescence: Okay, next question, which teacher is the

most laid back?

The Masked Lady: I would say Mr. McElheny, he’s probably the most chillest teacher I have ever met. You just come in and he’s so chill, who knew a teacher could be so chill?

Incandescence: Okay, who’s your favorite teacher?

The Masked Lady: Hands down Mr. Roddy! At first I didn’t really have an opinion about him. I first met him in freshman year during the mini day, and the ceramics freshman kids were tasked with moving clay. And Mr. Roddy was in the clay storage room and he saw that I was wearing a seahorse shirt and he, all of sudden said, “I have a tattoo of that exact same seahorse!” and he showed me and my first thought of him was “He’s weird.” And then sophomore year came around and I had him for Ceramics 2 and that’s when I got to know him better.

I mean I still think he’s weird

but in a good way. Hey, Mr. Roddy, if you, somehow through your dreams, hear this, please answer my emails and please come back and visit! Like that one day you came back and Lucifer saw you and she and I tried to find you again but we failed which was very sad. So, please come back and visit! Also, I really wished you stayed a teacher at Churchill during my senior year because you were an amazing teacher but also cause most of my time during my AP portfolio I didn’t know what I was doing. ALSO MY DAD STILL THINKS YOU’RE COOL! Okay, I’m done.

Incandescence: What is your worst and best memory at Churchill?

The Masked Lady: The best memory I had at Churchill is when the incident occured; where we were evacuated outside. People were skipping and after an hour they realized there was no threat and we

Incandescence: (Laughs) The Masked Lady: So this is my chance to actually finally tell people to take fine art. The classes I would recommend people to stay the hell away from would probably be AP NSL, like I know many people recommend taking AP but the thing is, I took one because my teacher was like “Oh, I recommended you for it.” so I was like “Oh, I can do it.” and I took it and for the first semester I failed it and I was like,”Why did I take this?” So, I recommend taking AP classes that you are really interested in. Because I was not interested in government at all. Like 24

“The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” Photograph by Lucifer

were brought back to class.

And then you, Lucifer, and I were texting saying, “We should skip!” and I was like, “Yeah, we should just walk to my place.” Because my place is only a 30 minute or less walk. And basically, I was texting you guys and you were on your way. And I was in ceramics class with Mr. McElheny and then you guys came in and you were like, “Okay, lets go, lets go!” So, I grabbed my stuff and Mr. McElhaney saw me and asked, “Hey, where are you going?” and I was like, “Nowhere!” and you were like “Oh my god, he knows!” ,and you were shoving Lucifer and whispering, “Go, go, go!” And we were like walking really fast and he just watched us leave. And as I was leaving he calls out, “Do you want me to mark you present?” and I was like, “ Yes, please!” And we just left! Also when we walked home we met two really cute dogs.

Incandescence: Yeah!

The Masked Lady: And when we were talking to one of the

ladies and she said, “I heard something happened at school, did they dismiss you guys early?” And Lucifer was like, “Oh, we just skipped” And I was like, “Lucifer! you can’t tell her that!” My dad might meet up with her someday and she will be like “Oh, your daughter skipped!” and my dad will be like, “What?!”

Anyway, there are probably better memories but that one comes to mind first.

Incandescence: Yeah, that day was fun.

The Masked Lady: My worst memory was when I had a fight with an ex-friend and I was crying alot, and I was crying so much that I couldn’t go to my next period class and I had to go to the counseling office.

Incandescence: Yeah, that sucks. Okay, next question.

What advice would you give to incoming freshman?

The Masked Lady: Be smart, take fine art and don’t take APs! I still haven’t found the

great reasons why you should take APs. Incandescence: Yeah, me neither!

The Masked Lady: So I just don’t recommend you take them! And take classes that if you know you’re going to fail it, don’t take it. Also, highschool isn’t forever, it will end. So if you feel like your life is going to be forever the same living hell just know there is a big world out there and your life isn’t just about high school.

Incandescence: Okay, rate you’re your experience at Churchill out of 10.

I took 1.5 cause I am taking AP 3D design now and I was taking AP NSL but I quit halfway through so that’s like, half?

Incandescence: Yeah, so one and a half. What are your future plans after high school?

The Masked Lady: I’m going to go to Maryland Institute College of Art and I’m planning on studying ceramics and illustration. Probably after college, I’m not very sure where it will take me but I really want to make comic books or ceramics pieces. And my plan is to adopt a lot of dogs.

Incandescence: Yeah, cool!

The Masked Lady: I would give it a low score but I got to admit the art department here is the best art department in the whole county. So, I’ll give it a 4 out of 10.

Incandescence: Cool! How many APs did you take in total and what were they?

The Masked Lady: Technically

The Masked Lady: Yep, that’s my plan. Thank you for interviewing me Incandescence!

Incandescence: No problem!

The Masked Lady: Okay, that’s it Midnight Writers.

This has been a fun experience and I hope you had a fun time reading!

25 “Bless You,”Photograph by Incandescence

What Have You Done to Me?

By Lucifer

I’m already technically an adult (“What?? But you look like a middle schooler” -Literally every person I’ve ever met.) and I really don’t think me being an adult is right. Like, I can’t take care of myself at all, and most of that is probably because of stress.

So, even though you never asked for it, I’m gonna tell you everything messed up about my life and hopefully Peter Pan will kidnap me.

In any case, congrats everybody! AP testing is finally over!! I really didn’t think I was going to survive these two weeks because I was hyperventilating the whole time I was studying and I thought I was going to pass out from the lack of oxygen. But this started even before AP week, I was already feeling pressure from college and the endless stream of work. Why are there so many assignments due before and during AP week?

Why would you give a semester exam the Monday after AP

week? I’ll never understand teachers.

Anyway, I’ve always been a night owl but I’ve been really dreading going to bed even though I knew I should. The logic doesn’t make sense but I’ve always attributed ‘tomorrow’ to the day after I’ve gone to bed and woken up. So, if I delay sleeping that means the next day won’t come as quick, right? Yeah, that’s not really how it works but I still did it anyway. At three in the morning, when I finally decided I should sleep, I lied down… and I couldn’t sleep at all. I was just too worried about APs and studying that my body refused to fall into the black hole of nothingness while still feeling like I’m about to be killed and eaten by a bear. I was so tired of trying to sleep that I finally caved and took my phone out. At 4:30 A.M., I finally arrived at my favorite place in the world, Dreamland, where everything you see is black, teachers don’t exist, homework isn’t due, colleges aren’t robbing me of my (parent’s) money, and blah blah blah. I could literally list a thousand other things.

Okay, so we’ve established that I don’t sleep, but naps af-

“The 26 Sun will come out... tomorrow!” Photgraph by Incadescence

ter school are my world. Those precious five hours of unconsciousness are my favorite and is probably the only thing keeping me alive. Stress messes up my sleeping schedule, which consists of naps longer than my actual sleep, which in turn, messes with my eating.

Anyone who knows me knows that I forget to eat a lot. It’s not like I hate food (I actually love it) but that doesn’t mean I have to eat everything in my path and become obese by showing my love. I’m mostly in charge of my meals (things are complicated at home and my grandma actually sucks at cooking) so unless I set a timer or something, I’ll forget to eat lunch. At three I’ll be like, “Oh, I missed lunch because I was napping. I’ll just wait until dinner time because I don’t think linner/dinch is a real thing.” Then I’ll be watching Netflix or something and dinner time passes and BAM, I’m going to bed at four without eating anything that day because I’m too lazy/I forgot to.

So… so far I’m not sleeping and I’m not eating either. What else is wrong with my life?

I’m so glad you asked.

Because I was so tired and starving, I didn’t want to

talk to anyone. Not even my friends sometimes. I didn’t want to pretend to smile and laugh or pretend to care about anything that was happening in class. To be honest, I wanted to disappear from the world for awhile. I feel like this is the part where drug addicts admit this is why they started drugs but I promise my drug of choice is sleep. It’s the easiest way of previewing death, which seems more appealing each year. I started taking longer naps and trying less and less because I knew if I gave up, my parents would kill me, but I would probably feel so much better. But I continued to carry that emotional stress with me throughout the AP week. It started out minimally and I carried through my first exam without a problem, but I had four more APs the next week, and two of them were on Friday. My stress grew exponentially higher as I attempted to jam useless information about the IVT, elasticities, GDP, and Louis XIV into the empty space I loosely call my brain. It was so bad that I even requested my sister to join me in a screamfest. She played along with it, but I don’t really think she understood how serious I was until I screamed like I was trying to force my spirit out of my body. It was so intense that I sounded like someone getting hacked into pieces with a butcher’s knife. I thought screaming would help, but, newsflash, it didn’t. But APs are officially over for the rest of my life so I’m not stressed out anymore, right?? Oh, honey, no.

