

The Scribbler

2016

Volume 63

Grace Church School

New York City

The Scribbler Staff

Phoebe Abitol

Taber Canon

Theo Carlston

Hannah Dietz

Kayla Feinberg

Aaron Hessell

Lila Hussein

Ruby Jones

Josie Schiff

Faculty Technical Advisors

Ilta Adler, Topher Nichols

Faculty Advisor

Benham Latimer

Short Story Contest Winners

First Place – Anna Sorensen

The Circle of Sins

Second Place – Wenhao Cai

Myself

Third Place – Lorenzo Lizzeri

The Dream

Poetry Contest Winners

First Place – Katharine Cook

The Reader

Second Place – Wenhao Cai

& Lucy Schwalbe

Reflection

Third Place – Aaron Hessel

School

Art Contest Winners

First Place

Cover

Rafe DiDomenico & Luke Abramowitz

Second Place

Wenhao Cai & Lou Lou Sloss

Third Place

Wenhao Cai
Contents

Short Stories

Anna Sorensen 1 Circle of Sins

Wenhao Cai 20 Myself

Lorenzo Lizzeri 31 The Dream

Annabel Stevens 44 Unlucky Eight

Ruby Jones 55 Where Am I?

Kiera Hackett 60 Ow

Ryan Kramberg 64 Shadows of the

Dungeon

Lila Gimbel 70 The Flaming Hands of Death

Claudia Goodwin 80 Red Roses

Lily Greenberg 87 Roof

Bo Goergen 96 The Screams

Liz Pollock 105 Is Black the Official Color of Madness

Ruby Jones 116 Untitled

Luca Vernhes 120 The Death

Crevice

Rania Challita 129 Underground Garden

Lily Greenberg 87 Roof

George McCain &

Alex Skrypek 142 The Lucky Spider

Taber Cannon 144 Free Writing

Phoebe Abitol 148 And Then There

Were Six

Poetry

Katharine Cook 167 The Reader

Wenhao Cai &

Lucy Schwalbe 169 Reflection

Aaron Hessel 170 School

Charlie Wall 171 Haiku

Robert Rendine 172 There Is

Esme Fritton 173 What Happened

George McCain 174 Rap About Candy

Daniel Hua 175 Who Am I?

Natasha Rensky 176 City Lights

Aaron Hessel 177 Electives

Georgia Davis 178 Winter and the Beach

Jackson Jones 179 Life

Leila Bynum 180 Night Time

Dax Bischof 181 Christmas Is Coming

James Spindler 182 Hanukkah

Aaron Hessel 183 Halloween

John McGarry 184 Untitled

James Cave 185 Christmas Day

is Near

George McCain 186 Christmas

Season

Nathaniel Berkman 187 Winter

Ruby Jones 188 Alone

Henry Levinson 189 Stars

Hannah Dietz 190 Who and Where Am I?

Nina Berkman 191 Seasons Go By

Taber Cannon 192 The Starry Sky

Dax Bischof 193 Untitled

Charlie Wall 194 Untitled

Theo Carlston 195 Rain

Maximo Del Pino 196 Untitled

Otto Fritton 197 Life

Esme Towles 198 Spring Sway

Jack McCain 199 Winter

Phoebe Abitol 201 My Dream

Keredin Samuel 202 Christmas

Sarah Weber 203 Wind Comes Wind Goes

Chauncey Thompson 204 Untitled

Hayden Henry 205 Freedom

Lila Hussein 206 Hot Cocoa

Sadie Goodwin 207 Christmas

Toys

Jonas Marcovitz 208 Tom and Jerry

Sofia Galarza 209 Untitled

Louise Giddings 210 In My World

Kiera Hackett 211 Pink

Julia Geniesse 212 Balloons

Amani Agrawal 213 Waking Up in

New York City

Alexander Skrypek 214 It's My Birthday

Kayla Feinberg 215 Christmas

Short Stories

Art by Wenhao Cai & Lou Lou Sloss

Anna Sorensen

grade 5

The Circle of Sins

I had gone ten or twelve steps in this manner when the torn hem of my robe caught my heel, causing me to stumble till I fell violently face forward. I fell for a split-second until my head hit a chilled, stone, and damp platform. I opened my eyes and peered around at my fate. All I remembered was that the Inquisitors of the Spanish Inquisition had sentenced me to death. They had captured me from my home and taken me away from everything I ever loved. I remembered the Inquisitors faces analyzing me, trying to decide whether they should kill me or not. The clearest detail I remembered was when I told them that I was proud of whom I was, and that I was never going to change it. I told them that God gave me life, and to seize that life and kill it would be a sin. They laughed at me as I insisted. Back in my dungeon, everything was a blur, and I was confused, hurt, and alone. At this point I reimbursed myself with information. My burning head was spinning, and I slowly opened my rigid jaw,

"My name is Nicolas Germain. I am twenty-three years old. I am here because I am not. I am not their way. Their discipline. This means - on this note I paused and moaned. What did this mean? For my wife and my unborn child? For my future? I cringed with excruciating worry, fear, and pain. My head spun with all the possibilities. They spun around and around in an interminable circle. The silence of the dead cell seemed a drastic difference to the pounding within my insane mind. It would not stop. I had a sickness, an unpreventable disease, but I had to be in control somehow. I was a monster to myself, as I tried to calm down by slowly breathing. I flung myself against the wall, with insanity flowing through my body. My head made contact with a deafening thud. I tumbled down to the floor, but I was done. Done with the pain and insanity. What a hopeless, idiotic man I was. Only I would think I was done with this torture.

As I slowly opened my eyes, I realized that there was something different concerning my state of mind. I was in control once again. I slowly rose to my legs in effort to stand. I took a step forward. Over and over I stepped, as each step ignited a flame of hope. At once, I came upon a pitcher of water. With the water was a knife. Obviously, the Inquisitors had underestimated me. I would not give up this easily. I took the knife, and continued to explore my cell. Above the water was a map with one pin placed. I let my eyes drift below the malicious map to a cuckoo bird. Its eyes reminded me of my wife. Such joy. I let her happiness overcome me for a minute. I dreamed of the day we ran to the ocean. I gave her flowers. "Forget Me Not's" to be specific. We sat on the beach and talked about our futures, and our deepest, darkest fears. That day was the first time I told her I loved her. She smiled at me and told me to promise her that I always would. She asked me to cherish her every moment of my life, and to tell her that I would always need her. I promised all of these things and I pondered them in my heart for the rest of my life.

A loud buzzing coming from around the bird's beak interrupted my dreaming. With horror, I realized that there were insects flying out of its gruesome mouth. Suddenly, I felt its eyes glaring at me, as though it peered into my soul like a preying lioness waiting impatiently for a chance to leap. I felt the insects flying closer, and I ran. The room resonated with my thumping feet. I ran and ran. I could feel the cold air ripple around me, disrupting the once serene atmosphere. I kept running until I came to a stop. My body slammed into something hard and cold. The insects overcame me as they bit and bit with vigor. I crumpled to the ground. This was when they started. The hallucinations.

At first, I saw a large city with palaces furnished with gold. The stain glass windows shone in the magnificent sunlight. A sense of familiarity coursed through my mind. I waited for the sign. Everything was silent. A war cry suddenly rang through the city, causing everyone to freeze. The raiders tore down the glorious palace, the city, and my hope, fire raging all around. The scene continued for a minute or two, and then there was silence. Sickness filled my body. I could not continue to live, to witness this. I remembered that I still had the knife, and I let my hand drift to my pocket, but I could not do what I knew I should have done. I was too afraid. That was when I realized where I recognized the vision. That city was Seville, the point on the map. And it was gone. The empire destroyed with the smoke. I screeched helplessly. It couldn't be. I got up and ran. I ran for my life, for my family, for my wife, for Seville. I skidded to a stop at the bird. Those hideous eyes bore into my skull. It haunted me through the hour. Day or night. My sudden urge to die frightened me. If I tried to survive, would it be worth it? The question was too much to bear, so I let myself drift off.

When I woke up, I noticed that I had unconsciously returned to the map. Another point had appeared. Granada. My home city. Where I grew up, and lived my perfectly happy life. Was it destined to have the same fate as Seville? I fell to the rocky, frigid ground. Two red eyes glared at me. Then four, then six, then eight. I cautiously rose to my feet. Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead. The creatures crawled creepily towards me. I stumbled into the wall. I tried in vain climb up, but it was too late. I was going to have a slow death. I knew I should have ended my life when I could have, instead of living through this hell. The rats clawed and scratched at my heels as I screeched in pain. They hissed at my ankles. And they started to bite. Their yellow stained teeth struck my feet as a sear of pain snaked up my body. I closed my eyes tightly, in pointless attempt to rid myself of the pain forever. What I hopeless, idiotic man I was.

I first saw Granada, with its plentiful vineyards and fields. The citizens roamed freely, gathering the harvest, without a single worry entering their minds. Next, a disease began to move through the city, and the people began to fall. It slinked slowly and steadily, oozing and striking. The sight of their eyes before they were swept away welled up a series of emotions inside of me. My face was hot, and soaked with tears. Granada was gone. My past vanished with the tears of my soul. To think I ever had a chance to live seemed childish at this point.

Then next morning or night, I was unaware of my state, I opened my eyes to a blinding light. It flickered for a moment, and then receded. I couldn't understand why I continued to believe I had a chance. Vainly, I wished the end. Could I escape this horrific fate, should I have faith in God, for my family? Could I, should I continue, or should I end it right here, right now? I pondered each possibility carefully. My mind grew weary and I slowly drifted away.

I regained consciousness, slowly opening my eyes, hesitant to wake. Once again, I had unwillingly returned to the map. When my eyes fell upon the new point on the map, my blood ran as cold as icy rain. I dreaded the possibilities of the near future. Each new prospect of its destruction frightened me more. Upon fearing the fate, I became aware of someone watching me, getting ready to leap at me. I slowly turned around, hopeful that this was my end. I angrily comprehended that it was nothing but the bird. Still watching. I suddenly felt sick. My head was swirling, accompanied by my stomach. I knew that the nausea did not have to do with the map, and I suspected the worst. As I grew sicker, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a black fog creeping towards me. I reached out my hand to touch it. Hopelessly, idiotically. When the fog hit me, a rush of cold ran up my body. It felt nice, so I paused for a moment. Then I became hot, then freezing, and then burning. I backed away gradually picking up my pace with each step, until I was running free. As I ran, I thought of all the deaths I had witnessed. I felt lucky to be in here. I was at the top of the bottom of fortune. I stopped to catch a breath. That single breath could have been my last. For that momentary pause was just enough time for the fog to catch up to me. It buried me with smoke.

My heart stopped in reaction to what I saw. There was my wife, clad in white and robed with Forget me Not's. I would never forget her. And with her stood my son. From what I gathered, he had come early, and as a result, he was only born with one arm. Nevertheless, I admired him. I was so proud. If only I could tell him that, if only I could tell him that I would do whatever I could to give him a chance at a hopeful life. For they came, clothed in black and took away my wife away from my son and I. He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Not a thing. I roared with frustration, grief, anger, and sadness. They took her away. I yelled and thrashed for her. We gazed longingly at her face. It was filled with so much care for us. I wanted to be with her. My son fought for her. He fought so hard. I wanted to be there with him, protecting him from this battle. Unfortunately, I did not know if the battle was real or fake. My eyes filled with tears. They fell, each with more emotion than its predecessor. I ripped my eyes away from the scene. The less I saw, the better. I knew it was wrong, but I had no other choice. My eyes suddenly made contact with his. I looked away, humiliated.

I woke to the sound of a slow trickling. As expected, another point was placed. Toledo. My current location. I was curious to know if all the visions I had seen had actually happened. Maybe I was merely imagining them. I wondered if this was simply part of my torture. I peered around the room in search for the trickling. The bird's beak had opened slightly, releasing water. That single bird seemed capable of so much harm. After all, everything had begun with the bird. I took a step forward and my foot splashed. Another foot splashed, as if it were in response to my movement. I had not moved a single inch. Another splash, and then another. Before I could do anything, something whacked my head. Blackness overcame me.

I woke up, noticing with dread that the water was up to my knees.

"I must have been knocked out for a long time," I wondered out loud. I told myself that I would fight back the next time I was in danger. I heard footsteps, and I spun around speedily. A broad man stood in front of me. He held a bat in his hands.

"I am here to kill you," he whispered with menace filling his breath.

"I am here to fight you," I replied shakily. He swung the bat ferociously, but I ducked just in time. The water was already up to my hips. The bulky man grasped me by my shoulders and threw me underneath the water forcefully. Being fully surrounded, I noticed how frigid the water was. It felt refreshing after all the hell I had been through. He pinned me down, but I mustered up the strength to pull him underneath with me. The pressure of his body on top of mine knocked the wind out of me. We wrestled mercilessly, and I suddenly remembered something. My knife! I struggled to grab it, but once I had it, I knew I had won. A dark chuckle escaped my throat. I thrust the knife into his chest, and he froze. His hands flew to his heart, and he jerked uncomfortably. Blood diluted the water, as he slowly sunk to the bottom. I planted my feet on the ground and rocketed to the surface of the water. I could not stand, so I had to tread in the water. I drifted off, but I made sure I did not completely fall asleep.

I woke this time, hearing a loud boom. Then a moment later, a crack. I tried to distract myself, but once again came the set. Boom... Crack.... Thunder. Lightening. One of the most dangerous forces of nature on the earth. Gradually, I put together the pieces. There was lightening, and I was drowning in water. I haltingly lifted my head to the ceiling. Sure enough, there was a hole. I swam as quickly as I could to the entrance of my dungeon. I yanked on the door and pulled and pushed it frantically. Thunder. I counted: One - two - three - four - five seconds. Lightening. It was five miles away. I was running out of air so I swam to the surface to catch a breath. Under again. My eyes stung irritatingly like thousands of knives, forcing me to close them, forcing me to waste my time.

Boom! One - two - three - four. Crack... Four miles away... I screamed for help, gulping the freezing water, kicking at the door. The hideous lock was jammed.

Boom! One - two - three seconds. Crack. Three miles away... I pulled the knife out of my pocket. It was soaked with blood. Only then did it hit me. Only then did I fully grasp what I had done. I had killed someone. Ended their precious life. Their only life, as I believed. That knife had taken him away from his family, his hope, and his life. But wasn't he going to ultimately kill me? Was he not the reason I was going to die? Did he have a choice, or was he forced to join the Inquisitors and their despicable plans? I had no idea. Not enough information. All I knew was that I had committed one of the seven sins. I realized that I would be going to hell after all. My worst fear was that hell was eminently worse than this. I panicked, knowing that I would be dead in a short moment.

"I don't want to die!" I yelled, tears streaming down my face, "I don't want to go to hell! I don't want to work for Satan! Anything but this!"

Boom! One - two. Crack... Two miles away... I grabbed the knife from my pocket, and dug it into the lock. Nothing happened. I wiggled it around crazily, knowing that this was my only chance.

