1.
“Toby’s Treacherous Closet”
By Andrew Trice
Genre: Short story excerpt
Toby is a sixty four year old elder who was afraid of nothing and is the owner of the spookiest place on the face of the Earth. Deep in the bowels of janitor Toby’s basement was an empty, eerie closet, a haunted closet. Nobody dares to visit the closet, nor the basement, except Jasper of course. The closet’s story is that Zeus happened to strike the first owner of the house, Zeke, also known as Hades’ son. Zeke is a twenty six year old man, owner of all souls. He was struck by Zeus while hiding another one of his million stolen souls.
Jasper Whisenhunt was the craziest kid on the street. He was the daredevil of the neighborhood. He’d do anything you asked him to do. They say he even visited Janitor Toby’s closet. And here’s how Jasper coped with his journey.
It began on Razorback road at Jasper’s house. He, his brother Peter and his friends Cody and Jackson were playing a game of truth or dare. Cody, the most malicious little boy, knew that Jasper would do anything that was scientifically possible. Everyone went quiet and pale-white when they heard the words, “I dare you. Peek inside Toby’s closet.” Jasper felt betrayed that anyone, especially his close friend, would even think of daring him to do that. Still, he knew he had to do it, so he packed many layers of clothing, one sling shot with fifty pebbles, and one flashlight and trotted off down Razorback Road.
A mile down the road from Toby’s house and his friends a quarter of a mile behind him, Jasper could already hear ferocious growls coming from inside the treacherous house. He crept slowly and quietly in the dark of night, through the fence, behind the house, and finally down the basement steps that squeaked loudly. With every step was another loud boom then crash! He fell through the steps to a secret floor underground where there was a long, hallway with a gargantuan door, silver hinges and a golden knob, but behind him was another door. Which door could be the haunted closet? One of the closet door’s knobs turned. Jasper thought, “Toby must be close.”
Jasper rushed to open the opposite large door. He sped inside. He tried turning on the light, but there was no switch. He reached to find his flashlight, but it was gone. Everything was gone. This couldn’t be the haunted closet. It wasn’t.
The door creaked open and light shone through. There was Toby standing in the doorway, but he was asleep. Jasper could tell by his closed eyes and twitching lip, covered by a long, hairy gray beard that Toby was sleepwalking.
Toby’s large body blocked the door like doorstops. Jasper tried nudging the body out of the way but he wouldn’t budge. Jasper jumped onto the body and tried to knock open a vent to get out of the spooky house. He took his right fist and broke the hinge off the locked vent. His hand now bleeding, he jumped off Toby and leapt up the shoot. It was a long, narrow pipe with nothing but a light at the very end. Jasper Army crawled, leaving tracks of blood behind and traveling through many piles of what seemed to be sticky glue that was the consistency of cake batter. Jasper finally reached the end, where he saw an exit. With a grin on his face, he crawled faster now. Then faster, and the fastest he could possibly crawl. Then…CRASH!
Jasper fell into the dark, deadly, blood-curdling, horrendous, spine-chilling, hair-raising, deep dungeon of death, the basement. Now all he was thinking was, “Where the heck is the closet of Toby?” Footsteps rattled the entire house as if there was an earthquake. Now Jasper was thinking, “I’ve found it!” His face was very red now, with his skinny legs shaking and shivering rapidly.
______________________________________________________________________________________
2.
The Vampire Named Magnister
An Excerpt of a Short Story
By Chloe Devecsery
Teeth...sharp and shiny. Blood everywhere. My heart... thumping as my hands clench together to make fists. I look down and see a human face by my feet. Then my stomach growls and so do I as I fall to my knees and sink my teeth into the flesh of the human neck below me. The blood so preserved, so bright, and flush red. Then I look up from the dead body into the dark, cloudless sky. Behind me, vampire troops stand in their stiff uniforms. Then I hear a voice behind me, “Humans are magical destroyers. But war must go on, and we must win.” The voice behind me is so proud and strong, like a leader’s. At that moment I know who it is, my brother... Kavanster. He is the general of the Vampire Defense System. My mom sits alone in a stained wood cabin back in Virginia, my home state, the first state to be officially taken by the vampires. Running the state was my mom’s job since my dad died 2 years ago. I know Kavanster only talks to me when he misses my mom because I remind him of mom. So I turn around and stare into the luminous platinum helmet of my brother. His eyes have tears built up like a concrete wall. I guess he noticed I was staring in his eyes because he suddenly turned around and faced his army. I stand up with confusion then start strutting backward. I trip over a corpse. Then for the first time I feel war is wrong. Too many people dying and already dead.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
3.