If my anxiety reached out, it could probably touch the moon. That’s how bad it still is, even though I’m sitting in my bed listening to music right now. Even after the testing, I don’t feel any better because I

know what’s going to happen in the future. I’m no longer able to live in the moment and enjoy things as they come.

Instead, I use dark humor and sarcasm to get me through days where I feel terrible. I don’t have the mental strength to survive for very long and my motivation in life (if I even have any) comes solely from societal norms and the shame that failure brings. I can’t take care of myself and, to be truthful, I don’t like myself enough to really care either. This is why I’m not qualified to be an adult. I just can’t handle the responsibilities without feeling like it isn’t worth it.

One of my best friends says she just wants to be happy someday but she doesn’t think it’ll actually happen. I cry on the inside whenever I think

about that because that’s exactly what I want in life, too and I agree that it’ll probably never happen. Us two eighteen year olds, basically babies, have been so emotionally traumatized by the impact and consequences of our actions during

high school on our future that, out of all of the things in this world, we just want to someday... maybe be happy. It’s like we’re having our mid-life crisis already except we don’t own money to be able to buy ourselves lunch let along a

sports car.

This messed up thing that, you’re probably concerned about, was “shaped” by WCHS. What have you done to me?

“Who am I?” Illustration by Andromeda

Blindly I Follow

By Helen Bezuneh How am I supposed to tell you That I have known my destiny For far longer Than I have known myself and that no matter how hard I try, This path will not be disfigured And still I attempt to resist this road With disheveled hammers And dented nails But this path is simply a river and water’s path cannot truly be altered With its mighty direction and superiority over You and I This river has taken me by the hands and I have closed my eyes 27

Summery Winter

By Blue Serendipity

In some ways, Summer and Winter were quite similar. Both had blonde hair and blue eyes. Summer’s hair was a honey blonde and her eyes a bright blue like the sky on a sunny day. Her skin was tanned and she had a bright sunny smile. Winter’s hair however, was pale ashy greyblonde. Her skin was pale, as if she had never seen the sun her entire life. Her blue eyes were pale and seemed grey at times.

The two siblings got along fairly well, but at times they had their disagreements.

Then their brothers would have to step in and break them up before it got too out of hand. Both had a temper and held grudges.

“Stop turning the lake into ice! It’s perfect the way it is right now!” Summer yelled exasperated. Lenten, who they sometimes called Spring for his ‘springy’ personality, glanced at Harvest, who they called Fall to annoy at times.

“Iced over lakes are better!” Winter shot back with a glare. Summer placed her hand on the frozen lake and it turned to water. Winter turned it back to ice and the siblings fought over how the lake should be. At one point their frosty sister threw a snowball at Summer.

“Hey!” Summer turned the dirty snow under their feet into sand and the temperature seemed to rise up ten degrees. Lenten and Harvest grimaced, both not liking how hot it was starting to get. The temperature dropped and the brothers groaned, knowing that they could battle for hours if they didn’t step in.

“Girls! Mother’s going to yell at us if she notices,” scolded Lenten. He was always the most responsible of the bunch and the first to reprimand them. Harvest was more laid-back and didn’t care as long as it didn’t affect him.

“Winter’s the one who keeps turning the lake into ice,” accused Summer.

“It was iced over in the first place!”

“No it wasn’t!”

“Yes it was!”

“If you two keep arguing then Mother’s going to take the lake away,” interrupted Harvest. The two girls shut their mouths and resorted to just glaring at each other 28

silently. Their silent argument didn’t last long as Summer realized the temperature was slowly and subtly growing colder.

“See! She’s trying to make the place colder!” Summer exclaimed, pointing at her sister.

“I’m not doing anything!” Winter yelled, offended. “Stop trying to blame me for everything!”

“Who else would be making the place colder?” Summer snapped. “If you’re going to freeze the lake over, at least keep the temperature warm!”

“It doesn’t work like that,” scoffed Winter, “If the lake is going to stay frozen then the temperature has to stay cold.”

“See, you are changing the temperature!

Just let the lake melt!”

“I’m not!”

“You’ve contradicted yourself, obviously you’re the one changing the temperature,” reasoned Summer angrily, “stop lying. I’m melting the lake and making the temperature warmer and you can’t stop me because you’re the one who lied.”

“You lied too,” pointed out Winter, “you said that the lake wasn’t frozen over. It was because it’s supposed to be Winter.”

“It’s winter outside of Mother’s garden. It doesn’t mean it has to be winter in here,” shot back Summer. Both girls gasped as the dirt near them rose up and formed a tall beautiful woman with grassgreen hair and dark brown eyes. Her skin was sunkissed but not tanned and she wore a sky blue dress.

“What did I tell you two about fighting?” the woman asked in a melodic

voice.

“Sorry, Mother,” the two chorused, looking down at their feet. Mother Earth waved her hand and the lake dried up, much to the two girls’ horror. Before they could protest and beg for the lake back, Mother Earth disappeared back into the ground.

“This is all your fault! If you didn’t’ try to change the weather we’d still have the lake!” Summer wailed. The two had lost forest and plateau privileges due to their constant arguments and abuse of their seasonal powers.

“Actually,” spoke Harvest clearing his throat, “I did that. It was getting too hot for me and Winter tends to make it too cold.”

“What?” Lenten demanded outraged.

“So you’re the reason we don’t have a lake anymore? You always do this! Just when things are starting to get better you ruin it!”

“Don’t act like you don’t either, Spring,” scoffed Harvest offended by his brother’s tone.

“You know why we call you Fall?

Cause you always make good things fall into the list of things Mother won’t allow us to have!”

Winter and Summer’s argument was completely forgotten as the two brothers started fighting. The two wouldn’t stop arguing until sundown or when Mother decided to make another appearance. No one ever said Spring and Fall got along either.

“Winter Flowers,” Photograph by Celia Bowen

“The Four Season(ing)s,” Illustration by Celia Bowen

Snowy Tracks

By Tom Nguyen

As I’m walking home The snow continues to fall Covering my tracks

Winter Wonderland

By Tom Nguyen

Sledding down the hill And building a snowman In my wonderland

Spring

By HMscorpio Spring is here at last Warm, sunny, and colorful Time to go outside!

Summer Fun

By HMscorpio

What do you plan to do this summer, you may ask.

I don’t know?

I have a whole laundry list of things to do.

Like riding my bike Or taking a hike.

There is so much to do.

Besides picking up dog doo.

Maybe I can go on the loop-the-loop rollercoaster at a theme park.

There is so much to do.

I don’t think I can do it all.

I’ll just let summer lead me To the best I can be

29 “I have FEETZ!” Photograph by Incadescence

The Best

By Incandescence

had been his world for a long time. He hoped that she would be happy without him too.

He put his paw in the hooded human’s hand.

There was one thing he just had to know.

“Was I a good boy?” he asked.

“No,” the hooded human responded.

“I’m told you were the best.”

Together, they walked onwards.

Wuffles was tired.

He was old. He could feel it in his bones. He no longer had the energy to bark loudly or go chasing after squirrels. Especially after his hind legs weren’t really working well anymore. They hurt.

His human knew it too. She was the one that took such good “In the Circle of Life,” Photograph by Incadescence care of him. She was the one that had taken him home one day a very long time ago when he was still very young. He would never forget the way that she looked right at him, and stayed with him and petted him. When she went away Wuffles was very sad.

But that was okay because she came back the next day!

The other human that was always around had opened the door, and the nice human reached for him and hugged him. Then, she put a rope on his neck and they walked outside! Wuffles was so excited to be outside after an eternity in that little room.

His human had brought him home, and bathed him, and fed him. She was nothing like the bad human that he was with before he got sent to the building. She always cuddled him and gave him kisses, and fed him and took him to the park. And she never ever yelled at him or hit him, even when he chewed up her shiny shoes.

His human seemed sad lately. She was always crying, even when Wuffles would come over and lick away the salty stuff that she had on her face when she was sad. He tried to bring her I love Winter Memories. his favorite ball and all his stuffed animals, but she only cried Like Building a Snowman in your own Backyard. harder.

Sledding on a giant hill.

“Wuffles! Come on, baby, we have to go!” his human called, scooping him up and walking outside into the beast. It had huge, Drinking lots of hot cocoa. round black paws and could run faster than anything Wuffles had And more. ever seen. She put him next to her and made sure to roll down And more. the clear part of the beast so Wuffles could put his head outside And more. and feel the wind.