"I promise!" I shouted to the heavens, "I promise I will repent my sins if I survive this torture! I promise I will do whatever you want me to do! Just give me anything but this! I am a good person, deep down. I have a family, whom I love so dearly. I was only afraid! Please forgive me! Please!" I begged. Nothing happened. The knife was wedged in the lock. I pulled it out, and reserved to simply yanking at the door. I screamed for help, but the only reply I got was the trembling set. I was losing air quickly, and I could hear my heartbeat in my head. Thumping. Never ending....

Thunder. Lightening. It was only a matter of time.

Eleven - ten - nine - eight - I squirmed and thrashed - seven - six - five - four - three - Pulling and pushing. Screaming and crying - two - one - I mustered up all the strength I had and pulled, screaming - half a second - zero. A crack ripped through the sky, and a flashing light penetrated my eyes. A shock spun through my body, as I realized my hand was still on the metal lock. I saw my son's eyes once more. But there was something more in them. Not fear nor panic. Disappointment. In me. Hell was coming to me. Or was I already there?

Wenhao Cai

grade 6

Myself

I fell violently face forward. It was dark and my whole body was numb. I was in a dark room when I blacked out, or what I thought was a blackout. I woke up. I slowly got up but it felt more like someone pulled me up. I suddenly felt like everyone was watching me. The dark room seemed not to be dark anymore for it felt like it was covered with the shadows of the inquisitors.

I gathered up all my strength so that I could explore this new dungeon. The room was still dark but my eyes had adjusted and were able to see. From where I was standing I could see over 10 corners. "Where was I?" was the only phrase on repeat in my head. Around 5 minutes later I found myself back in the same room. I tried again and again but the walls seemed to only get longer and closer together. It felt like so much time had passed that the flowers outside had grown from a seed to a blooming plant.

"Maybe I went in the wrong direction?" I thought. I walked another few steps only to find myself in the exact same spot. Soon I realized that I was in a labyrinth. My heart began to race faster and faster. A soft breeze brushed by my shoulder. A small light appeared in the distance. A light that brought hope of a new path to get me out of this dungeon. It might have been a tiny dim light, but it placed a big impression in my mind.

As I walked closer towards the light, it seemed to have moved farther and farther away. I closed my eyes, hoping to see the light right in front of me. When my eyes opened, the door seemed again, farther away. I took another good look at the light and it felt like it had grown much dimmer than before. I knew that if I ever wanted to break free from this repetitive dungeon and feel even just a little bit freer, I would have to run if I was ever going to catch up to that light.

I took off running towards that light as if my life depended on it to get out. I quickly became very dreary. I had to stop to catch my breath and soon enough, my eyes began to close. I was back in the black out. My whole life had flashed before my eyes. A scene of my childhood appeared. I was in the town wandering around when a couple of guards came to my neighbor's house and took them down to the town square, where an angry man was standing next to a stump and...

Suddenly I woke up, I felt the energy rush through my body. I stood up and resumed my journey. Still, it was hard for me to walk. Something was holding me back. A pressure like a hundred stones were pushing down on me. I looked forward and I saw a reflection. As I stared into the reflection, my eyes fell on that single light. I had moved in the wrong direction. What I saw was the reflection of the light. I turned around and ran again. What I thought was a success was actually a misfortune. The pressure pushed back even harder.

I kept walking as the light of freedom motivated me. About ten minutes later, the pressure I had once felt, had revealed itself to what I thought was a glass wall. It was so vague that I could almost picture my hand going through it. I took a break, for my arms were sore from pushing the wall. I was looking around when I saw something move.

It was like watching darkness move in darkness. Once again I felt that I was not alone. The wall to my left had opened a hole and something slithered out from it. On the ground there was a shard of glass. Right above it, on the ceiling was a little shimmer of light. Right when I saw the light, I heard another thing slither across the ground. I watched as they went by one by one. Soon enough my feet were surrounded by thousands! A scream echoed through the halls and it chilled every inch of my mind. I had noticed that the chaos of the snakes were left with glass. The shattered glass cut the bottom of my feet as I began to push the glass. The blood rushed to my head and I fainted to the ground.

I was back in the town square. The angry man was still there next to the stump. Beside the stump, stood my neighbors in tight, dry ropes. I watched the angry man take them one by one...

When I woke up, the shards of glass were gone and my feet were bandaged. I looked across the hall. My hand started to shake. I was afraid of what I saw. Someone who looked like me, down to the cut on my shoulder that I had just found. "Where was the cut from? Maybe I had cut myself on the shoulder while I was pushing the glass?" I had a strange feeling in my stomach that I could not trust, nor did I like this person across from me.

The lights caught my attention as they grew brighter. The lights stunned my body with their brightness, but a second later they dimmed. I knew that it was a warning. A warning that will determine how I die. Would I die by this perilous maze, or from the life I was meant to live?

I started to run, the glass wall pushing against me. The pressure was still against my chest and strangling my hands. On top of all of this, my fingernails were a centimeter away from the callused tips of my fingers as it scratched against the glass, like the sound of the dentist scraping at teeth. I couldn't take it anymore, so I stopped to readjust my hands, but the person I had seen followed me, watching and mocking my every move. I ran again from the mysterious stranger. I didn't care about the glass wall. I focused until I reached the end of the hall. There were two paths, one to my left and another to my right.

The glass stopped pushing me, as if it was waiting for me to make a decision. The light I saw came from both paths. The person that I saw looked back to me, as if also waiting for my decision.

I closed my eyes again hoping for the answer to appear. I slowly opened my eyes, wishing that this journey would end. The platform underneath my feet began to turn, but it did not lead me anywhere other than to bread and water. The glass wall turned solid and then immediately disappeared.

I needed to eat, as I was so fatigued. I picked up the food and was about to take a bite when I realized that it was painted rocks. The rocks were mocking me, just like the person who had been following me. I turned around, and another plate of food was set. I took a bite and immediately fainted to the cold stone floor. I was again back in the town square.

I watched the man tie my neighbors to the stump and push their heads down. I watched the ax cut their necks one by one. People wailed out with disgust and covered their eyes. Others stood strong and protested this execution. I did neither. I just stood there like a rock, unable to move.

I blinked and looked up but instead of seeing my neighbors at their death sentence, I saw a large poster stating that you either run from Christianity or stay and convert. I wanted to run, but again my body was heavy as stone. Everybody else quickly fled from the square. "Why hadn't I ran. This is not where I want to be!"

I woke up feeling as clearly as possible. I got up and pushed that glass. My hands trembling, tears dripping down my face. The pressure was worse but the pushing of this glass made a squeaky sound again. It burned my ears. I grabbed the rocks that were painted to look like bread and smashed them against the glass. The pressure of the glass shattered. I ran with all my might. I wanted to see the light right in front of my eyes. I turned a corner, and another, and another. Soon I did not believe what was in front of me. The light shining brighter than ever. It was hard to see, since I was in the dark for so long. I looked to my left. The person who had been following me looked at me with evil red eyes. This person embodied all the negative aspects of myself. I hate my follower-personality, and the way I can't stand up for myself. I realized that the stone and rock I had been seeing was an insight of what my heart had become.

The pressure of the glass was the pressure of being myself. The glass shattered when I realized who I have become. The person in the mirror was myself, the self that I disliked and hated. The person who was weak and a coward. I had realized who I am, the bad parts consumed me. I was losing a battle to myself, a battle I knew I could never defeat.

I walked out of the mirror and I took that rock. I slashed it on my shoulder, where the cut was. I cried in agony. I did not die of old age or this perilous maze, but rather from my own haunting spirits. I can't blame anyone but myself.

Lorenzo Lizzeri

grade 6

The Dream

I immediately moved away from the huge hole that loomed beneath me as if it were the moon a million miles below. It seemed to hiss, "this isn't over, you will come." Frantic to get farther away, I scrambled in the other direction while looking at the hole. The results were not what I expected: I hit a wall and blacked out. During part of my blackout I had a dream.

It was a boy, a normal boy, named Gamma, who was trying to find something to do. In his boredom, Gamma looked around his room. After about thirteen minutes, he finds a book. He thought out loud, "I love reading, why don't I read one of the stories in here." He started reading the first story in the book. In the story there was a boy named Beta. Beta had had a horrible birthday party. Everything had gone wrong. He received horrible gifts, his parents had embarrassed him in front of his friends, and worst of all, he hated the birthday cake. Gamma shut the book. His mother was calling that dinner was...\- deep, booming laughter like an evil, dark laugh of a clown moving farther away. Before it became inaudible, I heard the voice say "he has no choice now."

The voice was wrong; I actually did have a choice. Between rat torture and hurtling down the pit. Turning around I realized that someone had written a sign for me. It read, Dive into the pit or die. What choices, slow death and probable death. I quickly launched myself into the pit, hoping that the rat wasn't inside me yet. I didn't want to die of my number one hatred, and fear, rats.

On contact I blacked out. It was Gamma's 7th birthday, 12/13/1807. He had invited all of his best friends. Later, while talking to his best friend about how annoying it was that he had gotten only clothes as his birthday presents, his mother interrupted "don't have too much sweet bread Gamma, you're on a diet, remember."

To this, Gamma responded "Mo-m," and gave her the "I'm talking to my friend, shut up look." Gamma continued, "As I was saying, my birthday gifts really suck."

"I got you a really cool sled," Charles, the boy who he was talking to exclaimed, "It goes really fast. Anyways, I think it's time to eat cake."

Gamma went over to eat some cake, but he soon realized, this was vegetable cake. He, and everyone else in the whole entire universe HATED vegetable cake. "HOW COULD YOU MESS UP MY BIRTHDAY SO MUCH? FIRST YOU GET ME CLOTHES FOR PRESENTS, THEN YOU EMBARRASS ME, AND NOW, THE CAKE IS VEGETABLE CAKE, I HATE YOU, YOU ARE THE WORST PARTY PLANNERS IN THE WORLD, THIS IS, AND WILL BE, FOREVER, THE WORST DAY OF MY STUPID LIFE!"

I'm going to use the only good present I got today. A sled." Gamma started climbing up the hill so he could use his sled. He thought that if anything good came out of this birthday, it would be this sled. Riding it was going to be really fun. Woooooo, this is so much fun, he thought while sledding down. Crack. "What was that?" Crack "No, the sled broke...

I woke up to the sound of a clock? Tick-tock, tick-tock. Opening my eyes, I soon realized that my assumption was true. It was a huge, wooden, clock, somewhat like a grandfather clock, just ten times larger. On the opposite wall a message was smeared in blood. It read, YOU Will Die In 12 Hours, at 1:12P.M, 12/13/1835. I wondered: die, but how? I had heard of torture stories where they used a clock but nothing ever happened. That could be what they were doing to me, but I couldn't risk anything.

I immediately tried to find a way out. Every tic was a second closer to my death. First I tried to climb out. Sadly, the slick, slippery surface was too hard to climb. Quickly realizing that there was no way out, I started throwing a tantrum, much like a child's. I screamed, cried, yelled, and shouted. I slapped myself! I shouldn't be crying, I should be finding a way out of here. The Clock Read 2:00. They couldn't kill me if I broke the clock, I thought. I immediately started working at this. I only had to reverse the gears of the clock so that time would run backwards. The problem was that I had to reverse 6 gears, seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years. With a lot of work, strength and persistence I managed to get to where all the gears were by continuously slamming my body against the clock, like a wrecking ball destroying a house of evil. I looked up. The Clock Read 3:30. I realized that I might be able to live. I could reverse the clock, with hours to spare. I fell asleep, exhausted. I had earned it.

It was Gamma, again bored. He was in his room because his mother had sent him there after the party for throwing a tantrum as if he was a newborn. He realized that he could read the book with stories. He thought, why not read more, it will do me no harm.

Gamma started to read. This time he read the last story. Strangely though, on the previous page it said READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. Gamma thought this was a joke and somehow found it very funny. He started reading. Beta was now 24 years old and had now publicly declared that he didn't believe in God. This led to much gossip and fear in the town, fear, of the coming of the inquisition. One horrible day in March, the fourth, to be precise, the inquisition did come. They brought Beta to their headquarters, FOR TORTURE. Beta screamed and shouted, but to no avail. Gamma stopped reading, scared, and started crying. He was only eight, and such a reading scared him.

I woke up to a huge GONG. Strangely, my eyes were wet and I was crying. Well, really not so strange because I was going to die shortly. I realized that the clock had released a GONG because it was halftime, halftime to my death. I immediately put myself back to work on reversing the clock. So far I had managed to reverse the seconds gear, minutes gear, and was currently working on the hours gear. All I had left to do was the hour's gear, day's gear, the month's gear, and the year's gear. I was so close to living.

But then, a horrifying thought dawned on me. I realized that my luck had run out. It didn't matter what time the clock showed, it mattered what time it actually was. Even if I reversed the clock, I would still somehow die at the designated time. In my rage I started pounding and kicking at the clock. Eventually, all of the hands and the gears snapped, snapped like an over bent ski. "It is now 8:12a.m. You have five hours to live."

"Who said that", I yelled upwards, where the sound had come from. I got no response. Frustratingly, I had destroyed the clock, but the inquisition had come up with another way of telling me the time, and therefore torturing me. Not wanting to die, I immediately started to work on getting out of that demonic pit. I continued to try to climb up the walls, but they were too smooth, lubricated with my sweat and tears. About an hour had passed and I was starting to get worse and worse at climbing. I heard 13 words before I fell asleep. They were "It is now 9:12 a.m. You have four hours to live."

Gamma is much older and is talking to his dad about how he wants his own house and doesn't want to live with them. "Dad I've already said it, I really don't want to live with you guys anymore."

"Why not", asked his father, knowing he would get the same response he always got when he asked that question.

"Dad, I've told you a million times, I don't want to live with you anymore because you guys are Christian. I'm an Atheist, I don't believe in God. Also, I'm older. I don't want to live with you and mom anymore. Even if you don't want me to have my own house, I really don't need your permission: I'm 24."

One of the neighbors who had heard this conversation inquired, "What did you just say?"

To this, Gamma yelled, "I'm an Atheist, you heard me."

This time, someone else heard Gamma say this. This time it was an inquisitor. As it turned out, one of Gamma's neighbors worked for the inquisition. He force-marched Gamma to the Inquisition base. "NOOOO", screamed Gamma, but it was of no use. He was to be tortured for life.

I woke up to much chaos. A new sound came from the place where every hour the time was told: the sound of pots and pans banging together. Then I heard the worst thirteen words that I ever heard in my life. It is now 12:12p.m. You have one hour to live.

I knew I couldn't give up. I tried to use another strategy. I would use the mattress as a trampoline by jumping on it until I could get a good enough jump to climb up the rest of the pit. I did this for about 45 minutes, but could never climb the rest of the way.

After five minutes of thinking about what I could do, I gave up. I realized that I wasn't going to live. I just didn't know what to do. I started crying and screaming. My time was almost up.

The voice counted down in the most natural tone, "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0." It said, "begin releasing"

"Is anyone down there," shouted someone from the top of the pit.

"Yes, I'm here, I yelled back."

"Wait one second, we'll throw you a rope."

They threw me a rope and I climbed up. It turned out that they were English soldiers trying to abolish the Inquisition. They had saved me right before my death.

