Category: Creative Writing

   By: Mia Guseynova, Ashlyn Huang                                    

        

I gazed at the empty ground, knowing that anybody, or anything couldn’t change what I had been through about a year ago. My life turned from fortunate to sad. There was a dark gloomy rain cloud above me forever.

When I found out that my dad past away, I was extremely sad and I couldn’t go to school for a few weeks. I could tell it was hard on my mom for telling me what happened. Her hands were shaking, and her face was filled with sorrow. I also have two brothers, Zack and Ryan. They are the most annoying brothers in the world. When my dad past away Zach started laughing, and Ryan was just playing his game Fortnite. I don’t think that he could live without a game. They really didn’t care that my dad died, because they weren’t really close to him, and they thought he was a burden.

Then I went to school and broke the news to my friends. The rumors spread really quickly and I made a announcement to everyone in the school about the death so that they didn’t think that my dad got shot or something. After that everyone felt bad for me except for the mean girls, so whenever I went to lunch, the library, my classes, or even during passing period everyone would be like, “ARE YOU OKAY” so I decided to make a shirt that said I’M FINE and wore it to school for the rest of the year, because I was tired of my classmates always asking me the same question over and over.

Then the next year came, and it’s like nothing happens because everyone was friends with me again, and that’s how my life was. I don’t think I will ever not miss my dad or feel happy about him, but I will always remember him.

THE END

By Nikhil

The Gateway Arch

The heroes clashed in the fight of their lives. The man had charged them but a second before he had hit them, he simply vanished a wisp of black smoke and appeared behind them.

He raised his arms and shouted, “nellaf eht fo senob esir!” Immediately undead skeletons clawed their way in from the roof and dropped in a circle around the heroes.

“ If we’re going down, we’ll go down fighting,” George commanded the others. They all nodded in agreement and charged as one. The man’s robes were set on fire by Connor. Jackson used some of the water he stored up and blasted the nearest skeleton into the lava where it slowly burned. Luke slashed down monster left and right and then throwing their bones into the fire. Phoebe slipped a knife out of her utility belt and stabbed one of the skeletons, however it did no damage.

“ My knives don’t work,” Phoebe shouted as she scampered away. But, despite her attempt to run away she struck in the back of the head by a rib thrown by the skeleton. She simply lay their, still and unmoving.

“ I’ll help her. You guys focus on killing those beasts and the demon behind them.” Malcolm exclaimed, “ Jackson! Need some water here!”

“ On it,” Jackson screamed back. He then sent some water over to Malcolm. Malcolm quickly morphed it into water vapor, then a hurricane. He sent it in front of him, battering away the skeletons and clearing a path to Phoebe. Once he reached her, he ordered it to surround them to keep them from being attacked. He then felt for her pulse and found it to be a soft beat but it was still there.

“ She’s still alive!” Malcolm shouted with joy. This filled the whole team with renewed energy. Malcolm and Martha worked together to create a fiery whirlwind which they sent blazing around the room, incinerating the skeletons on the spot. Soon after, all the skeletons were burned to a crisp. The only one left standing was the demon himself.

“ We killed all your minions, and know we’re going to kill you as well,” snarled Jackson.

“ Bravo,” the man said with a exasperated sigh. “ You defeated those weaklings. I’ll grace with my presence in battle because you’re starting to bore me.”

“Oh no! She’s going to die. What will we do,” he said in a perfect mimic of Malcolm, “ Do you know how boring that gets after hearing the same thing for thousands of years? It’s nothing more than a soap opera.”

The team looked at each other and nodded in agreement. They were going to crush this man like a gnat. Malcolm laid Phoebe down on the floor gently, careful to avoid the flowing lava. They thrust out their hands and summoned all of their strength, and readied it. On George’s command, they each released their powers in the most devastating way and directed it at the monster. A mixture of fire, water and earth all streaked toward the demon, yet it did no damage. He simply opened his robes and the elements were sucked into it. What they saw represented a black hole. The inside of the cape was a swirling black mass with purple specks.

“ This,” he said pointing at his cloak in dramatic fashion, “ My friends, is the cloak of Tratustan, the glorious city of demons. It absorbs all elements that can come it’s way,” the demon responded. Despite this development, instead of giving up, the heroes gained hope because they realized that they had learned something. Maybe elements couldn’t hurt him, but weapons could. Malcolm secretly picked up Phoebe’s knife and hurled it at the demon with all of his might. It was headed straight at the head of the beast, but inches from the beast’s face the knife suddenly froze.

“ Did you really think a parlor trick like that could kill me. I’m an all-powerful demon from the depths of the pits of Mother Motu. And you thought that a simple knife could kill me,” he said after a slight pause, “ You humans are even lower of a species than I could have thought of. How low you have fallen in the last thousand years. If you are the earth’s greatest heroes, you have no chance.”

“ Oh, shut up. We’re more than a match for you,” Luke replied while pointing his sword at the demon.