I love the wintertime.

Eventually, they stopped. Wuffles whimpered. He knew this Trudging through the snow with my pink snow boots. was the place where strange people poked him and he was Wearing my pink snow gloves and hat. forced to not move for long periods of time. But because his My magenta coat. human was so sad lately, maybe if Wuffles was good for her she Oh how I love Winter Memories would be happier.

His human picked him up and they walked inside, into anoth- “Who’s a good boy?” Illustration by Deranged Blue Cloud er room. She put him on a cold table and hugged him. She was crying again, and she kept on saying something over and over.

Wuffles didn’t know what she meant, but it was something she had said to him very often.

Wuffles licked her face. She kissed him on his head.

Then, he felt a sharp prick and he suddenly felt very sleepy.

As he drifted off, the last thing he saw was his human’s face.

Memories of Winter

By HMscorpio

Wuffles was awake. Well, at least he thought so. Was he? He wasn’t so sure. He looked down at where the loud sound was coming from. It was his human, crying harder than ever before.

She was still hugging...Wuffles?

Then, a figure appeared before him. It was another human. He was very tall and wore a long black cloak and had a long staff.

“It’s time to go,” said the hooded human, holding out a pale hand.

Wuffles knew that his time was coming to an end. His human 30

More Than Color

By Andromeda

Hear are some of the ways you could say I am white: I don’t mind white television casts I enjoy drinking tea I don’t use a lot of slang I grew up in Potomac My mother is a lawyer My father is a businessman I go to Churchill HS One of my greatest worries is my GPA I don’t have many friends of color I like classical and pop music My skin is fair

I have never experienced blatant discrimination

names, because honestly I don’t know what I am.

But I am not white. My mother was a light skinned African American woman who grew up in the projects. She worked day and night so I could live in Potomac and drink green tea and worry about my GPA. I wasn’t born white, I was born privileged, and since whiteness and privilege seem to go hand in hand I guess in that way you can say I am white. But I am not just white. My friends will tell you when they found out I wasn’t “just white” they were shocked. I’ve been called a few names, like Inside Out Oreo, or even a blatant liar. The liar one made me laugh the most. I am not offended by these

But I am not “just white.” To say I am just white would be to deny how I got here, to deny my heritage. My mother is a black woman who worked tirelessly to work her way out of poverty, to prove that just because you are black doesn’t mean you have to be poor, you can be educated, you can be a lawyer, you can wear business suits, and go to fancy brunches, yet never lose your culture. My grandma was a jazz musician, my great great great grandpa fought in the civil war, my ancestors came here on slave ships. This is all a part of my heritage. I am here today because of them. So I am not “just white,” I am black too, I am me.

“Dancing With Our Hands Tied,” Illustration By The Masked Lady

Who am I?

By The Masked Lady Who am I exactly?

That is what you asked me when I first appeared in front of you.

But more importantly, what am I? To most people, I’m just a piece of flesh Molded together into an abomination known as human But to you I can be more then that.

I can be your friend, Your companion, Your lover, Your family, Anything you want me to be.

I will walk you to school, I will eat with you during lunch, I will stand by you no matter what, The world is a cruel place, darling.

And that is why I’m here.

Hand in hand I will dance with you along the broken glass Your hands might be tied But no matter what I’m here for you I can be anyone you want to be A girly social butterfly The shy boy next door I don’t mind at all Cause you are not alone anymore.

You are trapped in this box Forever finding yourself crying in the corner all alone But a hand will reach out towards you And that hand will always be mine.

So tell me, dearie, who am I to you?

31

The Soul Sucker part 2

By Andromeda

The police arrived in a flurry of flashing lights.

Several people had called the cops as soon as the car had sped off, and in the commotion, a large crowd had begun to gather around the scene.

Onlookers had their phones aimed at the body, filming and taking pictures from a wary distance. But what had them even more curious than the gruesome vision of what was left of Michael McCormick, was the young man on his knees next to the body, unmoving and eyes wide open.

Henry couldn’t hear anything outside of the rushing in his ears, like the sounds of the raging ocean. It was deafening. Images flashed before his eyes in a haze, snapping like camera shots. Michael with his mom and dad at the beach. Michael on his first day of school.

Michael on his eighth birthday blowing out the candles. Michael watching his father leave for the last time, bags in hand.

Michael looking up just in time to see the car that would end his life.

Mark Ainsworth gets out of his car and lets out a heavy sigh. It had been a long day.

He had been up all night, shown up to work late, and found out his mother had had another fit in the retirement home. Needless to say, Mark was already in a foul mood when he’d gotten the call about the accident. Mark begins navigating his way through the crowd in order to see what the hell happened exactly “Alright, alright, everyone 32

move aside. Detective coming through!”

He pushes his way to the forefront of the scene. A few other cops already had moved the crowd to a safer range.

Distantly, he hears the sound of ambulances approaching.

Mark assesses the situation, letting his gaze run carefully over the area where the incident occurred. There is a backpack strewn off a ways from the body, books, and pencils scattered, face up next to it is a phone with its screen shattered. Blood drenches the pavement, the majority of it pooling around the body. Mark can see that despite the broken, twisted state of the corpse, the face is still relatively intact.

Blank brown eyes staring wide open into the distance. The face couldn’t have belonged to a kid older than seventeen.

Mark grimaces.

“Jesus….”

“Yeah I know,” says one of the other cops coming up behind him. “It was a hit and run; according to a few witnesses he was driving at least seventy, eighty miles per hour.

Kid never had a chance.”

“Did anyone get the plate number?”

“Seems not, but we did get a description of the car.”

“I see. Be sure to write that in.”

Marks eyes move over to Henry, still kneeling motionless over the body. “What about that one over there, how’s he involved?”

“Don’t know, he might have some relation to the victim.

Seems to be in a state of shock, totally unresponsive.

We’re waiting for the paramedics to arrive before we do anything. ” “Let me see if I can talk to him, get some information on the victim.”

“Hey….”

“HEY!” “Can you hear me?”

Henry blinks, feeling like he’s just woken up, and is stumbling out of a groggy haze. He looks up and finds a pair of green eyes staring down at him.

“We’re gonna need you to answer a few questions.”

Once the ambulances had arrived, they had gotten Henry a blanket. He never understood

why they gave those to victims in the movies, especially in the heat of summer. He knew now. It was for the shaking, the uncontrollable chill that seemed to fill your bones, and the ice freezing your veins.

The cops and paramedics had sat him down on the edge of the ambulance and asked him questions. Henry was surprised at how clearly he’d spoken.

His voice was calm despite the numbness in his limbs and the pounding in his head. He recounted everything.

“....ey..”

“Masks,” Illustration by Shadow

“So the victim was a student at your school,” said the greeneyed cop, “Ok, got it.”

It’s always the victim, the body, the casualty, never Michael. It’s like they wanted to forget that he was a person.

Not just another corpse lying in the street. Henry couldn’t forget, not the way Michael had looked right before the murder took his life.

No. That’s not right.

He couldn’t forget the look on Michael’s face before Henry had let him die.

The cop, or Henry supposes, Detective Ainsworth, continues to scribble things down on a notepad. Occasionally glancing up to look at Henry.

By now most of the crowd has dispersed, and many of the few people that were still left, cops and a few civilians, were peering at him. Their eyes soften with pity and interest. Henry looks down unable to watch them watch him. He feels like he is slowly suffocating under all the attention, under the weight of what happened, and under all the bright, invasive lights. Cop lights, flashlights, camera lights, street lights. He wants to just shrink into himself, sink so far into the hole in his chest, that there was nothing left of him to think about what he did.

“Ok, I think that’s all we need. Do you think there’s anything we’re missing here?

Anything at all?”

“No,” Lies.

“That’s it.”

It was my fault. I didn’t save him. I’m a murderer, too.

The cop studies Henry, taking in his pale skin and shaking sweaty palms. “You gonna be alright kid?”

“Yeah.”

No.

Be-beep, be-beep, be-beep.

Henry groans and hits the alarm on his bedside table.

The morning light streaming through his window stings beneath his eyelids, and he buries his face deeper into his soft, white pillow. He doesn’t want to go to school today, or any day, as per usual. But recently, he really doesn’t want to go to school anymore. Ever since the accident, he rarely comes out of his room except to eat and use the bathroom. As soon as he’s back in his room, he just crawls under his covers and tries not to think. About anything. Or anyone.

But he knows it’s time to stop, and re-enter the world of fully functioning society.

It had been five days, and although that doesn’t feel like enough. Not nearly enough.