Untitled
By Darcy Lannen Olmstead
I chased the Tabby into the Garden.
“You useless cat!” I shouted at the beast, “You better not scratch me again or its out on to the streets with you!” The cat ran up the nearest oak tree. I sighed. Why would I climb that in my brand new dress?
“Sarah Greene!” I turned my head around to see the owner of the voice calling my name. Louisa Greene waddled down the front steps in her elaborate emerald gown. My sister sprinted (well as good as a fat girl can sprint) towards me.
“Oh hello Louisa,” I greeted the annoying little devil. “How has your morning been?”
“Fine. Until YOU ruined it!” her chubby little face turned a deep shade of crimson, “You hid a dead rat under my bed!”
We have a rat infestation. They’re dying in weird places.
I stifled a laugh, “It probably just died there all by itself!”
“It did not! You had to have done it!” And with that she stumbled up the stairs and back into the house. I sighed and turned around. The cat was gone.
“Oh well. I need to go to town to meet Jenny anyway.” I said to myself. And with that I turned on my heel and trotted down the stone path and out of the garden.
__________________________________________________________________
4.
Energized
By Keith Oroo
__________________________________________________________________________
5.
THE STORY OF BRIAN CANSON
By Hannah Pointer
A kid named Brian was 14 and had brown hair, freckles, blue eyes, and hated himself. He hated himself because every time every time he came home from his school and his father wasn’t home, his stepmom would always beat him, because she wanted him to die and have his father all to her self. That day, he tried to run away, but his stepmom caught him. You know what that means. No not a spanking, his stepmom burnt his arm on the stove. “Owwww,” Brian screamed as he felt the stove burning his flesh. Later that night he realized that his stepmom had left to go to the bar like she always did, but he never got the chance to run away, because he would always fall asleep, but this time his arm bugged him to much that it kept him awake.”Now my chance” said Brian. He snuck out the window and ran away.
By the time Brian got into the dark nature and cold woods, he decided to find a spot that was leafy and soft to sleep on. In the morning, he started finding his way through the woods when suddenly he heard something. When he turned, he saw a wad of red eyed, huge beaked, and hot pink mocking birds coming right at him. Quickly, he grabbed a long and hard stick near by. When a mocking bird came close, Brian would whack it in the head. The stick went “Whooooosh” every time Brian was about to hit one. When that was over he heard foot steps.
“Oh Brian I know your hear somewhere “said Brian’s stepmom. She wanted to abuse him more, since Brian’s father wasn’t home. She didn’t figure that Brian would go that deep into the woods. “Who’s that” Brian thought. then he scooted over a bit and realized it was his stepmom. He dashed down the woods getting deeper and deeper in to the woods where he couldn’t see his stepmom at all. Then he stopped and took a deep breath. Brian thought “In out”.
Then there was another voice that frightened Brian the most. When he turned his head he saw 25 brown, black, furry, and eight eyed tarantulas. Brian didn’t know how to kill them so he just ran with fear. When the tarantulas lost him it was past midnight and Brian was getting tired. He went out to find another place to relax. “ (sigh) Its been a long and crazy day “ Brian thought to him self. When it was morning, Brian woke to a horrible hissing sound. “ What could that be” Brian thought with fear. Then he stood up and looked all around him. When he finally looked up he saw a 10 ft., brown, and green snake laying in the tree. “ No, it can’t be,”
Brian said with fear. “ A PYTHON.” Then in an instant the python jumped out of the tree and hit the ground. Instead of being a smart boy and staying still, he ran like a little baby. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I’m going to die” Brian screamed. He stopped to catch his breath and the snake was getting closer and closer. Brian saw yellow porch lights. “ Yes” thought Brian. When he got closer to the porch lights, he realized it was a cabin it looked like a haunted house with spider webs’ and dust everywhere.
