Tandem+Stories

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Tandem Story: “OMG!” Yelled Susie. “there is a boo boo on my horsey!” Susie frantically looked around the barn, but there was no else there. She was all alone and didn’t know what to do. The air was cold and she shivered in her north face jacket she had just gotten the other week for Christmas. The only sign of life was a polar pop just laying on the desk in the office. “Well there’s obviously been someone here, recently,” Susie quietly mumbled to herself. Looking around, Susie felt a chill run down her back. She slowly walked away from her horse, toward the desk in the office of the barn, trying to make her foot steps as quiet as possible against the straw that covered the barn floor. Maybe the strange person was still in here? They could have been the one to hurt her horse. What would she do if he was? Susie quickly looked around her, trying to find something she could use as a weapon. Then all the sudden she realized there was a large shovel buried deep in the corner. It was covered in cob webs, she thought that it obviously had not been used in quite some time. But she didn’t have much time, and it would have to do for now. Susie grabbed the shovel and quietly headed toward the office. As she crept up to the door Susie peaked through the dusty window.The office was dark and there could be anyone roaming in the shadows. All she could see from the window was an old wooden desk, and a rusty chair. he polar pop was still on the desk. “Where could that have come from?” Susie murmured to her self, and she knew she would have to enter the office. “What in the world are you doing holding that shovel,” her mom cried as she walked into the barn. Susie jumped throwing the shovel into the air. It flew across the barn and hit her mom in the head. Her mom fell to the ground, not seeming to respond anymore. Susie ran over to her mom “Mom, Mom, Mom!!! are you alright?? oh i am so sorry! You scared me and i thought someone was in the barn!” Susie exclaimed. There was no response. Susie became very concerned and began to feel sick to her stomach. She didn’t know what to do. She finally decided to call for help and she called the ambulance. The teller on the phone told her that they would be there in just a few moments, but she needed to try to keep her mother awake. Susie frantically tried to get her mom to wake up or respond to her but there was nothing. Not knowing what to do she ran over to the outside the barn and filled an empty bucket with water. Then she poured the water on her mother hoping it would wake her up. But there was still nothing. Susie began to panic even more, when were the ambulances going to get here? Everything seemed to happen so fast, yet the minutes ticked by slowly as she waited for help. She decided to call her father. She wasn’t very close to her father, they hadn’t talked since he left 2 years ago. But she decided that she needed him now. She had to do something, and this was all she could think of. Her fingers shook as she pulled up the number on her phone. She starred at it for a couple of minutes before finally pushing the call button. He picked up the phone, “Hello.” “Hi! Dad?” Susie said wearily. “Susie!” Her father exclaimed, he was so thrilled to hear from his only daughter, even just to hear her voice after 2 year. He had tried to stay in contact when he left his family, but Susie and her mother had refused to talk to him. They were too upset and angry with him for what he had done. “Its so good to hear from you.” he gushed “how are you? how is school?” “Dad!” Susie interrupted, this was not why she had called, she needed help, not a life story. “ I need your help.” “Of course anything huny.” “Well there’s been an accident, and mom is unconscious, and the ambulance is on the way, and its taking forever and I don’t know what to do,” then she burst into tears. “It’s gonna be okay, I promise you, just tell me what happened.” “ Well you see, my horse he got hurt and I was looking through the barn and I couldn’t find anyone, and I got scared and I grabbed a shovel, and then mom walked in and she scared me and I through the shovel and it accidentally hit her in the head and now she is not responding and I just don’t know what to do, and the ambulance is taking forever and ever!” she exclaimed in a distraught manner. “just calm down.” He soothed, “Everything is going to be okay.” “alright,” Susie gasped trying to take deep breaths. “Now how about we just keep talking until the ambulance comes, to help you relax.” “Okay” “So how was school today? “fine” “What is your favorite subject now?” “science, Dad this is not helping. mom is dying and all you care about is catching up on my life, do even care about mom anymore? is that why you left?” “No, No, no!!” Her father shouted, interrupting Susie from her rant. “I care a lot about your mother and you.” Just then Susie heard the ambulances sirans in the distance. “they are here!!” she shouted, and hung up the phone. They ran towards the barn and began working on her mom. It seemed like they kept poking and prodding her for hours even though it had only been about twenty minutes. Then there was a rumble of gravel and a car was coming up the driveway. Susie looked out it was her father. She ran up and hugged him, just at that moment her mom woke up. Once again they were together as a family. For just that moment the past two years didn’t seem to matter, is all that mattered was everyone was alright, and it was gonna be okay. “How is your mother?” Susie’s dad asked, looking down on his daughter. He was so happy to see her, he never wanted to let her go again. “Much better i think!” Susie sobbed through her tears of fear for her mother and joy to see her father again. “She is await, but they are going to take her to the hospital now.” Her father shook his head, and embraced his daughter in another hug. Yesterday Susie would have pushed him away and yelled at him to just leave, but after today, she is so happy that he is alive and her mother is going to be okay. She suddenly felt guilty for being so cruel to her father, and so grateful that he is here now with her and her mother. By: Allie Slingsby and Katie Sandage

Lil’ Billy laid on his bed, until he had an accident. He ran downstairs and noticed his parents were screaming at each other about Lil’ Billy.Then he had another accident. His parents were yelling all about him.

