Category: Junior Literary

It’s been a couple years since you played Minecraft, but hey, you bought the game. What do you wanna do first?

Mine? Okay!

Let’s go down a couple Y levels.

You’ve mined below stone into deep slate at this point. It’s taken you a while, but you’re not very afraid. It’s still the same experience; you’ve been going through caves and making tunnels, but then you start to find these blue blocks. They’re really dark and look like a fungus, it must be a new update. You mine through. They drop a lot of XP. Sweet!

The entire area is shrouded in dark blue. I’d watch my step if I were you.

You take a couple careless steps forward. Nothing out of the ordinary.

You hear a sound you’ve never heard before to your left. What?

You don’t see what activated it, so you keep exploring. He’s not here yet.

You don’t hear the sound again, thankfully, and eventually get bored, take your XP and leave. You might come back later.

 

Congratulations! You’ve just avoided an encounter with The Warden! Presumably, if you would’ve run into it, The Warden would’ve immediately killed you and you’d lose all your stuff, but I’m here to explain how to not make that happen.

To preface, The Warden spawns in deep dark biomes, approximately anywhere below Y Level 0 and under a mountain. It has two types of attacks, ranged, and upfront. Ranged is what usually kills you.

When you are confronted with The Warden, you will notice cannot see players, only hear them, so any noise you make is to your detriment. If he does not find anything, he will start sniffing the air, and any nearby mobs, (including you,) he charges on sight.

The Warden doesn’t spawn the same way the Dragon or the Wither does. It’s invited. He spawns at the sound of four sculk shriekers, and if you’re not careful and counting for shrieks, you’re going to set it off. The sculk shriekers react to another block, sculk sensors, who vibrate if they detect noise or lots of movement, same as the Warden. Your goal is not those guys however, your goal should be the shriekers. Break them as quickly and as quietly as possible. Both blocks are going to be scattered all over the place, but they will be in range. You do not want to be loud.

By not setting off a shrieker, you should be able to get around the deep dark without much hassle.

But if you do manage to set off a shrieker four times, well.

You have 6 seconds to run.

GIF taken from GeekFlare's article: How to Defeat the Ultimate Mob in Minecraft: The Warden (no relation)

 

So, this week I was kind of at a loss for what I even wanted to talk about. I brainstormed about speaking about philosophers that I’ve been reading up on lately. I was thinking of just writing a 400-word monologue, honestly, I was contemplating just going on a giant tangent on Goya and his black paintings, but I think I found something to talk about that has a little bit of all those aspects. That being a show called “Downtown,” and of course if you have heard of this show before then you would be skeptical. “How could something that presents itself so vulgar, plagued with such simplicity, be able to appeal to deep philosophical ideologies”. That can be answered when you look within the subtext of the show itself. 

The show Downtown by MTV surrounds our protagonist Alex, a 22-year-old man who works at a printing press, living in New York City. The largest factor that contributes to the differentiation between its meaning and its outward presentation is the persistent theme of sex, drugs, and crime. Yet it is important that these themes are a part of the show because it is what brings emphasis to the importance to both the underlying themes as well as the personality of Alex. Alex is not the same as other characters in that show, he seems to be more sheltered and less willing to go out and expose himself to the culture that was the late 1990s. However, there are breaks in his original character that serve as very important aspects of the way the show approaches certain issues and people’s reaction to them. For example, in season one episode four, “insomnia”, Alex loses his ability to sleep for two days, and on the third night he has become someone that is almost unrecognizable. This episode, in my opinion, aligns almost perfectly with Goya descent into artistic madness. The lack of something so rudimentary in the human mind can change a person so drastically. 

Another way that I think that he relates to Goya was the way that neither of them seemed to adapt very well to the ever-changing landscape of the modern world. Goya, once a well renowned imperial artist now was nothing but an old man that never left his home. The governmental and social changes of the world caught up with Goya, and instead of letting them overtake him he cut himself off. That’s where he created his final pieces, within the confines of his own reaction to things that he had no control over. Alex does the same thing, attempting to isolate himself from a world in which he is a prisoner in.