Phoebe roused a little and Malcolm saw her and went to her side.

“You have to learn his name and banish him,” she silently whispered into Malcolm’s ear.

“ Hey demon, how do we know how powerful you are. We don’t even know your name,” Malcolm called out.

“ Up to your tricks again. I know the banishing spell you are trying to cast. You need my name and you I’ll never find out,” the fiend replied.

“ Well then, looks like we’ll have to kill you the old fashioned way,” George snarled.

He grabbed the dagger out of the air and swung at the demon. At that moment all chaos broke loose. Luke advanced toward the demon with sword swinging and eyes blazing. Meanwhile, George was pulling up pillars to trap the demon. Martha combined powers with Malcolm again and sent it spinning around behind the demon. Connor tried to set the cloak on fire, but to no avail. Jackson blasted the walls above the beast to make it collapse on him. The battle raged on for a few minutes. It ended with the demon’s cloak in tatters and the heroes still standing.

“ It’s time to end this, once and for all,” George exclaimed. Once again, they each released their powers and directed it at the demon. His screams shook the earth and the ceiling threatened to collapse.

“ We have to leave now,” Martha shouted, “ Malcolm! Get Phoebe.” Malcolm picked up Phoebe and all them ran for the gate. When they reached the gate a swirling white portal opened and they entered through. They seemed to be spinning for a few moments until they finally were released. They landed on hard ground and were astounded by what they had found.

 .

By Richard

By: Richard

    Madness had nothing to do with the ‘peculiar’ disease, no, it was my own determination that led me to get my passionate degree of true devotion! Someone with a higher intelligence than the average joe would understand me, someone, someone that would not think of me to be infatuated. For you see, twas’ my own dogged attempts to cure this world of such diabolical evils of the world. To be one of the greats, it was my own self-indulgent motivation to persevere to be one of the great. Achilles, the great Greek warrior, Hector, the Trojan Warrior, Hercules the son of Zeus, but, my dear camarades, do you know the major downfall of all of these so-called “heroes”? HA! It is the very presence of their weaknesses! Achilles’ Heel, Hector’s fall, Hercules’s quality of being mortal! These poisonous qualities would inevitably painfully stab each of these heroes in the back. But, that time and age has gone away, and made way for new supernatural people, such as the humble yet courageous Kazimir, the embodiment of the greatness that has fallen from the sky. You might have embedded in your mind that I might be contradicting myself, but, to change your mind, to shift your paradigm, to change the very perspective that you might have acquired, you must go into my shoes. Days long ago that seem eons away, my earlier life. My humble beginning starts like any ordinary lad, a dream, and a burning, scorching desire to achieve it.

    My family had been ‘poor’ so to speak, we were on welfare for most of our lives in fact. My dad was a wretched man who would go loiter around the town, being reputable for doing unspeakable crimes and always having the worst mood of anybody. My mother would seem to not even acknowledge my existence, to her, I was insignificant… Anyway, before this becomes any slight more tedious, let us get back to my youthful self. At that time, no matter the circumstances, I thought the world was a beautiful place, a place where dreams were achievable, a place where the impossible was possible. This world would be my oyster, and I was sure to conquer it. I was aided in this dream of mine with a group of friends, people who had also suffered in similar situations. As we headed toward our futures, the fateful day had come… That day had been a normal day at first, my friends and I were playing together near an active militia, the army men were preparing to fire their broad muskets at targets, except for one wrong thing; one of the new members had just come into the militia. This member was, if I can put it into nice terms, needing extra-practice. His balance was steady, but, his aim was off, which would be included in the terrible event in that near future at the time. As we were playing, that one member had loaded his musket, aimed at the target, but, without realizing, he would inevitably miss, and hit one of my friends…

    It happened so fast we didn’t know what was going on. But, one thing remained, I survived by hiding behind a wagon, and I would get those militiamen if it were the last thing I did. So, I would spend a year trying to accuse them guilty, but, no such luck. Mad at the entire town, I fled, looking for salvation.

    Knowing that my family wouldn’t care about me and whether or not I left or not. I sent out on my miserable adventure, still having a small, but still existent, flame for glory. I had stole an old yet sturdy and favorable horse, Ash, due to its dark, cloudy color. For food rations, I got some bread and goat cheese as compensation for my friends’ deaths. As I sent out in my way, I gazed at the small, wooden, straw, houses and the passing horses, chickens, and people peacefully going among their way. Suddenly, in the far away distance, I saw angry citizens. Citizens with pitchforks and flaming torches. I was perplexed when I saw this, but I soon realized that they were chasing me. “How could you?!”, “How dare you insult our noble militia?!”. Were they serious? How wrong they were! How could they be so lacking in intelligence?! Finally, a sensation came up in my mind that I had never experienced in my mind before.

TO BE CONTINUED(?)