“He is 30 years old and wetting the bed! That's unacceptable!” Screamed his father.

“But he’s our only baby,” the mom said.

Then Lil’ Billy had another accident and fell over in his own urine, alerting his parents. They both looked at him like an elephant and started screaming at him to get back up to his room. The urine smelled like a week old moldy cheese that Lil’ Billy had left in his underpants.

His parents were just staring at him as he fumbled to stand up. It was one of the most pathetic sights to ever be seen. A 30 year old man, crying and drenched in his own smelly waste. He needs some serious help, that is very clear. But it will take a great deal of help to help someone so lost.

Lil’ Billy had a heart of gold, but he was also stupid. He would often play with wild weasels and ducks, throwing his well loved Stretch Armstrong action figure at everything he saw. It usually didn’t do anything but make the weasel’s angry. If you don’t already know, weasels do not like to have things thrown at them. You’d think Lil’ Billy would have known by now the consequences of this action but he never learns. One bite turns into three bites, and three bites turn in fifty seven.

One day Lil’ Billy was running away from the weasels, screaming his face off when he stumbled upon a sword in his backyard, but this was no ordinary sword. This sword was the sword of 1000 truths!

He picked up the sword to defend himself from the attacking weasels. The weasels were master swordsmen, but they were no match compared to the sword of 1000 truths. Using his intense knowledge of the Mortal Kombat that he had been playing for over 27 years, he annihilated the evil weasels and brought peach back to his play area.

However, Lil’ Billy was not finished with his adventure. Lil’ Bill thought it would be a good idea to try and comb his dogs hair with the sword and lets just say we wont be seeing Ralphie at Christmas. So Lil’ Billy decided to get rid of the sword, and finally found his long lost plastic squirt gun.

“Zomg I found my favoritest gun evar!!!!!” he screamed with unimaginable enthusiasm. “Now I can get rid of all the trolls!!!”

However, Lil’ Billy got distracted by the sight of the beautiful fireworks that were going on over by the lake. He rushed over with his squirt gun in hand and accidentally tripped and fell on his belly button.This simple event meant a lot more to Lil’ Billy then it might mean to others. This symbolized a failure. He had fallen. He felt so bad, the tears erupted from his eyes and he once again had an accident.

“Narnia I failed you!!!” he yelled in agony.

Fin.

Epilogue

Lil’ Billy grew up to be the greatest self made taxidermist in the history of the universe.

Fin.

Double Epilogue

Not really, he failed at everything. Except Pokemon games.

