Echoes of the Fallen by Samuel Rockmore

Prologue

Fred was a basic cultist, lurking in a secret room of the cult fortress, taking weapon inventory. His cult had attempted to ransom the Light Aegis, which infuriated the Chaos Queen, Pyra. He didn’t think much of it, because if you ransom somebody’s friend, it’s no wonder they’d be angry. 

Suddenly, he heard something crash through the roof. He heard fighting, and stayed in the basement until it was over. He opened the basement door, and realised that the basement had been torn off of the rest of the building. 

He took an escape pod back to the base, only to realise that it didn’t exist anymore. All there was, was bits of rubble and corpses, floating in the bleak void of space. All he saw was the back end of a ship, and the Chaos Queen. That moment, he had sworn revenge on Pyra, and would not stop pursuing her.

Chapter 1

One Year Later

It was one year after she had attacked that cult base. She had taken over the Realm of the Core, the neighboring realm, and was sick of fighting, so she decided to take a vacation on Planet AL-56. Halfway through the journey to Planet AL-56, a cultist snuck in. Pyra fell asleep in her chair; this was the perfect time to strike.

Fred’s Perspective

I managed to sneak onto the Chaos Queen’s ship. It’s a huge, spacious vessel. Lots of gold, rubies, and even the illusive McDonald’s Playplace. Floating around in space for an entire year was miserable, but now I can take my revenge!  I wander this labyrinth of a ship, and eventually reach the cockpit. 

The Chaos Queen was not how I pictured her, she has neck-length, pinkish-red hair, and is about five foot eight. She’s asleep in her chair, with the autopilot running; Now is the perfect time to strike. I raise my knife above her heart; when I’m about to stab, she wakes up. She wrestles the knife out of my hand and swipes at my throat. I manage to narrowly block it, but now my arm is bleeding. She then counters with a blast of fire magic, knocking me into the wall. She grabs her sword, which looks like you could hit somebody once with it and break all their bones. The sword also has these three protruding crystals on one side; they shoot lasers.

 I do believe that trying to fight her was a mistake. She swings her sword at me, but I narrowly dodge, and her sword is stuck in the wall. I run to the other side of the cockpit and grab my knife. There was no use trying to run out of the room, because, as this fight proved, she is much faster than expected. She unlodges her sword from the wall, and is back to swinging it at my head. I know that I won’t last long fighting her, so I have to get away. How, though? 

I decide to swipe at her leg with my knife, which slows her down a bit. She tries to hit me with her sword, but misses, and hits the main terminal. I take my chance and run, but before she can catch me, an asteroid crashes into the centre of the ship, and the two halves crash on a nearby planet.

Chapter 2

Pyra’s Perspective

I wake up in the broken cockpit. All my weapons are gone, and so is that moron that crashed my ship. This planet doesn’t like the one I was going for. It’s very swampy, and I hear rain. It’s dim under the canopy of the trees. Smoke rises in the distance, presumably from the other half of my ship. I have the stuff to rebuild the ship, except for metal; I have to ransack my own ship. This is going to be a pain. This planet is very small, about the size of Rhode Island. If I’m fast, I can reach the other half of my ship in about two days. I grab a bag of stuff from my ship and venture on.

Fred’s Perspective

I wake up, face in the mud. Smoke rises from the distance, presumably from the other half of the ship. My knife is nowhere to be found, meaning I have to make weapons to kill the Chaos Queen. 

I find a stick and a sharp looking rock; so I make a spear. Unfortunately, all the food was in the cockpit, so I’ll have to hunt to get food. Something glitters in the distance. It’s so alluring . . . I have to go get it! I end up running into the forest and find a sapphire dagger. As I’m about to pick it up, some guy darts past, stealing the dagger before I can grasp it in my hand. His footprints led to a large building, and I know this’ll be difficult.

Chapter 3

Pyra’s Perspective

I’ve been venturing in the woods, searching for anything useful for taking down that moron. A yellow crystal lights up in the distance, and I immediately recognize it. The only jewel in the Omniverse of Chaos that looks like that is Fignes Crystal; an ultra-rare crystal used to power weapons made by Fignes himself. That’s definitely my sword. I run over there. 

When I’m just about to grab my sword, some guy comes out of nowhere and grabs it. The mud is slowing him down, so I catch up to him. I try to yank my sword out of his hand, but he’s holding on so violently that instead of tearing the sword from his hand, I ended up tearing off the whole arm. The guy screams in agony, so I take my sword, and put him out of his misery. I point my sword to the sky, and it erupts in flame. That’ll serve as a warning for anyone else who tries to mess with me. 

As I continue on, I almost trip over a metal rod. When I look up, it turns out to be a broken cell tower. It’s not in ruins, just the wires are cut. Luckily, the stuff I grabbed from my ship will come in handy. I get to work on fixing the wires.

Fred’s Perspective

I sneak into the building, and realize what this is. A thieves guild. They almost definitely have a ship here. I run through the building, fighting anyone who stops me. I wind up on the prison level, and I’m fighting the warden. I take a jab for his throat with my spear, but he grabs and snaps it, and throws me down the spiral staircase into the basement. I catch a glimpse of an elevator to my right, and I take the elevator to the building’s top floor. There’s a ship here!

Chapter 4

Pyra’s Perspective

The cell tower is now working, so I contact my Omniverse. If they see a ship rising from this planet, they’ll shoot it down. I’ll take an escape pod, while that moron is trapped in a flaming ship.

I keep going and find a building. A sign hangs outside an entrance,“Totally not a thieves guild.”  It’s a thieves guild. 

I go in, since they might have a ship. I run up the stairs, lighting every floor on fire. When I reach the top floor, I see that moron trying to unlock the ship. If my trick works, I shouldn’t have to fight him. I approach the ship, but that moron grabs a sword. He tries to jump and go for the throat, but I bat him down. I blast him with fire magic but he takes a swipe at my foot. I try to bash him in the heart with my sword, but narrowly miss, shattering every bone in his arm. He tries for a revenge hit, but the swords collide, causing his sword to shatter.

“Look, I don’t wanna fight, just get on the stupid ship.” He fell for it, and now we’re blasting off.

Fred’s Perspective

While the Chaos Queen thinks that we’ve truced, I’m still ready to take her down. I look out at space. Despite the fact that I was trapped there for a year, it’s still beautiful. Wait, are those warships? When Pyra escapes in an escape pod, I realize what’s happened. She’s now standing on the balcony of the biggest ship, giving the command to open fire. Lasers burn through the ship. Various bits are pulled into a black hole. I realize, even if I escape the ship, I’m still in a predicament because of the extreme black hole gravity. No piece of the ship is any bigger than an onion now. The black hole yanks me in and I realize that I’ll never be able to leave.




NATIONAL CAT AND DOG GUT HEALTH AWARENESS DAY POEM by Carolyn Frank and Josephine Schiff

NATIONAL CAT AND DOG GUT HEALTH AWARENESS DAY. A Poem for the day.

My carpets are stained,

My dogs smell bad,

Smelly and dirty

And the cat just threw up,

Their very own fur,

today is a day, 

My pets are sick,

I want to cry,

Because today is a day,


To remember the spy,

That fed our pets,

A chunk of meat,

Gooey and gross

Image Source: DVM360

Unordinary Events Parts 6 and 7 by Madison Mikita

Unordinary Events Part 6

The next day I was walking through the hallway when I heard a voice call my name.

“Hailey! Hailey!” I whipped around to find Charlie weaving in and out of the sea of kids as they thundered past. 

“Hey!” I said. That was the first time I had seen him since last night, so it was interesting to see him in school and not in an underground bunker. 

“Hi, have you seen Leah? I want to ask her if she has any questions about anything. Also she was purple, then orange, then red for a little bit so I want to see if she is okay.” Charlie said.

I shook my head, “No, haven’t seen her. I’ll tell her your looking for her.” I called before being pushed by the crowd in the other direction. I my next class was ELA which was not far away. I stepped into the classroom and looked around. Cynthia was in this class, so was Bri. I sat in my usual seat and pulled out my chromebook to work on my essay, my hand brushed the handbook as I remembered the events of last night. All the other students had no idea that I could fly, Cynthia could hear the future, and Bri can turn lights on and off with her mind. It gave me a sense of power, but also a sense of responsibility. What if I randomly started hovering in my seat without noticing? What if I was startled by a loud noise and rocketed up to the ceiling again? I had to pretend that everything was normal. I had to pretend  Cynthia and Bri were strangers to me. I opened my laptop as if everything was fine and began to work. In the middle of class the loud speaker crackled to life.