He couldn’t worry his mom any longer. So, with great struggle, Henry moves two feet off the edge of his bed and gets ready for school.

Once out of the shower, Henry wraps a towel around his waist and runs a hand over the bathroom mirror. When he sees the reflection staring back at him, his eyes widen and he rapidly wipes off the remaining condensation. The person staring back at him is not Henry. It is his face, but different.

Where what should have been a chubby nose and wide gaunt face is a strong nose and softened jaw line. The guy staring back at him is taller and leaner, gawky arms more rounded out.

Even his dark blonde hair has faded into a light brown. But what is most shocking were his eyes: the dull blue had flecks of brown.

Awed, Henry runs a hand across his face. It is still his, obviously, with the bushy eyebrows and thin, chapped lips.

But at the same time different, better. Is it even possible to suddenly change this much?

He’d seen some of the other boys from his school come back from summer vacation looking totally different, but even still, that was months worth of time. How could this be possible after only five days?

More than that, some of these new features are familiar…. He’s seen them somewhere. But where? Henry gets closer to the mirror to get a closer look. His eyes peer intently back at him. They kind of remind him of….

Michael’s.

Henry quickly jumps back from the mirror and hurries out of the bathroom.

Henry arrives to school late, but it was on purpose.

He doesn’t want to deal with Billy and Eric, doesn’t even know how to begin to handle that situation. He walks down the wide white hallways of his school, puts his stuff in his locker, and goes to first period.

When he opens the door all eyes are on him.

The teacher turns her head and begins “Well, if it isn’t another late student to my cla” when she sees Henry’s face, she stops midsentence and blanches.

“Oh, Henry…. Glad to have you back.”

Guess everybody heard.

Henry ducks his head and quickly hurries to his seat, not meeting anyone’s gaze. One, in particular, he can feel boring into his back. Billy’s.

Once the bell rings, Henry is the first one out the door.

“Hey, Henry, wait up!” yells Billy from behind him. Henry keeps moving until he feels a tense hand on his shoulder.

It doesn’t feel as vice-like as usual. Maybe that’s because of Henry’s physical changes, or maybe Billy isn’t actually interested in picking a fight with Henry today. Either way,

Henry still wants out. With a sigh, he turns around to look at Billy. There were heavy bags under his eyes, and exhaustion was written all over his face Good.

Henry hadn’t slept either.

“Look can we talk? I-I heard the rumors and some of the official report. But I know that you were there, and I just... need to know what happened.”

Henry eyes narrow and his face turns down into a scowl.

He couldn’t give a crap whether or not Billy wants to know what happened that day. Henry doesn’t want to talk about it or think about it. He just wants to forget, and as far as he was concerned, he didn’t owe Billy anything. He replied by brushing off Billy’s hand.

“I don’t want to talk about it, so go away. Go bother someone else.”

Billy’s eyes widen in momentary shock. Apparently, he was just as surprised as Henry at his outburst of uncharacteristic courage, and based on Billy’s red face he wasn’t all too pleased about it either.

Billy aggressively turns on Henry so he is right in his face. Henry takes several quick steps back until he is forced against the lockers, trapped. Billy’s voice lowers dangerously and his eyes flash with icy anger. “Don’t act all special with me, trash boy.

Know your place.”

Henry feels a hot fire welling in his chest, despite the habitual fear he’d come so used to knowing. To hell with Billy; he couldn’t do anything worse to Henry than what had already been done.

“Get out of my face, I have enough problems in my life without needing to add yours to my list,” Henry snaps.

Billy is practically seething and Henry’s courage begins to wan. “You think you’re real tough, huh? You think because 33

you got a little less wimpy you’re not still the same pathetic loser we both know you are?”

Billy slams his hand against the locker next to Henry’s head and he flinches.

A teacher steps out of a nearby classroom, “Separate right now you two,” he demands with irritation.

Billy looks behind him at the teacher and seems to consider. Henry doesn’t want to know what. Suddenly Billy begins to back off, but he still glares at Henry as he moves away.

“You better watch your back, trash boy.”

It’s been a week since Billy and Henry almost had it out in the hallway. Since then Henry has been skipping first period every chance he can get, and going home early. He thought it was better to avoid Billy and let things blow over. He didn’t care about school at this point anyway.

Henry is sitting in his seat during math class, just staring off into space. Thinking about what on earth he should do to keep Billy from basically killing him when a paper is put face down on his desk. He glances up at the teacher who whispers,

“Good job.”

Henry flips the paper and sees a big fat A- circled on his paper. His jaw drops. Henry sucks at math, possibly at all of school in general, but especially math. Last semester he barely passed with a C-. He had never gotten an A on a single test or quiz, and, if he was being honest, never even tried.

This one was no exception, so how did he….? Suddenly he thought about Michael. Michael was really good at math.

Sometimes he’d tutor Henry when they were still kids.

Henry feels like throwing up.

His grades and appearance weren’t the only things changing. Even the way people treat him is different. Before, other students ignored him or looked at him in disgust. Now people are coming up to him, asking for his name. Girls don’t give him mean looks when he bumps into them; some even smile at him. He even feels more confident. It seems like, on one hand, he is happy to be finally treated like a real person, and have others actually interested in him. On the other hand, he knows it is all superficial. Not long ago, a lot of the people wanting to approach him now were treating him like dirt. They aren’t good people. But really, neither is

“Friendzoned,” Illustration by Deranged Blue Cloud

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Henry.

He’s worse.

The more Henry thinks about all the changes going on in his life, the more he develops a sour taste in his mouth.

All the things he had always dreamt of having are happening to him, but he doesn’t deserve one iota of it. Something about it all feels like it’s at the expense of someone else. Was it really just coincidence that all this happened after Michael died? After he had that… that weird encounter? Even though it probably really is just a coincidence, deep down, it just doesn’t feel right.

Right before last period, Henry is already out the door, leaving the school. He stuffs his loose papers into his backpack, unable to get them to stay in fully, so he leaves it partially zipped. It’s cold and rainy out; soft grey clouds blot out the sun from the sky.

The passing cars rush by in a quick, smooth motion of bright lights and swishing water.

Henry lifts his hoodie up over his head and stuffs his hands in his pockets. Air releases from his mouth in hazy white wisps of smoke. Little does he know who is trailing behind him.

Billy had left school before Henry. After Henry hadn’t shown up on his way home from school, Billy quickly figured out Henry was either getting a ride from somebody else or heading home early.

Considering that Henry had no friends, it wasn’t hard to figure out which one it was. Eric had wanted to tag along, but Billy had said no. This was something that he had wanted to take care of himself. Contrary to popular belief, Billy didn’t really hate Henry. He was just bored.

And Henry was a coward.

The first time he’d seen Henry was when he was walk-

ing in the hallway. This was before Billy had met Michael and Eric and he was hanging out with a different crowd.

His first impression of Henry was that he was a skinny kid who couldn’t even keep his backpack in check. Some guy bumped into Henry, dropping Henry’s stuff all over the floor.

The other guy told Henry ‘to watch it,’ Henry started apologizing and picking up his stuff by himself. He didn’t even try to get mad; he let that guy walk all over him.

Billy is used to getting what he wants. Girls like him, he gets good grades, has lots of friends, even his parents kiss up to him. But none of it means anything. People are always attracted to things they want or wish they had themselves, no matter who happens to possess it. In the end, who you are doesn’t matter. It’s what you have. For Billy that realization meant boredom.

Boredom with the people who aren’t really your friends. With the people who you don’t really care about, who don’t really care about you, but Henry was different. He was the polar opposite of Billy in every possible way.

Billy wanted to know how far he could push him before he snapped.

Henry stops by an empty building. He usually cuts across the wooded area near his house in order to get home.

This part of town is pretty isolated. Rarely anyone travels back here except Henry since the warehouses had shut down.

Henry passes the sign that says DO NOT ENTER and makes his way over the gate, and the tall wet, unkempt grass to the warehouse. He enters through the front door and his feet groan beneath the old floorboards. Large metal hooks and

chains hang from the ceilings.

The whole building is tall and wide, with broken pieces of wood and dust scattered around. When he was a kid this place used to creep him out, but he’d long since grown used to it.

As Henry makes his way across the room, he hears a CREEEK. Henry quickly turns his head, his heart skipping a beat. Seeing nothing, he continues. Must have just been a rat. Suddenly, a figure appears from behind one of the dark wooden pillars.

“Hey, trash boy. Long time no see.”

Henry’s breath halts in his chest, at the sight of Billy.

How did he know he was here??

“You’re a hard guy to track down, you had me running all around town following you.