I think that this is just one of the many examples of ways that modern and historical art and media still portray similar ideologies. Even throughout the passage of time we are able to keep ideas relevant.

When I was younger I used to be completely obsessed with everything Garfield. I remember the TV we had up until I was about five years old was one of those big box TV’s with the built- in VHS tape player. I don’t remember what happened to it but I do remember getting a big flat screen TV at Sam’s Club before starting Kindergarten. When we got the new TV, we also got Netflix. I remember the first time I went on Netflix my dad helped me set up a kids account and together we scrolled through the shows. The first show I saw that caught my attention was this picture of an orange tabby cat with black stripes eating lasagna and a yellow-tan dog with long brown ears and a brown spot on his side. As soon as I saw that picture I knew I wanted to watch the show. I told my dad to press play on The Garfield Show so he did. I immediately loved the show. The first episode was called “Pasta Wars” and it showed Garfield’s birthday. Instead of Garfield having a cake, he had lasagna. As Garfield had finished scarfing down his lasagna, he noticed that he was missing one. He had one square of lasagna for each year of his age. He called over John, his owner, and signaled that one of the squares was missing. John immediately started freaking out and ran to the kitchen to make another square of lasagna but he didn’t have enough ingredients so he had to run to the store. Garfield decided to take a nap while John was gone and sometime during that nap Garfield woke up to a plate of lasagna. He was overly joyed and went to eat the lasagna but the lasagna begged him not to eat it. Garfield was so confused and probably a little bit scared too. The lasagna used this to its advantage and jumped out of the way and ran off. Garfield, of course, thought he was hallucinating so he went to his bed to hide under the covers. While Garfield was hiding, Odie went outside to investigate. He looked into a bush and saw the Space Lasagna talking into something. Odie immediately rushed inside to where Garfield was to let him know he wasn’t crazy and the Space Lasagna was real. When Garfield gets up to go check, he sees that there’s more Space Lasagna and freaks out and hides in their garage leaving Odie to fend for himself. The Space Lasagna crawl into the house using the doggie door and tie Odie up and leave him as they search the house for the fat orange cat, their enemy. While the Space Lasagna are looking for Garfield upstairs, Garfield gathers up the courage to exit the garage and untie Odie. After untying Odie, Garfield goes upstairs to where the Space Lasagna are and confronts them. The Space Lasagna are already terrified because they stumbled across John’s computer playing an edited six hour video of Garfield eating lasagna nonstop. When Garfield sees the Space Lasagna, he confronts them and they scream and run away to their spaceship leaving Garfield and Odie very confused. As Garfield and Odie follow the Space Lasagna outside, they find that they were too late as they watch the Space Lasagna fleeing Earth in fear of the fat orange beast.

 

It’s been over a decade since I’ve seen this episode so I’m sure I’ve gotten a few details wrong but I’ve remembered most of it. As I finish writing this blog in my room, I look up and see a sign that I got when I was in 6th grade, back when I was still obsessed with Garfield. It has a picture of Garfield on it and it says, “Keep your attitude I have my own!”

 (This blog will avoid major spoilers.)

Houseki no Kuni, also known as Land of the Lustrous in English, is both a manga and anime adaptation. The manga is illustrated and written by Haruko Ichikawa, and the anime adaptation was produced by animation studio Orange. Here, I’ll be talking about the first season (and only season as of now) of the anime, though the mangas are most definitely worth checking out too! Before we begin, I think it would be wise to note that in the original Japanese manga, the gem characters are seen as genderless and are referred to with pronouns leaning to ambiguity, though said pronouns can also be seen as masculine. Despite the anime subtitles I’ve seen referring to the gems using she/her or he/him, this blog will use they/them to respect the original creator’s vision. 