“Attention students, a tornado has formed not far from the school. We are now going into an emergency tornado drill.” The announcer said. 

The teacher silenced everyone as others whispered and began to panic. It didn’t matter to me anymore about the whole pretended that I never met Cynthia or Bri thing, I turned to them and whispered, “There were no warnings, it must have just appeared out of nowhere.” Bri leaned forward as Cynthia nodded. 

Cynthia leaned in and whispered, “This isn’t a regular tornado, it must be a result of magic.”

“It could be a past chosen child.” Bri suggested. 

“If it is a person with powers we need to get everyone out of here, and fast.” I concluded.

I glanced at Cynthia and nodded to signify to use her powers. The teacher lead us into the hallway where kids were already ducking their heads in their hands. I located Leo and Charlie and spotted EJ coming out of another classroom. I sat and faced the wall in between Cynthia and Bri. We ducked down, I glanced at Cynthia to meet her gaze. 

“Crows and footsteps.” She whispered.

I nodded then whispered back, “Wait, crows?”

Cynthia nodded and shrugged. I turned back to the wall and squeezed my eyes shut. I tried to brainstorm, I tried to plan and use logic. But all I had were two words, crows and footsteps. Footsteps could be people running, so we would have to run either way. Then there was the word “crow”. I didn’t know if they would be good or bad or significant or not but I started to brainstorm their weaknesses. I heard people crouch down into their spots and heavy, panicked breath going in and out. My heartbeat increased, thumping in my ears and all throughout my body. Suddenly the sound of whirling wind flooded my ears rapidly. I tensed up and squeezed my eyes shut. I was scrunched up with my hands supporting my head. The headache in my head increased. 

Then the walls began to crumble, and the screaming began. It was a mix of panic and the reason everyone was panicking. Kids got up and ran for their lives as teachers scolded them. I quickly stood up and pulled Cynthia with me. I caught a glimpse of Leo, Charlie, and EJ and drew Cynthia and Bri to me as I pushed through the crowd to get to them. 

Someone had to come together and figure out how to stop this and get everyone out. 

The problem was we were the only ones who could.

Unordinary Events Part 7

“LEO, CHARLIE, EJ!” I shouted while tugging Cynthia and Bri with me. 

They ran up to us as we started to lead the others to the end of the hallway.

“What’s happening!” EJ asked over all the screaming.

I ran along side them as Bri said, “Someone conjured a tornado and directed it toward the school.”

My heart pounded wildly in my chest, my eyes were blinded by fear. The waves of people running in every direction crashed and whirled around. 

“Whoever they are aren’t just trying to destroy the school and everyone inside of it, they’re going after us most likely.” Cynthia said as we made it to the end of the hallway and burst through the doors. Kids streamed out of the school like slime, running for their lives. The school swayed and crumbled. 

“But,” I said, “They will gladly rip everything to piece if that means they could get to us.”

 We stopped to catch our breath, everyone looked at me.

“So, do we fight, or do we hide?” Leo asked us, his gaze swept over us as we thought it through. But I wasn’t going to let someone destroy everyone, not when I could have done something to stop it. So I looked up from the ground, stared into Leo’s eyes, and said…

“We fight.”

Everyone nodded. 

I smiled, and turned around to see a gray tornado whipping wildly toward us. 

“We should get up onto the roof, that way we get a better view of the tornado and whoever is controlling it.” Cynthia said. Then Leo whisked his hands and made the nearby picnic table fly up into the air so Bri, Leo, Charlie and Cynthia could climb on.

“Wait, you can control things other than pencils!” EJ exclaimed as his jaw dropped.

“Yeah, I stayed up all night experimenting  with my powers, I can do a lot more than lift pencils now.” Leo confirmed. 

Once everyone got on, Leo pushed his hands forward and made the picnic table fly up to the roof. EJ teleported and I pushed off from the ground. The wind whipped in my face, my legs dangled in the air for a moment before landing on the roof. I started to run to the other end of the roof, the others followed quickly behind me. 

“Um… Haley, I think I see something by the tornado.” Charlie said as he caught up to me.

I glanced at him before looking out on the area in which he pointed to. There was nothing but the tornado and a cliff.

“Huh? Where?” I asked.

“There is a glow, like the ones I see around people. It’s orange and I think that means that the person that gives off a orange glow is determined. I see orange wherever people look confident.” He said.

“Soo, Charlie can see emotions in the form of colors.” Cynthia said as she appeared on my right. 

Charlie said, “I guess I can.” He smiled as we arrived on the far side of the schools roof. The thumping footsteps of the others came to a stop. 

We formed a line facing the tornado, all trying to feel strong and sure. But the fear that was tucked away in the back of my mind seemed to bang on the doors, wanting to be let out. But I couldn’t let it consume me. 

“We need to split up, someone needs to get people out of the school, someone has to block the tornado, and someone has to go talk to the enemy.” Cynthia said. 

Leo said, “I’ll block the tornado and move it somewhere else.”

“Me and Charlie will go talk to the enemy.” I suggested.

Charlie and I exchanged glances as Bri replied, “Trying to talk a psychopath out of doing something won’t make a difference.”

“Well, we have to try.” I said. 

We split up, Bri getting people out of the school, while Cynthia and Leo tried to steer the tornado somewhere else. 

“C’mon.” EJ beckoned Charlie over. 

Charlie walked over to him anxiously and touched his shoulder, then in a blink of an eye and a flash of purple light, they were gone. I got a running start then jumped off the roof. I soared threw the wild wind and dodged flying objects in the sky. 

To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. 

The wind whipped in my hair I tried to spot Charlie. I sped up when I caught sight of a cliff behind the tornado. I flew around the tornado, and found Charlie waving his hands frantically from behind a bush. He pointed at the cliff, and there they were, the enemy controlling the tornado. I almost screamed, I clamped my mouth shut and bolted to the bush. 

“Who is that!?” I whispered harshly.

“I don’t know.” Charlie said. 

I grabbed a stick laying on the ground next to me, it wasn’t a sword but it was decent. 

“C’mon.” I said.

I stood up and briskly walked over to the person, she had black hair with white stands and a dark cloak covering her body. Her hands were pushed out in front of them, her stance was wide. She seemed to be controlling the tornado and pushing it towards the school. 

“HEY!” I shouted. She whipped around as her icy glare landed on me.

“We… uh, were sent to help you.” I lied. 

She looked us up and down, then back at her work.

“Why would the Dark Army send a bunch of kids to help me?” She said more sarcastic than interested. 

“We can shapeshift, this is one of our forms.” I lied, again. I had no clue where I was going with this.

“Y-ya.” Charlie added nervously. 

That would probably give us away.

The woman looked back to us. 

“We both know thats a lie.” She said, unbothered, “You’re just a couple of kids from that school who think they know what they are doing.”

Called it.

“Why are you driving that tornado into the school?” I asked.

She laughed under her breath before answering.

“Some people in that school think they are more powerful than us, I’m here to prove them wrong and show them that it’s better to give in than fight back.” 

I tightened my grip on the stick, “You’re wrong.” 

I lounged and knocked her down to the ground, the minute she let her focus go the tornado slowed down, as if it were in slow motion. I used the stick to pin her to the ground as Charlie started to kick her. She pushed us off and kicked us to the ground. She went back to controlling the tornado. 

“I can’t deal with you two anymore.” She said.

“I can help with that.” A voice from behind us said. 

I whipped around, only to find a hooded figure with a dark cloak. I stood up quickly, so eager to find out who was hiding beneath it. 

Then, a hand reached up and pulled the hood out of their face. 

It was Leah.

She was not the same Leah I had known before. She was pale and cold, like the life had been sucked out of her. Leah had changed, but why? What happened to the warm sympathetic girl I met on the bus? 

“Hello Haley and Charlie.” She said.

Charlie beamed, “There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you! Where were you?”

Leah smirked as she replied, “I was, meeting new friends.” She motioned to the woman who was controlling the tornado beside her. 

It occurred to me then that Leah was no longer on our side. 