As I was walking out someone said, "welcome back son." This, apparently, was my father. It made sense because he, at fifty, was the eldest of the soldiers. He brought me home and told me that my mother had died during the time that I was being tortured by the Inquisition. When we got home I immediately went up to my old room. I was looking for something to do, when I found a book. I read the penultimate story in the book, which was about someone being framed for killing the king of England and getting tortured for it. Strangely though, on the page before it had a warning that had, "Read At Your Own Risk" written as if the book was so dangerous one could die because he or she read it. I thought that this was a joke and for some reason found it very funny.

But then a dreadful realization came upon me. This was Gamma's book.

Annabel Stevens

grade 6

Unlucky Eight

I had gone ten or twelve steps in this manner when the torn hem of my robe caught my heel causing me to stumble till I fell violently face forward. I hit a hard stone floor with a "THUD!" I gripped the ground and managed to get up but with a great shoot of pain up my back. I glanced behind me to see the door swing shut, and with it the light of all my hope. And then it was silent and darkness surrounded me. I put my hand on my head because of a pounding ache. I must have hit it too because I couldn't remember anything. I reached out my hands to feel if there were any walls near me so I could possibly find my way. But then I remembered. It was hopeless....

Minutes, hours, days may have passed, I don't recall. Images were still fuzzy in my head, but what I remembered was a burly man shoving me down into a chair. I did not know who was in the room because my face was being pushed down into the table while rough voices spoke softly but I could not understand what they were saying. Then there was a silence in the room and I knew something even more painful was destined to come. A pair of hands grasped onto my arms and lurched me upwards, fingernails dug into my skin, as I was dragged down a hallway. The person opened a metal door to my left, I was given a push, and that was when I stumbled down the stairs. A while later, I opened my eyelids to see I was in a deep, dark and damp dungeon.

Yes! It was all coming back to me, images reappeared in my head, I remembered why I was there. I stood up and walked in a random direction and hoped it would not lead me to death. It was so dark I could barely see the floor or my feet. I stepped very cautiously fearing of any traps that might lie ahead.

As I walked I started to think of my family. My brother had warned me of being caught. I wondered if my husband had noticed my disappearance. My husband and brother were almost the opposite. George, my brother, had light brown hair, almost golden, and dark brown eyes. He was very caring and full of life. He was also very empathetic, always making sure everyone felt alright. And my husband, Louis, always seemed to be worried or stressed. If he were dead you couldn't tell because his body was always as white as flour. In all the ten years we were married we never shared a real smile. Did I love him? Definitely not! But a woman without a husband was nothing. In fact, I would like to snap his pale twig-like body in half!

Just in the middle of that thought I walked smack right into a brick wall. I sat down against the wall, and to my surprise I had been so tired that day that I dozed off.

The Spinning Wheel

"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!" It sounded like metal scraping against metal. I opened my eyes to see a black liquid in front of me. Then I realized I was not in my original position, I was looking down. I was not only looking down but also spinning. I was not spinning very fast but I knew that wouldn't last for long. My thin ankles and wrists were in cuffs. I could easily slip out of them but the question was... what was waiting for me in that dark liquid?

Suddenly, as I suspected, I started spinning faster, faster, and faster. The squeaking noise also became faster, faster, and faster. All I could see was a blur of black. My stomach was churning, I was going to throw up! I was so sick that without thinking I slid my hands from the cuffs and let myself fall. It was about ten feet until I plunged face first into the strange liquid.

"SPLASH!" The first thing I felt was my head still spinning. All was a blur around me. The second thing I felt was... THE MOST PAINFUL THING OF MY LIFE! The liquid burned more than fire to the skin. I screamed at the top of my lungs! I couldn't touch the bottom. I glanced at my arms to see that they were raw and that big yellow bubbles were forming on them. I looked around to see that I was in a room with metal walls. On the ceiling was the spinning wheel from which I had fallen. Then I saw a narrow staircase leading out of the room of doom that was barely twenty feet away from me. But to my horror, I saw a door was sliding down over my exit from death.

I started to kick hysterically to reach the doorway. As I was swimming the burn spread to my neck and up to my face. My face swelled and bubbles were rising all over my skin, including my eyes. I started to lose my sight. I kicked quicker, as hard as I could. I tried to concentrate on escaping and attempted to ignore the feeling of one hundred knives cutting my flesh. I could hardly see at all.

When I thought I was about one foot away from the exit, I reached out my hands, but to my surprise they were stopped by a wall. The door had already closed! But wait, it was still moving, I still had a chance. I would have to swim under to get to the other side. I took a deep breath and plunged my head under. My hands reached for the door that was descending. I used the bottom of the door to pull myself in front of it. I then started swimming to the surface. I gasped for air as I reached the top. I found I didn't have to tread water anymore, for I was standing on stairs.

At this point, there was no point of having shoes because they were almost in shreds. As I stepped on the cold floor with my bare feet, it sent a chill up my spine. I moved my dark hair away from my face, straightened my skirt and started painfully ascending up the winding torch-lit stairs. I rested my hands on top of my face which was still burning, but the bubbles were disappearing and I was regaining my sight.

These stairs seemed to last forever. And then I started to think... why hadn't I let myself drown? A more dreadful and more painful death was surely soon to come.

Finally the stairs ended and I seemed to approach a gigantic room because when I stepped forward I saw the light of torches very far away. I started walking again, but on a smooth surface, probably marble. Then, suddenly I stopped because I had an odd feeling, a tickling on my foot. I slowly bent down to see... the most evil of insects. The eight legged creature was bright red, and had a black dot on its back. The tiny spider was clutching to my skin. My heart pounded in my chest. There was a small sting on my foot. I gasped with relief. I almost laughed at myself thinking of how I thought such a little spider could do harm. I thought I could continue walking but then I felt a great amount of pain, so much that I fell down. It was from my foot. I probably should watch out for those spiders.

The Shrieking Piano

I managed to get up but as I took a step forward, something very unexpected happened. The floor dropped and there was a loud shriek. It was so loud it almost burst my eardrums. Suddenly, a giant metal block came alighting on to me. I jumped away just in time but it caught my skirt. I pulled away with so much force that I went flying forward. Another step created another shriek, except a key lower. I realized this was some version of a piano. I looked up to see another block falling down so I leapt onto another key and the next and the next. And soon I began to run but the blocks were also coming down faster so I had to run as fast as I could. As I stepped my last step, there was a low C shriek. I saw that the falling block was enormous. I took a dive face forward and went tumbling to the ground.

The Spiders

I opened my eyes, surprised to be alive. However, I was surrounded by red and black spiders. I got up frantically. In front of me was a door with a bright light coming from it. I ran towards it, opened the door, and stepped in. The room was carpeted with spiders. I turned to run but my foot was paralyzed. Not only my foot but also my leg and my waist. There were hundreds of tiny stings all around my body and then pain rushing all throughout my body. I fell down and the spiders crawled on to me, in my hair, mouth, nose and eyes. Tears ran down my eyes as I gasped my last breath of air before I could no longer move my chest to breathe. While I held on to my last thread of life, I tried to think of all the happy times in my life but there seemed to not be any.

Ruby Jones

grade 5

Where Am I?

I wake up. I don't know where I am. I don't remember anything. My vision is blurred, I have bruises all over my arms and legs, and I am without shelter. The only thing left to do is cry. So I do. I cry and cry, and my tears are like big heavy raindrops. I suddenly hear a twig snap, and I whip my head around. I see something, a human. Life! Maybe they can help me! I wipe my eyes and stand up. I run to where I saw the human. They are gone, and haven't even left a footprint. How did they do that? And most importantly, where did they go? I scream at no one in particular, just because I'm mad. Then I hear it. The most beautiful sound in the world. A footstep. I try to figure out where the sound came from. It sounded like it came from above me, but that makes no sense. I feel my head turning up anyway. The tree above me looks perfectly normal, but my vision is still blurry, so I don't really know. I hear a rustling sound come from the tree, and right as I look up, something big and heavy falls on me. From what I can make out, it's a girl of about twelve. She is breathing hard and looks scared. She has short wavy red hair. Her blue eyes are very big, and she is quite thin, though she feels quite heavy. She is wearing brown shorts and a black tank top. Her skin has been slathered with wet dripping mud. There are some leaves stuck to the mud. She hops out of my arms and tries to run away. I reach out my arm and grab her. I pull her back.

"Where did you come from?" I ask her. She just stares at me. I ask another question

"Are there other people here?" She nods

"Are you capable of actually speaking to me?" She shakes her head.

"Why?" I ask, though she probably cannot answer me. She shrugs.

"Take me to the other humans." I command of her. She nods and starts walking. I follow her. We walk for what seems to be about 30 minutes until we come to a clump of trees. The girl starts to climb up one, and so do I. When we reach the top, the girl jumps back down. So do I, confused. She keeps on walking until we reach another clump of trees. She climbs one, while I wait at the bottom. When she has been up for a while, I follow. My vision is still blurry. On top of the tree sits a bunch of girls.

"Hi Sheryl!" One of them says " Who's this? A new girl?" 'Sheryl' nods. The other girl waves at me and starts to explain.

" So pretty much, we all one day woke up in here, and we, like, didn't know what was going on. And pretty much we all lost one sense or ability that day. I lost my sense of touch, so I, like, can't feel pain or anything and it's actually awesome but can be dangerous. Sheryl here lost the ability to speak. Anyway, now we just kinda live here. What sense or ability have you lost?" I am really shocked at all the words. I haven't heard someone speak other than my one in a while.

" Uh...I think I lost my sight?" I answer, " Um.. also... why is Sheryl covered in mud?" Everyone looks at me like I'm an idiot.

"For camouflage..." One girl says " It's dangerous out there. It's why we stay in the trees. So they can't get us." What? Who's they? What's going on? I start to feel dizzy. My head hurts and my heart is thumping hard. My vision disappears completely and I black out. 
Kiera Hackett

grade 5

Ow

I glanced up from my thoughts for a second to see a ball coming at me. "Get out of the way!" Someone shouted. I started to take a step but it was too late. I blacked out. The last thing I remember from that point was waking up around with my team around me and my coaches and parents saying, "Syd, Sydney wake up." My eyes fluttered open. Ow my head was throbbing with pain. "Uh-huh." I said using half the voice I usually used. "Syd are you OK?" a voice said. "You got hit pretty bad." "You have a concussion." That was a voice I recognized, it was my best friend Lily. We had known each other for ten years and we had an infinite amount to go. I f there was anyone I wanted here right now it was her. I tried sitting up and I felt a restraint almost like I was strapped down. I was having trouble seeing things, everything was blurry. So I lay down in bed and told my mom exactly how I felt. I wanted her to know word for word so that I could be cured. Just then I heard footsteps coming into my room. My mom was saying something along the lines of hello doctor. Then there were footsteps going out of the room and a voice saying only family can stay from this point. "Lily." I groaned "I want Lily." Okay sweetheart, Lily can stay. The doctor grudgingly agreed . My parents walked outside to talk with the doctor and I was with Lily now. She said I needed sleep and I closed my eyes for about twenty minutes before I fell asleep. During that time I heard some familiar voices saying I might not make it and that the concussion results were pretty bad. I burst into tears along with my mom and dad as they came rushing in for hugs. I asked the doctor if there was anything that he could do and he said yes. My heart practically grew wings. The only thing was untested open head surgery. They would cut open my head and move some of my nerves so that the damaged part of my brain would work. All my parents and I wanted was for me to live so we agreed. My surgery was happening December tenth two days before my birthday and today was December ninth. I was horrified. The time was finally here and I was in the hospital room strapped to the table. My general surgeon came in and he didn't talk much but he seemed nice. Me gave me anesthesia and I was out like a light. After the surgery I woke up with a huge pain towards the back of my head. but all in all I was fine. After five minutes of talking with my family I needed X-rays to make sure it worked. It did we all rejoiced and from then on I had the coolest stories to tell.

Ryan Kramberg

grade 6

Shadows of the Dungeon

A heavy weariness overtook me. It was a struggle to get up. My legs felt like two wooden logs. All the blood rushed to my head and the pain behind my eyes was intense. I finally managed to get up and visualize what was around me. Nothing made any sense. What was happening to me?

It was all very dark and blurry, I felt like the shadows of the dungeon were watching me. I felt my way around the room and got to a corner. Then I sat down on the stone ground, from there I could take a good look at my surroundings. I saw human bones on the floor and engraved on the walls. There were also roaches and mice running on the ground. Drops of water were coming from one of the cracks in the wall. My throat felt like sandpaper. I ran to the water and drank as much as I could. Suddenly the water stopped. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, and fell to the floor feeling dizzy and dreadful. My stomach was burning inside, like the embers in a fire. I vomited all over the cold stone floor. I was losing control of all my senses! Voices inside my head were giving me a daunting feeling. Someone or something was grabbing at my shoulders and legs. I felt myself being dragged across the floor. Everything went black.

When I awoke, I was strapped down to a long wooden plank. I heard a strange whining noise and turned to see some sort of wheel with sharp steel blades along the edges. The blades were slowly moving towards me, coming closer and closer. I started to panic, sweat was pouring down my face. The blades were now two feet away. I look around frantically for anything to cut the ropes. There was a knife on the floor below me. Tempting me to reach for it, if only I could.

I struggled with the rope on my right arm, it had some give. I wiggled and pulled desperately trying to free my hand. My arm came free! The blades were now only one foot away! I felt its icy breath on my skin. I swiftly reached for the knife and cut myself free from the ties. The wheel was just inches from my face.

I put the knife in my pocket and look around. I hear a bang, I looked behind me and saw that the wheel cut straight through the wooden plank. I lean back on the wall and felt something pushing back. Suddenly a trap door released under my feet. I went down a small shoot until I hit the ground under me.

I found myself in a dark corridor with a few torches hanging on the wall. The torches had faces on them like the souls of everyone that had died there. I walked down the corridor looking around. The faces on the torches were looking at me. I tried to look away but they were tormenting me. I saw two guards coming down the hall behind me. I went down some stairs that led to another smaller corridor. I heard someone speaking, I saw a door with a little hole on the top, so I peeked through. There was a person inside humming along to a song. He looked up at me but did not say a word. I asked him if he knew a way out of the dungeon. He just pointed to the direction of the exit. I thanked him and hurried to the exit.

When I got to the exit I saw two guards. They had no armor on so I took out the knife from my pocket. I had a bad feeling inside me. I was scared and overpowered by the guards but I took the knife out of my pocket and murdered them. I found a key in one of the guard's pockets and opened the door. I opened the door very slowly, on the meere edge of my eye I saw sunlight for the first time in a couple of days. There were many more guards outside than inside. I took a deep breath in and out.

