LEMON FARMER

Kate Jacquot Grade 8, Eagle

INT. WOODEN TREEHOUSE - EARLY MORNING

Pale gray light is coming in from the windows, THEO asleep sitting up with an open book on his lap, JACOB on his back asleep. Birds chirping.

From above, we see a slight breeze make candy wrappers and book pages rustle and skitter across the loor. A lashlight, pushed by the wind, rolls across the loor and bumps into Theo’s hand.

Closer now, we see Theo jerk awake and look around before seeing the lashlight and picking it up. Theo turns it over in his hands.

From above we watch him reach over and hit Jacob lightly on the head with it.

Jacob sits up immediately, a surprised and slightly annoyed expression on his face. He stiles a yawn.

JACOB What the heck do you want at –

Jacob turns and looks out the window, then back at Theo.

JACOB - I don’t know, 6 a.m.?

Theo glances at a wristwatch near his sleeping bag.

THEO 6:15. Jacob groans and rubs his eyes.

JACOB Why, though?

THEO Let’s go back to the factory and look for clues about the ghosts. Then I can do internet research.

JACOB (through a yawn) You are a true geek, Theo.

THEO (grinning) I know.

EXT. ABANDONED FACTORY - EARLY MORNING

The factory silhouette is as imposing as usual against the plain gray sky. The two boys stand in front of it, each busy in that moment with their own private thoughts.

Theo wears a determined expression and hugs a clipboard to his chest. A black backpack is slung over one of his shoulders.

Jacob stands with his arms wrapped around himself, big green eyes wide. Theo looks over at him.

THEO You look scared. Why? You’ve been in there before.

JACOB I’m not scared! I’m just...unsettled.

THEO Yeah, ghosts will do that. But they’re nice ghosts, remember?

Jacob glances at Theo.

JACOB Well, duh, they’ll just do their own thing. Let’s go.

Jacob walks ahead and Theo follows, shrugging.

Theo and Jacob’s footsteps echo of the walls as they walk into the room with the long tables.

Jacob blows some dust of of a table, making Theo cough and give him a warning look.

Jacob shrugs, and with a little half-smile, strolls of in a diferent direction. Theo rolls his eyes as Jacob leaves the room.

Theo wanders through the tables, treading carefully over the loor scattered with broken glass. His footsteps seem thunderous in the silent space.

He stops by a table and pushes some dust into a plastic bag, which he closes tightly and puts in his backpack.

Theo stands alone for a moment, and then the GHOSTLY GIRLS shimmer into existence around him.

They licker and chat in their sot, whispering voices. They are talking, but their words are indistinguishable from one another.

Theo looks around in wonder, and quickly starts sketching one of their watch dials. He tilts his head in concentration.

When he inishes, he looks up again in wonder at the scene around him. The girls continue their work, oblivious to Theo’s presence. He jumps and shivers as one of the girls passes straight through him.

As he watches, the girls begin to disappear. Their ingertips fade away, but they continue in their work as if they were still there.

As they fade from view, Theo still feels them — like they haven’t disappeared, but just that they aren’t visible, but are still there, silent but working.

Chloe Bastian Grade 7, Eagle

INT. ABANDONED HOUSE - NIGHT

AMANDA stares at MINNIE for a few seconds, startled. She’s never seen Minnie like this before. She is frightened by her, so she slowly walks to the room and opens the door.

Her gaze pans the room. It belongs to a small child. A dresser sits on the let side of the room, and toys (a teddy bear, a doll, etc.) lay around the room. A crib sits in the middle of the room, the moonlight from an open window shining on it.

Amanda stares at all of this for a moment, so focused she doesn’t know Minnie is behind her until she speaks.

MINNIE I was so focused on her I didn’t notice the Deathstalker was still there until...

She pauses and Amanda trembles.

AMANDA Until what?

Minnie smiles evilly, and we see her put a hand on Amanda’s back.

MINNIE Until it was too late.

She shoves Amanda inside, slamming the door behind her. Amanda runs to the door and tries to open it, but it is locked.

Ater a moment, Amanda bangs on the door and begins crying in fright.

AMANDA (sobbing) Let me out! I don’t want to die!

We see her continue to bang on the door through the eyes of an unseen being.

NO MORE ENTRY

Presley Moriarity Grade 7, Garden City

EXT: VICTORIAN MANSION -- DAY

A gravel driveway that seems to stretch quite far.

It’s isolated from the world, the trees acting like a cage.

Little by little, rain starts to pour down.