Charlie’s face dropped, “No, no, no, Leah those people are trying to tear the school apart!” 

“I know.” Leah said.

Then she slowly raised her hands to where they were stretched out beside her and tilted her head back. 

Then she said only one word, “Attack.” 

Suddenly a murder of crows swooped down from the trees and charged at me and Charlie. Without thinking I grabbed Charlie’s sleeve and pulled him with me as we ran. I could hear the flutter and flapping of wings and the deafening calls behind me as the end of the cliff came closer and closer until…

We jumped. 

My feet left the ground as Charlie shrieked. We fell, screaming until our throats burned. My mind spun, I needed to take control. The world whirled around, my mind whipped and blurred. The panic inside me rose and we kept falling. I gripped Charlie’s arm, flipped right side up, and pushed on an invisible force that sent me rocketing up to the sky. I smiled as the thought came to me, I did it. I glanced down at Charlie who was dangling and gripping my arm with all his might. Fear was in his eyes, but also relief. I set him down on the roof and shot back to Leah. 

“Looks like you forgot I have powers too.” I said as her face shifted into a look of pure agony. 

Suddenly she called her crows back on me. 

Now it all made sense, Cynthia’s prediction and Leah’s mysterious power. 

I snapped back to the present, to the crows charging straight at me. I turned around and swooped toward the tornado. The crows were gaining on me, but I kept racing to the tornado. At the last second I swerved and the crows ran into the raging tornado. I glanced back at Leah and the woman. 

Leah screamed, “NOO!” 

Then it all happened so fast.

Leah dropped down to her knees while accidentally knocking the woman over. Leo pushed the tornado towards them. They were sucked into the tornado. Leo shrank the tornado, Leah, and the woman as Bri came running over with an empty water bottle. The tornado was moved into the water bottle. The water bottle lid was shoved on. 

Then it was all over. 

Bri held the deadly water bottle in her hand as everyone stared at it with amazement. 

Unordinary Events Part 5 by Madison Mikita

“C’mon, it’s time I let you know something.” The bus driver said, he waved us over and rolled his eyes. I glanced at Cynthia on instinct, she shrugged and we all proceeded to follow the bus driver. What was his real name anyway? The bus driver kept looking around, back and forth, his eyes narrow. We hiked deeper into the forest, the wild branches and bushes catching on our socks. All was silent except for the crackling leaves and twigs, and all of us huffing and puffing from the long trek. After a few minutes the bus driver stopped, EJ almost bumped into him. 

“Right.” The bus driver said, “I suppose you have been wondering why all of you have been selected to be transported on a bus to a location that is not your own home.”

“Not really,” EJ muttered, although the forest was too quiet for him to not be heard. 

The bus driver expressed no emotion whatsoever and proceeded, “You are unique individuals. Every fifty years a new generation of kids is given powers. Powers that seem useless at first, but are far from it. An organization was made to assist those kids, in order to teach them how to control their powers and use them for good. But the organization also needs to protect those kids, because some people would want to discard anything that might get in their way. For example, those idiots in the white van probably were out to kill you.”

There was silence, all of us glanced down at the forest floor, remembering how oblivious we were while being an inch from death. 

The bus driver glared down at us, “In other words, don’t trust anyone, not even the person standing next to you.” 

Once again the bus driver had pushed us down into a pool of traumatic truth. 

We were no longer oblivious. 

The bus driver glanced around the forest once more, then grabbed onto a tree branch and twisted with aggression. Then he pushed the branch-lever down and waited. I peaked out from behind him and watched for something amazing to happen. Nothing happened. The bus driver sighed and kicked the base of the tree. Then faint sound of clinking and clanking rang throughout the forest. Slowly, but surely, a wooden circle door materialized out of no where. The bus driver banged on the lower part of the door as more of the building emerged. There was more clinking and clanking, then the door squeaked open. The bus driver stepped up onto the frame of the door, the rest of us had to pull ourselves up. I stood up and took a step away from the door. The room was dark, lit by a dozen candles scattered around the oval shaped room. The walls were most likely made out of mud and the floor slanted down. Papers and notes were stuck to the walls and ceiling. Four tunnels were at the far end of the room. The bus driver steered us to the third tunnel, the sound of our footsteps echoed throughout the dark room. 

“Where are we going?” Bri demanded.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” The bus driver said without turning back. 

As we marched on the light at the end of the tunnel began to grow until we emerged from the cold and melancholy room to a slightly brighter room. A long wooden rectangular table was in the center of the room, like the entrance room there were maps and notes taped up on the walls. Chairs of different colors and sizes were pushed up against the table. There was nothing on the table, no papers or files, not even a vase of flowers. Another room was through a doorway to my left but other than that there was nothing  in the room. The bus driver marched us through the doorway and into yet another room with four tunnels. 

“What’s your name?” Cynthia asked the bus driver as we trudged through the tunnel on the far left. I realized I was started to get used to calling him “the bus driver”.

“Howard.” He replied briskly. 

EJ paused, “Well, what do you want us to call you?”

“Howard.” Howard repeated.

That was all the conversation until we made it to the end of the tunnel. At last we had come across a room that had people in it. A woman with red hair tied up in a messy bun, strode across the room carrying a pack of files, “Myra! You got the sixth one ready yet?” She called back. A second woman, supposedly Myra, appeared and leaned out of a door frame on a maroon rolling chair, “Can’t you give a girl some time! Geez.” She then rolled back into the room from which she came. There were filing cabinets and cardboard boxes full of papers. Two lamps in the far corners lit the whole room. The woman was bustling around the place, she didn’t even notice that we were there. 

A third woman with inky black hair and skin the color of coffee came running into the room carrying a stack of books and talking rapidly to the first woman, “Meg! I printed out the handbooks, I decided to go with the five by four ‘cause why -” 

“Shush!” The first woman exclaimed. She was staring at us, a smile was on her face.

The woman with black hair glanced at us, dropped all the books in her hands, and gasped.

“THEY’RE BEAUTIFUL!!!” She exclaimed.

“Huh?” I blurted out.

The first woman spoke, “Hello! My name is Meg, this is Serina. We are part of the organization.”

Bri paused then asked, “So, it’s just called ‘The Organization’?”

“Yep.” Meg replied.

“Really creative.” Bri muttered. 

 Serina ignored Bri’s comment, if she even heard her, and moved on, “Here are the handbooks, made by me, they have everything you need to know about everything, did I mention that I made them?”

Meg rolled her eyes and whispered, “Yeah, a couple times.”

Serina handed each of us a copy of the handbook and smiled as we flipped through the pages.

“Theres no need,” Howard said, “I already told them everything.”

Serina’s smile faded.

“Well, now you know everything about your powers, The Organization, and have the handbooks, we can send you home.” Meg said.

I relaxed, Finally, I thought. Howard beckoned us back through the tunnel, soon we were out of the hideout and back into the forest. We boarded the bus and sat down, this time closer together. Howard was about to pull out of the forest and onto a road when I spotted something running towards us.

“Wait!” I yelled at Howard as the thing got closer. As it got closer I could make out more details. A person, a girl… Leah. She hadn’t been at the hideout, she ran into the forest almost a moment before the bus driver called us over. Leah had been in the forest the whole time.

“Where have you been?” Leo asked as Leah climbed onto the bus.

She was breathing heavily and  her hands clutched her side as she breathed, “I’ll… tell you… later.” Leah slumped down into a seat. 

Charlie handed her his handbook, “Here,” He said, “it has everything you need to know.”

Leah stared down at the handbook, she started to say, “Oh I don’t need-” Then she paused and went with, “Never mind, thanks.” as she took the handbook from Charlie’s grasp.

Then Howard pulled out of the woods and proceeded to take us home.

But the weird thing was that Leah didn’t say a word the whole time.  



The Escape Room by Ian Updegrove

I woke up in a room. There seemed to be six other people in there. 

“Hello?” I said.

“Yes?” Someone said from across the room.

“Where are we?”

“I have no idea”

Other people started waking up. We couldn’t recall what happened. It’s like we knew each other already, but we couldn't remember one another, all we knew were our names. 

My name is Kyle. I looked around and there was a mirror in the corner. I don’t remember my age, but by looking at my reflection I seemed to be in my 30s. The person I was just talking to is named Abigail.

“Who are you guys?” Abigail asked.