I started running, running as fast as I could. I was breathless and weak, after having very minimal food and water. I heard a loud horn and saw many men coming after me. They were telling me to stop but I did not listen.I tripped on a rock and fell down on the ground but I got up and kept on running. There was wind blowing on my face but it could not slow me down. Suddenly I came up to a cliff, I did not know what to do. I had nowhere to go, I was paralyzed with fear. I saw jagged rocks below with a fierce current of waves. Then I heard a different type of noise. I looked to my right and saw...
Lila Gimbel

grade 5

The Flaming Hands of Death

I tried to stand up, my head aching from the agonizing pain of hearing water drip for hours. I clutched my head, thinking back to the happy memories of the rainy days I spent with my young daughter, which only motivated me more to get out of this horrible dungeon. I felt my foot slide off the slippery stone as I reached for the ground. I heard a loud "smash" as I hit my sore head on the hard ground and tried to grab onto air to save my life. I fell for what seemed like days, but was really only seconds. I knew my body was going to rot in the death black dungeon that had been my home for the past eight months. Finally, my body submerged in ice cold water, and my legs went numb. For a minute it was peaceful, but then my icy cold, feet hit the concrete ground and I heard two loud "cracks".

I attempted to clutch both of my weak and crippled feet, while trying to swim to the surface. I held my breath until I couldn't anymore. I gasped for air and I heard June scream "Daddy no!" just as she did when they took her away. Wait, I wasn't there when they took her away. How come... My memory was interrupted when my head somehow bobbed above the surface, and I cursed god for not just letting me die and escape these horrible tortures. Purely out of instinct, I swam until I reached the side of the dungeon, and tried not to think back to the memories of teaching my sweet little girl how to swim in our little port town. I wanted to cry, scream, or yell, to tell the world of the horrible things they did to my daughter, but I knew too well that yelling would not free me of this horrid place.

I swung my arm around me to determine how wide this circular pool of death was. My arm did not hit anything, so the diameter must have been greater than two feet, about the length of my arm. My arms and legs started to get tired from treading water for hours. I felt along the wall for something to hang onto. My body started to sink and I knew it was now or never. I threw my hands into the wall, gripping the cold, scaly surface. I managed to hold on for a minute, but then my hand fell from the wall, and back into the water. I clawed at the wall, but there was nothing to hold onto, so I sank back into the water, too tired to keep my head above the surface.

I was welcome to death, knowing that I would never get out of this horrid place, and that I would only get a chance of seeing my dear June again if I died. I had given up on all hope of survival. I felt crazy. I heard the tapping of tiny feet and the screams of people being tortured but I knew I wasn't insane, it was only my capturers who were. They are the insane ones who came up with these crazy ideas of how to make death more horrible. They should be the ones in this dungeon. Horrors beyond hell lay ahead of me. Horrors I couldn't even imagine.

I sank further and further, and I still scraped my hand along the wall for anything, even the smallest indentation or latch to hold on to. I felt the wall go in the smallest bit, and I clung onto it. There was the loudest of sounds as a circular object sunk down into the water. The water began to drain and the feeling of hope, that I had only experienced a few times in my life, grew inside my heart. I swung my foot into the spot where I assumed there would be a hole.

Half of my wounded foot smashed into a hard material while the other half didn't hit anything. Suddenly, a large object from behind me pushed me into the emptiness and I quickly hurtled to what I hoped was my death. Memories appeared in my brain like destruction from fire. Like insanity from knowledge. I remember the last day with her. The last good day of my life, the day before my whole world turned upside down.

I was told that she was going to her first day of primary school, as every child does at age three. I told her to savour this education, because it was the only one she was going to get. I walked her out to a very pale man, who was waiting to take her. She looked somewhat frightened, but I thought nothing of it at the time. She left for school and I left for work, teaching secondary school. After a tedious day of work I went home to find my wife crying with June in her lap.

Wait... it couldn't have been June. June was the one she was crying about. Who was she holding when she told me that she was dead. Who was the one who died? If it wasn't June who was it? Does that mean... no it can't. But that was the only possible way. She's must be alive. They never took her at all. I was imagining it the whole time? Then why am I here? Why am I being punished? What happened next? My mind was a blur, and all my thoughts were turned upside down.

They thought I was insane, they thought it was caused by the disease. I'm crazy... I'm crazy... I'm crazy... they said, they are the only crazy ones. They put me here because of fear but their fear only grew, just like how the feeling of hope grew inside me until I had a reason to live. "Clonk" I hit the rock hard wall in front of me and once again began to fall.

This time it was quicker. I fell onto the ground almost immediately with a "thump". At least this room wasn't pitch black so I could see what was ahead of me. I yelped as I immediately identified a Brown Recluse, the most venomous spider known of by man, crawled up my foot. I yelled and yelled, but that would not help me forget the horrible memories of that deadly spider that made me an orphan, that ruined my childhood. I had to decide whether to stay here and slowly die, or to take my chances and go on to the next horror which lay ahead of me, which might lead to escape. I took my chances and kept going, I took another step forward and I saw an opening.

I scurried through only to find more deadly spiders. I should've stayed behind. I should've let myself slowly die there, let my corpse slowly rot in that horrible dungeon I called my home. I crawled along the floor of the room, but this time I could see what I was doing. The ability to see my surrounding soon disappeared as the room fell pitch black, and a shiver went down my spine.

I felt burning arms on my bare flesh that pulled me to the ground and told me, without words, that I should have died before. The flaming hands of death ruthlessly threw me onto the ground and soon madness wasn't the only thing holding me down. Huge metal buckles that almost crushed my body lay on top of my chest. I heard footsteps as the carrier of death left. It didn't seem so bad, in that split second of nothing it didn't seem so bad. But that lovely second of content soon passed.

I heard a gong sound once as what felt like hundreds of spiders dropped down onto me. Did they know that these were the vicious creatures that killed my parents, did they know that it wasn't just natural causes? They couldn't have known, my parents died at home, and nobody, except for me, ever knew. Wait, I did tell one person, my good friend, Jon Bishop, but he died the next day, or so I was told. The spiders, creeping up from every corner, did what they did to my parents, but quicker.

I squirmed, I struggled, but I could not escape. I lost track of how many spiders sunk their sharp teeth into my pale flesh. Blood poured from inch deep holes in my body. I had to decide whether to fight, and hold on to life longer or to join my parents and possibly June. I choose death, the easy way out. I let the spiders kill me quickly, the "less painful" way. I closed my eyes, and I never opened them again.
Claudia Goodwin

grade 5

Red Roses

I had gone some ten or twelve steps in this manner when the torn hem of my robe caught my heel, causing me to stumble till I fell violently face forward. Down and down I went forgetting everything in my past, when all of a sudden the last glimpse of blood red roses reminded me of how it all started.

It was around two months ago when I was working in my shop, finishing one of my maps. If you haven't guessed, I was a map maker. I had just finished the key when I thought of a brilliant idea! I had heard that some people thought the world was round. It could be true, for no one has proved that the world is flat. Just then I went right to work, I was going to make a globe! A couple weeks passed when I was finally finished! I went to the square to show off my work. When I got there the only spot left was one right next to an old lady selling roses.

I've always hated roses ever since I was a little boy. It must have been when I was eight or nine, I was in bed fast asleep when I woke up in shock. I was having a horrible dream where all I could see were roses, the same ones on the walls of my parents room, only the ones in my dream were covered with blood. I ran to my parents' room as fast as I could. When I got there my mother was standing over my father's dead body with a knife in her hand. I don't remember much about that night, except running and running far away until a tall man with jet black hair stopped me and said these two words I will never forget, "stay calm." He cared for me for about two weeks before adopting me. When I turned fifteen we said our goodbyes and I set out looking for a job. That's when I settled on being a map maker, I had been running my entire life not knowing where I was or where I was going. I thought it would be great to know! To this day, I've been making maps, large ones, small ones, and now even round ones!

It was now getting dark and people started packing up. The old lady had left but her roses were still there, staring coldly back at me. Time passed until I was about to leave. All of a sudden guards came from all corners of the square, getting closer and closer to me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the mysterious and evil grinning face of the old lady selling roses. The next thing I knew I was locked in a room, no not a cell, a room. It had a nice green carpet, a large bed, a desk, and... rose wallpaper! This room looked exactly like my parents' room when I was a kid! Only there was something different. First, there was no door and second, on the desk was a globe, not just any globe, my globe! I was so confused, I thought I was just seeing things. I was feeling sick, partly from the roses but mostly from being in my old house not knowing how I got there and how I was going to get out. I collapsed onto the bed and fell right asleep.

When I woke up something felt different. The bed was as hard as a rock, the room was dark, and I could not move. All of a sudden candles lit the room. It took me a second to open my eyes, for I was being blinded by the light. I looked around the room and noticed that my globe was gone! I was about to get up but something was stopping me. I was strapped down to some sort of hard object, not my bed. I tried to move my head to see what I was strapped to, but all I could see was the side of... my globe! I could not believe it! All of a sudden it started moving, faster and faster. After a while I passed out only remembering a big thud.

When I woke up I could barely move, for I was badly wounded. The strangest part was the circular burns all over me. I didn't know what to do. As much as I tried to stay calm, I couldn't. It was as if something was taking over me! I got the chills when I saw my globe sitting on the desk right where it was before. I closed my eyes hoping everything would turn back to normal. I opened them, everything was the same except for a tall pitcher of water right in front of me! I was so thirsty my mouth felt like a desert! Without thinking I gulped down the entire pitcher. Just as I was licking the last drops I saw the faintest outline of a rose at the bottom of the pitcher. I quickly dropped it to the floor making it shatter into a thousand pieces. It took me about a minute to realize I was cut and my eye was gushing with blood! I slowly limped onto the bed where I saw blood stains on the sheets, I looked up to see my mother standing over me with a knife in her hand. I was so frightened I could not move, the knife in my mother's hand was coming down at me.

Black, is all I could see. I was waiting and waiting wondering what would happen next. All of a sudden the room lit up and on the rug were about twenty chameleons shooting poison at me. Every time I was hit I would get a burn in the shape of a ring, just like the ones I had before! That's not all, it took me a while to see that the thorns on the the rose wallpaper had come out and the walls were coming closer and closer to me! I also noticed where the blood that had dripped from my eye was melting the floor, leaving a big ditch! It got worse. I started seeing things again! My mother was standing in the corner being pushed forward by the wall. I turned around trying to ignore it, sitting right in front of me was my father's dead body! I was so startled I jumped off the bed, and started walking around the room to try to find a way out! I had gone some ten or twelve steps in this manner when the torn hem of my robe caught my heel, causing me to stumble till I fell violently face forward. Down and down I went catching the last glimpse of a rose. THUD.
Lily Greenberg

grade $

Roof

"Promise."

We are sitting on her roof. It is grey and old and crumbling, just like the rest of her house; a Colonial wonder planted in the mist of Suburbia like a sore thumb. The roof is our secret place, to go and scream and blow bubbles at midnight.

She stares at me.

"What?"

I look at her. Her eyes are deep, a honey brown that you could just fall into. The starlight illuminates the right half of her startled face, freckles warm against her cold skin.

I take a breath.

"Promise that you'll stay with me."

She turns away, tears welling in her eyes.

"I can't do that."

"Eli."

I snap my head up. Peter has his hand on my forearm, frowning.

"Eli, are you okay?" I nod, throat tight.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

He squeezes my forearm, studies me for a moment, and nods, turning towards the car window. I look at his face for a moment. His face, usually full of cheer, is dark, and his eyes are deep. Like hers.

I choke back vomit and close my eyes.

When I open them, the dark blue van is pulling over to the curb. Next to my window is a sign reading "Sharonville County Church." Peter, with a squeeze of my hand, opens the door and leads me through. I follow like a rag doll, through a doorway and into a parlor.

The parlor is full of people, full of "my condolences" and "oh the poor family"s and "I'll bring over a casserole"s and I feel like I'm going to vomit again.

Because no casserole can erase everything that's happened.

Peter squeezes my hand, and I clutch onto it, leaning on him with my everything.

Peter leans into my ear. "Hey." he whispers, "The service is only an hour long. Then the speeches, and then it's over. Two hours. We can make two hours."

I feebly nod.

I would nod to anything at this point.

He leads me to a row of folding chairs and helps me sit down, never letting go of my hand as he plops down next to me. I peer at him. He looks so tired, the circles around his eyes pronounced and dark. He has been taking such good care of me that I forgot that he is hurting too. That he knew, too.

"Peter," I rasp, "how are you feeling?"

He turns to me, surprised for a moment, then laughs. He laughs and laughs until it turns into sobs.

His chest shakes and rocks as he cries, and, grimacing, he chokes out,

"I have no freaking idea."

The priest rises and begins to drone about "the love of God," but all I hear is

I stare at her, dread flooding through my chest. She buries her head in her arms, sniffling. I take her arm.

"Listen," I choke out, "I know stuff is rough right now. But it'll get better. And maybe we'll have to wait a while. But I will wait with you. I promise..."

"How do you know?"

She turns her head up to look me.

"How do you know it will be better?"

I look at her for a moment. Her eyes are deep and dark and sad.

"Because I refuse to believe otherwise."

She laughs. A scornful, defeated laugh that scares me to see coming from her. She continues laughing and stares up at the sky.

"My future is nothing."

"Amen"

The resounding chorus snaps my attention as the people around me, dressed in near identical attire, ascend from their seats and head to the back of the parlor. Peter gently nudges me up, and I follow his lead, my robot brain following the simple commands he sends.

Stand up.

Move to the back.

Open the door.

Find another foldout chair.

Sit down.

Take the plate.

Put the food in mouth.

Hand away plate.

Look at platform.

Try not to scream...

"Eli, did you here me?"

Peter is staring at me intently, a worried look on his face.

"I said it's your turn to give a speech. You said you'd read a poem. You like those, right?" He pauses. "Are you feeling well enough to do it..."

I stand up. He nods sullenly, and make my way to the platform.

I look out at the people. They who come bearing empty condolences and casseroles. Who didn't even realize. Who didn't even try.

I take her hand.

Her tears look silver in the sky.

For a moment, she is the universe,

My universe

And everything I knew to be true shatters.

"I'm not at peace, Eli," she whispers. She looks at me, a look of wide eyes and longing and

"Emptiness. Nothingness. That will be my peace."

Someone coughs.

And for the first time in a month, I begin to cry.

"I'm sorry" I cry

"Don't worry about me"

and I cry

"I love you"

and I cry.

I will never stop.

The crowd shifts and shuffles, uncomfortable. The priest tries to take my arm, and I punch him in the face. The crowd gasps as Peter rushes me into a bathroom. He closes the stall behind us and looks at me.

"Eli..."

I clutch him, bury my face into his chest, and scream. I scream and scream until my voice cracks, and I can't anymore.

Then I just sob.

I have always loved writing poems. It is my outlet, so to speak; how I say the things that cannot be said by other means. So I thought about writing a poem.

But I'm afraid that if I write her one now, it will sound too much like the suicide note she did not leave,

Singed,

Audrey

Bo Goergen

grade 6

The Screams

I woke up tied down to a large cold metal board, my joints aching. As I took in my surroundings, it came to me that the room was pitch black and silent besides from a faint ticking sound getting louder by the second. All of a sudden, a candle flickered to life, along with over a dozen more. I finally saw the huge, menacing grandfather clock that was now generating a noise as loud as a fly hovering next to one's ear. I noticed that my ropes were slowly getting tighter and I looked at the clock to see if it would give anything away. After five minutes, I realized the inescapable truth, that every minute the ropes that restrained me were getting tighter.