Brian ran inside and slammed the door.
“Who’s there,” said a lady in a far dark corner. She came out, she had brown hair, blue eyes, and she wore glasses. Brian noticed she had tears running down her face.
“What’s wrong.” asked Brian.
”Oh its just every time I look at a picture of my son i always start to cry, because I never got to see him when he was little.”
”His name is Brian.” Brian realized that his mom never got to see him either and his name is Brian so he had the sudden to say
“Mom.”
“Brian.” They both ran to give each other a tight, big hug.
“Oh I missed you.”
“ I missed you too.”
“ Why are you here.”
“ I ran away and when i got deep in the woods i saw your porch lights.”
“ Well we have to get you home then.”
“No!”
“Why?”
“Because dad’s wife or so call my stepmom did this to me. ” Brian showed his mom the burn on his arm that his stepmom had done.
“Was your father there.”
“No she only does it when he is at work.”
” In an instant Brian’s mom called the cops.
The cops were there in a flash. They went to go ask Brian’s stepmom some questions. These are th questions they asked her: Is it true that you burnt Brian Canson’s arm?, “ NO” responded Brian’s stepmom, What happened then? “ He burnt it himself” she responded, Why? “cause I burnt it” she responded. The cops arrested her and she went to jail.
The next day, Brian’s dad knew all about Brian’s stepmom burning his arm and beating him every day when he was at work. “ I’m so sorry she did that to you,” Brian’s dad said. “ Your home is no longer safe for Brian Canson,” An officer came and said to Brian’s father. So Brian’s mom got the registration form’s saying that Brian lived with her. Brian talked to his dad. “ I’ll miss you so much dad,” said Brian. ”I’ll miss you to squirt” said Brian’s dad. When their conversation was over Brian left with his mom in her dented Chrysler.
___________________________________________________________________________________
6.
Mother Nature’s show
By Jessica Dachauer
Wind blows through the trees
Making leaves dance like ballerinas
To the crickets chirping beat.
Flowers glisten in the sunlight
Like stage props.
Branches of the trees are like
A stage of perfect wood.
Leaves twirl and spin
Around the stage.
Grass is like a roaring
Audience applauding.
The sun is like a stage light
Brightening up the floor.
Ever step the ballerinas take
Their shadow follows
Like a second dancer.
The show has coming to an end
Red curtains close.
___________________________________________________________________________________
7.
The Dreams
by Jessica Shearman
Beep beep ,beep, beep. Yawn. I walked down the stairs and told my Mom
“I’ve started having these weird dreams”
My Mom said, staring at me with her green eyes, laughing
“Oh that’s just silly!”
“Where are your grades? I want to see if your reading grade went up.”
“Mom, they didn’t”
She slapped porridge and some toast and jam on my plate.
“What book are you reading?” she asked me while my brother interrupted and came in with his dog.
“Mum, what’s for breakfast?” He said in his usual British accent”.
“Eggs and soldiers” Then again with the British.
“Come on, let’s go to school”.
Now the story starts. When the safety patrol opened my door and said to my Mom “Have a nice day” like they didn’t mean it and then I took another hundredth step into school. I waited in the lunch room until the teachers were ready, with all the boys playing with their blade blades and their oohs and aah’s. I arrived at my classroom and I sat at my desk and thought about my dream. A fire alarm going off, ring ring, ring ring.. and the firetrucks woohing. My jacket was stuck under my desk and a girl with a purple hat, brown eyes and long luscious hair was helping me. It was hard to breath, smoke and red blobs everywhere. That whole day at school I was thinking about my dream
“Was it true? Who was the girl in the purple hat? No-one would care about me that much because I’ve never know why but they don’t talk to me that much. Then I heard my name
“Jessica, come to my desk!” It was Miss Rose with her blonde, short hair and blue eyes.
Another girl with brown hair was up there staring at me, not in a bad way though.
“Jessica, I am going to let you work on your reading with Maria, outside in the courtyard”.