By Nikhil

“Don’t step there,” Martha, a Fire Nation soldier told Jackson. Martha could control fire and summon it at will. All Fire Nation soldiers could, but Martha could do it better than the rest and could use it to fly. No one else had flames powerful enough to do that other than the emperor of the Fire Nation.

“ I know! Jeez, Martha. You act like we’re just helpless little kids. We know what we’re doing!” exclaimed Jackson, a Water Nation soldier. As a water soldier, he could control it if they were near water to a limit. But, Jackson had no limits. He could control the water to his heart’s extent, and he also had a special ability. He could store the water in his body to use for a later time when he wasn’t near a water source, but it took up a lot of energy.

“Oh yeah! Well if you weren’t doing stupid things, like trying to step into lava like you are now…”

“ What lava… AHHHH,” Jackson barely got out of the way of the flowing lava. “Why didn’t you tell me about it earlier!?” He shouted at Martha.

“Both of you, STOP IT RIGHT NOW!” George shouted at the two. George was an Earth Nation soldier, and a natural born leader. All Earth Nation soldiers had a little power of the earth, but George could just do whatever he wanted with it. If he wanted, he could probably build another Great Wall of China. No other earth soldier could bend that much earth to their will.“ You two have been arguing ever since we got down here.” They were currently in the lower mantle of the Earth. Lava was flowing almost everywhere. It was steamy and burning. But, before they had made the journey, they had received a layer of cool air around them to protect them from the heat. There were many caves, and they tried to find the way that went farthest down.   “We’re a team, and we need to start acting like one. You shouldn’t be fighting with each other like children. The fate of the world depends on our success in this mission. We need to get the orb back to its owner if we want to stop the war between our 3 nations and the Wind and Metal Nations. We are the Earth’s only chance.”

“Oh, stop your sentiment,” Luke sighed, “We get that we have save to save  the world and all, but we don’t need to be bored to death with your speeches.” Luke was always calm, but gets bored easy. He was from the Earth Nation as well, and an amazing swordsman. The best swordsman in all of the five nations in fact.

“Just keep walking,” George said.

All of the soldiers had been selected because they each had special powers or just were the best at something.  From the Earth Nation, Will was also selected. He was the best archer that anyone would ever come across. He could shoot an arrow from 1,000 meters away and split the arrow that he shot before. His friends joked around and called him Willshot. From the Water Nation, Selena and Malcolm were selected. Selena could control the water to make images that show the future. This would be a useful ability to choose between crossroads. Malcolm could turn the pure water into water vapor and use the wind to create mini hurricanes. This could be used for a variety of purposes, but especially when they need a distraction or stall for time. The Fire Nation also had its special people. Connor might be mischievous, but he was a very powerful soldier. Just by visualizing something burning, he could make it instantly set aflame. He mostly used it to play pranks on people, but when he wanted to, he could be a ferocious warrior. Phoebe, was the best tracker that ever lived and knew all sorts of information that could save their lives. She was a personal assistant to the emperor until she was sent in this quest.

“ Looks like we’re reaching the core,” Phoebe announced, “ The air here is getting more humid and suffocating. We need to really watch our step here. One wrong move can lead to death by fire.

“ Thanks for that captain obvious,” Jackson taunted. As he was looking away, Connor set ablaze the ground where Jackson was going to step again.

Phoebe sighed and rapidly said, “ You’re stepping into fire.”

Jackson quickly sidestepped around the fire and a couple paths of flowing lava which made him look like he was doing a dance.

“ You people are the worst friends in the world. You don’t even tell me when I’m stepping into fire until the last second.” Jackson complained. Connor snickered in the back just quiet enough for Jackson not to hear.

Phoebe shrugged, “ I did warn you by telling you to watch where you’re stepping. You just didn’t care. So, that’s your fault.”

“ Jackson, Phoebe, stop arguing and concentrate on not dying,” George said through gritted teeth, “ Jackson, you especially. I won’t take you arguing with every. Single. Person. Either you shut up or I do it for you.” After that warning, Jackson knew better than to test George’s patience.

“Shhhh. We’re approaching the core. Brace yourself, and put on the sunglasses that you were given unless you want your eyes to go blind permanently.” Phoebe warned. They each put on the special sunglasses they were given by the fire emperor. The sunglasses could block the light from the core so that their eyes wouldn’t burn to a burn to a crisp. They soon reached two pillars and a giant wall after it.

“Looks like this is the Gateway to the Core.” George explained, “ Once we pass this gate, we will reach the core. Ready yourself and walk through.” They enter through the path and are immediately blown back so they are once again standing in front of the path. But now, a demon stood there. It was a man with a pale complexion, dark robes that spiked up at the top and a blood red shirt. He had slick black hair, Elvis Presley style. His eyes were were a black void with purple specks.

The man simply yawned and said, “ Looks like someone finally managed to awaken me. But sadly, this will be the last thing you ever do,” and then he charged the heroes, “ Looks like it’s time for you to die.”