Fin. SW RM BB (We are so sorry for writing this.) Tandem Story: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Crap,” Tyler spat as he rolled over for the seventh time. The pillow wasn’t cold enough. Why wasn’t it cold enough? Why was the moon so bright? The blankets felt itchy. Tyler brought them from home so why were they itchy? Well, he never washed them but that wasn’t the point. Tyler slid his shoulders within his light, black t-shirt. His clothes felt wrong. He didn’t know- they just felt wrong. It was like they were moving around. Like water. This was bollocks. Tyler turned over again. Crap. The moon was now directly in his face. The old curtains Peter brought in were rubbish. Stupid...stupid. Everything was stupid. Tyler was about to shoot the moon in the face. He gave out a loud sigh and lifted his pillow up- feeling the back of it to see if that side was colder. It was still warm. Tyler threw it across the room, feeling satisfied as he heard the stupid thing smack against his door. He flung his legs over the edge of his bed and groaned again. The third night in a row. This bloody house was stupid. James shot up suddenly in his bed. His alarm clock was ringing. What? What time was it? He got out of bed and opened the blinds. Jesus, it was dark out. He glanced at his alarm clock. The moon illuminated the time. Four o’clock in the morning? Well, it was no use trying to go back to sleep now, he was wide awake. And his gold and platinum alarm clock was gleaming in the moonlight, illuminating the room, making it impossible for him to shut his eyes again. James sighed and stared at it. He loved the clock - it was beautiful, and it reminded him of Cambridge and their beginnings as a band, a band that would one day go on to become famous. He also remembered Tyler, silly Tyler with his ever-changing hair and crazy moods....the wind whistled over the trees outside. The wind was being distracting. The wind...he would go kite flying! It wasn’t like he could do anything else. He hadn’t touched his kite since the spring - it was sitting, neglected, in his trunk. Pulling on an oversize sweater and jeans, he smiled at himself. He loved kite flying, and he loved autumn. Tyler begrudgingly got up from his bed. He figured that he might at well unpack since nothing else was working for him at the moment. He walked to the corner of the room that he had tossed all his luggage in the day before - being more interested to wander the corridors and chambers of their newly rented house. Opening a zipper on one of his bags, Tyler wearily felt around the pocket - stopping his movements once his hand reached a certain, familiar shape. What was that? Tyler wrapped his fingers around the small object within his luggage and pulled it out. It was a toy car. Odd. Why was that in there? Tyler was pretty sure he wasn’t a child anymore, even if he did do things that could be considered juvenile from time to time. But a toy car? Was it from his son? Why - Oh. “James...” Tyler mumbled to himself as his fingers began to rub the ridges and curves of the car. He remembered the day he had spent with his best friend’s younger brother years ago. They were both in James’ room and Tyler, being the little prat he always was, stole the toy from James’ desk. Why did he do it? Honestly, Tyler smiled at himself, just because he could. Because he knew James couldn’t - wouldn’t say anything about it. Because Tyler always had that power of him. Tyler suddenly frowned when that thought crossed his mind. God, what kind of friend has thoughts like that? What an arse Tyler was being. He mentally kicked himself and carefully placed the toy car on the floor next to his bag. Maybe he would give it back to James when everyone else woke up. Tyler glanced at the poorly blinded windows. He had to admit, it was dark outside. Not dark enough for him to sleep- mainly because he was fairly sure the world was out there to keep him from dream land. But maybe dark enough for...a walk possibly? Tyler beamed at himself as if he had the brightest idea in the world. James grabbed his kite and starting walking through his pitch black house, and giggled at his own exaggerated tiptoeing as he made his way outside. He had to be very careful not to wake the others. He could almost hear Eric talking in his sleep, and Peter’s light snoring. Garrett didn’t make noises when he slept. James couldn’t hear Tyler though. James worried about him sometimes. He was so perfect, yet so hard on himself. One day Tyler would have a breakdown and something would happen and - no. Stop it, James. Don’t be ridiculous, his brother’s voice said in his head. Garrett always knew what to do. Most of James’ rational thoughts were in Garrett’s voice. Walking out into the crisp air and over some hills, James stomped on leaves. He loved the way they crackled. Finally, he found his way to the spot he was looking for. It was in a small valley, with trees on the hills surrounding him. James felt peaceful - he often came out here when rehearsing the new album became too much for him to handle. He held his kite up and let the wind pick it up, blowing it higher and higher into the air. Was it cold outside? Tyler looked down at what he was wearing. A thin t-shirt and boxers were definitely not autumn wear, Christ, he was shivering in his bed earlier on. Sighing, he pulled the bag back out from the corner and opened another pocket - pulling out a pair of red trousers and a brown cardigan with patches at the elbows. His red trousers were his favorite, even if wearing them made the others poke fun at him for wearing “his pajamas” out all the time. Shaking his head, Tyler fetched a belt and straightened out his cardigan. Putting everything on and running out the door, Tyler suddenly stopped. Oh god, the entire house was pitch black. He was scared of demons and ghosts enough as it was, and was pretty sure their last house was haunted. This one probably was too. Tyler shifted his eyes quickly before darting through the hallways and down the spiraling staircase. He almost barged through the front door and exhaled his held breath when finally reaching the outside. Tyler knew he was a bit ridiculous at times but he didn’t care. He almost freaking died back there. He would tell the others later that he should head into town in the morning and get some specter-eliminating candles or something. Tyler looked west at the valley nearby. Even in the dark it was really... pretty. He started walking forward, towards its beauty. After climbing up the hill - well, more of running up it - Tyler breathlessly reached the top and spotted a kite in the sky. Why would anyone be - Oh. James. Of course. Tyler smiled at himself as he calmly walked towards it. “Oi, James!” James jumped, “Ah! Oh. Hi, Tyler.” Tyler’s smile grew wider, “So, James, whatcha doing up here at this time? Kite flying still, I see. What is it, couldn’t sleep?” “Erm, yeah, something like that.” James replied, a bit taken aback by Tyler’s question. He could tell that Tyler wasn’t being serious - he almost never was nowadays, except when they were practicing. Tyler walked closer and peered at the kite from his spot next to James, “I couldn’t sleep either.” Tyler shifted his legs as he pushed his hands into his trouser pockets. Things fell silent for a while. James started to get concerned, “Um...are you alright, Tyler?” Tyler looked over at the moon, its light was starting to dim. He scratched the back of his head, “Well, define alright. I guess, I don’t know...” Oh dear. This was definitely not a good sign. James turned to Tyler, trying again, “You can tell me what’s wrong...” Tyler inhaled deeply, pondering what to say. Wait, what was there to say exactly? Tyler suddenly felt