I felt a single bead of sweat run down my face as the pressure increased on my stomach. While tied down, I recalled every single hellish and horrific experience of my life, including the death of my only son, that occurred one year ago. I had watched painfully as the inquisitors tied him down and stabbed him in the back. A sharp pain in my legs brought my mind back to reality. All the feeling in my legs was lost and blood was rushing to my head. I cried out in a failed attempt to acquire some help.

I need to stay calm, I need to stay calm, I thought repeatedly. I looked around and noticed that the rope was thinner at the point where the metal met the rope. I tried to move my arm slightly so that I could pull on the rope. I attempted to do this with my entire arm but had no luck. I then tried moving just my wrist and grabbed onto the thin part of the rope and pulled.

The rope snapped like a whip, lashing out and hitting me on the forearm. Even though I was left with a shooting pain in my left arm I was free from the clock and it's ticking. I stood up and walked straight into a torch-lit hallway and down about half a dozen steps. As I strolled down the steps I recounted all the good times in my life, attempting to cheer myself up. My mind returned to the night my father and I were sitting in a field staring up at the moon and enjoying the moment. Ever since that day I have believed the moon was a good omen for things to come.

However, at the moment I was captured by the Inquisition, and standing in a dimly lit chamber. I turned around and tried to walk back up the stairs, but a huge wooden door slammed over the entrance to the staircase. Suddenly all the torches in the room went out, making the room pitch black. I woke up to find myself tied down yet again. The long hours I lay there I cannot say but I knew that I was going to die if I did not have food.

How did I get here? Why are they doing this to me and my kind? My last memories of how I arrived here were that the inquisitors dragged me through a door then set me down on the ground. I heard them talking to each other about what the door they were about to go through symbolized. All I heard was something about a lion and how it symbolized death to the enemy. I wished that they had just killed me right there on the spot.

"Just get on with it!" I shouted into the black abyss that surrounded me. But then I realized: I am not going to die. I will do this for my murdered family and all the other countless Jews who have perished. The room was still pitch black but in what I thought was the corner of the dungeon there was a faint glow. I heard rustling to my left, like the wind passing through a bush on a cold fall day. The glow spread throughout the dungeon and to my left I saw a huge steak, just inside reach. I was about to ravenously eat the steak, when I caught sight of a note lying right on top of the meat. It read:

"Dear filthy prisoner, here is a gift to you. But be warned, this food might be poisoned. Signed, The Inquisition."

My eyes darted back and forth between the seemingly safe and protein rich steak and the dark, foreboding note that lay next to it. I knew this was all part of their master plan, their flawless plan. I figured out there was only one thing to do, fight back, fight to avenge my son's death. I grabbed the meat and sunk my teeth into it. Nothing happened. I took another bite, still nothing. As I began to smile, I felt a tremendous amount of pain in my head. Suddenly, everything went dark.

I awoke to find there was no pain anywhere in my body. Just then I noticed that a man had opened the door to the chamber, closed it, and walked to the corner of the room. I quickly dismissed this from my mind, thinking he was a janitor, because I wanted to believe I was out of the dungeon. Lying on a soft, blood-red couch in a large chamber, I stood up and felt a cold hard metal object beneath me. I grasped it and held it up to my face. As soon as I saw it I was confused. Why would this be here? Did someone break me out of the dungeon? The cold metal object was a knife.

All of my questions were answered after I read the second note. It said:

"Do not let your memories haunt you. But if they do, do not be afraid to use the knife we gave you. You can end all your pain and suffering with this object."

Then I heard the scream. It hit me like the strongest gale wind I ever felt. The pain, the memories, the ones I have tried to hide for so long came flooding back. The deaths of my son, my wife, my father, my mother and all the others who have passed. Shrill shrieks, aghast howls, high pitched screams. I was blinded by the darkness in me, by the pain of those who have left me. But I will not yield. With knife in hand I screamed, ¨I will never bow to you, you imposters, you wrongdoers. God will avenge us.¨

With a surge of new found strength fueled by anger and pain, I lunged at the inquisitor who was putting his key in the door, attempting to flee. He had tortured children just so they would haunt me, and because of this and all his other crimes, I took my knife and plunged it into his neck.

I took the key from his hand and opened the door. Looking around I saw a heavy brass door to my left, ran to it, unlocked it, and ran out. This door led to another chamber which had many weapons of torture hanging from the wall. I noticed that there were three doors, each one very different. The one directly in front of me was metal, the one to the left of me was oak but had a huge door knob which was designed to look like a lion, and the third and final door on the right was a huge circle with no door knob at all. I tried to remember which door they dragged me through to enter the dungeon. Suddenly, it all came clear. I knew that I had to go through the door with the lionshead. I opened the heavy door which led me to a small hallway. Running all the way to the end, I opened another wooden door, and finally my bare feet felt the soft texture of grass. It was night in the forest of Spain, and as I looked up, I saw the moon and the stars, and for an instant I thought I saw my father's face in the sky.
Liz Pollock

grade $

Is Black the Official Color of Madness?

I had gone some 10 or 12 steps in this manner when the torn hem of my robe caught my heel causing me to stumble 'till I fell violently face forward. As I raised my head I felt blood seeping into my mouth. My eyes were closed and my mouth was open as I rolled around in the cell. I tried to remember why I was here, but my mind was cloudy and the pain in my head was overwhelming me. As I sat up the cell seemed to spin. I raised myself slowly to my feet, but my head slammed into a large object. I slowly walked around the perimeter of the room in the light of whatever my head had it. I circled the object a few times, or whatever I thought were a few.

After what I thought had been a minute or two, something fell from the object, and I went to see what it was. It was about the size of a small child's hand. Underneath the small object's reddish-orange glow it seemed to be black. I reached down to pick it up, but as soon as I did, I regretted it. The moment it touched my hand there was a crackling noise. It felt as if someone had just held a torch onto my hand. I dropped it and screamed. The fiery object lay steaming on the floor. Flakes of its outer layer were peeling off as the fire completely encompassed the small sphere. There were only two things that could have started this small fire, coal and wood, and it definitely was not wood. As I rolled around on the floor my face stopped right in front of a wall. Once my eyelids fluttered open I noticed that there was a drawing etched into the stone wall. I could tell that there was something else carved into the wall, but all I could make out was, w-tch out -and torna-o. I was perfectly quiet for a moment. A switch flipped in my brain, the etchings were a message. My whole life I had heard of the inquisitions torture devices, and now I knew there was one about to fall upon me. Then I noticed that the wall was covered in similar images. My scream of fright broke the silence. I thought I was going crazy. My eyes began to see sandy fog as I drifted into unconsciousness.

When I awoke I could tell I was in a different room. The large object was gone, but the room was quite bright. The sun was coming through cracks in the walls. I sat up and surveyed the room more closely. As I stood up the sound of my feet echoed through the chamber. The pale cold ground stung my feet. As I wandered over to a wall I spotted a pile of sand. As I picked it up and rubbed it through my fingers I remembered the drawings in the previous chamber. The memory was blurry at first, I was very confused, but then the thoughts started coming in full streams. Worrying thoughts began pelting my mind, "What if I am captured in a sand tornado, or drown in an ocean of sand!" My brain howled in fright. All the thoughts swirling in my head made me dizzy. As I stumbled around the room I bumped into a wall and scooched to the floor. I moaned, without realizing the wall behind me began slowly slide away from my back.

As I fell into the new room I felt my arm plunge into a sea of sand. Though dizziness still overwhelmed me, I managed to get to my feet. Once I was standing I kept my eyes closed until I could stand up without falling. I opened them and looked around and saw a long room filled with sand piled at least 5 feet high. At the end of the room was a table filled with delicious food and drinks. My growling stomach and parched tongue was what set my first foot into the deep sand. Unconsciously, I set foot before foot into the quicksand. I walked in this manner for a few steps until my foot hit something unexpected. I wasn't sure what it was, but when I lifted my foot out of the sand, it was covered in blood.

I was so wrapped up in my foot that I didn't realize I had sunk into the quicksand. The pain of my foot and the quicksand all at the same time was too much for me to handle. I lowered myself into the sand, ready to give up. At that point half of my body was submerged in the sand. What I had just decided were sharp stalagmites beneath my feet were impaling my thighs. Everything started to get fuzzy. I could feel my body slowly giving way.

All of a sudden my body began squirming and my arms flailed around looking for something to grab. Finally, they found something, it was a spike. In the process of grabbing the spike my hand was stabbed. My hand now hurt as well and there was blood everywhere. The world came back into focus and I hoisted myself to the surface of the sand. Something inside me propelled me forward towards the table of food. I leaped across the sand impaling my feet as I went.

Finally, I reached the table of food. My body fell to the ground tears streaming down my face. I lay on the floor and closed my eyes. I knew I would recover as long as there was nothing else I had to face. Slowly, I fell asleep. When I awoke I was still in the same spot, but all the food was gone from the table. All that was left on the table were a few pails of water. I stumbled up and grabbed a pail. I poured the first pail into my mouth and down my face. The refreshing water was calming for me. The second pail was much larger, and I poured it all over my body. As soon as the first drop of liquid from that pail touched me I screamed, the liquid wasn't water, it was lemon juice. The pain was so overwhelming that I thought I would faint. There was a strong stinging pain in all of my wounds. I screamed for what I thought might have been minutes on end. My eyes rolled back in my head and I began murmuring nonsense. My brain was turning somersaults in my head. My tongue stroked the outer edge of my teeth, observing their smoothness. I was going crazy from the pain. Once I could look straight I hallucinated a man rolling his eyes in his and shouting,

"I'm blacking out! I'm blacked out! I just blacked out! Help me! Please!" My mind was telling me, "And I thought I was crazy!" Then I began laughing hysterically and letting out high pitched screams. I was going so crazy that I finally blacked out.

When everything came back into focus, I couldn't remember what had previously happened. I limped up in pain and noticed I was in a long passageway. The ceiling was filled with long cracks. The cracks looked as if they were damp, and some liquid had recently fallen from them. I hobbled to what I thought led to nowhere. The ground below me was a dark reddish stone, and it was filled with small dents and ragged edges. The hallway was skinny, probably two or three people could have stood side by side in it. I walked on and on for hours. The soles of my feet were raw and bloody ,and my knees began to buckle. I thought my legs would fall off if I walked any further. My chest heaved as I stumbled on Finally, I sat down for a few minutes and then began walking again. I went on like this for a few hours until something dripped from the ceiling.

The liquid drop landed on the floor leaving a small indent. My jaw clenched in self defence. Another drop fell from a crack onto my hand. I flinched, but began walking at a faster pace. My hand ached and the skin was bubbling slightly. My eyes looked straight ahead and I began running. The substance that I now presumed was the recently discovered substance called acid, was now falling in steady streams from above my head. My skin was now bubbling all over and I wanted to sit, but I kept running. My face paced run had quickened to a sprint. The liquid was now gushing from all around me. My feet were flicking up and down so fast, that they barely ever touched the ground. All I was thinking about was running. I kept my eyes ahead and tried to ignore the increasing pain. Finally, the ceiling gave way and the acid was free falling onto me. All I could see was the clear liquid that encompassed me. Suddenly, I saw an exit door. It was glowing because of the light behind it. I ran, screaming the whole way towards the door. I flung open the door, jumped in, closed the door, and fell to the ground.

I expected cool floors, but they were sizzling hot. An ear piercing scream left my lips. I looked up and saw a ten foot tall hourglass with coal spilling out of it. An alarm began beeping It may have been my mind but I wasn't sure. It germinated through my body until I was yelling nonsense and letting my tongue hang from my mouth. Coal was falling onto me from the hourglass. My skin was still bubbling, and it was now turning reddish orange from the heat and from the blood at the surface. My physical state was terrible, but my mental state was worse. I could tell that I was only minutes away from death. I thought about the acid rain, but mind was in such a conundrum that I lost my train of thought every few seconds. Finally, I opened my parched lips and squaked,

"I'm blacking out! I'm blacked out! I just blacked out!"

Ruby Jones

grade 5

Untitled

What if you got dreadfully sick? What if you lived in a world where no one got sick? What if this meant death? My name is Andrea Johnson, and I have been asking myself that question for the past three hours. It's the year 2032. Everyday I take a pill to stop any sickness. I have a healthy diet. I don't know what happened. I look around. Everything looks so unused. Probably because it hasn't been used since 2018. I think about what has happened. The doctor seemed nice enough, even though it felt like he shoved the needle in a bit hard. My eyes start to droop. I drift into a deep sleep.

When I wake up, the doctor is standing right next to my bed.

" How are you doing?" He asks in a tone that sounds like he really couldn't care less.

" Good. I don't feel sick at all." I answer, and smile. The doctor scowls.

"I'll take care of that." He mumbles under his breath.

" What?" I ask.

" Nothing" he replies, and leaves the room.

The next day there's another girl in my hospital room. She says her name is Anna. She is also very confused about how she got sick.

" Somethings not right." She states. I agree. We need to do something, fast. We are starting to hatch a plan when the doctor walks in holding a needle.

" New medicine!" He announces. He injects us both in the arm. After a few minutes I begin to feel dizzy. I cough and sneeze. I feel hot, then cold. So does Anna.

"Something tells me that that wasn't medicine." Anna thinks aloud. She gets out of her bed, and I follow, both of us stumbling a little from the not-medicine. We peek into other rooms and see more patients. How strange! We keep on walking until we see a room marked ' Doctors ONLY' It should really be marked doctor only, since I have only seen the one doctor here. We step into the room. I see a table with tons of vials on it. All the vials contain strange liquid. We explore more when we hear a voice.

" What exactly is going on here?" Anna and I whirl around to face the doctor. Anna places her hand on her hip and remarks,

" Shouldn't we be asking the same of you?" The doctor's face turns bright red. He starts to explain,

" You might not know this, but the earth is getting overcrowded. The only way we can fix this is to start killing people off. The government doesn't realize this yet, so I have taken matters into my own hands."

" You'll get arrested for this!" Anna yells at him.

" Not if no one figures it out." He smiles.

" But we figured it out!" Anna points out.

" But you can't tell anyone if you're dead." Realization dawns on me, then terror. He splashed some liquid at us, and it gets in our mouth. My heart stops beating, then Anna's. This is the end. 
Luca Vernhes

grade 6

The Death Crevice

When I woke up, I was lying on the ground in some sort of underground cavern. I got up and walked slowly because it was dark. I had gone ten or twelve steps in this manner when the torn hem of my robe caught my heel causing me to stumble until I fell violently face forward. I struggled back up, and felt my face for any injuries while I took stock of my surroundings. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my leg. It was a rat, the biggest rat I had ever seen who now scuttled away. I looked at the bite. To my surprise, it dripped green slime, oozing out of the wound like a full cup of water getting filled again. As I was wondering how I didn't hear the rat, I felt a drip of water on my nose. "Hello!" I yelled. Or at least I think I yelled it because I didn't hear anything. Then it hit on me. The drop of water too, but also an explanation. I was deaf, probably because of the bite. That is why I didn't hear the rat coming or my own voice. Then, feeling the wall, I pushed myself up onto a ledge and pushed on what I thought was a stone slab. After some effort, the stone finally gave way and fell on the ground releasing a rush of water. The water knocked me off the ledge, making me black out from the pain. When I woke up, I was on the slab looking up at the night sky.