That pisses me off.” Henry backs up and trips over one of the fallen pieces of metal, landing roughly on the ground.

“But low and behold you led me right here to this nice, secluded place,” Billy laughs, “You really dug your own grave.”

“Lately I’ve been hearing some bull around school, about how you’ve changed since the accident.” Billy picks up one of the metal bars and swings it around his shoulder like a baseball bat. and smoothes back his blonde hair with the other hand. “Don’t you think it’s pretty unfair that you get to live a good life while Michael rots in the ground? Trash like you doesn’t deserve to be happy.” Billy stalks closer to Henry, pearly white teeth flashing in a cold sneer, his icy eyes staring condescendingly down at him.

Henry tries to scramble away, hardly able to think outside of his own heartbeat thundering in his ears.

“You know what I think?

I think you did something to him. That you caused the accident.”

Henry’s eyes widen in shock and fear. Unable to rebuttal Billy’s words.

“You probably had it out for him. What? Did you think I couldn’t see the way you hated him? You’re not exactly good at hiding it.”

Henry wants to say, no, you’re wrong it wasn’t on purpose, but the words get stuck in his throat.

I didn’t kill him.

The words sound hollow even in his head.

“If you did, then you more than deserve what’s coming next.”

Billy holds the bar over his head, strong arms strung back, ready to pummel him.

Time seems to slow down for Henry, and he feels a rage burn inside him. A rage towards Billy, towards what was about to happen to him. He doesn’t deserve this. Any of this. So with a strength Henry didn’t know he possessed he grabs the metal bar from Billy’s hands in a motion so fast it’s almost invisible. Billy looks at his hand where the bar should have been, dumbfounded.

“Wha-” Henry pushes Billy to the ground so he’s on top of him and clasps both his hands against Billy’s throat.

“What are you doing?” Billy wheezes out as he tries to pry off Henry’s fingers.

Henry doesn’t answer.

As Billy’s hands begin to stop grasping at Henry, his eyes dim, and Henry feels the life drain out of Billy and into him. He experiences the same euphoric feeling as when Michael died, but this time Henry doesn’t fear the feeling, he embraces it. He lets the memories and the power fill him until there is nothing left to take.

Standing up, the boy that was

once Henry looks down at the body beneath his feet, with no emotion. No remorse.

He would never let himself be a victim ever again.

“Now, please welcome your president Henry Salinger!” A tall man enters onto the stage.

He’s gorgeous with silky blonde hair, and a smooth blue and white suit. He confidently waves at the ecstatic, cheering crowd. He flashes a wide, white smile and the crowd cheers even louder.

“So great to be here,” he says, letting his gaze run over everyone, making eye contact with as many people as possible. Many stare at him in wonder as they look at his eyes. One has several different colors in it, blue-grey with flecks of deep green, warm brown, and even hazel.

But his other eye is a cold, icy blue.

35 “I Just Eye Balled it,” Illustration by Shadow

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By Hana Bagheri One, In a field of poppies where loneliness and independence collide, I lay Stuck in a world where self-worth is defined by likes and retweets.

My mother taught me to swallow my tears from a young age and walk with my head high no matter how low I feel.

Two, School has been hammering expectations on me like an old wall only alive for graffiti Sticking nails of perfection into my bones, wanting me to remain still, not overflowing with equations and historical facts I will never use again.

Three, Among the chaos, I’ve been kissing frogs in hopes that one will turn into a prince.

In times like this, my father orders me to scream NO at the top my lungs when faced with a make or break situation.

Four, Jason tells me I have a way of breaking people I love.

Like poison, I sink into their hearts and destroy till there’s nothing left to give Yet my friends tell me I’m full of life.

They say my laugh is contagious and spreads joy to rejuvenate souls.

Five, In Algebra, I rest my head on my desk as my brain rejects to understand the need for X to be found.

Six, My gaze is focussed and bright during English My heart welcomes words like an invitations to love for infinity Words erupt from within me like a volcano of bitter grief I guess I bleed on paper.

Seven, And sometimes I feel like the universe is in my favor, Doing everything in its power to make sure I do the wrong thing in the right place, 36

And become the right person at the wrong time.

Eight, Every time I begin to cry, the sky explodes into a blinding ray of magenta, reminding me that I’m not alone.

Every time I fall in love a tornado flips earth upside down But that’s all right Its sole existence is to express my emotions as silently and loudly as it can.

Nine, Room 402004 is a vast room filled with glowing memories about to expire.

A little part of me decides to never save them, treasure them for a few more years to come because is not reason enough to idolize my own well being.

So, I keep the door locked, and throw away the key even when all I want to do is run back.

Ten, I awaken from dreams of a past life where I stayed, where I was wanted, where nothing ever changed.

And face the living nightmares of the unfamiliarity of your knuckles dragging along the road of my back.

Eleven, I’ve been wandering these deserts of foreign solo only because boys my age find pride in spitting “whore” in my face when I refuse to repay their kind words with kisses in tangled sheets.

Twelve,

1, 2, 3 jumps, Jump from a bridge, nails digging deep into Lily’s hands and feel reassurances crawling through my bones.

Splash after minutes into calm waves who separate to make way for my body, protecting it like a mattress of hope.

Pose for polaroids and capture the moment with a click.

Heights don’t scare me, darling, but not having a hand to hold certainly does.

Thirteen, Sad girls fly from planet to planet.

Sad girls bloom during spring and die off in the winter.

Sad girls memorize the rhythm of their own heartbeats Sad girls cry laughter away and mistake anger for love.

So don’t you ever dare tell a sad girl to smile.

Fourteen, There are millions of things I do to feel.

I conduct harmonies to melodies to feel.

I try smiling at the sun gently drifting to sleep to feel.

And every time I complain that I feel too much, my dad reminds it’s a blessing, not a curse.

Fifteen, I tend to lean towards stars that shine through darkness.

Sixteen, Hana, it’s Turkish, and it means hope and protection.

Dandelions

By Cheryl Zhang Memories are all I have left of you. Memories that jump out at me in the most unexpected moments. The girl in the yellow sundress, walking down the street, that I thought, for a split second, was you. Of course, I told myself I was being stupid and that I needed to stop doing this. But I could already hear your laugh as you sat next to me in the grass, fiddling with the hem of your dress. The other day I came home and thought there was someone on the couch. Someone with dark brown hair that was pinned back in that hairstyle I remembered so well. My heart stopped for a second, and then I realized it was a trick of the light. That night I slept with your favorite song on.

When I go out for walks, I sometimes pick dandelions and put them in the vase on the dining room table. I can still hear your voice in my head, reprimanding me for buying you a whole bouquet of flowers. “They’re going to die now!” Dandelions are weeds, so they’re okay. You once gave me a bouquet of dandelions. Anyway, I guess I haven’t accepted the idea that you’re really gone. But I know you’re not really gone; these memories are very much alive.

“Shine Bright like a Lantern,” Photograph By Incandescence

The Tangible Depths of the Human Mind

By Eos

The occipital lobe is a tiny wad of tissue located at the very back of the brain. Its function is to interpret vision, light, and color, the main perceptions that make up our ability to see. I know this very well from the many anatomy lectures I’ve sat through in the course of my junior year that, up until this moment, was the definition of extreme monotony. Now, I must reconsider. If I have lived a normal existence since birth, then why now are all of my perceptions betraying me? When did the colors of my world become so distorted?

May 13th, 2018 was when I first saw her. I was in my English class wasting time on the laptops as we had been doing ever since we finished our final

exam, and both teachers and students had collectively given up on the school year. Siobhan poked me violently on the shoulder to get my attention as she always does, which would typically be concerning, except Siobhan is a violent person by nature. In a way, it’s both amazing and unfortunate that my only friend at my new school is both unnervingly aggressive and fiercely loyal.

“You just made me lose my game of Solitaire - what do you want?” Siobhan slammed her computer shut, which meant she was about to say something of relative importance. “You know, it’s the end of junior year, but nothing has really changed.” “Well aren’t you a sudden philosopher,” I said smirking. She narrowed her eyes at me, then shoved my arm. “Shut up, I’m serious.

In junior year, we’re supposed to have this big growing-up moment, but really, we’re just the same as we’ve always been since freshman year.

Time moves, but we don’t.” I was about to make a sarcastic comment about her abrupt

philosophical mode when at that moment I saw her.

She is me. Or at least me when I was eight years old.