a pang of annoyance. What did there always have to be something wrong? Especially this “issue” in particular. This little thing Tyler could never fix, no matter how many years passed. Years that were supposed to “heal” it. What crap. “No, I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you any of it because I can’t even tell myself what’s going on. I don’t know. I don’t know how to fix anything or what I’m even trying to fix. I haven’t slept in three days, James. Three. Even with my kids, they’ve noticed. Something’s not right. And I don’t know...I feel like...I just don’t know...” Tyler started to shake, his arms wrapping themselves around his frame. He felt like a ceramic vase; ready to fall the break into bits. James moved closer to Tyler and hugged him and shushed Tyler’s heaving breathing against his shoulder. He felt so sorry - so guilty, but he wasn’t sure why. Or...maybe he was sure. He knew why. James understood Tyler’s feelings exactly. But he didn’t want to come to terms with it. “It’s about Samantha and Renee, isn’t it?” James asked, finally. Tyler shook his head - he didn’t want to admit it. God, he didn’t want to admit it. “No, but...” He sucked in a breath, “Okay it’s true. Hell, it’s true. I can’t take it anymore. Why can’t it all be like it was before? I found your toy car.” Tyler pressed his cheek against James’ shoulder. He looked down at the kite string still in James’ hand. “I miss you,” Tyler sighed brokenly, “I miss us. I still want my family but I want you too and...and....” He squeezed his eyes shut before continuing, “I can’t sleep because...because I know I can’t have both. And I shouldn’t have to have both. I’m such a selfish prat. I’ve always been. I stole your toy car, James. I stole it and now I’m trying to steal your life. And I can’t steal from you anymore. I’m so sorry,” Tyler began to cry heavily, his body huddled against James. James froze up. He couldn’t do this. Not now, and not ever. He’d told himself years ago that this...this thing would never work out. Tyler couldn’t come back now and change everything James had ever thought about....them, “I...I can’t do this, Tyler...I’m...sorry, I just can’t!” And James did the only thing he could think of - he dropped the kite, wrenched himself away from Tyler, and ran. Tyler’s heart stopped as James ran away from him. His arms fell limp as he watched. He deserved this, didn’t he? He just stole, stole, and stole. Tyler was nothing but a thief, a parasite in James’ life. But...he needed James in his life. He felt like a parasite...but James was important to him. Not as his host, he didn’t want to think like that anymore, even if it was true. Nothing else was on his mind but to follow the man he loved. Tyler sprinted to catch up to wherever James was headed. James kept running. He wasn’t sure where he was going. He was feeling out of breath and tired when the house came into view. Quietly, he stepped inside, and then ran on his tiptoes to his favorite room - the sunroom. It overlooked the English beach, and during the day, James could see the waves hitting the jagged rocks at the border of the ocean. James collapsed onto his favorite, sagging sofa, and waited for daylight. Tyler was so fueled by adrenaline that by the time he had reached the inside of the house, he couldn’t remember breathing once during his sprint. His eyes adjusted in the darkness of the hallways and multiple rooms as he searched for James. It wasn’t long until he noticed a large orange pullover rush into a room on his left. Wasn’t that the sunroom? Tyler mindlessly ran in after James. What was there for him to say? “James...I,” Tyler stood still at the door frame and listened to the waves crashing from the room’s window. Regaining focus, and more confidence, Tyler finally blurted, “James you can’t just run away from this! I need to know -” Tyler stopped himself before taking in another sharp breath and continuing, “I need to know if I’m right about what I said and I can’t have anymore sleepless nights and you need to stop running away and sodding talk to me, what is it, does the past just no longer exist for you? I mean, did it ever occur to you that you’re hurting me more than you think by pretending this was all just a bad dream for you and just acting like its nothing - tell me what’s going on!” Tyler was heaving deeply, anger taking over everything he was feeling before. “Don’t be such a bloody idiot,” was the first thing out of James’ mouth, “You’re so daft sometimes, Tyler, that it makes me want to kill you.” Tyler’s eyes widened, “What do you mean?! How am I daft?! I’m telling how how I feel! I can’t take this anymore..what the hell!” James sighed. “You don’t understand, Tyler. This...this thing...it won’t work. You’ve got kids, for god sakes. I’ve got kids. I’m married, and Samantha’s wonderful. You’ve got Renee. Why...why do you want to jeopardise that? What we had once...it was...well, it’s gone now. And we can’t get it back.” James was just saying things now, whatever came to his mind. He wished...god, he wished that they could go back to old times. But it wouldn’t work. It could never work. “You’re...” Tyler swallowed his pride. What could he say to that? He couldn’t admit hearing Samantha’s name felt like acid replaced the blood in his veins. And he sure as hell couldn’t lie and say that Renee and the children weren’t important to him. Tyler didn’t want their families to die. But he still wanted James, he was so - “Selfish. I’m selfish. I’m sorry, James.” Tyler looked at the wood floor, but he needed to tell James everything. If this was the last time they could even talk about their past, he had to give it all. Tyler gathered up the courage to look straight at James, “But, before I go...I need to tell you this, before all of this just melts away. I haven’t said this to you since that day - but I love you, James. Okay? I always have since then and you haven’t left me, even when I’m at home. I...I want this back again. So badly. So badly, but I know its unfair. You’re right, it wouldn’t work. No matter how jealous I get, no matter how much I miss you - we really can’t get it back can we?” “No, Tyler. It’s too late. It’s too late for everything. I wish it wasn’t, but it is. It’s like in that Hemingway story...Once they take it away, you never get it back. Of course, neither of us is deciding on whether to get an abortion, but...” Tyler emitted a choked laugh. He knew no matter what he said, the direction he was moving in would never change. He couldn’t go back. “I wish you weren’t always the logical one all the time,” Tyler muttered at his feet, “You always have been. There was always something about you that made you so much more mature than the others. One of the things I loved you for.” James smiled sadly. Tyler looked back up at James and smiled back, “I love Renee. This...this whole thing, you’re right, it’s behind us. It was put behind us the day you showed me the ring you were giving Samantha. And it was pushed further and further as the both of us settled down and then had kids and...I guess it all moved so fast I lost track of time. I think I still thought I was that delinquent friend of Garrett that would always steal your things and that you were that boy always okay with it. Always logical and lovely. I was frozen there for a long time. And I look at you now and... well you aren’t exactly the same sixteen year old boy, are you? And I’ve - Just know that you’re right. We’re no longer... we’re just... I’ll just stop. For both of us. For everyone.” “I...Tyler. I’ll always love you. You know that. But...we do need to do this, for everyone. We can’t be selfish now. It’s much too late for that. I fell in love with you, such a long time ago, and I