GUILT

BY MAYA ZHAN, 9

He manages like someone trying to shoo away a small girl at his doorstep.

When she confronts him he tries to ignore her, but she never leaves. She stays behind his door and knocks incessantly. He tries to fight her off but soon she comes back and pounds on the door even louder than before. He spends days and sleepless nights trying to drown out the knocking and shoo her away, but she is always by his doorstep without fail. One day he punches the girl until she is bloody and beaten, but she soon recovers and still thumps on the door softly. Now he realizes that no matter what he does, he will have to live with the girl tormenting him forever.

Inevitable Capture

BY REILLY BRADY, 11

Kreed

BY PEIRONG LI, 11

Soda bottle in one hand and two slices of orange in another, Phoebe wanders aimlessly around the town of Kreed. People around here are always like this: hands occupied by all kinds of food, mouths incessantly chewing, throats forcefully gulping down chunks. They eat not for joy, nor hunger, nor survival. In reality, they aren’t even sure why they eat all the time. There just seems to be an innate order telling them: Stuff! Swallow! And again! Everyone acknowledges that it is of utmost urgency to stuff food into one’s mouths. True. From norms there comes the resistance. Time after time, a young, reckless soul with bright eyes wonders ever so slightly about what will happen if she quits eating for short intervals. Some, others will regard with consternation, even believe that quitting their routine and settling for an intermittent one will result in no harm. For the people of Kreed, these two types of people are not to be feared; instead, they have merely been led astray, by a reckless youth from the neighboring town, of course. What the wise elders of Kreed have to do is to simply lead these restless youngsters back on track and give them valuable guidance that will help them make proper decisions in the future. Constituting an even smaller part of the population and being the most dangerous group of people are those bright-eyed lunatics who try to convince the residents that their eating habits are unhealthy. According to their “research,” eating continuously results in the human body being very round and soft. The limbs will be bloated like a balloon blown to its absolute limit. The skin appears almost transparent, strained by containing the flesh. Eventually, the balloon-like appendages collapse under the weight of the body, leaving the person immobile. Everyone knows that this will eventually happen, yet only due to old age, not their dietary conventions. Thus, when these “scientists” published their important “findings,” they were promptly exiled. Kreed is known as the town that welcomes every perspective, as long as it agrees with established customs. Thus, these outliers ought to be ostracized, so that Kreed can become the peaceful little town again.

Meanwhile, Phoebe has finished eating her slices of orange and is half-way done with her soda. She reaches into her bright red bag for a granola bar. Her pale, stubby arms reflect the sunset off the distance, and she strolls––or somewhat rolls––toward Kreed.

In The Middle Of Nowhere

BY MICHELLE CHEN, 9