When I pulled myself out of the hole, some people were talking in what looked like a graveyard, I couldn't be sure in the dark. I started to walk toward them saying what I think was "Hello. Do you have any food?" As soon as they saw me they sped away as if I had a deadly virus. As soon as I turned around, a flash of light caught my eye. I moved toward the flash and saw a middle aged man.

In sign language, he motioned "Come quick."

I scrambled to him and asked in sign language "Why do people run away from me? Who are you?"

He motioned "I'm Depha. Kid, you're supposed to be dead."

"Who? What? me? I signed in quick succession.

Depha motioned "A few months ago the Inquisitors came here with a body. It was you. You didn't move even when they put you in a hole and poured water over it. Ever since, there have been strange things happening. Giant mutated rats that traveled in packs running all over the place. Were in a Inquisition fort. The gate is manned by two guards. As one person, I couldn't get away. The guards seem scared of you. How about we escape?"

"I'm in." I motioned.

We silently began to creep forward until I could see the two guards with spears talking in front of the gate. Depha signed " Now! Run towards them!"

I started to jog toward the guards. As soon as they saw me, one of them dropped his spear and ran. The other started to try and throw his spear at me but my friend grabbed his arm and pushed higher and higher behind his back until he dropped his spear. My friend whispered something in the guards ears grabbed his keys and let him go. The guard bolted like the devil was at his tail. Depha unlocked the door and we jogged out into the night.

As soon as we saw the crevice, I began to have my doubts. So far everything had gone perfectly. But that crevice, something about it's size and depth terrified me. Even though it was probably only 6 feet across, to me it looked 15 feet across.

Depha motioned "Looks easy."

He ran and leaped across as gracefully as a cat and his feet scrambled for purchase on the wet ground. He motioned from the other side "Jump!" Before my feet even left the ground, I knew I wasn't going to make it. As I lifted into the air, my foot slipped and I fell. Suddenly, a hand caught me and threw me up onto the ledge on the other side where I tried to pull myself up. As I managed to get back on top I heard a high pitched scream. Depha had just slipped into the fissure! Then it hit upon me. He must of swung me up on to the other side but while doing that, he must of slipped and fell. I dropped to my knees and threw up. It was my fault Depha was dead. I looked over the edge and saw Depha's body land on the ground which broke and cut him.

When I finally got a hold of myself and stopped crying, I got up and started to walk. I don't know where I was walking, I was just using walking as a distraction from grief. After a couple hours of pushing forward, I finally arrived at a small village. I walked until I saw the market square. As soon as someone saw they shouted something and everything living left the street. Something was definitely wrong. Maybe as Depha said "Kid you're supposed to be dead." I spent the night on the street and scavenged for information and food. I managed to gather that this village was called Perusleroc which was where I think I lived. The fort I had been in had been called Sargon. From the signs on every block I managed to gather that I had probably "died" of a mysterious disease called Cancer, which would why the Inquisitors went to so many lengths to stop my escape, and why everybody was scared of me. The rats a received mutations from Charles Darwin who had discovered DNA. One thing was sure. They were looking for me to actually kill me.

For the night, I slept on the cold ground until I suddenly felt something cold under my neck. As my body struggled to get up someone whispered

"Don't move or I will kill you."

Obediently, I froze. I sat up suddenly, grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back as Depha had done until the person's sword dropped into my hand.

Then slashing my new sword in a menacing arc, I whispered "Leave." My voice deadly quiet.

Taking the hint, he ran away. I noticed something. I could hear. I wasn't deaf anymore! Being deaf must have been caused by the rat bite! I grinned until another man with a sword ran at me. I blocked his slash and body slammed him forward. Taking advantage of the moment, I bonked him on the head with the hilt of my sword and knocked him out. Without warning, a rat jumped out of the shadows and bit my sword hand. I kicked him away and looked at the wound. The world seemed quiet all of a sudden, because the wound was oozing green slime.

Slowly, I turned around. Seven rats had gathered and more were coming.Not thinking anymore, I turned and ran to the only place I could think of that might stop them. The fissure. Now followed by at least twenty rats, I struggled to remember any useful information from town. The rats were fast, loyal and would not stop until they had tracked down and killed their prey. All information being depressing, I continued to run until I saw the fissure. I turned around at the edge and saw no rats. Thinking myself to be out of danger, I turned back around when suddenly I felt the pain of many poisonous bites. My body fell into the fissure. As I was falling, my friend's words came back to me. "Kid, you're supposed to be dead."

Rania Challita

grade 6

Underground Garden

The sound of my limp body when it hit the ground echoed throughout the enormous cavern. I felt every inch of my chest hitting the ground with an agonizing pain that shot through my veins. I had walked in this direction for many days now, and still I found no trace of light or life. The eeriness of the darkness and silence made it harder and harder for me to move on; not knowing where I was going or if I was alone in there. Even though I was not trapped, I was still in prison, a one where I had one foot in the grave, a one where I was in purgatory. There was few things to torture me but still nothing to live for. Sleep was the only thing that would give me comfort, but even then, every few "days" I had a nightmare that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

I woke up to my daily meal of bread and water. I was on the brink of starvation every day. The pain in my body was shooting through, like an arrow that pierced my skin, over, and over again. I was ravenous and quickly ate the bread and drank the water. But as soon as I took a sip of the water I spat it out. It tasted like salt water! It didn't smell like that so I tasted it again. The water tasted normal, just like regular water. That was peculiar. I sat and pondered this for a moment, It was just my imagination, that's all. I knew had to keep walking, so I took a deep breath, and struggling, I walked into the darkness.

I had walked for some time now, and I paced myself so I would not tire out. I thought about why I was walking. I went nowhere in weeks of walking, what was the point!? But then I looked around and saw a very faint glimmer in the darkness not far ahead. It was the first trace of light I had seen in months and I was curious and I wanted to see what that shimmering thing was. Maybe a way out or a trap! Dozens of thoughts raced through my mind. I had to get a closer look. Shoving all the bad possibilities in the back of my mind, I sprinted towards it. I ran as fast as a dog on its four legs, almost with an excited jump to my steps.

As I approached the light I started to feel ill, as if the blood in my body was depleting. It didn't matter, though, I kept going. I saw that the light emitted from a small crack in the floor, and in that small crack, there was a bud of a red flower. It seemed as if the flower itself was glowing, but I couldn't be sure. I reached out to try to grab it but I didn't, because before I touched the flower, I fell to the ground, unconscious.

CRACK! I leaped to my feet and ran, I didn't know in what direction but I still ran. The sound of the rocks smashing and breaking echoed in my ears, the sound of disaster. I ran as fast as I could until the sound stopped. I looked around but saw no shimmer of light, no glowing in the distance. It had vanished. I tried to guess what had just happened but so many thoughts raced through my mind that I could not tell. I was curious but too frightened to go back. I tested one of my ideas of what had happened by throwing a rock in the direction I came. I waited to hear the rock hit the floor, but that never happened. I tried again but still no sound. I sat down for a few minutes, thinking.

I heard light footsteps in the distance, creeping closer and closer. I stayed calm even though I was terrified. Maybe it's the inquisitors or an animal or someone who will save me. It could've been anyone. It was sneaking closer and I knew I had to make a decision. I can face this person walking towards me or run into the distance into where my rock had not hit the ground. Grrrrr... An animal maybe? I reached out to feel for my pouch but instead of grabbing my pouch, I skimmed the surface of fur. The animal leaped at me! I ran fast in the other direction but in not more than my sixteenth stride, I felt no ground beneath my feet. I had tumbled right over the edge of a gorge. I only fell for about ten seconds but it felt much longer than that. I could feel my feet swinging in the air and my arms flailing. It felt as if I was flying. But as soon as it started, it was over.

I slapped the water and every inch of skin burned from the impact. It felt like my body was on fire. I was thankful, though, that I had landed in water. I was too afraid to open my eyes but I noticed that the black insides of my eyelids were red, as if light was shining through them! I opened my eyes to a garden of glowing flowers. I was still in a cavern but it was filled with light from the flowers, a very picturesque moment, beautiful in all ways. The flowers were red and glowing like the one I saw before, but these were huge, the size of me. They had thorns and a black liquid running from the thorns. I reached out to touch it, but once I touched it, a searing pain shot through my fingers, and streamed up my whole body! I quickly plunged into the water but that only made it worse. The pain faded after a few minutes but I could still remember the sensation like it was still happening. I stayed as far away as I could from the flowers and tried to make myself comfortable enough to sleep. Even though I was scared, I was weary and knew I needed sleep if I were to survive.

I woke up and stared at a flower, it was beautiful and elegant. Then reality struck me like a big boulder. I was trapped, in an endless prison. My quest for freedom was coming to an end, an end where Death's frigid icy hand would come and carry me away to hell.

I saw that my bread and water was waiting next to me. I reached out to drink the water but knocked it over instead. I tried to catch it but it was no use. The water poured all over the ground. I watched as it moved towards the flower. Almost like it was slithering, it crept on and on. The black dew was dripping from the thorns and I was curious to see what they would do if they touched. They finally reached each other and the most strange thing happened: The black liquid burned in the water at contact. Then it hit me, the reason it burned when I touched the liquid was because my skin was wet! I grabbed the pitcher from the ground, filled it with water and poured it on the thorns. The liquid burned up, the flower immediately started to wilt and the light was extinguished instantly.

I did this for many flowers, extinguishing the poison from them. This made me feel better inside and I knew why. I had been too focused to realize that I had been ill this whole time since I saw the small bud. The scent flowers made me ill, and when they wilted, they lost their ability to make humans sick. I felt energetic again.

I was ready to move on. I knew that there had to be a way out of here and since there is light, I could see. So that "night," I filled my pitcher with water and set off in the direction that had the most amount of flowers, hoping that it would lead me to a way out. I decided to mark the ground every hour with the direction I came from in case I ever needed to come back.

When I was digging my third mark on the ground, I hit something hard. Not a stone, though, it had a wooden texture. I dug faster and faster, but then I blacked out. That was the last I saw of that underground garden.

When I woke up my head was pounding and by chest was sore. Pain shot through my arm from a broken bone. I opened my heavy eyes to see where I was. I was in a corridor of sorts. It was longer than I could see, the walls were covered in spider webs and the only light was a torch every few yards. I struggled to get up. I slowly walked down the corridor. There seemed to be stairs leading to a door on the ceiling every thirty yards and I wanted to explore them but then a well-remembered sound came from the end of the corridor. It was the crack of thunder. I followed the sound up dozens of stairs and winding passages until I came to a cave.

I stood at the opening of the cave, I saw rain, felt rain and heard rain. I was ecstatic that I reached the outside world. I wanted to stay here and watch the rain but I knew I had to get as far away from here as possible. The guards probably already knew I was gone and we're looking for me this very moment. So I ran, I ran as fast as I could, as far as I could. I stopped every once in awhile to drink but kept moving.

It was dawn and I thought it would be best to sleep now. I found a berry bush to eat and then found a group of plants to sleep in that were away from sight. So I slept there until the night came again.

The night had come and the sky had cleared. I could hear the wolves howling in the distance and the call of the hunting owls. I saw the moon for the first time in months. The fresh smell of the wild encompassed me in a blanket of joy, but I knew I had to keep going.

I ran towards the smell of the ocean, hoping I could catch a boat away. I heard the hooves of the men's horses not far behind so I picked up the pace. Finally, I got to the water but there turned out to be a cliff between me and the water. There was no port on this bank either. I was trapped.

The guards reached me in a matter of minutes. Their huge horses pounded their hooves. The men were here to bring me back to my prison.

"Tell us what you know about him!" A large man on a horse bellowed.

" I know not of what you are asking me about!" I lied.

"This is your last chance!"

I didn't know what to do. If I told them what I knew, I would die and so would all of my family. But if I went back, I'll suffer endless torture. One thought did cross my mind, though. The frigid hands of death will sweep me into the heavens for this.

"I leave you in this world, cursed for all eternity!" I screamed, and I tumbled over the edge. I heard them scream in anger and frustration as I was falling, a small grin appeared on my face as I took my last breath.

George McCain

& Alex Skrypek

grade 5

The Lucky Spider

Once upon a rainy day there lived a spider. The spider was nameless. He was also very, very, very lucky. Or so he thought.

It was raining and the spider was hungry. So he dreamed of all the food in the world, then food fell on his head. He had flies, roaches, and many more insects.

The next day he was cold, so, he wished for warmth. Just as he thought about it the sun seemed to move in his direction, and the clouds parted

The spider then thought to himself, 'Well... I can have anything that I want!' So he wished and wished and it all came true. Sadly he himself wasn't wishing and getting the wish, it was the little spore, a lucky spore. That spore was nameless and was very, very powerful.

The spore then thought, 'Now that the spider thinks he is magical I will crush him!' And then the spre detached from the spider.

So the spore removed the life from the spider, and disappeared.

The moral is, luck may help, but work is necessary for life...

Taber Cannon

grade 5

Free Writing

Today is the fourth day I have been stuck in this cage. The people brought me to this cage. A giant pair of furless paws open up the shiny door and reach in the cage. I decide I should bite the paws so I do. After I bite the furless paws they shake and grab me. I think this will be the day I die. The paws are attached to a thing standing on two hind-legs, other things are standing around the first one. The one on the first one's right is making a sound that sound like cooing. I decide I want to fall asleep, it been a long journey.

The furless animal brings me to an enclosed space with other dogs. The other dogs tell me it's a dog run. Whats a dog run? I think my person really really loves me. (The dogs in the dog run told the giant furless thing that brought me here is my person.) I really think that my person really really truly loves me. I want to kiss him, I guess I will. After the dog run, my person brings me to a dark box. The door slides close. I think we will die in this box, that's bad, as I was just starting to really really truly love my person. After what seems like all the time in the world the door slides open again. But it's not the place we entered from, it is a giant room with things to sleep on and places to lie on the sun. Wait a minute, this must mean my person really really truly loves me. Wait another minute what is that scary-warey thing, it is grey with scary blue eyes and it looks at me like it's going to kill me. I run to the corner of the room and say to myself "I will go to sleep now, after all this must all be a bad dream." Wait, before I go to sleep, what is the really really truly good smell. This must be food, my person must really really truly love me. I eat the really really good smelling food. I will go to sleep now, my person must really really truly love me.

I can't sleep, the monster with the blue eyes is really really scaring me. I decide I will sleep with my person tonight. I walk into one room and there he is, my person. Now how will I get up. In my head I count one, two, three. I jump on to the really really truly soft bed. I will kiss my person. As I kiss him, he pushes me off the bed. Why would he do that? I keep on trying to jump up, but he pushes me down. After a while I decide I will stop. I sleep under my person's bed, he must really really truly love me. I woke up to find the monster hugging me, I guess I liked her to. My person puts me in the cage with the shiny door. I cried all morning, the monster cried with me. My person said something to the monster and he opens the cage door and hugs me. I lick him back.