still love you, but I fell in love with that hot-headed, stubborn, silly eighteen-year-old, and now you’re almost forty and I’m 37 and...we really can’t do this anymore. We’ve both realized that. Our time, our precious time we had when we were younger...we’ve wasted it. Time can’t come back to us, and it’s over,” James felt like crying, but there really couldn’t be anything done now. Tyler nodded slowly, he wouldn’t cry. He would be strong and do this for both of them, “Yeah..it can’t. Let’s....God, James, it really can’t.” Tyler paused, keeping the tears back, “We’ll keep it light. It’s gone. I understand, but...but...can you promise me something?” “What is it, Tyler?” “Promise me that even though our time is gone, you’ll remember it. At least promise me...that all the things we did and shared and loved...that it wasn’t wasted.” James bit his lip, trying to keep from crying, and nodded quickly. “I promise, Tyler. But the same goes for you. Don’t ever change, please. Don’t forget.” Tyler squeezed his eyes, trying to keep a straight face, “I won’t...” his voice was cracked. “James, I won’t. I promise.” He looked at James’ face, it was ageless. Tyler gave him a reassuring grin, “I need to give you something.” “What?” James asked. “Wait here,” Tyler ran from the doorway and up the staircase, back into his room. The curtains were pinking, which meant sunrise was coming. He turned to the corner of the room with his luggage and began rifling madly through his bag’s pockets. There it was. Tyler pulled out a CD. It was untitled but Tyler and James and the rest of the band had been working on it for months previous, but really, it was the music that came from Tyler and James. It was their album. He never told James that it was almost finished, but he felt that now was the right time. Snatching the toy car as well, Tyler ran back down to the sunroom. “James, I want to give this back,” Tyler childishly handed over the car, “I kinda nicked it a while back...” James chuckled and then frowned and sighed, “Thanks, I guess.” Tyler felt stupid but continued, “And I want to give you this,” he finally handed James their album in whole. Tyler sucked in a breath as he watched for James’ reaction. James stared, wordlessly, at the CD that Tyler put in his hands. This...this was what they had devoted months to...and here it was...still raw, but...James started to cry, tears falling down his cheeks and onto his hands. Tyler moved forward and hugged James. He didn’t care what it meant at the moment, didn’t care, as he held his friend close. His best friend. James would always be that, “Thank you for everything. For keeping me in check and still holding on to our dreams...just...thank you.” The sky began to brighten - the sun was peeking its head over the gray waves flowing over the shore. It started to drizzle. Both Tyler and James looked outside, the CD still in James’ hands and James still in Tyler’s arms. Tyler smiled lightly as he noticed a rainbow appearing in the sky, “Look, the sky, there’s...” Tyler looked at the arc forming overhead. The colors blended into the clouds. It was beautiful. As he watched the sun rise, Tyler was filled, for the first time in years, with something golden and bursting in his chest. Tears still falling occasionally down his cheeks, James whispered, half to himself and half to Tyler, “Let’s call it In Rainbows.” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-  <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">by S.A. and C.N.   (This would probably look a lot more organized if we just posted the share links...I'm just saying.)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Ew, this place smells like skunk!” Annabelle groaned unhappily as she walked through the hallway.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oli turned her head away from her best friend. She was tired and didn’t feel like speaking, but Annabelle made her laugh. She nodded and linked arms with Annabelle as they continued to walk down the hallway.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Annabelle grinned at Oli as they walked to class, “So, you excited for the weekend?” she asked her friend. Anna was excited for the weekend, but at the moment she really wanted to go home and relax. It had been a very long day, and though she smiled, Anna was very tired and very irritated.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It was a dreary day, the clouds were menacing and green. But that hardly bothered either of them. It was a lazy day for both the girls, Oli was wearing black sweatpants that were soft like a teddy bear, and a faded Dr. Pepper t-shirt with her favorite hoodie; a black one with a character from Where the Wild Things Are. And Annabelle was wearing the ragged jeans that she admitted she woke up in today, a My Chemical Romance t-shirt, and a long hat that had a tribal pattern on it.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yeah, I’m excited. I can’t wait to eat at Lonestar and Baker’s Square!” Oli told Anna before giving her a cheesy smile.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna rolled her eyes and smirked at Oli. “Of course the most exciting part about Fright Fest for you is where we’re eating. Dork,” she said, playfully jabbing Oli in the stomach. She giggled and looked at her feet, where her ragged jeans were trailing on the floor around her Converse. She kicked at the floor and pouted. “Seriously though, I want to go home.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Don’t worry, the day is almost over.” Oli said blandly. They strolled over to Oli’s locker before they headed to Creative Writing. She pulled a brand new notebook out of her locker and smiled. Annabelle rolled her eyes, knowing Oli’s love for fresh school supplies, even though Oli hated school. Oli shut her locker door and looked at Annabelle.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“TO CLASS! I wish we could take blankets to class, mine smell good, like apples and stuff!” Anna said gleefully, walking with a little more zest in her step as she dragged Oli to class, much to Oli’s displeasure. Of course this displeasure went completely ignored by Anna as they entered the classroom.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Upon entering said classroom, Anna looked around in confusion. “Why is it dark? Where is everybody?” she flailed her arms in desperation. “What time is it?!”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oli took out her phone and checked the time. “It’s 1;00, we should have class today,” Oli went outside the room and looked on the door for any notes. There was one piece of paper typed in times new roman. It read: //Class is cancelled today due to tornado warning.// “Well you get to go home now, class is cancelled ‘cause of tornadoes and junk.” Oli slurred. She was really past caring at the moment, tornados never hit town because our town was located in a ditch.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“What?! No freaking way. We never have tornadoes and ever if there’s a warning you know they wouldn’t cancel like, one or two classes. That’s dumb,” Annabelle said in disbelief as she went to the window to look outside. Her moss colored eyes widened at the scene she saw before her. Trees were whipping to and fro with the violent force of the winds outside and it was pouring down rain. She ran from the window and towards Oli to hide behind her friend. “I’m not going out there.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oli was losing her temper. She was tired and wanted to go home. “Well I’m not staying here, if I can go home I will. Just follow me,” she said with a sigh, she knew her friends fears but had to disregard them for the time being. “It’s not like it’s a zombie Apocalypse, it’s freaking rain! Now I’m going to the J-lot and I’ll pull the car up to the door so you can hop in. Got it?