“I’m Kyle” I said.

“Hello, Kyle, do you know these other people?”

“N-no, I don’t, but their faces, they look so familiar.”

The sound of a Walkie-Talkie was being played and then a voice spoke through making the others wake up. 

“Hello? Hello?” The Walkie-Talkie spoke.

“Yes, hello,” I said.

“Hello there, you may not remember anything, but you need to get out, fast!”
“Wait, who are you?”

“I know this is going to sound crazy, but you guys got knocked out and got kidnapped. I stole this Walkie-Talkie from one of the kidnappers by fighting with one of them, and I overheard them saying how they made you guys forget everything,”

“Well, not everything, we still remember our names.”

“Well, that’s good-”

“But wait, who are you?”
“My name is Alex, I’m a personal friend of yours, we were at a party I went to the bathroom and when I came out, you guys and a couple of other people were gone. I went to the window to look for you guys and I saw that you were outside with some people I’ve never seen before.”

“Wait a minute, I’m starting to remember that?”

“That’s good, but talk to each other and more memories will probably come back.” 

“Okay, sounds good Alex, bye”

“See ya.”

When I got off the Walkie-Talkie, I heard some “new” voices.

“Who was that?” A person who reminded me of a teen because of his hair style and his outfit asked. 

“Someone who apparently knows us all.”

“Well, that’s weird”
“It may be, but we need to get out of here!”

“Wait, shouldn’t we tell each other our names first?”

“Sure, my name is Kyle and the girl wearing the black is Abigail”
“My name is Justin,” the teen said.

“My name is Amanda,” another girl said.

“My name is Michael,” said a boy with blonde hair and a European accent. 

“My name is Simon,” said a boy with a southern drawl. 

To be continued…



The Shifters by Halen Holes

I work in a secret government agency. Well, I used to work there. They are making me write a report about what happened but using false info to not scare the public.

You know for being a secret government agency they really aren't that smart. I just switch to a different document every time they check my story. I'm just writing both sides. 

We hunt the creatures that make noise at night. Have you ever seen a human-like figure in your room just to realize it was something that looks like it?

Yeah that is one of them we call them Shifters, because they shift into the current environment. Everyone rationalizes it but we know what is truly happening when we see it.  Everytime this happens they get closer and closer until they get you.

Fake story

I woke up in the middle of the night really tired and saw a person in my room. I couldn't tell much but he blended into the shadows. Well, I could tell from my work experience in the government it was an intruder. He didn't know  I was awake. He then quickly but quietly moved out of my room. He clearly got in through my window. I started getting up and quietly followed him looking for a weapon.

Real story

Finally they're gone. I can tell you the real story now.

I woke up and saw a creature in my room. A Shifter.  I looked away and went back to sleep to make it think it was safe to get closer, but I wasn't dumb.  I knew their tricks. This wasn't the first time. It got closer and closer then I jumped out and grabbed it by the neck and killed it but I messed up. They can only be truly killed by burning their bodies; this was a big problem later. I then fell asleep. 

Fake story 

I found a baseball bat and hit him on the head. After he cut my hand with the knife. He was out cold.  I quickly called the police and they collected him as he was starting to regain consciousness. Luckily he didn't break or get away with anything.

Real story 

Anyway they're gone again. A couple of days later I found out my mistake. It came back with many more of them.  I woke up in the middle of the night and saw them. They weren't even trying to hide. They thought they got me, well they did, but I have done many years of training to deal with these things, so I ran past one and hopped out my window and landed pretty hard on the ground and quickly went to the nearest light source with people and nearby gas station.

Fake story 

The man who broke into my house later identified as some homeless drug addict was on drugs while he was in my house. He was charged with trespassing and robbery and some other things. It turned out the police had been looking for him.

Real story 

I never liked the over priced gas station, but today it saved my life. The Shifters avoid light, especially if there are a lot of people, but they will follow as close to you as the darkness gets. Because you can't stay in the light forever, but luckily being a gas station there was gas to make a fire to kill them, but I had to lure them into the forest which I did. I had to sprint as fast as I could. I had bought a lighter from the gas station, so I poured gasoline and lit it as they were sprinting.

Fake story 

The man was sentenced to 53 years in prison and I have since moved on into a different state closer to my family and still had the occasional nightmare about it. 

Real story  

They couldn't stop fast enough and they started burning, making a horrible screeching noise. I can still vividly remember, but one missed the fire and was coming back for me. I pushed it hard but it cut my hand, before it went in and I'm left with a scar, which I made up in the fake story as being from the knife the intruder had. I luckily haven't had many more encounters with shifters but any I have seen since then…I always remember to burn them.



Unordinary Events Part 4 by Madison Mikita

The bus driver stomped on the gas petal and the bus once again zoomed forward, this time faster and wilder than before. The grappling hook from the white van came clattering down to the road. 

“Think everybody! Think!” I screamed. The lights flickered as Bri stared up at the lights in shock. Cynthia shrieked and covered her ears, the boy with glasses started searching his backpack, Leah screamed for help.

What should we do? Was the only thought I could decipher from my rattling brain. 

“Guys listen!” I shouted, trying to get their attention, “GUYS!”

The panic wouldn’t stop, it was like trying to throw a rope over a raging bull that was bucking and running all over the place. 

“GUYS!!!” I screamed with all my might until  my throat burned. All of a sudden I was shooting up into the ceiling of the bus like a bullet rocketing into the sky. My head hit the ceiling. Pain went shooting into my head. I squeezed my eyelids shut. I screamed in pain and with one last look at my surroundings, I came crashing down as the world faded into black. 

I woke up to towering trees framing the blue sky. 

A voice rang out in the distance, “This deer really likes me!” 

Yes. That was the first thing I heard after I mysteriously flew up to the ceiling and hit my head. 

Another voice exclaimed, “I can’t get the pencils to come down!”

What the heck? I thought to myself. Did I really hit my head that hard? I sat up, fighting the pain in my head and really every other part of my body. I was surrounded by trees, the light weaving in and out as the breeze ruffled the leaves. Chatter behind me caught my attention and I slowly turned my head to look. Leah was talking to the bus driver, Charlie was standing next to her. I watched her babble on for a moment, then she met my blank stare and smiled broadly. 

“Hailey you’re awake!” She said as she practically danced over to me. Leah held out a hand and helped me up.

“Yeah, I know.” I replied weakly. 

“You passed out after you hit your head and Leo attacked the white van with flying pencils!” Leah said, “We drove out here for some reason and we laid you down for a bit.”

I nodded subconsciously, “Who’s Leo?” 

Leah gasped, “Oh right you didn’t get introduced! Leo’s the guy with the glasses, the one over there.” She pointed to where Leo was jumping up trying to grab… floating pencils?

“Why are the pencils -?” I started.

Leah cut me off, “Oh Leo can control pencils, that's how we got away! He made the pencils start poking into the white van’s tires until the tires went flat.” 

But I wasn’t listening, Leah’s voice dissolved into background noise. So Leo had powers too? That means Cynthia, Charlie, Leo and Bri have powers, could that mean that I had powers too? I searched my brain for evidence but the only thing that came was how I flew up to the ceiling. 

“Did I… fly?” I started talking even before I knew I had something to say. 

Leah’s big brown eyes were focused on me, she was silent for a second. I realized this was probably the one time she had been silent. 

“Maybe.” Leah whispered. 

“Most likely” A voice said.

I whipped around to find Cynthia leaning against a tree and gazing up at the sky.

“I mean what else could it be?” Cynthia said, finally turning toward. 

I stood rooted to the ground, staring into the distance trying to think of what else it actually could be. 

“Well.” Leah said, “Cynthia can hear the future, Charlie can see… something through colors. Bri can control lights, Leo can control pencils, and you can fly.”

“We are one weird bunch.” I mumbled. 

“We are.” Cynthia confirmed, “But what about Leah and EJ? What can they do?”

I glanced over at EJ who was watching Leo and Charlie attempt to get the floating pencils down. He hadn’t shown any evidence of having powers, maybe his power was just hard to see. 

“I’m gonna… go.” Leah trailed off and rushed into the forest unexpectedly. But before I could comprehend Leah’s disappearance, I caught a flash of purple light in the corner of my eye. Gasps from the others rocketed around the forest. EJ had disappeared. A moment later he popped up in the tree. All I could see was the fear in his eyes as he gripped the branch and stared down at Leo and Charlie. Me and Cynthia ran over. 