She wears a checkered blue dress that I don’t recall ever owning, and holds a red balloon that I don’t recall ever buying, firmly by a thin white string. But I knew it was me, because I could recognize that solemn ginger-haired freckled girl anywhere. And she is standing directly in my English classroom. Under her breath, I can hear her whispering “One car, two car, red car, blue car…” I frantically glance around my English classroom to see if anyone else is able to see this young, creepy version of me, but all I see is Siobhan’s concerned face, framed by her trademark platinum blonde hair that seems almost white in my panic. “Um…” she says, “I don’t want to assume anything, but Audrey, what the hell?

Are you having a seizure or something?” Trying to breath steadily, I say, “I’m just going to get a drink of water. I’m just

not feeling too well.” Shaking, I push my way past desks into the hallway, but the balloon girl follows behind me. Now feeling angered by her presence, I whip around. “What do you want!? Get out of my head, creepy nursery rhyme eight-year old!” But instead of leaving, she points slowly to the balloon, mouthing “One car, two car, red car, blue car,” her eyes filled with what looks like grief and depths of knowledge. I back away slowly, which turns into a fullfledged run. That was the first time that my occidental lobe betrayed me and time never slowed down again.

Two weeks later, I walked home from school in the dreary summer rain as I always did. I was trying my best to forget the events of two weeks earlier, headphones jammed into my ears to block out all the hidden ghosts that could lie outside. Two blocks from my house as I was preparing to cross an intersection in the road, I saw her again. I tried to run, but it was futile: Every37

where I turned she appeared again, clutching her red balloon with white knuckles.

I was trapped at the intersection, with no place to escape.

“One car, two car, red car, blue car…” “Why are you doing this to me!?” I yelled on the verge of tears, “Leave me alone! I said, leave me-” Suddenly, I am pushed out into the road by hands from behind me, and I scream out, but to no avail. The balloon girl’s chant grows in intensity.

“One car, two car, red car, blue car…” I glance behind me just in time to see a lock of platinum blonde hair before I collide with a vehicle in a flash of motion. Everything goes black, and I hear a faint voice behind me. “I tried to warn you…”

When I wake up, I am in a memory that isn’t mine. I am in my eight-year old body, but everything about the setting is strange and unreal, tinged with a grey overcast. I am at what I presume is a carnival, at the balloon stand. “Little girl, would you like a balloon?” I hear a voice above me call, and I glance up just as a red balloon is placed in my hand.

“You know, there’s a rumor that balloons can take you anywhere you wanna go!” “...

What do you mean?” I ask cautiously. The standowner smiles down at me in a sinister sort of way. “I mean, if you ever wanted to go anywhere, well, with helium anything’s possible!” With helium, anything’s possible... I try to make sense of these words, but they just jumble in my head in

38 “Memory Float,” Illustration by Caboose

my state of shock. Anything’s possible with helium. If so, I need to warn myself in the future that this is going to

happen. Turning away from the carnival, I lift up into the sky. One car, two cars, red car, blue car...

To Remember or Not to Remember

By Cheryl Zhang

My eyes open to bright fluorescent lights. I’m in a hospital bed, my right arm and leg are both in a cast, and I’m hooked up to a few machines. Panic starts to fill my chest as I realize I have no idea how I got here.

“Help!” I call out, surprised at how weak my voice sounds.

Within seconds, a nurse runs into the room. “What’s happened to me?” I blurt out.

“You were in a car accident,” the nurse says softly. “You broke a few bones, but you should be able to go home in a few days.”

My head spins as I try to remember. Nothing. I can’t even remember where I live.

“I can’t- “ My voice breaks. “I can’t remember anything,” I whisper. *** 2 Months Later My long term memory is mostly back now, which means I can live by myself again and Mom can go home. My life is pretty much back to normal; I go to work on weekdays, and I go for walks on weekends to strengthen my legs again. One thing is always nagging at the back of my mind though; I keep having dreams about a girl with brown hair and blue eyes, a girl who looks familiar, yet I can’t remember who she is. I’ve never seen her at work, or anywhere, but I feel like I’ve met her before. I try to put it out of my mind; it will come to me eventually. *** 3 Weeks Later I scroll through my camera roll for the first time since the accident. I haven’t been able to use my phone much since it hurts my head, but I’m slowly getting used to it again. I find myself staring at a photo that makes my heart skip a beat. It’s a picture of me and the girl from my dreams. We’re both smiling at the camera, and it looks like we’re in a bar somewhere. As hard as I try, I can’t remember who she is. Frustrated, I try to find more pictures, but there are none. I’ll ask Mom when she comes to visit this weekend. *** “Hey Mom, can I ask you something?”

“Hmm?” She doesn’t look up from the vegetables she’s cutting up.

“Can you tell me who this girl is?”

I show her the picture. Instantly, her face blanches and she drops the knife onto the cutting board with a loud clang.

“Oh, that’s nobody. Don’t worry about it… “ “Mom! I need to know!” Something is wrong. My heart starts to beat faster.

“That night… The car accident…”

She starts to cry. I feel a chill run down my spine.

“You weren’t the only one in the car.”

Hey Stranger

“Deeper Wounds,” Illustration by The Masked Lady

By Hana Bagheri

Hey Stranger, Yesterday I laughed at your words spinning through my brain and kept myself from erupting into pieces.

Tomorrow I’ll drift far away into the light when you tell I don’t even deserve you.

But today as we pass by each other in the halls, ignoring the presence of the other, I’ll let my eyes do the talking when you do everything you can to not look my way.

Because you say we’re either together forever, or infinitely apart.

Between periods, I build a dam above my cheeks and hold in tears using the wrapper from the candy bar you bought me.

I remember all your promises, like the time you stared deep into my eyes and promised me we’ll be friends no matter what.

Your name is tattooed on the edge of my lips, all our times together and every single adventure drips from my clothes, yet I refuse to be feared into loving you with threats and blackmails of whiskey words.

I can’t be your shield when you’re the one blowing fire, I can’t save you from drowning when you dunk my head deep into the water, And I can’t love you when you pour steaming hot water on my skin and pretend you’re keeping me warm.

In times like this, I wonder if you even ever really knew me.

Love isn’t a kindling flame, burning the lovers into ashes.

It’s a settling into blue waves after flying over deserts for ages.

Its storms dying off to make ways for rainbows, and no matter how much we both wanted it, it was definitely not you and me.

So maybe you were right.

That girls like me swallow their emotions whole and let them thump in their belly, for they are too carefree and drunk on fictional illusion to recognize real happiness in its purest form.

Or maybe when things get real and begin to move fast, it scares them so much that letting go becomes the only solution.

Either way, none of this makes a difference.

Hey stranger, I wish you didn’t hate me.

Hey stranger, I wish you would still be my friend even though I didn’t choose you.

Hey stranger, hearts don’t stay broken forever.

Hey stranger, I wish it didn’t have to end this way.

Hey stranger, I wish I could tell you about everything in my life right now.

Hey stranger, I miss you so much.

Hey stranger, happy birthday.

From your fellow stranger.

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“Twins,” Manga by Aya Hatashima (Read from right to left)

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Santa, Not Satan Part 8

By Incandescence

It was ironic, thought Satan darkly, that they should all end up back where they had started.

A long, long time ago, when he was still a young demon who taken control of Hell not too long ago, it was just another day. Although for the most part he loved his job (which was good, because he was going to be doing it for an eternity), there were several parts he didn’t like. One of them was the fact that if someone arrived in Hell and believed that this was an error, they could file a complaint. If that complaint was considered valid, they could bring it to court, where they were appointed a judge and lawyer and a jury.

Satan didn’t mind that; he thought it was only fair that, even in death, people had rights. No, the annoying thing was that he had to be at the final court hearing. Not only was this brain-numbingly boring, but took up a lot of time.

At one particular trial of Richard James, who had landed in Hell after being convicted of hunting down and killing four men, Satan couldn’t help but notice his lawyer: a stunningly beautiful woman.

Now, in his existence from pretty much the beginning of time, Satan had seen a lot of pretty people. But this woman was different. He couldn’t pinpoint why or how she had captivated him without ever speaking a word to him, but he was immediately infatuated.

Not only was she gorgeous, but the way she confidently put forth her case spun the story in a completely different direction in favor of James.

The jury and judge were effortlessly swayed over to her side.

In the end, Richard James

was acquitted of all charges by the jury and judge, who had sided with him after the woman (who was known as the Red Queen in the lawyer business for her ruthlessness and shrewdness) had spoken for him. Apparently, after coming back from Afghanistan and discovering that his wife was cheating on him, James divorced her. The wife took almost everything, except the kitten that James was keeping, because she was allergic.

The kitten was later killed, and James went on a mission to avenge it, killing the men responsible in the process.

Hearing this, the jury turned sympathetic. Apparently kidnapping, torturing, and killing a kitten was enough a reason for James’s rampage.