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Annabelle sighed irritably and pulled away from Oli. “Well I’m sorry that I hate storms. I’d be a lot less scared of the zombie apocalypse than some giant scary force of nature that flips houses upside and sends crazy people with dogs to Oz,” she grumbled, adjusting the strap of the backpack hanging from her shoulder before she began to head for the front. She wasn’t going to refuse a ride home no matter how irritated she was or how scared the thought of her friend driving in the pouring rain made her.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I’m not trying to blame any of this on you, and I know this is scary to you. This isn’t exactly my cup of tea either, but I want to go home and be there safe and sound,” Oli tried to reason with Anna, and it seemed to be working. Anna went from being terrified to sulking behind Oli. “ I’ll be fine, I’m a good driver. It shouldn’t take long, but no mater what happens stay here until I come back.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna sighed and grumbled to herself about Oli’s foreboding words before she nodded and sat down in the area between the doors that led.” Oli confidently went out the door and left Anna behind. Anna curled up with her arms around her knees and watched, an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she watched rain beat down on the sidewalk outside. //“She said she’d be fine, so she will,”// Anna thought, trying to convince herself that she believed that.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A few minutes passed by and even though it took a while to get to the parking lot from this door, Anna began to grow paranoid and worried. Why wasn’t Oli back yet? Should she call? Anna squeezed her eyes shut for a few moments and tried to calm down. When she opened her eyes up again, she found that the lights in the cafeteria had been switched off. Everything was dark. “Hello?” she called hesitantly, waiting for some response.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">No reply. It was an eerie silence, but the void was filled but somewhat of a droning sound made by the refrigerator in the back and the ringing in Anna’s ears. It made her feel uneasy, and almost upset. She didn’t know whether the tears welling up in her eyes were from fear, worry for her friend or a mixture of both. Anna had unconsciously scooted her back toward the window, and with all her worrying she didn’t hear Oli’s car come to a screeching halt next to the door. A loud thud right by her head made her scream bloody mary as she scrambled to her feet, her nails grabbed anything they could nearly breaking them. It was Oli. She had run toward the door and landed on it, trying to get Anna’s attention. Oli was out of breath and pale white, her eyes bulging out of her head. Anna shoved the door open with all her strength, as she did this her friend doubled over onto the linoleum floor.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oli?! Are you okay?” Anna cried, kneeling down next to her friend.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oli sat up eventually and looked at Anna. “What are you talking about?”she asked in confusion, “I’m fine.” She looked her friend up and down with skeptical eyes as if to say //you’re crazy//.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Good because we need to get out of here. Someone is in here and they turned the lights off and I’m scared and we need to go so let’s go,” Anna said, going towards the door to shove it open again. When she tried to open the door, she was met with a terrifying resistance. The door wouldn’t budge.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oli, the door won’t open...” Anna said, trailing off as she heard the faint sound of footsteps coming from the hallway. “Do you hear that?” Anna whispered as her eyes shifted all around the darkness. The only light was from the street lights outside and the green tint from the sky.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“What? Hear what? Anna are you okay, do you need to sit down?” Oli was genuinely concerned. She had never seen her friend like this before. This was beyond a panic attack, Anna was hearing sounds that weren’t there. Oli wasn’t getting any answers from her friend so she tried to open the door. It took no work at all.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna stared in disbelief. How did Oli get the door open when Anna could have sworn it had been locked? She glanced around for a moment before running out into the pouring rain and collapsing beside the car in a pile of wet limbs and relieved breaths. Being alone in the school even for a few minutes had terrified her beyond belief, to the point where she had been seeing and hearing things. She listened for the click of car doors unlocking and once she heard it she stood back up and scrambled into the back of the car, sitting on the floor so she didn’t get the seats wet.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oli joined her in a few moments and looked over the front seat at her friend. She seemed calmer now, even though she was still freaked about the rain. “You sure you’re okay, Anna?” Oli asked before she started the car.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna didn’t say a word. She just looked away from her friend and then went into fetal position on the car floor.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“ Okay.....um..yeah.” Oli didn’t know what to do. Her friend looked lifeless but she was still breathing. She just started to drive toward her friends house.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“What are you doing?” a low voice came from behind her. It was Anna’s voice she knew that much, but it was different. She pulled over on the side of the road and turned around to face Anna who was staring at Oli accusingly. Oli was getting angry at her friend, while she was risking her life for her friend and babying her and all Anna could do was act like a maniac.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“What are you doing?!?!” Oli screamed at Anna, giving her the look. Anna snapped back into real time, and looked hurt. What was she doing? She couldn’t remember to save her life, which very well might depend on it.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Are you taking me home, or am I going home with you?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I’m taking you home to your parents and then we’re taking you to a hospital. Are you sure you didn’t bump your head or eat something weird today?” Oli kept driving as fast as she could while still being safe.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I can’t remember....I’m sorry. Are you mad at me?” She gave Oli puppy dog eyes unconsciously.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“No.” Oli said but it wasn’t entirely true.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna knew Oli was lying, or at least she thought she knew. She was more concerned about Oli’s driving at the time being though and instead stayed quiet after that. Through the noise of the car driving and the rain pouring down onto the top of the car and the windows, she could hear someone speaking. It wasn’t Oli, she knew that much, and the radio wasn’t even on so it wasn’t someone singing or whatever. Anna kept listening to it, trying to figure out its source and why it was saying what it was saying. She’d never thought about how evil everyone was before, so why was she thinking about it now?