“Hailey, you should…” Cynthia started, but I was one step ahead of her. I jumped as high as I could and strained to reach the tree. Suddenly, my feet were in the air, the wind was swimming in my hair as I flew up to EJ. 

“What happened?” I asked, hovering near him.

“I… I don’t know.” EJ stuttered, “We were trying to get the pencils down and I… I really wished I could get up on the tree and grab them and then… and then… I did.” EJ smirked.

I stared at him and muttered, “So you can teleport?” 

He nodded and grinned then he bellowed, “I CAN TELEPORT!” So everyone could hear.

My first thought was, What a unique reaction.

“Okay, um, then you can teleport down then.” I said awkwardly as I floated down.

“Bragging much.” Bri grumbled.

“Well, now Cynthia can hear the future, I can see colors around people, Hailey can fly, Bri can control lights, Leo can control pencils, and EJ can teleport, what are the chances that we all were assigned to the same bus?” Charlie joked.

“I don’t think it was a coincidence.” Cynthia said.

This time Bri didn’t snap, Leo didn’t weigh the odds in his head, and I didn’t question it. Because we all agreed with Cynthia, even if we weren’t brave enough to express it. 


The Horrorish Tale Of Sambar Hill by Halen Holes and Ian Updegrove

Hi, my name is Marvin, if you are reading this and live on Sambar Hill, leave immediately. Sambar Hill is haunted by figures that roam the woods. There is also this man, his name is Usamah. From what I remember, he looked like a human with weird curly hair, brownish colored and pale skin, wearing darkish brown clothes. I don’t know what his purpose is, I think he controls the figures that roam the woods but I have no idea. Let me just tell you my experiences in Sambar Hill.

I was 16 at the time, my parents and I had moved to Sambar Hill. Once we got there, I saw figures in the woods. They looked like normal people, just wearing black from head to toe. I told my parents but they didn’t believe me. When we arrived at our new house, I went inside and started unpacking. I heard a gunshot when I was finishing up. I looked outside and there was a man with a gun. I think he was saying something along the lines of “Get off my lawn you pesky beast!”

My parents went outside to see if the man was okay. I vaguely remember the conversation with my parents and the man, but it went something like this:

“Are you alright? What happened?” My dad asked,

“Just some animal on my lawn” The man replied back

“Did the animal do anything?”

“Nothing that I can think of”.

And that's everything about the conversation that I can remember. When my parents got back to the house, I asked them what the man’s name was. They said his name was Oliver. They even said that Oliver had a son named Jay. Jay was odd; he was quiet and seemed to like knife throwing and practice on the trees in his backyard. Everything was normal until one night I heard chanting in the woods behind my house. I went out and saw figures in the woods and there was Jay. One of the figures saw me and ran toward me fast. I got inside before he was on my lawn. But the next night I saw Jay and I told my dad about the chanting and he came with me to investigate bringing a bat. We then found a large abandoned building that we somehow didn't notice where the chanting was clearly coming from. We then went inside and saw a cult chanting over a dead body later identified as some polish dude. I then ran with my dad, we eventually got to our house, called the police and that was it, we’ve never seen them again. It’s like they heard us and ran. The dead body was left behind. I heard chanting coming closer and closer to my house, no, wait!




Ǹ̴̡͚̜̺̪͉͉͓̓̅̋͌o̶̢̘͓͈̤͔̯͕̦̳͑͑̽̂̒̊͘͜b̵͉̐͌̋̀̆̒̐̿͘o̷̡̠̩̹̱̮̗̮̫͉̥͑̎̋̈́͌̍̈̌̌̅̿͐̂̕ḑ̵̞̖̻͖̖̖͍̼͓̦̙̲̖̩̆̊̋͑͋͋͘͘̚͠͠y̷͇̙͚̞̜̩̙̆͛͆̅̂͒ ̴̼̍̑̉̕I̷̟͐̒̄̇͛̈͝͝ş̷͕̦͕̠̼̤͚̜͙͉̔̾͋̄̐͐̈́͜ ̵̖̲̤̫͇̗̝̪͙͕̜̲̓̾̈́̾̔̃͆͊̓͜͠S̵̡̛̥̳̥̹̯̗̝̖͋͒̂̄͂͐̿̂͐̕͜͝à̸̢̨̟̣̼̮̮̙̪͔̱̙̓͜f̶̨̛̱͚͈͕͇̠̳͚̣̖͆͒̅̈́̒̾͆̊̀̂̂̀̚ͅȩ̷̔ ̸̘͙͓̺̔̀̒̔̿̓̀̐̒̾̋͋͛̿͜͠Ḧ̷̬̰̪̻̠͙̹̜̯̮̜́͝ͅͅe̸͙̪͕̯̯͓̼͆̾̇̒̀̐̄̍̌̆̕ͅr̴̨͍̳̣͖͙͇̝̟̔̀̈́͗̂̂͛̊̈͘͜͝ͅe̷̪̲̹̱̦̘̦͔͋̒̐̈́͘͜


The Unordinary Events Part 3 by Madison Mikita

The bus kept racing forward, trees whipped and blurred out of sight. Everyone was silent as a lion waiting to pounce. 

Suddenly the curly haired boy spoke up, “Why did all of you just turn purple?”

Everyone turned their perplexed stares on him. 

“Are you okay?” EJ asked. 

The curly haired boy shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“I’m fine, but I thought everyone could see the colors.” He said quietly.

Leah looked back at him, “What colors?”

The curly haired boy looked at the floor and then back up, “The colors around a person that randomly change.”

My thoughts swam, Cynthia had powers, maybe the curly haired boy had powers too!

“What color is around me now?” I asked calmly. I leaned in slowly, everybody was on the edge of their seats.

The curly haired boy stared at me, “Green.”

“I thought you said we all were purple!” Bri protested.

The curly haired boy turned to Bri, “You’re red now.”

Bri huffed in agony. 

Leah sat up straight, “What’s your name again?” She asked.

“Charlie.” The curly haired boy, now Charlie, responded. 

Cynthia bolted up right, “What if we all have powers! This makes sense! Whoever is in that white van is trying to capture us. We need to defend ourselves!”

“This is nonsense! AH-!” Bri demanded as the lights on the bus shut off, “Did I do that?” 

The bus began to accelerate even more, it was rocking and swayed and weaving in and out of cars like a deadly tsunami. 

The white van was close behind us, everyone was panicking, not knowing what to do.

I looked around at everyone, their pale faces and blank eyes. We shouldn’t just sit here. All these people, these great people who might have odd powers (even if we don’t know what they were yet) were just going to sit and wait for this van to catch up to us and… and… what! What were they going to do to us? Whatever the future holds I wasn’t going to let these people sit around and wait for the worst to come. Then I remembered, the future.

“CYNTHIA!” I exclaimed, she whipped around, “Can you use your power to see if you can hear what happens next?” She nodded.

Cynthia close her eyes gently and tilted her head down. After a moment or two she jumped, “Ah! What was that?” She exclaimed.

“What!” Everyone shouted as they leaned forward.

Cynthia’s eyes went back and forth as she searched her brain. 

“A grappling hook?” She said quietly.

EJ looked from the van to Cynthia and said, “So what do we do?”

With that the boy with glasses ran over to the bus driver and mumbled, “Excuse me” before reaching over the wheel and turning abruptly. 

The bus driver shouted in protest, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” before the bus swerved and then went into another lane.

At the exact moment the boy touched the wheel the van had open a slot in the hood and a grappling hook swung, attempting to grab the bus. 

Leah jumped up and smiled, “YES!” 

“HIT THE GAS!” EJ yelled to the bus driver.


World War 3 by William Gartner

WORLD WAR 3

In 2025 the Russian Federation got power hungry and tried to take over the world, but the rest of the world was not going to let them take it without a fight. 

Chapter 1 

Tensions in Europe
It was a very cold day in Moscow but the weather was not the only thing becoming frigid. 2 days ago the UN declared that Russia was removed from office because of lots of scandals that Russia was not handling well but this only just fueled the red's anger but nobody thought that in 5 years half of the world would be dead.