I went and just thought more about my dream more. Then I heard a voice. It was Maria.
“Hello’o what are you thinking about? What are you concentrating so much on?”
“Oh, no, my Mom says it’s silly”
“No I won’t think it’s silly. Trust me”.
“Well, I have been having these dreams....” and that is when I told her. She said the most extraordinary thing after.
“I have that same dream too, except I am helping a girl with a blue, long jacket”.
That is what made me feel that I had someone who cares about me.
The next day at school I had someone to sit by, talk to and play with. Usually at recess I sat by myself inside, but this time I played with Maria. We played on the swings. When Miss Rose blew the whistle we went inside crowding like ants and the room was our food. So we went to Drama class and Maria had to wear a purple hat and I had to wear a navy blue, long coat. We asked Miss Drooso if we could get our water bottles from the classroom. When we got into the room our grades were on our desks. Maria looked at me and said,
“Want to open them?” I was already ripping mine open. I lifted my head up and smiled. I shouted,
“I got an A+ in reading!” and she came to hug me. I said,
“Is it just me or is it getting hot in here?” Then I saw smoke coming into the room. Then it was starting, my dream. I heard sirens and the sprinklers were going off. We both knew what was happening. We saw my long coat was under Miss Rose’s table and she was pulling me like a cork out of a bottle. She couldn’t, so we just closed our eyes and laid there. She stayed with me. When I opened my eyes I was in Washington Regional hospital with Maria. The only thing different was that my eyes were open and hers were closed. Then I heard the Dr. shouting,
“Bring us the defibralator!” Then I starting kicking and shouting,
“Maria, no!” Then I heard a zzzzz, break two times and then there was silence.
I heard a big groan and it was Maria she was breathing.
When we were all ready to go, the Principal told us what had started the fire. The folk from the nursing home came to the school and one of the oxygen tanks blew up. My Mom said we could have a sleepover and we started thinking,
“How did we both have the same dream?”
the end........
_________________________________________
8.
Killing Issues by Karim Limayem
Genre: Commercial
“I like hats.” That’s what Donald said before he murdered Sally . You know killing is a naughty objective. If you have killing issues, come to me. Hi, my name is Bill Dotre, and I help people get over their killing issues. Call this number if you have killing issues, 555-5555. I repeat 555-5555.Killing issues are a type of sickness or disease. This disease will make you crazy, very crazy with killing . So if you have killing issues you can come to me. I’m a therapist. It’s my job . It’s a great deal because it’s freeeeeeee.
__________________________________________________________________
9.
The NOOM of the Sun
By Matthew Haley
1:27AM
I awoke from a dream. It was not scary, but it was unknown. Here, let me tell you about it. I stood in a white room, nothing was moving. The room was white, half of the room was dirty, but the other half was clean. On the dirty half, there was a mirror; I turned my head to see myself. I had dirty blonde hair, my eyes were abyssal black, and my skin had small black splotches, which appeared on our skin because we lack what is called “Sunlight.” I looked totally normal. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a door appear out of thin air. I got closer to the door, but it did not open for me. As I got closer, I saw that it had something on it. I stared at it for a few more seconds, still dumbfounded on what it is called and how to open the door when a whisper flew by my ear. It had said the words “Nob, grass, sun, pond, and moon” Then, I knew that object as a knob, I also knew how to open the door. I got closer, and turned the knob. Then the door opened. I walked outside, into a field, filled with grass. Out in the distance, I saw the Sun that hung in the sky. The sun was a bright ball of light. This also produced sunlight. A little farther off, I saw a pond that almost instantly thought of an idea. I ran to the pond’s side and looked at my reflection. There, I saw a totally different girl. I saw a girl with bright, pure blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and pure light skin. Apparently, the repaired the splotches almost instantly. This was how I wanted to look like. I wanted to know this place. I spent hours and hours searching through the almost endless field, until I had to stop. I laid down on top of the grass, which seemingly held me up. I loved this place, and I wished I could stay here forever. As soon as I thought it, a fire stemmed. I watched, helpless, as the once beautiful grass burned. NO NO NO NO!!! I won’t let this happen, it is just too beautiful!!! My name is NOOM, and I am the SUN!!!!! I rose above the inferno and began to swallow it. The fire lifted from the new grass and rose into my small body. I became warmer and warmer until I was on fire, then; I finally burst into a sun!!!! I watched as the new field regrew, I could now watch this beautiful place forever. Then, I awoke.