//<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Just kill ‘em all. They’ll only leave you in the end.” //

SMAC

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I sit in the darkness and the idea of turning on the light never comes to my head. I look through the window and what do I see? The same old landscape - trees covered up with snow, night wind howlings, dark and heavy sky. It’s cold and I hate freezing. I wish I grew up and moved some place where people never see snow. My hands are playing with a small metal locket. Oh, right, I haven’t told you about it yet! I have this old necklace, that I got from my grandmother, and I know, that when I grow up, I’m supposed to give it to my daughter and so it will be. It’s not beautiful or something you would like to have. It’s metal and really cold on skin. But i like it anyway. It reminds me of my grandmother, her gentle hands, all in tiny-tiny wrinkles, so warm and familiar. It doesn’t matter if the locket or the weather is cold, my grandmother’s hands were always warm. She was someone you’re blessed to have in your life. Someone you think of when they say “I’ve never met anyone like her and, probably, won’t ever”.Sometimes she used to be pretty strict and didn’t allow me to play with toys until I finish my dinner or punished me for my bad behaviour. Well, for my own sake. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I remember, when she passed away, I’ve gone mad. I was sobbing in the corner for days and I couldn’t do anything about it. The very thought of her, lying dead in the coffin with her usually so warm hands now cold...It scared me...No, it freaked me out. So I came to my mom and said to her, “ Mama, I’m not going to the funerals. Never in my life will I ever go to granny’s funeral.” My mom then gave me a pretty harsh slap and accused me of being disgraceful. I didn’t blame her, she was stressed out and all of the responsibilities of granny’s funerals lay on her shoulders. But I looked her in the eyes and repeat that I wouldn’t go. She just sat in the chair and started crying silently. I sat by her, hugged my arms around her thin shoulders and lay my head on them. It was going to be okay one day, I promised. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Few days after the funeral I woke at dawn, or as I thought, something has waken me up. I didn’t pay attention to it, because since funeral my sleep was quite unhealthy - abrupt and short. So I got out of my bed and decided that I could use a little walk - didn’t feel like sleeping anyway. I was crawling on tip toes not to wake my mom up, then I finally reached the front door and got out. It felt so nice outside! Nature didn’t know my misery, it was calm and quiet. I started walking towards my secret place - a little pond in a small wood. Actually it wasn’t secret, it just felt significant to call it so. I reached the shore, sat down, and started throwing rocks into the water. Pretty useless activity, isn’t it? Then I saw something, floating in the water. At first I thought it was a rock, but then I looked at it closer my eyes wide open in surprise. It was my granny’s long-lost locket! Without hesitating I jumped into the water to get it, but it was slippy and constantly elusive. I was choking on water, but still trying to reach it with my hand. The last thing I remember is the cold metal in my hand. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I woke up at home, shaking from cold. My head was on my mom’s lap and she was gently caressing my hair. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You choked on so much water. Good thing that Mr. Cohen saw you and saved you,” my mother said, “Don’t you ever do it to me, please.” He voice sounded tired, but not angry. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“It was worth it, mom. It was really worth it. i got granny’s lost locket,” I replied. “ Where is it?” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“What are you talking about, silly?” she smiled with these words. “ It was never lost. I was keeping it in my jewelry box.” And she stretched her arm to gave me something. The locket. It was always here, so why was I looking for it somewhere else? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My mom saw my sad look and said to me gently “We’ll get over it. It’s gonna be okay, I promise” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I look through the window. The same old landscape - trees covered up with snow, night wind’s howlings, dark and heavy sky. My hands are playing with the locket and it’s really cold on skin. Though I hate cold and freezing, I like it anyway. It reminds me of my mom’s warm and gentle hands. It doesn’t matter if the weather or the locket is cold, my mom’s hands were always warm. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Fin <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">by Anastasia Pavlova and Alina Makarenko