*~*~*~*

Plot + Overview

Houseki no Kuni is set in a world void of humans, the dominant species on earth being gems: crystals formed with humanoid shapes, brought to life and given sentience by the microorganisms thriving throughout their structures. For thousands of years, gems have been fighting against lunarians, beings with a Buddhist motif that descend to earth from the moon.

(Photo of lunarians)

Lunarians attack on sunny days, shattering gems with arrows and collecting their shards to turn into jewelry and weapons. The thing is, though- gems cannot die. No matter how many times a gem is shattered, their pieces can be glued back together and they’ll be good as new. The lunarians’s capturing of gems is as close to death as any gem gets, and it’s devastating, especially when they use weapons crafted from the shards of fallen comrades. Shards are collected in hopes of rebuilding those who have been lost. Phosphopyllite, also known as Phos, is the story’s protagonist. Out of the 28 gems in existence, Phos is the weakest, the youngest, and the only one without a job. Phos desperately wants to fight lunarians, going so far as to pester the gems who battle for their job, but Phos’ lack of strength, durability, and skill renders their dream impossible. The good news is that they finally get a job!

It’s filling out an encyclopedia.

Phos has no idea how to fill out an encyclopedia. They procrastinate and ask other gems what to do, but Phos finds their suggestions unhelpful. They try to fill it out, but it’s clear they’re doing the bare minimum, are absolutely lost, and don’t have any passion for it. The plot doesn’t stay on the encyclopedia for long, but it’s expansion into something much bigger feels well-done and natural. The encyclopedia leads to Phos running into an isolated gem, to which they make a promise they no idea how to uphold. The promise leads Phos to working harder, which leads to them going places and discovering things that make them question everything they know about the Lunarians. One of the things I love about this show is how it highlights the fact that all information on Lunarians is unreliable. The only thing the gems know about them is from engaging in battle, in which they very well could only be seeing what the Lunarians want them to see. Because of this, the story’s genre leads into mystery, but over all it’s wonderfully action packed and paced. The season is only twelve episodes, but watching them feels like two whole seasons or hour long episodes. I mean that in the best possible way, too- I got attached to characters, learned more about the world, and invested in the plot all in a short amount of time crafted to feel longer. I’m still in awe about how the writers managed to accomplish such a thing. 

Characters

There’s a lot of characters in HnK, and I love so many of them! Kongo/Adamant (Name changes depending on the translation), Rutile, Cinnabar… for the sake of conciseness and leaving things for you to discover should watch/read this series yourself, I’ll only be talking about a few characters who I especially loved and showcase highlights of HnK’s storytelling!

Phos is a sassy, childish, energetic, and honestly a bit of a brat. Despite these qualities, I actually really enjoyed having them as the protagonist! They’re written in such an entertaining, kind of charming way, dramatic and in-the-moment. They remind me of a younger sibling! They may be annoying, but they truly don’t have bad intentions at heart. Phos grows so much over the course of the series, and despite how drastic this change is, it doesn’t feel forced. It feels natural. Phos’ priorities change, their role models become different, and their goals shift as they forget, learn, and experience more. 

Before we get into the next characters, there’s something important to note; something I absolutely love. The gem characters all have qualities based off of their real life counter parts! The mohs scale is used to determine the strength of a gem. Real-life phosphophyllite ranks 3-3.5 on the mohs scale, so Phos’ hardness is 3.5 in Houseki no Kuni! This means they break much easier than other gems. Structure also plays a factor! If a character is a monocrystal, their body is more vulnerable to impact, as the one gem that makes up their body takes the hit. If a character is made up of multiple, tiny crystals, they can deal with impact better! One of the characters, Cinnabar, is also surrounded by mercury poison. Real-life cinnabar contains mercury! With that out of the way, we can move on.