Phoebe Abitol

grade 5

And Then There Were Six

I guess you could call my house overwhelming, but I don't really think that's the right word. Yes, my house is crowded with four siblings, but it's not that bad. Unlike almost all other siblings on the planet, my sisters and I get along like best friends. We've never gotten into a fight, or played pranks on each other, or tried to sabotage each other's plans. Instead, we play together, laugh together, and hang out together. We're like a group that can't be separated, a piece of paper that doesn't rip. Age difference isn't a problem for us. Neither is popularity. That's how everybody thinks of us: a group of sisters that gets along. I, personally, don't care that some people think I'm weird for being friends with my sisters. But some of my sisters do. My sisters and I have always been best friends. Until one day when a little boy changed that. And that's what I'm here to tell you.

"Tess, move over!" I hip bump her as we are brushing our teeth. One thing I will call overwhelming, is trying to get ready for school in the morning with four other girls. "Hey!" Tess hip bumps me back. Tess is thirteen. She is the only one in our family with green eyes. We all have dirty blond hair, except for my twelve year old sister Sydney. Sydney's hair is brown. "Gals! It's time for breaky!" Max calls from downstairs. Max is our "babysitter" if you could call him that. He's always prancing around saying weird australian phrases and sayings. "Coming!" Tess shoots down the stairs. Tess is what you would call a "foodie." She lives for food and loves candy. I smile and follow after her. When I get to the table, everybody else is already there. As soon as I sit down, Max comes dancing out of the kitchen singing, "breaky, breaky, breaky is served." I giggle when he's done. Max is funny. "Thanks Maxamillion," Madeline rolls her eyes and we all laugh again. "Just trying to be funsters," Max replies. Avery punches him in the arm, resulting in another ripple of laughter. I can't say that mornings are boring in my house.

When I get to school, I am greeted by a big sign saying: Sixth Grade Dance! This Friday, 7:309:30! I sigh. Why can't it be an ice cream party

instead? The day goes by pretty fast, which is a miracle. I have some homework which I am planning to do as soon as I get home, but my plans are ruined by a text from mom. The text I've been dreading ever since our family meeting last Saturday: we've made a decision!:). This means that mom and dad have made a decision about adoption. Mom and dad want a little boy in the family, so dad can teach him how to play basketball and soccer. I think it's a little offensive to us girls, because Avery and Maddie play basketball and soccer! When my sisters and I get to the adoption center, we're pretty sure that the decision was to adopt a kid, and we find out that we're right two minutes later. I shouldn't even bother explaining all the boys we looked at. There were at least one hundred. We finally narrow it down to two: a brown haired twoyearold named Spencer, or a blond haired threeyearold named Carter. Sydney and Avery want Spencer, and everyone else wants Carter. It's unanimous. Yay. Sigh. I liked our family just the way it was before.

Carter is so annoying! I know he's only three, but he is! This morning he toddled into Tess and my room, and started ripping things up! You know the saying my dog ate my homework? Well, now the saying in my house is Carter ripped my homework in half. And teachers really don't like our new saying. I'm a good student for the most part, so if Carter messes up my straight A's, then he's going to get it from me. Whether he's one, or ten. "Mewany," Carter crawls into my room. Oh, and that's the other thing. Carter can walk! And say my name correctly! But he chooses not to because it makes him look cuter! "Carter, I'm doing my homework," I reply sternly. Carter gets up and WALKS over to my desk, makes puppy dog eyes and says, "Mewany, will you pwese pway wif me?" He's so cute! I can't resist puppy dog eyes! Wait, no. Resist the eyes! "Carter, I can't. I'm really sorry," I turn back to my homework. At least I was nice about it. "I'll play with you Carter," Tess stands up. I glare at her and gesture toward her homework. She just shakes her head and walks out of the room.

On Wednesday at breakfast, Tess and I sit at opposite sides of the table. Instead of sitting in my usual seat, I move over two chairs and sit next to Sydney and Avery instead. When the rest of my siblings come down

stairs, they give Tess and I both weird looks. Why did we have to have a fight? I love Tess. She's so nice and a great older sister, but if she's mad at you, you know that you did something seriously wrong. Like not play with your little brother. "Come on let's hup to it! I know that we can eat it!" Max sings and skips into the dining room. Carter gurgles and claps his hands. Maddie snorts, and Avery punches Max in the arm again. "Carefull there, Ave," Max snorts right in front of Maddie's face. I just stare out the window. "Hey, Mel, want to get frozen yogurt after school today?" Sydney asks. I love frozen yogurt, but today just wasn't the day. What, with Tess and everything. I really can't believe that we're actually fighting. "I'll pass."

The sixth grade dance sign greets me again today. I feel even less like going now. "Melanie!" Sydney stops me in the hall. "There's going to be a new kid in class today!" She squeels and starts to jump up and down. Great, now there's going to be one more person to think that I'm a weirdo. "Why is this so exciting?" I ask. Before Sydney can answer, the late bell rings and I dart inside my home room just before it stops. I unpack my backpack and load all of my books into my desk. When I look up, the new kid (girl) is standing by the desk next to me. She has long, wavy brown hair and hazel eyes. She smiles at me and I smile back. "Hi, I'm Alex," she says. I feel like I can see into her and know that we are going to be best friends. "I'm Melanie," I say, happy that I finally have a friend that's not Sydney, Tess, Avery, or Maddie. Or at least I think that we're friends.

Today goes by so slow, that I think time might have frozen for at least two hours. Alex and I play together at recess, sit together at lunch, and walk to all of our classes together. It's almost like how Sydney and I are. I am getting my books from my locker for study hall when Alex walks up to me. "Want to hang out after school?" she asks, "I know we just met and everything, and maybe you're busy after school, orlike... you were just trying to be nice to me, seeing as I'm the new kid and everything, but I think we could be great friends... not that I can tell the future only if you want to... the friends thing I mean... sooo... maybe could we hang out? Please? I really like you Mel. Can I call you that? It has a nice sound to it. If you ca"

"Alex, I'd love to hang out with you. And yes, you can call me Mel if I can call you Al," I cut her off. I knew that we'd be friends! I just knew it!

"I love the nickname Al!" Alex (Al) smiles, "I also love that we are going to hang out after school!"

"Um Alex. Would you mind getting frozen yogurt with my sister Sydney and I?"

I text Sydney to meet Alex and I at the frozen yogurt place after school. When we get there, Avery is eating frozen yogurt with a girl that I've never seen before. "Hi Mel!" she motions for me to come over, "this is Jacey. Jacey, this is my sister Melanie."

"Hi Jacey," I say politely and then whisper to Avery, "What happened to Maddie? I thought you guys were going to get froyo together."

"We got into a fight. I know, hard to believe, but Carter is just on my nerves and Maddie thinks he's the cutest little thing and that I need to be nicer to him," Avery rolls her eyes, "but I'm over it. I have a new friend. I never realized how fun it is to hang out with someone who's not my sister."

"I got into a fight with Tess about being nice to Carter, too," I exclaim, "maybe Maddie and Tess should start hanging out." Avery replies by laughing and punching me in the arm. Alex and I walk up to the counter and take a cup. We get our frozen yogurt (we get the same kind! We have so much in common!) and while we are getting our toppings, Sydney walks in redeyed. It looks like she was just crying. "Syd! What's wrong!" I run over.

"I hate Maddie and Tess!" she sputters and starts to cry again.

"Sydney, what happened? Are you ok? Come on, let's get frozen yogurt. Maybe that will make you feel better," I lead her over to the counter and take a cup. She takes the cup from me and sulks over to the froyo machine. When we are sitting down, Sydney tells us what happened, "I was crying in the bathroom because my teacher yelled at me for having ripped homework when Maddie walks in. She asked what was wrong, and when I told her that Ms. Raymond got mad at me for having ripped homework, she screamed at me to keep my stuff away from Carter. Maybe she was just having a bad day, but then Tess walked in.

She yelled at me, too. But this time she was yelling about being nice to Carter. I mean, what does that have to do with anything! So then I cried some more until the bell rang. I got my stuff and walked the long way here, so maybe you wouldn't notice that I had been crying," Sydney finishes. I hug her and try to make her feel better, but I think she just feels worse. I decide to change the subject. Alex, Sydney, and I talk about stuffed animals, cake, and dogs. I think that made Sydney feel better. On the walk home, I start to think about the dance and how Tess promised to help me get ready. Carter is turning out worse than I thought. He's the cause of all the fights that my sisters are having. I wish that I could go back in time and make my family choose Spencer. Spencer was cuter anyway. Not that Carter isn't cute, he is, but I don't think Spencer would break our family apart.

When Sydney and I get home, we hear yelling coming from upstairs. We both sigh, throw our backpacks on the couch, and then climb up the stairs. The yelling was coming from Sydney, Avery, and Maddie's room. Avery and Maddie must have gotten into another fight. But when Sydney walks in, Tess is standing there, trapped in a corner by Maddie.

"I know you took it!" Maddie screams, "Just give it back!"

"I didn't take it," Tess looks like she is about to cry, "Carter did." Carter is just breaking up our family even more than he already has. I really can't believe it. Maddie is blaming Tess for something that she didn't even do! I really can't take this anymore! I've had enough!

"Maddie!" I grab her arm and pull her away from the corner so that Tess can scramble away, "what do you think Tess took from you?"

"My diary!" Maddie glares at Tess, "Tess, you have one more chance to give it back to me, or I'll—"

"Madeline Grace Tyler!" I shout. Now everyone is paying attention to me. This is my chance to bring my sisters and I back together as friends, "and all the rest of you! I am so sick of Carter getting us into fights! I mean, It's ok if you want to make a new friend, but Carter shouldn't be the cause of it. Do any of you understand what I'm trying to say?" my sisters nod their heads. The room is silent for a moment. I think, for the first time in maybe forever, I might have made an impact. I am happy and relieved.

Just then, Carter walks in, hands Maddie her diary, and then toddles out. Maddie stares at it, and despite the situation, begins to laugh. I join in, too. Then Avery joins in. Then Sydney, and then Tess. Today might have been stressful, but laughing with my sisters again feels so good.

In bed, just before I'm about to turn out the light, Tess turns to me. "Thank you Melanie," she whispers, "and I'm sorry that I got mad at you. I know that you had homework, and now I know what it feels like to have, like, your best friend mad at you."

"It's ok," I whisper back, "every best friend has to get into a fight one time or another." Tess lets this sink in, but then turns to me, remembering something, "oh! And I'll help you get ready for the dance!" And that's how my day ends. Short and sweet.

Ten Years Later

So, did Carter mess things up? Yes. But in a way it was preparation. Preparation for now. I just finished college. Without any of my sisters. After middle school, we all went our separate ways to high school. We still lived in the same house and everything, but we all had our own friends. Alex and I got really close through middle school and went to NYU together to study to be doctors. We are now best friends. The way my sisters and I used to be. We do everything together. We were even in the same dorm for four years.

Anyway, Maddie started playing ice hockey and (believe it or not) now she is on the USA olympic farm team. Avery still lives in New Jersey with our cousin Emily, and they both go to Princeton University together. Avery is the star player on the Princeton University basketball team. Sydney went away to California for college, and my sisters and I haven't heard from her since the day she left. Well, except for one voice mail that she sent me two years ago, saying that she was having a great time in California and she was going to be a writer when she finished college.

Tess didn't turn out as well as everyone else though. She started hanging out with the cheerleaders and getting all bratty and dumb. She didn't even go to college. She just moved to a different part of New Jersey with her boyfriend Nick. Mom and dad were really mad, but let her do whatever made her happy. I would've locked her in her room for a month.

And now the topic that you've all been waiting for: Carter. He's thirteen now and in seventh grade. He's really good friends with Jacey's little brother who is... SPENCER! That's really all there is tell, so wait! I forgot one little part. Carter is still as annoying as he was ten years ago.

Poetry

Art by Wenhao Cai

Katharine Cook

grade 8

The Reader

You see that girl in the corner?

Yes, her.

The one with wild hair tumbling down her shoulders

and onto the crisp pages of her book.

She sits unnoticed

Camouflaged by the shouts of her peers

Her bowed head rarely moving from its position.

However

Something this sets this quiet girl

Apart from everyone around her.

She alone inhabits countries

All across this world, and others

Traipsing through the centuries

With one flick of her hand.

She alone has ridden dragonback

Watching the sunrise while

Drinking in the crisp air of a new dawn.

She alone has felt the sword upon her hip,

The burden as they place

A crown upon her head.

She alone has witnessed

The deaths of her friends,

Silently standing guard

As they draw their last breath.

At a sign from the clock, the girl rises

Shouldering her heavy bag with a grim smile.

She exits the room at the back of the crowd.

As she fights her way

Through the hallway´s relentless tide,

No one can imagine the adventures she has had.

This girl has lived.
Wenhao Cai & Lucy Schwalbe

grade

Reflection

It was as if time had stopped

The wind ran through my fingers

As it chilled my soul

Thoughts began to swarm my head

I tried to look away

But I could not

My feet were stuck

Bolted

Attached to the ground

As I stared into endless space

I could no longer recognize myself

Hope

Love

Joy

All forgotten

That was when I realized

Nothing was left but

Misery

Anguish

And wretchedness

Aaron Hessel

grade 6

School

School oh School,

The sounds of school.

The chalk,

The sound of creaking doors.

The whiteboard screeching sound.

The pencil sharpener and the pencil.

The computers turning on and off.

All are things happening in school.

School is fun,

School is here,

School is everywhere.

Charlie Wall

grade 5

Haiku

the sun is rising

everything comes back to life

it is the morning

the ground is so wet

the rain trickles down on leaves

will it ever stop

the ocean ripples

it goes on and on and on

the waves keep coming

the birds are chirping

it is so peaceful right now

soon it will all end
Robert Rendine

grade 5

There Is

There Is dark and there is light

There is black and there is white

There is bad and there is good

There is mad and there is happy

There is strong and there is flappy

The world is full of there is'

What are you

Esme Fritton

grade 7

What Happened

why'd you leave me in the dust

where is the living trust

what happened back then

i wish we could start again

was i not good enough

or was it something else

what happened back then

did the planets not align

where did our friendship go

it left like melting snow

what happened back then

what happened within

George McCain

grade 5

Rap About Candy

Sweet or Sour

It doesn't really matter,

Sometimes chocolate,

Dark or milk,

Sometimes hardened,

Sometimes like silk.

You can get it at the grocery store,

Sometimes it's bubble gum at the core,

Sometimes a kid's dream is to have candy galore.

Sometimes little one's always want more.

If you eat too much you'll end up throwing up,

That's why you should never have eaten that Reese's butter cup.
Daniel Hua

grade 5

Who Am I?

I like to cackle and I think it is illegal to have a pet jackal. Oh how I wish I could set it free. However I'm getting chased by a miniature sized bee. I will set the jackal free in a week. But I feel like my Heart has a leak. I have decided to get a new toy. I feel like I'm a little boy. I felt very goofy. Oh my, my hair has gone all poofy. I have been insulted by a man named Jim. I feel like my remains of my heart has gone all dim. When I go home there is a man in my house. I feel like I need to cry in a blouse.