Chapter 2 

The First Attack

September 13 2025, 29 loaded Mil Mi-17,s set course for Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was a peaceful day in Cape Canaveral. The morning hours were delightful people talked and chatted for the last time because no one saw the first bomb drop. The people were confused and scared but it was about to get a whole lot worse when one Mil Mi-17 landed and 12 Spetsnaz troops jumped off and started firing and the people didn't stand a chance. It was chaos, people were screaming but one thing was for sure we were under attack.

                                 

To Be Continued….Next Month




Missing Pieces by Maura Williams

With an ear-piercing, screech-like sound, kids rush out of classrooms and dash for the halls. I get up out of my chair and almost fall over when I raise my 20-pound backpack to my back. Rowdy students race towards the school doors in an attempt to be the first ones on the bus. 

The halls feel abandoned when I leave my classroom. Late students hurry to not miss the bus. I’m one of the last ones in the otherwise vacant halls. A mix of gloves and pencils lay on the old school flooring that’s tracked with mud. When I walk I almost trip on the pant cuff of my overalls that are too big for my short legs. I head to the school doors  and start to wonder what irritating questions my mom will ask me today when I get to the car.

Outside I feel the chilly November air sting my face and hands. Wind pierces the trees, and my puffy ginger hair flies everywhere blocking my view of the seemingly endless line of cars in the pickup lane. I plop my bag on the ground with a “thud” and dig my old green ball cap out of the mound of overdue library books that crowd my bag. Finally, with my vision restored I “sigh” and see my mom’s gray 2013 Toyota Sienna. 

The door to the car swings open as I plop into the back seat and push my bag over into the heap of random things next to me. I look at my phone and attempt to ignore my mom and her irritating comments.

“Hey kiddo,” my mom pronounces louder than she needed to, ”how was your day, did you finish your book?”

I slide down in my seat until I can't move my feet forward anymore because of the seat in front of me. “Umm, today was ok, I guess, and I finished my book two days ago, remember?”

“Oh that's right, sorry, it's been a busy week.”

I don't respond. 

I look out the window as we pass the elementary school. Kids start to leave the building and walk home with their mom or dad. Then I see a little girl walking with who I guess to be her dad. The dad carries her backpack and they hold hands while talking and laughing. In the back of my head, I try to think of a memory of my dad. My mind draws a blank. A few minutes later my mom starts to talk again. 

“So….. how were your friends today, are they good?” 

“Yeah, they’re fine, at lunch we were talking about our family trees.”

“That's fun, did you tell them about all your cousins?” 

“No,” I say slowly while fidgeting with my seat belt, “they mostly only wanted to know about my dad.”

“Oh, I see,” she paused.

I interrupt “Why don't you tell me anything about him!” I start to get upset.

“It's not important, you were so young.”

“It's important to me, and so young when what! Did he leave? Is he even alive?”

My mom takes a deep breath, I can almost hear her heart beating, she pauses and utters.

“I don't know, one day I woke up and he just wasn't there.”

“Why didn't you tell me this sooner?” 

“It's in the past, honey, does it really matter!”

I think for a moment about that, does it matter? 

We pull into the driveway and we sit in silence. The car motor dies down and it's so quiet I hear the wind rustling the trees. 

Not All Legends are Fake by Halen Holes 

As a child I was always told to never go into the woods at night. I always thought it was because of animals or getting lost but now I know something is going on in there.


In my small town there was always a legend about a creature in the woods who lurked at night. It seemed ridiculous and dumb but unlike most kids in the town, I was very adventurous or just simply stupid. 


My father would tell me, "Don't go in those woods if you know what's good for you.” 


The story is about a creature about 8 feet tall with long claws and a horn that was bent and another missing. 


There are many different stories.


My favorite or you could say least favorite now knowing it was true was about an older man who went in the woods with his friend.  I'm not going to go into detail, but his friend is dead. 


He's still here telling the story to anyone who will listen. 


My story really started in 7th grade. Every year they would warn us about a creature with a video I never actually watched. 


I would just go on my phone because the teacher never paid any attention when a video or movie was on, but I had an idea and after school I told my friend. "What if we go into the woods tomorrow at night since it's the weekend?"


"Dude. No. That's a stupid idea."


"But we can film it and it would be so cool!"


"Did you not watch the video?"


"Really? It's just a dumb story."


"No, it's true almost everyone has a story about it."

"They probably just make it up to keep us from going out at night."


"I'm not going with you."


"Fine, but I'm still going."


I obviously didn't tell my parents they would definitely stop me from doing anything. There was nothing abnormal the night before. 


Then it was the night to go out into the woods. 


I only brought my phone because it has a flashlight and is good to have. I waited until my parents were asleep and they probably wouldn't check on me anyway because they were drinking and likely wouldn't wake up for a while. Then I just went out the front door, left it unlocked, and just walked outside into the woods behind my house.


I had a bad feeling about this. I was pretty scared, but I started to video so I could show it to my friends to prove them wrong about the creature. 


I was pretty frightened at every crunch of the leaves and branches, but I kept going and then I had a sense of dread. Every step I took sounded so loud my ears hurt I felt numb then nothing, no sounds of bugs or leaves or anything, except my own breathing. 


I could feel my heart beating. Then I heard something coming in my direction quickly. 


"Nope, I'm outta here."


I ran as fast as possible hearing the noises come close.


"Wasn't I just here?" 


The woods seemed to loop. I ran and kept seeing the same tree over and over until it caught me. I looked up and saw the glowing green eyes and the same description the old man gave. I thought this would be my last day on earth. I was dead but then it turned its head hearing something I hadn't until a few seconds later.


"Police! Show yourself!"


Then he saw it and seemed awestruck. 


Then he saw me. He quickly drew his pistol and shot it. 


Nothing. 


He shot it again.


Nothing. 


It sprinted at him, the bullets clearly doing nothing and it screamed a horrible scream. 


I still hear it in my dreams. 


It was deafening but luckily for me I squirmed out. I don't know if it didn't notice or just didn't care, but I ran faster than I ever had. 


And I didn't look back.


 I finally got home after getting the biggest scare of my life. 


There were noises coming from my kitchen and my dog was whimpering. 


It's here.


My parents are in the other room, and I don't know if I can get there before it gets me.


Please listen to my warning…

Be careful with legends, not all of them are fake!

Poem About Spicy Food by Two Anonymous Dragons


SPICE!

FIRE!

IN M’ MOUTH!

I SCREAM!

I HURTS!


I BREATHE OUT THE FIRE!

LIKE A DRAGON!

IT BURN

IT SPICE


THE COLOR OF SNOW

WHITE-HOT FLAMES

COME OUT OF MY MOUTH

IN A BURST OF INCREDIBLE DANCING


I SCREAM!
I HURTS!

I AM A DRAGON!
MAJESTIC!
I ROAR!
HEAR ME ROAR!

THE SPICE!
IT’S BECOMING TOO MUCH

I FAINT!

TOO SPICY!


HAPPY NATIONAL SPICY AND HOT FOODS DAY!


"Stano Street" by Halen Holes

My life was pretty normal as a kid. My mother and father lived in a small apartment. Soon after they had me they moved to a large house after saving up for a few years. These just might be my last words. I now have accepted my fate. I've been hearing "it" again and now it's in my house. Now that you have this background info I can tell you what happened. You might not believe me but this is a warning to stay away from Stano Street and the cursed black house. These names are made up for you the readers' protection. It can't get anyone else. Don't go near the black house. 

It all started in 2003. I have been saving my money to move out of my parents house with my girlfriend Carol (now my wife) . We weren't able to find anything for months but then she came up to me and showed her phone to me.  I was shocked it read 3500 square foot home rents for 300 dollars per month. I knew it was an amazing deal so we decided to check it out. I still regret being so naive I realize now there was a higher price than I was ever willing to pay. I also realize now that it was too good to be true and I regret thinking it would be a good idea to check it out. I should have gone with my gut feeling. When we went to check it out I thought this is an amazing house and neighborhood although it is strange that the house is black but the other houses are light colored. When we met with the real estate agent they showed us though the house was very nice and large. We decided to rent the house, the worst mistake in my life. There are many red flags we completely looked past but one odd thing was the rules there were 6 strange rules for the house. The paper read

Carefully follow the 6 rules for your new house. 