After the trial, Satan had caught up to the Red Queen and introduced himself. And, in doing so, had begun a whirlwind romance. He was so sure that she was the one.

They were married in a lavish ceremony in the palace gardens. And after Serafina was born, he was the happiest demon to ever walk the ashes of Hell, he was sure.

But over the years, their relationship changed. She was no longer the bright and caring woman he had courted and married. They began fighting frequently. Eventually, they couldn’t even stand to be in the same room.

Once again, they ended up in court, this time to divorce.

Although Satan was glad to be officially out of this toxic relationship, he would do it all over again for Serafina. He was thus heartbroken when his ex-wife was awarded sole custody of Serafina, and could do nothing but watch as the Red Queen took his daughter and walked out of the gates of Hell, away from him.

99 years later, Satan was back in court. This time, he was going to fight, and fight

hard. The Red Queen had tried to cast Satan in a bad light by saying that he would be a bad caretaker. But Satan used the span of nearly a century to scour the dimensions for the best lawyer possible. Although he charged a hefty price, it was worth it, and finally the judge permitted Satan and the Red Queen to share custody of their daughter.

And now they were back in court again. It was only fitting, really.

In the several years that Serafina had been living with him, her mother had met another man and gotten married. The man happened to be Santa.

Who happened to be mad at Satan for kinda taking over his job by delivering presents to the kids who had mistakenly written to Satan, not Santa.

Satan understood completely; spelling was hard for kids.

And he wouldn’t like someone doing his Hell duties for him, either. But really? What was he supposed to do, especially since many of the letters came too late to reroute to Santa’s headquarters? Leave kids without a present on Christmas Day? So. They were in court once again, because Santa had sued Satan for unlawfully doing

his job. In addition, now that Satan’s ex-wife and Santa were married, the Red Queen wanted to move to the North Pole, and take Serafina with them. So she was also suing Satan for sole custody of the Princess of Hell.

This was just great. Steve, seeing Satan’s predicament, gathered Patches to hatch a game plan to help their boss.

The Red Queen would try to play her “Satan is not a good father” card, so they needed to counteract that. So, they needed to call in backup.

On the day of the trial, Satan was the first one in the room, followed by his lawyer, Lucifer. Next was the Red Queen, who sauntered in on dagger heels with Santa on her arm and a giant snow crystal ring on her other. She was going to be Santa’s lawyer, and her own.

Patches and Steve then came in, followed by all those who they had called in as witness to help Satan: Lily and her dad, Ulhua, Ulhua’s host parents, Terry and Tiffany, Shayla, Fabia, Karen, and their respective boyfriends Arnav, Colton and Jin, Mitch and Jacques, and finally the White Queen and Alice.

Steve and Patches had vis-

“Satan’s ex,” Illustration by The Masked Lady

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ited each of these people and explained that they needed to help Satan. And since Satan had helped them all previously, they all graciously agreed to clear their schedules and come.

To make the trial fair, in addition to the fact that the humans couldn’t pass into the other Realms, the court was located in the Second Realm, also known as the Human world. An unbiased judge, the White Rabbit from the Third Realm, which was Wonderland, was brought in.

“All rise!”

Everyone stood up in the room in unison to greet a white rabbit wearing a light blue suit vest, bow tie, pocket watch, and monocle. He hopped to the judge’s chair, and jumped onto it.

Well, he tried to. It was too tall for him to get onto. There was an awkward pause as someone hurried in to give him a boost up.

The rabbit cleared his throat.

“All right, you all can sit down.”

He then reached out for the gavel to call the meeting into session. He couldn’t reach it. There was yet another awkward silence as someone moved it closer to him.

“Okay, court in session.” He pounded the gavel. “Plaintiff number one called to witness.”

Santa (who was actually a very fit and young looking person who possessed a wardrobe with colors other than red and white) stepped forward.

The White Rabbit looked down at him. “State your complaint.”

“Satan has no business doing my job. He should be sending all the misspelled letters to the North Pole, not running off to send them his own gifts! Plus, the gifts he sends them are from Hell! Who knows what he’s giving these poor kids?

What if it hurts them? There’s one girl who got a dragon, 46

who set the house on fire! This can’t be going on anymore!

Satan’s job is only to rule over Hell, not give gifts. Besides, this is really upsetting the economy. My elves need to work.”

The White Rabbit lifted his monocle to his eye to examine the dossier handed to him by the bailiff. “Ah, I see.”

“Objection!” called Lucifer.

“May your honor allow me to bring a witness to the stand?”

“Yes, yes,” the rabbit said.

Lily and her dad walked up to the stand. After introducing themselves, Lily launched into the story of how she had written for a dragon, and gotten one!

“So, you are the girl that Santa had mentioned earlier?” inquired the White Rabbit.

Lily nodded her head enthusiastically. “Yup! I had actually asked Santa for a dragon earlier, but all I got was a toy dragon. Satan gave me what I wanted!”

“And what happened after you procured this dragon from Satan?” asked the judge.

“Well, I named him Earl Ernst, and we played fetch and had a tea party and he also lit the couch on fire! It was so epic!” exclaimed Lily.

“Objection!” the Red Queen yelled. “See what happens when Satan doesn’t stick to what he’s supposed to do?

He’s endangering people.

Do you know how easily the girl could have been killed or injured, or her house burned down? How can he be a responsible figure if he’s pulling stunts like this?”

“Well,” Lily’s dad interjected. “He did send us fire extinguishers by Harpy Mail soon after. But Steve took the dragon away.”

“Yeah!” Lily said. “And I got a fire-breathing puppy instead! I named him Jimothy, and he’s my best friend! He even defended us from robbers one time! It was so cool!”

Lucifer stepped forward. “I now call another witness to the stand.”

Ulhua stepped up to the stand. “There is no rule stating explicitly that Santa must be the only one to give children gifts on Christmas. Letters are addressed to Satan, Satan receives it, and carries out what is asked of him; therefore it is illogical that Satan be punished for gift giving or banned from continuing to do this.

In addition, I had conducted extensive research and concluded that if anything, Santa should thank Satan for keeping children in belief of the special holiday spirit, which would surely diminish should there be no gift. I believe that Santa is particularly upset because this is a business for him, and he is therefore, losing money when Satan gives presents.”

The White Rabbit considered for a moment. “It is correct that this is a business, and there is no official rule saying that Satan cannot do this, but I see here that Santa pays taxes, while Satan does not, which legitimizes Santa’s business.”

Satan couldn’t believe his ears. “I’m Satan,” he said dumbfounded. “I don’t pay taxes.”

Lucifer stepped forward. “I

rest your case, my honor.”

The White Rabbit flipped through the dossier some more. “Speaking of taxes, what kind of wages do you pay your workers? I see here that I have no evidence of you paying your elves, Santa, which is highly illegal and would be considered under Realm law to be slave labor. And Satan, I see that you do have evidence of paying your workers, but such underage workers, like Patches, work just as long hours as the adult workers, and is not paid.”

Santa turned white; he was not expecting the judge to turn against him.

“Objection!” said the Red Queen. “This is off topic!”

“Yes,” said the White Rabbit, not even bothering to look at her. “But equal and fair pay is extremely important, therefore I, using the powers vested in me by the High Third Realm Court, will pursue this issue.”

Satan was called to stand.

“Because Patches and others are underage, they are still considered interns, and are unpaid.”

He sat back down. Santa had nothing to say, so he did not go up.

Then, after a while, the judge

Continued on Next Page

“Ugh, parents,” Illustration by The Masked Lady

spoke again.

“I have come to a decision,” the White Rabbit declared.

“Satan is to forward all future misspelled letters to the North Pole Headquarters. In the event that it is too late to reach Santa, you will set up an effective communication system that ensures that it does. Santa should be the only one giving kids presents on Christmas, especially since Satan refuse to pay taxes. In addition, Santa will begin to pay all his workers a fair monthly salary that is to be agreed upon by the Realm Labor Law Union.

Satan will pay his underage workers, or interns, a considerable monthly payment as the of age workers.”

He pounded his gavel. The first lawsuit was done.

“Plaintiff number two is called the stand.”

The Red Queen stood up, her blood red dress glinting.

“I, Serafina’s mother, want sole custody of my daughter because Satan is an irresponsible father. I am worried that he is not taking good care of her.” She slid a file over to the judge. “I have ample evidence to back up my claims. Under Satan’s supervision, he allowed Serafina to freeze Hell, causing havoc in the Human world. Furthermore, she is unhappy with her father, and even ran away to Wonderland before his associates came to fetch her, breaking laws in the process. Moreover, Satan allows for dangerous things to happen, such as having a giant turkey appear at one Human’s house and destroying the house. He cannot possibly be a good father like this.”