Natasha Rensky

## grade 5

City Lights

City lights City lights

Oh shine so bright

In the morning

In the night

Why are we the city that never sleeps

It's a mystery to us

And a secret to keep

For the people who know

And the people that sleep

Aaron Hessel

grade 6

Electives

Electives oh Electives

The flash in Yearbook,

The making in Digital Playground.

The discussing in UN,

And the reading in DEAR.

All are a part of electives.

Scribbler,

Mood indigo.

Jewelry making,

Watercolors.

And many more.

Electives are fun,

Electives are there,

Electives are Eve.

Georgia Davis

grade 6

Winter and the Beach

In the cold snow

In a winter coat

I call for you, summer,

For your warmth.

Before I arrive

I hear your waves crashing,

Like the noise of a book hitting the ground.

As I approach

I see the waves push the grain like sand

I am welcomed

By the smell of sunscreen

And seagulls up above

But when I must leave

I must leave behind,

The rainbow of beach umbrellas

And kids in the sand,

With pals and shovels.

Now I must go so

I trudge slowly back to winter.
Jackson Jones

grade 5

Life

life

a beautiful thing

spend the time wisely

and when you grow old you will feel like you have

done everything possible

and feel rewarded

so be thankful for what you have

life

Leila Bynum

grade 5

Night Time

When the moon comes out and the sun goes back

When the sky is lit up by the stars

When the constellations dance around in the light of the moon

When all that can be heard is the hum of the cricket and the hoot of an owl

When you have settles down to sleep

When you feel you are the only one awake

When you have a wonderful dream

It is night time

Dax Bischof

grade 5

Christmas Is Coming

Christmas is coming, people are drumming

and practicing for the band.

Hanukkah is just around the corner,

and people are lighting their menorahs and doing their chores.

People are having a ton of fun and playing in the snow.

Kids are throwing snowballs in great happiness and great delight.

The Christmas tree is lit, with beaming lights and ornaments, beautiful it is.

The fireplace is warming, and the Christmas spirit is forming.

James Spindler

## grade 5

Hanukkah

Hanukkah oh Hanukkah

you make me want to shout hurrah

spin the dreidel yes I win

here comes the chocolate ding ding ding

light the menorah

watch its pretty aura

time for presents what did I get

just what I wanted yes yes yes
Aaron Hessel

grade 6

Halloween

Halloween oh Halloween

The Pumpkins are carved,

and the spooky decorations are up.

Trick or Treat the kids say,

Lining up in front of doors.

The Pumpkins are put and lighted,

while the kids are being frightened.

Everyone in costumes, no one knows,

who everyone is.

Horror around the area,

and Halloween is the best.

And Halloween is the best.

And Halloween is the best.

John McGarry

Grade 5

Untitled

A curious lad from Dover

crossed poison ivy with a four leaf clover

the curious lad was struck

with a rash of good luck

before his experiment was over

he had no four leaf clover

the poison ivy did not vanish

so he started to panic

James Cave

grade 5

Christmas Day is Near

Christmas Day is Almost Here

Can't You Fell That Festive Cheer

If You Listen Very Well

Can't You Hear the Reindeers Bell

Christmas Day is Almost Here

A Blanket of Snow Will Appear

When You Look Underneath Your tree

All There Will Be Is Gifts for Me

Christmas Day Is Almost Here

I Am So Happy I Might as Well Cheer

Santa's Belly Is Nice Round and Big

When He Laughs It's Like a Bowl of Big Jelly

Christmas Day Is Almost Here

Can't You Feel That Festive Cheer

George McCain

grade 5

Christmas Season

It's the Holiday Season and That's the reason for great joy.

Every year Christmas comes and everyone gets a new toy.

It's the time for that red-nose reindeer

It's the best time for that Christmas cheer.

The snow falls down.

And the Glow comes up.

I can't see a single frown.

It's time for that mistletoe,

It's that time for falling snow.

It's time for Hot Cocoa.

Frosty the Snowman comes out to play.

The TV's are turned off and the phones are put away.

I love the Christmas season,

And that's the reason for great joy.

Nathaniel Berkman

grade 5

Winter

The winter is like a cloud

It is gloomy but very loud

But kids playing all over

Like a playground roaring with joy.

The white snowflakes coming down

They are going all around

Like the leaves in the fall.

Winter is cold

As its impact is bold

Oh Winter, what a magical season you are

Enjoy every boy and girl there are.

Ruby Jones

grade 5

Alone

That knotted, twisted feeling in your stomach

That you feel when you're alone

That horrible aching pain

That will make you groan

Out will fall a tear

Sadness in the air

And that awful pain goes to the bone

When you are all alone

Henry Levinson

grade 5

Stars

They light up the sky like fireworks in the dark of night.

They shine their way into a special spot in our hearts.

They gleam like the sun's rays off a mirror, beautifully shining.

They stay high in the sky, but during the day they hide.

They are brilliant sparks of pure light.

They greet you warmly when you look up.

They are spread among the sky like snowflakes in a breeze.

They are all different, like clovers in a field.

They are there when you need them and listen to your wishes.

Hannah Dietz

grade 5

Who and Where am I?

I do not know who I am or what I am

I do not know if I am something

I might be an idea,

Or a piece of dust,

I could even be dead.

I do not know where I am or how I got here

I do not know why I am here

I do not know if I am somewhere

I could be locked away in someone's head,

Or maybe in a video game that no one plays.

All I know is I am alone.

Nina Berkman

grade 5

Seasons Go By

Seasons go by

in the summer

there is heat and you can go in the pool

there is soccer, swimmer and so much more to enjoy the summer for

but once it ends it's sad again there is school

it's fall

there are colorful leaves falling from every tree

and don't forget the hot cocoa

then it's winter

you learn new things in a different way

and you'll always have fun at school plays

then come spring with showers

but flowers bloom like the ocean

we're back to summer one by one

that's the end of the seasons

Taber Cannon

grade 5

The Starry Sky

At night after the sun sets

I start to see the stars, and the moon's silhouette

The stars bring all their friends

To dance with them in the sky until the end

Suddenly I see a shooting sky

Going on for so-so far

The stars put on their little show

Their performance glads everyone, even the weeping willow

You and me under the same starry sky

I feel as if we can just fly

Maybe tonight dreams will come true

Because they are dreams of me and you

I just have to look up to get lost

I wish upon star that our paths may cross

Because life without dreaming

Is a life without meaning

For I love the star too fondly

To be scared of the night

There is and only one starry sky

Dax Bischof

grade 5

Untitled

The night was gloomy, dark

The fog thickened as the dawn lurked upon night

The sun arose from slumber

The sun was lurking behind the shadows, preparing to take over the sky

The sun let out a screeching battle cry and charged into the sky making an aura of light

The night was howling in defeat, realizing his time was over

Charlie Wall

grade 5

Untitled

There once was a funny notice

I read and it's true that it read like this

If you notice this notice

You'll notice

This notice is very noticeable

And if you notice this notice you'll notice

That this notice is not worth noticing

Theo Carlston

grade 5

Rain

Drip drop

Splish splash

Rain rain

Coming down

One drop at a time

Gray clouds

Big clouds

The sun can't be seen

Below freezing

Coming down

Harder and harder

Still one at a time

Tomorrow is December

When the rain will turn to snow.

Maximo Del Pino

grade 5

Untitled

The days of a baseball

Crack! Goes the baseball bat

I soar far over the field

load in the space around me

bang! Ow! as I hit a wall

And the crowd starts screaming like crazy

All I can see are birdies

peanuts! Cracker jacks is all I hear

Otto Fritton

grade 5

Life

Winters come

Winters go

Summers come

Summers go

Days come

Days go

Months come

Months go

Seasons come

Seasons go

Years come

Years go

Then it's gone

Esme Towles

grade 5

Spring Sway

Color surrounds me

flower grass a tree

I look up to see a butter fly

Flying towards the sky

Wind runs and hops all around

I listen and listen to no sound

birds chirp grass ways

all the trees and birds get their ways

the whistling trees

the humming bees

I look to see a baby bird lift its wing

And that is my vision of spring

Jack McCain

grade 5

Winter

The snow is falling down

Joy is in the air

Under warm blankets

Snow Boots are your wear

Having fun playing in the snow

Running in the snowy field

Drinking warm hot chocolate

Inside away from the storm

You fall asleep

Safe and sound

Eleanor Livings

grade 5

New York City

Many people think of New York City as a noisy place,

As a cold place,

As a gloomy place,

But I see it from a different perspective:

I hear the sirens as a call for help

And rescue is on the way,

Cradled in your mother's arms

And she reassures you

You are safe

The animals,

Who are constantly

Saving themselves from large,

Barreling trucks that come their way,

Are small stars scurrying across the pavement

And eagerly

Bringing life

To the city,

The one light that is on

In the middle of the night

That keeps you from sleeping soundly,

Is the light that tells your heart

To stay full
Phoebe Abitol

grade 5

My Dream

Colored lights glide over me,

Inside it's dark, deep, safe.

Something pulses inside of my body,

Under my legs the dirt breaths.

The sand flows in like water,

My eyes burn like a candle.

The shock waves ripple out to my hole,

I crumble into a pile.

Everything turns into a rocky heap,

Nobody seems to know that there is a living soul.

I see pools of red water,

Piles of white sticks.

I feel myself crack and rip,

And then I fall apart like a house of cards.

DEAD.

I open my eyes,

Fluffy pillows,

Fuzzy blankets.

I am back.

Keredin Samuel

grade 5

Christmas

While cookies and milk are on your table,

Santa gathers all his reindeer from his huge stable

most adults think he's a fable,

and the children are watching their favorite show's Christmas special on Time Warner Cable.

The final month of the year December,

is a month to remember,

because everyone is very jolly,

and this girl's getting a new dolly.

Santa's traveling secretly at night,

and when he comes to your home he'll have an appetite,

as Santa finishes giving out gifts,

he has finished his yearly work shift.

As everyone wakes up from their sleep,

they get out of bed by doing a huge leap,

and no one is malicious,

because today is Christmas.

Sarah Weber

grade 5

Wind Comes Wind Goes

The wind howls swirls and creeks

You can hear it on the streets

The sky is gray

There is not much time to play

The Frisbee is tossed

It almost gets lost

I jump so high

It feels like I am touching the sky

I here thunder

That's a bummer

That's the end of summer

Going in your house all snuggles and cuddled

Watching a movie you're not splashing in the waves in summer

Drinking hot chocolate it's the end of summer

Chauncey Thompson

grade 5

Untitled

Holiday season is the time of year

when everyone is in the holiday cheer.

Presents, food, and even candy

But nothing better than hanging with your family.

Waking up and opening your presents it's so exciting

Seeing your friends that's even better, or not, but maybe a letter.

It's the best holiday, so don't be gray.

Merry Christmas everyone

AD HAVE SOME FUN
Hayden Henry

grade 6

Freedom

I didn't need to worry about anything. I was free. I didn't need to think. Obviously I was free. Water is as clear as well as freedom. My heart felt warm to the sound of the music. Music is as free as me. The smell of freedom tickled my nose and went down to my stomach like hot cocoa on a cold winter day. Are you free? Because I'm as free as a bird flying on a cool spring day.

Lila Hussein

grade 5

Hot Cocoa

A steaming mug,

Delicious warm flavor,

Little white puffs,

Sitting on top.

Warm and creamy,

Down through your body,

Warming you,

Forever and ever, nonstop.

Up comes your mug,

Getting closer

And closer,

A little porcelain,

Chocolate shop.

This is hot cocoa,

A warm winter's treat,

Something you drink,

While the snowflakes still drop.

Sadie Goodwin

grade 5

Christmas Toys

Christmas bells,

Christmas joys.

All the fun

All the toys.

Christmas bells.

Christmas joys.

Santa gives presents,

To girls and boys.

Jonas Marcovitz

grade 5

Tom and Jerry

Once there was a cat that was fat.

He lived in a house with his favorite mouse.

They played all day long and sang sweet songs.

When they fell asleep and they heard a creak, the cat went to peel.

The mouse heard it too, but got stuck in the glue.

When the cat found no clue and saw the mouse stuck in the glue he didn't know what to do.

Alas, the cat and mouse lived no more.

Sofia Galarza

grade 5

Untitled

I can't find the charger

I'm running out of time

5%

4%

3%

2%

1%

Gone

We think it will save us

Netflix

Instagram

Facebook

Snapchat

But now I'm alone

I'm gone

I'm disconnected

I'm nothing

Was I ever something

Louise Giddings

grade 5

In My World

I am in my own world. Everything is good, everything is nice. I am in my own world, the universe is nice to me, just like Clara is, sweet, loyal, doesn't ask for more than I've already been given. People here, in my world, care. They say please, thank you, excuse me, sorry. It's nice. All we do here is talk, paint, read, and relax. It's very nice here, the birds chirp, the leaves fall. It's all just, good. It's always fall here. Summer's too warm, winter's too cold, but fall's perfect, just like my world.

Kiera Hackett

grade 5

Pink

Pink

Pink

Pink

The color whizzes through my mind like a shooting star

It's all that can be seen for miles far

Pink is the color of my crayon and my book

I really like the color because of its unique look

I color the page with my neony flare

My very cool color makes everybody stare

I throw my color into the sky

I keep on playing with it until evening is nigh

When it's time to sleep I begin to whimper

My family hated pink and smirked with a simper

At this time my poem must end

Good night to you all and a happy amend
Julia Geniesse

grade 5

Balloons

Balloons, balloons, floating high in the sky,

Watching as weeks and weeks go by.

One minute they're there the next they're gone,

They're floating around from night till dawn.

A speck of different color, in a vast blue sky.

Sometimes floating low, and sometimes floating high,

As crowds of people watch them go by.

Amani Agrawal

grade 5

Waking Up In New York City

Waking up in NYC I see the sun

Peeking out behind the drape of night

Afraid to appear

Waking up in NYC I hear the honking of cars

People already awake driving to work

The day has begun

Waking up in NYC I taste the freshness of the day

The dogs greet the day with their loud barks

The city sings its song

As the day salutes the city

Waking up in NYC

The Statue of Liberty towers above the bustling city of NYC

Everyone floods the city wanting to see every sight

Waking up in NYC I taste the freshness of the day

The dogs greet the day with their loud barks

The city sings its song

As the day salutes the
Alexander Skrypek

grade 5

It's Your Birthday

It's your birthday!

Well, tomorrow is.

All you can do is...

Wait.

What will you get?

No, what won't you get?

Oh,

My,

It's bedtime...

Kayla Feinberg

## grade 5

Christmas

Christmas is the time of year to spread joy to everyone near,

Hang up your stockings,

Hang up a tree,

Spend time with family while sitting around the fire

On Christmas eve you are so anxious,

Hoping that Saint Nick will come,

and that you have been good all year, good enough to get presents!

Take time to look at a tree,

and see the lights glowing iridescently,

Snuggle with your parents,

while watching a movie,

Get into bed,

and hope that Santa Claus will soon be there.