 

<(Dia)

 

                       (Bort/Bortz)>

                 

 

Dia and Bort have to be my favorite character dynamic in anime. Both of them are diamonds, ranking 10 on the hardness scale and battling lunaraians for their jobs. They’re assigned partners in their job for the sake of efficiency and protection, and though both are forces to be reckoned with, Dia is much more soft spoken and kind whilst Bort is harsh and menacing. Bort tends to shout orders whilst Dia only listens. They think of each other as siblings, though Bort would deny it if asked, but their relationship is… wonderfully complicated. Bort is amazing at fighting, able to take down lunarians before Dia can even lift a finger. Though they’re both a hardness of 10, Dia is a monocrystal and Bort isn’t. When first looking at Dia you would think they’re someone who’s perfect, or someone who at least thinks they’re perfect, but Dia isn’t. They hate their weakness, and they hate how Bort does everything now. Dia is older, but Bort has surpassed them. Dia loves Bort so much, but- sometimes they think along the lines of “If only Bort wasn’t here…” Thinking such things makes Dia think they’re terrible, but they still dislike Bort. Since Bort takes the lead of all the fighting, Bort has come to think of Dia as a liability. Their dynamic is so complicated yet wonderfully done, and it feels so real- like this is a love-hate relationship I would see in reality. There’s one scene with these two that will never leave my mind; they’re so amazing.

Art

The art in HnK is absolutely beautiful. It’s entirely animated in 3-D, something that a lot of anime fans instinctually side-eye. It’s hard to get an entirely 3-D anime to look right, expressive, and pleasing, and the immediate examples of 3-D in anime are of times when 3-D models stick out like a sore thumb against 2-D aspects. Houseki no Kuni, though- it grabbed 3-D animation and ran with it. Orange uses the 3-D medium to its fullest, most notably with the texturing and lighting of characters. Their hair shines and gleams like an actual gemstone, glimmering with light that flickers across their shoulders. Gold and mercury in their liquid form truly looks like shining liquid as well, beautiful yet fitting in with the surroundings. Dynamic shots are used in battles, too, but 3-D is commonly used for that. HnK gets full marks on expressiveness as well- the characters move with so much fluidity and life, and their expressions are well-crafted. They don’t look out of place and draw from aspects of 2-D animation, but incorporated amazingly into another medium. Below are some art examples, but there’s so many amazing shots- these are just images I could get online without giving major spoilers. 

The music in this series is absolutely lovely too. The lunarian’s theme sounds so elegant yet imposing, and the themes over all sound so distinct. The soundtrack is definitely worth checking out.

End

Over all, I really love Houseki no Kuni! I 100% recommend the anime and the manga! Both have their own strengths, and the anime is pretty accurate to the manga with what they have so far. Unfortunately I’m unsure if there will be a season two of the anime, but the manga is still ongoing! Have a nice day!

It has been a reoccurring theme throughout my blog that I find creatures or things around me, using them in an analogical way to explore new perspectives and learn lessons about life. The character whose perspective I’ve most recently delved into happens to be, once again, a bug.

On Thursday, August 24, 2023, at around 10:18 am, Cooper Brumfield tapped on my shoulder. Annoyed, I turned my head to him, and he was gesturing excitedly at a little speck on the table. In my mind, I just assumed he was trying to continue our sibling-like dynamic by pestering me to no end, but right before I rolled my eyes, I saw the speck move. Upon closer inspection, I recognized it as a tiny, beetle-like creature, no bigger than a crumb. It was adorable and gross, and it fascinated me.

I snapped a few pictures and then leaned in close, long after Cooper had gone back to his writing assignment. I didn’t touch it, I didn’t catch it, I just watched. It made its way over to me, as did the cricket in my first blog, but this bug had a different end goal. Rather than seeking shade and seclusion, this bug sought a higher place. Its tiny little legs ventured their way over to the base of my pen, where it hesitated, calculating. I imagined that it was pondering the best way to reach the top, or whether it was worth it to start climbing at all. In the end, it reached up carefully, and it latched on to the back of the writing utensil.