1. No pets or animals are allowed in the house

2. If you hear anything from the basement from 1am to 3am do not go down under any circumstance 

3. Never leave any kid under the age of 12 alone for more than an hour in the house 


4. Don't answer the door past 10pm to 6am 


5. If you get a phone call at 2:37am do not answer it do not try to find where or who it's from




"Is this some kind of joke?" I asked. Somehow not realizing something was seriously wrong.

"Where is the sixth rule?" Carol pointed out.

"I'm not sure.” I responded.

After getting settled in, the rules were easy enough to comply with although there are scratching noises in the basement sometimes. The first time I went into the basement there was nothing interesting. Maybe it's just animals in the wall or something. But then I noticed something, a piece of paper with odd writing on it, it looked like it was written quickly, possibly by the last owner.


6̸̡̣̭̔͋͋̀̋̈̽̋̇̓̔͌̚͝͠.̷͖̳͙̇̓̓̌͌́̈́͘͘͝ ̸̪̰̙̩̼̘̤͙̬̬̏́̍̋͒D̸͓͕̜̺͖͇̻̯͔͈̂͋̆͒̉͛͑̾̑̂ͅȍ̷̢̬̲͚̹̮͓̠͔̼͍̹̘͑̓n̴̳̠̯̪̋̐̃͂̓̋̇̉̈'̶̩̦͖̙̻͍̜̹̰̩̩̾̓͛̇͗̅̉̒̿́̃͝ͅţ̷̨̨͚̮̱̗͉̬͍̲͛̈́̒̈́̔͊̓̌͛̈́̈́̌͝͠ ̸̡̘̘̞̲̯̩̪̞̤̰̱̙̆̎̓͜l̷̛͎̳̋̐̉̍e̵̡͈͚̫̜͓͇̖̫̭͈͉̊̈́̋͋̋͆̓͝t̵͙̻̼͋̏͗͌̾̇̎̊̕ ̵̞̰̝͕͈͔̗̰̆͑̑͝t̷͕̉́̈́̄̾̍͒̈́̚h̴̛̬̻͖̙̞̗̦͇̮̒̒ė̶͈̜̜͉̑̚̕ ̸̠̫̟̫̙̙̀̑͋͂͛̽͒̽̎̈́́̕m̶̹̀̂͂̏͆͊̋͋̚ͅa̶̢̛̛͓̫͈̺̦̪͉̹̮̻̝͐̇̅̾̓̿͘͘ͅn̶̢̳̻̞̠̤̳̠̝̝̳̬͍̣̩̄͐͒̒͛͝ ̸̢̞̣̮̣̲̋̌̂̏̈̐̇̎̔̋̈͛̈͂ŵ̷͇̦͕̹̙̮̤͈̟̼͊͗͆̋̚͝ì̵̛͎̠̼̟̜͓̝̝̃̀̀͑̌̋̉̇̏̚͘͘t̸̨̧͋̎̈̌ȟ̷͔͔̭̮̈́ ̴̢̩̼̠̈ͅt̷̨̡̡̼͕̗͉̖͋̀͗̌̃͆̾͗̌̊̃͋̀̕͝h̵̥̯̼͙͍͓̐͛̏̃́̒̉͗́̃̋̕͠͠ë̴͙̱ ̸̨̧̬̯͉̭̳̪͔̮̬̙̣̊̇̄̌̀͜͝f̵̛̹̣͌͑͋̋̔̄̿͆̀̕e̶̙̝̥͚͔̿ḑ̴̟̟̠̓́̋̌͆͑̄͆͠ͅō̵̧̭̻̫̹̲̳͈̯̯̝̞̊̎̇̋͝͝r̷̨̢̫̤͔̱̦̰͍͈͎̳̤̯̀ͅä̸̜̺͉̦̺͇́̿͛̌̀̓͐̅́̾̑̾́͒͘ ̸̡͎̜̥̖̯͔͚̙͂̈̓̑ͅȉ̶̢̧̳̜̯̜̝̟̯̹̜̜́͌ṉ̵̡̖͇͙̥̟̫̫͈̿ͅͅ ̶̲̣͇̺͉̘̖̜̮̪̤͖̄̈͜h̶͚͓͂̒̒̋̄̈̓̄̚̕͠e̷̱͔̥͑̈́̈́̑̃'̸̧̥͖̳̗͙̟̤͒̀͗̏̎̿͋̐̈́̀̈́͑̑͘ͅs̶̟̯̰̳̰̙̯͛̃̿̚ ̵̹͙̲͇̭͍̪͇̹̃͌̌̈͗̾̒̋̉̈́̚n̵̲̙̦̹͎͂͜ö̵̤̫̽̆̆̆̋̎̇̉́͝t̸̢̧̩̦̹̦͓͍̲̻̤̱͛͒̔̓͗̒̈̅͋́̓̀͘͠͠ͅ ̸̛̮̠͎̩̮̞͌̄̇̋h̸̤́̊̿̅̓͋̃͘͝ 


"It's the sixth rule. It's very odd and hard to read something about a man with a fedora." I said to no one in particular. Then ZZZ CRACK the already dimly lit basement was drowned into complete darkness. I then heard something like scratching in the wall. 

I ran upstairs quickly and I could feel another presence. I knew something was wrong with the basement. After that the house never quite felt right. My wife and I always felt like we were being watched. Now you might wonder why we didn't just leave. Well, it wasn't that simple. We didn't have enough money for a better place to live and I felt like going back to live with my parents would make them think less of me. I wish I knew that it would have been the right thing to do. I hear the noises coming closer. I don't have much time. It got my wife and it's coming for me. and then was the day I knew was coming but I couldn't stop "it" him whatever it was. My wife broke Rule 2. She heard the scratching and went down. I heard nothing. I soon after fell asleep as I woke up the house felt oddly quiet nothing then I remembered she broke Rule 2 it was echoing in my head. Don't go in the basement at 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. Don't go into the basement from 1 a.m. to 3 am. 


D̴̨̰̟̤̺̣̭̠̣̩͇̹͐̋̆̀̀̑̎̃͂̾͊̂͒͘͝ọ̸̢̱̩̻́̿͆͂̀̐̕ͅn̴̨̘̲̮͙̝͚̖̙͊̀'̶͎̩͍̍́̿t̵̟͙̮̰̩̜̤͖̮̻̉ ̴̨̢̡̞̜͗g̷̠͉͉͍͇̯̜͕͚̈́̀͆̉̄̇̐̍͋̀͋̏̅̃͜͝ͅͅǫ̶͙̦̯̗͇̝͙̀̌̄̃̌̅̏̋̾̈́̋̿́͘ ̷͙̣͚̺̫͖̭͌̓̇̇̍̊̄i̵̛͓̗̣̼̻̯̯̝̤̋͋̈͛͑͒̅͆̌͑͜ņ̸̫̰̺̖͕͆̃̈̈́͘͜ͅ ̴̦̈́̓t̵̨͈͕̝͕̱͙̖̭̾͊͂̐̄̊̓͒͊ͅḩ̷́͝ē̴̢̘̗̮̗̥̤̠̲͍̹̼̮͓̒̇͘͝ ̷̨̜̗͎̜̹̳̫̼̮͕̙͛̅̍͆͐͐͘͝b̸̧̛͇̮͓̻̪͎͔̙̻͊̾a̷̢̟͊̾́͘͜s̶͕̠̬̉̒͆̐̌̀̓̈́̌̀͂̑̐͜͠ͅě̸̜̾͛̽̓̌͗̿̍̓͊m̴̛̼̥̜̼͓̣̉̏͆̈́́͗͊̊̚͝e̸͕̫̜͗̇͑̓̂n̸͈͔͉̜̫̜̙̽̎̅̓̆́t̸̨̧̧̠̜̜̹͓͎͇̹̯̖̅̎́̀͊̀͂ ̶͚̘̫̯̽̓a̷̘͓̟̭͖͖̗̝̻̐̀̆̓ṱ̵̭̙̼̼̙̻̥̦̏̂̽͒͝ ̶̘͓͍̼̯̹͓̪̙̤̘́̎̈́͠1̶̢̝̞̭̹̤̘͈̳̜͉͉̤͕̌̈̔͒̀̈̒̏̐̽̋͋̚͝ ̸̡͕̞̳̬̦̤̗̜͆͆̉̈́̎̒͗̀̕ţ̷͇̩̲̬̍̓́͐̉̽̓̐͆̕͘ͅo̵̘̾ ̸̛̙̜͍͗̉́3̴̦̺͚̈̈͐̄͝ ̴̤̠̟̳̠͔͋̌͒̇̀͝a̷̢͖͕͓̩͕̫͖̜̺͌͂̀̾̆̇̄͘̚͜͠͠͝m̴̎

I went downstairs as quickly as possible but she was gone, nothing but a strange dark spot I went to inspect. I soon realized it was blood, Carol's blood, who else's blood could it be. I naively thought nothing is wrong maybe she accidentally cut herself and went to get something from the store to help I knew that's not what happened but I stuck with it until night I thought something is seriously wrong and there was an overwhelming sense of dread I told myself nothing is wrong maybe she went somewhere else for the day. I went to sleep The biggest mistake of my soon to be ended life I woke up disoriented to the doorbell I thought it might be her but I didn't check the time.