Lucifer spoke. “I call Ulhua to witness.”

Ulhua stepped up again.

“I summoned a demon and requested ‘a superior avian of the genus Meleagris. One that no Human has ever seen before.’ It is true that I did receive what I wished for; in

three-headed, three meter tall turkey fulfilled my request.”

Tiffany and Terry were called to stand. “Sure, the turkey maybe went a bit crazy, and started running around through walls. But, Ulhua resolved the problem quickly, and no one was hurt. In fact, this has benefitted us a lot; with the solid gold turkey, we can afford to retire earlier, and we have donated lots of money to different charities.”

“See? Simply helping others is not an irresponsible act,” pointed out Lucifer. “But I see that you need more convincing that Satan cares deeply about his daughter. I call Shayla, Fabia, and Karen to witness.”

The three girls launched into an explanation of how they had summoned Steve for boy help, in exchange for their advice on how to throw the best party ever for Serafina’s 100th birthday.

“It was a seriously awesome birthday - it was ice themed and she got a unicorn for her birthday from her dad. How cool is that? She totes loved it! Also, Steve helped us a lot; if it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t be with our adorable boyfriends!”

The three girls sent kisses and winks to their boyfriends, who were sitting in the back of the room. The boys could only helplessly smile are their girlfriends.

“See? Satan’s helped us with so much, and you can see that he really cares a lot. We don’t think it’s fair for him to lose his custody.”

Mitch and Jacques were called to witness. They explained how they had gotten together, through Hell freezing and demons going to collect favors that Humans swore would happen “when Hell freezes over.”

Mitch reached out and laced his fingers with Jacques’s.

“Really, if it weren’t for Princess Serafina and Satan for do-

ing this, we never would have met or gone on our first date.

And now we’re engaged - it’s crazy! We also don’t think that his custody should be taken away.”

“Satan has done nothing but good for these people, and for everyone. Saying that he is not a good caretaker is not true. To address the breaking law part of the Red Queen, I call Steve to witness.”

Steve stepped up to the stand. “We were sent by Satan to retrieve Serafina. Satan was very concerned, so when we came to customs to enter Wonderland, we didn’t have time to ask for Ulhua to be processed properly. But we technically didn’t break any rules; Ulhua is from Oecury, not any of the other Realms.”

The White Queen and Alice were called to witness. “Serafina ran away because she was sad about the divorce, and felt like her father wasn’t listening to her. We told her that she should just go and talk to him, because as much as we initially harbored some negative feelings towards him, we didn’t think he was a bad father. And we were right.

Serafina has told us that when she told Satan why she ran away and how she was feeling, he apologized and comforted her. They’ve set up one day a week where they do something together, or just talk.”

Lucifer then took over. “It’s been proven over and over again that Satan does care about Serafina. Sure, he’s made some mistakes, but which parent hasn’t? The crux of it is that Satan is trying really hard to be a good father, and he’s succeeding. He should not lose custody.”

The room waited with bated breath, staring at the White Rabbit for his final judgement.

Finally, he spoke. “Satan and the Red Queen are to keep this current arrangement of shared custody, effectively immedi-

ately. Court dismissed.”

The gavel came down, hard.

It was over.

Satan was back in his room in Hell. Everyone else had returned to their homes.

He felt relieved that he wouldn’t lose his daughter once again, sad that the woman he had once loved would try to sabotage him, and anxious that the Red Queen would try again to take Serafina away in several decades.

A sudden knock on the door drew him out of his thoughts.

Everyone knew that he didn’t like to be bothered when he wasn’t on duty, especially when he was in a bad mood. It must be important. He stood and opened the door.

It was Steve, panting like he’d run a marathon. “There’s something you should see.”

Steve led Satan to the palace ballroom. Opening the doors, Steve strode in. There was nothing but darkness.

Suddenly, the lights flickered on. Inside was everyone who had been on Satan’s side in court, along with Serafina.

“Surprise!” everyone yelled.

Serafina didn’t want to leave her dad, and she knew that he really tried and cared for her sake. She could see that he would be sad after the trial, so she gathered everyone to throw a surprise party to lift his spirits and to thank everyone for their part. She, being the Princess of Hell, had personally streamlined everyone’s cases so all the Humans and Ulhua could come.

The ballroom was decorated lavishly with all kinds of food and entertainment. There were streamers all over the place, and confetti rained down. The most eye-catching part of the room was a giant banner that Continued on Next Page

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read “Thank you Dad!” Serafina threw herself at her dad and gave him a big hug.

“I love you,” she said.

Satan wrapped his arms around his daughter tightly. “I love you, too,” he whispered back.

Then, the party was in full swing.

Earl Ernst, the dragon that had been originally sent to Lily, had been kept at the palace after Steve took him back. Lily, seeing him, ran across the room to greet him with Jimothy at her heels.

After giving Earl Ernst a big hug, she introduced the two of them. Lily couldn’t be happier when the two took an immediate liking to one another, with Earl Ernst taking Jimothy under his wing (metaphorically and physically). The three spent the rest of the night playing together.

Meanwhile, Mitch was talking to Terry and Tiffany.

By the end of the night, Tiffany had agreed to plan Mitch and Jacques’s wedding.

Jacques spent the night conversing with Lily’s dad. It turned out that they actually worked in the same building, had a lot of common interests, and made arrangements to have lunch sometime together when they got back.

Serafina, upon learning that Shayla, Fabia, and Karen had helped plan her 100th ice princess themed birthday party, introduced herself to the three girls and their boyfriends. Serafina and the girls became fast friends, bonding over fashion and makeup.

They ended up exchanging phone numbers so they could keep in contact, and to make arrangements for Serafina to come to one of their weekly sleepovers.

Alice and the White Queen made conversation with Satan in an effort to get to know him better. It turned out that the previous notions they had 48

about him weren’t entirely accurate. By the end of the night, tensions were much less strained between the two Realms than before. Satan was now permitted to enter Wonderland at will.

Patches spent the entire night with Ulhua. They were sitting in a corner, their hands interlocked tightly.

“So... I guess after all this is over, you have to go back to your planet. Your parents must be missing you,” said Patches dejectedly, already feeling sad at the prospect of not being able to see his girlfriend in a long time.

A rare smile graced Ulhua’s golden face. “Did Steve not tell you?” she said.

Patches was confused. “Tell me what?”

“That Ulhua’s staying,” a voice beside them said.

Patches, startled, whipped his head in that direction.

“What...what do you mean?”

Steve grinned. “Oecury and the school in Hell had set up a foreign exchange program.

Ulhua’s going to be attending Hell High, the same school as you.”

Patches was stunned. “Really?”

Steve crossed his arms.

“Yup! I knew you’d be sad when Ulhua left, and Ulhua actually approached me to ask if there was any way you two could be together. So I contacted Ulhua’s school on Oecury to set up the foreign exchange program. This is a rare opportunity, especially since Hell is so secretive and usually doesn’t let any foreigners in. So they happily agreed, and I made a recommendation to Hell High so Ulhua would be the one selected.”

“Serafina has offered to let me stay in a guest room in the palace, because she has decided that she likes me, and as a thanks for everything,” Ulhua added.

Patches began to jump up and down in excitement. This was the best news ever!

Ulhua would be staying the palace, just like him, so they could see each other as often as they’d like! It would be so easy to have dates! Not only that, but they would be attending the same school, where they can share classes and eat lunch together and have study dates, and be high school sweethearts and…

Patches’s thoughts were in-

“Satan’s Last Gift,” Illustration by The Masked Lady

terrupted when Ulhua stepped in close and gave him a quick kiss.

His jaw dropped in shock and his brain fizzled out, unable to work properly. Their first kiss! She was the most amazing girlfriend ever (and a good kisser too)!

Ulhua leaned in close again and kissed him again, deeper and longer than the last one.

She wrapped her arms around him, bringing him closer in.

Steve turned and walked away. In satisfaction. His protégé was all grown up now!

His work as a wingman was done.

The party had wound down now, and after exchanging numbers to keep in touch with everyone, arrangements to make plans, and the promise of a reunion party in a year, everyone left and returned to their homes.

All to think all of these people were brought together by Satan! On the way out, everyone made sure to thank him.

Maybe Satan wasn’t so bad after all.

The End

Goodbye, Seniors!

The Masked Lady: Alice Fraser Incadescence: Jessica Horng HMscorpio: Hannah-Molly Susswein Lucifer: Lucy Zhai

Carpe Noctem

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