Up it climbed, glorious and persevering. I brought my eyes down to its level and became immersed in the story. It was epic – the microscopic creature somehow trudging along, climbing valiantly. Up, and up, and up he went until finally: Yes! He reached the top! Every part of me ached to applaud it for its mighty feat – it inspired me how trusting it was of itself and its abilities, how brave it was to attempt such a treacherous climb, how proud it must have been to reach its destination and allow itself to pause for a rest at the climax. Alas, I was in the middle of a dead-silent classroom, and there was no hope of looking sane in cheering for a nearly invisible insect. Nevertheless, I applauded in my brain, hoping that it could sense that there was someone out there supporting it.

I realized something after this brief escapade into my imagination. I have an innate desire to pursue greatness, whatever that “greatness” may be. I try persistently to improve myself in one way or another, but when faced with huge goals or challenges, I often shy away.

I won’t be good enough.

I won’t do it right.

They will not approve of me.

It will be too difficult.

I am not worth it.

These are the types of thoughts that constantly plague me, no matter how vehemently I try to rid myself of them.  However, this bug climbed all the way up, and across, and back around, and then down from my pen, despite it being mountainously large in comparison to the bug itself. I am unsure as to how bugs think, or if they even think at all, but I am vastly sure that there was no other bug in sight to judge or support its efforts. Therefore, the goal that it accomplished was solely for itself. Observing this allowed me to clear my head and realize that this is a quality that I need to strive for: ambition for the purpose of self-fulfillment. There’s always going to be someone I am not good enough for. However, if I live by my own standards, there is still a capacity for personal greatness, no matter how small my achievements might seem to others.  

 

I think that being at this new school I haven’t been giving myself enough time to be alone. My sophomore year was spent predominantly alone and I think I grew exponentially as a person. I think that for a long time I was afraid of being alone with myself, maybe it came from a place of self-discontentment or a place of hyperactivity but regardless I put it all aside for my second year of highschool. I made an effort to be friendly, when someone said hi to me I would wave in return and I kept my grades up but I really stayed out of the social loop. And for this week’s blog I think I’d like to share some of things I learned from that experience.

First off I think in this time I was better able to develop my taste in media, or film more specifically. I had a lot more time to myself so when I wasn’t studying I was watching movies. I really, really value that small chapter in my life for a number of reasons, or I guess a number of movies. Examples of this include movies like, Donnie Darko, The Perks of being a Wallflower, or even more known titles Grave Encounters or Creep. While I have always made an effort to take time out to appreciate the themes being portrayed in works during this time it was as if they resonated with me so much easier and faster.Whether it was how I could relate to how painfully human the acting was in movies like Creep, or the accuracy of the coming of age masterpiece that is the perks of being a wallflower.

 

Another positive aspect of spending all this time with myself was that I was finally able to really take some time to get to know myself. I think that after Covid the past few years of my life have just been a complete frenzy. So when everything began to slow down it’s almost as if I was getting to know someone that I had never been acquainted with. Through this time I learned who I was, while also being able to grow and heal from the person that I once was as well. 

 

The final positive aspect of being alone that I would like to touch on is being able to better understand people.For the longest time I was afraid that I talked over people, even if they weren’t talking I felt as if when I had something to contribute I never truly listened and made an effort to understand who they were. I think that it is a lot easier to love someone that way, there are never too many aspects in which you’ll find yourself not loving someone.

Far From Noise is sort of a bottle-nose game where the main premise is you, a girl presumably in her twenties is stuck on the ledge of a cliff after driving out to the coast, even as the game’s opening shot. Throughout the game, we never leave this ledge and are left alone with the girl, her thoughts, and the wildlife as she comes to terms with her situation.

As you are stuck in a car, the only choices you are offered are between different dialogue trains and how you want the story to unfold. Sort of like a visual novel, contained.

Being ‘stuck’ is a big theme in this game, as the main character is stuck not only physically, but in her life as well.

She’s come to a point as a young adult where she doesn’t really know where to go, but she can’t go down and she can’t go up. It kind of ponders the question, if you were at the end of your life, but you had time to just think, take in the world around you, what would happen?