_________________________________________
10.
What I Saw Today
By Megan Davidian What I saw today
A huge tadpole
Big as my hand
A light shade
Of green algae
So slimy
I could barely hold it
Its tail
Long as a snake
Starting to get
Tiny back feet
That’s what I saw today
What I saw today
Two massive horses
One
Dark brown
The other
White with brown speckles
Just walking
Through the water
Like they had no place to go
Leaving as slow as they came
That’s what I saw today
What I saw today
A lobster
No…
A giant crawfish
Poked
With a stick
Scurried to hide
Watched carefully
By my eye
Now take your time
To see
What you will find.
___________________________________________________________________
11.
Flawless Sunflower
By Olivia Moore
The extravagant Sunflower
Has many pedals
That has drops of luscious gold.
They burst out of the brown sticky center.
The beautiful pedals may wilt and fall,
Plummeting to the ground like a rock slide.
But there are no flaws in this sunflower
Being grown in a fresh garden
Of thousands just like it but yet it is so different.
It may have been cut too short,
Or grown too deep in the ground.
There are no flaws in this Sunflower.
The smell! The smell!
Such wonderful aroma
Of candy caramel.
Later on, perhaps
The smell is as bland as a potato
Without butter.
But it is not flawed
Not flawed
Not flawed!
12.
Exhaustion
My sore, worn feet trudge
To a stop. I gasp for air,
I crash and fall slowly,
To the creaky couch.
Exhaustion swallows my energy
Like a chocolate bar.
My father hoists me in the air
And in one swift motion lays
Me in a bed soft as kittens’ fur.
Sleepiness is a warm bed
With a glass of cold milk
On the bedside table.
I dream of puppies and lollypops.
I dream of bandits and thieves.
I slowly awake into a morning as zesty
As a bowl of oranges.
_____________________________________________________________
13.
Darkness
By Payton Myers
Darkness
a blanket hangs
over the city
a giant pale hand
pulls the blanket away
and turns on a light
Revealing Life
_____________________________________________________________
14.
The Golden Curse
By: Qi Wang
The moment she stepped off her airplane from Russia, she knew she was in trouble. Her watch told her it was already 3 in the afternoon. She wondered if Mark had been waiting for her in the waiting room all this time. She had no choice but to meet him, her most beloved and her future’s greatest enemy. As she wandered through the crowd, those pair of intense hazel eyes followed her like a hawk.
“You’re late,” Mark frowned as he stood up from his seat. This made him look instantly taller and stronger than her.
“The plane got caught in the storm,” she replied simply, “Now let’s get going.” They raced through the crowded waiting room, and into the black limo that was already waiting for them. The driver handed them an Ipad so small that it only had one button on it. She pressed the button and a hologram flew up before her eyes. She touched the hologram until she found what she wanted. It was the secret communication system with their boss.
“Give me your card,” she spoke without looking. Mark handed her what looked like a regular school eraser but was really a secret identification card. When it touched the screen, the file opened. A video popped up and their boss’s angry face appeared.
“Uh oh,” she breathed as Dr. Snow’s face turned toward her.
“Nice to see you again, Gold,” Dr. Snow bellowed through tight clenched teeth. “You are late, again.” His blood pressure boiled up like hot water.
“The plane’s schedule changed due to the weather,” she replied without any effort.
Mark broke the tension and the uncomfortable silence, “Let’s move on to business,” he directed.
Dr. Snow’s face relaxed a little and quickly switched to his emotionless business face. “Gold, tell me what you’ve got,” he chuckled icily.
Gold had practiced that drill a million times already with her real boss. Her fake report already imprinted into her mind. She reported about the Russian military. She spoke with such confidence and looked so sincere, that General Snow bought it. When her report was over, Dr. Snow was pleased. “Well done,” he said.