INT: CAR -- CONTINUOUS

A car shielding a DAUGHTER and her MOTHER, shielding them from the outside world.

The smell of petrichor seeping in through the cracks creating a humid feel, it was calming and warm to the daughter as she leaned up against the window, her breath creating a white dew on it as her mother drove.

She could hear the gravel under the tires crunching as a heavy car drove over them.

She noticed, in her tired state, a whole portion of the window had been fogged up. She took her inger and began to trace the thing on the glass as a way to occupy herself.

Lucy Brewton Grade 7, Boise

INT. PENELOPE’S GARAGE

We start seeing the full garage, speciically the car in the background and PENELOPE working on the radio.

We slowly zoom in on the radio, and as we zoom in, we see Penelope occasionally writing in the journal. It seems Penelope is taking notes.

The journal looks worn down, with lots of bookmarks.

When we’re inally zoomed in on the radio, we see wires sticking out, two knobs on it. We also see Penelope’s hands idgeting with the wires and panels on the radio.

Close on Pen’s face - she’s deinitely very tired and stressed.

Reversing the shot, we see a digital clock, with Pen, the radio, and the car in the background, reading, “12:02 a.m.”

We’re back to Pen and the radio, and hear a song from the radio at the same time the screen starts glitching.

Pen, excited, starts writing furiously in her journal.

As we slowly zoom out, the screen glitches more and more, the last thing we see is the clock, except it’s deinitely not the same one we saw before.

Then the screen turns black and we only hear pencils writing.

Nick Maher Grade 8, Meridian

Chapter: Rose

Ero arrived at the building and noticed that it was all quiet. “Is no one here?” he wondered. He heard charging footsteps behind him. He transformed his arm, sticking it up in the air. A katana cut his arm clean of. Luckily it was his cursed arm, so he regenerated it. He looked at his attacker. “Rose? What is wrong with you?” Ero said. “What do you mean? I’m trying to kill you because I need your power.” Ero pulled out his katana and waited. Rose lunged at him, Ero blocked his attack, and then Rose just went at it. He never hit Ero once, despite a few close calls, and then Rose slashed Ero’s arm. “All that swinging and efort for a gash on my arm. Pathetic.” Ero kicks Rose in the stomach, knocking him down. “You know, maybe I should be called the greatest assassin. This is just sad.” “Shut up,” Rose muttered. Ero heard more footsteps charging at him. He used his katana to block the attack. “Kito, I can explain,” Ero said. “What did you do to Rose?” Kito started talking more and more. “Sorry, Kito, I’ll heal you.” Ero stabbed Kito in the stomach, then slit his throat and pushed him against the wall. He could tell Kito died when he leveled up. Ero turned his attention to Rose, who was mumbling, “Don’t make me do it over,” over and over again. Rose suddenly burst into a psychotic laughter and started mumbling a chant. Ero stood calm and noticed his eyes looked insane. “Is he actually going insane?” Ero thought, then a few words caught his attention. “Rage in my soul where have I...Oh.... This idiot.” Rose’s veins started glowing red irst, and then his eyes. 143

Ero still stood there, calm, before it stopped. He wasn’t glowing anymore. Splash. Ero saw blood everywhere. He heard Rose mumble, “Why...Why isn’t my curse....” He fell to the loor before he could inish. Blood was everywhere. He was covered in it. “Oh, Rose. What have you done?”

Chapter: Forever Sufering

Ero stood right in front of Rose. Ero started laughing. “You idiot, you were so desperate for power that you used a skill you can’t use and basically killed yourself.” Rose was still alive.

“You know, I learned a healing skill, but give me a reason I should heal you,” Ero said with a smirk. “I was your mentor — I gave you a device that has so much power,” Rose said. “I’m willing to make a deal.” Ero knelt so they could be eye-to-eye. “Give me your power and your soul and I’ll happily heal you.” “Never.” “Alrighty, then I’ll heal you if you are being so stub-

born.”

“Really?” Rose’s expression changed from hopeless to hopeful. “Haha....No.” Ero used a spell on him. “What? This isn’t healing me.” “I know. I basically made you an immortal.” “Huh?” Rose’s face was shocked. “Now you can never die....Unless someone takes your soul. Only the four people who have this curse can do that. And I don’t see the other two here.” Ero smirked and said, “Thanks for everything, but I’m going to go now and I’m taking Kito with me.”

Ero grabbed Kito and put him over his shoulder. “I’ll revive him once we get somewhere safe. Goodbye, Rose.” Ero turned around. Despite Rose’s cries for help, he didn’t turn, leaving Rose to sufer forever.