The game doesn’t shy away from the fact you are about to die; it’s one of the main focuses of the story. But despite the setting and liminal environment, the game is incredibly calm. Just to be put simply. It takes you seriously, and it takes its message seriously, but there are many jokes to break tension or small laughs thrown in.

It evokes something simpler; that’s all it really needs. Because throughout the certain death and the existentialism, you’re taken slowly on a journey through this character and what her life means. And sort of, what it means to be alive.

The game doesn’t ask a lot of you, as you play it. It’s only about an hour worth, I think. And if you can’t sit around for a slow-paced, low mechanics narrative, or you hate existential stories, this game isn’t for you. That’s okay.

But if you have time to sit down on a Saturday and set aside one to two hours worth of this game or something quiet and philosophical, I’d recommend it. Like I said, it’s not a lot, but it doesn’t need to be.

So, me and my roommate just recently watched “Rambo”.  And I don’t think people fully Grasped the concept of the movie.  Many might see it as just an action-packed Thrilling joy ride, with explosions and Gunfights. But that’s just the surface of the film, the tip of the iceberg. When you look closer, really getting into the movie, you can see that Rambo Isn’t just about a soldier. I think it takes a little more understanding to really see the meaning behind this movie. 

Here’s a Sum of everything that happened in Rambo. 
Spoiler Alert!

Rambo is what most people would call a drifter. A Drifter, by Google Definitions is, “A person who is continually moving from place to place, without any fixed home or job.”
After the Vietnam War, soldiers came back to more than unpleasant conditions. They were mocked, cursed and treated horribly.
Rambo Had just landed back in America, and with no friends or family to return to, he unwillingly became a drifter. Roaming from town to town, in search of something, anything.

As Rambo Comes upon a Town called Hope, in British Columbia. 
He’s looking for a diner to eat at, and while searching the town sherrif is weary of his intentions, and “helps” him out by dropping him of where the town ends on the north side. 

Rambo Walks back into the town after the Sherrif leaves. 
at this point the sheriff is fed up with Rambo and attempts to arrest him. 
Rambo resists arrest but is eventually taken into custody. 

Events lead up to Rambo escaping the Police department, and he runs into the woods.  The Cops Biased and Selfish views caused them to become narrow visioned.  

After hunting down Rambo for two days, the cops are becoming impatient. 
Rambo Steals a car and makes his way back into town. Causing all sorts of mayhem and terror.  The Sherriff, still Blinded by Hatred, is in the police department. The Town is under lockdown and curfew because of the dangerous veteran lose on the streets. 
Rambo is only trying to escape this town, but everyone sees him as a villain. which in some cases he is a criminal.  But as Rambo said “They Drew First Blood.”

One thing leads to another, and in an attempts to loot for supplies Rambo becomes surrounded in a gun/ammo shop. At this point Rambo’s Old Lieutenant, Lieutenant Tay, has made an arrival in attempts to ease Rambo into custody. 

As the Ammo shop is surrounded, The Lieutenant Makes his way into the building and confronts Rambo. After they talk for a while Rambo Breaks down, sobbing, talking about the awful things he saw in Vietnam, and the Horrors he encountered.  

Rambo Broken and Sobbing on the floor, crying out in confusion, this is where the soul of the movie is. I believe that Rambo Is a representation of all those soldiers that came home broken. Broken From the Things they had to do, or things they had to see. Some broken beyond repair. 

Hi, welcome back Lovelies.   For this post I’m not going to review any Thriller or Mystery shows, instead, I’m showing one of my works from my younger days that was revised.  This work is in the genre of Thriller and Mystery.  Here you go   ?