Mistake 1. I then went to the door and opened it to a strange looking man with a fedora.

"Huh you're not my wife," I said. 

"I have some bad news about your wife John.”

Barely giving him time to finish the sentence I asked, "What happened?”

"May I come in?" he inquired.  

"Sure yeah you can sit on the couch.”  Mistake number 2. 

What happened next was still by far the worst experience in my life.

 

The man sat on the couch then I realized.

 

It was him, the one with the fedora.  Mistake 3.  There was no chance of coming back from this so I decided to ask him what happened.

"What happened?" 

Now realizing if the blood was in the basement how did he know what happened it was him he did it he was the one scratching in the basement he killed my wife I jumped up to attack but he was quicker he grabbed me by my shirt I managed to get out of it and ran to my room and now I'm here saying my last words if I can give one piece of advise If it seems too good to be true it probably is. My final warning: “Don't go near the black house on Stano Street”

Austravich’s Historic Rundown VOL I: Napoleon’s War with Rodents By: “Austravich”

In July 1807, the French Empire signed a document, deemed, “The Treaties of Tilsit''.  This would end the war between France and Imperial Russia. To celebrate, Bonaparte made one of his men, Berthier, chief of staff, arrange a simulated hunt. He rounded up bunnies, a whole colony and placed them in cages. 

People believe the estimated number of rodents was from five-hundred to three-thousand five-hundred. The rest of the men were already ready. Gun Wielders, Horse Riders, and maybe even Artillery units were present. The terrain was a grassy hill zone, making it easy for the military to “remove” the bunnies from the premises. 

The bunnies were released-- but instead of flight, they chose to fight. They bounded directly at them, no fear, no drought, but drive. The men had a good laugh or two, but it soon came to a concerning stop. Humans, the world's most dangerous continental army that destroyed most of the European countries and invaded 40% of Africa, was being “Ratio-ed” by literal rabbits. 

People started to fight back, whips, swords, blunt, whatever. Napoleon was beckoned to retreat back to his carriage, but, ironically, the rabbits used the divide strategy that the Napoleonic army used… they covered the carriage and kept siege on the frontline at the same time. Fyi, Bunnies and Rabbits have an average of 7 IQ, Bonaparte had 145 IQ, for reference, the average High School graduate has an IQ of 100. 

The coach was cleared of rodents at some point, but was damaged beyond repair-- luckly still usable. The onslaught ceased as soon as the men had escaped or, well, lost about 6 feet in height that day.

Napoleon almost didn’t leave with his life that day, and he was “dominating” Europe.

Ok, Here’s the catch, Berthier retrieved BarnYard Bunnies, not wild hares. To the bunnies, Napoleon wasn’t a threat, what-so-ever! They were used to human contact. As read above, you can see why this was a mistake.

The Unordinary Events Part 2 by Madison Mikita

I was still, my heart was pounding in my chest. I heard Bri shuffle to the back window beside me. 

“Uh, bus driver there’s a white van chasing us.” Bri called, her eyes still stuck on the white van behind the glass. 

I looked up just in time to see the bus driver whip around to see the back of the bus and then turn back around.

Then the bus driver shouted, “Of course they are!” in a sarcastic tone and slammed his foot on the gas petal. The bus rocketed forward, there was more screaming. I clung to the back of the seat as we thrusted forward and sped down the road. 

The boy with the curly hair and the boy with the glasses had come to the back of the bus. Everyone was crowding around the back window, eager for a look at the mysterious white van. 

The van was following us, trying to keep up with the bus that was increasing speed every second. 

“What are we going to do?” EJ inquired. 

“Why is it chasing us?” The boy with the curly hair asked.

“Are we safe?” Leah questioned. 

“Well a creepy white van is chasing us, there are only four people on this bus...” Bri started.

“Six actually.” The boy with the glasses interrupted.

“Does the bus driver count as a person?” I mumbled.

“DOES IT LOOK LIKE I CARE!” Bri shouted at us, “So anyways, NO I DO NOT THINK WE ARE SAFE!” 

“Bri calm down!” I said abruptly. There was silence. Well silence until we heard a car honk its horn at us. 

Cynthia stood up briskly.

“That was it!” She said.

“What?” Everyone said together.

“Remember when we heard that honk while the bus was in the parking lot?” Cynthia started.

“Remember when I thought you were insane, oh wait that’s happening now!” Bri said. 

Cynthia raised her eyebrows and chewed on her lip, still not turning towards Bri.

“Anyways, remember? I was talking to you and then we heard it and I perked up because it was really loud.” She was looking at me now, her green eyes locked desperately on mine. But I had never heard the honk in the parking lot. The whole bus was silent. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear it.” I said.

Cynthia narrowed her eyes, but she wasn’t mad, she was confused.

“But, I heard it and none of you heard it, that honk was the same honk that just happened right now.”

Bri rolled her eyes, “Oh my gosh, we are being chased by a creepy white van and all you want to talk about is a honk!”

The bus turned violently around a bend and made its way onto the highway.

“Looks like we’re not going home.” The boy with the curly hair said.

“You see! Something weird is going on here! I called it!” Cynthia exclaimed, clearly delighted, which was surprising considering her last sentence. 

Suddenly Leah whipped around and gazed at Cynthia, “Hold on,” she said, “I think Cynthia can hear the future!”

Bri opened her mouth but everyone glared at her. “I don’t care what you guys think, that’s impossible!” 

“Well, this mysterious bus driver is driving us onto a highway, there are only six students on this bus, a white van is chasing us and Cynthia supposedly can hear the future. So I think that something that seems impossible probably isn’t.” EJ said.

I looked around the bus and then back at the white van. At that moment, I definitely believed Cynthia. 

(If you want to read more find The Unordinary Events Part 3)


"Crash" by Michael Mazurak

I woke up at 5 AM. I work at an airport In Houston, Texas. I'm a pilot. Most of the time I fly an Airbus 333. But today I am taking almost twice the amount of passengers on a way bigger plane. I am taking a Boeing 747 the whole way to San Francisco, California. 

I get to the airport 30 minutes later, and I eat breakfast and drink some coffee. After that, I walk around for a bit. The flight that I have to pilot isn't for 2 hours yet. So I get in the airplane.  As it fills up with gasoline, it gets inspected, and tested for malfunctions. Everything is working perfectly fine. The  procedure takes around an hour and a half. 

People start to board the plane. Once everyone is seated, I gauge the engines and I start to head for the runaway.  It takes me around 5 to 10 minutes to get the plane on the runway. By the way, I am one of the most skilled pilots in the entire state. I have been flying for 15 years, and have landed planes that were on fire and that had blown engines. But that was with smaller planes. This is way bigger. I get kind of nervous, but I tell myself it'll be okay. I push the throttle forward and take off . 

I get to about 40,000 feet.  As I'm flying over Arizona, I hear an extremely loud  explosion followed by screaming. One of the 4 engines has blown up. But I was taught that no matter how many engines there are on a plane, most airplanes can run off of just one engine. So I rerouted to the nearest airport in Phoenix, which was about 15 minutes away. Then another explosion erupted, followed by a loud metal noise. Both engines are down on the left wing, and I see the tip of the wing has been ripped off. Everything was fine at takeoff.  What happened? I say to  myself. Now that I understand we are going to have to crash. We will not make it to the airport.

The nose of the plane starts to tip down. All of a sudden I black out . . .  


To be continued . . .