Kaiden Howell Grade 8, Boise

EXT. DESERT PLAIN - EARLY MORNING

From the depths of a pool of water, the head of a BOY standing in a dehydrated tree looks skyward toward the water’s surface. This is the relection looking up at itself.

The camera transitions away from the water and onto the actual boy in the tree.

He licks his dry lips. He reaches to touch the water, but it only lows around his hand. From a distance we hear a voice booming out.

BOOKKEEPER (Of Screen) Sustenance.

The boy looks out to a gigantic crowd gathering in the distance.

He jumps down from the tree and picks up a leather satchel. He looks in it, there is a small ball dimly glowing.

GEORGE Please. Let this be enough.

INT. BOOKYARD - MOMENTS LATER

The boy squeezes himself into the crowd. He is holding a star.

DIERRA (to boy) George, where have you been?! They’re just about to start Bookworming!

GEORGE Finding the best perches for star collecting.

BOOKKEEPER (to crowd)

Beware! We’re nearing the end of this ine book.

The BOOKKEEPER gestures to the open book on a pedestal. The pedestal is in the center of the stage that the bookkeeper stands on.

BOOKKEEPER (continues) You all know what happens if someone forgets to leave a book before its end? You not only put yourselves in danger, but you also endanger anyone else who might attempt to rescue you!

The Bookkeeper pauses, a tear running down his face.

BOOKKEEPER You may begin Bookworming.

Everyone races to the open book on the pedestal.

SWORD OF THE CONDEMNED

Rowan Betts Grade 9, Boise

INT. OLD SHACK - DAY

GRAY (Of Screen) You want to bring all of them into this? Are you crazy?

DEAN stands up from the bucket he’s sitting on.

DEAN Well, why not? Sebastian is a warrior. He’s not safe. Port may be a lemon farmer, but we’re not the only ones who know how he did all that ighting the irst 15 years of his life. Calyssa’s an assassin. They’ll come ater her. Samir’s an engineer right now, I’m pretty sure, but we all know he’s a guardian at heart. Why can’t you see how good of an idea this is?

Gray heaves a sigh, slumping back on the loor.

GRAY We don’t know where any of them are! How are you so sure that they’re not dead? That or leading a prosperous life away from the violence you seek?

Gray ends the sentence in a shout, echoing through the trees around them. Dean looks down at Gray.

DEAN You know, you’re too cautious for your own good. We’d be saving them! Giving them a life they can’t refuse! A life of peace away from everything else!

Gray stands up to look Dean in the eyes. He has to look up a bit, but doesn’t let that deter him.

GRAY I will not stand for trying to rip them away from any life they’re living. And if you keep on insisting, then I’m going.

Dean looks at Gray in shock.

DEAN What?

Gray takes a step closer. The light iltering through the planks shines down, casting shadows on his face.

GRAY You may want peace, but I am ine with living the way I am! You talk of houses and beds and good company while all I need is a safe spot to lay down in, preferably in the forest!

Dean moves sporadically, going away from Gray and slamming the wall with his hand, before stilling.

DEAN You’re afraid aren’t you? You’re afraid that you’ll get let in the dust, that you’ll wither away because you don’t care enough to make anything a priority! God, how messed up are you that you don’t want a family?

Gray turns around pulling his hair in frustration.

GRAY That’s because I’ve never had a family!

This sentence ends in a broken cracked, desperate wail.

GRAY I just want you to be content with where you are! For you, it’s always what’s next? Where now? You’re so focused on the sequels that you won’t let me or you have a happy, satisfying ending!

Gray pushes Dean again, but he maintains his balance this time.

DEAN If you’re so insistent, then you can go! Clearly you don’t share my sentiment for wanting some control for once!

GRAY I don’t need control. I need consistency!

Gray stumbles forward and Dean catches him in a hug. Gray grasps the shirt Dean is wearing like a lifeline.

DEAN Here’s the thing – don’t you think control can lead to consistency or consistency can lead to control? Just because we both want diferent things doesn’t mean that we have to go our separate ways. And who’s to say the others don’t feel the same way? They went through the same circumstances we did — let’s at least give them an option.

They break apart from the hug.

DEAN I won’t force them to come, but I can’t promise that I won’t lose my temper. I just need you to understand that I want what’s best, and I want to do things with you by my side still. You’ve been the one constant thing in my life. And I don’t want to lose that because one of us likes beds and the other likes the ground.

They chuckle.

GRAY I guess I can live with that for now. Just, the idea of staying in one place is foreign to me... But I can try.

DEAN That’s all I ask.