 

“Tommy Walt is sitting in his bed flipping through a magazine when his TV switches to the Scream movie.”  Riley Day is walking down the street late at night while reading a book that she wants to finish so much.   It’s a horror suspense book about kids that disappear from their houses mysteriously.  She flashes her camera light on her book in one hand as she keeps walking.   She starts reading back aloud.  “Tommy looks around to make sure he isn’t sitting on his remote.  When he notices that he isn’t, he doesn’t deem it weird; he just shrugs it off.   With no worry; Tommy relaxes and goes back to reading. Not even seconds later; he hears someone throw what sounds like a rock at his downstairs door.  He jumps, now that’s weird because he’s home alone so nobody in his family is pranking him.  “Who’s there?”  he asks.  Silence.   He just decides to get up and change the TV.  Minutes later he hears faint scratching on his bedroom window.  That’s when he gets scared. Tap… Tap… That’s all he hears.  “Stop it!” He shouts.  But it doesn’t work, and the scratching and the tapping get louder.   It gets quiet until someone whispers very softly… “ Tooommmy” It sounds like a soft howl of a girl.  Tommy jumps out of bed again and runs to his bedroom door.  It’s locked.  He wiggles it vigorously as he cries and panics.   Instead of escaping the lights come off.  “Ah!”  He shouts.   He runs to his window about to open it, but comes to find out the windows are already open.  He whimpers as he steps back falling to the floor.  There’s no escape unless… Tommy ran to the window and just as he was about to leap out a dark gloved hand clamps over his mouth from behind.   Tommy meets pitch blackness.   That night Tommy wasn’t found in his bedroom.  Riley stops at a crosswalk as she finishes reading the first chapter of the book.   “Tap…”  She looks around as she hears a faint sound, like the sound described in the book.  Like Tommy, she shrugs it off and walks across the street, time for the next chapter.   Leah Wright was putting on her make-up in the bathroom; the door shut so her parents wouldn’t see her.   She was singing aloud to her phone when she heard a deafening thump coming from the stairs.  She quickly turned off her music.  “Mom…? Dad…?!”  Leah shouted; she didn’t get a response.  After her family had been robbed when she was young Leah took no chances.  She quickly opened the door and peeked out.  The hall was clear, but Leah could feel in her chills that something was wrong.   She quietly stepped out of the bathroom.  When she heard no noise, she ran to her bedroom in the hall and grabbed her phone.   She quickly texted her friend Riley: Someone’s in my house.   Leah then slowly got her softball bat and creaked down the hall until she was near the staircase.   The stairs looked like they went on for eternity.  “Hello?”  Leah called out.  She heard no response, but she did hear something crash like glass in the kitchen  followed by the lights coming off.  Leah gasps with fear.   “ Oh… no don’t go down the stairs, Leah.”  Riley whispers to the book as she stops to sit on a sidewalk.   Leah starts to walk down the steps then something grabs her hair.   She shouts and thrashes, dropping her bat in the process.  The intruder pulled her back hard, but Leah pushed away, and when she let go of the grip… She tumbled down the stairs.  Each fall a “ thump..bop.. Boof.”  Leah is knocked out barely breathing as she lies on the floor.  The intruder walks down the steps slowly and grips Leah’s ankles, her parents in the corner with their mouths and bodies taped up as the intruder drags Leah away.  Like Tommy, she didn’t come back home that night.  Riley finishes another chapter, but as she keeps reading, she notices that strangely all of the characters have the same names as Riley’s friends.  But she keeps reading, not paying it any mind.   Belle Hollis gets out of her friends’ car watching as they drive off.   She slowly pulls out her phone as she walks up to her doorstep.   Stopping to read the text her boyfriend sent her;  she hears a rustle over her soft laugh.  She quickly looks up.   No one’s there.  Rolling her eyes at her own eeriness Belle goes to unlock the door.  But before she could finish turning the knob something huge hit Belle in the back of the head, it felt like a bat.   She groaned as her vision wavered; she tried to scream when she saw the hooded all-black attacker above her.   It was too late.  Belle is kicked in the temple as her breath goes away and she bleeds on the concrete.   Riley is almost to her destination as she turns to the next chapter, she isn’t creeped out about anything she reads, she just wants to finish the book.  Crunch… Crunch…  Riley snaps her neck to the source of the sound, but she doesn’t see anything she has to run as she hears sirens in the distance.   The person who wears the black hood and the black gloves sat crouched behind the car in Alex Wolfley’s garage as they waited patiently for him to step out.  The book stops there, it needs to be finished.  Riley puts the book on the driveway and puts on her black hood as she watches the boy step out of the door.  He heard the sound of her throwing rocks and he noticed when she turned off the lights from the powerbox outside.  “ Hello… Who’s there?”   Riley doesn’t respond; she only creeps behind the second car as she throws Leah softball for a diversion.  She watches from under the car as Alex picks it up.  “Leah..? No.. she’s gone.”  She feels bad as she hears him talking to himself.  But not for too long, she shuts the garage door with the button on the side.   “ Who’s..s there?”  Alex’s voice shakes as he gets nervous.  Like clockwork, Riley turns off the lights, and like usual Alex runs to the back door that leads into the house but when he is distracted by the ball Riley puts a padlock on the door. She watches as he struggles but she grabs her book and slowly crept behind him.  He turned around swiftly but Riley was quicker; she hit him in the head with the hard spine.  He fell with a thump at her feet.  Riley stared at him for a couple of moments before she pulled him by his shirt, she didn’t leave a trail this time because she made sure he didn’t bleed.                                                                                                                                                      On her way home, Riley finishes the chapter about Alex in her book, and she rereads it to make sure there is no way no one knew she wrote it about herself.  