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After leaving the dentist’s office, glad that I didn’t have any cavities, I drove home and opened my new package of tooth paste and my tooth brush. Even though my teeth were already clean, I decided to brush them again. Nothing is better than a brand new toothbrush! Your teeth feel a million times cleaner than they have in a while. The stiff, fresh new bristles really make your teeth shine! When I finished brushing my teeth, I went upstairs to start cleaning my room. While I was putting my clothes away in the drawer, I found a bright yellow yo-yo! I paused my work and stood up, looping my finger through the hole tied in the rope. I wound the string all the way back up. Flicking my wrist, I sent the yo-yo hurling towards the floor. When it ran out of string it came bouncing back up, wrapping itself back up. The process continued, flick, down, up, flick, down, up. I felt like a little kid again playing with this old toy. I didn’t feel like cleaning anymore after I found my old yo-yo; I wanted to do something fun! I walked out of my room and was greeted by my dog, Max! He hopped up on me, putting his paws on my shoulders and giving me a big, slobbery, dog kiss. He followed me downstairs into the kitchen. I opened the pantry door and pulled out a couple of treats from his own little cookie jar. “Sit,” I told Max, and he sat. “Shake,” and he raised up his paw for my to take. “Good boy!” I threw a treat up in the air and he jumped up to catch it in his mouth. I patted his head, grabbed his rope and started playing tug-of-war with him. My parents were chilling in the other room watching TV. They called me into the living room so I left Max and went in to see what they wanted but Max trotted happily behind me. They asked me to watch TV with them. So I sat down on the big comfy couch and watched TV with them. This was always a pass time with them. Finally my mother said, “We have something to tell you.” “What?” I asked. “We’re moving! We have until next week!” “WHAT! Why?” I asked. “Because I got a new job,” said Dad. I was shocked. I really didn’t want to move. All of my friends lived here and I would miss this area a lot. “Where are we moving to?” I asked. “Wyoming. I know it’s far away from here but you can still visit your friends sometimes. We’ll come back for the holidays and see the family. Everything will be okay.” I didn’t think it would be okay. I didn’t know what else to say. I felt like crying. I went to my room and lied on my bed, staring up at the ceiling and thinking about the news that was just dropped on me. How would I say goodbye to everyone!? What if I don’t make any new friends? This was too much! I was so sad that I just went to sleep. I was hoping that it was just a dream and when I woke up in the morning, everything would be exactly the way it was before they told me we were moving. The next morning I got up and went about my day as normal. I was still really upset but I knew this move was better for my family. The rest of the week seemed to go by way too fast, saying goodbye to my friends and relatives. The night before we were to leave, my dad got a call. He answered it in the kitchen with my mom and I in the room listening intently when we saw the look on his face. After a few minutes, he hung up the phone, let out a deep breath and said, “Well, I’ve got some news for you both. The bad? They no longer need me at the office in Wyoming. The good? I got promoted here! WE’RE STAYING!” I breathed a huge sign of relief, happily let out a little shriek of surprise and ran over to hug my dad. I was so ecstatic! I couldn’t believe it! I immediately called my best friends and told them the amazing news. That night, I cherished everything about my home. I thought I would have to miss it; now, I get to stay and that’s the most important thing to me right now! - SS & JT