The video clicked off as soon as the car stopped in front of Mark and Gold’s office at Washington D.C. It was heavily guarded, and any wrong steps would kill them on the spot. They put on their razor protection glasses and walked up to the metal door. There were no human guards, but with razor glasses on, they could see that they’d be sliced into pieces with any wrong step. Gold scanned her fingerprints and her irises on the scanner. Mark scanned his eraser, and the huge dark metal door slowly creaked open. The razor lines disappeared. 10 doors and 20 scanners later, they are finally in their top secret office. Gold went to her computer and pretended to be working. After Mark was engaged in CIA file, she closed her privacy door and clicked on Mark’s top secret files about technology that were forbidden for her to open. She accessed it under Mark’s code, which she stole from his documents. All kinds of unmade future technologies popped up on her screen such as the nuclear lip stick bomb that can blow up a whole city by opening its cap and an X-ray powered gun with a power of shooting 500 miles per second. As she went through the files, she carefully copied them onto her necklace. She was so focused in her real work that she didn’t notice someone was standing behind her, and watching over her shoulder. Mark slowly leaned over her, just as Gold suddenly realized that someone was right next to her, she calmly turned around to face him. He had a stone expression and didn’t say anything.
“What do you want, Mark?” she asked calmly.
“What in the world are you thinking, accessing that file without permission?” His hazel eyes flared with anger.
“Mark? I thought you trusted me!” Gold shouted back, pretending to be innocent and hurt.
Mark’s expression softened. “I do, but Dr. Snow doesn’t. If he caught you, he would think you are a double sided spy and he’d kill you.”
“I promise I will stay safe, Mark.” Gold gave him her best sincere smile and he left the office skeptically.
“That was a close one.” She thought, but she felt guilty not telling him that General Snow was right about her and he shouldn’t trust her, but she can’t. She swallowed hard. He was right. This is not safe. That’s when something on Mark’s desk caught her eyes. It was his eraser. He left in such a hurry that he forgot to take it with him. An idea popped into Gold’s mind. A wicked smile slowly spreads on her face. She grabbed Mark’s eraser and scanned it on her computer screen. It asked for the password. She tried everything she knew about Mark: his favorite entertainment, colors, books, songs, cases everything, even her own name. She accessed Mark’s personal files. He had used her name as the password, that made her smile until she found one disturbing little thing on his computer. Under his email, the CIA sent him a new suspect of a possible double sided spy. She opened the attachments, and her eyes widened open with surprise. It was her! She couldn’t believe how they found out either.
“I’m so dead.” She thought.
The picture the CIA had sent was from 5 years ago, before she worked with Mark. She had black hair and brown eyes. Now she had dyed her hair blond and has blue contacts on so her eyes are ocean blue. She had been wearing glasses in the picture and her code name back then was Daisy Brown. She knew Mark. He can definitely recognize that picture without any trouble. Gold quickly downloaded Mark’s file about her onto her necklace and deleted the email from his file. She deleted his recycle bin so that it couldn’t be ever found again.
She quickly tapped on her watch. She needed to report this to her real boss, the one back in Russia. The watch transformed itself and a tiny microphone popped out. She whispered her situation in Russian, and her boss answered back, saying that she needed to pack up fast, steal the information, and run. She began quickly browsing through Mark’s other files, saw some useful stuff and copied it onto her necklace, a secret flash drive. When she was about to be done, she heard voices near the door way. Two guards walked in as soon as she hid behind her secret bookshelf beneath her desk. They must have got the e-mail too because they talked about how “Gold isn’t here” and walked out. Gold wondered if Dr. Snow knew about the email too. Gold let out a deep breath and slowly peeked out. No one was there. She quickly tip-toed to the back door and she almost bumped straight into Dr. Snow.
Dr. Snow grabbed her shoulders and gripped her so hard that her shoulders hurt like they’d been squashed by metal. “You will come with me!” Dr. Snow chuckled coldly as he dragged her into a dark cell room and threw her onto the freezing hard floor. Gold’s heart pounded against her chest like a little bird trying to escape from her cage. “Oh no, Oh no! What are they going to do to me?” Gold panicked inside her head. Dr. Snow knew that she was a double sided spy. “Oh Mark, poor Mark, I had totally betrayed his trust if he finds out.” She thought nervously.