The End?

 

     “Terra it’s time.” An airy voice spoke. Terra turns to the speaker, Zephie the youngest air dragon in their pack was standing in front of Terra’s tree home. “I know here I come.” Terra said. She looked back at the picture in her hand. In the picture was a seven stick figures each a different color, the picture looked to be made by a young child. Terra, Zephie and the rest of their pack were some of the last dragons in the world, and it was time for them to move on again.

     Their little Anna was not so little anymore, and Mystics were finally strong enough to fight for themselves again. Terra flew to the cave at the top of Mount. Luckas where all the others were waiting for her. “Μαμά.” The soft voice of her little Anna called out from behind her. When Terra turned around, standing there at the mount of the cave was her precious Anna along with her husband. Anna’s hair was up in a ponytail, and you could see the small bump in her stomach. Anna knew she couldn’t stop them from leaving but she wanted to try.

     Terra walked to them and gave Anna a hug. “Nyx start the spell.” The fire dragon, Phonix told the dark dragon who stood on the other side of the cave. When Nyx started chanting a small portal had formed on the wall. “I’ll miss you, Μαμά.” Anna said while her husband Jack Tassi held her. He knew it was talking a lot out of her to say goodbye to the people that raised her. Terra gently held Anna’s face in her hands “I’ll miss you too αστέρι μου.” Terra Kissed the top OF Anna’s head then she turned to Jack “Protect them.” Terra’s voice was as hard as a bolder.

     Jack nodded his head as he put arm around Anna. Terra stood with the rest of her pack as Nyx finished the spell and in front of them was the portal to take them to their next adventure. Phonix was the first through the portal while everyone was saying goodbye to Anna, but Anna saw the small yellow tear that fell down her face. Then Aquarien was next to go through followed by Zephie. Finally, only three were left Nyx, Terra, and Aurora “Live long and proud φεγγάρι, ok.”

     Aurora told Anna as she grabbed Terra’s Hand and the Walked into the portal together. Nyx was last since she had to keep the portal open for everyone “Soteria looks on to you.” Nyx looked at the two standing in front of her with a smile on her face. She walked into the portal, and it disappeared as soon as she was gone. Anna was going to miss her family so much, but the hurt she felt didn’t last long as she felt the small kicks of the baby in her stomach “Let’s head to the ship Cariña,” Jack said as he walked Anna down the mountain “It’ll probably take a couple of days to get back to the mainland.”

     He explained. Anna wanted to stay on her home island a little longer, but she knew she had to go back. “Goodbye Οικογένεια.” She spoke to the air as they continue to the beach where their ship lay.