Suddenly the cell’s door slowly opened and bright lights exploded into the room. Standing in the door way a large shadow appeared. “Mark!” Gold gasped. “Gold how could you!” Mark’s voice is so full of hurt and anger that it sounded shaky. “You lied to me. I knew I couldn’t count on you, you, you could’ve killed me!” Gold didn’t say anything; she couldn’t even meet his intensive gaze. “So it’s true huh?” even though Gold didn’t say anything, Mark knew that Dr. Snow was right about her. He still can’t believe what had just happened. Gold, his most beloved was now his greatest enemy.
All of a sudden, two guards appeared in the door way and pushed Mark aside. They stumped into the cell and dragged Gold’s lifeless sprit into another private room for questioning. Mark couldn’t stand watching them torture her like that, so he left the room with a heavy heart. The rest of the five endless torturing hours, Gold couldn’t really remember. All she knew is that she was slapped, hit, spat, threw, and questioned until she was completely blacked out. When she woke up later that night, she was alone again in her dark and freezing cell room. Even in the faded silvery moonlight, she could still see that she was drowning in her own blood, cover with cuts and bruises everywhere. She tried to lift her dizzy head up, but it throbbed badly. Every muscle and bone in her body was screaming in pain. This suffering is way worse than dying. Suddenly, the cell room’s door slowly creaked open, a sorrow figure appeared. It was Mark, and he had a gun.
“No, Mark, please,” Gold pleaded. No use, Mark is already closing in on her, Gold tried to shuffle back a little, but her body felt numb that it didn’t respond to her brain’s commands.
“I’m sorry Gold, but I have to follow my Dr. Snow’s commands.” Mark stammered, “And he, he wanted me to kill you!” With a shaky hand, Mark raised his gun.
“Mark, please…” Gold’s voice was as small as a bee buzzing, weak as an already captured little deer. It broke Mark’s heart to hear her like that. He hesitated, no, he couldn’t have any soft spots for her. She is a betrayer who lied to him and a double sided spy. He cannot trust her! Mark knew there was no way out of this. He had to make a decision that he might regret for the rest of his life. Finally, he decided that he had to do what he had to do.
“Run,” Mark commanded in a guilty voice. “Run now before, before I change my mind.” Gold was too stunned to move, or speak, but she slowly and painfully staggered toward Mark. Mark steadied her, and pressed the gun into her shaking hand.\
“Take it and run, run now! I’ll distract the guards!” Mark offered calmly. “Mark, I, I can’t believe you will do this for me.” Gold whispered trying to gulp back her warm tears, staring into those dazzling, absolutely breath taking hazel eyes for the one last time. Then she pushed open the back doors of the building and stepped into the dark, chilly night. Tonight the guards for the back doors were not on guard, Dr. Snow probably gathered them for an “important” meeting about her. Before she staggered out of that haunting place, she glanced back at Mark. An understanding had passed between them. Then as quiet and as quick as a cat, she disappeared into the night. The whispers of the wind carrying their thoughts “I love you.”
____________________________________________________________
15.
Ghost’s Adventure
By Sam Edwards
There were 17 cats living in Larry’s house. One was fluffy white. Larry loved the white one best and named him Ghost. Ghost went through a hole in the living room wall and climbed into a trashcan full of gooey pudding cups and rotten bananas. When the trash man came, Ghost couldn’t escape. He was loaded into the truck and dumped at the landfill. Scared, he slashed the trash bag and crept out of the landfill. He was chased by a rabid dog which was not fun. Ghost was hungry and got some fish from a seafood place. He took a nap in a trashy alley. In the morning, he took off down the road and ran into Alex, on of Larry’s other cats.
“Since you left, Larry let us go free.”
“What? Really?”
“Larry got very sad when you left. You should go back.”
“Okay, it’s awful out her anyway.”
One day later, Ghost got back to Larry’s house. Larry saw him through the window and took him inside. Ghost noticed the hole in the wall was sealed and he felt safe. He laid down, stretched, and finally relaxed.
